But When God

Got your Bibles, I’d like you to turn with me to the book of Galatians, chapter 1. We’re going to start a series, a little short series through the book of Galatians. Rich book. The book is basically Paul’s letters to the churches that he helped start in this area. He probably did it on his second missionary journey. Now, if you’re wondering where Galatia is at, it’s modern day Turkey. We’re not quite sure. There’s a lot of theories about whether the church is in the northern region or the southern region. I’m not sure that’s important. What’s important is Paul helped establish, and he had a heart for these guys. These men and women that he had brought to, you know, brought to the Lord. Started with the Jewish community, but now the Gentiles were coming, and the churches were starting to grow, and he wanted to encourage them. So he sends this letter that probably went from one church to another church to another church. And as he does it, he kind of reintroduces himself because they’re going through tough times. You know, when churches start, I don’t know if you know much about church plants, but you know, one out of two fail. And church plants is one of the toughest things that’s going out there, and it just takes special people. And these churches were trying to get there, and people were coming in right behind Paul with even false doctrines. So he’s having to deal with that. But he wants to tell them that just, guys, God, say your focus has got to be on Jesus. And so that’s kind of where we’re at.

This week, I heard a story, and rather than tell it to you, I’ll let CBS News tell it to you. So Donnie, if you’ll put that up there. We end this week with a lesson in forgiveness from Steve Hartman on the road. It all went down on this block in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Back in 05, Jamel McGee says he was minding his own business when a police officer accused him of and arrested him for dealing drugs. You’re saying the officer made it up? Yeah, it was all made up. Of course, a lot of accused men make that claim, but not many arresting officers agree. So you phonied the report? I did. I falsified the report. This is former Benton Harbor police officer Andrew Collins. Were you just trying to chalk up an arrest? Basically, the start of that day, I was going to make sure I had another drug arrest. And in the end, you put an innocent guy in jail. Correct. You lost everything. I lost everything. My only goal was to seek him when I got home and to hurt him. Really? That was my goal. Eventually, that crooked cop was caught, served a year and a half for falsifying many police reports, planting drugs and stealing. Of course, Jamel was exonerated, but he still spent four years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Today, both men are back here in Benton Harbor, which is a small town, maybe a little too small. Hey, guys. Thank you. Last year, by sheer coincidence, they both ended up at Mosaic, a faith-based employment agency where they now work side by side in the same cafe. Excuse me. And it was in these cramped quarters that the bad cop and the wrongfully accused had no choice but to have it out. I said, honestly, I have no explanation. All I can do is say I’m sorry. And Jamel says that was all it took. That was pretty much what I needed to hear. Today, they’re not only cordial. Saturday, we went to the trampoline park. They’re friends. You know, we talk about life. Such close friends. Not long ago, Jamel actually told Andrew he loved him. And I just started weeping because he doesn’t owe me that. I don’t deserve that, you know. Did you forgive for his sake or for yours? No, for our sake. Not just us, for our sake. Jamel went on to tell me about his Christian faith and his hope for a kinder mankind. He wants to be an example. So now he and Andrew give speeches together about the importance of forgiveness and redemption. Grab this one, send it over there. And clearly, if these two guys from the coffee shop can set aside their bitter grounds, what’s our excuse? Steve Hartman, on the road, in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Could you do that? Jamel McGee was actually where he would slip the drugs put into his coat pocket. He was actually down and went to a convenience store because his wife was about to have their first baby.

And so he’s excited. And Andrew Collins, the policeman, this wasn’t his only guy. He did this to 20 other guys. And if you heard, Jamel got 10 years. He served four before they finally released him. And the policeman got 37 months. And yet God kind of uses them and puts them together. How does that happen? Jamel talks about how he first saw him at a park after he was released. And he went up to him and he asked him two questions. First question was, do you remember me? Second question was, can you explain, because he was standing there with his son, why I wasn’t there for him. Never saw his first steps. Never heard his first words. Never was there to help his wife as she struggled probably in those early years. And yet now they’ve come together. How does that work?

