 Hebrews, we'll be looking at verses one through six. So allow me to read these six verses two. And what we're gonna be looking at really is a study on Christian living. And the first verse that we see here in chapter 13 really says it all. So beginning at verse one, Hebrews chapter 13, reading to verse six, the writer writes, let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers for by doing so or so doing, some have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them and those who are mistreated since you yourselves are in the body also. Marriage is honorable among all and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let your conduct be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man do to me. So the writer has been giving a series of exhortations concerning Christian living throughout this particular book and up until the conclusion of chapter 11, he's been giving a great deal of doctrine. Beginning with chapter 12, he began to communicate practical application of this doctrine. We need to remember that much of the New Testament follows this pattern. Theology first and then practice. You have doctrinal instruction and then practical application. It's doctrine to duty. It's creed to conduct and that's because belief produces behavior. You see that in the way that the Lord communicated his word to us. A good example is found in what we call the 10 commandments. You see the first four commandments actually detail man's relationship to God. It's been referred to as being vertical and theological. When you look at those commandments, God said, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain and remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Those are vertical and those are theological. But the next six commandments are horizontal and ethical. They are the practical outworking of the first four commandments. He says honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not cover your neighbor's house. You shall not cover your neighbor's wife or his man servant or maid servant, ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. So you first begin with a relationship with God and then second, you have a practical outworking of it. When Jesus was asked, what is the great commandment in the law? He said the first is, here all Israel the Lord thy God he is one and you shall love the Lord your God with everything that's within you. And he said there's a second like under the first and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You have that vertical relationship with God, loving God with everything that is within you. And then you have that horizontal where you love people. And so you see that throughout the scripture. You see it from Genesis through Revelation and there are various places you can look where you'll see that. In first John, for example, in chapter two, verses four and five, John said the man who says I know him but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him and this is how we know we are in him. And so if I say that I know him, I will do what he commands. If I say that I know him and do not do what he commands, then I don't have a true relationship with God. And John said it's very practical and it's very easy to understand. So theology must be practically expressed through a life of obedience. When John was writing there in first John, he was actually contrasting intellectual faith with genuine Christian faith. And that's because the church has always been filled with counterfeit Christians. They profess verbally but deny practically. And that's why he was saying that a true belief produces a behavior. When you actually have a relationship with God, it changes the way that you live. So in first John three, 16 through 18, he says, this is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Beloved, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. Intellectual faith, which we call a head faith and a said faith versus a changing faith or a genuine one, a faith that transforms you. And so that's why chapter 12 had so much exhortation to the church and that's why in chapter 12, the writer began to exhort the church to run this great race that has been marked out for them because theological knowledge must be worked out in a person's life. So the writer has been instructing the Hebrews to establish their understanding of God because what we think about God determines our relationship with one another and the world that we live in. Chapter 13 begins with practical application and that's what we'll be looking at today and the commands that he gives really relate to love and its expression, its expression amongst people. He mentions its expression amongst Christians and we're to love strangers and prisoners and those in need and that's what we'll be looking at as we look at chapter 13 verses one through six. So begin with me in verse one and notice how he says, let brotherly love continue. Brotherly love, brotherly love is a natural outflow of a Christian life. When you have love for one another as a family of God it reveals that we understand that we are family members that we believers belong together. When you have love for somebody who's not related to you physically but you do have a genuine concern for them and a love for them because they're a believer it demonstrates that you understand what it means to be a Christian because love is the evidence that we have a relationship with God. It actually helps us to know, to have a personal witness, to know that you have a relationship with God and I need to hasten to add that love is not just a feeling, it's not an emotion alone. It's a wonderful, a wonderful feeling and it's great to have. But I have to tell you the truth and everybody in this room probably already knows this but allow me to say it anyway. For me, love is a