Let's begin our second service
by standing and singing 318. I need thee every hour, 318.
I know you just all sat down, but now you've got to stand up
again. Of course, you don't have to, but
I need thee every hour, 318. I need thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can
peace afford. I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee, O bless
me now, my Savior, I come to thee. I need thee every hour,
stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when thou art nigh. Oh, I need thee. Every hour I
need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to thee. I need thee every hour, enjoy
your pain. Come quickly and abide, for life
is vain. I need Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I
need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, O Holy
One. O make me Thine indeed, Thou
blessed Son. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, Thank you. Morning. Turning to Nahum, chapter
2. It's like the fourth book from
the end of the Old Testament. May whom chapter two. He that dasheth in pieces has
come up before thy face. Keep the munition, watch the
way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. For the Lord
hath turned away the excellency of Jacob as the excellency of
Israel. For the emptiers have emptied
them out and marred their vine branches. The shield of his mighty
men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariot shall be with flaming
torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly
shaken. The chariots shall rage in the
streets, They shall jostle one against another in the broad
ways. They shall seem like torches. They shall run like the lightnings. He shall recount his worthies.
They shall stumble in their walk. They shall make haste. to the
wall thereof and the defense shall be prepared. The gates
of the river shall be opened and the palace shall be dissolved.
And Huzab shall be led away captive. She shall be brought up and her
maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves tabering among
their breasts. And Nineveh, sorry guys. But Nineveh is of old like a
pool of water. If they shall flee away, stand,
stand, shall they cry, but none shall look back. Take ye the
spoil of silver. Take the spoil of gold, for there
is none, end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant
furniture. She is empty and void and waste,
and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much
pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. Where's the dwelling of the lions
and the feeding place of the young lions where the lion you
and the old lion walked and the lions whelp and none made them
afraid the lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps and strangled
for his loan for his lioness and filled his holes with prey
and his dens with with raven and Behold, I am against thee,
saith the Lord of hosts. I will burn their chariots in
the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions, and I
will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers
shall no more be heard. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this morning
Thankful for our time together Lord and we're thankful for the
first message that you brought to us this morning and father
for the one that you sent to bring that message and father,
we're thankful to have him home safely and we're Thankful to
have David back in his pulpit this morning having made it home
safely and father, we just ask that you continue to watch over
this church and watch over this congregation and Lord, if it
be your will, have it grow to 10,000. And Father, if not, let
it remain at 10, and we'll be just as happy either way. And
Father, again, we just ask that you continue to watch over and
care for us in Christ's name. Let's sing Standing on the Promises,
175. 175. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout
and sing, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises
of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord, Overcoming
daily with the spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fulfill, Listening every moment to the Spirit's call, Resting
in my Saviour as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Thank you. Good morning. All right, brethren, take your
Bibles and go to John chapter 15. John 15. I want to speak to you
this morning about love. Christian love, which is called
in our Bible charity. This isn't going to be an all-encompassing
study on love. It's vast. It's deep. The love of our God is mighty
and strong and wonderful and glorious. And I can't say everything
that the Lord teaches his people about love this morning, but
we'll focus more so on how am I supposed to love you? How am
I as a believer supposed to love you, my brethren? And I won't
be covering everything about that, but the things which the
Lord laid on my heart this week as I thought about this. Our
love for one another is essential. It's essential because our God
commands us to love one another as I have loved you, he said. And so we want to hear what the
Lord says. We want to understand what our
Lord is teaching us here because he commands us to do it. And
let's read the text. Let's read verses 8 through 12,
but we're just going to be looking at verse 12 for the study. So our Lord says, herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be my
disciples. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Abide in my love. If ye keep
my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. even as I have kept
my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things
have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and
that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that
ye love one another as I have loved you. How do I love you? How do I love another? How do we love one another? And that's what we'll be focusing
on today in this passage. And I've titled the message,
How Do We Love One Another? Jesus Christ, our Lord, is the
one whom the Father entrusted all our salvation to. God has
appointed everything into his hands. He's ruling and reigning
over all. He is our Lord. He's our Savior. He's the appointed judge of all
the earth, which God declared when he raised him from the dead
and sat him at his own right hand. Peter declared in Acts
5.31, saying, him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince
and a Savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. So this Jesus, the Lord Jesus
Christ, whom I love, whom I confess, whose name I confess before men,
in whom I profess to believe, he says, this is my commandment,
that ye love one another as I have loved you. He commands us to
love one another as he loved us. He doesn't give us any caveats. He doesn't make any exceptions
for us, whereby we can excuse ourselves from loving one another
if this is done or if this happens. You know, I'm fully aware that
there are psychotic people in this world, abusive people that
harm people, and even there, we are to love but what I mean
there in that sense is you may need help from someone else to
help you navigate that correctly because you're not necessarily
to remain in that abusive relationship but the problem is when our brethren
sin against us we think this person's a psycho and then we
excuse ourselves from loving them or reconciling with them. But our Lord gives us no caveats,
no exceptions to this rule that simply stands, this is my commandment
that ye love one another. But some things are very hard.
