Ep 020 || Created for a Purpose

Hey Pando family, so glad that you're here with us today. If we've never met before, my name is Derek, this is Brandon. We serve on our online team here at Southeast Christian Church, and if you are looking for our Pando exclusive podcast, good news, you're here. You're here, you're in the right place. And even better news, if you've been tracking with us, Brandon, we had week two of our Towards Strength Bible study that I think dropped earlier today, depending on when you're watching this, but if you're watching this, it should already be on there for you. Brandon, but for those that maybe don't know what Towards Strength means, maybe that sounds super foreign to them, why should somebody go back after this video and check that study out? Oh, for sure. So Towards Strength is our spring Bible study. We're going and we're looking at Acts chapter two, right, where it describes the early church and what they did on day one, you know, as they kind of recognized that, you know, their shared faith brought them into shared life with one another. And we're told in Acts 242 that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. And that Greek word devoted is a compound word that basically means strength towards, right? When you're devoted to something, you put your strength towards it. And that's what they did. They were like, we're gonna put all of our effort into these four practices, living them out, making them part of the cornerstones of our community life. Like these are the pillars that are gonna, that's gonna hold up our community. And so, you know, if you're sitting here and you're thinking about like, well, what does it mean for me to have accepted Jesus? What does it mean to me to, you know, walk forward in life with him? What does it look for me to walk forward in life with other believers? I would say towards strength is a great place to start there just to look at these four practices and think about, well, how do I devote myself to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and prayer? How do I look at those practices, bring them into my own life? Because we know from the description of the church in Acts, this is what God used to move them towards strength. It's how he strengthened and built up not only individual Christians, but how he built

up his church. And so, you know, if you're in that place where you're like, I want to get stronger in my faith, I think it's a great study to look at and learn from the example of those who went not only before us, but those who went first. No doubt. And y'all, we enjoy, you know, as a team getting to put those videos together and Brandon writes all of the content and sets that up for us. And I promise you if you check that out, you won't be let down. As Brandon said, it's a great way that as Christians we learn how to follow Christ. It's a very practical ways, you know, because I think sometimes, you know, we can maybe church over the years or even ourselves, like we can make things complicated. But what I love the most about towards strength in that study is it just gives some practical ways that the early church lived and we can do the same type of things today. And you know, I think to your point, those four things are just very, very simple things, but there are also things that we kind of mess up, right? I think when a church gets away from those things, like for it gets away from scripture, when it gets away from fellowship and community and worship and praying together, like I think that's where church hurt kind of slips in. It's like a church makes things other than those four things, when it makes it their identity or their practices or, you know, their priorities. I think that's where things just get all sorts of messed up and people end up walking away hurt and having a bad experience with the church and with the community of faith. No doubt. No doubt. And y'all, that's why we love, you know, getting to be a part of the Pando app, because even though we know that you may be somewhere far across the country from Louisville, Kentucky, you know, when you see our services pop up and you click on that video, you get to be a part of our church family. And you know, talking about that identity piece, Brandon, is a big part of what we're gonna be talking about today. We're in week two of our In the Beginning sermon series, and so we had a guy named Dave Stone, who was the senior pastor here at Southeast for quite some time before Kyle Eidelman, that you probably see most weekends. And it's always good to have Dave back. Oh yeah, 100%.

I think he always gives a very practical, emotional, humorous message. But this week, we're talking about Genesis again, and so we're gonna be sitting in Genesis for the next... What'd you say last week? Next 18, 19 weeks, something like that? Yes, it's 20 weeks in Genesis, and I think this first series through the times of Noah, I think it's like six weeks. So we got a journey ahead of us in the book of Genesis. Gotcha. Love that. Well, the basis of the conversation in the sermon from this last weekend comes from Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, when it said, "...then God said, Let us make man in our image..." according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and of the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." And then in verse 27, it says, God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them. And so, Brandon, what are some of the key takeaways that we should have reading through those couple of verses? You know, it's crazy to think about, because I think in some ways, it's so very simple to think about us being made in the image of God, but it's also so incredibly significant that we could never really unpack it. Like, there's so many ideas that come to my mind when I think about what the end of Genesis 1 teaches us about mankind, what it teaches us about ourselves. You know, I'll say that, you know, what's interesting about Genesis 1 and 2 is that Genesis 1 is, you know, presented in very, like, your kind of poetic language going through the creation narrative, these six days of creation, the one day of rest that sets the rhythm for Sabbath. And then you get to the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2, and you get the account of the creation of man twice. That for whatever reason as Moses, who we think wrote Genesis, as he writes this down, he thinks about the creation of man and gives us kind of a broad view of it and then zooms in on it to really get more specific with it. But we're given this phrase, right, that God wants to make us in his image. And you know, you quoted there from Genesis 1 26, God saying, let us make man in our image, which we can talk about here in a little bit. We'll get there in a minute. But setting that aside, like, let's talk a little bit first about the image of God, right? Like, what does that mean? And, you know, there are many things I think it

