Thoreau said: “Rather than love, money or fame – give me truth.” It sounds quite noble. Many today feel the opposite: “I’d rather be accused of being too loving than being too truthful.” But what if both are wrong? That’s what 2 John is about – not balancing truth and love but putting them together.
2 John 1-11
Speaker: Joel Garrison
Well, good morning everybody. How many of you want to stand up and dance right now? That is pastor Aaron from Vestal for those of you that don't know that last week it was pastor Tim from Conklin. I Just wanted to be known I think pastor Tim is clearly the better dancer if you were here last week for that one there And my goal is to make sure that the two of those know that I two of them know that I picked on them But I can pick on them because I'm not dancing and I am not going to dance. That is only bad for everybody here So we don't want that My name is Joel. It is a pleasure to be here with you this morning if you are a first-time guest welcome I am a first-time Sunday here as well. So it is good to be here with you My wife and I our family we have been part of Bridgewater up in Conklin It'll be ten years this coming fall as that is Bridgewater Conklin open ten years ago this this coming year right there So thank you to many of you who helped that happen up there, but it is my pleasure to be here with you this morning Let me say thank you so much to Jessica and the band They did a tremendous job this morning And not only that but then leading us in that time of prayer. What a difficult moment that is and To do that so well and to lead each one of us into a time of that. I hope that I hope that Speaks to you in your heart and in your life each one of us go through different difficulties, but but for this family What a blessing to know that your church family is praying for you and a moment like that you're reminded that that it's our faith that we turn to I Once was at a funeral for somebody who died at about the age of 2021 and the dad stood up and said I don't know how people without faith Make it through a moment like this and we're reminded that at a time like this as well So thankful for our faith so thankful for our church so thankful for our church family that we can be here together With as well well this morning. We are going to take a look. We're going to be looking in this series summer mix tape How many of you once upon a time had a summer mix tape, all right? There's a handful of us You know what I want you to know I can already tell the second service. You're a little more honest than the first service Or people out there they looked at me like they didn't know what a second about a summer mix tape was and I'm like wait a minute You're my age or older. You know what a summer mix tape is. All right I love the way pastor Bob said it last week when he said for so many of you You don't know what that is because it's just on your phone and it can control however many songs you want to put on there You load it right up and load it down Years ago We were limited to 30 minutes aside of a tape because that's all it could go and then Memorex came out with this great thing 60 minutes and we could listen to 60 minutes worth the mix tapes if we could get them all recorded off the radio quick enough To get them in there and oh boy that was that was pleasant some of you know what that was but summer mix tape We're looking at it at three very short letters three letters in our New Testament that were written To they were written at that time written in the first century All right written to a group of people do individuals there and but today they are applicable to us in our life And they and they help us understand they help us with what we are doing in our lives And I don't know what your summer mix tape may have had on it But it probably had some love songs had some summer songs on it has some excitement songs songs to get you going Whatever it may be but it was something to help you just cope in The world we live in a world that is certainly broken and falling apart We see the effects of sin right we see this the effects of wrong all around and and one of the things that I love about our Churches last week our churches took the time to pray for our nation at a moment when wow There was there was some news that came out on Saturday night right just the news It's wow we we don't want something like that to happen in our country and and as a church We are able to take time and pray and I and I love that about our church being aware of what is going on and in this world We are broken and it makes me want to start with this question for us this morning And it's this what the world needs now is Blank and I heard the right answer over there somewhere But but for each one of us we we know that what does the world need now? It needs something right? It's broken. It's it's falling apart and for some of you You may say what my world right needs right now is it needs happiness It's been a tough time and I'm not so happy and you might be saying that I need some happiness and I need money Maybe you're looking around like we're not doing so well if you saw my bills We need some money and heck if I can't have happiness I might as well at least get money so that I can buy stuff that might make me happy Only a handful of us believe that the rest of you you're there like no doesn't buy that Well, we want to try some of us we still want to try maybe it's you're looking for freedom You'd like to find some freedom in life. You're just like I'm tied down to everything and it might go back to the money and might go back the happiness news They're like and some of