Stop 9 Church
We want to share important pieces of our worship service with those who might not have been able to be there in person.
Stop 9 Church
Galloping Through Galatians: Part 6/6
All right, we are studying the book of Galatians. This is the last. There we go. This is the last class Galloping through Galatians. This horse is just about worn out, headed to the glue factory. They still do that. They still send horses to the glue factory. If they still do that, they still send horses to the glue factory. The title of our lesson this morning is Keep in Step with the Spirit. We're going to be in chapter 6 of Galatians. We're going to rip through that and we will be done, but first, in keeping with the theme of the various people that we have looked at this class period, who are you Real name or stage name?
Speaker 1:You have to tell me, is this that person's real name or is this the fake name they adopted? Okay, here we go. John Wayne, what do you think? Pilgrim? What's his real name? Oh, my goodness, now everybody under 30 is already looking on Google. They got it. It's funny because my wife and I we'll ask each other something. We'll sit there and just ponder it, for you know, all day, every day, until we come up with the answer. All I have to do is look on your phone. Marion Morrison was his real name. There's very young John Wayne. Look how young he looks, jack. It looks like you. No Sort of. It does look like Addy Black. Yeah, marian Morrison, that was his real name. All right.
Speaker 1:Conway Twitty Real or fake, fake? How many say real? Tom says real, nobody else. You're the bravest man in here, tom. That is not his real name. What is his real name? Who said I heard it? Somebody said it. I heard it.
Speaker 1:Harold Jenkins. Look at that jelly roll. That looked like you back in the day. Maybe that style will come back. Isn't there a singer Jelly Roll now something? Okay, I don't keep if it's after like 1990, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. Usually I know the 60s and 70s stuff. All right, harold Jenkins.
Speaker 1:Johnny Paycheck greatest country and western singer in history Real name or fake name? How many say real? That is his stage name. He actually changed his name to Johnny Paycheck. He's from Greenfield, ohio, by the way. His real name Donald Little, young Johnny Paycheck. There, that's probably after he got out of the Navy. He served in the Navy. He spent more time in the brig than he did actually on the ship. I know that's a shocker. There he is. Donald Little. Dwight Yoakam, real or fake? How many of you say real name. How many of you say fake name? That is his real name, that's right. He is your brother in Christ.
Speaker 1:In case you didn't know that, keith Stotts, down at OVU, was a close friend of theirs. He was born in Kentucky and lived there until he was I don't know. In his teen years. They moved to Columbus, graduated from Columbus North High School and it was up there, I think, that he met the Stottses and very close friends with him.
Speaker 1:Yes, if you have never seen I've said this before most of the stuff I say I've said before, if you have not gotten on YouTube, okay, under 30, listen. Get on YouTube and put in Dwight Yoakam. Listen. Get on YouTube and put in Dwight Yoakam. Buck Owens funeral and Dwight sings I come to the garden alone at the funeral. Oh, it's fantastic. Give you chills. Fischinger and Kenny, is that right? Okay, I'll take your word for it. Jelly Roll, conway West. Alright, we're going to start off this class going back through.
Speaker 1:At the end of chapter 5, paul talks about the differences between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Remember that. So we're just going to revisit that very briefly here and then we're going to start the last two verses of chapter 5 and the first six verses of chapter 6, because they kind of go together. So we're going to do the fruit of the spirit and the works of the flesh, redux, which is a word you don't see very often. Apocalypse Now did a. They had a version redux version, which is the director's cut, where they put in all the stuff. They took out and turned a what was what? A two-hour movie into a five-hour movie when they took all the stuff, put all the stuff back in that they had cut out, and it's not very good. If you've ever seen it, it's a lot of stuff. It's like I can see why they left this on the cutting room floor. It wasn't very good. All right, so let's read this If we live by the Spirit, are we supposed to live by the Spirit?
Speaker 1:Paul just got done talking about that right, the difference between living by the flesh and the works thereof versus living by the Spirit and the fruit that the Spirit produces. And again, this is the English Standard Version. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Brothers, if anyone is caught in transgression. You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself lest you too 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 load. Okay, so we talked about works of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit last week, works of the Flesh versus the Fruit of the Spirit last week, which really, as I think we mentioned last time, is the difference between doing and being.