means. The one thing I think it doesn't mean is, you know, I actually had a group leader, one of our group leaders reach out to me this morning about this, was like, well, does this mean that God, like our physical form is made in the image of God? And I was like, no, I don't think that's what this is saying. Because, you know, Jesus will say elsewhere in John 4 24, I think it is, you know, that God is spirit, right? That God isn't physical the way we are. So, I don't think to say that we're made in the image of God implies that our physical forms are what God looks like. Pete Slauson Sure. Pete Slauson Now, as New Testament believers, we do obviously have God made more in our image in the person of Jesus Christ. But I don't think it's talking physically here. What I think the writer of Genesis talk about here, what I think Genesis 1 26 is telling us is that spiritually, in a sense, emotionally, even that we are made in God's image, that we are to reflect his, you know, who he is, his character, his qualities, you know, that just as God as is these things, we can be like him. You know, in fact, that's the call of Leviticus, right? Two books later is be holy because I am holy. Like God is saying you have this capacity within you to be who I am, to be like me. And I think that's so incredibly significant. When we look around the world around us, when we look at the animals around us that you have of all God's creatures of all God's creation, there is something special about us that we have the ability to communicate beyond basic needs, right? Like we can talk about how we're feeling, we can talk about what we're dreaming, we can talk about, you know, what some of our aspirations are, we can talk about what some of our trauma and our hurts are. Like, you know, animals don't do that. Pete Slauson Sure. Pete Slauson The other animals in creation, they don't sit around and talk about those things. We know, you know, that dolphins or ants and things like that, we know they communicate, but they're only communicating in terms of, you know, basic needs, like here's food or, you know, here's a predator, whatever. Our communication goes much deeper. You know, and all that points me to, I think, is that, God created mankind so that we could have a relationship with him, right? You know, my illustration of this would be, same group leader I was talking to this week, my illustration

of this would be that when we think about the image of God, I think about the people and animals that live in my house, right? Like in my house, I have four kids and I have a dog and a cat. I'd rather not talk about the cat. So let's talk about the dog. I hate the cat. But anyway, you know, in my house, all my four kids and the dog, they, you know, these five, these five creatures in my house, they all get food for me. They all get provided for, they all get taken care of. They all get what they need, but only four of them can I have a real meaningful relationship with. Like the dog, I can, you know, play with the dog. Walks I can sit and and you know, he sits on your lap even though he's like a 90-pound dog like get off me But you know, I can't sit there and talk with him about things. I can't communicate with him about hey, like what's going on? I can't have a relationship with him or dreams for him like a man. I really hope sure you're like, there's a limitation Yeah, you're the dog president one day like But but my four kids that relationship is radically different because They are made in my image They are they are like me they can They will hopefully but grow and become not like me but better than me You know that they will they will grow into the characteristics and qualities that God has given them and I think you know When we think of it that way that gives us a picture of really what God Intended us to be what he intended us to do is that I'm gonna make this creature special So that it can continue my work in creation You know, we talked I think last week about How God form and fill forms and fills creation and then tells mankind hey go and fill the earth and subdue it You go continue the work I'm doing but we also Just see how God has created us specifically for that Sort of relationship with him and it's interesting Right that when John looks back in the beginning of his gospel in John chapter 1 when he recounts the beginning talking about Jesus He says, you know in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and It's interesting to me that when John looks back at creation, he identifies Jesus as this word. What is a word? What's communication? It's you know in the beginning was Was was Jesus was this word of communication this thing this person that God wanted to share with us and be with us and

