Transcript for:
Ephesians 2:7,10 -His Poiema- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2026-01-18

Ephesians two seven through 10. That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus on the good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. So father, once again, we're humbled before you, Lord. We're just so blown away at your love for us, Lord, that we were dead in our sins and trespasses. And and Lord, we were we were slaves to the wicked one. The prince, the power of the air going to the course of the world. And and Lord, also to a greater degree, our flesh. Our flesh was just ruling and reigning and we didn't have that freedom, that liberty of the life of the spirit, Lord. And so just slaves to sin, dead in our sin, but God. And we saw when we factor you into the equation, Lord, when you intervene, Lord, life changes. We're no longer body and soul, but body, soul, and spirit. And so, Lord, we pray this morning as we continue down this road of discovering more and more of what it means to be in Christ Jesus, what it means to be a Christian. Lord, we pray that you'd illumine our hearts and minds, that you'd be our teacher this morning. It equip and strengthen us, and we'd walk out of this building today, Lord, just more in love with you than we came in, greater understanding of your love of us. And Lord, just just cause these truths to sink down deep, deep, deep within, that Lord we rest in the finished work of salvation that Jesus said it is finished to tell us that I paid in full. So blessed we pray in Jesus name, amen. Would you please be seated? The past holidays, when we get together at the holidays for me when I used to go and hang out with my grandma, sometimes I would be able to get, some real, juicy things about our past, our family's our family's history and all. And I the last time I saw her a couple times ago before she went home and be with the Lord, you know, was one of those times where Kathy and I would go, we'd make an appointment, you know, a point to go see her and spend time with her. And and she'd start reminiscing and and it was always fun to see her and to hear her reminisce about the good things that went on. There were a couple occasions where she, began to open up, and I don't know why, but she began to open up and tell me things I'd never heard before. And and it was kind of alarming. It was very alarming to me. But, you know, you're you're born into your family. There's nothing you can do about it. You can't clean it up, you know? Now we like to keep it covered and not let everybody know about it and all. That's one point. But but in this case, I think I can open up a little bit. But just just sort of sort of thinking, you know, what's your pedigree? What kind of stock did you come from? What kind of people did you come from? Are you in the the royal lines of England? You know, that sort of that would be a sordid line, wouldn't it? But in any event, she said to me that and Kathy and I that when she was a young lady, just a teenager, that she got raped. And I I didn't know that. And and when she got raped, my mom was the child from that rape, and then later, my mom had me when she was 15. And so my grandma was only, you know, fifteen years older than my mom, and my mom was only 15 year old years older than me. So when I'm standing here in my sixties a couple years ago, and I'm saying, hey, I'm gonna go see my grandma, that's how that works, is that you have very, very, young grandparents and and and my mom and all. And, so anyway, any event that happened, and so as you're hearing that, you're there with your wife, she didn't know any of this stuff, and so you're you're you're thinking, god, that's where you came from? That's where your family came from? Oh, man. You know? And that's just so bad. You know? And then for you and I as Christians, we think in terms of our Lord Jesus, where did he come from? Where's his pedigree? His natural pedigree. And just in case, you think you're, ashamed of where you came from, think of where he came from. Think of Lot leaving Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot, venturing away from the city, and the city's blowing up and all. And then his two sisters misconstrue that they're the only ones left, and so they have an incestuous relationship with Lot, their father. And then from Lot come the Ammonites and also the Moabites. And then a few years later, we see that the Moabites produce a woman named Ruth, and Ruth winds up marrying Boaz, a Jewish man. And so Ruth the Moabite is a gentile, marrying Boaz, and she's from an incestuous relationship, assorted sensuous relationship. And then and then Boaz has Obed, Obed has Jesse, and Jesse's the root the root and the offspring of David. And then when we go into chapter one of Matthew, I like how the Holy Spirit, in many cases, doesn't try to hide David's sins, doesn't try to hide people's pedigree and and things where they come from because we're all sinners. Every single one of us, we're dead in our sins and trespasses. There's none righteous, no, not one. So you see Jesus in Matthew one, you see his pedigree, and it's not a very good pedigree. It comes through Tamar, a harlot, and comes through Ruth Moabites, comes through Bathsheba, an adulteress and all. And so you got all this stuff in his past, and Jesus comes through there. And now he's with this very virtuous woman named Mary and Joseph, who's an admirable person and all. But as time goes on, that pedigree as it continues, the offspring of Mary and Joseph, not all of them are, you know, walking so close to the Lord. We know that Jesus lived a perfect life, but he's the only one. And so Paul here is trying to show us our past. He's showing us how bad it was that we, in verse one, were dead in our sins and trespasses. And then he's in verse two, he's talking about how the prince of the power of the air, that we followed the course of this world. We were just in the flow of the dead salmon going down the stream in the course of this world. And then at verse three, he talks about among whom also we all had our our conversation or manner of life in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature the children of wrath even as others. So we're living on an animal level following the animalistic inspired by the devil, inspired by the world. So the world, the flesh, and the devil are three enemies for us as Christians, and we just went with the flow. We're children of wrath e even as everybody else. So if I'm in my neighborhood and I'm looking around and I'm thinking, god, my mom's been married so many times, I'm ashamed. There's a whole lot of other stuff going on in the homes around me where the word all means all. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. None of us have arrived. None of us are good enough to enter into heaven because of how how good we are. And so then Paul factors in, but God. God's the one that makes the difference. In some in my life, definitely. In your life, definitely. In some people's life, they don't factor God into the equation. He's sent his son to die for the sins of the whole world. All their sins are already paid for, but they don't appropriate that free gift, do they? They don't receive Christ. They reject Christ. So they're still in their sins. They're still in their trespasses. They're still in that sinful condition, and they don't really wanna get out because in John three says, their deeds are evil and they love darkness rather than light. They like the darkness. They don't wanna give up the darkness. And why would that be? Why would anybody wanna perpetuate and stay in that? If I'm from an alcoholic home, a mom that's been married multiple times and all that bad stuff, my heart goes out to her. I wanna get her saved. But I certainly don't wanna perpetuate that lifestyle and continue as an alcoholic, druggie, whatever it is, whatever your past is. I don't wanna continue in that way. I'm endemic in the race. I've got an old nature. I've got this old pedigree thing going through me, this fallen endemic nature. I need someone to rescue me from me. I need someone to intervene and to help me, teach me what it means to be a man of God, what it