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[0:00] And take the scriptures and turn to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John 4, and I'll be reading verses 7-11.

[0:18] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

[0:34] This is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world, that we might live through him. This is love.

[0:45] Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

[1:02] No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

[1:12] I'm sorry, I'm going to read to the end of the chapter. We know that we live in him and he in us because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

[1:28] If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

[1:39] God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment.

[1:52] Because in this world, we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

[2:07] We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

[2:21] And he has given us this command. Whoever loves God must also love his brother. Good evening.

[2:34] I bring you greetings from Reformed Baptists in Louisville. I want you to open your Bible tonight to a simple passage of Scripture, Hebrews 13.1. And I'm reading out of New King James, so I may read a little different.

[2:48] And I just want to share a message with you tonight on maintaining brotherly love. Maintaining brotherly love. The writer of Hebrews says simply this, let brotherly love continue.

[3:04] Now, one of the things that is emphasized more than just about anything in the New Testament is brotherly love. Jesus, at the end of his ministry, put the priority on loving one another.

[3:18] Jesus warned his disciples that the world would persecute them and that they would have tribulation. But he confirmed, he continued to tell them to love one another.

[3:29] For he said, this is how the world would know that you are my disciples, simply because you love one another. And he's telling them that by your love for one another, you demonstrate more clearly than anything else, that you are true disciples and followers of the Lamb.

[3:46] You demonstrate by loving one another that you are children of God. Now, there's many passages that our brother read once a night that teach love for the brethren throughout the word of God.

[3:56] And I don't want to read all this, but you know that if you read in 1 John, love is proof of the new birth. You know, you need right belief. It's absolutely essential to have a strong faith.

[4:09] But it's very possible that you can have great theology and be able to defend the faith against those who oppose the faith and yet yourself be completely void of the saving grace of God and Jesus Christ.

[4:23] And the reason why is because of this thing called love. You can have great theology and have a void of the love of God in your heart. Jesus told the unregenerate Jews, and these were men who were learned it in the scriptures.

[4:37] He told him, he said, you do not have the love of God in you. He's telling learned men that they didn't have the love of God in you. And these were men who understand and knew the scriptures.

[4:48] So the test of your orthodoxy, the right in which I mean by that is the right belief of doctrine and Christian faith is vital and essential. But the word of God says that is not enough.

[4:59] That's not the ultimate test that guarantees that you are a Christian. First Corinthians 13 to says, although I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love, he says, I am nothing.

[5:16] And he goes on to say that you could have charitable acts of kindness and be even be a martyr for the faith. But he says, but if you have not love, it profits you nothing. So faith is a glorious thing.

[5:27] It's a marvelous thing. It's something that we all need to have. We all want to have a strong faith. But there's something greater than faith. Paul says in first Corinthians 13, 13, now about it, faith, hope, and love.

[5:39] He says, but the greatest of these is love. So the true test of our professional faith and love for Christ, it boils down to basically love for the brethren.

[5:51] I tell our brethren all the time at church, I said, God brings many different type people in the church. And that he brings many type of nationalities. He brings many type of personalities and all this stuff.

[6:03] And then he puts us all in this one room and lets us bang head year after year after year. And guess what we get out of it? Love. Because that's how you get love. You put up with each other's faults.

[6:15] You know, you put up with each other's little quirks and everything we have. And that proves whether or not you have the love of God. John says, beloved, let us love one another for love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God.

[6:27] And if you are born of God, then you know God. He said, he who does not love does not know God for God is love. And when John says that, he probably disqualified most of the people that sit in churches today because, you know, they're sitting in churches and they have a belief in the truth.

[6:44] But the love of God is not in their hearts like it needs to be. And, you know, like I said, we're going through some rough times as a church now. And we're, you know, trying to fight some battles that we've never had to fight before.

[6:55] And what we have to do as pastors is make sure we love the brethren. Make sure that we don't get a bad attitude toward what we're facing. Make sure that we don't forget that there is an enemy of our souls.

[7:07] And as I told the brethren this morning in Warsaw, there is an enemy that would like to destroy every work of God if he could. And one of the ways he does that is in fighting within the church.

[7:20] So there was an old song I thought about the other day was sung back in the 60s and 70s. That's a long time ago from the pop culture. And it was what the world needs now is love, sweet love.

