Following the Lord isn't always easy. It doesn't even always feel good at the time. But there's a blessing in it when we're obedient to him and so grateful for our Lord who was willing to suffer even though it didn't feel good. Right. But he knew what he had to do. And he did it because he loved because he loved all of mankind. I've got a text today, but we're going to take a little while to get there. There's a verse that I got stuck on this week in my reading and mostly trying to figure it out. And then as I started getting it figured out, it was one of those things I felt like I needed to preach today. And I want to try to to make some connections and bring us all to this place, to kind of where I'm at, where my burden's at, if I can try to put this all into words. I struggled with it a little bit this week trying to figure out exactly what it was I was supposed to say and how to do it. But the title of the thought this morning is Piercing the Darkness. motives matter and We've been spending some time these last few weeks Getting ready for Christmas Celebrating Christmas. We had our candlelight service this last week on Tuesday morning on Christmas Eve as we were just rejoicing in the light of Jesus Christ that has come into this world and And one of these passages that I was especially blessed by and studying these last few weeks is in John chapter one, verses four and five. And I've read it multiple times these last few weeks. And I just love how profound it is. It says, in him, in Christ was life. And the life was the light of men and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Meaning the darkness did not overcome it. Darkness did not gain mastery over Christ. And when all of the darkness of the world, the sin, when the curse, when the corruption, when death was poured upon him at that cross, it did not extinguish who he was. It did not extinguish his light. It did not extinguish his life. But he rose again from the grave. And that is our blessed hope. That was the first Christmas tree, brother. Kenny just sang about. But from that thought about the light this last Tuesday morning as we gathered together and we were lighting our candles and spreading that light around, there is this picture, this sense of, you know, we're the light of the world, right? That we are a light. And one of these things we understand about Christ is that his light, his life, can be ignited inside of us. Before you're saved, you're in darkness. And that's what Ephesians 5, 8 says, for ye were sometimes, at one point you were darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. So walk as a child of the light. I mean, you were darkness and now you're light. And it's not your light, it's the light of Christ. Ignited in you when you were saved and and if you are saved if you are a light bearer you Have a responsibility to shine don't you? To let your light shine Jesus spoke of this in the Sermon on the Mount. He says you are the light of the world You are the thing that's giving light in this world if you bear the light of Christ you are the light of the world you are a city set upon a hill that that's not meant to be hidden and Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but they put on a candlestick and it gives light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. A brightly shining light We'll draw attention to Christ. We have a responsibility to shine in this world. And because we are light and this world is darkness, faithful light bearers, we will oppose darkness. We'll stand against what's wrong. We'll have to call out what's right and wrong. That's just part of being the light, isn't it? I mean, isn't that what it means to be the light, is to illuminate things? Ephesians 5.11 says, have no fellowship. with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, which means to expose them. That's what light does. It lets you see what's really there. And so there's part of this responsibility to be a light, to expose darkness that we have if we carry the light, but not just to expose the darkness, but to transform the darkness to light. That was part of the picture of the candle lighting ceremony because, you know, I lit my candle off this one and then I passed it along to the deacons and the deacons took it and they passed it along to the ends of rows and people started taking their flame and passing it around and before long we were all lit up and that's the idea, that's the picture. This passage is about Jesus Christ here in Isaiah 42, but it's his mission, which is our mission as God's people. Isaiah 42, six and seven says, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and then that sit in darkness out of the prison house. That's about Christ, but that is the work of Christ. That is the great commission, to carry His light so that people who are in darkness can have their eyes opened. so that the light of Christ would be ignited in their hearts, so that people who are in bondage in the chains of sin could be set free and out of the darkness of the prison cell. Two ways that we see that happen. The first obvious one is somebody gets saved. Somebody gets truly born again and the light of Christ is ignited upon the wick of their heart for the very first time. And what a glorious thing that is to see, to be able to witness or perceive that somebody has been born again. It's the best. It's the best. And another thing that's like it is the rescuing of a saint who has been taken captive by Satan. Someone who belongs to God, but they've fallen into darkness. They've fallen into sin. They've fallen into a prison of sorts. And have gotten wrapped up back in the darkness. And their light's not shining as it should. And they're captive to those things. But yet there's hope, isn't there? There's hope, right? For Christians who fall into sin and darkness, there's hope for them. It's the same message that's the message of Christ, His truth. It's the miracle, both salvation