The Marks Of A Healthy Church

don't let my love grow cold i'm calling and i i'm calling out like the fire is a plan i'm called here to buy gold refined in the fire so i won't be ashamed lord like the fire is a plan i'm called here to buy gold refined in the fire naked and poor wretched and won't be ashamed like the fire heard we pray you'd open our hearts to it you have much to show us much that we might not only understand but then put into practice so help us this morning where that's concerned we do pray for for the princes for william and harry and god what a tragic thing to have to go through the divorce of their parents and then the death of their mother all the publicity and all the stuff going on all the junk lord just uh lift them above

that grant them your presence that you would help them through their lives and give them this time of grieving. And then somehow, Lord, bring one of your children there that can just bring a glorious testimony of Jesus Christ to them and draw them to you, Lord, we pray. Open our hearts now too, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

I read a bunch of stuff. I get all kinds of different periodicals and people are always giving me books to read. And I appreciate that. They line my shelf and they're in order and I'm going to read them. One of these days, I'll get to all of them. But in one of the things that I received this past, it's been two weeks now, is a journal from Hal Lindsey. It's his Countdown

Christian Intelligence Journal. And an article in it, the beginning of the article really struck my heart, especially regarding the section that we're in, in the book of Acts. And it was some statistics again, that he started this article off with. He said, quote, something like 2% of all Americans claim to have had an extraterrestrial experience. According to polls on the subject. Statistically speaking, that means that if you know 50 people,

at least one of them believes he was abducted by aliens. That brings up a couple of other interesting statistics, he says. Although some 60% of Americans claim that religion is very important in their lives, only about 30% claim to attend church regularly. And only about 2% of those who claim Christianity as their principal religious belief, identify themselves as boycotts.

So, in actuality, he says, there are about as many born-again Christians in this country as there are people who believe that they've been abducted by aliens. As disciples of Jesus Christ, and in our study in the book of Acts, we were putting all of our study in Acts under the umbrella of our being called to be witnesses. We have been called to be witnesses, to be witnesses in our Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and to the other side of the world. And we've been called to be witnesses in the uttermost parts of the earth, and to go, and in our daily goings, is what Matthew 28 really implies. It's not that you necessarily have to join a mission organization and go

somewhere as a missionary, but go, and in your daily goings, as you go, make disciples, teaching them whatsoever things you have heard of Jesus. According to these statistics that I just shared at the beginning, we're not doing a very good job in this country. If there are as many born-again Christians as there are people who believe they've been in contact with Jesus Christ, then we're not in contact with or abducted by aliens. Our nation, which was founded by godly men, godly individuals, and based upon our governing documents, based upon biblical principles, we are somehow not doing a very good job of being witnesses, of making disciples.

Even the Bible colleges are concerned about this. I read another article concerning a gentleman by the name of Dr. Johnny V. Miller, who was recently appointed as president of the Accrediting Association of the United States of America. He was a president of the United States of America, and he was a president of the United States of America. He was a president of the United States of America.

He was a president of the United States of America. He was a president of the United States of America. He was a president of the United States of America. He was a president of the United States of America. And when he was appointed to that post, a leading pastor in our country told him, quote, congratulations, you have just been appointed the captain of the Titanic,

end quote, because fewer and fewer people are deeming it necessary to receive any kind of a biblical foundation in their educational lives. And they see Bible colleges as such as possibly becoming a thing of the past, becoming almost extinct. Now factor in on top of those things, just a statement from a pastor who was a pastor in the United States of America, and he was a the last days prophecies that you are familiar with paul's encouragement to timothy or his letter to timothy in second timothy chapter three where paul tells timothy that in the last days things are going to get worse and worse that people are going to become lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god and also the text in second thessalonians chapter two verse three where

paul tells that before the antichrist is revealed there must come first a great falling away in the english a removal and there are those who argue that that's talking specifically about the rapture but the word itself in the greek is the word apostasia which we have transliterated into english apostasy which literally means a turning away a falling away from truth a turning away from the word of god there's going to be that turning away people are waxing worse and worse hearts are growing cold because we're in the last days and so when you factor in all these things it's real easy to see that the church in america has become discouraged impotent to a great extent now when we get to that point it's it's it's

