Romans chapter 12, and we're continuing on through the book of Romans. We had a long break, and then we dealt with the first eight chapters, which had to do with, well, before we started, we had the first eight chapters, doctrinal considerations, and then we took a break, and then we dealt with God's providential dealings in sovereignty with Israel and with us, in chapters 9 through 11. And then we've picked it up again now in Romans chapter 12. And we're kind of taking the long view here. My sermon grew even last night as I was working on it. I thought, this is more than we can do in one service from 9 to 21. And now there's a clock there that reminds me that it's more than I can do in one service. So we'll look together at the chapter that really This last part divides itself very nicely. So, it was a good breaking point to go to 9-13, which is how to behave ourselves and how to live in the household of faith, which is the church of the living God. And then, the rest of the passage has to do with how we are to live in the world. not only amongst Christians, but also amongst the lost, and how we're to behave. So we'll deal with that in a couple of weeks. I'll be over at Sentinella next week preaching for them. So we'll wait, but the first part will go today, and then the last part, how to live in the world, even an unbelieving world. So we can start with the heading of chapter 12, which is, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. not three different wills of God—not a good will, not an acceptable will, not a perfect will—but three excellent descriptions of what the will of God is. Okay, so that's the heading that covers chapter 12. Now, we continued on talking about our service, verse 3, For I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. And so we're talking about the church, we're talking about the same situation as we see in 1 Corinthians, where we're dealing with spiritual gifts. And 1 Corinthians 12 tells us about the spiritual gifts, and really chapter 14—12 touches on it, but 14 does too—chapter 14, about the misuse of spiritual gifts. And the misuse comes for one particular reason, which Paul nails here in verse 3, which comes quite a bit later than 1 Corinthians. And the spiritual gifts that he mentions are even different than the ones in 1 Corinthians. But pride is the issue. And when we think that we are something, or we think we are somebody of our gifts or position, well, you know what? The Lord knows how to humble us. And humble us, he will. If we know him, he'll humble us. And so let us be very, very careful not to be judgmental, not to be proud, to see ourselves as a member in the body, the entire body, of which the head is Christ. And this is true in the universal church and it's true in the local church where we exercise our gifts and we fellowship and live with one another and have a resting place like this in the midst of a weary world. At least it's a world that makes us weary sometimes, doesn't it? As we look around. So, we being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that's given to us. Let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Or ministry, let us use our ministry. He who teaches in teaching. He who exhorts in exhortation. He who gives with liberality. He who leads with diligence. He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. And now we have the heading of this last section. Let love be without hypocrisy. Let love be without hypocrisy. And he then goes into 21 exhortations. Now, what we look at today, we're not going to go into the Greek forms. I wouldn't think it'd be profitable for us to do that, really. But I will say this. There are actually six commands, six imperatives in these five verses. Six imperatives, which are commands. But there's more than six things being said. The rest of them, the other seven, are participles. And as participles, they can function as commands, but they aren't necessarily truly commands except in context. That's enough to know. So we're going to read it in our English. All of them are commands. Technically, they're not. But functionally, they are. So we'll leave it at that. The first one we see, of course, is the one, let love be without hypocrisy. That's the overriding theme of the entire section, be it in the church or in the world. And then, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Abhor is a very strong word in English. We don't use it a lot. In Greek, it's a very strong word also. It means to despise or even to hate with intensity. That's what we're talking about. Abhor what is evil. We should despise it. We should hate it. We're not talking about hating people right now. We're talking about the evil that plagues us, the indwelling sin that we can easily give in to. We should hate that. And we should hate the evil one who brings it, which is the devil. And Paul talks about the snare of the devil in 1 and 2 Timothy. He also warns us about the wiles of the devil. You know, very few birds, you'd set a bird trap. You ever done that as a kid? You get a box, you get a stick, and now you just wait because you got the string on the other end. And when a bird gets in there, you're going to pull that string and it's going to, you're going to capture yourself a bird. Well, it doesn't work very well, honestly. Never worked for me. And if you don't bait the trap, it is not going to work at all. Okay. No bird is going to be dumb enough to go into that box unless it wants to be in a cage. Okay. There's the difference