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For those of you guys who are either by the door, please make your way to your tables. It's really exciting to see all of you guys here. The room is so full and ready to study together. So per our usual just setup and schedule for the evening, we'll have our time of worship and then go straight into our time of discussion with our groups.

Would you please join with me as we take a moment to pray and go before the Lord? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your grace. God, we thank you for your mercies, the strength that you give, and the provision you grant to us every single day.

And we know, God, that you have ordained it, that we would receive strength and nourishment and more from your word. So what a privilege it is to come together to fellowship in this way, to dig through the scriptures, to share our insights, and I pray that it would be so fruitful to us.

And God, as you see the church coming together over your truths, I pray, God, that you would be pleased and that all that we do is honoring to you, God. We thank you in Christ's name, amen. Sing "Marvelous Grace." Marvelous grace of our loving God, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured, There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all I say. Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, Freely bestowed on all who believe, You who are longing to see His face, Will you this moment His grace receive? Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.

Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all I say. Dark is the stain that we cannot hide, What can avail to wash it away? Look, there is flowing a crimson tide, Wider than snow you may be today. Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.

Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all I say. Grace that is greater than all I say. O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, The greatest treasure of my longing soul, My God, like you there is no other, A true delight is found in you alone. Your grace, well too deep to fathom, Your love exceeds the heavens' reach, Your truth a fount of perfect wisdom, My highest good and my unending need.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, Strong defender of my weary heart, My sword to fight the cruel deceiver, And my shield against his hateful dots. My song when enemies surround me, My hope when tides of sorrow rise, My joy when trials are abounding, Your faithfulness my refuge in the night.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, Gracious savior of my ruined life, My guilt and cross laid on your shoulders, In my place you suffered, bled, and died. You rose, the grave and death are conquered, You broke my bonds of sin and shame. You rose, you rose, the grave and death are conquered, You broke my bonds of sin and shame.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, May all my days bring glory to your name. May all my days bring glory to your name. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, God, we praise you because you are our rock and our redeemer. Lord, you sent your Son to redeem us from our sin.

God, to save us from death. And God, we praise you for that. And we thank you for the love and the grace that you showed to us on the cross. Lord, I pray that as we jump back into Galatians, as we study through your word, convict us of the truth, and God, strengthen us to apply it into our lives, that we might grow in our reflection of you, in our imitation of you, and just be faithful in our walks, Lord.

So I thank you for tonight. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. Well, we're going to go right into our time of sharing and discussion. Since it is the first one for this second half, please do talk a bit about what are the major themes and movements that you saw.

But then go ahead and talk about the observations and questions you made from chapter 4, verse 1 through 7. We'll be back in just about 35, 40 minutes. Thanks. As you guys are getting situated, that right there up top is my cell phone number. If as we are studying the passage you have questions about the text, there's a theological concept that's coming out that you're curious about, you can text me directly and after the main teaching portion, I'll go ahead and answer some of the questions that you guys may have.

If it's a complicated question and it's difficult for you to text it, just raise your hand and I'm going to give an opportunity for you to just ask it while we do the study, okay? Well, let's take a moment to pray and then jump into the review of the passage that we just discussed, okay?

Let's pray together. Lord, sometimes God, as we study, you remind us of the treasure of the gospel in different imageries and in different light. Sometimes in case in such a short passage, but to our hearts, Lord God, what an encouragement, how we're edified, God, by seeing your love executed over time, overcoming all kinds of difficulties with your power in my exercise in Christ for our benefit.

So as we meditate and think about it tonight, Lord, we just want to thank you and pray for a fruitful time of study. It's in Christ's name. Amen. Okay. What I'd like to do first is since we are starting this series, let's do a bit of a brief review, okay?

Before we do a review, I want to ask the question, easy toss-up softball question. Anybody, especially right up here in the front. What was the tone of chapters one through three that we studied last session? What was the tone? Anyone, anyone? Daniel, sitting right in front of me. Yeah.

