Bear With One Another | The One Another Way - Galatians 6:1-3 | Clayton Heath

Good morning.

Welcome to Silver Old Baptist Church.

It's so nice to see you worshiping here with us today.

If we haven't had the chance to meet, my name is Clayton, and I have the privilege of serving as a part of our team here at Creekside as well as part of our young adult ministry team.

And today I have the privilege of sharing with you God's word.

So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Galatians chapter six.

Galatians is in the New Testament, which is the part of the Bible that contains all the things that happened during and after the life of Jesus.

And then hopefully on your way in, you got a worship guide from our guest services team.

And we give those to you for lots of reasons, but make no mistake about it, we give them to you because it is no small thing that God is the creator of the universe and he speaks to you and me.

And so when he does, we want to be sure that we pay attention and write down the things that he says.

Today we continue in our series called The One Another Way.

And really, as a church, what we've been looking at over the last uh six or seven weeks is what scripture calls us to uh in regards to how we live with one another, the way that we live our lives with other believers and those that we find that God has placed in our lives around us.

And this morning, uh we talk about the command that we find in Galatians chapter six, where Paul says that we are to bear one another's burdens.

And the reality is that when it comes to community, Paul's gonna give us almost like a way for us to experience what God promises we can experience in community in the Bible.

Because how many of you know there's a big difference between being around the people that God has put around you and then bearing the burdens with them.

But the problem is that we do small groups.

We sit in Bible studies, we are here at church, we are around other people.

And this thing that can start to happen is, and we've talked about this before, right?

We we champion community.

We say, look at what Scripture says that we can experience.

This is what God is calling you and I into, and we see what's described in the Bible, and then we sit in our small group, we get in our Bible study, we talk at our row at Sunday morning, and we say, there seems to be a disconnect between what the Bible says is I'm supposed to be uh experiencing and what I actually feel like I'm experiencing.

And the reality, of course, is that it's because it's impossible to be a part of community and not have somebody mess up, not have somebody sin, not have somebody disappoint you, not have somebody needing something from you that's far more than what you were originally willing to give.

In other words, it's impossible to be in community and community not be inconvenient.

And so, what, again, the Apostle Paul is gonna write to us today is this idea that I'm gonna submit to you is one of the reasons, friend, that you might not be experiencing or living the community, the life of community that God is promising us in his word is because we are not bearing one another's burdens.

And so to catch us up on the reading, we're in Galatians 6, but it's very important, and you guys are smart biblical scholars, so you know to remember what Paul has just written in Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

In Galatians chapter 5, Paul has just written what?

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

To walk in step with the Spirit.

And he says that these are the fruit of the Spirit.

So all of five is saying, hey, this is what now following the Lord, because of the gospel, because we are saved by Jesus and dwelt with the Holy Spirit, we can walk in step with the Spirit.

And then Paul does what Paul always does, and he takes a really um a theological truth or abstract concept, and he's gonna say, This is what it looks like in your life.

So this is what we pick up in Galatians chapter 6, verses 1 through 5.

Galatians 6:1–5

I want us to read the scripture together in your Bibles.

It says, Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself, lest you two be tempted, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor, for each will have to bear his own word.

This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God.

And so if you and I are going to continue to experience what the Bible says that we can when it comes to community, when it comes to church, all the things that we say, like why this is important, then there are some things that we're gonna have to do when it comes to bearing one another's burdens.

And so the first thing I want us to write down this morning, if you're taking notes, is that we've got to do what?

We've got to bear with people when they fall.

We've got to bear with people when they fall.

Paul is writing to the church in Galatia.

He's written about the gospel of Jesus Christ, not adding anything to it.

Then we get to chapter 5, and he says, we can walk empowered by the Spirit of God to do what God calls us to do.

And here's what that looks like in relationships.

And the first thing that he writes after saying, walk in step with the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit, be like this.

The first thing he writes is Galatians chapter 6, verse 1.

Galatians 6:1

Look at it in your Bibles.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

And we read this, and it's like, right out of the gate, Paul is going to the hard one.

Like, we read this and it's like, man, okay, walk by the spirit.

Can we start with anything else other than bearing one another's burdens?

