Well, I do want to invite you, if you would, to turn back again to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And as you do, I want to just say a huge public thank you to a lot of people who have been serving behind the scenes week in and week out to make our services happen. That would include the guys who are involved with the sound and the audio visual, with Facebook Live, with All of it, that includes John Gideon, Rodney Mitchell, and Zach Stover. For many months, they have all been working incredibly hard to make these things happen. Whether we've been meeting inside, and as you know, for many weeks we've been meeting outside, and we'll presumably be doing so again next week. But there's so much work that they've been doing to make that happen. Also, some of our ushers and other folks who have helped get the auditorium and the fellowship hall ready for our time together this morning. Gary Francisco, Sam Cooke, a number of others who are involved in helping with all of that. So I just want to say thank you. And for any of you who are here, for any of you who are here on Facebook Live, don't miss the opportunity to thank these folks because there's a ton of work that they're doing to make it all happen. And also want to say thank you to those of you have been praying for myself and my family as you know, with the fires this last week a lot of folks in Lori's family had to evacuate they live over in the Santa Cruz mountains up above Santa Cruz and five, they represent five different homes altogether that had to be evacuated we don't know the condition or status of their homes at this point. Lori's parents came to be with us on Thursday evening and are going to be with us indefinitely now. So we covet your prayers as we have really the blessing and the privilege of ministering to them in this time. But we greatly appreciate your prayers and really encourage everyone to be a part of our community groups tonight. As Spencer mentioned earlier, just a good opportunity to touch base. And even in the context of Zoom, which isn't what we would all desire, but it's better than nothing. It's just a time to interact, to talk, to discuss, to share how we can be praying for one another and then to do so, and we really encourage you to be a part of that. Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, this marvelous chapter that helps us know and understand more of the nature of God's holy love in Jesus Christ and what it is he calls us to as his people in imitating that very love. Well, as amid the unique and challenging days in which we are living, what a thrill it is, isn't it, to rejoice with families among us who have recently had or are soon to have new babies coming in to their homes. I mentioned as I prayed, Nate and Lila Trenary, she gave birth a few days ago to Jude Smokey. And yes, now Smokey has a namesake and how appropriate even in the midst of all of these fires. But we do rejoice with them and with the whole Nevins family in this new addition. And of course, a week and a half ago, the Ingrams welcomed little Solomon. And as many of you know, Albert and Linda Bondar are expecting their third child any day now. And then in the month of September, Jeff and Lucy Presnell, also who are, of course, connected with the Nevins family, they're also anticipating their fourth little child in September. And as you think about it, when new babies come into a family, one of the wonderful things that you see instantly kick in with parents is a comprehensive care for this new little life. There's something about this that is profound, it's tenacious, and it is beautiful. And no doubt the responsibility is difficult and challenging, and every parent can easily feel overwhelmed, unequipped, and deeply inadequate for the task. But that fact doesn't change their longing to learn to love and to do good for this new little human being that they have been entrusted with. and however imperfect and fatiguing those parents may be at times, the love of parents for their children is always working. And the kind of comprehensive commitments that moms and dads make in loving and raising their kids is really a picture of the kind of holy love that should be abundant between brothers and sisters in the family of God. And it's, of course, the kind of holy love that Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And we've been revisiting this chapter to be reminded and to be provoked afresh of what it means to know and grow in the holy and supernatural love of God in Christ and how we're to exhibit this love among one another as his people. And I wanna just have you listen again to how Paul describes this holy love in verses four to seven of chapter 13. He says, love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Now Paul's aim in this chapter is to call Christians to pursue holy love in every relationship all the time. So if you're here today and you're a Christian, God says to you that you are to pursue a life of holy love in the local church and beyond the local church. Now, Paul stresses the urgency of this call in this chapter with really three points that I'll just mention again. He says, first of all, in verses one to three, that holy love is essential. It doesn't matter what kind of spiritual gifts, abilities, knowledge, power, influence, or sacrifice even that you may have. If you don't have this holy love, you are nothing and you gain nothing. It is essential, Paul says. The second point that Paul makes in verses 4 through 7 is that this holy love is