The Question for Today's Church, Part 8

The Lord does speak to us through his word. That's the only way he speaks to us, because he's given us his written word that we might understand, not just his voice, but the passion behind everything that he says. And so we've been looking at the question the church needs to answer based on the message and the ministry Christ gave to the seven churches in Asia Minor. And so we have tried to answer that question for you. How are we, the church, that God does not condemn, but that God commends? Five of the seven churches in Asia Minor had a condemnation levied against them because there were certain aspects of their ministry that were offensive to the Lord God.

So he told them they needed to repent. So how do we become the kind of church that God commends and does not condemn? Well, we told you the word of God must be that which is absolutely paramount in the church. The worship of God must be absolutely passionate in the church. And then the will of God must be preeminent in the church. And then the ways of God must be prominent in the church. And the work of God must be prevalent in the church. And then we told you last week that the witness of God must be potent and pleasant in the church.

Today we want to conclude this by helping you understand the seventh element and that is this that the warmth of God must be present in the church and the warmth of God is present in the church when his word is paramount when his worship is passionate when his will is preeminent and his ways are prominent and his work is prevalent it will be so happen that the warmth of God will be present in the church if you got your Bible turn me to 1st John chapter 1 1st John chapter 1 what do we mean by the warmth of God is present in the church we're gonna help you understand that because you're gonna come to some people and they're gonna say in this church there is such sweet communion and you'll talk to somebody they'll say yeah there is there is sweet communion in that church and another will come to that church to say no there's not sweet communion in that church that church is cold and icy so why is it one person can go to the same church as another person and one come out saying the communion there is sweet the warmth there is present the love of God is absolutely prevalent throughout the church and another person go to the exact same church and come out with a totally opposite perspective how does that happen I'm gonna tell you that's why you're here we're gonna help you understand that let's know what John says in 1st John chapter 1 he says very simply these words 1st 1 what was from the beginning what we have heard what we have seen with our eyes what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life and the life was manifested and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ these things we write so that our joy may be made complete John says we are involved in a union that is we are partnered with the Christ and so we write these things that you too might be partnered with the Christ that you might have the union with the Christ that we have that is a positional aspect of our relationship with God we are in union with him now what makes the union with Christ so intimate is our communion with Christ union with no communion makes for a stale cold union it all depends on the development of intimacy for instance let's say you get married you're up on the altar here and the pastor joins you together in holy matrimony when he says the prayer you kiss the bride you're off to the races you are involved in a union that's a union you've been united together but if there's no development of intimacy in that union there's no communion to the union then your union becomes cold it becomes boring it becomes stale so there must be that development of intimacy one with another so that the union is vibrant and that's because of the communion the same is true in the church okay we gather together because we are united together in the body of Christ because of the blood of Christ and we've been baptized by one spirit into one body and so therefore we are in union together and what makes your union with my union so sweet is our communion with the Christ for instance John would go on to say in first John chapter 4 these words if someone says I love God and hates his brother he is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen in other words my love for God will always be the barometer of my love for others in other words when I am loving God I love others the reason I don't love others is because I'm having a hard time in my communion with my union in Christ so therefore the essence of our communion together is indicative of our communion with the Christ for instance the greatest commandment we talked about last week to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and your neighbor as himself okay so my loving for others flows out of my love for the living God let me say it to you this way Peter says in second Peter chapter 1 that you are to add to your godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness you are to add love but brotherly kindness and love flow out of godliness if you are not walking with God you then cannot love your brother who you see you must walk in communion with the living God that is so important for us to to grasp because what happens in the church is that we gather together all right and the warmth of God is to be present within the church now we know that the F is that the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2 was a cold church they had grown stale and cold in their walk with the Lord so their communion was not evidence of their union and so Christ rebuked them it is imperative that we understand that our relationship with the Lord always dictates our relationship with everybody around us everybody so if someone comes to any assembly and says I'm in this assembly and it's warm and it's it's giving and loving and caring and the communion is sweet and somebody else comes to that same community and says no I think it's cold it's icy it's stale it's frigid who's right and how do you determine who's right well who's right depends on their relationship with the living God because brotherly kindness flows out of godliness and love flows out of brotherly kindness but if I'm not walking with the Lord my love for you will be stale and will be cold for instance we say to you this way the Bible says of the different 32 different one another's in Scripture to serve one another and to pray for one another and and to be humble one toward another and to pray for one another all those one another's in Scripture that are so evident need to be dictated by our love one for another but you know I've come to find that over the years that that people really don't understand what love is all