======================================================================== ENDEAVORING TO KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT by Alan Martin ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of being rooted and established in love, allowing the love of Christ to fortify and empower individuals to preserve unity, bear one another's burdens, and overcome natural conflicts through the Spirit. It highlights the need to know each other in the Spirit, pray for one another, and rejoice in tribulations that refine character and produce hope, leading to a Christ-like love that covers all shortcomings. Duration: 45:15 Topics: "Rooted in Love", "Unity in the Spirit" Scripture References: Ephesians 3:16, Romans 5:3, 1 John 5:14, Galatians 6:1, Ephesians 4:2, Romans 15:7, 1 Corinthians 13:4, Matthew 5:44, Galatians 5:22 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of being rooted and established in love, allowing the love of Christ to fortify and empower individuals to preserve unity, bear one another's burdens, and overcome natural conflicts through the Spirit. It highlights the need to know each other in the Spirit, pray for one another, and rejoice in tribulations that refine character and produce hope, leading to a Christ-like love that covers all shortcomings. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The scripture says that God is a God of all comfort. The word there can also be exhortation, perikaleo, so that we can comfort others or exhort others with the same kind of exhortation that we've received. And I hope to be able to either exhort you or comfort you in a way that is pretty critical for where I'm at. And I think it's something it'll be a blessing to you as both a goal for your fellowship and something to preserve. And where Paul says to the Ephesians, he tells them to endeavor, to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And perhaps the unity that I've seen here has been so special each time I've been here. So it's something to both aspire to even more and to guard, to keep, because the word preserve there, it means to guard it, because the enemy's after it. Satan looks for ways to disrupt the unity of a fellowship in the slightest ways. He's not gonna appear suddenly in some kind of demonic form. He's going to plant little seeds of attitudes, little, I don't like this, I don't care for that, this person to this. These common, natural, earthly observances that we all have that we don't even recognize are non-spiritual. They're earthly, they're natural. A reporter can do it. I can watch you and pick up certain things. I can remember them and I can actually develop a, like a displeasure about them. Well, there's Greg, I mean, there's Greg, I know Greg. Tim is, they're natural. If you're not careful, because they are natural and they're soulish, you don't realize that they leave room for them to become demonic. Used by Satan to create little leavens, just leaven the lump a little to hinder the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And so it's called a unity of spirit because wisdom from above is not just natural and earthly. Wisdom from above is pure, it's peaceable. It's full of mercy and good fruit. And that wisdom comes to those being filled with the Holy Spirit. That's why it's a unity of spirit. It's not a unity of natural. I guess you probably would agree as much as you like each other, you're quite different. And there's a lot of differences about you that you kind of have to learn to see how do those mesh? How do those come together? How do we fully receive and respect and honor and esteem one another? Because another word that for this perfection, for this unity that the scripture talks about is love is the bond of this kind of perfection. This kind of unity, this fullness of receiving one another is spiritual and it's love. And now I wanna hopefully, just from what the Lord has helped show me, help us understand how these two work together. How knowing one another in the spirit preserves the unity through the spirit because through the spirit, the bond of love perfects the unity that we're seeking. Just in it, so if you wanna follow me, I'm gonna start in 2 Corinthians chapter five. Let's start in about verse 14, 2 Corinthians 5, 14, where Paul says, for the love of Christ constrains me. Some of our versions say compel, but the Greek word is suneko. It means hold me in. The love of Christ holds me in. I had to ponder that. What does he mean, Paul? The love of Christ holds me in. Well, I'm just gonna be honest about me. I love my wife, but certain things kinda wanna draw out certain reactions from me. And sometimes I meet different ones that are new to me and because of where they're at or because of where I'm at, something in me, something natural or something weak wants to react. And I need the love of Christ to hold that in. I don't wanna react in my natural weakness, in that which my natural preference or my natural attitude, I don't want those because those do not lead to the unity of the spirit. Those are natural. And I know that spirits can take advantage of that which is earthly and natural. Wisdom from above is pure. It's peaceable. It's full of mercy and good fruit. So the love of Christ has to hold me in. Having concluded this, there is a conclusion, a judgment I come to. And here's the conclusion that Paul came to. One died for all. So I look out in this room and I see that Jesus Christ died for every single person here. And that's a conclusion I need to come to. That's what will constrain whatever in me is having difficulty with whatever is in you that may be causing the difficulty or not. I am constrained, held in by the love of Christ, knowing this. One died for all and therefore all died. And it's not just us. It's if one died for all, that means regardless of who that person is or where