If you'll open your Bibles
to the book of Colossians again.
We just sang that redeeming love is our theme.
And if that's true,
it will be reflected in our lives.
We're going to look at Colossians 3:12-14.
It says, "Put on then,
as God's chosen ones,
holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts,
kindness,
humility,
meekness,
patience,
bearing with one another,
and if one has a complaint against another
forgiving each other,
as the Lord has forgiven you,
you also must forgive.
And above all these, put on love,
which binds everything together
in perfect harmony."
As I mentioned yesterday in Colossians 3,
Paul has transitioned as he does
in the book of Ephesians,
from out of the doctrines
and into the living out of these doctrines
in our lives.
Living the Christian life.
Again, he is speaking of living a life
that is consistent with the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
And I want us to know that the only hope
anyone in here has
of living a life consistent
with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
is that verse 1 of chapter 3
is a reality for your life,
and look at it with me.
"If then you have been raised with Christ..."
If you've been raised with Christ.
So let's begin there first.
Have you been raised with Christ?
Are you a new creation in Jesus Christ?
That is so much more
than knowing who Jesus Christ is;
knowing about Christ
or even affirming doctrines about Christ.
It is a supernatural work of God
where He literally makes us new creations.
He takes out our heart.
He puts in a new heart;
puts His Spirit within us,
and then we walk in the newness of that life.
Having been raised with Him.
A new direction of life.
And it's not morality.
It's not morality.
Do you bear the evidence of a new life?
Brother Tim asked the question yesterday.
Is your chief desire Christ?
His glory?
Brothers and sisters,
without the work of the Holy Spirit
in your heart and a new Spirit within us,
there's no hope of living this Christian life.
There's no hope.
Now, there's a very important truth
taught through all of Scripture.
And the important truth is this:
That every person,
saved and unsaved,
lives out of their heart.
The Bible speaks so much about your heart
and the living out of your heart.
And if you remember in Matthew 15,
when the Pharisees are coming
to Jesus' disciples and they say,
Hey, you didn't wash your hands
before you eat.
And Jesus says, don't you know that it's not what goes
into the body that defiles a man, but what comes out of the body?
And He says, for out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts:
murder, adultery, sexual immorality,
theft, false witness, and slander.
And what's He teaching us there?
That we live out of the heart.
That we live out of our hearts.
And for us as Christians,
God has given us a new heart -
A new heart that responds;
that has the ability to respond
in obedience,
and with the new heart came
new desires -
a desire to live for God
and to bring glory to His name.
So if Paul knows that we live out of our hearts,
and he's calling us here to live
this Christian life,
then it's important where our hearts are at
if we're going to live this Christian life.
I think the beginning of v. 12
is the key to living out v. 12-14.
The beginning of v. 12,
Paul's going to work into our hearts
a remembrance of the Gospel and grace
of Jesus Christ.
And he wants us to live in light of
that Gospel and that grace.
Paul here is calling us to live
Gospel-centered lives.
Think about that.
Gospel-centered relationships
here in the church,
where I don't treat you
based on how you deserve,
but rather I treat you based on
how He treated me in the Gospel.
That's what Paul's calling us to.
A Gospel-centered relationship
here in the assembly of His people.
Paul's going to motivate and empower us,
so look at the beginning of v. 12 with me.
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones,
holy and beloved..."
Now, for time's sake,
I won't be able to hit all of v. 12-14.
So if you'll allow me some liberty
to focus on just a few of the words
in the text to get through it today.
The first thing Paul says is
you're chosen by God.
You're elect of God.
Now, how does that motivate
and empower us to be compassionate,
kind, forgiving, and loving?
And brothers and sisters,
this is where your understanding
of election becomes extremely practical.
Not just something to sit in rooms
and debate about.
But this is where how you understand
the doctrine of election -
the sovereignty of God in salvation
becomes extremely street-level,
practical in the living out
of the Christian life.
And Paul here is pointing to it
as a motivation and an empowerment
for you to live this life
He's called you to live.
You see, in the doctrine of election,
this so-called debate -
the argument is not whether God elects.
That's not the argument.
That's not the debate.
The question is the basis of His election.
The question is why does He elect?
Or on what basis does He choose?
I want you to think about something with me.
You have a group -
an Arminian view -
that says and believes,
God elects,
but the reason or the basis He chooses,
or the reason or the basis that He elects
is based on foreseeing choosing of God.
