Keep On

Good morning, gcc.

Allow me to introduce myself.

It is so good to be back with you. We had a planned week of vacation and then the most complicated mission trip I've ever been a part of. But after all of that, it's so good to be back here. And I'm grateful to my friends John and Craig and Scott and Mike for the great job they've done teaching the last few weeks. But as we wrap up this Galatians series today, I'm really excited to be back here at home with you.

Now, many of you know I've been away longer than originally planned. John Veach and I were supposed to leave for Ghana in Africa on June 10. But a glitch at the Ghanaian embassy in Washington, D.C. held up our travel documents and that delayed our trip until July 1st. By that point in time, I'd already made arrangements to cover preaching bases in my absence, so. So we went ahead and just rolled with that plan.

But John and I finally got to travel. We got back in the States this last Wednesday and after five days in Ghana, I can tell you that our support investment there is a really good one. We have partnerships with Ghana Christian Mission and with Fame. And through those partnerships, affordable medical care is being offered in a number of remote villages that would otherwise lack access. And in the process of that, the message of Jesus is being shared and, and churches are being planted and we're going to have a whole lot more to share with you about a specific project we're working toward.

We'll talk about that a little bit more in the near future. But for right now, for today's purposes, I just want all of us to know that when we invest financially in Greenwood Christian, we are also investing in world changing projects like these. So thank you to all of you who give faithfully and regularly to the work that God is doing both here and globally. Now, while we're talking housekeeping details, because it's been a little while since we've had the opportunity face to face to do this, I need to update you on a couple of important details where our staff is concerned. Okay.

For months we've been praying for our friend and colleague Steve Poston as he's battled cancer. We love Steve and Steve's faith and his courage and his determination to honor Jesus, I think have been an inspiration to our entire church. Now Steve's energy continues to decline and he has recently entered hospice care. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that Steve only has days left with us, but Steve has decided that he no longer has the Stamina to keep up with his executive minister role here. So we have opted because we love Steve and because Steve still has a lot of helpful insight to share.

We have moved Steve into a consulting role where for as long as he's able, he'll continue behind the scenes you to coach and serve and guide. And we're grateful for his desire and willingness to do that. Now, in conjunction with that shift, we have moved Adrian Leach into the role of Executive Minister. Adrienne came to us with prior work background, administrative leadership in a large scale corporate environment. But in the time she's been with us, Adrienne has served as a part of our GC Kids team.

She's been our operations director. Most recently, she's worked as an executive assistant to Steve Poston and myself. Adrienne has really strong administrative skills. She knows our systems inside and out and she has already repeatedly demonstrated a sharp capacity to learn new roles and adapt to new responsibilities. Adrienne is deeply committed to our church's health and effectiveness and she's loved and respected by our entire staff.

So our elders and I believe that she's a great fit. But this is obviously a season of change. So we would appreciate your continued prayers for Steve as well as your prayers for Adrian and for all of us as we navigate this. Friends, there is no getting around the fact that this is a really hard season that we're in the midst of. We grieve the thought of losing a friend in the future.

But we also were able to look back and we can see in hindsight that God providentially brought the Postons here four years ago because we needed Steve's administrative gifts and because God knew that Steve and Jill would need our support. Steve and Jill have repeatedly expressed to me a deep gratitude for all the ways that our church family is loving them, praying for them, bringing them meals, providing all sorts of gift cards and financial gifts, and taking care of their lawn and a whole lot more. So in the weeks ahead, I want to encourage all of us to continue to support Steve and Jill to the very best of our ability. We trust that God's spirit is going to comfort us and he's going to lead us through everything that's ahead. Some of the things that we can anticipate and some other things we probably can't.

And as we continue to pursue the mission that God has given us, which never changes, no matter who is in what seat on our leadership bus, we trust that God is with us and he'll continue to carry us forward. And so we just pray that God would help us, and we ask that you would pray along with us in that very same direction. Now having said all of that, let's dive into Galatians. Throughout this series for the last seven weeks, we have seen the Apostle Paul come back again and again and again to the reality that the Gospel equals Jesus plus nothing. God saves us by his grace through faith, period.

