November 12, 2023 - How to add Agapeo Love to faith

Thank you, Dave.

It's a nice presence here today.

I can get my stand up stereo.

Are we are? oops

Those of you keeping track. It might be a little confused.

For those of you kind of noticing I was up here last week. So what am I doing up this week? Well, I don't know if it was mentioned yet. But Pastor Shawn Lost His Voice this week and it's going to get the sermon ready that you're going to purchase it three weeks to lecture. No problem.

but so we're talkin about the last part of 2nd Peter then I'll get to in a bit. I was supposed to be godliness and the godling is brotherly kindness and brotherly kindness you had to love them. So that's what we're going out today, but

We live in a world that's confused about love. And the love of many has grown cold.

As of July 2022 in Canada, 40 to 50% of first-time marriages are estimated to end up in divorce. 60% of second marriages are most likely to get divorced 73% of third time marriages are getting separated and a couples aging 50 or more have a divorce rate of 26% on the downward slope. The top five causes for divorce again the July 2022 financial distress. It's 50% of people site that infidelity constant fighting lack of a flexion of lack of affection or domestic violence. Those are the top five reasons people are getting divorced.

Now that's the whole of Canada and I've got a friend in Quebec who's told me that almost everybody in Quebec gets married four or five times. In fact that they don't allow females to get take the husband's name because it's just too complicated with all the paperwork keep your own name because we really don't think this is going to last this time either it is so so, you know, I thought what about Christian marriage is the Canada maybe maybe we should look at that and guess what we got stats for that too. Christian marriage is in Canada in 2023 this year. Suggested approximately 20 to 25% of Christian marriages ended in the end in divorce with a higher percentage reported among Millennials or younger generations of believers.

So basically all of that together if you've been a Christian most your life and you're over 50, you're probably in the safest group.

Yeah.

Anyway, don't become So Satisfied.

Because you and I have not been created just to survive this life but to thrive in this life than so husband. You need to learn to love your wife and lay down your life for her just as Christ laid down his life for you. at self-sacrificial And you don't do that. When you come to the altar to say your vows you do that in the day-to-day of everything. Everyday, you lay down and die. Everyday, you put her needs ahead of your own ladies. Don't think that you get away with it. Either you're told to love him and submit to him just as he's told to love you and submit to you. And and your words and your actions are probably the most. Encouraging or damaging that he will ever allow get to get close to his heart.

Marriage is designed that each of us allow the other to bloom and become more and more like Jesus wants them to become like Jesus.

And that means we need to work at reciprocal self-sacrificial love in the day-to-day of every day.

We're going to talk about love and faith today and that's a fairly heavy introduction. So I want to start with prayer and I'm going to I'm going to pray a prayer that Paul prayed over the Church of Ephesus and it's a good prayer. I prayed here.

He said I pray that the god of it pray that out of his glorious riches. He may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that you may dwell and it so that Christ May dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all of the Saints to grasp. How wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ and didn't know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the full measure of the fullness of God now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we asked her imagine according to his power that they work with a Nas to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for fraud all the generations forever and ever amen. God give his ears to hear and hearts to obtain what you want us to do today in Jesus name. Amen.

Paul started his letter to the church in Ephesus with that prayer and it's it's a good one when we're talkin about love and faith.

The problem is we don't understand love English as a terrible job with it. You know, you can love your mom and you can love your hairstyle. You can love your wife and you could love your car. You can love your children and you can love your sports team. What does love mean?

This is really matter. It is so critically important for us not to have the world's view of love. Because God is love and if we have the world's view of love we have the world's view of God.

We need to have the revealed. What God reveals to us? I've hit one of his nature be our guide to who God is and what he does.

It's a revelation and it continues to reveal more and more over time.

You know personally I have chosen to only use love as much as it depends on me only use the word love for people and for God and sometimes pets pets can qualify to but it's it it's stuff. I catch myself daily saying that, you know, I would love to and I got to replace that when I would really enjoy dude, you know, I would love that becomes. I really appreciate that or or I'd love to be able to means I'd really like to and I'm more honest with the language.

We're sloppy in English.

If you were here the last week or I don't know if I did it last week, but if you heard me speak, you know, I like to get into the original languages and see how the original. Heroes of the Bible understood it and so I'm going to tell you the story of how God has shown me. What kind of show me about love?