Good. Okay. Good. He said there was rebuking. There was some explaining, an explanation of how, like, you know, they were acting and what implications that has. So in many ways, yeah, actually the way I would like to summarize it is it was a lot of, "What are you doing?" That was the tone.

And actually, when you think about, you know, various portions of where the text was, he would ask all these questions that were very rhetorical, like, "And do you remember how this worked?" Right? "And how did you come to know this thing?" And then a lot of it was, "What are you doing?" "And what are you allowing the Judaizers to do?" A portion of the text that was important as right at the get-go was in verse 6 through 9, where he said, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him." He used language of betrayal.

"Who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another. Only there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ." Schemes of the devil that we should be aware of. People who will discourage, disturb, cause us to wonder, like, "Am I really a Christian?

Do I need to do more?" He would distort not always this radical falsehood, but rather just a little bit of perversion. Verse 8, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.

And we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed." Strong, strong language that we heard. And by way of this, I just want to say, it was very, very convicting for us in our last session that we were challenged there has to be a level of faithfulness and accuracy to the gospel of Christ, amen?

There has to be a level of faithfulness and accuracy to all that we find in Scripture. It is our job and duty to make sure that we're digging and studying and then to be as loyal as possible. And yes, maybe there are those who will actually discourage us from doing that.

Actually, I feel like the way that we're discouraged is people saying, "Why do you study the Bible so much? It's like you idolize the Bible and not Jesus. Oh my gosh, you're all about accuracy and make it biblical. In the end, you're just causing division. What are you doing?" I feel like to us, it's like a weird perversion that way to us.

And maybe some of them are accusing you like, "I bet your pastor is talking all cultish and preparing you like, oh, you know, you're going to be persecuted by this and that and you're like, oh yeah." But actually for us, the accuracy and hanging on every word of Jesus is to us our love for the Lord.

It's our appreciation that what God has given to us in the gospel is something that we will dare not pervert, amen? So with that said, Apostle Paul talking about how important the message is, went on a long kind of rehearsing of his journey, of the way that he got his message.

And he said, "You know my life. You know my message. You know my ministry. You know where I've been. You know what happened in Jerusalem. And you know that my message came from... And the answer is... Yes? Yes. Say it with confidence. From Christ directly, from God. He did not get it from any man.

And that was a big portion of the text that we studied. And then he started to teach and explain that not by law, but justification is by Christ, by the Spirit. It has to be by faith. And here we get the passage in Galatians 2, 19 through 21, which probably a lot of you have devoted to memory.

It's totally worth devoting to memory. "For through the law I died for the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness came through the law, then Christ died needlessly." So we have this pivotal passage. And then we left off here in chapter 3, verse 22 to 29, where it says, "But the scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Christ Jesus might be given to those who believe.

But before faith came, explain to us, what is the role of the law then? Is the law bad?" It says, "No, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed. Therefore, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." That was the last portion that we studied in the previous text. Then looking forward, in preview of chapters 5 through 6, we are hitting the latter half, and I want to ask you this question again.

How do you feel like the latter half reads in terms of tone? When you look at chapters 4 through 6, what is the feel? Any volunteers? I'm going to pick on the tables right in the front row, okay? Tim, what do you think? You want to do a pass?

All right. What do you think, Isaac? I would say maybe more on the encouraging side. More encouraging side? Hmm. Because what I read was a whole lot of, "Man, I fear that I've labored in vain." There was a lot of pleading, a lot of begging. Like, "I beg you.

Who disturbed you?" And then this question of like, where is that sense of feeling blessed? Where is your celebration, knowing what you have? And then he even says, "I'm perplexed by you," right? So in that way, encouraging, yes. It's a bit of a... It's a little bit of more of that kind of rebuking, still like frustration.

And I'm making a point of that because as I was trying to meditate through, yeah, this passage or this text, the book is actually quite argumentative. There's a lot of arguments within the text, yes? And so I want you to know that as a preview of what's to come, actually one-third of what we'll study this session is going to still sound heavy doctrine and heavy argumentative, trying to reason with you.

