WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.860 If you have your Bibles with you, then turn to Colossians chapter 3 with me. 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:13.599 We will read from verses 12 to 14. 00:00:19.019 --> 00:00:20.879 Colossians 3, 12 to 14. 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:32.579 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. 00:00:32.579 --> 00:00:40.219 And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 00:00:40.939 --> 00:00:47.659 And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:49.179 This is the Word of God. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:50.820 Thank you. 00:00:50.980 --> 00:00:51.280 Amen. 00:00:52.720 --> 00:00:56.760 All right, before we look at Colossians 3, let me just pray for a moment for us. 00:00:56.760 --> 00:01:04.320 Lord, we ask now that you would help us to turn our hearts to your Word, that we would receive it for what it is, your Word, to us, 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:10.820 and that we would be able to be helped by the Holy Spirit to really hear it and to be changed. 00:01:10.939 --> 00:01:17.939 So we ask, Lord, Holy Spirit, right now would you come and do a work in us as we think about this wonderful few verses. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:19.140 And we pray in Jesus' name. 00:01:19.540 --> 00:01:19.780 Amen. 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:19.859 Amen. 00:01:19.859 --> 00:01:30.379 So we are in a series called Practicing the Christian Life, and we're looking at what Paul, the apostle, says about change, about how to change in your life. 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:40.299 Now, Paul, who wrote this book, Colossians, he was once a man that was on his way to go murder Christians, to go kill lots of Christians. 00:01:40.299 --> 00:01:44.459 And while he was on his way to go murder Christians, and while he was on his way to do that, Jesus showed up and appeared to him. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:47.679 The resurrected Christ showed up and changed his life forever. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:59.440 And when that happened, from the outside in, from within his heart out, he experienced a truth, the truth that the cross brought into the world. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:04.539 And the truth is that when Jesus Christ went to the cross, he did two things. 00:02:04.539 --> 00:02:15.819 He took on all that is wrong with us, our guilt, our misdeeds dark, from the deepest part of who we are to the most visible actions that we've done in this life. 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:16.960 He took that on himself. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.740 And then it's not just that he canceled the debt. 00:02:21.140 --> 00:02:22.760 It's not just that he forgave us. 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:28.200 It's that also he turned and then gave us something we didn't deserve, his righteousness. 00:02:28.760 --> 00:02:30.719 So the cross works in two directions. 00:02:31.460 --> 00:02:37.460 He took on what was wrong with us, but at the same time in the cross, he gives you what he deserves. 00:02:37.659 --> 00:02:38.740 He took on what you deserve. 00:02:38.860 --> 00:02:40.760 He gives you what he deserves, a reward. 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:45.520 Now, Paul, on the road to kill a bunch of Christians, he experienced that. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:48.260 And he was transformed. 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:50.159 Now, there's a Bible word for that. 00:02:50.260 --> 00:02:58.980 It's justification that you are set free from all that you deserve through the cross and given an alien righteousness. 00:02:59.300 --> 00:02:59.920 That's justification. 00:03:00.920 --> 00:03:06.080 But then Paul's writing here in Colossians 3 about another Bible word, and that Bible word is sanctification. 00:03:06.860 --> 00:03:11.719 And it's the word that tells you you're meant from there to grow, to change, 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:16.060 to become more and more like the character of Jesus Christ. 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:18.620 And so that's what he's talking to us about here. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:21.120 And what he's doing is he's putting two things together. 00:03:22.659 --> 00:03:24.659 Justification is the basis for sanctification. 00:03:25.340 --> 00:03:29.560 That Jesus has done a mighty work for you is the reason to change. 00:03:29.699 --> 00:03:30.939 It never goes the other way. 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:32.379 It never works in reverse. 00:03:33.319 --> 00:03:36.659 You don't seek change in your life in order to get forgiveness. 00:03:36.659 --> 00:03:39.299 You seek change in your life because you've already got it. 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:41.359 That's the basis of all change. 00:03:42.180 --> 00:03:44.280 And so that's what we've been talking about in this series. 00:03:44.939 --> 00:03:47.680 And Simon read for us these three little verses, 12 to 14. 00:03:48.419 --> 00:03:51.159 And we've got a new piece today, a new piece of the puzzle. 00:03:51.659 --> 00:03:55.900 You've got to go slow when you're talking about change because change is slow. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:59.259 And so we're just taking it a few verses at a time. 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:02.719 In verses 12 to 14, Paul says today, 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:06.740 Today, he gives you another way to think about your identity. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.199 And you've got to have that to change. 00:04:09.259 --> 00:04:11.400 Another way, a new way to think about your identity. 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:15.960 And then he comes and tells you, he shows you the person that you're becoming. 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.100 The person that God is making you into. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:24.699 And then lastly, let me give you on that basis a practice to bring the practices. 00:04:24.899 --> 00:04:26.480 If you've been here, we've been doing some practices. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:29.199 The practice that you can bring all of it together with. 00:04:29.740 --> 00:04:30.560 Okay, so let's look at that. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:36.439 First, Paul says here, he gives you another way to think about identity as a Christian. 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:38.759 How to think about who you are as a Christian. 00:04:39.579 --> 00:04:43.800 So right here in verse 12, at the beginning of verse 12, he says, 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:46.660 Put on, therefore, put on something. