Romans

Okay. Romans 12. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in the view of god's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to god. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you'll be able to test and approve what is what god's will is. His good, pleasing, and perfect will. For by the grace given me, I'd say to every 1 of you, do not think of yourselves more highly than New York. But rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith god has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has 1 body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function.

So in Christ, we, though many, form 1 body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then served. If it is teaching, then teach.

If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Hate wise evil, cling to what is good.

Be devoted to 1 another in love, honor 1 another above yourselves, Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction. Faithful in prayer. Share with the lost people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with 1 another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of a low position. Do not be conceded.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it is, depending on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge by difference, but leave room for GossRoth. For it is written.

It is my end to avenge, I will repay. Says the lord, on the contrary, if your enemies are hungry, feed him, If he is thirsty given something to drink, in doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Good morning. My name is Pete Woodcock.

I'm the pastor of the church. We have been going through Romans for quite some time. And I just can't get out of this chapter. It's it's so phenomenally rich and so full of application from the last 11 chapters, and so that's why we're we're in it. I want us to particularly hone in on, verses 14 to 16.

Blessed to those who per bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse, rejoice with those who Joyce, mourned with those who mourn, live in harmony with 1 another, do not be proud, but willing to associate with people of low position do not be conceded. Father, as we look at these words, they are more than just good advice and words on a page. They're living. They're active. They're holy spirit words that you've written to come as a sword, a double edged sword, to cut into us to then heal us and mold us to be more like the lord Jesus Christ.

Allow, please, allow us to allow that to happen to us this morning in Jesus' name, amen. We were at Kingston University Freshions Fair, some of you were there, obviously, on Thursday and Friday. And among, the many students that we we talked to, Tom and myself, particularly, were talking to, there were 4 or 5 young religious blokes, not not together, but actually we we met them separately over the course of the over 2 days. 4 or 5 religious blokes. They were very pleasant.

All of them had the same sort of characteristics. They're very pleasant very, very nice to talk to, and quite interested most of them in finding out about the lord Jesus Christ. But when we offered a new testament, we had some little giddy in new testaments that we were giving out. When we offered a new testament, all of these 4 or 5 independently refused to take 1. And their reasoning is quite strange for us because they said something like this, oh, no, no, no, no, we consider a very holy book.

And it's too holy for me now to hold or to put in a bag to walk around Fresh's fair. That is too holy a book for me to take. That's quite an interesting response, isn't it? And they all said things like we have too much respect for that holy book for us to take 1. In the stalls, the next aisle to where we were, there was a whole another row of stores, and there was there was a man practicing Eastern meditation.

It was quite remarkable because it was so noisy And, he was very impressive in many ways because he stood with his eyes closed. He had his hands up like this for a long period of time. His hands up like this, and he was sort of at peace within his environment until I noticed he actually had headphones on, so I I don't know what he was listening to. But but it was quite interesting. Now what strikes me about those 2 groups of people, the meditation man, and the 4 or 5 students that didn't want the holy book is how utterly different knowing Jesus and following Jesus is to that type of religion It's just so radically different.

The way and we tried to say this to these 4 or 5 young men, the way you were respect a holy book is to read it. That's how you respect a holy book. And, actually, that's how you respect any book if you think about it. The point of a book is to be read. And that's how you respect a holy book.

And if you look at verse 1 of chapter 12, Paul is really telling us this. He's saying that he's written, written down into the scriptures, into the Bible, chapters 1 to 11. All about the mercy of god, explaining god's utter grace and kindness to us in the lord Jesus Christ. Explaining how we can be forgiven and justified and made right with god and know god as our father, explaining how we can be in union with Christ that that we're together with him and in his people. He's been he's written down 11 chapters.

And Paul says, in those first verses of chapter 12, that in view of that. In other words, read that. Look at that. Study that. Allow that scripture that holy word about the mercies of god to get to grips with you and transform your thinking and so that your life will be rooted in these wonderful truths.

If you want to be holy and pleasing to god, you have to read it. You have to study it. You have to listen to it. You have to open its pages. You have to hear it opened.

