Words Matter - Actions Matter (Luke Troyanek)

Well, good morning, OneChurch.

How are we doing today?

Hey, there we go.

Got a little bit of energy at the end of fall break.

It's great to see you all today.

If we haven't had the opportunity to meet yet, my name is Luke, and I have the privilege of serving as one of the pastors here at OneChurch, and just want to give a special welcome to anybody who might be in the room for the very first time.

It's your first time walking in these doors.

We are so thankful that you are here.

And also want to give a quick shout out to everybody who is joining us online.

Maybe you're making your way home from fall break.

Maybe you're sick or you're in the hospital.

Drop us a comment.

Let us know where you're watching from.

One Church Family.

Can we let everybody know online how much we love them?

How thankful we are that they are here.

So, so good.

Well, I am fired up today.

I am excited as we get to continue week two of our series called Words Matter.

Everybody say that with me.

Words matter.

Words matter.

Yeah, words matter.

And we're in a five-week study on the book of James.

And so if you have your Bible with you, I'd encourage you to go ahead and open it up to James chapter two.

We will get there in just a couple of minutes, and that's where we will be spending the majority of our time today in James chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

Last week, Pastor Blake kicked off this series in James chapter 1, and he spent some time reminding us of the importance of the words that we speak.

James 1 · chapter mention

The words that we speak over other people, the words that we speak over ourselves, the things that we say, they really matter.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs that there's the power of life and death in the tongue.

And so we have the ability to either build up or to break down with the things that we say to one another.

We can encourage or we can destroy with the power of our tongue.

Last week, Pastor Blake also preached on James chapter 1, talking about consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.

James 1 · chapter mention

And the joy that many of us walked in here with is uh we walked in the doors even though our team lost yesterday.

Uh and if that's you, I'm there with you.

I understand it was a rough day of college football, but I'm proud of you for showing up, anyways.

We're gonna dive into God's word, and it is going to be amazing.

But we are in this series talking about the importance of our words, and um, maybe it's just me, but maybe some of you can relate.

Have any of you ever been uh having just an incredible day?

Life seems to be going exactly the way you would draw it up if you could.

You wake up and you're in a good mood, you're on the right side of the bed, and um things just tend to go super, super well.

You don't have any issues with your kids or your spouse, and you you get to work or school, and things are going fantastic.

And then that one person says one sentence that ruins everything and it drags you down.

Anybody ever been there?

Raise the hands?

Yeah.

Maybe somebody uh pokes a jab at uh an insecurity that you may have.

Maybe they they take a joke too far and something, you're you're called a name, and you're absolutely crushed.

I know that I have been there.

Or maybe uh you've experienced the opposite, where it seems like everything is falling apart, right?

Yeah, this is a terrible day.

Um nothing is going my way.

I got a car crash and I got a ticket and things are breaking and things just aren't going well.

But then, whether it be a family member or a friend or a neighbor or maybe even a stranger at the grocery store, they've encouraged you and they've spoken words of life, and it has lifted your countenance.

Anybody experience that too?

Yeah.

The words that we say, they really matter.

And so today, as believers and followers of Jesus, if that's you in this room, we're gonna talk about our words.

We're gonna talk about the things that we say, but we are also going to talk about what comes after our words, which is our actions.

And so if you are taking notes today, the title of this message is Actions Matter.

Actions Matter as well.

And we are going to be studying, uh, like I said, the book of James, chapter two.

Um, and so if you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and open them up.

If not, it'll be on the screen.

And I was told the blue didn't work good last service, so let's try pink.

Let's see, is that good?

Yeah, we can see that.

Awesome.

Um, let's read verses one through four of James chapter two.

Uh, my brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, must not, everybody say must not, must not show favoritism.

And before we dive any deeper into uh the words of James today, it's important that we recognize that James specifically is talking to, he uses this like family language, brothers and sisters, for those who are in the family of Christ.

And so he goes on to say, believers in Jesus.

And this is an important uh note for us today, that as believers and followers of Jesus, the way we talk and the things that we do should look different than the rest of the world.

