"Established in the Faith" By Brother Parrish Lee July 16th,
2017
You may be seated, Saints. Can you imagine? When I was in school—I was raised Muslim. I wasn't raised to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; I was raised to know Him as a prophet, as somebody who was supposed to do the great will of Allah, and fall in line. And the greater prophet who came after Him was the prophet Mohammed. That's what I was raised to know. And when I would hear people like all of y'all sing, “Oh, When the Saints Go Marching In,” I would only think about a marching band, and what in the world are you guys talking about? Marching in, where? And what number you guys talking about? Everything about that escaped me. Didn't realize that. Never tasted of that before the Lord Jesus Christ touched my life. And, then, it's just that one day, when the Lord touches you, and He shows you that He has so much, yeah, for everybody, for everybody. But, so much for you, so much for you. Yes. I'm one of those who had to make a Macedonian call, “I need Your help! I need Your help, Almighty God! I need You, I need You!” And I'm now one of those that says, “I can't wait to be in that number!” I mean, I don't want to die. Anybody here want to die? Nobody wants to die. We want to live a nice long life, be comfortable, have a bigger screen TV, bigger car, bigger everything... They say the only thing Americans want is just one thing: A little bit more. They say that's what American's really want; that's all they want. But, just to know, just to know that this place we talk about, this place we sing about is place that is so real, and our eyes haven't even seen, and our ears haven't even really heard, neither has entered into our hearts what He has really prepared fro us, but the Bible says that He revealeth them to us by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). Amen. You know, when we were going, when we were talking about those who were evangelizing—that's the message today; if we haven't gotten that, let's get that now. Our message today is going to be talking about evangelizing. Seems like God has been speaking to several people about the same thing. Amen. That's how you know it's God. We have taken for a thought, for the months of July and August, the books of First and Second Thessalonians. And I pray that it's been encouraging so far. I tell you, I've received so much just going over it myself. My prayer is always that it's not just internal, but that it's external; it's shared amongst us all. The books of First and Second Thessalonians. But, as a thought for today, we'd like to go to the Book of Acts, chapter sixteen, verses six through ten. Acts 16:6-10 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. If we could just bow our heads for just a moment. Almighty God, we come before You and thank You. You are the only One, God, who does exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or think. You are the only One who is worthy. You are the One that we make our appeal, and we submit our souls to. God, You are the One. We thank You for what You have done for us at all times, and, yes, this morning, this day, to be able to come before You, Almighty One, and worship, and lift Your name in praise, and knowing the beauty of holiness. And, God, we ask now that, as You have blessed so much, we ask for a blessing as we go over Your Word, and let it to do, just as You told us, God, that it would not return unto You void, but it would surely accomplish that to which You sent it. And, God, we submit, and pray, and claim all this in Jesus' name, and everyone said amen. Amen. So, we've taken for a thought from the Books of First and Second Thessalonians, actually the whole books, and we've taken for our theme for the month, we have it right here—I don't know if everybody can see it. It's sitting right here, and it says: 1 Thessalonians 2:12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. Our Scripture theme for the month. But, to set as a background for the Book of Thessalonians, we see here, as we went to the Book of Acts, which, actually, is the actions that led to what we are reading here today. So, the acts, in the Book of Acts, sixteen, verses six and seven, we see that they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to go and take that to Asia. And, then, they—and you know how these people are, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And this shouldn't be so far—we can't allows ourselves to get to the point where, the place where we say, “Well, why is the Spirit forbidding them—If God's all-powerful and all-mighty, why isn't He allowing them to go?” He can do all things! But, sometimes, we might be ready, but, where we're going, those people aren't ready. We might want to, but the situation hasn't fully come to fruition. I got saved when I was twenty-one, but God spoke to me when I was nineteen, and, at nineteen, He told me I wasn't ready. Two and a half years it took for me to get ready. And, so, this, this is something that we could—all of us, all of us have gone through this: We want to take it somewhere; we want to share with somebody; we want somebody else to know how precious this wonderful Word