We're going to start in Galatians chapter 5.
I know y 'all hate to hear that when the preacher
says, we're going to start. But it's really not
going to be too bad. Galatians chapter 5. We'll
start in verse 16. And if you want to, while
you're turning to that, you can also put a finger
in Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. Both of
those books are going to be in the New Testament,
kind of toward the back third of your Bible.
Galatians chapter 5, verse 16, and Romans chapter
7. We'll probably start off around verse 18 there.
We won't go into these, Romans 7, in a whole
lot of depth today, but I would encourage you
really to read all those chapters kind of surrounding.
Romans 7, 5 and 6 and 7 and 8. Just to kind of
see what Paul's talking about, we'll just briefly
go over it this morning. Galatians chapter 5,
verses 16 and 17. I say then, walk by the Spirit,
and you will not carry out the desire of the
flesh. For the flesh desires what is against
the spirit, and the spirit desires what is against
the flesh. These are opposed to each other so
that you don't do what you want. Let's pray.
God, we come to you today and I thank you for
being good to us. I thank you for giving us the
freedom and the privilege to come and to worship
you today, dear Lord. God, we could be anywhere
today, but we're here. We chose to be here, dear
Lord, and maybe we come here with some sadness
in our heart or some stress or some struggles
or whatever it may be, dear Lord. It may just
be some sin or just something going on that's
really tough, but God, whether we came in here
in a good place or struggling, dear Lord, you
know where we are, and we pray that you just
meet us there today, God. Sometimes we're just
too... We're just too weak and all we can do,
dear Lord, is just cry out to you and call out
to you. And I pray today that with our hearts
that when we come into this place that we would
do that. I pray that your word would speak to
us, God, that we would draw strength from you,
that you would help us in our struggles, dear
Lord. Every day, God, the struggle is real and
there are things that we just battle against
and we need help, God, because so often we want
to do good and it's so hard. So I pray, dear
Lord, that we would find strength in you, strength
through Jesus Christ, that we can make it through
the days and draw closer to you. I ask that you
be with us, dear Lord, pour your spirit out on
us, offer your kingdom and your glory. In Jesus'
name I pray it. Amen. I had a really big decision
to make this week on Monday. We no longer have
a microwave due to health and safety concerns.
Now, that's a whole other story for another sermon.
And my wife had made a delicious meal Sunday
night. She had made some spaghetti. And so lunchtime
came about Monday, and I was at home, and I was
going to eat that spaghetti. But I said to myself,
I don't have a microwave, and it's a whole lot
of trouble. to get a pot out, to heat that stuff
back up. And I said, I could just walk up to
the church and use the microwave. But then I
said to myself, that's a long way. I've got to
take a plate with spaghetti all the way from
down here to up there. And so I had to make a
decision. So I knew that on the shelf in there
was a whole bag of Hickory BBQ wavy legs. They're
delicious. And so I said, I can just eat that
bag of Lay's potato chips for lunch. And that's
where the struggle began. Because I said, I can
eat this bag of potato chips, but if I eat this
whole bag of potato chips, I'm going to feel
horrible. So I said, I don't want to feel horrible,
so I'm not going to eat the potato chips. But
then I said, I don't want to walk up to the church,
so I am going to eat the potato chips. So the
struggle ensued for a few moments, and finally
I made the only choice that could be made. I
ate the bag of potato chips. I crushed the whole
bag of potato chips. Well, not really. That's
a lie. Because what I did was, is I left three
or four chips in the bag so I'd feel better about
myself. So I could say, well, I didn't eat the
whole bag of chips. So I left a few chips in
the bag, and I was still hungry. And then it
occurred to me, you got an Easter basket over
there. And there are a few fun -sized chocolate
bars in there. And I said, boy, wouldn't it be
fun to eat those for dessert? And I said, this
is a bad idea. I just crushed a whole bag of
chips. And so naturally I went over there and
I ate the chocolate, every one that was left
in there. I had a Mounds and a Milky Way. I don't
even remember what the other one was. Twix. But
the good news is I washed it all down with a
glass of water, so therefore it was a healthy
meal. Now, I say that story because for each
of us, we kind of have that struggle in life.
And a lot of times it's far more serious than
whether we're going to eat the bag of chips.
By the way, I felt horrible the rest of the day.
