We are in a series right now called But Now God. But now God. And that but now God comes from Romans chapter 3, verses 21 and 22. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law. As was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago, we are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. But now God has made a way. He's made a way for us to be made right with him, no matter what's happened in the past, no matter what our life has looked at, no matter who we are, through Jesus and faith in Jesus, we are made right with God. That is good news. That is powerful news. That's why we're calling this series, But Now God. But it's interesting because that's actually the landing point of this series. We're kind of starting every Sunday with the end in mind. We're actually studying Romans chapter 1, verse 18, all the way up through Romans chapter 3, verses 21 and 22. We're covering all of that. And it's interesting because the journey that the author, Paul, the author of Romans, takes us on in Romans 1.18, all the way to the end of Romans chapter 3, it's a pretty intense journey. I mean, think about what we just read. It's such good news. But now God has made a way for us to be made right with him by placing our faith in Jesus. With that in mind, let's look at Romans chapter 1, verse 18. This is like our starting point. And we're going from this all the way to what I just read. Romans 1.18 says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. So in just a few chapters, we're going from the wrath of God to God has made a way for us, the forgiveness of God, the grace of God, we might call that. That's a pretty big leap. And this journey that Paul takes us on in this section of scripture, it's actually a very important journey for all of us as believers to go on. This is a very important mental journey for all of us to go through. But I want you to understand this. Those of you who are Jesus followers, and by the way, I know not everyone watching is. And if you're not, man, stay tuned because I hope today a lot of things about God and his plan for you and just how good what he offers us is. I hope it clicks. But to all of us, those of us are Jesus followers, like understand this is a mental journey. Going from this understanding of the wrath of God to the grace of God. This is a mental journey that many believers just check out of, that they never go on. Because many people aren't committed to having a mature faith. See, to have a mature faith, you've got to be able to wrestle a little bit. You've got to wrestle with God. One of my favorite aspects of God is that in the Old Testament, he found this group of people and he chose them to be his followers, and then he gave them a name, and the name was Israel. They were the Israelites. And you would think that if you were God and you're going to choose a group of people to be your representatives on the earth, to be the very people you're going to use to bring your son into the world through, you think you would name them something like to follow God wholeheartedly. That that's what that name would mean, but that's not what Israel means. You think you would choose a name like to obey God, to represent God, but that's not what Israel means. Israel means to wrestle with God. God chose the namesake of his people in the Old Testament to be wrestlers, to wrestle with God. And I believe that God is looking for people who are willing to wrestle with him. That he's looking for people who are willing to grapple and deal with the tension that comes from following God and having to reconcile a lot of ideas that are difficult to reconcile. That's the thing we have to understand. There's all these ideas in Scripture, and at first glance, with a really basic look, it almost seems like they're in conflict with one another. We have ideas like God's love. God is love. 1 John 4, 8. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God is not wrath. That's not his natural state. You can provoke his wrath. His anger and wrath can be provoked, but that's not that's not his natural. That's not who he is. He is love. But then he also has wrath because he's good, because he's just. That's a clear teaching of scripture. That's it, by the way, guys, that's a clear teaching of Jesus that a lot of people like to ignore. Check out Matthew chapter 11, verses 20 through 24. This is this is Jesus talking to towns where he had done a lot of miracles, but they didn't repent of their sins and turn to God. That's what it says in John chapter 11, verse 20. And by the way, I'm reading all of this off of his hands mobile app. So if you don't have that, download it because you can follow along right there, have all the scripture at your fingertips. Here's what Jesus says to these towns where he went, he did miracles, but they just said, Nah. He says, What sorrow awaits you, Khorazin and Beth Seda. For if the miracles that I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, these were towns from the Old Testament times that were incredibly brutal. He says, If I had done those things there, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on Judgment Day than you. And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No. You will go down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today. I tell you, even Sodom will be better off on Judgment Day than you. That's really intense stuff. And some of us listening to this, watching this, are like, I don't like that. I like it when Jesus says things like, Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. I don't like it when Jesus says, Woe to you. I