The Elephant in the Room | Galatians 4

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Casey Kendall, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in through this fasting and prayer time that we

just had completed last week. I I realized on Friday I was

waiting in urgent care and I realized again how much I hate

waiting. And the Lord reminded me of that

after not being able to see the doctor for three hours in that

waiting room. And I waited and I waited.

And as I waited, the medical assistant every 15 minutes would

come and knock on the door and, and she would say he's coming.

And again, 15 minutes later, are you OK?

He's coming. And I just wanted to tell you a

knock on your door of your heart today and tell you that he's

coming. I don't know what you've been

waiting for. I don't know how long you've

been waiting for it to happen. I don't know what you've been

going through in your life, but Jesus is coming.

He is the fulfillment. He is the answer.

And many times I believe in my own life through the fast, what

I've realized as I look for God's hand, but I neglect to

seek God's face. And I want the gifts of God, but

I don't want God himself oftentimes.

And that leads to a life that is in my own heart, in my own life

through the fast that has led to a shallow depth many times in

walking with the Lord because I'm looking for the gift and not

the giver of that gift. So I've been praying since

October this prayer in the book of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6,

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

the Bible says in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah said, I

saw the Lord high and lifted up in the train of his robe filled

the temple. And the Bible goes on to

describe what Isaiah experienced in seeing the Lord.

He saw the Lord and the Bible says that there was a seraphim

that took a coal as Isaiah saw the Lord, he said I'm a man of

unclean lips. The seraphim took the coal

touched Isaiah's lips and after that being cleansed of his life.

Isaiah says this to the Lord, here am I send me and that's

been my prayer since October is this specific prayer everyday.

Lord, here am I send me. My hands are open and we've.

Come up. Come to this.

Motto for church in 2026 that we really want to lean into a

vision wise and that is this. You can either be a goer, you

can either be a sender, you can be either, but you can't be

neither. And that's how we want to live

as the church is us getting involved in the hand of the

mission of God and what he has for us.

So our hearts desire is to hit the streets in which you all

have joined in in this past year in the parade, in the holiday

stroll and getting the gospel out with Henry and Condellario

through the campuses and on the streets.

And and another way that we're doing that is through Cambodia.

And now we're setting slaves free and Pakistan, but we're

sending Judah to Japan. I'm just going to reiterate

this. I know it's like a reiterating

something that you're constantly being reminded of.

But last week he was 66, zero, 60% funded.

And I want to support him 100% to go.

And so if you're inclined by the Lord to give, not out of

compulsion, not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver, just

as you click on that QR code, just start laughing and a

hilarious, no, I'm just kidding, But God loves a cheerful giver

and we want to support him. We also with Kevin and I don't

know if Sabrina's going to be able to go, but we're planning

on an Africa mission trip in the month of June.

And that is for us to reach into Kenya and to host conferences

and to reach into the Masai tribe.

And so it will be that kind of mini folds in this outreach.

But June 4th through the 14th, Sabrina has information on it.

Sabrina sings. She's on my far right when she's

up here. But if you need any more

information in the Lord's putting that mission trip on

your heart, we want you to get involved.

One of the things that we were able to do this past year was to

support a local missionary in his high school.

His name's Gavin, and so he's going to come up and just share.

Just a brief. Minute on what you guys have

done for the glory of God. Hi, guys.

If you don't know me, my name is Gavin Hamilton.

I'm a youth here. You'll usually find me more

casually dressed, but today I'm saying thank you.

You guys raised $1200 for my Eagle project.

Yeah, clap that up. So my original budget was $1400

and you guys enabled me to get my Eagle project done.

After like my one day a couple months ago, I no longer needed

to fundraise. It was amazing.

I was able to jump right into my project.

If you don't know what my project was, I built helmet

boxes for my high school baseball team.

There's pictures in the back. I hope that we can connect back

there after service. Yeah.

I just want to say thank you because God enabled me through

you. And I hope that you guys can do

the same for our missionaries up here that we're talking about

because you guys did that for me.

So thank you guys 100%. I feel the church behind me

every step of the way, so thank you.

Amen. Amen.