And I knew I shouldn't do it because I knew it
wasn't good for me, but there was this battle
that went on. Should I do what I know is right
or should I do what I know is wrong? And I did
what I knew was wrong and going to make me feel
bad. And that's kind of what our struggle is
every day. And that's what Paul talks about in
this passage. He said, I say then, walk by the
Spirit and you will be... and you will not carry
out the desires of the flesh. Okay, pretty simple
instruction. If we trust in Jesus Christ, the
Holy Spirit dwells in us, and it guides us and
it helps us to know the ways of God and gives
us conviction to know, hey, maybe you shouldn't
do that thing that you want to do. And so Paul
gives us an easy instruction there. Walk by the
Spirit. Now let's just pray and say amen and
go and do that. Well, it's not that easy, is
it? Because sometimes we know what to do and
we know what not to do. But our desires of the
flesh are strong. They are strong. They are not
easy for me. Now, maybe for some of you they
are, but the desires of the flesh are not easy
for me. And I hope that one day it's going to
get better. I don't know if it gets better or
not. I'm 42. I'm thinking maybe by 50 it gets
better. I don't know, 60, 70. I'm hoping it gets
better, but I believe that it probably doesn't
get better. There's probably always some desire
of the flesh that's kind of gnawing away at us.
Now Paul says walk by the Spirit and we won't
carry out the desires of the flesh, but he also
says in verse 17, for the flesh desires what
is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires
what is against the flesh. Okay, we understand
that. We know that sometimes the flesh wants
to do one thing, and we know that God's Word
says we shouldn't do it, and we want to obey
God's Word, but then we want to do the thing
of the flesh, and everybody gets this because
we see this on cartoons and TV shows, right?
There will be the little devil on one shoulder
and the little angel on the other shoulder. It's
this struggle between here's this desire and
here's that desire. And I want to do both. And
it's like we're at war with ourselves. It's a
spiritual warfare in a sense. But then he says
that these are opposed to each other so that
you don't do what you want. Okay, now this is
good news for us. We have this struggle so that
we don't do what we want. Now there's a lot of
people in this world. that do not know Jesus
Christ, that do not know the Word of God, the
instructions of God, the commands of God. They
don't know them. And it's obvious because of
the way that they live. And by the way, that's
you and I too before we know Jesus Christ. Maybe
you're in the crowd today. Maybe you've already
trusted in Jesus Christ. But at some point in
your life, you probably didn't really know the
commands of God. Maybe you knew about the Bible.
Maybe you knew about Jesus. Or maybe you didn't.
And you're just living life the way you want
to, because why not? And that's kind of the heart
of our world today. Just do what you want. I
mean, we pretty much see that message in our
songs and in our shows and everything we're exposed
to. Just do what you want. Just do what you want
to do. Well, the problem with that is, is that
a lot of the things we want to do are not good.
If the worst of the things we wanted to do was
crush a bag of chips, we'd be in good shape.
But the fact of the matter is the things that
we want to do are horrible. I mean, there are
people in this world that want to hurt people,
that want to kill people, that want to steal
from people, that want to do all kind of sinful
things and be involved in sinful behaviors. And
apart from Christ, that's every one of us in
this room. And our world just says, hey, do what
you want to do. That's what the song says. I'm
free to do what I want any old time. I would
ask you guys today. Don't answer. But if I were
to ask you guys today, if you could do anything
you want right now, what would it be? What would
it be? Maybe it'd be something good. Maybe it
wouldn't. But praise the Lord we have the word
of God because even though in our minds we have
some desire that maybe what we want that's evil,
God has given us a way to keep us from getting
off track. He says, I'm going to give you my
word. I'm going to send my son, Jesus Christ,
to die for you and forgive you of your sin. So
if you follow him, you'll be forgiven. He'll
experience joy and peace. And just follow my
instructions. Follow his example. Praise the
Lord. That's a good message. We need that message,
right? Because we're sinners, and without the
grace of God, we are in bad shape. So God sent
Jesus Christ so that we would trust in him, so
that our sins would be forgiven. And the scripture
says that when we trust in Jesus Christ, we receive
the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord. Now, now we
have somebody on our side. So now we're not just
living for ourselves because Christianity, being
a Christian, what we're saying is, is that I
no longer am living for myself, but now I submit
to Jesus Christ. So it's not about my desires
and what I want. It's about the desires of God.
It's about following Jesus Christ. That's what
being a Christian is. It's not just walking an
aisle and being baptized and saying, I'm ready
to go. It's about saying, no, I'm giving up my
life because I want to live a life for Jesus.
