You In Christ and Christ In You
Courtney Hemenway · Jul 19, 2009
You in Christ & Christ in You, No. 29
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926139286391

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So we are continuing on in the Christ in You, You in Christ Lesson 21. And again, we're looking over grace. I just want to go back, and hopefully everybody has the definition of grace that we've been using. Who can tell us what definition of grace that we've been using? Mainly from Macaulay, who distilled it down, I think, from Lewisbury Chafer's definitions. Who has that definition? After all this time, somebody should just be able to whip it off quickly. And they all sat there.

All right. Come on, somebody. Grace is the... Come on. Unlimited. Unmerited. What? Blessings. Blessings of God based on totally adequate work of Christ. After all this time you still... OK. Grace is the unmerited, unlimited blessings of God based on the totally adequate work of Christ. You know, a couple of them... Last week I read from the Hungry Heart, I found a couple others just as I was going through that were appropriate, I think, as we studied grace. I like one of the quotes.

The law demands love God. Grace declares, God so loved the world. I thought that was a good contrast, if you like. The law demands love God. Grace declares, God so loved the world. That puts it in perspective. And then the other one, the believer is placed before the Father according to the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is according to the Father's eye and heart as his beloved, nothing less. I like that one. So, according to the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is according to the Father's eye and heart as his beloved, nothing less. That's how God sees us. All right. So, how do we live under grace?

Is it a set of rules or a set of laws? Is it about a really cool new program that is going across the TV and the radio and all that? Is it a really cool program? Is it the next best-selling book? Is that how we live by grace? Is that it? No. How do we live under grace? Basically, a couple of different things. How do we do it? So are we free to do anything we want? The principles of the Word and by faith. Principles of the Word and by faith. What else? Two, that's one of them.

There are specific commandments that are the logical imperatives. If you're in Christ, you will whatever. There are sets of logical imperatives that are somewhat commandments. You don't want to make them laws, but they are logical imperatives. If you're in Christ you will do this. So they're by the principles and by the logical imperatives. So what are the basic principles for believers to determine if a behavior is okay for you? We went over this last week. There are a couple things. One, does it master you? Okay, these are some of the principles if the behavior is okay for you. Does it cause someone to stumble? And what's the difference between stumble and offend? What's that? Yeah, that's stumbling somebody versus offense, which is you did something and it offended me. Whose problem is that?

We were just talking, actually, last night, we had a party for Caroline, for her birthday. We had some people over who, his family has a lot of alcoholics, and we were talking about that, about the stumbling part. The father, his father was an alcoholic, was off, recovered, but there were several in the family that still drank. That stumbling part, when they drank, You know, he's an alcoholic. That's causing him to go back into that world or that life of sin, of being an alcoholic.

So those are the things where you're stumbling. You have the freedom to have a drink, but if you're with an alcoholic, is that, one, you do it in love, two, is that causing him to stumble? So I mean, those are some of the basic principles about stumbling and fainting.

And also, another guiding one is does it edify? Does it build up? Does it build you up in Christ? Does it edify God? And that's the last one. Does it glorify God? So those are some of the basic principles, or the guidelines for the principles. Does it mask you? Does it cause someone to stumble? Does it edify? And does it glorify God?

All right, now we'll get into it. Are there specific things, and this is question one of lesson 21, are there specific things in scripture that detail human rights? Maybe a better term would be, are there areas where God gives humans authority? Yes? No? Everybody needs coffee this morning. Share your Dr. Pepper and I'll share my coffee here. So, basically, are there some areas where God gives humans authority? No? Yes. You look skeptical. Yes. Yes. Yes. Good. Come on. I can make you get up and stand up and walk around a little bit here. Go on.

Yeah, so about governments, that's exactly at Romans 13, 1 through 3. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves." Pretty strict there.

What about Ephesians 5.22-24? That's about husbands with wives. Wise, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, he himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wise ought to be to their husbands in everything.

