Growing Forward

Alright, are you ready for God's Word today? Why don't you grab your Bible and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4?

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 4

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Now I believe in now Paul writes Ephesians 4 most scholarship is pretty

Conclusive on that and the fact that well, I should say I should say conclusive we have consensus

So the consensus is a better word

There are some arguments that perhaps because of some of the language and whatnot

That that is used in Ephesians. Maybe it wasn't Paul

but the writer identifies himself as Paul and I think Paul wrote it and

In in Paul's writings like Romans to me is almost like his

What would you call it like his magnum opus I mean it's like it's like the most amazing thing I think Paul wrote in my opinion

but Ephesians is awesome too because have you ever been to like

I you know any I don't know a city or theme park where they have like a town like maybe you went to New York

If you go to New York

You can go to top of the rock or you can go to the Freedom Tower or you can go to the Empire State building

And if you like go top of the rock it's kind of cool

Because you know you can see all the way to almost the other side of Central Park

You see all the way and so you can see like it gives you this view of the whole landscape

You understand Ephesians is kind of like that

It's a concise summary of the whole landscape because Paul talks the first three chapters are about how we believe

the next three chapters are kind of how we behave in a sense and Paul covers like Christ and salvation and marriage and I mean

Community and relationship. I mean a spiritual warfare like he covers all of it in Ephesians

And so to me it's an awesome book. He wrote in his first imprisonment

Most scholars believe he was imprisoned in Rome's the early 60s not 1960s

He wasn't at Woodstock, but he was like the 60s AD so

and so he writes it

probably to

we know this because so like one of the earliest kind of

full complete Bibles if you will that we have is called the Codex codex and Atticus and

And from like the mid was that mid force so about

350 to 370 somewhere in there it was and codex just means is how it's bound so instead of being papyrus

You know in a scroll it was actually bound more like a book

And it was actually discovered at Mount Sinai, and that's how I got the name sonaticus, but but anyways

Those earlier documents don't have in Ephesus, so it doesn't so when Ephesians talks about Ephesus

They don't have that actual word in there, so probably this was more of a circular letter than to a specific

Church like the Ephesian Church

It was probably a lot of churches in Asia Minor

But that would have been one and so it stayed in there because it still makes sense anyways

I know you were just sitting there, and you were wondering this morning, and you're like man

I hope he explains this stuff. You know and and so you're you're welcome anyways

Um and so why don't you stay with me? We're just going to read a few verses together

So we're in chapter 4, so this is kind of the kind of how we live the Christian life if you will and

Verse 11 is where we're going to pick up reading very familiar passage

But it says it was he who gave some everybody say some

He gave some

Right it was he who gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and some teachers now the reason

We said some is because you don't need a lot of those people right you know

They don't need a lot of those people amen praise the Lord right

And then verse 12 to prepare God's people for works of service alright, so let me just make this point really quickly

According to Paul now. I you know this is the the NIV. I'm using it today

I changed versions depend on what I'm emphasizing because different translations emphasize to me different things or they word things differently I

Was raised on old King James so a lot of times I can quote you that these and the dows and the four witch calls

and therefore and but um

Anyways and hither unto I mean there's a lot of words in King James

that I like King James because it feels like they just made words up and

I mean, but and now do that a lot anyways

The point is this it says that that he gave these apostles prophets pastor teachers evangelists to to equip the saints to do ministry

And I don't have time to preach it, but I just want you to understand according to the Bible

You're not actually supposed to watch the pastors do ministry

You're supposed to do the ministry and let the pastors help you

Okay according to the Bible, so if you're like oh, I came to watch you do ministry

Then you don't understand the Bible yet, and that's okay

That's why he gave some of us so we could help you understand

So that you understand you have a great purpose and you have great significance in the body of Christ

And you don't have to be a pastor to have a purpose and you don't have to be a pastor to have a ministry

And you don't have to be a pastor to be called by God and you don't have to be passed a pastor to be spiritually

Significant in the body of Christ or some of the most significant people I know have never stepped on a platform or preach them

Are preached a message in public, but they are so powerful and significant in the body of Christ

Are you with me just so we're clear amen praise the Lord

And he did this so that the body of Christ may be a built-up

Did you notice the body of Christ gets built up when the when the believers do ministry not when the pastors do ministry

I'm just we're just reading the Bible. This is not in my sermon, but I like to like read the Bible with y'all