The church is not made-up. The youth are not the Church of

tomorrow, they're actually the Church of today.

And Judah just turned 21, I believe, and he's heading to

Japan. And so we want to support every

generation and getting the gospel out into this world

around us. Amen.

We at one time we were painting a building on up in Hesperia,

actually, just for free. We're painting one of their rec

buildings and a lady came up to me and she said, what are you

guys doing? And I said, we're just painting

this building. And she said, well, where are

you from? I said, oh, we're from Calvary

Chapel. And she said, you're from

Calvary Chapel. And she said, what, what, what's

Calvary Chapel and what are you guys doing?

So I invited her to Easter and she came to Easter service that

that Sunday. And so it's just a tremendous

opportunity for us to get the gospel into people's hands in

line with that. Easter is coming up.

There's a flyer on your seat. Actually right now, we actually

purposefully put it there so you wouldn't sit on it, but that you

would actually grab it and that you would invite your friends to

Easter service at 10:30 here at the church.

We're going to explode our hospitality and make it bigger

and make it fun and have a, we call it a, an Easter egg

resurrection egg hunt for your kids.

We get to tell your kids the story of the resurrection

through an Easter egg, a really cool opportunity for us to get

the gospel out. And so we're going to do that

this year. And that flyer is on your seat.

We have more Flyers that are at the connect table and we want to

get your friends hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so with that being said, grab that Easter flyer and

invite them out. The whole thing will be rise out

of Isaiah 61, verse three. God takes our ashes and he turns

into something beautiful. So we rode on there.

Because he rose, we can rise. All right, that was kind of

weak. Because he rose, we can rise.

Amen. All right, let's go.

We're in Galatians chapter 4 today.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

I had been speaking to you guys. In regards to boundaries out of

Second Samuel chapter 3 and it was so well received, I had

2 Samuel 3 · chapter mention

another question come to me. And that.

Was how do I have hard conversations?

And so I want to just talk with that today and I want I want you

to talk to you today about in Galatians chapter 4, the

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

elephant in the room, the elephant in the room.

So if you have your Bible. Handy if you can.

Turn to Galatians chapter 4 in your Bible.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

Galatians chapter. Four and we'll begin there.

You could just look. At your neighbor and say

neighbor my neighbor. There's an elephant in the.

Room There's an elephant in the room I.

Want to begin not in. Verse 11 but in verse.

Eight of your Bibles and Paul the apostle says these words he

says, but then indeed in Galatians chapter 4 when you did

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

not know God. You serve those with which.

By nature are not gods. But now, after you have known

God, or rather you are known by God, how is it, he says, that

you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you

desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and

seasons and years. And this is what the apostle

Paul says to the church at Galatia.

I'm afraid for you lest I have labored for you in vain.

Brethren, he says, notice this term.

I urge you to become as I am, for I am as you are, and you

have not injured me, injured me at all.

You know that because of the physical infirmity I preach the

gospel to you at the 1st, and my trial, which was in my flesh you

did not despise or reject, but you received me as an Angel of

God, even as Christ Jesus. What then was the blessing you

enjoyed? For I bear you witness that if

possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them

to me. Have I therefore become your

enemy because I tell you? The truth I want to.

Read that to you again and let that sink in.

If I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth,

they zealously court you, but not for no good.

Yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for

them. But it is good to be zealous and

a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you,

my little children, for whom notice Paul says, I labor and

birth again until Christ is formed in you.

I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone,

for I have doubts about you. I want to talk to you today

about this verse tucked in these multiple verses.

In verse 16, the apostle Paul tells the church at Galatia,

have I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you?

The truth, the. Story was shared by Charles

Swindoll of Joe Gibbs and as he spoke of Joe Gibbs, the head

coach formerly of the Washington Redskins.

Joe's friend Frank looked out the window 1 morning and there

was his faithful Labrador retriever sitting on the front

porch with something hanging from the dog's jaws.

A closer look revealed it was his neighbor's pet rabbit and

Frank panicked. What was he to do?

His mind raced through the options and he landed on one he

thought was best. He pulled the rabbit from his

dog's mouth and he brought it into his kitchen.

