The message this morning goes right with what we just sang. That's why I had to sing it this morning. We did sing that song just a couple of weeks ago, but it does reflect what Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 9 through 12. So I'd like you please to take your Bibles with me and turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We have seen that Paul is giving instructions concerning Christians who are yet alive in verses 1 through 12. In verses 13 and following, the Apostle Paul talks about the fact that Jesus Christ is soon to return. I believe the rapture of the church, that is the rapture of believers, could take place at any time. Some people look at this as a fable, as a myth, as some kind of superstition. But Jesus Christ is real. Jesus Christ is today seated at the right hand of God, the Father. And when the time comes, He will return to this earth. We don't know when. His return is imminent. But it could be today. In the meantime, What are we to be doing? And Paul addresses some of those things in verses 1 through 12. How we should live. He gives instructions concerning Christians who are yet alive. And so in verses 1 through 8, he challenges us to make progress in Christian living. By the way, you have an outline in your bulletin. I would encourage you to follow along because you'll get much more from the message that way. and I would encourage you please to fill in the blanks too, and I'm always willing to discuss what I've preached afterward if you have any questions. So he's giving instructions about making progress in Christian living in your conduct generally, he says in verses one and two, and then in your conduct explicitly in verses three through eight. But now in verse nine, a new topic, is indicated, and he does so with the word, the first word of verse 9. He says, but as touching brotherly love. And so he is further going to elaborate on what he said in verse 1. Look at verse 1 where he said, that as ye have received of us, how ye ought to walk and to please God. Now in verses nine through 12, he's going to further elaborate on that. How you should walk, remember your walk has to do with your Christian conduct, and to please God. Is it possible to please God? There are some today who say, no, I am so totally depraved, I can't please him. Then why would Paul be giving this exhortation that you ought to please God? Yes, I am a sinner. Yes, my righteousness is that of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But folks, that doesn't mean we should not try to live a righteous life. That we should try to please God with our everyday conduct. So now, not only is he talking about making progress in Christian living, verses 1 through 8, but now an interesting topic, verses 9 through 12, you need to make progress in Christian loving. Loving others. Now, specifically, he is saying, but as touching, what kind of love? There's an adverb, or there's an adjective right there, but as touching, what kind of love? Brotherly love. So he's talking about a brother in Christ or a sister in Christ. He is emphasizing your love for another Christian. And he says in the last part of verse 10 that ye increase more and more. That's why I call this making progress in Christian loving. You ought to be excelling. You ought to be increasing. You ought to be abounding more and more all the time in brotherly love. Let's read verses 9 through 12. But it's touching brotherly love Ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another, and indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia, but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more, and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing." Interesting, verses 9 and 10 he's talking about our relationship with those on the inside or those within. And then verses 11 and 12, our relationship with those on the outside or those without. In verses 8, 1 through 8, he's talking about purity. Not only is purity the mark of a Christian, That's why you ought to be making progress in your Christian living. But so also is love, the mark of a Christian, and we ought to be making progress in Christian loving. Now today, because there is so much emphasis on love, and so much of a de-emphasis on God's holiness, God's righteousness, and the fact that He is just, We tend sometimes to back off on preaching on love. But folks, we cannot neglect that. And Paul is talking about loving our brothers in Christ. It is just as much a mark of a believer as purity is. And so the first point I want you to see in verses 9 and 10 is the love of brothers. And I've actually typed out the Greek word there for you. We have a city in Pennsylvania by the same name. Can you read that Greek word? If you can read that Greek, it's in italics, it's right after where it says Love of Brothers verses 9 through 10. Everybody say out loud that word. You know Greek. Because that's exactly how you say it in Greek. Philadelphia. Philos, love. Adelphos, brother. Love of brother. That's the exact word that you see, if you had a Greek New Testament, here in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, verse nine. But as touching, and the two words brotherly love, but as touching, Philadelphia. There's the word. We love our brothers and sisters by birth, at least we should. That doesn't mean siblings don't have rivalries and siblings don't sometimes get in fights. I used to