 Let's get into the word together. Colossians chapter 3. We're going to be looking at verses 12 through 17 as we continue our series through the book of Colossians. And so I'll begin reading at verse 12. I'll read to verse 17 and we'll get into our study. Colossians chapter 3 beginning at verse 12, reading to verse 17. Paul writes, Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you are called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. So Paul is just given a command to the church here in chapter 3. And the command that he gave to the church continues to apply to us today. He's instructed the church to forsake sins of the flesh, and he's commanded them to live proper lives. Now this has been clearly the central theme of this letter from the very first chapter. In chapter 1 Paul had revealed his deep concern and his prayer for them. Colossians chapter 1 verses 9 and 10 contained his prayer, that they may be filled with the knowledge of God's will, that they might walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, and being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. So this is the purpose and the joy of the teacher of the gospel. The purpose and joy of the preacher of the gospel is to encourage people to be followers of Jesus Christ. I have a feed that comes to me, news feed, and oftentimes there'll be advertisements that are put on by a pastor who is asking other pastors to go to some kind of event, some seminar that they're going to be holding, and they want us to come to the seminar. And recently I was watching one of the advertisements, just wondering really what it was that he was trying to sell. And I found it interesting in that as I watched the video, and I'm going to say it the way he said it, I'm going to quote him in one, as he said something in one part, but he said, you know, this is a surefire thing, you know, we'll get people to come to your church. And he's telling me that if I want to start filling the pews with people that I need to come to a seminar, and I need to learn to do that, because he said, and this is a quote, and this kind of shows you where the coarseness of the church is today, where the church is, and the way we communicate and all, because this young man is referring to himself as pastor, but he says, after all, our goal, this is his words, not mine, after all, our goal is to get butts in the seats. And when he said that, I thought, is that right? That's why Jesus died on the cross. That's why Paul gave up his life for the gospel. That's why the apostles did the things that they did, is so that we could have something like that. So that people would occupy the pews. So that's the way it's supposed to be. That's not the way it's supposed to be. We have a goal, and the reason that Paul was writing this is to produce faithful, loving, spirit-filled disciples of Jesus who live out the Word of God, because as John said in third John, verse four, John said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. You see, the whole purpose of the exposition of the Word of God, the reason that Colossians, and all these other letters were written, is to encourage people to be loving, spirit-filled believers in Christ, who live for Jesus Christ and walk in the truth. And that's why Paul is writing to the Colossians. He wants them to know that. We're to set our mind, he says, on things above, because we long to see him face to face. We look forward to being in heaven, and we look forward to seeing him. It's like what he said to the Philippians when Paul wrote and said in chapter three, verse 20, our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able to, even to subdue all things to himself. And so there's a purpose in writing this, and he's been sharing, he's been saying to them, there are things you ought not to do, why? You're seeking things above, not things that are below. Why? Because you died and you're alive yet in Christ. He said, because Christ is our life, he's going to appear, and we're going to appear with him in glory. He's been saying that through chapter three. The false teachers have entered into the church, they brought a bad message. They're creating disciples who are discouraged, and all who don't have a heavenly hope. And they're infiltrators who are bringing in a message that undermines the grace of God. And so he says, this is the purpose of this. You're going to go to heaven. You're buried in Christ of baptism. He says, you're alive in Jesus Christ. Therefore seek those things which are above him, and put these things away. And he went through a whole list of things to put away. In other words, because God has set us apart for himself, and because we're deeply loved by God, what manner of life do his children live? As I mentioned before, he had just commanded them to put to death a life that is given over to sin. And he began to speak concerning the sins that were to no longer be in bondage to. He said, put aside fornication. He said, put aside uncleanness, passion. Put aside evil desire and covetousness. He said, put aside anger and wrath, malice and blasphemy. Put aside filthy language. Put aside lying. And we're to put these things aside now because we can. We've been born again. God's spirit is within us. There are too many people who say, well, I do that because it's my nature to do that. No, not if you're born again. If you're born again, now you have power in the Lord Jesus Christ to put these things aside. God never gives a command that he doesn't supply the power to obey. And God says, put these things aside. It's like what it says in Romans 6, verse 11, likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He went on in verses 13 and 14 of Romans 6 to say, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead. And your members as instruments of righteousness to God for sin shall not have dominion over you. You