OK? What about, go to Ephesians 6, 1. What about parents and children? Excuse me. I have to clear my throat here. Children. Obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Okay? So we've had governments, husbands, wives, parents and children. What about, and this is, Mike made me put this in, I don't know why. No, he didn't.

1 Timothy 5.17. What about the church with elders?

The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. rule well. So do we have human authorities? Yes. They are specifically called out where God has carved out. He is the one with total authority, but he has carved out some human authorities. And this gives us some guidelines, principles to function under grace. These are not laws. These are not set commandments. These are authorities that will help create organization, basically. So, number two. What happens when a human rule or authority orders something that is not in harmony with scripture? What happens then? We must obey God rather than men. There you go. You hear that? You obey the authority when it's in opposition to scripture.

No. Okay? But, let's go through some things and if that meets that criteria. I had a couple. If you have a husband that's an unloving bum that watches TV all day and leaves his socks and underwear all over the house, is this cause not to be under his given authority? No. Right. It's not. He's a bum, but he's not doing anything unscriptural. As a child, you have a parent that is mean and controlling.

Can you disobey the parent under these circumstances? No. What? No. There's one that's nodding his head, yes, and we'll have a discussion about that later. No. What about an elder who teaches from the scripture on something that you don't like? Do you have the right to ignore the teaching?

No. No. Sometimes it's just that you don't like it. Right. It's based on, but I just, I worded it very carefully. You just don't like it. It just, no, I don't like that. Scriptural, but you don't like it. Can you disobey that elder? No. Shouldn't. No. Yeah.

I think there's a couple of issues there. One, I have the right to go like a Berean and check it out. Oh, absolutely. And two, I have the freedom and the liberty to go sit and talk to the elder about what he taught. Absolutely. And not with the purpose of coming to a compromise, but a purpose of coming to a greater understanding because, again, based on the principles that you've mentioned, I function on those principles.

Now I may, if I get stubborn and decide that I'm going to hold on to what I think a verse says, then I'm offended, I'm sinning. And it's your problem. Yeah, again, you know, if you heard Mike All teaching, here, Vern, any of them. Check the teaching out. Like Brian, you check out that teaching and make sure that it is scriptural. That is what you should do in all instances.

And that's your freedom. And then also, go talk to them. Say, you know, I don't understand that, but explain it. And it's just, you just don't, nah. Again, God has given us authority to the elders over a local body of believers. And if you just don't like the teaching and you can't prove it spiritually wrong, you're to be under that authority. You always have the option, as I say, and we'll get into the spheres of authority.

Being in my position, there are times that people come to you with a different doctrine. And they're very sincere about what they think and believe and they have verses and they're not just stubborn about it. They may be from a reformed background or covenant background and they don't understand, number one, talking about different issues. Unlike people that would come to this grace class, there's a lot of stuff in this class that you just wouldn't understand. There ensues the discussion and the debate and the teaching, but I think there does come a point in which you have to rely on what God says, once you understand it. But you know, the world, especially our country, are full of Reformed covenant believers, who are believers, who really are, hate to use this word, committed to Reformed doctrine. And there's a definite difference of opinion now. Is it a matter of who's right or wrong, or whether you can back your position up in scripture or not? You know, polemic papers have been flying back and forth for 2,000 years.

Yeah. Well, and we'll touch on this a little bit under the authorities and where those authorities are. There are certain spheres of authority that will They are unlimited. They are very prescribed spheres of authority. And we'll touch on that a little bit as we get into some of the other questions. So getting back to that question, when can you disobey the authority that God has established?

Under what circumstances? We already said it. What is that? When what? Goes against scripture. We have some examples of that. Case in point is in the apostles continuing to teach in Jerusalem when they were ordered by the Sanhedrin to stop teaching. In Acts 5.27-29, when they had brought them, they stood them before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men." Very clear.

