Serving Together: Encouraging the Saints

[0:00] Let's begin with prayer. Father, thank you that you've gathered us here this morning. Thank you for this place that we can come and meet each Sunday.

[0:12] Lord, that makes it easy for us to gather together. Certainly easier than meeting outdoors or having to rotate from one place to another or a lot of other situations that we could be in.

[0:26] Thank you for the Fellowship of Believers. Thank you for your word that's been written in our language or translated into our language, Lord, that we can understand what you've revealed to your people.

[0:37] Lord, thank you for your Holy Spirit who is here with us to help us understand your word and to help us live it out and bear the good fruits that you want our lives to display.

[0:50] Lord, you've given us so many gifts. Thank you for the cross. Lord, the blood of Christ that covers our sins. Lord, above all, we thank you for that. Lord, that binds us together. Lord, bless us this morning as we look into how we can live out being the kind of people you've called us to be as a church.

[1:08] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. So, over these few weeks, we've been talking about the beauty of belonging, basically what it means to be part of the body of Christ or the family of God or the church.

[1:23] So, a couple of weeks ago, Pastor Matt talked about belonging and identity and our identity being in Christ and connected with one another in the family of God.

[1:36] Last week, Daniel Allen led us in talking about discipleship and growing. Today, our topic is serving together, encouraging the saints. That is, encouraging our fellow believers in Christ.

[1:47] So, I want to focus on two topics this morning. One is spiritual gifts. And then one is looking at several of the commands in the New Testament that use the word one another, right?

[1:58] Talk about how are we to relate to one another as fellow believers in Christ. So, this is very practical stuff. I want, we'll have time to discuss it together. But let me begin by reading 1 Corinthians 12, 1 to 7.

[2:15] So, this is one of the passages about spiritual gifts and the body of Christ. So, 1 Corinthians 12, 1 to 7, the Apostle Paul writes, Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

[2:28] You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit.

[2:43] So, here he's reminding them of how they've come to faith in Christ, and he's saying the Holy Spirit was an active part of that process, essential to that process of bringing them to confess Jesus as Lord, right?

[2:54] They used to follow idols, and he says by the Holy Spirit revealing that to you, you've come to believe and profess Jesus as Lord.

[3:04] So, then he goes on. Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit here. There are varieties of service, but the same Lord, Jesus Christ. And there are varieties of activities, but it's the same God, our Father, who empowers them all and everyone.

[3:20] So, there you see the Spirit, and the Son, and the Father, a trinity right there in verses 4 through 6. So, spiritual gifts are given for the sake of the whole body of Christ.

[3:36] Christ, the Holy Spirit gives them, and it actually talks about how both the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are sort of active in the Father empowers them all, that we follow the same Lord in serving one another as Christ served us, and the Spirit gives us gifts as he's given us life.

[4:01] So, the Holy Spirit is the one who gives us spiritual gifts, but there are also other passages that say we should earnestly seek or desire the spiritual gifts.

[4:12] So, for example, chapter 14, verse 1, pursue, love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. And that chapter talks about what prophecy is, sort of speech that edifies and encourages and builds up the body of Christ.

[4:31] Now, so the emphasis of spiritual gifts is that just as there are different parts of a physical body that contribute to it working together, there are different parts of the church body that each have our own contribution.

[4:44] So, the idea of spiritual gifts emphasizes that we each have our own distinctive contribution to make. But then, what we're going to look at in the second half of today is sort of the one another commands.

[5:00] And there's an interesting overlap. So, if you look at some of these spiritual gifts that are listed here on this list, so they're all listed as spiritual gifts, sort of gifts that God might give to a particular person, that they might particularly be able to build up the body of Christ in a specific way.

[5:23] But then, some of these gifts are also things that Paul says that all Christians should do. So, for example, let me give a few examples. So, top of the list, Paul says that service is a gift, right?

[5:38] But there's other passages that say, through love, serve one another, right? So, you can't say, well, service isn't really my gift, so I'm never going to serve anybody because that's just somebody else's gift. No, no, no. Paul, right? Or even with teaching or exhortation, right?

[5:52] Paul also says in Colossians, teach and admonish one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So, even as we sing together, we're sort of teaching and admonishing each other just as we sing together the words of praise that sort of point our hearts toward God.

