Pursuing Peace as Christians

1:14And that's because stronger believers live in the world of May. As in, they understand that as Christians, when it comes to matters of opinion and Christian freedom, we may do this or we may do that. You don't have to do this or have to do that. And their temptation, the temptation of the stronger believer, was to despise the weaker believers in the church. That is to look down on them because they did not exercise the same freedoms that the stronger believers did.

1:49Weaker believers in the Roman church did not feel the freedom to eat meat that was sacrificed to idols. And they didn't feel the freedom to not observe the Jewish Sabbath. They felt like they had to do that. They felt like they had to keep the feasts and the holy days. And that's because weaker believers live in the world of must. When it comes to issues of Christian freedom, they feel that they must do this or they must do that.

2:18And their temptation was to judge the stronger believers. To look at those people who are exercising their Christian freedom and say, I can't believe you think you can do that. I think you can't believe you think that you don't have to do that. They would judge them. And God has the same command to both the strong and the weak in that section of Scripture, and that is to welcome one another. Not to despise each other, not to judge each other, but just as God has welcomed us through faith in Christ, we are to welcome one another.

2:52And so Paul continues on in verse 13 today with this theme. If you look there in verse 13, he says, therefore, in light of Everything that he said in verses 1 through 12, therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer. Paul says, enough. No more despising, no more judging with respect to matters of opinion, matters of Christian freedom. It is ungodly, it's immature, it's sinful to despise and judge other Christians over matters of opinion. So we need to get rid of those attitudes. We need to help each other in the church get rid of those attitudes. All despising, all judging, all attitudes and words and behavior that divides the church over opinion. We must welcome one another as God has welcomed us in Christ.

3:57And today, as we'll see in verses 13 through 23, we do that by pursuing peace, pursuing peace with our neighbors and with ourselves. You see, if exercising our Christian freedom harms our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are not walking in love toward them. And we must love our neighbors. And if exercising our Christian freedom is harming ourselves, well, then we are not loving ourselves either. And God could. Commanded us, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

4:34So, in the way that we exercise our Christian freedom, we have to make sure that we are loving our neighbors and loving ourselves. And so, here's the main point of this section today, and the main point of the sermon: In exercising Christian freedom, we must pursue peace with our neighbors and with ourselves. In exercising Christian freedom, we must pursue peace with our neighbors and with ourselves. So, let's look now at verse 13 and see that first point: pursue peace with your neighbor. Verse 13.

5:16Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

5:55In this passage, Paul gives two commands to obey that help us to pursue peace. With our neighbors. And we can summarize those in two short phrases. First, do no harm. And second, read the room. Do no harm and read the room. First, do no harm. Now you might think to yourself, how is my Christian freedom going to harm someone else? And why is that my problem anyway? Well, in verse 14, Paul affirms that there is nothing unclean in and of itself. God created everything in our world, and he pronounced it very good. Nothing is unclean in itself. However, Paul says in the verses that we read, it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. So remember the context. The Roman church is filled with believers who had Jewish backgrounds, and for their entire life, they only ate a strict Jewish kosher diet. Every week of their life, they observed the Jewish Sabbath from Friday, sundown to Sunday, Saturday, sundown. Every year, they observed the holy days and the feasts. They did that their entire life.

7:24Their minds were programmed to think things like bacon and shrimp and Meat sacrificed to idols were unclean. Those were just totally off limits. And so, after coming to faith in Christ, they can't just flip a switch and then go order the bacon-wrapped shrimp at Fish Daddy's. That's not how that works. So, think of it this way: if you're a believer and you grew up in a Christian home and your parents viewed drinking alcohol as sinful, or maybe if you grew up in a home with parents who were alcoholics, or maybe if you at one point struggled with alcohol yourself or were an alcoholic yourself, it's going to be very hard, if not impossible, for you to view alcohol as clean, as something that you or maybe anybody could enjoy responsibly to the glory of God.

