As we look in the scripture this morning, we will be in two main passages, probably towards the middle of this, if you want to turn there and keep your finger there, Philippians 2, 1 and 8, as was read this morning, and also Colossians chapter 3. So if you want to keep your finger there, we will be there shortly. Ecclesiastes 1.9 communicates the idea that whatever has been, it's going to be again. Whatever has been done, will be done again. Might be just in a different way, but it's not going to have much change to it. Because he says there's nothing new under the sun. And yet we think in our time period, we look at all the new inventions that we have that weren't here before. All the products that are on shelves in stores that people in days past never heard of. We've traveled space to the moon and we sent probes to different planets. And in our minds, all this is new. And that's not so much what Ecclesiastes is talking about. It does include things like this. Human nature has never changed since the beginning of time. It's basically the same today as it was in history gone by. There's different packages of it on the outside. In other words, different outward expressions of what's going on inside, but same motivations, same corruption, same thing as fueling everything that we see happening on the outside. Nations still rise and some fall. Concepts and movements come and then they go and they're replaced with other things and we kind of ride this wave as we go through life. And then there's the people that we always refer to for our authority. Well, they said. We all know who those people are. We can't track them down, but they have an incredible amount of influence in what we think and what we say. Right now, there is a concept that is popular. It's called transparency. And it's popular right now even in the secular world, especially in the business world. I want to read something from a little article just to lay a little bit of foundation. This is an article from a business magazine talking about the benefits of transparency in the workplace. Number one, it builds trust and credibility with all colleagues and leaders. When everyone is open and honest, it creates an environment of mutual respect and understanding. And as you read some of this, Say, you know what, would this also be applicable inside the church? Not that we're stealing something from business, but I think business and sometimes even secular world takes a lot from Christianity that they don't even know is a heartbeat of Christianity and put it into practice because it works in relationships. Goes on to say this, here's a benefit of transparency in the workplace. It encourages collaboration and communication. When everyone's aware of what is happening within the organization, it becomes easier to work together on projects. People are more likely to share ideas and give feedback. Number three, it increases accountability. When employees know that their decisions and actions are going to be open for scrutiny, They're more likely to make decisions that are in the best interest of the organization as opposed to just themselves. Helps them stay focused and on task. Number four, he says it fosters innovation. When employees are encouraged to share their ideas and feedback, they are more likely to come up with innovative solutions to problems. This can lead to new products and services and processes that can help the organization to grow and to succeed, the idea that they're going to be better together. Number five, he says it improves employee satisfactions. When employees are aware of what's happening within the organization, they feel more connected to the company and they're more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and it can reduce a lot of turnover. We might say that transparency in the workplace builds and improves relationships, makes the workplace a safe space to work in and to share thoughts. It helps everyone from the top down to be invested and to work to improve efforts and processes that will lead to the fulfilling of the mission that everybody is consolidated around. And while this may be true in a workplace, this is also being used in all sorts of other areas, sport teams, clubs, organizations of all types. Even inside family structures, this idea of transparency becomes pretty critical. And I'd like to say this, that this idea of transparency, at least from a biblical viewpoint, has always been essential. and has always been part of the key to relationships inside of a church, even though we may not use those terms or that particular term. Essential to the life and the growth of the church, not only corporately as we reach outside of ourselves, but also inside as we grow more like Christ, and even individually as we grow more like Christ. A year ago, I read an article written in 2008. It was in Nine Marks by a man named James Choi. And he titled it this, Cultivating a Culture of Transparency in Your Church. There's all sorts of articles like this. And it's been written in a whole lot of different directions, and there's a lot of different thoughts of what this actually means. So I'm not going to be able to, as I think through it today and even in the short time we have, to just lay everything out that's out there. But I want to at least lay a foundation for talking points. Because I don't have all the answers on this particular thing. But I think it's there. So this is how his article starts. This is his pastor talking to him. James. Would