Hebrews 13:1-6 Portrait of a Faith Runner

The main ideas from this information are: - The book of Hebrews talks about the superiority of Jesus Christ and the application of that in life. - Chapter 11 discusses faith, chapter 12 discusses hope, and chapter 13 discusses love. - The author encourages believers to continue showing brotherly love and hospitality, even to those who may reject them. - Brotherly love becomes part of one's life at the moment of salvation and can be stifled by hateful words or actions. - Praying for enemies can help change one's heart towards them. - The overall message is to love others as God loves us. We're on the last chapter of Hebrews miracle of miracles, so we're going to be finishing up in about three weeks Part one part one today, and so we're going to be starting our our our landing landing gears down Now the book of Hebrews is wonderful because you know it starts off really importantly And the important thing is you need to come up this way Jimmy right here If you can't hear you need to come up here, okay, no no we have We have we have some guests we have some guests with us today Kang's really good friend from Chicago Her name is Lindsay so everybody turn around say hi Lindsay Welcome to our class now. We have probably three more classes, right? There's two after today. Yeah, that's right three classes Yeah, two after today, so we're going to let you off for Thanksgiving But it's really been a great study David and I and Tom have really enjoyed the study really a lot because I've really I've really learned a lot During this time so it's been it's been great, so basically You know Hebrews is a book that talks about the superiority of Jesus Christ and takes the first the first ten chapters is all about the superiority of Jesus Christ and the superiority is communicated by his words and Hebrews 4 12 says the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword Divides to the soul in the streets going to the more to discerner of the motives and intents of the heart so this book Specifically is talking to our hearts, and that's why it's so so wonderful to be engaged in this book now the first ten chapters is all about the the superiority of Jesus the last About that lap of application of the fact that if Jesus is superior and he is what difference does it make in life So chapter 11 is the great faith chapter So by grace you know it's really guy by God's grace through faith that we live a life That's honorable and glorifying to Jesus in Chapter 12 it talks about the hope that we have in Jesus So we have faith hope and then finally chapter 13 The best word of all love love agape and all you women know first Corinthians 13 kind of love It's called agape and that's unconditional and Unconditional love it's all about gift How do we give love to people that are so unlovable? This world is full of unlovable people okay that includes us because I've been married for 47 years, and no 57. I'm sorry It's right man alive, but it's been great, but that's what a copy love will do It's a miracle from God to us So now we get to study what love really is and how God wants us to run with him the race of love And agape so let's pray dear Lord. Thank you for your word Thank you for your word that is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword divides to the soul and the spirit joins to the marrow it's a discerner of the motives and intents of the heart and Your intent dear Lord is cultivate a relationship Undying for eternity with us Through Jesus Christ in his shed blood so dear Lord help us to enjoy that moment that you've done for us What we cannot do for ourselves, and that's to love us in spite of ourselves And thank you for loving us so very much that you gave your only begotten son that whosoever believes in you Would not perish but have everlasting life, and thank you that because we have everlasting life with you that we now can love As you love and we pray these things that you would help us to do that these this pain every day and in your name We pray amen All right Starting Hebrews 13 1 through 6 we're going to we're going to make it through this and I think So I was evaluating how to title this lesson and when I looked at it I said, you know what we just talked about being running the life the race of faith, right? And I Thought well, this is a portrait of a faith runner here. This was what a run a faith runner looks like And so that's how I got this. It's a true faith runner demonstrates first of all brotherly love It is not a goth thing. Oh Really not in this one It's for Leo Let love of the brethren that contact phrase over the brethren is actually Philadelphia Philadelphia the city of one brotherly love right Let the love of the brethren Continue, I'm sorry Embrawlers. Yes, that's true Yeah, especially when the Eagles are playing in Europe. You're a guest team, right? So let love the brethren continue Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers Whereby this some have entertained angels without knowing it So the love of the brethren, I guess it translates the Greek word Philadelphia to root words Phileo tender affection and a Delphi's brother Near kinsmen literally from the same woman, which I found is interesting The context of this letter the Hebrews to whom do you think the author is referring he's writing to Hebrews who's referring What kind of Christians brother Hebrew brothers All right. He's referring to the member. He's what the letter is written to Hebrews to Jews is written to Jews who are believers. So he's saying to the Jewish believers Continue to love your other Jewish believers now since Literally they think of all as you think of themselves coming from the same womb Would y'all agree? Yeah, and who would that be? Sarah right. So from a Jewish perspective They're all brothers Even today, right if you're born into a pure Jew You consider yourself a Jew for me for a lot. Yes. That is your heritage. That's who you are You literally came from in your mind Sarah's womb Why because your DNA goes all the way back to that, right? so So it could be that the author is also including the Jewish believer in the Jews, they're not believers now I have I don't know if I put this in here, but let's just let's go with this for just a second If he's including Jews, they're not believers, which it could be when he's when he makes this this Exhortation, why would you want to continue to show love to those that don't believe? To win them to win them. Now. Here's the problem, right again going back the context In which it was written when a Jew expressed faith in Jesus Christ The first thing he did was what we do on Sunday morning every once in a while, right? more often than These days it seems like which I mean, I'm thrilled about right As soon as you're saved You go into the water and you get dumped Now when you get dunked what you're doing is you're telling your Jewish brothers out there I now believe Jesus is Messiah And I now belong to him and I now have a spiritual family that I am more loyal to than my What's the word of my physical family, right? And so that that caused Anxiety Right. And so those those Jews that got dumped in the water They came out knowing number one. They had friends They were going to embrace them. But number two, they had now made enemies that were going to reject to reject them So, how do you continue to love someone that's rejected you? that's really Causing you pain Have you ever been there? Yeah Not by your own doing, right? Right, you choose to love them like Christ loves you. Exactly. You make a choice. You