Discipleship

Alright, amen and good morning Chapel family. So glad that you are joining us here today. If you don't know me, my name is Dan and I am the discipleship coordinator here at the Chapel. We are going to be continuing in our sermon series that we've been in this year in the Book of Titus. And today we're gonna be looking at Titus 2. Titus 2, if you want to go ahead and turn there with me, as we are flipping there this morning. And before we dive in, I wanted to let you in on a little something about me and my wife. You see, me and my wife, we have this issue in our marriage. We have a particular issue in our marriage. And when I think back on it, it's been there our whole marriage. And really when I think back on it, we started dating 22 years ago and this issue has been here the whole time we've been together. The issue is this, I walk a lot faster than she does. I walk like a lot faster than she does see. See, I walk like I have somewhere that I need to be. She walks like she has eternity in mind, you know, like, "Hey, why we have to get there right now? We have eternal life in Christ. What's the rush?" You know, that's kind of how it feels. And so I'll be flying by. She'll be walking nice and slow and that's just kind of the way that it goes. Now, the best pace is probably somewhere in between the two, right? The best pace is probably slower than what I walk, but faster than what she walks. That's probably the best pace. But here's where I really falter, all right? She'll call out, "Hey", you know, way back there. "Hey, you're leaving me behind again. You're doing it again." And I stop and I turn around and I see she's like 40, 50 feet behind me. And I say, "Oh, okay, sorry. I didn't mean to leave you behind." And so I stop and I wait for her and I wait, and I wait and I wait and I wait and I wait until she gets about four feet behind me. And then I turn around and start walking again before she ever catches up. And she'll just say, "You're doing it again." "You're doing it again. I tell you about this all the time and you're doing it again." And it's one of those things that it's like, I know that I do it. I know that I do it. I'm sitting here, I'm talking to all of you about it. I know that I do it, but I guarantee later today I'm going to do it again and I'm not even gonna realize I'm doing it in the moment. And you know, you think about that, it's one of those things that you think about it and you probably are like, you are real jerk, you know that? Like, what is wrong with you? Why don't you care about your wife? How do you not even realize that she's no longer beside you? And in the context of marriage, I understand that it can kind of seem like, you know, it's a pretty terrible thing. But the truth is, don't we often do that in our walk with Christ? Here's what I mean. Don't we often start walking at a pace, walking like we have somewhere that we need to be and forget everyone else behind us? Don't we so often get so concerned about where I need to be that I completely forget about where others who are supposed to be walking alongside me are at? And we just leave them in the dust. We're just worried about where I'm supposed to be in this moment. We're just worried about how much I am growing in Christ in the moment. We're just worried about me and what I am getting out of this and what's going on in my life. And we just leave everyone else behind and just kind of forget about them. And when we do that, I think it actually reveals an even bigger issue in our lives. It reveals an even bigger issue because not only are we not worried about our brothers and sisters in Christ, not only are we not worried about those who are supposed to be walking alongside of in this life, in our walk with Christ, not only are we not worried about that, but we're also not worried about the gospel continuing to go out into the world 'cause if all we're worried about is where it goes with me, then we're not worried about where it goes beyond me. You see what I'm saying? If we're just worried about ourselves, we're not actually worried about how the gospel is going out into the world, how it is being passed down to the next generation, how it is being spread out into all of creation. Now, I'm not saying that where you are at doesn't matter. I'm not saying that at all. Where you are at matters and you should be concerned about growing in your walk with Christ. You should be concerned about your walk with Christ and where you are going. But I am saying that it can't end there. And I am saying that if your concern ends there, then you are actually not where you're supposed to be at in your walk with Christ. Because Christ calls us to walk with him and to sacrifice, to take others along with us. He calls us to walk with him and to sacrifice, to take others along with us. Church, if we wanna be a church that lives beyond us, then we need to be a church that walks in faithful discipleship, that walks in faithful discipleship. And so we're gonna look at Titus 2 and we're gonna see kind of two sides of that discipleship coin today. We're gonna look at two sides of that faithful discipleship coin as we look through Titus 2. And then we're gonna talk a little bit about how we can make it happen. The first thing that I want us to see as we look at Titus 2 is that we must be a generation who walks in line with the faith. We must be a generation who walks in line with the faith. Last week we left off at the end of chapter one, and in that passage, Paul was, he's just talked about people who were preaching a false gospel and their lives were lived in accord with that false gospel. They were preaching wrong things about God and how to know him, and they were walking