Grow Up

Good morning, >> man. It's good to see you at the south campus, our north campus. We had an online family. I I know it's travel season, and a lot of you are out and about. And the great news is you can stay connected. You can stay connected online. We also have a plus Thursday service, which is really our first service of the weekend, Thursday night at the north campus. There is all sorts of ways to stay plugged in, as you and your family enjoy this time of travel and such.

Question for you this morning. How many of you are parents? Hands up. How many of you had parents? Hands up. How many of you not going to raise your hand no matter how obvious the question is? Right. Yeah, I get that. Right. I can almost guarantee you that every one of you being raised heard your parents say two words, probably more than once in your life. Probably multiple times. In fact, probably as a parent, you swore you would never say this to your kid, but you found yourself saying the exact same thing to your kids. The two words grow up. Or maybe you use a slightly less aggressive phrase, but it's synonymous. Act your age. Tomato, tomato. Exact same thing.

I know I did it when, uh, my kids were young. I would tell my kids they need to grow up. They need to act their age. My wife, kind, patient, would say, "David, they're only five years old. You need to be patient with them." I'd say, "Hey, we're McQueens. We overachieve. They should be acting six, maybe even seven." I had no idea what a normal five, six, or sevenyear-old acted like. But I want to say for the record about my wife, when we received the phone call from the Abalina Police Department at 3:00 a.m. in the morning saying that my 16-year-old son had been detained, not arrested, but detained while pranking his friends. I was not the first parent in the house that talked about growing up and acting your age. I'm just wanting to say that for the record. Got it? In fact, after I kind of heard all of it, my thought was, "Yeah, that's kind of what a 16-year-old boy does." Just to tell you the truth, I was doing stuff like that. If I told you the whole story, every dude in here would go, "Yeah, I was doing stuff like that at 16." Most of you would say, "Really not doing? I did a lot worse than that. My son just had the misfortune of encountering the police department while he did it." And a time under detention. And then a phone call to parents and one mad red-headed mama when he got home. I'm just saying, right? You know what I'm talking about. Grow up.

Let's be honest. Most of the time when we heard those two words, most of the time when we use them, they were in moments of frustration. They were in moments of anger and such as that. And that means I need you to listen to this very carefully. As you journey and you're reading through history, uh, through Ephesians, I'm sorry. As you're reading through Ephesians, there's a shift that happens moving into chapter 4. And you can think that God got frustrated, that God got angry, because the whole emphasis of Ephesians 4, five, and six are those two words: grow up. But they're not a source of frustration. They're sourced from love.

The letter to letter we call Ephesians to the church of Ephesus was written by the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul had founded this church on a second missionary journey with a couple named Aquilla Priscilla. But it was in their third missionary journey that something tremendous happened. During the third missionary journey, God just blew things up in Ephesus. And Paul saw things in Ephesus that he saw nowhere else. In fact, he stayed over two years there because of how much was being done. The 19th chapter of Acts says that God was doing extraordinary miracles. Ain't it interesting when the New Testament says something was extraordinary? That he was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. So that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left him, and the evil spirits came out of them. It was in this season that there were seven men who were all sons of a guy named Ska. And it says that they were going about and saying, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command these demons to come out." Now, you got to realize these men weren't Jesus followers. So, what they were doing is they were watching Paul. They were watching the early disciples, and they heard that phrase in the name of Jesus, and they were thinking in terms of sorcery, thinking in terms of magic. They were using a phrase, an incantation. That's, by the way, what magic is. Magic is us trying to control a spirit of some sort. Scriptur is against that. So they tried to do that. And so it says one day the evil spirit, when they said this, answered them, "Jesus, I know. I know Paul. Who are you?" And then this man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. Come on, Texans love that story, right? That's something that's great in there. Listen, I know they didn't have social media in that day, but that story got out, 'cuz what was happening, all these things were happening, and people were coming to know Jesus in droves. The word revival is thrown around a lot for various things. But I'm telling you, this was revival. Like people were turning from their false gods, specifically the goddess Artemis. Ephesus was known for the temple to Artemis, a cult of war. You went to Ephesus, you went for Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world with the temple. The ruins of it still stand in western Turkey to this day. Scripture says that a number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the values of the scrolls, they came to 50,000 dramas. Now, I know that just sounds like a lot, but we have no idea what a drama is, right? and such. And so if you look at the footnote, often footnotes in your Bible will tell you stuff. It will tell you that it was a day's wages. So scholars have actually estimated what the value of 50,000 dramas worth of scrolls would be today. You want to know what it is? We need a drum roll. You ready? Let me see. Hear it. Come on, everybody. Participate. Good job. Good job. 50,000 drogmas is $7 million. This is no small sum of money. There's something dramatic happening. The people are turning to the Lord. In fact, it was so dramatic that the leaders of the cult of Aremis formed a riot to try to root out the church of Jesus in Ephesus. It was a bad enough riot that Paul had to be escorted out of town. Listen, this wasn't the norm in Paul's ministry. God was doing something extraordinarily powerful in Ephesus.

