The Marathon of Love: Finding Strength in Christ’s Sacrifice

• Genuineness and Motives in Ministry [00:42:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the problem of distinguishing genuine disciples from those seeking miracles or material gain, and applies this to the Corinthian church's questioning of Paul's motives.
• Accusations Against Leadership [00:43:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights the common cultural suspicion that church leaders are trying to 'get something' from the congregation, framing this as a critical question for the church to address.
• Exegesis of [2 Corinthians 12](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+12&version=KJV) [00:43:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the specific text (2 Corinthians 12:11-18) and outlines the sermon structure as an accusation, an illustration, and an action with explanation.
• Genuineness and Motives [00:42:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explores the human tendency to suspect hidden agendas in relationships, specifically addressing the Corinthian church's suspicion that Paul was pretending to be genuine to get something from them.
• Financial Burden and Ministry Support [00:47:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the accusation that Paul's refusal to charge money was a deceptive tactic, clarifying that while laborers deserve wages, Paul chose not to be a financial burden to demonstrate his selfless love.
• Cult Leader Accusations [00:50:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the Greek term for 'deceit' meaning to 'capture' or 'seize,' noting that the Corinthians accused Paul of being a cult leader trying to capture their minds and hearts.
• Parental Sacrifice Illustration [00:53:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of parents sacrificing time, money, and energy for their children to illustrate Paul's selfless love for the Corinthians, emphasizing that love motivates sacrifice without expectation of return.
• Sacrificial Love and Parental Analogy [00:55:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses examples of parental sacrifice (soccer games, caring for handicapped children) to illustrate how love motivates crazy, selfless acts, connecting this to Paul's care for the Corinthians.
• Paul's Ministry and Titus [00:56:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > Analysis of Paul's suffering for the Corinthians and his sending of Titus, his 'true child,' as proof of his genuine love and sacrifice for their spiritual well-being.
• The Gospel as the Source of Love [01:03:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that human love fails without the gospel; only Christ's love empowers believers to love others sacrificially without becoming exhausted or jaded.
• The Goal of Soul Care [01:09:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The application that the primary goal for parents and leaders is not worldly success but ensuring children and congregants know Christ and have eternal life.
• The Agenda of Love [01:09:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines love not as permissive but as having a specific goal: a thriving life with Christ and the care of souls, contrasting this with worldly success like medical school.
• Parenting and Leadership Priorities [01:09:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > He addresses parents and leaders, urging them to prioritize their children's and congregants' relationship with Christ over personal pride or professional success, emphasizing that only Christ saves.
• Godly Risks in Evangelism [01:12:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that true love requires taking 'godly risks,' such as risking embarrassment or rejection, to share the gospel, using the analogy of physical proximity allowing for hurt to illustrate spiritual vulnerability.
• Communion and Self-Examination [01:14:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > He transitions to the Lord's Supper, using an analogy of family meals to explain communion as an intimate act of love, while issuing a stern warning to those living in unrepentant sin to abstain.

• Sermon Illustration [00:41:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a hypothetical 'magic button or detector' to illustrate the desire to identify people who are pretending to like someone to get something out of them.
• Sermon Illustration [00:42:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the crowds following Jesus, noting that while some were genuine, most were looking for miracles or bread, illustrating the difficulty of discerning true motives.
• Sermon Illustration [00:42:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks the congregation to reflect on their own honesty, specifically asking if they have ever 'buttered anybody up' to get something from a spouse, parent, or boss.
• Sermon Illustration [00:48:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references John Piper, noting that despite writing over 50 books, Piper takes no royalties, directing them to nonprofits instead, as an example of selfless ministry.
• Sermon Illustration [00:55:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about working with mentally and physically handicapped children, observing how parents made immense sacrifices for children who could give nothing back in a worldly sense, illustrating that love drives such actions.
• Sermon Illustration [00:55:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks rhetorical questions about why dads drive three hours for soccer or comb tangled hair, concluding it is because 'love makes you do crazy things.' He then shares a personal story about working with mentally and physically handicapped kids, noting the incredible, unpaid sacrifices parents made for children who could give nothing back in a worldly sense.
• Sermon Illustration [00:57:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells a humorous anecdote about his mother-in-law who has a credit card with his wife and says 'anytime y'all want ice cream, it's on me.' He jokes about setting up a managed trust so the ice cream can continue through generations to illustrate how caring for people means thinking about their future.
• Sermon Illustration [01:02:29 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal reflection on sending his own minister, Tyler, to a hurting church, noting the personal sacrifice and missing his friend, to parallel Paul sending Titus to the Corinthians.
• Sermon Illustration [01:05:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a metaphor of long-distance running (cross country) to explain Christian love. He describes the point in a race where the body screams 'no more,' and explains that only holding onto a mental goal (like finishing the race) allows one to push through. He applies this to love, stating that Christ supplies the mental/spiritual strength to push through the 'marathon' of loving others when human capacity is exhausted.
• Sermon Illustration [01:14:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a family member making a special meal (like lasagna) to illustrate that communion is an intimate act of love and care, not just a ritual.
• Sermon Illustration [01:12:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > He uses a physical analogy of distance: someone 10 feet away cannot hurt you, but someone close enough to slap you can; this illustrates how Paul put himself in vulnerable proximity to the Corinthians to love them, risking hurt for their sake.

• Pastoral Charge [00:56:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > Children are asked to be grateful and observe the sacrifices their parents make for them.
• Pastoral Charge [00:56:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > Appreciate and be grateful to parents.
• Pastoral Charge [01:10:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > Parents to be satisfied with their children having Christ rather than worldly success.
• Pastoral Charge [01:10:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > Consider the joy of passing the gospel to future generations.
• Pastoral Charge [01:16:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > Surrender to Christ and stop resisting the gospel.
• Pastoral Charge [01:16:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > Partake in the bread during communion.
• Pastoral Charge [01:19:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > Eat the bread in remembrance of Christ's body.
• Pastoral Charge [01:22:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > Drink the cup in remembrance of Christ's blood.