Use it, he's saying. Keep it in view. And the way to peace is not standing amongst the noise and cutting yourself off in a sort of trance, however impressive that is. The way to real peace and real spirituality is not to cut yourself off, but actually to lay yourself down for people. Look at verses 1 and 2 of chapter 12.

They are just extraordinary, and we keep going back to them. They're the introduction, if you like, to the whole chapter. Therefore, I urge you, he says, brothers and sisters in view of god's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices wholly and pleasing to god. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you'll be able to test and approve god what what god's will is.

He's good, pleasing perfect will. Holyness, you see Paul is saying, is a worn out Bible. It's it's not that I can't touch it. It's that you open it. In a piece only comes when you deal with people.

You don't detach yourself from people. It's when you rub shoulder to shoulder with real people you understand how much peace is in your heart and how much isn't, isn't it? And then you can deal with it. It's when you rub shoulder to shoulder to with people that oppose you and don't like you and persecute you and cause you to suffer that you see how much real pieces inside of you. It's in the rub that you find, what you're really like.

Not separating, not detaching. So what Paul is talking about here is a radical transformed heart change towards other people. The zeal of the lord, we saw last week, boiling over that word fervor in verse 11, means boiling up that we are to catch feelings, not detach feelings. We are to catch feelings for our fellow Christians, and that in itself will boil over to even those who, oppose us and don't like us. That's his whole point.

So in these verses, verses 14 to 16 that we're just looking at today, your fine, Paul goes sort of backwards and forwards to and fro from church people, brothers and sisters, and how we relate to them. To outside the church, people that are opposed to us, treat us harshly. He goes backwards and forwards, and, that's what he does. In these last few verses of of of Romans. What he's trying to show is that when love grows amongst god's people, the brothers and sisters, it will spill out even towards those that are harsh towards Actually, Paul says the same thing, although he he puts it the opposite way around, but you can see him saying the same thing in Galatians chapter 6 verse 10, he says, this, listen, another book that he wrote.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people. Active, doing good, not passive hiding away, but let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers. So what Paul is saying is as we are loving the believer and working through how to be sincere in our love, that in itself will spill over even to people outside. And I want to say that it takes nothing other than the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to do this. In 1 sense, The points that I want to show you in these verses will show us whether we really are transformed as we think about the mercy of god, whether we really are born again.

There are real tests So let's have a look. Here's the first thing I want you to see transformed from a cursor to a blesser. It's extraordinary this verse. I'm gonna come back and look at it again next week and that will be our last time, I think, in Romans 12. But look at this verse.

Just have a look. Verse 14, this is extraordinary. Bless those who persecute you. Bless do not curse. Now by nature, we curse those who curse us, don't we?

I mean, just think of when you drive a car, someone hoots you and you say, I curse you. That's what you say. That's how we act. It's or someone bumps into you and the coffee goes all over. You might say, oh, no.

Don't worry about it. Inside. I curse you. Yeah. That's that's how it works.

We we're we're very easy at that, but here we're to bless those who persecute. The word persecute means to to pursue, to hound like a vicious hound coming and biting into you. So we're to bless. If a dog comes and bites me, I boot it. That's what I do.

I I actually remember now. I don't know if this is I was cutting my hedge a few years ago, and a dog ran up and started biting into my leg. And the owner then came around the corner and said, oh, don't worry. He won't hurt you. I said he already is.

I was prepared to boot the thing, but, unfortunately, if she came around the corner, But, you know, normally, when someone pursues you or hounds you, you actually want to curse them, at least in your minds. Now here's the thing. Here's the thing. It's very, very easy to give the appearance of love to those that are so lovable. And then convince ourselves that we're transformed by god's message.

When everybody's nice around me, Then it's easy for me to think, well, I love them. I love I look at me. I love people. It's very, very easy to give the appear and therefore fool ourselves that we've been transformed by the spirit of god, but we haven't at all. But when you're told to bless someone who pursues you.

Well, that's spiritual. There's a power there. That says that there's something happened. See, we're not we're not we're not told just not to hate. Lots of people can do that.

I just I just won't hate people that hate me, or we're not told just don't retaliate. Okay. I just won't retaliate. I think people can do that, but we're told to go this next step, which is extraordinary. The next step is to bless.