you. It's just peace. Can I just get a moment of peace Somewhere Somehow Maybe that's why you drink that gallon of water that Nick mentioned before because you go to the bathroom many times a day And that's the only spot you can get that piece They thought that was for health the rest of us you're doing it because you want peace and for others of you You're still back on that question. What the world needs now and you're still answering it love sweet Love and some of you you had that on your mixtape back in the 70s and 80s, right? Because that is what the world needs now and deon warwick when she sang it. It was so beautiful It was exactly what the world needed and I there's somebody else that sang it before her I can't remember who it was there, but um, and that's what we look at love sweet love Well, it's good. No that even in the first century the world still needed love As a matter of fact if you listen to politics, we need truth as well, right? We need truth We need love all right. We need both of those in our world and we're gonna look this morning We're gonna look at second john And second john is a is a letter that was written that john the apostle wrote And I want us to get this in our minds Just as we start this morning as we get ready to go through this passage of scripture And we're gonna walk down through almost all the verses most of the verses that are there We're gonna walk down through that but I want us to get this in our mind as we read this all right I want us to understand that we are reading the actual words We are reading an actual letter that the apostle john wrote Late in the first century many of many theologism many salad they would believe that this was written in the late 80s Maybe early 90s of the first century so we're looking at over 1900 years ago But written right there by the apostle john and I and I just wanted to remind you This is the apostle john who walked on this world with Jesus who spent about three years what we would say three years of his life With jesus with jesus leading him and discipling him in his life to be a follower of jesus christ This is the apostle john who was there with jesus when he walked on the water out to them and they were all afraid This is the apostle john who was there when there was water in some buckets and suddenly it was wine And everybody's like who this is the best wine that we've ever had This is the apostle john that was with jesus when they showed up and they saw him talking to a woman It was a samaritan woman no less remind let me remind you that had been divorced five times Was now living with a guy and people that are religious leaders rabbi You don't hang out with people like her what in the world are you doing the avoiding? This is the apostle john who saw jesus raised Lazarus from the dead the apostle john who saw jesus give sight to the blind Feed 5000 and goes on to say that if we were to write everything that he did There's probably not enough volumes in the world to contain it all So he said this is just the highlights of what it is that i've written And he said i wrote these things that you may know that you may believe that jesus is a christ later in his life Now he is an older man and As he writes this passage of scripture. He is writing it to a group of believers We're gonna look at this uh this passage here, but as he writes this i want us to understand It's the apostle john that was with jesus writing these words And they're words that were applicable in the first century Because they need love and truth and their words are applicable to us today Because we need his love and truth in our life If you would i'd encourage you to turn to second john if you wanted to take out your iphone or whatever off brand device you may use I'm sorry it never gets old for me. I I like to pick on people like that and that's a bad thing Or if you have your bible here if you want to take your if you want to pull out your bible Um the book of second john, it's going to be right near the end go to the end You're going to find revelation you go back from there to jude You go to third john and second john is right there Or the words will also be right up here on the screen the words as we go right through this passage of scripture But i want you to be aware that these are words that john writes and this is how he starts this passage This is how he starts this letter that he's going to write and he says this right here This letter is from john the elder and i just want to stop just right there just for a minute because i want to say that the new living translation Which is what we use as a church takes a little bit of liberty here because they actually add john When john writes this and it's an it's original writing it really just says this letter This is a letter from the elder all right we we know that john was the writer of it So they put that in there to put that in there but john originally just writes it from the elder And and as he writes that there might be reasons that he wrote it that way he may have written it just for the mere fact that He was a wanted man in rome Christianity all right, we are post Nero rome and empire at this time all right The the temple and Jerusalem has been destroyed all right that would happen in 70 ad and this is being written in the in the 80s Later 80s early 90s is when it is written so john is an older man and they are most of the disciples Probably we would believe all of the disciples have been killed at this point So john is one that they would probably want as well to kill so maybe john is just writing it as the elder So that not you know just a little incognito keep