Transcription downloaded from https://sermon-library.fbcmustang.org/sermons/103617/the-life-joy-of-gods-people-pt-2/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang. Thank you for joining us.! [0:10] Well, turn with me here to First Peter. For those who may be new with us, typically we are studying verse by verse through books of the Bible. But we just a couple of weeks ago finished a lengthy study through the Gospel of Mark. On Sunday nights, we are studying through First Thessalonians. [0:30] And soon, on Sunday mornings, we're going to begin studying verse by verse through Second Thessalonians. But, for a few weeks, we're doing just a couple of different texts to highlight a few things I want us to consider on Sunday mornings while we're finishing First Thessalonians on Sunday nights. [0:52] I just encourage you to come back tonight at 5 o'clock. We are in First Thessalonians chapter 5, looking at the events related to the Second Coming. We begin that last week. We'll continue that same passage, looking at the Second Coming of Jesus. That's tonight at 5 o'clock. [1:08] But we're looking on Sunday mornings for a couple of weeks here at First Peter 4, at this passage of verses 7 to 11. Let me read it to you and have it in front of our minds. It says, The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. [1:26] Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. [1:39] As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God. [1:51] Whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. In order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. [2:02] To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So, verse 7, the end of all things is at hand. This is a reminder that the Lord's coming is imminent. [2:17] It's taking place. It's guaranteed. It's an assured thing. And because of that, that lets us know that life on this earth, in this life, is not forever. [2:30] So, with the reality that this life is short, that our time is fleeting, that Christ is returning, that eternity lasts forever, with that in mind, how should we live? [2:46] So, this passage, I think, serves to help us in our families, in our church, to make sure that we are focused on the most important things. [3:00] In light of the return of Christ, how should we live? What should our focus be on? What kind of people should we be? [3:11] And as we begin last week, I do want to remind you from last Sunday that what follows is not a call for us to do something radical in the sense of what He calls us to do instead is to live normal, faithful, responsible lives. [3:36] In fact, as we finish 1 Thessalonians and Sunday nights, and as in a few weeks we'll begin 2 Thessalonians, one of the things that we see in those two letters is that there, Paul is writing to them about the return of Christ. [3:52] And one of the things he has to clarify for that church is there were some in that church who were thinking, if the Lord's return is a sure thing, then maybe we don't need to be responsible with our daily lives. [4:08] And so there were some who were not being responsible with their families and not being responsible with their work. And they were just saying, if life is temporary and eternity is coming, maybe we should just not be responsible on this life, in this life. [4:26] And that's not the way we're to live. Both in 1 Thessalonians and in 1 Peter 4, it's very clear that we do live in light of the return of Christ, but the way that we are to live is to be faithful and responsible. [4:44] And so he says, the end of all things at hand, therefore, and this is the first thing we looked at last week, that we are to be self-controlled and sober-minded. [4:54] Self-controlled and sober-minded. That because we know that the Lord is coming again, that should cause us to live lives that are self-controlled. [5:07] We live with restraint. We live with holiness. We don't live according to flesh. And sober-minded. That we're to think clearly. [5:18] And he says, as we looked at last Sunday morning, this is for the sake of your prayers. So, if you have any thought in your mind that God's sovereignty cancels out your prayer life, that's an unbalanced view. [5:37] The Bible is very clear that the Lord is sovereign. Sovereign over all things. There's nothing that escapes the sovereign rule of God. [5:49] Yet, under the umbrella of his sovereignty, the Lord has so orchestrated life and his people that he moves in response to our prayers. [6:01] And so, it is no problem at all. There is no theological tension to affirm the absolute sovereignty of God and the responsibility of God's people to pray and the power that is there in our prayers. [6:16] We are to consider the return of the Lord, which will happen exactly according to the sovereign plan of God. And yet, as we wait for that, we live self-controlled, sober-minded, and as prayerful people. [6:36] So, that was the first thing we looked at last week. We are to be self-controlled and sober-minded. Let's add to that this week. Number two, we are to be supremely loving each other. [6:50] Supremely loving each other. I get that from verse 8. Above all. So, as we think about how we're to live, as we consider what kind of people we are to be, he says, above all. [7:04] Let this put you on alert. And he says, keep loving one another. We are to persevere in our love for each other. [7:18] Now, this is really critical for us because sometimes it's an accusation, and sadly, sometimes even true, that there are people, and sometimes even congregations, who can be so focused on doctrine, which is right and good, but they can be so focused on doctrine and theological precision that they do not love people. [7:47] Now, let me be very clear. It's not the study of doctrine that would lead someone to not be loving. That would be disobedience. It's not that the pursuit of theology should lead you to not love people, but it is a danger that for some, they can