1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,680 Going to be In Romans chapter 12, we're going to continue our studies 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:05,920 study here in Romans chapter 12. 3 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:09,920 And I pray that this study has been a blessing for you. 4 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:15,200 Romans chapter 12 talks about how we're supposed to live our lives 5 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:16,399 as believers. 6 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,240 So what we believe about Jesus, what we believe about his 7 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:25,800 grace and his salvation should dictate how we sacrifice, how we 8 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:26,620 serve, how we. 9 00:00:26,770 --> 00:00:28,730 How we live our lives as believers. 10 00:00:28,730 --> 00:00:32,010 And so Romans chapter 1 through Romans chapter 11 tells us 11 00:00:32,010 --> 00:00:34,730 what to believe about the Lord, and it tells us what he has 12 00:00:34,730 --> 00:00:35,410 done for us. 13 00:00:35,570 --> 00:00:39,010 And then Romans chapter 12 on through the end of the book of Romans 14 00:00:39,090 --> 00:00:41,890 tells us how we're supposed to do that practically in our lives. 15 00:00:42,529 --> 00:00:45,370 We saw at the very beginning of Romans chapter 12 that we are 16 00:00:45,370 --> 00:00:49,290 to present our bodies, our everything, a living sacrifice unto 17 00:00:49,290 --> 00:00:49,650 God. 18 00:00:49,970 --> 00:00:52,450 The Bible tells us that that's our reasonable service. 19 00:00:52,450 --> 00:00:56,930 If we think about what God has done for us and we understand that 20 00:00:56,930 --> 00:00:59,930 type of sacrifice, that type of love, that type of forgiveness, 21 00:01:00,090 --> 00:01:03,290 then it's only logical for us to say that I want to give him everything 22 00:01:03,290 --> 00:01:04,090 that I am. 23 00:01:04,330 --> 00:01:08,250 And he tells us in Romans chapter 12, verse 2, that we're not 24 00:01:08,250 --> 00:01:09,650 to be conformed to this world. 25 00:01:09,650 --> 00:01:13,490 We're not to be molded into the image that the world wants us 26 00:01:13,490 --> 00:01:17,330 to be, but we are to be transformed by the renewing of our 27 00:01:17,330 --> 00:01:21,200 minds so that we can demonstrate that perfect will of 28 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:22,400 God in our lives. 29 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,760 And then he goes on to talk about how that looks. 30 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:25,160 There's. 31 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:29,320 There's grace to be the servant that we're called to be. 32 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:33,960 And he talks about how each of us in verse five, each of us are 33 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:37,680 part of the body, and in that body we have differing gifts. 34 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:38,920 And we talked about those gifts. 35 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,680 And so for the last few weeks, actually more than a few weeks, it's 36 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,170 been probably a couple months, we've been talking about the spiritual 37 00:01:46,170 --> 00:01:48,290 gifts that are mentioned here in Romans chapter 12. 38 00:01:48,610 --> 00:01:50,930 And we looked at each one of those in detail. 39 00:01:50,930 --> 00:01:53,290 And I hope that that was a help for you. 40 00:01:53,290 --> 00:01:57,130 I hope that it guided you to one of those gifts that God has given 41 00:01:57,130 --> 00:02:01,849 you in your life, or at least honed in that gift in your actions 42 00:02:01,849 --> 00:02:03,810 and in your thoughts and in your heart. 43 00:02:04,130 --> 00:02:07,330 But now we're going to see how we're to live out those gifts within 44 00:02:07,410 --> 00:02:08,050 the church. 45 00:02:09,010 --> 00:02:13,670 So in verses 9 through 13, the Lord tells us here how we're supposed 46 00:02:13,670 --> 00:02:16,190 to treat others within the body of Christ. 47 00:02:17,070 --> 00:02:19,790 We're seeing that God tells us to love. 48 00:02:19,790 --> 00:02:24,630 But in the case of verses 9 through 13, we see that it's specifically 49 00:02:24,630 --> 00:02:29,150 given to us as a command to love one another within the local 50 00:02:29,390 --> 00:02:29,870 church. 51 00:02:30,510 --> 00:02:33,310 So verse nine tells us, let love. 52 00:02:33,390 --> 00:02:35,190 And we're going to stop there because we're going to be talking 53 00:02:35,190 --> 00:02:36,430 a lot about love here today. 54 00:02:36,430 --> 00:02:40,060 We talked about the theme being God loved us, so we're to love 55 00:02:40,060 --> 00:02:40,380 others. 56 00:02:40,860 --> 00:02:44,700 And many of you know that in Greek there's different words for 57 00:02:44,860 --> 00:02:45,220 love. 58 00:02:45,220 --> 00:02:49,260 In the English language we say love or affection or compassion. 59 00:02:49,820 --> 00:02:52,580 And so there's different meanings to those words. 60 00:02:52,580 --> 00:02:56,140 But in the Greek there's really a detailed picture of each 61 00:02:56,220 --> 00:02:57,340 aspect of love. 62 00:02:57,420 --> 00:02:59,340 And we're going to look at three of those today. 63 00:02:59,340 --> 00:03:02,980 And I hope that understanding these three aspects of love will 64 00:03:02,980 --> 00:03:06,620 help us demonstrate love to one another within the church because 65 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,120 of what Jesus Christ has done for us. 66 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:11,720 So we're going to go ahead and pray and we're going to start looking 67 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,000 at this type of love that God has called us to have in the body 68 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:15,520 of Christ. 69 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,440 Lord, I pray that you be with us in this time. 70 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,360 I pray that you help us understand first and foremost the 71 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,520 love that you have demonstrated for us and to us. 72 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:27,360 And I pray that that love can transform us, that that love can 73 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,320 change the way that we deal with others, particularly within 74 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:31,320 the church. 75 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,610 And I pray that today can be a day of, of challenging, a day of 76 00:03:35,610 --> 00:03:40,770 comfort, a day of compassion, a day in which we can even to some 77 00:03:40,770 --> 00:03:42,890 degree find change in our life if need be. 78 00:03:42,890 --> 00:03:46,010 I pray that if there's someone here today that has not understood 79 00:03:46,250 --> 00:03:49,450 the grace of the gospel, that today can be the day of salvation, 80 00:03:49,450 --> 00:03:52,610 that today can be the day of forgiveness, and that today we can 81 00:03:52,610 --> 00:03:55,130 add more folks to the family of God. 82 00:03:55,130 --> 00:03:56,970 So we ask all these things in Jesus name. 83 00:03:57,210 --> 00:03:57,850 Amen. 84 00:03:59,220 --> 00:04:02,180 So the Spirit filled Christian, the Christian who's walking 85 00:04:02,420 --> 00:04:05,940 in the Spirit, the Christian who is wanting to present themselves 86 00:04:05,940 --> 00:04:10,500 a living sacrifice to the Lord, doesn't just know how to love, 87 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:15,620 but he learns or she learns through genuine sacrifice and through 88 00:04:15,700 --> 00:04:18,180 genuine affection that God has given to us. 89 00:04:18,340 --> 00:04:21,300 And as we learn from that love, we're able to give that love 90 00:04:21,300 --> 00:04:21,900 to other people. 91 00:04:21,900 --> 00:04:24,380 We're able to reflect that love to other people. 92 00:04:24,380 --> 00:04:28,470 And so verse number nine, it says, let love be without dissimulation. 93 00:04:29,270 --> 00:04:31,430 Dissimulation is a big word in the King James. 94 00:04:31,430 --> 00:04:32,190 What does that mean? 95 00:04:32,190 --> 00:04:37,110 Well, it really means to love in such a way that is not hypocritical, 96 00:04:37,510 --> 00:04:39,270 to have genuine love. 97 00:04:39,430 --> 00:04:42,230 Now that word love there in the Greek is agape. 98 00:04:42,870 --> 00:04:45,310 That's one of the loves that we're going to be discussing here 99 00:04:45,310 --> 00:04:45,550 today. 100 00:04:45,550 --> 00:04:48,070 That word Agape has a lot wrapped up into it. 101 00:04:48,310 --> 00:04:51,070 One of the words that you can think about with the word agape is 102 00:04:51,070 --> 00:04:51,830 sacrifice. 103 00:04:53,180 --> 00:04:55,860 Agape, love sacrifices something. 104 00:04:55,860 --> 00:05:00,180 Now the greatest act of agape was when the Lord sent Jesus Christ 105 00:05:00,180 --> 00:05:02,300 to this earth to die on the cross for our sins. 106 00:05:02,300 --> 00:05:05,020 That's the greatest sacrifice of all of history. 107 00:05:05,100 --> 00:05:09,820 And so we know that that type of love is wrapped up with sacrifice, 108 00:05:09,820 --> 00:05:13,740 but we also know that this type of love is wrapped up in a choice. 109 00:05:14,300 --> 00:05:16,060 It's a choice, it's not a feeling. 110 00:05:16,380 --> 00:05:19,460 The world tells us that love is a feeling. 111 00:05:19,460 --> 00:05:24,340 And though sometimes love does produce feelings, and there are some 112 00:05:24,340 --> 00:05:28,500 levels of emotion when it comes to loving someone in our life, 113 00:05:28,740 --> 00:05:32,340 this type of love, this agape, love is a choice. 114 00:05:32,740 --> 00:05:37,540 And so he says here, let your love within the body of Christ be 115 00:05:37,620 --> 00:05:40,020 without hypocrisy. 116 00:05:40,660 --> 00:05:44,100 The Greek word literally means not being a hypocrite. 117 00:05:44,180 --> 00:05:47,420 And actually the Greek word is wrapped up with another meaning. 118 00:05:47,420 --> 00:05:49,140 And I think that it's important for us to do this. 119 00:05:49,370 --> 00:05:51,290 I don't always do word studies, but today we're going to 120 00:05:51,290 --> 00:05:52,490 be doing a lot of word study. 121 00:05:52,730 --> 00:05:55,770 And the reason that we need to do that is because there's a deep 122 00:05:55,770 --> 00:05:59,530 richness to the teaching when you understand what the Greek author 123 00:05:59,850 --> 00:06:03,290 here, in this case Paul, but ultimately the Lord is giving us. 124 00:06:03,290 --> 00:06:07,530 And so what we see here is that this word dissimulation or this 125 00:06:07,530 --> 00:06:11,930 phrase without dissimulation really means to not be an actor. 126 00:06:12,250 --> 00:06:15,970 The word in the Greek is describing an actor and it says, 127 00:06:15,970 --> 00:06:17,170 don't be an actor. 128 00:06:17,170 --> 00:06:18,330 Now what do we mean by that? 129 00:06:18,690 --> 00:06:21,330 Well, back at that time, what would have happened in that culture 130 00:06:21,570 --> 00:06:25,170 is that an actor would have come out on stage and maybe portrayed 131 00:06:25,170 --> 00:06:27,010 himself or herself in a different way. 132 00:06:27,170 --> 00:06:30,690 Maybe they would have even worn a mask to be somebody else. 133 00:06:30,850 --> 00:06:36,090 And so the meaning behind this is don't come in with the guise of 134 00:06:36,090 --> 00:06:39,650 love and have a mask on and have other motivations behind it. 135 00:06:40,210 --> 00:06:42,050 So the love is to be genuine. 136 00:06:42,930 --> 00:06:46,690 The broad self giving love that Paul's talking about here is 137 00:06:46,690 --> 00:06:47,330 a command. 138 00:06:47,330 --> 00:06:49,790 It's to be genuine in our love. 139 00:06:49,790 --> 00:06:52,630 It's a, it's preaching against hypocritical love. 140 00:06:52,630 --> 00:06:54,230 And it's really like this. 141 00:06:54,390 --> 00:06:56,390 Don't pretend to love someone. 142 00:06:56,950 --> 00:06:57,310 Don't. 143 00:06:57,310 --> 00:06:59,990 Don't come about saying certain things in front of them, 144 00:07:00,070 --> 00:07:01,390 but behind their back. 145 00:07:01,390 --> 00:07:02,230 Say other things. 146 00:07:02,550 --> 00:07:05,350 Don't say you're going to be doing this for them and then not 147 00:07:05,350 --> 00:07:05,830 do this. 148 00:07:05,990 --> 00:07:09,830 Don't, don't come with a mouth that says this, but a heart that 149 00:07:09,910 --> 00:07:11,350 says something completely different. 150 00:07:11,830 --> 00:07:14,150 It's not about being performative in our love. 151 00:07:14,150 --> 00:07:16,260 It's about having the right motivations. 