of God is. And, sometimes, we want to take it to members of our family, and, as we open our mouths, and we think we're going to have a conversation about something, we see that the door, not only is the door not open, but the door isn't even in that section of the house. Sometimes we say, “Well, maybe there's a crack I can deliver some part of Godliness in,” but we see, yeah, they have fortified that pretty well. They might know, and you might share something, and they'll go change the subject, right in the midst, letting you know, “No, no, not here, not now.” So, if God won't open the door, there's no place for us to walk through. But, as much as they wanted to go to these places, we see here, in verse number nine, “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him,” A vision! A vision! “saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” Come over to Macedonia and help us. So, now, there is provided direction. And we need to say this: There is a reason why fishermen were included in the disciples. See, when the angels spake, about the birth of our Lord and Savior, they came to the shepherds, and the shepherd are the watchers and the tenders to the flock. But, when the Lord came—yeah, there was twelve disciples, but, a few of them were fishermen. And we know that, because He talked about it, He made examples of it. A few of them are fishermen, because the purpose, the purpose of a fisherman is to cast the net out, and draw them in. And there is a reason why that had to start with people like that, because the message had to go forth everywhere. It had to go forth in spirit, it had to go forth in knowledge. It had to go. And, yes, the shepherds are included, for there has to be tenders of God's flock, there has to be tenders of His flock. So, as they heard the message to go over to Macedonia, it says, “...we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.” So, the background is that they had the zeal, and then God had to give them the knowledge on where to apply this effort they had in themselves. In the Book of First Thessalonians, chapter three, verse number one; Thessalonica, by the way, is, is in Macedonia. So, as Apostle Paul writes the letters to the Thessalonians, he says here, in verse number one: 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2 Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone; And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith: And, so, if we were to look at chapter one and chapter two, they were desiring to know how the Thessalonians were doing, how these people of Thessalonica were doing. And, so, they couldn't stand it no more; they needed to know, so they sent somebody to them, they sent Timotheus. And this Timotheus, they mention three things about him: They called him they called him, “Our brother.” Our brother. And, to say that, they're saying that, “We didn't just send a messenger to you. We sent somebody to you that loves like we love. The same blood that we have. The same Father that we have. The same care that we have.” And, he went on to mention, not just a brother, but also a minister of God, a minister of God. So, not only is this person of the same blood, but he is also a minister. Now, nowadays, when you say minister, you practically expect to see a collar, and that white thing that's there, or you expect to see something big, you expect to see a minister walk a certain way. Nowadays it has evolved into something where—not every place, but some places—a minister expects certain things to be attributed to him. You know, it's popular, all over the world. And it's not everybody, it's not everybody by any stretch of the imagination, but, the truth of the matter is, when it says a minister, when you look that up, this minister was a servant. This minister was a servant, one who executes the commands of another, who watchfully attends to, and he helps; that was this call of a minister. Now, in some fringes, that whole thing has gotten backwards, when ministers expect people to serve them, rather than them going to serve the people. And, when this call was made, he says, “We couldn't take it anymore; we needed somebody to go to you that was going to be just like us. We needed somebody to go to you that was going to help you, that was going to care for you.” And, he calls him a fellow, a fellow-laborer. A fellow-laborer, in other words, one who labors in the Gospel, not only like they labor in the Gospel, but who labors in the Gospel with the disciples. Somebody who's not out there doing his own thing. All you guys, Arman, Kirk, Ed, all you guys, and Mary, all you guys came up here and you shared, and I was like, “Y'all done took up half the message. Look what y'all done talked about. Must've read the notes.” Or, that same God is giving that same understanding to all of His ministers. Amen. What a God. What a God. Fellow-laborer. Fellow-laborer. So, the disciples, once they sent him, they sent Timothy, and they expected somebody who was going to go there and help them ad work with them, somebody ho was going to go there and love with them, and have the same blood as they would. And, he went there for a specific reason. Why, why somebody who would do