This doesn't make sense if you do this. And then there's a little bit of the, "How dare you? What are you thinking?" kind of feel to Apostle Paul's preaching. And I'm going to comment on that a little bit later. I'm actually giving you a little bit of the... Also, I'll post, just like Pastor Peter Chung did, I'll post the slides.

But when you look at Chapter 4, he describes what we have in Christ as a privilege of being adopted. And then he starts asking, "So what's going on?" Right? And then he starts to reason that through the Old Testament example, but also just the lineage of the fact that there was two lines.

And then he pushes the fact that we're free. And then so he challenges and says, "We must stand firm." Pay special attention to the concepts of freedom as children of God in this next segment that we'll be studying. In the middle of it, he'll give the challenges of what that all means and how it is to be played out, that as we're not under the law but rather free, we're being moved by the Spirit.

And so the idea is that we're going to be bearing fruits of the Spirit in application. And then it was so cool because there is this closing few little lines where he just ends with a crazy, crazy mic drop where he says, "You know what? "This topic I've taught you, "don't speak to me about this anymore." And he goes, "I bear on my body "the brand marks of Christ." Mic drop.

That's how he kind of ends the thing and gives closing graces. So that's just a preview real briefly of what's to come in this series. Let's take a look then at Galatians 4, 1 through 7. So when we take a look at this segment, you guys have been discussing it already for the last 40 minutes.

And I would break it down into three distinct little segments. Clearly, he uses the analogy of a child. And then he points to your spirituality, you too. We're also like this child. But God, like the Father. But the pushing point of this paragraph, it's tied to the next. So as a heads up, next week's passage goes up to verse 14.

And it's all supposed to be studied together. But for the sake of our own diving and digging, we took it in two pieces. But the push here is you are no longer slaves, but a son. And therefore, heirs. And if you're doing meditation, application, and thinking through how does that theology impact me, that I am not to see myself as just simply a former slave or an employee.

We are rightly slaves of Christ and we are rightly bond servants of God. Amen? But the identity we have is that we are sons of the Heavenly Father. So we begin with first the analogy. And he says, "Now I say, "as long as the heir is a child, "he does not differ at all from a slave, "although he is owner of everything.

"But he is under guardians and managers "until the date set by the Father." As we take a look at this analogy, we have to ask the question, okay, so he throws in quite a lot in there, but what is the point of the analogy that relates to this child, okay?

To this child. And there's quite a lot. In the beginning here, when he starts talking about as an heir, that actually kind of threw me off, right? So the reason why it threw me off is, okay, so he's already an heir, right? But his actual main point is, no, he's like a slave, right?

Even if he was an heir, right now because of his age and circumstances, et cetera. All right, I'm not gonna mess with this 'cause this is gonna, all right, he's a slave, right? So one thing that we should notice in asking the question, what is the point of the analogy, is clearly the repeat idea that the individual who is a young child is under guardianship, under strict manager, and is like a slave.

As a matter of fact, the way he puts it is, doesn't differ from a slave at all, yes? So we are thinking in our minds then, we're thinking no privileges, we're thinking heavy limits, we're thinking no money, no access to the resources of the father, is like a slave child.

It is getting instructed like a slave. That's the idea, right? But the other idea here that is introduced to us, which is to us probably more important in this paragraph, is the idea of the time, that there is a specific date set by the father, okay? That's the analogy.

There is a temporary period by which God the father is planning. And that's what I want us to keep in mind as we think through this analogy. So then, if I were to summarize that, I would say, you know what it is? I think this thing may have frozen.

Okay, here we go. A child is like a slave until the time that the father has set. Okay? Let's move quickly into the next portion about the spiritual reality. So, also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

So, here we have lots to think about. Okay? Lots to ask. In what way were we like the child? In what ways is this analogy connecting to our spiritual reality? We have to ask those questions. And immediately, I'm guessing a lot of you guys saw this passage as, you know what?

This is just a beautiful, beautiful picture of the gospel. Thinking, before we were Christian, we were like slaves, right? We're under the elemental and we have strict masters over us. Right? That's the way we're thinking about it. But praise be to God, he sends his son, so that we would receive sonship.

