Grace for Our Identity | Grace to & through | Part 2 | Pastor Rob Koke | Shoreline Church | Message

Good morning, everybody. Let me try that just one more time. Good morning, everybody. It is so good to have you. Welcome to Shoreline. Let's all of us stand to our feet. We do something at the beginning of every single message. We wrap our understanding around our Shoreline creed. And today, oh my gosh, it was like winter. I forgot to tell the weather people that we're in spring. But thank you for persevering through the cold weather. And it's great to have you. We want to give a very warm welcome to all of you who are watching online from around the city and maybe even around the state, the nation, the world. We welcome you to our campuses here in Austin, Texas. Come on, let's give a huge shout out to those who are watching online. We love you guys. We are going to recite our Shoreline creed as we do every single Sunday. And it's really a reminder that Christianity is all about grace. But in light of today's message, I want you to focus in on the third phrase of the creed, I am forgiven and made brand new. Because that's going to be our theme together here this morning. So as we share our creed, special emphasis on that particular phrase. Are you guys ready? Here we go. I am loved by God. I cannot earn it. I cannot lose it. I am forgiven and made brand new. In Christ, I live with passion and purpose.

I am empowered by the Spirit to be the church in the world and to live this love revolution. Come on, let's give God praise for that. You may be seated. So I know you're probably like me that you love, you know, some of the conveniences that our technology affords us, especially in the kind of online, you know, financial world, our online identity. We can do so many things that used to be a little bit more of a hassle. You can, you know, get a check from somebody and just take a picture of it and deposit it in your account. You don't have to go to the bank. That's pretty cool. If you want to send somebody some money, you can do it pretty conveniently with Venmo and Zelle and all of that. But with the convenience of our technology, we've also had to become a lot more aware of the potential fraud that can be perpetrated upon us. And so we're much more conscious about our online, you know, identity. And so if we get some, you know, information in the mail that we think is a little bit sensitive, you know, in years past, generations, they wouldn't think too much about it, just throw it in the trash. But nowadays, you know, you bring it to the shredder, you know, so that nobody, you know, can access any information. You know, you get an email, like the other day, I got this email that said, thank you for this purchase. And I'm thinking to myself, I didn't buy what they said that I bought. And then they had a phone number, if you have any questions, and ah, that's it, you know, they just want you to call because they want to get some of that private information that they can use, you know, to somehow manipulate your identity. And some people go to the, you know, extreme of having a company monitor, you know, their online identity, and they pay an annual fee or a monthly fee to have somebody make sure that nobody is, you know, going to steal their identity.

That's a real, you know, issue in today's world. But I find it ironic that most of us as conscientious people will go the extra mile to preserve our online identity. But we don't apply ourselves in any significant way to preserve our true identity. The enemy is out to hack your identity to make you feel less than who you really are. And we've got a battle, we've got a battle on our hands to understand and to fully appreciate and engage in who we truly are. are who God has made us to be. And that is the subject of our lesson here today. We are doing a deep dive into the book of Ephesians and we are learning about grace, what God has done for us, so grace to us. And then how do we live outside of what God has done for us, grace through us to make a difference in our families, in our personal lives and in the world around us. And so last week we kind of kicked it off with Ephesians chapter one to really focus in on one of the foundational issues of Christianity. And it's so foundational and yet so profound that sometimes we don't have the courage to fully embrace it. But in Ephesians chapter one and verse seven, we talked about the forgiveness that we have by what Jesus did on the cross. In Ephesians chapter one and verse seven, it says, in him, we have the forgiveness of our sins. We walk underneath the waterfall of God's incredible, amazing grace and that is worthy to be celebrated. Come on, let's give God praise for the grace

that forgives us of our sins. When we move from Ephesians chapter one into Ephesians chapter two, on the foundation of the forgiveness of our sins, we also have this remarkable truth that builds on that foundation that has to do with our identity. And this is so important for us to embrace. In fact, so important that we actually included it in our creed. So every single week when we gather together before the message, we stand, we say, I am forgiven and made brand new. That's like the one-two punch of the cross, what Jesus did for us on that cross. He forgave us of our sins and then he made us brand new. When it comes to identity, I think though, that we get so wrapped up into some of the things that we gain our identity from that aren't necessarily the most important things. All of us, when we think about our identity, it's a pretty complex equation, right? It has to do with a lot of different aspects of our personality and our roles. It's a mixture of a lot of things. Part of our identity, excuse me, part of our identity comes from the roles that we fulfill. Every single one of us fit in a family at some level.

