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Romans chapter 12 and verse 12.
Rejoicing in hope, patience and tribulation.
Continuing instant in prayer.
Distributing to the necessity of Saints given to hospitality.
Bless them which persecute you, Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Be of the same mind, one toward another.
Mind not hide things, but condescend to men of low estate.
Be not wise in your own conceits.
Recompense to no man, evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore a fine enemy hunger feed him.
If you thirst, give him a drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Well, we have some short, shall I say, pithy statements that the, uh, in these verses that we read in the last part of this chapter, but I believe they're full of, as we've been saying, very, very practical instruction for us.
They're simple statements, not hard to understand, but rather the question is, do we really take these statements to heart and make them good in our own souls? And so he begins here where we began. Here the verse begins by saying rejoicing in hope, or regarding hope, rejoice.
Isn't it wonderful, brethren, that we have hope, a hope beyond anything that this world can ever enjoy and appreciate? You say, how can we rejoice when things are difficult if you just back up in the same book to the 8th chapter? Let's get a little key here.
Let me just say before I read a portion in the 8th chapter that when we speak about hope in regards to the believer, it's in contrast really to the hope connected with this life and connected with the first man. Because hope connected with this life and the first man is uncertainty at that, but hope connected with the new man and hope connected with Christ.
Is in no way uncertainty.
It is only hope IN the sense that we're not in the full good of it yet. Let me just read these verses and then we'll maybe we'll give a little illustration that might help.
Verse 24 of Romans 8 For we are saved by hope, But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man ha seeth, why does he hope for? But if we hope for that we see not.
Then do we with patients wait for it Now? If we were to back up a few verses, we would find our presence, our present state is contrasted with what is yet future for the believer. He makes a contrast here and we're still in a groaning creation. We still have the trials and exercises.
Draw the curtain.
We still have the trials and difficulties. We still have bodies that feel pain in this Tabernacle we've grown and so on. But he ends this section really by bringing before us the thought of hope. And, uh, he says we are saved by hope. What does that really mean? Well, if you're going through a difficult situation, maybe you're going through some pain, some real trial in your life, you can get through today because there's always hope that things tomorrow will be better.
We live for hope, we're saved by hope. But again, hope connected with this life is uncertainty at best.
How many times have we hoped to do something and it's never come to fruition? We sit here in these seats this afternoon and wouldn't it be presumptuous of any of us to say that beyond a shadow of a doubt we are going to reach our homes later this today or later this week, depending where we're living and how we're traveling. You'd say that's presumptuous. We hope at a set time to get back to our homes, but something may come in to frustrate either the timetable.
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Or even the getting back to our homes, the Lord might come, for instance, other things might happen, but we live for hope and it says what a man hath, why does he get hope for? And so if I if I can use a simple illustration, a child desires something on their birthday and mom or dad say to that child.
We've secured that gift for you, it's put away in a safe place and when your birthday comes.
It's going to be taken out and given to you, but until the birthday, until the moment it's given to the child, that child lives in hope or anticipation of getting that gift, even though they know that it's been secured for them. There's hope or anticipation, but when the gift is brought out and put in their hand, they're not hoping for it any longer. They're not anticipating it any longer. What a man has, why does he have hope for?
And maybe this helps us to understand rather, and how we can rejoice regarding hope, because our hope is not uncertainty, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. Can you say that about any hope in this life? But you and I are hoping for the Lord's coming. We're looking forward to that day of glory when things are going to unfold, we're going to be with them. And like Him then His purposes in connection with this earth are going to unfold as we come back.
What a wonderful hope we have.
Deferred certainty.
Hope has an object, doesn't it?
As rejoicing in hope, the example you gave to the little boy, he's expecting a gift. He's hoping for the gift, but maybe he's not gonna get what he's expecting and he's gonna be disappointed. But if he knows what he's getting, if he's gonna get a bicycle or something, but he's rejoicing ahead of time. He doesn't have the the gift, but he has it in his heart and he's rejoicing over that. So God has given us an object for our hope. It's not just a vague hope. It's gonna be better tomorrow. It's the Lord Jesus coming for us. We, we, we have frail bodies and we're sick and our bodies are decaying.
Slowly we have a new body. It's gonna be just like the body of the Lord Jesus, an eternal body. These are the hopes that are set before us and the Word of God. We can rejoice, and it's hope that gives us the joy of those future things we're going to have with the Lord Jesus.
In that regard, I'd like to turn also to a portion in the Book of Peter, because it brings out exactly what our brother Michelle is saying. We won't read it all, but just a portion in first Peter chapter one and before I read a verse or two.
We find in the beginning of this chapter he brings before these Jewish believers their hope, and he says it's a living hope, and it's a hope that is, they have an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in heaven for them.
Their hope as far as this earth as a godly Jew that had faded. They've been scattered from the promised land. What was their inheritance? If they had been faithful, and they might have wondered. We're going through fiery trials. We've lost everything. What? What is there left? Well, he brings before them a living hope based on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
And a hope that has secured something that they can never lose.
And then just notice, I'm going to read the last two words of verse 7. Jesus Christ, whom not having seen ye loved, and whom, though now ye see, him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable.
And full of glory. How could Peter tell them to rejoice, encourage them to rejoice at such a time? Was it that the trial wasn't real? No, the trial was real. Did they feel it? They certainly did feel it, and rightly so. But he says you have Jesus Christ now. You have that object that Michelle has just brought before us. You have something laid up in heaven, treasure laid up in heaven, and it's secured for you.
Now, he says, even in the midst of these fiery trials.
With Christ as the object, you can rejoice, because, brethren, I believe we can rejoice in hope, in the not in the measure in which our circumstances are good, but in the measure in which Christ is our object, and in the measure in which Christ is real and precious to the soul. We can rejoice in hope, and it's a joy unspeakable and full of glory.
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The Lord Jesus is an example of that in endurance. That's, uh, Hebrews chapter 12 Says there in verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. And so the Lord Jesus himself endured impatience. Really. This is uh, what it says in the second part of that verse, verse 12, patient and tribulation or enduring in tribulation. And so it's possible for me to go through a trial.
And to experience something that the Lord knows has to be placed in my life. And there's a testing time and there's, it hurts. There's a testing. And it's possible for me to go through it impatiently and to just wish it was all over and to get over with this and to try to buy my way out of it, whatever it might be, and to go through it impatiently. But the Lord Jesus endured patiently the sufferings that he endured on the cross as he he was made sin for us.
