What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms, I have blessed peace with my Lord so near. Leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all All right, we'll dismiss the little ones to go to your class. Thank you for your good participation in our song service and singing out this morning. And thank you to my wife for recording the hymns. It takes extra work Sunday morning to do that, but it helps us right now with Mac at the age he is to allow Kaylee to be able to sit and sing. So thank her for that. All right, 1 Corinthians chapter 13 this morning. I'll give you a second. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Kaylee, this past year, she started playing the violin. Actually, she's doing pretty well, I'm thankful. I've not heard too many screeches or anything like that. When I think of the violin, I think, you know, sometimes nails on the chalkboard when you're learning it. But she's doing well and not squeaking too much like that. But you know, I'm thankful that she didn't decide to take up the cymbal, you know? And then say, Dad, you know, I got something I want to play for you. You know, come into my study and she's got her big bronze cymbals and she begins to play something by just pounding those things together. Would you enjoy listening this morning to cymbal solo? Or perhaps this morning somebody's learning the trumpet and doesn't quite know how to play it yet, but they can blow for all they're worth and get some noise out of it. Would you really enjoy this morning having somebody come up here and just blast away on a brass instrument? No. And Paul knew that. And that's why he started this passage the way he started it, because he speaks about a cymbal solo and he speaks about a brass solo that's not that melodious as well, right? He said, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. Okay, that's somebody that can speak very well. In scripture, there's a story about a man in the book of Acts. He's giving a speech, remember? And they say, ah, it's a voice of a God and not of a man. And it's like that. Paul's saying somebody that's very gifted. In fact, it's heavenly how well that person speaks. Paul says, even though you can speak like that, and it's without love, do you have an eye charity? It says, I am become as sounding brass, that blasting of the brass instrument, or a tinkling cymbal, just a clanging cymbal that's nothing. And you think about it, how important then must love be? Because we think, you know what, I want to be a good speaker. I want to be somebody that can put something across to somebody in a way that they get it, that they understand it, that makes sense, and they want to hear it. But Paul says, if you could achieve the best of speaking without love, it's meaningless. In fact, even great God-given gifts without love make us of no account. Verse 2. It says, and though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith. And again, those are things that we desire this morning. Paul said, covet earnestly the best gifts. He says it in this book of 1 Corinthians. Desire these spiritual gifts, and yet say you had the gift of prophecy, of preaching. or the gift of understanding all mysteries. I mean, you can pick up this book and cover to cover, front to back, you know, not just what is plain and easy to read, but the deep mysteries of the word of God and how everything plays out in prophecy and these things. And if you have all knowledge so that you could answer every question just right, and though you have all faith, remember the Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please him. And so how important faith is. And I mean, you had the power to ask God to move mountains, and God would. And yet it says, and you have not charity, I am nothing. We think that's great. You know, you've got faith, you've got gifts, you've got all these things, and yet, again, Paul says, without love, it's nothing, it's empty. Even great sacrifice without love will not be rewarded. Verse three says, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor. That's again, something commendable. We'd say, that's great. I mean, that you're that interested in pleasing God, that you take everything that you possess and you sacrifice it to God. Yet again, Paul says, though I give my body, or bestow all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned, again, great sacrifice. Wouldn't we appreciate this morning somebody that would give themselves so to God that at the risk of their life, they please God. And yet Paul said, if you do that, even that, without love, it profits me nothing. In other words, there's no reward. If this morning as we are serving God, if we're not serving God in love, then it's valueless. In our book this morning, it's actually the book that we're studying in our Sunday school lesson in Sunday school. So we're going to get to chapter 13 right now. I think we're in chapter 11 or chapter 10. But in chapter 12, Paul's gonna go through the gifts that God's given, some of the gifts that God's given to the church. In chapter 14, he's gonna speak about how to use those gifts in the church. And really in chapter 13, as we look at it this