The message this morning is going to be a little bit of a deviation from what we typically do. We mentioned this during prayer that on Friday begins our annual meeting. We talked about a few things even this morning we could be praying for. I want to spend this morning kind of giving us some categories to think about how we can be preparing our hearts and our minds for this coming weekend. It's a special meeting where we get together and we will have four messages from Brother Mike Stewart. We'll have several times of fellowship with one another. There will be lots of work that happens. I think it's a good thing for us to be thinking about how we can prepare our hearts and minds for it. Now, the message is also, by extension, would also apply to every time we really gather together and meet, Sunday and Wednesday. But, I want to specifically apply it to this upcoming weekend. So, just in a general sense, One of the reasons that we come together and we worship together. This is not just for a special meeting, but this is just one of the reasons we come together corporately is to just find encouragement and to be fed and to be comforted and to be convicted and to be taught and all those kinds of things. And, you know, at times we may wonder, why do we need all this? Why do we need all this teaching? Sometimes people get the mindset that I've been in church all my life. I've heard just about everything there is to hear as far as topics and preaching and that sort of a thing. So why do I need to hear it again? And here's one answer. It's not the only answer, but here's one answer. In 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8, we're told to be sober and to be vigilant. because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour." You know, this is a present reality that Satan is always seeking to devour. He has a target on the backs of every one of God's people. He has a target on every church. And so one of the reasons why we need to be fed and one of the reasons why I think it's helpful for us to be able to have, again, special times where we come together in a more intense way as far as the way that the weekend meeting is laid out, is to find help in this battle that we find ourselves in. You know, the Word of God has a way of just refreshing your soul, of renewing your mind, renewing, helping you renew commitments. Fellowship with other believers has a way of just bringing encouragement that in ways that really nothing else can at times. And so my prayer and our prayer should be that Christ would use this weekend that we have coming up in a special way to strengthen us, to help us stand in the day that we live. So I want to think about three different things that we're going to be doing as we come together this weekend. I don't know what you think about when you think about an annual meeting. Some folks just think about a bunch of work. It takes a lot of work to put one of these on, and that's part of it. It really is part of it. And that's going to be one of the points we look at in just a minute. But primarily, first and foremost, as we gather together this weekend, just like we're doing this morning, we are gathering together to worship God. We have set aside a weekend one weekend a year, as far as just the intensity of it, for us to gather on a Friday night, Saturday morning, a Saturday afternoon, fellowship on Saturday night, and a Sunday morning service, primarily because we want to worship God. We want to worship the Lord. Look at Revelation 4.11. Revelation 4.11. We get this scene of worship. Really, we could look at verses 4 and 5 and get a big picture, but just for our purposes, Revelation 4 verse 11, where the 4 and 20 elders fall down before Him, and they say, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory. and honor, and power. For Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and they were created." We get a picture here of worship, one that really it's helpful to make some observations as we look at. Number one, it begins this way. Lord, You're worthy. It just means You're worth it. You're worth this. We're not going above and beyond as we try to bring you honor and glory. We're not going above and beyond. Like what we said this morning, God isn't humbled at our worship. Kind of like we might be if someone were to pay us a compliment and we think, oh, that's exaggerated a little bit or this is kind of embarrassing. I don't want to be in the spotlight on this sort of a thing. No, God is in the spotlight. and as we worship God, we place Him where He belongs. And He's worthy of that. Worship occurs as God is elevated in our hearts and in our minds. And we're going to talk about some ways that that happens, but just as we're thinking about it, you think about what it means to worship God. The expectation is that we're coming to elevate Him. We want to see God, as Isaiah did, high and lifted up. And then worship is something that is active. It is not passage. What I mean by that is we do not just accidentally worship. We're involved. We're bringing something to God, whether that is bringing our attentions into focus on His Word as it's being expounded, as it's being preached. Whether that is we're lifting up our voices to praise Him. Whether that is we're either engaged in or