And he endured patiently the suffering and the, umm, harassment of those that were in opposition to him all throughout this scene. He could speak faithfully. He could say, woe unto you Pharisees. He could speak faithfully, He could warn, but he endured patiently. And umm, you know, this is one of the testimonies that we can bear before the world of being like Christ is if we bear patiently the testimony, the, uh, tribulation. I just say, uh, as an illustration, my dear father-in-law when he was, uh.
Maybe not quite 90. He was out on a snowshoes when he got home from Florida and uh, he was out doing something and umm, he fell backwards. He had uh, replacement knees and his knees locked up and he was on his back in the snow for about an hour and a half and an excruciating pain and he was hollering down the lake to try to get somebody to come. They came up and finally got him, but he said as I lay down in the snow on my back and endured that suffering.
He thought, this is nothing but what the Lord ever endured for me, nothing but what the Lord endured at the hand of man. And so we have this example of the Lord Jesus as enduring impatience. We need to be very patient when we endure the tribulations that the Lord passes us through.
Second Chronicles, there's a verse that speaks of being in a situation maybe where you're perplexed and you don't know what to do.
Umm.
Second Chronicles, chapter 20.
In the first 12.
I want to read it like this.
For we have no might against this.
That cometh against us.
Neither know we want to do.
But our eyes are upon thee.
We may be perplexed and confused, we may not even be reacting as patiently or as correctly as we should in a situation, but when it's a person?
God, there's an assured expectation, which is another definition for that hope we've been talking about. There's an assured expectation that God will show up.
So even when everything around looks like there's nothing there.
But our eyes are upon thee.
I was thinking about the Apostle Paul who is on the ship, the shipwreck, and he had been told.
That if they all stayed with the ship, they would all make it.
And there's a expression that Paul says has become one of my favorites. I believe God that it shall be, even as it was told unto me. That's a hope and a short expectation that when God has said something.
He will do it and I can rest on that.
Some would help us believe that once you become a Christian, everything is fine, you're going to prosper and everything, you're going to be healthy and there'll be no problems. But this first tells us that the scriptures are for us because we're going to go through times of tribulation and testing and we need patience and comfort. And our brother was referring to the Lord Jesus, the perfect example of 1 enduring and many other other witnesses.
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In the scriptures that went through difficult times and we saw the end of Job in the book of James, uh, earlier on there. So the God of patience and consolation, he's the one that answers to these times of tribulation. But through the Scriptures, we might have hope. We have set before us the end of the Lord that he gave to Job and how he answered the others in the Old Testament and with the Lord Jesus resurrection, everything is passed now and the position that we have in him.
So this is hope is set before us through the scriptures.
And it is a path of endurance too. We've often said that the Christian race is not the 100 yard dash. It's the path of in, uh, the race of endurance. It's the marathon. And it was mentioned already earlier today in a previous meeting, how sometimes I think those who are younger look at us who are older and they think, well, they've arrived and they don't have all the trials and difficulties, all the temptations and so on.
They don't know what we're facing and so on. But you know, every stage of life has its unique temptations, its unique burdens, its unique trials. And it doesn't get any easier as you get older. And I want to impress that on those who are younger here. It's not gonna get any easier. Don't wish your life away and wish you were at the stage of some of the rest of us because you think it's going to get easier. It's not going to get any easier. But there it it you can.
Endure with the resources that God has given to us. There is a pathway where we can go through every stage of life.
And we can overcome. We sometimes sing a hymn through every period of my life. Thy goodness I'll pursue whether you're a child here, whether you're a young person, whether you're facing college or university, whether it's in connection with a job, whether it's raising our families, whether it's those of us who have young people, whether it's a little further along in the path of faith. The resources that we have are sufficient. He's given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
So that we can endure. It's not going to get easier. But what's the next element that is thrown in the equation, if I can put it that way, it's prayer. And if you notice, it says continuing instant in prayer or Mr. Darby's translation, persevering in prayer. You know, prayer is the powerhouse for our lives. You say, how can I rejoice when things are going so bad? How can I endure? You say, Brother Jim, you don't know what I'm going through. You've never been through.
What I've gone going through and you, you, you're not in the workplace and you're not in the school system and you just don't understand. Well, perhaps I don't understand, but I do understand this, that you can rejoice in trials, you can run with endurance your race, and there is a powerhouse that is sufficient to carry you through. And what is that powerhouse? It's prayer. But I really believe that the difficulty with prayer so often.
In least in my life, I better just point the finger at myself.
But in my life, the difficulty with prayer is I don't persevere in prayer.
This isn't just casual prayer, this is persevering. You know, it says on more than one occasion we're to continue in prayer. You and I know what it is to continue in prayer. You know, sometimes we pray about something and then we move on. But I suggest sometimes we don't see the answers or the power that we ought to because we aren't, we don't persevere. Interesting with the pet, the story the Lord Jesus told in Luke's Gospel.
You remember the man that came to his friend at midnight and he kept knocking and finally his friend rose and gave him what he wanted. You know, I never understood the import of that story until I visited in Egypt in the Middle East. You know, it had. If you understand the culture over there, you understand the real import of that story.
In the Middle East and in Egypt, life starts at 10 in the morning. Breakfast is at 10, lunch at 5, and dinner at 11. And then you often go out visiting until 3:00 in the morning. And in Middle Eastern culture, if someone comes to your door, you must give them something to eat or drink. In fact, sometimes in the middle of the night, I think if I have to drink one more Turkish coffee or cup of tea, I will scream. But you dare not refuse it, and they dare not, uh, refuse to offer you something. And so even if you stop in for 10 minutes.
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Even if I have to go out and borrow it from my neighbor.
I must serve you something to eat or drink. And so the man came to his friend at midnight.
Someone had come. If you came to my house at midnight, I'd give you a glass of water and show you the bed and tell you there'd be breakfast in the morning. But you dare not do that over in that culture.
And so the man came in the middle of the night when life is really getting going, and he went to his friends because it would be a cultural insult not to give his friends something to eat.
And that's why he wouldn't give up. His friend wouldn't give him at first, but he wouldn't give up because he knew it was going to be a cultural insult, almost the worst insult you could give a friend.
To go back to his own house next door empty handed without something to eat. Now do we come to the Lord like that? Now I don't mean we beg the Lord for things that are not according to his will, but when it is for the good and blessing of ourselves and those under our roof. When it's those 3 loaves so to speak, are we going to continually ask until He gives for his opportunity or his constant knocking the his the fact that he wouldn't give up?
