Transcript for:
Ephesians 4:1,6 -Walk Worthy- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2026-02-15

Would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? Ephesians chapter four one through six. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There's one body and one spirit even as you're called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. Father, thank you for your holy word. Lord, we're in awe of you. We're humbled as we sit before you, Lord. How to what great extent you've gone in the sending of your son and him becoming the babe of Bethlehem to be the son of man that he would live this perfect life as the last Adam and go to the cross Of Calvary and your wrath be poured out upon him, Lord. And we being saved from the wrath to come, Lord. The wrath that's gonna be poured out during the tribulation period. The salvation wrath that was poured out upon Jesus, Lord, so that you wouldn't have to pour out your wrath upon us. And so, father, we thank you for him as a substitute. We thank you that you're holy or just. We thank you for your love demonstrated with the redemption that's ours by his precious blood. And Lord, we pray this morning in response to so great a love, Lord, that you would teach us what our our response should be, how we might apply these truths to our lives of who we are in Christ Jesus as plutocrats. And so, Lord, bless mightily. Lord, we pray that you bless Sally this morning. Undergird and strengthen her and and be with her and be with those who are at home that are sick today watching online and be with James as he's a caregiver and be with Queen Esther, Lord, as she's such amazing amazing woman, watching over Sally and ministering to so many folks, so many people, 81 years old and just amazing amazing lady, Lord. We just thank you for her and that love and friendship for Cora and for Allen and other family members. And we just pray that you pour out your holy spirit without measure upon them, Lord, and that you heal her body, that you anoint and bless Britney as she goes over today to pray with her. And Lord, that, you've already gone before us. You already know what you're gonna do, and Lord, we wanna tap in. We wanna connect and pray according to your perfect will. And so we just lift them up to you and you say if we had faith as a mustard seed, Lord, we'd say to this mountain, this big mountain of cancer, be thou removed and cast into the sea and it would obey us. Nothing would be impossible for us, Lord. And and Lord, we know that nothing's hard for you. So God, we pray in your sovereignty, father knows best that you as you choose, Lord, that you would choose to heal our our sister Sally, Lord. Heal her, Lord, we pray. And, heal the others, many others who are sick, and pour out your holy spirit. We lift up Ginny Frank's husband, Nick, as Lord, he's entering into hospice care. We pray you do miracles of healing upon him as they're so faithful. They are so faithful in their love for you, Lord. And just continue to move and work, do miracles, do mighty things in these last days. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Would you please be seated? Paul, Paul now makes a plea for action. We were able to study in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians, the doctrinal section. You and I discovering, finding out who we are in Christ Jesus and, you know, we study in chapter one how we're plutocrats and, you know, the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. And now, chapter four, five, and six, now he's gonna say, alright. Now, here's how you're supposed to walk. This is how you're supposed to apply this as as Christians. And so Christianity is responding to God's love is what we do. And, the love of Christ constraining us. It's the love of Christ that's working in us. He initiates and we respond unto him. So how are we gonna respond, here today? What is our motivation? Chapter four begins the practical application section of the letter to the church of Ephesus. So in light of who we are positionally in Christ, what should our response be? And we ask the question, what is God worthy of? We're to walk worthy, what is God worthy of? What kind of response from you and I, in light of who he's made us, in light of what he's done, what is he worthy of? Should I yield to his call? Should I yield to God's call? Or should I get in a boat heading toward Tarshish like Jonah did? Can God make me willing to yield to his call? Can God prepare a fish for you and I to ride in to get us willing as we debate the free moral agency of man and the sovereignty of God? Certainly. But why not just yield? Why do we need to be like a horse that needs a bit put in its mouth and in order for God to get us to go left, he's gotta use pain. And then to go right, he gets pain. And then to get you to stop like Kathy's favorite thing for me, pull back on it, you know, and get him to stop. But God wants to guide you with his eyes, Psalm 32 says. He just wants to look your eyes beyond him and hey, go left. Hey, go right. Hey, just stop. Can lift his eyebrow. Stop. Stop it right now. Pray. Just chill. Quit quit being so anxious about everything. Trust in me, you know. So should I yield to his call? Verse one. Therefore, the prisoner of the Lord. So Paul doesn't see himself as a prisoner of the emperor, the prisoner of Rome. Paul sees himself as the prisoner of the Lord. I'm in God's sovereign will. I'm in God's will. That's such a difficult thing as Christians today when you have adverse circumstances in your life. When all hell breaks loose against you, like maybe Job or, many other, you know, within the bible, the disciples. All of them died violent deaths of martyrdom, all except for John the beloved. They boiled him in oil and he wouldn't boil, so they exiled him to Island Of Patmos. But suffering was normal in the early church. 6,000,000 Christians died in the first two centuries. But today, we present Jesus, we sell Jesus as a better life, as a means to a better life. And so when your life becomes biblical, people around you including pastors and pastors wives who are the cream puffs, they come up to you and they say, why why do bad things keep happening to you? I don't know. Why don't you tell me? What's the bible have to say? Say back to him, how was Jesus treated? How was the apostle Paul treated? You know, how was how was Peter treated? He was crucified upside down, you know. So why does it seem to be a strange thing? Think it not strange when these fiery trials are gonna come upon you, Peter said, you know. Count it all joy, you know, when it happens, when it happens. So Paul's looking at this and he's saying, I'm suffering. I'm in prison, but I'm in God's will. I'm doing what God's called me to do. And I'm the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, beseech you. So what should our response be? He says that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. This word walk means a course of life, Advancement, step by step. I have a tendency to want to want to run up ahead of God. Even at the age I'm at, I'm not old yet, but I still have a fire burning within me. And if the Lord cracks the door, guess what? I'm I'm gone, you know, like a dog you're trying to keep in the house. And so God's gotta keep me on a really tight leash. And so I gotta walk step by step by step by step. And there's so many things I wanna do. There's so many things I wanna see God do in our lives and in our community and so. And it seems like everything goes so slow like molasses, you know. And you just gotta wait and wait. Sometimes it takes more faith to wait. And so I might be waiting and waiting waiting for such a time as this as the Lord springs it on in Esther, maybe. Maybe you're waiting your whole life for the fruition of God's calling upon your life, you know. And, he's been preparing you for, you know, forty years in the deserts of Midian to get you ready to lead the children of Israel, you know, out of Egypt. You know, and you think those forty years are wasted or you're anointed by Samuel the prophet to be the next king of Israel as David, but you're gonna spend the next ten years running like a partridge from king Saul. You think it's just ridiculous we're wasting time. We're wasting