lot more than a feeling. I mean, Marie and I have been together for a good long time now and I don't know that the feelings are always exactly the same. I mean, sometimes people say, well, what happens if you fall out of love? I don't know that you fall out of love any more than you fell into love. Really, you grow into love and love is really a choice. It's a decision of the will. It's just a growing sense of commitment and feelings are there but not all the time. I mean, I'm sure when she wakes up in the morning and I have that morning breath and I turn towards her and say, hey, I don't think she's thinking I love this man. I'm fairly certain she's saying, you know, when she takes the pillow off of her face and all she probably just wants me to go brush my teeth. I mean, love is just not always feelings and sometimes we think that it is. It's really a commitment. It's a decision of the will. It's a pursuit for the long haul in the same direction with an individual that you're committed to. And there are moments of ecstasy. There are moments of, gosh, I'm so in love and I really understand it and the birds are singing and the clouds part and the sun bursts through and then you run in slow motion and all of that. You know, most of the time it's just can you throw out the trash? I mean, love is very, very practical. But one of the things about love that I appreciate it's one of the ways that God actually helps us to understand that we have a relationship with him because we who at one time could not stand other people actually grow to have a burden not just for those whom we know but we begin to care for people we don't know. We actually begin to have a general kind of love a sense of love for strangers for people that we're not even physically related to and that helps us to know that we have a relationship with God. In 1 John in chapter 3 verse 14 John said, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers. We know this, it's one of those ways that God gives to us an internal witness a personal witness. In 1 John 4 verse 20 John said, if anyone says I love God yet hates his brother, he's a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. It's one thing for me to say oh I love the Lord but he's invisible, I love the Lord but I can't stand you doesn't make sense. So what the Lord is saying through John is listen if you say you love the invisible God then you're gonna demonstrate that by loving those whom he loves. And so there's this personal witness within you. And so he says to us that brotherly love is to continue. Now I want you to notice in verse one here in Hebrews 13 how he says let brotherly love continue that gives to us insight that we can actually stifle that or quench that. It helps us to understand that we can quench love. You see love is what God would have us to have even as I was mentioning to you today as the earmark of the believer. And I was sharing this morning in our Sunday service how that we pursue love and how that Jesus Christ made it very clear that love was the earmark, it was the birthmark it was what really marks us off from the world. See you can belong to a variety of clubs and fraternities and teams and all and it's not required of you to actually love your fellow members. You can be a teamster or you can be in the Rotary Club or you can play on a softball team or whatever you can be in a fraternity, a sorority and it's not required of you to love that person. It's not required of you to do so you simply have to qualify to be part of that organization or that team and you don't have to love but the church now that's something else. In order to be a genuine believer it is commanded of me to love, not a suggestion. It isn't something that Jesus said it would be really nice if you cared about people sometimes if not that's cool too. He didn't say that. He said by this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have love one for another. This is the birthmark of the believer. This is what people will see. It's the evidence that God has transformed my life. It's the change. It's what my mom saw in me when I got saved and she saw that I started caring about people I didn't know and helping people and doing things that ordinarily wouldn't even have passed my mind to do that. Crossed my mind for a moment to help somebody or care for somebody and my mom saw that and she realized that something had taken place in my life. Some people absolutely refuse to yield and they don't want to love and they don't want to trust and as a result of that they simply live crippled emotional lives until they die because they're unwilling to just let go and say God use me, God help me, I desire to do that. You see you can quench love. It's possible to stifle the spirit and quench his work and you can consciously refuse to love people. You can consciously do that. You know that and I know that. You can know plenty of the Bible, you can quote it but here comes that person and you see them coming towards you and you don't like them and you start really praying for the rapture. Get me out of here Lord in Jesus name. Come quickly Lord Jesus. We can do that and the writer of Hebrew says no don't quench the spirit. Let God's spirit work in you and reveal in you his grace. Ephesians 4.32, be kind one to another. Tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Let brotherly love continue. Somebody gets hurt in a church and first thing they do is they run some place and they run from their problem. It's kind of funny we as adults try to teach our children to face their problems. You got a problem, deal with it. If you keep running from problems you'll run all of your life. So I would teach my kids that I'd say you got a problem, talk to the person. Doesn't hurt to open your heart to them and ask God to bring a unity, a unification