In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of love in the life of a Christian. He highlights that God is love and that to be like Christ, we need to have the spirit of Christ dwelling in us, enabling us to love others, including our enemies. The preacher also discusses the concept of non-resistance, referring to the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5:38-39. He emphasizes that non-resistance should be a reality in our daily lives, showing the spirit of Christ in our interactions with others. The sermon concludes with a call to live out this doctrine of suffering love and non-resistance in our marriages and families.

Good morning. It's good to be together to give honor and praise and glory unto the Lamb, unto the King of kings and Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus. Open your Bible to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 38 and 39. Ye have heard that it has been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Drop down to verse 43. Ye have heard that it has been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, for he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Now turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. We'll begin in verse 17. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 17. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently? But if when ye do well and suffer for it and ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. Let's kneel together for prayer, those that can. Our Father in heaven, we kneel before you as a posture that shows that we reverence you. We honor you. You are the king. We are your servants. We bow down and give you reverence and praise and glory and honor. You are worthy of all our love and all of our life. Father, this morning we ask in the name of Jesus that you would reveal yourself in the beauty of your holiness and your majesty and splendor. Father, I ask in Jesus' name that you would grant grace. Father, you would grant revelation of Jesus Christ. And Father, you would grant grace to your servants to proclaim your word in truth and in humility and anointing of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God. Father, I pray that there would be no condemnation, but that your spirit would have free course. We ask it for Jesus' sake and in his name, amen. How many of you got a hotline last night saying that we want to talk about suffering love and non-resistance in our everyday life, in practical Christian living and that we are welcoming your input? Did you get that? Yes? Praise God. I'm looking forward to sharing together here this morning suffering love, non-resistance. Last Sunday we talked about the application to these scriptures to conscientious objection to war, to not take up arms, to not become politically involved, but rather to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who by his own example loved his enemies and laid down his life. Today we want to look at the matter of suffering love and non-resistance in our lives as we are living here today and have for these past number of decades where there hasn't been a draft to the armed services, there hasn't been a mandatory draft, but rather we have lived in a rather state of peace in the United States here. There has been war, but there has not been a draft. And you know sometimes when we look at this doctrine, if we look at just the doctrine of conscientious objection to war and the doctrine of non-resistance, we can sort of put it there by itself and can sort of remove ourselves from it because we are not experiencing that in our day like my father did during World War II and like my older brother during the Vietnam War and they experienced that in their lives. But you know we can become sort of aloof and sort of set it there and forget that this doctrine applies to you and my life in our everyday living. It must be a reality in our daily lives with the people we rub shoulders with or we are hypocrites to say when it comes to the military draft that I am non-resistant when my daily living doesn't show the Spirit of Christ Jesus of loving and suffering loss for the sake of Jesus Christ. So that's what we want to look at today by God's grace and I invite you to share with us in this message. We talked about it in our Sunday school this morning about the differing gifts in the body and how that they are there for edification, they are there for the building up of the body and you know how that they are given by the measure of grace that God has given. And so I look forward to hearing from you all as we share together in this message. I guess as we look at this message, suffering love and non-resistance and in the hotline last night we shared that we are going to look at it in the area of our marriage, we are going to look at it in the area of our family with our children, we are going to look at it in the area of our church, our church life, how we relate together and we are going to look at it in the area of our community. So that's a lot to look at here this morning. And as we consider this doctrine of Christ Jesus our Lord and His example to us, the one word that it is grounded in is love. Love your enemies. God is love. At the core of our Heavenly Father He is love. Is that correct? God is love. And to be like Christ Jesus we need to love. We need to have that Spirit of Christ Jesus indwelling in our hearts that compels us and enables us to love. To love the brotherhood. To love one another. And yea, to even love our enemies. Where do we most easily fail in this? Where do we most easily fail? Turn to James chapter 3 for a scripture. I would say for myself, I find this to be the place where I most easily fail. James chapter 3 and we read from verse 1, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. Now listen to these words. