Secret Ingredients

Pastor Scott Smith - May 24, 2026

Grace changes how we see people, and forgiveness changes what’s possible between them.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Okay, so a few weeks ago we started this series called Philemon. It is a letter in the New Testament of your Bible. In its original language, it holds 335 words, which makes it the shortest letter of its kind. There was a man he's uh often referred to as the father of church planting. His name was Paul. He wrote a third of the New Testament of your Bible, and he writes this letter to a man named Philemon. If you have not seen those messages, I would encourage you watching online and those here if you want to go back to recap those for the last two weeks because we've learned things in these 335 words. Although Paul does not say a lot numerically, there is a lot said here concerning matters of our faith. And in week one, we looked at the value of teamwork, that we are better together. Paul highlights it, he models it, he addresses certain people, he's with certain people. He highlighted for us that the Christian life is not a life meant to be lived in isolation, but in communion with God and participation with others. We looked at that week one, and then last week we looked at the testimony of Philemon, and we got this little ditty stuck in everybody's head, baby. Yeah, some of you are like, oh, not again. Sorry, sorry. But what we looked at is that our decisions have a longer impact than oftentimes we realize, and this testimony of Philemon that Paul would write to him asking him to do something pretty outside of anyone else's comfort zone. And essentially, it was Philemon's testimony of his obedience to God that allowed Paul to take this posture towards him and say, look, I'm confident that you're going to do this and do even more. And it was a challenge for all of us to understand that our decisions take us places and tell people things and can oftentimes have a longer range of impact than we realize. And Paul writes to his friend Philemon, because what's going on here, if we recap as we prepare to read the letter one more time, you have essentially what's going on is a man named Onesimus, who is a runaway bond servant. The word is dulos, it means bonded servant. This man Onesimus worked for, was bonded to this what we believe, a man of means and influence who hosted a church in his house, Philemon. And we don't know exactly what happened. We don't know if Onesimus uh stole from Philemon or they had some form of uh falling out. And Onesimus runs away. And there was law that dictated kind of how you handled that. And it was twofold. It represented both the runaway bondservant and the uh, I guess, employer who the bonded servant belonged to in this context, and they got to appeal to a third party, but they also had a right to take them back, and there was uh some dysfunction here as a result of a fractured relationship on some level. We don't know exactly what, but Onesimus runs away from Philemon's house and somewhere along the way meets up with Paul. Paul, who happens to be in prison for preaching the gospel, somehow gets linked up with Onesimus. And Onesimus, it's likely that he heard the gospel before because he was working for Philemon, and Philemon had a church in his house. But Onesimus had not had an encounter with Jesus and had not seemingly chosen yet to put his faith in Jesus. He links up with Paul and others who are with Paul, and as a result, comes to faith in Jesus and becomes, as you and I would call it, a Christian. And so Paul has an option here. And he says, okay, well, you could hang out with me, but I don't think that's the right thing for everybody. I think we're gonna follow, you know, law and we're gonna honor that, kind of the rule that we're under, but also I want to highlight the work of the gospel in your life and the work of the gospel in Philemon's life. So, Onesimus, I know you just ran away and you're new to faith. I'm gonna ask you to put some feet to that faith, literally, and I'm gonna send you back to Philemon. Can you imagine being Onesimus? Like, mmm, so he's kind of mad at me. Anybody ever been uh like like mad at you and you didn't want to be around him? If your spouse tensed up, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Because you know, like it's uncomfortable. You're like, mm-mm, mm-mm. Or is anybody anybody on a dog? Okay, right? The dog does something and it knows. And you just, yeah, okay, you all got that. I don't even need to unpack that. Can you imagine being an onesimist? He's like, well, hold on, man, I escaped and I thought I got new life now. And he's like, you do, and you're gonna put feet to that faith that you've chosen. And he's like, should have thought about this faith more, you know, like it makes you do stuff. Sometimes we forget that. This is the word for somebody in the room today. Christian faith is never a passive faith, it is an active one. It is an active one. And so Paul writes to Philemon, and he says, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, see, he's with people. To Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Aphia, our sister, and Archipis, our fellow soldier, and the church in your house. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's his pleasant greeting to others. