COMPLETING THE PROJECT

Grab your bibles. We're going to be in First Thessalonians this morning, First

Thessalonians. If you didn't come with a Bible, or if you forgot your

Bible, if you don't have it, the ushers are coming down the aisles

right now and they can hand you a Bible as well as a bulletin that

will be helpful in taking notes this morning. So this morning, in first

Theessal, we're in First Thessalonians. We're in the very last versus of this

letter, a letter that I actually started preaching through back in I want to

say it was like twenty eighteen. So this is a six year project in

the making, as as I have the opportunity on occasions to preach here.

So my name is Treed Sasser. I serve here at Crossway as one of

the lay elders, which means I serve on the elder team as one of

the pastor elders of this church. But my occupation what I get a check

from another company in another industry, So Monday through Friday, I work in

commercial real estate and have the opportunity to work on building projects. And so

you were going to start this morning by getting a building metaphor, and every

one of you that's a part of this church is familiar with this metaphor.

But it is that of a punch list. A punch list, which is

to say, the final list that is put together by the contractor, the

architecture or the owner when a building is being completed, when a renovation project

is being completed. So you utilize a punch list. When you do a

home renovation, you utilize a punch list when you convert a gym to a

church building, when you do a skyscraper, or if you're building Buckingham Palace,

you use a punch list. You build the frame, the structure of

the building, and then all the guts go inside, the life blood of

the building, the mechanical, the electrical, the plumbing goes in. And

then all of that work is covered up and finished by sheet rock and walls

and flooring and light fixtures. And then once the project is done, it's

still not done yet. You walk through it and you develop a punch list

of essential items that need to be finished for ultimate completion. And that's where

we find ourselves in this letter to the Thessalonian Church from Paul, where all

of the structure of the church has been established. The life blood has been

entered into them by the power of Christ in receiving and believing the Gospel,

and then their lives are being finished, being changed by the power of that

gospel. And Paul is saying, to complete this work. Here are these

boom boom boom boom reminders of what it's like to to completely mature, to

take to full completion, which we'll find out God does for us. And

the beautiful thing is that's where the church in Thessalonaika was in terms of their

faithfulness and their lives being changed. It's wonderful that I can stand up here

in front of you crossway and say, y'all are so similar to this church.

Y'all have been so receptive to the Gospel. There is story after story

as I look at y'all's faces of countless lives that have been transformed by the

power of the Gospel, where they have turned away from the idols of their

where you have turned away from the idols of your prior life to serve the

living and true God. Lives transformed, which is a privilege, Lives that

are evidenced by works of faith, in labor of love, serving one another

in a steadfastness of hope in the coming Lord Jesus Christ. Even in the

most heart wrenching of circumstances like things haven't always been easy, and yet we

too need these final instructions. And so I want you to have that framework

in mind as we go through the passage today, and like to invite my

brother Bear to come up and read for us verses sixteen through twenty eight of

chapter five, reading from First Thessalonians, Chapter five, starting in verse sixteen

through twenty eight. Rejoice, always pray without ceasing, give thanks in all

circumstances, for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus. For you

do not unch the spirit, do not despise prophecies, but test everything,

hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil. Now,

may the God of Peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole if

you're in soul and body, be kept blamings at the coming of our Lord

Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, he will surely do it.

Brothers, pray fas read all the brothers with the Holy kiss. I

put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the

brothers, the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you. This

is God's work. Amen. Okay, So if I were to say the

passage in a sentence, this is how it would read. Completing the project

of sanctification. As individuals and as a church, we must commune with Christ,

being committed to his truth, knowing that He will complete the work.

And so that takes us to our first point, which is communing joyfully with

Christ. Starting in verse sixteen, really straightforward instruction, rejoice always. We

know this from other areas of scripture where we are to rejoice in the Lord

always. Again I say rejoice. This is a reoccurring theme of God's word,

from the Old Testament through the New We know from other areas, other

teachings, and even this church's experience that this isn't a fake kind of Pollyanna.

Everything is happy and wonderful all the times rejoicing. But this is a

joy that is rooted in a contentedness in Christ and his salvation in his people.