He washed off all the dirt and all the gunk and then he too.

He put it into the bathroom and pulled out the hair dryer and

blew the dead creature until it was nice and fluffy.

For a dead rabbit, it looked quite nice.

He shared in the story and that night after dark, Frank crawled

over the back fence and he placed the dead rabbit back in

his cage. He then slipped back through the

darkness, hopped the fence and breathed a sigh of relief.

His scheme seemed perfect until the next morning when there was

a loud banging on his front door.

When Frank opened it, there was his neighbor with the dead

rabbit clutched in his hand. Frank, he said.

We have a real sicko in the neighborhood.

My rabbit died 3 days ago and I buried it in the back and some

crazy nut dug it up and cleaned it off and stuck it back in his

cage. I would say this morning there's

a dead rabbit in the room. There are topics that we are

afraid to discuss. We're afraid to discuss false

teaching. We're afraid to discuss things

like over Thanksgiving, politics, ICE, Iran, Venezuela,

Mexico. We're afraid to discuss topics

that have come up in friendships.

We're afraid to discuss things that are coming up in our

family. We're afraid to bring things up

in conversation of things that seem to be a little bit.

Let's say they're taboo topics that are in the room.

These are the unspoken delicate matters.

These are the skeletons in the closet of your family and your

friendship. These are the moments in the

topics where we would say in that term, there's an elephant

in the room. I want to just define that for a

moment if you take note, because I wanted us to learn how we deal

with the elephant in the room. A elephant in the room is this.

If you're taking note, it is a problem or issue that everyone

is aware of but that no one wants to talk about.

Once again, the elephant in the room is a problem or an issue

that everyone is aware of but no one wants to talk about.

Yes, I want to submit this to you this morning.

We avoid what needs to be addressed.

We in our lives cover up what needs to be communicated.

We often times will jump to conclusions without concrete

convictions about the matter. We can find that in our own

lives. We sweep things under the carpet

that need to be shared in the light.

I think we become professionals at Verbal Veneer and this is

what I submit to you this morning is your avoidance of

conflict. Does not mean your deliverance

from that conflict. I want you to understand this

morning as we've come together, that you cannot from boundaries

change someone else, but you can change how you respond to them.

And that changes everything. I want you to understand as

we've come into this place many times we've become peace fakers

and not really peacemakers. We are people that are unwilling

to wrestle up the waters because our whole hearts desire is to

please people at the expense of pleasing God.

But I want you to understand this today, that conflict does

not disappear just because you don't discuss it.

It disappears from your view. It is still there, lurking,

moving, drawing our attention as it eats away at so much of our

life in the long run. Do you see, the goal of our

communication, which was the goal of Paul's communication in

the book of Galatians, was correction and restoration.

And I love what Charles Spurgeon said about this text.

He wrote these words, if you are drawn into a controversy, use

very hard arguments and very soft words.

And that's what the Apostle Paul in his heart towards the Church

of Galatia, who had drifted away from the sole purpose of Jesus,

and they wanted to add the circumcision of the believer to

the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the Apostle Paul is

continually pointing them back to Jesus Christ alone, and he

brings them to this place of communication, but his whole

desire is restoration. The apostle Paul at the Church

of Galatia follows what Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs.

If you're taking note, if you ever have to address a conflict,

probably no one in this room ever has to address a conflict.

If you've ever entered into controversy in the break room,

if you've ever found yourself having to lovingly correct

another brother or sister in Jesus Christ, if you have to

bring them back doctrinally or you have to show them

pinpointedly through Scripture, this is what I want you to do.

Will you write this down? Will you take this into your

Monday meetings and your Tuesdays and your Wednesdays and

your Thursdays? Will you take this into the

drama of your home? Here's what I want you to do.

Write this down. The person that will handle

conflict well, number 1, he or she shows up, he or she shows

up. Proverbs chapter 28, verse 25,

Proverbs 28:25

look it up. You show up humble and trusting

God for the outcome. If I'm going to address

conflict, I'm going to 1st show up.

I'm not going to address conflict through a text message.

I'm not just going to one person agrees with that.

I'm not just going to address conflict through an e-mail.

