All right. Good morning. Good morning. It’s great to see you all this morning. It’s going to be a whopping 39 degrees, which means most likely there’ll be people who are wearing shorts by this afternoon. So that’s something to be great about. Yeah. My name is Wes. I’m a pastoral assistant here at Red Village Church. I lead the youth and the college students here at the church, which I really enjoy doing. So I’m grateful to be able to open up God’s Word for us today. So, that being said, we are studying 1st Thessalonians 4, verses 1 through 12. So if you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it and open up to 1st Thessalonians 4. I’m going to read the passage and. And then I’m just going to ask for God’s help to work through this passage, and then we’ll just kind of work through it verse by verse. So First Thessalonians chapter 4. Here is what the word of the Lord says finally. Then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you were doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. That no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter. Because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man, but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Now, concerning brotherly love, the you have no need for anyone to write to you. For you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. For that, indeed, is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. That’s God’s word for us. Please pray for it with me. Yeah. Lord, we thank you for your word, God, how it helps us to hear your voice and to grow in godliness and to know Christ. And I pray, Lord, may you speak this morning. May you Give us ears and hearts to receive your word and bless. This time I ask in Jesus name. Amen. All right, so last time I preached in First Thessalonians was in October. So I’m going to give us a recap of the letter and then I’ll dive into chapter four. So, First Thessalonians is the first of two letters written written by Paul to the church in Thessalonica. And he did so in order to encourage the Thessalonian church and to remind them that sanctification in the midst of persecution is God’s will for their lives. Paul also wrote this letter to address some misunderstandings that the Thessalonian church had regarding end time events and Jesus return. Paul and Silas were only able to stay with the believers for a short time before the Jews in Thessalonica became jealous and formed a mob which forced Paul and Silas to flee to Berea, where the Jews would continue to pursue and persecute them. But a few months later, Paul sent Timothy to check on the believers, who then returned with this amazing report about how the Thessalonian believers were standing fast in the Lord and that they had become an example for all believers in Macedonia and Achaia to follow. And Paul says in verse two of chapter one, we give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul commends the Thessalonian believers for their faith and love again, again, all throughout this letter, assuring them that God is with them and that their faith is an example for all believers to follow. So up to chapter four, Paul has not rebuked the Thessalonians for anything, but rather he has praised God constantly for the Thessalonians faithfulness and their growth in the Lord. But here in our passage today, Paul transitions from praise and reminiscing to giving some specific applications for the Thessalonians to take away. And we can see this transition in verse one, where Paul says finally, which is indicating that he has arrived at some important additional information that he wants to tell the Thessalonians about. So verse one reads, finally. Then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing that, you do so more and more. Now, if you are taking notes, which you’ve probably heard me say this many times, I think you should be, then I Want you to write down, highlight, underline more and more. Paul says this twice in our passage of study today, once here in verse 1, and then again in verse 10. And if 1 Thessalonians ended at the end of chapter 3, then we would think, wow, like the Thessalonian Church, they were rock stars. They were growing spiritually, their faith was strong. They, their love was an example to all the believers everywhere. They were pretty much perfect. No need for improvement. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t change a thing. That’s it. But that’s not what this letter says. Instead, Paul asks and urges the believers, just as you are walking with and pleasing God, do so more than and more. Now, before I exposit this passage more, I thought it would be helpful if I told you a little bit of what hunting trips looked like for me all my life growing up in Idaho and New Mexico. And I promise this is related to the passage. Not just taking this to tell you about hunting, even though I’d like to do that, but in the western states like Idaho or, or New Mexico, where I lived before coming to Wisconsin, we have these things called mountains. Has anyone heard of these things before? So they’re like hills, but they’re much larger. Okay. And on these mountains you go hiking. Not walking, but hiking. Okay. One thing I noticed when I moved here is that people will tell me that they’re going hiking, and I’m like, oh, wow, where are you going hiking? And then they really just learned that they’re just walking in a circle through a forest, which is not actually hiking. Okay. Hiking is for mountains. So when I lived in New Mexico during my undergraduate at New Mexico State University, I would go hiking with my dad almost every single month. It was, like, a bit excessive because my dad loved to go hiking. And in the spring and fall, we would often go to the Gila National Forest to go hunting or scouting for turkey or for elk, where we would hike all weekend. And sometimes for elk hunts, we would hike for 10 days straight. Almost always when we went hiking, we would put on a large size backpack with a tent, sleeping gear, food, water. We would set up camp wherever we ended up every night, which was usually on top of a ridge five to eight miles away from where we had originally started. Now, to put this in perspective, Devil’s Lake has a hike of about 500ft in elevation from bottom to the top. So I think