How to be Better in Your Life

TALK IT OVER

There is a race to run, there is a path to follow and there’s a target to hit if you want safe passage through the doorway of death into the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven in Christ. God knows we are going to need all the help we can to get this right. So God has given us divine mentors to coach and instruct us into the right way.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• What does the phrase "You Must Be IN IT to Win IT" mean to you in the context of running the race of life and aiming for eternal security in Christ?

• How do you distinguish between activities that are distracting you from God's best and those that are genuinely important for your life and responsibilities?

• In the message, Ps Kev talks about living from the narrow and deep rather than the broad and shallow. How can you practically apply this concept in your daily life to maintain focus on God's best?

• How do you engage with the divine mentors in the scripture? What benefits have you found in learning from them?

• In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus talks about the narrow gate and the broad road that leads to destruction. How does this passage impact your understanding of the narrow path of life and the right target to aim for, as grow in your relationship with God? How can you practically apply this teaching in your journey of faith?

TRANSCRIPT

Wow, this series, I've been pondering on this one and I just have a real sense that across this series, many of you are going to enter into a new dimension of God. But the thing with enter is you must be in it to win it. You're going to have to choose to be in it. to win it. You've got to choose to enter the conversation.

You've got to choose to enter the story of God. You've got to allow the story of God to enter you. And I want you to know that there is a race to run. There is a path to follow. There is a target to hit if you want safe passage through the doorway of death into eternity that lies beyond. And you're going to have to learn to run your race and you're going to have to run it with perseverance.

But you're going to have to choose to enter. You're going to have to choose that. So I want to talk this morning. I want to kind of lay a bit of a foundation for this series. And I'm going to talk a little bit about the process of running that race and staying on that path so that we do hit the right target.

And don't get distracted by a whole lot of stuff that is going on. So if you want to win your race, you want to hit the target, you want safe passage, you are going to have to be in it to win it. You're going to have to be in it to win it. You've got to get in the race. Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes I ponder about my life.

Late at night, I just lay there and I'm, I'm thinking about everything that's going on that we have as a family. There's four adults, two kids in our house. It's chaos all of the time. And I kind of wonder what's, everything's going on. And it's like, oh man, how much of this that we're doing is actually...

Helping us achieve the right race and hit that right target and how much is kind of distracting us away from what is really, really important. And my dad used to always say to me, Kev, there are two certainties in life. There are two absolutes, there's two definites. One is death and the other one is taxes.

Both of those things are absolute definites. Definites. I was talking to one of the teachers and she was telling me about her first position where she was teaching little ones and she was trying to teach them, these little primary ones, about the word definitely. That's a difficult word for you to kind of really fully understand.

She said, I just, I threw it out to him. I said, okay, come on. Can anyone use the word definitely in a sentence which shows us It's the meaning of definitely. So little Cindy put up a hand apparently and said, Well I'm definitely going to the beach on Sunday with my mum and dad and we're going to go down the beach and we're going to eat ice cream and we're going to have fun.

And she goes, Well that's not really definitely, you know. A lot can happen between then and now, you know. Anything could transpire, you know, like in, Oh, well, you know, the other one, another one put his hand up and said, You know, I'm definitely going to my mate's party this weekend. It's going to be outside.

We're going to go to Bounce first, then we're going to do this and this and this. Well, that's not really definitely, are they? I mean, like, what if the weather changes or what if the car breaks down? It's not really definitely. And there's a little boy in the back of the room. He's so quiet and he's so shy, Johnny.

Anyway, he kind of... Starts to put his hand up and teaches, says, Johnny, do you think you can use the word definitely in a way that we would understand? He said, I think so, but could I first ask a question? She goes, yes, what's your question? He goes, miss, does wind have lumps in it? Everybody goes, no, Johnny.

He goes, well, I definitely need to go to the toilet. Great use of the word. Absolutely accurate. Absolute certainty. You need to do that. Definitely. That is a great use of the word, Johnny. He went straight to the top of the class. I know for certainty, with absolute definiteness, that you and I are going to spend a lot longer on the other side of death.

in eternity that we're going to spend on this side. In this world, as wonderful as it is, and we've got to make sure that things aren't distracting us away from what is important. So you've got to ask the questions all the time. If it distracts me from God's best, it needs to be assessed and addressed.

