Welcome welcome grace and truth church april 1st 2025 let us go to the lord in prayer uh lord we just want to thank you um for being able to gather together in your name we thank you for everybody that came out to hear your word lord and we expect marvelous things from you lord to reach down and uh Give us revelation. Let us see who you are clearly tonight, Lord. And we thank you for sending your son to die, die for us for the sins that we committed. Lord, it's just, uh, it's a love that I'm still trying to understand fully. So, Lord, we thank you. Bless your word as it goes forward tonight. And Jesus, we pray. Amen. So if you're new to this church and you haven't been here before, I'd like to ask you to come up front and share a little bit of details about your life. April Fool's Day. I appreciate that you was going to do it. Man, that was awesome. Hey, I like that. I'd never do that to you. But hey, I like the boldness. All right, so tonight we're going to finish our series on the Sermon on the Mount. We're going to look at Matthew 7, but as I'm learning with this sermon, you can't look at 7 without looking at 5 and 6. You can't look at 5 without looking at 6 and 7. You can't look at 6 without looking at 5 and 7. It is so intertwined together. This continual teaching from the first verse to the last, it's connected. I want to share a thought first. I wrote this a few years back. I might even have said it at the podium, but I saw it the other day and I said, this is the sermon on the mouth for me. Have you ever had God speak to you but couldn't put it into words? You knew it was God. And for a split second, everything was so clear for the light of God was shining on you. Then when you go to try to express that, the words couldn't come. The words got lost as you were trying to hold on to that moment. The harder you try, the faster the moment fled away. I missed it. God gave me a revelation and I was unable to hold on to it in order to mix his light with my soul so that I would be able to minister that thought to others. Now imagine standing in a pitch dark room with no reference to what's in it. This is where we started in Christ. No reference to what's in that room. You can't see a thing. Now imagine that light going on and off as fast as it could. You saw it, right? You saw the room. Saw what was in it. But alas, that memory fades very quickly. Soon you can't remember the color of the chair, if the lamp was on the end table or on the dresser. This is what an untrained mind in the Word does with a revelation from the Word. It tries to remember what was in the room and the details, but it has no reference point. You started with nothing. Pitch blackness. And as we study the word, that darkness in which we previously had no reference in, comes a little different. As we stand in a dark room, now we wait for the light to come on. And we know that there's a chair in the corner, and that there is a lamp, and we can even tell you what color the rug is. So when that light from God is turned on, we react more quickly, and are more capable of retaining the information we are given in that split second. We grow in understanding and wisdom. We are no longer standing in a dark room with no idea what's in it. But we are eagerly waiting for that light to come on so we can hold on to every detail, so we can add to what we have seen last time. This is how I see in studying the Word of God and growing in His grace. He gives me glimpses, He gives us glimpses of Himself. For if He would reveal Himself fully, we would be crushed under His glory. And we must train and exercise our spiritual minds to hold these enlightened truths and grow in the light in this world of darkness in which we live. This is how this study of the sermon's been for me. Just one thing being revealed on top of another. Still too much for me to properly administer it to you guys, being honest. I'm gonna get up here and do the best I can. So I just pray tonight that something new in the room, that secret place of your heart is revealed to you, so you can add it to the last thing you knew. So before we go into chapter 7 on the Sermon on the Mount, let's take a quick look at what Jesus was teaching so far. He starts off with the end of our faith and the Beatitudes, the blessed are statements. Showing us the qualities, characteristics, and the possessions of the person who dwells in the kingdom of heaven here on earth. those whose lives are found seated in Christ in the heavenlies. Ephesians 2, 6 tells us, and he raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Do you know that's where you dwell? That your home is in heaven, in Christ already, even though we walk around in this flesh? His teachings would reveal that these qualities are a gift from God. The blessed are statements are a gift from God and cannot be earned or attained, attained to. You can't wake up today and tell, we can't wake up today and tell ourselves, I'm going to be the poorest and spirit person I know. I'm going to try really hard at that, or I'm going to be the biggest peacemaker on the planet. I'm going to go out there and make peace with everybody. or even I'm going to have the purest heart today. For once we determined to work for these qualities and characteristics, self-righteousness is revealed, thus disqualifying us from God's work. The blessed statements are a gift of God. Pour in spirit, mourn, seek for righteousness, peacemakers. But we now have the Holy Spirit to live in and through us. to live our new life in Christ for us, to forgive for us, to give mercy for us, to give grace for us, to love for us, so that the God of the universe might live through us. I had a friend I was talking to recently, and he's like, I just can't forgive him. I'm like, that's the point. You can't. But he did. He paid the price. And we have his