Greetings from Galatians - Part 4

What can we learn from Paul's letter to the Galatians?

On this episode, Pastor Jon takes us to Galatians 3. Here, Paul rebukes the Galatians for trying to earn their salvation after receiving the Good News about Jesus. He reminds them, and us, that faith in Jesus is the only requirement, not our works.

We pray this message encourages your faith, deepens your prayer life, and helps you gain a greater vision for life in Christ. Share this episode with someone who wants to grow deeper in God’s Word.

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SPEAKER_00 0:09

It's gonna be a wonderful, wonderful day. Hey, if you have your Bibles, Galatians chapter 3, we're gonna start reading. Uh for those of you that are jumping on with us now. Uh for the last couple weeks, we've been in the book of Galatians. Uh, this is the apostle Paul. He's riding back uh to some of his uh to a church that he's planted. Uh, this is a church that is very similar to ours, uh, very diverse geographically, very diverse generationally, very diverse racially, very diverse socioeconomically. Uh, and so he came in with this message of freedom of Jesus, came to give freedom to everyone, to give hope to everyone. And after he planted and he left, uh, these new guys came in and said, Hey, before you find Jesus, you gotta start following all these rules. Before you find Jesus, you gotta start uh doing these feasts and giving in these special ways, and uh you gotta start circumcising yourself. And you gotta start. Can I just tell y'all, like, they were coming in with all these extra rules, and Paul is writing back, uh, and y'all, I I don't know if like my kids say I get like this, where my dad voice comes out, and I'm like, like Paul is writing the most dad voice letter that there's ever been, and he's coming back and going, Y'all, what are you doing? Like, y'all don't believe me. Watch this. This is the chapter three, he's halfway through it. He first three words, oh foolish Galatians, I don't know you, but when I'm calling my kids and I'm like, hey, I love y'all, like that's not what's happening. Paul is going, you dummies, what are y'all doing? Uh, and he's calling them out, oh foolish Galatians, who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question. Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not. You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. He's telling them, He's reminding them what we've been talking about these last couple weeks. Listen, you think you didn't get right with God because of what you did. You didn't get right with God because of your resume, you didn't get right with God because you were from the right family, you didn't get right with God because you did the right sacrifice, you didn't get right with God because you had perfect church attendance, you didn't get right with God. The reason you got right with God is not because of what you did, it's because of what Jesus did. The reason that you have a hope and a future that you can look towards heaven is not because of your past, it's because Jesus has bled and died for your past. The reason we can look to the future and hope is because of Jesus. Paul goes back again. How foolish can you be? Just in case y'all missed it the first time. How dumb do you got it? Like, can I just like like I feel like somebody needs to buy Paul a cup of coffee? You maybe send him on a vacation. Paul needs to go to Disney, something. He's just, after starting your new lives in the spirit, why are you not trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it? Verse 5 says, This I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not. It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. In the same way, Abraham, Abraham was the patriarch of the Jewish faith. He, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. Uh, they were the patriarchs. And of course not, it's because you believe the message you heard about Christ. Uh verse 7, the real children of Abraham then are those who put their faith in God. Uh see, at the time in the Jewish religion, there was this real sense of we are the righteous one because we flow our family line back to Abraham. Can I tell you, I may not flow my family line back to Abraham, but because of the work of Jesus, I flow my family line directly back to God. Paul is saying, Why are you trading being drafted in to a Jewish lineage when you are being drafted in to a kingdom lineage? And I want to encourage us to have that same mindset. Verse 8. What's more, the scriptures look forward to this time when God will make the Gentiles riding aside because of their faith. Somebody say faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, All nations will be blessed through you. So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. Can we pray together in these next few minutes before we get into God's word? Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, Jesus, not into temptation, but we should deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Uh anybody taking a road trip this summer, anybody taking a road trip, like anybody going anywhere at all? Y'all need to go on vacation. We already did this sermon. Y'all gotta, okay, y'all going places, praise God. Uh me and my family typically go to outer banks. We're skipping outer banks this year. Anybody, outer banks people here? Any outer banks? Y'all should be yelling at the top of your lungs. You outer banks people. Actually, you know, that's not true. OBX people are like, I'm relaxed, I'm chill, I'm not doing nothing. I ain't yelling for nobody. That's OBX people, to be real. Uh, we are uh road trip family, we love taking road trips. And uh here's what's funny for me. I just came today because I I believe as a pastor, one of the things I need to do is uh be an example in not just the good things, but also in repenting of my sin and confessing the things I've done wrong. And uh I came here today to confess some things that I have thought wrong and done poorly. Uh and uh there's specifically in the area of my marriage. See, I have a wife who I've been married for 10 years, and she is amazing and beautiful uh and sweet. And uh, and y'all, I'm telling you right now, I've seen her get in cars, I've seen her drive places, she got a driver's license when I met her. Uh so every morning she goes to work. But something happens to me when I get in the car with her. When I'm in the passenger seat and she's driving, I don't know why. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Any husbands out there, don't raise your hand for this one, but my blood pressure goes a little higher. I said, no husband, say anything, Chris. What you doing, bro? Like, like anybody, anybody else have that thing where where you're driving and um you see the cars in front of you and they've stopped at the red light, and and you look at your spouse and you're like, so you're gonna stop now, right? But they don't. They just keep going. You're like, and and maybe I'm the only one. Maybe y'all have good faith in your spouses. Some of y'all are like, no, I don't, Pastor, struggling here, too. Like, I do the thing where I'm sitting in the passenger seat and I'm pressing like the imaginary brake button. It's just like, stop the car, stop the car. And you're like, you're trying to play it cool because you want to be like, you want to be all calm, cool, and collected, but on the inside, you're like, oh Lord Jesus, as I'm about to meet you in these next five minutes. Man, like we we get that same way. I get that way whenever we're driving anywhere. I know, I know she gets that way sometimes with me. My wife will sometimes be like, hey, you know it's 35 and you're doing 50, right? And I'm like, first of all, I was doing 35, and the truth is, I'm lying. I was doing 50 and she caught me. I told you I'm confessing my sins. Here's what I know about life. Uh, wherever you're gonna go, however, you're gonna do, this is from a car my wife was driving. This is what's left of it. I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. She is not in the room, and I'm gonna need somebody's couch to stay on it for the next three days. Um, no, like sometimes when we're driving, here's what I know. Uh, with your life and with my life, it is super important who takes the wheel. Uh, see, in our lives, uh, here's what I know, here's what I think Paul is telling the Galatians today. He's saying, hey, uh, the way when you were in trouble, when you were lost, when you were broken, when you were messed up, when you were on the side of the road, you made this great decision to hand Jesus the wheel, to say, I don't have it, I I can't figure it out on my own. I can't make life decisions my way. I'm gonna surrender to you and hand you the wheel. I'm gonna let you lead me in every season. I'm gonna let you make the decisions in my life. I'm gonna let you be my savior and my Lord. I'm gonna let you drive. But can I be honest? Sometimes when we face this situations in life, we face difficulties, our temptation can be to take back the wheel. We walk up and we go just like I sometimes want to do to my wife. I'll go, hey baby, why don't you park right there? Okay, great. Not at your part. Let's twist turn seeds. Can I tell y'all the worst decision you can make in life when you started following Jesus is to take the wheel back later? See, Paul is encouraging him, he's saying, Because you follow Jesus, you've experienced hope. Because you follow Jesus, you've experienced his faithfulness. Because you follow Jesus, you've experienced his salvation. Because you follow Jesus, you're experiencing miracles, signs and wonders and breakthrough. If you've been following Jesus, why would you stop now and go and take back the