don't, I don't, I don't like that. But that's what I'm talking about. That's the tension. That God is good and just and holy and he will judge the world, but God is also love and grace and mercy. And here's the temptation. When we have these ideas that create tension, the temptation is just to eliminate the ideas that we don't like, because that eliminates the tension, and then we can just focus on the ones that we agree with. And many people do that. Many Jesus followers do that. And maybe the whole love and grace and mercy thing that that doesn't sit well with them. They would much rather God just be just and holy and good. These, by the way, tend to be people who think they're just, holy, and good as well. And they kind of like the idea that God's gonna judge the world, and they like the idea that that's not gonna work out well from everyone, which by the way is a clear teaching in scripture. So they just fixate on that and they ignore the love of God and the grace of God and the fact that his love covers a multitude of sins and the fact that because of the way he loves, it sort of breaks the mold in terms of who we think should be in or out. That's why very often in Jesus' ministry, people who everyone thought were out were actually in. And people who everyone would have assumed, well, well, clearly they're in, they weren't. But they don't want to deal with that. It creates tension in their minds, so they just want to eliminate all the love stuff and focus on the justice and the judgment and all of that. On the flip side, there's a lot of Jesus followers today. And I'll be honest, I've been one of these before that really like the love and the grace and the mercy stuff, but but I don't like the judgment and the justice and the holy gods. I don't like that stuff. I don't like the woe to you. And so they just ignore that. Or they find ways to do mental gymnastics to work around that and eliminate that because that eliminates the tension. And now I can just have this idea of God where it's just love and rainbows and we skip through meadows and there's no, there's no fear of judgment. Don't worry about that. No, no, no, no. That does not line up with the teachings of Jesus at all. One-third of his parables were warnings. And so, Jesus followers, I want you guys to ask yourselves a question. Like actually ask this question in your heart right now. Do I want to have a mature faith? Am I willing to be a wrestler? Am I willing to deal with the tension instead of just ignoring the stuff I don't like? Am I willing to deal with the tension? And if it challenges me, if it causes me some discomfort, that's okay, because I'm gonna wrestle with God and I'm gonna grow, I'm gonna have a mature faith. Ask yourself that question, are you willing to do that? And if you are, if you are willing to do that, know that that pleases God. And that discomfort, that tension, if you'll go there and you'll deal with that, and you'll let you let the Holy Spirit work on you, and he's gentle, by the way. You let the Holy Spirit work on you, you will develop a maturity in your faith that you'll just you'll never have if all you do is eliminate the tension. So, with that in mind, we're gonna turn to a section of Romans chapter one that is guaranteed to cause discomfort in our culture today. No question whatsoever. This section of scripture, what Paul is saying here, it is it is incongruous with the culture that we live in. Now, now understand again what Paul is doing here. He's taking us to a destination. Remember, that destination is but now God has made a way for us to be made right with him. And so everything he says in Romans 1.18, all the way up to that but now God, he's building this idea up of the wrath of God and the fact that God's wrath is actually justified. And without Jesus, without the thing that God has done for us, without that, we're in bad shape. He's trying to build up this idea for us to understand the seriousness of sin. That's what we talked about last week. So if you didn't listen, didn't watch, check it out. Last week was about the seriousness of sin. Today he's gonna get into this idea that really permeates our culture today, definitely permeates America, like modern day America. And it's it's something that Paul says justifies the wrath of God. And again, this is this is it's uncomfortable. So if you're ready to, if you're ready to wrestle, I don't know, click the like button, hit the thumbs up if you're watching on Facebook, do whatever you need to do to be like, raise your hand right now and say, Yes, I'm ready to wrestle. Let's get ready to rumble, let's do it. Romans chapter 1, verses 22 through 32. And I'm switching, by the way, to the English Standard Version for this. Here we go. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. Again, he's talking about the people that we we discussed last week, idol worship. And they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever, amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women, and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, they're gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but they give approval to those who practice them. That word, by the way, approval. In the original language, it's the same word for applause. And the idea is that not only do they do those things, but they kind of smile at it, they celebrate it. Now, again, if you just got done listening to this, or if you're reading this and you're like, ooh, I don't feel I don't feel very comfortable right now, that's kind of the point. Don't be afraid of the discomfort, don't be afraid of the