you pray that our church would be willing to have an awkward conversation with each other? And why would you want an awkward conversation with anybody? And what really constitutes an awkward conversation for you and for I? These are all things we have to answer. And when could something that was originally awkward to you and me and for you and me become something that's actually kind of normal? part of everyday life, so it's not even awkward anymore. And I think that's part of the thought in all of it, too. He goes on to write, seriously, that's what my pastor asks members to pray almost every week at our Sunday evening gatherings. Together we pray that our members would understand the need to make our relationships transparent, to share embarrassing things about ourselves. This is not necessarily the dumb thing you did the other day. but the things that we would rather not want to share, we just want to keep private to ourselves, but there's benefit in sharing them. To speak honestly, to ask one another careful, loving questions as a way to cultivate a genuine culture of discipling, and that's real common today too, building a culture of discipleship, a culture of transparency, a culture of evangelism. And you go, what is it about all these cultures that are trying to be built? And it really looks like it's just woven right into Christianity. Today, I'd like to, number one, define what a culture of transparency is and just look at three components. I think there's a lot more. And I think you may be able to add to this in maybe studies you've done in places you've been reading in scripture. but just want to lay a groundwork for thought. And begin by saying what transparency is not, because we have some ideas and there's directions this is pushed. It's not telling everyone exactly what you think about everything you think about. Because that happens. Because if I'm just telling everybody what I think about everything there is to think about, The reality is there could just be a whole lot of pride motivating that because I'm real important and everybody needs to know what I think in order to move things along as they ought to. It could be that you and I are just whining and complaining when we do that. We're just wanting to lay it out and we justify it by saying, just trying to be transparent, just trying to let you know what's on my mind. It's also not laying your heart and soul and all your sinful desires out on the table for everybody to evaluate and everybody to know and see. We know from verses like Galatians chapter one that there's a time that we are to bear our own burden. Everybody is to bear the burden. And there are other times when the burden is crushing somebody down. And everybody has to come alongside and help sustain that burden to help raise them up. So we know there's times we do have to lay on the table those things that are crushing us, that nobody knows about. Those things that are harming us, not just physically, but harming us spiritually, and we can't seem to quite get a grip, maybe a sin that just has taken us over, there are times we need to lay those on the table. And we need to be transparent about them. But some of them may not be real helpful. So how excited would you be if our next small group, when you get together as men, you get together as women? Or maybe just get together in the family. That might even be more fun during that time period. And here's the topic. We're going to ask everybody to bring all their financial information with them, their savings, your wealth or lack of wealth. We're going to bring all your expenditures, your budget, and we're going to lay them on the table, and we're all going to evaluate each other's wisdom in how we're using our money and how we might be more efficient and how we could actually be more giving towards the work of the ministry. What do you think that's going to produce? Complete chaos. Why? Well, because I may not look at something in the same priority you look at. And you might think, you know what? I've never had what you had. And I never spent money on what you're spending money on. And so there's really no reason for you to be spending money on that. And you have no idea what goes on in my family every day or those needs in that particular way. So not everything would be beneficial to lay on the table and just have real open discussions about. I don't think those are the things that are being talked about specifically when we talk about transparency. So how do we define this, the culture, cultivating a culture of transparency? Well, the word cultivate means to foster or to foster the growth of something. To improve it by labor, which means it's going to take what? It's going to take work. It's going to take involvement. It doesn't just happen by sitting on the outside. It happens by getting into the mix. Again, if you were at Sunday school this morning, Dave's lesson that he gave on Hebrews and assembling together, really, really helpful as a background. I would encourage you to go back and listen to it about the involvement in the body, so to speak. So it also gives the idea to improve by labor and by care. So I roll up my sleeves. And I'm going to have to have some affinity for it. I'm going to have to have some desire for it. I'm going to have to want some care about this that motivates and drives. So that's the idea of cultivating something. Culture has this idea. It's a set of customary beliefs or social norms. The material traits of a racial, religious, or