When I went to my last church when we were seeking God whether or not we should go I I felt him tell me that I was going to learn to love and learn about love sure. Sounds good. Let's go. To love. It's a lot of hard lessons to learn to love and I'm still learning. to learn about love I got to go back.

When I I was raised in the church and as I grew up, I had an understanding that there's letters to words in Greek that are predominantly used for love. There's a couple of more in scripture, but I won't touch on those today phileo and agape. And I understood that agape. Love was God's love for me. You know, I actually forgot so Agape it with the world that he gave his only begotten son that who sure that whosoever believeth in him will not perish but have eternal life.

It's it I understood it was self-sacrificial love it's love that is patient and kind and doesn't Envy or boast and stop proud or rude or is not self-seeking or easily angered. It keeps no records of wrong. It doesn't Delight in evil. But rejoices in the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres love never fails. And that word in First Corinthians is always Agape a copy of a copy and let me off the hook. The think that that's God love for me if that's got love for me. He can expect me to love anyone that way.

The bigger problem for me was my first year of University. I started taking attic Greek in attic Greek is the Greek. They spoke in Athens in the 8th century when it was classical Greek. And as I took that I started reading the Greek new testament, which is written in koine Greek, which is a Greek that came about when Alexander the Great conquered and this was more of a it was a later Greek and so some of the rules are different but a lot of the words are the same so I could read with what I know of scripture. I could read the scripture and understand it and I found some really crazy things happening with my understanding of a capo. In John 13:13 319 John 3:19. The judgment is based on the fact that God's that light came into the world. But the people Agape of the darkness more than the light for their actions were evil. Or Jesus told the Pharisees in Luke 11 34. This is what the Sorel that awaits you Pharisees for you Agape. Oh to sit in the seats of Honor in the synagogues and to receive respectful three things as you walk in the marketplace 2nd Timothy 4 10 Paul tells Timothy Dimas has deserted me because he had got Bail the things in this life and it's gone to hell and like that. And John tells us in 1st John 2 1/5 of 2:15. Do not Agape all this world or the things that offers you for when you Agape all the world. You do not have the copy of the father in you.

I was confused for a number of years. Like I basically decided that the Greeks were like ice when it came to love and you could love God or you could love ice cream didn't have ice cream, but it's the same thing.

Is it could describe anything from the nearest and Dearest?

something that happened on TV the Greeks generally aren't that sloppy when it comes to language, but I had to let it ride for a few years cuz I wasn't getting nothing from anybody.

So when I went to the lab my last church, I decided to really seek God and try to understand phileo and agape. until I'd study it and pray about it and think about it and try to see what was going on and I remember the day I was sitting in my office and I was I was I was trying to figure it out. And I knew that figlio had to be emotional love because that's only what how it makes sense when you read it. and then the thought that was smarter than me dropped into my head, and I thought well, maybe Agape o means It's a love. That's a decision.

And I started reading Bible verses and if it made sense.

You know, I could choose to love the world or I could choose to love God. I could choose to love a compliment or I could choose to love people.

I could choose the love and choose to be patient and choose to be kind and choose not to boast or Envy or be proud or rude.

If I started say I search Diane narrowed my search and I said is a copy of love it love a decision and I found all of these people that I trusted his pastures and with the illusions that I was reading talk about the same thing that Agape owe is love. That's a decision. And it totally blew open my mind.

Because all of a sudden it wasn't this love the God had that I could never hope to attain. But it was a love that I could choose to do that. I could only attain if. Help me to attain it.

Interesting Lee enough. I'm learning a new above start a new bible program. I've had it for years, but I got the newest version and I don't know how to use it intimidates me. It's like every time I search in it, it just gives me all this information. I just go on rabbit trails in it, you know, it's at the sermon takes so much longer when I'm searching all this other stuff. Anyway, I tried it and I I found something really interesting to me.

Agape is commanded in the New Testament. Vallejo is never commanded in the New Testament. How cool is that parents? Have you ever told your kids be happy does it work? You can't you can't come and emotions. You can't you can command a decision that's in the will of God and he we could be commanded to love each other this way. It's pretty cool.

