Tackling Ten Timeless Truths, Part 2

You got your Bible Hebrews chapter 13 Hebrews chapter 13 as you look at how to tackle 10 timeless truths that will truly transform your life 10 truths that the Lord gives us in Hebrews chapter 13 that will revolutionize the way we think about everyday living It's it's about our responsibility after understanding the identity and ministry of the Messiah.

This now is your Responsibility if Christ is all-sufficient and Christ is all-supreme which he is and the right of Hebrews has proven that this is how We see that Christ is supreme and sufficient in your life You live out your life in such a way that others are able to see the primacy of Christ who rules in Your life and that's why when you read the text you realize as we said last week that Proverbs 13 13 says don't despise The text don't despise the word or you'll be in debt to it In other words, you'll be destroyed by it If you despise it or look down upon the authority of God's Word and then in Proverbs 23 23 The Lord says to buy truth and never sell it do all you can to obtain that truth because if you do you get wisdom instruction and Understanding and those things help you live out the truth of God's Holy Word And so it's important that we understand that because this is what the Bible says in in first Peter 2 verse number 15 It says for such as the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men By doing what is right and what is right by by following what God's Word says You put to silence the ignorance of man Then over in the book of Titus Paul says these words He says verse 6 Likewise urge the young men to be sensible in all things show yourselves to be an example of good deeds with purity and doctrine Dignified sound and speech which is beyond reproach so that the opponent will be put to shame Having nothing bad to say about us in other words live out your Belief live out your doctrine in such a way that that those who oppose you Have nothing bad to say about you Christ said in Matthew 5 let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father Who is in heaven?

Well Hebrews 13 is all about that. It's all about living the kind of life that helps others understand that you truly are Looking to Christ as the all-sufficient Supreme God who rules over you So we began last week by looking at point number one Hebrews 13 verse number one, which simply is respond with love to the needs of others That's in verses 1 to 3.

And so he says first number one. Let love of the brethren continue In other words, they were already loving the brethren to some extent Let it continue We know that from Hebrews chapter 6 verse number 10 that they've already Ministered to one another by showing their love for the Lord. They were showing their love toward one another by serving them We took you all the way back to Romans chapter 12 to help you understand that Paul says let love be without hypocrisy in other words it must be genuine a Poor what is evil clean to what is good be devoted to one another in brotherly love give preference to one another in Honor not lagging behind in diligence fervent in spirit Serving the Lord We are to be actively involved in loving the brethren 14 times we're told to love one another in the New Testament Paul would say this in the book of Philippians Philippians chapter 1 verse number 9 and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all Discernment, you know you want to pray for somebody pray that their love Would abound more and more the love for God and their love for one another would overflow and As you do you pray that it's done in such a way.

It's an accord with knowledge and discernment When Christ said my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge back in the book of Hosea the fourth chapter of the sixth verse He was saying that because they didn't know him They didn't understand him. They didn't grasp him He wants you to understand him so Paul says I want you to grow in your love and I want you to bound in your love and That love is going to bound when you understand and know God because knowing God is knowing the God of love and to know the God of love allows you to be able to love other people because the love of God's been a shed abroad in your heart and then he says and discernment It's important that when you love the brother Or the brethren you love them according to the knowledge of God and you do it with supreme discernment discernment flows from the knowledge of God The ability to discern between what is good and what is evil what is right?

And what is wrong discern between what is truth? And what is error? In the church today. We have such a lack of discernment and that lack of discernment comes because we have a lack of Knowledge and to in terms of who God is and because we do we really can't abound in love for one another Because the love for one another flows from our love from the true and living God Over in first Thessalonians 4 Paul says this verse number 9 now as to the love of the brethren You have no need for anyone to write to you for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another You're taught by God to love one another.

He says I don't need to write to you about this Because God's already taught you to love one another He says this verse 10 for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia But we urge you brethren to excel excel still more and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life And to attend to your own business and to work with your own hands just as we commanded you That you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need Paul one of them not just to love one another because they were already doing that because they were taught by God But to excel even all the more in other words you can never really love one another enough And because you need to reach out and minister to one another So the Bible tells us these words in first John chapter 4 Verse number 7 beloved let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God The one who does not love does not know God for God is love By this the love of God was manifested in us that God sent his only begotten Son into the world Said we might live through him and this is love not that we love God But that he loved us and sent his son to be the satisfaction for our sins beloved if God so loved us we also ought to love one another and then he says Later on in verse number 19 He says this or shoot me verse number 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God God abides in him and he and God We have come to know and have believed the love Which God has for us God is love and the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him By this love is perfected with us So we may have confidence in the day of judgment because as he is so also are we in this world?

