Let Godly Love Truly Define Us All!

I really appreciate that and enjoyed that very much. I know all of you did. It's certainly to God's glory that we have so many very talented musicians. I went to a meeting between services, and there were more people in there than many of our congregations here in the United States. It was wonderful to see so many talented people working together to provide such outstanding special music. I just want to thank all of you for that. Really appreciate that. I also appreciated the sermonette. Mr. Porter always does a fine job. I hate to say it, but I'm stuck with paper. Sometimes paper works better, but not always. I appreciate our technical team. Usually it goes very smoothly, but he did well even with the issues that came up. Well, brethren, this is my first sermon as your pastor here in the Cincinnati Congregations. I did speak last Sabbath to the AM congregation, but the first time here in the afternoon. Of course, I contemplated what to speak about this first time. First are important. I realized that. I thought of many things, but nothing seemed nearly as important as the topic I've chosen. For I hope and pray the message I bring in this sermon will define my service as your pastor. I've been employed by the United Church of God and the Worldwide Church of God for about 34 years now, more than half my life, but it certainly isn't my employment that defines me. God called me at age 18, long before I was ever employed. He has been, by far, my number one focus for the past 49 years. I know that's true for all of you who've been called of God. God is number one in your life as well. We have that in common. That's a wonderful thing. Like you, I've tried to follow God and allow God to guide me all along the way. I am very grateful that he has done so. I'm truly thankful to God for that. Much of our walk with God has to do with our faith and the faith of our Savior Jesus Christ and the Father's faith in each and every one of us. In faith, I believe God's overall presence and guidance in my life is real. It's genuine. He's someone I can talk to. He and the Son I can talk to, I can go to. They can strengthen me. They can comfort me. They can help me through any difficult times. They're there to encourage us. They promise to never leave us, to never forsake us, so we can always count on God. So, I'm very grateful. I've tried to simply yield to him along the way. I haven't always done the best job, but certainly I have a desire to yield to God. And most importantly, I want to please God. I want to do what's right and good in his side. I want him to be pleased with me. And so, I strive to do that as we all do. Of course, we know that life can be difficult at times, and none of us will perfectly yield to God. None of us are there. We're not there yet. We haven't arrived, but we certainly give it our best. Like all of you, I do ask God to guide and direct me every step along life's path. It is the love of God in me that I hope will define my service as your pastor.

God does give any credit. It is to his glory, as the song was so properly written, to bring glory to God by being the best example we can be, and by reflecting to others his character that he's allowed to develop within us. So, I'm very grateful to be able to serve in this way. I'm thankful to God for my calling. We're all here to glorify God. We're all here to please him. So, in other words, I hope and pray that you will come to believe that I'm practicing what I preach up here.

For if I don't have much credibility, then how can you grow, and how can you learn, and how can you become more and more like God? So, certainly that's my desire, especially in this most vital area of a Christian life. The love of God was mentioned, Mr. Porter mentioned, the love of God and how his steadfast love defines God. God is defined by his steadfast love. Now, I have selected several of the most important scriptures that describe or define the love of God, and how I pray this genuine, godly love will define my tenure here as your pastor. If that is the case, then may God be praised. And not only by example, but by instruction as well. That's part of what we do as pastors. We're here to teach. We're here to help everyone grow and to learn and understand God more perfectly. So, may we all grow and let godly love define each and every one of us. So, my prayer and desire is that every one of us will be defined by godly love. For is it not godly love that we are to be known by? Isn't that what the scripture says? John 13. John 13, verse 34. Jesus says, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Now, that wasn't really all that new, but the next part. That you love one another as I have loved you. Jesus Christ is the standard for the kind of love and certainly the Father who loved us enough to give His only Son.

