[0:00] You can hit it, Dana. Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. We didn't get very far last week on Hebrews 13.
[0:19] We were doing verses 1 through 4, and I think we made it through 3. Let's read it again, though. Hebrews chapter 13. Let's look at verses 1 through 4. Let brotherly love continue.
[0:32] Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
[0:48] Marriage is honorable in all, the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. We started talking last week about the fact that chapter 11 was living by faith.
[1:01] Chapter 12 was living in hope. And chapter 13 is living in love. Faith, hope, and love. The Bible talks about. And so we're talking about those same things.
[1:13] And we started off talking about love in relationships. Love in relationships. And that's what these first four verses are about. We talked about the fact, first of all, in verse 1, it talks about, you know, to love one another.
[1:28] Let brotherly love continue. And we looked at some different verses in John 13 and 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Peter 1 and 1 John 4 about loving one another and the importance of loving one another.
[1:42] And what those different verses taught about loving one another. And then we talked about some specific ways that we can show brotherly love to one another, to those in our church.
[1:55] And then we talked about the fact that it says there in verse 2, be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. And showing that love not just to those of us that are here in church, but showing that love to those outside of church as well.
[2:13] How do we do showing love to strangers? People who we don't. How do we do showing love to people who walk in the door? How do we do showing love to people who walk in the door? And Bunny had an incident this morning.
[2:28] We'll let that pass. How do we do handling those who come in our midst that God has for us? We ended basically right about there.
[2:39] What I was about to say last week when we ended was the fact that over in Genesis chapter 18, you don't have to turn there. You'll remember the story, but Abraham was sitting outside his tent one day.
[2:52] And he sees these three people coming toward him. People he did not know. But when he gets all done, they're telling him about the fact that they're going to have Isaac and Sarah's going to have Isaac and everything.
[3:03] And it's two angels and probably a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus himself talking to him, telling him about the things that are going to happen, giving him the promise of what's going to happen, fulfilling the promise about that he's going to be a mighty nation, you know, more than the sands of the sea and the stars in the sky and all that, fulfilling all of that.
[3:28] So be careful who you talk to and the fact that you never know who you might be talking to. You know, treat them respectfully. Treat them kindly.
[3:40] Watch out for them. Then we get to verse 3. And verse 3 says, Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body.
[3:55] You know the old saying, out of sight, out of mind? Do we have concern for our fellow believers and others in different parts of the world?
[4:10] Do we realize? We started getting things from Voice of the Martyrs and stuff. And, you know, do we realize what's going on in other parts of the world and what Christians are facing, the things they're going through?
[4:21] He says, look, remember them as well. When you go to prayer and stuff, do you remember what's going on with those Christians who live in Iran, Pakistan, India?
[4:36] India, we think, oh, India's a more modern country like ours. But there is a lot of persecution there. Honey? Do you think we really can grasp what's going on to be in Iraq as Christians or in other parts of the world?
[4:50] We really don't know. Yeah, we can't grasp the things we're going through. We have an experience that we don't know. But he says, remember them. Pray for them. Don't just like, oh, those people over there.
[5:02] It doesn't affect me. And that's the attitude we have a lot of times, isn't it? Those other people, well, yeah, God, you watch out for them. But it doesn't really affect me. So we need to make sure that we're, sometimes we wind up in situations or people wind up in situations where we can help them.
[5:26] I'll give you an example. You don't have to turn there, but Acts 24, 23 says, And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him.
[5:47] Paul's been put under house arrest. But while he's under house arrest, the people in charge of watching him, taking care of him, he says, look, anybody who wants to come visit him, let him come.
[6:00] Anybody who wants to bring things to him, let him bring him. You just keep him in this building. Make sure he doesn't leave here. Anybody who wants to come, can.
[6:10] So, Paul's for two years. He's under house arrest in Caesarea. And these strict orders have been given.
[6:20] You keep him here, but you allow anybody to come in and minister to him. How would we show love to Paul, who's under house arrest, can't leave the building?