Despite the circumstances that He might have us in the church. In thessalon

Iko was actually under persecution. They were facing objection in their community in their

families at the time. And yet Paul isn't saying wait for that to stop

and then start rejoicing. No, He's saying, rejoice always. Paul's joy

earlier in this letter is to God, but he finds joy in the people

of the church. The one in others, the ways in which their lives

are being transformed by the power of the Gospel. Is Paul's joy, which

he says in chapter two, verse twenty, he says, you are my

joy. It is the work of God in you, his people. And

so despite all their persecution, all their suffering, they are called to and

have real joy in their salvation, which is not dissimilar from where Paul was

in his letter to the Philippians, which is the letter of joy, calling

them to joy, while he is in a dank, dark dungeon being fed

moldy bread, and yet all he can talk about is his joy in God's

people. And because of God's grace, that's an example that we have,

and it's the call that we are to fall in, to walk in.

And it is also this as we think about the project getting complete, joy

should be a mark of a maturing believer. As you are nearing completion,

that we must press into a joyful life in Christ. In one way that

He has sovereignly ordained us to receive his joy in his grace is by the

next verse, verse seventeen, that we are to pray without ceasing. Call

Paul's call, excuse me. Paul calls his readers to pray continually, and

that should mark disciples of Christ. To continue growing up in holiness. We

must commit ourselves to unceasing prayer. And in chapter one, verse two,

there's very much much this outward look of Paul throughout this letter. In chapter

one, verse two, he says that I am praying all the time,

and my prayers are for you. I'm constantly mentioning you and my prayers,

and I don't think we should disassociate that from each other. Like we will

find even in the worst of our circumstances, as we get our eyes up

from ourselves to Christ and to His people. We will find joy in the

hardest of circumstances as we pray for one another, as we pray without ceasing.

In really church, we have an opportunity that this is instructions to the

individual, but this is also instructions to us as a church. Body,

as we grow and are completed together, that we have opportunity to grow in

this right now as we have been committed as a church to prayer and praise

nights, which I think maybe three times during announcements was ounce for this week.

It's actually next week, So just make sure you don't show up this

Wednesday. You might be alone. But we have an opportunity to grow in

that and prayer and praise and nus where we gather together as a church body

to pray, to confess sin one to another, to pray for one another,

and then to pray for the gospel in this church going out to the

city of San Antonio, through church planting, and beyond the gospel going out

to all the nations. We have the opportunity to grow in prayer. And

yeah, it's gonna be clunky, and there might be times it's gonna be

awkward, but this is what God has for us here a crossway, and

how we can grow in our unceasing prayer to the Lord. And so as

we do that, I trust that He will give us thanks in all circumstances.

Even as we gather together and hear one another's prayers, and we see

that in verse eighteen, to give thanks in all circumstances. Our individual and

collective thanksgiving isn't conditional. It's not about how well things are going for us

necessarily though it could be. It's about our rootedness in Christ. We're not

only to give thanks when we have that job that finally gets lined up.

Are we finally enter into that relationship that we've been so desperately wanting, or

that when we have just enough money in the bank account, like, oh,

now I can breathe and I can give thanks Lord. By all means,

let's give thanks for every single one of those things. But what this

is calling us to in all circumstances, not just the good. We are

to still give thanks in the hardest and darkest moments of our existence in this

age, in the loss of a loved one in the bank, taking back

the house or the property or the business in the marriage that we so desperately

want that the Lord has not yet provided. We can still give thanks to

him because he is good, and because he has saved you, and he

is continuing to save you. And so we might not always feel like rejoicing,

we might not always feel like praying, We might not always feel like

giving thanks, And yet we must, because, as this verse concludes,

this is the will of God for you. This is the life that He

would have you walk in in all circumstances. And so if this is the

life that He would have us walking through, that he has called us into,

that he has promised to provide for in. Won't he when we step

out in faith to be joyful, to give thanks, to grow and pray,

Won't he provide? We're actually going to get there in this later on

in this passage, But what he says is, yes, I will provide.

I will do it. You lean in to these promises by faith,

and I will provide for you. This is at the forefront in my life

right now, as what I told the first service was outside of my immediate

family, like my closest relative relationship that I've had since I was this little

is my grandmother who has lived a full life and is ninety two years old

and on her deathbed and hospice. And you know, we'll be passing from

this age soon. And it hurts. It stings, the idea of loss,

the sorrow, the pain with which comes with the prospect of loss.