The Sanhedrin, the council, was telling him not to teach about Christ, and yet they said, we must obey God. So they went against the Sanhedrin, but it was going against scripture, or against what God had laid out for him. So again, that's an instance where there was an authority, the Sanhedrin, the Council, but they went against it because God had directed them to share about Christ. Okay? All right.

So, what does Christian freedom mean? Question three. All right, let me give you Webster's definition of freedom is. Webster's, the first one is the quality or state of being free, independence. Second is exemption or release. Third one I love, a political right. Okay? So as a Christian, are you free? Free from the law. Free from the law, yes. Free? Free from the law. So are you free?

I don't want to do a hand, show a hand, yes or no. I've got a couple of no's and a yes. I've got them smattered across here. Freedom under grace in Christ is the freedom to do what I want to do. I think there's an issue that we think that freedom is, I can do as I please, as I function in the old man and in that environment, rather than, can I do as I please if I'm abiding in Christ? Do I have the freedom? Because I think we don't realize the bondage that sin is, and the bondage that law is, that keeps us from really doing what we would like to do.

Galatians 5.1. I'll read it both in the New King James and also in the NASB.

Galatians 5.1.

Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. That's the New King James, New American Standard. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore keep standing firm, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

So the Greek word for liberty is Eleuthera. And that means freedom. So the King James translate that as liberty. So the Greek word for set us free in the NASB is the same word, to liberate. So, same word is used for liberty and freedom. So, from those verses, does that mean you can do as you please? I am bought with a price, therefore I am not my own.

So, but it says, you know, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Free to live and to go. Nice. Yeah, Steve? Well, you almost have to answer, first of all, what were we free from? And I would say, don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. So it helps to understand what the bondage and slavery issue is. And so that, therefore, you understand what freedom frees you from.

Good. What was the yoke of bondage? Self-sin. Yeah. Sin, the law. That's what you were freed from. Which is always, I love the thought that everybody wants to go back to law. The old man, again our identification throughs, the old man is the only one who wants to go back to law and be put under law and the bondage of law. The bondage of all the requirements of law. The new creature in Christ doesn't want to do that. The new life does not want to be put in bondage again. I was thinking about Romans 7. 7.15. Here's a believer who has actually some understanding by the time he gets to 7.

But then he says, for what I am doing, I don't understand. for what I will do, in other words what I really want to do, I'm not practicing that. But what I hate, that's what I'm doing. So if I then do that which I would not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

So I think every believer has to with the bondage of law and sin. They've got to find out that yeah, they really do want to be pleasing to the Lord and obey Him and do whatever He requests, but then they find, like Romans talks about, that in my flesh, in me that is, in my flesh dwells no good thing, and it's more powerful than my will to be good. And that's a dilemma that teaches a believer dependence. and teaches him to live by faith because he knows that in his own strength he's not free in his own strength.

How many of you come to that in something in your life where you just realize you can't do it? You know, I just, I can't. That's the perfect place where Christ wants you right now. Because what? You realize you can't. But who can? He can in the Spirit. You can do it.

He wants to bring you to that point. When you go through Romans 7, I always go through, what does that expose? That exposes me to self. I think I can do it. In my power, I can do it. Or the quasi-Christian way is now my old man with the Holy Spirit, I can do it. Is that the right way to approach it? I as a sinner now who has Christ, I can take care of this.

There's that little phrase, I don't know exactly how it goes, but between me and God there's nothing we can't do, or I can't do. Or with God, there's nothing I can't do. You know, but that's where I go back to my harping and pull the string on my back, the identification. You know, and it took me a while, when early on, so there's, you know, Save sinner. That term. Of course, you see it on every billboard of every church. Save sinners. Are there save sinners? How about my co-pilot is God. The other one which I love is Footprints in the Sand.

Just rips at the heart. It's a great song. It's a great song, exactly. But when he gets to the rocky, there's only one set of footprints. That's where he carries you. Is that right, Doctrine? No. We are new creatures in Christ. That totally misses the identification truths. Totally misses them. God is my co-pilot. Come on. That totally misses identification. Save sinners. Every church has saved sinners. Do they know the identification truths? What did Romans 6 tell us?