You are the some of the funnest people in the world read the Bible with verse 13 until the end of the verse

13 until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature

Obtaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ

Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching

And by every post on Instagram and by everything on the news. Oh

No, I don't think he said that I'm sorry you're like that's not in my translation pastor, but it's the same thing

I'm just helping you out

By every wind and teaching by every cunning craftiest men and by every tick-tock doctrine. Oh

No, it's deceitful scheming. I'm so well same thing anyways

Instead speaking the truth and love we will in all things grow up into him who is the head that is Christ

From the whole body is joined and held together by every supporting ligament

Grows and builds by the way that word ligament is such a cool word

It actually could be translated in a way pathogen

Like a communicable disease almost but in a very positive sense

It's it's the word is hafei. I think in the Greek

H-a-p-h-e

Interesting, but anyways, so he's just saying that we can be contagious when we're together and and that actually think about this our health is

Contagious our life is contagious. We'll come back to that. It's a really cool word

But grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its own work

Man, that's a lot that we need to talk about and I only have like ten minutes. So we're gonna talk fast everybody

Let's pray together. I want to talk today. I'm kind of concluding this series unstuck

And I want to talk today

and

And I really struggle with the message, but I finally landed on this growing forward

Yeah growing forward. So let's pray together father. Thank you so much for the word of God and Lord today

Help us to be thorough, but really quick

Lord we want to see a miracle almost like the Red Sea parting when pastor Marty has a short message and amen God

You're good. So help us here well and fast in Jesus name and everybody said

Amen. All right, you can be seated. Thank you so much

Growing growing forward growing forward

I almost want to call it but I didn't like this because it was kind of a had a negative connotation to it

But I almost want to call it grow out of it

You know what I'm saying and the reason is here's here's kind of the big idea

All right, then we'll kind of break it down and then we'll be done

To me

I want to talk just a little bit because what Paul is doing in Ephesians is he is really talking about

Unifying the body of Christ because you have to remember Jesus came and his ministry was to the Jews

Right. So even Paul says, you know preach the gospel the God preaching the gospel is the power of God unto salvation

To the Jew first and then the Gentile and so you have to understand these are two

Very different races of people, right?

So the Gentiles like the Jews and then all these other a lot of Greek culture and a lot of Roman stuff

And I mean there's a lot going on here, right and and now when the gospel goes to the Gentiles

Now we got a problem because we had Jew people that were saved and and Judaism, you know

It's not necessarily bad in a sense. It's just not what saves you

So the practice of the law is not what saves you its faith in Christ

And so they're they're they're they're still eating the Jewish diet and they're still doing you know

The Jewish culture still exists and now these Gentiles get saved and theirs is all over the place man. There's like wild

And so there's a lot of problems because to the Jews Gentiles were unclean to the Gentiles Jews bunch of religious snobby people

You don't want to hang out with and now we're all trying to become one church

And so you got to remember a lot of your New Testament

especially the writings of Paul trying to help Jews and Gentiles figure a lot of things out and

Ephesians is kind of one of those books and that's why he Paul kind of starts with you know in Christ that this wall that has

Separated it's been torn down and now we're all God's people everybody

You know what I'm saying? And and so Paul is talking a lot about

Relationships in Ephesians and and he's talking about Jews and Gentiles

He's talking about race talking about marriage talking about the body of Christ

And so Paul's Paul's trying to take on a lot of topics here

When we get to a vision chapter four though specifically Paul is really talking about our growth and

Our maturity in Christ and you could say that theme runs throughout really the whole book of Ephesians

But he really gets into kind of the nuts and bolts four or five and six is about how we live this life, right?

And that's why we get into our marriage relationships and spiritual warfare and chapter six and all those things

But the point Paul is trying to make is hey you guys we got to be careful

You guys we got to get together and we have to grow

Here's what I want you to understand because we're in this series called unstuck. This is what I know and maybe you know this too

your relationships can keep you stuck and

Relationships can get you unstuck

This is the truth this I mean I think it's truth the Bible, but I think it's just truth in life

Because some people are stuck because you're in some relationships that that maybe you just those people are always gonna be

Where they are?