are not under the law but under grace. So he didn't give you a law. He didn't give you some kind of command that you cannot fulfill. You can in the power of the Lord. So put these things off. So as he's been speaking about putting these things off, he now commands us to put on certain things. Paul describes the behavior and attitude that God expects of every believer. The thought is since you have been raised with Jesus and since you are the elect of God, this is how you are to live. And it doesn't matter how you feel about it. This is what you're to be. This is what you're to live like. You see there are many modern believers that have great struggles. They want to be authentic. They want to live completely centered and integrated with their own values and beliefs. They want to be honest about how they truly feel about their own life and views and live them out completely aligned with their personal feelings and with this as a motivation for them it's important to be real in order that they might avoid hypocrisy. For them this is a path of true spiritual growth. I was reading something by a Gnostic philosopher, a modern Gnostic philosopher who said this. He said, we advise disciples not to follow anyone. Let them follow themselves. Each one should follow his resplendent and luminous inner being. By nature I am sinful. By nature I don't have a resplendent, luminous inner being. The heart is desperately wicked. It's terribly deceitful. Who can know it? Jeremiah asks. You see so you don't follow what your inner inclinations are. You actually die to those things. Well when you have that kind of philosophy the result is you end up doing whatever feels best. So if these people want to do something they will. If they feel something deeply it's got to be true. Their moral foundation is built on being real, being their true self and their moral code is developed by what makes them comfortable. That's how they live. If it feels good we used to say then do it. Well many say if it doesn't feel right why should I do it? If I do it and I don't feel like it isn't that being a hypocrite? Well the answer to that question is no. I'm not a hypocrite when I do the right thing without wanting to. Hypocrisy is to profess a belief that is intentionally different than the way I really am. There are a lot of things that you do that you don't feel like doing. That's just a fact some of you are saying yeah that's why I'm here right now. I mean talk to any mama. You know it's you have a baby the baby is a year and a half or two years old not feeling well baby goes to bed in the middle of the night you know later three in the morning because you don't really sleep that well your ear is always attuned to the cry of the baby. You hear an uncomfortable thing you hear a little gag sound and what do you do? You get up you run into the other room and the baby is there beginning to vomit and she vomits all over herself and what do you do? You call your husband no what do you do? You get the baby and you take the baby and you wash the baby her hair is filled with her throw up and you wash her hair and she's crying mommy I feel bad and you just hold her and you wrap her up in a towel and you hold her to yourself and you rock her and you love her and you say you'll be okay baby you'll be okay mama's here that's what you do. Did you want to do that? No you wanted to sleep you wanted to rest you're tired why did you do that you're a legalist no you you did that because your husband wouldn't no you did that you did that because you love that baby did you feel like it it's a different question no I don't feel like doing that I feel like laying down resting my tired body having a full eight hours that's what you feel like but what did you do you did the right thing why did you do the right thing because of somebody else's needs that's called love and that's what Paul is talking about there are people who will not do the right thing because they don't feel like it they're following their true luminous inner self and all of its resplendent glory and they're ignoring everybody else's needs and that comes through following the philosophy of the world and so doing the right thing even when I don't feel like it changes how I feel about it making a decision to do the right thing because it is the right thing actually works to transform me and in this section Paul gives certain qualities that the Colossians are to put on what kind of life earmarks a believer who understands how love they are my god if we put off sinful things well what do you replace them with while he's telling us here and verse 12 and following so in verse 12 he says therefore because of all these things being true therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved put on tender mercies kindness humility meekness long suffering so he begins to speak concerning the things that we put on you put these things off you've taken some things off but now you need to dress yourself now we do dress we dress for certain things we dress when we get up in the morning to go to work we have a certain work clothing that we wear if you're playing on a sports team you dress appropriately for that team if you're going to go out on a date you get dressed go to church you get dressed even a baptism or a wedding you'll dress in a certain way we dress for certain things and as believers we also dress in a certain way and he's telling us what to put on so he begins first with tender mercies when he speaks of tender mercies literally that speaks of compassion it speaks of co-suffering compassion is a sympathetic consciousness of someone else's pain with the desire to alleviate it you saw a video this morning of our our compassion ministers at work that's compassion that's called putting on tender mercy and you see these these older ladies who haven't had their hair done or makeup put on for