We're going to begin our second
service by standing and singing 218. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
218. Sorry about that. Cast your care on those lonely
men Hearts are lonely and drear Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near Burdens are lifted at Calvary, Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near. Cast your care on Jesus today,
leave your worry and fear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near. Troubled soul, the Savior can
see every heartache and tear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Thank you. You may be seated. Turn with me to Psalm 70 Psalm 70 very short, but there's
a lot in there. I think there's a message in
there To be passed along Psalm chapter 70 Make haste,
O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and confounded
that seek after my soul. Let them be turned backward and
put to confusion that desire my hurt. Let them be turned back
for a reward of their shame that say, aha, aha. Let all those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love
thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified. but I am
poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. Thou
art my help and my deliverer, O Lord. Make no tearing. Let's pray. Father, we come to
you thankful this morning for this passage of scripture. Lord,
that, you know, David knew that he was poor and needy, and Father,
just make us know that we're poor and needy, You'll come to
us on your timetable, Father, but we ask that you come soon. And Father, we ask that you continue
to watch over us, take care of us against our enemies. And Father,
we're thankful for a place that you have given us to come to
hear the message. Father, it had been many years
that we'd gone without a church in this town. Father, we're so
thankful that there's one now, and Lord, we're thankful for
the pastor that you brought to us. And we ask that you help
him in his message preparation. And Father, that you give him
the words that you would have us to hear, and that you open
our hearts to hear the message. And Father, again, we just ask
you to please take care of us and the side of our enemies.
And we ask that you watch over and care for us in Christ's name. As you remain sitting, let's
sing 232 when I see the blood. 232. I think we've sung this one, but not
very frequently. ? Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross ? ? Cried for the sinner, paid all his dues ? ? Sprinkle
your blood with the blood of the Lamb ? ? And I will pass,
I will pass over you ? ? When I see the blood of the Lamb ?
When I see the blood When I see the blood I will pass, I will
pass over you Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will
save All He has promised that He will do Wash in the fountain
open for sin And I will pass, will pass over you When I see
the blood When I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will
pass, I will pass over you. ? Judgment is coming, all will
be there ? Each one receiving justly his due ? Hide in the
saving sin-cleansing blood ? And I will pass, will pass over you
? When I see the blood When I see the blood, when I see the blood,
I will pass, I will pass over you. Oh, great compassion. Oh, boundless love. O loving
kindness, faithful and true, find peace and shelter under
the blood, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the
blood, when I see the blood, When I see the blood, I will
pass, I will pass over you. Thank you. Morning. Take your Bibles and turn to
Ephesians chapter 4. We're going to begin in Ephesians
chapter 4 and we'll work our way into chapter 5. Now the last couple of weeks
we've been in Ephesians chapter 4 and we've seen that putting
off the old man and putting on the new. It's an act, it's a
gracious act, it's an operation, it's a work of our God worked
in the sinner. This is by His grace and His
power. And we've seen that our God has
given us His Spirit, His Holy Spirit to dwell in us, and the
children of God are led by the Spirit of God. Well, this week,
in addition to what we've seen, we also see that we are sealed
by the Spirit of God and by His grace, we are made imitators
of God. We are made followers of God
and are imitators of Him. And that's seen in our love toward
our God and love toward our brethren. the service, the fruit that we
bear in service to our God and our brethren. And what I really
want us to see today that this love and service that our Lord
bears in us, it's learned. It's learned. It's learned in
a walk of faith. Our Lord is teaching us what
grace is. And he's teaching us how to love
our brethren and how to serve one another. It's a learned process. It's learned by our God. So the understanding that we
have of God, the knowledge that we have of God is taken from
just being doctrine, which is precious and true and necessary
for our learning. And, but he takes that and puts
it into practice. He reveals the truth of it in
us by experience. And we'll see that today. You
know, even Paul, if you turn back towards the back in Ephesians
three, Ephesians three, Paul says there in verse 12, This
is the Apostle Paul saying, not as though I had already attained. Either we're already perfect. He's perfect in Christ. He's
talking about learning, learning of Christ and walking in the
truth, in the light of our God, toward our God and toward our
brethren. He says, not as either already
perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended. Paul learned by the Spirit of
God humility. Paul learned humility. And he
was brought low at times that he might learn humility and learn
grace and be gracious to others, because he knew a lot. He knew
a lot. He said, I've not apprehended,
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forth unto those things which are before." And
so, understand, brethren, that this is a patient growth that
our Lord works in us. It's a patient growth. It's a
lifetime of learning His grace. and it's a refreshing and a renewing
by his spirit of learning his grace toward one another in the
