Please open up your Bibles with me. Please open up your Bibles with me. 1st Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1 and we will pick up at verse 22 and read through and Lord willing study through the end of the chapter today. That's 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 22 to 25. If you do not have a Bible, we have a few Bibles out on the table. You are welcome not only to go use one to follow along today, but also you can take one home if you don't have a Bible. All right, let's give our attention to God's infallible word this morning. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God for all fleshes like grass and all its glory, like the flower of grass, the grass withers and the flower falls. But the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. Let's pray. Father, we come before you as needy people. We need you. We need you in this time. We need your illumination of your truth. We need conviction where our devotion is waning. We need you to meet with us. So we pray to that end this morning, that God, this time would not be stagnant, that this time would not be wasted, but that God, in your grace and mercy, that you would kindly meet with your people and change us for the good of our souls and for the glory of your name. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. I think through overuse and misuse certain words in our vocabulary lose their meaning. Through overuse and misuse, certain words in our vocabulary lose their meaning. As many of you know, my wife and I, we lived in Mississippi for three years. That's where I went to seminary. I came back from seminary. And one thing that I fell in love with in Mississippi was sweet tea. There is something special about this concoction of sugar, sugar, sugar, and some sugar with some more sugar and a hint of tea that arguably changed my life over those three years. Sweet tea for me was one of those. beverages of choice that I looked forward to. I would go to certain restaurants because I knew of the quality of their sweet tea. So then I moved back to Ohio and I remember going to a restaurant and I asked them, do you have sweet tea? And they're like, oh yeah, we have sweet tea. And they bring back tea that arguably is neither sweet or not even necessarily tea. Just because you have brown water with a packet of sugar, that doesn't mean sweet tea. Because from my point of view, sweet tea is part sugar, part guilt that I'm drinking this, part potential for diabetes, right? That's sweet tea and yet they gave me a drink, same word, same vocabulary, completely not the same meaning from my point of view. Words often don't have the meaning that we think they have because of misuse and overuse. And I think one of the words, and I said it intentionally, if you remember in the very beginning, I said that I fell in what? I fell in love with sweet tea because isn't that one of the words, not sweet tea, love, that has been so overused and so misused that we love everything, right? I love breakfast. I love food. I love to sleep. I love gadgets. I love resources. I love sports. I love the Cleveland Cavs. I love LeBron James. You know what I mean? We love a wide assortment of things, not necessarily with that word meaning the same with each particular object of love. And I want us to see that love is a call a commission in this passage and I think it means a lot more than you and I think it means. So that's going to be really at the focal point of our time in 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 22 to 25 is this radical call of supernatural otherworld love that is meant to flow from you and I to one another. I mean, it's radical, and we're gonna look at that. As we look at this radical love, I want us to see, first of all, that there is an assumption that Peter makes. That Peter makes an assumption that he is writing to people who have been purified by the blood of Christ and have professed a genuine, saving faith in Jesus and the gospel. So if you skip point one, and then we look at this call to love one another, I am completely doing a poor job of communicating because the love that he calls us to flows from the reality of being in Christ. So we're going to see that, this assumption. But then secondly, we're going to look at the affections. We're going to look at these affections of love. And the love that we're talking about, I want you to understand, is much more detailed, much more intimate, much more real than you and I think it is. So we're gonna look at the affections. And then lastly, I want us to see the agents of change. How does this happen in our lives? How do you and I love in such a radical, supernatural way? So let's pick up at verse 22. The first thing I want us to see is the assumption. The command to love is preceded with the assumption that you and I have experienced the love of God. Peter is writing to believers who have been transformed by Christ and this change has produced lasting results in their life. First of all, the assumption is that you and I would have purified souls. We would have purified souls. Listen to what Peter declares. He says, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth. Having