there. Some birds don't want to be in a cage, but baited. The devil baits his traps. Satan baits his traps. And I'm going to say something right now that the kids in the congregation can understand. And this will help you. It's very easy to understand. I got through teaching a kid's class just a little bit ago. Parents, ask the kids what was said. See if they got it. OK, anyway. But that's not what I was talking about here. Here, we're talking about baited traps. And the devil will make sin look good. It'll make sin look fun. It'll make sin look cool. All these sorts of things. Desirable. What happened to Eve? She saw the fruit, and it was desirable to make one wise. It'll be desirable. Or maybe it'll just be harmless. This really can't cause any harm. Well, The fish, swimming around in his lake, can be very, very happy, put a worm on the hook, and the fish is hungry, so he takes the worm and the hook. And the hook sinks in, and he's not going anywhere except into a frying pan, you know? Well, Satan's been baiting hooks for thousands of years, and let's be aware of that. Don't be his victim. Satan is cruel and has no mercy. The bait looks attractive, but the end of it is tragic. And everyone thinks, that will never happen to me. Oh, I can do this, and I can get away with it. That's what everyone thinks. and yet all around us we see the devastation of those that took the hook and they didn't get away with it. Well, learn this lesson early and avoid heartache. James, Peter, not James Peter, but James and Peter and Paul tell us to resist the devil. Resist the devil. Okay. Now, we don't just resist Him, and we just don't abhor what is evil. We cling to what is good. And maybe the best illustration of what it means to cling to what is good can be found in the marriage. God's ideal of marriage. The husband is to cling to his wife. He's supposed to cleave to her. Together they go through life. God made man and woman, and I know I say it all the time, but you're not going to hear it in a whole lot of other places. So I have to say it all the time just to remind us. God made man and God made woman, and men don't have babies. no matter what they tell you. And there aren't 52 different genders. That's not true either. We just have to remind ourselves of the lies of the world. And I'll tell you something that I see happening in our world, and I pray that it's true, and I think you're probably seeing it too, is some people are saying, this stuff is crazy. Lost people are starting to say, this stuff is crazy. How could we possibly believe that kind of thing, you know? because it just plain doesn't work. So to conclude that in verse 9, the best way to avoid evil is to cling to what is good. Just like a husband and wife become one flesh, they live their lives together. They're interjoined in remarkable ways. They begin, hopefully, to think alike and do things alike, and years and years of marriage will do that. Well, hate the evil. Not people. Hate the evil and cling to what is good and right and true. Verse 10. Verse 10, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. And there is no greater way to have peace in the church than to obey the injunctions of verse 10. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. Now, in verse nine we had agape. And in verse 10, we have brotherly love, or philadelphia. And for far too long, there's been way too much distinction made between agape and Philadelphia. The really, science, not science, but the theologians and those that study these things have seen that it's way out of bounds to make too much of the difference. Some have said, well, agape is only God's love, and that doesn't hold up. And brotherly love is being nice to each other, and that doesn't hold up. They actually are subsets of one another. They're very, very important subsets. So when we talk about brotherly love, we're talking about being like a family. Living like a family. And that's what God would have us to do, because we are the family of God. And the second admonition is just as important as it talks about how to live in the family, in honor, giving preference to one another. And that can be hard to do, but that's what we need to do. Our flesh wants us to get the preference. Our flesh wants us to be seen as somebody special and important, and we need to mortify that. So, basically, let me tell you what the ESV says, and I'm not sure it's an exact translation. I wouldn't have come up with it, but I thought it was a good one because it does fit. Try to outdo one another in love. Try to outdo one another in love. You want to have a competition? Then let's see who can love the most and love the best and be that kind of a person with brotherly love. And that's what Paul is enjoining here. And another way to put it, Paul writes in Philippians 2, 3, let each esteem others better than themselves. So if you want to have a contest in the church of who's the greatest, Remember the disciples' contest that they had? Oh, yeah. Jesus Christ is walking to the cross, and they're having a conversation in the back, saying, well, who's the greatest? Which one of us is the greatest? And one of the other disciples says, you know, I heard that James and John's mother came and asked for James and John to sit on the right hand and left hand of Jesus in glory. Oh, it's shocking, shocking. And the reason it was shocking is because they wanted that preference themselves. That's the truth of the matter. We have that in us. We have to mortify that in us. So if you want to have a contest within the church of who's the greatest, the servant is to be the greatest. And the Lord Jesus Christ modeled that when he washed the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper. Verse 11. Now, we're making good time, aren't we? So it seemed like getting to verse 21 would happen, but we're going to hit a stopping place here in a few moments that I think we need. Verse 11. Three exhortations that go together can be seen in this verse. Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. So you could say, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, but I kind of like taking it this way, with a comma that is not in the original, because punctuation wasn't in the original. Not lagging and diligent, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Okay? It's far too easy to become complacent. We fall into routines, and routines become ruts. And ruts lead to laziness and not really seeing things for what they are. Coasting through the Christian life. Not falling away, but falling asleep. Okay? And this is a theme for the apostle. Now turn with me to 2 Corinthians 8. Just flip over. We're going to be back here in a moment, but 2 Corinthians 8. I hoped through my blurry eyes last night I picked the right passage. I was up late last night, changing the sermon around a little bit. Ah, yes, it's the right passage. It wasn't 1 Corinthians, it's 2 Corinthians 8. Paul writes, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 7, But as you abound in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also. And then he says in verse 8, I speak not by commandment, but I'm testing the sincerity of your love. by the diligence of others. And he's talking about collecting an offering. That's what he's talking about. He's talking about, you know, make sure I'm going to be by there to pick up an offering that we're going to give to the saints in Jerusalem. And then in verse 16, But thanks be to God, who puts the same in his care for you into the hearts of Titus. So Paul loved them. Titus loved them, too. You know, it's a theme for the apostle to really not fall away, and certainly not to sleep. But let me tell you something that happened this week I found out about. I was talking to someone, and it's not even anybody I think that anybody that you would know, so don't try to guess who I'm talking about. Okay, that'd be easy to do, but he just told me that his pastor burned out. and last Sunday resigned from the ministry. Didn't resign from the church, but resigned from the ministry. It's understandable because this pastor was working a 40-hour week, and had been for a couple of years, and just became overwhelmed and could not continue any longer. That just happened this week. And to top it off, the church that he had been at previously, just a year ago, The same thing happened. That pastor also burned out and resigned. Quite an amazing thing. But burnout is real. We must avoid burnout and keep up our zeal for the Lord. There was another pastor that I knew, this was many years ago, and I was talking to him on a Saturday, and I could see that he was troubled. And he said, you know, it's late, it's Saturday. I do a lot of my sermon work on Saturday to keep it fresh in my mind, but not everybody does that. And so he was saying, it's Saturday already, and I haven't prepared my lecture. Wait, wait, we're talking about sermon, right? I didn't say that to him, but I'm thinking, wait a minute. He said, no, I haven't prepared my lecture yet. And I thought, oh, no. And I didn't say anything to him, but I took note. I said, that doesn't sound good to me. Sounds like this is becoming a duty. Sounds like it's becoming a drudgery. And really, we needed to go to the Bible with fresh eyes and an excitement and asking in prayer, Lord, what would you have me to say as I prepare this sermon? And it wasn't long before he burned out. It happens. It happens to good people. I can sympathize. I can sympathize. I really can. There's aspects of the Lord's work that I absolutely love. I absolutely enjoy it. Being here with you on a Sunday, I wouldn't want to be anyplace else. I don't even like to leave because I don't want to be anyplace else. I just love it so much. And it's a good thing, because I've been here two-thirds of my life, so it's a good thing that I love it. But I'll tell you, there are aspects of the ministry that aren't fun. There's aspects of the ministry that are just plain hard and even gut-wrenching. Paul's admonition is important for every pastor, and Paul's admonition is important for every Christian. Don't be slothful. Don't be lazy. Do what you can and do it as best as you can. A few years ago, here at Sovereign Grace, we decided that it was time to do things a little differently. We'd spent a lot of time putting Band-Aids on things around here. The facility's kind of old, so you put a Band-Aid on it and hope to fix it someday. You can't do that for very long, right? You just can't, you know? So we decided that we wouldn't put band-aids in our church building anymore. We would take the time, we'd take the money to make real lasting changes. But you know, you got to have the time, you got to have the people, and you got to have the money. So sometimes you're providentially hindered from fixing the things you'd like to fix. Well, there's one thing that you can be. One thing you can do. You can turn back, by the way, to Romans 12. There's one thing that you can be. You can be fervent in spirit. You can