easy for us at times to feel like the church needs to do something to try to generate excitement to try and generate interest to try and manifest some new move of god's spirit to excite the people to try and draw people to try and increase our numbers and so we end up seeing all the different aberrations and isms and schisms and cults and counterfeit revivals that are on the scene as we try to do these things in our own strength in our own flesh but here as we look at the end of acts chapter two as the church itself is being born we see modeled here before us the marks or the identifying characteristics of a healthy church a healthy church healthy because the power and and and and especially emphasize the and the love

of god is being manifested in that church to the extent that not only the people that are in that church see the love of god but also the love of god is being manifested in that church to the extent that not only the people that are in that church see it and are aware of it and sense it when they when they gather with the church but those outside of the congregation those outside of the church doors are aware of it as they are around they just see and know the power of god it's evident it's it's visible in the lives of the people and then secondly a mark of the healthy church is that it will have natural growth as a result of being healthy now because the church i'm sorry we're going to get that fixed one of these days

because the church is metaphorically seen as a body uh over and over in the new testament the believers are referred to as the body of christ and and by metaphorically seeing it that way when you think of the church you are to think of a human body specifically the body of jesus because that's what we're called the body of christ not doesn't just represent a gathering of people you're you are to consider the attributes of a literal body a human body now in light of that let me ask you a question what can you do with your body to make yourself grow i say you're 11 years old and you're four feet six inches tall and you want to be 18 and six feet tall now what can you do to make your body grow to that point now nothing absolutely

nothing now there are some basic elements some basic things that you must do and you will naturally grow to that point eventually you have to eat properly you have to eat properly you have to get rest proper sleep you have to be a part of some form of regular exercise various things like that and normally naturally you will grow to reach 18 and your height will probably grow to some extent but it's a natural process there are basic things that you need to do to affect that process if you neglect any one of those basic elements if you don't eat you won't make it to 18 if you eat junky stuff you may not make it to 18 if you eat junky stuff you may not make it to 18 if you

may grow in other directions or you will grow in an unhealthy manner if you neglect certain of the basic elements of natural human growth now as with your physical body then so also with your spiritual body with our spiritual existence as the church now let me let me kind of clarify the church we are the church believers in jesus christ not just in this fellowship in ark city but believers in jesus christ not just in ark city but believers in jesus christ not just in ark city all over the world collectively corporately make up the organism called the church the body of christ also individually each one of us as a believer is a part of the body of christ paul

says in first corinthians chapter 12 that you are the body of christ and individually are a part as god has placed you there not everybody's an eye not everybody's a hand but we all have been placed into the body of christ we're a part of the body of christ and we're a part of the body of christ individually as well as corporately we are the church corporately and yet individually we're part of the church so when we look at this section at the end of chapter two as far as the marks or the identifying characteristics of a healthy church i want you to see that this is to be applied to not only corporately us as a body but individually as well so who's responsible to make sure that we

are a healthy church every one of us all of us are a part of the body of christ and we're a part of the body of christ all of us are responsible where that's concerned take your bibles here in acts chapter two and look with me at verse beginning with verse 42 we've seen the birth of the church we've seen the holy spirit fall we've seen the people gather and we just finished last time peter's sermon and how he presented the gospel many believed and were baptized about three thousand were added that day verse 41 now verse 42 they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer and everyone was filled with awe and many wonders

and miraculous signs were done by the apostles and the apostles were filled with awe and many apostles and all the believers were together and had everything in common and selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need and every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts praising god and enjoying the favor of all the people and the lord added to their number daily those who were being saved the four characteristics of a healthy church are mentioned there in verse 42 and then they are expounded upon in verses 43 through 44 47 and that will be the focus of our study for the next couple weeks the four characteristics of

a healthy church according to verse 42 are one the apostles teaching or the apostles doctrine depending on the translation you're reading fellowship breaking of bread and prayer these four characteristics donald gray barnhouse writes quote these are the marks of a healthy church depart from any of those characteristics and you have an anemic sick church such as we see so much of today the church is ineffective for the most part in this country right now why somehow these elements are either lacking or they are disproportionately emphasized in both the individuals and corporately as the body of christ corporately as the church itself let's look at these characteristics we're only going to look at