If I get in front of your face, my whole heart is to win your

heart. And the goal is not.

To do this without showing up, can you write this down?

If you're handling conflict, he or she doesn't throw up.

Proverbs 16, verse 24. You use your words to heal.

Proverbs 16:24

Not to weaponize proverbs. 1624 if you would write this down in

your conflict, you're going to seek to build up.

You're going to seek to build up in Proverbs 14 verse one.

The heart is, is that I'm building the person up, not just

tearing them down. If you would write this down, if

you're taking note in conflict or controversy, when I have to

approach a situation, he or she doesn't blow up.

He or she doesn't blow up in Proverbs 15, verse 18.

Proverbs 15:18

Did you see, we can disagree, but we don't have to be

disagreeable and we can live in such a way when we approach

people, we can follow Paul as our model.

I I want you to remember this is you cannot change someone else,

but you can change how you respond to them and that

changes. Everything.

So what does Paul? Do notice this, Paul says these

words. I am concerned.

For you, would you write that down?

I believe that as you deal with conflict, it has to deal with

this posture in my heart that I am concerned for you.

The Church of Galatia was giving their lives to false teaching.

These men by the name of Judaizers were coming into the

mix and adding as we shared to Jesus's work upon the cross.

And Paul says, you know God, you are known by God.

And how is it that you're turning your back again to old

bondage and observed days, months, seasons and years?

And then in verse 11, the apostle Paul says I am afraid

for you. I am afraid for you that this

word afraid there. Notice as the the the Judaizers

were coming in and the Church of Galatia was getting legalistic

on the outside. Notice what happened.

It didn't change Paul's love for them on the inside.

He says I'm afraid for you. Look, what Paul sees with his

eyes breaks his heart, and thus he communicates with his mouth.

What Paul saw with his eyes broke his heart, and thus he

communicated with his mouth. And he says after all of this, I

am. Afraid for you now notice.

The concern of the apostle Paul, the word afraid there means to

be frightened. It means to be terrified for

you, he says. Have I labored for you?

He says in vain in verse 11. The word labor there in your

Bible means to be at a point of working so hard that you're

exhausted. No, no.

Notice that this word vain means failure.

No. Notice the Apostle Paul's heart.

I'm, I'm frightened for you. I'm, I'm terrified for you.

I'm, I, I'm actually, I've worked myself to the point of

exhaustion and I have failed. I have failed in this.

See the Apostle Paul's heart. Have I poured so much into you

and now you're, you're, you're just going to go back to this

old way of living? Have I given you so much of my

heart and my time and discipling you?

Now you're deserting the doctrine of grace in Jesus.

Have I now come to a spot of all that I've taught you?

And now you're tempted to go back to all of the drugs, all of

the alcohol, all of the relationships that were illicit

and all of the things that were unreasonable in the way that you

lived in sin. Look at Paul's approach.

I am concerned for you. I'm troubled for you.

I I'm uneasy. It's easy.

I'm distressed. For you notice the apostle

Paul's heart. I see Paul with, with, with this

heart that is broken, but his hands are open and his eyes are

stained with tears. That's the approach.

When I come into. A place of conflict.

Your approach must come before your address.

I want to say that. Again, your approach must come

before you're addressed so. The goal?

Is not necessarily that you begin to work on the person.

The goal in the conflict is that you begin.

To work on yourself the. Elephant in the room and if we

do not have a broken heart, we will not desire to see their

heart brought back to God. Did you see Paul says I I'm

concerned for you. Paul did not say notice this.

This is what we say I'm angry with you right now.

Paul didn't say that Paul didn't say I'm frustrated at you.

Paul didn't say I'm bitter at you notice this Paul didn't say

I hate you. Look at what Paul proclaims.

I'm afraid for you. Did you see the?

Level of care that. Paul had Paul's concern,

directed Paul's call, and you could have put up so many lines

and drawn so many lessons that you come to a place in your life

where you have found yourself in this moment, no longer

concerned, but you're just ready to cut out, no notice.

These are the moments. These are the moments that you

could say I'm hurt, I'm angry, I'm frustrated.

But notice this. Notice what comes first.