fight my brothers. Am I alone? Any other brothers and sisters fight? Dave, shame to yourself. Yeah. But we love our brothers and our sisters. That is a natural thing because we are related to them by birth. So too, you are related to other believers by the new birth. You are my, if you're a believer this morning, if you're a Christian, you are my brother in Christ. You are my sister in Christ. By the way, when Paul uses the word brother here, he is including all other believers, male and female. It used to be very common years ago to call somebody, hey, brother Jones, and sister such and such. And we've kind of lost that a little bit. But you're my brother in Christ. You're my sister in Christ, if you know the Lord as your savior. Whether you're young or old, you're my brother. Now I hesitate calling somebody my brother if they're not living like it. Because I wonder, are you really my brother? I hesitate calling somebody a sister if, verses one through eight, they're not reflecting the purity of the Christian life. Notice who the instructor of love is in verse nine. Who's the instructor? Read it again, but it's touching. Brotherly love, you don't have need that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Paul says, I don't even need to write you about this. I shouldn't have to write you about this, because you are literally God taught. It's one word. You are literally God taught. That word is used only here in the New Testament. So brotherly love is not just a disposition, it is also an exhibition. It is not just something I talk about, it is something that is exhibited in my life. It is something that others should see. An early church father, Tertullian, was quoting some heathen. This is back in the early centuries of the church. And the heathen used to say this about Christians, behold how these Christians love one another. That's what those on the outside used to say about those who are inside the family of God. Look at how they love each other. First John 3.14 says, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Listen folks, loving your brother and sister in Christ is an evidence of salvation. Let me read that verse again. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Wouldn't we be able to tell by how you treat your fellow brother and sister in Christ that you're a Christian by the way you treat them? It is an evidence of salvation. Peter says this in the first chapter of his first epistle, verse 22, seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit. That's the first part of this chapter. You're living a pure life unto unfeigned love of the brethren. That word unfeigned means unhypocritical. You're not a hypocrite when you love your brother. unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently." You cannot skip the verses in the New Testament because there are many of them that talk about how we ought to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. I want you to go with me to Acts chapter 4. Because in Acts chapter 4 we see how the early church loved one another, how they demonstrated it or how they exhibited it. It wasn't just a disposition, it was an exhibition. Acts chapter 4 verse 32. I'll wait for the rustling to stop so I know you're with me. Acts 4.32, "...and the multitude of them that believe." So who are these? These are believers. were of one heart and of one soul, neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. Look at verse 34. Neither was there any among them that lacked. For as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. Now some people call this Christian Communism. It is nothing of the sort. because everybody gave willingly. They were not coerced into it. But I want you to note the love of this early church. If they saw that somebody in the church was lacking, they would sell something that they had in order to help that other person. I don't believe that is the function or the responsibility of the government. I believe that's the function and the obligation of the church to its own members. very often I get calls from people saying I need some help my answer always has to be I'm sorry I don't know you I don't know if what I'm gonna give you you're going to abuse it use it on drugs I don't know you but I can tell you this we help those who are in our own church body and we do. Some of you have been the beneficiary of some money from the Deacons Fund because we found out somehow that you were in need But what happens sometimes with charitable giving? Acts chapter five, the very next chapter, Ananias and Sapphira abuse it. That's why I believe this ought to be the church's responsibility because the church can keep very accurate control of it. You can't control this from Washington D.C. with what's happening here in greedy Colorado with somebody who's milking the taxpayer. I believe the government should totally get out of welfare completely. Notice what he says, back to 1 Thessalonians chapter four, verse nine, as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love. To love whom? One another. That's in the present tense. So it literally means to be loving one another. That's a continual practice, but it's not only continual, it's reciprocal. It is reciprocal. Sometimes people say, well, nobody ever shows me any love. Well, let me ask you a question. Do you ever show any love? Why are you sitting around waiting for somebody to show and