What happened to the old man? Co-crucified. Where is this safe center? The safe center is kaput. Gone. Crucified. So there aren't safe centers. There are new creatures in Christ. Yes, there are. But not safe centers. And the co-pilot. No. I am a legitimate offspring of Christ. So there isn't a co-pilot. Everybody understand that? I'm going to differ here. Oh, I love it. I like being caring. I like it that God does it all. It's not caring though. He does it all anyway.

Now see, if you put me down on that, I'm going to have to take a page out of my autobiography. Out of your autobiography? Exactly. Okay. I don't want to do that. There's a mercy of God that He does everything for us. Right. And being carried, I think, or recognizing that He's doing all of that can be, in a sense, almost like you've been carried this way. I didn't know what you were doing for me. Now, I get it. I agree with that. I wouldn't be here without that.

Other than the thought of carried, in that You're the sinner who's now being carried. And that's wrong. That's the only thing about the carried. He's given you everything. New in Christ. He's the one who gives you the peace, the rest, everything. So the carried part is just what I'm saying. It's still that there's two. His life is our life. So it's just the visual of carried. It's the two footprints in the sand and then he carries me. No, we're not two, we're one.

That's new in Christ. But I don't want to take my page out. I'm not going to touch that one. There's this mindset that God and you are a partnership in the walk of the Christian life. over time I think there comes a realization that it's not a partnership with my contributing anything. It's a life.

It's a life and I live by faith. Romans 8 says there's a new principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus that has set me free from the principle of loss and death. Being a heavenly man, there really isn't any prince in the sand in that sense. Because He has, in His grace and His love, by my position in Christ, I have been carried the whole way.

And I guess that's probably the thing, bringing back a life. It's a life, not two of us and one carrying. It's a life. So I'm sorry about your page and your autobiography. So again, the liberty and freedom. So does it mean you can do as you please? Does it mean we're not obligated to service? Does it mean there is no authority over us? The answer is no. Okay? Is there a difference between Christian liberty and freedom?

As we saw in Galatians 5.1 verse, liberty and freedom in the Greek are the same word. This is question four, sorry, lesson 21. Is there a difference between Christian liberty and freedom?

So in Galatians 5.1, liberty and freedom are the same word. We also looked at Webster's Dictionary, and the definition was freedom. So is there a difference between liberty and freedom?

We'll look more into it in this. Further questions? I just wanted to see if you guys, if anybody brave soul out there would step out and say yes or no. We'll look at it with a little bit more in this lesson than next week's lesson, too. As we were talking in the previous discussion, the focus of the discussion right now is not the believer's position in Christ in the heavens. The focus is how does a believer function here, now, as they're walking around on the earth. And we talk a lot about positional truth. which I think has to be in place first, in order to understand this authority, in order to understand liberty and freedom, and how a believer functions and walks here. You hear that? A lot of what we talk about, position and condition, which is going to be the latter part of this Christ and You series, we intermingle with.

They're all kind of intertwined. Positional truths versus conditional. Positional are the things that are true about us right now, that can't be changed. You know, and they're, whatever the, Loosbury-Chapers, 33 things, and then the other, 212 that somebody else put together. Those are truths about us right now. Positional truths.

Not to be changed, not to be modified. You know, we're heirs, citizens. Then they're conditional. And what was the brethren had it as state and standing in state. You know, those are the old terms. We as position and condition. Condition is how we function here. Okay. So a lot of things we're talking about now are how we function here based on and what Mike says. close look there at 5.1, it seems to have a position there.

It says stand in the liberty, not freedom. Stand in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. So you stand in the liberty, it's functionally through that where we're getting freedom. Now I'm not really getting the difference between liberty and freedom there yet, but the line-up of the language there seems to be saying something. You know, and I like, because I think it's a better translation, more literal, is the New American Standard. It was for freedom that Christ set us free.