make a choice Lots of times I found I chose to love the person not necessarily their actions or what comes out of it. That's the greatest. I don't have any gold stars. That's a gold star right there I didn't hear. Can it be repeated? Well, sure she can repeat it. You know, I look at somebody and what comes out of their mouth It's not lovable, but I still am admonished to love that. Yes No matter what. That's God. I mean, that's what he tells us to do And I can find my spot there Because of the fact that That's the way he loves you Yeah The way you love me So it could be that the author is talking about Jews that have yet to believe But since this letter is primarily written to Jews who have already believed Most believe that he's admonishing to love Those that are part of the family of God like the family brothers in Christ, right? Okay, so I Do ask the question All right, I'm gonna start make a statement let continue implies several things What does it imply? Let love the brethren see let continue They're already doing it already existed There isn't there's another one right there right off the bat Susan gets her gold star She's quick It already existed. When does brotherly love become a part of one's life? Look at Romans 5 5 first verses for the night Someone go ahead and start and hope does not disappoint Because the love of God has been poured out within our heart through the Holy Spirit who was given to us So when does it become part of one's life? The moment what we are saying the moment we're safe the moment we're safe Are you number one existed? What else can it be? It was imply This is not a clear-cut Hint here, so I'm going to give it to you It can be stifled It can be stifled How how do you stifle brotherly love and Faithful words hateful words Absolutely. Jimmy is are you just something thinking to himself? I think he's got an example or something. What is it Jimmy? Just it's easy when someone you love Destroy you for temporary temporarily destroys you and it's easy to Go the other way. Oh, oh, oh, yeah. Yeah, and yeah I heard pastor one time say his name is Logan Cummings, and I've stuck to this many times Sometimes I don't know but he had a woman in his church. That was nothing but Pain in the neck just all the time just always harassing So finally he started praying God I cannot love this woman and you're gonna have to love this woman through me and over the course of several weeks And maybe months he finally It broke that ice and sometimes I mean I have a difficulty Loving people who support my family sure and hurt my wife sure and it's It's hard to pray for your enemies if you really think about it. Yeah. Yeah, so You know That's that's what I was thinking. Yeah Because when you start praying for an enemy if you're praying for an enemy and praying for an enemy They're not going to be an enemy very long Because of the way God changes your heart doesn't mean they even care about you But when you start praying for someone it's hard to hate them hard to be angry at them because The way that God the Holy Spirit changes your heart when you're praying for someone you can't pray for someone you can start praying if you're mad at them, but you're if you keep praying for me, you're not going to continue to have that anger or that madness or that Detestful because the Holy Spirit changes your heart when you pray for people Yeah, so so you're telling us how to overcome the fact the matter is it can be stifled, right? Let me tell you it sums up this way It's when you make no effort to meet the needs of others All right, when you see a brother in need and you don't respond you've just stifled brother to love Ah See there she is. She's going for it. She's got her second one preoccupied with self with my next phrase selfishness and Guess what that is right, right, which is first goodness So you stifle brotherly love through self Selfishness pride and sin Ignoring someone in need All right, let continue implies that it already existed. It can be stifled. How about this one though? They have to stifle it can be what? Say it Overcome how about increased? Increased it can be increased. Look at first Peter 1 22 23 Whoever's next If you have an obedience to the truth purified your soul for a sincere love of the brethren And fervently love one another from the heart For you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable That is through the living and enduring word of God that word fervently Fervently, what does that tell you? What's that word fervent mean? Intentional but not just intentional intense Intense Intentionality. Yeah, it's giving yourself to it It's giving your all to it. It's fervent I'm going to love my brother And I'm going to make it a priority to love my brother and I'm going to do my best to love my brother You have that passion about it so David is it choosing you're choosing to be obedient you are you are but you're fervently looking for opportunities to Express brotherly love by ministering to the needs of others. In other words, you have so set yourself aside That now you're saying okay. I've got some resources here. How can I deploy them? Now it might not just be money. It might be other things You know that you could deploy Your time your effort right a good word My wife is a phenomenal note writer She loves to write notes Every time someone gets a note from my wife What they what do they see? They see brotherly love See they see brotherly love And she's she's passionate about it she looks for every opportunity Did she fervently gives herself to writing notes? From the heart from the heart and we got one this week we hosted a party on Saturday for for the class that we're a part of on Sunday and The leaders of the class just we got a note in milk new day And it was a great note reminded me of my wife just from the Pansy is from Well, it was from Pansy My goodness. Gee, she just blessed us She's blessed to say, you know a timely word an encouragement To make it so it's not necessarily money. It's anything you can do to touch and encourage It's coming alongside the brother and then putting your arm around him and praying for him looking for an opportunity to pray That's what we're talking about. So it can be it can be it existed. It can be stifled. It can be increased It can be nurtured nurtured Philippians 2 3 & 4 Philippians 2 3 & 4 Do nothing from stubbishness or impotence, but with humility of mind Regard one another is more important than yourselves Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others So it's repeating what I just said, but a different way in essence. It's saying it's saying have this attitude about it That nurtures it, right? Remember this is the famous Yeah, famous mind of Christ this precedes the mind of Christ He had this or this attitude of Christ, right? So this is attitude being you which is also in Christ Jesus or this mind being you which also in Christ Jesus This these two verses they they precede those verses Well, how do you do that? You do it because you you you don't just look out for your own interests for the interest of others It can be nurtured in it takes humility to do that, doesn't it? It takes humility. You have to regard your brother is more important than yourself But what's interesting is when you compare yourself to Jesus, which is what that the next verses do, right? They declare here's how here's how Jesus did it, right? Now you look at Jesus as your example you go. I've got a little ways to go Just a little Not quite there yet, right? I'm being facetious. I'm a long way away I've got a long way to