So I just love to see how God moves and connects things like that, singing a song and preparation for the focus of our text. And the focus of our text today is going to be the theme text today. You can go ahead and turn their first Corinthians chapter 16. But before we get started with that, I would like to open us up with a word of prayer, and then we'll stand up and read guys word together. We love in heaven. We do give you thanks, Father, for this day, for this time that we have to come and worship you. But most importantly, as we come to prepare for battle, we pray, Lord, that you will open our minds and our hearts to receive the truth of your word. And I pray, Lord, that as I speak, Lord, that it would be your words, that I would decrease and that you would increase, Lord. And that all that I say would be acceptable in your sight, Father. Use me, your vessel, for the edification of your people, and it's in the wonderful, magnificent and glorious name of Christ we do pray, and let all God's people say, Amen. Let us stand and take a look at our text here. First Corinthians chapter 16, and my version is ESV here is a little bit different, but not much different. But I'll go ahead and read according to what most people probably have is the KJV here. And it says, watch ye stand fast in the faith, quick, you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity, Amen. You may be seated. And there's a little background here what we're dealing with is that this is a letter, first Corinthians, a letter that Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. This is a church that he loved and was dear to his heart. And so we come to the close of this letter that is broken up into 16 chapters. Now here at the end, this is not an unusual thing for Paul to give these final instructions before he closes his letter, but interesting is interesting in these final couple verses from verse 12, to verse 22, that Paul dropped seeing this highlighted verse, verses 32, and I mean, sorry, verses 13 and 14, he says, be watchful. Now you guys say, watch out for what, what am I needing to be watchful, be on guard for? Then Paul is saying this because he's not talking about being watchful for any of these any physical tasks. He's talking about what's going on spiritually. And how we know this is if you read all the first Corinthians, you'll see that Paul is addressing some issues that the church had written to him about. And the essence of the root of the issues they're dealing with, they are physical because the church was dealing with disunity, they were dealing with sexual immorality, they were dealing with idolatry, they were dealing with issues and worships, they were dealing with doctrinal issues. And so you look at these things and you may say, well, there could be just a simple rational solution to these things, but that's not the case with spiritual issues. So the root of these issues were spiritual and they had to be dealt with with the word of God. But not just the word of God, but the power of his spirit in order to transform the people. So that's why Paul is writing to them to address these issues that at the root with spiritual, he's telling them, after all that I've written to you right now, make sure that you are watchful for the enemy and soldiers in the army of the Lord, we have to be ready for battle because the enemy is present and real and he is busy. And the words that Paul uses here in the verses 13 and 14, be watchful, stand firm, these are militant actions. And if you read other letters read by Paul, you'll see that he's always spiritual minded. Tell us about putting on the full armor of God, where that is a spiritual armor that he's talking about putting on there, the fruits of the spirit. Paul is always mindful that we have to realize that there's not just a physical room, but there's a spiritual room and there is a battle going on that's waging against our father who are in heaven and Satan. So we have to be real, I'll be on guard against this opposition. So I have three key points to share with you this morning that come from these two texts. The first is a call for a defensive action, a call for offensive action, and a call for a consistent action. And first in being defensive, I like to think not only just of soldiers that they have to be trained not only to be on the defense to defend against the attacks of the enemy, but they also have to be on the offense to be able to attack the enemy. So they have to be on guard always ready, but I also like to think of a boxer, a good fighter is one who can not only defend, but also a fan, or you think about the game of basketball, that you have to be able to switch, you know, when you have the ball, you got to be on the offensive, but when you don't have it, you have to be on the defensive. So there's a constant switching that has to go on. And first 13, we have two key things to show up here about being on the defensive, a call for a defensive action. The first is to be on guard, as we know in first Peter 5, 8, it says, be of sober spirit, be watchful. So we now have Paul telling us to be watchful with Peter, be watchful, your adversary, he's been very clear here. And no oblivious or unclear language here, he's very clear, your adversary, the devil proules around like a roaring lion seeking someone to the vow. He's eager and hungry to take down guys, people in the Keithos who aren't a part of God's army from enlisting into the service of the Lord. We also see in Luke chapter 22 verse 13, where Jesus is talking to Peter, he says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like weep. The same is the case for us, big brother, that the enemy seeks, now only to the vow he seeks to sift you like weep. So it's important for us to be on guard against enemy, but being on guard, being on alert, is not something that we are physically unaccustomed to doing. You may not have known this, but everybody's heard of ADT, haven't you? The security system? Yeah, they're the largest company in the US and in Canada. They have 6.5 million