tension. I want to ask you a favor because I know that many of the specific things mentioned in that very much fly against our culture and the things that our culture values. A few thoughts on that. Don't tune out. Really hear this. These are things that we've got to grapple with as followers of Jesus. If we're gonna be true followers of Jesus, we've got to grapple with this. Is it possible that God's values don't line up with the values of our culture today? Is that possible? Like, could it be that the God of the universe, who knows everything, who designed everything, could it be that his values, that the things he believes are good and right, are sometimes actually the opposite of what of what our world says is good and right? I believe that that is possible. And so when I read scripture and I read something that maybe doesn't instantly mesh with the way I see the world, I don't just assume that God is wrong or that the Bible is outdated or any of that. I stop and I have to ask myself the question: could it be that I'm wrong? Could it be that maybe my values have been shaped by the world that I live in, and maybe the world that I live in that has shaped those values does not agree with God. So you gotta start there. But the second thing I'd ask is that if there was one thing mentioned in that one statement, whether it was the statement on homosexuality or the statement on deserving to die and all those kinds of, if there's one thing that like triggers you and goes, Oh, I don't like that, I don't like, just pause for a second, take a breath, keep wrestling. Because I don't want you to become so fixated on one thing that you miss the point of what Paul is saying, because Paul is making a very, very important point. Remember, he's taking us on a journey. The destination is still the same. The destination is still, but now God. But he's walking us through this idea of the wrath of God and why the wrath of God is something that is justified. You know, last week it was idolatry that we we worship, we worship the world, we worship creation more than the creator, and in doing so, in doing so, we we store up wrath because we we vastly underestimate the seriousness of sin. And what he's doing right now is he's saying, guys, you have to understand though, the wrath of God is something that is justified because people, people have allowed themselves to be dominated by desire. Dominated by desire. That's the root of what Paul is saying in this whole section. He's saying that people have chosen to live in a way that they're completely dominated by their desire. Whatever their deepest urge, whatever their greatest desire, that is what that is what dominates their thinking. That is what dominates their decision making. And they have allowed themselves to become actually slaves to their desires. It's a challenging thought. What is at the core of the decisions that I make? What is at the core? What thought is at the core of the way that I've chosen to go about my life? And if if what's at the core is this one simple thing, I want. I want. If that's at the core of our lives, that's a problem. And that's ultimately gonna lead to all the things that Paul talked about, to just almost being completely consumed by your passions, even if those passions lead you to things that that aren't in line with the will of God. And you actually become to believe, and this is very much what our culture believes, by the way, you become to believe that you you have no choice. Because you want. Like I hear I hear the phrase I want all the time. And it's usually followed by something like a cookie or to stay up late, to not go to bed. My kids are very good at expressing their wants and desires, and they get good at that at a young age. Even my two-year-old Eli has gotten really good in the last six months at telling Megan and I what he wants. Now, now here, understand this. Like very often, what I want lines up with what my kids want. I love them. Do I want them to be happy? Of course, not at the expense of being healthy, but I want them to be happy, and so very often what they want lines up with what I want. And Megan and I spend time and energy and significant amounts of money to give them what they want because we want them to have what they want much of the time. In fact, just this last week, I had my birthday, turned 37. Yay, getting close to 40, can't wait for that. And my daughter Lily, a few days before, said, Dad, for your birthday, I want to spend the day with you. I want to go on a daddy date with you. And I mean, how could I say no to that, right? So on my birthday, I got up and I took my daughter out and we went and spent about three or four hours, just the two of us, and it was awesome. When she said she wanted that, my heart leapt with joy, because I want that too. Very often that's how it is with God. You desire something, you crave something, you want something, and you go to him and say, Lord, I want this, and and I feel like I need this. And he looks at you and says, Yes, have it. Because he loves you. But but at the same time, we got to be really careful to, again, have a mature faith, a mature understanding of God. Because some of the ideas that have sort of slipped into our modern Christian thinking, at least in this country, they they fall short of truth. So, for example, I've heard this, and I think I've even communicated this before in the past at some point, I'm sure. Like, if you care about something, that means God cares about it because he cares about you. It's a very egocentric way to think about God. Whatever you love and whatever you want, well, that