SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grant Parkway, visit GrantProquay.org.
SPEAKER_01: Be zealous, God, for you.
SPEAKER_01: Let it start in here and let us be zealous to listen to your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Not to me, but to your word.
SPEAKER_01: And God, would you just come alive today for those that need to desperately see you and touch you and feel you?
SPEAKER_01: And would you remain alive today for all of us that may be forgotten how beautiful you are.
SPEAKER_01: And how beautifully written your text truly is.
SPEAKER_01: Would you open up our eyes and our ears?
SPEAKER_01: Would you open up our hearts, God, that we may see and feel and hear you and you alone.
SPEAKER_01: We trust you, God.
SPEAKER_01: It's in Christ's name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_01: We are continuing on in our uh our series on the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been with us at all over the last uh year or so, we've been in Romans, we've been a little bit in Advent, but we're we're we're trekking through until Easter when we finish Romans 12 to 16.
SPEAKER_01: That's where we picked up come this new year.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've missed it, on your red and white bulletin and up on the screen, as I did apparently, I was reminded today, but should have picked up on it earlier, that this this section of Romans, Romans 12 to 16, we're basically just saying this is everything.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna understand why today, because in the section of Romans that we're in, Romans 12, verse 9 to 21, if you don't have your Bibles, please turn there if you do, but if you don't, there is a Bible at the end of your row, and it's page 948 of that Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 12, 9 to 21, 13 verses.
SPEAKER_01: In those 13 verses, there are 30 commands.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna hit every one of them.
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_01: I think we got one amen, and the rest of you laugh at me.
SPEAKER_01: Lovely.
SPEAKER_01: We're off to a rousing start.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but there are there are 30 exhortations, encouragements to the believer to live and be ready.
SPEAKER_01: And so what I want to talk to you about today is the busyness of love.
SPEAKER_01: Not the business of love, the busyness of love.
SPEAKER_01: It is to be busy, it is to be active.
SPEAKER_01: Um I don't know about you, but but um whether it's Christmas or any other time of year, uh, I feel a bit inundated with my own to-do list, uh, much less anyone else's.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and so there's someone else that's that's like my kids, they've they've got to get picked up at this certain time, and I usually don't have to deal with that, but the days that I do, it's like they've got to be picked up, they gotta be taken, you gotta have schedules, you gotta have alarms set in the house so that you remember all these things.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta set yourself some reminders.
SPEAKER_01: We're we're busy.
SPEAKER_01: We are a busy, busy culture.
SPEAKER_01: I have to constantly remind uh uh one person that we have over on a pretty uh consistent basis to have dinner with us.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you don't need to be on your phone all night.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody that you need to talk to is right here in this room.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so so it we're busy, and we busy ourselves with with, I don't know, with looking at whoever else is not busy, but pretending.
SPEAKER_01: But if there's one thing that we're to be busy in, Paul will tell us, and God will tell us through his servant Paul, we gotta be busy in love.
SPEAKER_01: Busy in love.
SPEAKER_01: Uh do you remember the first time that your spouse told you that uh they loved you?
SPEAKER_01: I realize I'm asking many of you to go back uh at least three years.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember that time?
SPEAKER_01: I remember, I remember when my kids told me they loved me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, my my my heart melted, right?
SPEAKER_01: Uh and your heart probably melted the same way.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Ever since that day, that other person, your spouse, has been showing you that you that they love you.
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully.
SPEAKER_01: If not, we'll have a marriage class soon.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but hopefully they've been doing their best to show you, to prove to you, to demonstrate to you that the words they said decades ago still remain true today.
SPEAKER_01: Could you imagine if you were married to someone that said they loved you and then never demonstrated any act of love to demonstrate their love towards you?
SPEAKER_01: That wouldn't be love at all.
SPEAKER_01: And so what we'll talk about today is this busyness of love, that it's got to be busy demonstrating what we feel and what we think and working its way out into our hands.
SPEAKER_01: An active pursuit of love.
SPEAKER_01: Again, if you've been with us at all, we've we've we've trekked through it, and Clyde made mention of this.
SPEAKER_01: The first 11 chapters are pretty, pretty heavy theological, pretty heavy in doctrine, meaning Paul just keeps writing to us, here's all the things that God's done for you.
SPEAKER_01: Romans 9, he's predestined you, he's brought you in a relationship with you, he sealed you in Romans 8, he died for you in Romans 5.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he is pursuing people that are constantly running the opposite direction.
SPEAKER_01: This is a busy God because he's busy and demonstrating his love.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's no wonder that we turn the page in Romans 12, and all of a sudden he starts to say, Oh, by the way, I got 30 commands for you to do in 13 verses, and it's not too much to ask.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't apologize for it, he just says, Yeah, I want you to do this, I want you to do this, and this, and this, and this.
SPEAKER_01: A lot more of this is after that.
SPEAKER_01: And so let's read Romans 12, 9 to 21, to get our arms around what exactly is God calling us to be and do as his kids.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 9 says this let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints, and seek to show hospitality.
SPEAKER_01: Thirteen down.
SPEAKER_01: However many more left to go.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm a pastor, I'm not a mathematician.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them.
SPEAKER_01: 15.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
SPEAKER_01: Live in harmony with one another.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.
SPEAKER_01: Never be wise in your own sight.