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:47.480 What is it? 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:51.740 Four virtues, patience, meekness, humility, and kindness. 00:04:51.899 --> 00:04:56.279 But right in between, before he gets to that, there's a little clause. 00:04:56.279 --> 00:05:02.839 And in verse 12, the little clause is, you are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:04.739 So there's the little clause. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:08.019 You are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.019 Now, there's something old in that. 00:05:11.099 --> 00:05:11.819 We've already looked at this. 00:05:11.939 --> 00:05:15.679 Verse 1 to 4, you're beloved of God, the basis of change. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:21.480 But he's given it to you in a fresh way because that is a quote from Exodus chapter 19. 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:26.819 So you don't see it on the surface of the text, but he's actually quoting from the Exodus story. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:33.280 And in Exodus 19, after God had freed his people from Egypt, he says to them, 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:41.179 You are my holy ones, a holy nation, chosen, and my beloved, my precious treasure, my treasured ones. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:45.719 So he's bringing us back to the Exodus story to think about ourselves. 00:05:46.500 --> 00:05:52.779 Now, I think that when we come to change, look, if you've been around the last few weeks, 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:57.879 I hope maybe you've looked inside yourself for a moment and thought, 00:05:58.159 --> 00:06:01.099 These are the things that I really continue to struggle with. 00:06:01.100 --> 00:06:04.260 And I think when you do that, you come and say, 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:12.240 Paul, tell me, give me the how-to, how to get rid of this stuff, this mess, this evil desire down in my heart. 00:06:12.320 --> 00:06:13.280 Tell me how to get rid of it. 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:16.900 And Paul says, No, I will not tell you how. 00:06:17.820 --> 00:06:20.620 I will keep telling you over and over again who you are. 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:24.520 So the first how-to Paul keeps doing is he says, 00:06:24.620 --> 00:06:27.560 You've got to come back over and over to who you are. 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:32.399 Verse 13, he says, Forgive one another because you've already been forgiven. 00:06:32.579 --> 00:06:34.660 He comes back again and again to the already. 00:06:35.100 --> 00:06:37.439 What's already true of you, you're already forgiven. 00:06:38.259 --> 00:06:40.759 And here he says, you've got to come back to who you are. 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:44.439 And he gives you a fresh way to do that by thinking about the Exodus story. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:47.019 Remember the Exodus story? 00:06:47.019 --> 00:06:50.479 Israel were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. 00:06:51.039 --> 00:06:53.759 And God came and he rescued them out of their slavery. 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:57.560 And he brought them across the Red Sea and he saved them. 00:06:58.479 --> 00:07:01.919 And if you remember the details just before Exodus 19, 00:07:02.419 --> 00:07:05.459 they grumbled the entire way across the Red Sea. 00:07:05.799 --> 00:07:08.919 And there was one moment where they said, I wish we were still back in Egypt. 00:07:09.359 --> 00:07:10.919 And they didn't even want to be rescued. 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:13.459 They didn't even want to be saved from slavery. 00:07:13.459 --> 00:07:15.979 And God did it in any way. 00:07:16.239 --> 00:07:17.939 And he brought them across the Red Sea. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:20.319 And Paul comes and he says, 00:07:20.719 --> 00:07:23.539 You, are you a Christian? 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:24.419 Do you follow Jesus today? 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:27.459 You are just the same. 00:07:27.659 --> 00:07:28.379 You are Israel. 00:07:28.579 --> 00:07:29.319 You are the new Israel. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:34.339 And when Jesus went down under the waters of death, 00:07:34.679 --> 00:07:36.279 the Red Sea waters of the cross, 00:07:37.099 --> 00:07:39.679 he drowned so that you could pass through. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:43.860 And he's brought you to the other side and he saved you. 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:45.439 And yet, you grumbled the whole way through. 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:48.780 And, you know, Paul was trying to murder Christians. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:51.840 And God saved him despite every desire. 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:54.379 And God saved you despite every desire you have. 00:07:54.420 --> 00:07:56.019 You don't even want it. 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:57.240 But he brought it to your life. 00:07:58.120 --> 00:07:58.300 Right? 00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:00.720 And he said, what is he saying? 00:08:00.780 --> 00:08:03.280 He's saying, you've got to think about yourself in the same way. 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:06.100 Jesus Christ's cross is your Exodus story. 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:11.540 Luke, in Luke chapter 9, Luke even calls, he says, 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:15.520 the cross, the burial, and the resurrection that was to come 00:08:15.520 --> 00:08:17.379 was Jesus Christ's Exodus. 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:18.660 It was his deliverance. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:19.480 He went through it. 00:08:20.400 --> 00:08:21.740 He relived it for you. 00:08:22.340 --> 00:08:23.420 And what is Paul saying? 00:08:23.460 --> 00:08:24.960 He's saying the basis of change. 00:08:25.340 --> 00:08:27.360 This is a review point, by the way. 00:08:28.320 --> 00:08:29.560 The basis of change. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:30.180 What is it? 00:08:30.180 --> 00:08:34.860 It's that when Jesus Christ drowned in the waters of the Red Sea at the cross, 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:36.419 he brought you through them safely. 00:08:37.500 --> 00:08:40.440 And his love for you is the basis for change. 00:08:40.980 --> 00:08:44.360 Every week, every week, we keep maybe saying, okay, yeah, 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:45.639 you said that week one, Paul. 00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:47.240 Verse 1 to 4. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:48.720 But he keeps coming back to it. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:52.100 And he keeps saying, you've got to keep coming back every single day 00:08:52.100 --> 00:08:53.740 to who you already are. 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:55.100 You're already a diamond. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:56.620 You're already an emerald in God's sight. 00:08:56.659 --> 00:08:57.759 You never graduate from it. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:02.639 It's actually the first step in the how-to of all change in the Christian life. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:07.559 Jesus Christ got what we deserved so that you could get what he deserved. 00:09:07.939 --> 00:09:11.460 And only on that basis can you ever change deeply. 00:09:12.319 --> 00:09:13.419 Let me apply it. 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:15.019 Here's another way to say it. 00:09:15.860 --> 00:09:22.019 The cross disrupts high self-esteem and low self-esteem. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:23.659 That's the way to say it. 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:25.899 What is high self-esteem? 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:28.939 High self-esteem is just pride. 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:30.759 It's thinking a whole lot. 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:32.639 It's thinking, I'm a person of great value. 00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:34.759 I'm really proud of who I am. 00:09:34.980 --> 00:09:36.759 I'm glad with what I've done in my life. 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:37.500 That's high self-esteem. 00:09:37.819 --> 00:09:39.639 Low self-esteem is the opposite. 00:09:39.860 --> 00:09:40.840 It's, I hate myself. 00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:42.740 I want to be different. 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:44.319 I wish I had that person's life. 00:09:44.899 --> 00:09:46.500 And I wish I was different than what I am. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:50.120 And the cross comes and completely blows up that entire paradigm. 00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:50.439 Why? 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:57.320 Well, because we're all living our lives on this seesaw where if somebody criticizes you, 00:09:57.540 --> 00:10:03.600 it takes your identity down three notches or four notches or six, however much you can handle criticism. 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:05.820 But then somebody comes along and praises you. 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:13.360 And it brings your identity back up a few notches and you feel a little bit better and you're always wavering between high self-esteem and low self-esteem. 00:10:13.420 --> 00:10:17.300 And you go to the counselor and the counselor says, you've got to think better about yourself. 00:10:17.700 --> 00:10:19.379 You need more self-esteem in your life. 00:10:19.379 --> 00:10:27.840 And what Paul is saying is that the cross drops a bomb into that paradigm and just says, you've got to throw out that entire view. 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:35.620 The cross says, the cross says, you are far worse than you ever imagined. 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:40.879 Your evil desires go so much deeper than you're willing to really say. 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:47.480 And you are far more precious and loved than you could ever dare dream. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:48.659 It says both. 00:10:49.379 --> 00:10:51.899 Boy, it's the source of mental health, we said week one. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:57.799 The cross says, you struggle with evil desire far more than you're willing to say to anybody. 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:01.460 And at the same time, you are more beloved than you've ever dared dream. 00:11:02.939 --> 00:11:11.019 So secondly, on that basis, the person that he says now on that basis, you can become the person that we're called to become here. 00:11:11.100 --> 00:11:13.919 Secondly, you're free from Egypt. 00:11:14.100 --> 00:11:15.559 You're free from your slavery. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:17.320 So now go and be free. 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:18.559 That's the idea here. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:21.379 And why is he writing this? 00:11:21.459 --> 00:11:22.219 Why is he giving us? 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:24.719 We're going to look at these four virtues that he gives you. 00:11:24.839 --> 00:11:30.199 He says, put on love, which looks like kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 00:11:30.839 --> 00:11:32.359 Why does he have to tell us that? 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:39.419 Because you can pull the slave out of Egypt, but it is very difficult to get the slavery out of the heart of the slave. 00:11:40.779 --> 00:11:44.759 You can leave Egypt behind legally, forensically. 00:11:45.560 --> 00:11:47.460 God can say, you are justified. 00:11:47.460 --> 00:11:52.519 It's a lot harder for us to say, I'm justified, and grow from there. 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:53.100 It's a lot harder. 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:54.220 We keep running back. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:56.100 We lived on the seesaw all the time. 00:11:56.180 --> 00:11:58.080 The old self keeps coming back and back. 00:11:58.180 --> 00:12:05.560 There's an African-American spiritual in the States that was written during the Civil War called Go Down Moses. 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:10.719 Nobody knows who first wrote it, but it's become a famous black spiritual in the U.S. 00:12:10.719 --> 00:12:13.919 that came from the time of slavery in the U.S. 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:19.879 The very last stanza, it says, Lord, help us all from bondage flee. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:23.059 Moses said, let my people go. 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:26.639 And let us all in Christ be free. 00:12:27.620 --> 00:12:29.519 Moses said, let my people go. 00:12:30.299 --> 00:12:31.360 What is Paul saying? 00:12:31.439 --> 00:12:32.699 You need to hear these virtues. 00:12:32.939 --> 00:12:35.719 You need to hear put on a new self over and over. 00:12:36.099 --> 00:12:39.159 Because you keep running back to Egypt, and you've got to say, go down, Moses. 00:12:39.659 --> 00:12:41.459 God said, let my people go. 00:12:41.839 --> 00:12:42.699 Jesus did it. 