Now, doing what's right is important and connecting with others in spiritual community is important, but none of that earns us a place in God's family. In the home stretch of this letter, Paul answered some questions that I think may have arisen in some of his readers minds on the basis of things he'd already said. For example, last week Mike Wiggin, my friend Mike, talked to us From Galatians chapter 5, where Paul contrasted the acts of the flesh, which is those habits and lifestyles that just become normal for us when we decide to just do whatever feels good. When the urges of our bodies drive our lives, the acts of the flesh become our habits and our lifestyles. And Paul contrasted that with the fruit of the Spirit, the godly, Christlike character that the Holy Spirit grows within us as we follow his lead.

Now the acts of the flesh are hurtful to us and they're hurtful to others, but the fruit of the Spirit, that's life giving. And that part of Paul's letter may have caused the Galatians to wonder, well, what if the life of another believer looks a lot more like the flesh than the Spirit? That's a really good question and we need to examine Paul's next words really carefully. Paul said in Galatians 6, verse 1, he began by saying brothers, sisters, and let's pause there long enough just to point out that this is relational family language. Brothers and sisters, that's a reference to our fellow believers in Jesus.

Paul was writing to a group of churches about the Big C church in a collective sense. And that's a really important qualifier to what he said next. He said, brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, remember Paul is talking to believers about believers. He's not talking about Hollywood celebrities we don't know personally. He's not talking about being out in public somewhere and running across someone who's acting like a fool.

He's not talking about your non Christian weed smoking neighbor. He's saying if someone you know as a brother or sister in Christ begins to live in a way that is incompatible with following Jesus. Like if a friend in your life group is beginning to struggle with substance abuse or if you know that someone in your church family is cheating on their spouse, or if your Christian friend is sneaking around and lying to their parents to hide ungodly behavior, or if someone in your Bible study or your life group is routinely harsh and snarky with others on social media, Paul is saying, when these sorts of things happen, here's what you should do. Galatians 6:1. You who live by the Spirit should restore that person Gently now.

To live by the Spirit is to strive for obedience to Jesus. And if that describes us, if we are committed to walking with Jesus, Paul says, we have a responsibility to help others who have committed to walking with Jesus stay on course. And how do we do that? Paul says gently. Remember the fruit of the Spirit.

The evidence of God's presence in us includes gentleness and patience and kindness When I talk to people who are new to Greenwood Christian Church, I hear a number of different stories. But many of those stories kind of boil down into three different camps. Some people are new to us, but they're not new to church at all. They're already believers. Maybe they've recently moved to our community, or they've been invited here by someone who already has connections with our church, and they've just come to check out what's happening.

And that's great. If that describes you, we're really glad you're here. Some of the people that come to our church are what we would call unchurched. They're beginners at faith. They haven't grown up around this.

They don't have any church background. But they sense a need for spiritual direction in their lives, and they're searching. And if that describes you, we want you to know that we're excited that you're here, even without having met you personally yet we have prayed for you. We want to be a church where you can come and find connection. But there are also people who come to church sometimes who are what we would call de churched.

They've believed in the past, but not lately. It's possible that there was a season in the distant past of their lives where they made some decisions that they now regret but but have taken their lives off course. Or maybe they went away to college at one point, or they moved with a job to a new city and they just didn't really take their faith or their involvement in the church with them. Or maybe they walked away from faith entirely because they felt hurt or judged or shamed in some way. And that last piece is something that, in light of what Paul is saying here, we need to talk about for just a minute.

You know, shaming has become a really popular topic of conversation in our culture in recent years. I mean, to shame someone simply means to try to make them feel inadequate or humiliated or embarrassed by highlighting their flaws in a really judgmental way. So people talk specifically about things like body shaming, criticizing someone for being too heavy or being too thin, or food shaming, calling people out for what they eat or how much they eat or what they don't eat or how little they eat. Or there's age shaming, where we're dismissive of people because we just view them as being either way too old or way too young to have really anything meaningful to contribute. Now Scripture insists that we are all flawed and sinful people.

Our sins may not be identical, but we all definitely have sin issues. So trying to make others feel self conscious and ashamed about their sins while we give a pass to our own, that's just unacceptable. So if someone has made assumptions about you, if someone has ever called you out in a way that was harsh, if someone has come at you with a lot of truth and not much grace, I just want to say I'm sorry and I'm glad you're here with us. I'm glad that you're still seeking Jesus. But I also need to clarify something and here it is that there is a difference between shaming and accountability.