Positional. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. Condition. OK? Positionally, he set us free. Conditionally, don't throw the yoke on again. OK? That's why, like I said in the New King James, yes, stand fast, therefore, in liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

The last half is conditional. The first half is positional. in the New American Standard, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. You can look at the Greek in it too, that's a past tense, so that means it's done, completed. And then, it was for freedom that Christ set us free.

Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. Acts 15 chapter 10 it says now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which is neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear yes yeah why do you do that why you know and that's why this whole thing about law and grace I just sit here and think Why would you ever want to go under this yoke again and under law? That's what this whole section we're talking about in grace, which is liberty and freedom that we have in Christ under grace. We have immense liberty under law and sin. You're under bondage. Why do we always want to gravitate back to go under laws? That's what I'm saying.

If we wanted to do that, again, Christ would have to issue every day like manna, like your newspaper, every morning, here are the laws for today. If we want to live under that, and have all these laws to live now, he'd have to issue us every day something that would meet... I'm going to meet with you today, and I need... that's law number three, I've got to be humble and loving. And I'm going to go, and I'm going to do this, OK, I've got to do... Each day we'd have to live under a new set of laws. Why would you want that? Now we live under grace, which has great liberty and freedom. And yet we do, and that's the old man always wanting to go back to that warm and cozy spot of law.

So how do you explain the difference between law and principles? Because to some people that can sound like, okay, you just explained grace, and now you're putting law back on. Exactly. So how do you explain that? Exactly. principles, laws, you know, that they're a commandment. So how do you explain that? Well, those things, you know, one is a specific logical imperative.

Those are things, you know, don't be drunk. You know, there are certain commandments, you know, that are there that if you're in Christ, you won't do. It's like, you know, if I'm in Christ, am I going to, you know, get drunk every day? No. The logical imperative is, if you're in Christ, you're not going to be drunk. You're going to be filled with the Spirit and not drunk. Those are those logical. If you're in Christ, you're not going to do it. That's a logical imperative. It's not a law that says, thou shalt not touch a drink. And I just bring that up. It's the most logical. There's other stuff, other things.

But those are the logical imperatives, which seem like a law, but it's saying, if you're in Christ, why are you doing that? Then there are the principles. And the principles are, I think, people will make those laws. Again, it's very easy to make them a law. The other that we'll get into is these spheres of authority.

And that's the real danger is, I don't drink at all. You don't drink at all either. Not one sip. Am I able to do that? No. But that's where the danger of making my principle your principle, or I make my principle your law. So yes, it's a great question. I think it's very dangerous to start making these principles into law.

And who wants to make it a law? The old man. See, this is why the identification truths are so important, because you realize if you're wanting to make it a law, is that the new creature in Christ, or is that the old man? It's the old man, and recognize that. So yeah, it's a great question.

And I think the other is, I'm now under grace. I'm free. I can do anything I want. But as a husband and wife, as a child to a parent, as a citizen under a government, there are authorities that have been given out. So does it come down to a logical imperative that if you are living in the Spirit, this is what it will look like? Yes. Yeah. If you're walking by the spirit, this is what it looks like. That's a great way.

So how would you explain logical imperatives? It's not like a law, which is a cause and effect. If I do this, then you get blessed. If I do this, there's a cause and effect. If I do some work or effort, then there will be a compensatory result. That's a law. Under a logical imperative, if you're in Christ, you'll be walking this way, or like you said, it'll look like this.

I go back to the thing, it always makes sense, Mike's dog. He barks. He's a dog. That's what he does. So, if I'm in Christ, That's the logical imperative. If I'm in Christ, if I'm a dog, I bark. If I'm in Christ, I walk by the Spirit. If I be loving, I will love one another. All these things will be because of that, I will do this. I think it's an if-then kind of thing. And if we get the focus on the then, That turns it into a law.