SPEAKER_01: Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all.
SPEAKER_01: If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
SPEAKER_01: If he's thirsty, give him something to drink.
SPEAKER_01: By doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
SPEAKER_01: If you notice anything that kind of begins and ends this passage, is this talk about overcoming, conquering, and hating evil and clinging and holding fast and overcoming evil with good.
SPEAKER_01: It kind of bookends this section, this whole idea of hating evil and loving good.
SPEAKER_01: And so that kind of helps us understand what Paul is talking about and sets the stage for basically three big points with 30 commands kind of interspersed in all that.
SPEAKER_01: The first uh first big point is this is that love is not hypocritical.
SPEAKER_01: Genuine love, the kind of love that comes after us from heaven to earth.
SPEAKER_01: Genuine love is not hypocritical, but it is hateful.
SPEAKER_01: That sounds a little weird.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I just saw many of your eyebrows go, huh?
SPEAKER_01: Uh yes.
SPEAKER_01: Let me unpack that for just a little in just a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Let me, the first part is the hypocrisy of disingenuous love.
SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about love, it is not hypocritical, but it is hateful.
SPEAKER_01: The first part in verse 9, the very first part of verse 9 says, Let love be genuine.
SPEAKER_01: Let it be without hypocrisy, let it be without pretense.
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what the word literally means.
SPEAKER_01: And so before going into what genuine love is, non-hypocritical love, we got to figure out what hypocritical love is.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this week I had the pleasure of hanging out with one of some of our men out at Power Breakfast that we do about once a month.
SPEAKER_01: And I sat with somebody I didn't normally sit with, and I got to hear a little bit of their story.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this person owns a jewelry store, and uh over the decades, he's kind of come to know and come to understand that there's basically two types of people in this world, in his world.
SPEAKER_01: The ones that are coming in and buying jewelry from his jewelry store.
SPEAKER_01: There's basically two kinds of people.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is the one that actually loves other people.
SPEAKER_01: And so they come to his store and they're picking out a piece of jewelry because they really want to bless somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: They really want to show that they value the other person.
SPEAKER_01: And so he got that person that comes in and buys something from him.
SPEAKER_01: And then the other person that comes in and buys something from him is the person that buys a piece of jewelry uh because they want to fake it.
SPEAKER_01: Because they're basically just gonna give something to someone else because they're gonna maybe shave off a little wrath.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they did something bad, and so they're gonna buy their spouse maybe a little piece of jewelry.
SPEAKER_01: Remember uh Kobe Bryant?
SPEAKER_01: Remember that guy?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody heard of him?
SPEAKER_01: Remember what he did?
SPEAKER_01: Does anybody know what he did?
SPEAKER_01: So he he did some really bad stuff and then recommitted his love to his wife?
SPEAKER_01: How?
SPEAKER_01: Buying a big fat ring for her.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So that's what he did, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so so that's that's the kind of love that's that's hypocritical.
SPEAKER_01: That's the kind of love that Paul says, hey, you can't just love or give something to somebody else to make yourself feel good or to kind of take off some of the wrath that maybe you're getting from someone else.
SPEAKER_01: That's hypocritical.
SPEAKER_01: That's wearing a mask.
SPEAKER_01: So it may look, maybe that doesn't relate to you, but it looks like this in the church.
SPEAKER_01: We're nice, we're cordial, uh, and we never really open up to one another.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe uh the genuine part of us that wants to love is just you have no mask, there's nothing that you're hiding, and you know what?
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna, we're gonna, everything that's on the inside is gonna come out on the outside.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm not great at that all the all the time, and so I read books, uh, books like this.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's called Loving People.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I know.
SPEAKER_01: I know what you're thinking.
SPEAKER_01: Big surprise that you gotta read that book.
SPEAKER_01: But nonetheless, uh I would recommend this book to everybody.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not done with it yet, but it's a great book.
SPEAKER_01: And let me just encourage you with something he says in here.
SPEAKER_01: He says, every minute that you spend trying to love someone better is a minute absolutely well worth it.
SPEAKER_01: Even if you fail, even if you mess it up.
SPEAKER_01: It's absolutely worth it because you're growing, you're learning to love other people.
SPEAKER_01: And so he, John Townsend, great unbelievable guy and author and counselor and all these stuff, he basically defines genuine love like this: love is seeking and doing the best for another.
SPEAKER_01: Love is seeking, it is doing the best for another.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not masking, it's not not telling you I love you, and then not doing anything about it.
SPEAKER_01: It's absolutely having these transparent relationships, like I have with my oldest daughter who's um five now.
SPEAKER_01: Uh her name is Reese.
SPEAKER_01: And uh lately I've been taking them to bed a lot, and so uh and so it's been great.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and sitting down with him and praying with him and reading the Bible with him at night.
SPEAKER_01: And we were reading, I think, Jacob and Esau, and and how Esau's heart was changed after he was coming after him, and and he just for you know was forgiven of his sins and all these different things we were talking about, and I don't remember exactly what how it came up, but I said, Hey Reese, how many sins do you think that you need to be forgiven of right now?
SPEAKER_01: She looks at me, she goes, Oh, probably like a million.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Yeah, you get it, girl.
