There never was a sweeter melody, it's the melody of love. I love the Christ who died on Calvary. Oh, he washed my sins away. He put within my heart a melody. And I know it's time to sing in my right hand. with me Amen. Please remain standing for prayer this morning. Brother James Benson, would you pray for us, please? Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house today and worship you. Bless the service. Have a good time in your house this morning. Amen. And thank you. May we see you unless you celebrate a birthday or anniversary. We'd like to recognize you at this time. and return they come and see you and return they do Well, it's good to be in the Lord's house today and to have each one of you with us. A few things from the bulletin. We've got the men's recharge happening this week. And so guys, we're looking forward to that. We'll be having a meeting following the afternoon service about going down to recharge. And so that's Friday, Saturday. If you have any questions, the meeting after the afternoon service would be a great time to ask those. There'll be a ladies dinner. on Friday night at Sombrero's at six o'clock. All ladies invited to go to that. And then we've got revival scheduled next Sunday. I don't know who put this schedule together. He's kind of crazy. But we've got Brother Harold Wells with us. It'll be Sunday through Wednesday. Looking forward to having them with us. Sunday will be regular service hours, and then Monday through Wednesday will be seven o'clock each evening. So I'd encourage you, if you haven't already been praying about that, to definitely be praying and expecting God to work in our lives. Outreach October 7th at 9 o'clock and Then continue to pray for the repair process. It's good to have Gus and Allie with us and good to see The work that they've been able to get done. We're not staring at Studs any longer and we're not having snow fall out of the ceiling So we sure praise God for the progress pray for safety You know, we don't want anyone jumping off the scaffolding or falling off the scaffolding, any of that kind of stuff, and so we should praise God for the work that's been going on. It's good to be together today, and the Lord bless you for being here. Gonna have Brother Foster come back, lead us in a song, then I'll be introducing our speaker. Sing hymn number 131, Christ is all I need. Christ is all I need. Christ is all I need. All, all I need. is all I need. Amen. Well, it's our honor to have Brother Roy with us again this year. Brother John Roy pastors in Phoenix, Arizona, and we sure appreciate the ministry that God's given him. Brother Roy, if you wouldn't mind coming, reintroduced wife. Thank you very much. All right. Well, it is good to be back with you. It's just over. Well, just shy of a year ago, we had the opportunity to be here, had a wonderful time at the men's recharge. And I do have my wife with me, Rachel, over here sitting with Kira. And then I have my son, Hayden. He is with us. We have five children. He is our second child. He is going to be turning 16 this week. We miss his birthday almost every year. We're away for the Global Independent Baptist Fellowship meeting that's taking place in St. Joe. And so we took him along this year because of 16. He's, you know. able to drive and so forth and all those different things and so grateful to have him with us as well. If you would, go ahead and take your Bibles, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, 1 Corinthians chapter number 13. I do appreciate the theme that you have this year, faithful and Pray that is your desire, and we're going to look at a verse right around that area as well in just a moment. But 1 Corinthians 13, verse 1, the Word of God says this, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. Though I bestow my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopest all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. Now, chapter 12 of this book ends with verse 31, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet shall I unto you a more excellent way. Paul is writing to this church at Corinth here, and he's trying to get the church to understand that God gives gifts to a church, gives gifts to individuals to use for the glory of God. Now he's writing to them and saying, covet the best gifts. That doesn't mean that I want to say, okay, this is the best gift in the church, the gift of preaching, the gift of singing, the gift of teaching, whatever it is. He is saying, covet the best gifts. Well, the greatest gifts a person is given is what God has given them. And so to covet the best gifts would be to covet what God would want for you and God would have for you. Now we should desire to do our best for the glory of God and for others that there always will be those though in ministry or in life that might be better at things than us. I mean, there's people that can sing really well. There's people that can preach. There's people that can just they just have a a love and outgoing spirit. I mean, God gives different individuals different gifts. But there's one gift that I believe every Christian has and needs to develop that gift. And that is the gift of charity. Now, love and charity. Now, this often chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians is often called the love chapter. And you know, there's a difference though between love and charity. They're two different concepts. Love is an intense feeling of affection for something