means to be a husband, a father, a a brother, you know, what it means to be a a leader of a of a household, a family as as a father and a husband. I need help. I need someone to show me what marriage looks like. So God comes in, and he's intervene, and he continues to work in my life. He continues to fashion me into the person, the vessel of honor he envisioned before the foundation of the earth. So God knew me, but God didn't in that knowing me and knowing you and predestining you and I and calling us, he knew before the foundation of the earth that he wasn't gonna leave us the way that we found ourselves. He wasn't just gonna leave us there, that he was going to intervene. He was gonna make an effort to intervene, to arrest you, to stop you like he did the apostle Paul, the apostle Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus. Had he allowed him to continue, he'd have continued in his ignorance actually persecuting Jesus and such, the epitome of ignorance, you know, persecuting the church. And so the Lord has made me a poema, his poema. The word poema is the word workmanship in verse 10, and it's the Greek word, where in the English, we get the word poem. So God has made you and I a work of art. So we may start out as just a piece of dirt. God fashions from the dirt of the ground, and he makes Adam. Right? And he breathes into Adam, and Adam comes to life. Right? And then he brings forth the rib bone from Adam, and brings forth Eve, and so, from the from the man. And so the two walk together. The two become one, a picture of marriage, a picture of our relationship with God. But the intrinsic value, the the metals, the minerals of our bodies are just dirt. It goes back to dirt from dust to dust. There's no intrinsic value in and of ourselves based upon, you know, you weren't made of gold. You weren't made of silver. What's gold running at right now? What's silver at? You know? You and I are just dirt. Just dirt. But because we have the holy spirit living and dwelling within this clay pot, this jar of clay, that makes us very valuable because of the contents. Because we're no longer body and soul, now we're body, soul, and spirit, and God is working in me both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And so he's saying that we're his work of art, that he has an intention. He has a plan, a purpose, a desire of who he wants to make each of us individually, no two alike, each and every one of us individually special, and hopefully, you and I are being made to be a vessel of honor, one that would bring the Lord glory and honor rather than a vessel of dishonor. And so it's a matter of yieldedness, it's a matter of, just trying to discover, who I am in Christ Jesus. Who has he made me? What are my gifts? Where do I fit? Where don't I fit? What works? What doesn't work? And so I'm his poem. And notice, first of all, the grace, his unmerited favor in verse seven. That in the ages to come and so I like to stop there and say, what age are we in? Church age. Church age. So we're talking not just this this change that's taking place now during the church age, but in the ages to come. These changes are gonna continue to, you know, take place. And so, we're gonna be completed when we see him face to face. But in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace. So so he's completed that work that he's begun in us when we see Jesus face to face. And now in the ages to come in the tribulation period when we're in heaven and in the millennium, you're gonna be a trophy of his workmanship, his poema, his work of art that the angels and everybody else are gonna be, you know, looking at, marveling, and marveling at God's plan of redemption. No plan of redemption for the fallen angels, but a plan of redemption for humanity. Plan of redemption because his son decided to come back not as an angel, but as a human being, the son of man, the babe of Bethlehem. And so we, Jesus, seeks to identify with us that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. So my past was really ugly, brutal, and I don't wanna live in the past. Do you wanna live in the past? Do you wanna keep digging it up, you know, pulling it up? Now I might be able to pull it up a little bit in the intro there to show an illustration, but I'm not gonna sit there and go pay somebody $75 an hour to try and explain to me why that's my pedigree. Who cares? Nothing I could do about it. I better move on. Right? I'm not that person. I don't have to perpetuate those sins and all. And my grandma was well over it. She never brought up anything negative. I mean, this person come out of the depression era, she was so stoked. She was excited just as me that we don't have to stay there. That you can move away from Wisconsin and and move to San Diego and live with perfect weather your whole life long, you know. She was always stoked. So my past was real ugly. It was brutal. My present is what? What is my present? My present is blessed. I'm blessed. Every day I can wake up and be thankful to God at how incredibly blessed I am no matter what adversity I'm facing, no matter what's happened in the past, I can wake up each and every day that it's a day of blessing. That God is blessing my life because I'm one of his. I'm a child of light. Yesterday, I was working in the yard, working outside there, and my grandkids were helping me. I'm blessed. They were all over me everywhere, all day long. I am so incredibly blessed. I just can't believe it. I mean, I'm just I went to bed last night thinking about, I am so blessed, you know. The way the boys came over there and helped me dig and and set everything up, and then eat Ruthie was there underfoot, and she's like, where's that treasure chest, papa, that you buried for me? I buried her a pink, kind of a purplish treasure chest with candy in it somewhere in the yard right there. And she remembers, and she wants to find that again, you know. And I I couldn't stop. And I said, I think it's over there, but I didn't have time to really delve into it and all. But just precious moments. Such incredible precious moments. And if we're too busy adults, we miss so much of the blessing that's right underneath our noses. So my past was real ugly, it was brutal, my present is blessed, and my future will be what? My future will be beautiful. I mean, I got a beautiful future in front of me. He's gonna take away all the thorns, all the curses, all the scars, all the bad stuff. He's the only one gonna be wearing the scars. Right? I'm gonna be perfected in my new glorified body. I'm not gonna be sick anymore. I'm not gonna be around sick people. We're gonna be healthy. We're gonna be beautiful. We're gonna be the way that God intended us to be with before sin came and began to with general sin to break us down. In Revelation five verse nine, when we take and we look up into heaven, the churches in heaven, after these things, after the church age, where's the church in chapter four and five? They're up in heaven. And then chapter six starts the tribulation period onto chapter 18, the second coming of Christ in 19, Revelation 20, the millennium, Revelation twenty one and twenty two, the eternal state. But Revelation five, the four and twenty elders are representative of the church that's in heaven, and then the the word us represents that the church is there with the four and twenty elders. So they sung a new song. It's gonna be beautiful, a whole new song. We're gonna be singing up in heaven with the angels. They sung a new song, thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. Jesus is the savior of the whole world. Not just the nation of Israel, the whole world. And we're singing a new song because Jesus has redeemed us with his blood out of every tribe, tongue, kindred, and nation, and that's cause for rejoicing. And he was slain, and he's redeemed us with his blood, and he's the only one worthy to open the book to take the title deed to the earth that the devil usurped from Adam. God told Adam to be fruitful and to multiply, and when Adam sinned as our first federal head, he forfeited that dominion, and and he's a usurper, and he took the title to the earth. He took the title deed, a legal document, if you