things undercover there, but he writes it and he says The elder is writing this i am writing to the chosen lady and to her Children and i just want us to catch us as we as we look at this portion It's it's something just for us to just just for us to know as we look at it that right there There's two different meanings that that could have it could be that it is a lady Maybe that it's a lady that hosts a church in her home and to her children Some good people hold and believe that that's the idea Others believe that he is writing to the chosen to the elect lady and her children and it's to a Church to a church that that she is that he is writing this to i choose that one I choose to believe that it's a that it's a church that he is writing this to just for some different reasons But but but as we look at that it doesn't change the meaning in the effect that it has for us in our lives today john is writing this and as he says this he says who my love in the truth as does everybody else who knows The truth So john is making a point right here as he starts us out that he is going to emphasize he wants her to be an emphasis on truth And it makes sense because as he wrote his gospel he talks about truth all throughout the gospel of john and referencing truth He is not only referencing the gospel of jesus christ All right, he is referencing christ himself why because christ said i am the way the truth All right, jesus christ is truth and john is referencing that here he says that who my love and truth to my love and jes who my love in the gospel who As does everyone else who knows the truth as do all those who follow and hold to this truth He continues on by saying this because the truth lives in us and will be with us Forever So that truth the truth of jesus christ even as jessica could close out in prayer there talking Hey, you we need to be those that follow christ in our lives The truth if you are a follower of jesus christ is Within you it doesn't mean that we always get it right But it means that he is within us look at what he continues on Because he says grace mercy and peace Which come from god the father and from jesus christ the son of the father will continue to be with us Who live in truth and love so look at that it's going to be with us those of us It's going to continue to be with us for those of us that live in truth and love grace mercy and peace and we say wow I want grace mercy and peace And some of you say All right, those are good things, but there are a few other things that I want right we go back to that happiness list I want the happiness. I want the money. I want the freedom for some of you. They're like, I you know I like this grace mercy and peace idea, but My neighbor kept me up till one in the morning last night and i'm a little miffed about that So i'm going to tell you the grace mercy and peace that i'm about to show them Is tomorrow morning at 5 30? I'm going to be mowing or using my chainsaw right outside their window Or maybe i'll be inviting my friend over who has a nice big motorcycle and i'll tell him hey Can you pick me up for work tomorrow? I want to be there three hours early Right, it's the first time ever that you're going to want to be that early But and you want to show them some of your grace mercy and peace grace mercy and peace may be enjoyable for you They might be great bible talk But they're not always the things that i am looking for When i go to work because if you knew my boss grace mercy and peace aren't the things that i'm looking for with them Right if you knew the situation that i made in my life Those might not be my favorite things as a matter of fact some of you in here you're thinking how about david You know that old testament guy david i kind of like his ideas, right? He's the one that killed glieth. Yeah, that's rugged. That's tough Yeah, he's the one that went down and destroyed killed the philistines for killed a bunch number of them Yeah, I like that david. I like that one Can we do that bible character instead because that's a little more interesting to me. He was a warrior He was a fighter right that's a little more interesting to me than the grace mercy and peace But even david Even david strong tough david Look at these words that he says right here that he wrote in Psalm 62 He said this god has spoken plainly and i have heard it many times What have i heard god? What do i know about you? This is what i know about you power. Oh god. Yeah, I like that part power. Oh god Belongs to you. Yep. God you are strong. You are powerful and that's the one that i like I like jesus on the white horse of revelation. That's the one that i like but then david continues on and he says unfailing love Oh lord is yours Once he's saying there's a couple of things i know about you god and it's that you're strong But it's that you're loving God you are strong you are powerful But you are Loving You bring the two of them together so well So when we go back to our passage of scripture that we're looking at grace mercy and peace Which come from god the father and from jesus christ the son of a father They'll continue to be with us And we live in truth in love And that's what we're working out in this life, right? That's what we're working to get right. That's what you and i We're trying to get these aspects right we're trying to hold truth and do right and we're trying to show love When we need to do love and some of us are like no, I like the tough love idea, right? We got to do that right and sometimes we miss it sometimes we're right with it But that's what john is going to walk us through here in this passage of scripture So what