morning, it's the attitude, the attitude of how we use the gifts that God's given to us in the church. It's to be done in love. You know, when Danny, Adrian was here, remember the young man that preached for us? I took Riley and their mom and brother to the castle. And in the castle, as you do the tour, you can see the crown jewels of Scotland. And so you see the sword and the scabbard, you can see You know, the stone of stone, and the crown, and these things are there. But also, on the wall, you'll see a very awesome necklace, and then I think it's a ruby ring. That ruby is big, and it's not really red, it's actually pink color. But you can look at that ruby, and you can, it's one stone, but you can look at it from different angles, and there's different beauties about that one stone. And this morning, love is one thing, but love has many sides. And so Paul is gonna take and he's gonna make us look at love from this side, this side, this side, this side, and show us the beauty of one thing, love, but it's multifaceted. And so there's many aspects this morning to love that we'll consider. For obvious reasons, I'll have to be brief in each point that we consider, because we're gonna look at this morning 13 or 14 things about love and serving God in love. So let's pray and ask God help us in this area of loving ministry. Let's pray. Father, I'm thankful for the opportunity this morning to share your word. And Father, I'm thankful for our church. Father, thank you for loving us, giving us the gift of salvation. Thank you for how, as we look at love this morning, what we're gonna see is Jesus Christ. And everything, every aspect of love is personified in Christ. And Father, I pray that the Spirit would speak to our hearts this morning. Help us to rejoice that you love us like this, but help us also to seek to love others like this, and to lovingly serve you like this. And so would you help me as I speak? I need the Holy Spirit to guide me and to help me to articulate the truths of your word. Father, we need the Holy Spirit to help us in our hearts take on board the truths that we consider. And so may Jesus Christ be magnified. And fathers, we take these point by point and briefly look at each one. I pray there'd be something of benefit to every one of us in the way that we love others, in the way that we love you. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. So what do we need to do if we're to minister in love or use the gifts that God's given to us in love, both for ourselves, our family, our neighbors, our church? As we do that, what do we need to do if we're to serve God in love? And the first thing is be patient. Be patient. If you're taking notes, you're gonna have a long list today, right? Be patient. It says, charity suffereth long. The term longsuffering, you often see it in scripture, and it's often associated with the Lord. There were people in Peter's day that said, okay, Christ is coming again, and he's coming soon, and it could be at any time, and even back then, this was thousands of years ago, and it's just years after Christ went into glory, but they're saying, where is he? He's promised to come again, where is he? And the answer Peter gives is that God, as he is seeking to reach mankind with salvation, is loving. And the way his love is demonstrated is the fact that he suffers long. He puts up with people like we meet that despise him. They hate him. They want nothing to do with him. They give glory to science instead of glory to God as far as origins. He puts up with that. because he suffers long out of love for them. That's exactly what it says in 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise of his return. As some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, that all should come to repentance. Aren't you glad this morning that God is long-suffering? If he wasn't, somebody messes up, he'd cast them into hell. But God is patient. God is not rushed like we are. We're burdened about it. We want to see things accomplished. We want to see things done. God, in his love, is patient. Isn't that awesome this morning that God is willing to wait for you? Even though you're making it difficult because you're not yielding to him, you're not submitting to him, yet God, in his love, says, look, I'll wait. God's patient. You know, as we serve God, there's times where people are gonna try our patience, unbelievers or believers. And it's not gonna be easy to continue if it's not in love. Think how many verses we have about longsuffering. Galatians 5.22 says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Ephesians 4.2, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. Colossians 1.11, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Colossians 3.12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. You know, if it's really love, love has the ability to be patient. You know, we're seeking to raise godly kids and they mess up, you know, patience. That's longsuffering. And so, If we're going to serve God in love this morning, we need to be patient. But then also, we need to be kind. We need to be kind. It says, love suffereth long and is kind. It's kind. You know, you can put up