Rooted and Grounded in Love

But I did it again. I stayed up trying to get something together and then at the last moment I realized I don't want to do this. But um, hallelujah. I really appreciate kind of just coming unprepared because I think it's good to study things out and be prepared when you when you give something for the edification of the brothers but also there's this thing in me that I want to be able to just come up here and not not not be nervous or not be afraid but just to be able to speak freely so not having anything kind of puts you in that place and I think it's really challenging but at the same time it's I'm just I want to be challenged there so just to let you know it's going to be a little shorter than last week or the last time I did my devotional I think I went a little longer than usual. I'm kind of struggling to figure out what is an acceptable devotional. What is a devotional? So I just had some a few thoughts that I've been kind of mulling around in my head for the last month or so and just thought to share some of those and then I have a short devotional and maybe a scripture. This is actually a real devotional. It just packs a bunch of stuff in together. I would like to be able to do that one day but I haven't prepared something like that so I was just going to read from my devotional that's already prepared and I would just like to say it does take verses out of context so that could be dangerous but at the same time if you if you realize if you understand the scriptures and you know that it's sound you can see that some of these things are are not the context is still there it's just combined. I'm not sure how to say that but anyways my first thought was from Isaiah 9 6 how it speaks about the Prince of Peace, Jesus being the Prince of Peace and if you think about that he's the Prince of Peace. His dominion is peace and that word peace in Hebrew is shalom. He's the peace of shalom which it's more than just peace that we know of in the English language. It's like a soundness or a completeness, a wholeness. So he's the Prince of soundness. He's the Prince of completeness and wholeness and that's his dominion. That's where he reigns. That's who he reigns over, those that are filled with this soundness and this completeness and just in relation to our understanding we need to have a sound understanding of the scriptures for him to be our ruler for like like that's who he can guide and lead as those who are dealing with the scriptures in a balanced and a sound manner. And there's a lot I'd like to speak about. Maybe one day I'd like to give a main message about just the love of Christ and how it relates to that soundness. A lot of people think of the love of Christ. They think of that word love and it can mean a number of different things. There's a number of different meanings to one word and the word is love and so you can just say love and it's this type of love or you can say love and it's this type of love but it's just it's just the one word on these four different definitions and so it can get a little confusing and so one day I think I would like to talk about that but that I'll save that for another day. So I would like to look in Ephesians 3 starting in verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and in earth is named that the that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us and to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end. So the scripture that really stands out to me is is 17 and 18. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height. Now just consider what it's saying here. It's saying that well this is what I think it's saying unless we're rooted and grounded in the love of Christ we're not going to be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth and the length and the depth. So it's by this love, by the love of Christ, that we're able to comprehend, that we're able to see, that we're able to hear and to know. And so it is a very important topic. It's pretty in-depth, the love of Christ. It says to love is Christ loved and there's something there like to love is Christ loved. That means to love the way that he loved. And one way that he loved was he worked no ill to his neighbor. It says love worketh no ill to his neighbor. So he gave us this example of somebody who was pure and holy and righteous and that in his indeed and in truth he was loving us by this pure example. He was working no ill to his neighbor. He was not a stumbling block to his neighbor. And that's what it is to truly love somebody is to not be a stumbling block, to be walking in the light and to be keeping his commandments. But that's a bigger subject for a devotional. That actually led me to some thoughts recently about parenting. I'm just a younger parent. I do have six children but still I do feel pretty inexperienced in this area. But a lot of the books on parenting, not like Walter, he's got a lot of experience. But a lot of the books on parenting, what they do is they focus on the children. The children, the children. This is the children, the children. But I heard recently that somebody was bringing out the point of how children, they're just like little mimics. All they do is they just copy their parents. You're there and they just copy you. I even see my children, that's something that I can recognize being a parent is that my children, they just copy me. They're just doing what I'm doing. I can say all these things. I can try to speak into their life but they're actually just going to do what I'm doing in the end. And so I mean maybe there's something to that. But still, if you think about Jesus and us being his children, that's what he does. He gives us this example to follow. He focuses on himself to be that light to us so we have something tangible to look to. And as parents, I think that's a really good strategy to focus on is just focusing on ourselves. If we focus on ourselves, then our children can see, they can have something to strive for. Not just some words and some instruction, but they can have a real tangible example to follow. And that just really helped me with child training because I think sometimes I focus too much on what I'm telling them and not so much on what I'm doing. And I just need to focus on myself, get my life right, and then everything else I think will fall in place. When I had mentioned this to somebody, they said, oh, you know, I've made so many mistakes. And then I thought, you know, yeah, we make a lot of mistakes as parents. But if we're willing to confess our faults to our children, to acknowledge our wrongs and say, hey, look, Papa messed up there. You know, we're able to be honest with that and have the courage to bring it out to our children. That is a good example. So you don't have to