Let's take our Bibles this evening to Galatians chapter 5, verse 13. Last week we began our journey through the one another commands in Scripture, so vital. You know, there was a point in my life, and maybe it was probably more recent than I like to admit, where I realized that the Scripture is not just cool ideas that I might be able to sift through and preach on. but it's actually God's words to me and he intends for me to read them, to understand them, and to implement them. You want to know what God's will for your life is? Don't worry about which girl you should marry, what job you should get. Don't worry about if you should buy this car or move into this neighborhood and buy this house. Don't worry about any of that stuff until you've studied the words that He gave you and you focus on that. And your life would be fine no matter if you study those words. and do what he says, it's not gonna matter which particular girl you marry, it's not gonna matter what house you buy or what job that you work if you're following the words of God. And so because of that, when we look at the scripture, specifically the one another commands in scripture, we find God's direction to us as a church. If Jesus Christ were to speak tonight to us in the flesh, what would he say? This is what he would say. How do we know that? Because this is what he already said. He said, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Last week, we looked about how quickly human relationships descended from paradise to murder in one generation. You had Adam and Eve walking with God, and then you had Cain killing Abel, because sin destroys everything. When it came into their lives, it fractured their relationship with God. It fractured their relationship with themselves. The first time Adam ever felt shame about himself was because of sin. And then it fractured his relationships with his family. But we saw also how Christ came to restore those relationships. You can have a relationship through Christ with God, a proper understanding of who you are as a person, who am I, right? And then you can have the right relationship that God intends for you to have with other believers. But God's plan doesn't just stop at mercy. We went from murder to mercy, but it doesn't just stop at mercy. God is not looking just for us to avoid harming one another. He wants us to actively serve one another. Remember, Cain asked a question when God confronted him. What was the question Cain asked? Am I my brother's keeper? You know what he was asking? He said, do I really have a responsibility to care for other people? It's a great question. God says yes to that question, an emphatic yes. The same hands that Cain used for murder, God intends for me to use for ministry. The same strength that I could use to hurt someone, God wants me to use in helping other people. The same energy that I might use to compete with other people, God wants to convert that energy into caring for other people. By the way, you can waste a lot of your time competing with other people. How do I know that? I don't know, just know it somehow. Today we're going to see, and tonight we're going to see how God moves us beyond not just avoiding hurting other people, but actively serving. We're going to see four ways. He transforms our relationships from liberty to service, from survival to stewardship, from competition to care, and finally, from division to unity. Again, God's not just looking to prevent another Cain-enabled disaster. He is creating a community. It's called the church. And that community is to receive the love of God and reflect the love of God to other people. We're not here just to hear some new thing like the Athenians. We're here to receive the love of God and to pass that off to other people. God wants us to move from mercy to ministry. So we're going to talk first of all, I said from liberty, I intended to say from bondage to service. bondage to service, and it comes by way of liberty. Galatians chapter 5 is our first one. Moving from mercy to ministry, first of all, is moving from that liberty in Christ or the bondage that we were in sin to liberty, and that liberty is for a purpose. Look at Galatians 5 verse 13. For brethren, you've been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. I love the English language. One of the words that's unusual in English is liberty. We have another word for liberty. Do you know what that word is? Starts with an F. Freedom. Not every language has the same two words for the same basic meaning. freedom and liberty. We have that. What is that? Well, liberty is the quality of being free, and to be free is to be in liberty. He says here we've been called unto liberty, called unto it. But liberty, it's important to understand, liberty does not mean I get to live my life the way I want to live it. This is where a lot of people get a misunderstanding. In fact, in America, people think liberty means I can do whatever I want. I can't wait to be free, but to be free from what? Freedom is not just leaving somewhere, freedom is going somewhere. Where are you going? John Adams understood this concept. He said, we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. He said if we don't have a bridle on people, and that bridle is called religion and morality, there is no government that's powerful enough to deal with people that don't have that bridle. because at the same time america was uh... undergoing its war for independence sometimes called uh... the revolutionary war france was also going through a revolutionary war but their war was uh... a push a screaming cry for casting off all rules getting rid of all kind of any government so what freedom to do whatever you want to do does not lead to liberty it leads to anarchy Anarchy is everybody does that which is right in their own eyes. And what happens? Well, you see in the book of Judges, it ends in sexual perversion, it ends in violence, it