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:09:53] Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Harbor Church. Here at Harbor, we are a family of God, bound together to glorify and enjoy the Lord.
[00:10:02] We do this by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, strengthening each other in Him, and showing Him to our community and to the world.
[00:10:08] Glad you're with us at Mission this morning. A couple quick announcements before we get started.
[00:10:12] We've got Sunday school today after worship. Normal stuff like women's Bible study, Wednesday morning.
[00:10:20] I think this is the last one. Is that right? It is the last one.
[00:10:24] at least the last one until the fall.
[00:10:27] We've got normal youth and adult Bible study Wednesday evening.
[00:10:31] I'm taking the adults through Revelation.
[00:10:33] You can chill right in the middle of it.
[00:10:36] It's been really fun, actually.
[00:10:37] And then this Saturday, we have two things going on, kind of somewhat simultaneous.
[00:10:42] We have a sip and see.
[00:10:43] I would imagine somebody can confirm.
[00:10:45] I imagine the sip and see is going to be in the fellowship hall.
[00:10:48] And I imagine the men's Bible study is going to be here.
[00:10:51] Anybody?
[00:10:52] Yes, there you go.
[00:10:53] Okay.
[00:10:54] I thought that was about it.
[00:10:56] Obviously, there are lots of other announcements that you can pick through.
[00:11:00] I do want to make one mention of this.
[00:11:02] You'll hear more about this coming.
[00:11:04] But May 9th, we're going to be doing, one of the things we do once a year is we do the Love Life Prayer Walk, where we pray in front of the abortion clinic, not protesting, just praying.
[00:11:17] It's a powerful way of demonstrating our belief in the value of life and really the power of prayer.
[00:11:25] So you're going to get more information about that to come, but I just want to put that on your radar.
[00:11:28] That's going to be Saturday, May 9th in the morning.
[00:11:32] All right, let's prepare our hearts to worship the Lord.

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:11:40] Our call to worship this morning comes from Psalm chapter 41.
[00:11:45] Would you stand with me as we read together?
[00:11:48] I'll read the regular text.
[00:11:50] If you respond by reading the bold and the underlined.
[00:11:56] As for me, I said, O Lord, be gracious to me.
[00:12:00] Heal me, for I have sinned against you.
[00:12:03] My enemies say of me in malice, when will he die and his name perish?
[00:12:08] And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words while his heart gathers iniquity.
[00:12:15] When he goes out, he tells it abroad.
[00:12:18] By this I know that you delight in me.
[00:12:21] My enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
[00:12:25] Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen.
[00:12:33] Would you go with me in prayer? Father, as we come before you, we pray that you would open our eyes, that we would know you as the everlasting God. I pray this morning, Lord, that you would take
[00:12:49] from our minds and from our hearts any earthly thing, and you would place your glory before us.
[00:12:56] Help us, O Lord, to see you, to treasure you, to worship you.
[00:13:01] Help us, O Lord, this morning to love you and to sense more of your love for us.
[00:13:07] Our hearts are dull.
[00:13:08] We need you to bring them to life.
[00:13:12] Or our minds are slow to listen.
[00:13:15] We need your help to hear your word.
[00:13:18] O Father, this morning we call on you to be with us this morning.
[00:13:23] And so then, Lord, we pray now all together the prayer that you taught us so long ago to pray.
[00:13:32] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:13:36] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:13:41] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[00:13:47] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:13:51] for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Let's stand together and sing.

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:13:59] Come, Christians, join to sing. Alleluia. Loud praise to Christ our King. Alleluia. Amen.
[00:14:21] Let all with heart and voice before His throne rejoice.
[00:14:31] Praise is His gracious choice.
[00:14:35] Alleluia, amen.
[00:14:40] Come, lift your hearts on high.
[00:14:45] Alleluia, amen.
[00:14:47] Let praises fill the sky.
[00:14:51] sky. Alleluia. He is our guide and friend. To us who condescend. His love shall never end.
[00:15:09] Alleluia, amen Praise yet our Christ again Alleluia, amen Life shall not end the strain Alleluia, amen On heaven's blissful shore His goodness we'll adore Singing forevermore Alleluia, amen On heaven's blissful shore His goodness we'll adore
[00:15:56] Singing forevermore Alleluia As we come to confess our sin together this morning,

[00:16:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:16:13] Our confession, you'll note, is from the book of Proverbs.
[00:16:17] As we come to God's Word, we don't just read God's Word, but God's Word reads us.
[00:16:26] And so when we read His Word, we read it with a heart of confession.
[00:16:30] Now I want to give you just a little bit of a teaser, as this confession is from Proverbs.
[00:16:35] We're coming to the end of 2 Corinthians, and where we'll be headed next is a series of sermons from the book of Proverbs.
[00:16:44] So if you like the book of Proverbs, you'll be very excited for the upcoming sermon series.
[00:16:50] And if you're not sure how we'll preach through Proverbs, well, that's good because we're not sure either. So you can be praying that Michael and I have wisdom in how to preach through the beloved book of Proverbs. Let's confess our sin out loud together this morning.
[00:17:10] The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
[00:17:19] The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudence ignores an insult.
[00:17:25] Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit.
[00:17:31] There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
[00:17:38] Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
[00:17:44] Deceit is in the heart of those who despise evil, but those who plan peace have joy.
[00:17:51] No ill befalls the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble.
[00:17:56] Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
[00:18:03] Would you go with me as we confess our sins silently now to the Lord?
[00:18:27] Father, there are many ways that as your people, we fail you regularly, but perhaps none so frequent than with our mouth. Lord, we often utter rotten, corrupted speech, speech that cuts down others, speech that tries to build us up. Lord, we are sorry for the ways in which we use our mouths
[00:19:00] every day to sin against you. Lord, instead, we ask that you would forgive us and that you would build in us a life that uses our words to praise you, to build up others, to give grace to everyone
[00:19:16] who hears, that it would be fitting for the moment to build others up in Christ. Lord, we ask that you would do this in his name. Amen. As you confess your sin before a holy God, we know that
[00:19:32] we are sinful, but we must also know that we are truly forgiven. Hear God's assurance from Colossians chapter 3. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with
[00:19:48] its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Amen. If you're able, let's stand together again and worship the Lord.

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:04] When this life of trials tests my faith, I set my hope on Jesus.
[00:20:23] When the questions come and doubts remain, I set my hope on Jesus.
[00:20:34] For the deepest wounds that time won't heal, there's a joy that runs too deep.
[00:20:42] From the Heidelberg Catechism, this question gets at gospel sanity.