communing with one another in public prayer. It's something that we're bringing. And it's something that God receives. And so as we think about this beginning of this one topic for this morning. If this weekend. We are gathering together to primarily worship God. You've heard me say this before, but I will say it again. Then that means you're primarily. Gathering together to give God something. Not to receive. Now you will receive in return. But you've heard me say this and so many times people will show up to a service or maybe even a weekend meeting and they'll say, you know, I just didn't get much out of it. And the preliminary question that ought to be, what are you putting into it? Because worship is something that you give. It's not something that you're a consumer of. Now, as we think about, again, God's God being elevated in our hearts and in our minds and us coming and seeking to bring him worship and to give him worship and the fact that he's worthy of that worship. In First Corinthians chapter one, in verse 18, Paul says, 1 Corinthians 1.18, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. The preaching of the cross is the power of God. Now, why do I go there? Well, we're thinking about having our hearts and our minds elevated. And one thing that God uses, really, I would say the primary thing that God uses to do this is He uses His Word as a means of elevating Himself as He stirs us up to worship. So as the Spirit of God is using the Word of God to stir up our hearts to the beauties of the cross, the beauties of the gospel, the beauties of Christ and grace on the backdrop of, or really what's on the backdrop of the ugliness of our sin and our unworthiness and really where we would be outside of God's mercy and God's grace, God becomes elevated in our hearts and in our minds. The word is used to humble us and to exalt Him. And one thing that is worth noting is God will never be elevated in your heart until you're humbled. One has to happen before the other can happen. You have to be emptied of yourself before you can be filled with God. That goes with your thoughts. That goes with your affections. And so as we come together, God uses the preached word to do this and to stir this up. And so since this is the case, I'm going to give a couple of things we ought to be praying. Number one, we ought to be praying for, sorry, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Now, 2 Thessalonians 3, Paul asks the brethren, he says this, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. Here's the prayer. The prayer is that the word would have free course." That means that the Word would have no hindrances, that the Lord would remove all obstacles, all hindrances that might keep the Word from doing its work. Now, we know that, and we're going to look at it in just a minute, but we know from the parable of the sower that the sower can sow seed, but there's all kinds of hindrances that take place in the spiritual realm. from that seed actually being productive or that seed bringing forth fruit. And we'll get to that in a second. But one of the things as we think about this prayer and as we think about the Word having no hindrances, is we need to be praying that the Spirit of the Lord would fill this place and use His Word to minister to and transform our hearts and minds this weekend. That ought to be something we pray. I mean, we want that to happen. Don't we love it whenever someone makes a profession of faith? We can't make that happen. Only God can make that happen. But it's something we ought to be praying for. Don't you love it whenever the Word of God stirs up your heart in a way that is just abnormal? to your normal experiences. Well, we can't make that happen, but God can. And we ought to we ought to be praying for that. Don't you love to see sinners come to repentance? We can't make that happen, but God can. His spirit uses his word. And so we ought to be praying for these kinds of things. that we would see conversions, that we would see repentance, that we would see souls stirred, and not only that it might happen to somebody out there somewhere, but that it might be happening in our own hearts and in our own minds and in our own souls. We ought to be praying for that. Second, we ought to be praying for Brother Mike Stewart as he prepares and delivers the messages. As we think about the word having free course, that is no hindrances. We ought to be praying for the one who's going to actually be doing the delivering. Number one, we ought to be praying for him physically. That the Lord would give him health, that the Lord would bless him with safe travels as he comes. Even that the Lord would bless him this week as he's preparing his heart and as he's preparing his mind for the messages that he's going to be preaching. We ought to be praying that the Lord would give him physical strength, physical health, that there would be no hindrances. Secondly, we ought to be praying for him spiritually. That the Lord would bless him to be fed in his own soul this week. You know, it's hard to preach a meeting when you're spiritually dry. It just is. We ought to be praying that the Lord be flooding Brother Mike's soul with spiritual nourishment this week. That he would be encouraged in his relationship with