I want us to realize right here living in truth, all right Living in truth that john is talking about we need to have truth we need to be aware of the truth Living in truth the gospel of jesus christ being aware of what it is that god is done. All right means loving people We need to be individuals that are filled with love for those that are around us We need to be individuals that want to share the love that we have in our lives with those around us Grace mercy and peace sound great on a sunday morning and I feel that and I enjoy that and I want to be in church with other people And grace mercy and peace is there, but sometimes I don't want to share love With other people throughout the week Next week we have an opportunity as a church be the church you you've heard it in the feed and even in the announcements All right, but be the church It's an opportunity to go and share our love with our neighbors and we would encourage each one of you here We want you to come back next week. There will be a sign up out here even this morning That you're able to go up and sign up for it with there But we want you to come back be the church next week where we grab onto those orange shirts That don't say don't just that say don't just go to church Be the church we want you to go those and we want you to go out into the community and take opportunities to serve and to love On our community. It is a great sunday to invite people to come along as a matter of fact invite a friend You know why because they'll come to that church and they'll say wow This is the kind of church I want to be a part of not one where some guy stands up there and some whatever who knows what and talking bla bla bla Is this guy ever gonna end right that you know what they come don't laugh at that Right, um, but but they come and they and they enjoy that and they'll be a part of that and they say wow These people care about our community. That's one of the things that pasterbob does so well Um, I had the pleasure of working on staff with pasterbob a number of a number of years ago as a matter of fact, um Personally, I think bridge water can if you like him. Hopefully you like him if you like him You can thank you can thank me for him. I Yeah, see I went on staff at the church where he was at prior to coming here and it only took me about four or five months For bob to say I've had enough. I'm going and there you go And uh, I don't know what I did but it was that offensive and bob's there like I'm out of here Joel I can't put up no, I'm joking, but I I so enjoy bob. I enjoy his heart for people Right it's hard for people And this be the church comes right out of a heart of sharing a heart of desiring to love in your community To go out and share in your community if you're watching online. We would encourage you Those of you that watch online look for opportunities around you in your neighborhood There you can go and serve and where you can say, you know, I'm doing this because it's my church For those of you that are here come on out next sunday morning You're going to get a donut you're going to get that orange shirt if you don't already have one All right, and you're going to go out and then you're going to come back and you're going to have lunch together with everybody here But just an opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ the love that is in us With those in our neighborhood and in our community. I'd encourage you to come on out be a part of that sunday next week But as we continue on john continues on here And he says this in verse four he says how happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living According to the truth. So john is referencing back to this idea of the children As I said before I would believe it's some of the people from that church some of the members that have been part of that church That he's talking about there I've met them and I found them to be living according to the truth Just as the father commanded them to do he continues on I am writing to remind you dear friends that we should love one another This is not a new command, but one we have had From the beginning this command is one that has always been there We are to love one another and he continues on saying this love means doing what God has commanded us This is john that walked with jesus letting us know you want to know what love is it's doing what we've been commanded And he has commanded us to love one another Just as you heard from the beginning Wow John given us instruction in life the first century needing the same exact instruction that we still need today and why do we still need the same instruction today because we're people And we're broken and we stumble and we fall and we get it wrong Right, but what do we do we get back up and we try again? And we try to get it right and we try to show love we try to show tenderness We try to speak and proclaim truth and doing that That is the work of God in our lives take the three the there's three statements that he put in there living according to the truth All right, love one another and love means doing let's look at this living according to the truth You see in my life. I can stand up here and talk about this But if you see me out at work tomorrow if you see me out who's kidding i'm i'm not going to work tomorrow No If you see me at work one day and suddenly what am I doing i'm treating everybody around me like trash i'm angry i'm grumpy i'm mean What do you suddenly think? Well guys just a hypocrite He stands up there and talks all that garbage, but then he doesn't do any of it himself How in the world can we follow how can we we're talking about