Communicate to us and I think that's that's what the image of God. I mean, there's so many more things but to me that's what I always think of is that it boils down to God has created me with the capacity to Want to aspire to be like him, but also to be in a relationship with him. That's so good Brandon And yeah, so it's it's this reminder that you know, God is spirit, right? It's almost hard for us to understand Physically what he looks like now because of Christ we do have a human version of like, okay, like well that makes sense So when we talk about being created in his image You know, it's not necessarily talking about that we physically right look like him, right but we how did how did Dave say it that It's not like a logo Brandon branded on our clothing but a likeness Etched on our heart. Yeah You know, and so he had used words and a sermon like resembling reflecting You know and even talked about yeah, you know when he was in college and was on the basketball team and just how Excited he was to get to to wear that jersey, you know how much pride He's taken in that and I think maybe the contrast of even you know that analogy there is that you know for so many of us like we work so hard as You would to make a team or get a job or whatever it is You work so hard to achieve these things and then you get to wear that thing, you know I'm trying to think like like I wasn't a Boy Scout growing up but like I had friends that would work for whether whether the badges the mayor badges and then the You get like the the status badge like a life Scout or an Eagle Scout or whatever. Yeah Yeah, like you work so hard for those things and you get to wear it anywhere with pride You know, I think one of the things that that is different When we follow Christ is that the work we've the work that's been done For us to wear that label or that badge hasn't been done by us, right? Yeah, like we are able to wear that Badge that symbol of being a child of God because of what Jesus did for us on the cross Yeah and I think that's a key distinction for us to think about as Christians right that we are We are not doing the things we do to become something sure

We have become something and that should change what we do and I think that's a key You know, that's the difference between legalism and grace Right is that if I think I have to live up to a certain thing or I'm sorry I think if I have to do these things to check this checklist then I can become acceptable to God Whereas what the gospel says is no Jesus has already paid the penalty for your sin He's already made you acceptable in God's sight and now live out of that now Live up to that to say this is who Jesus has said you are This is who Jesus has not only said you are this who Jesus has made you to be so go be that And I think that's that's so significant if we get those things out of order, we're gonna mess ourselves up. No doubt No doubt and so we'll come back that to a little bit Here at the end to kind of close with that Just talking about that idea of what that practically means for us and what do we do with that? go back to verse 26 in Genesis chapter 1, and it said, then God said, let us make man in our image. So that word us, right, can be confusing for a lot of people, right? I think maybe for those watching right now, like maybe you've heard that word trinity before, like maybe you've heard about that concept of like, well, hold on a second, like I thought we worship one God, but like I've heard about God the Father, I've heard about like his spirit, I've heard about Jesus. So are we talking about three gods? Are we talking about one God? Did they always exist? Did God create the other two? Brandon, how should we as Christians kind of walk through that mystery of God being three in one? Yeah, I love that you use that word mystery, because that's absolutely what it is. Because we just, we cannot understand it. And even the pictures we have of it aren't entirely correct, right? Like, we have that picture of, well, God is like a three-leaf clover, right, each side. That's not, I mean, that kind of helps us understand it, but it's not entirely correct. I think all the pictures we have of the trinity that we kind of form in our mind ultimately fall short of exactly the mystery that Genesis is talking about here. So the mystery actually begins, I think it's in Genesis 1.1, where it says, in the beginning, God created. What's interesting there that happens in the Hebrew language is that the word for God there is plural, but the word for created is singular. So it's very grammatically incorrect. And so you kind of stumble over it from the very beginning, like, wait, like a plural, like a multifaceted God singularly created this. So you kind of see that there,

and then it gets more pronounced in Genesis 1.26, let us make man in our image. And so the Bible makes it clear. And John, as we said, makes it clear later in John chapter one, that God has always existed in Trinity, right? In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So Jesus isn't some afterthought like, oh, I have to create myself as a man or in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is not an accident. In fact, we see him there in Genesis 1.2, the earth was formless and empty and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. So the Trinity is involved in every single aspect of creation. We're told in Colossians chapter one, that Jesus is the creative force behind everything, that by whom and through whom, all things were made. Nothing that has been made was made without him. And so, I think as believers, we kind of have to wrestle with this, like why, what does this mean? What does this even look like? And I think, you know, there's a mystery. I'm going to keep coming back to that word, because I love it. There's a mystery inherent in an eternal, unfathomable God expressing himself to us in different persons in different ways that we cannot fully wrap our mind around, that we can't fully understand. But what the Bible does tell us very clearly is that all three of these persons, as we understand them, God, the Father, God, the Spirit, and God, the Son, they're all the same, and yet they're all different. That they all are, there's no hierarchy, as Dave said, there's no like one, two, three, it's all God. It's all God. It's all God relating to us. Jon Moffitt There's not this Vice President thing going on. This is Vice President Jesus, right? Like, there's not that happening, that there is this relationship between the members of the Trinity, there is this shared identity and power between them. And so, I think rather than focusing on what exactly that looks like, because that's hard for us to imagine, and there are multiple pictures we could talk about to help us understand it. I think the easier thing to focus on is what it means, right? So, what does it mean that God has always existed in Trinity, that there's always been this God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Spirit element to who God is? And I think, you know, there's a book, I think we quoted it last week, Christopher Watkin wrote about, it's called Biblical Critical Theory, but he talks about the idea that what this shows us is that creation, at the heart of creation is community, right? At the heart of creation is love, that God exists in this community within Himself, and He makes creation to invite others into that creation. You know, John Ortberg,

