Transcription
Good morning. Hey, welcome. My name is Jeffrey. I am the lead pastor here and I am honored to get to be here with you today as we just finish up a series we've been in over the last 7 weeks called triggered.
If this is your first time or maybe you're just you've been here a little bit but not very long. I just I want you to know how honored I am that you're here. I know stepping into any new place is hard. So I just thank you for being here. I hope you found a hope you found a home and hope you can get connected. We've got a group that meets right after service both campuses called start here. Go to that, learn a little bit more about how you can take a next step with us.
But here's what I really need from you. And I mean this like from the bottom of my heart. I'm about to tell you a story and I need you to not I need [snorts] you to to not take a next step with us. I need you to I need you to just stay connected, okay? Don't look at me in this story and go I can never come back to this church again, okay? Cuz like this is not a great Jeffrey story. I'm okay with it because I'm going to tell it. But like just don't judge me too much, okay?
Here's the deal. In the next few minutes, I am going to ruin a TV show or movie for you that it came out like 20 years ago. So if you've if you've missed this, I'm sorry but like Rachel got off the plane, okay? That's a Friends ruining, okay? Let's I can add to it. They both could have fit on the door, okay? So like Jack died unnecessarily. He didn't have to. They both could have fit.
Now, what we're really going to ruin is is a little more controversial than that. It is the show Lost. Okay? So oh. That person's not coming back and uh Okay, so if you if you're still if you're watching Lost right now, I mean, I'm sorry but this is 2026, okay? Get with the program.
So here's why we're going to ruin Lost because my best friend in the world for the sake of his own anonymity because I'm not going to say the nicest things about him, we'll call him Joel Wood, okay? So, >> [laughter] >> but that's not his name. Just like maybe it is. Okay, so, Joel, the person we're calling Joel, he loved Lost so much so that there's a chance that he named one of his children after a character from Lost, okay? So, he had a problem and he loved it when it was out. He kept trying to convince me. He was like, "You've got to watch this show. It's incredible." And I'm an eight on the enneagram. So, my response to anything Joel ever tells me is, "No, okay?" So, I didn't do it. And then finally, he beat me down enough. I was like, "Okay, I'm going to watch this show."
So, I started the TV show Lost when I was going on an international mission trip. I started the first episode while I was on a plane. >> [laughter] >> Yep. Everyone that laughed knows how Lost begins and it is this. TV show starts, credits, plane crash where almost everyone dies. So, I watched the first 10 minutes of Lost and never another episode. Until until the finale. And I thought like it would be really fun to not watch it, watch the finale, and text Joel all throughout the show. So, I did. And I texted him like, "What's that person's name in the pink? Why are they doing that? What's this island they're on?" And I just I probably sent him 100 texts in the hour-long episode. And then, then it ended, okay?
And Lost is a really controversial ending. You have people that love it, people that hated it. There's a lot of confusion surrounding it, but one of the theories with the end of Lost is that once the plane crashed, everyone died and it's all like they're all dead the whole time, okay? And Joel is violently angry about that one theory. So, for the last 20 years, every three to six months, I send him this. Just a text message that says, "They were dead the whole time." And to this day, I mean, I did it like in the last few weeks, and to this day, it makes him violently angry with me. And I I mean, the person we're calling Joel, not the like It makes him really, really angry, and that makes me so happy. And that that process is something called rage baiting, and it's really fun, especially when you've been friends with the person that we're calling Joel since like we were 12. So, like, I'm okay with making him angry and him ignoring me for a few days just for the sake of a good joke. That's called rage baiting. Anyone that has teenagers knows what rage baiting is because it's like a Tuesday. It happens all the time.
But we we've spent the last seven weeks talking about emotions, and we have terms like rage baiting because emotions are so prevalent in our day in and day out life. We could go after example after example after example of emotions in like popular culture, things we might see online. There's something that is called trauma dumping, which is where you decide that at any given point in time, you will vomit all of your emotions onto somebody else regardless of the circumstance. We we talk about doom scrolling. And that's, you know, where you just sit on social media and to numb out from the emotions that you're feeling, you just scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll. There's things like living out your truth, which is where my emotions take the utmost priority, and therefore, everything falls underneath that. I mean, we could go after example after example, which is why we spent seven weeks talking about emotions because they are so important in our life.