Now, we need to recognize that. I don't know
if we always appreciate that as Christians, that
that's what we're submitting to when we submit
to Jesus Christ. And so when that moment occurs,
it's not about my will anymore. It's about the
will of God. It's about the will of Jesus Christ.
And so apart from Jesus Christ, we can just willy
-nilly do whatever we want. But now all of a
sudden our eyes have been opened. Now all of
a sudden we know that there is a truth. Now all
of a sudden we know that there's a right and
that there's a wrong. Now all of a sudden we
know that there's a standard. It's not my standard.
It's not your standard. We don't just make our
own standard. Now in our world today, we see
plenty of people that do. We see plenty of people.
You hear people say this all the time. You live
by your truth. You do you. Well, that's a lie
from the devil. There's no your truth and my
truth. There is truth and there is a lie. And
we don't get to decide what is truth. We don't
stand here today and debate what is truth. I
hope, I hope, I hope, I hope that everybody listening
online And everybody here today has come into
this building acknowledging that the Word of
God is the truth. And if you didn't, it's okay.
Because you're here and you're seeking. If you're
watching online, it's okay because you're seeking.
But I want to tell you that if you are seeking
today, that the Word of God is the truth. And
that's the truth that we must live by. We won't
get to decide. That's the standard that is set
by God. It's a standard that means that sometimes
when we want to live for the flesh, that God's
word is going to be opposed to that. So now all
of a sudden we become Christians and we still
have those fleshly desires. They do not go away.
Man, it would be so awesome if the moment we
became a Christian, all those fleshly desires
went away. Would not that be awesome? But they
don't go away. Man, those temptations are there.
That fleshly desire is still there. But now all
of a sudden, as Paul expresses here, we don't
necessarily do what we want. Well, in a way we
do, but in a way we don't. Because now we say,
man, I want to do this thing. But all of a sudden
the Holy Spirit begins to convict us. We say,
man, that person in traffic cut me off. I'm going
to fly by them. I'm going to give them a not
-so -friendly wave, and I'm going to ride their
bumper. I'm going to slam on brakes in front
of them. And there's that temptation to get back
at people. And that still may cross our minds
sometimes. But then we say to ourselves, that's
not the Christian way to act. Well, praise the
Lord that that's there. That's what the Holy
Spirit does for us. Once we're exposed to the
truth of the Word of God, now the battle really
begins. Because when we're living for ourselves,
we can live in sin willy -nilly, and we ain't
got nothing to worry about. We don't care. We
don't care about anybody else. We care about
doing what we want to do. But now all of a sudden,
when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, now all
of a sudden we live for Him. And that's a good
thing because that keeps us out of a lot of trouble.
And Paul says, look, the flesh and the spirit,
they wage war against us so that we will not
do what we want to do. Praise the Lord. Because
when we just do what we want to do in the flesh,
we get ourselves in so much trouble. We are full
of bitterness and anger and hatred and envy and
greed, and we don't care about anything other
than ourselves. But praise the Lord, the word
of God is good to us. And it begins to reveal
to us that, man, things of the world, they're
not right. Things that our world say is right,
they're not right. They're not good for us. When
we read the scripture, we know that's true. Our
world will say marriage is not important. Having
children is not important. What's the scripture
say? It's not good for man to be alone. Marriage
is one of the greatest gifts of God. Having children
is one of the greatest gifts of God. To have
a husband, to have a wife, and to stand by them.
Our world says you're not happy. In the flesh
you're not happy. Boom. Separate from that flesh.
Go find some more flesh. That's not what the
Word of God says. And so we have these kind of
struggles, right? We have a hard time. We say,
I'm going to leave my husband. I'm going to leave
my wife. I've had enough. But now that we're
in Christ, it's not so easy. Because now we remember
the words of God. Now we remember the teachings
of Jesus Christ. And so that conviction... helps
us to do things that we otherwise wouldn't do.
If we were to do what our flesh always wanted,
we'd be in bad shape. But through Jesus Christ,
now all of a sudden, our eyes have been opened.
