SPEAKER_00 0:05

Well, uh, we just finished out a teaching series called Culture, going through all of our cultural values and our theological values as a church, and uh we've been praying about where God wants to lead us in this summer season. And so we're launching a brand new summer teaching series called Disciple, where we're gonna be talking about what it means to be a disciple, what it means to make disciples. Uh, this really cool graphic that my buddy made, we made it into stickers as well that are available at the Connect table. They're free. So I slapped the first one on my laptop this morning. You can slap it on your laptop or you can slap it on your car so that when you see another home, you're like, hey, there's another disciple, what up? You know, so wherever you want, but grab some free stickers. Uh sneak peek, we got some discipleship merch coming next week, too. So you can be ready for that. It's gonna be a good, good time. Uh, but I'm really excited to just for this summer season uh share with you guys the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. And the reality is the discipleship process begins for a person at the moment of salvation. The moment you place your faith in Jesus, the moment you say, I believe in Christ's death, burial, resurrection, in that moment, you become a disciple. You're given a new heart. The scripture says he takes your heart of stone and he gives you a heart of flesh. However, that is only the beginning of the process. God doesn't only want to change your heart, he wants to, he wants to change our entire lives and he wants every single aspect of our life to become more and more a reflection of him. And that's essentially what discipleship is. Discipleship is the process by which we are being conformed into the image of Christ. And if the gospel only affects us at the moment that we said yes to Jesus, we have we haven't really understood the gospel. How many of y'all know that when you said yes to Jesus, when I said yes to Jesus, there was still a lot more work in my life that needed to take place? There still is. I've been walking with Jesus a long time, and there's still a lot of work. That's what discipleship is. It's Christ showing us the areas of our life that are out of alignment and him by the power of his spirit bringing them into alignment with who he says we are to be and who we're called to be. And so this morning, as we're jumping into this uh kind of intro to the discipleship series, I wanted to go to 1 Timothy chapter 4 because Paul here writing to a young disciple by the name of Timothy, gives him some really practical wisdom for how he can grow and mature as a disciple of Christ. And I believe that the words Paul was inspired to write by the Spirit were not only for Timothy and the church he was pastoring, but I believe they're for our church here today as well. And so in 1 Timothy chapter 4, look down with me if you would at verse 7. It says this have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths, and silly myths there in the Greek language, I believe, is flat earth. I haven't looked into that, but um, rather train yourself for godliness. For while bodily training, verse eight, is of some value, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. So Paul tells Timothy, Timothy, as a young disciple in Christ, here's what God wants for you: for you to train yourself for godliness. Now, we we all know and understand this. It's a it's a universal principle that training or discipline is necessary to excel or accomplish greatness in anything in life. Anyone watch the Knicks game this weekend? Knicks be making two crazy comebacks in a row. Shout out to Jalen Brunson, crazy buckets. It's cool to see him on the court doing that, but people don't understand how much work the dude puts in behind the scenes when nobody's watching. It's the offseason when other dudes are chilling, he's in the gym grinding, and that's what brought the Knicks to the victory this morning. So for to excel at anything, if you want to be great at art, if you want to be great at music, if you want to be great at sports, if you want to be great at your profession, if you want to be great at public speaking, we we can only achieve greatness through great efforts and great work that is put into it. And it was about four months ago, one of my buddies hit me up and we're like both almost 40. So he's like, bro, he's like, we got to get on it, you know. So he's like, I just signed up for this ultra marathon. Do you want to do it? And I was like, I guess, yeah. And so it's like, okay, cool, let's do it. And so uh we started we started training for this ultra marathon, that's why I was gone two weeks ago. Shout out to Storm who taught for me. I was in Bend, and I'm I'm proud to say I finished the race. I finished a 50-mile ultra marathon, which was for me was a huge accomplishment. And at the finish line, there was a bunch of people cheering. They were cheering for everybody, and I came across yay, and a bunch of people cheering, but nobody was cheering at four in the morning every week when I was running up Roxy Ann multiple times. Except for my five Strava followers. Thank you, Storm and Tamron, for the kudos on my 4 a.m. runs up Roxy. But no, nobody sees the work that goes into accomplishing something like that. Even yesterday, we had our first annual mandate. How many of the dudes were there? We had a full squad. Shout out to Man Day. Where's Chuck at, dude? Chuck, where are you at? Hey, Chuck got the Man Day necklace. He's up in the balcony, so y'all can't see him. He was wearing it, dude, three-pound gold chain. And to win Man Day, he didn't just show up and wing it. Chuck's been