with somebody by gritting your teeth and say, well, the Bible says I'm gonna be long-suffering and so, you know, I'm long-suffering. You're impatient, you're gritting your teeth, trying to get through it, trying to endure, but is that really the kind of longsuffering of which the Bible speaks? No, because love is also not just longsuffering, but kind. Have you ever noticed as parents, you correct a child, and they're still a bit upset about what took place, and you say to them, go apologize to your brother, or go apologize to your sister. And they can go out and they can say, I'm sorry, in a way that would shame a rattlesnake, right? They're kind of like, I'm sorry, you know? Is that kind? You know, as we practice biblical love, biblical love has an ability to not just endure, but as you're enduring, to speak with kindness to that person. Think about Jesus. Jesus, as somebody comes in, like the woman taking adultery, and she's been brought to the Lord, and the Pharisees are there and saying, condemn this woman. She needs to be put to death because of her sin, and she's guilty. Think about the words to the Lord as he spoke with her, their kind words, restorative words, John 8, 11. Jesus said unto her neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more This is that kind You know in love as we speak with people I started to Kayla yesterday as we're doing door-to-door and you knock on somebody's door and There's a desire in our heart to help them understand the gospel and that Jesus Christ is the answer and that they're a sinner and that hell is real. But when we speak to them, what do they need to hear in our voice? They need to hear kindness. Kindness. Because love is kind. And so be kind, be patient. And then be content. Be content. It says charity, envy if not. As you're serving the Lord, there might be something that somebody else gets to do that you think, you know what, I'd rather do that than what I'm doing. And yet, in love, as we serve God, there's a contentment about what we're doing. They might get praise. They might get more notoriety for what they've done. And yet, love envieth not. There was a man in our church back in Hudson, where I'm from, his name was Dave Genova. And Dave passed away a few years back from a stroke. But Dave had a servant's heart. I don't think many people in the church realized like we did, because I would see his vehicle at the church, but on Sunday mornings, Dave's vehicle would be at church very early in the morning, the lights would be on in the church, and Dave would be cleaning the church. I mean, cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning everything. And it wasn't for bragging or letting people know. He came to my dad and said, pastor, is there something to do? You know, I'm kind of shy, you know, I'm not really looking for something, public ministry, but is there something I can do to serve the Lord? And that's what he did. You know, I looked at David, I thought, he's a very loving servant of God. Why? just did what he could, he wasn't envious of what others were doing. In 1 Corinthians 12, 18, in the previous chapter, Paul said about the gifts that God gives us, but now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him. You know, the gifts that we have are gifts that are God-given. The place that we have is a place that's God-given. The abilities and talents that you and I possess are abilities and talents that God had given it. And could I even say this morning what we view as our disabilities? Because there's certainly things about my life that I look at and say, I wish I was like this, I could say. But you know, we ought to be able to say in love as we do what God wants us to do, love envieth not. There's a contentment about what we have. Then we find, not only must we be patient, be kind, be content, but also be modest, be modest. And again, this has to do with pride or humility, be modest. It says, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Charity isn't swelled up. It isn't trying to get others to look at us and look at what we've done, look at what we've accomplished, and give us glory for what we've done. Love is humble. It's not seeking attention. John the Baptist, the great, the one that the Lord Jesus said, you know, there's never been a man that's greater than John the Baptist upon this earth, but I tell you, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than this. But he was a great man. He was a bold preacher. He had a great following. There were people pouring out of the cities to come out to John the Baptist, but John the Baptist's message was repent and the king is coming, basically. He was the forerunner of the Messiah. You know, as Jesus got on the scene and was getting notoriety, the disciples of John came to John and said, you know, This is taking place. You know what John the Baptist said? He said, he must increase, but I must decrease. He's saying that's the whole point of my life is to point people to Christ. John the Baptist was loving, wasn't he? Charity Blondeth not itself, it's not puffed up. Remember Moses, great, again, another great man of God that God used to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He