There is no fear in love But perfect love cast out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love We love because he first loved us if someone says I love God And hates his brother He's a liar For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen Cannot love God whom he has not seen and this commandment we have from him That the one who loves God should love his brother also There are so many exhortations in the scripture about loving one another but the right of Hebrews makes it very clear that that if we're going to To demonstrate to other people around us that Christ is all-sufficient and all-supreme We're going to continue in brotherly love We're going to continue in this mode because that shows that we love God and People need to know that we truly Love God so point number one respond with love to the needs of others How by be committed to brotherly love that's number one number two By being careful how you treat strangers That's first number two Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers For by this some have entertained angels without Knowing it How do you respond in love to the needs of others Well, you're committed to brotherly love and number two.

You're careful how? you treat Strangers the writer says listen within the assembly there is brethren But with outside the assembly there are strangers and you're to Respond to them be kind to be a lover of strangers hospitality means to be a lover of strangers And so don't just think I'm talking to you in the church But when you leave the church and you go outside the church, are you a lover of strangers? He says now now granted. There are some who without even knowing it have entertained angels unaware We know of Abraham and justice chapter 18.

We know of Gideon chapter 6 judges chapter 6 We know of Manoah and judges chapter 13 They had no idea that they were entertaining angels unaware It doesn't mean that you love strangers because they might be an angel. All right, we don't know that they might be But some of the entertaining angels unaware, but but be a lover of strangers Are you that way? When you go to when you go to the restaurant or when you go to go to work or when you're In the mall or when you interact with strangers What's what's your response to them?

How do you interact with them? Are you truly a lover of strangers? The Bible says that we're to be good to all men Especially those of the household of faith Galatians 6 10 So we're to be good to the people in the household of faith.

We understand that but we're to be good to all men as well And that would include even those who might even be our our enemies over in Matthew chapter Chapter 5 our Lord says this in verse number 44 You have heard that it was said you shall love what your neighbor and hate your enemy But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so you may be sons of your father who is in heaven for he causes the son to rise on the evil and the good and Sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

How do you know? How do you know that you're a son of your father in heaven How do you prove to people that you're a son of your father in heaven not that you love your neighbor? That you love those who love you Jesus says that's really not a big deal Everybody loves those who loves them.

I mean, come on. How hard is that? But if you love your enemy, guess what now you're proving You're a son of your father in heaven In other words because you love the enemy because you love the stranger because you love those who might be Against you you're gonna be turned good for evil, right? Now people know you're a true child of God every enemy loves his own favorite enemy But not everybody loves Those who come against them on a regular basis We love those who are kind to us. We love those who love us We love those who who are fun-loving people But what about your enemy what about those who are who are unkind to you what's your response If you're unkind to them, you're not proving yourself to be a son of your father in heaven Because you want to love them as The Lord did that's what that's what makes our Lord's ministry so unique right And how many times have we told you over the years that our Lord is is is so so Incredible what he does remember in the Garden of Gethsemane when he when he cuts off the high priest servants ear Malchus and he heals Heals his ear remember that here here here are these six hundred temple police and and Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes coming to to obtain the Lord and they cross over the kitchen brook and send up the Mount of Olives and they know right where Jesus is because Judas knows where he is and and Judas is gonna take Him there and and they get there and Jesus meets them at the at the garden entry And he asked them whom do you seek?

They say Jesus and Nazarene a term of disdain and Jesus says what I am and they all fall over backwards All of them all eight hundred of them.

Maybe maybe it was even a thousand of them Don't know the exact number They all get back up again And Jesus says I'm sorry.

Who do you seek? They say the same thing Jesus of Nazarene Of course Peters there and and Peter wants to go to war and he thinks wow if Jesus can speak a word everybody falls over We can win this battle. So he whips out a sword and and slices off The ear lobe of the high priest servant. His name is Malchus according to the Gospel of Luke And of course Luke records the healing of the year Jesus heals it why? Because those who preach at the beginning of his ministry love your enemies. He loved his enemies even to the very end, right?