152 00:07:16,500 --> 00:07:19,380 It's about not harboring bitterness to those around us. 153 00:07:19,860 --> 00:07:21,540 Agape basically says this. 154 00:07:22,100 --> 00:07:26,820 I will choose what is good for you, even if I don't feel like it. 155 00:07:27,060 --> 00:07:30,180 I'm going to do what's best for you, even if it doesn't bring 156 00:07:30,180 --> 00:07:31,540 anything back to me. 157 00:07:32,180 --> 00:07:35,860 So here in this case, he says love with this type of sacrificial, 158 00:07:36,180 --> 00:07:38,900 genuine love, it's a love that chooses. 159 00:07:39,140 --> 00:07:42,020 It's a love that wakes up in the morning and says this. 160 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,440 I know that I might not feel the love back, but I'm going to give 161 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:46,560 this to somebody else. 162 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:48,960 I'm going to choose what's best for them. 163 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,360 I'm going to do what's best for them. 164 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,040 But then he goes on to say a little bit more about this type of 165 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:54,320 love. 166 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,240 He says, don't let this love be hypocritical. 167 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,560 But then he says, abhor that which is evil, Cleave to that which 168 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:03,040 is good. 169 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:06,720 So with this love comes a sense of morals. 170 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:08,740 It comes a sense of hope, holiness. 171 00:08:09,140 --> 00:08:12,260 So a lot of times what the world says is that if you love somebody 172 00:08:12,820 --> 00:08:15,140 that you have to condone everything that they do. 173 00:08:15,380 --> 00:08:17,220 You have to support everything that they do. 174 00:08:17,620 --> 00:08:19,700 You have to even celebrate everything that they do. 175 00:08:19,940 --> 00:08:23,420 That's not this type of love, because it says right after the fact 176 00:08:23,420 --> 00:08:27,380 that we're supposed to have genuine love to what it says, abhor, 177 00:08:28,180 --> 00:08:33,180 dislike that which is evil, turn away from anything that points 178 00:08:33,180 --> 00:08:35,729 a king picture to sin or to darkness. 179 00:08:35,729 --> 00:08:38,569 And then on the flip side of that, it's not just about hating 180 00:08:38,569 --> 00:08:39,049 evil. 181 00:08:39,049 --> 00:08:40,729 It's not just about rejecting evil. 182 00:08:40,729 --> 00:08:44,449 But it says, cleave to that which is good. 183 00:08:45,329 --> 00:08:47,849 With that comes the meaning of being glued to something. 184 00:08:47,849 --> 00:08:50,289 In the original Greek, it means to be attached to something, 185 00:08:50,449 --> 00:08:54,169 cling to it, cleave to it, hold on to that which is good when 186 00:08:54,169 --> 00:08:55,969 it comes to the way that we love people. 187 00:08:56,209 --> 00:08:58,689 So biblical love doesn't simply tolerate everything. 188 00:08:59,900 --> 00:09:04,540 Love hates that which is evil because love desires what is good 189 00:09:04,620 --> 00:09:05,580 for the person. 190 00:09:05,660 --> 00:09:08,900 So sometimes when someone's doing something that's evil, it's 191 00:09:08,900 --> 00:09:10,300 not good for them all the time. 192 00:09:10,300 --> 00:09:12,300 If they're doing something evil, it's not good for them. 193 00:09:12,300 --> 00:09:15,420 And for us to tell someone, well, it's okay, I love you. 194 00:09:15,420 --> 00:09:18,180 So I'm going to overlook everything that's not biblical love. 195 00:09:18,180 --> 00:09:20,940 That's not agape love, that's not sacrificial love. 196 00:09:21,020 --> 00:09:24,180 That's Not a type of love that genuinely seeks the best for that 197 00:09:24,180 --> 00:09:24,460 person. 198 00:09:25,510 --> 00:09:28,870 So with this type of love comes a sense of morality, comes 199 00:09:28,870 --> 00:09:32,630 a sense of understanding that I want what's best for that person. 200 00:09:33,750 --> 00:09:37,230 So our culture today says that if a Christian says anything against 201 00:09:37,230 --> 00:09:38,710 someone, that they must hate them. 202 00:09:39,030 --> 00:09:40,590 That's not what the Bible teaches. 203 00:09:40,590 --> 00:09:43,350 The Bible says that we are to hate the evil, but we're to love 204 00:09:43,350 --> 00:09:46,270 the person and want what's best for them and want them to follow 205 00:09:46,270 --> 00:09:46,590 Christ. 206 00:09:46,590 --> 00:09:49,550 And so for us within the church, how do we demonstrate love? 207 00:09:49,550 --> 00:09:51,830 Well, we don't just accept everyone for who they are. 208 00:09:51,830 --> 00:09:52,120 We. 209 00:09:52,590 --> 00:09:54,590 You know, there's a lot of churches that say, hey, just accept 210 00:09:54,670 --> 00:09:55,870 everyone for who they are. 211 00:09:56,270 --> 00:09:58,190 Come as you are, stay as you are. 212 00:09:58,270 --> 00:09:59,310 Don't change your life. 213 00:09:59,550 --> 00:10:02,510 Folks, at Middletown Baptist Church, our goal is to welcome people 214 00:10:02,510 --> 00:10:06,110 in and love on them, but don't just condone everything that they 215 00:10:06,110 --> 00:10:06,430 do. 216 00:10:06,590 --> 00:10:09,310 We want people to come to Middletown Baptist as they are, but 217 00:10:09,310 --> 00:10:13,270 leave change to leave more like Jesus, to see a difference in 218 00:10:13,270 --> 00:10:14,670 the type of love that we have. 219 00:10:15,310 --> 00:10:19,640 I know that sometimes I'm like, I'll call my parents and I'll 220 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,120 say, hey, did you guys hear my sermon today? 221 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:23,320 And they. 222 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:23,800 They will. 223 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,080 So they go to church on Sundays, but then they have double 224 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:28,000 church because they'll listen to my sermon after church. 225 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:28,920 And I appreciate that. 226 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:30,680 I was like, how'd you think it went? 227 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:32,440 And my mom. 228 00:10:32,680 --> 00:10:35,440 My mom has never told me that I've ever preached a bad sermon. 229 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:35,840 Okay? 230 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:36,600 Because it's my mom. 231 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:37,160 Every time. 232 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:40,040 Sometimes I'll get up there and I won't be able to say anything. 233 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,120 And my mom's like, oh, that was the greatest thing ever. 234 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:42,480 Why? 235 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:43,400 Because she's my mom. 236 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:45,320 She's gonna love everything that I do. 237 00:10:46,180 --> 00:10:48,780 And sometimes that's helpful, but sometimes that's not helpful 238 00:10:48,780 --> 00:10:51,740 because we're not able to critique what we're doing in our 239 00:10:51,740 --> 00:10:54,420 life and identify areas in which we need to change. 240 00:10:54,500 --> 00:10:57,860 So if you came up to me as your pastor and you say, hey, pastor, 241 00:10:57,860 --> 00:10:59,780 I'm really going through some struggles. 242 00:10:59,780 --> 00:11:01,460 I'm going through some temptations. 243 00:11:01,780 --> 00:11:04,140 I might even have some sin in my life, and I just look at you and 244 00:11:04,140 --> 00:11:05,180 go, well, you know what? 245 00:11:05,180 --> 00:11:05,380 You're. 246 00:11:05,380 --> 00:11:05,700 You're. 247 00:11:05,700 --> 00:11:06,100 I love. 248 00:11:06,100 --> 00:11:06,660 I love you. 249 00:11:06,660 --> 00:11:07,540 You're a good person. 250 00:11:07,940 --> 00:11:09,220 So just keep doing what you're doing. 251 00:11:09,220 --> 00:11:10,660 I just support whatever you're doing. 252 00:11:10,660 --> 00:11:11,620 That would not meet. 253 00:11:11,620 --> 00:11:14,930 That would not be me demonstrating true biblical love. 254 00:11:15,010 --> 00:11:18,010 True biblical love would be, hey, look, I love you, but I don't 255 00:11:18,010 --> 00:11:19,250 love the fact that you're doing this. 256 00:11:19,250 --> 00:11:21,730 This is actually going to cause a lot of harm for you. 257 00:11:21,970 --> 00:11:24,650 This is going to bring you difficulty, this is going to bring 258 00:11:24,650 --> 00:11:25,330 you pain. 259 00:11:25,730 --> 00:11:28,770 And so loving is speaking the truth to somebody. 260 00:11:28,849 --> 00:11:32,770 It's, it's patient, it's kind, but it's truth. 261 00:11:33,330 --> 00:11:36,650 So here he says, don't love with this type of false love that 262 00:11:36,650 --> 00:11:40,650 just tells people what they want to hear, abhor what is evil, 263 00:11:40,890 --> 00:11:44,170 cleave or cling to that which is good. 264 00:11:44,250 --> 00:11:47,850 So when we look at agape love, we see agape love is a choice. 265 00:11:48,330 --> 00:11:52,610 We see that it's genuine, we see that it's moral, and we see that 266 00:11:52,610 --> 00:11:53,530 it's sacrificial. 267 00:11:53,530 --> 00:11:57,450 Now we know the greatest act of love is the fact that God sent 268 00:11:57,450 --> 00:11:58,810 His only begotten Son for us. 269 00:11:59,050 --> 00:12:02,210 But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet 270 00:12:02,210 --> 00:12:03,330 sinners, Christ died for us. 271 00:12:03,330 --> 00:12:04,650 That's the greatest sacrifice. 272 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:07,320 So God shows His love to us. 273 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:08,440 He's proved his love for us. 274 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:10,520 And there's a lot of people in this world that question whether 275 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:11,520 or not God loves them. 276 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:14,000 How could God love me and let this happen? 277 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,800 Or how could God love people and allow pain and suffering to happen? 278 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:19,920 And I understand that sentiment. 279 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:22,320 And certain times we have to wrestle with that concept. 280 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:23,280 But just think about this. 281 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:25,440 God already proved his love for you. 282 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,080 He doesn't have to keep proving it to you because he proved 283 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,840 his love to you and for you because of his only begotten Son 284 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:32,880 that He sent for you. 285 00:12:34,090 --> 00:12:38,330 I have two sons, three kids, and it would be very hard for me 286 00:12:38,330 --> 00:12:40,090 to sacrifice any of them for anyone. 287 00:12:40,650 --> 00:12:44,450 And the fact that God showed that love to us by sending Jesus, 288 00:12:44,450 --> 00:12:47,610 and the Bible says that the one who knew no sin, that's Jesus, 289 00:12:47,690 --> 00:12:48,770 became sin for us. 290 00:12:48,770 --> 00:12:50,210 He sacrificed Himself for us. 291 00:12:50,210 --> 00:12:54,210 And so we see that sacrificial love is the type of love that we're 292 00:12:54,210 --> 00:12:55,290 to have within the church. 293 00:12:56,010 --> 00:12:58,370 So the question that you might ask when it comes to this type of 294 00:12:58,370 --> 00:12:58,890 love is this. 295 00:12:58,890 --> 00:13:04,090 Do I love people because I feel affection for them or do I love 296 00:13:04,090 --> 00:13:06,530 people because I've chosen to seek their good? 297 00:13:06,930 --> 00:13:09,090 And really, agape love is the second question. 298 00:13:09,490 --> 00:13:14,810 Do I love this person because they do something for me, or do I 299 00:13:14,810 --> 00:13:17,010 love this person because I know it's the right thing to do and 300 00:13:17,010 --> 00:13:19,090 I choose to love them no matter how they act? 301 00:13:19,410 --> 00:13:22,330 The Bible says that the right type of love is that sacrificial 302 00:13:22,330 --> 00:13:22,570 love. 303 00:13:22,570 --> 00:13:24,290 Now I would say it this way. 304 00:13:24,770 --> 00:13:29,890 The way that we could describe agape is I choose to love you, even 305 00:13:30,130 --> 00:13:30,400 if. 306 00:13:30,550 --> 00:13:34,710 If it cost me something, I choose to love you. 307 00:13:34,710 --> 00:13:38,230 Even if there's going to be struggles, I choose to love you even 308 00:13:38,310 --> 00:13:40,150 if you talk back to me. 309 00:13:40,230 --> 00:13:40,550 Right? 