Lifeline Peterstown church podcast
Weekly sermon and Bible teaching
Lifeline Peterstown church podcast
7/19/2026 Sunday morning service
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So we decided that we're bringing the kids up this morning and we're going to praise with the kids.
SPEAKER_09So they uh recently finished Bible school and during Bible school. They learned some pretty cool songs. Now they worship with hand motions. And you know, David danced before the Lord. So this morning, we're going to let them lead us in praise and worship. And I invite all of you this morning, here when we get started, to stand and we're we're going to praise and worship with them.
SPEAKER_08And today, I'm going to start us out with prayer this morning.
SPEAKER_09We come before you, God, thankful, Lord, for this day of thank you, God, for the privilege of being able to come into your house and to worship you this morning. Today, God, as we go through praise and worship, I ask that your hand be upon these children and upon each and every person here, Lord. Help us in spirit and truth and the freedom that you give us through Jesus Christ to worship you this morning. We love you, be with the service, anoint the word, God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER_05I'll praise when I'm sure. And praise when I'm doubting. I'll praise when I'm numbered. And praise when surrounded. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to pray. Oh my soul. I breathe when I feel it. I preach when I don't. I praise this and love. You're still in control. My praise is a women. It's full in a sound.
SPEAKER_06My praise is this.
SPEAKER_03I searched the world to my head yet. Just to find out your ways better.
SPEAKER_01Oh, your way better.
SPEAKER_03Your ways better. Oh Lord, your ways better. Jesus, your ways better. Lord, I am so thankful for the ways that you bless me.
SPEAKER_01Everything All the new beauty, so I can finally sing out.
SPEAKER_03Just over Java provider. Your day always gets me higher. Even on my dog's days, you're a lighter. Mama sky I need you now more than lady ever. I say so my head. Just to find out your way's very good.
SPEAKER_02All right, so before this next song we start it, it's um an old it's an old song that most of you probably know. It's Power and the Blood, but it's a little bit of a different rendition of it. And we've got twirly gigs that Miss Heather is going to bring up here because they love these little things. I call them twirly gigs, but they're really not twirly gigs. I don't know what they're called. Praise ribbons, okay. So, and just so y'all know, none of the kids had any idea we were doing this today. So it was impromptu, and I am so thankful for each and every every one of them, and we love you guys. And Miss Madison here actually wants to say a prayer before we start this next song. She volunteered. She changed her mind. Never mind about that.
SPEAKER_06All right, so Hudson is going to pray.
SPEAKER_02So everybody bow your heads and Ms. Heather's hand knees out and we're gonna pray.
SPEAKER_00Thank you to everybody in this room. In Jesus' name, Amen.
SPEAKER_02All right, you all stay standing. You know the song, it just you're not gonna think you do.
SPEAKER_09She teaches them very good how to pray to Jesus. And uh, like Hudson didn't know he was going to, and poor Madison, she probably had already decided she's going to, and then when she saw the people, she said, mmm. And Gracie was hollering, I'll pray. So you guys, they we have a good kids' program downstairs that teaches the word of God and that teaches that conversation with Jesus Christ is important. Um, so here we are at this portion of the service is the offering. And I always say that God loves what cheerful giver. Cheerful giver. If you want to give, that's fine. If you don't, that's fine too. Uh but we want to give you the opportunity to give with your tithes and your offerings in worship to Jesus Christ this morning. Heavenly Father, God, we come before you. We thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you, God, for all that are assembled here. And Lord, I ask your blessings upon each one. And now as we are ready to take the offering, God, I pray that you will bless the gift that you'll bless the giver. Lord, help it to go further. Uh, help their uh cars to last longer, help their washers and dryers to last longer, God.
SPEAKER_01Just increase it.