spirit dwelling in us to do all the things that we cannot do. Try to be the peacemaker of your day and watch it crash around you. Yeah. You and I can't do it. But us, who are at least in the kingdom of heaven, are his worksmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, Ephesians 2 10. Look at the opportunities in your life. The harvest is plentiful for good works, but the laborers are few. He's created it for you. You just need to walk in it. Jesus goes on to explain that he knows we couldn't do it and that we won't do it. live a perfect life in obedience to God, that is, and that He came to fulfill that law, to be that perfect, obedient servant of the Father. He came to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees for us, not coming to tell us that the law was wrong, but by showing us how the law is too holy, too high, too hard, and too heavenly for us to keep. so that He would do it for us. He reveals our evil hearts in reflection of God's perfect law in chapter five by showing us the matters of our heart in and by our thought life. And how God's perfection, His perfect requirements to enter into the kingdom of heaven is not just an outwardly don't do this and do that, but an inwardly probe of how you think about things and the thoughts that you've thought. And by revealing these things, He's revealed to us that we have all already failed, if you're honest. And that we can't make ourselves acceptable before a perfect and holy God. You know, with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And Jesus shows us that. James 2.10 says, forever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, and He is guilty of all. So you might not think you're that bad compared to them. But God says you're worse, each one of us. We're equally condemned before Him without Jesus Christ as our Savior. And by doing it all for us, He would be justified before the Father in sending His Spirit to those of us who believe in Him, the only begotten of the Father, our Savior, our King, Jesus. So we must understand this before we move on through this sermon, that He would do it all for us, because Jesus then goes on, later on in 5 and in chapter 6 and even in the 7, with a bunch of do's and don'ts. He's not giving us new laws here. After all, He just plainly and clearly stated in chapter 5 that He was the one to come to fulfill the law of Christ, the law of God. He was the one that was gonna do that, but then he goes on in his sermon and says, well, do it this way and don't do it that way. But revealing the law and by revealing the Father's heart, he is showing us the characteristics of those who are kingdom dwellers here on earth and those who are not. These are the do's and don'ts. These are a self-checkpoint for you. Revealers of what kingdom you are dwelling in, the heavenly or the earthly. Second Corinthians 13 5 examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith test yourselves Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified unless indeed he doesn't He shows us that the father moves in secret and And as possessors of the Spirit of God, Jesus Christ that dwells in us, we will move and act like the Father when we walk in that Spirit. And since the Father hides in plain sight in the Son, the Son will be just like the Father and hide Himself in plain sight in you and I. so that we can all be one with Jesus and the Father. Show us the Father, Philip asked Jesus in John 14, six and eight, and Jesus responds, have you not seen me, Philip? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. So could we be so bold to walk this Christian life out? Could we be this bold to walk this life out in the faith of his faith? Not to tell people, run around saying, hey, Christ dwells in me. But to be so bold in that secret place, that secret silence of our lives, to let Christ hide himself in plain sight in you for them. Deny yourself, pick up your cross, die daily, and allow him to reveal himself through you to them, to the world, to the dark world. If not you, then who? He also talks about the hands, the eye, and the heart of the mind, in particular in this sermon. The hands, how we do things. The eye, how we see things. And the heart, how we think about things. Is it like the Father in heaven? These are the probing questions when He says, do this and don't do that. The testing, if you are dwelling in the Spirit. Is what you do and see and think in line with the mind of Christ? Do you have the mind of Christ? Do we all know that we have it as believers? Doing the right things in the right way for the right reason and being perfect and doing it in secret. This is how the Father works. Or are your works done wrong? Or is your heart not right? Or do you look at things in the wrong way? If you answered yes to one of these three questions, then it's not the Father in heaven who is perfect. We can walk this life out perfectly, trusting in the Lord, letting Christ who dwells in us to live through us. Galatians 2.20, my favorite verse, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for doing that for us. Because if he didn't do it for us and live through us, we don't have a chance. Like I said, my buddy's like, I can't forgive him. Of course you can't. Because if you could, Christ died in vain. So now moving on, chapter 7. We're on the downhill slope of the conclusions of Jesus' continual sermon thought. And it's like I said, it's all connected. I've only had the light switch on a few times. I've got to spend a lifetime so I can see this room bright and every detail in it. So verse 1. through five, judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove that speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye. Hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Jesus, I believe, is now tying a lot of his teachings together from the previous