specifically these three things? Why? Because, administratively, they could have sent a scribe, and just record everything. They could've sent somebody who would have just been a recorder, or they could have sent somebody that could take an assessment, and evaluate, and say, “Well, what they need is this and this, and maybe they could build that and that.” But that's not who they sent. They sent this brother, this minister, this fellow-laborer, and, he says, in verse number two, “We sent him, specifically, to establish you, and to comfort you in the faith.” Now, who doesn't want that? Honestly, when you come to the Lord, when anybody comes to the Lord, you know what they want? You know what we want? We want to learn, but, yes, we want to find our place in God. We want to be established in God. If God has a house, I need to have a place in that house. If God has a tree, I need to be a part of that tree. Where—God, You tell me where I belong, because I need to be established in the faith. And, and, to comfort them. Now, when it says, “to comfort them,” they also want, not just to know their place, but they want to know that the path that they're following is right, what they're believing is right, what they adhere to is right, what they read in their evaluation and their assessment is right, what people tell other people about them is right. “God, we want to be established. We want to know our place in You. And, Lord, we want to be comforted to know that the path that we're following, or, how we labor, all of that, is lining up with the way that God would have it. This is the purpose that Timothy was sent. A few months ago, a few months ago, some of us know the case of our brother, Mike Hooks, and, yes, he's passed, and, actually, for those who haven't heard, they way it has worked—and Andy and I have done a lot of work with this, with the family and the whole condition, and, many of you know, the situation has not been a perfect situation, but, the funeral is going to be this Tuesday down in Joliet. And that is so that the military can do the whole military funeral, which is one of the things that he asked for, specifically wanted, and you have to line up to the time that they have available, and it's a lot of work for all of us. We understand it's far away, it's in the daytime, it's in the middle of a workday, so, we expressed to the family, there's probably not going to be a lot of people from the church family who are going to be able to make that. And they understood, they understood, so there's going to be a memorial sometime later in Chicago with the family and whoever else will be able to attend. Unfortunately, as Angela said, that flooding also cause us not to have the memorial we wanted to have last Wednesday, but God knows our hearts, amen? Well, a few months ago, when Brother Mike Hooks fell sick, and, thanks to be to God, the church family could visit. He had many visitors. But, one particular visit that he brought back up was, Pastor Paine, he was going throughout the country; the doctor told him he needed a little R & R, so he was visiting churches on his motorcycle. And, he had passed the call to us. He said he was going to be visiting, and he'd like to stop by, blah, blah blah. And he said, “What's on the pipe for that time frame?” And we said, “Well, Pastor, one of the things is Mike Hooks. He's sick,” and he said, “Okay, it's done. When are visiting?” And we gave him a certain time. And so, we went over there, and we visited him, and, when we got there, Saints—yeah, this is part of the message; extensively, to comfort you, specifically—when we got there, he had the ventilation tube down his throat, and he was heavily sedated. His eyes were open, but he was sedated, and, every now and then, you would see a tear come out his eye, and, when we got there, he looked bad. He looked bad. But, we got there, and we talked like he would be talking back to us. We said cheerful things, we said encouraging things, and that might ha been twenty or twenty-five minutes, and the nurse came in and said, "Oh, it's time to do something else," and she looked at Pastor Paine, and looked at us, and said, "Oh, I suppose you guys want to pray." Amen, of course we want to pray. And she said she just wanted to give us the time, and, so, we laid hands and we prayed with him, and, of course, again, heavily sedated, with the ventilator and everything going in him, and then we left. What do you expect to happen? You don't know what's going to happen. Let me tell you what happened: So, maybe two weeks later, i was able to go with somebody else—I can't remember, there was so many people that visited the brother in the hospital—went over to visit him again, and, the next time we went over to visit him, he was sitting up in the hospital bed, he was shining, and all bright, and he was laughing and joking and encouraging and sharing and he was talking about getting down to business, and there's more that God had for him to do. And he looked at me, and he said, "brother Parrish, I've got to tell you, you know, I was in a bad way, but, when I looked over, and I saw Pastor Paine walk in, and I saw you walk in behind him," and he said, "and y'all just