time, Lord. There's so much we can be doing. And so Joseph is thrown into prison. Joseph is unjustly accused and and Joseph, winds up going from 17 till the time he's 30 being prepared to be second command to that of only the pharaoh and all. And those years, those season of small things, it may seem a waste of time. Lord, let's get it on. Don't you wanna save people? People are headed to hell. Let's get it on. Let's get this thing over with, you know. And yet, he's his timing is perfect and he's gotta prepare you and I as the vessel that we not be intoxicated and puffed up with pride and self importance and all. So it's not necessarily a sprint, it can be just a sweet walk in the garden like Adam and Eve, you know. Just a sweet time of fellowship with the Lord. I'm I'm looking at it from a different standpoint of when I used to be so busy. I'm saying, you know, what what are the things the Lord's blessed me with at this point in my life? I still have my wife. I still have my health. I still get to be the pastor here in Bremerton to be with you. I get to handle God's word, the unsearchable riches of Christ. He's given me time. Time is the greatest commodity. Time to spend at his feet, time to think, time to read, time to pray, time. I could fill my life with busyness or I can allow the Lord to just say, Rick, chill. You have time. I've given you the time to spend with me, to meditate on my word and to think of me, to exercise, to eat right, to play with the grandkids. All these things that help us and, prepare us for, when we're going back into battle. And, and so I'm I'm very very grateful. I watch where guys, retire and they're dead within two years. They've worked so hard their whole life and then they retire and they don't have any time. It's time time's up. How much time do you have? How much time do you have to serve the Lord, to spend with the Lord, to be prepared of the Lord? Or you fill in your life with busyness? Are you are you walking according to the course of life that he has called you, to live? What course will you take? What progress are you making? Whose steps are you following in? When I was a little guy, a young young kid and we lived in Huntington Beach, dad and I would and us would work on the yard during the weekend. My mom say would say, kids, after your sporting events, don't go anywhere. We got chores to do. And so I would, typically, one of the chores was to go down to the, Hi Lo, liquor store and help my dad pick up another keg of beer. And, he'd get that keg of beer and I'd help him lift it into the truck and we'd bring it home and and, we'd lift it out and set it on a dolly and we'd roll it around the backyard to the back and he had a refrigerator there, and you have to lift it up in there and, take the old one out, and then you'd have to take a spigot thingy and put it in there, and then twist it, and get the c o two going and all, and and get that whole thing. So anyway, when my dad would be walking, I'd walk behind him. When he was a young guy, a telephone pole fell and hit the side of him. And it, broke his leg and and shattered some things and so anyway, his foot would stick out a little bit when he'd walk. And so I'd follow him and I'd try to walk like him. I'd try to walk with that foot out as a little boy wanting to walk in his father's steps and it was just, that's just what you do. You monkey see, monkey do, you know. You mimic your parents and you mimic the things that they're doing maybe. You wanna walk in their steps. You wanna follow in the steps of dad. In Ephesians four seventeen, it says, walk not as other gentiles walk. Good to know. Good to know how not to walk. You might not know all of the above. The Lord may have only given you the first step in his calling of you. He may have said to you as Philip, go down to Gaza which is desert and you need to obey that command. Progressive revelation. Be faithful with the first word that you hear from the Lord. Man shall not live by bread alone, not always in the natural, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. God's gonna direct you with his word, his written word. God's gonna direct you in prayer with the rhema word, his spoken word. He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches. Don't try to gain confirmation from all your friends and everybody around you of what God's will is for your life. He may not have spoke to them about your call. You can be you can be so alone in your calling at times. And yet the Lord, he's he's faithful. He'll be bring people that confirm but very few, very few. And like I said, when things go bad, everybody will jump on board and say, oh, he's a leper. He's a leper. Oh, he must be bad. He must be bad. He must be bad. You're right in God's will. You're right where you're supposed to be. They don't know. They haven't heard from the Lord. They only know from the outside observing the circumstances. They don't know what God's doing internally in your life. They can be so cruel and so mean to to project or to think or to say or to gossip that, oh, these bad things are happening to them because they're bad, man. They're bad to the bone, you know. But they don't know. Impose that upon Jesus. Impose that upon the disciples. Ask yourself, how are the disciples treated? You're in good company. This is how they're treated. All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But you're when you're raised in a bad home, you learn what not to do. And so in my case, I learned a whole lot of things what not to do. Walk not as the Gentiles walk. They were drunks. And I emulated them and I began to drink, you know, recreationally in high school and all. And, but the Lord saved me when I was 20. So I never did the bar scene. I was I was too young to go to the bars. I got saved at 20. Praise the Lord. Oh, missed out on the clubs. I missed out on the bars. No, didn't miss out on anything. I went to a whole lot of bible studies, I'll tell you that. And I've never missed, drinking, but one thing I saw was the abuse of alcohol. I saw the alcoholism. I saw the the raging, the yelling, the screaming, the divorces, and new husbands, and craziness, just crazy. And and so I purposed in my heart in eleventh grade, tenth grade, a teacher had me write a paper, home economics or whatever of of what do you aspire? What are your goals? You know, well, I wanna be a football player. No. I just wanna be married. I just wanna have a wife and a family. But I didn't know how to do it. But I knew not what I knew what not to do. I knew that that whole volatility and that craziness and that that drinking and all that kind of stuff led to a whole lot of lot of nonsense. And, but I didn't have the positive side of it. I didn't know what. So sometimes, all you have from the Lord is what not to do. Don't do that. And then you wait upon the Lord to discover, you know, what what you should do. And so the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. And a man plans his way in his heart, but the Lord directs his steps. So delight thyself in the Lord and he'll give you the desires of of your heart. God will begin to put within your heart his desires. He'll tell you to work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling for it is God who is at work in you putting in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Fellowship with the Lord, spend time with the Lord, and he will direct your steps. He'll begin to show you the steps that you're to take as you're to, follow him. And so, walk not as other Gentiles walk. And so the kids come up and they say, hey, well so and so is doing it, even in youth groups, even in Christian faith. Hey, so and so is doing Harry Potter. So and so is doing this. So and so is doing that. Well, walk not as other Gentiles walk. Don't don't emulate. Don't follow the world. Don't allow the world to come into the church and the church try to Christianize the world. Don't go there. Be not conformed to this world. You you know what not to do. Right? Now you gotta wait upon the Lord to see in the positive what to do. Good to know how to walk, bad home life. In my case, all of us kids got kicked out from my mom's house when we're about 16 years old And we all had to go live with other people to finish high school. And