All right, I think I'm on. Yep. Well, good morning, Lighthouse. Howdy. Did you come to worship the Lord this morning? Whoop. Amen. At Calvary, it's our first song of the night, or the morning. So let's all stand. Let's all worship. A lot of sickness going around, but we're still here to praise God. Amen. OK, click us in, Harley. Years I've spent in vanity and pride Claring not my Lord was crucified Knowing not it was for me He died at Calvary Mercy there was plain and grace was free Pardon there were multiplied to me ♪ Then my burden's sold down in Liberty and Calvary ♪ By God's word and as my sin I learned ♪ Then I tremble at the law I've slain ♪ Till my guilty soul will return to Calvary There my burning soul found liberty had come a long time ago. you Mercy, there was pain, and grace was need Pardon, there was boldness, and life to need There my burden's sold, now liberty and Calvary Now I've given to Jesus everything Now my path is open as my King, Now my path is open for me, Sing of Calvary. Mercy fills great and brings one's King, Where my burdens fall, found liberty at Calvary. Oh, the locker room, salvation's plan. Oh, the grace to harden down true man. Oh, the mighty form that God gives man at Calvary. ♪ Mercy there was great and grace was free ♪ ♪ Modern camels won't apply to me ♪ ♪ There were birds so loud their birdies had come to me ♪ ♪ Mercy there was great and grace was free ♪ All right, keep standing. Where is she at? We have a birthday here in the room this morning. We have Yaya. Happy birthday. Yaya. You thought you could get away with not telling me this morning. Sheila. We also have another birthday that was recent. Sheila Purcell back there. I didn't ask her permission, but if you tell me you don't want your happy birthday song to you, you're going to get it anyways. So Sheila's birthday. So first, we are going to sing happy birthday to Sheila. Then we will sing happy birthday to Miss Yaya. So Sheila to Yaya. Ready. All right. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Sheila. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Yahya, happy birthday to you! Good morning, everyone. Sickness is definitely, when we say tis the season, we're usually referring to Christmas time, but you know, it's towards that September entering the fall into October. So when we say tis the season this time, it's tis the season for the allergies, for the sicknesses to go around, and COVID going around right before election happens, conveniently. And so so we're still here to worship and we'll be praying for those who are out because of sickness Communication card and buy under your table if you didn't get one already or under your chair You'll find these communication cards reminder to please fill that out pass that into the offering We have it for our guests and just for our members to their prayer requests or what your interest is in We want to thank you for coming to worship with us. We don't believe it's coincidence That you are here with us this morning A song that we just sang, I love the message behind these words. It says that now I've given to Jesus everything, now I gladly own him as my king. So recognizing that our Savior is also our king, we saw him just king of the Jews, but in reality he's king of the whole universe. But it says that there my burdened soul found liberty. that was only accomplished because our king gave his life for us to purchase our freedom, to purchase our redemption many years ago on that cross. The irony behind that is usually we have this mindset as pledge your life to the king, give your life for the king. That would be the traditional and normal way of doing things, but our king gave his life for us. But our king didn't stay dead. Three days and three nights later, he defeated the grave and rose again on the third day, conquering, proving exactly who he said he was. Now we can give our lives for the king who gave his life for ours. And giving our service to our king is where the ultimate liberty and freedom is going to be found. If this is your first time at Lighthouse, just want to thank you for coming to worship with us. We're normally about 75, 80 people here today, but with sickness going around, you know, people are watching from home. So hopefully the live stream is going nice and well. So hello everyone from at home. So this is that time that we take a time in our service to pray and just continue our worship. There's a promise found in the Bible listed in 1st John 1st John chapter 1 verse 9 says this phrase written to believers that if we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That meaning he gives us a fresh start. This is not a how to be saved, how to go to heaven passage, but for those who are saved and they know they're going to heaven, this is how you can walk in fellowship with your God. Is when you do wrong, whether it's doing the things that you should not have done or it's failing to do the things that you should have done, all of it is sin and it separates you from a holy God. We can take that and make it right with God by simply acknowledging it and bringing it before him. So we give you an opportunity to do that here in our service so that we can continue our worship wholeheartedly. So please pray with me this morning as we continue to worship our God. Our Heavenly Father we are thankfully and bountifully blessed and so richly blessed Lord that you would be with us here this morning as we gather to gather together in whole as a church to give you worship and give you praise and thank you for the sacrifice that was made for us many years ago and then