demonstrate love to you? Are you demonstrating love to someone else? It's reciprocal. Love is not just something you get. It is something you give. In fact, that ought to be the emphasis. You ought never to give in order to get. In the marriage relationship, It ought to be that love is always giving. If you get into a marriage relationship to get, you're gonna have trouble. That marriage is gonna fall apart. Marriage, love, is giving. I've emphasized this before, for God so loved the world that He, it's always giving. If you're in it to get, you're in trouble. It is reciprocal, interchanging of action. So we see the instructor of love in verse 9 concerning the love of brothers. Then we see in verse 10 the exercise of that love of brothers. You know what another reason? There's another reason it's unnecessary for Paul to write them about loving one another. Here's why. They're already practicing it. They're already doing it. Indeed, he says, the second word in verse 10, and indeed, that introduces the fact of their practice or their exercise as they have been taught by God. It was their continual practice. Folks, it's one thing to know what to do. It's another thing to do it. Love for this church extended beyond the acquaintances in their comfort zone. It says in verse 10, ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. Now, Macedonia was the region, it was the Roman region there in Greece. Thessalonica was in Macedonia, Philippi was in Macedonia, Berea was in Macedonia, Amphipolis was in Macedonia, and here's the testimony of this church at Thessalonica. They not only loved each other within their church, let's just say that this is the church Thessalonica Paul is writing to us, and this is applying to us, so this is for us. And the exhortation is given in verse nine, for you, it ought to be that there ought to be no need for him to write to you about brotherly love because you are already God taught about that. Now verse 10, indeed, ye do it toward all the brethren who are in Weld County. There's the region, Colorado. But it never stops, why? Because the last part of verse 10, that you keep increasing. They're urged to abound or increase even more. That's the same expression you find in the last part of verse one, abound more and more. To be excelling in this. Folks, the Christian life always has room for increase and growth. Never sit back satisfied with your status as a believer. Do not be content with your present loving of other Christians. Well, you say, well, the Bible says be content. Yeah, it does, with such things as you have, talking about your possessions. But never be satisfied with the status of your Christian life. Always be abounding or increasing more and more with those who are believers. Look at chapter 3 and look at verse 12. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love, one toward another and toward all men, even as we do towards you. Folks, you have opportunity to express your love to others. Let me illustrate it this way. We're hosting the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship here in a few weeks. I don't know some of those people. Hey, this is your opportunity. This is your opportunity to exhibit brotherly and sisterly love to people you don't even know. If they're a believer, that's your brother or sister in Christ. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your love. You say, well, I have at least one friend at Westside Baptist Church to which I exhibit love. Well, increase that to two. Keep increasing. Increase that to three. Keep increasing. And then to four. And then when you have gotten to know everybody in this church, by the way, I know how you love somebody if you at least know who they are. It's amazing how in a church this size, sometimes we don't even know each other. You get to know them. And so when you know everybody in this church and when you know enough about them, by the way, this is why Wednesday night prayer meeting is so important because you come here, this is not for yourself on Wednesday night, it's for others. You're coming to listen to what their prayer requests are so you can pray for them. That's a demonstration or an exhibition of brotherly love. Where you get to know them, the more you know about them, you know their wants, their needs. So you get to know the whole church. Then you get to know some of those in our sister churches in Loveland and Fort Collins and in Denver and the state of Colorado and then nationwide and then literally worldwide. You know what a blessing it was a few years ago for me to go to the island out in the middle of the Pacific and teach Chinese pastors. I had never met them, but as soon as I met them, there was that kinship. These are my brothers in Christ. Politically, they didn't like the United States because of what they hear from their government. The United States is bad. We got above that. Because I knew that they had been duped by the communist government. But they loved the Lord Jesus Christ, they were totally uninformed when it came to politics. But they're my brothers in Christ. And what a challenge it was, by the way, to get to know them, because their life was a rebuke to mine. And this is one of the things that brotherly love does. You get to know another brother in Christ, it's gonna challenge you, hopefully, or you can be a challenge to him. One of the ways they challenged me, I'm meeting these 