Celebrating Faith & Love in Affliction

Stay in the worship with us. I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus Cuz he's never let me down Faithful through Generations So I would he fail I Still got joy I've got peace. That makes no sense. So I won't be Go I'm not held by my own strength Jesus He's never let me down So I would he fail Oh He won't He won't Says my firm foundation He's the rock on which I stand with everything around me shaking I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus Cuz he's never let me down Generation So I would he fail now you won't Oh He won't He won't I Say You Say

You Oh I'm standing strong I'm gonna make it through Is my house Christ is my foundation Everything around me I put my faith in Jesus As he's never let me down So I would Now He won't ♪ He won't fail, he won't fail, no he won't ♪ Amen, amen. Give God praise this morning. The church, it is good to be in the house of the Lord worshiping, whether you're here in person, if you're watching online at home, if you're watching from your prison cell, we just say amen and blessed be the name of the Lord this morning. Well, a few of us just got back from Africa and it was amazing, amazing time there. We got to spend some time with some church planters that came in from another country that is closed off and that we couldn't go visit. So we got to, they got to come kind of meet in the middle. But one of the things I took away from that trip is every time they got to share their stories before they would share anything was,

I just thank God that I'm here. I just thank God that I'm standing. I just thank God that I am breathing. I thank God that I am present in his presence. And then they would share a story that was just things that we couldn't fathom. 99% of us can't imagine the persecution that they're going under. They're getting beaten. Their churches are getting destroyed. It's terrible. But everything they say is I just thank God that I'm here. And when they pray, they don't pray for their circumstances to change. They don't pray for life to be easier. They're praying that God uses those circumstances to bring people closer to him. And it's something that was just such a beautiful thing to see that I personally need to learn and take to heart. But I love that no matter what, we are all coming in with different circumstances, different things going on. But no matter what, we're just glad to be here. We're glad for the breath in our lungs. We turn that breath to praise the Lord. So no matter what it is we're walking these doors with, we can still say that God, you are a firm foundation. When everything is going crazy, you're a firm foundation. And just because we're here, Father, it's a beautiful thing to say the breath in our lungs,

we can turn that and we just get to bless you this morning. So we bless the God this morning as we sing. ♪ Blessed are those who run to Him, who place their hope in Him ♪ ♪ And confidence in Jesus, they won't forsake Him ♪ ♪ Blessed are those who seek His face, who bend their knee ♪ ♪ And fix their gaze on Jesus, they won't be shaken ♪ ♪ Come on and praise the Lord with me, sing if you love Him ♪ ♪ Sing if you love His name, come on and lift your voice with me ♪ ♪ He's worthy of all of praise ♪ ♪ Blessed are those who walk with Him, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage with Jesus ♪ ♪ Sing His glory, blessed are those who die to live, His joy it is to give it all for Jesus ♪ ♪ And for Him only, oh Jesus, all for your glory ♪ ♪ Come on and praise the Lord with me, sing if you love Him ♪ ♪ Sing if you love His name, come on and lift your voice with me ♪ ♪ He's worthy of all of praise, come on and praise, come on and praise, go all for Him ♪ ♪ Sing if you've known His grace, come on and lift up your holy hands, He's worthy of all of praise ♪ ♪ Come on and praise the Lord with me, sing if you've known His grace, come on and praise, come on and praise, go all for Him ♪ ♪ Sing if you've known His grace, come on and lift up your holy hands, He's worthy of all of praise ♪ ♪ He's worthy of all of praise, come on and praise, come on and praise, go all for Him ♪ ♪ Bless God in your sanctuary, bless God in the floods of plenty ♪ ♪ Bless God in the darkest valley, every chance I get I'll bless your name ♪ ♪ Bless God when my hands are empty, I'll bless your name, bless God when my hands are empty ♪ 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 010. 011. 012.

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015! 015! 015! 015! 015! 015! 015! 015! 015! 015! 015! 015! 015! 015! And you are lifted high Holy Holy fingers If you've been forgiven, sing my name And if you've been forgiven And if you've been redeemed We'll sing the song forever to the living If you walk in freedom If you walk in freedom And if you bear his name We'll sing the song forever ♪ Sing a song, oh sing a song forever and amen ♪ ♪ And the angels cry holy, all creation cry holy ♪ ♪ You are lifted high, holy, holy forever and amen ♪ ♪ Holy forever, hear your people sing holy to the king of kings ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be holy, holy forever and amen ♪

