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Once again, good morning and welcome back to the book of Galatians. I'll be looking at chapter 6 and verse 18 today. Chapter 6 and verse 18, you'll notice it's the very last verse. That's only one verse. So, how long could we possibly be here for? Galatians 6, verse 18.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. Question for you: What assurances do you have that the grace of God is upon your life? Think about it. How would you answer this question? I know that I am under God's grace because how would you fill in the blank?

We've come to the end of the book of Galatians, and if you have been with us through this journey, two things should be very clear by now. First of all, Paul was an object of God's grace. Paul was an object of God's grace, as were the churches in Galatia.

Both Paul was an object of grace. Of grace and God's grace reached well the churches in Galatia. What do you see as the grace of God in your life? How can you be sure grace is on you? One of the biggest struggles I think many people face, and certainly Christians, is measuring the grace of God in their lives.

Is grace, is God's grace on your life? I think many of us struggle with that. We ask ourselves, is God's grace really on my life? And if so, to what degree? And how do I go about convincing this ever-doubting soul of mine that indeed I am under God's grace?

It's a profound question. Are there objective evidences that can point to the reality of God's grace on my life, or am I just going to have to live with subjective reasoning, feelings, and that? Is there some kind of objective testament that God's grace is upon my life? And what about this congregation here?

This is a church. How can we be sure that God's grace is upon us? Those are some very important questions. How can we be sure that God's grace is upon us individually? And how can we be sure that God's grace is upon us? On us in this little community that we call Emmanuel.

Because if God's grace isn't here, we certainly will not stand as a community or as individuals. So, again, what assurances do we have? Well, as we finish the book, I want to make a sweeping review of where we have been, because so that you can leave here with some kind of assurance of the grace in your own life, but also that you don't miss some of the major lessons out of the book of Galatians.

So, turn back to chapter one. And notice that this book begins with grace. Look at verse 3: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore.

Amen. So, the book of Galatians begins on this subject of grace, and as we just read, it ends up on grace as well. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit, brethren. Amen. In fact, the book of Galatians is really Paul's grand exercise. Exhortation to continue in the grace.

A few moments ago in the service, I read to you Acts chapter 13. And in verse 43, I'll just read that again to you. Now, when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, this is in the city in Antioch, this is when the gospel first was proclaimed there in the region of Galatia.

When the meeting of the synagogue, where Paul had been preaching about God's grace, had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytites followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. So the book of Galatians begins with grace, ends with grace, and really is one big exhortation to continue in grace.

Because there were a lot of forces at work in Galatia, even when Paul was there to get them to not continue in grace. You saw that opposition by the Jews followed Paul around. So there were many forces at work who were claiming that Christ's work was insufficient. But there were forces that were at work even after Paul left.

And this was really what the book is addressing. To. There were people that were coming from the church of Jerusalem and declaring that Christ's sacrifice was not sufficient. Look down at verse 6 of chapter 1. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another gospel.

Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. You see, they had been called by the grace of Christ, but they were struggling to continue with it. And I think that reality is still present with us today, continuing in the grace.

You remember at the end of chapter 6, Paul says this in verse 17: From now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus. Basically, there were these people that were causing trouble for Paul, and they were causing trouble for the churches of Galatia by asserting that grace was not sufficient.

And so he exhorts them to continue with it. Same problem is with us today, isn't it? Many of you who may have heard the gospel really take in for the time? That God's grace is upon you. You respond to His grace. You respond to the gospel. And then you struggle to continue in it.

Start thinking, okay, now that I've received grace, now it's up to me to continue in it. And many begin to doubt and strive and go back into kind of a law-keeping kind of obedience, performance-based relationship with God. But how can we have assurances that we are under the grace?

And I'm talking corporately here. How can we be sure? We're the church. There were churches in Galatia who were, as Paul is assuring them that they are under the grace of God. How can we understand that we are under God's grace and be assured of it? Well, that's what the book of Galatians is about.

It answers this question. It answers this question. And I want you to, in kind of a broad sweeping fashion, I want you to see three ways Christ's grace showed itself to the Galatian churches so that you will know how He shows His grace to us today. Three manifestations of Christ's grace to the churches.

That's what we'll be looking at. And this is really broken up into. Two chapters each. There's really these major themes go along the two chapters. Chapter one and two, chapter three and four, chapter five and six, chapter two and three, one and two is really about the gospel witness.

Chapter two and three is really about the gospel message. And chapters five and six is really about gospel transformation. We'll walk through this. First of all, Christ's grace to the churches in Galatia is seen in the authority of the witness, the authority of the witness himself. And one of the most important questions in life is: who speaks for God?