they're at or what they are currently doing right now that is so repulsive to me, that is so difficult for me, inside that person is someone that Christ saw as redeemable. Someone that God could make a new creation where currently the old things are not passed away, but Christ died so that the old could pass away and all things become new. And will I know them that way through the spirit or will I only know them where they're currently at? See, the love of Christ will constrain my current natural weakness. Faith, working through love, seeing that Christ died for them. I am to know the person that Christ came to redeem and I'm to bear with them until that person emerges from the old that they currently are into the beginning of the new creation that he died to bring them about. One died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live would no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again. And then he says, therefore, based on the conclusion that one died for all and therefore all died, now I no longer know anyone according to the flesh. I'm not gonna just know you by who you are naturally. I'm not gonna know you by my own natural preferences or my own natural inclinations because those might rub with yours and yours might rub with mine. I'm not gonna know you that way. I don't wanna know my wife naturally that way anymore because it breeds, differences cause friction and friction causes conflict and conflict produces heat and anger and man's anger never brings about the righteousness that God desires. So I must learn to walk in the spirit, knowing, remembering by faith one died for all, therefore all died and therefore what I conclude for that, I am not to know you by what I see naturally. I'm to know you by the spirit, what the spirit desires, what the heart of God desires, what his will is. Because there is a tendency with our own natural ability and it's interesting we sang it this morning. He must hold us fast because we know that in this world, the line with our love often grows cold. Here's an example of what I'd like us to learn this morning. Do we grow impatient or do we struggle with impatience? We can ask the Lord, give us more patience, teach me patience. But you know something, the Lord has kind of helped me see in that. You know what's happening really when I'm lacking patience? I'm lacking love. Love is patient. So if I'm become impatient with someone, where is the real weakness? I'm not being filled with the love of Christ. The love of God that he sheds abroad into our hearts by the Holy Spirit is not happening. God is love, God is spirit and when I am walking in his spirit, being led of his spirit, being filled with his spirit, I'm knowing everyone in his spirit. I'm walking in love and I'm being empowered by his ability, his divine nature in me, enabling me to respond to others in a way that naturally I have an aversion to. And listen, this is not something I've known a long time. This is something that I've had to go through struggles to see what was it? Why did I fail in that area? Where did the impatience come from? Where was the sharpness? Where was the irritation? How come I caved in when the scripture says love bears all things? It believes all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Love never fails. So if I failed in some way to be kind and merciful and long-suffering, I was lacking love. The love of God was not filling me in in that moment. I'm not saying that I'm not loved or God doesn't love me or God doesn't love you. What I'm saying is I wasn't abiding in love because it says what the scripture says that if you have ought towards a brother or if you think less of a brother because the word hate really in the Greek meseo just means to think less of. If you think less of someone, the scripture says you're not living in love. He who lives in love lives in God and God in him for God is love and love is the perfect bond of unity. So if I'm not perfectly one with you, if I'm not knowing you in the spirit, if I'm not hoping all things for you, if I'm not bearing all things, now why would we even have to bear? You would think because we are people, we're humans and I might have attitudes or thoughts in me you still have to bear with but love is able to do that. Love in a marriage, a couple is able to bear with things in each other and the word bear really means it's like a roof, it sheds. Water doesn't enter the house, it runs off the roof and you stay in the dry. Love bears all things, love believes all things. You see faith working through love. Okay, where you are today is obvious to my natural man and to my soul, to my natural man, it's also obvious that if I respond to where you are right now, especially if you're struggling or you're not doing well, in my natural self, I'm not believing but faith fixes its eyes on things not seen. And what must I not see? I must not see where you are today, I must remember by faith one died for all and therefore all died and my Lord died so that you could be redeemed, saved and cleansed and healed from whatever it is that I might be seeing and observing and might be difficult right now. Living in this way keeps us from doing something that the scripture often warns against and it warns against growing weary and well-doing. Now, I don't think it's talking about growing weary and going to work. I don't think it's talking about growing weary in eating or the natural things to do. We only tend to grow weary with the things that are not easy, the things that are difficult with each other, whether it's within a marriage or parenting children. Are you ever tempted to grow weary and well-doing? Will you be tempted to grow weary with one another here? Have you ever been? Have you ever left saying, oh that? Have you ever been to one another's houses and things happen and you're not sure you