♪ Your name, your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all, above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all, Jesus, your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest, your name always stands above them all, above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all, and the angels cry holy, all creation cries holy, you are lifted high, holy, holy forever and amen ♪ ♪ Hear your people sing holy to the king of kings, holy, you will always be holy, holy forever, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever, you will always be holy, holy forever and amen ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Worthy is the lamb who was slain, holy, holy is he, sing a new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy seat ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ I will adore you, I will adore you ♪ ♪ Cold and rainbows of living color ♪ ♪ Flashes of light and rolls of thunder ♪ ♪ Let singing honor, strength and glory and power be ♪ ♪ To you the only wise king ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You are my everything and I will adore you ♪ ♪ You are my everything and I will adore you ♪ ♪ You are my everything and I will adore you ♪ ♪ Filled with wonder, an Oscar wonder ♪ ♪ Breath and living water, such a marvelous mystery ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You are my everything and I will adore you ♪

♪ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You are my everything and I will adore you ♪ ♪ I will adore you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings ♪ ♪ You are my everything and I will adore you ♪ ♪ You are the King of kings, you are my everything ♪ ♪ And I will adore you ♪ ♪ And I will adore you ♪ This bold dream, he wanted to translate the Bible straight from the original Hebrew and Greek and get printed copies into the hands of everyday people who had never been able to read it for themselves. That belief came at a cost. Since only the Latin translation of the Bible was legal in his day, he had to flee his home, he had to live in hiding, and he risked his life to keep pursuing his goals. But he didn't do this alone. Behind the scenes, a successful merchant named Humphrey Monmouth personally supported Tyndale and he encouraged his local church to provide ongoing financial help. Together, they helped fuel the Protestant Reformation and they established new churches in England and beyond. Today, church planters are stepping out in faith,

sharing the gospel and making disciples. But just like with Tyndale, they're not meant to do this alone. They need partners and local support, people who are willing to stand behind the mission through prayer, encouragement and resources. Maybe your role is to go and maybe it's to stay and support. Either way, we're all one church called to live to send people open to how God can use us to impact his kingdom. Well, good morning. Welcome to 121. Whether this is your first time here or whether you've been coming for 26 years, we're glad that you're here this morning. My name is Kevin Brooks. I'm the mission pastor here at 121. And some of you might be wondering what it is I actually do. Sometimes I do announcements. What else do I actually do? And it's a valid question. What I do is I directly lead church planting, and then I oversee local, global, and neighborhood ministries as well. My wife, Sarah, and I have been coming to 121 since 2016, since before we were dating. And actually, Tyler Moffitt, who was here last week, married us in 2018. And we are very, very thankful for our time here at 121.

We did take a three-year gap from about 2020 to 2023. We moved out to Benbrook to be near our jobs out there. And then we moved back, and I've been on staff since about March of last year, so just a little bit over a year now. My wife and I have two kids, Emma and Luke. Emma is five, and Luke is three. This is a picture of them. They are the cutest kids in the world. Not partial at all to them, but they are wonderful. And if I have not had the chance to meet you yet, I would love to meet you. I would love to get to know you. Please send me an email or stop me sometime. I would love to get to know you. And if I have already met you before, then you know I went to Texas A&M. I love it. I do not hide it. And you might have also assumed that because I'm on stage, and Eric is the only longhorn that we allow up on stage, but my sister went to Texas A&M, too. And in her time, she's about three years older, her name is Lauren, and in her time at A&M, there was a stretch of Highway 6. And Highway 6 is the highway between College Station and here. And there was a stretch of highway that was unsafe to drive on.

You see, there were people for a short period of time that were impersonating police officers, and they would pull people over, they would get behind people who had a broken down car, and they would turn off their lights, they would rob them, or worse. And now, if you have kids going to A&M, that was a long time ago, so do not worry. It is a safe place to be. But this was happening at that time, and my sister had a late event. I'm not sure if it was a test or an event or something, but something went wrong, and her car broke down, and it was late at night on the way back from College Station in this stretch of highway during the time where these things were happening. So this little girl, what did she wanna do? She was 19 at the time, I say little, but she called my dad, and fully realizing the gravity of the situation, my dad wanted to go get her, but it's three hours drive. So he was physically unable to get there fast enough to really make an impact. And he realized the gravity of the situation that his favorite child, as she would say, this five, three, 19-year-old was alone on the side of a road in a dangerous place, and he couldn't do much about it, so he did what any father would do, and he called someone who was qualified to go.

