Family Drama | Special Guest, Pastor Matt Kendrick

United City packed house.

Look at this.

I hope y'all like sitting right next to somebody at the 10 a.m.

That's awesome.

So I love this church.

Hey, I bring greetings from Redemption City in Fort Worth, Texas, a church that you helped plant.

Okay, we just had our third birthday.

We're three years old.

And so I first want to brag on you.

Pastor Jeremy's right.

Every time you give two United City, you're giving three United City.

And it goes to ministries and churches and missionaries like ours all around the world.

And so most of them don't get the chance to personally thank you.

So let me thank you.

You guys supported us since before we started, actually.

You've sent mission teams.

You guys send the best mission teams, by the way.

If you've been on a mission team with us, like to us with you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah, hey, yeah.

The best mission teams.

That's right.

So thank you all for praying for us.

Keep doing so.

And so uh one encouragement before we're in uh 1 Corinthians 5 today, one encouragement.

If you know anybody in Fort Worth who needs to hear about Jesus or who needs a church home, my email is right there.

Hit me up or come find me in the lobby after.

I we want to connect them to Jesus.

And so four families moved to Fort Worth in 2020 to start our church.

And so we started meeting in our home and engaging the city and washing cars and coaching our kids' ball teams and meeting lost people, knocking on doors, everything.

And then God brought more people.

So then we made disciples and we started having monthly preview services.

And then we moved into the, you know, we officially launched August of 2021 in the Ben Brooke YMCA, okay, setting up tearing down in the Y.

And then in January of this year, we actually, God gave us a facility on 11 acres on the Chisholm Trail Parkway, that the fastest growing part of Fort Worth.

And so God's blessing.

I can't believe it.

And so keep praying for us.

Yeah.

And so what we tried to do, you know, well, what a lot of American church plants do, to be honest with you, they will start a church and then they'll make disciples and then they will engage the city, which is exactly opposite of what Paul and the New Testament planters did.

In the New Testament, they would move to a city, they would engage the city, they would preach to the lost, and they would engage people who didn't know Jesus, and then they would make new disciples, and then they would start a church.

So that's again what we did.

We so everybody who's coming to our church were previously unchurched, dechurched, or are new to the area.

So it's messy and it's so fun.

So we're seeing baptisms just like y'all all the time.

Today, a young lady named Mary is getting baptized.

She struggled with addiction her whole life.

She came to Jesus two weeks ago.

Her dad's baptizing her today.

Her dad, who's prayed for her for 30 years, is baptizing her today.

And so, thank you.

Over the past 10 years, uh, Fort Worth is the second fastest growing city in America behind you.

Okay, and so the growth is unbelievable.

And so little old Fort Worth is now the 13th largest city in the country.

Oh, yeah, I brought some pictures so you can see what guy's doing.

So, Fort Worth is now the 13th largest city in the country on its own.

We don't need or want that city to our east.

You'll never hear somebody from Fort Worth say DFW.

No, thank you.

Okay?

And so on its own, by the end of the decade, we'll be the 12th largest city, a little old cowtown, you know, and so we need more churches, more chipotles, everything.

It's growing like crazy.

And so y'all pray for us as we continue to try to make disciples.

We're about to plant our fourth church.

People that we're sending out, we have four missionaries overseas, sending two more through the IMB next year.

So again, I could go on and on.

What I want more than anything is for you to pray for us and connect anybody you know in Fort Worth that needs a church to us, okay?

So, 1 Corinthians 5.

I should have already mentioned how much I love your pastor.

Pastor Chris is the best.

So we even had dinner last night.

My wife is here.

Yeah.

Pastor Chris is the best.

Somebody tell him this that y'all clap for that.

Okay, that would encourage him, okay?

And so my wife and I, my wife is here, by the way, uh, Courtney over here.

So we uh went to dinner with he and Hillary last night, and they're just such faithful friends.

Uh, Chris and I, Pastor Chris and I served on a church staff together for a while, and I've always looked up to him.

You know, his character, his, you know, his creative ability, his work ethic.

And I thought he loved me, but let me read for you the first verse that he asked me to preach today.

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you of a kind that is not even tolerated among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.

It's gonna get weird today.

So, Pastor Chris, I love you, and I'm sorry for whatever I did to merit this text.