also not just the sacrifice alone but continuing to be with us and all the wonderful things you do in our lives from. from the provision that you have, from the love that you have shown us, Lord, that strengthens and encourages us and gives us the strength to move on. just be able to tackle life on a day-by-day basis with a conquering mindset, Lord. And that's only possible because of what Jesus did for us. So Lord, we thank you for that greatest gift and greatest sacrifice made for us many years ago, Lord, and the impact that it has on our lives, especially speaking from my own perspective, Lord, and many would testify here how their lives were changed forever simply because of that gospel that was given to them. So we thank you for being a God that loves us and the God who gives and the God who takes away. And thank you for demonstrating that love by the cross. Lord, in light of these wonderful things of who you are, may we give you the worship and give you the praise that you so rightfully deserve. And that's why we call it Amazing Grace, Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, let's all stand and continue to worship this morning. power of sin and darkness whose love is mighty and so much stronger the King of Glory And holy thunder That leaves us breathless In awe and wonder The King of glory The King above all kings This is amazing grace This is unfailing love That You would take my place That you would build my home You laid down your life That I would be set free Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me Who makes our chaos back into order Who makes the orphan a son and daughter The King of Glory, the King of Glory Who rules the nations with truth and justice Shines like the sun and all of its brilliance This is a failing love That you will take my place That you will bear my cross You lay down your life Come for me Worthy is the Lamb This is amazing. that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. Save my life and let it be consecrated more My moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Let them flow. Take my hand and let them know At the impulse of Thy love Take my feet and let them be Swift and beautiful for Thee Sing my voice and let me sing Always, only for my King Take my lips and let them be filled with With messages from Thee. Take my word and make it Thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is Thy own It shall be Thy royal throne It shall be Thy royal throne Sing, my love, my Lord, I call At Thy feet is treasure stored Take myself and I will be Ever only all for Thee Ever only all for Thee Ever only all for Thee You are not a God in need of anything we can give by your plan. You are not a God created by human hands. You are not a God dependent on any mortal man. You are not a God in need of anything we can give by your plan. You are God alone, from before time began. You are all on your throne, you are God alone. You're the only God whose power none can contend. You're the only God whose name and praise will never end. You're the only God who's worthy of everything we could give to our God. You are God alone From before time began You are on your throne You are God alone And right now In the good times and bad You are on your throne You are God alone Unchangeable Unshakeable Unstoppable That's what you are Unchangeable Unshakeable Unstoppable That's what you are You are not alone Your time begins. You are on your throne. You are God alone. And right now, in the good times and bad, you are on your throne. You are God alone. Unchangeable. ♪ Unshakeable, unstoppable, that's what you are ♪ Y'all may be seated. Children, second grade and under, we'll be going back with this ya-ya to King's Kids. And third through sixth, I'm gonna invite you guys to go with ya-ya as well this morning. You guys can be her crowd control support. Well, good morning, Lighthouse. Are you ready for the Word of God this morning? We've got Roundup Sunday coming up next week, so you can consider this as a prerequisite or prelude to Roundup Sunday. We each here have a part in this. See, Hebrews 13 is a practical chapter in Scripture today as it was then. So we've seen our culture change, we've seen technology progress, our economy go through highs and lows. The people that being written to in Hebrews in that time, they were going through many hardships and persecution because of their faith. And they are encouraged, get reminded of their duty and how it does matter in this world in spite of everything going around to them. you're in Hebrews you want to understand that there's some problems he wants to address and he has some themes he wants to get out there. The first one of those things he wants to encourage the readers as they went through intense persecution through the Emperor Nero at that time to hold fast to their faith and live righteously in light of Christ's superiority. Second, he wants to exalt the Jesus Christ in this manner, and that He is superior over all things. Examples such as He is superior to the angels, to Moses, to Joshua, superior to the Aaronic priesthood, the Old Covenant. He also wants to warn those readers the dangers of and falling back into that Old Testament system. See these, hence the book of Hebrews, writing to Hebrew Christians the reason why they should not forsake following Christ and going back to their old ways. This is the dangers that would come about that. He wants to encourage them to continue on, stay strong, press through it. Beginning in chapter 13 verse one, he starts off saying, let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers or neglect, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honorable and all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for our text and we thank you for the power. that is behind it, Lord. And as your word has promised, Lord, it never returns void. So Lord, thank you for being with us this morning and just give us the understanding and wisdom we need to be able to understand your God's word and not just to be able to understand it, Lord, but to live it out and apply it properly, Lord, within the way the author intended it. So we thank you for being a God who loves us so much that you would give your only begotten son on our behalf. And we thank you for that truth and we thank you for the impact it has made on our lives. Continue reminding us of our duty, Lord, that we're supposed to press on afterwards after salvation. So Lord, we thank you for being who you are and all that you do within us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So the first thing, while we all have duties as a church member, This is not exclusive to the church members here, but also to us here. To love one another consistently. To love one another with consistency. Our love is to be made known. to each other, not secretly or in quiet. It says here, let brotherly love continue. So the audience here is exhorted for their brotherly love to continue. Note he writes, brotherly love. Now women, that is not disqualifying you. It's a generic term for your family and the Lord. This is among the people of the faith, specifically towards these people within that church. The implication here is that they already had a genuine brotherly love among each other. The encouragement is to keep it up, keep going at it, even make it stronger. And if love for one another is something not already there, of course it would be commanded that, hey, this needs to be put on. But in this case, brotherly love continue. See, in our English language, when we use that word love, we just simply got what? We got one word. Now we can describe it, fond of, like, and so on. But we usually just stick with the word love, and we usually understand the degree of it, of what we're talking about within that context. For example, when I go to Longhorn Steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse, all the good stuff, I love me a good ribeye steak or a good New York strip steak. I love steak. All right, I love Lighthouse Baptist Church. I love my wife. I love my family. I love studying language. I love watching TV at nighttime. I love reading books. Can y'all measure the degrees you find in there though? If I'm saying I love steak on par with I love my family, There's probably an issue there. Maybe I don't love my family enough, or maybe I just love food a little too much. But you guys get the picture. When we use the word love, we have degrees of how we use the word love. I really hope you love your family more than you love food. In the New Testament, though, they have several words being used to describe in a very specific way In Koine Greek, ancient Greek is where the New Testament comes from. They use three of them. Four of them are commonly used daily and spoken. The first one here is eros. This love is described as we might have guessed from the word itself. It comes from the word erotic love. It's a love, a sexual union love between, supposed to be between husband and wife. That's one of the loves. Second love is actually only used once in the New Testament, and it's used on a day-to-day basis, storge. Storge is, this love is a unique love. It's referring to your actual family biological love, the kind of love between a parent and child, and between family members in general. You know how you have it, you're just, you're there for your family, and you know, you can always, even though you're not always on par with each other, we do this because, hey, we're family. But that would be called a storge type of love. This love is in Romans 12, 10 where it says, be kindly affectionate. So he's encouraging him to the same kind of affection and kindness you show to your family, show also to your brothers and sisters in the Lord. This is probably your most famous one you're gonna find in the New Testament. Agape love, the most powerful word to describe love in the New Testament. Agape is used often to describe God's love towards us. Defining it is not simple to just one word or even just a one sentence. It is a love that loves without falter and changing. It's a self-giving love without demanding or expecting repayment. It is a love that chooses to love even when it's rejected. Agape loves and gives because it chooses to, not despite of feelings. It does not expect or it does not want demand receiving. It's not about feelings. It is about decision. Regardless how I feel agape, you still love that individual. It's the kind of love God has demonstrated towards us. An unconditional one. Aren't you glad that this is the love God has towards you? This is the love that God has for God so agape the world. And the fourth one, this is philea, often phileo. This word speaks of a kind of brotherly friendship and affection. It's the word actually being here used in Hebrews chapter 13, verse one. A special love that you can have and are only to have among your brothers and sisters. This kind of love is only possible through the context of your brothers and sisters in the Lord. There should always be plenty of this kind of love among the friends. It's about this deep friendship and partnership you have with each other. It's the kind of love that takes people from many different backgrounds, from many different cultures, interests, and places them in a state of harmony. Christian family love. how we can all get together with all these different backgrounds, different work interests, and yet there's something about us that's mutual and puts us in a place of harmony. It's the love that we have that Christ has given us to be able to demonstrate a phileo or phileia type of love. So why must it continue, though? Well, first, love is among the two greatest commandments that Jesus Christ gave us. See, in Matthew 27, 37, 40, where all the law hangs upon these things, that thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. In other words, love God with everything of you, your whole self. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, that thou shalt love thy neighbor, as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. The reason the way that works, that all the law and the prophets hang upon the word love, because if I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, I won't have any issue following these commands. If I love my neighbor as myself, I will not commit adultery against my neighbor, with my neighbor. I will not steal from them. I will not covet the things that they have. I will not lie to them. That's the way love fulfills all of the law. Second, loving one another is evidence of one's faith in the Lord Jesus, being a disciple of Jesus. If you want to love people sincerely, you first love God supremely. If we put God above all, love Him supremely, we can love one another sincerely. John 13, 34 through 35 says this, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. Third, loving one another is ultimately how we are showing our love for God. First Peter 4.8 says this, and above all things have fervent charity, that word charity comes from the same word, agape, among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Well, 1st John 4, 2021 to parallel that says, if a man say, I love God and hated his brother, he is what? He's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how could he love a God whom he has not seen? In this commandment we have from him that he loveth God, love his what? Brother also. To love one another among yourselves is to show love for God. To claim, oh yeah, I love God, but man, I just hate the church. I hate this. The Bible says you are a liar. Matthew 25, 40, at the very end of that last day, Jesus was giving out his word. He separates the goats from the sheep, and he lays out all the things that you've done for me. That when I was in prison, you visited me. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me water to drink. Their response was, well, Lord, when did we do any of this stuff? Verse 40, and the king shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have what? You have done it unto me. So loving one another here equals what? Loving your savior, Jesus Christ. Loving your king. Our love, that also love, is not just to be contained, it also has a way of extending to strangers. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. The Hebrews are told to be not forgetful, don't neglect it. This word entertain strangers is one in the original one. It means to show hospitality. Hospitality, you guys know what hospitality is. In the ancient world, there were motels and inns when they existed. They were infamous for immorality. So as Christians, as missionaries and apostles would travel, they would find open homes from other Christians, and the Christians would host the traveling Christians. Of course, being taken advantage of was also something they needed to be on guard for. Eventually, there's tradition passed on how you can recognize who the phonies were. So be not forgetful to show hospitality or do not neglect hospitality to strangers. Now I'll tell you what this is not teaching. This is not teaching or saying to leave your house unlocked for anyone who wants to come in. The context isn't teaching anything like leave your doors unlocked and set yourself in danger and live foolishly. Others in principle and scripture will teach otherwise and you know from the context, it's not about just housing the homeless or anything like that, bringing them into your houses. But in a church context, in a church setting, how can we apply this? We can welcome our guests with open and loving arms. Show people that what we have here is real, that we do have a real genuine care in one another. A church that is divided and has all these special groups set apart and segregated, the guests are gonna see right through it. They're gonna know if there's real love and there's real unity in here. We can welcome the guests with open arms, introduce them to the classes we have here, show them around, tell them about our church, show true interest in our lives. Don't let the guests be the one to initiate all the conversations. Don't let love and our care for guests only also be the duty for the pastors. Yes, indeed, our pastors are gonna show love and care for our guests, but it's much more impactful when God's people get together and show that same kind of care and love. We're also to show our hospitality to our visiting missionaries. When you see someone you don't recognize, make it a priority to introduce yourselves, learn their name, thank them for being here and express your desire to see them come back again. If we're going to want to see our church grow in our attendance, Our love for the Lord and one another must be on display, and it must be evident. Roundup Sunday is coming up. This is your ultimate time and perfect opportunity to demonstrate your love for