8:24Well, friends, that's how it was in the church at Rome. With respect to certain issues, like eating meat or drinking wine or not observing the Sabbath or the feast days, weak Christians just simply could not view those things as okay. And so, in verse 15, Paul says these weak Christians are actually grieved by what these stronger Christians are doing. It actually breaks their hearts to witness it. And more than that, he says there that in a sense, those stronger Christians. Are destroying weaker Christians with their choices. Now, what does Paul mean? Destroy is an intense word. Well, in the context of the passage, if you look at the whole thing, the opposite of destroy in the passage is build up. So you see that in verse 19. Take a look at verse 19. Paul says, So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. for building one another up, for building up each other's faith and confidence in the Lord and his word and the Christian life. Our calling as Christians is to build each other up. That's the whole purpose of the spiritual gifts we learn in the New Testament. We exercise our spiritual gifts not primarily for our own good, but to build up the body of Christ, to help them grow, to help their faith grow in strength, in depth, and breadth. That is the whole point.

10:02So if our calling is to build each other up, then we shouldn't be doing anything that tears each other down. And if our Christian freedom is getting in the way of someone else, if we are tearing others down in exercising our Christian freedom, then we aren't walking in love. So what do we need to do? We need to make sure that we aren't harming others by the way that we exercise our Christian freedom. And according to Verse 13, we do that. How? Look what it says, verse 13.

10:36But rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. What does this term stumbling block mean? Well, one of the analogies the Bible uses often for the Christian life is the race of faith. You see this like in Hebrews 12. Okay? So there's a starting point, you come to faith in Christ. Then there's your life. That's the race that you're running. And that finish line is either your death or when Jesus returns. That's the race of faith. And so when Paul uses this term stumbling block, if we picture the Christian life as the race of faith, putting a stumbling block in the way of another Christian would mean exercising our Christian freedom in such a way that it makes another believer trip and fall during the race of faith.

11:30Our choice or our choices have at least temporarily halted their progress. And then Paul adds that we mustn't even put a hindrance in the way of another Christian. So going back to the analogy of the race of faith, if a stumbling block is something that makes another believer trip and fall, well then a hindrance is going to be like coming up beside them while they're running the race of faith and adding a weighted vest. Putting a weighted vest On somebody that's trying to slog it out on this marathon that is the Christian life. That's not helpful. We're slowing their progress down. We're making finishing the race of faith more challenging. And so, what Paul says is we have to decide to never do those things, to never put a stumbling block or a hindrance on another Christian. We don't want our choices to halt or slow their growth as believers in Jesus.

12:30And so, friends, if you're a strong believer and you understand that in Christ you have freedom to drink alcohol or watch certain movies or listen to certain music or wear certain clothes at the beach or at the gym, you need to understand that not all Christians see that the same way. They don't feel the same freedom that you do. And that could be for any number of reasons that you do not know. You don't know their family history.

13:10You don't know what may have happened to them. You don't know what unique struggles and temptations that they have. But they do. And so they don't do the things that you feel the freedom to do as a Christian. And when you do those kinds of things in front of them, you are grieving them. You're breaking their heart. You're putting a stumbling block or a hindrance on them. You are tearing down and destroying what God is trying to build up. You are doing harm.

13:48So, when we learn that any of our Christian freedoms and exercising those Christian freedoms is harming another Christian, we do not respond by saying, deal with it. That is not an acceptable attitude for a Christian. That is ungodly, immature, and sinful. As stronger Christians, as more mature believers, when we find out that we are causing another Christian harm with our freedom, we say, out of love for you, a fellow believer for whom Christ died, I will gladly limit my freedom. Happily limit my freedom. Because here's the deal: if you will not limit your Christian freedom for the good of another Christian, you are actually a weak believer yourself.