I think part of what's so hard in Christianity today is we hold non-believers to the standard of followers of Jesus.

We think that people that don't know Jesus should live their lives like they do.

We can't believe that they sin in a certain way.

We can't believe that they live a certain lifestyle.

We can't believe that they say things or do things or don't say things or don't do things, but they're not believers and followers of Jesus.

And so today, as we dive into James chapter 2, this is specifically for those of us in the room who are followers of Jesus.

James 2 · chapter mention

And if you're not, there are things here for you as well.

But these cut these things we're gonna read are not suggestions, but they're commands.

If you've placed your faith in Jesus, you are called to a life that looks different than the world around us.

And so James says, believers in our Lord and glorious Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.

And he goes on to give an example of this.

He says, Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in.

If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, Here is a good seat for you, but you say to the poor man, you stand over there, or sit on the floor by my feet, have you not discriminated among yourselves and become what?

Judges with evil thoughts.

Some pretty strong language from the words of James, that those who are showing favoritism become judges with evil thoughts.

I want you to think about maybe a time in your own life where um you have been excluded from something.

Maybe for whatever reason, maybe uh you didn't fit into the socio-economical class and so you got left out of a vacation.

Maybe things look different and you weren't invited to something for whatever the reason, right?

That is how the world often operates.

People aren't invited because they don't have enough money, or because their skin color looks different, or because they don't drive a nice enough car, or they don't have a big enough house.

People are excluded all the time because they don't have enough status, they don't have enough pedigree, and people in the world say, you know what, these people don't have these things, so we are going to reject them.

Kids in school are made fun of if they don't have designer clothes and nice shoes.

It's an unfortunate reality about humanity as we look for reasons to exclude people.

But James comes out pretty strong and he blows that idea to pieces for those of us who are believers and followers of Jesus.

James comes out and he says that those who are believers and followers of Jesus must not show favoritism.

It's not a suggestion, it's a command.

We are called to invite and to include and to welcome those who look different, who talk different, who dress different into the family of God.

I uh a couple of years ago, I did an internship at a church in Juneau, Alaska, and uh it was one of my favorite expressions of church I ever got to be a part of.

Um if anybody's watching from Common Ground, you guys tune in occasionally.

Love you guys.

Pastor Gary, thanks for all you did to invest in me.

I'm so thankful for you.

But got to uh be a part of an amazing church, and I worked part-time for a helicopter tour company that would take people, um, they'd go up on uh helicopter, they would get on a glacier or dog sled, do all these things, and um, it was uh an incredible, fun summer job while I was interning at a church.

And there was one day when a uh famous um food critic chef guy and a couple of his friends rolled up in their fancy-looking car, and they were gonna go on this helicopter tour, and we were gonna take them.

And so uh my job was not to fly the helicopters, and that was for everyone's safety, uh, but I got to take people and help them get their snow boots on so they wouldn't fall when they were on the glacier, and help them make sure they filled out their waivers, and on their waivers they would fill out how much they weighed because of weight distribution on the helicopters, and do all these different things.

And so I met this guy and his group of friends and helped them get loaded up, boots on, and then I got this flight manifest put in my hands uh from our logistics coordinator, and it was um seat assignments, the way these helicopters were.

There were there's a pilot, two seats in the front, um, and then three seats in the back.

And so, hey, here's the manifest, you're gonna line these people up.

And uh the way that it worked was we'd have people um coming off the helicopter and then getting on, so they stayed running so we wouldn't lose as much fuel.

So I uh walk him out there and I begin to load these guys up.

I'm looking at my sheet and I'm like, what's your name?

Okay, you're here.

Yep, you're here.

Um so two guys in the front seat, and then I put uh this guy's friend in the back seat, which is up against the window.

Uh, and then I look at this man and I said, All right, sir, this is your seat.

Uh and it was the back seat in the middle with no windows.

Uh and this guy looked at me and he said, I'm not sitting there.

And I said, Sir, I don't have any control.

Like, here's my paper.

Um, this is this is what it says, this is where you need to sit.

And he said, he looked at me, I'll never forget, and he goes, Do you know who I am?

The classic, you know?

And I was like, Well, well, yes, sir.