with pleasing qualities, beauty, or worth. Okay, so I love something. You know, I come to Kansas and I love barbecue. So I went to Joe's Barbecue, first thing, in the gas station, and we were, you know, it's 11 o'clock in the morning, what's better to have at 11 o'clock in the morning than Joe's Barbecue, right? And so we went there, and I love barbecue, so we ate barbecue, and had it even since. But charity is this, benevolence to others less fortunate than ourselves. So charity is providing goods or encouragement to others and encouragement to somebody in need. So charity may need to suffer or face things it does not prefer. So you'd say, I love something, I love an individual. Well, sometimes when you love an individual, but don't show charity to an individual, when that person does something against us, then we don't love them anymore. We say, you know, people have said this, I've had people in my office, well, we've just fallen out of love for each other. Well, charity and love are two different concepts, because love often is, well, I love something, and the next time, I don't love something. Well, charity is loving at all times. Charity may need to suffer or face things that it does not prefer, but it does rejoice in the truth to benefit others. Now, look back with me at chapter one of 1 Corinthians, and notice what the word of God says in verse number seven. 1 Corinthians 1... Sorry, that's not the verse I want. Okay, that's not the verse I want down. I wrote it down last night and I was reading a different verse. Here it is, verse 1. Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God to Sothenus our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints with all that are in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ both heirs and ours. Grace be to you and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ and from the and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as a testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he's saying in verse number seven, so that you come behind in no gift. So he's saying that the church at Corinth was a very gifted people. Okay, so there was nobody that he knew of that was more gifted than the church at Corinth. They were gifted, and Paul gave them that. And Paul said, it's by the grace of God that you're gifted. Now, they were greatly blessed in many areas. They were not lacking in gifts. I mean, they had the abilities to know things that others did not know and do things that others could not do, but they had fallen in love with their gifts. And gifts does not equal godly. Okay, gifts, just because a person has a lot of gifts in ministry or in life doesn't necessarily mean they're godly. What is true Christianity? True Christianity in this passage of scripture is really defined for us. One writer said it like this, the acid test of genuine Christianity is not language, but love or charity. I remember when I worked at a jewelry store growing up I started working there when I was 15 and I started working with jewelry and different people would bring jewelry in to sell or say okay I want to find out if this is real it might have had a 14k stamped on it but anybody could do that and so we would have a test kit to test if that was real. And so you would scratch a little piece off and put a chemical on it and the reaction would tell you if it's real, if it's solid, if it's bladed, and so forth. And so the acid test of that would tell it if it was real. I mean, think about that. If someone was to scrape away the outside of our gifts, If somebody was to scrape away the outside of our looks, what would they see in our life that is real, that is genuine? You see, the word charity here is agape love. Agape love is very clear. It's clear in the sense that this, that Jesus Christ loves us, right? That is agape love. It's a clear love. It was a love that Jesus Christ, or God had for sinners, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So that is a giving love, a sacrificial love. That's what he's talking about here. Charity is that kind of love. Now, it's clear, it's commanded, but it's also challenging in our life. Because oftentimes we are commanded to love, we are commanded to be charitable, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Because times call for the different things in our life and we're saying, hey, this person hasn't treated me well, how can I respond to that? Well, sometimes it's not as easy as it sounds to respond right to somebody who's done wrong to you, right? So it's not gonna be easy to do, but it's loving as God loves. So when Paul tells him in chapter 12 to covet the best gifts, he says in verse number one of chapter 13, though I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I'm become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. So what is he saying here? He's saying this. If I have this great knowledge, if I have this great tongue to speak, and though I have all knowledge, he says, I'm become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. He's a bunch of noise. You're making a bunch of noise, but it doesn't have an effect on anything. Years ago there was a commercial, and it was a commercial about a Tide pin. And a Tide pin, anybody know what I'm talking about? A Tide pin would be if you got a spot on your shirt or whatever. So this man, I believe the setting is, it's an old commercial, the setting is this man goes in for an interview at an office, and he's trying to be