social group would be just a general idea. It's what these people are all about. This group, this group, this group. It's a set of shared attitudes. So it's more than just here's the list of things we do or don't do. There's attitudes involved in it. How we look at things and the degree to which we hold them as important or not. It's a set of shared values. We're all valuing the same things at the same level, so we're one in that regard. It's the same goals, the direction we're heading is the same way, so we're pulling each other along to reach that. It's practices that characterize an institution or organization. It's how we go about life. It's what we do. And think about that in a church setting. What do those things look like? What's our beliefs? What defines us as a group called Christians or specifically Maranatha Baptist Church? What are our shared attitudes and values and goals and practices that characterize us as people of God and the community that we live in? So culture then would be the expected norms for the church if we're talking about a church culture. And norms are developed and they're based on what for the Christian? Well, they're based on scripture. We have something outside of ourselves that's already defining that for us. And we're helping to move each other along those lines. So it's expected norms for a church. And transparency self gets defined like this, free from pretense, which means free from a claim being made or a claim being applied that's not supported by any fact. We just claim it as fact, but there is no fact supporting it. Or it's professed only with no real intention to carry it out. That would be pretense. Here's what I'm going to do for you. And it all sounds good as a profession, but there's actually no real intention or drive to carry it out. So it's just pretense. It's just talk, if you will. I looked into our cupboard, and in our cupboard, This was before I was working on the messages, a long time ago, but it came to my mind. And in the cupboard was this big jug, and it may even be left from the previous owner, I can't remember. But it had on it this statement, whiter teeth in seven days. So what does that mean? What is it being implied? When you read that statement, whiter teeth in seven days, what do you think is going to happen if you swish that around for seven days? Well, my thought would be this. I'm going to have noticeably sparkling whiter teeth than I did before, right? Because that's kind of what's implied. And maybe they're being honest because transparency goes right along with honesty. And maybe they're being honest but maybe what they're thinking is clinically. by minute testing that you can't see with your eyes. In seven days, your teeth are going to be whiter than they were before. You're just not going to see it. But clinically, they can prove it's whiter. Was there pretense there? Was there honesty there? Yeah, they were honest. In seven days, your teeth were whiter than they were before. Just not noticeable. But they were true. That's the idea that transparency is not, it's not that. Transparency is whatever is stated is exactly what is intended also. So that everything matches up. No fooling. And it's more than just honesty itself. It's free from any type of deceit. It is something that's easily detected. You ever talk to somebody and go, Run that by me again. Well, I'm going to, you're like, can you run that by me one more time? It's not clear. Transparency has clarity. Things are obvious when things are transparent. You're no guesswork in it. It's readily understood. It's made very plain. It's characterized by visibility and accessibility. I mean, you can actually see what's being talked about. So the word transparency, the problem is it's not found in the Bible anywhere. You can't do a Greek study on it. You can't do a Hebrew study on it. But I think that idea incorporates a lot of things that the Bible is describing. So what is it like in the context of a Christian relationship or in a ministry relationship like we have inside of a church when we're discipling or we're doing evangelism? Here's one definition that's offered. Transparency is living our lives reflecting Jesus's light. And what's the light of Christ? You know, the world came to light. In other words, it came to truth. came an understanding of how things really are, who God is, who Christ is. Everything that we need to know as human beings to worship our Father and come to a saving, excuse me, position in that. So transparency is living our lives reflecting Jesus's light. They know who Jesus is by what they see in us. They know what love is by the way we interact with each other. They know what truth is by the things that we speak. And it's very transparent. And it's very clear. And there's not mixed signals going back and forth. It goes on to say this, transparency is living our lives reflecting Jesus's light as we acknowledge our need for the gospel. That's transparent. Ever been in a spot in your life where you need to acknowledge that I have a need for gospel truth to be lived out in my life and I'm struggling with it? It's reminders from the gospel. It's accountability to what we believe. Everybody hates the word accountability. Because it's like, man, somebody's got some authority over me and they're watching over me. And the reality is, it's everybody watching over everybody. It's everybody with the word of God investing in everybody. And the accountability being held is not, okay, you