And what I thought is, well, you eat for a living, but I didn't say that because words matter.

Um, and we're on a helicopter and people's lives are at stake, and so this you you're gonna sit where you sit.

I'm so sorry.

Um got them up, sent them off, and uh they had a great time.

Um, but what uh the end of the story is that doesn't really fit a sermon, but I'll just tell you guys, anyways.

They go up to the top of the glacier, they do whatever dog sled or two or whatever thing, and uh when they come flying back down, guess where that guy's sitting?

Oh, front and center.

And he's giving me the big old smile, grinning at me, like I told you so.

And I'm like, you gave the pilot a couple hundred bucks.

Like, that's all, you know, out of my hands.

Um you did what you can do.

But uh unfortunately, uh, this guy, or maybe understandably, he expected that his name, his personality, his financial status would get him special treatment.

And honestly, like understandably, it probably is that way in the majority of places he goes.

And the really unfortunate part is that oftentimes that has slipped its way into the church.

That we've got men and women who are maybe on staff at a church or they have the title of pastor and they feel like they deserve to be treated differently, that they should be honored and esteemed, that they should have all the nice things and they should have their own little space and they shouldn't have to do the things that other people do because they are so important.

And um I just want to say publicly that I'm so thankful that we have a pastor that is not that way.

Um, to have a church this size where Pastor Blake's in the lobby and talking with people and interacting is is abnormal.

Um, and he always says, My job is to hold the ladder so other people can climb.

Um I want you to hear from people that sit with him all the time that uh this is not about him, this is about Jesus.

And so I'm so thankful for that.

But it but it's crept its way into the church where men and women are saying, Hey, look at me, esteem me, give me all the credit.

Or maybe it's not church staff, but there are people who say, Hey, I am uh one of the largest givers at this church, and so I deserve special treatment.

I need my own parking spot or my own seat, uh, or hey, if you're building a new place, I get a say in what color the carpet is.

You know why?

Because I write a big check.

And unfortunately, this has just become a part of the way that things work, but I'm here today to tell you from the words of James that the body of Christ is no place to pull a status card.

The body of Christ is no place to say, hey, do you know who I am?

Do you know what I do?

The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Clergy and congregation, there's no difference in the eyes of Jesus.

Each of us are sinners in desperate need of a Savior, and Christ came to set each of us free.

There's no levels of spirituality and importance.

Each of us have value and we're created in the image of God.

It doesn't matter if you wear a full suit to church or if you wear shorts and flip-flops to church.

It does not matter.

You're not gonna receive favoritism here, and you're not gonna receive favoritism in the kingdom of heaven someday.

While we're talking about uh clothes, and as you guys know, like a lot of people wear a lot of different things to our church, but something you might not know is that we actually have a dress code.

Um, and it's simply please wear clothes.

That's it.

Whole dress code is uh if you show up here, you can wear a suit if you want to, you can wear shorts and a flip-flop, but we do ask that you please wear clothes.

But here's the point is that we are all equal in Christ Jesus.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

So, when people walk in that maybe look different than us, that think different, that vote different, our job is not to judge or discriminate.

Our job as believers and followers of Jesus is to love.

That's here in the church building, and that is everywhere that we go.

Pick up with me in verse five.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters, there's that family language again that James loves to use.

Has God no has God, excuse me, has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him?

But you have dishonored the poor.

Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?

Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?

Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, which is to love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing what?

Right.

But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as law breakers.

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

For he who said, You shall not commit adultery, also said, you shall not commit murder.

If you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

A couple of important things here for us to recognize.

Uh, number one is that all sin separates us from God.

All sin separates us from God.

It doesn't matter, what James is very clear about is hey, if you just break one of the laws, one of the commands, you are guilty.

You have become a what?

Law breaker.

Doesn't matter what that sin is.

And what he says uh is a sin and is very clear and unapologetic is favoritism.

And that's not something that we talk about very often.

But if you show favoritism, you sin.

I think we've all heard stories of uh pastors or church leaders or people who have been fired for uh they call it moral failure, right?

When someone uh has an affair.

And rightly so.

