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6 · Extended theological exposition showing how the Great Commission connects Old and New Covenants through the forming-filling-sending pattern from Genesis, the Abrahamic blessing promise, and Daniel's Son of Man prophecy

There's also this sense in which the Great Commission ties the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. It ties the old creation with the new creation. It even kind of ties the supernatural with the material. You know, at the beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis, God forms people, right? And then He breathes into them. He fills them with His breath, with His voice. And then he commissions them, he sends them out. This is sort of the forming, filling, sending pattern we see throughout Scripture. And sure enough, within the Great Commission, we see the very same thing. God— Jesus has formed a new people for himself. Verse 2 of Acts 1 says that the apostles whom he had chosen— he's formed a new people. This is the forming of the church. And now he's going to fill the church with his Spirit. He says, wait in Jerusalem until you receive the promise of the Father, until you receive power from on high. And then he's sending the church out to rule and subdue, to be fruitful and multiply into the nations. This way theologically that the Great Commission ties all of this together in some pretty cool ways. There's the moment in Genesis 12 where God tells Abraham that he will bless all of the peoples of the earth through Abraham. And now we see, we get all the way around the corner over here to Acts, and we see the true sons of Abraham Paul would call believers actually being sent out to be a blessing to all the nations. In Daniel chapter 7, Jesus— well, Jesus is prophesied, the Son of Man is prophesied as someone who will have dominion over all the earth and will be a blessing and Lord over all the peoples. And now we see within, I think I said last week, 35-37 verses or so, all of these nations from all over the known world at the time hear the gospel. You see how the Great Commission is actually tying together a bunch of other pieces of God's work throughout Scripture. So it's tying the Bible together.

7 · Structural pivot from point one (the Great Commission ties the Bible together) to point two (it tests the basics of our faith), signaling increased emphasis on the second point

It's also testing the basics of our faith. And I want to spend a little bit more time talking about this.

8 · Extended analogy comparing the Great Commission to the Turkish get-up exercise—a single diagnostic movement that reveals all underlying weaknesses in a system

You know, there's different disciplines in the exercise world, different kinds of focuses. My daughter's a personal trainer, as obviously. So there's all these different disciplines and there's these different approaches. And there's this one approach, this subset within the fitness world that focuses mostly on functional fitness, functional strength. They want just the body to be in balance physiologically, the machine all working properly. And they use kettlebells a lot. I don't know if you've seen the kettlebell people before, but they use kettlebells quite a bit. And one of the things that this is this exercise that they use called the Turkish get-up. OK, the Turkish— it's not an outfit that they make in Turkey. It's actually just the standing up from a laying down position holding a small weight. And an expert can look at someone doing this movement and determine all of the weaknesses in their physiology by how they actually just stand up from this laying down position. In fact, there's a test for teachers of this principle where all they have to do is stand up holding a glass of water and not spill any of the water. And by the way, it's a certain kind of way of standing up. I think probably some of you could stand up without spilling a glass of water. Some of you. But this is a particular movement designed to point out weaknesses.

9 · Theological exposition connecting the Turkish get-up analogy to spiritual diagnosis

You know, the Great Commission is very interesting in that it reveals all sorts of— if there are flaws in our theology, If there are flaws in our understanding of Scripture or understanding of the lordship of Christ or even the role of the approval of men, if there are flaws in these things, they really do begin to show up in how we execute the Great Commission. Sometimes we get credit for being mature, maybe because we've got wrinkles or because we've been hanging out in the Jesus world for a while. But then as you really begin to look especially through this lens, this first step of Christian maturity that Jesus gives his apostles right out of the gate. As you begin to look through this lens, you begin to see that maybe there's not so much maturity as we thought there was, that maybe there's actually a lot of physiological weaknesses in our faith, theological weaknesses, behavioral weaknesses. I said last week that Sometimes the Great Commission reveals that we just don't even know the gospel. If we feel as if we can't share the gospel because we don't know enough, the only way that's possibly true is that we don't know the gospel. If you know enough to be saved, you certainly could tell that same information to someone else and they could believe and be saved. Sometimes it reveals that we have developed— and by the way, this is something all human beings do, this is what Romans 1 teaches us— Sometimes it reveals that we have, in our flesh, turned God from giver into gift dispenser. That we've turned the Christian faith into a vending machine. And you know, we're like E4 and D7, you know, we're punching out the selections we want. We're not following a person anymore. We're not obeying someone who's told us to go. We're actually just selecting the things that we like out of the Christian faith and we're not choosing the things we don't like out of the Christian faith. The Great Commission will reveal that. Our relationship with evangelism will reveal that. It will reveal what we believe is necessary for someone to be saved. If we are maybe secretly, without realizing it, become moralists and we're mostly about behaving well, then we will put a lot of emphasis on the social gospel and on service and so on and so forth, which all are wonderful things, of course. But if the goal of our salvation over time without us talking about it has been just to be better, then we'll start kind of sharing the gospel of be better and we won't be sharing the gospel itself.