14:44Remember, a weak believer lives in the world of must, not the world of may. Right? So, a weak believer and a strong believer, the difference is not do you do these things or not do those things? That's what makes you a strong believer. No, no, no. Strong believers make decisions to do. Things or not do things, it comes back to how you view the entire thing. Is it a may issue or is it a must issue? And so, if you must do something, by definition, you are a weaker believer. The stronger believer says, I may. In any particular context, at any particular time, for any particular reason, I may do that.

15:24And so, we should all desire to be strong believers, believers who live in the world of may rather than the world of must. And that means we must wisely choose when and how we exercise our Christian freedom. So, we are to pursue peace with our neighbors, and the first way that we do that is by doing no harm. Second, read the room. That's the second way we pursue peace with our neighbor. Read the room. Look at verse 16.

16:02So, do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So, then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not for the Sake of food destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

16:48Remember, Paul has said over and over in this passage: nothing is unclean in itself. We are free to do or not do anything that isn't sinful. So the issue here is perception. It's how our Christian freedom is being viewed by others from the outside. So Paul says, don't let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. Because in the end, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking. It's not a matter of voting and vaccination and school choices.

17:27It's a matter of righteousness and joy and peace through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And so if exercising our Christian freedom is grieving other believers, if it's destroying what God is doing in them, if it's leading them by our example to violate their own consciences, then we are not walking in love. If it's causing division in the body of Christ, we need to read the room. As strong Believers, we say, my freedom, which I regard as a good thing, is being spoken of as evil. It's causing other believers to stumble. So I will gladly lay down my freedom for the sake of my brothers and sisters in Christ, because their spiritual well-being is more important than me exercising my freedom on this matter of opinion.

18:24That is a godly, mature approach. And that's how stronger believers should conduct themselves with godliness and maturity, aiming to please Christ by loving those for whom Christ died. Look again at verse 18. Paul says, Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Friends, this is what every Christian wants. We want to be acceptable to God with our behavior, our attitudes, our choices. We want to hear at the end of the race, well done, good and faithful servant. That is what we want. And if we are aiming for that, if we are aiming for the approval of God, then we will also have the approval of man in the ways that matter.

19:28We are serving Christ when we will. Willingly lay down our freedoms for the good of other Christians. So, friends, let me challenge you to consider whether your words and your actions and your attitudes are making for peace and mutual upbuilding or not. Perhaps you already know that some of your choices have led to conflict in your family, in the church, among your friends who are believers. You know that what you're doing, what you're saying, what you're posting on the internet is doing harm.

20:14You can keep doing it. That's your right as a human being and even as a Christian. But, friends, Christians are not fundamentally concerned with their rights because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was not fundamentally concerned with his rights. He laid down all of his rights. He emptied himself and took the form of a servant. He went through everything that he went through in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, so that we could be reconciled to God.

21:00He came for us not while we were just weak, although that is true. He came for us while we were still sinners and did that. Our example, our model, the one that we are to seek to emulate, is our Savior who laid down all of his rights as the Son of God for the good of you and me. And so, in the same way, we lay down our rights willingly. We decide to do no harm and we read the room because in doing those things, we are pursuing peace with our neighbor.

21:41Let's move on now to verse 22. We're going to see that second point: pursue peace with yourself. Pursue peace with yourself. Look at verse 22. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. So we've been talking about pursuing peace with our neighbors.

22:30But it is also important that we pursue peace with ourselves. And if you were here last week or if you listened to the sermon online, you remember that we talked about how important it is to make up your mind with respect to matters of Christian freedom. Make up your mind. Another way to say that is pursue peace with yourself. It is important to pursue peace with our neighbors, but it is equally important that we pursue peace with ourselves when it comes to Christian freedom. And so, in the rest of the text here that we see, Paul gives us three encouragements. How do we pursue peace with ourselves? We'll put these on the screen. Enjoy your freedom. Enjoy your freedom quietly.

