0:00 [Music] Dear Father, I pray that you'll give us ears to hear what your Holy Spirit is saying to the church. When your Holy Spirit speaks, we 0:19 know the devil wants to distract and confuse and get us taken up with other thoughts. I pray that every one of us will listen, including myself. Lord, you have something to say. You have something you're 0:37 speaking. And what you have to say is far more important for our lives than anything else anybody else could say. I pray Lord that there will be a reverence as we listen to your word, as we listen to you in all of our hearts. Even the 0:53 little children will have a spirit of reverence because you're speaking. The world gives reverence to presidents and kings and queens when they speak. Our allegiance is to you and we give you reverence, Lord, because you're 1:08 here and you're speaking. So may we listen, Lord, with all of our hearts. Thank you in Jesus name. You will help us. Amen. I wonder what goes through your mind when you think 1:25 about what we just heard from the children. And I want to encourage you, dear family, that a good habit to get into is with our memory verses to read the passage, to read what God has actually 1:45 said. As you know, we memorize a small portion of often just just a small portion of the verse, not even the whole verse. That's so that we can know the key part of that verse. But you must go back and read 2:04 that regularly. And um not because I'm saying so, but because it'll benefit you. uh and read not just that verse, the verses around it, the chapter or that context as much as you're able to and let God speak to you through the memory 2:22 verse. It's a habit I've tried to develop from the moment we from the time we started memorizing memory verses here many years ago and it's helped me tremendously. So, I want to encourage you. I think it'll help you as well that it's not just memorizing 2:39 the verse, but also knowing what God's saying. So, let's turn to Matthew 24. I wonder what goes through your mind when you hear this, what the children told us many times. The one who endures to the end 2:58 will be saved. And I've been thinking about that for the last couple of weeks, actually, this past week and even the week before that when I knew that that was going to be our future memory verse. Um 3:17 because whenever God says something, the devil immediately comes in with a lie in the form of a question. You see that all the way back in Genesis chapter 3. When God said, "You shall surely die." The devil came and said, "Will you 3:36 really die?" He put a question to Eve and to Adam. They believed the question and they were deceived. And now when God says, "The one who endures to the end will be saved." The devil has come with a 3:55 question and he has succeeded in deceiving the majority of Christians today that once you are saved, you are always saved. Even though Jesus plainly said, "The one 4:11 who endures to the end will be saved." And I wonder what goes through your mind when you hear a memory verse like that. The one who endures to the end will be saved. I wish more revival meetings and gospel meetings and tent revival 4:30 preached this. Yes, you must begin your life. You must give your life to Jesus. do it today if you haven't. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And a decision you make on a given night or a given day violates the best decision of your 4:50 life, it's a decision that you must continue to make. The one who endures to the end will be saved. And Jesus said this in the context of his coming, his second 5:07 coming. And I want you to see two things that he warned us about in this context in regard to his return in Matthew chapter 24. He says in verse 4, first of all, see to it. See to 5:24 it. Be absolutely certain. make absolutely sure. See to it. In other words, he's saying, "I'm going to give you some warnings. I'm going to give you some instructions. Make sure you don't forget 5:40 it. Even though as it were, Jesus was predicting what 2025 would look like and what 2030 will look like if he tries and however long it is until Christ's return. what that looks like. He was 5:59 predicting. He was warning us and he's saying, "See to it." This was written 2,000 years ago. Almost 2,000 years ago, it was written. And yet, most people are deceived. Even though Jesus warned us against it, he says two things here that 6:17 I'd like us to meditate on today in the light of his coming. So let's read Matthew 24 beginning in verse 9. Thus remember the verse we memorized was verse 13. The one who endures to the end he 6:35 will be saved. That was verse 13. Let's just read a few verses before and after it. Verse 9. Then they will deliver you to in trib to tribulation and will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of 6:52 my name. And remember, he's speaking to his disciples because it says in verse three, the disciples asked him a question. Who are you speaking to? And to him, to them he replied. And he says, you disciples, you at RLCF, be ready that they will deliver 7:11 you to tribulation and will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. At that time many will fall away. That means these were disciples who were walking with Jesus who were part of churches planted by the 7:29 apostles and planted by Christ himself and they will fall away. They were once upon a time walking in the truth and they fell away. Many will fall away. And I again I wonder what goes through your mind when you read the 7:49 Bible exactly when Jesus said many will fall away. If Jesus was sitting here and