Speaker 1:I don't want this to be a philosophical class, but I think it's important to know that. Bob Fett has said this one time, and I thought it was one of the most brilliant things I've ever heard Before you can do, you have to be. You must be. Before you can do, you must be a disciple. Before you can do disciple stuff, you must be in Jesus before you can do Jesus stuff. Historically, we tend to get that backwards. We're so concerned about the doing part that we forget all about the being part. We are constantly talking about what you're doing instead of what you're being. And if you try to do stuff without being something, you're going to hate it. You're going to hate it and you're going to try not to do it as much as possible.
Speaker 1:You know, when I finally decided to be a student, school got a lot better for me. When I actually had an interest in what I was studying, I became a pretty decent student. Did you hear that? Okay, good, you did. It's different than the noises. I normally hear, the voices and stuff. You know. Oh, my goodness, okay, physical existence, yes, yes, when we finally decide, you know, I want to be a disciple, I'm going to let the Holy Spirit work in me. Then we start producing those fruits of the Spirit that everybody tries to work so hard to produce. You can't. You cannot work your way into patience, you cannot work your way into love, you cannot work your way into peace, you cannot work your way into any of that stuff. It is fruit that is born of the Spirit. So what I should be concerned about is being, and once I learn to be, then I can do. Does that make sense? Now?
Speaker 1:He talks about the works of the flesh in chapter 5, and they literally include circumcision, a work of the flesh among other methods of law-keeping. Those are all works of the flesh and, as he has told us repeatedly, they are of no value to you. No value, no value. So what are the dangers of focusing on the works of the flesh? Well, when you're constantly looking at your works, trying to justify yourself through the things that you do, your attention is on the physical to the detriment of the spiritual, which is, I think, what we just said. And because that's what we're focusing on, I believe that, paradoxically, that makes you vulnerable to the weaknesses of the flesh, and that's what you're constantly thinking about. It makes you vulnerable to the weaknesses, to the bad stuff that Paul talked about, that are of the flesh.
Speaker 1:Focusing on your own works, whether good or bad, diverts your attention from the opportunities for growth, spiritual growth, that God gives us through the Holy Spirit. Does God give you opportunities to grow spiritually? Yes, all right. Now you know what the next question is going to be how? Okay, you said yes. Now answer me how. How does he give you opportunities to grow spiritually, to grow spiritually? Church service Okay, what are the fruits of the Spirit that we want to produce through the Holy Spirit. Okay, say them, sharon, you're singing the song oh shoot. Now say them, sharon, you're singing the song oh shoot, now you're on. Oh, okay, very good, how do you produce those fruits of the Spirit? Very carefully, very carefully. Okay, do you get out in your workshop and make bent nails and sawdust, like I do? Yes, my biggest one is patience. That's the one I struggle with. Okay, he's sitting right beside you.
Speaker 1:You know what did you say? You said life experience. Yeah, if life presents you an opportunity, you need to experience it. Yeah, here's the prayer that we pray, and we do this all the time. I've done it since I was a kid. I still do it today. We all do it. I'm repentant of it and trying not to say it again Lord, keep us safe, right Along with Guide, guard and Direct and other things like that. Keep us safe. We don't want anything bad to happen. We don't want to experience anything bad. We don't want to encounter anything bad. And yet it is only through those encounters and experiences that any of that fruit of the Spirit gets produced, and yet we want to avoid it at all costs. Right, how do you learn patience? By being in situations that test your patience, by having Randy in your class. I'm teasing, but you see my point. I'm teasing, but you see my point. How do you God bless, Shirley.
Speaker 1:How do you develop peace in your life? By being placed in situations that test your peace, by trying to find peace in an unpeaceful situation. But, lord, don't put me in a bad, I don't want to do that. Oh, I can't be around those people. They drive me crazy. Oh, if I talk to those people, oh, I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it. So we isolate ourselves and then wonder why I struggle with the works of the flesh, because that's what I'm focused on, instead of focusing on letting God produce that fruit in my life, because I'm avoiding all the stuff that would allow me to produce that. Does that make sense? Ross, go ahead. Yes, yeah, to be patient, you know so. An apple tree isn't going to produce oranges, so you have to be first what you want to produce. Okay, let me think about that one a little bit. No, no, I'll have to think about that. Okay, not saying it's wrong, I'm just thinking I've learned not to answer too quickly. I will give an answer and then go back later and think to myself that was not a very good answer, so I'm going to think about that a little bit.