We know that there's a right. We know that there's
a wrong. We know that if we do certain things,
they're not going to be good for us. The curtain
has been pulled back. There's no mystery there
anymore. And so now we have this battle that's
just waging every... day in our life. I used
to listen to this kind of music. And now you
turn that kind of music on and you're listening
to it and you're like, man, should I be listening
to this music? Praise the Lord. The struggle
is real. We have the struggle. Because now we
know that, man, maybe this isn't right. We used
to speak a certain way. Man, we'd have words
coming out of our mouth and we'd say things and,
man, I bet you some of us have said some things
we're so ashamed of. Maybe still do. And it's
not right. God doesn't want our tongues to speak
in such a way with foul language or gossip or
whatever evils may come from our mouth. Before
Christ, just talk and say whatever we want to
say. Now all of a sudden we know the truth of
God's word. We begin to say those same things
and now all of a sudden we kind of cringe when
we say them. What is that? We get things all
our life and it didn't bother us. And then all
of a sudden there's a... There's just something
there. That's the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord.
It's letting us know, hey, that's not right.
You shouldn't do that. And the list can go on
and on and on. We all have our struggles every
day. And they're serious struggles. But praise
the Lord that God didn't just abandon us and
say, I made you, here you are, figure it out
for yourself. He doesn't do that because He knows
that on our own we are, in big, big trouble.
Now flip over to Romans chapter 7, verse 18.
Paul is talking about the same idea here in this
passage. Romans chapter 7, verse 18. We'll try
to get through this quickly. If we go past 12,
just please don't leave. We're going to make
it. Romans chapter 7, verse 18. This is Paul
speaking here too. He says, For I know that nothing
good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. Okay.
That's a good place to start. There's some humility
there. He's acknowledging his weakness. Now,
maybe we can relate to him here. Maybe we've
felt like that before. Maybe there's times in
our life that we just feel like. There is nothing
good in me. That is the start of following Jesus
Christ. We have to have some humility to realize
that there's nothing good in me. Now, maybe you're
not there yet today. Maybe you're saying, I'm
pretty good. I mean, I'm pretty good at my job.
I'm pretty good at this. I'm pretty good at that.
I'm pretty good looking. I'm pretty smart. Well,
it's hard to follow Jesus when we have that kind
of pride. But Paul acknowledges something that
every one of us have to acknowledge. He said,
Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am
the worst, or I am the chief. I'm the chief among
sinners. Well, that's the humility that following
Christ requires from us. We realize, wait a minute,
there is nothing good within me. There's nothing
good that I can offer to God. So what are we
going to do? Well, that's what he talks about
in this passage. Continuing on, he says, at the
second half of verse 18, he said, For the desire
to do what is good is with me, but there is no
ability to do it. Now, I'm not sure, but I think
it's possible that Paul could have been playing
golf when he penned those words. Because that's
how I feel when I'm on the golf course. I have
a desire to do good, and I know. I know how I
need to stand, how I need to swing, how I need
to hold the club. For the desire to do good is
within me, and I swing the club, and there is
no ability to do it. And maybe you feel that
way sometimes, not about your golf game, but
just more serious areas in life. That there is
a desire to do what is good. You know the word
of God and you desperately, you want to do it.
And you want to keep your mouth shut. And you
want to love people. And you want to pray for
your enemies. And you want to do all these things
that God's word says is good and you know it's
good and you agree that it's good. There's no
ability to do it, he says. As much as I want
to do it, he says, I just find myself failing.
As much as I did not want to crush that bag of
chips because I knew it wasn't good. It's just
like there was no ability. It's like, there's
chips, I'm going to eat chips. Paul says, look.
I wanted to do what is good and I knew what was
good, but there was no ability. Listen as he
goes on. For I do not do the good that I want
to do, but I practice the evil that I do not
want to do. Anybody ever feel like that before?
I love this passage because I feel like if we're
honest, we can probably relate to this. If we're
honest, we can probably say, yeah, that's me.
And here's the good news. It's not just you.
You know, sometimes we'll read God's Word and
we'll say, man, I'm afraid to say that I feel
that way because I'm probably the only one that
feels that way. No, it's not just you. It's probably
every one of us. And even if it is just you,
it's you and Paul. Because at least he acknowledged
the truth here. He says, I do not do the good
that I want, but I practice the evil I do not
want to do. Okay, this is a problem. This is
a big problem. We have to acknowledge that. That
it's good for us to know that we want to do good.
It's good for us to know the Word of God, but
it's not good that we cave in. It's not good
that we keep just doing evil, so we can't just
shut the book here and say, well, Paul struggled
with it, I am too, so I'm going to just keep
on doing the evil. No, that's not a good place
to be. Now, the reality is that sometimes we
do the evil that we don't want to do, but we
should never settle for that or be happy with
that. Let's skip on down to verse 21. He says,
so I discovered this principle. When I want to
do what is good, evil is with me. For in my inner
self, I joyfully agree with God's law. Man, I
suspect that's probably some of us today. We
read the word of God and we joyfully agree with
what God says. We see that God's word is good.