[7:32] And I say that it was, well, it was recorded at a time when there was a lot of dissension, there was a lot of demonstration, violence. It was a cry for peace and harmony as the world knows it.

[7:43] But my cry today is what the church needs now is sweet brotherly love. Because the church is going to thrive and survive on that love. And if a church is going to exist, if any church is going to exist, brotherly love must be present.

[7:59] You know, there's this brotherly love that I'm talking about. It goes far beyond being nice and kind and polite and caring and peaceful. This brotherly love is a first Corinthians 13 love that Paul defines.

[8:14] And too many people go to church that go to church with an inactive love. Love in the word of God moves. Love in the word of God is active.

[8:24] Love in the word of God is fruitful. The first fruit of the spirit is love in Galatians chapter five. So love in the word of God is something that you see in action. First John 3 16.

[8:36] He says, by this we know love. And then he tells us what true love is. And love does something. It moves on behalf of others. Love seeks opportunity. And when it finds opportunity, it takes advantage of the opportunity.

[8:48] When it finds it, it looks it out. You have to look at Jesus, substitute their substitutionary atonement on the cross to really know what love is. We know love because he laid down his life for us.

[8:59] And because he laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Now, John is not talking about the world so much in these passages when he's talking about brotherly love as you read first, John.

[9:11] Because John says this, he says, but whoever has this world's good and sees his brother in a need and shuts up his heart from him. How does the love of God abide in him?

[9:22] So God's love in you will respond to the needs of your brethren. And I think a lot of times we forget that we are the family of God. You know, your natural family, your flesh and blood family, you're not going to just let them starve.

[9:37] You're not going to just let them go through a hard time without helping them out. You're not going to let them go through trouble and trial and tribulation without being by their side. I was at a funeral yesterday and it was a sad situation, but this family was close knit.

[9:53] And you could tell that this was a saved family. And they gave all the glory to God at this funeral. But one thing that I've seen in the midst of this family is they truly did love one another. And I was thinking about it at the time.

[10:04] That's the kind of love I would like to see operate in the body of Christ. Because they were close knit and they were family and they loved one another. So the love of God that you have in your heart is agape love.

[10:16] And that agape love belongs to everybody who has been saved and washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has poured out his love in your heart.

[10:26] And that's agape love. The love of God is self-giving. The love of God is self-sacrificing. It abides in every true believer and it manifests itself amongst all the believers of God.

[10:39] So all I'm trying to say here, basically at first, the premium in God's word is brotherly love, even down to a cup of water that you would give to one.

[10:50] And God honors that when he saves you. He puts his love in you and his action makes itself known.

[11:01] John says, first John 318. I'll be reading a lot of the first John. My little children, let us not love in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth. Let your love be more than lip service, nice thoughts and all these things about people's needs.

[11:16] But let your love be more than just telling them be warm and be filled. But let your love go into action because faith without works is dead. So love without works is dead.

[11:29] Galatians 5, 6. He says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything. But he says faith working through love. I like what the Williams translation said.

[11:41] It says faith that is spurred onto action by love. And then a back translation says only faith that is active by love.

[11:52] So basically, I want to start out by just saying these passages are talking about not so much the ministries on the outside of the church, even though you need the love to do those things. But he's talking about our love and care for one another as brothers and sisters.

[12:06] And this love should be seen in action as we go as we go on and love one another. And what I want to do tonight is I want to define brotherly love.

[12:18] Because what he says in this first passage, he says, let brotherly love continue. This word for brotherly love is the word Philadelphia. Philadelphia, there's a city in the United States that's called Philadelphia, and they call it the city of brotherly love.

[12:34] And what this word speaks of is fraternal affections, love of family members for one another. It's the affections of brothers and sisters for each other. And the fact that we know that we're the church and we're the family of God.

[12:48] Now, the definition for us as believers is the love which Christians have for each other. And this love that we have for each other, we cherish each other as brothers and sisters.

[12:59] You say, what does this love look like when we're living around each other? Tender hearted affection. You know, this is what we should have for each other as brothers in love.

[13:09] And it's sad to say that there could be Christians in churches professing the faith who do not. People tell me, they say, I don't like them. I say, how can you love somebody?

[13:20] I don't know what liking them. But what they mean by like is I just don't want to be around them, you know. I love them, but I just don't want to put up with them. You know what I mean? And it's hard to love some people sometimes, but love is put to the test every day.