Our our emotions affect everything. Every relationship that you have is affected by your emotions. Yours. Don't believe me? Be a little angrier at lunch and you tell me how things went. We know that the the emotion of anger affects the people around us. Every relationship, every every decision we make causes us to feel an emotion one way or another. The the the decision might might make us feel more peaceful, might make us feel more anxious, might make us more worried, might give us more hope. Every decision, every perspective that you have about the world is affected by the emotions that you feel. People that are like afraid of heights, which just sidebar conversation, no one's afraid of heights. You're afraid of falling, okay? Those are different things. But people that are afraid of heights go up to the top of a mountain and they look out and they're terrified. And I can go up to the top of a mountain and look out and go, "Look at the beautiful landscape. Look how incredible our God is." And our perspectives are even shaped by everything about my life is affected by our emotions.
And so then what culture has done is culture has elevated emotions to to a status that they are leading our lives. Culture doesn't just encourage us to feel our emotions. It encourages us to follow our emotions. Culture tells us that our emotions supersede everything. That what I'm feeling in any given moment or any given circumstance, that is the most important thing. Everything else just sits to the side of that. And so what culture does is it feeds into it. Don't believe me? Just do a like a little bit of research on algorithms. And watch how afraid you are about the status of the world. They're everywhere. Our phones are listening, which is a different sermon for a different day. But like you get on social media and then it feeds into our emotions of where we're at. Maybe maybe in that time we're feeling a little fearful. You know what the algorithm's not going to do? Make you feel better. It's going to feed into that fear cuz it needs you to stay connected to that emotion so that your life can be driven by that emotion. Same with peace or happiness. Like all of these things are affected and culture tells us that we should listen to and follow our emotions above all. So, if I feel strongly enough about it, then it must be true. No matter what. And think about the the ramifications of that down the line. If we let our emotions, which are fleeting, they come up and they come down and they go sideways. If we let our emotions be the thing that drive us, then we're going to get to the place that we have no stability or identity outside of what I'm feeling in the moment. And we can know that and struggle to believe it.
Here's what our emotions should be. They should be an indicator of what's going on in my life, not the driving force of it. Our emotions should be like our low fuel light. It should tell you like you should pay attention to it cuz if you don't, guess what? You're going to get this notification. And you don't want that. That, if you can't read it, it says uh zero miles to empty. And my 15-year-old who just got her permit last month was driving when it said zero miles to empty and she looked at me and she said, "Dearest father, what shall now occur?" And I said, "Honest to God, I have no idea. Uh we're learning this together." That light had come on 50 miles ahead of this. Like 50 miles before, it had told me get fuel. And I ignored a warning light that I should have paid attention to. Like our emotions often are telling us something. They're indicating something going on in us. But, you know what I also didn't do the moment that light came on? Just yeeted my car off the highway to the closest gas station hitting anything in its path. I said yeet again. Makes me unhappy. I don't let that light be the driving force of every decision I make in the moment. Emotions are supposed to be indicators of what is going on in our life. And so, we've got to fight against a culture that tells us emotions above all, and we have to believe and walk in this truth that the Holy Spirit helps us feel our emotions without being controlled by them.
And I want us to see how this can be walked out in one of my favorite passages in all of scripture. It's Galatians chapter 5. So, if you will, find a Bible, open up to Galatians 5. We're going to camp out. We're going to start in verse 16. While you turn over there, let me tell you a little bit about this letter cuz it matters in how we understand what Paul's about to say. So, Paul wrote this to the churches in Galatia, and they and it is an early letter of Paul. So, Paul wrote a lot of the New Testament. This is one of his early earliest letters. It's this and probably 1 Thessalonians. And he wrote them in like 25 to 30 years after Jesus had ascended into heaven. So, like this is a recent letter. And he writes it to a people who had existed in these two competing cultures. They had They had existed in like deep paganism. And then influenced heavily by the Roman culture that was around at the time. And so, what they had been taught about emotions is exactly what we have been taught about emotions. They have taught to suppress emotions or enhance emotions. Suppress what you feel, don't feel it, or feel everything to the max. And that's the That is the status of the churches in Galatia whenever Paul writes these words.