want to do that again? You know, you can leave there, you saw what you saw, they said what they said, they did what they did or they didn't do what they did, it's all natural. And if that's all you leave there with and you're not receiving the love of God being shed or brought in your heart by the Holy Spirit, you'll leave with an attitude, you'll leave with a little leaven that you won't even recognize the enemy is placed right there because it's right. You know what you saw, you know what you heard, it's not inaccurate, it's just not spiritual. It's not wisdom from above, it's just earthly difficulties, it's just natural difficulties and you don't even recognize spirits take advantage, it becomes demonic. And the only salvation from this for any of us is being empowered by the Holy Spirit through the love of God being shed or brought into our hearts. Let's look at a couple other places in Galatians. Okay, Galatians chapter 6. Such good advice from the apostle Paul who's concerned about the churches he planted. Chapter 6, the very first part of the chapter, Brethren, if any one of you is caught in a or falls into a transgression, you who are spiritual, better send someone who's spiritual because usually if they're caught in a trespass, they're doing something that is not good for them and it's going to cause difficulty for others and if you don't enter there in the spirit with the love of God, being guided by knowing Christ died for them and you're coming to redeem and you're coming to heal and you're coming to restore, what's going to happen is you yourself are going to get caught up in it. There's going to be a battle, there's going to be an argument and it's not going to go well. You who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. Isn't that what Jesus said? Learn of me. What is Jesus? What are we to learn? I am meek and the idea of meekness is restraint. Restraint. I wish I could go back years and years and years and say some of the same truths that I've spoken but say them with the proper restraint. I have done more damage saying the right things in the wrong tone than I can ever undo. I have nothing to stand here upon except God's mercy. But it's made me so conscious how quickly you can undo years of kindness with a moment of irritation, with a moment of you're not restrained and out of your mouth comes, the tongue becomes a sword and there's a speaking, it's like a thrusting of a sword and it can undo so quickly what you sought to do for so long. We need the meekness. In meekness, the Lord told Paul telling Timothy how difficult it was going to be for him in the last days. Here's what he said to him. The Lord's servant must not strive. And the word is their battle, the word for battle. And you know how we battle? We battle with words. We are word warriors. Our tones are our weapons and it's a world of evil among the parts of the body. It's full of deadly poison. Itself sets the whole course of nature on fire and itself is set on fire by hell. And if we don't have a restraint upon our tongue, our religion is worthless. If any man considers himself religious and does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. But what keeps a tight rein? What constrains us? Only the love of Christ being shed abroad in our hearts, seeing one another by the spirit can constrain the natural impulses of our tongue. Restraint. Paul tells Timothy, the Lord's servant must not strain. Instead, he must be kind. If they difficult, you're going to different translations are going to have different words for that word. But if they weren't about speaking, and here's basically what it means. The Lord's servant must not strive. Instead, he must speak as a friend. I can tell you in my life. Every time I did not speak as a friend. What I had to say did not go the way I hoped it would have. You can speak the truth in love. You can speak the truth as a friend. Never speaking as an enemy. Because that's as here we're family. There's one Lord, one faith, one God, one spirit, one baptism. And we are called to live in a oneness that demonstrates to the world that we are the Christ disciples. Never warring with each other. Never warring with men. Instead, in meekness, with restraint, instructing in hopes that God grant others repentance. Leading them to a knowledge of the truth. And they'll escape from the trap of the devil who's taking them captive to do his will. But what happens here back to Galatians, to me, where I'm following my rabbit trails. If someone falls into a sin, we're to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, watching ourselves lest we too are tempted. And then it says to bear one another's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ. Now, when does something become a burden to someone? When does something become a burden? Because if I've got plenty of strength and I'm carrying something, it's not a burden to me. What's a burden to someone? A burden is someone to someone who's lacking strength to carry it. So they're probably not doing well. Well, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. It's great to be together if we never even challenge one another, if we were never difficult to be with. But what about that brother or sister or that child? It's difficult. It causes you a sigh. Oh, who's bearing that? And what does it mean to bear? He himself bore what? Our iniquities. Bear ye one another's burdens. It's not just saying if they need help with their children or if they need help financially. How about this? Can we bear with the brother or sister who's pretty difficult to be with at the current moment? Because they're not doing well. Can we know them through the spirit? Can the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts enable us to see them as a person that Christ died for and redeemed? Because it goes on the same passage in