wrongly with God. But here he tells Titus, "You however, are to be different." Look at verse one. "You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine." "You must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine." And notice he's not just saying here that you must teach sound doctrine. He says that all throughout the book. All right, he said that all in chapter one. He is gonna continue to say that, but he says, "You must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine as well." In other words, you teach sound doctrine and you teach the life that is accorded, that accords with it. Now, throughout the letter, Paul is gonna talk about teaching sound doctrine. Here he dives into the life that flows out of that sound doctrine. See, we sometimes think that as long as we teach and believe right things, as long as we teach and believe the right truths and the right propositions about what we should believe about the faith, that's all there is to it. But we're also called to teach and to walk in the actions. We are also called to teach and to walk in the ways of living that are in line with the gospel as well. And so often those actions that way of living, they're out of line with our culture. They're out of step with what our world would teach us. And so Paul, he lays out just a few things for both men and women from every generation in the next couple of verses. And we're gonna walk through those a little bit and I'm just gonna kind of summarize them, okay? We're not gonna get into detail about every single thing in these lists. We're gonna summarize what he says to each of these people so we can get a little bit of a grasp of what's going on here. First of all, Paul speaks to older men, or he tells Titus to speak to older men. Chapter or sorry, verse 2A, it says, "Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self controlled..." To summarize, teach older men to have dignity, to live in dignity. Older men who follow Jesus are not to be crotchety old men, all right? That's one way that we can say it. They're not to be crotchety old men. I know it's funny, you know, we kind of laugh and chuckle in everything, but like this is actually a thing. And he tells him, "Don't be crotchety old men." Don't be men who were easily agitated or annoyed. Don't be men who are always annoyed and wanting to be left alone, who over time have somehow become less and less kind to other people. Older men who walk in the gospel, they should be known as men who have grown to look more and more and more like Jesus over time, rather than kind of fading off in looking like Christ. They're to look more and more like Christ over time. They should be known as men who live as though they are nearing the time when they are going to be face to face with the Lord. And so they are going to be shining his light on everybody that comes in their path until they stand face to face with him. And they should be known as men who are an example for younger men to follow. It should be men who are an example to younger men to follow. He says at the end of verse two, they should be "Sound in faith, in love, and in endurance." In other words, they're to be mature in Christ. This is kind of like a three word formula that Paul uses a lot. It sounds a little bit familiar to you probably. It's normally put faith, hope, and love, right? Here we have faith and we have love. Paul chooses endurance here in this setting because endurance is the outcome of hope. When we have our hope in Christ, we endure in Christ throughout the whole span of our lives, however long they may be. And we grow continually in Christ as we do, they are to be mature in Christ, the older men. Next, Paul tells Titus to teach the older women. Verse three, "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way that they live. Not to be slanders or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good." The key here, the main theme is to be reverend or to be honorable rather than being idle, busy bodies who fill their time with gossip in drinking, like many of the older women were known to do in Crete, where Titus is, they were to be different. Rather than filling their time with those things, they were to be filling their time with teaching what is good. They are to be those who are looked up to and who are investing into the next generation, a younger generation and dedicated to what is good. And so Paul actually ties younger women to the older women as well. Look at what he says here in verse four. "Then they", that is the older women, "can teach the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands." The theme here is that the younger women are to be dedicated to their families. They're to be dedicated to their families. Whereas in our culture today, especially the pull is to have less and less dedication to the family and more dedication to your career and to your pleasure and to your whatever it is on the outside. Paul says, "It's appropriate to be dedicated to your family, to manage your household, to do well at home, to see to it that the family is doing well." This doesn't mean that women can't work. In fact, in Proverbs 31, where we see this ideal vision of a woman, she is working as well, but she's dedicated to her family. Now, Paul ties the older and the younger women together, and he's telling the older women, "Hey, like I know the kids who are out the house and everything. That doesn't mean that your responsibility for the next generation is done. Teach the generation who's coming up behind you. Pour yourself in to others. Pour yourself in to who is coming up." In verse six, Paul hits the younger men. He doesn't hit 'em, he talks about them. All right? Let's be clear. He says about the