And the word bless means speak them good. Speak them good. That's what the word bless means. It's extraordinary, isn't it? Now I think an understanding of that is that Paul really is sort of concentrating what the lord Jesus said on the sermon on the Mount.

Have a listen to him. Matthew chapter 5 verse 44, listen to 46. Listen to him. Jesus is saying, You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor. Yeah.

Well, that's easy, and hate your enemy. That's easy. That's the world's teaching. That was the religious teaching of the day. Love your neighbor.

Hate your enemy. You know? Anyone can do that. But I tell you, and that that this has gotta be supernatural. Love your enemies.

And pray for those that persecute you, hound you. That you may be children of your father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rein on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that.

And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not the pagans even do that. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. Did you see how radically powerful that is? And it's not normal.

It is we are incapable of that. We need a supernatural encounter with god. We need god as our father. In other words, we need to be born again. By the holy spirit in order to be able even to begin to want to do that.

Do you see? Pray, says Jesus for your enemy. And I think that's what Paul is saying here. Bless means speak them good. Now it doesn't mean to say that you allow your enemy to treat you as a doormat.

That's that's a complete nonsense. But what it is saying is that I genuinely am praying for them and I'm praying for the good of those that are doing clear evil. Doesn't mean to say you say they're not doing evil. It doesn't mean to say you don't point out the evil that they are doing against you. It doesn't mean to say that you don't go for protection from people that are persecuting you, but it does say bless them, speak well of them.

What you were doing is even though they mistreat you, even though they hate you, even though they're hounding you, you're saying god would you save them? Would you bring them to yourself? And then I won't have an enemy, but I'll have a brother or sister. And when you brought them to their self, it'll be my privilege to hug them as a brother and sister. That's the prayer.

Don't curse them. Don't wish them to rot in hell. I hope you rot in hell. No. I hope you are my brother in heaven.

And a great way to help us to sort of obey this command is to keep in mind that god was gracious to me a sinner That's why you gotta keep in view of god's mercy in your head, in view of god's mercy, to me, in view of god's mercy, to me, And I'm pretty sure that Paul had his own story in mind when he wrote these words, because remember he was a persecutor. Yeah? Bless those who persecute. He is so grateful for Stephen, because if you know what happened when Paul was having Stephen stoned to death, Just before Stephen died, he said, don't hold this sin against those who are stoning me. He prayed that they would know forgiveness.

That is exactly what the lord Jesus did when he was on the cross. And that is exactly what Jesus in the sermon on the Mount is asking us for. And this is what Paul is saying. That there is this not a desire to see them curse, but to see them in the family of god. And that is supernatural, my dear, friends.

I I think that's supernatural. Augustus, 1 of the great old, church leaders He said this, the church owes Paul, because Saul was the persecutor of Stephen, and then he became Paul, the church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen. That's right. That's right. Now these are amazing things.

Now we're gonna look at this subject again next week, and I'm gonna show you, at least 1 video, of of how powerful this works out. It's a but I want you to get this first point. This is a powerful proof of regeneration of the spirit's work in our lives that we would even want to do this, bless those that persecute us. I don't know whether you remember, some of you will. It was probably about 10 years ago, something like that.

I'm terrible with with dates, but We had a couple of, Turkish brother a brother and sister from Turkey, that came to us. They were they were on sort of furlough away from the Mission Field, and they just came to us. It was a joy to have them for a couple of weeks. Do you re do you remember these? Couple And they had, they were into producing videos, and they had produced like you, actually.

They had produced, this video of a few of the funeral. Do you remember that? A funeral of 3 men in Turkey that were brutally, utterly brutally murdered because they were Christians, brutally murdered. And it was so brutal their murder and the way that they their body was utterly dishonored, which I won't say go into, but it was so brutal and so horrible that this became massive news in Turkey and Muslim land. That this was an appalling shame on them as a country.

And this this couple videoed the the wives and then the funeral of these 3 men, and it was nothing but forgiveness to the perpetrators. Of the murderers of their husbands. And it was so radical. People had just not heard of this that they showed it every night after the news on Turkish television for a year, I think that's right. Extraordinary power of forgiveness that must have led many to the cross, don't you think?