wheel for yourself? When God has been so good and so faithful, why would you take back the wheel for yourself? See, this is one of the differences between every single religion that we see compared to Christianity. Every single religion says, hey, uh, we're gonna give you some directions, but you gotta really make it your own way. Can I tell you, Islam says you have to do everything right, pray at the right times, give yourself at the right times, give them the right, all those things to get the right way. Uh, there's other Christian religions that say that they're following Jesus, but they're not really Christian that say, hey, you gotta turn right here and make a left there. And can I tell y'all I'm terrible with directions and not just in the world, but when it comes to my life, I don't know what's coming around the corner. But I have a God who is faithful and he's led me so well so far. And he's not just wanting to lead me to where I'm, he wants to lead me to where I'm going. See, the difference between Christianity, one of the differences between Christianity and every other religion is that every religion says, here's a set of directions, follow it until the day you die. Good luck. But God does not do that with us. See, God does not leave us on our own, God gives us the power of the person of the Holy Spirit. See, God doesn't leave you by yourself and say, figure it out. God literally gives you a driver. The Holy Spirit can direct you, the Holy Spirit can move you, the Holy Spirit can convict you, the Holy Spirit can shift your direction. Can't how many of y'all know sometimes you take a corner and you don't know what's around the corner? How many of y'all live in Denwane County and you see deer everywhere? Amen. Demon-possessed deer. Hang out with my demon-possessed cats. Like, I wish they were just like, like, there's there's a thousand feet of field there, there's a thousand feet of field there. You couldn't run that way, and not just the deer, but the squirrels too. Some of y'all are like, this is the weirdest sermon like I've ever, and he's got a couple. Like, can I just tell y'all here here here's some here's the mistake you can make. When life gets turbulent, difficult, hard, confusing, boring, the worst thing that you can do is go, Jesus, give me back the wheel. The last thing that you want to do is take the wheel back from Jesus. Uh, that's why I think Paul says this in verse 3. He says, After starting your new lives in the spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? See, the Galatians were very similar to us in that they were a religious people. If you're going here today and you're saying, John, I'm not a religious person, this is my first church experience. Can I tell y'all, uh, sometimes not church is a church experience? Sometimes we grow up in the secular marketplace, and business is how you do. And so you show up and you start engaging with God, and because every single place you've ever been to or worked, the way it works is I pay a membership and I get some benefits. You approach God in the same way, and you're saying, I pay some benefits and I get some benefits. Some of us, man, y'all came from a difficult family situation where there's there's angst and anxiety and uh strife and difficulty, and so now you're in the family of God, and so you're waiting for people to hurt you, you're waiting for people to talk about you, or waiting for people to mess with you. We've even we've even seen this in our church. We've only been around for uh close to nine months. We've even seen it in our church where there are people that, their whole family situation, whenever they've worked, how many of y'all know gossip is common in the world out there? So they'll come in and they'll go instead of talking to somebody, they'll go, well, let me talk to Mike and Christy and tell them about how I feel about John, and how I think John is terrible. First of all, I'm just gonna give you a clear warning. Mike and Christy are not the people you want to talk to about me. Like that's how you end up buried in Mike and Christy's backyard. Like, those two have my back. Uh, but here's what I know about us. If we don't engage the kingdom according to the kingdom rules, if we take back the wheels like the Galatians are tempted to do, we're gonna lead ourselves and not let Jesus lead us. Uh, here's what I want you to know today. Don't finish your way, what you started out God's way. Don't finish in the flesh what you started out in the spirit. Don't finish with your own mind when you have access to God's mind. Don't finish by your spirit when you have access to the Holy Spirit. Don't finish with your set of directions when you started out with God's direction. Don't finish trying to live out your own purpose and live out your own hope and make it happen by yourself when God is here and available to provide you