Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. Take a look down at verse 8. It says, Oh no man anything but to love one another. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you once again for an opportunity to be here on a Sunday morning. Lord, the air is certainly cold outside, but the hearts of your people are warm, and we appreciate the great love that you've given us through your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we take the admonition to love one another very seriously. Pray that you might Again, just work on our hearts. Lord, you know what we need this morning better than anybody else. There are, I am quite certain, a whole list of needs and desires that are represented here this morning in these people. So Father, I ask you to take the words of your book and minister to the hearts of your people. They're your creation, and Father, help them to love you even more. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Now brethren, you and I both know that the world has taken just about everything good that God has made and somehow or another turned it around and corrupted it. Amen? And love is certainly one of those things. Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day, like every other holiday that we come across, when you start looking back at, you know, where it came from and the origins, it's always a twisted, sordid kind of a thing. It's really depressing when it comes right down to it. Amen. The early origins of, quote, St. Valentine. It says, just read a couple different articles here. Ancient sources reveal that there were several St. Valentines, supposedly who died on February 14th. Two of them were executed during the Roman Emperor Claudius Gothicus in 269 to 270 A.D., a time when persecution of Christians was common. If that date is anywhere near close, I'll give it at least this much. It was before 325 A.D., which is officially when the Catholic Church kind of started. Doesn't mean that it's all great, but at least you have that going for you. There is one Catholic legend that goes like this. According to late medieval legend, there was a, you know, they call him a priest, but forget that part, named Valentinus who was arrested during the reign of the emperor Gothicus and put into custody of an aristocrat named Asteros. As the story goes, Asteros made a mistake of letting the preacher talk. Valentinus went on and on about Christ leading pagans out of the shadow of darkness. and into the light of truth of salvation. I think that's pretty good. I don't know how much truth there is to that, but that's a pretty good start anyway. Asterius made a bargain with Valentinius if the Christian could cure, Asterius is a daughter of blindness, that he would convert. Valentinius put his hand over the girl's eyes and said, Lord Jesus, enlighten your handmaid because you're the God of true light. Supposedly he healed the daughter. Okay, you gotta take some things with a grain of salt. I don't know. Another account is, obviously it says that the history of Valentine's Day is shrouded in mystery. It talks about the, I hate even using it, the Catholic Church recognizing several different saints named Valentinius. One legend contends that Valentin was a priest who served in the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentin realizing that the injustice of the decree defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for the young lovers in secret. And because of that, he was imprisoned and eventually beheaded. So we have, you know, you have the religious side of things, the Catholic side of things with Valentin. Other stories about the supposed Valentin is that he may have been killed for attempting to help Christians avoid persecutions, to avoid death during the Roman persecutions. And that he was taken and captured and killed eventually on February 14th. So you have the popes and their influence. And then you have, of course, the pagans. Some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commence the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial, which probably occurred in AD 270. Others claim that the Christian Church may have decided to place St. Valentine's Feast Day in the middle of February in an effort to Christianize the pagan celebration of Lepercalia, which was celebrated on February, the middle of February. Lepercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as the Roman founders of Romulus and Remus. Lepercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity, but was outlawed as it was deemed unchristian at the end of the 5th century. So now we're way up, you know, the end of the 5th century by Pope Glacius, and he declared February 14th St. Valentine's Day. What a mess. Amen? There's another article that says, that takes a completely different approach. And it blames Valentine's Day on an English poet named Geoffrey Shosher. That he may have been accredited with inventing Valentine's Day. He was a medieval English poet, Geoffrey Shosher. He was writing, and no record exists before this time of Valentine's Day being associated with what we normally think of it, as in today. But around 1375, he wrote in his work, A Parliament of Fowls, that he linked the tradition of courtly love with the celebration of St. Valentine's Day feast. And he made mention of the birds you know, pairing up during that time of year, and that became something that he wrote in his poem, and then it became kind of a tradition thereafter. So, I don't know what the origins of Valentine's Day are. I know that, like every other holiday that we seem to have in modern America, it's probably a big mess. There's probably more paganism tied in there than we really care to think about. But even though the world has corrupted something as simple as love. You and I as Christians are still obligated to follow a true love, one for another, amen? Love is a strong affection for another arising out of a kinship or personal ties. It is unselfish loyalty and benevolence for the good of another. Love is also defined as a person's adoration of God. The Bible has an awful lot to say about love. In Matthew 22, 36, somebody asked the Lord Jesus Christ, Master, which is the great commandment of the law? Jesus said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. You're familiar with the verse. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." That's quite a statement. Matthew 7.12, another famous verse, is, therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them? For this is the law and the prophets. Again, that relationship we have one with another. Romans 8, Paul says this, and, oh no man anything but to love one another, which is what we read earlier, for he that loveth another fulfilleth the law. In the book of John, the Lord says this, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also will love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one toward another. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians, but as touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Paul, when he gets up to writing the book of 1 Thessalonians, is writing to them and says, hey, listen, I don't even need to write to you about this subject. You guys know what God showed you. This is what you should be. Peter reminds us a little later on in 1 Peter, seeing ye have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit, unto unthane love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently. In 1 Peter 3.8, he says, finally, be ye of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love as brethren, be pitiful and be courteous. Of course, in 1 John, we read, this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Amen? No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. And his love is perfected in us. It's evident that love, not only for God, but for one another, and this is where Brother Sean got me really nervous when he started, is the hallmark of Christianity. That's why you should buy a Hallmark card this Valentine's Day for your sweetheart. I'm just kidding. I said that because my sister-in-law works for Hallmark. Hi, Stacy, if you're watching. She might be watching. But aside from the sordid origins of Valentine's Day, I'd like for you to consider a few things when it comes to love. And that is, I title this message, Love is Something. That's pretty open. You can go just about anywhere with that, right? Love is something. And I just kind of started going through, and like I said, starting in that passage in Romans 8, but love is something. Folks, love is something that you and I should be rooted and grounded in as Christians. Ephesians 3.17 says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love. Amen? We should be rooted and grounded in love. Well, That's, how do you accomplish that? What is it, you know, what is it to be rooted and grounded? In the martial arts, we talk about being rooted or grounded a lot of times with our techniques. When I execute a punch, for example, you don't just punch with the arm. Right? You actually kind of start at the feet at your base and you get your whole body into it and you're rooted and grounded into that stance. It's, you know, the punch is the extension of something that's much deeper and that's kind of holding on as you, you know, as you execute that. Being rooted and grounded is a good foundation for a martial arts punch or block. It is a great way to achieve power when you're rooted and grounded. If you're not, you really can't achieve much power. Kind of interesting the way that that works. If you're trying to have an impact on somebody as a Christian, you're not going to achieve much power unless you're rooted and grounded in love. Amen? A lot of similarities. You need to be rooted and grounded. Why? Because it's a way to achieve power in what it is that you're doing in your Christian life. It's the foundation. It's that fundamental building block. You step out, you step out, and you get ready for that punch. And your stance needs to be rooted and grounded from the ground up. Sometimes you almost kind of dig your toes in. It gets set. And build that power. Second Timothy 1.7 says this. It says, For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power. Right? And of love. And of a sound mind. Ladies and gentlemen, being grounded is a great way to achieve that power. It's a great way to achieve power when it comes to doing something extraordinary. Power. Your love is my power. It's not only a great way to generate and achieve power, but folks, being grounded and rooted is a great way to fend off an attack. All right? Now, for you martial artists out there, listen. I understand the concept of flowing. And when somebody meets you with force, you can be water. I got it. I like that. That is the preferred method. When somebody comes at you full head on, the idea, a lot of times the philosophy is, listen, I don't have to meet force with force. Somebody attacks, I can actually be soft and flowing and let them go their way. Great Christian trait when someone attacks you. But there are some times There are some times when your response, you're forced into a place where your response has to be something different. Like I said, the preferred method of handling an attack is to become like water. In the Christian life, it would be akin to fleeing from sin. It would be akin to getting out of the way. Right? It