Galatians, and let us not grow weary. Actually, I like the translation, let us not lose heart in doing good. How many of us have ever felt? Maybe I shouldn't ask. I think I can assume that we may have felt this. How many of us have thinking about another person kind of has said in our heart, I'm tired? I'm kind of tired of that. And we want to just grow. The word, you know what the word here is? It's to lose heart, meaning you give into evil, to give in. That's it. Ek and kako, to give in to evil. And this is what happens. How Satan brings division within a body of Christ is when someone not walking in the Holy Spirit, not having the love of God, which is empowering to respond in spirit and to know them in spirit, just allows the natural and soulish differences to wear them out, to give in to the difficulty. And Jesus, when Jesus taught his disciples there in Luke chapter 18 about, we know it as the persistent widow, the prayer of the persistent widow. And the judge, it says, and he taught them a parable that they should always pray and not lose heart, not give in to the evil, because that's what happens. That's where Satan is given a place. You know how we give Satan place? When in our hearts we say, well, that's just brother so-and-so. That's just who he is. Or that's just sister so-and-so. I'm not surprised at all. And then we just, we surrender them to their are, and we are not hoping all things. We're not believing all things. We're not enduring all things. We are knowing them in the natural, in the earthly, not empowered. And in our hearts, we are actually giving in to the evil that's there. And that's what allows the enemy to come in and work and cause division. And growing weary in this way is a tendency. But how this is overcome is by the spirit of God being poured into our hearts. Because love bears all things. Love believes all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Love never fails. So we won't give in to evil if we're being filled with the love of God as the Holy Spirit is shedding abroad the love in our hearts. There's some places that you can see. So how do you deal with the difficulty if you're feeling weary? Because we're going to feel it. You're going to be tempted. The beautiful thing is, is that Jesus says, my grace is sufficient, right? My power is made perfect in weakness. So that there is access to us by the very nature of the Lord Jesus Christ that his power can actually be perfected in our weakness so that we actually relate to one another the same way he does. We literally love each other as he loves us. And by doing that, what? That is the markation that we are genuinely the disciples of Christ. Because we don't just know each other naturally. It's not just natural affections. We can be as different as night and day, but one in spirit, one in purpose, one in unity. It can happen. And it can happen. There's a, you know how the Lord is kind enough to bring certain verses together? I'm going to share with you some, these three verses from 1 John 5. As I'm seeking to understand this, I'm in a situation where we are seeing people who have never been in church come to our midst. Responding to general kindness. They don't really know the gospel. They don't know Jesus Christ. They come in just crude and untaught and socially, not even having been raised in stable homes. People who don't even know where the father is. People that have just come from being high all week. I mean, they're there. And it's how do you, how do you preserve a sense of unity? How do you, how do you hold together things and not let the natural differences produce the friction that causes division and grieves the Holy Spirit? How do you do that? And just seeking, understanding how to do that. Especially if I see people that have, were originally part of the fellowship that I'm a part of, struggling with the difficulties and dealing with all these new people that are coming in. How do you deal with that? These, these, this is, I was, the Lord guided me to 1 John chapter 5 and showed me how these things come together. You're familiar with this part probably where it says this is the confidence we have in approaching God. We know that if we ask anything according to His will, we know that He hears us, right? And we know that if He hears us, we know that we have received from Him whatsoever thing we ask because we, we do His will, we do what's pleasing in His sight. Does anybody know what verse follows? What's the next verse? Because that's what I never, I never made the connection. I knew that part, but I didn't see how it was leading to the very next thought. This is the confidence we have before God, that if we ask anything according to His will, we know He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, we know we've received from Him the things He asked. And the very next thought is, if you see your brother sin, not unto death, pray, and God will give him life. So what am I to do when I see someone missing the mark? You're not having a very good day. A couple walks in the door, and you can tell they have not been at peace. Or, you know, some parents walk in the door, and they've just been greatly tried because the hormones or whatever else, the sugar, whatever it is causing the disruption brings a difficulty, and there's natural difficulty. What am I to do if I see someone speaking unkindly? Or if I see something done that's not proper, what am I to do? They've missed the mark. I'm to pray, because God wants to give life. It's His will. He wills to give life. And that's the confidence I have before God, that I can go before God, and I can lift this person up in prayer, that God will give them life, that God will bring light to them. And here's what I've learned. I may be slower than some of you. I hope you learn it faster than I did. But I have learned the difference