Well, Paul, in this passage, tells the very same thing. He said, let me tell you what I used to be like and what God did. And I want to tell you, when Paul shows up on the scene, not everybody’s believing that he’s had a change of heart. If you’ll just kind of follow with me. Starting with verse 11 of chapter 1 of Galatians. He tells that it comes from a different place. He says, for I would have had you known, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. But for I neither received it from man nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. It comes from somewhere different. This is why I’m going to be changed, folks. It’s not about me. It didn’t come from me. Because you have heard of what my former manner of life in Judaism. I used to persecute. And I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and try to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. He said, let me tell you what I used to be like. They knew who I was.

Point one, Paul’s life had success. Let me tell you, Paul had, I came up with three things in his life. He had academics and education. I’m always amazed why God even chose Paul. But you know, when He wanted to change kind of that area of the world, He chose His disciples. But when He wanted to change the world and the future, He chose a guy named Paul. He wrote 13 of our books in the New Testament, 14 if you count Hebrews. The guy who gives us our doctrine. And God reaches down and chooses this guy. He was smart. He studied under a guy named Gamal, who was the teacher of teachers. So Paul knew the law. Paul understood it. Paul could quote it for you. And the Bible says he had passion. It wasn’t that he just had academics and education. He had passion. He had ambition. Paul was the up and coming, you know, guy that probably one day would probably have been, you know, the high priest. And he wanted to get there. There was no doubt he wanted to get there. Remember how when deacon was, I mean, when Stephen, the first deacon, was killed? Who was right there? Paul was right there. Paul had heard the gospel. To him, it was blasphemy. And he was out. And I want to tell you, when they heard Paul was coming to their area, man, they went into hiding. They were scared. He separated families, put them in jail. That was his life. That was his goal, his ambition. He couldn’t get any more. The more collars he got, as far as he was concerned, the more medals it was. The more he could put on his resume. Just like this police officer. He had it all. And yet God chooses Paul.

I love the next three words that are here. He says, you know, you’ve heard what I used to be like, my former life in Judaism. He said, I used to persecute you. I enjoyed persecuting the church. Yet God reaches down and chooses him. I’m always amazed at who God chooses. I just am. I just find that absolutely amazing to me. You’ve heard me tell the story of a Sunday school teacher by the name of Edward Kimball. Timbal went to a shoe store in Detroit, and he took the young man who’d been visiting Sunday school, his Sunday school class, who really didn’t want to be there, and he took him down into the basement, and he led him to the Lord. And that young man’s name was D.L. Moody. Now, you got to remember, this is happening in the early to mid-1800s. By the time D.L. Moody’s career would be over, just in the 1800s, he would speak to over 10 million people. He didn’t have TV, he didn’t have social media, he didn’t have the radio, he didn’t have any of that. And yet, he would affect the lives of that many people. And one of the lives he affected, and you’ve heard me tell the story, he influenced a guy by the name of F.B. Meyer, Frederick B. Meyer, one of the great preachers in England, who he brought over, and while he was preaching here, he touched the life of a young guy that worked in a YMCA by the name of J. Wilbur Chapman. And J. Wilbur Chapman went on to become a great evangelist. But while he was in that YMCA, he knew a pro baseball player whose name was Billy Sunday. And Billy Sunday would then would go on to become one of the great evangelists. And he would speak in Charlotte. And the prayer ministry there brought him in to do a revival. And they were so excited at what he did that they wanted to bring him back. But he says, I can’t come, but let me get you a guy from one of the nights. His name’s Mordecai Hamm. And they brought him in. And another Sunday school teacher stuck two 15-year-olds in the back of his truck. One was named Grady Wilson. The other was named Billy Graham. But it started with a Sunday school teacher who went to a shoe shop.