all the hope that you need. See, it says this Abraham believed in God and God counted to him as righteousness because of his faith. Somebody say faith. See, here's what's crazy to me about Christianity. We start off with admitting we don't have it all together, but we very quickly learn to pretend like we have it all together. We start out by saying, Man, there's no hope other than Jesus, but then we start learning very quickly. Man, I gotta pretend and talk about, well, I'm blessed and highly favored. Can I tell y'all we need the hope of Jesus? We started that with surrender to Jesus, saying it's his way, not our way. It's his will, not our will. It's his mind, not my mind, it's his opinion, not my opinion. But then when something changes or something happens that gets difficult, can I tell y'all all of us will be tempted, like the Galatians are, to put the wheel back in our own hands. I want to encourage you today to not do that. Don't finish with works what you started out with faith. See, it says this in Hebrews chapter 11. Now faith is the assurance. Somebody say assurance. Some translations say substance, some translations uh say the evidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For it by it, people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Uh the word there, assurance, is a word called hypostasis. Hypostasis. It's a it's a Greek word. Uh why am I why am I pointing that word? Uh that word does not mean um, because I used to think when I used to think about faith, I'd be like, how many of y'all think faith is like make-believe? Like my imagination, I kind of hope it happens. It'd be nice if it worked out that way. Like sometimes that's how we think about faith. Faith, biblical faith is not that way. Biblical faith has substance to it, biblical faith has weight to it. Biblical faith should move your life. Biblical faith looks at life and goes, man, because God has done something weighty, it's gonna matter and impact my life. See, uh here here's here's what faith says. Faith says, I can't see it, but I know it. Faith says, Man, because of what God has done in my past, because of how good he's been, because of his faithfulness, I can't see it. I can't see how he's gonna go around the corner. I can't see how he's gonna bring breaks to the situation, I can't see how he's gonna make this turn around, but I know he's able to turn it around. I can't see how he's gonna bring me hope. I can't see how he's gonna bring me healing. I can't see how he's gonna bring me restoration, I can't see how he's gonna change my life, but I know he's able to. See, faith says, I can't see what God is doing, but I know he's doing something. See, when I'm in the car with my wife, who just got in the room, and so she doesn't know that, share that analogy, so y'all don't laugh too hard because y'all get me in trouble. This is why she's never gonna leave place. She's like, I was helping out in kids' ministry, I'm never gonna leave again. Um here's what I know I I can't see her breaking with the red lights are in front of me, but I know she's breaking. Some of us were going through things and situations, and we feel like we need to do a bunch of religious stuff to impress God. Can I tell you there is nothing you can do to impress God? God already is impressed by himself enough, and God has taken his impression of himself and put it on you. There's nothing you can do to earn God's love, there's nothing you can do to earn God's grace, there's nothing you can do to earn God's favor. God has already given you his love. God has already given you his grace. God has already given you his favor. And so, if he's given you all that, why would you put the wheel back in your hand? See, here's what I know. I know that a life full of faith is a life full of miracles. I know that a life full of Jesus is a life that changes us and changes other people. The Galatians are coming in and they are a religious people. And you know how all religion is? Religion is just a spirit of control. How many of y'all love control? Some of y'all like, I don't feel in control at this moment, so I'm not raising my hand. Like, I'm not doing that. I love control. I love uh am I the only guy in the room that even though you're watching something on TV, you still want the remote in your hand? Like, like I'm not even changing the channel. Like, there's two remote. If there's two remotes, I don't care that there's two remotes. I need one remote in my hand. I don't care that you're changing the channel, I need a remote in my hand. Man, can I tell you how crazy it is to embrace life that way? I think when we look at the book of Galatians, here's what here's what Jesus is trying to encourage us, here's what Paul is trying to encourage us. Get your hands off the remote. Get your hands off the wheel. You may be going through a dark valley right now, you may not know