Let's open our Bibles now in the letter of Paul to the Romans, chapter 12. We will begin reading verse 9 through verse 21. Romans 12, beginning in verse 9. We will read until the end of this chapter. Romans 12, beginning in verse 9. This is the word of the living God. And God speaks with his people saying, let love be genuine. Uphold what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be houtly, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Let's pray again. Close your eyes. Let's talk to God. Oh God, we read your word. And now, God, we depend on you to be able, God, to understand and to recognize on us what we need to change to praise your name, to glorify your name with everything we are. Please, God, speak with us tonight. We pray in Jesus' name, the Lord of the Church. Amen. We have a very interesting chapter in the book of Romans. The Book of Romans, the letter of Paul to the Romans, it's a very deep letter. Many people, actually, when they go through the words of Paul in the Book of Romans, they don't understand everything. They have some struggles understanding many things about justification, about predestination, about adoption. And many of those verses in this book are still today dividing the church in many ways. because many are disagreeing about what Paul was saying to the Romans. And of course, because of this, they still today are divided and they are not agreeing in their doctrine. But it's interesting because the main theme of the book of the Romans was not those specific terms and those specific ideas. We have today confessions who will help us to understand the doctrine. We have Heidenberg, the Dort, we have Westminster, we have so many good commentaries on these books. And we can understand the doctrine well, but we don't understand sometimes what this doctrine should produce. And this, actually, is what Paul was telling to the Romans. And that's why, by the end of the letter, he will not speak about deep doctrine, but he will speak about how we can make this doctrine alive in our lives, changing us to produce glory to the Lord. And this is his purpose, this is the way in which he's telling to the church here, especially in chapter 12. We need to remember that two specific things were happening in this church. The first, there was a dispute between the Jews converted to the gospel and the Gentiles converted to the gospel. They were in the same church, they were serving the same Lord, but they were disagreeing in many ways in how they should continue their lives in the presence of the Lord. The Jews converted, as in all the other churches, they're trying to make the Gentiles live like Jews. concerning with the law. So you need to follow all those things that the Old Testament said to the people of Israel, and you must keep all those things. And the Gentiles converted were saying, no, we don't supposed to live like this. We need to change and live in freedom in the presence of God. And Paul answered many of those questions in the first chapters of this book. He spoke about the glory of Christ. He spoke about the people of God being heirs with Christ, the life that the Spirit gave to them, and he also spoke about how Jesus Christ fulfilled all the promises in the Old Testament, so now they're supposed to be one. And also, we need to remember that in this situation, there was persecution. The church was being persecuted by the Jews, not converted. They were persecuting the church in many places. They were going city by city, making inventions and lying about Christianity. And because of this, Christians were being persecuted in many places. But to help us more to understand Chapter 12, verses 9 to 21. We need to go through two verses in chapter 12. The first one is 12, verse 4. And then we will identify what Paul is trying to teach with these words. And he says, for as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. And then jump to verse 6, and he will say, "...having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them, if prophecy, in proportion to our faith, in service, in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. And what he's teaching them here, he's speaking about one body working to Christ to glorify the name of the Lord with all the members. Everyone here received gifts from the Lord to serve the Lord in this congregation. I know you know there that I know you have you understand the meaning of these. I know that we understand that we are a body with one head. The head is Jesus Christ and we are members of his body and all the members needs to work to praise his name. So those who play organ, piano, they play organ, piano. Those who clean, they will clean. Those who preach, they will preach. Those who take care of the finances of the church, they will do that wisely. And everyone needs to be involved in the work of God. Because no one was called to just be there. We are called to serve Him with the gifts that He gave for us. And then, He starts to speak what we have in verses 9 through 21. And it's amazing to understand that He will answer to all these words, calling them to look to a genuine love. That's the point that the book of Romans is trying to make us understand. What is Paul teaching in the whole book? Why is he going so deeply in the meaning of justification, adoption, salvation? He's trying to show us the love of God for his people. He's helping us to understand that we have a wonderful God who could just imply His justice upon all this world, including us. But instead of bringing His justice for us, He's