one of them today today is a day here at calvary the first of the month first sunday of the month we go to the lord's table and so i want to give you plenty of time to do that so we will we're going to shorten the service up just a little bit honest we did it first service we can do it this service um so we'll only look at the first characteristic of a healthy church which is the day and that's the area of the apostles teaching they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching now before we get into that characteristic completely first i want to look at what just preceded the apostles teaching because we tend to oftentimes read over sections that are extremely

important the first three words there are they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching if you're reading king james it says they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine in the greek and it means to earnest to be earnest towards to persevere to be constantly diligent to attend assiduously all the exercises to adhere closely let me read those again okay they were devoted to they continued steadfastly in they were earnest towards they persevered in they were constantly diligent in they attended assiduously all the that means they they gave them any of the exercises that are necessary to do anything they did in the apostles doctrine in the greek and they did all the exercises

every single exercise they adhered closely to the apostles doctrine now this is more than just a ho-hum kind of sunday ritualistic kind of here we go to church kind of little thing finish our weekly requirement they see these four characteristics as of utmost importance in their spiritual well-being they gave themselves to these four things it was their life and you say well great you know they're apostles they're supposed to do that i don't have time to do those kinds of things follow me with you okay football season has started i'm a fan and uh last monday evening there was a game between chicago bears and green bay packers there was a defensive lineman uh that i don't remember the guy's name for the bears but i do remember they

kept going back and forth and they just were marveling about the weight of this guy weight 291 which is really getting smaller now for for alignment that's amazing but this guy at 291 was like a rabbit and he was breaking through the line and he was getting these little backs in the back field and as a back would come up and bounce off the front of the line and and kind of cut to the side this guy was breaking out and cutting over and tackling these backs i mean he was moving quick and the announcers were commenting on that how fast this 209 almost a 300 pound lineman was now let me ask you what do you suppose that guy's been doing for the last six to nine months besides spending

his money he's been in training training camp started earlier this summer but he would have been in training before that that means a diligent schedule that means he would have been up early in the morning every day and he would have been running regularly and then he would work out on a series of weights or weight machines to strengthen certain areas of his body that he would feel were weak or that needed special attention then he would have special diet or eating that would that would bulk him up but then there'd be more running to make sure that the calories from that were distributed in the right areas and not just fat he's not going to let himself get fat he's going to bulk up his weight so that he is a contender on that front

line but also to keep himself tight in his musculature ready so that he can do those kind of sprints and so that he doesn't wear out after a game in the heat that's for this next month they're going to be hot wearing games it's a diligent practice he gives himself to these practices now listen believer in jesus christ disciple called to be witnesses if your spiritual health is not important to you if growing healthy as a christian in the body of christ is not the most important thing to you you will not give yourself to these characteristics you will not give yourself to these four things and if you do not give yourself to those things you will not give yourself to these four things you will not give yourself to

things. Listen, you will become fat spiritually, you will become lazy spiritually, and you will become weak and ineffective, and you will become discouraged and lethargic, and you will become easily manipulated by the enemy. We need to be devoted to these four areas, just as it's the life of a defensive lineman, to be devoted to the exercise that's necessary, to be effective on his team. We need to be devoted to the things that are necessary to be effective as a part of the church. Now, you may say, well, that's great, but again, these were apostles, not all of them.