And most of us think, man, if that happened, like if I was part of that kind of revival situation, then my level of maturity would woo, it would go up just automatically. We think that if we were birthed, if we were part of this extraordinary spiritual encounters, that our maturity would automatically happen, that we would almost without effort grow up. Yet, it was to a church that was founded in that situation, had this power moving, that Paul says in Ephesians 4:15 that we are to be those who are speaking the truth in love. And we are TO WHAT? GROW UP. SAY, GROW UP. >> We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head. That is Christ. Listen, no matter the level of spiritual encounters you have had, we still all need to grow up. And here's what we know deep down. Let this get inside you. Growing up is for our good. That's why our parents said it to us. That's why we have said it to our kid. Take away the frustration. I get that. Maybe we should have responded in a more patient way. But the call to grow up, the call to mature, is because we know maturity will bring blessing. That growing up is for OUR GOOD. THAT is what is happening in this letter to the church of Ephesus.

Starting in chapter 4, Paul is turning a corner in the letter. For the first three chapters, he has been expounding upon what we call the gospel. The gospel is the message of what God did through Jesus Christ: his death, burial, and resurrection. And it is incredible. And in those first three chapters, you know how many commands there are, like things that we need to do? One. That's it. That's all that's in. That's why we like those three chapters, because we're just being told of the grandness of what God has done. And the only command is remember. Never forget what God has done. Never remember the never forget the depths of his love for us. And we can think then, as we turn the corners, Paul shifts gears, that somehow that God's heart is somehow changed, because in the last three chapters, you know how many commands there are? Over 40. It's just like command after command after command. And we can think, man, God must have taken a break while we were writing this. And he got frustrated. He somehow got angry at you and I. But we need to remember what came before chapter 4. He ended chapter 3 by saying, "I pray that you being rooted and established in love that you may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and la high and long and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love which surpasses knowledge that you might be filled to all the measure of the fullness of God." So what's being told to you and I right here is, when Paul starts chapter 4, he says, "Therefore," so he's saying everything I'm about to tell you, remember it's rooted in love. Everything God tells us to do, everything he tells us not to do, it's all because of love. God's commands are because of three words: Jesus loves you. I know we feel a tension in that, don't we? But that is the truth of scripture, that all the commands in scripture, all 40 plus that are about to come in Ephesians 4, five, and six, all because of those three words: Jesus loves you. Because Jesus loves you, Paul says, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

So when we become a follower of Jesus, every one of us receives a calling. Interestingly, that calling is the same for all of us. You can look around the room right now. You can look at the person to your left. You can look person to your right. You can look at the person in the back of the room. You can look at the camera and find the people online. It doesn't matter. When you are a follower of Jesus, we all share the same calling. Now, I know that's creates a struggle because that's not how we usually use the term. When we hear the term someone is called, we usually hear profession. We hear vocation. Someone who is called into church ministry. Someone who's called to be a missionary. Someone called to be a a police officer or a teacher, an entrepreneur, or stay-at-home mom. We tend to limit the term calling to a specific sliver of how God might direct our lives. That's tied to a profession or a vocation. But that's not the common meaning in scripture. When Paul wrote this letter to Ephesus, he also wrote letters to the pastor of Ephesus. You know who that was? Timothy. First and second Timothy are letters to the pastor of Ephesus. Timothy who was left there to lead things. And Paul said to Timothy, the second letter, "So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or ashamed of me." There you're going to see it again, his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. God who did what? God who saved us and God who called us too. And what we think an apostle writing to a pastor is going to say here, well, God called us to ministry. God called us to somehow church leaders. But what it says is God who saved us and called us to a what? A holy life. Every one of us as followers of Jesus share a calling. It's what it means to be a Christian, by the way. A follower of Jesus. We share this calling to grow up to be more and more like Jesus. And so Paul would say, I therefore, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, I urge you to live your life, that's what walk means here, to walk in such a manner that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called. And all the commands of chapter 4 through six are just practical ways to do that. They're practical ways to live in a manner worthy of the calling to which we've been called. They are practical ways to grow up. And growing up is for our good.