So, y'all are preaching through 1 Corinthians, and so today, like I said, we're in 1 Corinthians 5.

So you're in a sermon series called Blurred Lines, and so what we'll be looking at today and throughout this series as we as you continue through 1 Corinthians is, you know, we're looking at topics where what the culture says and what the Bible says differ.

So, what do we do with that intersection?

Right?

They're everywhere.

So when the cultural ethic is different than the biblical ethic, like what do we do in that situation?

Where's the line here?

What am I supposed to say or not say?

What am I supposed to do or not do?

What do I do in this situation?

The lines can be messy, they can be a little bit blurry.

So the title of the sermon today is family drama.

Who's ready to talk politics at Thanksgiving?

Y'all ready?

Me neither.

So, y'all ever had real family drama though?

It's kinda amen.

Me too, brother.

It's complicated.

When we have family drama, what we often want to do is kind of avoid it, put it under the rug, just keep moving on.

But what happens then?

It festers.

It actually gets worse, which is what's happening in the church at Corinth here.

They had some things they really needed to approach, but they didn't, so it's getting worse and worse and worse.

But actually, before we get to 1 Corinthians, I want to share one verse out of Romans with you.

My church, we make it a habit of going through books of the Bible too, and we're in the middle of Romans right now.

And in Romans 8:1, Paul says, There is therefore now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

If you're in Christ this morning, you're not sitting there as a condemned person.

No matter what you did last night, last week, last year, you're not sitting there as a condemned person.

You're free.

The world did its very best to make you forget that truth this week.

The world did its very best to make you feel condemned, inadequate, unworthy, by telling you that unless you make enough, look good enough, you're not enough, right?

The best message this world offers you is you do you, follow your heart, you got this, and we find ourselves never measuring up to the ever-moving goal lines of success and fulfillment.

So the world is preaching to you, you got this, and then Jesus steps forward and says, Actually, I got this.

They're with me.

Put them on my tab.

So you don't sit there in freedom because you earned it.

I'm preaching if you want to come with me this morning.

You don't sit there in freedom because you earned it.

You're sitting in freedom because Jesus is God.

Okay?

Because he died on the cross to pay for your sins, he was buried and rose again to give you life now and forever.

That's true, right now, and forever.

We come in here each week to remember that there is therefore now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

I have uh one wife, three kids, okay?

And every night when I put my kids to bed, I say the same thing to them.

Every night to my three kids, I say, I love you, I'm proud of you, you're my boy, you're my girl forever.

Dad loves you, dad's proud of you, you're my girl, you're my boy forever.

When my little girl was four or so, she was on a playground, minding her own business, my sweet baby angel was just playing by herself, having a good time, when this mean-spirited child sauntered up to my baby angel and out of nowhere said, Stupid, stupid, you're stupid.

And without missing a beat, she goes, I'm not stupid, I'm Taylor Grace.

Now, how did she do that?

How did she not receive what the hater said?

How did she not let get to her heart what the world who the world tells her she is?

Because every night she looks into her dad's eyes and I tell her who she is.

That's what you're here doing right now.

To look back into the Father's eyes, and he's telling you there is no condemnation for you.

I love you without condition.

Uh that's what we come in here to be reminded that in Christ we're enough, to be reminded that God is more than able in our lives, that he loves us unconditionally, that he's good.

He knows your every thought, he knows your every desire, and he loves you without conditions.

He cares about you, about your problems, about things that you're going through.

You know, our God is the first and the last.

He is eternal, he is almighty, he is magnificent, he's the architect of the universe.

He knows how many hairs are on your head.

He orchestrates governmental leadership across the globe.

Armies cannot defeat him, schools cannot silence him.

He is righteous and holy and pure.

He is love.

He was dead and yet brings life.

He is risen and alive, and he wants you this morning.

He cares about you right now.

You're still his child forever and always.

All right, let's look at 1 Corinthians 5.

Hopefully, you've had the chance to turn there.

Is the apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth and he addresses the elephant in the room?

He says, It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not even tolerated among pagans.

For a man has his father's wife.

And you're so arrogant.

Church, ought you not rather to mourn?

Let him who has done this be removed from among your church.

For though absent in body, I'm right there with you.