They were just ordinary people, and they realized the importance that was necessary from that point on, giving their lives to Christ, how necessary it was to be devoted to these things, or they would end up in the wastebasket. Well, I don't have time. Well, again, according to statistics yesterday, over half of the world, 2.5 billion people, according to CNN yesterday, watched the wedding or replays of the wedding at Sunday. Sometime or other during the day yesterday. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but how many

of you did that yesterday? You took the time to watch the pageantry in all, in living color, maybe on 20 inches, maybe on 35 inches, maybe on whatever big screen you've got with the sound that just blows you across the room, so you can be there. How many of you took the time to watch that, which was totally ineffective for your life, did absolutely nothing for your spiritual health, and yet spent no time at all to watch the wedding? Well, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but you can find the time. You and I have the time. And if it's important to us, if your spiritual

growth is important to us, you will give yourself to that. You will be devoted to, you will be continuing steadfastly in these things. First one, the apostle's doctrine, the apostle's teaching. What is that? If I'm going to give my life to this, what is that? Well, it's the word of God. Well, it's the Bible. Well, okay, great. What was it specifically? The apostle's doctrine. Why didn't it say there they gave themselves to the word of God? Why did

he specify? God is always specific. He doesn't waste words. If he didn't mean for something to be important, he wouldn't have put it in here. If he meant for it to be important, he would have put it in here, and he did. And he didn't say, gave themselves to study the word of God, although that's important. He said specifically the apostle's doctrine. Why did he say that? What is it?

Well, probably would have been the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that we have in the New Testament. Great. That's fine. It's the gospel. It's only one. It's the gospel according to Mark and Matthew and Luke and John. There's only one gospel. It's like there's only one revelation. There are people all the time saying, well, I want to go to the book of revelations. Well,

there's only one revelation. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. There's only one gospel. And we have the four writers who gave us their perspective on it, but it's one gospel. And Peter just gave us his short sermon on it in the latter half of Acts chapter two, and it deals with Jesus Christ, his life, that he came from God, that he was a man, as we saw in his sermon, but he was attested

by God to be more than just a man. He was fully man, yet he was from God. He was Mashiach. He was Messiah. And God affirmed that, attested that, Peter says, through the miracles and the wonders and signs that he did through it. Not only that, not only did he live, but according to God's foreordained plan, God sent him to die on a cross for us. That was foreordained from before the

foundations of the world. We went through all that last week. He went to the cross and he died for our sin. That's our only access to heaven. That's our only way to get to the Lord, to get to God, to get to heaven. I don't care how many good acts you do. And for anybody to say that Mother Teresa might not have been saved, you're going to get slapped in the face. But I don't

care how many acts of goodness and good things you do, goodness will not get you there. It's through the shed blood of Jesus Christ alone, appropriated by faith, that you say, yes, Lord, that was for me. Thank you. But God did not leave him in the grave. He was raised from the dead before his body saw corruption. And God exalted him, Peter said, to the right hand of the Father.

Jesus is now Lord and Christ. He is God, period. That's what that means. Jesus is God. That's the gospel. And so the apostles would have been teaching that. And the people here would have been devoting their lives to their teaching day after day after day. The teachings concerning Jesus Christ, what these guys heard him teach, what they saw him do. Now, John and John's gospel tells us that everything

that Jesus did and taught, if there were books enough to write everything in, the world couldn't contain him. So there's a lot of things that Jesus did and taught. And so the apostles would have been doing a lot of stuff that's not in here that he did. But we have what's necessary for us. But these guys probably got the benefit of listening to more neat parables and neat stories. And we'll

get to pick up on that when we get to be there. But they would have been going through this day after day after day. But let me ask you this. What was the one thing that the apostles would have emphasized? What is the one thing concerning their teaching that they would have emphasized over and over and over? And you say, Mark, well, we don't know. We weren't there. Well, I know we

weren't there, but we can know. John tells us that Jesus, told the disciples on the night that, as I have loved you, and he says it again, so you must love one another. And he goes on to say, for by this will all men know that you are my disciples, if, and then he says it again, you have loved one for another. So I believe that was a command. That wasn't a suggestion. That wasn't a nice thing that John said in chapter 13 of his

gospel. It was a command. Jesus says a new command or a new commandment. If you're reading King James, was Jesus adding to the 10? Absolutely. He was summing them up. A new commandment, a new command I give to you, that you love one another. So everything that the apostles would have been teaching would have been bound in that, I believe. And we see that as you go through the

rest of the epistles, you see that. If you don't, you're missing it. If you see it as legalistic do's and don'ts, you're missing it. You've missed a key element in understanding what God's saying to us. The gospel is wrapped in the fact that God loves us so much. That he wants you to let him love somebody else through you. And apart from that, you don't know