310 00:13:40,550 --> 00:13:44,150 That's the level of this type of love that God has called us to 311 00:13:44,150 --> 00:13:44,270 have. 312 00:13:44,270 --> 00:13:45,510 But he doesn't stop there. 313 00:13:45,750 --> 00:13:46,509 It goes further. 314 00:13:46,509 --> 00:13:50,950 In verse 10, he says, Be kindly affectioned, one to another. 315 00:13:51,750 --> 00:13:53,270 Now this is a new type of love. 316 00:13:53,270 --> 00:13:55,710 The King James puts it, be kindly affection. 317 00:13:55,710 --> 00:13:59,050 But the Greek word is philo storje. 318 00:13:59,370 --> 00:14:01,930 Philo storje means a love like a family. 319 00:14:02,490 --> 00:14:03,610 Philo is love. 320 00:14:03,610 --> 00:14:04,810 Storge is family. 321 00:14:04,970 --> 00:14:06,890 And so this talks about this familial love. 322 00:14:06,890 --> 00:14:09,890 You ever heard someone within our church say, hey, I. I'm part 323 00:14:09,890 --> 00:14:10,970 of this church family. 324 00:14:11,610 --> 00:14:14,290 Maybe you've never experienced that type of love. 325 00:14:14,290 --> 00:14:16,490 Maybe you don't even understand that concept. 326 00:14:16,490 --> 00:14:19,090 Maybe you're visiting today and you're like, well, I don't feel 327 00:14:19,090 --> 00:14:20,010 part of this family. 328 00:14:20,170 --> 00:14:23,650 Well, I'm going to tell you that the church is called to be a 329 00:14:23,650 --> 00:14:24,010 family. 330 00:14:24,700 --> 00:14:26,500 We're called to be the family of God. 331 00:14:26,500 --> 00:14:27,740 In the greater sense. 332 00:14:27,740 --> 00:14:31,180 We're called to be as children of God, but in a more personal sense, 333 00:14:31,180 --> 00:14:32,700 we're called to be the body of Christ. 334 00:14:32,700 --> 00:14:34,060 And therefore we are family. 335 00:14:34,060 --> 00:14:38,220 And he says here in verse 10, be kindly affection one to another. 336 00:14:39,100 --> 00:14:41,100 And then he goes on to say what type of love that is. 337 00:14:41,100 --> 00:14:42,540 And we're going to talk about that after this. 338 00:14:42,540 --> 00:14:46,540 But verse 10 tells us that it's supposed to be a familial relationship. 339 00:14:46,620 --> 00:14:50,060 We're supposed to see the reason to love someone within the 340 00:14:50,060 --> 00:14:50,620 body of Christ. 341 00:14:50,780 --> 00:14:54,230 We're called to have agape love for people because of the fact 342 00:14:54,230 --> 00:14:56,310 that they are part of the family of God. 343 00:14:57,110 --> 00:15:01,990 This type of love philosorge describes natural affection associated 344 00:15:01,990 --> 00:15:03,350 with family relationships. 345 00:15:03,510 --> 00:15:07,350 So it's a tenderheartedness, it's an attachment that exists between 346 00:15:07,510 --> 00:15:10,270 what we would see in our culture as parents and children or 347 00:15:10,270 --> 00:15:12,710 siblings or those that are close with one another. 348 00:15:12,790 --> 00:15:15,190 And so Paul is essentially telling Christians this. 349 00:15:15,430 --> 00:15:17,350 Develop the type of love. 350 00:15:17,890 --> 00:15:21,730 Develop the type of affection that a family member has for another 351 00:15:21,730 --> 00:15:22,530 family member. 352 00:15:23,010 --> 00:15:26,090 Develop the kind of affection that you should see in a healthy 353 00:15:26,090 --> 00:15:26,330 family. 354 00:15:26,330 --> 00:15:28,530 Because you might say, well, Pastor, you don't know my family. 355 00:15:28,530 --> 00:15:30,850 I don't think we should have the type of love that my family has 356 00:15:30,850 --> 00:15:31,650 within the church. 357 00:15:31,650 --> 00:15:33,330 We're talking about a healthy situation. 358 00:15:33,490 --> 00:15:34,930 We're not talking about a broken family. 359 00:15:34,930 --> 00:15:36,290 We're talking about God's family. 360 00:15:36,290 --> 00:15:40,050 We're talking about a family that's acting as one unit and so 361 00:15:40,050 --> 00:15:41,530 we know that a family knows us. 362 00:15:41,530 --> 00:15:46,940 A family should and will see us at our best and sometimes see 363 00:15:46,940 --> 00:15:47,900 us at our worst. 364 00:15:48,620 --> 00:15:53,260 You know, we went on vacation and this past week up to the Poconos 365 00:15:53,500 --> 00:15:58,220 and I was talking about this last week, go up there for relaxation. 366 00:15:58,700 --> 00:16:03,580 We have a 11 year old, an 8 year old and a 2 year old. 367 00:16:03,740 --> 00:16:06,260 There wasn't a lot of relaxation going on, at least in 368 00:16:06,260 --> 00:16:07,980 the sense of it being peace and quiet. 369 00:16:07,980 --> 00:16:09,980 Okay, I found my moments of peace and quiet. 370 00:16:10,220 --> 00:16:13,100 And there were times on that trip, especially if you ever had 371 00:16:13,100 --> 00:16:13,740 a road trip. 372 00:16:13,930 --> 00:16:16,410 Have you ever taken a road trip with kids that asked every 10 373 00:16:16,410 --> 00:16:17,610 minutes, are we there yet? 374 00:16:17,930 --> 00:16:19,090 Can we stop for food? 375 00:16:19,090 --> 00:16:20,410 I need to go to the restroom. 376 00:16:20,810 --> 00:16:22,970 Those were those moments where I was tested. 377 00:16:23,050 --> 00:16:26,090 Am I going to be at my best in the spirit or am I going to be at 378 00:16:26,090 --> 00:16:26,850 my worst in my flesh? 379 00:16:26,850 --> 00:16:28,850 And I'm going to be honest with you, there was times on that 380 00:16:28,850 --> 00:16:29,330 road trip. 381 00:16:29,330 --> 00:16:31,290 After the fifth time we were asked whether or not we were going 382 00:16:31,290 --> 00:16:31,770 to be there. 383 00:16:32,010 --> 00:16:34,570 My flesh was starting to come out and it was not the best. 384 00:16:34,730 --> 00:16:35,890 It might have been at my worst. 385 00:16:35,890 --> 00:16:38,850 So my family has seen me at my best, but my family see me at my 386 00:16:38,850 --> 00:16:39,210 worst. 387 00:16:39,490 --> 00:16:40,810 That's how it should be within the church. 388 00:16:40,810 --> 00:16:43,410 There's times where we see people at their best and it's easy 389 00:16:43,410 --> 00:16:44,050 to love them. 390 00:16:44,370 --> 00:16:48,010 It's easy to love someone when they're doing things that are in 391 00:16:48,010 --> 00:16:51,570 our minds the right thing to do and, and they're on our side and 392 00:16:51,570 --> 00:16:52,410 everything is going well. 393 00:16:52,410 --> 00:16:56,690 But there's going to be times within the family, that is the church, 394 00:16:56,690 --> 00:16:58,770 that we see people not at their best. 395 00:16:58,930 --> 00:17:02,370 The question is, is how are we going to treat them if we see them 396 00:17:02,370 --> 00:17:03,170 at their worst? 397 00:17:03,490 --> 00:17:04,850 A lot of times we just write them off. 398 00:17:04,850 --> 00:17:07,590 A lot of times we say, you know what, that was a personal slight. 399 00:17:07,590 --> 00:17:08,310 To me, they're dead. 400 00:17:08,310 --> 00:17:09,230 To me, they're gone. 401 00:17:09,230 --> 00:17:11,910 But the Bible says that we're to assume the best in a brother or 402 00:17:11,910 --> 00:17:12,670 sister in Christ. 403 00:17:13,150 --> 00:17:15,630 The way that this would look is that if I'm having a difficult 404 00:17:15,630 --> 00:17:19,390 day or maybe someone else is having a difficult day and they act 405 00:17:19,390 --> 00:17:22,990 out and we could assume that they are bad people, we could assume 406 00:17:22,990 --> 00:17:25,590 that they hate us, or we could understand that maybe they're having 407 00:17:25,590 --> 00:17:28,070 a bad day and maybe they need to have someone talk with them and 408 00:17:28,070 --> 00:17:30,430 pray with them and be with them and listen to them. 409 00:17:30,430 --> 00:17:33,700 And so what we see here in this case is that he tells us to 410 00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:37,220 have this type of kind affection, one to another, because 411 00:17:37,380 --> 00:17:38,580 we are part of the family. 412 00:17:38,980 --> 00:17:40,820 Family sees us at our best. 413 00:17:40,820 --> 00:17:42,180 Family sees us at our worst. 414 00:17:42,260 --> 00:17:44,740 Church shouldn't be a place where everyone has to pretend. 415 00:17:44,900 --> 00:17:46,900 We saw that back in verse number nine. 416 00:17:46,980 --> 00:17:48,819 We're not to have dissimulation. 417 00:17:48,900 --> 00:17:52,340 We're not to have hypocritical aspects within our church. 418 00:17:52,420 --> 00:17:56,580 The whole idea here is that we should live boldly and authentically 419 00:17:56,660 --> 00:17:57,380 with one another. 420 00:17:57,380 --> 00:17:59,060 Because why the family cares? 421 00:17:59,470 --> 00:18:01,390 We have something invested in the family. 422 00:18:01,710 --> 00:18:03,350 I'm invested in my children. 423 00:18:03,350 --> 00:18:05,070 I'm invested in my spouse. 424 00:18:05,070 --> 00:18:06,790 I'm invested in my parents. 425 00:18:06,790 --> 00:18:08,430 I want what's best for them. 426 00:18:08,910 --> 00:18:10,830 And that should be the same way within the church. 427 00:18:11,070 --> 00:18:13,790 I shouldn't look at somebody else within the church and say, well, 428 00:18:13,790 --> 00:18:14,910 that's their thing. 429 00:18:15,229 --> 00:18:16,190 That's their problem. 430 00:18:16,430 --> 00:18:18,510 If they have success, great, that's their success. 431 00:18:18,670 --> 00:18:20,910 If they fail, great, that's their failure. 432 00:18:20,910 --> 00:18:22,030 It doesn't affect me. 433 00:18:22,030 --> 00:18:25,870 No, the successes and failures within the body of Christ are affect 434 00:18:25,870 --> 00:18:26,510 all of us. 435 00:18:26,670 --> 00:18:29,150 We should celebrate when those have blessings. 436 00:18:29,230 --> 00:18:31,470 We should cry with those who are going through pain. 437 00:18:31,630 --> 00:18:34,430 And here in this case, we see that that's that familial love. 438 00:18:34,430 --> 00:18:36,030 Because we should care for one another. 439 00:18:36,030 --> 00:18:38,110 When someone hurts, we should hurt with them. 440 00:18:38,270 --> 00:18:40,750 When someone rejoices, we should rejoice with them. 441 00:18:41,150 --> 00:18:44,270 We know that later on in this passage in verse number 15, he says, 442 00:18:44,270 --> 00:18:47,830 Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. 443 00:18:47,830 --> 00:18:50,390 That's part of the being the body of Christ. 444 00:18:50,390 --> 00:18:52,190 That's part of being within the church. 445 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,480 A lot of times people think church is this isolated thing, that 446 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,360 this is the building that I come to on Sunday mornings. 447 00:18:58,360 --> 00:18:59,480 I don't know anybody. 448 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,120 I get my message, I go home, and that's it. 449 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,640 That's only one tiny aspect of what the church is supposed to be. 450 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,519 Being part of the body of Christ means I'm coming in. 451 00:19:08,519 --> 00:19:12,120 This is my family, and I must see it that way. 452 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,680 We had an opportunity to move away from Florida, move away from 453 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:18,280 our family, and that was a difficult process. 454 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,160 We didn't know what to expect when we got here. 455 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:21,840 We didn't know if people were going to accept us. 456 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:22,060 We didn't know. 457 00:19:22,130 --> 00:19:23,650 We didn't know if people were going to love on us. 458 00:19:23,730 --> 00:19:26,250 And though our family is up here quite frequently and we get 459 00:19:26,250 --> 00:19:30,170 to talk to them a lot, we truly do understand Middletown Baptist 460 00:19:30,170 --> 00:19:31,250 Church to be our family. 461 00:19:31,410 --> 00:19:33,250 And there's something special about that. 462 00:19:33,490 --> 00:19:35,730 Because that doesn't mean that you're going to agree with everybody. 463 00:19:35,890 --> 00:19:38,730 I don't how many of you agree with Everybody in your family at 464 00:19:38,730 --> 00:19:39,530 all points in time. 465 00:19:39,530 --> 00:19:40,850 I don't think any of us have that. 466 00:19:41,090 --> 00:19:44,090 But there's still family, there's still that kind affection 467 00:19:44,090 --> 00:19:44,770 towards them. 468 00:19:44,770 --> 00:19:47,570 We can get together at a dinner table and have a discussion 469 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,200 and maybe not leave with agreement, but we can at least leave 470 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:51,760 saying, hey, we're family. 471 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,240 We love each other, we want what's best for one another. 