In the Word

Pastor Mike Warren: Open your Bibles to 1 John, chapter three. We have come as far as verse 11. That is where we will pick up, but we are going to back up again because there are two things John is going to tell us that earmark the true follower of Christ. We saw last week that the first of those things is that we do not habitually practice sin as a way of life anymore. We cannot because His seed remains in us. We are born of the Spirit, and so we have a different mind, a different heart, different ambitions, and different desires.

The other thing is the most supernatural of the two. We love others as God loved us. Let us pray and dive in. Father, we thank You this morning. Even this week, I am trying to understand something that we cannot completely understand this side of heaven. I found myself thinking, Lord, what will it be like that moment when we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air and we are in our Father's house? We read in Revelation 21 that there is a moment when You are going to wipe every tear from our eyes.

You are going to look into our face and manifest Yourself in a way that we can relate to. You are going to touch our cheek, wipe every tear from our eyes, and tell us that You have made all things new. No more death, no more sorrow, no more pain. Behold, I make all things new. Lord, we long for that moment. We are living for that moment. That is our waypoint on our GPS. It is what we have set our hearts toward. Because we are born of the Spirit, we seek those things above. We have set our affections on things above and not the things of this earth.

We are living for that moment when we get to go home. There You tell us for all eternity You are going to be showing us how much You love us because it is that incredible. We are going to find out about that love this morning and how we ought to love one another because of it. Father, speak to us this morning about this incredible love that You have for us and teach us to love others the same way. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

We need to back up because as we come to verse 11, halfway through chapter three, let us read it so we are on the same page. Then we will back up to verse one because in verse one, he begins this process of declaring to us something so incredible. In verse 11 he says, "For this is the message that you've heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." The reason why we should love one another is found back in verse one. Let us read it again. He says, "Behold." When you see that word "behold," it means to take note of, to try to do your best to understand.

For 49 years, I have been trying to understand this. I understand it intellectually, and I sensed what it felt like when I was born again and that love overwhelmed me. There is something here that is beyond any religious experience because we are not religious here; we are relational. He says, "Behold, what manner." As we said last week, that word "manner" means otherworldly. It is something foreign to us. How many of you have a hard time sometimes loving yourself?

Be honest this morning. How many of you have a hard time sometimes liking yourself? How many have a hard time sometimes loving or liking other people? We are going to see this morning that God loved us with this everlasting love, with this unconditional agape love. He demonstrated that love, and it is not just something He said. We are not to love in word only but in deed. He demonstrated His love in that He sent His Son to die for us, to pay for the penalty and remove the power of sin from us when we were dead in our trespasses and sins.

When we hated Him, when we were going as fast as we could away from Him, He still loved us. When we look at this agape love, it is beyond understanding. It is foreign to us because no one has loved us like this. In this world, people love you for what they can get from you. They love you because there is some benefit. That is just the way it is. God loved you and me when there was nothing we had to give Him. In fact, we hated Him. We spit upon His Son, we cursed Him, we plucked out His beard, we beat Him, and we crucified Him.

While that was going on, Jesus looked at the very people that were doing it and said, "Father, forgive them." I do not know that I could do that. I know I am born again, and I am learning about this kind of love, but I do not know that I could do that. Yet He looked at those people that were beating Him and forcing Him to carry a cross after He was beaten beyond human recognition. They drove those spikes through His wrist and through His feet and in shame hung Him between heaven and earth. All the while, He was saying, "Father, forgive them, for if they knew what they were doing, they'd never do it."

The heart is desperately wicked. Behold, take note of, be in awe of this unconditional love that the Father has bestowed. You did not earn it. In fact, we did everything to un-earn it. He bestowed it; He gifted it to us. This morning, you should worship with your whole heart because you are named in heaven as the sons and daughters of the Most High God. You are the born-again ones. You are the children of God. You have been brought back into this relationship through the sacrifice of Jesus.

You opened up your heart and said, "I believe. I believe that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the Messiah, He's the Savior of the world. I believe that He's the eternal Word, the only begotten of the Father that took on human flesh. I believe He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on Calvary's cross a substitutionary death. He died in my place. That's where I should've been hanging." He took every ordinance that was written against me that keeps me from my Father, and He nailed it to His cross. He suffered and bled and died because the wages of sin is death, and He rose again the third day to prove that He is a life-giving Spirit. Whosoever would come to Him, He would never turn away, but He would give to you the gift of eternal life.