He loved them even to the very end the Bible says and in In John chapter 13 having loved his own he loved them all To the end that includes Judas the son of perdition The one who would betray him, right?

He loved them all to the very end. He loved them all completely He loved them all perfectly That's what he did And he loved Judas who wasn't his enemy So when Christ on the Sermon on the Mount says listen, if you love your enemies you're gonna prove yourself to be a child of mine because that's what I do and You need to do the same so conjure up in your mind your your worst enemy, I know you have one Just conjure him up right now right now Ask yourself. What can I do to reach out and love this person?

today Return good for evil Demonstrate a forgiving spirit Demonstrate a gracious attitude Look at some way that I can in a very tangible way meet their needs To show them that I'm not angry.

I'm not bitter but I really wanted them to understand that I Love them you see responding to others and love goes way beyond just loving the brethren talks about loving Strangers as well and that I'm including even our enemies who are against us That's what we do That's how we show others that we are truly see Christ as sufficient and supreme in our lives And then thirdly it says this in Hebrew chapter 13 He says verse number three remember the prisoners as though in prison with them and those who are ill-treated Since you yourselves also are in the body She said listen truth number one respond With love to the needs of others by being committed to brotherly love by being careful how you treat strangers and by being concerned about those Who are suffering?

Are you concerned with those who are suffering? We know that some of them were already in prison back in chapter 10 It tells us in verse number 32. They were already suffering to some degree He says but remember the former days when after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of suffering Partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were So treated for you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property Knowing that you have for yourselves a better possessing Possession excuse me a lasting one therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward They were already doing this So he's just reminding them to be concerned for those who who are going through suffering by interceding for them by meeting their needs by Visiting them by taking care of them by watching out for them.

That's what we do This is the body of Christ is all about we all share the same body All right, we're all part of the body of Christ We all have the same father right and we serve him and honor him and love him and and and that's Manifested itself by the way we we treat others Listen, we told you before in the in the in the physical realm Your children are the windows to the condition of your family, right? How many times we said that over the years your children? How they live how they behave are a window to the condition of your family Well, the same is true in the spiritual realm That all of us as children of God are the windows to the condition of our spiritual family Right.

So when people peer through you a window They're able to see the condition of the family at this local assembly And so therefore you will respond to one another with love Reach out to those who are in need Be a lover of strangers Take care of those you don't even know Minister to them in a very special way You know, one of the things we've taught our children over the years is that when someone begs for money Don't give them money but buy them a meal Buy them buy them food They want money for food, but instead buy them a meal To be able to take to them something that they need tangibly, right?

And so instead of giving them money that you don't know how they're going to spend it You can buy them a meal take it to them. They're a stranger Because you want to be a lover of strangers Would it be that that's the way all of us would be But especially in our love one toward another So think about this in the very first point realize that you guys every one of you are Are a window to the condition of this spiritual family at 1432 West Point Avenue When people see you they're looking into the family the condition of our family and What do they see?

point number two After you reaffirm your love for one another Excuse me respond to love with love with the needs of others number to reaffirm your loyalty to marriage reaffirm your loyalty To marriage now, why is it?

That the right of Hebrews in a book about the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ is going to throw in The topic of marriage Why would he do that? Why don't he throw that in there? This is what he says he says verse 4 marriage is to be held in honor among all and the marriage bed is to be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers God will judge Interesting They would take the topic of marriage And give it one verse and address it because he wants you to reaffirm your loyalty To a God-given divine Institution God gave marriage We didn't invent marriage We didn't invent weddings God is the divine Inventor of This great institution of marriage and therefore he wants to reaffirm Us to reaffirm our loyalty to what God has designed the family to be a marriage that's undefiled a Merit is pure and holy before our God.

And so as you think about that you begin to realize the importance of marriage and We've told you over the years that that marriage is so crucial That it's the union that truly is a picture of Christ's relationship to the church. It's a pictorial union It pictures Christ's relationship to the church And that's why that's why marriages fail so badly Because we refuse to paint that picture every day you get up it's like you got a brand new canvas right and you're painting on that canvas a Picture of Christ's love for the church and you're primarily with your children, right?

so the conversation you have at home the interaction you have with your wife and your husband how you treat one another is Painting some kind of picture to your children of what the condition of marriage is supposed to look like Christ's love for his church Every day you get up you got a brand new canvas a brand new slate You chance to paint that picture Everywhere you go. You're the process of painting a picture of Christ's love for the church Ephesians 5 tells us husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her So every day as my children watch me as Gentlemen, they your children watch you right?