[6:09] Paul says, another place, each one should give generously, right? 2 Corinthians 8 or 9, each one should give generously and not grudgingly, right?

[6:20] If any of you lacks wisdom, ask God, right? So, there's an interesting overlap, right? Like, a lot of these spiritual gifts are things that, at times, we're all called to do. But it seems God has also especially gifted some people in various ways.

[6:35] So, there's sort of a balance of, like, finding, there's a good way of, just as, you know, each part in a physical body plays a unique role. It's good to sort of find sort of where God has particularly gifted you to be most helpful in the church.

[6:51] But then, you know, there are also going to be times when, you know, you might need to do something just because God commands us to do it or because somebody needs you to do it, even if you don't feel like that's your gift, right?

[7:07] You know, if somebody comes to you and says, I really need someone to pray for me. And maybe you just feel really intimidated about praying for people. But let's say you're the only Christian around. And they come to you and they say, I really need somebody to pray for me.

[7:19] I'm just, I just need somebody else who's a brother or sister in Christ who we can pray together. Well, you know what? The Holy Spirit will give you the grace you need to pray for them, right?

[7:30] Even if you feel intimidated by praying out loud for somebody else, even if that's not, even if you feel like that's not your spiritual gift, you know what? In that time, you trust that God is going to give you what you need. You know, if there's a mess on the floor and your gift is not service, but people are about to come down here for coffee hour, you know what?

[7:48] The most loving thing to do is you clean up the mess on the floor, right? You know, so anyway, that's the point. So here's a question I want to discuss and throw this out for us.

[8:02] How can we help each other find and use our spiritual gifts in this church? So, thoughts on that question?

[8:16] And also feel free to give examples of how you've experienced that in this church or in other churches, sort of finding and using your spiritual gifts or seeing other people do that.

[8:29] I feel like it happens most when you're going about it. Once your feet are in motion, you can see, well, like now I'm trying a service thing and you know, I'm working really hard at it and God's giving me the grace to do it.

[8:48] But now I'm over here and wow, it just really feels like God made me to sit in front of these people and you can't really know unless your feet are in motion and you are seeking in whatever power God gives you to serve them.

[9:04] Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's really right. That's really right. And there's some things that might look really intimidating and difficult from the outside, but sort of like once you jump in and then you're like, oh, then that's where you might feel sort of, again, these gifts come from their empowerment from the Holy Spirit.

[9:22] So you might experience, you sort of begin to experience that in sometimes in ways you don't expect. We talked about that when we went through the first campaign series and it was right at the same time that my dad and I were getting ready to go to Haiti and that the jobs that they gave us to do on this mission trip in Haiti were not things I would have ever picked.

[9:41] I would have never knocked on people's doors to ask them, hey, how are you doing spiritually? How can the church help you? Like I wouldn't have picked that ever. But that's what my dad was doing.

[9:52] And so as we did that a few times, I don't know that that's like my new vocation that God has called me to, but he definitely, we definitely saw his spirit at work in doing what felt somewhat uncomfortable.

[10:06] But I probably never would have tried it if he hadn't been in that place. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Great. Yes, Elizabeth. I think that it requires an awful lot of times in meditation and prayer to really feel what the Lord is drawing you to.

[10:30] I would suggest that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Bob. You can also share an appreciative word if you see somebody exercising their gifts, you know, in an especially nice way.

[10:47] Mm-hmm. Yes. Sometimes other, sometimes, again, this is why it's, you know, discernment is a communal thing, right? Like sometimes you can see the way that God is blessing people through someone's spiritual gift better than they can.

[11:02] And you can, and just by encouraging them and saying, you know, brother, sister, I really feel like God is using you in this way. I was really encouraged by the way you did this or the word that you spoke here.

[11:16] That's a big one. Yes, Matt. Love can be important when you see that somebody thinks they have a spiritual gift and they don't.

[11:29] Yeah. Yeah, sometimes that happens too. I, you know, I've seen the tragedy of somebody, you know, trying, wanting to minister, trying to minister in an area that they were not gifted in.

[11:46] And unless you have a good relationship, you can deliver the message in any case. But getting that person then into the right area of ministry will be tough.