saying RLCF many will fall away. The devil will immediately come in and say yep you won't be one of those many. And that's the devil wants us to 8:08 dwell in coziness. Now before I go on any further, I want you to know this is a message of hope. This is a message of um commitment to the Lord. And I also will say that I have an assurance that I am 8:27 saved. It's an interesting thing that even though Jesus said the one who endures to the end will be saved, it is possible. In fact, you must have every one of you an assurance of your salvation. It's a mystery how we can have 8:43 both. But my assurance that I am saved by the blood of Jesus Christ comes from the fact that I believe that what Jesus said that the one who endures to the end will be saved. I believe Jesus Christ is keeping me and I believe that Jesus 9:00 Christ will keep me. But that assurance that I have of my salvation comes from the fact that today I am trusting him fully. It's not based on something that happened 40 years ago in my case when I 9:17 first committed my life to Christ. My assurance of my salvation is not based on what happened then but who Jesus is today to me. And if you're walking with Jesus today and if Jesus is reigning in your life today, then you too not only 9:34 can have an assurance but must have an assurance that you are saved. And you too can say the one who will endure to the end will be saved. And I say Lord by your grace I too will endure to the end. And I will be saved. Not by my own power, not by my own grit 9:51 and determination, but because I'm trusting the one who is able to keep me from falling today. Not even as much as I first trusted him many years ago, but even more. I trust Jesus today more than I did when I first gave him my life to 10:09 forgive my sins. That trust is growing. And it's because I'm leaning on him more and trusting on him more that I'm absolutely certain I am saved and will be saved for all eternity. That trust in him is only going to increase. And when he 10:25 comes, parts the clouds and the trumpet sounds and we see him face to face like we sang, that trust will be complete as it were because it will have grown to its fullness. So we can't have an assurance of our salvation. We must have 10:41 an assurance of our salvation while saying that the one who endures to the end will be saved. Let's endure in this leaning on Christ in this trusting on Christ. That's the essence of what I'd like to share with us today. So verse 10, at that time many 10:59 will fall away and listen to this will betray one another and hate one another. Do you believe Jesus words that there were many there will be many who once upon a time said I love you brother I love you sister were walking in the 11:16 truth will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased most people again he says most most people's love will grow cold. But 11:35 the one who endures to the end will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come. So there's two things that I see Jesus warning us about today. 11:54 Two dangers that he warns disciples and two dangers that I've taken to my own heart to be careful about. The first is the danger that disciples will be misled from the truth. He says that many will come and mislead. See to verse four that no one 12:14 misleads you for many will come in my name and will mislead many. Many will do the misleading and many will be misled. That's what you read in verse 5. So the first warning I see for the disciples not for the world for the disciples the 12:32 first warning for us RLCF is that many will come misleading others and many will be misled and that's a warning I want to take to heart not be misled from the truth. The second warning 12:49 is in verse 12. Many people will cool off in their love. Many will be misled from the truth. And many will cool off in their love. And again, the devil will immediately come and say, "Ah, that's not going to be you. You're not going to 13:09 be misled. You're not going to cool off in your love." Even though Jesus said many will be. So, let's look at those things, those two things briefly. First of all, misled from the truth. We'll continue reading in verse 21. 13:23 Matthew 24:21, "For then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will." And he says in verse 22, "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake 13:42 of the elect, those days will be cut short." And again immediately the devil has convinced most of Christendom that there will not be a great tribulation for the disciples. Even though Jesus said that the great tribulation will 13:56 actually be shortened for the sake of the elect which means the elect are here on this earth during that time. And today you have a gospel that says that no Jesus will come and rapture his church before the great tribulation. Many will come and mislead 14:12 others. Some of the greatest preachers in this country preach that God Christ loves his church so much that he will somehow take her up before the tribulation. Even though Jesus said, "I love you so much that I'm going to 14:23 preserve you through the tribulation." That's a greater act of God's love, a greater mark of his power. So let's not be deceived. And he goes on to say verse 23, then if anyone says to you, behold, 14:42 here is the Christ, this is what Christ is, or there he is, do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Such so such plain words. Jesus 15:05 has said that the false Christ and the false prophets will arise and God will allow them to show great signs. They will do miracles. They will do act. Now, most