one another, get to know the people you have around here. We don't need to form church cliques. We don't need to only form the friendships we have in a small group. get to know people, get to know what they do for a living. Invite them out for lunch, invite them for dinner, get together sometime. I love seeing the friendships develop here at Lighthouse Baptist Church. You are gonna meet your lifelong friends, you're gonna know they always have your back. Many of us here, a simple text message, phone call away, can do a whole lot of good and impact in their lives. When we are a hospital to others, just as we read from Matthew 25, if we read in what Matthew 25 applies, who are we also showing hospitality to? We're welcoming our guest as we're also welcoming our savior. What we see also unknowingly is from the Bible says we're hospitable towards angels. Some from that text, Abraham and Lot were examples. When they showed hospitality to these men, turns out they were angels. Now, I don't know if I can say angels are walking around us today and looking like humans or one of you here is an angel. But the focus of this text is not so much on the angels, rather the expression is to go and teach us that your love and your care and your hospitality has a greater impact than you may realize. Don't make it about the angels, make it about your love, your hospitality that you show towards one another. We also can express those love to those who are in bondage and affliction. Remember them that are in bonds, verse three, as bound with them and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body. Those in bonds here referring to those who have been imprisoned for the sake of the gospel. Now in our culture here in the US, we seem to not have that problem going much. One day though, it's coming. But there are those suffering affliction and persecuting for the sake of the gospel, especially those over in the Middle East and other countries. We are to remember them, recall, and show those deep love and care as if we were the ones in their position. That's what it means by, as yourselves also in the body. See, if your leg is on fire, your arm does not just say, well, that's too bad, that looks very painful. What does it say? It says, we're on fire. It's not a good luck with that. See, when your brothers and sisters in the Lord hurt, you hurt with them. Many of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world do not have the privilege that we have very this morning to gather in worship without any fear of someone coming out here and putting to a stop of it, or the government swooping in here and arresting us for this. We need to remember, continue praying for those that are in bonds, those who are being persecuted for their faith. Articles after articles, we've got books that testify of what people have to endure, even today, have people to endure for the sake of their faith and for the cause of Christ. Our sincere compassion and our prayers need to be for these people. Second, our duty. We are to honor what God honors. Marriage, right here, is the context. Marriage is defined by scripture, nothing else. Marriage is honorable and all, in the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Bible defines marriage as union between one man and one woman for life. Marriage is dishonored by divorce, by living together outside of marriage, by adultery. Marriage is dishonored by neglect, and even by redefining it. I don't have to convince you today that our society as a whole does not honor the covenant of marriage. See, it doesn't matter how the government wants to define marriage now and allowing in same-sex marriages, a higher authority has already established and set what marriage is. See, in Oklahoma, when Tabitha and I got married, our marriage license was removed eventually from husband and wife. It was signed as spouse, spouse. They've changed it. See, culture can try to change marriage, but God's word never changes. Genesis 2.24, therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife, they shall be one flesh. The same definition is affirmed by Jesus saying this, and he answered and said to them, have you not read, which made them at the beginning made them male and female, as said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh? Wherefore, there are no more twain or one or two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. Not a very popular message in today's culture and society, but it doesn't matter how culture wants to progress, God's word already established it and we can still show love and care amongst that, but we can still disagree and openly disagree like, hey, this is contrary to what the Bible speaks. It's not a message of hate, it's actually a message of love and a message of warning to those who defy it. Marriage is meant to be a beautiful picture of Christ and his church. Ephesians 5.31-30 says this, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, there it is again, shall be joined unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband. As the husband is to love the wife as Christ loved and gave himself, for the church. He sets such a high standard, and as the church is in submission and follows the leadership of her husband, so the church follows the leadership of our head, Jesus Christ. Jesus is still in charge here, and he's still going to be in charge as the days go on. We also see here marriage is to be honored, the bed undefiled. So the Bible here in specific ways to strictly condemn sex outside of marriage. It dishonors the Lord and it dishonors your future spouse. It says on here, whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. In addition to that, the Bible actually celebrates the sexual love within the context of marriage. See our enemy, what he's done so well in this culture today, wants to do everything he can to encourage sex outside the marriage bed and to discourage it with inside the marriage bed. And to reject this and say, well, that's just an old way of thinking. Surely it's, I hate that phrase, it's 2024 now. Come on y'all, get with the program. To reject this is to not reject the preacher's, my opinion or anyone's opinion here, it's to reject God and reject God's word. 1 Thessalonians 4 is in that context of and sexual impurity outside of marriage. 