about we think love was a reward love is not a reward we think love is a right love is not a right love is always a responsibility once you look at love as a reward you don't understand love once you look at love as a right you don't understand love once you look at love as a responsibility now you begin to understand love because love is an action verb which by the way does not need to have emotion although it can for God is an emotional being but my responsibility will always dictate my emotion if I don't fulfill my responsibility to love my brother then my emotions will always be in turmoil so what does it mean to love one another love also is always more visible than vocal write that down that's good love is always more visible than vocal why the Lord never said he loved Israel to Deuteronomy chapter 7 but all through Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers what did he do he demonstrated his love for Israel he didn't tell him he loved them until after he had already demonstrated over and over again how much he truly loved them and then he said I chose you simply because I love you not because you're more powerful than anybody else not because you're bigger than anybody else simply because I chose to love you because love is always a choice always a choice and so therefore we choose to love so I think it's imperative for us to come to grips with what love really means if we're to love one another if Christ says a new commandment I given to you that you love one another as I have loved you what does that mean how do we digest that and this will be practical across the board for every one of us whether we're in a marriage in a family relationship in a friendship or in the church so turn me to 1st Corinthians chapter 13 very familiar passage of scripture which will explain to us how we understand the love of God we sing about the love of God this morning okay the love of God is defined by two words the love of God is number one patient number two kind how do we know that because the definite article appears before the word love in 1st Corinthians 13 specifically verse number four the love is patient the love is kind okay what love a particular kind of love what love is that it is the love of God and so Paul begins 1st Corinthians 13 by saying if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and do not have love I become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love I am nothing and if I give all my possessions to feed the poor and if I surrender my body to be burned but do not have love it profits me nothing now all that is important to understand but we need to come to grips with what love really is so some guy comes to a church that says that church isn't very loving another guy comes and says that church is really loving well who's right and how do you determine what church is truly loving and what church is not loving that's a good question because you don't want to go to church where they hate one another you want to go to church where they love one another and that love is characterized in 1st Corinthians chapter 13 so you and I need to come to grips with how it is we interact one with another because of our interaction with the living God how do we interact one with another well Paul tells you first for the love is patient the love is kind in other words if the church is going to be a place where the warmth of God is present then the love of God must be seen and that love is patient that love is kind it's the love of God and God's love truly is patient to bear with to be long-fused with people God is long-suffering not when that he should perish but also come to repentance and the love of God that you and I are to exemplify one with another is one of being long-fused we are patient and that love not only of God is patient long-fused toward people it's kind in other words it bestows acts of kindness all the while it's being long-fused that's what God does how do you know God loves humanity because he's long-suffering with humanity and he bestows grace upon grace mercy upon mercy every single day you take a breath it's of the grace of God so God keeps bestowing kindness and goodness it's that's what the Bible says Romans 2 for the kindness of God leads us to repentance when we realize that we should have died in our sin and we're still alive because God is long-fused and all the while he is long-fused he is being kind to us by bestowing grace and mercy toward us we come and we repent of our sins because he realized we should have died in our sins and so the love of God is love and the love of God is I mean patient and the love of God is kind ok so let me ask you a question are you long-fused with your neighbor and do you keep bestowing acts of kindness toward the one you're long-fused with that's the love of God that's the warmth that needs to be present in the church but read on it says and is not jealous jealous maybe your translation says envious okay that's a word that deals with the the innermost recesses of your heart it's a word that means to boil over in the Greek text and it means that you boil over because you are so jealous that someone has what you don't have love is not that way okay because it's patient and it's kind it is not jealous it is not envious like Sarah Sarah in Genesis 16 was jealous of Hagar because Hagar had a child and she did not and she had the boiling over in her spirit or like Miriam in the book of Numbers where Miriam the brother or sister of Moses was boiling over and jealous because of Moses the leadership and prominence among the people that something that she didn't have she wanted she thought she deserved so she was jealous of her brother see love is not that way if that's you you don't love you really despise your brother you don't love your brother because true love isn't jealous there's a boil over with anger and resentment on the inside and wish that they had what you had love is not jealous in love is or does not brag okay so to be envious or to be jealous means that I want what you have and we'll do almost anything to get that but does not brag means that I have what you don't have I'm going to tell you about it that's what it means to to brag love does not brag it does not come to a place where it makes you want what it has because you are somehow left out the braggadocious person lives in the kingdom of self dwells in the land of me it's all about me and I have this and I've got that and you don't love doesn't do that love is not arrogant love is not arrogant maybe your translation says is not puffed up in other words love listen never once the applause of man love never wants the accolades of man lever love never seeks to be praised doesn't do that because love is always selfless so if you're looking to be praised for something you've done at your home if you're looking