What if you could redefine your understanding of love? And not be sit on the experience you had in the world but to see the possibility about what it means to have a God who loves you and empowers you to accomplish every good work prompted by your feet, including loving God and others and loving others so that they can love God and love others.

what would the supernatural flow of God's love naturally flowing through you and to you to others and back to God feel like Where it's not something you have to put effort into it, but you never actually want to love people this way. I will change your life. how to change the way you drive in Edmonton

and I have to confess a few things this week. Anyway, it was kind of funny because Totally in the side that was merging onto the Hindi and this person in the Middle Lane been signal and decided to come into my lane. Like my other lane was disappearing and I had to get into this Lane and he's just me and I'm just like I do hand actions and I wasn't really yelling but it looked like I was yelling. Hey, so that

anyway God the Holy Spirit to drive in Hemet.

So today we're going to talk about how to add a copy of love to face

In a couple weeks, you'll learn how to Philadelphia love love for each other. Anyway 2nd Peter 1 5 2 9. I don't think I've ever read it in the NIV to you. It says in view of all this make every effort to respond to God's promises supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence and moral Excellence with knowledge and without self-control in with self-control patients endurance and with patient endurance with godliness and with God in his brotherly affection. That's Philadelphia and with brotherly affection agape love for everyone the more you grow like this the more productive and useful that you will be in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, but those who fail to develop this way are short-sighted and blind for getting that they have been cleansed. By their own sins. Wow.

One of the locations in Scripture that we see phileo love and agape love. Up like that that there's her. There's a significant difference between the two and so in Greek that you use one for emotional love and one for love. That's a decision.

When we look at Faith and love in scripture, we see the face and love come from Jesus and faith and love in. Jesus will be preserved by Holy Spirit. Faith and love are both fruits of the spirit. Faith without love make us nothing faith and love is an armor for us to be clear-headed. And Faith expressing itself in love is the only thing that really matters.

How do you add the decision to love to face? That's a great question. I'm so glad you asked. We have the how to delight yourself in the Lord tool to go through today. Comes from psalm 37:4 delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. What I found over the years is when I Delight myself in Lord. I wanted his desires for me. That's so if I want his desires for me, he will give me those desires way more easily.

delight yourself in the Lord you're going to do all you do that all do all that you do in love you're going to examine your walk. You're going to let his love build your face. You're going to initiate forgiveness. You going to grasp a greater revelation of love? You're going to have your faith expressed in love and you're going to thrive with love. So the D do all you can in love the verse comes from 1st Corinthians 16 for do everything with love. Everything with love if you ever like, what does that look like?

What does that look like in the day-to-day of every day?

The good news is I think the good news is we can only do this with holy spirit's help. And the better news is he has promised to empower you to accomplish every good work prompted by faith. so You want to do go to work? She's going to prompt you to do that works and he's going to uncomplicate. It was good works through you.

What does the plug look like for 1st Corinthians?

13 Windows 7

All rights, and he says that if I could speak all the languages of Earth and Angels, but didn't love others I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal If I had the gift of Prophecy if I understood all of God's secret plans and possible possessed all of his knowledge, and if I had such faith I could move mountains, but I didn't love others. I would be nothing. If I gave everything I had to Devore even sacrifice my body I could boast about it. But if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient love is kind love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It doesn't demand its own way. It's not irritable. It keeps no records of being wrong. It doesn't Rejoice about Injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out love never gives up. It never loses faith. It is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.

That's agape love for you. Those are all decisions. We can make those are all decisions. We need to walk out in faith. How do you love never fails? You can't do that on your own strength. You're going to be offended in life. How are you going to let love win?

What does Bob look like when your Temporaries is up? And you want Justice to rain meaning they got to see things your way.

This is very pertinent to our life. It's very we want to be more like Jesus. Jesus wants us to be more like Jesus.

And by the way, did you know? In Romans when it says he works all things together for good. We we like that first, right? You know how he defines good to form you more and more into the image of his son. That's what's good. It's not that I have. You know, it's all rainbows and sunshine for me. It means that he is making me more and more like the good son. He had he loves.

Question we can ask ourselves are my good works prompted by faith. I'm in love. Do I do all that I do in love.

He reminds us in the light to examine your walk.

John 13:34 says now I'm giving you a new commandment love each other for just as I have loved you. You should love each other for your loved one. Another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

Love is this isn't significant Mark of face that they should know. We are his because of our love.

We can't say we love God and not have it not make a difference in our life we can.

We can play fake it or need to love other humans by giving to whatever charity that of the week that's out there or we can really love.

