Grow Together

It's only two Sundays away. September 7th is coming. It's the opening of the Bills season. And I can assure you, ever since last season ended on January 26th, every player and coach has had September 7th circled on their calendars. I guarantee it, every single one of 'em. Now, the coaches have a job and the players have a job. And when everyone does their job, it builds a culture that a winning team wants to have. And like a bunch of the Bills in interviews, in their own words have said, they want to grow together through training camp, and in the preseason in light of a day that's coming. And that day is September 7th. When everything becomes real, it's no more preseason games, no more scrimmages that are happening. Everything becomes real. And September 7th is what they're all looking forward to when everything counts. So let me ask us a question here. As a church, what day are we looking toward and how do we grow together toward that day? I think the Apostle Paul actually addresses these questions when he wrote his first letter to the church at Thessaloniki, it's called 1 Thessalonians, in case you didn't pick that part up. That's where we're going to be in just a few moments. And as I mentioned last week, when we gather together for worship, we're actually foreshadowing the great coming day of the Lord when every nation and tongue and tribe is before him worshiping him for who he is. And when Paul is going to offer some closing instructions in his letter to the Thessalonian church, he actually frames that in view of the coming day that is in front of all of us, the coming day of the Lord. Listen to how Paul says it in 1 Thessalonians chapter five, beginning in verse number one, he says, "now brothers and sisters about times and dates, we do not need to write you for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman and they will not escape. But you brothers and sisters are not in darkness. So that this day should surprise you like a thief." And then down in verse 11 it says this, "therefore encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing." So Paul says that there's a day coming and it's the day that we've been reminded of in a number of places in scripture, this great day of the Lord that is coming in front of us and we in the church should encourage one another and build one another up in light of the fact that that day is coming. But how specifically, this is the question, how specifically can we do that? Well, Paul goes through a number of things that we're gonna get to in just a moment, but he begins by saying that in the church itself that the body of Christ needs to honor those in the church entrusted with the care of the souls of people. I know that I'm talking about people like me at this point, right? But I don't shirk preaching whatever is in the text. If it says something about me and my relationship with you, then it does, right? And I don't avoid that or run from that, it's the word. This is what we all embrace. Listen to what he wrote beginning in verse number 12, Paul wrote, now we ask you brothers and sisters to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you, hold them in the highest regard and love because of their work and live in peace with each other. Now, as he concludes this exhortation, when he talks about those who are entrusted with spiritual care of the church, Paul says, live in peace with each other. Now, it's hard to know when I'm reading this in Greek, whether or not this live in peace with each other, is actually talking about what just came before it or is it setting up what's about to come after it? He could be talking about live in peace, in other words, honor those who work hard among you in the Lord and who are shepherding your souls so that you live in peace with those who have been given some sense of spiritual leadership in your life. Or he could be talking about what he's about to talk about and that is the instructions he's giving to the whole church. I'm not exactly sure, but here's the thing. Either way this phrase is directed, both are needed and both are true because peace is the atmosphere in which people can grow in the likeness of the kingdom. This is the actual atmosphere. When Paul wrote to the Romans, notice what he said about the characteristics of the kingdom of God, he said, "for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." The nature of the kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And so when a church has that kind of culture, it produces people who will fit right in to the beauty of the eternal kingdom of God. And that's what we're doing anyway, right? We are working out, being shaped into the image of Jesus because we are being fit for an eternal kingdom. So now in 1 Thessalonians five, when we get to verse number 14, as we will in just a moment, we see a little bit of a turn. Prior to that, Paul has been talking about the great day of the Lord and then he says, how do we respond to that? How do we grow together? And he says, well, there should be peace in the church and those who care for your souls and those who are among the body of Christ, there should be peace there. But then he turns his attention to everyone in the church, every single person. In essence, Paul is saying, it's not only spiritual leader's job to create this culture, it is everyone in the church's job to create this culture. Maybe we could look at it this way. Paul shows us that Jesus is coming on that great day, right? But he's also showing us that Jesus is here through his people. He's coming, but he's also here and he wants us, every one of us to help each other grow in his likeness in light of his return. So if we can look at these, and really this message is all application because it's all instruction. There's some things that you preach, you know, and you have to work out the