grinding. Like he's like, I want that necklace. And he took the dub. So, dudes, we got to put in the work next year if you want to steal the necklace from Chuck. So, again, we we understand to accomplish great things, it requires great, great discipline and great training. And we know this to be true physically, but my question is, how often do we actually put in that training into our spiritual lives? When Paul tells Timothy, Timothy, I want you to train yourself for godliness. How many of us are actually putting the training and the effort into Christ-likeness and into our walk with Jesus as we do the other goals that we set in life? And this word train, by the way, when Paul says, train yourself for godliness, it's the Greek word here, gymnazo, which is where we get our English word gymnasium. And this word train, gymnazo, in the Greek language, it literally means to exercise naked vigorously. I'm not kidding you. That's what the word means, to exercise naked vigorously. And this was actually a common practice in the Greco-Roman culture. I'll spare you the pictures. We won't throw any up on the board. But during athletic competitions, which were very common in ancient Greco-Roman culture, competitors would literally strip themselves of all of their clothing so that they would not be hindered by anything and so that they could perform at their best. They were like, Yeah, no, no shirt, no, no shoes, no shorts, no nothing. They would actually, this was very common, they would actually do their physical workouts completely naked. And so just as ancient athletics said, we're gonna shed every single thing that hinders, anything that might add an extra little bit of weight or an extra second onto my time, they shed it off. For followers of Jesus, the principle here is that we must be stripped of every habit and every tendency that is presenting that it is preventing us from reaching the goal of Christ-likeness. That that is the principle here. And this is exactly what the book of Hebrews says as well. In Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1, the author of Hebrew says, Let us lay aside every weight and sin which cling so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. And I think that this is so important, especially in the cultural moment that we're living today, because when I look at the state of the Christian church as a whole, I am convinced that Paul's admonition to Timothy to train yourself for godliness is a word from the Holy Spirit for the body of Christ today. How much of our lives are consumed and invested in irreverent and silly myths and legends, and how many things do we invest our time and life into that produce no actual spiritual fruit in our life? How often do we neglect the spiritual training which produces godliness and Christlieness on the altar of comfort? How often do we sacrifice our spiritual disciplines on the altar of convenience, on the altar of entertainment, on the altar of personal gratification and personal goals? How often do we wake up and start the day saying yes to the personal trainer of the iPhone? How often do we wake up and say yes in the morning to the personal trainer of the news, to the personal trainer of social media, to the personal trainer of the TV, all the while our spiritual growth and our spiritual maturity in Christ is falling by the wayside. Notice again, Hebrew says, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings to us. It's not just about identifying the sin in your life. That is one aspect of it. Maybe the reason you're not fully growing and being transformed into the image of your Christ is maybe there is some sin in your life that hasn't been dealt with. And if there is, you can you can confess that. You can repent of that and you can trust the Holy Spirit to give you victory, but it's not only sin. He also says every weight. And what I've found is that a lot of Christians, like, like we know this sin in our life, like that's very clear, but we maybe don't understand the weight in our life that is holding us back. Maybe you're just being weighed down because you're spending too much time on the TV. Maybe you're just being weighed down and not spiritually productive because you're spending too much time playing video games, or you're spending too much time overworking and there's not actually time to rest and delight in Christ, or too much time prioritizing looking at your investment portfolio, or too much time just prioritizing your actual physical health, which there's nothing wrong wrong with that. But how often do we put so much effort and time into all of these things that produce no spiritual fruit? And so, my my question in in in for you this morning is simply this have you stopped running the spiritual race because you're prioritizing another race? Is it is training yourself for godliness and training yourself for Christlieness. How much of a priority is that in your life? And I and I just believe that this morning that there's an invitation from the Holy Spirit for us. Again, the the goal here is not condemnation or to make you feel so guilty or oh, I'm so bad at that. The goal is an invitation for you to say, wow, maybe that hasn't been a priority, and maybe I need to start putting a little bit more training into my my spiritual life and into my walk with Christ so that I might grow and mature and be conformed into the image of Christ. Maybe I need to put as much into that as I am all these other things. And this word train, by the way, I'm not I'm not a Greek scholar, but in the Greek, this word train is what's called a present imperative, which means it is a continual command. Training for godliness, training to grow in our sanctification, training