As I have loved you, that you also love one another, by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So, we are to be known by the love that we have for each other and for God. Now, we're here on the Sabbath and the Sabbath is indeed a sign. I believe that with my entire being. I've been keeping the Sabbath a long time. The Sabbath is a sign between God and His children, the ones that God is calling at this time. The Sabbath is very important. The spirit of the Sabbath is so wonderful because we certainly draw closer to God and we learn to know Him better as we keep the Sabbath each week. But in many ways, we can say love is more important, right? Because people can at least keep the Sabbath in the letter of the law to some degree. But if they don't have the love for their fellow man, then they're certainly falling way short of what God wants us to be. So today, I've got three principles that will help us grow in Godly love. Again, let Godly love define all of us. May we always be in the process of becoming more and more like God by learning to love as He loves. So the title of my sermon is, Let Godly Love Define Us All. Let's all allow Godly love to define us. The first principle, three principles to help us grow in Godly love, is, number one, let us all practice the two great commandments. You remember what the two great commandments are? Love toward God and love toward our neighbor. God spells it out for us. Let us learn to love God first and foremost, and then to extend that Godly love toward each other. Now, one of the most important responsibilities I have as your pastor is to set an example of Godly love in my own life, and then to also help you do the same. That is a very humbling responsibility for any pastor, but one that we must not shirk or compromise with. I know that I'm going to be judged on how much I truly love God and to the degree that I have love for each of you.

As your pastor, I need to love you. I need to learn to love you. I believe I do love you.

And I'm grateful for that because God gives us the love that we should have for our congregations. God lives in us and works in us. But I do need to get to know all of you better, so I will love you even more. So I'm looking forward to that as time goes on.

Notice Moses' instructions to the children of Israel. I have learned to take this very seriously and personally, for I know that I am a spiritual child of Israel. I believe I may also be a physical descendant of Israel as well, but certainly we're all spiritual Israel, no matter who we are. Let's go to Deuteronomy 6. Deuteronomy 6, verse 5. Deuteronomy 6, verse 5. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. That's a tall order, isn't it? To learn to love God with everything that we have, everything that's in us, with all of our heart, our soul, and our strength. And then in Deuteronomy 30, Moses says, in verse 19, Moses says, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you. And this was as they were about to go into the Promised Land. Moses was about to die. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him. Now, God wants us to learn to embrace Him, to cling to Him. That's what this word means. It means to have this intimate relationship with our God, to learn to cling to Him, for He is your life. God is your life. You're here because God is the Creator. He's all fit to have you born. None of us would be here if it were not for God. You know, we owe everything to God. He is our life, and He is the length of your days. It's according to God's will how long each of us lives. God allows some to live a short time, sometimes a long time, but God is fully aware of each and every one of us. And God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. No matter how long He allows us to live, no matter what happens in our lives, God will always be there for us. But we are to cling to Him. He is our life. He is the length of our days, and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. So this is talking about their inheritance as a people. The children of Israel were to go into the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and with honey, a beautiful land, a wonderful land. They went in to possess that land, and for a time, they enjoyed that beautiful Promised Land. But we know that their hearts were not right with God, and eventually God allowed them to be scattered. But, brethren, we are about to go into our Promised Land as we draw nearer to the return of our Savior, Jesus Christ. There is a more important Promised Land for each and every one of us. It is the Kingdom of God, and it is a glorious land, and it is promised to each and every one of us whom God is calling now. And we must not blow our inheritance. Now is our day of salvation. God has called you. He has called me out of this world. He has opened our minds to His truth and His way of life. And we need to embrace it, and we need to cling to our God and allow Him to guide us every step of the way.

In Mark 12, Mark 12, our Savior Jesus Christ says, And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. He's clearly remembering what He inspired Moses to write down some many years ago. He says this is the first commandment. Verse 31, And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You should love them and treat them as you would want to be treated. Love them as you love yourself. Verse 33, And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, with all the strength, and to love one another's neighbor as oneself is more than all the whole-burn offerings and all the sacrifices, the millions and millions of sacrifices that have taken place. They're nothing compared to the sacrifice that God wants from each and every one of us. He wants us. He wants our hearts. He wants our mind. He wants our soul. He wants our strength.