to be praised for something you've done your church you don't love you are manipulating the events trying to get some kind of reaction from people to recognize you because you are an arrogant person nobody likes to be called arrogant no one likes to think that they are arrogant but whenever you do something to draw attention to yourself it's arrogance whenever you want to be praised is arrogant that's arrogance because you think you deserve something and you're not getting it and because you don't get it it turns to jealousy and love is not jealous see that now ask yourself a question do I love or do I not because this is what the Bible says I didn't come up with this definition this is what the Bible says and so the love of God is patient the love of God is kind but that love of God is not jealous or envious it does not brag and is not arrogant that love listen does not act unbecomingly in other words is not rude it's not crass the crass person the rude person says what they say or do what they do without ever thinking about you you must just take them as they are that's the crude person that's that's love not acting that's love acting unbecomingly acting rude acting in poor manners why because love does not seek its own its own what its own welfare you never do anything to seek your own welfare whenever you do that you don't love you might think you love you might say you love but your actions speak differently because love never seeks its own benefit and never seeks its own welfare because love is patient and love is kind love is selfless not selfish love is not self-seeking so whenever you seek your own benefit in a relationship whenever you come to church and you are seeking to be minister to in church you don't love that church because true love is not self-seeking true love is selfless never seeks its own true love is not provoked maybe your text is easily provoked other words love does not become irritable or touchy so that it results in outbursts of anger love doesn't do that love does not become angry when it's offended now you can become angry when God's offended offended that's called righteous indignation but true love is not offended because love is long-suffering and because it's long-suffering it bestows acts of kindness toward the one that has offended it or him or her then it says that love does not take into account a wrong suffered that's a great text love keeps no records love has no ledger to the accounting term where you add up all the wrongs so you can use them against the person someday when they've offended you love doesn't do that love keeps no record of past evils it doesn't do that why because it serves no good in the present it's just ammunition love does not have an ammunition shelter it doesn't store up so that you can use it when you go to war love does not rejoice in unrighteousness love does not rejoice in unrighteousness it never is happy when unrighteousness is prevalent love never rejoices in that which brings the defense to God hate evil you who love the Lord so love never rejoices in that which is unrighteous because love rejoices it says in the truth right the God is the God of truth he's the God of righteousness he's the God of holiness so true love always rejoices in that which is true it never rejoices in that which is untrue love always rejoices in that which is righteous it never rejoices in that which is unrighteous that's what love doesn't do it also says that love bears all things not be a r-e-s but b-e-a-r-s it bears all things it covers all things that's why Peter said the first Peter 4 verse number 7 be fervent in your love for love covers a multitude of sins love bears all things is the word that means to cover with silence in other words love never exposes somebody else's sin love never hangs the spouse out to dry in front of somebody else love never hangs a church member out to dry in front of somebody else because it covers the sin with silence it doesn't mean listen it doesn't mean that love doesn't rebuke because it does it doesn't mean that love doesn't chasten because it does because in Revelation 3 Christ says all those I love I rebuke and chasten it doesn't mean that love doesn't discipline because it does Hebrews 12 talks about how a father disciplines his son so the Lord disciplines his children so it doesn't mean that you don't rebuke your brother or confront your brother on his sin because listen to Leviticus chapter 19 verse number 10 Leviticus 19 10 says this I'm sorry 1917 you shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart you may surely reprove your neighbor in other words if you don't rebuke your neighbor in his unrighteous lifestyle you have just proven you hate your neighbor that's what Leviticus 1917 says you shall not hate your fellow countrymen in other words you can't let your fellow countrymen continue on in sin you must rebuke him in his sin or you have proven that you don't love your brother you hate your brother they says but you shall incur sin because of him listen if you don't confront your brother on his sin the good chance of you incurring that sin is great be careful that's why you deal with sin when it comes to the forefront but love does bear all things you go to your brother and you confront him on a sin doesn't mean you expose your brother now we know what Matthew 18 says that if you keep sinning then you have to go with two or three witnesses then tell it to the church we understand that but love doesn't want to expose somebody else's evil love covers those things it bears all things love believes all things love is not suspicious love is not suspicious it believes the best love sees the weakness of the one who has sinned and believes the best because he believes in what Christ can do that's why the next phrase is that love hopes all things love is optimistic not pessimistic for the rope is always hope the reason you are able to stay in a marriage the reason are you are to stay in a relationship is because love bears all things love believes all things love hopes all things and love endures all things that's why you waited out because it bears up under the negative circumstances it endures all things and then Paul says love never fails let love never fail what kind of love never fails how can Paul say love never fails when we have love failing all around us in the church that's because it's not biblical love it's self-serving kind of love because biblical love is patient is kind biblical love keeps no record of wrongdoing biblical record of biblical love is not arrogant and prideful and boastful is not puffed up biblical love is the kind of love that never seeks its own welfare its own benefit true love endures all things because it hopes all things and the reason it hopes all things is because it truly bears all things it rejoices in the truth so now