Good evening to everyone. Well, actually, I have you going to Romans 12, but I want to make a comment first from Galatians 5. And the first place we'll actually go is 1 Thessalonians 3. So 1 Thessalonians 3. But we'll see two loves tonight, two loves, two different loves. I'd like to open this evening with the fruit of the Spirit is love. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love. And we know that love to be that agape love, that very special love that originates with God. It originates with God. And because it originates with God, it can only be given by God. But even after it is given by God to those whom God saves, it must be nourished, it must be cultivated, and it must be practiced in your life. And beloved, that is how it will flourish and mature and grow in you. That is how it will flourish and mature and grow in you. Think about it, when God first saved you, You're not instantly saved in the realm of full maturity in Christ. You must grow in grace, and your love will abound, or it should abound. You should become more loving. The love of Christ in you should come out of you more as you grow in grace. It would be great if it was like that, and we instantly had everything in full maturity, but that's not how it works. As newborn babes, We desire the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby. And so this love, beloved, must grow. But the fruit of the spirit is love, so you have it. You have the underpinnings of every love that will come out of you from that agape love that is in you. And if that agape love is in you, all subordinate loves will come out of you in the best way that they can. So let's pray, and then we'll read 1 Thessalonians 3, just a few verses there, but pray with me. Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your love, which you express to us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your kindness to us in your salvation. Thank you Heavenly Father, that you allow us to come together freely, Father, without fear of reprisal, to open up your word. Thank you that we can carry our Bibles and open out in public. Father, there are many and many nations that cannot do that. Thank you, Father, for your mercy. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that I believe you'll speak to us tonight. I pray that we would have ears to hear and eyes to see. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. So 1 Thessalonians 3.11, look at what Paul said here to the church at Thessalonica. And many would see the church at Thessalonica to be a model church. But notice here, now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another. See that? Increase and abound in love one toward another, toward all men, even as we do toward you. And now look at verse 9 of chapter 4, same book. But as touching brotherly love, and that's gonna be part of the subject in Romans 12, 10, as touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are, notice, taught of God to love one another. Beloved, that's where we ought to be, taught of God. And how are we gonna be taught of God to love like Christ commands us to love? by being in the Word, by knowing more of the Lord Jesus Christ, by worshiping Him more, by fellowshipping in the church, by coming under the means of grace, the preaching of God's Word in the church, beloved. And then by cultivating that love of Christ in your own personal society out in the world. God's given you what you need, and now you are to cultivate that and foster that. And get ready, because God's gonna give you some challenging people to love. But that's where your love is actually going to blossom and grow. And so 2 Thessalonians, look there, just two verses there. Second Thessalonians 1.3, we are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is me, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity or the agape love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth, it grows. And listen, that's, when we see this, and here's where we ask ourselves questions again. Here's where you ask yourself, Lord, is my love growing? Is the love of Christ in me coming out of me more? And so this is the challenge, and we should ask ourselves these questions, ask ourselves these questions. And we should seek that our love would abound more and more, and we should commit this to prayer, definitely. Jesus said this, he said, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, That you also love one another, and by this love, this agape, shall all men know that you are my disciples. When people come in here, they should see that. They should experience that. They should feel that agape love. Loved is the verb agapeo. As I have loved you, agapeo, that's the verb. Agape is the noun. And so, beloved, we ought to have that love. Now, Romans 12.10. Romans 12.10. Now we will read of two loves, two loves, plural, that are not agape. But if the expressions of these two loves is to be genuine, this love must come from the hearts of those who already possess agape love within them. And so see there, verse 10, one verse, be kindly affectionate, or affectioned rather, and it means affectionate, be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another. Now you all know what it is to be affectionate, don't you? We all do. It's intuitively obvious. Now, to be kindly affectioned or affectionate comes from two Greek words, philos and storge. Combined, they communicate the natural love and affection that exists in families. Natural love between fathers, mothers, and children. There's a natural love. You don't have to teach it. It's just there. When Jojo screams and runs up to me and gives me a hug, that's natural love. And so this is what this communicates. Be kindly affectioned one to another with this brotherly love. Be kindly affectioned or affectionate is the word philos