If you have your Bible, you might want to turn to Romans 151 through 6 as we continue with our study in the book of Romans. And I don't know what we're going to study after we finish Romans, but I can see the light, but I'll tell you some. So don't write me letters. We're not going to study the book of Revelation. We're not going to study Daniel. Go buy a comment here. Listen, I've found everybody just studying regular books. If I start teaching those, then everybody's going to be mad at me. And I'm a nice, lovable person and dog on it, people like me. So it turned to Romans 151 through 6 before we turn to that text. Let's go before the throne. Father, you're so kind and you're so good and we're overwhelmed. We don't understand your love. We would understand your anger and your judgment. We would understand your wrath, but that you would love us, that you would hug us, that you would hold us, that you would promise to get us home. We're overwhelmed. Father, we know it's not because of us. We know it's because of Jesus. We know it's because he died on a cross in our place and that his righteousness has been imputed to us and that we are now your child and your property, properly paid for. Father, we come before you knowing that we're not home yet and it hurts sometimes, though, and sometimes we find the tears welling up in our eyes, our heart beating, our mind groping for answers to our deepest questions. Father, if our pain causes us to stay closer to you, Father, may we continue in the pain. But even saying that, Father, makes us frightened because our boat is so small and the ocean is so big and so we come before you not understanding always. But trusting you and asking that you would teach us to trust you more. We praise you and worship you for all that you are and all that you've given. We ask forgiveness for our sins. Father, we ask forgiveness for the times we fail, the times we've been disobedient and we're thankful that we're better than we were. And now, Father, as we study your word, we pray for the one who teaches. As always, Father, forgive him his sins. Father, you're been able to see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, for you, before we turn to Romans 15, 1-6, let's review last week Romans 14, 14-23, incidentally. If you'd like to receive the tapes, the same ones we send to the radio station, you can do that with the subscription basis. And if you'll call 1-800 key life, between 9 and 5, Monday through Friday, Eastern Standard Time, we'll tell you how you can do that. A lot of guys have called us about that and they send tapes to college students so they can use them as their devotional time, or they use them for a devotional time. Or they just catch up on the book of Romans or study through the book of Romans. But if you'd like to know how to receive the subscription for the regular tapes that go to the radio, I wish we could give these for you, but we can't. So if you'll just give us a call, we'll tell you how you can do that. Now, if you were listening last week, you know that we went down three side roads. We noted Paul's emphasis on perception as well as reality, verse 16. In other words, don't just be good, appear to be good. The importance of good public relations, verse 18, we're not called to go out and offend the world. That's not our calling. Jesus is sometimes bringing offense to vegans. But we got to let Jesus do that. We shouldn't do that. Then Paul sees the other fellow's point of view in 1 through 13. He sees one side, and then 14 through 23 sees an other side. And we need to do that as Christians. We need to look at the other person's point of view. Then we saw five reminders that fall under the rubric of love. Paul reminds the Christians at Rome about their freedom, verse 14. Their priority, verse 17, their responsibility, verse 15 and 21. One, their model, one, and 15, and their conviction, verses 22 through 23. Now, are you ready, sportsman? Romans 15, one through six. And then who are strong, then we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak. And not to please ourselves, let each of us please his neighbor, for he is good, leading to edification, for even Christ did not please himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. For whatever things were written before, were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may, with one mind and one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I have a bunch of side roads or sidenotes, before we get to the main thrust of the text. In fact, I have more side roads than I do main points. Now that doesn't mean this is less Bible teaching. These are just things you ought to know from the Bible, that don't fit under the main thrust of the text. So let's look at some of those side observation number one. Note if you will, the importance of the Bible, Romans 15, for whatever things were written before, were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. You know what I like doing almost more than anything else in the world. What I'm doing right now, I love to study the Bible. Now I don't study the Bible to know more. I study the Bible to love Him more because He wrote it. When I first met Anna, it was in college and I was the president of student government. Now I was no big deal. There were only three of us and one of us had to be present. I was welcoming the incoming freshman class at the small college, a junior college, and I saw Anna sitting in the third row back and I determined that I was going to find out who she was and something about her. So I found her roommate who was a friend of mine and I said, tell me everything about Anna. And I found out when she was born, I found out about her hometown, what she liked, where she'd gone to school, about her parents, that she was a musician, what her major was, and then that evening at