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. This is quite a statement. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Maybe I am different or would you agree with me that the area we tend to fail is this tongue. This little member, the tongue. Is that right? Is that sort of where it tends to show up in everyday life and living? Proverbs 18, 21, Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 26, 22, The words of the tail bearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost part of the belly, suffering love and non-resistance. Of course, the tongue only speaks that which is in the heart, right? Out of the heart and then the mouth speaketh. So really we are looking at a heart issue, aren't we? The issue of the heart is the heart, right? It's the whole matter. Suffering love and non-resistance in our daily life. Marriage. Who knows me better than my wife? Who is at the outflow of my spirit and my heart attitude in this matter of suffering love and laying down my life? Who but my spouse? We're going to look at wives first and then the husbands in the matter of marriage. We're going to start in Titus 2. Titus 2. Titus 2. Verse 1. Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given too much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. In marriage, the attitude of the heart. Love. Love. And we could go to 1 Corinthians 13. We could look at many Scriptures of the definition, the defining of love. The Word of God teaches us that the older women are to teach the younger women to love their husbands. Marriage. Marriage is a wonderful, beautiful ordinance of God, sanctified and holy, where a male and a female are united in God, becoming one. No more twain, but one. Joined together by God. Janice and I are going on 43 years of marriage. 42? Yeah. Wow. 1978 to 2020. This month, March 18, be our anniversary. And marriage is a wonderful, beautiful ordinance of God for the preservation of the family and of a godly seed and of a family unit, of a home. And you wives play a tremendously important role given by God. And when you as a wife love your husband, you're loving God. You're pleasing the Lord when you love your husband. When you're devoted to Him. When you're His cheerleader. When your heart is free from any bitterness, resentment or criticism. When your heart is free from those devilish things that Satan wants to use to destroy. When your heart is free and you truly love your husband, that is a great blessing to your heavenly Father and to your husband. Titus also says, being obedient to their husbands. You cause your husband great delight when you come behind him in support of his visionary leadership that God has put in his heart. And God has placed him there to be the leader in the home, to be the head of the home. Oh, you bless your husband immensely when you come behind him with an obedient attitude and heart. Well, I said I want to hear from you. Suffering love, non-resistance. Do the ushers have the microphones ready? Okay, they do. If someone has a word of testimony or a thought to add or bring to the message here at this time concerning marriage and the wife's role in that marriage relationship. Raise your hand. The ushers will get a mic to you. I asked my wife, if you were sharing this message, what would you say to the sisters? So we open it up here. Sisters, you may prophesy. Why? You may say something. Is there anyone who has something to share that we can be edified together? Maybe a word of testimony that would encourage us. It would be an encouragement, an exhortation. Is there someone? Yes? I would like to say that many times my mouth, my tongue has got me in problems and many times I regret it. Regret it. Because what comes out is very hard to heal. Very difficult. Thank you, Robert. God bless you. Yes. That's an honest heart making honest confession. God bless you, Robert. All right. We won't tarry right now. Maybe something will come to you. Let's go to Ephesians 5 and let's consider this matter a bit more. Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. We'll start in verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Here we read about the matter of being in submission and in subjection to your husband. And as I shared earlier, you know my wife, she knows me well. She knows me better than anyone else. And husbands, we know our wives better than anyone else. And I just want to encourage you wives here today, when you submit yourself to your husband as unto the Lord, it takes on a whole new significance. You know, I as a husband sometimes maybe I'm not quite all I ought to be. Maybe. Not maybe. I often am not. But if my wife can truly see that God has given her Aaron as her husband with all his faults and failures, and when she submits unto her husband, seeing past her husband to the Lord Jesus Christ, and she can