Boom. It's such a short, encapsulated, beautiful picture of gospel salvation. But we ask this question of, okay, so there are a lot of beautiful analogies for the gospel and the scriptures, everything from being born again, but what are all of these, I guess, elements? First and foremost, we ask this question in thinking about our pre-converted state, what are the elemental things of the world?

And what is the nature and description of this bondage in our prior to Christ circumstance? Well, take a moment to turn your Bible over to Colossians chapter two, and it gives us various passages, okay, Colossians chapter two, that describe at length, what are some of the elemental things of the world that we should not be captivated by?

So, the first passage is verse eight, Colossians chapter two, verse eight. It says, "See to it that no one "takes you captive through philosophy "and empty deception, "according to the traditions of men, "according to the elementary principles "of the world rather than to Christ." So here it describes it as any kind of philosophy, any kind of deception that the world lives by.

And then in verse 16 of chapter two, it goes further to describe, "Therefore, no one is to act as your judge "in regards to food, to drink, "or in respect to festival, "or moon, or Sabbath day, "things which are mere shadows "of what is to come, "but the substance belongs to Christ.

"Let no one keep defrauding you "of your prize by delighting "in self-abasement, "the worship of angels, "the passions as he's seen "inflated without cause "by his fleshly mind." And then turn your eyes to verse 20 and 23. Verse 20 and 23. It says, "If you've died with Christ "to the elementary principles "of the world, "why, as if you're living in the world, "do you submit to decrees "such as do not handle, "do not taste, do not touch, "which all refer to things "destined to perish with use, "in accordance with commandments "and teachings of men?" So there's an important part right there.

Any kind of teaching philosophy or policy even, of organizations, institutions, whoever they may be, that have just simply like an element of it's us playing in our playground, these things are elementary principles. You guys probably did the, you know, the dictionary study of what the word means. The word means stuff that's rudimentary.

It literally means stuff that's basic. So you're thinking stuff like A, B, C, D, E, F, G, right? These are all such small, miniscule things. And I imagine the reason why they use the kind of analogy of the playground is 'cause that's what I imagine God seeing it as.

You've got kids, little puny, tiny kids, like kindergarteners, playing with each other, creating what? You can't drink your tea like that. You have to write papers like this. You know, they're like, within little playgrounds, they're bossy kids. You gotta play by my rules. All of those are what? Elementary principles.

And to think that them doing that, somehow they're offering that as righteousness before God, it's all garbage. It's like little kids washing their hands and being like, "Look, Daddy, I'm clean." No, you're not. These are all elementary principles, okay? Now, here, in the context, though, for the Jewish people, the people that were Judaizers, all the elementary principles had to do with the worthless things, in verse nine it says, and these had to do with things like the necessity of circumcision, laws that they had to follow, okay?

Now, why do I mention this? One important thing I wanna mention is, here, to us, it just reads bondage under the elementary, elemental things of the world, but one of the things I want to highlight is, so this has been going on since the fall, okay? The systems of man, the principles, the whatever, like, things that they came up with, their rules, that has been what's going on since the fall, okay?

'Cause what I wanna ask now is, in this passage, starting from verse three to five, what is the emphasis we need to understand about this big, encapsulated gospel teaching? What do I mean by that question? Here, we have everything the gospel has, your pre-converted state, that in the fullness of time, God sent his son so that we would be redeemed.

What is it that we're supposed to really, really appreciate, okay? And what I'm gonna say is, within here, what we have is, in terms of salvation, we have the how of salvation here. That God sent his son, who was born of a woman, so fully human, able to take our place in every respect, born under the law with such humility that he would place himself under the stipulation so that he can fulfill its requirements for righteousness, but also he could take upon the curses of the law, yes?

This is the how. We also have the purpose that God wanted to redeem and that we would receive adoption, so this is the purpose, yes? But are these two things the emphasis that we're supposed to catch? I'm gonna say that the emphasis we're supposed to catch is here, the fullness of time.