But here’s the deal. In that time frame, in that time frame, he preaches to a guy named F.B. Meyer. Now, you may not know who F.B. If you’ve been to seminary, you understand some of the preaching of F.B. Meyer. England has had an incredible amount of great, great preachers and pastors. One of them in the 1800s was a guy named Frederick B. Meyer. He was lettered. He had degrees. He was knowledgeable. But he just really didn’t preach Jesus. He would preach the Bible, but nothing ever seemed to happen. And while D.L. Moody was preaching in London, one of his members said, well, why don’t you bring Dr. Moody here? Bring Mr. Moody here. He didn’t want to do it, but he does it. And F.B. Meyer didn’t like Moody. One reason is he had a fifth grade education. And they said when you would talk to him, he had such a country slang that you’d almost laugh at him. But the Holy Spirit worked in such a way in D.L. Moody’s life that they stayed about five minutes into his sermon, he’d be mesmerized. And thousands of people would give their lives to Christ. And when Moody preached at F.B. Meyer’s church that Sunday, hundreds of people came down the aisle and gave their lives to Christ. He wasn’t real thrilled about that because he wasn’t doing that. And so Moody kind of quietly left out. And F.B. Meyer just kind of didn’t even, I don’t even think he shook his hand. Until a couple weeks later, one of his Sunday school teachers came up and said, you know, all I hear from Mr. Moody is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. That’s all I hear. Do you know what I started teaching my Sunday school class? Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And my whole class has gotten saved. And that touched the life of F.B. Meyer so much that he’s changing his entire way of preaching to where everything went back to Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

And what Paul does here is talk about Jesus and what is going on to His life. Because look at the next three words in verse 15. But when, you ever had a but when God moment? You ever had that you were kind of going in a direction and you were wondering about what was going to happen? You’re kind of wondering, well, what would happen if God just got a hold of my life? But when, God. I was on drugs. I was stealing from my family. But when, God. I got, just lost my job because of alcohol. But when, God. I thought my marriage was over. But when, God. I just got laid off from my company. But when, God. We’re struggling financially and my wife just found out she’s pregnant again. But when, God. I just found out I got cancer. God. Our church was at a crossroads. But when, God. I’m at a career crossroads. You ever had that but when, I’ve had the but when, God moments. And Paul talks about, he has this. Look what he said. But when, God who has set me apart even from my mother’s womb. God had plans for Paul before he was ever born. He didn’t wait for Paul to get his act together. God was already moving in Paul’s life. He was moving in his life before he was born. He was moving in his life as he was learning. He was moving in his life where he sat under the great Gamaliel. He was moving in his life even when he was persecuting the church. Called me through His grace. Was pleased to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the Gentiles.

What was Paul missing? Well, he was missing an eternal purpose. His purpose was all about him and it was all about now. And it’s doing what he could at that moment to enhance his career. It was doing what he, you know, even though what he thought was right was extremely wrong. It was all about, he didn’t have an eternal purpose. He didn’t have an eternal relationship. It was what, I need to earn my way. And he didn’t have an eternal influence in his life. All he knew of God, knew about God, would serve God, but didn’t have the relationship with God, not with Jesus.

I like what he said, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. But he says this, but I went away to Arabia and returned once more to Damascus. It’s one of the few times we find out that before Paul kind of gets really on the scene, how God prepares him.

See, in theology, we call that sanctification. All that means is this big word for the word sanctify means to be more holy, more pure. It’s a process that once you start it, the day you get saved, and it doesn’t end till the day you stand in the throne room. Justification is when you come to Christ. You’ve got no business in God’s throne room. You’ve got no business in heaven because of the sin in your life. Jesus justifies us because He takes our sin. So when we stand before the Father, He said, I don’t deserve to be here, but because of Him, I can come. And then you start a process where you start to grow.

My problem is, is how many times do we, do we stop the process of growing? And God doesn’t do that with Paul. And Paul talks about how he just continues to grow. In fact, the first three years, God takes him away and we don’t know what happened in Arabia. A lot of people think that this could have been around the Petra area of Jordan. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there. It’s an amazing area, but he’s, he’s, he’s just learning from the Lord and he’s, and he’s, and he’s maybe having a chance to share some of the gospel and see what God does, but he’s just growing. And he’s, and he, and the Bible said that God gets him away to grow him.

