Pastor FortunatoWelcome to the podcast ministry of Pilgrim Baptist Church. Wherever you're listening from, welcome. We pray that the truth from the Word of God speaks to your heart during today's message. Romans 12, the next verse that we are coming to is verse number 11. Let's get our eyeballs on verse number 11. Young people, this is for you. It's for all of us. It's for all of us. But watch what it says, not slothful. Now you know what type of animal the sloth is, right? They move. ...and do everything sloth... You've had enough, right? That's the sloth. And the sloth is remarkably... Slow. And the Bible says, not slothful in business. Now this is business in a general sense. It's all types of labor. The Bible says, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. It really, when this verse pops up in Romans chapter number 12, not slothful in business, it's teaching us to value time. And isn't... We got a lot of doctrinal truth, especially was heavy through 9, 10, and 11. When we get to this practical stuff, you almost want to go back to just give me some doctrine because this righteous living stuff is hard, isn't it? Wouldn't you rather just wrap your mind around what doctrine you believe? Now, we're getting into how we are to live as born again believers. So, it should be not slothful in business. It's the importance on producing with our time, not wasting our time. Proverbs 18 gives us a beautiful picture. You don't have to turn there. But it says, he also that is slothful in his work. ...is brother to him that is a great waster. What a word picture God gives us with His creation, the sloth. And look, this does not mean, and gentlemen and myself included, we really need to take heed to this. This verse in Romans 12, not slothful in business, God is not telling us as men. That we should just pour our entire life into work and that the only thing that matters is if I have more hustle muscle than the next fellow and I put in 80 hours or 90 hours or 110 hours and the next thing you know you don't have time for your family or for your church family, you don't have time to do anything for God because, well, you're just going to pour your life into your business or your work. Now I've been in dark places like that and I don't want to go there. God wants us to work and provide and protect, but this verse is not giving us a license to just forget everything and pour our life into business. How about pouring your life into your family? How about pouring your life into your local church? How about pouring your life and offering it as a sacrifice to God? That's how Romans 12 started off. Ladies, you have business. Keeping a house, there's a lot of business to be done. It's work and God doesn't want you to be slothful. Some of you homeschooler mommies and daddies, that's work. Church life, it's work. All of it is. And if you're a Christian man, if you're a Christian woman, God doesn't want us to be idle. He wants us to produce with our time. Believe me, we've got enough that we can occupy our time with. God wants us to accomplish some things for His glory. And one day we're going to answer for our faithful performance of it or not of it. We're going to be judged not for our sin, but for our works down here on earth. And we will be given rewards for them. So don't lose sight of that. Now, how many of you believe you're saved by grace, through faith, by the shed blood of Christ? You can't be saved any other way, it's just by grace. I'm telling you, Satan wants to take that doctrine of salvation by grace. And he wants to turn, he wants to use that and flip it so he can turn you and I into spiritual sloths. Well, how's he wanting to do that? Well, I'm saved by grace. I guess it don't matter how I live. I'm saved by grace. It's by God's grace and he's going to keep me. I guess it don't matter. No, it does matter. it does matter. Not for salvation, but because you're saved, you want and desire to follow God's command. Don't be slothful. Don't be idle. You know, Jesus said, my father work at hitherto and I work like his father. Bible talks about studying to be quiet and doing our own business and working with our own hands. The Bible says, if any would not work, neither should he eat. That's a good principle right there, parents. You didn't make your bed. You didn't clean your room. No breakfast. When can I eat when you do your work? When you do what I asked you to do, then it's lunchtime. But it's 12 o'clock. You didn't do your chores. So I guess we're not eating at 12 o'clock. That's a Bible principle. And God's not talking about starving your kids. God's not talking about abusing your kids. He's teaching us. To teach them to not be idle sloths. Right? Sloths. I think you'll be looking up sloths this week, I know. You know they don't do much, they just spend their whole life, I hear, on the same tree. They come down once a week to go to the bathroom and that's it. That's