Well, good morning and happy new year. Nice to see you for the first Sunday School of 2017 and the last in First Corinthians. God willing, we start a new module next week, but the Christmas vacation hindered us from finishing First Corinthians 16. So let's start by praying and going into our class today. Father, we thank you for allowing us to be here this morning. We thank you for this time of fellowship and of communion with you and with one another. And we come in the name of Jesus. And we do not say that tongue-in-cheek. We mean it. Because if we look at ourselves, at our own hearts, at our thoughts, at our deeds, how could we present ourselves before a holy God like you are? Cherubim and Seraphim hide their faces and cover their feet before your presence. And yet you have allowed us to enter into that very presence through a new and living way that Jesus opened with his own flesh and his own blood. And it is because of him and mindful of him that we come and give thanks and worship you. and even pray to help us this day to worship you, to honor you, to exhort, instruct, encourage, admonish one another in our tongue, in our speech, in our singing, in our listening to the scriptures preached later on, listening to them taught now, whatever we do. May all things be done to your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. This is module or lesson 43 in 1 Corinthians 16 that I thought it was going to be like 16 lessons. So yes, I'm a very good politician. I keep my word and fulfill whatever I promise. So you can vote for me. I'm just one of them. I thought it was going to be faster. Just got caught up in the subject. So I'm not going to make any promises for Romans, which is also a 16-chapter epistle. We have the subjects we have covered there. Messy Christianity, divided Christianity, immoral Christianity, unethical, sexual immorality, sex and marriage, problems at home, singleness, casuistry, gender roles in the church, the Lord's Supper, the Lord's, the spiritual gifts. church gathering, the resurrection, and now we are in the last chapter, offerings, Paul's plans, his network, and the epilogue, which is what we covered today. We started this already. We saw a portion of Paul's network in 1 Corinthians 16, 10 through 21, and then his gospel that he wraps up at the end in verses 22 to 24. Let's read our passage just to read it for the last time. 1 Corinthians 16 10-21 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the Lord's work, as I also am. Let no one therefore despise him, but send him on in his way in peace. so that he may come to me, for I expect him with a brethren. But concerning Apollos our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with a brethren, and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has an opportunity. Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all things, or let all that you do, be done in love. Now I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints. that you also be in subjection to such men, and to everyone who helps in the work and labors. And I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus. because they have supplied what was lacking on your part. For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men. The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house. All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The greeting is in my own hand, Paul." and that's the end of first Corinthians and as we said we have met some of the members in his team we consider Timothy the man of unassuming faithfulness of whom Paul said I have no one like him who has served me in the ministry all seek their own but Timothy seeks that which is Christ Jesus but at the same time we consider his timidity, his proneness to be a coward, his proneness to be afraid, and even Paul instructing the Corinthians, make sure that Timothy is with you without fear, in spite of those weaknesses, he was greatly used of God. And we have seen, yes, that's pretty much the pattern God uses. He chooses frail vessels so that the glory and the eyes may be set on him and not on the instrument. And then we considered someone who was almost a diametrical opponent or in diametrical opposition to Timothy, Apollos. Apollos was a Greek man born of a Jewish woman and a Greek father. He was very assertive, he was eloquent, he was powerful in words, he was very liked by the Corinthians to the point that some of the Corinthians said, no, no, I'm not of Paul or of Peter, I'm of Apollos. And Paul, in his spirit, he was not seeking competitiveness. This man had seen Jesus risen. This man had gone to the third heaven, so his sufferings made him go above and beyond human competition and jealousy, apparently. He told Apollos, why don't you go visit Corinth? Any person I know with very few exceptions would have not done that, would have tried to isolate Apollos so that his popularity with the Corinthians would not be diminished, but not Paul. Paul went to Apollos and said, why don't you go