of heart, a restoration. Be willing to do that because if you start running every time you have a problem you're gonna run the rest of your life and there's some people who absolutely run from place to place even sometimes sadly to say from church to church trying to escape their problems and they're always bringing their problems with them because it's their problems. When I was 20 years old, went into the military, was stationed on the east coast in North Carolina and I had some problems here in California and that's when the Holy Spirit began to teach me some things. I was freshly saved and I went from the west coast to the east coast and lo and behold my problems traveled with me because there were my problems. So you can run and you can run and you can run as far as you want but your problems remain with you until they're resolved and if you have a problem with another believer you resolve that problem by calling them up and sitting down with them and saying to them listen, I have to tell you that I've been harboring a grudge in my heart towards you. The Lord has convicted me and I need to ask you for forgiveness and we need to reconcile. Now if they say to you, I hate you, leave, well at least you tried, at least you gave an effort. When this church began I was an assisting pastor and another fellowship and the senior pastor and I had a very large disagreement and I left that ministry and began this ministry here about a year after the church was going. I woke up one morning, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, you need to reconcile. And I gave him a call and I said, I'd like to see you. And he said, can you be in at 10? And I said, I'll be there. And I went to his office and I sat down with him and we had about an hour conversation and we confessed our sins to one another and prayed for one another and embraced each other. And I walked out of that door, reconciled to him, left that, you know, left it behind. You have to do that. You have to do that. So you let brotherly love continue. It's something that we don't stop. It's something that we allow to continue on. Secondly, he says in verse two, do not forget to entertain strangers for by doing so or so doing, some have unwittingly entertained angels. And so when he says, do not forget to entertain strangers, this is an emphasis on the concern of helping other people. A stranger can be a brother or a sister in the Lord that you just don't know, you haven't met yet. It really speaks of a general heart of compassion and ministry. It's a heart to do good to people. According to Galatians chapter six verse 10, let us do good unto all men, especially those of the household of faith. It's this mentality of desiring to do good to others and entertaining strangers as a hospitable heart. He says interestingly enough for by doing, by so doing, some have unwittingly entertained angels. Now, not that every time we help, we may be helping angels. I mean, somebody comes and we help them unless the guy's name is angel and you are helping an angel. But most of the time, I don't know, I was gonna tell you something, but I won't. I want to though. No, I won't, I'll keep going. I'll be serious, I'll be serious. Okay, I'll tell you. No, no. It's just dumb, it just comes to my mind. I've got this crazy mind that sometimes I remember things and they're not in my notes and it makes me laugh. Then I want to tell you and you won't think it's funny, so I should just keep going. But I won't. I was sharing it at a men's conference. And I was telling the men how there was a guy on the radio who was saying, if you send money to my ministry, I will send you an autographed picture of Jesus. This is the truth, I'm not kidding. I will send you an autographed picture of Jesus. And I said, you know, in my church, we have a lot of guys named Jesus, but we call them Chewie. And I have a few angels there too. Now that just pops in my mind and it is. Anyway, let me go back to what I'm trying to say here. It's not that every time you do something, you are entertaining an angel, but you never know how far reaching an act of generosity may go. You never know. And that's the point that he's making. It's being hospitable and caring because in doing so, very often the Lord will reward you for the work that you've done in a variety of ways. Now, in the book of Genesis, we know that Abraham had offered a meal to three men and it turns out it was the Lord God himself and two angels with him. And that's the example that you would find in scripture. But the point is, we are to be generous to all. Now in verse three, he says, remember the prisoners as have chained with them and those who are mistreated. Love again is practical. We identify with those who are in need and we do not forget them. Some Christians had been imprisoned for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the church was beginning to go through suffering and all. Remember in chapter 10, remember how he had been writing there in verses 32 through 34. And he had said, recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated for you had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Well, we need to identify those with those who are suffering. We need to minister to them because some believers have been imprisoned for their faith in Jesus Christ. And so we should do for them what we would have done for us. There's a practical effect in other words in love because when you're out there ministering to people who are in real need and real hurt, it keeps you from that ivory tower philosophizing that you can do. You know, there are numerous people that I have spoken to over the years and some recently who have condemnation sometimes, sadly to say for the church, they say, well, the church isn't doing enough. The church isn't visiting prisoners, isn't