go. Oh my It's convicting Character Jesus, he's the same today yesterday, right? Right, and so he already exists inside of me, right? So the issue is the issue is is letting him have control of me Because if I do it in my own strength, it's not going to happen It's when his spirits in charge that it happens on that character to take on the character. Yeah Thank you. All right, brother. Love Also, why is really love among believers important look at John 1335 here's why it's so important John 1335 What does it show the world Did you what You belong to him. You've owned him ghost. You belong to him Exactly and and when you don't do it you look like the world you look Don't you? Create that cycling if you don't show it. Yeah. Yeah, exactly So first it shows you you belong to him. It is a powerful witness to the world powerful witness First John 314 is another reason Somebody read that We know that we have passed other death into life because we love the brother and he who does who does not love abides in death so this is Assures you of your salvation If you have brotherly love Then you according to this verse right here You know that you passed out of death into life when you have a brotherly love If you have no brotherly love if you can't love your brother, there's a good chance you're not related to your brother Okay Good chance So it assures you of your salvation that you belong to Jesus in Psalm 133 one reads All right Who do you think is pleased when you do it? The Lord the Lord the Lord If we live just to please God we'd be doing okay, wouldn't we? Yeah We'd be doing okay. So brotherly love is part of pleasing God if you're not Loving your brother like you should you're not pleasing God There's so many good side effects That come from intentionality I mean if you choose like we're talking about to give brotherly love to love your neighbor to love the people in the church to love the person at the grocery store Then you're choosing to live a godly life and it pays way more dividends Than you even know about Absolutely, you never know that it's got a ripple effects what you're saying It's got a ripple effect How is brotherly love demonstrated to strangers now? This is you don't neglect to show hospitality to strangers now This word strangers has this this definition to it fellow believers that you do not personally have a relationship with That's what's implied in this verse so Have you ever been at a conference or something and you don't know the guy sitting next to you But all of a sudden he has you know, he's needing help with something and you've got an opportunity to minister, right? He needs prayer and you got a chance to pray He may he might need He might need a meal and you got a chance to buy a meal You know, I you know saying He's a brother. You don't know him But he has a need So that's what this is talking about the brother who has the need and you don't have a clue who he is Never met him before He's a believer So if you don't know them, right, how do you know if they're a believer? Well, well, it's not applied to just people that he's ready It can yes, it can. I don't want to minimize that absolutely can Sometimes when you do it with someone's not a believer, then you'll make you're bearing a witness, right? Which which I've done before and so you right? I know what Noel does I love that about Noel Yeah, I'm not gonna embarrass you tonight, Noel Suffice it to say he has a way of giving a handout to those on the street corners when he comes to the stoplight That I find awesome He's convicted me, but I should I should do something like Anyway point being you don't know. Okay, I have I Have filled up tanks of gas. I bought them. I bought a tire for a woman one time I mean, you know, you never know Then I didn't know if she was a brother or sister or not But she had a need That's crazy. We're back coming back from a vacation When we saw false, we're coming back in Colorado when we saw false and we had to make it stop and I think McDonald's probably going us anyway, I Come out from getting the order and there is a lady at my car in One of the kids has talked to I think and I remember exactly Exactly. Anyway, I said, can I help you sir? I don't really need a tire Okay Right, so what do you do? Well, I could have said well good luck Well, she actually told me where the tire store was She's she said my car is at the car store, but I can't I don't have any money to buy the tire That's how much you need not forget what the number was and So it just so happened. We had the cash and so I I don't have a clue what she did with it right That's that's really not your responsibility. Not my responsibility. It's your responsibility to love and to share and For the longest time I would not give someone on the street cash People for fear that they might buy drugs or something like that. But what I've learned is that if God Tells you to give or to help Let let God worry about where the money goes. Yeah, or whether they eat or what they do Yeah, you know that I I went into all these this man was sitting there homeless man, and I've seen it before And he says he's a Christian, but we prayed together and I just He was counting out money. He said he need money for his prescription and I thought You know, I want to be wise here. Do I give him money? I Prayed with him held his hands He was very receptive went back to the car and God spoke to my heart and I had to give him $20 So you have to use wisdom. You know, what's really a good thing to do Take grocery bags I fill up one for a man one for a woman or one for child because sometimes women are standing on the street corner With the child. Yeah And you put toiletries and whatever there maybe some protein bars, maybe a couple bucks Stick them in your backseat. Mm-hmm Your business because at the same time you're not getting a lot but at least some essentials and but it's usually received sure it is Well for the grace of God I could make you And you know, it could be one of my kids. I always think about that you know, it could be one of my grandkids sitting there or something else, but I still got him I Learned over the years to use wisdom Godly with them. I have to listen to him. Yeah, because it isn't always handing him 20 bucks. It's not where it's at Because I've done that and God knows my heart, you know But I still need we still need God to listen and dealing with it sure we do sure do that's an A-plus infinity Yeah, so so I'll give you another godly wisdom here. I just Don't I don't know how many times handful times God I go out of church and and and out into the back Parking lot and there's someone needing gas They come right up to me say could you help me get gas? At that time we had a high-fives we had a gas station, right? So I Come on let's go, you know, I'll call you over there now go over there. I run my card into the pump He takes the pump. He pumps it out He fills up his car. I have no problem with that. I'm gonna I'm gonna minister when I can minister, right? so Just there's again. We'll get the picture. I think we've got the picture. That's people. We don't know And you never know the author makes here when you might the point he's making you never know when you might be entertaining angels, okay I Guess you invite them into your home Exactly. And that's exactly right. So so again You know along comes a brother and he's coming from another city And he needs a place to stay and you're opening up your home to that brother and you know It could be not a brother but you know, that's what they did they offered a meal they offered a place to