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:45.400 And you've got to say, Christ, now let me be free. 00:12:45.780 --> 00:12:46.620 Let me be free. 00:12:47.180 --> 00:12:48.140 Let me be who I am. 00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:51.379 All right, so we're talking here about growth. 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:53.020 Growth. 00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:58.700 And we're talking about it because you have the safety of an unbreakable love. 00:12:59.520 --> 00:13:02.240 So you can be honest today with yourself. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:03.240 All right, so let's do it. 00:13:03.540 --> 00:13:04.460 Let's be honest with yourself. 00:13:04.980 --> 00:13:12.680 A couple weeks ago, I told, I mentioned Henry Schugel, Scottish minister, 1660s, Aberdeen. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:15.460 Who died when he was 28 years old. 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:22.320 But he wrote this little letter to a friend that's become a little book called The Life of God and the Soul of Men, Soul of People. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:28.120 And he said, based on Colossians 3, that every single one of us that are Christians, we're a tree. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:31.640 And the roots of that tree is faith. 00:13:32.160 --> 00:13:34.020 The trunk is love. 00:13:34.400 --> 00:13:36.560 And then you've got two branches growing out. 00:13:36.740 --> 00:13:37.580 And one is humility. 00:13:37.780 --> 00:13:38.440 One is purity. 00:13:39.300 --> 00:13:40.660 Okay, that's good. 00:13:41.100 --> 00:13:42.819 We could change it just a little bit. 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:46.100 Because Paul comes and says in verse 14, what does he say? 00:13:46.139 --> 00:13:50.860 He says, love is the glue, is the harmony that binds all virtue. 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:53.179 So Henry was right. 00:13:53.539 --> 00:13:56.719 Love is the trunk of the tree that you are. 00:13:58.079 --> 00:14:00.719 But then Paul gives you four branches, not just two. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:01.939 He gives you four branches. 00:14:02.139 --> 00:14:05.779 He says, kindness and humility, meekness and patience. 00:14:06.079 --> 00:14:07.059 These are the four branches. 00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:08.299 What does Paul do? 00:14:08.339 --> 00:14:10.279 He's bringing you back with the tree metaphor. 00:14:10.279 --> 00:14:20.799 Psalm 1 and saying, you're a tree and God is bringing you back to the normalcy of what it means to be a human in the Garden of Eden. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:29.199 When you grow these four branches of love that brings forth meekness, patience, humility and kindness, it's not weird. 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:30.620 It's that you are coming home. 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:32.279 You're coming back to the Garden of Eden. 00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:50.720 And I can imagine that maybe some of us think, look, if I walk around in 2025 in Scotland, in Edinburgh, and I am a person of deep kindness, meekness, patience and humility, my friends will think I am weird. 00:14:51.159 --> 00:14:52.480 That will not be a good thing. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:55.559 That will not bring me closer to other people. 00:14:55.659 --> 00:14:57.259 That will push me away from other people. 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:00.399 Boy, you've got to get past that because you've got to realize that's not true. 00:15:00.539 --> 00:15:01.399 Instead, what is he saying? 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:06.019 He's saying those four virtues built off love bring you back to the Garden of Eden. 00:15:06.579 --> 00:15:10.199 It brings you back to what true humanity looks like, the fullness of humanity. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:11.579 That's what he's saying here. 00:15:12.340 --> 00:15:13.840 And so here's a diagnostic for you. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:19.819 These four branches of love that he lists here in verse 12, kindness, humility, meekness, patience. 00:15:20.019 --> 00:15:26.759 Let me just, all right, will you do an exercise with me for a second and ask, let me ask, how are you with this? 00:15:27.539 --> 00:15:28.659 Where are you with these things? 00:15:29.659 --> 00:15:30.480 What is kindness? 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:30.680 Kindness. 00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:31.940 Kindness. 00:15:32.519 --> 00:15:36.820 This word for kindness, it's a synonym of the first word compassion that he lists. 00:15:37.820 --> 00:15:38.480 What is kindness? 00:15:38.740 --> 00:15:49.039 Kindness is to be able to take upon yourself the burdens of other people and to weep with those who are weeping and celebrate with those who are celebrating. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.219 That's what this word means. 00:15:51.219 --> 00:15:52.879 And so here's a diagnostic. 00:15:53.379 --> 00:16:03.199 Do you take delight in the wins, the wins, the victories, the good things that are happening in your friends' lives, in your neighbors' lives? 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:06.360 And if you don't, you're struggling with envy. 00:16:07.900 --> 00:16:08.920 But that's kindness. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:10.340 Secondly, he says humility. 00:16:10.580 --> 00:16:12.259 Humility is not thinking less of yourself. 00:16:12.420 --> 00:16:13.360 It's not low self-esteem. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:15.440 It's thinking of yourself less. 00:16:16.740 --> 00:16:19.820 It's not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:25.220 It's forgetting about yourself and thinking about other people way, way more often than you think about yourself. 00:16:26.779 --> 00:16:27.639 What is meekness? 00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:34.799 Meekness, this word, people think of it as weakness, but the word meekness here is actually the strength of self-control. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:36.240 That's what the word means. 00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:38.319 And what is meekness? 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:43.139 Meekness is when Christ has gotten so hold of your life and heart that you're relaxed. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:48.259 There's a famous theologian that once said, what's the one word you can describe? 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:49.199 How do you describe Jesus? 00:16:49.299 --> 00:16:50.179 And he said he's relaxed. 