giving us love. He's looking to his son. He apply all his justice in his son. He made him suffer or suffering. He made him die or dead. He made him pay the price of four lives. And now he's just offering love for his people. And of course, if we know this God, if we understand who He is, if we understand that our God is a lovely God, also a God of justice, I'm not denying this here, we will respond to Him loving everyone around us like we should. Then he will speak about the genuine love. Let love be genuine. For whom, we could ask? Well, we will understand through the words that we read here that this love should be applied to all people. not only your family, not only your children, not only those who will like in the congregation, but everyone, including our enemies. And he will come to that by the end of these verses. Our love must be sincere, genuine, and not hypocritical. It must be a truly love that will show the love of God for us. We need to be guided by this love in this world. It doesn't matter what you are doing. If you work in a coffee shop and you are serving someone who is bothering you, you need to show the love of God to this person. If you are working changing tires of someone, you must love God and show the love of God for everyone around you. If you are bringing discipline to your children, you must bring the love of God with you. And show them the love of God. Because this is why we were called to receive His love and to spread His love. And he continues speaking about brotherly affection. love one another with brotherly affection he will speak in verse 10 he will teach us and call us to understand that we are part of a family we have one father and not different fathers we are here one specific family that we should love and this family it's not A family that is a bloody family. It's a family that we have bound because we were born in the same family. No. The Bible, the Scripture will teach us that our bond with the family of God is much better, it's much more strange than our bonds with the family of this world. I don't know if you understand that, but all of those who are around you right now, they will follow you for eternity. But many of your friends and family that you love to be with them, if they don't have the gospel, they will not follow you and go with you through eternity. That is why it's so urgent for Christians to respond to the call of God of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone. If you have someone in your family who doesn't have Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, it's urgent to you to help them to find Him. We don't know the times. We don't know when Jesus Christ is coming. we have just a few opportunities to help them to find salvation. But for those who are saved, we will be together forever. We will see each other in heaven, in the holy place that we will live next to Jesus Christ being seated in his throne, governing the whole city. We will be there forever and we will feel this brotherly love, brotherly affection in a way that we never made before. But pay attention, that's exactly what Paul is telling us that Jesus Christ made. Jesus came to this world to save his brothers and sisters. We have a bloody bond with him. He's helping us and we are being called children of God, adopted to the kingdom of God. But now we are children, like He is the Son of God. Of course, we know that Jesus Christ is more than the Son of God. He is God itself. He is the second person of the Trinity. He was, in the beginning of times, planning our salvation, and here we are enjoying His salvation. But by enjoying His salvation, we need to understand that we are called to love each other. So it doesn't matter if you have problems with someone or it doesn't matter if you think differently of someone in your congregation. You need to love them. You were called to love them and to break all the bounds that sin is trying to create, that is trying to make you far from those that you're supposed to be close. That's something strange. Because sometimes in church, we believe we can have our small group, right? We can organize ourselves in some parties and we will walk with those who think like us, who enjoy the same things, and we will not relate with others. But the Church of Christ doesn't work like this. The Church of God works with everyone being one body. That's what the scripture says, for example, that the old man is supposed to relate with the young man. To teach them to be good men. The same thing with women and young teenagers, like ladies. We need to be an example to them. And to be an example to them, we need to relate with them. And by this, you will show your love to them. Sometimes we relate with only those that we love. Well, we're supposed to start to call to a coffee or to McDonald's, the youth of the congregation, to help them to think better about the Christian life, to help them to grow, and we should serve them. Sometimes it's hard to find people at church to work with children, with youth. Well, that doesn't supposed to be true in the congregation of Christ. We are called to serve. By the way, visitation is not only for pastor and elders. Everyone's supposed to visit someone. who is sick, who is in need of help, who is scared, who is facing trials. They don't need only their pastor in their home. They need all of you loving them, taking care of them, and giving strength to them. This is a family, a family that will glorify the name of the Lord. Verse 11 introduces them to