was a mighty leader. He had however many million people following him. But at one point in his ministry, he got burdened about it. He needed help. His father-in-law gave him some good advice. And so God, in his mercy, or helped him have 70 elders that would help oversee the work that God had called him to do. And when that took place, God poured out his spirit upon these men, and they began to speak. Two men didn't come out of the camp when God did that, and they're still in the camp, and they begin to prophesy, and Joshua runs to Moses and says, this is taking place in the camp, forbid them. And Moses said this, in Numbers 11, 29, Moses said unto him, envious thou for my sake, would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. Moses wasn't, as a servant of God, he wasn't envious. He said, I wish everybody was a prophet. I wish everybody had the blessing that I have in serving God and how God's raised me up to do this ministry. I wish everybody was. Envious thou for my sake? You know, if we're serving God in love this morning, we're not seeking acclaim. We're not seeking to get people to recognize us and see who we are, what we've done, what we've accomplished. Third John 1 9, John said, I wrote unto the church, but diatrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. What do I know about diatrophies? He wasn't exercising his gifts in love. Because love isn't seeking self-acclaim. Love isn't trying to point to itself. So be modest. And then be appropriate. The appropriate. Verse five says, doth not behave itself unseemly. Love is appropriate. Love isn't rude. You know, in our day and age, we're beginning to sadly lose sight of manners. But manners are a good thing. I was even speaking with my neighbor last night and his son-in-law passed away. Do you know, I said to him, he had a black tie on and he had a jacket on, and his son-in-law passed away months ago, I think about four months ago. So I wasn't even thinking about that. I said to him, I said, oh, you're dressed up, and you taking your wife out on a date? You know, and he's an older man. And he said, you know what, in our country, he's from Italy. He said, in our country, when somebody dies that's a close relative, will wear a black tie for six months to a year. You know, I said, I said, you know what, that is really respectful. It is. I mean, if that's, that's in a sense, that is, that is love because that is, that is showing respect. You know, you know, as we try to teach our boys, If a woman's following you into a building, you hold the door for her. If a man's following you into the building, you at least hand the door off to him. You don't just let it fall shut behind you. If a woman enters a room, you stand up. If there's no other chairs available, you offer her your chair. Why? Because that's a loving thing to do. It's a kind thing to do. It's an appropriate thing to do. Again, I was taught, pray before you eat. Take time to thank the Lord for the food. Dress appropriately for the occasion. If it's a church service, you dress up. If it's going to a ball game, you dress appropriately. And so that's not rude. And so love is like that. If you're loving to somebody, there's not gonna be rudeness in it. So be appropriate. And then be selfless. Be selfless. It says, love our charity, seeketh not her own. There's times in life where things that we're gonna do or things that we have may benefit us, but it's not gonna benefit everybody. And if it's a choice of benefiting myself or benefiting everybody, there's an opportunity we have to demonstrate love and say, you know, I'd rather benefit the whole. Nehemiah did that. Remember, Nehemiah was the cupbearer for King Artaxerxes. He's the one that went in to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And as Nehemiah is there, he becomes the governor, as it were, over that area. And Nehemiah must have had some measure of wealth of his own. Certainly he had the blessing of the king. Because the Bible says that he had, I think, 150 people that were eating at his table, and he's providing food for them. It says, Nehemiah 5, 18 and 19. Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowls were prepared for me. And once in 10 days, stores of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor because the bondage was heavy upon this people. Think upon me, my God, for good according to all that I've done for this people. Nehemiah looked at it and said, you know what? These are tough times. And he's feeding all these people and he's caring for all these people, but he's not getting reimbursed for it. And it's because of love. It's because he looks at them and saying, you know, this is not a good time to tax them with the responsibility they have to provide for their governor. And so I'm going to meet their need. And he says to God, God, would you just meet my needs as I seek to meet the needs of your people? How could he do that? Well, he could do that because he was acting in love. Love seeketh not her own. So be selfless. But then also be calm. Be calm. Love seeketh not her own is not easily provoked. You know what provoked is? Provoked is like when your brother pokes you in the