application and work out the, this is just Paul giving instructions to you and me. And so you need to just personalize this what you're about to hear. This isn't somebody else that's being communicated with here. This is you and me. Paul's talking to all of us in the church and maybe we can ask this question, how do we grow together in light of this coming day of the Lord? I'm gonna give you a handful of things to think about. And here's the first one, we're to warn the idle and disruptive. Now you're like, okay, coming out hot. Yeah, well this is what Paul actually says in verse number 14. Look at the very beginning of the verse and he says, and we urge you brothers and sisters, that's talking to all of us, right? That all of us that are in the body of Christ, warn those who are idle and disruptive. Now, the word here in Greek for warn, that's it sounds like a scary word, doesn't it? You hear warn and you're just like, dun, dun, right? It feels a little bit like that, but the word warn in Greek is not necessarily a bad word. It can also be translated admonish. And that word in the Greek, noutheto, is an interesting word because it literally means this. Watch this, it means to put in the mind of, that's what the Greek word means, to put in the mind of. So this isn't, in other words, when this instruction is given to us to warn those who are idle, and disruptive, the warners, they're not, they don't have a license in the church to be the designated fault finder or the fire starter or the self-appointed watchdog or the back biter or the tattletale. That's not really what's going on. We've all likely been around those people before. Those are the people that when you see them coming, you just want to fake an injury and excuse yourself to the restroom, right? That's not the idea behind warn or admonish. That term is a term that's based in love. Yes, it lovingly, listen to this. Yes, it lovingly corrects a brother or a sister who is walking astray, but it also puts into their mind the good and the right that God wants to do with them and through them. But who is it that Paul says needs this warning? And by the way, remember we're not just talking about me warning the church, we're talking about the church warning the church. This is about the brothers and sisters. This is about how we operate together, right? Who does he say needs warning, the idle and disruptive. Well, it's interesting because in the Greek language that is actually just one word in the Greek, and it's not solely a descriptor of somebody who's lazy, even though it encompasses that, you think idle, you think lazy, right? It's not just solely that. It's also describing somebody who's unruly or disorderly or disobedient. Now, who is that describing in Thessaloniki? I mean Paul's writing to a group of people. Does he have something specific in mind? Well, I know he's got at least one and probably more, but he's got at least one idea in mind. And that is it probably had to do with people who had a wrong idea about the coming of Jesus. And so what they did is they quit their jobs and they were becoming a drain on the community and he was basically referencing them as being unruly or disruptive because in the next letter that he writes, he uses the same exact Greek word to describe idle and disruptive and basically says this, if you don't work, you don't eat. That's what he said because he's basically saying, you've got a wrong idea about the coming of Jesus. That's in part why he wrote chapter four of 1 Thessalonians, you've got a wrong idea about the coming of Jesus and now you've just quit your jobs and you've become a drain on the community and you're being unruly and disruptive. So it could be that that he's addressing, but he's also maybe addressing those who are out of step in their conduct because that word in the Greek language actually references a military marching order and somebody gets out of step in the marching order. And so he's referring to acting in ways that aren't becoming of a follower of Jesus. And Paul's point is that it's everyone's responsibility to lovingly correct those things when you have a brother or sister that's out of step. When you've got a brother or sister who is lazy or unruly or disordered, that you've got a responsibility to come alongside of them, staying with the Bills illustration for just a moment. Here's one of the things that Sean McDermott would tell you. Here's one of the things that I know as somebody who's coached a lot of baseball and coached baseball teams, anybody who's been in athletics, do you know what one of the signs of a really healthy culture is? The players police themselves. That's the sign of a healthy culture. Somebody doesn't show up for a meeting on time. A player calls out that player. The coach doesn't have to, somebody not hitting the gym like they should be hitting the gym. A player speaks with that player. Somebody not acting in public, representing the organization as they ought to. A player speaks to that player. You see what that shows you is that there's a healthy accountability. It creates an environment where everyone is accountable to everyone for the sake of the team. That's what Paul is helping the church to see right here. We're all accountable to one another in light of the coming of Jesus and the full revealing of the kingdom of God. So he says, when a brother or sister is out of step, what you're to do is you're to admonish them. That's not coming off the top rope with an elbow. Admonishment has to do with lovingly correcting them. Hey, you're walking too close to the edge of this cliff and I want you to be safe and walk here in the path that God has designed for you. That's what that looks like and that's the job of everybody, with everybody. Lemme show you a second instruction that we get, how we grow together in light of the coming day of the