1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,140 Speaker: So we're in Romans five. 2 00:00:01,259 --> 00:00:02,789 We're gonna just look at two verses tonight. 3 00:00:02,789 --> 00:00:02,969 All right. 4 00:00:02,969 --> 00:00:06,089 Romans five verses one and two. 5 00:00:06,450 --> 00:00:10,140 But before we get there, this passage talks a lot about. 6 00:00:10,485 --> 00:00:13,454 Um, this thing called justification by faith, right? 7 00:00:13,454 --> 00:00:14,864 And we've been talking about that a lot. 8 00:00:15,255 --> 00:00:17,775 And just to catch you up, if you haven't been here, that means that 9 00:00:17,775 --> 00:00:22,394 God makes people righteous, not by things that we do, but as a gift. 10 00:00:22,665 --> 00:00:24,975 And we receive that gift by faith. 11 00:00:25,005 --> 00:00:28,424 We receive it by trusting Jesus, by depending on him. 12 00:00:29,655 --> 00:00:33,735 We spent a long time talking about how righteousness is a gift. 13 00:00:34,275 --> 00:00:37,635 And we just got, we just entered a season where we got a lot of gifts. 14 00:00:37,635 --> 00:00:39,555 We just got a lot of gifts for Christmas. 15 00:00:39,555 --> 00:00:43,185 Hopefully you got some good ones, but every year you get some lame gifts 16 00:00:43,185 --> 00:00:44,445 for Christmas, you get some gifts. 17 00:00:44,445 --> 00:00:45,524 You're like, Hey, thanks. 18 00:00:45,885 --> 00:00:49,815 But I'm just, I'm grateful that you got me something, but I'm just 19 00:00:49,815 --> 00:00:51,075 kind of leave it in the closet. 20 00:00:51,855 --> 00:00:53,054 I don't know if you've ever gotten a gift like that. 21 00:00:53,054 --> 00:00:55,875 I got a couple gifts like that this Christmas where really grateful that 22 00:00:55,875 --> 00:00:57,825 they thought of me, really grateful that they wanted to get something for 23 00:00:57,825 --> 00:01:00,885 me, but not what I would've picked. 24 00:01:01,005 --> 00:01:01,394 Right. 25 00:01:01,755 --> 00:01:02,205 Um. 26 00:01:03,540 --> 00:01:05,220 No, it wasn't pajamas. 27 00:01:05,220 --> 00:01:05,880 That wasn't one of them. 28 00:01:06,300 --> 00:01:08,520 It was another article of clothing. 29 00:01:08,550 --> 00:01:12,120 My, someone got me these hats and I was like, I don't think I'd ever wear those, 30 00:01:12,270 --> 00:01:15,600 but, and I don't think my wife would ever want me to wear them, more importantly. 31 00:01:15,930 --> 00:01:19,830 Um, but they're, they're there, they're hats. 32 00:01:19,830 --> 00:01:20,850 And I got 'em anyway. 33 00:01:21,090 --> 00:01:26,400 So, um, sometimes right, you get a gift and you just, you're 34 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:27,930 like, thanks, put it in the box. 35 00:01:27,930 --> 00:01:28,440 Forget about it. 36 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:28,890 Right. 37 00:01:29,414 --> 00:01:34,425 Sometimes Christians can do that with justification, with being made 38 00:01:34,425 --> 00:01:36,735 righteous, being made acceptable to God. 39 00:01:36,884 --> 00:01:40,005 Sometimes if you're a Christian, you can think of your justification 40 00:01:40,005 --> 00:01:41,384 like, great, I got saved. 41 00:01:41,384 --> 00:01:42,223 I got made righteous. 42 00:01:42,223 --> 00:01:45,615 God took away my sin, and then I leave that and I move on to what 43 00:01:45,615 --> 00:01:46,533 I'm supposed to do as a Christian. 44 00:01:48,044 --> 00:01:51,434 What we're gonna see in Romans chapter five is we're gonna see 45 00:01:51,434 --> 00:01:55,664 that that being that action of being made righteous, God does that to us. 46 00:01:55,844 --> 00:02:00,404 It's a gift that matters for the rest of a Christian's life. 47 00:02:00,464 --> 00:02:04,964 Okay, so look with me Romans five, verses one and two. 48 00:02:04,994 --> 00:02:05,294 Okay. 49 00:02:05,714 --> 00:02:11,174 Therefore, whenever we see a, therefore right, we ask what is therefore there for? 50 00:02:11,505 --> 00:02:14,115 It means it's, we're talking about what we just talked about, 51 00:02:14,144 --> 00:02:15,464 therefore it's like a connection. 52 00:02:15,810 --> 00:02:18,690 So whenever you see it, therefore, you should look at what we just talked 53 00:02:18,690 --> 00:02:22,170 about and what we just talked about in Romans four was justification. 54 00:02:22,260 --> 00:02:24,000 By faith being made righteous. 55 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,040 Being righteous, applied by faith. 56 00:02:26,220 --> 00:02:31,350 So therefore, because we've been justified by faith, then there's gonna be three 57 00:02:31,350 --> 00:02:33,899 things that happen as a result of that. 58 00:02:34,079 --> 00:02:36,030 Three things that matter forever. 59 00:02:37,170 --> 00:02:41,730 First thing, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 60 00:02:42,660 --> 00:02:47,340 Second thing, through him, through Jesus, we also have obtained access by 61 00:02:47,340 --> 00:02:49,829 faith into this grace in which we stand. 62 00:02:49,829 --> 00:02:50,519 So that's the second thing. 63 00:02:51,149 --> 00:02:52,079 We've got peace. 64 00:02:52,140 --> 00:02:55,680 We have access into this, this stuff, and we'll talk about what that is. 65 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,190 And the third thing, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 66 00:02:59,190 --> 00:02:59,640 Three things. 67 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:02,670 So sometimes it's helpful for me when I read the Bible to kind of break 68 00:03:02,670 --> 00:03:05,219 them up into sections like that. 69 00:03:05,219 --> 00:03:06,479 It helps me just see it better, right? 70 00:03:06,479 --> 00:03:08,790 Because sometimes you look at your Bible and it's a bunch of words and you're 71 00:03:08,790 --> 00:03:09,779 like, I don't know where to start. 72 00:03:10,470 --> 00:03:11,490 I like doing stuff like this. 73 00:03:11,490 --> 00:03:12,360 Helps me see it, right? 