to mature as disciples of Christ. It's not a one-time thing, it is a continual command. And again, in the Greco-Roman culture, they understood this. Their physical training was a daily habit. It wasn't just, yeah, I put in the training one time. It was every single day they were putting in their training. And so it's the same spiritually. The commitment to grow spiritually is a lifelong commitment. It is one day at a time. It's not, yeah, I read the Bible once, I made it cover to cover, so now I never have to pick it up again. It's not, yeah, I said my prayer this morning, so now the rest of the day I can just kind of disconnect from God. It's not, yeah, I showed up to church on Sunday, so now the rest of the day I can just kind of do my thing. No, it the the training is a continual process. And and some of you here, when you you maybe think back to the moment when you first gave your life to Christ. I love being around new believers because they they have they have this zeal and they have this fire. And I find when somebody who is in the world gives their life to Christ and receives a new heart, those people go all into the training. They're like, man, I'm just in the word and soaking it up, and I'm just plugging into community and I'm praying, and I just want more of Christ. And so when you first come to Jesus, it's almost easy to just kind of like get into that habit. But then as time goes by, maybe it begins to fall by the wayside. And so my question for you is, how about you now? Where are you at in this season of your life? Has your spiritual training and your spiritual cultivation and your relationship with Jesus has that fallen by the wayside as you've progressed in years with Christ? Has the maturity in Christ progressed in equal proportion? Are you still daily training yourself for righteousness? That is what God wants for your life, that is what God wants for my life, and that is what it is to be a disciple. To be a disciple is to continue to cultivate a Christ-like heart and a Christ-like attitude, and that is a daily decision that we have to wake up and make every single day. But notice notice as well, he says, rather train yourself, verse seven, train yourself for godliness. Notice the emphasis here is personal. Paul says, Timothy, you are to train yourself. Not that there's anything wrong with having pastors or spiritual directors or a mentor or a community of people who is investing in you and helping you grow in your discipleship. But I want you to notice is that primarily each believer is responsible for their own spiritual growth. And I find that a lot of people put the lack of spiritual growth in their life, they put the blame somewhere else. They're like, oh, well, I'm just not getting fed here, or I just haven't been invited to that small group or to that Bible study, or there's nobody pouring into me, and there's nobody investing in me. And those all may be a reality, but Paul says, train yourself. Like the lack of spiritual growth in your life, if there is a lack, is primarily due to you and the decisions that you maybe haven't taken account for. So Paul says, Are you willing to do this? Are you willing to take responsibility for your own spiritual growth? Train yourself. A lot of Christians think we can just pray like, God, would you would you change me and would you transform me? And by his spirit, he does, but that doesn't negate that you actually have to do something. Like you actually have to put in the work if you want to grow and be trained in righteousness. There is no passivity in the way of spiritual transformation. And I don't know where this phrase came from, but I heard it all the time growing up in church culture. Some of you might have heard it. It was let go and let God. And that sounds so nice. Like that, I would love to do that. But the problem is I've never seen that verse in the Bible. Like I've never seen anywhere where the Bible's like, yeah, just yeah, just let go and let God do it all. Like if you just let go and think God is gonna do everything, the reality is this you will never drift towards Christ-likeness. You will always drift the way of the world. Even if you have a new heart, even if you're a born-again believer, if there is not a continual training in your life, the natural course of the heart, because our flesh is so strong, it will always pull you away to the things of the world. It will always pull you away from the things of God. And so, biblical Christ-likeness, the goal of training, which he says is godliness, discipleship, it actually does necessitate effort on our part. And this is not a popular thing to say in Christian church culture. And in fact, the idea of training ourselves towards godliness has almost completely disappeared in the modern church context because people are afraid of being called legalistic. Like, like you think that if somebody says, hey, there's you got to do something, you you have to put in some work, there is some training you have to do. People say, Oh, that's just legalism. And and I would and I would say to you that that that is not legalism, and the scripture actually holds this beautiful balance. That the church has done a very good job of proclaiming the message that our salvation is by faith alone and by grace alone. We've done really good at preaching that message, but we've left out the importance of our works in the sanctification process. So let me just let me just unpack that for you for a moment here. To be absolutely clear, just to make sure we're on the same page, your salvation has absolutely nothing to do with your training, your spiritual training. Your salvation in Jesus Christ has nothing to do with your