He does need to be number one. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and He will surely take care of your every need. We can have faith in God. We can trust in Him. We can believe in Him. And that's very, very comforting to know that with God all things are possible. With God we can overcome all things. Now, I've known some people, very sincere people, very diligent people, but sometimes people can be a little misguided because they may pour all their time into prayer, Bible study, and fasting. Now, you would think that that's a good thing, and it is a wonderful thing. I mean, most of us don't do that, right? Most of us aren't that disciplined. We don't spend all of our time in prayer, Bible study, and fasting. But if we did, you know, that wouldn't be enough. Because we wouldn't be reaching out to others so much, would we? If we spent all of our time that way. You know, God wants us to interact with people. He wants us to be people, persons. He wants us to love each other. He wants us to get to know each other and become more and more like Him because God loves us all intimately. He knows us all intimately. He is love. So, a second principle. Second principle, let us all truly love God's law, which is an extension of who He is. He is the Law-Giver. How can we love Him if we do not love His standards? If we do not know what defines Him as a Being, as a Law-Giver, you know, He obviously thought this through. He came up with these laws that He wants us to observe. Again, He loves us, and these laws are for our own good. They are for us. They are wonderful blessings. Now, a man after God's own heart, you know Him as David. He truly loved God, and He truly loved His commandments. In fact, the entirety of Psalm 119 is a testimony to David and to his love for God's law and God's way of life. Now, we know that David was far from perfect, right? In fact, the Bible tells of some very grievous sins on his part. So we know that he wasn't perfect. He was falling short in a number of ways. But God truly does look at the heart, and David's heart was different. You know, when you go through and read the Bible, you can see that David is highly exalted in many ways because of his heart. He had a heart to obey God and to love God. And in Psalm 119, again, is a testimony to God's love for his laws and for God. In Psalm 119, verse 97, and we're all quite familiar, I'm sure, with this particular verse, Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. How I love your law is something that I think about from the time I wake up in the morning until I go to bed at night and hopefully dream about it during the night. It's my meditation all the day. He also said in verse 127 of Psalm 119, Therefore I love your commandments more than gold. And he was a man who had a lot of gold. He was very rich with much gold and much silver.

He says, I love your commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold. The very best gold of all. I love God's commandments much more so.

So we are to learn to love God's commandments as Moses did and as God obviously wants us to. And the opposite is also true. God wants us to learn to hate evil. You know, we also need to learn to hate evil because how will we ever love good if we don't see the evil and if we don't learn to hate evil? And we need to learn to hate it and abhor it and pull away from it. In Psalm 97 verse 10, it says in Psalm 97 verse 10, You who love the Lord hate evil. He preserves the soul of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. So we should learn to hate that which is wrong in this society and the things that we see around us. We should hate those acts of wickedness that go against God and his commandments. Obviously, we should love the people, but we should hate the things that they do that are contrary to God. We must not be deceived into following them in those evil ways. In Psalm 119 verse 172, David says, That's the way to live. It's the right way to live. Whatever God says, whatever commandments he has laid out for us, that's the way to live. That will define whether or not we're truly righteous if we're following those commandments and living by them. Let's go over to John chapter 14, and we go here during Passover. John chapter 14. John chapter 14 verse 15. Jesus says, If you love me, keep my commandments. If you truly love God, if you love Jesus Christ, then you will keep their commandments, and their commandments are one. I and my father are one. The commandments are the same. Don't let anyone try to deceive you into thinking. There's a difference here. There isn't a difference. They both love the law that they've laid down. Father and son together, the one who became the son, working with the father, far in advance, if you love me, keep my commandments. So it's essential that we humble ourselves and yield ourselves to God's law. The Ten Commandments are to be kept not just in the letter, of course. They are to be kept in the letter, but we are to go far beyond that, as Christ showed. We are to keep them in the spirit of the law. Jesus said it's not enough to not murder someone. You have to learn to love them. In fact, you have to learn to love your enemies. So Jesus went far beyond the letter of the law. That's what he's talking about. If you love me, keep my commandments. Not just in the letter, but going beyond to the spirit of the law. Keep my commandments the way God would have you keep them. In 1 John 2, 1 John 2, 1 John 2, verse 3, Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. So we are to follow Christ's example to see how he walked, how he lived his life, what was important to him, what his standards were, and where to follow him.

Whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him should walk just as he walked. So, brethren, we are instructed to live by every word of God. You know, this is a wonderful blessing that I have in my hand. God's word is so precious, so valuable, it's priceless. And we are to become students of this book. We are to become students of the Bible, every one of us. If you're not there yet, hopefully you'll have some time to become a student of the Bible. It's so important because God's word can live in you. You write it in your heart and in your mind, and it shows you how to walk just as Christ walked. It's the written word. Jesus Christ is the living word of God. So we are to write these laws in our hearts and in our minds and to live by them. So that's the second way we can learn to love God more fully and to love each other. And the third principle, that everyone that he has created, or I'm sorry, love everyone that God has created. Who has God not created?

Love everyone that God has created. Now, God clearly wants a big family. He's got billions of people on this earth today. Plus, there are billions who have died throughout the ages. God desires a huge family. He wants a huge family, and it says that for God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. I don't think we can dare exclude anyone. You know, for God so loved the world. All human beings, God has created in His image, in His likeness, and we are to learn to love each and every person that God has created. So I've broken this down into five sub-points or five, let's use letters, we'll go with A. First, love your families. Love those who are related to you by blood, physically. Of course, that would be your husband or your wife, your children, your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your cousins, your extended family. Love them. Love your families. This is fairly easy to do. Well, not so easy in some cases, but easier than some of the other groups we're going to talk about.

Of course, it helps if everyone in the family loves each other and is behaving in such a way. That's a good thing. There's nothing like having brothers and sisters and sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters all loving each other. It's wonderful to get together on Thanksgiving, for example, and just have that genuine love that we share for one another and everyone's getting along. There's seven children in my family. I've got three brothers and three sisters, and I must say, for the most part, we get along. We enjoy each other's company.

We love to get together. I can't say that when we were teenagers or younger boys, we did not want other people beating up on our brothers, but we took a few liberties ourselves. But we did not want anyone else doing it. That's not perfect love. I'm not suggesting that you do that to your brothers or your sisters.

You should love them and be kind toward them at all times. But it starts with loving your family members dearly and treating them with love and respect at all times. And if you've wronged any of them in any way, humble yourself and acknowledge it. That goes a long way. Telling people that you're sorry for messing up, for sinning even, for doing something that you should not have done, it takes character to admit it. It takes character to own up to it.

But that's so important because it helps people to forgive, for one thing. If they don't think you're repentant, then they're less likely to be able to forgive you. So it really helps when you do see your sins, your mistakes, and you're willing to acknowledge them and say you're sorry. That heals many, many wounds. If you hurt someone, be able to recognize and acknowledge it, own it, repent of it, and just do the right thing.

Parents, encourage your children. The Bible is very clear that we are not to discourage our children. We are to encourage our children. We're to love them. We're to see the best in them. We're to emphasize the best. That doesn't mean we don't deal with bad behavior, because that's part of good parenting. It's dealing with bad behavior in a godly way and helping them realize that you just can't always do that sort of thing. It's not healthy for you. There are consequences. The Scripture says, be sure your sins will find you out and you reap what you sow.

There has to be consequences if we are teaching our children properly. But first and foremost, we should encourage our children. We should be very, very positive toward them. Children, the Scripture is also clear that you are to obey your parents. Obey your parents, for this is good. It's a good thing. It will reward you very well in the long run. So obey them. Let's go to Ephesians 5 and let's consider what the Apostle Paul has to say here. Ephesians 5, when it comes to marital relationships and how they actually mirror what God wants to see in his church.

What God wants to see among this congregation. Let's go to Ephesians 5 and we'll start in verse 25. He starts with husbands because husbands should lead the way in our homes. We should set the right example of love and compassion in our families. So husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.