And then I know the pain that will come in the loss itself. And

yet God has had me here in this passage this week, saying I can

still give thanks, yes, for the many great memories and times I had

with her, But even better than that, I can give thanks in Him.

And He is good, and he loves, and he loves saving his

people, and he wants what's best for his people, and so in that

I can still be thankful for His grace. And I know that some of

y'all are experiencing and have experienced significant loss, even in the most recent of

days, unwanted divorces, death of a parent, cancer diagnosis, wayward child.

The list goes on and on. I'm not going to capture it all,

but these are actual examples in the life of this church right now.

And though it is right for us to biblically lament and mourn these losses and

these hardships, we do so not as those without hope. We have hope

in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as we hope in him,

actively hoping in him, he will provide the grace to prevail and to

have joy and to give thanks. That hope leads to a real thanksgiving in

all circumstances. And so as God completes his work in you, as we

seek together to joyfully, prayerfully and with thanksgiving, commune with Him and rest

in His goodness and unchanging character, he also completes us when we are committed

to fanning what is true, committed to fanning what is true, which is

the opposite, that is to say, of quenching what is true. And

the word quenching is what we'll see in the text fanning. You know what

I mean by fanning is, you know, fanning a flame, putting air

onto a flame so that it builds up. This is instruction elsewhere in scripture

that Paul to Timothy, he instructs him to fan and to flame that which

Christ has given to him. And so we must encourage the work of the

Holy Spirit. As we are seeking to be taken from unbelievers to believers,

to sanctifying believers, to ultimately complete and glorified believers. We must continue to

fan and to flame the work of the Holy Spirit. And that process,

and that process does require work, which we'll see that God gives the grace

for one of the things that we enjoy doing at our house. If it's

below roughly seventy eight degrees. Is building fires. We love to build fires.

We build them outside. The family sits around fires. My wife loves

it. And one of my jobs, or really this falls on me always

if I'm around, is fanning that flame, keeping that fire going. Which

is not to say that my wife doesn't work hard, isn't a hard worker,

isn't up for rolling or sleeves up, because she's actually a much harder

worker than I am. My favorite picture of her is when she was like

three days before having a baby. She was powerwashing with like an industrial power

washer the front of our house. I need to get that framed. By

the way, It's like my house is like the Nate Bargatzi bit where the

repair man shows up and I'm like, I don't know where that applian says,

I need to go get my wife out of the shed. She's working

back there. But in this instance, one of the tasks that I have

is keeping that fire going, which takes work. It requires me to put

the logs on at the kinneling on. It requires me to stoke the fire,

expose it to the oxygen, putting, you know, fanning the flames

so that it gets built up. It requires work, okay, And so

I don't want us to think that that process of fanning into flame, not

quenching the work of the spirit, is passive, like it requires pressing forward,

moving forward. But we do that trusting the God that has promised to

complete the process, that he will provide the grace to do it. And

so then what Paul uses as an example of not quenching the spirit rather fanning

that flame is prophecy. We see this starting in verse twenty. He says

that we should not despise prophecy in quenching the spirit. We should not despise

prophecy, but that we should test everything, holding fast to what is good.

And Paul uses this example of prophecy which we know from scripture, that

prophecy through the prophets was how the early church was. One of the ways

in which the early Church was built, that the Holy Spirit used to build

up the church. Ephesia's two to twenty states plainly that the Church of Christ

was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being

the cornerstone. Prophecy was a foundational part of the church's ministry and establishment.

And growth in its early days and would have been foundational in the building up

of the church in Thessalonica. It's a what is prophecy. Prophecy is,

as a definition, for example, for the purpose of this sermon, the

spontaneous, spontaneous revelations that are communicated to God's people, which is to say,

it's not the preaching or the exposition of a revealed text. These spontaneous

words are to instruct, encourage, and warn the people of God. These

words are from God himself out to his people through a prophet. And yet

so we know this is a reality of the early church, Whi's also clear

from the New Testament writers as well as Jesus himself this warning against false prophets.