got a mark against, you got a mark against, oh, you got a mark for, you balanced out right now. The accountability is, You have every right to get involved in my life when there's something in my life that you are witnessing that doesn't line up with the light of Jesus Christ. Transparency is supposed to allow that to happen. John 1-4 makes a statement, in him was the life, in Christ was the life, and the life was the light of man. It opened man's eyes to the truth. It distinguishes the truth. John 8, 12, and again Jesus spoke to them saying, I'm the light of the world. I am the exact living representation of truth to the entire world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness. Look at that clarity. Clarity about what God wants. Clarity about why they're here on earth. Clarity about what they're supposed to do in life. but will have the light of life. You'll possess this and you'll possess it in abundance. In other words, Christians become luminaries of this light that they receive from Jesus Christ and the truth that they received from God's word. They become luminaries. They make it visible. They make it plain. They make it really well known around them what Christianity really is and what it looks like when it's being lived out. It looks like Jesus Christ. Not to the same perfection. So transparency would be this. It's living our lives reflecting Jesus' light. As we acknowledge our need for gospel reminders, accountability, and the last part of that is repentance. You can add to that forgiveness too. Those two things are what make relationships work. And we're engaged in those pretty consistently if we are being transparent in our life and if others are investing in our life. You can't help but go through the Christian life without having some pretty good work, if you would, or pretty good challenge, if you would, and repentance and forgiveness. It also includes our need to be willing to be the inquirer. I mean, that's a hard thing. It's not real safe to come up to another Christian and go, can we talk? You made this statement to me the other day. And you did this to me and here's how it made me feel and why I'm coming to you. I think you were out of line. And to come with transparency and at the same time having the individual that's receiving the inquirer or the one that's coming to him that way to be able with transparency to receive and go, man, I didn't think it looked that way. I'm really sorry, let's talk. It's not only our need or our willingness to be the inquirer of someone's spiritual health, to get involved in lives, but with it comes the risk of what? When you get involved in somebody's life like that, what's the risk? black eye, rejection, rebuffed. What's the benefit of it? Somebody heading the wrong way gets turned around. God gets glorified in what's taking place. The benefits hugely outweigh what might be the risk. So why is transparency so difficult then? Well, a couple of reasons. I love the statement that John MacArthur always makes. Truth loves to be examined. When you're telling the truth, you don't fear people getting real picky about trying to figure out whether you were lying or not. You're like, it's all there. Go ahead, explore it. Dig around in it. It's all going to come out just like I said it is. I'm telling the truth. Truth loves to be examined. What does not like to be examined? Half truth. Partial truth. Guilt. Shame. Embarrassment. Any of those things that could come when somebody really starts examining. Those are the things that are often the barriers that allow us to be transparent in these type of relationships in church. Because I don't like to feel any of those things at all. But they're going to be part of life. Nobody can avoid them. There is no perfect Christian in the world. Pride won't always let us cry out for help either. Why? Because I can do it. And I can make it. I'm on my 25th try. But if I just keep going, I'm going to make it. At what point do you cry out? Sometimes pride won't allow us to be transparent. So here's three components. And again, you may attach more to these. One is a posture of humility for all this to work right. And here's just a list of things that come with pride. Pride causes us to overestimate our strength. I don't need other people in this Christian life. I'm doing quite well on my own. Pride keeps us from admitting our problem or sin. I don't agree with what you said. Sorry, you just got it all wrong. And the fact is, every time we have that conversation with somebody, hey, I think you might have wronged me. We're always on the defense. Actually, you're not seeing it the right way. There is no real inward look that takes place. Pride doesn't let us. Pride is the reason we hesitate to confess our sins to others. I mean, we're pretty good about confessing to God, but it's hard to confess to others, but that's a vital part of relationship to make things right. We might could say this too, pride makes us stubborn. It makes us dig in our heels, especially when someone seems to be pushing us. Proverbs 11.2 says this, when pride comes, here's the end result. Then comes disgrace. General statements of truth in Proverbs. You might get away with stuff, I might get away with stuff, but in general, when pride is operating in my life and it's the primary operator, the end result will, I will suffer disgrace. whether it becomes visible to everybody or I can keep it hidden in a corner, I'm gonna experience this. But with the humble come what? Says wisdom. So