love the pursuit of knowledge, yet be disobedient at the command that we are to love each other. [8:15] And so, the Scripture makes this very clear. We are to keep loving one another. And it even gives us a way to think of how we do that in verse 8. [8:28] Keep loving one another, and the word here is earnestly. This is speaking of constant love. The word here for earnestly describes, it's a picture of a muscle that's being strained. [8:44] This is maximum effort. If you are in a race, and you are running this lengthy race, you run, and you finish, and you have to have endurance, but you also have to have some patience, and then you get to the very last stretch of that race, and you hold nothing back. [9:04] You give 100%. This is maximum strain to the finish line. That's the word that's used here. We love each other earnestly. Maximum force. [9:15] Maximum strain. Maximum effort. And he says we're to love like that. So we're self-controlled, sober-minded, and supremely loving each other, constantly loving each other. [9:36] Earnestly loving each other. This is the kind of love that comes from conviction. This is the kind of love that comes from the will. [9:52] This is not just about emotion. Now we understand, and we looked at last week, that certainly, when we think of our love for the Lord, and our love for each other, there should be emotion with that. [10:09] We're not robots. We weren't made to be robots. We should feel, and we should feel deeply. But the love the Bible describes that we are to display for each other is not a love that is based on emotion. [10:26] It's a love that is based on truth, and conviction, and the mind, and the will. It's not something that is manipulated. [10:40] We love as an act of the will, not simply a response of our feelings. We are to love each other earnestly. [10:53] This kind of love described in verse 8 with this language is not first about emotional intensity. It's about a love that lasts even under duress. [11:09] It's very important. And follow just the train of thought here. The end of all things is at hand. This life is temporary. [11:21] The Lord is returning. Eternity is forever. That's the doctrine. That's the theology. With that in mind, be self-controlled, sober-minded, be prayerful, and with that same doctrine in mind that the Lord is coming again, love each other earnestly to the maximum amount. [11:49] Keep loving each other, even under duress, meaning love each other, even when it's difficult, even when it's costly, even when it's inconvenient. [12:01] Keep loving each other. Our love is to be sincere, and our love is to be passionate, and our love comes as a result of what we know to be true about God. [12:17] Namely, that Christ is coming again. And so, when your life comes to an end, or when the Lord calls us home, however it may be, what are the details of that may look like? [12:32] Let Him find us loving each other. This is just one of many reasons why the church is given this gift of gathering together. [12:50] There's a lot of reasons why the church is called to gather together, but one of them is because the Christian life absolutely includes our knowledge, but never excludes our love for people. [13:09] Biblically speaking, it would be absolute disobedience to say that I just want to sit at home by myself and read the Bible. [13:22] I just want to sit at home by myself and study Scripture. I just want to sit at home by myself and listen to teaching online. I just don't want to be distracted by people. [13:32] Biblically speaking, that would be completely disobedient. Because while we are called absolutely to have biblical knowledge and to pursue a deeper, more precise knowledge of His Word, absolutely, it's always in the context of the community of believers. [13:54] And part of the way we express our love for Christ is by supremely loving each other. We are to be in community with each other. [14:09] And you say, well, but sometimes people frustrate me and just understand that that's not a new thing. That's been around a while. You say, well, sometimes people discourage me and let me down. [14:22] Yes, that's what it is to be a human being. Sometimes people slow me down. That's true. But remember that the pursuit of the Christian life is not simply about you running fast. [14:38] It's about you leading others with you. Leadership is not about how much further ahead from people can you run. [14:49] Leadership is about how you can gracefully bring people along. And so His Word tells us that yes, we're to be doctrinally pure. [15:00] Yes, we're to express that by being sober-minded, mental discipline, thinking clearly, thinking rightly. Yet, we are to keep loving each other earnestly. [15:15] Let the mark of this congregation be that we don't choose either or when the Bible clearly commands both and. [15:28] Are we going to be a church of deep theology or a church that loves each other? And we're not going to pick one or the other where the Bible commands us to live in obedience to both. [15:42] We are to be clear in our pursuit of the knowledge of God's Word and keep loving each other earnestly. [15:54] At the end of verse 8 says, since love covers a multitude of sins. This is, I think, just a, I take it as a general axiom that speaks of the value of love. [16:06] I think this comes from Proverbs 10, 12 that says, Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Now, I love the words of R.C. Sproul thinking about this verse. [16:18] He says, Covering love is how families survive. And the church is a family too. Covering love. [16:30] We're to have a love with each other and for each other that helps to cover our sins. That does not mean that we hide our sins. That does not mean that we seek to conceal our sin. [16:44] The Bible is very clear that the response of God's people when we sin is to repent. The Bible is very clear that those who are walking in obedience, that though we still sin, we