10 · Extended historical example of William Carey confronting hyper-Calvinist resistance to missions

You know, I think probably one of the most basic things that the Great Commission tests is our definition of love. There's a man named William Carey back in the 1700s, late 1700s, shortly after the American Revolution. William Carey's Gritt, and he is considered to be the father of modern missions. He emerged out of what is referred to as a hyper-Calvinistic background. His denomination was called a Particular Baptist. Over time, this denomination had concluded that the doctrines of grace, that God chooses those whom he will save, preclude, make it unnecessary to share the gospel. Because after all, one person tells William Carey, 'If God wishes to convert the heathen, he will do it himself.' Well, William Carey is just young enough and stubborn enough. I think we look at, by the way, I think we look, this is helpful for me as a pastor, probably helpful for you to think this way too, we look at these guys' portraits and they're all 60. And we forget that they were all young punk nonconformists who were 20 and 30 when they started wondering, is this really right? And so William Carey is, you know, he's young and he hears all this and he is personally convicted. This just isn't right. He doesn't think that this idea that if God wishes to convert the heathen, he will do so himself, doesn't seem to line up at all with Scripture. And one of the first things he has to do for himself and for others is to prove theologically that the Great Commission is indeed for us and not only for the apostles. And so he works through all of these ideas through a book called The Inquiries. And you can see what he's doing. He's actually trying to convince himself as well as those outside and his elders whom he feels obligated, of course, to honor. And so he's working through all of these arguments. He proves theologically, as we did last week, very simple to do, that the Great Commission is not for the apostles only. If you weren't here last week, the short version of that would just be, among many reasons, that one of the Great Commission is the command to the apostles to go into all the world baptizing people and teaching them to observe all that Jesus had commanded them. One of the things Jesus commanded them was to go into all the world baptizing and teaching them to obey all that they commanded. So the It's clear that, that we're supposed to do the same things as it relates to missions that the apostles were doing. So he works through that, and then he comes to practical questions. He says it's possible that maybe we're not so much theologically challenged as we're just challenged practically. And he lists a bunch of reasons why maybe we're not doing missions. And the first one is a practical one. He says Let me just read a little bit of his list. 'The impediments in the way of carrying the gospel among the heathen must arise, I think, from the following things, from one of the following things: either it is their distance from us, their barbarous and savage manner of living, the danger of being killed by them, the difficulties of procuring the necessities of life, or the unintelligibleness of their languages.' 5 possible reasons why, maybe why we're not going out to do missions. And he says, first of all, this argument about their distance. He makes a technological argument, which is really interesting. He says, you know, ships are better today than they used to be. This is him saying this in 1792, right? He's like, honestly, it is not as difficult now to get over into these places as it used to be. He makes the same technological, practical argument related to the problem of languages. He says, you know, if you really try, most people can learn a language in about 2 years. So again, he just addresses a practical reason. But there's this core number of reasons that have to do with you might die. And golly, the barbarians and the heathens, man, the way they live is just rough. And man, it would just be a hard place to live.

11 · Climactic theological claim drawing on Carey's diagnosis: all practical objections to the Great Commission (danger, hardship, inconvenience) ultimately trace back to a 'love of ease'—an unwillingness to be inconvenienced for the eternal good of others

And he sums all of that up with one statement. I think we have this slide. This can be no objection to any except those whose love of ease renders them unwilling to expose themselves to inconveniences for the good of others. He said that, you know, all of these practical fearful reasons why you might not want to go and share the gospel, that you might die that you might not be able to watch Cowboys on TV. That's a thing I actually heard from someone one time. That your healthcare may be lacking or that your children may be placed in danger. All of these objections— leave that slide up there if you would, Nicholas— all of these objections are rooted in what he says is a love of ease. A love of ease that renders us unwilling to expose ourselves to inconveniences for the good of others. That the root reason he discovered for why we don't actively pursue the fulfillment of the Great Commission, obedience to evangelism, is because we have a love of ease. And it renders us unwilling to expose ourselves to inconveniences for the sake of others.