But Paul doesn't say, if people struggle, then this is what you were to do.

Paul doesn't say, hey, I know your church, your church is great, and you know, people, we all love church and we love the people and our church, but sometimes this thing's gonna happen.

And if it ever does happen, I'm sure it won't because you're part of a great church, this is what you should do.

No, he says, when people are caught in their sin.

Now, what's important for us to distinguish is that the word caught here is not like how someone gets caught in deception or trying to hide their sin.

It's not like someone got caught in a fair or whatever.

It's more like they're entangled or they're ensnared by sin's grasp.

If you read a the CSB translation, it says, if anyone is overtaken in wrongdoing, this isn't like I'm hiding sin and I've gotten exposed.

This is I'm I'm with living life and someone has sinned around me.

You know, like all of life actually is.

This isn't a pagan witch hunt.

This is people that we love.

And so what Paul says is, he says that here we are, if anyone is caught, ensnared, overtaken, if they sin, which is what people do all the time, what is our response?

Because the reality is, whether you've grown up in church or not, then we know that one of our response is usually one of two.

It's either to ignore it or to condemn it.

We can ignore it.

You've been this, you've been, you're you've been around church, friend.

You've been in a small group, you've known people, you know, the the ones that aren't that bad, like gossip or anger that doesn't hurt anybody, or pride, or lust, or whatever it is, you know, we see these in our small group, we see these in the people around us, and like, you know, what am I gonna do, Clayton?

Just like go out and just be on this holiness campaign and supposed to yell at people about their sin?

Don't you know Jesus says the rod and this, you know, all that?

I'm not supposed to do that.

So I'm just gonna ignore it.

But then you have the other option, which is usually what we reserve for like, you know, the big bad ones.

Someone does get caught in an affair, they're drunk, they're an alcoholic, they steal money, there's something, something bad, bad.

We go, yeah, yeah, of course, we'll condemn that.

Sometimes we might even share the post on social media that's just like, this is written better than how I could have ever written it, so this is my stance.

But the gospel of Jesus Christ introduces the third option, which is to restore them.

And that's not an option that we can outsource to something that's written better than we can write.

If you know your Bible, then you know that the word restore here is the same word that's used to describe the disciples in the gospels whenever they're mending their fishing nets.

Something is broken and they're repairing it to take it back to what it was meant to do.

This is what that means.

We confront the sin.

Right?

Just like last week we heard, Pastor Tony taught us, we speak in truth with grace, in truth and in love.

Our goal is not to be right or to confront sin to prove anyone wrong.

Our goal is always to bring somebody home.

But here's the deal some of you are sitting here and you're like, okay, Clayton, well, if you just read the whole verse, it says, You who are spiritual.

And I've never claimed to be spiritual.

In fact, I think most people around me are more spiritual than me.

So this removes the responsibility of me having to restore anyone because I've never said that I'm spiritual.

Pastors are spiritual.

You know, my grandma, she was spiritual.

They can do these things, not me.

And I would tell you kindly, friend, you couldn't be more dead wrong.

What does the apostle Paul just write in Galatians chapter 5?

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

How to be filled with the Spirit, how to walk in step with the Spirit.

And so by Paul saying you who are spiritual, he's not saying that now there's this Christian elitism or class system.

He's saying, if you are in Christ, friend, if you have confessed that Jesus is Lord and believed that he was raised from the dead, you have the Spirit of God in you, and if that's you, you're who I'm talking to.

So this is not a command for some people, this is for all of us.

But notice what the headline is.

What's the description of this confrontation?

Look at it again in verse number one.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of, say it out loud with me, gentleness.

What do we know?

The Apostle Paul has just written Galatians chapter five, and he has talked about the fruit of the spirit.

And what is one of the fruit of the spirit?

Gentleness.

You who are spiritual, a spirit of gentleness.

Do you see?

In other words, one of the ways that we make known the transformation of our own life, empowered by the Spirit of God, is that the fruit of our relationships is a spirit of gentleness that is a sign of the indwelling of the Spirit of God.

So could someone describe you and the way that you treat the relationships around you with a spirit of gentleness?

So this is not about ignoring sin.

This is not about weaponizing that somebody does against sin.