interviewed for a job, and he's got this spot on his shirt. And every time this man answers a question, the guy that's listening to it, he sees the spot on the shirt and it's like bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, ble trying to explain something and he can't explain it or he can't say it because the person is just focused on the stain on his shirt. It's kind of like when you talk to somebody and they got something in their teeth or whatever, you're like, should I tell them? I don't know if I should tell them. Should I let them know? I mean, and you don't even know what they're saying because they got a big piece of broccoli in their teeth. And then you're like, why didn't you tell me I had some broccoli in my teeth? You know what I'm talking about? I mean, that's kind of like the thought here. Here's a person that says, I'm a Christian. I'm saved, I'm on my way to heaven, I love God, and we can say all of those things, but if it doesn't show in our lives, the Bible says yours become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. You make a lot of noise, but somebody doesn't see it for real. Somebody doesn't experience it in your life. And so Paul is saying, Church at Corinth, you have a lot of gifts. You've been given a lot of abilities in your life, but you make a lot of noise, but you don't make a lot of sense. See, The first three verses here, he talks about genuine Christianity. He says, though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and though I have knowledge that I have all faith so I could remove mountains, and though I have and have not charity, I am nothing. You see, there's a difference between what you say you are and what you are. And Paul is saying to this church, you're not going to be an effective church just by what you say. You're going to be an effective church by what you do and how you respond. And people need to see a church or a people that is full of charity, full of compassion, full of love, finding somebody who's unlovable and loving them. Finding somebody who doesn't have the abilities that you have, but trying to encourage them in the things of the Lord. You see, Paul had to come a long way with this. You see, Paul didn't have time for people who, at one point in his ministry and in his life, he didn't have time for people who fell by the wayside or messed up. Remember when the contention in Acts chapter 15, I believe it was, that Paul and Barnabas, there was contention between them because Barnabas wants to bring John Mark with him, and Paul says, I don't want to bring him with me, because he left us before. I don't have time for that. Now, Barnabas could have said something like this. Hey, Paul, remember, nobody wanted you in Acts chapter 9, but I took you. You see, Barnabas was an encourager. Barnabas was the one that was trying to strengthen somebody. And so the Bible says the contention was so sharp with them that Paul went his way with Paul and Silas. You read about them in Acts chapter 16. And Barnabas and John Mark go the other way. Now, Paul had to come a long way in his ministry and in his life because Paul was not always easy to get along with. You see, Paul was so sold out, like, hey, when my life was changed on the road to Damascus, I don't have time for people who are going to be babies in the Christian walk. I want to just get going. His zeal was great, but also he had contention at times. So Paul had grown a lot by this time. See, a writer said this, You can take nothing greater to the heathen world, says Drummond, than the impress and reflection of the love of God upon your own character. That is the universal language. It will take you years to speak in Chinese or in the dialects of India. From the day you land, that language of love, understood by all, will be pouring forth its unconscious eloquence. It is the man who is the missionary, it is not his words. His character is his message. In other words, the writer is saying this, you may be called to a mission field, you may be called to do something great for the cause of Christ, and you may not understand language, you may not understand culture, but I will say this, everybody understands the language of love. Everybody understands the language of compassion and caring for individuals. So I want us to just take a moment. We don't have long to go all through all of these, but I want us to take a moment through this list of different truths that we need to have in our lives, and let's see the nature of charity. So if I'm going to be a Christian that is being what I should be and not just say what I'm supposed to be, but what is the nature of my life and what should it be? Well, first of all, he says here, charity suffereth long. Now, the quality exhibited here is patience. Love or charity understands and therefore it waits. Suffereth long. Long suffering is more than patience, though. It's self-restraint when faced with problems. It doesn't retaliate. So it's not like, hey, I'm going to get this person back. Usually, it was kind of like that way. I grew up in a big family. I have six brothers and four sisters. So when a brother would smack me, I'd turn around and smack him back. I didn't have any long suffering. I just, hey, you hit me, I hit you back. We get even. But the mentality of us Christians sometimes is that's the way it is. Well, did you hear what that person said about me? Well, I got to turn around and say something about them. And we don't have any long-suffering