Speaker 1:Now he tells us to keep in step with the Spirit. That's one of the things that Paul says here. Keep in step with the Spirit. That's one of the things that Paul says here. Keep in step with the Spirit. What does that phrase say to you? I have a vision. I have lots of visions. My wife calls them hallucinations. What vision? What do you see? When you hear keep in step with what do you see? I'll tell you what I see. I see Gene, and I see. Well, think who else? A lot of you guys have served I don't want to single out people. A lot of you guys have served in the military. Keeping in step, what do you have to do? March, right, marching together. What happens if you're not in step? The DI says Jim, what did the DI say if you were not in step? Well, you can't repeat it in public, right, can't repeat it in mixed company. Right, keep in step. You're going the same direction. The spirit is going. You are walking together, right? Gober Pyle had trouble walking in step. Yes, golly, sergeant Carter.
Speaker 1:Now he talks about keeping in step with the Spirit and he talks about it in connection with conceit. He says do not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another. What does he mean by that? Don't be conceited, provoking each other and envying each other. I'm no better marcher than you are. No, you're no better marcher than I am. I don't know, maybe you are a better marcher than me. I don't know what's he mean by that. Do you think Go ahead? Okay, very good, I would not argue with that whatsoever. I would not argue with that. You don't know what, without studying the Word which we believe comes from the Holy Spirit, comes through the Holy Spirit, then it's difficult to know how to keep in step with the Holy Spirit. Okay, I can't argue with that. How about this? There's some ideas that I have Could be right, could be wrong. You'll have to figure it out yourself.
Speaker 1:Conceit comes from my own erroneous belief that any spiritual fruit that I bear all the ones that Sharon told us about is the result of what my good works. My good works, I'm such a good person, I'm gooder than you. Look at all the fruit that I bear. I'm a better tree than you are. Ha, I have to buy a new microphone, oh dear. Instead of recognizing that the Holy Spirit is bearing this fruit for me through me. I think I did it myself.
Speaker 1:Poor Ross, he just has no patience. If only he was patient like me. You know, have you thought about my answer long enough? I have, and it's totally wrong, but I don't want to go there. Just kidding, dave got a very good. Well, yeah, I become conceited. I think it's all me. Well, yeah, I become conceited. I think it's all me. I did it. All you know Ever.
Speaker 1:Teach your kids how to ride a bike. Teach your kids how to ride a bike. I can remember teaching jason how to ride a bike. Have my hand on his back, okay, and I'm, I'm guiding him. I'm the one keeping the bike up, you know, and I'm guiding him along and he's pedaling away. And mom, look at me, look me, look at me, look at me. He thinks he's doing it all. You know, if Dad takes his hand away, you know we can be that way, can't we? It's the Holy Spirit doing the work in us. If the Holy Spirit takes his hand off our back, I'm going to crash, but I'm too conceited to know it Provoking each other.
Speaker 1:I think what Paul may be talking about here is telling your brother. You're not working hard enough, right? I see a brother who is not bearing the fruit of the Spirit and I tell him well, you just need to work harder, you just need to work, you need to knuckle down, you just need to bear down, right, you just need to resolve to work harder. That was always the answer. Okay, when I was a kid. Just you got to work harder. That was always the answer. Okay, when I was a kid, just you got to work harder. Or it could mean that I'm telling him hey, you know, I'm glad you're doing that, I'm glad you're bearing that fruit, but my fruit's better than yours. It's just the way it is. I'm sorry, I'm just telling a fact, just a fact, just a plain fact. My fruit's better than yours. Would Christians do that to each other? Yes, they would. Why? Because they're people, because they're people Envying each other. Maybe that's believing that the fruit that your brother bears is better than yours.
Speaker 1:Some people have gifts. We all have different gifts, right? Some people are really good at something and not very good at others. Maybe I look at the guys ladies up here and they're singing and they're doing a great job with the praise team and I think, you know, they've got that gift. I can't sing. They're better than me, you know. So I start envying them and I start trying to find ways to knock them down. You know, or maybe I think God doesn't approve of me. You know, I must not be very good because I don't have those gifts myself. Maybe I'm just not a very good Christian, maybe I'm just not a very good person.
Speaker 1:We think things like that. These are from the devil, but we think them. And you know, bearing one another's burdens as he talks at the end of that little passage there, bearing each other's burdens and restoring a fallen brother gently, are evidence of the Holy Spirit working in you. That is fruit being produced by the Holy Spirit. When you see somebody who can bear somebody else's burden, whatever it is, without complaint, without attention seeking, that's a mature Christian. That's somebody bearing fruit. When you see somebody who is willing to go to somebody who's having some spiritual trouble and work with them quietly, without fanfare, without judgment, that's a mature Christian. That's somebody bearing fruit of the Spirit. Does that make sense? A mature Christian? That's somebody bearing fruit of the Spirit. Does that make sense? You know, quite honestly, when we're looking for elders and deacons, that's the sort of thing that I think of.