what's going on, but if you would let me take the wheel, I can lead you where you need to go. So here's what I want you to do today. Here's what I want you to do. Stop backseat driving and have faith in Jesus. Here's my question I want to ask is where if if your life is a car, if your life is a car, where is Jesus seated in your car? See, some of us would be like, Pastor, he's blessed in life. Some of us are like, I got Jesus in the car. Yeah, but he's in the trunk of the car. And he's going, turn here. Oh, that was way louder than I thought. I thought it was gonna be a muffled. He's going, turn here, and you're going, can y'all hear that? Like, some of us we're going through life and we're going, I can't hear the voice of Jesus, I can't experience his presence. I don't know what he wants me to do. Maybe you don't know what he wants you to do because of being instead of being in a front seat, you got him all the way in the trunk and you can't even hear or discern his voice. Man, we gotta be careful as believers that here's here's the way that that that we can walk around with Jesus. When when religion is all that we do, Jesus is a part of life of our life, but he's in the trunk of our life. When all I do is I approach church like it's a one hour and a half thing on Sunday, and I show up and walk in and walk out. When faith isn't an active part of my life, when scripture isn't rising up in my spirit, then what happens is on Sundays I show up to church, I open my trunk, I pull Jesus out, I hang out with him for an hour and a half, and then when we walk in the parking lot, I put them back in the trunk. Can I tell you? I'm not just saying that as a as a oh man, like you guys need to do better. Can I just tell you, you're missing on the power of the miracle worker in your life. You're missing on the one that can see the future in your life, you're missing the one that can see hope in your life. You you would not put on a GPS and then throw it in the trunk of your car. You would put that thing up front so it can give you direction in your life. See, some of us though, we have thank you. Like that's him, three people. Praise God. Some of us we've moved Jesus from the trunk of our car, we've moved him to the backseat. Man, I like Jesus. I I like posting a little bit on Instagram and telling people where I've been and hanging out with them. Like, man, I like I like having Jesus. Can I tell you, uh, Jesus is not just to be somebody that's in your car, uh, unless you give him authority to drive your car, he's never gonna lead you the right way. You know what the problem is with having Jesus in the backseat? Jesus then becomes just one of a bunch of good voices that you listen to. So what you do is you go, Jesus, what do you think? And you go, man, Pastor, that was really good. And then on the way home, you call your old friend, you go, Hey buddy, I know you're far from God, and you have like I just want to hear what you think. Okay, good. Now that I don't hear what you think, let me call grandmama, grandmama, what do you think? And y'all should listen to y'all, grandmamas, because they've they've done a lot. So bless grandmamas in the room. Uh, but like, but can I tell y'all if you're trying to listen to 14 different voices, you'll get 14 different opinions and you'll get 14 different directions. Some of us we've moved Jesus from the trunk to the back seat, and then some of us have moved him from the back seat, and we got him shotgun, and we're like, look at me, y'all. I got Jesus riding shotgun. But the issue is when something happens, first of all, first of all, the shotgun person has no control over anything except for the radio. And so some of us are leading a life that is disconnected from the authority of Jesus. We just happen to let him set the soundtrack. So when when we're in trouble, we go, I got a verse for that. You got a verse to Say, but not a verse to obey. Jesus just on the side, right there. We and we need to move from a place of believers. Here, here's what I think is happening with the Galatians. The Galatians started with Jesus on the front, and Paul is saying, Y'all need the thing that you're doing right now is you went from Jesus has the wheel to let's move Jesus to the passenger seat. And if you're not careful, the direction that you need to get to the places that the person that God is transforming you to be, because you're not putting Jesus in a position where he can change things when he wants to, you are putting yourself in a place where you make changes when you want to. See, when I'm driving, here's the other crazy part that I think is so funny is uh this is this is about to get really specific. Uh y'all know I joke around all the time about our car, my wife and I's car, and how we get like rocks in our windshield all the time. Like, like we don't even fix them anymore. We just go, there's