74 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:15,510 So three things that, three results of being justified by faith. 75 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:15,990 First. 76 00:03:15,990 --> 00:03:16,769 One second. 77 00:03:16,769 --> 00:03:17,790 One third one. 78 00:03:18,780 --> 00:03:23,280 Now, what I want you to notice here is, right, these are all not 79 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,470 something that we earned, right? 80 00:03:25,620 --> 00:03:31,709 These are not things that we got because we're so great, because we did awesome 81 00:03:31,709 --> 00:03:34,560 things because we're a good person, because we have Christian parents. 82 00:03:34,589 --> 00:03:37,560 'cause we go to church, 'cause we grew up believing the right things. 83 00:03:38,010 --> 00:03:39,360 They come through Jesus. 84 00:03:40,155 --> 00:03:43,185 We've talked about that a lot in the book of Romans so far, 85 00:03:43,185 --> 00:03:44,144 we've talked about that a lot. 86 00:03:44,325 --> 00:03:49,935 That all of the, all of the goodness of God to us comes 87 00:03:49,935 --> 00:03:52,665 through Jesus Christ, right? 88 00:03:52,665 --> 00:03:56,355 We don't earn God's blessings. 89 00:03:56,625 --> 00:04:00,704 They come as a gift by faith, right? 90 00:04:00,704 --> 00:04:02,805 Grace has to be unearned. 91 00:04:03,075 --> 00:04:05,145 It can't be earned otherwise. 92 00:04:05,145 --> 00:04:05,954 It's not a gift anymore. 93 00:04:06,135 --> 00:04:08,555 If you worked for it, if you deserved it, it wasn't a gift. 94 00:04:09,435 --> 00:04:13,125 It wasn't something that God showed to you as grace. 95 00:04:13,125 --> 00:04:14,655 It was something that you earned from God. 96 00:04:14,715 --> 00:04:15,585 You put God in debt. 97 00:04:15,585 --> 00:04:16,485 You said, I'm so good. 98 00:04:16,485 --> 00:04:17,595 God, you better give this to me. 99 00:04:17,595 --> 00:04:18,255 I deserve it. 100 00:04:18,825 --> 00:04:19,815 That's not how it works. 101 00:04:20,595 --> 00:04:23,925 All of this comes because of someone else, because of Jesus, 102 00:04:24,075 --> 00:04:26,445 and we receive it by faith. 103 00:04:27,525 --> 00:04:29,385 But anyway, three results, right? 104 00:04:29,385 --> 00:04:30,975 Three results of being justified by faith. 105 00:04:31,005 --> 00:04:32,505 Those are our three results. 106 00:04:33,195 --> 00:04:35,505 So that first one, we're gonna focus on that one right now. 107 00:04:35,505 --> 00:04:35,745 All right. 108 00:04:35,745 --> 00:04:37,095 Peace with God. 109 00:04:37,275 --> 00:04:38,510 Why is that such a big deal? 110 00:04:39,345 --> 00:04:41,385 Well, I don't know if you've ever thought about this before. 111 00:04:41,385 --> 00:04:42,315 This might be new to you. 112 00:04:42,315 --> 00:04:43,335 Hopefully it's not. 113 00:04:43,725 --> 00:04:47,265 But at one point in your life, and this might still be true to 114 00:04:47,265 --> 00:04:49,575 you today, God was your enemy. 115 00:04:51,405 --> 00:04:52,305 That might be new for you. 116 00:04:52,665 --> 00:04:53,595 God was your enemy. 117 00:04:54,225 --> 00:04:55,935 Maybe you just thought, oh, I just didn't believe in God. 118 00:04:56,265 --> 00:04:59,355 Or, oh, I just wasn't a Christian, or I just didn't give my life to 119 00:04:59,355 --> 00:05:00,555 Christ, or I wasn't following Jesus. 120 00:05:01,695 --> 00:05:04,575 At one point in your life, God was your enemy. 121 00:05:05,565 --> 00:05:07,005 If you aren't a Christian. 122 00:05:08,070 --> 00:05:11,400 God is presently right now, your enemy. 123 00:05:12,539 --> 00:05:15,450 There is hostility between you and God. 124 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:18,810 There's, it's not just ignoring God. 125 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:20,490 There is hostility. 126 00:05:20,490 --> 00:05:22,710 There is anger there. 127 00:05:22,770 --> 00:05:30,270 God's wrath is directed at your sin because as we've talked about in Romans 128 00:05:30,270 --> 00:05:36,690 chapter one, what you're saying to God is you're not, you're not good enough. 129 00:05:37,034 --> 00:05:39,825 I don't want you, I just want your stuff, right? 130 00:05:39,825 --> 00:05:42,615 That's what, not trusting God is. 131 00:05:42,675 --> 00:05:46,005 That's what worshiping other things, loving things more than God is. 132 00:05:47,025 --> 00:05:51,465 And so at some point in your life, if, if you're a Christian, it was in the past. 133 00:05:51,765 --> 00:05:53,445 If you're not a Christian, it's you right now. 134 00:05:53,745 --> 00:05:54,705 God was your enemy. 135 00:05:54,705 --> 00:05:56,055 You are opposed to God. 136 00:05:56,055 --> 00:05:58,335 You are in rebellion against God. 137 00:05:59,085 --> 00:06:00,825 That's why this is such a big deal. 138 00:06:01,860 --> 00:06:06,840 Because the only way you can fix that, the only way you can get God to not be your 139 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:10,890 enemy anymore is through Jesus Christ. 140 00:06:13,590 --> 00:06:22,050 So God is the enemy of those who are not following him, who 141 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:22,950 aren't trusting him, right? 142 00:06:22,950 --> 00:06:25,409 You can't just ignore God and say, oh, well, just me and God. 143 00:06:25,409 --> 00:06:26,039 We don't just get along. 144 00:06:26,039 --> 00:06:27,060 We're just gonna go our separate ways. 145 00:06:27,539 --> 00:06:28,409 That's not how it works. 146 00:06:28,500 --> 00:06:29,969 You are opposing God. 147 00:06:30,659 --> 00:06:36,090 If you are not following Jesus, and so the only way to get that taken 148 00:06:36,090 --> 00:06:38,549 away is through Jesus Christ by faith. 149 00:06:38,549 --> 00:06:42,869 So our first point tonight, trust Jesus to remove God's wrath. 