him. That's what our whole study in James was all about. That's the basis of the gospel. How Jesus loved us. And through his love for us, he redeemed us through his death on the cross. He stayed on the cross. He had the power to come off the cross, but he stayed there because he loved us. And he went to the cross and he died because of his love for us. And he loved us,

selflessly, so that he gave up himself for us because of his love. And now he is raised from the dead and he has commissioned us to go and to teach the world, to teach others, to bring others to Christ. Yes. But how do you do that? If we have a Bible study today and we post it, we run ads in a paper, how many of the people in this city are going to come? Nobody. People don't respond to the

Lord through Bible study. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they'll come. Somebody will come, you know, can I have a handout? Yeah, come in and sit down in the Bible study for a minute. We'll go through the Bible study in a minute. But most of the time, people respond to Christ as a result of love evident in the life of one individual that touches another individual. And they're drawn to that love. And it's a love they

can't understand and can't explain. And they ask about it and they're told about Jesus and they respond. They don't understand all the doctrines of the resurrection and all of that stuff right off the bat. They just know the love of God has touched their life and they respond to that. That's the basis of the gospel. The Sermon on the Mount breaks down to that.

It's the love of God flowing through you as you depend upon it. It's a dependent kind of thing. I need that. I'm devoted to that. I'm I need that. I'm devoted to that. I'm I need that. I'm devoted to that. I'm seeking for that. That you flow through me in that way, Lord. I am poor in spirit. Fill me. How do I know I'm full? It's flowing through me to others. See, that's the gospel. It's the basis

in Matthew 6. It says, you and I are dwelling in the midst of God's love and that love is flowing through us and we are believing in his loving care for us. And we are being about his business, that business of loving others. That just like the birds of the air who just trust him and the lilies of the field who trust him, they trust his love and God blesses them. Then

so do we receive the blessings of that. We're not anxious in the midst of that. If you're dwelling in the midst of his love, but you have to be devoted to that. See, you and I get pulled away into the things of this world and the things of this world become more important than our relationship with the Lord and that love relationship being experienced that flows through me into the life of others. Also in Matthew 6, it is seeing his kingdom. What's his

kingdom? It's the kingdom of God within us, which is what? That his love flows through us. It's seeking first. That kingdom and his righteousness, his righteousness was demonstrated to us and that he was obedient to the father and went to the cross for us. So I am now obedient to him and love others. Let him love them through me. That everything else is added into my life or it falls

into place. It's in dwelling in the midst of that love and seeking that love to flow through me to you. That I see the narrow door in Matthew 7, the narrow door of obedience that few find. It's an obedient, self-giving love. It's an obedient, self-giving love. It's an obedient, self-giving love. It's a love for others based on my obedience to God to go through that door to take time to love you. For

Christ's sake, that's the narrow door rather than the broad door of selfish love. I love myself a self-seeking, self-exalting love. So this world is my oyster and I'm going to go find the pearl for me. That's the broad door that leads to destruction and many there be that go down that path. They've missed the love of God. God so loved the world. You see, that's the gospel. You want to know the

gospel? John 3.16, everybody, everybody in the world knows that from the little fuzzy-headed guy at the football games that sat there for so many years before they banned him with the John 3.16. Every time they kick the field goal, there's John 3.16. God so loved the world based on his love that we now love, that we now reach out to others. That's the apostle's doctrine. That's the basis of the

apostle's doctrine that they devoted themselves to. More than Bible study. Bible study is foundational to that. But if you're just studying the Bible so you can pack your little brain with the Bible, you're not going to be able to do that. You're not going to be able to do that. You're going to be able to do that. You're not going to be able to do that. You're going to be able to do that.

