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Well, good morning, church family. It's great to be back with you. I hope you all had a tremendously happy Fourth of July. It was a weird Fourth of July because we had a storm like in the middle. And then previously there were fireworks, and then people took a break for a second, or I guess some people took a break for a second. And then after the fireworks or the storm at like 11:30, the fireworks began again. It was a very interesting 4th of July. But I hope it was a great time. I hope you guys had fun with family. I hope you guys enjoyed the country we live in. If you would open your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4, we're continuing the series through, obviously, 1 Timothy. We wrapped up chapter 3 just last week, where Paul showed us really the purpose of the entire letter, which is that I have written to you so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household. Very simply, very plainly, Paul cares about the order of the church, and that's why he wrote this letter. We also saw the beautiful nature of the church, that it is the pillar, the foundation of truth, that we uphold, we push up, we magnify the truth of God to the world. If we do not pillar or champion the truth, we are wasting our time. And I pointed out last week that chapters three to four kind of mark a shift. I mean, halfway in chapter count, but but really halfway in the book as well, at least in Paul's focus. But that doesn't mean we should ignore what he's just written, but like by no means. Because the church is the pillar, because the church is the foundation of the truth, Paul, as he did in chapter one, again, he points out the dangers of false teaching and how Timothy and we should combat it. That's really what the beginning of chapter 4 is about. I'm gonna read verses just one through six this morning. Just one through six. Um you might, if you are appreciate breaks, I might have snuck into the second break, so I apologize. Um we are at chapter four, verses one through six. Uh we'll pick up in verse seven next week. So would you read along with me? Uh should be on the screen. There should also be a Bible in the pew back in front of you if you do not have one, or steal a neighbors or something. Whatever you need to do, follow along. Now the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times some people will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth, for everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. This morning we ask that you would reveal your word to your church by your spirit. And we pray all of this for Christ's name's sake. Amen. I remember um I don't know if this was middle school or high school, honestly, somewhere around there, maybe like the eighth, ninth grade age. My mom sent me inside to buy something. And I wish I was trying to recall what the details were. I think it was like groceries. I was in a grocery store, I'm pretty sure. But she sent me in with a hundred dollar bill, just a hundred dollar bill, just cash. And I remember I get the stuff and I go to the counter. Again, I don't remember what the context was or what I was getting. Maybe it was important. But I hand the lady the $100 bill and she looks at me and then looks at the $100 bill and then immediately does this, you know, like checks to see if it's like a counterfeit bill. And so at first I'm like, okay, well, hang on a second. Like, do I not look trustworthy? Like, I know I'm just like a by-myself ninth grade boy, so probably not trustworthy, I guess, if if that makes sense. But clearly she had done this before. Like, she had checked if a bill is counterfeit, and it didn't take her long because she could tell pretty quickly, okay, this was a legit bill. I didn't know what to do. I was just kind of like standing there awkwardly, because like I didn't know that she was at the time checking for counterfeit. I had no idea what was happening. But when you spend your day handling real money, it's pretty easy to see when the bill is counterfeit or when it's the real deal. And that's really what's happening in chapter four of 1 Timothy. Paul is not concerned that Timothy knows the ins and outs of every detail about counterfeit bills, but rather that Timothy knows the truth, practices the truth, ensures that he is in the truth so much that it's abundantly obvious when he's presented with falsehood. That's Timothy's goal, is to be so injected with the truth of God that when falsehood comes across his table, it's immediately dismissed. That is why we have chapter four of 1 Timothy. And for you today, if you take nothing else away from the sermon or whatever, you remember nothing else, please take notes. I don't say that enough. I'd encourage you to become a note-taker if you're not already. False teaching leads people from the faith, but truth trains people in godliness. False teaching leads people from the faith, but truth trains people in godliness. False teaching is not just inconvenient. It's not just like something that's like, oh well, you know, it's we I don't really agree, but it's not that big of a deal. No, false teaching turns people away from salvation in Christ. That's what it does. It is dangerous and needs to be dismissed. That is one of the larger themes of the entire letter, is the dangers of false teaching. And that theme continues today, but Paul gets specific, not just about what false teaching it is, like what he's referencing, but what it leads to, like what the outcome of false teaching is. Again, it's not just not ideal or something that should be brushed off. It's like, but their worship band is so good. So I can get past like the false teaching here. That's not how we interact with false teaching. It leads people directly away from Christ. And this morning, Paul reveals both the dangers of falsehood, but also gives us the antidote to falsehood. So would you look with me? Firstly, the dangers of falsehood. We see this in verses one through three. I'm going to read these few verses again. The dangers of falsehood. Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention, not teaching, not teaching, but paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth. This chapter begins with another somewhat confusing verse. There are a few where you're just like, I don't quite know what you mean there. But this is one of them, because it's a little confusing at face value. Now the Spirit explicitly says the trick is where where? Where does it when did the Spirit explicitly say this? Where did we say that? And as you might guess, there are some differences on how people interpret this. But don't forget when Paul is writing this. Context matters. Don't forget Paul's other writings, the entirety of Scripture also matters. I do believe that there are things that the Spirit impresses on a person. That the Spirit impresses something on you, whether it be a conviction or a right or wrong decision, a direction to go, a church to attend. The Spirit leads you in that. I believe that. I hope you believe that. And I believe Paul is referencing something similar, but perhaps a bit more direct. I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 12, 7 through 11. I think this, another one of Paul's letters, really sheds light into what he's talking about. 1 Corinthians 12, 7 through 11. A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. Notice there's a purpose. If there's no purpose to a spiritual gift someone claims to have, it is not a spiritual gift. Verse 8. To one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same spirit, to another, faith by the same spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one spirit, to another the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kind of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues, one and the same spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills. Paul spends a great deal of time discussing spiritual gifts in this book in 1 Corinthians. And the Spirit manifests himself, Paul says, in many ways within the church. One of those ways, he says, is a message of wisdom through the Spirit to another. And I know that you're thinking this is this is really getting into the cessationism and continuationism territory, a couple seminary words for you. Those two words simply answer the question. Have the gifts of the Spirit ceased cessationism? That's the same root word, or do they continue? That one's a little easier to figure out. Continuationism. I'm not going to spend much time here, but just so I make myself clear and so you know, I do not consider myself a cessationist. I don't think spiritual gifts have ended with the apostles, but rather I would consider myself a cautious continuationist. That I do believe the Spirit works in miraculous ways through his church. I do believe God does perform miracles, signs, and wonders through his church. However, because we have the closed canon of scripture, we have this book as our chief authority, those gifts are not paramount in the life of a Christian. Because in each instance of spiritual gifts in Scripture, it was used for the building of the church or for evangelism. No other purpose were spiritual gifts used. None. It was not a display of faith. It was not some Christian rite of passage that if you spoke in tongues, then you are a better Christian. Paul's primary concern in 1 Corinthians 12 is the building up of the body of Christ. So in 1 Timothy 4, when Paul says the Spirit explicitly says he's grounding this spiritual given revelation, whatever it may be, likely teaching already given in the Apostolic Church, mind you, consistent with what we see in Scripture, that apostasy will come. They are affirming message taught in Scripture, or that we see in Scripture. Likely it was an impression of the Spirit given to somebody or to Paul. The Spirit is teaching through his church. I hope that makes sense. But no matter how you interpret that phrase, because I've only made it half of one verse, what really matters is the rest of the verse. Because what cannot be missed is the accuracy of the Spirit's explicit message. What does the Spirit say? That in latter times some will depart from the faith. That people are going to leave the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. Through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. We see this tragic reality time and time again. Think just personally. I think back to there was somebody I led to faith in high school, and that person is certainly not a believer these days, at least from what I can tell. I'm sure there's somebody in your life who maybe you've had those spiritual conversations, you've perhaps prayed with them, tried