customers. So these are 6.5 million people, including myself, who are being watchful, being on guard against those who may try to attack their valuables, their investment. And this is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. But let me tell you something, God has given us a security system, and it goes by the name of ADE, always detecting the enemy. But the thing that you have to know about in a security system is that you can have it in style, but you have to activate it. And if you don't put in that code and activate that system, then it's not going to work. The way in which we can activate the system that God has given us is by walking in the spirit. The latest five systems that walk by the spirit and you will not glorify the desires of the flesh. Not only that, but God gives a clear example of what it looks like to walk in the spirit and a life that is on alert for the enemy. Psalm 1, bless this man whilst not according to the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sin, nor sits, nor see the scoppers, but what his delight is in the Word of God. When you're delight in the Word of God and reading the Word of God and walking according to the spirit, then you can be on alert. Another example I think of is Spider-Man, everybody knows about Spider-Man. When you got bit by that spider, something changed. You know, he started being able to sense enemies coming around. And when we get the spirit of God and activate that system, then we can start sensing when the enemy is present, when there's a certain temptation that is around us. When somebody says something that we like, I see, I think that's the spirit that's trying to hurt me trying to put me down. You know, they're always saying that six and stones may break my bones, but words will not hurt me. Words are harmful. We have to be on guard to know that when something is said that may be harmful, we have to go to the Word of God and sometimes speak truth to ourselves so that we won't believe those lies. He's devilish after our minds. And he wants us to focus on a key thing he wants us to focus on. He wants us to focus on the restrictions that God has given us rather than the unlimited things that he has blessed us to do. One thing that I think about when, and thinking about this truth is the fruits of the spirit. God has said you can, you can have as much as you want of all these fruits, but you're Satan will come to you and say, well, look at these restrictions. You guys give you in the 10 Commandments. You can't do this and you can't do that and you can't say this and you can't watch that. But God has given us a bound to full array of fruits that we can do. Go back with me to Genesis 3 in the garden or Genesis chapter 2 and 3. Now you remember that God had created man and woman he put them in this garden. He said, you can have added everything that's here, you can have added. That's just one tree that I don't want you to mess with. That's good. The tree of the knowledge are good and evil. Everything else have added and joy to God be the glory, but just stay away from this one. Now notice when the enemy comes in and he talks to Eve, he gets straight to the point. He's not focused on all the stuff God said you can do and all the stuff that you can have. He's focused specifically on those restrictions because he wants to attack that mind. He wants them to focus on the restrictions rather than the liberties that God has. Beloved in the Lord, yes there are things that when you come to Christ you can't do. And that's okay because God knows what's good for us. He's like a parent, children, obey your parents. Because there are certain things that they have wisdom about that they tell you not to do. You don't understand, you're like, I just don't know why I can't do this, why I can't have that. But you have to realize that God's thinking is different than ours and he's our loving parent. And that he's not going to instruct us to do something that's going to be harmful. He's not going to keep something from us that we don't need. So he's essential that we not focus on the restrictions but focus on our liberties. And when we come to the Lord, this is not to say that we can't come to the Lord asking him for healing and increasing finances and other things that may be yelling us or causing us to be hurt. Let the thing give us Philippians 4.6 says, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let's request He made known to God. And we ought to come to God with our knees, come to God with your requests, come to the altar with your requests and with your knees. But don't you dare be that's all that you come with. We ought to come and give God thanks for the things that we can do. Thank you Lord. You may be sick but there are other things that are functioning in your body. You may not have the job or you may not have the finances that you want but you do have money. You may not have as much food as you like but God has not left you hungry. So we ought to give God thanks for all the things that we currently can do but continue to pray for Him for those things that we want. But we have to give God thanks along with prayer and supplication. We have to be watchful. We have to be on guard. But that's not only what He says here. He also says stand firm in the faith. Stand firm in the faith. As a soldier in the army of the Lord you have to be immovable. You have to be solid and unyielding in your faith to the Lord. We have to be deeply rooted like a strong tree. There's this island that's called the island of Buran. And it's a tree there that they've called the tree of life. The reason why the tree has received this name is because you won't believe this but this tree has been in the middle of this desert. It's the only tree there is 32 feet tall. It's been there for over 400 years. People can understand why this tree has been able to thrive this long and this isolated is streamed condition. Temperature conditions. I mean it is miles and miles away from another tree. But as people stayed this tree and found out the type of species