what does your life look like to other people? What do they see do they just see somebody that's full of self love? Do they just see somebody that's only concerned about themselves? Do they see somebody that's always grumpy that's always down that's always miserable? What do they see in their lives john is saying we need to live according to the truth And if we believe that the truth brings grace peace and mercy in our lives then we need to live like there is grace peace and mercy in our lives Right that should happen in our lives. It's it's affected by loving one another. So not only do I have the truth within me It's shown by the fact that I love One another the people around me. I show love and I have love for them. I was at a funeral yesterday Of a of a gentleman that passed away. He was a lifelong family friend I've known him since I can remember back as far as maybe five or six. So I've known him roughly 20 years Is there a problem Now that he's been a family friend and and he was a friend of my parents My parents used to think so highly of him And one of the things that was repeated at this funeral about him yesterday Was that whenever he left the conversation with somebody when every ended conversation It would always be I love you, right? Hey pastor. I love you, right? That's what he would tell the pastor that his pastor would come and visit him That's what his pastor said about him. Um, his granddaughter spoke so eloquently so lovely about him Say talking about a grandfather who loves and other friends This is a guy that loved and whenever we saw him he wanted to express his love to other people a hard working man The work that lived his life on a dairy farm. That's what a dairy farmer. So he but always expressing love For people love for one another And then love means doing In your life love means it requires action on our part, right? What is the loving thing for me to do in my life? How is it that I reach out step out and show love to others around me? I don't always know what that is, but I know that when I see it I know that when somebody does it for me, I know wow Why did I think to do that? My wife just got something in the mail from a co-worker the other day that I thought wow that was that was really nice Why in the world did they do that? It's a loving thing to do and I'm there like well who would ever do something like that, right? No, but that's that those are things different people you do that in different ways Some of you it's through serving some of you it's through giving some of you It's through writing some of you it's through the words that you say to other people But we are to be those individuals that are filled with love There is no cookie cutter method for this right here It's not everybody looked like Joel and do it like Joel If it was like me we would mess up and we would get it wrong a lot But we need it means doing And for each one of us it takes on the role of showing love to other people John continues he said right he said Just the verse that we looked at there Love means doing what God has commanded and he has commanded us to love one another Just as you have heard from the beginning that verse right there So not only does love mean all right not only does truth mean loving people living in truth mean loving people Living in love means What's that word? Truthing people Now you're gonna look up here. Well, it's my first time speaking here. So I don't know grammar, right? I don't know the english language. I'm not very good truth thing That's not a word is it but you know what it's something that we want to catch your mind We want you to realize that we need to be individuals that are not only filled with loving others But we also need to be individuals that are filled with sharing the truth And we have called it truthing people as well because you see love all right Warren wierzby says it this way if all we ever have is love love love and no truth We end up being hypocrites. We end up with hypocrisy But if all we ever have is truth truth truth without love We end up just bludgeoning people and beating them down And that's not where we want to be we don't want to be either We want to have both and that is what jesus christ was john told us he was full of truth And grace all right jesus christ full of truth and grace We want to be full of truth and love in our lives this action of doing it So living in love means that I don't overlook the truth Of what is going on Living in love means that I still hold to truth And it means that you may be wrong and in something that you are doing there may be something that is wrong out there But I still love you go back to jesus with the woman at the well Married five times divorced five times and now living with a man Doesn't seem like that would be right She's wrong on who how they worship And jesus didn't scold he didn't beat her down He shared truth in a loving manner saying that you know what true worshipers will be worshiping And guess what the one that they will be worshiping is here right now He didn't do it through hate He didn't do it through making up a little lie He did it through being truthful And he did it through showing love And he does that so well all throughout scripture. We need to follow him through that So living in love means truthing people. What is john saying? john says this I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world he's there like he's warning them All right, there are deceivers that are there. They deny that jesus christ came in a real body Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. They're denying that he came in a real body john's they're