Lord. We encourage the disheartened. This is right there in the text, you're gonna see me. I'm literally borrowing all of the points from the Bible itself. My job is professional plagiarism. That's what I do, I teach the word, right. Here's what it says in verse 14. "We urge you, brothers and sisters warn those who are idle and disruptive. Encourage the disheartened." Now that word is interesting, and I'm doing a little more today in the Greek language maybe because it helps to unfold this a little more, maybe doing that more than I normally would. The word for disheartened literally translates small souled. It's from a word in Greek, oligopsuchos, it's a compound word that means small souled. What it speaks of is those who are fearful, who are timid, who are easily frightened or easily discouraged that the capacity for their soul's faith is not large, but is small. Now, Paul's audience in Thessaloniki certainly had some people like this, that they were disheartened for at least two reasons that I could tell you from reading through 1 and 2 Thessalonians. First of all, some of them were scared because their loved ones who knew Jesus had died and they thought that meant that their loved ones were going to miss the return of Jesus. This is why Paul unpacks all this in the previous chapter in chapter number four, which I've talked through before, but that's, they were scared about this. My loved ones died. And so they've missed the coming of Jesus and Paul brings them comfort and helps 'em to understand, no, they haven't missed that because they're going to, they're actually going to get up first. We who are alive and remain will not proceed those, right? So he talks about how no, they're not gonna get left out. But the second way maybe is, you know, because we understand this word disheartened. It's actually used in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and it's used to describe people who aren't enduring in the face of trial or persecution. So some of the people are disheartened because they thought they lost their loved ones and they missed Jesus. And then others are scared because they're facing persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ. And so what are we to do with people like this? Well, we comfort them, we encourage them. How do we encourage them? Listen carefully, not with false platitudes, not with just little inspo sayings. We comfort and encourage them with the truth of God's word. It doesn't mean necessarily that every time somebody's running into something that you have to have chapter and verse. I'm not saying that, it's good if you do, but I'm not saying you have to have that. But whatever it is you are encouraging them with needs to be consistent with the truth of God revealed in the word. Do you know why? Listen, do you know why? Because it expands their soul. You see in that moment, for whatever reason, they're small souled and we're looking to increase the capacity of their soul by the word of God. In fact, if you think I'm making that up, listen to what the psalm is said in Psalm 1:19. I will run in the way of your commandments or your word when you, what, enlarge my heart. You see friends for the small souled, they need to have an added capacity. And that capacity comes when the truth of the word of God is brought into their world and it changes their perspective. I remember when, it was a number of years ago, but I was in a time in my ministry life, it was the hardest time actually that I've had in ministry and it was just a difficult, difficult season. And I'll be honest with you, I felt pretty small souled. That's just the only way I know how to describe it. I was disheartened to some degree. I called a buddy of mine in another state and we talked and we were only on the phone probably for about 15 minutes because he had something else that he had to do. But he took my call and I told him what was, you know, happening in my heart. And for 15 minutes he ministered the word to me. In one passage he just pulled out one passage in the Psalms. I still remember he pulled out one passage in the Psalms and he just began to minister the word to me. And in that moment, my soul grew the capacity for my perspective of who God is, what God does, how God does it. It all began to enlarge, it was incredible. Interestingly enough, a number of years later I was, Edie and I were in town in that particular town and we were visiting with that friend of mine and his wife and they had just gone through a particularly difficult scenario in their own lives personally and in their church. And I had the opportunity, we had the opportunity to minister the word in their context. And I remember my brother's wife, my friend's wife, he said, she said to me, you are the first person in the midst of all of this to minister the word to us. And I can't tell you how much it has encouraged me. You see, this is what we do in the body of Christ. We encourage the disheartened because one day you may be the disheartened and another day you may need to minister to someone who is, but Paul says, this is how, listen, this is how we grow together in light of the coming day of the Lord. Lemme tell you a third truth. We grow together by helping the weak. If you're following along in verse 14, you're figuring out exactly every one of my points because this is all where they're coming from. Here's what it says in verse 14. "We urge you, brothers and sisters warn those who are idle and disruptive. Encourage the disheartened, help the weak." Paul could be talking in a different way here about what he was just referring to when he talked about the disheartened, those who are emotionally or psychologically in kind of a place of weakness. But I think that he's actually not just repeating the same thing. I think he's actually extending this out to talk about at least the physically weak and