But I say, "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." This word walk right here, this is not Paul saying he went on a walk. Like I would say, you know, I walk to my golden doodles. Like that's not that. It is an ongoing The image in the Greek is a walk an ever-present walk. And he says, "Walk by the Spirit and then you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Here's the problem with us in the church these days, is we invert those two things. We flip them. We go, "Hey, first I will stop gratifying the desires of the flesh, then I will be holy enough to walk with the Spirit. First, I'll get my life fixed up, I'll get my marriage fixed up, I'll get my issues fixed up, I'll do all this and then I walk with the Spirit." The problem is you can't do it. I can't do it. I can't walk by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of the flesh without the first part, which is walking by the Spirit. He says, "Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." And that is because the Christian life is not perfection, it is continual surrender. Paul doesn't begin talking about your actions, my actions. He doesn't begin by telling us, "Do this and then." It's like not It's just the Spirit. You got to walk with him. Not take this action, walk with him. And then you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
He goes on, "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit. The desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." Paul says there's an internal struggle with us. >> [snorts] >> And we understand internal struggles. We get to the point that like we want to be healthier. The problem is queso exists. So there's a struggle. I want to save money. I have teenage daughters, a struggle. Want to go to bed, but Netflix says the next episode is in 5, 4, 3, 2, I It's a struggle. We understand internal struggles. And Paul says, "It's that, but to the max." It is your very core, your very nature, the very parts of who you are, your flesh, who you are, is at war, in conflict with the spirit. Like who I am and my desires.
Paul Paul paints it even a deeper picture in the book of Romans. He says it like this. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want and agree with the law, then it is good. So, now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want, I keep on doing. I really relate to Paul. This is Remember, the Apostle Paul. He wrote most of the New Testament. And here he sits in Romans going, "I do the things I don't want to do, and I don't do the things I know are best for me, and I don't know why I keep doing the things that aren't good for me, and yet I just desire to do those things." And he says it in the middle of that, "It's because on our own, I can't do it." On your own we cannot not gratify the desires of the flesh. On my own ability and strength, I am too weak. My flesh is too strong. The things I want sometimes are in competition with the things he has for me.
And this conflict I I've often read this verse and felt it like from a negative perspective, back going back to Galatians 5. And this week I had the thought even the very fact that we will acknowledge that our flesh and spirit are in conflict and that we want what the spirit has is an indicator of the Lord stirring something in our life. Cuz if I didn't care about that if I didn't care about those things, then my I'm already my I'm gone. My flesh is already winning. The fact that Paul talks about us being in conflict is encouraging as long as we just don't stay in that place. And he tells us how to walk by the Spirit right here. If you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now, he right here tells us he goes after legalism, religiosity. That at this point in time, remember, they they have rabbis all around them telling them they have 600-plus laws that they got to follow every single day to be made righteous. It's actions-based righteousness, and Paul sits here and has the audacity to say, "Be But if you are led by the Spirit of God, if you're led by the Spirit of God, then and only then are you not under the law." Being led by the Spirit, it changes our hearts. The law is about external behavior modification. For some of us, we're so weary of trying to clean up the outside of us and and that the outside of us looks a specific way. The outside of us shines in a specific manner. And what Paul SAYS HERE IS, "STOP. BE led by the Spirit." Ties to our hearts, not the law and what we can do.