dinner. And I was very swabby and deboner. I mean, I went up to her and I introduced myself and she told me her name and I already knew that. Then I told her everything about her and then I smiled and invited her to go out with me. Now I don't know if she was impressed with that, but she should have been, because I worked very hard on that. The point is this, I didn't learn all of that stuff just to know it. I learned all of that stuff to know her. That's the same way with the Bible. It's God's book. And it says a lot better. I read it because it is from him. I want to not know more. I want to know him better and to love him more. Noah Paul said. Paul says the Bible was written for our learning. The Bible was written to make us patient. The Bible was written that we might be comforted and the Bible was written that we might have hope. I don't see anything there saying that the Bible was written so we could win arguments with our brothers and sisters in Christ or so we could beat pagans over the head with it so we could show off how many verses we know or so that we could impress a professor someplace. Let's look at Paul's list because it's an interesting list. The Bible was written for our learning. It's the owner's manual and if you want to know about the world and have a live in it read the Bible. You hear about the man who ordered plans for a bird house and got plans for a boat instead. He wrote the company to complain and they wrote back sending them the plans for the bird house and they said however it could be worse. Think of the man who is trying to go fishing in your bird house. The Bible gives us plans and their plans for the way we were born and why we were created. The reason pagans are running from one thing to another from a brothel to a bar is because they are looking for who they are. We already know because we've been given the truth. And then Paul says the Bible was written to give us patience. I'm not a patient person. Gert Bahanna used to say she wasn't patient about anything whenever she planted roses. She kept pulling them up to see if they were still growing. I want what I want the moment I wanted but when I read the Bible I see the big picture. I see that God works in the process and I see that one can't understand the process until it's over. I learned that all things fit into the process and that I have to accept and live with the circumstances that God has ordained for me because it is in those circumstances that he is working his will and his will is good. Paul says the Bible was written to give us comfort. I've been looking back over the last three years. Well a little bit longer than that and they had been a lot of fun. It started with the marriage of both of our daughters within a three-year month period. And we have wonderful sons-in-laws. But in those days I was sure that all men were guerrillas and I wasn't that happy with it. I've got one son-in-law as a composer and another who was a doctor and they both love Jesus and they love our daughters. And I don't think of them as guerrillas anymore. But I did then so that was not a wonderful time. And then there was a hurricane and then there was the death of my mother and then the contractor stole all the money and all that stuff. And God has been so good. But let me tell you what happened. I was speaking at the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove not too long ago and that's a wonderful place. You ought to check it out. It's near Aswell and in the mountains 1500 acres of some of the pretty stuff you've ever seen and they have wonderful conferences there. You ought to find out the phone number. I don't know what it is and give them a call. But you know for the first time in three years a little over that since my mother died. I went back to the house where I grew up and the house where she died, where we lived. And it was a little bit painful. Then I went over to the graveyard, the cemetery where she's buried and where my kid brother is buried and where my father was buried. And I know you're saying, what'd you do that for? They're not there. They're with Jesus. I know that. But it was sort of, I don't know, sort of, I don't know. I just went. But let me tell you, when I was there the scripture discletted my mind. Let not your heart be troubled. Don't let it be afraid. And my father's house are many mansions and if it were not so I would have fooled you. I go to prepare a place for you. The Bible reminds me that I'm not home yet. The Bible reminds me that I can trust God but those that I love who have gone on before me. The Bible reminds me that God loves me, that I'm free, that I'm forgiven, that God isn't mad at me. And then the Bible says, Paul says that the Bible gives us hope. History is moving in God's direction and you can hang your hat on that and Jesus is going to come back. And no matter how bad it looks right now, no matter how much it looks like the pagans are winning over the Christians, the lions tend to Christian zero. No matter how bad it looks, in the end, in the end, you'll blow the whistle on this shooting match. And Jesus will return with his legions and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. Some unwillingly but they'll know the truth and it'll be too late but not for us because history is moving in his direction. The Bible tells me so. And that's enough. Now let me give you another side observation. Note the amount of material Paul devoted to the unity of believers. All of the 14th chapter and much of the 15th chapter is devoted to our unity and love as well as various other texts throughout the Book of Romans and indeed the entirety of Paul's letters and the New Testament. Are you getting anything tired of all this teaching on unity and love and stuff? And you want some doctrine about God. Let me do something. The reason I teach all