SPEAKER_01: And uh and I was like, you know what, Reese?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Daddy needs to be forgiven of a lot of sins too.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, Yeah, like your t should like your temper.
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, just cut me out from the knees.
SPEAKER_01: But I said, and you know, I was like, you know what, Reese?
SPEAKER_01: You're exactly right.
SPEAKER_01: If there's one thing that that traps me, that would be it.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, you know what, Daddy?
SPEAKER_01: Me too.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, I lose my temper with Ellie.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's so hard.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, she was thinking about it and getting angry.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: We need to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for me and also for you.
SPEAKER_01: But it's something that right, so we're transparent.
SPEAKER_01: I'm apparently too transparent with my five-year-old.
SPEAKER_01: Apparently, she knows way too much about me, more than I ever thought.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but but it's it's a love that's genuine.
SPEAKER_01: She wasn't condemning me, she wasn't judging me.
SPEAKER_01: I was I was deathly afraid of what she was gonna say after she said, like your temper.
SPEAKER_01: But instead, she goes, Me too.
SPEAKER_01: I'm with you.
SPEAKER_01: This is, I mean, I wasn't expecting that.
SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden you're just living, you're just you're just being genuine, you're you're just pursuing God with all you got.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you're flawed, yes, you're jacked up and messed up, but you're pursuing God no matter what.
SPEAKER_01: She understands that.
SPEAKER_01: And then she just understands that from being around it.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it means to live in a genuine, non-hypocritical love.
SPEAKER_01: Going back to that definition that John Townsend said, he says it's seeking and doing the best for another.
SPEAKER_01: If I just had to boil that down, uh, what was great with Reese for me is that she just saw that I was apparently in need of being related to, and she did something about it.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's what we need to do for each other.
SPEAKER_01: If we're gonna have genuine love, if we see something, do something.
SPEAKER_01: It's not complicated.
SPEAKER_01: We complicate it, we make excuses.
SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe they don't need it, or maybe they got somebody else taking care of it.
SPEAKER_01: If you see it or perceive a need, go and fill the gap as the church.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're called to do.
SPEAKER_01: You can call us at the church and text us or whatever, and we'll help facilitate whatever it takes.
SPEAKER_01: But if you see something, do something.
SPEAKER_01: Because genuine love is seeking and doing the best for another.
SPEAKER_01: If you notice anything, it's very active.
SPEAKER_01: It is active in two things in this context, which is what's up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: It is active in hating, and it is active in holding fast.
SPEAKER_01: You might ask yourself, well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Well, if we keep reading in verse 9, it says, abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it looks like.
SPEAKER_01: This is underneath the umbrella of genuine love, this is what it looks like to be a genuinely loving person.
SPEAKER_01: First thing out of the box, abhor what is evil, love, hold fast to what is good.
SPEAKER_01: That word for abhor, because we don't ever use it, literally means to hate exceedingly.
SPEAKER_01: To hate evil exceedingly.
SPEAKER_01: Do you hate evil exceedingly?
SPEAKER_01: Or do we kind of just tolerate it in our own lives as much as each other?
SPEAKER_01: Do we hate evil exceedingly?
SPEAKER_01: And that's the one part of it, and then the other part of it is to hold fast.
SPEAKER_01: That word is usually reserved in the New Testament for a sexually intimate relationship that you would hold fast inside of marriage, obviously, and between a man and a wife.
SPEAKER_01: I have to define that because our culture seems to say otherwise.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it means biblically, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so to be glued together, to be so intimately connected that that's what it means.
SPEAKER_01: Just hold tight, hold fast, cling tightly, be glued up together to anything that God calls good.
SPEAKER_01: Hate evil.
SPEAKER_01: Cling, hold fast to what is good.
SPEAKER_01: And at the end of that, in verse 21, it says, Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
SPEAKER_01: The means by which you and I are gonna conquer evil in our lives is by pursuing and holding fast and never giving up on the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: This is how we are called to do that.
SPEAKER_01: I had a friend of mine who recently I went to lunch with, and uh, he was just struggling with an area in his life, and he's like, Man, just I can't shake it.
SPEAKER_01: I just can't shake this sin off of me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what the problem is, but I cannot shake it.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, he's like, dude, just pray for me, please.
SPEAKER_01: I said, I'll pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: But before we get done with this lunch, I'm gonna go get some soft serve ice cream, and then I'm gonna come back because Jason's Dell, you can't go there without some soft serve.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: So you gotta have some free soft serve, and we had that, and we're sitting there talking.
SPEAKER_01: I said, but before we leave, let me read this verse to you because I think it'll be an encouragement for you.
SPEAKER_01: It's out of Colossians 1, 13 and 14, which says this.
SPEAKER_01: He has delivered us from the domain of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: See, someone is looking for deliverance, someone was looking for victory, and this is what God word, God's word says about the victory that's already been won.
SPEAKER_01: He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of us think, man, we gotta hate evil.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that means like, you know, going and performing some exorcism on people and anointing with oil, and he did tell me to tell retell this story while speaking in tongues.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's what it means.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't speak in tongues, and I'm not gonna speak in tongues because I can't.
SPEAKER_01: But he he just said, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: When I was asking him for permission to share that story, to share this little bit, he said, you know what, you can share it all you want, because let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_01: Since that day, I've used that verse, this week alone, I've used that verse two or three times with my friends.