That's what needs to happen. If it distracts you away, you need to do something about it. Now you get this. Man, we've all got jobs. Some of us got two jobs. Some of us got three. People working in a household. It's very expensive to live on the coast. And there's heaps of things that are happening. And then you've got kids to run around.

There's sports. You know, there's concerts. There's parties. You name it. You're continually doing that. And you've got to fix the yard. Something's broken. Fix this, that and the other. And it's like, wow, this is just crazy. But how much of that is actually helping us hit the target and how much is distracting us away from what is the inevitable thing that we have to face?

There is nobody getting out of death and taxes. Well, some of you got creative accountants, you get out of a few taxes, but the death thing, no one gets out of that. So we've got to make sure we're not distracted from it. Most of us live our lives like we're going to stay here forever. Like we're planning and we're buying and we're getting this.

It's like, I'm going to stay forever. No, you're not. None of us are going to stay forever. So you've got to make sure you're running the right race. Now, hear me now. I'm not saying you've got to stop doing all the things that you're doing. But I'm saying you need to... address them. Assess them and address them to make sure that they're not distracting your way from what's really, really important.

Fortunately we're not the only ones to struggle with this. So God kindly had what he, we call the divine mentors, write some things down, catalog some things for us so that God could coach us and mentor us through these divine mentors. particularly out of the teachings of Jesus as outworked by the Apostles and they mentor us and coach us on how to stay focused on what is important.

Now winning is actually not as hard in this area as you might think. The step is very very easy but it's not easy because it will cause you to actually have to assess everything about what you believe, what you think, what is helpful, what's not. And that will challenge you about some of the things that you have or beliefs that you have in life.

Now as I said, not the first people to have to trouble with this and figure it out. So let's look at a couple of scriptures. See what Jesus had to say. People, whenever people encounter Jesus, inevitably the conversation would get around to spiritual things and eternity and what have I got to do and all that kind of thing.

And so Jesus made this statement. He made this statement and it completely is what we are talking about and going to talk about over this series. It's in the book of Matthew, who is one of the disciples, and it says this, Jesus said to them, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the road, that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

Keep going. But small is the gate, and narrow is the road, that leads to life, and only a few find it. Why does only a few find it? Because if you get your life too broad, if you go too thin, if you go too wide, it creates destruction, and guess what? You can't even see the narrow gate anymore. So he's trying to help us understand.

Broadness is what leads to destruction. Narrowness... is what leads to life. That's why if it distracts you from God's best, it's got to be assessed and then addressed. You've got to do something with us. So the challenge for us in the 21st century is, how do you negotiate the broad, which is in everyone's life, from a narrow path?

You've got to go from a narrow path. We're going to look at another portion of scripture out of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews is another ancient document. It's in the New Testament. When you think of the Bible, think of the Bible as a library of ancient documents that are there. Hebrews is in the New Testament.

That's for everyone else. Genesis to Malachi is for ancient Israel. But in there, now the author doesn't put their name on it, which is kind of unusual because Normally they put their authorship on it. Most people, most theologians, think it's Paul. Some go, I don't know, some of the writing is a little bit too flowery for Paul.

Kind of the way he was, so... We don't actually know, but most attributed to Paul. But for some of you ladies, there are some people out there that think a woman wrote it, that's why she didn't put her name on it. So I dunno, but just saying it's a possibility, they dunno. But we'll go with Paul. We'll go with Paul.

Here's what he says. Therefore, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, A great cloud of witnesses. Now don't think they're not your aunties and uncles and everyone that's passed on, that's not. They're angelic beings, both good and bad, that are observing what is transpiring. He says, let us throw off everything that hinders us.

Let us throw off everything. Everything that hinders you. Now, I don't know what's going on in your heart. I don't know what hinders you. I don't know what will cause you to be tripped up off that narrow path, but you do. You know what it is. You know yourself better than anyone else. Some people can't watch Netflix or Stan or any of those things because once they start, it's like, they can't stop.

They know it hinders their relationship with God. For others, it's social media. They're checking their phone every five seconds to see who's like something, who's doing something, what's going on. None of it's true, but let's watch it anyway. But for some people that is a weakness. It takes them off the path.

For others it's money. For others it's alcohol. For others it can be unforgiveness in relationship. So he's saying whatever it is, whatever it is that's distracting you, you need to assess it and maybe get rid of it. Throw it off and then he takes it a bit further and goes so says and the sin that's so easily Entangles some of us is not just about a distraction for some of us We've walked into places that we know we shouldn't have gone We knew God wasn't happy with us to go down this track But we've gone down there anyway, because that's what we do as human beings Somehow we know better, and even though it destroyed Johnny's life, it's not going to destroy mine, and then I'm in the same situation.