say This is exactly what they did Yeah, good Samaritan, yeah, yeah So Whether it's walking out of church whether the parking lot Whatever it is somebody you see if you stop or don't show it Then you can create the situation where you allow the door to open for Satan to come into their heart because of how you behave Yes, so if you don't show that love all the time to your fellow brethren or sister in Christ Then you're leaving the door open for right problem again. You're cycling it right when you don't do it. You're cycling it Jimmy There's a preacher used to be the youth director at Travis Avenue and I used to teach at seminary, but He would uh when somebody asked him for money He would say well I'll be glad to give you this money But if you're using it for what you're saying you use I'm gonna pray that God blesses you And if you use it for something else, I want you to tell me and I'm gonna pray Pray that if it's used and you're telling me a lie that it may curse you And he said a lot of times what I do is so I'm on drugs And then he'd have a card that would he would give him and then he still give him the money But yeah, he's still helping meet the need of trying to solve their problems Which would be drugs or alcohol or just down on their luck. He says Most of the time most of the time he would give him money But one time he prayed me and this guy said I can't take it. I can't take it I don't want want it to be cursed people What's your problem? He delved into more serious problems than just giving them money is what I'm trying to say And I thought that was a unique way of Dealing with the situation where you have a lot of homeless people Right, that's a thought maybe I don't know Okay, so The words hospitality, right, so what are some of the ways in which hospitality is demonstrated Matthew 25 34 to 40 Jesus gives a long list right he said He said the king stated on the right come you are blessed to my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from foundation world I was hungry. You did what? I was thirsty did what? I was a stranger. You did what? I was naked you did what? I was sick. You did what? I was in prison. You did what? That's a pretty good list Pretty good list and it David is it you're Purposely going out of your way to minister. Yeah. Yeah Maybe again, it's something you do with intentionality You just what you put us when you're nurturing it when you're looking for the opportunity To whom should we give hospitality and here's we've already answered this question But look at see what Paul said under the inspiration of Holy Spirit Galatians 6 10 somebody read that So then while we have opportunity Let us do good to all people and especially those who are of the household of faith. So all Is included Household of faith make sure they're included right make sure they're included That's what it means to have brotherly love You may be entertaining angels. It's the last part, right? Why is it important that you demonstrate hospitality and opportunity to present yourself in Genesis 18 1 through 5? Let's see. Y'all remember how Abram Entertained angle there Jimmy you want to read that Galatians what no Genesis 18 1 2 5 now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Marmory Mari That memory whatever memory while he's sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day When he lifted up his eyes and look behold three men were standing out to him And when he saw them he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and Said my lord, if now I found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by Please let a little water be brought wash your feet and rest yourself under the tree And I'll bring a piece of bread that you may refresh yourselves After that, you may go on Since you have visited your servant and they said so do as you have said All right. Do we know who the three men are? Well, it was actually is actually most people believe it was Jesus in car in car and I did a pre Pre-incarnate appearance of Christ plus two plus two angels That's what most people believe it was. So not only was he entertaining angels He Was interesting the Son of God Hmm You never know You never know So It's important that we demonstrate hospitality and brotherly love. So a true faith runner demonstrates brotherly love a true faith runner demonstrates empathy to the suffering Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them and those who are ill-treated Since you yourselves also are in the body now. He's talking about the prisoners who imprisoned Their believers brothers who are in prison because of their faith That's who he's talking about So remember the prisoners as though in prison with them and those who are ill-treated Since you yourselves also in the body, what should be our response to fellow believers who are suffering especially because of their faith First of all when you said remember the prisoners you've got to What you got? Well, you might pray for them exactly And as though in prison with them Implies what Empathetic empathetic you identify with them Those who are ill-treated you hurt with them you feel their pain That's empathy When you when you can put yourself in their place and you identify with the pain and suffering they're going through and you hurt with When you shed the tears with them Right That's empathy Several ways we can demonstrate empathy to those who suffer include first back to this thing this is Remember the prisoners we said you could play but we can also visit them be there for them, right? Secondly we can help them Philippians 4 14 through 16 somebody read that Nevertheless you have done well to share with me in my affliction You yourselves also know Philippians that at the first preaching of the gospel after I left Macedonia No church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone For even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs now Once you get the picture here, first of all, Paul is writing this letter from where? prison in Rome Roman prison cell. All right. He's running it back to the Church of Philippi Church of Philippi is the one where he got whoops Right he and who Silas they got whoops And put in stocks and change or whatever, right? And then they sang and they prayed and ever said all of a sudden the earth shakes and the chains fall off and The jailer gets saved his whole household. What a glorious thing, right? That's Philippi All right that church Maximum size according to historians it ever got to was 120 is small Small Yet they were so taken by Paul's ministry and said we're going to support you now What happened at Thessalonica anybody knows the history of Thessalonica when Paul goes there? How long is he there? Three what? three weeks Emphasis is three years Thessalonica's three weeks and when Paul says More than once when I was in Thessalonica, that means more than once in three weeks. He got a gift from them a support That's pretty significant, isn't it? So he is sitting there Just singing their praises and thanking them for their support and their concern That's what you call helping someone who's in need entering into their ministry and They were suffering in in Thessalonica as well because they got kicked out of Thessalonica now ultimately, you know He goes into prison and I'm sure they continue to support him in prison But you can help them back then When you went to prison they didn't give you three square They didn't give you a shower They Didn't give you a change of clothes So if you were going to get any help at all it had to be someone that's going to come in and help you