purified your souls. When we hear the word purified, it sometimes can carry the idea of physical washing. It can carry the idea of ceremonial cleansing. But in this context, especially in light of all of chapter one, it's carrying the idea of being cleansed, purged, or sanctified within the soul. To be cleansed, to be purged, or to be sanctified. Well, if something needs to be cleansed, what does that imply about its natural state? It's dirty. Something needs purified, it is naturally what? Impure, and that is what Peter is alluding to. He says, having purified your souls means that your souls needed to be what? To be purified. Yesterday I was out with the boys, it was a beautiful day, and I had been putting it off, I decided to clean the grill. We do a lot of burgers, so there was a lot of grease. Some of my more recent grilling episodes almost caught the grill actually on fire because of the amount of grease. So I decided it's nice out, I'm going to clean, so I got various more natural-ish cleaning supplies. I got dish soap, baking soda, and vinegar, and these concoctions, and I got the hose out. I mean, I did a really good job of cleaning the grill, but it's still a little dirty. But I was able to use it yesterday without having an inferno, so for me it was a success, win-win, right? So what Peter is talking about here is that our souls by their very nature are filled with grime and filth and grease and dirt. They need to be cleansed. Colossians 2.13 declares, you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. Romans 3 speaks of the fact that no one seeks God. No, not one. Isaiah 6, remember this is the prophet Isaiah. He's before God and he says, whoa, I am a man of what? Unclean lips. So as we think of this idea of having a purified soul, we need to realize what our soul was like prior to Jesus. And what was it? It was impure. Well, what is the current condition of your soul? Is it pure or is it impure? And how do you know? How do you know? Because not only does this imply that the soul needs purified, I would argue it's implying that God alone can purify the soul. It says, having purified your soul. Now, some people would read this and argue that this is some self-cleaning feature in the life of a person. Because you've purified yourself. But I think in the context, if there's any meaning going in that direction, it would probably be as a result of being in Christ. We looked earlier in 1 Peter where it said, be holy for what? So if there's any kind of self purity that's going on, it's the idea of we're living in light of being in Jesus, that we're living lives of holiness. But I think based on chapter one, if you remember last week, we looked at something that was very precious, do you remember? were ransomed by what? The precious blood of Jesus Christ. He was a pure and spotless, what? Lamb. So the language, especially as we connect it to the purification, it's the idea of being purified, being cleansed by God through Jesus Christ in the gospel. Having purified your souls through this, and we're gonna see it as we look at the obedience that he speaks of. Ezekiel chapter 36, listen to the prophet. Ezekiel 36 verse 25. He says, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. And he goes on in verse 27, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Once again, it's the idea of what? cleansing, purification. The word that Peter uses in the Greek, the form of Greek, it's a perfect participle. And what that means is a past action that carries ongoing results and impact. Past action, ongoing results and impact. So God purifies us through Christ, through the gospel, and that purification has ongoing results. It's His imputed righteousness upon us. So, he's assuming, Peter's assuming that the person and persons that he is writing to have what kind of souls? Purified souls. People who have experienced the gospel that the Lamb of God died in their place. That as far as the East is from the West, their sins have been taken from them. Well, have you experienced the cleansing found in Christ today? Are you right before a holy God? Because that's really, I mean, a defining mark. It is the fork in the road when it comes to peace with God. Are you pure or are you impure? Is it based on Christ? So not only this purified soul, They have professing souls. He goes on and declares, you have been purified, having purified yourself by your obedience to the truth. Once again, if you misunderstand the purification part, you're gonna take it to the natural consequences on this part. It says, by your obedience to the truth. Does that mean that as we obey truth, we clean ourselves? The more obedient we are, the more holy and perfect we are. It's kind of that workspace. That's not what Peter has emphasized, especially as you look at chapter one, the sanctification of the spirits, sprinkled with his blood. He has caused us to be born again. I mean, that's a very Godward focus. It would be very odd for Peter to all of a sudden change direction and the emphasis be on you need to get your obedience act together. No, the idea is our obedience to the truth is our response to the gospel. Paul talks about this in Romans 