and the rescuing of the saint. It is the same miracle in a sense because it's the miracle of repentance and faith in Christ. And I think a lot about that miracle. I think a lot about that miracle that we so long to see occur among us. The miracle produced by true repentance and faith in Christ. How many of you, by a show of hands, carry a burden for someone who is lost in sin or saved, but who is entrapped by darkness? You're who I'm talking to today. My burden and my question that I've been kind of privately reading and studying about on my own is how can I be more effective at using the light of Christ to pierce the darkness? And now this is not just me, y'all are implicated in it too, because this is so much on my heart. How can we, how can we more effectively use the light of Christ to pierce the darkness? I mean, our desire is to see souls saved. Our desire is to see those who are trapped in the shackles of sin, to see them released and for them to be all that they're meant to be in Christ. That's our burden, isn't it? I mean, I saw some hands. I didn't count. Certainly more people here who want that than wanted pizza today, which is good. But it's a burden. And before we dig into this a little bit, I want to make some initial comments, because I think it's important. And this is one of the hardest lessons I had to learn as a pastor. You can't make everybody come to the light. You can't. No matter how good you are, no matter how surrendered you are, no matter how much you pray and try and sacrifice, you cannot make everyone come to the light. And I say that not just because of my own failures, but because Jesus Christ, who was the perfect light of the world, preached the gospel to people like Judas Iscariot, who turned and betrayed him, preached the gospel to many people who turned against him and denied him. And so if the perfect light who came into the world did not win everybody over who heard Him. I don't think we who are servants, and at best a reflection, a pale reflection of Christ, that we can expect to have perfect results. And so I want to take that load off of us. But nevertheless, doing nothing will produce what? Nothing. Doing nothing. We know what the results are going to be from that. If we do nothing, if we say nothing, nothing will happen. So we know we've got some role to play. And the way that we reach the lost, and I've already kind of tied this together, is not very different from the way we try to reach those who are saved and struggling. And there are some key passages in Scripture that give us some insight about how we might go about this work. And I wanna read a couple of them this morning. And I'm gonna bring us down to focus on one verse here in just a little bit. But if you wanna read along with me, I wanna read just a couple of verses in Galatians chapter six. A couple of verses in Galatians chapter six. And I'll refer back to this later. It says, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, if a man be overtaken in a fault, Ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." And I could go on, because with that issue that Paul raises there in Galatians 6.1 about someone being overtaken in a fault, going to them, he gives five verses of instructions to the person who is about to go. And his instruction to them is not so much what to say to that person, it's about getting them ready to be able to go and be the light in the right way. And so there's a lot of stuff there. But what I want us to see is that this work, this work of shining the light in the darkness is a work of love. It's a work of love. It fulfills the law of Christ. And what is the law of Christ? It's to love God. and to love others, right? Is that not the law of Christ? To love God with everything and then to love other people. That's the law of Christ. It is a law of love. And doing this is a work of love. But as Paul is readying people to go out and help those who are overcome in sin, overtaken in a fault, that godly confrontation that you're about to undertake must be preceded by an internal confrontation. He says, consider yourself before you go do this. Stop and think about what's going on inside of you. Before you go and you do this, where are you at? That's great instruction. But is there an example of what that looks like? Is there an example in Scripture that we could turn to and we could get a little bit of a sense of what's going in the heart of somebody who is doing this? And how they're getting their heart in the right place and then God using them in such a way to be able to help turn people from darkness to light. Is there something we could look at? I mean, we think about ways that God has used people in Scripture to turn people from darkness to light. I mean, probably one of the greatest examples of repentance in the Bible is King David, right? After the sin with Bathsheba, and killing her husband, and all the different things he was involved in. And then there was Nathan, the prophet, you know, that God called to go in there to David. and to give him that picture and illustration about the sheep. And David got all caught up in the picture of the guy who just had one sheep, and the guy who had a bunch, and the guy who had a bunch of sheep stole the guy's sheep who just had one. And David was so upset as Nathan laid this out. And David said, the guy that does this, he ought to be killed or something. And Nathan said, thou art the man. I was a preacher, you know, I mean, I don't know, you kind of, like, man, wouldn't that be cool? Wouldn't that be cool to be the guy, thou art the man, you know? I guess I imagined him just, like, railing down on him with fire. I don't know that he actually said it that way. Maybe it was more of a, David, thou art the man. I don't know. I don't know. But we don't really know what's going on inside Nathan's heart. We know God used it. powerfully. We know David repented completely. He wrote a song about it. It's one of the