the Lord. That he would have a season where he can sense the nearness of God in his own heart. We also ought to be praying that the Lord would bless him and lead him as he decides what it is that he'll be preaching this weekend. If you've never had to figure out what four sermons you're going to go and preach at a church, you don't know the agony is not really the right word, but just the unsettledness that you have as you're trying to think through. What do I need to be preaching? Now, some folks don't do that. Some folks just show up and do what they feel like in the moment, and that usually doesn't go very well. I can tell you, Brother Mike's not one of those guys. And so we ought to be praying that the Lord would bless him with direction, but also with a settledness on what it is that he would have him to preach for us as he prepares. And then not only that. We also need to be praying. Again, we're thinking about hindrances that the word would have free course. We also ought to be praying. That the Lord would bless him. To freely and boldly. Proclaim the truth. Without any hindrance while he's in our pulpit. It's a different kind of thing to preach to a different congregation. It's not the same. I can preach here and I know you. I pretty well... I don't know every single thing you're thinking, but I know what you're like. I know about what you're thinking. I know what I can say and what I can kind of get away with and those kinds of things. In another congregation, you don't know that. And sometimes that can hinder you as you're trying to think through how you might say something. So we ought to be praying he would not be hindered in that. That he would be free to proclaim the Word boldly. The Word would not have any hindrance. Second, as far as we're thinking about the Word not having any hindrance, we ought to be praying for each other. You know, what good would it do? For us, anyway. If we were to pray all those things for brother mine, And the Lord were to answer every single one of those prayers. And nobody showed up ready to receive the word. What good would it do? We need to be praying for each other that we would give careful attention. We would be ready to give careful attention to receive the word. And that that word would bring forth fruit to the glory of God. You know, think about the parable of the sower. In Luke 8, I'm not going to read the parable, but in Luke 8. The other synoptics as well. Jesus gives us this parable and it's a sower that's sowing seed. He's just broadcasting seed. And it lands on different kinds of ground. And Jesus explains that. Jesus explains that the Word of God is broadcast. Well, that's what's happening now. That's also what's going to be happening this coming weekend. It's going to be broadcast. And the question is, what kind of ground is it going to fall on? Now, different people think different things about applications and explanations when it comes to the parable, Luke 8, 18 gives us the clear application Jesus has in mind when He gives us the parable of the sower, and that's this. Be careful how you hear. Be careful how you hear. We ought to be praying for one another, for ourselves, that we would come as careful hearers of the Word, that we would give time and attention, that we would be ready to receive a word from God. Secondly, we think about this category. We ought to be praying. That God would bless each of us with the right attitude and expectations as it relates to receiving the word. We ought to be praying the Lord would bless us with the right attitude and expectations as it relates to receiving the word. So I'll give you two contrasts, or one contrast, I guess, two examples. If you come to the meeting thinking that you're going to sit through four sermons that you hope are going to be interesting, you're probably not going to get much out of it. If all we come together to do is hear someone give four interesting homilies on the Word of God that hopefully keeps our attention and isn't boring, You're not going to get much out of that. But if you come expecting that God has a Word for you, and He does, and that He is going to bless you either through comfort or through teaching or through encouragement, God means to use His Word for you to grow you in some kind of a way. you're likely going to leave blessed. You know, God does not waste His Word. I mean, He never calls us just to come together and go through the motions. I don't think He ever calls us to come in and say, let's all gather together so I can bless one person. I don't think He does that either. I think when God's Word finds a fertile heart, then fruit is born. And so what we ought to be thinking about is what Jesus was thinking about when He said, be careful how you hear. Don't show up expected to be entertained. Don't show up hoping best case scenario, you're not bored by the messages. Show up expecting God to have a word just for you in your circumstance, in your season of life, in your area or in your walk of sanctification, expect God to have a word for you. Because if you are walking around with the Spirit of God dwelling in your heart, He does have a word for you. And more than likely, you'll receive several over the weekend if you're looking for Him. So we're gathering to worship. Gathering