10.9, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So Paul is declaring for a person to be a follower of Jesus, what must they do? profess faith in Jesus. And then he goes on in verse 15, and how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. But they have not all obeyed the truth. They have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes from the word of Christ, the word of truth. So responding in faith to the gospel or conversion is what he's talking about. Believing and trusting in Christ as Savior and Lord, that's our hope. To have a purified soul, you must have a professing soul. You must believe. And there's also that intimacy that God must enable us. to profess. He must give us eyes to see. He must give us a heart to believe. So those two sides are very intricately woven. They're not necessarily easily distinguished, but you must profess faith in Christ in order for your sins to be forgiven. Well, do you profess Christ as Savior and Lord? What is holding you back? Do you need Him today? But notice the connection to having purified your souls. When our soul is cleansed, We must believe that the prerequisites, does anybody know what a prerequisite is? You're in college. You want to take this really cool history class. But in order to take, whether you would think history was ever cool, but for some of us, that would be a cool class. So you want to take history 301, but then you look on the guide for setting up for classes, and it's got an asterisk, and it says prerequisite. And it says prerequisite is what? 100 or 101. And what does that mean? In order to take 300. you must first take 100. You see, a soul that is purified and cleansed is a soul that trusts in Christ. That's a prerequisite. If you are not trusting in Jesus as Savior and Lord, I can assure you, your soul is not purified. prerequisite. You must trust in Christ to have a cleansed soul. James speaks of this without faith in works. He says, good the demons believe and shudder, but are the demons forgiven and saved? No, they're not because they're not professing a trust in Christ in the gospel. You must have faith in order to be pure. Well, do you walk by faith this morning? Are you believing God cleanses sinners in Christ? Because that's our only hope today, friends. If you are trusting in your efforts, if you are trusting in your job, your money, your good looks, your great humor, your amazing dress, whatever you're trusting in. You are trusting in a very faulty, unsure foundation. Our only hope is what? My hope is built on nothing less than blood and righteousness. Amen. So that is the assumption as Peter is writing this to his recipients. They have to have a purified soul, which ultimately is a professing soul. And it's from that, that the charge to love is brought forth. So if you today, Have a soul that is not purified and a soul that is not professing this call to love is not for you. Understand that, because here's the deal. As you're gonna see, you can't love as God intends you to love unless you first have experienced the love of God found in Christ. And we're gonna see that in Peter's reasoning. First of all, with the affections that he calls us to, I want us to see that it is a specific love. He goes on and says, you have been purified, your souls, by your obedience to the truth. And then notice what he says, for a sincere, brotherly love. That one aspect that God has saved you and reconciled you to himself is so that you and I might do what to one another in the body of Christ? Love one another. That that's an aim, it's a point. John 13, 35, Jesus says, by this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. That it's a specific love that Peter's talking about. There was a Christian artist that wrote a song, they'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear. Because isn't that often the case of Christianity? We're known by our bumper stickers, and our t-shirts, and our crosses, and our picketing, and all of those things. And yet what the scriptures teach that you and I, the defining mark, is that we would love one another. It's a sincere, listen, a sincere love for other believers. Now does that mean you and I don't have to love the world? Not so. We're called to love the people in the world. There's also some commands in scripture we're called to love our what? Our enemies. So do we still need to love our enemies? Yeah. But the emphasis The focus of what Peter is declaring right here and now is that you and I are called to love one another, the body of Christ, both locally and abroad. So look around right now, look at each other. God is calling you to love each other. And some of you already are looking like that's a really tough call. We're called to love one another. Notice what it says, it's a brotherly love. If you are a Christian, you have just been adopted into the biggest, diverse, dysfunctional family in the world. But isn't that encouraging for some of you here today who feel very alone? We were looking at it today in the church membership class. God's desire for you is relationships. Relationships with him, but also, ultimately, relationships with one another. That God doesn't want us to be on a stranded island being loners. He