Speaker 1:I can't speak for my fellow workers, but that's one of the things I look for. Who's already doing the things that would be necessary? Who's already doing deacon work? Who's already doing elder-type work? I forgot an S, vanna, can, I guess an S? Let each one tet his own work. Who knew a missing S could be so funny. Carol's not here. I sent these to Carol the night before. She didn't catch that. She would usually tell me I've done something wrong. Test your own work. Don't look at your brother. Test yourself. Test your own work.
Speaker 1:Focusing on my works leads me to focus on the same thing in others, and I mean that in a negative way. If I'm busy looking at what I'm doing and thinking I'm doing such a good job, I will know I'm doing a good job because I'm comparing it against what Doug is doing. Doug doesn't do it as good as I do. Doug doesn't do it as good as I do. You know, becky doesn't do it as good as I do. Cliff's pretty good. I don't know. I want to compare myself to Cliff, but it's dangerous. It's dangerous because it leads me to what? Judge my brother while excusing myself.
Speaker 1:Right, I have reasons for the reason for why I don't do things as well as I should, why I'm not bearing the fruits of the Spirit. You don't, as far as I'm concerned, and I think this is maybe brought forth in the statement he makes, for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Don't think too highly of yourself. If you are bearing fruit, that is the spirit bearing fruit in you, not you working to do it yourselves. Does that make sense? All right, any missing letters there? Reed Ross, and the sad thing is I proofread for a living. This is what I do Every day. I'm proofreading Wrong. You had too'm proofreading Wrong. I had too many cups of coffee yesterday.
Speaker 1:Chapter 6, verses 6 through 10. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will to the flesh versus sowing to the Spirit.
Speaker 1:When I was growing up, this was always cited in terms of sin, sinful behavior. We sow wild oats and then hope for crop failure. Right, it was always you reap what you sow, and it's always in terms of sinful behavior. And while that is a true statement, I don't think that's what Paul's talking about here at all. What's he been talking about throughout this whole letter to the Galatians? Circumcision and the idea that by keeping the law, by keeping the physical law of Moses, that you can justify yourself. So, in that context, what I think he's talking about is, if you want to live by legalism, you're going to die by legalism. If you want to live, if you think that by keeping the law, keeping whatever rules you want to keep, that's going to make you righteous, then you're going to die by that, because you can't do it. I don't care what the rule is. Think about the stuff that you set down for yourself as rules. Do you keep them all? No, there's no way you do.
Speaker 1:How many of you had New Year's resolution? I did. My resolution was that I was not going to have a resolution. So far, I've kept it. I set the bar super low. I set it super low and I always achieve my goals.
Speaker 1:That was a joke, by the way. I did this before. I remember one year my resolution was that I was going to get myself in shape. Now that's not even a resolution. That is a goal, that's not an action, and that's one of the reasons that resolutions fail. We set a goal without any actions to achieve the goal. I'm going to get in shape. The only thing I know how to do is run. Now don't look at me and laugh, mackenzie. Okay, this is a long time ago. This is a long time ago. I'm going to run. I'm going to run to get my.
Speaker 1:This is when we lived in Dover. Okay, I used to run cross-country. That was three miles, that was a three-mile course, and we trained, we would do training, we'd run. You know, five, seven, eight, ten miles in training. How hard can this be? Right? The struggle is real. I got two blocks away and I was dying. I was dying. I mean, I am like short of breath and my legs hurt. Why are you laughing? I mean I'm like, and it was early. I mean this is, this is early in the morning, this is like before the sun's up, it's freezing, cold. It's January.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm running around the block and I'm thinking I hope nobody sees me. So I get half, I get the third block and I stop. You know I'm like you, me. So I get the third block and I stop and then I'm stretching. It's like I didn't really stop because I was tired, I needed to stretch, and this went on for maybe a week and then, jake, I was done. I could not do it anymore. I had set a rule for myself I'm going to get up every morning and I'm going to run First. It's going to be two or three blocks, and it's going to be three or four blocks, and I'm thinking I'm going to run a half marathon before the end of the year. Right, yeah, it's back to the Twinkies and Ho-Os.