His friend finally wrote and gave him something that was for the blessing of himself and those under his roof.
That's continuing in prayer, that's persevering in prayer, and if you want to have rejoicing in your pathway, if you want to endure in your pathway, you must avail yourself of the powerhouse of the Christian life, and that is prayer. There is no other way.
And persevere in prayer. The Lord can change things.
He can change the one that's praying and he can give us thoughts of things we can do that we haven't thought about. But persevering is pre and prayer is always a blessing.
I want to connect it with the bra, the verse that Brother Nick brought before us in the previous meeting in the Song of Solomon, verse 60 of chapter 4. Verse 16 says Awake, O north wind, and come thou S blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits. Well, we don't often see what the, uh, Lord is doing as he allows some tribulation in our lives. And so here there is, uh, this order of things that were to rejoice and hope to be patient or endurance tribulation. A spirit, our spirit ought to be a spirit of submission in it. And then he does desire that we would continue instant in prayer and that is that we wouldn't give up that we wouldn't, uh.
As the north wind blows upon his garden, as some of you know, in Hammer Bay that there's a, umm, a Grapevine that, uh, great grandpa Fred Hammer planted, uh, right by the Model T shed and, uh, still there. And, umm, in the fall, the grapes grow on that right by the roadway as we go down to the house and it'll drop just below freezing, uh, during the night and you'll go up and the wind is just blowing off of the rock and the.
Savor the smell that comes off of that rock is something it's just so.
Pleasant, enjoyable, and that's really what the Lord is doing in your life and mine as He produces.
The fruit for himself. He wants to hear those prayers. There is an odor that, uh, is locked in heavenward and he doesn't want us to cease from it.
Blind, blind Bartimaeus.
He's a blind man sitting along the road and hears A commotion and a crowd go by.
What's this? What's going on? What's the tell me?
While Jesus is passing by. Hey, Jesus, Jesus, he yells. He hollers.
Yells and he hollers.
Thou son of David, they tell him to shut up and be still. You know the enemy comes. What are you praying about that for? Somebody else may say, well.
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Influences of other people, something you read can interfere with that. That is brother Jim was saying if it's something that has to do with the blessing of the of those on your roof or the Lord's people, something that as much as you can tell is biblical until the Lord definitely says no, keep yelling because in the end when the Lord talks to him, he says thy faith.
So that whole business about him yelling and keeping yelling even though people are rebuking him.
Was faith.
And yes, the Lord sometimes allows us some time to go by. Will you keep tolerating? Will you keep yelling? Will you keep coming? It wasn't, it wasn't. There wasn't a lot of decorum here.
You know, the world doesn't care about that, You know, uh, at, uh, at John Leben's camp three years ago, we were talking about, well, how do you pray? What's the matter with your praying? Uh, one brother was talking about that. Sometimes he goes off in the woods or down a path and he's where arms are waving in the air and he's looking at the sky and he's marching up and down. I do that, go on the beach or wherever and have a real serious talk with the Lord about things and something's troubling you. It doesn't have to be perfectly with the, with the pointed hands in front of you and your elbows cleanly on the edge of your bed or something.
Just get with the Lord and shout it out until you hear the answer. Now there's times where it's very difficult. This guy is blind. He's been blind his whole life, and he hears that somebody coming by who knows what all he heard, but here's a man that he'd heard can heal him.
And he's going to holler and he's going to yell and he's going to cry out until he gets an answer.
And God, the Lord Jesus, commends him for his faith, and because of his faith, his persistent crying out to the Lord Jesus, he received what he asked for.
Look where Jim referred to in his 11Th chapter. And after it says, yeah, because of his opportunity, he will rise and give him as he may give him as many as he needed. And the 9th, 1St to the 11Th chapter, it says, I send to you us, and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock, and it should be opened unto you. There's an increasing intensity there.
Ask, seek and knock. And the other thing to note is that oftentimes we see prayer as being a one way street where we order God around.
And, uh, if you.
Look at God is presented in the popular media. He's something of a a genie in a bottle.
People want a Disney God, but if you look in Ephesians the last chapter, you find that prayer completes the armor of God and every good soldier needs direction from his captain.
And so I don't ever consider prayer as a one way street where you order God around us. And I think we treat prayer like ordering pizza. We call up the the pizza place and we tell them what we want. We have no relationship with the person at the other end.
And then we hang up and the pizza doesn't come in the time that we expected. So we call up and we've used the person at the other end or get shot with them. Where's where's my order?
And when it comes, we don't think so, you know, is that the way we treat God in prayer? But if you look at there at the end of Ephesians, it says, uh, Ephesians 5 verse 18. I just read it, the new translation.
Rang at all seasons. You know when things are going bad, Sure, we fall down on our knees. What about when things are going well? We still need to pray.
With all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching unto this very thing, with all perseverance and supplication for all the Saints, our prayers tend to be very selfish, don't they? Very self-centered.
But we are reminded here to pray for all the Saints.
As long as they in our chapter providing or distributing to the necessities of the Saints. Somebody comes to you and says I need 3 loaves or you don't say I'm gonna pray about that.
We find that sometimes we're so spiritual when there are needs, obvious needs, we'll pray about that. Well, it doesn't say pray about, it says distributing to the necessities of the Saints. So their needs there and the Lord puts them before us. So it says here distributing to the necessity.
Sometimes use this illustration. A sister doesn't get up in the morning and pray about whether she should get breakfast for her husband and her children. No, she gets up and gets breakfast for her husband and her children because there's a necessity. There's a need. Her first whole need to be fed.
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And so they're, as you say, and I think it's very helpful, there are certain things we really don't need to pray about. We might have pray about wisdom in how to meet the need. Maybe it isn't so much a question of money. Maybe it's a question of something else that we have in our hands. Or maybe it's just a question of taking some time and helping that brother with whatever needs to be done around his property. So it takes wisdom and prayer as to how to meet the need, but.
It doesn't take prayer as to whether the need needs to be met when we have a direct.
Command from Scripture. A statute from Scripture. The happy thing is to obey it. It's a little out of context, but should a person pray about whether they need to remember the Lord or not?
They might pray about where they should be as far as where the Lord's table is and the Christians they, uh, seek fellowship with. But as far as partaking of the Lord's Supper, a believer doesn't need to pray about that because the Lord has asked us if we're washed in the blood of Christ. That's our title. That's out of context, but I'm just using that to illustrate our brother Michelle's point. But in distributing to the necessity of the Saints, God loves the cheerful giver.