wonderful nuggets to pull out and try and impress people with, then you're doing it for the wrong reason. If you don't want to look, you know, you're doing it so you don't look stupid when you talk to people about God, you're doing it for the wrong reason. It's been given to you to open unto you the glory of the wonders of the relationship with the Lord that you and I can have. It's bountiful, wonderful love. Now, I must confess to you that I see weaknesses in my own life there. I

see some critical actions and attitudes in my own heart towards other brothers and sisters. I see it more easy at times. I see it more easy at times. I see it more easy at times. I see it more easy at times. To give myself to gossiping about others, to put them down to other people, to condemn them and their actions and their ineffectiveness to others more than praying for them at times. The

Lord's been convicting me more where that's concerned. And now when I start to do that, the first thing that his spirit slams me in the face with is, have you prayed for them, not about them? Snuff them, Lord. Get them out of my life. Have you prayed for them? God bless them. See, that's all bound up in the Sermon on the Mount too. You can go back to the Sermon on the Mount.

Love your neighbor. Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good unto them that despitefully use you and persecute you. That's all love. It's bound up in love. And I have not been praying as much as I should for those who have offended me, for those that I see their weaknesses in. I confess that, that you pray for me where that's concerned. I've been weak in not just doing those actions

of love towards them more. I'm committed to doing that. I'm not excusing. You see, we can't excuse ourselves. We see these weaknesses. We can't just now, excuse ourselves based on God's grace. It's just there. I do that. Oops, I'm sorry. No, it's if I'm devoted to the apostle's doctrine, if I'm devoted to a healthy life, then I can't excuse those things any longer. Not according to the text. That's practical theology. That's

practical theology. Now that's as individuals. And if you can identify and you see that weakness in your own heart, and it's easy to be critical of people, it's easier to do that than pray for them and cease the criticizing. Then I pray for you. I pray for you. And I'm praying that specifically for you. Because when we do that, you see the love, we shut off the love of God flowing through us. And we're being disobedient to the command that

he gave us. And we're not devoting ourselves. And so in our own lives, there is an unhealthy growth taking place. We're getting cancer somewhere. We are gaining a wart somewhere. We have a limb that is somehow getting mutated because we're not growing healthy through those critical times. Now, as the corporate church body, it's devotion to the apostle's doctrine that is covered or based upon his love is the bottom line.

That has to be the bottom line for the fellowship. If we're known for anything in the area, I want us to be known for the love of God that's evident. Because that's what Jesus said would let the people know that we are his disciples. And so it's got to be our passion as a corporate church. It's got to be everything that we do and in everything that we do. And it's

more than just Bible study. It's more than the simple instruction in the word, although that is foundational and necessary. I'm not throwing that out with the bathwater. My goodness, look at the bulletin. We've got all these new studies, home fellowships and small group studies that are starting. It's important. It's imperative. This is the foundation from which that understanding

of God's love comes from. And then we understand that this is how they love the other. Okay. Okay. It's going to be hard, Lord, but I trust you for that. Let me love that person that despises me, that has offended me. You know when the love of God is not active in the church fellowship, when people get offended and leave. I'm sorry. I don't like you. I can't go here anymore. Well, let's go back here. Where

does it say that? When you get offended, you go somewhere else. I see love your enemies. I see pray for them that hate you. I see do good unto them that despitefully use you and persecute you. I don't see anywhere here where it says go someplace else where it's nicer. There is no place. It has to be foundational. It has to be practical. It has to be demonstrated overall by the love of the fellowship actively

showing love to one another. That means you got to be around each other. And he deals with that a few verses down. That's part of the apostle's doctrine. It's got to begin with a leadership that holds the word of God in awe. And the leadership here at Calvary Chapel does that. We hold God's word to be his fully inspired, infallible word. And the leadership has to demonstrate

a practical, practical, practical, practical, practical, practical, practical, practical, practical, love in a practical way among themselves as well as to the sheep. This is not a business. This is an extension of the body of Christ. It's an organism, not an organization. And his love has to be seen in the example of the leadership before it will be followed within the fellowship.