wants us to be in community. Do you realize that the body of Christ is meant to be your family? Even as your pastor of this family, and I'm part of the family, so this verifies it, this is an imperfect family. But that doesn't mean we throw the baby out with the proverbial bathwater and don't be a part of the family. God has already made you a part of the family if you're in Christ. It's whether or not you're gonna acknowledge that family. But then notice what he says, it's a sincere love, it's the idea of without hypocrisy. Romans 12, 9 says, let love be genuine. Let love be genuine. Let it be sincere. Let it be without hypocrisy. Why is that radical? Because you and I often love based on what? What it gets us. Often it's fake even. It's not genuine. The motives are impure. You know if you're really loving to your boss, you get special treatment at work. You might not even like your boss, but hey, it's better having him think or she thinks that I like her just so I'm treated better. It's that impure, manipulative form of what we would like to call love, and that's not love. The love that Peter is speaking about here is sincere. It's coming from a redeemed heart. Somebody who experiences the grace and mercy and forgiveness. There's no agenda, no expectations. Well, does your love look genuine? And I'm not talking about maybe in your marriage or maybe with your children. But are you loving one another? Are you sincere? But also, Are you being too critical of other people's love towards you? Because I'm going to call you guys. You need to love one another. Please don't put on the skeptic hat as soon as we leave. Somebody just invited us over. The only reason they invited us over is because Joe just said we needed the love. I don't even think they like us. Don't do that. Give people a chance to be sincere in their love, even if they have not been demonstrating that love. So it's a sincere, specific love, but it is also a stretching love. He goes on and says, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. It's not just a sincere love for brothers and sisters, it's much more intense. Does anybody remember when you were in elementary school, they did the presidential fitness test, anybody? Or maybe parents with kids. What they do is they have to do several activities like push-ups and different stuff and based on the numbers at your child, if there's like 80%, they're in the presidential. Well, one of the particular activities they have to do is toe touch or some variation where you sit on your bottom and you reach out and touch your toe and it shows how flexible you are. How many people here would be embarrassed if you had to do that right now? We'd potentially have some injuries, right? Some pulled muscles, some hurt pride. Earnestly doesn't really do justice to that verse. Earnestly, it means fervent, it means constantly, it actually means, it's a physiological term, to stretch to the furthest limits of muscle capacity. Think about that. To stretch to the furthest limits of muscle capacity. So like, I stretch like this, can I go a little further? Probably, but it kind of hurts, kind of sore. Or maybe I'll go a little further. It's starting to hurt. So, you know, what do we do in those situations with stretching? At least me. Don't stretch, right? It's too painful. Not fun. I would rather be unstretched and then get hurt doing some miscellaneous normal tasks because of how unflexible I am. What Peter is calling you and I to. is a love that stretches our capacity to love. See, that's where I think this call is challenging, it is convicting, it is supernatural. 1st Peter 4a, he says, Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. You want to love earnestly, you want to love where you're stretching yourself to capacity, then you love in the context of community and you love the people who are unlovable. And guess what, that is difficult. There's a big golf tournament going on right now in the sports world, the Masters. And they had the most let's cause a problem where there need not be a problem. They did an anonymous survey and asked the question, if one of the fellow PGA members was in a fight in the parking lot, which member would you be least prone to help in that fight? And one person won. Beyond, like not even close. It was an absurd number. It was, if you follow golf at all, Bubba Watson. And for whatever reason, and I don't know the reason behind it, from the point of view of many of his fellow golfer, he's just an unlikable, unlovable guy. What Peter is calling you and I to is to love that guy. To love the person that keeps on hurting you. To love the person that is what we like to call needy, high maintenance. Because that's how we love to our capacity. Here's the problem, you and I are good at loving to our ability. And a lot of us view ourselves as not very able as lovers. So I just don't love that much. It's not my personality type. Right? It's not a very lovable person, as is me. Or are you loving to your capacity? I mean, I want you to think practically. Maybe it's somebody here, or maybe it's just a fellow believer elsewhere. Is there somebody that you really struggle to love who is a follower of Christ? Because