a long time and you see these people there who are loving them and caring about them holding them and all that's called tender mercy and you put on tender mercy and now why would he say that well instead of anger wrath and malice we now express compassion and concern for somebody else when you have tender mercy when you have compassion and care that ensures good marriages because you need to have tender mercy in marriage it ensures a good family it ensures good friendships a good church even a good society when this society our american society had more of a concern over the things that were right and wrong those things that were approved by god and disapproved by him we had a different kind of society but even today there's still an awful lot of people who have a tender merciful attitude towards those who are outside and we still see that you see the point is not only should we do not do not hurt anybody but we should be especially busy doing good so believers are known by certain things and you're dressed in a certain way and because you're dressed in a certain way people will know that you are have a certain uh like or dislike or whatever even today again i mean if you like a sports team you might wear their gear you might walk in wearing whatever whatever college you you appreciate whatever professional team that you appreciate you'll walk in with your gear and people know that you like this particular team you're known by where you're wearing and so we should be known by the way that we wear christ and the things he would have for us and so instead of anger and wrath and malice we have compassion we don't want to hurt others we want to be busy doing good we're to be known by our a compassionate action towards others is what he's saying in Galatians 6 verse 10 he says therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all especially to those who are of the household of faith so instead of yielding to anger and wrath and bitterness we we are now to be tender and merciful like it says again in romans 12 verse 10 where paul said be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor giving preference one to another in galatians 5 22 and 23 it says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such there is no law and so he says as the elect of god holy and beloved put on tender mercies he goes on to say put on kindness kindness is moral excellence it speaks of goodness or gentleness a warm heartedness being considerate it's been said kindness is goodness in action it is the fruit of the spirit in our lives in 1st Corinthians 13 4 paul said it like this he said love is kind it's the spirit of kindness that actually helps us to forgive one another Ephesians 4 32 says be kind to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as god for christ sake has forgiven you kindness reacts with gentleness tender heartedness and it responds and those are in need with pity and compassion you're known as being kind when i first got saved i was sharing with a friend of mine i said if there's inequality i asked the lord to give to me it's a quality of kindness i want to be kind i want to have that gentle compassion loving heart that was one of my desires it's one of the things i asked the lord if he could please work that into my spirit kindness is a beautiful beautiful garment to wear so he says to us put on tender mercy and put on kindness he goes on in verse 12 to say put on humility humility is lowliness of mind humility is a result of an honest self assessment it's been said that humility is the antidote for self love because it helps us to see ourselves for what we really are humility enables us to resist seeking vengeance on those who have heard us humility is an honest self assessment and the way you become humble is spending time with the lord because the more you're with him the less of you you you like and you humble yourself before him i knew a guy many years ago i had just gotten saved it was a long time ago and he was an older man i was 20 at the time and he was an older man in his 40s at least maybe 50 maybe as old as 50 he was old i was amazed that he could still hobble around town and he was and he and i had a conversation more than once i had known him because of the neighborhood in all and i'd gotten saved and i was speaking to him about the lord and and he originally had initially had been rejecting the gospel but god was good and not through me but through some other place he went to church or whatever he had given his heart to christ and and after doing so he came to my parents house where i was living at the time and and he said david i want you to know i gave my heart to the lord and i said that's great but this was a guy who used to brag about everything if you had one thing he had two if you had three he had five he if it was good his was better he's just that way he was this older guy you know who had this attitude and he and it used to really get on my nerves to be honest with you because he was always bragging about one thing or other and there he was bragging with me about how he has now a healing ministry and he goes around and he tells people to get healed and and he's beginning to boast to me which was you know off-putting and so i said to him listen i said i said you know if god's going to use you and that was only a young man i said if god's going to use you you know there's one thing that he wants to bring into your life don't you to be used was that he wants you to be humble because he wasn't humble see he wants you to be humble i'll never forget him as he responded by saying humble i am humble he goes as a matter of fact i'm the most humble man i know he was proud of his humility which i find really interesting because humility is simply seeing christ for who he is in contrast to who you are and the closer you draw to him the more into the light you are in