Speaker 1:But that's what we get, don't we? When we try to set our own rules, we can't keep them. And that's what Paul is trying to tell them. No matter how hard you work, you can't keep them. It ain't going to work. You want to live by them, you're going to die by them and you will be judged by them, because people will say didn't you say you were going to get yourself in trouble? Well, yeah, hey, how's that running going? Oh, it's going. In fact it's gone.
Speaker 1:Let us not grow weary. Paul says Let us not grow weary. Is it tiring to sow to the Spirit? He says you can either sow to the flesh or you can sow to the Spirit. Is it tiring to sow to the Spirit? Yes, letting the Spirit. When I say sow to the Spirit, what I mean is to rely on the Holy Spirit to do the work. Is that hard to do? Yes, and it makes you tired, because the Holy Spirit doesn't generally produce fruit in you immediately. How long does it take for a?
Speaker 1:I've heard it said before the man who plants an orchard plants it for the next generation, because it takes a long time. Right, we have two sickly blueberry plants in our garden. We started out with one, now we have two, and I remember when we planted them. I have visions in my head, right Of these beautiful, luscious, ripe blueberries on my cereal in the morning, you know, and oodles of them. I'm putting them on my waffles and you know all that stuff eating them before my three-mile run. What? What are you laughing at? We have now two sickly bushes that will occasionally produce a berry or two.
Speaker 1:Doesn't work. Doesn't work like that. We don't expect it to work like that. If I plant a garden today, we bought some tomato plants hoping to put them in the ground. If I plant those tomato plants today, are they going to have fruit tomorrow? No, ain't going to have fruit tomorrow? No, it ain't going to happen.
Speaker 1:My friends, when your brothers and sisters in Christ say I want to be a disciple and the Holy Spirit begins to work, it may be long, long time before any fruit gets produced Long time. But I'm impatient and I want it right now. And the shortcut to that is to focus on works. Well, you need to get busy working and it doesn't work like that. Doesn't work like that.
Speaker 1:It can be very discouraging to let the spirit work at his own pace. Sowing to the flesh gives you immediate rewards and it feels good because I feel like I'm accomplishing something, because I'm forcing these things to happen. But it doesn't last Because, as I said, if I am more focused on doing than being, eventually I'm going to get tired of it and I'm going to quit. Like running, instead of saying I am focused on this goal and I am not going to stop, I'm going to allow myself to work through these difficulties, same thing happens I quit. I don't want to do this. To begin with, I never wanted to do this. But he says don't give up. Paul says don't give up and instead continue as he says, doing good to everyone.
Speaker 1:He finishes up chapter six. I got to get moving here. See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they might not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law. They desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Christ, the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers, amen.
Speaker 1:What marks of Jesus did Paul bear on his body? Did he have nails in his hands, nail prints in his hands and his feet? Did he have that? No, but what marks did he bear? Scars from his beatings? Maybe scars from the shackles in jail, splinters from the shipwrecks he was in, stripes on his back, scars on his back from the floggings that he took. He bears in his body marks that are better than any circumcision. That's what he's trying to tell them here.
Speaker 1:So Paul emphasizes in the last part of this letter. He says look at my hand. I'm writing this with my own hand. I'm doing this myself. Why does he say that to them? He had a. Yeah, do you know what that person would be called? It's a word. Yes, can't put anything past you Neil Immanuensis, someone who was the scribe for him. He would dictate to them Remember, we went through this and we talked about how we got the Bible and how they would actually write on the papyrus with a stylus.
Speaker 1:He wrote this one in his own hand. Why do you think he would tell him he's doing that? Well, number one, it authenticates it right. Look, you know my writing. This is actually me writing this and this is important. I want you to know I care about you personally. You know they have these things now called auto pens. You ever heard of them before An auto pens? You ever heard of them before An auto pen? That's where most of the presidential stuff you get is signed by auto pen, okay, it's fake. But if the president actually signs something in his own hand and you get it, what does that tell you? You are important to me. You and I have a relationship. You are important. This isn't just some machine doing this, this is me. I think that's what Paul's telling them. You mean something. You are important to me. You folks in Galatia, I'm writing this personally. This is a task for me, but I'm going to do it because you mean something. Does that make sense? No, auto-pen.