in our lives. So he says, charity suffereth long, it doesn't retaliate. I want you to think about this for a moment. What's a good example in the word of God that we can say somebody doesn't retaliate when faced with problems? Well, I think of David and Saul. Saul was the Lord's anointed, right? I mean, David, at one point, or more than one point, had an opportunity to take Saul's life. I mean, he had every right, in the sense, even the men, hey, God hath put Saul in this cave, and he knows that you're there, so now you have a chance. God's the one that put this orchestrated together so you can take him out. And even just cutting the skirt, of Saul, it smote David in his heart, that he had lifted up his hand against the Lord's anointed. And so here's David, and David had to learn some suffering long. Saul tried to kill David. When you look at it, do a study, over 20 times one way or another. Now, if somebody tried to kill you 20 times one way or another, that'd be kind of hard to be long-suffering, don't you think? David didn't hit back. He did not retaliate. David waited for God's time. You know, as a pastor, and I know this is the way in a lot of churches, I know as a pastor in Phoenix, here's what you're dealing with. You're dealing a lot of times with people that, well, they said this, or they did this, or this problem came about in the church, and it's two people going against each other because somebody in the group is not long-suffering. Somebody's not patient and working along with others. You see, David waited for God's time. When you look up this long-suffering or suffereth long, in the Strong's it means this, with long-enduring temper. That you don't just automatically lash out when somebody says something or does something. So then he gives us another truth here. Charity suffereth long and is kind. Well, what does the word kind mean? Well, I open the door for people, that's kind. I help somebody to the car with something, that's kind. Well, what does this mean? It means to show oneself useful or to act benevolently. to show sympathy. Kindness is not waiting, it is eagerness to be in action. How can I show my kindness to someone? So in the first truth he gave us, charity suffereth long, is saying, how do I withhold my temper when somebody does me wrong? How do I withhold that feeling in my heart? It's holding back. Kindness is stepping up. So the first one, you're kind of saying, I don't want to cause any ripples, and so I'm going to let God take care of it. Because God knows better than I do, and God can take better care of it than I can. But this is showing kindness. So somebody has done you wrong. To show true charity is how can I respond in kindness to that person? I'll just tell you this. The first time somebody does something against me, that's not my first reaction normally. How can I show kindness to them? Well, that person, they were talking behind my back. They lied about me. Well, how could I show kindness to them? I'm going to take them out to eat. No, I want to take them out in the backyard and do something else. No, you see, charity suffereth long and is kind. Doesn't sound like what the world would put in view, right? Doesn't sound like how man would normally respond. Well, when you think about that, think about Jesus. He was kind, compassionate, helping to others. Barnes said it like this. The Word denotes to be good-natured, gentle, tender, affectionate. It's an action that's not harsh or sour. So you find somebody that has said something about you, or somebody's done something. Maybe you have an unruly neighbor, and you're sitting there, and that neighbor is just, they're always on you about something. They're always doing something against you. Whatever it is, how do you repay that person? Do you repay them with, I got them back, or do you repay them in kindness? So charity suffereth long and is kind. Now, this is genuine Christianity. This is Christianity. Well, what is a Christian? Well, a Christian is somebody who believes in God. No, a Christian is somebody that is trying their best to follow the example of Christ. Christ, yon, Christian. I'm a Christian, and so I want that in my life. So charity suffereth long and is kind. Then it says another thing here. Charity envieth not. Well, what does this mean? means to have a warmth of feeling for or against, to be jealous over. Well, wait, wait, wait. I'm supposed to be jealous? What someone has or how someone is treated? Charity envieth not. No, it's envieth not. What someone has, how someone's treated you, the praise or position somebody gets. Love does not envy the other person's happiness they enjoy. When you think about that, you know, it's hard. Sometimes there's in ministry or in life, in church, well, they're doing that just for show. They're doing that for... I know exactly, I know who they are. It's easy to look at somebody and try to manufacture motives, is it not? Towards another individual. And so, charity envieth not. It's saying, I'm not gonna worry about them, I'm not gonna envy the praise they get. Charity delights in their welfare. Now, we usually do not envy others' success if we're not trying to be what they have or what they are. You see, when I look at somebody and I see drywall and do drywall work and stuff, I like to work with my hands. One of the things I'm not real great at, I can build stuff a lot of times and different things like that, but one thing that I'm not good at is drywall, probably because