of the miracles I think we're seeing today, I don't believe it at all 15:21 because they're miracles like my foot pain got healed and this other back thing I had got healed. Not not the real miracles that we see in the book of acts and the gospels where people were raised from the dead and the blind had their 15:34 eyes opened and the deaf had their ears opened. That's true miracles. So don't fall for the fake miracles that are going on in Christendom today. But Jesus warned us that the deceivers will actually be able to do real miracles. What if you actually saw 15:52 somebody raising somebody from the dead or having their eyes opened and the ears open and they're mute being able to speak again? He said in verse 24 that they will arise and show great signs and 16:11 wonders because the devil wants to mislead even the elect. Sadly, there will be some among the elect who will say, "Oh, this has to be the Christ because look at what he did. Look at what she did." Misleading many through 16:25 their signs and wonders. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. And why does God allow this? Why will God allow this? To see if you really love the truth. or 16:44 are you more taken up with signs and wonders and miracles? Do you love the truth? So what he says here is that there will be many who will say this is what Christ is. Here is the Christ. And if somebody comes and preaches a gospel saying this is Christ, 17:04 this is Jesus. Will you fall for it? Or do you know your Bible well enough that you know what Christ really is? Who he really is? What is he really like? See, in Jesus day, there were many who thought they knew what that they 17:18 would be able to see the Christ. The Pharisees studied the scriptures, searching. They were waiting for the Messiah. Let's turn to Matthew 16. And I believe our days, the days of Christ's return will be very much like it was when he first came. that there 17:37 will be many who were waiting for the Christ, but God allowed them to be deceived. So, in the midst of all of these people who were looking for the Christ, there was somebody who actually saw and knew who the Christ was. And we 17:54 read about him. Matthew 16 verse 15, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" And an unlearned, uneducated poor fisherman named Simon Peter said, "You are the 18:11 Christ, the son of the living God." How did Peter know it? Have you wondered how did Peter know? He didn't have RLCF. He didn't have a Bible in his hand. He listened to the Pharisees preaching and when he was a young boy. 18:26 And then he I'm assuming he got tired of their boring sermons and the hypocrisy he saw in them. And so he became a fisherman and he was a sinful man. In Luke 6 he says or yeah Luke 6 I think he says to Jesus when he first met him Lord 18:40 I'm a sinful man. Get away from me. How is it that this sinful Peter who would one day betray him betray Jesus saw that he was the son of God the Christ. Jesus told us how. Verse 16, bless verse 17, blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, 18:59 because ble flesh and blood did not re reveal this to you, but my father who is in heaven. The question that the Holy Spirit's been asking me, and I hope he'll ask you as well, is how will you know who is the Christ? Because Jesus 19:13 said in the last days there will be many saying this is the Christ. This is what Jesus is like. Our teachings proclaim Christ. And unless we have a revelation from God like Peter had, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. You not got this through 19:31 some sermon, through some preacher, but the my father who is in heaven has actually revealed this to you. Unless the father himself has revealed Christ to you, you will be deceived. And the Pharisees, you read in John 5, they searched the scriptures. 19:47 They studied the Bible more than Peter did. And even though we preach we say you must read your Bible and meditate on God's word ultimately it's only our heavenly father who can reveal Christ. And that's why the exhortation for us 20:04 dear RLCF amidst all the teaching we hear amidst all the Bible reading plan and the memory verses and the book reading plan is are you hearing from the father in heaven? Are you actually hearing from him or are you waiting for Sunday 20:19 morning to hear a sermon and says, "Oh, this is the word that the Lord gave me for this week." It's through the sermon. No. If you're relying on the preacher on Sunday morning to give you a message to to tell you what the Lord is saying, one 20:31 day you will be deceived. So develop the habit of hearing from your father in heaven. He's your father. We're not. We're as elders. We're not your father in heaven. We can't reveal Christ to you. We can point you to Christ. We 20:48 can tell you what this is what it's like based on God's word, but ultimately the heavenly father through the Holy Spirit must do some work in your heart that will reveal so that you know this is the Christ. And nobody else can deceive you 21:02 with saying no this is the Christ and that's the Christ. When you read what we read in Matthew 24 that people will come and present some other Jesus, some other Christ, do you think yo, you won't fall for it? Even though Jesus said many will 21:17 fall for it. I say, Lord, there's a great danger that I could be one of those that falls for some other gospel. 1 Timothy chapter 3, what is Christ? Who is the Christ? 