SPEAKER_09Give it like to her, and she'll pass it all the way down, and you grab it in the middle. This is new to them. Y'all, I didn't even start taking an offering till a couple weeks ago. I've always had it laying in the back of the church. And then they'll just pass it down. There you go. All right, so this morning, I'm glad that we were able to make it out of bed and find a seat in the sanctuary this morning. Consider that a win. We're here, right? And on mornings like this morning, sometimes it's hard when the rain's falling and you're so snuggled and comfortable, it's hard to get up. So consider that a win. Uh, some of you may have fought your kids. Some of you may have fought that snooze button, all right? But praise God, you made it and you're here in the house of the Lord this morning. Paul would call that perseverance. He calls that perseverance. He would be proud because perseverance is basically the whole theme of the book of Romans, which is the book that we're studying as we're going through the summer this year. Um, before we get started, y'all know we live stream our services. If you will, take out your phones. That's odd to hear a preacher say, take out your phones, go to my Facebook page, which is Carla Bragg, and share it and like it. That way your friends see it too. And that's your way today of spreading the gospel to even more people than who I can reach on my own. Uh, also in the pews, the seats in front of you, you'll see connection cards. Uh, here's one. They look like this. Yep. They look like this. If you are a first-time guest, or maybe you've been coming, but you've never ever filled one out before, please fill one of these out. That's my way of knowing who you are, and I can get in touch with you and let you know about special events and stuff that we have coming up. All right. So we're back in Romans this morning. Uh, we're on week seven, if you're counting. Week seven in the book of Romans. So hopefully by now you are beginning to get the feel that this isn't just some ancient document that was written by some guy walking around in a toga. All right? This is one of the most important letters that Paul wrote. One of the most important. And this is the playbook, if you will, or even the owner's manual on how we get through life. Uh, it's one of the greatest pieces of writing, and he wastes no time in telling us exactly what that's about. Romans 1.16 tells us, Brian's going to be our media person today. Brian's not normally our media person. Normally she's spot on and has these up because I sent them to her early. So we'll give him just a second to find them. If you have your Bibles, you can turn in those two. Romans chapter 1, verse 16. It's our theme verse through this whole series. And I'm gonna go ahead, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. So Paul isn't just telling us that we're saved. Now, being saved is the first step. It's an important step. But he's not just telling us that we're saved, he's telling us how we are saved, and more than that, how that salvation can work inside of you on Tuesday mornings, on Thursday afternoons. We've got to learn that Christianity and the free gift of salvation is not a Sunday thing, it is an every day of the week thing, every moment of the day thing. You are constantly to be living in the power that Jesus Christ gives to you through the gift of the Holy Spirit. So this letter is a guide to grace in action. Grace through your whole life, not just at the moment that you become saved. You see, the Holy Spirit breaks chains. He doesn't just forgive you, he breaks the chains of your life, whatever you may be facing. It could be addiction, it could be uh marital problems, it could be anger, it doesn't matter what it is. When Jesus Christ comes to live in your heart and the power of the Holy Spirit, you have instant power, if you'll just plug into it, for everyday living to break the chains of all of that in your life. He's telling us how we're saved, he's telling us how that salvation works in our life. So this is a guide. It's a guide. Now, last week we camped out at the end of Romans chapter 5. That's where we were last week. And Paul he drops one of the most freeing statements in all of Scripture. He says that no matter how Romans 5 twenty is where we're going. Romans 5 twenty and twenty-one. And it says, But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. So that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now that sounds like great news, right? No matter how deep you are in sin, no matter how far you go, grace always increases even more.
SPEAKER_01Grace increases.