And then Paul gives us a really sobering list. Now, the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you as I warn you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Look at what Paul says at the beginning of this. Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Would you say that's true today? Yeah. Yeah, just get on social media. Turn on Netflix. Just open your eyes in the world. The works of the flesh are evident and they're everywhere and they're affecting us in more ways than we know and they're forming us even if we don't know we're being formed and every single one of those things pushes us to battle with our flesh including our emotions. Cuz at its core, my emotions walking into my flesh are unhealthy. And unhealthy emotions our flesh distorts healthy emotions into unhealthy reactions. So like hurt can easily walked out poorly turn into bitterness and then bitterness eats us alive inside. Righteous anger unchecked in my flesh can turn to unrighteous anger. And if you've ever driven on the highway here in town, you know that. But it's like really, you you see the feeling of like that person cut me off and I'm angry righteously but then the unhealthy side of me can easily push into unhealthy reactions. The fleshly side of me. When we don't navigate our emotions in the ways that we're called to navigate them, it will often put us in unhealthy reactionary places.
Our flesh is strong but remember what Paul said. It's about being led by the spirit but then if we go over back over to Romans, it's not just that you're led by the spirit. If you're a follower of Jesus the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Hey church if we believe this, everything's different. If I believe what Paul just wrote in Romans, everything about my life should be fundamentally different. He has he says "In this verse, the very spirit who raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in every believer." So, when you go into that marriage situation, the very spirit of God dwells in you. Into your friendship that's in a messy spot, the very spirit of God in you. The conversation you don't want to have, the very spirit of God in you. On your own, your flesh will kick your tail. You're not on your own. I MEAN, THAT'S INCREDIBLE. THAT IS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD SHOULD CAUSE OUR SPIRITS TO RISE UP. IT'S SOMETHING THAT SHOULD LIGHT A FIRE UNDER US. IT'S SOMETHING THAT SHOULD TELL US, "I CAN be led by the spirit. I can stop gratifying the desires of the flesh. That addiction doesn't have to win anymore." That disunity doesn't have to be the thing. This lack of peace, this anxiety, none of that has to The very spirit of God is in every believer. The one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in believers. That's incredible.
And when we believe it and we walk in step with him, this is what happens. But, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Paul just gave us the most beautiful compare and contrast. The works of the flesh are evident, and then gives us a really ugly list. But, the fruit of the Spirit is love, and joy, and peace, and patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And I'm sure I've read that I mean, I've read this verse a million times. But, something stuck out to me this week that I don't think I've ever noticed before. You notice that it doesn't say fruits of the Spirit? It says fruit. Singular. That all those things We don't get to cherry-pick. Like every one of those is the fruit produced in a life where somebody is walking in step with the spirit. But the fruit, love, joy, peace, patience, all of them. The fruit, and you as a believer are supposed to be a fruit producer. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Therefore, I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people producing its fruits. I am the vine, you're the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. A spirit-filled life will become a fruit-filled life. A spirit- filled and led life is the only way, though. On your own, we're going to be taping fruit to branches. On our own, my own abilities, my own effort will always come up wanting. The flesh is strong, but the spirit is stronger. I don't have to continue to be discouraged because I tried so hard on my own. I'm tired of trying. And not because I lack effort. I'm tired of the weariness that comes with relying on Jeffrey. Jeffrey is broken. Jeffrey makes mistakes. Jeffrey Jeffrey is at times an idiot. You know who's not? The spirit who calls us to be led by him. Effort alone cannot heal what only surrender can transform. My own effort will always come up wanting. He doesn't call for effort first. He calls for a connectedness to the spirit.
And then he wraps up our text by saying, "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." This is intense language from Paul trying to get us to understand the gravity of what he's talking about. He's not just talking about a a commitment that we made one time in church when we were eight. He's talking about continually walking with him. A a life of of ongoing surrender. And the image that he uses is crucifixion. He says the flesh has to be crucified with all of its desires. Every bit of the flesh has to die. You know what the Romans were great at? Killing people. Experts. Somebody went to the cross they were crucified, they died. You didn't get half crucified. Wasn't partial partial crucifixion. Somebody went to the cross, they died. The image that Paul gives us for our own flesh is every bit of me has to go. My flesh has to be crucified with all of its desires. The Christian life is one of complete, constant, and total surrender. Christian life isn't about making good decisions. It's not about a one-time commitment when we were growing up. Really walking in step with the spirit is about constantly, daily chasing after him and laying ourselves and our own flesh at his feet.