25-year-old pastors, And I'm just amazed at their knowledge of the Bible. And I said, how many times have you read your Bible? I've read my Bible through 30 times. This is a 25-year-old. I dare say we have some really older people here who've probably never read through their Bible one time. 30 times. You see, the more you get to know your brothers and sisters in Christ, the more of a challenge they are to your life. That's what it means in Hebrews 10, 24, and 25 when it says, provoke one another to love and to good works. You get to know them. Folks, that can't happen if you're not here, if you're not getting to know them. This is missions. Missions is not just the evangelizing of unbelievers all over the world. It is ministering to believers all over the world. One of the ways you can demonstrate that is through your faith promise missions giving. Demonstrating, it's not just while I talk about our missionaries. No, you're demonstrating it. And to our brothers and sisters in Christ across the ocean and even here in the United States. So, make progress in Christian loving, the love of your brothers. But, as I've noted in Acts chapter 5, when believers excel in love, there are those who are on the receiving end of it who take advantage. They abuse brotherly love. I call them welfare Christians. Always taking in, never giving out. So we come to the next thing. It's not just love of brothers that we should be progressing in in love. It should also be, and here's number two, before I give you the word, can you read the Greek word there? Let me read it for you. Phila Temeamai. Phila Temeamai. Now, I know the Pierce's know the first part of Temeamai because they have a son by the name of Timothy. Timothy means honor in Greek. So philos and temetemi, which is a Greek verb, which is Timothying, means love of honor. Love of honor. Not only should you be excelling in your love of your brothers, you should be excelling in your love of honor. Well, how does that fit? And you say, where is love of honor in there? Well, look at verse 11. It says, and that ye study. Now that's King James for love of honor. That you study. You thought it had something to do with going home and doing your homework, didn't you? It has to do with love of honor. So there's this love of honor, and I'm gonna only get to my first point this morning. Tonight I'm gonna get to the second point. I trust I'll be back tonight for the second point. Because it follows upon what we're gonna look at in letter A here. Love of honor regarding your work. Verse 11, love of honor regarding your work. You see, not everybody has a good work ethic. And it's an issue that Paul repeatedly addresses to these Thessalonians. Let me show it to you. You're here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Go to chapter 5. Notice what he says in chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians and verse 14. Now, we exhort you, he says there in verse 14, brethren, warn them that are unruly. Sometimes I tell people, you can remember my name, but I just remember the word unruly, not the L-Y off, and that's where you have my last name. Has nothing to do with me here, okay? Warn those who are unruly. Here's the Greek word. Warn those who are lazy. Warn those who are lazy. Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. But what do you do to those who are idle and lazy? Warn them, admonish them. Go to the second book of Thessalonians, look at chapter 3, look at verse 7. Actually, let's start with verse 6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. Withdraw yourself from a brother. If there's a brother who walks disorderly, withdraw from him. Do you know what the word for disorderly is? It's the same word for unruly in chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians and verse 14. Withdraw yourselves from those brothers who are lazy. They walk disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know, I'm in 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 7 now, for yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves, there it is again, lazily among you. Neither did we eat any man's bread for naught, but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. I still say, That ought to be the requirement for any money that's ever given away. If the government's going to do it, then at least have this requirement. You have to be working to get welfare. You don't work, you don't eat. Well, that's just not really nice. No, that's nice. because that will do more to help that person than for you to keep giving him something for him in his laziness. By the way, kids, this works at home, too. My boys are always saying, man, Dad, we always have to take the trash out. I say, well, you have that or you don't have to eat. You don't need to eat. Well, yeah, but worry your child. That's right, get busy, get the trash out. You're my child, I'm your father, so do what I say. Work. If you want to eat, work. It's one of the things my dad wrote in front of his Bible. It's something my dad drilled into me and my five brothers. Hard work. Verse 11, for we hear that there are some which walk among you, there's that word again, disorderly. They're lazy, working not at all, and what does somebody typically do who does not work but are? They're busybodies. Wow, can't wait until we get to that. Facebook. Wow, we could really get distracted now, couldn't we? Look at verse 