12 · Direct application diagnosing the congregation: if you claim Christian maturity but avoid inconvenience for others' sake, you are not mature—you are failing at the baseline level of Christian discipleship

The Great Commission will reveal a lot about our definition of love. We might have walked around in Christian skin for a while so that we've got some wrinkles and we've been doing this Jesus thing for a while, but if you're still stumbling over a love of ease, and you're finding a love of ease rendering you unwilling to expose yourself to inconvenience for the eternal good of others, there are a lot of things we could call you, but mature is not one of them. Because this is Jesus 101. This is Gospel 101.

13 · Concrete application of the 'love of ease' diagnosis to a specific congregational situation: some men are avoiding community because it's inconvenient or messy

I'm hearing this, by the way. We've got this kind of interesting thing happening in our church right now where we've got some guys that are really pulling together and walking in community together and others who are not. And you're free, of course, to pursue a level of involvement in biblical community that you think God's calling you to. Absolutely. And I don't want to guilt you out of that. But I'll tell you point-blank, if what you're doing is examining what's been going on from aside and saying, 'That looks like too much trouble. That looks like sin, and I don't have any of that.' Or as I heard, 'I'm tired of people sharing their problems and not doing anything about them.' There are a lot of words we could use to describe you. Mature is not one of them. Because your love of ease is rendering you unwilling to walk through hard things, hard conversations, difficult, even discouraging seasons with other brothers because of your love of ease.

14 · Extended application directed specifically at older men, warning against shrinking life down to manageable parameters where past obedience substitutes for present obedience

So the fulfillment of the Great Commission, this, this idea that we're supposed to leave and go into— leave comfort, leave predictability, leave our sanctuary and go into the hardships of sin and darkness is absolutely baseline for what it means to be a Christian. It isn't dessert. It isn't master's degree. This is kindergarten. This is what it means to be a follower of Christ. And I do want to gently, as Paul would commend me, speak directly to you men who are a little older than me. Don't hide in a package of maturity. You may have shrunk your life down to where it's easy for you, but if you actually tried to obey at the biblical level of obedience, you would find yourself sinning every day too and struggling every day and not knowing where to turn. And needing help and needing confrontation and needing care and needing grace. I'm 42. I'm already feeling this, the shrinking of my life to parameters that I can control, to parameters where my goodness is good enough, to parameters where my victories in sanctification 15 years ago are good enough. But when I step out and decide to invite the man with the drug habit 2 apartment doors down from me into my home, then my goodness 20 years ago isn't good enough. And my decision to love people in heroic ways, in Jesus-like ways, I need community for that. I need brotherhood for that. I need to be confronted over my failure to do that. I need to be encouraged when I try to do that and they run all over me. I need to be cared for when my heart is broken.

15 · Extended personal story of the pastor's own obedience to the Great Commission—leaving a successful ministry to move to South Africa during the AIDS crisis