150 00:06:43,590 --> 00:06:44,849 You could write more. 151 00:06:44,849 --> 00:06:46,919 You could say from you or from me. 152 00:06:48,359 --> 00:06:51,840 The only way that you can have peace with God, you can solve the problem that 153 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:59,640 God is opposed to me and I'm opposed to God is through Jesus trusting him. 154 00:07:03,345 --> 00:07:06,795 I don't know if you've ever had a teacher who feels like, feels like 155 00:07:06,795 --> 00:07:07,965 your teacher's out to get you. 156 00:07:07,994 --> 00:07:09,315 Have you ever been in one of those classes? 157 00:07:09,945 --> 00:07:11,744 Carson just nodded so hard. 158 00:07:11,805 --> 00:07:16,215 I'm not surprised at all, but if you ever been in a class where you 159 00:07:16,215 --> 00:07:17,780 feel like, man, my teacher is just. 160 00:07:18,810 --> 00:07:22,229 They're just looking and waiting for me to mess up. 161 00:07:22,259 --> 00:07:22,469 Right. 162 00:07:22,649 --> 00:07:24,029 Or you maybe had a coach like that. 163 00:07:24,149 --> 00:07:25,739 Like, oh man, they are just waiting. 164 00:07:25,739 --> 00:07:30,269 Every time I do something wrong, every time I mess up, every time I even look at 165 00:07:30,269 --> 00:07:32,249 my friend to talk to them, they're on me. 166 00:07:32,399 --> 00:07:32,639 Right? 167 00:07:32,639 --> 00:07:35,279 I, I was in, I was in a class like that. 168 00:07:35,310 --> 00:07:39,210 Mostly it was my fault because I deserved it, but I felt like, 169 00:07:39,210 --> 00:07:40,800 man, my teacher is out to get me. 170 00:07:40,914 --> 00:07:41,134 He. 171 00:07:41,970 --> 00:07:45,030 Even accused me of forging my mom's signature. 172 00:07:45,030 --> 00:07:48,570 I'm in fourth grade, he accused me of forging my mom's signature on a 173 00:07:48,570 --> 00:07:52,830 permission slip because it was bumpy, because she signed it on like a, 174 00:07:53,100 --> 00:07:55,140 like a concrete table at the park. 175 00:07:55,470 --> 00:07:59,159 And so it was bumpy and he was like, let me see your mom. 176 00:07:59,580 --> 00:08:00,180 You need to talk. 177 00:08:00,330 --> 00:08:01,410 And I was like, okay. 178 00:08:01,650 --> 00:08:02,580 And he was like, he brought it up. 179 00:08:03,135 --> 00:08:04,065 Did you sign this? 180 00:08:04,215 --> 00:08:04,545 Mrs. 181 00:08:04,545 --> 00:08:06,765 Azuma and I, she was like, yeah. 182 00:08:07,844 --> 00:08:09,285 And I was like, see, I told you. 183 00:08:09,795 --> 00:08:13,875 And so anyway, he was just looking for, for anything to, to get me in trouble. 184 00:08:13,905 --> 00:08:14,715 That's how I felt. 185 00:08:14,775 --> 00:08:15,104 Right. 186 00:08:16,125 --> 00:08:18,915 I don't know if you've ever been in a class like that, but, um, 187 00:08:20,175 --> 00:08:24,375 there's that tension, right, of, man, my teacher is opposed to me. 188 00:08:24,375 --> 00:08:25,335 They, they're not on my team. 189 00:08:25,335 --> 00:08:27,135 They're not, they're not looking out for me. 190 00:08:29,175 --> 00:08:31,455 If you are. 191 00:08:32,895 --> 00:08:34,125 Not following Jesus. 192 00:08:35,655 --> 00:08:37,395 You are God's enemy. 193 00:08:38,025 --> 00:08:41,323 There is opposition between you and God. 194 00:08:41,323 --> 00:08:45,105 You are not merely ignoring God or doing things your own way. 195 00:08:45,615 --> 00:08:48,675 You are actively opposing the king of the universe. 196 00:08:49,515 --> 00:08:51,045 You're not just agreeing to disagree. 197 00:08:51,495 --> 00:08:56,385 You're not just saying, well, maybe later I'll, I'll get on the right track. 198 00:08:57,435 --> 00:08:59,895 You're telling God I don't want you. 199 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:02,160 You're not important. 200 00:09:02,580 --> 00:09:04,920 You're not glorious, you're not valuable. 201 00:09:05,370 --> 00:09:07,350 You're not worth following, you're not trustworthy. 202 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:09,420 You are opposing God. 203 00:09:10,380 --> 00:09:13,410 If you are a Christian, that's where you were before God saved you. 204 00:09:14,970 --> 00:09:17,130 You weren't just a good kid waiting to become a Christian. 205 00:09:17,550 --> 00:09:19,290 You were opposing God. 206 00:09:20,130 --> 00:09:22,020 You were the object of God's wrath. 207 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,130 God's holy anger was going to be poured out on your sin. 208 00:09:27,630 --> 00:09:29,485 That's why peace with God is such a big deal. 209 00:09:31,710 --> 00:09:37,440 It removes that, it removes God's anger, God's right anger, right? 210 00:09:37,860 --> 00:09:42,930 So my teacher had a lot of good reasons to not like me as a student. 211 00:09:42,930 --> 00:09:44,160 I talked a lot to my friends. 212 00:09:44,310 --> 00:09:45,660 I messed around in class a lot. 213 00:09:46,140 --> 00:09:49,470 Um, and I was very, I, I made a lot of, I made a lot of jokes. 214 00:09:49,470 --> 00:09:49,860 I did a lot. 215 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:51,870 I messed around in class and whatever, right? 216 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:57,210 He had a lot of good reasons to, to be assuming the worst about me, right? 217 00:09:57,780 --> 00:09:59,550 Even more so with God. 218 00:09:59,955 --> 00:10:02,805 God's anger is perfectly justified towards sin. 219 00:10:04,095 --> 00:10:07,515 It's the right response that he should show towards our sin. 220 00:10:08,775 --> 00:10:14,775 And so the only way to get rid of God's anger is not to try to make it up to 221 00:10:14,775 --> 00:10:17,235 God and try to do better next time. 222 00:10:17,415 --> 00:10:21,165 It's not to, um, just try really hard. 223 00:10:21,165 --> 00:10:22,815 It's not to do all the Christian things. 224 00:10:22,815 --> 00:10:25,875 That's not how you get rid of God's wrath, right? 225 00:10:25,875 --> 00:10:28,425 Even if you are a Christian, if you sin. 226 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:33,210 The first thing you should do isn't try really hard to not do it. 227 00:10:33,330 --> 00:10:34,800 The first thing you should do is go to Jesus. 