There's something in us that's like that. He says, if you know that your heart is not just being distracted, but it's been actually pulled away in, out of lightness, into darkness, and it's, you're getting entangled in it, that too has to be thrown off. And that comes through something called repentance.

People go, repentance, that's a weird word. It just means... Turn around and go the opposite direction. For example, if you wanted to drive to Southport and you were going this way to Koolangatta, you would be in sin to get to Southport. But if you turned around and went to Southport back the other way up Bermuda Street, you would now have repented and would be on the right track.

It means missing the mark. Missing the mark of God's best. And so then you get caught in it and say, You repent. That means I turn away from it. I turn to God's best. So he's saying you've got to learn. You've got to learn to throw some things off. Things that will distract and things that actually entangle.

And I think that word that Phil brought just before, the Holy Spirit prompted him has got something to do with that. Then he goes on and says let us run with perseverance the race for a markdown for us. We say let us what? Let us what? Let us run. Not walk, not amble, not use an electric bike or a scooter, not jog.

He says run. You need to run this race. You need to run it. You need to put some effort into it. You cannot run it if you are carrying baggage. How many people have you ever seen in the Olympics that's in their lane and they've got a handbag and they've got shoulder bag and they're dragging along a trolley?

No, because you can't win. You can't win with that. So you've got to learn how to lead light and run light and, but run fast. This is not something you can amble into. You have to enter into it intentionally. We know God's will is for us to be holy as He's holy. He wants us to love us with all His heart, mind, soul, and strength.

And then out of that place of wholeness and health, He says, and this is my call for you all, now go make disciples. Means go love someone else and help them discover the same life and love that you have found. Help them on the same journey. It's what we should be doing through all the rhythms and the routines of our life.

Now this section of Christ's Scripture, Paul definitely did right because he knows he put his name on it. This is in Corinthians, but he talks a bit about running the race. So he gives us a little bit more clarity on it. I'll only read part of it to you. He says, Don't you know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize.

Run in such a way as to get the prize. We've all seen the fun runs that go on around the place, around the coast. Some of them are serious. Some of them are completely ridiculous. But they're having fun. The point is, he says, you're going to need to run this race. This race is a narrow road to a narrow gate.

And you're going to have to run it, and you're going to have to run it intentionally. You're going to have to do some things. Discipline yourself, it says. Go into training. That's what we use soap devotions for. Soap devotions. It's a simple process that we did. We did for all of us to learn to be conformed to the image of Christ.

We didn't create it. It belongs to Pastor Wayne Kedira. He created it in Hawaii. But it's a simple, simple process of you reading, allowing the Holy Spirit to highlight the Scriptures to you in concert with other people in the church you're walking with. So that you could be conformed to the image of Christ so that you can realize when you've drifted these mentors help us Know hey, I'm drifting off track here into danger.

I need to cast some things off I'm getting entangled up and then he doesn't even it doesn't even give us a no vagueness at all He says what you got to do is fix your eyes on Jesus fix your eyes on there's the pioneer And the perfecter of our faith. So that's what we've got to do. Fix your eyes on Him.

Firmly fix your eyes on Him. That is the narrow road. And these mentors, these divine mentors, encapsulated in the pages, are there to let us know when we're drifting off the path. There's a really good example of this. when Jesus goes down to visit Mary and Martha. He's made a decision he's going down to visit them.

I don't know whether he, whether he told them he was coming or whether he just lobbed up or whatever doesn't really tell us that but you and I both know that if we know someone's visiting there's a lot of stuff that's got to happen. Stuff that yesterday nobody cared about but today lawns have to be mowed.

You gotta clean the windows. Why? I can still see out the windows. They were okay yesterday. Clean them up. Vacuum. Wash the dog. Why are we doing all this? Because someone important is coming. And we all get, we all get all distracted about all this kind of stuff. So I'd, this is kind of happening. Jesus is coming.

Well, even if you just found out right now, there's a whole bunch of stuff that's got to do. We've got to cook, we've got to clean, you know, we've got to make sure everything's perfect for Jesus. And so anyway, when Jesus finally walks in, Martha is so worked up about trying to figure this out that she can't even recognize that he's there and stop.