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:24:13] There's one thing that's going to keep you sane in this world, is that there is a God, and He's still in charge.
[00:24:19] So I ask you, Christian, what does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by his providence.
[00:24:29] We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future, we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from his love.
[00:24:45] For all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they cannot so much as move.
[00:24:53] What a great gospel truth.
[00:24:55] Another great gospel truth is summarized here in Romans 6, verse 23.
[00:25:00] We try to memorize some great verses over this year.
[00:25:03] This is one every Christian ought to know.
[00:25:05] Let's say this all together.
[00:25:07] For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:26:54] This morning we're going to read from God's word from 1 John, chapter 4, talking about love.

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:29:24] Love for God and love for one another.
[00:29:26] John writes on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit these words.
[00:29:30] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.
[00:29:35] And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
[00:29:39] Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
[00:29:44] In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
[00:29:53] In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
[00:30:03] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
[00:30:07] no one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
[00:30:16] Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord God, your love is astounding. Lord, your love is not merely an emotion, but it is a strong commitment to your people, an unbreaking covenant. Lord, a promise from eternity past. Lord, that no creature can put us under. Lord, if we could
[00:30:46] for a moment break it, Lord, we would in our sin. Lord God, we thank you that all of ourselves, our entire being, our destiny, and our eternity lies in your choice to love. Lord God,
[00:31:03] we recognize the fact that we don't love you or one another well, Lord, not the ways that we ought to. And so, Lord God, we pray, please, would you would increase our love first and foremost to you
[00:31:16] and secondly, Lord, to our neighbor. Lord God, we think of our neighbors, our friends, our family members who do not know you. And so, Lord God, we take just a moment to pray to you and Lord to ask,
[00:31:26] would you please, by your saving love, would you please rescue them from themselves? Lord God, you know the men, the women who I've been praying for constantly. Lord, we pray that you would please bring these folks, Lord, into your kingdom. And Lord, we're grateful that you don't just
[00:31:59] promise to save us, but Lord, you promise to listen to our every request. And Lord, you will answer according to your will and for our good. So Lord God, we lift up to you our congregation.
[00:32:11] Lord, we pray that you would please help us to delight more in you.
[00:32:15] Lord, would you please overflow our hearts with such joy in you, Lord God, that we could suffer pain and loss, and yet it is no true loss because we have you.
[00:32:26] Lord, I am so grateful for the ways in which you answer prayer.
[00:32:29] Lord, I'm grateful for my son Timothy as you continue to heal his ear.
[00:32:34] I pray, Lord God, the surgery would have taken hold and that we would get to see evidence of that.
[00:32:39] Please, Lord God.
[00:32:41] Lord, I pray for our family members, like Kristen McGowan's father, Janice Carrera's uncle, my sister-in-law, Barbara, who are all suffering with cancer.
[00:32:52] Lord, would you please heal them?
[00:32:53] I am so grateful that Kent Donovan got to ring the bell on Wednesday.
[00:32:57] Lord, that his chemo is done.
[00:32:59] Lord, may this cancer not return.
[00:33:01] Thank you for answering that prayer.
[00:33:03] Lord, I pray that you would help us to have better memories to thank you when you answer prayer.
[00:33:09] And Lord, help us to run more quickly to thank you.
[00:33:12] Lord God, we do pray for our community.
[00:33:17] Lord, for the poor and the poor in spirit.
[00:33:20] Lord, I pray that you would help us to be more and more sacrificial in our care for those who are hurting.
[00:33:29] Lord God, help us to never forget that what our community needs most is Jesus.
[00:33:35] So Lord, I pray that you would please help us to know what it looks like to reach out to our friends, family members, neighbors, people that we meet, coffee shops.
[00:33:45] Lord, I pray, please, would you give us encounters with unbelievers and help us, Lord God, to put us in a position, put us in a position, Lord, by your sovereignty that we have to talk about you,
[00:33:57] that we are asked direct questions.
[00:33:59] Lord, give us that privilege.
[00:34:01] Lord, we pray for outreach to our own family members or who are oftentimes the most difficult to talk with.
[00:34:08] Lord, we do thank you for the connectional church that you have borne us into.
[00:34:15] Lord, we thank you for our presbytery.
[00:34:18] Lord, I thank you for the men that I work with as a fellow elder.
[00:34:23] I also thank you, Lord, that we are not alone as a church.
[00:34:26] We're not coming up with things anew every single year.
[00:34:30] Lord, we have accountability, trust, prayer.
[00:34:34] So, Lord God, we lift up to you Stonebridge Church community.
[00:34:37] I thank you for those men, Soon Pak, Heaven Burrell, Daniel Ellenberg.
[00:34:41] I thank you for their friendship, first and foremost.
[00:34:43] And thank you, Lord God, for their faithfulness.
[00:34:45] Lord, I pray that you would please help Stonebridge to be faithful and obedient to your word in all things.
[00:34:52] Lord, as we pray the same thing for our own church.
[00:34:55] Lord, I thank you for Michael and Lindy Wadham.
[00:34:58] And Lord, how you have moved them from Washington now to Arizona to reach out to Native Americans.
[00:35:07] And Lord, I pray, please, in that difficult ministry, Lord, would you please raise them up.
[00:35:14] Please encourage them.
[00:35:16] And Lord God, we ask that you would, as they are trying to, in a sense, plant churches, and as the missionaries that we support are also, in many of them, planting churches, Lord, help us to plant a church too.
[00:35:29] Lord, help us to make the plans necessary.
[00:35:31] Lord, please send us the right man to do the work.
[00:35:34] Lord God, all for your glory.
[00:35:37] Would you please bless the preaching of your word and the celebration of your table, Lord, for your glory and for our good.
[00:35:44] We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.