228 00:10:35,220 --> 00:10:39,930 Jesus is the only one who can remove God's wrath from you, and 229 00:10:39,930 --> 00:10:42,810 you need that every day of your life, even if you are Christian 230 00:10:47,190 --> 00:10:49,080 closeness with God, right? 231 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:50,670 We talk about, oh, I just wanna be close with God. 232 00:10:50,670 --> 00:10:52,770 Sometimes Christians say that you hear Christians say something like, 233 00:10:52,770 --> 00:10:53,910 oh, I just wanna draw closer to God. 234 00:10:53,910 --> 00:10:55,350 I want, I just want want to. 235 00:10:55,725 --> 00:10:56,505 Feel closer to God. 236 00:10:56,505 --> 00:10:57,525 I don't feel close to God right now. 237 00:10:57,855 --> 00:11:02,535 Closeness with God is grounded in an objective reality, right? 238 00:11:02,535 --> 00:11:05,115 A a concrete thing that really happened. 239 00:11:05,325 --> 00:11:07,065 Jesus really died on the cross. 240 00:11:07,155 --> 00:11:10,365 He really took away the sin of his people. 241 00:11:10,995 --> 00:11:12,615 That's where closeness with God comes from. 242 00:11:13,965 --> 00:11:17,955 It doesn't start with you being really good at reading your Bible. 243 00:11:18,165 --> 00:11:20,415 It doesn't start with you knowing a lot about God. 244 00:11:20,415 --> 00:11:21,765 It doesn't start with you serving in church. 245 00:11:21,885 --> 00:11:22,815 It starts with Jesus. 246 00:11:22,815 --> 00:11:23,775 You go to Jesus. 247 00:11:24,150 --> 00:11:28,200 That's where you remove the obstacle between you and God. 248 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:32,130 You can't add to it. 249 00:11:32,130 --> 00:11:32,820 You can't take away from it. 250 00:11:32,820 --> 00:11:34,080 That's such a good thing, right? 251 00:11:34,980 --> 00:11:38,460 Maybe you are a Christian and you feel terrible after you sin. 252 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:41,550 That doesn't change what Jesus did. 253 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:46,230 You can't outs sin, Jesus saving work. 254 00:11:48,570 --> 00:11:51,360 So the first thing you should do is go to Jesus. 255 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:53,520 There's one pastor he calls it, he calls it gutsy guilt. 256 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:56,310 You feel bad about your sin, you're convicted. 257 00:11:56,490 --> 00:11:57,450 You go to God. 258 00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:58,530 You don't hide from God. 259 00:11:58,530 --> 00:11:59,130 You go to God. 260 00:11:59,130 --> 00:12:00,240 You say, God, I'm a sinner. 261 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:00,930 I need you. 262 00:12:00,990 --> 00:12:01,830 I need you to forgive me. 263 00:12:01,860 --> 00:12:02,880 Please help me repent. 264 00:12:03,030 --> 00:12:03,960 I hate that I did this. 265 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:04,590 I love you. 266 00:12:04,740 --> 00:12:05,819 I don't wanna do this anymore. 267 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:10,050 That's the way to remove God's wrath. 268 00:12:10,050 --> 00:12:10,950 You go to Jesus. 269 00:12:10,950 --> 00:12:11,790 You don't hide from him. 270 00:12:11,939 --> 00:12:14,370 You don't try to clean yourself up and then come to God. 271 00:12:15,030 --> 00:12:18,720 You go to Jesus to take away your guilt. 272 00:12:20,939 --> 00:12:23,130 But justification by faith. 273 00:12:23,460 --> 00:12:23,760 Right. 274 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,000 What we talked about doesn't just get rid of God's wrath. 275 00:12:27,420 --> 00:12:30,030 It doesn't just stop God from being your enemy. 276 00:12:30,030 --> 00:12:36,270 It also makes God your friend, and that's what we see later 277 00:12:36,270 --> 00:12:39,060 on in this passage, right? 278 00:12:39,060 --> 00:12:42,660 It's like you went from being the, you know, the problem 279 00:12:42,780 --> 00:12:46,530 child of the class to being the teacher's favorite student, right? 280 00:12:46,530 --> 00:12:48,750 You're not just a normal student anymore. 281 00:12:48,780 --> 00:12:52,410 Once you become a Christian, you're actually the favorite student. 282 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:53,670 Right. 283 00:12:54,150 --> 00:12:56,370 That's what we're talking about in verse two right here. 284 00:12:56,610 --> 00:12:59,010 So we've been justified by faith. 285 00:12:59,190 --> 00:13:00,930 So the first thing means we have peace with God. 286 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,830 The second thing, through him, through Jesus, we have obtained. 287 00:13:04,830 --> 00:13:09,990 That means you've got something access by faith into this grace. 288 00:13:10,470 --> 00:13:13,110 So this is a really interesting description of grace 'cause it's almost 289 00:13:13,110 --> 00:13:15,630 like grace is like a room, right? 290 00:13:15,630 --> 00:13:18,210 You went from the wrath room to the grace room. 291 00:13:20,220 --> 00:13:22,230 You didn't just go from the wrath room to the neutral room. 292 00:13:22,905 --> 00:13:24,885 You went from the wrath room to the grace room. 293 00:13:25,185 --> 00:13:27,885 Now what even is grace, right? 294 00:13:27,885 --> 00:13:28,635 What does that even mean? 295 00:13:29,295 --> 00:13:32,565 Well, you're in the the realm of grace. 296 00:13:32,565 --> 00:13:34,455 Another way you could translate this would be favor. 297 00:13:34,995 --> 00:13:35,955 God is now 298 00:13:38,325 --> 00:13:38,775 he's his. 299 00:13:38,955 --> 00:13:42,705 Instead of his wrath being poured out to you, his love is being poured out to you. 300 00:13:43,605 --> 00:13:45,975 God is no longer opposed to you. 301 00:13:45,975 --> 00:13:47,115 He is for you. 302 00:13:48,885 --> 00:13:52,095 Everything that he does is working for your good. 303 00:13:52,830 --> 00:13:53,790 For what's best for you. 304 00:13:56,850 --> 00:14:00,990 And the best part is there's nothing you can do to get out of it, right, 305 00:14:01,380 --> 00:14:03,150 because you didn't get yourself in it. 306 00:14:03,420 --> 00:14:04,650 'cause you got there by faith. 