Psalms. We don't know what's going on in Nathan's heart, but there is something we can look at that I think will give us a little more insight into that considering thyself, the heart thing that went on when someone confronted sin and that's going to be in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7. If you want to turn there with me and I'm going to take you to that verse I got caught on this week. 2 Corinthians chapter 7. And as you turn there, let me give you the back story. Here's the back story. The Apostle Paul And he's writing a second letter that we have here in Scripture to the Corinthians. He had spent about 18 months of his ministry with the Corinthians. It was on his second missionary journey. He had poured himself into these people. He got to spend more time with them than a lot of the people he ministered to. People got saved, a church was formed. The Apostle Paul felt like a spiritual father. to these people because he invested and poured so much into them. In fact, if you read these two letters, 1st and 2nd Corinthians closely, it's very likely Paul wrote more letters than just those two. Now, not everybody agrees with that, but I think there's a really good argument that there are more letters, that there was a letter preceding 1 Corinthians and that there's a letter between 1 and 2 Corinthians that Paul wrote. It doesn't mean we're missing anything. We have exactly what we need. But the letters we have in Scripture, these are not all the letters that were ever written to churches in that age by apostles. The Lord's given us what we need. But we see some things kind of implied here. And what we understand what's going on at Corinth is that Paul had poured himself into these people. He had taught them. They had a love and respect. He was an apostle. But some false teachers had come along and had started bad-mouthing the Apostle Paul. Trying to undermine their faith and their trust in the Apostle Paul. And the apostle Paul got word about that. In fact, they were even saying he's not really an apostle. And even pointing out all of his sufferings. Well, if he was really God's, would he be going through all this stuff that he faces? And so there was all sorts of things that were being said. And it's kind of implied, because of the repentance that happened, that at least some of those Corinthians were persuaded by the false teachers, and they turned against Paul. And so the Apostle Paul, when hearing about this, he wrote a letter to address the issue and he sternly rebuked them. And that's probably the letter that's between 1st and 2nd Corinthians. And even if you don't agree with my assessment of the situation, it doesn't really change the point of the text. But if we read this passage together here, I'm going to start in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 5. I think with that back story, it will help you make more sense of what he says. Because Paul starts off here in verse 5 of chapter 7 talking about the turmoil he was feeling after he wrote that hard letter to them about their sin, and all that he was feeling inside of him, and then what he heard about them. So let's pick up and read here together. For when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. We were troubled on every side. Without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless, God, that comforted those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus. and not by His coming only, but by the consolation wherewith He was comforted in you. When He told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward Me, so that I rejoice the more. For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent. Though I did repent, For I perceive that the same epistle, the same letter that has made you sorry, though it were but for a season, now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrow to repentance. For you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us and nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold, this selfsame thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge, in all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Here's this verse. Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God appear unto you. Let's pray together. Our Father God today, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you, God, for Not making all the pages, the people on the pages of the Bible gilded and seemingly perfect, Lord, but weak and broken people just like us, God, but who sought to walk with you. And you empowered them and you helped them. And Lord, what are we? Just weak and broken people? People who carry around a lot of fears, a lot of concerns, struggling between knowing what's right and doing what's right, feeling what's right in our hearts, God, at times. Yet, Lord, just reading these words, the honest words of the Apostle Paul today, give me hope. I hope, give all of us hope, God, that even in our weakness, Lord, you can do something through us, Lord, for we long to see miracles around us, we long to see miracles of souls being saved, of lives being changed, of what is broken being mended. And we are so utterly weak and helpless, but you are not. And so we ask and pray today that you would help us, God. Help us help the point to get across Keep me on point and focus, Lord, with your intentions today. Work in our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Don't worry, I didn't just start. Let me get that out of the way, lest you look at your watch too early. I want to just ask a few questions as we think about what we just read. How many of you have witnessed real repentance happen? How many of you have seen real repentance happen? How many of you have seen fake repentance? There's some hands on that too, right? Fake repentance. What's the difference? Well, here's the difference. Real biblical repentance produces real change. I mean, that's just a very simple way of saying it. And there's nuances because we can truly