I would ask you now to open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians. Chapter 2, we are working our way through this book, and in 1 Thessalonians 2, Paul begins to lay out before them, in one sense, his credentials, and talking about godly leadership, and to help them as they move into growth in the church, that they would be aware of what false teachers look like and what real biblical leadership looked like. And so that's part of what we will be looking at today. Let's devote this time now to our Savior. Heavenly Father, please take this word today and apply it to hearts and lives here. Lord, may we be searching our hearts even as we prepare today for celebrating your table together. Lord, that we would be examining ourselves even during this time. And oh, Father, bless your word to us. In Jesus' name, amen. So as we look at this passage that we read earlier in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul had said in the first chapter that there had been some great evidence of genuine salvation, that their election, he said, was obvious because of what had happened. And if you look back in Chapter 1, he says about the testimony that they had, that these neighboring areas, it says, they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. And you know, I had pointed out that every chapter in Thessalonians mentions the second coming of Christ in some way. And you see that genuine believers, what does it look like? Well, there is repentance. They turn from their idols to serve the living God. and then also that they wait for His Son from heaven. They long for Him. They see the judgment coming. I've shared with you that one of the aspects of the great revivals of the past, the great awakenings, was that there were many who were overwhelmed by their sense of judgment, that God is coming to judge the world, and that's been missing in a lot of preaching in recent times. People, oh, they're very enamored with end times things, but they don't really focus on the coming judgment, and how serious an issue that is. And then Paul goes on in chapter 2 to lay before them what happened with them and also to lay before them the difference between false teachers and true men of God. And he says, for you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain. It is important to understand that there is belief that does not save. There are millions of people across our country who believe themselves to be saved and headed to heaven simply because of something they did in the past. Perhaps they went forward at a crusade or in a church service or raised their hand when some evangelist said, raise your hand. And they are counting on that as being the evidence of their salvation. If you would turn with me to Matthew chapter 13. In Matthew chapter 13 we have this the very first parable that Christ teaches, and it's the parable of the sower. And this parable is interesting for many reasons, and it talks about the gospel and how the gospel is preached. I continue to see people who say that, well, Jesus told stories so that people could understand better. That's not what He said was the reason He told them. And if you look at Matthew 13, verse 13, He says, Therefore I speak to them in parables, because while seeing they do not see, while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Then he quotes from Isaiah regarding that very thing, and then in verse 16 he says, But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. And then he goes on to explain to them the parable of the sower. And as we know, the sower sows the seed in many places. It talks about here, I like to call it the promiscuous proclamation of the gospel. We go out preaching the gospel, and if you share the gospel with folks, many of the folks that you share the gospel with will not believe it. In fact, they won't even understand it. They may tell you, well, that's foolish, or you're mean and hateful. You could be like my friend Mike that was arrested and convicted of preaching the gospel. He says, when one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. And I want you to pay attention to this next one. And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places. This is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no firm root in himself. This is that picture. We hear stony ground and we think of lots of rocks, like the farm I grew up on. That crop that we could depend on every year. There was always a new crop of rocks to be picked up. I literally carry the scars to this day. No, this is talking about soil that is very thin and there's an underlaying level of rock underneath where there's a little bit of soil on top. And in the springtime, that's the first places you'll see turn green. And then when the hot sun comes out, the grass is all gone. And look at what he says about this. He says, yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he falls away. Why does God allow persecution? Part of it is to reveal who's true and who ain't. What's real and what's not. I've shared with folks before that especially when someone hears the gospel and seems to embrace it with joy, they probably have not heard all of it yet. Because the gospel will break your heart. It will break you. As you hear what it cost to save your soul. The heinousness of sin, and how horrible and wicked it is, is that it costs the very blood of God Himself to cleanse you of it. It's horrific. But when we hear the Gospel with joy, more often it's, well, you know, Jesus will make your life better. Self-improvement kind of thing. And he reveals here that this is faith in vain. There are others. It says, one on whom seed was sown among the thorns. This is a man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And so on the one hand you have the one who embraces it with joy, but as soon as it gets hard, I'm out of here. There's the other that hears it, but everything else is more important. You and I are so easily distracted. We have spiritual ADD. Oh look, a chicken. You know, that kind of distracting kind of thing. And you'll meet people who will profess to know Christ, but they're more interested in other stuff. And usually it's their stuff. This is also a faith that is vain. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good ground, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Does this mean that he was innately a better person before the gospel than the other person? No. It is that God has done a miraculous work in that person's life. and brings them to true and saving faith. It's interesting if you look at John chapter 15, verse 16. Jesus put it this way, You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He may give to you." And so we see here that those who are bearing fruit were chosen of God. That it is His work to bring a man to repentance and saving faith. And so if you return with me now to 1 Thessalonians, you'll see there, you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, for after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. The persecution that caught up with Paul and Silas and Philippi followed them to Thessalonica and far beyond. If you think that coming to Christ will make your life easy and things will be happy and joyful and everything's hunky-dory, you have not yet heard all of the Gospel. We are appointed to persecution. I heard a fellow say sometime back that, well, if that's true, then God's an abusive husband, that he would allow his bride to suffer. No, he is purifying her. And you and I look at persecution and opposition as a bad thing, and God not so much. And one of the reasons, as we saw, that God allows persecution and affliction is to, on the one hand, it reveals the false believer, but it also strengthens the true one. We all know the principles of In physical sense, the way you get stronger is it has to hurt a little, doesn't it? Especially if you haven't been exercising for a while and you start, you really feel it. But there is no advancement without work and without opposition of your own flesh. And we understand that on a physical level, but on a spiritual level as well, we must be exercised. And yes, sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it hurts a lot. And so Paul says, we had boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God. Why did they have boldness? Well, it's that vision of revelation of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. We can go to every tribe and tongue and people and nation and proclaim the Gospel because God has promised to save some of them. And the means that He uses is the Gospel. And so we can go with great confidence into very dark places. I personally have preached in some pretty dark places. And God in His grace calls men and women to faith by means of the gospel. And so we have boldness in that. And then Paul begins to lay before them, what was their motivation? Why were they preaching the way they did? He says, for our exhortation does not come from error, or impurity, or by way of deceit. There are false teachers that come along, and they can put on a pretty good show. It happens all the time. And there are groups, and there are various sects, and there are all kinds of teachers that come along. Look with me at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul with the Corinthian church is now having to defend his ministry. Someone had come in, and there's always that one that will come in and just be whispering. You know, I don't know if he's, is he really a minister of God? Do you see, you know, that goes on in churches. And look at what he says in 2 Corinthians 4, 1 and 2. Therefore, he says, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame. One of the ways to spot a false teacher is they will be very secretive about their personal life. Very secretive. There's a reason why my computer in my office is on and anyone can go in and look at it. I dare you. Why is that? Because I'm confident that you won't see things on my computer that ought not be there. We renounce things of shame. Paul says, we've renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God. That idea of adulterating the Word of God has to do with how You read about in the American West, as the railroad lines were being built, there was this camp that would follow the train as they built the tracks, and there was this tent city that just followed the train. And of course, in that tent city was all kinds of vice and sin available to the workers. And one of the things that was there was liquor. But of course, why sell the full strength stuff if they'll pay just as much for half strength? And so they would adulterate their liquor with something else and so they could sell it at even a higher profit. And that's the idea here that in the marketplaces they would adulterate the wine that was being sold and you might think you're buying something and it's half water or two-thirds or more. It comes to the Word of God. A false teacher will be adding stuff in. He'll be building on that with some of his own ideas. He'll be adulterating. He'll be watering it down. He may water it down so that it doesn't offend you so much. He may water it down so that he can bring in his false teaching. walking in craftiness. Here is that idea of the person who will just play with the word and, oh, well, it really means this. And add a little or take away a little. Paul says, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Paul was very careful that his gospel be based in the word of God in the truth, not in men's theories. You hear me often joking about reading the old dead guys. There's a reason for that. It's not that there aren't good men writing today. I want to know how their life turned out. I want to see if they persevere. That's how you can really know if someone's true or not. Do they persevere? And so, as we look at who should we listen to, well, what did their life look like? Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And then Paul makes it clear, he says, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. Not everyone who hears the gospel will be saved. We know that, don't we? If you've ever tried to share the gospel with people, you'll find out that the majority will Turn away. I had a fellow one. That is the stupidest thing I ever heard. Well, there you go. Look at what else Paul says about it. He says, "...in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." The true gospel is all about Christ. All about Christ. He is the image of God. Are we uplifting Christ? Are we magnifying Christ? Are we showing Christ to the nations? Are we preaching His work on the cross and His resurrection and His coming again? It's all about Christ. that they might not see. There are some who will not see. And he says, for we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord. There's this whole thing today about people being against lordship salvation. There is no other kind. If Christ is not your Lord, He is most certainly not your Savior either. There's no other kind than Lordship Salvation. Christ must be Lord or He's not. We preach Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus Christ, for Jesus' sake, for the love of Jesus. Here's one of the ways to spot a false teacher. He'll want to build up himself, and he'll want people to pay attention to him, and he'll want to be the grand poobah, and he'll be the one that everybody should be giving homage to, and he'll be this larger-than-life personality. And when you see that going on, run away. Just run away. It's one of the classic cases of a false teacher. He will not have a servant's heart. Paul had a servant's heart as a bondservant. That is, he viewed himself as a slave of others because of his love for Christ. Now look at verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 4. Very important verse. For God who said, light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Are you concerned about the lost people in your family and your neighbors? There is not some wonderful argument that you can make that they'll finally slap themselves on the forehead and go, oh, if you'd only told me that, I wouldn't believe. We preach Christ. We talk about Him constantly and what He does. But if God is going to open a heart to believe, it is a miracle of God alone. God must work. And it is a work of such grandeur and such power that Paul here compares it to the creation of the world itself. We read in Genesis that it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And it says, God said what? Let there be light. It all started with there being light. Have you ever contemplated, just spent some time thinking about what was before there was a was? What, where was God? before there was a heaven, and an earth, and a universe, dwelling in eternity, complete in Himself. Part of our problem is that nobody studies the attributes of God anymore. If we understood that God is so much bigger than, He's infinite. Scientists try to tell us the universe is infinite. No, it's not. It's unmeasurable. There's a difference. Someday they may discover there is an edge. What's beyond the edge? But God is not like that. He is infinite in everything. In all of his attributes and even in his eternity. He is infinite. And God speaks light into existence. He speaks a universe. All of the space that the universe contains. The place to put all of this junk. God created all of it. And He compares that to the power that He exerts in the resurrection of a dead soul. For a person to be saved is going to require a creative work of God that's beyond imagination. It's not small. If God is going to save you, it's going to take a miracle. If He's going to reach into your heart, He must speak light into the darkness that is your soul. God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. How will God reveal Himself to you? It is in who Christ is. The Word of God applied to your heart and you will see that Christ is your only hope. Now let's return to 1 Thessalonians. so that we understand this better, as Paul warns them and lays before them what a true teacher and what a false teacher is like. He says, for our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit. These are the dangers of false teachers. They will deny some part of Scripture, some attribute of God, or some glory of Christ, or impurity. One of the ways to spot false teaching is that they will get weird about personal life, about marriage and all of that. They'll start veering off into crazy ideas. It's one of the earmarks of false teachers. You see it over and over and over again. Paul says they're by way of deceit. False teachers are con artists. They're con artists. and they will trick you. Paul didn't do that. Then look at what Paul says in verse 4. For just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. Remember that passage from John 2 and into John 3, where it says, many believed in His name, but Christ did not entrust Himself to them. Remember? You've heard me often say, well, you say you've accepted Christ. The question is, has He accepted you? And so Paul says, we've been entrusted with the gospel, not to please men, but God who examines our hearts. Look with me a little further in your Bible at 2 Timothy. In 2 Timothy chapter 4. This is right at the end of Paul's life. He was probably executed not long after writing 2 Timothy. His execution is imminent. If you knew you only had a few more days to live, are there any important things that you would want to impart to your friends and loved ones? Well, I can think of a list of stuff. I want you to know this, and don't forget this, and don't forget that, and this is so important, and please, look at what Paul says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God. When we have an ordination service, there's a special sermon given directly to the candidate, and we call it the charge. When a couple gets married, and the pastor shares some words to them, we call it the charge. It is something very solemn, and this is really important. It's that situation where your mom used to grab you by the face and have her hands on each cheek, and look right into your eyes and talk to you. Did you ever get that kind of talk? I solemnly charge you." Yes, it's that kind of serious work going to have a talk. My dad used to put it this way, he'd say, now I'm going to talk and you're going to listen. It's that kind of thing. And he says, I solemnly charge you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing in His kingdom, preach the Word. His last words to Timothy are, preach the Word. He doesn't have anything in here about church growth theory, and how to be relevant, and how to be innovative. None of that is in here. He says, preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. That's