They should not continue to serve in that role if they uh have an affair or if they embezzle money, they're fired.

But I have never heard of a church who fires somebody for showing favoritism.

But James clearly says if you sin just one, that makes you a lawbreaker.

And so, to be clear, uh not all sin has the same earthly consequences.

There are some earthly consequences on earth that are different, but as far as uh when it comes to spiritually, every sin separates us from God.

And I think the unfortunate trap that a lot of us can fall into, or maybe I can speak for myself, is that we can slip into this uh mindset of my sin is is not that bad.

Yeah, maybe maybe I drink a little bit too much, but I I don't cheat on my spouse.

Maybe I I gossip some, and but it's just it's just for fun.

I don't, I haven't ever committed murder, and we slowly begin to justify that our sin isn't that bad.

But the Bible is clear that all sin separates us from God.

And some of us today need to recognize that that's not all of everybody else's sin, that's all of my sin too.

My sin separates me from God.

And the good news is that God loves us so much that he sent Jesus to die for you so you could be forgiven of those sins.

And so if you walked in this place today feeling weighed down by sin and you've never given your life to Jesus and accepted the free gift of grace and forgiveness, when we walk out the doors today, over here in this corner, there's a station called You Said Yes.

Would you stop by there?

Would you allow our team to process with you and to pray with you and to talk with you about the goodness of God and the forgiveness of sins?

Today can be the day where you're washed clean of your sins and you receive forgiveness.

We're gonna pick up in verse 12.

Um, and James says, speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives what?

Freedom.

The law gives freedom.

And my pen now is not working, so nope.

Oh, it is there.

There we go.

Maybe.

The law gives freedom.

Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.

And then these four words mercy triumphs over judgment.

James is clear here that someday each and every one of us will be judged.

We'll be judged for the things that we did on earth, and we will be judged for our sins.

That is uh a reality that all of us face someday.

And what James actually says uh is a couple of words and verses that really mess with my head, if I'm honest.

I don't fully understand and comprehend the idea that judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.

And now the people that James is writing to specifically in this moment are rich people who have been mistreating the poor.

As we read just a few verses beforehand, they were taking the poor people to court and they were exploiting them.

They were saying, Hey, you owe me money, uh, so I'm gonna take you to court and I'm gonna take everything you have.

And it wasn't people that were in need, it was people that were greedy.

And so if he's telling these people to show mercy, and you and I need to be known as men and women who also show mercy, it's important that we recognize what mercy is.

I think we need to have a definition of mercy, because I don't know about you, I don't want to get to heaven uh and find out that I wasn't merciful.

Uh that's a scary thought.

And so, what is mercy?

Oftentimes uh mercy and grace are two church words, two terms that are thrown around uh in similar sentences, right?

I received the grace of God, the mercy of God, and I'm so thankful for those.

And they do go hand in hand, but they are slightly different.

And so I want to give us a definition.

Um, grace is getting something that we do not deserve.

But mercy is not getting something that we do deserve.

I'm gonna say that again.

Grace is getting something, receiving something that we don't deserve.

But mercy is not receiving something that we do deserve.

Um, anybody around, uh let's let's be honest, we're in church, who in here sometimes drives a little bit too fast down the road?

Okay, all right, all right, keep your hand up if you have been pulled over by a police officer and then let off the hook.

Who's gotten a warning a time or two?

Okay, all right, you're my type of people.

Um Let's just say you got pulled over and the police officer said, Hey, do you know why I pulled you over?

And he said, Yes, sir, yes, ma'am, I was going way too fast.

And they would say, Yes, you absolutely were.

You were going 60 and a 35.

And so they walk back to their.

That was not a real life example.

That was just numbers, okay?

I don't do that.

I need to defend myself in church.

But he comes back and they come to the window and they say, Hey, I know that you were going way too fast and you were deserving of a ticket, but I'm going to let you off with a warning.

That is mercy.

Saying, hey, you deserve a ticket.

You deserve a fine.

Maybe you deserve some jail time for what you just did.

But you know what?

I'm not going to give it to you.

That is mercy.

So, what does it look like for you and I to give mercy?