We're either a son or a daughter or we're a husband, we're a wife. We are parents perhaps of kids or maybe like Laura and I, we are grandparents. I am opes to three grandchildren, soon to be five grandchildren. Laura is Lala, Lala and opes. You know what? It's kind of fun. We have the kids over at the house as much as we possibly can and we call our house the house of yes. Every request is met with yes. You want ice cream? Yes. You wanna stay up late? Yes. We're the house of yes and then we give these spoiled kids back to their parents. That's our role as grandparents, right? And I love being with our grandkids. I thought we were out of those children's shows forever. Man, I got so sick of Barney when our kids were growing up. Never wanted to see him again but now I'm sitting on the couch with Sterling and Gemma and Nala and we're watching Cocomelon and we're watching Paw Patrol and I'm loving being with the kids. That's part of my role.

That's part of my identity and you guys have your own roles, right? And then often when we think about identity, we think about career choices, right? We say, well, who are you as a person? We often respond with what we do for a living. You know, I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer, I'm a teacher, I'm a coach, I'm someone involved in the service industry, a waiter perhaps, whatever the case is, we tend to identify with the profession that we have chosen. Often our identity in part comes from our associations and the fraternities or sororities that we were a part of. maybe perhaps in college, part of our identity comes from our ethnicity. And, you know, I've shared this in the past, you know, it's not a surprise, but my mom, you know, born and raised in Holland, my dad born and raised in Holland. And so I am Dutch all the way through. I'm Dutch. Laura, on the other hand, is half Polish and half Irish. And so I get to enjoy a beautiful blend of culture and ethnicity. And by the way, we have, you know, Shoreline Austin, and we got Shoreline Tulsa, and Shoreline Dallas, and Shoreline Guatemala, but we also have a campus in Poland. And Yuri and Karin, who are on staff here at Shoreline,

are in Poland today preaching at Shoreline Poland. Come on, let's give God praise for all of the different ways that Shoreline is making an impact. But we all have our ethnicity, many of you, from whatever background you are, that's a part of our ethnicity. And that's a beautiful thing. But all of that pales in comparison to the identity that we have as believers, as Christians. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you receive far more than you ever realized. Yes, you know, we receive the forgiveness of our sins, we talked about that last week, but we also receive a brand new identity. And so that whole idea of forgiveness and made brand new, forgiveness and made brand new, we see that playing out in scripture all of the time, that the writers of the New Testament will talk about how we've been forgiven of our sins and then move immediately into the fact that we have also been given a brand new identity. And that's exactly what's happening here in the book of Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter two, verse four and five, we read about how we are forgiven by God's incredible grace and love. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our trespasses,

it is by grace that we are saved. And then if you read the next two verses, Ephesians chapter two and verse six and seven, we move right away into a statement about our identity. God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages, he might show his incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Both of these beautiful gifts attributed to grace. Grace provides the forgiveness of our sins and grace provides for our brand new identity. Now, there are so many scriptures in the Bible that talk about who we are in Christ, our new identity. I mean, literally, you can probably make 15, 20, 25 incredible statements about who you are in Christ. But in this particular verse, and we'll hang out here for just a couple of minutes, it says that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, that that's part of our identity. And I want you to notice that it doesn't say he will seat us with Christ, as if to say if we're good enough, if we perform that we might earn a place of sitting in heavenly places. It says that by grace, he already has seated us with Christ in heavenly places. Somebody ought to be really excited about that this morning. We receive this very special place

of being seated with Christ as a gift of God's grace. Laura and I, we were flying on a plane and we were sitting in coach every once in a while, you know, we might get an upgrade because I have status with one particular airline. We like to try to collect miles with this airline so that we can get free trips from time to time. And so I'm sitting on this plane, Laura is sitting next to me, and the flight attendant comes up to us and says, a seat has opened up in first class. And would you like it? And the flight attendant says, I would love to have a seat in the first class. The flight attendant didn't ask me And we're like, okay, we're gonna have a seat in the first class. if I wanted the upgraded seat. We're gonna have a seat in the first class. The flight attendant asked Laura, who didn't earn any status whatsoever. And so it's like a grace moment. This lady looks to Laura and says, if you want the seat, you can have it. And so Laura gets up and says, see you later. No, no, she didn't, she didn't do that. She wanted to stay with me. She'd rather stay with me and coach than get a free upgrade to first-class because that's the amazing woman that she is.