many of you probably hiked Devil’s Lake, which is known as. I would call that a hike, okay. In the Gila National Forest, there are multiple mountains with peaks over 10,000ft. Driving from the base of the highway to one of the peaks is is a climb of about 5,000ft. And often during a weekend hike, me and my dad would hike across multiple ridges and valleys with a change of 500 to even 1,000ft between each ridge that we would hike in a day. And in doing so, we would also hike sometimes over 15 miles over a weekend. So when we were hunting for elk, sometimes we’d even double that the miles and the ridges that we would hike in order to find more elk. So, all that being said, you understand what I mean when I say that me and my dad would go hiking in the mountains. So, that being said, let me tell you a little bit more about my dad. My dad absolutely loves hiking and hunting for elk. He loves exploring new mountain ranges and finding new areas that off the beaten path and remote, where no road or trail goes. And I have hiked with my dad to literally countless remote areas throughout the Gila National Forest. So much so that I have concluded that my dad has this thing called Next Ridge syndrome where he always has this urge to hike over the next ridge. Like, literally. Okay, I’m not bringing this out of proportion. Literally, there have been times when I have hiked an extra 10 miles with my dad to explore some new area that he found on Google Earth. And we arrive there after much huffing and puffing and a lot of ridges and valleys. And once we get there, my dad will say, wow, that was really great. This is really cool. But I wonder what’s over that ridge. Literally, he’s done this multiple times. Okay, he’ll be thinking to himself, what elk are roaming over the next ridge? What ravines and water holes could be hidden from our site? What untracked adventures lie ahead over the next ridge? Even if we were completely exhausted from hiking in a new area, my dad would still look to the horizon with wonder and it would eat at him until he hiked over that next ridge. So my dad had next Ridge syndrome ever since I could possibly remember. And because of it, I have hiked to many remote locations that I probably would never have seen or otherwise explored. Another way to explain next Ridge syndrome is that there are always more and more ridges to hike ahead. Looking back at verse one, when Paul says do so more and more, he is implying that in all the ways that the Thessalonian Church has been faithful to God by the way they have walked and they’ve pleased him, they haven’t reached the end. The believers haven’t maxed out their obedience and faithfulness to God’s word, even though they have been doing so. Like many, many great things that have been an example to many up to this point, they haven’t reached the end. And we learn why in verses two and three of our text. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. Now, if you’re wondering what is God’s will for my life, here’s one of the places where Scripture makes it very clear. God’s will for your life is to be sanctified. Sanctification is the process of being set apart or formed into the image of Christ, which is synonymous with being made whole, holy as God is holy. Scripture talks about sanctification as both a present reality and a process for the Christian that has faith in Jesus. Hebrews 10:10 says, by that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. And in First Corinthians 6:11 it says, and some of you used to be like this, but you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. For God’s people, Jesus has already sanctified them. In setting them apart for godliness, they are made holy by his sacrifice on the cross. In other places of Scripture, like here in our text, sanctification is presented as an ongoing process that involves gradual purification from sin and progressive spiritual growth that should mark the life of Every believer. Romans 6:22 says, but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life. Verse 3 of our text is telling us that it is God’s will for his people to be further made holy by obeying God’s word as we walk with the Lord day by day. This daily process transforms God’s people into the image of Christ and therefore brings greater and greater glory to God as His people are sanctified. This is why Paul instructs the Thessalonians to walk with to walk with and please God more and more. For it is by doing more and more of what God would have his people to do that sanctifies them not less and less. The more God’s people obey the instructions of Christ and walk with the Lord, the more God’s people are sanctified. And that being said, our sanctification is a lot like hiking in the mountains. There’s always more and more ridges to hike and to explore beyond the horizon. The problem is we often get comfortable on the ridge that the Lord has brought us to and we decide to just set up camp there and to live there for as long as we can. We take our eyes off the next ridge and we compromise our sanctification in order to remain comfortable instead of crossing the valley in front of us, never seeing what lies beyond the next ridge. This is why Paul not only asks, but he urges the Thessalonians and the Lord Jesus to walk with and please God more and more. Because our flesh always wants to do the opposite of what the Spirit wants us to do, which leads to complacency, compromise and a lack of growth. Galatians 5. 