 With that said, 2 Corinthians chapter 13, we're going to look today as mentioned at verses 7 through 14. I'll begin reading here at verse 7. I'll read to verse 10 and we'll get into our study. 2 Corinthians chapter 13, reading from verses 7 through 10. Paul writes, Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. For we are glad when you are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray that you may be made complete. And therefore I write these things being absent. And as being present, I should use sharpness according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction. And so Paul has challenged the church to examine itself to see if Christ is within them. He's concerned for them because they've been infected. They've been infected with bad teaching. There are a lot of people who don't understand the value of teaching and rightly dividing the word of truth. Today in the church, I think there's a great weakness where people have become Google theologians and all. And they think that they know because they read what somebody else has said. And so what we've ended up with is we've ended up with people who are susceptible to deception. And so if somebody picks up a Bible and says something from it, they automatically think it must be true. Then they argue that person's point. That happened in second to the Corinthian church. False teachers have crept in. They brought in bad doctrine. Bad doctrine always produces badly lived lives. And so they've entered in. They've been teaching them things coming into opposition to the apostle Paul and the things that Paul has taught. And so Paul has been writing all through this letters of second Corinthians to correct the errors and to encourage the people. And they have been infected and he's concerned for them because as he's already mentioned, the fruit of the bad teaching is disunity and carnality. He had just spoken of contentions and jealousies. He spoke of outbursts of wrath and backbidings. He spoke of whisperings and conceits and tummels that was taking place in the church. And these are not the kinds of things that you want your church to be known for. He also spoke of selfish ambitions. Now, when he spoke of the selfish ambition, selfish ambition is a motivation to elevate yourself above someone else. Selfish ambition is seeking your own interests first. It's a desire to place yourself above somebody else. Selfish ambition would easily provoke contentions and disunity in the church. You see, remaining united in the face of opposition is of paramount importance because Satan desires to provoke believers into opposing one another instead of opposing him. So that gives us insight into Paul's word of warning against such attitudes. He said to the Philippians in chapter two, verses three and four in the book of Philippians, he said to that church, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. The word conceit speaks of excessive pride. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. You see, instead of selfish ambition and conceit, this incorrect sense of who you are, we're to value other people. We must learn to be other-centered, not self-centered. And that protects us from selfish ambition and self-importance. And so with this in mind, Paul is making it clear that he's praying for them. And in verse seven, he says, I pray to God that you do no evil. Not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified. So my prayer is that you should do what is honorable. There should be fruit that is evident in you that reveals salvation. That's genuine. You should have a faith that has been revealed in repentance, a desire for righteousness, sincere holiness, a willing obedience to God in his word, a love for the Lord. Because these are the things that evidence genuine faith in Jesus. Repentance, a desire for righteousness, sincere holiness, willing obedience, a love for God, a love for others. This is a demonstration that you actually are born again. Again, we can use these things and examine our own hearts and see whether these things are evident within us, because that's what is called the fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. And Paul's making it clear that his desire for them is that they live in such a way as they glorify the Lord. And it's such a strong desire that he lifts them before the Lord in prayer concerning this. You see, Paul, when you read his writings and get to know who he is through Scripture, you'll see that Paul was a genuine shepherd. And as a pastor, as a shepherd, Paul made sure to lift the people up to the Lord. And he did so in prayer. And this is something he did regularly on behalf of believers living in various places. We mentioned the Philippians a moment ago in the book of Philippians chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, he said this. He said, this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. In Ephesians in chapter 3 verse 17, he prayed that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. In 1 Thessalonians 5-23, he said, the very God of peace sanctify Holy, and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body will be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he prayed for the church and the various places that it was meeting. And so he's praying that they would, verse 7, do no evil. You see, if they do no evil, then he'll not have to exercise apostolic authority. He'll not have to come. He'll not have to discipline them and God would humble him among them. So he desires them to grow in grace, that they do that which is morally right. His prayer reveals that he desires them to live worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Again, that's a prayer of a genuine shepherd that the people would live in a way that is appropriate for someone who's on their way to heaven. In 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 12, he said