That's about as high as it gets, isn't it? To love our wife the way that Jesus Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word. Again, the Word of God will cleanse us. It will cleanse our souls. It will make us new again. That's why it's so important that we're students of the Bible, that we're reading the Bible and that we're gleaning from the Bible the things that we need.

God gives us everything that we need. Every good gift comes from him and most of them are found right here in the Word of God. Many, many good gifts right here in the Word of God. That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word. That he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So the husbands are to set the example to love their wives as Christ loves the church.

And then all of us together, we become a holy congregation. We become a holy people, sanctified and set apart by God's Holy Spirit, called out of this world to be different, to shine as lights in the world. That's our calling. It's a high and a holy calling. We must embrace it. We must own that as well. This is your calling. And I hope that everyone in here has come to embrace that. And if not, please do pray for God's direction and guidance so that you might understand how precious that is.

Getting back to Ephesians. So we are to become holy and without blemish. Verse 28, So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. We are all called out together to be a holy assembly. We assemble every Sabbath together. This is a holy commanded assembly. This is a holy convocation. This is the best place for us to be on the Sabbath, together, worshiping God and drawing near to him and to each other. So men lead the way in your families and also in the church. Set the spiritual example in your church. Are you the one that gets up early and is found studying the Bible? Are you the one that gets up early and is found praying faithfully and diligently? It's okay if your kids stumble upon you praying. In fact, that's a very good thing. You might even want to set that up once in a while. Just so they know that you do pray and that it is important to you. But men, lead your families. God would have you lead them. And wives, of course, submit to your husbands, as the Scripture says. And it's so much easier if a husband loves his wife, as Christ loves the church, and has given himself for it. Who could not submit to a man that was that loving and kind and compassionate? It makes it so much easier for our wives.

In Romans chapter 13, and we'll just read this one verse here, verse 10, Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Love does no harm. Love is the fulfilling of the law. God is love, and he is the lawgiver. All that he does is based in love. And so love does no harm. Certainly doesn't harm our mates, doesn't harm our children, doesn't harm our families. And if we have harmed them, it's time to repent. It's time to truly seek repentance, seek God's forgiveness, and stop that behavior that is hurtful to a family. It starts with our families. So first of all, love your family. And remember, the Ten Commandments, they're based on love for God and also for our neighbors, the spirit of the law, each and every single one of the Ten Commandments. All right, let's go on to sub point B. Love our local church family. That's all of you. This is our local church family that we're talking about today. We all have a common bond. In that we have a common calling to salvation through our Savior Jesus Christ. We are part of the one true church. You have been called out and chosen by God specifically to be a part of His church, to be one of the first fruits. Now, I don't know about you, but I typically don't get in on the ground floor of anything. No, Amazon passed me by. Apple, I should have clearly seen that pass me by. I'm not heavily invested in any of those corporations. But I am on the ground floor of the most wonderful and the most precious and the most valuable opportunity anyone could ever have. We all are. We are first fruits. Called of God. Much better than winning the lottery or any such thing. We've won the spiritual lottery. Now we have to stay faithful to that. You know, you hear about people how they win the lottery, and then they go out and blow all the money, and they learn to hate themselves and everyone else. That's not the way it's supposed to be for the lottery, spiritual lottery, that you have won. Use it wisely. Be thankful for it, and embrace it, and live by every word of God. So love your church family. We have so much in common. We have God's Holy Spirit that dwells in us, sanctifies and sets us apart. Now, the same principles would apply to our local church members, as I mentioned, toward our families. For example, love your family members dearly. All of you in this room, love them dearly, and treat them with love and respect always. Treat each other with love and respect always. If you've wronged them in any way, humble yourself and tell them you're sorry because you've mistreated them. And that you were wrong. That you were hasty in judgment. That you were harsh, perhaps. Whatever it is, that's what heals the breach between people. Humility and a willingness to admit that you've been wrong. If you hurt someone, be able to recognize it and make amends. Seek peace and pursue it earnestly. Repent of all that you need to repent of. Let's go to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 verse 16. 1 John chapter 3 verse 16.