But this is about, just like how so many people have done it in your life, when they've come to you and they've brought up a situation that maybe you're blind to and they say, Hey, I just want to check in on you.

Is everything going okay?

Can you tell me about your relationship with the Lord?

Hey, I've noticed that your anger seems to be rearing its head more than uh in recent times.

I've noticed that you're talking in a really negative way.

Is everything okay?

Because bearing with someone means that I care enough to tell them the truth and I love them enough to stay while we walk through it.

So we gotta bear when people fall.

If you and I are gonna be filled with the Spirit, walk in spirit, this is the first thing that Paul writes.

The second thing I want you to write down is this is that we've gotta bear with people when life gets heavy.

Whoo, this one's everyone's favorite.

We gotta bear with people when life gets heavy.

Look at what the apostle writes in Galatians chapter 6, verse 2.

Galatians 6:2

He says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

In other words, you could flip this sentence and say, in order to fulfill the law of Christ, we must bear one another's burdens.

And this is where the words of 2,000 years ago and our lives today come crashing into one another.

Because the word burden denotes the term or the idea that it is too heavy for someone to carry on their own.

This is why we are called to help carry it.

Because again, what are we talking about?

We're talking about community and church and small groups, and we do this thing, we're like rah-rah, small group.

We experience God best in community, which we do.

This is the thing we can do it.

Acts two, church.

This is it, we're gonna do it, everybody.

We're gonna be the ones.

And then in small group, and then in this room, there's grief, there's divorce, there's wayward children who haven't been talking to their parents for years, cancer diagnosis, financial crises, a struggling marriage on the rocks, addiction that can never seem to be broken, loneliness, suicidality.

No one is signing up to say, I want to do this by myself.

But notice that Paul's command to us, the believers, the ones who are filled with the Spirit, who have the Holy Spirit of God in us, his command isn't, and notice one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

This isn't the thing where we walk out and we go to Chewy's after church and we're like, Did you hear what happened to so-and-so?

They're going through a rough time.

He doesn't say, pray for one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

We pray for one another's burdens, absolutely, but his command to those who are spiritual, that's you and me, who are filled with the Spirit of God, who are a born-again believer, is to bear the burden with them.

Help, carry, shoulder the load, which means that at some point their burden has to become inconvenient to me.

This is everybody's favorite part of following Jesus.

This is the one we all sign up for.

Oh, I know, Clayton.

I want to give my life to Jesus because I want to step into other people's suffering.

I want to give my life to Jesus because I want to step into other people's problems, other people's burdens.

Nobody says that this is why we start following Jesus.

But this is one of the commands that Paul has given to us that we have to take on people's burdens so that we might be inconvenienced so that we can fulfill the law of Christ.

If I can put it more bluntly, you don't really know whether you're willing to bear someone's burden until helping them cost you something.

So again, this is the part.

We talk about community, we talk about small group, we go to someone's house, we open up the word, we talk about pastor's sermons or whatever it might be, we do chips and salsa, we go play pickleball.

This is it, we're doing it.

And then someone screws up their life, they get caught in sin, they have an overwhelming burden, their family's tearing apart.

And it's like, oh yeah, we're gonna pray.

We're gonna pray.

Yeah, Clayton, we do, we bear one another's burdens.

I've been praying for that sister for a long time, but we don't really know until it costs us an evening with our family, until it breaks up our monthly budget, until it interrupts our schedule, until we get the 17th phone call that we know that when we pick up the phone, they're gonna say the same thing they've said for the last 17 times, and we're gonna give them the same advice we've given for the last 17 times, and really we know, and maybe even they know, that they're not gonna do the thing that we're telling them to do.

Because wouldn't it be so simple if they just do what we told them to do?

Because their problem would be better if they just did what we would tell them to do, but we're gonna do it anyways.

Helping someone move, watching the kids that break your stuff, walking with someone through a struggle longer than you think it should take for them to get over it.

This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus, this is what it means to belong to a church community.

And you go, Well, why, Clayton?

I don't understand.

Why does Paul go from be filled with the Spirit, bear one another's burdens?

Because we just learned it two weeks ago.

What does Paul write in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 26?

1 Corinthians 12:26

He says, if one member suffers, all of us suffer.

