[0:00] with me to Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14. You can see behind me that today we're doing edify one another. We've been doing the one another's, love one another, be kind to one another, minister to one another, forgive one another, all those different things, encourage one another. Today we're doing edify. Next week, I'm going to leave that topic. Next week we'll be doing communion next Sunday. So communion Sunday next Sunday. Romans chapter 14 beginning at verse 16. Verse 16. Let not then your good be evil spoken of. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
[1:05] Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another.
[1:21] For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or made weak. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself and that he thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Let's stop there.
[2:08] Edification. Edification is something that every one of us needs to be built up, to be encouraged, to be uplifted, to be built up in the faith. We all need that. Let's have a word of prayer and we'll talk about this this morning. Do you have any, Father? We thank you for all these one another's that earn scripture. Lord, we've learned over the last few weeks to love one another and to be kind to one another. We've learned to encourage one another. We've learned to minister to one another.
[2:44] Lord, we've learned how important people are that are in our lives, especially as your word says, those that are of the household of faith. Lord, I pray that you would help us to leave here today ready to edify, to build one another up. Lord, I pray that you would help us to be an encouragement to one another.
[3:08] Lord, I pray that you would help us to know the importance of having other Christians in your life, to having those who can be there to help you through the hard times of your life, those who can be there to encourage you through the good times of your life.
[3:23] Lord, that we would understand that we, as a body here, that the church is not the building, it's the people in it. And Lord, may we be a church that is growing as we help one another in these different areas.
[3:37] Lord, help us today to understand the importance of edifying. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Edify means to build up.
[3:48] I mentioned that in my prayer. To build up. And he's referring to building something up or encouraging someone in the faith as part of their process of growth.
[3:58] He wants us to be able to help one another to grow as Christians. The church in Rome had a unique situation. Church in Rome had both Jewish and Gentile believers.
[4:14] And so there were going to be conflicts at times. Gentile believers were saved out of a pagan background. And so they had different views on certain topics like observing holy days or eating meat that was dedicated to idols and things.
[4:29] The Jews didn't believe you should eat the meat that had been dedicated to idols and the Romans believed meat's meat. You know, I'm going to eat it no matter what. The Gentiles, they were appalled at the idea that the Jews thought certain days should be more important than other days.
[4:45] There were certain things that they had there. So they had a choice to make as a church. They could either tear each other apart or they could learn to edify one another. Learn to build one another up.
[4:58] And so this morning I want us to look at Romans here and learn how they combined together and learned how to build one another up. Romans 14 is Paul's challenge to them to grow in grace.
[5:11] He's saying, look, lay aside the different habits of different things that you think and focus on Jesus Christ. Focus on Him and what He wants. Those are the important things.
[5:23] In the church family, you know, sometimes there are differences. How do we handle those differences? God calls us to be people who edify. He calls us to be people who build up.
[5:36] So the first thing I want to look at this morning is we need to have a passion for edification. Passion for edification. We need to have a passion for building one another up.
[5:48] We need to have a passion for loving one another, being kind to one another, all those other things I mentioned. To where we come to the point where we're building God's church by building one another.
[6:01] How are we going to do that? Well, first of all, He says here in Romans 14, we need to learn to live peaceably. Live peaceably. Look at verse 19 there in chapter 14.
[6:15] Verse 19, Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace. Follow after. Run after. Pursue.
[6:27] Seek after eagerly. I want this in my life. I want peace in my life. You know, there are some people who they just seem to thrive on little things.
[6:43] You know, there's nitpick about that and nitpick about that and do this and that and they just seem to thrive on it. He says, strive for peace. Pursue peace. Follow after.
[6:54] Are you actively pursuing peace? How about with your spouse? Are you pursuing peace with your spouse? How about your children?
[7:06] How about your coworkers? Are you pursuing peace with them? Ah, are you one of those that come home from work every day? Let me tell you about so and so and what they did today.