be getting everything right as a parent. But if when you get something wrong, you acknowledge that and you show your children that humility of acknowledging your transgressions to them and, you know, letting them see that, that's a good example. So times when you've made mistakes in the past, it doesn't have to be in waste. It can turn around for good. God can use it. And maybe one last thought about trees. This is my devotional. I'm sorry, it's a little scattered, but kind of. I will, the trees of the Lord are full of sap. I will be as the dew unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh. But her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought. Neither shall cease from yielding fruit. I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. The righteous shall flour like the palm tree. It shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. I just really like these devotionals. They just, they're really compact. They just really bless me. I might share one more, if I can find it. Oh, I can't find it. But anyways, I hope this little bit that I shared was a blessing to you. If you want to add anything, it would be a blessing. Thank you, brother, for sharing that short, simple, and challenging. It parallels well with some thoughts I've had this week, just considering the love of God and the way it was manifested. Even at the cross, even at the cross, we think of the cross as a pretty cruel, pretty painful thing. It says of Jesus, He was so despised that people hid their face from Him. They couldn't bear to see Him. Yet, His short period of suffering was atonement for the sins of the whole world. Is that not the mercy of God? How much, how much suffering should my sins alone cost someone, myself or someone? But think about it. The sins of the whole world, every sin that has ever been committed, we know how depraved the world is. Their terrible idolatry, their fornication, their drunkenness, the list goes on and on. Yet, for a short period of suffering, the Lord has extended forgiveness to everyone that will accept it. It's more than I can get my mind around. It was a thought for the whole week and I expect it to be good for a couple more weeks of just considering. And then we have to look at ourselves and how we lead out as fathers, as husbands, as people with others whom we interact with in a work situation. How do we do? Are we merciful? Are we patient? You know, there's times when we have to take measures to correct behavior, definitely. But do we do as God does? You know, He just did what it took to make a way for humanity to be reconciled with Him. There's a day coming when the world shall drink of the wrath of God to the uttermost. But today we live in the Age of Grace, where for the suffering of Jesus Christ, our sins can be forgiven, we can repent, we can come to Him. He says, come, you know, let's make a deal here. Though your sins will be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. You know, we have an extreme advantage in our favor. Are we willing to extend that to others? You know, just do what it takes to correct the behavior, to establish one's way in the right way. Or do we, when we're offended, when we're slighted, do we feel like we need to take, you know, the other person needs to pay. There needs to be, you know, they need to pay in full. Those are just some challenges for me, especially being a father and a employer of sorts. So I just desire to, you know, pattern and follow the example that our Heavenly Father has laid forth for us. And I appreciate the devotional as well, and feel like it was a challenge to more of the same. And pray that we could all grow in that, and in that understanding, and know how to implement it. Because as Brother Tale mentioned, there's others who will pattern after us. Very sobering. So the Lord be praised, and may we grow in His image. Yeah, I just wanted to say amen. The part about our children imitating us, I find that, I found that to be true. I can see a lot of myself. When I was young, when I was in school, and in my children, sometimes the children will be acting a certain way, or doing a certain thing, or have a certain attitude towards their schoolwork, or something. And it will remind me of when I was, when I was in school. And I'll just think that was me. Jesus told the, I guess it was the Jews, that if they were Abraham's children, they would do Abraham's works. So, and he also used that analogy of, really of children being, it was another place, I'm thinking, can't think of it right now, but analogy that I had, I thought I had it in mind even to quote, that he used to say that if they were children, they would do a certain thing. But you can't think of it right now. I did have a question, Tao, that the verse, I took it as a he said he made the tall tree short, like the short tree long, the green tree dry, and the dry tree green. Was there a reference to that? I must have missed it. Okay, yeah, okay, so it's not like one, okay, yeah, okay, yeah, I didn't immediately recognize ever having read that quite like that. Anyway, God bless. I just wanted to share a few thoughts I had. I appreciate what was shared. I don't think, I don't think messages and especially openings or devotions need to be long studied out. Messages, I appreciate, appreciate this sharing. Short, simple lessons like you did. Some thoughts I had, and, and I, I've only thought about them for a few minutes now, so somebody may, may point out that this doesn't hold true all the way through. But, so Jesus, you started by saying like Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and that the prophets talk about it. He'll be the Prince of Peace. As soon as Jesus was born, it was talked about. Like, you know, soon as he was born, the sky lit up in the night, and the angels came down and said, peace on earth, goodwill to men. The Apostles talk about it afterward, but Jesus himself, I don't know, I just don't, I just don't get from his messages that he went around convincing everybody, trying to convince everybody that, hey, hey guys, I'm bringing peace. Instead he said, I came not to bring peace on earth, I came to bring a sword. Did Jesus ever preach a sermon about healing people? Not that I know of, but he went all around healing people. He didn't have to convince people with his mouth that he was healing, or that he was the great healer, yet he just went around healing people. Like, I almost, I almost think Jesus went around less trying to tell people, like, hey guys, I'm, I am love. I'm showing you how to love. Rather he went around, like, convicting people of their sin, and yet everybody, all the prophets before him, and all the disciples after him say, like, Jesus, he is, and like, he is love. And like Tao said, like, here is the example