younger men, he says, "Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled." Whereas young men in many cultures and even still today, are known for being wild and reckless and even living promiscuously, godly young men are to be self-control. They're to be honorable as well in their own right. And then last of all, in verse nine, Paul speaks to slaves. He says, "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted." Now, Paul is not endorsing slavery. That's not what he's doing here. He's not saying that it's right that anyone would be enslaved, but he's speaking into a particular reality. He's speaking into a particular situation. He's simply telling those who are enslaved and who follow Christ, "Hey, in the situation that you're in, walk as Christ would walk." In all things, walk as Christ would walk. We believe a gospel that changes lives, y'all. We believe that the grace of God has come as we're gonna see in verse 11 in just a few minutes. And it works in people's lives. It rearranges the heart. It has an outcome in the way that we live. And at the end of all these sections, except for in the first, Paul ends them with, "so that". In verse five, in verse eight, in verse 10, Paul says all of these things so that. So that what? So that what? So that people can see the gospel at work in the lives of those who trust Jesus. So that people can see that the gospel is not just words, it is real and it makes a difference. And it changes everything so that no one can speak against God's word because they see how it has changed you. So that even if anyone does speak against it, they would be put to shame. So that you, believer, can wear the gospel like a beautiful garment. The ESV translates verse 10, "That they would adorn the gospel", that we would wear it, that we would put it on display for the world to see. We could say it like this so that every man, woman, and child could have repeated opportunities to hear and see the gospel of Jesus Christ. We could put it that way, you know, if we wanted to, we could like paint it on a wall somewhere or something like that, I don't know. I, you know, pastor Jerry, you can take that idea from me if you want. We'll see. And everything, when we walk in line with the gospel, we're showing something to a watching world. We're showing them that Jesus lives. We're showing them that Jesus is still at work. We're showing them that God is the one true God of the universe, and that he can work in the worst of sinners and he can make us new. And we're showing evidence that the gospel is true and it changes lives. Here's the thing, friends, we can speak the gospel until we're blue in the face, but sometimes our actions, they distract from what we're saying. If you are speaking the gospel, but you're acting like a fool. Nobody can hear what you're saying. A couple years ago I was in my office at my previous church and I had a window that went out to the parking lot. It was just the middle of the week and I saw someone pull in. It was a car I didn't recognize. And so I'm just kinda watching, see what goes on, see who comes out. And as soon as the guy steps outta the car, I know it. He's a salesman. I can tell, I can just look at him. I can tell this guy is a salesman. So being a pastor, I couldn't run to the door and lock the door in front of him and walk away, you know, like he would see me. So I did the next wisest thing. I went to the door and I stepped outside of the door and I closed the door behind me so he couldn't come in, right? Because I'm sorry, salesman, we know once you get in the door, it's over, okay? And so I go outside and I'm talking to him and listen guys, I can remember this guy's face. I can remember what he was wearing. I can remember his dark blue Lexus that he pulled up in. I cannot remember what he was trying to sell me that day because the whole time he was talking to me, I kid you not, he was picking his nose. I wish I was joking, all right? I wish I was making this up. I'm talking to this guy for like five, six, seven minutes and he's not just picking his nose, the whole time he's got his finger up his nose. And I have no idea what he's trying to sell me 'cause the only thing I can think is, "Does he know he's picking his nose?" Or does he know it's not cool to pick your nose in front of people? I'm thinking, is he ever gonna find what he's looking for? Because it's just like he's just keep on going. But the foremost thought in my mind is, what am I gonna do when he goes to shake my hand at the end? Because I don't wanna shake. Like do I just call him out on it and just say, "I'm not shaking that hand. I saw you, I saw what you did with it." I have no idea what he was telling me. I have no idea what he was trying to sell me. Friends, if you were speaking the gospel and you were picking your proverbial nose the whole time, people can't hear what you're saying. I know it's a funny story, but that's what you're doing. You're picking your nose while you're telling them the gospel and you're going in, you're living lives that are out of step with the gospel. Paul says, "We are to live in step with the gospel. We are to live in step with the gospel." We don't just say words, we don't just know truths, but we actually surrender our lives to Christ. We actually live in line with how he calls us to live. We live in love, we live in humility. We live in the ways that God has set before us. And as we live in those ways, we are also to pass them down to the next generation. We must be a generation who walks in line with the faith, but second, we must be a generation who passes on the faith. We must be a generation that passes on the faith. Throughout this entire passage, this idea that the faith has to be