In other words, they believe that God
looks into the future and can see all things,
and He sees that they,
in and of themselves,
will choose Him.
And based on them choosing Him,
He now elects them.
So the Arminian argues
the basis of election is conditional.
It's conditional upon that man, that woman
choosing God.
Now, if that's true,
which I do not believe that it is,
but go with the thought for a second.
If that is true,
why in the world would Paul
point to that doctrine there
as a motivation to bring out
humility in you?
To bring out compassion in you?
To bring out love in you?
You see, if the reason I have been chosen
is because I chose God
on my own,
that does not breed humility in me.
It separates me from those
who did not choose
because I chose Him;
I figured it out;
I wanted Him;
I saw my sin;
I understood it more,
and therefore I'm elect.
That's not motivation to bring me
to a place of humility,
of lowliness, of compassion,
of patience with others,
of forgiving of others,
of loving of others.
It doesn't make sense in the context.
But, if the basis of God's election
is not found in me,
but rather in Him;
if the basis of God's election
is grace and mercy,
and the fact that He is love
and in His freedom, He sets that love -
all the people He sets that love on
are hell-deserving sinners.
It's not that He looked at us
and He saw something
that just attracted us to Him;
that He was wooed by us.
Rather, He looked at us in our sin,
in our filth,
and then He chose
to set sovereign grace upon us.
And if that's true,
I have no boast except for
the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Now if that's true,
that is motivating in humility.
That is motivating in compassion
towards other people;
in patience toward other people.
Why? Oh, He was compassionate
to a wretch like me.
He was so patient with a wretch like me.
He forgave me in the cost of His own Son.
He set His love upon me
not because I'm lovable,
but because He is love.
You see why the doctrine of election
is very practical -
not just to have debates in rooms,
but to foster Gospel- centered relationships?
That's humbling.
I need to say this to us all.
And maybe I'm speaking to some of you
and maybe I'm speaking to
some people that you know.
I meet many people in Texas
and in different places that I've preached
who claim to have reformed theology,
but they're not kind.
They're not humble.
They're not compassionate or patient.
And they're not forgiving and loving.
And it makes me wonder how much
of that truth they really understood.
Brothers and sisters,
listen, we believe in sovereign grace.
But if we believe in sovereign grace,
it should be manifested
in how I act towards all of you
continually.
We who believe in sovereign grace
should be the most humble people
on the planet.
And I know we are not perfected.
And I know we struggle.
And I understand sanctification
is a progression.
But if we really grasp sovereign grace,
like so many like to run around
and talk about in their debates -
if we really grasp it,
we should be a lowly people.
Poor in spirit.
Compassionate with one another.
Not harsh.
Paul's pointing to the grace of God
as a motivator to empower and compel us
to Gospel-centered relationships.
The grace of God is God's unmerited favor.
And I will tell you this,
the grace of God is the only
lasting motivation to live the Christian life.
Did you hear that?
The grace of God
is the only lasting
motivation to live the Christian life.
You may have come to the conference
and met some brothers and sisters
like I have,
and I've heard your testimonies;
I've talked with you.
I've enjoyed you.
It's been great fellowship.
That's motivating.
But see, the context where Paul's asking
us to live this out
is in the context of a local church
where we share life together.
Where I have you in my home
and you have me in your home.
And I weep when you weep,
and I rejoice when you rejoice,
and I see your good days
and I see your bad days.
And he says in that context,
I want you to be loving,
compassionate,
kind,
and forgiving.
That's the context.
At a conference,
it's kind of easy
because I don't really know you.
And I only spend a little bit of time with you.
But if I live in your town
and I live in your church
and you begin to see my inconsistencies,
the days that I'm not so kind,
what's going to motivate you to love me?
Can I tell you this?
It isn't going to be me.
It's going to be the grace of God
and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's not to say that what we are experiencing
this weekend is not true.
It is.
But it is to say that our chief motivation
in living the Christ-centered life
is the grace of God and the Gospel.
The Gospel does not just deliver us
from the wrath of God
which we do deserve -
brothers and sisters,
it is the center of every relationship
we have.
Maybe my favorite Bible verse
in the entire Bible is Romans 11:36.
"For from Him and through Him and to Him
are all things.
To Him be glory forever.
Amen."
Now think about that.