I'm in spirit, I'm there in spirit, as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on that guy, that one who did such a thing.

When you were assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved.

That's the purpose, that so that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.

Your boasting is not good, church.

Do you not know and realize that a little bit of leaven, a little bit of yeast, leavens the whole lump of bread?

Cleanse out that old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So let's walk carefully through these verses.

A few landmines abound.

So let's be very, very careful with how we talk about it and what we're discussing this morning.

My dad called me a few months ago, and it only rang once, and he hung up, and I go, he probably didn't mean to call me, but just in case I'll call him back.

And so I ring him back and he picked it up and he goes, Yeah, sorry, buddy, I boot, I booty called you.

And I go, Nope.

Dad, you butt dialed me.

And those two things seem similar, Dad, but there's a world of difference.

Somebody tell your neighbor words matter.

Okay?

So we're gonna really get into the words of 1 Corinthians 5 this morning.

And we see at the beginning that's that, and that really happened, by the way, someone in this church was sinning so egregiously that Paul had to just stop and deal with it right here and right now.

Paul has dealt with divisions in chapters one through four.

Now he's gonna get into disciplining the church here in chapter five and into six.

So Paul says there in verse one, what this guy is guilty of, pagans don't even do that.

Okay?

Both the Greeks and the Romans in this culture were notoriously unbridled in the bedroom.

They gave into most every indulgence, but even they wouldn't get with their stepmom.

Okay?

Didn't expect an amen there.

So Paul says, Are you so arrogant, church, that you tolerate this?

You let this guy sit on the front row and act this way like he's one of us?

It doesn't even phase you.

It doesn't break your hearts.

Paul says, for them to get their act together and expel this guy from the fellowship of the church to deliver this man to Satan for destruction, but actually so that he would be saved.

He would have the chance that really come into Christ.

So Paul goes, Okay, I'll tell you what I would do.

Uh, even though I'm not there in person, consider like it's right, like I'm right there with you.

I'm telling you this is wrong.

Okay?

You cannot simply look the other way and hope that this issue just goes away.

What he's saying is, by tolerating such grievous, embarrassing sin, you're actually ruining the whole church.

That's his analogy of the bread and the and the leaven.

That's Paul's idea in verses 6 through 8.

He's saying, your callous arrogance in these things bothers me.

And I wish it bothered you.

You act like this issue is a small thing.

Well, leaven is a small thing.

Yeast and bread is a small thing, too, but it works through the whole lump of bread very, very quickly.

You see the analogy.

Now, I have not baked much bread, okay, but I understand that a little bit of old leaven ruins the whole loaf.

Uh, just like a drop of poison ruins the whole Dr.

Pepper, okay?

Just like a little bit goes a long way.

So, of course, okay, here, Paul is not saying that any sinner in the church needs to be kicked out, okay?

Y'all would all be done.

Okay, I'd be out of here too.

And so we're all sinners.

He's not saying that.

But there's a category of sin so grievous that it just can't be tolerated in God's church.

It just can't be tolerated among God's people.

So we see that individual sin can have a church-wide effect.

Individual sin among the membership can have a church-wide effect.

You know, all of the messaging from the world to you is the opposite.

You're told to chart your own course, to do your own thing, that your life is just about you and really only affects you.

You need to find your truth.

And so, one of the biggest cultural shifts in our lifetime and in modern America is the shift toward hyper-individualism.

Not just individualism now, but hyper-individualism, if you think about it.

So, my grandparents had a couple of television channels and they thought that was awesome.

Okay?

And then my parents uh had dozens of channels, but you had to be at home to watch your show.

Kids and students.

If you weren't home, if your show came on at Tuesday at 7 p.m.

and you weren't there, you just missed it.

It was it.

You didn't get to watch Seinfeld or whatever, and they didn't like show it later.

That was it.

You wouldn't know what happened until years later when the DVDs came out.

Ask your parents, okay?

And so my so again, my grandparents had a couple of channels, my parents had dozens, and then my generation, we could record a show and then watch it when we wanted, which was super cool.

And now we have all these streaming services, and we can watch any show that we want to at any time.

It's it's this catered experience to individuals.

Any of us can do any of it.

And so, you know, so now you've also my grandparents only had a couple of restaurant options, right?