this stuff on unity and love and responsibility for each other is because God keeps bringing it up. That has been the major subject for the last three weeks on King life. I remember when I first started teaching the Bible. I started in the Gospel of John and I had just gotten committed to Bible as my authority and I didn't know anything about the Bible. I stood in the pulpit and read a verse and told them what I thought it meant and we almost had a revival. I'd read another verse and tell them what I thought it meant and by the fifth chapter of John, I knocked down by my desk and I said, Lord, I know you told me to do this. But I told them all I know and not only that you keep repeating yourself and he said in Hebrew, of course, keep on trucking. The Bible keeps repeating itself. Let me give you a principle. Some of the importance of Bible doctrine can be gazed by how often God repeats himself on that particular subject. That's called hermeneutics. Some of the importance of the Bible doctrines that are taught in the Bible can be gazed by how often God repeats himself on that particular subject. For instance, Moses said, in referring to marriage, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother in cleave under his wife and the two shall become one. That's true. And then Jesus said it again, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother in cleave under his wife and the two shall become one. And that made it doubly important and Paul said it for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother in cleave under his wife, the two shall become one. Now is that important? Well, I would say it is given the fact that God repeats. It's three times and Jesus, Moses and Paul, that's pretty good authority. Did I tell you what my mother said about church discipline? We were watching television and somebody was suing their church because I think they had done some bad in the church and kicked them out. So they sued the church for making it public. And my mother said, and we loved each other. We didn't agree on a whole lot politically or another. We both loved Jesus. And she taught me to love Jesus. And she was going, I said, what's wrong? And she said, that's not right, they shouldn't be doing that. And I said, mother, it's in the Bible. She said, no, it's not. And I said, yes, it is. In fact, one of the signs, one of the signs of a true church is church discipline. She said, well, it's not there. And I said, mother, I'm a Bible teacher. I know it's there. And she said, well, if it's there, it's not there much. Well, I went back to my room, got out my Bible, the very big black one that makes me feel spiritual. And she began to look up the verses on church discipline. You know something, it's not there very much. So I said, mother, the next morning, mother, it's there. But you're right, it's not there very much. You know, you can gauge how important something is to God. By looking at how often he repeats it. Well, here we have one of the major themes of the entire Bible. It's the unity of believers and the love we should have for one another. God keeps saying it over and over and over again, and we keep finding it. We keep fighting with one another. A bishop in Washington said, right before the Jesus rally a number of years ago, I was at a luncheon for the people that had put that thing together. If you Christians ever get over your fear, you're going to be dangerous when we were trying. But let me tell you something even more true. If we Christians ever learn to love each other, we're going to build a spiritual fire big enough, a boil, paganism, derags. No, we're too busy fighting with one another. And enough of that. The observation of the three, note Paul's reference to God's methodology of salvation. Romans 15, 3, for even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. Now let's quote from Psalm 69-10, and I'm not an evangelist, but when the text warrants it, I feel the necessity to make reference to it. If you started listening, but you're not a Christian, let me say something to you, you're a sinner. I know. Me too, so I'm not, you know, I'm not just throwing rocks at you. You know something else, Jesus loves sinners, and he died for you if you'll go to him. Go to him, he'll accept you and he won't be mad, and he'll give you eternal life, and you'll forgive him, and you'll do it right now. As I said, I'm not an evangelist, and I don't do this to beg for Jesus, but if you're not a Christian, do business with him. It's the most important thing you can do, the most important decision you can make in your life. And all you've got to do is just say, Jesus, I heard a guy that talked funny, said that you would love me if I came to you, and I don't know why you'd love me, but I understand you died on a cross in my place, and I'd like that to be a reality in my life, and that's all you've got to do. You say, come on, is it? That's simple, yeah, that's really, that's simple. And if you do that, then that makes you a part of the family of God, because God never lies. So do it, and if you do it, drop me a note, I got some stuff I like to send you. During the halftime a number of years ago when the American hockey team beat the Russian team, it was a surprise to everybody. I mean, the Russians were the hunches of a hockey world, and the coach of the American team said to the players, just as they went back on the ice and halftime, gentlemen, you were born to play this game. Well, you were born, if you hear it, to play this game. You were born to be his, it is no accident that you're listening to me right now. Just go to him, he'll love you. You'll say, how do I do that? Just do it with a prayer. Say, I heard a guy say, if I came to you, you'd love me because of Jesus and what he did on the crumbs. Now, side observation number four, note Paul's use of the