But the word command is connected to a word we tend to struggle with. It's a word we have to reclaim. It's the word obedience. And I want you to know something. There's always something that will be present that will stand in the way of our obedience. I got a got a big butt. It's gigantic, if I'm going to be blunt about it. And you know what the funny thing is? I got several big butts. And, and, and before you, before you discard me or, or wse at the disgusting notion of that, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that possibly you have at least one big butt as well. Yeah. You like that? Hurts a little, huh? Let me tell you something. Let me just tell you something. Okay. Everybody we know has a big butt. And more often than not, it's the thing that actually gets in the way of us living a consistent life for Jesus. Yeah, I think you know what I'm talking about. And I'm going to expound a little bit. Okay. See if you can recognize some of these butts. But I have to work more. But my [music] favorite TV show is on. But my kids have practice. But I got to tweet something. But it's such a beautiful day. But I'm just not [music] in the mood. But I deserve a break today. You see, everything [music] kind of interferes with my life of of just living an authentic life for God. Okay? And more often than not, it always has something to do with some sort of butt. Okay? Even the littlest butt can get distract me. It really can. The littlest butt can make me think, uh, I'm not going to pray today. I'm not going to think about it today. I'm not going to deny myself. I'm not going to read the Bible. Blah blah blah. Whatever God asks me to do, I seem to have a butt for it and get away. Okay? And the most horrendously big butt of all time is the butt that gets in the way of me just hanging out with God and reading his word. It's true. Think about it. All the times you're about to open that and all of a [music] sudden a big giant butt gets in the way. A butt much like one of these. But I got a farm bill, but I'm tired. But the game's over. But I read last Tuesday. But I got to check Facebook. But I don't like Leviticus. But [music] it's too hot in here. But I I just don't like books. But I don't understand it. But it's boring. But what does that have to do with me in the 21st [music] century? Those are some ugly butts, people. Just call them what they are. Ugly. Ugly butts. Okay. And there's a lot more to them. Sad but true. Here's a list, although not exhaustive, of some of the most popular butts known to mankind. But I don't have enough money yet. But others will think that I'm a nerd if I carry the Bible. But they won't like me if I talk [music] about Jesus. But I don't know if God will do what I ask. But I just can't get motivated. But I'm afraid. But I don't have all the answers. But the small group is the same night as Monday night football. But can't I just let my life speak [music] for itself? But I'm not happy. But that's not my gift. That's the pastor's job. But I don't know how to pray. But I can't believe that. But I [music] don't know where to start. But everybody else is having fun. >> But abounds, friend. Butt, butt, but butt, but butt. Here a butt, there a butt, everywhere. A butt, butt. Okay. And, and, and the most overused butt of all time. But I just don't have enough time. Really? Oh, come on. We have a lot of butts. God has given us a real simple word. Okay? If we learn it and we share it and we teach it and we live by it, then see, God gets glorified, people benefit, and then we get blessed. That's why we [music] do what we do. That's the why behind the butt. Okay? And ultimately, that's the whole point I'm trying to make here, my fellow butt lovers, is if your butt is bigger than your why, then your butt's too big. Okay? It's time to, [music] metaphorically speaking, snap into a slim gym. Okay? Let's slap on some spiritual shape ups and hit the road a little bit so we can just manage the butts a little bit. [music] That's all we're trying to do. That's what we're talking about. Let's minimize the excuses. Let's shrink the butts. Shrink the butts. Say it with me. Shrink the butts. That's what we need to do. And you and I can do that together. We can conquer this. You and I can do it if we start today. Okay? I know we can. Let's just do it. No ifs, ands, or Yeah, I think you get it. I've been chuckling all week about how awkward that's going to make you feel. Like, you didn't know if you could laugh or not. I don't know if it's funny or not. I don't know what's intended by that, etc., etc. Here's what I know. You won't forget that very soon, will you? But [snorts] what was said was true. There's always something that stands in the way of our obedience.