repent, we confess that sin, we ask the Lord for forgiveness, we ask those who we have wronged to forgive us. [17:08] Covering love is not about hiding sin. When the text says that love covers a multitude of sins, it means that love chooses to not treat each other according to our failures. [17:26] It doesn't mean I'll cover your, hide your sin if you'll hide mine. It doesn't mean that we can all walk in disobedience and we'll just pretend it's not there. [17:38] That's not the point. Repentance is the expectation of those who are God's people when we sin. But it means that we choose to not use somebody else's failure as ammunition to be used against them. [17:55] We cover that. We forgive that. Can you imagine if you're married, if you woke up every morning and your spouse greeted you with a list of everything you've ever done wrong in your marriage. [18:13] and the next day they recite the exact same list but just add to it yesterday's offenses. And the next day recite the exact same list and just add to it the previous day's offenses. [18:33] And you say I've apologized for that. I've asked you to forgive me for that. I've told you I was wrong in that. And the next day they recite all the same offenses and add to it the next days. [18:45] And you just say how can I ever get out from under this? And the Bible's answer is that in contrast to that love covers a multitude of sins. [19:01] Doesn't mean we hide it. Doesn't mean we conceal it. We're called to repent. We're called to confess. But under the umbrella of the gift of confession and repentance and forgiveness and grace love covers our sin. [19:21] And that's how we should be known. We don't greet each other on Sunday morning by reciting the failures of the person we're meeting. [19:33] How awful would that be? and yet sadly some of you kind of know what that's like because you may have been raised in families where you feel like your failures were just ever set in front of you. [19:51] But that's not the way it should be with God's people. Love covers sin. Doesn't hide. Doesn't pretend it's not there. we confess we repent we forgive we give grace and we cover each other with grace. [20:11] And so what that means for us in context of what's being said here in this passage is that in light of the return of Christ we control our life we control our minds we love each other and we are to be the most gracious forgiving people there are. [20:35] That does not mean that we have no standard for holiness or righteousness. God's people should have a standard of righteousness. [20:48] But what it does mean is that as we are faithful to confess our sin and to grant each other forgiveness that our congregation becomes increasingly more and more loving and one of the reasons we become more loving is because the longer we're together the more we need to forgive each other. [21:09] If you've been married five years you've had to forgive some sin but if you've been married 50 years you've got a whole lot of things you've got to forgive. And because you forgive more and more and more and more your love is a larger and larger covering and that's the way it should be in the body of Christ. [21:34] This is not an excuse for us to disobey God's word. This is no license for us to treat each other in an ungodly way. This is a reminder that in light of the fact that life is short and fleeting and the Lord is coming again we are to be loving each other and part of loving each other says I'm covering your life with grace covering your life with forgiveness so that when I see you I'm not thinking of your worst day that when we talk I'm not thinking of your worst mistake we're not using each other's failures as ammunition to shoot each other instead love covers us this is how God's people should live and this is why the life and the joy of God's people should be so loving there's life among us because our Savior lives and there's joy among us because [22:44] He has forgiven us and so we forgive each other it's true that in our families in our homes we've got to be forgiving and we need to confess sin we need to take ownership when we're in the wrong and we need to flood each other with grace but you don't need to live in fear of these things because if two people were a household if they love the Lord if they're walking with the Lord if they're obeying the Lord we mutually have this command to forgive each other to love each other to cover each other with grace and forgiveness and then you bring that into the church and the exact same thing is true here you've heard me say before one of my one of the men who was very influential in my life and preached when I was young in the ministry he used to often say to his very large church he used to say if I knew about you what only God knows about you we wouldn't have let you in but if you knew about me what only God knows about me you wouldn't have come and there's some truth to that love covers a multitude of sins not hiding or concealing confessing and repenting and forgiving and restoring so how should we live what kind of church should we be what kind of individuals should we be we should be self-controlled and sober minded second we should be supremely loving each other third from verse 9 we should be showing hospitality verse 9 show hospitality to one another without grumbling so another way that we're to live another way that we express our Christian life and our Christian joy is to show hospitality not just to talk about being kind not just to discuss being hospitable but to show it to demonstrate it now understand all of this comes in a context verse 7 think this way the end of all things is at hand it's our knowledge it's our doctrine it's our theology that drives our behavior so based on what we know in verse 7 one of the results of that is that we show hospitality to one another without grumbling our doctrine must have hands and feet so a month from now ladies night of theology