SPEAKER_09Here's what our natural reaction is. If grace is bigger than our sin, then the clever little voice in your head starts saying, Well, if my sin makes grace all the greater, why shouldn't I just go ahead and sin to show off God's grace? Why don't I just go ahead and sin? And that way I can show off God's grace. You know, for the glory of God, well, Paul knew we would do that. Paul knew that we were going to go there. We knew. So he thought of that too. So in the back row of the Roman church, they think that too. Alright? Which back row, bless you. Which back row reminds me, if you get cold in the back, I figured out this morning that if you sit in the back a couple of rows, the vent's right there and it grabs you. If you get cold, move to the front. Alright? Because it's hot up here. It's really hot up here. So Romans 6.1, Paul addresses that exact thought. He says, Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? He knew we were going to say that. Shall we? That's the question of the day. The whole engine behind this message is, shall we just go on sinning so that grace shall increase? If God covers all sin with grace, does it matter what I do? Does it matter? If I'm covered, no matter what, why not just live however I want to? Right? So Paul, he's covering this, so just stick with me this morning because I'm about to tell you that he frees us from sin. God frees us from sin through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Living on the boundary line. So let me set this up with something that we're all going to understand. Let's think about contracts. How many in here has ever bought a car? Right? That should be about all of you. How many in here's ever bought a house or signed a letter, an offer letter for a job, right? All right. So it's a contract. When you sign on the line, you want precision. You want precision. You want to know that what you're signing up for is what you're going to get. If it's a car, you want to make sure that the VIN numbers match. Because when you drive that car off the lot, you want to make sure it's the one that has the sunroof and not one, three cars down. You want to make sure that before you sign on the line, those VIN numbers match. What about a house? If it's a house, what's one thing we do? I want it surveyed. Because before you buy the house, you want to make sure that the property lines are all staked out like they're supposed to be, and that you're getting what you bargain for. And that Mr. Henderson, that lives next door, doesn't own half your garden, you find out about three years later, right? So you want to make sure that you are getting what you have signed up for. And if it's a job, you want to know how many hours am I working a week? When are my days off? Do I get holidays and paid vacation? How much am I going to make? You want to know all that before you sign on the line. We need the fry, we read the fine print, we look at the edges, and we want to know precisely. And here's the truth about human nature, church. The second that we find out, something in us wants to know how far can we go and not cross the line? How far can I go and not cross the boundary line? All right? If you find out your property's right here and someone takes an inch of it right here, you're mad. Right? I cannot believe they put that fence an inch over onto my side of the property line. They're testing the edge, the edge, instead of pursuing the relationship. Testing the edge instead of uh improving on the relationship. The point is, the one who drew the line is the one who loves us. So instead of trying to buck the line, instead of trying to push it, should we not be focusing on how much closer we can get? How much closer can we get? So we ask, how much can I drink and still be okay? Or we ask, how many bad words can I get away with and still make it to heaven? How mean can I be to my neighbor and still be right with God? We all try to justify the things that we do and we push the line and we wonder, have I went one sin over? Have I cussed out my neighbor too many times? We all do that. We're not asking here. What we are asking is how much can I get away with? And that doesn't reveal anything but the committed and dedicated to the good Lord Jesus. I don't want to test the boundary lines. I don't want to. That's not a marriage, that's a business transaction. That's like signing that contract. God, I'll do this for you if you'll do this for me. That's not how it works. That's not how it works. God never signed up to be your landlord. He never signed up to be your landlord. He wants to be your father. He wants to be your father. So here's a better question. The one the Holy Spirit wants to plant in each and every person in this room this morning. The better question is not how far can I go, but how close can I get? How close can I get? Paul has spent five whole chapters before this one in roaming, in Romans, telling us that we can't save ourselves. There's nothing that you can do. You can't work. We had our operation lifeline yesterday, and some of those people just worked themselves to where they're so tired today, they don't know what to do. But the thing is, I don't care how much they work in that operation line, that's not what's going to get them to heaven. That's not what's going to do it. It's their relationship with Jesus Christ. And I've explained this before, and Paul had it earlier in Romans. We do not work to gain our Christianity, to gain favor with God. Once we are saved, we work because we can't help it. That is us wanting to give what little bit we can back to God and his kingdom. It doesn't save you. Works do not save you, they are the fruit of your salvation. They