their life. And I'll tell you, that's the life of some young people. It's just they're trapped in a room, they got the headpiece on, they're in front of a screen, their thumbs can move 3,000 miles a minute, and they come out, you know, once an hour to go to the bathroom. And that's their life, every day, all day. There's a lot more to see in the world than a screen with a game. amen and praise the Lord there's a lot God wants us to do he told us go into all the world he said run that you may obtain he didn't want you to run in a circle that you may obtain he's talking about pressing on all of these words and descriptions of what we are as Christians is to go forth not just hang out on the same tree as like a sloth and the Bible talks about in Romans 12 in that same verse fervent in spirit. That's having strong feelings. God wants you to be a strong Christian. He doesn't want you to be so cold and so unemotional because you're just focused on trying to be The dignified Christian. No. Be fervent in spirit. That word has to do with being hot. 2 Peter 3 talks about that the elements shall melt with, you know what type of heat the Bible describes it as? Fervent heat. That means it's really, really hot. That's fervency. Fervent has to do with boiling over. You put a boiling, you put a pot, you got a hot pan, you got a stove, you turn that thing all the way up, you put your pan, you put your boiling. Let me try that again. I got so fervent I'm just messing up my words. you put some water in a pot and then you put it on the stove and it boils over. That's the fervency. You ever hear the expression, man, that guy's on fire for God. That's the fervency is the idea. God wants us to be on fire for God. In other words, He wants us to be actively boiling over in our spirit. Fervent for Him. The Bible talks about, and above all things have fervent charity. What a beautiful word, charity. Our Bible conference was themed around that last year. Man, we got some help. And then I read this verse, studying Romans 12, when it talks about having fervent charity. You're just boiling over with charity. Man, I'd like to be that. Wouldn't you? I'm not there, but I'd like to get there. I'd like to go and press and try to run to obtain that. You know what type of prayer availeth much? Man, God, I just want God to hear my prayer. Well, the Bible says the effectual, fervent prayer. Dear God, rub-a-dub-dub, bless this grub and I can, you know. Okay, but can you do better than that? Can you fervently cry out to God? Yeah, but I'm hungry. It's okay, you can eat cold food. Yeah, I mean, try this one dad. See how this one goes over. Take the family out to eat and when the hot food comes, pray for 20 minutes. Nobody's going to be happy with you. Now, okay, maybe that's out of place, out of line, but what I'm talking about is we're worried about our food going cold, amen, and we're not worried about our spirits going cold. Let's have some fervency in our spirit and in our charity and in the way that we pray. How many of you read E.M. Bound's book on prayer? Get that book this week. And if you don't get it, I'll give you a copy of mine. Man, that's a necessary reading. I think you can still go to his house in Georgia. I think they turned it into a museum, and I think they've got all kinds of stuff there now. But I believe you can go right to where in that house where he had his bed, and you can see on the wood floor where it was worn out because that man was up at 4 a.m. praying. And he'd pray for two, three, four hours. I'm telling you, Sunday morning, you can draw a crowd of a hundred. Sunday afternoon, you can draw 50. Midweek service, preachers all across America might get 25 to come to that. Where are the two or three that show up at the prayer meeting? I'm telling you, our life has to be flipped around. We need some praying Christians with some fervency in their spirit. If we're going to do anything for God, we want the doctrine. We want the safety. We forgot that our spirit should be full of fervency. That's the type of Christianity that the Bible describes. And then it says, serving the Lord. That's what it's for. We broke down Romans 12, the first two verses. It's a sacrificial response. Our life serving God. Verses 3 through 8, we looked at the response of humility and it's our serving within the local body, our church, our church family. Now we're in the midst of verses 9 through 21, and that's a response of love, and that's how we serve and live as Christians in society. Chapter 12 is all about serving, and not slothful, but fervent. Man, we've heard this, you always want the guy as your workmate who's the one that's willing to go above and beyond. That's what we're talking about, fervency. Look at the next one, verse number 12. The Bible says, rejoicing in hope. Go to Colossians chapter number 1. The Bible talks about hope quite a bit. Specifically, we have as Christians a blessed hope, and