repent, and then we can even get fallen back into some of the same things again down the road. But real repentance is going to produce some real change if it's real. And I always tire of hearing people who say, well, I tried the Christianity thing, or I tried to do what the Bible says, and it didn't work. And I'm thinking, you didn't really try what God said. Because what God has said works. Period. I don't need to elaborate anymore. It works. It works. What God has said works. And the Apostle Paul recognizes he was writing to these people that there is a huge difference between real and fake repentance. What's the difference between real and fake repentance besides the result? Well, in verse 10 he says, look, real repentance is preceded by godly sorrow. Godly sorrow. What is godly sorrow? Godly sorrow is sorrow that is aligned with the heart of God. Very simple definition, but I think it's kind of profound. Godly sorrow means you are sorry for the things that sorrow the heart of God. That's what godly sorrow is. It's you're sorry, you have a sorrow for what truly offends God. Well, what then is worldly sorrow? Because fake repentance is preceded by worldly sorrow. Well, worldly sorrow is aligned with the world. Think back to the Garden of Eden. They ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They sinned against God. They ran away. They were cursed. All of these things happened. Death came upon the world. We can look at that and we can say, oh, look at all the horrible things. The ground was cursed. They were going to die. There's going to be pain and childbearing, all of those things. Yes, that's bad. But that's really worldly sorrow. Because those are the curses, the consequences brought upon the world by the sin. What should really sorrow our hearts? God said, don't. And they did. God said don't and they did. That would be godly sorrow. I think about Cain and Abel. I spoke about this a few weeks ago. Cain and Abel. And Cain killed Abel and God tried to prevent it. He went to Cain before he did it. He confronted Cain afterwards when Cain tried to lie. And the Lord said, I'm cursing the ground. It's never going to bear anything from you from now on. And Cain started moaning about how bad his punishment was, and it was more than he could bear. Cain was worried about the consequence. He wasn't crying about his brother. He wasn't crying because he killed his brother. He was crying because of the pain and the consequences that were upon him because he killed his brother. Worldly sorrow is weeping over death, but not disobedience. over pain, but not the underlying plague or disease that's causing the pain. Well, you see, Paul's letter was used by God to produce real repentance in the Corinthians. I mean, it worked, not by Paul's strength, but what God did. You know, Paul was, he told me, he said, I was in knots. I couldn't even hardly sleep. I mean, I wrote you this hard letter. I didn't know how this was going to go, if you're going to hate me even more, if it's just going to play into the hands of these false prophets who were trying to turn you against me, and now you're going to hate me the more, or if you're going to repent. But I had to write the letter. And so he was torn up until he heard that they repented. And as he describes that repentance here in verse 11, I mean, it's so powerful. He looks at it, he says, this self-same-thing, this repentance, look what it did. I mean, at the end of that verse, he says, you have completely cleared yourself. There's been this total change that's happened among you through this letter. So my question is, what can we learn from Paul's letter to help us? to pierce the darkness. And it's this verse 12 that I got caught on this week, because I never really paid attention to it before, and I started reading this and studying this kind of for myself, and I ran across this, and I'm like, what does this mean? Because here in this verse, the Apostle Paul reveals his motive. This is what's behind the letter. This is why I wrote it. And he had to write some hard things. He had to say some hard things. He says, wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that had suffered the wrong, which was himself, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you. Let me explain this and let's try to apply it. Paul in this passage, I believe he uses an idiom. An idiom is like a, A non-literal expression, like a figure of speech. And we see that in other places in the Bible, like Hosea 6, 6, where the Lord says, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. He wasn't blowing up the sacrificial system. He wasn't saying, quit sacrificing to me. He was saying, what I want most is for y'all to do the right thing to start with and not have to go back and say you're sorry later. I want you to have a heart to want to do what's right. And then you're going to mess up. And then sacrifice when you mess up. But don't just be like, we're just going to do what we want. It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. That's what his problem was. And so that's why here he uses this kind of this idiom to say, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. And I think it's the same point in this passage. Paul is saying, if you go back, he's like, it's not that he doesn't care about the people who did the wrong. And it's not that he doesn't even have his own personal feelings, but there was something that was motivating him. It wasn't about vengeance. He said, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong. And it wasn't about vindicating his own name, making himself feel better, look better. He said, because it's not for his cause that suffered the wrong. But what was it about? This is in the ESV, it says, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Still a little bit hard to understand, and I'll read this little excerpt to you from Vincent's word studies in the New Testament back from 1887. He said, this difficult