will. That's why in Matthew four, when Jesus was being tempted by the devil, and he takes him up on a high hill, and he shows him all the kingdoms of the world. If you bow down and worship me, I'll give you all these kingdoms of the world, Jesus. You don't need to go by way of the cross. You don't need to wear a crown of thorns. I'll give you a crown. I'll let you be the king of this world, you know. If you bound out and worship me as God. And Jesus Jesus isn't falling for it. He isn't gonna take a shortcut, is he? And so he's begone, Satan. And and Satan has to leave. And it is written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Be gone, Satan. And so Satan takes off for a season. He wants to come back around later and continue to tempt, but Jesus didn't refute the fact that the little she got of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the one that we read of in verse two here in chapter two, that he had that sort of authority, a delegated authority. So up in heaven, who is worthy to open the scroll? Who's worthy to loose the seals? Who's worthy to stop this pretender? Oh, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the kingly lion, the root and the offspring of David. He's the only one worthy in heaven and earth. Angels anyway, he's the only one worthy. And we're there singing when we see it. We're there in heaven singing. We're just so excited. The beauty of the restoration of the millennium and how everything's gonna be made right as we can see up ahead. And so he says, and has made us under our God kings and priests. We're gonna be a kingdom of priests. We're gonna be ruling and reigning with Jesus for a thousand years in the millennium as kings and priests. And we shall reign on the earth. So we believe in a literal one thousand year rule and reign of king Jesus according to Isaiah 11 and Isaiah two and and as I said, Revelation chapter 20. So The Us, his bride, saved now, raptured to heaven, and we return with him in chapter 19 when he's returning, with these folks with white garments, unspotted, unblemished, the bride of Christ, we're gonna return with him, and he's going to intervene to stop the nation of Israel to from being totally annihilated as they cry out, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. And he's gonna set foot according to Isaiah 63 at Basra, present day Petra, and and he's gonna save a one third remnant of Jews according to Zechariah thirteen eight and nine, who are going to come through this period of time in the ages to come. That first age to come is the tribulation age, that seven year period of time, the time of Jacob's trouble, a time of cataclysm, a time that the world has never seen again, but it's also a time of purifying. A time where the Lord, two thirds of the Jews are wiped out, and over half of the world's population is wiped out. And so, except those days be short, and no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's sake, Jesus intervenes. And then he destroys the devil. He destroys the antichrist and the false prophet who they go immediately into the lake of fire. The devil grabbed hold of him, put into the abyss for a thousand years, and he destroys all the antichrist armies, that global government, the global economy, the whole thing, their whole utopian age is destroyed. Now, I can't enjoy heaven, I can't enjoy the millennium if I have to keep still fighting with the devil and all his people fighting against us. But Jesus intervenes, he destroys all of them, and so we have what's called peace. From the prince of peace for the first time ever, real lasting peace, and that's cause of rejoicing. And so the the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. He says, for by grace are you saved through faith. For by grace, in other word, grace is unmerited favor. You can't merit it. You can't earn it. For by grace are you saved through faith. Very, important to stop right here and define what we mean. It means as a Jew, Judaism today, you cannot save yourself. You can never be good enough. On the day of Yom Kippur, the great day of atonement, this is a time we're told where you wanna make a deal with the Jews because they're trying to counterbalance all the bad deals and all the other stuff they've done all year long and trying to bring it to a point where they can get the ball to go, you know, a little higher. They think God graze on the curve. And so their effort, Judaism, is an effort to be good enough, to be faithful enough, to be Jew enough to make it into heaven. That's why Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, he tried to show them that their external keeping of the law, that inwardly they're full of dead men's bones. So you may appear from the outside like white wall sepulchers, but inwardly, you're full of dead you're fill filled with corruption and wickedness. And so he says in Matthew five verse 20, except your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you'll no wise enter the kingdom of God. What's he mean? They were masters at the external keeping of the law. But inwardly, they were very, very wicked just like every single other person because the heart's deceitful, wicked above all things, definitely wicked. Who can know it? And so he illustrated Jesus illustrated the intention of the law to stop every mouth by saying, you may not have murdered somebody physically yet, but if you're, if you're angry with your brother, you're already a murderer. So the law condemns you. The wages of sin is death. That's what you get if you want justice, if you wanna try and get there by being good. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you look upon a woman with lust in your heart, you're already an adulterer. So the intention of the law is to stop every mouth. The intention of the law is to bring everybody to the place where all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, where each and every person cries out to God, God must what must I do to be saved? That's the intention of law, to drive every person to Christ. To funnel you in a corner like Moses with the children of Israel coming out of Egypt and hitting the Red Sea, and now the Egyptian army is coming, and they're gonna snuff them out. It's God backing you into a corner where there's no way out. And then he is that only way out as he opens up the Red Sea, and you go through the baptism and the regeneration of going through that Red Sea and come out on the other side. And that's the that's the that's the intention of the law is to stop every mile. The 613 precepts, the Old Testament law, was not to make you righteous. If there was one law that could make you righteous, God would have done that. But you could you could be a good person and and keep 600 of them, you know? And just missing one, and you're guilty of the whole thing. And the wages of sin is death. So people get in these religious systems of Judaism or Catholicism or Protestantism. If you're not hearing what Martin Luther's trying to say, the just shall live by faith. Salvation is by grace through faith alone. You can hear that, but still not appropriated in your life. You can still be living according to a system of works of trying to work your way into heaven by being a good person. But salvation is by grace, which is unmerited favor. You don't merit it. You don't earn it. You can't earn it. On your best day, on your very best day on this planet, you're still a sinner. All of us. And so what that does is it it stops us from working. It helps us to rest in the finished work of Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith. And so the the agent, the agency, the means by which you appropriate this free gift is to receive it by faith. To believe that Jesus is the one that fulfilled the standards of the law, the demands of the law, that he's fully, fully holy. He's the holy one, the just one. Only he could go to that cross and die for you. And God the father is just and holy before the devil and all the angels and all the people, and that he poured out his wrath upon his only begotten son, the lamb of God who doesn't cover the sin on the great day of Yom Kippur of atonement, and year by year keep going and working on that sin. No. Who