storgos. Aestorgos, as in Romans, you can read that. Aestorgos, it's like, it means no natural love. And there are many people that have no natural love in the world. Romans 131, it says that those that are given up to their own heart's lust, or God gives them over to a reprobate mind, they're without natural affection. That's what that means. So Paul's saying here, he's teaching the Romans and he's teaching us that there should be a love within the church between us. There should be a love between us in the church, my friends. It should exist between us as brethren, and it should look very much like the natural love of a blood family. But we're not a blood family, we're a spiritual family. But Paul's saying that kind affection one for another should exist in the church. Now Benjamin Warfield wrote this, it is not natural for people to love God or the things and people of God. It's not natural for lost people to love the things of God or to love the people of God. But it is natural for them to love their own families. So see, natural love. So in the church, beloved, Paul's teaching us, the church of the family of God, there should be a spiritual family love in the church that looks very much like natural family love. I mean, you understand what I'm saying? People should come in and they say, y'all look like a family. That's what the church should look like. And that's what Paul's saying, be kindly affectioned one for another. So bottom line, if you're a child of God, you should assimilate very easily into the church body. You should become part of it. And you've probably experienced that if you ever go to another church or you meet different brethren from another state that you've never met before, it's like you've known them forever because you have a kindred spirit. And you know why that is? Because you're from the same daddy. You're from the same father. And so there's a relation there. So that kind affection or that affection should exist. How do we pray? Our father. The natural man can't say that. A lost sinner can't say our father. We can because we serve and love the same heavenly father. So it stands to reason that there should be a natural spiritual family love and affection between us since we have the same father. And listen, there's always going to be sibling rivalries and the kids fight amongst themselves at times. But beloved, our heavenly father loves us as his children. Each of us as his children should love our heavenly father, right? And we should also love each other as contemporary children of the same Heavenly Father. We're members of the same family. We're members of the family of God. And we should even be a cut above, a big cut above natural family, because listen, there are some natural families that are just fractured. I mean, you know, most natural families have fractures in them. but it should never be so in the church. That's why it disheartens me so much when I hear of maybe a church meeting going on and the members, the professed believers of Christ, are yelling at each other and shaking their fists at one another. Wait a minute. that doesn't look like a spiritual family. And it should never be so among us, my friends. Look at Galatians 3.26. Let me show you this. Listen, we're all children of the same Father. We're all children of God. Doesn't matter where we're from. Doesn't matter what country we're from. Doesn't matter whether we're Jews or Gentiles. We're all children of God. And it should be seen practically in here. 3.26. For ye are all children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. And of course, in the context here, Paul's telling the Galatians, you're not servants, you're sons. You're not servants, you're children. It's kind of what we just read in Hebrews recently. Moses was a servant, but Christ was a son. And so, beloved, we're sons. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon you, dear believers in Christ, in that you should be called sons and daughters of God, children of God. Listen, that's got to mean something. And listen, this is where our Christianity needs to be real. I mean, listen, if you go into a church and you get the cold shoulder, something's wrong. When you go into the body of Christ, into a church of the living God, where people believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that love has been shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, beloved, there should be an otherworldly love experienced by those that come in that you don't get out there. It should be so here. Ephesians 1, just one other passage. There are several places, but for the sake of time, we won't go too many places tonight, just a few examples. Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." You have been adopted into the family of God. We're brothers and sisters. When you call each other brother or sister, what you're saying is we have the same Heavenly Father. And we are truly closer in many respects and in many cases. I am closer to many of you than I am to my own blood, brothers and sisters, because we share the same Heavenly Father, the Eternal Father. And so, beloved, that's a precious thing. Listen, as many as received Him, to them gave He the power, it means the right or the privilege to become children of God, sons of God. which were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but were born of God." That's really special stuff. I pray that you can enter into that and consider that. So, be kindly affectioned one to another. Then he says, here's the second love, so kindly affection is that philostoros, It's a dear fondness that we should have for one another. It's to be a likeness or a resemblance of a natural family love. It should exist here in the church. Then he says, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love. This is a different love. Brotherly