So that's the first 1. It's showing that we're not about revenge. It's showing that there's something in this message of Jesus that so radically changes us. At the very least, we want to bless those who curse us. We are asking the lord to help us in praying to the lord that we would be people that would be like this so that we could pray for those who do us harm.

That's how powerful this message is. There is no other message like that in the entire world. It's not going away and running away or just not retaliating or going into an inner peace. Do you see that? This is real, powerful, spiritual holiness, the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Well, here's the second point then. That we're transformed from apathy to empathy. Apathy to empathy. Look at verse 15. Again, an extraordinary sentence, rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Apathy, in case you don't know, and I'm finding out that many students don't know most words, as far as I can see, up at Fresh's Fair, but apathy basically means I don't care. What I did? I'm not interested. I don't care.

That's apathy. Empathy means I do care, and not only do I care, I really feel I really feel with you. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Morn with those who mourn. Now When we really belong to a group, then it successes are my successes, because I belong to it.

I rejoice with it. When I really belong to a group, it's disappointments or my disappointments, and it's a test to see whether you really belong, isn't it? If I'm really a fan of the football team, I'm devastated when they lose. I'm outraged by the referee for letting that penalty happen. Yeah?

I'm with the group. How are you? Why? You've only gotta go to fulham, and there's all kinds of swear words pouring out of Phil Cooper's mouth. No.

It's not quite true. But, you know, they get worked up. They really get worked up. And and the poor lines well, he's just running up and down and doing a job. He's always getting it because he's near.

Yeah. Yeah. Pawny. And people have just totally taken up with their teams that it causes an out display of violence and viciousness towards others in many ways. Now we're not to do that, but it is a sign of belonging, isn't it?

If your team loses, you really feel it. I've seen grown men in Liverpool weeping You know? Over football. It's extraordinary. Being transformed creates this new way of relationship, and we are to feel this We are to identify, empathize, sympathize with people.

With people who are not just objects, but they're people who feel, who hurt, who have joys, and pleasures, and griefs We are too, as we were saying last week, catch the feeling. There is not a detachment here. It's not all about me detaching myself. From these joys or these or these griefs. It's me entering into the grief and the joy.

The stoics, and that seems to be a thing that's really coming back by this whole, don't catch feelings thing. The stoics talked about impassive detachment, impassive detachment, and that was a mark of a good life. But Christians, we should be talking about passioned attachment. We're passionately attached. We belong And that's the transformed life, according to this passage, to enter sincerely into others' joys and sorrows.

And if we're going to do that, we have to take the focus of self. The problem with mindfulness and all that stuff that's being said today, and this sort of meditation, is it's all about me? Listen to my heart. Feel my breathing. Listen to my no.

No. No. No. No. We are to attach ourselves to someone else's breathing and someone else's heart.

That's what's going on. You have to tune in. You have to listen to someone else's heart beating You have to listen to someone else breathing. You have to listen to someone else's words. You have to listen to someone else's body language.

You have to understand what they're going through. This is an extraordinary sentence. Verse 15, look, rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. I want to say this is supernatural. This takes nothing other than the spirit of god in our lives to and this is a proof of whether we're regenerate, whether we're born again.

Christostom, who was a a famous fourth century early preacher, amazing, amazing pre he's called Silvermouth, because he was such a great preacher. He, talks about this, and he says Paul put rejoice first because that's the most difficult of the 2 commands. And his sort of reasoning is, look, when you see someone weeping, you can't help but sort of, you know, tears come. It's very easy to empathize with someone that's weeping and down. And then he asks the question why is that?

Well, because they're down, and they're not doing very well, and we feel a little bit better. Because they're crying. That's his point. But when someone's really rejoicing, that's flipping an iron, because that means they're having success in their life, more than me, Why are they happier than me? Who gives them the right to rejoice?