was snuffed out once. The lamb of God who takes away the sin, and he's smitten once. That's why when Moses was told to smite the rock to get the water out, it's a picture. It's a type of Jesus being smitten upon the cross. And that's why later when the children of Israel wanted water a second time, Moses blew the type when he smote the rock a second time. Jesus is only smitten once, not over and over and over again. Moses speak to the rock. And so if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture said, out of his belly shall flow torrents of living water. So Moses, speak to the rock. You and I, we just speak to the rock. We speak to Jesus the rock. We speak to him, and, he's the one that sends the comfort of the Holy Spirit to comfort you and I, and to give us that water as he told the woman in John four that you'll never thirst again. You don't have to go work it. You don't have to go pay for your sins. You don't have to do penance. You don't have to pay a priest. You don't have to, you know, run a marathon or whatever. You rest. There's a rest available for those who cease working. Quit working. Don't work for it. For by grace are you saved through faith. So Romans three twenty four, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. The redemption, his blood. You couldn't redeem your brother. We weren't redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold. It's the redemption of his precious blood. It's that redemption that we see in Revelation five where, he's the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He's the one that's scarred there. He's the only one qualified to take that title deed to the earth away from the devil and to not only be the creator, but the redeemer. And the reason he's redeeming this planet is because you are that poema. You are that treasure within the midst of that field, within that planet. He's got lots of planets out there, but it's this planet. It's this planet that he went and sold all that he had so that he could purchase you. That's the value he places upon you today. And he's making you beautiful inside and out. Isn't that a beautiful thing? In Micah seven nineteen, he will turn again. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities, and thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. So you look at grace, is there enough grace for me? It's an ocean of grace. An ocean of unmerited favor, and he's taken all your sins, all your iniquities, all your bad stuff, all the bad pedigree, all the bad nature, all the bad things, past, present, future, bad things have already been paid for, and he's taken them all, and he's cast them in to the depth of the sea, and they sunk to the bottom. Right? And Cory Ten Boom comes along and says, and there's a sign there that says no fishing. You don't fish. In your relationship with your wife and your husband, you don't fish. You don't start to pull that old stuff up, which you remember she did or he did, you know, a month ago, two months ago, or years ago, or whatever. Remind that person. God's taken these sins. He's cast them to the East, to the West. He remembers them no more. He's cast them into the depths of the ocean. It's an ocean of grace. It's unmerited favor. You don't deserve it. He's not grading on the curve. He's he's not he's not, you know, judging you to the very letter of the law. The letter of law kills. The spirit gives life. And it's and really, to be honest with you, he doesn't expect as much from you and I as we seemingly expect from ourselves. Let me say it another way. It doesn't surprise God of how easily we sin. It comes easy to us. He's not surprised. We're trying so hard, so hard, and then we fall. He's not surprised. He wants to point us to his son. I want you to rest. Jesus said, he said, come on to me all you that labor. In Matthew 11, come on to me all you that labor. You're working so hard. The religious leaders were putting these big burdens upon the people of the letter of the law. They were keeping people from the true riches, the true blessing of knowing God, like many religious systems do. They're the gatekeepers, and they control that religious system to keep people guilt ridden and always feeling like they they don't belong. But the veil of the temple was torn in two. The veil is open. You you have access to boldly come before that throne of grace. And Jesus said, come on to me, not to the religious system you're in. Come on to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me from meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest under your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus has a perfect perfect yoke to put on your neck, to be yoked with him. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. It's a perfect yoke. It's a perfect function. It's a perfect place within the body to serve the Lord, to be a Christian, to be a child of God. He's the carpenter from Nazareth. And when he makes a yoke for your neck, for you to serve him, to come alongside him and serve him the privilege of serving, it's not gonna chafe your neck. It's not gonna make you crazy. It's gonna fit just right, that role that you have, that place that you have. Just fits perfect. It's where you're supposed to be. You know that you know that you know you're in God's will, and you can rest. You can rest. Rest in him, and watch what he'll do through your life. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. So John Newton, who's a slave captain, hauling slaves into the market, into the Great Britain, and his his heart has changed. He's transformed and changed. He becomes a pastor. And the Lord gives him a tune of amazing grace that we all still sing today. Oh, save the wretch like me. That's you in the BC. That's before Christ. That's who you were before he came along. For by grace are you saved through faith. It's God's God's grace in your life. In Psalm 30 verse five, for his anger endures but for a moment, and his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And so, man, it's it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing being a human being. It's shameful being a human being. We can so incredibly hurt one another like nobody else can. We can hurt them deep. We can be hurt deeply. And it's it's just so incredibly shameful because we prided ourselves. We told ourselves that we were good people and that we would never hurt somebody like that. And then we wind up doing it, don't we? In many cases. Or or it's done unto us. And we're just mystified. We're just blown away, like, how could this be? How could someone call themselves a Christian and treat us like that? How could somebody that I that I took vows of marriage with, how could they turn and and be so incredibly evil and hurt me so deeply? How can that be? How can that happen? And not miss a beat. Act like act like they have a right to it. And act like nobody nobody can question what they're doing, you know? How can that be? Is that the grace card? Should I just pull that grace card out? I'm just gonna pull the grace card out. I can do in you know, anything I want because pastor Rick said, for by grace are you saved. Well, we're not finished there. We got more to go. Faith without works is dead. He's showing you who you are. He's showing you how you got saved, then he wants you to be a vessel of honor. You're his workmanship. You think you're you're his workmanship to go and hurt people like that? You think that's the whole plan and purpose? And yet, when we do, he still can wash us up, cleanse us up, fix us up, and bring something where the word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time. God restores sinners. One of the things that really deeply bothered me this week is I was watching Philip Yancey and fifty five years of marriage, editor for Christianity Today and writer of many Christian books and all. He's 75 years old, and he recently confessed that he sinned for eight years now having an adulterous relationship with another married woman. Now that's pretty bold to him to come forward and to confess that and to step down from his ministry like so many others are. It's an epidemic, let me tell you. And I think of his wife. I always think of