My children want to know how do I give myself up for my wife? How do I sanctify my wife? How do I satisfy my wife? How do I supply the needs of my wife? That's what they're looking for They might not be able to articulate that But believe me every day they are watching They are waiting to see the kind of picture That's being painted before them. I want my children to have great marriages Right. I want them to love one another. I want them to give the men to give themselves away for their for their wives Well, if I'm not doing that for my wife that they don't have that example that model to follow and am I great at that?

No But I'm working progressively toward that to love my wife as Christ loved the church because marriage is a pictorial Union And if you understand this primarily You understand that this divine institution that God designed is designed to show the world Christ's love for his church. I want my children to know how much they are loved by Christ How do they best know that by demonstrating my love for my wife Unconditionally marriage is a pictorial Union And every day you wake up you have a brand new slate To make sure that you paint it in a proper perspective for your children for a watching world They may know that you truly love one another so that right if he was says Reaffirm your loyalty to marriage because marriage is to be held in in high honor It should be it should be the most precious thing there is So make sure that you live in such a way that everybody knows it's precious to you But marriage is not only a pictorial Union, but marriage is also a a permanent Union.

Did you know that? Marriage is a permanent Union. You don't marry somebody for a while you marry them forever On this planet, right, you don't marry them for a while Your marriage is forever. It's a permanent Union What God has joined together Matthew 19 let no men divorce. Let no men divide. Let no man separate, right? It's something that that God says this is permanent a man shall for this cause that a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife That that word cleave is a is a word that is a word that speaks of permanence not temperance Or something that's temporary.

It's forever and Marriage is to be a permanent Union And if I truly love my wife unconditionally as Christ love the church, I'm not gonna divorce my wife I'm not gonna leave my wife. I'm not gonna abandon my wife I'm gonna stay with her through thick and thin because I want to satisfy her. I want to sanctify her I want to supply all of her needs. I want to protect her and watch over her And so I'm not going to abandon her Because marriage is a permanent Union God designed it that way For this cause the man shall leave his father mother and cleave To his wife be glued together with her, right?

when you become Married One plus one is one and one is an indivisible number. You can't divide one by one except It's just one It's always going to be one And so therefore it's a it's a permanent Union where you come together you cleave to one another and you're stuck together for the rest of your life So not only is marriage to be held in honor because it's a it's a pictorial Union But because it's a permanent Union number three, it's a predetermined Union.

Did you know that your marriage is predetermined in? eternity past Do you think that God was just looking around for somebody that you could you could hook up with it and be married to? Man, I'm gonna choose for this guy I mean this guy's kind of way out there and Hope I can find somebody out there some woman that will at least attach herself to this guy so I can put them together Somewhere down the road. No, that's not how God does it It's a predetermined Union what God has joined together. I know man divorce God joins you together.

When did God join you together? Think about that. When did God join you together last week? Do you think well last week we these two should get together? No, no. No, this was the predetermined plan Like your salvation was predetermined This is all part of the plan of God And this is so good because you know, I've been doing I've been doing marriage counseling for 40 years. Can you believe that? 40 years. I've been doing this. It's a long time in anybody's book, right? And and so getting couples together and talking to them been to a premarital counseling same amount of time 40 years I started as a college pastor when I was 22 years old, right?

And I had 75 students in my in my college class at in McLean, Virginia And I was teaching them about marriage and teaching them about about what it means to get married and helping them understand that the importance Of marriage and in counseling them through the process at the same time I was I was counseling young married couples and So for all these years, I've been trying to help you understand. Look, this is a predetermined Union God designed you to be together So when you think about that think about this way you are you're you get up this day and say God hand chose you Specifically for me.

