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Watch Video & Full Sermon Transcript » Mike Breaux » Mike Breaux - Beware Spiritual Pride

Mike Breaux - Beware Spiritual Pride (01/13/2026)


Mike Breaux - Beware Spiritual Pride
TOPICS: Pride

Summary:
In this message from Acts 15 and Colossians 2, the preacher addresses the early church’s debate over whether Gentile believers needed to follow Jewish traditions, emphasizing that salvation is by God’s undeserved grace through faith in Jesus alone—a «Jesus-plus-nothing-else» plan. He warns against adding human rules like special diets, holy days, visions, or behaviors that burden believers and make it difficult for outsiders to turn to God. The core call is to avoid legalism, embrace fullness in Christ, and keep the church outwardly focused so others can easily experience the same grace without unnecessary obstacles.


Welcome and Prayer for Southern California
All right, what is up, everybody? Welcome to Lakepointe. Glad you’re here! Hey, I want to welcome all of our campuses and those of you who might be joining us online as well. I’m so grateful that we all get to do this together. Man, it’s been kind of a crazy week, hasn’t it? Winter storms are blowing in all over the country. It took me nine hours to get here this weekend; it was kind of crazy, but nothing compared to what’s going on in Southern California right now. Many of you know that we used to live there, and so there are a lot of friends and churches that I’m a part of out in that place. I’ve just been praying for all those who have been affected and are still going through a lot of stuff. So, I just wondered if it would be okay with you if we paused and prayed for all those folks. Let’s do that.

Father, right now I just pray that in some supernatural way, you would speak to the hearts of people in Southern California, that they would feel the prayers of people in Texas from this place right now. Would you give them peace in their hearts? Would you let them know that you really are Emmanuel, God with us, no matter what comes into our lives you’re there? Father, I pray for churches in the area. Some have lost their houses of worship, but they haven’t lost their church, and I pray that the church would rise up and be the hands and feet of Jesus to light up people. I pray for all the first responders, people who are on the front lines fighting these crazy fires. I pray for the winds to die down. I pray for people trying to help others in crisis just doing it on the fly. And I pray for all those families that have lost loved ones and have lost everything worldly, anyway, God. May this point them back to you. So, Lord, we lift them all up to you and pray it all in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Thanks for doing that. Hey, I got some good news for you: Pastor Josh will be back next weekend to kick off a new series. We’re going to be talking about some really dangerous things—some would-be assassins that want to take you and me out. So make sure you’re here for that; it’s going to be a really cool series. I can’t wait to get started on that. But we’ve been bouncing in and out of a book called The Book of Acts, which is in the New Testament section of the Bible. It’s all about the history of the early church and how those first-century followers of Jesus lived their lives with passion and courage, going beyond themselves so that the good news of God’s love could make it all the way to us. Today we’re going to be in Acts chapter 15. We’re going to start there, anyway, and then we’re going to jump over to Colossians chapter 2, spending some time there as well. So if you got a Bible or an app that you use, like YouVersion, or if you just want to follow along on the screens with us today, we’ll put it up there so we can all track together.

The Spread of the Gospel to Gentiles
Hey, last week we left off with the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ spreading to places beyond anyone’s imagination. As a result, an amazing yet, at the same time, confusing thing was happening. Those who were always considered outsiders—known as the Gentiles or non-Jewish people—were now putting their faith in Jesus and finding forgiveness and new life in Him too. Now, this was God’s plan all along, but since the good news had come to the Jews first and Jesus was technically like their Messiah from their bloodlines, some of these folks didn’t know what to think about all this. They were asking, «Is this okay? I mean, come on, those people aren’t like us. They’ve been following a bunch of other so-called little g gods. They’ve been doing all kinds of immoral practices. They don’t look like us; they don’t think like us; they don’t dress like us, smell like us; they don’t raise their kids like we do; they don’t eat the foods we do; they don’t practice the traditions that we do.» I mean, sure, it took us a while to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior, but they—like—they are big-time sinners! So with all this confusion going on, they did what churches do: they called a meeting.