kingdom of God. And so I've titled this message,
Imitators of the Father. Imitators of the Father. And
we're gonna begin with looking at this ceiling that we've received
by the Holy Ghost. And then we'll look at our being
made imitators of God. And then we'll look at, as Paul
gets into the application where he talks about sin, we'll see
that the foundation that our God has given us enables us to
hear this word, to hear the word of the application. So in these
chapters here, which Paul has written to the Ephesians, Paul
is giving the child of God many gracious assurances. He's building up or giving us
the pillars of our hope, the foundation of the truth upon
which we stand, the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ that
we would know our salvation in Christ is most secure. Most secure. Our salvation cannot
be undone by any creature. Our Savior has accomplished the
redemption and his working salvation in his people, he can not fail. And we're given doctrinal truths
that are unshakable. truths that cannot be altered
or changed by man. And we receiving these truths
in Christ are an anchor. He's an anchor of the soul so
that when things get stormy and we see things that trouble us,
we have the anchor of Christ that keeps us ever looking to
him and we hear the promise of his word that we are his people. And so these truths, they give
us rest and peace, confidence and assurance that our God has
done everything necessary. And when we go through trials
and it gets dark and cloudy, obscuring the face of God, we
know that he's still there, that he's smiling upon us and providing
for his people because we have the promises of God. For example,
in the beginning of Ephesians, We are taught that believers
are receiving of our Father. We are now receiving all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Whether you
think you are or not, you that are Christ are continually receiving
all spiritual blessings. Everything that we have is of
the hand of our God and it's for our good. It's for the good
of his people. and it's working towards the
purpose of God in his kingdom here in the earth. We also see
that in Ephesians 1-4 that the Father hath chosen a people. He has an elect people chosen
in Christ from the foundation of the world. We also learn that
we've been purchased, redeemed, by the precious blood of the
Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1 7 These are unshakable
truths that are given to us to assure us of our God's salvation
of us, and that we shall not fall short of the goal, that
we shall not fall short of the kingdom of God, because it is
all worked in us by the Lamb, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And let me give you one more
blessing that is of particular relevance to us this morning,
which he gives in verse five. He says in Ephesians 1.5, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children. God is our father. We are his children by adoption,
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. So that our God in Christ has
delivered us from the body of sin. He's destroyed the body
of sin, which is this flesh. We were under the dominion of
sin. the dominion of death and fear
of dying and standing before our God and our Savior has delivered
us from that dominion and delivered us from the fear that men have
and why they work so hard in religion. He's delivered us from
that in the Lord Jesus Christ. and that which was holding us
fast and holding us captive and in bondage, he's delivered us
from that, putting our eyes, giving us faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so now being delivered out
of that body, out of that inheritance of Adam's corrupt seed, which
is the wrath of God, we are become the Lord's children through the
blessed Lord Jesus Christ, through the salvation that he's accomplished
for us, and we're taught now. We're led of Him because we are
His purchased possession. And even so now, we are sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise. Look at Ephesians 4, verse 30. Ephesians 4, 30. He says, and
grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. whereby ye are sealed unto
the day of redemption. You're sealed. You're the Lord's. You've been redeemed by Christ,
and he's given you his spirit, whereby you believe that his
sealing is manifest in you, in that you have heard and believed
the testimony of God concerning his son, concerning your need
of salvation, and that Christ has laid down his life for you. it's manifested in that belief,
that faith that he's given to you. Look at Ephesians 1, in
verse 13 and 14. Ephesians 1, 13, in whom he also
trusted, after that he heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation. We hear the Gospel, we hear the
voice of our Savior after the Spirit has given us life, after
we are born again by the regeneration of the Spirit, we hear the Gospel
and believe. In whom also after that ye believed,
with that given faith, the fruit and gift of God, ye were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise. And that sealing of the Spirit
is the earnest, the down payment that God has given you of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession when
Christ comes again to raise us up in a new body in our Lord
unto the praise of His And so the spirit seals us and leads
us in the faith of Christ and he's now Teaching us Christ. We are learning the grace of
our God in the Lord Jesus Christ According to the spirit of grace
and truth. He's teaching us this in the
gospel and every time we walk out that door and whatever we're
doing we're learning what grace is. We're learning the love and
the kindness and the tenderness that our God has for us in his
son, Jesus Christ. And so the spirit seal of us
is going to be evident in that we put off the old man and put
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. Men by discipline can do a lot
of works, but if they're doing it in their flesh, by their discipline
and hard work, apart from the Spirit of God, without the Spirit
of God, it won't be righteousness and it won't be true holiness.