Who speaks for God? Who speaks for truth? Who can you be sure that is speaking for truth? That becomes a very important question. Who is that authoritative voice that God intends for you to listen to? Very important, isn't it? And you have two options. Certainly the Galatian churches had two options.

They could either listen to the Judaizers or they could listen to Paul. Now, I want you to step back and understand the authority that the Judaizers were claiming. The Judaizers came to Galatia churches and they were touting their church authority. Their church. They were contradicting Paul's message on the grounds that they represented the church in Jerusalem, that they had a clear line of teaching under the authority of the church, and that they spoke as those in succession to that truth, and they could speak authoritatively over the situation in Galatia.

They were claiming church authority. But Paul, Paul's response to them, was on apostolic authority. And you need to understand the difference. Look back at Galatians 1:8. Look at what Paul says. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.

Not Paul, Paul is not saying, I curse him. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, he will be accursed. And he says in verse 9, as we have said before, so now I say again, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you receive, he is to be accursed.

And this authority, as you keep reading in chapters 1 and chapter 2, this authority applied to even Peter. You remember when Peter started shrinking back and getting caught up in the Judaizing sympathies? And Paul calls him out to his face in chapter 2, verse 11. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face.

And then he says this, the end of chapter 2, verse 21, I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. So two schools of thought, two Goliaths of authority were colliding in Galatia, and they were in contradiction to each other.

Two schools. Both claimed authority. There were the Judaizers who claimed church authority. And look back at chapter 1, verse 1. This is why Paul starts his letter. Paul, an apostle, not sent from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.

So Paul immediately appeals to his apostolic authority, having met with Christ and having been sent with Christ with a very specific Message. Both schools of thought, those who claimed church authority, which, as you know, as you keep going in chapter 2, they weren't really under it, certainly. But the two schools were in contradiction.

Both appealed to Scripture. Both claimed authority. Both used logical argumentation. Both had very persuasive speakers. Both made very emphatic declarations about God and His ways and how we are to respond to Him. So put yourself in that situation. How can the Galatian churches answer the questions? How can they decide who's right?

Does this situation sound familiar today? In our so-called Christian landscape today, we are dealing with far more than two schools of thought, aren't we? I mean, there is just this baffling array of teachers and preachers and champions of systems of theology, and they oppose each other in small ways and sometimes in very large ways, and it's all at our fingertips now.

The internet has made contradictory theological chatter just abundant. It's more accessible than ever. And so, how can we decide which is true? Which religion is right? Which theological Denomination within a religion is right. Which is correct? It's a war of Goliaths, theological Goliaths. How can the average person stand?

When you see two elephants fight, guess what gets trampled? The grass. And a lot of churchgoers are being theologically trampled by ecclesiastical heavyweights, caught up in the middle of it. How in the world can we decide? Is there any grace that God has given to help us sort through what is truth and what is error?

See, Paul does not respond on the basis of church authority. You see, the problem with church authority is you inevitably end up, well, this church believes something different than this church. So is there any umpire between the two? And the danger of that kind of authority is people just end up gravitating to the church with a little echo what they believe.

And so we're left without a way to really decide which church, because there's a whole bunch of churches that are claiming authority, claiming to speak for God, many religions speaking for God. No, Paul responds on the basis of apostolic authority. And don't get me wrong. Churches have authority, much like a family, a parent have authority.

But their authority is not to usurp or take priority over what God has said. And this is what the first two chapters are about: the authority of the witness. Christ didn't send somebody who had no authority to speak the gospel to Galatia. Paul, as he said in verse 11 of chapter 1, for I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.

This doesn't, what I proclaim to you, the gospel that was delivered to you, wasn't something that originated in the realm of man. It's something that came directly from God. And he says this in verse 15 of chapter 1. But when God, who had set me apart, even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.

In other words, I met Christ. And so the gospel that I am proclaiming to you is not something that came. From even my consultation with the apostles. It came directly from Christ. It didn't come from me getting approval from the church in Jerusalem. He said, it's something that transcends the church and man.

And, you know, as you go through chapter 2, you realize that Paul does say, yeah, I went up to Jerusalem. I did meet with the apostles. There was even a big Jerusalem council where they were hammering out this theological issue. Because there were many in Jerusalem church were saying, you must make the Gentiles obey the law of Moses in order to be saved.

But what happened is, as Paul will testify to the churches, is when he got to share with the apostles that they were excited about the message of the gospel that was being proclaimed. They were in wholehearted agreement with the message that Paul was saying. And that's why he says in Galatians 2:7, but on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised, verse 9, and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me.