472 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,080 I see that within my children, you know, Micah and Nora particularly, 473 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,360 they, they bicker back and forth, they go back and forth, they 474 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:01,920 go back and forth. 475 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:03,360 And I'm like, guys, you're, you're brother and sister. 476 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:06,000 Be kind to one another, but let someone else say something about 477 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:06,560 them. 478 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,120 Oh man, you'll see them fired up, they'll fight for one another. 479 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:11,240 And that's sometimes what has to be within the church. 480 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,570 We have to understand that we're not all going to have the same 481 00:20:14,570 --> 00:20:17,450 level of agreement on every little thing, but we have to understand 482 00:20:17,450 --> 00:20:19,850 that we're doing this together, we're fighting this battle 483 00:20:19,850 --> 00:20:20,170 together. 484 00:20:20,810 --> 00:20:22,330 So family cares for one another. 485 00:20:23,050 --> 00:20:26,210 Family doesn't easily walk away, at least in the concept of 486 00:20:26,210 --> 00:20:28,250 being a Christ centered family. 487 00:20:28,890 --> 00:20:31,370 This is essentially important for the church. 488 00:20:32,650 --> 00:20:35,530 We're not just people attending the same meetings. 489 00:20:35,530 --> 00:20:37,930 We're brothers and sisters coming with the same purpose. 490 00:20:38,330 --> 00:20:40,890 This means that there should be affection, there should be loyalty, 491 00:20:40,890 --> 00:20:43,130 there should be patience, there should be care. 492 00:20:44,410 --> 00:20:47,930 So when we see verse 10, when he says, be kindly affectioned one 493 00:20:47,930 --> 00:20:53,490 to another, this type of love, philostorge is the type of love that 494 00:20:53,490 --> 00:20:54,730 says, you are family to me. 495 00:20:54,730 --> 00:20:57,930 So agape is, I choose to love you even if it costs something. 496 00:20:59,450 --> 00:21:03,770 This type of love, this brotherly, this kindness, this, this 497 00:21:03,770 --> 00:21:07,250 in verse 10, kindly affection, one to another would be a love that 498 00:21:07,250 --> 00:21:08,730 says this, you are family to me. 499 00:21:08,730 --> 00:21:10,650 I'm identifying you as my family. 500 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:14,480 I'm, I'm yoking up with you, I'm putting my arm around you, I'm 501 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:18,040 exhorting you, I'm edifying you, I'm allowing you to edify me 502 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:19,120 and love on me. 503 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:22,560 That's the process of being kindly affection one to another. 504 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,360 But then he says, be kindly affectionate one to another with 505 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:26,480 brotherly love. 506 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:29,480 And this Greek word is a word that I'm sure you all are going to 507 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:30,560 understand when I say it. 508 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,040 It's Philadelphia, it's brotherly love. 509 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:34,880 And there's more to this. 510 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:39,400 He says, do this, do be, be kindly affectioned one to another 511 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,040 with this type of Philadelphia brotherly love. 512 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,760 This word literally is built with two words. 513 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:49,560 Philo, which means love, Delphia which is Adelphos, which 514 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:51,320 you get Delphia from, is brother. 515 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:52,440 So it's brotherly love. 516 00:21:53,159 --> 00:21:56,600 This is a little bit different from Storje love, because storje 517 00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:01,040 emphasizes a familial affection, where this type of Philadelphia 518 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:05,600 love emphasizes friendship, companionship, a relationship. 519 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:10,160 And so Paul isn't just saying, hey, they're technically your brother, 520 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:11,320 so you got to put up with them. 521 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:12,640 They're technically your sister. 522 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:13,640 You have to put up with them. 523 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,720 He's saying this, yes, they are technically your sister and brother, 524 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:21,360 but also, at the same time, you're called to enjoy that relationship. 525 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:26,960 And so it would say this, as a Christian, I should actually enjoy 526 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:29,960 loving my brother and sister and not just do it because I have 527 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:30,220 to. 528 00:22:31,170 --> 00:22:32,890 That's really the point that he's trying to make here. 529 00:22:32,890 --> 00:22:36,410 He says, have that familial relationship, but love them with 530 00:22:36,410 --> 00:22:39,770 a type of passion that's more than just, well, I have to, because 531 00:22:39,770 --> 00:22:42,610 someone's going to get mad at me, or I have to, because I can't 532 00:22:42,610 --> 00:22:43,410 deny this person. 533 00:22:43,650 --> 00:22:46,370 But it's a true desire to love someone. 534 00:22:47,250 --> 00:22:47,570 So. 535 00:22:47,570 --> 00:22:51,970 So Christianity isn't merely about loving an abstract group called 536 00:22:51,970 --> 00:22:52,490 the church. 537 00:22:52,490 --> 00:22:55,170 Like, I love Middletown Baptist Church, but I don't really 538 00:22:55,170 --> 00:22:57,770 love any particular individual in Middletown Baptist Church. 539 00:22:57,770 --> 00:22:59,980 That's a problem, because what is the church? 540 00:23:00,140 --> 00:23:01,140 A lot of people will. 541 00:23:01,140 --> 00:23:02,100 Will argue about that. 542 00:23:02,100 --> 00:23:03,100 The church is not the building. 543 00:23:03,420 --> 00:23:04,700 The church is not the program. 544 00:23:05,020 --> 00:23:07,340 The church really is made up of the people. 545 00:23:07,660 --> 00:23:09,700 So if I love Middletown Baptist Church, guess what? 546 00:23:09,700 --> 00:23:12,180 That literally means I love the people that make up Middletown 547 00:23:12,180 --> 00:23:12,860 Baptist Church. 548 00:23:13,420 --> 00:23:15,260 Pastor, how can I love everybody? 549 00:23:15,260 --> 00:23:17,020 Well, you can't get to know everybody. 550 00:23:17,020 --> 00:23:19,180 But what you can do is understand that everyone's part of 551 00:23:19,180 --> 00:23:22,980 my family and that every single point of time as I'm here 552 00:23:22,980 --> 00:23:26,500 at Middletown Baptist Church, my goal is, is to grow in this type 553 00:23:26,500 --> 00:23:29,980 of brotherly love and enjoy my time around them. 554 00:23:29,980 --> 00:23:31,460 That's why we have fellowship events. 555 00:23:31,940 --> 00:23:32,980 Why do we fellowship? 556 00:23:32,980 --> 00:23:35,860 We fellowship because God calls us to fellowship, number one. 557 00:23:35,860 --> 00:23:38,500 But number two, it's a way in which we can get to know one another. 558 00:23:39,140 --> 00:23:41,220 That's why we shake hands in the middle of the service. 559 00:23:41,380 --> 00:23:44,100 We don't do that just because we want to get up and move around. 560 00:23:44,900 --> 00:23:47,460 We do that so that you can maybe find someone new that you've 561 00:23:47,460 --> 00:23:48,100 never met before. 562 00:23:48,340 --> 00:23:49,380 Introduce yourself. 563 00:23:49,620 --> 00:23:51,540 You say, well, Pastor, I don't want to move around, and I don't 564 00:23:51,540 --> 00:23:52,020 want to do that. 565 00:23:52,020 --> 00:23:53,460 That's not part of my Christian walk. 566 00:23:53,830 --> 00:23:55,510 Well, then don't get up and shake hands. 567 00:23:55,510 --> 00:23:58,390 Go out and see someone in the lobby at the end of the service. 568 00:23:58,550 --> 00:24:02,790 But at the end of the day, we are called to be a family. 569 00:24:02,790 --> 00:24:05,710 We're called to desire to be around one another. 570 00:24:05,710 --> 00:24:06,910 It's not an isolated thing. 571 00:24:06,910 --> 00:24:08,630 We're not called to be Christians on an island. 572 00:24:08,950 --> 00:24:09,949 You know, that's. 573 00:24:09,949 --> 00:24:12,070 That's a misnomer in our culture today. 574 00:24:12,070 --> 00:24:15,710 The culture says that we're supposed to just do our Christian 575 00:24:15,710 --> 00:24:18,190 walk on our own and not be around anybody else. 576 00:24:18,190 --> 00:24:20,230 I can do church no matter where I am. 577 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,280 Well, you can love Jesus out on your boat, but that's not church. 578 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,520 You can love Jesus out in the forest and enjoy nature, but that's 579 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:28,080 not church. 580 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:31,120 You can love Jesus and praise him in your home. 581 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:33,680 The Bible doesn't say that church is the only place that we're 582 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,320 supposed to praise, but church is where we come together. 583 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,400 Hebrews chapter 10 says, Forsake not the assembling of yourselves 584 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:39,760 together. 585 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:40,760 Why? 586 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,840 Because we're to exhort one another to love and good works. 587 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,000 It's to come together and encourage one another. 588 00:24:46,390 --> 00:24:47,430 Church should be encouraging. 589 00:24:47,590 --> 00:24:48,870 Church should be challenging. 590 00:24:49,110 --> 00:24:53,030 Church should be a place where we find friendship and conviction 591 00:24:53,270 --> 00:24:57,310 and prayer and love and sacrifice and service and all the 592 00:24:57,310 --> 00:25:00,390 things that we see in scripture that should be where it 593 00:25:00,390 --> 00:25:02,550 happens within the body of believers. 594 00:25:02,550 --> 00:25:04,870 So church doesn't just happen in these four walls. 595 00:25:04,870 --> 00:25:06,150 Church can happen on the field. 596 00:25:06,230 --> 00:25:07,750 Church can happen at Starbucks. 597 00:25:07,750 --> 00:25:09,270 Church can happen at Food Lion. 598 00:25:09,270 --> 00:25:12,260 But what that means is that we're coming together now. 599 00:25:12,260 --> 00:25:13,420 I'm thankful for this building. 600 00:25:13,580 --> 00:25:15,500 I think it's a good place to meet. 601 00:25:15,500 --> 00:25:16,820 I think it's a great place to meet. 602 00:25:16,820 --> 00:25:19,060 I think it's the best place to meet in all of Delaware. 603 00:25:19,060 --> 00:25:20,460 But what I am saying is this. 604 00:25:20,620 --> 00:25:24,740 We can't reduce church down to the one hour that we spend on Sunday 605 00:25:24,740 --> 00:25:27,900 mornings together, or hour and a half, depending on how long I preach. 606 00:25:28,060 --> 00:25:31,180 The idea would be that church is happening every single day of 607 00:25:31,180 --> 00:25:31,580 the week. 608 00:25:31,580 --> 00:25:35,020 That church is happening like the Book of Acts, day to day within 609 00:25:35,020 --> 00:25:35,900 people's homes. 610 00:25:35,900 --> 00:25:39,540 The idea that he's talking about here is that we want to be 611 00:25:39,540 --> 00:25:40,380 around one another. 612 00:25:40,750 --> 00:25:42,910 We're not just forced to be here on Sunday mornings. 613 00:25:42,910 --> 00:25:45,950 We're wanting to be around other Christians. 614 00:25:46,510 --> 00:25:52,030 Now, some Christians are going to be a lot more easily connected. 615 00:25:52,190 --> 00:25:53,110 Now, what do I mean by that? 616 00:25:53,110 --> 00:25:55,470 There's going to be Christians, groups of Christians 617 00:25:55,550 --> 00:25:58,750 that are going to find common themes, and that's okay. 618 00:25:59,230 --> 00:26:02,070 Sometimes what happens is that certain age groups like to congregate 619 00:26:02,070 --> 00:26:02,310 together. 620 00:26:02,310 --> 00:26:05,590 We understand that there's going to be times where you might 621 00:26:05,590 --> 00:26:08,380 have the Philadelphia Eagles fans meeting in this section and 622 00:26:08,380 --> 00:26:10,940 the New York Giants fans meeting in that section. 