passed down is prevalent. He uses the word teach or something like an urge, encourage. He uses that seven times throughout this passage to talk about one person or one group of people passing on the faith to the next. Friends, there is a responsibility of every believer to pass down your faith. There is a responsibility of every believer to pass down the faith to the next generation. There is a responsibility to every believer of the older to pass down to the younger. There is a responsibility of the more mature in Christ to pass it down to the less mature in Christ. There is a responsibility of longtime believers to pass down the faith to newer believers. And I just wanna tell you, as a believer, you do not have the right to pass on that responsibility. You do not have the right to just shove that responsibility to the side and just go on your own way. You do not have the right to ignore this command. If you are a follower of Jesus, you do not have the right to ignore people who aren't at the same maturity level that you are at in Christ. I hear people all the time complain about, I just, I wish somebody would pour into me. I wish somebody would pour into me and never look for anyone that they can be pouring their lives into. You don't have the right to stick to people who are at the maturity level of your preference. You do not have the right to ignore the children and the students of this church. That doesn't mean that everybody has to serve in the kids or the student ministry. Some of you should and some of you need to have your ears in your heart open asking the Lord, "Is this something you're calling me to do?" But it doesn't mean everybody serves in that capacity, but it does mean that you care about them. It does mean that you do things simply as praying for them. It does mean that you do something as simple as encouraging their parents even. It does mean that you do something as simple as making them feel welcome in the church. Friends, if you walk in on a Sunday, one of those Sundays that we have where we have all the kids in everything like we did for New Year's Eve, if you walk in on one of those Sundays and you go, "They let the kids in again today, why did I even come? I should have just watched online. You know, like this is for the kids. What am I even doing here?" If that's you, there's something wrong with your faith, okay? If that's you, there is something wrong with your faith because we have a faith that is not just for you. It is for all people, young and old, from this generation and the next for people who haven't even been born yet. You are here today because men and women stood up in their faith and they passed it on to the next generation. It's the only reason you're here today. It's what God does. It's how he uses his people. He changes our lives, he works in us and he uses his people to pass it on to the next generation. Do you care? That's my question for you. Do you care? Whatever the next generation may be, maybe it's the kids. Maybe you're in an older generation than me and you're thinking about my generation, whatever it may be, the Lord calls us to pass on the faith. We do not have the right to not pass it on. We do not have the right to try to live, to personally grow in Christ without taking others along with us. To walk in on Sunday morning and get our little message and then walk out and never talk to anybody else. You don't have that right. We have a faith that is to be passed on and God has chosen to do it in the lives of his people and he calls us to take part in that. You don't have the right to take what God has given you and keep it to yourself and not invest it in others. You remember the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 25, the Parable of the Talents, right? A talent was a large sum of money. It was about 20 years worth of wages, okay? That's a large sum of money. And Jesus tells this parable that this master is leaving and he leaves behind with three of his servants, one of them five talents. It's a hundred years worth of wages. To another one, two talents, 40 years worth of wages. To another one, one talent. When he gets back, the one who had five talents comes and he brings them the five plus, another five. And he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant." And the one who was given two, he brings them two and he gives him another two. And he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant." And the last one who was given one, he brings back the one and that's all. It's pretty good, right? He gives him back 100% of what was given to him. And the master says, "You wicked servant." Incredible, right, he gives back a hundred percent of what the master gave to him. And the master said, "You wicked servant." That's pretty strong language. That's pretty strong language. What he is saying is you didn't even try, you didn't even try to invest it. You sat on it. And what Jesus is saying is what I have given you, you don't have the right to just sit on it for yourself. You are to invest it into others as well. Now, you cannot control what other people might take from it. You cannot control that. We plant the seed, we water it, God gives its growth. But are you even trying to invest it in others? Do you even think about those who are coming behind you? Do you even think about the next generation? Because it's easy to look at the generations that come after us and say, "Well, you know, they're losing it, they're losing it, they've screwed it all up." But when we do that, we have to stop and examine ourselves. "Have I invested in that generation? If I think they're so much worse off than my generation is, what have I done to invest myself into them?" Our culture teaches