Some things come by much prayer and fasting. And when I speak
of fasting, I'm not saying a manufactured fast that we try to bring on
ourselves, but when you're in a difficult situation and pressed,
and struggling in a great adversity, fasting comes upon us. You do get little sleep and you
do eat very little and have no desire for those things. That's
a true fast. That's a true fast. And you do
breathe and cry out to your God to help you, to give you wisdom,
to strengthen you, to keep you, to comfort you and to teach you.
So some things are very hard and difficult. But how are we
to love our brethren? How are we to love one another? In 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13,
we're told there at the end of that chapter of love, we're told
that there now abideth these three graces, faith, hope, and
love. It's written charity there, and
we understand that to mean love. These three, but the greatest
of these is love. These graces are given to us
by our God according to the promise of our God, faith. and hope and
love, and the greatest of these, he tells us, is love. Why is love so great? What's
the greatness? Why is love the greatest of those
three things? It's because now, in the flesh,
we are given faith to believe the promises of God. But one
day, our faith will be sight. We'll see with our own eyes that
which our God has promised us. Now, today in this flesh, we
have hope. It's not the same thing. It means
that we hope for, we long for our God to bring to us what he's
promised us. We believe his promises and we
hope for that day when that which he's promised will be brought
into. and we'll see it and be dwelling
in his presence with these eyes, with this sight, these risen
eyes. But one day that hope will be no more because we'll have
received what our God promised us. But the one thing that never
goes away is love. Love remaineth even on into all
eternity. Faith, hope, and love, but the
greatest of these is love. And so how is it, with love being
so great, how is it that so often, as we go about our days, we do
so in our interactions with one another, so easily forgetting
to love one another, and what it means to love one another,
and how to love one another, whether we're talking about our
spouses, our family members, our friends, our fellow brethren
here in the church. How is it that we forget so easily
about love? Now, I know that we're generally
very civil to one another, we show kindness to one another,
and we're nice and pleasant in our general interactions with
one another, as well we should be. And we speak well to one
another and we try to be gracious and kind to one another. But
we all know that when an offense comes, especially an egregious
one, the last thing on our mind is loving that one who's offended
us. That's the last thing on our
mind. It quickly flies away and the
reality is it should be the first thing on our mind. You know,
go over to Galatians chapter 5. Let's see. Galatians chapter
5 in verse 22 and 23. That's where we read of the fruit
of the Spirit. these graces, these gifts which
are born and wrought in us by the Spirit of God. And what's
the very first one that's listed there? But the fruit of the Spirit
is love. It's the very first one that
Paul lists as a fruit of the Spirit, love, love. And so it shouldn't be the last
thing on our mind, it should be the first thing on our mind. How do I love my brethren? Well, why should I love you?
Why should I love my brethren? Look over at 1 John 4. 1 John
4, and let's look at verses 7 and 8 first. John writes there,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love." We're interested. We want to know.