word neighbor as opposed to brother. Romans 15 to let each of us please his neighbor. Now, in this context, Paul is, of course, talking about our pleasing each other within the family of God, but it's interesting here that Paul uses the word neighbor, and that's not used by accident. Normally, in the New Testament, when the text refers to family members, the words brother, our brethren, our brotherhood, our brothers and sisters are used. But when the New Testament is talking about those circles that include us, but go outside of us to Joe Pagan and James Hennig, the word used is neighbor. You'll remember in Luke 10, Jesus tells a story about a good Samaritan, that whole story or parable was given in response to the question, who is my neighbor? People remember that Samaritan's had nothing to do with Jews, and there was this Jew who was making a journey. He was accosted and robbed on the way and left the die. And some religious folks came along and walked away, and this Samaritan guy came along, bound up his wounds, took him to a hospital, paid his bill, and the man who had been beaten and robbed from was a Jew, and the man who helped him was a Samaritan, and the neighbor didn't get along very good. And then Jesus said, who do you think was the neighbor? Obviously, the Samaritan was the neighbor. I heard a great sermon once on that parable. I was a member who preached it. It was an African-American preacher, and it was so good. He just had four points, and he said, well, three points. He said there were three philosophies involved in that parable. The themes philosophy was what yours is mine, and I'll take it if I want it. And the religious folks philosophy was what's mine is mine, and if you need it, you can't have it. And the Samaritan's philosophy was what's mine is yours, and you can have it if you need it. What does it mean to say you can have it if you need it? It means to be a good neighbor. With everybody, it means living your life with an open hand instead of a clinched fist. It means caring for others, even if they aren't Christians. It means being the kind of person who reflects the love of Christ. S.I.M. used to be a Sudan interior mission. Now it's S.I.M. international, I think. It's one of the greatest mission agencies in the world. And you know they're making some absolutely wonderful inroads in Africa with Islamic folks. You know why? Because when there's a famine, the Muslims feed the Muslims. But when there's a famine, and the Christians are involved, they feed everybody. Paul says, let each of us please our neighbor, and that means everybody, not just Christians. I'm declaring that today is please a pagan day. Go do something nice for somebody who doesn't know Jesus. And don't tell her him or her about Jesus unless he or she asks, you'll be surprised at how God will honor that. Don't work side observation before we get to the main thrust. Please note the nature of God, Romans 15-5, now made the God of anger and wrath and judgment. That doesn't say that. Romans 15-5 now made the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another. You know what I do for a living? I tell people that God isn't mad at them if they go to Him. Mainly I say to Christians, God's not mad at you, but I say that to those who don't know Christ too. Who think if they go to God, God's going to destroy them. If you go to Him, He won't be mad at you. Most Christians really do think that God is mad at them, and I found that. I think that sometimes myself, he isn't. Fritz Smith told me when some woman told him Fred, if God knew me, he wouldn't love me. Isn't that something? Listen, the good news of the gospel is that God lights you, and he knows all about you. One time Luther was asked after he had presented the gospel, Dr. Luther, do you mean that we can do nothing for our salvation? We contribute nothing, and Luther replied, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply, that we contribute nothing, of course, we contribute something to our salvation. We contribute our sin and our resistance. That means that if you go to Him, that He won't be angry at you. Now God isn't what you think He is. God's still God, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways, as the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God's not leaving God, He's not the man upstairs. He's God. He's been afraid instead before God, you've never stood before God, but I'll tell you something else. He's more than that. Paul says He's the God of patience and the God of comfort. You go to Him. When I was a pastor, I had a discretionary fund, when somebody was in need, I'd give them money. The elders took the check, because he because I'm easily conned, but that's another story. At any rate, a beggar in Miami came in and told me a story. His child had polio, and he had a little girl who wanted to get an operation, so she could run and play with the other children. His mother was dying of cancer, and he had these sores, and he needed medical attention greatly, and wanted to catch a bus back home. Can I give him a few dollars, so you get back home, of course, I said, and gave him a check for $15. Now I know now that he didn't do with that money, what he said he was going to do, but that was his problem, not mine. Let me tell you what he did do. He went out and told every beggar in South Florida, hey, I found the soft touch over at that Presbyterian church all you've got to do is ask him, you'll give him money, and then they started lining up. I mean, I met every beggar and every homeless person in Miami, and a few from California, in Arizona. I mean, they have an unbelievable network, and some from Russia showed up in my doorstep, and that's when they took the checkbook away from me. That's what I'm doing on my network here. Hey, I know a man who will love you if you'll go to him. I'm