That is relational. Sometimes we drag ourselves in here and we are so concerned about everything else when we should come into this place in awe of what God has done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called His children, brought back into the family. We who once were far off, separated, and outside of the covenants and promises, have been brought back by the blood of Jesus Christ. One of these days, we are going to stand on the other side of this in His presence.

I know that you are familiar with some of these verses, but football season is coming and you will see the signs for John 3:16. I think sometimes we can get so used to hearing something that we do not think about it. We do not muse over it or consider it. I want to read this to you again, but I want you to have new ears. "For God so loved... loved us unconditionally, loved us when we were dead in our trespasses and sins." If He loved you then, is He still loving you now? You say you messed up, but you think that shocks Him? He knows the beginning from the end. He knows your thoughts before you think them. Your life is a story that has already been told.

God so loved the world that He gave, He sacrificed, He offered up His only begotten Son, the eternal Word, the second person of the Godhead. Whosoever would believe—not work, earn, labor, become religious, join a church, or keep some code of ethic—but believe in Him should not perish but should have everlasting life. You have it now. We have it now, those of us that are born again. Then verse 17 should be added to verse 16. It goes on to say that God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world. We do a good enough job of that ourselves.

How many have a problem condemning yourself or condemning others? Who are you to judge another man's servant? Before the Lord, he stands or falls. The Lord is even able to make him stand. He did not come into the world to condemn us, but that the world through Him might be saved. That word "saved" is from the wrath of God, brought back into relationship with the Father. Safe and secure in Christ Jesus. Brought back into the family, those who were once alienated from Him.

We find the unimaginable act of this love in Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two is one of those chapters that I read often and I am in amazement of it. If I were God, I would have kicked you all to the curb, myself included, and started over. I would not try to go down and get a bunch of people and fix them that hate me. I certainly would not have sacrificed my Son. That is why this kind of love that the Father has toward you and me is otherworldly. We cannot wrap our heads around it.

Philippians 2:1-8 says, "If there be therefore any consolation"—and the "if" there is in the class condition in the Greek, it means "since." Since there is consolation in Christ, since there is this comfort of love. How many of you know that you are born of the Spirit when you receive Christ as your Savior? This comfort of love, this fellowship of the Spirit, the mercies that God pours out upon us, these tender mercies. Then Paul goes on to say, "Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded."

This is going to be the theme of the message as we finish out chapter three, that we should love one another as He has loved us. He is telling us here that because God loved you and sacrificed His Son for you, then you ought to be willing to do the same for one another. Then he says, "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory." That is bringing attention to yourself or being self-centered. We can become so self-centered. It can all be about me and us. Yet the Bible calls us to be other-centered because certainly, God was other-centered and Christ was other-centered.

Be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves. How many this morning struggle with making other people more important than you? I hear it all the time. The building is too warm or too cold. They sing the same songs. They sing slow songs or fast songs. Why do they not sing the songs that I want them to sing? Or he tells the same jokes. Does he not have any new jokes? How come he has to speak for an hour or an hour and 15 minutes sometimes? When I came here I liked it, but I do not like it anymore because it delays me getting to the restaurant of my choice before everyone else shows up.

We have to be careful. You and I are in the presence of God. He said where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there. I am going to break your bubble a bit this morning. It is not about you. We ought to be in awe. Behold, what manner of love that the Father would be here in fellowship with us. Then he says let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves. Sometimes I will give my testimony and I have had people complain that I give my testimony too much.

You do not know that I am fishing. There is somebody here who is not saved who needs to hear what God can do for them. Just plug your ears because it is not for you if you have already heard it. It is for the person that the Holy Spirit wants to hear that no matter how bad they are, God can save them. I am an example of that. Paul said God raised me up as an example because if He could save a wretch like me, He could save anybody. Every once in a while, the Holy Spirit says, "Give your testimony." It is not about you.