[12:02] There's a lot of love in them. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Well, and remembering that, you know, every Christian has been given a spirit, at least one spiritual gift.

[12:16] Romans, I think it's Romans 12 that makes that most clear. Let's see.

[12:29] Romans 12 talks about each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. We are one body in Christ, members of one of another. And then he says, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

[12:41] Right? He doesn't say some people in the church have gifts and other people don't. No, his assumption is every believer has some gift to contribute to the body of Christ.

[12:53] There is no one who is a believer in Christ who has nothing to contribute to this church. And if someone feels that they have nothing to contribute to this church, then part of what God wants to do in them is to, and he might use one another in the process, is help them figure out what is that, how can they contribute.

[13:12] Right? And so, and again, if someone's sort of, yes, that's, so I think one of the questions is, okay, if something, okay, something might not be their spiritual gift that they think it is, but how, what positively could they, you know, is there something else that they could try?

[13:29] Is there something else, you know, as you get to know the person that you can encourage them? What about if you did, what about if you, could you help out with this? You know, or whatever. So, and then, you know, that takes humility.

[13:41] We're going to get to humility a little later, because that's, that's one of the most common things that comes in the one another passages. But, but we need humility in those kinds of circumstances, right?

[13:52] Humility to be able to say, okay, even if I think something's my spiritual gift, if it's not actually building up other people, then, then, then, you know what?

[14:02] Maybe this isn't the time and place. Maybe, maybe, and that's okay. And that doesn't mean that I don't have anything to contribute. That doesn't mean I don't have anything to give. It doesn't mean I'm worthless here.

[14:13] My worth is found in Christ, right? So there's humility in receiving that, and then there also needs to be humility in how, how we, how we give that feedback. feedback, and, and, and we need to be careful in how we give that feedback, too, right?

[14:29] You know, sometimes, you know, how would I, let's, what's an example? Just because you don't drive with somebody's style of music doesn't mean that you should go up to them and say, I don't think you're gifted in leading worship because I don't like the style of music that you play, you know, right?

[14:52] That, that, that could actually be a very destructive thing to say, right? So that's, that's something where you might, you know, if you're not sure what to say in that, things like that, go to the pastor who oversees that ministry and talk to them, and then they'll help you discern whether that's a helpful thing to say.

[15:08] You can say, you know, I'm really struggling with this, but I don't know whether this is just my own issues or whether this is something that, you know, that, that needs to be addressed somehow, I need some wisdom about how to address this in a way that would be edifying and helpful to everybody and not, not, not, not cause harm.

[15:26] So, yeah, other, other thoughts. These are great thoughts. How can we help each other find and use our spiritual gifts in this church? This is a question we're discussing. How have you seen that done?

[15:38] Well, elsewhere. Michelle. I have a sign above my dining room table that says, refusing for help robs others of receiving help. So I think one of the ways we can help each other discover our spiritual gifts is actually be very transparent with our need.

[15:56] Yeah. Be willing to receive help. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes that's, sometimes we have to have humility to do that, right? And, and, and it's a blessing to receive.

[16:07] It's a, it's a blessing when, when we can sort of open up our hands and, and receive that as a blessing from God and from our brothers and sisters in Christ. And it can help somebody else find the ways that God has called and equipped them to serve.

[16:21] Yeah. Yeah. All right. Anything else? Before we move on to the next section?

[16:36] Yes, Kim. I think however it's done, it seems that even from our answers here, like doing it actually in the community, figuring it out in the community is the way.

[16:47] I just love how, I don't know, someone who's gifted to encourage says, well, we should encourage each other. Someone who's gifted in prayer says, well, we should, we should pray about it. Someone who's gifted in service says, well, we ought to, I don't know, get moving.

[16:58] We're living, and so it's, it's cool to see, even just in our answers representing how God is gifted. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's good. That's good.

[17:08] All right. And any questions about any of the gifts on this, on these lists? This is sort of a compilation of spiritual gifts from different passages in the Bible.

[17:19] Any questions about any of the particular ones? We're not going to get into a whole bunch of detail. Some of them, people define them in slightly different ways, and honestly, we may not be able to completely be precise about that.