So literally they would friends and family would come to the prisoner and bring meals and bring clothing Bring a coat for the cold winter That's what they had to do If there weren't any prisoners rights like there are today That's what they had to deal with so Again help them Finally Susan pray for them Colossians 418 I'll let you read it since you said it That word remember my imprisonment is saying pray for me Pray for me Again, he's writing that for you. So he's in the same room in jail cell when he writes to the church of Colossus Okay The true faith runner demonstrates brotherly love he demonstrates empathy to the suffering He demonstrates faithfulness and merit marriage marriage is to be held in honor among all and the marriage bed is to be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers God will judge What are some of the reasons in marriage to be held in honor among believers, let's look at Genesis 128 Someone read that God bless him and God said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth Subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea over the birds of the sky and over every living creature Moves on earth. Okay, go ahead and read the next one 1st Corinthians 7-2 But because of immorality each man has an obligation to serve the Lord His own wife and each woman have her own husband. And then finally Genesis 2 18 Then the Lord God said it is not good for the man to be alone. I'll make him a helper suitable for him So three reasons are identified in those three passages One is the propagation of children This is this is how God this is God's plan that to build You know his creation it to be fruitful multiply All right Propagation children second the prevent sexual sin prevent sexual sin Because of immorality these men to have his own wife he's going to her own husband in other words stick with your mate Don't sin sexually and Finally God said it's not good for men to be alone. And I ought to tell you I I will speak for Ron. Okay, Ron needs a companion Just I don't know about Joyce the Ron needs one Okay, I Can tell you this old boy right here needs one. I need one. Okay, anybody else want to testify week, right? We need companions. I Can't you know now listen if anybody hears this thing, well, please don't take this wrong. All right I'm just telling you this will need to come in Okay There's something that can they can do just fine without and that's great this old boy needs one and God smiled on me big time Big time He won the lottery. I did And so did Ron Oh my We need companionship That's why you should hold marriage in honor What are some of the ways that marriage can be held in honor by believers look at Ephesians 5 22 to 33 that famous passage of scripture It's a long passage, but it's important to read Who's up to it somebody on the back table back there When I Need but hey, go ahead Andrew Wives be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church He himself being the Savior of the body But if the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands and everything Husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her So that he might sanctify her Having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word and he might present to himself Church in all her glory Having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless So husband's ought to also love their own wives as their own bodies He who loves his own wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh But nourishes it and cherishes it just as Christ also does the church Because we are members of his body For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church Nevertheless Each individual among you is to love his own wife even as himself And the wife must see to it that she respects her husband Then first Peter 3 7 go ahead and read that you husbands in the same way live with your wives in an understanding way as someone weaker Since she is a woman and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life So that your prayers will not be canceled So what are some of the ways that we can hold it in honor I'm going to summarize it for you the way I did it and y'all might want to add to it live with your spouse as the Lord instructs Concerning submission This time the word is agape Ron oh This time the word is agape Concerning love concerning responsibilities concerning respect If you if you will take those passages and make them yours in the way You and your spouse relate You are on solid ground And that's all there is to it you're on solid ground Okay But you know that there's twice as many words in here Telling the husband to love his wife as there are Telling the wife to submit To her husband twice as many words Yeah, see that word that the women learn right That's true, but their words submit right is what willingly place yourself under So I willingly place yourself under now Here's here's something my friend Tim Alba has taught me to say all right love and respect Give yours Earn hers or earn his give yours earn his or hers You give your love and respect and you earn their love and respect I Think it's a great way to approach it. It's a great way to put everything in here Yeah to me, okay I'm not doing it You're committed to it. Yeah, yeah Yeah Yeah, it's a copy. Yeah, and so, you know again as you made the point Everything that the husband is told to do he's told to do just like Christ does in church. Well, that's all order right Yeah, maybe was stronger to a weaker With men typically tend to be physically stronger than women so they should be there to protect and sure sure absolutely Okay, next point there are two main reasons The sexual purity must be a reality among believers First of all the damage caused by immorality Who or what is damaged now lots of people You can start listening things the spouse children Relatives What else? Reputation Christian would witness right the reputation your Christian witness Get this I believe future generations are impacted by it right, I Think you've got Of course the walk with God is shot your effectiveness in ministry is shot How many times have you heard of a fall of a leader in Christendom? Because of immorality and that's it right? I mean when they're done they're done right Yeah, they can't go back now I've seen tragedies. I've seen it in this church Yeah, well not having a pastor in this church, I won't be careful on that Yeah, yes, yes You know Robert Morris right now, yeah, of course it took 10 years. Yeah so so I'm just saying this you gotta be on guard because this is nothing but sin Nothing but sin and it's no matter how you try to justify it is sin and it is always judged And David knows that full well I'm talking about David in the Bible Nathan's in said to David You're the man This says the Lord God of Israel. It is I who anointed you king over Israel now Y'all just let that sink in you can plug that in in your life, too. He's the one right? He's the one that puts you where you are. He's the one that gifted you the way he gifted you He's the one that gave you your spouse He's the one I He says I'm the one Who anointed you king over Israel? I'm the one who delivered you from the hand of Saul I'm Again, what's he done for me? He's come through time after time for me right time after time for me. I Delivered you man. So I gave your master's house your master's wives into your care I gave you the house of Israel and Judah and if that had been too little I'd have added to you many more things like these Why have you despised the Word of the Lord by doing evil in his sight? You struck down your