ends in great isolation and division. That's anarchy. By the way, that's the reason why people are so divided in America, is because everyone wants to be able to say, this is what I want to do. And there's a lot of people who think, I don't need any rules, I don't need anyone to tell me what to do, I can do whatever I want. And our founding fathers understood how important it was for us to be under some type of law. In fact, the Scripture calls the Bible the perfect law of liberty. So what does that mean? Liberty means I am free from sin. Not free to sin. I'm free from sin. I don't have to sin anymore. He that, the Bible says that he that is, what does it say? In Romans chapter seven, it talks about the sinner is a, and I can't quote this exactly, it's in my head, the sinner is in bondage to sin. You're not free if you're involved in sin. So we have here the liberty that Christ gives us. Liberty is not freedom for me to do what I want. It's freedom for me to do what Christ wants. Interestingly enough, Cain said, I don't want to have this younger brother hanging around bothering me and shackling me with his own morality. I'm sick and tired of that. And so he used his freedom, but it was an abuse of freedom. He could do whatever he wanted. You know the reason why you don't feel free? Because you're not disciplined. And disciplined in what way? Not according to what you want to accomplish. There's a lot of people out there that have a lot of discipline. unsaved people, saved people. It's not about me choosing with my life what I want to do. A very popular broadcaster, Jocko Willink, has made it famous, the phrase, discipline equals freedom. And I agree with that concept. But who gets to decide, who am I a disciple of, is the question. I'm not just a disciple of myself and my own ideas of self-improvement. Hey, I'd rather live next door to Jocko Willink than a lot of people I can think of, but that doesn't mean he's closer to God. Discipline, being a disciple, that's where discipline comes from, a disciple of Jesus Christ is the ultimate freedom. Why? Here's something that self-improvement people can never do, come back from the dead. Jesus did. Jesus came back from the dead. That's why He can provide the ultimate freedom. Freedom to what? Freedom to live the way He wants me to live. And here's what, if you're, guess which part of you, believer, pushes back against the idea of freedom in Christ? It's not the new nature. It's the old nature. The old nature says there is no freedom in Christ. There's only bondage. Sounds like the old nature. Because the old nature wants to do whatever it wants to do. But let me just tell you this, you say, well, I'm free to do whatever. No, you're not free to do whatever because you can't stop doing it. I'm going to Romans 7, forgive me. I keep trying to quote that verse and I can't get it. I forgot to write it down. Let me look at it. Look at Romans 7 and look at verse number 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Look at verse 22, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. And he gives us the answer of how can we be free. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. You need to give up trying to convince your body that it doesn't want to sin. Because it does. And it always will. But you can choose through the law of God and that the law of your mind, the three laws there, notice the law of God, which is God deserves the glory for my life because he owns me. The law of sin, which is I get to do whatever I want because this is my body. And the law of my mind, which is I get to choose. I get to choose no matter what my flesh says, I get to choose. You get to choose and I do. So notice here, this liberty he's talking about is not an unbridled anarchy, it is a discipline to Christ. Now that doesn't sound very fun, does it? But let me just tell you, how many of you like getting your teeth replaced? Nobody. But you know what, there comes a point when your teeth are so nasty and disgusting that replacing them is actually a relief. You know the reason why you replace your teeth? Some cases it's the DNA, you just have weak teeth. But many cases it's because we didn't have the discipline of brushing our teeth. Or of flossing. Man, who invented that torture? Flossing and brushing, right? But you know that little tiny investment of time every day equals freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from Novocain? Freedom from drills? How high does that pitch go? It's terrible. I had to have a tooth removed one time, a wisdom tooth, and I just remember the drill, and I remember the crunch, they had to break it to get it out, and I remember the smell of bone dust. Man, I don't know about you, I can eat whatever I want. That's not liberty and freedom. To me, that was bondage. You're stuck there, keep your mouth wide open. And what is that torture device they use to put in your teeth to take an x-ray? That's unbelievable. Yeah, you can make any choice you want and do whatever you want with your teeth, but at some point, you're going to have to pay the musician, because he's been playing this whole time. What's going to happen? Your teeth are going to rot out of your head. The same is true in Liberty. Yeah, you can do whatever you want. People say, oh, I don't have to come here to this church. You're right. But let's just be honest. A lot of times people leave. It's not about the church is so bad. It's about they're looking to get away from any authority whatsoever. And when you do that, you are in big trouble. Why? You're going to have to cut out huge chunks of your Bible if you decide the church is not for me. But who is going to help you? Who's going to remind you that your breath smells? God uses people in your life. So this liberty he's talking about is not liberty to do whatever I want. It's the freedom to now serve Jesus Christ from the heart. I don't have to do it. I get to do it. You