of love. And I think it just ties in with what she said about child training. Like, we can write books, we can talk about it, we can preach sermons about it, and, but the real thing is, are we, we just doing it? Or, those, those little children who mimic us, do they show that we know something about child training? My dad used to tell this story about a guy that wrote a book that said the Ten Commandments in Child Training. And once he had his first child, after that he, he wrote a book that said Ten Suggestions about Child Training. And after he had the second one, he, he wrote something like some, some ideas on child training. And after the third one, he just quit writing. Anyway, I think, I think Jesus is the Prince of Peace who, who has a, has a peace not as the world gives, but a peace that passes understanding. Thank you. Thank you, Brother Tao. And I appreciate the comments of Will and Norman and Brother Duane. I thought of a worldly song when you started reading Ephesians 3 about the love of Christ passes with and breath and understanding and all these things. And not to glorify a foolish worldly song, but I remember the lyrics was, you're just, it was a love song, you're just too good to be true. I can't take my eyes off of you. And when you think of, and that was for a man talking about his wife or his, you know, soon-to-be wife. And when you think of the love of Christ, it's, it's just too good to be true. We can't, like you said, he died for the sins of all the world of all time. And we just, you know, think of, I can think of the innumerable sins I've committed and things and, and that's nothing. It's, he's just too good to be true. The Lord be magnified for that. And, and a lot of times I think people, they're popular gospel, here I go. No, I'm not just picking on evangelical gospel, but they just use repentance. I used to be a drunk, stop drinking, used to fornicate, stop fornicating, used to steal, stop. It goes beyond that. It seems in 1 John, we know we have assurance and confidence before God when we love the brethren. Here we go. It's not just love, but a love, a mutual love, a fervent love. Like you said, we're a family, it's love. It's a love is, that's one of the barometers or the handles, call it what you will, for, to check. I think, do we really love the brethren? Do we love our enemies? Yeah, we can say, do we really love the brethren? We really pray when someone gets sick and hurting. And the last point would be on parenting, brother, you said parenting. And I, one of my hobby horses is homeschooling. I'm against all schools, public school, church schools, I'm against them. And I realized there are some times that single parents need to, they can send their child to a religious school. I had parochial school, Catholic school. It was a nightmare, just complete worldliness. But anyway, on parenting, Deuteronomy 6, teach them when they rise up, on the way, teach them before they like go to bed. That's the responsibilities of fathers and mothers. And Ephesians 6, of course, says fathers, I mean, children, obey your parents in the Lord and do what they say. And that's parenting. And I'll use a story that I heard on homeschooling versus any other type of school. And your brothers can correct me on this like this, but it was about a man and his husband and his wife, and they had their 20th wedding anniversary. And they said, what are we going to do with something like this? And the man said, well, I noticed this man, he's a professional dater. He can take you out and take you to the restaurant, and he will give you the time of your life. He'll take you out. A professional dater for your anniversary. Now, how sinful and stupid is that, right? The same thing goes for your children. If you want to put your children out to some worldly people in public schools or whatever, you are God-given responsibility. I know it may be a direct hit, but a professional dater would be an abomination. How about letting your children being taught by someone else that may not even be a Christian? A public school, no one is Christian how they would send their children to public school. It would be almost impossible. But how you, the parenting then that Brother Tay was saying about, what a responsibility we all have to raise our children. And let's live up to that. And you know, you think, well, I'm not qualified to be a teacher. I can't teach them algebra and all that. God will provide. And you people here, some of them, you have seventh grade educations. You're a model for some of us that have had several years of college on that. God will give you the answer. The Lord be magnified. Do I lift up my soul unto Thee, O Lord? Do I lift up my soul? Oh, my God, I trust in Thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemy triumph over me. Yea, let none that way. Are thee be ashamed. Yea, let none that way. Are thee be ashamed. Oh, my God, I trust in Thee. I trust in Thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemy triumph over me. Show me Thy way. Teach me Thy path. Show me Thy way. Teach me Thy path. Oh, my God, I trust in Thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemy triumph over me. Remember not the sins of my youth. Remember not the sins of my youth. Remember not the sins of my youth. Oh, my God, I trust in Thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemy triumph over me. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. Oh, my God, I trust in Thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemy triumph over me. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I know strength and love can't be. My heart shall not fear. A war should rise again. Me and this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord that I will seek after. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord. All the days of my life. All the days of my life. All the days, all the days of my life. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord. All the days of my life. All the days of my life. All the days, all the days of my life. Amen. Come, children of Zion, and help us to sing. Loud hymns of praise to our Savior and King, Whose life was first given, our souls to redeem. And bring us to heaven to reign there with Him. In the regions of hardness and sorrow and pain, We only endure them in prison and chains. But Jesus has bought us with His precious blood. The ransom provided to bring us to God. O come to the Savior and take up the cross. Seek treasures in heaven, count all else by loss. His mercy invites us and let us comply. Though why should we linger when He is so nice? We'll fear not the dangers that lie in our way. His arm will protect us by night and by day. And this we must suffer and patiently bear. Till Jesus shall take us where suffering are no more.