12, now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. With quietness they work and eat whose bread? Their own. Isn't the Bible practical? Isn't this really practical? Now, notice what Paul says, I'm still in 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 12, the last part of verse 12 says that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. Now, with that in mind, keep that in mind, now go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and look at verse 11 and Paul says them that ye study to be what? Quiet. That's the same thing he was saying in 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 12. You study, you have the honor of being quiet. Again, that ye study, is philatemi, the love of honor. But folks, due to the potential abuse of brotherly love, you know, I see that you're in need and I, man, let me give you some, let me help you with this, let me do this for you. Pretty soon you go, hey, man, if I, I can just, this is pretty nice, I don't have to do anything. Because, you know, they keep giving. I can just sit back and do nothing. You see how it's abused? You mean Christians do that? Yeah, Christians do that. That's why Paul has to say what he's saying here. And so he says, the study to or the honor of three things is what they've been commanded. Here it is, that you study or you have the honor of being quiet, number one, that you have the honor of doing your own business, number two, and that you have the honor of working with your own hands, number three, as we commanded you. This is honorable. But I'm going to give you three T's that have to do with what follows and that you study. Number one, to be quiet. That's the honor of your own tranquility. The honor of your own tranquility. being quiet. It's the opposite of causing a disturbance. It is the opposite of disorderliness. It is orderliness. It is the opposite of a busybody as we saw in 2 Thessalonians 3.11. Such people who don't study to be quiet, who are not, who don't have the honor of tranquility become busybodies and busybodies are lazy people. How do I know? Because Paul says that to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 13. Please go with me, because I want you to see this. Don't be lazy and not turn there. How's that? 1 Timothy 5, 13, And withal they learned to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but taddlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. That's one of the characteristics. of a busy body. They're lazy. They're unemployed. And the interesting thing is they don't care that they're unemployed. They're not even looking for a job. So there's the honor of your own tranquility. Number two, to do or to study to do your own business. To study to do your own business, this is the honor of your own task. It helps explain the word tranquility. You see, somebody who is a busybody is somebody who causes a disturbance, may exhibit on the outside concern for somebody else, not because he wants to minister God's grace to that person, it's because it's a way to spend his free time. You're looking at me confused. Let me explain. Sometimes the ones who get most involved in being a busybody are those who are unemployed. They have nothing else to do. Housewives, this can be a temptation for you. You who are retired with nothing to do, this is a temptation. So Paul says, do your own business. Some people who are unemployed, some who are retired, don't mind robbing other people of their time. You ever talk to somebody who you're trying to get away from but you can't because they keep talking to you and you're trying to walk away? And they're talking after you? I've got to go somewhere. Please let me go. They're robbing your time. Ever met somebody who takes five minutes to say what you could say in five seconds? They rob your time. To do your own business. Here's what's interesting about that phrase. It literally says this, do the things peculiar to yourself. Do the things peculiar to yourself. Here's the idea. And the King James almost translates it this way, and I love it. Are you ready? Mind your own... Mind your own business. And that's where, I believe, our expression came from. In fact, I looked it up, and some say this is where that expression comes from. Mind your own business. There's two applications to this that I'm going to close with this morning. Here's the first one. You ready? Boy, this is going to be so confrontational. My business is none of your business. My business is none of your business. Now, you're going to take that and you're going to go to the extreme. Well, then how do we find out if somebody's in need? That's not what Paul's talking about. And the application is mostly made here that my business is none of your business so don't poke your nose into my business. It's when somebody interrupts you, when somebody meddles in your affairs, when somebody butts in. I have had conversations and I have watched people creep up to me as I'm having a private conversation with somebody and they butt in. You know what I want to say? Well, butt out, yeah. No. Mind your own business. This has nothing to do with you. Have you ever gotten up close to somebody and found out, ooh, talking about something, I need to go? There are some people, they don't go. They go, ooh, this is juicy. And they get, mind your own business. This has nothing to do with you. And you know what that causes? That causes