that it is that it has extremely deep roots. These roots go as deep as 165 feet in the ground. So these roots have a strong and deep root system. And like this tree sense of God we have to be strongly and deeply rooted in the Word of God in our faith. But otherwise we as someone says we can be swayed by the winds of the world and the changes of the culture and the things that Satan brings our way. But we have to be deeply rooted so that no matter what storms may come in life. No matter what sickness or troubles may be brought upon us or temptations that come. But we can be deeply rooted in our faith knowing that no matter I think I need the three Hebrew boys to help me preach this thing. No matter if I am in place in this liability that I'm sorry in the fiery furnace thinking about the wrong story. No matter if I'm putting this fiery furnace in God does not deliver me. That God is who he is. He is able to deliver me. But even if he doesn't, I'm still not going to bow to another guy. So being cursed that all those things may take a long time to change. If they change, just know that God is faithful and that no matter what, he is good. And his mercy endures forever. And the key thing is that when things aren't changing and we're confused and we may be frustrated, that's why we have to believe that as Paul says in Romans, all things, not something, not one thing, not two things, not every other thing. But all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. So trust the Lord, stand fast and firm in your faith and don't be shaken by the winds of the world. Don't be shaken by the temptations the enemy brings. Don't be shaken by the doubts that he may speak in your mind that God doesn't love you and that God doesn't good and that God doesn't care. Don't allow your circumstances in the fact that God may not be acting right now to determine or call you to redefine who God is, how he acts, how he works his character. That's why we have to be firmly rooted in the word and remember that what the scripture says about God is what's true, is what's true regardless of what's going on at the present time. So it's soldiers in the army of the Lord, we have to realize that there is a true spiritual battle going on. And we have to be on the defensive. So we got to stand guard, we got to stand firm. But there's also a call for offensive action. We see this in the latter part of verse 13, be courageous and strong. Be strong and courageous. Go back with me to the end of the book of Deuteronomy. Here at the end of Moses' ministry of leading the children of Israel, there's a transition of power that takes place. Transition of leadership. Moses no longer the leader, but now is Joshua. Now if I could put myself in Joshua's shoes, I would probably feel a little bit uncomfortable. Maybe have some doubts or uncertainties. Because Moses has been with us for so long, we've seen God act in so many miraculous ways. He listened to Moses. He walked with him. And I think before Joshua could even, as you know, God knows our thoughts. He knows our heart. He knows what we stand before we even say it. We don't have to say it. God knows what's on our mind. I think God lovingly comes to Joshua as we see in Joshua chapter 1. And he says, Joshua, basically, before we get started, I want to let you know that just like I was with Moses, I'm going to be with you. I'm going to walk with you. I'm going to talk with you. I'm going to help you lead these people. I'm not, hey, I haven't brought you this far to leave you. So I'm going to be with you. So don't worry about it. What I need you to do is I need you to be strong and courageous. I need you not to be afraid nor dismayed, because I'm the Lord your God. Now I am going to be with you. The same charge that he gives to Joshua is the same charge that he gives to us. Maybe you are new to Christ. And there are other people who around you don't know him. You may feel isolated or abandoned, but let me tell you that the Lord your God is going to be with you wherever you go. You have to be strong and courageous. As Christians, we have to be strong and courageous. In the midst of a dark world, God has called us to live counter cultural. He's called us to do things differently. But we have to be strong and courageous. There's no need for us to compromise. There's no need for us to try to make things that counterfeit of the world, but that we are to stand firm and follow what God has commanded us to do. God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. As we know, as you continue to read the book of Joshua, that is exactly what he does. He doesn't waver in it. He continues to be strong and courageous. And God does mighty things through the leadership of Joshua. When I think about being strong and courageous, one thing that comes to my mind, it is a funny example is the wisdom rise and the lion. You remember the lion? It's something about if I could be the king of the forest and he was lacking courage. Let me tell you something about... Think about everybody seeing this movie, young and old. It's a classic. But to think about the lion, if you go back with me, did anything inherently change about him by receiving something? No. As we know, the wizard was pretty much a crock. And he wasn't really a wizard. But the thing is, what changed about this lion is that he believed that he wasn't the king of the forest. He believed that he didn't have courage. But it wasn't until he started to walk in the reality of who he was. When he started to walk in be courageous, then he realized that, wait a minute, I've been a king all along but I just haven't been really walking in the reality of my calling. And unfortunately, in the body or Christ, we have a lot of casualties or POWs that go back to the war language because there are people without walking in the reality of their calling to be a child of God. God has given us the spirit of power, not of fear. God has given us this Holy Spirit. And it's through that power that we're able to have self-control. Thank you. The issues that the church