we can ask ourselves do we really love one another is the warmth of God present based on first Corinthians 13 and what the Bible says concerning how we are to exemplify the love of Christ to one another is the communion we have with Christ making the union we have with Christ vibrant if it is then your love for your brother will be seen you say well if I do all that well then what about me see that's just the wrong question that just tells you what your heart is your heart you're still saying but it's about me it's about me it's about me you're still crying out in the land of me you live in an island all by yourself you're the president the vice president the treasurer you're everything there is this all about you whenever you say but what about me wrong question that is the most selfish question you could ever ask what about me timeout Bible says that when Christ came he came into his own in his own what received him not so what did he do go home he go back to glory I'm going back to be with my father they don't want me they've rejected me they will not I quit love doesn't quit because love never fails this kind of love so that's that's the barometer that's the barometer where you are able to examine how it is you are exemplifying that kind of love in the assembly of the believers is that you is this us this is the kind of church that God commends because love reigns supreme in the hearts of the people so let me give you four principles real quick okay four principles all that was introduction okay four principles that will help you understand how the warmth of God is to be present in the church all right if that's the case you're gonna love one another Christ has a new commandment given to you that you love one another as I have loved you love you one another as you love yourself as long you're good enough you can't love one another as you love yourself because you love yourself because you're selfish so you must love one another as I have loved you that's the standard God is the standard another marriage is not your standard another church is not your standard another relationship is not your standard God is the standard your love as I have loved you that means that that love expects nothing in return that love expects nothing in return when you can love your spouse and expect nothing in return now you know you're on your road to true biblical love but as soon as you expect something in return you've turned it on to yourself and you are living in the kingdom of me and that's all about you true love expects nothing in return because if you expect something in return what have you done you have manipulated the situation that's manipulation that's not love I do for you you do for me I give to you you give to me I serve you you serve me no no I serve you no matter what you do I give to you no matter how you respond I love you no matter how you respond because love is my responsibility not my right love is my responsibility not my reward love is my responsibility I love you and I choose to love you why because the love of God has been shed abroad in my heart Romans 5 5 think about that the love of God what kind of love has been shed abroad in your heart the love that is patient the love of this kind you say oh oh what was me I can't do that God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of love power and a self-discipline he gave us a spirit of love the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts therefore you have no excuse not to love your brother none there's nothing you can say because God's love has been shed abroad in your hearts you can say you're disobedient to that you can say you're rebelling against that but you can't see I can't do that because that would mean that you don't have a union with Christ you thought you had because if you have a union with him his love is shed abroad in your heart and you can love your brother and true love never expects anything in return that's why Paul said in Acts 21st number 35 remember the words of our Lord Jesus that is more blessed to give than it is to receive really yes it is more blessed to give than it is received because Jesus came to give his life away and what did he say greater love has no man than this that a man laid down his life for his friends when was the last time you laid down your life for anybody and Christ came to lay down his life for his friends can he give it away true love expects nothing in return now you do get things in return because Christ said blessed are those who give how they blessed they're blessed by the Lord God of Israel that's how they're blessed God will bless you how will he bless you I don't know he'll bless us all different ways but he will bless because that's what he's promised and the blessing is always in the giving and not the receiving the more you give the more blessed you'll be because you realize how God is using you as an instrument in someone else's life to move them toward maturity so true love expects nothing in return oh by the way the parable of the good Samaritan it's not really a parable it's a true story the good Samaritan remember that story in Luke chapter 10 the man who walked by the individual who was beaten and bloodied and bruised and broken in the religious establishment walked around him but the good Samaritan bowed down bended his wounds took him to a place in the inn and paid for his accommodations and left never expected anything in return and Christ says now you tell me who loves his brother it's a good Samaritan he loves his brother because he never expected anything in return he just gave of a substance he gave of his self he gave his life to help someone else and never expected anything in return true love expects nothing in return true love number two extends and expends itself freely and fully for the believer true love extends and expends itself freely see our problem we look at all the obstacles and don't look at the opportunity if you're looking at the obstacles the opportunity will not be there but the opportunity is always there because love removes the obstacles whatever the obstacle might be love removes the obstacles love is always distinguished by cost love is always distinguished by cost what does your relationship cost you what is your relationship in the church cost you do you love your church if you love your church it will cost you it will cost you because you're going to expend yourself you're going to extend yourself to the life of the believers in the church it will cost you it will cost you time it will cost you money it will cost you convenience it will cost you all sorts of things but if you love your brother you extend yourself that's why Peter says 1st Peter 4 7 love one another fervently the word fervent is the word that means the stretching of the muscles as far as they possibly can get.