Do you know that that revolutionizes the way you think about your spouse, right? I've been had chosen to say wait a minute. I I married an unbeliever Well, that's part of God's predetermined plan because it's part of God's decree It might not be God's desired will but it is his decreed will right? So you can't say well, I married an unbeliever So I'm gonna divorce the unbeliever being and marry a believer because God wants me to be not unequally yoked But yoked together with a with a believer No, you can't do that you can't break one of God's commands to fulfill another command that's that's called sin It's called iniquity called transgression.

You can't do that But if you know that the unbeliever you're married to is a predetermined Union You wake up every day thinking wow This is a day that I can really demonstrate to them the love of Christ And God has put us together and God in the sovereign will this is what God wants for my life at this point And so I'm gonna serve my God and honor my God and do all I can to put them on display That a spouse of mine that doesn't know the Lord What a ministry right Peter talks about that in first Peter 3 verses 1 to 7 those who are married to unbelieving spouses But just because marriage is a predetermined Union and you marry outside of the desired will of God but always within the decreed will of God because God consciously causes or or or Willingly permits certain things to happen, right?

This is still God's predetermined will predetermined Union For you if you understand that Things can begin to change See we get married because we want our needs met. That's not why you get married, right? You get married because your marriage is a picture the Christ love for the church You get married because it's a it's it's a permanent Union. It's a it's a predetermined Union God is behind all this. It's it's designed. So right if he was says hold marriage in highest esteem Honor it above all it is so important to realize this and then he says and then he says but I say it's also a a purposeful Union Marriage is a purposeful Union.

There's a purpose behind your marriage Genesis 2 verse number 18. It's not good for man to be alone So what did God do God created Eve for Adam there was a purpose behind marriage Because marriage is a purposeful Union it's not good for man to be alone Adam was all alone until one day God said Number the animals named the animals so we did Mr. Mrs. Cow, mr. Mrs. Horse Mr. Mrs. Dog You begin to realize that there was no mrs. Of mr. Adam God's very very good at what he does He's excellent So God didn't tell him Adam.

It's not good for you to be alone. I'm gonna create for your wife No, Adam, it's not good to be alone. So count and name the animals And he realized that every animal had a corresponding Part that was a female or male But there wasn't one for him So God put him asleep Took one of his ribs and created Eve and fashioned her for him She was specifically fashioned for him Because she would fulfill the perfect purpose for Adam You know, I every every day I wake up I wake up next to my wife and I think wow God fashioned her for me.

I Am such a blessed man because God knew exactly what I needed He fashioned her specifically for me Because he knew it wasn't good for me to be alone so he fashioned a perfect help me a suitable helper Because marriage is a purposeful Union on top of that marriage is a a precious Union the two shall become one flesh There is this interdependency in a marriage that is so precious Because your wife has what you don't have and you as a husband have what she doesn't have and God Fashions you and puts you together and it becomes the most precious union on the planet But on top of that marriage is a Provisional union a provisional union that is we are designed to provide for the other In other words, we are able to do for the other what the other couldn't do necessarily for themselves And that's why in first Peter chapter 3 verse number 7 The husband is to honor his wife as his most prized possession Or his prayers will be hindered In other words, not only is she precious But she is one who truly You provide for And when you go into your marriage knowing that today you're providing for your wife No longer are you self-absorbed Because you're looking for ways to minister to tackle the need for her and Vice versa for the wife to look at the husband say I'm not here for him to do this or that I'm here to minister to him in a way that will honor the Lord.

How can I best do that? Why because this is a provisional union How can I best provide for my wife? My husband that he cannot have outside of me and you seek to provide in unique and special ways So marriage is a pictorial union. You've been following permanent union a predetermined union a purposeful union a precious union a provisional union a protective union First Corinthians 7 talks about husbands and wives not abstaining from sexual relations.

Why? Because if you do you give time for the devil to Take hold of your marriage. So you only do you only abstain from sexual intimacy for just a brief time and only for one purpose To pray why because your body's not your own Hers is not hers and yours is not yours It's a protective union God designed marriage to be protected You protect it by providing one for another And the last thing I think it's number eight if you're counting it's a David if you're not counting That marriage is a pleasurable Union that's last on the list not first.