do that. That doesn't cost you anything. It doesn't cost you any money. It doesn't cost you really any time. You can be fervent in spirit and see what the Lord would have you to do. It's His work. You know, I joke with my secretary sometimes, and Irene's going to know this right away when I say it. In fact, she's going to figure out what I'm going to say. And I joke with Joe, who's around here a lot, and he's going to figure out what I'm going to say. If you guys don't figure it out, you're going to know it as soon as I say it. I admit, I tell him, I admit your pay isn't very good. but your benefits are out of this world. I think, oh yeah, it's true, it's true. And I've said that others too. We have a chuckle, but it's true. What we do, we do for the Lord. We don't do it for the praise of men. In fact, if you do it for the praise of men, guess what? You get praise, you got your reward. Is that what you really want? Or you may do it for the praise of men and nobody pays attention. but your motive was to get attention, you know. And then you'll feel underappreciated, and then you'll lose your fervency. So be zealous, that's what we're talking about. Be zealous, be fervent in spirit, and it doesn't have to be dynamic, it has to be as long as you serve the Lord. That's exactly what the passage tells us. So we go to verse 12 now. We're still moving right along here. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. Now those are three tall orders. Those are three tall orders there. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation. That's a tough one too. And continuing steadfast in prayer. And I know from personal experience, and I know from talking to many, many Christians, that a consistent, full, rich prayer life is a difficult thing to maintain. It is. It takes the greatest of discipline to do that. But let me talk about hope for a second. Let me talk about hope, because that comes first. It says, rejoicing in hope. Hope is one of the three main characteristics of a Christian. Faith, hope, and love. Now the greatest of these is love, because as it says in 1 Corinthians 12, and we've looked at it already, and you've heard it many, many times, that's the one thing that we take to heaven with us. We never lose that. Hope is for today. Faith is for today. And Paul uses hope, maybe the the laggard or the misunderstood or the ignored one of the triumvirate, faith, hope, and love. Let me talk about hope for a little bit here. Okay, Paul uses hope 36 times in his epistles. Now turn to just back a page, Romans 5, Romans 5 verse 2, just one example. 36 times Paul uses the word hope, you know, and that's just in his epistles. Romans 5 verse 2, He tells us, through whom—let me go back to verse 1—therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. So, you know, we've got that situation going there. There's 1 Thessalonians, you don't need to turn this one, but 1 Thessalonians 5.8 says, and just listen to it and see if you hear another verse that sounds like this. 1 Thessalonians 5.8, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. Doesn't that kind of sound like Ephesians 5 and the Christian in complete armor? It does. And then another one, you don't need to turn there. For we through the Spirit, this is Galatians 5.5, for we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. And this one comes in a context. The hope of righteousness by faith. Paul is fighting against the Judaizers. This is the hope of justification. You say, we don't need to hope for justification. We have justification. But the Bible didn't always use the technical theological terms that we have in exactly the same way. We're talking in the broader term now of salvation. the hope of salvation. And we know that salvation does come to us in three tenses. We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. This is what Paul is talking about here as he's fighting with the Judaizers who want to keep these people in bondage to the law. Justification is by faith alone. And Christian friend, Christian friend, you are justified. But the entire process we call salvation is not finalized until we're with the Lord. And that comes either when He comes or at death. So God sees us as perfect through the work of Christ, that sin's been paid for, but in reality, you and I know that we're still battling with sin. The battle is real, okay? One day, the battle's gonna be over, the victory's gonna be won, and we'll enter the eternal state where sin can never enter and we'll sin no more. We rejoice when we think of that day and we hope for it. That's the Christian's hope. The second coming of Christ is called the blessed hope. We haven't achieved it yet. But one day faith will be sight, hope will not be needed, and we'll continue with Christ in love for Him and one another for all eternity." Turn to this passage, Colossians 1. We'll be back in Romans in a second here, but we're taking a little bit of what you can call an excursus here. We're going to talk about hope a little bit more, not with a full sermon, but highlighted in this particular sermon, talking about hope. Colossians chapter 1, and then we're going to turn to Ephesians chapter 1. And Colossians and Ephesians are actually sister books. They were written at the same time and were probably carried by the same person and dropped off at Colossae and dropped off at Ephesus at the same time. Colossians chapter 1, we're going to start back at verse 3. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we've heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you've heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel." Now, we know that Paul had never been to Colossae as he wrote this, so he's writing to some people that he didn't know, But he did know maybe a few people in that congregation. I'm sure he did. And he knew of the congregation and he wanted to encourage that congregation. And he talks about for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. And so we're talking about what we're talking about and talking about Ephesians, back to Ephesians, just a couple pages back. Ephesians chapter one, we're going to start in verse 15. Ephesians 1.15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord, now he did know of these people, Okay, there were many of them. I'm sure there were many that had come to Ephesus churches since then. But therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. This is Paul's prayer for them, and what we see taking place here is actually our future hope. Our future hope. There's three things. Our future hope, God's inheritance in the saints, and then the amazing power of God in verse 19, working all things for us. And these are familiar themes. And Peter O'Brien, he's a good, solid biblical commentator, says this, if I can quote him, God's calling finds its origin in the choice of his people in Christ before the world's foundation. Okay? God's calling finds its origins in his choice of his people in Christ before the world's foundations. And then he takes us to chapter 1, verses 4 and 5, that we talk about often. 1. Just as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before Him, in love having predestinated us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. Verses that are precious, precious, precious to us, our future hope. But as we look back at Colossians again, I said there were three things there to look at, and there are three things in Colossians. Let's go back there again, Colossians chapter one. And we're talking about verses 17 through 19, especially 18 and 19. God's inheritance in the saints. That's a little bit of an unusual way of putting things. God's inheritance in the saints. As you look at that, it struck me. So I wanted to study that a little bit deeper. And he's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning of the firstborn, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Whoops, I think I flipped this. I was supposed to be in Ephesians. Sorry. I was supposed to stay in Ephesians 18 and 19. Okay, there it is. For the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. I flipped this when it shouldn't have. Okay, we're talking about 18 and 19 of Ephesians. God's inheritance in the saints, what is he actually talking about? Well, Jew and Gentile alike are his inheritance, his own possession, in whom he'll display to the universe the untold riches of his glory. Now, I didn't make that up. That's a quote, too, from Peter O'Brien. Jew and Gentile alike are his inheritance, his own possession, in whom he'll display to the universe. What is the universe it's going to be displayed to? The planet Mars? Well, believe me, there are myriads and myriads of created beings that exist. And we call them angels, or we may call them other things too, but they exist. And the unseen world, okay? Jew and Gentile alike are his inheritance, his own possession, in whom he'll display to the universe the ones that have been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and belong to Him, us. The untold riches of His glory. He's talking about us. He's talking about Christians. He's talking about those that belong to Him that will actually rule and reign with Him. But He's the chief. He's the head. God's inheritance, believe it or not, is you. You Christian friends are part of his inheritance. And we think of God, you know, of course, being our great king and leader and such like that. But isn't this something that God would appreciate and love you so much that you would be as he made everything. But his eyes on you. That's amazing. That's the love that he has for us. And then the amazing power of God working all things for us. This is another form of Romans 8.28, which we love so much. You know, Romans 8.28, where God works all things together for good to those that love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. Listen to verse 19. Now what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power? because He is working and He works all things to His glory and our good. Let's look at the context. Verse 20. which according to his mighty power, verse 20, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age which is to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. God controls the universe, and God controls you too, and cares about you, and loves you. You know, I don't think any of us, and I'm putting myself in this category, I don't think any of us see the church the way that God sees it. We can look over the people that are here today, The whole church is not here. There's a lot of us missing. And that hurts, you know. And so we can get discouraged. But we need not be discouraged. We need not be downhearted. Gives us reasons to pray. You know, God is in control. God loves the church. God takes care of His church. It's His plan. It's His power. And Christ is the head of the church. Not some guy that just got elected by other guys in Rome. Nope. Not him. Christ is the head of the church and rules and reigns in the universe. He cannot be