that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory, walking worthy, walking appropriately. The word of God is holy and the word of God when taken by God's people produces a holy life that you would walk appropriately because the word of God is holy that you may live a holy life. You see, this calling has taken us from the present age, its places in the coming one. In Colossians 1 Thessalonians 13, it says he has delivered us from the power of darkness, conveyed us in the kingdom of the Son of His love. So we are presently citizens of heaven, though we're walking here on the face of the earth. And so we should live in such a way that we bring honor to the King. And the gospel that we've received and that we share with other people is a message that promises transformation. Somebody who's come into a faith of crisis, their life is going to be changed. You're not going to be the same person. You're going to be different. And people who know you will see that difference. I have a guy in our fellowship who went to high school with me. I've known him since we're 14. He comes to our church. He may be watching us right now online. You're a coward. You ought to be here. Anyway, just plain. He's in his pajamas and his pajamas have little bunny feet. I know that's true. But anyway, he's known me since I was 14 years old. He's known me for at least 10 years. No, he's known me for a long time and he came here for a year. A year and he didn't know it was me. And finally his wife wrote and said, Did you go to Sierra High School? And I saw her last name and it's not a common last name. So I wrote back and I said, Are you married to Art? And she writes back, yes. They were here for a year. And he saw me up here. He knew we used to, let's just say we were not good kids together in high school. I've known him a long time. The change was so complete. And it's not because I'm so old. Because you don't outgrow since sometimes people think, Well, you're just too old to sit. No, there's no center like an old center. You don't stop sending, you refine it. You learn how to do it and not get caught. When you're young, you get caught. When you're old, you can sin and not get caught. There's no center like an old center. You don't outgrow sin, you turn from sin. And he saw me for a year and finally she said, He thought that could be you because your name and you mentioned that you grew up in Norwalk and you had mentioned that you went to school in Whittier. She said it is you. See, God changes us guys. That's what the gospel does when embraced by faith. You have a new life. If any man be in Christ, it's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And so the word of God transforms you when it's applied. When you hold fast to it by faith and you say, God, by your word, I'm going to be somebody different. And Paul's speaking concerning that because God has taken us from this, from the power of dark disease, he's conveyed, as he said, to the kingdom of the son of his love. And so we are now being transformed. And he had said this in chapter three verse 18. We're being transformed into the image of Christ. The calling is holy and the one who's been called will live a holy life. In 2 Timothy 1 9, it says God has saved us and called us with a holy calling. In Ephesians 4, 4 1, it says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. The calling is holy and thus we should walk worthy of it. We should have a holy life. See the one who has called us, the one who has called us is holy. And we live holiness. In 1 Peter 1 15 and 16, as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct because it's written be holy for I am holy. So walk in worthy. It speaks of living a life that brings honor to God. Such a life pleases the Lord because it's earmarked by good works and spiritual growth. It's not it's not not all that outward adornment. I mean, you know, Jesus speaks concerning that Paul speaks concerning that. You find it from Genesis to Revelation that that God doesn't want to just clean up the outside. The Bible says he cleans you up from the inside. And so it's not that I pray and it's not that I fast and it's not that I give. Those are all earmarks of somebody who has a genuine faith, but it's something different and steeper. It's a it's a transformed life. It's a new life that you have through Jesus Christ. And and so his prayer is that believers will walk in a way that honors God. Again, in Colossians 110 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. So with this in mind here in verse seven, Paul prays that they do no evil. Now, that's interesting how he says it. I pray to God that you do no evil. The word evil is a word that speaks of something that causes trouble. It speaks of that which is injurious. I pray that you don't that you're not troublesome, that you don't injure people, do evil things. He says, I don't want to be forced to use my authority. I don't want to have to bring church discipline. And he says, and I'm praying that you should do no evil. Verse seven, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable. I'm not trying to give myself the appearance of apostolic authority other people. I'm fully aware that some are challenging my authority, but my motives are pure. I'm not praying that you live a good life so that you don't embarrass me. Now, some of you were probably raised in a similar way as as me. And that is I had a mother who tried to make me do good so I didn't bring shame on the family. So we would pull up to somebody's house and I still remember my mom doing this. Maybe your mom or your dad for that matter did something like this. I can still remember pulling up in front of one of their friends' houses and we're going to go visit. My brother and I did not want to go. They didn't have kids. We're just going to sit in their front room. We would be bored and who wants to be bored in all of that and some