[00:35:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:35:54] As the deacons prepare for the taking up of tithes and offerings, we come to a portion of our service here where we don't stop worship.
[00:36:03] We don't pause worship and take up a little offering and then restart worship here in a few minutes.
[00:36:10] But if you notice there in your bulletin, it says that we worship God by giving offerings.
[00:36:17] Now, I think I'm on safe biblical grounds to say that God's great plan for your life is not one for you to always walk around feeling guilty all the time.
[00:36:30] But for some reason, when we come to the offering, isn't that how we approach it so much?
[00:36:34] Oh, I just feel so guilty, so I've got to give God a little bit of money.
[00:36:40] It sounds foolish to say it out loud, doesn't it?
[00:36:43] But doesn't that happen in our hearts?
[00:36:46] I just want to remind you this morning that as we come to give tithes and offerings, first and foremost, we don't expect anything from you.
[00:36:53] We're not here to judge you and watch how much you put in the plate.
[00:36:57] We're here to worship the Lord.
[00:36:59] And as members of his church, we have agreed to support the church in her work and in her worship because we want to glorify and enjoy God forever.
[00:37:10] And so if you watch that little golden plate pass you by and your heart is full of guilt and shame, I want you to take a minute and I want you to pray and ask God to change your heart
[00:37:21] so that as together as we give, whatever we give, we would give with a cheerful heart.

[00:37:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:37:29] We get to sing again.
[00:37:35] We get to offer our voices as the offering plates are being passed around.
[00:37:38] So let's sing again.
[00:37:39] This is Psalm 98 from the Trinity Psalter.
[00:37:43] Let's sing.

[00:37:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:37:44] Sing a new song to Jehovah, for the wonders He has wrought.
[00:37:55] His right hand and our most holy triumph to His cause have brought.
[00:38:03] In His love and tender mercy He has made salvation known In the sight of every nation He His righteousness has shown Truth and mercy toward His people He has ever kept in mind And His full and free salvation He has shown to all mankind.
[00:38:41] Sing, O earth, sing to Jehovah, praises to Jehovah sing.
[00:38:50] With the swelling notes of music, shout before the Lord the King.
[00:39:00] Seize with all your fullness thunder All earth's peoples now rejoice Floods and hills in praise uniting To the Lord lift up your voice For behold the Lord is coming Robed in justice and in might
[00:39:28] He alone will judge the nations And His judgment shall be right Let's pray.

[00:39:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:39:47] Our Father, we are very grateful for all the ways that You have blessed us.
[00:39:54] Lord, thank You that as our heads hit the pillow last night, You woke us up again this morning.
[00:40:01] You've given us another day of life.
[00:40:03] You've given us air in our lungs.
[00:40:07] Lord, You've given us many, many blessings.
[00:40:09] You've even given us enough to give back to you.
[00:40:12] And for that, oh Lord, we are thankful.
[00:40:15] We pray, God, that you would use the offerings that have been given.
[00:40:19] And that as you use them, you would build up your kingdom.
[00:40:24] That many would come to know and love and enjoy Christ forever.
[00:40:29] Even because and through the gifts that have been given this morning.
[00:40:33] I pray, Lord, that you would awaken our hearts now to hear your word.
[00:40:42] I pray that you would give Michael clarity and courage and boldness and passion for your word as he preaches to us now.
[00:40:53] We ask that you would continue to be with us this morning.
[00:40:57] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
[00:41:00] Would you stand with me as we praise God together by singing the doxology?