submit herself to her husband as unto the Lord, oh, great grace is there, isn't it? Yes, then grace can come. Grace. The power to do God's will can flow into your heart. I just want to encourage you sisters here today, wives, submit yourself unto your own husband. Submit yourself unto your husband. Your own husband. Don't compare him with another husband. Well, if you would be like him, then I could submit. No, submit yourself to your own husband as unto the Lord. Maybe somebody has a testimony now of how the Lord broke through into your life, and you have found great freedom and victory and blessing in submitting to your husband. Is there someone that would want to give testimony here this morning? Maybe it wasn't always that way, but praise God, I have found a freedom and a blessing in Christ Jesus. Is there someone who wants to testify to edify the body together? Alright. You're pretty quiet this morning. Okay, amen. Praise God. Yes? I would just like to share that when we first got married, Adam was fine for a few months, and then he got really sick and was not able to work. And so my role kind of changed as a wife. I had to go out and get a job. And so submitting to your husband doesn't always look like the classic family that you would imagine. Sometimes circumstances arise which make it so that you have to do things that you wouldn't normally do. And for me, that meant going out and getting a job and supporting the family. And it felt so wrong because all my life I had been taught that the husband is the breadwinner. And it just felt wrong to me. But in order for me to submit to my husband and for us to survive as a couple, I had to go out and get a job. And even though it felt wrong, that was the right thing for me to do. And that was how I submitted to my husband and my calling as his health meat. Praise God. Amen. Thank you, sister. Amen. Beautiful testimony of putting it into practical everyday living. Verse 24, Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Let the wives be in subjection to their own husbands in everything. And I just ask you a simple question as a wife. Are you in subjection to your husband in everything? It doesn't take a Greek scholar to figure that out, does it? You know, just think about your everyday life and your marriage. Think about when it's time to make a decision on this. When it's time to do that. Are you in subjection to your husband in everything? Or do you find it tough? And it's pretty easy to bring up an objection. It's pretty easy to have a different opinion and fight against it. And I'm not saying there shouldn't be healthy communication. A wife can make an appeal to her husband. I believe that. And I think it's a balance of truth because the husband may need that. And we'll talk about the husband in just a moment. But before you too quickly just push it off, I challenge you today as a wife, are you in subjection, submitted to your husband in everything? Or are you causing chaos in your home and disunity because of your rebellion? This is really serious. Think of how you treat the Lord Jesus. Be in subjection to your husband as unto the Lord Jesus. In everything. But Aaron, what if my husband is unreasonable and would ask me to sin? Alright, we have a balance of Scripture, don't we? Where is it found? Somebody help me quick. Where is it? Where's the balance? Colossians? Colossians 3.18? Is there a balance? There is. Just turn over to Colossians 3.18. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. And here's a balance. Here's a qualifier. Yes, there is a qualifier. As is fit in the Lord. As is fitting. So wife, you do not submit to your husband over the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and Master. And if your husband asks you to sin, your loyalty is first to Jesus Christ. And you must not be disloyal to Jesus. And if you have any question about any of those matters, you know, ask an older woman. My husband is asking me for this. You know, if you have any question, if you feel sort of trapped and you're not sure what to do, your husband is demanding that you do this and submit to him, but your conscience isn't clear, ask an older sister. Pray about it, of course, but maybe ask an older sister who can teach the younger women. So there is balance there. Let us go back to Ephesians 5. And we'll then turn the page to the men, to the husbands. But in Ephesians 5, just one more thing I want to say to you as a wife. It's in verse 33. The wife see that she reverence her husband. Reverence has the meaning of respect and honor. To prefer him, to delight in him, reverence her husband. You will make your husband a real man of God as he seeks the Lord when you reverence your husband. Now, some men are not worthy. Some men are brutish and unchristlike. And that's very sad. That's very tragic if that's the case. But if your husband is seeking after the Lord to walk in righteousness and holiness, let the wife see that she reverences her husband. Make this a priority. You know, life can get so busy and so full with everyday life, and you maybe forget, your husband needs a lover. He needs his wife to be his lover, to love her husband. He needs her to respect him and to honor him. And yes, sometimes it takes laying down our life and suffering love. Any comments, Father, before we go to the husband's