1 Timothy 3. This is what the church 21:46 must proclaim. This is what we are the pillar and support of. This is the truth. As we have seen many verses in Matthew 24 already saying no this deceivers will come saying this is the Christ. No that is the Christ. This is 22:04 what Jesus is. The truth about who Jesus is is given us to us very clearly. 1 Timothy 3 verse 15. I write to so that you will know how one ought to condom conduct himself in the household of God which is 22:23 the church of the living God. the pillar and support of the truth by common confession. Great is the mystery of godliness. And this is the truth that we proclaim. The mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh. Christ revealed in the flesh. 22:42 Christ our example. This is the mystery of godliness. And if you hear a gospel that says, "No, Christ just wants to forgive you your sins and you can live a life of constantly falling into sin and never becoming more like Christ and Christ 22:58 will forgive you and Christ's blood will wash away your sins." That's another Christ. It's an incomplete Christ. A Christ who hasn't been manifest in the flesh whom you can follow. A Christ who says, "Follow me and let me conform you into my 23:15 image." He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the spirit, was proved to be true by the power of the Holy Spirit, was seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. And I believe that the Christ, 23:34 the other Christs who will come as Christ's return draws near will be a Christ who is incomplete. See, the deception is not in that it looks the exact opposite. If you if you see a $100 a fake $100 bill, it doesn't look exactly the 23:51 opposite of a real $100 bill. You know, if the real $100 bill is green, the fake $100 bill isn't red. If you see a red $100 bill, you know it's fake, right? Yeah, it's red. Come on. Everybody knows US currency is green in color for the 24:08 most part. So you see a red $100 bill or blue $100 bill, you know that's not real. It it's green. It looks very much like it. In fact, if you don't have a trained eye, you will fall for the deception because outwardly and very in 24:22 a very quick glance at it, the fake $100 bill looks exactly like the real $100 bill. And if you only glance at the Antichrist, he looks exactly like Jesus. If you don't know your Bible well enough and you're not having Christ revealed 24:39 through the Holy Spirit, the Antichrist looks exactly like Christ, but he is not Christ. He's incomplete. And an incomplete Christ is the Antichrist. And if the Christ that you're following today is only good enough to forgive you and forgive you 24:57 and forgive you and forgive you and you're living in the same defeated life, he is the Antichrist. And that's the gospel that will mislead many. The false gospel that will mislead many as Christ's return draws near. So the first 25:12 thing we read here is the first warning is don't be misled from the truth. The truth that we have proclaimed, sought to proclaim from the very beginning that I've been here at least has been this. Christ is our example. Yes, he forgives 25:25 our sins. Yes, he's the baptizer. Yes, he's the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. But he's our example. He's our forerunner. And Jesus calls us to be his disciples, those who follow him. The second warning is the cooling off in love. Let's turn back to Matthew 25:47 24 verse 9. Have you thought it possible? I This is the question the Lord asked me when I read this again over the last couple of weeks. The Holy Spirit asked me Santosh, do you 26:04 have you thought it possible that you would be the one that would betray others according to verse 10? You know, when I I used to read that verse and think, oh, people will betray me. I'm going to be one of those disciples of Jesus and other people will 26:21 betray me. Even though Jesus said many will betray, many will do the betraying. And so over the last couple weeks, I've imagined that I could be one of those that will do the betraying of one of you brothers and sisters whom 26:38 I've said I love so much that I could be the one that will do the betraying because he says they that is I could be the one who will deliver others to tribulation and kill others and be hate and hate because of Jesus' name. Many 26:54 will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. And I thought about how does this start? How does one reach a point where I start to hate somebody else and betray somebody else? It starts with a little cooling 27:08 off in love. See, I do love you all, dear brothers and sisters and children. I love every one of you. I really mean it. But the moment I allow a little cooling off in love, a little bit of uh I'm not going to love you as much. The devil has 27:24 already started me down that pathway of hatred, a little cooling off because you did something. Maybe I had some expectation of you that you didn't meet. This happens in churches all the time. I I I imagined that body life, family life 27:43 in the church would look like this. But somehow that expectation was not met. It didn't feel a particular way. When I was in a particular place of need, somehow you didn't meet my need. And so a little cooling off happened in love. The end of 27:58 that road is hatred and betrayal. And that little cooling off in love because this this is how divorces happen. You know, don't people don't get divorced overnight. After a few weeks or a few months of marriage, a little cooling off happens 28:17 when you actually have to live with that person. You realize everything wasn't as pretty and hunky dory as you thought it would be. A little cooling off. H they offended me a little bit. Happens in marriages and happens