visit them? But Apollos says, no, why not, because I don't want to. He was an assertive person. Paul sort of made an excuse for him. Well, he will have a chance later on, and perhaps he'll visit you. But Apollos says, no, I don't want to go. And Paul did not impose any apostolic authority on him. He accepted his, I don't want to go and visit the Corinthians, for whatever reasons he had. And then we considered Stephanus. Not a lot was said of him except that he was a consistent servant. I perhaps emphasize the word consistent because that's one of the challenges of our days. When you live past 50 years of age and you've been in Christendom 37 years or so, So yeah, about 37 years is going to be this year. You have to guard yourself against being cynical and against being JNITs about that, being a know-it-all. But human nature is very predictable. And we see people who come with all the enthusiasm and all the doctrine and all the fear and the zeal and all the fire, and it lasts three weeks, three months, six months, and boom. Consistent servants. That's a jewel. People who are not boisterous, not loud, they are not making lots of waves, but year after year, decade after decade, reliable servants. That was Stephanus. And Paul commends him for that. And then, to that we did not consider last time we stopped there. Fortunatus and Achaicus and Aquila and Priscilla and that's what we will cover right now. So he says in verse 17 and I rejoice over the coming of Stephanos and Fortunatus and Achaicus because they have supplied what was lacking on your part for they have refreshed my spirit and yours therefore acknowledge such men Men, because these two are men, there are women who are that way. And we have to be mindful of those things. Sometimes the Bible addresses mankind, men, because that was the customary type of writing at the time. The ESV made an effort to translate whenever it is Anthropos, people or persons or mankind and whenever it is Andres, then it's real men or male. So when Paul says acknowledge such men, yes there are women who are that way, but in this case he's talking about three persons. And specifically Fortunatus and Achaicus were a reason for Paul's rejoicing when they arrived. We are not given a lot of details about these people. That happens also in Romans 16. That Paul speaks about all of these collaborators, all of these people in his network, all of these people in his team, or people he knew. And we're not given a lot of details about them because pretty much that's Christianity. One of our problems with Facebook and Instagram and blogging and the internet is that every young man wants to be the next John Piper or the next Matt Chandler or the next famous person, but Christianity is comprised of people like us who nobody knows who we are. We Google our names and we find people in prison with our names or we find people who knows doing what with our names because we're not anybody. Well, yes, that's pretty much the way Christianity is. Even though we are greatly esteemed in the sight of God. And here's too that Paul says, I rejoice when they arrived. And think of people that are that way. Think of people that you are happy just to see them. or to hear their voice. In our modern day and time, to see their text, or their phone call, or their email. Their presence supplies R&R to our souls. These were fortunators in the Caicos to Paul. And apparently, it was so obvious that the Corinthians knew that it was true, that Paul was not making that up. You know, that sometimes happens, that we start talking about, I don't know, John Smith, and we start praising John Smith and saying great things about him, and everybody's saying, Is that the John Smith I know? What are they saying? But Paul tells the Corinthians, they have refreshed my spirit, but also yours. They were known by their qualities in this regard. And to do this, you cannot be wrapped around yourself. I like to observe human nature, observing mine, of course. It's one of the things that, I don't know, I'm not gonna make any comment because who knows who's listening, but I see people that change their Facebook profile like every three days or every week or whenever. And I wonder, what is the purpose of putting so many different pictures of yourself? Do you really think you're so pretty? Or so handsome? Or so attractive? Or so important that you need to... And then another one. And the next day. Come on! You're wrapped. We are wrapped around ourselves. We have a factory of self-idolatry in our hearts. And it is a constant battle. It is like fighting gravity. to try just to pull out a bit about ourselves and think on others and self others even in spite of our feelings and in spite of what we would really want to do. And Fortunators and Achaicas were soul refreshers because they were not wrapped around themselves. They were not so self-concerned. And I remember Pastor Wheeler who used to say there are three types of people in life. There are those who are keepers, those who are takers, and those who are givers. And I remember him exhorting us, try to be a giver. I mean, no, I don't steal, I don't take anything from anybody. Well, great, but I save a lot. Well, go beyond that, give a lot. be a giver those were Fortunatus and Achaicus they were givers to people and that's why Paul calls them soul refreshers they were a coke on a hot day they were a glass of cold water when you're very thirsty that's the way these men conveyed themselves in Corinth and then Paul speaks of two more Aquila and Priscilla He calls Priscilla Prisca. It's a nickname for her. And these were people who were generous, devoted, and they were knowledgeable. They knew their Bibles. The churches of Asia greet you, he says. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord with a church that is in their house. Paul met them in Achaia when he was traveling to Ephesus in his second missionary trip. And they were tent makers. They had a business of making tents. Not tents like those you use when you go with shorty to camp. No. Not those tents. These were like Let's say old type sleeping bags, portable tents that you would fold and carry with you because in those days traveling was done by horse or by foot. And it was long to travel from one place to another. So you had to basically sleep on the road. And you carry those sleeping bags with you that you would unfold, get into them and spend the night. So that's the kind of business they were in and apparently Paul had learned that trade and when they met him they brought him to his business and employed him so that he could build a tent with them. And interesting that Aquila and Priscilla, we are told in the book of Acts, that they had to rectify Apollos' theology. Apollos had come to the Lord. We do not know how. And he was powerful in the scriptures. And he was powerful persuading Jews about Christ with the Old Testament. But apparently there was some fine-tuning that his theology needed. And it was Aquila and Priscilla who did the fine-tuning for Apollos. Which, to me, it's fascinating that this couple were not only rich and were not only servants, but they knew the Scriptures. They knew enough theology to instruct a man who was of higher eloquence and perhaps of higher usefulness than them, but they could take him aside and instruct. And what a great ministry when somebody who perhaps does not have the gifts of speaking of another still can mentor and can coach a person privately so that this person may be of higher use to the Lord. And this is what Aquila and Priscilla did. And they hosted a church in their household. To host a church in your household in those days, you had to be a people of means. You had to have a pretty large household. You had to have a pretty large home where you could gather 50, 60, 40, however they were. Don't even think for a second that they had the megachurches of our day in those days. That's probably not probable that that was the case. In fact, probably what they had was many local household churches in one big city. So when Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, he's writing to all of those little congregations that met in different places because sometimes the cities were so large. If you visited Ephesus, you know it is a very large place. And it was not that easy just to go and gather in one place. So you may have different flocks and different house churches where people gathered. Well, The rich people would provide that. Lydia is an example of people who can host guests and who can have large homes and receive people. Well, Priscilla and Aquila had a good business and they were able to have a church in their own household. So they served the Lord with their goods, with their talents, and with their gifts. At the end of the day, that's how we serve. We tend to aspire to what others do or to what others have. We have what we got. John the Baptist said nobody can receive anything unless it is given to him from above. So with whatever the Lord has given to us and has entrusted to us, that is with what we serve. Whatever money, opportunities, time, talents, homes, resources, gifts, This couple, apparently they didn't have children. They could have had, but they are not mentioned. So I find that fascinating that perhaps they were even a couple without children, and they were of great use to the Lord and to the ministry. And to me, they are a great example of bivocational ministry. They had a church in their household, they had their business, they helped Paul, they helped Apollos, and they did what they could without being professional ministers, professional clergymen or clergypersons. In a nutshell, they were sold out for the kingdom. Only one life we have. Only one life. And it goes very fast. And only those treasures we build for the kingdom are forever. I have a little note on church association. It's a cursory passing note. But I want to bring it because verse 19 says, the churches of Asia greet you. This