And so naturally we have this like you know, reality, that prophecy

is going to be building up the church. And then we have this other

side where it's like there will be false prophets, and so as us humans

like we so it's so hard for us to stay in the middle road,

like we want to get in one ditch or the other. It's like we're

in the ditch of okay, just naively believing whatever is you know said by

this prophet and whether it comes to pass or not, you know it's from

this self proclaimed profit. So I'm going to receive it. And then you

have this ditch on the other side, which says, well, prophecy there,

you know they're there. There's gonna be those that will sneak in among

you, and there will be false prophets and lead others astray. So let's

not you know, let's let's not even receive it at all. Let's just

reject it outright. Let's despise prophecy. And where Paul is instructing them and

telling them not to quench the work of the spirit is by staying in the

middle path is by not just outright rejecting prophecy and not naively receiving it,

but receive it humbly. But test it. Test it against God's revealed word,

test it against the character of Christ, test it against the Gospel of

Grace, test it against the prophet's character. These would be the things that

he would have in mind. And so I think it's helpful then as we

think about, okay, the context of this early church, in this idea

of prophecy, that we just take a quick off ramp get onto the access

road and just talk for a minute about prophecy and hopefully not hit any red

lights and then jump back on the freeway of this sermon. So let's do

that right now. And the first question I want to ask is does prophecy

exist today? Some of you might be asking that question of yourselves right now,

and I would say that the short answer is God can do whatever he

wants, how he wants, when he wants to save his people, which

he loves doing. He is a saving Lord, and he will use any

means necessary to accomplish that salviafic work in his people. I would say that.

And when the church was being built up, there were certain spiritual gifts

that were on display in helping build up the church. And well, obviously

we see from Ephesians two twenty that the church was built on the apostles ministry

and the prophets. Like this was essential part of building up the church in

the early days when they didn't have the full sixty six books of the Bible

put together, when the New Testament writers were just writing their letters. God

hadn't fully spoken to his people through his word yet like this was an essential

part. It was a foundational part of the church being built up. And

so today, as we consider that we have a full canon of scripture,

of God's infallible and inherent words to us in all the books of the Bible,

from Genesis to Revelation, it would be reasonable to think that the role

in the work of the prophet would not be as needed because ultimately, what

that is prophecy is words spoken from God to his people to encourage and to

instruct and to direct them. And now we have that fully and plainly today.

And so as the church has been established, the foundation the Church has

been established, and has now gone out from just you know, the region

of the Mediterranean to most off corners of this earth, that it would make

sense that that particular gift is not needed in the same ways. And so

in a sense, God doesn't need to speak through his people in the same

prophetic ways as he did before the Church was built and before the scriptures were

complete. So then I think if we've been around the Christian walk for any

length of time, we've probably heard in ministering to one another the claim of

prophecy. And I believe which was really helped by doctor Tom Schreiner a book

that he wrote on spiritual gifts that I would commend to anybody that wants to

dive into this deeper since this is only a quick exit onto the access road

and we're going to get back on. He uses this helpful descriptive of what

people often would call prophecy. Today he calls it impressions impressions, which is

not to say that these impressions, and I would actually say these impressions most

often or oftentimes are formed by God's word, God's revealed word, God's character,

the Gospel of grace, you know, Christ himself. But what's different

is they're not a direct revelation from God. It's not God speaking to this

person then to you know, through this person, to you. And I

think that if we to loosely call that prophecy, then we run the risk

of adding to God's completed, infallible and inerranive spoken word to us. Now,

would God still back to he loves saving his people? Would he still

in context where the scriptures aren't so readily available, where the scriptures haven't been

translated into a particular tribe or groups language. Could he still work in those

supernatural ways that he did when the church was being founded early on Absolutely and

I think that he can do whatever he wants. But I think that we

here in this context need to be careful on what we are calling prophecy versus

impressions. Okay, back on to the highway of this sermon. So then

what's our application? Okay? If Paul is saying for them this church in

Thessalonaika not to quench the spirit, to despise prophecies, how are we to

think about this? Well, I think that we could apply it a number

of different ways, But just for simplicity, let's think of it this way.

As someone ministering one to another in this church shares with you an impression

that they have that's undoubtedly formed by God's words, formed by the Gospel,

It's formed by the character of Christ. How are we receiving that as we

are getting in verse thirteen or fourteen, here says that when we are being

admonished or encouraged or being helped with impressions Gospel impressions formed by sound doctrine,

are we receiving that skeptically? Are we receiving that humbly and being open to

the work of the Holy Spirit, not quenching the work of the Holy Spirit?