John Wright's in first John

47221 says dear friends. Let us continue to love one another for love comes from God. And anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God, but anyone who does not love does not know God for God is love. God has showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only son into the world so that we might have a turn of life through him and this is real love not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. dear friends since God loved us that much we surely ought to love one another no one has ever seen God, but if we love each other God lives in us and his love is brought to full expression in

and if God has given us and God has given us his spirit is proof that we live in him and he and us further more than we have seen with our own eyes and I'll testify that the father sent his son to be the savior of the world all who declare that Jesus is the son of God have God living in them and they live in God and we know how much God loves us and we have put our trust in his love God is love and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them. As we live in God our love grows more and more perfect. The will not be afraid on that day of judgment because we can face him with confidence because we we live like Jesus is here in this world such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid it's for fear of punishment in the shows. We have not been fully experience this perfect love but we love each other because he loved us first if someone says, I love God and hates his fellow Believers that person is a liar for we don't love people we can see now, how can we love God whom we cannot see and he's giving us his command those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

We need to be God with flash on two people that we meet. in the day-to-day of our everyday

it occurred to me this week that a lot of a level one love one another commands in scripture line up with the definition of love. We see in 1st Corinthians 13, and I just this is me just throw them together. I'm not saying this is the way it is. I'm just saying it it really is need how it works out. I love we we were told to love one. Another multiple times love is patient. We need to be at peace with one another we need to wait for one. Another love is kind. We need to be kind to one another we need to show hose Hospitality to one another we need to have fellowship with one another we need to wash one. Another's feet does not boast. We agree with one another we live in harmony with one another love is not jealous. We don't envy one another we submit to one another love is not proud. We honor one another be humble towards one another live in harmony with one another love is not rude. We greet one another we welcome one and Love is not self-seeking we bear with one another. We don't speak against one. Another love is not easily angered. We we don't do not provoke one another we don't we do not judge one another. It keeps no records of wrong. We forgive one another it does not Delight in evil. But rejoices with the truth. We speak the truth. The one another we confess our sins to one another love always protect we care for one another we do good to one another we bear one another's burdens. We Comfort one another love always trust. We serve one another we instruct one another we teaching admonish one another love always hopes. We encourage one another we build one another up. We exhort one another love always perseveres. We pray for one another we sink the One Another Love Never Fails. We stir up one another to love and good works. I typed this was not is too much to put on the back of this page. If you want, it'll be on our blog post that we have later today, but does my love show my face? Do I let my love show my face? Do people know I'm a Christian because of my love. That's the question we can ask.

So we do all that we can in love with examine our walk. An L. We let his love build our faith. Jude 1 The only one chapter and Jude 20 and 21, but you dear friends must build each other up in your Most Holy Faith praying in the power of the Holy Spirit and wait for the mercies of our Lord. Jesus Christ will bring you to eternal life and this way you will keep yourself safe in God's love as you build each other up in the Most Holy Faith. You'll keep yourself safe in God's love. How do you build yourself up you bringing the Holy Spirit and you wait for his coming Mercy.

Building up your face keeps you in God's love God's love also build your faith the more, you know an experience his love the more the more that you trust the more that you trust in the more faith you have and I've got an image up here that you can see that kind of tries to illustrate what I'm trying to say here the face build into trust for the face building to love love goes in the trust Faith was in the love love goes in the trust. I think Faith there's a case to be made that face starts at 4. You can experience love but honestly what it says, it's all just a mess here faith and love love and faith love and faith love feed them. Love it it did they build up each other. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Look at what it says in Romans 8:35.

it says can anything separate us from Christ's love? Doesn't mean we will know he no longer loves us if we have trouble or kill Calamity or persecuted or hungry or destitute or endangered or threatened with death as scripture save for your sake. We are killed every day. We are being slaughtered like sheep know despite these things overwhelming Victory Is Ours through Christ who love a loved us and I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love neither death nor life neither Angels or demons or fears of for today or a worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love no power in the sky above or the earth below indeed. Nothing in all of creation. Will it be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our lord do you get excited when you hear that I get excited my face gets build up the word build up my face my face, but I I fall more and more in love with God. He loves me like that man. He's easy to love.

Do I let love build my faith? That's the question we can ask ourselves. Do all that you do in love examine your walk let his his love build your fave. I is initiate forgiveness. 1st Peter 4:8 says above all love each other deeply for love covers a multitude of sins.

The only way for love to cover a multitude of sins is there to be is for there to be confession and repentance and forgiveness.