23:22Enjoy your freedom confidently. First, enjoy your freedom. Twice in this passage, Paul states that everything is clean. Nothing is unclean in and of itself. You are probably familiar with the Lord Jesus when he and his disciples were confronted about things that they were eating, that Jesus declared all foods clean. He said it's not what goes into the body that makes somebody unclean, it is what comes out of the body, namely our words, our sinful words that come from the heart.

23:58And so in the New Testament, the Apostles reinforce that teaching from Jesus. And Paul writes in Colossians chapter 2: He says, Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food or drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. I had a terribly discouraging conversation last spring with a fellow pastor. I said, How was Easter weekend for you guys? And he said, It was fine. It was just another Sunday. And I was like, Okay.

24:40And I was like, Oh, well, you know, we had a really good conversation. I said, Did you guys do anything for Good Friday? And he said, No, we don't celebrate Good Friday. That's a Catholic thing. And I was like, okay. And then I turned to the man on my right and started a new conversation. You know, you think about the way Christians approach Halloween. Early on in our church's history, we thought it would be a great idea for our life groups to encourage them, if they wanted to, to have a little party in their driveway, to set up some little games for kids and use that as an opportunity to talk to people about Christ and invite them to our church. And basically, the whole church did that. And I got an email on November the 1st.

25:28This brother who was attending our church. He said, I want you to know that we didn't do anything for Halloween. We turned off all the lights and had a Bible study. And we will no longer be attending your church. Okay? You have the freedom to do that as a Christian. I just thought, you know, maybe one of the only times that people are actually outside of their houses visiting with each other during the year would be a good time to tell them about Christ in our church. So you don't have to do that. You don't have to celebrate Halloween, but you can. Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food or drink or with regard to a festival or Good Friday or Halloween or anything else.

26:14Look at 1 Timothy 4. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the Word of God and prayer. Everything created by God is good, nothing is to be rejected. Friends, these things aren't sinful, they're not unclean in and of themselves. And if something isn't sinful, then it's allowable. And if something is allowable, then it's permissible for Christians to enjoy. So that's the first thing that Paul wants you to understand: you have freedom. Enjoy it. Enjoy your freedom in Christ. But that takes us to his second encouragement, which is this: enjoy your freedom quietly.

27:01Okay, look again at verse 22. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Now, what does Paul mean here? Because it sounds like he's saying, keep your Christian faith to yourself. But that can't be right because there's scores of other verses that command us to share the good news of Jesus Christ, to be missional in our approach to life. So that can't be it. No, when Paul says the faith that you have, keep between yourself and God, he's referring to the context of this passage. In other words, the faith that we have to enjoy our Christian freedom. If you have faith to be able to enjoy a certain aspect of Christian freedom, then great.

27:52But keep that between yourself and God. The command here is addressed to the stronger believer, the one who has faith to eat or drink or wear or watch or listen. And the command could be restated, enjoy your freedom quietly. In other words, don't flaunt your Christian freedom. Don't make a big deal out of it. Don't advertise it and parade it around in front of other people. And in the age of the internet, that's so. Certainly means that we need to be extra careful with the words and the images that we post on the internet.

28:41Back when I was on social media, I would occasionally see Christians, usually men, sometimes pastors, posting pictures of themselves with like a glass of bourbon in one hand and a cigar in the other. And the caption would say something like, enjoying God's good gifts for God's glory. I want you to understand, I think Christians have the freedom to drink bourbon. I think Christians have the freedom to smoke cigars. I think Christians have the freedom to drink bourbon and smoke cigars simultaneously.

29:30But as it turns out, God does not have an Instagram account. So that post put a stumbling block in front of some Christians. It added a hindrance to other Christians. And then all of our non-Christian friends get to watch us fight and argue in the comment section below. About whether those things are allowable or not allowable, good or bad, sinful or not sinful. So, whatever your freedoms are, enjoy them. But keep the faith that you have between yourself and God.