And we're to do it with a the same heart that the Lord Jesus did it. The Lord Jesus dispensed blessing in one way or another on every hand, and he did it with a cheerful spirit. And what an example for us. Sometimes we do give out of necessity and grudgingly, but that's not the way God wants us. We talked about making sacrifices.
In a previous meeting and one of those sacrifices is using what God has placed in our hand in a temporal way or our time or our energy.
But he wants us to make those sacrifices in a way that reflects the way he did it. He wants us to do it in a way that reflects his character. And you know, when you help someone out in a situation, that person consents whether you're doing it because you feel you have to or whether you're really doing it from the heart. And let's learn, brethren, we're in a very selfish society. I, I speak for myself.
I get caught up in the spirit of the age. We are in a very selfish society where our children and young people are taught to look out for #1 and to provide for #1.
Uh, and certainly with those of us who have families, if a man doesn't provide for his own, he's worse than an infidel. And we don't want to be helping others at the expense of our own and so on. It takes real wisdom and diligence. But let's, as we were saying before, not draw this circle and have ourselves in the center of the circle as the, the, uh, and have everything rotate around ourselves. Let's have Christ and his interests at the center and then we'll be willing to make those sacrifices for one another. And if all of us.
We're willing to do that. There would be no needs amongst the people of God.
The thought of hospitality too goes on with that, applying ourselves to hospitality, so not not only providing for the necessities of the Saints, but having our homes open to receive those things, each shelter and be the place to sleep or stay and given to hospitality.
One has to do with the goods flowing forth from the home, blessing flowing forth from the home, and the other has to do with how we use our homes. And umm, the Lord desires that we would use our homes for himself and for His people. And you see here that it's really Speaking of the Saints distributing to the necessity of Saints.
Given to hospitality, not that we don't have strangers that come and stay in our home from time to time, but we ought to have a particular affection for the Saints and to have our homes open. How we're going to know the needs of those that, uh, are the Saints, those that are our dear brethren in Christ. If we don't have them in our home, we need to have them in our homes. And it's, uh, really a picture here of the generosity, not only in connection with our goods, but in our service.
Because hospitality. Hospitality has to do with service, a service to our brethren. We lay ourselves out for our brethren and serve them in our own homes.
The Lord is going to come forth and serve in a future day.
It'll help us too, if we have our brethren in our homes regularly. It will help us to to be exercised about what is in the home. We ought to be anyway. But if, if we on a regular basis, it's the habit of our life to have the Saints in our home. We're very careful what what we have. I I'd like to just stress this for a moment and I'd like to hear what others have to say because I've been saddened, brethren, to realize.
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That in the fast-paced society in which we live, hospitality and the ability and opportunity to visit with our brethren in the home is really being lost. Hospitality is becoming a lost art, You know, and I visited in, uh, areas and especially in metropolitan areas, it's very difficult to visit in the homes of, of my brethren because what's happened? And brethren, I'm not saying.
There's a whole lot we can do about.
The treadmill of society and so on that we're on. But what seems to have happened as another generation comes on in the assembly is that they have moved out to the suburbs and beyond to get affordable housing. Now the problem is, not only is everybody an hour from meeting, everybody is an hour from one another. Our young people, they fight rush hour traffic twice a day. It's sometimes difficult to even be at weeknight meeting because of those circumstances.
And, and I'm, I'm not, I'm not criticizing, I, I know it's difficult out there, but I believe we need to be extra exercised that we plan our lives around the Lord, around the assembly and around fellowship with our brethren. It's an interesting comment that Paul makes near the end of his ministry. Just let's read it. Uh, I could quote it, but it's in Acts chapter 20.
Acts chapter 20 and verse 20.
And how I kept nothing that was profitable. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. But I've showed you and have taught you. Now notice this publicly and from house to house. I believe that in Paul's ministry there were two elements that he counted equally as important. One was ministering publicly, like he did in troas after the breaking of bread. He ministered to them publicly.
In the incident with uh, Utica's is just a little earlier on in this in this chapter.
And but there was also something else that he felt was vital and important to the Saints, and that was ministering to them at their kitchen table, that was sitting down with them at their table or in their home and sharing the things of Christ together.
Because you never really know somebody until you visit in their home and you never really know the needs of the sheep until you're in their home. But rather than sometimes we don't have the opportunity, sometimes because of the work a day world in which we find ourselves.
It's very difficult and I just want to say this to the younger sisters, you know, I appreciate just a few minutes in someone's home. I'm not looking for a meal. I'm not looking for a fancy pastry or a piece of pie, just a glass of water and a little fellowship. I'm not looking for your home to be impeccable. I'm not looking for every toy to be picked up and every towel hung straight. I'm just looking for a little fellowship with you and your husband and your family.
Don't worry about if everything's in order or not. I'm speaking very plainly and you'll find, and I'm thankful that I grew up in a home where our local brethren.
And the brethren that visited and came through were always invited to the home. Sometimes they stayed in our home. Sometimes it was just a little afternoon visit. Sometimes my mother was able to provide a meal. But, you know, as I look back, even as a child, those times were a real blessing. You know, I knew a side of Mr. London that many of the children and young people growing up in my day didn't know. He was a lot of fun to have in the home. He had a lot of tricks that he would teach us children.
I appreciated those times that he.
Got on the floor with me and played with my little matchbox cars and so on and many others that were in our home. And those times of fellowship and ministry in the home were a blessing as we were growing up as young people. And so let's be exercised, brethren, to show hospitality. And hospitality doesn't necessarily mean you provide a gourmet meal. It just means inviting the brethren into your home, be they local or visitors.
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Just to sit down.
Have a cup of tea or coffee, have a glass of juice, and enjoy something of Christ one with another. You'll find it'll be a tremendous blessing and it will open your ears to their public ministry more too. When you get to know that person, if he is a person that ministers publicly, you'll find you'll get more out of his public ministry knowing him personally from the home.
But the necessities could be too. That's very nice to have people that visit and then they leave, you know. But part of the necessity sometimes people not being able to have a place to stay for a long period of time because of a loss of job or fire in the home or whatever. So I think that's to be considered that that might be also part of the necessities we're called to provide.
Umm, practice makes perfect.
And.
You know a lot of these things we're talking about, whether it's praying.