maybe even the economically weak here. My mind by the way, runs to an illustration of this from 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I won't go there to the text, but it runs to this where they were gathered together for a time of what they called the love feast. The agape feast. And while they were there, the wealthy got there early, ate their fill, had all they wanted, and the poor that were coming in didn't have much to eat. And Paul says this, this is not how we do it. We don't overlook the weak in what we do as the people of God. We actually show care to the weak. Paul here, when he talks about the weak, could also be talking about sharing love and showing care for those with infirmities. People maybe whose needs are unique and different, people with various conditions in need of special care. He may be also talking about those who are spiritually weak, maybe their consciences are weak and they don't yet understand what freedom in Christ actually looks like. He refers to that in other places like in Romans 14 and elsewhere. Or maybe he's talking about the spiritually weak and the morally weak who are prone to giving into temptation and prone to messing up. And the word help here, help the weak in Greek is a picture of looking someone eyeball to eyeball and holding their arms and enduring through something with them. That's the picture here. Or maybe if we could use a picture this way, it's almost a picture of gardening. I want you to know I'm a professional gardener, and by that I mean that I know how to kill everything in a yard. Everything, I have a black thumb. It is the thumb of death, everything I touch turns to death. But you know what, I know having seen yards that are cared for well is that sometimes you've got bushes in the yard that don't need much at all. You don't have to pay that much attention to them. They're just hearty. Like whatever sun God gives and whatever rain God gives, that's good enough for the bush. You don't have to do anything in particular, but then you've got some things that are growing that are fragile and you've gotta really make sure that you're pulling weeds that are around it. You've gotta make sure that you water it in just the right way, not too much, not too little. You've gotta make sure the soil is well cared for. See, this is the picture friends that we have in the body of Christ. We have some believers that are pretty hardy in the way that they function in the body of Christ. And then we've got some that maybe for whatever reason in that moment are a little bit more fragile. It doesn't mean necessarily they're fragile all the time, but it may mean they're fragile in this particular time and we've gotta help one another in those circumstances. Let me give you a fourth truth, as you can probably pick up, if you've got a Bible open, be patient with everyone. Notice what Paul says in verse 14, "and we urge you, brothers and sisters warn those who are idle and disruptive. Encourage the disheartened, help the weak. Be patient with everyone." The word here for patient is different than the one the New Testament uses when it talks about patience in trials. That is talking about patience in the midst of something. This word that's used here is talking about patience in relationships. It's talking about being long suffering. Let me just say this, it's easy to lose our patience and our perspective with people in church. I've been asked many, many times if certain things in church life bother me, they're just like, now does it bother you? I get asked this all the time, does it bother you when the same people come in late every single week? Not the occasional, I'm late, I had something come up, but I'm talking about the same people every single week as if they haven't picked up in eight years that we start at nine or at 11. Does it bother you when the folks don't think about anyone else and they get up and down every week and it's like, use the restroom before you show up. Does that bother you? Does it bother you when parents don't think about maybe where they've sat with their kids and they bring 'em to the front row and play cars and stuff right in front of everybody and right in front of you so that it can distract you and maybe everybody around, does it bother you when people that want to dominate your time after the service and they don't care that there's a line 20 people deep of people that want to talk to you and they just don't, it doesn't matter or they don't care that you're in a conversation with someone and they just barge right in and stand in front of that person and talk? Does that bother you? Does it bother you when when people that you give time and energy to helping them through something or they've asked your opinion on something and then they throw off everything you said and do exactly the opposite and get themselves into all kinds of bad business? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It does bother me, I'm human like you, but I'm called to patience. I'm called to patience and so are you. It does bother me, I'm human like you, but I'm called to patience. I'm called to patience and so are you. And in a moment I'm going to tell you why, but let me give you the fifth truth here in our passage. How do we grow together in light of this coming day of the Lord? Avoid vengeance and pursue good. All of these are true about how we grow together in light of that day. Look with me in verse number 15. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong. That can also be translated evil for evil, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Evil and wrong can exist in the church. It can exist in the church. And even though we might have to deal with it in certain ways, God has not entrusted vengeance to his people. Be careful that you do not engage in vengeance. Vengeance only belongs to the Lord because only he can rightly wield it and only he can rightly apply it. We are understanding that his coming, which we're living in light of, his coming is going to take care of all injustice so we can trust him. We are instead, instead of being a people of vengeance, we are to pursue good for people. Those who have wronged us, those who are good to us, we pursue good for people. Yes, some things are evil and can and should be called such and can and should be dealt with. But God is powerful and redemptive and may want to use us to show Jesus to these folks. Because remember what Paul says here. He says, always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. So he's talking about in the body of Christ and outside the body of Christ. But see, here's the difficulty. We are too prone to selfishness that whoever agrees with us is good, and whoever disagrees with us is evil. Every time, every single time a political election rolls around, this is exactly the messaging to you. Whoever agrees with you is good. Whoever disagrees with you is evil. Do not fall into that trap, leave room for God's redemptive purposes and also leave room for God's just wrath because only he can perfectly apply it. Vengeance is not what we choose, that's not been entrusted to us. We pursue good for our brothers and sisters and for those that we maybe don't know outside of the body of Christ. Now, why are all of these instructions so important in light of Jesus coming? Because Jesus is coming to make wrong things right and broken things better. This is what he's coming to do and he's coming to fully remake his people in his image. Now, yes, justice is coming. He's going to deal with that which is wrong, but he is also going to shape the people of God into his image. That's why Paul is saying all of these things about why he wants us to grow together. I want you to take a look and just maybe jot this down to grow together is when we all grow in the likeness of Jesus. This is what it means to grow together, when we all grow in the likeness of Jesus. This is why Paul's giving us this instruction, not because it's random, not because he's just trying to offer rules, not because he even wants us to just behavior modify for the sake of it. No, he wants to help us understand when we know Jesus, when we're walking with the life of Jesus in us, these are the things that come out of us because they're like him. Think about it with me for just a moment. Did Jesus warn the disruptive? I mean when you open up Mark's gospel, the very first words that Jesus is recorded as saying in his ministry life is this, in Mark 1, "after John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said, the kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe the good news." This is how Jesus opened his ministry. Repent and believe the good news, why? Jesus was bringing a message of the kingdom and he was warning or admonishing everyone to turn from their sin, to turn from themselves and embrace the good news of the kingdom of God, why? Because the world and everything in it was out of step. The world and everything in it is disordered. So Jesus came to bring the order of the kingdom into the chaos of a broken world. Jesus warned the idle and disruptive, Jesus also encouraged the disheartened. I mean, you can look just about anywhere to see that. If you went to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter six, listen to what he says. "Therefore, I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you'll eat or drink or about your body, what you'll wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes. So do not worry saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear. For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them." Or maybe he's talking to those who are so small souled and fearful that they just always walk around life fearful. In Luke 12 verse 32, Jesus says, "don't be afraid, little flock, for your father's been pleased to give you the kingdom." Or maybe it's when somebody's downcast like a disciple like Peter who has disowned Jesus, right? And he's walking around with a small soul and he's got shame and guilt for denying his Lord. But Jesus still comes alongside of him and restores him and uses him and encourages him, lifts his heart, expands his soul. Jesus encouraged the disheartened. Jesus also helped the weak. I mean he healed the sick and the blind and the lame and the deaf. He fed 5,000 people who were hungry. He welcomed the social outcasts, whether it was tax collectors or prostitutes or run of the mill sinners or marginalized people like lepers or gentiles. Jesus helped the weak. Jesus is patient with everyone. Thank God that Jesus is patient with everyone because we know full well, friends, that his patience with us is the only way we are saved. Listen to what Peter wrote in 2 Peter three. Do not forget this one thing, dear friends with the Lord. A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord's not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. Instead, he's patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. And since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives. As you look forward to the day of God and speed it's coming that day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you're looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation. Just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. You see, I'm connecting Paul and Peter's thoughts here on the same thing, that thank God that Jesus has been patient with us and that because of his patience, we had an opportunity to be transformed by his spirit and made new in him. Don't you thank God for that. And that's why friends, we can be patient with one another because it's his life that is living in and through us, toward others. But I wanna remind you of this last piece that I hit on