a beggar, and I found out some stuff, and I'm going to tell other beggars if you'll go to him, he'll give you bread, and that's the only qualification you have to have for getting bread from him is just to be hungry. Once again, note what God says about God. God of patience and comfort, he's not mad at you, try to remember that. Now let's turn to the main thrust, and that's our responsibility for one another. I know we've said a lot about it, and Paul says a lot about it, and we're following what Paul does. We have a responsibility for each other. Some of you folks who are on our tape ministry will receive the tapes, or just now getting over just recently over the book of Job. I mean, we taught that book for about 1800 years. I used to get letters every week saying, when are you going to finish with Job? I'm sort of getting tired of Job, and I'd always write back and say, you ought to try to teach it. If I'd done it, it was going to be this long, I wouldn't have even started it. And I suspect some of you sort of feel this way. Steve, all you've talked about is responsibilities for one another, about unity and love. But this isn't important text. Let me show you some things that are important about that text. First, I want you to note the fact of the weakness in the body of Christ, Romans 51, and then we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak. What do you mean a weak? Aren't we people? Once you become a Christian, you become strong. Once you become a Christian, everything's fine. Isn't that right? No. That's not right. A lot of weak folks around. And I'm one of them sometimes. Some smokey Smith is a friend of mine who used to be the chief hauntow for campus crusade for Christ national high school ministry. Smokey went to seminary and he's now a pastor. He was a friend and I asked him, I said, what's the difference between being with campus crusade and being a pastor? He said, well, when I was with the ministry of campus crusade for Christ, we moved with the movers, the leaders, the kids that would influence other kids. Now that I'm a pastor, I have to accept whatever God says to me. Well, as what Paul says in verse Corinthians, he says that the church is made up of all kinds of weird choices by God. Some of us are weak, some of us are strong, and some people are weak at one time and strong at another time. That's why we need each other. If you meet a super Christian, you have thereby demeaned yourself because there aren't any. That's what Paul means when he speaks in first Corinthians. As listen to this, 1 Corinthians 1, 26 through 29, for you see your calling, brethren, that not many of you were wise according to the flesh. Not many were mighty, not many noble or called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put a shame to wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put a shame to things that are mighty, and the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in His presence. We don't talk much about that anymore if someone is an athlete or a beauty queen we talk about then, but sometimes it's easy to get the feeling that God only loves the fast and the pretty. That isn't so. For centuries, God has been using normal, weak people like you and me to do His work. Abraham Lincoln once said, God must have loved the common people because he made so many of them. Now that sounds good, but you just try to call somebody common if they say, but in fact we are common people, weak afraid, sinful, lonely, halting, undisciplined, wounded, and those are the folks God will use, is the church weak, of course it is. That's what it's all about. God says, my power is made perfect in weakness. And then secondly, I want you to note not only the fact of weakness, I want you to note our reaction to weakness, Romans 51, we then who are strong out the bear the scruples of the weak. Paul is talking about the eating of meat and the observance of holy days. He's saying that those who are strong, aye, those who are not into rules, who don't think that God says everything you enjoy as a sin, those who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, those who are trying to obey all the rules. But one can extrapolate from that teaching, something else that's important. Are you always strong? Are you always weak? I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm very strong. God's gift to the church, a leader, a warrior for truth and justice, but can we dog sometimes I'm very weak and afraid? Sometimes this warrior is a child, and then sometimes I'm very weak, lonely and afraid and simple and wounded, sometimes I'm just a child, afraid of the dark. If you're like me, then we need each other. When Anna and I were new parents, Robin, our new daughter was quite sick a lot. In fact, we had to take her to a doctor a lot of times and we started picking her up every time she cried. And even after Robin got well, we continued to pick her up every time she cried, and she would cry a lot because she had been sick so much. And we had a wonderful Dr. Ruby Jackson in New England who said to us, you guys aren't ever going to get any sleep unless you allow her to cry. That just shows that she has good lungs. Don't go to her every time she cries. Check her diapers, make sure that they're dry. Make sure she's fed, and then let her cry a little bit, won't hurt her and you can get some sleep. She told us the next time baby Robin cried to just let her cry if everything else was alright. Now that was good for the doctor to say she didn't have to go home and deal with it. It was hard to do. In 3 in the morning, Robin would start crying and we didn't want to reward the crying when I wanted to go in and pick her up. Anna was strong and she said, Steve, don't do it. I remember what the doctor said. When Anna was weak and she was climbing out of the bed, I'd pull her