the wives. Fifty five years of marriage, faithfully married. Fifty five years, faithfully married. And not only that, but he's got a disease. And with that disease, his wife has chose to stay in that marriage, vows of marriage before God, and she's gonna be his caregiver. Wow. What an amazing amazing woman, and what a broken broken man. Now here's where my blood is boiled. Watch this. Here's where my blood boils. When I hear another Christian leader named Eric Metaxas get up there on social media and say, faith without works is dead, my blood boils. That's the improper response. How do I know? Because Galatians six one says, if any man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual restore such one a spirit of meekness, lest you also be tempted. If any man thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. I'm expecting Eric to fall because of his pride, because of standing up there pontificating and acting like he's so much better than a Philip Yancey or anybody else that's fallen. Do you understand what I'm saying? Do you understand how close you are to being pharisaical, to be blinded by pride, to go to the Mira Lago invitation as Eric McTaxis and watching all kinds of Christian pretenders, and you don't have the guts to call any of them out. But now you're gonna call a co writer, and you're gonna tell everybody faith without works is dead. Well, you better live that because that's true. It's true. But, baby, you better live it. So mean. We can be so mean. I'm his poema, the grace. And secondly, the gift. Eight b. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So it's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So what's the gifts? What's the word that? The that is in the neuter in the Greek. And the faith, the word faith is in the feminine. And so the gift of God, and that not of yourselves, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. What's the that? The that is the salvation. The salvation and the faith are gifts from God. There's no boasting. You can't say, well, I had more faith than the other guy. I exercised more faith. You know, I I just I'm just a better guy and I had more faith. God knew I was a winner. No. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no not one. All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. All means all means all means all, so that every mouth will be shot, so there's no boasting. And that not of yourselves is the gift of God. So our salvation and the faith we respond to God with are both gifts of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. So for me, the best way I can explain it for me, in my experience, how does conversion work? How does how how does this take place as best as I can understand? I'm walking along as an unbeliever. I'm dead in my sins and trespasses, meaning I got no inclination toward God. I'm like I'm like Lazarus. I'm dead. By this time, Lord, he stinketh. And I have no inclination toward God. There's nothing in me saying come back from the dead. Come back from the dead. I'm dead. And then the Lord says, Lazarus, come forth. And now I'm there in the grave clothes, and he said, loose him. The Lord's gonna loose me from the bondage of death. I was dead in my sins and trespasses. I had those old grave clothes on of of of a dead man. I was going according to the course of this world. The devil had a hold of me, in verse two of chapter two here. I was just going along with all my friends partying and doing everything else like them. We thought we're pretty good people. We weren't criminals. We weren't in and out of prison. Pretty good guy. And then the third part, the flesh. The flesh starts to dominate. We start to yield to the flesh and go with the flesh. So it's not the devil making me do that. It's there's this fleshly desire, this fallen, ademic nature, this selfishness that's uncurbed, that has an appetite, wants to feed that appetite. So I'm three ways dead. I'm three ways gone. And then it wasn't my idea to go to a concert that night. I wasn't looking for God. Dead men don't look for God. And nobody ever shared the gospel with me. Guys, I find out now are Christians in school and stuff, but none of them came up to me. I must have had that look on the face like, he he he's he's never gonna get it. And then I go to that concert at Calvary Costa Mesa on a Saturday night in January 1980, and, I just turned 20 years old in December. And I I felt like I had the world by the tail. Everything was great. And then that guy got up there after that concert and shared the gospel, and man, it hit me. It just it just hit me. And I had a decision to make, go insane or yield, surrender right then and there in my heart and mind. And I began to turn from my sin. I didn't know what that looked like or how, but I I just knew that the direction I was going was wrong. That's conviction. The Holy Spirit's come to to to convict of sin. I'm convicted. I'm undone. I'm a sinner. I'm in need of a savior, and now the Holy Spirit's introducing Jesus to me at the Cross Of Calvary. And as I'm turning from the old rick and I'm turning toward God, and I'm crying out to God to come into my heart and life, my life at that moment is transformed and changed from body and soul to body, soul, and spirit. It it's what it means to be born again as we receive him. And then from there, I was never the same. I could never look at sin the same way. I could never look at the Godhead the same way. He introduced himself to me in the second person of the trinity, God the son. I I could I could never go back to what I was doing after that point in time and be the same. Now I could. I could resist maybe, backslide maybe, refuse that moment. But again, for me, it would have been like committing accepting insanity to to resist the Holy Spirit, to not yield to the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit moves and works in that way. That's a losing game. You're gonna go insane fighting against God. And so for me, it wasn't my family that made me say I was good enough. It wasn't my actions that made me think I was good enough. I was undone. I was a sinner. I knew I was a sinner. And I began to weep before the Lord right there that that night and receive Christ into my heart and life. For by grace are you saved through faith, not not of yourselves a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's God's plan. He planned this all along. He tricked me. He tricked me. I didn't know it was coming. Not of works lest any man should boast. I couldn't go and keep the 10 commandments first. I couldn't go and raise enough money to give the priest to let me in. I couldn't get enough money or anything together to get to be a good person, to be an Eagle Scout. I couldn't go back and fix all the wrongs. Not of works lest any man should boast. There's no boasting. Jesus said, it is finished, paid in full. He did the work. In John six, they said, what are the works that we must do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, this is the work that you believe on him whom he has sent. And that's not a work. That's that's the response is to believe, to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And so in Ephesians two verse one, I was dead in my trespasses and sins, means I can't work. In Titus three verse five, not a not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost regenerated me. The Holy Ghost regenerated you. And the Holy Ghost says, you know what? You came in here as a as a fish, we'll clean the fish, you know. You go out and let the Lord catch them and let the Lord clean them, you know. Washing, renewing, renewing of our mind, transforming and changing us, from within. There's no step or no programs to try and make yourself a Christian. The washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. In Isaiah 64 verse six, it says, but we are all as unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calls upon the name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us and has consumed us because of our iniquities. And then he says in verse eight, but now, oh Lord, or but God, thou art our father, and we are the clay. And thou art our pottery, and we all are the work of your hand. And so he's