do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. And why is he speaking that like this? Because Paul knows how difficult it is to love our brothers. I know it's difficult. We are so different, right? But here Paul is being very clear. It doesn't matter if it's difficult. It doesn't matter if you think differently about many things. You must do that by obedience. You must love your brothers and sisters by obedience. You must ask forgiveness or start to love those in which you are still struggling by obedience to God. Because He's calling you to be one. And that's why He says, be fervent in spirit. Trust the spirit. Trust that the spirit will guide you. He speaks about that in Romans 8, 14. He will say, for all who are led by the Spirit of God as sons of God. This is why the Spirit is working. He's leading us with one Spirit to be one family. We have the same Spirit, right? He's guiding us to the same direction. So we cannot believe it's okay to walk differently with everyone around. The church must walk in unity. But he continues saying, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. or eyes, they must be in the prize that we will receive in the future. Everything is related here, and Paul is trying to show us that. He's trying to help us to understand that, that we must, we must, continue working as one people enjoying the same truths and facing the same tribulations. We must face the same tribulations. Well, what is this? What is the meaning of this? Look to the church. We are here tonight, and some of you are mourning for someone. This is not only for them. Everyone will feel the same. That's what the Scripture is telling us. Because we will rejoice in our hope, but we will take care of those who are facing troubles. We must help those who are facing trials. Because we are one people, we must be constant in our relationship. And that includes praying, praying for those that are around us. It's very interesting that we usually pray for people only when they are facing tribulations, but we don't remember those around us when they are okay. That's not how we're supposed to pray. That's why your prayer sometimes takes just five minutes or maybe less. We don't know what we're supposed to do in our prayers. Because we are forgetting to pray about a lot of people that we should pray. You must pray for your elders and deacons every day of the week. For your pastor every moment of the week. Okay, I'm a pastor, I'm trying to... We are working together here, you know? But we must do that. And the pastor and the elders and the deacons, they should not forget you in their prayers. I remember how Calvin, for example, spent more than three hours a day praying for people in church. It's a lot of people to remember. It's a lot of people to know, to pray for them. It's not just quoting their names. To pray for someone, you need to relate with this person. Otherwise, it will be a vain prayer, an empty prayer. But if we know, if you know their struggles, if you know their children, if you know their marriage, if we know that they need to organize some things in their lives, we will pray as we're supposed to pray. And all of this is working together to help us to grow in our unity to Christ. And then we have three specific verses that will speak about this genuine love becoming practical, including, of course, praying. Verse 13, 14, and 15 will call us to be practical in our Genuine love. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. So here, two important things are being quoted. Contribute with the needs of the saints. Contribution means that you use what God gave to you to help those around you to find relief. And we must remember that 100% of what God gave us, money, belongs to Him. And when we return Him 10, that's just the beginning. We must go further. If you can help someone, just take your money and offer, contribute. This is truly love. This is genuine love. Because this is what we can see, for example, in the book of Acts, when people were selling their possessions to help others, to feed the others, to help them to grow. And it's amazing because there we are seeing them just receiving benefits. They were not working. They were in Jerusalem every day. They came from different cities. And they were still there, just learning with the apostles, learning with the doctrine of the apostles. They were serving the Lord, worshipping the Lord. It doesn't mean, it doesn't appear that they need a contribution, right? It doesn't mean that they are struggling if they are not working. Like, come on people in Jerusalem. You can do something. Go and find a field and clean the field and make some money. Do something. They will not sell a land to make you grow in faith. No, no. We could think like that. And probably this is the modern thought about contribution. But if you go through chapter 8, you will discover that God was training the church there. In chapter 8, the church who was receiving money from all the believers to just learn the gospel, they were spread to the world to preach the gospel. But before preaching, they need to learn. It was like a seminary in Jerusalem with some thousands of believers. And a few decades later, we have churches established in almost all the Roman Empire. Can you see? For those who sold their lands and gave to the poor, to those in need in Jerusalem, they were working in missions, but they didn't know that. They were helping believers to learn the doctrine, to teach the doctrine in every place in the Roman Empire. Contribution. We don't ask sometimes why. We