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers. Do you pray for the people in your life? That's a real question right there. Do you pray for the people in your life? We have people gather every week on Wednesday night and they pray with and for each other. There is power in that, there is community in that, there is accountability in that. So Paul says that because, Philemon, I hear of your love and the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. What a testimony. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. Remember, everything is for the sake of Christ. Say it with me. Our mission at Sunrise Church is to help people know and follow Jesus. Why? Everything done for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Sometimes it's the flashy onstage talents that are celebrated within the context of Christian community. But could it be that some of the most powerful gifts offered to the church inside of Christian community are that of joy because of a faith lived out. Don't think you gotta look, talk, or be able to do certain things to have impact in the kingdom of God. You know what you need to do? You need to be a person who lives out your faith. Because when you do, people see it, and it refreshes the hearts of others. He goes on. Now he starts to put his request in. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake, I love that, I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, this runaway bonded servant, whose father I became in my imprisonment, meaning he led him to Christ. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and me. If you recall, Onesimus, his name actually means useful. So Paul tosses in a little bit of humor here by saying, formerly useful was useless, but now he's useful again. You didn't know Paul had a sense of humor. He did. He said, I am sending him back to you, and I'm sending my very heart. Basically, what he's saying is, I'm sending him back to you. I know there was a riff. He ran away as a bonded servant. He's coming back as family. I'm sending you my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion of your but of your own accord. For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever. No longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant, a beloved brother, family, especially to me, but much more to you, both in flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge it to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. To say nothing of you owing me your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. He kind of cashes in this friendship and spiritual authority posture. But he says, refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you'll do even more than I say. And then he asks for a room. He says, Prepare a room. Also, I'm asking you to do this big thing. And then also, go ahead and uh I'd like a place to stay. I like chocolate croissants in the morning, Philemon. So go ahead and have those out too. That's not in there if you're like, wait, what? And then he finishes up highlighting teamwork again, right? Epiphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you. So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is how he ends it. And how he starts it is grace to you. This morning I want to look at two key ingredients in Philemon that you will miss if we don't dig in there because they're not obvious. And sometimes, have you ever had, have you ever had like somebody brought you a treat and you tasted it and it was like, oh, that's good. And then after about two or three seconds, you're like, oh, that's really good. And then after about four or five seconds, you're like, now I'm mad at my grandma because she didn't make it that good. It's that good. And you're looking at them like, what, what is the what is in this? I watch a I watch a Christmas movie every year. Robin hates it. Um, so I watch it in front of her. Um because that's how you flirt when you've been married for 21 years. Um is a movie, it has that guy who played Zach Morris and Saved by the Bell is in it. Um and it's a movie, it's called Twelve Dates of Christmas. And it's basically like Groundhog's Day for Christmas, and it's a cheesy Christmas movie, and I get it. But there's a scene in which a neighbor gal uh finds one of the main characters and brings her in, and she's like, I'm having a rough day. And she's like, Okay, it's fine, come hang out with me. It's Christmas Eve. I bake things for my neighbors, and I'm just gonna bless you. And she was just being sweet and hospitable to the character in the story, and she's making all these like breads and stuff to hand out to their neighbors, and they they bake one, and she's like, I'm not much of a baker. She goes, I'll show you. They bake it, she eats it, and she's like, Wow, this is delicious. What is this? And she was like, Oh, I forgot to tell you. I put a secret ingredient in there. And I won't spoil it for you because you may want to watch the movie. None of you do, and it's okay. You're like, it's Memorial Day. Yeah, I know. Next month is when you can put up your Christmas tree. I get it. We gotta wait until June. It's fine, it's totally fine. But the whole joke behind that is there's a secret ingredient in it. There's a key ingredient in it. And there are two key ingredients in the story of Philemon that you'll miss it because they don't seem obvious, but when you understand people and you read the context and you know what's going on, you realize what