SPEAKER_01: They're looking to be, they're looking to be delivered, and God says, But I've already delivered you.
SPEAKER_01: All you gotta do is live in it, cling to that which God has already purchased on your behalf.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's just as easy as it gets for us.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we just need to hide God's word in our hearts where all of a sudden we're sitting down with our friend over lunch or you're going over to dinner or whatever, and something comes up, and you go, you know what, man, that whole deliverance word that that rings a bell in me.
SPEAKER_01: Let me go to Colossians 1.13 while I go get some soft serve.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, there it is.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I need to read that to him.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's what it means to live in love in a genuine way.
SPEAKER_01: Before we move on, let me just ask you this question.
SPEAKER_01: Where does let love be genuine?
SPEAKER_01: Where does this non-hypocritical, no pretense type of love, where does genuine love fall on your to-do list this week?
SPEAKER_01: Where does that fall on your to-do list this week?
SPEAKER_01: Have you thought about how you're gonna show genuine love to whoever it is that God puts in your path?
SPEAKER_01: Because Paul will tell us, you gotta consider this.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta think ahead of time.
SPEAKER_01: This isn't just gonna happen out of you.
SPEAKER_01: This comes with a plan to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that which you have.
SPEAKER_01: So we gotta be prepared.
SPEAKER_01: Where is it?
SPEAKER_01: Is it Monday?
SPEAKER_01: When are you gonna start thinking about how is it that I can show this genuine love to whoever God puts in my way?
SPEAKER_01: And let it not be canned, but let you just be fervently serving the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Let you just be absolutely just thinking about it and praying about it with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Where is it?
SPEAKER_01: How can I do it, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Show me the way.
SPEAKER_01: Brings us to our second point because we might say, okay, we're called to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Who am I supposed to do that to?
SPEAKER_01: Paul cuts us off of the past and he says there's two types of people that genuine love is busy towards.
SPEAKER_01: The first one, genuine love is busy towards our friends.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is the easy part.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Romans uh 12, verse 10 uh will tell us that we have to love one another.
SPEAKER_01: And before I read that, genuine love, this love without hypocrisy, is made real in our pursuit and our love of God as we pursue and love people.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard of the greatest command, love God and love others.
SPEAKER_01: It's repeated over and over and over again throughout the Bible, just in different words.
SPEAKER_01: And so verse 10 says this love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
SPEAKER_01: Go to 15.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, live in harmony with one another.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly, either the lowly things, lowly tasks, serve well, or the lowly people, people that don't associate with them.
SPEAKER_01: Never be wise in your own sight.
SPEAKER_01: Loving people.
SPEAKER_01: God says it over and over again that we're called to just put the faith that we have, this vertical love that we have horizontally, and continue to pursue what it looks like to live a Christian life in the midst of a pretty hostile world.
SPEAKER_01: But nonetheless, called to pursue and love our friends.
SPEAKER_01: If you see something, if you see a way that we can love them, that you can love them, do something about it.
SPEAKER_01: This part of the text is pretty straightforward.
SPEAKER_01: A bunch of commands.
SPEAKER_01: Like when you just read over that, you weren't thinking, I wonder what that means.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what does it look like to love one another?
SPEAKER_01: You kind of know what it means.
SPEAKER_01: You can see it, you can you can kind of sense it, you know what it is.
SPEAKER_01: And so instead of going back through all these commands one by one, I just wanted to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of explaining it, I want to invite all of us to apply it.
SPEAKER_01: If you know anything about my teaching or preaching style, I like to ask questions.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so this is uh a great opportunity to just kind of invite us to think about what it would look like for me to apply one or two of these this week.
SPEAKER_01: And so I got seven questions to consider as you walk through all these different commands.
SPEAKER_01: In the first part of ten, it says, love one another with a brotherly affection.
SPEAKER_01: Paul apparently considered uh the Paul, uh the church to be a family.
SPEAKER_01: He considered us to be part of a family with our dad being in heaven and each other being brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, This love should course through the body.
SPEAKER_01: You remember last week when Neil talked about that we are all members of the same body, and we were spiritual gifts, and we're kind of all in this thing together.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Love should course through the veins of the body of Christ like blood through our bodies, giving life, giving strength, giving function to one another and mutual dependence.
SPEAKER_01: He thought the church was a family.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: How your holidays were.
SPEAKER_01: Mine were a little split, a little uneven, kind of quiet because of it.
SPEAKER_01: And even though the person that was absent is very boisterous, very loud, can say crazy things in my family, I still missed that person.
SPEAKER_01: Their absence had an effect on how we celebrated.
SPEAKER_01: And I still missed that other person.
SPEAKER_01: So we were to apply that, that kind of thing to the church.
SPEAKER_01: Would you be missed if you weren't here?
SPEAKER_01: Do you treat the church like it's family?
SPEAKER_01: You come here, you give here, you do all kinds of things here, but when you're gone, do other people miss you?
SPEAKER_01: Do we notice your absence?
SPEAKER_01: And if we don't, why not?
SPEAKER_01: Are you involved in a small group in such a way that you are missed when you're not there?
SPEAKER_01: This is certainly what families do.
SPEAKER_01: This is how families function.
SPEAKER_01: Do we treat the church like a family or just like something else we got to do to get our week going off on the right foot?