30:18In other words, enjoy your freedom quietly. Now, our final encouragement from Paul: number three, enjoy your freedom confidently. Look at verse 22 one more time: the faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. So, Paul teaches that we are blessed if we have no reason to pass judgment on ourselves for what we approve. And what he means is that there are times when Christians do things or don't do things and then feel guilty and think to themselves, I shouldn't have done that.

31:20I shouldn't have done that. That could be anything: drinking alcohol, watching certain movies, listening to certain movies. Music, buying and wearing certain clothes, going to certain places, skipping Sunday morning worship for sports or travel, or just because you're kind of tired. Remember what Paul wrote earlier back in verse 5. We'll put this on the screen for you. With respect to exercising our Christian freedom, Paul said, each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. Why is that so important? Look again at verse 23, that last verse in the section. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

32:17Christians, it is very important that when it comes to our opinions and our Christian freedom, that we are fully convinced in our own minds that what we're doing is not just allowable, but it actually honors God. And that's because whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. That is an all-encompassing statement. If you cannot say, Jesus, I would want you right here next to me while I do this, it's sin. Friends, we must exercise. Our Christian freedom with a clear conscience. We have to be fully convinced in our own minds that what we are doing, what we are saying, is honoring God, every single decision. Because Paul is clear: if you doubt that what you're doing is right, it is sin. And that's because you're not just ignoring, you are actually defying your God-given conscience, your God-given innate sense of what is right and what is wrong for you. As we've said, there is nothing that is unclean in and of itself.

33:38The things that are wrong for you are not wrong for everyone. But if you can't do something or if you can't not do something with a clear conscience, it is wrong for you. And if it's wrong for you, it is sin for you. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. So, brothers and sisters, God wants you to enjoy your freedom. And he wants you to enjoy it quietly. But you cannot enjoy your Christian freedom if you don't have a clear conscience.

34:16So, to build on what we learned last week, search the scriptures, seek counsel, pray for guidance, and then make up your mind so that you can enjoy your freedom. Confidently. That is how we pursue peace with ourselves. As you listen to this, you might be in a place where you are realizing this morning that you are not at peace with yourself and the choices that you've been making. Maybe it's things that you consume: food and drink, movies and music, images, or videos.

35:07It might be things that you do with your time, your money, your body. In the past, you may have felt the freedom to do those things. You may have told yourself there's nothing wrong with what you're doing. You may have told other people there's nothing wrong with what you're doing. You might agree with the t-shirt that you see from time to time. Only God can judge me. Well, you are right in one sense. The choices that you make are yours and yours alone. And in the end, it does not matter all that much what other people think about you.

35:53But it does matter what God thinks about you. And this is what he says in 1 Corinthians. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Friends, do not be deceived. Do not be fooled into thinking that your choices don't matter.

36:42Don't be fooled into thinking what those t-shirts imply. Because what those t-shirts imply is only God can judge me, but he won't. God will judge you. God will judge you and me and every person who has ever lived. And he will not judge us on some subjective scale, the one that we often use for ourselves that slides up and down. He will not judge you in contrast with other people and whether you're a better person than other people that you know.

37:23He will judge you according to his own perfect law. And so, if you are committing sexual sin of any kind, if you are worshiping idols, if you are a thief or a drunkard or a swindler, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. And that's because all of those things are sins. Sinners cannot enter into God's kingdom, and every one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But here is the good news: God takes sinners and he transforms us into saints.

38:08The very next line in that passage that I just put up there, 1 Corinthians 6, it talks about all of those sin issues, and then it says, and such were some of you. That's who you were. But what happened? Paul says, you were washed. You were sanctified. You were made holy. You were justified. You were declared righteous by the Lord Jesus Christ and by His Holy Spirit. Friends, when we place our faith in Jesus' perfect sinless life, in His death on the cross in our place for our sins, in His resurrection from the dead, God no longer looks at us as sinners. That's who we were. He now looks at us as saints.