She just keeps on going. Mary just goes and sits at Jesus feet, just sits there, and just starts listening to Him. And Martha is still on the broad road, and she's doing all this kind of stuff, and going to do this and that, and she's getting frustrated. She's getting angry, and she's getting upset about it.

And so she's letting Jesus know now, this is really good. God in the flesh, you're going to tell Him that He's doing something wrong, so you need to fix it up. It's not going to work well. So anyway, she's getting so upset. And eventually she can't control herself and she gets, Jesus, don't you care that this sister of mine, she's a lazy bodger.

I'm here doing all this work and she's just sitting down there. And Jesus is just going, wow, wow. And this is what he says to her. Martha, Martha, did you know every time you hear your name twice, it never goes well. Have you noticed that? Ruthie, Ruthie. Cow. Carl. There's only one thing worse, and that's Carl, Carl, Carl.

Only one thing worse than two, and that's three. But he's like, he's like, he's trying to get to her. Like, what's going on here? Martha, you're worried and upset about many things. What's he talking about? The broad road. Many things, and he goes on. But few things are only needed. Oh, narrow. In fact, only one. Oh, very narrow.

Mary has chosen what is better, and it will be not taken away from her. Wow. What a great example of the broad road of life with all the stuff that's going on, and the narrow road. Now... All the stuff that Mary's doing wasn't bad. I'm sure Jesus really appreciated that the house was clean. And I'm sure he was really looking forward to a good feed, so I guess that wasn't really that.

But the problem was, she got so caught up in the broad that when Jesus stepped in and the narrow gate, the narrow path was right there, she couldn't see it. And she couldn't enter into it. That's the process that the Holy Spirit is using these divine mentors through the scriptures for us. To help us understand how to sit at Jesus feet amidst all of the broad stuff that's going on in life.

It's not a matter of stopping everything. You can't. You've got to live. But you've got to live from that narrow road. Martha's identity got caught up in what she was doing. And the more she got caught up in it, the more frustrated, the more agitated. Have you noticed when people do lots and lots of stuff, they're just a little bit antsy all the time?

You know, they're just a little... No, you don't know what I'm talking about? Like, she's got no idea. Like, maybe it's just me, I don't know. But people just, they get more antsy and then they get all ticked off because, why are you sitting around? Why are you just sitting there? You know, like, can't you see everything that's got to be done out here?

I had a little, a little wake up call with the Lord this morning. I walked into the bathrooms before we came on, and it looked like, it looked like a tsunami had hit there. It's like, water everywhere. And I'm going, why doesn't someone fix this up? And the Lord says, you fix it up. Sorry Lord was that you?

Because I'm about to go get behind me, Satan. Fix it up. These things happen, they're all there. But you've got to learn to live from that narrow space. Narrow and deep. Narrow and deep is the right road. That's the road that leads to life. But broad, the more broad you get, the more distractions, the more shallow you become, and the more you're prone to, to end up in destruction.

So you have to enter. But you've got to choose to do it. You've got to choose to enter the conversation with Jesus. You've got to choose to enter the story. Allow it to enter you. You've got to address the things that distract you from God's best. You've got to address them and maybe even get rid of some things.

So now the big question for you is what are you going to do about that? No, you're not. It's one thing to know, but it's another thing to actually do. How do I stay on that right road? How do I make sure I do that? It's simple. I've showed you the process is there. The divine mentors are there. They're there to teach you to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

And out of that place, then love your neighbor as yourself. Until you fully, really, really, fully love God with all of your being, it is virtually impossible to love another person without some hidden agenda being in there somewhere. Even if it's... I'm loving on them because it makes me feel good about myself.

It can be so subtle, but when you love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, you're now healthy enough to say, you know what? I can tell you about Jesus. I can pick up a towel and serve you. I can love you. Let me show you the narrow road. Don't worry about all the busy stuff. That's fine. It's all going to happen, but you need to lead from the narrow road and guard that narrow road to make sure that you stay in there.

When we first took over, the first word of the year we had was freedom. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. That has been our fight since day one and it will be until the end. Because there are all sorts of things that want to come in and take away your freedom and destroy that. Second year, I've already shared it with you and for earlier months, but we haven't got beyond it yet, is the word deeper.