we'll have 400 maybe more than that ladies here from all across the state that show up we'll spend two hours and all we do is study theology from God's word and the goal of that absolutely is to help our ladies help our children help our teenage ladies help them to know [25:53] God's word I want their minds to be impacted by the truth of God's word however the truth we study at ladies night of theology needs to be lived out it's got to have hands and feet that we don't just come here and study about things that are true we should be with the ladies who are here studying things that are true and then they go home and they go to school and they go to work and what they have learned in their mind gets expressed in the way they treat each other same with our men's institute we want those men in there to yes study yes be knowledgeable yes graduate with a good education from our theology institute but we want them also to express what they've learned in the way they treat other people our doctrine must have hands and it must have feet show hospitality to one another the word hospitality is a compound word it's made up of two words put together one word means love one word means stranger to show hospitality literally would be saying to show love to the stranger now the context of chapter four I think is clear that this is in reference to both how we would treat those we don't know that's what the word would mean and that we would show hospitality to those that we do know because it says in verse 9 show hospitality to one another so I think this is a command for us both to show kindness to those that we don't know and to show love and kindness to those that we do know as we do that practice with one another now if we were to go back to the first century when this letter was written what we would find is that one of the practical ways that the church would show hospitality would be to those who were needing a place to stay overnight there were hotels of sorts inns of sorts but generally they were very shady places they weren't the kind of place that you'd want to be around they weren't safe they were dangerous they were immoral and so people who were traveling through would need a place to stay and so one of the things a local church would do is be known for hospitality that others believers who are traveling through could find those a part of the church in that town and that they would open up their homes to them and show hospitality to the stranger and I think it's true that we ought to show hospitality to strangers [28:51] I think in context it's also true that we are to show hospitality just as the language says to one another a continual expression of togetherness within the congregation and I just want to say again that it would be impossible to live this command out without being connected to each other but the Christian life always always includes our mind but it never stops with our mind the Christian life always includes what we study and what we read and what we learn but it's always more than that it always has to be carried out within the confines of relationships you can't verse eight love one another if you don't know one another you can't forgive someone if you don't know someone verse nine you can't show hospitality to somebody if you live your [30:10] Christian life in isolation it's impossible to carry out the commands of the New Testament as a Christian if you're not connected to people which is why we need to continually work together to make sure that this church is the kindest warmest most hospitable place that anybody who shows up here that they've been all week long it does not mean we lower our standard for what is right and wrong it does not mean that we fail to teach things that are true it does not mean that we should stop calling sin sin we don't disobey one commandment to follow the other we do all of it at the same time so we teach without shame and without embarrassment the clear teaching of [31:11] God's word but as we do that we forgive each other we call each other to holy lives and to holy living but as we do that we show hospitality to each other we are to be showing verse 9 showing hospitality to one another that is not simply a command for some that is for all of us now some of you would say you love to sit at home and read a theology book and that's wonderful don't do that less but if you think that the Lord is happy and satisfied that you read your theology book but you never talk to a soul and never serve anyone and never help anyone that's not what he's after again we don't choose either or where the scripture is clear for both and we live our life with a sober mind verse 7 that's clear thinking that's right thinking that means we study that means we're students that means we read and verse 9 we're to show hospitality we're to be friendly we're to be helpful we're to care for people don't wait till you have the bigger home to invite people into your house don't wait until you have a larger paycheck until you become generous do what you can using what you have today to show hospitality show kindness show love to people right where you are and [33:12] I love the end of verse 9 that the Holy Spirit as he reveals us obviously knows us so well show hospitality one another without what's your word without what without grumbling do it and stop complaining about it that's the that's the paraphrased version you tell your children to make your bed you don't want them just to make their bed if they're complaining about it you want them to do it without grumbling now this is biblical the book of ephesians tells children to obey their parents and to honor them obedience is your action honor is your attitude and both must be present for it to be obedient same thing is true in first peter four show hospitality and don't grumble invite people into your home and don't complain before they come and don't complain after they leave find ways to