like wait a minute I may get an old I may be getting old But I still know what i'm talking about and I spent time with christ. It was a real body I saw him physically crucified. I saw him raise again I had breakfast with him on the beach. Guess what he was real We saw him ascend into heaven john continues watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve Don't fall prey to that lack of belief. Don't fall prey to what is wrong Be diligent so that you receive your full reward There is a reward for you and he's there like we want you to remain diligent I want you to hold truth to the scripture. I want you to hold truth to who jesus is anyone who wanders away from this teaching Has no relationship with god. Don't be wandering away from it But anyone who remains in the teaching of christ has a relationship with both the father and the son Sometimes Sometimes we get getting it so hung up on the things that we believe And we replace christ with what we believe And if you don't believe the way that I believe then suddenly you're backslidden you're wrong John is saying right here that we need to hold on to christ and what's he talking about? He's talking about the gospel of jesus christ Sometimes we throw things on top of the gospel of jesus christ Any of you ever grow up in a church where ladies you had to wear a dress all the time All right I'm not anti that it's perfectly fine any of the above is good But did it make you a christian? Did it make you a better follower of jesus christ? No, it was a rule that we added on right um 30 30 years ago I couldn't have preached this message when I went out the first time I spoke was well I guess I am older than 25. All right the first time I spoke in a church I could not have spoke well I could not have mentioned the idea of a mixtape and there certainly weren't drums those were from the devil for crying out loud right Some of you grew up in the same church. I don't remember you but that right that's the way that it was jean's Well, nobody should wear those anyway, but anyway But anyway, we live in this world where sometimes I throw my opinion On what christ did and if you don't follow my opinion Suddenly you're and that's john is not saying that you gotta file john is saying follow jesus Follow jesus through the gospels of jesus christ Take a look at him remain in that truth and hold to that truth hold to that teaching and have the relationship with the father and the son He comes on if anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about christ Don't invite that person into your home or give them any kind of encouragement Why he is letting them know that anyone anyone anyone let me try to get that again there Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in Their evil work Be cautious In our lives remain faithful hold to the truth hold of the teachings of jesus christ hold to what it is that is truth in your life Share that truth hold that truth out in love So how do we live in love and truth? We live in love and truth when we have truth living in us and showing it right loving people And living in love means truthing people We want you to be about that in your life We want each one of us to go about that in our lives One of the things that we have chosen this morning is we want you to we want you to follow through And we're actually going to give you a card as as you leave this morning I think I brought one of those up here with me. Did I bring one with me? Yeah, we have a card that you're going to have at the door And we're going to encourage you to take a look at this card We want you to take this home with you But this card is to help you walk through this process of love and truth Some of us some of us we we struggle we struggle because we're loving and when it comes to that truth Sometimes we I don't want to speak the truth. So hopefully this is going to help us out with that Others of you you're there like I don't mind hitting the truth The only conflict that I don't know I that I don't like is the one that I haven't yet had yet, right? Um some of you that's where you're at conflict. Let's get it going. Let's take it on This is some teaching for for each of us. We need to understand this right here Let's take a look at this first part of this on this card. It's observation interpretation clarification. Oh, I see is what it's called And as we go through this process, this is to help us clarify This is to help us understand what it is that is going on in our lives step one And this is for those if you're one that struggles a little bit more you're you're like, you know I really lean more towards love but all of us can get this wrong so often time, right? We make an observation and sometimes my observation is out there and I can get it so wrong Ask my sons. They will tell you. Yeah, he can get it so wrong at times, right? I make an observation and I jump to my conclusion but make an observation is you want to verbalize or And tell what hey, this is what I heard or this is what I saw this works with your husband This works with your wife. This works with your kids kids. This works with your parents It works in your office. It works It works in relationships with people that you are going through but you make an observation you go to and this is what I saw You offer an interpretation when I when I when I see that this Is what I think that means Am I correct? I'm looking for I'm looking for clarification. Can you help me understand what happened? Let me walk you through this. I was standing out here after the first service And I heard a couple of people talking out there and they said wow the ending of that message was