So if I could just ask you a more pointed question, what's a burden that you know about that you aren't doing anything to bear?

Who's someone in your small group?

In your family, your neighbor, someone that you just know at church, that you know is going through a difficult season, and you might be praying for them.

Great.

You might have noticed it, you might even ask them about it, but have you stepped in to help bear the load?

Because Paul says that by bearing the burden we fulfill the law of Christ.

And so we're smart and we're reading that and we say, okay, well, then what's the law of Christ?

Well, Jesus says in John chapter 13, verse 34, he says, Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.

John 13:34

And so in the world, that in people inside the church and outside the church are crying out and saying, How come nobody's loving anybody like Jesus?

Paul says, if you want to know what loving like Jesus looks like, then we have to help carry what is crushing somebody else.

Because can I just remind you some good news today, friend?

How did Jesus love you?

From a distance?

Did he say that he would pray for you?

Is it possible that he entered into our burden, took on human flesh, and he paid for the debt of our sin, reconciling us to the Father?

We bear with one another.

This is what it means to follow Jesus.

And so we don't leave when it gets heavy.

We don't leave when the heavy season sticks around for years.

We bear with one another and so fulfill the law of Christ.

So we gotta bear with one another when um people fall.

We gotta bear with one another when things get heavy.

And so you're like, okay, Clayton, you're here at church.

Like, great, this is good.

You know, this is a good one.

You know, this is one not everybody wants to talk about, so it's good that we remind ourselves of this.

And um I needed this reminder.

I needed it, Clayton.

I got this couple in my small group and they're really trying me, but I'm gonna I'm gonna do more than pray for them.

I'm gonna I'm gonna reach out or see if I can watch their kids or something like this.

But at the very least, there's this feeling at the very end that we can think, oh yeah, this is a good ideal that we're striving for.

This is good.

This is what our need to be remember reminded of.

But there's one more thing I want you to write down this morning.

If you're taking notes, the last thing I want you to write down is this is that we gotta bear with people without making it about yourself.

This is my favorite one.

In fact, why don't you do this for me?

We just look at the person you sing next to you and just say, You gotta bear with people without making it about yourself.

Paul writes in Galatians chapter 6, he continues.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

He says, For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

What is Paul's message?

Galatians chapter 6, 1 through 5.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

Restore someone who falls in sin, bear their burdens, watch yourself.

That's the message.

And don't you find it interesting that again, Galatians 5, be filled with the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, walk in step with the Spirit, restore people who fall, bear their burdens, pride.

This is how Paul is writing.

Why does he do that?

Because I submit to you today, friends, that the greatest threat to the community that you are in is comparison.

The greatest threat to the community you belong to is comparison.

Because can we just be honest with one another?

Here's what we do.

Do you know what we do?

We sit in small groups.

We come to church and we listen to that person talk about their mental health struggles.

We listen to that couple talk about their struggling marriages, their difficulties with their son or daughter.

We pray for the 17th week in a row about their financial struggle, struggle, or their hard relationship with their parent.

And we feel bad for a couple of weeks.

I mean, who wouldn't?

They've got a real problem going on.

And maybe if it's like a really bad one, like we feel bad, you know, for months.

And we say, yeah, no, this is great.

We're gonna pray, we're gonna help.

We need to need, you know, let us know how we can do anything.

And then eventually, eventually, because we're Christians and we're the worst, what happens is, is that weeks or months or even years later, when the same time comes around, it gets to prayer request time, and we roll our eyes when it comes to the time to share prayer requests because we're thinking, I wonder what Susie's gonna say we need to pray for today.

I wonder what that couple's gonna talk about, what issue blew up in their marriage this week.

And it's like, bro, what in the world are we doing?

I'll tell you what we're doing.

Do you know what we're doing?

We're sitting in somebody else's house on somebody else's couch, drinking somebody else's coffee, listening to a brother or a sister in Christ talk about a struggle that they're walking through.

We're watching them drown and we're holding the life jacket.

And worse than apathy, worse than that, pride like a vine, seeps up into our heart and poisons and robs us of the very thing that God wants to use us for in their life.

And then it moves to inaction, which is now sin, which is what Paul's saying.