us that as we get older, we should be investing more in ourselves. You know that? That's where our culture teaches us. Do everything for the sake of a nice retirement, right? Do everything for the sake of just grinding now and get to the end of the line where you can ride off into the sunset peacefully and not have to think about anyone or anyone else and not have any responsibility in this world anymore. Our culture says that as you get older and you're reaching the end of life, so do everything you can to enjoy it now and invest in yourself now. Now, that's not to say that a retirement fund is not a good thing. My financial advisor is here right now, okay? And I wanna make sure he knows that I'm saying that. But if your whole life is about just having a nice time at the end with no responsibility, not worrying about anything else, then you're missing it. You're missing it. The gospel teaches us to live for something else. The gospel teaches us to live for the glory of God. The gospel teaches us that as we get older, we are about to enter into an eternity of enjoyment, of things that we have never even experienced before, beyond anything that this world has to offer. But we're leaving behind a world that is still stuck in sin and we are leaving behind a world that is still in need, full of people who still need salvation. And we are leaving behind when we go to be with Jesus, we are leaving behind a church that still needs to be preaching and living out the gospel. A church full of people who still have to walk through life's hardships in faith. A church full of people still in need of learning to walk closely with Jesus. A church who is still responsible for reaching an unbelieving world. And when we are coming closer to the end of our lives, we should be feeling more and more the need to invest our lives in others` rather than in ourselves. We are to be a people who are passing on the faith to the next generation. And here's the thing we need to remember, is that we pass it on in both word and in deed. We pass it on in both word and deed. Verses seven and eight, "In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned." As a kid who grew up in church, I watched the men of the church that I grew up in, whether they realized I was watching them or not, I was watching them. When I didn't even realize I was watching them. I was watching them. And I watched people who I knew had been Christians longer than I had been Christians for, people who were further along in life and had more things figured out than I did. As a kid, when I heard men in the church curse, guess what I thought was okay to do? As a kid when I heard men in the church talk bad about each other or about people who were poor or about people of other races. Guess what I thought was okay to do? Now I'm responsible for my own sin. I'm not saying that, but I did learn it from somewhere. I did start to think that it was okay, but also as a kid, when I heard men in the church encouraging one another in Christ, guess what I started to learn was right to do? As a kid, when I saw men in the church living godly lives in every way, I was beginning to learn how to live in step with the gospel. And when I had men in the church intentionally invest in my life, I began to love Jesus more and more and more and see what it looked like to live following him. And by the way, I watched the older women too, and I learned from them what a godly woman looked like. And I know that the other girls my age, they were watching the older women and learning what it looked like to be a godly woman. We teach the faith, we pass it down both in word and in deed. Friends, kids in this church, they're watching you, whether you're their parents or not. They're watching you to see what it means to be a follower of Christ, to see what it looks like to live and step with the gospel, in line with the gospel. And the thing is, it goes both ways. The good and the bad. They look at us and they see both, what are you passing down to them? We're called to be people who intentionally pass down the faith to the next generation, but also to remember that they're always watching and they're always learning. Lemme just say this, you know, a great way to invest your life into the lives of others is in community groups. Community groups where we kind of come together. You all come together, we all come together on a Sunday morning and we kind of see each other and wave and we walk by. Community groups are where you can really get into someone's life. And we're having signups for those today on every campus. When you leave the worship space at whatever campus you're at and you go out, be on the lookout for those signups, get involved. It's a way that you can be invested into and that you can invest into the lives of others. Because we are to be a people, we are to be a generation who walks in line with the faith and we're to be a generation who passes on the faith. But finally, let me encourage you that we can be this kind of generation because the gospel is at work in our lives. We can be this kind of generation. Not on our own power, but because the gospel is at work in our lives. Right now, we live in this important time in God's plan of redemption. We live in what some people call the already and the not yet. We live between the two appearances of Christ and Paul points to them both here in verses 11 through 14. First of all, he shows that the grace of God has appeared. The grace of God has appeared verses 11 and 12, "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say, 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age." He's talking about the gospel here. He's talking about Jesus' life and death and resurrection and his