623 00:26:11,180 --> 00:26:14,700 And there's little things that we can have within our church that 624 00:26:14,780 --> 00:26:17,900 can obviously give us more attraction to one or another. 625 00:26:17,900 --> 00:26:21,180 But at the end of the day, the whole concept is what's bringing 626 00:26:21,180 --> 00:26:22,620 us together is Jesus Christ. 627 00:26:23,260 --> 00:26:24,940 That's our common denominator. 628 00:26:25,260 --> 00:26:28,460 So even if someone looks different than you, maybe from a 629 00:26:28,460 --> 00:26:31,660 different country, or maybe they like a different sports team, 630 00:26:31,660 --> 00:26:34,930 or maybe they live in Maryland, and maybe they're just 631 00:26:34,930 --> 00:26:35,210 different. 632 00:26:35,530 --> 00:26:35,970 Maybe. 633 00:26:35,970 --> 00:26:38,610 Maybe they just come in driving a different vehicle than 634 00:26:38,610 --> 00:26:40,090 you like, or whatever it is. 635 00:26:40,090 --> 00:26:43,410 I don't know what causes division ultimately, but what we 636 00:26:43,410 --> 00:26:46,930 see here is that the common denominator is that we all have a 637 00:26:46,930 --> 00:26:48,930 relationship with Jesus Christ, and we're called to have 638 00:26:48,930 --> 00:26:50,730 that familial relationship. 639 00:26:50,810 --> 00:26:55,930 So he says here, this type of Philadelphia, this type of brotherly 640 00:26:55,930 --> 00:26:57,810 love comes with something. 641 00:26:57,810 --> 00:27:01,210 It comes with love that is demonstrated. 642 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:03,600 It's learning to love specific people. 643 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,440 It's relational, and sometimes friendship. 644 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,400 And love requires time. 645 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,120 It requires conversation, it requires shared experiences. 646 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:13,800 It requires knowing one another. 647 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,680 It requires carrying one another's burden. 648 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:18,160 And that's what he's talking about here. 649 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:21,360 In verse number 10, he says, be kindly, affectionate, one to another 650 00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:23,320 with this type of brotherly love. 651 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:26,360 Then he says this statement, which I find so interesting. 652 00:27:26,930 --> 00:27:30,370 He says, in honor, preferring one another. 653 00:27:30,930 --> 00:27:31,890 Now, what does that mean? 654 00:27:33,090 --> 00:27:35,330 Well, literally, it means this. 655 00:27:36,050 --> 00:27:37,410 To put others first. 656 00:27:38,050 --> 00:27:41,170 Don't put yourself first, but put others first and actually try 657 00:27:41,170 --> 00:27:43,730 to outdo the other person with your kindness. 658 00:27:44,210 --> 00:27:45,570 That's the literal meaning. 659 00:27:45,570 --> 00:27:48,450 It says to outdo the other person. 660 00:27:48,690 --> 00:27:51,170 So, like, it's like almost like you're stumbling over yourself 661 00:27:51,170 --> 00:27:53,020 to try to give them the preference. 662 00:27:53,340 --> 00:27:55,020 I want to give you the first place. 663 00:27:55,020 --> 00:27:56,300 I want to give you the. 664 00:27:56,300 --> 00:27:56,660 The. 665 00:27:56,660 --> 00:27:58,420 The opportunity to succeed. 666 00:27:58,420 --> 00:28:00,540 I want to give you the opportunity to serve. 667 00:28:00,620 --> 00:28:03,780 And so what it really is here is this understanding that I am to 668 00:28:03,780 --> 00:28:07,580 do everything that I possibly can to give someone else the opportunity. 669 00:28:07,980 --> 00:28:10,140 And so it's love that's intentional. 670 00:28:10,780 --> 00:28:12,500 It doesn't just accidentally happen. 671 00:28:12,500 --> 00:28:14,540 It doesn't just happen because we're with one another. 672 00:28:14,700 --> 00:28:15,660 It takes investment. 673 00:28:16,380 --> 00:28:17,340 It takes time. 674 00:28:17,740 --> 00:28:20,880 It takes hearing people's backgrounds and their stories. 675 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:22,360 It takes time of prayer. 676 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:24,640 It takes a time to be alongside of them. 677 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,760 And so this type of love is this. 678 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,640 I enjoy being connected with you. 679 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:34,759 So we have this understanding of, I choose to love you no matter 680 00:28:34,759 --> 00:28:35,400 what it costs. 681 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:36,120 That's agape. 682 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:37,800 Then we see Storje. 683 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:40,280 I love you because you're family. 684 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:44,320 And then we see this last type of love, this brotherly love, is 685 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:46,400 that I enjoy being connected with you. 686 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,390 I enjoy that I'm with you. 687 00:28:48,390 --> 00:28:50,790 I'm enjoying that I'm serving with you. 688 00:28:50,790 --> 00:28:53,710 I'm enjoying that I get to do life together with you. 689 00:28:53,870 --> 00:28:56,710 And so when you put these three types of love together, you 690 00:28:56,710 --> 00:28:58,910 see this wonderful progression. 691 00:28:59,310 --> 00:29:01,630 Agape is, I choose what's good for you. 692 00:29:01,630 --> 00:29:03,230 I choose to. 693 00:29:03,310 --> 00:29:06,030 To help you, to sacrifice for you. 694 00:29:06,190 --> 00:29:09,390 And then we see, storje, I care about you like family. 695 00:29:09,950 --> 00:29:12,310 I. I recognize you as my family. 696 00:29:12,310 --> 00:29:13,990 I see you through the lens of. 697 00:29:14,060 --> 00:29:15,820 Of being part of the family of God. 698 00:29:15,900 --> 00:29:18,820 And then this last type of love, this love that's described 699 00:29:18,820 --> 00:29:23,940 as brotherly love, this is, I enjoy being in a relationship with 700 00:29:23,940 --> 00:29:24,220 you. 701 00:29:24,860 --> 00:29:29,100 So it kind of goes from I choose to love you to I recognize 702 00:29:29,100 --> 00:29:32,540 why I love you to at the very end, I enjoy loving you. 703 00:29:32,860 --> 00:29:34,980 And sometimes when we talk about love, we always think about 704 00:29:34,980 --> 00:29:38,340 it in the romantic sense, and that's the Greek word eros, which 705 00:29:38,340 --> 00:29:39,580 is a completely different love. 706 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,880 But this type of love that's being described here, these types 707 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,520 of love that are being described here are basically building 708 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:46,160 on one another. 709 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,240 We start with agape, because someone comes into the church building. 710 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:50,520 We don't know if they're saved. 711 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:52,680 We don't know if they're going through pain. 712 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,920 We don't know if they're believers. 713 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,360 They come in, we show love no matter what they do, okay, we love 714 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:00,280 on them, we sacrifice for them. 715 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:01,840 But then it takes. 716 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,480 The next step is as they're identified as fellow brothers and 717 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:05,160 sisters in Christ. 718 00:30:05,420 --> 00:30:06,700 We can say, look, I love you. 719 00:30:06,700 --> 00:30:08,940 And I see that we have this relationship. 720 00:30:09,340 --> 00:30:10,980 And then secondly, that. 721 00:30:10,980 --> 00:30:15,460 That then forms into this third type of love is I enjoy being 722 00:30:15,460 --> 00:30:16,220 around you. 723 00:30:16,220 --> 00:30:18,220 I prefer being around you. 724 00:30:18,220 --> 00:30:19,540 I'm going to give you honor. 725 00:30:19,540 --> 00:30:22,660 That's what it says there in verse 10, in honor honoring other 726 00:30:22,660 --> 00:30:23,020 people. 727 00:30:23,260 --> 00:30:24,540 Now, this isn't a worship. 728 00:30:24,860 --> 00:30:27,340 This isn't like putting people on a pedestal. 729 00:30:27,420 --> 00:30:31,960 It's just showing people honor by giving them first place, by taking 730 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:35,000 the back seat, by being sacrificial, by. 731 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:36,080 By being humble. 732 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,880 And so it's a type of mature Christian love that doesn't stop 733 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,640 at just feeling, but it then acts upon it. 734 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,680 So it's outdoing one another to show honor to them. 735 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,280 Now, Agape is someone who says, I'm going to love you even 736 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:51,640 when love cost me something. 737 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:54,240 Storje is someone who says, you're my family. 738 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:55,760 I'm going to care for you. 739 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,160 And then that Philadelphia love is the friend who says, I enjoy 740 00:30:59,160 --> 00:30:59,920 being with you. 741 00:31:00,310 --> 00:31:02,390 I want to walk through life with you. 742 00:31:03,110 --> 00:31:04,470 Now, why is this so important? 743 00:31:04,950 --> 00:31:07,430 You might say, well, Pastor, why are you drilling this down? 744 00:31:07,510 --> 00:31:09,750 Why do I need to love someone within the church? 745 00:31:11,030 --> 00:31:15,710 I think you're just, you know, trying to do this because it makes 746 00:31:15,710 --> 00:31:17,670 sense for you to have people love each other because there's not 747 00:31:17,670 --> 00:31:18,470 going to be conflict. 748 00:31:18,470 --> 00:31:21,870 No, folks, this isn't just a pragmatic thing, okay? 749 00:31:21,870 --> 00:31:24,070 This is not just, well, love on everybody. 750 00:31:24,070 --> 00:31:25,510 We're all going to sing Kumbaya. 751 00:31:25,510 --> 00:31:27,690 We're all going to just be happy, happy together. 752 00:31:27,690 --> 00:31:30,410 No, this is actually a command from God. 753 00:31:30,410 --> 00:31:32,730 We read it this morning as we started the sermon. 754 00:31:32,890 --> 00:31:35,850 But I want you to go back to First John, chapter four with me. 755 00:31:35,930 --> 00:31:41,250 I want you to see that not only am I serious about this, but 756 00:31:41,250 --> 00:31:43,369 the Lord himself is serious about this. 757 00:31:43,930 --> 00:31:47,530 In First John chapter four, we're told some very strong things, 758 00:31:47,530 --> 00:31:51,810 that if we do not love our brother, that means that there's 759 00:31:51,810 --> 00:31:53,610 something lacking in our life. 760 00:31:54,270 --> 00:31:56,670 And I want to speak hard truth to you here this morning, and I'm 761 00:31:56,670 --> 00:32:00,590 going to tell you just before we get into this, that I'm not perfect 762 00:32:00,590 --> 00:32:00,910 here. 763 00:32:00,910 --> 00:32:02,270 I struggle in this area. 764 00:32:03,550 --> 00:32:07,350 And why do we sometimes struggle with love, particularly 765 00:32:07,350 --> 00:32:08,910 love within the church? 766 00:32:09,230 --> 00:32:13,230 Well, sometimes we struggle with love when we've been hurt. 767 00:32:13,870 --> 00:32:17,110 Maybe someone that we extended love to within our Christian life 768 00:32:17,110 --> 00:32:17,830 has hurt us. 769 00:32:17,830 --> 00:32:21,200 And then what happens is that we kind of get that, that rhino skin, 770 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:23,000 you know, we kind of get that like thick skin. 771 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:24,160 I don't want to get hurt ever again. 772 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:26,240 So I'm going to just be cold hearted. 