[7:20] You know, sometimes we get that, don't we? Hmm. Are you pursuing peace with them? I have a quote from somebody who says, I don't know who said this, but if we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting starts.
[7:43] And can't you just picture that? Everybody's going, just going to close their eyes and picture world peace and there's going to be people that are going, their eyes are all closed. What can I get? What can I take?
[7:56] See, all of us need to be focused. focus on the peace that we can have in our lives. Here in Romans 14, he's going to give us four things about living peacefully.
[8:09] And here's what he says. Look at verses 7 and 8. None of us liveth unto himself and no man dieth to himself.
[8:20] For whether we live, we live unto the Lord and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord. Everything about us should be concerning the Lord.
[8:33] Which gives us the first point. Stop living for self. Stop living for self. We live for the Lord Jesus Christ. What did he do?
[8:46] He came for others. He came to give his life for others. We need to do the same thing. If we're going to edify one another, build one another up, we need to be concerned about others in our life.
[8:58] We need to be mindful that everything we say and everything we do affects the people around us. Whether they're saved or whether they're lost, your life affects the people around you.
[9:10] How are you living? Are you living peacefully? Are we seeking to glorify God in everything we do? Not to fulfill ourselves, not to take care of what I think I want, what I think I need, but it's my focus on others and what they need.
[9:28] Second thing, realize the gospel is the focus. The gospel is the focus. Look at verse 9. For to this end, Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.
[9:48] Christ came and gave his life so that he could be Lord of both the dead and the living. He came to be Lord.
[10:01] We need to keep our focus where it belongs. Who is the most important thing in this world? Jesus. Who is the most important thing in the world to come? Jesus. Who is the most important thing in the world behind us?
[10:15] Jesus. I love, one of the things I love, we're trying to do all these little things to try to get Jesus out of the way. You know, people trying to avoid mentioning him or doing, so what's the newest thing they've come up with?
[10:28] Have you noticed now that when you talk about dates, it's no longer B.C. and A.D.? It is now B.C.E. and C.E.
[10:41] Before the common era and the common era. Okay, that sounds great. I have a question. You want to call it that? Go right ahead.
[10:52] But I have a question. What's the separating point between the before the common era and the common era? What's the point at which that changes? Jesus.
[11:03] That's when Jesus came. So no matter if you change the terminology or whatever, you still have to go back. Jesus is the most important thing there. He says, look, Christ came.
[11:20] He did all of these things for us that he might be Lord. You know, we need to realize when we argue with people and we have issues with people and we do things with people, we may win an argument with them, but do we still have an opportunity to share Christ with them?
[11:43] Winning an argument is one thing. But what's the most important thing? Jesus. Keep our focus on him. Can I be a testimony and a witness to those around me and how I conduct myself?
[11:58] You think about Jesus coming. What was his focus? I did not put this verse up here. I should have, but most of you know it, I think.
[12:08] Luke 19.10. Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost. That was his focus.
[12:20] To come to seek and to save that which is lost. Did he come to win an argument? Did he come to and he did do this, conquer the devil? That was not his main purpose.
[12:31] His main purpose was to come and to seek and to save that which was lost. To give a way of salvation, thereby conquering the devil. But his goal was you and me.
[12:45] That should be our goal when we go out into the world. Let me illustrate the idea of being focused with a sports analogy. 1957, I was a year old.
[12:59] 1957, Hank Aaron and the Milwaukee Braves were playing the New York Yankees in the World Series. During one of the games of the World Series, the Braves star player, Hank Aaron, comes up to the plate to bat.
[13:18] Yogi Berra, who is the catcher for the Yankees, is there behind the plate and he's trying to get Hank Aaron to get into his mind a little bit, get him off focus, get him off what he's up there to do.
[13:30] And so he starts razzing him and he says, hey Hank, turn your bat around. Don't you know you're supposed to have the trademark on the upside? He just ignores him.
[13:42] The very next pitch, Hank Aaron hits it for a home run over the outfield walls. He rounds the bases and he comes back, steps on home plate, looks at Yogi Berra and says, I didn't come up here to read, I came up here to hit.