39:01And saints enter the kingdom of God. Not because they're good people, but because Jesus was a perfect person. And so, if you haven't done so, place your faith in Christ. If your conscience is burning this morning over the things that you have done, turn from your sin and place your faith in Christ. He is your only hope. Religion cannot help you, church attendance cannot help you. Only Jesus can help you. Put your faith in him. If you're already a Christian, I want to leave you with this question: Am I pursuing peace with other Christians?

39:51Am I pursuing peace? Or have I despised them, judged them? Have I cut them out of my life? If so, Paul says that what we are doing is we are grieving others for whom Christ died. If we're not pursuing peace with them, we are destroying and tearing down the work that God intends to do in each of us and in the church. We are partnering with Satan to hinder. What God wants to do in other Christians' lives. That is a big deal. And so, if you've done that, or if you are doing that with your words or actions, then God calls you to repent. Repentance looks like going to those believers that you've offended and apologizing and asking forgiveness.

40:50It would include deciding going forward never to put a stumbling block or a hindrance on another Christian in the way that you exercise your Christian freedom. It would look like you keeping your Christian freedom between yourself and God. You know, during the COVID years, I saw and experienced so many concerning things. Things that broke my heart as a Christian, as a pastor, frankly, as a member of the human race. But you know what was the hardest?

41:37You know what caused me the most grief in that season? It was seeing Christian churches turn red or blue as believers left one church for the other so they could be surrounded by people who Thought just like them politically. It was seeing Christian churches become mask or non-mask churches, woke or non-woke churches, vaccinating or non-vaccinating churches, homeschool or public school churches. Millions of Christians in our country said, God may have welcomed these people into his kingdom, but I will not welcome them into my fellowship.

42:43Friends, our calling from God is to welcome other believers because he has welcomed us in Christ. Our calling is to make up our minds once and for all that we are not going to divide over these things. I was not brave as a pastor until COVID. And two years into that mess, I finally stood right here on a Sunday night and I said, enough. If you want to act that way, you are not going to do it here because we are not going to divide over those kinds of things.

43:23We are going to love and respect one another as we have been called to in Christ. We are going to unite around the gospel of Jesus. Jesus Christ. We are going to unite around the things that we hold dear from the scriptures, not opinions, not Christian freedoms. We are going to unite around the main thing. Because, friends, by doing that, we become a shining light in the darkness, a city on a hill whose unity points to the glory of God and the grace of Jesus Christ in one of the most divided times our nation has ever seen. That is the vision. I want to invite you into that. I hope that you will embrace that vision, not because it comes from me, but because it comes from the word. And because that's what Christians need, and that's what non-Christians need. We need to see unity around the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, friends, unite with me. Let's pursue peace with each other and pursue peace with our neighbors.

44:24Let's pray. Father, we want to begin by saying we're sorry. We are sorry for the ways that, with our words, our attitudes, and our actions, we have brought division into the body of Christ over stuff that doesn't matter, over opinions, over areas of Christian freedom. We confess that it is our pride that leads us to think. That we are right and everybody else isn't just wrong, they're evil. Forgive us for that, Lord. That is a worldly attitude. We pray that you would continue to unite us around the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray that we would learn to love each other and to pursue peace with each other when we differ. We pray that non-Christians would be drawn to Jesus because they look at such a diverse group of people and they think, How could these people be united around anything?

45:41Lord, we pray that your grace and your gospel would shine. And God, we pray for non-Christians among us and in other churches around our community and around the world today who are hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. God, we pray that this morning you would draw men and women and children to yourself. I pray that every person here with a guilty conscience, every person who has been made aware of their sin this morning, would turn from it and turn to Christ in faith. Jesus, you said that if anyone comes to you, you will never cast them out. We pray for salvation today.

46:30God, thank you for your word. Thank you for your spirit. Thank you for our church. Thank you for the gospel that unites us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.