in churches as 28:30 well. And it is how the devil will destroy this church as well unless we take the warning to heart. a little cooling off because he says further down this this hatred, many will betray one another. Verse 12, because 28:47 lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. The end result will be betrayal and hatred, but it'll start with a little bit of cooling off. Ah, I'm going to I'm going to step back a little bit from my commitment to the church and my 29:04 love for the brotherhood. I'm going to step back, cool off a little bit. I'm not going to plug in as much. I'm going to just step back a little bit. Now, I'm not going to betray you right now. I'm not going to turn against you. I'm not 29:14 going to stab you in the back, but I'm just going to cool off. And if the devil sees in my heart a little bit of a bitterness or a little bit of a of a jealousy or a little bit of a lack of love, little bit of a lowering of 29:32 expectations that leads to a lack of love that will end in betrayal. Let's turn to 1 Peter 4. I believe Peter remembered these words of Jesus when he says here in 1 Peter 4 verse 7, 1 Peter 29:55 4:7, "The end of all things is near. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the spirit for the purpose of prayer. And above all, keep fervent in your love for one another. There's Peter hearkening to the words of Jesus and saying, "Jesus warned 30:14 me." He's writing to others who didn't hear the words of Jesus firsthand and he's warning us. He says, "Dear brothers and sisters, you saints," he says, "who spread throughout verse chapter 1 verse one, Pontis, Galatia, Capidoshia, Asia, 30:28 etc. I want to tell you the warning that Jesus gave me that as the time of his return draws near that love will grow cold and will lead to betrayal and hatred. So keep fervent in your love for one another. So here's the question I want to ask you 30:46 dear brothers and sisters at RLCF especially as the Holy Spirit says asked me has your love for the body of Christ this local expression of the body the brothers and sisters and the children here grown since the time you came first 31:01 cameas has it grown or has it grown a little bit and now it's sort of tapering off and is cooling a little bit I want to tell you in Jesus name a warning that Jesus himself gave us that you're headed towards the path of 31:15 betrayal. Is your love grown? Is your love growing? Self-sacrificial committed love for others. Firm in love for one another. A love that covers a multitude of sins. Verse 8. This is the life that we ought to be on. And this happened to the 31:35 church in Ephesus. Revelation chapter 2. In Revelation chapter 2, we read about the church in Ephesus. And Jesus, the same Jesus who gave us all these warnings that we've seen, had only one sentence 31:54 of rebuke to the church in Ephesus. And yet to this church, he says, "If unless you change your ways, unless you take this warning to heart, verse 5, I'm going to come and remove your lampstand out of its place 32:13 unless you repent." Jesus had only one sentence of rebuke. There was only one sentence of rebuke to the church in Ephesus. And yet that was so serious that he said, "If you don't take this sentence of rebuke to heart, I'm going to take away the 32:29 lampstand. I'm going to remove my presence from your midst." And then you can continue to have your meetings if you want and have your conferences and do whatever you want. Have fun activities, but I won't be there. You'll 32:41 still have your own meetings, but I won't be there. I'm going to remove your lampstand out of its place. And what was the one sentence of rebuke? Verse four, you have left your first love. Six words. You have left your first love. 32:58 You had a love for me and you allowed it to cool off. You had a love for my church, for the body in which I placed you. It was my body, but you allowed it to cool off. You have left your first love. And I went back to the letter that Paul wrote 33:15 to the E to the Ephesians. If you'll turn there with me to the book of Ephesians, I see that the Holy Spirit had warned this church multiple times. That word love appears in the book of Ephesians almost more than any other 33:30 epistle of Paul's. Interestingly, I think it comes a few more times in Romans, which is a bigger book, but among the epistles to the churches, it's interesting that that word love comes more times in the book of Ephesians than almost any other 33:44 epistle. And that's the same church that he said, "You've left your first love." It's as if Jesus had warned them, "Remember love. Remember love. Remember love. Remember love. Don't lose that love." And they took it to heart. They 33:58 they didn't take it to heart. So what did Jesus warn tell them about love? First of all, let's look at this briefly. First of all, he tells them about finding their security in the love of the father. This is the love, dear 34:11 brothers and sisters, that the devil wants to cool off more than anything else. Ephesians 1:4, he says it the last sentence, the last words in that in love. Verse 5, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to 34:25 himself according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his uh praise and glory of his grace. So the first cooling off in love that the devil wants us wants to happen in our lives is 34:42 this that we cool off in knowing God's love for us as his father as a father. The moment the devil can get you to doubt the fact that God loves you as a father. God loves you more than any better than any earthly father