defeated. His purposes cannot fail. Not only in this age, but in the age that is to come. And we believe that by faith. Because, let's face it, sometimes it looks like everything's spinning out of control. And God's not in control. Well, he didn't blink or fall asleep or anything like that. He's absolutely in control, working all things, even the things we don't understand, to his ultimate glory. Christian friend, God has his eye on you personally. And God's great love extends to you personally. He owns everything, doesn't need anything. He made the universe, but Christian saint, and that's what you are, holy ones, if you know the Lord, you are God's inheritance. Well, let's go back to verse 12, in Romans 12. Well, you can see what happened. That's what I was, in my study, that expanded out, so there you go. Romans 12 verse 12, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, and this is hard. You know, the Hebrew writer says, you have need of patience, that after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise. Tribulation, Greek word thalipsis, you know, means intense pressure, because no one skates through this world unscathed. You know, no one skates through the world unscathed, intense pressure. We are going to be tested, we're going to be tried, and we must persevere by the grace of God under pressure. Pilgrim progress that we're studying in our breakfasts, you know, and we're taking a deeper dive into it so that we can really see the mind of Bunyan, who had the mind of Christ, And if it teaches us anything, it teaches us that there are a lot of human difficulties on the path to the Celestial City. And Bundy knew what he was talking about because he was writing from prison. So we understood. He writes his book under Great Philipsis, for sure. So how do we persevere? Verse 12 tells us, how do we persevere? Continuing steadfastly in prayer. There's power in prayer. Not that we change God. Would you really want to change God? Would you really want to change his purposes for you and the way that he made you and who you are and what he's doing in your life? Not that we change God. But God uses prayer to change us. And you know what it means if we don't pray? And I doubt any of us pray enough. I don't pray enough. But you know what it means if we don't pray? It ultimately means we've got it all under control. We don't need God. We don't need anything. We can handle it. But you and I know we don't have the strength to persevere in our own strength. We don't have the wisdom and we don't have the power. If we really know God, or should I say if we're really known by God, we will persevere. And prayer is a means of grace. And all the means of grace are there for our perseverance. You know, it can just be like enduring. I was thinking about this, you know, a couple of years ago, I don't know, maybe it was longer than a couple of time, not sure. But I had to miss a Sunday because I was in terrible, terrible pain. And I thought I was having a heart attack. So I went up to San Antonio Hospital and they thought I was having a heart attack too. And they assembled themselves together and they were ready to do open heart surgery right there on the spot, you know, and I would even going home, I just be wheeled in and they were going to do it. And then all of a sudden they'd all dispersed and they were gone and there was going to be no open heart surgery because my heart was fine, you know. And so something happened, and I was still in intense pain. A kidney stone can do that. A kidney stone can really put you in pain. And so they said, tomorrow you'll have surgery. We'll remove the kidney stone, because it doesn't look like it's coming out. But here's some stuff. Drink this stuff. It may help. And so I drank it. And oh, it hurt. And I'm laying in bed. And I was in pain. And it hurt so bad. And finally, I had such a sweet nurse. She was so sympathetic. I really liked her. She was nice. And, you know, it's not easy being a nurse. And not easy hearing somebody complain, you know. And I called for her and she came. And I said, I really need a pain shot. She said, I can't give you a pain shot for two more hours. I said, I don't really want to go through this, two more hours of this. You know, it hurts so bad. She said, well, I could give you some Tylenol. I'll take it. I'll take it. Be glad to have it. That was very nice of her to do. And so, you know, that helped a little bit. But in God's grace, it was missed by an hour later. Problem gone. Problem solved. And again, I called her and told her what had happened, and the problem was solved, and she was happy. She said, well, in another hour, you can have a pain shot. I said, I'll call you if I need it, but I don't think I'm going to need it. I'm not hurting anymore. And that was really cool. And what am I talking about? Well, I'm talking about intensity here. And talk about enduring. Sometimes we just have to endure something really, really painful. But we need to be patient, because the night doesn't last forever. And for God's people, the daybreak comes. And it comes here on Earth, or it comes there with him. I will conclude with this and be fast. Verse 13. Distributing to the needs of the saints and giving to hospitality. Now, these are two sides of the same coin. And it's not a handout in front of Smart and Final. And if you ever go to Smart and Final up here, you'll probably be asked for a handout. And there was a need in the first century for hospitality. And this is in a Christian