I was the first one. And then my brother Bobby lived with our old next door neighbor and then my brother Larry, he got to live with my dad, as my dad lived up in Orange County. And I got to live with a childhood friend of mine to finish high school and and I had a had a a boss, a guy that took me under his wing and Mike and and they just loved on me and very very patient with me, gave me a job. You know, I think having a job is one of the greatest things that can ever happen to you in a broken home Because you don't need to be stuck. You don't need to be stuck there. You can work. You can join the navy. You can get in the service. You can get out of that mess you're in. It'd be nice to have these perfect homes. You get to stay there till you're 40, you know. That'd be nice. But some of us, we we gotta get out of that house, you know. And and our parents want us out of the house, and they find a way to kick us out of the house, you know. And so you're you're like that mother with that eaglet, and she's gonna stir up the nest to get that that eaglet out of the nest. And and the way she does it, she stirs that nest up, and then the eaglet gets thrust out of the nest and then the mama comes down below and catches the baby and brings them back up and they repeat the process till the little eaglet learns how to fly. Right? And so we learn how to fly. We learn how to trust in the Lord and rely upon him. And and I look back on it and I had so many people helping me. Cousin Kenny, I could I could crash into cars and Kenny was a body man and I just give the person I crashed in their car a card. And Kenny'd fix their car. Never charged me nothing, just go see my cousin Kenny, you know. Who does that? And Kenny get me a job and and, I tried to do the best I could with the job and, and so just amazing. You don't you don't quite know where where you fit in, what's going on, you're just trying to survive. But one thing you do know you do know is you don't wanna do the drugs and the alcohol and the DUIs and things that wind you up in jail. So you're trying you're trying to get out of that hole and you're just trying to have that life that was taken from you. And you're not a believer yet. I'm not a believer, so I really don't know exactly what to do. So instead, when you do become a believer, Ephesians five verse two, walk in love. So walk in love. What's that mean? What's that look like? Walk like Jesus walked. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Greater love has no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends. Begin to love on others the way people loved on me, the way my cousin Kenny did, the way Mike did, the way Monty did, the people in my life, mister Norris and others in our neighborhood who knew our family blew apart and they loved on us. They made us feel like family. They didn't reject. They didn't, you know, I I don't ever remember them talking down about my mom. I don't ever remember that. That you have to go to church to hear that kind of stuff. Walk as children of light, not of darkness, Ephesians five verse eight. Ephesians five verse 15, walk circumspectly. What's that mean? To walk wisely, be smart. And I got a lot to overcome. Kathy as you know calls me calls me names. So I gotta be wise, I gotta be smart. He says, walk worthily. That word worthily means balancing the scales. How can I balance the scales? God initiates, God give. Now, I reciprocate. How am I going to respond? I respond with worship. My life should be an expression of worship, ascribing worth unto him. So walk worthily, ascribing worth unto him. What do I owe God? Could I ever pay God back? Could I ever pay him for him rescuing me from that that lifestyle I tried to describe for you there? You know, the the the way he reached down, the way he rescued me, the way he delivered me from myself. The way he saved me, the way he saved you. And now what is our response gonna be? Am I gonna just use Jesus now so that I can have the American dream? Is that what I'm after? Or is the American dream just a byproduct? A part of the blessing that comes with being a Christian in a a country that follows a Judeo Christian ethic and God's blessings are upon us. And, we we, need to be in love with the blesser not the blessings. And so how do we respond? How are we gonna respond? How are we gonna describe word to him? How are we gonna balance the scales? We're gonna spend our whole life trying to give back to God. That's why giving, when we talk about giving here at Calvary Bremerton, I didn't go to school and get a a marketing degree. I didn't go to school and when we get to chapter four, we're gonna talk about any gave some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors, some prophets, some pastors, some teachers. You'll never see in that list in Ephesians four as we're moving through here. And he gave some a fundraiser. That's not an office in the body of Christ. There's no office in the body of Christ where God says, you know, churches are broke. I'm on the verge of bankruptcy. The dollar's crashing. I just don't know how I'm gonna build my church unless I get some fundraisers in there. I gotta get these fundraisers in there to raise some funds or we're gonna go broke. No. Jesus said, upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell not prevail against it. A healthy church, a church that's responding to him, ascribing worth unto him, must give back. They're incomplete if they don't worship God and give him back. It's a part of who they are as a Christian. They could never repay God for all he's done. So I just cringe when I see these guys misrepresenting God and shaming God and just embarrassing the body of Christ as simply a church incorporated with all these fundraisers every four to six weeks doing these four to six week seminars, always begging for money. Worship giving is an act of worship. That's why we say we're gonna worship the Lord now in giving. It's up to you. It's your free will. It's it's it's your desire. If people don't give, we'll go bankrupt again. I already been bankrupt once. We'll do it again. It's up to the body of Christ. And that whole time we're going bankrupt, I never fundraised. I never came up with a plan to save the day except sell a building. The Lord didn't let it sell. And so I went down with the ship but we didn't misrepresent God. It's his decision. God's not broke. And so it's a huge test. It's a huge test. What are you gonna do? How you how you gonna balance the scales? In Luke chapter seven, Jesus came to the home of Simon the Pharisee. And Simon the Pharisee had a big dinner and a woman nearby heard that Jesus was at Simon the Pharisee's house. And so she came there with a large alabaster box, a very expensive ointment, and probably something she was saving like Mary of Bethany for her her marriage, you know, part of the dowry and all. And, Mary of Bethany gave to Jesus for his burial, very expensive. And, at one point, Judas was indignant because, god, we could have sold that for lots of money. Judas wanted the money. And, Jesus knew it was, for his burial, the value that that, Mary, saw in Jesus sacrifice in his own life. And so, in this case, this woman brings his alabaster box and she's sitting behind Jesus, got near him, she began to weep. And as she's weeping, she's washing the feet of Jesus with her tears. And then she's taking her hair and she's drying his feet with wiping her his feet with her with her tears, then she begins to kiss his feet. And then she begins to take the alabaster, the ointment, and begin to anoint his feet and all. And Simon the pharisee, he's looking at Jesus and he's indignant. And it says, and he's and we talk about the antichrist and the whole beast system, how they're not omniscient. They don't know what you're thinking. Jesus can see and hear what Simon the pharisee's thinking. So Jesus is a he being God, hears within Simon the Pharisee thinking, oh, Jesus must not be a righteous man because this woman is a bad sinner and he's allowing her to touch him. A pharisee wouldn't allow anybody that's a sinner to defile them by touching them and all. Right? And, so he must not be a prophet. We thought he's a prophet, have him over for dinner, but but, he must not be because he's