extraordinary. Now, Paul describes the extraordinary beauty of this holy love as he begins in the beginning of verse 4 by saying that it is patient and kind. This holy love overflows with the patience and the kindness of Jesus, and Christians are to respond to the injuries and to the offenses of others with an inner emotional calm and with a kind disposition that says to another person, in essence, I am here to do you good. It doesn't matter what you may do to me, my only aim is to do you good. Love is patient and kind. And then as we saw last week in the rest of verses 4 through 6, Paul gives eight negatives showing what holy love is not and what it does not do. And these negatives emphasize that holy love works hard to build up rather than to destroy other people. And these negatives really show the selfishness and the pride that the Corinthians were so grossly guilty of. And all of this, as we find throughout the entire letter that Paul has written, all of this is what created much division and much destruction within the Corinthian church. Well, then in verse 7, Paul concludes his description of the extraordinary beauty of holy love. He concludes it with these four all-things statements. And then in verses 8 through 13, he goes on to talk about the fact that holy love is eternal. And so those are his three main points, that holy love is essential, that it is extraordinary, and that it is eternal. Well, we're in the midst of this second point and probing a little deeper into it, and we're looking in particular this morning at what he says in verse 7 with these all things statement. And so we ask the question, well, what's the point of these all things statements that Paul makes in verse 7? Well, think of it this way. If verses 4 through 6 give us both a positive and a negative description of what holy love is and what it is that it does and does not do, then verse 7 is really the emphatic exclamation point. In other words, verses four to six show us that holy love works hard to build up rather than to destroy other people. And what verse seven says is that this is what holy love always does. It always works hard to build up rather than to destroy people. Holy love is always working. That's the point of verse 7. It is always working for the highest good of the beloved. Always. It's the exclamation point. Now in this brief sentence, Paul drives home four comprehensive commitments of holy love. These are comprehensive commitments that holy love makes. Now obviously in verse seven, they're very simple, they're very easy to see, but we're gonna look at each one of them in a little bit of detail to really get the force and the significance of what it is that Paul is saying. So here's the first. comprehensive commitment that holy love makes, and that is that holy love always bears all things. Holy love always bears all things. Love bears all things. Now, it's important to note that this doesn't mean to endure in the sense of perseverance, because Paul uses that very term, as we'll see at the end of verse 7. But rather, the best sense of the term has to do with covering. It has to do with covering. And it includes the idea of protection. In other words, it's the idea of covering something closely and tightly so that you keep other things out. Kind of like the way swimming goggles cover your eyes to keep the water out. So goggles protect, they seal off, they cover your eyes. In fact, the New International Version translates this term as protect. It's that sense of to cover, to protect. Now we understand in relationships with people, this sense of bearing all things then means to cover, it means to put up with the annoyances or difficulties from others for the sake of a greater good. It means that in the face of the weaknesses, the irritations, and the sins of others, love is always working to cover and to protect the highest good of the person. To bear all things doesn't mean to ignore or minimize the sins and offenses of other people. Instead, it means to respond with a loving eagerness to forgive, to restore, and to do good to a person rather than to seek revenge, destruction, and harm for the person. And so to bear all things means to avoid responding to the imperfections and faults of others with all of the ungodly responses that Paul has just spoken of in verses 4 to 6. Love bears all things. Now, it's interesting, Paul uses this same word, bear, just one other place in this letter to the Corinthians, and it's in chapter 9. And in the context there, Paul is talking about how he gladly sets aside his rights for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of the good of the gospel in other people's lives. And specifically, even though Paul and his companions knew that they had a right to receive income from people as preachers of the gospel, what he's saying is that he set this right aside so that he wouldn't be an obstacle to other people in their receiving of the gospel. Here's what he says. I'm just going to read verse 12 from 1 Corinthians 9. He says, nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, he says, but we endure. And that's our same word that's translated in chapter 13, verse 7 as bear. It's the same Greek word. He says, we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. And what Paul is saying in this context is that for the good of other people and for the advancement of the gospel in people's lives, and in the hope that nothing would unnecessarily hinder their reception of the gospel, he is setting aside his right to be paid as a preacher. What