This is going to be the message this morning. It is about Him and the people He wants to bring in. We need to be other-centered. Look not every man to his own thing, but every man to the things of others. Let this mind—and that is what we are going to be talking about this morning, how we know that we are saved because we have been transformed—be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. In the beginning, as John writes his gospel, was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He tells us here that He who was in the form of God made Himself of no reputation, took upon Himself the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men. Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient even to the death of the cross for you and me. Ephesians chapter three is another one of those verses I look at often. Paul is going to ask me to know something that I cannot know. He is going to say, "I want you to know something, but you can't know it." That is confusing, but we should be in awe of it. Behold, what manner of love.

In Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul writes these words: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus, of whom the whole family... in heaven and in earth is named." Notice this relational terminology. "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by the Spirit in your inner man; That Christ... may dwell in your hearts by faith." This is not a religion; this is Christ dwelling in us.

How many opened up your heart and said, "Come on in"? By faith, Christ is dwelling in you. Then he goes on to say that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will experience something. The first thing that I experienced when I gave my life to Jesus in that little Bible study up in the mountains with 30 other hippie kids was hope. The second thing I experienced was love. It was overwhelming to me. I had never experienced it before. I could have given you the dictionary definition of love or of hope, but I had never experienced that before.

Maybe some of you grew up in homes where there was love, but this kind of love is otherworldly. Behold, what manner. It was like a light went on. It was like for the first time somebody wrapped their arms around me, and I knew something was different in my heart. I was a hateful person. I was a bitter young man. Selfish, self-seeking, and just angry at the world. I do not know how I got there, but that is where I was when Jesus found me.

When I opened my heart to that, it was incredible because I had this experience, rooted and grounded in love. Now, watch this. "That you might be able to comprehend." I have been working on this for 48 years and I still am not comprehending it. "That you might be able to comprehend with all the saints." Together we are trying to comprehend what is the breadth, the length, the depth, and the height. That we might know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. We might know something that we cannot know.

It is so incredible, it is so deep, so high, so wide, that we are going to spend eternity, as John will tell us, having it come to us in different waves. God loves you with an everlasting love. He loves you unconditionally. He loved you so much when you were dead in your trespasses and sins, when you were spitting in His face and cursing His name and going as fast and as far as you could the opposite way. That might not have been you, but it was me. He sent His Son to die for me that I might be brought back into fellowship.

That is how John begins this epistle. I write that your fellowship might be with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Not religion, but fellowship. That is why Jesus can say things like, "My sheep hear my voice. They follow no other." That is why Paul could write to the church of Colossae and say, since you have been risen with Christ, now you seek those things above. You have a different worldview. You set your affections on things above and not the things of this earth because your life is dead and it is hidden in Christ who is your life. Christ is your life. He is not a religion; He is your life.

He is our life. He is the reason why we live. When Christ comes—and He is coming soon—we might be found in Him, abiding in Him, fellowshipping with Him, receiving His mercy and grace that we need every day. It is relational. That you might know something that passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. That you may know something that is so deep, so high, so wide, and so thick that you could spend a thousand lifetimes trying to comprehend it and never come to the full of it.

God would love you and me so much that He would say, "I can't and I won't live for eternity without you. I'll send my Son to pay your debt." The gospel is so simple. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever—it does not matter what you have done or who you did it to. It does not matter where you slept or who you slept with. It does not matter what you gussied down your throat, injected in your veins, snorted up your nose, or inhaled in your lungs. The love of God and the grace of God is sufficient to save the vilest of sinners, to bring that wandering soul back home into fellowship with the Father.

I refuse to be religious. I know Him and He knows me, and that is enough. I am so glad for this because He put it in writing for me to read it. It is His love letter to me. I get alone with it, and it speaks to me. It reminds me that I messed up, and I messed up big, but He still loves me. It does not change His relationship with me. He sees my heart and He sees that it bothers me that I did that. It bothers Him that I did that too, but His blood, the blood of His Son, covers it.

We might know something that is unknowable, that we might spend our lives being in awe of it. It would be the thing that we think about the most. How many know that you are messed up? Even as a Christian, you know you are messed up. We are. In this transitional period from being born again and learning how to walk with Christ, He still loves you. He sees you not as you are, but as He shall eventually make you. Love covers a multitude of personal imperfections and sin.