[13:56] His focus was where it belonged. His job was to hit and he did. He hit a home run. His focus made all the difference in the world. Our focus can make all the difference in the world.
[14:09] Where is our focus? Is it on us or is it on Jesus Christ? Third thing, remember that all things will get settled at the judgment seat of Christ. All things will get settled at the judgment seat of Christ.
[14:21] It doesn't matter if you do it this way and you do it that way and I do it this way and you do it. Romans 14, look at verse 10. But why dost thou judge thy brother or why dost thou said it not thy brother?
[14:36] For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God.
[14:46] So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. We're all going to stand before God. We're all going to give account of ourselves to God.
[14:57] There in verse 10, why dost thou judge? Why are you contentious? Why are you disputing with others? Especially thy brother.
[15:09] And why dost thou said it not? That idea of said it not? Why dost thou despise thy brother? Because we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
[15:20] He's the one who makes the ultimate decisions about everything. He says, be careful about how you treat your brothers and sisters. God is the final judge. Number four, avoid causing others to stumble.
[15:36] Avoid causing others to stumble. Look at verse 13 and on. Let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
[15:50] I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. But to him that esteemeth one thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably.
[16:07] Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died. He says, be careful. One thing or another, he says, it really doesn't matter all that much, but if it's unclean to you, it's unclean, and he says, those of us who are in your life need to take that into account.
[16:26] Don't be offending people. Don't be causing a stumbling block to them. Think about Jesus Christ is the most important thing, and if what I'm going to do is causing them to take their eyes off Christ, I'm not going to do it.
[16:41] I'm going to live the way where I'm concerned about them. In 1 Corinthians 8, verses 8 and 9, it says, but meat cometh and commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse.
[16:57] But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. We've talked about this before. Christian liberty, Christian liberty, Christian liberty.
[17:08] We all hear about Christian liberty. I can do whatever I want. I can say anything I want. I can go after whatever. He says, no, you have liberty, but if it becomes a stumbling block to others, your liberty stops.
[17:27] Remember we used Galatians 5 where he talks about our liberty is not to be a stumbling block. Our liberty is so that we can go out and we can share the gospel.
[17:39] We can live our life for Christ. That's what our liberty is for. Have your liberty but don't become a stumbling block to others. Warren Wiersbe, many of you may have heard of him.
[17:51] He's a pastor and he's a commentator. He wrote this in one of his commentaries. There is one thing we should judge. We should judge ourselves to see whether we are abusing our Christian liberty and making others stumble.
[18:07] Certainly nothing is unclean of itself but some practices and habits are considered unclean by others. Therefore, if we deliberately do something that makes our brothers stumble, we're not living according to the rule of love.
[18:23] I have liberty to do this but if it's causing others to stumble, he says, you're not living according to the rule of love. And one of the first things we talked about, the very first thing we talked about, love one another.
[18:36] He says, love one another. Make sure you follow the things that are going to be helpful to those around you. If we're going to live peaceably, he says, you need to make sure you're not causing others to stumble.
[18:48] And then he says, build strongly. Build strongly. To edify. As I said, it means to build. Think of the word edifice. If you have an edifice, what is that?
[19:00] That's a building. And he says, look, you're referring to a building here. Look at verse 19. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith we may edify, build up one another.
[19:16] We're to purposely look for ways to help one another to grow in our Christian life. Our job is to go out and help others grow. We're to grow ourselves. We're to be in God's word.
[19:27] We're to take God's word. We're to use it. We're to memorize it. We're to make it a part of our life. But we're also there to help others. Help them to grow by living it out in front of them.
[19:40] By giving them the word of God. If they've got questions, be able to take the word of God and show them the answer to the questions. Each of us has a sphere of influence. We have people around us.
[19:51] Coworkers, family, acquaintances. We have people around us here at church. church. Our job is to build one another up. To edify.