does that mean? What it means is that he is covering the cost himself. He and his companions are literally absorbing the expense themselves. In other words, he's protecting the opportunity for people to freely hear the gospel by covering the cost himself. Friends, this is what it means to bear all things. It means to cover, to absorb the expense of someone else's sins, weaknesses, faults, vulnerabilities, and idiosyncrasies. It means to always protect and to work hard for their highest good despite their sin and imperfection. It means to be patient. It means to be kind. It means to be ready to forgive. It means to not gossip in all the subtle ways that we can try to do that. It means to not seek revenge, to not slander, to not destroy. To bear all things, to cover another person's sin is kind of like being shock absorbers on a car. It means to absorb the rough and the bumpy parts of another person's life for their good. This is not a random concept in Scripture. It's quite frequent. Listen to a few passages from Proverbs and then one else in 1 Peter. Proverbs 10, verse 12 says, Proverbs 11, verse 13 says, Proverbs 17 verse 9 says, whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends. And then in the New Testament, 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8, Peter says, above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. Now, of course, isn't this what God in Jesus has done and continually does for those who trust Him? 1 Peter 2 verse 24 says that Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. And through his blood, when he suffered on the cross, as he bore our sins and he bore God's wrath for our sins, Jesus once and for all covered the cost that we deserved to pay. He absorbed the expense of the righteous justice and judgment of God for all who would believe on Him. And because He covered the cost, He protected our highest good, namely, the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life in the presence of God. And even now, for we who are believers, even as we still battle indwelling sin, even as we are filled with weaknesses and faults and vulnerabilities and idiosyncrasies, Jesus lovingly, patiently, kindly, and comprehensively bears all things with us. He covers us. Beloved, if Jesus bears all things with us, we should say, since Jesus bears all things with us, can we do anything less than but to bear all things with our brothers and sisters in Christ? One way we might think about this, for those of you who are children, young children here this morning, whether present here or on Facebook, You who are listening, have you ever thought about all of the things that your parents do in bearing with you? The many ways that they cover the cost of things for you. From before you were born, they protected and they nourished you. And following your arrival in this world, they've fed you, they've changed your diapers, they've given you a place to live, they've fixed things that you've broken, they've bought you clothes and other things, they drive you all over the place. And they've tried to teach and educate you, and not only about things in this world, but about God and His salvation in Jesus. Now, of course, they haven't done this perfectly. No parent is perfect. But my point is, children, for the most part, they've tried to love you. They've tried to bear with you. They've covered you. Just thinking about that, kids, let me just ask you, when's the last time you thanked your parents for bearing with you, for all the different things that they do in trying to love you and for putting up with you despite your own weaknesses and your own occasional sins? It might be a good thing to thank them even today. But we all can take inventory of how others have bared with us, and all the more how God bears with us as His children. Well, for all of us, how many things must we bear with when it comes to other people? What does Paul say in verse 7? All things, all things. It's a comprehensive commitment of holy love. Anything another person is and anything they might do to us, everything another person is, everything that they might do to us, we must cover, we must absorb, we must protect because love, holy love, always bears all things. Well, here's the second comprehensive commitment that holy love makes. It always believes all things. Love believes all things. And this means that holy love believes the best that it possibly can about another person. Holy love resists the temptation to believe the worst. Holy love always works hard to not be suspicious or distrustful of others, but rather it strives to interpret the words, the actions, and the motives of other people in the best possible light. In other words, holy love always falls in the direction of being generous and trusting rather than being unduly suspicious, doubtful, even cynical about another person. Now, we need to say, this doesn't mean that holy love is gullible or naive, nor that holy love is undiscriminating and not discerning. Sadly, as we all know, with heartbreaking grief, sometimes love can't believe the best about someone because that person has consistently shown themselves to be untrustworthy and unreliable. And so to believe all things doesn't mean to be ignorant or blind to undeniable, well-substantiated realities that may render you unable to believe the best about someone. But even in these kinds of extremely difficult relationships, holy love still believes that God can work to transform the life of an untrustworthy person. And it may take a very long