His heart of concern. His heart of concern as he

deconstructs this down for us, notice he brings us to a place

where we cannot conceal what is causing us the concern.

We. Can't conceal it any longer.

We can't hide it any longer. Listen to me, please.

I'm not responsible for how they respond, but I am responsible

for how I reach to them. And there was a time in my life

where bitterness led to emptiness until it was

addressed, confessed, and. Wept.

Over and we grew from it. Do you see what Paul does?

Paul always sought the restoration of people over over

his own pain. That's not that Paul dismissed

his own. Pain.

Thank you, Mike. That's not that Paul dismissed

his own pain. Just look at your neighbor and

say there's an elephant in the room.

Sorry, little upper respiratory infection cutting into my sermon

this morning. We cannot conceal what God has

called us to be concerned about, but as we approach situations,

notice this. I approach it with concern.

Now let me ask you, wives, when was the last time you approached

your husband in that concern? Let me ask you husbands, when

was the last time that you approached your wife with that

type of concern? Let me ask you church member,

when was the last time that you approached a brother or sister

with that same type of concern? When was the last time that you

spoke to your children with that type of concern?

When was the last time that you approached your Co workers or

your boss with that type of concern now?

If you would please, how do we often times go into

conversations? Can you just write this?

Stuff down I think this is going to be important for you I.

Think we go into conversations. For the win, I think we go into

conversations for the win, I, I, my, my, I'm not.

The goal is not my concern. For you or your restoration?

The goal is for. My control and for my.

Win and that's how many. Times we can go into

conversations and we use this strategy and this approach of a

person will sacrifice the relationship to remain right and

get their way. I want to.

Just read that again. The approach of the person

that's. Going in for the win.

Is of a person who sacrifices the relationship to remain right

and get their way. There will always be a

difference of opinion. Vaccinated or?

Unvaccinated. There will always be a

difference of opinion. Republican or Democrat, Be

dogmatic where God is calling you to be dogmatic.

According to. Scripture, but be flexible on

your opinion. One person is agreeing with

that. Listen, I think we often go into

conversations with. Avoidance.

We go in there avoiding it and it builds and it.

Builds and it builds. This has been.

My weakness in my life throughout growing up, my heart

has been to be the pleaser. So if the waters are unmet or

they're wrestled up, I have to do everything in my power to try

to control that. Because your peace actually

means my peace. And I avoid hard conversations

with people I have in the past because I don't want to see

those waters wrestled up. Because I want to make sure that

you are happy all of the days, all of the year, all of the

time. And So what?

We do is we go into the conversation and we've avoided

it. Important decisions have been

postponed. The issues are.

Bubbling up and they never get addressed.

And this. Leads to superficial

relationships. It's not true.

Again, you avoid it. That does not mean you're

delivered from it. Some of us.

This is our approach. We just give in.

We just give in. I am tired of fighting with you.

I am. Tired of fighting?

With you and you know. It's not right, but this is what

we do. We just give in and we yield to

maintain. Peace, but we never have peace

then we go in with compromise. We.

Address the conversation with compromise.

All of this is now giving. Up when you know there are some

boundaries that you should have kept.

Then we do this is we now become at a spot in our lives where we

just. Never deal.

With the issues and the issues never deal with repentance and

confession, and we all live according to our heightened

emotion and we never trust. Anyone, men and women.

If we will do this in a healthy way, we have to be concerned

with people. It has to start.

With a concern. And then it.

Leads to a second thing. It leads to.

This not only am I. Concerned with you but.

Paul says I'll suffer with you. Now notice this.

This approach, brethren, I urge you to become as I am, for I am

as you are. And you not you've not injured

me at all. You know that because of the

physical infirmity, I preach the gospel to you at the 1st and my

trial, which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but

you received me as an Angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

What then was the blessing you enjoyed?

For I bear you witness that if possible, you would have plucked

out your own eyes and given them to me.

I'm concerned with you. Then I'm going to suffer with

you. Paul says, Brethren, this is an

endearing term. He's speaking to the Christian.

Then he says, I urge you, which means that he's placing himself

in a specific need. Then he gives them the call.