could 34:56 have loved you. The moment he gets you to doubt that and you start to cool off in that he can mislead you into anything else. Be watchful over that. Don't let the devil ever get you to doubt the fact that in love he chose you before the 35:11 foundation of the world. That means today when you fell into something or you displeased him in some way, it didn't change the fact that out of his love that started before the foundations of the world, he made a destination for 35:24 you. Dear brothers and sisters, God chose you in love before the foundations of the world. after that, millions of years after that, cuz the foundations of the world is billions of trillions of years ago and trillions of years later, 35:40 you showed up on this earth and then you were born and you and then you lived your life and you committed sin and and all these things. All of that came much later, but his love for you began before the foundations of the world. Remember 35:54 that. Don't let that love cool off. And if today you're less secure in God's love for you, be well. Be careful, dear brother, dear sister. Be careful that that cooling off will lead you into being deceived. God loves you and he 36:10 predestined you before the foundations of the world. Then he goes on to say in verse 15, he speaks that this love for that this love of God that's been shed abroad in our hearts results in verse 15 a love for all the 36:28 saints has your knowledge of God's love that's hopefully grown over the years has that resulted in a greater love for all the saints that's the true mark that the love of God has filled your heart and you Say, "Lord, I'm more secure in 36:43 my in your love for me." Now, the result of that is that my love for the saints has grown because I've seen God's love in a greater measure. 1 Timothy 1:15, he goes on to say in verse, sorry, Ephesians 1:15, chapter 3, Ephesians chapter 37:00 3, verse 17. Let's back up and read actually verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to 37:17 be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and 37:33 length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be be filled up to all the fullness of God. So you see there he's speaking about being rooted and grounded in love in this love, the father's love for 37:49 me and my overflowing love for all the saints to know the surpassing love of Christ, the surpassing love of Christ. What does that love look like? Verse chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Therefore, I, 38:08 the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. This is what love for the body of 38:24 Christ looks like. Making allowance. This is how I think the Amplified Bible says it. Making allowance. And I thought about it like this. Who is it that we make allowance for? If you come and tell me something about my children, that you saw my child do 38:39 something, I want to tell you already, I'm going to make an allowance for them because I know them. You tell me, hey, I saw your son do that or I saw your daughter do that. Immediately, I'm I'm going to take it seriously, first of all, because I love 38:54 my children. But immediately, there's going to make there's going to be an allowance I'm going to make for them because they are my children. I know them. I live with them. I see them on their good days and their bad days and 39:06 the ups and downs. I see them through it all. And because of that, because I'm vested in their lives, because I'm walking with them in love, the moment you tell me something negative about them, I'm going to make an allowance for 39:17 them. And the Lord said, "Are you willing to make an allowance for my children, the others in the church? When you see somebody else's child acting a certain way, when you see another brother or another sister in their quirks and the way they are behaving a 39:32 certain way, are you willing to make an allowance? This is love. Making allowance for others. Making allowance for others like you do for your own children. Think about that in our interactions, dear brothers and sisters, as we move forward 39:48 as a church, as we grow in love. When those little circumstances come up, when expectations you have of others aren't met, when somebody does something or says something that's a little hurtful or a little careless perhaps, yes, 40:01 they'll have to answer the Lord for that. Let's be careful in how we speak to each other and treat each other. Let's be consider considerate of each other. But when those things happen to you or when things happen to us, make 40:14 allowance like you would for your own children, like you would for your own husband or for your own wife. because you're vested in them and you believe that God who knit your heart together with your wife, your husband, your 40:26 children, wants to do the same thing with the other brothers and sisters in the church, making allowance for one another. Verse 4:15, Ephesians chapter 4:15. Speaking the truth in love. This 40:45 is another aspect of growing in love that we speak the truth to one another. We're we're not we don't we're not hypocritical. Our verse for next week is let love be without hypocrisy. That means that we really mean what we say. 40:59 We ask God to change us on the inside so that our love is without hypocrisy. And sometimes that love also involves discernment. Philippians chapter 1, a mark of our growing love. Philippians 1 verse 9. Philippians 1 verse 41:22 9. For and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. Has your love grown in discernment where you're not judging by what your