John writes, By this we know love because he laid down his life for us. We know what real love is because Christ laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So is there anyone in this room that you would not be willing to lay your life down for? Is there anyone here that, if so, you do need to go get to know them better? You need to get to know them so that you learn to love them better and so that you would be willing to lay your life down, if that's what God ever requires. That is a tall order as well, isn't it? To love enough to lay your life down? But that is our calling! We're to love as Christ loved. That's the kind of love that God wants us to develop. So if you're not willing to lay your life down for each other, then you have a ways to go. You have some growing to do. Do we even know if we're willing to lay our life down until we're challenged in that way? I don't think so. To think that we have so much love, to think that we would always lay our life down for one another, there may be some vanity and pride in thinking that. So again, seek humility, seek the kind of love that God has so that if we ever are called upon, we will be willing to lay our lives down for one another. It says, lay your lives down for the brethren, but whoever has this world's goods and sees his brethren in need and shuts up is hard for him. Now that's more likely to happen. It's more likely that you'll see a need and you'll basically say, well, I'll pray for you. Be warm, be filled. I'll keep you in mind. Good luck. That's not really the kind of love God wants to see from his people. He says, whoever has this world's goods and sees his brethren in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? It's an honest question. My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So, brethren, let's learn to love each other the way God loves us.

Subpoint C, love our extended church family. So we talked about this congregation here in Cincinnati. It's easier to love, hopefully, everyone in this room. We know each other better. But there's also an extended church family that we have the same common bond with our brethren all around the world. And the Feast of Tabernacles, every year, is an opportunity, especially, because we travel and we get together with hundreds of people, and we have an opportunity to love our extended church family. So take advantage of these opportunities that God gives us. The Feast of Tabernacles is a precious time when we can travel and learn to love people all around the world. It's pretty cool when you have friends in Italy, friends in England, friends in Africa, perhaps. Many of you have traveled extensively. And so we should love our extended church family. And remember that there really are no stepbrothers and stepsisters in the family of God.

There's no second class. If God's Spirit dwells in them, they're a child of God. They're a called-out one. If they're in a different organization, we still need to love them, don't we? And we need to try our very best to show that love toward them.

And certainly God knows what's happening. God will bring people to repentance. Repentance is important. We've all been hurt by people who have done things improperly, who have done things wrongfully, who have hurt us. Somehow we need to learn to forgive and pray that they might repent and that God might bring them true repentance, and that we might all come back together one day as God's children. To think that we're going to skip into the kingdom of God with a lot of animosity toward each other, I don't know how that's going to work. Oh, so you are with this group. Oh, I don't know that that's going to work too well. We need to try to make some kind of peace, and it has to be based in love, learning to love. Leviticus 19, verse 18 says, I am the Eternal. Therefore, that's why you are to love them this way, because I am love. And you are my son or my daughter. And so learn to love them as I have loved you. Has God not forgiven you multiple hundreds and maybe thousands of times?

We have to learn to love that way so that we can forgive others the way God forgives us. Bearing a grudge and being unwilling to forgive is not love. You can't bear grudges toward each other. You have to fight to get over whatever it is, whatever roadblock Satan might put in your way.

Subpoint D, love the people of the world. Love the people of the world. Future brothers and sisters who have not yet joined the family completely. But God isn't done with them. God loves them. God will call them in due time.

Again, don't love the evil carnal ways of the world. We're to come out of the world. We're to be separate. We're to be different. But also, we should acknowledge the good that some people do have, even perhaps in your own neighborhood. I've got some decent neighbors. They've treated me well. I've tried to treat them well.

I am bound to learn to love them and to care for them and even to die for them if it comes to that. That's the kind of love God expects from us.

Some neighbors can be pretty crotchety, but would you lay their life down for them anyway?