talked with me, and you encouraged me," he said, "and it crossed my mind, and I got to thinking, 'Lord, if these guys love me, and care for me, then maybe you do, too.'" And he said that put him on the road, that, "I need to get more down to business with God." That made him to know that God had a place for him. Taking comfort of the words of those who serve that one true and wise God, that we might be comforted in the faith. And, verse number three: 1 Thessalonians 3:3 That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. Now I just have to say this: we are appointed, appointed, Apostle Paul says, appointed unto our afflictions, the things we go through. Now, this is a quick principle of leadership, and we have to say this: If you ever have a burden for anything, don't expect a nice, new table to be set for you, and a smorgasbord of help to come your way. Don't expect that. They tell me—I was in the service, too—and, you know, a ship has a special design. And, at the front part of the ship—what do you call the front part of the ship? The bow. What is that thing of the very front part of the ship, where it—bull-nose It's called a bull-nose? Yeah? I thought it was called something else. Whatever it's called—I'm taking your word for it, Brother Jay—the bull-nose, and that's all real boats who are about getting somewhere have those, especially when they run deep. If it's just going to skim on the surface, it could be flat. But, if it's going to run deep, it has to have that crest that's going to break the waves, it has to have that point. And they say that point has to be one of the strongest points of the ship, because that, is going to have to, literally, separate them. That is going to bear the brunt of most storms and waves. And, of there is some debris out there, that's what's going to hit it. So, he says, “We are appointed unto affliction. Because we're taking this Gospel out, and, whatever the burden is that's on your life, if you have a burden, even for your family, you have to expect to endure some things. And, if you have a burden for your family, and school, you have to expect to endure and break some waves. And, your family, school, and ministry, you have to expect you're going to have to beak some waves. It ain't supposed to be easy; it's supposed to be victorious. It's supposed to be an overcoming thing. It's supposed be something that you see, you break, and God gets the glory. That's what is supposed to happen. So, the apostle says, “Don't be moved by our afflictions, because we were supposed to go through this. Verse four: 1 Thessalonians 3:4-5 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain. The tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. Not that they were tempted, we all go through that. This is important, too: We all go through temptation, yes, we are supposed to go through temptation. But he says, “That our labor be in vain.” We're supposed to go through temptation, we're supposed to call on He who is greater than anything we face. That is the purpose of this whole thing. “Oh, God, I am facing this. I am sick.” “Yeah, you're sick? Call on me for a healing.” “God, you know what? The bills, they just came in too many, and the pay came in too short.” Oh, you need a blessing? Call on Him who is able to give exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ask, or even think. “Well, God, You just don't know. There's a situation in my family; we've got problems in the house.” Call on Him who is able to supersede everything you go through, and watch God work. “God, we've been in Egypt, in slavery. Where are we going to go? We've got no place to go.” “Stretch forth your hand,” He told them, “and see the salvation of the Lord.” God is in the saving business! So, it shouldn't be hidden, anything we go through as Christians. I've got to say this, too: Christians ain't supposed to mope around. They ain't supposed to walk around, holding their heads, “Oh, Woe is me. You just don't know what I'm going through!” That ain't Christian. That's a pity-party, and the Lord Jesus didn't have any of those. “We've got seven thousand people we need to feed. Sit down, thank You, God, and eat.” “Oh, God, Lazarus is dead!” “Hold your peace. Lazarus, come forth!” “Oh, God, You don't know what I'm going through!” Of course He knows what we're going through. “God, I need this!” “Well, then, ask, My sons and My daughters, and see if I won't pour you out a blessing that you won't even be able to receive all of it.” That's the God, that's the God we're talking about! So, he says, “I could no longer forebear, I needed to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain.” Now, this is a tiding, this is a tiding. See, Timothy had to bring news back, how good they were doing, but this actually ties into verses six and seven, straightaway. 