the Bible gives us an alternative to pride and the alternative to pride is always humility. I think humility is a very vital key in being transparent. Wisdom is basically this, a skillful use of the knowledge that we have. And in our case, it's a skillful use of the knowledge that the Bible gives us and the truth that we live by. By a posture of humility. Posture means this. We're already inclined that way. We just stand ready that way. Kind of like in Corinthians 13 where it says, love is not irritable. It gives the idea of love never stands with its dukes up. Some people stand ready to fight. That's just what their posture is. You're gonna get a good tangle if you get involved. This is exactly the opposite. The posture or the stance is humility first. Humility right away. We're already inclined that way. While humility is not listed as a fruit of the spirit, It's a result of the Spirit's work in the heart. It's a mindset, if you would, of the heart. Philippians 2 gives us a clear example from Christ what this humility looks like. So we get clarity. We get transparency. We don't have any reason to not understand what it actually looks like in the Christian life. So if there's any encouragement in Christ and any comfort from love, Any participation in the Spirit, if you're a Christian at all, you could say that. Any affection and any sympathy, Christ-like, towards other people. Complete my joy by being of the same mind. Having the same love. Being in full accord of one mind. This is reflected by the whole church. It's the culture of the church. It's the norm of the church and everybody in it. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. No pride. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. What would that look like in a day-long process? In your home, because that's where the rubber really meets. In a church body, nothing's done from selfish ambition or conceit. It's all for the glory of God, all for the betterment of others. But in humility, because this is something that we have to do, we're gonna have to put this on, because it doesn't come natural. Count others more significant than yourselves. I mean, we can put on humility even when we're not feeling the desire to put it on. Putting on humility is really honoring God and His commandments, even when it looks like it's going to be to our detriment. Because honoring God and loving God first and foremost is the motivation. It goes on to say this, let each of you look not only to his own interests. And it doesn't mean you can't have own interests, because it says just don't look to his own interests, but also, So you do have your own interests and you do have things you gotta keep up. Nobody's saying drop all that. But it shouldn't be the main thing. But also the interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves. This is a body thing, a church-wide thing. Which is yours in Christ. Again, go back and just look at the Sunday school lesson. Be helpful in that way. who though he was in the form of God, God in human flesh, he did not count his equality with God a thing to be grasped at because there was a reason he was here in human flesh. He empties himself by taking on the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbles himself by becoming obedient to the ultimate thing, the death. and the death of the cross. Turn if you would to Colossians chapter three. Paul makes a statement, but now you must put them all away. anger, wrath, malice, slander, and he's saying we have been given the ability in Christ to go through the process of putting these away, not in perfection, but not to have them be the controlling factor in life, and do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practice, and the grammar really means this is something that has been done for you already. God has already put off the old self. You and I can't do that. This is the reason why we're gonna be able to put off all the other things listed here. This is the heartbeat of it. And put on the new self. You don't get to put on the new self or become a new creature in Christ all on your own doing. God does that. He goes on to say this, here there is not Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all in all. He's it. He's everything. Put on then, here comes the human responsibility of what God has already done because of our salvation and making us a new creature. He put off our old and because he did, here's what you and I are responsible to put on. Put on as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved by God, completely set apart by him. Compassionate hearts. We don't have compassionate hearts. across the board. We can have compassionate heart towards certain individuals, just naturally. We just get along with them. They're nice people. They're really enjoyable to do things for. And then there's, and you can fill that blank in on your own, put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, acts that are beneficial. for other people, especially in the Christian realm, moving them towards God. And there's our word humility. Put on humility. Counting others, go back to the flipping verse, it tells us exactly what humility looks like. And put on meekness and patience. And again, we can go to other passages and know that we can. Because we have the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is producing these things in us. Bearing with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. All the time this happens in the church body, or ought