Come on, let's be honest. Obey is a word that we struggle with in our in our society. When we hear the word obey, especially as adults, we hear subjugation. We we hear the idea of oppression. Guys, it's it's a word we have to reclaim. It's a word that in the scripture is positive. Ephesians 5:8 says that although he was a son, Jesus learned obedience from what he suffered. Now, I can tell you right now that there's a lot in that verse that we can unpack. But what we can know minimally is this: if Jesus learned obedience while he was human, if he needed obedience, then we also need that obedience in our life, right? You know, Jesus connected obedience to our love of God. This is something we you're here at some level because we want to love God. And Jesus said, "Hey, if you obey." Somebody say, "Obey." If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love just as I have obeyed the father and have remained in his love. Jesus knew that obedience live leads to strength and security in this world. It's a strength and security that we all desire. There was this incredible message Jesus did. I think he actually did it multiple times. We call it the sermon on the mount. And he ended it this way. He said, "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice." The one who obeys is like the wise man who built his house on the rock. The rains came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. And if you grew up in the church world, you're right now in your head singing the little song, right? the wise man built his house upon the and if you don't know it get on YouTube it's out there it's a great little song etc etc and it's very true do you know Jesus actually connected the word obedience to freedom man if I ask you right now who wants to be free in Jesus WE WOULD GO YEAH and Jesus said if you abide in my word you know what the word abide means it means know it and obey it means make your home in it if you abide in my word you know it then you are truly my disciples And you will know the truth. Ain't that interesting? You have to abide in it. So you have to know it and obey it. But there's a whole another level of knowledge. Then you will know the truth because the truth is going to set you what? Free. If the son set you free, you are free indeed. It's a great place to be. And it's all connected to obedience. Interestingly enough, there's a lot of things of the truths of God that you won't know until you obey them. Like you know Jesus says to do it, but you you might not totally get it. Sometimes we think I have to get it before I obey it. And what this scripture is saying is you're not going to get it until you obey it. We obey first and then we get that reality. A person seeking to obey who says, "Man, I just want to take a posture, not a perfection. We're going to fail, but in general, I want to obey." That's a person who wants to grow up. And we know that growing up is for our good.