he's allowing this woman to touch him. So Jesus, knowing the thought of Simon the Pharisee, Jesus says to Simon, hey, there was two creditors. One owed his, creditor two debtors. One owed the creditor 500p and the other 50. And the creditor just across the board forgave them both. Forgave the debt. What's your debt? How much did you owe the Lord before he forgave your sins? Right? And this woman, she'd be unscrupulous and all. She's she's probably got a lot of debt, a lot of guilt built up, a lot of things she needs forgiveness for. And Simon the Pharisee says, well, the one that you forgave the most would be the one that would love the most. And Jesus said, oh, you rightly said, those that are forgiven much, they love much. And then he illustrated it. Simon, when I got here, you didn't give me any water for a basin to wash my feet in. It blew me off. The lowliest slave in a lowliest slave in a home would would wash feet like Jesus demonstrated in John 13. He took the lowliest spot to wipe his and and wash his disciples feet in John 13 because they were fighting over who was gonna be the greatest. And they weren't gonna be a servant. They weren't gonna be ones that washed feet. So Jesus went over there and he washed feet. So when he walked into Simon the Pharisees house, Simon didn't send a servant over to wash his feet. Simon didn't come over to wash his feet. And Jesus said, Simon, you didn't. But this woman from the very beginning, you know, began to wash my feet with her tears. You gave me no towel to wipe my feet, Simon. Simon, you didn't give me a kiss, you know, a kiss on the cheek when I came, a greeting, you know, shalom as I entered the home. Would would be a custom. Right? Greeting one another with a holy kiss. And this woman hasn't stopped kissing my feet. And Simon, you didn't anoint my head with oil and she's anointed my feet with this this alabaster buck, the ointment here. Simon, those who are forgiven much love much. Those who are forgiven little, they love little. Paul's saying, walk worthily, balance the scale. Look at what God's done for you. Look at who you are as a plutocrat. Look at the sins he's forgiven you, past, present, and even future sins, and now let your life be an expression of worship. Not works, worship. Emanating from a heart of gratitude, a heart of thanksgiving. Try to out give God. Try to out give him. You can't out give him. You sow sparingly, you're gonna reap sparingly. You just you live in such a way where God's love is poured into your heart, poured out of your heart, and you express him. You express your adoration toward him in song. You express your adoration toward him in service. You just can't possibly pay that debt that we owe. We could never repay it. But yet try. Walk worthily. Try to balance the scales. Those who are forgiven much, they love much. And that's that's how you show gratitude toward God is just loving him and loving those around you. How could we ever repay God for what he has already forgiven us for? Gratitude. An attitude of gratitude. In Adam and Eve in Genesis three verse eight, they heard the voice of the Lord, God, walking in the garden the cool of the day. Adam and Eve had a perfect father. I cringe when I think in terms of the responsibility of being a father. I look over at Christian, I think he's gonna be a father soon. He got his wife pregnant. Jocelyn's pregnant. Sean and and Shannon are gonna be grandparents. Now being a parent, that's a hard thing. Grandparents, that's awesome. That's just like incredible. But being a parent, there's something about being a parent. You're just so afraid you're gonna blow it. And, the Lord has his hand, his hand upon you in a way of you get through it. But, Adam and Eve have a perfect father. And then when your kids don't turn out quite right, you know, I'll say to Kathy, god, I should have been a better father. I should I should have known. I should I should have had greater discernment. I shouldn't have, you know, I should have known, you know, how did I not know and and all that. And and Kathy will say to me, Rick, Adam and Eve had a perfect father and they chose to rebel. What do we do when our children choose to rebel? When they're not responding, when they're being influenced by the world and the flesh, the devil. How did we go wrong? How did we not model the Christian life? I was raised in a non Christian home. I saw the abuse. I saw the darkness. My girls are raised in a Christian home. How how can how can a how can this happen? I don't I don't understand. And yet, I feel responsible. I feel as though I I could have done a better job. I should have done a better job. I should have known what she was going through. I should have been there for her. Can I be there for her now? Is there any way we can start over? Is there any way she can forgive everybody and we can start over? Adam and Eve, they were walking in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. God wants us to walk with him. They're walking in a perfect environment. God has made you for his own pleasure. God has made you for fellowship. Walk worthy. Doesn't mean you're gonna pay him back monetarily. It means you're gonna love him. Just respond to his love. Love him as he's loved you. That's all he wants. He wants you. He doesn't want your money. He doesn't it's not your stuff. It all belongs to him anyway. He wants you. He doesn't want you to be seduced by the devil, to be seduced by the world. He doesn't want you to leave your first love like the church of Ephesus has and fall in love with the stuff. He wants you. He redeemed you with the blood of his own son. He delights in you. And they were fearful. Walk worthy. Walk worshipful. Paul, he's given the doctrinal section of the book of Romans through chapter 11, his theme being the gospel. Right? One sixteen and seventeen, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the rice of God revealed from faith. The faith as is written, the just shall live by faith. And then he goes on to explain what the gospel is. He begins to bring all of us to the place of Romans three twenty three that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every mouth stop. Everyone's a sinner. He emphasized in chapter four the principle of faith. Righteousness imputed to Abraham because of faith not because of works. In chapter five of justification, in chapter six of the, work of sin not having dominion over us. That, no longer are we slaves to sin. And then in chapter seven, that struggle between the flesh and the spirit. Oh wretched man that I am. Paul concludes and he comes into chapter eight, the life of the spirit. There's now therefore no condemnation to those that are in the spirit, who walk not after the flesh but are in the spirit. Chapter nine, he deals with Israel's, past election. Chapter 10, it's Israel's present rejection. Chapter 11, Israel's future restoration. Then chapter 12, here comes the application just as we see in Ephesians four verse one. He says, I beseech you therefore, grammatically, he's pointing back to all that you've been taught. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. Not because you're so good, by the mercies of God. That your response would be that you present in an act of worship, an act of showing his worth, ascribing worth on him, that you would present in the Greek tenses once and for all. That you would present your bodies as a living sacrifice. It's an act of worship. You're gonna There's a sacrifice there, it's worship. That you would present your bodies as a living sacrifice. What kind of sacrifice? Holy and acceptable unto him, which is your reasonable service. And that word service means worship. It's reasonable in light of all that he's done to save you and I, that our response would be ascribing worth unto him. And then he says, and be not conformed to this world. Don't allow the world to press you into its mold. Don't be a worldly Christian. Don't bring the world into the church. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed to metamorphosis, transhumanist. God's the originator. He's the one. He can change you from body and soul to body, soul, and spirit. Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That's your response. And God's doing the work of transformation, of changing us internally. And we're, how are we to respond? In worship. We've been called to worship God, to walk in fellowship with him. In Genesis five verse 24 says, Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him. Two guys in the bible that didn't die, Elijah and Enoch. Could they be the two witnesses in Revelation 11? I don't know. On the mount of transfiguration, we got Elijah and Moses, representing the prophets and one of the law. I don't know. I don't know. I'm gonna have to ask the Lord. But he walked with the Lord and he was not for God took him. He's raptured. Enoch was raptured up to heaven. Rapturous love took him away. Genesis six verse nine, it says, Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God. Hundred and twenty years in building that ark and Noah walked with God. Hundred and twenty years of being rejected by the world and Noah walked with God. Are you walking with God? Is his calling upon your life a difficult calling? I think it's hard to be a parent in the days and age we're living here now. I think that's the greatest calling there is is to be a parent. God's entrusted to you these little ones to prepare them for heaven, to get them into heaven. And man, it's a tough gig right now. All these pedophiles out there trying to get at your kids every which way. It's far worse than we can even imagine. I want the rapture to happen now. Take them home, Lord. Take them all home. That iniquity is abounding, the love of many is growing cold. And when it and that's what happened in Genesis when the Lord saw that the thoughts and intents of man was only evil continually. It repented God that he made man and God decided, alright, I'm gonna judge. I'm gonna judge man. And in our case, he sent his son. He judged his son in our place and the world is waxing worse and worse and worse. More and more evil. And Jesus said, there would be a time coming that the world has never seen nor will ever see again. It's gonna be so catastrophic and evil, so demonic. In Genesis seventeen one, God told Abram, I am almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect. The obedience of faith, live a life with your desire to live a life that's pleasing unto God. There's no such thing as sinless perfection as a Christian. In first John he says, if we say we have no sin, we're a liar and the truth isn't in us. But we we press toward the mark. We desire to live a life of maturity. A life that's pleasing unto him. When we fall, it's because of our fallen nature. It's because of our frame. It's because we're human. But transgression is different. Transgression is premeditated and it's rebellion against God. We should mature and not fall into that area of sin. But missing the mark, not hitting the bull's eye every time, all of us are guilty in that way. So we have a way back. We have a way to maintain fellowship with God and to grow through the through the hurt and through the failure. If we confess, if we agree with the Holy Spirit, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Righteousness. And so fellowship is maintained. Fellowship's restored. In Deuteronomy thirteen one, if there rise among you a prophet, a false prophet, or a dreamer of dreams. Boy, we got a lot of dreamer dreams right now. Have I ever told you and tried to direct you with a dream that God's given me? A vision or a dream? Just hold that thought. Okay? There's a whole lot of that going on right now. I want you to be a man or woman of the word. Allow the holy spirit to lead and guide you into all truth. I don't want you to trust in any man and their visions and dreams. Not until they've been crucified, buried, and raised himself from the dead. Alright? When that happens, and not to say God isn't gonna communicate through dreams and visions in Iran and let people know, go up to that woman of the red coat on at the coffee house and she's got something to say to you and you hear the gospel. That's great. That's a moving working of God's spirit. But a lot of the guys today are pseudo intellectuals, pseudo prophets. They're manipulating people and it says and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, the YouTube prophets. And the sign or the wonder come to pass. So he's saying, you could go to Bethel, you could go to some of these apostate churches and they give you a dream, a vision, a sign, a wonder. But watch what happens. And the sign of the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying, let us go after other gods, little g gods, which thou has not known and let us serve them. Deuteronomy 13 verse three, thou shall not hearken under the word of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God prove it. He's testing you. He's gonna prove you. To know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul. So in your free will, would you throw God aside when another Johnny come lately come along? Another exhilarating experience, a demonic experience. To know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him and cleave that word cleave like cemented together like in your marriage. Cleave unto him. So walk worthy yield to his call. Is mega a test? Is Trump a test? Are you passing the test? Are there things being promised that aren't being delivered now? Are you being betrayed? Are you being led to a b system? Are you being taught to hate democrats? Are you taught to divide the country? Is that love? Is that a loving christian nation? Are you being desensitized toward pedophilia, republicans, and democrats? Are they letting you know there's nothing you can do about it? Are you watching the normalization of pedophilia? Just as the normalization of same sex marriage and all the other stuff happened a few years ago. We're living in a demonic world. Very, very demonic. Time to drink the coffee. Time to wake up. Quit putting your trust in men and just walk with the Lord. Hold to him. Walk worthy. Yield to his call. Paul said, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You're pressing toward the mark. You're pressing toward the finish line. Nothing else satisfies. You're not gonna press toward the millennium, a golden age that these guys are promising and yet so many keep believing these lies. It's sad. You can't Christianize their notions, their ideas and such. You're being proven. God's testing you. What is God worthy of? Should I yield to his call? Secondly, should I yield to his conformity? Verse two, with all lowliness and meekness, am I willing to be lowly? Am I willing to be meek? With long suffering for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. No. I'm gonna follow a guy like Nebby. I'm gonna follow a guy with a ninety foot tall golden image of myself. How much more ridiculous does it have to get? That's idolatry. And they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. They're not gonna deliver what they're promising. You're moving toward a b system. It's it's mind boggling to me. It's the opposite of who Jesus is. Romans eight twenty five, for whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. We're to be conformed into the image of Jesus. We're becoming more and more Christ like. More like him. Are you becoming more and more Christ like? Being conformed into his image? Walking in loneliness. What's that mean? Walking in loneliness? It speaks of humility. Jesus humbled himself unto death, even the death of the cross. Are you willing to humble yourself? To be lowly, to be Christ like? Then he says, walk in meekness. Meekness speaks of gentleness, strength under control, bowing yourself to the will of God, a willingness to stand and to do the will of God regardless of the cost. Paul said in Philippians three ten that I might know him. The fellowship and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. Yesterday when Kathy and I went to visit James and Sally, we've known them for thirty years and, they're the most precious people. They so incredibly love Kathy and I and my daughters, my family. They've proven it over the years. She kept saying to Esther, he's my pastor. He's my pastor. He's my pastor. And then she said, she said, you know pastor, it's been two years of enduring this cancer as James she alluded to. Two years, two years enduring this cancer. She's enduring that calling. God