If our focus is on the if, if I'm in Christ, and if I'm not carnal, I'm filled with the Spirit, I'm walking in the life, then... Mike just said it's the sense. Sense is better. Since I'm in Christ, you know, but the then I don't like. Maybe that's the way to explain it, is to say that we have to focus on the if, not are we doing the then. Yeah, because the then is the cause and effect. will do this. Yeah, Steve.

I'm still hanging up on liberty and freedom. There doesn't seem to be a difference between them, but there seems to be a distinction of function and how they interrelate. Because the liberty is there first in my inspired version of it. Liberty is there first and as we stand in liberty, it seems to be that liberty was the functional word that brought freedom. Yeah, and that's why I broke it up into the liberty, liberty or freedom, which is the same word as set us free. Those are the same two words.

So, we'll get into it more and define liberty and freedom as we go on. Okay, well, you know, let's go on to question five. Yeah, I have two things. One, I have eleven pages of New Testament imperatives. I'll pass them on next week and we'll see how you do with it. That sounded really lawyers right there. Did you see that metric? Just jump right there. Jump over this line. That was law based.

What I find with the logical imperatives is that some of them, a few of them say, don't do this. Most of them say, to do this, and there are things like rejoice always, how are you doing with that one? There is a contrast between the logical imperatives under an environment of grace with the enablement of the Holy Spirit as opposed to commands in the Old Testament where there was absolutely no provision given by God to fulfill those commands.

I'll read 1 Peter 2.11-3.12. What is the key verb in this section? I'll read it real quickly.

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.

For this finds favor, that for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up on her sorrows when suffering unjustly. But what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it patiently, endure it, and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, I'm going to skip down a little bit. We'll get down to 3.1.

In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectable behavior. Your adornment must not merely be external, braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses, but let it be the hidden person of the heart. with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way, in the former times, the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, and you would become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear. because of time.

We're going to look at that one through 312. What is the verb in here that in all of those ones, there's in subjection to government, in the household, in the family, what was the key verb in there? Submit. It's submit. Verse 13, Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution. Now look at verse 16.

Act as free men. Does that sound correct? Submit and act as free men? Submit and act as free men. Therefore, is submission slavery or freedom? You're choosing to submit. Is submission slavery or freedom? Freedom. Isn't that totally whacked into what you'd think? Submit and act as free men. So the verse appears that submission is freedom. This is important because we cannot function under grace if we do not understand liberty and freedom. If I can quickly get to it. What are the, do you have time to go? Oh yeah, I'm losing my consoles this week, so I'll be gone. Michael will have to finish. All right, yeah, we'll get it. Steve, we'll get into it a little bit more.

Question eight, give a definition of what liberty is. There will also be, I think that's the important part is when you say submit, doesn't that feel like, okay, I'm bonded again, I've thrown that yoke back on. But it says submit and then what? Act as free men. Submission. Is submission freedom or slavery? It's freedom.

And that's so whacked compared to what you'd think. So we'll get into that a little bit more. And again, this is kind of a tough, tough concept. Gets a little itchy, you know, that, wow, what do you, what? Slavery, bond, what? So Mike will finish up this lesson, and then the following lesson, lesson 22, will further expand upon this stuff. So, all right, let's close.

Everybody, Father, we thank you for this time. Father, we just thank you again for All that we have in Christ, who is our very life, we thank you that we live under an operating system of grace, which is unlimited and unmerited blessings from you. And it's based not on our works or anything from us, which is such peace, knowing that nothing is based on our works or anything that we have to do. You abundantly bless us because of So, Father, we just thank you as we look into grace and the liberty, the freedom that we have there. Father, we just thank you above all that we have the intimacy to come before you and just ask these questions and to get your answer of what grace is. We look to your word. We thank you for the spirit that indwells. And Father, we just love you and thank you for the position we're in. and the grace that we live in. So Father, we just pray for Vern in the next meeting, just for clarity of the word, prepare our hearts to receive it, and we thank you now in Jesus' name. Amen.