As a pastor for many years, I have been in a lot of church meetings, and in some of those meetings, I have walked away very disappointed in some of the people in the room, and many times I walked away very disappointed in myself. Some of the meetings I’ve been in throughout the years have been as inconsequential as deciding which lawnmower we are going to buy for the church property to others where we talked about allowing men and women to serve alongside each other as co-heirs with the same gifts from the same Holy Spirit. I have been in contentious meetings where people were very resistant to change. I’ve heard all the «We’ve never done it that way before» kind of arguments, and I’ve been in meetings where we all humble ourselves, hit our knees, cried out to God, and it felt like the room shook.

The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15
Here in chapter 15, some of the believers who had come from the strict sect known as the Pharisees were saying, «Hey, listen, we’re glad that these people are coming to Christ, but they also need to follow our Jewish rituals and traditions. We need to tell the men that it’s not enough to be baptized; they need to be circumcised as well and practice all that we have been practicing through the years. Not only do these people need to come over to Jesus, they need to come over to us.» So the leaders called this special meeting to talk about all this stuff. I’m guessing as it’s getting started, you’ve walked into meetings before where there are little pockets of discussion going on around the room, and kind of a cacophony of opinions being bantered around, lots of that pre-meeting grumbling and mumbling happening.

Well, as the meeting gets rolling, Peter walks in and stands up. Now, Peter was one of Jesus' original twelve disciples, a former professional fisherman who became one of the leaders of the early church. You might remember that he’s the one who had that vision from God back in chapter 10 about how God accepted all races and all nations and wanted all people to come home. Then God connects Peter with this guy named Cornelius, a Roman officer in his Gentile family, and they all believe, and Peter witnesses their conversion and their baptism. So after a whole lot of discussion around the room, Peter stands up and says this: «Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the good news and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and He confirmed that He accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God?» I love that phrase! «Why are you now pushing back against God’s plan, against the heartbeat of God, by burdening these Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?»

We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus. Peter says, «Why are we arguing about telling them to do this and do that because that’s the way it’s always been done? We all now know that the old way was just a heavy yoke; it was this burden. All of it was just a shadow of things to come. It was all just trying to show us how desperately everybody needs a Savior. God’s plan is a Jesus-plus-nothing-else kind of plan. We are all saved by the amazing, undeserved grace of Jesus through faith in Him—nothing more, nothing less.» And then Peter sits down. Pretty cool speech!

After Peter sits down, our boys from last weekend, Paul and Barnabas, who are in Jerusalem for this meeting, chime in and start telling everybody about all the amazing things that they had seen God do among the Gentile people. I can only imagine the excitement in their voices as they shared story after story of miracles they had witnessed, how people had come out of deep dysfunction, deep darkness, and crazy lifestyles. How people from every conceivable walk of life were now turning toward God and finding hope and eternal life through Jesus. It’s been my experience that there is nothing quite as compelling as life change stories. Back in the 90s, I had the privilege of leading a great church. I got to take over for an unbelievably awesome pastor. I mean, God was just amazing; he was a legend. I felt so privileged to get to build on that foundation, and the church was just full of gracious, loving people.

But it became clear to the leadership that it was time for us to shift our focus more outwardly toward people who didn’t know Jesus yet. As a result, there was a lot of change—not in what we believed at all, but in the way we intentionally began to reach out to people who were far from God. I don’t know how else to explain it to you, but God brought so many people our way; it was just supernatural what happened. As a result, we would share life stories all the time about what God was doing in people’s lives. I can remember one time asking a long-term member of the church about all the changes going on. I said, «Do you like the music?» He said, «Nope.» I asked, «Are you okay with the lack of a dress code?» He said, «Not really.» I asked, «Do you enjoy the videos that we use?» He said, «Nope, don’t do much for me.» And then he paused and said, «But when I see all these people coming to Christ, especially the next generation, when I hear all these life change stories, when I have trouble finding a place to park and a place to sit, it’s thrilling. So I will just put my preferences on a shelf so nothing will get in the way of these people getting into heaven.» I just wanted to hug the guy. I did hug the guy!