in Corinth was dealing with, we're talking about this unity, a lot of times they have to do with not being humble, being prideful and not having self-control. But those things are able to be changed by the power of the Spirit. So once we start to walk according to the Spirit, according to what God has commanded, if there's something that we need a change to take place, maybe we have an anger problem and the solution to that isn't a physical thing. It's going to take some prayer and reading the scriptures and asking the Spirit of God to really, really change you. That could be the root of the disunity of the lack of self-control and the only way for that to be transformed is through the power of His Spirit. But the thing is, as we are fighting this battle, God has given us the ability to live with victory, but a lot of people are living with it. They're living without victory because they don't realize this essential access to this power that they have, which is the Spirit. You've got to activate that system in order to be active in your life. And that's when it comes back to living a Spirit-fear life, because in order to live this life, one has to be rooted in the Word of God. So this power to be courageous and to be strong is not something that you can do in and of yourself, but only comes from asking God for the strength and for the power to be able to do it. It's not something that we can rationally explain. As we see the Bible, in a lot of ways, it's not a rational book, because there's a lot of irrational, unexplained things that happen. That's where people get in trouble in trying to rationally explain the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's a supernatural spiritual thing that we can't put in for tests to figure out that this is how it happened. It's an understandable thing that has to be believed by faith. And by faith, we have to believe that the Word of God is true. And by faith, we can be courageous and strong, but we have to. It's essential that we ask God to give us the strength to change. And I promise you, just as God says, if you pray for wisdom, He'll give it to you. If you pray for God to help you change, then He will do it through the power of His Spirit. But we've got to make sure we're walking with Him and in line with Him in order for that to take place.
So beloved and Lord, we've got to be on the offensive. And God is not only giving us His Spirit, but He's also giving us weaponry in order to fight this battle, as we have the full armor of God is giving us. And one of those essential weapons is what, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. This one thing I like about Paul, he's very clear about things. I'm not going to just let you try to say, well, in the world is this sword of the Spirit. He's like, it's the Word of God. It's the Spirit of God. You don't have to have any confusion about what I'm talking about here. So you got to get yourself in the Word. And that will help you to be strong and courageous. Now, go back with me quickly into the gospels and going specifically to the temptation of Jesus. You remember Jesus in the wilderness and satan came to tempt Him. So what did Jesus use in order to fight that battle? He used the Word of God. And if Jesus needs the Word of God to fight that battle then, I think we definitely need the Word of God to fight our battle.
Another thing to let you know this is that you can ask Joseph, you can ask Joe, you can ask Jesus, that Satan is going to come after you. You see, like Joe, we know from reading the beginning of that story that Satan had asked to have in him. We know from looking at Joseph's life that sometimes things can be going great for you. And all of a sudden there's just a dramatic change. Part of his wife lied on him. And that's the instance where it now leads to his brother's turn against him. But now he's being successful and all of a sudden he's in prison because somebody lied on him. And Joseph could have said, well I'm not going to... I mean why should I worship this guy when he's allowed this to happen to me? And he's stuck in prison to help somebody. And the cupbearer and the baker, they forgot about him. He had helped him out and they had forgotten about him. And he could still reject the guy. He could have just said, you know what? I'm not going to have anything else to do with this guy because he obviously is against me. Look at this, bam, bam, bam, bam. One thing after the nothing. But I'll tell you if you wait on the Lord, just as Joseph and not waiver but to stand firm in your faith to be strong and to be courageous, then eventually like God did with Joseph, he delivered him out of his trouble. And he is out to him and used to him. And I love what he says, he says, you made a minute for evil. The enemy he does mean the temptation and the opposition and the strongholds he brings against you for evil. But God, but God means it for good. So just know that the enemy is going to come after you and that's why we have to be prepared. For the battle. We've got to put it all on. And as we look at verse 14, we come to our point of a call for consistent action. We have to be defensive on the offensive, but we also have to be a call for defensive action. It says, let all that you do be done in love.