Me and Barnabas, the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. In other words, there was complete agreement with the apostles on this issue. But Paul wasn't going up there to say, you need to approve, let me submit to you the gospel so that I can get authority to go preach it.

No, he's saying, I received the gospel from Christ himself and the message of the gospel through Christ himself. You see, the gospel is what brought the church forth. The gospel brought the church forth. The church didn't bring the gospel forth. Do you see the difference? It's a big difference and a very important one.

The church did not authorize the truth. No church has the authority to authorize truth. They can only recognize the truth. And that's what brought the church into existence: God had spoken, and there were people who believed what God said, and that's what brought them together under the authority of his word.

And there are many religions who sit and institutions of men because they see themselves as authorizing what is true. No. That's the way of error. That's the way of man-centered thinking. In order to think like God, you're going to have to get outside the realm of man and Let God speak to you.

And that's what he brought to Galatia. Through a series of divinely orchestrated events, and we spent some time looking at it, the conversion of Sergius Paulus, Paul's health issue that ended up bringing him into Galatia. All this was Christ at work. And what he was doing was he was sending an authoritative witness to the truth to Galatia.

This was an expression of the grace of our Lord extending to Galatia. He had to give them someone with authority, he had to give them a message, a witness to the truth that was reliable. This apostolic witness to the truth is no small grace. How can we be sure that we stand in the truth?

How can I be sure as a father that I am teaching my children the truth? You know, there's a lot of false information in this world today, isn't there? I mean, we are in information overload. False information, fake news, and AI. Wow, I don't know how you sort through what I'll.

Even what you see now, you kind of question: is this reality? It is a great grace to have something that you know speaks for truth. I love picking up the Bible because I know it's true. It's that square foundation upon everything it speaks about. You want to know what truth is?

Go to the word. Authoritative witness to the truth. It is no small grace to be able to have this gift, and it is more abundant now than it has ever been. How are you stewarding that grace? How do you know the gospel you received is the truth? Well, does it square with the Scripture?

How do you know you have not received another gospel? Well, does it square with Scripture? Is it focused on Scripture? Does it emanate out of Scripture? Does it come under Scripture? Does it recognize what God has revealed in Scripture? Listen, what we have in the Scriptures is the written prophets, the apostolic witness to the truth.

That's what you hold in your hands. And its plain meaning will not fail you. You come to it. God wrote it in a way for you to understand it. It's no small grace. Pick up the scriptures. Read. Its plain meaning will not fail you because God knows how to communicate.

So come to it. You do not have to go through life being confused theologically or trampled theologically by the ecclesiastical giants of our times. Avail yourself of this grace. How do you know that God's grace is upon this church, upon you personally? Is that He has given us an authoritative witness whereby you can distinguish between truth and error, the true gospel and the false gospel.

So the authority of the witness is the first manifestation of God's grace to the churches in Galatia. Second is the message of the cross. This is really what chapters three and four are about. You see, the message of the cross answers another one of life's most important questions.

And that is, how can a sinner be justified before God? How can you be justified before God? Very fundamental question of humanity. How can you be right with God? Well, this is what chapters 3 and 4 are about. You see, the Judaizers came asserting that one must obey the law of Moses in order to be saved.

Outward conformity to the prescriptions and details of the law. But they argued that faith alone in Christ's sacrifice alone was not enough to make you righteous. Something else was needed. Oh, sure, Christ's merit may be of some portion of your salvation, but you need to supplement it. And that stays with us today, doesn't it?

Yeah, you can. Christ is sufficient, but it's important for you to do a couple of things as well. And even if we won't confess that on the outside, sometimes we will take that to heart. But look at how Paul begins chapter 3. Look at chapter 3, verse 1.

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? And then Paul goes on to, in chapters 3 and chapter 4, expound upon this grace. Grace that is at the core and heart of the gospel message or of the message of the cross.

Do you even understand the message of the cross? Well, Galatians 3 and 4 are all about that. First of all, one of the key elements of the message of the cross is that through the cross, Christ redeemed his people from the curse of the law. Christ redeemed his people from the curse of the law.

You see, before you can become right with God or come under his favor and his blessing, you've got to escape his curse. You've got a problem, sin on your life. How do you escape God's sworn curse upon the sinner? Paul's answer is given to us in Galatians 3.13.

Look at that. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. So on that cross, what was Christ taking? The curse. Substitutionary atonement. He covered. He took the curse. But having escaped the curse, that just means we've escaped the curse.

How do we come under the blessing of God? Well, that's the second major teaching element of the cross. So, first, through the cross, Christ redeemed his people from the curse of the law, but through the cross, Christ also bestowed upon his people the blessing of his Holy Spirit.