him the more of your own imperfections you begin to see which causes his grace to abound in you as you yield yourself to him by humbling yourself you see often failure to humble ourselves leads to a break in a fellowship with other believers it's pride that god satan cast out of heaven and the bible makes it clear that god hates it in man in proverbs 11 verse 2 when pride comes then comes disgrace but with humility comes wisdom in proverbs 16 verse 18 pride goes before destruction a haughty spirit before a fall so it's humility that enables us to turn the other cheek and to resist the temptation of getting even with those outside of the body of christ as well as those are within in first carinthians chapter 6 verses 6 and 7 paul was speaking about this problem that was happening in the church of Corinth and he says brother goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers now therefore it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another why do you not rather accept wrong why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated instead you go before the world and make the cause of christ to look bad you see genuine humility is in contrast with the false humility of the the teachers of error that paul had already spoken of this this false humility it's the attitude of a soul that has lost its pride when receiving god's mercy in psalm 116 verse 5 it simply says gracious is the lord and righteous yes our god is merciful so when you've personally received his mercy and it really has impacted you you begin to learn to be merciful to others he goes on to speak of meekness meekness is the opposite of rudeness and self-seeking meekness is the willingness to suffer insult without responding in kind paul went through this a lot he was insulted he was he was attacked in many ways and he was writing to the carinthians and he said in first carinthians chapter 4 verses 12 and 13 we labor working with our own hands being reviled we bless being persecuted we endure being defamed we entreat we have been made as a filth of the world the off scouring of all things until now when he says we are the off scouring when you're cooking something and then the whatever it is you're cooking begins to just burn and remain on the pan and then you scrape it off that's called off scouring and he says that is what we have become we are the off scouring of all things until now so what did he do how did he view this well he knew that he was looked at as the lowest of the low but he also knew that he was just passing through moving on to heaven and that was going to be the part of the part of the work of god in him because he knew that the things that he was going through were producing greater character in him and because of that he could patiently endure it he goes on to say put on long suffering long suffering is another word for patience if you will though it speaks of the duration because irritation normally doesn't go away that easily if something irritates you for a moment you can get over it but when you're married to it no but when it's there all the time it's a little difficult it's hard it's hard when this thing will not stop bugging you you know sometimes you go to work and you may have a co-worker and that co-worker comes in on occasion and they always are irritating they say something dumb you know and you go oh man here they come and they come in and they say something dumb and you just kind of look at them you know they irritate but they go away some people have a desk right next to you so patience is putting up with something for a moment long suffering it's there next to you and it requires a lot more so he's saying you need to bear you bear with people's insults you bear with their belligerent behavior toward you he's saying don't be quick to respond to their meanness and the pettiness and you need to remember the example that was given to you by Jesus himself in first Peter chapter 2 Peter tells us something about that in verses 20 through 23 he speaks to the church and he says what credit is it if when you're beaten for your faults you take it patiently but when you do good and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable before God for to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth who when he was reviled did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but committed himself to him who judges righteously you see this was shown to us because the Lord put up with us for so long that he might save us as cute as you think you are many of us think we're the cutest thing in heaven well God wanted to save me of course I'm a cute person as cute as you think you are you and I we we irritated him him by the things that we did we provoked him you know but he was patient for me his patients extended over 20 years and still continues in many ways how old were you when you got saved 30 40 50 all those years he showed this long suffering for you and for me so he shows long suffering and so if we were to understand that with the Lord we could extend that to other people we extend it because it's been given to us and long suffering is something the Lord has for us in Psalm 86 verse 15 the Psalmist said you oh Lord our God full of compassion and gracious long suffering and abundant in mercy and truth now long suffering is an outgrowth of humility and gentleness because the patient person endures negative circumstances and resists giving into them in verse 13 he continues and he says bearing with one another when it's the word bearing it means to put up with somebody to put up with them now bearing with one another is the opposite of quick anger or getting revenge it's the it's resisting the urge to get even right now and this kind of love literally throws a blanket over another person's faults it doesn't ignore it doesn't justify but it does resist the temptation of pointing out