role? Is there a hand over there? Yeah? Alright. Brother Aaron, if I may presume to just add a thought. Please do. On the topic of ladies loving their husbands. One of the verses that our brother referred us to there in Titus was talking about older women teaching the younger women to love their husbands. The word that's used there that's translated love is not one we often see translated, which is agapao, which is the verb form of agape, which is that suffering love that we're familiar with. But the word that's used there is phileo, which is that kindly affection that's telling the older women to teach the young women, which means it's something they can learn, to like their husbands. Okay? To like them. Which means you come to appreciate who they are and how they think and how they make decisions in such life. Now why would God give that particular instruction? Because the woman is in the position of needing to submit, to position herself under her husband. And doing that is a whole lot easier when you like who He is. And you can like who He is. You can learn to like who He is. That doesn't mean that you call evil good. That doesn't mean you embrace what is really bad or wrong. But it does mean that you can embrace difference and you can learn to appreciate where He might be different than you, you can learn to like it. And that's the encouragement that the Lord would give you. Thank you, Brother Daniel. That's further illuminating the text with understanding. Thank you, brother. Appreciate that. Alright? Very good. When I was a young wife, my mentor had told me, now don't tell your husband when it's time to leave when you're visiting. He wants to make that decision himself. So I really wanted to do this job right. And we were visiting, the first time we were invited away as company. And we visited and we visited and we visited. And finally, we went home and he said, Honey, why didn't you tell me what time it was? I said, well... And then I told him the story. And he said, Look, this is our marriage. And I want you to get my attention when the time is up. I will never see it. So just gently tap your watch or something like that and let me know. And that is how wives need to do. They need to accommodate their husbands. And that was his choice, so I submitted it to him. And it was different than her husband. That's great. Amen. Thank you. Yes. Good. Some good real testimonies here. Anyone else? This is edifying. This is helpful. Praise God. Okay. Very good. We will look at the men's role. Ephesians 5. And verse 25. And the standard is being raised. Isn't it? I would say the standard is being raised. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. Wow. So, in marriage, suffering love, non-resistance, daily living, husband, love as Christ. Examine the life of Jesus. Immerse yourself in Jesus' path of walking, talking, living, relating. Be followers of Christ, Jesus, husbands. And love as Christ. And what did He do? It tells us that He gave Himself for the church. Wow. Can I truly walk as Jesus walked? Can I truly give myself as Christ? You know, that requires, that requires dying with Jesus so that we may be resurrected with Jesus and that we may have His love flowing through us, His enabling grace in us. Husband, love your wife as Christ loved the church. Love your wife, verse 28, as your own body, as your own self. Verse 29, nourish and cherish your wife. It's wonderful when we have those warm, fuzzy feelings. Then it's easy to love. But you know, sometimes we don't have the warm, fuzzy feelings, do we? And we need to love. Love is a decision. I choose to love. I choose to lay down my life rather than please myself and satisfy myself, my own selfish ways, my own will, my own desires. Lay down my life for my wife. There is a beautiful example of this love typified when Nathan the prophet came to David. I'd like us to look at that. It's very precious. Turn to 2 Samuel, chapter 12. 2 Samuel, chapter 12. And the background context is that David was hiding sin. And in verse 1 of chapter 12, the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him and said unto him, There was two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save this one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished up. And he grew up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter. So there in verse 3 we get a really beautiful picture of the relationship that this man had with this ewe lamb. And we will find the comparison made in just a moment. So he shared this with David of how precious this lamb was to this man, this poor man. And in verse 4, There came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress it for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah, and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Now here's the description, Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight, and hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. And we could read on of the further punishment there, the pronouncement of retribution. What we want to see here is that he says, You took Uriah's wife and slew Uriah with the sword of the children of Ammon. And so Uriah's wife, Uriah had a relationship with his wife as was described in verse 3, where this little ewe lamb, he had just this one, and this was very dear to him. It did eat of his own