So when Peter, Paul, and Barnabas get done sharing, James—the brother of Jesus, same mama, different daddies—stands up. He was a former total skeptic who turned believer and is now one of the leaders of the early church. James stands up and quotes some Old Testament prophecy about how the Savior of the world was for the entire world, and he makes this statement: «It’s my judgment that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.» I got to thinking about these particular guys who stood up at the meeting and spoke. We don’t know much about Barnabas' past, but Peter, dude, lied about knowing Jesus when the heat was on. Paul terrorized and persecuted the church. James grew up with Jesus and made fun of his older brother. And now, after all of them had personally encountered the undeserved grace of the resurrected Jesus, they wanted everybody else to experience it too—obstacle-free.

It kind of reminds me how Jesus one time said, «Those who know they’ve been forgiven much love much, » and these guys knew that they had been forgiven much and wanted to extend the same grace they had received to other people. So they came up with, «Let’s just not make it difficult for people to come to God and receive the same grace that we have received.» One of the churches that I’ve been teaching at for over 20 years now has this little room backstage where those who preach can keep their backpacks, clothes, and Bibles. We even have a Keurig back there for coffee and a few Kind bars and almonds. And when I’m there, crispy creams! We sit back there, and we can pray and get ready and look through all the scriptures and stuff. On the wall of that little room hangs this verse: Acts 15:19. I always read it before I go out to teach: «We should not make it difficult for people to turn to God.»

I got to say something; I am so grateful for Pastor Steve Stroope and his wife, Marsha, who believe that too. Steve, if you don’t know, was the founding pastor of Lakepointe, and I’m sure, like an old veteran, he will sit around someday and show his grandkids all his scars. «You’ll see this one right here? That was from the Battle of the Hymns. I got this one over the no suit and tie conflict. I mean, I got this one over the Bible music wars.» Many of you were right there with him. Through the years, you weathered those battles. You just kept an open heart and a positive spirit, and you put your preferences on a shelf. You took down barriers that might hinder people from connecting with Jesus, and you kept this church unified and outwardly focused so that guys like Josh and others could build upon it. I am super grateful!

So after James kind of drops the mic about not making it difficult for people to come to faith, they decide to draft a letter and send it out to the Gentile converts up in Antioch saying, «Hey, no additional requirements to coming to faith in Jesus.» Now, they do add in the letter, «Now we think because of the pagan god culture you’re living in, you ought to distance yourself from any of those dark practices associated with that stuff, like eating meat that’s offered to idols.» But all the Jewish ritualistic requirements that some people are trying to put on you? They’re obsolete! It’s a Jesus-plus-nothing-else kind of plan, and it says this in verse 31: «And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message.»

Ongoing Pressure and Paul’s Warnings in Colossians
So you might think, «Okay, meeting adjourned, » and this stuff would never come up again. Not so much! The pressure to conform to religious requirements and certain traditions and doing things our way would not go away. I mean, Paul would have to confront it almost everywhere he went. Like we saw last week, the same kind of people that had Jesus killed would follow and threaten his ministry for the rest of his days. They would infiltrate churches and try to stir up confusion and lead people as far away from Jesus as possible. You can read about how Paul pushes back against it in letters like Galatians, Romans, Corinthians, Philippians, and others.

But I want to jump over to Colossians 2 just for a little while, where Paul tells us there, «Listen, never settle for anything less than Jesus Christ alone.» Because here’s the deal: throughout our spiritual journey, you and I will encounter people who are going to try to derail our trust in Jesus alone and try to add a bunch of other stuff to our faith. So Paul writes this in chapter 2, verse 6: «And now just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him; let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.» He’s saying don’t settle for anything less than Jesus. It’s not a Jesus-plus-something-else kind of plan!

My good friend, Gan Apple, helped me with this years ago. Both of us were leading churches through transition, and we would get on the phone and talk a lot. I’d talk a lot about the challenges we were going through and what a challenge it is to keep a church and your life centered on Jesus because even longtime followers of Christ will chase this Jesus-plus-something-else way of thinking. We can all kind of get stagnant, and we start wondering what’s the next new thing, what’s the new teaching, the new experience, the new insight, the new revelation? What can lead me to a whole new level in my relationship with God? When in reality, the new thing that we’re chasing is a Jesus-plus-something-else plan, and when we do that, it just pulls us further away from the source of life, and we end up settling for so much less.