25 says this since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. God’s people must continue to abide in Christ and to keep in step with the Holy Spirit of God that lives within them. 4 It is God’s will for his people to be sanctified we’re not made to camp on one ridge all of our lives. We’re made to explore ridge after ridge of God’s truth, His mercy, his grace, his love, worshiping him every step of the way as he sanctifies us into the image of Christ. Therefore, we must keep walking with the Lord and do so more and more. Looking back at verse three, we see that Paul has a specific exhortation in mind in regards to that you abstain from sexual immorality. That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and in honor, not in the passion of lust. Like the Gentiles who do not know God, Paul specifically addresses sexual immorality, which involves any kind of sexual activity that is done outside the confines of marriage. And when Paul says to abstain, he is saying completely stay away from any thought or behavior that violates the principles of God’s word and results in an act of sexual sin. The early Church lived under the pagan Roman Empire and sexual immorality ran rampant within this culture with little to no laws restricting any kind of sexual activity. That being said, Thessalonica was no different from any other large city under Roman’s rule, especially with the Thessalonica being a trading port where many people would come and go. The debased Greco Roman culture was filled with sinful sexual practices including fornification, adultery, homosexuality, transvestism, and a wide variety of pornographic and erotic perversions, all done with a seared conscience and society’s acceptance with no accompanying shame or guilt. And to make things worse, Thessalonica at the time was under the influence of religions that advocated for ritual prostitution that allowed the adherence of these religions to do so in order to commune with their false deity. So not only was the Greco Roman culture making sinful and destructive sexual practices a norm for society, but religions within it were also encouraging this type of behavior as a means of spiritual worship. Hence, the world that the Thessalonian believers lived in was filled with sexual perversity all around them. Even more so than today. Perhaps. So Paul wrote the Thessalonian Epistle while living in Corinth, which was even more rampant with sexual sin during the time. Writing from Corinth likely influenced Paul all the more to warn the Thessalonians to abstain from all sexual immorality that was so prevalent in the world around them. In order for the Thessalonians to do this, we read in verse four that each believer was instructed to know how to control his own body in holiness and in honor. In order for the Thessalonian believers to keep being sanctified, they must learn how to have self control over the sinful inclinations of their flesh. Unlike the Gentiles who did not know God and had no restrictions of self control over their lustful inclinations, those who don’t know God let their sinful sexual inclinations run rampant. They don’t try to restrain where their eyes are looking or what they are doing with their bodies, but rather their body is their God and they seek to satisfy their inclinations with every perverse set sexual pleasure that society says to seek or try leading their minds and souls further and further into darkness, like an ox being led to slaughter or a bird rushing into a snare, not knowing that it will cost them their life. Paul tells the Thessalonians that that’s not who you are. You’re not like the Gentiles who do these things. Rather, you know God who is holy, and you know how he wants you to act. Therefore, control your body with holiness and honor. Just as God is holy and worthy of our obedience. Verse 6 says, Control your body so that no transgress and wrong, so that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter. Because the Lord is an avenger in all these things. And as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you, when Paul says brother, it is unclear if Paul is meaning brother in Christ or brother in the sense of another person. But regardless of that, the point he’s making is very clear. No believer is to transgress and take advantage of his fellow brother by engaging in sexual sin. Because the Lord sees and he knows all things, and he will not let any sexual sin go without punishment. For the Lord avenges those who are taken advantage of, whether in this life or in final judgment. When Christ returns, Paul is reminding his readers of this, of these things that he had already warned them about before, emphasizing the severity of engaging in sexual sin God is holy. He’s a just judge. He will bring retribution to those who wrong their brothers in this way. Matthew 18:6,7 Jesus warns his followers about the severity of sexual sin, saying, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great milestone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the city. Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. Paul further exhorts the Thessalonians on this matter in verse seven, saying, for God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. As Paul already stated, sanctification is God’s will, which means living a life in holiness is God’s will. Sexual impurity is inconsistent with the life that God calls his people to live through Christ. He calls his people to live godly lives that treat other people as God’s image bearers, not as means of self gratification. If it cost the Son of God his life to bring sanctification to all who receive him by faith here in this life, why would we continue to sin against him by giving into impure thoughts and actions? Momentary flesh satisfying sin cost Jesus his life. If you have come to know Christ as your Savior, sanctification is God’s will for you, not impurity that dishonors the Lord and hurts those involved in sexual sin. Verse 8 says, Therefore whoever disregards this disregards not man, but God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. To disregard the call to holiness and sanctification by habitually indulging in sexual sin is not just to ignore men like Paul who tell you don’t do it. Rather doing so disregards, or better said, it rejects God directly who gives his Holy Spirit to live and dwell inside his people. Galatians 5:16, 17 says this, I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. The answer to living a life of purity is found by walking by the Spirit who dwells inside every believer and gives them the power to overcome the desires of the flesh. To Willingly Continue to Sin to willingly continue in sexual sin is to grieve God’s Holy Spirit and to reject the work that he was sent to do. John MacArthur says this regarding sexual sin. The practice of sexual sin violates the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It spurns the Lord’s will, disregards his purposes, defies his commands, rejects his love, and flouts and abuses his grace. Perhaps most frightening and sobering of all, those who engage in sexual immorality discount