a disturbance when somebody does that. Come on, do the things peculiar to yourself. This is peculiar to me and the person I'm talking to. Mind your own business. Don't neglect your own personal responsibilities by sticking your nose into my responsibilities. That's really what this is talking about. You have responsibilities. You maintain your own responsibilities. You can't minister to the needs of the brethren if you neglect your own responsibilities or if you are always needing help. One of the commentators by the name of Lionberry said this, it is amazing how much wisdom people have about other people's affairs and so little interest in their own. It's amazing how somebody can solve my financial problems who's having all kinds of financial problems themselves. That's where Jesus' saying comes in to play in Matthew 7, verses 1 through 5. Judge not that you be not judged. He's not saying don't judge. I need to be judged. But he's saying, first, before you judge me, for the little speck that's in my eye, would you please take that big beam that's protruding out of your eye and knocking people down as you look around? You take care of yourself first. Mind your own business. Now, when your business has been minded, then you can help me. But mind your own business. Now, that's the application that we typically think of. But there's a second application that we often neglect here. It's this. Your business is none of my business. I'm not talking about... I illustrated the previous one with, okay, I'm talking to somebody, somebody butts in. That's just an illustration. Paul's talking about working here. He's talking about manual labor. How do we know that? Because the next thing he says is what? Work with your own hands. And the whole concept of what he's talking about here has to do with work. Work with your own hands. So mind your own business. You know what? Do your job. But secondly, your business is none of my business. You don't expect me to poke my nose into your business? Then don't expect me to poke my nose into your business. You know what I'm talking about here? It's people who always are trying to get you to help them. You can't walk by them where they take your time and they grab you and say, I need you to help me with something. You know, I am okay with helping somebody if they ask me, do you have a minute to help me? But it's very offensive when I'm in a hurry and when I've got something to do when somebody says, I need you to help me. They don't ask. I feel like saying, you know what, mind your own business. You've got your job to do. Do your job. Just because I happen to walk by and you want to rob me of my time, don't do that. Mind your own business. You started the task, you do it. You're having trouble, you solve it. Boy, doesn't this sound really offensive? And Paul's talking about brotherly love here. In other words, your task should occupy your time, not mine. Do the work peculiar to you. Do you avoid some people because that's what they do to you? You know that if you see them, they're gonna drag you into what they're doing right then because that's the only thing that's important is what they're doing. What you're doing, they don't mind robbing you time of that. Take care of your own business without expecting people to help you. You do your job, don't expect people to pick up after you. Let me illustrate it this way. It's your week to clean the church. Then you do it. Don't leave things lying out. I say this because I find things all the time. I come in here, oh, somebody left this out. Almost every week. Lights are left on. That's peculiar to you. You're the one who's supposed to be doing it this week. But sometimes we get careless, and here's the thing, somebody else will get to it. That is not a demonstration of brotherly love. That is a violation of it. Your business is none of my business, so you do it. You don't want me to get involved in your business. Now, all of a sudden, you want me to get involved in your business? No. You do your own work. Your financial responsibilities are peculiar to you, due to your own stupidity or due to your wisdom. If you need help, Ask. But mind your own business. Folks, how do you exhibit? How do you expect to exhibit love to your brothers and sisters in Christ? When you're not even here, when and where they gather? If you're not even here, you can't make progress in loving your brothers and sisters. And make sure that you live a life of tranquility. You are fulfilling your responsibilities. It's not this big thing you have to announce to everybody else to come help you. You fulfill your responsibilities. And then you mind your own business. My business is not yours and yours is not mine. Now there may be times when I drive by and I see this guy needs help and I stop by and help him. That's exhibiting brotherly love but demanding it from others. That's what's being addressed here. I hope you come back tonight because the next one is the honor of your own toil. Work with your own hands and then we're going to get into letter B there not only regarding your work but regarding your walk. But this morning I want you to ask yourself, am I making progress in loving my Christian brothers and sisters? Am I making progress? Listen, if you are not making progress, if you are not growing in this area, it is a violation of what Paul says in the last part, verse 11, as we commanded you.