those key ingredients are. One of them is mentioned, the other one isn't, but they are they're so prevalent in the story that they're almost hiding in plain sight. And those two key ingredients are this: grace and forgiveness. The longer I live this life, especially surrendered to Jesus, the more value I put on grace, and the more power I see in forgiveness. Imagine being Onesimus. You've run away, you're ashamed, you're embarrassed, you're afraid, you're angry. There's a riff, and you meet Paul, and Paul tells you that Jesus changes everything in your life, and here's why. And you say, I will follow this Jesus, I believe in that. And then Paul looks at you and says, Great, prove it. I'm gonna send you back to the place you left, to the person you wronged, to the person who's angry at you, to the person you might be angry at. I'm gonna send you back. And it's okay, he's going to receive you. And Onesimus is probably thinking, You don't know Philemon the way I know Philemon. And Paul's like, No, I know Philemon. He goes, Did you work for him? No. Then you don't know. You don't know what Philemon is like when you do not wash your dishes in the break room. He gets angry. You don't know this man. Paul's like, I know he follows Jesus. Trust me, you need to go back and you need to make things right. I am sending you back. Because it's not just gonna bless you, Onesimus, it's gonna bless Philemon. Because Philemon is also going to get to put his faith on display. And you know what happens here? You know what happens? Onesimus goes back. I mean, we talked about this. Proof that we believe uh Onesimus went back to Philemon, and that Philemon did exactly what Paul asked, is the fact that we have this letter, because Philemon is the recipient of this letter, and it's not like open letters on the internet now where anybody can grab and prove that you received this information. It's not like those texts that when you text somebody and it shows that they read your text, you know what I'm talking about? It'll say that, and then they don't text you back for three days, and you're like, I know you read it. You know who you are. It's not like one of those, right? Only Philemon. Philemon could have just been like, Shh, shh, shh, I'm not doing this, and this letter will never see the light of day. But we believe he followed these instructions, we believe he accommodated this request, and we believe he did even more so, and I'll tell you why in just a moment. But those two key ingredients are of paramount importance to understand what God is doing in this story through this letter that we've eavesdropped on through the lives of Onesimus and Philemon. There was wrong done on some level. There was a fractured relationship here. There is pain, there is anger, there is frustration, there's potentially resentment. And Onesimus and Philemon are going to be forced to walk right into that with grace. With grace. Knowing, knowing that this is gonna be hard. You ever looked at somebody who wronged you or did something you disagreed with, and you thought to yourself, they don't deserve what they've gotten? Maybe they've they've gotten something, and you're like, no, but they've wronged me, they've wronged this person. Or maybe there are cases where you're like, look, God, I know you want me to be gracious with somebody, but they've really upset me and they don't deserve that grace. I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand because that gets really uncomfortable, but I will tell you this: I'll raise my hand. I have done that. I have been wronged on such a level where I have withheld it. I have spent seasons of life years and years ago before I understood the value of grace, withholding grace from people because I didn't believe they deserved it. But the work of the gospel is what's on display. Paul says, what? For the sake of Christ. Grace is hard to give out when you don't appreciate what you've been given. It becomes easy to withhold grace when you overlook the grace you've been given. But when you recognize and consider the work of the gospel in your own life that you are a wretch just like anybody else, and that God made a way to you, and that he hears your thoughts and sees your deeds, and that God knew everything about your past before it would even be your past, and still gave everything so you could have him for your future. That grace hits you, it rests on your spirit, and you no longer see people the way you want to see people, you start to see people the way God wants you to see people, which is all in need of the very same grace. But we live in a culture that cancels everyone for everything, and in a culture that cancels everyone for everything, grace is forgotten and it's overlooked because it is so easy for me to write you off when you wrong me. Because grace takes humility and courage. The humility to recognize that you need it just like they need it, and the courage to step outside of your comfort zone and give it away, even when maybe on paper and in your mind they don't deserve it. Philemon looked at Onesimus and probably thought, You don't deserve grace, Onesimus. You ran away, you did this. And what does Paul say in the very last words of this letter? Grace to you. After he asks him to do something that will require the most grace Philemon probably ever had to dole out. Do not overlook giving love away when you don't want to, because