Does it start to sink in for a moment? Do I have to spend more time talking about this incredible love that the Father has for you? When you were dead in your trespasses and sins, He sent His Son and sacrificed His Son to die in your place to bring you back into relationship. Are we all on the same page there, at least intellectually? It will take you a lifetime to have it go from your head to your heart, those 14 inches. That is how much God loves you.

Religion wants to come in and cloud it and make you think that you have to perform, because if you do not perform, God will not love you. He loves you. I have taken written doctrine courses. Whether you realize it or not, I am actually educated. I might not sound like it sometimes, but I actually graduated. I have a BA degree in religion. The greatest doctrine I have ever learned, the greatest doctrine to be found in the Bible, the greatest truth and the one that I am still working on trying to understand is not theology, Christology, pneumatology, soteriology, ecclesiology, or eschatology.

The greatest truth I have ever set my mind and heart to consider is "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Jesus loves me when I am good, when I do the things I should, and Jesus loves me when I am bad, even though it makes Him sad. Jesus loves me. You cannot get beyond that. If you ever get beyond that, you are educated beyond your intelligence, and you have to come back to this simple truth. You are here this morning because God loved you, and He sought you until He found you.

He paid your debt, He removed the stain of your sin, He paid the penalty, He removed the power, and then He says to you and me, "Welcome home." He puts His arms around us, He puts a robe on our back like the prodigal son, a ring on our finger, shoes on our feet, and there is a party coming when we get on the other side of this because He loves you.

Now, let us get to our part of this. Here is what it says in verse 11: "For this is the message that you've heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." In response to this love, we should love others. We are going to see in a moment, and he is going to describe it, that we should love others even as Christ loved us. Listen to what it says in John's gospel, chapter 13, verses 34 and 35. "A new commandment I give unto you." This is what John is referring to in his epistle here as he writes the gospel. He was there when Christ said this. He was like 17 years old when he started to follow Jesus.

He says, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another." You love one another unconditionally. You love one another as Christ has loved you. You love one another even when they are committing the same sins you do. You love one another. Who in this building has a right to throw an accusation at somebody else? Is there anyone here? Who is the accuser of the brethren? He is going to get into that in a moment. That should never be a part of the life of the church. Yet the church fights, it divides, it backbites, and it gossips. You let a saint fall, and they will kill him instead of restore him.

The Bible knows nothing of that. The Spirit of God knows nothing of that. That is why He says here, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you." That is what defines it as a new commandment. In the Old Testament, you were only supposed to love somebody as long as it did not jeopardize your own life. If you had one bowl of soup, you could give half to your brother and save half for you. Under the new commandment, you give the whole bowl to him, and you go without.

It is a different kind of love that we are called to. We should love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. I watch people come in here who are so broken and so glad to be part of the body of Christ. They are soaking in the grace and forgiveness of the Lord, and they are growing in grace and knowledge. Pretty soon, they get discernment. "Don't sit over there because there are people that sit over there that talk when the pastor's teaching." Or, "Don't sit over there, there's huggers over there. Don't sit in a hugging section. They'll hug you over there."

Then we get this. Instead of just being glad to be in the body of Christ, we start judging. There was a lady when I first got saved who would seek me out. I was one of those kind of people that did not like people to touch me. I was very much an introvert. She would seek me out until she found me every Sunday to hug me. She would hug me until she knew that I would just start to relax. She has gone on to be with the Lord, and she became my spiritual mom. She loved me unconditionally.

One time we were in her house, she had three teenage kids, and we were criticizing each other like teenagers sometimes do. The next thing I felt was a broom hit me right alongside the face. I looked over, and there is this gentle, kind woman who would seek me out and hug me and invite me over to lunch with all the other stray cats in the church. She smacked me with that broom right upside the head. She chased us all out, even her own kids, right out into the front yard. I will never forget this. Watching Pat Pow, she looked at us and said, "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all. Don't come back until you get it right with each other."

I realized that love had two sides. It was not all just a gushy-mushy huggy stuff; it was the discipline part. But she was right. By this, listen carefully, by this sign, by this action, shall all men know that you are my disciples. Not that you can quote the Bible, not that you belong or are on the ledger of some church, and not because there is "Pastor," "Elder," or "Teacher" in front of your name. The indicator that the world will know that you belong to Christ is that you love one another.