How do I love my brethren? Lord, because you say in your
word that those who are born of God love one another. God teaches us that. He makes
it known to us. We need to know this. because
in this flesh we don't love one another. We don't love one another. I need to hear this and God is
faithful to declare that we are to love one another and to tell
us that we're born of love, we're born of God and he reveals love
in us. Look at verse 20 and 21 of John
chapter four, first John chapter four. Verse 20 If a man say,
I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom
he hath not seen? And this commandment have we
from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. And so we understand this is
a spiritual fruit. It said it there in Galatians
5 verse 22, the fruit of the spirit is love. It's not of this
flesh, but it's a fruit of the spirit. And we quickly learn how desperate
we are for the grace of God and his spirit to reveal that love
in us for one another. and he teaches us that we are
to love one another and gives us that spirit of adoption whereby
we live that we cry out to him. Lord, help me to love my brethren
because it's not of this flesh. It's not something that comes
naturally to us or easy to us, but he tells us this, that we
continually seek him. And as my brother was saying
in between services, He keeps us coming here because we need
to hear. It's by the hearing of faith
that we're taught and reminded, Lord, you teach me. You tell me to love my brethren,
help me to love my brethren. And we know that through the
hearing of faith, otherwise we go away. And the longer we stay
away, the more easy it is to forget this word, which the Lord
speaks to us. And so we come to hear it by
faith. So how am I to love you? How am I to love you? Well, looking
at that verse, this is my commandment, that ye love one another as I
have loved you. We see that our love for one
another is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every blessing we have,
every fruit that we have, every need that we have is met and
given to us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's for His sake. The Lord is showing us that there
are no spiritual blessings whatsoever outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. This whole world is in His hand. He is the Sovereign, True and
Living God and every blessing we have is in Christ and we need
Him continually. God hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places where In Christ Jesus. In Christ. Ephesians 1, 3. And
Paul tells us your life is hid with Christ in God. Colossians
3, verse 3. Everything we have, our whole
life, is in Christ. And so everything we do as believers
is by the life of Christ in us. And we need Him. We need Him
as we sung the first hymn every hour. Lord, I need Thee every
hour. Keep me. Help me. Lord, teach
me. Fill me with Your Spirit. Lord
bless me to walk faithfully by your spirit and to be a blessing
and to help to my brethren. So loving your brethren as Christ
loves you, it takes the power of the Spirit of God. You cannot
do this yourselves. You cannot do this in the flesh.
You need the power of God. So understand that To love your
brethren, you're going to be loving people who are not always
or necessarily lovable. You're not going to love your
brethren who are blameless. You're not going to be loving
your brethren who are without fault, but rather as we have
been loved by the Lord when we are unlovable. Blameable, full
of blame, full of fault, full of sin. Our Lord loves us. Well,
so in like manner that's how our brethren are. That's how
we are. They're loving us when we're
unlovable and blameable and at fault and we're to love them
when they're unlovable and blameable and at fault. And so our Lord
tells us how he loved us and we see the reasoning is that
it's because that's how he loved us in the same manner. Turn with
me over to Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16 and let's go to verses
4 through 6 to begin and then we'll see another few verses
in that same chapter. Ezekiel 16 4 through 6. Our Lord reminds us of what we
are in Adam, in this flesh here. He says, As for thy nativity,
as for thy birth in Adam, in the day thou wast born, thy navel
was not cut. These are pictures of what he's
shown us. Thy navel was not cut. Neither was thou washed in water
to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. Those are things that you would
do for a newborn babe. You would care for them, and
you would provide for them, and love them, and treat them tenderly
and with kindness. But this wasn't done for us.
We came forth rejected. We came forth undesired, unwanted. None I pitied thee, verse 5,
to do any of these unto thee to have compassion upon thee,
but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of
thy person. in the day that thou wast born.
And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own
blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, in thy
sin, in thy pollution, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. What a picture of the preaching
of the gospel. What a picture of loving one
another by faithfully serving one another and dealing with
one another in the grace and mercy of our God. That's declaring
to your fellow brother, another sinner like yourself, live. Preach
Christ, live. That's how we live, by the hearing
of faith. Drop down to verses 8 and 9,
Ezekiel 16, 8 and 9. Now when I passed by thee, and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. And
I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. I
covered your sin and your shame. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Verse 9 Then washed I thee with
water. I washed you with the water,
the word of God, the word of Christ. Yea, I throughly washed
away thy blood from thee. Our God removed the stain and
the shame and the stink of our sin by the precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. which we are given to proclaim
and declare what God has done for us in mercy and grace through
his son, Jesus Christ. And I anointed thee with oil. Our God sealed us with the promise
of the Holy Spirit. He's given us his spirit. Naturally,
we are destitute. And naturally, we don't have
the love of God in us. We're spiritually dead sinners. In fact, We're enmity against
the true and living God in this flesh. That's how we are in Adam.