Confession and repentance is for the one who performed the sin of commission or Omission that is you did the thing you should have done against the other person or you didn't do the thing you needed to do for the other person. When we realize that fact, we need to be reconciled as soon as possible. Jesus said when you're at the temple, and you're bringing your offering in your room you remember someone has something against you you leave that offering go and be reconciled with your brother or sister and then come and give your offering to God it is that important this horizontal relationship so dramatically affect our vertical relationship with God. We need to be reawakened to that. It's not Jesus and me. It's us in Jesus.

It matters.

We know when we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, but will the one we've offended choose to be reconciled. Confession is on me alone. When I send confession and repentance it. It's not really on the other person reconciliation is the only thing that's on the other person. The same is true with forgiveness. I can't wait for someone to come and ask for forgiveness. before I forgive them because forgiveness is about me and my relationship with God. Reconciliation is my relationship with the other person forgiveness. I need to make forgiveness has three things forgiveness is a choice I decide to forgive it's a decision. It is a an action. Jesus said bless those who curse you pray for those who persecute you in some way some safe way you bless that person who's done something bad to you. and 3rd You actually get to feel forgiveness. And if you don't feel forgiveness after you've done the first two, you just need a little help. Holy spirit will show you what you're not trusting God in but when you get to that point, you can feel forgiveness every time. That's what Jesus said. He said forget with your whole heart. What is your whole heart? It's your decision you decide to forgive it is your is your your action you choose to bless and it's your emotion. You feel the joy of forgiving the peace that comes only when you forgive.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:14 to 15. I think that would be up. There we go. You said if you forgive those who? If you forgive those who sin against you your heavenly father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins.

Question you can ask is. As my love cover a multitude of sins.

It doesn't say cover over an excuse and ignore.

when

initiate forgiveness to delight yourself in the Lord

the G and the light reminds us that we grasp a great revelation of God's love Visions 3:19 to 2018 to 19 plus Drive. Oh, yeah me you have the power to understand is all God's people should how wide and how long and how deep and wide long high deep is his love and meet you experience the love of Christ though. It's too great to understand fully and you'll be made complete to the fullness of life in the power that comes from God.

Your face grows as you become more and more like the son who he loves.

I mean as you trust God more and more your faith grows more and more and you experience more and more of God's love for you and you have more and more of God's love in you that you can share with others. Okay?

More and more. It's an ever-growing Revelation. You you you've been married for a long time. You realize like that first infatuation love that you we have is a really cool thing. But but you love your spouse way more 25 years after the fact that you ever could at the star the same is true with God and this God here. You're never going to figure him out. Husband Joel ever figure out your wives wives you'll never figure out your husband. But God is even bigger than that. God is even bigger than that. And and he is every time he reveals himself. It's good. He reveals himself as good.

John 15

Matthew John, nope John 15:9 says Jesus is speaking. He says I have loved you even as the father has loved me remain in my love. When you obey my Commandments you remain in my love just as I obey my father's Commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things that you will be filled with joy. Yes your joy will overflow. This is my commandment love each other in the same way that I have loved you.

Didn't know if I had to stop reading there it's good going on but to get a greater revelation of love you need to abide in his off the more you abide in his love. You abide in him his words abide in you? The more you abide in that place of safety the more Your Love crows for those around you and towards God the more Your Love Grows the more your faith increases the more your faith grows.

Question is do I abide in Christ's love.

So did the delight yourself in the Lord you do all that. You do in love you examine your walk you let his love build your faith you initiate forgiveness you grasp a greater revelation of God and ages reminds us to have your faith Express in love glacias 56 when we place our faith in Christ Jesus. There's no benefit of being circumcised or uncircumcised. What's important is Faith expressing yourself in love. I need to give you the context here. Book of Galatians Paul start out. He doesn't even put his name in the started. He just starts out. Who and he's he's upset. He is totally upset because Galician galatia is a Greek speaking shirt like critiquing gets Greeks in this church. And a bunch of Jewish Believers from Jerusalem came up and told them if they wanted to be real Christians. I had to be circumcised. And they believed them and so they got circumcised at and Paul is totally like you can't learn anything from God. So why you trying to earn it this way and an actually we have we don't that the Greek word he uses like he says that I wish those people causing me trouble would not only circumcised themselves, but I'm acting like themselves that word emasculate isn't the real word that he uses but we translate it that way in English because we don't say those words that Paul used in church. Honestly, it's stitches. We don't say those words with the words. He is I'm going to do my own translation of the Bible and you will be shocked the way Paul right to anyway.