time, but because love fundamentally believes God and His Word, holy love keeps believing that God can still work in another person's life. Now, especially with our brothers and sisters in Christ in a local church, which of course is the context of 1 Corinthians 13, to believe all things about each and every one is to believe that the God who began a good work in them will be faithful to fulfill and to finish his work. It's exactly what Paul's confidence is when he speaks to the Philippians believers in Philippians 1, verse 6. Paul says, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. I want you to notice, even back in the context of 1 Corinthians, how Paul believes all things about these sinful, divisive, selfish, proud, spiritually immature Corinthian Christians. And within this very lengthy letter in which Paul is addressing and correcting problem after problem after problem within the Corinthian church, he still believes the best about them. And he does so because he believes God and he believes God's faithfulness to his purposes even among these childish believers. Listen to what Paul says in chapter 1 verses 4 to 9 at the very beginning of the letter. He says, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you so that you're not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ who will sustain you to the end guiltless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, God is faithful by whom you are called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. So do you see and hear how Paul believed the best about these Corinthians because he believed God? That's where his faith was rooted. A number of years ago, and I stress that it was many years ago because I'm sure I would never do something like this again today. But a number of years ago, Lori and I were relaxing one evening. We were quietly reading as the day was ending. And she had some kind of a kink in one of her shoulders. And so, as I often do, I began to try to rub it out and to help her in that regard. And so I was at it for a few minutes when she suddenly said to me, you're the best not rubber outer. Well, I immediately got defensive and I said something like, what do you mean I'm not rubbing it out? And that's exactly what I'm doing. And my response, of course, surprised her. And she said something like, what in the world are you talking about? I was giving you a compliment. And then it kind of went a little bit downhill from there for just a little bit. And it took a little while to get our miscommunication worked out, but what happened is that I had misunderstood her and I didn't believe the best about what she said and why she said it. And I wrongly thought that she was sarcastically saying to me, you're the best not N.O.T. rubber outer. Like, you're not doing a good job and you're not rubbing this thing out. I thought she was sarcastically kind of accusing me of not doing what I was supposed to be doing. And of course, what she meant is, you're the best not rubber outer, K-N-O-T, rubber outer. She was giving me a compliment, so she's trying to encourage me. But I misunderstood, and I didn't believe the best, and quickly I jumped to a totally wrong conclusion. and that created a conflict, and it was my fault. In God's grace, I eventually saw that, eventually apologized. Lori very kindly forgave me. But you get the idea. In big ways and small ways, we can be so quick to judge the motives of another person, to not believe the best, and the conflict that ensues from that is our fault. You get the idea. No doubt you've got your own examples in big and small ways of not believing the best. We're so proud and we're so selfish, aren't we? We're so easily given to the inclinations of our sinful flesh and so quick to be unloving, so quick to be divisive and destructive in our relationships. And when we fail to interpret the words and the actions and the motives of somebody else in the best possible light, when we're not believing the best, we're not only being very, very unloving, but we're ultimately judging another person, something Jesus explicitly tells us not to do. In Matthew 7, verse 1 and 2, he says, Judge not that you be not judged, for with the judgment that you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Ouch. We need to hear those words. How much better and how necessary to believe God and His faithfulness and then to believe the best about other people. And so think about it. Husbands and wives need to always love and believe the best about each other. Siblings need to always love and believe the best about each other. Parents and children need to always love and believe the best about each other. And people of all ages, whether you're a child or a teenager or a collegiate or a young adult or a middle-aged person or an elderly person, and whether it's with your peers or whether it's with people of a different age group, We all always need to love and believe the best about each other, and especially God's blood-bought people, who are brothers and sisters in Christ, who belong to his family. How much we must always love and believe the best about each other, because holy love always believes all things. Well, two down, two to go. Let's look at this third comprehensive commitment that holy love always makes. It always hopes all things. Holy love always hopes all things. Now to hope all things is to be absolutely confident. And this is the sense of hope here. It doesn't mean wishful thinking. It means confident assurance. And the desurance is that despite another