know, I can tell you this. I'm tied at the heart to my wife. And I'm glad. I'm glad to be there. You know, there's a danger if I ever allow in my heart, why does she get to have, always has to have a list of stuff? Why does she always tell me what to do? If I start letting that thing in my heart, you know what I'm doing? I'm not coming into freedom and liberty. I'm going to anarchy. You know what I'm going to end up doing at some point? If I keep allowing that thing to grow in my heart, I'm going to end up eating ramen noodles on a futon in an apartment somewhere by myself, watching some stupid TV show by myself at 3.30 in the morning. Sorry, I hope I'm not describing anyone's life here. You're like, yeah, that's pretty much it. That's pretty much it. I'm grateful to be able to have the freedom inside the boundaries of that relationship. Joy that comes through the discipline, right? It's the discipline of liberty. and i'm not trying to push that because god gives you the chance people say you're trying to make me think i can't got it you have a choice you always do but i know this if you make a choice to serve god from the heart he says that's true liberty that's true freedom But notice this, in Galatians chapter 5, that liberty gives me an opportunity to serve someone else from the heart. He says, Notice the contrast of liberty. You can use liberty for yourself, or you can use liberty for others. Now, a lot of times this is what Christians say. You can use your liberty to smoke, or you can use your liberty to not smoke. You can use your liberty to get drunk, or you can use your liberty to pour all your alcohol down the drain. And by the way, I'm for giving up smoking and drinking. But that's not the contrast. You see the contrast? One is, this is for me. The other is, my liberty is for others. serve one another. See, if we're not careful, we think Christianity is a list of things. The things I used to do, I don't do them anymore. The girls I used to date, I don't date them anymore. Amen? I don't. I don't. Honestly, I don't. I've got to throw some humor in there sometimes. A little humor for you. Christianity is not all about things that I no longer do because I'm saved. That's a part of it for sure. But guys, we can't forget this. Christianity is about the things I now do because I am saved. I used to not care about people. But because I have the liberty of Christ, I have liberty in Christ, I care now for people. And we talked about this last week, sometimes it's so easy to just adopt whatever our culture around us says is appropriate or is necessary. Somebody invites you over, you invite them over, right? And then we're done, right? Like we're done, okay. I mean, I think I've fulfilled my obligations, right? I charged it and then I paid off the card. We're good to go. The Lord says the liberty we have is to serve one another. Now I don't know about you, that doesn't seem like liberty to me. It seems like bondage. Then guess who's wrong? I'm wrong. Because if God's word contradicts the way I think, the way I think is wrong and needs to be chucked out. And I need to change my thinking. You know, one of the reasons why it's so difficult is because we're constantly fed from the television, from the internet, these devices have turned us into isolation chambers. And you do realize that we are being marketed to constantly. And I don't know how many of you have ever felt this, that you've been talking about something and then pretty soon in your Facebook feed or in your social media feed shows up some advertisement about that very thing. Now, whether that's true or not, I don't care. I really don't. What really bothers me is that they can target me specifically and that it increases this understanding in my mind that I'm the most important person in the universe. That's what bothers me. They can listen all they want. I'm not trying to run from the government. I can tell you that right now. Not by live streaming and having a cell phone and watching television, going into public places and breathing and things like that. Not trying to run from the government. Not worried about that. What I'm really worried about is how the love of money has turned me into a selfish human being. And how does it do it? By targeting specifically to me. So when I'm going online, I'm looking for stuff, I'm looking for things about me, what interests me, what I want to buy, where I want to go, what I want to become, what I want to read. It's a scary place. The Lord says, freedom is the ability to serve other people. Liberty gives me the chance to serve someone else. Secondly, let's look at 1 Peter 4. Using liberty for service. Number two, moving from survival to stewardship. 1 Peter 4. Look what he says in verse 7. Now watch what he says. He gives us instruction for the end of all things. 1 Peter 4.7. But the end of all things is at hand. Be therefore sober and watch unto prayer. And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves. For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without... Right? Notice the command. command of hospitality. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. Is this a parable that he's giving us? Is this an interesting side note or a thought? Or would this look like an imperative command? That's what it looks like to me. It's an imperative verb. Use hospitality. Okay, this is as binding as prayer Notice in verse 7, he said, be sober, watch unto prayer, and above all things, have fervent charity. Christianity is supposed to take place in homes and in businesses, not only in the church building. You might think, well, I'm a good Christian because I go to church. Well, you're a good Christian. Yeah, you should go to church. You're not a good Christian if you don't go to church. I mean, that's pretty simple. But just going to a building? You know, there is no such thing that we know of in the New Testament as a church building. They met in people's what? In their homes. Just like this church did on Fairbanks Avenue back in 1979. From February all the way to, I believe it was the last Sunday in December. And at that point they moved into the building on Alexis Road. How is that possible? It may not be convenient, but it's certainly possible. We're here. It's great. Hospitality is something that we are not just occasionally to think about, you know what, we gotta have them over. We gotta, you know, we oughta get together. It's a command in scripture. Amen? As they say on social media nowadays, let that sink in. Use it. See, the problem with hospitality is we feel used by it. We feel like people are using us. We feel like people are encroaching upon our sacred schedule. Well, may I remind you that we're the ones who set the schedule. And so if you feel like your schedule is overwhelming, you might want to cut some things out of it. At least cut enough out of it to where you can follow the clear command in Scripture. Now, I'm not going to push hard on this, because I know there's a practical challenge of hospitality. Somebody said, all good ideas degenerate into work. It's true. It's true. Somebody's got to clean the house. Somebody's got to get the food ready. Somebody's got to clean the bathrooms. Amen. That's a lot of work for my wife, and I'm thankful that she does it all. I've got to be praying and reading the word, amen. Somebody's got to make the dessert. Hey, and once you get the house ready, you know what the real problem is? The people that come over. Here they are. You've got to learn to love people. Well, this is my house. Well, I mean, technically the bank's until I make 7,500 more payments. But it's my house, right? But do you remember what it was like before you had your own place? Do you remember? Do you remember living with your family? With your parents? Remember how cool it was when you finally got into your place and you realized how much you took for granted? like chairs and tables and couches and food and things like that. You just took for granted. It was all there for your taking, for your using. And now you have it. And what's interesting over time, it's like we're going to constantly add pieces to this puzzle and we're going to upgrade it and we should. And what a blessing we live in a country where we can do that. There are places that don't have that capability. But we do. We've got Home Depot, we've got Lowe's, we've got Menards. And you can save big money at Menards. big money, right? And so we go there and we buy that. Why? Because we want to make our homes nicer, nicer, nicer. But if we're not careful, we're saying we're retreating further and further into our progressively more awesome house and stiff-arming people to keep them from coming in to see it. We don't want people to see our house. That's our house. But guys, we know that's not true. We know that it's the blessing of God that even allows us to have a home because a house without a family is very empty indeed. God's been very gracious to allow us to have someone, if we have someone living with us, a family member, a spouse and children, what a great blessing from God. Thank the Lord for that. And then you look at these things. Look at the walls, look at the furniture. Man, look at the utilities we have. How many of you, raise your hand if you were raised without running water in your house. You lived in a house without running water. Raise your hand up. I see one. I see two. I see three. You know, it's a nice feature. I mean, they used to talk about, yeah, we had running water. We would send my son out there with a bucket, run to the well and get it. Right? That's the way it was. And a lot of people forget how many blessings we have. But guys, may I remind you, you don't get to claim ownership in the same way if it was given to you. You understand what I'm saying? If it's a gift, it ought to humble you. not make you proud. Thank God for running water. Thank God for electricity that doesn't sputter all the time. Thank God for natural gas that comes right, hey, we used to live in a house that there was a park, we had that little door for coal, right? And they'd come by and dump the coal in there, it would go down in the coal bin in the basement. We don't even have to do that anymore. Just natural gas comes right in, powers that furnace, you know, sometimes it runs, most of the times it runs. You know, guys, we've been given a lot of gifts. I'm not suggesting that those gifts are not for you to enjoy. Of course they are. Why do you think God gave them to you? But see, because of the fact that we are not just us and my little nuclear family now, I'm in the family of God. Now I have a bigger family with whom to share my gifts. It's a challenge. Why? Because it does take some work. You know, frankly, some people are boring. You have them over and it's like talking to a wall. Some people are obnoxious. Their laugh is just obnoxious. Right? You're thinking, who is that? It's none of your business. It's my wife. Some people are late. Amen? And some people don't know when to go home. Wow. I have a move that I use often. Well, let me just pray us out here tonight. We're gonna close in prayer. But first, we're gonna take an offering. No, we don't do that. But one of these days, I'm gonna put a sign, I saw a sign. You know those streamer letters that you can hang? It said, the party ends at nine o'clock. I think that would be great. Just put that up there, right? And these are some of the real life challenges that we deal with when it comes to hospitality. Let's face it, you can't take people out to eat all the time. You just can't. Some of you could afford to do it more, and some of you do, and it's wonderful. But it's not always practical. You can't always afford it. But I can tell you one thing. Some people would just as soon drink water and maybe have a pine float, like we used to call it, water with a toothpick in it. They'd just as soon have that, and the fellowship, the connectedness, They just as soon have that as a ribeye steak dinner. It means a lot. And it ought to mean that. You see, what God intends for us as believers in this church right here is to not only hear this book, but to take this book and speak it to other people. Speak it through our mouths, speak it through our love. And I thank God I pastor a church that's very good at this. But we need a reminder, why? Because we all have a flesh. We all have a flesh that says, I want to get home to my house so I can have some me time and relax in my little dome of protection. And the Lord's constantly pushing us out, moving us from survival to stewardship. Watch what happens here. Verse 10. He shows us the what of hospitality. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Wow. I've been a recipient of the grace of God. Now I'm supposed to be a giver of the grace of God. God gave me grace to watch over it and he's coming back to inspect it. You know what's crazy? That God might at some point in the future say, now let's look at that house that I gave you. How did you use that in my service? Well, that's my house. You can't both claim being blessed by God and being the provider of the blessings. You gotta choose one. Did you work for everything that you have and you are, by the way, if you're gonna go that direction, we also have to really tally up all the sins that you've committed. But if you're gonna say, God has been gracious and given me more than I deserve, okay, then that means that you're a steward of the gift. Now, a steward does not open up his wares and say, everybody just take whatever you want. No, that's not what I'm insinuating here. I'm not saying your home should be a 7-Eleven 24 hours a day convenience store that people can just come in anytime. That's not what I'm saying. But I am saying that if you're a steward, then you would use the assets of the household for the benefit of the master. Right? You use what God gave you to be a blessing to other people in His service. So that's why he says, we are recipients and we are stewards. Verse number 11, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. Here's the how of hospitality. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth. You say, well, I don't know how to be hospitable. Do what you know to do. Do the best that you can do. The ability which God giveth. And then he gives the why. That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Some of you are sitting in a church pew tonight because somebody 10, 15, 20, 50 years ago befriended you and taught you the word of God and bought you a hamburger and laughed with you and told jokes and made you feel welcome and warm. That's why you are where you are today. That's what God uses. He uses the stewardship model. He says, I'm gonna give you this, I want you to use it. I want you to use it. God's commanding us to move past survival mode, what's comfortable for me, to stewardship mode. What is that? How can I serve others with what God has given me? Not everybody has the same abilities and not everyone has the same facilities, but that's okay. We all have the same God and we have the same grace. And God expects your grace outlet to be according to how he's made you and what he's given you. Let's take our Bibles to Galatians 6, number three. Moving from survival to stewardship. Next we see moving from competition to care. Galatians chapter 6, we were looking last week about the rivalry between Saul and David, between Saul and his own son. But notice here there's a balance. of personal responsibility and mutual support. First we see Galatians 6,1, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. The spirit of meekness is so important in scripture. It means I could punch you in the mouth, but God's been kind to me, and I'm going to be kind to you. That's what it means. Moses was the meekest man on the earth. He killed a man, and then he learned about meekness. He had the power, not just to hurt, he had the power to help. And that required throttling his anger, throttling his natural reactions, his normal personality. He throttled it through the power of God and he was meek. And he says here, if you're going to be helpful to other people who have fallen, you're going to have to be meek. And by the way, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. He says, here's what this looks like. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. There's that perfect law of liberty. Bearing someone else's burdens. This is a big contrast to Cain saying, am I my brother's keeper? Yes, I am my brother's keeper. I want to bear a burden that my brother might have. I'm moving away from competition. Who are you in competition with? I've been in competition with people. It's embarrassing to tell you with whom I have competed." I won't tell you. Who are you competing with? You say, I'm not competing with anyone. Well, who does it bother you to be nice to? Let's put it that way. That'll tell you who you're in competition with. It's hard to be nice to people that have a position or have a personality that you wish you had. The Lord says here, you want to fix that? Don't think too highly of yourself. Here's how you fix it. Help bear their burdens. Well, let me guess, you don't think they have any burdens. And if you think they have them, they shouldn't have them because they're just, they just get right with God and they won't have any burdens. See, you care about people that you're not in competition with. But if you're in competition with them, you actually kind of secretly are glad when they're burdened. Because maybe it'll slow them down enough for you to catch up to them. You ever think about this as a teenager? If you're raised in church and you had Christian parents, there comes a point when you kind of have your parents on a pedestal and then you start throwing