There’s a verse here in Colossians 2 that our kids memorized; they still got to memorize it. They would quote it in the morning before they went off to school. We would sit down around the breakfast table, and I would get up early, prepare them a hearty breakfast of Pop-Tarts, and we would say this verse out loud together: «See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.» The Greek word for «captive» there was a word that was used to describe the plunder that was taken in war. One translation puts it this way: «See to it that nobody kidnaps you!» Don’t let anybody hold you hostage with all this «you need more than just Jesus» stuff.

Warnings Against Jesus-Plus-Diet
Then Paul begins to unpack for them and for us what some of these hollow and deceptive philosophies are that are trying to kidnap the followers of Jesus in their spiritual journey. For instance, he writes this in verse 16: «So don’t let anyone condemn you or judge you for what you eat or drink.» All throughout the history of Christianity, there have been those who come along, sometimes with great energy and passion, and teach a spirituality that might be defined as a Jesus-plus-special-diet plan. There have always been those who try to define spirituality by what you eat or drink— or in some circles by what you don’t eat or drink. Now, of course, there is wisdom in healthy eating, and the Bible warns against gluttony and against drunkenness and getting high and wasted; our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we should not be trashing the temple! But we have to be careful of those who try to define spirituality by what you eat or what you drink.

Sometimes those who have made a personal decision to abstain from certain foods or alcohol hold that over other people with a sense of spiritual pride. There are entire denominations who bear the name of Jesus who have done this—much more concerned about what’s in your fridge than what’s in your heart. If you don’t follow their rules about eating and drinking, your salvation and the authenticity of your faith is in question. Bang! Listen, your diet doesn’t make you in or out with God! Eating meat will not make you any further from God; eating only vegetables will not make you any closer to God. And I’m grateful that eating rice cakes is no more spiritual than eating biscuits and gravy, aren’t you?

Now, however, if you like Whataburger better than In-N-Out Burger, I do seriously question your salvation. I’m just saying. I’m just playing with you. But Paul is teaching here: don’t fall for those who try to make your diet a test of your faith.

Warnings Against Jesus-Plus-Special-Days
Then he continues with another concern in verse 16: «And don’t let them condemn you either for not celebrating certain holy days or New Moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.» I think it’s kind of cool how he says the same thing Peter said back in Acts chapter 15 in that meeting. He says, «For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come, and Christ himself is that reality.»

In other words, Paul is saying, «Don’t fall for those who teach us it’s a Jesus-plus-special-days kind of plan.» See, some of the people of that day were insisting that followers of Jesus needed to observe all kinds of religious festivals and even some pagan feasts; the celebrations and traditions had become such a part of their culture that most of the people didn’t have a clue as to why they were doing them in the first place. I’m just guessing that some of you came out of church backgrounds where all kinds of religious holidays and traditions were observed. I mean, you couldn’t really say what it was all about and why you did it; you just kind of showed up at the right time and lit a candle or something. It was just tradition. And even today, you’ll run into those who believe that the sign of authenticity in your faith is which day of the week you choose to worship on.

Some say it must be Saturday because Jesus followed the Jewish law of resting on the Sabbath, which was Saturday. Others say, «No, no! It can only be Sunday!» I can remember the blowback we got when we started a Saturday night service back in the 90s. People said, «We can’t do that! We can’t do that! We can’t worship on Saturday! It must be Sunday because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday; that’s the Lord’s Day!» It was almost like God was covering His ears on Saturday night saying, «Stop that praise and worship right now! Come back tomorrow, and I’ll accept it, but not tonight!» Some will say the only legitimate day to observe communion or the Lord’s Supper is on Sunday because we read in Acts 20 that they came together on the first day of the week to break bread, yet somehow forget that Acts chapter 2 says they were meeting in homes and breaking bread every day.