Shaming often means laying heavy handed guilt trips on people. That's just manipulation. But when we know that we are living outside of God's will for us, when we know the right thing to do and we're not doing it, when we know the wrong thing that God has warned us against and we're involved in that, there is a discomfort called conviction that we experience. And on the surface, conviction can feel a lot like shame. And yet conviction based shame can actually be a healthy thing.

The Bible uses the word shameful to describe certain behaviors that dishonor God and lead to feelings of guilt and conviction. Like betraying someone who's been really loyal to us. Scripture calls that shameful. Ignoring the wisdom that we've been taught, knowing the truth and setting it aside and living as though we didn't. Scripture calls that shameful.

Worshiping false counterfeit gods. And I don't mean just bowing down to statues. When we become so obsessed with money or fame or popularity or career or success or sports, or you fill in the blank. When we get to a place where we are looking for everything that but God to complete us and fill us up, Scripture calls that Shameful. The word shameful is also used to describe sexual behavior that takes place outside of God's husband and wife design for sex in marriage.

Now when we're living in sin, when we are smashing through moral guardrails that God put there for a reason and we feel conviction, that's simply the Holy Spirit trying to get attention. That's a good thing. That's an opportunity for God to work. And one way that God works in these situations is by using us, the church, to correct and restore one another. And do you remember how Paul taught us to do that?

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should get up in their grill, call them out in front of their friends, blast them on social media. No. Paul said the goal is always to restore that person, to bring that person back into fellowship. And that's why it's so crucial that we approach the situation gently. If our goal is to restore others gently, we have to approach them in a spirit of humble self awareness about our own weaknesses.

We which is why Paul wrote next, but watch yourselves or you also may be tempted. Now what did Paul mean by that? I mean it's possible that sometimes you'll see someone beginning to veer into an area of sin and you know good and well that you have a personal weakness in that area. And if that's the case, you need to be especially wise and careful. But what's just as likely is that we'll see someone else struggling with a sin that we don't feel find particularly attractive.

Some behavior that really doesn't have much pull in our lives. And we will feel smug and superior and arrogant and judgmental and we'll be harsh with them. And Paul went on to lay out for us several practical principles that help us to gently restore each other to God. Honoring lives beginning with this one. Paul says we need to be sensitive to others weaknesses.

Now we can't make other people's life choices for them. But both Jesus and Paul taught that we ought to not make it any harder for others to do the right thing than it already is. Paul said in Galatians 6:2 carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ that love your neighbor as your self principle. We fulfill that when we help to carry each other's burden. Just one specific example.

We have the biblical freedom to drink alcohol responsibly. But if someone in your life group has a history of alcoholism, the wise and loving carry one another's burdens thing to do would be to not serve alcohol when your group gathers and not put that that trigger, not put that temptation in their path. When we recognize each other's weaknesses, when we're aware of each other's pitfalls, when we're tuned into each other's potential triggers and we choose to help rather than just saying, dude, you're on your own. We follow Jesus command to love one another and we help to carry each other's burdens. Another thing Paul talked about here in Galatians 6 is that we need to be honest in our self assessment.

Paul wrote next. He said, if anyone thinks they are something when they're not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else. For each one should carry their own load.

See, rather than compare ourselves to Jesus and then take an honest look in the mirror, what we often tend to do is compare ourselves selectively only to others who comparatively make us look pretty good. You think I'm materialistic? You should see the way my friend shops. I'm not a glutton, but that guy over at the buffet is. I don't have a problem with gossip, but I'll tell you who does.

See, our calling as followers of Jesus is to be like him, not just better than someone else. So we have to honestly examine our own hearts and lives all the time. The flip side of helping others to carry their burdens is to do our best to carry our own. And that prompted Paul to mention this. The importance of give back to those who help you.

Paul wrote in verse 6 here in Galatians 6, he said, nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the Word should share all good things with their instructor. Now, Paul taught churches to support those who led them and and he tried not to be a burden to the people that he led. Paul tried to live simply and contentedly so that he would not be a drain on the resources of the churches that he served. There are a couple of practical ways in a bigger picture sense, I think we can apply this instruction. One of them is simply when someone blesses you, say so.