So I would just like to present this, that the Great Commission is a wonderful opportunity for you to look in the mirror and say, yeah, I was mature for a 20-year-old, and now I'm 50. What am I doing with my career? What am I doing with my finances? What am I doing with my time, men? What am I doing with my emotional energies? Am I pursuing a global vision that Christ says begins the day you're saved? Or has the love of ease crept in and you find yourself unwilling to be inconvenienced for the sake of others? There's a reason why I'm here. There's a reason why I left St. Louis to move here. There's a reason why this pulpit was emptied. The love of ease is a systemic congregational issue, not merely the issue of the man in the pulpit. So the Great Commission will show us where we are at the basic level. The basic level of being willing to suffer for other people. I was on an airplane to Africa. Let me tell you my Africa story. I don't want to— I don't tell it because I think there's a way that— I don't know that there are many ways to tell it that don't sound cocky. I was the associate pastor of one of the largest growing, fastest growing churches in an area much like Johnson County in Illinois. And church was growing rapidly, started at 200, was already at about 500. Around the time of my third or fourth year, the AIDS pandemic in Africa began to be headline news. And I just couldn't walk away. I just couldn't look the other way. And so honestly, through lots of fights with my wife— because I guarantee you one thing, don't misconstrue any of this as me doing much of this right. Right? Like there are many things I would do differently. But after all sorts of disagreement with my spouse and finally Ange gets on board and we kind of decide this is something we must do. We make the decision to move to South Africa. At the time, there was this, the rape statistics against people from other countries, especially young white kids, were just astronomical. And we counted the cost, and that was not easy to do, to make the decision to move to South Africa, to leave a suburban church that was growing and a ministry that was successful and move to South Africa and subject our, at the time, very young daughters, very, very young son to who knows what. We made that decision and honestly were scared. We received a call shortly before we were ready to kind of finally sell everything and move that the missions agency that we were called to go with had all their paperwork pulled by the government. We couldn't go. They asked us if we wanted to go to Haiti instead. I said, 'No, I'm sure that God's called us to Africa.' So we don't know what to do at this point. What winds up happening is I wind up resigning my position at this church, borrowing— actually, just taking from the church $2,000. And I bought a plane ticket and I flew to South Africa. First time I'd ever been out of the country. And I arrived in Johannesburg. I didn't know anyone. I didn't have anybody there to meet me. And I spent a month taking buses around sub-Saharan Africa trying to find orphanages that needed help. And during that experience, I was— well, that was— I don't know how long ago that was. I was a lot younger then. During that experience, I can tell you that I absolutely enjoyed the deepest fellowship with Jesus of my life, the deepest camaraderie with Christ of my life. I enjoyed a fresh walk and experience of the Spirit in that season. There were lots of things about that that I would do differently. But as Spurgeon once said, I think it was maybe Moody, he said, you know, I like the way I'm doing it wrong better than the way you're not doing it at all. That experience of stepping out, I'm just going to tell you, I'm mostly stick and I want to be some carrot here, that experience revitalized my faith. The Bible came alive to me in a way that it hadn't been before. I literally sometimes felt as if I should pull out a chair for Jesus when I'm sitting somewhere. I felt his presence, knew him. And you know, that doesn't, that doesn't really contradict much with the Great Commission, does it? Lo, I am with you always, even into the end of the age.

16 · Transition from point two (the Great Commission tests faith) to point three (it teaches obedience) with exposition on the flesh/Spirit distinction

Now, that was a while ago. The temptation now is to look back then and see that faithfulness as my identity, as where I am now. And it's not where I am now. So this ongoing relationship, this ongoing encounter with the Great Commission, it tests the very basics of our faith. And it teaches us obedience. That's the third point. It teaches us obedience. The Great Commission is a great opportunity to learn the difference between obedience in the flesh and obedience in the Spirit. And we will talk more about this next week, but I want to unpack— I want to unpack it quite a bit for you now. Teaching obedience is— the Great Commission is a great opportunity for us to discern the difference between obedience in the flesh and obedience in the Spirit. What do I mean by that? What does that look like? Well, first of all, I think we did a slide for this too. There's the two big differences would be have to versus get to, and I can't and he can. Those are the big differences when we're talking about looking at the Great Commission, looking at the call to share the gospel or any of God's commands through the flesh or through the Spirit. If you regard God's commandments through the flesh, they will be burdensome and they will be condemnation because you can't and you don't want to. But if you view God's commands through the Spirit, they really do look quite different. This is an opportunity— this series is an opportunity to re-examine how you regard the commandments of God. If you regard the commandments of God through the flesh, and the commandments of God are burdensome. But when you review the commandments of God through the Spirit, they become a treasure map. I really truly believe this. They become a treasure map. Last week we said obedience is the good life. If you look at the commandments of God through the Spirit, it looks like Jesus, the God of the universe who created the world, is handing you a map and saying, this is where the good stuff is, follow these steps. And you'll find it. When you look at the commandments of God through the Spirit, it looks like a privilege. When you look at the commandments of God through the flesh, it looks like a burden.

17 · Structural pivot narrowing focus to the 'I can't' vs

So the big difference, one of the big differences between flesh and spirit when you look at the commandments of God is I have to versus I get to. I have to versus I get to. The second one, the second big distinction is between I can't and he can. And here I'll spend most of the remaining time focusing on this idea of looking at the Great Commission through the lens of I can't versus he can.