[17:31] But are there any, any burning questions that anyone wants to ask? Yes, Laura. I was just going to add to what Ken just said. I feel like sometimes my assumption can be if someone is gifted in something, then they can just run with it.

[17:45] So there's something about doing it in community and just assuming like, oh, teaching about it or giving helpful, I don't know, thoughts towards it and really cultivating and developing the gift is really helpful that, I don't know, I just assume, oh yeah, do it.

[18:01] Yeah. And it's not something that simple. Yeah. Right. Right. Sometimes someone might have a gift, but they need someone with the gift of encouragement to come alongside them and, you know, encourage or exhort them to use it, you know, or, right.

[18:15] Or teaching for someone to like teach them how to teach. Yes. Even teaching is their gift. Yes. That's right. Right. These gifts are not given fully for, okay, right. Just as like, you know, a baby does not come out of the womb with, you know, all of their adult developmental capacities, you know, immediately visible, right.

[18:36] Those are cultivated over time, you know. And yes, some of those capacities are right there at birth, but they need to be developed and grown over time.

[18:47] Right. The seeds of those are there. Right. In the same way, the Holy Spirit gives Christians those gifts, but they need to be developed and cultivated and grown. And, you know, Paul also talks about how they can be used in an edifying way.

[19:00] Right. Somebody might have a gift, but they're not using it in, you know, they need to grow in love. Right. And so how it's expressed or whatever. So, yes, there's a lot of ways that we can help each other grow in how we express and use the gifts that are within us.

[19:20] Right. So, good. All right. So, let's go on. And we can come back to spiritual gifts later if we want.

[19:32] So, I've, I found this cool infographic. I did not design this myself, but I was like, this is exactly what I want to teach. So, I'm like, this is very rare that I go online and do a quick search and I'm like, it's right here.

[19:48] But I'm like, all right, this is, I'm just going to go with this. Um, uh, cause it's sort of summarizes it very well. Um, so all the one another commands in the new Testament.

[19:58] Um, there are about 47 verses with instructions to followers of Jesus that use the word one another. Um, so, uh, most of those are in Paul's letters.

[20:11] So, there's sort of three broad categories, um, that, uh, uh, this person categorized these lists in. And so, unity, uh, love, love is the most, uh, as you might notice, love is the one that has the most references, uh, both in John's letters and Paul's letters and Peter's letter, uh, and in Jesus' words himself, um, love one another is the most common one another command and sort of the, in some ways, an overarching one.

[20:40] Um, uh, but, uh, there's a lot about unity. Again, some warning, if you look at some of the, several of them begin with don't, don't grumble, don't complain, don't envy one another, don't bite and devour one another.

[20:56] Um, uh, and then positively be at peace with one another, accept one another, uh, wait for one another, be kind to one another, uh, seek the good of one another, um, uh, and then a lot about, uh, forbearance and forgiveness and confession of sin.

[21:12] So, that's all part of unity, uh, broad category and then love, um, a lot of things about love, uh, uh, several about humility and sort of honoring one another.

[21:22] Um, and then several at the end, um, uh, the rest, uh, I guess, uh, there's about 12 in that list that, that sort of go a variety of directions.

[21:35] Um, so, uh, question I want to ask here is, um, how are we doing as a church in these areas? Uh, how are we doing in unity, uh, in love, in humility, and in sort of the rest of the list?

[21:50] What can we praise God for? Where do we need his help to improve, right? If this is a biblical picture of what our community, you know, Holy Spirit empowered, Christ-centered, God-glorifying community life should look like, um, uh, where do you see these things happening in our body, uh, and, and what are some ways that we might need to grow or, uh, be more intentional in, in living out some of these?

[22:15] So, um, uh, maybe we could start with unity. Um, um, and talk about that. Um, where, uh, where, let's see, uh, what can we praise God for in terms of unity and, and what are some ways that we, we could be reminded to, um, intentionally pursue these things?

[22:38] Well, I think our pastors provide a great example for us, for unity and one-mothering.

[22:56] Um, the three of you each have your roles and you're, uh, devoted to that, but you're devoted basically to welfare of the church, to our pastors and our, um, elders.