If someone makes you feel welcome or does something thoughtful for you, tell them. If a worship leader encourages you, say something. If the message hits home in a way that you really needed to hear, then let whoever preached that message know that. And if being a part of our church family is helping you to see and know God more clearly, one important way that we share all good things is by giving generously to ensure that ministry continues we don't give out of obligation. We give out of gratitude for God's faithful provision for us.

And we give out of a genuine desire to invest in what matters most to Him. Last Sunday morning, John and I were in Ghana, just outside of the capital city of Accra, where we worshiped with Transformation Christian Church. Now, these people were very poor by US Economic standards, but their offering was an amazing time of celebration. There was a moment in the service when the worship leader said, giving time. And everyone in unison responded, blessing time.

Let's try that. Giving time. Blessing time. And as they worshiped, it was really cool. Everyone formed what you and I might think of as a conga line.

And they all kind of danced their way up to the front, and everyone put their gifts in the box. And, you know, our mobile app, many of us give that way. You know, I can designate I want to give to our general fund or I want to give to Operation Care, all right there within the app. They don't have any of that technology, so they had a separate offering for. For each project they were working on.

So there were three different moments where people danced their way to the front and they dropped their offerings in the box. It was a really fun thing to be a part of. These people could have easily said, I don't really have anything to give. I'm barely getting by myself. But they chose instead to follow the example and the teaching of Jesus by sharing what they had.

And Paul challenges us to do the same. Now, the second question that Paul shifts his focus to here in Galatians 6 is this one. How do we aim our lives in the right direction? We've already talked about, what do we do when we see a brother or sister's life beginning to veer off course? But how do we carry our own burden and aim our lives in the right direction?

And to answer that question, Paul introduced what is often referred to as the law of the harvest. This is how Paul said it. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Whoever sows to please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction. Whoever sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life. It's a cause and effect principle that we relate to. This really isn't hard to wrap our heads around. If I want to lose weight, but I won't change my eating and exercise patterns, my habits will defeat my hopes.

If I want to get out of debt, but I keep spending without a budget, my habits will conquer my intentions. If I want to grow spiritually, but my love of camping and weekends at the lake and travel, sports and Netflix keep me away from spiritual community and keep me out of the word of God. My habits will smother my spiritual aspirations. Andy Stanley said it like this. Your direction, not your intention, determines your destination.

Whatever we're pointed toward, that's more than likely where we're going to wind up. Many of you will remember that a few years ago, during the wonderful 2020 COVID pandemic, when a lot of us were stuck at home, a lot of people took up new hobbies. One of my friends really got into gardening during that season, and she gave me a couple of shoots from some plants that she'd grown, including a hibiscus that I planted in our backyard. So I watered it and I fertilized it and it grew quickly. And a few weeks later, it had multiple blooms on it.

So I took a picture and I sent it to my friend just to thank her for giving it to me. And very quickly I got a text back that said, oh no, I'm so sorry, that's a weed. I gave that to you by mistake. You need to get rid of that. It was tall and it had flowers growing on it, but it was not a hibiscus.

So I went out and I pulled the imposter up by the roots, and a short time later, she gave me an actual hibiscus that still grows in our backyard. But that experience just reinforced to me what Paul is talking about right here. That whatever we nurture, whatever we cultivate, whatever we water, whatever we give time and attention to, whether it's good or bad, whether it's healthy or unhealthy, whether it's godly or ungodly, that is what is going to grow in our lives. We reap what we sow. So we have to choose carefully and we have to practice patient determination.

Wrong decisions are almost always way easier than the right ones are. Wolfing six donuts is easier than going to the gym. Can I get an amen? Looking at porn is easier than practicing self control. Spending money is easier than saving it.

Watching TV is much easier than doing Bible study. But the life we really want, the life God desires for us, requires patient, disciplined, intentional, big picture thinking. So Paul went on to write these words in verse nine. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

We don't get a harvest just because we plant a seed and we won't see a crop overnight. We plant the seed, but the soil has to be cultivated and fertilized and irrigated and it takes time for spiritual fruit to grow. And healthy churches are no different. There is no shortcut or easy button or silver bullet. The life we want, the relationships we want, the church we want, will always be the byproduct of God working through our intentional, consistent, determined, patient investment of time and energy in pursuit of what matters most to Him.