Or whether it's showing hospitality or some of the other things in this list here, you know, you really have to try it.
I think we've lost some of the art of doing these things because we've just planned, everybody backed off from it. And then we don't have an example from our parents and then we don't there's, you know, no one else seems to do it and I'm not gonna do it. I mean, you know, this is pretty nerve racking stuff. And, uh, but here it is in scripture and the Lord wants us to do it, you know, try it.
But it does take sacrifice too, doesn't it it? It is a sacrifice and it goes back to the beginning of the chapter. We've got to present ourselves a living sacrifice. Dear Lady, dear Christian Lady was telling a story of how the Lord taught her about hospitality.
And, uh, nobody has mentioned being hospitable towards the unbeliever.
But uh, something happened in the community where she lived with all the power was out and uh, I think they had a generator or something. But anyway.
Uh, they were outside talking and all the neighbors were gathering around talking about what had happened. And she just said, why don't you all come over and, uh, we'll, we'll have a meal, a dinner at our house, we'll have dinner tonight. Would you like to do that? And everybody kinda nervously thought, OK, and they all showed up. So all these houses that were around there and none of them knew the Lord.
And they came in and they had this supper and they saw things in their house and the subject came up that they were Christians. But it started something. It ended up that there was a Bible study and those folks all got saved. And she said that was the beginning of her, uh, the Lord teaching her about hospitality. And then, uh, she was talking about how that being hospitable to the Lord's people and, and just being willing to have them over. And she said, you know, she learned.
Well, the houses can't always be perfect, like you were saying.
You know, if you did waited for that, you might not have people come over. And she said that, you know, if you, everything doesn't have to be perfect and in line, you don't have to serve, uh, a gourmet dinner. You know, it could be, uh, lasagna, frozen lasagna that's in the fridge. It could be a cup of coffee in it and, and a bagel or something. But she said the Lord started with that where there was this emergency and she invited people in and LED to a Bible study. People got saved and then she became exercised about using her home for the Lord and.
And really that's something that if, if the wife or the woman of the house isn't engaged in that it's, it's the hospitality in the home has to come mostly from there. And yes, the husband and there, there are children in the house. Uh, they can be involved with that too. You have somebody coming to stay at your house there. There needs to be others that will be engaged in what she said was.
Being hospitable and learning how to do it became a real blessing to her, her husband, her children, and they all benefited from it and saw that, you know, it wasn't just a sacrifice even though.
There is a sacrifice involved.
She said in commenting about this. I thought it was so good they received more than they gave.
Let me say a word to the husbands too, in that regard, because we've picked on the wives a little bit. You know, it says of Priscilla and Aquila. They addicted themselves to the ministry of the Saints and the household of Onessa Forest. For he OFT refreshed me. It's interesting, isn't it, that it was the household, the whole household, involved in the hospitality of the Saints and the refreshment of Paul on the occasions he was there. And I appreciate when I go into a home where the whole household.
00:45:17
The husband, the wife, the children are young people. They all have a little part in the.
Ministry of Hospitality and I would just say this to the husbands because when I was in business.
I would like to come home at night or on a Friday night and just shut the door and just have my wife and children. I was sometimes mentally and physically weary from the daily grind of weekly business, but I am thankful for a wife who pressed me to open our home for hospitality and, you know, to work together. Husbands with your wife.
Maybe you're not a cook, but you can help peel the potatoes. Maybe you're not. Maybe you're not a housekeeper, but it doesn't take much to run a vacuum. It doesn't take much to help set up chairs around the dining room table or whatever it whatever it is. And so I just want to encourage couples to work together. And as I look back on when we were first married and our children were young, it was tough. Sometimes I would have rather just had myself and my family alone, but I am.
Thankful for a wife who has always been exercised. I, I'm gonna tell this little, little incident, you know, I got home this winter from a trip. I had a very intense schedule. I got home by the time I got home from the airport that night. It was 2:00 AM on Sunday morning. And Faye had called me where I was in the island where I was. And she said, Jim, I feel very pressed. I know you don't like company when you get home on Lord's Day, when you get home on a Saturday night.
But she said I I am pressed to invite Heinz and Brigetta Brinkman to dinner tomorrow, Lord's Day. I said Faye, what can I say?
They were with us on Lord's Day for dinner. We had a happy visit on Thursday. He was with the Lord.
I'm thankful for a wife who pressed that and that memory I will savor for the rest of my of my life. Now you want memories, happy memories of the brethren in your home and those times of fellowship. You know we didn't talk about anything real deep from scripture. No, we just enjoyed one another's company around the dinner table for a couple of hours between breaking of bread and Sunday school. But little did we realize it was going to be our last opportunity to be together with a brother who served the Lord for many years.
Well, I just say that as an encouragement and an exercise, but to move along because our time is just is passing. You know, not everybody is friendly. And so the next verse says bless those that persecute you. You know, you ever felt persecuted. Now, I realize we don't know anything about physical persecution in a land like this or on a continent like this. You know, the windows are open, the doors are open, the ducks came in. But we're not afraid of we're not afraid of someone coming in and shooting us or arresting some of us because we're having a Bible meeting here.
At Lake John, Alaska. No, We sit here in perfect liberty. You know, when I go to Egypt in the summer, I have a meeting in Cairo in the evening. I'm invited to the brother's home. Over a two or three hour period, whoever's gonna come kind of trickles in as inconspicuously as possible. When it's time for the meeting, the doors are shuttered and the windows are shuttered and the doors are barred. We don't usually sing, and I'm asked to keep my voice down so we don't raise attention.
They understand what it is.
To meet circumspectly and in fear of persecution. I'm always asked never to evangelize on the street because I'll be let go as a Canadian. But they're left behind as the targets for persecution. But you know, there is another kind of persecution that we suffer in this country. It's not physical persecution, but it's a reproach. You know, it says all day that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
And you say, Jim, you just explained, we don't suffer persecution here. No, we don't suffer physically. But there are two kinds of persecution. There's physical persecution like many of our brethren are suffering today in other corners of the world. And there is persecution in the form of a reproach. And in the measure in which you and I seek to be faithful to the Lord, and in the measure in which we reflect something of Christ in our life and in our walk, we will suffer.