Let me speak to this a little bit as what I'm saying is this. Earlier, I was saying this idea of bondage that we, under the elemental things of the world, we're supposed to feel like, yes, we were underneath that bondage so long as mankind has been under the fall.

And what's more, the emphasis here is given that the plan and purpose of God has been meticulously then executed that God in his own wisdom would prepare that, yes, the fullness of man's sin, the instruction from his law, the preparing of his people, the nation of Israel, and the teaching that our flesh is incapable, that all those things had to happen for the fullness of time to come.

In other words, for us, we're supposed to feel this element like you were previously children waiting for your independence. You were previously children waiting for that time you were actually privileged inheritance, right? So by way of analogy, what we're supposed to appreciate is if, let's say, we were thinking, oh my gosh, like we were just kids so eagerly wanting to drive.

You had pictures of cars on your wall. You wanted to wait for that time. You were begging your parents, can you take me out and teach me? You didn't have money, but you're asking your parents, could I please have money for the driver's ed? You waited for all of that.

The day came, you got your driver's license once more, your father gave the car, and in that moment when you're finally able to drive, that sentiment, that feeling of appreciation of the fulfilling of your desire, that's what we're supposed to feel. Does that make sense? But then to think, remember how earlier I said the tone, but then to think from God's perspective, to have all that preparation done, to have that long journey of teaching and getting you ready and getting all the things for Christ ready, for them to have known this gospel of Christ, of reconciliation, the beautiful gospel of redemption, the beautiful gospel of adoption, and then for them to be tempted like, oh, you know what though, I have this long-waited revelation of Christ, but that guy said we still have to wash our hands.

That guy said we still have to be circumcised. Why? Another way to put it is to think God, the adoptive father, preparing his home, readying the room, readying everything to receive the child, and then for the child to think, is this right? Is this what I wanted? How could God feel anything but betrayed in that?

Right? We should meditate on how God feels about that, and again, I think that's one of the reasons why, here, pushing that idea of the fulfillment, the fullness of time being so emphatic. In the next segment, he does say, "You were slaves to those "by which our nature know God, "but now that you have come to know God, "or rather to be known by God, "how is it you're turning back again "to the weak and worthless elemental things "to which you desire to be enslaved "all over again?" Right?

And so in that way, I would summarize that middle section as you were slaves redeemed by Christ, emphasis on the fullness of time. Next, we look at verse six through seven, and then he says, "So, because you are sons, "God has sent forth the spirit of his Son "into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.' "Therefore, you are no longer a slave, "but a son.

"And if a son, "then an heir through God." So here, we have this gospel truth that through redemption in Christ, we receive the Spirit, and more specifically here, we receive the Spirit of Jesus in our hearts, a spirit of sonship by which we're able to cry, "Abba, Father," calling on the name of the Lord.

And then the point is really, really clear. There isn't necessarily a deep, deep explanation that needs to happen to logically say that if you're not a slave, but rather you are a son, then that means you are an heir, meaning you are going to receive God's blessing. You're going to receive the inheritance for you that He has prepared, yes?

Then our job here, when it's so clear, is to think and meditate about then to what degree do I appreciate this? To what degree am I aware of this? How much assurance do I truly have that God is my Father, that my relationship with Him is clear, so clear that when I go to take the privilege and to essentially claim my rights as a son, there wouldn't be this, "And who are you?" The scripture, when it talks about our sonship, again, for us, a huge edification of the assurances we have in the gospel.

And another way to think about this is sometimes we don't appreciate what we have in the grace and mercies of God until we think about it the other way. Just imagining and hypothesizing, what if we have salvation? Meaning we're not gonna experience the wrath of God, but we don't have sonship.

What if we escape the fires of hell, but we're actually not His son? I remember in the gospels, as it talks about the woman who wanted healing for her daughter, remember she comes to Jesus pleading and requesting. And what's really interesting is Jesus says something so profoundly rude. And He says, "You take what is meant for the children "and give it to dogs." Do you remember what the woman said?