[6:32] But how can we show love to him? Pray for him. Take him food. Take him paper. Take him pen. Take him book. Yeah.
[6:43] There's all kinds of ways that we could have ministered to Paul while he was under house arrest and had the stipulation that anybody can come. How can we minister to our missionaries?
[6:56] How can we minister to the people our missionaries are ministering to? Are there ways that we can do things that would be a help to them? The key is to not overlook.
[7:11] Just because we don't have a personal relationship with them, just because we don't have a personal identification, we don't understand all the things they're going through, don't forget them, he says.
[7:23] Be praying for them. You know, when we can put ourselves in somebody else's place and we start thinking about the things that they're facing, our love for them is going to grow.
[7:33] So, writing to them also increases our knowledge of their ministry and lets them know in a different way that we are thinking of them.
[7:48] And, I mean, just being with the parents that day, it was wonderful because we got to know the things that they're involved in and what their activities are. And, what's important to the people that they need to do is writing.
[8:03] We even had that way other than six months by boat. Mm-hmm. And that. Yeah. But a lot of them are on Facebook or have. Well, one of the things with the Perrys is you've got this family of six.
[8:18] Eight. Five were with us. Five were with us. So, six kids. So, parents. So, eight. Eight. And how do you help them? Well, there's ways of, you know, doing things for the kids and stuff like that and the parents and stuff.
[8:32] But them as well. How do they minister? They're from America. Yes, they're only going to Canada. So, not that big of a cultural shift and stuff.
[8:43] But how do they go into a country and then how do they minister? Well, one of the things they're doing is they live in an apartment building. A huge apartment building. They're just going and meeting their neighbors.
[8:55] They're getting to know their neighbors. They're getting a chance to witness to their neighbors. And they have met Hindus and Muslims and atheists. And, you know, they're meeting all kinds of people just by going to the people in the building.
[9:08] And the kids do sports. There's a cultural community center just down the street from them. They've got their kids involved in basketball and other different things. They get to meet people in those situations and stuff.
[9:19] So, they use what they have to be able to minister. It's basically a vehicle. I'm on a bus. I think it's a scale of religion. It's the same thing I am.
[9:29] It's a lot of difficult. That one is in our building. Yep. But I was also thinking about one of the missionaries. Let me take that example. She's in jail. And by the way, I was back and forth to her.
[9:43] And I thought of her likes, her dislikes, her thoughts. It encourages them. Of course, she had a way to heal the brother bond here. I mean, you know, we can encourage them.
[9:58] I don't think she's going to put someone like that. Yep. You can encourage those people. Because he does say in this verse, he says, those that are in bond. Yep. So, take opportunities.
[10:09] Think about how can I help? How can I be a blessing? How can I serve God by helping them? And then, oh, Fred, go ahead.
[10:19] Help doesn't necessarily mean you're going to give them anything. True. It may be you encourage them. It may be bringing them to Jesus.
[10:32] I mean, most of what I have seen of these evangelists going overseas want to bring these people up to our standards.
[10:44] Well, once they come up to our level of what we consider our lifestyle, they don't understand what it's all about in their country.
[10:59] So, when you go over there and try to bring them up to New York standards, it causes hate and discontent because they don't understand that what you have is what you're used to, what you know.
[11:14] Mm-hmm. Once you take and change their mind up to something they can't achieve in their own country, you ain't doing them a favor. Right. You go in and you take them where they are.
[11:25] Right. Yep. So, yep, good point. It doesn't always have to be giving things. When I was dealing with Mike at the jail, what did I give him? I gave him a book.
[11:38] Only one. A discipleship book we went through and stuff. That was the only thing I gave him other than leading him to Christ. Taking Mike's rock with me one day and leading him to Christ.
[11:52] And, you know, it wasn't a matter of, you know, giving him lots of things other than giving him Jesus, which was all he needed. So, good. Then we come to verse 4.
[12:06] And you're like, why in the world is that verse in here? Marriage, how does it go? It's honorable in all. The bread undefiled, the whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge.