I think it's in his book, The Life You Always Wanted, talks about this as the idea of like, in creating us in His image, God is inviting us into the fellowship of the Trinity. That, you know, at the heart of the universe is community, is this love and this shared respect and, you know, among the members of the Trinity. And I think that's very comforting because, you know, as we talked about, and as Carl talked about last week, every other, you know, Middle Eastern creation myth is born, either creation is an act of war between the gods or it's some sort of accident. In fact, that's even kind of Darwinian evolution. Either creation is an act of war or it's an accidental thing that happened. And if that's the reality at the heart of the universe, then the universe is an incredibly terrible place to be. If the reality of the universe is that it's born out of war and conflict, then that means life is only going to be suffering, right? That it's only going to be bad because we have to fight for what we want. We have to fight for who we want to be. We will have to fight for the resources we have. We have to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. If at the heart of creation is an accident, then that means that nothing really matters, right? Like this all happened by chance. You and I, we're sitting here just by accident and we shouldn't be here. We're here because, you know, molecules collided billions of years ago and set everything into motion and just, I mean, we're like a Bob Ross painting, right? It's a happy accident that we are here. And so if creation is born out of conflict, then everything is suffering. If it's born out of an accident, then nothing really matters. But if the universe is born out of community and love, well, then that changes everything, right? That means that there's a purpose for us being here, and that purpose is to be called into that community and fellowship of the Trinity.

If the universe is born out of God's creative act of loving us, then that means, you know, I'm not here by accident or I'm not here to fight. I'm here because He wants me to be here. I'm here because He loves me. I'm here because He has a purpose for me. I'm here because He has called me into existence. And that completely changes everything. That I don't have to fight for who I am. I don't have to struggle. I don't have to wonder why I'm here. I can know that even in those times when that purpose isn't clear, I can know there is a purpose. And ultimately that purpose is to know Him, to be known by Him, to love Him, to be loved by Him. And how we view creation as being born out of the Trinity makes all the difference in the world, is to understand that this is what God has me here for. Amen. Yeah. And so I think there are several things that we're learning here today, and which is why I love that we're going through Genesis over the next 20 weeks together. We've learned a couple of things from a theological perspective that we would hold to be true, not because it's our opinion, but because that's what we see in Scripture, right? Is that before anything existed, God existed, right? What we mean by that is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They existed. They existed as God. They're not like, you know, Brandon said, like a three-leaf clover, no, like, they are God, singular. And that's a mystery, right? But that's what we would hold to be true from what we see in Scripture.

The second thing that we've learned is that we are created in His image, right? God was specific and intentional about creating us in His image. That is a true fact that we see in Scripture. And then the third thing is that God created us male and female, right? And that's something that is going to hold true throughout creation, in the past, now, it doesn't matter what culture says. We believe that Scripture is very clear that we were created male and female. And Brandon, I think that these things are so good to learn, not just as facts for us to keep right in our head, but it helps us to kind of orient ourselves to the world, right? To understand, like, okay, well, like, this is our place. We know that we serve a God that is intentional and purposeful and has a plan for us. You know, sometimes we may think that, like, okay, maybe I think that, okay, God is so big that, man, does He really have time for me? Like, He's got a lot of other things going on. Sure, yeah, but He also has time for you. Like, it's not the same way that, you know, if you're trying to keep up with, you know, 80 different leaders of small groups and you only have, like, a finite amount of time, well, God doesn't navigate you that way. That's not how He works. But in light of all of this, Brandon, we have a responsibility of being an image bearer, right? Of being ones that are reflecting who God is to others, right? Because, you know, I think it was in John 8, Dave was talking about that, you know, Jesus talked about being that He is the light of the world, but He also says that we are the light of the world, and that's not a contradiction, but it's one of the ways that we can actively reflect who He is. is, right? He says he's the good shepherd, we are not the good shepherd, right? He is the vine, we are not the vine, we are not the way, the truth, and the life, he is, but yet, right, we are also called to be the light. And so, what do we do with that?