in the way we want light to come and the way God brings light. I mean, we don't have very many conflicts anymore, which I'm grateful. But my wife and I did struggle some with differences and arguing in the past. And, you know, we think differently, and we want to communicate about it. And during a conversation, when I'm trying to convince her to see my point, I want the light, the dawn. But it's like us. We can turn on a switch, right? We could take a dark room, and it just, there's light. And that was my heart. I wanted her to see it now. Come on, now. Get my point so I can have my instant relief, right? I get my relief. And if we're not even careful, we've had our Perry Mason conversations internally. We've had our internal arguments, the thing we were going to say. And we said it, and it didn't go exactly as we thought, you know. And then it just, it produces friction. And here's what, here's where I saw is missing it. Is that's not the way God gives light. How gradual does light dawn? It's just, it's just the faintest hint, isn't there? It's like it's almost imperceptible. It just, you can't even necessarily tell how it grows brighter. And why don't we, why aren't we this way with one another? Why don't we have confidence that God will give light? And let him bring light in his gentle, wonderful way. Instead, I think it's because what causes quarrels, what causes battles among us, do not they come from your desires that battle within you? And what do I want in that moment when I want a concession now? I want you to get it now. I want you to see it now. I'm wanting relief. I'm not acting in love. I'm not being led by the spirit. I'm being, my own desire is what's producing this conflict. I'm not knowing the person in spirit in that moment. I have forgotten Christ died for redemption like this, for healing and restoration like this. And I just feel like when I had the opportunity to share today, I want some of my ashes to be turned to beauty because I'll tell you this, there's a godly sorrow that grips me. Because the one thing I have opportunity to do in this life is to properly represent God's kindness and goodness to men. And that's where I feel I have yet, have yet to fully manifest that in a way that's not been tainted by me. And it's produced in me a longing to be so full of grace that every encounter anyone ever encounters with me is grace. The grace of God in me, the grace of Christ in me, genuine Holy Spirit life and power. Jesus in me doing what Jesus does. Because isn't that what the scripture says? He is able to make every grace abound to you so that in everything at every time you may do all things. Wow, what a goal. And so here I'm 63. And I can really say not that I've obtained this or have already been made perfect. But it has produced in me a longing to leave the things that are behind and strive for this one thing. That I would become so full of grace that I can just get three or four or five good years where the only thing people encounter is Jesus Christ in me. Every day, 365 days a year, that my wife only has to deal with Jesus in me and not me. And the brothers and sisters I live with and work with and minister with only have to deal with Jesus Christ in me. And to show how I believe that this is possible, because here we've talked about love is a bond of perfection and it's the unity of the spirit that produces this beautiful oneness and faith working through love. How does this all come together? Turn with me, if you will, to Ephesians chapter three, something you're very familiar with already, I'm sure. I'm not telling you anything necessarily new. Ephesians chapter three. Here's the heart of Paul. Paul so understood the importance of this that it wasn't something he just taught. It's something he continually prayed for, for those that he cared about. And that's in Ephesians chapter three, verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven on earth is named, that he would grant you to be strengthened with power according to his riches through his spirit and his inner man. I like to translate it this, that he would fortify you with ability, because that's the Greek. I read the scriptures from the Greek. Knowing that we do not have this within ourselves, he must hold us fast, hold us. The love of Christ must constrain us. Then I need an internal fortification because there's going to be pressures from my wife or from my husband or from my children or from my job or from traffic or whatever it is. There is going to be pressure. I need fortification and a fortification that produces an ability that I do not have in myself, that you be fortified with ability through his spirit in your inner man so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith. And with Christ dwelling in my heart through faith, his sufficient grace perfects all of my natural weaknesses. And what happens? Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith, what does it lead to? You become rooted and established in what? In love. Rooted and established. Not like the one who believes for a while, but there is no root. And when difficulty comes, what happens? It just withers away. Some of our love is like that. If we're honest, why does it just wither away? Why does the patience wither away? Where's the irritation so quickly come up? Why did you just give in to quarreling and arguing? It's because you're not rooted and established in love because you need fortification by the spirit, God giving you an ability, Christ dwelling in us. I like to remind us of this, and this is something I have to bring to the people that I'm with here in San Antonio often. Each of us has the law of sin and death in our members. Each of us has that. And it's that the law of sin and death is like the law of gravity. It will constantly pull you down. But you know, gravity is overcome every