It'll be a work of the flesh. But there is a work of grace
worked in the people of God. It's an operation of the Spirit
of God. And so we looked at these scriptures,
and Paul's laid out these doctrinal truths in the beginning of the
letter to the Ephesians, where we see our salvation declared
as a gracious work of our God, we see his election of a people,
we see his predestination of those people, how they should
walk and when they shall come to a knowledge of these things
in the Lord, so that we're comforted and know that our perseverance
is not by our strength. but by his grace and power and
glory. And he's working that in us.
And the importance of us understanding that is we're coming now into
chapters that are very heavy in application, very heavy in
application. And it's a point where religion
often excels because it's easy for them to direct your flesh
into works and doing and to take scriptures and twist them so
that you're made afraid, that you'll do more and do more in
fear. But the gospel, we fear the Lord in the awe and
respect that he is God. and that he should love a sinner
like me. But we don't fear God in that
we're constantly looking out and wondering if God's gonna
get me and if he's gonna destroy me and tire of me and cast me
aside. We believe him, we believe him. And this word that the Lord's
given me on my heart here in this part of Ephesians is meant
to comfort you and to see that It takes time. The Lord has chosen
and purposed to work these things out in us patiently, patiently. And we're learning and growing
together. And that's why I read those verses
in Philippians 3, 12 and 13 about the apostle. Even the apostle
was continually learning. He was being humbled by the Lord
and learning to look to him and wait upon Him to cry out to Him
and seek Him for these things because that's what our God is
doing because inevitably as we speak of our being led by the
Spirit of God and sealed by the Spirit of God and that we've
given a profession of hope and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
eventually, we're going to come face to face with the reality
that this flesh is sinful. We're going to encounter sin
in our heart, in our flesh, and we're gonna see things that frighten
us about ourselves. When we see the darkness and
what's in, in this fleshly old man of sin, this fleshly nature,
so that we cry out in our hearts, Lord, if this faith was given
to me by you and it's by your spirit and I'm being led by your
spirit and sealed by the spirit, why do I see this corruption
in me? Why do I say the things that
I say and do the things that I do and see the evil in my heart
and have evil thoughts? Why is it? How is this so? And
I was thinking something that will help. Look at Genesis 25.
Look at Genesis 25. Genesis 25 in verse 21 and 22. Rebecca was married to Isaac,
and Rebecca had no fruit. She bore no children. Picture
of her, she bore no fruit. She had no fruit in her womb. And so her husband, Isaac, entreated
the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord
was entreated of him, and Rebecca, his wife, conceived. There's
a picture there of our husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, who at
the right hand of the throne of God, as our mediator, entreats
our God for our salvation. He entreats our God for our salvation
so that we conceive, we are born of the seed of our husband, born
of the seed of Christ and bear fruit of him. Now look at verse
22, and the children struggled together within her. A picture
of the old man and the new. A picture of the old man and
the new, and there's a struggle, there's a war, there's fighting
and enmity. So that she cried out saying,
if it be so, why am I thus? That's the cry of the believer,
Lord, If this faith is of you, and you've given me a hope in
your son, and you've given me your spirit, and sealed me with
your spirit, and are leading me, why am I thus? Why am I thus? And look what
it says, and she went to inquire of the Lord. And that's what
the Lord is doing in his people. He's bringing us to inquire of
the Lord, to seek Him. Lord, why do I see sin in me? Why is there the struggle if
you've done this work? And you that believe Him, I trust
that you know what I'm talking about. You see the struggle between
the old and the new man. And so this doctrine, by itself,
knowing these things, that alone doesn't edify us, doesn't bring
it home to the heart. But the Lord brings it home to
the heart, the truth of these things in the practice of them,
as we go out and see Lord, if it's so, if this is so, why am
I thus? And he works it out in us so
that we cry out after him, not in the pride and arrogance and
strength of the flesh, but in weakness and in humility. We're
looking to him knowing that he is all our strength. And it's
one thing to hear that. It's another thing to experience
it and to see that worked out. in your heart. And so that's
what the Lord's doing. It's a struggle. It's a struggle
because we're learning, I really am weak. I really am not all
that. I've got a lot to learn. I have
not apprehended. But this one thing I do, I forget
those things which are behind and look to Christ and keep pressing
toward Him, crying out to the Lord, have mercy Lord, help me. Help me to love my brethren.
and love you and serve my brethren and your kingdom faithfully.