I don't do it very often. And I just, you know, you put some mud on, you put some more mud on, you put some more mud on, and, you know, it just doesn't work too well. And so I'm like, something's going wrong here. And I see somebody else do it, and I think, man, it looks so easy. And I know practice makes perfect and so forth. But you see, if I was building something, though, or I was somebody in the same category, then somebody else makes something, and I make something, and somebody else likes theirs better. I'm not supposed to envy that person. I'm supposed to praise right along with everybody else. They did a great job. They do something great. But usually, we don't have a problem with somebody who's not on the same praise level. You see what I mean? If somebody sings well, you're not sitting there going, yeah, they're all about themselves if you don't sing well. See, here's the competition when it comes in Christianity sometimes. In ministry or in life, it's easy for things to become a competition. You have competition with how people dress, competition, what kind of food you make. I mean, I love get-togethers. I love potlucks and stuff at the church, but it's usually, here's what I get. Pastor, you gotta try this. Oh, you have to try this. This is the best. Okay, I'll try some of that. No, no, no, no, you gotta try this one. I made this one. It is the best. And I'm not saying they're doing it for competition, but man, by the time my plate is like this, because I have to try everybody's special dish. You see, because sometimes in life, though, we can make anything a competition. Competition and charity will not go hand in hand. We're not in a competition with each other in church. I'm not in a competition to have better kids. I'm not in a competition to have smarter kids. I'm not in a competition to have more money. I'm not in a competition in life. I mean, my goal is to please my Savior. It's not to be above somebody else. It's not to have a nicer car. It's not to have a bigger house. It's not to have more money. That is not my competition. My goal as a Christian should be to please my Heavenly Father. So then it says here, Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself. Now, vaunteth. How many people use that word? I vaunteth not myselfeth. No, we don't use this. So what does the word mean? Well, Phillips said it like this. A person who vaunts themselves parades his own imagined superiority. parades his own imagined superiority. Simply put, a braggart. A person that is boastful. A person that likes to show off and draw attention to themselves. Many problems that can happen in our Christian lives is when there's more than one going against each other. Like I said, the competition comes in. Love and charity is not like that. You see, if someone does that on earth, they do it for praise, that's their reward, the Word of God says. So if they're doing something, if somebody is up there singing, if somebody's making something beautiful and they're doing it and say, look at what I've accomplished, that's their reward. A person that is just charitable and loving, they'll say, hey, I'm not in this for me. I'm not gonna be bragging about it. Then he says here, another one, he says, Charity vaunteth not itself is not puffed up. Well, that sounds kind of like not be a braggart. Well, it means to be inflated or to make proud. You see, here's a person that you see the progression here when a person is not vaunting himself, is not puffed up. It's like, I'm going to brag about what I do so that I can puff myself up about what I've done. You see, a person that is like that is not being charitable, not being genuine in their Christian life. This person is one who's exaggerated, has an exaggerated idea of the importance of himself or herself. But charity is not like that because charity is humble. I like what one writer said about this. Love comes out of the shade to do its kind deed and retires back into the shade again. Love comes out of the shade to do its kind deed, then retreats back into the shade again. It's like, I'm not doing this for show. I'm not doing this for anyone else. I'm not doing this so people will recognize how much that I do in church. I'm willing to just come out and do something good for somebody and then hide behind the shadows. There was a man that I, Just loved in our church. His name was John Boley and he was a very handy man And he you know, his wife had some health issues and his family, you know different situation So he really could only come usually to church on a Sunday morning Do you know John John Boley was there every? Tuesday and every Thursday sometimes more and He would be there every day early morning four o'clock in the morning. He only used electric tools on to cut all the grass, he took care of all the grounds of all the church property. You know, we're talking acres of property, and of course, you have a lot of grass and little things. And you know, not one time did he want any recognition for it. He did it when nobody was looking. He did it, and everybody said, oh, the properties are always so nice and clean, because he wanted it just perfect. And he didn't do it for himself. And almost everybody says, who does your landscaping here? They wanted to know who the company was. I mean, here he is taking pride in his church, but not for himself. He was willing to come out and do a deed for somebody and do a deed for something and then just hide back in the