to worship. Secondly. We are gathering to fellowship. We're gathering to fellowship. We we we spend an intense amount of time together here in our October meeting. We do that also at other times, but this is a full church in a special way. We are gathering to fellowship to interact with one another. Look in Romans 1. And when I say we're gathering to fellowship, of course, you know that. That's nothing new for you. But as we think about moving into the weekend, not only should we be anticipating receiving a blessing from the Word of God, but we also should be anticipating receiving a blessing from the people of God and being a blessing to the people of God. Because we're gathering together here to fellowship. Look at the way Paul words this. In Romans 1, I'm going to read verses 9-12. Paul says, For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayer, making request if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end that you may be established. That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me." Paul says to the Roman saints, I long to be with you. And you say, to what end? Well, Paul has two things in mind. Number one, Paul wants to comfort or encourage the saints there. But then secondly, he wants to receive comfort and encouragement from the saints. He wants a mutual blessing to take place. And we ought to be aiming for the same thing. We ought to be praying for the same thing. This gathering together for fellowship. You know, this is one of the. This is one of the main. Differences, it's not the only difference, but it's one of the main differences between what it means for us to have a live stream Facebook meeting and us to come together. Now, wouldn't it be a shame if you had just as much interaction in person as you would have had in that live stream Facebook meeting? God's people gather together not just to sit under the sound of the word, but God's people gather together to fellowship with one another, to edify one another, to be edified by one another. And we have an opportunity to do that in a more intense way time-wise than we typically would. Look in Proverbs chapter 27. You know these. Proverbs chapter 27. In verse 17. Proverbs 27.17, iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Iron sharpens iron. It just means it has a useful effect. As iron comes into contact with iron, we're thinking about a blade being either formed or a blade being maintained, but there is a good and a useful effect that happens when believers come together. We sharpen one another. It says sharpening the countenance, but it just means we have an impact that is a blessing on one another for good. So as we fellowship, our fellowship is meant to have a sharpening effect. So part of fellowship is just interacting with each other. enjoying one another, building and maintaining meaningful friendships with one another. You know, but part of this sharpening effect is also a spiritual reality. As we have fellowship, we're fellowshipping around the word. We're fellowshipping around the gospel. We're fellowshipping around Christ. And so that doesn't necessarily mean that we're having a 24-7 Bible study, but it does mean that we're conversing and we're encouraging and we're comforting one another and enjoying one another around the realities of the gospel. And it has a sharpening effect. Second, if you back up a little bit in Proverbs 27, verse 9, it says, Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart. So does the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel." Rejoicing of the heart. Fellowship is a means of causing our hearts to rejoice. We were never meant to live the Christian life on our own. We were never meant to just be Lone Ranger Christians who chart our paths We're loners. It's not the way it works. One of the greatest blessings and really one of the means of rejoicing that the Lord has given us is spiritual fellowship with one another. Meaningful relationships, conversations with one another. And it takes communication for that to happen. Sometimes people wonder why do I not feel more included? Why do I not feel more attached? Why do I not feel more warm? Well, there could be a lot of reasons for that. But one prominent reason for that is that many times people withhold themselves from fellowship. They aren't having meaningful conversation with folks. They aren't involved in building relationships within the body. They aren't involved in building relationships with other Christians. Well, this weekend we have an intense amount of time to do all of that. I mean, it's just kind of built in. All you got to do is show up and then participate. And then we think about Proverbs chapter 15. Proverbs chapter 15. In Proverbs 15 verse 23, it says, "...a man hath joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season." How good is it? I'm really thinking about the last part there. A word spoken in due season. How good is it? See, fellowship gives us an opportunity to bless others with our words. We just got finished talking about communication and the necessity of that. We have to communicate with each other if we're going to have fellowship with one another. And so I want us to think practically for just a minute about how we can do that. So we're going to have opportunities