has called her. It's not an accident. God has called Sally to endure this cancer. Just as God has called you to endure the trials that you're going through. And what's your reaction? Her reaction is, and she began to cry, and she made me almost start to cry, but big boys don't cry, so I held it back. You're gonna cry when you hear this. She said, I think about how Jesus suffered for me. I think about how he suffered on that cross, How he was beaten. How they mistreated him. And I think I haven't suffered like that. Have you? Have you suffered yet under blood, under death? Will you be faithful to Jesus? Will you be faithful to the nurses and the doctors and the people in your community, people that know you? Sally wants to live, but more than anything else she wants to glorify her Lord. She wants to be a worshiper, not a whiner. And she's dead to self. The verdict, the decision is in God's hands. Lord, your will be done. Walk in long suffering as patience, The spirit which will never give in, unconquerable, long tempered. You're never gonna give in to the lives of the wicked one. You're willing to suffer. God is long suffering. He's unwilling that any would perish, that all would come to repentance. Are you long suffering? Are you willing to be abused, to be blind, to be mistreated, and continue to stand in the gap and praying for those who just don't know. Father, forgive them for they they know not what they do, father. The long suffering of God that waited a hundred and twenty years in first Peter three twenty illustrated in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing wherein few that his eight souls were saved by water. Think of that, a hundred and twenty years and Noah being a preacher of righteousness. Preaching to them, get in Christ. Get in Christ. Judgment's coming. Judgment's coming. The beast system's coming. Can you see the beast system? Get in the boat. Don't put your trust in these bankers or these politicians. Get right with Christ. Get right with Jesus. Prophecies being fulfilled. It's gonna happen. He fulfilled over 300 prophecies in his first coming. Whole lot of prophecies are happening right now. And if you sit down with me for a few minutes, I can show you a few. The compound probability of one man fulfilling eight prophecies of the 300, if you're a science person, a mathematician, is 10 to the seventeenth power illustrated by taking two and a half feet of silver dollars all over the state of Texas. I hear it's a big state. And marking 1 silver dollar and placing it in that sea of silver dollars, which be worth a lot of money right now, silver. Blindfolding the guys, twisting them around, pin the tail on the donkey, put that guy into that state for him to reach down and grab that 1 silver dollars, 10 to the seventeenth power. And Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies in his first coming. Irrefutable proof that he's God. Irrefutable proof that his word is the word of God. The Koran can't do that. The book of mormon can't do that. None of the other AI bibles you've all know or Harari can do that. AI can't predict the future, but God can. Amen. Amen. And he will. Amen. And he does. And he has. And you and I do well to trust in him, to walk by faith and trust in him. Or despise thou the riches of goodness and forbearance and long suffering. Are you testing the long suffering of God? Think about that. Your mom and dad praying for you and you're gonna live like hell. Are you testing the long suffering of God? At what point do you exhaust the long suffering of God? And he finally says, not my will but thy will be done. How long, pharaoh? How far are you gonna go with this, pharaoh? Just let my people go and and we'll walk out of here. And he keeps hardening his heart, hardening his heart, harden his heart. How long do you want me to go people in the book of Revelation nine ten and eleven? Twelve thirteen fourteen. How far? How bad do you want it to get before you say uncle? Before you tap out? Before you say Jesus, God be merciful to me a sinner. How what's it gonna take? Do you think you can exhaust the long suffering of God? In Romans two verse four, despise thou the riches of his goodness. You don't value the good news. Sometimes we have to tell people the bad news so they'll appreciate the good news. You despise thou the riches and the goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God is leading thee to repentance. They did observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Right? God wants to be merciful. He's looking for a way to forgive. He's looking for a way to be merciful. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their sin. He doesn't delight in sending the wicked to hell. In fact, he doesn't send anybody to hell. They choose to go to hell by rejecting his goodness, by rejecting his love. Walk in love, for bearing each other in love, unconquerable benevolence, agape never fails. Greater love has no man than this and a man lay down his life for his friends. Walk in patience he says. Patience speaks of a right relationship between men. Then he says verse three, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace which is the yielding to his conformity requires death to self. Then his life, his humility. So we die to self And then he changes us from glory to glory in the image of his son. Now we're being conformed into the image of Christ. Being changed from glory to glory, a work of sanctification is taking place. Then his life, his humility is seen in you. You may were once a very proud person and the Lord's humbled you. You're able to walk in humility. You're a strong person, but the Lord's given you meekness, strength under control. Doesn't mean you're weak, it's strength under control. Like a horse with a bit, with a master and you do what the master tells you. Long suffering, love and peace, they begin to flow from our lives as we walk worthy in fellowship with him. Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. You've got to abide in him. You gotta be in that fellowship with him. So what is God worthy of? What is God worthy of? Think of the disrespect. The way that sometimes we as children talk back. Smart Alex. Boy, when I was a kid, you wouldn't do that to adults the way kids do that today. You'd get backhanded first off, then when your dad gets home, wait till your dad gets home, then you'd get the belt. If you're out in public with other family members and stuff, they'd find a corner and you'd kneel in a corner. I spent an hour just looking in a corner. I don't know where they come up with that one, but it was it was brutal. I'd rather get whooped on and get to play again. And it all it all hinged on being disrespectful, being mouthy, not doing what you're told. And so, what's God worthy of it? Are we gonna respect him? Should I yield to his call? Should I yield to his conformity? And thirdly and finally, should I yield to his centrality? It's all about Jesus. Do you wanna make it about you? Do you wanna make everything about you? Is everything, every prayer, every going to church, every church you're attending, every message, is it always about you? Are you looking for teachers having itching ears where they'll make it all about you? That's what they do. As they give you doctrines of demons and fables and fairy tales, where there's no convicting of the Holy Spirit, no correction with the Holy Spirit with his word. So you're left to become more and more narcissistic, more and more selfish, more and more egotistical. Pretty soon you're gonna follow the anti Christ where you're going to so suppress the truth, rejecting the truth that you're gonna be given over to a strong delusion that you would believe the lie. Where's the lie? That you can be as God. That's how narcissistic the world is coming. That's the lie within the garden is that the world centers around you because you're a god. That's where they're going. You can be his god. You can be a God. Little g gods running around. Everybody's a God. I think Bill Gates thinks he's a God already. Is it okay for Jesus to be the center of attention? When we're together, when we're fellowshipping, is it Jesus that's at the center? Is he the one that we're talking about? Is this message this morning about Jesus? Is it about him? Or do you and I have an agenda that we wanna try and sell to one another to become better do gooders in the community? In Jesus name, but I came up with a way and I just need your money to fulfill my vision. And then you guys get to go out and do it. Salesmanship, marketing. He says verse four, there is one body. The body of Christ should not be divided. First Corinthians ten seventeen, it says, for we being many are one bread and one body for all partakers of that one bread. Jesus makes us one as we partake of him. As we partake of communion, We're all coming into that oneness that he prayed in John 17. He being that bread, we're all partakers. The church should not be divided. And then he says, in one spirit and the spirit does what? The spirit bears witness of the sun, the centrality of Jesus. Jesus is the center of the universe. The volume of the book is written of him. History is his story. It's all about him. Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus, revealing Jesus. The apocalypse is the unveiling of Jesus. He's coming again. It's all about him. It's so simple. It's just so simple. Don't you get excited? Yeah. Amen. The Holy Spirit didn't come to bear witness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was given to bear witness of the son. We have the Paracletus. We have the comforter, the helper as we're studying God's word to bear witness of Jesus. The Greeks came to Philip and said, sir, we would see Jesus. People coming to church want to see Jesus. Why can't they say Jesus? Because we're too much in the way. Get out of the way. Let them see Jesus. People can fall in love with Jesus. A guy at the gym the other day told me a story. God, it was just so heartbreaking of a false prophet. Just a pseudo Christian in our community. A guy that I know is a predator. I've had encounters with him. My daughters have had encounters with him and he he's going unchecked. It's just it's just mind boggling. But this unbeliever was so stumbled by him. And I said, oh, yeah, he's a predator. One of these days he's gonna wind up in a ditch or back in jail because this guy's dangerous. But they parade through the church. It's easy to prey upon our young girls and our young guys. These wolves. It's not about Jesus, it's about them and self promotion. Promoting themselves. The holy spirit bears witness of the son, not of self. Even as you're called in one hope of your calling. One hope of your calling. You've been called to be a Christian. What's that one hope? That one hope. Is it not that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ? Isn't that the one hope of the body of Christ is the return of Jesus? We're incomplete. We're we're doing the best we can, but man, we need our savior. We need Jesus. The world needs Jesus. He's the answer. He's the one that can make things right. And he's the one that I yearn for. He's the one I'm looking for. He's the one I'm on tiptoes knowing he's coming soon. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. And he that has this hope in him, what hope? The hope of the rapture. The hope of the return of Jesus for his bride. He that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. It's a purifying hope looking for the soon return of Jesus. Looking for the eminency that he could come at any moment, any time now. Right now before we even finish here, the Lord could be returning. He said in John fourteen one through three, he said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions or dwelling places. If it weren't so, I'd tell you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am, there you may be also. That's the blessed hope. That's the blessed hope. And Paul described at the church of Thessalonica, he said, that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven where he's at. He's in heaven. He's gonna descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And the dead in Christ, who are in Christ, the church age. Those that have died during the church age, not the old testament saints. Those in Christ during the church age. The dead in Christ shall rise first and that we that are alive, like Enoch, shall be caught up raptured, harpazo. Together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And then he says, and comfort yourself with these words. The rapture is not doom and gloom. It's the blessed hope. Oh, how blessed we are. The hope that we have that Jesus is coming soon. One hope of your calling. And then he says verse five, one Lord. Your Lord is Jesus. He's king of kings. He's lord of lords. He doesn't need the board of peace. He's the prince of peace. He doesn't need need man's, you know, he he doesn't need to say to be, you know, it's a billion dollar buy in. You wanna buy in here, man, we'll let you be on the board of peace. But we're planning a war right now with Iran. Oh, that board of peace. When you hear them say peace and safety, then sudden destruction's coming. Right? And the antichrist in acts chapter six, he's riding in on a white horse like a peacemaker with a bow with no arrow. Right? He says one face. So the volume of the book is written of him. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. One faith and one baptism. What is baptism? If you're gonna be baptized in Iran today, you're gonna risk dying because it's public. Right? Jesus said, if you confess my name before men, I'll confess you before my father and the angels of heaven. If you deny me before men, I'll deny you before my father and the angels of heaven. Right? And so baptism is identification with Jesus, the son of man that identifies with you as a human being as the last Adam, as the savior of the world. It's identification with his death, his burial, and his resurrection. You're identifying with him. You're baptized in name of the father, the son, holy spirit along with you always even to the end of age, even the end of the church, the church age. Identification with only Jesus, with no other, not with Caesar. You're not gonna say Caesar is Lord, not gonna happen. They threatened to leverage you to take your money away, shut your bank account down, lose your job, you will not say Caesar is Lord. You're willing to have your head cut off as a tribulation saint during the tribulation period. But as a Christian, in the first and second century, you would not say Caesar Lord. You could live to fight another day and have a job and all that just by pinching incense and saying Caesar is Lord once a year in a pagan temple, but you would not do it because Jesus and you're stubborn. You're really stubborn when it comes down to worship. You're not gonna deny your Lord. You're not gonna do it. Not to Obama, not to Trump, not to any man, not to the antichrist and yet the whole world goes after the antichrist in place of Jesus Christ. No DEI. You refuse diversity, equity, and inclusion. No, with you it's the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. It's his way or the highway. No negotiating. He's king of kings. He's lord of lords, and we're not gonna water it down so that you like me. It's kinda healthy. It's kinda healthy sometimes to say, I don't need you as a friend. You're lost. You're trying to leverage me that I've got to water down my Jesus? No. You're not a real friend. Not gonna happen. I don't need friends like that. And then he says, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. So one God and three persons united and at the center of the universe. Everything should revolve around God, not man, not the devil. And so much so that even your thought process. Your thought process is where you're gonna win or lose. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. There's so much propaganda being spread right now. So many lies with the media and all. You don't know which end is up. You're like Pontius Pilate. What is truth? You don't even know what the truth is anymore. You gotta so incredibly fact check and test test everything and all. And when it comes to the word of God, when it comes to Jesus, you've gotta take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. So second Corinthians ten five says, casting down imaginations. You've all know a hurrah. They have imaginations. They're imagining things. They're imagining a utopian age and they're promising the world utopia without God. He says, God's already dead. We just haven't buried his body. And then they make these huge claims, these huge promises, these huge everybody's, oh, wow. That's so amazing. It's demonic is what it is. Demonic. It's from the pit of hell. It's the boasting of the wicked one. It's the boasting of the antichrist. The spirit of antichrist in this age. So casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalts itself above AI's gonna do this, that exalts itself above the knowledge of God. And taking every thought, that's why the bankers, that's why Bezos, that's why all the technocrats own the media. Because they know as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. They wanna brainwash, indoctrinate, and get you to think a certain way. You've gotta take every thought that comes and bring it through the filter of the obedience of Christ. Is that what Jesus is saying? Is that what his word says? Is it consistent with God's word or inconsistent with God's word? If it's inconsistent with God's word, you honor Jesus and you reject the lie. It's pretty simple. But it's a discipline of life that must be active where we ask the holy spirit to lead and guide us into all truth and we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Are we walking with him in the garden in the cool of the day? Or are we hiding from him walking unworthily, naked and afraid. Don't try to cover your nakedness with fig leaves, with external religious rags. Christianity is not a religion. It's not wearing external religious rags. All your righteousness is as filthy rags. Adam and Eve were guilty. They knew they were naked. They knew they were undone and they tried of their own volition to cover their nakedness. God wants you and I to walk in the cool of the day in the garden with him and Adam and Eve again were later by faith, by embracing Christ. They were able to walk once again with coats of skins. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. There's no forgiveness of sin. And so the Lord spoke to them that the virgin born son of God that his heel would be bruised, but one day he would crush the serpent's head. Adam and Eve were given hope. They were given the gospel message of salvation. Fellowship was restored, but in their fallen condition, it wouldn't be the kind of relationship they once had walking in the garden the cool of the day. But you and I, with the help of the Holy Spirit living and dwelling within us, we can have fellowship. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit wanna come and make their abode within our hearts. And we walk by faith, not by sight. So don't try to cover your nakedness with fig leaves, the external religious filthy rags. Walk worthy of who you are in Christ Jesus. Put on Christ. Wear the clothes of Christ. God has a gorgeous robe of righteousness. He's gonna kill the fatted calf. He's gonna put a ring on your finger. Right? It's relationship. Son, your brother was dead and now he's alive. Right? You were the prodigal. You're running away and you've been purchased exclusively for him with the precious blood of his own dear son at the Cross Of Calvary. Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I but Christ live within me. In the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The centrality of Jesus Christ. We're dead. We're crucified with Christ. But we're still living. But it's really not us living anymore. It's Christ living through us. It's all about Jesus. That resurrection life, the life of the spirit. So walk worthy, respond to God's love by walking in fellowship with him. So we're in heaven and we're watching the four and twenty elders, 24 elders in Revelation chapter four. And man, they've got their crowns. Right? And they take their crowns and they set them at his feet and the whole scene As people like Bruce and Rob and you and I up there singing, thou art worthy oh Lord, to receive glory, honor and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure, they are and were created. You were created to bring God pleasure as you walk in fellowship with him. He wants you. That's what he wants. That's why he sent his son to purchase you from sin, death and hell. Thou has created all things for thy pleasure and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Walk worthy. Walk according to the reason God created you that you might know him. That you might experience fellowship, the koinonia, the oneness. And we're gonna partake a communion now after we pray and ask the Lord to bless as we desire that oneness, that fellowship with him. So father we thank you. And Lord we pray that you would bless, that we would walk in a in a style, in a way Lord that's legit, that's real, that's authentic, authentic Christianity. Living the life of the spirit. You said you desire people that would worship you in spirit and in truth, and Lord, we wanna be those people. We don't wanna go through the motions of externals, of religiousness, of having the outside of the cup washed, but inside full of corruption and dead men's bones. God, ask that you would transform and change us from within, and that the fruit of our lives would come on the outside and people would see our countenance. They'd see our faith. They'd see the attributes, the characteristics of who you are. And Lord, we would bring glory and honor unto you Lord as we fulfill the purpose of our being, the purpose of why you've made us that we would bring glory and honor unto you that we'd walk worthily Lord. Ascribing worth unto you, worshipers. So blessed now we pray. If there's anybody here this morning and you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but you want to, you want to know what it is to be forgiven of your sins, to be washed, to be cleansed by the moving and working of the holy spirit, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, to be transformed from body and soul to body, soul, spirit. Just just lift your hand up. We wanna lead you in prayer. Anyone this morning? Anyone this morning? Even the one with that music playing. The angels are singing. Anyone this morning? There's rejoicing among the angels in heaven when just one sinner repents. Just one sinner. Anyone here this morning? Father, thank you once again. Thank you Lord for the peace, the joy that we experience in in this time of chaos, in this time of just not so out there. Lord, we have your peace. Peace with God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. We can't fix things. Lord, you haven't caused us to to fix everything. We can't fix it by voting. We can't find a guy worthy. And Lord, when you come you're gonna fix it. You're the fixer. So Lord we pray, even so come quickly Lord Jesus. This place is a mess. But Lord in the midst of that storm, in the midst of this mess Lord, we experience fellowship with you. We're able to sit at your feet and to worship. We're able to go through horrific horrific ordeals and problems, but Lord, you by the power of your Holy Spirit supernaturally give us that that that peace that the world is lacking, the anxiety that engulfs them, the fear, the guilt, the tearing down of their whole being, Lord, the self help, the self medicate and all, Lord, that's foreign to who we are. We know you because Lord, you love us and you first loved us. So Lord, we just pray that you keep us in the pocket, you keep us right there in the palm of your hand, that place where nothing can touch us, where nothing can steal, kill, or destroy the peace, the love, the joy, the blessing, the fruit of the spirit that we enjoy with you regardless of circumstances. That the quality of life that we live truly be the life of a Christian, a born again Christian. Spirit filled born again Christians, Lord, in these last days. And Lord, let it provoke Jews to jealousy. Let it provoke others to jealousy, Lord, that they would want to know you. They would want what we have. That we not cheapen it and make it a commodity that everybody and their brother is saying they have it when we know they don't. We don't see the fruit of the spirit which is love. So pour out your spirit afresh upon us, Lord. Make us worshipers. Help us to walk worthily. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.