to lead them to the faith, but the reality is only the Spirit can bring regeneration. You cannot. And that unfortunately happens all the time. False teaching, which leads people away from the truth, away from faith. We see this today in Prosperity Gospel, gospel that claims that following God is for your financial or physical well-being. That is anti-gospel. In fact, we are promised the opposite in Scripture. We see this in even watered-down gospel messages, where people will say all you have to do is invite Jesus to your heart, but never teaching them who Jesus is or what he has done or what that even means. Paul makes clear that false teaching is the teaching of demons through people. It is the teaching of liars and hypocrites. It's the teaching of those whose consciences are seared. People are so far from God they don't even realize the false teachings that they are saying. They don't understand that it's bad. And I think if you encountered false teachers from pulpits today, it's not fervor that's the issue. It's not zeal. It's not that they believe what they believe. That's not the issue. They really believe what they're saying, but it's false and it leads people away from God. These are the types of people that Timothy was tasked with combating, obviously not physically. He wasn't called to go fight some false teachers, not through force or through anger, not through cursing, but truth in love, just as Paul commended in chapter 1. 1 Timothy 1 5. This is the guiding principle, even through chapter 4. Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. That's how Timothy combats false teaching. That's the attitude, rather, he should have when he combats false teaching. Because notice that the type of person is recognized. Not just what they teach, but who they are. And I think that that definitely matters. And I would, in fact, argue that a person who does love, who does have a pure heart, does have a clear conscience, can do nothing but teach the truth. They're not going to teach falsehood because they're filled with godly things. They will not teach falsehood. So by contrast, the people who are teaching false things, they are those who have no love, just have a heart of stone, a seared conscience instead of a good conscience, as described in 1 Timothy 1, and lack faith. Like everything Timothy is commanded to be is the opposite, almost verbatim opposite of those who teach falsehood. Who he is matters just as much as what he teaches. We must not merely be a truth, or excuse me, a church that teaches truth. We should do that, but we should also be a church that embodies truth, that acts out truth, that does the things that truth commands. A church whose message changes the listener, who submits to God's word, who follows God's will above all else. That is the type of church we should be. But then Paul gets more specific in verse 3. Because he gives examples. Again, this is a false teaching of demons through people who do not follow God. And then in verse 3, you're like, well, that doesn't seem like that crazy. Verse 3. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth. Again, at first glance, that doesn't seem like a big deal. Like, it's not like it's not like they're saying that Jesus isn't God or that salvation can be found a bunch of different ways. Like, it's not like they're teaching just another religion, you know. It's not that bad, or they're teaching idol worship, or but he said it's the teaching of demons. So how? Either Paul's lying or exaggerating, or we need to understand this appropriately. So why is this such a big deal? Just think for a moment about the type of false teaching that infects a church. Like today. Think today, false teaching that you've encountered. Because there are some blanket truths that almost every single place with church on their marquee will say and confess. They'll say that Jesus is God's Son, they'll say that Jesus is the way you can be saved, they'll say that going to church is important, they'll say living a godly life is important. Every church will tell you that. But often false teaching is hidden underneath those teachings. It's masked by certain things that seem good. Because the issue with teaching like getting married, you shouldn't do it, or that you should avoid certain foods, it doesn't seem dangerous. It seems like silly, but it doesn't seem dangerous in the outset. But there are teachings that move people away from trust in God, away from freedom in Christ, toward adding to their faith, adding to the gospel. Because you see, now there's more commands. If you want to be a good Christian, there's more you have to do, there's more you have to abstain from, there's more you have to run away from. These types of teachings begin to add to the gospel. Because after all, Paul says that he created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth. How can anyone despise marriage, let alone forbid it, when God instituted it? How can anyone command abstention from certain foods when God created them to be received with thanksgiving? What God has made and given us, we are to receive and thank him for. Simply put. Do you see that by abstaining and commanding to abstain from those things, you are not trusting God. It's the teaching of demons. There's a word I referenced at the very beginning of this book, this series, from chapter one is