18 · Extended personal story illustrating the shift from 'I can't' to 'He can

Go back to our text, chapter 1 of Acts, verse 1. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his sufferings by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. Back when I was 15 years old, I got my driver's permit. My grandpa said, let's take you out on the road and let's go to Kansas City from Jeff City, Missouri. Kansas City, the land flowing with milk and honey. And he said, he said He said, 'Let's go to the Renaissance Fair in Kansas City.' So I'm 15 and I like turkey legs and damsels, so I'm okay, I'm down. And so we drive to the Renaissance Fair. I drive all the way. And we get to the Renaissance Fair, we spend the whole day, and I'm kind of tired and I've had my fill of turkey legs and people that smell because they're wearing too much wool. In the summer, and we're leaving and there's a jester, jester, standing outside the gate and he's juggling. My grandpa says to him, I will pay you $20 if you can teach my grandson to juggle. I didn't ask to learn to juggle. I didn't ask for a juggling lesson. My grandpa was an architect by trade, but he taught himself to paint, He was a sculptor, he was a gardener, he was a trombonist in a jazz band, and so on and so forth. Loved to learn. Assume that everyone else would love to learn too. Now the thing I haven't mentioned is that I'm dreadfully shy at this stage in my life, and there's a crowd of people watching this jester, and this jester pulls me in front of all of these people and says, I'm going to teach you to learn to juggle. And then he says, and you're not gonna get to go until you learn how to juggle 3 balls. So I'm 15 years old, I'm mostly pimples and legs at this point, I'm super awkward, I don't have any coordination, and I'm standing in front of what felt like thousands of people, probably 20, and I am essentially forced in that time to learn to juggle. It didn't come easy. It was extremely awkward. I kept dropping the balls. People were getting frustrated with me, at least I think they were. It felt like hours elapsed as I'm standing in front of people learning to juggle. And I'll tell you this, what changed was the jester came up to me, who was probably, he's probably 20 years old, but he seemed like he was like Yoda. He came up to me and said, if you can learn to juggle, You can learn to do anything because it's just one step and then another step and another step. And then I thought, okay, this is bigger than juggling. I've got to accept this commission. I've got to learn how to juggle. And then I remember trying to decide if my grandpa was just really cruel, really stupid, or whether he actually knew me better than I knew me. And somehow there was an attitude adjustment 10 minutes into this process, and probably about 10 minutes later, I learned how to juggle 3 balls. And I can still sometimes juggle 3 balls. Good for me.

19 · Extended theological exposition unpacking Acts 1:2-3 word-by-word to prove that Jesus's commands come with empowerment

If you regard the command to be bold in your gospel witness as a have-to, you're not going to experience what God's goodness has for you in, in the Great Commission. And if you regard this as 'I can't,' you're not going to experience God's goodness in this. If God can give you this morning, through the Spirit, faith to see that the God of the universe would never give you something that was bad for you, and that he would never give you something that he wouldn't empower Your whole life could be different. I really mean that. Your whole life could be different if you could learn those two things. You can learn anything about God. Anything. You can do anything God calls you to do. So let's look at the text because I want you to see how clearly God's empowerment is in view. Verse 2, focus on the phrase 'taken up.' Before he was taken up, I want you to realize that right now Jesus is reigning over all things. At the right hand of the Father, and that he has all authority over all things. If you were to go to Kwik Trip tomorrow and order a 49-cent ice cream cone and tell someone about Jesus outside while your ice cream cone's melting, Jesus would have authority over every drip of that ice cream cone, and he would have authority over the person you're talking to. Perfect authority, total authority over every part of that person. Jesus was taken up to rule and to reign, and now he does rule and reign over all things. All authority on heaven and earth have been given to him. It also says that he issued commands through the Holy Spirit. Again, verse 2, focus on this word commands. Christ commands you through the Holy Spirit. Is Jesus the law? Does Jesus give commands that he does not empower? Does Jesus tell you to do something without giving you the power to do that? We'll answer that more clearly in a moment. Focus on the word chosen in verse 2. The apostles whom he had chosen Now this, of course, is probably referring to him choosing these guys to be apostles, but God's choices are always work on the same levels. God does not choose in vain. Whoever he chooses, he uses. If he has saved you, he has good works for you to walk in that he's prepared in advance. God always uses those whom he chooses. Look at the word alive in verse 3. He presented himself as alive. Jesus is alive, and the Bible says that the same power that raised him from the dead is at work in you. He is with you always. He will never leave you or forsake you. Focus on the word suffering in verse 3. We'll talk more about this next week. Jesus suffered to redeem you from the sins of selfishness and pride and fear. Jesus suffered to redeem you from the fear that's holding you back. Jesus suffered to redeem you from the love of man's approval that's holding you back. Jesus died to redeem you from the selfishness, the love of ease that is holding you back. Look at the phrase in verse 3, many proofs. Hasn't Jesus proven himself faithful to you? Haven't there been many instances, as the text says, of Jesus's empowering work in your life and in the past? Haven't there been other moments in your life when he has called you to do something and you had no idea how you could do it, and he provided the grace and the strength to do it?