I think that's how we can think about the application of this. How

are you this week as you go to small group, going to receive the

encouragement and admonishment of biblically informed brothers and sisters. Are you going to quench

the Spirit as he is impressing on your heart through your church family. I

think Paul is saying here that would not only be a loss for you,

but that would slow down your finishing work, the finishing work that Christ is

doing in your life, the maturing and building you up into a full,

incomplete, into full and complete Christ's likeness. Let's not quench the work of

the Spirit. And so then he says here in verse twenty one, that

we are to abstain from every form of evil. Paul the church that a

church that has already been putting aside so much evil in their lives. One

of my favorite verses I've probably said it a few times already this morning,

is that they were turning away from idols to serve the living and true God.

Like these people's lives were being transformed, and polls reminding them, hey,

we're finishing the project. Don't just abstain from those idols of your past,

but abstain from every sneaky form of evil. And just like the audience

of this letter, I know that there are like just looking across the room,

I'm recounting testimonies of God saving you his people from past lives and idolatrous

living that was just living in this world. And He has been changing you.

And what He has for us is that, like, do not grow

weary of that work. Like one of the most common things as I'm discipling

and walking with guys is like they've come to the discipleship discussion with this presenting

issue, this you know, pornography addiction or this substance abuse or whatever it

is. It's really you know, gumming up their lives, and they want

help with that. And God meets them in that and he begins to change

their hearts and he helps them to turn away from idols to for the first

time serve the living and true God. And it's glorious and it's beautiful,

and yet almost without fail, it's like, Okay, Wow, God's dealing

with me with this drinking problem, and now I'm realizing that He wants this

little part of my life and this little pride and this this little selfishness and

this other little nicky sin that quite frankly, is much more acceptable to society.

But he wants all of me. And that's the thing is that Christ

doesn't just want that thing. He wants the whole you, and he is

not satisfied until he has all of you in The encouraging thing is is He's

going to take you there. He is going to complete you. And that's

where we're going next. As we commit ourselves to fanning what's true, we

do so trusting, trusting by faith that we will be completed by His grace.

So I want to read verses twenty three through twenty four with you again.

But before I do, I want you to just take out or notice

two points that he makes right here. That God does it. God does

the work, and that God will do it totally, fully and completely.

Okay, God does it and he will do it completely. So starting in

verse twenty three, now, may the God of Peace himself sanctify you completely,

and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the

coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, he

will surely do it. Guys, God does the work. God himself will

sanctify you. We are responsive, responsible to be responsive to the Holy Spirit

because we believe that He is going to be changing us. It's faith.

We walk in faith, and that's the gospel of grace, that it is

a gift. We receive it from Him. We put our to step out.

We step out in faith trusting that we will receive this good news gift

of His saving grace and his sanctifying grace. And so Paul, as he's

punching out and completing this project, he wants his hearers to know, like,

hey, this is essential, that it is God who does the work,

and we know from experience, but we also know, namely from God's

revealed word, that nothing of spiritual significance happens without the powerful and effective work

of the Holy Spirit, directed by the Father, given to us through the

work of Jesus Christ. And the thing is is he has promised to do

that to every single Christian, every Christian trusting in the Blood of Christ will

be taken fully to completion Romans eight twenty eight or Romans eight twenty nine through

thirty, which will I think be Josh will be preaching on in either next

week or the week after, says that for those whom he fore knew,

he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. In those

whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he

also justified. In those whom he justified, he also glorified. You will

be glorified with Christ. That is the hope that we have in the gospel.

He will do it. It's like we were traveling. We had one

child. She was just of the age where she could barely walk. We

were in the airport in Houston, flying to Mexico with my family, and

she got on one of those people movers, you know, the flat escalators,

and she could barely walk. So she was, you know, bobbling

around and tripping and falling on her face. And it was like the perfect

picture of us walking through a life of sanctification. It's like we, you

know, wobbly legs, without balance, We get on that people mover,

and God just takes us forward, despite our stumbling, despite our backsliding,

despite our inability to hold ourselves. He will do it. She happened to

barfall over her clothes, ended up wearing Mickey Mouse clothes from the gift shop

to Mexico. But that's kind of how it is in the Christian life,

is that God provides. So the second part that I wanted you to focus

in on is that God's going to do this totally, fully, completely.