At least the dogs, though, sometimes eat when the food falls from the table, right? I'm paraphrasing there. But you think about that a little bit, and to this woman's credit, her faith said, "I will gladly be a dog in your home. "I'll gladly be your dog." And what's crazy about that is she was spot on, right?

To be under the, I guess, to have a master like God. And what's more, there's another example I think about. Thinking about the parable of the prodigal son. When the younger son who goes off and squanders the father's riches, do you remember what he said in his heart? He said, "It would be better for me to go back "and I will go and say to him, "Father, I'm unworthy to be called your son.

"Make me as a hired man." Again, spot on. "I would much rather be a servant "of this master who is trustworthy, "good, powerful, and rich "than anybody else. "Make me your servant." But then, as the story goes, before he even gets a chance to say anything, the father comes running, embraces him and says, "Let's rejoice." The son says, "I'm not worthy.

"I am not worthy to be your son." When we think like that, when we think, "Man, I'd rather be your servant, "your hired man. "Give me a toothbrush. "I'll clean the barracks. "I'll clean the bathroom with the toothbrush. "Whatever you give me, "I'd rather be a servant in your house." "You didn't choose, "but I desired to take you in "as my own child." That's incredible.

That's incredible. And it's so powerful. I pray and hope, and I pray that if any of you guys do struggle with a lack of assurance, if any of you guys do actually struggle with, in many ways, just trusting the heart of God, let this speak to you. Let's find God's plan from long ago for the fullness of time to come to, yes, sacrifice so deeply that he would send his only begotten son all for the purpose of having you also as his child.

That's mind-blowing, amen? And it's so powerful. It will cause you to be so reassured. Take my stuff. I'll inherit some of my father. Right? Do whatever you will. I have the inheritance of my father. And so, in that way, I pray that we would have such, such comfort, assurance, security, and power.

I ask you this question. How does your spiritual identity as a child of God affect you? What are the implications for your thoughts when there are moments when you're struggling? There are so many things that attack us in terms of the devil taking opportunity to scheme to cause you to waver.

One-time sin, repeated sins, the fact that sometimes you feel like you're not growing as fast as you could be, other people's criticism of you, your own suffering, all of these various things attack you and make you wonder, "Does God see me? "Oh my gosh, am I really a child of God?" Satan will attack you at every turn, yes?

Please make sure that this, to you, is assured. Scripture says in Romans 8, 15 through 17, "For you have not received the spirit of slavery, "leaving to fear, "but you have received the spirit of adoption, "a son by which you cry, 'Abba, Father.' "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit "that we are children of God.

"And if children, heirs also, "heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, "if indeed we suffer with Him "so that we may also be glorified with Him." So we have this great, great truth for us today. As we're thinking about this segment, you have people who are essentially being swayed to think, "Maybe if I just keep going with the crowd, I'll be saved.

"Oh shoot, do I need to do something with my body? "Oh shoot, do I need to keep the laws and wash my hands? "Maybe I shouldn't touch that stuff. "Oh my gosh, can I fellowship with those people? "All they have is these rules and policies." And Apostle Paul is sitting there like, "Are you crazy?

"Why are you looking to these rules, policies, "other people in your community "to make you feel like you're secure in Christ? "You have sonship." Amen? Let's take a moment to pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that we would have conviction that Lord, if you call us your son, if you call us your daughter, Lord, that is the only way we can be saved.

Lord, that is the greatest treasure. Beyond houses, cars, clothing, God, there is no blessing like having somebody who is of perfect love, perfect consistency, perfect grace, perfect strength, perfect holiness, to love us as a Heavenly Father. And so I pray, God, that our hearts are encouraged, and Lord, that that would produce in us a fruit of strength, a fruit of stability, that no matter what criticisms, pressures, even just hardships that come, God, that they weigh nothing to us because of you.

We thank you, it's in Christ's name. Amen. Okay, before we get into announcements and discussion questions, I did say, today, in some sense, the passage was pretty simple because it, again, encapsulated gospel message and gospel truth. But I do have a question here, and I want to answer it.