Okay, and I you know, I'm I want to do a sermon time called those people but

But there are people that aren't going anywhere and there are people that pull us down and there are people that are just permeated with

negativity and there are people that are critical of everything and

There are also people with differing desires or you could say values and a lot of times if we don't understand

That God is wanting to move us forward and we don't assess the relationships that we have

Sometimes the relationships we have keep us stuck

See what you need to understand remember Ephesians 4 says he equips the saints for the work of the ministry

You are significant you have purpose you have a calling from God

You are significant in the body of Christ your life is

Supposed to have great meaning God has ascribed to it

He you were created on purpose for a purpose right those things are true about you

I hope you believe that if not

We'll talk more about it the rest of our lives together, but but because one of my favorite things to talk about

So you've got to believe in you and

Then there comes a time you got to kind of look around and say okay if God's called me here

I never forget my um I went to college and

And as started out I was going to be

In the medical field and so I was not at a Christian University. It wasn't a seminary or anything like that

And so I was taking classes well in that time

That's when God really called me and I knew okay. I need to transfer and I need to go to seminary

You know I'm gonna really follow God in this

This calling, but in that time. I'm in a not Christian. You know you know college and

And so I was being invited by people that I like to go do things that I'm like

I don't think in good to come out of that you know and what I realized is I like the people

But I can't go with them because see they're not going where I'm going

So it's not anything personal. I like them

They were wonderful people and we you know we had class together and hung out together

And you know at school and those type of things, but you know on the weekends and at night

I didn't need to go with them because anything I wasn't gonna work for where I needed to go

Are you with me and sometimes?

It's okay to look at people and say I love them. They're good people, but they're not going where I'm going I

Love them. They're good people, but they've been stuck for 20 years, and I don't want to be stuck for 20 years

I love them

They're good people, but you know what they've been bitter for the last 15 years

And I don't want to really taste their bitterness anymore, and it's okay to look and say where are some people who are going?

Where I'm going who are embracing the values that I have that understand

They're significant and their purpose and they're called and they're chosen and I want to get with those people

Because here's what I can tell you in

Five years your life will look like your relationships today

in

Five years your life will look like your friend circle today

Who you hang out with determines where your life goes in fact let me give you a fun verse

Proverbs 13 20 says he who walks with wise men will be wise

But the companion of fools will be destroyed come on say it plainer Solomon

And so our relationships determine a lot about our life three things

We're gonna go through them kind of quick, but I want you to write these three things down number one is this

You won't get there unless you grow there

You won't get there unless you grow there

When you talk about the vision for your life right like a lot of people you know what and we just say this

It's a good example because everybody understands money most people want to have money, right?

Most people want to have money

But the problem is that having getting money is is not actually what gives you security

Because have you ever watched those documentaries on lottery winners, and now they're bankrupt

Do you know the problem? Do you know the problem they didn't grow into it?

Have you ever watched you know documentaries about even even kids who never their parents never made them work hard because their parents

Had so much money

They just kind of gave them everything through money after and in their life turned out to be a trainwreck

You ever seen those documentaries what happened they didn't grow into the wealth see the parents grew the wealth grew into the wealth, right?

But unfortunately they didn't they passed the wealth on but not the growth on

You see what I'm saying and so a lot of times we say well I want to be financially secure

I want to be this I want to be that I want to be healthy want to have good relationships

Let me explain something you don't get there unless you grow there

You grow there you don't go there you grow

There that's really what Paul is telling the Ephesians. He uses word verse 13 until we reach

Here's what he's saying growth is a process and you're not there yet

He says until we reach this unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God becoming mature and

Growing into the fullness of Christ, so here's what I've learned in my life say it with me. It will free you. I'm not there yet

Like it's okay. I'm okay with saying. I don't know

I'm okay with saying I don't know I'm okay with saying I'm not there yet

But I'm okay with saying but I'm gonna grow there

I'm gonna grow there like I can't get there unless I grow there and and here's what I have to understand that growth is

A process and growth is really important

I could talk about all the things that happen when we grow you just think about maturity and all the things that happen Paul

Kind of gives us cool metaphor. He basically gives us a picture of a baby in a boat with no rudder

That's what we read a minute ago like toss to and fro on the waves, you know, like a kid in a boat with no rudder

Does that sound like a fun life to be in?

You know, does that sound like fun?

You know like let's go out on you know

There's a storm on the sea and let's throw a baby in a boat with no rudder and just see how things go. I

Think one of the greatest things about growing is but and this is really one of the greatest points

He's making is you think about a baby in a boat with no rudder

So here and he's talking really about growing and in

Maturing in our faith and in growing up to be who God has called us to be but think about this

Baby in a boat with no rudder

So here's what he's saying when I grow first of all first of all I get I get a rudder I can steer

See it takes growth and maturity to make right decisions

Immature people make bad decisions all the time. Hello. Did y'all go to college?