just contribute with a genuine love, knowing that God will take care of it. But of course, we need to know sometimes too. Because the money that we have belongs to God and we need to use wisely. So, we need balance in this reality. But contribute is not an option. Here, it's a commandment. Contribute. Offer to those in need. and seek to show hospitality. This is a little bit difficult, right? Hospitality. The first thing I listened when I came to Walker URC, where I'm attending right now, someone came to me and said, look, Dutch people, they are not hospitable. They said, can you believe? That's a lie, right? I know it is, because we were very well received there. We received the love of God through that congregation. And I can say, well, Dutch people knows how to be hospitable. And I'm sure you know too. But the problem is, are we doing enough? Are we really being hospitable with everyone? Because hospitality is not receiving the same people in your house for 10 years. This is friendship, not hospitality. To be hospitable, you need to look to those in your congregation, for example, who doesn't have many friends, and invite them to be their friends. To take care of those who are in need, pregnant women, they are facing trials to prepare meals, for example, call her for a dinner. Call them, their families, to a potluck or something, but Help them, take care of them, show your hospitality to them. If someone in your church face some trials, or if they are mourning someone, they need more than 10 days of prayers and help. They will need help for a long time, believe me. And we need to continue to show our love, a genuine love, to all of them. But let's continue. Bless those, verse 14, who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Okay, Paul is going to further, right? One thing is being hostile for those that belong to our congregation, but for enemies, for those who persecute us, what is this? We don't want that, right? But remember what Paul said in the rest of the letter of the Romans. God is loving his enemy. We were enemies of God. We were loving this world more than Him. We were worshiping other gods besides Him. We were loving this world more than Him. We were working against His commandments every day before knowing Him. And even so, He saved us. He's loving those who were acting against Him. And we should do the same. We are called to be like Him. We are called to show to this world the same practice that God shows for us. In Matthew 5.44, Jesus said, But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. Jesus is going even further than Paul because here Paul is saying, bless them. Jesus is saying, love them or you are not sons of God. Can you see? The gospel is much more than being saved. We are going through deep places here. The practice of this gospel should bring us to worship his name. We have examples. Remember Stephen. Stephen was before those who would stone him. They were almost killing him because he was saying that Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead. He was standing before them like this and he was calling them, Jews, the priests of Jerusalem, the Pharisees, repent because you killed Jesus Christ. But through Jesus Christ, you can find salvation. What was he doing there? He was loving them. He could just be like some that would just avoid their enemies. He could just stop to talk and try to defend himself. But he was concerned with their souls. Repent and find the love of Jesus Christ. Stephen Ware was stoned. He was murdered. And while they were killing him, he was praying for them. And there we will find a verse that points to Jesus. Because Jesus said they don't know what they are doing. And then Stephen says they don't know what they are doing. So why can't we say, well, we know what we are doing. They know. They are persecuting me. They are bad people. They are terrible persons. They know they just need the justice of God. Just be destroyed by God. They don't know what they are doing. They are slaves. Slaves of their sins. Persecution comes through slavery. The slaves of sin. The slaves of Satan. The slaves of this world. They are persecuting Jesus Christ until today. But they don't know what they are doing. They are lost in their sins. They are still guilty too for their sins. But we We are not allowed to hate them, to be angry with them. Not through persecution. We must show them the love of God. We must call them to the presence of the Holy One. Persecution is the best opportunity to preach the gospel. Do you know that? It's where people come to a Christian and they try to force us to deny the name of Jesus Christ. But by the same time, it's the opportunity to Christians to preach the gospels to those who want to shut our mouths. They will listen to you before bring damage to you. Give them the gospel. Give them Jesus Christ. If we lose the honor, if you lose the respect, it's okay. We don't need that. We need Jesus. We need His salvation. Everything else, it's nothing. The treasures of this world, they are just temporary. But Jesus is the real treasure. And if we hold him fast, and if we preach his name everywhere, we will be doing the right thing. And we will please our God. We will worship him. But he continues saying, live in harmony with one another. Do not be houtly, but associate with the lowly. Harmony, we need that. We really need that. Even among a congregation like this, we need to walk like one body. We should not compete between ourselves, you know. When someone is trying to offer something to