old person's house? And my mom, I still remember my mom leaning over the backseat of that 1957 Ford station wagon. I still remember I was sitting on the right side. My brother was on the left side. I was conservative and I still remember her leaning over saying we're going to visit in her hand. My mom used to talk with her hand in her chancla and she would hit her sandal and she'd go, we're about to visit your dad's friends. Your dad's friends respect your dad. If you do anything that brings shame to your father, I will deal with you. My mom would deal with us. There's no doubt about that. But it was so that my dad didn't look bad. Paul's not saying that. He's not saying I want you to do things in a good way so I don't look bad. I'm not concerned about that. He says, I'm saying do good things because it honors God and it blesses you. It's not outer appearance. There are a whole lot of people who live well outer appearance ways. They look good. They look clean and nice and they speak well. But inwardly, that's not truth of their soul. They're really not that way. So he's saying, I'm not telling you to do this so that verse 7, that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable. My desire is that you do what is honorable because it honors God. Now, when he speaks about what is honorable, the word honorable means beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life. Something that's beautiful because it's pure. My prayer is that you're honorable. My prayer is that you have good testimonies of the grace of God because this way of living is eternally profitable. Not only for you, but for others too. Now, when you live properly, your life is going to be blessed. In 1st Timothy 4, verse 8, Paul said, bodily exercise profits little. There are a lot of people who do a lot of physical exercise. Nothing wrong with it. It does profit. And if you're out there working, sweating and building your muscles and all of that, and more power to you, that's a good thing. It's good for your cardio. It's good for everything. I remember that. I don't do it anymore, but I respect you. I get tired watching you. But the bottom line is bodily exercise profits a little for this time and this place. But godliness is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. So your physical strength and everything that you have, eventually, no matter how hard you work, is still, eventually, age is just what age is. You know, I've seen some older people who hit the weights and you look at that body and you say, my goodness, that guy's, he's ripped. Then you look at his face and you say, but he's old. You can't do any kind of bench press for your face. That's a fact. He says, this is my desire, even if to some we appear to be disqualified. Some may say that we are not true apostles. It matters not as long as you're living properly. In verse eight, he says, for we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Even if it seems that Paul is disqualified and in the wrong. Well, the fact is he's not. He's saying I have in no way violated the message of the gospel. I have not violated in my doctrine or in my practice. I've lived out the gospel. I've done so with purity of heart. I've done so with a clean conscience. He had said in second Corinthians in chapter one, verse 12, we can say with confidence and a clear conscience. That we have lived with a God given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God's grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world and especially toward you. So I have not violated the message either in my doctrine, my teaching or in the way that I live. I've lived it out. He goes on in verse nine to say, for we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Why is that? Well, that's because we don't have to exercise apostolic authority when you're strong. It's when you're not strong that I have to exercise church discipline. He says in verse nine and this also we pray that you may be made completely mature. My greatest desire is for you to spiritually grow up. That makes me not have to bring apostolic discipline. It makes it unnecessary. Again, my greatest desire, Paul is saying is for you to grow up in the things of God. My greatest desire is for every Christian to mature and every minister to continue growing. He said to the Galatians in chapter four, verse 19, my little children, for whom I labor and birth again until Christ is formed in you. I desire you. I have a passion. I have a deep groaning and longing within me to see you mature, to grow up in the things of God. You see, in the Christian life, every believer goes through a series of growth stages if they're pursuing God. You're going to grow in different stages. You don't get saved on one day and the next day become a Billy Graham. It doesn't happen that way. It is it is not an automatic that you suddenly are spiritually mature. You actually go through a process of growing. The Bible speaks concerning that process. John gives us insight into it. In 1st John chapter two, verses 12 to 14, listen to what he says. He said, I write to you little children because your sins are forgiving you for his name's sake. I write to you fathers because you have known him who's from the from the beginning. I write to you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you little children because you've known the father. I've written to you fathers because you've known him who's from the beginning. I have written to you young men because you're strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one. He gives us three stages of growth. He speaks of little children. It's interesting how he puts that because to the little children, he simply says you know that your sins are forgiven and you've known the father. That's the first stage. My sins are forgiven. I know God. You remember that? Do you remember when you got saved? Do you remember we old enough