You know? So it and he he's pointing out that self is the issue here. Do you see that? Self gets in the way of this real, empathy that we should have I remember, some years ago when, when, I was traveling around preaching a lot more than I do now, and I I was preaching in the morning, on Sunday morning, in Birmingham, and then stupidly because I wasn't very good at my diary. I was preaching right down in the south coast, in the evening.

In the morning, I went to preach, and I I when I stood up to preach, I could hardly preach. I could hardly do it. I just it it was bad preaching. In the evening, I flowed like anything. And what was the difference?

2 old men were the difference? 1 old man that I met just before I preached came in to pray with me, and then I couldn't pray. I couldn't pray before I preached. Who We knew someone. We knew a missionary that had got a CBE, and, I was saying, oh, isn't it lovely that it was Margaret Hayes, isn't it lovely And he said, yeah.

Well, I mean, we could all get that, couldn't we? And, she hasn't done that much good. And I did this. It crushed me. He couldn't rejoice with this missionary about being recognized.

It he was a leader in the church it crushed me. And then he said, let us pro I couldn't pray, and I couldn't preach. And as I was driving down, I just couldn't get this out of my head. And then I got to this other little church. That was a bigger church.

I got to this little church. It was it I can't really even remember where it was. And I was met by the old previous pastor previous to the 1 that was there, there, you know, now. And he was an old man, and he's, and he's, oh, it's so lovely. And he made me a cup of tea, and he was so warm in giving.

And I said, how's the work going here? Oh, it's fantastic. The new pastor is so good. He said, under my ministry, nothing happened, you know? It was it it wasn't very good, to be honest.

But this man, the lord's blessing him. He's so exciting what's going on. I'm so privileged to be a member of this church. It was so different I was lifted up and rejoicing then I could preach well. At least according to him anyway, but he was so encouraging that he even if I preach badly, he would have encouraged me.

But you see the difference? 1 can't rejoice with those who are joy rejoicing because he's thinking of himself and what he deserved. The other was not thinking of himself what was blessed. It's hard, isn't it? This is a spiritual thing, rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.

Now here we go. Can you follow me here? Get your bibles. Are you ready? How do we get this attachment How do we get this sensitivity?

Well, look at Romans chapter 12 verses 4 and 5. We've looked at these verses already, but Here's Paul talking about the body. For justice, each of us has 1 body with many members, and these members do not have the same function so in Christ. So we've gotta be in Christ, though many form 1 body, and each member belongs to all the others. So here's Paul giving the body illustration.

We've done that already. And then he says, we belong. It's an important word to underline. We belong. It's holy to underline it, by the way, not just have a bible that's crisp and not underlined.

So we're a body. We belong to the body Now, Paul uses that illustration in 1 Corinthians 12. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 12 and have a look at this. Oh, look, there's there's little Noah coming for the first time. Let's, let's say hello to him.

Hello, Noah? Yeah. Not too loud. Yeah. Okay.

So now back to this, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 26. Look at verse 26, because Paul's saying the same thing, but he spells it out even clearer. Body illustration remember belonging to the body where members of the body bits of the body that make up 1 body in Christ. And then verse 26, he says, if 1 part suffers, every part suffers with it, if 1 part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Got it?

So it's the same thing. We belong. If you suffer, you know, everybody suffers, rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. 1 part is honored, every part rejoices, and so forth. He's giving that illustration.

Okay? Now we understand the body illustration. It goes like this. If if in this body here that you're looking at, if I have a headache, my whole body knows I've got a headache or a migraine. If I cut my finger, my whole body knows I have I cut my finger.

But how does that really genuinely work in church? Because if I cut my finger, you don't suddenly go, oh, do you? Doesn't quite work like that. Or if I've got a migraine, you don't go, oh, dear. What a day I'm having.

Yeah. It doesn't work like that. How do we get this sensitivity to the body, to other brothers and sisters? The answer is verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 12. Have a look.

Just as a body, though 1 has many parts, But all its many parts form 1 body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by 1 spirit So as to form 1 body, whether Jew or gentile slave or free, and we were all given 1 spirit to drink. This tells us exactly what we have in common. How we as body parts are joined together in Christ. The thing that we have in common, the thing that's in common between us is the Holy Spirit.