Christian's sins, weaknesses, trials, and even failures, God's powerful grace can and will prevail to rescue, to transform, to restore, and to bless. Holy love always hopes in the love, power, and faithfulness of God to work in the lives of those who belong to him through faith in Jesus. And it hopes in the power of God to bring saving faith to those who are unsaved, those who are living in a life of willful rebellion to Him. And again, we understand that this hope doesn't deny the tragic reality and consequences that can come from someone's sin and foolish decisions. This hope can, and often does, grieve. But this hope refuses to take failure as final. This hope fights against discouragement and despair and whatever the current situation is, no matter how dark and difficult the issues, no matter how deep and seemingly insurmountable the sin and the problems may be in another person's life, Holy love believes and it hopes that the story isn't over. Holy love hopes in God's miraculous ability to conquer all. And again, just thinking about Paul's hope with regard to these Corinthian believers that he's writing. He would have never written this letter to these wayward believers, to this wayward, problem-filled church, if he didn't have hope in the faithfulness of God to yet change and transform these immature Christians. And so Paul labored with hope, no doubt with much prayer and with many tears as he wrote what must have been a very difficult letter for him to write. But he hoped that God would yet work to help these Christians recognize and repent from their sins of selfishness and pride. He hoped that they would grow and mature in the holy love that he's describing here in chapter 13. Paul hoped that the story wasn't over for these spiritually childish Christians. Certainly one of the beautiful ways that Jesus demonstrates how this holy love hopes all things concerns the Apostle Peter. And you know the story well. Among the disciples, Peter would have won the most likely to crash and burn through selfishness and pride award. I mean, he was just a problem, even though he loved Christ. And Jesus, who knew Peter better than Peter, loved him. And so Jesus knew and he told Peter that Peter was in fact going to deny Jesus three times. And as Jesus prophetically informs Peter about this, Peter was also known as Simon, Listen to how Jesus speaks to him in Luke chapter 22, verses 31 to 32, and hear the words of hope, even with what Jesus knows Peter's about to do. Jesus says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Translated, Jesus is saying, Peter, I know that you're gonna sin. I know that you're gonna fail and you're gonna fall big time. But I'm praying for you and I'm hoping with confident assurance that God is still at work. I have hope that your failure won't be final because God is faithful. Well, just think for you and think for me, think for yourself. Is there someone, anyone in your life right now, maybe a spouse, maybe a parent, maybe a child, maybe another relative, maybe a friend, but someone that you love and you desperately want to see them changed and drinking of the riches of God's goodness and love in Christ, but someone whom you've honestly in your heart just sort of given up on? You've given up hope. You feel that they're too far gone. You feel that they're too far beyond repair. They're too caught in their sin, too deceived. They're just too far gone. Beloved, holy love always hopes all things. And it rests in the assurance that God is powerful and mighty to save. And it trusts that God is always able to do immeasurably more than all that we can ask or imagine. And so, don't throw away your hope in God's faithfulness. Keep hoping in Him. And as Jesus prayed for Peter, so you and I need to keep praying and praying and praying because holy love hopes all things. And so, beloved, holy love always bears all things, it always believes all things, and it always hopes all things, and then Paul closes out his exhortation in verse seven with one final comprehensive commitment of holy love, namely, that it always endures all things. It always endures all things. And this is self-evident. What it means is that holy love stays. Holy love stands firm. It puts up with. It perseveres. It bears under responsibilities despite difficulty and suffering. And the word that is used here is actually a military term, and it has to do with successfully enduring the attack of an enemy, standing firm in the midst of an all-out assault. And so holy love endures, which is to say it never resigns, it never gives up, it never checks out, it never leaves, it never goes AWOL, it never quits. Holy love is always working, and it never stops working. It doesn't take a vacation, ever. Holy love, then, isn't surprised or shocked by the opposition, difficulties, and inconveniences that come from the sins, weaknesses, and imperfections of others. In fact, holy love not only isn't surprised, but holy love expects it because it knows that we live in a sinful world. So holy love expects such things. And it doesn't retreat in the face of obstacles and irritations, but it stands firm in always seeking to do good to others. Holy love endures in always being patient and kind, in always bearing, always believing, always hoping all things. It never gives up, it never gives in. It's tenacious and strong. It's kind of like super glue in that sense. It just sticks and it won't let go. And you see, this is what we see so powerfully evident in how Jesus loves his people. Think about it with regard