the reality of God’s righteous judgment against sin. So all that being said, verses three through eight are very clear. Sexual sin has no place among God’s people. Not to indulge in, not to be in continual sexual sin, because to do so is to reject God himself. Therefore, each believer should know how to control his own body on a daily basis, in holiness and in honor of a holy God. Moving to verses nine through 10, Paul pivots to another sanctifying exhortation for the Thessalonians. He says, now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. For that indeed is what you are doing to all the believers, brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more. The Greek word for brotherly love is Philadelphia, which originally was used in the Greek to refer to love between family members. But now in the New Testament it always refers to love between brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul again affirms the Thessalonians of the love that they have displayed to one another, saying, no one needs to write to you concerning your love. For since Paul’s sudden departure, God has been the one teaching the Thessalonians how to love one another. The love that Paul refers to when speaking about the love that God has been instructing them to live is actually agape love, showing that God has taught the Thessalonians an even greater love that is willing to lay down one’s life for another. Paul says this because he knows that it is only God who can teach a believer how to love in this way. 1 John 4, 7, 8 says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God, and they know God. Anyone who does not love does not love in this way, does not know God, because God is Love, because God is love. He is the one who changes a sinner’s heart to love others the way that he loves his people. Which is exactly what happened to the Thessalonian believers as they received God’s word and the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul says that their love and their example had been made known to all the brothers in Christ throughout all of Macedonia, which Macedonia during this time referred to all of present day Greece, which is comparable to the size of Wisconsin today. Granted, there were much less people than there were at this time, but the love that they had still affected congregations within this area of about 50 to 60 miles, which likely included the Philippian Church, the Corinthian Church, the Church at Athens, the church at Berea, and many other churches that Paul and Timothy were overseeing at the time. So to say the least, the Thessalonians love for one another and for all believers was incredible. Yet Paul has more to say in verse 10 we urge you brothers to do this more and more. Again, Paul calls the believers to look beyond their current ridge and to keep loving one another more and more. Just as the Lord’s steadfast love endures forever, so God’s people are called to love others consistently more and more. God’s love is not limited and is not self seeking. It is patient and kind and rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. God’s love never ends. In almost all of Paul’s letters, his prayer for the early churches is that they may abound in love for one another more and more, for there is no greater virtue than love. Therefore the call is the same for us today. We are to love one another more and more as God teaches us to do so. Our text then ends with verses 11 and 12 where Paul gives some final exhortations for the Thessalonians, which says aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. We see that Paul was concerned with how the Thessalonians were living their lives among society when they weren’t meeting together. And it’s likely that the working class and slave laborers from among the Thessalonian converts had the attitude that since they were free in Christ, they were also free of other obligations given to them by their bosses or their masters. And we know this because Paul writes in Thessalonians again concerning this issue in Second Thessalonians, Chapter 3, where he says, for we hear that some of you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. So it’s interesting that Paul says some of the Thessalonians were busybodies, but not busy at work. They were busy wasting their labor by running around and loudly meddling in others problems which was affecting their reputation and their witness before outsiders. This kind of living does not honor the Lord or advance the gospel, even if it’s done in the name of Christ. Our text says that God’s people are to make it their ambition to live Christians quiet lives, meaning not noisy or frantic, but quiet peaceful lives that consider the lives of those around them so that they will not be a burden, but a blessing. Sanctification isn’t loud or forceful or intrusive. It’s quiet and gentle with humility, yet it’s strong and bold, never shying away from the gospel. As God’s people walk properly before outsiders, they are to work with their hands, which means hard physical labor that others in society may not be willing to do. And in doing so, they will humbly and diligently make a living for themselves and not have to be dependent on anyone else. Instead, a believer can reflect Christ with integrity and faithfulness while working the job that God has given to them. Faithful believers who diligently work and carry out their personal responsibilities in a quiet and honorable manner while also proclaiming the gospel to those around them, will serve as more effective witnesses to those around them, especially to those who neglect their work and loudly meddle in the affairs of those around them. So it was important for the Thessalonians to apply these practical applications in order to continue growing in their sanctification. And that ends our text of study. Now, to wrap things up, I’m going to give you four direct applications to take away from this passage of scripture that I hope will help us to grow in our sanctification. So number one, my first application for you is always look towards the next ridge. Growing up, my dad would ask me if I wanted to hike to the next ridge. And internally I would be thinking, you have got to be kidding me. Like another ridge? Seriously, what is wrong with this guy? Like what is broken