We are joined spiritually. This is not just an institution or a group of people that have come together that love Jesus. This is a holy spirit spiritual thing. Turning into Christ's body. This is a supernatural.

The church is not just where we meet. It is a supernatural bonding together of being born again into Christ and that same spirit is the spirit that we drink. Let me give you an illustration. In the physical body, there's oxytocins oxytocins are a bonding hormone. Now they're discovering more and more about this.

It's a bonding hormone. It works with mothers and young babies. And you'll we'll see it all over the place at the moment in Cornerstone. So many mothers will know this. When their baby cries, the mother knows their baby crying.

To most of us, it's an irritating noise. Yeah? But to the mother, it's What does he want? What does she want? That's what happens.

When the baby cries, now this is remarkable, I've been learning about this. When the baby cries, milk is produced. When the baby's crying, when it's morning, when it's crying out, then the mother immediately produces something that it wants, that it needs, rather. It's extraordinary. An extraordinary thing.

Now here's something I didn't know. If it's really hot weather like we've been having the milk that is produced is much more watery because it needs more water. If it's colder weather, the milk is fattier and thicker. It's extraordinary, isn't it? So the oxytocin causes this, oxytocin is being called the bonding hormone.

And here is what is fairly new that hormone happens during sex. So all the people that say you can have a 1 night stand, and it's just a physical thing, is non is nonsense. Oxytocin happens during sex. It's bonding. It bonds people.

Now That is what the Holy Spirit does in the church. I was gonna call this sermon, but I thought no 1 would understand it. The Holy Spirit, the oxytocin of the church. And I thought, well, it's a bit bit sort of, you know, up yourself, isn't it a little bit? You know?

But I still like it. So I've called it Holy Spirit empathy. But that's exactly what's going on here. The holy spirit in the church through his word, as we view his word, his spirit word, and view the mercies of God in Christ. Transforms us and bonds us into the body of Christ because we're born again.

This is a supernatural act. So if you were to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, you need to be born again. It won't happen. This is a test of whether you are. I think Paul is saying.

And according to that teaching in verse 15, Nothing should happen to a fellow Christian without it affecting us, without us hearing the cry, without us producing something that will that that that cry needs. That's what goes on. There's an old saying, isn't there? As divided joy is, as as as as divided joy is doubled, so divided sorrow is halved, and that is absolutely true in the church. When people tell us about a joy, it should be doubled in praise to god.

When they tell us about a sorrow, it should be halves as we we take some. So our understanding of each other should grow. Our sensitivity should grow as the spirit does his work through his word in the church, an awareness of each other, an awareness of deep spiritual needs, a corporate sense that they need me and I need them. And you get that. In Romans 12.

We've been seeing that. We're to be a church that is sensitive by the spirit for each other's needs. I love those lines. Have a look at the gifting. Look at verse, look at verse 6 of chapter 12 We have different gifts according to the grace given to us.

So it's a holy spirit gift. That's the word care carries where people get the word charismatic from. And here are the charismatic gifts, a gift of prophesying. I believe that's teaching the word of god. That's what's happening now.

Then prophecy according to your faith, If it is serving, that's a charismatic gift to serve, then serve. If it is teaching, that's a charismatic gift, then teach. If it is to encourage, that's a charismatic gift then encourage. If it is giving, do you know that's a charismatic gift? I mean, I find it extraordinary that often the people that go loudest about the gift the ones that are asking you for money.

Here's a charismatic gift that I may give. Can I give more? Is there an opportunity for me to give more? That's a charismatic gift. How often do you hear that 1 being asked for or prayed for?

Well, it should be. If it is to lead lead diligently. These are these are sensitive growth things. Where am I needed? It's only a, a summary of of how god gives us gifts to help each other out, sensitively looking.

Who's the joy let's rejoice with them. Who's mourning? Let's mourn with them. This is a holy spirit supernatural work the church. And it's a test of whether we are real church in 1 sense.

We're talking about church membership and that sort of stuff. Here's what we should ask. You're gonna become a member of Cornerstone Church, then, ah, have you got the oxytocin of the spirit in you? Can you answer that 1? Are you gonna be aware of brothers and sisters' needs?