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:51.759 He's okay. 00:16:51.819 --> 00:16:52.500 He's just relaxed. 00:16:52.899 --> 00:16:53.799 Meekness is being relaxed. 00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:56.819 It's the self-control that doesn't rage. 00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:59.620 It's self-control that is okay. 00:17:00.300 --> 00:17:02.800 When you're insulted, you're not wrecked. 00:17:03.680 --> 00:17:04.580 You're not wrecked. 00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:05.779 You're okay. 00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:06.519 You can handle it. 00:17:07.220 --> 00:17:09.980 Meekness is quick forgiveness. 00:17:10.740 --> 00:17:13.600 It's that when you're meek, you have the ability to forgive on the spot. 00:17:14.059 --> 00:17:14.620 That's meekness. 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:16.180 Lastly, patience. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.380 Patience is bearing with the faults of other people. 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:25.640 So it's not expecting somebody else in your life to be further down the road of growth than they are. 00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:30.700 The expectation that you're willing to say, I will meet you where you are. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:32.220 I will bear with your fault. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:34.059 I will take it on. 00:17:34.159 --> 00:17:34.939 I'll take it in myself. 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:35.619 That's patience. 00:17:36.619 --> 00:17:38.399 Now let me just ask, how are you with these? 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:44.379 How are you doing with these four branches that grow from the love, the trunk of the Christian life? 00:17:44.380 --> 00:17:49.180 Well, Paul uses this metaphor, put on. 00:17:49.520 --> 00:17:50.300 Put these things on. 00:17:50.840 --> 00:17:56.120 Dress yourself in these four virtues, which are just expressions of love. 00:17:57.240 --> 00:17:58.520 It's clothing metaphor. 00:17:58.860 --> 00:18:00.320 Let me mix my metaphors for a second. 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:07.639 We all struggle with running straight back to Egypt and coming back to the promised land over and over again. 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:11.619 The old self and the new self wrestling deep down within us all the time. 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:16.659 Okay, Paul says we all struggle with clothing, putting on and putting off all the time. 00:18:16.660 --> 00:18:22.120 The things that we're struggling with in our hearts and then coming back to humility and running away from it back and forth. 00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:28.000 I think that probably it could be that you feel like, no, it's not good. 00:18:28.080 --> 00:18:28.540 It is. 00:18:28.620 --> 00:18:29.320 It is this way. 00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:30.300 Look, it is this way. 00:18:30.299 --> 00:18:38.419 Putting on patience, humility, meekness, and kindness will always, to some degree, feel like putting on your dad's jacket. 00:18:39.579 --> 00:18:41.000 You know, it's too big for you. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:42.460 Or worse. 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:44.339 You put on these virtues. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:46.119 You fight for these virtues in your life. 00:18:46.519 --> 00:18:52.740 You take on the virtues of Christ, the love of Christ in your life, and fight for patience and kindness and meekness and humility. 00:18:54.159 --> 00:18:58.559 It's worse than wearing a dress too big for you, a jacket that's too big for you like a little kid. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:00.799 It's more like spandex, you know. 00:19:01.859 --> 00:19:05.099 It's form-fitted, and it's not flattering, and it's uncomfortable. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:09.559 You see, let me make this a little more concrete. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:17.399 Maybe you grew up in a family where everybody in your family gossiped all the time. 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:28.019 Or maybe you grew up in a context where you were taught, trained habitually to be judgmental and overly negative about everything. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:40.220 Or maybe you grew up in a family in a context where you've developed in your household a legalism, a moralism, where really the true assessment of decency, of Christianity, is just good behavior. 00:19:40.940 --> 00:19:42.240 It's Santa Claus theology. 00:19:42.619 --> 00:19:43.599 You know, you better watch out. 00:19:43.940 --> 00:19:45.119 He's watching you all the time. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:46.659 You better get yourself together. 00:19:47.159 --> 00:19:49.000 You have an expectation for people all around you. 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:52.480 You know, you're telling people to stop using words like that. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.960 You've grown up in a context of legalism. 00:19:55.940 --> 00:20:09.740 Or maybe you've developed a stoicism in your life that was trained into you habitually over years and years and years where you cannot cry with somebody that's crying. 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:11.099 You can't do it. 00:20:11.660 --> 00:20:13.700 You can't break through and weep with the weeping. 00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:18.460 You can't really enjoy anybody else's wins in your life at all. 00:20:19.259 --> 00:20:21.500 Now, these things are not personality issues. 00:20:21.840 --> 00:20:22.880 They are habits. 00:20:25.100 --> 00:20:26.860 Paul says you've got to put on new clothes. 00:20:27.360 --> 00:20:28.259 You've got to get past it. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.400 You've got to fight for something new. 00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:30.860 You've got to put on a new dress. 00:20:31.819 --> 00:20:37.100 It could be that you've grown up in a household that was so full of banter all the time, 00:20:37.099 --> 00:20:41.500 you're unable now later in life to say to anybody, I love you. 00:20:42.099 --> 00:20:42.819 You can't say it. 00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:51.799 You feel it, but you can never get it off your tongue because the household you grew up in was so full of banter that that was just the clothing everybody put on all the time. 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:57.139 And so you're not willing to actually say to anybody, I think you're great and these are the wonderful things about you. 00:20:57.219 --> 00:21:00.399 You're not able to say it because you've been trained out of it. 00:21:01.419 --> 00:21:03.579 And Paul says you've got to put on new clothing. 