My relationship with you is from Him.
My relationship with you is lived through Him.
And my relationship with you
should point back to Him.
Meaning what?
It should manifest the Gospel.
How you and I relate
and how you relate with your people
in your local churches,
should be a manifestation of the Gospel.
My relationship with my wife
is to be a manifestation of the Gospel.
And I am to love you,
and be compassionate with you,
and be patient with you,
and be forbearing with you,
and be forgiving of you,
and be loving with you.
Why?
Because He has been so with me.
And when, by His grace,
in helping me see
and remember these things,
and empowering me in them,
people witness the love of God
in local churches,
Christ gets the glory.
I remember one day,
a 73 year old man came to our church
with his wife.
She was converted and he was not.
I remember the initial conversation I had.
She was standing there talking to me,
and he was about two steps back right here.
And he came faithfully with her
for about three or four weeks.
And then he came up
and said something to the effect of this:
I have never seen love like this
amongst a people.
I have never seen love like this
amongst a people.
And let me tell you have typically
in Dallas.
Listen, the people of God
are every tribe, tongue,
and language and people.
They're not just one people.
But if you come to Dallas and you step into some churches
you might think it's just one people.
Because there is great segregation
into each type of person
in many churches in Dallas.
And by God's grace,
He chooses who He saves.
He chooses who He draws.
But in God's grace, if you looked out
amongst the assembly in our church,
you would see almost every tribe,
tongue, and language out there.
You would see diversity of incomes.
You would see differences in ages.
You would see all of that together.
And when this man -
and I boast in Jesus Christ alone -
but when he looked at young,
African-American men
and old caucasian men,
and he looked at young Asian people
and he looked at poor different people,
and when he saw them centered together
with one unifying thing being Jesus Christ,
and all the diversity that was there,
was cast aside,
because there was a greater unity,
a supernatural unity in Jesus Christ,
and they loved each other.
And he saw that.
And he said, I've never seen
anything like that before.
I'll tell you this,
God converted that man.
He is saved.
He is a saved man today.
We baptized him two years ago.
Brothers and sisters,
our relationships in our local churches
should be a manifestation of the Gospel.
In case you haven't figured this out yet,
Christians are an imperfect people.
Will you look at v. 11 with me?
Look at 3:11.
"Here there's neither Greek or Jew,
circumcised or uncircumcised,
Barbarian or Scythian,
slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.
That's the reality of the body of Christ.
We are united in Christ.
We are one person in Jesus Christ.
There are two realities in this world.
You are either in Adam or you are in Christ.
There's neither slave nor Jew.
There is Adam and there's Christ.
And you're either in Him or in him.
But with those in Christ,
there's a great diversity, isn't there?
What do you mean diversity?
How about diversity in maturity of Christ?
I hope people are getting saved
in your churches.
What do you do when you have someone
who's been saved for 40 years
walking by God's grace faithfully in that,
and you have a brand new Christian
in the church now?
How are they going to be united?
How can they relate?
What do you do when there's a great diversity
in the body of Christ with giftings?
We've studied 1 Corinthians 12.
We know that God gives gifts
to each of the members of the body,
and with that diversity of giftings,
he seems to give passions towards those giftings, doesn't He?
Praise the Lord for that!
What are those giftings for?
The edification of the body.
The building up of the body.
What do they tempt us to do though?
To look through our gifting,
to look through our passion,
and look at Mack and go,
the Lord's called me to evangelism, brother,
and you don't evangelize like I do
so you must not love Jesus like I do.
Now, that's wrong,
because my stirring by God's grace
and gifting in evangelism
should be an edification for the body -
not something that separates us,
but something that stirs us.
And where God has gifted this brother and stirred this brother,
I should look at his life
and I should be compelled
to be more like that aspect of Christ
in my own life.
And the body comes together
and they form a body that is fit for the Head
Who is Jesus Christ.
And when each part is doing its work,
we grow in maturity in Jesus Christ.
But it's hard. You know why?
Because we're not like each other
in many aspects.
And it's in that context that he says this:
You love them.
You forgive them. You be patient with them.
You be compassionate with them. Why?
Because I was with you.
So I'm only going to look at two of the things here.
We've seen the motivation.
The motivation is God has loved us.
God has chosen us.
He has freely set Himself upon us.
He has purchased us with the blood
of His own Son.
Now live in light of that.