[00:41:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:41:40] So wouldn't it be great to know if you could figure it out, If you had some magic button or detector or something, you could tell whether somebody was pretending or not, particularly if they were pretending to like you, to get something out of you.
[00:42:03] Jesus dealt with this very problem often.
[00:42:06] The crowds that followed him, some of them were genuine disciples, but most of them were looking for miracles or more bread.
[00:42:13] Most of them were not for him at all.
[00:42:17] Now, what about the flip side?
[00:42:18] are you an honest person? Can you say you've never buttered anybody up in order to get something from perhaps a spouse or a parent or a boss? The Corinthian church are asking the same questions
[00:42:33] about Paul, whose all intents and purposes, their pastor, concerning his genuineness. Is he genuine or is he trying to get something out of us? Now, what's at stake here is not merely personal relationship, but it's about Paul's role as apostle and pastor, and particularly about the gospel that
[00:42:53] he preaches. Is he only saying what he's saying in order to get something from us? That's the question. And that's a question that a lot of people ask about church. Come to church, and they're concerned about what angle is happening here. How's the pastor, the leadership, or the
[00:43:11] people, are they trying to get something from me? It's a very important question that we need to ask this morning. And so what we're going to see is an accusation, an illustration, and finally an
[00:43:22] action with an explanation. So we're looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 12. We're looking at verses 11 through 18. So 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 11 through 18. Here's God's holy word.
[00:43:36] I have been a fool. You forced me to it. For I ought to have been commended by you.
[00:43:43] for I was not at all inferior to these super apostles even though I am nothing the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience with signs and wonders and mighty works for in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches except that I myself did not
[00:44:02] burden you forgive me for this wrong here for the third time I am ready to come to you And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours, but you.
[00:44:13] For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
[00:44:18] I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.
[00:44:23] If I love you more, am I to be loved less?
[00:44:27] But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.
[00:44:34] Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you?
[00:44:39] I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him.
[00:44:42] Did Titus take advantage of you?
[00:44:44] Did we not act in the same spirit?
[00:44:47] Did we not take the same steps?
[00:44:50] Let's pray.
[00:44:52] Lord God, I am always thankful for your word.
[00:44:55] Lord, I am thankful that as a pastor and a preacher, I can hide behind your word.
[00:44:59] Lord, this is not about me.
[00:45:01] It's not about my illustrations.
[00:45:03] It's not about whether people like me.
[00:45:05] Lord, it is about your word that is eternal and true.
[00:45:10] It is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
[00:45:13] It is without error and it is able to change hearts and lives.
[00:45:18] So, Lord God, may that word be preached faithfully by me, weak though I am.
[00:45:25] And Lord, as faithfully as I can, Lord, I pray that as people hear your word, Lord, that they would hear the very voice of Christ in it.
[00:45:33] And Lord, you would change us and shape us to be the men and women that you want us to be. All for your glory in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so let's start with the accusation. There are a couple of accusations. Paul's doing a little bit of
[00:45:49] leftover here, and then he's going to get to the main one. And if you've been here for a while, as we're picking back up with 2 Corinthians, you know one of the primary issues in Corinth
[00:45:58] is that there's these false apostles, these super apostles, he calls them, who have tried to convince the church, Corinth, that they are better and smarter and far superior to Paul.
[00:46:13] And the reason why they do that is because back in chapter 11, verse 4, they are preaching another Jesus, meaning a false gospel, meaning they may be using the name of Jesus, but what they're
[00:46:25] doing is they're twisting the message. This is what a lot of cults do. And so Paul summarizes in verse 11. He says, I'm not inferior to them, though it's foolish to boast about that sort of
[00:46:37] thing. He doesn't want to, but he's kind of forced to. And Paul establishes, no, remember, I'm an apostle established by God. An apostle is someone who has the authority to speak for Christ.
[00:46:51] And so God has confirmed that Paul has this apostleship, he says in verse 12, by working miraculous signs, without a doubt. And so apparently, though, that's not the current issue of the text. The sticking point for the Corinthians is that the super apostles,
[00:47:11] the false teachers, well, they charge money to teach at the church, but Paul didn't charge money.
[00:47:18] That's what it means when he says, uses the term twice in verses 13 and 16. He says, I did or I will not be a burden to you. What he means is a financial burden.
[00:47:27] somehow not taking money was a terrible error in the church now if i can take a little side note here uh jesus says in luke chapter 10 verse 7 and paul paul reiterates that in first timothy 5
[00:47:44] that the laborer deserves his wages and in both contexts are in the context of gospel workers who are receiving food or money to sustain them in the work.
[00:47:56] Ministry is work, and the gospel says it's worthy of earning.
[00:48:02] Not riches, okay, so no private jets.
[00:48:05] It's just like enough to live on.
[00:48:08] That's what's fair, but fair is not necessarily what's required.
[00:48:13] In other words, Paul doesn't have to take the money, and he chooses here not to.
[00:48:18] And there are some examples that are out there like this.
[00:48:20] John Piper, for example, if you're familiar with John Piper, the famous preacher, he's written about 50-plus books, and you know he doesn't take any money from royalties.
[00:48:30] It goes directly to a nonprofit, and it gets distributed to ministries, which is kind of cool.
[00:48:36] So here, if we come back to the Corinthian church, here's the twisted logic.
[00:48:41] The Corinthians assume that because they're paying the super apostles, those super apostles must be better than Paul, who is free.
[00:48:49] Because, of course, you know, if you get the free version of a software, it's always worse than the pay-for version, right?
[00:48:57] That's what they're thinking.
[00:48:59] And Paul's already dealt with this previously already.
[00:49:03] But here's the new accusation.
[00:49:05] Some in the Corinthian church have said, this is looking at verse 16, granting, or it being the case, that I myself did not burden you, I didn't take pay.
[00:49:16] he says, y'all say I was crafty and that I got the better of you by deceit. Crafty means a person who is ready to do anything to achieve their purpose. And so the reasoning is something like
[00:49:34] this. Perhaps Paul didn't take our money because he's actually manipulating us to make us think that he's generous, but he's really not. People do do that, right? People might act holy or kind in order to get some money from somebody or information or even just influence. And this
[00:49:56] is where it's worse than you think. You see, because the word that they use, the ESV translates it, get the better of you. It's one word in Greek. And it means literally to capture or seize.
[00:50:07] I seized them.
[00:50:10] Paul, maybe Paul isn't looking for our money.
[00:50:14] Maybe he's looking for something deeper.
[00:50:16] To capture our thoughts and our hearts.
[00:50:19] They are, to use modern day language, they are accusing Paul of being a cult leader.
[00:50:25] Wanting to capture the people's minds and hearts so they will be bent to his will.
[00:50:32] But, of course, none of this actually adds up, right?