would be akin to something, I seem to recall some verse that says, a soft answer turneth away wrath. Right? And that is the way that typically, even in the martial arts, you desire to handle that kind of a situation. Why let somebody run over me like a tractor if I don't need to? I can step out of the way and let him keep going. Bruises don't heal as easy as they used to. But there's some times, brethren, where that's not possible. There are some times where you have to resist an attack with power, with force. Amen? The Bible says this, it also says, resist the devil and he will what? Flee from you. Amen? Spiritually, there are times where you need, you need that, that, that love that, that's generated by that, that grounding and that rooting so that when the attack comes at you from the devil or when the attack comes at you from the world, Because you're in a place, you're in an alley, you can't sidestep. You have to have a good solid foundation so that you can brace for that encounter and you can resist those forces coming at you. In the martial arts, you have to learn to do both. Sometimes a soft answer turneth away wrath. Sometimes no matter what you say, the wrath is going to keep coming and you have to deal with it, okay? and you have to do both. What gives you the ability to do both? Being rooted and grounded. In this case, in love. Love is something that should be rooted and grounded within you in every aspect of your life. Every decision that you make. Every action that you take should be the result of you as a Christian. If you're saved here this morning, if you're born again, if you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, you should have the type of love that is rooted and grounded in you and it permeates everything that you do. It automatically takes over when a decision has to be made. Listen, if you're in the martial arts and you're in the middle of a combat or you're in the middle of engaging in battle and somebody goes to attack, you don't have time to stop and think about getting rooted and getting grounded. You don't have time to look down and go, let's see, my back foot goes there, my hips square, my shoulders, front knee bent, locked in place. You don't have time to think about all that. You either naturally do it or you don't. You're either naturally rooted and grounded or you're not. You're either ready for the attack or you're not. It has to be something that is ingrained in you, second nature. I'll give you an illustration. Little boy, eight-year-old boy, had a younger sister who was dying of leukemia. He was told that without a blood transfusion that she would die. His parents explained to him that his blood was probably compatible with hers, and if so, he could be the blood donor. They asked him if they could test his blood, and he said, sure. So they tested his blood, and it was a good match. Then they asked if he would give his sister a pint of his blood, that it could be, that that would be her only chance of living. He said he would have to think about it overnight. The next day he went into his parents' house, went into the parents' and said that he was willing to donate the blood. So they took him into the hospital where he was put on a gurney beside his sister. Both of them were hooked up to IVs and a nurse withdrew a pint of blood from the boy and then put the IV in the girl and it started the transfusion process. The boy laid on his gurney in silence for a little while. A little while later, and he just watched his sister as the blood dropped into her veins through the IV. A little while later, the doctor came in, the boy opened his eyes and looked at the doctor and said, how soon till I start to die? He thought he was going to die by giving his sister the blood. But he chose to do it anyway. that is a little kid that's grounded and rooted in love. We can learn something from him, amen? Love's not only something that should be rooted and grounded in you, listen, it's also something that you should do. The Bible says in James, it says be doers of the word. and not here's only deceiving your own selves. So how are you and I supposed to take action when it comes to this thing we call love? What should we do? Right? Well, I tell you one thing that you and I can do and one way that we can show love through action, I can give. Ephesians 5.2 says this, it says, and walk in love as Christ also loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice and a sweet smelling savor. If you're born again here this morning, if you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, listen, you know good and well the Lord Jesus Christ was perfect, holy, he was the son of God, his blood was perfect, it was God's blood. That's why he was born of a virgin. A baby gets his blood from his father. So here's Jesus Christ. He is perfect. He's sinless. He doesn't have the corrupt blood of mankind. And he offers himself as a sacrifice on the cross to pay for your sins. You think about that for a moment. You think back on your life. And you think of all the sins you have committed. You think of all the times you did something wrong. Whether you got caught or not doesn't really matter because God knows everything. And the Bible says one of these days we're all going to stand before God at judgment. And you may have gotten away with it as far as maybe your parents never found out, maybe your brothers and sisters never found out, maybe your wife or husband never found out. You may have gotten away with it in this world and you may have thought, think to yourself, you know, I'm free, it's okay. No one will ever know. and the bible says one of these days we're gonna stand before god and the