[20:04] As a parent, do you build up your children? As a husband and wife, do you build up your spouse? Do you help them to grow?
[20:15] You know, a word sometimes given just randomly can do more than you know for people to help them.
[20:28] I think I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I can't remember, so I'll get it again. In the midst of some hard things that were going on in our life and stuff, I had a former student that I hadn't seen in probably 40 plus years.
[20:44] Former student write to me, sent me an email and said, I was thinking about you the other day and I just wanted you to know how much you influenced my life when I was in school.
[20:58] How much you had an effect on it. I am still in church today. I still go to church every Sunday. I still raise my kids to know God. I still, and it all started with you back in school.
[21:11] You know, when I did a world of good, that was so timely as I was going through some things, so timely. What you say, what you do, can have an effect on people.
[21:24] You may not even know it, but always be aware people are watching. Well, they shouldn't be watching me. I remember Charles Barkley. Remember Charles Barkley, basketball player, was talking about some of the things he said and did and he's like, so?
[21:42] He said, well, you're supposed to be a role model. I didn't sign up to be a role model. I play basketball. I don't want to be a role model. That's not my job. I think he's changed his tune. If you listen to him more lately, I think he's understanding that that's more the case.
[21:56] See, people are watching you. You may not know who's watching you, but people are watching. Build them up. Who knows? Some random word, some random moment can make a profound difference in somebody's life.
[22:13] I like sports, so I use a lot of sports illustrations. Dean Smith used to be the head coach of the basketball team in North Carolina. North Carolina, if you know anything about college sports, they're one of the big basketball powerhouses.
[22:27] when Dean Smith was coach, he instituted what he calls point to the passer. He had a rule for his team, point to the passer.
[22:39] He said he was tired of the star of the team scoring all the points and getting all the glory because he did this and this and this. He said he was tired of that. It comes in handy of winning games, but he wanted to make sure other people got recognition and well.
[22:54] So when you got a pass from somebody and you made the basket because of that pass, he said point to the passer. Point to the guy who gave it to you.
[23:07] Point to the guy who helped you to be able to get that basket. And so they started on our team doing that and you'll even see NBA players today who will do that.
[23:18] They get a ball and they make the shot and stuff and they'll, you're the one that gave me the pass. You're the one that set me up. See, those are important people too. You can't play the game without those people.
[23:31] You're important to what Christ is trying to do here. You're important to making good things happen in people's lives. We need to acknowledge people who help us.
[23:46] There's people here today who have been helping us. There's been things taking place around, a place around the church here getting done. You'll see some changes here and there, things being done.
[23:58] Thank you to the people who have been doing that. Ramp has been worked on some. Shutters are being painted. You'll see a couple of them out front, mainly on the sides, but a couple of them out front have been done just so you can notice the difference.
[24:13] There's other things doing. Poles have been painted and stuff. People are doing work. That's great. Good to see what people are doing. A passion for building people up.
[24:26] Taking a lot of time with that one. Number two, edification should be a priority. The priority of edification. You know, to be successful in edifying one another, we have to make it a priority in our life.
[24:40] We have to make it a priority to try to help those around us and to build them up in Christ. How do you do that? First of all, live without offense. Live without offense. Verse 21, it is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended and is made weak.
[25:02] Live without offense. A Christian should do everything they can to do things that are going to encourage, they're going to build up, they're going to help, nothing to tear down or nothing to be a stumbling block to the people around them.
[25:16] You know, sometimes we offend people by our manner of lifestyle. Sometimes we violate scripture or abuse our liberty because we don't build people up.
[25:32] We should have the grace of God in our lives so that we can show grace to those around us. Titus chapter 2 verse 11 and 12, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.
[25:59] See, grace is not a license to sin. I have grace, I can do whatever I want to. God's grace is upon me, I can say whatever I want to say. God's grace, no. God's grace is upon me so that I can live godly.
[26:12] Righteously, soberly in this present world. I have God's grace to help me be what God wants me to be.