SPEAKER_01: The second part of 10 says, outdo one another and showing honor.
SPEAKER_01: What are some things that get in my way of being zealous?
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me.
SPEAKER_01: Do I look for ways to honor others, to give them credit, or do I seek credit?
SPEAKER_01: If we're going to outdo one another and showing honor to one another, do I look for ways to give honor and credit to someone else, or do I seek credit for myself?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11 says, Don't be lazy in zeal, but set a fire in the spirit, serving the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It literally means to be boiling over in spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Last night I cooked spaghetti and I boiled over.
SPEAKER_01: That a great, great illustration right there.
SPEAKER_01: It's boiling over, setting a fire.
SPEAKER_01: This is what the words mean that Paul is talking about in verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: Question that I just gave away, but what are some things that get in my way of being zealous for God?
SPEAKER_01: What are some things that get in my way of being zealous for God?
SPEAKER_01: And what do I need to do to remove them?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12, it says three things.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice in hope.
SPEAKER_01: Be patient in suffering, be constant in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Of these three, which needs to be celebrated and which needs more focus?
SPEAKER_01: Now, at this point, you're still trying to write down the second one.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say, you don't have to write all these down.
SPEAKER_01: If you want a list of these questions, you can come up to me afterwards.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give them to you.
SPEAKER_01: You can email me, I'll give them to you.
SPEAKER_01: I can say this that because our community groups are going to meet either tonight or this week, we're going to be talking about this kind of stuff in our community groups.
SPEAKER_01: You can go there.
SPEAKER_01: You can start unpacking this type of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: This is what we do.
SPEAKER_01: This is the kind of stuff that we talk about in our lives and in our community groups because we don't want to just be people that are stagnant in the faith.
SPEAKER_01: We're pursuing God to be able to be loving people.
SPEAKER_01: That was verse 12, right?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 13 says, Contribute to the believers that are in need and seek to show hospitality.
SPEAKER_01: The question that I came up with there is, how can I pursue showing hospitality to those in my church?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe.
SPEAKER_01: Now 10 o'clock, I can kind of see some empty seats, but maybe this is a way that everybody that comes to the 10 o'clock service can start to show hospitality to one another, is that we move, you know, we do the same thing at 8:30 and 11:30.
SPEAKER_01: Did y'all know that?
SPEAKER_01: Apparently not.
SPEAKER_01: Because no one is responding to me.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe we can seek to show hospitality to the newcomers and to each other, maybe by moving to either the 8:30 or the 11:30, and then go to a Bible community at 10.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't that be great?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's an easy way to show hospitality to one another.
SPEAKER_01: You got an email from Neil saying, hey, maybe y'all just need to move up a little bit to make room for others.
SPEAKER_01: I saw some people doing that actually in this service, moving up to the front row.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, you don't want to be spit on and all that, but still making room for others.
SPEAKER_01: I call the front row the splash zone.
SPEAKER_01: You ever been to SeaWorld?
SPEAKER_01: That's what they do.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe that's a way to do it.
SPEAKER_01: I've been stopped two or three times today saying, hey, how's this person doing?
SPEAKER_01: How's that person doing?
SPEAKER_01: Can I get them meals?
SPEAKER_01: That's an easy way to seek, to show hospitality.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15 rejoice, uh, rejoice with those whom rejoice, weep with those who weep.
SPEAKER_01: Uh who do I need to celebrate with this week?
SPEAKER_01: Who is weeping that needs my presence?
SPEAKER_01: I love what one of the church fathers said about this uh this particular uh command, John Chrysostom.
SPEAKER_01: He said this that the more difficult, the more difficult command is listed first.
SPEAKER_01: Because we are all prone to shed a tear with those who are crying.
SPEAKER_01: But envy and competition sometimes keeps us from truly rejoicing with those that rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Ouch.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's what we need to do is pursue someone that just got a raise.
SPEAKER_01: And even though you don't have a job, you can go and go, man, I just want to rejoice with you.
SPEAKER_01: I can't take you out to lunch, but maybe you can, but I just want to rejoice with you nonetheless.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice with those and rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Weep with those who weep.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16 live in harmony.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be haughty.
SPEAKER_01: Never be wise in your own sight.
SPEAKER_01: Basically just saying, if you're the only person that thinks you're right all the time or that you think you're wise all the time, you have a prideful, prideful heart.
SPEAKER_01: Never, never be wise only in your own sight.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you need to ask somebody this question.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you go to a community group tonight and say, Do you perceive me to be a humble person?
SPEAKER_01: I ain't asking that in my community group.
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you that right now.
SPEAKER_01: Do you, do others perceive me?
SPEAKER_01: Do others consider me to be a humble person?
SPEAKER_01: The list could keep going, but the reality is this is that Paul has no problem just shooting these commands at us saying, hey, it's time to go.
SPEAKER_01: God's done all kinds of crazy and great things for you.
SPEAKER_01: It's time to actually be who you say you are.
SPEAKER_01: Here's opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: To whom do you need to show this kind of love towards?
SPEAKER_01: Is there an acquaintance?
SPEAKER_01: Is there a friend?
SPEAKER_01: Is there a coworker?
SPEAKER_01: Is there a neighbor?