rocks at them and knock them off because they've been telling you this is right and wrong and so forth. And then you realize they're not perfect either. And so you think by throwing rocks at them and finding areas where they don't do everything right, that somehow that means that you don't have to listen to what they say. May I remind you, you're the one that put them on a pedestal. If you'll stop and think about it, the person that you're in competition with, it's not their fault, it's your fault. You're ticked off at somebody because they're further ahead, they have a higher position, they have more influence, they have, you know, a better looking spouse. Or they have a better job, a nicer home, they drive a nicer car. You know what? It doesn't bother them a bit. They're thankful for God's blessings. In fact, those are the worst kind of people that have so much more than I do and they're happy. Did it ever occur to you that maybe it's because they're happy that God's blessed them with A and B and C? And maybe He blessed them with D just to tick you off a little bit and reveal your pride and your ambition? You ever get mad at someone who just talks about how blessed they are and how good God is to them and you're just like... That's not a them problem. That's a you problem. That's your own selfish heart that doesn't care about anybody but yourself. Oh, you'll reach out to people that you consider, you know, a little bit mentally challenged. You'll help people that are behind you. But you're not going to help people that have more than you. Why? They already have more than me. They don't need my help. And now we see it. God is talking here about bearing one another's burdens. Why? Not because they're so terrible, but because they have a burden. Not because they're better or worse than you, but because they are burdened. Everybody here is carrying some burden. David and Jonathan, as we saw last week, they carried one another's burdens. You should never think of yourself as being above helping with a burden. Why? God created this church in community. The word is interdependence. Now, America, we fought the war of independence. And there's a certain part of that that's very helpful. We'll get to that in a moment. But there also is a war in church about interdependence. Am I going to be interdependent on you? I don't need you. You watch people's feathers get ruffled like that. And they gone. Or they're just, they're staying in church, but they're not talking to them anymore. Right? It's a natural, normal human reaction. It happens to all of us. We have to be careful that we maintain in our heart interdependence. Have you offended someone? Have you ever known that you offended someone and you spent weeks trying to think how you would have a conversation with them? You've prayed about it, you've gone to sleep at night thinking, I don't know how else, I don't know. Let me encourage you, don't let that thing go forever. You need to work towards interdependence. Bear ye one another burdens. And then look at verse four, this is amazing. Verse four, but let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Here is the independence. The independence in the church. What does that mean? Number one, you can't be everything for everyone. If you're a charitable person, you can stress yourself out thinking about all the burdens in church, You want to care, and you want to call, and you want to pray, and you want to give, and you just can't be everything for everyone. Number two, don't expect someone to be everything for you. You need to bear your own burden. If you're the kind of person that thinks, well, I don't know why anybody didn't call me, you need to call somebody else. Why? Don't expect other people to carry your burden. you carry your own burden, and then others, you try to help carry other people's burdens. Instead of saying, well, I don't know why people don't try to help me carry my burden, sounds like you're not really carrying your burden. Because I don't know about you, my burden is pretty heavy. I don't need to worry about whether you're caring for my burden. I need to be concerned about whether I'm doing my job and whether I'm trying to help you. You see, if we had a church full of people like that, It would transform everything that we do and think. Maturity in relationships is both independence and interdependence. One final place this evening, 1 Corinthians 12. Moving from competition to care, this mercy to ministry pattern that the Lord uses also goes from division to unity. 1 Corinthians 12, 24. It says, for our comely parts, that's our good-looking parts, our good-looking members of the body. The things that we would call, those are the beautiful people. Oh, those are the amazing people. Our comely parts have no need. But God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another." This is why we have a member care ministry. The members should have the same care one for another, and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. Listen, if your flesh may get tired of getting texts, we have people say, I get too many texts from the church. And I understand, we want to be judicious in that. We want to be careful that we don't just send everything that comes to our mind. But may I remind you, if one member suffers, we all should be suffering. And not just suffering because we received a text message about it. Understanding what they're suffering in. How are they feeling? It's a good reminder of how self-centered we are when it bothers us to take time to pray. And by the way, that's not your new nature that gets irritated. That's your old nature. It's a great reminder in the middle of the day that my old nature is still alive and kicking, because I get a text about Mrs. So-and-so, and I don't even care about Mrs. So-and-so. Well, I would never say that. Well, of course, your new nature would never say that, but your old nature would. Unless