There will be no lack, there will be no want. We're talking perfect

holiness, full satis faction, total Christ's likeness, complete like. There will

be no pain, Every tear will be wiped away, there will be no

sorrow. We will be perfectly united with Christ and therefore perfectly united with one

another in glory. Total complete. Paul uses a language whole, spirit,

soul, and body like. He's describing the comprehensive fullness with which you will

be made whole. You're physically sick, he will wholly heal you. You're

emotionally broken. He will fully mend and repair your brokenness. You're riddled with

doubt. He will complete your faith when it becomes sight trust in Him.

That is the hope of the Gospel of Grace. It is when we place

our life's hope in the hands of Christ by faith. We do so trusting

that He will complete the work, that he will save you, and that

he will save you today. And he will complete you in the days to

come. That decision is made, God saves you, repent of your sins,

follow him and then that's the manner of your life from now until the

end, is walking in repentance and faith, trusting that He will take you

degree by degree to completion. So what area This is a question for each

person in here. What area in your life as you're seeking to be completed

by the power of the Gospel. Can you find comfort in today and this

week that God will complete you? Is it a particular sin that has a

grip on you? Is it a particular brokenness over some loss that you need

to trust in Him to complete you in? It could be anything. But

I'm asking you to respond right now to the conviction of the spirit and acknowledge

it and articulate it in your head or on your note, pay your notes,

and be committed this week to pray about that thing that God complete me

in this area in these ways. And when you gather with your small group

this week, share that with the guys or with the gals, ask them

to pray for you in these ways and do so in faith, trusting that

He will do the work. Let's do that together as a Church. So

as the Holy Spirit works the project of our sanctification to completion, we must

remember that we're to commune with Christ joyfully, prayerfully, and with thanksgiving.

We're to remain committed to fanning that flame of what is true. And we

do all of that in the backdrop of knowing that it is ultimately Christ and

his grace that will complete the work by his power. And where that does,

what that does for us individually, it looks a specific way as we

come together corporately. And this is how Paul concludes his letter, and this

is my last point as we close out the sermon, that we are to

be connected with affection and togetherness. See these last few verses aren't just a

throwaway kind of sign off from Paul, but this is to encourage and describe

what this togetherness, this gospel together the otherness looks like. That we are

to pray for one another. Paul has already said earlier in the letter how

he's committed to praying for them all the time. They might naively think that

Paul doesn't need prayers and he's saying, no, pray for me. So

what's implied there is that we are all praying for one another. We need

If it's Christ that's doing the work, if it's Christ that's completing this work

in you individually and in this body, then we need to call on Him

to do it. We must pray for one another that gets our eyes even

up from ourselves out to the needs of others. We are to greet all

the brothers with a holy kiss. I'm not advocating that we leave these doors

and start kissing each other in the lobby. If you kiss the wrong person,

that might get you punched. But what is being described here is a

warmth and affection toward one another. And he doesn't say, greet only the

brothers and sisters that you like with a holy kiss, or only the brothers

and sisters that aren't stinky, or even the brothers and only the brothers and

sisters that you're comforting with. No, he says, all the brothers and

sisters, which is the gospel unity. That is the unity that the Gospel

results in. When it becomes not about you, and it becomes about His

work and therefore His people, then we treat one another without partiality, not

because we don't treat somebody better because they look better. We don't treat somebody

better because they have more. We don't treat somebody better because they have leadership

or power. We treat everybody as the Gospel treats us, which is impartial.

And then lastly, he instructs that they are to read this letter to

all the brothers. Letter wasn't just for those that could read. This letter,

wasn't just for the leadership of the church. Paul wanted to make sure,

as this was God's word, that everyone had access to God's truth.

And that is the same way that we must minister to one another at crossway.

Again, this committed gospel unity. That doesn't say I give more of

myself to this person because of the way maybe it benefits me, or because

it's easier now, we're to give it that level of ministry to everyone.

That is the message of the gospel. That is, the leveling of the

playing field of the Gospel of grace results in us handling one another without partiality,

full unity. So I'd like to invite the band to come up.

The Gospel of grace results in the recipients of this grace not being proud,

not showing partiality to anyone above another, but it brings us together with a

deep affection, a gospel rooted, gospel centered affection for one another. And

so again this week, let's walk out of here with a heart's mind looking

towards how we can care for one another equally, which probably means you're going

to be pursuing it on your own