[26:24] We have to look at it from that point but so many Christians today look at it from the viewpoint I have God's grace I can go out and do whatever I want. That's not what God's grace is for.
[26:36] And a lot of times we offend new Christians, we offend people who are trying to grow in Christ by doing things sometimes contrary to scripture and doing things that do not uplift, that do not edify.
[26:51] Second, live with faith. Live with faith. Look at verse 22 and 23. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.
[27:03] Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the things which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
[27:18] We have to look at the activities that we're involved with. We have to look at the things we do and can we do them in front of God knowing it's okay with him.
[27:31] He says, look, hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Is what I'm doing okay with God?
[27:44] Now, you say, oh yeah, God said everything's clean before him and everything's clean. But really, think about who God is. Think about the holiness of God.
[27:56] Is it okay for me to be doing the things that I'm doing? See, our faith is built upon trust and we need to stay true to the beliefs that we have that come from the word of God.
[28:07] As a believer, you have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's there ready to convict, ready to guide, ready to help us so that every action we do, we know whether we should do it or not.
[28:21] The Holy Spirit will let you know whether you shouldn't be involved in it or not. Can you do that thing in good faith that it's pleasing to God? Then he goes on there in verse 22, Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
[28:37] You know by the Holy Spirit's conviction, should I be doing this? He says, look, happy is he that condemneth not himself. You want to be a happy Christian?
[28:49] You want to be a Christian who loves the Lord? He says, be careful of the things that you allow in your life. Are they pleasing to God? Look at 1 Corinthians 8-7.
[29:01] It says, How be it there is not in every man that knowledge? For some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol.
[29:13] And their conscience being weak is defiled. He says, you go and you eat those things offered to idols. There's going to be people going, how can he eat that? He says he's a Christian. He says he loves God. He says he's following God.
[29:24] How can he eat those things that have been offered to idols? So he says what? Don't do it. It's a simple thing. Get this meat over here instead of this meat here. Yeah, but the meat offered to idols is cheaper.
[29:36] Yeah, but this meat over here is not going to offend my brother. This meat over here is not going to make him question what he believes. How are you going to do that?
[29:49] How are you going to handle that? If you know something wrong and you continue to do it, what happens? Your resolve gets weaker and weaker and weaker and it doesn't matter to you and your conscience becomes defiled.
[30:04] We ought to have a conscience that is tender toward God and we need to examine ourselves the reasons we're doing the things we're doing. Going against what God has laid on your heart.
[30:17] You know that's wrong. You know you shouldn't do it. Third thing the perfection of edification the perfection of edification when I talk about perfection I'm not talking about the fact that we're ever going to be perfect.
[30:34] This side of heaven we are never going to be perfect. Perfect has the idea of being mature being complete. Am I going to be a mature Christian?
[30:47] Am I going to be a complete Christian in the things that I do? Familiar verses Ephesians 4 11 to 13 and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastor teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in unity of faith and of the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect man mature complete man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
[31:22] He says our goal is to become Christ-like in everything that we do. So what does that mean for us? That means for us we need to be teachers of edification.
[31:36] Teachers of edification. He says look he gave some pastor teachers he gave some apostles prophets the apostles were the eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus Christ.
[31:50] There are no apostles today. There are churches who say they have apostles but there are no apostles because they are not eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ. Prophets were those who gave revelation God's message to the people.
[32:05] Today we have the complete word of God right here in front of us. No prophets today. But evangelists pastor teachers there are still and God has given them a role and you know the interesting thing is it's not just the pastor teachers and evangelists it's all of us.
[32:25] What is my job to do? Acts chapter 20 verse 28 says take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.
[32:41] God Jesus Christ came and saved you. He did that by Jesus Christ shedding his blood. He did that by giving his life for you.
[32:53] My job is to remind you of that. My job is to help you grow in that. That's what I'm supposed to do. And then I have a flock.
[33:05] Hebrews 13 17 these verses that I'm going over right now I always feel uncomfortable doing it but listen to what it says. Hebrews 13 17 Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you.