00:21:03.579 --> 00:21:08.039 And when you first do that, it's going to be more like spandex than suits that fit. 00:21:08.439 --> 00:21:09.579 It's not going to feel right. 00:21:09.659 --> 00:21:10.619 It's going to be awkward. 00:21:11.539 --> 00:21:19.039 And he's saying you've got to be willing to say I'm safe in the hands of Jesus and I want to put on the integrity of Christ. 00:21:19.259 --> 00:21:20.919 And it's not personality. 00:21:21.399 --> 00:21:23.720 It's that I've been given the virtues of the kingdom. 00:21:24.199 --> 00:21:25.279 I've got to put them on. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:26.839 I've got to break through. 00:21:27.299 --> 00:21:28.539 I've got to fight for this. 00:21:28.779 --> 00:21:32.679 No matter how awkward it may be in my life, it's just not the person I am. 00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:32.720 No. 00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:35.120 He's saying you can't say it. 00:21:35.360 --> 00:21:36.360 You've got to get past that. 00:21:37.080 --> 00:21:39.460 Here, let me give you an example and I'll move on to the final thing. 00:21:42.259 --> 00:21:43.779 He gives us two examples. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:46.940 He says bearing with one another and forgiving one another. 00:21:47.100 --> 00:21:47.940 These are the two ways. 00:21:48.080 --> 00:21:51.120 That's just him saying what does this look like lived? 00:21:51.220 --> 00:21:53.360 It looks like bearing with people and forgiving people. 00:21:53.460 --> 00:21:54.539 That's what it looks like lived out. 00:21:56.140 --> 00:21:56.900 What's patience? 00:21:57.100 --> 00:21:59.580 Patience is bearing with other people's faults. 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:01.400 What is kindness? 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:05.320 It's bearing somebody else's pain in your own life. 00:22:06.019 --> 00:22:07.080 What is meekness? 00:22:07.220 --> 00:22:09.519 It's the immediate self-control of quick forgiveness. 00:22:10.680 --> 00:22:15.900 You see, so he's just saying that when he mentions forgiveness and bearing, he's saying this is just what it looks like. 00:22:16.140 --> 00:22:18.759 If you're growing in this, how can you tell? 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:26.340 It's because you're a person who's bearing with other people, both their wins and their faults, their weaknesses, and you're forgiving quickly. 00:22:26.339 --> 00:22:28.199 And that's what it looks like actually lived out. 00:22:28.659 --> 00:22:29.399 Here's the example. 00:22:30.339 --> 00:22:30.859 The church. 00:22:31.459 --> 00:22:35.639 Paul's writing here to Colossians, a church, and they all came from different backgrounds. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:39.799 And he's trying to get them to like each other and love each other. 00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:42.720 And they came from all sorts of different ethnicities. 00:22:42.899 --> 00:22:45.779 And in that time, the ethnic people groups were really at war. 00:22:47.019 --> 00:22:49.599 But now they've become this church, this one thing. 00:22:50.339 --> 00:22:51.419 And, you know, think about this. 00:22:51.579 --> 00:22:52.480 Here's a great example. 00:22:52.619 --> 00:22:53.259 The church. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:54.139 This church. 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:56.139 Maybe you're here today as a visitor. 00:22:56.259 --> 00:22:58.940 Whatever church you're a part of, if you are a part of one. 00:22:58.940 --> 00:23:17.820 Have you ever found a local church where you thought, you know, this place does everything from creche to adult ministry, from AV to music, from the worship service, the order of worship to the bulletin, and boy, the preaching. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:24.380 It does everything in exactly the way I would do it if I was king or queen for a day. 00:23:24.380 --> 00:23:26.640 And the answer is, of course, yes. 00:23:26.700 --> 00:23:27.900 The answer is yes, obviously. 00:23:28.420 --> 00:23:29.860 Because we're, you know, it's St. Columba's. 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:30.360 You're here. 00:23:30.820 --> 00:23:31.180 Right? 00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:32.620 So we can move on. 00:23:34.760 --> 00:23:36.660 No, the answer is, of course not. 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:38.500 No, you have not. 00:23:38.580 --> 00:23:39.420 And you never will. 00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:40.420 You never will. 00:23:40.840 --> 00:23:44.180 If you've hopped from church to church throughout your life, you will never find it. 00:23:46.120 --> 00:23:46.940 You won't. 00:23:47.040 --> 00:23:47.180 Why? 00:23:47.320 --> 00:23:54.360 Because, look, getting everything you want, getting all your preferences, getting all, look, I don't get all my preferences. 00:23:54.540 --> 00:23:58.420 What none of us do here, getting all your preferences would be the absolute worst thing. 00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:00.580 None of us need that. 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:00.880 Right? 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:07.480 Because you don't have the opportunity to bear and forgive unless you're in the church community not always getting your way. 00:24:08.420 --> 00:24:12.800 And how do, look, how do, let me say it this way, how do rocks become smooth? 00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:14.040 How do stones become smooth? 00:24:15.380 --> 00:24:17.300 Years and years of bumping into each other. 00:24:17.299 --> 00:24:25.680 You know, you've got to, the jagged edges and the sharpie points will never come off unless you are in the community constantly bumping into each other. 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:32.960 And giving your preferences away in order to bear with people and forgive them like that. 00:24:33.059 --> 00:24:33.879 What is quick forgiveness? 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:35.399 What is forgiveness? 00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:39.400 Forgiveness is not just saying, I forgive you. 00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:41.060 It's forgetting the offense. 00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:42.800 That's how Jesus forgives. 00:24:43.300 --> 00:24:47.860 And so if it's constantly coming up, the grudges in the community are coming up and up in your heart and your mind. 00:24:48.060 --> 00:24:49.000 You've yet to get there. 00:24:49.120 --> 00:24:50.040 You've yet to forgive. 00:24:50.620 --> 00:24:50.720 Right? 00:24:50.840 --> 00:24:53.040 How do rocky stones become smooth? 00:24:53.120 --> 00:24:55.580 We need to be bumping up against each other. 