SPEAKER_01: This type of love has got to be enacted and actually moved from our head and our heart into our hands.
SPEAKER_01: It's actively pursuing and seeing something and then doing something.
SPEAKER_01: Anything in the name of love.
SPEAKER_01: But it's not only our friends, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if he ended with our friends, we'd be like, all right, cool, I'd get to do that with my friends.
SPEAKER_01: This is going to be awesome.
SPEAKER_01: They're going to love me back.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to reciprocate.
SPEAKER_01: This is going to be great.
SPEAKER_01: No, he keeps going in the passage, and so must we.
SPEAKER_01: He says, the second kind of person that you got to show this genuine love towards, the second kind of person that you gotta really be busy to really prove your love or show God's love to them is your enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Genuine love is busy towards our enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14 and then going on in 17 says this.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them.
SPEAKER_01: Going down to 17, repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all, if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_01: For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
SPEAKER_01: If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
SPEAKER_01: It's also easy to dismiss this as just, oh, these are the non-believers.
SPEAKER_01: That to love one another means believers, and loving everybody else is the non-believers.
SPEAKER_01: What if your enemy is like right inside this room?
SPEAKER_01: What if your enemy is in your family?
SPEAKER_01: What if your enemy's in your small group?
SPEAKER_01: What if it's someone that's caused you suffering?
SPEAKER_01: They're not in the enemy in the truest sense of the word, but they're coming against you, they're causing you suffering or whatever, being difficult.
SPEAKER_01: What if it's that person that Paul is talking about here?
SPEAKER_01: It's not just the person, the persecution that goes on all over the world.
SPEAKER_01: I had somebody ask me this morning, how's Saeed doing?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think he can communicate with the outside world all that often.
SPEAKER_01: Or this morning I woke up and my wife was watching TV this morning and there was, I think they said 50,000 Christians in a concentration camp in North Korea.
SPEAKER_01: Man, pray for the people that are being oppressed all over the world for their faith, just in not just in India, everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what the Bible's gonna challenge us to do.
SPEAKER_01: How do you bless the people that are coming against them?
SPEAKER_01: How do you pray for the people that are beating Saeed, probably right now?
SPEAKER_01: What do you do to bless that person?
SPEAKER_01: Because that person needs the change of heart.
SPEAKER_01: Said's good.
SPEAKER_01: That person, the one that's coming against them, that's the person that needs to repent and change.
SPEAKER_01: How do we do that?
SPEAKER_01: It's easy for us to go, well, we'll just pray for them.
SPEAKER_01: All right, well, let's bring it down to where we live again.
SPEAKER_01: What if that enemy, what if that someone is coming against you, someone in your family, your small group, your work, wherever you are, what do you do?
SPEAKER_01: Because I just be real honest, some of the deepest wounds and most painful wounds are the ones that are done by your friends and family, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's just the way it goes.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew that.
SPEAKER_01: He had a guy that hung out with him for at least three years, followed him wherever they went.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, shared who knows what kind of experiences.
SPEAKER_01: He was there when he fed him, he was there when he walked on water, he was there, he was there, he was there.
SPEAKER_01: And then this guy named Judas, that was there all the time, decided to just turn his back on Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he knew that the persecution and the enemies that he had would be some of the closest people in our circles of influence.
SPEAKER_01: So maybe this isn't just non-believers, maybe this is just talking about people that maybe caused some suffering in us.
SPEAKER_01: And let me just say this: that this call to love our enemies, it's not difficult.
SPEAKER_01: It's impossible.
SPEAKER_01: It is absolutely impossible to be obedient to the command, to love your enemies if you don't understand, if you don't read verse 11 first, which said this: do not be slothful in zeal.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be lazy in your passion for God.
SPEAKER_01: Be fervent in spirit, again, boiling over serving the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You'll never be able to love your enemies without that first part, without first understanding whose you are.
SPEAKER_01: It is absolutely impossible without God intervening in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: It's revolutionary, it is impossible, but God didn't have a problem telling us to do impossible things.
SPEAKER_01: He never has.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, Jesus did it when he was on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: In the greatest sermon that was probably ever preached, Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says this in verse 43.
SPEAKER_01: Says, you have heard it said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
SPEAKER_01: But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: You hear what he's saying?
SPEAKER_01: This is how you're going to demonstrate that you are sons and daughters of the God most high, not by just loving the people that love you, by loving your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: This is the way that you demonstrate that.
SPEAKER_01: This is what he says, for the Father makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and these sins rain on the just and on the unjust.
SPEAKER_01: For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
SPEAKER_01: Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
SPEAKER_01: And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than the others?
SPEAKER_01: The world, non-believers.
SPEAKER_01: Don't even Gentiles do the same?
SPEAKER_01: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody perfect?
SPEAKER_01: God has no problem commanding you to do things that you cannot do.
SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you why.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard it said, I'm about to go a Sermon on the Mount on you.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard it said that uh that God never gives you like more than you can handle.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard that?
SPEAKER_01: Not in the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's not in the Bible that God will never give you more than you can handle.
SPEAKER_01: It is in the Bible that no temptation has seized you except what is common to man, and he will not allow temptation to overcome you.
SPEAKER_01: That's temptation.
SPEAKER_01: That's not circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: Temptation comes from the evil one.