passage means that while Paul did desire the punishment and the reformation of the offender and the vindication of the wrong party, His main object, what he really wanted, was that the fidelity and zeal of the church toward God should be manifested as it was. We saw that in verse 11. This would appear in the manifestation of their zealous interest for him as God's minister. He states this as if it were his only object. Paul's desire was repentance. Paul cared about these people. He didn't just care about himself. He wasn't just trying to get after the person who caused the mess. But He truly cared about the welfare of the people. He wanted their hearts to be changed. He wanted them to repent. And the fruit of that kind of repentance would mean their attitude towards Him would change. But it was not really for His own interest that He was writing this letter. It was because He wanted God, what God wanted, to be accomplished in them. And that was really what motivated Paul. That was the thing that pushed him to write that letter. Because if it was about other things, it would be easy to just not write a letter or to write a different letter. You get that? If Paul's motive was vengeance or to vindicate himself, he could have wrote a much different letter or just not. out of fear. But the right motive that was behind Paul is what moved him to do what he did in the way that he did it. Because the danger of the false prophets was not just about their attitude towards Paul, but the destructive doctrine that they brought, the damage that would be done to people. And that's the point. What point? Our motives matter. Our motives really matter. You know, we just went through an election cycle where you had two major parties that are trying to each get a bunch of people to do the same thing, right? They want you to vote for their candidate. Now, they don't really care why you vote for their candidate. They just want you to vote. They don't care if you vote out of fear. They don't care if you vote out of love for the platform. They just want you to vote for their candidate. Because all that matters is that you push the right button, write in the right name, pull the lever, however you do it. They want the right result. But folks, the work of the church is not politics. It's not just about doing the right thing or saying the right thing at the right time. It's about why you're doing it because the why is going to shape the what. The why is going to shape the how. As we go about this work of trying to reach people who are in darkness, whatever the reason, they're lost or maybe they're saved and they're tied up, what are we trying to accomplish? Because we can all say that we want the same things that we're trying to accomplish or do the same things, but what I want us to do and what I've been trying to do it myself because it really matters, and I find this a lot in me, is that why I'm doing it will shape how I do it. It'll really shape how I do it. What motivates us to pierce the darkness? Are they worldly motives or are they godly motives? And I want to reflect back on the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow and play it forward to us because I think it matters. I think we can see this. As we try to reach those who are bound up in darkness, why are we moved to do this? And I'm going to ask some hard things. Because worldly motives would be focused on the consequences, often to us. First illustration, disciplining children. Do you discipline your children, or did you discipline your children if you had children, for disobedience or for disruption? Because there's a difference, right? Disciplining children for disobedience is about whenever they do the thing that is wrong, you intervene to bring discipline into their life to try to correct that. Disciplining for disruption is that I will do something, I will say something when they get in my way, when they inconvenience me, when they embarrass me, then I'm going to really come down. I'm going to be very different about how I discipline them than just for regular disobedience. Because if it's disruptive to me, then I'm really going to get involved in it. Otherwise, I may or may not say something, may or may not do something. I would say that disciplining for disruption is worldly. Disciplining for disobediences is a godly motive. Illustration number two. You have two grown sons. One is addicted to money and wildly successful, and you get lots of compliments for all their success. Your other son is so lazy, he can barely get his hand from the bag of Cheetos into his mouth. And that's a biblical example, not the Cheetos, but the sluggard is so lazy he buries his hand in the dish and won't even bring it to his mouth. That's a biblical example. Unless you think I'm being a little too coarse. One is covetous and addicted to money and the other one is lazy. And you get lots of looks from people about that other son. Would you be equally concerned about them? Would you equally intervene in their lives? Even though one by the world's standards is wonderful, and the other one by the world's standards is not successful, would you be equally concerned? Would you equally pray and intervene in their lives? Illustration number three, several lost people are seeking salvation at a service, including some in your own family. And some of them get saved. It's just not yours. Can you rejoice for those who did get saved? Or do you find yourself bitter and resentful because others did and yours did not? Illustration four, you carry a deep burden for your family, but you feel no real concern for the souls of other people. And I'm not against feeling a burden for your family, and you are uniquely set to carry it, but they're not the only ones who are lost and dying. They're not the only ones who are struggling in sin. And you don't think a whole lot about anybody else but yours. Are you really concerned about the souls of men or are you more concerned