Oh man. Yeah, like, it's interesting that of all the things Jesus compares himself to or says that he is, like, this is the one he shares with us, right? Like, this is what I want you to be. I want you to continue what I'm doing as light. I want you to shine. And that imagery comes up in Paul's letters too, right? To like, is it Philippians? I think he talks about shining like stars in the universe. Like, this is the way we're called to live. So, I want to play off of what you said there, because I think, I think part of what it means for us to reflect the image of God is for us to recognize the image of God in other people. Right? That when we, when we come to this understanding of ourselves being created in the image of God and as Christians being recreated into the image of Christ, like, I think there's an element of which, you know, our eyes are suddenly open to recognize and acknowledge the people around us as people who are created in the image of God. Right? Because that's what your Genesis says. Every, every person that we walk across, every person we meet every day, bears something of the image of God. Now, is that, that image of God distorted? Yes. That's what, we'll get to that next week, Genesis three, right? And sin, like the image of God in each of us is, is distorted and messed up by sin, but that image is still there. Right? And that gives not only us an intrinsic value, that gives the people around us an intrinsic value. And I think as Christians, part of being light and part of, you know, helping people understand Jesus is, is having the eyes and, and the spirit to see the image of God in that other person, to say, Hey, this person is valuable. This person matters. This person is someone who I ought to care about because they carry the image of God. I'm trying to think who, who said it. It sounds like something C.S. Lewis would say, but it's probably wrong. But there's a, there's a quote out there that, that talks about, you know, if we could really understand the people we come across every day, if we could understand the image they bear, then we would never cease to marvel at it. Cause every person we come across every single day carries something of the image of the invisible, eternal, unfathomable God in them. And we just, you know, we dismiss people as though they don't matter. And I think being the light of the world is, you know, part of what we need, part of how we shine is by shining the light on that and other people and helping them see like, Hey, this is who you are. This is how God has created you to reflect his image and then treating them that way. He's treating them as though they are valuable in God's sight because they are. Yeah. And I love the imagery that Jesus uses of the contrast between light and darkness,

right? Because light will always penetrate the darkness. And, you know, as the church of Jesus, as his followers, like, we're called to be different, you know, and we're not called to be different in that, you know, we need to feel better than other people or show them our greatness or our goodness. No, like, we're going to reflect the ultimate one who is different, right? The ultimate one who is different. And like, that's why it's light, because God is so different and morally pure, so much more than we could even hope, dream, or imagine that, you know, I think there are times when, you know, we maybe try to be like the culture or we try to be like the world. And that's not the point. You know, that's not the point. Like, we don't want to reflect our own legalist mentality or rules or laws. Like, we want to reflect who God is. Yes. Yeah. Well, and you think the benefit we have as New Testament believers, right? Like, if you were living during Old Testament times and you're reading Genesis 1 and 2 and you're thinking, man, what does it mean to be made in the image of God? Like, what would God do if he was a man? Like, how would he live? How would I become like him? And as New Testament believers, we can look back and say, we have that, right? I was, it was making me think of, there's a song that was popular when I was in high school about, you know, like, what if God was one of us or whatever? I think it was John Osborne. What if God was, yeah. We got to trademark that. But, you know, there was that song, but as New Testament believers, we don't have to wonder about that because God did put on flesh, you know, in the person of Jesus Christ. So if we want to know like, hey, what does it mean to live out the image of God in my life? We can look at Jesus and be like, well, who was he? How did he respond? respond to difficult situations? How did he respond to difficult people? How did he live for God and maintain his purity, even in a culture of darkness? How did he shine? And we can look at that and say, okay, well, if this is who Jesus was, and this is how he lived as the very likeness of God, you know, Colossians says, he's the visible image of the invisible God. We can look at his visible image as recorded for us in the scriptures and say, hey, this is what it means. This is what it looks like to live in the image of God. That is so good. And it makes me think of a couple of verses here in Galatians, in chapter five, talking about, you know, the fruit of the Spirit. And, you know, talking about like,