It's like when you're trying to reach for a coin underneath your bed. If you're poor, you always reach for coins underneath your bed. But you're looking to stretch as far as you possibly can. That's what it means to love one another fervently. How many of you guys do that? Stretching out so far, it's going to cost, you're going to extend and expend every ounce of energy freely and fully to the one you say you love. Now ask yourself this question. Do I love anybody other than myself? Because boy, we're extending for ourselves.

We're doing everything we can for ourselves, but we're not doing anything we can for everybody else. So that's why I say, in today's world, we have so misconstrued love, it's gone over into the life of the church. We hear songs like, we've got to learn to love ourselves before we love anybody else. That's just so wrong. You already love yourself. You already love yourself so much, it says, Paul says, that no man ever hated his own flesh. Nobody ever hated themselves. They can say, oh, I hate myself.

I can't stand myself. You're just looking for someone to say, no, you don't, you love yourself. No man ever hated his own flesh, the Bible says.

I tend to believe what the Bible says, not what somebody else says. And so we need to extend and expend ourselves freely and fully to those we say we love. Or we can't say, I love my church. I can't say, I love my wife. I can't say, I love my husband. I can't say, I love my children. Do I extend and expend at all costs? Do I expect nothing in return? Then thirdly, true love expresses itself in the most common and ordinary kind of ways.

True love expresses itself in the most common and ordinary kind of ways. That's why the whole testimony of the sheep, goat judgment in Matthew 25, at the end of the tribulation, when Christ puts all the goats on his left, all the sheep on his right, and says, you can enter my kingdom to the sheep because when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was in prison, you came and visited me. And they say, what? When do we see you naked?

When do we see you thirsty? When do we see you in prison? When do we see you hungry? And Christ says, when you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it as unto me.