Yeah, she's awesome. But when she turned it down, I took it. No, I didn't. I wanted to though. So we were offered by grace a first-class ticket for a flight. And I'm here to tell you this morning that you are seated with Christ in heavenly places. You have been given a first-class upgrade, not for a flight, but for your entire life. And you didn't earn it, you don't deserve it. It came because of what Jesus did on the cross. And being seated with Christ, oh my gosh, has incredible benefits. It means something. It means that you have relationship with Jesus. Being seated with Christ, that's close proximity. When Laura and I go to the theater to watch a movie, she always wants me to bring a blanket. So I bring a blanket with me. And I probably shouldn't say this, but every once in a while, we'll bring our own food in because she's a health fanatic and she doesn't want the food that you have to pay for there. But I love a big bowl of popcorn with butter, and not just on the top, but butter that they actually put in halfway and then they put some more popcorn and more butter on it. I need to renew my mind.

But when we sit together and watch a movie, we kind of snuggle up with a blanket there. It's close proximity. And part of understanding that you are seated with Christ in heavenly places is all about how you are in close proximity with the creator of the universe. He loves you, you're in relationship with him. But it's not just about relationship, it's about authority. When the Bible says that you're seated with Christ in heavenly places, it's not just about spiritual encouragement. It's not just a nice phrase that might lift your spirits a little bit. It's actually a legal standing that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. Kings rule from a throne and they had power because they were seated on a throne. You have power because you are seated on the throne with Jesus. You've got power over your circumstances. You've got power over the enemy. And when it says that you're seated with Christ in heavenly places, that's a whole different perspective. You don't have anything to fear. You're not looking up at your problems from the world's perspective. You're looking down on your problems from God's perspective. You're seated with Christ in heavenly places.

And when you think about being seated with Christ, it implies rest, right? You're seated. You don't have to earn. You don't have to strive. It's something that's already been done for you. You're not fighting for a seat at his table. He's given it to you by grace. The seating chart has been finalized by grace. And this is the fruit of both the gift of forgiveness and the gift of your identity is that you can rest in your relationship with God. You can have peace with God. When I was thinking about that resting, I was thinking about the reality that the Bible speaks of that all of us have been adopted into his family. And when you're adopted into the family of God, that's a legal status. It's like an official thing. You're not trying to be a part of the family or you're not striving to be a part of the family. You're actually adopted into the family. It reminds me of my sister, Elsa. She has a family that they've adopted four children, three of them from Haiti, one of them special needs. And then another girl that they adopted from Florida. So they have four adopted children. I've got a picture, this is my sister Elsa and her family. And those kids, they're legally a part of her family. They're not, you know, just striving

to be a part of the family. They've got a seat at the table. When they gather around for lunch or for dinner, they're not wondering if they're a part of the family. They're not striving to be a part of the family. They're not straining to remain in. They are family forever. It's a legal certainty. Now, you know, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're always gonna behave in the right way. They're a part of the family. That's a settled issue. They might behave and make some choices that earn some consequences, or they might make some choices that earn some blessing, but they've got a seat at the table. That is a done deal. They can rest in the fact that Elsa and Brian will be their parents for the rest of their lives. And we are seated at the family table of God, and we don't gotta strive, we don't gotta earn, we don't gotta strain. We are there by grace. Now, the Bible is full of incredible revelations. We took some time to unpack the reality that part of our identity is that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, but honestly, the Bible is full of all of these statements of who we are in Christ. For instance, in 2 Corinthians 5, in verse 17,

it says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone. Everything has become brand new. That's who you are. You're not like a new coat of paint on an old barn, you're a brand new barn. And yet the enemy wants to come at you, hack into your mind and into your heart, and somehow convince you that you are less than who God made you to be. That somehow you're worthless, or somehow you don't measure up, that somehow you're less than what he has destined for you to be. And we need to embrace and believe our new identity. Romans chapter 15 in verse seven says we're accepted. 2 Corinthians chapter five in verse 21 says that we are righteous. Listen to this verse. It's like one of the most incredible, mind-blowing verses that you'll ever read. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. It's like the divine exchange. We, who are very sinful, gave up our sin, gave it to Jesus, he took it upon himself, so that we, who are not very righteous, would receive a full righteousness that Jesus had. He took our sin and gave us a gift called righteousness.