307 00:14:05,820 --> 00:14:10,230 So God puts you in it by faith, and that means you're stuck. 308 00:14:10,620 --> 00:14:12,270 You can't get out of it, which is a great thing. 309 00:14:12,660 --> 00:14:15,330 And so you don't just trust Jesus to take away God's wrath. 310 00:14:15,330 --> 00:14:17,910 You also trust Jesus to give you God's favor. 311 00:14:18,630 --> 00:14:19,380 That's our second point. 312 00:14:19,380 --> 00:14:21,330 Trust Jesus for favor. 313 00:14:21,345 --> 00:14:22,755 From God. 314 00:14:30,255 --> 00:14:37,035 The word favor has kind of been hijacked from for by some, uh, some types of 315 00:14:37,035 --> 00:14:41,475 churches that will tell you that favor from God means a lot of money or favor 316 00:14:41,475 --> 00:14:45,615 from God means, um, you're never gonna get sick or nothing bad's gonna happen to you. 317 00:14:45,900 --> 00:14:46,170 Right. 318 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,920 You probably might not have run into that, but, um, your people, your 319 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:52,830 leaders might have heard stuff like that, and you might as you get older. 320 00:14:52,830 --> 00:14:56,250 So what we really need to talk about is what actually 321 00:14:56,250 --> 00:14:57,990 does favor from God look like? 322 00:14:58,080 --> 00:14:58,290 Right? 323 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:01,710 What does it mean to experience God's goodness? 324 00:15:01,770 --> 00:15:03,750 What does it mean to experience God's favor? 325 00:15:03,750 --> 00:15:08,400 What does it mean that God is for me and not against me anymore? 326 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:12,990 Well, we can start with what it isn't, right? 327 00:15:12,990 --> 00:15:15,150 Favor from God isn't everything you want. 328 00:15:16,455 --> 00:15:20,175 And the reason is because everything that I want for me isn't always good for me. 329 00:15:21,225 --> 00:15:22,185 Simple example. 330 00:15:22,425 --> 00:15:23,385 I love Mountain Dew. 331 00:15:24,405 --> 00:15:26,355 Mountain Dew is not good for me, right? 332 00:15:26,535 --> 00:15:27,675 But I want it, right? 333 00:15:28,665 --> 00:15:33,945 There's a lot of things that I want that aren't good for me, not just 334 00:15:34,065 --> 00:15:36,585 physically, but emotionally, spiritually. 335 00:15:37,065 --> 00:15:37,540 There's a lot of things that. 336 00:15:38,205 --> 00:15:40,515 I'm like, oh yeah, that would be so great if I had that thing. 337 00:15:40,815 --> 00:15:42,675 And maybe the thing itself isn't bad, right? 338 00:15:42,675 --> 00:15:46,365 Maybe it's, uh, you know, you, you want to go into this type of career, or maybe 339 00:15:46,365 --> 00:15:50,595 you wish you had this type of family, or maybe you wish you had this much 340 00:15:50,595 --> 00:15:54,945 money, or maybe you wish you looked like this, or maybe you wish whatever, right? 341 00:15:55,515 --> 00:16:00,300 Not necessarily a bad thing, but it might not be good for you to have. 342 00:16:01,740 --> 00:16:04,020 So favor from God doesn't mean getting everything you want. 343 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:06,000 Favor from God doesn't mean your life is easy. 344 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:07,980 It doesn't mean a problem free life. 345 00:16:10,020 --> 00:16:13,260 You think about God's favorite person in the world is Jesus. 346 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:15,150 Jesus had a really hard life. 347 00:16:15,449 --> 00:16:16,410 It wasn't problem free. 348 00:16:16,410 --> 00:16:17,250 It wasn't easy. 349 00:16:19,290 --> 00:16:22,620 It doesn't mean a lot of money or success on your terms, right? 350 00:16:22,620 --> 00:16:24,540 It doesn't mean all of your dreams will come true. 351 00:16:25,949 --> 00:16:28,380 Don't say, oh, well now I'm Christian. 352 00:16:29,039 --> 00:16:33,239 God's gonna help me do everything I want to do, right? 353 00:16:33,239 --> 00:16:34,769 That's not what it means that God is for you. 354 00:16:35,519 --> 00:16:37,799 Because if God's really for you, he's actually gonna not let you 355 00:16:37,799 --> 00:16:38,999 do things that you want to do. 356 00:16:39,059 --> 00:16:40,590 'cause they might be bad for you, right? 357 00:16:41,430 --> 00:16:42,299 Kind of like your parents. 358 00:16:43,380 --> 00:16:44,130 They're for you. 359 00:16:44,130 --> 00:16:45,090 They're for your good. 360 00:16:45,090 --> 00:16:48,180 And so they don't let you do certain things, or they don't let you do 361 00:16:48,180 --> 00:16:51,209 certain things because they, they say that that's not gonna be good for you. 362 00:16:53,255 --> 00:16:53,475 So. 363 00:16:54,285 --> 00:16:54,975 Well then what is it? 364 00:16:55,005 --> 00:16:56,084 What is favor from God? 365 00:16:56,084 --> 00:16:57,555 Doesn't sound very attractive anymore. 366 00:16:57,584 --> 00:16:58,574 You've ruined it Well. 367 00:16:58,725 --> 00:16:59,564 What is favor from God? 368 00:16:59,594 --> 00:17:02,594 Well, it's God's unwavering commitment to your good. 369 00:17:03,705 --> 00:17:08,054 I think I've said this to you guys before, but God is more committed to your good, 370 00:17:08,114 --> 00:17:11,714 to your eternal happiness than you are. 371 00:17:14,233 --> 00:17:16,993 God cares more about you being happy than you do. 372 00:17:19,784 --> 00:17:21,284 Maybe you've never heard it put like that before. 373 00:17:22,530 --> 00:17:28,108 Psalm 16 says that at God's right hand are pleasures forevermore, the most amount of 374 00:17:28,108 --> 00:17:29,639 happiness for the longest amount of time. 375 00:17:30,899 --> 00:17:32,250 And God wants that for you. 376 00:17:32,310 --> 00:17:34,199 And that's why he offers you himself. 