to actually have been converted? There are a lot of people who've been blessed to be raised in Christian homes where mom and dad has raised you right and given you the word of God and prayed with you and brought you to church and you've fellowshiped in all of your life. You only know that you've come to church and gave your heart to Christ in the early year. You don't really know when they happen. But there's others who can say, oh, for me, December 27th, 1970, I can tell you when I passed from the darkness into the light, I can tell you the day that happened. A lot of people are able to do that. And when I passed from darkness into the light, when I came to faith in Christ, I'm a little child and I know the Father. That's basically all I knew. I went home and I told people about Jesus. I started very early. I mean, from the day I got saved, I actually was supposed to have received a, actually a friend of mine was receiving a kilo of marijuana from Thailand. And some of you, some of you may remember what marijuana was. Some of you still do. I can smell it on you. Oh, pastors, glaucoma. Okay, we'll talk later. But we were, we would receive kilos from Thailand in stuffed animals. That was before they had the dogs sniffing at airports. That doesn't happen anymore to my knowledge. I wouldn't know. I'll ask John, he still smokes. And so we were supposed to receive a kilo. And instead of receiving the kilo, I received the Lord the day I got saved. So I went to the house of a friend of mine who was receiving the kilo. I went because he lived directly across the street from me. And I went to his house to go and tell him about Jesus. He wasn't there. His mom was there. Couple of sisters were there. I was brand new. Just gave my heart to Christ. Just was dropped off. Actually just drove home from giving my heart to Christ. And I sat down at the table with his mom and two sisters. And I knew him well. I was there quite often. And I told him, I said, you know what happened today? Brand new. You know what happened today? What's that, David? I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. Uh-huh. No, I did. I gave my heart to Jesus Christ today. And this is what happened. And I gave my testimony to the mother. We used to smoke pot in the bedroom there in the garage. I mean, we smoke pot all the time. You could tell that we were all loaties. You could tell. I mean, that's just that. Now I'm clear-eyed and I'm happy and I'm and I'm and she couldn't. She just looking at me right. But she gave her heart, not through me, but she gave her heart. Then her daughter gave her heart to Christ and another one. And one of her daughters, who was my dear friend, God became a worship leader in a church and God did marvelous things. But that began when I got saved and came home and started telling people, I started bringing people to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. My friends, I want you to hear the gospel. That's what happened. But I didn't know very much. All I knew was I was once blind and now I see. I was walking in sin and now I've been saved. That's all I knew. Little children, your sins are forgiven you. You know the Father. That's what happens when you're first saved. But then he speaks of the others or other categories and I'm going to take it out of order because he speaks of young men and he speaks of the young man and he says you are warriors. You fight the good fight. You're overcoming the wicked one. Your strength comes from knowing God's word and you apply it. So the young man is a warrior. He's a person who has passed from being an infant who's drinking milk and now he's taking it, applying it and he's using it in spiritual combat. He's a warrior. He's grown and God is moving in him and that's what God has called us to be by the way. There's no conscientious objectors in Christianity. We don't sit on the sidelines. We're part of the battle. That's what we're called to do and we speak the truth. We speak it in love. We stand up for Jesus's sake. That's what we do and we're called warriors, young men. He speaks concerning them. That would apply to young women also. You fight the good fight. You've overcome the wicked one. Then he speaks of fathers and this is interesting. He had started very simply by speaking to the little children. You know your sins are forgiven. You've known the father, but then he speaks to the fathers and he simply says you've known him who's from the beginning. You went through those stages. You were a young child. You knew that you were forgiven and you've come to know God. You're a warrior. You've gone out and you've done the work of ministry. You've taken the word of God. You've lived it, applied it. You've given it to other people. You've had spiritual battle after spiritual battle. War after war, battle after battle. Now fathers, you know him. And that's how your maturity occurs by the way. You want to be strong in things of the Lord. You start out as a little child. Then you earn some experience. You gain some experience by sharing your faith. I began sharing my faith as a little child. I became a warrior. But I shared my faith as a little child. I'd go to college class, not Christian college, secular college. And I would sit in there and I'd wait for an opportunity to open my mouth and talk about Jesus. And no, it wasn't popular to do that. No, I wasn't cool for doing that. I was just wanting to do that. Why? Why did you care? Because they're going to hell. Because all of these students think that their education is going to make their life better for them. And it's not. It may provide some things for them that other things may not, but they don't know God. So I went to secular college with a mindset that we're in war. It's a time of war. I was suited up. I'll be honest with you. I see myself in every young man and woman. I was suited up. I was geared up. I went in, took that sword, had