subject, I'm not going to solve it in five minutes in a Sunday school comment. I don't think I have the answer. I don't think anybody has it. And I'm not here to criticize or to put down one way or the other. But just to comment that The churches in Galatia, the churches in Asia, today's Turkey, send their greetings to the Corinthians. That presupposes at least knowledge, if not in person, by reference. And much can be said about association and congregational networking in the New Testament. When you read the New Testament, you cannot escape the fact that the churches were somehow connected. They were not maverick churches. We are not told the formality of those connections. That is something that you have to elaborate and decide how do you want to proceed. Context is important. You have the apostles alive. with the Apostles alive and Paul saying in Ephesians 2 that the Apostles were given the stewardship of putting up doctrinal foundation for the church Judas or Jude repeats that the faith once and for all given to the Saints and that faith was unveiled and completed by the teaching of the Apostles as given to Jesus with them alive Well, you had a structure of authority that you have a Jerusalem council in which the apostles meet with the church and they dictaminate what ought to be the practice of the Gentile churches regarding Jewish customs. But you had apostles alive, so they could in a sense exercise that universal authority and pontificate rules and regulations because that was a commission they received from Christ. not having apostles alive, then it becomes more challenging. How do we connect the churches? How do we build our relationships? And I'm not going to get into the details of denominations or the Episcopalian or Presbyterian government and those kinds of things. I'm not going there. We don't have time. But at least we have to say that the New Testament shows that there was a connection of cooperation, of interchange, of recognition, of help among the churches to the point that there were letters written where specific individuals are named as apostates to warn the churches about them and not even receive them. That is a level of connection. We've lost that. If you have a problem with the church A in our day and you are disciplined by that church, you just go across the street to the next church and they receive you no problem. But that's not the way the New Testament churches operated. They were interconnected. If you want formally with the apostles of life, what model should we follow? Maybe an informal model or maybe a less formal, I don't know. I leave that up to each person. I used to condemn whomever disagreed with me in those areas. I don't anymore. It's beyond my pay grade. While maintaining the independence of the local church government, the congregations were connected and interdependent. And I believe that's important. That's important to recognize because we cannot feel that we are self-appointed and that we are it and that we are the repository of the truth. Cults usually have that. cults are the ones who say unless you are in our group you're not saved or you don't have the truth or you're not exactly aligned as God wants you to be aligned. I remember listening once in a pastor's conference and I was in my 30s and I was naive but I should have ran away from that pastor's conference. A person say we are, we are, the true heirs of the apostolic tradition as later on displayed in the Reformation and among the Puritans and so forth and so on. What? That is being a cult. I remember a church that their pastors were ordained The argument was you need to be ordained by pastors from our denomination so that your ordination is valid and it has a connection with the historical churches. Really, so that these pastors that ordained them have connections with the apostles? That's very cultic, honestly. And we have these thoughts of we are it. No, we're not. Jesus is it. We're just his servants. And churches in the New Testament had that interconnection and that networking. And we just should be mindful of those things. And look for, be on the alert for any sign of cultic isolationism. Because we have that in ourselves. It is in our nature. We tend to look at the other guy doing it. But that's us. We tend to do that. Now where do these traits lead us to or point to? The Spirit gives gifts. God distributes talents, opportunities, and all of these things should remind us of Christ. Timothy's weakness should point us to consider the one who was called the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. In fact, he came in weakness to undo the works of the first Adam and bring us back to God. So when we see people like Timothy in the church, we should not be dazzled by them because God did not raise Timothy to have us be dazzled by Timothy. God raised Timothy as a reminder of who Jesus is. the one who bore all of our infirmities. Whatever weakness it is that you think you have, Jesus bore and had them and was tempted