377 00:17:34,919 --> 00:17:40,260 He says, the way you're gonna be happiest is if you get me the, the most loving 378 00:17:40,260 --> 00:17:46,649 thing for God to do is say, I want you to have as much of me of God as possible. 379 00:17:47,190 --> 00:17:48,900 That's the most loving thing you forgot to do, right? 380 00:17:48,900 --> 00:17:53,130 It'd be like, if I was the best chef in the world, let's say imagine I 381 00:17:53,130 --> 00:17:58,020 was the, the best chef in the world and, um, you came to me and you were 382 00:17:58,020 --> 00:18:02,190 like, alright, I'm, I'm, I'm trying to, you know, I've met this special 383 00:18:02,190 --> 00:18:04,200 someone and I wanna take him to dinner. 384 00:18:04,290 --> 00:18:05,190 Where should I take him? 385 00:18:05,790 --> 00:18:06,120 Right? 386 00:18:07,140 --> 00:18:08,310 I wanna take him on this date. 387 00:18:08,310 --> 00:18:09,360 I wanna have an awesome dinner. 388 00:18:09,630 --> 00:18:13,800 If I loved you, I wouldn't send you to the second best restaurant. 389 00:18:14,699 --> 00:18:18,809 I would say, I'll make you dinner because I am the best chef. 390 00:18:19,289 --> 00:18:19,979 Objectively. 391 00:18:20,159 --> 00:18:23,129 I'm the, I make the best food, so I should make you the food 392 00:18:23,669 --> 00:18:26,219 because if you go somewhere else, it's gonna be worse, right? 393 00:18:26,219 --> 00:18:27,689 If I loved you, that's what I would do. 394 00:18:27,929 --> 00:18:34,919 And so similarly, God will make you happier to satisfy you more than 395 00:18:34,919 --> 00:18:36,870 anything else the world has to offer. 396 00:18:37,110 --> 00:18:41,580 And so the most loving thing for him to do is say, here's how you get more of me, 397 00:18:41,939 --> 00:18:43,739 more of my glory, more of my goodness. 398 00:18:44,190 --> 00:18:48,750 More, here's how you experience more closeness with me, and that's the 399 00:18:48,750 --> 00:18:50,850 most loving thing for God to do. 400 00:18:52,650 --> 00:18:56,100 And so it's almost like, like in sports, there's always those players 401 00:18:56,250 --> 00:18:57,510 that you hate playing against, right? 402 00:18:57,510 --> 00:19:01,470 You're like, man, that guy, I, I really hate playing against him usually because 403 00:19:01,470 --> 00:19:05,640 they're, they're really good and you don't like playing against him, and they're 404 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:06,720 really frustrating to play against. 405 00:19:06,810 --> 00:19:08,520 But then when they get like traded to your team, you're 406 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:09,325 like, oh yeah, this is awesome. 407 00:19:10,529 --> 00:19:11,429 This is the best. 408 00:19:11,669 --> 00:19:12,449 I love this guy. 409 00:19:12,449 --> 00:19:13,889 They're, they're like the best player ever. 410 00:19:15,029 --> 00:19:17,580 It's kinda like that just happened when you became a Christian. 411 00:19:17,909 --> 00:19:20,610 You went from being on the opposite team from God. 412 00:19:20,939 --> 00:19:22,649 He was against you, you were against him. 413 00:19:22,649 --> 00:19:27,299 You were hostile to him, and now he's, you're on his team. 414 00:19:27,389 --> 00:19:28,080 You got traded. 415 00:19:28,139 --> 00:19:31,469 Now you're on his team and now he's working for your good, right? 416 00:19:31,469 --> 00:19:32,850 He's throwing touchdowns for your team. 417 00:19:33,179 --> 00:19:34,889 Now he's scoring goals for your team. 418 00:19:35,909 --> 00:19:37,049 And you're like, that's great. 419 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:38,039 That's what I want. 420 00:19:39,180 --> 00:19:40,980 You could score all the goals you want now, right? 421 00:19:40,980 --> 00:19:43,710 Because you're on my team now, or I'm on your team rather, right? 422 00:19:43,770 --> 00:19:44,190 So 423 00:19:46,770 --> 00:19:48,210 Jesus is the way. 424 00:19:48,210 --> 00:19:50,100 You get favor from God, right? 425 00:19:50,220 --> 00:19:53,430 For God to look at you and say, well done. 426 00:19:54,060 --> 00:19:57,420 Good and faithful servant that comes through Jesus. 427 00:19:57,420 --> 00:20:00,360 It doesn't come by your own effort, right? 428 00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:03,270 So even if you are a Christian, maybe you say, great, I'm saved. 429 00:20:04,020 --> 00:20:04,649 I wanna live for God. 430 00:20:05,219 --> 00:20:06,659 You do that through Jesus. 431 00:20:06,659 --> 00:20:07,800 You don't do that apart from Jesus. 432 00:20:07,860 --> 00:20:10,590 You don't move on from Jesus once you get saved and then say, all right, now I'm 433 00:20:10,590 --> 00:20:11,939 gonna try really hard and and love God. 434 00:20:12,449 --> 00:20:14,250 You still do that through Jesus. 435 00:20:14,669 --> 00:20:17,490 The only way that any of the good things that Christians do are 436 00:20:17,490 --> 00:20:20,669 acceptable to God is through Jesus. 437 00:20:20,699 --> 00:20:22,110 So you still trust Jesus. 438 00:20:22,439 --> 00:20:26,189 Even in your good works, you still trust Jesus, even in how you worship God. 439 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,209 So we trust Jesus to take away God's wrath and we trust Jesus 440 00:20:30,209 --> 00:20:32,010 to give us favor from God. 441 00:20:32,790 --> 00:20:38,280 And like I mentioned earlier, um, the goal of being saved, the goal 442 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:44,070 of justification by faith is not to be justified to be saved, right? 443 00:20:44,070 --> 00:20:46,410 The goal of being saved isn't being saved. 444 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,250 The goal of being saved is to get God. 445 00:20:51,270 --> 00:20:52,530 The goal of being saved is to get God. 446 00:20:52,530 --> 00:20:54,520 That's where Paul goes with this last point right here. 447 00:20:55,890 --> 00:20:58,830 So you get peace with God, you get access to God's grace. 