works, nothing to do with anything that you ever did, nothing to do with any spiritual training that got you salvation. Your salvation in Jesus Christ is by grace alone, through faith alone. This is what Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9. Notice, he makes it very clear. For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. So when it comes to salvation, that is a work of God's grace in our life that has nothing to do with any of our works. But most people just stop there. They're like, Great, I'm saved by grace. Great, it's grace alone. And they never get to verse 10, the verse that comes right after this. You want to see what Ephesians 2.10 says? Paul continues his train of thought and look what he says in Ephesians 2.10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So, again, to be clear, your salvation has nothing to do with your works. But to be equally clear, your growth and your maturity as a disciple of Christ has everything to do with you walking in obedience and training your heart and mind in the things of God daily. So justification, that is grace. But sanctification, growing and maturing, that is what Paul says here. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works. And he's already laid out the good works that we should walk in them. You walking in good works is not counter to grace, it is an overflow of God's grace in your life. Good works are not the prerequisite of faith, they are the result of it. So when you place your faith in Jesus and you're given a new heart, the natural overflow is God, now I want to continue to grow. I want to walk in the good works that you have laid out before me. And the goal and the purpose of that is that we might grow and mature and be conformed into the image of Christ. The goal of spiritual training, training yourself for, he says, godliness. That's what God wants. That Christ-likeness and godliness might be produced in us. I want you to think of it this way. If nobody ever built a physical gym, if nobody ever took their own money and built it out and bought the exercise equipment and all that, if nobody ever did that, if nobody did the work before you, you wouldn't be able to show up at the gym to put in the work in the morning. So if you go to the gym and you work out on a regular basis or even occasionally, you are there and you're able to do your workouts because of what someone else did before you. Somebody put the work in, somebody made it possible, but now it's your responsibility if you want to show up and if you want to get those physical gains. Now, spiritually, here's what that looks like: God already did the work of creating and building, if you would, the spiritual gymnasium. He has already made everything accessible for us to grow and mature in Christ. It is equipped and fully ready to use, but it is up to us how much we want to put in. And there's a lot of options in the spiritual gym, by the way, that God has prepared for us. You could hop on first and foremost, the Peloton of prayer. That's a good one. Like God's already made that available. Like if you want to pray and talk to Him, it's there. It's up to you how much you want to put the work in on that. You got the bench press of the Bible, it's already here. God's given us when you read the Bible, that is that is spiritual growth, spiritual maturity, spiritual gains, if you would. You got the kettlebells of community, you got the squat of the Sabbath. Like we don't only got to work, we got to rest. So, like, take some rest. There's gonna be some spiritual gains there. You got the ab roller of adoration, you got the pull-up bar of personal intimacy, you got the treadmill of trust, you got the elliptical of evangelism, you got the dumbbell curls of confession. How many of y'all know when we're confessing, like we we need that? That is producing a spiritual muscle in you when we continue to come and confess. You got the leg press of listening, and at the end of the spiritual workout, whatever you choose, like at the end of the spiritual workout, you can even get a good recovery from your spiritual workout with a protein shake of praise. I'm telling y'all, like that's gonna do you some good too. Like, God, I praise you. Thank you for the spiritual growth, thank you for the sanctification, thank you for what you're doing in me. That that in and of itself is a good recovery as well. And so, again, what I want to point out is all of these things and so much more are already available to us. There's nothing you did to earn that. God has said, This is what I've provided for you. The the spiritual gym, if you would, it's it's set up and it's ready to go so that we might train ourselves to grow in grace and grow in godliness. And even though all of this is so readily available to us, it is astonishing and sad to see how little concern there is among so many Christians to put in any sort of training towards Christ-likeness. They just think it's magically gonna happen. And as time as the years go by and the years go by, you say, Man, why has this person been walking with Christ now five years, ten years, and and and there is no growth? It's because they're not putting in that work and training towards godliness. And so, again, at the end of the day, it's important to understand training for godliness, training in our discipleship, it is not antithetical to grace. And Paul understood the balance of God's grace at work in our life and the work that we put in to grow in our discipleship. He understood the balance of this better than anybody else. And he said it best in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 10. Listen to what Paul says here. 1 Corinthians 15, 10, he says, By