[13:33] And so when I know that there's people that kind of get on my nerve a little bit, you know what I do? I try to get around them more. And you know why? Because it puts my love to the test.

[13:45] And when I get around them more and I go and talk to them, then all these crazy thoughts that the devil puts in your head about people and all these suspicions and everything, when you talk to people, it's a whole different story than what you've concocted in your mind is what a person's like.

[14:01] But we should openly show it by, you know, loving each other with this tender hearted affection. And you see a lot of people show how they feel toward other people by avoiding them, ignoring them, giving them the snub job.

[14:16] But this is the opposite of the biblical love he's talking about here. Now, you have more in common with some people than you do other people. And, you know, some people you naturally gravitate to and some people say you're in a clique.

[14:29] But it's not. This is some people that you're just closer to and you have hobbies you like to do together and stuff like that. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, Jesus seemed to be closer to some of his disciples than the others. You know, sometimes he would have Peter, James and John with him.

[14:42] At times he would go. And, you know, he even says that in John 13, 23, he said, Now there was leaning on Jesus bosom, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved.

[14:52] And to me, it insinuates that he was closer to John. But that's in his human nature is what I'm saying right there. But then you go to John 13, 1. He goes back and says, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his home who was in the world, he loved them to the end.

[15:12] And he loved them with a perfect love, even though he was closer to some than others. So I'm not saying you can't have friends. I'm not saying that you can't be closer to some people than other people.

[15:23] But I'm saying that you need to love all the brethren with an affectionate, brotherly love. You say, what will love do? Love will make itself love.

[15:33] And you know what that involves? Sacrificing yourself. And the only thing in the way of us manifesting love toward each other is ourself.

[15:46] We want to protect ourself. We want to guard ourself. And if you've got brotherly love, you will cherish every one of the brethren in the body of Christ. And you should have tender affection for each other. I've seen churches where little isolated groups begin to form and people become to get, you know, intolerant to each other.

[16:03] And they refuse to take the initiative to know each other. And they get aggravated about people's quirks and aggravations and faults and imperfections. And guess what? There's no love anywhere.

[16:15] In fact, some churches even get hate within the churches. I remember years ago they used to talk about baptism. They say one thing about baptism is they are fighting people. You know what they was talking about? They fought at the church meetings.

[16:27] Me and my wife had just gotten saved. I gave them a testimony this morning. I didn't give her everything I needed to say. And the first church meeting we went to, they almost got into fisticuffs. Now here I am, a new Christian.

[16:38] And she looked at me and I looked at her. I said, you're kidding. And guess what? It was over. A guy was a penny off on the budget. I'm serious.

[16:49] He'll tell you. I'm telling you the truth. And so, you know, we're new Christian. I'm going, something here is contradictory here. You know what I mean? Like, you know, you would think they would be loving each other and stuff like it. Oh, he got into a blown, full-blown, you know, argument and everything else.

[17:03] And we thought they was going to fight. And thank God he did. But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, 4, love suffers long and is kind. He said, what is he saying there?

[17:14] We will put up with each other as much as we need to. And I tell you, brethren, if you have trouble loving one another, get on your knees before God. I always tell people, look at how much God loved us.

[17:26] Look at what God puts up with us. You know, I think some days, and all you got to do is every time you get these ugly feelings in your heart and against people and things, look at Calvary.

[17:38] Look at what God did to his son on your behalf. And look at how much God puts up with us, from us, every day. Hey, it's a shame how we think about somewhere, each other sometimes.

[17:50] Ephesians 4, 2 said, burn with one another in love. So basically what I'm saying on this point, brotherly love will go out of its way to spend time in fellowship with all the brethren, however they do it.

[18:03] And it'll do two things. It will go out of its way to be loved. It will take the initiative. It will look for opportunities. And it will go out of its way to be like Jesus and follow the example that he left for us here to follow.

[18:18] Because Jesus in the scripture identified with his brethren, his brethren, and he never avoided their problems. He laid down his life not only on the cross, but he just was spent and being spent for them day after day after day.

[18:33] Acts chapter 9, the apostle Paul's conversion in the act of going to persecute the church. This is what Jesus said to Paul concerning his church. He said, why are you persecuting me?

[18:46] That says a lot to me. Who's he talking about? He's talking about the church. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And wouldn't that be nice if we thought about each other like Jesus did?