to be happening. If it's not, we've become perfected. We've reached the ultimate. And there's no need for forgiveness or repentance. Bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. So I'm gonna say humility is essential for transparency. It's essential if sin ends up being confronted with. It's essential to repent when we are confronted and we look and go, yeah, I did that. And it's essential to be able to forgive like God forgives us so that relationship's restored. There's also a posture of love. Stand ready to love. Stand already loving the other people. Even if you don't know them real well right now, stand ready to love them because they're part of this body. They're owned by Christ. Colossians 3.14 says, and above all these, at the pinnacle of everything, make sure you put on love, because this is the glue. It binds everything together. And what's the result? Perfect harmony, a perfect working together in a way that we ought. So the world sees Jesus Christ in the relationships of people in the church. And we can go through an outward form of being loving, but this is talking about the heart that's driving it also. And we learn from this in Galatians, that biblical love involves confrontation. You can't not have this as part of your life. Brothers, if anyone's caught in a transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness and keep watch on yourselves, because you could be tempted in the same way they've fallen, but with gentleness of spirit, you have to go and confront. Why? Because you love them. If somebody was walking towards a cliff and you knew at the end of the path there was a cliff, would you warn them? No. Guy's a jerk. Hope he breaks his leg. What does love do? There's a cliff at the end of the path you're on, and you always fall off. There is no not falling off the path you're on. You will fall off. Love has to confront. James states it this way in chapter five and verse 19, my brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, somebody in the body is addressing them, Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering saves his soul from death and covers a multitude of sin. Somebody has to be that person. Who is it? Well, Galatians says, well, if anyone is caught, in other words, if you come upon somebody who's caught in a sin, or if somebody is caught in a sin and you're made aware of it, get involved. And Ephesians 4.15 says this, but speaking the truth in love. And speaking the truth in love is not just speaking the Bible into a situation. Because we can do that, and we often do that a lot. We throw a verse at a situation, we go, there. Now you have it. And they're going, I don't see how it fits. Nice verse. I don't see how it fits. It's of no real help to me. The truth here, too, when it's talking about truth, it's actually talking in a broad way, not only the gospel truth and its application, but having an accurate view of the situation you're talking into. And how can you have an accurate view of the situation that you are talking or speaking into with the word of God without ever getting to know the person you're actually dealing with? and finding out what all the facts are, and trying to, the best you can, use the Word of God to match and meet the situation and the need that's at hand. That's when it becomes dynamite. And we can't do that on the outside, looking in. We're going to have to be involved and get involved. Maybe roll your pant legs up and let them get dirty in the muck, so to speak. Not involved in the sin. But you might have to jump in where you don't really feel comfortable. But that's speaking the truth in love. Why? And he's giving this to the whole body, not just to leadership. Speak the truth in love so that we may grow up into him who is Christ in all things. which is the head and even Christ. So confrontation makes for awkward conversations because they're not the norm usually right now in church. But if we get involved in this way, getting involved like that in the future becomes the norm. It just becomes what we do because God asked us to do it. Love removes the fear and difficulty in the sharing. 4, excuse me, 4.18 says, there's no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love, and context is more about fear and future judgment coming, and for the Christian, there is no fear and future judgment coming. The love of God and the giving of Christ and salvation takes all of that away. I think by extension can understand, too, that this love ought to remove fear in relationship, too, of you and I and back and forth and approaching and being approached. We love because he what? He first loved us. So be the one to step forward. Be the one to show the love that's necessary in this situation. If anyone says I love God but down in his heart he's actually hating a brother inside of the very body he exists in, Biola says we're lying. That's a harsh statement. That's one thing I love about John and hate about John. He is just black and white and he doesn't give wiggle room to us. So fruit of the spirit. is what we cannot completely, we cannot really produce by human effort. We cannot produce it. It must come from the work of the Spirit. Through the Spirit, says Galatians, is love, self-sacrifice. It's joy, calm, delight. It's settled peace, quietness and rest. It's patience or forbearance and the willing to be long-suffering for the long haul. It is kind. It's useful. It's beneficial. It's full of goodness. And it's faithful, full of moral conviction, if