00:24:56.100 --> 00:24:58.340 It's actually the way of sanctification. 00:24:58.339 --> 00:24:59.579 It's a gift. 00:25:01.699 --> 00:25:03.939 Let me give you one more application. 00:25:04.159 --> 00:25:13.220 If you're watching today from home, and you're watching from home not because you're unwell, not because you need to be at home. 00:25:13.659 --> 00:25:16.720 And many, many people in our church community do need to be at home right now. 00:25:17.579 --> 00:25:25.519 But if you're watching from home because it's easier and because it's comfortable, I just want to say to you, you're not getting this. 00:25:25.959 --> 00:25:27.799 You can't really seek it. 00:25:28.339 --> 00:25:29.259 Like we're talking about here. 00:25:30.779 --> 00:25:34.720 It's about being here and being a part of the physical community of God's people. 00:25:34.819 --> 00:25:35.439 You've got to have that. 00:25:35.559 --> 00:25:39.359 So let me ask you finally, are you in the battle? 00:25:39.539 --> 00:25:48.359 Are you taking off clothes that fit really nicely right now, but actually God says, according to the Garden of Eden, the image of God you were made to be, they don't fit? 00:25:49.199 --> 00:25:49.899 They don't fit. 00:25:49.899 --> 00:25:51.099 The mortification side. 00:25:51.639 --> 00:25:57.899 And are you actively seeking, fighting to put on the clothes that do feel a little awkward sometimes? 00:25:58.339 --> 00:26:00.899 But are the clothes that God really made you to wear? 00:26:01.259 --> 00:26:07.000 It's love birthed in patience, meekness, humility, and kindness. 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:10.039 So let me close with this. 00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:12.880 A practice. 00:26:13.500 --> 00:26:14.119 Pursuing it. 00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:14.700 Putting it on. 00:26:14.859 --> 00:26:15.559 Let's put it on. 00:26:16.839 --> 00:26:18.400 Three steps to put it on. 00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:24.440 This is more than just, okay, this is more than just reading your Bible. 00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:26.500 Though you must. 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:40.559 Instead, this is coming to the Bible and coming to your prayer life and coming to the day in, day out work of renewing your faith and actually taking on a spiritual practice. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:42.440 That is more than mechanical reading. 00:26:42.700 --> 00:26:42.820 Okay? 00:26:42.860 --> 00:26:44.220 And here's what it looks like. 00:26:44.220 --> 00:26:53.860 First up, when you come to Scripture, when you come to prayer, when you come to that time of reflecting on Christianity and who you are, number one, spiritual diagnosis. 00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:55.860 Every day, spiritual diagnosis. 00:26:56.420 --> 00:26:57.339 And this is what it looks like. 00:26:57.400 --> 00:27:00.160 You ask every day, what are my problems? 00:27:01.339 --> 00:27:03.240 What is my specific Egypt? 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:13.460 You look at the things you struggle with by your hands, by your eyes, by your words, the physical sins that are manifest in relationship. 00:27:14.140 --> 00:27:18.779 And then you work back from there and say, what are the desires underneath that? 00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:24.059 What is the thing that I love more than God that is causing me to do these things? 00:27:24.779 --> 00:27:27.259 You've got to diagnose your Egypt every single day. 00:27:28.220 --> 00:27:29.620 Every single day, you've got to come back to this. 00:27:29.619 --> 00:27:36.619 And when you do that, the way to do it is to think about your sin that you struggle with and then think about the cost. 00:27:36.979 --> 00:27:46.599 And you say to yourself, you pray, you say, I have tried in this habit, this sin, to rip away from God his glory. 00:27:48.019 --> 00:27:52.259 And the ripple effect of that has been that it's hurt other people in my life. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:57.359 And then you say, and it was my sin that held him there. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:00.159 You say, I put him on the cross. 00:28:01.019 --> 00:28:02.059 This is the spiritual practice. 00:28:02.139 --> 00:28:04.839 You diagnose, you say, I put him there. 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:06.019 I crucified him. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:12.000 And then there's no excuses, no hiding, no excuses at all. 00:28:12.139 --> 00:28:15.119 But you come and you own the truth about it. 00:28:15.259 --> 00:28:18.379 Number two, then go to God. 00:28:19.740 --> 00:28:20.839 Go straight to the Lord. 00:28:20.839 --> 00:28:23.839 Don't hide it all from him like Adam and Eve did in the garden. 00:28:24.019 --> 00:28:26.659 Instead, you go straight to God and you confess. 00:28:27.899 --> 00:28:31.599 And you need daily confession and you need weekly confession. 00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:34.419 So we today, Simon led us in a prayer of confession. 00:28:34.579 --> 00:28:37.039 We sang a psalm of confession, Psalm 103. 00:28:37.339 --> 00:28:41.919 We've now, we're trying to habituate a bit to do confession and worship every week. 00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:43.899 I don't know how you use that time. 00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:45.599 I don't know how that time hits you at all. 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:49.559 But what I can say is this, that from the Bible, we need it. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:51.379 We need it so much. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:54.240 Every Christian has evil desire to fight deep down within. 00:28:55.259 --> 00:29:02.259 And when we come to confess our sins together on a Sunday, what we're doing is we're looking around in a community 00:29:02.259 --> 00:29:07.759 and saying all of us together can collectively say, I am not the person God made me to be. 00:29:08.359 --> 00:29:09.599 I have not yet gotten there. 00:29:09.980 --> 00:29:13.579 And so we're collectively saying that together when we come and confess our sins. 00:29:13.579 --> 00:29:15.059 What do you do? 00:29:15.099 --> 00:29:15.659 You confess. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:18.879 Spiritual diagnosis goes straight to God. 00:29:18.980 --> 00:29:19.699 Confess your sins. 00:29:19.919 --> 00:29:21.740 And then you think about the cross again. 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:26.019 And the second time you think about the cross, it's not to say, I put him there. 