Enemies of God. Enemies of God. But God is gracious. And God willed, He purposed to
be gracious to you. Not because you're worthy of
it. Not because you're worthy of His love, but He purposed
to be gracious to you. and showed mercy and compassion
upon you while you and I were polluted in our sin, dead in
trespasses and sins, unwanted, undesirable, filthy, cast off. God showed us great mercy and
because his love for his people, because he chose them, he gave
us to Christ. and put away our sin by his blood. What a mercy, what a grace of
our God to do that for me and for you, who know ourselves to
be unworthy sinners. Now, it's easy to love a lovely
person, isn't it? Someone who never offends you,
someone who's sweet all the time and kind to you and defers to
you. It's easy to love a lovely person. Well, Christ loved us in our
pollution. And in that ruined state, Christ
made it the time of love for us. And he covered us, he covered
our nakedness and our shame with his righteousness. He became
what we are, was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
in him might be made the righteousness of God. So how do I love my brother
as Christ loved me? laid down his life for me. He gave up his rights and his
glory for me. He bore the insult and he bore
the shame and counted it joy. that he would gain for us eternal
life. And that's what we're looking
to do. We don't want to cause our brethren to stumble. We don't
want to be an offense. We don't want to block them and
prevent them from hearing the gospel. We want them to come,
because that's life in the Lord Jesus Christ. We all need to
hear this gospel, and we need to be fed by this gospel. And so we don't want to be an
offense to one another because we want people to come. But even
when offense is given, don't let that stop you from coming
and hearing the gospel. Come to be fed. Come to the waters
of life freely. Come to the fountain of Christ's
blood for the washing of our sins, to put them away, to teach
us, to turn our hearts, to give us repentance, to show us our
need and our undoneness and our brokenness, that we would seek
him and cry out to him for mercy. And he softens the hard heart. He's the one who warms this coldness
and makes us to see, Lord, I don't want to fight and war with my
brethren. Help me to forgive. Help me to love them. Because
love hopes all things. Love believes all things. Love
never fails, but continues believing and crying out to the Lord to
be reconciled and to forgive. That my brethren would forgive
me for my faults and that I would forgive them for theirs. And
that we wouldn't see those things, but learn to love one another
and serve our God in this ministry which he's given to us. And that
brings me, well, yeah, let's go on. That brings me to the
next point here. To behold that we are the body
of Christ. We're the body of Christ and
we've been given this ministry of reconciliation. That's the
purpose that our God keeps us here. As he's teaching us and
growing us, we're fit from the very first hour, we're fit for
heaven. That very first hour as we're
ever gonna be. in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
He keeps us here and gives us this ministry of reconciliation
where we serve and minister what God has done for us, for His
people, in the Lord Jesus Christ, preaching, proclaiming, declaring
the salvation of our God in Him. Look over at 2 Corinthians 5,
2 Corinthians 5, verse 18 and 19. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
unto us his church, his local body, the ministry of reconciliation,
to behold, to declare, to see the peace of God for sinners
in Jesus Christ, to wit, or to make known, how that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, that is, Jew and
Gentile, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation, to preach and proclaim this gospel,
to proclaim over and over what our God has done for us, to declare
this good news that we are saved, delivered, our sin is put away,
we are faultless before the throne of God through the blood and
righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And one chapter earlier,
in chapter four, 2 Corinthians four, verse one, he says, therefore,
seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we
faint not. And it is easy to faint and wither
under the offenses that we're able and capable of bringing
in this flesh against one another. But don't be. Don't let it wear
you out. Don't let it discourage you or
turn you away, but continue faithfully in this ministry which our God
has given to us. And the very nature of this ministry
is a declaration of God's love for sinners, undeserving, unworthy,
blamable, at fault sinners who are ruined and have nothing to
give to God. It declares the love of God in
the sending of His Son. came in the likeness of this
flesh, yet was without sin, and died in our place, bearing our
sins, bearing our punishment, taking the death that we earned,
that we should go free, alive by the life of Christ. For God
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We are declaring the love of
God for His people who are sinners, dead in trespasses and sins,
and cannot save themselves, and cannot earn or turn around to
do good that God would be merciful to them. No, but while we were
sinners, while we lay in our pollution, in that blood pictured
there, in that newborn child, while we lay there in death,
Our God said, I've purposed and made it for you the time of love. Love. And so we're to love one
another even when that brother is in pollution. That we might
show them the grace which has been shown to us and that we
might be careful in speaking to them. Sometimes we do need
to say things. Sometimes things need to be addressed,
but done in a manner of love, being mindful of what we are
in ourselves lest we fall in a like manner. Always trusting
and looking to the Lord, our God. And so because it's a ministry
of love, it's no strange thing that Christ says to us, love
one another. Love one another. You might think, well, it should
be easy to love one another. Well, it isn't. It just isn't.