serve God in a way, we should not say, just, I have a better way, I will follow my way instead of follow you. Sometimes the others decide something, they have meetings, they discuss a lot, they come to you and they say, okay, we think it's wise to do like this. And suddenly we'll say, okay, we don't want to do like this. I believe it's different. I believe I should follow my own steps because I also read a lot of theological books. I learn in internet with many different pastors. I know the right way. Well, you are just fighting against The church that God called you to work. Live in harmony. Why is it so difficult? Why is it so difficult to say, okay, I believe it's a good way. It doesn't matter if there is other ways. If you decide that this is the way, let's go together. Let's walk to God. Let's follow the same steps to honor Him. It's not so difficult. Unless you are so proud that you think that you are the only one who knows how things are. And that reveals your sin. A church is called to be one, to live in harmony. When we sing together, we need to sing in one voice. It's the congregation of the saints singing to God. He's not listening many voices. What he can do, what God does, and we see this in the past, it's that sometimes he's just not listening to you because of your sins. That's what Jeremiah said. People of Jerusalem, people in Israel, they're singing. And God said, well, I turn to the other side. I'm not listening. I'm not seeing. They are not my people. Because they were fighting. They were not living to God. They were not living to honor Him. They were not living like there is only one God, and one mission, and one gospel, and one purpose. We are called to live in harmony as one people. Pay attention in yourself. Look to those around you. Walk with them. Serve them. Love them with a genuine love. And you will see God using you as a unity to His glory. Let's be one. I need to go further. I'm talking too much. Sorry for that. Verse 17, Repay. No one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Here, it's where persecution makes more sense in what Paul is telling to the Romans. Actually, all the other verses will make more sense through persecution. Repay no evil for evil. We should be lights of God. We should show the love of God everywhere. And when we pay evil for evil, we are just turning our lights off. And a light cannot shine like this. We're supposed to love those who make evil for us. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what they are doing or what they are trying to attack. It doesn't matter. Do not pay evil with evil. We are called to honor a God who accepts all the damage in our place. Can you imagine Jesus Christ in the way of the cross saying, I will not do that. You know, they make war against me. They reject me. They persecute me. They beat me. So many things. I will not die for them. Will there be a church here today? No. No one of us will be here. But because he said, I will endure all those things. I will pay the full amount of the price. Here we are. God is not looking at you tonight as sinners. He's calling you saints. He's not seeing your sins. He is looking at you as children. There is no hate or justice. There is love and a covenant that will guarantee our salvation. That is how we're supposed to live. Don't repay no one with evil. Verse 18, if possible, so far it depends on you, live peacefully with all. Here is the only place where Paul begins with a possibility. If possible. Because sometimes it's not possible. Because sometimes it's not possible to walk with someone in church. Can we have an example? We can look, for example, for liberals. Can we walk with them in unity? No. Why not? Because they deny Jesus Christ as the Son of God. They deny resurrection. They deny miracles. They deny salvation. They deny sins. They deny everything that Scripture says is true. So, for them, we cannot walk in harmony. We should walk with them, bringing the Gospel to them and calling them to repentance. But we should not reject everyone. It's interesting. We have so many denominations today. And there are some of these denominations who are truly Christians. It's not because they are not URCs that they are not good. We can work together with some, if possible. We can walk with them to evangelize people, to make missions, to translate the Bible to other languages. Sometimes we are not able to do that alone. We need partnerships, and we must do that. But in what depends on us, we should live peacefully with everyone. We are not called to war. We are called to a peaceful life in the presence of God. And through this peace, we will make war with the world. It's funny. It's an irony. When we speak about Jesus to the world, we say that peacefully, but for them, it will sound like war. But that's why it's important for us to speak peacefully, because they will see that we are saying the truth. And their war is not against us, but their war is against the truth. It's okay to be persecuted by the gospel. But if we are being persecuted because we are evil, we deserve persecution. But through the gospel, we will praise the name of the Lord. Let's go, let's continue. Beloved, never avenge yourselves. Believe it to the rod of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." Pay attention. Why are we believing that we can avenge ourselves? We are not supposed to do that. We are not supposed to fight against those who are acting against us. That's not how a believer should spend their lives. We are speaking about a whole concept of our