Faith is made complete true. Love. He comes out of that comes out of that whole tirade that he has and he says that's the only thing that matters is Faith expressing itself in love. It doesn't matter if you're Jewish doesn't matter if you're the only thing that matters is Faith expressing itself in love.

Jesus told us that we can tell a lot about people by their fruit. in Matthew seven fifteen to twenty says beware of false prophets who come this guy's is harmless sheep or really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit. That is the way they act can you pick grapes from a thornbush for figs from a thistle a good tree produces good fruit in a bad tree produces bad fruit that good for you can produce bad fruit and a bad free camp Camp produce good fruit every tree that does not produce good fruit is chop down and thrown into the fire. Yes, you can identify a tree by its fruit so you can identify people by their actions. Question, you can ask yourselves as do people see my good works and glorify my father who is in who is in heaven?

You'll be deluding yourself in God when you can say that yeah. I'm doing what they see. It's they know it can't be me. It's got to be God here.

I have your faith Express in love.

the final t Reminds us to thrive in love and I just I've read it already, but I wanted to highlight it first Corinthians 13:2 if I have the gift of Prophecy and can fathom all Mysteries and knowledge if I have faith that can move mountains, but don't have love I am nothing.

Do you have faith without love and have nothing? We can have love without faith and whatever we do is only good for this life or less.

A promise from God is it in this life? He is with us. And in the next for all eternity we get to be with him.

Look at what Paul wrote to the church in Rome in Rome Romans 5:1 to 11. He says therefore since we have been made right in God's sight by faith. We have peace with God because of what Christ Our Lord has done for us because our faith because of our faith Christ has brought us into the place of undeserved privilege where we now stand and where we come confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing of God's glory. We can Rejoice too when we run into problems and trials for we know that they help to develop endurance and endurance develops strength of character and strength of character develops or come up with that hold the salvation and this hope will not lead to disappointment, but we know how dearly God loves us because he has given us of the Holy Spirit. fill our hearts with his love when we were utterly helpless game price came Joe just at the right time and he died for us sinners. Now. Most people would not be willing to die for not break person though. Some might be perhaps be willing to die for a person who's especially good but God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still Sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of the Lamb. He will certainly save us from God's condemnation for since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his son while we were still in tamizh. We will certainly be saved to the life of his son through the life of his son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made his friends again with God.

You rejoice in your wonderful relationship with God? He's made his friends again. That's what the word reconciliation means to be made friends again with God.

Because we have been reconciled to God we have been made ministers of reconciliation. and we can help others be reconciled to God we can tell others be reconciled to each other in love we can tell in love others.

Delighting yourself in God is really about trusting him to work all things together for good understanding. That is I'm going to be made more and more into the image of God. We do that he is good and we can trust him when we trust and we can cast your cares on him because we know he cares for us. You don't have to worry about anything. We can pray about everything and give thanks in all things because that is Will for us.

We Delight ourselves in him.

He gives us the desires of our heart.

Our desires become his desires.

I started my reading Paul's prayer to the church in Ephesus. And I think that's a fitting way for us to close. Will you stand with me and I will read this an addiction or are you?

Oh Lord, God.

I thank you that you rejoice over us with singing. Help us to realize that today Lord and respond to your great love.

By loving you and loving others.

Elvis to choose to love when it's difficult to love.

help us to choose to forgive when it seems impossible to feel like we'll ever be able to forgive.

I pray Lord that out of your glorious riches you strengthen us with power through your spirit in our inner being so that Christ May dwell in our hearts through faith. And I pray that us being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp. How wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ in San Jose This Love that surpasses knowledge. So that will be filled to the measure the fullness of God that people will see you when they see us that people will know that their love because we love them with your love. I pray Lord. I Thank you that you are able to do immeasurably more than we asked her imagine according to the power that sit work within us Lord the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in all of us it enables us to do what you want us to do it enables us to love who you want us to love it enables us to forgive who you want us to forgive. It's the same power that split the temple curtain up from top to bottom lord. It's the same power that said I will Not be apart from my people any longer.

Lord you are with us.

To you be the glory in the church in the Christ Jesus through it all generations forever and ever amen and amen go in the grace of God you got anything else to say service is dismissed.

Oh my soul.