WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:05.440 Well, this is an interesting passage to preach on, partially because it feels like I'm preaching about myself in some way, right? 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:11.359 This is a whole bunch about like spiritual leaders, and um that is what I do is I spiritual lead. 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:14.160 So that's sort of odd, but at the same time, it's not odd. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:26.399 I think it's actually really healthy because I have spiritual leaders over me, and then as well, um I will not always be your pastor, and perhaps I'm not even your pastor now, because you'll probably end up going to some other church at some other point of your life. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:33.920 And so it's good for you to sort of have this chat, even if I'm the one delivering it, um, it's sort of like a DTR. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:39.920 Like if you're dating and you have that define the relationship, talk, uh like what is what is this relationship? 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:41.759 Like, what is this thing we do? 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:47.439 And then uh like what is it I how how do I relate with you, and then how do you relate with me? 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:48.479 And so it's good. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:49.359 So let's dive in. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:50.479 There's a whole bunch to cover. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:51.840 We're not gonna cover all of it. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:54.960 Um, you heard the reading, you're like, we're gonna do all that in one morning. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:56.000 No, we're not. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:01.759 Um I promise we'll be under 25 minutes, and so it's gonna be a brush through this large passage. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:04.319 Uh, Hebrews 13, verse 7. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:13.200 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:20.079 So, point number one is this we call to mind our spiritual leaders as to be encouraged by their life and faith. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.239 Now, as soon as I say that, that kind of that makes me very, very nervous, right? 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:26.239 Like that you would do that toward me. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.879 Like I'm comfortable doing that toward like my mentor and our elders. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:33.920 Like, I'm comfortable, like, is that part of my faith? 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:38.000 Like, but then like if you would do that toward me, that makes me very uncomfortable and nervous. 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:44.079 But the refuge for any leader is the context of Hebrews, that we don't just show up in Hebrews 13. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:45.920 We have Hebrews 1 through 12. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:56.879 And Hebrews 1 through 12, as we've seen, is just long, one long encouragement and argument of our need, any person's need for Jesus, for God's grace to them. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:02.239 And that they are imperfect, and leaders are imperfect because leaders are people and they need Jesus. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:09.360 And so a leader's on a journey of coming more alive to the grace of Christ and love of Christ for them. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:20.080 So, because of that, hopefully, big hopefully, hopefully, confession is quicker as years go by, and hopefully, there's more kindness than defensiveness. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:28.960 Now, as soon as I say that, I know I need to confess quicker that I don't confess quick enough, and also that I know there's not enough kindness in my life. 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:32.400 But hopefully there's the trajectory of that. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:39.520 So, in that way, a pastor is a spiritual leader and not a CEO and not a celebrity. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:44.800 Um yet, as a spiritual leader, I can't I can't heal you. 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:47.360 I can't save you. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:52.159 I can't heal your wounds and like your shame and your guilt. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:53.759 I can't I can't do that. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:56.639 I I can't solve your issues. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:59.840 I can't solve your discontentment. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:01.439 I can't do that. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:13.039 But what I can do, and any pastor that you have, what they can do is support you, listen to you, pray for you, guide you, and teach you. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:15.120 That's what the calling is. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:21.199 I had a great conversation with a really dear church member a few weeks ago. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:28.400 We were talking through some things in the church that she was concerned about, and as well as some things in her life that she was frustrated with. 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:33.840 In the middle of the conversation, it was so such a freeing statement, at least for me, it was very, very freeing. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:39.039 She just looked at me and she said, and it was like she stopped. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.199 She said, Maybe I'm expecting too much of you. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:45.280 Maybe you're just a guy in a plaid shirt. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:46.479 Was that on a plaid shirt? 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:48.159 Like, maybe you're just a guy in a plaid shirt. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:50.800 It's like, like, yes, like that I am. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.520 I'm just a guy in a plaid shirt, like, I have a bum foot. 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:56.400 Like I've been crawling into the shower for two weeks. 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:59.199 Like, that's not, that is nothing to idolize, right? 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:03.360 Like, so there should be some like normalization of pastors, right? 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:08.879 Like, take them out of the celebrity context and just like just a guy in a plaid shirt. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:11.599 And it was a great moment for us in that regard. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:20.480 And yet, even in that normalization, there is a clear calling for spiritual leaders to be shepherding voices of truth and grace. 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:25.600 And what I believe is to be almost priest-like toward you. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:31.519 And that is to be a calm, loving, non-anxious presence for you. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:33.839 But no pastor. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:41.600 Myself included, no matter how inspirational or gifted they are, they cannot really give you what you want. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:43.600 It'll never work. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:47.680 That is the consumer flash and consumer culture. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:50.560 And that's where this passage is driving us. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:54.399 You're gonna see it when we get into it in verse 8 specifically. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:58.079 Another church member sent me this quote this week. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:02.319 This is from Theodore Kyler, 19th century minister and writer. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:04.959 I don't know why the member sent it to me, but here we go. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:11.439 God never intended that this world should be saved by pulpit geniuses, or else he would create more of them. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:12.240 Like, I don't know. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:13.199 What's he saying about me? 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:13.680 I don't know. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:14.800 Here's what I do know. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:22.560 I can count on one hand, one hand, the amount of pulpit geniuses in our entire country. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:33.680 So, if any of us are looking for a pulpit genius, we will always miss out on a good local pastor for you. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:38.879 So here's what a local pastor does. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:40.800 Verse 7. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:45.519 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:52.959 So point number two is this true spiritual leadership is repeating what is already true about God and you. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:54.959 I love cold play. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:56.480 I've talked about cold play before. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:58.319 I will talk about cold play again, right? 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:00.800 Like I that will be on repeat here because I love them. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:03.600 Seven Grammys, 35 nominations. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:07.199 When I heard yellow, I was undone. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:08.399 Anybody else? 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:12.240 You just have to stop, nobody talk, everybody shut down. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:14.800 We just have to take in this song. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:21.519 And then a rush of blood to the head came, and we got clocks and scientists and in my place. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:23.600 X and Y came after that. 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:28.399 Didn't love it, didn't love it, but we got fix you off that album, and I love that song. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:30.879 Then Viva La Vida came, right? 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:32.079 Here's my point. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:34.160 Every album progressed. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:38.560 They sounded a little different, but you always know it's cold play. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.920 Like you know, as soon as you that's Chris Martin, and that is cold play. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:42.639 And you have your band. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:50.399 Maybe you've never heard of Coldplay song, you don't even know what I'm talking about, but you have your band, you have your musician, and you know you can work your way through their albums. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:58.720 There has been progression and a refreshing of the sound, and yet you know it when you know it, and when you hear it, it is always the same. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:06:59.759 That's the point. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.879 A good pastor, a good pastor is just refreshing the gospel to you. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:11.600 It's the same powerful musical notes every single week. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:13.360 Just refreshed. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:18.720 See, true spiritual leadership isn't looking to invent new spiritual truths for you. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:19.439 No, no, no. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.120 It's always the same thing. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:23.199 We don't have our acts together. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:28.000 We need God's grace to break through into our hearts and into our lives. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:33.680 And the cross is enough for us, where our sin is put upon the cross and Jesus' righteousness is given to us. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:38.800 That's called imputation, and we are forever beloved in his sight. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:43.040 Man, that's where this text takes us into that truth. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.519 That, and it's what the old Adam hates, by the way. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:49.519 The flesh hates that the gospel is all we need, that we don't grow beyond the gospel. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:56.240 We're always going to look for something else to perform unto some new teaching, some new things, something to, you know, some new book. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:07:58.399 Like we always want to do that. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:07.759 But the gospel, we never grow beyond the gospel, we only grow deeper into it, learning to apply the gospel and to new areas of our hearts and lives. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:09.680 That's where the text takes us. 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:10.480 Verse 8. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:14.240 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:22.959 So this is a verse talking about the stage of saying, like the greatness of Jesus as the Christ from the beginning to the end. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:32.960 Point number three is this a good pastor attempts to draw attention away from himself and propel you toward Jesus. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:40.240 The church I worked at before this was a large church with a global reach around the entire world. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:43.200 And so our senior pastor is globally known. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:47.919 And he was not always accessible to people in our church or to me. 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:50.159 And that that would frustrate me. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:53.120 Because he was imperfect, like me. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:55.200 Like he was imperfect like I like I am. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:57.039 So that would that could get frustrating to me. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:57.360 Right? 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:00.799 Like you know how you have three or four 15 things you wish I did better, right? 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:01.759 And you can think of them. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.360 Like if you've been around here long enough, you know your things about what you wish I did better. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:06.320 I know you know those. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:10.639 I had three or four things on him, and you know, like people around you have three or four things on you, right? 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:12.240 It's just how it is. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:14.799 But I'll say this about Dr. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:16.000 Michael Youssef. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:18.879 When he stands in the pulpit, he talks about Jesus. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:24.320 And when we walked into a meeting and sat around a table every single week, he talked about Jesus. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:38.159 And here's what I learned, and so good for our church, is that focusing on Jesus makes up for a whole bunch of minor theological issues and administrative issues that can paralyze a church. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:41.519 And so we focus on Jesus. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:43.200 The text keeps going. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:56.159 Verse 9 do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:01.440 Now, this isn't about why Jinny's ice cream still has not fulfilled you, even though you keep eating more and more of it. 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:02.559 That's not what this is. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:10.080 This is the context about why the Jewish law, obey enough and then be accepted. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:13.440 That covenant of law, it does not work. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:18.960 We have to live under the new covenant of grace that we are already accepted, like Brian said. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:20.720 We're already accepted. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:25.440 Therefore, our life of honoring God comes out of that acceptance that's already given to us. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:26.960 So we get point number four. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:33.600 A good church strengthens your soul by grace, not by putting you to work. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:38.080 There's all sorts of doctrines and teachings, and there's going to be new books forever. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:44.080 There's going to be religious law and religious moralism, there'll be self-help, there'll be new age, it's all going to crisscross and bleed over. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:47.840 For me, I sort it out pretty easily with just two questions. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:57.440 First question is this Is this putting me to work in the world or in religion as to no worth and acceptance? 00:10:57.679 --> 00:10:58.960 And we could tag on to that. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:04.480 Like, do I have to perform to feel more loved by God or more forgiven or more righteous? 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:05.919 Is it putting me to work? 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:13.200 Or is this placing me at rest in what God has already done for me in Christ Jesus? 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:19.279 So me not needing to add anything unto the grace of God, but live in response to it. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:26.720 I mean, this verse is urging us to live in an established and growing heart in grace. 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:27.759 I love that imagery. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.320 I called a friend of mine this week and said, What are you doing? 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:34.480 He said, I just planted my lettuce plants for the spring. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:37.759 I don't know anything about gardening and lettuce. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:39.039 What's the deal there? 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:40.399 Oh, it's really easy. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:43.919 Just go, you, you know, I have this little area of taking care of the soil. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.639 I go and I plant the lettuce plants, they do their own thing. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:48.399 I don't really have to do that much. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:56.559 So once the lettuce is there, he doesn't go and uproot it once it starts growing to plant it somewhere else. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:11:58.639 That's not how it works, right? 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:03.039 A plant will grow where it's planted with healthy soil. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:06.399 It roots deeper and it bears fruit. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:09.120 That's the story of our lives, of our faith walk. 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:16.000 It's not that we get uprooted out of grace to become something more, it's that we root deeper into the grace of God. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:17.440 Listen to what theologian A. 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:17.600 W. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.399 Pink writes about this verse. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:26.480 The word grace is vastly comprehensive and has various meanings in its scripture usage. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:43.919 Its grand, original, fundamental signification is to express the free, eternal, and sovereign layout of God toward his people, for that is the spring and source of all the gifts, benefits, and blessings we receive from him. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:52.240 So Pete goes on to lay out a couple verses for us to understand what it means to be established in grace. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.440 So let's nerd out just for a minute, 2 Timothy 1.9. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:10.000 This is speaking of God, verse 9, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages begun. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:24.720 So, so, from this infinite fountain of uncaused favor toward us, we are wooed to God and declared his children before the ages begun. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:37.919 Okay, now it has taken me 20 years to understand that God's sovereign grace is not an equation to understand, but a divine mystery to be invited into. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:41.279 I'll save you a lot of mental gymnastics if you just embrace that. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:45.759 This is divine mystery and relationship to be invited into. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:48.799 It will never be an equation that you understand. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:52.559 Ephesians 1, 3 and 4. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:14:09.519 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:22.480 So, this infinite fountain of uncaused favor and welcome and acceptance toward us, we are his not by our work or our performance, but by his grace, and by his grace, not performance. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:27.679 We receive spiritual blessings from him, and by his grace we are called to honorable lives. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:33.200 So grace doesn't excuse us, it transforms us and fuels us. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:36.799 Because good growth is growth in grace. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:41.360 That's where Hebrews 13 takes us if we read 14 through 16. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:45.679 That's where it takes us about our lives as a sacrifice of praise. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:48.080 Here's how A.W.P. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:52.480 he comments on how the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and lives. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:15:10.960 The operations, breathings, and influences of the Holy Spirit in quickening, enlightening, revealing, and applying Christ to us so that we are put into actual enjoyment of him, and his salvation are the outworkings of the everlasting covenant of grace. 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:14.879 Therefore, it is all of grace. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:20.399 Okay, one more thing that Hebrews has to say to us, verse 17. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:27.679 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:33.440 Let them do this with joy, not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:41.200 Point number five is this submission is about whether we are working against someone or with someone. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:44.879 Biblical submission is never subjugation. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:56.799 So if you were in a church and maybe you were, and there was oppression of you or a certain group of people, there was inequality in terms of dignity or worth, that's not biblical submission. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:58.159 That's subjugation. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:00.240 That is not what the Bible teaches. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:05.120 Biblical submission is not a power thing or a lesser-than thing. 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:29.200 Any call to submission in the scriptures, in this arc of the redemptive story of God, of the scriptures, any call of submission, wife to husband, a parishioner to the pastor, any of that pastor to his elders, any of that, any of that is within the context of gospel dignity and worth and Ephesians 5.21, submit to one another. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:32.320 So here's the question for all of us, including me. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:33.919 Question for me as well. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:42.320 Am I, by my support, actions, and words, working against or working with the leaders of my church? 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:49.360 And that would be for the joy, that would be for the joy of the leaders, and for your advantage. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:52.559 Am I working against or am I working with? 00:16:52.960 --> 00:17:01.919 And all of that is in the context of healthy relationships, of serving each other and living in a humility and servanthood to each other. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:08.720 Now, as a leader, I'm incredibly thankful to serve in a church where I serve under elders because I'm not the boss. 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:19.200 I'm under elders, they can fire me if they choose to, and I'm under those elders who are healthy elders, then I can look to and I can happily submit to them. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:24.240 And for us, it always goes back to gospel. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:24.960 Right? 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:30.640 Like it's much easier to exist in peace if we all have a starting point of gospel. 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:33.519 That's why we say every single week what we say every single week. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:37.440 We're more broken than originally thought, but we're more loved by God than we dare to dream. 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:43.599 If that's our starting point, what it means that within any conflict, it means I may not be 100% correct. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:45.599 I could be seeing this wrong. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:47.279 And I may need to listen to you. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:51.759 And I certainly need to come into the conflict with humility and generosity. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:58.240 To end our several months in Hebrews, I want to simply read the benediction over you. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:00.480 It's the benediction at the end of this book. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:02.960 It's a blessing, is what it is. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.440 And so as I read it, I welcome you. 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:14.480 You can either you can read on the screens along with me to prayerfully read with me, or you may just want to close your eyes and open your hands and receive it as a blessing over you. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:38.799 But what I want you to hear is I want you to hear it as the wealth of grace, the lyric of the gospel being sung over you, just showering you with the sufficiency and the welcome that you have in Jesus of being called out of that covenant of law, of performing off, into the new covenant of grace, a grace-fueled life, the sufficiency of Jesus for you. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:42.000 Hebrews 13, 20 and 21. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:58.319 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:05.680 Working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to him be glory. 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:10.079 To whom be glory. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:12.480 Forever and ever. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:13.519 Amen. 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:14.240 Let's pray. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:19.519 Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that you do not call us and then not equip us. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:25.920 That you do not call us in grace and then leave us to work it out on our own. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:37.039 How amazing this passage is is to hear that we should be established and growing in your grace. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:45.519 Would you help continue to call us out of all the performance methods that we live in our lives? 00:19:46.240 --> 00:20:00.880 And to rest back in how sufficient you are for us for our acceptance, our worth, our value, our forgiveness, our righteousness. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:10.319 Help us to rest again and even more deeply in you, Jesus, our Savior. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:11.279 Amen.