Our reproach in that way, there will be those who in that sense persecute us. What are we to do? We're to bless them. And in case we didn't get the message the first time, it's interesting, It's the only statement here that he repeats. He doesn't repeat about endurance and prayer and so on. But bless them which persecute you. And then in case you didn't get it, bless and curse not, brethren, we are never to rise up and curse those who persecute us. What are we to do? We're to pray for them, pray for their salvation, pray that they will see the truth and beauty in Christ. And if we would do that, then there perhaps would be more blessing in the lives.
00:50:28
Of those who ridicule us for our testimony, there can be person persecution physical in this country in this sense.
And going to school all the way through school growing up, I was an average sized child.
But it started at a very young age where this weird kid who went to church three times a week and belonged to some kind of holy roller church that didn't have a name.
Well.
There are people who make fun of that and when you become a kid in schools and there's probably maybe somebody here that's been through, uh, the abuse that goes on. I, I know why sometimes people shoot other people in schools when they've been abused for that.
And if I hadn't been a Christian, I might have done something like that. It was that bad. But when you day in and day out are abused, beat up, smacked around, knocked around.
I had a kid slam my head into the bus window so hard it broke.
Things like that that went on, not understanding why even knowing why those kind of things go on, even at times being angry with the Lord. Why do you allow all this to go on?
But something happened at in high school and 12Th grade.
There was a party that one of the farm kids I went to school with had in a in a field where all the kids from school went.
And I went there.
And one of the guys who was on the football team, on the basketball team, and he was, uh, bigger than I.
Up until about that time, we were about the same size. He came up to me and he shook my hand and he said, you know, Sam.
His name is Roger Chabeta. I'll never forget it, he said. All these years I used to give you help because I really don't know why, because you're really a pretty good kid.
I'm sorry.
But right then the Lord spoke to my heart and said it's because you belong to me. And I wasn't being very over. I wasn't witnessing to everybody or doing anything like that. But the devil knew that I belong to the Lord Jesus. And even things that people said, even though they were wrong, that we were holy rollers and that we rolled around on the floor, things that that people made-up and made fun of. But all of that time, some of that physical abuse and verbal abuse.
Was because I belong to the Lord Jesus. Now kids go through that stuff. I know of, of other kids in Christian homes that have gone through that kind of stuff and they're going through it in school and you know, it's, it's not, they're not killing, killing somebody. But when you go through that, it's very difficult. Now if you're older and in a job. Uh, my brother Lyle told me a story. I worked for a short time in a manafrigeration, but when the company I worked for laid me off.
And he said he found out later from a guy who got saved.
Who worked where I worked for a short time. He said they did everything to sabotage you and your, what you were doing. And I said, man, I can't believe that I can barely keep up. You know, I've, I've worked in a factory and I can do all these things. I, I can barely keep up. And my brother told me, he says this guy that got saved told him that they, they all concentrated. They knew you were my brother, you were Christian too. And they were gonna sabotage everything you were doing to make sure that you couldn't do your job correctly or barely keep up. I went away from there exhausted because they made everything more difficult than I never saw.
That's persecution. The job you're at, the school you're at, whatever you may be doing, there may be things going on, people interfering so you don't get a promotion, that you don't get a position, maybe somebody else does because.
They know that you belong to the Lord Jesus. Well, God has a way of rewarding and He has a way of using those things to shape you. I will tell you this, if you go through those kinds of things, one of the things that God will shape within you is a compassionate heart.
For others who are suffering and going through it, but instead of your curse not it really is in connection with the spirit with our the Lord, uh, desires that we would bless them which persecute you, but we could do it not really with a good spirit. And so he does desire the attitude to be right in blessing that we bless and curse not. I'm sorry, brother.
00:55:03
I'm just gonna say, as to having sympathy and compassion, that's verse 15 and 16. As to rejoicing with those that rejoice and weeping with those that weep.
And having one towards another, the same sentiment.
A fellowship here in in the spirit with what others are going through and it's genuine, isn't it?
And really, it's easier to weep with those that weep than rejoice with those that rejoice. Because to weep with those that weep, they've usually lost something or they're going through something that perhaps we're not experiencing. And it's somewhat easy to do that sympathize with the person. But to rejoice with someone that's rejoicing usually means they have got something that you didn't get. And that's, that's real Christianity when I see you get something or there's some blessing in your life.
That I feel maybe I deserved her, that I didn't get her I missed out on. Am I willing in the spirit of of Christ, in the Christian spirit?
Can I really rejoice with you? That's really true Christianity. Yes, I can weep with you. You go through some trial, you lose your job. I might not understand, but I weep with you. But you get some blessing that I didn't get, some mercy that I didn't get. That's the real test of the Spirit of Christ.
I might say that starts in the family, doesn't it, Jim? I think as parents, we need to be careful with rivalries. And it, it, it, if they, if they're made from a very young age to share and to rejoice in those things, then it, it, they learn that and, and goes on to adulthood. But it starts in the home where they're, when you have multiple kids to, to help them rejoice. And birthdays were always a challenge, which one's getting gifts and the others are not.
When they're very young, it's quite comical, but they're teachable moments and, uh, not to be lost.
The quickest way to remove an enemy is to make them your friend. Then he's not an enemy, is he at all? It's hard to do. I saw an example in the factory I worked at, this man named Kenny Cuddleson. He looked like a Hells Angel. He weighed over £300, he had a beard down to his waist. But he got saved and the first thing he did was go out and win souls. He started winning souls to Christ.
And we may not act perfectly. This guy was cursing him. This guy was threatening him. And he stood in front of him. And he says, you know, the Bible tells me to turn the other cheek.
Oh, I forgot the guy smacked him, Slapped him, he says. The Bible tells me to turn the other cheek, so go ahead and hit the other side.
And the guy who was in front of a bunch of people and it embarrassed him.
And he was ashamed of himself and he slunk away because this man stood up. And I don't think he was in in any particular spirit of love when he did that. But he says the Bible says to turn the other cheek, go ahead and hit me on the other side. He didn't hit him back. And it had an effect on this man. He later got saved.
Well, we don't always act perfectly in these things, but if we know what the Word of God says and we seek to obey it, the Spirit of God can come in and fill in a lot of gaps, and the results can be blessing.
Verse 16 really tells us of, uh, gives us instruction as to our conduct in connection with all of our brethren and all of those that are in the world that we ought not to have respect, uh, of O one that has well offered, perhaps one that is well addressed. Might be good to look at that. And James, uh, I think it's chapter one. Uh, no, it's chapter 2, James chapter 2, umm, and verse one, my brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord of glory with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, they're coming also a poor man in vile arraignment, and you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing. And say to him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor.