And God loved us when we were enmity against him. And being
in this flesh, we see that sin yet remains, and so offenses
will come. Offenses will come. Understand,
then, that we're in a warfare. We've been given a ministry,
but we're in a warfare. There are accusations. There
are flaming, fiery darts that fly. There are whispers in our
ear from the evil one that would turn us against one another. These things come. We're in the
flesh, and we're in a warfare. The accuser of the brethren,
that lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. He's a murderer
from the beginning. He's a liar. He steals. He kills,
He destroys, that's what He does. So give Him no place in your
heart. Seek the Lord for Him to have no footing, no place
in your heart, in your mind, in your thoughts. When your mind
goes to, I'd like to tell them a thing or two, say, Lord, love
hopes all things, help me. Love believes all things. Love
never fails. Lord, keep my heart looking to
Christ, that I may minister grace unto the hearers. I may preach
Christ and show them the love that my God has shown me. Paul
said in Ephesians, to that end of the warfare, he said in Ephesians
6 verses 12 and 13, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that
ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done
all, to stand." You stand in the hope that you have of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You stand in Him remembering
we're in a warfare. My brethren are in a warfare
with me. Lord, let me not turn against them. Let me love them. Help me to love them, Lord, as
I ought. And Paul adds in verse 18 of Ephesians 6, 18, he says,
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. All your brethren. praying for
them, remembering the other churches as well, remembering your brethren
here, praying for one another because we have need and we're
all weak and we need the salvation and the grace of our God. And
remember that as we go through this warfare, this treasure that
we have, this ministry that we have, this knowledge of the grace
of our God and His Son Jesus Christ and how He's delighted
our hearts and delivered us from bondage and darkness and made
us to know our salvation in Christ. Remember that as we love one
another and hear his word, we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, vessels of flesh, a tent of flesh, which is to be laid
aside, but yet we have it now. And it's that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. And hence, that's
why it is a walk of faith, because we don't see what we would see.