someone else's faults to others out of spite or out of malice you're bearing with one another and bearing reveals a love in 1st Peter 4 verse 8 Peter said love covers a multitude of sins and 1st Corinthians 13 7 love bears all things and Proverbs 10 verse 12 hatred stirs up strife but love covers all transgressions and so he says bear with one another and then he goes on saying forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another the word forgive speaks of releasing someone from a debt they owe you they did something and it's it's like a debt and down they owe you and forgiveness to release them of that debt Jesus said it like this in Matthew 6 verse 12 he said forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors there are those who are in jail constantly because emotionally in jail because they will not release somebody who has done something to them they remain in emotional jail if you are unforgiving you're in prison you're a prisoner of unforgiveness and when you finally release it and forgive them of that debt when you finally release it two people are set free that person in yourself you are also set free and one of the ways for you to know that you have actually forgiven is if you can honestly pray for them and ask God to please bless their life that's when you begin to know hey I have forgiven this person when you can honestly say God be with them God help them God move in them you know that you actually have released them of their debt and that's what we are called to do we bear with one another we forgive one another we release them of their debts and then he goes on in verse 14 and he says above all these things put on love which is the bond of perfection now this is the source that enables all these other commandments to be kept in Romans 13 9 and 10 the commandments do not commit adultery do not murder do not steal do not covet and whatever out what other other commandment there may be are summed up in this one rule love your neighbor as yourself love does no harm to its neighbor therefore love is the fulfillment of the law love is not an emotion love is the decision of the will and it's much deeper than what we call what many people call love today speak of love I've discovered something over time I've discovered that love actually has various facets and it's very deep and it applies in various ways but we today we have this sense that I can only love the lovely people in this and that when in fact we're called to love others and we've I think gotten a mistaken idea that love is really a romantic romantic notion it's something that we that we find ourselves falling into or falling out of but in reality love is the decision of the will it's a choice that I make so as a young man will say I I meet a young girl and and I kind of like her she's going to school with me or I I see her on the job or at a bible said whatever and and I've since an attraction especially when I'm talking to her I'm introduced to her and and I started thinking boy she's nice she's funny she's sweet or whatever so I kind of like her and now I look forward to seeing her when I go to work or whatever and when I see her I always want to say hi she seems to be nice too because she actually takes a moment to say hi to me to the point where I start thinking I wonder if I could ask her out now Marie doesn't like it when I do that no I say to myself I wonder if she'd go out so I don't know I don't know how confident you men are but I wasn't the most confident so I'd be real nervous and so I'm nervous and I'm thinking well what's it gonna hurt if she says no everybody else has and so I'll ask her out right so hey are you gonna be busy this weekend you know she says well no not really I don't have plans and so you say well would you like to go get a cup of coffee or go whatever yeah I think and and the guy's trying to be all cool in this and that and he said that's cool you know I'll need your number and this and that I'll get in touch with you and you go and you're biting your thumb you're so excited because you're going out on a date so you pick her up and when you pick her up guess what she's fun she's just as fun and even more fun now that you're not in that workplace or whatever and you start to like her now you're liking her deeply all of these are decisions you're making you're liking her deeply now you're starting to really care about her so you get to the point where you're wondering how she feels about you but she's starting to show you that she kind of likes you too and before you know it you're starting to feel that this like is more than just like an affection this this is something that is moving me to thinking I could stay with this person the rest of my life and then you begin to realize there's all decisions that I'm beginning to love this person I love her I love her and now guess what she says to you she has deeper affection than just like to she says to you I love you and then you say oh this is great and so now you're loving each other and so now when you're hanging up the phone if you ever do you're saying to her you know I love you baby and she's saying oh yeah you big gorgeous hunk of man and and all of that and and you're feeling quite the man then one day then one day you go out and buy some cracker jacks and you find a a ring in it and you take it to her and you ask her would you make the greatest decision of your life outside of your commitment to Christ and will you marry me and and you kind of know she will because you've already kind of tested the waters and she's got nobody else that she's seen at least nobody that you know of and so and she says well why not and now you're so excited and then you get married and then you have that now you're in love now you have the honeymoon love and the honeymoon love you're like your eyes are you know you know she wakes up she doesn't