ultimately that's what grace is. It is choosing, choosing to give love and blessings away when the other person hasn't earned it. When you get a minute later today, I want you to pull out your phone, open up the camera app, flip it around to where it looks at you, and I want you to look right into that camera app and say, there's a person who didn't earn the grace of God but got it. And that will remind us how to give grace away. And then there's forgiveness. Now, this is a tough one for a lot of people because forgiveness takes work. Sometimes it's easier with grace than it is for forgiveness, right? Because sometimes grace is like, okay, yeah, yeah, I'll be loving, I'll be kind, I'll be gracious, got it, but they still stink. You've done it. You've done it, you've had those conversations. Look, I'm gonna love you right now, but I am not gonna like you right now. And what do we do? See, grace doles out love and blessings, right? But forgiveness, that's next level. Because you can show grace to somebody, but still hold on to what they did to you. And you can end up with like Eminem grace. Like it's candy coated. You know what I mean? If you're not careful, it's like, oh yeah, yeah, okay. It's candy coated. But it's not chocolate on the inside, it's something gross. And we can pretend. But see, that's why grace and forgiveness are key ingredients. They gotta work together. They gotta work together. Forgiveness is a powerful way to love someone. Because here's what we do when we forgive somebody we tell them they matter to us more than what they did to us. Because forgiveness cancels the debt we believe they owe us. You know that's why people struggle to forgive? Because we think they owe us something. No, no, no. You wronged me, and until you make this right with me, I'm not going to let it go. I'm not gonna see you the way God wants me to see you until you do the thing that you need to do. I got a box over here, you need to check it. You owe me this. And we concoct this made-up debt. They don't even know they owe us. We're walking around like a bank. You owe me, you owe me. They're walking around like they got cash in their pockets. They don't even know. I owe you. I didn't know, I didn't know. Oftentimes that will happen. And it's this made up debt. Forgiveness says that debt's canceled. That debt's canceled. You don't o me. You don't o me. You know why that's forgiveness? For the sake of Christ. Because that's what the gospel does. Your sins are forgiven. And here's the reality we owe a real debt. We're messed up, broken people. And God's perfection does not allow imperfection to get anywhere close to it. We owe a real debt. And what did God do? I'm going to send Jesus to pay it. What does Paul tell Philemon? Hey, if Onesimus owes you anything, I'll pay it. For the sake of Christ. When you consider the gospel and the gospel of Jesus infiltrates your heart, it will pour out of you. And you will embrace these two key ingredients of grace and forgiveness. Now there's something about forgiveness that you need to understand because, yes, forgiveness cancels the debt. Forgiveness doesn't always mean you continue the relationship. And this I think might be freeing for some people because you will be forced to deal with this if you haven't already. You will be forced to forgive someone when they never ask for it. I remember I was taught this in the 11th grade of high school. A friend of mine sat down with me and I had been hurt by someone. And he sat down and he said, Scott, you need to be able to forgive them. And I said, But I get it, but but they'll never there they haven't asked. Like they don't want to make it right with me. And he said, Oh, brother, that's not how forgiveness always works, man. If you're waiting around for people to ask forgiveness, you're gonna be waiting a long time. You will, as a follower of Jesus, need to forgive people when they never ask. Because they may never ask. Which is why forgiveness is canceling the debt, but it's not necessarily continuing the relationship because it doesn't always happen like that. First of all, someone may have wronged you, and that relationship is not a healthy one. It does not uh glorify God or bring you closer to Christ, and you know that you need to forgive, but maybe your proximity to them does not uh draw you into being more like Christ. And so the type of relationship that you had with them changes, and that's okay because you both grow, but you can still love. And then there may be those people who wrong you, never know, will never talk to you again. And you can either just carry that around like an anger backpack for the rest of your life, or you can let it go and forgive from a distance when they never ever ask. Now, the beauty of grace and forgiveness is they have the potential to create what's called reconciliation, which is when you both embrace the humility and grace required to return to each other and restore that relationship and move forward together. And sometimes we're very blessed with those opportunities in life, and sometimes we aren't. But just because reconciliation doesn't become the ultimate destination in our situation, because it won't always be that way, doesn't mean that forgiveness is not available to us. Because sometimes we think, well, yeah, but I know that I don't want a relationship with that person, and sometimes that's okay. Or that person