Now this definitely best the question will, where does love and where does love have to do with being in the army of the Lord? What does love got to do with it? I forgot who I was talking to. I know y'all know what I mean when I say that time. Paul's giving these final instructions. He says we have to do all things in love. And if you have a question about where love is, then all you have to do is flip back a few chapters. Looking at the famous chapter of love. First Corinthians chapter 13. Paul specifically there communicates what love is. He mentions that love is patience. So to do all things with patience. Love is kind. Do all things with time. Love does not envy. So do all things without covering or envying the things of your fellow brother or sister. Love is not boastful. So when you serve people, when you're doing things, don't be boastful and be prideful to say that it's because of me. But we all have to always point back to God. Love is not arrogance. So we're not to be prideful and hearty about maybe the success that we have. And the position that we have in service in the church, but or because maybe our education level is a little higher than somebody else. But that we aren't to be arrogant or boastful or even rude. That goes back to the way we use our words. But also body language because people can be rude with their body language. And love is not interested on its own way. So don't be a know at all. Don't do things like you know everything. One way I just remember that I remember being in school. And one way that you see this in school and all your kids who are in school probably seems that there's two ways to answer a question. You ask a question, could you really want to know something? And then you have those others who ask questions because they just want to show off how much they know. We're not supposed to do that. We're not to be a know at all. We're not to be open to other people's opinions or suggestions about how to do things. Even in the church or on the job, we have to be open to realize that God tells us not to lean upon our own understanding. So even in our life, how we raise our children, our marriages, even in working. That especially when you're in a position of authority is very difficult, not to think that you know it all. Your way is better than somebody who is superior to you. But you have to realize that especially in the church that God works through all of us. He's given us all different gifts. And it's beautiful because we all think differently. And we have to be open to allowing people to use their gifts so that those unique things that you didn't think about or know how to do, that that person can actively contribute to the furtherance of the gospel and the building of God's kingdom as we talk about the church, or even in your workplace, the ideas of fellow co-employees and different meetings and so forth. Because you already say, well, I know this is the best way to do it. But be open. And that's having the spirit of humility. To humbly say, you know it, I don't know it all, and I need help. And sometimes it's hard, it's hard to ask for help because it puts you in a vulnerable position. But we have to be dependent on each other. There was one of the things that was causing this unity in this church because they weren't being humble. They weren't being willing to be dependent upon each other. But they were having strife going on. And also that love does not rejoice in wrong doing, but it rejoices with the truth. So we are to always rejoice in the truth. Now rejoice in wrongful things being done, but we have to rejoice in the truth when good things happen for other people. Love bears all things. So this brings up a crucial point as it relates to being on the offensive and defensive because as you're fighting this battle and going through your different struggles and going through your various circumstances and hardships that we also have to now only deal with our own things, but we have to consistently be loving and being open to serve our fellow brothers as well. As they're going through their things. In the military there was a term used during the time of battle that was called hold the line. And when soldiers heard this, they knew that while they were still defending and being on the offensive that they had to hold the line and keep the enemy for breaking through. This was a consistent position that they had to hold. So this is very difficult because you're not only being on the defensive and the offensive, but you got to hold the line. You got to be consistent. And so God's cold the line command for us is love. That we have to do all things in love so that while you're still being watchful for the enemy, while you're still being watchful, while you're standing firm, while you're being strong and courageous, you also have to do all things in love. And if we see the first Corinthians 13, and I encourage you to read through it all the way, it gives you the definition of what love is. We also see a great measure of what love is in Philippians 4 when we look at what crisis done for us by humbling himself and dying on the cross. And we are to have that same attitude of love. But lastly, when it comes to love as well, flip over with me to John chapter 13 real quick. And John chapter 13 is the latter part of verses 31 to 35. And the scene that's going on here, this is Jesus with his disciples prior to his crucifixion and prior to his resurrection. And this is kind of him and once has given his parting words to his fellow disciples. And this is a significant verse because this is where Jesus gives a new commandment to his disciples. And I'm going to specifically just read verse 34. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another by this. All people would know that you are my disciples if you love one another. So it's also essential that we do everything in love because this is the way in which people would know that we are guys, people that we are his disciples. This is one way in which we get people to go from the army of the enemy to enlist into the army of God and become his disciples. I like that great God. You see the Father's Son and the Holy Spirit as you read those verses 31 to 34, you'll see that a number of times it specifically says that I'll read verse 31. Now is the Son of man glorified and God is glorified in him. In verse 32, if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. And so the Father and the Son have this thing going on where they glorify each other. And where glorify means to advertise, it means to put on display. So God puts the Son on display and the Son puts the Father on display. And then later on the Holy Spirit gets in and he puts the Son on display. Now to display or to advertise, we see this all the time on a shirt somebody wears if they have a little guy on the polo