by them. yet without sin. And when we consider Apollos assertive eloquence or we hear a preacher that is really eloquent and powerful and moves us, and we have many of those in our generation, in the English-speaking world and to my knowledge also in the Spanish-speaking world, I can mention some of them. It is not for us to be dazzled with them. It is for us to remember that there was one who spoke with authority. And the people said, who is this man? We have never heard anyone speak with such authority as this Jesus speaks. He spoke and he terrified the demons. And he spoke and he comforted sinners. And I was sharing with a friend the other day on a phone conversation how great it is when somebody who has been freed from the power of sin and from the shackles of sin. And you can tell this person has been freed. This person tells you about the freedom that is in the gospel of grace. Not in legalistic resolutions for the new year. No, in the only resolution of committing myself to Christ afresh, daily, second after second. and knowing that there, not in my performance, is true liberty. But how great it is when the person who says that has been freed himself. And I was telling him, I can only imagine Jesus, the perfect Holy One of God, telling a person, go and sin no more. Your sins are forgiven. Can you picture that? Can you picture feeling overwhelmed by guilt And hearing the Holy One say, you're forgiven. Where are your accusers, woman? They're not here? I don't condemn you either. Go, sin no more. When we hear a great preacher, when we hear of eloquence, our mind should be brought to him who was the greatest, who was the very Word of God, the Logos. Or when we consider Stephanos consistent faithfulness, that Paul rejoiced over him. Well, we consider the friend of sinners. Proverbs says there's a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Solomon didn't know perhaps that he was writing about Jesus, but Jesus said, I am your friend. I'm telling you everything that's going to happen to me because you are my friends. And I am the friend of sinners. And that's the way he was called. And when we consider Fortunatus and Achaicus selflessness. Then we remember the one who in Gethsemane had the cross before him, who had never sinned, never did anything wrong with his mouth, never lied. And he was going to pay for what he did not steal. And right at that moment he said, Father, pass this cup from me, but not my will. yours be done. So when you see selflessness in a human being, don't stop there. Go to the epitome of selflessness in one who paid what he did not steal, but what you and I stole, not to do his own will, but that of his father. And when you consider that soul-refreshing ability that some people have, and they do have, that soul-refreshing ability, then remember Jesus. He prayed for the Holy Spirit to be a comforter, to be one to bring consolation and solace to us. I'm going away, but I'll leave you with one who will comfort you. And even when he prayed at the end in John 17, he asked his father, I want my joy to be in them. And you say, was Jesus joyful? I believe he was joyful. I believe he was humorous. In fact, you find texts in the scriptures that you can see holy wit and holy humor in the Lord. Perhaps not in the funny, superficial way that we think, or maybe, yes, we do not know. He did not sin. Whatever humor looks like in perfect holiness, Jesus had it. However, he's not called the happy man. He's called the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. That contrast has always called my attention because I don't even, I don't know, I don't think I understand that tension. that if he is the man of sorrows acquainted with grief, if he is praying to his disciples, and John 12 says that at that moment, in the last week of his earthly ministry, Jesus even said publicly, my soul is disturbed, is shaken, is afflicted, even to the point of death. So it is obvious that his countenance had changed. Something waiting was on his mind always. And yet the disciples hear him pray, Father, I want them to have the joy that I have. I know that if my children heard me pray that, they'd say, no, Lord, don't answer that one. I don't want my father's joy. I want another. Maybe my mother's joy, but not him. Not his. But Jesus had true joy. What joy? The joy of obedience. the joy of holiness, the joy of not sinning. I've solved two things in my mind. What would I do if I win the lottery? I don't play, but and what would I do if God appears to me and says, ask me whatever you want. If I win the lottery already, I already decided how I'm going to use the money quickly. Because if not, I'll keep it to myself and I'll become worse than the worst you can think. Hugh Hefner would be nothing compared to me if I keep the money. So I already solved that one. But then if God appears to me and asks me, ask me what you want, I'll tell him that I don't sin ever again until I die. And that'll take care of everything. No more sadness, no