In other words, what they did was so common, it was a natural outflow of a love of God shed abroad in their hearts that when they saw someone in need, they met the need indiscriminately. They met the need without even thinking about it because true love expresses itself best in the most common, ordinary kinds of ways. We think that we have to express it in these big bodacious kind of ways so that we can be recognized by our love. But really it's just the most common, ordinary events of life where we express our love one toward another, an encouraging word, a note or a card, a thank you, an opportunity to do for something without ever being asked or noticed.

And then lastly, true love exhibits the unfailing and unconditional love of Christ by the power of God's spirit. True love exhibits the unfailing and unconditional love of Christ by the power of the spirit of God. It's the only way it can happen. It's the only way it can happen. God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And that eve of the crucifixion, when Christ said, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. And the disciples must be asking themselves, what do you mean?

We already know that commandment. That's an old commandment. What's so new about that? That you love one another as I have loved you. And by this, all men will know you're mine. Now the key is what happened in John 13 for Christ to say that. Well, the disciples began to argue about who was the greatest in the kingdom for the fourth time because they lived in the land of me, the disciples did. Who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom? As they were arguing, Christ got up, clothed himself with the slave's apron and began to wash the disciples' feet.

And Peter said, not me, Lord. How dare you wash my feet? Christ says, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me.

Peter says, then throw the whole bucket of water on me then. He says, Peter, you don't need a bath, but you need a cleansing, a cleansing. They washed the disciples' feet. And Christ very uniquely said to them in John chapter 13, these words, he said, do you know what I've done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right for so I am. If I then the Lord and the teacher washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. If I gave you an example that you should also do as I did to you, truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who was sent greater than the one who sent him.

If you know these things, you are blessed if you do these things. What things? Does that mean I have to wash everybody's feet? No, not at all. It might entail that. But it's simply this, Christ says, have you seen what I have done?

When you are all arguing about who was the grace in the kingdom, all I did was serve you. I never said to you, hey guys, is this in case you forgot I'm dying tomorrow? And I think you could pray with me just for a minute, just for a minute, pray with me if you could please, because the pain is going to be excruciating tomorrow. I'm going to be crucified tomorrow. Can you at least think about me for just a moment? What about me? Never said that. They were all, what about me? Who's going to be greater than the kingdom?

And Christ just simply took a slave's apron, washed their feet. He said, what I have done for you, you need to do for one another. Because if you do, you'll be blessed. And what did he do? In the midst of the most severe pain one could ever, ever imagine, he served. He did not want to be served. When you are in pain, whether it's physical, emotional, mental, or relational, most of us want to be served. But that's not love, see? That's not love. True love is expressed when in the midst of my pain, I expect nothing in return, but I extend and expend myself freely and fully to those around me, because the love of God is patient, the love of God is kind, and I'll be long fused to those people who don't care about me, and I will minister to them and give them acts of kindness and serve them.

And Christ says, you do that, now everybody knows you're mine. And that's the only way they're going to know you're mine, because what you have done is you have exemplified my love for you. And if my love is shed abroad in your heart, and I've given you the spirit of love, you can do this thing. You can do it to one another, and then the world will know that Christ is a selfless, sacrificial atonement, because he gave his life away for sinful man. You know, maybe the world isn't one to Christ. Maybe your family's not being one to Christ, because you're not giving yourself as a sacrifice to anybody.

Maybe. I don't know. Christ gave himself away. He expects us to do the same, not to the extent he did. Maybe we would die one day, but we can't do what he did. But he gave his life away, and that's why we gather together to celebrate the Lord's table, because it's the fullest expression of his love to mankind. His love is patient. It is long fused. As he hung on the cross, what did he say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. Bestowed acts of kindness to those who mocked him, ridiculed him, and abused him, because he embodies love.

We need to be the kind of church where the warmth of God is present. And that warmth is exemplified by each and every individual in this room who truly loves as Christ loves. Let me pray with you.

Father, thank you, Lord, for today, a chance to be in your word. Truly, Lord, you are a great God, and you alone are worthy of praise. May we be a loving church, because we do what you have said. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.