clothing the naked, isn't feeding the hungry, isn't ministering to the poor. And sometimes when I hear that, I wonder, but what are you on a personal level doing? What are you doing? Because we sometimes may see a church institution such as our own fellowship here as kind of like a system, like a system that should be providing for everybody. But we need to remember that the church is made up of individuals. It's made up of people. It's made up of all of us and we gather together in church meetings, but we leave this building as the church. And therefore, if there's somebody with a need, my first response to that person's need isn't to call the church up and say, can I speak to somebody? Because I just saw somebody on the street corner who needs some money. Maybe if I'm led by the spirit and I'm concerned for that person, maybe it's up to me to do that. Maybe God has placed that on my heart and it's not something I'm supposed to call somebody else to do and use the church as some kind of system to help others. Maybe that's what the church is. Maybe that's what I am, a person that God has placed in a certain position so that I might help people when the need arises and I see that. And it simply requires love. It requires a heart. It requires a concern for them. It requires a merciful spirit. And that's an expression of love. So when he says, let brotherly love continue, he begins to give us expressions of it. Do not forget to entertain strangers by doing so some unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners as have chained with them and those who are mistreated since you yourselves are in the body also. And then he moves on into another expression of love in verse four. Now notice that. Marriage is honorable among all and the bed undefiled. But fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. While speaking of practical expressions of love, it's interesting that he includes the subject of marriage. Now, why is that? Well, it's because God established marriage as a place for the two to become one. And all sexual acts are intended to be enjoyed within the bonds of marriage. You see, in the eyes of man, sexual promiscuity is permissible. But in God's sight, it is always sin. And sexual promiscuity is destructive. And it's unloving to engage in sexual activity outside of marriage. There's an interesting scripture it's found in 1 Thessalonians chapter four verses three through seven. You might wanna turn there with me for a moment. I wanna illustrate this through scripture. 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter four verses three through seven. Speaking of verse four, speaking of marriage being honorable among all and the bed undefiled fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. When Paul was writing to the church of Thessalonica, he said to them in chapter four, verse three, this is the will of God, your sanctification. That you should abstain from sexual immorality. That each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. Not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God. That no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter. Because the Lord is the Avenger of all such as we also forewarned you and testified. For God didn't call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Interesting. When he says you are to possess your own vessel in sanctification, it speaks of your body. Your body is set apart for the worship and service to God. Paul says you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are his, which belong to him. I who at one time, the Bible says in the book of Ephesians, at one time was a slave, I was in the marketplace of sin, have been redeemed by Jesus. The purchase price of my redemption, in other words, what it cost him to buy me out of sin was his blood. And so when he purchased me with his blood by dying on the cross and pouring out his blood on my behalf to wash me from sin, he now owns me. And because he owns me, I am his servant. I belong to him. So I am to take this vessel that has been purchased by God and I am to live in a holy way. I possess my own vessel in sanctification. The word sanctification is a Greek word that speaks of being set apart. It's the same word that is translated holiness. So I'm to have a life that is separate unto God for his service. Now, as a Christian guy, I meet a girl. And as I meet this girl, I become attracted to her. As a guy, general rule is I might find her pretty, attractive, not really interested in an awful lot about her at first, just kind of interested in her because she attracts me. And so I might begin to date her, never going very deep with her, never sharing very much of myself with her, never really too interested in her. But as I'm with her and getting to know her, I'm using all the charm that I can muster. And before you know it, she starts thinking she cares for me. Now, I'm carnal enough to like that, carnal enough to use that to my advantage. Because I know that in the rules of engagement, I know that if I can cause her to care for me more than I care for her, then I can control her. I can have her pretty much doing things that I want as I continue to break her down. I give her enough for her to begin to think that I'm serious about her. Occasionally, I might give her enough to think that I actually care for her. But after a while, because I'm really not convinced that this is the one that I want to end up with, and yet I'm still attracted, I might move into the physical intimacy and encourage her to do so. As we enter into that, she may be yielding to me because I speak things like I love you and I say things like, you know, one of these days we'll get married. She begins to take that as the truth. I'm simply using it because I know she wants to hear that. Then eventually we enter into