1 Thessalonians 3:6 But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you: So Timothy brought them back some good news of how they were doing. And they said they looked forward to seeing him again, meaning, that what they found in the disciples was something precious enough to look forward to it a second time. When I was—there's been times when I've been in the faith, and—what do they say? They say honest confession is good for the soul—there's been a time or two of going to church, maybe, everything wasn't just right with me. “But, you know, I don't really want anybody to call me, and everything. Oh, it's going to be a mess if I don't go, so I've got to go.” And, after I get there, it's like, “Oh, the problem wasn't out there; the problem was in here (pointing to his heart), and God fixes this. Now that labor ain't in vain. So, when Timothy came back and said that there's a good report, and they remember how special he was. They were encouraged by that, just the way people are encouraged by your labor. They're encouraged by what they see. Did you ever face a battle, and you get encouraged because you know that you ain't alone, you know that somebody else has fought a similar battle? You know that there is testimony of people that have gone through what you are going through, and God delivered them, too. “If God delivered them, then He can also...” You ever face anything like that? You see, there's a reason, there's a reason why we sing certain songs. There's a reason why we can say, “I know God's got my back, because, when I sing songs like, 'Holy Is the Lord,' 'Open the Eyes of My Heart,' 'Jesus, Lover of My Soul,' 'I Shall Not Be Moved,' 'Lord, Your Presence Is Heaven to Me.' It don't have to be a solo; it's a choir song. It's a choir song because there is strength in numbers. Isn't it good to know, that when you sing that, and you can hear other people sing it, you know they need it as well as you. And that same grace that is covering you is also in their lives. Verse number six: 1 Thessalonians 3:6 But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you: He brought us good tidings of your faith and of your charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always. When Timothy came back, these three things, specifically, that he told the disciples about them: He told them about the faith they had, and the charity that they had, and that they remembered. Now, the faith means they're holding fast to the Gospel. The charity means that they're putting it in an example, they're putting it in action. But, they remembered. Now, there is a reason why this is important, that they remembered. You know when you don't remember things, when you forget things, you know what enters in? When you remember things, especially in the faith, you remember that it's yoked with somebody, it belongs to them, and it includes others. But, when you forget that, usually what happens and what comes in—“I forgot that somebody else taught that, that shared that, they helped me with that, and, so, I get to thinking, 'It's about me; I can do it on my own. I don't really need anybody else.'” It becomes more self-centered, self-focused. And, then, you , eventually, you have to get corrected on that, by Him who is the giver of all things. And this is an easy principle. This is an easy principle, because, many of you who are parents, when your children become adolescents, maybe even before they become adolescents, sometimes they forget what was done for them, or what was given to them. And, you, being the good parents that you are, have to teach them and remind them, sometimes to the extent of taking away that which they have. And then they are put in remembrance, “Oh, I didn't get here on my own. This was helped unto me.” And, lest week take it for granted, the same exists wherever we go, even to the place where we work I had an issue with somebody that was complaining about the job, and the manager said, “You don't like it, you really don't think this is good enough for you, there's the door.” And, all of the sudden, he started remembering. He remembered what the job did for him. He remembered he liked having food on his table. He remembered he liked having gas in his car, and a car that was paid for. He remembered not having to go home and have to answer to his wife why they weren't going to have food on the table or gas in the car. Yeah, it is amazing how quickly we can be put in remembrance. Verse number seven: 1 Thessalonians 3:7 Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith: By your faith. We were comforted, and we felt strengthened by what you shared, and how you lived, showing, “Oh, man, it might have been a battle for me today, but, what the believers exhibited, and how they lived, and what they show, that is a comfort to my life. Anybody ever come to you, not asking for something—plenty of people come to you asking for something—but, anybody ever come to you not asking for something, but they might reach out their hand and say, “Hey, bro, hey, sis, how you doing? God bless you. It is wonderful to see you.” Not asking for anything, just naturally caring for you. Doesn't it just do something for you? Or even, or even, as Brother Kirk mentioned, even if you have a need at the home, and some people come over to help you, maybe put out some sandbags or whatever. Doesn't that just do something for you? And not saying, “I'm charging you by the hour on this, my brother.” Isn't that beautiful and wonderful when you know people do something for you out of the goodness that God has put in their hearts and their lives. Amen. “Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress...” The encouragement, the encouragement of those who were taught and those who believe, to those who do the teaching. We are encouraged by your faith. If you ever really want to encourage anybody who is a leader in any part of ministry, or even at work, you want to really encourage them? Just show your faith. Evangelize, tell other people about the Lord Jesus. That's encouraging. Teach the Word of God without dissimulation. That's encouraging. Pray, honestly, one for another. That's encouraging. Be humble. That is always encouraging. And worship like God means everything to you. That's encouraging. 