But now we can get whatever we want to eat today.

Anything in Houston that you want to eat, it can be delivered to your door.

This hyper uh hyper-individualism, catered experience, and now that's our expectation for everything, what we think is gonna make us happy.

Y'all remember going to the store?

Me neither, because of Amazon, so I would you you enter it and it's catered experience right to you.

And so, you know, this hyper-individualism has changed our expectations with church too.

David Paulson says the modern understanding for Jesus and the gospel has changed into a Jesus for me who meets individual desires and assuages psychic aches, and adds that Jesus has morphed into the meter of your needs, not the savior of your souls.

But what Paul's trying to get across to the church in Corinth and to us today is church is not a me thing.

This actually isn't just about me today, it's about us, right?

And so what we find is actually the world doesn't know what it's talking about.

The world has no idea, even a way toward happiness in this life.

Getting everything I want immediately does not actually fulfill the longings of my heart.

It doesn't make me ultimately happy.

Only in partnership with brothers and sisters in Christ in a local church can we find happiness.

Can we find what we're actually looking for?

And the world is preaching to you that you are on this unique journey and where you need to find your inner truth, but that's not true, okay?

The big lie today is for you to find your truth, and that that's somehow hidden deep within you, and your task in life is to uncover your truth and then live that out.

But that really doesn't make sense, to be honest with you.

I'm sorry, but it doesn't make much sense.

We think the hidden mysteries of the universe are discoverable in my gut instinct, you know, uh that the deepest truths about me are within me.

The guy who couldn't find his car at Costco last week, that somehow I gotta find my truth.

I don't think I have that in me.

We discover reality, we discover true life in God's word and in community with others.

You're gonna be taught a lot of things this week.

You're gonna see other things on TikTok and Instagram and different things, but let me tell you the truth about life.

We discover reality, we discover truth and real life in God's word and in community with other believers.

We need the love and accountability offered within the church.

Like you need water, you need those two things.

Paul then goes on to list uh the uh with a list of sins for this church to carefully avoid in verses 9 through 13.

You can look at later.

He encourages them and us to not associate, and in our context, that's not let into membership or keep in membership people who are partaking in these categories of sins.

So a really big important truth about God is that God names certain things and certain thoughts and actions as sin for your benefit.

Okay?

There's more to it, but there's certainly not less.

God loves you enough to give you a way, a path toward flourishing.

So it's not just this cosmic test where he's trying to keep score of your do's and don'ts.

No, the law is grace.

That's why John 1.16, Jesus it says, for from Jesus' fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

So when Jesus came, that was not the first time that God showed grace.

In the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments, all those things, every law is grace, as God says, this is the way to live.

Here is the way to go.

The law is grace.

So when God gives laws, it's a grace in our lives.

Abiding by God's laws is a path toward flourishing.

So when I was 16, I got my first speeding ticket driving home from watching the original Fast and Furious movie at the movie theater.

It's a true story.

I saw Dom and Brian do their thing, and I was exhilarated.

And I got in my sister's red Toyota Selica that I'd borrowed for the night, and I went pedaled to the metal, baby.

And is there anything more nerve-wracking than being 16 and you're guilty, and there's the red and blue lights in your rearview mirror, and I'm caught, and it's terrible.

And so, now that police officer that night, was he being mean by pulling me over and giving me a ticket?

No, of course not.

He wasn't like on a power trip trying to show me who's boss.

No, he was actually helping me.

Because guess what happened after I got that ticket?

I slowed down.

You know, I I could have gotten killed that night.

I could have hurt somebody else.

So that night the law was grace to me.

It helped me out.

Paul telling the Corinthian church to rebuke this man in his sin is not mean.

It's actually a kindness to redirect him into God's way.

You see that.

Right after Moses tells God's people the Ten Commandments, he relays the Ten Commandments as he gives them laws to live by, they're immediately afraid, as often as our response to the law.

And Moses says in Exodus 20, don't fear.

God wants to instill a deep and reverent awe in you.

Why?

Look, so that you may not sin.

God loves his people so much that he gives us the law, that he gives us a way.

To illustrate it, so my oldest daughter, Taylor, she's 12.

Shout out to the preteen parents.

We can do it, okay?

Keep going.

Uh, nothing's ever been dumber than anything I say, but it's okay.