the potter and we're the clay, and we're made of dirt, of the dust of the ground. And he Jesus, sometimes when he wants to heal somebody of blindness, he takes a little bit of dirt and spits on it. It makes a little clay. Right? And puts eye salve, puts it in their eyes, and they're able to see. And the Lord's able to take the dust, the dirt of the ground, and mix the right content of water, and bring together a clay, and and in the hands of the master, he can make something beautiful out of our lives. Where his poema, the grace, the gift, and now the goal. What's the goal? Verse 10. For we are his workmanship. As I said, the Greek word poema, where we get our English word poem, a work of art, a masterpiece. There was a guy that asked Michelangelo, why do you have that huge block of marble there? What what do you think to make of that block of marble? And Michelangelo was quote quoted as saying, I wanna release the angel that's inside that block of marble. See, the master can see what he's making of you. He can see that angel inside that block of marble. He can see the the past of just just raw materials, a raw lifestyle, a raw home life, raw pedigree, whatever it may be, and he can take all that rawness, all that brokenness, all that heartache into the hand of the master. He can transform and change you from within, first and foremost, and begin to change the way you think. And in my life, it was it was so evident that he was giving me the capacity to love. And that capacity to love wasn't just on the offense, there was also an aspect of it of a vulnerability where I was willing to be hurt, where I was willing to love and allow someone that I love to hurt me. That was an ability that God gave me to be in love with him and knowing that he loves me, and that I don't need to go through life in two week long relationships because I was afraid they would break up later. But that I could trust him, that he was gonna give me the capacity to love somebody, and thereto put that capacity to love in her heart to love me through thick and thin. Because the love of Jesus is so much greater. For we are his workmanship, his work of art, his masterpiece. In Isaiah 43 verse seven, everyone that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory. You've been created for God's glory, for his glory. Now think the opposite. Think what the devil wants you for, to destroy you. When the devil's finished with you and I, he just throws us away. Throws us away as a piece of trash, gone. But when God grabs hold of us, he plays for all eternity. He builds for all eternity. He plans for all eternity. He's never going to cast you away. No matter who may reject you in your marriage, no matter who may reject you, your boss or people in life, friends, family, whatever, Jesus will never ever ever cast you away. He's gonna be there with you through thick and thin. He's in the midst. He's in the midst of those trials with you. He's in the midst of the fiery furnace with you. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they'd rather stay in the fiery furnace because outside the furnace is Nebuchadnezzar. Inside the furnace, inside the trial, they're getting to know Jesus to a greater dimension, a greater depth of love than they've ever known him. They're content right there with the Lord as their portion in that trial until a point in time that he says to let them go. Though I every everyone that's called by my name for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him. Yea, I have made him. So created in Christ Jesus on the good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. And so where his workmanship, his work of art, why were he created created in Christ in Christ Jesus under good works. So Jesus said we're the light of the world. We're a city set on the hill that the church let let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. So on the one hand, when we talk about works, we're not talking about the working for salvation. We're talking about the fruit that comes from salvation that would be the work. So we can look at works, and we can say, by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. So the working toward the law is working to try and get a right standing with God. But faith without works is dead. We have faith, and then there's the fruit. We call it fruit in James' case. The fruit that comes forth from your life, Jesus said, by their fruit you shall know them, is the works. It's the it's the lifestyle, the pattern of life that people can see from you, and that's fruit to your account. That's fruit of who he is. It exposes and expresses who we are. We're not working for it. There's fruit coming forth from our faith. And so our faith is active. This faith that we have and this grace that we're in, the Lord is inspiring us and equipping us and strengthening us that our light can shine. And in a very dark world in which we're living, I'm not worried about the darkness, I'm more concerned about the light. I'm more concerned about Christians being light. I'm more concerned about you and I being so bright that exposes the darkness. You see, I've got this weird idea in my head, and I can't seem to get it through to very many people. I don't have much confidence in we as Christians when we're not light, when we don't see clearly, having the ability to make intelligent decisions about the world in which we live. What do I mean by that? If you can't see clearly, if you're living in darkness, if you're, you know, just a tiny little flicker there, and you think that you're gonna be able to go vote and fix everything as a Christian, as a church, as a group, you're being played. You're being played by the other side. It's called a dark light. It's the side that calls themselves light, but really they're the dark light, and you don't get it. But if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, and you're shining bright, that's when they hate you because you see through them. And then all you need do rather than voting, expose their darkness. Once you expose the darkness, then others can see clearly to then go vote. Because you don't even know who to vote for. You don't even know what to vote for. You're you're operating on a human plane. There needs to be some real holy ghost understanding of the times we're living in. So Ephesians five eleven says, has no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. You expose them by being light. You expose them by showing people what was the fruit of the warped bee jab before they forget. How could you forget about a genocide already? How are you on to the next thing when we haven't resolved this thing of all those involved? How can you move on to the next thing when the Epstein files haven't been open? You you don't have an ability to fix what's broke. There has to be a moving and working of the holy spirit through the church to expose the lies, to expose the deadness, to expose, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. Don't settle for the dark light, a false light. You're being tricked. And when your eyes are open, you can see it real clearly. And then you throw your hands up, well, what are we gonna do? Well, doing what you continue to do is the definition of insanity. There's no change results. In fact, it's getting worse. So go back to being the church. Go back to being his poema, his work of art. Shine bright. We're created in in Christ Jesus on the good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. So if any man be in Christ, according to second Corinthians five seventeen, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, the old things are passed away, all things are become new. In Psalm one thirty eight seven, though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou will revive me. Thou shall stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Thy mercy, oh Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the works of your own hands. Being confident of this very thing that he that has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And there's a time where Judas received 30 pieces of silver from the religious leaders. And that 30 pieces of silver was to betray Jesus. And that price that they