If we live by the spirit, let us also, Paul wraps up by saying, keep in step with the spirit. This imagery right here of being in step with the spirit is like you go. It's it's military almost. He moves, I move. He moves, I go. He pulls, I I go where he wants. Walking daily, constantly in step with him. I love this this imagery and this encouragement from Paul. Cuz uh we all, every one of us in here, if I were to tell you, would you like less joy or more joy? Everyone's going to go, "Less, please. Make me sad." What about love? Self-control? Do we want to control ourselves better? Every one of us would say, "Yes, I want the fruits of the Spirit." And Paul says, "On your own, you're not going to be able to do it, but but with him, you can." If we walk in step with the Spirit, you have that ability, I have that ability in every way, including our emotions. And for so long, the church has removed itself from conversations about things like emotions. The problem is we see Jesus walking emotions constantly. We see Jesus sad, in anguish, deep anguish. We see Jesus full of joy. We see Jesus angry. And so, God doesn't tell you and I to to stop dealing with our emotions. He says, "If we're going to be emotionally healthy people, the way we do it is by staying in step with the Spirit in every way."
So, how do we How do we do that? If we want more love and joy, if we want healthier relationships, healthier emotions. How do we do it? Slow down before reacting. I skipped a slide and y'all are going to be sad. Let me go back to that. Emotional maturity requires learning to move at the pace of the Spirit, staying in step with him. Emotional maturity requires staying in step with the Spirit. If we walk with the Spirit, we will not, he began our text with, gratify the desires of the flesh. So, the way we navigate this with our emotions is slow down before reacting. When Sarah and I got married, um I Like I said, I'm an eight on the Enneagram. So, I could argue with a wall well. And so, we would when we were first married, we would get into discussions. And I would do what she lovingly refers to as lawyering her. She would be talking and I would just pepper her with thoughts, pepper her with questions, formulating a response to whatever thing she was saying so that she could be convinced of her errors in her way. And I would just go, go, go, go, go. What if what if our response and every emotion that we feel was in action first? Think of how often that would save us from ourselves. In a conversation with our kids, what if we ask the question, why am I feeling the way that I'm feeling right now? Yeah, they may have done something dumb. Parents, guess what? They're going to do another dumb thing later. Like, what if our what if our first response with our emotions is actually in action? What if it looked like this? Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Is that easy? No. It's not. We like to be quick to speak, slow to listen, and quick to become angry. If we did this, think of how often we would put ourselves in a better position with every emotion that we feel.
Next thing is this, bring our emotions to him. You know what's so cool about our God? Is he doesn't say, "Just come to me in the big stuff." He doesn't say, "I only I only have time if it's a crisis. If things are on fire." Like, that is the only time you can come to me. He says, this is what he says through King David. Trust in him at all times, oh people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Trust in him at all times. You know what he invites you to do? This is crazy. He invites you to bring him in to every situation. That conversation you're nervous about? He's like, "Hey, remember I'm in you and I can help." That thing with your marriage, that thing with your friendship, that thing at work, King David, and you see it in the Psalms, King David was all over the place, up and down, left and right. I mean, he would feel great and he loved God so much and then God, where are you? And he'd be angry at God. All those range of emotions. And still he says, "Trust in him at all times. He is our refuge." What if we treated that verse like it was true? And we went to him with every emotion, thought, situation, circumstance.
And then filter our feelings through truth. God never says don't have emotions. He also doesn't say every feeling that we have is true. That every thought that I have is correct. But he gives us a beautiful grid in Philippi- Philippians 4. He says, "Finally, brothers, whatever's true, whatever's honorable, whatever's just, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely, whatever's commendable, if there's any excellent, there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things." What if we used Philippians 4 as a grid for us with every emotion we felt? In the moment, is this Is this commendable? Is this true? Is what I am feeling in this moment like Is it healthy? And we use Philippians 4 as a grid for our emotions and our thoughts, things would be so different.