some people's old nature likes to manipulate people and help them so they have a greater alliance of friends that are on their side. That's true. There's some weird ways with people, aren't there? But I'm talking spiritually speaking. It should bother me when it doesn't bother me that people are hurting. I should step up to the plate and say, God, I'm going to put my body as a sacrifice on the altar, because I'll just be honest, I don't really care. Now listen, I'm sorry I'm speaking so frankly, but we live in blue-collar Toledo. What do you want me to do? We're not going to pretend. Let's be real about this thing. Let's be real about how our old nature doesn't care, but God does not want you to walk in the flesh, but in the Spirit. And in the Spirit, Jesus is praying. The Bible says He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. One of the only references to feeling in the Bible is the feeling of Christ for our infirmities. And so if we're going to be like Christ, not only that, we have Christ in us. Here's the thing. If you get a text message or you read the prayer list and it doesn't bother you, here's what you need to do. In other words, it doesn't cause in you a feeling of compassion. You need to stop for a moment and say, Lord, my flesh is not getting this. Spirit of God, will you help me understand how you feel about this situation? If you make a pattern, a habit out of that, it won't be a month before you're feeling your compassion goes way up. You just take time to stop and say, Lord, help me to care the way that you care. The members should have the same care. Now, again, not just avoiding conflict. We're using what God's given us to serve. You see that? The members should have the same care, one for another. If you're not a part of the member care ministry, I encourage you to talk with the NEMRS and let them know, I want to be a part of that. So and so needs a basket. Oh, I want to be a part of that. I'll put some money in. I'll put some little gift in there, a gift card. I'll deliver it. We have so many people that are involved in that. What a blessing it is. What a blessing. Notice here in 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 13. I want you to see here the unity, the unity, despite the differences. Despite the differences. Well, let's look at verse number 4 first. You notice something wild? You know DEI? Have you heard of that? Kind of been floated around everywhere. You know DEI was God's idea? Man's tried to do it and it just ruins places. It ruins countries. It ruins companies. But God had that idea for his church. Let me show it to you. First Corinthians chapter 12, look at verse four. Now there are diversities of gifts. D-E-I, what's that? Diversity, equity, and inclusion. In other words, we gotta make sure no matter how weird and lazy you are, we're gonna make you feel like you're doing awesome. That's man's idea. Everybody's going to be included. Everybody's going to be a part. We relish the idea of differences and so forth. Well, God put it right here. There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There's your equity. Look at verse 13. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free. There's your inclusion. and have been all made to drink into, here's the key, one spirit. This is why DEI does not work in the normal world, in the physical world. Why? Because what we do is we celebrate the differences. In Christ, we celebrate the unity. What brings us together? Not what makes us different. God makes us different, but He brings us together in Christ. Why? The Spirit of God that's in me is in you. Can we get along? Well, let me just see. Can God the Father get along with God the Holy Spirit? Absolutely. Then we can get along. It may take a while for us to work through our human differences, but in Christ we already are one. The devil will make you afraid to talk to your brother or sister in Christ. He'll say, she won't understand. She doesn't think this. They don't like us. They don't accept us. And in the flesh, that very well may be true. But in the spirit, it's not true. In the spirit, we are all one in Christ Jesus. Every member is valued in the body. Weaker members are especially honored. That's a reverse. They try to do that. It doesn't work in the work world. But weaker members should get special honor. You know what? When you're sick, aren't you glad for people who go out of their way to take care of you? That's what we do as a body. We share our joys. We share our sorrows, just like David and Jonathan did. And we have a diversity of gifts. Some people are better at doing one thing. Some people are better at doing another. What should you be doing? Well, I think you should do what the Holy Spirit lays on your heart. I think you should try to do your best. You say, well, I can't do what so-and-so does. Well, don't let that keep you from doing what you can do. See, the devil would like to isolate us and get you to think everybody else thinks you're stupid. Everybody else is beneath you. Everybody else doesn't understand you. And it's a lie of the devil. God wants us to come together. The young man that came to the preaching service there on the hill of Galilee, he brought just a few fishes, some bread, but he was willing for the Lord to have it. He didn't say, oh wait, what about me? He just gave his lunch to the Lord. And God took that lunch and he fed everybody with it. See, if you'll give what you have to the Lord with the right heart, God can take that and multiply it. He left with a little lunch, and God made it a huge lunch with lots of leftovers. That's what God can do with your gift. That's what God can do with your attempt at hospitality. See, if you're doing it for yourself, if you're doing it, you're saying, Lord, I don't know. I'm going to give this to you, but I'm afraid. There's not enough. There's just no way. As long as the miracle is in your hands, it's not