448 00:20:59,010 --> 00:21:03,510 But most importantly he says, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 449 00:21:04,590 --> 00:21:07,410 When you see hope in the Bible, I don't want you to think hope, 450 00:21:07,410 --> 00:21:12,000 like, oh, I hope the Cowboys actually get a good defense one day. 451 00:21:12,390 --> 00:21:12,720 Right? 452 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:14,310 I don't want you to think hope like that. 453 00:21:14,610 --> 00:21:17,700 I want you to think hope, like I am confident that 454 00:21:17,700 --> 00:21:19,530 this is gonna happen, right? 455 00:21:19,860 --> 00:21:24,600 Like a, a certain confidence you have of like, man, this is gonna happen. 456 00:21:25,709 --> 00:21:30,689 I know it's gonna happen, but I'm just looking forward to it happening, right? 457 00:21:30,810 --> 00:21:34,110 Like I hope Winter revival is going to be awesome, right? 458 00:21:34,110 --> 00:21:35,669 You're confident, you're like, I know this is gonna be 459 00:21:35,669 --> 00:21:37,320 awesome, so I'm gonna expect it. 460 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:37,860 Right? 461 00:21:38,370 --> 00:21:41,610 That's the kind of hope that when you see hope in the Bible, that's what that means. 462 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:45,300 So we are rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. 463 00:21:45,510 --> 00:21:47,560 One day we are going to see God. 464 00:21:48,195 --> 00:21:51,975 As he is, we're gonna finally be with God and enjoy him free from 465 00:21:51,975 --> 00:21:56,475 sin, free from anything that hinders your, your experience of God. 466 00:21:57,585 --> 00:22:01,995 And that is the goal of being justified by faith. 467 00:22:01,995 --> 00:22:04,635 The point of being saved isn't just to be saved. 468 00:22:04,695 --> 00:22:10,065 The point of being saved is that you get God, you get the greatest thing ever. 469 00:22:10,274 --> 00:22:11,625 You get God himself. 470 00:22:11,625 --> 00:22:12,375 So that's our third point. 471 00:22:12,524 --> 00:22:15,735 Trust Jesus to enjoy life's greatest treasure. 472 00:22:16,470 --> 00:22:19,020 Which is God, in case you could put that in parentheses, God, 473 00:22:19,050 --> 00:22:19,950 right after that, if you wanted to. 474 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:29,220 The best part about being a Christian is that you get God, that's the best part. 475 00:22:29,910 --> 00:22:30,420 Hands down. 476 00:22:31,110 --> 00:22:33,360 The best part isn't that you're forgiven. 477 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:36,090 The best part isn't that you're not gonna go to hell. 478 00:22:36,180 --> 00:22:38,850 The best part isn't that now you're part of a church. 479 00:22:39,810 --> 00:22:42,240 The best part is that you get God. 480 00:22:46,260 --> 00:22:51,360 I want you to imagine that someone gave you tickets to the Super Bowl. 481 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:56,280 Like let's say they just showed up on Christmas Day and you, you opened 482 00:22:56,280 --> 00:23:00,300 a Christmas present and you were like, man, tickets to the Super Bowl. 483 00:23:00,389 --> 00:23:02,850 Or let's say you're a more refined sports fan. 484 00:23:03,060 --> 00:23:05,550 Tickets to the World Cup this summer, right? 485 00:23:05,580 --> 00:23:06,690 Way better than the Super Bowl. 486 00:23:07,860 --> 00:23:09,419 Imagine that that happened. 487 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,750 To you, or maybe you don't care about sports concert tickets, right? 488 00:23:12,750 --> 00:23:13,710 Or something like that, right? 489 00:23:13,710 --> 00:23:14,940 To your favorite Taylor Swift. 490 00:23:14,940 --> 00:23:15,120 No. 491 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:19,950 Um, imagine that you got surprised by, by tickets, right? 492 00:23:19,950 --> 00:23:20,430 Whatever it is. 493 00:23:20,430 --> 00:23:23,010 Super Bowl concert, anything like that. 494 00:23:24,750 --> 00:23:28,530 And then all you did was like, you, you frame the ticket. 495 00:23:29,670 --> 00:23:31,050 You're so excited about the ticket. 496 00:23:31,050 --> 00:23:32,460 You're like, I have this ticket. 497 00:23:33,014 --> 00:23:35,325 To go to the Super Bowl and you post about it. 498 00:23:35,325 --> 00:23:38,145 You tell everyone, you, you just tell all your friends, you bring it to school with 499 00:23:38,145 --> 00:23:41,415 you, you know, and it like, you've got like a bulletproof glass frame for it. 500 00:23:41,420 --> 00:23:43,485 You're like, look at my ticket, look at my ticket, look at my ticket. 501 00:23:44,895 --> 00:23:51,135 And then you never actually go, but you're like, guys, I have 502 00:23:51,135 --> 00:23:52,665 a ticket to the Super Bowl. 503 00:23:53,774 --> 00:23:54,645 Isn't that awesome? 504 00:23:55,545 --> 00:23:58,545 I have a ticket that gets me into the Super Bowl. 505 00:23:58,545 --> 00:23:59,205 Isn't that great? 506 00:23:59,355 --> 00:24:00,375 I have a ticket for it. 507 00:24:01,155 --> 00:24:01,754 And you tell everyone. 508 00:24:02,790 --> 00:24:03,990 Then they'll ask, how was the Super Bowl? 509 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,600 They're like, oh, it was cool, but I have a ticket for the Super Bowl. 510 00:24:06,690 --> 00:24:07,409 Isn't that awesome? 511 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:10,470 That's really dumb, right? 512 00:24:13,290 --> 00:24:18,120 That's what it's like to be more excited about being saved than getting God 513 00:24:21,305 --> 00:24:22,649 being saved is the ticket. 514 00:24:23,460 --> 00:24:25,379 God is the prize. 515 00:24:29,355 --> 00:24:31,695 That's what you look forward to about being saved. 516 00:24:31,725 --> 00:24:32,504 That's the best part. 517 00:24:33,345 --> 00:24:34,545 The best part isn't that you're saved. 