That is our identity. And if I went on, I am a son, the Bible says, a daughter, an heir, Galatians chapter four in verse seven. I am justified and redeemed, Romans chapter three. I am triumphant, victorious, an overcomer, 2 Corinthians chapter two. I am liberated, Galatians chapter two. I am chosen and blameless before God, Ephesians chapter one. I am complete and perfect, Colossians chapter two. I am holy, Hebrews chapter 10. Now let me say it again from Ephesians chapter two. I am seated with Christ in heavenly places. That is who I am and my friends, that is who you are this morning. In Christ, you are every single one of those things. You gave up the mud and got the gold. You gave up the worst and you got the best. You gave up the ugly to get his beauty. The problem is, is that we have a tough time believing that, really believing that. And it's super important that you do. Because all of us here today, every single one of you here at our North Campus, all of you guys watching at Shoreline Behind Bars, everyone who's watching online, every single person, the reason why this is so important is that all of us behave out of what we believe. We all do. We behave out of what we truly believe

in the core of our hearts. Not what we think we believe, not what we hope we believe, not what we wish that we believe, not that we hope that other people think that we believe. We don't always act consistent with those things, but we always act out of what we truly believe in our hearts. Behavior follows belief. Just give you this example. I believe in the core of my heart, in the power of gravity. How many of you believe that? So here I am, I'm standing on this stage, and if I decided to take a step off of the stage, I am 100% convinced that I will not remain at the same level. I'm not gonna go up, I'm not gonna remain the same. I am 100% convinced that if I step off this stage, I'm going down. That's what I believe in the core of my heart, unless the rapture happens, then I'm going up. And I'm gonna dunk a basketball on my way. But today, I'm walking on this stage, and I'm walking a little bit carefully because I'm so close to the edge. Why am I walking carefully? Because I behave out of what I believe. I believe, I always do, and so do you. So if you believe that you are a blood-bought son

of Almighty God, that you are victorious, and you are an overcomer, that you are holy and complete, if you believe in the identity that God has given to you as a gift, it will change how you behave. But if you believe that you're nothing but a dirty, rotten, no-good sinner, that you're not worth much, that you don't have a lot of value, you will behave consistent with what you believe. So I've gotta do everything I possibly can with the Holy Spirit's anointing and power, and you gotta open up your ears and your heart to hear what I'm about to tell you because your behavior rests on what you believe, and I wanna convince you that you are made brand new in Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. So I got three ways that I wanna help try to convince you of that reality this morning, and real quick, hopefully, you'll be able to relate to all three of them, but maybe one will speak to you louder than the others. The first one, I'm gonna need Pastor Ken to help me and join me on stage. Would you give it up for Pastor Ken? He's amazing. And he has been with us for 18 years. He's been on staff at Shoreline.

He's the executive pastor over Family Ministries. He's an amazing guy. He loves the Lord, and he's a great administrator. We love having him on the team, but I'm not sure how he made it on staff, to be honest. Something slipped through the interview process that we should've caught, but now it's a little bit too late. We just have to deal with it. But Pastor Ken is an Oklahoma Sooner fan. I know. I got some pictures to prove it. I don't know how it happened. I don't know how he got on team, but he's a Sooner. But today, Pastor Ken's life is going to change by grace. Today, Pastor Ken is going to become a Longhorn. Come on, give it up for Pastor Ken. Now, Pastor Ken is not going to believe how good it is that he's a Longhorn fan. Sometimes he's going to feel a little bit unworthy that he's a Longhorn fan. Sometimes he might forget that he's a Longhorn fan and go back to cheering for the Sooners, but that's why there's the gift of forgiveness. We cover all the bases. But he's gonna have to renew his mind. He's gonna have to work really hard. But if he believes in his heart that he is truly a Longhorn fan,