00:29:26.159 --> 00:29:29.919 This time it's to say, oh, he went there for me. 00:29:31.159 --> 00:29:33.240 Oh, it was his joy. 00:29:33.740 --> 00:29:37.339 It was his joy to die for me. 00:29:37.339 --> 00:29:41.399 My sins, they are many. 00:29:41.799 --> 00:29:43.879 But now I see his mercy is more. 00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:52.879 And then you ask the Holy Spirit to kill in you whatever it is that you're struggling with and say, I want the four branches. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:57.639 I want kindness, humility, patience, and meekness. 00:29:57.819 --> 00:29:58.459 Kill that. 00:29:58.759 --> 00:29:59.519 Give me this, Lord. 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:04.759 And then lastly, these all come from John Owen, by the way, Mortification of Sin, his book. 00:30:05.220 --> 00:30:05.980 He has nine. 00:30:06.339 --> 00:30:08.259 I told you last week I'd bring it down to three. 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:11.139 I'm getting the nine in, you can tell. 00:30:11.299 --> 00:30:12.220 But there are three. 00:30:12.379 --> 00:30:14.240 Spiritual diagnosis goes straight to the Lord. 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:19.180 And then lastly, Owen says, guard yourself for the future. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:21.539 Guard yourself for the future. 00:30:23.079 --> 00:30:24.039 This is what Owen writes. 00:30:24.039 --> 00:30:31.799 He says, assume that your problem, your sin struggles are an aggressive snake and it'll keep growing heads. 00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:38.720 I heard the story this week from a pastor about this very issue. 00:30:38.819 --> 00:30:45.519 He told the story of a man in his congregation who had been an alcoholic and a drug addict. 00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:54.160 And he had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous or something like that in their church for 41 straight years. 00:30:54.299 --> 00:30:56.480 And for 41 straight years, he was clean. 00:30:56.940 --> 00:30:58.440 Not a single drop of anything. 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:02.039 And he would go to the meetings twice a week. 00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:06.019 And a young man who was an alcoholic and drug addict came to the meeting with him. 00:31:06.700 --> 00:31:12.220 And the young man said, you have been here for 41 years twice a week. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:13.759 I think you're okay. 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.980 I think, you know, why do you keep coming back week in and week out? 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:32.759 And the man's reply, this pastor said, he said, I keep coming because I know that I'm about 15 minutes away at every moment from falling right back into the monster that I once was. 00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:36.059 He said, I'm 15 minutes away at every moment. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:38.720 And, you know, he said, I've gotten to 15 minutes. 00:31:38.819 --> 00:31:39.980 It's taken me 41 years. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:40.839 It used to be one. 00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:46.159 And, you know, Owen says, you diagnose who you are. 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:47.480 You own it before the Lord. 00:31:47.559 --> 00:31:48.359 You look at the cross. 00:31:48.459 --> 00:31:49.359 You confess your sins. 00:31:49.799 --> 00:31:51.579 You ask the Spirit to change you. 00:31:51.659 --> 00:31:55.980 And then you guard yourself because you know that the snakes within keep growing heads. 00:31:56.039 --> 00:31:56.659 And they're monsters. 00:31:56.839 --> 00:31:57.740 And they keep coming back. 00:31:57.799 --> 00:31:58.500 The evil desires. 00:31:59.059 --> 00:32:00.559 And so he says, you've got to be proactive. 00:32:00.659 --> 00:32:02.799 You've got to kill your sin lest it be killing you. 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:11.279 You've got to evaluate your environment, your temperament, the reasons why, the relationships, your habits, your schedule. 00:32:12.299 --> 00:32:13.339 All these sorts of things. 00:32:13.799 --> 00:32:14.899 Why am I prone to this? 00:32:14.980 --> 00:32:15.879 And so I'll finish with this. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:23.099 Owen says, the key, long, long desire for deliverance. 00:32:23.099 --> 00:32:29.339 He writes, longing, breathing, panting for deliverance is the grace in itself. 00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:40.099 And that grace, longing to be transformed, that in itself has mighty power to conform the soul into the likeness of what it longs for. 00:32:41.159 --> 00:32:41.639 Desire. 00:32:42.179 --> 00:32:43.059 Desire to change. 00:32:43.199 --> 00:32:44.480 Desire to become more and more like Jesus. 00:32:44.480 --> 00:33:14.460 Desire to become more and more like Jesus. 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:16.960 I'm not going to be the same person I am in one year. 00:33:17.240 --> 00:33:19.539 I'm not going to be the same person I am in one month. 00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:27.900 I'm going to get serious about putting on the virtues of change because I know that Jesus Christ will never take my seat away from the table. 00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:29.000 I'm safe. 00:33:30.940 --> 00:33:31.880 What's the basis? 00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:33.500 It's the love of Jesus. 00:33:33.900 --> 00:33:34.880 Jesus loves me. 00:33:35.579 --> 00:33:36.220 This I know. 00:33:36.360 --> 00:33:37.539 For the Bible tells me so. 00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:40.400 And so you have the power to change. 00:33:40.860 --> 00:33:41.299 Let's pray. 00:33:41.299 --> 00:33:43.980 Father, do this great work in us. 00:33:43.980 --> 00:33:46.420 We want our sins to die. 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:50.400 And we want to be people that are happy. 00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:56.559 And so we know today that we can't be happy without more love, more peace, more patience, more joy. 00:33:57.180 --> 00:34:00.400 Through meekness, through self-control, through humility. 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:05.000 So we want the harmony of love that you talk about here. 00:34:06.340 --> 00:34:08.000 So do a great work in us, we pray. 00:34:08.160 --> 00:34:08.780 We pray, Lord. 00:34:08.900 --> 00:34:09.960 And we need the Holy Spirit. 00:34:10.139 --> 00:34:13.860 We know that our discipline is not going to cut it. 00:34:13.860 --> 00:34:16.120 But thank you. 00:34:16.380 --> 00:34:18.300 Thank you, Jesus, for keeping us safe. 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:23.300 And then we ask now for the Holy Spirit to do this mighty change in our hearts. 00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:24.559 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:34:25.140 --> 00:34:25.400 Amen.