Now, there's no guarantee that we will avoid pain if we do all the right things. But if we settle for short sighted living, if we settle for inconsistent habits, if we settle for living without any real plan, it is a sure bet that we will not wind up where we want to be. So it's worth asking a couple of questions. If you are currently not satisfied with your spiritual life, I'm curious, what kind of seeds are you planting? We reap what we sow.

If you're frustrated by the quality of your relationships or the lack of connection and community that you feel with others, let me ask you, how are you planting seeds by doing good to others? A lot of people settle for vacillating between hot and cold and just sort of coasting from one emotional experience to the next. But God calls us to a lifelong journey of trust and obedience. And from there, Paul went on to close this letter with a couple of footnotes. He just offered some closing commentary, as he often did, and he started with this one, verse 11.

Paul said, See what large letters I use in as I write to you with my own hand. What in the world is Paul talking about? Well, back in chapter four, Paul mentioned that his first contact with the Galatians came about as a result of an illness that he had that had some sort of impact on his eyesight. So it's likely that Paul dictated this letter that we call Galatians to a scribe who wrote things down for him, but that Paul personally picked up the scroll or the parchment and he closed the letter in his own handwriting, which was oversized because he didn't see very well. And Paul then added one last reminder of what the Gospel is about.

He said this those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. And as Craig explained a couple of weeks ago, all these references to circumcision in the book of Galatians are really just categorical shorthand for a life spent trying to Follow all the details and intricacies and nuances of the Old Testament Jewish law. Paul said the only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law. Yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh.

Now, we talked earlier in Galatians about the Judaizers. These were Jewish Christians who even after God made clear that all people through Jesus were welcome into his family, these Judaizers still wanted to force Gentiles, non Jewish people, to adopt all of their Old Testament Jewish customs. And Paul said they did that not out of biblical conviction, but because of peer pressure from other Jews. They wanted to prove their spirituality to the legalistic hardliners that by compelling others to observe the law in the very same way that they themselves failed to. But Paul knew the gospel equals Jesus plus nothing, so he doubled down on that theme.

Verse 14. Paul said, May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world now. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither following all the letters of the law or not following the law means anything. What counts is the new creation. We know that the Apostle Paul had a pretty impressive Jewish heritage.

His ancestry and his education were significant in that regard. But that wasn't where he found his confidence. We are saved by God's grace. So Paul said the only thing was worth bragging about is the love and mercy of Jesus who gives us new life. And that's it.

Before the perfection of God, none of us have anything to brag about. And then Paul made a comment that is especially relevant in light of some things that are going on in our world right at this moment. He wrote in verse 16, Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule to the Israel God. Paul offered a blessing of peace and mercy to all of the Galatian believers who found their identity not in their ethnicity, but in belonging to Jesus. And he referred to these people as the Israel of God.

See, in the Old Testament, Israel consisted of Abraham's descendants, the Jewish people. But in the New Testament, God expanded the definition of Israel to to include all Jesus followers. In his original promise to Abraham, remember what he wrote in Galatians chapter 3. In Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor Free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now, we live in a day and age where I often hear well meaning Christians stress that we should stand with Israel. But the modern secular nation of Israel, established in 1948, is not the Israel of the New Testament. The Israel of God is everyone, Jew or Gentile, who belongs to Jesus.

Now, we ought to pray for any nation that is at war, and Israel is certainly one of those. But to suggest that one nation is God's favorite and can do no wrong is to completely miss how God now defines Israel through Jesus. Our brothers and sisters in Christ include Israeli Christians as well as Palestinian Christians and Iranian Christians and Ghanaian Christians and American Christians. We have brothers and sisters all over the planet. And all of these Christians, along with all of us who belong to Jesus, constitute the Israel of God.

We have all been grafted into the family that God promised to raise up through Abraham. It has nothing to do with where we live or what kind of blood courses through our veins. If we are followers of Jesus, if our faith is in him, we are a part of Israel. So we stand with Israel by standing with Jesus and not by pushing for political alliances with one geopolitical nation in particular.