are not what gives you your salvation. So, five whole chapters. Grace covers it all. That's what Paul's been talking about. And the immediate cynical human reaction, the reaction that Paul expected, was to look at grace and go, great, I found a loophole. If there's always grace, then I don't ever have to worry about what I do. That's what chapter 6 covers. Watch how fast and forcefully Paul shuts this door in Romans 6, verse 2. Romans 6, verse 2. And when I read this, I want you to hear the tone that he wrote it in. Okay? Hear the tone. It's hard. I always tell people when you're in a texting conversation, don't get mad at people because you don't know the tone that they mean it in. Listen to this tone. He says, Of course not. By no means. And you notice the exclamation point there. Of course not. We are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? This is Paul screaming, what do you mean? Can I still sin? What do you mean grace is going to cover it anyway? He is appalled and he's horrified at the thought that once you have been forgiven and once you live a life with Jesus Christ and Christianity, once you have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you, why would you want to go back? Why would you want to sin? And he tells us that. Basically saying, Perish the thought. Why would you do that? He isn't mildly disagreeing. He is just beside himself that someone would even think such a thing. He's picturing someone taking the grace of God and using it as a permission slip to sin. How horrible is that? You cannot take the grace of God and say, I have this free permission slip to do whatever I want to do. So here we go. It's like asking a rescued hostage, hey, now that you're free, how would you like to go back, you know, and visit your captor for old time's sake? No. You don't want to go back to a situation that you've managed to get free of. Why would you? Paul goes further in verses 3 and 4. He says, Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death. For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live a new life. That's what we do when we baptize, guys. This is death and resurrection language right here. It's not just about what Jesus did 2,000 years ago on a hill outside of Jerusalem. It's about what happened in you the moment you gave your life to Him. Your old life didn't just get patched up, it didn't just get a tune up. It completely died. It's gone. It's buried. And we need to leave it in the grave where it is, and we need to enjoy the newness and the freedom that Jesus Christ gives us when we accept him as Lord and Savior of our lives. When we baptize people, they go under the water. Alright? They go under the water. Their old self is being baptized. I'll never forget Travis's baptism. Never. I have a picture of that, and I'm going to get it blown up and put it on the wall. I'll never forget. Travis went under that water. And when Travis came back up out of that water, he raised his hand so fast to God I thought he was going to knock me down. He was so excited to come up out of that water because he was coming up a new person. Everything in his life had died and was buried when he went under that water. And when he came back up in newness of life through Jesus Christ, he is a totally new creature. All things have passed away. That's how it is when you accept Jesus Christ into your life. That's what it's supposed to feel like. The old is gone and the new has begun. He even says in 2 Corinthians 5, 17. 2 Corinthians 5 and 17. This means. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone. No. We don't tell them they're out of their mind. Take it Corinthians 5.17. Close. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creature creation has come. The old has gone. It doesn't say the old has been revised. It doesn't say the old has been patched up. It doesn't say we're going to keep using the old until it runs out. It says the old has gone and the new is here. New. It's here. When you come up out of the water, you come up as somebody new and you leave the old behind. That's not a suggestion or a good sentiment to put on a coffee mug that says the old is gone, the new is here. This is a legal, spiritual, unshakable reality, the moment that you gave your life to Christ. The moment that you gave your life to Jesus. So and we're going to run five through 11 this time. Paul keeps on going in Romans 5, uh sorry, Romans 6, verses 5 through 11. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, for we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over him. Death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. The same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_07Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? Consider yourself just like Jesus. The old man's gone. News here. Live in your newness.
SPEAKER_09Live in your newness. You're no longer a slave to sin. Not because you're strong, but because he is. Because God, the Father, is. You don't finally have it all together, but Christ suddenly broke sin's power over you. Now I can already hear some of you saying, but Pastor Carla, if that's true, then why do I still struggle? Why do I still fight the same battles that I fought before I became saved? Why does that old craving still show up when I least expect it? So I'm going to turn to the medical world to explain this just a little bit. Okay? How many of you have ever heard of phantom limb pain? Have you heard of it? Phantom limb pain. It's a real thing. It's a real thing. So when a person has an arm or a leg amputated or a toe or a finger amputated, the limb is completely gone. It's gone. To be no more. You don't grow one back. All right? It's completely