have bad breath I mean she's just gorgeous all the time right and and so that's that's part of what happens and and yet now that you're married you see you've seen things when you were dating that you thought well those things can change they don't but you think they can you know she does this or he does that you know those are things that can change with some training and a little pressure and and women have a whole list of things they're going to do to make you what you are eventually because that's what God's put them on earth to do and so they understand that and so what happens is now you're married you're going through your honeymoon whether it's a honeymoon week a honeymoon month a honeymoon year it could be a long time it's just everything she walks on water every time she walks in the door you know you hear music playing and flowers and you know and birds and everything but then you start discovering some things that yeah these are things that but you're making decisions you're saying to yourself doesn't matter these things that bother me sometimes they really don't matter because the things that matter I've decided to concentrate on and things that don't matter are the things that she'll either deal with or I have to get used to that's okay and after a while it may be five years it may be 10 years it may be 15 years 20 30 40 years or more you begin to realize something in this relationship that it was all a series of decisions from the first disappointment to where you are now and you also realize that you've spent a whole bunch of life together a whole lot of life together you've gone through the joys where you've had your first baby and you've gone through the sorrows when you've lost one you you you go through the the moments of happiness and you go through the moments of tears you go through the seasons of joy and you go through sometimes it seems like a prolonged season of pain and and at the end of it all and you're looking at each other and you're no longer that 20 25 year old person 30 year old person in war you know you're getting up in the morning and your back hurts and your feet are swollen you know and you're thinking oh I what's going on with me and and you turn to your wife and you say to your wife honey will you love me when I'm old and weak she says yeah I do I meant five years from now 10 years from now no no you've been that for a long time I made that decision a long time ago love listen we have to be aware of the fact and this is just a silly little attempt at illustration to say one thing love is a decision it's not your feelings it's not how they make you feel all the time it's who they are and in your life there are people that will come in and out of it in a church let's face it are very difficult some of the most difficult people I've ever met have been Christians I'm ready and prepared to handle the world because I know the world and what it does it's hard to put up with rude Christians it's hard to put up with self-seeking pseudo believers it's hard to put up with judgmental people who are always finding something wrong in you what you said what you didn't do what you should have done isn't it it can be hard to find a moment when your heart has been broken you need to find a brother or sister to share with and you do and before you know it it's on the prayer chain everybody knows your personal business it breaks your heart and you get hurt over it and that's where forgiveness and that's where love comes in that's where the compassion that's where the loving kindness that's where all of that starts working in you because listen Christianity doesn't work just when it's when it's sunny outside it works in the middle of storms too as a matter of fact that's when your your faith really very often is exposed is what it really is and the deepness that it really has is when you're going through these valleys and going through these tough times and going through the hardships and going through that pain and and he had said a moment before he says if anyone has a complaint against another even as christ forgave you so you also must do but put on love because if christ forgave me who am i that i can't forgive you who am i that i can't forgive you i sinned against god you sinned against me my sin against god is greater than what you did to me and if if god forgave me who am i to not forgive you to release you of that death and what is it that provokes me not not any emotion i have to be honest with you there have been times when people have hurt me seriously hurt yeah i get hurt people do i do too but i could go to bed at night put my head on a pillow and i could say oh lord i want to pray break his teeth oh lord break his legs and jesus david prayed that way my name's david must be my prayer it's a lot easier to wish ill on somebody than to pray god's mercy on somebody and in churches churches are filled with people who climb in cars and drive to other places because someone didn't look at them right because somebody didn't move over quickly enough when they wanted to sit down the pettiness of the body of christ is sinful in so many ways in so many ways if you don't look like me if you're not for my race my culture my language whatever you really aren't one of us there's so much like that that go on we deal with it we deal with it that's true it's all true we deal with it how we put on love which is the bond of peace because it doesn't matter we have to get to this point it doesn't matter if you're brown if you're white if you're red if you're yellow if you're black doesn't matter you're my brother or my sister you are saved i am saved we need to get along together we're going to heaven let's love one another that's how it works it's the decision decision of the will that's what we do that's what we do that's how it works and so that's something i had to learn that's