you would, in the context we're talking about. So humility is put on more and more as we are growing in love through the work of the spirit. And love initiates what starts out as an awkward conversation for us. And repetition of being involved in that way takes what is awkward and brings it to what becomes normal in the Christian life. We might say this as a closing statement. Honesty, because that's certainly part of transparency, but it goes beyond just honest. It's the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And all of the truth. Humility. Love. These three components I think are major in transparency. You may have more than you go, no, this needs to be added too. And here's what it produces by its natural effect in relationships. Trust and security. You ever have a relationship that did not have trust in it? And you did not feel security in it? How did the relationship go for you? And I'll close with this example. My brother Steve is really transparent, really transparent. I am much more guarded than he is. So Robin had a much greater and more beneficial and awesome experience with coming to the point that she decided Steve's the one. Because you know what he did? He decided. She's the one. Do you know when he decided? October. The October that was just after the end of August when he first met Robin. And he met her because he was on baggage duty at the girl's dorm. So when they came, he had to take baggage up to the girl's dorm. And Robin was in charge of the floor. So he had to pass Robin every time and she had to yell up, hey, man in the hall, man's in the hall. And then up he came with the luggage and they would talk back and forth. So he asked her out. And by October, we're coming back from a soccer game and he says, I told her I loved her today. I said, you did what? I told Robin I loved her. Are you nuts? Nope. I just know what I know now. And she's the one. And I wanted to let her know because I don't want her to have any misgivings about what my intentions are and how I feel. Do you think Robin felt secure? Well, in one way, no. Like, you love me? I said, did she say it back? No. She said she could not say that right now. Well, are you discouraged? Well, no. I didn't expect her to. But she will because I'm going to keep loving her. So Robyn may have a little fear like that, because when someone all of a sudden says, I love you, and you're like, I am not there yet. That's scary. But Robyn knew where Steve stood through the entire thing. Michelle, on the other hand, because of time, I'm going to shorten this. When I proposed to her, she said to me, are you being serious? I'm like, yeah. I didn't have a ring right with me because she had watched a movie. I mean, I had a ring. I just didn't have it with me at that time. I had her arrested at Wauhide in Arizona by the sheriff there. It only cost $20 to do it. And her charge was, you are being arrested for planning a wedding without being engaged. And the whole crowd got to watch her get put in jail. And when I knelt down, and in her mind, she had watched a movie where all a guy had when he proposed was a, what do you call it, a piece of wire, you know, you close the bread with. And he wrapped it around her finger. And I remember that from talking with her, so I wrapped that around her finger. And she's like, are you for real? And I went, this is real, yeah. Okay, everything changed. But why did she ask me that question? Because if you talk to her, she'd say, write up until not even when you proposed to me. But after you proposed to me was when I realized you really loved me. Because I didn't give her the type of security that Steve gave Robin. I was way more guarded. After proposal, after acceptance, okay, deal's done. Let's just open the floodgates. For me, the floodgates came open. For her, that was just normal life with normal guys, and we spent a lifetime of her continuing to open the doors that I close so that I can open them. So, excuse me, honesty, humility, love, keys to transparency. They produce trust and they produce security in relationships. And when trust and security's there, relationships flourish. They just go hog wild. And Galatians tells us there is no law to control true love. God-like love. Just let it go. And that is key to this idea of a culture of transparency that's really supposed to mark a church. And the world even gets some of this, because they're trying to incorporate it into their businesses to have a better working environment that produces more and is more beneficial to others. So certainly ought not we? inside of our church, become testimonies of that to the community around us and anybody that visits our church too. Lord God, we are grateful for who you are. We are grateful for your patience with us. Lord, help us to be grateful when you send people into our lives to have awkward conversations with us. Lord, help us to be genuine. Help us to be transparent. Lord, help us to be honest and help us to be humble. And Lord, help us to love like you love. And Lord, may we see not only this church grow as we reach out into the community who does not know you, may what they see and what they experience with your people be very appealing. And at the same time, dear God, we ask that you'd help us to grow as a church to the measure and the stature of Christ. And we need your help with that. And we need everybody's help in our life for that to occur. And we'll be grateful for that and give you all the praise and glory. In your name, amen.