Will you rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn? It's the heartbeat of any church, and it's supernatural. Third thing, won't take me long, transformed then from division to harmony. We're transformed from being a cursor to a blessing even of our enemies, we're transformed by the spirit of god through his word from being from apathy to empathy. And thirdly, we're transformed from division to harmony.

Look at verse 16, live in harmony with 1 another, do not be proud, but willing to associate with people of low position, do not be conceded. Live in harmony. It literally means think the same. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4, be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with 1 another in love, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. This is a spiritual work.

To keep harmony in the church. It is a spiritual work that we begin to think the same and therefore think more of others than ourselves. It's a spiritual work And praise god, we haven't had big divisions. And let's keep that work going. Let's pray to keep the peace live in harmony.

Don't be a peace breaker. Live in harmony with 1 another. Then it says do not be proud. There is no place for pride or snobbery. There is no place for the standards of the world and how the world judges a person It's the standards of god and how god judges a person.

God doesn't judge by money or education or rank or wealth. Or birth or title. God doesn't judge like that. He brings in people from all groups brothers and sisters. 1 of the amazing things that I read it out last week, if you can remember, was how the church affected, the the Roman society.

It was so radical that a Roman general would sit next to a slave. And embrace each other and give each other. Christianity absolutely undermined Rome. By being an alternative society. All distinctions were gone.

If you go to colossians, it's 1 of my favorite verses about church in colossians chapter 3 verse 11. Have a listen to this. Here's Paul. Just but you could see this in the church. He says this.

Here, that's in church, there is no due or gentle. That's an extraordinary thing to say. Circumcised or uncircumcised. That's an extraordinary thing to say. Then he says barbarian, scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is interval.

Now if that was the front row or any row in a church, it is extraordinary that they're anywhere near each other. A Jew sitting next to a gentile, my goodness. What are you asking me to sit next to him for? Uncircumcised. Yeah.

But in Christ, there isn't that. But not only that, a Jew and a gentile sitting next to a barbarian, for goodness. Those barbarians. They stink. They're rotten people.

The way they treat people in their history is horrific, or a barbarian could look down on a scythian. They used to wash in the blood of their enemy. I mean, goodness me, you would need a barbarian and a gentile between them and a Jew. They're washed in blood. It's extraordinary.

A free or a slave. They're together in harmony, living together the church is the most radical group on earth. It's revolutionary. The children of the revolution are from all backgrounds living in harmony. And then when Paul says this, I'm trying to hurry, not just He doesn't just say, associate with people of low position.

He's he he that word, as associate with low position can be translated doing low jobs. The word associate with means to be carried away. So he's saying, I want you to be carried away with people of low position. I want you to be warm towards them, empathize, sympathize love them, embrace them, use your gift with them, give yourself, rejoice with them, and mourn with them. But not only that.

Actually, it can mean low jobs that we flow. We associate. We're carried away like a stream, carried stuff away down at down its down into the river. We're flowing. We're we're flowing associating with low jobs.

Be a low job person. Looking out for the low jobs. The bins, the clearing out. Do that. And don't be conceited, he says.

Don't boast. Now that's the transformation, and it takes the holy spirit to work in us. Through his word that we may empathize. This is the power of the Holy Spirit. Do you see the power of the Holy Spirit?

You want a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit that it's in church. That's it. Demonstration of the power of the spirit that Roman governors would do lowly tasks amongst lowly people. That we rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. There's an oxytocin in us.

There's a there's a bonding in us. That we bless those at cursus. My goodness how radical that is. So how are you doing? How are you doing?

Our zeal should be boiling over Perhaps you need to write down something and say, how am I gonna boil this 1? I need to boil this 1 up in my life. I need more harmony because I'm such a divider. Yeah, boil that away, boil the division away, get some nice stuff going on in my life. Well, how am I gonna rejoice with that?

I mean, I'm a meanie. I don't like people rejoicing it to boil away the meanness. Yeah? Seal for god. Or do I even know someone's hurting?

I need to boil away my self obsession so I can understand who's hurting? Who's hurting here? Father god help us by your spirit in Jesus' name, amen.