Stand out there or sit here under my footstool. Are you not then partial in yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts?
And so it's a lovely thing to see those that are brethren in different stations of life, those that are, uh, workmen, those that are, uh, perhaps more educated and walking together in the things of God and enjoying the person of Christ together. But those things, uh, can creep in to, uh, our pathway perhaps unnoticed at times. And we, uh, might, uh, uh, have partiality and play favorites, as it were. But the Lord loves each one that's bought with his precious blood. He desires that we would not show partiality in that way.
01:00:02
Has to do with things too, doesn't it? It's the, uh, mind, not hide things and, uh, associating yourself to Humboldt's. It really is PE people are things. It's nice to be exercised too. And, and the things that we have in our lives that they would be in the character of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus was an example of that as well. The highly educated ones were in Jerusalem. They're very well off. Jews were in Jerusalem. Those that, uh, had the best station in life.
The poor fisherman, the manufacturing, the working class, as, as if you will, they lived in Galilee. That blessed man Christ Jesus spent most of his time in Galilee among the poor. And so the poor are rich in faith. We ought not to, uh, have a view to the outward look and the homes of those that are perhaps a little poorer. And, uh, this instruction is needed even in a day that we live in and even with hospitality. Sometimes the tendency is to have someone over because you know, they can have you back and they've got a nice home and they'll be able to provide a nice leg of lamb and a good gourmet dinner. But the scripture warns US against that. That's having respect of, uh.
Of persons. But I often think of that verse which is the great leveler and qualifier, and that is, the rich and poor meet together. The Lord is the Maker of them all.
You know, perhaps the sense of that verse is lost somewhat in our North American and Western society because we have amongst the Lord's people and even at the Lord's table, the rich and poor. But then there's the average, what we call the middle class.
That are the buffer zone in between. And so we kind of lose that sense. But I have have had and have opportunity to visit in countries where perhaps extreme socialism is the order of the day and extreme socialism eliminates the middle class. And so you only have the very rich and the very poor. And I have been touched beyond words on a number of occasions in sitting down at the Lord's table and mingling amongst my brethren. Gather to the Lord's name.
The rich and poor going on together without the middle class BU buffer zone and yet finding that money and station doesn't talk in the assembly. It's a beautiful thing. Again, I, I don't think there's anybody here from Egypt, but when I go to Egypt in the summer, you find that there are the wealthy, there are wealthy brothers in the assembly. And when I say wealthy by our standards, they are wealthy there. And then there are the, the those who, uh.
Struggle from day-to-day. There's no middle class in Egypt. It's the rich and the poor. But it's beautiful when you come to the assembly to see the fu, the assembly function and how those who minister in the assembly, it's not whether they have any station in this life or any means in this life, uh, and to see them work together. And brethren, we need to keep this in view because while it may not be as distinct in our society, it can creep in the world measures things by how many?
Garage is a person has on the end of their house and whether they have a boat or how many cars they have or a late model or whatever it might be. That's the way the world gauges things. But we don't want to gauge things in the assembly and amongst the Lord's people that way. But let me just say this too, I think it can apply to something else other than material things. And that is sometimes I think there can be the tendency amongst the Lord's people to look for one, to look down on another who perhaps isn't as well taught in the things of God.
Others tend to look down on them as second class citizens. They haven't quite arrived yet. You know, the Lord never did that in his interaction with his own. And he was very patient, even with the disciples. There were times the disciples should have known certain things and some of them perhaps ask questions that they really should have known the answer to. The Lord treated every disciple the same.
Every disciple he treated the same. In fact, he treated them so the same.
01:05:07
Well, brother, these things are very practical, but if we can just keep low thoughts of self which are befitting and, as we said earlier, esteeming each better than ourselves.
Well, he speaks of living peaceably, doesn't he? And so he says, uh, recompense to no man, evil for evil. Pretty self-explanatory statement. The Lord who when he was reviled, reviled not again when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him. That judgeth righteously. But then he says, uh.
Uh, proof, proof, uh, provide things honest in the sight of all men. We understand that. And then he says, if it be, if it be possible, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men. You say, why does it say if it be possible and as much as lieth in you? Sometimes it's not possible to live peaceably with all men. We never want to live compromise the truth for the sake of peace.
Would you encourage someone who's suffering persecution?
In another country, physical persecution to renounce their faith so that they could live peaceably under that administration, while we see the folly of that immediately.
No, maybe they, maybe they can't live peaceably under those circumstances. And uh, so there are circumstances we don't never want to compromise the truth, even in the assembly. We don't want to compromise the truth for the sake of peace. Timothy was told in the last days to follow righteousness.
Faith, peace, love. If I was writing that I would have put peace and love 1St and then put righteousness and peace, but that a righteousness and faith. But that's not what it says. Righteousness and faith are Righteousness and truth must be maintained at all costs. Then there is.
Uh, peace and love. So I think that's, I believe that's at least one reason why it says as much as lieth in you. Sometimes it isn't possible, but if it is, we're not to purposely stir up, stir strife and contention.
Type of uh, David, when he was pursued by Saul and Saul was set to slay David and David found him in The Cave and they spared him.
And Saul woke up and realized what was going on, and by that time David was out of Spear's range.
And they had a conversation, and Saul was.
Uh, commending David for the mercies and all.
And after that, I think it says Saul returned to his house or castle, whatever it was, and David returned to the hold. He couldn't follow Saul back to the palace. He couldn't commit himself to Saul.
But he was always in respect.
Of of the king, uh, of this man, hidden rail against him.
But he had to return to the hold as much as was possible. What an example David was of that 17th verse.
I think too in the new translation, it says as far as depends on you. And so you know, when there is strife, particularly between brethren, but it says with all men, so it applies at work as well. We're very apartment to find fault with the other person and uh, it becomes their responsibility. It can happen in the home between husband and wife. So the Lord says as as far as depends on you, the responsibility.
There's a responsibility on my part to live peaceably. Now, the other person may not want to. The other person may choose to take a different course. We leave them with the Lord. But what falls to my responsibility? That's what I'm called upon.
To take care of and that may not lead to peace if the other person doesn't desire it, but I am to deal with myself.
Goes on to speak of enemies, so the character there can be quite serious and would call us to. Perhaps we have thoughts of vengeance.
Because of the the wrong being done. That's just persecution, but being wrong in very serious ways. And the Lord says not to avenge ourselves.