doctrine becoming practical in our lives And then when we see someone causing damage for us or damage to our family, how can we believe that we should revenge ourselves? Don't we know our God? He is justice. He will bring justice, revenge, vengeance, It's in his hand. You don't need to do nothing. Stephen should not take stones and start to stone back. Can you imagine? I don't, I can't, like, it's tragic. We will never admire him like a good believer, like we admire him right now. Can you imagine him fighting back and calling other Christians, come let's stone all these Jews. And a war starts and what is this? Is this fruits of the gospel? We don't supposed to do that. We have a God in heaven and vengeance is his work. He will bring vengeance against the enemies of the cross. When we see governors or governments persecuting churches, it's not our job to revenge ourselves. God will be the one to do that. And there is no prince, king, president or anything that will not come to His presence by the end. And they will see the Holy God, the Holy Christ with the sword coming from His mouth to bring justice to this world. No one can avoid that day. So don't fight against your neighbor. Look to verse 20. To the contrary. To the contrary. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink. For by so doing, you heap burning coals on his head. Pay attention. What is Paul telling? Look, this church were being persecuted. This was a true persecution. They were being stealed. They were losing their possessions. They were going to jail. Some of them were dying. And Paul was saying, feed them. Give something to drink to them. It doesn't seem logical, right? Because it's not. It's not logic here. There is no rationality here. This is just a response to the truly gospel of God. This is what God is doing with his children. We are being fed by him every day. He loved us so much that He paid the price of our crimes. He saved us from our sins. He's been a good God for all of us. He gave promises of salvation. He said He will give eternity, love, care, mercy, grace. We don't need to pay Him back? What is this? We don't need to pay anything in return? And he's still providing food for our families. We have something to drink, coffee, a hot coffee in the morning, milk or tea in the evening. We have cookies. We have meat, different kinds of meat. We have a good house. We have a good place to live. When it's cold outside, it's good inside. When it's hot outside, it's cold inside. Everything is perfect. And he is looking to enemies who are still breaking his commandments. But he's not working because of what we are doing. He's doing all those things because his love, it's an abundant love. He's feeding us, he's giving us drink. Why do we think we should fight back to our enemies? The best response to our enemy in the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's to help them. Then they will see who Jesus Christ is. And that's the purpose of our lives. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. This is the last sentence. And this is the resume of everything. We are a people of God, and we should not act like this word acts. We are called to be good, to show the glory of God in this world, to praise His name in this world, to worship His name in this world. And to do all those things, we need to practice this gospel like Paul is calling us to do here. It's not easy. Maybe you will suffer. Maybe you will need to face trials. Maybe you will need to deal with people that you don't like. Maybe you will pay a price to. But do it. Follow Him. Take His cross and go with Him to praise His name. Glorify the name of the Lord with your body, with your mind, with your possessions, with everything you have. But praise Him! Praise His name! This world is desperately in need to know Jesus Christ. They desperately need to know the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have all of this and we are denying to them because they are evil. No, let's give them what they need to change. It's not a new president. Or new governor or mayors. I don't know exactly for what you are voting for that will solve the situation. It's the gospel of Christ. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of this word, who can change any person to Him, that can make presidents bow down and confess the faith like we made a few minutes ago. That will change our reality. That will change the world that we live. That can make someone who are destroying their bodies with surgeries because they believe in things that doesn't exist to go back to the right trail. It can make someone deny this crazy reality and confess a holy name. It's just the gospel. It's just His love. How can we deny the love of God to these words? I don't want to be guilty of that by the end when I face Jesus Christ. And I hope you don't want to. Let's follow Him, and let's have a genuine love for everyone, praising His name until the end. Let's pray. Close your eyes. Our Heavenly Father, it's a very difficult passage for our hearts, because our hearts sometimes love this world more than you and Sometimes we love ourselves more than you And that is why we come to you Asking you for the works of the Holy Spirit on us Changing us Killing our desires Killing what we want and what we believe and making you grow on us. And may God, we will praise your name and love our neighbor and love our community and serve you with a heart full of joy. Please God work on us and help this congregation to live in harmony to you. We pray in Jesus name.