But But all of this is going to require us to walk daily, not occasionally. Emotional maturity is not a quick, microwaveable thing. The problem for us is we want what we want and we want it now, including in good things. Listen, I We've been married, Sarah and I have, almost 20 years. Our marriage is way better 20 years in than it was 1 year in. That didn't mean we weren't married 1 year in. Didn't mean we didn't love each other 1 year in. But it took time to build a marriage like we have. It doesn't just happen immediately. We're not going to become emotionally healthy people if we're not emotionally healthy right now tomorrow. It's going to require a decision today and then a decision tomorrow and for us to daily walk with him and let him produce fruit over time. Fruit doesn't grow immediately.
If we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit. Here's the best way I can describe this to you. I'm going to invite a couple of members of our band to come up right now. And they there is something that happens that most of you have no idea about. And it's going to change the way you think about every band member in a positive way. Maybe. When they're leading us in worship from kids, youth, college, young adults, main service, when they're doing that, there is something that is happening that you and I who just are in the in the worship centers, you and I who are being led in worship by them have no idea what is happening. And it is this. This is what is happening in every one of their ears. Todd, hit that. That's awful. Can you imagine that? You imagine singing with But every band member will tell you they need this. This is called a click. Every one of them will tell you they need it so that they all stay together. The only way they can function cohesively as a unit is by this in their ear the whole time. Then, there's something else that happens. This is Marcus Wilson. If you don't know Marcus, you are missing out. Marcus is one of the most incredible people you'll ever meet. He led us in worship today at the South Campus. We lovingly say that Marcus Wilson has never made a mistake. And so, I think that's still true. Marcus, one of the roles he plays in our church often, is he does what's called music directing. So, they have this in their ears to keep them all together. But then, what also is happening is Marcus will do stuff like this. Here we go. Chorus, two, three, four. That's crazy. [music] Can you imagine trying to lead worship in the midst of that? Can you imagine trying to sing? Can you imagine trying to think with Marcus going verse one, verse [music] two, two, bridge, but then he doesn't even do that. And that may not even be the words he says, I don't know. But then there will be times that he's like, "All right, let's build a little bit. You can feel the Holy Spirit moving like, all right, let's go together." And you know what? That changes every service. >> [music] >> Every time. He's in charge. Do you think Ashley's in charge as he's leading or Mason? No. [music] Marcus runs the show. What Marcus says, the band does. The whole time, which means A, Marcus has to be really in tune with the Holy Spirit >> [music] >> as he's telling them where to go, what movement to make in worship, [music] what step they should do. Going, "Hey guys, this is where we're going. All right, bring it down here. Chorus, bridge, back it out, crash out." All these music terms. He's guiding them to where they can be [music] their best, where they can take their best step, where they can put their best foot forward, where they can worship in the way that we need to. He is moving them from point A to point B just by talking [music] to them, but making sure they stay in step with one another. That's crazy. That is the image. >> [music] >> When Paul says, "Be led by the Spirit and then you will not gratify the desires of the flesh," it is this. Keeping everything going where it needs to go. The Spirit of God does not just save us from sin. He transforms us into people [music] who look more like Jesus. That's walking in step with the Spirit. That'll affect every area of your life, every relationship, every friendship, your job. It'll affect [music] your emotions. If we walk in step with where he's calling us to walk, >> [music] >> then we're transformed into people who look more like Jesus.
If you will, if you'll bow your heads, let's pray. God, we thank you for who you are. God, we thank you that you want us to grow >> [music] >> in love and joy. You want us to have more peace and patience. Be people who are kind and full of self-control. I got what you want for each of us. Would we trust [music] that direction in [music] your life in our lives. Would we trust that guidance. And would we walk in step with you knowing [music] that it is only by walking in step with you that we can be transformed into people who look like Jesus. It's in your name we pray. Amen.