[23:09] And the three of you each have your roles and the two of you each have your roles and the pastors give us real great examples of unity and, I mean, it's very clear that the most important thing, one of the most important things in our church is being unified.

[23:22] Yeah. Yeah. And letting the other things fall away that, uh, come up to bring controversy. Mm-hmm. And I think, really, that's, that example, we all understand and feel and realize.

[23:38] Yeah. Yeah. So we kind of fall in line. Thanks. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah.

[23:48] Yeah. I think one of the ways that I see it is in small groups, um, especially groups that have different ages and different backgrounds. So I love how our small groups aren't as surprised of like Yale students and working people.

[24:06] It's like everybody coming together and dying around Christ. And so that's one way I think our small groups do a good job of displaying that unity. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[24:17] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[24:28] Mm-hmm. Any other thoughts about unity? How do I have you had somebody else sort of really live out one of these commands in their relationship with you?

[24:49] You know, have you seen one of these particular things lived out in our church? Or is there some of them that you think are just a good warning for us? Something that we might be prone to, might be easy for us to fall into, that we need to guard against?

[25:05] Matt? I'm thinking of the cliche, nothing succeeds like success. There's a selfish unifying effect that an organization has when it's succeeding.

[25:20] They want to be part of this. This is a good place to be. But in the New Testament, it often seems like it's reversed. It's the unity that causes the success.

[25:32] But in any case, when you see baptisms going on, when you see new people coming into the church, there's a sense that Jesus is here.

[25:43] And some of the things that would bother me if I didn't see the name of Christ, just, ah, they're not that important. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[25:57] Yeah. Sometimes pursuing unity is hard. You know, I've been at Trinity for 17 years now.

[26:14] And so there's a few different times that I can look back on. And pursuing unity wasn't easy. And it involved speaking truth to one another, listening to one another, forgiving, confessing.

[26:34] You know? And I think God's, you know, there's a lot of ways that I think this church has a really sweet unity. But I will say that hasn't always been the case.

[26:49] Hasn't always been the case among the leadership. It hasn't always been the case in some ways in the past. But the Lord has really done that and continues to do that.

[27:00] And, you know, Satan always wants to sort of throw in a monkey wrench in the middle of this. And, you know, one of the ways that we see Satan at work is dividing believers from each other.

[27:12] You know, whether through envy or through, you know, that's sort of the danger of when unity is built around success. Is then usually you're very excited about your church's success and every other successful church is seen as a threat.

[27:25] Right? So, I mean, there's always things to guard against even when unity seems to be working well. You know, there's ways that Satan tries to undermine that. But I think being guarding against his schemes.

[27:39] And, you know, I mean, there are people who are still in this church who at one time, like, I was working through a conflict with them. And we were having trouble relating to each other.

[27:51] And right now, like, that's way behind us. And, like, that's a sweet thing. There are people who, you know, are no longer in this church, but it's because they've moved out of town and not because they left the church because they were angry.

[28:05] Right? Like, but that we were able to work through whatever the issue was that had come between us. And now there's peace and unity and we can go on and work together in the body of Christ.

[28:19] And I don't know. Conflicts between Christians don't always end that way. But I've just, it's something that has been encouraging in my life to really see, yes, this can actually happen. Yes, this can actually happen between two people.

[28:33] Yes, this can actually happen on a leadership team. Yes, this can actually happen, you know, in situations where there are some times where it feels like it will never happen.

[28:46] But yes, it can. So that can encourage us to keep pursuing that. So let's go on to talk about love.

[28:59] Yes, Ben. One more question on the media. Yeah. One thing in the past four or five years I've been really encouraged by is the Bridges and Poe Project. That it's a little more external than sort of within the city. But a couple of years have sort of put aside their, like, particular, like, congregational affiliations and come together to serve the city.

[29:15] Yeah. Have you seen, like, any, you know, either encouraging things or, like, you know, resistance on that front? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's been really encouraging for me to, so I'm the pastor who goes to the Bridges of Hope board meetings from Trinity, which happen every month.

[29:33] We're having a pastor's retreat, actually, this coming Thursday night and Friday. You can pray for us. We do that once a year. And it's just been a really sweet time of sort of getting some more in-depth time to talk about things with each other.