The blessing of Christ's Spirit. Look at Galatians 3, 14 as Paul continues the thought. Verse 13, in order that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. What God had promised to Abraham is that all nations are to come under the influence and control and union with the Holy Spirit and thereby come under the blessing of God.

This was what God's promise to Abraham involved. You see, there has to be something within us that God blesses. And we know it's not of us, so he has to put it there. So he has to put the Spirit of Christ and His ways, the Spirit of Christ and His ways, and in this, this is what He delights to bless.

He imparts His Spirit. It's not like He just goes and He does. Just simply bless us in our ways, but he makes his ways our ways, and it's his ways that he delights to bless. And so, as he puts his spirit in us, what he is doing and transforming us, he makes his ways our ways, but that comes only through the cross and through faith.

That's not something anyone can do. The third major element, or third major element in the message of the cross, the first is that Christ redeemed his people from the curse of the law. Second, Christ bestowed upon his people the blessing of his spirit. And third, through the cross, the spiritual sons of Abraham are born.

You see, faith, two things you need to know about faith: faith is a disposition. Faith involves an assurance of things not seen. It's a confidence in realities that don't meet the naked eye. So, faith is a disposition. God is unseen, and so we must take in by faith who He is and what He is doing.

So, faith is A disposition to believe, to be assured of things not seen, and the mechanism of that is his word, to believe in what he says. Second truth about faith you need to understand is faith involves the right object. Faith is a disposition to believe the unseen, yes, but it also has a right object.

There's a lot of wrong objects out there to put your faith in. Faith involves the right object. Really, faith is a disposition of what you do with the truth. That's what faith is. What do you do with the truth? Faith is what you do with the truth. So it's a disposition to believe, it's to take the truth and to put it into practice.

So faith is a disposition. Faith involves a right object. But the law, you can think about the law as a tutor, and might I say our good tutor, what did it do? It laid out for us in word, in shadow, and in type that which must be grasped.

The content of faith. It points to in word, shadow, and type. And it points to what? The corpus of the cross. The cross. And what needs to be believed in order to have righteousness credited to us as Abraham did. And that's in that way becoming a spiritual son of Abraham.

Look at Galatians 3:25. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Paul's been talking about the law as a tutor. What happens once the tutor has taught the lesson? What happens to the tutor once the student has mastered the material? A tutor is no longer needed, at least in a sense of salvation.

You can think of the law as sort of the launching scaffolding for a rocket destined for the moon or a planet. Once the rocket is launched, there really isn't any need for the scaffolding. At least to launch the rocket again. Yeah, it may still point to the trajectory of where it was going to go and all that kind of stuff, but at least in the analogy, for salvation purposes, once the tutor laid out in word, shadow, and type who the world was to be looking for, and once the world and once Christ was revealed, it is no longer needed for salvation.

The context, the context, the content. Is the corpus on the cross, body, blood of Jesus? You see, the content of faith before Christ came was anticipating the cross. There we had a nameless, faceless lamb. But now, after that Christ has come, the world has come of age, we know his name.

Looking back on the cross of Jesus, it's Jesus Christ who is crucified in fulfillment of the law. And that's why he says, look back, verse 26, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise. You are the spiritual descendants of Abraham. You are like Abraham, believe. Faith. And so what Paul is saying in all this, if we believe in the purpose of his death, that Jesus bore our sin and bore our curse, then we know that we have a sufficient sacrifice.

For our sin, and we know that nothing else is necessary in this regard. We know that Jesus bore our sin. We know that he bore our curse. We know that we have a sufficient sacrifice, so nothing else is necessary. And this is the truth, the message of the cross that Paul is driving home.

And the invitation of the cross remains the same to you today. Maybe you haven't come to Christ. Come to Jesus. Take in. Take in by faith His curse-bearing crosswork. That's what He took in. He bore the curse. That's what He did on the cross. Move your focus from yourself, from your external conformity to whatever standard you have erected in your mind is what's going to please God.

Move away from that to the focus upon Jesus Christ and what He accomplished at the cross. Move your focus from yourself. That's not going to save you anything. And from all the periphery of all the things that you're doing, focus yourself on Christ and His work. That's where your faith is to be directed.

Call on Him, and He will personally apply. To you, the benefits of his sacrifice. And that's what he's saying. Come to me. I will apply the benefits. I will give you rest. There's only one place where you can be at rest, and that is in the work of Christ.

It's the only one that's sufficient. Churches are not under the Mosaic law, but we are under the law of Christ. And as you've read through this, what Paul has been saying, these are not at odds with each other. We're under grace, the law of Christ, and under his spirit, these things are not in contradiction to one another.