20 · Theological synthesis distinguishing Jesus from the law

The truth is, we'll see this more next week, the whole idea of waiting for the Holy Spirit is because Jesus is not the law. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. Jesus is the empowerment of the law. If Jesus had commanded you to go into all the world and share the gospel, Jesus commands you to be intentional about sharing your faith. He, and he has, he will also provide the power for you to do so. That's why Jesus says in this passage, go into all the world, but first wait until you receive power from on high. Friends, you have received both the commission and the empowerment. He will empower what He commands.

21 · Extended quotation from Augustine's Confessions illustrating the theological claim that God empowers what He commands

Augustine, good old Augustine, he was really struggling over whether he could be a believer in Jesus because he was so into sexual immorality. He was a licentious guy, and he knew that God's command was clear. He must walk away from sexual immorality. He must pursue what they referred to back then as continence, something we think of differently now, but continence back then was self-control, right? Sexual self-control. And he thought, I just don't know if I can be a Christian because this thing is clear, God wants this, and I don't think I can do this. And this is what he writes in his Confessions as it begins to dawn on him what God's up to with this hard command: On your exceedingly great mercy rests all my hope. Give what you command, then command whatever you will. You order us to practice continence. A certain writer tells us, I knew that no one can be continent except by God's gift, and that is already a mark of wisdom to recognize whose gift it is. By continence, the scattered elements of the self are collected and brought back into unity from which we have slid away into dispersion. For anyone who loves something else along with you but does not love it for your sake loves you less. O love, he calls out to God, O love ever-burning, never extinguished, O charity my God, set me on fire. You command continence, give what you command, and then command whatever you will. That begins to be a phrase used repeatedly to refer to sanctification. Give what you command, and then command whatever you will. God not only commands, but through His Spirit, through the gospel, He empowers obedience to the commandment.

22 · Direct application bringing all the sermon's threads together: Are you hearing the Great Commission through flesh or Spirit? The Peter-on-water illustration models the Spirit response—not 'I can't' but 'in You, I might

Are you hearing the Great Commission this morning with your flesh ears or your spirit ears? Are you hearing 'I have to' or 'I get to'? Are you hearing 'I can't' or 'He can'? Are you hearing the command and the empowerment for the command. Think of old Peter in the boat. He sees Jesus walking on water, and if he'd looked at that in the flesh, he would have said, 'I can't.' But he looked at that in the Spirit and said, 'In you, I might. I might ought to try anyway. Jesus, if that's really you, command me to come out and join you. That's all I want.' for you, this direct, bold, true idea that sharing your faith is on the front line, on the front end, the kindergarten of Christianity. All I want you to do is say, Jesus, if that's really you, command me to join you. Jesus, if that's really you, command me to do as you do. Give me the faith, empower me to obey.

23 · Closing synthesis using an old poem to crystallize the sermon's central contrast: the law demands without empowering ('demanding brick, denying straw'), but the gospel commands and empowers ('bids me fly and gives me wings')

There's an old poem that goes, a rigid matter was the law, demanding brick, denying straw. But when with gospel tongue it sings, it bids me fly and gives me wings. He's not calling you to do anything that he isn't already ready to fulfill in you through his Spirit. He's not calling you, he's not giving you a single command that he won't empower through His grace.

24 · Closing prayer and Communion reading from Galatians 3:10-14

Let me pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for your empowering commands, your commands that are empowered, the power that comes with the call to obey. Lord, would you give us ears of the Spirit to hear that this isn't a have-to, this is a get-to. And that this isn't about what we can do, it's about what you will do as you work powerfully within us to will and to work your great purpose. Give us faith, Lord, to hear your gospel commands with ears of the Spirit. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. As we— and now as we prepare the table, let me read to you Galatians 3:10-14. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide in all— by all things written in the book of the law and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith. Rather, the one who does them shall live by them. This is it, this is it right here. This is announcing the table. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through him. Christ's empowerment through his suffering is what we hold on to today through this table. We look at this table as evidence of His empowerment. We look at this table as evidence of what He calls us to do, He will give us the ability to do. So come in faith.