Since you have love—the "if" is again the class condition in the Greek—they will know because you have love one for another. The fruit of the Spirit. He is going to tell us in a few moments this is how we know that we are born again. You can fake a lot of things. You can fake speaking in tongues, you can fake prophecy, you can fake a lot of things. You can fake being religious, but you cannot fake love. You cannot fake supernatural love. Sometimes God will have people rub up against you and shake you to see what is in you. What better come out is love.

This then is the message you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. It is the indicator that you are born of the Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. In fact, let me say this: the fruit of the Spirit is love, period. It is in the emphatic in the Greek. The fruit of the Spirit, singular, is love. Then Paul goes on to describe what it looks like. It is gentle, kind, easy to entreat, full of mercy, kindness, forgiveness, and self-control. That is what this kind of love looks like.

It is the fruit of the Spirit. This is how we know we are born of the Spirit. "Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one." This blows my mind every time I study it or read it or break it out in the original autographs. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and slew. This is the same word used in Leviticus chapter one for slitting the throat of an animal you are sacrificing. That is why when God said to Cain, "Where is your brother?" Cain said, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?" Why is his blood—you slit his throat—why is his blood crying from the ground to Me? What have you done?

When you gossip, slander, accuse, and criticize another person who is a recipient of God's grace just like you, you slay them. You have slaughtered your brother. That is why God says six things He hates, and the seventh is an abomination: them that sow discord among the brethren. God hates it. It was the manifestation of the original sin of pride being sown in the hearts of the human race. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one who slew his brother.

Why did he do it? Because his own works were evil and his brother's were righteous. Why do we gossip? Because our heart is foul. Why do we slander? Because our heart is foul. James has a lot to say about this. In James 4:1-3, he said, "From whence come wars and fightings from among you? Where do they come from? Why do you do that? Why is that even in you? Why do you practice those things? Where do wars and fightings come from among you? They come hence, even from your own lusts that war in your members. You lust and you have not. You kill and you desire to have and you cannot obtain. You fight and you war, yet you have not because you simply haven't come to the Father and asked."

But then when you do come to the Father and ask, you receive not because you ask amiss that you might consume it to your own lusts. The heart is desperately wicked. Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart is deceitful above all things. It is desperately wicked; who can even know it? That is why we know we are born again because we get a new heart. He changes our heart. How we know He changed our heart is because the fruit of the Spirit is love. It is the sign, the main indicator, that we know Him.

God is love. We are going to find out later in 1 John that He does not work at being loving; He is love. He loves you with an everlasting love. He loves you so much He refuses to put sin on your account, and He refuses to acknowledge your failures. He will not, He cannot, He does not. He says to you and me this morning that you ought to love others as I have loved you, unconditionally. The only one that had a right to criticize was Jesus, and He did not.

In fact, when He was suffering for our sin, He opened not His mouth, but He committed Himself to the Father who judges righteously. We have all been guilty of this, have we not? I think it breaks the Father's heart when we should be bearing the fruit of the Spirit, but sometimes we bear the fruit of the flesh. So, let us take a look at this. Just so you know, when you feel like you want to gossip or criticize or slander, James in chapter three says, "Who is a wise man among you and endued with knowledge? Yet let him show out of a good conversation that his wisdom is from above."

But if there is bitter envying and gossip and those kind of things, do not lie against the truth. This wisdom does not come from above. It is earthly, sensual, and demonic. The wisdom that comes from above is first easy to entreat, it is peaceable, full of mercy, and good fruit. That is what we are striving to be. You want to see a mature Christian? It is one who can control his tongue. That is what James says. In fact, James says if you cannot control your tongue, your religion is in vain.

It has to go deeper than that. It cannot be just the tongue. I am doing a really good job now of controlling my tongue in traffic. I am really doing a good job of doing it, but then God says, "Now let's work on the heart. Because your heart is screaming to Me, although you're keeping your tongue shut, that you'd like to run over that person. That you wished you had a Dodge Ram so you could ram them. One of them big Cummins diesel Dodge Rams so you could just hit them and keep hitting them." What is wrong with you? My heart is desperately wicked. It needs to be changed. That is why I pray every day, "Father, scrub me in the blood of Your Son with hyssop. Scrub my spirit, my soul, my mind, my heart. Scrub me, Lord. Teach me to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh."