Now I want to look at two areas
where He called us to live in light of that.
First one I'm going to look at
is this call to forgiveness.
The call to forgiveness.
In v. 12, he motivated us:
"Put on as God's chosen ones,
holy and beloved,
these things..."
And then when he gets to v. 13,
he says, "Bearing with one another,
and if one has a complaint against another
forgiving each other,
as the Lord has forgiven you."
What's my motivation to forgive?
Because that other person
deserves it so much?
Because that other person
has repented just like they should
and come crawling on their knees
and beg for my forgiveness?
No.
I have a model before me
of what forgiveness should look like.
It's Jesus Christ.
And how did He forgive us?
What if He said I'm going to wait
until you turn your life around;
Until you start acting like you should;
Till you treat Me with the respect I deserve,
and then, I'll forgive you.
That's not what He did.
While we were yet sinners,
He sends His Son.
He pursues us.
I love that Jesus Christ is a pursuer of me.
I need Him to pursue me.
And I want you to know this,
if your forgiveness is going to look like
and be modeled after Jesus Christ,
you have to be a pursuer of people.
You say will what if they have sinned against me, Jesse?
Well, read Matthew 18.
What does it say?
If your brother sins against you, do what?
What do you do?
Go to him!
Go to her!
Pursue them.
You know what we do sometimes?
You sinned against me.
So I'm going to wait till you come to me.
No!
When your brother or sister sins against you,
you go to them.
You pursue them.
You pursue forgiveness.
Well, ok, I can get with that one,
but what if they think I did something
to them and I didn't do anything to them?
What does Jesus tell us in Matthew 5?
If you've come to offer your gift
at the altar,
and there you remember what?
That your brother thinks you have offended,
sinned against him.
What are you to do then?
Did you hear what He said there?
Leave your gift at the altar.
We're coming to worship You, God,
but I know this brother thinks I've offended them.
There's something between us.
Set the worship down, Jesse.
Go.
Be reconciled to your brother first.
And then come back
and offer that gift.
I'm not saying everyone has to do this.
Every Sunday in our service,
we begin our service with a time of confession.
Because I'm not going to stand up there
and sing songs when my heart's not right.
That's just going through the motions.
So we sit and we pray
and we ask,
"Oh God, search me and know me;
try me and see if there be any
evil way in me."
And we encourage,
if there is an issue in this assembly
between relationships,
you go be reconciled first.
Why? So you can worship in spirit and in truth.
The onus is always put on you
in forgiveness.
If your brother sins against you,
you go.
If your brother has something
you've done against him,
you go.
We are to be pursuers of peace.
Why? Because Jesus Christ pursued you.
We must pursue one another.
And you say, Jesse, don't you understand
that in reconciliation,
it requires both people?
Yep. I understand that.
But what does Jesus tell us in Matthew 18?
You can listen.
I'm sure you're familiar with the text.
"The Kingdom of Heaven
may be compared to a king
who wished to settle accounts
with his servants.
And when he began to settle,
one was brought to him
who owed him 10,000 talents.
And since he could not pay,
his master ordered him to be sold
with his wife and his children
and all that he had
and payment to be made.
So the servant fell on his knees
imploring him,
'have patience with me.
I'll repay you everything.'
And out of pity for him,
the master of that servant
released him and forgave him."
Out of what?
Pity.
Compassion.
Seeing the hopelessness of this person
and the mercy of God is extended out
to that person.
If you're in Christ, that just described you.
You had an unpayable debt.
You could not do anything about it.
You stood condemned justly.
And God in His mercy had pity on you.
Well, then how should that impact my life, Jesse?
How should that change how I live?
"But when the same servant went out,
he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a hundred denarii,
and seizing him, he began to choke him,
saying 'pay what you owe.'"
Do you see a problem already?
Oh God, give me grace and mercy.
Give me justice.
Do you see an inconsistency there?
I receive Your grace and mercy freely.
Thank You.
You better pay me what you owe.
How big of a problem is that for the Lord?
"When the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii,
seizing him he began to choke him saying 'pay what you owe,'
so his fellow servant fell down
and pleaded with him,
'have patience with me.
I will repay you.'
He refused.
He went and put him in prison
until he should pay the debt.
And when the fellow servants
saw what had taken place,
they were greatly distressed
and they went and reported to the master
all that had taken place.