Gnosticism. It was a prominent early church heresy, though roughly around the second century. So not quite yet, but you I would argue you see its infancy here. Because it taught that salvation was not achieved through faith in Christ, but some secret knowledge from the divine or from the spirit. But the underlying belief was that the things of the world, physical things, were evil. God is spirit. He cannot be a part of evil things. Therefore, Christ could not have come down in bodily form. He could not have been killed. That couldn't have happened because he had a physical body. He couldn't have been a man then, or he was just some ghost walking around. There's just no way. That's what the teaching was. That's what Gnosticism was. Very prominent in this early Greek Christian culture, but really formalized in the second century. But again, this teaching in verse 24, it's the same way of thinking. I would argue it's the same type of teaching that develops into what we now know as Gnosticism. But it's just kind of present in seed form. Because no longer was there freedom in Christ. There's not freedom in Christ here. There's more rules for being a follower of Christ. If you want to follow God, well, you can't get married. Marriage is an earthly practice. You can't do that. You want to eat food, too bad. That food's unclean. You can't be a Christian and eat that food. Like these teachings are exactly the same as the Pharisaical teaching that Jesus so often fought against. They were adding to the letter of the law. That's what they were doing. If you want to follow God, you have to do this, this, this, this, this, this, and this. I believe that's the same touch of teaching that Paul is commanding Timothy to fight against. So if false teaching gets to the point where it distorts our trust in God, our faith in God, our reliance on God, it is of demons. Even if it's something like this, just abstaining from marriage. So if false teaching distorts how we see his truth, Paul now shows what happens when we receive God's truth. There is an antidote. He does not leave us with the bad news. Paul never does that. Let's read verse four through six again. Now the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times, wow, I'm not reading the right verse. Verse 4. I saw the four in the chapter number and I started reading. Verse 4. For everything created by God is good. And nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of faith and the good teaching you have followed. Before I dig into this section, I want us to go to Genesis 1. You can turn there if you want. You don't have to turn there, it'll be up on the screen. Genesis 1, this is the creation account. I'm going to start in verse 31 and read through chapter 2, verse 3. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came, then morning, the sixth day. So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. On the seventh day, God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had done. God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation. Here we see the instance of the Sabbath. God practices Sabbath just ceases from work. That's what that means. But also, God saw everything he makes, and it is very good. Very good. I think we like take this story for granted. Like genuinely take this for granted. And here's what I mean. Like we grow up hearing the creation story. If you grew up in the faith, I guess not all of us, but we grow up hearing how God created everything and he called it good. I get that, I heard that. We memorized our VBS verses, we memorized our Iwana verses. We heard that story in Sunday school. You almost become desensitized to the literal creation of the universe. It's just like, yeah, I know that. But church family, look at Paul's words here and feel their weight. Verse 4 Everything created by God is good. That is a praiseworthy reality. That He created good things. Like, do you believe that He did that? Do you know that He did that? This isn't to say that we don't live in a fallen world. Like we understand that sin corrupts, it infects, it kills. Even God's good creation, we know that. But creation as God intended is perfect. He did not create on accident, he did not create without purpose, he did not create poorly, he created with excellence, with perfection. Everything God created is good. But Paul does not stop there. He tells Timothy that we ought to do, or what we ought to do, because of that. Because God created things good, there's something for us to do. Because God's perfection, or excuse me, because of God's perfect creation, nothing is to be rejected. And I'll clarify what I believe he means. Again, this is not to say that we don't reject evil. God is not the creator of evil. It's not to say that everything is good, even like your sin. That's not what we're saying at all. But rather, everything God created is good. Going back to the false teachers that Paul referenced earlier, God instituted the very first marriage. It is a godly good thing. Marriage is his design. I want to read this section again. Because this is marriage. Here. I think we can honestly overcomplicate it sometimes. Genesis 2 23. 