be kind to one another and don't be angry about it while you're doing it that doesn't please the [34:25] Lord now I do have to raise a very obvious point here why does the text say show hospitality without grumbling why would it even need to say without grumbling here's why because hospitality can be difficult if it wasn't difficult it wouldn't warn you to do it without grumbling because people can be ungrateful and people can take advantage and people can sometimes fail to return kindness for kindness and so the text says do what's right without grumbling it tells us that because it can be inconvenient and it can be costly but this is how we're to be so I'm just curious let's do a little research here no right or wrong answer alright [35:29] I'm just curious when it comes to you initiating a conversation with someone you don't know not your best friend not your parent not your not your co-worker that you like not your child but someone you don't know you're at church and there's someone you don't know your two choices are it's easy for me to initiate a conversation with someone I don't know or it's hard for me to initiate a conversation with someone I don't know those are your two choices alright do a little research here if you would say it's easy for you to initiate conversation with someone you don't know at church raise your hand raise it high okay if you would say it's hard for me to initiate conversation with someone I don't know raise your hand raise it high look around okay what does that tell us it tells us that there's a lot of you that need to do what's right even if it's hard if we're going to be faithful here for the first group that raised your hand congratulations [36:47] I'll find something to make you feel guilty about soon all right but for today you're in good standing for that second group let me let's just be this is so obvious if you look at the hands if that second group and that's not wrong it's not wrong that that's harder for you all right but can I say this with just as much grace as I can it's not wrong that it's hard for you to do that but it's irrelevant that it's hard for you to do that in the same way it may be hard for you to read your Bible and pray but it's irrelevant and it's never an excuse to be disobedient so for the second group and by the second group you were by far in the majority there's many more of you than the first so in one sense you're in good company but if everyone in this service just lives by how they feel in this regard we're going to be a pretty cold place and [38:16] I would take you back to verse seven that we're to be self controlled meaning we don't let our emotions dictate our obedience now let me be clear the second category you raise your hand it's hard for you many of you are going out of your comfort zone anyway so it's not like the second category raise your hands not talking to anybody many of you in that category still do what's right it's just harder for you I just want you to see visually that we have to do what is right and what is pleasing not what is convenient if we're as a church going to fulfill this and even in the first category let me pick on you for just a minute you friendly people you talkative people for some you may say it's easy for me to talk to someone I don't know but that doesn't mean that you do it it may mean that if you do it it's not hard but it's possible for you to come to church have someone sitting right in front of you you you've never met them and you wouldn't have a problem talking to them but you may just ignore them and so my point is it's not so much about our personality it's about our obedience and our love for the [39:35] Lord and our willingness to live that out with people look I understand there's some people come to a church and if nobody talks to them they get their feelings hurt and they don't come back there's other people they come to a new church and they say too many people talk to me it was weird I not coming back I get it like I don't know what the exact number of conversations someone has to have to come back all right I'm not worried about finding this magical mystical thing the only thing I'm concerned about is that we as a congregation are doing what God's called us to do we'll leave the results in his hands but it's our responsibility to show hospitality and to do it without grumbling be kind look for people who you need to be kind to both inside the church and outside of it [40:39] John 13 35 by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another just a few practical things as we think about hospitality within the church specifically let me just give you three really practical things to consider number one introduce yourself to people you don't know that's brilliant isn't it introduce yourself to people you don't know now if you have the courage to even write that down in your sermon notes I know your protest but what if I do that and someone has gone to church here for 15 years let me take you back to verse 9 show hospitality one another without grumbling quit finding reasons to be disobedient you ever introduce yourself to someone at church and said oh it's nice to meet you are you new here and they say [41:45] I've actually been here for 20 years let you put you at ease so have I quite often do it without grumbling now give you just a couple of insider trading tips here instead of saying are you new here! [42:05] and someone tells you they're a charter member from 1903 when our church started say something like how long have you attended here there's no bad answer how long have you attended here 87 years great glad you're here how long have you attended here this is my first Sunday here great now don't do that today everybody's going to be in on it wait till next Sunday when everybody's forgotten everything I said today how long have you attended here that question or say we've met I should probably know your name but I don't