And that's what he works in his child as we read in Acts 14.22. And this is true of us, that
continuing in the faith, knowing that we must, through much tribulation,
enter into the kingdom of God. It's through much tribulation.
It's through trials, and fiery trials, and overwhelming floods
of water at times, covering us, and overflowing us, and knocking
us about, and bringing us down, and bringing us low to see that
We're nothing in ourselves and we're nothing without Christ
and how desperate we are for his grace and mercy. Let's see
what I mean here. Let's move to our next point
about being imitators. Paul says in Ephesians 5.1, be
therefore followers of God as dear children. And that word
may be translated imitators. Be therefore imitators of God
as dear children. Well, look up at Ephesians 4.32.
Ephesians 4.32, when we read, and be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. The Spirit lays that to our heart,
to behold, my God is kind to me, and my God is tenderhearted. in dealing with me. And my God
has forgiven me for Christ's sake. And learning and beholding
how our God does that for us time and time again, though we
sin against Him seventy times seven in a day, our Lord is always
being kind and tender-hearted and forgiving us for Christ's
sake. As we're growing and learning
that and stumbling over ourselves and seeing our weaknesses and
how the Lord deals with us, that's meant to learn us Christ properly. That it's all of grace that we
might go and be kind and tenderhearted and forgiving to our brethren. when offenses and troubles and
trials come. That's what we're learning. We're
learning to be followers and imitators of our God, as He's
gracious to us, and been gracious to us that we might be gracious
to one another and love one another. Any of you that have had a young
child or have seen friends with young children, you know, I have
a grandson who's two years old, And I've noticed that boy is
an imitator of his father. His father spends time with him
and he teaches him words. And that boy says things that
his father has taught him and in the context and in the way
that his daddy teaches him. And he wants to be like his dad
because he loves his father. And you that have had children,
you see the truth of that when you spend time with them. And
there's that love and bond between you and your child. You love
them. And they love you and want to
be like you. And so they say the things you
say and do the things you do. It's a reflection of you. And
that's what the child of God, that's why I showed us in verse
five, Ephesians 1.5, that we've been adopted as the children
of God. He's our father. We're crying
out, Abba, Father. and we want to be like Him. The
Spirit makes us desire to be like our Father because we see
in ourselves corruption and we don't want it because we know
it grieves Him. We don't want to continue in
that corruption and sin against our Lord, against His Word. And
so we're the children of God and we're given Christ as an
example, he's much more. He's all our salvation. He's
all our salvation. But we also see him as he walked
here in the flesh and when he came in the flesh he said in
John 8 28 as my father hath taught me I speak these things he spoke
the words that his father gave him to speak and that spirit
which dwelt in our our Savior in Christ without measure that
spirit dwells in us and leads us and he's teaching us and he's
bringing us along so that when we see what we read of our Savior,
Hebrews 5.8 where it says that though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things he suffered. And I don't fully understand
that, but I do understand that it's spoken and given to us to
behold that we suffer, that we're suffering, that we're learning
through the things that we suffer as we go through the trials and
the setbacks and spells of of darkness and coldness and times
that are difficult and hard for us, we're learning of our God. He's teaching us. We're learning
Christ through him. And so by the way he speaks with
us and teaches us, we learn to speak with our brethren and love
them the way that we are loved and to be patient because we're
constantly crying out, Lord, be patient with me. Lord, be
merciful to me, a sinner. And as he makes us to recognize
how we constantly need his forgiveness and patience with us, that we
should remember that when we're faced with a brother or sister
that may sin against us, or offend us, or trouble us. And we're
learning of him to give thanks. Give thanks in all things, for
this is the will of God for you. 1 Thessalonians 5, 24, I believe. We learned Christ in our walk
of faith. Know that, brethren. You're not
going to get it all in one message. You may hear the blessed, glorious
gospel in one message, but we're learning it in the walk of faith. In the same way, when you've
gone to school, university, to learn a skill and a profession,
You didn't learn it all in one afternoon, a little class online.