All right, we we're gonna keep going.

And so let's imagine that Taylor all of a sudden is 16.

And so I give her a rule.

I go, hey, babe, today you have to be home by 3:30, right after school, come straight home.

That's the law.

That's the rule.

By 3:30 today, Taylor, you have to be at home.

And sure enough, now, why would I give her that rule?

Because I love her.

Because I want to protect her, because I know what's out there, and I want her to come straight home where she's safe.

So, sure enough, that day, 329, she shows up.

She doesn't just keep the law, she exceeds it.

But she's on the back of a motorcycle with a 19-year-old boy.

We're gonna be adding some laws to the law, okay?

Why?

Because I want to show her who's boss, I want to make sure that she knows I'm in charge.

No, I give her the law to protect her.

I give her the rules because I love her with my whole heart in a way that she can't even understand.

That's what God does with us.

So when God names things as sin, that's a grace, that is a gift to us, not so that you feel defeated and you fail all the time.

It's for your protection.

Sin is bad for you, breaking news.

Okay?

Sin causes collateral damage all throughout your life, it breaks things, but the law is grace.

God's law shepherds us into God's good way.

Trust God, lean into his law, into his way, which clearly the guy mentioned in verse one was not doing.

Okay, and it's now affecting the entire body, the entire church.

And I wonder why, why were they tolerating this?

Was he like a big giver?

You know, did they like meet in his house or in a building he owned?

Like, why were they tolerating such grievous sin?

Because it is grievous, it should grieve us.

You know, I've been so grieved this year as so many pastors' secret sin has become public.

I don't know if you've seen that, especially in you know, in Texas, honestly, there's been so many pastors that this dark sin that they've been hiding has been exposed.

You know, God created the world to work in such a way where darkness comes to light.

Okay, and so that's been happening.

And it just and it grieves us, right, as brothers and sisters under Christ to see one after the other be found out, but then really to watch the world react, right?

You know, they're sickened, they're upset, they write news articles and tweets because we all just kind of know innately this ought not be in God's church.

This ought not be happening among God's people.

So Paul is warning of a similar reaction here in 1 Corinthians 5.

We are the people of God, okay?

We have been set free from all this stuff.

What are we doing here?

Not free to sin, but free to righteousness.

That's our freedom.

He's like, we don't do that stuff anymore.

Church, let's deal with our sin, let's repent, and let's live in freedom.

Paul's saying, it's actually better for this.

Got to be kicked out and taste rebuke than to continue living on like everything's fine.

Right?

Um, you know, so to the Corinthian church, you think what you're doing is the right thing by just smiling and shaking his hand and not addressing the elephant in the room, but you're actually taking part in his damnation.

Okay.

So United City, you know, we have to decide to love each other enough to offer rebuke.

We have to, you know, and notice Paul doesn't say, hey, lead team, hey senior pastor, hey, small groups guy, you handle this.

He he gives this to the church to handle, okay?

And y'all don't know me.

We a lot of us just met, but I lead probably the friendliest church in the world.

We're trying to be the friendliest church in the friendly state, okay?

And so the most consistent feedback that we get from first-time guests is I've never had that many people shake my hand or hug me ever, okay?

And it's not just the greeting team, it's not just the pastoral team, it's our whole church.

We just are so excited when God sends us a new person to get to know.

And so, again, y'all don't know me, but I come from a very loving church.

And churches like ours just kind of naturally shy away from confrontation.

You know, we just kind of naturally, if we're if we're being honest, just kind of naturally shy away from rebuke.

And so, now there are churches who better who do better at confrontation and worse at love.

Okay, those are out there, okay, but I know this church, I know United City, and I love United City, and I bet you're like Redemption City, where I bet y'all tend toward being loving and kind, and this rebuking comes a little bit more uneasy, okay?

And I say, praise God that y'all are so loving.

That's great, okay.

If we're gonna shy toward one, that's awesome and good.

But we have to commit to loving each other enough to hold each other accountable.

And it's a world of difference between, you know, the world cancels, we hold each other accountable.

There's a world of difference between the two.

So in your small groups, in your men's groups, in your women's groups, throughout your church, the different things, we hold each other accountable for love.