[12:20] What does that have to do with everything else we just talked about? Love. Exactly. See, this whole passage, these first four verses, have to do with love.
[12:31] Love for others. Love in difficult situations. Love in, you know, now he says, wait a minute. What about personal relationships? How is our love affected by our relationship with Christ?
[12:46] How do we relate to one another? See, back at this time, just like today, there were things going on. You know, it's the last part of the verse.
[12:57] He talks about whoremongers and adulterers. God will judge. We have that going on today. He says that's wrong. That is not the way we're supposed to do things according to love.
[13:10] That's not love. That's lust. You don't do it that way. He talks about the first part of the verse. Marriage is honorable and all, but undefiled. Because they also had, like we do some today, they say, no, the highest form of love is celibacy.
[13:26] You don't engage in all that other stuff. It's, you know, celibacy. And we have some that believe that today. And he's saying, no, God instituted marriage.
[13:39] God set it up. God created us with the things that we have for desires and things. He created us with the equipment to do the things and stuff.
[13:49] He says, you know, marriage is an expression of love as well. God wants us to have love in our relationships. Love with people that we know.
[14:01] People in the congregation. Love with strangers and people outside. Love with those who are going through suffering and things. And love for one another in our marriages.
[14:13] He's talking about love there. And he says, all of this, all of these different things, are an expression of what God has for us when he talks about us being in love.
[14:25] Now, question for you. Why is it that sometimes the hardest people to love are family?
[14:41] Because you know them. Exactly. You know them. You know their ins and outs. You know the way they think. You know their likes and dislikes. You know their prejudices. You know everything about them.
[14:52] And sometimes it's harder to love them than anybody else. You know, I watch some families and it's just great to watch them together and watch them do things together and play together and worship together.
[15:07] They're just so. Then there's other families you're watching and like, I don't know how these people are still alive. They just, wow. A good example of that is some of these political appointees that come up.
[15:25] In their political life, what you would say, you wouldn't call them saints, but there was nothing wrong with what they were doing.
[15:36] But when it comes to life, what they have done in the past, it just takes your view of them, but their family already knows it.
[15:53] Yep. The family already knows it. Yep. Good. Margaret, what were you going to say? I forgot. You forgot? Okay. Oh, that's what it was going to be. Because of family.
[16:05] I wonder if that's why God sent Abraham away from his family to leave and go home to these other countries. And now it would be a different.
[16:16] That could be. So that his family couldn't influence him that he's crazy or whatever. That's a good point. God sent Abraham away.
[16:26] He left Ur of the Chaldees to go where God had a place for him because it was he and God. And he did take some family with him. He did take some family with him, but yeah.
[16:37] But Dana. Well, that was an example that you look at Jacob. Yeah. And Laban. Yeah. And how Laban treated it.
[16:49] Yeah. That gives a little insight to Abraham's extended family of how they, for lack of a better word, their morals.
[17:00] Yeah. Laban was Abraham's brother, right? I think. Or. Because Jacob was grandson. Laban was his uncle.
[17:14] I have the back of his mouth, so he would have been next to you, I think. Whatever. Anyway. Yeah. He was family. But he, his treatment of his family was, what can I get out of him?
[17:27] How can I get some free labor? So, yeah. So, sometimes, you know, we, people we know the best isn't always the best thing.
[17:37] But he says here, love. Wasn't that the one who timed off his older daughter? Yes. Yes. Yep. Well, he was looking after his own interest.
[17:48] He was looking after his own interest. And I'm getting seven years of free labor for this one. Oh, and I'll give him the wrong one. Now I got seven more years of labor for nothing. So, yeah.
[18:00] Yeah. God wants to use us to help people who are in need.
[18:11] And the only way we can do that is show love to all of those that are around us. We need to allow him to use us. So, when it comes to our relationships, we need to show love, no matter who it is.
[18:25] The love of Christ. God's loved us. So, even while we were yet sinners, Christ came and died for us. So, we need to show that same type of love to those around us.