rocks on our windshield, praise God, hallelujah, it's gonna happen. Uh something else happened to our car the other day. Uh this is not a no, my wife's like, what happened to our car? First of all, you hit a deer and you didn't tell me for two days. Uh, but that's a sad story. Okay. I I need some marital counseling, y'all. Claude name me, I need to talk to you off for service. Uh uh to be honest, the main reason I wanted you to tell me is because I I totally would have pretended like I shot the thing and been like, we got a deer. Um but we didn't get a deer. Uh but there's this weird thing happening in our car right now where like the the windshield wiper on the passenger side doesn't work. It's the weirdest thing. It's the weirdest thing. It happened right close to when we hit the deer. That's the weirdest thing. I'm just I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. Uh but here's the here's here's the thing, here's the thing. The person that is in the driver's seat isn't gonna have the best perspective. And some of us we wanna we wanna get in the passenger seat. Here's here's the thing. You will never see as well or as far as Jesus can for your life. And so if you're some of us we're in the passenger seat and we're uncomfortable, we're going like stop here, turn here, you're about to hit the curb. How you ever been in the passenger seat and you're like, they're about to hit that car, and then they don't hit the car. It's like magic. It's like, how did you do that? The secret of it is you gotta get Jesus back in the seat, the driver's seat. Here's what I want to tell you today. Your sins are forgiven, the Holy Spirit is transforming you, and God has a plan for your life. One more time, I'm gonna say your sins are forgiven. The Holy Spirit is transforming you, and God has a plan for your life. But that plan only comes to pass if you will give Jesus the wheel. Again, come make me sound more spiritual than I am. Okay, there you are. Um there's there's some sermons I preach and everyone's like, yeah, this is one of those where everyone's like, I don't want to give up. Can I be honest? I I don't like these sermons. Like when preaching this is fun. Listening to it, I bet is pretty hard. Because you're oh because you're like, here's the other part too. I'll I'll say this. I love giving Jesus the wheel when I'm in trouble. I don't love Jesus giving Jesus the wheel when I'm having fun. My marriage is falling apart. Jesus, fix it. My kids are being rebellious. Jesus, fix it. My chickens are biting me, Jesus, fix it. My coworkers are doing stuff, Jesus, fix it. Okay, Jesus, you got me back on the road. Okay, cool. Now that you've got me back on the road, can I um can I start doing relationships the way I want to start doing them? Can I start doing faith? Like, okay, I I I I know I was depressed and you got me better. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Can I can I uh Cloud, can you come up here? Because this analogy will work way better of two people. Clyde's gonna be Jesus for me. Claude, can you be Jesus? You're so you love you, you're more like Jesus than anybody I know, Clyde. Oh, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Calm down, calm down here, here, here, here's what I know. Here's what I know, here's what I know. Um when I'm struggling, Jesus fix it. When I'm hurting, Jesus fix it. When I'm okay, okay, okay. Jesus, I want to date who I want to date. No, no, no, no. Jesus, my wife is acting up, and I need you to correct her. God's like, I'm not even going next to that with the temple. It's like, even Jesus is going, and you're not giving me that. Yeah, cuz, cuz, cuz, cuz, because if I give him the wheel, he might point out you're the one that needs correction. Jesus, Jesus, I'm broke, and you gave me some wisdom on how to handle my finances so I can be a good steward and be generous and all those things. Thank you for putting it back. Hey, um, I know we just went on vacation. I want to go on vacation again. No, no, no, no, no. Only if you go, Jesus, I only here's the other thing that we sometimes do. We go, Jesus, I'll let you drive, but I gotta put my hand on the wheel too. That's a spirit of religion. Spirit of religion says, Jesus, you only make the turns that I approve of. You only go as fast as I want, you only go the places I want to go to. And oh, you want you want to go there and you want to go pray for that person at the gas station? You you want me to you want to go serve a church? Are you? No. You want me to forgive the person that hurt me? You you want me to worship, you want me to serve, you want me to give, you want me to forgive, you want me to be a blessing, you want me. The Galatians are walking in a spirit of religion. And here's the good news of religion. Religion, you get to have your way. Here's the bad news of religion. You get to have your way. But following Jesus means Jesus, you take the wheel. Here's the here here's here's because some of y'all think when you pray, you're like, oh, I don't have enough faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Here's what faith does. Oh, Jesus, you're driving? Okay, cool. I know that you got me from the place where I was on the side of the road when I was broken and messed up. You put me back together. So you got me up to this point, and you're saying you want to go which way? You want to go that way? Jesus, take the wheel. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Jesus, there's there's some obstacles coming. Jesus, I need you to. Can I tell you God is not insulted? Okay, you part man. Okay. You you you might be here. Here's the other part too. I love about that. Is you're pressing the floor and there's no power there. He literally has the power to make the traffic split apart, to make a way where there's no way, to get you places that you never thought you could get to. But all that happens if you if you give him the wheel. See, the power of living a spirit-filled life and the power of living a life submitted to God is that your life ends up not where you want it to go. And that's the thing that a lot of us are sad about. But the great news is your life ends up where God wants it to go. And where God wants you to go is better, where God wants you to go is greater, where God wants you to go has more hope. Where God wants you to go has a sure future. But for you to get the result, you have to do what Paul is encouraging us to do, which is this. Dude, get your hands off the wheel. Y'all give it up for cloud one more time. Uh verse 8, Galatians says this. What's more, the scriptures look forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of his faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, All nations will be blessed through you. Y'all ought to read Abraham. Uh stand to your feet, church. We're gonna close out service in a few minutes. Uh God, God gave Abraham a promise. God said, Hey, you'll be the father of many nations, all nations of the earth will be blessed through you. And uh, God told Abraham to do something that was really hard. He said, Hey, I want you to leave where you are in the people that he know and go to a land that I'm about to show you. If I'm Abraham, I'm going, that don't sound good to me, God. It sounds inconvenient, it sounds annoying, it sounds like you're asking me to go. And the place he's going, imagine not just going to uh an unknown place, he's going to an uncultivated place. He's asking him to go into a wilderness, and he's going, there's gonna be a promise there. But out of Abraham's faith comes the people of Israel. Out of the people of Israel comes the man, Jesus. Out of Jesus comes salvation for the world. Out of salvation for the world comes 2,000 years later, we're still living in the faith of Abraham. Because he was willing to let go of the wheel. So here's my question for you today. Where who is driving your car today? If you're looking at your life, are you going, and here's a couple of things that I think sometimes we let drive our car. Some of us are in the middle of letting stress drive our car. You're stressed about a bunch of stuff, you can't let it go. And so you're putting the you're putting your hands back on the wheel because you're like, I'm gonna figure this out. You gotta move away from stress driving your car to letting faith drive your car. Some of us are letting our past drive our car. We're going, I've been to all these places, messed up all these things. Can I tell you? You need to give. Jesus is a forgiver of sins and a giver of hope. And some of us, it's our selfish desires that are driving the car. I want what I want when I want it, with who I want it, how I want it. And you'll get what you want. But how many of you know God has more for you than even what you want for yourself? Can I pray for you and then we're gonna sing together? Lord Jesus, we love you. We thank you for the opportunity to be in your presence with your people and to hear your word. God, would you change us, transform us, allow us to be more like you? God, help us today to not make the mixed mistake of the Galatian church and try to live by our own strength. Try to embrace religion. Father, you do have things that you're calling us to do, things you want us to do. But we're not we're not doing them to earn your grace. We're doing them because that's where you're leading us. Jesus, would you take the wheel in our lives? Take the wheel in our souls, take the wheel in our relationships. God, take the wheel wherever we go. God, may there not be a single day that we look and say, God, may every day we walk around and we know. And I'm doing exactly what God wants me to do. Make us people of the Spirit. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's sing together.