When Jesus first served communion, it was on a Thursday night, not the first day of the week. Here’s the deal: in Christ, every day is the Lord’s Day! Every day is a good day to worship Jesus, walk with Him, and express your love for God. So sometimes you’ll run into those who get all jacked up about the precise date to observe things like Christmas or the crucifixion or the resurrection. Discussions about actual dates can be interesting to study, but the date is not what’s important; it’s what happened on that date that’s important. Jesus was born; He lived; He taught; He died; He rose, and He’s coming back again, and that’s what matters!

So Paul is saying, «Don’t let anybody take your freedom with a Jesus-plus-special-days kind of plan.»

Warnings Against Jesus-Plus-Special-Encounters
Then he says this in verse 18: «And don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying that they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body.» There’s always been something kind of spiritually seductive about the spectacular—about those who claim to have special visions from God, special visits from angels—about those who claim to exclusively have God’s secret contact information in their phone.

So Paul has to remind us that our salvation is not a Jesus-plus-special-encounters kind of plan. Paul is saying, «Watch out for those who, with false humility, actually pride themselves in having special visions, exclusive messages from God, or a special anointing on their lives—secret things that only God has revealed to them, which ordinary people like us can’t see.» There’s a puffed-up spiritual pride associated with all that. He even says that people like that in reality are not closer to God; their ego proves that they have lost connection with the head, Jesus Christ.

Over the years, I’ve seen this happen with televangelists, pastors, Bible study teachers, small group leaders, and church elders, where somebody kind of gets on a power trip and starts controlling and manipulating members of the group by saying, «Well, God told me, God revealed to me, God spoke to me about this, God told me something about you, God spoke to me in a dream about you, » and it’s used to manipulate and control people. I think we have to be very cautious about doing that in the church. In Colossae, people were abusing this kind of «I’m really tight with God; I’ve got the inside scoop; I have consulted my angel; I’ve been spiritually enlightened» kind of language. Paul calls it out, and I just hope, as a church, we would always stay humble and just never do that kind of thing.

Warnings Against Jesus-Plus-Special-Behaviors (Legalism)
Then Paul addresses one more hollow and deceptive practice that was making it difficult for people to come to Christ, and this comes in many different forms. But he talks about it, those who say, «Oh, it’s Jesus, but it’s a Jesus-plus-special-behaviors kind of plan.» Look what he says in verse 20: «You have died with Christ, and He has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as 'Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch'?» Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. Now these rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion and pious self-denial and severe bodily discipline, but they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires. Only the Holy Spirit can do that, and He does it from the inside out.

What Paul is addressing here is the heart of legalism—the kind of thinking that they were trying to guard against in that Acts 15 meeting. It’s the spirit that says, «I’m going to come up with a whole bunch of rules, and if you are a true follower of Jesus, you’ll keep my rules.» You know what a legalist is? A legalist is a person who’s afraid that someone somewhere somehow is having a good time! They are just insecure joy-suckers, and Paul knows what he’s talking about because Paul was one Jesus had to confront these kinds of people all the time. The religious Pharisees that Jesus encountered were the most joyless, most legalistic, demanding, insensitive, narcissistic people of His day. They felt that the Old Testament law was not explicit enough, so they added like 600 additional rules of their own.

For example, the Old Testament law said the Sabbath was to be set apart and that the people were to rest, not to work. Well, the Pharisees had to take it a step further and define what work was. For instance, they said if you got off your donkey after sunset on Friday, when the Sabbath started, you couldn’t take the saddle off your donkey; that’s too much work! Now, you could eat an omelet on the Sabbath, but if that hen happened to lay that egg on the Sabbath, you couldn’t eat it because that hen was working, and scripture said animals should not work on the Sabbath. Even today, if you go to Israel, they have special Sabbath elevators where the elevators stop on every floor because pushing the elevator button would be considered work on the Sabbath.

Now, all throughout the history of the church, followers of Jesus have been divided by people who practice, «It’s a Jesus-plus-spiritual-behavior kind of plan.» I grew up under some old-school legalism, and there were lists of specific things that were considered taboo. Like, at the top of the list, were prohibitions against watching movies and playing cards and dancing. When I was growing up, the church said that Christians shouldn’t dance because it might lead to sex—so we didn’t have dances in our youth group! Instead, we had hayrides, and man, those were spiritual, let me tell you! I got a friend whose dad, no kidding, would not drink root beer. He would say, «If they called it root juice, I would drink it, but I’m not drinking root beer!»