225. Remember, Adam was tasked. The man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky, every wild animal. But for the man, there was no helper found corresponding to him. That's the same word helper, by the way, used to describe as the spirit, the spirit of God. So the Lord caused a deep sleep to come over the man and he slept. God took one of his ribs, closed his flesh at that place, then the Lord made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. Literally, Eve was created for Adam. Like they were for each other. Because Adam's going around and there's a bunch of animals that he's naming, he's like, These are not me. And so God creates someone for Adam. And the man said, This one at last is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. This will be called woman, for she was taken from man. Then we see them marry. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame. This is the first marriage. Like this is the institution of marriage between Adam and Eve. Let us then, because God created it, pursue marriage. Let's celebrate marriage. It is something created by God. Encourage people to get married. That is a good thing to do. I'm not saying that if you're you're in sin if you don't get married. That's not what I mean. There are plenty of faithful Christians who do not get married. Some people say Paul himself was one, like perfect example. Of course not. But Paul's point is that rejection of marriage, meaning saying marriage is something to be dismissed or something that's not godly, is to reject what God has created as good. It is a subtle, then, rejection of God Himself. The same thing with rejecting certain foods. And we actually saw God Himself command this in the Old Testament, so this one can get a little tricky. God never commanded to abstain from marriage, but he did say not to eat certain foods. Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14, if you want to read it, by all means. There's some of the more extensive dietary laws in the Old Testament. So why the switch up? Is he changing his mind? Paul understood the law. He understood the fact that God prohibited certain foods, so why now can all foods be enjoyed? And the answer, friends, is so simple. It's freedom in Christ. That's it. There are plenty of New Testament references I could mention here, but Mark makes it abundantly clear. Mark 7, 18 through 19. This is Jesus speaking. And he said to them, Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don't you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him? For it doesn't go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated. Thus he declared all foods clean. There's also the vision Peter receives. Same thing, all foods are clean. Like imagine hearing Jesus say this as a first century Jew. Like God told us not to eat it, and here you are saying that's fine. But now Jesus reveals that it's not the food itself that's unclean. That's not the point. There's nothing God created that is unclean. Else God creates unclean things. Paul simply echoes Jesus' teaching here, both in Romans but also in 1 Timothy 4. For everything created by God is good. And nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. Since it has been sanctified by the Word of God in prayer. John Stott, he points this out that the things God created are doubly consecrated. I love looking at it this way. Firstly, they're good because God created them. So enjoy marriage. Get married, eat some bacon, I don't know, like enjoy things. But secondly, they are good when we recognize them as gifts from God and receive them with thanksgiving. As Paul says. Like I know this can sort of be hard to wrap our minds around. Like we don't have Christians walking around saying that marriage is bad. We don't have Christians saying that you can't eat pork or anything like that. That's not really a thing anymore. But we do encounter the type of error. It happens whenever someone teaches you that you're closer to God if you don't do this thing that God never forbade. It happens when someone's man-made rules, like how they believe you should live your Christian life, becomes the priority, their measure of holiness. Real Christians wouldn't do that, or real Christians won't do this. Now let me be clear. I just said that there are certainly things we should avoid, namely your own sin. Paul knows this, and he spends a vast majority of his other letters telling people to avoid sin, to avoid traps, to avoid false teaching, or things that cause others to stumble. There are things to not do. Let me be clear. But just let me be the first to say, church family, as long as you're not sinning, just enjoy life. Enjoy life. Yesterday. Grill something, shoot off a firework, I don't know. Go see a movie, pop some popcorn with your children, go on a walk, plant flowers, lift something heavy, eat some good food, take your wife out, play a game, just enjoy life. Because the things that God has created are good. He has created you to enjoy His creation. But as you do those things, whatever that list is for you, recognize that they are all gifts from God. Every single one of them. Everything you enjoy, everything you do, every activity, it is from God. It's doubly consecrated then. God created it, it's good, and you recognize it with thanksgiving. It's good. And Paul encourages Timothy verse 6 if you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the good teaching that you have followed. Here you see the antidote to false teaching right here. It is the job of every church leader to point God's sheep toward