with his head? No, I don’t want to hike any further. We’ve already come this far. Let’s just sit here so that the hike back is easier. But because I didn’t want to let him down, I would buckle up and I would hike to the next ridge. Looking back now, I am so glad I did because each ridge had its own unique beauty and adventure that I otherwise would never have experienced or seen. And in the same way, if we camp out in our sanctification, we will miss out on seeing the beauty of God as He matures us and refines us and shows us more of who he is. Which isn’t that what we want? Like, don’t we want to see God in all of his fullness? Don’t we want to grow into the image of Christ that brings the gospel to a dying and hurting world? And it builds and serves our local church. It leads our friends, our neighbors, our family to know and treasure Christ. Isn’t that what we want? God’s will for you is your sanctification, but it’s also the best thing for you and for those around you. So always look towards the next ridge and consider these three Am I seeking to obey and apply God’s word to my life on a daily basis? Am I doing more and more of what Christ would have me to do, or less and less? Number three what goals do I have for growing in Christ this week or or this month or even this year? If we don’t have any goals, then it’s likely that we are just on autopilot, cruising along until something changes. And that’s not how God calls us to live. You are created in Christ Jesus for good works, prepared in advance so that you may do more things in obedience with Scripture and that you may make goals of how you’re going to get there that may honor the Lord. My second application is directed towards those who are struggling with sexual sin. Pursue purity and holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit within you, and put to death the desires of the flesh. Six verses out of the twelve in our passage this morning warn us against sexual sin and urge us to live in purity and in holiness. Paul wants us to feel the weight and ramifications of habitual sexual sin, and that’s why he spends so much time on it. To some degree, all of God’s people fall short of the standard of purity. But habitual sexual sin is not the norm for God’s people. We are to flee from sexual temptation and by the power of the Holy Spirit living inside us, put it to death. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom from sexual sin. Let this be an encouragement to you. For those who are in Christ, there is freedom from the bondage of sin. It is there. It is there by the Holy Spirit living inside you so repent and make it your goal to live in purity. For some here, that may mean making some life changes in order to avoid that temptation. But it’s worth it. Get people to hold you accountable and to confess your sin to that it may be brought out into the light. For sin thrives in secrecy and in darkness. Know how to control your own body by disciplining it and knowing where you may be tempted. God’s will for you is your sanctification, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, your sin can be put to death and you can live in the newness of life. My third application is for you to love your family in Christ more and more. February is the hardest month out of the year for many of us here because spring is drawing near, but it’s still cold outside and our bodies are longing for more sunshine and more vitamin D. What better time is there to love the church more and more than right now? Winter Bingo only has three weeks left. There are plenty of ideas on Winter Bingo sheet if you’re looking for ways to love each other more and more. And I encourage you for everyone here to look over the Winter Bingo sheet and then make a plan for what things you want to do that would build up others in the church during this time. You could write an encouraging note. You could invite someone to your house for a meal like it doesn’t have to be big and complicated. We just want to keep loving one another more and more that we may grow in Christ together and show the world around us that we love because God first loved us. My fourth and final application is Jesus died for your sanctification. If you’re here and you don’t have faith in Jesus that has brought you newness of life, know that God’s offer of salvation and sanctification is available to you today. Today, if you will repent and you will believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. This is real, this offer of living in holiness. It’s really available through Christ. Jesus died, he was buried and he rose again three days later so that you may be forgiven of your sin and be given the freedom to walk in holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit living inside you. And that is incredible news for all of us here as we all fall short of godliness. And in doing more and more, we fall short. But for those who repent and believe in Jesus, his blood stands on their behalf and washes them as white as snow. The beauty of sanctification is that for those who are in Christ, it’s already theirs to behold he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. Our sanctification for those who are in Christ is guaranteed. For those who are in Christ, God will complete his sanctifying work within you. There may be many ridges, many valleys, but God will bring you to your final destination, that is with Christ, in perfect holiness and in righteousness. So take heart, for when you fall short, look to Jesus, knowing he died for your sanctification, and one day you will arrive at the shores of heaven with God’s sanctifying work made complete. That being said, please pray with me. Lord, I thank you. The sanctification is a reality because of the work of Jesus. I thank you that God, you don’t let us camp on a single ridge, but you spur us on and convict us and help us through your word to continue growing and to continue doing more and more. So thank you, Lord, for the grace and mercy and the freedom given through Christ. Lord, help each of us to do that more and more, to love one another more and more, to keep growing in sanctification more and more, and help us to look towards the next ridge and to help one another to do so. I ask these things all in the name of Christ’s name, Amen.