back, you know, trying to get a reaction from you. Love isn't easily provoked. Let me ask you this morning, was Jesus ever provoked? Or let me say it this way, did he ever respond to provocation? He did, actually. Remember the time he walked into the temple and the money changers were there? And they're making merchandise of God's temple. They're benefiting off of the people's desire to worship God. And that provoked the Lord. The Lord took and cast the money changers out of the temple, didn't he? And we can stop there and say Jesus was a man's man. Any idea that you have in your mind about Jesus being effeminate as the painters painted him back in the day or being less than a man, he's not. He's a man's man. He grew up a carpenter's son. Jesus had strength. And Jesus cast these men out of the temple. Why? Because he was provoked. But why was he provoked? He was provoked for God's glory, right? But he wasn't provoked when he was wrongly accused by the Pharisees, when he was betrayed by Judas, when he was put on trial, when he's on the cross. He wasn't easily provoked, was he? And when he was provoked, it was for God's glory. You know, how easily this morning are you provoked? What does it take to set you off? You know, what is it that just puts you over the edge? And I mean, if that happens, it's just over. No, if it's love, love isn't easily provoked. Love can take the provocation. Not a sensitive person. I think this is a direct quote of the verse. Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. That's not offense like we're looking at in the New Testament this morning. That offense leads somebody to hell. This means offense as in bothered. Nothing shall offend them. You know, how far could churches go today if people could just get along, right? And if love's there, there's not gonna be that easy disagreement where something takes place and it's just like, ah! No, if it's love, then it's, I mean, somebody could do something and it just, you know, hits the wall and hits the floor and that's it, it's over. You know, it doesn't affect, it doesn't break apart. Why? Because it's in love. No wonder how God said, you know, how beautiful, you know, for brethren to walk, to dwell together in unity. And to the disciples, love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another. And John, the beloved, focused his message of his books on love. Why? Because it's so vital to the unity of the body. And so, not easily provoked. What a blessing that'd be to our homes. What a blessing that would be to our church. Be calm. Then we see as well, if you're to act in love, be positive. Be positive. It says, thinketh no evil. Thinketh no evil. Ah, you know, something happens. Rather than putting a spin on it and thinking, oh, that's, I kinda know what that's about. The Bible says love doesn't think evil. You know, do gossips follow that rule? You can answer me this morning. Do gossips think no evil? What do gossips do? Gossips think evil, don't they? Gossips take it and they go, ah, I'm gonna think in the worst possible way is what's going on here and I'm gonna let everybody know about it. That's thinking evil. Love thinketh no evil. That means not to make assumptions that are destructive. Again, how many church fights could be solved before they even took place if people would just not think evil? Be positive. And I mean that in the right way. There's all this stuff about positive thinking. I'm not saying that. But, I'm sorry, love shouldn't make assumptions, you know, that hurt somebody. You might hear somebody say at different times, I know why they did that, right? You ever heard someone say that? Or I know how they think. They're talking about motives. Let me ask you, can they know why somebody did that? Can they know how somebody thinks? So when they say that, what are they doing? They're thinking evil. They've taken it and in their mind, they've put it to their own ideas. You know, as much as we like to think we know the heart of a person, we don't. And so if we're gonna love them, God commands us out of love to give them the benefit of the doubt. We've heard the saying, the court saying, right? Innocent until proven guilty. Until it's a fact, we're to think graciously, we're to think kindly. Again, our tabloid society violates that all the time. They're always thinking evil. But be positive. And you think about it this way, are you quick to pass judgment on somebody? Be positive. And then be sympathetic. Be sympathetic. It says in verse six, rejoiceeth not in iniquity. Because what if it's not just that potential of them having done something, but what if you realize they haven't? What if they have sinned? What if they are guilty? You know what the Bible says, love doesn't rejoice in that. Rejoice if not in iniquity. It doesn't get excited and think, ah, I knew that's what was gonna take place. If we do that, if we do get excited when somebody fails and it's just gossip to us, we're not practicing this principle of rejoicing, not iniquity, and God is displeased. Proverbs 24, 17, 18 says, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. That's the enemy. You might think, well, it doesn't matter. God's against