relationship and I begin to use her until I'm tired of her. And when I'm tired of her, I start to say, you know, I gotta get out of this because I'm not serious for her. And as the more I'm getting to know her, the more I realize this isn't gonna work and it's not good for me because really it's all about me anyway, isn't it? I mean, it's how I feel. It's if I'm satisfied, it has nothing to do with her dreams or aspirations or feelings. I don't care what she wants to tell me about what it was like to be a little girl or her grandmother's maiden name. I don't care about any of that. Doesn't matter to me because I am keeping things superficial and shallow. I'm keeping it at a level that I can control her. Eventually I've discovered that there are things that I can do to manipulate her. And now I'm convicted because I am a Christian but I've been living a carnal life and the spirit of God is convicting me and I realize I don't wanna be part of this relationship. I have to break it off but she thinks I'm committed to her. She thinks I'm gonna marry her and she's committed herself to me and I'm sorrowful and I'm broken but the fact is that I realize I've gotta get out of this relationship. I call her up, we go to a coffee shop and we drink coffee together and I look her in the eye and I say, I've gotta be honest with you. The bottom line is I really don't feel for you the things that you think I feel. Forgive me but I've gotta bail out on this relationship and off I go. And I'm really sad for a couple of days and then I move on. She is broken. Me, the Lord begins to work on and then finally he breaks through and I'm really sorry for what I've done now and she's really in pain but she's been healed and she's in church and she meets a guy and the guy actually does respect her. He doesn't just say I respect you or I'm gonna treat you like a lady. He really does. He's not using that as a hook to break her defenses. He does love her and he does care for her. She's got this guilty secret because she's had this relationship as a Christian and he's assuming that she hasn't. And then one day he says to her, I have to tell you something. I have to tell you that I've grown to not only just like you, I don't wanna mirror you. You're everything that I've always wanted. And now she looks him in the eye and she says to him, well you need to know something if you really want me, you need to know where I've been. And I don't wanna tell you the whole story but I have to tell you this and she opens up and she shares. And the guy looking across that table in her eyes is disappointed and hurt and she's in pain and she's crying and the result has been defrauding your brother because when Paul says you're not to defraud your brother, no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter. He's saying that when you take that girl's physical love, you are actually ripping off a brother because her intimacy belonged to her husband but you took something that didn't belong to you and you defrauded your brother. You stole from him something that belonged to him. I can't tell you over the years how many times I've heard girls as well as boys but sometimes it has shocked me. Girls who will say, God is gracious, he'll forgive me when I get married, my husband will say I understand. And I just think, where'd you get that from? You certainly isn't from scripture. It certainly wasn't taught to you by your mom and dad who fear the Lord. Where'd you get that from? And the answer is some of the books that they read, the music they listen to, the TV programs and movies they watch and the friends they hang around with who have convinced them that it's okay. But God says it isn't. God says that he hasn't called us to uncleanness but in holiness. And so that's back in Hebrews 13 verse four what the writer is speaking about. Marriage is honorable among all. The bed undefiled because in marriage, the marriage bed, that's where intimacy is to be but fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. You see what some call making love. God calls sin and it actually results in judgment. In first Corinthians in chapter six verse nine, Paul said, do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders will inherit the kingdom of God. And he says, let no one deceive you. Let no one deceive you. In Ephesians chapter five verses five and six, for of this you can be sure, no immoral, impure or greedy person, such a man as an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Sexual sin results in judgment. And he's saying you need to understand that fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. Somebody who continues in the life of fornication and adultery is only evidencing that they don't have a relationship with God. In verse five, he says, let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man do to me. And here is your secret of contentment. It's a relationship with God. Notice how he says, let your conduct be without covetousness. He's transitioning from sexual parasitism or covetousness to material covetousness. Some live for sexual satisfaction. Others live for material possessions, but both are wrong. And both will not be completely satisfied because those things do not satisfy our deepest inner longings. The love of money is a trap. It's a trap that brings bondage because material desires cannot bring ultimate satisfaction. Ecclesiastes 510, whoever loves money never has money enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. And I hear that that's true. I don't know that. But I've heard that money does not satisfy because some people who have so much, it means nothing to them. They ultimately say it doesn't mean anything to them, and that's true. It ultimately doesn't. And I think that's one of the things that many are grappling with even now, materialism, that