It's a pleasurable Union and that's why the Bible says in Hebrews 13 marriage is to be honored among all Not just some But everybody And the marriage bed is to be undefiled In other words makes it very clear That pleasure in marriage is done in the realm and confines of God's divine institution anything outside of that Will be judged Because God designed the marriage bed for one particular purpose And that is for a sexual union to happen only within the context of marriage Not outside the context of marriage Because he says this He says for fornicators and adulterers God would judge Wow That's a strong statement Because God does do that The fornicator the adulterer He will judge the fornicator is any kind of sex sin outside of marriage, right?

The adulterer is coveting another man's wife or having sex even though you're married with someone else So he's talking about fornicators and adulterers any kind of sex sin done outside. The marriage bed is defiled It's in within the marriage bed. It's undefiled Outside of that's defiled And God would judge First Corinthians 6 places 5 Ephesians 5 Revelation 21 revelation 22 God gives lists of those who do not inherit the kingdom of heaven and then those lists are always fornicators and adulterers It does not mean that if you have been an adulterator or you have Been a fornicator that you're not going to go to heaven because first Corinthians 6 says but such were some of you But you were washed You were justified You were sanctified See God forgives sin, right?

God forgives sinners. That's what God does So we had the hope of God's forgiveness that comes only from him But The important thing is is that How often do we agree do we really truly reaffirm our loyalty to our husband to our wife to our marriage? That is so important My wife and I were driving home yesterday With our children going to we have left the home AJ and Avery and we just left a Birthday party for one of our grandchildren Emma And marveled at what God has done in our family With her with our children and their spouses To be able to sit back and say you know what I love I love Rachel and Teresa Like I love Ashley Aaron Anna and Avery To realize that God hand-chose Rachel for Cade and Teresa for Drew No, it's not easy marrying into our family Because she married one of the men of our family we're all alpha males in our family So it's not easy marrying into our family, but Rachel and Teresa were the perfect fit for our family And then I think of Tim and and Franco Dustin All uniquely different Those three guys are really different But they fit so well like hand and glove in our family Reaffirms God's predetermined Union Reaffirms that God is is is purposely choosing and directing and in working all those things out And my wife and I were driving home last night thinking God is just so good to us To be able to put those those couples together in unique and special settings and unique and special ways And we anticipate what God would do with with with AJ one day down the road and what God would do with Avery one day down the road and how God will bring the perfect young man for Avery and the perfect young lady for AJ that will fit hand And glove within the entire realm of our family and to see what God has done Helps us reaffirm once again our loyalty to marriage Because God is just so incredibly great at what he does And my prayer for you and for me is that every every day we would wake up Saying Lord, what a day Today, I get to paint this beautiful picture of your love for the church So my children can see it.

My grandchildren can see it. My neighbors can see it And as I paint the picture, I just I just want to be able to I Just want you to know Lord, I I'm here forever I'm not leaving. Nothing's gonna stop my love. Nothing to stop me from extending my provision. I care for my wife Because way back when before time ever began You chose this person for me And you couldn't have chosen anybody better perfect union precious union That God had given her to me And then to have the children that we have how God has blessed us What a precious thing And so one of the truths you're gonna have to tackle If you have a bad marriage Is to reaffirm your loyalty to that marriage And no matter what You realize that God has put you together and you can hold that marriage in high honor Because God designed it And every day people are watching what it is you're doing with that husband that wife They're looking How you speak to them?

How you respond to them? How you reach out to them? They're watching They're looking And they're learning They're learning about marriage in the most intimate setting So when we reaffirm our loyalty to marriage we are saying Lord we are in this forever Because you designed it you put us together And we are here for your glory and for your honor. I'm not here to get my needs met If I do that's great, but it's not about meeting my needs It's about how can I best meet the needs of the one you've given to me because I'm going to love them and love is an action verb that puts everything into action and serves My husband or my wife When you do that you've begun to tackle Truth number two Truth number one We respond with love toward one another every single day Not just when we gather together on Wednesdays and Sundays, but all throughout our lives because each and every one of you is a window That shows everybody else outside the assembly the condition of our spiritual family Let's pray Father thank you for today Chance we have to gather together.

What a blessing What a joy it is to know that your word speaks to every one of us Our prayer Lord is that you would bring these truths home in all of our hearts The Lord we'd manifest Your beauty your glory You as our God If you leave this place today Lord may we leave energized to live only for you and not for ourselves Because you truly are all that matters So we anticipate Lord what you're going to do Today this week in the rest of our lives until you come again as you most surely will in Jesus name.

Amen