His law is grace, and an expression of his grace is his law. His spirit means to implant that and carry it out. You see, the true gospel is about conformity to the spirit of a person, to the spirit of Christ, rather than someone's interpretation of a code of ethics.

That's what the true gospel is about. It's about a relationship with the living Christ and conformity to his person. That's what Paul has in mind as he talks about the law of Christ. And as we've gone through chapter 6, it's clear that what all is involved in the law of Christ, well, it's loving the way Jesus loves.

That's the first three verses of chapter 6. Anticipating Christ's personal evaluation of our lives. That's what verses 4 and 5 is. Sowing to the Spirit, verses 6 through 10, boasting in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, verses 11 through 14, experiencing the new creation, verses 15 and 17, and enjoying the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The very last word, the great of the book, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. That's how he concludes the chapter about life being under the law of Christ. It's about enjoying the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ now and forevermore. It is also a fitting conclusion to the whole book.

You know, justification is that instantaneous declaration whereby a person is declared righteous because of Christ's work. Sanctification involves that progressive living out of the new nature in daily life, sanctification. It's about life in his spirit. Notice that the Spirit of God is in us. Galatians 4:6, Paul says this, because you are sons, God has sent forth his Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

So the Spirit of God is in us if you are in Christ. And life then becomes learning to. Live as his children. We're children of God, so let us live. And that's what the last two chapters are about: living in the Spirit. And there's really three major exhortations there.

Galatians 5:16, but I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 5:18, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. Verse 25, if we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit. So you've got to walk by the Spirit, but before you can walk in the Spirit, you've got to be led by the Spirit.

So you start seeing how this message of grace comes. How are we going to, what's the importance of the Spirit? Well, you need to be led by the Spirit, think the thoughts that he reveals and how they apply to your life. Walk in them, obey them, carry them out.

And he gives us a final exhortation to sow in the Spirit. So think about what life in the Spirit looks like. Being led by the Spirit, listening to His words, walking in His Spirit by obeying His words, and sowing to the Spirit, investing yourself in His ways. And when you do that, God will bring about the fruitful kind of living that He's after.

And what is that? Verse 22 of chapter 5, but the fruit of the Spirit. Is really a person. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there are no laws. There's no law. So, Christ, when you think about Christ's grace to the churches in Galatia, he saved this people so that they can be like him.

Will the musicians go ahead and come forward, take the platform as we get ready to conclude? Let me ask you, back to my original question: What assurances do you have that you are under God's grace? And how are you responding to the reality of His grace? There's the grace of an authoritative witness, there's the grace of the message of the cross, there is the grace of the gift of His Spirit.

How are you stewarding these graces? Do you really believe? That's how He manifested His grace to the churches in Galatia. So, how does this impact us? Well, the same way: Christ's grace to us is seen in His gospel witness, the gospel message, and the gospel transformation. We too have.

The grace of an authoritative witness to the truth. We have it in print. We have the grace of the message of the cross contained therein the authoritative witness. We have the grace of the gift of His Spirit, which promotes gospel transformation. Which, by the way, in our, we're starting a Bible study called the Horizons, New Horizons, Horizons.

And we're going to go deep into this ministry of the Holy Spirit, a very practical, I hope you get a flyer on it. It's out there. It's meeting on Thursdays. Look into that because what we want to do is to take this message of Galatians. This is the core message of Galatians in a practical sense.

There's the salvation side, justification sense. But then what do you do with all that? Well, you sow to the Spirit. You be led by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and sow to the Spirit. And we're going to go deeply into that over the course of the semester.

And you're welcome to join us. But as we conclude today, life is about enjoying the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the exhortation to continue in grace. It's about enjoying the grace. Of our Lord Jesus. How do you do that today? Well, enjoying the confidence, number one, that we have an authoritative witness, enjoying the gospel realities and all that they grant and promise, and enjoying the presence and the power of Christ's Spirit in us.

The invitation to you today is to bow your hearts before him. If you've never asked Christ to come into your life, to do so today. If you need to just surrender more fully and give up trying to please him in your flesh by some sort of outward conformity to somebody else's criteria, I call upon you to embrace the cross, invite the work of the Holy Spirit into your life, and let him do his transforming work.

Friends, you're under his grace. You have his witness, an authoritative witness. You have the message of the cross before you. And you have the power of his spirit to apply these truths to our hearts and to transform us into his image. Let's pray. Father, help us to be good stewards of this grace and to respond to this grace as Paul responded.

Father, that's what we know you desire, and that's. That is what we want, and we're not going to bring it about in our own strength. And so we call upon your Spirit to please transform us for your glory and because Christ deserves it. In Jesus' name, amen.