gained, according to Deuteronomy, that they gave Judas was the price of a dog, the price of a of a slave. So that's the value they placed upon Jesus to betray him. We're gonna give 30 to Judas. And then he goes out to betray the Lord and betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss, Judas, and giving Judas a chance to repent at that point, but Judas, the son of perdition, didn't repent. He was filled with remorse, which that's just worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is not repentance. Godly sorrow is not to be repented of. So Judas went to the religious leaders and told them, I've I've betrayed innocent blood. And they said, well, what is that to us? And he threw the 30 pieces of silver down on the ground, and they, in their hypocrisy, acting so hypocritical, so self righteous, how blinding this is, they told themselves that they couldn't put that money back into the treasury because it was the price of blood. They knew that it was the price of blood. So they purposed to take that that price of blood, that 30 pieces of silver tied in with Jeremiah and Zechariah for 30 pieces, they would buy Akaldama. In Aramaic, it's the field of blood. It's called the Potter's Field. They purchased the Potter's Field. Now a Potter's Field is a place for potters go to dig up clay, to go into this area to pick up clay. But it's also a place where communities will bury the indigent, the poor, those who don't have a place to be buried. And this is the field of worthless lives, lives that nobody wants, lives that don't matter, where you could just throw people into. And these potters are going getting the clay the clay there. And in Jeremiah eighteen and nineteen, God says that he's the potter, and the nation of Israel's the clay, but the nation of Israel's obstinate. They won't stay seated on the wheel, you know. So when J. Vernon McGee describes in Romans 12, you know, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable service. That sacrifice, you and I, like Isaac, need to remain on the altar. The fire gets a little hot in the kiln, the fire gets hot at the hand of the potter, and we don't we don't wanna remain there in that place where God's molding and shaping us. Or we're obstinate like the children of Israel, we're fighting against God, and he's gonna have to judge us in Jeremiah eighteen and nineteen. And he says, how come in my sovereignty as a potter and you're the clay, how come I don't have the say so of who you're gonna be? Why do you keep fighting against me when I've envisioned something so beautiful for you nation of Israel to come out as? To become. To realize. I wanna take a Jacob and I wanna turn him into an Israel to be governed of God. I wanna transform and change a Saul of Tarsus, a murder of the chiefs of sinners and make him the apostle Paul. I wanna take a Peter, James, and a John, lowly fishermen. I wanna make them three of my apostles. And Andrew, the evangelist. Right? And Philip, the evangelist. And I wanna take Stephen and let him be glorified and be my first martyr. I've got such plans, such purpose, the purpose driven life, the purpose led life. So many things you don't know about. Are you yielding? So we as the clay, as the dirt that the Lord brings in that right mixture, and then he sits on that potter's wheel, and he begins to spin that potter's wheel, and he puts his hand to your life, and he takes a thumb, in my case, and crushes it, crushes it. And then he sees there's these air pockets, and he sees there's rocks in there and things that are inconsistent, and I gotta start over with the rig and boom, down on the ground. And gotta get that air out of there and all that. Then alright, now we're gonna start over and just boom on there. Maybe he'll yield this time, you know. And alright, here we go and starting to what are you making out of that, Lord? Please don't tell me that's a toilet. Don't make a toilet like that. Make it a vessel unto honor, Lord. Right? A vessel unto honor. And so he's going, he knows it's in his mind, it's in his heart, it's it's his idea. You are his idea. You're a big idea. VeggieTale, big idea. Right? And we need to yield. All we need to do is yield to the master. Just yield. He uses the word of God. All scriptures given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction, right says, that the man of God be thoroughly equipped for every good work. God wants to equip you as his so that you'll be thoroughly furnished for every good work, created in Christ Jesus under good works. You need to be a man or a woman of the word. Next, it's prayer. That as we pray in Ephesians three, now in him is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or think according to his power that works in us. The power comes through prayer. The perfecting through his word. The equipping. And the third aspect of becoming a vessel of honor is one you won't wanna hear. It's called suffering. In first Peter chapter four, beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that's gonna try you. There's a point in time when I was in pottery school in high school. Now, you know why I was in the pottery school, not auto shop? You guys already know what I'm gonna say, but there were all the good girls who were in pottery school. So I went to pottery school to not make some vase for my mom, but to just hang out with the girls. Right? But when I was in there, there was a point in time in that whole process where now you gotta put it in the kiln. You gotta put it in the fire, into the oven, and you've got all the colors on it, everything, the consistency you hope and everything. And what happens if it's not done properly, then it cracks. Right? Breaks. And there's no fixing it. No starting over because it's hard. It's over. And you gotta take those and you gotta throw them into the potter's field. Broken lives, worthless lives, lives that mean nothing. But God doesn't work that way, does he? God delights in taking broken lives, broken people, something the world would cast aside into the potter's field to bury or throw and discard aside. And he's looking for the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and as we come to Christ, and as he transform and changes us, and as he works in our life, as we stay in the word, and as we stay in prayer, and as we yield in those trials that in the kiln, the fiery trials, he's burning off the dross, he's burning off the impurities, and he's he's creating a work of art. We're being transformed from within. People could see the outside maybe before the fire. Now they get to see get a glimpse of the inside of what's what's baking, what's taking place. In second Timothy two nineteen, Paul says, the foundation of God stands sure. Having this seal, the Lord knows them that are his. And let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house, they're not only vessels of gold and of silver and of wood and of earth and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, so the previous what he's talking about is the the sinfulness, the old lifestyle, what we used to be a part of. If you purge yourself from that old lifestyle, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, made holy, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. God wants to prepare you and I for every good work. Do you know the urgency? Do you know that where we're at in the race? Do you know how close we are? As Paul's saying, I'm pressing toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I'm forgetting those things are what you're behind, and I'm pressing, I'm moving forward because this isn't the time to dilly down. Do you know the enormous amount of things God can have us do in the next weeks and months ahead? That we can be a part of? Our whole life, God has been preparing us for such a time as this, Esther. For such a time as this, we're there. We're at the brink, and God has been preparing you and I for this moment. And we don't wanna go bury. We don't wanna hide. We don't wanna act like he's not coming, do we? We wanna be looking up, watching, being ready, occupying till he comes, being about our father's business knowing that he first equips us. I might have to spend forty years in a wilderness if I'm Moses, but it's God that's changing me and transforming me from within so that the third trimester of my life, that last forty, I can be useful. That I can be used of him. I can be Joseph and spend thirteen years in prison and reach the age of 30 and now it's the culmination. Now it's the point in time. All of those trials, all those things I went through, they mean something. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to save many people this day. Or I'm David tending sheep, and my brothers don't wanna do this sheep because it's a lowly job. And God allows me to kill a bear. God allows me to kill a lion. God allows me to have a confident, vibrant, indomitable faith in him, so that when I finally that one day meet the ugliest guy in the planet, nine foot six tall Goliath, the battle belongs to the Lord. And then I meet King Saul, and now I gotta run from King Saul for ten years, still being prepared to become the next king. What's God preparing you for? Who's he made you? He says you're his poema, you're his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works. I've been reminiscing, I've been thinking, meditating more and more over you mothers. I'm blown away at the moms. The years and years and years of consistency, the years and years and years of modeling, of being used of God to groom, to prepare, to get your kids ready. I'm blown away at Kathy when I think of her dedication to Jessica and Brittany all those years. I'm I'm I'm blown away even her mom, the way her mom was a grandma and a mom to her. I love my mom, but she she didn't prepare me Poor thing. She did her best. And then I see Brittany. I see those seven kids. Let me tell you, that's a work of God's spirit. That's a radical, radical work of God's spirit. The molding and the shaping being used of God as they're his workmanship, his poema, his work of art. And the devil can't touch We as families, Christian homes, Christian families. He hates us because that's what's happening. God is molding and shaping us into the image of his son. We're not freaks. We know who we are. We know where we belong. We're in Christ Jesus. And the Lord is that potter and we're the clay, and he's making a masterpiece. He says in Isaiah in Psalm 96 verse six, oh come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. The Lord your maker. My husband, my maker. For we are his workmanship, his created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God has before ordained, before I ever knew him, before you ever knew him, before which God before ordained, that we should walk in them. For me, I never ever ever ever ever ever in a million years, number one thought I'd be saved. And after I was saved, the furthest thing from my mind that my function within the body would be to be a pastor, to teach God's word. Kathy told me when we were starting to move in that direction as I was trying to discover where I fit, And other people were telling me where I fit, and I didn't wanna hear it. Kathy finally said to me, if I'd have known that you were gonna be a pastor, I wouldn't have married you. It was such a it was such a shock. I mean, number one, getting saved is a shock, anybody that knew me. Number two, my function in the body is like a mind blower. How how I went to the doctor one time for m r m r and I when I hurt my back, got in a car accident, and when I first came up here. And I told him that I was a carpet cleaner, you know, I clean carpets and stuff like that. And and now you're a pastor, how does that work? You know, it's like, isn't that a higher calling than you did? Well, God likes to use the base things, the things that are not to blow the minds of you doctors who are, you know. The foolish things to confound the wives. Not many noble. So I fit right in there and and but it's it's heartwarming for you and I to rest where God's called us. He's called you to be a mommy. He's called you to be a grandma grandpa. I love my new role as a grandpa. I'm I'm really excited about that role. I can get those kids in a lot of trouble. You know? And I love being your friend. I love being with you in this community, in this field, and the the the challenge ahead of us as we're sprinting toward the finish line of how can our lives bring glory and honor unto the Lord. How can we fulfill his desire that we be his work of arts? And the key issue is love. It's not going out there and saving a thousand people. It's they're gonna know us by our love. It's that work of the spirit in our hearts and lives where we, no matter how chaotic and crazy it gets out there, where we stay close to the Lord Jesus and and rely upon him for that love that comes from a relationship, the life of the spirit with him. Stay close. Stay abiding in him. And the fruit of your life, the fruit that comes forth from being connected to Jesus in John 15, is you're gonna you're gonna bring forth life. You're gonna bring forth that beauty of the spirit, that beautiful life of the spirit that's so rare in the times in which we're living. Because so much of what we see is AI and phony, isn't it? It's plastic fruit. It's gimmicks, programs, church incorporated. So let's make sure this is real, that he's the potter and we're the clay. And we're yielding, we're surrendered to him in the in the kiln, in the fire, in the suffering, we're surrendered to him that the old man's perish, the new man is being renewed day by day. So father, thank you. We see the picture, Lord. We see the poetic language. We see these truths so deep. Our salvation multifaceted, so so so deep, Lord, we could never mind it all. As we meditate upon your plan of salvation, your plan of redemption. And Lord, we're just in awe. We're humbled that you would choose us, that you would reach us, Lord, with the power of your Holy Spirit. You'd arrest us if need be. You'd cause an illness to get our attention so that we come back to your word and back to prayer, back to dependency upon you. When things go well, Lord, we seem to forget you. And you even say when we're partaking the communion, this do in remembrance of me. We have such a tendency to forget the cross, to forget what you've done for us, to forget what you've promised for our future, which you are doing. And Lord, as we see in our past, we were it was ugly. We were in many cases, was brutal because of the fallen world in which we live in. In many cases, because the decisions we made. And Lord, in the present tense, and as we walk with you, Lord, we're blessed. We know we're blessed. And Lord, we know that you're making us beautiful. You're making us into a work of art. We're being changed from glory to glory into the image of your dear son. We wanna be like Jesus. So father, keep the work up. Keep doing what you're doing, Lord. We don't understand, but Lord, keep it up. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. So Father bless. Anyone here this morning, you don't have a relationship with Jesus, but you want to. We want you to lift your hand up as the Holy Spirit's moving and working on your heart, the same way he worked on my heart years ago. He's working on your heart afresh right now. He's identifying, he's bearing witness that he's the savior, your savior. That he went to the cross just to die for you, that he was buried and he raised himself from the dead proving that he's God. He's ascended to the right hand of his father and he's coming again, but he sent the comforter, he sent the holy spirit. And the holy spirit's convicting you of sin, showing you that your works are not good enough, that you need his righteousness to be credited to the account. You need to be redeemed by him in his finished work. That salvation is by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Anyone here this morning? Father, thank you once again. Thank you for the joy and the blessing that we have of being saved, Lord. Knowing we're saved. Knowing that this is just the beginning. Being confident of this very thing that he that has begun this good work in us, that Lord, you're gonna complete it. You're gonna finish this work. We thank you, Lord, that you finished the work of salvation to Talas that I paid in full. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.