love, and I know you've heard this word. It's the Greek word philadelphia. philadelphia you've heard pennsylvania philadelphia pennsylvania is called the city of what brotherly love you'll hear that as a church or as the city of god there should be a visible and fond loving family affection that exists between us all between every one of us i read this quote from aristotle i like reading some of the philosophers sayings aristotle said this Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. That's good, huh? And I'll give you a chapter and verse that goes with that. Jonathan loved David as his own soul. Love is a single soul inhabiting two bodies. So that love, Jonathan and David had that love and they said, actually it was written, it passed the love of women. It was a very special love. Beloved, I believe what they had was an otherworldly love between them. So, be kindly affection. We are to have that fondness, we are to be like a family and it's to be brotherly love. Hebrews 13, you don't have to turn there, It's just a few verses. It's a few words in verse 1. Hebrews 13, 1. Let brotherly love continue. Let it continue. And so we're to do that. Now, 1 Peter 1, 22. Turn there. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 22. So let it continue. Let brotherly love continue. 1 Peter 1.22, Peter says here, through the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, unto unfamed or genuine love of the brethren. Love of the brethren there is the word Philadelphia. It's that Greek word. See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. So you can see that one another. It's a good study if you ever want to do that to go throughout the scriptures and find all of the one another's. You'll find many of them in the book of John. 2 Peter, just one more reference there, 2 Peter 1.3. 2 Peter. I love this portion of the scripture that Peter writes in verse three. He says, after a salutation, he says, according as his, that's God's divine power, hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that have called us to glory and virtue. So God's given you everything you need to live the Christian life. He's given it all to you. So you think, well, I don't have to do anything, right? No, because Peter goes on and says, now it's time for you to add, now's the active part that you do. Notice, he says, verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these promises ye might be partakers of the divine nature. You see that? Partakers of the divine nature, that's having, the nature of God in you. He says having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust and besides this give all diligence means for you to make every effort that's what that word means give all diligence means make every effort to add to your faith virtue so add to your faith and to virtue knowledge, the word adds not there, but it's implied. So you add to virtue knowledge and you add to knowledge temperance. And to temperance, you add patience. And to patience, you add godliness. And then here's our subject matter. And to godliness, brotherly kindness, Philadelphia. And to brotherly kindness, notice this, agape, charity. That's that love that comes from God and from God alone. Beloved, we should want that. And listen, I would make that a matter of prayer and seeking God and say, Lord, I want this agape love in me so that my brotherly love and my kindness and affection for the brethren will be the best that it could be. It will be better than if I tried to do it myself. But beloved, when we have that agape love that underpins every other subordinate love that comes out of us, then the Lord's going to help us, but we need to depend upon him. We need to have, forgive the term, his equipment if we're going to do the work right. And so, beloved, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and then finally in honor, preferring one another or giving preference to one another. And this is kind of how it looks. And listen, people in the world are always competing against each other to be better than each other. Y'all know that. I mean, you're in the world. And I know there's friendly competition in certain aspects of things, but when it enters into your Christianity, and there's a competition in your Christianity in the church, that's not good. Kind of like in 1 Corinthians, they had that strife. I am of Paul, I am of Apollos. They were fighting over which preacher was gonna get the preeminence. Paul straightened him out and he says, no, I am of Christ. And beloved, that's who we need to be of. But listen, there's a whole lot of, you've maybe heard this term, there's a whole lot of one-upsmanship in the world. You know what one-upsmanship is? It's basically that you're going to be motivated by pride to outdo your friend. Look it up. I didn't know it was an actual word. It is. We used to use it all the time in the military. But one, upsmanship. It's when you're trying to outdo another person just to show them that you're better. I'm better than you and I'm gonna prove it. Well, that's pride and that shouldn't exist in our Christianity. In the church, dear Christian, and in the family of God, we are not to behave in such ways. But I would say, If you would outdo your brother or sister in Christ, let it be that you take the lead or outdo them by giving them preference over you. Put them first. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. And so honor your brethren and outdo them in this way, not in a proud way, but let your motivation be the love of Christ. Prefer them, make them the one that's first. Look at 2 Corinthians 12 20. And I'll show you some of the problems. And this was happening in the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 12 20. And you know, if you've read the Corinthian letters, there were some real problems in these churches, or this church rather. Paul says in verse, 20 of chapter 12, 2 Corinthians, for I fear, lest when I come to you, church at Corinth, I shall not find you such as I would walking with God, and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not, lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, and tumults. Those are all just other words for one upsmanship. Look at Galatians 5.16. Galatians 5.16. Now listen, I'm not saying that any of that is here. That's just where we're at in the text. So we should, in honor, honor our brethren by giving preference to one another. There's another one of those, one another's. Galatians 5, 16, Paul says, and these are the works of the flesh. This I say, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. How do you walk in the spirit? You can't unless you're in the word. You walk in the spirit by obeying the word and living the word and practicing the word and cultivating the word in your life. And so he says, walk in the spirit. But if you be led by the spirits, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and these are them. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, which is being contentious and full of strife, Emulations, which is jealousy, another word for jealousy. Wrath, you don't need me to explain that one. Strife, which is a desire to put oneself forward. It's like a rivalry. It's being a competitor. It's one-upsmanship. Seditions, which is promoting disharmony or disunion in the body of Christ. And then Heresies, verse 21, end beings. End beings means jealousy just for spite. And so we can see that there were problems with some of these things in the churches. Listen, how many families are there out there that are so fractured and dysfunctional because of all these sins? Families, I'm talking about natural families. I mean, I got them in my natural family. Beloved, it should not be so in the church. And of course, Paul's talking to the churches at Galatia here. It should not and must not be so among us, dear brethren, in the church or in the family of God. So if you would be better than your brother or your sister in Christ, let it be that you are striving in a good way, striving to take the lead. If you want to be first in something, take the lead in putting them ahead of yourself. And that's really the sense of what Paul is saying here. Honor them, put them ahead of yourself, prefer them, give them preference. Philippians 2, just a few passages and we'll be done. Philippians 2 and verse 3. Philippians 2 and verse 3. And listen, this is not the propensity of the natural heart. The natural heart wants to be first. The natural heart is all about one-upsmanship. The natural heart is all about contentions and strife or pride. But beloved, if you walk in the Spirit, that should not be who you are. So Philippians 2, 3, Paul says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Vainglory, hey, look at me. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Give preference. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And so, beloved, that's who we should be. First Corinthians 10, just a few Actually 13 for 1st Corinthians 13 and then Hebrews 1st Corinthians 13 for You know this chapter is the chapter one of the love chapters In the New Testament notice charity or love Suffereth long it is kind and Charity envieth not. So if the love of Christ is in you, your propensity should be away from envy. Charity vaunteth not itself. Doesn't blow up. Like when I think of vaunting, you ever see those blowfish? Well, that's some people, they want all the attention. So charity vaunteth not itself. Charity is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly. Seeketh not her own, but others. is not easily provoked and thinketh no evil. And finally, the last passage, Hebrews 10, 24. Hebrews. The writer of the Hebrews pens this in chapter 10 in verse 23 and 24. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised, And let us, and I like to say, let me consider the others. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. So let us think about others, beloved. And that's who we should be in Christ. So finally, again, be kindly affectioned or affectionate one to another. We should look like the family of God. When someone comes in and doesn't know us, one thing they should know about us is that we're a family. Be kindly affection or affectionate one to another with brotherly love. In honor, preferring one another. Putting them first. Making sure that we look not on ourselves or try and call attention to ourselves, but we want to defer to our brothers and sisters in Christ. And so, beloved, I pray this is who we would be. I think that God's helped us in many ways in this passage. In fact, I thought about our church as I prepared this. But brethren, let us foster, cultivate, let us nourish this truth in our hearts as we dismiss this night. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this passage in the scriptures, I pray. Heavenly Father, that more than anything, people would not see us, but that they would see the love of Christ in us. That they would see that you are our Father, and Father, we are all children of the same Heavenly Father, and that we love one another as we should. Oh Lord, let there never be disunions or disharmony or envy or jealousies or strife between us. Father, we know that when that happens, then we are not in the center of your revealed will. For Lord, what is our doctrine if we know all of the truth, if we have not love? Lord, it'll profit us nothing. And so help us, Father, to be the right representation of what we should be in Christ before all those that will come in and meet us and, Father, even toward all those whom we go out into the world and meet. May they see Christ in us and not us. And we'll give you the praise in Jesus' name. Amen.