context. One of Paul's great concerns for the Christian saints in Jerusalem that were outcasts in society, impoverished and truly in need, Paul raised an offering to help them and encourage the Gentiles to give to this offering. and he encouraged the Romans too, look at, I'll just turn it over there, 15, chapter 15, verse 27, It pleased them indeed, for they are debtors. Talking about, well, let me go back to verse 26. For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, for they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, Their duty is also to minister to them in material things. Okay, so this is what we're talking about. And Paul saw that as vital and important. Taking care of the poor. There should never be anyone amongst us that is impoverished and not able to buy their necessities. That should never happen. We need to take care of each other. And we need to take care of Christian ministers. Paul took wages and encouraged churches to not muzzle the ox. That's all very true. And there's a countermeasure to that, just like that's true. The other side of the coin is that ministers must not be greedy to disqualify in sin. To be greedy, it's a disqualifying sin for the ministry. And in Ephesians 4.28, when he talks about, let him who stole steal no more. Let him not be a thief, no more thieves. Paul encourages the believers to work with their own hands. Why? So they'll have the ability to give. They will be actually meeting their own needs and now helping to meet the needs of others. That's the way it works. One of the gifts of the Spirit was what? Giving with liberality. How about hospitality? How do you show hospitality? Well, it's a little different than it was in the first century. I think I'll wait and talk about first century hospitality next time, because I think it's worth talking about. But let me tell you about hospitality nowadays, of what you can do. You can show it in church. Now, unless a visitor gets up and leaves early, there's not much you can do about that. We don't want you chasing people out the door. That happens. Visitors will sometimes not want to talk. They're just checking us out, you know, and that's fine. But if a visitor is here and you see them and you know, make sure to talk to them. make sure to greet them, give them a warm smile. If you wanna chit-chat a little bit, that's fine, but at least greet them and give them a warm smile, you know? And that's a form of hospitality. Having people over for dinner, yeah, sure, of course, that's hospitality. Even being part of the luncheon that we'll have in two weeks, that's hospitality as we meet together, as long as we just don't form cliques. and get in our own little group and not talk to anybody else. That's hospitality. Fellowship times that we'll have over here. And we might have a nice little treat over there. I can't promise you that because I didn't confirm it, but I pretty much believe it's true. Fellowship times. Don't form cliques there either. Enjoy one another. Meet together. It was a real issue in the first century of Rome, so much so that there were rules that were given about hospitality. I'll just tell you these rules and then we'll close right here. Rules for guests. You're going to be the recipient of hospitality. Number one, don't insult the host. That was rude in the first century, and still is. This isn't from the Bible. This is from Roman philosophers. Number two, don't usurp the authority of the host. If you've got little kids, you ever had somebody over to your house, and they start disciplining your children for you? Don't do that. Don't do that. That's not your responsibility. Please don't do that. Not only not your responsibility, you're out of line. Don't usurp the authority of the host. And number three, Don't refuse what is offered, even if you don't like it. It's not your food that you like. Now if you can't eat it, you're allergic to it or something like that, that's a whole different story. But don't refuse what's offered. And rules for hosts, guess what? Don't insult the guest. Don't neglect to protect your guest. Now that was literally true. In the Bible, some of the terrible things happened to the people that were not offered hospitality. Actually, some terrible things happened to people that were offered hospitality, like Sodom and Gomorrah, and such like that. Protect your guests. That's your job while he's there, or she. And then make sure you provide for their needs. That's simple about hospitality. Well, with all these things being said, let me just look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we do look to you. We are a needy people, but in some ways we're not needy at all, because we have in Christ everything that we need. So help us to realize that. Help us to glory in that. Help us to care for one another. Lord, the church should be like a family. We've seen churches torn apart with division. Oh Lord, when families are torn apart by division, it's so miserable. When churches are torn apart by division, it is so miserable. Father, we desire, through brotherly love, we know the same Lord Jesus Christ. Our sins have been paid for by his great sacrifice. Help us to love all of those whom Christ loves. And we're God's inheritance. Help us to remember that. Help us to see that in one another, and to value one another as we should. Lord, these things are very practical, and they're very biblical, as I hope we've seen today. May Jesus Christ receive for himself the glory. In his name we pray, amen.