Aren't you glad they didn't have snapchat and Instagram when I'm thankful at what didn't exist when I was in college dear Lord

Okay, some of you you're just not gonna be honest

That's okay, it's all right you'll grow into it

But then he's talking about being in a storm talking about being a baby well, baby doesn't know how to navigate a storm

Wouldn't it be great if I knew how to navigate the storms of life and my life had a rudder?

Where I could steer myself through storms of life

See we get mad all the time because we get mad at God all the time because we're in a storm and we get mad

At God all the time because we're being tossed around and God's saying listen you're gonna you can either go through it or grow through it

But if you grow through it, you're gonna learn how to use your rudder

And you're gonna learn how to navigate storms because everyone's gonna have storms

Are you with me? And so when we're talking about growth listen, I don't I don't just I don't just go there

I have to I have to grow there. Um, listen the life that you're dreaming of is on the other side of your growth. I

Think success in life

I think when we're talking about growing into I think success in life and I'll give you this and we go to the next point

But success in life is this like if you really want to be successful in life grow bigger on the inside than you are on the outside

If you can get bigger on the inside than you are on the outside you say was that me well

the outside wants a big car big house lots of money or whatever the inside wants to have character and

Integrity and wisdom, right? Those are things you grow on the inside and if you really want to enjoy life get bigger on the inside

Right grow there get bigger on the inside. Here's the second thing growth is not automatic. It's intentional

The only thing you can accidentally grow is your waistline

Come on somebody where my people at I

Found man. Did y'all go through the holidays?

I thought I was doing good and I weighed in January and I was like did somebody put lead my body somewhere like what happened?

Something has happened all those good treats just they love me. They just stick to me and never let go

But the truth the matter is that's about the only way you can you can accidentally grow is your waistline

Every other way we grow is not by accident. It's by intention. I

Think sometimes we miss this and I just want to say it very clearly and I'm gonna put it in the first person

Actually, I'm gonna say it in the third. Yeah. Anyways, I'm gonna say it directly

It's just saying we and being you know, including everybody like, you know kind of a third, you know

Yeah, I'm gonna say you okay, but I don't mean anything bad. I just need to make a point

I want to say this very clearly

you are

responsible for your

growth

I

Just want to say it like I'm not responsible for your growth, right?

I'm responsible to you not for you

See, I'm responsible to do what I did this week. I prepared I've studied I have a message. I'm ready

I'm ready to teach you ready explain I prayed for you, you know, I've talked with people this week

I've done all the pastor things this week, right?

I'm responsible to be who God's called me to be but I'm not responsible for whether or not you grow

right

Like like you have to show up and eat the food

I mean I can cook it but you got to show up and eat it. Are you with me?

Right. I mean you you have to make the decision to go and be a disciple to take class

You know to take those classes and those opportunities to go to first step

you have to take their the opportunity to find a group of people and you you are in charge of your growth and and

Oh, I don't want to say this in a mean way. But since we're just talking, can I be your friend and be honest?

You're responsible for your growth and if life isn't working then start growing

And so many times in our culture is a

Culture is permeated with this victim mentality of it's everybody else's fault. Well, nobody ever gave me a puppy

Well grow up and get a job and buy five puppies if that's what you want

dear Lord

right

right

And and I know I'm being a little facetious

But y'all live in this world too and everybody's a victim and nobody's responsible. Listen to me

You're you're responsible and it doesn't matter what situation you're in and what you've gone through in life the situation my life

Maybe you know they have not been perfect because I share all the craziness of my life

That's the great thing about that's why you don't want to be a pastor because God will make you share

things about your life that you just wish you never talked about and and so

but

Nobody's life has been perfect

Hear me on this. No one's life has been perfect

The problem is you're watching Instagram highlight reels and you don't know how life works. No one's life is perfect

No one escaped the fall

Everybody has a story. It's just some people decided to grow through it and other people just kind of went through it and

I'm just telling you if you want to grow you have to be intentional. I can give you kind of categorically two ways

I always work on growth. I break it down this way being and doing

Okay, these are my two categories of growth. Let me explain what I mean. So in the being category

Sometimes I I need to work on my attitude

Right. Sometimes I need to work on my patience

Sometimes I need to work on the fact that I don't like for me as a pastor one of things I really have and I still

Work on this really had to do is I had to learn to celebrate people well and also to learn and to celebrate

Accomplishments because I'm a visionary and I'm on to the next thing like yeah, that was good. Let's go work on this

Right, but your team they need you to say that was awesome and to be specific what you did right there

like one of the jokes with one of our staff people I won't say which one but

I would say they would present something I'd say well, I don't hate it, you know, well, that's not very helpful is it?