See, my point is this, what is important to Paul and to you and to me is that whom God calls, He calls to prepare. Well, we got pastors to go to seminary. That’s why we, you know, we’ve got Sunday school class. That’s why we want to listen to, so that’s why we come to church. That’s why we’re around other Christians because that’s all in our lives is coming into the point where it grows us.

My prayer is that today you are, you are, you know, more of a Christian than you were a year ago. I’m hoping today you’re more of a Christian than you were a week ago. You know what problems happen in churches is because we get a whole bunch of folks in the church that never, never, they quit growing.

I always tell the folks the story of, if, you know, when I brought my daughter home and, you know, and she’s just a, maybe a few days old and, and, and I let her be home a little while. So now maybe she’s a month. And I said, well, honey, what do you want to eat? She’s probably not saying much, so I’m going to take it on my own. I’m sitting there, well, I’ll tell you what I’ll get her. I’ll get her a T-bone. I like T-bones. You know what else I like? I like mashed potatoes. I’ll get her some mashed potatoes. I like corn on the cob. Get some little sweet tea over there, and I just sit down in front of that little month-old baby.

Well, what do you think she’s going to do? Probably in her brain, we go, get that out of here. What do you think she wants? She wants milk. Similax. She wants some of that stuff. Why? Because she can’t digest that food. And the deal is this, is the Lord knows we can’t digest the deep theologies of the gospel.

I came to Christ when I was 10. He knew a 10-year-old didn’t know the deep theologies of Scripture. But He knew that there was a young boy who had a heart and a mind to want to grow, and the church was like my second home. And over the years, He brought people into my life and the Word into my life.

Folks, I want to tell you, I went to seminary. I’ve been in church since I was five. I went to seminary thinking I knew a lot. I got there, found out I didn’t know nothing. God starts to grow us. See, here’s the problems when we quit growing. See, a lot of us stay on the milk of the gospel way too long.

Now, Paul had deep meaning. And one reason I think God chose him is because he could take all the law and all the Old Testament and he could bring it back to Jesus. And it’d all be about Jesus again. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And who better than one of the smartest guys on the planet? But He’s got to train him in different things. And that’s exactly what He does. He returns to Damascus again. And then he ultimately goes and spends time with Peter in Jerusalem.

In fact, he says that here. He says 16. Then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas. That would be Peter. And stayed with him 15 days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. And they tell him, hey, folks, I’m not lying about this. Verse 21. Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ. But only they kept hearing. He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.

You know, I look at scripture and I go, I’d have never chosen that guy. I’d have never chosen those disciples. I didn’t choose them. I chose them. Years ago, I heard a pastor read a letter and I found it again. And here’s how it goes. It’s about the disciples. It says to Jesus, son of Joseph, Woodcrafters Carpenter Shop, Nazareth 25922. From Jordan Management Consultants. Dear sir, thank you for submitting the resumes of the 12 men you have picked for your managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests. And we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologists and vocational aptitude consultants. The profiles of all tests are included. And you will want to study each one of them carefully. As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance. Much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation and comes without any additional fee.

It is a staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking. In background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise that you are undertaking, they do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability. Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. Two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interests above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, definitely have radical leanings. And they both registered a high score on the manic depressive scale.

One candidate, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability, resourcefulness, meets what people will, has a keen business mind, has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. So we recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All the other profiles are self-explanatory. We wish you every success in your venture. Sincerely, the Jordan Management Consultants.

Isn’t that like the world? Who we choose and who Jesus would choose or God would choose is totally, totally different. See, we would put Esau next to Jacob and “Say, Esau, man, that’s a man’s man. Jacob, he’s that liar. He’s the guy that hangs around in the kitchen with the women. Who did God choose? God chooses Jacob. Put Saul up next to David. Saul, tall, warrior-like, manly, tough as nails. David, little shepherd boy. Who would we choose? Who did God choose? He chose David. Moses and Aaron. Moses looks to God and goes, ‘Can’t speak? Wanted. I’m not sure I’m the guy. Pick my brother. He’s a better speaker.’ Aaron. Who did God choose? He chooses Moses. God chooses Paul. Paul comes with a reputation that God turns and uses for His… I’m telling you, folks, it’s amazing. See, the important result is that everybody sees now a changed life. And God was being glorified. Look at the last verse. This is amazing. ‘And they were glorifying God because of this.’ It’s amazing.