He says, become as I am, notice, become as I am.

I love what John Stott writes about this section.

He says in Galatians one through 3, we've been listening to Paul

the Apostle, Paul the theologian, Paul the defender of

the faith. But now we're hearing Paul the

man, Paul the pastor. And notice what's coming out of

Paul's heart was Paul was a passionate lover of souls.

John Stott writes Paul had some type of physical infirmity and

this led him to Galatia in Acts chapter 13 verse 14 through 15.

Acts 13:14–15

If you want to take some note in this time, Paul points is that

that his converts were ready to do anything for him in those

early days. They did not.

Despise him or reject him. You see, a physical infirmity

during this time was a sign of God's displeasure over

somebody's life. They thought so, Paul said.

You received me, and there's nothing like when someone is

willing to suffer with you. There's nothing like it.

They're not there to. Argue with you.

They're not there to debate you. They're not there in your

moment. On time of difficulty to tell

you what you should do. The diet you should have.

They're not there to tell you, the doctor, you should.

See, they're just there to. Sit with you.

There is something about that in our life that we can learn from.

And see that we. Will.

Sit with people and notice. This I feel your pain.

I don't have to have all the answers, but I'm going to choose

to listen and I'll. Suffer with you in this moment.

Now is there ever a time where you in a boundary have to say,

this is the time where now I can no longer in this boundary carry

your consequences? There is a time and a place

where we have to come to a decision between the Lord, where

you have to stop. Caring other people's.

Emotional baggage and the consequences to their actions.

There is a time where in friendships.

You or relationships you might find yourself in a spot where

you are willing to no longer. Marry someone else's

responsibility, but that's between you and the Lord and His

Word and knowing when that time will come.

Do you see? I'm concerned with you?

I will. Suffer with you.

But I'm also going to, Paul says.

Speak the truth to you. Listen to what Paul says.

He says. Have I therefore become your

enemy? Because I tell you the truth.

Now notice this. They zealously court you.

But for no. Good.

Yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for

them, but it is good to be zealous and a good thing, Paul.

Says always. And not only when I'm present

with you, he says. And notice, Paul says, have I

become your enemy because I'm willing to speak the truth to

you? We have to speak the truth to

people. 'S lives.

Can I just say that again? We have to be willing to speak

the truth. Not only was Paul present with

them, Paul proclaimed the truth. To them.

The word truth means real, actually actual, not

counterfeit. This is not just feeling good,

this is. Speaking what is good.

And speaking what is good doesn't always feel good.

And there's moments when you share the message of truth that

it seems like you become the enemy to a person and not the

ally. To the person, the word.

Enemy here means hateful and hostile.

Paul was not just concerned on how he said it, but what he said

was vital to the vision to the church in Galatia.

We need Paul's in our lives. We need Paul's in our lives who

can see where we can't and walk. Where we haven't walked.

Just yet, we need people. In the.

Bible says there's a way that seems right to a man, but the

end thereof is destruction. There are some lessons you will

learn by yourself, but there's some lessons that you don't have

to go through by yourself if you're willing to listen to the.

Paul, in your life? Or you're willing to listen to

the Barnabas. Or you're willing to listen to

the silence. Or you're willing to listen to

the Timothy. Listen.

The pitfalls that come through our lives can often times be

avoided if we're willing to give ear and.

Heart. To the truth, so Proverbs. 20. 4

For by wise guidance you will wage war, and in abundance of

advisers there's victory. Listen, the Bible says that he

who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely

will be delivered. Whoever loves truth loves

knowledge, but whoever hates correction, the Bible says, is

stupid. Now I don't have to put my hand

on the hot stove to know that it will cause.

Some pain in my life. I was drinking a lot of tea this

week. Not really a tea.

Person, I'm a kind of. AK cup person just throw in that

little pod and then push down and just click the button and

it's there within like a few seconds.

I had to wait for the water to boil.

I had to put my own water in my own kettle, and then I had to

let it boil. I didn't know this, though.

I wish I would have learned this.

I wish my tea professionals would have shared something

along these lines. Let the water while it's boiling

settle from its boil. Don't lift the spout lid and try

to pour it because the moment that you do that while it's

boiling, it's going to come out bubbling and boiling.