the Bible... talks about that in 1 Thessalonians 4, and that blessed hope is that Christ is going to call out His church. And when the Bible talks about in Romans 12 rejoicing in hope, that's why I can rejoice. I've got a blessed hope. But there's also another verse that I'd like us to look at in 1st Colossians. In Colossians chapter number 1, Bible says in verse 23, Colossians 1, If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away, here it is, from the hope of what? The gospel, which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister. Now watch this. who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. Not only do we have a blessed hope that we can look forward to, but right now we have the hope of the gospel. We must not, as individual Christians and as a church family, move away from the hope of the gospel. You know how preachers move away from it? You know how they move their churches away from it? They're tired of fighting. They're sick and tired of the persecution. They're tired of being talked about and made fun of. God says don't be moved from it. If churches want to redefine the definition of marriage, you know what fixes that? The hope of the gospel. Now you might have to suffer through that because somebody in your family went woke. They just went vile. They went deep into sin. You know what their hope is? The gospel. How are we going to fix this country? The hope of the gospel. If you ever had the opportunity to meet a high dignitary or somebody of high office in our government, president, vice president, I hope you wouldn't argue with them about policy. I hope that you and I would give them the hope of the gospel. That's what Biden needs. That's what Harris needs. They need the hope of the gospel. That's the only thing that's going to change their wretched, wicked mind and soul. Because that's what changed us. You don't get to where you are as a Christian without the life changing power of the gospel. Don't forget that. You might have been saved a decade or two decades. You've got to sometimes go back to where you were, not to stew in your sin, just to remember what your hope was. And it was that saving gospel. Colossians talks about that. You might have to go through some suffering. And the Bible talks about that same verse. You don't have to turn there, but it says, patient in tribulation. So it says, Romans 12, 12, rejoicing in hope and then patient in tribulation. Go to James chapter number one. The Bible talks a lot about patience too. It talks about knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Now you know that we are going to go through some tribulation. God has set aside a time of tribulation for His nation. But right now God's not dealing with nations, He's dealing with individuals. So we are not going to go through the time of tribulation that's known as Jacob's trouble. That's for the nation and its purification. Right now, we are going to go through some tribulation as individuals. God's not dealing with nations. He's dealing with individuals right now. So you and I are going to suffer some tribulation. Watch what James chapter number 1 says. Verse 2, My brethren, Count it all, what's the word? Joy. When ye fall into divers temptations. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Lord, I don't like that verse. Okay. But let patience have her perfect work. God says, I don't care if you don't like it. You better allow it. You better let it. You better let patience have her perfect work. Why? That ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. You know what tribulation is? The path to patience. It's the path to patience. I've said this before, I'll say it again, don't sign up for it. You don't have to. It's going to come your way. Okay? But tribulation is the path to patience. My husband, he just doesn't have any patience. Yeah. Well, you probably don't either ladies. And he's probably thinking the same thing. If my wife would just be more patient with me, maybe I'd get done what she asked me to get done five times this week. Right? Don't we play those games? I'm telling you, the tribulation and that's, that's petty stuff. We can work through that, but it's the path to patience and God's going to put us through some tests. So, what do we do? Go back to Romans 12 and get Acts 2. Romans 12 and Acts 2. Romans chapter 12, verse 12, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, and then it says continuing instant, in. Prayer. We talked about this a little bit earlier. I want to park here for just a bit. And I ask you to get Acts as well. Look at chapter 2. Continuing instant in prayer. Acts 2. Watch what the Bible says. The early church. Verse 41, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. You receive the word of God, you're born again, then you're baptized. Baptized by water. And that same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. Man, that's a lot of souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship. Both of them. They didn't just come learn doctrine, they actually fellowshiped with each other. And in breaking of bread, and what's the last part? And in prayers. When was the last time? You got together as brothers and sisters in Christ and just prayed. I'm not talking about it as a family before a meal. I'm talking about you had somebody over or it was after church or it was fill in the blank and you just prayed, hey, can you pray with me? Not, yeah, I'll pray for you, brother. How many of you said, yeah, I'll pray for you and then you never prayed for them? I mean, I've done that. I'm sure you've done that. You know what they did in the early church? They got together and they prayed with each other. Hey, will you pray for me? Yeah, I'll pray for you, sister. How about this? Will you pray for me? Yeah, how about I pray for you right now? How about we do that now? How many of you have done that? Yeah, we've done that before. We need to do more of that. We need to do more of it. Look at the sixth chapter of Acts. Acts chapter 6. Watch what it says in verse... Number four, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. It wasn't one at the exclusion of the other. It was a way that they gave. Should we give financially? Yes, but there's other ways to give the Bible talks about. Give of yourself to prayer. That it was not, prayer was not a formality to the early church. And it shouldn't be a formality to us. Watch this in Acts 12. How many of you would like to be in this chapter? Not me. Acts 12, verse 5. Watch what it says. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison. I wouldn't have wanted to have been Peter's prison buddy. Watch what it says. But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. When Peter was in prayer, guess what God's people were doing? Praying. I don't ever want to be locked up. for the hope of the gospel. But if I am, but if I am, and help me with this, give me some charity amens, alright, I'll cue you and I'll fish for these. Look, I would hope if I do get locked up for the hope of the gospel, I would hope that my church family doesn't say, oh, I wonder where we're going to go to church next Sunday. I guess we need to find somewhere else to go. No, I hope you'd be saying, let's get together and pray for a preacher. I'd hope you'd pray for me. Thank you. You know, we need to pray for each other. Christianity isn't a formality. Christianity is a real relationship with a living God and with His people. That's what a church family is. We pray for each other. And now watch what happens. Here's... This is beautiful. This is the Peter I'd like to be. I wouldn't want to be if he was in prison. I wouldn't want to be verse 5, but I would want to be verse number 12. I thought this would be pretty cool. Watch. He finally, he gets out, the angel comes, he gets out of prison. Now, watch what happens in verse 12. And when he had considered the thing, He came to the house of Mary, this is Peter, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. Then Peter comes, knocks on the door. Isn't that pretty cool? That's true biblical Christianity in action. They were serious prayer warriors. And I believe we should strive to be the same. Continuing in prayer, patience, I wrote this down, patience allows you to ride the storm out, but prayer gives us the endurance as we're in the midst of the storm. If you're like me, which we're probably all like, if you're going through a trial or tribulation, you're probably not praying as much as if you weren't going through that trial or tribulation. This is why when Peter was in prison, he's going through the trial and the way God has it, it's almost pictured like when you're in the midst of the prison and the trial. Others now are praying for you. I'm going through a trial, I'm not praying, I'm trying to get out of the trial, I'm not praying as much. But if you're praying for me and vice versa, this is why we ask for prayer requests. I'm not saying you don't or shouldn't pray in a tribulation. All I'm saying is you need God's people to amp that up. There's no way you could pray for yourself as much or as effectual as 20 of God's people. There's no way. It's just sheer numbers and that's what God wants. Go back to Romans chapter number 12 and get Ephesians 4. We're going to cover something that's another touchy subject. Ephesians 4 you'll need and then Romans 12. Don't get mad at me if you don't agree with this. Just think on it and if you are mad just take a couple of days to pray about it before you do want to call me out on it. I believe this is right. I believe this is right. Romans 12 says, distributing to the necessity of lost people in our community. Okay, this is the rough road here. Distributing to the poor people that won't work so we're going to fund them. It doesn't say that either. It says distributing to the necessity of who? Saints. I want to