he's gonna show it by how he behaves. Come on, show us. No, no, no. There you go. And he might be tempted, you know, to do the Longhorn thing. Longhorn's down sign, but God's grace is sufficient. Forgive, he's gonna have to renew his mind. I have a stream of text with former Longhorn players that attend Shoreline and they were a part of the first service and they were very, very concerned that Ken's, well, that his awareness of how good this morning was in his life might fade. And so they suggested, and I think it's really important that Ken should wear this shirt for the next couple of months to renew his mind to the beauty of his new status. Come on, give him a great big hand clap. That's... That's one example. Okay, maybe you're not a sports fan. I know every one of these illustrations will fall apart a little bit, but maybe you're a movie buff and maybe you love the Marvel comics and all of that. Let me draw an illustration from Spider-Man. Okay, so you got Peter Parker and if you know anything about the story, he's kind of a nerdy guy. He's in high school and he doesn't got any muscles.

Nobody really likes him. And then something happens where he is bit by this genetically altered spider and he wakes up after he's bit by this spider and he is a different person. And he looks in the mirror and now he's buff, kind of like me in that way. And he starts using his hands and he's quicker than he's ever been in his life. And he goes to school and somebody tries to pick a fight with him, but he's now stronger than anybody else. And then he gets home after school and he starts doing the wrist thing and spider webs start flying around. And it seems like the next half hour of the movie is Peter Parker learning to adjust to the new reality of who he is. And that's the point I just wanted to emphasize is that when you begin to recognize who you are in Christ, we get to spend the rest of our life understanding the full implications of the fact that we are righteous, that we are holy, that we are complete, that we are sons and daughters of the living God. How should we live? What dreams should we carry in our heart? How should we approach life? How should we love people in our world? How should we live?

Supernatural, because the Holy Spirit has genetically altered who we are on the inside. We're not just a little bit improved, we're a brand new creation in Christ Jesus. Okay, maybe you're not an athlete. Maybe you're not an athlete. Maybe you don't like Spider-Man, but everybody's a nature lover. Maybe this illustration will help you. An eagle was born and raised with prairie chickens. Nobody knows really how it happened. This legend unfolded where an eagle was found with prairie chickens. As soon as he was hatched into the world, all he saw was prairie chickens. And prairie chickens can't fly, they just kind of scoot along the dust and they pick out of the mud worms and bugs, that's what they eat. And the eagle saw the prairie chickens, didn't know any better, so that's all he did. He just copied what he saw. He would scoot along the dust, he would pick out of the mud, the worms and the bugs to eat, until one day an Indian came up on this group of prairie chickens and the eagle and saw the eagle and said to the eagle, you have no idea who you are. You're not a prairie chicken, you're an eagle.

You were meant to soar, you were meant to fly above and spread your wings and allow the winds to carry you to great heights. You were meant to feast on the best that the earth has to offer. You're not a prairie chicken to live your life in the mud. You are an eagle to soar high and dream dreams. And the eagle heard what the Indian had to say. still carried on like he was a prairie chicken. Day after day, the Indian would try to convince the eagle that he wasn't what he thought he was. Until one day, the eagle had an idea and got a mirror and put it in front of the eagle so that the eagle could see for himself who he really was. And when the eagle saw that he was different than a prairie chicken, that he was in fact an eagle, something about the words that he had heard kind of nurtured in his heart. And he ran out of the dust and spread his wings and the wind took him and he began to soar. And I'm here to tell you this morning that the Bible says that it is a mirror, a mirror to every single one of us, that when we look into this word, we can see who God made us to be. And we are not prairie chickens to eke out our existence in the dust. He has called you to soar. Grace has given us the greatest one-two punch in the world, the forgiveness of our sins and a brand new identity

and you need both. Ephesians chapter one says that we have present tense, the forgiveness of our sins. Ephesians chapter two tells us that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. God was so passionate that we would understand who we truly are, that we would understand what grace has truly given us. He was concerned, and I think rightly so, that so many of us would have our minds and our hearts polluted, even by well-intentioned people that are in our world, telling us that we are less than who God says we are. He knew that we would face a battle. He knew that we would face an enemy who would try to hack into our identity and steal who we really are. So he wanted to put into the sacrament of the church something that he said, I want you to celebrate this as long as the church is in existence. I want you to celebrate this particular sacrament. We call it communion because it celebrates the beauty of the forgiveness of our sins and our brand new identity. So if you came to church this morning, we hoped that every one of you would receive, have already received a communion packet on your way in. But if you didn't, for whatever reason, would you raise your hand right now? We have ushers who are going to serve. Just keep your hands raised until they can serve you.