Now, at this point in Paul's life, he had come to the realization that the conviction that his identity was no longer grounded in being a Jew. Paul's identity was locked up in following Jesus, no matter what he said in verse 17. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Now, the Greek word that is translated marks is the word stigmata. It literally means brand marks, because in Galatian culture, slaves were sometimes branded, just like we see cattle branded on ranches to identify them as slaves.

In the course of Paul's ministry, we know from scripture that he was beaten repeatedly. He'd been stoned, left for dead, he had been shipwrecked. And rather than being ashamed of the scars that he carried on his body from all those experiences, Paul saw those scars as important, tangible reminders of his devotion to Jesus. See, Paul knew that God calls us to a lifelong journey of trust and obedience. God calls us to a lifelong journey of trust and obedience.

So as we close our journey through this book, I just need to ask you, have you answered that call?

Are you on that lifelong journey? I'm not asking whether you go to church. And I'm glad you're here this morning. That's not what I'm asking. I'm not asking whether at some point in your past you have made a decision, although following Jesus certainly requires a choice and we want to encourage you to make that choice.

I'm not asking whether you've been baptized, although that's an important step of faith. And just like we got to celebrate with Michaela and Kalaisia a few minutes ago, we would love to help you take that step. This is what I am asking. Are you trusting the gospel of grace, which is Jesus plus nothing to save you? Is your confidence before God grounded in Jesus, or is it grounded in all the stuff that you bring to the table?

Your good deeds, your personal connections, your history with this or with some other church, your knowledge of scripture, all can be really good things. But that is not where our relationship with the Jesus comes from. And I want to ask, are you striving daily to live in full surrender to Jesus? God calls us to a lifelong journey of trust and obedience. And his Holy Spirit travels with us.

The Holy Spirit shares that journey with us to guide us in the direction God calls us to go. Paul closed this letter that we call Galatians with these words. He said, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. Would you pray with me, Lord God, I'm grateful to be here this morning with my friends.

It is a blessing to be a part of your family. And Father, we've been reminded this morning that what makes us a part of your family is your grace expressed to us in Jesus. This is not something that we earn. It's not something that we're born into. It's not something that we achieve.

It's a gift of your grace and we thank you for that. Father, I know that there are here in this room people at a variety of different points in terms of our. Our spiritual knowledge, our. Our biblical depth, our spiritual maturity. We are all works in process.

And we thank you God, that you invite us not just to have an experience, not just to share a moment with you or with one another, but to travel a lifelong journey. And we ask for your help, God, in really committing ourselves to that. We're grateful for your guidance through your word, for the encouragement of your people, the gift, the influence of your spirit. And Father, we ask that you would make this a place where no matter what level of church background we do or don't have, we can come together and we can find equal footing in the reality that we are all sinful, jacked up people, that we are all loved by the God who created us and that we have all been purchased back from sin and death and hell by Jesus, sacrifice at the cross and God. I pray that you would continue to use our lives to communicate that message and that you would continue God to grow in us the fruit of your spirit.

Help us to live our lives in a way that is reflective of your presence within us and in a way that would spark curiosity in others and make them want to know more about this God we serve who is changing and transforming our lives. Father, thank you for your goodness to us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You know, every time we get together, we always want there to be an opportunity to respond.

Because the Word of God is never given to us just for our entertainment. It's not given to us just for our knowledge. It's given for the sake of transforming us. And so if there is a next step that you need to take, we would just want to invite you to reach out to us about that. To all of our friends online or those of us here in the room who are a little more reserved or maybe you're just in a hurry, just text the word next anytime to 317-707-997.

Let us know what's on your heart. We'd love to begin a conversation with you, but if you're here in person with us, if we can see eyeball to eyeball right now, there'll be several of us right down here in front of the stage right after the service. And if you have questions, if we can pray with you, if we can help direct you to people or resources, if we can help you find your way toward whatever step God is calling you to, we would love to be a part of that process. So we'd welcome you to come down and chat with us. We'd love to get to know you and hear more about your story.

Now, Paul closed the letter of Galatians with a verse I read just a minute ago. But I want to ask all of you to join me in looking at this verse one more time. And I want us to say this out loud and just speak this blessing over one another. Galatians 6:18. We're going to put that up here on the screen.

Would you say these words with me? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. One more time. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters.

Amen.