The Struggle is Real

We're going to start in Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

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

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

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

Romans 7 · chapter mention Romans 7 · chapter mention

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

Galatians 5:16 Romans 7 · chapter mention

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,

Galatians 5:16

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.

Romans 7:18

Paul is talking about the same idea here in this

passage. Romans chapter 7, verse 18. We'll try

Romans 7:18

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

Romans 7:18

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

Romans 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8. And what's he say in the next verse

of Romans chapter 8? He says in verse 1, Therefore,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

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

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

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

1 John 2:1

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.