SPEAKER_01: That's completely separate.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so so he's going to put you or allow you to be in situations you can't handle.
SPEAKER_01: Like think of uh when he walked on water.
SPEAKER_01: Think of when he looked at Philip whenever he was feeding, when he said when he was going to feed 5,000, he didn't go, oh, we have a need.
SPEAKER_01: All right, well, let me go whip this up real quick.
SPEAKER_01: He looked at Philip and he goes, hey, go give him something to eat.
SPEAKER_01: He's telling him to do something he can't do.
SPEAKER_01: And he tells us the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, love your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Be perfect as I am perfect.
SPEAKER_01: Why would he do that?
SPEAKER_01: To frustrate us?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_01: Because he wants to wean us off of ourselves and cause us to rely on him.
SPEAKER_01: If we can do it all, we don't need him.
SPEAKER_01: But instead, he wants our self-reliance to die.
SPEAKER_01: He wants our God reliance to live.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, amen.
SPEAKER_01: So it's no wonder that he says, Hey, I want you to do the impossible.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to love your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: And oh, by the way, that means you're gonna have to pray a lot, means you have to read the Bible a whole lot, means you have to talk to your friends about how to do it a whole lot, means you're gonna have to fail a whole lot, and you're gonna have to be dependent upon me a whole lot.
SPEAKER_01: Exactly where he wants you to be.
SPEAKER_01: Exactly where he wants me to be.
SPEAKER_01: There's two enemies of loving enemies.
SPEAKER_01: The first one is pride.
SPEAKER_01: This idea of pride says, How dare you?
SPEAKER_01: Don't you know who I am?
SPEAKER_01: How dare you come against me?
SPEAKER_01: And the other and the other enemy of loving enemies is entitlement.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that suffering was so bad.
SPEAKER_01: Clearly I'm exempt from loving them.
SPEAKER_01: That wound is so deep, clearly I'm exempt.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody but that person, right, Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I think it's verse 17 says, never repay evil with evil.
SPEAKER_01: There's no outs to this.
SPEAKER_01: There's no outs.
SPEAKER_01: Now we'll fail.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna fail.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna mess it up.
SPEAKER_01: But we've got to be able to put it on the line, risk it a little bit, and pursue others as God has pursued us.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know about you, but when people come against me or even criticize or whatever, it's oppressive.
SPEAKER_01: I can think of, I mean, my wife tells me, this is gonna reveal a lot about my marriage, but my life, my wife tells me all the time, hey, you should have been a lawyer, dude.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like, you have all the arguments already saved.
SPEAKER_01: I can, whatever you say then, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: But so I can just think and think and think about all the different angles as to how I'm right, or how I'm gonna get back at that person, or how this and how that.
SPEAKER_01: It's oppressive in a sense, but this is what God continues to remind me through his word earlier in Romans.
SPEAKER_01: It says this in verse 16 and 17 of chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: It says the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
SPEAKER_01: And if children, then heirs.
SPEAKER_01: Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Stop there.
SPEAKER_01: See what he's doing?
SPEAKER_01: Hey, you are God's.
SPEAKER_01: The Spirit of God lives in you.
SPEAKER_01: You can't, I mean, this is pretty, pretty amazing, pretty powerful stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Remember that, because just because you're a child of God doesn't mean the last part of the verse doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_01: Then he says this, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians 1.29 says it's not just, we're not just called to believe on him and to love on him.
SPEAKER_01: We're called to suffer for him.
SPEAKER_01: Suffering is part of this world.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus knew it.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey, if you're loving me and you're following me, be prepared to suffer.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, but it's worth it.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because there's an eternal glory being stored up for you.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's like uh like what they hit in a football locker room.
SPEAKER_01: Pain is temporary, but glory is forever.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Came from Romans 8, 17.
SPEAKER_01: Suffering is temporary, but glory is forever.
SPEAKER_01: A rejection by those whom we love and respect.
SPEAKER_01: It's painful, but God continues to remind us whose we are.
SPEAKER_01: We are bought, we are purchased, we are loved, we are pursued, and so it's no wonder that he says, hey, impossible things, you're on it.
SPEAKER_01: This idea of pride comes back up in verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: The thing that keeps us from loving our enemies is this idea of pride.
SPEAKER_01: And in this context, it's basically that we stand in the place of God.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you what I mean: that this pride, that loving our enemies, means that we have to give up the right to play God, that we think it's our right to play God.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19 says this.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know if your Bible has the same footnote as mine, but right after leave it to the wrath of God, I got a little footnote that brings me down to where it says in the Greek, it says, to give place.
SPEAKER_01: To give place.
SPEAKER_01: That's different than leave it to the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the actual language is saying, give place to the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_01: AKA, don't stand in that gap.
SPEAKER_01: That's God's gap.
SPEAKER_01: That's where God is going to exact his vengeance.
SPEAKER_01: And oh, by the way, he says he'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: And so the idea there is, oh, I'm not allowed to play God.
SPEAKER_01: No wonder I want to exact vengeance on whoever comes against me.
SPEAKER_01: That's God's role.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, give place, get out of the way.
SPEAKER_01: God will bring it, he says.
SPEAKER_01: Just be patient.
SPEAKER_01: We cannot avenge ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: If we do that, all of a sudden, our little measure of vengeance, all of a sudden, is different than what God had stored up.