to participate in the blessing of fellowship with folks that we do not see on a regular basis and folks we do see on a regular basis. Be a mixed crowd. And so as we share meals along with the Saturday evening fellowship together, we should be praying that God would bless us to be edified and edifying to other people. Let me give you a few things. Number one, if we want the Lord to bless our fellowship, we've got to be committed to showing up. You're not even going to have any real fellowship if you don't show up. We've talked about this before, but often leading up to meetings like this, I'll try to give reminders. I've been doing that for about the last month. We put dates on the bulletin board a year in advance. so that you can mark out your calendars and you can be here. That's not just for your edification, by the way. That's for the edification of the whole body and the edification of everyone who's going to show up, but it is for edification. And the truth is you cannot be a blessing to anyone if you're not here as it relates to this area. So we're thinking about Hebrews chapter 10, 24 and 25. passage that you know and that we've gone to often to think about attendance. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. Let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Okay, so we're thinking about one another. We're thinking about how we might provoke one another unto love and to good works. But in order to do that, we cannot forsake the assembling of ourselves together as some is. So I understand there may be some providential hindrances. There may be things that come up or have already come up, and that's fine. But if you have opportunity to be here and there's nothing that's hindering you from being here, you ought to be here. You've also heard me say this, but I'll remind you. Sometimes folks have the idea, well, you know, the only thing that's in the Bible is Sunday morning. Wrong. Sunday morning is not in the Bible. The exhortation is, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Now, we do assemble on Sunday mornings just like they did in Acts on the Lord's day. And as I'm saying that, I'm saying that if you have the opportunity, it's not above and beyond. It's not going beyond Scripture to participate as we meet together for this meeting. So I would encourage you, unless you're providentially hindered, to be here so that you can partake in and be a blessing. Like I said, I've been given these reminders to try to keep it fresh on your mind. And so three things I would say. Number one, please make an effort to be here. Number two, please make an effort to be here on time. OK, make an effort to be here on time so we can get started and we can have full congregation as we do that. There's got a couple of reasons why, and I'll talk about that in a second. Number three, please make an effort to be here on time and to be ready to engage with and serve one another as well as our visitors. So as we come, we ought to come with that mindset. The goal is, unless I'm hindered, I want to be here on time and I want to be ready to engage with the people who are here. I want to be ready to engage with the Word of God. I want to be here. Now, as we're thinking about encouragement and edification and fellowship and all those kinds of things, I'll give you a few things to think about. Number one, an area of encouragement where you should intentionally focus your efforts this weekend. Brother Mike and Sister Peggy Stewart, you ought to be intentional about trying to encourage them this weekend. Sometimes, again, people say, you know, I don't encourage preachers because I don't want them to get the big head. You don't have to worry too much about that most of the time. Most the time. Preachers preach hundreds of sermons. And get about as many comments as you can count on one hand. Guys, it'd be very, very hard for you to inflate by the Mike's head by encouraging him. If he's been an encouragement to you, you ought to do that. Not only ought you to do that based on that logic, but you are commanded in Scripture to encourage one another. and so you ought to be doing that. Brother Mike has put in a lot of time and effort to prepare. He'll continue to do that. And if you are blessed by the messages that he brings over the weekend, make an effort to tell him that. Just let him know. It doesn't have to be a long, drawn out conversation. If you got a lot to say, say it. But if you only got a little bit to say, say it. Let him know. You ought to encourage Sister Peggy just through fellowship, conversation. She's coming with her husband. She's here to be an encouragement to us, and so we ought to make an effort. Try to engage with her, converse with her, encourage her. Try to be a blessing to her. Another area is we ought to try to be an encouragement by intentionally focusing our efforts on our visitors. We should not be in a position to where we're, I'm thinking particularly like in the fellowship hall, should not be a thing to where if we're headed trying to figure out where we're going to sit and we have some visitor sitting off completely by himself that we find somewhere else. We need to try to be hospitable. We need to be engaging those who come. We need to get out of our comfort zones at times. We want people