back in and say, Anna, Robin is fine, remember what the doctor said. It was interesting that we were both weak and we were both strong, but we were weak and strong at different times. Just like the body of Christ, listen to me, nobody is strong all the time. Even the most mature Christian, the strongest leader, the most effective soldier for Christ, needs to hug sometime. And conversely, nobody's weak all the time. Even the newest Christian who is unsure of his or her faith needs to be a warrior sometimes. Paul says, when the weak need comfort and help, give it to them. At one time or another, we're all in that category, and when we forget that, we start worshipping human alters, and we're only permitted to worship at the altar of God. There are no super Christians, and when you meet one, you've demean yourself. Then thirdly, I want you to note not only the fact of weakness, and the reaction to weakness, I want you to note the place before weakness, Romans 51, or our place before weakness. We then, who are strong, ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves, let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. Not too long ago, I was speaking at a conference in Dallas, and I came into the Convention Center. There was a man handing out leaflets who was mad at what was going on in the conference. Can we talk? I mean, this guy really, I mean, it was hard, when I was a pagan, I had better words for him. To be honest with you, he was a twit. His leaflets were heresy, and he was quite adamant about what he was saying, and I stopped and told him that what he was saying was nonsense. And I then demonstrated it to him, and I felt quite good to have put him in this place. When I got to the conference, the conference leader asked us all to break into small groups and pray. As soon as we did that, I thought about the man outside, and not totally others look, I can't pray, I'll be right back, and I went back out doing it, and I asked the man to forgive me. Then I came back in, and I said to the others, no, I can pray. You know what happened? I was working on this text at the time, and it was on my mind. And a lot of what Paul said to Whitlet, each of us pleases neighbor for his good leading to edification. You know, God messes up so much stuff in my life, or if there's some people who just drive you up the wall, there's some immaturity that's frustrating you, and you would rather not spend time with a person with that kind of immaturity, or there's some people who irritate you in their weakness and their childishness, those are the ones you need to make an effort to be with, to minister to. If I had my brothers, I would rather be with the sophisticated and the learned of the world. I'd rather be with Billy Graham, but they, but they, but the sophisticated and the wonderful of the world sometimes don't accept me, and besides God said that we're to reach out to the weak, and that's a good place for me, because sometimes I'm weak too. Fourthly, I want you to note not only the fact of weakness, our reaction to weakness, our place before weakness, please note the response to our weakness. Romans 15, three, for even Christ, did not please himself. Romans 15, five, now may the God of patience and comfort, and this is the point. What we are called to do is exactly what Jesus has done for us. Let me say it again. What we are called to do is exactly what Jesus has done for us. Then I read to you that try to act, he would have ridden to Harley. If I had, excuse me, but it's really good, and he wouldn't hurt to do it again. I live in Orlando, and Orlando is near Daytona Beach, where they have the annual bike week. You know you're going to have a bad day when you're horned sticks and you're behind a group of hell's angels. There are a lot of Christians who go over there and witness, and let me read you the track that they give out at bike week. It's called, he would have ridden to Harley. Jesus was a lot like you and me, the government didn't like him, the church thought he was weird, his friends were few, what friends he had denied him, he was persecuted by hypocrites, he hung around people like you and me, not the goodie to choose Pharisees. Yes, if Jesus were on this earth and the flesh, he would be next to you on his Harley, telling you he loved you enough to die for you. Paul said in Romans 5-6, for when we were still without strength, I very weak and do time Christ died for the ungodly. If he did that for us, we can certainly do it for other people. Then simply and finally, I want you to note not only the fact of weakness, our reaction to weakness, our place before weakness, and God's response to our weakness, please note the result of our dealing with weakness within the body of Christ. Romans 15-6 that you made with one mind and one mouth glorified the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of this teaching on love, on supporting the weak, on unity, on standing with each other, that we've been studying for the last three weeks has one purpose. What is that? That God might be glorified. Guys, that's what this whole thing is all about, by the way. It's about him, it's not about us. And it's all over, we'll gather around the throne and shout and sing, and I'll say to you, isn't he something else he really is? And so what have I been saying just simply this? That our lives are not about us, that we were created to glorify him, we were created to give him the praise and the honor and the glory in every aspect of our lives. And the best way we do that is then when we are of one mind, and the only way, we are to know. We can be of one mind, both says, is to understand the fact of weakness, our reaction to weakness, our place before weakness, and God's response to our weakness. And the result is that God would be praised and glorified. You think about that? Amen.