SPEAKER_01: We become impatient.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to give God room for him to work.
SPEAKER_01: I have a buddy of mine who is uh my age.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up with him, I played basketball with him in his driveway, uh, and and he was always a believer and always like the uncool guy to me.
SPEAKER_01: And now that I'm um his age still and we're adults, I love him dearly.
SPEAKER_01: He was like one of those guys, I mean, saved from the womb.
SPEAKER_01: Don't think he ever sinned until he was like 12.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, just an amazing guy.
SPEAKER_01: And and oh, by the way, he's a multimillionaire, my age.
SPEAKER_01: Owns a company here in town, and uh still friends with him.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, he associates with the lowly.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but but but we're but I mean, he is a multimillionaire and he does very, very well for himself, and he it's all in serving other people and doing great things for other people.
SPEAKER_01: He makes a lot and he gives a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you about my friend.
SPEAKER_01: He runs this company and he brings in his friends to work with him because he wants to trust them.
SPEAKER_01: And he's been he has been wronged more ways than we can count.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna tell you right now, he brings people in that he can trust, and he had somebody on his staff that he could trust.
SPEAKER_01: And he was the legal counsel in his uh in his uh in his company.
SPEAKER_01: And one day over lunch, his legal counsel came around and said, Hey, I need you to sign these papers.
SPEAKER_01: Uh they were working on a couple of different things, and so they all just kind of assumed that they knew what it was.
SPEAKER_01: They all signed it, all the executive officers, this, that, and the other.
SPEAKER_01: They all signed, got back to the office a couple of weeks, maybe, a couple sometime later, they found out that what they signed that day was actually he was signing over the rights to his company.
SPEAKER_01: To the guy that went around and said, I want you to sign.
SPEAKER_01: Lawsuits upon lawsuits upon lawsuits.
SPEAKER_01: And finally he just pulled back.
SPEAKER_01: He started to read what it looked like to love your enemies, to bless your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: He read passages like 1 Corinthians 6, which has everything to do with lawsuits amongst believers.
SPEAKER_01: And in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 7, it says, Why not rather be wronged?
SPEAKER_01: And so my buddy applies all of this to this situation.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You know what?
SPEAKER_01: I'm dropping the case.
SPEAKER_01: You're now entitled to the X amount of dollars.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna drop the case.
SPEAKER_01: You're you're running my name through the mud, you're running God's name through the mud.
SPEAKER_01: And I can't stand for that.
SPEAKER_01: And so instead of keep keep going and exacting his own vengeance, he pulled back and he said, You know what?
SPEAKER_01: And I had lunch with him the day that he did this.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Hey, pray for me.
SPEAKER_01: I got a check in my pocket.
SPEAKER_01: It's worth more than I ever thought it would be.
SPEAKER_01: Six, maybe seven figures.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna give I'm gonna have coffee with him later this afternoon, and I'm gonna hand it to him.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not mailing it.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yeah, now we're talking.
SPEAKER_01: You tell him to his face, and he goes, No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: I just want him to know that God loves him.
SPEAKER_01: I just want him to know that I love him.
SPEAKER_01: I just want him to know that I'm praying for him.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna hand that check over and I'll never see him again.
SPEAKER_01: It'll all be over.
SPEAKER_01: It'll all be fine.
SPEAKER_01: He applied what it looked like to do the absolute impossible and pursuing love, genuine love without hypocrisy for his neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: We live a life that represents that kind of love.
SPEAKER_01: We live a life that represents the a law, excuse me, a life of grace, because that's really what's set before us.
SPEAKER_01: Are we gonna go Old Testament and go eye for eye, tooth for tooth, pinky toe for pinky toe, your car for my car?
SPEAKER_01: Are we gonna live that life?
SPEAKER_01: Or are we gonna live a life of grace?
SPEAKER_01: That's the call for all of us.
SPEAKER_01: You may ask yourself, how do you do this?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I get all this, it's challenging, it's impossible.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to do us in any way, we're gonna depend on him.
SPEAKER_01: What give me this one little thing to just walk away from this whole thing?
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 16 7 that somebody sent me this week.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 16.7 says this when a man's way pleases the Lord, he makes even his enemy to be at peace with him.
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like for you to live in ways that please the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: For my buddy, it was cutting a check and saying, No more, you can't do this anymore.
SPEAKER_01: For you, it may be something different.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is, but the Holy Spirit does.
SPEAKER_01: God knows exactly who it is that you have in mind when you think enemy, and God knows exactly what it is you're called to do when you're called to love them.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe just not the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just go back to the friend part.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we just need to love our friends a little bit better.
SPEAKER_01: And seek to give them credit, seek to give them the honor that maybe they deserve.
SPEAKER_01: Go and rejoice with them, weep with them, invite them over, seek to show hospitality, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: God's calling us to do something because genuine love sees something and does something.
SPEAKER_01: It's active.
SPEAKER_01: Let me speak a word of blessing over you.
SPEAKER_01: Your God has purchased you.
SPEAKER_01: And he'll never stop pursuing you.
SPEAKER_01: Ever.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what you do, he loves you just like you are.
SPEAKER_01: And he's coming after you to bring you to himself.
SPEAKER_01: Go now and do the impossible in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.