give to saints. God wants you to give to saints. Saints are living people who are God's people. I am not going to give of my money to a lost person so that they can spend it serving the devil. I'm not going to do it. I want to give to God's people who are saints because I know if they have a need, they are going to use it for the right purpose. I'm not giving to any political outfit. I'm just not doing it. I'm not telling you what to do. I'm not giving to somebody...our church is not going to give to somebody who is homeless because they've overdosed on drugs and they've refused to get into a mission house where there's some accountability where it teaches them to work. I'm not giving them my money. They're not a saint. They're going to waste it. They're going to use it on drugs. I'm not giving God's money to be used by Satan's crowd. I've gotten some food for folks like that, and I'm sure you have, or you would think about doing that. And look, you see somebody that is cold, needs a meal, okay, well be warm and filled, and we'll see you later. No, I'll help them. But look, if somebody isn't a saint, they need the hope of the gospel. And if you sincerely have a need, And it's necessary. You know what I am commanded to do? And if you're saved, you know what you're commanded to do? Give to that. Take what you have and distribute it to them. Yeah, but don't you feel sorry for the person that's shooting needles in their arms and doing drugs and they don't have any money to go buy more drugs? No, I'm not sorry for them. I'm not. I love them and because I love them, I'm going to give them some tough love and they're going to have to come to grips with they need the gospel. And I'll take them to a homeless shelter and I'll help them. You want some money? Okay, here's how money works. Leaves need to be raked, grab rake, rake leaves, money comes after. I don't want to do that. Then leave. It's not right to just feel sorry for somebody. They need the hope of the gospel. If you want to, this is a wood floor, it needs to be vacuumed and swept every week. If somebody comes in and says they need money, here's what I would say to them and I would suggest that you can say to them. Well, could you help us sweep the floor? Yes. Okay, then when that's done, I'll give you some money. I don't have a problem with that. But this idea that we're just supposed to look at everybody and say, hey, let's just dump our money into them. I want, if it's necessary for you or you or me. Let's give to each other. That's what the early church did. All things were common. Not everybody has a tractor, but if you need one and somebody has one, that's the idea. Not everybody has a chainsaw, but if you need one and a brother or sister has one, that's how the early church worked. When they saw that a saint had a need, they found out what the need was and then they gave to that need. Okay. And that is not church. It's not government welfare. It's the church. doing what God commanded its church to do. Okay, now I ask you to turn to Ephesians 4. I probably said enough already on this, but... Let's see, Ephesians 4, yeah, let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him what? Labor. That's the idea. Oh, we need a hole dug in the back. Okay, grab the shovel, do some labor. Don't steal no more. You're going to learn to labor and then we'll give some money. That's the idea. Rather let him labor working with his hands. Don't make me work all week and then the government tells me I got to give my money to people that won't work. It's absolutely insane. working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. What's the other reason why we work? I work because it might become necessary for you a need might become necessary in your life. So I work not just to provide for my family, but I work because God has commanded me that I need to be ready to distribute what I have to you if you honestly have a need. So God says, you're a thief, you're stealing. Look, don't do that anymore. Instead, you're going to labor, not just for yourself, so that you have money to give to others. That's why we work. As Christians, you see a need and you give to that need. And you know what we find out when we do that, when we live like that? Our needs are always met. Isn't that a beautiful picture? How God has it work. Then it says given to hospitality in Romans 12 and verse 13. Given to hospitality. A hospital is where people go to get better. That's a hospital. And that's the root word there. And that is another way to give. we give this given to hospitality. It's a command from God to the body of Christ. In 1 Peter it talks about to use hospitality one to another without grudging. Turn to Hebrews 13. We're to use hospitality without grudging, the Bible talks about. It's like nobody invites a family over at 5 o'clock for dinner. And then when they come over, well, what are you doing here? You're five minutes early. I didn't tell you to bring a pie. Why'd you bring a pie? Nobody would do that because we're supposed to be given to hospita-supposed to be without grudging. Talks about the same way when we give of our finances. You get $5 here, you get $10 there. I don't feel like it. Well then don't give. Go take the money and spend it at McDonald's if that's going to make you happy. But God's people are happy to give to God's work. God's people are happy to be hospitable to each other. Hebrews 13, watch what it says. Verse number... Verse number... No, that's not right. Yeah, it is. That's right. Verse number one. Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers. Don't forget entertainment. Now, in the world, you would have to pay for entertainment, and it's typically not good. It's going to be a movie that's got blasphemy in it or some type of thing Christians shouldn't be listening to. But you know you're going to have to pay for entertainment out in the world. Christian entertainment's free. You entertain someone. You show some hospitality. You're given to that. It makes you happy and it's a blessing to them. It's as simple as, hey, just come on over and we just fellowship. You love on each other. You're entertaining the guest. Christian entertainment, it's free. It's the best entertainment there is. It's talking about in Romans 12, be given to hospitality and be happy about it. And then it says in Romans 12, bless them which persecute you. And because we need to hear it again, God says, bless and curse not. Bless them which persecute you. Now, what did we talk about? At the beginning of Romans, God says, don't be conform to this world? Well, if you're conformed to this world, you won't get persecuted. But if you are transformed by the renewing of your mind, like we looked at the beginning of Romans, guess what is going to happen? You're going to be persecuted. If you come out with us and you hand out gospel tracts and you get out into the public, you will find persecution. It happened to me the other week. I don't know why it happens to me. I'm kind of wanting it to happen to somebody else just so that I don't have to, you get, I don't know if I got a magnet or a sign on the back that says, hey, give that guy a hard time. And look, it wasn't that bad, but this guy wore me out for a few minutes and told me basically Christianity is a hoax and that whole thing. And you know what God says? Don't curse that man back. You know what I wanted to do? I mean, my blood was boiling. I just couldn't wait to have a minute to speak. I think I handled it right. But I need this verse because God tells me don't curse that man, bless that man. Give him something. Give him something that will be a blessing to him. Many of us need some help in that area. We'll say, well, bless God, he deserved it. Well, bless God, God said bless others. That's out in society. Don't be rude. Don't be mean. If somebody doesn't want a gospel tract, say thank you, have a good day. Bible says, you want a gospel tract? Well, I'm good. I say, well, Bible says there's none good. I don't want one. Okay, have a good day. Look, you can't keep pressing and poking at people to rudely get at them. You're supposed to be out there to bless them. I understand we need to contend for the faith. Who did Jesus let have it? Ye blind guides! He called them hypocrites and he called them fools. He didn't call the blind followers that. He went after the leaders and He called them names. So you get Osteen or Rick Warren or you get Furtick, Stephen Furtick and Paula White and all these fakers, all these deliverance, new apostolic, reformation guys. Call them out, man. Let them have it. That's what Jesus did. He called out the blind guides, not the blind followers. And so when we're out there, we need to be... Aware, just to not let people have it just to make yourself feel good. 1 Corinthians 4, I've got to hurry up here. 1 Corinthians 4, it says, in labor, working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer it. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world and are the out-offscoring of all things unto this day. Somebody reviles you, just bless them. I know it's hard. It's easy to preach. I know it's hard to live for me too, but let's not forget it. When you look at Acts, I'm going to show you, man, Paul, on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we get the book of Romans. Watch how Paul handled this, and you probably handled this the same way. Maybe you wouldn't. I think I would. Look at Acts 23. There wasn't a better Christian than Paul, in my opinion. Acts 23, look at verse number 2. And the high priest, Ananias, commanded them that they stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Now watch what Paul says. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. Now that would be me in the flesh. That would probably be you in the flesh. Man, no one's going to smite me. Man, God, you smite that guy. Yet he tells us it's Christians. No, no, no, no, no. You eat it. You eat it. You find a way that they can be blessed. Now Stephen did this. Stephen did it in Acts 7. You don't have to turn there. But he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice. He said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. It was right before they stoned him to death. Stephen had a hold of that verse. Jesus had it. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Can you and I be like Jesus the next time somebody gives it to us? Can we be like Stephen? You'd figure Paul would have it, man. He saw. He was right there. He witnessed that. But he had a hard time with it in Acts 28. I believe we all would have a hard time with it. Tyndale, you know what he cried out? Oh Lord, open the king of England's eyes. Translated the Bible into English. Three years later, they strangled him to death, burned him at the stake in 1536, I think it was. Man, that would be a great one. They redid a thing back in the 80s on that. You can get it for free on YouTube. Watch that William Tyndale, God's outlaw, man. That's a great one. Or you can just read about him. Oh Lord, open up the king of England's eyes. And you know what happened three years later? His eyes were opened. We have our English Bible today. A lot because of Tyndale's work. I mean, he died for the Bible. He had a hold of that verse. He had a hold of it. The keynote of Christianity is blessing. We say, man, I want to get a blessing. God says, okay, you can get a blessing by being a blessing. Last thing, we'll look at Romans 12, 15. Look at it real quick. And get that with 1 Corinthians 12 and then we'll close out. 1 Corinthians 12, 26 and Romans 12 will be our last spot we'll get to this morning. Verse number 15 of Romans 12, the Bible says, Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Remember last Sunday we talked about Lazarus and Jesus raising him, bringing him back from the dead. You know what else it says in that chapter? It's the shortest verse. It says, Jesus wept. Look, Jesus knew where Lazarus was, and Jesus knew he can bring him back. But you know what Jesus also knew? This verse, weep with them that weep. Jesus, as our example, had This perfect example where he was able to step into the sorrow that you were feeling. And that's why it says he wept. Because he's able to step into the pain that someone else is feeling. And that's our example. If you're weeping over something, I should be there to weep with you. Husbands, if your wife is... In stress or anguish or sorrow over something, I'm telling you, I need to hear this too, so I'll say it. It goes for me too. It is not time for us to put on our Mr. Fix-It. of cape. It's time for us to weep with them that weep. That's what it's time for. There's nothing to fix. Just get in there and weep with them that weep. And look, you have somebody that's a dying saint or a dear friend that's about to step out into eternity. Where are they going to go? With the Lord. Praise God. They're going to be happy and we're going to be down here dealing with the misery of people. But you know what God says? Just like Jesus knew where Lazarus was, we know where saints of God are going to go when they die. But at that bedside, you know what you're doing? You're weeping with the family that's weeping. You're stepping into that situation the same way Jesus did. And the same thing with our rejoicing. Somebody has a high time in their life, rejoice over that. And I'm telling you, we'll do 1 Corinthians 12. Let's get there. We'll read this verse and finish up. We can get real good at evangelizing, at witnessing, at learning doctrine, at rightly dividing the word of truth, and we can be real bad at not weeping with those that weep and rejoicing with those that rejoice. God wants us to be careful of it. 1 Corinthians 12, and we'll be done. And whether one, verse 26, 1 Corinthians 12, and whether one member suffer. All the members suffer with it. Church family, I don't plan on going through anything hard or suffering over the next week, but I would hope that if I did, you would be there to help me get through it. And if you're going through something hard next week, I hope you don't. But if you do, I hope, ladies, you can call any one of these ladies, men, you can call any one of these men, and we will be there with you. Why? Because if you hurt, I hurt. That's what a body does. It hurts together. You hit your toe, your whole body hurts. That's why this is a beautiful verse. All the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all the members are jealous and just start talking about them and posting all this bad stuff on social media. or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now, you are the body of Christ and members in particular. Let's not forget to do that this week. Find a brother or sister and just rejoice with them or weep with them, whatever they need.