You learned it in years. And then you went out into the
field and practiced it. And there was times of refreshing
and renewing. And you were taught. And you
continue to learn so that you can do your craft well. Well,
the Lord continues to teach us and instruct us and lead us along. It's not coming all at once. It's a patient thing. And if
it's so with you, it's so with your brethren. It's so with your
brethren as well. Remember that when you're dealing
with them and wondering, why are they this way? Well, it's
a patient learning, and the Lord has a purpose in it. Maybe he's
being patient with them that he might teach you using them,
you know, and the difficulties that they give you. And so our
Lord and our Savior, the Son of God, when He came, said, many
good works have I showed you from my Father. Well, that Spirit that dwelt
in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, without measure, the
Spirit dwells in us by measure, by the measure that God has given
to us. And therefore, we're going to
learn gracious works to be gracious and to be patient and to do those
good works which our Father has ordained for us to walk in, being
brought in us by our Savior. And so Paul says, be ye therefore
followers, imitators of God as dear children. And know, remember,
it's learned through the walk of faith. It's learned. The just
shall live by faith. And that means faith is going
to be called upon. Faith is going to be exercised
where we are brought into difficulties where all we can do is believe. Let that man that walketh in
darkness stay upon his God, Isaiah says. Let him stay upon his God,
even when it's dark and he doesn't understand what's going on, let
him stay upon his God. And so, imitating our God, we
read in verse 2, Ephesians 5, 2. And walk in love, as Christ
also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior. It's gonna be a walk,
brethren, ever leaning upon the breast of your Savior. calling
out upon Him, looking to Him for help, seeking Him for grace. because in that walk you're gonna
see the weakness that we are in self and how we need him and
how gracious he is to us. All right, so having that foundation,
knowing it's a walk of faith, trusting the Lord, believing
all the promises he's given to you in these blessed unshakable
doctrines, seeing the truth of what, of the salvation our Savior
has wrought for us, and an understanding that it's a walk of faith that
our Lord is teaching us ever so patiently, ever so gently,
ever so perfectly in His way. Sometimes things just get washed
out and shaken in an earthquake and other things are just delicately
chiseled out and slowly removed and taken away one pebble at
a time. We're the Lord's We're his servants,
we're his people. He can do with us as he wants
according to his purpose. So having that foundation, when
we come to passages as we come to now in verse three, we can
hear them and hear them believing our God and trusting him and
having a desire to be imitators of our God. Now this passage
here, excuse me, is speaking of grievous sins, grievous sexual
sins that believers are not to walk in, he tells us. So look
at verse three. He says, but fornication and
all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among
you as becometh saints. All these sins here in the context
are related to sexual sins. Fornication is sex between two
unmarried persons. And then uncleanness is related
to sexual sins, speaking of adultery. speaking of homosexuality and
perversions that people have and seek out and practice. And
covetousness here relates to that insatiable desire for those
lusts in the flesh. And Paul then lists sins of our
tongue and hear these as well in relation to the sexual sins
above. Verse 4, neither filthiness nor
foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient. We've heard
and maybe even spoke in times past men and women can do it
where they just speak very foolishly about sexual sins as though it
means nothing, and it's just all loose and carefree. But Paul
says, rather give thanks. Give no place to these things
in your walk. They shouldn't be named among
brethren, is what he's saying, but rather give your thoughts
and your energies to being thankful for what the Lord has given you.
Be thankful for how he's blessed you and what he has given you. Trust him, rather give thanks,
being content with the provision of your Lord. All right, verses
five and six now. For this ye know, that no whoremonger,
nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath
any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no
man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. And what we
understand in our salvation, what Christ has wrought for us,
is that He's delivered us from that body of sin. That's not
our inheritance. The wrath of God which is coming
on the children of disobedience is not coming upon the children
of God. Therefore, don't be partakers
with their deeds and sins that are bringing on them the wrath
of God. He's saying, don't be part of
those. It's been widely practiced for
decades, but these things are widely practiced even in churches,
among members of churches at times. And we are not to practice
those things or they should not be named among us. And we've
seen how there are those that have been hardened in sin, and
their faith is shipwrecked. It shows that they never had
faith, that it was always a work of the flesh and not of the Lord,
but we know how hardening sin is. And so Paul's saying, don't
be part of it. That's not your inheritance.