We don't see it in ourselves. And sometimes we don't see it
in our brethren when an offense comes, but let us remember, we're
in a warfare, we're in this flesh. Lord, love them, help me to love
them and forgive them. And Lord, let us be at peace
with one another. And so when difficulties come,
and they will come, and you're offended by a brother, forgive
them. Pray for them and love them even
while they're yet unlovable and at fault. Don't wait. Well, if they change, if they
repent, if they turn, then I'll turn, then you'll never love
them, perhaps, because they may not turn. But in you loving them,
and showing them the grace which has been shown to you, the Lord
may use that and turn their heart and soften them as well, regardless
of what the will of God is. Christ says, love one another,
love one another, even if they never come to see it, just love
one another and pray for one another. You know, the apostles
and the faithful servants of God, they bore great insults
against themselves. And yet we see that they wrote
these things in the scriptures. They didn't alter them. They
didn't make exceptions. They didn't find a way to get
around what Christ said. They wrote it exactly what the
Lord said. And though it's hard for us to
hear in the flesh, it's impossible for the flesh to hear. Yet, by
the Spirit of God, we say, Lord, help me. Help me to love my brethren
as I ought to love them, to love my brethren as well as my enemies. And I don't have all those scriptures,
but as the Lord blesses us and keeps us, we'll see more and
more how the Lord teaches us to love one another. And so we
don't expect our brethren to do grievous things against us,
but when they do, understand there's a spiritual warfare,
understand this ministry is at stake, that the gospel would
be proclaimed from this pulpit. and continue with you the truth
of the gospel as it is this day, that it continues. Remember,
there's a warfare, this ministry, and understand that offenses
do come. And when they come, pray for
one another and treat your brethren with love. Paul said in Ephesians
4, verse 32, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath
loved us, and hath given himself for us, and offering in a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor." And then finally, minister the
truth of the gospel to one another. When you speak to one another,
speak of the blessing of our God in Christ Jesus. Minister
that gospel. Speak of those things to one
another. Whether you're just talking to
each other, encouraging one another in that, or if you're speaking
to someone who has offended you, speak to them in the light of
the gospel, according to these truths, because our God saves
us by the hearing of faith. Paul said it this way, he therefore
that minister to you the spirit and doeth miracles among you
doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. The law says a tooth for a tooth,
an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. We're not under the
law. and we don't minister the Spirit
to one another by demanding and preaching and saying, well, I've
got rights and I've got expectations that you're to meet. When we
make that our focus, it's impossible to love our brethren. When we
insist on what we need and make that the priority, that's when
we step on one another, we don't hear one another, we don't want
to reconcile with them. But when we say, Lord, help me
to love one another, and to put them first, that's when there's
love, and that's when we speak according to the truth of the
gospel. So preach the gospel to one another. In Ephesians 4.29, and we'll
be closing, he says, let no corrupt communication come out of your
mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that
it may minister grace unto the hearers. We speak the truth in
the light of the gospel, We love one another in speaking that
truth and that truth ministers grace to one another even as
grace has been ministered to us by our God through the hearing
of faith. So remember we're in a warfare,
pray for one another. Remember that God has given us
this ministry and the way it continues is in love. Love for our God and love for
one another and remember to speak to one another in in this truth,
in the light of the gospel, in love. In love. Preach that gospel,
bear witness of the truth, pray for one another, and love one
another. And I pray the Lord, bless that word. As you can tell,
as you can hear, there's much, much more to say. Many scriptures
we can turn to, but I pray the Lord, fill your hearts with love
for one another, a desire for Him, a desire to love one another,
and to grow in that grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank You,
Father, for Your grace. We thank You for the pity that
You have for us in Christ, and in delivering us from our sin,
loving us, even though we in this flesh are unlovable, and
forgiving us of our sins, though we in this flesh are not blameless
and not without fault but lord we're we were dead in trespasses
and sins but your love and mercy saved us for christ's sake and
we thank you lord for this grace in him we ask that you fill us
with your spirit that you give us a heart and a desire to walk
faithfully in in this In this ministry which you've given to
us, that we would love one another and walk by faith in Christ,
we do pray for one another. We ask that you would heal us,
that you would forgive us of our sins and help us to forgive
others, even as you've forgiven us, Lord. And we do pray for
reconciliation when we've offended our brethren, when we've hurt
someone. Give us a sensitivity to that, to know how to to reconcile,
to know how to love, to be at peace with one another, and not
at war. Because we have an enemy, and
we don't want to be at war with one another. And Lord, we can't
do this, but you can. You can. You can do all things.
I can do nothing without you, but I can do all things in Christ,
through Christ which strengtheneth me. We pray that you would reveal
this to us and teach us these truths, and show us your power,
your might, your glory, by the Spirit of your Son, Jesus Christ,
working mightily in us. It's in His name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn. 236 Amazing Grace. 236. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. Was blind, but now I see. ? Was grace that taught my heart
to fear ? ? And grace my fears relieved ? ? How precious did
that grace appear ? ? The hour I first believed ? Through many dangers, toils,
and snares, I have already come. This grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there 10,000
years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing
God's praise than when we first begun.