means that's a priority to God because God wants what you want. And the answer to that, is that true or not? Is like, mm-hmm, kind of? Sort of, but like, not really. Like I can't open up scripture and find a verse that just says, whatever you want is a priority to God. Because here's the idea. What happens when you want something that is actually in opposition to what God wants? Go back to my kids. There's there's many times that they want something that is in opposition to what I want for them. Great example will be bedtime. Bedtime is an emergency, it's a crisis every night in our home. I've always said that to children, bedtime is not the end of the day, it's the death of the day. So they like mourn, they freak out because it's bedtime. And every night there's an argument. Every night, one of my children, at least, usually multiple, will say, like, no, I don't want to go to bed. I want to stay up. And in that moment, they're expressing their wants, but I want them to go to bed. I want them to get rest. I want them to not be emotional nightmares the next day. That would be great. So I say, no, we're gonna go to bed. And they're like, but I want to stay up. And I'll look at them sometimes and say, hey, I let you stay up late last night, but we've got a big day tomorrow. You're gonna go to bed on time. And they'll look at me and they'll say, No, I want to stay up, I want to. And I'll say no, and they'll say, I really want to, I really, really want to stay up. And and when they get to that point in the conversation, I don't stop and go, oh, well, in that case, sure. Because, like, if if you really want to, then that must mean it's okay. No, no, no, that would be that would be horrible parenting. If I was like, well, if you really want to, then yeah, forget everything that I just said. Because sometimes the things that they really, really want aren't good. And in those moments, I don't allow their strength of desire to shift my priorities. It's the same way with God. Very often there's things that we deeply desire, but they don't line up with God's will. And what do we do when that happens? Jesus followers, you've got to you've got to ask yourselves this question. What am I gonna do when my desires conflict with the desires of God? That's going to happen if you're a Jesus follower. It is inevitable. What am I gonna do when what I want doesn't line up with what God wants? What am I gonna do in that scenario? Which desire is gonna count more in my heart, my own or God's? Look at Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He didn't want to go to the cross. And he said, Lord, is there is there any other way? Father, is there any other way? Is there any way that this cup of suffering can pass from my lips? Is there any way around the cross? Basically, that's what Jesus is asking. And then he stops and he says, No, not what I want, but what you want. Here we have a moment where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, found it that his desire did not line up with the desire of God, and which weighed more heavily on his heart, it was God's, it was the Father's. We're Jesus' followers, we've got to follow his example. We've got to decide on the front end that, hey Lord, if I want something that you don't want, I will not be a person dominated by my desires. Because I recognize that if I'm dominated by my desires, I'm making myself a slave to something that you have actually freed me from. It's a very important thing to understand as a Jesus follower. You have been freed. You are not a slave to your emotions, to your feelings, to your strongest urges, no matter how strong those those urges are. Check out Romans chapter 6, verses 6 through 14. We'll go there. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ, so that sin might lose its power in our lives, for we're no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We're sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will Never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin, but now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you should also consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive through Christ Jesus. Think about that. It's about the way you think. You should consider yourself to be dead from the power of sin, which very often in Scripture is connected with our natural human nature, the desires, the most base desires that we have. You are free from that. You should consider yourselves to be dead to its power and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live. Do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God. For you were dead, but now you have new life. Use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace. You are free. When your desires, even if they're really intense, when your desires conflict with the desires that God has, you're not a slave to those. You can say no. You can say no, I'm gonna follow the Lord. I don't have to. You can tell yourself no. Now here's where this gets really challenging, and we're about to wrap up. Our culture just doesn't believe that's true. In order for us to really grab a hold of the truth of Jesus and what he taught and his message, to really follow Jesus with everything we have, we've got to let go of something else in order to grab a hold of him. And very often that means letting go of a lot of the ideas that our culture has worked really hard to literally program us to believe. It's interesting, there was a philosopher, a Roman philosopher, that lived the same period as Jesus, the same period as Paul. His name was Seneca, wasn't a Christian. He died in