ascension to where he's sitting on the throne in power, reigning over his people, his spirit being sent into each and every one of us, working in us, changing our lives, rearranging our hearts, making us more like Him, conforming us to his image. Friends, that is what the grace of God does in a life. We often look at God's grace. Maybe you don't do this, I hope you don't do this, but I've heard it too many times before. Look at God's grace and say, "Well, you know God's grace and forgiveness and all, so I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing." No, that's not God's grace. God's grace would never leave you where you're at. God's grace comes, it says, "Come to me as you are and be changed." Be changed. The gospel transforms lives. The gospel is a working grace that moves in us. It informs our living and it empowers our living. And we live in a time where Jesus has come and he has made the way for us to have new life, but we also live in a time where we look forward, we look forward. And this is what Paul says next, "We look forward to when the glory of God will one day appear in Jesus." Verses 13 and 14, "While we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself of people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Friends, as we live in this present life, we live with a hope in eternity with Christ. Not as those who have our hope in the temporary things of this world, but a hope that goes beyond it into eternity. As we live in this present world and our present culture, we live as citizens of the Kingdom of God, not as those who belong to the world and abide by its value system because we have a savior, Jesus Christ, who is God, by the way, if you missed it, our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And he has redeemed us from all wickedness. He has forgiven us of it. And he has made us a people who are zealous to do what is good in this world. And friends, his work in this world, it's not done. It's not done yet. There are generations that are coming behind us, full of people who God will save. Full of people, who God is still going to pull out of the kingdom of darkness and into his kingdom of light as he says in Colossians 1. Full of people who are still in need of a savior and learning how to walk with that savior. He's still our great God and savior, still reigning overall, still bringing people to know him, still bringing people to be with him for all of eternity. And as we await his return, he has given us a job. He's still using us to see every man, woman, and child have repeated opportunities to hear and see the gospel of Jesus Christ because the grace of God has appeared and it offers salvation to all people. Finally in verse 15, we'll end with this. "These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you." This is what we need to pass down. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ and the life that is in line with it. And we do it in the authority of God's word, in the authority of his word. Are you walking in line with the gospel this morning or are you using God's grace as an excuse to live however you want? Are you bringing others along with you or are you so busy investing in yourself that you're leaving everyone else 40 feet behind? Are you taking what was given to you and investing it or are you satisfied to just give back 100%? God calls for more than giving back 100%. He calls us to invest what he has given us into the lives of others. You and I are in this room today because somebody else, other people, they did it for us. And we're called today to do the same for the generations who are coming behind us. To be a church that lives beyond us, we have to be a church of faithful discipleship. Let's go ahead and bow our heads, close our eyes. If you're here this morning and you've never come to know Jesus, you've never trusted in his grace, you've never trusted in his death and his resurrection. I want you to know today that this news of this Jesus, it changes everything. It changes lives. It rearranges you, it makes you new. And I wanna invite you, if you've never trusted in Jesus today, we're gonna have some prayer partners down front. I invite you to come and talk with one of them. Or if you see me or whoever around, ask somebody, what does it mean to trust in Jesus? And how can I do that? Maybe you're here today and you've been investing in yourself, but in nobody else. It's time to go before the Lord today and to repent of that and to turn from that and ask, "Lord, how can I invest in the next generation?" How can I invest in those who are coming up behind me? And if you're here today and you realize that there's been something in your heart that's pushing other people away, that's leaving other people in the dust, that's not allowing you to walk alongside other believers. I wanna invite you today to turn from that, turn to the Lord. Remember that you are united with him and that so is every other believer in this room. We're all united in Christ. We are one body and we're called to walk together. Lord God, you have given yourself to us. You have invested the life of your son, the death of your son, the resurrection of your son, and to us that we may know you and walk with you forever. God, I pray that you would change us, that you would help us to take that seriously, that you would put the call in our lives loud and clear to be investing ourself in others as well, to be walking in line with the gospel and to be passing it on to the next generation as well. We are so thankful that you have come for us, Jesus, that you have gone to the cross, that we could be forgiven, made new and have eternity with you. We love you Lord. It's in Jesus name that I pray, amen, amen.