[18:59] Because he's saying the church is me. You know, we're flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones is what the scriptures say. And that's the way he looked at the church. And, you know, I tell people all the time, they'll say, well, I'm not going down to that church. I just don't like that church.

[19:10] What I said, well, if you don't like the church, you don't like Christ. That's his body. And he loves his body. And that's why he says, Paul, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

[19:24] Wouldn't it be nice if 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 26 was a manifestation in the hearts of all the believers? If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.

[19:34] Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice in it. Now, sometimes when people suffer, we tend to do better. But when somebody is honored, we tend to be jealous. Love loves to be jealous.

[19:46] I mean, lack of love loves to be jealous against the accomplishments of other people. But the word of God says this in the way it should be amongst men and women in the body of Christ.

[19:58] So I'm just saying that we need to fellowship with others. We need to be willing to lay down our lives to others. When others suffer, we need to suffer with them. When others rejoice, we need to rejoice with them.

[20:12] Give you a couple of scriptures on brotherly love. First Thessalonians 4, 9. But concerning brotherly love, Paul says, you have no need that I should write to you. And what Paul is saying is I've already taught you concerning this issue.

[20:27] You've been taught this and you should be living out this amongst each other. He says, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. And he said, indeed, you do so toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia.

[20:38] And said, but we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more in love. You say, well, I'm in a church where we really love each other. Guess what Paul said?

[20:48] That's not enough. You need to increase in love more and more and more. Because love never gets to the end. You know, there's no end to how much we can love each other. You know, because, you know, living in a sin-cursed world, nothing ever comes to an end except our lives.

[21:04] And then we stand before the Lord. First Peter 1, 22, he says, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of the brethren.

[21:15] He says, love one another fervently with a pure heart. So Peter's just passing down what Christ personally taught him when he walked with Christ. Romans 12, 10, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and honor, giving preference to one another.

[21:32] And then I said, Ephesians 4, 32, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. That's all about love.

[21:44] You know, we talk about getting up on the cross and crucifying ourself and everything. When it comes down to do that, it's not as easy as we think it is. And we have these agendas about ourselves.

[21:55] And the word of God tells us over and over again. And I'm guilty of it. And I know other people are. I don't point at other people. But we just think too highly of ourselves than we ought.

[22:06] And you're going, I'm not bowing down to her. I'm not bowing down to him. Somebody needs to tell them about it. They need to be straightened out about this. No. You need to love them.

[22:17] Now, sometimes people need a little fire put on them. But most of the time, a pastor really should do that. Because he's going to do it in a loving way. Because when people usually try to straighten things out, they get tempted themselves.

[22:30] And then it's a big blow up. And then you've got a problem in the church. But most of the time, if you meet something with love, the outcome is much, much better. Second thing he speaks here of is continuance.

[22:42] To continue something just simply means you must not ever stop doing it. Paul says, let brotherly love continue. The Williams translation, he says, brethren, continue to love one another fervently is what he says.

[22:57] So this text refers not so much to the existence of brotherly love as it refers to the maintenance of brotherly love. I want to read you what one man said about this maintaining brotherly love.

[23:12] He says, brotherly love is like a tender plant that requires much attention. It needs to be constantly cultivated, watered, and carefully watched over.

[23:24] If it is not watered and washed over, it will quickly dry up. And then he says of the importance of watching over brotherly love. He said, this love does not come from the soil of our fallen human nature.

[23:38] In other words, this love doesn't come from our heart. He says here, because he says Titus 3.3 gives us a description of what we were before our unregenerate state. This is what Titus 3.3 says, for we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

[24:00] That's the soil from our fallen human nature. That's what we were like. He said, but this is what the soil of our hearts looked like before conversion. And he said, even now, this aspect of indwelling sin lurks in all of us.

[24:14] He said, we need to put it to death by the spirit of God. And we need to replace this by constant daily cultivating, I mean cultivating, watering, and fertilizing brotherly love.

[24:27] Because he says, this tender plant of brotherly love requires much attention and must be closely tended to constantly, daily, and corporately as a church.

[24:41] We have to keep an eye on this plant because it's very fragile and it's very tender. One man says, it is quickly affected by the cold air of unkindness and is easily nipped by the first frost of harsh words.

[24:59] So if it's going to thrive, if it's going to continue, it must be carefully protected and diligently cultivated. You know, we preach all the time about guard your heart and things like this.