The fruit of the Spirit is love, unconditional. Maybe that little old blue-haired lady is taking her blue-haired grandma to the hospital, and she is going as fast as she can. Maybe I ought to get behind her to clear the way. The Lord has said things like that to me. What are you thinking? You do not know. Let us read on. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you. That is a given. The spirit of this world hates. In fact, he goes on to say we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.

He that loves not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Hereby we perceive the love of God because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. That is how you know because you are different. It is no longer me or I; it is others. When somebody fails, you do not rejoice in it. You go to that person's aid and say, "Brother, sister, you shouldn't have done that, but let me help you up. Let me dust you off. It'll be okay. God will forgive you. Let's keep moving. We don't leave anybody behind."

Let us take a look at this again, and we will close with this. This is one of those kind of messages you want to get your toes up off of the floor because they are getting stomped on. How many love like Christ loved you? How many can say, "I'm actually there where I love others as Christ has loved me"? Then I would have to say to you, you have another thing you have to work on. It is called lying and deception. No, it is something we work at. It is something we work at.

When we hurt people we love, we go repent. We ask for forgiveness. We make it right. For God so loved us, we ought to love as He loves one another. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called His children. For this, in verse 11, this then is the message that we heard from the beginning, that we should—as He has loved us—we should love one another, not like Cain loved his brother. Why did he kill his brother? Words. Remember when we were kids we used to have this little saying? "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." That is a lie.

I think words hurt deeper. They cut the throat. Why do you think there is this term used of people that backbite and slander? They are cutthroat. That is where that comes from, right here as Cain slew his brother. Why did he slay his brother? Because his own heart was evil. Because when your heart is right and you are so full of the grace and love of God, when somebody falls, you do not want to condemn; you want to go rescue. He did not come into this world to condemn us. He came to save us, and we ought to do likewise. Amen.

Please, Christian, I struggle with this just like you do. I struggle with selfishness. I know you do not believe that. Talk to my wife. I can be self-centered. I can be selfish. I can actually say things. Can I tell on myself just a moment? It has been a while back, but I always wanted to go to Willow Creek to the spot where they saw Bigfoot. They filmed him. My wife, because we always go to the ocean, she relented and we went. We took the quads, and we were riding up through there. I am thinking, "I'm going to see Big—I'm going to get him on film, I'm going to win a hundred thousand dollars."

I do not know why, but it just seemed like through the whole trip, it was about her and I am always, "Okay this" and "Okay that." Then finally, we are getting ready to pack up. I was a little disappointed. I thought, "Well, I'll get some of the guys and we'll come over here again." But this has been a good trip with my wife going for the walks and all of that. Then she goes, "Oh, could you get the generator out again? I forgot I need to blow dry my hair." I had it all packed up. I whispered to myself—at least I thought I was whispering to myself—I did not know that the old motorhome we had, the walls were thin and the window was open. I wished that I would have come by myself.

Good thing there was no rope because there are a lot of trees. I walked into the camper after I got the generator running and I could see it in her face. For the next three hours home, I tried to explain that is not what I meant. Once those things leave your mouth, you cannot take them back. That is why the Bible says we are going to give an account for every idle word, because you can slay people with them. Even to this day, if I say, "Hey, you want to go camping this weekend?" she says, "Are you sure? Or would you like to go by yourself?"

Those words stick. Turn to your neighbor and tell them you love them in Jesus. Please do this; this is important because we have to confess. Tell them you love them in Jesus. That will help me with some marriage counseling too. Tell them you love them in Jesus. Then tell them you love them unconditionally. No matter what they do, your love will remain as constant as the Father's love is to me. Tell them that. We need to hear that. No matter what you do, I will forgive you. Because that is what we do as Christians. Amen.

We love you. Sometimes we love you too much and you walk into this building and maybe you have not opened your heart to Jesus and we will pester you. We will bug you because we love you. We want you to know what we know. Sometimes we can be overzealous; forgive us of that. But we love each other here. This is what the world needs to see because the world is full of hate. The world hates us and the world hates each other, but not so here. We should love one another even as He has loved us. Amen. That is it. Pretty simple. Glibly spoken, profoundly lived. Amen. Let us pray.