[18:39] Number two, love and humility. Love and humility. Look with me starting at chapter 13, verse 5. Let your conversation be without covetousness.
[18:50] And be content with such things as ye have. For he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper.
[19:02] And I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them that have the rule over you. Who have spoken unto you the word of God. Whose faith follow. Considering the end of their conversation.
[19:15] Jesus Christ, the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is good thing that the heart be established with grace.
[19:27] Not with meats. Which have not profited them. That have been occupied therein. For Christians, he says, look. We need to reach out in love to others.
[19:40] And if we're going to reach out in love to all of that are around us. There has to be some humility on our part. I'm not just going to reach out to people I think I'm superior to.
[19:52] I'm not just going to reach out to people that I don't like. I'm not just going to. So there has to be some humility. If I'm going to obey the fact that we're supposed to love one another. There has to be some humility there.
[20:04] And that humility is we help that grow by learning contentment. Learning the truth of God's word.
[20:16] And being content with what God has and what God has given to us. You remember back in chapter 10. Go back to chapter 10. Just a page or two back. Here's these Hebrews.
[20:29] They've been facing persecution and everything. They're going through some tough times. And look at chapter 10, verse 34. What does he say there in 34? For ye have compassion of me in my bonds.
[20:42] That's one of the things he just talked about. Having people in bonds. Showing them love. And took joyfully the spoiling of your goods. Knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
[20:59] He says the spoiling of your goods. They have faced hardship. They have faced people coming in and taking their stuff. Because they're Christians.
[21:10] Authorities coming in and saying, you're Christians. You don't need this and this and this. Your God will take care of you. And their attitude is, yes, he will. Paul says, look, you've gone through all these different things.
[21:24] But you have learned something through all of that. You've learned, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Isn't that a great lesson to learn?
[21:36] That God is always with us. No matter what we're going through, he is always there. Look down at verse 5 and 6 again. It says, let your conversation be without covetousness.
[21:48] And be content with such things as ye have. For he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
[22:01] You know, when we, Margaret, go ahead. Well, it's that person that says, look at all, about being content with what you have.
[22:14] Yep. Reminds me of all these, a lot of people that have won megabots or megamillions or whatever. They, within a year, turn around and say, I wish I'd done the world.
[22:28] Yep. Yep. Because it became such a burden on them. Yep. It becomes a burden because everybody wants a piece. Yeah. And stuff. So, yeah. And then you've got to figure out what to do with it.
[22:38] Well, not only do I feel guilty. I'll come back. I'll come back. Yeah. I can't come back. You know. Yep. Whatever. Yep. So, yeah. It becomes a burden to them.
[22:49] See, when we're content, we're satisfied with what God has given to us, what God has provided. Now, does that mean I don't work? No. God gave me the strength to work.
[23:01] He gave me the understanding to work. He gave us, you know, abilities to do different things and stuff, which we need to do. But God gave them to us.
[23:12] He gave us those things. And then God rewards us for using those things. And we need to be content with what God has given to us. You know, I've mentioned this before, but I've known missionary families that didn't have a lot, but they had family that they were just, those families I was talking about that just love being together and doing things together, but they love doing that.
[23:35] I don't know how many of you have the Curtis's on your Facebook feeds and stuff, but those kids are always doing things with their parents, always doing things as part of the ministry.
[23:46] They do this. It's not mom and dad's ministry. It's the family's ministry, and they do it together. And they enjoy it. A lot of laughter, a lot of things.
[23:57] She'll put up video things sometimes of what's going on, and they just have a great time together. Whereas sometimes others, they get, and they get, and they get, and they're never satisfied.
[24:10] Funny? And Jared. Yeah. So.
[24:22] Well, we try. Oh, okay. They're not. They're working on it.
[24:35] Notice I didn't include myself in the there. Yeah. Yeah. And so. And I'm, like, a family that's a perfectly beautiful town, spent $30,000 renovating parts of it.
[24:47] It's like, why would you do that? The kitchen works. Yeah. You know, but it's like, that's not being content. Yeah. And if everything functions, okay, maybe it's not the newest, but we can be content and be grateful.