notice it says, it says, love one another earnestly. The love, he changes the love. The first love where it talks about that sincere love, it's a phileo, brotherly love. But then he changes over to the language of agape, typically focused on God. The key to agape love is it's not contingent on the lovability of the object of your love. Do you understand that? That agape love, the focus is more on the person who is doing the loving and what he is telling them is that you need to agape love from a pure heart. Notice the pure heart. How do you and I have a pure heart? Because we have been what? Purified. The reason that you and I can love the unlovable is because God loved the unlovable and that's you. Think about that. You and I can love our fellow dysfunctional, messed up sinner because God loved you, a fellow dysfunctional, messed up sinner. Galatians 2.20 says, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the knife I now live in flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. You see, Jesus changes everything. He forgave me so I can do what to other people? Forgive them and can love them. I can do this without exception. Well, why are you holding back love today? Because I do think there's a direct correlation to how close you are to Christ, how close you are to the gospel, and your ability to love other people. Because when I look at my life and I look at certain people that I genuinely struggle who are professing followers of Christ, The issue isn't them, actually. Where's the issue? It's me. They hurt me. Even if they were in the wrong, does that change my call? Does that change your call to love them? Is God's love contingent on your performance towards you? For God so loved the world, he waited them to get their act together. I don't know that verse. No, it says, for God so loved the Word that He gave His Son. So we see this assumption, we have to have a purified soul, is also professing souls. We've looked at the affection, the specific love, then also a stretching love. Why should we expect such love amongst us? Because we have a new life. Because we have a new life. He says, you're to love like this, and then he goes on, since you have been born again. We love radically, why? Because we have become new people. You see, and that's why I said earlier, if you're not purified, if you have not professed faith in Christ, I'm not gonna tell you to love one another, because you can't love one another. Because you're not a new person, you have not been born again. But for those of you who are born again, you no longer have an excuse. And we love excuses, don't we? I mean, when something happens in your house, somebody makes a mistake, do most people own up to it? I mean, do children typically own up to it? Maybe it's just my children, they typically don't own up to it. The first thing is they're really good at pointing, right? Why did this happen, Josh? Josh looks at me, Isaiah. Isaiah's like Sophia. Sophia's like Joe, me. She doesn't say Joe. She's like dad. Always comes back to me. Always comes back to me. I think this is important. I think we need to realize we need to stop making excuses. If you are a born-again Christian this morning, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then your life is to be marked and characterized by a love towards one another that's more than just lip service, but also based in action. And there's no excuse. 1 John 4, 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Listen to what John's saying. If you know God, you will do what? You will love other people. If you don't know God, he goes on, anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. That's a heavy word, isn't it? Because we're quick to say, well, I know God, because I prayed a prayer, I went down Center Isle, I did all the things. And John's saying that's great, but if you don't love other people, you don't know the God that you say you love. Or are you apathetic towards loving the body? And I hope and pray today that if you are in a place right now where you're kind of okay with the fact that you just genuinely are annoyed with other Christians, that God would awaken you from your slumber. Because that's not okay. That's not good because according to John, that starts to call into question whether or not you actually know the person you say you know. Not only do we have this new life, it also implies the idea that we have new life by the result of someone living and dwelling inside of us. John 3, 5, Jesus is speaking, remember, to Nicodemus. And Nicodemus is like, I'm having a hard time understanding this. I've been born once, how can I be born again? I'm a little too big to go back into my mom. and come out and Nicodemus is like not understanding. And Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So the person who has been born again, not only has been born again, they have been given what? Who? The Spirit of God. 2 Timothy 1.7, listen to the word that's used in the midst of this. 2 Timothy 1.7, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. So that you and I, this radical call to love the unlovable is now a possibility, why? because someone ultimately is going to do the love in and