two chapters. And if we were sitting there listening, if we were students of the word, we will see these connections. He goes through the law and how our hearts are to be. He looks at the qualities of those kingdom dwellers here on earth. And I believe in self-reflection on everything he's been teaching. He drops the hammer right now. Judge not that you may not be judged. So what's he telling us here? Is he telling us not to judge at all? Or is he looking at our hearts and how we judge people? Now remember in the end of chapter five, so you can be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. And our Father in heaven will and does judge perfectly. For to tell us not to judge anything would be nonsensical teaching. A few of us bigger fellows in this room, we judge those chairs before we sit in them if they're gonna haul our weight or not. That's a judgment. And I hope you're judging right now. Or at least I hope you are judging the words coming out of my mouth. and that they align with the word of God, the mind of Christ. So we are to judge. So what kind of judgments are we doing? Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. It's that type of judgment that we're using here. And it's interesting too, as we go through three and five, he brings up the I again. He brings up hypocrite for the last time in his sermon. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own? You hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. What did he say about the eye previously? If it causes you to sin, pluck it out. 622, that was 529, and 622 he talks about the eye being the lamp of the body. And if that eye is light, how great is that light. And if that eye is dark, how great is that darkness that dwells in you. So now he's telling us that when we judge others as if we're not sinners that have been saved by grace, that we were not previously sinners before we were saved by grace, We now have a log in our eye, we have shut the light out, and we have a darkness dwelling in us. And self-righteousness. It's always self-righteousness. Every time you judge somebody and look at what they do, you're self-righteous. And if you claim to be a Christian, you're a hypocrite. It's what Jesus is telling us. I'm so guilty of this, but God has been working on me, and I've seen the God-given increase in this area of my life, judging others. Like I got something figured out. That anything that I have figured out wasn't a gift from God given to me. That the same gift needs to be given to them if they haven't quite learned it yet. I didn't do nothing to earn any understanding that I have, and I expect them to earn it. And it's not because this increase that God's given me, it's not because I wake up and I try really hard to judge correctly that day. It doesn't work. But by asking God to do His work in me and for me, and when I do judge, I confess it in my heart before God that I have sinned against Him. Looking at the sins of others, unwilling to forgive, when I myself desperately need my sins forgiven and forgotten daily by God to stay in His presence, or more accurately, for His presence to dwell in me. You know, if He did not forget and forgive every sin that He could not dwell in one of us, we are wretched and unclean before Him without the blood, without the cleansing of the Word. And does Jesus, like I said, does Jesus do this with us? Yet we do this with each other daily. Judge us according to our sins, the same sins that sent Him to die on a cross for us. Does He throw a stone at us? Did He throw a stone at the woman caught in adultery? Then why? Why do we continue? Why do I continue to do this in my life? It's a tragedy. Yeah. Yeah, I'm a harlot. I'm a whore. I knew this one was gonna be tough. I walk out on Jesus daily and lay down with others. Daily. When I sin, I'm leaving him. I'm leaving him behind. I'm gonna go do my own thing. I'm a whore. Yet every time I return home, he welcomes me and rejoices that I came back. I'm Gomer, he is Hosea, who pays the full bride price for me every time I go whoring around on him and comes and gets me and brings me home when necessary. What kind of great love is this? that when I love him less, he loves me all the more. Paul understood this love, this love of God. When he said to the Corinthians, I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. So be it. I'm not going to stop using abuse me. I don't care. I'm going to let the love of God pour through me. It's a love that I can't fully understand yet. It's a love that I want to pour into me so that it may pour out of me. Listen, I know that this is hard to grasp with hurt people that may have hurt you, with hurt people that hurt themselves. I've been that person. But if we look at the sins of others in self-righteous judgment, that's exactly who we are. Hypocrites, play-acting Christians. This is life and death, people. We want to sit there and be petty over the sins of others when our Father in heaven would not dare do that to us. It's either finished or it's not. It's either paid for or debt is still owed. Forgetting so easily that we are the ones that Christ died for, as well as them. Do not judge. Do not assess and value them by their sin, but assess people and their value by the cost of what the father and the son paid. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider a robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in the appearance of man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Will you become obedient to the point of death to yourself? How's yourself got you in life anyway? Got you clinging and coming to church, right? Because you live for yourself. I need something else. Verse six. Do not give what is holy to the dogs nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under feet and turn and tear you into pieces. I struggle with the placement of these verses. We go from worries and cares at the end of chapter six, seeking first the kingdom of God, then we go into righteous judgments, now this. Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under your feet, and turn and tear you into pieces. with all the secrets of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus is sharing with us, and now we understand proper judgment, a judgment that seeks restoration and mercy, not condemnation. We're looking at this situation with the good eye, with the light full of light. Jesus warns us that maybe not everybody should be corrected. Proverbs tells us of all these kinds of people, We don't have to guess who they are, but the word reveals the types that will tear our holy things into pieces. And with such people, don't give it to them. They don't want your correction. Scoffers and fools. Proverbs 9, 7, and 8. He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man and he will love you. 1512, another scoffer. A scoffer does not love one who corrects him, nor will he go to the wise. And we got the fools. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. Proverbs 26, 11, and 12. I think we can all relate with this one. As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. I'm never gonna do that again. What do you do? Did it again, didn't you? Do you see a man who's wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. So Jesus is telling us, be careful who you use this judgment with. Because this judgment that he's talking about is seeing somebody that has a sin issue in their life. You see a speck, you see a sin in their life, but you have to realize that you too are a sinner. Then you can help them and restore them. Some people don't want it. Verses 7 through 11. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. Amen. Thank you, Lord. For everyone who receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you? If his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? So what is Jesus referring to here? He just told us what not to do in chapter 6. Worry not, for your Father in heaven will provide the things you need in this life. Don't worry about those things. But now he's telling us to ask for those things, to trust the Father. It's the other side of the coin to the warrior and the anxious one, the end of chapter six. Matthew six tells us that if we are worrying, we are not seeking first the kingdom of God is the revealer. Being passive in our trust to the Lord here in chapter 7 is telling us to trust when we ask for the things that we need. And here we see obedient faith at work. Aggressive faith. Ask for it. And be careful here. Not the things that we want will the Father give us. Thank Him for that. He gives us the things that we need. Out of His kindness, He gives us the things that we need. And it might not always be pleasurable. but it's best for us, both physical and spiritual. So we move on to the golden rule, Matthew 7, 12. We all know where that's at, right? Scott taught us that, didn't he? Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Do unto others. This, if not careful, can even have self-serving undertones. with an expectation of this good thing you do to them, expecting that be returned by them. That gift, that grace, that mercy that you gave them, you can have no ties of expectation to receive that thing back. Did God give it to you with an expectation of your reciprocation of it, or did he just give it to you freely? Or did he give it to you with no expectation, gave it to you in love? but do unto others because Christ has done for you, leaving all the hidden evil motives of return of that good thing. Because if you have an expectation, it is not like the Father in heaven. And remember too, five and six, for your Father in heaven sees what you do and he will reward you. And we're looking for rewards from the people we help. You want them to sound the trumpet for you? Return the good thing you did It's not like the Father in heaven We know that our Father in heaven is faithful and reward us. I'm a witness. I've seen it people in this room I'm one of those people that you've seen in this room The good you've done for me in secret and in prayer Have a good eye when looking at people that's not having you be a hypocrite a play-acting Christian a 13 and 14, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. There's only one way that leads to life, and that way is narrow. It's a cross-shaped gate. You must go to the cross and see how much He loved you to find that life. There is no other way. Every other way is destruction. The destruction of your soul might not seem like destruction. Oh, you're sober now. Oh, you got more money in the bank. Oh, your car's running well. Oh, your family's happy. Without God, it's destruction. Because your soul's going to have to answer for it. And this is a difficult way, because to enter through that narrow gate, everything must go. How does it look when you hang on a cross? Gotta drop everything in your hands. Everything has to go to enter this gate, and that's hard. It's hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Not only are earthly possessions, but here's the tough one, but the possessions of self. Your right to yourself. Gotta go. how you are treated by people, gotta go. Your taste, how you like things to be flavored in this life, gotta go. Your preferences, how you prefer them to be, gotta go. And your opinions, what are they like? A fart, a blast of gas, is that what they're like? They all must go, all of it. That's why he says there's few who find it. Can you raise your hand and say I'm one of the few, boldly? Because he says many don't. Would you be so bold to say you're not one of the many and below one of the few? 15 through 20 gives us a warning here. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. So he now warns us of the soft and fluffy teachers looking like sheep teachers who, who on the inside have hidden motives. He says, you will know them by their fruit. This was a tough one too. He tells us that the outside looks pretty good on these people that they disguise themselves as messengers of light. So you can't just look at the outward of a teacher's life and judge it. Now what if you aren't that close with the teacher, and you don't know the intimate details of their life, to discern the fruit of their life? I suggest that it is by their teachings that we are to judge them. It is by my teaching that you are to judge me to know if I'm a sheep in wolf's clothing. There are churches that are saying that there are pastors doing this, but would not dare ask you to look at them that way. So earlier in Matthew, chapter three, John the Baptist sees these wolves coming, these Pharisees, and tells them something about their fruit. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, brought of vipers, who warn you to flee from the wrath to come, therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Wolves in sheep clothing won't teach on sin and its severity. They will tickle your ears, pat your back, and blow a trumpet for your self-righteousness. And say, oh, what a good Christian you are. Teaching a Christianity of trying harder and being better, instead of a Christianity that only looks to what Christ did. Now go and believe that. That's what changes your life. Put your faith in Him, not yourself. These are wolves teaching the desires of the flesh to fleshly men and women. 2 Timothy 4, 3, and 4, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itchy ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. Not everyone who says to me, verses 21 and 23, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and did many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Get away from me. That's what he's going to tell people. It might be scary verses, it's something about me. Are these scary to you? Yeah? It's good, be honest if they are. Why are you saved? Because you believed? Because you had faith? Because you prayed a prayer? Or are you saved because he, because he trusted in the Father? Because he had faith? Because he prayed? Our salvation is a gift received through no merit of our own and trust in Christ. I wouldn't dare tell the Lord I did something for Him. He does everything for me. And if you think you have to do something, or that you have earned something from God, or that you have to do something to find His favor, then you might be one of the people that hear this on the Day of Judgment. I don't want you to be. Be honest if you think that might be you. Repent. Lord, I'm a sinner. I need you to do it for me. You did it all for me. I believe. At that moment, saved, eternally secure. For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. So 24 and 27. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall. For it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. There is but one foundation we can build on, and that foundation is Jesus Christ, our rock. Having our salvation by faith and trust in him, we are now planted there. And having been built now on the rock of our salvation, we are to build our house, our lives in the same manner. by faith and trust in Him. What did you do for that rock? Your salvation. Did you do anything? Nothing, right? Trust and believe? Faith a little more than nothing, all of my something? So what are you going to do now to build that house on that foundation? Trust and believe. It's the same process. But if your foundation and house are built on faith and trust in Christ, nothing will be able to tear it down. The winds can come. You're not stepping off the path. Galatians 3 1 and 3 is tied taught on I think it was last Tuesday. Oh foolish Galatians Who has bewitched you? You should not obey the truth before who whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you is crucified This only I want to learn from you Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Oh Not a hybrid mix of law and grace. It is only by grace. It is only gifted to you by God, through faith, all of it. Well, we did pretty good. I'm not going to read my poem again. No, I did the poem. The Million Grains of Sand. We're not going to do that. We'll let you guys get out of here. Verses 28, 29. So it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teachings, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes, one of having authority. Not like those people that tell us the rules and don't follow themselves, because there is not a rule that you can give somebody that you have not broken before God. but as the one sent from the Father to speak and do what he sees his Father speak and do. They saw Jesus as one who spoke authority. When they saw Jesus, they saw the Father. They didn't know it. The Father was hiding in Christ, in plain sight. So let us be kingdom dwellers here on earth. Let us walk in the Spirit, thus making us effective in the kingdom of heaven. Let us not trust in ourselves, but only trust in the Lord. Let us be possessors of His Spirit, so that the Father, through the Son, through us, can reveal Himself to a dark and fallen world. Let us be like our Father in heaven, perfect, not by the works of the law in our conscience, but by knowing Him and seeing Him, spending time with Him and His word. And in prayer, we will be transformed into His image effortlessly. not by human effort, but by the increase of the Spirit. For it is God who works in you to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2.13. Amen. Lord, thank you. Thank you for dwelling in us and doing everything that is required of you for us. Lord, just bless the fellowship tonight. Bless the offering. In Jesus we pray. Amen.