to feel welcome and we want to be a blessing. And so as we have opportunity. We need to take that opportunity. We need to be observant. We need to be intentional about introducing ourselves, engaging with folks, including folks. There are guests and we want them to feel welcome and we want them to feel loved so that doesn't happen on accident. We need to be intentional about it. So number one, we're gathering to worship. Number two, we're gathering to fellowship. And then number three, the last point, we are gathering together this weekend to serve. I said at the beginning that was part of it, and it is. It's part of it. We are gathering together to serve, to serve one another and to serve those who will be coming in. That's a big part of what happens. So Mark chapter 10. Mark 10 in verse 42. Mark 10.42, it says, But Jesus called them to Him, His disciples, and said unto them, You know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you. Whosoever will be greatest among you shall be your minister, or that is your servant. And whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many." Jesus says this is This is your example as far as greatness is concerned. This is your example as far as what you are called to do and to be. Jesus says, I did not come to be served, but I came to serve. And you ought to have the same mindset, you ought to have the same attitude. Philippians 2, I think Paul would take that. I think he's probably thinking about this particular passage, but if not, he's at least thinking about the principle. He would say, let this mind or this attitude be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. And that is an attitude of humble service in obedience to the Lord. So. Over the weekend, we're going to have opportunities to serve in a lot of different areas, even leading up to the weekend. There's going to be a lot of food that's prepared. There's going to be a lot of tables that are wiped, a lot of trash taken out, a lot of kids that are wrangled, and a lot of other things that are going to happen in order for us to make it through the weekend. What that means is there's going to be plenty of opportunities for you to get irritated and in the flesh if you're not careful. That's what that means. Satan would love to use an opportunity that God is giving you to serve as a means to get you in the flesh. And so let's try to remember a few things as we're serving. Number one, I would just say this, and this kind of goes without saying, but I'll just say it anyway. Everyone should be thinking about. Ahead of time. How you will serve? Over the weekend. Sometimes people say, you know, I would serve. I just don't know what to do. Well, that's a good reason to be thinking about it ahead of time. Some people, it just seems like they get somewhere and they just know what to do and they're all over it. And every time you see him, they're doing something and you say, I wish I could be more like them. You could be if you plan. Think ahead of time if you don't know already what it is you're going to be doing. Maybe you don't know where you need to be serving, and so maybe you could go ahead and ahead of time. Talk to people that you notice. Sir. A lot. But be planning to do that now. Secondly, this this really applies to while you're in service and. As you're no doubt. Tempted at some point to Respond in the flesh. Be lifted up in the flesh. Feel like no one is noticing maybe or thankful or people are taking it for granted. In Hebrews chapter 6 verse 10. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 10. The writer tells us that God is not unrighteous to forget your work and your labor of love which you have showed toward His name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. Brothers and sisters, as we gather together to serve along with worship and fellowship, as we gather together to serve, we are serving one another, but we're serving one another as a means of serving the Lord. And I'm thinking about that in the way that Paul talks to servants in Ephesians 6-8. when he says that servants ought to be serving or obeying their masters, not serving them with eye service, that is, just to be seen of men, but serving as unto the Lord. That is, I'm going to serve them primarily out of my service to the Lord. So whether they appreciate it or not, whether they act the way I want them to act or not, this is my service to God, and He's pleased with it. We ought to be thinking about it that way, because our labor is an expression of love to God and to his kingdom and to his church and to his people. So as we serve, we should be serving. As if we are serving unto him now, what that's going to take. Is love. That's going to take love. If we're going to serve the way that we're called to serve, then we need to be motivated by, we talk about this a lot, Matthew 22, we need to be motivated by love for God, but also love for people. Not loving feelings for God and people, but actual love for God and people. And let me remind you, as we think about what that means, we were there, I don't know, a couple of months ago, maybe on Wednesday night, Turn to 1 Corinthians 13 because this is the call as far as loving service, service that is motivated by love and service that is characterized by love. How do I