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Hey, it's great to see you guys tonight, and I uh I hope your week has been uh a good one despite some of the again emotional ups and downs, roller coasters. Um But I am super glad to be here with you guys. Always enjoy getting into God's word with you. Uh we are working through the book of Acts for those of you that are new. Um and so some of you have been reading along with with us through the book of Acts, enjoy uh so much the narrative that's there because I think about the early church and I think about um all the challenges that they faced. And as a church plant, um I feel like that ours our challenges pale in comparison to the early church. I mean, they had a government that was after them, that was doing their best to squash the movement. They had the Jewish people trying to squash the movement that didn't want this church to emerge, didn't want this church to exist. Uh they didn't, they didn't want these uh leaders of the church, particularly the apostles, um, to survive and to be able to actually proclaim this message they were proclaiming about Jesus and how He was, uh that He had come and that He had lived and that He died and that He rose again and that it changed everything. And so they were doing everything they could, you know, to shut this thing down, and yet it's a great reminder to us that when God wants to do something, there is nothing that can stop our God. Right? Are you with me? Like, listen, there is nothing that can stop God when He has a purpose and a plan and He wants to implement that and to see it through, like our God can do that. And He brought this little group of people who shouldn't have survived the first century, not only through the first century, but it is a thriving, growing, expanding movement even in the world today. And even as I speak, there are parts of the world that are seeing phenomenal growth in the number of those that are being saved, as in putting their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. That's going on right now. Even though we live in a country where we see it going backwards because people have become arrogant to God, they've become uh they've gone to what the scripture says where they've they said they put teachers around them to tell them what their itching ears want to hear, but they don't want to hear the truth that Christ alone is sufficient for salvation. But in the world around us, like I'm very optimistic right now because I see God doing amazing, amazing things. And I see people, even in our own culture, that are being impacted by the gospel and their lives being changed by that. I see the group of people that sit in this room with us tonight, and I see that what God is doing in and through you. And sometimes we as people can be very hard, we can be very harsh, we can be very pessimistic, we can get really lost in all the negativity of the world around us and forget that uh there is life in Christ and that we can have find joy and hope and peace and all those things in Him. So I say all that, let's go to Acts chapter 26. And before we read the text tonight, as we try to do every week, I want to make sure to bring you up to speed because for those of you that have not been with us, maybe you're a little bit lost in the context at this point, or maybe um just would be helpful for you to kind of get to figure out where we're picking up the story. Um if you need a Bible, there's some Bibles in front of you in those chairs, those little brown Bibles with a cross on it. And as I say uh most weeks, if you don't own a Bible, feel free to take one of those Bibles and make it your own. Uh we want to make sure you have a Bible because we think God's Word is living and active. It will change your life. And if you uh want to read with us, uh feel free to take that reading plan that's in the guide you got when you came in. And I encourage you to read this week just little small chunks and take some time to answer the four questions that are there, or uh figure out another way you want to go through it. But there's some uh some easy ways to break that down, give you a chance to go back over some of the text we talked about tonight, but also some additional text that we can't cover in our time together. So I had a great experience this weekend uh because Harley broke me into the world of Moto GP. There was this big uh race going on. Now, I had no clue about Moto GP really, other than what I I I've heard Harley mention a few names because through the years, I've known him now for how many years, Harley? Since 2003 or so. Um was it that long? 2005, yeah, 2005. So we've known each other for a while, and he's always been a huge fan of uh Moto GP. And so yeah, in fact, he used to come to our house when we lived in Houston uh because we had cable and he would uh come to watch uh the the uh races because it's hard to find them. He had to go like on the speed channel or something. I didn't even know there was a speed channel. Um but there's a speed channel, and so he would watch his races. Well, this week in Austin, uh they had the big race, and today was like the I guess the main stage race, and so we got to go out there, and so if I'm glowing a little bit, like red, it's because he drugged me out there, and uh and that's why, and so it's his fault. But then we got to go camping with our family, uh, which was a lot of fun. Who's and who in here likes to camp? Okay, good, good. So next time we got to get some more people in on this action. This is a great spot, Crowzy Springs. Went out and camped and uh enjoyed that with the Wills family, and Tuckers came out, uh, Yelanjawan. But uh, you know, just being outdoors, um, I love being in the outdoors, but you you get affected by the outdoors, right? And so um