Then his master summoned him
and said to him,
'You wicked servant.
I forgave you all that debt
because you pleaded with me,
and should you not have had mercy
on your fellow servant,
as I have had mercy upon you?'"
Gospel-centered relationship.
"And in anger, his master
delivered him to the jailers
until he should pay all of his debt."
Application: So also,
My heavenly Father will do
to every one of you
if you do not forgive your brother
from your heart."
I understand that there may be situations
in your life
where either you have been sinned against
or your brother thinks you have sinned
against him or your sister,
and you have pursued them,
and you have sought to be a peacemaker;
to have reconciliation,
and they will not have it.
But have you forgiven them in your heart?
Listen, if you sit here this morning
with a broken relationship
and as long as it depends upon you,
you have not sought peace,
you need to hear this.
God does not take that lightly.
You know why?
Because it is a minimization
of His grace and the Gospel towards you.
When we do not forgive others,
we minimize the grace,
and when the king saw
that the servant minimized
what he had done for him,
he seized him and he said,
"you are wicked!"
And Jesus said My Father will do the same to you,
if you do not forgive.
Now, is He making a contingency
that God's forgiveness towards us
is contingent upon our forgiveness of others?
No, what He is saying is this.
If you have truly experienced
the forgiveness and grace of God,
you will forgive.
You will forgive. Why?
Because of all the grace and mercy.
That doesn't mean it's easy.
That doesn't mean it's not without challenge;
without difficulty,
but if you can sit here today
in bitterness in heart,
unwilling to forgive people,
and the Father has not in Hebrews 12
come and chastened you,
it's because you're not His child.
I witnessed a lady that was
close to our family growing up.
She went to church every single Sunday.
As long as I knew her -
40 years maybe?
She went to church every single Sunday.
She was in Bible studies.
She gave a lot of money away -
I'm talking millions of dollars away
to churches, to charities, to ministries.
But she was an unforgiving person.
And she died with bitterness
and unforgiveness towards so many people.
And listen, I don't stand here today
as her judge, but I look at that and I say,
that is completely inconsistent
with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yes, we can struggle with forgiveness.
Yes, it is costly.
Yes, it is hard.
But God, in His grace, will enable us,
will empower us,
and He motivates us
by returning us to the Gospel.
Have you forgiven from the heart?
Have you sought reconciliation?
As long as it depends upon you,
are you living at peace with all?
Brothers and sisters, if not,
just stop playing games.
Go and be reconciled.
I think one of the fears we have
in being the pursuer
in the area of forgiveness,
especially, let's say it's a reality
where the other person truly is
at fault here,
and you are innocent.
That's often the perception we have,
but let's say it's a reality.
I think the fear is that if I pursue you
when you were the one at fault,
you're going to think that what you did was ok
and you're going to think I'm saying
I was the one at fault.
And I want to tell you what that is.
That's unbelief that God's ways work.
Listen, it's not your job
to convict that person.
It's not your job
to help them see their sin, per se.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
My job is to obey the Scripture.
To be consistent with the Gospel.
So whether you're going to get
the wrong impression if I'm pursuing you or not,
if you're going to go, yep, here he comes.
He was at fault. I knew it.
And this is the evidence.
I don't care if you have that perception of me.
I'm not here to have a right perception
from you towards me
or to have this situation appear
that it really was your fault.
We are here to glorify God
and to magnify the Gospel.
I'm going to be obedient to the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
I'm going to pursue you
even if you think that's me saying
I'm at fault.
I don't care about that.
I'm going to give an account to God one day.
Did I manifest the Gospel
in my relationship with you?
I'm going to trust that to the Holy Spirit.
The other thing Paul says in Colossians
is "above all these, put on love,
which binds everything together
in perfect harmony."
Paul said you chosen ones,
you holy, you set apart by God,
you beloved,
you loved of God,
God has loved us.
Where does love come from?
In the book of 1 John 4,
the Bible teaches us in v. 8
that God is love.
Have you ever thought about what that means?
That means anyone
who does not know God
through His love in Jesus Christ
has never known true love,
because love comes from God.
Now, I know there's a lot of talk out there
about what love is.
And almost all the talk about
what love is from a worldly perspective
is emotion and feeling-driven and based.
But the love of God is not devoid
of emotion and feeling,
but it is not driven by emotion and feeling.
Can I tell you this?