Because you know what happens?

You know, you know, not us, right, but other believers.

They get in their cross.

After a small group, and they go, At least our marriage isn't like theirs.

Man, can't they just make one good decision in their life?

I've been through worse than that.

They're complaining about their marriage about to break with one kid, wait till they have three.

They're complaining about one sickness in the family, try both sets of parents.

They don't know about, you know, teenagers, wait till it's an adult kid.

They don't know about this, wait till that.

And this pride seeps in.

Ooh, or even that just as bad.

Well, nobody helped me when I went through that struggle.

Nobody cared, showed up for me at the hospital when my loved one was sick, so why should I show up for them?

Listen to me, friend.

Other people's weaknesses isn't an opportunity for you to feel strong.

Paul says, stop looking sideways.

For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

You want to be deceived, friend?

You think you get it all together.

You think that that person should just do what you would do and all their problems would go away.

What's the truth?

Can I just remind us?

The truth is that right now, simultaneously, we all of us, each, are people who are carrying burdens and are called to help carry one another's burdens.

So we don't get a redshirt season on burden carrying because we've got our own burdens to carry and they've got issues, but I've got my own issues, but I'm just not really in a place right now, Clayton, to be able to extend some help to them, so I'm just really gonna take care of me.

We don't ever graduate from needing grace from other people, and we certainly don't ever graduate from extending that same grace to those around us.

You're like, okay, Galatians 6, maybe this is just the only time Paul says this.

Wrong again, friend.

Look at what he says in Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

He says, in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

In other words, when somebody falls around us, is overtaken by wrongdoing, our first response shouldn't be, how could they?

Our first response, first response should be, apart from the grace of God, that should be me.

When someone is going through a season of burden, grief, suffering, whatever it is, our first response isn't, I'll pray for you.

Our first response is, what can I do to help carry the load?

Now, some of you are sitting here and you're saying, Clayton, you haven't talked about enabling, you haven't talked about savior complexes, you haven't talked about any of those things.

Of course we don't enable destructive behavior.

Of course, we're not the savior of anybody.

Jesus Christ is the only savior of anybody.

And the second that we use any of those excuses to remove the responsibility of carrying burdens from ourselves, we walk in direct disobedience to what the apostle Paul is telling us.

So kindly.

I ask, what is a burden that you know about that you aren't doing anything to carry?

You say, well, Clayton, this should be like the church.

This is what the church is supposed to do, right?

The church is supposed to do these things, you know, feed the sick and take care of people and all that.

For sure.

Our church has care and counseling, but that's provided free to people, you can connect them to that.

Our church has a benevolence fund.

If finances are tied on you to help meet a financial need, our church has a need for that.

You can connect people to that.

Our church has celebrate recovery on Thursday nights that helps people walk in freedom from hurts and hangups.

Come on Thursday nights with the friend.

Our church has partnerships with rehabilitation centers, food pantries, halfway homes, and so much more.

But listen, this is not a message about how you got to connect somebody to a church resource.

This is a message about how you and I are supposed to be the church that God is calling us to be.

And you're like, geez, Clayton, come on, dog.

Couldn't we have gotten like a love one another one?

It makes me feel a little bit better today.

Like, what is going on?

I mean, why is it, Clayton?

Why is it that we should carry one another's burdens in the first place?

Again, we've been around Christians.

You said we're the worst.

I agree.

So why should I carry anybody's burdens that didn't check up on me?

Well, can I remind you, friend, it's not because we're Catholic.

It's not because we're Jehovah's Witness or Mormon.

We're not working to bear one another's burdens to be better on our own.

It's not because we're naturally patient, and it's not because everybody deserves unlimited amounts of energy, but it is because, friend, the very crux of our faith, our entire belief is centered around someone carrying a burden that did not belong to them.

Can I just remind you, friend, that the Bible says that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, emptied himself into the form of a servant and was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

That the Bible says in Romans that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So guess what that means?

That means that Jesus didn't wait until we did what he told us to do to save us.

He moved in our direction before we could do anything.

What does Isaiah 53, verse 4 say?

Isaiah 53:4

He says, Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Jesus put his skin in the game.