518 00:24:34,695 --> 00:24:36,795 The best part is you're saved, so you get God. 519 00:24:38,415 --> 00:24:39,975 The best part isn't that you're made righteous. 520 00:24:39,975 --> 00:24:41,745 The best part is that you get God. 521 00:24:42,105 --> 00:24:44,205 The best part isn't that you're forgiven of your sin. 522 00:24:44,415 --> 00:24:47,145 The best part is that forgiveness gets you God. 523 00:24:50,235 --> 00:24:53,655 Forgiveness isn't primarily about getting your guilt taken away. 524 00:24:54,075 --> 00:24:57,615 Forgiveness is primarily about, you get Jesus, your guilt is 525 00:24:57,615 --> 00:24:59,595 gone, and now you get Jesus. 526 00:25:00,375 --> 00:25:02,175 You have the ticket, and now you get to go. 527 00:25:02,595 --> 00:25:03,675 That's, that's the point. 528 00:25:06,855 --> 00:25:09,794 Justification isn't just about finally feeling good enough. 529 00:25:10,215 --> 00:25:14,804 It's about getting Jesus going to heaven isn't about not having to go to Hell. 530 00:25:15,345 --> 00:25:17,595 It's about getting to be with Jesus. 531 00:25:19,830 --> 00:25:22,649 That's everything as a Christian, right? 532 00:25:22,649 --> 00:25:26,159 The point of praying is not necessarily to pray. 533 00:25:26,790 --> 00:25:31,500 The point of praying is you can talk to God and that's awesome, right? 534 00:25:31,500 --> 00:25:33,480 The point of reading your Bible isn't to read the Bible. 535 00:25:33,510 --> 00:25:34,709 It's not to do the Dbr R. 536 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,639 The point of praying is you get to hear from God. 537 00:25:38,669 --> 00:25:40,080 You get to see God in his word. 538 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:45,240 You get to enjoy him and worship him and so him in and just man God is so awesome. 539 00:25:45,794 --> 00:25:47,415 That's the point of reading the Bible. 540 00:25:47,475 --> 00:25:48,405 That's the point of going to church. 541 00:25:48,405 --> 00:25:50,594 The point of going to church isn't to say hi to your friends. 542 00:25:50,594 --> 00:25:53,475 The point of going to church isn't just to, to do the right thing 543 00:25:53,475 --> 00:25:56,024 or, or fuel up on the sermon. 544 00:25:56,024 --> 00:26:00,074 Those are all good things about being in church, but the best part about church 545 00:26:00,104 --> 00:26:04,350 is it's God's people and they show you a little bit more of who God is. 546 00:26:04,350 --> 00:26:07,364 You get to see more of God through his people, 547 00:26:09,495 --> 00:26:12,735 and all of that comes through Jesus. 548 00:26:13,725 --> 00:26:16,004 You get God because of Jesus. 549 00:26:16,245 --> 00:26:20,834 Jesus saves you to bring you to God, but he also saves you to 550 00:26:20,834 --> 00:26:22,514 establish a relationship with God. 551 00:26:22,514 --> 00:26:26,354 So you, God goes from being your enemy to being your friend, to being for you. 552 00:26:26,895 --> 00:26:31,334 And then also he shows you who God is most clearly right? 553 00:26:31,365 --> 00:26:34,995 Jesus shows us who God is He God in the flesh? 554 00:26:35,774 --> 00:26:39,405 Where do we see the glory of God most clearly, it's in Jesus, 555 00:26:39,735 --> 00:26:41,475 who He is, what He's like. 556 00:26:43,815 --> 00:26:50,504 And so faith is how you enjoy God the way you're supposed to. 557 00:26:52,095 --> 00:26:54,855 Faith is the way, like we talked about a few weeks ago. 558 00:26:55,004 --> 00:26:56,955 Faith is the way you see things the right way. 559 00:26:57,375 --> 00:27:03,105 Faith is the the way you get connected to this greatest treasure, right? 560 00:27:03,105 --> 00:27:04,965 It's the ticket to the game. 561 00:27:06,975 --> 00:27:09,975 And so I hope for you tonight. 562 00:27:10,574 --> 00:27:14,625 When you think of the best part about being a Christian, you think 563 00:27:14,625 --> 00:27:17,625 of God, and I hope when you think of all the things that Christians do, 564 00:27:17,625 --> 00:27:18,885 you don't think of a bunch of rules. 565 00:27:19,125 --> 00:27:20,985 You don't think of a bunch of boxes to check. 566 00:27:21,135 --> 00:27:24,855 You don't think about a bunch of things to measure up to, but you think 567 00:27:24,855 --> 00:27:27,435 about, these are ways that I enjoy God. 568 00:27:27,495 --> 00:27:30,975 These are ways that God and I deepen our relationship. 569 00:27:30,975 --> 00:27:33,014 These are ways that God, I get to hear from God. 570 00:27:33,014 --> 00:27:33,824 I get to talk to God. 571 00:27:33,945 --> 00:27:35,415 I get to spend time with God's people. 572 00:27:35,925 --> 00:27:38,774 I get to see more of who God is and ultimately one day. 573 00:27:39,389 --> 00:27:41,460 You get to go to heaven and you get to finally be with 574 00:27:41,460 --> 00:27:43,320 the God that you love so much. 575 00:27:43,439 --> 00:27:45,120 Let's pray and we'll go to small groups. 576 00:27:47,730 --> 00:27:49,800 Father, you are amazing. 577 00:27:50,189 --> 00:27:51,149 You are glorious. 578 00:27:51,149 --> 00:27:58,710 You are so important, so awesome, so loving, so faithful, and I am just so 579 00:27:58,740 --> 00:28:01,740 glad that you made yourself known to us. 580 00:28:01,740 --> 00:28:06,060 Thank you that you love us and that you've shown us who you are in your word. 581 00:28:06,705 --> 00:28:12,014 And so I pray that as we talk more about trusting you, as we talk more about, um, 582 00:28:12,644 --> 00:28:18,465 these big ideas that you would help us to, um, remember that the, the best part 583 00:28:18,524 --> 00:28:24,674 of everything is you and I pray that you help us to, um, not just see following 584 00:28:24,674 --> 00:28:27,584 you as a, a bunch of chores to do or. 585 00:28:28,004 --> 00:28:32,985 Um, things that we just have to do to, to, to make it, but rather that we would 586 00:28:32,985 --> 00:28:36,645 see it as a relationship with, um, the most amazing person we could ever know. 587 00:28:36,975 --> 00:28:38,115 Pray this in Jesus name. 588 00:28:38,625 --> 00:28:38,925 Amen.