He said you have to learn to go deeper. You're still shallow. You've got to go deeper. You've got to love me with all. Yes, I do. I know I love you with all. Well, you say you love me with all, but what about this, this, this? Nearly all? No, I didn't say all. You're getting all. It's an all thing. Okay. All right.

And then many of us ended up going on a journey that second year called EHS, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. And some of you guys are doing that now. And I would recommend you do that because a lot of the stuff that drives us into the broadness comes from our families of origin and comes from things that happen to us that we've never dealt with.

And they sit under the surface and they erupt at a moment's notice. Ever had someone, you've walked into something, you've just said one thing and they've just completely lost it? And you go,

are you mental? What's the matter? Well, you did this, this, this. I didn't, I didn't do anything. And then you say, tell me about growing up. And then you discover it's not even your, their issue. It's actually an issue from their past. And they're the things that they drive us. There are two diagrams in that year that we, that we, in that second year of Depot, that God showed me around this broad and this narrow and the importance of this.

This is the first one. It's the, it's the, it's the model that the world uses all the time. I'm not sure if we got those diagrams. Did Chris get them? Chris, no diagrams? Oh, there you go. There you go. So this is the way the world works. This is the broad way. Me in the middle. I got to look after my family. I got to look after the work.

I got to make friends, hobbies. I even got to take church. I got to make sure God's in there too. It's a worldly model because it puts you at the center. That makes you God. And after a while, you end up becoming a bit... Living in duplicity, you start to have different masks, you become different things to different people.

Because depending on which area is yelling at you the most, which one of them is yelling the most, your attention has to go there. So if you start to do really, really well at work and everything is going as fantastic, then suddenly the home starts saying, Where are you man? You're never here. It's like we don't even have a husband anymore.

What are you doing? Alright, okay, so let me put all my attention over there. And I put my attention over there. It's all family, family, family, family, family. And then the guy from church says, Man, you never do anything around here, man. You're such a lazy bludgeon. Such a lazy bludgeon. Alright, God's not going to be happy with you.

And there's, oh, I better do something for the church, and I go over to the church, and then I go, oh, oh, my hobbies, my mates, you never talk to us anymore, you're always with your family, oh, and you keep going, and you bounce from one to the other. And then what happens is, you lose yourself in the midst of it, and then you become a chameleon.

You start to be different things to different people. Like, I hear sometimes, sometimes the kids talk to me, about some of the things that happen at home, and I'm going, What? They did what? You know, like, Sunday, it's like, oh, oh, Jesus. Oh, I love you. Shut up. On Monday. Oh, yeah. It's like, what is going on? It's because you're trying to control everything.

And you end up having to wear these masks all the place. And it's like, no, you just got to be consistent. That's the one that leads to the broad that leads to destruction. Now, the danger with that one also is the fact that if you notice something in there, we separate me from church and from God. And you can't do that because Jesus said I'm in the Father, the Father's in me, they are in me, we are in them.

It's like very confusing. But it basically looks like this model, second one, which is, watch this, there it is, see? Look at that. This is one I drew earlier. So at the center, at the center has to be the church. Don't think building. Church is the people. We are the church. God is in us. His spirit is in us. So, so the Holy Spirit, Father, Son, Holy Spirit in us.

So we're centrally in there. That is the narrow road. Now what happens with that is that when you live from that place of the center, and then you just allow your life to expand this way. When you get to your families, Your kids at home see exactly the same person that they see on Sunday morning. When you go to work, you're exactly the same person that they see at home.

When you're off with your mates, and they're all off drinking and partying and boozing and carrying on, you better be exactly the same as you are at church. Now I'm not saying you can't have a drink, but I'm saying if your character shifts, and you become a chameleon, and you're different. That's a problem.

You're living back in the other one where you are shifting and you are controlling. And that's a broad way and eventually it will lead to destruction. This is the narrow way because this way keeps you sat at Jesus feet, listening to Him, being consistent before Him. And no matter where you go, People see Christ in you because you set at Jesus feet, and the divine mentors are there to help you stay in that place.

They made all the mistakes that you would, I could ever make. You could see them, but you also see how they made it back. So living deep and narrow is living from the center. at Jesus feet. That's the path. That's your race. To live in that place, stay on that path, so you hit that target. Safe passage through eternity into, safe passage through death into eternity.

And if you've got a family around you, you've got people around you, your challenge then is to make sure that you are pointing them in the same direction. In the first model I showed you, you're not pointing them anywhere because they can't get a read on. Who you are and what you're about. Could you imagine what would happen if every Christ follower lived from that center section, lived from that path?