[00:50:34] like okay by Paul not taking money somehow that's evidence that he's taking advantage of them shouldn't he have charged them right and and so you got to laugh a little bit that's what Paul does in verse 13 sort of good-natured sarcasm you know forgive me of this wrong scare quotes
[00:50:54] you know by not taking the money that was due to me yep what what are you gonna say you know what are you gonna say well next time I'll just charge triple because that will make you trust me
[00:51:04] really? Why are they struggling to be sure about Paul? The history of the Corinthian church is modeled. It's a bit of a mess. If you go to 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, you read through
[00:51:22] both of them, you'll learn the church at Corinth is just crazy. You've got sexual morality all over the place. You have people using each other for that sort of thing. It's litigious. There are people bringing lawsuits? You ever been around people who are litigious, right? That's what the
[00:51:38] church was like. Imagine the skepticism that you might have walking into any sort of room.
[00:51:45] And then you've got these false and scheming teachers who, back in chapter 11, verse 20, they make slaves of the church. They devour the church. They take advantage of the church.
[00:51:57] So the Corinthians, they are a redeemed community. They're a church, but the pull of the old way of doing things. The old life is still very strong. And when you've lived in a world of lies and sin,
[00:52:13] it's hard to operate consistent with the new gospel mindset. It is. Sometimes you slip back.
[00:52:21] It's like a puppy that's been kicked. It has trouble trusting an actual good owner. It just assumes that every human is a puppy kicking human. So the church may fall into thinking, well, there's no one who's actually genuine. Nobody. Paul looks genuine, but it can't be true.
[00:52:41] Everyone has an angle, and Paul's just like them. And if Paul can't be trusted, then how can we trust Paul's message? So Paul tries to address this accusation with an illustration. First, he's going to have an illustration, then he's going to talk about his actions. So here's the
[00:53:00] illustration. See, Paul intends to come to them on a third visit, verse 14, and he says, I seek not what is yours, meaning I don't seek your stuff, but I seek you. Not yours, but you.
[00:53:16] In what way does he seek you, or y'all, the church? Here's the illustration. Verse 14.
[00:53:22] For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
[00:53:28] Let me take a pause on that. Two things I want to clear up. First is, yes, I understand that modern day society as children growing older, and if you have parents, you might be thinking about
[00:53:42] what might happen if they grow old, and I have to have some money set aside to make sure they're well cared for. That's certainly true. That's not what Paul's thinking of. It's also, I want to be
[00:53:56] really clear, whenever you talk about family, it's always a little ticklish, because everybody's families a little different. Some of y'all had great parents. Some of y'all had crummy parents.
[00:54:09] Some of y'all had abusive parents. Paul is not thinking of every single parent. He knows that there are exceptions to that. What he's talking about is in general, right? And in fact, if you have legitimate issues with your particular parents and you know that it's wrong, it just
[00:54:27] proves the point. You know that there's a better way of doing things. So that's what Paul's talking about. Like in a generally good situation, isn't it true that parents save up for their kids, right? Good parents work to care for their kids. In the U.S., on average, to keep a small human
[00:54:49] alive from age zero to 18 costs about $300,000. Just one kid, right? Many parents spend a good deal of blood, sweat, tears, travel, and money for their children. Why do moms nurse their child at
[00:55:09] 2.30 a.m. in the morning? Why do dads drive three hours for a soccer game? Why on earth do you comb those tangles out of that hair in the morning as you're trying to get to work? For their own health?
[00:55:25] No, because they love their kids.
[00:55:28] Love makes you do crazy things.
[00:55:33] I worked, when I was a lot younger, I worked with mentally and physically handicapped kids.
[00:55:39] Some of them were nonverbal.
[00:55:40] Some of them were wheelchair-bound.
[00:55:43] And it was amazing to see the sacrifices that those parents would do to care for their kids 24 hours, seven days a week.
[00:55:51] You could not hire somebody to do what they do.
[00:55:55] And particularly for these kids who could give from a worldly perspective, they can give nothing back.
[00:56:01] They couldn't write a thank you note.
[00:56:04] Love's the only reason that makes that possible.
[00:56:09] So, okay, so exceptions aside, okay, don't know where your parents are, but let's say in general, as kids, we don't often appreciate what our parents do until sometimes later.
[00:56:23] And kids, if I can talk to you for a moment, you need to make sure that you appreciate your parents because sometimes it's too late.
[00:56:32] Kids, be grateful for what your parents do for you.
[00:56:36] Just open your eyes and just look at it.
[00:56:39] Don't take my word for it.
[00:56:41] This is part of what it means to live according to the fifth commandment.
[00:56:44] Honor your mother and your father.
[00:56:46] What does that look like?
[00:56:47] As a child, you have to think about that.
[00:56:50] So back to the illustration, this is what Paul's driving at.
[00:56:54] He loves the Corinthians like a good father.
[00:56:57] And so what does he do?
[00:56:58] He suffers for them. If you want to know the kinds of things he went through, just go back to chapter 11 and read chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians. How Paul hungered and thirst and was shipwrecked
[00:57:09] and then cold and the elements and persecuted and beaten and daily anxieties for the churches.
[00:57:15] And this actually goes further. You see, in verse 14, the idea of a parent saving for their children, This is an allusion to something.
[00:57:26] Saving for what?
[00:57:28] Saving so that when the parent dies, the child has something to grow with.
[00:57:34] This is inheritance language.
[00:57:37] Paul knows he will not be with them forever.
[00:57:40] In fact, shortly after this, he's going to be imprisoned, and eventually he'll be executed.
[00:57:46] He wants to leave them with something.
[00:57:50] You know, my mother-in-law, one of the things she loves is ice cream.
[00:57:56] Loves it.
[00:57:57] And one of the wonderful things about my mother-in-law is she has said, she has a credit card with my wife, and she has said, anytime y'all want ice cream, it's on me.
[00:58:10] Isn't that an amazing mother-in-law?
[00:58:12] I got the best.
[00:58:13] I'm sorry.
[00:58:13] You might not like your mother-in-law, but I love my mother-in-law.
[00:58:16] And I joke with her.
[00:58:17] I've said, you know, what we need to do is we need to set up a managed trust so that the ice cream can continue throughout generations, right? See, like, you know, when you care about people,
[00:58:29] you think about their future, right? That's what Paul's thinking of. So what does Paul want to leave them with? Verse 15, I will most gladly, hear that, joyfully spend and be spent. Parents, you ever spent? Parents, you ever been spent? For your souls. For your souls. If I love you more,
[00:58:59] am I to be loved less? Here's the key. Paul will spend himself physically, mentally, emotionally.
[00:59:08] He will exhaust himself for the sake of their souls. A soul, according to one biblical dictionary, is the seat and center of life that transcends the earthly.
[00:59:19] It's what goes on into eternity.
[00:59:22] So Paul works unceasingly like a good parent to make sure the Corinthians have everything they need for their souls to live in the sight of God now and on into eternity with Christ.
[00:59:36] It's Paul's joy to suffer for that.
[00:59:40] His motivation is not for what he gets out of it, but it's for their relationship with Christ. Now, Paul doesn't just speak nice words. He backs it up with actions. Here's the action that Paul takes. Here's the proof of his genuineness. This