Ours is one of peace and joy and fellowship in the Holy Ghost. Seek Him. And those lusts, when
they come up in the flesh, seek the Lord. It's a walk of faith. Cry out to him and keep seeking
him and trust him to lead you out of that destruction and to
have no part of it. That's where the children of
disobedience and the children of wrath walk, on that broad
way which leadeth to destruction. And so why would you want to
be on that path? You child of God that trust him,
believe him to provide for you in all things. As he says back
in Ephesians 4, 20 and 21, but ye've not so learned Christ,
If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as
the truth is in Jesus. And in Hebrews 6, 9, and 10,
we read, but beloved, we are persuaded better things of you
and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God
is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love,
which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered
to the saints and do minister. And so the Lord's leading us
and he's sealed us. Our salvation is secure in him
and unshakable and trust the Lord. If any struggle with these
things or commit these things, let him hear what the Lord says
and cry out to his God for deliverance and for the Lord to help him
and keep him walking by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says now in Ephesians 5, 7 and 8, be not ye therefore partakers
with them. For ye were sometimes darkness,
but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. And so, what I want us to take
home more than anything today is that this is a walk of faith. This is a walk of faith, and
we need the Lord in all things. in sins which men count light
and in sins which men count as grievous and unforgivable. The Lord is able to forgive us
of all things and deliver His people and keep the hearts of
His people, keep us ever crying out to Him. Lord, if this is
so, why am I thus? So that we're always looking
to him and trusting him and then taking that same knowledge which
he's given to us and be kind and tenderhearted and forgiving
toward our brethren. And then, just one final word,
when we pray for one another and we pray, Lord, help me to
love my brethren, help me to be patient with my brethren,
help me to serve my brethren, and bless us, Lord, as a body
to love one another, be patient with one another, and serve you,
our God, and one another. When you're praying, remember
to be watching and understanding, not looking for sin, but understand
that there's going to be difficulties then and trials and you're going
to see weakness in yourself, you may see weakness in your
brethren, you may see stumbling and difficulties and adversities
rising up because that's where we're learning to walk in faith
and in the practice of what we've learned of Christ. So don't be
surprised and and be offended and go away, but rather endure
and labor with what the Lord has worked in our midst because
it's for our good and it's to teach us Christ. It's to reveal
in us the grace which he's taught us and shown to us in the Lord
Jesus Christ. So if you seek to practice what
you've learned, don't be surprised when when you start to experience
situations that require such love and faith and patience and
endurance in those things, because that's how we learn it. So, all
right, enough of me. I pray the Lord bless that word
to your hearts. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank
you, Father, for your grace and power. How merciful you are. My Lord, how slow we are to believe
it. When we see the weaknesses and
failings in ourselves, Lord, we see that we cannot save ourselves
or keep ourselves, but Lord, you are able and we trust you. And in every way that you teach
us in perfection and that keeps us humble and that we might be understanding
and patient and gracious to our brethren. Lord, help us. Help
us with that and bless us, Lord, to love one another and to see
your fruits worked out in us. And Lord, when we're troubled
by what we see in ourselves, may we ever cry out to you and
cry out, Abba, Father. Lord, save me. Lord, help us
in this. Bless your people, fill us with
your spirit and lead us by your spirit. It's in the name of our
Savior that we pray these things. And Lord, we pray that you bring
those that are traveling back to us safely. And Lord, we pray
concerning the concerns we have here in the church of our brethren,
of one another here and what you're doing. Lord, we pray that
you would bring peace in times of refreshing and restoration. And Lord, we pray also for your
sheep, which are yet in darkness and yet sitting under false gospel,
Lord, that you would call them out and give them light and life
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Bring them to hear the gospel. And Lord, may you be pleased
to bless them to hear it here that we would be found faithful,
serving our God, preaching the glorious good news of our Lord
and Savior. It's in his name that we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 328. Close to Thee, 328. Now my everlasting portion, more
than friend or life to me, all along my pilgrim journey, Savior,
let me walk with Thee. Close to Thee, close to Thee, Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee. Not for ease or worldly pleasure,
Nor for fame my prayer shall be. Gladly will I toil and suffer,
Only let me walk with thee. Close to thee, close to thee,
Close to thee, close to thee, Gladly will I toil and suffer,
only let me walk with thee. Lead me through the veil of shadows,
bear me o'er life's fitful sea. Then the gate of life eternal,
may I enter, Lord, with Thee. Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee, then the gate of life eternal,
may I enter, Lord, with Thee. Thank you.