to Peter. In John chapter 13, 1, in the passage that Tyler read earlier, we're told that Jesus, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Not just Peter, but all of his disciples and ultimately all of his people. Jesus loved them to the full extent of His love. His holy love for them endured all things. And so here's Jesus in John 13. near the very end of his earthly life, in the hour of the crisis of the cross, when we know from what we read through the narratives there in the gospel that Jesus' disciples were weak, they were afraid, they were unbelieving, they were selfish, they were proud, they were immature, they were doubting, and they were slow to understand. Kind of a lot like you and me most of the time, isn't it? And yet Jesus loved them to the end. He kept teaching them, He kept comforting them, He kept exhorting them and serving them. And so there in the upper room, when He humbly washes their feet, He's giving them an illustration, a living illustration of the far greater washing of their souls that He would accomplish through His substitutionary death on the cross and then His resurrection. And so Jesus endured going to the cross for them to drink the cup of the Father's wrath in their place. And so he has done for you and me and all who believe on him. Beloved, what all of this means, ultimately, is that the measure of our lives is the maturity of our love. The measure of our lives, in God's eyes, is the maturity of our love. And the only way that we grow in living a life of this kind of holy love for others is for us to be continually drinking deeply of the holy love of God for us in Jesus. In a wonderful book that I have not read, but my wife has been reading it and telling me about it, it's called How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp. At one point they simply say a Christian is someone whose life has been invaded by the holy love of God. And you can't exhibit that kind of holy love if you don't possess that holy love and aren't continually being nourished in that holy love. And so if the essence of holy love is to overflow with the patience and kindness of Jesus, to overflow in always bearing all things, always believing all things, always hoping all things, and always enduring all things, then by faith we must continually be filled with the fullness of God's holy love in Jesus that he has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, as Paul declares in Romans 5. And so I would ask this morning, dear friend, has your life been invaded by the holy love of God in Christ? Have you repented of your sins and believed on Christ and have you come to know the soul-refreshing riches of His holy love, His patience, His kindness, His mercy and grace, His forgiveness and His care? You can flee to Him right now in faith. You can call upon the name of the Lord and He will save you. and maybe you're here and you've been a Christian for a long time, or maybe a short time, but in either case, perhaps you've doubted, and perhaps you've been fearful about whether God could really continue to love someone like you. Someone who is so imperfect. Someone who no doubt has deep and dark secrets in your heart, if not in your actions, that only God knows about. Someone who is so easily tempted and so easily conquered by sin in numerous ways, and you can easily doubt and feel afraid, as we all do often. Someone who has often failed to love others with this holy love. Let me just say to you, my dear brother and sister in Christ, hope in Jesus. His love never ends. It never ends. It never ends. So even where your sin has abounded, God's grace in Jesus abounds all the more. Your hope, my hope, is not in our performance, but it's in the perfection of Jesus. God is pleased with, and he accepts you because he is pleased with and accepts Jesus. And if you're trusting Jesus, you're pleasing to the Father, you're accepted by the Father, and he will never let you out of his grip. Your hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, as the hymn says. He loves you with his holy love and his grace, and it is greater than all your sin. And so imitate Paul in praying for yourself and praying for others the way that Paul prayed as he did in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 to 19. He says this, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Oh friends, would you be filled with all the fullness of God? Believe Jesus. Know Jesus. Keep trusting Jesus and drinking of the holy love of Jesus, and in his love, be comprehensively committed to loving others with that very same love. Let me lead us in prayer. Well, Father, as always, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for your incomprehensible, immeasurable, holy love, even as you have displayed and demonstrated and given that love in the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that everyone within the hearing of your word now would know that love in fullest measure, that they would be filled to the measure of all of your fullness in the security and the assurance and the comfort of your holy, loving Christ, and that you, by your Spirit, would be pleased to deepen those realities in their hearts. and that each one might be all the more faithful to overflow with that very holy love to others, to our brothers and sisters in Christ, to enemies, to people who don't know you, that you would help us so to love in these ways. Father, we thank you for your word and the time you've given us to share around it this morning. In the name of Christ, amen and amen.