But when God comes into the picture, but you’re sitting there going, ‘What do I have to offer? Now, I’m old.’ Not all of you, but some… Listen to some of this. At age 92, Gladys Burrell entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest female to compete in a marathon. 92. Her fifth Honolulu finish in seven years. Her race time… Now, I’m not saying she broke the record, but her race time was nine hours, 53 minutes, and 16 seconds. Imagine 92. First of all, running 26.2 miles. Finishing it. Doing it for nine… Over almost 10 hours.

How about Anna Mary Robertson Moses? You know, or Grandma Moses. She didn’t start painting until she was 76 years old. The reason she started painting was because her hands wouldn’t work. She couldn’t do her needlepoint. So she started painting. Painted every day for 25 years. She lived to be 101. Do thousands of paintings. When she died, John F. Kennedy said these words, ‘We have just lost an American treasure.’

Look, Dale Davis bowled a 300 perfect game when he was 78. Alan Johnson, 80, been calf roping since 1946. He’s a member of the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association. Despite broken fingers, a twice broken left leg, broken arms, two knee replacements, he rides every day and regularly participates in physically demanding tie-down calf roping events. 80.

In 2011, 81-year-old Lou Hollander became the oldest person to ever compete in an annual Ford Ironman World Championship. Let me tell you what that is. It’s basically the Ironman marathon. It’s a 2.4-mile swim. Okay, 81. 112-mile bike ride. And 26.2-mile run.

This one, Kiko Fukuda. Still teaching judo and self-defense classes at 98. Despite having bad knees and Parkinson’s. In 2011, she became the first woman to ever attain a 10th degree black belt. Judo’s highest honor. And we can’t, we sit there going, ‘Well, how can God use me?’ People all over the world are being used in other ways. Do you not, do you not think God can use you? He used Paul.

Here’s the last thing that I think is amazing. Best compliment that you can be given spiritually is that someone else glorifies God to you. You know what Paul thought was the neatest thing in the world as he was writing this church? He said, ‘Somehow with my past, my time, I’m kind of new at this. Even though God took me off to Arabia and He’s prepared me, people are glorifying God because of me.’

During Vacation Bible School a couple weeks ago, I actually talked with a guy, and many of you know him, who had been into drugs and alcohol, and now he runs the Celebrate Recovery over on James Island, at James Island Baptist Church in James Island. And as he sits with these men, he looks at them, and here’s what he tells them. He says, ‘If you would put the energy that you put into your drug and alcohol issues, trying to be sneaky about getting the stuff and maybe stealing the money or trying to hide this, and then when he got it, you hid the drugs or you hid the alcohol so nobody would find it, and then trying to find a place where you could take it, and all the energy that would go, if he would take that energy, put it into something good, something that God can use, you’ll change lives.’ And they looked at him and said, ‘Well, how do you know?’ He said, ‘Because that’s what I used to do.’ ‘You used to do that?’ ‘Yeah, I used to do that.’ And they look at him and just… he says, ‘If you let God use you.’ And that’s what Paul said, ‘If God’s using me. I didn’t think God could, Jesus could use me, but look what He did.’

It’s all about relationship.

And I want to tell you, it’ll change your life. You talk to somebody about the Lord and they come to Christ, it’ll change your life. First of all, you got to remember, you don’t change anybody. I mean, as far as, you just go tell, but if God used you to kind of reel them in, I want to tell you, it’ll change you.