the enemies too, but you know what? In reality, he's not. He desires them to get saved as well. And if we really love somebody, we're not gonna get excited when they fail. We're not gonna get excited when they are suffering, even from the direct chastening of God. And so be sympathetic. Have a concern for them. Be sympathetic. Then be encouraging. Rejoice not in iniquity, but rejoice in the truth. Do you get excited about victories? Katie and I have talked about this in our parenting. It's easy as parents to see the failures and to say, ah, that's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong, do right, do right, do right. But you know, there's times where we gotta get excited and say, you're doing so well. That's great. And to praise the successes, love rejoices in the truth. So be encouraging. And then be strong, be strong. It says in verse seven, that love beareth all things. Now this morning, if it's love, you can take whatever. You can take things that the world looks at and goes, oh, that's really bad. They stole the inheritance. Or they wrecked our family. He was a drunkard and so it destroyed our family. Or things that you look at and say, oh, you know, how can you love somebody like that? Love beareth all things. Love can take it and it can stand up under the intense pressure of whatever, if it's love. Beareth all things. The fourth rail bridge. is amazing. It's over a mile long. I didn't realize that until I looked at some facts about it yesterday or a couple days back. But so it's over a mile long and it's made out of 54,000 tons of steel, 20,950 cubic meters of granite, 6,780 cubic meters of stone, 49,200 cubic meters of concrete, 50 tons of cement and 7 million rivets. That's impressive, isn't it? I mean, what a work of engineering. But you know, that foundation is very important to that structure. That strength is very important to that structure. The railway bridge carried, in 1907, 30,000 passenger trains with a gross weight of 14.6 million tons. In 2000, the bridge carried 54,080 passenger trains, 6,240 freight trains with a gross weight of about 10 million tons. Why does it have to be so strong? Because it bears an enormous amount of weight. You know, this morning, if it's love, it's strong. You can't say this morning, I can't love them because of this. No, wait, if it's really love, biblical love, it bears that up, it carries it, it sustains it, it doesn't matter what they've done, it holds it up. And so love beareth all things. And then we can see, Or we can learn that if it's love, it's to be accepting. Be accepting. It says it believeth all things. Be accepting of what somebody says. They might say, well, this is why. And we might feel like, but I know your motives, but we don't. And the Bible says, be accepting, believeth all things. It's not undiscerning, but if it's a question of trust, trust is to be given. It's not a case where somebody, it's proven, it's where there's maybe circumstantial evidence, but no real evidence, and they say this, and God says, we're to believe it. Believeth all things. Circumstantial evidence. is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly without need for any additional evidence or inference. So it means that something takes place, believe it or not, I don't infer that it's necessarily this, okay? It believeth all things. It's not going to add to it. And again, a lot of people get into trouble here with some of the things I mentioned, beareth all things, because they're inferring things, and it's getting really heavy, and they're inferring, and they're inferring, and the weight's getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and they're off base. I mean, love should still sustain it, but how can it sustain things that are heaped on it that aren't just, right? But if you're believing all things, you don't have that burden because you're out of love for them, putting faith Love doesn't infer guilt when there's no concrete evidence. And then be hopeful. If it's to be loving, it should be hopeful. It says, hopeth all things. Hopeth all things. You ever, I hope you don't say this as parents, but I mean, we've all heard it, or perhaps had it happen to us as a child. Hopefully not. But somebody says, you're good for nothing. You'll never amount to anything. You know, there's no hope for you. It'll never work, you know, on another line. It'll never work. That can never be accomplished. You can't ever do that. That's not love. Love is hoping all things. You know what? You can get victory over that. You know what? You can succeed at this. You can do right. You can amount to something. Yeah, dream big because you can accomplish big things. Love hopeth all things. You know, are you hopeful in your ministry? What you're doing, is there an anticipation of, you know, God's gonna bless this. God's gonna bless my family. God's gonna get us through this. That's love. Believe with all things, hope with all things. And then, be enduring. Be enduring. It says, endureth all things. Did you hear about the gold nugget that was found about 45 miles from here? Worth 10,000 pounds? Now you have. In the Lead Hills, a fortnight ago, a man was panning for