the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Isn't that beautiful? Paul understood God's grace. The reason I am who I am, I mean, it's all God's grace in my life. But Paul. Said, I don't want God's grace to be in vain. God's grace isn't just now I sit back and do nothing. He said, No, on the contrary, I work harder than anybody. Paul said, I'm growing and cultivating the spiritual disciplines and the spiritual appetite for the things of God. I'm putting in that work, and as I put that work in, that's God's grace as well. God's grace is upon my work and my effort as I'm pursuing Him, as I'm pursuing Christ. He said it this way in Philippians 2, verse 12 and 13. He said, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence. Look at this. He says, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For, here's why you should do that. Explanation four, it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do you notice both? Paul says, work out your salvation. There's things that you have to work out that you actually have to do that is going to produce spiritual maturity in your life. And why should we do that? He says, for God is working in you. It's God doing a work in you, but you have to work it out. This is what we call the human divine combination. What God works in, what the Holy Spirit is doing in us, we are responsible to work out and to walk out. If you're convicted of a certain thing in your life, that's the Spirit of God working in you. But whether you actually confess that and repent and turn from that, that is your decision, whether you work that out or not. If the Spirit is convicting you that you haven't been generous in your life, that is the Spirit of God working in you. He's saying, I want to make you more generous. But whether you actually respond and obey and actually start practicing generosity, that is your responsibility to work out. If you feel like, man, yeah, I've been just on my phone 10 hours a day and I'm not spending any time in the word and any time I've maybe that's the spirit of God working in you saying, I have something for you. But whether you actually change your discipline and habit and actually start investing in your spiritual, that is you working it out. So do you see how it works? The spirit of God works in, but we are responsible to work it out and to walk it out. And so here's my question for you What has God been working in you that you are not working out? What has the Spirit of God been doing in your heart? An invitation to step into something that you might grow and mature that you just haven't been walking in obedience to? And if there's something in your life that you feel like, man, I feel like God's been doing this in me, but I just haven't been walking in obedience, I just believe there's an invitation for you today to say, man, today, by the power of the Spirit, God, would you give me grace to actually begin to walk out the things that you are producing in me? If you want to grow spiritually, if you want godliness and Christ-likeness, if you want to continue to be conformed to the image of Christ, it requires you understanding what God's Spirit is working in you, and it requires you actually working it out. Amen. And this is the reality. The goal of all of this, of all this spiritual training, is godliness. It is Christ-likeness. The purpose of all the spiritual disciplines, it is more intimacy with the person of Jesus and being conformed into the image of Jesus. This is the goal. And this is what God wants for your life. This is what God wants for my life. That I might continue to grow into Christ-likeness, that I might continue to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ. That is the result of the Spirit of God working in us and us working out and walking out the things that He's doing in our lives. And Paul closes with this in verse 8, and I'll close with this as well. After saying, train yourself for godliness, here's what he says. He says, For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. So here's what Paul says to Timothy. He says, Timothy, not only is the goal godliness, but there's a promise that comes with it. And he says, Hey, Timothy, bodily training, it's of some value. It's good. And some of you need to hear that. Bodily training is of some value. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. There is value in stewarding the body that God has given you. But more so, and of even more value than spiritually stewarding our bodies, he says, is the bodily training of some value? But godliness, he says, is of value in every way because it holds promise in this life and the life to come. So the argument Paul makes is hey, if all you ever do is invest in your physical body, one day all of those gains are gonna be gone. Like nobody's gonna be ripped in heaven. I'm sorry, like no matter how jacked you are, no matter how much you go to the gym here, that does not that doesn't that won't work in heaven. Or maybe we'll all just be ripped in heaven because we're gonna have new bodies, like that would be cool too. But whatever gains you get on the earth, those don't transfer over. But in contrast, the character that Christ forms in you as you train yourself for godliness, this, he says, does reap eternal benefits. When you train yourself spiritually, it will benefit you in this life on the earth and also in eternity. And so while it feels good to get in a good run, while it feels good to go to the gym, while it feels good to hit your fitness goals and get in shape, ultimately it is infinitely more profitable to train yourself in godliness and experience the power of Christ, helping you be victorious over the temptation in your life and walking