gone. Surgically, physically gone. But months and sometimes even years after the fact, that person can feel excruciating pain in that arm, that leg, that finger, that toe. Their brain is still firing. Alright? Their brain is still firing these neuron, these pathways that once led to somewhere, but it doesn't lead to anywhere anymore. Your brain just hasn't caught up with the fact that it's gone. The old self is legally, spiritually completely severed when you become a Christian. Your old life's gone. It's severed. Never to be anymore. But the thing is, there's still those habits, those emotional triggers, those well-worn grooves in your brain that those pathways used to travel down that once in a while will rear its ugly head. And it will cause you trouble again. It will cause you to crave. It will cause you to want to fall back in that habit. That flare of temptation that you feel isn't proof that the old person didn't die. It's phantom pain from a limb that's already been removed. You're having phantom spiritual pain. Phantom spiritual pain. For my own mess. I made a mess, I didn't care. Had no regard for my own depravity. Didn't confess it. Didn't seek forgiveness for it. It just wasn't important because I had never known Jesus in my life. I just lived it because I was serving. Different master at that time. A different master. I didn't even realize it. Didn't realize it. But once Jesus got a hold of me, I still have bad days. I have bad days. I'm a human just like everybody else. You have bad days, I'm sure. Just like everybody else. But here's the difference now. When that phantom spiritual pain flares up, I don't just shrug it off now and say, well, grace covers it, so no big deal. I don't do that. I will come back to the Lord. I will repent of what I did. I confess it. I ask for help. I ask that God help me get back on track. And I take responsibility instead of making excuses for what I did. That's the difference in my old self that died and my new self in Christ Jesus. Now I do care. Now I will lose sleep if I don't make it right with God. Now I want to pray and make it right because the Holy Spirit convicts me and I can't stand myself until I confess it and make it right again. That's what you do with your phantom pain. It doesn't mean that I slipped back into the old person. It means I had a bad day. And now I want to make it right again. I want to make it right again. My old life's gone, but I'm still very much a work in progress. And I will be until the day I die or until Jesus comes back, whichever happens first. I will be. We all are. That's the beautiful tension of the Christian life. Yes, you're saved instantly. Yes, you're secure in the hands of the Savior. And yes, your place in heaven is settled the moment that you trust Jesus. And yes, you will stumble and have bad days, feel that phantom pain, but you're a new creation now. And you'll face it in a different way. You're not going to try to become a slightly nicer version of yourself like you used to. Oh, maybe I can make it right if I just smile at them. That don't work. That don't work. Maybe I can make it right if I confess it to Jesus Christ and then tell them I'm sorry. That works. That works. Paul lands this plane here that we're talking about today in Romans 6, 12 through 14. Romans 6, 12 through 14. And I see Brian and I are in a different place this morning as far as which version we're using. So I'm going to read his from the backboard. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness. But rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. And offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, you're under grace. Isn't that wonderful? You're no longer under the law. You are now under grace. Jesus didn't just die to forgive your sin, He died to break the power of sin over your life. So that you don't have to live there anymore. Some of you walked in this morning, you're worn thin. You're exhausted. You're exhausted because you've been living right on that boundary line. You've been on, you've been doing your selfies while leaning back. Right on the edge, getting ready to fall back in. Seeing how close to the edge that you can get. And what you're feeling is phantom pain from an old life that Jesus already put in the grave. And if that's you this morning, maybe you've never actually made Jesus the Lord and Savior over everything in your life. There's people that do that. They want to live close to Jesus. They want to have heaven as their eternal home, but they only give up parts of their lives that they don't like. They like to hang on to parts of their lives that feel good. And guys, sin doesn't feel bad. I'm just going to tell you that now. If sin felt bad, none of us would ever do it. We do it because sin is enticing and it makes us feel good momentarily. Or we wouldn't do it. But it's afterwards. Do you worry about what you've done? Does Jesus, does the Holy Spirit convict you about what you've done? Or do you say, oh, that's okay, I'm still good? How do you feel about it? Because you need to get to the point where instead of trying to see how close you can get to the boundary, instead you see how close you can get to God. You need to see how close you can get to God. So what I'm going to do is right now, everyone where you are, bow your heads. No looking around. I want you to be reverent of the Holy Spirit right now. Be reverent. And right here in your seat, I want you to give your hearts to Jesus if you have never done that before. It's really simple, and I'm going to lead us in a prayer. I want you to repeat this prayer back to me. Lord Jesus. I believe you are the Son of God. I believe you died on the cross for my