through you, and that's the spirit of God. Well, does God set us up for failure or success? Because you might be sitting here today and say, Joe, it sounds great, it sounds good, but you don't know the people that I know. You don't know, fill the name in, we won't say it, hypothetically, Ryan. You might know Ryan. We might be difficult to love, hypothetically. So we use that excuse. Do you understand what he's saying? Because we're born again, that unlovable person is lovable because God can love the most unlovable person through his spirit. So I mean, I'm gonna encourage you today that if you have some people in your life that are not lovable and you don't have the ability to love them, you're right. You don't have the ability to love them. But if you're born again, empowered by God's spirit, you can love them through his strength. So we have this new life, but then lastly, this agents of change, we have the word of life. He goes on and says, through the living and abiding word of God, that is the seed, the imperishable seed that ultimately led to this second birth is what Peter is declaring. Notice this high view of the scriptures, that they're living. Has anybody had a conversation with an inanimate object? How did that go? Did it talk back? I mean, let's say after the service, you notice I'm standing over there talking to the mat. Let's not do the mat, we'll talk this fake tree. And I'm just talking away. It would shock me if it talked back to me. Because it's what? It's not real, it's not alive, right? But what happens when we talk to somebody who is alive? It's a relationship, right? It goes back and forth. Think about this, though. When's the last time you approached the word of God as though it was living? Because it is. I mean, if you read, you pick the non-fiction or fiction author book, those books aren't living, no matter how much you like them. But the Bible is living, not because it's pages, but because the pages, what's on the pages is the word of God and it is living, it is active. Think about that, do you approach the Bible? Because I think it would have a greater influence on us having devotional times, having family devotion, spending time if we believed it was alive. But for many of us, even professing Christians today, we view the Bible as some dead, old, dull book. We would never say it because that would be sacrilegious. But I think that's how you view it because it's not a vital component to your life. But not just you studying it. How about you coming on Sunday morning? Do you come expecting God to speak through this broken, dysfunctional sinner, using his word to impact your life? Because that's what a living and active. It's the only hope I have. When I leave here, I look and say, okay, I have another sermon. What's gonna happen until next Sunday at 10 a.m.? My only hope is that God's word is living and active and abiding. If not, that is a task that is too overwhelming. and hopeless. But also notice the contrast. It says, the living and active word for all flesh is like grass and all its glory is like the flower of grass. You notice what he's saying, he's quoting from Isaiah chapter 40, that the things of this world, they're what? They're perishable, they don't last. And that includes what? You and I, in the earthly sense. I mean, I know this is gonna probably hurt some of you. Two generations from now, people are gonna forget you. That might really kill the pride. I mean, there's going to be some rare exceptions. I'm not delusional to think five generations from now, people are going to be sitting down listening to my sermons. But it's possible. But you know what I mean? We're fleeting. We're temporary. And that he says, listen, but the word of the Lord, it remains forever. Hebrews 4.12 says the word of God is living. and active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. So here's the question. How did you come to faith in Christ? Typically speaking, the normative way is God uses his word. And as you either read or hear the word, it hits your ears, it hits your heart, it hits your mind, and then God gives illumination and you responded to that message of faith. And that's why, as we read earlier, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Well, do you value the scriptures today? Do you submit to their authority? But ultimately, it teaches us how to love one another, right? Not only was it used by God to draw us to Christ, God uses it to guide us in how to love one another. Even in this passage, what is this teaching us? To love one another, because the word of God is living and active. Some of you here today might feel convicted by the fact that you just are not very much a lover of the people of God. Well, that is the living component of the Word of God bringing conviction to your life. If I had a 25-pound dumbbell, I set it up here and I told you you needed to move it across the room, who here feels confident that they can do that? Seriously, we're that weak? 25 pounds, come on. Some of the little kids are like, I can do that. What if I pointed out there and there was a giant pallet of steel? And I told you it was 10,000 pounds. And I said, go out there and move it. Who here is strong