that helmet put on that breastplate. I had my loins girded with truth. I had my feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I held my shield and I went to battle. I went to battle when I went to school. That's what you do because there are a lot of ideas. See, the battle is not always physical. The battle is a battle of ideas. It's a battle for the mind. You know, the carnal mind is enmity towards God. It's a warfare against God and the ideas of God. So we cast down imagination and we bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And Paul already spoke about that. So it's a battle for your mind. It's a battle. The battlefield is your mind. And when you go to college and some of you know this, you go to college. You will have a warfare in college because you have professors who not only hate the gospel. They hate those who believe it. And I've had that experience and I've had professors say, I feel sorry for you Christians. I've had a professor, cultural anthropology, Cal State Fullerton. I had a professor there who said, he said, what are the, what are the universals? So you start speaking about in culture, what are universals? Well, music is a universal. Every culture has music. Oh yeah, that's right. Language. Every, every, everyone has a language or that's right. And so they were talking about the various universals, marriage and various things like that. They all have the same thing. And then somebody says a belief in God. And I still remember that professor saying, that's one, that's one that I hate. That's the one that I hate. Yeah, that's true. That's a universal though. I disagree. He, his bias was so out there. It was so out there and you're just sitting there just wanting to get a lecture so you can get a grade. So you can move on to get your degree, but you have somebody who's there, who's speaking to young people with the intent to overthrow your faith. It's not that they disagree with it. They hate it. They're at a battle and a battle with it. And that's why I went in armed and dangerous. That's why I memorized scripture. That's why I was prepared because I knew that there's going to be a battle. And that's what young men do. And when you get older, you've had a lot of battles and you have now battlefield experience and you know how to give the word and you know how to listen. You know how to answer. And so those are stages of growth. Some of us in this room right now are little children. You're just, hey, you know the father and you're not, you're saved. You know him and that's great. And some of us in here are warriors. Young men, as the scripture speaks of that and you enter into battle and it's not the belligerence, by the way. You're not there picking fights with everybody. You're just prepared and you've overcome the wicked one. And some of us are fathers. Some of us have been around a long time and we just know God is true. We have relationship and there's nobody who could argue me out of faith in God. Nobody, nobody. Not because I'm brilliant, but because I've had almost 50 years of walking with him and he's never failed me yet. Never as he failed me yet. And he's always proven himself to be faithful, always. And I can say that as a man now who's called a father in scripture and Psalm 71 verses 17 and 18, oh God, you have taught me from my youth. To this day I declare your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and gray-headed, oh God, do not forsake me until I declare your strength to this generation, your power to everyone who is to come. I think that unfortunately we're living in a time when people would prefer listening to the young men rather than the old. Well, the young men don't have battlefield experience like the old, they're just gaining it. Nowhere in scripture do I ever find where I as an old man am supposed to follow the wisdom of the younger. As an older man, I'm supposed to give wisdom. I gain it and I give it. That's what we're supposed to do and that's why the scriptures call us fathers. And so he's speaking concerning these things and then he goes on in verse 10 to say, therefore I write these things being absent. Let's be in present, I should use sharpness. My desire is to build you up, not to correct you. I would rather commend you than to correct you. He said in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 3, I wrote this very thing to you lest when I came, I'd have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. I want to commend you. I don't want to have to correct you. So that's where my heart is. And now he finally says, and getting to the conclusion of this letter verse 11, finally brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. Live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. He closes with four admonitions. If you take notes, we'll give you four admonitions. First, become complete. When he says become complete, aim for perfection. In other words, intentionally grow in the things of the Lord. And that's something you decide to do. Aim to be more than you are. You should aim. I've said it this way before. I like the way it applies. Aim for perfection and you will reach excellence. Don't give yourself to lesser things. Don't be easily satisfied in your spiritual walk. Intentionally grow. Pursue the Lord. Decide to do that. Maturity in the Lord is the result of faithfully applying his word to your life. It's knowing God's word and learning to do it. Again, it doesn't simply just happen on its own. It's carefully cultivated. As 2 Timothy 2.15, work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. You see, there are going to be many who thought themselves to be Christians, but in fact they were not. In Luke 13 verses 23 through 27, someone asked him, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? He said to them, make every effort to enter through the narrow door because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you'll