tremendous this morning So naturally, what do I do? I lean in a little closer. Oh, let's hear what they have to say, right? All right, make sure that I get it right in the second service as well And and the other person looks back and says oh, did you mean that illustration? No, no, no, not the illustration. Oh that verse of it. No, no, no. Oh the song. No, no, no. No, no Well, well clarification what what is it that you help me understand? What is it that part where he said amen and sat down I really really like that, right? Suddenly I'm there like this I'm joking, but um, but this works in in real life situations Let me talk about it like this I observed something that my sons did And I can jump to my immediate conclusion as to what it meant down here And I can be there like man And I'm not so loving at that time as a matter of fact sometime I anger gets in right But if we go through the observation and I like hey, this is what I saw. Can you help me understand this? You know what it does it restores relationship It gives an understanding and we can get clarification as to what is going through It's something that can be hard to do I was talking to Andrew before services between services and Andrew said he calls it the Oreo cookie method the Oreo cookie There's a crunchy part that sweet part in the middle where the relationship Hey, this is and then the hey, what are we going to do for the clarification that how are we going to clear it up on the other side? Oreo cookies what a great idea if I'd had that before we'd all have an Oreo cookie right now just to get through that right? You're like that sounds great But from there some of us we struggle on the other side of it and we struggle on this this truth side, right? And we just want to be truthful and sometimes when it's all about truth you need to back up as well Some of this morning said this one if this one's number one if this one's at the top Guess what a lot of times we can bypass these others and you're absolutely correct if we can have this all prayed about We can we can get that we can get through things quickly, but look at this idea right here Do you have the facts right? We need to know do we have the facts right? Right proverbs 18 13 warns about that warns about making sure that we have those facts right? Should love cover at feast first Peter tells us that love covers a multitude of sins Is this something that's covered that I don't need to worry about that I don't need to bring up is my timing right? All right, how's the timing of this? How's my attitude doing is that right? Are my words are the words that are about to come out of my mouth in this confrontation? Are they loving or are they self-serving are they self-seeking? And have I prayed about it again? I've I made it a focus of my prayer you see if we want to be individuals That do life right that have love and truth working together in our life So that those that are out there and around us see it and live it out in their lives We want to be individuals that are willing to change willing to hold to the truth of Jesus Christ when we do this we can have that grace mercy and peace They continue to be in this and they continue because of the truth and love John's able to share this passage And john's able to share this passage because it was the truth that he saw lived out Daily by his lord and savior Jesus christ By the godman who came to this world and lived the perfect life By the godman who came and walked in this world and john walked with him and john's they're like yes I was there for all of those events But let me tell you the other event that I was at It was at the event where he was crucified and guess what I left with the others I was there that evening he asked us come with him and guess what? I got a little sleepy when he was praying he's praying a little too long anyway But I got a little sleepy and I got tired I fell asleep and that evening We all fled How do you feel when you do that and yet our lord and savior jesus christ He loved And john writes us and it changed his life. It changed the way he lived his life Loving others sharing the hope of jesus christ Throughout his world and he would remind us That even on Our worst day It pales in comparison to that day when they abandoned jesus christ And john would say guess what? Yeah, I I messed up. I missed it But as a result of what my lord and savior did for me truth in love Now rain within me Like I said, we don't always get it right because we're people But our desire should be in our lives that we are looking to grow And grow and grow and be more and more like jesus christ every day Thank you so much if you would bow your head bow your heads in order to prayer with me God as we close our time together this morning I pray for this group of individuals right here I ask god your blessing on them for those that may be watching online. I pray that you would encourage them lord encourage each one of us in our walk In the way that we live lord help us to be individuals who say I don't always get it right But I want to get it right I want to be about loving. I want to be about truthing. I want to be about that god, please help me Help me to love you Help me to walk with you For each one it is here this morning lord if your spirit is working in them I pray That he would move swiftly through them change our hearts to desire to be followers of you God you are able to do more abundantly than we ask or think Through the power of our lord and savior jesus christ who is at work within us and who is at work within your church So god, I pray your blessing I ask this In jesus name amen if you are here