To say, hey, there are some people in my life that might deserve something.

Maybe they've wronged me and they deserve me to repay that wrong with a wrong.

Maybe these people, it is a thing where somebody owes you a bunch of money and you have every right to go after them.

I'm not saying not to defend ourselves or take care of what we need to do to take care of our families, but sometimes, maybe, after we recognize the mercy that we've received, God is asking us to also be merciful.

I don't think that's a sometimes.

I don't think that's a maybe.

God is asking us to also be merciful.

Why?

Because mercy triumphs over judgment.

And that is good news.

You and I, each of us, deserve eternal separation from God.

We deserve to be punished.

But God, in his great mercy, does not punish us.

For those of us who place our faith in Jesus, he does not punish us.

And then we receive grace and the free gift of salvation through the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus, because mercy triumphs over judgment.

Aren't you grateful that we don't receive the punishment that we deserve?

Yeah.

Me too.

Pick up with me in James chapter 2, starting in verse 14, he uh changes the tone just a little bit here.

James 2 · chapter mention

He says, What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?

Can such faith save them?

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.

If one of you says to them, Go in peace and keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is what?

Dead.

But someone will say, You have faith, I have deeds.

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

You believe that there is one God, good.

Even the demons believe that and shudder.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?

Was not our faith father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that his faith and his actions were working what?

Together.

And his faith was made complete by what he did.

And the scripture was fulfilled that said, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend.

You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do, and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a totally different direction?

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

James changes the tone again and goes back to something that we talked about last week with Pastor Blake is that faith in Jesus should lead us to action.

Faith in Jesus should lead us to action.

And he goes into a couple of examples here, one of them being Abraham.

A couple months ago we were in a series called Everyday Heroes, and there was a whole message on Abraham, but here's a small snippet.

Genesis chapter 15, verse 6.

Genesis 15:6

God promises something to Abraham.

Abraham believes God, and it's credited to him as righteousness.

He believes with his heart and he uses his words.

Years later, in Genesis chapter 22, that faith took action.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

And God, uh, excuse me, Abraham obeyed God concerning Isaac.

You see, his obedience did not purchase God's acceptance.

But it did express and bring to maturity the faith that he already had.

And so I want to be clear today that our actions, the things that we do to serve God, we don't do them in order to earn or to purchase God's acceptance.

But we do them out of to mature the faith and to express the faith that we already have.

Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 9 say, For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

Ephesians 2:8–9

It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

And these two passages of scripture may seem contradictory, but they're not.

They're addressing two different things.

Paul, when he's writing to the church at Ephesus, he kind of confronts this idea that we can earn salvation.

These the church at Ephesus, they were trying to prove how much they loved God.

They were trying to work their way to heaven, work their way to salvation.

They wanted to prove, to prove, to prove, hey, I'm gonna earn it.

I'm gonna do it myself.

Paul's saying, no, hey, you you can't earn it.

James is confronting the idea that these people are claiming to have faith in God, but their actions never show it.

And so Paul is saying, hey, you can't earn it, and James is saying, you can't just talk about it.

They work together.

Faith, or excuse me, we receive grace by faith in Jesus, but that is followed by actions.

True saving faith in Jesus, it does lead us to take action.

And then there's the question of what good is it if we say we have faith in Jesus, but we don't do anything about it?

What good is it if we show up at church every week but we don't ever talk about the things that God's done?

We don't ever ever serve, we don't ever love, we don't ever take care of the widows and orphans like we read in James chapter one.

What good is it if we're hearers of the word only, but not doers?

We're challenged to be men and women who do what God has called us to do.

And one church, I want to just encourage you for a moment that you do this so well.

I love to hear stories, and I would love to share just a couple with you today of just this past week, since Thursday.

On Thursday, I got a phone call from a guy in our church who said, Hey, um, I was at Chick-fil-A for breakfast with my daughter.

Um we met a guy who has been living on the streets.

He's been struggling a little bit, and um, he just had a hard stint in life, and um, he needed a meal.