[25:12] I don't even think people even understand what it means. Because people just fly off the handle for nothing. You know, this is not really that big of a deal. You're not going to die in this situation, okay?

[25:23] You know, like it's something that's life-threatening. I said, you can overcome this situation and you can forgive this brother and sister and you can love one another as Christ loved the church.

[25:33] You can love us, you know, just like he loves his whole church, the body of Christ, where he laid his life down for the church. He says, let brotherly love continue. And it includes the idea of enduring in the face of difficulties and trials and temptation and tribulation.

[25:48] And that's what Paul is saying when he says, burn with one another in love. I'll tell you, God is going to allow our love for each other to be tested, the same as he does our faith.

[26:01] And that's why Paul is exhorting them to bear with one another in love. The most holy Christian on the earth is still full of imperfections.

[26:12] The most holy man, the most holy woman on this earth. And if we will remind ourselves of this, we will be able to endure each other easily. Honestly, remind yourself, I'm still full of faults and failings.

[26:28] And the more often we do that, the more often we'll know that we're just a worm in the dust. And how often do we have to ask God for forgiveness?

[26:39] And the bottom line is this. Don't throw stones at your brethren unless you are sinless. You say, why would you say that? Because Jesus said, if you're without sin, pick up the first stone.

[26:55] You know, you're the one that's qualified to throw it. But words of wisdom from God's word says, consider yourselves before picking up a stone. Because if you consider yourself, guess what you're going to do?

[27:06] You're going to put it right down. You're going to walk away. Because you're not sinless. And like I said, there's some situations that have to be dealt with and things like that. But there's times when people are overtaken in the sin.

[27:18] And people go and deal with this stuff in a spirit of harshness and things like that. Now, he said, you need to deal with these things in a spirit of gentleness and meekness, considering yourself. Because you still have that soul of that unregenerate heart remaining in you to a certain extent.

[27:33] And you can look just like the world without loving people. And this last point tonight is the fruits of brotherly love. I'll tell you what.

[27:46] When love is around, it is a glorious thing. If it's maintained and abides amongst us continually, the church will experience many spiritual blessings.

[28:00] Galatians 5.22. What will we experience? Love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness. If love is in a church, the gospel will be honored.

[28:15] Believers will be comforted. And the best testimony this world has is our profession that we love one another. And that's what Jesus said. Jesus said, by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

[28:30] And it's only the love of those who are loved by Christ and filled with the spirit of God can walk in this world and show the kind of love that Christ has to this lost and dying world.

[28:43] When I first become a Christian, the church had, like I said earlier, a bad reputation about fighting. The church had a bad reputation about hypocrisy.

[28:53] And so the only way that you'll have a good testimony to the world, they do not care about your theology. They don't care about your books. They don't care about anything that you've got. Because if they don't see love in your heart, for some reason, it just completely turns them off to Christianity.

[29:08] Because they live in a world that's just full of hate and, you know, disgust and all the things you see today. Jesus said that my disciples will reflect on the love, on my love, and they will spread it out through this world.

[29:23] This man says the cultivation and manifestation of Christian affections between God's people are far more weightier arguments with unbelievers than apologetics. Brethren, we are commanded by Christ's word to love one another.

[29:40] And to let that brotherly love abide constantly amongst us. Because if we love one another the way the word of God tells us to love one another, the church will be a beautiful place.

[29:55] Christ will dwell in the church in all his richness and fullness. You know, he was talking about having a black brother here today. I've been a pastor at Reformed Baptist Louisville for like 20 plus years.

[30:07] I forget people got colors. I know I'm not trying to brag on both. I'm serious about that. I forget there's, you know, we got different people from all kinds of different places in the world.

[30:20] You know, in America, everybody thinks it's only white or black. Now, there's people from all over the world that, you know, we got Chinese guys there right now that are training and things like that. But when you walk in the church, you know, I don't even look at people concerning color or status or I never have, you know, and some people have a problem with that.

[30:37] And they're staring up this racial thing and trying to get it inside the church. It's every kindred, kindred, tongue and nation. And you know what?

[30:48] The grace of God will save anybody. The grace of God will bring people together and the love of Christ will be right in the hearts of these people. And guess what? You can worship with anybody that's filled with the same Holy Spirit that you are.

[31:01] And so people ask me all the time, you know, what do you think about the racial situation? I say it's stupid. You know why I think it's stupid? Because that's not the mission of the church. The mission of the church is to save sinners.