773 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:30,160 Or maybe it's because I haven't experienced anyone ever loving 774 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:30,400 me. 775 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:32,680 Maybe the church that I've been a part of, I've never really 776 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:34,160 felt anyone connected to me. 777 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:34,760 So you know what? 778 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:35,879 I just don't really want to love. 779 00:32:35,879 --> 00:32:37,000 I don't have a desire to love. 780 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:38,800 I don't even know what that looks like within the church. 781 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:42,080 I understand that there's a lot of reasons why we can justify 782 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,000 a lack of love within the body of Christ. 783 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:47,270 But I want you to see here in First John chapter four that it's 784 00:32:47,270 --> 00:32:47,950 not optional. 785 00:32:48,190 --> 00:32:50,590 It's not something that we can say, well, if everything goes my 786 00:32:50,590 --> 00:32:52,990 way and I understand it, then I'm going to do it. 787 00:32:52,990 --> 00:32:56,550 No, it says in First John chapter four and we're going to start 788 00:32:56,550 --> 00:32:58,670 in verse 21 and work our way backwards. 789 00:32:59,230 --> 00:33:03,310 He says, and this commandment have we from him talking about God, 790 00:33:03,630 --> 00:33:07,710 that He who loveth God, love his brother also. 791 00:33:09,470 --> 00:33:10,750 So it's not optional. 792 00:33:11,470 --> 00:33:15,580 God says, if you love me, you love your brother. 793 00:33:15,740 --> 00:33:17,780 If you love me, you love your church. 794 00:33:17,780 --> 00:33:18,140 Family. 795 00:33:18,700 --> 00:33:20,740 Doesn't mean that you have to agree with everything that they do. 796 00:33:20,740 --> 00:33:22,540 It doesn't mean that you condone their wrongdoings. 797 00:33:22,540 --> 00:33:24,940 By the way, that's how it's been taught sometimes in the past. 798 00:33:25,340 --> 00:33:27,300 So I love someone and they sin. 799 00:33:27,300 --> 00:33:28,940 Well, I gotta be okay with that. 800 00:33:29,500 --> 00:33:30,780 I've got to condone their sin. 801 00:33:30,780 --> 00:33:31,820 No, that's not what it's saying. 802 00:33:31,820 --> 00:33:33,620 It's not condoning the wrong. 803 00:33:33,620 --> 00:33:35,260 We can call out wrongdoing. 804 00:33:35,420 --> 00:33:38,700 We can do all that in a way that is still loving. 805 00:33:38,860 --> 00:33:41,780 The Bible says that we're to love them and treat them with the 806 00:33:41,780 --> 00:33:43,300 type of love that God has for us. 807 00:33:43,380 --> 00:33:46,740 So he says that this is a commandment that we have from him, 808 00:33:46,980 --> 00:33:49,540 that if we love God, we love our brother also. 809 00:33:49,540 --> 00:33:53,380 Go back a verse, verse number 20, because you might say, well, 810 00:33:54,660 --> 00:33:57,900 I love God with all my heart, but I still don't understand why 811 00:33:57,900 --> 00:34:00,460 I need to love this other person who's difficult over here. 812 00:34:00,460 --> 00:34:03,940 Well, he says in verse 20, if a man say, I love God. 813 00:34:04,100 --> 00:34:05,380 By the way, this is not me. 814 00:34:05,380 --> 00:34:05,940 This is. 815 00:34:06,020 --> 00:34:07,460 I did not write first John. 816 00:34:07,780 --> 00:34:08,900 I'm just reading this. 817 00:34:09,140 --> 00:34:14,660 If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. 818 00:34:15,060 --> 00:34:19,780 For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can 819 00:34:19,780 --> 00:34:22,500 he love God whom he hath not seen? 820 00:34:23,539 --> 00:34:25,140 The question that he's asking is this. 821 00:34:25,140 --> 00:34:28,900 If you say you love God, how can you say you hate your brother? 822 00:34:29,380 --> 00:34:31,820 Because you see your brother, you're able to spend time with your 823 00:34:31,820 --> 00:34:32,180 brother. 824 00:34:32,260 --> 00:34:34,700 You can't say that you love God and hate your brother. 825 00:34:34,700 --> 00:34:37,769 Because the reality is, is that if you hate your brother, you're 826 00:34:37,769 --> 00:34:39,409 struggling with your love for God. 827 00:34:40,129 --> 00:34:43,449 And he tells us why we can understand his love in verse 19. 828 00:34:43,449 --> 00:34:45,649 We love him because he first loved us. 829 00:34:46,449 --> 00:34:50,329 And that one John, chapter four is a wonderful passage on true 830 00:34:50,329 --> 00:34:51,049 biblical love. 831 00:34:51,049 --> 00:34:54,369 And the idea is, is that we have received the love of God. 832 00:34:54,689 --> 00:34:56,489 We love him because he first loved us. 833 00:34:56,489 --> 00:34:58,289 He describes what that love looks like. 834 00:34:58,529 --> 00:34:59,249 Verse 7. 835 00:34:59,409 --> 00:35:00,889 Beloved, let us love one another. 836 00:35:00,889 --> 00:35:01,769 For love is of God. 837 00:35:01,769 --> 00:35:04,209 And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. 838 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:05,920 He that loveth not, knoweth not God. 839 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:07,080 For God is love. 840 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,560 And this was manifested, and this was demonstrated the love of 841 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:11,280 God toward us. 842 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:14,760 Because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that 843 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:16,360 we might live through Him. 844 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:20,599 God shows us love through his son, verse 10 herein is love. 845 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:24,400 Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be 846 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:28,360 the propitiation or the satisfaction for our sins. 847 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:33,230 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 848 00:35:34,030 --> 00:35:38,190 So it's not just something that we do for smoothness within 849 00:35:38,190 --> 00:35:38,750 the Church. 850 00:35:38,750 --> 00:35:41,550 It's not something that we do just so that there's no conflict. 851 00:35:41,710 --> 00:35:44,070 We don't just love people because they're going to do good 852 00:35:44,070 --> 00:35:44,750 things for us. 853 00:35:44,910 --> 00:35:48,630 We are called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ because 854 00:35:48,630 --> 00:35:50,910 God has called us to love them. 855 00:35:51,070 --> 00:35:54,710 And he has also told us that if we understand his love, that it 856 00:35:54,710 --> 00:35:57,470 will be a natural inclination for us to love other people. 857 00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,760 And that's the idea of the love that Romans chapter 12 is trying 858 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:02,760 to describe to us. 859 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:05,160 It's just not about if it feels good. 860 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:06,680 It's not just about if it makes sense. 861 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:09,400 It's not just about whether or not I'm going to receive love. 862 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,280 It's the question not really. 863 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:17,000 It's not the question of whether or not I have the capacity 864 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:17,800 to love someone. 865 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:21,440 It's the question of have I received the love of Jesus Christ? 866 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:25,670 And if so, it should be the natural affection that I have for 867 00:36:25,670 --> 00:36:26,110 one another. 868 00:36:26,750 --> 00:36:31,270 So verses 9 and 10 really just speak about this type of love that 869 00:36:31,270 --> 00:36:32,950 we're to have for other Christians. 870 00:36:32,950 --> 00:36:36,270 We're going to talk next week about how that looks, how that is 871 00:36:36,270 --> 00:36:38,190 played out in a more practical sense. 872 00:36:38,350 --> 00:36:42,310 But I hope that all of us can understand that Jesus demonstrates 873 00:36:42,310 --> 00:36:43,630 all of these loves perfectly. 874 00:36:43,710 --> 00:36:45,470 He chose us when we were sinners. 875 00:36:45,470 --> 00:36:48,870 That that agape love he sacrificed for us, he brought us 876 00:36:48,870 --> 00:36:49,550 into the family. 877 00:36:49,550 --> 00:36:52,260 That's that storage love we're trying to children of God. 878 00:36:52,340 --> 00:36:54,420 He called us to be disciples and friends. 879 00:36:54,420 --> 00:36:55,700 That's that brotherly love. 880 00:36:55,780 --> 00:36:57,860 And he ultimately gave Himself for us. 881 00:36:57,860 --> 00:37:00,020 And so this final challenge is this. 882 00:37:00,340 --> 00:37:06,580 If Christ is transforming me, I should recognize that transformation 883 00:37:06,820 --> 00:37:10,660 and his love should be transforming my relationships with 884 00:37:10,660 --> 00:37:12,340 the people that I have within the Church. 885 00:37:12,900 --> 00:37:16,100 Now, we're going to talk later on in this passage about our enemies, 886 00:37:16,260 --> 00:37:18,670 because we shouldn't see the Church as our enemy. 887 00:37:18,670 --> 00:37:21,070 But there is going to be times in our life as Christians that we're 888 00:37:21,070 --> 00:37:22,990 going to face people that sin against us. 889 00:37:23,070 --> 00:37:24,870 We're going to talk about what that looks like. 890 00:37:24,870 --> 00:37:28,430 We're going to talk about how we can forgive and how we restore 891 00:37:28,430 --> 00:37:30,550 relationships within the body of Christ. 892 00:37:30,550 --> 00:37:33,310 But really what I wanted us to understand is this. 893 00:37:33,550 --> 00:37:34,069 It's a. 894 00:37:34,069 --> 00:37:38,310 It's a question today, this morning about do I love God, I want. 895 00:37:38,310 --> 00:37:39,550 I want you to think about that question. 896 00:37:39,550 --> 00:37:40,750 Do I love God? 897 00:37:40,990 --> 00:37:45,640 And I think all of us would understand that to some degree we 898 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:46,200 love God. 899 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,400 We would recognize that love in our life. 900 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:51,800 And we need to remember why we love God. 901 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:55,360 He says in First John, chapter 4, verse 19, we love God because 902 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:56,160 he first loved us. 903 00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:58,760 And so the way that we understand our love for God is by 904 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:00,280 understanding his love for us. 905 00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:03,800 And if you don't know what God's love is for you, we've talked 906 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:07,320 about it a lot this morning, but God has abundantly displayed 907 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:10,680 his love towards us in bringing us to a place where we can 908 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:13,950 find something, salvation that we can find, hope that we can find 909 00:38:13,950 --> 00:38:14,950 everlasting life. 910 00:38:15,510 --> 00:38:18,150 So the first place that you should start is exploring the type 911 00:38:18,150 --> 00:38:19,510 of love that God has for you. 912 00:38:19,590 --> 00:38:23,510 If you're struggling with loving other people, it's not just 913 00:38:23,510 --> 00:38:24,750 trying harder to love other people. 914 00:38:24,750 --> 00:38:26,230 This is sometimes how it looks. 915 00:38:26,550 --> 00:38:29,350 Okay, Pastor preaches a sermon about loving people that are difficult. 916 00:38:29,510 --> 00:38:31,110 Now I just got to try a lot harder. 917 00:38:31,110 --> 00:38:31,670 Next week. 918 00:38:31,670 --> 00:38:33,830 I'm going to try really hard to love these people. 919 00:38:33,830 --> 00:38:36,430 I'm going to show up to church and I'm going to put a smile on my 920 00:38:36,430 --> 00:38:38,970 face, and then I'm going to walk up to them and I'm going to 921 00:38:38,970 --> 00:38:39,930 say, hey, how you doing? 922 00:38:40,090 --> 00:38:43,210 And then what if they go, they just turn around and walk away. 923 00:38:43,210 --> 00:38:43,930 I've done that before. 924 00:38:44,170 --> 00:38:47,170 A couple weeks ago, I had some kids coming up to me, and apparently 925 00:38:47,170 --> 00:38:48,370 they were saying, hey, Pastor Josh. 926 00:38:48,370 --> 00:38:50,570 And I was so locked into, like, checking in on something. 927 00:38:50,810 --> 00:38:51,490 I was like. 928 00:38:51,490 --> 00:38:54,290 And I'm hard of hearing anyway, in general, so I did not 929 00:38:54,290 --> 00:38:55,170 hear them saying anything. 