doesn't want a relationship with me, and sometimes that's okay. Well, then I can't forgive them because we can't, you know, continue. No, no, no, no, no. That's not what it means at all. And I'll show you a perfect example. Philemon will end up sending Onesimus back to Paul. Onesimus was sent by Paul back to Philemon to prayerfully engage in grace and forgiveness and reconciliation, but not in the way that was traditional, in that Philemon and Onesimus now continued the same relationship they had when this whole fracture had occurred. No, Philemon will actually end up sending Onesimus back to Paul. Forgiveness was available to both of them, but they didn't continue the relationship in the same way. But sometimes we let things keep us from forgiving others. No, well, the relationship's done. Okay, the relationship might be done. Forgiveness is available to you. It's actually something Jesus teaches. In Mark chapter 11, he tells people, he says, listen, when you're praying, you need to make sure you forgive others because you don't want that barrier. In fact, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray in what's commonly referred to as the Lord's prayer. You may even know this line: forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. See, Jesus teaches the practice of forgiveness. Knowing that reconciliation is available on the other side of grace and forgiveness, but it's not always the result, should not keep us from forgiving others. Because everyone's in need of grace, and everyone has access to the forgiveness of sins that Jesus Christ offers. It's why he teaches it, it's why Jesus modeled it, it's why Paul teaches it, it's why he modeled it, and it's why he wrote this. And here's what's spectacular about this reconciliation between Philemon and Onesimus didn't look like the traditional way. They did not return to the relationship being exactly the same. Now, sometimes that's great because sometimes reconciliation improves the relationship because you've been vulnerable enough and you've embraced grace and you've chosen forgiveness, and reconciliation leads to restoration, which ends up uh strengthening the relationship. But in those cases where the relationship does not return to normal, you still have chosen grace and forgiveness, and there's still good on the other side of it. And Onesimus is one of those stories that we're gonna have to look into some extra historical accounts to understand exactly what happened here, and this is going to really, I pray, make a dent in your life because some of us just needed to hear today that grace is never deserved, but always powerful when given away. Because every one of us is in need of grace, much like forgiveness may not be deserved, but it is taught by Jesus, modeled by Jesus, because forgiveness leads to freedom. You no longer carry around a debt that you think someone owes you, and so you are free. And forgiveness tells the one being forgiven that they are loved more than the thing they did. Which is how Jesus sees you. There's a reason why Jesus spilled his blood to pay a price we owed. So that when God sees you, he wouldn't see your sin. He would see his son and the payment made for you to be in right standing and a relationship with him. See, forgiveness does that. And for some of us on a practical level, we need to practice grace and dole out forgiveness and cancel the debt. And some of you walked in the door needing that freedom and not even knowing it this morning. But now I want you to catch how impactful it is because you're like, okay, I get it. In the day-to-day grace, forgiveness. Okay, I need to be a better Christian in this way. Got it. No, I want you to see how powerful it is. Because it's easy to overlook the impact potential of these two key ingredients, grace and forgiveness, unless you see where the story ends up going. And we don't have an account of that in scripture. Philemon is one chapter in the Bible, it is 335 short Greek words. It is one letter to a guy, and we believe his family, and that's it, and we don't hear anything about it. However, when we dig into history, if you can nerd out with me for just a moment, when you dig into history, you're gonna come across a second century bishop named Ignatius. Ignatius in the second century was an early church father, and he would minister in different places, and one of the churches that he observed or kind of mentored was a church in Ephesus. Are you familiar with the book of Ephesians in your Bible? There is a letter written by Paul to a church in a place called Ephesus. There was a church that had been birthed there. It was making a dent for the kingdom of the gospel there. It was sharing the love of Jesus. People were coming to faith in Christ as a result of this church in Ephesus. Well, about 50 years after Paul writes this letter to this man Philemon concerning Onesimus, this second-century bishop named Ignatius would write a letter to that same church in Ephesus. And I don't know if you know this, but the progression of leadership changes sometimes. You know, people retire and new leadership comes into play, right? We all understand this. We forget that the Bible is, you know, real with real people who did real things. And in this letter that Ignatius writes to the church in Ephesus, he commends them, he applauds them for their faithfulness to the gospel, for their impact in their community, under