I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you. It's like Paul is reaching trying to reach from Rome all the way to Ephesus to these believers and say, "Man, if I if I could just grab hold of you and get you to do something, I want you to make it a priority to walk in such a manner as worthy of the calling to which you have been called." And then he starts taking off on the practicals. Verse two, I want you to do this with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Verse three, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. So notice he says, I urge you to do this now. I want you to be eager to do this. And the thing he says is, I want you to be eager to maintain unity in the church. And you may say, well, how do you know he's talking about the church? Next verse. There is one body and one one spirit. Just as you were called to one hope and that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Because I find it so interesting to be honest. I find it really challenging that Paul has in his mind led by the spirit all these things that we need to do to show that we are a Christ follower to show that we are walking in a manner worthy of the gospel. And the first thing he mentions is unity. Unity is a much bigger deal than I think we think it is. John 17 contains a record of the most extensive prayer that we have recorded of Jesus. So we know Jesus prayed a lot, but John 17, the whole chapter is one prayer. The prayer as is at the end of what is the Passover meal, what we call the last supper. Immediately after this prayer, he's going to the garden of Gethsemane and there he's going to pray longer. There he is going to be betrayed. He's going to be arrested hours from John 17 from this prayer. He's going to the cross. He is going to the grave. He is going to hell and he's going to overcome those things all in a matter of hours. But u after this prayer and he prays first for the 11, not the 12 because Judas is left to betray, but he prays for the 11. But you know what he who he also prays for? He prayed for you. He prayed for me in those last moments before he's about to go to the cross. He prayed for us. And it's interesting what he prayed. My prayer is not for the 11 alone, them. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that is us, that all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us. May they walk in a oneness LIKE THIS SO THAT the world may know that you have sent me. The thing Jesus prayed for us, the thing that seemed to be most important was unity. Knowing that unity is key for us living mission, the mission of Jesus IN THE WORLD. THIS, BY the way, is likely why Paul says the first practical area that he wants to mention in terms of how we live out the gospel is unity. In fact, it's the second time that Paul mentions it in the letter. Because some of you are saying, "Well, Pastor Jeffrey just preached on this a couple weeks ago. Why are you doing it again?" Because Paul talks about it again. He's talked about the implication of the gospel is that God has brought down a dividing wall. In the early church, they had an issue. They had Jews and they had Gentiles. Listen to me. They not only didn't like each other, they were racist towards each other. Jews were racist towards Gentiles. Gentiles just means people who are not Jews. Gentiles were racist towards Jews. And they both use their religions to justify their racism. And what Paul says in chapter two, it says once we become in Jesus, say in Jesus. Those are big words. Once we ARE IN JESUS, THIS ALL CHANGES. And God brings down the dividing wall that would be between us. And now he looks at him and says, "Hey, what Jesus has already done, he has brought down the dividing wall between races. He's brought down all the dividing walls. Now what I need you to do is this. I need you to maintain it. I need you not only maintain, I need you to be eager to maintain it. Like of all the things you need to do, you need to be eager to maintain the unity that Jesus created. And that is what we are supposed to be as a high priority to each of our lives. Listen, unity doesn't mean agreement in everything. You say, "How do you know that?" Well, I looked at the words. Go back to verse two. They are words of disagreement. If you agree, why do you need to be gentle? Why do you need to be humble? Why do you need to bear with each other? Why do you need to be kind and patient? Those are words of what happens when you disagree. So, when you are over coffee and you're talking to a fellow believer and you disagree, what are you supposed TO DO? YELL AT THEM. Better yet, go online and rail at them later. Right? Be humble. They might be right. Be gentle. Those are our words either there or online. Be patient. You might go away shaking your head saying they just don't get it yet. But be patient and love them. Bear with them as they are on their journey to grow up just like you're on your journey to grow up. You see there there's a truth in scripture. The truth in the church is that we're unified around foundational truths. That's what Paul mentions in the text. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one hope, one God who is father over all. So what he's saying is there are foundational things like God is manifest. One God, three persons, father, son, and holy spirit. He says every human is made in the image of likeness of God. Every human is made that way. But all of us have sinned, fallen short of the glory of God. We're all separated by sin. that Jesus came into the world as the ultimate expressions of God's heart. And there's a way for humans to be right with God, and that is through Jesus and Jesus alone. By faith in Jesus, not of works. By faith in Jesus, we can all be made right with God. And when a person puts their faith in Jesus, they become part of a people called the church. Say church. You know what that word means? In the original name, it means called out ones. So we as a people are to help each other live out our calling. We are the called out ones who are to live our lives in a manner worthy of the calling which we have all received. And then we have one scripture, the truth of God's word. And we are a people who seek to live in obedience to that. That's it. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one hope, one God and father of all. In this we are unified. In everything else, we may disagree, but we do not divide. >> You pick it. We don't divide over race. God made every human, every nationality in his image and likeness. We might disagree with how we live life. We might disagree about certain things, but we don't divide. We don't divide over secondary doctrines. You say, "David, what is a secondary doctrine?" A secondary doctrine is something that's not the primary doctrine. It's real simple. Lots of That does not mean they are unimportant. We don't divide over them. We discuss. We may disagree, but when we discuss, like, how many of you believe Jesus is coming back? Hands up. You need to raise your hand to that one. That's one of the core ones. Okay. He coming back to judge the living dead. Here's the question. Do you know how he's coming back? Here's the deal. Some of us would raise our hand say, "I think I know how he's coming back." But you get in a room like you sit down with me, I bet we might disagree about how he's coming back. How are we supposed to have that discussion? humbly with patience with gentleness bearing with one another. We could talk about women's roles in the church. We could talk about the work of the spirit today. On and on I could go. Not unimportant things but they are not primary. They are things of which we can disagree but we do not divide. Right? What else you want to pick? Politics. Oh, in the church people who are committed, we're talking about just in the church right now. Don't come to me later and say, "Well, Jesus said he came not to bring a peace, but a sword." When Jesus said that, he was talking about making a decision about Jesus. He wasn't talking about in the church. That when you make a decision for Jesus, some things will divide. You can't stop it. But in the church, all of us who have gathered Jesus, we are to be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. In politics, we should have sitting in our room, Democrat, Republican, independent, all sitting together. That went over well in the church. MAGA never Trumper. Those of us confused, you hear me? Are those things unimportant? I'm not saying they're unimportant, but Jesus is more important. Who he is is more important. So, we can hold to things, but how we hold to them and how we communicate them are of utmost importance. That's what Paul's saying. He's not saying don't have an opinion. You want to sit down and talk about opinion? I have lots of them and I'm pretty good at like arguing them. By the way, all four of those words in verse two are the opposite of who I'm naturally am. I am not naturally humble. I'm still working on gentle. [snorts] I'm not patient. And I don't bear with people who disagree with me. Hey, grow up. I'm getting there. I'm more there than I used to be. You don't even know the old me. Um Jesus has been changing that. You're saying in the church, we got to carry a different spirit. It's not that we disagree, but how we disagree is so beautiful that people of the world want to know who we are. I mean, come on. The world's watching us and sometimes THEY'RE THINKING, "IF YOU GUYS WHO SAY YOU ALL follow Jesus can't get along, why would we want what you say you have?" But if we can look each other and we can have this discussion that might even get be spirited and then the end we give each other a hug and say let's pursue Jesus and leave this mission then people are going to say I want that. I mean where Republican and Democrat can come together as one in our culture. You want to talk about something that's miraculous that seems to be supernatural. We talk about people who can disagree about football teams. I mean, we get dumb over things like we need to have Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys sitting [music] side by side. Just don't sit by me. No, I'm just kidding in that. You hear me? I mean, we disagree. We have our things. We have our opinions. We have our thoughts. We're supposed to scripture, but we do so being eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Peace is meant to show itself in relationships. In fact, when you read chapter four, five, and six this week, I encourage you to do it. You'll be amazed at how many of the 40 commands are about how the way we love people. It's incredible. Like almost all of them are about how we interact with people. It's us interactions with people. It's how we love God, how we love our neighbor. I've been walking this journey for like 47 [music] years now. been around the things of the church like 51 years. I got some growing up still to do. Come ways. Thank God. But when I look at him, that's my calling. The likeness of Jesus is my calling. I still got some ways to go, but I want to because every way he's grown me up has been for my good. I suspect I'm not the only one in the room that needs to grow up some. We're all there. But here's the good news. He wants us to help us grow up. And when we do, it is for our good. So, let's do this. Let's bow our heads. North Campus, South Campus, online. And let's just ask for grace for that. Let's ask God, I want to live in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have called me. That means we have to reclaim a word. I'm going to say it right now. Obedience. Next week, we're going to talk about the renewing of our minds. This is what we're talking about right now. We got to renew our minds to the word obedience. You got to ask God to to to shift and changing your mind the tone behind that word. The negativity behind that word. Scripture tells us obed essence of sin is disobedience. The essence of sin is rebellion against God. God is not doing what he says. We got to reclaim the word. We got to have our mind renewed in that area in a lot of areas. But would you just ask him for grace right now? Would you just say, "God, I want to grow up. I I don't want to ever quit growing." I was I was with my spiritual mentor, a father, not just to me, to our church. Papa Don's 96 years old. He was talking to me about some ways he was trying to grow up in Jesus, be like Jesus. was like, "Don, it ain't going to be long till you are with Jesus, my brother." He started laughing. He goes, "Hey, maybe it'll happen today." I said, "Hey, hey, not on my watch. Not why I'm visiting. I don't want you dying on me." But I just love the fact that he was 96 years old telling me how he wanted to become more like Jesus still. That's what I want to be. I'm 60 years old and I want to be more like Jesus. Come on. Doesn't matter how old we get, no matter how young, we can say we want to be like Jesus. Ask for grace to obey. Reclaim the word right now in Jesus name. And especially in this thing of unity, be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit. Just ask for an eagerness to maintain unity. All four of those characteristics are the fruit of the spirit. You just abide in the spirit. He's going to make you more gentle. He's going to make you kinder. He's going to make you patient. He's going to help you bear with one another. They're the outgrowth of being with Jesus. Let's just carry a different spirit. If we've been hesitant to obey, let's repent. Jesus, I'm sorry. If we've not been maintaining unity in person or online, you know, those interactions with [music] the fellow believers online count just as much as the coffee shop talk. Let's just repent and say, "Lord, I need to change my spirit. I want I want to walk differently." Father, we ask together, give us grace to live out your word. Thank you for your word. Thank you that you've loved us enough that you've shown us the way in which we are to walk. And we want to do just that. We want to walk with you in a manner that shows the worthiness of who you are. Wherever we need to change, Father, show that to us right now. We say thank you for it. any excuse. We ask Father that you would nullify that and you would help us overcome these excuses that the enemy puts in our ways that we can live for your glory and honor. We ask it in Jesus name. And everyone [music] said.