930 00:38:55,170 --> 00:38:55,530 And they. 931 00:38:55,530 --> 00:38:56,370 They were like, oh. 932 00:38:56,370 --> 00:38:57,210 And someone said, hey. 933 00:38:57,210 --> 00:38:58,250 They said something to you, Pastor? 934 00:38:58,250 --> 00:38:59,210 I was like, oh, hey, hey, guys. 935 00:38:59,210 --> 00:38:59,690 How you doing? 936 00:38:59,930 --> 00:39:04,830 So I. I know that sometimes people can maybe act a certain way 937 00:39:04,910 --> 00:39:07,070 or maybe they can come across a certain way. 938 00:39:07,230 --> 00:39:10,750 And so what happens is that we could come into church or we could 939 00:39:10,750 --> 00:39:13,590 come into work, or we could come into our homes and we could 940 00:39:13,590 --> 00:39:16,430 say, okay, I'm going to really try hard to love someone today, and 941 00:39:16,430 --> 00:39:16,990 something happens. 942 00:39:16,990 --> 00:39:20,710 And then we cycle right back into the problem of having hatred 943 00:39:20,710 --> 00:39:23,870 or having bitterness or having just a lack of patience with someone. 944 00:39:24,110 --> 00:39:25,070 But what we do. 945 00:39:25,070 --> 00:39:26,630 So how do we rectify that? 946 00:39:26,630 --> 00:39:29,890 How do we fix that problem of getting into that vicious cycle of. 947 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:30,760 Of bitterness? 948 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:31,800 What do we do? 949 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:34,360 We go back to the love that Jesus Christ had for us. 950 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:37,000 So the first place that we start if we're struggling with loving 951 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,880 others is we go back to what Jesus Christ has done for us. 952 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:41,680 We go back to his forgiveness. 953 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,560 We go back to his sacrifice. 954 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:47,240 And we rest there until we understand that, until we're walking 955 00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:47,720 in that. 956 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,440 And then from there we go to the next step. 957 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:52,600 Okay, so now do I love God? 958 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,000 Well, he loves me, so that's why I love him. 959 00:39:55,570 --> 00:39:57,050 Then what does it look like to love God? 960 00:39:57,050 --> 00:40:01,970 Well, am I becoming the kind of person who genuinely loves God's 961 00:40:01,970 --> 00:40:02,290 people? 962 00:40:02,690 --> 00:40:05,850 A mark of whether or not I'm walking in fellowship with God and 963 00:40:05,850 --> 00:40:10,850 loving God is do I truly love being around other fellow believers? 964 00:40:11,810 --> 00:40:13,490 I know that sometimes that's difficult. 965 00:40:13,970 --> 00:40:15,290 I know for me, it's difficult. 966 00:40:15,290 --> 00:40:18,130 Sometimes I'm busy, sometimes I'm tired. 967 00:40:18,450 --> 00:40:21,250 Sometimes I have every reason to say, I don't want to do this. 968 00:40:21,530 --> 00:40:24,010 But at the end of the day, the Bible tells us that the greatest 969 00:40:24,010 --> 00:40:24,730 commandment. 970 00:40:25,130 --> 00:40:27,050 Remember we talked about this last time? 971 00:40:27,050 --> 00:40:29,090 Jesus is approached by this lawyer. 972 00:40:29,090 --> 00:40:31,730 The lawyer asks him, hey, what's the greatest commandment? 973 00:40:31,730 --> 00:40:32,690 He's trying to tempt Jesus. 974 00:40:32,690 --> 00:40:33,610 What does Jesus say? 975 00:40:33,610 --> 00:40:34,730 Love God with everything. 976 00:40:35,370 --> 00:40:36,650 Heart, soul, mind and strength. 977 00:40:36,730 --> 00:40:38,250 And what's the second part of that? 978 00:40:38,410 --> 00:40:39,930 To love our neighbor as ourself. 979 00:40:40,330 --> 00:40:41,930 It's part of the greatest commandment. 980 00:40:42,650 --> 00:40:43,770 So it's not an option. 981 00:40:43,770 --> 00:40:47,210 The Bible tells us here, in this case, that it's proof of God's 982 00:40:47,210 --> 00:40:50,980 love being manifested in our life if we love other brothers and 983 00:40:50,980 --> 00:40:51,740 sisters in Christ. 984 00:40:52,140 --> 00:40:55,020 Verses nine and ten speak of these types of love. 985 00:40:55,020 --> 00:40:55,780 These three loves. 986 00:40:55,780 --> 00:40:59,180 Agape, Vilos, Dorje, and Philadelphia. 987 00:40:59,580 --> 00:41:02,140 A love that chooses and sacrifices. 988 00:41:02,380 --> 00:41:05,379 A love that identifies a fellow brother and sister in Christ 989 00:41:05,379 --> 00:41:05,980 as family. 990 00:41:06,300 --> 00:41:11,140 And then the third love is that I enjoy loving you, that I enjoy 991 00:41:11,140 --> 00:41:12,220 fellowshiping with you. 992 00:41:12,220 --> 00:41:14,060 I enjoy being around you. 993 00:41:14,220 --> 00:41:18,160 And I hope that this passage can tie us to directly to next week 994 00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:21,720 where we see what it means to rejoice in hope, to be patient in 995 00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:25,960 tribulation, to continue in praying for one another, to see the 996 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:29,640 distributing of the necessities to the saints, the hospitality 997 00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:30,960 that comes along with this love. 998 00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:33,360 We're going to talk all about this, and then we're going to tie 999 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:37,120 it together with how we deal with those that sin against us. 1000 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:40,360 And so here is a very basic sermon that we've talked about this 1001 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:40,640 morning. 1002 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:42,160 It's the concept of love. 1003 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:48,360 But I do want to just really go back and nail down one last truth. 1004 00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:52,920 Though the Bible very clearly teaches that we're supposed to love, 1005 00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:54,840 it doesn't stop there. 1006 00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:56,080 Love is the. 1007 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:57,240 Is the catalyst. 1008 00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:00,280 But a lot of times, what people only Preach is the love. 1009 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,040 They say, well, there's, you know, I gotta love everybody and 1010 00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:04,200 I just have to overlook sin. 1011 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:06,440 No, go back to what it says there in verse nine. 1012 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,480 Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. 1013 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:10,680 You're gonna hear a lot about love. 1014 00:42:11,140 --> 00:42:12,020 Like, love is love. 1015 00:42:12,660 --> 00:42:14,580 Love is okay, just everyone. 1016 00:42:14,900 --> 00:42:17,460 If Christians were just more loving, everyone would be okay. 1017 00:42:17,620 --> 00:42:20,980 The, the problem with that is that sometimes people are defining 1018 00:42:20,980 --> 00:42:22,020 love the wrong way. 1019 00:42:22,740 --> 00:42:25,740 And so if we can leave with anything today, we need to know that 1020 00:42:25,740 --> 00:42:28,660 basic definition of what God's love is for us in our life. 1021 00:42:28,820 --> 00:42:30,900 God doesn't condone everything that we do. 1022 00:42:30,980 --> 00:42:33,140 God does not celebrate everything that we do. 1023 00:42:33,300 --> 00:42:35,460 God loves us enough to discipline us. 1024 00:42:35,460 --> 00:42:37,060 God loves us enough to correct us. 1025 00:42:37,340 --> 00:42:39,020 God loves us enough to convict us. 1026 00:42:39,020 --> 00:42:42,620 God loves us enough to bring to our, our minds and to our hearts 1027 00:42:42,620 --> 00:42:44,620 the areas in our life that we need to change. 1028 00:42:45,180 --> 00:42:47,620 So I would challenge you to think about that within your own 1029 00:42:47,620 --> 00:42:50,980 life that, yes, God is a God of love, but God is also a God of 1030 00:42:50,980 --> 00:42:51,420 holiness. 1031 00:42:51,580 --> 00:42:52,940 God is a God of justice. 1032 00:42:52,940 --> 00:42:56,620 God is a God, yes, of forgiveness, but he's also a God 1033 00:42:56,620 --> 00:42:59,380 who does not condone evil doing so. 1034 00:42:59,380 --> 00:43:02,580 What I will say is this, as Christians, we are not just called 1035 00:43:02,580 --> 00:43:06,780 to be all lovey dovey and just sunshine and rainbows and everything's 1036 00:43:06,780 --> 00:43:07,180 okay. 1037 00:43:07,260 --> 00:43:10,060 No, there is a time and a place to stand on truth. 1038 00:43:10,140 --> 00:43:12,620 There is a time and a place to correct. 1039 00:43:12,620 --> 00:43:14,860 There is a time and a place to exhort. 1040 00:43:14,860 --> 00:43:18,220 There's a time and a place to challenge and even confront. 1041 00:43:18,300 --> 00:43:21,820 But what I will say is that we do that all with the understanding 1042 00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:25,020 that this is my brother, that I have been where that person is, 1043 00:43:25,100 --> 00:43:28,340 that I have fallen into sin, and that I have needed people to 1044 00:43:28,340 --> 00:43:29,500 pull me out and help me. 1045 00:43:29,690 --> 00:43:32,210 And then ultimately it's the whole idea of just pointing people 1046 00:43:32,210 --> 00:43:32,970 to Jesus. 1047 00:43:33,530 --> 00:43:36,170 My love should never point people to me. 1048 00:43:36,810 --> 00:43:38,410 If people are like, well, you know what? 1049 00:43:38,410 --> 00:43:40,650 I'm a Christian only because of this person. 1050 00:43:40,650 --> 00:43:43,130 And if this person ever failed, then I'm not going to be 1051 00:43:43,130 --> 00:43:45,050 a Christian anymore because it's not real anymore. 1052 00:43:45,130 --> 00:43:50,330 No, my love for another believer should always point people 1053 00:43:50,330 --> 00:43:51,930 to the love of Jesus Christ. 1054 00:43:52,170 --> 00:43:54,970 He is the source, he is the light. 1055 00:43:55,850 --> 00:44:00,210 And so my love for you should never be a love that's selfish, wanting 1056 00:44:00,210 --> 00:44:00,730 praise. 1057 00:44:00,890 --> 00:44:04,930 My love for another Christian should always be about lifting up 1058 00:44:04,930 --> 00:44:05,490 Jesus Christ. 1059 00:44:05,490 --> 00:44:06,410 Matthew 5:16. 1060 00:44:06,410 --> 00:44:09,650 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works 1061 00:44:09,650 --> 00:44:11,770 and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 1062 00:44:12,810 --> 00:44:15,930 So we could boil it down to this, and this will be the conclusion. 1063 00:44:17,450 --> 00:44:22,740 The type of love that God has for us is the type of love that we're 1064 00:44:22,740 --> 00:44:24,100 supposed to give to other people. 1065 00:44:24,260 --> 00:44:26,660 And that love should never be centered on us. 1066 00:44:26,740 --> 00:44:28,660 That love should always be centered on the Lord. 1067 00:44:29,300 --> 00:44:30,660 It's a sacrificial love. 1068 00:44:30,660 --> 00:44:31,860 It's a genuine love. 1069 00:44:32,260 --> 00:44:33,700 It's a love that chooses. 1070 00:44:34,020 --> 00:44:36,260 It's a love that identifies our relationship. 1071 00:44:36,260 --> 00:44:40,420 It's a love that eventually gets to a place where we enjoy and 1072 00:44:40,500 --> 00:44:44,500 long for the affection of being around other brothers and sisters 1073 00:44:44,500 --> 00:44:44,900 in Christ. 1074 00:44:45,060 --> 00:44:47,540 So how could you be a part of that within Middletown Baptist Church? 1075 00:44:48,390 --> 00:44:51,790 Well, what I would encourage you to do is step out, get to know 1076 00:44:51,790 --> 00:44:54,310 some people, get to understand their story. 1077 00:44:54,870 --> 00:44:57,350 You're never going to truly appreciate someone in their life 1078 00:44:57,350 --> 00:45:01,230 unless you know what they've gone through, maybe what they're 1079 00:45:01,230 --> 00:45:01,910 praying for. 1080 00:45:02,710 --> 00:45:06,150 One of the areas of my life that I struggle with is busyness. 1081 00:45:06,150 --> 00:45:10,670 I don't know if any of you are just so busy that for me, I look 1082 00:45:10,670 --> 00:45:13,300 at these opportunities to get to know people sometimes as we. 1083 00:45:13,370 --> 00:45:15,050 Well, I'm not going to be able to get done when I need to get done, 1084 00:45:15,050 --> 00:45:15,450 folks. 1085 00:45:15,530 --> 00:45:16,170 Sometimes. 1086 00:45:16,250 --> 00:45:17,930 And I'm preaching to myself right now. 1087 00:45:18,010 --> 00:45:19,730 This is really me preaching to myself. 