something we have to learn to do it's not an emotion it's an attitude a decision of the heart i decided to do these things yeah i i still remember i'll say one last thing i i yeah i still remember you know yeah i play with the guys and teas like it's only women no my children got got sick and there was more than one time when i would carry a vomiting baby to a to a bathroom there were there've been you know to wash them up and claim to save mama from having to do that you know to change those dirty diapers and give them those baths and things like that i came from a culture that said women do that i'm a mexican man women do that and man we look at them i do diapers i say honey do that diaper but i learned to do that and by the way you know i'm an old man now i haven't always been an old man i i was a young man i had babies you know and i'm carrying babies in my culture you don't carry babies a woman carries the babies the mexicans hang around with their friends and the women that you know i'm telling you the truth that's the truth women in the kitchen with the kids and guys in the front room drinking coffee or whatever am i wrong i don't think so that's what we do and if a woman wanders into the hey guys if a woman wanders into the front room while the guys are talking what do you do i'll tell you what you do you get quiet i mean you look at them and they'll smile at you what are you guys talking about and we say nothing and they say oh and then one of the older women will come take her by the arm and bring her back into the kitchen and then we go on talking the way we do see so that's a fact and so i am a young man carrying babies and don't think that i didn't get guys looking at me wondering kind of man is that and me i cry carry babies cry one and one is two and i made a decision a long time ago i'm gonna love and if i and if i cry i cry if i if i love my baby you'll know about it because i'm going to be a man not what the world told me to be but what jesus made me to be and that's what god calls us to do and it's hard it's not easy but that's what you do you die to these things it's a decision of the will to love those who don't love you to pray for those who have despitefully used you and to bless them it's not easy to do but in the power of christ you can and that's what keeps churches together because the church on wheels if somebody hurts my feelings i'll just go to another church and i'll take my bitterness with me and i'll tell other people you never need to go over there because that place over there's mean they don't love people like me that's not true that's not what the church is supposed to be and so what do we do we put on love which is the bond of perfection and he says in verse 15 let the peace of god rule in your hearts to which also you are called in one body be thankful let the word of christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and him spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the lord whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the lord jesus giving thanks to god the father through him let god's peace rule in your midst in the church in you and be thankful again that's a decision we can quench the peace of god through division and dissension he says let the word of christ dwell in you richly the doctrine or the teachings of jesus should be our constant study not just me and an individual basis but me individually but the church together and so he's saying let god's word be rooted in you making your heart its dwelling place may be engrafted in you may it enter you deeply you see when god's word is present and the people are well taught the church becomes healthy it's going to be centered on the things that matter it's going to be strong when the latest movement or latest fear latest doctrine encroaches on their lives and because of their love for god and one another the people will encourage one another they're going to be capable of teaching of warning and keeping each other in line they're going to be able to do that because they know the word of god the word of christ in verse 16 will dwell in them with wisdom teaching admonishing one another to be a place of worship psalms hymn spiritual songs and you sing with grace in your heart to the lord that's one of the reasons why we as a church need to remember and realize that coming in during the worship time and singing with lord is actually an offering you're giving to god you're giving of yourself to him and you're vocalizing your faith to him and then when you empty yourself of yourself by giving to him then the word of god is presented and you can receive those things that help you to live a life that pleases him and it works that way because worship as we sing is not just songs what it is it's encouragement to others around us it's a it's a community of faith filled believers sharing the same faith in christ and it's an emptying of myself of myself because i'm centering my attention on him and as i have given to him an offering of my praise then he through his word teaches me how to live for him and then finally whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the lord jesus giving thanks to god the father through him amen yeah your life becomes centered on christ and you become thankful remember that the main purpose of life is not your own happiness but god's glory if you have one thing that you walk out today remembering remember that jesus did not die on the cross to make me happy jesus died on the cross that i might be holy so that my life might might be a living testimony of the reality of a god who loves who transforms sinners makes them into saints fills them with his presence and his power and uses him to reach a world that is lost hurting empty and supplying the answer that gives him purpose this all comes to the faith of christ may the word of god dwell in us richly richly