single day. There's a lot of hills up here. We can park, we can put our cars in park or we can start it and go. And as long as there's a greater power than gravity, gravity is overcome. Planes fly all over the world all the time. Gravity is overcome as long as there's power. But without power, gravity takes over. And without the law of the spirit of the life of Christ, shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts, filling our hearts with the very nature and ability of God. The law of sin in our members will take over and the law of sin produces all kinds of selfish desires. The law is weak because of sin in the flesh. We can't do what we... Sin in the flesh is not overcome by Christ in us. The law of the spirit of life in Christ, we're pulled down. But if we become rooted and established in love, here's what happens. They're in Ephesians. We become able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ. This is still fairly fresh in me because most of us have heard that expression to know the height and length and breadth and depth of the love of Christ. But you know how I had heard it so long? For me, what is the height and length and breadth and love of Christ for me? It was a revelation moment when I realized Christ wants to dwell in me and strengthen me, fortify me so that I can become rooted and established in love, so that I can comprehend with all the saints how great is and high and long and deep is the love of Christ for others. That you might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. You know what the fullness of God is? God is kind to the wicked and the ungrateful. He sends his son upon the righteous and the unrighteous. And being filled to the fullness of God is very similar to what Jesus said, know you, if you love just those who love you, what do you more than the tax collectors? Sinners love sinners. They greet one another. You be perfect as your father is perfect. He is kind to the ungrateful. The Holy Spirit shedding abroad the love of Christ in our hearts empowers us to be actually become Christ-like. I'll close with that passage in Romans. You probably know it from Romans chapter 5. You know, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. But not only this, we rejoice in our tribulations. Where do you think those tribulations come from? How about one another? Do you, can we rejoice in the tribulations that come from each other? Knowing this, what is tribulation work? Endurance. And what is endurance work? Proven character, the refining term. Endurance allows the dross, the things that are not Christ, that are not His love, that are not His grace, that is not wisdom from above, it allows those things to be separated, to surface. So that the quality of our life in Christ, the quality of grace, the quality of His presence, the fullness of grace in us, Christ fully formed in us. Tribulation works endurance. Endurance, this refining of character. And what is the refining of character work? Hope. So that I can actually, every single one of you, my relationship with you is based upon the hope of what God is at work to do in you. I hope all things. I see where you're at. His grace is sufficient. He died to redeem us from all lawlessness, to purify to Himself a people cleansed from all lawlessness. When I walk in this way, and I believe that the Lord has called us to walk in this way, you know what I become? Harmless as a dove. I'm not gonna hurt anybody anymore. I'm not gonna speak as an enemy. I'm not gonna argue. I'm not gonna use my tongue to be critical or hurt. I'm not gonna allow the enemy to call some natural or earthly observation to produce in me an attitude that is not Christ's love for you as a brother or sister. And I'm literally gonna live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit because the heart of the Spirit is pure. And the heart of the Spirit is gonna take the love that Jesus is. And He's gonna make that known to me so that in this life, I can be as He is in this world. And I can love you. And I can walk with you. And I can bear with you and believe for you and hope for you and endure for you all things. And I can do it joyfully realizing that's why He came. And if I'm tempted, if I'm tempted to grow weary because I'm tempted, I'm natural. If I'm tempted to grow weary, what do I do? I fix my eyes on Him who endured such hostility of sinners so that I do not become weary and give in to evil. Because what was the joy that was set before the Lord Jesus? What was the joy? What enabled Him to endure the cross? Redeeming me from who I am. And if that becomes my joy as a brother in Christ, what a joy to be able to help redeem others from where they're at. But that's knowing each other by the Spirit. And that's based upon knowing one died for all, all died. So that and He died to take us from where we are and bring us to that oneness with the Father. And that's something may the Lord preserve in your midst. I've already seen a wonderful expression of it. But the more you grow and the more you interact, you'll understand this is something to guard, to preserve, to be careful with and to pursue. And may the Lord raise up examples, be examples of this may He raise up among you examples of long suffering and gentleness and meekness and kindness and forbearance. Because love, you know what love does? When you're walking in that way, what does it do? Come on, we know what it does. What does it do? It covers a multitude. You guys are kind of a multitude. It'll cover it all. The love of Christ will cover it all. Anyway, thank you for the privilege of sharing with you. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/h8-py_FxjAY.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/alan-martin/endeavoring-to-keep-the-unity-of-the-spirit/ ========================================================================