stand outside knocking and pleading, sir, open the door for us. But he'll answer, I don't know you or where you come from. Then you'll say, we ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets. But he'll reply, I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers. There are going to be a lot of people who think that because they went to church, they went to weddings and churches. They went to Christmas in church. They went to Easter in church. If they had something that they had to fill out and it said religious preference, they wrote Christian. There are a lot of people like that. I meet them fairly frequently who believe themselves to be Christians because they went through certain rituals in their church or whatever. They believe that they're Christians because they're not a Muslim or because they're not a Hindu or whatever. And Jesus says, I don't know you and never did. We never had a relationship, you and I. And so that's why he said, make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Many I tell you will try to enter and not be able to. Are you born again? Have you received Christ as your Lord and Savior? Is there evidence that you've actually done that? Is somebody witnessing to you at school or on the job site or in the neighborhood? Witnessing to you? And you're having to say to them, oh, I'm a Christian already. Really? Because there are a lot of people that are being witness to and sometimes people get upset. They say, how come they don't know I'm a Christian? Well, the answer is because you don't live like one because as they look at you, you don't have the fruit of it. And this is not to say you have to be perfect. I should say this very quickly because God's grace is amazing. And no, I haven't always lived a good life by any means, by any means. And I have been witness to when I was a younger believer, I have been witnessed to by people who as they were looking at me for sure thought I couldn't possibly be saved. So no, what I'm trying to say is if that's happened to you, awaken and realize. Realize that there's something lacking and make every effort to enter into the kingdom of God. Press on in. It's by faith and through grace, but your life shows it. He says become complete. That's an exhortation because it's not automatic. Secondly, he says be of good comfort. Even though I've admonished you, don't be overwhelmed. Be encouraged. In Deuteronomy 8 verse 5, you should know in your heart that as a man chasens his son, so the Lord your God chasens you. In Hebrews 12 11, no discipline is enjoyable while it's happening. It's painful. But afterward, there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. No discipline is enjoyable while it's occurring. So be of good comfort. Paul was bringing a word of correction. Be comforted and move forward. You see, God's desire for us is that we have hope and peace. In Romans 15 13, the God of hope, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. There's only one way to have hope in this world. This world is extremely hopeless, isn't it? It's extremely hopeless right now. I'm watching people losing hope every day. It's extremely hopeless. There is so much bad news that's being presented. So many negative things. You see a 24 seven. If you watch the news at all and depending on what channel you're watching, you get so many such a variety of negative things, such a variety of things that crush your spirit. And that's happening right now. We know that if you watch the news or read the newspaper and there's so many things that are being said that you begin to wonder, can that possibly be true? You know, that's why my hope is in God. That's why I put my trust in Him because, you know, again, there's an advantage to walking with the Lord for a long time. And I've said this before, but I have been asked what is the number one thing that you've learned in the years that you followed the Lord in the bottom line? The number one thing I've learned is it all works out in the end. God is always in control. God has always been faithful. He never fails. He never leaves you. He never forsakes you. He sees you through. He walks through that valley with you. He doesn't abandon you. He's with me always. And He gives me hope. And as I go through this life, I have a life that I'm waiting to experience fully and that's in heaven. So I'll close my eyes here and I'll open them up there. And I'm not going to complain and say to Him, oh, it was such a miserable thing. It wasn't a miserable thing because you gave me opportunities to speak of you and you gave me blessings in my life and friendships and relationships of wife and children and grandchildren, a church that I loved. You gave me so much, God. It was all worth it. There's no complaining in heaven. There's only rejoicing and that's what's going to take place when we see the Lord. And so we have hope. We have hope. And then third, be of one mind. Be united in the essentials. Unity demonstrates the fruit of the Spirit in contrast to the division of the flesh. So be of one mind. Be united in Philippians 1.27. Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one Spirit contending as one man for the faith of the gospel. Be of one mind. Be careful not to be arguing over non-essentials. Be careful. I have a friend, all of us know Tony Clark from Virginia. Tony will post something and before you know it, the trolls are out. He gets trolled all the time. All the time. He can't write anything and I'll write him. Sometimes I'll just personal message him and I'll say, did it again, Tony. You did it again. And I just the other day I posted on his page and I said something and then I wrote, let the trolls unite. Because they just come out and they want to attack and they want to argue. And it's a lot of time. Guys, may I speak to you for a moment? Okay. I expect the world. I expect the world to say things in opposition to the gospel. Of course. Jesus said, if the world hates you, remember, they hated me before they hated you. Remember that. He said, beware. He said, when all men speak well of you. So we're aware of that. You know, the world's going to oppose the gospel. I get it. But really what I use an old phrase from the 60s, what trips me out is the church. It's the church. Sometimes I'm saying this being silly, but sometimes I want to just reach through and slap somebody. Wake up, throw some water. Why? What? There's why do you have to argue about everything? Why? There are some people. I'll give you an example. Tony wrote this. He said something just a fact that the churches are closing down. You know that one source I was looking at the other day was pointing out that some 30,000 churches closed their doors. Let the number 30,000 hit you for a moment. 30,000 churches closed their doors. And so Tony was writing something and an encouragement for people to be faithful. And before you know it, you've got all the armchair theologians. You know the churches in a building. I want to slap you. And like, duh, I didn't know that. Really? And sometimes I will write things. And then before you know it, I have people telling me what I should say and what I shouldn't say. People find it easy to do that today, apparently. It's easy there. They type furiously. I'll let you know what's right and what's wrong. People who've never suited up, never been in a war, never been in a battle. They just know what you're supposed to do. No, we've got to stop this, guys. We've got to stop picking on each other and tearing each other up, devouring one another, consuming each other. We have to be careful. Be of one mind. I can have an honest disagreement and I do. But not to the point that I have to write it out on Facebook for all to see and then start a war. If I really have a disagreement, which I've had, I will personal message someone. And I'll say I read this and just want you to know that this is incorrect. And let me tell you why. Because of this, this, this and this. Let's have a dialogue. Let's converse. Let's speak about these things. Let's not be each other's enemy. See, the church is devouring itself. Wouldn't you say right now? The church is, if you say no, you're wrong. The church is devouring itself right now, arguing with each other, fighting over things. When we have a common enemy and it isn't my brother. It's the enemy called Satan and he's sowing seeds of discord and my flesh yields to that. And I have a tendency of going after my ally. We have to be very careful. We can disagree. But with the things we must agree on, they're called the essentials. We agree on the essentials and we're flexible on those that are non-essential. That's how it works and that's how it used to work. And that's what it's supposed to do. Philippians 2, 1 and 2, is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, working together with one mind and purpose. And then he says, live in peace. A contentment that results in being right with God and one another. In rejecting the divisive false teachers, you will live at peace with one another. And this again is something they are to decide to do. In Romans 14, 19, let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith we may edify another. And finally he closes. Verse 12, greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. When he says, greet one another with a holy kiss, I can see some guys right now saying, yeah, I'd like to do that. I used to think that meant that the guy would go out there and he is this beautiful little Jesus-free girl. You know, the Bible says I'm supposed to kiss you. But in that day, the men would kiss the men. Now, there's some guys right now who don't have a problem with that. I was never big on kissing men. But what it is, it is a greeting. It's showing love for one another. Is there anything that we ought to have in a church if it's not love for each other? And that's what he's speaking about. What is the number one earmark of a Christian? The love of God. What did Jesus said, say is in response to what is the Great Commandment? And he said, what did he say? The love God with everything within you. Love your neighbor as yourself. And how do we love one another? He said, love one another as I have loved you. How did he love us? He laid his life down. That's how we can be at unity with one another is by putting others in front of us and learning to minister to them out of love. And so he says, greet one another. Love one another is what he's saying. Be externally loving to one another. It's evidence of the unity and it's evidence of love. That holy kiss is a demonstration of love. There was a writer who has gone to be with the Lord. His name is Francis Shaffer. And Francis Shaffer said, love and the unity it attests to is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the father. It's the love. And then he said, all the saints greet you. This is the church in Macedonia that he's speaking about. Probably Philippi and he's saying that that they are greeting you. They love you. This is a church revealing love for other believers. And then finally he says the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. The grace of Jesus Christ banishes self-assertiveness. The love of God puts jealousy and anger to flight. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit leaves no room for division or schism because the Holy Spirit empowers us and it is the Holy Spirit who unites us. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. That's his last words. His last blessing and that's appropriate for us. May God's grace be to you. May God's love be with you. And may the fellowship of the Spirit be amongst us uniting us and things of Lord. May we together love and serve God walking in grace walking in love and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.