I'm I'm kind of hurting tonight, my arms, my my neck, my ears. I put sunscreen on it, but it seemed like it didn't help it didn't help or anything. But when you're in the outdoors, there's elements that are affecting your you, they're they're uh they're acting on you. So the sun is beaming down, and if you don't take care, you know you're gonna get impacted by that. You're gonna deal with the fallout of not putting sunscreen on or not putting enough sunscreen on, or not frequently enough putting sunscreen on, whatever the case may be. Um But here's the thing is that when we come into the church setting, uh, and and remember, the church is not a building, it's not a worship gathering. I mean, you guys know that, it's the people of God. But when we gather to worship, um, our prayer is that the Spirit of God is acting in the room and He's He's interacting with each one of us personally. Now that might weird you out, and you might be like, well, I don't know what you're talking about. What do you mean the Spirit of God is interacting with us? We believe that God, like we talked about last week in the story of Paul, that he is speaking to each one of us. He is saying things to us, and if we will listen, um, he will say some things to us that will radically change the way we live. Okay? And here's the thing what you need when you come to church is not just to hear some songs and hear somebody get up and preach a message, like you need to encounter God. You need to encounter God, you need to hear from him. Because there's things that he will say to you that I won't say to you. There's things that that he will speak to you that you're not gonna get from a song. Now, hopefully the songs move us and stir our emotions, and hopefully the word of God, which is living and active, shapes us and the teaching helps enlighten it to us as the Spirit leads us, but ultimately each one of us needs to hear from God. And and I need to hear from God because my only hope is to hear from God and then to obey Him, do what He says, and just see what He will do with that. Okay? So, as we're getting into the Word tonight, um, Paul has this encounter with the living God, like we talked about last week, and this is now the third time in the book of Acts we're gonna hear this story. Uh, first in chapter 9 of Acts, we see the story unfold as Luke describes it and records uh it was Saul before he became Paul, just so we're clear. And so Saul's story of how he encountered God on the road to Damascus. He had been one who was persecuting Christians, and now uh he is a Christian. God turns him completely 180, and he becomes one of the greatest proponents for Christianity, greatest missionaries for the faith. And then what we see is that he gets persecuted, he's under under trial, under duress for what he believes, and he shares his testimony, he shares his grace story, his transformation story, whatever you want to call it. And last week what we said is that when Saul, who's now Paul, shares his transformation story in front of these leaders, that his story has a pattern that is similar to our own story. Okay? In that we see him disconnected from God, misunderstanding who Christ is. He's really trying to get his meaning out of out of his life by doing good things, uh, which he thinks is to get rid of Christians, to eradicate them. Because he says he thinks that these Christ followers are messing with what God has given the Jews in the way of like how to worship and how to follow God. And so he's doing what he thinks is right, but he's trying to get his meaning and his purpose from following the law and from uh persecuting these Christians. Okay? But God meets him and he has this amazing encounter with God and with Jesus personally. It even says in the text, if you if you read a Bible that has black and red lettering, red representing the words of Christ, it literally says Jesus speaks to him, calls him out by name, personally, and says, quit persecuting me. Not just quit persecuting my friends or my followers, but quit persecuting me. And he has identifies himself with the apostles, and then he goes on to say, Saul, like I've got a life for you to be lived as a witness for me for the rest of your days. And thankfully, because Saul is smart and because this encounter is so amazing, he chooses to follow God, chooses to follow Christ for the rest of his life, and to share the gospel with others. But in Acts 26, we see this story again as he's now describing it in front of Festus and King Agrippa. And um, the reason that this is significant is that every time Paul is under trial, after he's since he's been in Jerusalem, um, he could get free if he had just taken uh the stance of, I'm just gonna let the leaders do what they want with me. And the leaders wanted to let him go because they're like, what do we charge this guy for? I mean, all he's doing is just proclaiming this message, and it's not really hurting anybody. Like, let him do it. Okay? But he keeps appealing to Caesar, uh, which means this, that like every time he gets to the end, he says, I'm a Roman citizen and I want I want to see Caesar. I appeal to Caesar. And because he appeals to Caesar, he just keeps getting passed up to the higher court, higher court, higher court, kind of like in our day in the United States, like he's appealing through all the court system to ultimately get to the Supreme Court, right? So he's trying to do that. But what's cool about this is that he's using it as an opportunity to keep sharing the gospel with all these Roman leaders. So he's willing to be persecuted and suffer in order to share the gospel. That's why this guy's amazing. This dude is bold. Because he's not like, get me out of here. I want an easy life. He's like, do whatever you have to, but I'm gonna keep just sharing the gospel all the way up. And hopes to get to share the gospel with Caesar himself. And so in Acts 26, we're only gonna read the last little portion here as he's sharing his testimony with Agrippa and with Festus, and he's gonna give us, again, the commission that Christ gave him. But in order to give kind of a full context, I'm gonna read verse 12 through verse 18. So follow with me. Verse 12 through verse 18. Here's what it says. I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests. A commission to do what? To go kill Christians. Okay? Throw them in jail, persecute them. King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun. We talked about that last week. Jesus is brighter than the sun. It's noon, and yet his light shone brighter, shining around me, and those traveling with me. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew language. Saul, Saul, he called him by name. Why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. Then I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and what I will reveal to you. This is a little different than last week. Not just what you've seen and heard, but what you have seen and what I will continue to reveal to you in the days ahead. I will rescue you from the people and from the Gentiles, and I will send you to them, to open their eyes, and I want you to catch this last verse here in the section, because we're this is where we're going to camp out. To open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that by faith in me they may receive forgiveness of sins and share among those who are sanctified. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever bought something that you thought it was something else, but when you got it, you realized it wasn't exactly what you thought it was? As in it was you thought it was going to do something for you, it was going to deliver something to you, but then when you got it, you're like, I got gypped. You ever been there? My kids do this all the time. We try to talk them out of it, but they're like, you know, we want to give them some freedom. They got to learn lessons the hard way. And they'll have their money, their their uh their little money that they get, and they'll take it to the store, maybe they get it from a birthday card, maybe they got it from uh from us, but we're kind of cheap parents, we don't give them a lot, and maybe they got it from the tooth fairy, so they got their like 25 cents. And um, but they take their money and they go to the store, and we try to say, like, be wise with your money. And and we're starting to see some of them. Uh, Kira by far is our wisest child when it comes to spending money. She just doesn't spend it. That's probably the best thing, right? Um, but what's what's crazy is they go to the store and and and then they buy something, some toy, and we're like, you know, just be qu be careful what you buy. And and then they get home, and what happens? Like three minutes later, it's broken. I mean, it's like they barely got out of the package, they're super excited about it, they start playing with it and it breaks, and they're like, oh man. Except it's a lot worse, it's whiny. Okay? That was the edited version. All right. So the thing is, is that you know, it's not just kids' toys that do this stuff, right? There's so many things in life that you get and you think it's gonna deliver, and then it just doesn't. Or for that matter, even things that you get that, you know, it's it's a pleasure, but uh it the pleasure just doesn't last. It just doesn't last. Here's what I want us to think about tonight. In Paul's commission that Jesus specifically speaks to him in Acts 26, he tells him that he is to be a servant, to be a witness, but he gives them the specific message that he is to proclaim. And it's the gospel. But sometimes when we hear the word gospel, if you're like me, you've heard that word so many times, you kind of just glaze right over that. So I want to do something tonight. My hope and my desire is, like I said well ago, what you need to hear is not just me talk, but you need to hear the Spirit of God speak to you. Whether you're a believer, whether you're an unbeliever, whether you're on a journey of faith, or whether you're just kind of like checking things out, whatever it is. What listen to me? Like, what you need to know is that there is a good news message called the gospel, and it will it will change your life radically if you will embrace the truths of it. But sometimes we need to hear it in fresh ways, or we need to think about it differently, um, we need to preach it to ourselves differently. That might sound weird again to you, but literally it means just to remember and to reflect on the truth of what Christ has done, okay? And so he says this in this last verse of this section, um, after Christ has said, I want you to go and I want you to share the gospel. He says I want you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light. The first thing he says is from darkness to light. Now, this is a metaphor that we see in Scripture all through, even in the Old Testament, we talk where where we see God described as light. Um, in the Psalms, the psalmist, you know, right in the middle of the Bible, you've got all these songs that were written by these musicians and worship leaders, and you'll see this word light show up in talking about God and talking about who he is and about his character and talking about the things that he does, that he brings light. Okay? But then you also see the metaphor throughout scripture of not only light, but you see the metaphor for darkness. And every time we see darkness show up, it's it's usually negative, right? It's bad, it's it's Satan, it's it's lies, it's deception, it's death, it's sin, it's all these things