when it's convenient and when it's not convenient. Pastors joke a little bit among themselves about why people can't die at more convenient times. There are times in our lives when the gospel is inconvenient to us. Sharing the gospel is not convenient. It's not convenient to minister to others. The phone call at 2 o'clock in the morning, pastor. This or that happened. We have to be given over that, that we are on call 24-7. It never ends. Sometimes businessmen, small businessmen, kind of get that idea. You're never really off. Be ready in season, out of season. And then he says, reprove, rebuke, exhort. This does not sound like soft, fuzzy sermons. These are the ones that reprove is to literally say, no, you must not do that. Rebuke. Well, that's not loving. That word literally means it is that scene of a courtroom. where you've watched court scenarios on television or whatever. And first, the prosecution brings the case. And they lay it all out. And how this dirty, no good guy has done this, this, this, and this. And here's all our proof. And then the defense gets to speak. And this is that word of, now wait a minute. You have not given all the facts here. It's that give and take in a courtroom of saying, no, that's not the whole story. Here's the whole story. And that word rebuke has to do with it. We picture, you know, somebody... That's the previous word under reprove. But rebuke is, no, you're wrong. And here's why you're wrong. It was so cute. If you go to my Facebook page, my picture there, there's a picture of me sitting and I'm like this. And it was taken at a conference that I was doing in Mexico, but one of our young couples that used to be here saw that picture and they said, oh, look, pastor's getting ready to tell someone they're wrong. I didn't realize that I had a tell that was that obvious. It is that sense of there are times, yes, there's times when you need to keep your mouth shut and not get in a big argument, but there are times when the truth is so important you must correct. No, no, you're mistaken there. Here's what the Bible says. Here's what God's Word says. It's not about our opinions, it's God's Word. He says, exhort with great patience and instruction. One of the frustrating things for pastors is that I already taught that. One of the funny ones I get is that former members will tell me about, you know, they've moved away and they've gone to this church and they were hearing this sermon and how good it was and what they learned and I'm like, You know, you want to say, you know, I taught on that two years ago. They weren't ready to hear it apparently, but God works. We continue to do that with patience and instruction. And then notice this, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. but wanting to have their ears tickled, they'll accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. If America appears in scripture, this is one of the places. We look around us and this, you've got to understand, Paul was writing to Timothy and it was a problem then. He's not looking way in the future, oh this will eventually happen. It eventually happens in every single group and every single church. Like I say, we have spiritual ADD, we'll get led astray, we'll think about other stuff and oh, you know, look at that bright shining object kind of thing. Genuine preachers of the Gospel continue to teach. Turn back with me to 1 Thessalonians again. It's interesting that Paul covers these same things in various books over and over again. Here's another thing that a true teacher does and a false teacher does. He says, for we never came with flattering speech. This is another way to spot a false teacher. He will flatter you. He'll build you up. Oh, you're wonderful. Oh, there's a well-known false teacher today, Joel Osteen, who tells people that they're wonderful. And they're supposed to tell themselves they're wonderful. We never came with flattering speech. False teachers flatter. As you know, he says, nor with a pretext for greed. Here's another mark of a false teacher as opposed to a true teacher. They're greedy, the false teachers are. They will want to get into your pocketbook. And you've never given enough. and they'll want to, they'll have all kinds of projects for your money. Paul didn't do that. And he gives them these instructions to help them know that if somebody comes and they're flattering and they're saying all these things and they're greedy. Today we are overwhelmed around the world with the false prosperity, so-called gospel. God just wants you to be rich, you know, name it and claim it, and all of that nonsense. Here's another that Paul says, nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others. even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. They don't try to get glory for themselves. When you see a group that's got people that are trying to irrigate power and glory for themselves... Think about the church in Rome. Yeah, you know me, I'll just name names. Watch what goes on with the Roman church. and all of that pomp and circumstance and the glories of it and the gold and all of that junk, earmarks of a false teacher. Watch out for these things. Jude, if you turn to the book of Jude, he warns of the very same things. Jude is right there just before Revelation. Next to last book. Jude says in verse 4, For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long before and marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. There's a whole movement today. Goes under various titles, but it's that idea of license. Well, Jesus saved me. I'm forgiven for all my sins, and therefore I can do whatever I feel like doing. There's a whole movement that way. And they will come into churches, and they do terrible damage. Look at verse 8. He says, "...yet in the same manner these men also by dreaming defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile angelic majesties." Disrespectful men, this dreaming. I remember being at a meeting of pastors one time, One of these guys had read some book that was telling him that, well, we need to dream God's dreams. Came out in this meeting. I said, wait a minute, guys. God, by definition, does not dream. He is omniscient. He does not have these pipe dreams of what He'd like to