books are going to be opened and we're gonna be judged out of those things and here's a question i have for you this morning how are you gonna pay for that sin that you're thinking about right now how are you gonna pay for it the lord jesus christ realize That's a problem. The only possible way you could pay for it is an eternity in hell. That's the price for sin. Man was not intended to go to hell. God created the heavens and the earth perfect and beautiful. That's where man was intended to go. That's where man was intended to habitate for the rest of eternity. And then Satan showed up and Satan sinned. Satan got Eve to sin and Eve got Adam to sin. And now sin came into the world and sin was passed on to all men. Well, when Satan sinned, he got kicked out of heaven years before Adam and Eve showed up. And the punishment that God set at that point in time for sin was hell. The Bible says that hell was created for the devil and his angels. Why? Because of sin. It wasn't created for man. But when man sins, guess what he's subject to? Man's not like our political system nowadays. You have one set of laws that apply to this group and another set of laws to apply to this group. And I think we see that very evident in our system today. God's not like that. God's law for sin applies to everyone equally. God is just. God is holy. And God saw that man's condition because of that sin was hopeless. But he had a love for man. And God chose because of his love for mankind to come down here to be born, to live a sinless life, and to suffer at the hands of cruel men and be hung on that cross, beaten beyond recognition, and to hang there and shed his blood so that you and I could have something that would be a payment for our sins. That little boy sat in the, and again, he was only eight years old. He was young. He didn't really understand the whole of the transfusion. He didn't understand, hey, this is only a pint of your blood, you're gonna be fine. To him, his sister was dying and he was giving his blood for his sister. And he chose to do it. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, the Bible says. And the Lord Jesus Christ hung there on that cross and shed his blood so that you could have a way to have your sins forgiven. And the Bible says this, it says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Can you imagine walking up to that little boy in the middle of the hospital during that whole procedure and having a bad attitude? What do you think you're doing? Get out of here, you little squirt. We don't need you here. But yet that's exactly what people do with the Lord Jesus Christ and the offering that he made. The Lord Jesus Christ had a love for you that would save your soul from an eternity in hell and people reject it. Or they never take that step where they accept it as their own. How are you going to get to heaven? How are you going to get your sins forgiven? The only way is by realizing, Lord, I'm a sinner and I deserve to go to hell, but I don't want to go. I know I deserve it, but I don't want to go. The Bible says you died for me. And I can never be good enough to get to heaven on my own. I can't give enough money. I can't say enough prayers. I can't twiddle enough beads. I can't get baptized enough times. I can't, there's nothing I can do to be good enough to get to heaven. But I know this. I know the Bible says Jesus Christ loved me enough to die for me. And I can choose to put my faith and trust in what he did. and go to him and say, Lord, I know I'm a sinner. I don't want to go to hell. But the Bible says you love me enough to die for me. And I want to trust you to pay for my sins so that I don't have to. What can you do to show love? You can give. The Lord gave himself for you. The Lord gave himself for you as a sacrifice. David Simmons wrote in his book, Dad, the Family Coach. He told a story. He said this. He said, I took Helen, who also happens to be eight years old, and Brandon, five years old, to the Cloverleaf Mall in Hattiesburg to do a little shopping. As we drove up, we spotted a Peterbilt 18-wheeler parked with a big sign that said, Petting Zoo. The kids jumped and rushed and asked, daddy, daddy, daddy, can we go, please, can we go, please, can we go? Sure, I said, flipping them both a quarter before walking into Sears. They bolted away and I felt free to take my time looking for a scroll saw. The petting zoo consisted of, you know, a portable fence so the kids were enclosed and obviously the idea is the kids could be in the petting zoo while the parents went and shopped. A few minutes later, he says, I turned around and saw Helen walking along behind me. I was shocked because she preferred the hardware department to a petting zoo. Recognizing my error, I bent down and asked her, what's wrong? She looked at me with those giant brown eyes and said, sadly, well, daddy, it cost 50 cents. So I gave Brandon my quarter. Then she said the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. She repeated the family motto. The family motto is, love is action. She had given Brandon her quarter, and no one loves, no one loves cuddly, furry creatures more than Helen. She watched, she had watched Sandy, his wife, take my steak the other day, and she said to me over the table, love is action. She had watched both of us do and say, love is action, for years around the house. She had heard and seen love is action, and now she had finally incorporated it into being a part of her. What do you think I did, he says. Well, not what you might think. As soon as I finished my errands, I took Helen to the petting zoo. We stood by the fence and watched Brandon go crazy with petting and feeding the animals. Helen