[29:49] And some of them are, you know, some of them are sort of ministry and organizational issues about where are we going in Bridges of Hope. But some of them are personal things about how are we doing personally and how are marriages and families and churches and where do we need prayer.

[30:05] And, I don't know, there's been a real openness and, like, transparency among the pastors. Some of us didn't even know each other three, four years ago when this thing started. Like, we'd never met each other, literally.

[30:16] And, you know, it's been really, I've been really encouraged by it.

[30:28] So, and I think there's been some good fruit. I know a lot of you are involved in the mentoring program and some of you have done iHeart New Haven or helped out with, you know, other projects that have come out of that.

[30:42] So, I think there's, I think there's a good effect sort of that's able to be seen by others in our city as well.

[30:52] But I've just been really encouraged sort of with the conversations on the inside. And, yeah. All right, should we go on?

[31:08] Love. So, there's a lot of things about, a lot of commands about be devoted to one another in love. Through love serve one another. Forbear or tolerate one another. That sort of means bear with one another in love.

[31:21] Right? First Corinthians 13, Paul talks about what love is. Love is patient. Love is kind. It doesn't rejoice in evil, but it rejoices with the truth.

[31:33] Right? So, love doesn't just mean sort of accepting and affirming everything or never challenging anyone. Right? That's not biblical love.

[31:43] Love is genuinely seeking the good of someone else. And making it our priority to seek somebody else's good rather than just our own. And sometimes that looks like, you know, there's sort of the soft side of love.

[31:57] Like kindness and patience and all that. And then there's sort of tough love. Right? Speaking the truth. And sometimes sort of holding people accountable. Sort of saying, no, this is actually your responsibility.

[32:12] And I'm not going to do this for you. Because you're able to do this for yourself. And sometimes that's a loving thing. Anyway, so love can look a lot of different ways. But how...

[32:25] But the New Testament says it's really at the heart of... Of, you know, Colossians 3 says, Over all these virtues put on love.

[32:35] Right? Which binds them together in perfect unity. Love is the first in the list of the fruits of the Spirit. Paul says, faith, hope, and love remain. But the greatest of these is love. Right? So, throughout the New Testament, love is sort of like the heartbeat.

[32:51] That makes the blood flow to all the different parts of the body. And that sort of empowers the different gifts. So, how do we see...

[33:05] How do you see... Let's combine love and humility. Humility, sort of honoring one another. Being willing to...

[33:18] You know, the example Jesus gave is washing his disciples' feet. That was sort of the task that nobody else wanted to do. It was dirty.

[33:29] It was not something that was an honorable... Not something that you'd sort of honor somebody by giving them that task. Right?

[33:39] That was the task that you would give to the least honorable person normally. And Jesus voluntarily took on that task without being asked. As an example of humility.

[33:49] He says, just as I have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. Right? So, I don't think he's only literally talking about actually watching somebody else's feet. But he's sort of... That's the example. Right?

[34:00] Of what humility looks like. So, where do you see... How about love and humility? What can we praise God for? What do we need is help to improve in these areas.

[34:11] And then... How about love and humility. So, how I call... How about love and humility? God who does not see the camera is looking for...

[34:22] That shows wisdom. How about lovely samples are best wishes. How about love and humility? What are our naturalist arms that have Izaki ta투ителя? How about it? Where do you mean sleep? I want a little thanksengage.

[34:36] two of the ways I think I see it a lot of our churches is intangible ways when when I send out an email for have or need if somebody has a need then it's almost instantly that people are eager to love each other in very practical ways and in some ways it's hilarious how you know how these connections are made so you can say I was just thinking like how can I use this to bless somebody and it happens and then also I think our congregation at large is really eager to love each other with food which meal schedules fill out notoriously fast and I always get emails disappointed emails like I don't even got in but I think that those kind of very practical like meeting very basic needs are one way I think our congregation loves food I think one other thing is we were reflecting on after the congregational meeting just the acts of church discipline that we bring before the congregation genuinely seeking to love the person that has strayed and we don't say oh it's not important we actually do the hard thing how hard it is to confront somebody in love and understanding