But to let give uh place unto Roth, I believe it says. So the Lord is the one to vindicate our case and to take it up. And so he did with David, didn't he? And uh in, in time Saul was taken away, and David got the drone, and it was the Lord's doing. There was no reproach in David as to acting in a way that was uh, disapproved by God. So same for us. We leave it all with the Lords, that mine is the vengeance, and I will repay, saith the Lord.
01:10:18
We have it right here in the Word of God so we can have confidence.
He sees and he knows everyone that touches us and what's said against us, what's done against us, and we leave it all with him. A lot of times we think that repaying is was gonna repay the other person for what? The way he's treated us. But I don't think it means that. I think it means the Lord's gonna repay us for the loss that we suffer. So we need to be careful about, oh, well, he's gonna get it. That's not that's not the spirit of the chapter.
This word mine.
Dealing with spot one and giving to us so it tells us how to behave with the one that's wrong us. If your enemy is is hungry, you give them to eat. If he's thirsty, they give him to drink because it says they're doing so. Your heat coals the fire upon his head pulls the fire here is not judgment upon his head. It really is supplying him with what he needs so he can cook his food and heat his his tent or whatever. I'm giving him what he needs. So I'm supplying his food. His neat is a drink and coals a fire.
And that's what he needs. And then when he sees that, he says, well, why am I being so mean with with this person? The Lord can work in people's hearts.
If we're kind with them, so we overcome evil with good, we're doing good to our enemies, and the Lord can use that.
Cherry hello, good smile.
There's really very few times in our lives that we cannot extend those.
It really should be the norm.
Should really be something that should characterize us.
What are we known for?
You know, frown. I hope not.
Should be a smile. First of all, we're believers.
And.
Or even point out that this context is not necessarily always among believers here, but, uh, certainly among believers. There shouldn't be any issue where we can't give a hello, smile, handshake.
So simple.
And such a solution.
All to a lot.
I have a question then about the burning coals. I'd understood that to be.
Like chagrin or a burning conscience?
Of your kindness in in opposition from their meanness has an effect on that person. I don't believe that's what it means. I believe it's just what was said that and you have to understand the culture again in countries like that. And even today when I travel in 3rd world countries and perhaps brother Tim who's just back from Africa can confirm this, but there's still often a sharing of Kohl's.
People have, and you've been there, uh, Michelle, these people, they have their little pot of coals and maybe by the side of the road or by their side of their house and they're, they use it to cook their bread, fruit and their piece of goat and whatever. And, uh, sometimes there's a need with the neighbors. They run out of coals And so they come and they share their coals and those coals start some other coals and maybe they just need a few coals to get their coal pot going and so on.
Really the heaping of coals in the culture in which this was written.
Was an act of kindness and love for the blessing and sustainment of the person in their household because they couldn't eat if they didn't have their pot of coals and weren't able to start it. And I really believe in the context of the chapter that that's what he's telling us here. You reach out as it's like, it's a little bit akin to the Beatitudes, isn't it, where a person was to love their enemy and to help their enemy. And if he asked, person asked for a coat, uh.
Give him, give him, give him, give him the coat, and and over and beyond.
And uh, even if there isn't an appreciation of it, we're not to look for an appreciation by the person we give it to, whether it's a believer or unbeliever, but look for the Lord's approval. Did you show the spirit of Christ? Did you give him some quote, quote, you say, oh, he deserves that. His cold pot went out. Now he'll be hungry and he'll, he'll be sorry. Oh, no, that's not what the word of God says. He said you give him some calls. Let him see how you show the spirit of Christ to him.
01:15:19
And maybe in showing the spirit of Christ to him, then that will exercise his soul, don't you think, Michelle? That's really the context here. It's overcoming evil with good. So it's all doing good. So that's what you're doing. You're doing good to them all you can.
I don't even know if the similitude of a blacksmith applies here, but when I noticed that uh, sometimes the welding shop they put the iron in the heat and take it out and then bend it.
The iron becomes bendable because of the heat, and so the warmth of this kindness is really what is heaped upon this person's head or mind to turn them or maybe bring them to repentance, the warmth of the sun.
We'll make a man shed his coat quicker than the blast of the wind. And I, I think there's might help to understand that same principle. Our time is gone, brethren. I'd just like to sum things up. We've had, uh, some very, very practical instruction based really on the exhortation at the beginning of this chapter to, uh, give ourselves as a living sacrifice. And really everything that's has followed in this chapter is based on that.
But brethren, we've discussed these very practical things. We've compared Scripture with Scripture, but it will do us no good if we go home the same way we came. And I'm not talking about the route map that we came with either. But I'm just saying if we don't go home with a fresh exercise and desire to carry these things out practically in our Christian lives, then we've really lost in coming here this weekend. But if we really take these exhortations to heart.
And seek by the grace of God, and it's only by the grace of God. But to seek by the grace of God, then to practically exhibit that which really was the Spirit of Christ as He walked here as a man, then there's going to be a blessing. And it won't be just a blessing in our own souls, but it will be a blessing to others as well. Do good unto all men, and especially those of the household of faith you want to be. Have a blessing in your own soul.
Seek by grace to walk in these practical instructions that we've had. You want to be a blessing to your family? Seek to carry these things out. You wanna be a blessing to your brethren? Seek to carry these things out. You wanna be a blessing to the world and in the neighborhood in which you live, at work or school or wherever it is, seek by the grace of God to present your body a living sacrifice. These things are not easy. Brother. I we've talked about these things. It's easy to talk about them.
They're not easy. You go back, there's gonna be challenges.
In seeking to carry these things out, but let's be very clear, as we've already said in these meetings that there is every resource, all things that pertain unto life and godliness. You have divine life, you have the Spirit of God, You have the Lord Jesus as the captain of your salvation. You have him living for you as a resource at the right hand of God. You have a hope before you. You have an object, you have a goal, you have everything you need to carry these things out. And if you do that.
Then you're going to be an overcomer, not be overcome.
The last words that Brother Eric Smith said to me when I visited him, he was well over 100. He could hardly talk, but I had and I, but I got my ear right up to his ear and he said, Jim, remember one thing, no matter how difficult, we can still be overcomers, not be overcome. And that has stuck with me and we can Sometimes I'm overcome, sometimes I'm overwhelmed, but it's not because there's a lock on God's part.
It's because I am not trusting in the resources and utilizing the resources that I have, and it's because I'm not seeking to present my body as a living sacrifice and live for God's glory.