Paul would go on, and I don’t know how he did it. Second Corinthians 11, he talks about all the things that he would endure, his sufferings. He says, I’ve been in far greater labors. He’s talking with folks that are kind of questioning who he is and it’s his apostleship. He says, five times I received at the hands of the Jews 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with a rod. You ever been beat with a rod? Probably not. Can you imagine what that would be like? Once I was stoned and left for dead. Three times I was shipwrecked. I’d never get on a ship again after the first one. A day and a night, I was adrift at sea. I’ve been on frequent journeys, dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, the city, wilderness, sea, false brothers. I got problems even in the church. He stuck the course. Why? Because it was real, and he knew what God could do with Him.

Not long ago, there was a story that came out of Nashville. God was on the news about a guy named James Shaw. You might remember him possibly as the Waffle House hero. James Shaw was late in the night. He was with his buddy. He wanted something. You know how you get sometimes late. You’re about a quart low on grease, so you want to go to Waffle House. And he went to one in Nashville, and it was just packed. He couldn’t even get in. So he went to one not too far from there, and he went to another Waffle House. It was a little crowded, but not too bad. So they went in, and he got a seat at the counter. And then he kind of got up and kind of go, and all of a sudden, the place just started. Glass started exploding, and there was a guy, a gunman, outside the window that had an AR-15 and was shooting the people there. Four people were killed that night.

The story is that he went to the corner. The glass is broken. The guy actually enters the place, and all of a sudden, James comes over and grabs the gun and wrestles it from him and throws him over the counter. You can actually see videos of this. So he took it, and the guy ended up catching the guy. But here’s the deal. He says, because they interviewed him. I want to read his words. He said, I did it completely out of a selfish act. Please, he said, don’t get me wrong. I was doing it to save myself. I did end up saving other people, but I don’t want people taking it that I was like the Terminator or Superman or somebody. I just figured if I was going to die, he’s going to have to work for you. You know what was going to happen?

I want to tell you about a person who knew he was going to die, except he didn’t do it for Himself. He ran toward death. He ran toward sin. He ran toward the cross, except He did do it. For you and for me. His name was Jesus. That’s what Paul’s talking about here. Paul said, it ain’t about, I’ll tell you my story, but it’s not about me. He says, but when stepped in, brought Jesus into my life, everything changed.

Let me just close with this. Zach Williams has written a song. I heard it for, I hadn’t heard it in years. It was a Samaritan’s Purse commercial on television this week, and they were playing part of it. And I was going, God, that is Paul’s life. That’s this scripture. And I want you to hear it. And I want you to think about it, about the people you can touch. God, if you’ll play it.

Paul all of a sudden realized he needs to be a little more like Jesus. He needs to be a little less like me. How about your life? You can’t do those things if Jesus isn’t in your life. Paul is sitting there saying, let me tell you what that was. And then, but when God brought Christ into my life, that He had designed before I came out of my mama, changed everything. Now People are glorifying God because of me. Do you believe that? Let me ask you this: Are people glorifying God because of you? Are they? Maybe you’re at a place in your life this morning where you need a “but when God” moment. God’s working on Your heart, and that Holy Spirit’s working, and it’s plucking, and it’s saying, “I need to make, I need to commit my life to Him. It needs to be a little more about Jesus. A little less like me.” Maybe you’ve just kind of gotten away from Him. You used to be like that. You used to be a little kinder, a little gentler, a little more faith, patience, and peace. Starting this morning. Maybe you just need to say, “Lord, starting today, a little bit more about Jesus. A little less like me.” What’s for Paul? Changed him. Changed you. Maybe today you make that decision.

Let’s pray. Father, thank You. Thank You for a guy named Paul who cared enough to write these churches that even though they’re struggling, he’s talking about what he struggled with and how God, how You overcame that. How You worked through his life. You brought him to Yourself. Took him down hard, but You lifted him up and he changed him. And even though he thought he knew so much, he realized there was so much more to learn. He walked beside him. Lord, we need that. We need that in the church. We need that in our lives. Our world needs to see that. When it does, people will glorify You through us. Wow. It can make a difference even with us. How much You love us. May we make the decision we need to make. In Your Son’s precious name.