about a glad reunion day? Do you see the difference between worldly motives and godly motives? You see, we can do things like, so I'm going to intervene with my kid. I'm going to talk to them about this, or I'm going to pray for this person to be saved, my family. And it sounds like all of this sounds like good things, but our motives can be in the wrong place. And what Paul revealed about this letter that God used so powerfully, he said, it wasn't about me. It was about what God wanted. It's about what God truly wanted to accomplish. And I'm so thankful he poured that out here because God used that so powerfully. And again, I can't guarantee any of you anything. I can't guarantee myself anything. But I can tell you that if we do what would please God in a way that would be pleasing to God, it will be so much more powerful and effective in the hearts of those who are bound up in darkness. You see, godly motives like godly sorrow is focused on the root issue. It's aligned with God's motives, God's purposes, God's desires. This passage in Galatians, we looked at earlier. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one. What's it mean to be spiritual? You ever think about that? You just read that passage and say, that's not me, so not my problem. I don't think that's the way it's written. I think it's meant to be any of us. He wants to call us to do it, but what does it mean to be spiritual? In my youth, growing up in missionary Baptist churches, when I heard the term spiritual, I equated that with emotional and unpredictable. The person who was considered spiritual was very emotional and they were unpredictable. You never knew when they were going to get up and say or sing or do anything. And I considered that was what was spiritual was. Emotion and unpredictability. As I got a little bit older, I thought the spiritual ones were like Jedi. They just had this sort of hidden power on them. You know, and when they spoke or when they did something, things moved. Right? But as I study the word more, I've come to realize that the spiritual are those who have surrendered what they want to what God wants. And they rely upon his strength to get it done. That's who the spiritual are. Those who surrender what I want to what God wants, and they trust and rely upon His strength alone to accomplish that work. And true spirituality is characterized by love. And I will close with this passage today. 1 Corinthians 13.5. Also penned by Paul. This is the love chapter, the love passage. He's speaking about charity or love. And he says, it doth not behave itself unseemly. It seeketh not her own. It's not easily provoked. So it's not doing things out of vengeance. The Apostle Paul in his letter, so powerfully used by God to bring about real repentance, that theme, is that it's not about me. It's not about the damage done to me. It's not about me being embarrassed. It's not about people thinking less of me. It's not about trying to get out back at the person who caused the problem. It's about the danger to their own souls. He truly cared, not about himself, but about the people. And I'll tell you, a letter like that is risky. Because he, as he said, he didn't write this letter and be just like, oh, I just feel perfect peace now, it's all gonna be okay. He said, I had a hard time sleeping after I wrote that. I had a hard time sleeping and resting after I did that. I had fears within, fightings without. but he proceeded because he was first surrendered to God and then to those who needed him. And isn't that the law of Christ? Isn't that what it means to be spiritual? Is to be surrendered to God and to surrender ourselves in love for the best interest of other people. And I believe if we are a church that would seek, and we're going to have to always be on it. And I have these fights within me all the time. And I've shed many a tear trying and fighting to get to the right place and lay it down on the altar. But I believe to the extent that we do that and we fight that good fight within ourselves, there's so much that can happen in this place. So many miracles. I'm not saying we're going to win every fight, but folks, we're going to improve our batting average. There will be such a power upon this place because love like that is rare and precious. And love like that, the Lord will not allow to be wasted. As we close the service today, I'm going to give a reverse invitation. Of course the altar is always open for those today. If God's working on your heart and you're lost and you need to seek Christ, I urge you to come. If God's dealing with you about some issue in your life and you want to come and seek the Lord, you're always welcome. But what I want to do today is, I call it a reverse invitation. I want to ask you today if you are burdened about someone. If you are burdened about something, situation, and somehow, in some way, God's dealing with your heart today, not just about them, because you care about them, you care about the situation, you care about their soul, you care about all those things, but God's dealing in you today in some way about where your heart is at in this whole thing. Because you want to be a light. Maybe you're afraid. Maybe you say too much. Maybe you don't say enough. Maybe you don't know what to say. This invitation's for you too today. Just to come and let's just bring it before the Lord today and let Him, ask Him to do a work in our hearts and take whatever that may have been shared today that would be true that you need to hear, that He would solidify that in your heart and that He would work in your heart and that He would empower, that we would get surrendered to Him and that we would be surrendered to what's best for those people that God has laid in our path, that we love and care about, that we might be that light, that it might pierce the darkness That's our invitation today. So as we stand and sing, if you wish to come, come and let's call upon the Lord today.