about Paul's instructions. Paul said, Paul said for us that we avoid vengeance and pursue the good, but do you know what Jesus did? He received God's vengeance to pursue our good. Listen to what Romans five teaches us. Paul writes, you see at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we've now been justified by his blood. How much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Jesus for if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son? How much more having been reconciled shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received reconciliation. You see, God poured out his wrath on his son who went to the cross willingly to do that. So that by his death and our place taking God's wrath upon himself that was due us, we now through his death and his resurrection by faith in him, can be reconciled to the Father and not have our sins counted against us because Jesus has dealt with them in our place. This is why Paul gives us this instruction, because to grow together is when we all grow in likeness to Jesus. We're putting his life on display. So let me ask you a couple of questions. Have you closed your eyes to trouble in your brother or sister's life? You should not. We owe it to one another in love to be able to pull each other away from the side of the cliff and put into the mind what it means to walk faithfully with Jesus. Let me ask you this question. Do you know the word well enough to encourage people with more than just inspo sayings or platitudes, but when they're really disheartened, can you take them to God's truth and help them have a heart that's enlarged in learning to grow in capacity, in trusting God in the midst of whatever is disheartening them? Have you shut your eyes to the needs of others, maybe that are physically weak or maybe that are spiritually weak or emotionally weak because you think it's someone else's job? We can't have a healthy culture if we're not all accountable to helping one another in the meeting of needs. Have you lacked patience so often among brothers and sisters in Christ that you've developed a heart of arrogance? How could they, what are they thinking? What if your patience and your kindness was one of the ways Jesus drew people to himself? His kindness draws us to repentance, the scripture says. Are you avoiding biting into Satan's toxic fruit that suggests that you must pay back evil for evil and wrong for wrong? You get hit, you hit back. It's what everything in the world tells us we're supposed to do, but can we show them a different kingdom at work? We need to show the world that we trust Jesus because he's coming and we need to show the world that we live like Jesus because he's here. So let's grow together in his likeness so the world can see and hear the truth that the great savior of the world has come and is coming. And maybe you're here and you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I want you to know that his death satisfying the justice of God against sin, his sinless life offered in place of your sinful one, that he died for your sins, rose from the grave conquering sin and death in hell. And that if you put your faith and your trust in him, you can have your sins forgiven, your life made new. You can enter into a new family and a new kingdom and be regenerated. And if that's your need, I hope that you'll respond in faith today by putting your trust in Jesus. Let's bow our heads together for prayer. In a moment, we'll be walking out and we'll be dismissed. If you're here and you've never put your faith or trust in Jesus, can I say that the first invitation I wanna make is to you. We've got some folks that'll be standing down front, some prayer partners, some men and women, they're making their way there now. They'll be just standing right down here. And when we dismiss in a moment, if your need is to put your trust in Jesus, would you just come and take one of them by the hand and say, I wanna put my faith in my trust in Jesus and let them pray with you. Let them pray a prayer of faith with you to put your trust in Christ. You'll make no more important decision in your whole life. I don't know what brought you today. Maybe you come a lot, maybe you don't come that much. Maybe it's your first time here, I have no idea. Really glad you're here, but I hope that you won't leave not having settled the issue of putting your faith, your trust, your salvation in Jesus. And if that's your need, when we dismiss in a moment, just take one of the men or women that are here by the hand and just say, I wanna put my faith and trust in Jesus. They'll pray with you, they'll send you home with something that'll help you in your journey of faith. Let us be a help to you. Or maybe you're here and you recognize that the spirit of God was speaking to you about some of these areas that maybe you just need to yield to him. Maybe you want somebody to pray with you about that, feel free. Come by, take one of these folks by the hand, they'd love to take a moment and pray with you. Or maybe you wanna pray with a brother or sister that's near you. Maybe God brought to mind somebody that you need to talk to, somebody that you need to forgive, somebody that you need to help, somebody that you need to encourage. I don't know what it looks like for you. Would you do what the spirit of God asks? Father, thank you for the work of your spirit. We can't manipulate it, don't want to. We trust that you will do your good work and your good pleasure among your people for your glory. So God, would you give your people a heart to obey and to obey immediately what you ask of them so that we might be a culture here that's reflective of the righteousness, peace and joy and the Holy Spirit that reflects the kingdom of God. Help us to grow together and be shaped into your likeness. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.