1 Thessalonians 4, 8. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but who? But God. You're not gonna reject my opinion. It's not gonna hurt my feelings. The rejection is what God's word teaches. Has not reject God, but God who also has given unto us his Holy Spirit. See, I love you enough here this morning to tell you the truth of what the word teaches. in spite of what this world practices. Honor your husband and your wife even before you meet and marry them. See, those who have sinned against God in this area, we know there is always forgiveness in Christ. This does not also excuse anyone to continue in it because it's already been done. What I can assure you out of experience that the wait is indeed worth it. This culture is growing and growing and more and more with dishonoring to marriage and what God has established many years ago. With the growing rise in pornography, with the infidelity, with going around even videos, people are bragging about all the times they've been unfaithful to their partners. It's disgusting. The word of God still reigns supreme in this area. We are still, as Christians, need to be living as lights with this. Christians themselves have fallen short in this area. but God's grace is still abundant. The commands here also, they're not to ruin your fun. Just as every command in the scripture, it's not about, hey, the Bible, what Satan wants to teach you and tell you is that God's just trying to take away your fun. What God is doing is God is trying to protect you. The thou shall nots are not for, oh no, you're gonna hurt God's feelings. The thou shall nots are for your sake, for you to be safe, not to ruin your fun, but to protect you. Second, third, our duties are to live with awareness of the Lord's presence in your life. And marriage is also not the only thing to honor what God honored. Anything that God says what is sin will always still remain sin. but we are supposed to live with the awareness as well with the Lord's presence in our life. He says here, let your conduct be without covetousness. Let your conversation, that means manner of living, your lifestyle, be without covetousness. The word here for conversation means conduct or character. Our character is to be free from greed, and it's only possible because of Christ's provision. And be content with such things as you have. And be content with things as you have, for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. In contrast to greed, we are to be content with what we have. See, contentment is definitely in our culture is something many are lacking today. Bernard Brueck, I can't say his name correctly, as a millionaire philanthropist was asked this question, how much money does it take for a rich man to be satisfied? To which his reply was, just a million more than he has. It's going to never end. If you are relying on money today for happiness, you will always find yourself dissatisfied. It will never be enough. Money is a good thing. It's a necessity. But it is not where you are going to find happiness and contentment. And this is also not teaching. It's forbidding someone to be wealthy, but rather to be dependent upon money for happiness. We see many rich people in the scripture that were very generous and very blessed of the Lord. But their contentment and happiness was not rested upon their riches, it was rested upon their God. The key to true contentment is relying on our Savior for happiness. The same one who created your heart is the same one who will keep it beating and the same one to satisfy it. In Christ, you really do have all you need. Christ is enough. First Timothy 6 says this, but godliness with contentment is great gain. It's like a little formula. Godliness plus contentment equals great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and are certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. The best reason we can remain content is because God's promise is here. God promises to never leave you nor forsake you. When you face those hardships, the loss of family, those economic crises, the financial hardships, God's promise stays true. God will never leave you. nor forsake you. In times of health difficulties, know God's presence is still with you. His hand is upon your life. I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I would not fear what man has done unto me. This is calling back to the exact promise in the words spoken to Moses Joshua leaders of a great population of people They needed the Lord's presence in their life. If you read the book of Exodus and book of Joshua They needed the Lord But people of Israel were not an easy people The same promise is extended to you to all those who put their trust in Christ to save them. I Difficult days they lie ahead and these Hebrew Christians they've suffered a lot and they were going to suffer some more But no matter what you can be comforted with that