going to work. If you put the miracle in God's hands, He can do what you cannot do. Can I just remind the tape for you to 1979 and see a young couple as they make their way up here to Toledo in a snowstorm? And as they go to that little house on Fairbanks Avenue, can I remind you that if they tried to put in, if they tried to game that thing out 40 years, they never would have been able to game out what happened. If they had tried to control it all the way along the way, God would have never blessed the way that he did. You know what God blessed? God blessed what they could do as a young couple in 1979 with a couple of small children. They said, God, this is what we can do. We're gonna take a step of faith. And God blew on that and blessed it and multiplied it. And here we sit tonight. I ask you this, did the Holy Spirit die? Did God stop blessing his word? Did the Lord choose to no longer work through human beings? Of course not. The breath of God never dies. God is eternal. His word is eternal. His spirit is eternal. It's living in you. God wants to do more in 2024. God wants to do even more in 2025. Well, I don't see how. I don't have enough money. I don't have a place. I don't have a nice home. I don't have any. What do you have? Let's start there. Whatever you do have, be willing to part with it for God. Well, I'm afraid I'm gonna go hungry. You know that kid didn't eat supper when he got home. I'm pretty sure he didn't eat any supper. Why? He was stuffed. And he wasn't stuffed just because he ate his lunch. He got his lunch. There's like 75 extra orders of chicken nuggets. They're like, we're just going to throw them out. Do you want them? He's got so much food he couldn't eat when he got home. You'd be amazed at what God would do with your little world and your little home and your little experience and understanding and your family. You'd be amazed to see what God would do with that. We're here tonight as recipients of the grace of God in other people's lives. Now that God has given us that grace, He wants us to steward it properly and use it to be a blessing to others. It's been such a blessing to hear about different folks in the church getting together. Brother Craig Collingwood gets together with many of the men in the church. I heard Mrs. Raines had a bunch of ladies over the other day. I was over at Kathy Hall sometime in the summer. We had a wonderful time together. We're getting together. You know what we're doing? We're getting together saying, Kathy, when are you going to fix this place up? I can't believe you live in this. No. No. She has a wonderful home. It's a great place. But it's not about the house. It's about the heart. It's not about the facilities. It's about the fellowship. We're here not to talk about how awesome and wonderful everything she has is. It's not that we don't notice it. We're thankful for it. We praise God for the blessings God gives her. But we're really thankful for the grace of God in her heart. Hey, welcome. It's not all about having a museum where everything is perfectly, perfectly curated and in place. And hey, if you have a gift in that, go for it. It's awesome. But that's really not what it's about. It's about the grace of God. Now I will say, if you have a dog, maybe vacuum up the hair before you have us over, amen? It's a blessing. It's a blessing. But even if you can't, honestly, I've been to a church on a city dump down in Mexico. And I watch people sing with joy. And you walk in and out of that place, not just, you know, step in and step out. I mean, you're walking for half a mile. And it's layers of garbage. This is back before we just let everybody in. People got up to the border and they couldn't get in. So they just lived on the dump and they built a church. Do you live on a city dump? I'm not talking about your kids' rooms. I'm talking about the house. Hey, listen, God's been more gracious to us than we can imagine. And for us to say, oh, I don't want anyone to see, be careful about that. Be careful, because you might be closing off your heart, not just to other believers, but to God himself. Because it was God who gave you that to begin with. In the early church, they broke bread from house to house. It's difficult today, in some ways, just to break out of our routines. But God's pattern has not changed. The same God who freed you from sin did not free you to live in isolation. He freed you to serve. The same God who gifted you didn't gift you for yourself. He gifted you to minister to others. The same God who called you to bear burdens didn't just mean your own burden. He also meant your brothers' and sisters' burdens. Sometimes it is just as simple as a meal. Sometimes it's just as basic as an open door. Something as simple, as ordinary as a clean bathroom and a dessert. That's how simple it gets. The Lord came, our Savior came to reverse that pattern of selfishness in the human nature. And he does it through ordinary people, not amazing Chip and Joanna Gaines, just you and me. It's not glamorous, it's often not convenient, sometimes it's downright difficult. But this is how God builds his church. Not through perfect people, but through serving people. Not just through convenient moments, but through committed members. not through random connections, but through real community. The early church turned the world upside down, and the hub of that activity was a house. People were working and living and sharing and preaching and listening and falling asleep and falling out of windows. They were known by their love, and that love looks like an open home and an open heart. May the same be said of us today. May we be people who don't just enjoy our freedom, but employ our freedom. Not just possess gifts, but share them. Not just attend the church, but be the church. Serving one another. Bearing burdens together. And yes, even practicing hospitality without grudging. Let's bow our heads in prayer.