stood with her hands and chin resting on the fence and just watched Brandon. I had 50 cents, he says, burning a hole in my pocket. I never offered it to Helen. She never asked. Because she knew the whole family motto. The whole family motto is not love is action. The whole family motto is love is sacrificial action. Love always pays a price. Love always costs something. Love is expensive. When you love, benefits accrue to another's account. Love is not for you. It's for somebody else. Love gives, it doesn't take. Helen gave her quarter to her younger brother, Brandon, and she wanted to follow through with her lesson. She knew that it took sacrifice. That's love. Ladies and gentlemen, that's what the Lord did for you on Calvary's cross. If you ever doubt whether God loves you or not, think of what he did on Calvary. Amen? The Lord took action. I'll tell you another way. How do I show love? Well, I can speak. I can speak. Ephesians 4.15. says, but speaking the truth in love. Listen, I know some of you grew up with fathers that didn't say, I love you much at all. Neither did mine. I think I remember him saying it once. And sometimes we take the attitude, we take that attitude that our fathers had and we hold on to it, even though, quite frankly, it is not biblical. We don't tell our wives we love them enough. Listen, it's Valentine's Day, you pagan. Okay, so you're going to object, but that shouldn't stop you from telling them, Sean, I'm telling you, that you love them the other 364 days a year. It's awesome when you do that. I sit back there and I twiddle my thumbs and go, oh, Sean, shut up, shut up, shut up. No, it's okay. Yeah, the admonition is to do. Be a doer of the word. Right? Speaking is a way of taking action. Listen, not telling them you love them can do a lot of damage. You see it all the time. You say, oh, they should tough it out. Well, do me a favor, all right? If you think that, do me a favor. Sit down and read your Bible and see how much trouble God went through to tell you he loves you. And see how often that comes up as you're reading scriptures. All right? And then just simply follow his example. Amen? Listen, I probably didn't do it as a dad when my kids were younger anywhere near enough either. I got my daughter here. I got my son here. Renee, I love you. Robert, I love you. I didn't say that enough. And I tried to say it a lot. My wife's here. Teresa, if I change my mind, I'll let you know. Let's just follow his example. The Lord did it. The Lord did it, you know, in his book to us over and over and over. Well, that's my example. Children, that's an example for you to follow with your parents. Amen? Here's the poem part of the sermon. What is love? It is silence when your words would hurt. It's patience when your neighbors curt. It's deafness when a scandal flows. It's thoughtfulness for others' woes. It's promptness when stern duty calls. It's courage when misfortune falls. Author's unknown. Take action. Love is something that you do. How do you do it? You give. Right? You can speak. And you can also forbear. Ephesians 4.2 says, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, it says this, forbearing one another in love. Forbearing one another in love. It's patience. It's putting up with a lot of stuff for a long time. The Lord has with you. Amen? It's enduring as well as endearing. It's not giving up because things get rocky. Anyone that's been married over six months knows that. Sam Levinson said this in his book. He said, love at first sight is easy to understand. It's when two people have been looking at each other for years that it becomes a miracle. That's pretty good. What can you do? How do you show love? I tell you what, you can learn to forbear. Amen? Romans 3.24 says, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood against salvation, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Forbearance is something that God had to use when he considered all of your sins. Because see, God could have watched you, watched you, watched you, and then when you sinned, lightning bolt, you're dead. Another one bites the dust. Sorry. where that came from. But the Lord's forbearing. He had patience with you. Long-suffering. All right? Love is action. Finally, wrap things up here. Let me get done. Love is something that should have no fear. You know the verse, 1 John 4, 18, there is no fear in love. But perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. I get it. I understand the doctrinal implications. I understand that none of us have perfect love. The Lord does. I'm glad. But you know what? I know also there should be a fear of God. That's biblical. Okay, that's not what that's talking about. So I know we don't have perfect love and I know that there should be a fear of God. But ideally, you know what, you and I should never fear this. We should never fear God's love towards us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." We should never fear God's love toward us. He's got a perfect love. I don't have to be afraid that he's not going to love me. Are you kidding? If God loved the whole world, think about how wicked, quote, the world, I mean the people in the world, have been. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ died for all of them? Yes, he did. God did love the world. I shouldn't be afraid that God's love is gonna be taken away. I shouldn't have to wake up in the morning and wonder whether my wife still loves me. Now, I may not have perfect love, or she may not have perfect love, although she's pretty close. I'll grant you that. But I shouldn't have to wake up in the morning and wonder, is my wife going to not love me today? You know, it's sad. I know that some marriages get to that point. It shouldn't be that way. That's not the kind of love that you find in the Bible. Is my wife gonna not love me today because whatever. I forgot to change oil in the car. I forgot to change a tire. The battery's dead, whatever. I can't imagine waking up every day being worried about that. Which means, and I'm about done here. The love that you and I have one for another, as Christians, especially husband, wife, as parent, child, siblings, should have a measure of security in it. This verse, I love this verse, Romans 8.35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or perilous, or sword? The answer, no. Nothing should separate us from the love of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ loved you enough to die for you. For those of you that are saved, that have been born again already, you know what that's all about. You have a part of that inside your heart that can never be taken away. If you're lost here this morning, if you've never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, If you're not 100% sure that if you leave this building and you get out on Highway 316 and you start heading whichever way you're going and another semi comes and just plows you over and you die at 1217 this afternoon, where are you going to be at 1218? Heaven or hell. There is no purgatory. When you die instantaneously, boom, your spirit and your soul are going to wind up either in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ or in hell with the devil. And the thing is the Lord Jesus Christ loved you enough to die for you and pay the price for your sins so that you could have a way to make it to heaven. But sometimes people neglect the love that God gave. And they have no security. They have no hope. And in general, men make this major mistake. They think, I've got more time, I'll do it later. The Bible says there is no promise, there's no guarantee of tomorrow. That rich man said, ah, I've got all this stuff. I'm going to tear down my small barns, and I'm going to build bigger ones to hold all my stuff. And the Bible says, thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee. There is no promise of tomorrow in this life. But I tell you what there is a promise of, a security in, is that when you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, He pays for your sins everything you did in the past and quite honestly everything you're ever going to do in the future He knows already what he's getting And the Lord will wash away your sins And you will be as secure in his love As as even possible Nothing will ever be able to change The love that the Lord holds you in the palm of his hand with. But you have to make that decision. He won't force it on you because he loves you. He loves you enough to let you make your own decision. Love is something, ladies and gentlemen, that you should be. You should be rooted and grounded to the point that it just naturally permeates out of you. Love is something that you should do. There's a price. It costs something. Love is action. And love is something, folks, that you should have no fear in. Love is something that you should have a security in because your trust and your hope is in Jesus Christ. That, ladies and gentlemen, is love. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, thank you again for a chance to be here on a Sunday morning. Lord, I know that As you look across the congregation here, there are people that are in various different circumstances and situations. Father, some people are struggling. Some people are on a mountaintop. Some people are down the valley. Some people are somewhere in the middle. But Lord, the truth of the matter is, you love each and every one of them. You gave your life to pay for the sins of each and every individual that has ever been born on this earth. And Father, I can't even imagine What a price that is. I can't even come close to dreaming how expensive a price that is. It's the blood of God himself. But Lord, you loved us enough to die for us. And you said, you promised that if we would put our faith and trust in what you did for us at Calvary, and if we would trust you and accept you as our Savior, Father, you would take that price and you would pay for our sins because you loved us. Lord, I don't know the hearts of every individual here in this building, but Father, if there's somebody here that has never trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior, there's somebody here who, maybe they've been religious, maybe they haven't been religious at all, doesn't matter, but they've never been born again. They're not 100% certain. that if they were to get in a car accident after leaving service here this morning, where they would go? Father, I pray that you'd deal with them about this love that you have offered. Pray that you'd open their eyes to the simplicity of salvation in Jesus Christ. Pray that you might give them the courage to ask some questions once service has ended here. Lord, for us Christians, we've experienced the love of God. We know the love of God in great depths. You've shown yourself and proven yourself time and time again. But Father, I pray that you'd help us to learn to grow in love and grace and knowledge, not only towards you, but Father, towards one another. It is one of the greatest things that you've given us. We need to be grounded and rooted. It needs to be the foundation of everything we do. And then Father, certainly we need action. We need to be able to show it to other people. And we need to understand what we have because of that love. So help us as Christians just to grow in love. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.