more envy, no more depression, no more coveting, no more anger, no more nothing, it's gone. Or I may die instantly. I've thought on that one too and it would work, still would work. It would work. But the point is, Jesus, sent the Holy Spirit to be that comforter and that joy provider in the hope that is bred under tribulation. Not the hope that is bred in a cruise when you're having fun and I just came from one. No, the hope that is bred by affliction. So this soul-reflecting ability is also a reflection of what God gives. And Priscilla and Aquila generous devotion were dim, were nothing compared to the one who being rich became poor, that in his poverty we might become rich. You see, whenever I'm forced to give something, I see my misery immediately flourish. Oh, if I give this, then I will have to cut from here, from here, from here, from here. I have to redo all my finances. And I'm just become miserable. And if I tell you for the amount of monies I become miserable, you would stone me right now. I will hold that to myself. But it's petty. But if I would take everything, half of what I have, everything I have, it would be nothing. Jesus took out of all of his riches and put them out all of them so that we may have them, that we might be co-heirs with him, heirs of God with him of what he has. And Paul needed friends and associates to do the work of the ministry. He mentioned some of them here. Jesus gives us the honor to call us friends. And in 2 Corinthians, Paul says, we are fellow laborers with God. That's unbelievable. That God is building his church and he could have done a wonderful job by himself. A secondly, second wonderful job, if not by myself, let me call the angels to do this. He calls us to do that work. And he says, by the way, you're my associate. You're my fellow worker. And if it is so, we must do the same. We must befriend people and network with others for the sake of the kingdom. Befriend the bad guy at the office, the bad lady at work. Befriend them for the sake of Christ and His kingdom. Because even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. We cannot do this alone, guys and ladies. We can't. So, that's the epilogue or that's the end of his network. Finally, Paul says to finish, if anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. Christianity is more than mere assenting in agreement with a set of propositional truths. A person must understand the gospel to be saved. You can know doctrine. You can know the Bible. The Bible is a book that can be learned intellectually. You don't need anything mystical to learn the Bible. yes the gospel implies conviction of sin i see the law cannot keep it and it leads me to i need a savior and it doesn't change when you come to the lord by the way law and gospel is not oh now uh let me keep the law because i'm in the gospel Law and Gospel is that the law is always bringing you, always as a mentor to Christ. It doesn't stop at conversion. The law is always, always a teacher to Jesus, to Jesus. Can't love God with all your heart and mind and soul. Can't not take God's name in vain. Can't honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Can't honor your father and your mother. Can't keep the Sabbath. Can't not kill. You can't! So keep coming to Jesus. That's law and gospel. That doesn't mean you do not care about the law. On the contrary, you love the law. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all day long, but it drives me crazy because I cannot keep it. Well, keep coming to Jesus. And that's conversion. The law brings you to Christ. You renounce sin and you pick up your cross and follow Jesus. He said, why do you call me Lord? Lord, if you don't do what I say. But even as you're saying, yes, Lord, but I still don't do it. Keep coming to Jesus. It's a cycle. It's a never-ending cycle. Luther said, I preach the gospel to myself every day. That's the way it works, guys. And yet, the gospel implies something which is a lot more. then assenting, accepting, believing, and renouncing. You go to AA, Alcoholics Anonymous, you can leave the bottle and the things that the bottle makes you do and change. And probably we know people who did that and who changed by submitting to the 12 steps, including one of them is just believe in a higher power. The acid test of the gospel is feuding something which you cannot produce with your own flesh at all. Second Peter 1.4 says that we have been made partakers of a new nature and only in that new nature that is given to us by grace can happen and that is love to Christ. Verse 22 has a first class condition or a Yeah, conditional first, no, no, no. Conditional clause of the first kind. That's supposedly the way it's stated. If A is true, B is true. If the first clause is true, the second clause is indefectibly true. If anyone does not love Christ, let him be accursed. That's pretty scary, isn't it? Being accursed is not loving Christ. And the word for love is not agape. Oh, I love him sacrificially. Let