That it says to love people and to help people.
We see that God's word is good. We're supposed
to... do these things and not do these things,
that we don't want to lie and cheat and steal,
and we know that it's good not to lie, and then
all of a sudden we get ourselves in a bind, and
next thing you know, whoop, we tell a lie, and
we're like, man, I didn't want to do that. So
there's many areas in our life that we joyfully
agree. It's not that we do evil because we don't
think God's word is good, or we say, I ain't
worried about that. For many of us, it's just
the opposite. We do think God's word is good.
It is right. But the struggle is real. The temptation
is real. The desire of the flesh is still there.
Verse 23. But I see a different law in the parts
of my body, waging war against the law of my
mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin
in the parts of my body. He says some pretty
strong language here. He says, these two opposing
thoughts in my mind are waging war with one another.
Now, you guys know that, I suspect. I mean, sometimes
the things that we are tempted to, we are fighting
so hard that we do not want to do it, that we
do not want to give in to it. And it is like...
It's like a physical struggle sometimes. It's
a battle in our mind. It's physical. It's like,
I don't want to do it. And we know that struggle.
We know that there are things that we don't want
to do and we just keep struggling. And so what
do we do? What is our hope there? What do we
do? Paul says, I have no ability to do it. I
won't and I try so hard, but more times than
we care to admit, we end up giving in to the
evil that we don't want to do. Listen to what
Paul says. Here's our hope right here, the same
hope that he had in verse 24. What a wretched
man I am. Who will rescue me from this dying
body? That's a good question. Maybe you've...
Ask that question before. Maybe those words have
come from your mouth or have popped up in your
mind. What a wretched man am I. We have our struggle.
We don't want to give in to it. We give in to
it. We feel so ashamed. We feel so guilty that
we keep giving in to certain sins. And we just
say, man, I'm wretched. I'm worthless. I'm stupid.
I'm dumb. I'm helpless. I'm hopeless. And we
say those things. And that's kind of what Paul
is saying when he says, I'm wretched. Where does
my help come from? What am I going to do? What
a wretched man am I? That's you and I today.
We're wretched. Let's not fool ourselves. Because
of our sinfulness, we are wretched. But there
is hope. We may feel that we're worthless and
we're stupid. And we're hopeless. But don't let
despair set in in your life. Our hope is in Jesus
Christ. Paul says in verse 25, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. What a wretched man am
I. What am I going to do? Who's going to rescue
me? He says, I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with my mind I myself am a
slave to the law of God. but with my flesh to
the law of sin. And then let's flip over to Romans
chapter 8. And what's he say in the next verse
of Romans chapter 8? He says in verse 1, Therefore,
no condemnation now exists for those in Christ
Jesus, because the Spirit's law of life in Christ
Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and
death. Well, praise the Lord. Okay, so now when
we come to a knowledge of God's Word and Jesus
Christ, we'll reveal that some of the things
that we do are sinful, but there's this struggle,
which is a good struggle, because the Holy Spirit's
working on us, letting us know that these things
aren't good. So what are we going to do if we
keep failing from time to time? Paul says we're
going to just keep trusting in Jesus Christ,
because even though we failed, Jesus Christ did
not fail. And there is no condemnation in Him,
but there is freedom. Now, apart from Jesus Christ,
we don't really have much ability to overcome
our sin, to say no to our sin. But in Jesus Christ,
through the Spirit of God, now we have a way
out. You don't have to say yes. Sometimes you
do. You don't have to. I want to tell you today
that through Jesus Christ, you don't have to
say yes to the temptations of the flesh. Because
when we read in Galatians chapter 5, one of the
fruit of the Spirit that's listed in that list
is self -control. Now maybe that's a good thing
for us to pray for. God, I need you to give me
some self -control. I didn't have it. I ate the
whole bag of chips. I needed self -control. Now
praise the Lord, nobody's going to hell for eating
a bag of barbecue chips. But we need self -control
in our life. Because what if we continue to say
yes to those sins and yes to those sins and yes
to those sins and yes to those sins? We're in
a bad, bad place. So I don't know what your struggle
is today. I don't know what your sin is today.