[36:11] I think this is a great example of how this church is seeking to love each other even when having that conversation is really difficult yep I'm encouraged I'm really encouraged because of the direction that our church has taken since we you know since over on Humphrey Street we've really moved forward in loving one another outwardly you know with the various works that we do and I think it's because of the fact that we have a core of really serious Christ followers I mean we have a core of people here who really love Jesus and really want to move forward in his name for the sake of the city and the world I recently visited a church which I would say has gone almost completely nominal the people are just nominal there isn't a core of serious devoted Christians so I am so thankful for that as we've grown in all these outward outward ways yep yeah yep you know the homeless bridges of hope yeah yep yep yeah yep yep

[37:49] I mean and all of the like all of this that we're talking about here is the fruit of the gospel taking root in our hearts and in our community you know when we know you know Paul prays in Ephesians that we would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God that we know how high and how wide and how deep and how long is the love of Christ for us you know this is the result like these kinds of things that kind of love and humility and unity and and expressing love in ways that are both come naturally and ways that are harder and you know actually wanting to serve one another so that when there's opportunities you know you're not just sort of pulling you know trying to pull a stone along a rocky path right you know there's actually some movement there's a desire to yes

[38:52] I want to help my brothers and sisters in Christ right and I think that's that's just the result of when the gospel really takes root in our hearts so that's encouraging to see anything else on the rest of the list there's a lot of pretty practical I guess let me ask this question to end to end what's what is one of these one another commands that you want to take away with you just as a practical encouragement if there's one of them that that you think this is a good reminder for me this week or I want to put this into practice this week what would that be from anywhere in the list anywhere in any of the lists yes pray for one another yes pray for one another be devoted to one another in love speak the truth to one another yes yes probably clothe yourselves in humility clothe yourselves in humility toward one another that's a good one all right one or two more and then we'll then we'll pray okay well I would like to say one thing it's not that people don't hurt us and that we aren't yet resentful that can happen and how do you handle that so if you think or see people are just different you know that's a good thing to remember people are just different if we it's a very simple thing if we remember that that would go ahead yes synchronicities of people that you don't find you know elevating or whatever those

[42:07] I found that pray for one another that's what you have to do you pray that's right pray for that person and it all changes yeah yep yep all right that's good so let's pray can I ask for three volunteers to lead in prayer and then I will close raise your hand if you are willing to pray maybe somebody could pray for our church in unity and someone could pray for us in love and in humility so Tyler which one do you want to take you'll take unity all right somebody pray that we would be a loving that we would grow in love Debbie Pedro do you want to do humility great pray loud enough so everybody can hear you and I'll close this in prayer our father in heaven

[43:13] Lord we pray we thank you for this time that we get to think about your word together Lord as we think about all that you've done for us in Christ we pray that we would be united to one another as you have sacrificially offered up yourself we pray that we would sacrificially seek each other's good and through that seek unity in this church where there's one Lord one faith one baptism I pray this church would be united with each other in so doing show who you are your character to each other in the world I pray this in Christ's name Heavenly Father I thank you that we can love each other only because you loved us first and I ask that we would be ever mindful of that and that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit enabling us to really love each other well in this body of

[44:20] Christ and with all others that we come in contact with throughout our days and our week oh Father we thank you because you've given us such a beautiful example of humility in Christ who laid aside his throne to come and take on flesh and dwell with us I pray that that example might be near and dear to our hearts as we walk so that we might put others before ourselves that we might not judge for external appearances for wealth for anything like that but that we might see one another as Christ sees them with love and with a desire to serve them in the name of Jesus Amen Father we thank you for the spiritual gifts that you have given to every believer in Christ we pray that every believer in Christ would find the way that you have enabled and gifted them to contribute to this body of believers and we pray that every believer in Christ here would also be served and loved and built up in their faith and hope and love in this body of believers we thank you for

[45:31] Lord the good work that you've done in and among us we pray particularly that you would bless this worship gathering as we go upstairs as well as as we greet one another afterwards Lord that we would be encouraging one another as we sing to you sing praises to you that we would be drawing near to you as we pray Lord that we would be shaped by your word as we as we listen to it preached and read Lord we pray that you continue to shape us into a church that glorifies your name we pray this in Jesus name amen amen amen amen Thank you.