oh okay my name's whatever it is we've met I think we've taught I know I've seen you I should probably know your name but but I don't that's a lot better than looking at the same people every single Sunday and thinking I don't know their name it's kind of weird I think I'll just that's not the way that we ought to be number two take ownership of your section wherever you sit see to it that no one on your row no one in your section is ignored before service after service go out of your way to try to talk to someone you don't know that you haven't met teenagers when you go to elevate on [43:40] Wednesday nights when you're in Sunday school some of you may remember what this is like some of you don't know what it's like to be new to church because you've been here your whole life if you're new at a church if you're new in a youth group service it can be just be kind just be friendly and then third just trying to give you some really practical things here number three make your Sunday school class noisy what I mean by that is try to be in your Sunday school class early and be talking be greeting people make it a noisy place now when it's time to teach dial it back a bit our teachers would appreciate that but if you go in your Sunday school class this is a cold day you're going to leave here if you get [44:44] Sunday you leave here to go to your class you get coffee and you just sit there and stare at the steam coming out of your coffee and the person beside you does that and you look around you got 10 people or 30 people or 50 people and everybody is just sitting down it doesn't matter how many people in there whoever comes in is going to think this is a cold place to be make your class noisy get there early get to service early purposefully leave your home early so you can get here early so you! [45:18] make the sanctuary noisy filled with conversation in your Sunday school class see to it that nobody would come in that class and be ignored now there are some of you and depending on the day it could be any one of us who are saying to yourself you just ruined it for me I like no one talking to me because I don't want to listen to their stories I'm not telling them my stories I don't tell them my problems I don't want to hear their problems I don't let them into my life I don't want to be brought into their life and to that I just say you cannot obey the [46:18] Bible teaching as a Christian in isolation it's impossible to show hospitality to one another demands relationships verse eight keep loving one another demands relationships verse ten and eleven serve one another demands relationships you know as people get older they tend to isolate a bit more not everybody but it's just kind of part of what I've observed through the years I get this for we've been married 29 years and for the first 28 of those 29 years [47:19] I could not stand being home on a Friday night or Saturday night we didn't have to do something expensive we didn't have to do something big but I had to be out of the house I couldn't stand Friday night Saturday night being at home we didn't go to dinner we can have friends over we can go to Lowe's and look at lawn equipment I don't care but I cannot be home on a Friday Saturday night and then I turn 50 and I'm not all the way there but it's coming I'll be 52 this July by 52 I feel it I'm going to be just fine being at home by myself on a Friday Saturday night people are louder than they used to be they're weirder than they used to be they're more domain than they used to be and my recliner and fireplace is a lot more comfortable than it used to be [48:24] I feel it I'm going to fight it because I don't want to be disobedient and I want with the Lord's help to try to live my life not by the flesh but by what honors the Lord which is why verse 7 begins be self controlled we don't live by the flesh we walk by the spirit our church needs to be filled with people who are sober minded and self controlled who are supremely loving each other and who are faithfully showing hospitality all for the sake of the glory of God look just as we close to the end of verse 11 in order that in everything [49:29] God may be glorified through Jesus Christ meet the neighbor for the glory of Christ talk to the person in the row beside you for the glory of Christ invite someone new to church to lunch for the glory of Christ forgive each other for the glory of Christ love each other for the glory of Christ make your Sunday school class noisy with conversation to the glory of Christ and then go home and enjoy the silence that's fine but don't let your life be lived by your feelings because if you do you're going to waste these days so let's end where we begin the end of all things is at hand in other words your time is short therefore honor the Lord God I pray that this text would be helpful for each of us convicting for each of us that we would obey it and respond to it [50:38] Lord I pray that we would seek above all things to bring glory to the name of your son and that we would do what is right and we would let our minds be engaged with truth and the doctrine we learn would be expressed in our hands and our feet as we serve each other we pray in Christ's name amen if we can help you use your connection card let us know how to pray for you how we can serve you five o'clock evening service hope to see you then God bless you love you church you're dismissed for joining us via live stream this morning if you have any questions whatsoever about our church or the ministries that our church provides please visit us at fbcmustang.org we would love to follow up with you and get to know you better as always we try to emphasize if at all possible if you could be here physically present with us we would love that and that'd be a joy to serve you in that way but thank you again for joining us via live stream today have a great day... 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