that we don't want in our life. They're synonymous with darkness. And so when Paul is told here by Jesus, here's your commission, to go and share this message, to open their eyes, he's giving them, he's given Paul an understanding of what the offer of the gospel is. That it's not just some offer that's not gonna deliver, that's not gonna have any real change, that's not gonna really have any impact or effect, but that's gonna radically change the way that you live if you embrace this message. And the first thing he says is that you're gonna feel like you went from darkness to light. Now, when things happen like they did this week in Boston and in West, I mean, there's a lot of people who are just confused, right? I mean, even Christians sometimes, we can be really confused, and there's a certain level of we're not God, and so we're not gonna figure this whole thing out. But when we live in a world filled with darkness and dark things like death and suffering, unexpected uh, you know, death and things of this nature, like we can be left just kind of groping around in darkness, just trying to figure out and try to make sense of it. And you hear things, I mean, I heard things on the news this week, people trying to explain what was going on with this stuff. And honestly, it was just very unhelpful. I mean, a lot of the explanations and a lot of the ways they were going out, I mean, to be honest, it was just a lot of pop psychology, it was wordplay, it was it was stuff people were trying to just say, here's how you deal with it, here's what's going on. But you know, the fact is we don't know what's going on. We don't know all the answers, we don't know how to fix the problem in one sense. But the gospel gives us good news. It gives us a good message that says that even in suffering and brokenness, we have a God who enters into that with us and who can give us hope and who can give us comfort, like I said about uh from 2 Corinthians a while ago. Okay? And so we go from darkness to light. But but another way you have to think about this is it's actually helpful to look at Paul's writings later on in the New Testament because he took this commission serious. He said, if that's what you want me to say, God, then that's what I'll say. So most of what Paul writes, the rest of the New Testament, it comes from this commission that he receives right here in Acts. In Ephesians, we find this passage in chapter 5 that I think I think is important to understand the difference between living in light and living in darkness. We know that Jesus is light, God is light, and in him there is no darkness. But what does it look like practically for us to go from darkness to light? Well, for sure, it means that we go from foolishness to wisdom, and from no clarity of truth to uh a rock solid foundation in truth, and to from no goodness in us to having the God of the universe who is all good inside of us, to go from a place of like not having any hope or any sense of trying to make uh make make get heads or tail out of this life to having a wisdom and an insight and a perspective that comes from being in the light. But notice this in verse six of chapter five. Actually, I'm gonna move down just to for the sake of our time, uh, verse eight in chapter five, and it says this for you were once in darkness. He's saying, those who don't know Christ, those who haven't put their trust in the gospel, for you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light, for the fruit of the light results in all goodness and righteousness and truth, discerning what is pleasing to the Lord. So you see those things? Goodness and righteousness and truth, discerning what is pleasing to the Lord, wisdom. So he's saying that we can go from being the antonym of those to having those because of Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel does. It brings light into our life, it brings truth and righteousness, it brings us the ability to discern what is good. And of course, he goes on to say don't participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead that we should expose those things. So when Paul was given his commission, the first thing that we can offer people is we can offer them to go from darkness to light. And when I think about that for my neighbors practically, or I think about that for the people who live in our city who don't know Jesus Christ, we can say to them that there is an ability to live life no longer just simply groping in the darkness trying to figure out how to make this thing make sense. But we can live with the light of Christ in our lives who gives us hope and peace and joy and all those things, right? And so we have light. We have light, the ability to see from a bigger perspective and not just get lost in the here and now. But the second thing he says is not only that you can go from darkness to light, but from the power of Satan to the power of God. Now think about that for a second. That sounds kind of crazy. The power of Satan? What is he talking about? Talking about here? Well, he's saying that any of us who are without Christ, who don't believe in God, are living under the influence, under the authority of Satan. Now, that might make you feel a little uncomfortable. I mean, let's be honest, it made me uncomfortable just reading it when I think about people being under the influence of Satan, under the influence, under the authority of Satan. But the Bible's pretty cut and dry here where it says you only have two choices. You either serve the ruler of this world and self, or you serve God. And so he's saying there that when we receive the gospel, we are no longer under the power of Satan, but we are under the power of God. Not just under the power of God, but we are empowered by God to overcome Satan. Are you