But I want to tell you that there is freedom
from it in Jesus Christ. I want to tell you that
through Jesus Christ, through receiving the Holy
Spirit, that you will have the ability and the
strength to say no. There will be self -control
that comes. There's no ability within you apart
from Christ to overcome your sins and to overcome
your temptations. But in Jesus Christ, you can
say no. So maybe for some of you today, you've
never trusted in Jesus Christ. I want to let
you know there's a better way than what the world
says. If you're trying to figure out what's truth
and what's not truth, you don't need to seek
the world. The world will tell you to do what
you want to do. But I'm going to tell you, the
world is lying to you. There is a truth. And
it's Jesus Christ. And it's the Word of God.
And that's what gives us freedom. The struggle
is still going to be there. The temptation's
still going to be there. But you don't have to
give in to it. You can be free from it. You can
find some peace. And you can continue to seek
Jesus to help you. Because those temptations
are coming back. You overcome them today, they'll
be back. But what about those who have trusted
in Jesus Christ? We know the Word of God, and
as much as we want to do it, sometimes we fail.
Well, I think about... The words of John here
in 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2, he says this, speaking
to Christians, he says, My little children, I
am writing you these things so that you may not
sin. Okay, that's good. He says, I'm writing
to you. I'm telling you what's good, what's not
good. I want you to do what's right. I don't
want you to sin. That's why I'm giving you these
instructions. That's why God gave us the whole
Bible. He does not want us to sin. He gave us
his instructions. He gave us his commands because
he does not want us to sin. And that would be
fantastic if we just wouldn't sin. But we do
sin. Even those, as he refers to them, my little
children, that is Christians, even for Christians,
he says, I want you not to sin. But listen to
what he says after this. But if anyone does sin,
okay, that's you and I, that's everybody here,
everybody online. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Well,
praise the Lord for that. That if you do sin,
that God doesn't sweep you to the side. John
says, hey, look, sin's not good. You know it's
not good. But if you sin, just know you can go
back to Jesus. Just know you can call on Jesus.
Just know that you can repent today. You don't
have to keep living in that sin. You can trust
in Jesus. And at the end of the verse, in verse
2, he says, He himself is the propitiation for
our sins, and not only for ours, but also for
those. Of the whole world. Propitiation. That's
a big fancy word. It means Jesus paid the price
for our sins. We can go to Jesus today. You can
go to him today. You have sinned a million times.
Two million times. I don't even know. But I know
you can go to him today. Because he's paid the
price for your sins. Not only for ours. But for
the whole world. May we be. Those today who know
the truth, who live by the truth, who trust in
the truth, who seek to live by it as good as
we can. And when you fail, just know that there
is forgiveness and there is grace through Jesus
Christ. May we know this truth today and may
our world know this truth today. Let's pray.
God, we thank you for your good words and I pray
that you help us today to have self -control.
God, maybe there are some here today and they're
yours and they know your word pretty well. They
know what you want them to do and not want them
to do. They know the Holy Spirit working on them
and convicting them. And dear Lord, maybe more
times than we care to admit, we just did the
thing we didn't want to do. We just didn't exercise
self -control. I pray, God, that you give us
that today. You know our struggles and our sins.
Whatever they may be, dear Lord, I pray that
you help us to bring them before you today and
seek you as our strength. We don't have the ability
on our own, but through you, Lord Jesus, we do.
And where we failed, I pray that we would just
repent today. God, maybe there's some here today
or some listening online and they're just kind
of trying to seek your word and figure out what's
what. I pray today, God, that they would know
that. Your word is the truth. There is a right
and there is a wrong. There is a good and there
is a bad. And dear Lord, there is no good within
us, but Jesus Christ has been the good shepherd.
He has been the one who has given his life for
us so that we may be forgiven, dear Lord. If
there are any that do not know Jesus Christ,
I pray that even right now that they just would
ask you to forgive them. That they would repent,
dear Lord. That they would turn from their wicked
ways. just acknowledge today that they are tired
of living for themselves and that they are ready
to live for Jesus Christ. I pray that they would
just ask you now to forgive them, dear Lord.
Dear Lord, I pray that if any have prayed that
and accepted Jesus Christ, that they would come
down today if they're here, if they're online,
they'd just reach out, dear Lord, that we would
celebrate with them that decision to be a follower
of Jesus, that they would follow through with
baptism just as Jesus has commanded in the Scripture.
God, you know where we are today. You know what
our struggles are today. And I pray that if there's
any here that are struggling, that they would
turn to Jesus Christ and seek his grace right
now. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.