truth that God will never leave you nor forsake you Romans 8 31. What shall we say to these things if God before us? Who can be against us the Christian life really is a win-win way of living. I And even at the end of commissioning his church to take the gospel into all the world, to baptize them who trust in Christ, to teach them all things he's observed, Jesus promises this to his church. And lo, I am with you all way, even unto the end of the world. Amen. And with this promise, as we're calling back to the 818th Psalm, the Lord is my helper. We can say with confidence, I do not fear what man can do unto me. It's been six years, a little bit over six years since the Lord brought me back here to Lighthouse. I know it was his will and his calling on my life. If I was told this would be my life 15 years ago, to be leading you guys in worship, be preaching before you in the pulpit and leading as one of your pastors, I would have probably just laughed at you. My parents would have probably laughed at you. Justin, out of all of the eight, no way. Yet about 15 years ago is when I came to finally understood what Jesus did for me on that cross. I trusted in him to save me, and not only did he rescue my soul, but he gave my life a calling, gave my life purpose. One of those purposes, I wholeheartedly believe, is to serve you here at Lighthouse Baptist Church. See, as believers, followers of Jesus are called to what I've came across as torchbearers. Torchbearers in this world. Torchbearers in ancient times, they would carry the light during processions or on dangerous night journeys. They had to be vigilant in keeping their flames burning, no matter the conditions. Their duty was not just to carry the light for themselves, but to light the way for others to follow. And as Christians, we are carrying the light of Christ into this world, into a dark fallen world. We must not only just keep our own flame, but we are to use our flame and light to guide those towards Christ. So when we face weariness, discouragement, we must remember the importance that our role plays in the lives that depend on that light that we carry. We must let our love be consistent. We honor what the Lord honors, and we take confidence in that the Lord will indeed carry us through all aspects of life as we learn to trust him more and more. We have a duty here at Lighthouse Baptist Church. We have a duty here that God gives us in this life. We have a God who's with us, and it's never going to take his hands off us. That is how we can remain confident, how we can remain joyful in whatever life carries our way. We're going to face many, many things ahead of us as a church. But if we keep the Lord in charge, we keep the main thing the main thing. I assure you the Lord is going to carry us through. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for that promise that we have to never leave us nor forsake us. And Lord, without that promise, Lord, we might as well just give up because there's no way we can get through it. And so, Lord, in light of the love that you've shown us, Lord, may our hearts break for the things that break yours, and may our hearts and our hands and our feet be motivated by the love and mercy you've given us that this lost world needs more than ever. So Father, may our love be genuine and may it should be evident among, with each other, Lord, so that it can show to this world out there and those you bring into this place, Lord. Lord, we love you and thank you for the provision you've given to our lives. We thank you for the promise to never leave us nor forsake us, and you always hold us, that we may boldly say that the Lord is my helper. I would not fear what man can do unto me. So Father, strengthen us, comfort us, Lord, as many of us face trials and hardships and many of us going through sickness right now. Show them and draw them closer to yourself more and more. Lord, we love you and thank you for messages that are not easy to deliver, Lord, but ones that are absolutely necessary and what we need more than ever. So thank you, Lord, for giving us, not always giving us what we always want, but giving us for what we need. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Look kind of sparse in here today. One of your duties is to show up. I didn't hear many amens during this, but there ought to be one now. Yeah, your duty is to show up. But that's not your primary duty. It was right there in the first sentence out of his mouth, his first verse. Love one another. That's right. That's not so easy to do. That's not a passive thing. That's an active thing. getting to each other's lives, find out what's going on, and find out what you can do to make life better. That's what love is. We're not naturally good at that, are we? Well, I think today's calling for us is to step up in this area of loving one another. I know I'm so caught up with all the stuff that's going on in my life right now that it's easy to neglect loving you the way that you deserve to be loved. The Lord wants me, or you can put your name there, the Lord wants you to love these other members like he does. Like he loves the church. My old sister Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. We're not talking about all the saved people in the world. Loving the church is talking about this church. It's the only kind of church there is, is a church like this one. And if we're going to love each other like he loved us, that's not a passive thing. It's not going to happen by itself. It's going to require some effort to stand together. going to sing this invitation to your God alone.