[31:14] And once a sinner is saved, the love of God is in his heart. And it will be there until he dies. But people always question me about it. But I've been with brethren of every race since I've been saved.

[31:28] And I've never had a problem with anybody. You know, you know, you butt heads with people sometimes. But I don't look at it as a racial thing or anything like it. I look at it as we sinners that need to deal with things. And we, you know, we need to love one another as Christ told us to love one another in the word of God.

[31:44] But the church is a beautiful thing because only Christ can bring all this mess together. And put it together and have the family of God, people who truly love one another.

[31:56] Psalm 133 says, Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. And it's interesting that one of the churches of one of the seven churches of Asia that Jesus commends.

[32:10] Guess what church it was? The church of Philadelphia. You know what that church was? The church of brotherly love. And Jesus commended that church. That was one of the few churches that he commended in the book of Revelation.

[32:22] So just to leave you tonight with just a little exhortation and encouragement from scripture. Don't get weary loving the brethren.

[32:34] You might be one in the church and you seem like you always have to carry the weight of love. You know, when others refuse or politely excuse themselves from doing things in the church.

[32:47] And you always get stuck with the dirty work in the kingdom. And others won't lift a finger to help. Don't get weary. That's what love will do.

[32:58] You know what love will do? Love will do it when nobody else will do it. And that's what love is all about. And you seem to say, well, it's always me. And it's this, that, the other.

[33:09] Never stop. Let brotherly love continue. You say, why would you say that? Because thank God Jesus didn't start walking before he got to Calvary's hill. Because we'd be in a mess today if he had to went to that cross on Calvary's hill.

[33:25] God smiles on your labors of love for people. Hebrews 16 said, for God is not unjust to forget your work. And labor of love, which you have shown toward his name and toward his people.

[33:36] In that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. God sees everything that's happening. And the final thing tonight. First Peter 3.8.

[33:47] Finally, all of you be of one mind. Having compassion for one another. Love as brothers. Be tenderhearted. Courteous. Not rendering evil for evil.

[33:58] Or reviling for reviling. On the contrary, blessing. Knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. Let brotherly love continue.

[34:11] I know your pastor wants that more than anything. Every pastor should want that more than anything. And, you know, that's the one thing that will make the church click like it should click.

[34:22] That's the one thing that's going to get a lot of sinners saved in this world. Because they will see our love. Because that's one way they see the love of Christ on how we love each other. And I really believe that a lot of things don't happen sometimes because we grieve the Holy Spirit by the way we feel about each other.

[34:41] The way we talk about each other. You know, things that we shouldn't be doing. You know, quenching the Spirit of God. No. Maintenance brotherly love. Work on it. You know how you have to maintenance your house?

[34:51] You know how you have to maintenance your car? You know how you have to keep things going and keep them up to date? Maintenance brotherly love. Cultivate brotherly love. Plant that root because, plant that flower because it's such a tender plant.

[35:04] And it can so easily explode because we still have our sin nature. And we're just real, real easy to explode and real, real easy to get into sin.

[35:16] Now, let brotherly love continue. You say you got a problem with somebody? And I'm not saying you do here as a church. I'm just preaching your message here tonight. I don't know anything about the church. But say you had a problem with somebody in the church.

[35:28] Pray for them. Say, Lord, help that brother. And help me to love that brother and sister more. Give me a heart to love them like Christ loves me. And, you know, it's so hard for us to do that sometimes.

[35:40] But that's the way to learn how to love your brother. So let brotherly love continue. I pray that you will maintain brotherly love. And I pray that the church will triumph over the devil simply because we love just like our Savior loved and walk as he walked.

[35:57] Let's pray. Father, we thank you that we love you simply because you first loved us.

[36:08] And we thank you for the love of your son to go to that cross and die for our sins. Father, we thank you that you loved us with an everlasting love.

[36:19] You've loved us from before the foundation of the world. And, Father, we want to see many sinners coming into the kingdom of God and experiencing the love of God. Father, I pray for these brethren here that you will continue to manifest your love amongst them.

[36:37] And, Father, continue to give them a heart to love one another. I pray that Christ would be glorified continually in this church and in all your churches where your people meet and love the Lord Jesus.

[36:48] Father, give us a heart like him. Help us to love one another as he's loved us. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.