guy on the left hand side. And you know that that's a polo. If somebody's walking around with a shirt that has a check on it on the shoes, then you know that that is Nike. If you see a guy doing like this on a shirt, you know that that is a Jordan brand. These are ways that companies advertise themselves by coming up with a what's called a brand identity. There's a mark, there's a stamp that clearly distinguish that this is my product. And no way for you to not know that this is my product. This comes from automobiles, clothes, everything. Companies come up with a mark to specifically identify themselves. Big brother. And the Trinity has an advertising agency. But the thing is they needed some sales people in order to talk about this advertising agency. And so that's what Jesus is doing here. He's telling the disciples that I'm about to go, but I need you to tell people about this advertising agency and become sales people, the part of this agency. And that's what our job is to do. Our job is to continue to communicate about this advertising agency. And the way we do that is by loving each other. And to love each other is to be counter to what the world does, which is to hate each other. But we are called to love each other. And that's what the disciples do. And if you look at the book of actually see how they continue to love each other and to vote themselves to each other. And that's what probably is calling us to love each other. Because as a church, if we're disunified, then that's not going to display love. People look at the church and say, well, if they can't get it together, well, I'll need to be a part of that group. If they hate each other and talk bad about each other and gossip about each other, then why do I need to be in the church? And if people can't have a good wholesome marriages and raise their children with some sense, and that stuff is going on in church, then why do I need to be there? That's the way that we clearly display the love of God. And that is our call. Our call is to do all things in love and to live in a manner of love. So that when people look at us, they can see Christ. And that would cause them to be attracted to say, well, what is different about this person? What's different about this place? Because I've never seen this before. And that's something that you look in the book of asked. That's something that actually persuades people to want to inquire and to know about Christ and become a part of the church. So we have to realize that the enemy doesn't want us to bring more people to be in the army of the Lord. But he wants to cause friction. He wants to cause this unity. And that's why Paul is writing to them because he's saying we need to fix these problems because we need to be acting in love. We need to display love. Praise God. Lastly, this pertains to love. You know, everybody's not easy to love. It's big brother. You got the stronger they man than the house. You got the stronger they man for the day. And sometimes, you know, my wife can be a witness, but I'm not always easy to love. But sometimes, let me tell you, God will bring I'll use the time to kill your people until your life that are completely opposite to you. And it's hard to maybe deal with them. And the reason God does this is because he wants us to learn to love the way he did. I have not always been following the Lord. It's only a test. But yet, while I was a sinner, God decided to send his son and to die for me. So yeah, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and gave himself for us. I know you haven't been always lovable. And maybe not always act lovable, but you have to realize that God gave his son for you so that when you weren't living in opposition to him, doing things that you'd be embarrassed to tell people about. Speak brother. God sent his son to die for you, to give his life for you. Maybe right now you're living and you don't know the Lord. And you're doing things that you're ashamed of or you know you ought not to be doing. But just know that way back on cavalry, God sent his son to come and die for you. And that is love. Yes. So I have to realize that we haven't always been lovable. And sometimes we still don't act lovable. But God still loves us anyway. And he sent his son to take care of our ugliness so that we will look beautiful in his sight and we will be lovable people. So that when he looks at us, he sees the sign. So it's important for us to remember the essence of what love is and to love those people in our lives. You know, it's just hard to love them. But God's giving us the power to be able to do that and giving us the command to do that. And Paul would testify. He would say, you know what? I wasn't always lovable. In fact, I hated the church. I hated Christ. And I was killing people who loved him. And we're part of this church. But even then, Christ had already loved Paul and died for him. And he lovingly came to Paul, stricken him with blindness temporarily, but he got his attention and he transformed him. So God has taken him and made him a useful vessel. And look at all that he has accomplished for the glory of the Lord. And so God is calling you to do the same thing. To love those who are very similar to you, those people are easy to love. But we also got to love those who are not easy to love. So that we can continue to learn and be molded to be like Christ and to love the way that he loves. Because that's the goal in the aim. It's to make us more like God, to make us more like Christ so that we can display and be lights in the midst of darkness. Yes, 16. We have a call to, we have to be ready for service. We have a call for a defensive action. Offensive action. But we have to always remember that consistent position. That God says, love, hold the line so that in the midst of your struggles and the midst of your hardships, in the midst of the fight that you're waging, that you're also not being concerned about your own interests, but also the interests of your fellow brother. And I'll leave you all with it, amen? Very much. Very God.