right of the Hittite with a sword You're taking his wife to be your wife and you killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon now therefore Here's the judgment the sword shall never depart from your house Because you've despised me And it taken the wifey to ride a hit I to be your wife Thus is the Lord behold. I will raise up evil against you from your household I'll even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight Indeed you did it secretly, but I'll do this thing before all Israel and under and under the Sun Then David said to Nathan I have sinned against the Lord Nathan said to David the Lord also has taken away your sin You should not die. He deserved to die under the law However, because by this deed you have been given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme The child also is born to you shall surely die So it affects more than just you it sure did It Affected Everything You can say the fact that Solomon who openly takes the throne It said it even affected the enemies of the Lord he affected it. Yeah The non-believers. Yeah gave them reason to blaspheme. Yes Well, so This is sobering in it, that's how serious God is about sin of the marriage the marriage bed Is to be undefiled undefiled for the fornicators adulterers. God will judge Believers must do the following to present themselves Prevent themselves from defying the marriage bed. First of all, you want to eliminate what? We can eliminate I'm gonna start with the word anything Okay. Yeah anything that leads to Lust Anything that leads to lust now in our modern-day household that means you turn off the TV, doesn't it? You can hardly turn on the TV and then I have something that's gonna lead to lust if you put if you focus on it You make me so mad my dad would do that Yeah Alcohol he would turn off turn off a beer commercial or if it was a sexual innuendo, he would turn it off And he made these awful faces It's wrong. That's just wrong. That's wrong You know I've never had I'm digressing but I remember I Won't see that And a little kid, yeah, you know later on you're glad you did it or you wish you hadn't one of the two All right. Yeah. Yeah Yeah Anything leads or encourages you to lust That's what you want to eliminate and you want to maintain Everything that will do what keep you walking close with the Lord Everything that will keep you walking close with the Lord All right, so a the portrait of a faith runner a true faith runner demonstrates He demonstrates contentment with God's provision make sure that you're going to have a good relationship with the Lord Contentment with God's provision make sure that your character is free from the love of money Being content with what you have for he himself has said I will never desert, you know, I'll ever forsake you We translate to the original Greek this way Let your manner of life be without love of money being satisfied with your present circumstances Why is the love of money a problem? We're going to see that in a second But I wanted you to focus on what we says for a second being satisfied with your present circumstances Do we struggle with that You can can't you you can struggle with that, huh more than I want to admit. Yeah You To be satisfied with your presence with your current circumstances Now We're gonna find the reason for that in just a second But I just want to add I want to make sure we got the picture we can struggle with this It's and we need to work on it if we do Those look at the love of money. Why is it a problem first Timothy six nine and ten? Y'all know this famous verse, but somebody read it For Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many recent harm Desires will punch men into ruin and destruction But the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some By longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many people Now, let me ask a question. Does this nation struggle with that? Yeah, what's the evidence of it turn on the news, right The national debt, yeah, absolutely, but it goes beyond that right This this it's crazy how greedy this nation has become In terms of top to bottom even the greed is greed is not necessarily those that are rich Greed is the attitude of a heart The attitude of a heart If there are people who dream about if only I Right, if only I could if only I had There's some people who struggle with vehicles no, you know that you seen it, right If I just had this vehicle I would be happy Not so because once you get that vehicle what's next Right last time I checked vehicles don't satisfy Rockefeller said I have I Have a lot of wealth Did somebody say well how much is enough? Just one more dollar. He said Just one more dollar, you know stuff will not satisfy. Yeah Right. So again, it's there to the heart It's not it's not just a person that pursues Wealth, but it's the attitude of the heart Abraham was rich But he wasn't greedy Remember what happened when he and lot got together and they said well We're too big to both occupy this land, right? What does Abraham do? He says pick the one you want a lot. He wasn't greedy lot goes hmm That's fertile valley down there. That sure would do good for my cattle on my my sheep There's the attitude of the heart And where did that add to take him? Towards Sodom Tent towards worse. There you go Right before you know it. He's living in Sodom. Yeah That's right see what greed did for him In that constant it said to the heart, all right Oh Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Yeah, I do have an I do have a Timothy version of it though. Hang in there. You're right. Good point I'll give you go sir Instead of loving money. Oh I didn't finish this. What was the problem through the people of sue money impacts you walk with God? The trust in money is a distrust in God It weakens our faith because we are putting my faith in something besides God It weakens our testimony It weakens our leadership and at least in neglect and abusive relationships Relationships case in point There's been many a father Who did who later in life has looked back on his life and said I wished I had instead of pursuing What he could get out of his job or the promotion or whatever it is When he was asked by his son to go to the game and he says I can't son because I got to work Did he have to work or did he choose to work? See what I'm saying? It's it's that that he can impact so It is it's a At least a neglect and abusive relationships instead of loving money. What are believers to do and why? Since you brought up Philippians. Yeah, why don't you read? first Timothy 6 6 through 8 and 17 through 19 I'm going to sleep But Godliness actually is a means of great gains when accompanied by contentment For we have brought nothing into the world So we cannot take anything out of it either If we have food and coverings With these we shall be content And struck those who are rich in this present world Not to be conceded or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches But on God Who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy? instruct them to do good to be rich in good works and Generous and ready to share Storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that Here we go instead of pursuing money, right? Be content with God's provision Have the same priorities that God has Make Joyce's life your life first What's your life first choice Each out here. She's quiet Matthew 633 Matthew 633 Well, you just follow suit I'll get credit where it's due yes, okay Yeah, yeah, so The final thought He will always come through He always comes through