1 Thessalonians 3:8-11 For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God; Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith? Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. Last two verses: 1 Thessalonians 3:12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: And the Lord make you... This ain't a 'you' thing. The Apostles are letting the Thessalonians know, this is being put on you. Let the Lord make you to increase and abound. Let the Lord—let this be a God thing. I learned a lesson about this abounding thing: The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, the Lord make you do that. I learned a lesson about this very recently, and I'll be quick with this. I was in the Navy back from '79 to '85. Got out, and I've moved up here since then. Just a few years ago—I've been at my job for thirty-one years, thirty-one years, that's another miracle of God. They hired a man a little bit ago, and this man walked up to me—he was a Senior Chief when he was in the Navy, and he got out, and that man walked right up to me. I didn't know him from anybody. He came up to me and he started talking to me like he knew me. I'm talking about the Lord make you to increase and abound. He started talking to me like he knew me, and I'm thinking, “What in the world is this guy doing?” And he told me he remembered me when I was in San Diego in 1984. What? And he went on talking about how he remembered the things that I did, and how I acted. I got saved in '83. So, now, I'm a little bit, “Whoa! What do you remember?” And this, this goes along with the Lord make you to increase. See, when I was in the Navy, I reached a certain level, and I said, “Yeah, that's good enough. I don't need no more. I don't need no more money; I don't need no more responsibility. I don't need to try and develop myself anymore. I don't need to,” as God was showing me a path, “ I don't need none of that stuff. I'll just get out. I'm satisfied where I am. Let me concern myself with other things.” So, I got out. And the Lord brought a situation—this is how the Lord did it—He brought a situation where I had to learn a principle, and I could only learn it from him, this new guy, this new guy, who was teaching me the ropes. I've been there thirty-one years; he's been there just a couple of years, now. And, as he was teaching me, the Lord spoke, and said, “This is the lesson you were supposed to learn back then, when you were in the service, but you blew it off. So, because you ignored me back then, I had to bring it back now, because you can't go the path I'm trying to take you without these lessons I'm trying to teach you.” And, as I sat there, very convicted, learning principles of paying attention and leadership, and not blowing things off. As I sat there, I realized that God is teaching us things for a reason. He has a purpose for what He is showing us. And He ain't doing nothing frivolous. Yes, the Lord really does know what is best for His people. If I am His son, and we are His sons and daughters, then He knows exactly why He's leading us the way He's leading us. And, if we don't learn our lessons, then we can't accomplish what He has for us. Verse number--”And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another...” And why abound in love? Do you know why God doesn't want to just give you morsels of love, and sprinkle love down on us? Because, according to the Bible, God is love. And He doesn't want to give us little bits and sprinkles of Himself. He wants us to increase and abound in His love. Our love, it's okay, but He wants us to increase and abound in His love one towards another. Form the Book of First John, chapter four, verse number eight, the Bible says: 1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. So, if we don't have love, we don't have God. If we don't have love, we don't have God. If we have love, we have God. And, the more love we have and show, yes, the more God we have and show. Pastor Paine has a statement that goes along with that: “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.” And, our last scripture, our last Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 3:13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Yes, establish our hearts. Establish—make firm, make strong, have a stand, have it's role defined. Establish our hearts. Unblameable in holiness before Almighty God. When He comes and arrives, yes, I want to be in that number. Amen. Give the Lord a praise.
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