shadows. Still remember, had the opportunity to do his funeral. And I talked about what kind of man John Boley was. And a lot of people were like, I didn't even know he did all of that. You want to know why? Because he didn't do it for the praise. He did it for his Savior. John Boley didn't sing. He didn't preach. He didn't teach Sunday school class. All he did was just say this, God, you've given me the ability to do some things, and I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. And that's what a Christian does. They don't do it for praise. They do it for God. Barnes said it like this, a man may be very proud and vain and not express it in the form of boasting. I mean, here's a person that can be proud and vain and they may not do it. They just, they kind of boast up and they kind of puff themselves up. But he says, is not puffed up. Then quickly, look at what he says here. Doth not behave itself unseemly. Now what does this mean? It means to conduct improperly or disgracefully or in a manner to deserve reproach. Charity never acts out of its place or character. It's never rude, bearish, or brutish. Paul said it like this in 1 Corinthians 9. To the weak became as I weak that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some. You know what Paul was saying? He didn't have to boast about what he had done and what he accomplished and who he was for the cause of Christ. He said, I am weak as to the weak. I am become all things that I might win some. So he says, charity suffers long, doth not behave itself unseemly, Then he ends with, well, we're going to end with, seeketh not her own. See, in the previous here where it says, doth not behave itself unseemly, love knows how to behave as a gentleman or a lady, not artificially, but genuinely. But here's the last thought. Seeketh not her own. Love and charity is not selfish. Love does not pursue its own interests. You know, that's sometimes very hard. Because oftentimes, I think about me, myself, and I. And it's easy to do so. Charity does not insist in having its own way. Well, I want it this way. I think it should be this way. Barnes said it like this, there is perhaps not a more striking or important expression in the New Testament than this, or one that is more beautiful, sets forth the nature and power of that love, which is produced by true religion. Its evident meaning is that it's not selfish. It does not seek its own happiness exclusively or mainly. It does not seek its own happiness to the injury of others. You see, I want others to be praised. I want others to be put up on a pedestal. I don't want to have the limelight. I want to be the one in the background. That's the kind of, not behave itself unseemly, seek it not her own, is not easily provoked. All of these truths are in the word of God for our learning. You see, we don't have to live life unhappily. Joy will come when we think of someone else other than ourselves. And I think about the greatest example of this I would think about is, remember Abraham and Lot? Abraham in the Bible had been given all sorts of land and God had given him promises and great things and God had blessed Abraham and Lot so much that they had so much that they're fighting over their What you say their servants were fighting over land because it was I mean they had been so blessed They had too much and it was getting tight for them And so Abraham comes to him and he says, okay, this is all my land, and I'm going to choose what land I want, and then you can go to the other one because I should get the best. Is that what he did? You know what Abraham said? God had given it all to him. And Abraham said, you choose what you want, and I'll go the other way. Wait, wait. But God gave it all to Abraham. And Abraham said this, you choose what you want, and I'll take what's left. That would be a different attitude than most of us would have. It would be the mindset of, well, I worked hard for this. I'm the one that should deserve this. And no, the Bible says, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own. This isn't about me. This is about building a kingdom for God. And I don't care if I get the praise or not. I don't need accolades. I'm just going to serve God. I'm going to be a genuine Christian and love God, love people, show compassion, and not let the things of this life, well, they said something. They did this. Doesn't matter because I'm not here for them. I'm here to serve God. That is a genuine, true Christian, and that's what we should desire in our lives. Drummond said this, to close. There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Half the world is on the wrong scent of pursuit of happiness. They think it consists in having and getting, and in being served by others. You know, that's our world today, is it not? It's all about me. What can you do for me? You serve me. But in reality, a Christian, to enjoy the blessings of God, you serve, you don't be served. Let's ask the Lord to bless the Word. Lord, I thank You so much for the truth of the Word of God. Thank You for the attention this morning. Lord, I do pray that You would help us to take these truths and be reminded of them once again. Lord, I think of this church that was so gifted in their life, Gifts do not mean godliness. And so I pray that we would take what we've learned this morning, apply it to our heart and life. Bless the next hour as well. And we'll just thank you for it. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.