their freedom in Christ, to point them away from legalism, to point them away from sin, to point them away from false teaching and toward Jesus. But notice that if Timothy teaches these things, it's because they were the good teachings he has followed. Already. Timothy must first teach and remind himself of these things. Like every honest pastor will tell you that their sermons are just as much for them as they are for you, if not more so. It is my duty and the duty of all the pastors and leaders here to ensure that what we teach is what we have first taught and lived out ourselves. Or I am a hypocrite. And that is the antidote to false teaching, just being nourished personally by the truth of God's word. Enjoying the life and gifts God has given you is not the antidote itself, it's just the fruit of being nourished by truth. It's a recognition that you have freedom in Christ. Submitting to his word, submitting to his church, submitting to him in prayer. If we want to ensure we don't follow the path of false teaching, we must ensure we are feeding ourselves then with truth. Because false teaching trains people one way, God's truth trains people the other way. And Paul is charging Timothy to instruct his church only on godly truth, away from falsehood. So for us, for you and me today, again, we're not encountering people who are telling you not to get married. But every day we're feeding on something. Like we're we're feeding on something. It doesn't even have to be falsehood. I would say that most people in our churches don't immediately go home and turn on some prosperity gospel sermon and say, now this is real church. Some people, sure, probably do that. Most people don't do that. You're not going home and intentionally feeding yourself on false teaching. I hope not. But you're feeding on something. There's something that you're filling yourself with. The question you should ask yourself is not like, am I giving myself false teaching, but am I feeding myself truth at all? Am I feeding myself the Word of God at all? It's not just enough to ensure we aren't feeding on false teaching. We must ensure we are actively giving ourselves truth. You must be filling yourself up with truth. It's not my job alone to do that. It is the task of every believer to pursue God in truth. So if you're here and you've never considered, you've never bought in to the truth that of the gospel of Christ Jesus, well, I'm here to tell you, it is true. Jesus is God. He came down as a man, lived a perfect life you could not, died the death you deserved, but was raised three days later because he is perfect. And if you place your faith in him, you will find salvation. Do that this morning. There is no other time than this morning. But if you're here and you have believed, I'm going to leave you with an attitude and an action. The attitude I want you to have is leave today thankful for the freedom Christ has given you. It's really easy to celebrate freedom on July 4th weekend, isn't it? But on a much more serious note, you have so much more freedom in Christ than this country could ever give you. Ever. You have freedom in Christ. Away from your sin, toward him, freedom to enjoy things, freedom from sinning. So just leave today thankful for the freedom you have in Christ Jesus. But the action, and I have a few things snuck in here, so excuse me if there's multiple actions. But the action. Open your Bible, pray, and thank God for all the gifts He's given you. At some point in time, maybe every day, that'd be great. Open your Bible sometime, pray, and thank God for all the gifts that He's given you. You would be shocked how much better your week will be if you just start there. If you start there. We're gonna have a time of response as we always do. I'd encourage you to use this time to respond. I don't just call it response time because it's the end of sermon. Like, respond however that looks for you. Pray, pray with a neighbor, confess something to a neighbor, just be reflective, take notes, read your notes, whatever you need to do to respond, respond. But take a couple minutes and when you're ready, come partake in the Lord's Supper. We'll have gluten-free options as we normally do, if you need that in the prepackaged. And then I think they're stacked on top of each other. If you're new here and you get confused, the bread is under the juice. Um, that'll be in there. But whenever you're ready, come and partake. We just ask that you be a believer in Christ Jesus in order to partake in this. But would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for freedom in Christ. We thank you that He came for us, something we absolutely did not and still do not deserve, but you still choose to give your people gifts. And we thank you for that. That there is freedom in Christ, that we can enjoy the things that you have created. We thank you that you are a perfect creator. I ask that you would help us reflect that creativity in our lives, that we would want to be creative. We would want to see you magnified in our lives. I just ask that you would equip us by your spirit to live these truths out. That we would just open our Bibles, be grateful for you, that we would feed on your truth, and that you would keep this church and our us personally from falsehood. I pray all of this by your Spirit's power for Christ's name's sake. Amen.