milk, drank of his own cup, lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And so as we think of nourishing and cherishing, he brought it up and nourished it. And we think of that in our relationship as husbands with our wives. So I ask the question to us husbands, does my wife feel treasured, nourished, and cherished? Does she know that she's the only one? There is no other. There's no other loves. There's no other affections toward any other woman, of course, but also toward my other passions, other loves, my hobbies, my work. Whatever it might be, does my wife know that she is my treasure? She is nourished and cherished. She is precious to me. Marriage, husbands, Colossians 3.19, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Do not allow any bitterness. Do not allow resentment. Do not disdain your wife. Do not belittle her. Don't be harsh. Don't let those words come out of your mouth that cut and go deep down into the belly and cause deep woundings. Maybe a husband has a word of testimony to share. Oh, this is beautiful. The love relationship between a husband and a wife is to be so close, is to be so one, that it depicts our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. Yes. Husbands, how are we doing? If your wife can be truly honest with you, when you ask her this question, do you know that I cherish you and treasure you? Do you feel that from me? You know, this is just 101, right? This is just very simple, but it's so crucial. Anybody have a word to share? Maybe a word from another Scripture or a testimony? Yes. I just want to say I have found it very much like you said there about Christ and the church. When you keep that as your mind, it makes it a lot easier. Christ did not pick the best for the church. Who was going to be the church? He picked the church. We don't go and sort through different people for our wife. When she's our wife, she's our wife. But do we love her like Christ loves the church? Unconditionally. When you have that mindset and the desire to pattern after Christ and to be an example of what Jesus is to the church, to your wife, it makes a lot of difference. Praise God. You're just young married. You're still wet behind the ears, but I appreciate hearing that testimony. Oh, yes. Thank You, Jesus. It's true when you're newly married and it's true when you're middle married and it's true when you're older married. Amen? Yes. Praise God. It's principles apply. Yes? I would like to say that we as men are called to lead out in forgiveness, in reconciliation. We're called to clear the way and to forgive. Yeah, it's just powerful when you seek for ways to give your wife a secure place, to make her feel secure, give her a place where she can prosper. Amen. Thank you, brother. Yes, this is good. Anyone else? Praise God. I see our time is going by very swiftly. Let's just hit a couple practicals in family. Are we teaching our children to suffer wrongfully? Are we doing that? I really want to urge us as parents, when we begin at a very early age to do that kind of teaching in our homes, we are doing our children a great favor and blessing to lead them in the path of Jesus, to be able to give up and surrender, to suffer loss, nonresistance. Can children fight? Can they sometimes take it up to hit? Teach them nonresistance at a young age. I know for a number of different testimonies I heard over the years, it's very crucial that mom and dad have this in place in their own lives. And I've heard testimonies where mom and dad, when they got right with each other, and they became one under Christ Jesus and repented of their own unchristlikeness and their own fighting, guess what happened? A new grace flowed out to the children. It didn't fix everything. The children still need instruction and they still need discipline. You know, but it made such a difference. So I'd like to say to us as fathers and mothers, if we are at odds with our spouse and try to bring our children into correct proper order, we're going to have a very difficult hard fight. I don't know if I would dare say it's impossible. I don't want to go beyond what Scripture teaches, but I want to encourage us today that we need to walk with God because more is caught than is taught. Yeah, more is caught than is taught. So I want to encourage us. Let us teach our children to suffer. And I've seen it beautifully many times where absolutely it was unjust. That beautiful, nice toy that that child was playing with at two years old. They had it first. Aha! Anybody ever hear that? I had it first, you know. And they were playing with that thing and along comes some bigger bully and he takes an eye at that thing and boom, he gets it. Isn't it ever beautiful to see when that two-year-old, maybe with a little whimpering and a bit sad that his toy is gone, but daddy helps him walk through it and says, that's okay. You can let him play with it now. You had it for a while. Here, here's another tractor. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that wonderful? Yes! A lot of parents in this room today. Does somebody want to give a word of testimony of how you are teaching your children to suffer loss, to give up and be happy? Yes? Anyone? There's a lot of wisdom sitting here. Anyone want to share a word of testimony? Raise your hand high. So the usher should get a microphone to you. All right, I don't see any. Let us teach our children to crucify that me first attitude. Me first in the food line. Me first to the best toy. Me first for everything. And we will do them a huge service. It will bless their lives when they become a child of God. They choose Jesus as their Savior. It will bless them for all their life because at what age do they say most worldview or foundational character trait is laid? By what age? Somebody tell me. You're all smart here. By what age? Six. I heard that also. So by six years old, if we let little Junior be selfish and strong-willed and bully his own way through, we've done him an awful disservice. Actually, I think we've sinned against him. We should raise up our children in the beauty of godly order. How about our children's speech? How about their words that come out of their mouth? Doesn't it pain you to see a little proud fellow talking back to his mommy? God is looking for a godly seed. He's given us as parents the instruction manual. Right here it is. Teach children to honor their parents, to obey their parents. Not so you can look good, but so that it may be well with them and that they may prosper. Well, if I'm not mistaken, my stopwatch says it's time to quit. That's right. Alright, well thank you so much for your participation. Let us live this doctrine of suffering love and non-resistance in our marriages and in our homes. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Brother Aaron, for bringing these things to us. We'd like to just sing a couple of verses here together of 923. Have Thine Own Way, Lord. And I would just like, if you can anyway, just to bow your heads, close your eyes, and just let the Spirit work in your hearts. Have Thine Own Way, Lord, Have Thine Own Way. Thou art the potter. I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will while I am waiting, yielded and still. Have Thine Own Way, Lord. I am me and made after Thy will. Have Thine Own Way, Lord. Wounded and weary, help me, I pray. Power, all power, surely is Thine. Touch me and heal me, Savior Divine. Have Thine Own Way, Lord. Have Thine Own Way. Wounded and weary, help me, I pray. Surely is Thine. Hold. Fill with Thy Spirit till all see Christ only and always. Have Thine Own Way, Lord. Oh, Lord, my King. As Aaron was preaching and bringing these different things to us and just sharing with us the Word of the Lord, have you offended with your tongue? Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Have you spoken death at all this week? Husbands and wives, has the Spirit spoken to anyone here about oneness in your marriage? Have you been standing in the way of that oneness? I'm just going to ask you this morning, if the Spirit has spoken to you in any of these areas or many other areas that I haven't even brought up here, would you have the courage to be vulnerable and just stand to your feet? And I want to pray for you. Have you offended with your tongue? I encourage you to stand to your feet if the Spirit has spoken to you today. The rest of us, everyone just close your eyes and bow your heads before the Lord and bow your hearts. Oh, Lord Jesus, some of us here have offended with our tongues. And we are standing together here because we recognize that we have spoken death. Some of us here recognize the fact that we've been divisive in our marriages, Lord. Some of us have stood up for our own rights this week. And God, we are sorry. And we come acknowledging that here today. And I just pray and speak over my brothers and sisters here, especially those who have stood. And I speak life to you. God, would you give us quick ears. Let everyone be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger. I ask you, O God, to grant that here to my brothers and sisters here today. I ask you, Heavenly Father, that you would set a guard over our mouths and keep a watch over the door of our lips. Whosoever will save his life, whosoever will protect his life, whosoever will protect his rights, his own life shall lose him. But whosoever loses, whosoever lays down his life, whosoever gives his life for the sake of Jesus Christ, will save it in the end. Those that lay down their lives shall be exalted. I ask you, Heavenly Father, to bring to light this ministry of reconciliation, especially with these, Lord, my dear brothers and sisters who are standing here with me. Would you bring to light the ministry of reconciliation? Each one of us knows what that means for us personally. Would you bring about, O God, a restoration of relationships? Lord, would You protect my brothers and my sisters? Would You bless them? Would You strengthen them? And would Your light flow through them in these days? In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you very much. O Lord, today we again surrender our lives. I surrender my life and its relationships. I surrender my heart and its affections. I surrender my body and its instincts. I surrender my mind and its thoughts. For Your sake, Lord Jesus. Thank you for listening. We hope this message has blessed you. If you would like additional messages, please visit our website at ccfsermons.org. Call us at 855-55-CHARITY or write to us at Charity Christian Fellowship, 59 South Groffdale Road, Leola, PA 17540. This ministry is supported by your donations. May Jesus Christ be Lord of all.