1 Peter chapter 2, verse 24.

1 Peter 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body and on the tree.

How many of you are thankful that Jesus didn't look at you and your sin and say, that's their problem?

He didn't look at you and say, I'm gonna pray for them.

He didn't go to lunch at Chewis and say, Did you hear they're going through a rough time?

No, Jesus stepped into our existence, died on the cross for our sins, bore our sin and shame so that we might be free of our sin, reconciled to Almighty God, and experience the life that He died for us to have.

So what are you saying, Clayton?

I'm saying that the couple in your small group, the girl in your Bible study, the homie that you've known since high school, that person, your sister, your cousin, your niece, your dad, your mom, whoever, we bear with one another because Christ Jesus bore with us.

When I remember how patient Jesus has been with me, I can be patient with you.

When I remember that Jesus met me in my weakness, I can meet you and yours.

When I remember that Jesus didn't abandon me in my sin, I remember that I don't have to abandon you and yours.

When we remember what Christ has done, we can love the way that Jesus likes, and we can experience what the Bible says that we can experience.

Amen.

Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we love you.

God, we're thankful for who you are and for what you've done for us.

God, we're thankful that you were God and that we are not.

God, we're thankful that you are good, that you're righteous, that you're holy, that your word says, While we were still sinners, you died for us, while we were face down in the sea of sin.

Your hand reached and grabbed us and transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light.

God, we're thankful that you have poured out your spirit on us, in us, and it leads us so that me, so that we might walk in step with the Spirit.

And God, to do that, would you remind us of the communities we belong to?

Would you show us the people who are experiencing burdens right now?

And would you empower us to be who you've called us to be, to fulfill the law of Christ?

It's in your holy and precious name we pray.

And all God's people said, Amen.

So as our response today, what we get to do is to take the Lord's Supper and take communion.

Uh, if you got elements, hopefully on your way, and if you didn't, um, there's uh elements in the baskets at the back of the room.

You can move at any point between now and when we take it to go grab some.

This is a really holy moment.

And so if you're not yet a follower of Jesus, we would ask that you would abstain from taking the Lord's Supper.

But what we're doing, we don't believe that there's anything supernatural that happens when we take this, but we remember what Christ did: that he really did die on the cross four years since.

That he really did get buried, was resurrected, defeated, death, hell, and the grave, and he ascended to the right hand of the Father.

Paul writes in Corinthians not to take the Lord's Supper lightly, and so what we're about to do is just enter a time of just private reflection.

What I would suggest to you is to ask the Lord, is there any sin that you need to confess?

Is there any life situation that you need to surrender to God?

Is there any burden that you know about that you can help carry?

And we're gonna take a moment of private reflection and then I'll lead us in the elements together.

If you would, would you reflect now?

Go ahead and take your own.

He took the bread that was on the table and he broke it, and he said, This is my body which is broken so that you could be made whole.

Take and eat in remembrance of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we love you.

God, we're thankful that your body was broken so that we could be made whole.

God, that apart from your sacrifice, we would still be empty, searching for meaning, purpose, satisfaction, everything that we want.

But God, you restored us completely.

You made us brand new.

We're thankful, God, we love you, we trust you.

In your name we pray, amen.

Next, he took the fruit of the vine.

And he said, This is my blood, which is the new covenant, which is shed for the forgiveness of sins.

Take and drink in remembrance of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we love you.

God, we're thankful that your word tells us that because Jesus shed his blood, we can be forgiven of our sins.

That because of Christ's imputed righteousness on our behalf, we stand whiter than snow before you.

God, we're thankful that where would we be except for your grace and your mercy?

So, Jesus, we ask that you would fill us with your spirit, that you would lead us, that we would continue to walk in obedience to you, that we would walk in step with you, that we would help carry the burdens in the lives of those around us.

God, we love you, we trust you, it's in your holy and precious name we pray.

And all God's people said.

So now what we're gonna do is to sing a song of response, gratitude.

This song that just says, Jesus, where would we be without you?

I don't have anything else to give except a heart of praise.

So if you need to continue to pray, you can pray at your seat, you can pray down here at the front.

But we all get to respond and worship for who Jesus is and what he has done for us.

Would you stand with us as we respond together?