No, and so I would say yes, I love it or no

Let's work on this right here and then I'll love it, you know

And so it gets very specific but but the point is I work on the being part of me

So I'm always working on the being part of me and then I'm working on the doing part of me

Which is more external in other words their skills or things that I need to learn or things I need to develop

You know like for me because I'm a communicator. Sometimes I'm reading a book on communication

You know one of the things that I want to do a long time is I want to go back and do

back and do master's work and maybe eventually doctors doctoral studies and so I'm doing that right now

Because something I always want to do and that's the doing part of me

But I still have to work on the being part of me

And so but you have to be intentional with those things because you have to kind of embrace some discomfort

Sometimes those things are not always fun learning something, you know doing something or especially

The being part is usually the hardest part, you know for a lot of us, right when we look and say hey

I need to adjust some attitudes or some thought patterns or whatever the case may be

But this is what you need to understand you will not grow if you're not intentional about it

You will not grow so you have to say I'm gonna work on this in my being and this in my doing and then you

Have to make a plan

To do those things and then you have to work that plan

That's what I do every year

I've been doing it for years and years and years

It's what our staff does mostly because they all want to but I also require it

right

Because I want us to grow right because I want us to be able to reach more people love more people serve more people well

Which means we have to grow to do that. Are you are you hearing what I'm saying?

And so growth is not automatic, you know, here's the thing you need to understand most of the time and I've said this before

Let me say it really quickly

Most of the time we have downhill desires, but we really need some uphill habits

Are you with me because if you leave me to myself, I've got downhill desires. I can eat

untold amounts copious amounts of

M&M peanut M&Ms and never get tired of them, you know

If you eat the same thing over and over sometimes you get tired of it. This is not me and M&Ms

This does not describe our relationship at all

I can eat four pounds of those things and think you know a big better for four more pounds and

And it's like bacon, you know what go with M&Ms more M&Ms, you know, what goes well with bacon more bacon

You know, it's just that kind of thing

And and so I have some downhill habits everybody you see what I'm saying are downhill desires

But I also have some uphill habits. So my uphill habits are well, I have to eat this much protein a day

I can't go over this many carbs a day and I'm kind of loose in my translation of those things

But still I kind of have some guidelines that keep me from looking like something you can stamp

Good year on and fly over a baseball game. You know what I'm saying? And so um, and so I go to the gym

You know, but those are my uphill habits, you know

I the other day pastor mark and I go to the same gym and we're usually in there at similar times and

I went over the other morning said hi and he said how's it going?

I said, I got a really bad attitude about this whole gym thing today and he said yeah, but you made I said

Yeah, I'm here but I'm real mad about it

And so I don't always have the joy of the Lord at the gym

But I'm there because that's my uphill habit. Are you with me everybody? You understand what I'm saying?

And so we have to grow intentionally. Here's the third thing and write this down

Relationships aren't optional for growth. They're essential for growth. And this is really this whole idea of Ephesians 4

Because he says from whom the whole body joined and held together by what every

supporting ligament that that word ligament like I said in the Greek is almost like a like a

You know like a contagion. It may even be a better word

Because it's just talking about basically. Here's the point. He's making there's this symbiotic

Benefit of being in relationships in the body of Christ in that I receive from you and you receive from me

And the point he's trying to make is you have to be you have to be connected in that symbiotic kind of relationship

for everyone to grow because sometimes you're needing

Something like sometimes I need encouragement. I need support right?

I need a good word

I need prayer and the other times someone else needs and then I'm giving support or encouragement or prayer or

Any number of things love I mean you could go on and on and on with all the things and in the point of it being

Is that when we're working like that and that give and take relationship, right?

Right. This is where you know to be honest assessing our relationships

Sometimes you have to assess relationships to say do I have give and take relationships or do I just have take relationships?

And then you'd be honest and say in my relationships do I give or do I just take?