So, you know, and that kind of loving accountability within a church has the potential to unlock people from a prison they've been in for years.

Rebuking someone from their sin is for their benefit.

You see there in verse 5, it's a wake-up call to return to God.

Most people think uh of church discipline like going to the principal's office, like going to the pastor's office, you know, and but again, notice it's given to the church here.

And so, what does that look like in your small group?

What does that look like in your men's groups and the different groups across your church is given to you?

And then, of course, we do so in love.

So we hold truth and love in balance.

We give the truth in love, okay.

As the band comes up, you know, somebody in here, it's your first time to church in years, and you did not expect a sermon about kicking people out of church.

Okay, I understand that.

Uh, some of you, you're so exhausted from what's happening in your life, you haven't heard a word I've said, and that's okay.

You come to the right place.

You know, some of y'all, it's your first time to church ever.

I'm so glad you're here.

And you may not be searching for God, but let me tell you something.

He's searching for you.

He's you're the apple of his eye.

He loves you so much that he sacrificed his own son for you.

That he didn't just pay for your sin, he that he didn't just pardon your sin, he paid for your sin.

You're that he was a propitiation for your sin.

He didn't just cancel your debt.

That's not how debt works.

He paid for your debt on the cross to give you new life.

Won't you come to Jesus today?

My middle son is Cole.

And uh a few months ago, he woke me up in the middle of the night, you know, and kind of shook me.

And so I go, hey, hey, buddy, what's going on?

And he goes, is now a bad time.

But he'd had a bad dream or something, of course.

And but you know, he's my son.

There's never a bad time.

Buddy, I want you to wake me up if it saves you from tossing and turning.

I'm your dad, you're my son.

Yes, wake me up.

That's what I want to happen.

So if, and as I preach today, and as Pastor Chris preaches regularly, come to Jesus, Jesus wants to save you.

You may be thinking, now's not a good time, actually.

I'm in sin, I got a past, man.

Let me let you in on something.

Everybody in here is a rotten sinner.

Okay.

And so you may be thinking, as I say, come to Jesus today, you can start a relationship with Jesus today.

You may be going, now's not a good time.

Now's the best time to come to Jesus.

You'll never do enough to deserve a relationship with him.

You'll never do enough to be holy like God is holy.

He just offers his grace and love to you free of charge.

And so, if everybody would bow their heads and close their eyes, Christians, you can begin praying about maybe any truth that you heard within the sermon.

Maybe even someone came to your mind about someone that you could offer a loving rebuke or someone that you could uh hold accountable.

Pray about that.

Give that to God, ask him to give you courage.

And then those of you who you're ready to start a relationship with Jesus.

I'm gonna pray your prayer in just a minute.

You can pray the same prayer with my words after.

It's nothing magic about the prayer, but you can start a relationship with Jesus right now.

If you want to come to Christ, you can just like the like those that were just baptized, you can just pray, Jesus, save me.

I'm sorry for my sin.

I want to turn from my way and follow your way.

God, I want to know you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Let's all pray together as Pastor Jeremy comes up.

God, thank you for your word that's sharper than any two-edged sword.

I pray that you would move us and show us what our next step with you looks like.

God, I pray that people would become Christians right now and that those of us who already know you uh would take a closer step with you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

We're a church that believes the next steps.

It doesn't matter whether you've been a believer for literally five seconds now, if you prayed that prayer, or you've been a believer for 70 years, that you have a next step today.

Maybe some of you, for the first time, you prayed that prayer of repentance of your sin and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

And if that's true, as we begin to sing right now, kind of continue in worship.

I just want to encourage you to take that next step physically by stepping out on the aisle, coming forward and talking to one of our pastors or our serve team members here.

We just want to encourage you, who want to celebrate with you in that.

Listen, the the whole church here is in the same place that we all have at one point or another hopefully confessed our sin.

And it says in 1 John chapter 1 that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1 · chapter mention

And we want to celebrate that with you today.

Maybe your next step is simply that you've already done that.

You've been a believer for a while, but you've never let everybody know that through baptism, through public baptism.

We want to encourage you, we want to help celebrate that with you and schedule that with you today.

So, whatever it is, however the Lord's leaving you, whatever your next step is, as we continue to sing, would you kind of step out in faithfulness and obedience and take that next step this morning?