God did not look at us
and He was not wooed by us.
There was nothing in us
compelling Him to love us.
In fact, the only thing in us
that compelled God was our sin
and it compelled Him to have just wrath upon us.
God is love (1 John 4:8).
Love is from God (1 John 4:7).
So why did God love you?
V. 10 of 1 John 4 tell us.
"In this is love,
not that we have loved God,
but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sin."
God chose to love you,
not because you're attractive.
Not because He saw something in you.
But because He's love.
And what Paul is saying here
in Colossians is,
knowing that you have been loved
by God in that way,
love each other.
Not because the people in your church
are so lovable,
but God has set His love upon you.
Brothers and sisters,
the Scriptures teach us
that by love in our life is how people
will know we are disciples.
Listen, I know a lot of people that have
their doctrine and theology down pat,
and they're unloving.
They're just unloving.
They don't bear the fruit of love.
Which is really what all these things are,
aren't they?
Compassionate, kindness,
humility, meekness, patience, forgiving.
Fruits of the Spirit.
Manifestation of love.
So, I'll leave us with this question.
What is your spiritual barometer for your life?
Your faith?
Ministry?
Your sacrifice?
I'm going to read to you in closing here
what your spiritual barometer
should look like.
And if you match this,
you're going to be safe.
"If I speak in the tongues of men
and of angels..."
Do you measure your spiritual life
by the gifts God has given you?
"If I speak in the tongue of men and of angels..."
surely then I'm spiritually mature and doing well.
Well, hold on a second.
"...but if you have not love,
you're a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal."
So gifts aren't the test.
"If I have prophetic powers
and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith,
so as to remove mountains..."
I've got my doctrine down!
I believe.
I understand these truths.
I can explain them.
I can tear people apart with them.
I know all the verses.
"...but if I have not love, I'm nothing."
"If I give away all I have,
and deliver up my body to be burned..."
I have the oldest car in my church.
I have the least amount of clothes
of anyone in my church.
I live in the poorest house in my church.
I can live off the least amount of money
in my church.
Do you have love?
I'm not in any way implying
that these other realities
that 1 Corinthians 13 is speaking of
are not important.
What this is teaching us is this:
If you have those, but you don't have love,
you have nothing.
Now, we need gifts in the church.
We need knowledge. We need faith in the church.
We need a sacrifice.
We need sacrificial living
in the church.
Amen to all that.
But if you all that, but you don't have love,
you have nothing.
As one brother said,
five minus one equals zero
here in 1 Corinthians 13.
You have all these five things,
but you don't have love,
you've not nothing.
So what should the barometer be
of our spiritual life?
Love.
You know why?
Because if you genuinely have love,
these other areas will manifest
in your life.
These other areas will show up in your life.
What's Paul calling us to do?
He is calling us
to understand who Jesus Christ is -
that's Colossians 1.
To believe Who He is.
To believe what He accomplished.
Colossians 2.
And to know who we are in Jesus Christ
through faith,
and to live in light of that reality.
To know this love.
To know this election.
To know this setting apart,
and then to live
in light of those realities.
You say, Jesse, I'm struggling with love.
I can tell you what you've done for sure.
You know what it is?
You've taken your eyes off of Jesus Christ.
You've taken your eyes off of
the grace of Jesus Christ and the Gospel.
And Paul wants you to be fixated
upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ
and the Gospel.
And if that is continually
being renewed in your mind
and unveiled by the power of the Holy Spirit,
then we will be motivated and compelled
to live that reality out,
and in living that out,
God gets glory in our life and in our churches.
So that's my prayer for you
is that you would grow in the depth
of the Gospel.
Brothers and sisters,
the Gospel's not just the entrance
into the Kingdom of God
and then we move on
to greater things.
You're never going to get out of that Gospel.
You're just going to go deeper
and deeper and deeper into it.
And as you understand it more,
here's where it will be reflected:
in your love, forgiveness, compassion,
patience, forbearing with the church.
That's where it shows up.
And the lost as we go out
and preach the Gospel,
and our love for God.
So, do you see the need to prioritize
the nurturing of your soul
in the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
If you take your eyes off that Gospel,
you forget that it's all grace.
All those things Paul called you to
are squashed by pride.
The Gospel as grace brings humility.
So, may the Lord work
the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and the grace of Jesus Christ
evermore into our hearts.
Amen?
Amen.