serve you in a loving way? 1 Corinthians 13. Now, I'm going to go through these one at a time and read pretty much the same thing I did a couple of Wednesday nights ago or a couple of months of Wednesday nights ago, but I think it's a good reminder to stir our thoughts. Number one, love is patient. We've got to be patient as we're serving one another. Patience becomes evidence when there is pressure on a person. and when that person does not react to the pressure in anger, either inwardly or outwardly. Now, you know as well as I do, it's easy to get upset at people and angry at people when it seems like they're thoughtless, when it seems like they're lazy, when it seems like they're entitled. Fill in the blank on that. Love is patience. Secondly, love is kind. Kindness here is not so much a sweet disposition as it is the practice of useful, beneficial, friendly acts. A kind person is one who is helpful, who's serving others, whose life is useful because he is seeking to promote the happiness of others. Love is not jealous. Love is not jealous. The real test of jealousy is what attitude a man or a woman has toward those who are better at being what he would like to be, or who have attained what he or she would like to have attained. Love is not jealous. Love does not boast or brag. It just simply means love doesn't put yourself on display through words. When a person is loving, he does not need to gain the admiration or applause of others by expressing his own excellencies or advantages. By the way, love does not boast or brag to others. That's probably not something you're going to be tempted to do. But love also does not boast and brag to ourselves about us. You know how we do that. I've been working the whole time. My goodness, if it wasn't for me, this meeting wouldn't even have gone off. Everything would still be filthy. We wouldn't have anything to eat. Love doesn't boast or brag to others, or we don't get inflated with ourselves by boasting and bragging about ourselves to ourselves. Love is not arrogant. It means to exalt yourself above others, to be puffed up with pride, to be overbearing, domineering, or dictatorial. Love is not arrogant. It's not rude. It's not faultless, inconsiderate, disrespectful, unmannerly, or coarse. Love is not self-seeking. It does not insist on having things his or her own way or insist on his or her own rights. The loving person is selfless, self-sacrificial, and self-denying. Love is not provoked. It does not react to irritations in an unloving way. It thinks no evil. is it does not take inventory of the wrongs that one has suffered. By the way, if anybody wants the notes of these, I'll give them to you if you're trying to fly and write them down. Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but in truth. You can refer to the rejoicing of one who is exposed for iniquity, various other things that probably won't really apply to this weekend, but love bears all things. That is, it doesn't give way to the pressure of all things put on it by others. It bears the weight of any situation without collapsing. The opposite of this would be the attitude that says, I just can't take it anymore. You'll be tempted as you're seeking to serve with that for sure. Love believes all things, believes the best about someone unless there's irrefutable evidence. Love hopes all things. That is, looks beyond the moment and expectation to the hopes that Christ has promised. And then lastly, love endures all things. That is, it goes on and on and on and on and on and on and it never ends. And so as we gather together to worship, as we gather together to fellowship, as we gather together to serve, Brothers and sisters, may we do this to the glory of God and out of a heart of love for one another and those who will gather with us. And so I would encourage you, and we'll do some of this on Wednesday night, but I would encourage you as you go through the week to take this week to be preparing yourself, your heart and your mind for the weekend that you're getting ready to take part in. preparing yourself through prayer, preparing yourself through meditation, preparing yourself through thinking ahead and planning about how you might engage with someone or how you might serve so that we might edify one another and again glorify God as we gather together to worship, fellowship, and serve. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for the opportunity that we're going to have here in about a week. Lord, we thank You that You give us these times, these times that so often can be times of refreshment, times that can be times of just a renewed zeal and renewed rejoicing in Your Word and in Your people. But Father, we also know that there are landmines. There are so many temptations. Satan would love to devour this opportunity for us to get together, and he would love to do that through resentment and irritation and hurt feelings and self-centeredness. And we could go on and on and on. But would you bless us to recognize and remind ourselves what it is that we're going to do, why it is that we're going to do it, And how it is that we can be a blessing to others and how we can glorify you in the process. So father, do your work in each of us and we do pray for your blessings on us in Jesus name, I mean.