1088 00:45:19,730 --> 00:45:21,770 But if you get something about this, this is good. 1089 00:45:22,730 --> 00:45:25,970 Sometimes we have to forget about the program and identify the 1090 00:45:25,970 --> 00:45:26,250 people. 1091 00:45:26,890 --> 00:45:29,489 Sometimes we just have to stop and say, yeah, I've got about 20 1092 00:45:29,489 --> 00:45:32,570 things to do on my checklist, but this person's situation is more 1093 00:45:32,570 --> 00:45:34,730 important, and I have to be okay with that. 1094 00:45:34,730 --> 00:45:37,770 I have to be okay with missing what I want to get done so that this 1095 00:45:37,770 --> 00:45:38,970 person can be addressed. 1096 00:45:39,510 --> 00:45:42,190 What I would say is that we desire Middletown Baptist Church 1097 00:45:42,190 --> 00:45:45,670 to be a place where people can find that type of love, ultimately 1098 00:45:45,670 --> 00:45:47,910 from the Lord, but seeing through the people. 1099 00:45:48,550 --> 00:45:52,590 So never get too busy to take time to hear someone's story, to 1100 00:45:52,590 --> 00:45:56,070 pray with them, to hear what they're going through, to hear what 1101 00:45:56,070 --> 00:45:58,670 they're desiring in their life, what their family's doing, 1102 00:45:58,670 --> 00:46:01,910 because that's one way that we can get to know someone and really, 1103 00:46:01,910 --> 00:46:03,830 truly enjoy being around them. 1104 00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:06,520 And so that's the idea. 1105 00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:09,240 The idea would be to reciprocate the love that Jesus Christ 1106 00:46:09,240 --> 00:46:10,000 has given us. 1107 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:13,760 I hope that Middletown Baptist Church can be not only a friendly 1108 00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:14,160 church. 1109 00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:15,760 We want to be friendly, right? 1110 00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:16,120 That's. 1111 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:18,920 That's one of the major goals of a church, is that we want people 1112 00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:21,040 to see that there's the love of Jesus. 1113 00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:24,960 But more than just being friendly, I hope that Middletown 1114 00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:27,320 Baptist church can be characterized by the love of Christ 1115 00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:28,400 in these three ways. 1116 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:32,770 Through the gape, through Storj, through Philadelphia, that 1117 00:46:32,770 --> 00:46:35,770 we can identify being part of the family of God. 1118 00:46:35,770 --> 00:46:38,690 I want Middletown Baptist Church and I think more importantly, 1119 00:46:38,690 --> 00:46:41,930 God wants Middletown Baptist Church to understand that the family 1120 00:46:42,730 --> 00:46:43,530 is so important. 1121 00:46:43,530 --> 00:46:45,370 There's so many different dynamics to a family. 1122 00:46:46,570 --> 00:46:50,970 Last night my kids were watching this video and it was really 1123 00:46:50,970 --> 00:46:51,530 telling. 1124 00:46:52,490 --> 00:46:55,290 It was like, who is the funniest in the family? 1125 00:46:55,450 --> 00:46:59,490 And the they, they had to answer and like, who's the messiest? 1126 00:46:59,890 --> 00:47:02,290 Who's the least organized, who's the most organized? 1127 00:47:02,290 --> 00:47:03,090 Who's the better cook? 1128 00:47:03,090 --> 00:47:03,410 Who? 1129 00:47:03,490 --> 00:47:07,330 And it was really telling to hear my kids opinions about me because, 1130 00:47:07,330 --> 00:47:11,970 you know, I, I sometimes think of myself in an elevated view. 1131 00:47:11,970 --> 00:47:13,490 I don't know if any of you guys have ever done this. 1132 00:47:13,490 --> 00:47:15,410 I think I'm the most friendly person in the world. 1133 00:47:15,410 --> 00:47:16,890 I think that I'm the most talented. 1134 00:47:16,890 --> 00:47:20,450 You know, I always paint myself in a light that I want it 1135 00:47:20,450 --> 00:47:20,890 to be. 1136 00:47:20,890 --> 00:47:26,460 But sometimes it takes other people to tell us what they truly 1137 00:47:26,460 --> 00:47:26,820 see. 1138 00:47:27,300 --> 00:47:30,780 And so for my kids, like, you know, I, I think that I'm, you know, 1139 00:47:30,780 --> 00:47:32,580 the, the, you know, the best. 1140 00:47:32,820 --> 00:47:35,340 And sometimes when the kids like, no, dad, that's not you, that's 1141 00:47:35,340 --> 00:47:35,620 mom. 1142 00:47:35,860 --> 00:47:38,499 She's, she's, she's way more loving than you. 1143 00:47:38,580 --> 00:47:39,940 And I'm like, oh yeah. 1144 00:47:39,940 --> 00:47:45,660 And, and, and I think that as a church there is a time and a place 1145 00:47:45,660 --> 00:47:50,150 for us to inspect ourselves, to not say, well, I know that I'm 1146 00:47:50,150 --> 00:47:52,270 friendly, so everyone must think that I'm friendly. 1147 00:47:52,910 --> 00:47:56,270 It's always good to hear how people see us in the community. 1148 00:47:56,430 --> 00:47:58,870 It's always good to hear a first time visitor. 1149 00:47:58,870 --> 00:48:01,350 I always want to hear that because sometimes people will say, 1150 00:48:01,350 --> 00:48:03,470 well, you know, I came to your church and no one ever said hi to 1151 00:48:03,470 --> 00:48:03,710 me. 1152 00:48:03,869 --> 00:48:05,390 And I'm like, that's impossible. 1153 00:48:05,390 --> 00:48:06,870 I know someone said hi to you. 1154 00:48:06,870 --> 00:48:09,790 But the reality is, is that I can't deny someone's experience because 1155 00:48:09,950 --> 00:48:10,830 things can happen. 1156 00:48:11,470 --> 00:48:13,990 So instead of us just saying, well, we're definitely a friendly 1157 00:48:13,990 --> 00:48:14,310 church. 1158 00:48:14,310 --> 00:48:16,960 We're, we're definitely a loving church and most likely we 1159 00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:17,240 are. 1160 00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:19,920 But at the same time, there's always a time and a place for us 1161 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:20,840 to inspect our lives. 1162 00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:24,240 To say, are we really being the family of God that God has called 1163 00:48:24,240 --> 00:48:24,760 us to be? 1164 00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:27,680 Are we really showing the type of agape love that God has called 1165 00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:28,200 us to have? 1166 00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:31,800 Are we really showing that type of brotherly familial connection 1167 00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:33,080 that God has called us to have? 1168 00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:36,240 Are we really enjoying being around other fellow brothers and 1169 00:48:36,240 --> 00:48:37,000 sisters in Christ. 1170 00:48:37,720 --> 00:48:41,860 And if I would say it this way, if you don't enjoy being around 1171 00:48:41,860 --> 00:48:44,740 fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, you're not alone. 1172 00:48:45,220 --> 00:48:46,100 It happens. 1173 00:48:46,340 --> 00:48:48,780 But what the Bible says is that we can grow in that love. 1174 00:48:48,780 --> 00:48:51,380 And I hope that it's something that we can have within our church, 1175 00:48:51,460 --> 00:48:53,300 whether it be through fellowships, whether it be through 1176 00:48:53,300 --> 00:48:56,420 Bible studies, whether it be through small groups to love people 1177 00:48:56,500 --> 00:48:59,660 not because they've earned our love, but love people because of 1178 00:48:59,660 --> 00:49:02,980 the way that God sees them and love them because God has called 1179 00:49:02,980 --> 00:49:06,900 us to love them in a command there in First John, chapter four. 1180 00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:09,400 And so if you're able to stand with me, we're going to go ahead 1181 00:49:09,400 --> 00:49:11,320 and close in prayer here this morning. 1182 00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:12,920 When I have a time for invitation. 1183 00:49:13,720 --> 00:49:20,120 If, if you could get to a place in your life where you're able 1184 00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:25,600 to inspect yourself, remove all distractions from our minds and 1185 00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:26,120 from our hearts. 1186 00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:28,360 If you'd like, you can close your eyes, bow your heads. 1187 00:49:28,760 --> 00:49:31,880 This really isn't a time at which we want to make a decision 1188 00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:35,660 because someone else is making a decision or even be fearful of 1189 00:49:35,660 --> 00:49:37,580 a decision because someone else might judge us. 1190 00:49:37,580 --> 00:49:40,300 It's a decision that I want you to make right now between you 1191 00:49:40,300 --> 00:49:40,900 and the Lord. 1192 00:49:42,020 --> 00:49:44,580 First and foremost, the big question is, is, do you love God? 1193 00:49:44,580 --> 00:49:45,460 Do you know God? 1194 00:49:45,940 --> 00:49:49,460 If you do know God and you do know his love, and you've experienced 1195 00:49:49,460 --> 00:49:52,260 his love, obviously all of us can love God more. 1196 00:49:52,260 --> 00:49:54,500 But is there a love of God in my heart? 1197 00:49:54,500 --> 00:49:56,100 Well, if there is, fantastic. 1198 00:49:56,100 --> 00:49:57,300 Amen, praise God. 1199 00:49:57,380 --> 00:49:59,220 But the second step of that would be this. 1200 00:50:01,710 --> 00:50:05,990 Am I allowing the love of God to dictate my love for others within 1201 00:50:05,990 --> 00:50:06,590 the church? 1202 00:50:08,030 --> 00:50:09,350 If so, praise God. 1203 00:50:09,350 --> 00:50:10,510 Stand strong in that. 1204 00:50:10,510 --> 00:50:13,310 Don't allow anything to pull you away from that type of love. 1205 00:50:13,550 --> 00:50:19,710 But if there is hindrances, if there is a hold up, if there is a 1206 00:50:19,710 --> 00:50:23,030 level of bitterness in your life, I hope that today you can turn 1207 00:50:23,030 --> 00:50:26,000 that over to the Lord and say, lord, I want to love people the way 1208 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:27,480 that you want me to love people. 1209 00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:30,040 I want to see people the way that you see people. 1210 00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:33,760 I'm going to tell you folks, this is an area that I think all 1211 00:50:33,760 --> 00:50:36,400 of us to some degree probably have struggled with in our life to 1212 00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:37,320 love someone. 1213 00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:37,680 Why? 1214 00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:39,800 Because just they're part of the family of God. 1215 00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:43,760 Maybe it's just that you've kept everyone at arm's length. 1216 00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:46,840 Maybe you've never gotten to know someone further than a hello. 1217 00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:49,880 Maybe today you want to challenge yourself and allow God 1218 00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:52,460 to challenge you to take that next step of breaking through that 1219 00:50:52,460 --> 00:50:55,180 barrier and getting to know other fellow brothers and sisters 1220 00:50:55,180 --> 00:50:55,620 in Christ. 1221 00:50:55,940 --> 00:50:58,140 Lord, I pray that you'd be, in this time of invitation, working 1222 00:50:58,140 --> 00:50:58,820 hearts and lives. 1223 00:50:58,980 --> 00:51:01,740 I pray that if there's someone here today that needs you as Savior, 1224 00:51:01,740 --> 00:51:03,380 that today can be the day of salvation. 1225 00:51:03,780 --> 00:51:06,220 But Lord, I pray that if there's someone here who has experienced 1226 00:51:06,220 --> 00:51:09,220 the love of Christ, but maybe struggling and their love for others, 1227 00:51:09,460 --> 00:51:12,940 maybe today can be the day in which there's a recommitment to loving 1228 00:51:12,940 --> 00:51:18,390 others by way of sacrifice, by way of choosing, by way of of authenticity, 1229 00:51:18,390 --> 00:51:22,350 by a way of the familial relationship, and by the way of being 1230 00:51:22,350 --> 00:51:25,230 kindly affectionate, one to another, demonstrating that honor, 1231 00:51:25,390 --> 00:51:26,910 putting others before themselves. 1232 00:51:27,230 --> 00:51:28,710 And so, Lord, we just thank you for this time. 1233 00:51:28,710 --> 00:51:30,910 I pray that you work in hearts and lives in Jesus name. 1234 00:51:30,910 --> 00:51:31,225 Amen. 1235 00:51:31,225 --> 00:51:31,300 And.