Oh, sorry. As you guys, I've got two questions for, was there a Bible Lab? There was, it ended last Sunday. But we will offer it again at the beginning of, we typically do it once a quarter or at least, bare minimum, beginning of the next session too, okay? All right.

And then, okay. All right, so for today, any other questions that you guys have for the passage? I think this was a pretty straightforward passage, etc. Okay. Then, by way of discussion questions, here, actually, I was going to move this to the end. Pastor Peter Chung just has some announcements for us, given our kind of busy schedule this month.

And then we'll post the discussion questions up so you guys can discuss. Okay. Do you want to just? You can just hold it like that. Okay. Can I get the slide? Well, actually, it's here. Let me push this. Okay. All right, I do have some announcements and some housekeeping things.

Just to start, we have more people in small group and home group this term than last. And we're running out of space. So I've asked the small group leaders, if your attendance or your preparation is shoddy, let me know. And then drop them and put them in my table.

And then hear me introduce myself week after week after week after week after week after week after week, okay? So this is something that is part of the membership covenant. But this is also a privilege to walk with brothers and sisters for the course of a term. So if you don't take it seriously, there are people that are waiting for that spot.

So my encouragement is come prepared. Okay, remember the idea is you're coming to share rather than coming to learn. If you're not comfortable with learning, we want you to learn how to do it on your own, okay? So the announcements, so February 17th, for all the men in this room, we have a men's workshop.

The speaker is a dear friend of our church. I mean, he actually took one of our girls. He married her, okay? But he's a dear friend. And he's gonna be speaking on just the holiness that is required of the men of God, okay? And a lot of you guys procrastinate and are not faithful stewards of your time, all right?

So if you guys can, sign up ahead of time and pay ahead of time because a lot of times, like, the line goes out the door because people are still paying there. Refreshments will be served. We're gonna have a workshop. We're gonna have a discussion. And then we're gonna have a time of lunch.

And we're gonna cater from Panda Express, okay? We're gonna have orange chicken and broccoli, beef, coming at your nose, all right? So please take a moment to do this right now if you can, okay? Don't wait till the last minute, all right? 'Cause logistically, if you've ever done logistics, people signing up at the end, it's always hard, okay?

So just in consideration of the people putting this together, please sign up earlier than later. Next slide, please. Is that it? So March 9th, we're gonna have, we're gonna try to do this either, like, three times a week, sorry, three times a year or four. There's a lot of, like, wear and tear in our church, a lot of things that need to be regularly cleaned that a rotating cleaning crew can't get to.

So we're gonna have our first one of the year on March 9th, and we're gonna try to make sure the sanctuary is spotless, and we're gonna try to organize the church a little bit. So if you guys can come that day, please join us and help beautify our campus, okay?

Next slide. So here's a couple very important announcements. We've been told that there are either just homeless people or just strange people at night in the, just in these facilities. And the last thing I want is to have one of our sisters having to walk far away and get freaked out, okay?

So if you are a brother and you parked either in this lot or, I mean, just on our campus, if you guys can park farther away and then allow our sisters to park close by, that would be greatly appreciated. Ladies, is that appreciatable? Yes, okay? So brothers, if I see you parking here, I'm gonna give you the persecution eyes of death, okay?

So please don't park, and if you're gonna come early, you can't park in those lots until I think after 5 o'clock. But if you guys can, park farther away, get your steps in, and for safety reasons, leave the closer ones for the sisters. We're not allowed to park in this lot, that's right here, right beyond the fence.

And that's only for Sundays only, so you can't park there on the Wednesday. But please, there are people that are a little bit unnerving that are wandering around. So please do, just for the sake of the sisters. And the last thing is, the BAM winter retreat, this is just more of a prayer request.

Please keep that in prayer, 'cause that's, this weekend we have the college students and then the youth group, they're all going on a retreat, and then the BAM, we've got it two weeks later. So please keep that in prayer as well, all right? Thank you, that's enough, that's all the announcements.

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