eyes see and what your ears hear, but by discernment through the 41:40 Holy Spirit where God is giving you discernment about needs in the church where nobody has to tell you about their need because God has shown you their the other person's need. Think about in our marriages first of all that God gives us 41:54 discernment about needs. Husbands for our wives, wives, God gives you discernment about needs for your husbands. God gives you discernment about needs for your children. God gives us discernment about needs for others in 42:07 the church. The love that's growing in discernment. Another area in which love grows is Hebrews chapter 12. When we're disciplined, another mark of love is that we receive discipline. children, 42:25 when your parents discipline you. I want to tell you, I believe if you're a part of this church, that your parents discipline you out of love. Hebrews 12:6, those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. This is a mark of God's love. And he scourges every son 42:41 whom he receives. So children, when your parents discipline you, however that might be, maybe they take away some privilege or they some other form of discipline, that's a mark of God's love. In the church likewise as elders 42:54 sometimes we have to implement discipline in the church. We do so very carefully very slowly but often that discipline leads to offense and people get offended over that discipline and that correction. But to have a heart 43:08 that's willing to be disciplined, a heart say that says,"Lord, if you discipline me, whether it's directly or through your word or through elders, I want to be disciplined by you, Lord, because that's a mark of your love for 43:21 me." A love that's willing to be disciplined. Don't let that love cool off to the point where you've lost that love, that willingness to be disciplined. and go back to Ephesians 5 and sometime maybe this week or this 43:40 month you go back and read the letter to the Eph Ephesians knowing that in the end they left that first love after God's repeated warning to them about love. Ephesians 5 he says in verse two walk in love just as Christ also loved 44:00 you and gave himself up for you. Remember that the love that God is asking of you is the love that he first exemplified. Walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for you. And then he goes on to say, 44:14 "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church." Ephesians 5:2. And then again in verse 28, so husbands, love your wives as your own bodies. Verse 33. All of 44:32 us love your husbands. Love your wife even as himself. And the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. I think of all the warnings that God gave to the church in Ephesus. And maybe they they got taken up with 44:48 all the meetings and all the ministry and all the other things that were going on, but they forgot love in the home. Husbands stopped loving their wives as much and were more involved in the ministry that they were called to or 44:59 something else. Wives stopped loving their husbands as much and got taken up with other things. Parents and children that love in the home got lost. Brothers and sisters stopped loving each other but they were having lots of activity. 45:13 You read in Revelation chapter 2 and ultimately they lost their love for Christ himself foremost. And I think that's a danger for us. I'll close with one verse. 1 Timothy 1. Dear brothers and sisters, as the Lord continues to use us as a church and 45:30 allow us to be an influence around the world, let's not forget the most important thing. 1 Timothy 1 verse 5. This is the goal of all of our instruction. Love from a pure heart. That means that the mark that my love is growing is that my heart is purer in its 45:48 love for Jesus first of all and purer in its love for others in the church in which he's placed me. Examine your heart, dear brother, dear sister. Don't allow the devil to mislead you from the truth of who Jesus really 46:05 is. And don't allow your love to cool off in any way these different aspects of love that I've spoken of. Let that love grow. If your love is not growing, it's cooling off. To another church, the church in Leodysia, he says, "You're 46:20 neither cold nor hot. You're lukewarm. Your heart once upon a time, I believe him saying, the church in Leodysia was another church that Paul had written a letter to, but their love cooled off." And they still had meetings, but they 46:32 were a lukewarm church. Let's take it to heart. Heavenly Father, I pray that each one of us from the youngest to the oldest will see Jesus for who he really is. Open our eyes, Father, like you did for Peter. He was uneducated. He didn't listen to as 46:49 many sermons as we have. And perhaps we need to go back to that simplicity and purity of devotion to you that Peter had that you saw and which is why you supernaturally opened his eyes to see Jesus. Do that for me. do that for my 47:04 brothers and sisters and the children here. Open our eyes to see Jesus, the real Jesus. And Lord, I pray that you'll preserve any one of us from having our love cool off in any way that our fervent devotion to you, first of all, 47:17 will grow stronger. And our fervent devotion to the brothers and sisters and the children in this church that you've placed us will grow stronger as well, not cooling off, lest we be deceived. Thank you, Lord, that we have hope in you. You've 47:30 given us these warnings for our protection so that we might be saved. Help us to endure to the end. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