And we're gonna celebrate communion together in just a couple of minutes. Just hold onto that packet. Don't partake yet. But keep your hands raised until an usher can get you a packet if you didn't receive one on your way in. He put this reminder of the sacrament and he told the church to participate in it frequently. The wine represents his blood for forgiveness. His body represents our brand new identity. In Matthew chapter 26 and verse 26, Jesus is with his disciples. And he says, after he took the cup of wine and gave thanks for it, he said, this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. We have all sinned, we have all failed. And every single one of us are in need of the blood for forgiveness. And I don't care how mature you are. I don't care how many years you've been serving the Lord. I don't care if you're an El Pastor like me, we all need the blood of the lamb that takes away the sins of the world. And there was some bread and the bread represents his body. Jesus said, only in so far as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and the blood of the son of man, do you have life within you?

The one who brings a heavy appetite to this setting and drinks has eternal life and we'll. be fit and ready for the final day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood, you enter into me and I into you. What he was saying is that when you participate by eating the bread, you enter into who you are in Christ. It's a reminder of who he's made you to be. And all of the in Christ statements in the Bible get re-energized in your heart and in your mind. The blood for the forgiveness of sins, the bread for our new identity. So if you have your communion packet, I'd like for you to take it and you can pull back the top tab first, but don't eat yet. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took some bread and he broke it and he said, this is my body, which is broken for you. As often as you eat of it, eat in remembrance of me. Remember your identity. So Father, I lift up to you this bread and I ask that you would touch it with your presence that to our faith, it would be the body of the Lord broken for us. In Jesus name, go ahead and partake together. If you're holding that communion packet, you can pull back that second tab,

but just wait for a moment. After the bread, Jesus took a cup and he said, this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you drink of it, drink in remembrance of me. The bread for our identity, the blood for the forgiveness of sins. So Father, I lift up to you this cup and ask that you would touch it with your presence that to our faith, it would be the blood of the lamb that takes away the sins of the world. Go ahead and receive. As we remain in an attitude of prayer here this morning, with nobody leaving early or moving around, just honor this moment. Maybe you came to church and you're not where you need to be with God. You'd say, pastor, I'm not living right. I'm not doing right. I'm not where I ought to be with God. I need prayer. Maybe you made a decision at one point in time, but you slipped away and today you need to rededicate your life to serving him. Or maybe you've never invited him into your heart. If you wanna meet him for the first time or you wanna rededicate your life to serving him, would you please raise your hand quickly and boldly wherever you are? Say, that's me. You're gonna become recipients

of the greatest gifts ever in life. The gift of forgiveness and the gift of a brand new identity. All of you with your hands raised and there are many so beautiful to see. I wanna encourage you to pray this prayer out loud after me, right there where you're seated. And I'm gonna ask everyone else as a reaffirmation of your faith in God to join me in this prayer. If you're watching online and you wanna get right with the Lord, pray this prayer right where you are, out loud after me. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus. Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart. Forgive me of all my sins. I put my trust in you. And I will live for you from this day forward by your power, for your glory, in Jesus name, amen. Would you give them all a great big hand clap? So beautiful. We have some people who would really love to help you if you just prayed that prayer this morning on the West entrance. There's a sign and it's not by accident, made brand new in light of today. We do it every single week, but it makes it more important even after hearing today's message. And also on the East side. And so either way, after we're dismissed,

you can make your way over there and they would be honored to give you some information that'll really help you live this Christian life. Let's all of us stand to our feet. And while you're standing, I wanna let you know that we do have some prayer partners here upfront that would love to pray with you. If you've got a special need that you'd like to receive prayer for. But just as a way of celebrating what we heard here today, our creed says, That I am forgiven, and what? Amen. I am forgiven, and what? Amen. One more time. I am forgiven, and what? Amen. God bless you. Have a fantastic rest of your week, and we look forward to seeing you on Wednesday night for groups. God bless.