me leave this. It's filial love. It's the way you love your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your spouse, your siblings, your sons, your daughters, your parents, your good friends. It's filial love. If anyone does not have this feeling of love to Christ, let him be anathema. When Jesus restored Peter, after he denied him three times, he asked a simple question. Peter, do you love me? Third time Peter was sad, Peter felt sad. And Peter said, Lord, But you know all things. You know that I love you. And he said it in sadness. You know all things. Yes, I blew it. But you know that I love you. Three times he denied, three times he was made to confess, I love you. Perhaps Peter said, yes, I denied you three times, but I love you. Yes, I even cursed when I was denying you, but I love you. Yes, I bragged that I would never ever deny you, but I denied you. And yes, I said I was willing to die for you, but I chickened out, but I love you. And that's Paul's statement. Had we been in the beach with Peter that morning? I say this 100% about me. I suspect that a lot of people I know in Christendom, including us, would have done the same. Oh, look at Peter. He denied Jesus. He denied him. He's an apostate. He should be in discipline. He's not one of us, because he denied Jesus. And you would feel like Peter was there, and you're like, what's going to happen now? I don't know. Maybe judgment. Maybe Jesus will kill him right now. You're expecting something bad to happen to Peter. And Jesus restored Peter on the basis of his love to him. Because that's the point Paul is making. If anyone does not love Jesus, let him be anathema. Jesus said to his disciples, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. And this love is out of grace. It's not out of performance. Well, let me try hard and love Jesus. Don't hold your breath because eventually you'll need to breathe. That's what happens when you try to fight sin in the flesh. Fighting sin in the flesh is doing Eventually you'll have to breathe and sin. That's not how you fight sin. Don't even try it. I don't care how many gurus in the internet tell you that that's the way that you fight pornography looking through the windows in the sky. Don't do that because it's not going to work. You fight sin in grace. And this is love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us. That's grace. and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And we love God because He loved us first. Get it? It's love that stems from His love first. So as you dwell on the love of God to you in spite of, not because of, then Your response in the new nature that He gives to you in grace is love. And here's a text that perhaps we read too fast. 1 Peter 1, 7-8. And the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen Him, you love Him. That is the gospel. It is not, I'm Reformed, I'm Reformed Baptist, I have the 1689 Confession, or the Westminster Confession, or I believe in the five points of Calvinism. That is absolutely nothing. Paul says, if anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Love to Jesus is a hallmark of discipleship. And the ending of 1 Corinthians starts as it ends as it began. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. And the mark of Paul's ministry was love, and my love in Christ Jesus be with you all. Amen. Questions or comments? Yes. Yes. Yes. With Peter too. Peter is the most, the most waffling, wimpy, coward, emotionally unstable individual, I think, in the whole Bible. Oh, you're Sifa. You're Simon. You're going to be Sifas. Peter, the rock. And I think it was a humorous name. Hey, look at the rock. And Peter's there doing all his stupidities as a rock. I believe so. Good point. Good point. Oh, good. Oh, thanks. Thanks, brother. Thanks. Appreciate that. Thank you. Any other comment or question? Osborne, do you have internet? listen to guys like Tim Keller for example those are the ones you want to preach like not me honestly get a hold of Tim Keller listen to his sermons and that's going to help you a lot guarantee you that thank you Osborne thanks for the encouragement brother all right father thank you for allowing us to study first Corinthians Thank you for the time of fellowship. Help us now to honor you in our conversations, in our eating and drinking, and help our Pastor Jay to bring the word to us. May we be edified, exhorted, encouraged, taught, blessed, pointed to Jesus, pointed to run away from sin. Help our pastor. Thank you. Thank you, Father, for giving us a pastor who loves the gospel, and who preaches the gospel, but who lives the gospel. And perhaps besides his wife or after his wife and children, I am the one who maybe knows how messed up he is as we are. But we are so thankful for this man who has been rescued and saved and set apart for the gospel and who exudes the grace and the mercy and the compassion of the gospel. Bless him, encourage him, and may this year be fruitful for his ministry. In Jesus' name, amen.