Now, we are devoted to that as leaders in this fellowship here at Calvary Chapel. We are devoted to the apostle's doctrine, not simply to define, use the words, although you'll hear us doing that, but to seek to obediently live them out practically, allowing the love of Christ to be poured forth through us to others. But just as in my own life, I see weaknesses in some of these areas. I too see weaknesses within the corporate body of Christ in those areas. Places where I'm not as loving and encouraging, and I tend to gossip

and run down others to others. So too, there are weaknesses in the corporate body of Christ. So too, there are weaknesses in the corporate body of Christ. So too, there are weaknesses in the corporate weaknesses in this fellowship where that's concerned. And that's a reflection. And I apologize. And I'm seeking to stop that in my own personal life. Now, as a lineman in training,

we can't excuse our weaknesses. We have to be given even more diligently to the exercise of God's love. I cannot make you love me the way that I would really like for you to love me and excuse my weaknesses in the sense that you love me in spite of them when I offend you. I can't make you do that. And I can't make you love God the way I would really like for you to. I

know that love and I would really like for you to know that love too, but I can't make you experience that love or love him the way that I would like for you to love him. But I can deepen my own walk with him. I can devote myself to the apostle's doctrine to the extent that I'm experiencing that love on a regular basis. And then I can love you more, no matter what you do with me. And see, in the midst of that, you're experiencing God's love the

way I'd really like for you to experience it. And it really doesn't make any difference then if you're not loving me the way that I wish you were loving me. That's immaterial. That's between you and the Lord. That's based upon your time with him, your devotion to the apostle's doctrine. I'm not responsible for that. But in the midst of that, see, when love abounds, the Bible says it

covers a multitude of sins. You ever stop to think about what that actually means, how that plays out? Well, yeah, ultimately it's God's love for us through Christ, his blood, shed covers all of our sins. Ultimately, that's true. It plays out in day-to-day life as well. You see, I offend you. I do something or don't do something that you don't like, or that just

makes you ticked off at me. And instead of leaving my presence and going off to never, never land, you decide to stay and love me anyhow. And in the midst of your loving me, somehow God's going to make known the way that I offended you. Either you'll come in and gently, in a loving way, point that out to me. That's what the Bible says. You never come with a club and say, well, you

jerk. You know, I'm speaking the truth in love. You're a jerk. You come lovingly seeking to restore that fellowship that's been broken. And either you'll tell me that, or very often, most often, as you're loving me, God will reveal it to me in another way. And I'm so broken that I'll want to restore and give back that love. And you see, love happens so much that pretty soon you forget what

it was you were offended about in the first place, because it's just covered in love. And that's attractive. People want that because they're not getting it anywhere. You don't get it at a football game. You don't get it from your job. I had somebody the other day. I was just in their place of business. I won't tell you where it was, but I was in their place of business just walking by.

And I know that I'd made contact with them before, but I didn't know that they actually knew me by name and shorts and a t-shirt and not shaved, you know, and knew that I was a pastor. I try to go incognito as much as I can. And they said, hey, Mark. I went, yeah. Would you pray for, would you pray for the attitude around here? It stinks. This used to be a family. We used to have a family kind of an attitude around here, but the attitude is just

stinky. I mean, it's everywhere. You're not going to find it in your job. You're not going to find it anywhere, but in the body of Christ. Man, we need each other desperately now as we see the day drawing near. That's what the writer of the Hebrews meant when you see that day drawing near, man, don't forsake it because it's going to get so bad. You're going to go blitzo even as a Christian.

You need that fellowship. And we'll talk about that when we get to fellowship, but this is part of the apostle's doctrine, that love for one another. That is the first characteristic of a healthy church. Father, we come to you this morning. And as we're ready to come to the tables to meet with you, Lord, we just take time to confess to you our own weaknesses, where this is concerned.

We may know a lot of verses and be able to quote them at random, but if your love's not the, not the foundational part of that in our lives, if we're not ministering that to others, then it's really pretty useless. Father, there's a lot of hurting people and even a small thing that we can do to help them. And if we're not ministering that to others, then it's really pretty useless. And if we're not ministering that to others, then we're not in a fellowship in a small town in the Midwest and they need the love of God. And it only

comes as it's taken off the page and put into, into shoe leather as we love one another in the same way that you've loved us. So help us, help us, help us to devote ourselves to that Lord. It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. Now we're going to have the kids come in in just a second and they will.