the leadership of their bishop Onesimus. Here's what we understand historically from that as we dig in to ancient literature. It would be assumed that Onesimus travels back to Philemon, they experience grace, dole out forgiveness, and Onesimus is sent back to continue his training to do the work of the gospel, would end up being mentored by Paul, we believe, and deployed in an area called Ephesus, where he would eventually step into the seat of service as pastor of that church. How did he get there? Two key ingredients grace and forgiveness. Paul highlights in week one of our conversation there is value in teamwork. The Christian life is not meant to be a life lived in isolation, but in communion with God and participation with others. The life of Philemon spoke loudly. People listen to your life. And when you live like you know, love, and follow Jesus, it shows up. It shows up. We heard a report this morning in our prayer huddle of a guy approaching another group of guys at work, and he said, Oh, you guys are Christians, let me connect with you. You know why? It was visible. It was visible. It builds inroads to life change. We learned that from the life of Philemon. And as we wrap up these short 335 words, we see two key ingredients kind of hidden here in plain sight when you understand the interpersonal dynamics of people grace and forgiveness. Never underestimate what God can do and does regularly. When you choose to see people the way God sees people, thus dole out the same kind of grace that you've been given. And never underestimate the freedom available to you. When you choose to cancel the debt and forgive others just as you have been forgiven. Because it not only has the capacity to change your life, to offer you freedom and closeness with Christ, but you never know what's on the other side of grace and forgiveness. I'll tell you mine. And this is an unconventional story. You know who showed me grace to change my life? My mother-in-law. Yeah, that got a lot of oh. I remember the city, I remember the room, I remember the feeling, I remember the words. I did not deserve it at all. But she gave it. I would not be teaching you Philemon if it weren't for that grace. There was a church in Ephesus a few thousand years ago, about 6,000 miles that way, that impacted parts of the world. You know, these New Testament churches are what led to the church expanding and the gospel expanding all over the world. It would eventually make its way here. We're in San Diego, California, because people in early churches 2,000 years ago caught the gospel, responded to the gospel. People embraced grace and forgiveness, and for the sake of Christ, lived out their faith, lived it as a team in the context of community. We're here now doing that very thing, and that is the result of grace and forgiveness. Recognizing what God has given you, and living in a way that shows your appreciation for the gospel and application of the gospel. When you appreciate the gospel and live it out, your life will look like one of grace and forgiveness, because your life will look like you love, know, and follow Jesus. And you won't live in isolation. You will live in communion with God, in participation with others, living like Jesus teaches, loving like Jesus teaches, giving like Jesus teaches, and helping others do the same. 335 short words. He doesn't say a lot, but he says a lot. That's Philemon. Next week, we're starting a new series called Now That's What I Call Music. You remember those old CD compilations? Now that's what I call music. There's a hundred of them, I think you can actually buy volume one on Amazon in case you wanted to do that. Next week, we're kicking off a series. Now that's what I call music. We are spending the entire summer going through Psalms. I think it's going to be real powerful. It's really exciting. Our friend Andy Thorin, one of our youth leaders, is going to actually kick that series off next week as we also finish collecting items for the Salvation Army. The truck's going to be here. It is going to be an awesome Sunday. I would encourage you to be back and celebrate what God is doing and jumping into this new series together. And as always, before you connect in the lobby, I will pray for us that what we learn here doesn't get left here, but that we take it with us. Meet somebody, linger in the lobby, hang out. We love you. Let's pray. God, thank you again for your word. I pray that it infiltrates us, inspires us, challenges us, and guides us. And that what we have done here doesn't get left here, but that we take it with us. It's in your name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

Thank you so much for joining us today at Sunrise Church. We hope this message encouraged you and blessed you. If one of the ways that you choose to worship with us here at Sunrise is by giving online, there's a link right here that you can follow and it'll take you to that payment portal. Everything that you donate helps not only go towards reaching people in the greater San Diego area, but also all around the world through our ministry partner. If you want to get further connected, whether in person or online, you can email this email right here, and either myself or some one of our team members will be there to answer it and help you get connected in any way that you need. Thank you so much for joining us, and we'll see you next week.