in righteousness and being freed from the addiction and the bondage of sins demanded in your in your life. This is the goal of Christian discipleship. And it holds the promise in this life and in the life to come. And what I want to just acknowledge, especially as we're gonna be talking about this all summer long, we're gonna be talking about discipleship and how we grow, how we be conformed to the image of Christ. I want to acknowledge the reality that every single person here in this room is starting in a different place. And I want to encourage you that no matter where you're starting, it starts exactly where you're at. Your first day ever going to the gym, if you see a dude benching 400, you're not gonna be like, oh man, I'm so horrible because I can't do that. No, that dude's doing that because he's been there for five years straight. And what I find is a lot of Christians get discouraged when they see people who have been training in godliness. You're like, wow, that person has a level of depth and character and maturity, and I want that. But that that person's been putting in the work. And it doesn't mean that you're less valuable in the kingdom. It just means that God is beginning a work in you that He maybe began in that person 10 or 20 years ago. So the journey starts exactly where you're at. You can't compare yourself and where you're at with other people. All we can compare ourselves to is what Christ is wanting to do in us. God, what are you doing in my life today? What does it look like for me today to pursue you and to train myself towards godliness? And so, in closing, I just want to simply ask you this question, a personal question. What is the next step that God is asking you to take in your relationship with Him so that you might continue to grow in your discipleship as a follower of Jesus? What is the next step? Not what is he calling me to take, not what's he calling your spouse to take or your friend to your no, what is God calling you to take where you're on the journey, saying, Here's the next step for you so that you can continue to train and grow in godliness? What is the thing God is working in you right now that the Spirit of God is stirring up in you and saying, hey, I want you to now begin to work this out. I want you to begin to begin to actually walk in this now so that you might grow and so that you might mature. And and and I would just encourage you, just start really small. Start with one simple thing. And I want to even give us space here just a moment to just sit and be still and for you right now, even to ask the Holy Spirit that question. Holy Spirit, what's something you've been working in me that maybe I haven't been working out? Holy Spirit, what is the next step for me so that I can continue to grow in my sanctification? So that I don't squander the grace or abuse the grace of my life. What is the next step you're calling me to take? And I believe that even right now the Holy Spirit wants to show each person in this room what maybe that next step is. For some of you, maybe the Holy Spirit's gonna say, Hey, just start your day with five minutes of prayer. Leave the phone on the silence and start your day in five minutes of prayer. For some of you, maybe the Holy Spirit's gonna say, Hey, I want you to be in the Word and maybe just start with one chapter a day. Just read one chapter of the Bible and allow the Word of God to transform your life. For some of you, maybe the Spirit's gonna say, You just need to rest. You're just exhausted, you're burned out, you've been working too much, and the Holy Spirit wants to invite you into Sabbath rest. For some of you, maybe the Holy Spirit's gonna say, Hey, I want you to just, I want you to step into serving. Like your life is so self-consumed. I want you to start serving the people. I don't know what it is, but I believe the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to you what that next step is. So we're gonna take a minute right now and just be still. And I want to just ask you to ask God that question What is the next step you're calling me to take that that you're calling me to work out something that you're working in me? And so let's just take a moment and be still and ask the Holy Spirit to come and speak, and we'll see what he wants to say to each one of you. God, we thank you for the work that you accomplished on the cross. Thank you for sending your son, and thank you, Jesus, for giving your life and dying in our place so that we could have a relationship with you, so that we could know you, so we could spend eternity in your presence. Thank you, God, for saving us by your grace. And God, I pray by your grace, in partnership with the Spirit, and through our obedience, God, that we would continue to walk out and work out the things, God, that you're working in us, the things that you're inviting us to step into, the deeper parts of our life, God, that you're that you that you're exposing and saying, Hey, I want you to bring this to the foot of the cross. I want you to start actively walking in this. I want you to walk in obedience, God, by your spirit and by your grace, help us this week to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. By your spirit, God, help us to this week train ourselves for godliness. If there's if there's other things we've been training for, but we've been neglecting our spiritual training, God, this week. Would you just, would you put it on our hearts to invest in that which is eternal, to invest in that which has dividends not only in this life, but in the life to come, God. So would you do that work in and through us this week as we partner together with you? We pray it all in Jesus' name. Amen.