desire for more possessions and all. But he said, let your conduct be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. Man, if you can be content, if you could actually be at peace, then God is doing a tremendous thing for you. My kids look at me as an old man, and they're right in many ways. I am. But they'll walk into the house, and they'll see me. And I'm in my place that I have. It's called Couch. And I'm laying there, and I've got the remote right here. And they think I'm bored. Now maybe Maria's, but I'm not. I'm not bored. And I'll tell them. They don't say that often and have in a few times have given me the impression that they might think that I am. But I'm not bored. I'm actually extremely content. I've got what I want. I don't need anything else. As I'm there and I look at my wife, I'm content. I've got a great wife. When my kids come walking in and I see them, I'm content because I love my kids. And when my grandson comes into the room, everything stops except for him. I mean, he's the center of my universe. And I love that. And I'm extremely content. I'm not one of these people who's kind of like a caged animal just moving back and forth. I've got to do something. I've got to be somewhere. When I'm finished studying and I've done the things that need to be done, I easily can just lay down and just relax. For me, vacations, they're not necessary for me to go some extravagant place and all. I go up to San Luis Obispo. And for me, that's as much as I really want to do. And God has been gracious to me. I'd be honest with you. I've been all around the world and seen many countries and been in many places that people read about in magazines and all. And I've been there. And I have to tell you, Dorothy was right. There's no place like home. I mean, I enjoy it. I like being home and just being with that gal. I mean, for me, home is Marie. And wherever she is, I'm at home. And that's just the way it is. Contentment that not everybody has that. One guy's moving from one conquest to another. Another guy's moving from one car to another. They're moving from thing to thing, thing to thing. And they never are content. He says, let your life be without covetousness. Why? Because God has stated to you, I will never leave you nor forsake you. You have a relationship with the Lord. You know, Paul in Philippians 411 said, I've learned in whatever state I am in to be content. In Philippians 419, he said, my God shall supply all your need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus, not all your greed, all your need. He'll supply all your need. He'll give to you the things that are necessary. Give us this day our daily bread, is what Jesus taught us to pray. When you just rely on Him and trust in Him and enjoy Him, then everything else falls into place. And that's your master passion. We're Christians. We seek the Lord in His kingdom first. And He said, and all of these things will be added unto you. Just pursue me with all of your heart. And I'll take care of you. You'll have everything you need. And you'll be content with that. But if you're always in a hawk, trying to get the latest, whatever it may be, you're never going to be satisfied. You know, Marie called me up the other day. She was gone. And she calls me up. She says to me, honey, what size shoes do you wear? And I said, well, and I told her. And she goes, oh. And I said, so you're going to buy me some shoes? Because it was my birthday? You're going to buy me some shoes? She goes, don't ask questions. Because she wanted to buy me some new tennis shoes. I'm wearing them right now. Right. You care. But anyway, the other ones are seven years old. I don't care. You know, I can still lace them. You throw them inside the washer machine, and they wash up pretty good. I don't care about those things. She says, do you wear this size pant? I said, well, you're going to buy me some pants too? Don't ask questions. Because I wear the same Levi's, and she gets tired of it. She says, we've got to get you some other Levi's. It's just the basic things. None of that. I appreciate the shoes. I appreciate the pants, of course. Of course. But that's not what makes my world. It's not my world. What matters to me is a relationship with God, and loving my wife, and loving my babies, and people. That matters. Relationships, that matters. Possessions, they perish with the using. You have that nice car, and then they bring out the new model, and you say, man, I should have waited six months. Why did I get this piece of junk? I hate this car. That one drives itself. I mean, I can take my hands off the wheel, and it backs up and parks. Secret of contentment, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Interestingly enough, by the way, when he says in verse five, I will never leave you. That word, never there in the Greek language, is actually an emphasized word. Literally, it is, I will never, never, never leave you nor forsake you. It's a promise from God. When you're in his hand, he will hold fast to you. Now that matters. That's what matters. Because when you have the Lord, that's all you ever need. And no Christian can ever live effectively for the Lord if they suffer with covetousness, because they'll never have enough, and they will never be satisfied. But if we are risen with Christ, we are to seek those things that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, we are to set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Because we used to have a saying in the early days of the Jesus movement, because it's all gonna burn. Because we're just passing through. We're just passing through. And we used to say that it's all gonna burn. None of it makes it through. It's all gonna burn. So embrace the things that matter. Let brotherly love continue, and let love be the earmark of your life.