Legalists will say, «Oh, you don’t use that Bible translation, do you? You don’t listen to that podcast; you don’t listen to that cable news network, do you? You don’t have a TV in your house, do you?» You’re afraid to say, «Yeah, I actually got three—with Netflix, Hulu, and Disney.» Now, don’t get me wrong here; we all ought to live distinctive, Christ-centered lives, and we ought to walk away from things that might pull us far from Him. But there will always be those in Christian circles who try to impose a kind of legalism on people, especially on new believers who are looking for some guidance, some guardrails for their life.

But the more you surrender to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and let Him grow His fruit in you, the more you feed yourself with God’s truth and pursue loving and serving people the way Jesus did, the more you draw closer to Him, sink your roots down into Him, and build your life on Him, then the more you come to understand that there are just some issues and areas where God gives us the freedom to discern what’s right and wrong for our own circumstances. Plus, as we grow deeper in Jesus, the more willing we ought to be to extend freedom to other people on non-essential issues that scripture doesn’t address.

I mean, oftentimes people will take heated positions over non-essential areas of theology that have nothing to do with salvation and make it a test of whether or not you are in or out. Some people will do it over speaking in tongues; some will do it over your view of divorced or never-married people serving in church leadership or the roles of men and women in the body of Christ. Some will do it over views on the second coming of Jesus, and if you don’t see the events unfolding exactly like they do, your salvation is in doubt. Some make it a test of someone’s faith over where you stand politically. Some judge your spirituality by whether you’re wealthy and healthy, believing that if you’re not, man, it’s a sign of a lack of faith in your life, or you must be living in sin! Others judge it by whether or not you’ve chosen a life of complete poverty, believing that that’s necessary to be a true Christian!

Paul is reminding us here: you are not on a Jesus-plus-special-behaviors plan. You’re not on a Jesus-plus-special-diet plan or a special-days plan or a special-encounters plan; you are on a Jesus-plus-nothing-else plan! You don’t need a Jesus-plus anything else because here’s the truth: you have been given fullness in Christ. Fullness in Christ! You’re complete in Him. He is enough! I love how Jesus is identified in this same book over in chapter 1. We learn that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation. In fact, He’s the creator of all things. He is before all things, and in Him, Jesus, all things hold together. He is the head of His body, the church. He’s the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead. God’s fullness dwells in Him. Through Him, we have forgiveness of sins. He has delivered us from the burden of the law; He has set us free from any other power or authority. So why would you want anything more than Jesus? Never settle for less because in Him you already have more than enough.

Closing Prayer and Invitation
My prayer for this new year is for all of us to simply rely on what Peter called the undeserved grace of Jesus Christ, and let’s not make it difficult for other people to find that same grace too. Let’s just bow our heads for a moment. I’m thinking that there are those of you here as we start this new year together who really need to get on a Jesus-plus-nothing-else kind of plan. It’s not difficult; it just requires humility, where you just say, «I’m turning away from the old, and I’m walking toward the new. I’m going to do a 180 away from my sin and walk toward you. I know I’m not going to be perfect, Jesus; that’s why I’m coming to you. I need your help, and I want to be forgiven from my sin, and I want you to lead my life from this moment forward.» You just pray a simple prayer in your heart like that and then start following Him.

Father, I just want to thank you that it really is a Jesus-plus-nothing-else plan. It just feels like to me we’re just kind of incurably religious where we think that we got to do something when all we got to do is follow you and just live grateful for the undeserved grace of Jesus. Thank you, God, you didn’t deal with us like we deserved. You didn’t give us justice; you gave us mercy. You gave us grace. Father, I pray that we would be people that know we’re forgiven much so we will love much, and always, as a church, we would never make it difficult for people to come to you. So, Father, I pray that from this day forward we would just have hearts exploding with worship and gratitude for what you’ve done. Thank you so much, Jesus, and I pray all this in your name. Amen.