Yeah, he'll always come through so a portrait of a faith runner He's content with God's provision and finding his courage in trials So that we confidently say the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What will men do to me? So where are some of the trials of life that can happen to a believer my goodness for this is long But let's just start sickness persecution Financial ruin financial ruin Loss of job loss of the job loss of the job So what you're thinking? Oh, I have a lot of things. Well, keep going. Come on Loss of a job, loss of a son Loss of a job so they don't fit in been fired four times Success I was fired one time I got home and I found out I'm pregnant with our first son So yeah Trials, but the thing about it is God knows that that's going to happen. He knows it You know, I'm in it, but I'm not And when those trials happen, I firmly believe If they had not happened That I wouldn't have the empathy for people who lose jobs people who have lost lost a son I would be kind of I would be kind of I would be kind of I would be kind of I would be kind of heart in the heart in those situations Where you're going you're collecting coke bottles to help feed your family on the weekend and stuff like that. But you know, I Would not be able to be empathized With people in need. I wouldn't be able to look at a lot right now at the Sonic There's a woman that Blue hair tattoos all over her body after how she's doing and she said well You know her husband worked there too. He had a brain tumor. They have four kids and Prior to all that happening to me. I probably wouldn't have cared as much We were You know God let God And we didn't say this a while ago, but Be available to serve. Yeah, and Those things that have happened to me in my life makes me available to serve the Lord to people in need Good point I had another one down catastrophes, right? catastrophes Lawsuits right as you know, we've lived through that here recently with my family so lawsuits Job issues, I mean goes on why can't believers maintain courage one when I'm in during trials? Why? It's the Lord is what? Our helper right the Lord's the one enables us to endure He's the one that comes to our defense He's the one that provides our resources He's the one that brings healing Because you're going to get hurt And you're going to need healing And you're going to need healing and he's the one that brings healing What can men do to believers that's too big for God to overcome trick question Nothing without God's permission nothing Man can bring nothing to us that God can't overcome And even when God permitted it in jokes case He still overcame didn't he? God also disciplines His own. Yeah, whether you like it or not. Yeah He does but we're talking about courage in trials. Yep. How do believers maintain courage during trials? Trusting God, here's the way I put it. Keep your eyes on Jesus draw near to him worship him I made mention the other week about how When my daughter-in-law needed healing we sat there and sang for two hours just sang praise We worship Worship heals worship encourages Worship him obey him Live in the center of his will Give it to him and leave it there hard to do But so necessary Give it to him and leave it there and then experience his peace his presence and his power Why does my poor what does my portrait look like do I consistently demonstrate what we love Do I show empathy to those who are suffering? Am I always faithful in marriage? Am I content with God's provision for my needs? Do I confidently and courage courageously rely on the Lord as I go through 12 Is that me? I hope so. That's what I wanted to be And I'm sure you feel the same way What do you do when God doesn't answer your prayers like you want to pray What happens if What happens if your prayer like our son, I mean your prayer was answered with your daughter But our son was sick for three years. Yeah with infantile spasms. We had to see him in a home September and then he died Thanksgiving because we couldn't control his grandma's seizures God never answered our prayer and My wife still struggles with that sometimes. Yeah, so that it wasn't answered the way we want to be answered my parents I'm not trying to be a devil's advocate. No, no, you know, my parents have had a I Have a brother who was homosexual for 36 years my dad was a Southern Baptist minister for 35 years and You know, he was the epitome of a prodigal son and They prayed and prayed and prayed and then their death They died and he's still a homosexual in fact at the funeral he brought his husband and then a year and a half ago, he said God grabbed the hose out of him and Now he's a strong Christian with no friends. He said good, you know, it's hard to hard to relate to that but You know prayer is a powerful thing. I strongly believe that and it's hard. It's extremely hard When you have a son dying It's hard sure it is There's there's some things we don't understand it is so hard I had a 39 year old grandson who was a pastor of a Methodist Church in Minnesota married had three little children three five and seven got cancer and died and I you know, how do you deal with that? It wasn't just it was a prolonged. Yeah four years ago He suffered I sat with him for ten days in the hospital where working didn't help and he had an inoperable tumor and You know as I walked that walk I Knew Didn't understand it, but I knew that God knows best. Yeah. Yeah, and I had to leave it there He just knows best Here these three little girls and he was an on-hand dad. They they missed their daddy so terribly I'm missing he was they were as close as we could be. I Never left his bedside for ten days and ten nights. I slept there. We were close Hard Hard hard thing, but I knew that God knew Whatever it was in his hand and when you get that love of God in your spirit and know beyond a shadow of a doubt how much he loves us and well Yeah Amen, I think that this is a It's great that you share from your heart. So What? What God intends? What God intends for us is a relationship with him The whole point of life is that we get to choose, right? You know So important Because we can choose we can choose love man's way This is a love of man and you all know this one, this is eros self-love phileo Which is friendship love and store gay Which is the family love All of these loves are need love We need to be loved See See if who is this point is the fact that those kinds of love those are good They help the world go around But the thing is that when you watch someone die as you have That's really the the essence of life I Studied many years trying to become a doctor, you know, I ended up with an MD degree and I thought man a lot of this Is going to be great ah within the first month of my My being a doctor. I was on a round and this Lady had what we call empyema. She had an infection of the lung and there's pus coming out of her lung every day coming out of this tube and One of the most gracious most wonderful Ladies I've ever met but day after day would see I saw her for a month And one day when we came went on rounds and I was of course the low man on the totem pole So there was a chief doctor the professor followed by all the entourage. Okay about 10 or 12 And I was last in the row But we all surrounded this wonderful lady and saying Nice that he's to her and telling her, you know that this chest tube is draining this pus and permitting her to live Then she smiled and then she coughed but like that And when she did that the just a her whole like about a Gallon of blood just pushed out of this tube And she was