Right. This is a good evaluation, but Paul is making the point

Hey, if there's not going this what he's saying there's not going to be growth without those connections. That's what he just said

Not gonna be growth without those connections

And so we really want to grow then we have to we have to get in community listen to me

You may be one community away from changing your life forever

You could be one community away from changing your life forever

and so I want you to understand that Paul is putting an

Extreme amount of importance on relationships now now. So what do we do?

Well, let me just give you three things really quickly to do

That I think in life that I have to do so you need to remember pastor Marty is actually an introvert

Most people don't understand this because I'm very uncomfortable stand up here and talk and you put me that matter how?

How big the crowd is I can just stand up talk be myself. It's a weird thing

It's the way God made me but I'm an introvert which just means that I recharge by myself

Right like I can give and give and give but then you know

I'm gonna go home and I just kind of need some quiet just a little bit right now

Jana is an extroverted extrovert extrovert and

So, you know, she just stay forever and talk to people and me

I'm like after everybody kind of gets gone like I need to go home sit down for a minute

Like I've spent all my energy, you know

and so

so to me

Unfortunately, because I'm an introvert one of the things I've had to look at my life is I don't always seek out new relationships. I

Can be very happy just with Jana

I can be very happy just with Jana like I'm happy. I've Jana

We're happy and we have the dogs. They're weird and

Y'all pray for my dog too. He's got high anxiety. We think he got struck by lightning. Anyways, not really, but he freaks out. But anyways, um

That's Milo Coco doesn't care Coco. You could drive a bus through the house. She'd probably just feel like that's weird

Milo'd have four heart attacks and three seizures. Anyway, so

But anyways, the point is that I can sometimes not pursue relationships

So I'm giving you some things that have helped me number one

I have to be courageous in other words, I have to understand like sometimes trying to make new friends or

or

Enter into new relationships. It's a little bit of courage, you know, because like what if it doesn't go well, you know

What if they're weird? What if they think I'm weird? You know, I mean, there's all the things that we deal with

And here can I help you usually we're thinking what do they think about me and they're not thinking about you

They're thinking the same thing as you

What do they think about me?

And so if we can all get out of our head a little bit we can be courageous and engage some new people

So number one be be courageous take a risk make a phone call send a text

You know go talk to some people in the chapel, you know, take a risk and number two be friendly. I

Had to realize one time I met with a pastor friend of mine who's now a good friend of mine

But he said for the longest time I thought you didn't like me

And I said why I said just the way you looked at me and I said well

Bless it. I got this from my mama. It's it's the rest in frowny face. That's what we're gonna call it

Yeah, the rest in frowny face. We're just gonna call it that and and so I realized that you know, I'm happy

I'm like I'm happy on the inside like I'm you know, but I look like I'm happy on the inside

Like I'm you know, but I look like someone just stole my dog. And so I had to learn to smile a little bit

And say hi

It's so good to see you

I'm so glad you're here

I'm very happy right now

As I had to learn to do that. So so this is what Proverbs 18 24 by the way says Proverbs 18 24

A man who has friends

must himself

be friendly

I'm just want to say something lovingly as we're taking responsibility for our lives if you've made the complaint

I don't have any friends. It could be because you're not friendly

So take a risk be courageous be friendly and number three be open to new people

Be open to new people your best friend. You may not have even met yet

So be the person may impact your life the most even in your faith

Maybe you haven't even met yet and you could even go to the same church, but you just haven't met yet

And so I want you I want to encourage you like be courageous take some risk, right? Be friendly smile everybody

We're so happy

Right and then just be open to some new people be open to some new groups and here's why here's why because according to Paul

You can't get there. You got to grow there and

relationships are

Essential to our growth. Amen

All right. Can you give Jesus praise today?

Hey pastor Marty here from pathway church

I just want to say thank you for joining us and I want to encourage you to get connected and stay connected

And there's several ways you can do that number one

You can download the pathway app that we are all the time offering

Resources and information on that app for you

You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel

And if you do make sure you click the bell so that you never miss any

life-giving and life-changing content as we add it to the channel and then also

Make sure you follow us on social media on Instagram on Facebook

Look our hope and heart for you is that you walk in the purpose for which God made and created and redeemed you for

We love to connect people to purpose. We thank you for giving us this opportunity

And if you're ever in long view or you are in long view

I'd love to invite you to join us in person each weekend. Listen, I pray God's best for your life

I believe if you follow Jesus your best is ahead.