[25:03] I think when we are not content, we walk out of gratitude. And we're not grateful, then we will be discontent. When we're not grateful, we turn our eyes to other things instead of keeping them where they belong.
[25:18] A little song I've been teaching one of the girls in the past couple of weeks is gratitude attitude. It's just a touch of gratitude attitude. It's thanks in everything.
[25:29] Yep. So. Okay. That reminds me. Somebody was crazy about all the dirty dishes they had. And one of the guests turned around, why don't you praise God for all the food that you had?
[25:43] Yeah. And we made those dishes dirty. Yep. And any time I get tired and no other dishes, I remember that. Or laundry. Well, God bless you with all the clothes and all the things.
[25:55] And you can even take that further. If you get all those dirty dishes, he gave you people in your life to eat those meals with you. And he gave you people in your life to dirty those clothes up. So not only do I have these things, but I have these people also as a part of my life and stuff.
[26:11] So, yeah. You're going to inform me. It's somebody watching. Okay. I want you to take note of this. Twice in one day. Dana. Dana. Dana. Yeah. Yeah.
[26:28] Yeah. Do not covet. We will talk about that. Either somewhere in here on today's message.
[26:40] What you have. Yep. Always something worth offering you. Yep. Yep. And being content with what you have. I don't have Donald Trump's money.
[26:51] I do not. Yeah. And I'm okay with that. I do not. I do not. Yeah. I don't have the headaches that go along with it. I have a nice life. I enjoy my life.
[27:02] You don't have as much of it as you used to because you lost it. And you don't worry about it. He doesn't worry about it. Yep. We laugh a lot.
[27:13] You know. I would much rather have that. In fact, we just, Bonnie and I laugh a lot. And Jared and Angela, we just, we have a good time together and really enjoy it.
[27:27] Well, if it keeps breaking down, you might need a new one, yes. But be content until God says, okay, it's time. And gave you Fred to keep you.
[27:38] So you're thankful for Fred. That's good. Well, that first Bible says, if he can't, afterwards, he says, for he has said, I will never leave you, nor will you leave you. So that is greater than anything else that we could possibly have in our lives.
[27:54] Which brings me to my next question. How does God's presence affect our willingness to give to others? Are we talking about giving things, giving our time, giving our example, giving, you know, encouragement, giving?
[28:11] How does God's presence affect that? I think your confidence in itself has a lot to do with that.
[28:22] If you're a giving person to start with, it really doesn't matter that you're doing it for recognition from God. You're doing it because you know that it needs to be done, and it makes you feel good.
[28:37] Okay. It makes you feel good when we're doing it. Go ahead. Right. Right. So if you give and give and give, even if you need, like that woman who gave the money, God is always going to provide.
[28:55] So it's like a funnel that he provides for us, and he gives to others. He provides for us, and he gives to others. So we don't have to ever be careful.
[29:06] Right. As I mentioned before. Right. Brain cramp. Brain cramp. The fact that God loved us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[29:24] He gave to us. We have the opportunity to give to others. You know, they may not treat us the best. They may not, you know, be people we know all that well.
[29:36] But he said, you have the opportunity. That wasn't exactly what I was thinking a moment ago, but it was in that frame somewhere. You know, finances can be an uncertain thing.
[29:50] The things that we have can break down things. But the fact that God says, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
[30:03] What greater thing could we possibly have in our lives to know that God is always there with us? I love the way he worded this, the end of verse 5, going into verse 6.
[30:18] He says at the end of verse 5, For he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper.
[30:32] I will not fear what man shall do unto me. God says, I'm going to be with you all the time. I'm going to be there. I'm going to provide. I'm going to take care. I'm going to be with you no matter what you're going through, so that we may boldly say, You know what?
[30:46] The Lord is my helper. I don't have to fear. I don't have to be afraid. God is there, taking care of me. And I'm going to end there because it's already quarter past, or past quarter past.
[30:58] Good. Having good discussion.