if we are walking with the Spirit, the Spirit's in us as Christians, like, well, this should be the evidence of what people are seeing in our life. Like, this is what we're reflecting. And the thing is that these aren't things that are naturally coming out of us, they're things that I believe that the Spirit of God is helping us reflect who he is, who God is. And it says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You know, and if we're looking, like you said, we're looking towards Jesus, well, that's... Those embody who he is, right? That, you know, again, we're not... Even within every single one of us, we talked about last week, God being creative, we all have different personalities, right? And God's not asking us to say, hey, everybody become the same personality, and then it's all gonna work out. Like, no, like, these things, these fruits of the Spirit that God has and who he is, these are the types of things that we can reflect to other people. Those are the things, to your point, Brandon, that we need to call out in other people of like, man, I really appreciate this guy's self-control or his gentleness or his kindness. Because I would bet you for the Christian, what we don't want is, we don't wanna just reflect those things so that people say, oh, Brandon, you're such a great person. No, we want them to say, wow, like, he must know God, he must know Jesus, because that's who I think Jesus is. Yeah. And I think it's so significant that, actually, the fruit of the Spirit is kind of a mystery like we were talking about in Genesis 1, right? Because Paul lists, is it eight or nine things there? But he says the singular fruit. The singular fruit of the Spirit are these things, that they all express themselves out. But that aside, I think what we have to keep in mind there is that trees don't grow fruit by trying, right? They don't grow fruit by trying. They grow fruit by staying connected to the ground, staying connected to their source of nutrients and the fruit naturally happens. And I think, you don't see apple trees sitting around like really thinking about it, like, I gotta make an apple, I gotta make an apple. And sometimes we do, I gotta be more self-controlled, I gotta be more self-controlled. Now, there's an element of which we gotta rely on Jesus in those times, but we're not gonna grow fruit by effort, right? We're gonna grow fruit by staying connected to him, by allowing the Spirit to speak into our lives, to guide our thoughts, to guide our attitudes. And part of how we become who it is God has intended us to be, who it is Jesus wants to remake us to be, is by staying connected through

the Spirit, by allowing him to do his work and to grow those things in us. That is so good. And that's where we're gonna start landing the plane on this conversation today, is that you have been created for a purpose, and maybe no one has ever said that to you before. So, I wouldn't even say, let us be the first ones. I would say, let God be the first ones to tell you that in Scripture, that you've been created for a purpose, that you are loved, and that you have been created in the image of a God who has existed forever and ever, but also wants to be in relationship with you. And I don't know how many folks right now may even be thinking about what Dave had talked about with making his college basketball team and getting that jersey and feeling that pride. And maybe you're someone out there today that you're like, you know, I don't think I've ever had something like that in my life where I can be proud of. I can be proud of that or proud of this accomplishment. But again, I think the contrast to our world versus what it looks like following Jesus is that we become children of God, adopted sons and daughters of God, by because of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. And what I mean by that is that God stepped into our world as a man, a fully man, fully God, as a human, to live the life we couldn't live, to die the death that we deserved, and rose from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven. And when we believe in that and we repent of the way that we've been living, we turn from our sin, and we start to follow Jesus, what Scripture tells us is that we will be saved. We will become children of God. And that seal, maybe that thing that we can wear as a badge of honor is knowing that we have the Spirit of God in us. And like Brandon said, it's not because of trying. It's not because of anything we've done. Thank God, because we wouldn't deserve it, and neither would you, neither would any of us. But you can be a child of God by making that decision to give your life to Christ, to follow Him each and every day. And so, y'all, thanks so much for being here with us. We love y'all. We hope that you enjoyed getting to see some of your fellow Pando app watchers on that video during service. That was so powerful. Wasn't it? It was so powerful. That was so powerful. And like Matt Robison had said, that guy that came up right before Dave Stone did, we wanna be a church that pulls up a seat next to the people that are hurting. And we know that for so many of you, that epitomizes your situation in life. And so, when we meet for

these podcasts each week, it's us doing our best to pull up a seat beside you and help you follow Jesus in this season. Y'all, but for us at Southeast Christian Church, for our online team, thank you, and we'll see you next time.