do, but these powerful, sovereign men just won't cooperate. But, oh, it sounded so nice. Dreamers. Look at verse 10. These men revile the things which they do not understand, and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasonable animals, by these things are destroyed. False teachers are driven by fleshly desire. We'll see it over and over again. Verse 12, These men are those who are hidden reefs in your love feasts, when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves. This is telling us that these false people will come right into a church and they'll be the first ones in line to partake of the Lord's table. Watch out! Look at 2 Corinthians 11 with me. 2 Corinthians 11. Verse 13. He says, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. We have a whole movement today of the New Apostolic Reformation. You can write into this one website and buy an apostleship. You can't make this stuff up. For a little fee, they'll send you your credentials and voila, you're an apostle. I knew a fellow who had proclaimed himself apostle over everything from the Pecos River to the Rio Grande in Texas. Well, apparently somebody didn't get the memo because one day he was out and about in town and keeled over of a heart attack. So much for his apostleship. I would have thought if he'd been an apostle, he'd have seen that coming. Just say it. There are groups always, these false groups will have these leaders that begin to claim power for themselves, and they will disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. The biblical standard is they must be eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection. Since we don't have anybody that's lived that long, we know there are no apostles today. Anybody comes to you, I'm an apostle, they are a false teacher and a liar. Run away. Run away. And look at what it says there. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. People who claim to have had visions of angels. You hear it all the time. Oh really? Mohammed said he was visited by the angel Gabriel himself. Uh, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds. Watch out! Then Paul in 1 Thessalonians goes on, not completely, you know, we could spend a lot of time looking at all the negative things, at what we ought not to be, but look at what he says next in verse 7. But we prove to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. One of the ways to see if a teacher is true or false is how does he treat other people? If he's mean-spirited and hard-hearted or is he gentle? Yes, there are times when we have to be very stern, very stern. A kind and gentle mother sometimes has to be very stern with her children too, doesn't she? But if you see a person who is claiming to be of God and a leader of God, and he's mean in his home, if he's unkind to his family, if he's harsh to others, if he's getting in arguments with his neighbors, watch out. Watch out. Paul was gentle among them. I love this. Look at Psalm 103 verse 13 and God's relationship with us. In Psalm 103 verse 13. He says, just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame. He is mindful that we are but dust. What a wonderful God we have. A God who humbled Himself by actually becoming human in the person of Jesus Christ. setting aside His glory and taking up humanity into the Godhead. Isn't it amazing when you think about Christ and all of His glories that part of His glory is that for all of eternity, Christ is human. Human, like you and me. That should cause you to weep. Oh, that the God of the universe, the one who spoke the world into being, would then take up that creation into Himself. And we are joined to Him. closer than a husband and wife. It's the closest picture that God has given us of Christ's relationship to His people. It's that oneness of husband and wife. And that's merely a faded picture of the glory of what God has done. Does that thrill your heart? To think that God Himself would save a people for himself and gently care for them as a mother cares for her nursing child. It's one of the tenderest of pictures that we have in humanity is of a mother nursing her child. And that is how God views us and His love for us and a genuine lover of God and leader in God's work will have that kind of love for the church. And then this final phrase, he says, having thus a fond affection for you. We were well pleased to impart to you not only the Gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us." I love Paul and the way he talks about the local churches where he was and his love for them. This tender love that he had for the people of God. One of the ways to find out if you're genuine in your faith, how much love do you have for the people of God, for God's church. Look, if you would, with me at one more passage in 1 Samuel. We have a picture of this kind of love. In 1 Samuel chapter 18 verses 1-4, now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him as himself. And Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt." This is that kind of love between David and Jonathan. We talk about, well, he'd give you the shirt off his back. He literally did. He took his robe and gave it to David, and here you better have my sword and use my bow. And what that is, is that deep love of one for another. That is the love that your Savior had for you. as He puts His robe of righteousness around you. As He gives you the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith. All of it comes from Him. Do you understand that? What joy that is, that we have this hero elder brother. Does this passage cause you to love your Savior more? Or perhaps, as I have spoken today, you've looked at that and go, I never saw that before. There's a God who loves me. Who poured out His precious blood for my soul. Oh, come to Him. He has never turned anyone away. That's the wonder of it. If you want to come, you can. He doesn't say, oh no, not you. Every single one that's invited will come. He brings us in. If He says, come, Let's pray. Father, I ask you today to bless your people by means of the word. Oh Lord, that we would be avoiding false teaching and false teachers. Lord, that we would be truly loving one another. Oh Lord, more than that, that we would be loving you. In Jesus' name, Amen.