dead like that And I'm thinking as I watch this I'm thinking in terror because all of us were just speechless all of us were just not knowing what to do and and I thought I Studied my whole life becoming a physician thinking that I would really be able to help a person like this and now She's dying in front of my eyes and she was dead within a few seconds And we were standing there not knowing exactly what to do And I realized that that life which is a precious life. This is a wonderful woman This precious life was taken by the one who's in control And I realized that I'm I'm not in control. I thought for a while. I thought Momentarily how stupid I really am as far as the physician is concerned We're not prepared for this and what I wouldn't repair it prepared for is to stand there watching a person die before my eyes and I realized that death is something that's important for us and Grief is so important for us to actually see someone who is living this kind of life Needing that love but the problem is that that need love can never be satisfied So Did I ever get over that that lady that died in front of my eyes? Thinking how miserable I am as a physician. No, I still remember that Vividly, I'll never forget that moment But you know the most important thing that we have to do is to go through that moment of death Holding the hand of a person that's dying sometimes it's a family member sometimes the friend and Sometimes you know It's an angel in that. We don't know that's an angel, but the purpose of that is to help us to understand That this is a love that's that's from outside us Okay, but the only way to survive that you see is God's love and you all know that You know God's love is a God thing and we all know this because we've all reviewed that But I think at this at this moment when we look at life Yes, we started with phileo love, which is a need love We all need to be have a friend to walk through life with you know I've had a friend for life for 57 years and I I can never thank God enough for that friendship but you see That's a neat love that I've had to have because I can walk through life Knowing that I'm hand in hand with someone who loves with who I love You know our family our friends, but also it helps me to love this one who loves us in spite of what we do And we're all rascals aren't we? Every one of us have hidden sins My thought life is like terrible every time I turn on the TV There's actually pornographic stuff on TV and I have to turn it off because I'm concerned I'll have some bad thoughts and but the image is there Now, how do we lose these images? That that distract us from loving the way God loves see And the only way that we can choose to do this Is that all of you? pray and Prayer is one of the most important things that we can do to choose to pray to not erase these memories But to be able to put them in the proper perspective Some of the greatest prayers are given by Paul And one of the prayers that he gives is in Philippians 1 verses 9 through 11 where he says I pray that my love would abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that I may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ Filled with the fruit of his righteousness which comes only through Christ Jesus to the praise and honor and glory of God Then it ends later in Jacket was so kind to mention this prayer in Philippians 4 6 and 7 we all know that one, right? Be anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving Let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep our heart and our mind in Christ Jesus But then it goes on like Jack said verse 8 is very important therefore What's for everything's are true? What's everything's what's perfect things are admirable put there? What's everything's are true? What's our admiral? What's what's so what things are excellent? What certain things are? praiseworthy think on these things and What is that? There was only one praiseworthy thing in all exist all the earth and that's Jesus Christ So ultimately even in death We through prayer can understand where the action is The action is the heart and we choose to do that which honors God with our hearts So we say well, what is the idea of struggling what's the idea of suffering and Like Romans 5 3 should be thankful in their suffering because suffering produces perseverance perseverance produces character Character produces hope which never disappoints because of the love agape of God that's bountifully poured into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit So is it now this we're just beginning to unfold Not only the importance of phileo story love, but also the importance of agape because we get both It's a both and when we have Jesus The only way to receive that which God offers from outside in is to receive it by choice by accepting it by faith so the closing thought is When we accept Jesus by grace through faith You know, we receive something that's beyond us because this is beyond what we are capable of doing in and of ourselves So by grace that we save through faith and that not of ourselves is the gift of God not of works with any man It's exposed because we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus Because that's God's working in us So the moment we choose to trust in Jesus Christ We've functioned all our lives here With man's love now God's helping us to understand what agape is See agape true agape unconditional love is a gift love We can give it because now we have it with Jesus Christ And what does that gift love look like? So just we think on these and pray on these things see agape love Is patient and kind not envious not boastful not proud not rude Not self-seeking not easily angered keeps no records of wrongs does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth Always protects always trusts always hopes always perseveres and this kind of love never fails It's only God's love and we get to be the conduit of that love to others So if we think about that And we process this last chapter of Hebrews It gets better the best is yet to come because you see What's coming is not here? What's coming is there? We should be miserable here on earth Because we don't like it here, and we should hate it here in many ways, but we don't belong here We belong there with God forever And that's what that's what's in store for us like Cory ten boom said This is yet to come No, no a plus infinity But you all get an a plus infinity every one of you because you listen to this And you're embracing it because it's true because God's Word is true. Let's close Dear heavenly father. Thank you for this moment of just reckoning with you and your word We thank you that Jesus is superior to everything in anything in all creation But dear Lord we ask you this moment That not only you give us your wisdom But we also pray that you give us your love and we do this only by grace through faith through you So dear Lord. We pray that what we are not you'll make us And what we have not you'll give us So dear Lord. We pray that you'd help us to make us to be just like you a man and woman after your own heart We pray that you help us to remember that the secret mystery life If you tell us in Colossians 127 is Christ in us the hope of glory so help us each to Proclaim you teaching and admonishing everyone with all wisdom So that we would be able to present everyone that we meet greet and serve to be perfect and complete in Christ Jesus so that we can be like Jesus in our hearts who pray these things to Jesus Christ our Lord Amen, well, thank you so much everyone to be continued