AD 65, so he was writing about Roman history, about Roman culture at the same exact time that Paul would have been writing the book of Romans. Seneca described the Roman culture of his day in these words. He said, We live in an age stricken with the agitation of a soul no longer master of itself. We'll read this again. We live in an age stricken with the agitation of a soul no longer master of itself. It's really interesting because what he's saying here is that his age, the time in Rome at which this was written, no one was a master of their own desires anymore. Everyone was just living to please themselves. Everyone's just living to do whatever they really want to do, and the only justification they have for doing it is that they wanted to. I want to, I really want to, I really, really want to. We've got to understand that as adults, we come up with more sophisticated language. We say things like, it's just who I am. This is just the way that I'm wired. I gotta follow my heart. We come up with more sophisticated or at least fancier sounding phrases, but at the end of the day, very often the justification is just I want to. But I really want to. Like I really, really, really want to. We live in an age stricken with the agitation of a soul no longer its own master, no longer master of itself. And I find it interesting that Seneca used that word agitation, because you would think that in a society where everyone's just doing what they want to do, everyone's happy. Like we see in Judges, for example, this is Old Testament times, Judges chapter 17, verse 6. In those days, Israel had no king. All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. That sounds like a utopia. Everybody's just doing what they want to do. But it wasn't. Those were horrible times, those were divided times, those were times of oppression, hardship. You would think that that the times where everyone's just doing what they feel like doing, that everyone would be happy, but but Seneca described it as agitation, that actually in those times people were not happy. People were like afflicted, people were angry, people were upset. It's an interesting thing that the more obsessed we become as human beings with satisfying our own desires, the less peace we have, the less joy we have, the more that we live in pursuit of our passions above all else, whether it is right in God's eyes or not, the less, the less joy, the less peace, the less security we have in ourselves. And the word that best describes the status of our hearts is agitated. We live in agitated times. In part because our culture has told us a lie, that we are not, we are not the master of our own soul. That we don't have any authority over our feelings and our emotions, that we're actually slaves to that. That's why we have phrases in our culture of I just can't help myself. This is who I am. No, no, no. You're free. If you belong to Jesus Christ, you are free. He has freed you. His death on the cross, it did the job. And you have been free. Now you can follow what God desires for you. You're actually free now to do what God wants you to do and to trust him to know that what he wants is it's better than what you want much of the time. Again, he loves you. Yes, he's a good father, and very often what you want is what he wants, but sometimes what you want, it's in opposition to what he wants. What are you gonna do when that happens? That's a question we have to answer. And unfortunately, for all of us, many times, many times, the answer has been, I'm gonna do what I want. I've experienced that as a dad. And it's it's actually really heartbreaking. And those of you who are parents, you've you've felt this. When you when you clearly express to your children that you want them to do something, and they don't understand why you want them to do it, they they maybe don't agree, it doesn't line up with what they want, but you make it clear, I need you to trust me, please do this. And then you see them do the opposite. It's it's actually, yeah, sometimes it makes you mad, but first it's it breaks your heart. You kind of sink a little bit, you're like, oh man, I wish they would have I wish they would have listened. It's hard. I imagine that God feels that way on a level that none of us could even could even picture, could even describe. Like he's so clearly laid out for us what he wants us to do, who he wants us to be, and it's good. But the truth of it, all of us have to deal with this, all of us have to wrestle with this. We've all chosen our own desires over God's many times. I mean, guys, I'm I'm the pastor of this church, and I'll be the first to say that I'm in a way ashamed. I'm not I'm not like consumed with shame and guilt. I know I've been freed and forgiven of everything. I'm about to get to that, but but true, to be honest, when I look back at my life and I go, man, how many times have I knowingly chosen what I want over what God wants? How many times have I knowingly chosen what I want over what God wants? Or how many times have I have I done mental gymnastics to convince myself that, well, because I want it, and if I think about it at this angle in this way, I can convince myself that God must want it for me too. More times than I care to admit. More times than I could probably count. So what do I do with that? What do I do with the knowledge that I've done that? Well, the answer is that destination. It's Romans 3, 21 and 22. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. What this means, guys, is that yes, yes, I have been dominated by desire. Yes, I have chosen to follow what I want over what God wants more times than I could count. Yes, I have ignored what he has told me. I've known at times that that what he wants is good, but I've chosen the other thing instead. Yes, that's true, but now God. But now God, even though I've done that, even though he's aware of that, he's still chosen to make a way for me to be made right with him. And the way that I'm made right with him is not, it's not by being perfect, it's not by having to choose what he wants every single time, 100%. I'm still gonna mess up, I'm still gonna make mistakes, I'm still gonna be deceived and dominated by my own desires, but God has forgiven me, but God has given me grace. And if I'm gonna really understand that grace and grab a hold of it and experience it and enjoy it the way that I'm meant to, I've got to understand that I didn't choose this. I didn't do this. God did it for me. Those of you who are Jesus followers, here's what I just I would ask that you would you would consider to think through to hopefully believe. Number one, you're not dominated by desire. You should consider yourselves free from the power of sin. That just because you want something really bad doesn't mean you have to. Believe that. That's true. Understand the fact that you will have desires that do not line up with God's will. You will have desires, sometimes very strong, very passionate desires, the kind of desires that our world would even say, well, this is just who you are, because our world believes that you are your desires and nothing more. That's silly, that's foolish. That's a very low view of humanity. Understand that that's true. You will have desires that do not line up with God, and you're not a slave to those desires. But even though you have and you will choose those desires, you've chosen and you will choose those desires over the desires of God, but now God has forgiven you of everything. That should move you, that should stir you. Because without it, what do we face? We face wrath. But now God. And if you're watching this, if you're listening to this, and you're not a Jesus follower, I just want I want you to ask the question does this make sense? Maybe you've you've grown up in this culture that's taught you that you just have to follow your heart. Just follow your heart. If you follow your heart, you'll be happy, you'll find joy, that that's the key, is just search yourself, find what's true for you, find what really stirs you, what makes you happy, and just pursue that with everything. Follow your dreams, follow your heart, and you'll find happiness. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9 says kind of the opposite of that. The human heart is the most deceitful of all things. Have you ever followed your heart to disaster? Have you lived buying into this idea that our culture sells so well? I mean, it's in Disney songs, it's in ad campaigns, it's everywhere, that you are compelled to follow your deepest passions. That the only way to true happiness is to just say yes to yourself all the time, no matter what. If that was the case, if that was true, don't you think our culture would just be so joyful and happy right now? Because that's what most people do. If that was really true, don't you think that we would be living in times where everyone is just like, wow, I've never been this happy before? And look at all the joy in the whole world. Everyone's just celebrating, everyone's smiling, everyone's filled with peace and joy because they're all just doing what they want to do. It's wonderful, it's great. No, that's not the way our world is, even though that's the path that most people are taking. Maybe that's not true. Maybe, maybe we've been lied to. Think about that. Ask yourself, does that actually make sense? Or does it make more sense that there is a God and he knows best, and he loves you, and he cares about you, and he wants what's best for your life. And like a good parent, very often his desires are gonna line up with yours, but also like a good parent, very often his desires are gonna be the opposite of yours. And if you choose to follow him and submit to him, your life will go well. Your life will be better going his way rather than your own. Search your heart, ask yourself those questions. Is which one of those makes sense? And if it clicks for you that, oh yeah, that following God, following God, that's the way. What do I need to do? All you gotta do is what Romans chapter 3, verse 22 said. Put your faith in Jesus Christ. You're made right with God by what? Putting your faith in Jesus, saying, I believe. And I'm gonna submit my life, I'm gonna follow you, Jesus. I'm not gonna be perfect at it, I'm gonna mess up, but I believe and I put my trust in you. When you do that, you're right with God. And that's a powerful thing. You are not dominated by your desires. Don't be deceived. You are free because Jesus has freed you. Let's pray. Father God, thank you. Thank you, Lord, for freeing us. Thank you, Lord, for giving us freedom. Even freedom from our own desires, Lord, we recognize that very often our own desires, even our deepest, most passionate desires, lead us in the wrong direction. And Lord, we as followers of you are going to decide in our hearts that when our desires do not line up with your desires, we choose yours. We choose you. You chose us, so we choose you. We love you. Give us the strength to do this. We recognize that this can only be done through the power of your spirit working inside of us. We don't have this kind of self control on our own, Lord. Help us out. We know you will. We love you, and it's in your name we pray. Amen.