sin. And I believe you rose again to break sin's power over my life. I believe you rose to break sin's power over my life. I confess that I have sinned and tried to live on my terms. I confess that I've sinned and tried to live on my terms. Today I turn away from that old life. Today I turn away from that old life. And Jesus, I turn toward you. Jesus, I turn toward you. Forgive me, forgive me. Wash me clean. Wash me clean. Come into my heart and be Lord of my life. Come into my heart and be Lord of my life. Not just my Savior, but my Lord. Not just my Savior, but my Lord. I give you the throne. I give you the throne. Make me a new creation. Make me a new creation. In Jesus' name. Amen. Now I want you to keep your heads bowed and I want you to keep your eyes closed. If you prayed that prayer this morning for the first time and accepted Jesus Christ into your heart, just raise your hand and put it right back down. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We had about seven in here that raised their hands. Guys, right now, heaven's angels are rejoicing. The Bible tells us that. The Bible says that every time one person comes, they have a party in heaven. So I want this church right now to clap your hands for the seven. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Wonderful. So now that we've just given our lives to Jesus, some for the very first time, maybe some said it to recommit your lives to Jesus. Let's not pretend that the fight is over. You can look at me now. Being a new creation doesn't mean that the enemy packs his bags and leaves. It doesn't happen that way. If anything, being a new creation means now the devil's put a target on your back, and he's going to start shooting everything he can at you. He's going to start firing everything he can at you. I had a family come and they sat down and they were so excited to be in the church and they had their kids with them and they enjoyed kids' church downstairs and they all said, you know what? This is where we need to be. We need to get back in church and this is what we need to do. I have seen them one time since. I have talked to them though, and boy the battles they are facing right now in their lives. And you say, why? Because the devil didn't like it. The devil didn't like it. But I want to tell each and every person that prayed that prayer, the devil's going to fight you so hard this week, you're going to wonder why you even did it. We rejoice in our suffering. As Christians, we rejoice. We rejoice. We're not going to pretend that the fight's over. 1 Peter 5.8. Brian's going to bring that up. 1 Peter 5.8. This is for all of you, but especially those ones that accepted Jesus this morning. 1 Peter 5.8 says. Oh, it went away. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring line, looking for someone to what? Devour. He's looking for someone to devour. He's going to leave the person alone that's not fighting for Jesus. But boy, when you start fighting for Jesus, he's coming after you because he doesn't want your mind to be on Jesus. He wants your mind to be on yourself and your problems and your trials that you're facing. It's not a metaphor that's in there just for fun. That's a warning to keep alert at all times. The lion doesn't announce himself with a growl from a mile away. It doesn't work like that. He waits for you to wander from the herd. He waits for you to wander from the herd. Now I'm not saying we're, well, we are a herd, but we're a herd of nice human people, okay? We're a herd of nice human people. Stay close to your church family. Because that's where you gain your strength. It's harder for the devil to fight you when you're in your herd. It's harder for that old wolf to get you off and tear you up by yourself when you're among your herd. So there's a warning. Stay with your herd. Don't wander off from it. Here's the good news, and I want you to hear this this morning. We don't fight under our own willpower. We don't fight under our own grit or under our own New Year's resolution. I've heard that before. I'm going to be a better Christian this year. It doesn't work that way by January 10th. You've done messed up. The Holy Spirit lives inside each and every believer, giving us the strength to overcome. Strength over temptation, over addiction, over old ways of thinking, and old ways of living. That's why willpower alone never works. It never works. Willpower alone can't do it. You need a power greater than your own, and thank God he gave us exactly that. So whenever anger, anxiety, addiction, any of those things, any sin that you might deal with, anytime any of it rears its ugly head, I want you to know that you don't have to listen to it. Because Jesus Christ is right there with you all the time. All the time. And God promises that he will always show you a way out of temptation. You just got to take it. But he always shows you a way out of temptation. Instead of asking, how much can I get away with this week? I want you to start asking, how much closer can I get? Say that with me. How much closer can I get? That's your homework for this week. How much closer, God, can I get to you? How much closer? Stop worrying about the boundary line. So as we get ready to close this morning, I'm not going to have an altar call this morning just by a raise of hands, and I'm not even going to ask you to close your eyes. How many have been fighting some old phantom spiritual pain in their life? Yeah? Me too. It's just something we deal with. This week I'm going to be praying for you. I ask that you pray for me. And heard, let's get through this together. Let's get through it together because Jesus loves you. Brian, will you dismiss us this morning?