gold. You know, they got the mining place up there and he was just taking lessons on gold panning. And in his pan, there was a a piece, a yellow stone, about just over an inch in diameter, about the size of a 50 cent piece, or 50 pence piece, sorry. He took that and he's about ready to throw it back. Then he looked at it again and thought, no, I better ask the guy that I'm with that's the professional. And so he asked him, what about this? And it's the biggest gold find in Scotland in centuries, if not ever, okay? They used to call that a flash in the pan, something like that. You get a flash of gold and they're saying, you know, there might be a modern gold rush here. All these people come in because maybe 10,000 pounds value worth of gold, that's worth going to Leadhills and trying, right? We've been there. And next time we go, I'm going to be looking for Yellowstone. But if nobody else finds anything, people are just going to go back to what they're doing, right? Because there's nothing there. You know, love's not like that. Love's not a flash in the pan. Love is like a vein, a rich vein, that has continued source of wealth and value. It endures. What's your love like this morning? Is it just up and down, up and down, up and down, or does it endure where it's constant? It doesn't begin and end, it just endures. You know, if it's biblical love and it's worth all things. And that's why, lastly, you could look at what Paul says. It says, charity never failing. Never. And you think, how's that possible? Do you and I fail? We do. But you know the word for love that's being used is agape. And if this morning somebody thinks, well, I'm going to follow the love of the Bible, the Bible speaks it out. It says you're to love this way, all those ways that we just mentioned. And they think, I want to love like that. I'm going to love like that. You know what I can say this morning? They can't without God. Because that's biblical love. That's God given love. That's loving the way God loves. And we can't do it without him. But with him we can. We can succeed this morning in having that kind of love. Dr. Ironside, in his commentary on this passage, he pointed out that you can replace the word Charity with Jesus. Let me read it with that in mind, okay? Let's see how it goes. Jesus suffereth long in his kind. Jesus envieth not. Jesus vaunteth not himself, is not puffed up. Jesus doth not behave himself unseemly, seeketh not his own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Jesus never faileth. It still makes sense, doesn't it? Because that is who Jesus is, because Jesus is biblical love. This morning, in our families, we need this kind of love. In our churches, we need this kind of love. In our ministry, into the community, we seek to give the gospel, it's pointless. We're just a tingling cymbal, we're just a blaring horn. If what we're doing is not out of love for that person, we don't care for that person, don't think about that person, don't really acknowledge the fact that they are a person, we're just trying to get an agenda across. It's pointless. But if it's in love, it has value. And it needs to be in love. Now again, you'll never love like that without Jesus as your Savior. You can look at your life and say, I wish I had love like that because my love hasn't borne all things. When it came to it, my love broke down. Relationally, all these relationships broke down. Why? Because I don't have that kind of love in my life. You can't have it without Jesus. You can't. But even as believers, we can't love like we need to love without Jesus as our Lord, not just our Savior, but without exercising His love. So what does our love need to be this morning? If it's biblical love, it needs to be patient, kind, content, modest, appropriate, selfless, calm, positive, sympathetic, encouraging, strong, accepting, hopeful and enduring. And if you had that, what kind of a wife would you be? What kind of a husband would you be? What kind of a parent would you be? What kind of a brother or sister would you be? What kind of a child would you be? What kind of a neighbor would you be? Think about it. I mean, that is the ideal person to be around, isn't it? That's who you want to be around. And we can be that type of person. God can help us to be. and we need to be because we need to exercise the gifts that God's given to us in love. So may God apply his word to our hearts this morning. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this truth about love. May the spirit of God help us to be loving. Father, tons of problems in our home, tons of problems in our workplace, tons of problems in our family relationships and in our ministry, in our churches could be solved If this principle was in place, if everybody that was in that place was exercising biblical love, even those that were exercising it when others weren't would live in victory. And they would have the blessing of being that loving person. But Father, if everybody did it, everything would be right. And so, Father, help us to grow in this area of love. Remind us today, even, when we fail and we're not loving, give us grace to get it right. It's in Christ that we pray. Amen.