And so I decided I'm gonna buy him a Chick-fil-a biscuit with my daughter, and we're gonna take him in orange juice, and we're gonna sit down and we're gonna hear this man's story.

And rather than just say, hey, here's a chicken biscuit, figure it out.

He said, Hey, let me hear your story.

Do you want to get well?

Do you want help?

This man said yes.

So Friday morning, he drives this homeless man to our church and says, Hey, what can we do?

How can we get this man connected?

He's ready to do the work, he's ready to do what it takes so that he can have food.

And it's getting cold.

I don't want him sleeping in a tent tonight.

And this man was met with this choice of, hey, I can see somebody in need, and I can say, hey, I hope you get some food.

Or I can step up and say, maybe, just maybe, the way that God wants to give this man food is through me.

I've got the resources.

And so he jumped up, and now this man has a place to sleep, and he's getting connected with organizations that can help him get back on his feet.

That's what it looks like to put your faith in action.

Just yesterday, there were a group of men that showed up on a Saturday morning at 8 o'clock to change oil for single moms, for widows, for wives of uh deployed military, and say, hey, you know what?

There are 35 of you that uh can't get your oil changed, or you might get it, uh you might get taken advantage of at a mechanic shop, so why don't you show up at the church?

We'll change your oil for free, we'll give you some breakfast, we'll feed you coffee, and we'll share the love of Jesus with you.

It's what it looks like to put your faith in action.

Or uh Friday, our church got asked to send a group to uh the Youth Detention Center uh right up the road in Clayton County.

And there are 65 young men who have made some bad decisions in life.

And a lot of people have given up on these young men.

But there's a group from our church who said, you know what?

I don't believe that this mistake will define these young men forever.

So I'm gonna show up.

I'm gonna go love them, I'm gonna hear their stories, I'm gonna get to know their names, we're gonna feed them wings and uh french fries, and we're just gonna get to know these guys, and we're gonna share the love of Jesus with these young men.

Why?

Because faith in Jesus leads us to take action.

True saving faith in Jesus leads us to take action.

So when you and I commit to saying, I'm all in, I'm no longer just gonna talk the talk, I'm gonna walk the walk, life begins to look different.

The things that we say and the things that we don't say, the things that we do and the things that we don't do, the people that we see and the people that we choose to no longer ignore.

It looks different.

And so has your faith in Jesus challenged you to take action?

Has your faith in Jesus challenged you to take action?

I asked out of love this morning.

Out of, hey, a place of let's let's be known as w women and men and children who go out and do what God has called us to do.

And so last week Pastor Blake gave us three questions.

I've got three for us today to maybe wrestle with, uh, maybe to talk about with our families or with our small groups, um, as based on James chapter two.

Um, where in my life have I shown favoritism?

Maybe I didn't recognize how serious that was.

And then that's actually a sin when I'm showing favoritism uh based on what people may look like or think or believe.

And allow the Holy Spirit to do what only he can do.

Number two is what actions in my life don't reflect Christ?

What are some things that I may be doing, or things that I may be saying that don't look any different than the world?

What do I need to change?

And then number three, this is the whole point of this morning, is what will I do with what God said through his word today?

Not to earn right standing with God, not to try to earn my salvation, but because I have received this gift, what will I do?

Will I place my faith in action?

And so every week, um, as we wrap up the book of James, um, the gospel in blue jeans is what Pastor Blake called it.

It's practical.

As we leave this place, we're praying that we have practical steps.

And so to close uh our message every week, we're actually gonna pray a corporate prayer together, um, asking the Lord to do what only he can do.

So if you're comfortable, would you put your hands out, maybe in your lap, and would you read this prayer out loud with me?

Father, give us your wisdom.

Forgive us for showing favoritism.

Give us the ability to love every single person you place in our paths.

Help us to see them as you see them.

Father, help us to put our faith in action.

Help us be obedient to your word and stay faithful to the truth.

Keep our hearts from being polluted by the darkness of this world.

And instead, may we be a bright light as we represent you.

You're a good Father, and every good gift comes from you.

Let what we heard today change how we live this week.

We love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

In Jesus' mighty name we pray.

Amen.

Would you stand as we close in the time of worship?