Could you imagine what would happen in families if the kids knew that God, God loved them because they saw their parents loving God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. They felt such security because they know that mom and dad won't let anything come in there that's going to derail us from the path of saying committed to Christ on that narrow path.

So we work into eternal life together. Man, that would change everything. About how we function. You have people that are so secure in themselves. They just, they're not, they don't have to worry about anybody. I don't have to, I don't have to please everyone. I, I just, who I am, this is who God made me to be.

I'm loving you the way that God loves me. Wow! That would change everything. And the revelation that I've just shared this morning comes straight out of the scriptures. Through the divine mentors. This is what Soap Devotions is all about, but you've got to enter. There is a race to run. There is a path to follow.

There's a target to hit. If you want safe passage, it's true. And you have got to follow Jesus and you've got to keep assessing and addressing everything that you're doing to make sure that none of it is pointing you off, drawing you off that narrow path. Some things might be hindering that need to be adjusted or maybe moved out and if there's sin that needs to be repented of, entangled so you can actually stay on the path.

Deep and narrow is how we protect ourselves. From the broad and shallow, which leads to destruction. But you have to enter it. You have to enter. Which is why we keep saying, you have to be in it to win it. You've got to learn to sit at Jesus feet. Quiet. Stay on that narrow path. Assess everything. To see, is this actually leading me off the path?

There are a lot of good things in life. And I'm not saying you've got to stop the good things, because we're put on this world to enjoy it, as well as enjoy God. What I'm saying is you've got to make sure those good things don't distract you off the main thing, off the main path, because that is devastating.

I cannot tell you, across my time when I was in Ipswich, the amount of young people that walked away from God Because of older figures in their world, parents, youth leaders, pastors, friends, that espoused A faith in God on Sunday, but lived completely incongruent to it throughout the week. I remember one girl that she was, beautiful girl, and she poured her heart out.

This is going to sound like a small thing to you, but maybe it just helps us understand what it means to this one. She had poured her heart out. God would change her mum's heart. Her mum was very angry, very bitter, very twisted. And, but she would stand on Sunday morning, worship like an angel. But what happened the rest of the week, it was just bordering on abuse in every area.

And then she said, and I prayed. My dad would quit smoking.

God can't fix anything. He's not there. He can't fix anything. God, you know, do you know that God can't change anything unless you cooperate with Him? He won't violate free will, but you have to understand when you exercise your free will and you stray off the path, you damage someone, somewhere. Not just yourself, and one of the things that I'm committed to as long as I have breath in me here is I will teach you how to follow Jesus on the path.

I'll teach you how to live out the scriptures. I'll make sure that you are conformed to the image of Christ, not the image of me or anyone else. But you're conformed to the image of Christ so you can hear his voice and you can hear these divine mentors crying out to you and letting you know stay away from that, stay on the path.

Because you don't want to get too broad and then end up in destruction. So, I've now launched us off, we're starting to enter. And over the next few weeks, we're just going to hear from different ones where God has actually spoken to them out of their soap devotions. spoken out of it and pre warn them about things or help them realize some adjustments they needed to make to stay on that path of life.

And I think it'll be very encouraging and I think it'll be very challenging. Let's pray together. Father I just thank you that you just are such a gracious God and you're waiting for us to enter. You're waiting for us to enter into this race. To engage with those divine mentors that will reveal to us when we are straying off the path That you will help us know and help us understand and that will cry out to us when there are things that we're that are hindering Us that need to be let go of and when there are things that we've now started engaging in this now Entangling us back in sin and we're moving from light into darkness and Lord you're gonna speak to us So that we can be better than we've ever been Not because we want to just say that we're better, but because when we get better, we represent you better.

And people see Christ in us everywhere. Teach us how to stay on that narrow path and help us to be conformed to the image of Christ. So that we may be consistent disciples for you. That ones might look at us and go, wow, there's someone that is absolutely consistent. Doesn't matter whether I see them. In a Sunday morning in a family gathering, I see them at work, or I see them at home, or I catch them out and about.

They are exactly who they are, and their love for God, and their love for people does not waver, and it does not change. Father, I pray that you would teach us to enter, so that we could be in it to win it, not for us, but for you, and for those that are yet to come. into relationship with you. And I thank you in Jesus name.

Amen.