[00:59:57] is where he ends at the tail end of this text. He has urged Titus and others, but we're going to focus on Titus. He urged Titus to go to them. Now, why is that so important? Now, for starters,
[01:00:10] you have to see what Titus meant to the Corinthians. The Corinthians seemed to trust Titus. Chapter 7, verse 14, earlier in 2 Corinthians, it says that everything that Paul boasted about Titus, the Corinthians saw was proven true. In other words, Paul had said,
[01:00:31] like, this guy, Titus, he's amazing. And then Titus shows up, and they're like, oh, he is amazing.
[01:00:36] and and chapter 8 verse 16 god put the same earnest care for the corinthians in titus as he did paul so paul's saying listen corinthians if you y'all trust titus right y'all know titus you
[01:00:50] love titus am i acting any different than titus do i have a different heart than titus we're doing the same things with the same the same motivations so that's it's one thing proves that paul has a
[01:01:06] heart for them. But the second is probably more important. We need to see what Titus meant to Paul. Let me give you a little history of Titus. Galatians chapter 2 tells us that Titus was a younger man who had been with Paul since nearly beginning. He actually is with
[01:01:24] Paul before he goes on his first missionary trip. He traveled with Paul. He ministered various churches that Paul sent him to. And Paul cared about him. Earlier in chapter 2, it says that Paul's spirit was not at rest until he found Titus. He was anxious. I don't know where
[01:01:47] he is. I've got to find him. In Titus chapter 1 verse 4, which is the letter that Paul wrote to this man Titus, the first thing that he calls him, he says, my true child in a common faith.
[01:02:00] my child, he says. So in verse 18, you have to understand that's the background. When he said, I urge Titus to go to you, he's saying, Titus, my right-hand man, my true child, my comfort,
[01:02:15] the person I'm anxious for when he's not around, I gave him to you. I gave him to leave my side where I love to have him, and I told him, go to you.
[01:02:29] You know, if I sent Tyler to, you know, some hurting church, that's no small sacrifice in terms of me or the rest of the church.
[01:02:38] There's a lot of things we would have to get done.
[01:02:40] But more than that, more than just responsibilities, I would miss my friend.
[01:02:45] That would hurt.
[01:02:48] So you put it all together, Paul cares for the souls of these Christians so much that he refuses payments, that he's willing to suffer for them, and then he gives his fellow minister who's like a child to him. Why? Why would somebody do something so crazy? Love.
[01:03:10] Christian love. Christian love is joyful self-sacrifice for others. Earlier we read 1 John 4.10, the very definition of love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us. In other words, he loved us first. That empowered us to then love him. And how do we know that he loves us?
[01:03:32] Because he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins, to be the satisfaction of all of our sins, past, present, and future. Beloved, if God so loved us, also ought we to love one another.
[01:03:50] The vertical love empowers the horizontal love. So Paul loves this very messy, very suspicious, wayward Corinthian church not because they earned it, not because they were more special than all the other churches. Paul can send his spiritual son Titus to Corinth because he knows that God
[01:04:13] gave his true son freely to live and to suffer and to die, to spend and be spent on behalf of Paul for his soul and his salvation. And that's the secret to sacrificial love. That's it. If you
[01:04:30] try to love others, you try to love family, you try to love people at church or strangers without the gospel, without understanding God's love, here are a few options that may happen. A, you'll never
[01:04:44] really love enough, and so you just give up. Because who wants to keep doing that over and over here. I can like sprint, but this is like a marathon, right? Or B, you'll just be exhausted
[01:04:55] because how can somebody love everybody in the entire world? There's not enough of me. C, I will be crushed under the weight of guilt for not doing enough. And D, I could become jaded that even
[01:05:10] though I love other people, they don't love me back, and so it changes nothing. You ever felt like any of those things? Love is not a sprint. It's a marathon. If you ever run long distance,
[01:05:21] I used to run cross country when I was in high school. And there is a point at running any race in which your body is screaming, no more, you're done, stop. And the only way that you can push
[01:05:36] through that is you have to hold mentally onto something. Maybe it's like, I got to get to the finish line. People are going to think I'm a weenie for not finishing the race or something,
[01:05:47] right? You got to have something mentally to keep going, to push beyond what you thought you were able to do. That's what Christ supplies in life. That's what Christ supplies in love.
[01:06:00] It is only the heart-changing, transformative love of Christ that can give us capacity to love others beyond our capacity to love others, beyond what you thought you were capable of, and also at the same time giving you the reassurance that you're not going to be able
[01:06:20] to love people enough. You're not going to be able to do enough. And so Christ died to take away the guilt of not loving others well enough. I find no other way to be sane in the Christian
[01:06:35] life. I found no other way to actually truly love others. So here's the application. I've got three application points. Do you want to love better? Here's three points. If we want to love better, we have to understand Christ's love first. Paul is talking about himself in verse 15,
[01:06:56] but easily you could switch those names around and insert Christ into it, right? Paul says, if I love you more, why am I being loved less? You can easily insert, if Christ loves you more,
[01:07:11] then why should Christ be loved less? Well, of course, that wouldn't make any sense.
[01:07:17] Do you know that Christ has loved you more? Do you know that? He came to live and to die for you, and he has arranged everything in your life, from the good to the bad, from the joys to the heartaches,
[01:07:30] to bring you to a place for you to know him.
[01:07:35] And right now he is constantly pleading for his children with a singular focus to continue to sustain your soul unto eternal life.
[01:07:49] I love the way that Puritan Robert Layton writes.
[01:07:53] He puts it this way.
[01:07:54] He says, if you ask, how shall I love?
[01:07:58] I answer, believe, meaning believe the gospel, believe Christ.
[01:08:02] if you ask how shall i believe i answer love believe and you shall love believe much and you shall love much labor for strong and deep persuasions of the glorious things that are spoken of christ and this will command love so if you want to love better you have to understand
[01:08:22] christ's love you want to love better you have to have christ's goal in mind too culture talks about God's love as if it's this warm, fuzzy thing that probably should be in a hallmark greeting card. That God's love is basically, well, God just wants me to be happy and to sort of
[01:08:42] approve of all of my choices. If God is a parent and God acted that way towards you, he'd be a horrible parent. Think about a parent who tells their child, whatever candy you want, sweetie, go ahead. Or how about to a young boy, play with whatever dangerous thing you want.
[01:09:05] It's your choice. I just want you to be happy. Love has shape to it. Love tells you no sometimes, doesn't it? That's why the law is not against love. Because the law is a way of love telling you
[01:09:25] no, and yes. And so real love then has an agenda for your life. So if God is love, he has an agenda for you. A thriving life with Christ that goes on to eternity. That's the point.
[01:09:41] The goal is the care of souls, just like Paul cares for the souls of the Corinthians.
[01:09:48] So let me break that down a little bit. Parents, as much as it is up to you, and there is no guarantee on this. Believe me, there is no guarantee. Only Christ saves. Parents do not