In Leviticus 19, verse 34, God says, There were some Egyptians who came out of Egypt. I'm not sure exactly how that worked, but they came along with the children of Israel. And God says, you shall love them as yourself. Now, they were also to embrace the laws of the land, too, especially at that time, because God was calling a chosen people to represent Him and to be His examples upon the earth. He says, For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You were once strangers there. Remember that. Love the strangers. Love the people who come among you. I am the Lord your God. Love them the way I love you. Remember that I am love.

Let's go to point D. E. E. Love our enemies. You knew I would get there, right? Love our enemies. Christ said in Matthew 5, beginning in verse 43, You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. By the way, that's not in the Bible to hate your enemies. I don't think it's there, is it? They heard that in the pagan world. They heard it, but that's not God's way. Even in the Old Testament, God tells us to love our enemies. He's very consistent throughout His word. You have heard it said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. That will test you. To truly follow through and do these things, it will test you.

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? It's easy to love people who love you. Adolf Hitler loved people.

To some degree. As much as he knew how, I suppose. Ava Braun, I mean, I don't know. But the point is, it's easy to love those who love you. He says, Do not even the tax collectors do the same. The tax collectors were really looked down upon back in those days. I guess maybe they are today, too, but anyway.

And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so. Therefore you shall be perfect. You shall be mature. Just as your Father in heaven is perfect. And again, remember, this is in the context of loving your enemies. That's how he says we're to be perfect. We're to be perfect because we've learned to love our enemies and to pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us. It's not in the context of making a Pharisaical to-do list. That's not how we become perfect. It's by learning to love each other and have the same kind of love that God has for us. And remember, the enemy list does not include any of our physical or spiritual family. I mean, if they're blood relatives or if they're spiritual family, unless they're trying to kill us, perhaps they could be considered an enemy. Most people aren't out trying to kill you.

But the enemy list doesn't include any of our physical or spiritual family.

Who are truly our enemies? There aren't that many that are really enemies. Not really. Not in the fullest context. In 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4, this is the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4, Paul says, "'Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. Love is not puffed up.'" In other words, it's humble. Love is a humble characteristic. To love each other is based in humility. And then in verse 8 of 1 Corinthians 13, remember that love never fails. If you put love into practice, it will never fail. It may not go exactly the way you thought it would, but it will not fail. Because the Scripture says love never fails. God never fails. God is love. Love never fails. It says prophecies will fail, other things will fail, but love will never fail. In 1 Corinthians 16, verse 14, Paul says, "'Let all that you do, let all that you do, let it be done with love.'" Whatever it is you do, let it be done with love. If you're playing volleyball, you don't want to spike it too hard. Not so much that it hurts someone. At least you don't want to intentionally do it, right?

"'Let all that you do be done with love.'" Everything. Paul's instruction to the church at Corinth. And the church at Corinth was a messed up church in a lot of ways. It had a lot of flaws. He said, "'Let all that you do be done with love.'" And now to the final Scripture, the most beloved Scripture, because it's the last one.

I'm just kidding. I know you don't think that way. Alright, let's go to John 21, verse 15. This is after Christ was resurrected, and he was visiting with his disciples. In John 21, verse 15, "'So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?' Do you love me, Simon? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Now, probably most of us realize that God uses agapeo, he uses filetio here in these words. No doubt there's meaning behind that, but I really want to stress the last part. Three times he told Peter, "'Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.'" That was his calling, was to feed the lambs, to feed the sheep. Yes, to love them, to love them both in filetio love and also in agape love, to really go out and learn what love is, what it means, and how to put it into practice in one's life. As a minister of Jesus Christ, it's my job to nurture, to feed, to care for, to learn to love you all. And I hope I'm up for that challenge. I believe I am. God's way is wonderful, it's beautiful, it's perfect.

You know, it is difficult to love as God loves, I will admit that. But it is our calling. It's our calling, each and every one of us. So, brethren, first are important. May the love of God be in us all, may it be practiced by us all, and may the love of God truly define who we are.