[33:28] He says listen to those who are instructing you. Listen to them that are giving you the word of God. Obey what they are saying as they talk about the word of God. He says because if you don't do that it's unprofitable for you.
[33:44] The Bible instructs us to obey. God has given us people to help us and do you know that some of you are in that category? You say I'm not a pastor or teacher or any every one of you is a teacher.
[33:58] Remember I said about you have people watching you all the time? You have people who are looking at you all the time? You have family members kids who are watching you?
[34:11] You have a job to do to show them the love of Christ to show them the kindness that Christ wants you to have to show them how to edify one another.
[34:24] We live in a society that is suspicious of authority. Just watch the political conventions that have taken place over the last few weeks. Just watch the campaign ads and things.
[34:37] Watch the news and see all we're suspicious of authority and with good reason sometimes. But he says look they're going to have to give an account.
[34:53] We have to give an account of what we do. So if we're going to be teachers of edification we need to have a testimony of edification.
[35:03] Verse 12 said for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ. All of us are to work on that. All of us are to help.
[35:16] My job is to help perfect you as a saint. You're supposed to get involved in the work of the ministry. You're supposed to help be involved in the edifying of the body of Christ.
[35:27] Working together. We need to be perfecting. 1 Thessalonians 3.10 night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith.
[35:44] He says I want to be able to see you. I want to be able to talk with you. I want to be able to help you to grow. When you get together with Christians be there to help them grow. Help them to see what God has for them.
[35:56] He says look the reason for the work of the ministry is the edifying of the body of Christ.
[36:09] Edifying again. Building a house. Building on a foundation. Helping to build a structure that is solid for the Lord Jesus Christ.
[36:23] Excuse me. 1 Corinthians 14. 12. Even so ye for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts seek that ye may excel in the edifying of the church.
[36:38] He says you're supposed to excel in the edifying of the church. We're supposed to help build one another up.
[36:51] Not tear down. Not speak evil of but to build up. Ephesians 4. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
[37:09] No corrupt communication. We usually take that to mean yeah we're not supposed to use swear words and things like that. No corrupt communication. Let me tell you about Sherry back there.
[37:21] I'm going to talk about Sherry and there's some things about her. No. It says no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. We're to minister grace to others.
[37:34] We're to edify one another. Years ago there was a preacher who went to Champness Hall in Yorkshire, England to hear a noted cellist and conductor Sir John Barbioli lead a symphony.
[37:54] A friend was sitting nearby and they were looking out at the vast crowd in the hall and a friend asked the preacher he says when will we see Champness Hall filled to capacity for a Christian service.
[38:09] The pastor pointed up at the stage up at the orchestra up there and he says when you see 80 men willing to give absolute obedience to the will of Christ as these give to Barbioli when you have 80 people who will say I will do whatever Christ wants me to do.
[38:28] I will follow him no matter what. He says that's when you'll see God working. That's when you'll see God doing great things. We need to be like that.
[38:42] You here you're an orchestra. You each play a part. Not the same part but you each play a part. And when you put all that together it makes a terrific sound.
[38:56] But it has to be led by the conductor. Are we being led by the Lord Jesus Christ? You know to be perfect in the edification we see the maturity of believers.
[39:14] We see matured believers growing in their faith getting united following what God has for them to do. See Christ came to give us life and life more abundantly he said.
[39:25] Christ calls us he wants us to live a life where we offer to help build up one another. Every day you get a choice to make.
[39:38] Are you going to be an edifier or a destroyer? Are you going to tear down with your words and accents or are you going to build up? Every day we have the opportunity to seek purposeful ways in which we can build one another up and encourage one another.
[40:00] He says look I want you to edify one another. When you do that remember the piece we started off with that's when we'll see peace coming.
[40:12] When we do that that's when we'll see just a river of peace a river of God's hand working in our life.
[40:23] Take your book hand books go to me to page 483 483 like