catching that? It's not just that we're under God's power, because technically we all are under God's power. He's always in control, but we actually are empowered by God to overcome the power of darkness, to overcome the power of Satan. In fact, if you look at Ephesians chapter 2, which is this awesome, awesome passage that speaks about this, it says, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. That's what it says in the first verse of Ephesians chapter 2. But he goes on to say, in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient. So what he's saying is that those who don't know Christ, who haven't surrendered their life to Christ, you may think that you're controlling your life, but actually all you're doing is you're living under the authority and influence of your flesh that is under the authority and influence of Satan. I mean, I don't know how else to say it. He's saying you're under that power. You're under that dominion. And that even in your greatest attempts to free yourself from it, you can't because you're under that authority. Is that a little bit weird? It's a little bit weird to me to think about the authority that's exercising control over those who are not in Christ. And it's not just an issue of authority, but it's when we choose to live under that authority, then the destination, the eternal destination, the punishment, the wrath that God has for the enemy will be poured out on those who follow him. And that's a scary thought. But our offer of the gospel, the offer that Paul was given, was one to say, you don't have to live in darkness, you can live in light, and you don't have to live under the power of the enemy, you can live under the empowered by God in you. It's a phenomenal thought. Let me ask you a question. Have you guys ever done anything and ask yourself the question, why did I do that? How about this? Have you ever done anything dumb or wrong and then been like, why did I do that? Have you ever asked yourself the question, like, why did I why did that come? Where did that come from? Why did that come out of me? You see, the natural tendency, the natural response is the flesh, isn't it? Because when we haven't given our control, we haven't given our lives over to God, our only option, even when we can do good things, and good things is relative, but when we can do some good things, some acts of kindness, etc., still ultimately we are under the authority of the evil one. And as I said in Ephesians 2, it shows us that that authority is there, but also in Romans chapter 6, where he says this. He says, um, don't you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey, either one of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness. So he's saying you only have two choices. You're either going to be a slave to sin, or you're gonna be a slave to Christ. One leads to death and one leads to life. I don't know about you, but I want to choose life. And sometimes I think in my life, I forget that reality. That people who don't know Christ, people who have not put their trust in Christ, they are heading down a path to destruction because they are under the influence of the evil one. The third thing he says in this passage that the gospel is an offer for is he says this that we through faith can have the forgiveness of sin. We can have the forgiveness of sin. Now, I've heard this so many times in my life that I think I've just kind of gotten numb to it sometimes, that I'm forgiven for my sin. But it helps me sometimes to stop and think about this. Um, how many times have I been offended or hurt or wounded by someone else? Maybe intentionally, but maybe just unintentionally. Let me turn that question to you. How many times has someone in your life hurt you, wounded you? Maybe through their words, maybe with an action, but in some way they hurt you. They hurt your feelings, uh, they they angered you. Maybe it was something as simple as the person cut you off in traffic, right? They sinned against you severely. Here's the thing every day people wound us, they hurt us, they offend us. Let me ask you a question. How hard is it for us to forgive? I mean, if I'm honest, it's hard. It's hard to forgive. Um when I just think about it, and sometimes it depends on what it is, you know. I mean, sometimes I act like I've forgiven, but really it's just put away in the file to use later. You know what I'm talking about? That file you have that you can pull out, you know, when you need it later on. Especially when we're married people. We have that file. And so that file's kind of right there. You remember when Yeah, but you remember when? Play that game? Hopefully you don't do that, but sadly I can confess I have before. Here's the thing: every time you and I offend, wound, sin against someone else, we aren't just simply sinning against them, we're sinning against God. Every offense that you and I commit is not just an offense against a person, it's an offense against God. Because every sin is ultimately a rebellious act to the one who made us, who defines what good is, who defines what right and wrong is. Are you hearing me? And every time we we sin, we offend the heart of God. And think about this. I mean, if I'm God, we're doomed. No forgiveness for you. No forgiveness for me. But we have a God who is merciful and gracious and who says, I forgive. Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All have sinned. And yet we know that Scripture does teach us that Christ forgives. In fact, 1 John 1.9 says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Even when people don't act like it, even when they can put on a good front, even when they can really kind of mask it, every person on this planet, I believe, is carrying around shame and guilt from the wrongs that they have done. And here's the thing: is that when we come to Christ, he forgives every offense we've ever committed and he wipes that clean. And he gives us the ability to walk in forgiveness. Past, present, and future. Because it says in Romans 5.8 that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And while some might die for the good people, Christ died for the ungodly. He died for us. The jacked-up people. Which I think everybody is. And here's the thing: we know that we are forgiven because of the gospel tonight. And we can have life in Christ. In Colossians 1.14, the verse that we pull our name from as a church, Colossians 1.14, it says, We have redemption in him through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins in him. Tonight, we are a people who are forgiven. We are a people who have been redeemed. And if you don't know that, if you don't recognize that, if you don't realize that, um, or if you have never put your trust in Christ to save you, and save you from his wrath, to save you from a life of purposelessness, save you from a uh save you from a hopelessness, like, listen, God offers you forgiveness, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been. And listen, this is really significant for Paul. Because Paul had been killing people in the name of God. And then he confronts and interacts with the real, or he's confronted by the real Jesus. And you think in that moment he didn't feel shame and guilt, fear, like, what in the world have I done? I've spent my life going the wrong direction, doing the wrong thing. And I'm sure the rest of his life, and we see, you know, Paul had a really good view of himself, that he knew how deeply sinful he was, and yet how forgiven he was. And you and I can have that same hope in that same life. Man, in our home, um, forgiveness is a big deal. And I just, you know, try to teach our kids almost every day we have that conversation about forgiveness and what does that look like, and how do you ask for forgiveness, and what does it look like to forgive people when they hurt you and they wrong you. Listen, the only way that we can truly begin to grasp forgiveness for others is to grasp the forgiveness that God has for us. It's to begin to receive the forgiveness that God has for us. And as we receive that, then we can offer it to others. But the final thing that he says in this passage, the commission of Paul's, he says that not only they come from dark to light, not only from the power of Satan to the power of God, not only are we forgiven from our sin, but the last thing he says is that we can share in the inheritance with the sanctified, with the saints. And the easiest place to go to remind us again of this is from Ephesians, where Paul is writing again to the people at Ephesus, and he says, in verse 11, in chapter 1, we also have received an inheritance in him. And then you skip across to verse 18, where he says, I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so that you may know what is the glorious hope of the call, the hope of his calling, and what are the glorious riches of the inheritance among the saints. And here's what I want to remind you of is that the gospel doesn't just have past realities or present realities, but the gospel has future realities. It has future realities for our life. So when we get lost in the here and now, we get lost in the moment, we get lost in our anxiety and our fear and our stress and our worry and our doubts, and just flat out being overwhelmed. We have a God that reminds us there's a future reality, there's a future inheritance for those who are in Christ that says there is a day coming when no longer will we deal with the pain and the suffering of this life. No longer will we deal with wounding each other even when we don't mean to. No longer will we deal with watching innocent people die at the hand of some crazy person. No longer will we deal with losing lives and just going through sickness and dealing with all the hardships of life, but we will have a place where everything will be made right. A home with God forever. Like, isn't that awesome? And that changes everything here and now. The reality of that then and there changes the message and the way that we live in the here and now. Here's the thing. When we think about the offer that is given to us in God, the offer that's given to us in Christ, remember, people. Remember, brothers and sisters. Remember, skeptics and cynics. Remember, whoever you are. Listen, there is life in Christ, that the gospel is good news, and that we have hope. We have this amazing offer. That when you receive this offer, you're not gonna get gypped in three minutes. You're not gonna be wishing you hadn't bought that toy. You're not gonna be wishing that you had not received this message, this gift. You're gonna be so thankful because it's just gonna become more and more and more significant in your life. Here's my hope tonight is just to remind you and challenge you to not forget what we have been offered in Christ. That we would not forget the beauty of the gospel. We don't have to live with with darkness, just being consumed by darkness. We don't have to live just under the influence of doing whatever our flesh wants to do. We have power, we have light, we have forgiveness, we have an inheritance home with God forever. And I don't know about you guys, but um man, I need to hear that often. I need to hear that every single day because it's too easy just to go through this life and just to be like every other human being on the planet. Just go through life, just get a job, make money, do the work, you know, just do the drill, and then life is gone and just move on. Like we've got a bigger purpose, we've got a bigger meaning, and it's because of the gospel, it's because of the good news.