And that's exactly what it did in my hands, not just my lungs.

My hand was burning up because I needed the truth.

And I think we need some truth in our lives, truth that will

come in and say, hey, don't do that just yet.

Truth that would say it's boiling right now.

Let's let this simmer a little bit.

Hey, truth. You know what?

That's probably not the guy for you.

The truth. That's probably not the girl for

you. The truth of hey, you continue

using those drugs. This is what it's going to lead

to, the truth. Of a if you keep.

Diving into pornography, this is what it's going to end up doing

in your life. The truth of hey.

That alcohol that you keep? Consuming will leave you empty,

just as empty as that bottle is sitting next to your your room.

We need the truth. If you enter into a flirter

flirting relationship while you're married, it's going to

damage your soul and your heart and it will ruin your kids and

your grandkids and their lives to come.

Oh that. We just need the truth.

The truth to come in at. Such a time like the apostle

Paul and say we are willing to give the instruction of the

Lord. One author put it we need Paul's

who will instruct us. We need Barnabas, who will.

Encourage us. We need Peters.

Who will challenge us? We need.

Silences who will walk alongside of us, but if you.

Don't have the humility? To learn you'll never fully live

the life that Christ wants you to live.

Speaking the truth, remember, in a culture of lies is an act of

spiritual warfare. You're going to offend someone.

You're going to offend someone. At some point in your

relationship, you're going to offend someone.

Church, we're not going to do this perfectly.

It's not final, though, when you don't do it perfectly.

It is final when there is unforgiveness in your heart and

their heart. And we must come to a.

Spot in our lives and in this room that we're willing to

offend even people into heaven rather than watching them

silently go to hell. We have to be willing to.

Address the situation because the.

Goal. Is to do this.

With humility. To honor this with love.

And to bring peace between them and God and them and us.

Do you see? Paul says I'm.

Afraid and you might be saying the same thing.

I'm afraid they're older than me.

If I say something, I'm afraid they're they're my husband or

they're my wife. I'm afraid of of this situation.

Listen, the one thing that we have to be afraid of is our

disobedience to God. I want to encourage you to speak

the truth. If anywhere.

I learned that it was in the country of Germany.

They have no problem telling you the truth in German.

The fact of the matter is I just couldn't understand what they

were saying. But they're not afraid to tell

you honestly and truthfully where they're at and where they

think your relationship with. Them is that.

In the long run, but listen, I just want you to know the last

part is we're going to walk with people.

Paul says, my little children for whom I labor in birth again

until Christ is formed in you. What was the goal of the apostle

Paul in his confrontation? I'll ask that again and I want

you to look at verse 19. What is the goal of the Apostle?

Paul. In his communication with the

church at Galatia. Good.

I'll ask you again, what is the goal?

The goal? Is the apostle Paul says until

Christ is formed in you until Christ is formed in you.

What was the goal was to see Jesus birth in the life of

someone who claims to follow him or her.

The goal was Paul. Said I'm not going to give way

to this. Cancel culture.

We will walk with you through this.

We will walk with you until Christ is formed in you.

I love what one pastor said and we'll just end it here, he said

trees don't grow in moments of passion and Christians don't

develop overnight. Marriages don't flourish based

on the weekend, no. These things grow as a as a

result. Of being rooted, planted,

watered. In the House of God, surrounded

by the people of God, transformed in the presence of

God. And here's what I found the

pastor. Wrote it's.

Easier to have a passionate. Spiritual moment than it is.

To have consistent spiritual movement.

If we want to see people. Transform.

We must have obedience in a long direction.

This will not happen overnight. We must put our hand to the plow

and not look back. This is not for the faint of

heart. This is not a place for you to

retire your spiritual life. We need people.

Of every generation, in every tribe, in every tongue.

That will. Buy.

Houses start, businesses raise families, and contend for the

awakening of God's church. And I just want to challenge you

in this. We hope you enjoyed this message

and we'd love for you to join us in person every Sunday at 10:30

AM. For more information and

updates, visit wearebridgetown.com.

Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week.