[01:09:58] save their children. But as far as it is up to us in terms of what we do with our kids, the chief goal of our children's lives is not to get to medical school. It's to love Christ.
[01:10:12] Can we be satisfied with that? Could I as a parent be satisfied with the fact that my kids don't have the job or the life that looks a certain way that brings me pride, but they have Christ and so they
[01:10:27] have everything. Can I be satisfied in that? Kids, y'all probably have a lot of dreams about a lot of things, you know, about the things you want to do, things, places you want to go and how you're going
[01:10:39] to live. I want you to think now about how, about the joy of handing the gospel off to other people as an inheritance to your future kids. Leaders, there are pastors here, there are elders here,
[01:10:57] there are missionaries here. Y'all know the struggle. You know the heartache that you deal with. You know the long hours. You know the hard conversations. You know how hard it is to chase people around. We must do that for the souls of those who we care for and not for ourselves.
[01:11:19] It's not about what they think about us.
[01:11:23] Our goal ought to be, and this ought to be everyone's goal, to make the others around us so mature in Christ that if we died tomorrow, their faith would not be shaken.
[01:11:34] That's the goal.
[01:11:36] Do not put your faith in Michael Colvard.
[01:11:38] I will disappoint you.
[01:11:40] And if I don't disappoint you, I'll go at some point, and then what do you do then?
[01:11:45] It's not about me.
[01:11:47] It's not about Jim.
[01:11:48] It's not about any leader.
[01:11:50] It's about Christ.
[01:11:52] Be rooted in him.
[01:11:55] So if we want to love better then, we have to then take godly risks.
[01:12:00] I like the term godly risk because risk in and of itself is not necessarily a good thing.
[01:12:06] I'm not telling you to be risky, but there are certain risks you ought to take.
[01:12:11] So you ought to risk embarrassment.
[01:12:14] You ought to risk hurt for the sake of the soul of someone else.
[01:12:19] That's a risk worth taking.
[01:12:21] And that's the only way that love actually works.
[01:12:24] You actually put something on the line.
[01:12:27] Paul puts himself in a position to be hurt by the Corinthians, to be accused by the Corinthians, who he has suffered for.
[01:12:36] It's sort of like, you know, if somebody's 10 feet away, they can't hurt me.
[01:12:41] But if they're close enough to me, they can slap me in the face.
[01:12:47] It's only when they're close that they can hurt me.
[01:12:50] not far away. Paul puts the Corinthians right up front, and it hurts, but he's willing to do it for the sake of love. What about you? Who do you need to invite over or have a conversation with
[01:13:06] and broach the topic of Christ and risk the embarrassment and risk the rejection?
[01:13:11] How can we say that we love people and never take a risk to show it? If we don't take risks, we don't love them. I've been convicted of that this week. So if you need courage, like me,
[01:13:27] your pastor, pray. Pray and pray and pray. Pray that Christ would remind us of his love. Pray for boldness. Pray for genuineness. Not that I'm looking for what people can do for me, but what
[01:13:40] Christ can do for them. Let's pray. Father God, we ask that you would remind us again of the astounding and beautiful love that we have in Christ. Lord, the deep, deep love of Christ.
[01:13:58] Lord, we pray that as we partake of this meal together, Lord, that we are reminded that you feed us constantly. There is not a breath that we take that isn't a gift from you.
[01:14:08] And so, Lord God, I pray that you would make us bold for you, taking godly risks, all for your glory in Christ. And we pray. Amen. See, elders make their way forward.
[01:14:23] I don't know about you, but I think if you had a relatively normal childhood, you probably remember family members, maybe mom, maybe grandma, some special meal.
[01:14:34] It was that meal, it was that soup, it was that lasagna, it was that thing that only they could do.
[01:14:39] Nobody else could make it just quite like them.
[01:14:42] And they made that because they loved you, because they wanted to share their heart with you.
[01:14:49] It wasn't just simply they're interested in you tasting lasagna.
[01:14:51] They wanted you to know how much they cared about you.
[01:14:55] This meal is in many ways sort of like that.
[01:14:59] This meal represents all that Christ did to love you, to give, to spend, and to be spent for your soul so that you might have eternal life in him.
[01:15:14] And so this is an intimate fellowship.
[01:15:17] That means that if we have faith in Christ, that we are called to come with boldness and to partake and to eat and to drink and have our hearts be fed through the Holy Spirit on Christ.
[01:15:31] But if you have not made a public profession of faith in Christ, or if you are living in, and if you refuse to repent, then this meal is not for you.
[01:15:42] It would be spiritually dangerous for you to eat of this meal.
[01:15:44] Let these things pass you by, not because we want to point you out, but because we want you to come to Christ with a heart of faith, not a heart of rebellion.
[01:15:54] And perhaps if that's who you are and how you would describe yourself, perhaps today is the day in which you just need to give up.
[01:16:02] Come to Christ.
[01:16:04] There's no more need to fight.
[01:16:06] Just run to him.
[01:16:07] I tell you, as one who has seen his life shaped by Christ, I never want to go back.
[01:16:16] I never think for one moment that, Well, what I really wish is that I could just leave all that Christ stuff behind.
[01:16:25] You will not be disappointed.
[01:16:29] Let's come to Christ.
[01:16:31] It's on night when Jesus was betrayed.
[01:16:32] He took the bread.
[01:16:33] He broke it and he said, This is my body given for you.
[01:16:35] Eat of it, all of you, in remembrance of me.
[01:16:39] Here at Harvard, we like to serve family style.
[01:16:42] So if you want to hold on to your bread until everybody's been served and we'll eat together.
[01:16:45] And as we have silence, pray, meditate, open up scripture, open up a hymn book.
[01:16:52] Let your mind and your heart feed upon Christ as we feed upon this meal.
[01:19:19] The body of Christ was given for you.
[01:19:20] Let's eat in remembrance of him.
[01:19:30] After the supper, Jesus took the cup, he blessed it, and he said, this is my blood in the new covenant shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.
[01:19:37] We are forgiven because Christ went to the cross for us.
[01:19:40] This is the hope of the Christian.
[01:19:42] And so as often as we eat, as often as we drink, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again to make all things new.
[01:19:51] Now here at Harbor, we have both wine and grape juice.
[01:19:53] Wine is only our most ring.
[01:19:55] All the inner rings are juice.
[01:19:58] And just like the bread, hold on to your cup, and then we'll all drink together.
[01:22:37] But if Christ was shed for you, let's drink in remembrance of him.
[01:22:43] Let's pray.
[01:22:46] Lord God, all that we have is yours.
[01:22:51] Lord God, it's a gift from you.
[01:22:53] we thank you Lord that you have loved us with a great love Lord help us to love one another well Lord God we pray that you would help us to learn what it looks like
[01:23:03] to sacrifice ourselves for one another Lord that you might get great glory and Lord that we would have great joy in you getting that glory on and on unto eternity in Christ's name we pray
[01:23:15] would you please stand if you're able as we sing our closing song together

[01:23:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:23:20] O fount of the Lord snacks and coffee in the room to the right we got sunday school at a quarter after love y'all

[01:26:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:26:38] stick around for that receive the lord's blessing over you as you go out into the world from first 1 Thessalonians 5, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who
[01:26:57] calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.