Speaker 1:Back then he says you know the people that are telling you to do this circumcision stuff and keep the law. They don't even keep it themselves. And so he points out to them the hypocrisy of what they're doing. And that's the inevitable result of law keeping. I tell you to do something, but I don't do it myself. But I don't do it myself. You know, in a very basic way, that is the reason why a lot of folks just get sick of the whole religion show. I'm going to use those words because that's sometimes what it is they get sick of the religion show. I know you're not doing what you're telling me to do. I know you don't do it. So why should I do it? We all have weaknesses, we all have blind spots. We can't keep it, it's impossible, so why bother trying? And that isyou know.
Speaker 1:When you finally say, I've given up on this, I'm going to keep my own law stuff, I've got a list of rules I have to follow, when you finally blow that up and throw it away, you are free. Boy, is that great. You are free, I can do. I can do whatever I want, not to please myself, but I can do as Paul told them. You've been freed so you can serve each other. Oh, this is great. This is great. I am free to serve.
Speaker 1:Now, this is kind of the heart of the whole message. You could boil down the book of Galatians to this For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but the new creation. This is the book of Galatians to this, for neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but the new creation. This is the heart of the message. Don't focus on the flesh. Allow yourself to be led by and loved by the Holy Spirit, to become like, and love like, christ. Isn't that? It Isn't that what we're here to do? I'm not here to follow a bunch of rules Most of the arguments that people get into about religion are about which rules to follow.
Speaker 1:I have no interest in that whatsoever. I've gotten to the point where I don't care anymore. I really don't. I'm not going to argue with you about it, because 90% I don't go further than that 99% of what we argue about ain't even in the Bible. To begin with, the stuff that separates us and the Assembly of God and the Baptist Church and the Methodists down the street has to do. 99% of it has to do with what goes on here on an hour on Sunday morning. Because your rules are different than my rules, I say blow it up, I don't care, I don't care, I really don't care. We allow that tiny little bit to separate us into different groups with different buildings and different this and different that. When Paul is telling these people blow it up, you're free, you're free. Oh no, you don't understand, mr Friend. Yeah, I think I understand too well. Oh no, you don't understand, mr Friend. Yeah, I think I understand too well.
Speaker 1:One of the reasons that I have thought about kicked around the idea I'll end with this and this will shock you but we brought this up at one of our meetings. One time I thought about resigning as an elder before, not because of some scandal, but because sometimes I feel like I am asked to defend the brand. I'm asked to defend a particular rule of our fellowship. I am not interested in that. I am not interested in it. And if that's what you want out of an elder, then find somebody else. I am not going to do it anymore. I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm not going to do it. Tired of defending man-made rules, I have no use in it. It just wears me out. When we are so focused on that stuff, instead of focusing on I, want God to live in me through the Holy Spirit so I can serve others and that's the most important thing in my life. We get far away from that and say well, you know, we have to have songbooks with shape notes in the pews. I am done. I am tapping out friends. I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm not going to do it anymore.
Speaker 1:I hope this has been helpful to you. I am so sick of legalism. It is a destructive way of living, it is destructive of you personally and it is destructive of your faith in Christ. That's what I think, and that and one dollar will get you a cup of coffee at Tim Hortons or McDonald's, or Seven Brew or whatever, I don't know. Is that Seven Brew? Maybe next time. I don't want to get in trouble Now, what was your question again?
Speaker 1:No, is that seven brew? Can you let us know how you really feel? Maybe next time? I don't want to get in trouble.
Speaker 1:Now, what was your question again, ross, I never did answer. I've forgotten what it was. You got to be patient, to be patient. You can't remember either. Well, you said, before you can do, you have to be patient. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, so you said you have to be patient before you can practice patience. I don't know. I think you can be unpatient, but determine that I'm going to allow the Holy Spirit to work in me without identifying myself as being patient. I recognize that I'm not. I don't know. It's a good question.
Speaker 1:The end, final scene from the Searchers. This is John Wayne, marion Morrison, walking away from the cabin after he has delivered Debbie from the hands of the Comanches that she had been held by, brings her back to the cabin and then walks away as the camera watches the door close. You ever seen it before? You've got to watch it. Great movie. All right, next week we begin a series on the heroes of faith. A different guy every week teaching on a different hero of the faith, and if you don't like one week's lesson or teacher, come back next week because it's going to be somebody new, somebody different. So there you go. All right, Hope you've enjoyed the class. Hope you have. More importantly than that, I hope you have learned something about religion and I hope you have learned something about yourself. All right, you've been a very good class.