enough to do that? Nobody. So don't be shaking your head. You're not. You're not. Even if you started turning green, probably not strong enough to pick it up. What if I gave you the most powerful, industrial-sized forklift? Would you feel confident that you could do that? Because, I mean, that's where the rubber hits the road. That's where this passage, I think, is important. God is calling us to do that which in and of ourselves is impossible to do. You will never love people with sincerity, with pureness. You will never love the unlovable if it's left in your own strength. But because of Christ, because of the gospel, because of the Spirit of God working in you, living in you, there is hope. And that is the hope that God, I think, practically speaking, wants you and I to raise the bar of expectation of how we love one another. I know my prayer as a pastor that is over the course of the rest of this calendar year, that we would grow in our love for each other and grow in the sense of community that that fosters and creates. What I want to do is a friend of mine blogs and he gave some examples of how can we love one another more practically. Because some of you might be sitting here today and say that seems great okay I need to love one another but what does that mean? So I'm going to give some practical steps and then we'll close. Here's my my homework challenge for you. Pick one. Don't be the overachiever because the overachiever won't achieve. So I'm gonna list several. I don't want you to pick like all of them. Say, I'm gonna do all of these things in the next seven days. Because in the next seven minutes, you're gonna forget all of those things. So I want you to pick one particular practical way to love one another, and I want you to think of one person. And maybe you're gonna lower the bar not that low, or raise it that high. Maybe pick somebody in the body that's a little bit easier to love. Let's start small, right? Baby steps. Maybe don't pick the person that you least love. Okay, first of all, here's some steps practically. To put others first. To put others first. To be willing to concede maybe somebody else's agenda over yours. Secondly, seek another person's good. Seek another person's good. So maybe somebody needs something. You go out of your way to seek their good. You hear of a need, you go to fulfill it. Here's a tough one. Maybe you need to ask for forgiveness. And if not ask for forgiveness, maybe you need to extend forgiveness. Maybe somebody has hurt you, and I don't want to downplay this because, you know, we joke about people being unlovable, but let's be brutally honest and real. There are people in the body of Christ that have hurt you severely, that have left wounds, that have left scars that I know I should forgive them, but to be blunt and honest, I don't want to forgive them. Maybe today's the day that God wants to free you from that burden and to just extend grace, to extend forgiveness. Another way, listening to one another. Here's a radical one. Listen to other people while you're listening, thinking about what you're gonna say. But genuinely, hearing somebody out, that is a way we love each other. Also, including others. Look for ways to be in each other's life. Hey, we're gonna go to the zoo. I wonder if this family would like to come with us. Look for ways to incorporate people into your life. Be generous, not just simply with your money. Your time, your energy, maybe your skills. Also be sacrificial. Notice all these things, let's be honest, they require something of you. They're kind of needy. And that's, love is effort. Maybe you need to tell the truth. Maybe you need to tell the truth towards somebody that you love but you're afraid to tell them the truth because you're afraid of how they're gonna respond. Also just to be in relationship with each other. Maybe you need to encourage with the gospel. And then the last way I would say that we can love one another is to pray for one another. Because I've noticed something, when I pray for people consistently, it's a lot more difficult to not love them. When a person who is an object of my animosity becomes a real person who has a real life, who has real struggles, real hurts, it's hard to look at them and to not love them. So let's pray for them. May we be a group of people who love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Let's pray. Father, we come before you. We ask for forgiveness for how often we fail to love your body. God, I ask and I pray for each one of us that we would come to the realization that you loved the church and gave yourself up for the church, that it's not just about me and Jesus. It's not just a bunch of individuals, but you have a corporate body. You have a group of people that you consider are your bride, and your bride is dear in your eyes. And if your bride is dear in your eyes, your bride should be dear in our eyes. So God, we just ask that you would help us to love each other. We know this isn't easy, we know this is a struggle, so we pray for enabling grace. Help us to do what we cannot do on our own. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Would you please stand as we respond through song?