He called someone, not just a random person, but someone that he knew, and knew well, who was qualified to go and take care of someone that he loved so much. And he called his best friend, Tex, who lived in Waco. And he woke him up in the middle of the night, and Tex got in his car, and he went out, and he helped my sister. Tex got the car going again, and then he gave my dad a full report that she was doing well, and then he celebrated, said, she's doing well, she's on her way home, she'll see you soon, she's doing well. So this is exactly what we see Paul and Timothy do in 1 Thessalonians 3. Someone he loves is in trouble, he can't go, so he sends someone else to build them up, to check on them, and then Timothy gives a full report. And we're gonna dive into that today. We have four main points that we're gonna make as we work through 1 Thessalonians 3. So you can go ahead and open your Bibles there now. And before we dive in, let's go ahead and pray, and then we'll get going. Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you that we are able to come and worship. we know that that is not the case in many places around the globe Lord we pray that you are just able to let us be here free from distractions that if there are any outside distractions that we are tempted to bring in that we would leave them at the door and be fully immersed in your presence father we

thank you for the ability to worship together today and we pray that you stir in our hearts what you need us to hear to serve your kingdom more we love you Lord and it's in Jesus name we pray amen all right so the first point that we see here in first Thessalonians 3 is that there is a strength in sending someone to check on others we see that Paul is sending Timothy and that there is a power in that so let's read verse 1 and 2 together therefore when we could bear it no longer we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone and we sent Timothy our brother and God's co-worker in the gospel of Christ to establish and exhort you in your faith so here in verse 1 let's start there when we could bear it no longer we should have the picture here that Paul was concerned about the Thessalonians and that he could bear it no longer it's getting to be summertime let's think about a water balloon here and many of us are familiar with what happens whenever we fill up a water balloon on the side of a house and it gets too much water in it it bursts and that's the picture that we should have here that Paul is giving he could bear it no longer his concern was overwhelming and he was willing to be left alone with Silas in Athens and they sent out Timothy they sent him to be with the Thessalonians and then we see that he gives Timothy one of the greatest titles and he perhaps he was trying to qualify Timothy to show he was worthy to be sent but he he gives him this title of our brother and God's co-worker in the gospel he wasn't just sending anybody he wasn't just sending old Timmy you go out there and check on the Thessalonians no no no he was sending Timothy his brother and his co-worker in the gospel someone who is qualified to go and we get the picture here that maybe they wanted Paul maybe they were disappointed I don't know but we see here that they are excited to see Paul later so maybe we can assume that just like Paul wanted to be there himself and like I said we'll see that moving forward here but why was he there why did he send Timothy to establish and exhort some versions say strengthen and encourage this version the ESV says to establish and exhort to establish to set firm their foundation in the faith so to establish in the faith and to exhort

exhort saying the hard things that someone might not want to hear but that they need to hear in order to further walk in a manner worthy of the Lord Zach van Veldhuizen did a great job a few weeks ago covering what it means to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord I encourage you to go back and listen to that message and then also we have a great podcast on this word exhort and it is episode 57 of against the grain and it is a great podcast that Eric and Brandon Smeltzer and Becky Stamps dive into this concept of exhort I got back from Africa this past week Travis mentioned it while he was up here there is a group of seven of us and we went to Africa to visit one of our global partners and pioneers Africa and there they have a team that is reaching unreached people groups people who have no access to the gospel in the middle of a persecuted country so they are experiencing this persecution we went to strengthen and encourage to establish and exhort them in the faith and this verse really came alive yes because we were seeing them in a place where they were going through a hard time we were going to strengthen and exhort but mainly I saw this first come alive because they didn't want me there they wanted Ross and they got me so it's probably how many of you are feeling too that you know what we wanted Ross and we got you Ross on sabbatical but I am here but we got to sit with them and we could see that they were walking in joy we got to see the tears on their face we got to see the power of Christ in them, and it was powerful. And we see here that there is power in sending someone. There's power in being face-to-face, just like Tyler talked about last week. So whenever Paul couldn't go himself, he sent Timothy to be face-to-face. We aren't called to do things alone. There's a power in sending someone to check face-to-face. The next point we will make here that we see here is that you will face affliction, you will.

We read verse three. Now, verse three is starting off in the middle of a sentence, so let's jump back to verse two. Why did he send Timothy? To establish and exhort, verse three, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. We are destined for this. This is a powerful statement. Paul knows that they are gonna face afflictions, and we are to face afflictions. Hard times, trouble, oppression, and we are destined for this. It will happen. He warned them of the afflictions before he left as well, verse four. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were gonna suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. So he warned them of this, and he was discipling them to face these afflictions before he left, and that's a way that we can still disciple to this day. It's countercultural to disciple in this way. Hey, you will go through a hard time. No one really wants to hear that. At the same time, that's what Paul did, and that's what he's saying here. It's hard to disciple about suffering when you're not in it, but he was preparing their hearts for it

because he knew what was coming. Then verse five, for this reason, when I could bear it no longer, he says it again. Whenever we see things repeated in scripture, we should take note, and we should get this image of the water balloon coming back in, that he is so concerned for them. He can bear it no longer. He can no longer contain it. He has to do something. He reiterates, and then five continues. I sent to learn about your faith for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would be in vain. The enemy is gonna attack us, and how we respond matters. Paul was worried that his work would be in vain, that all of his time would be in vain, that they were gonna go back to their old ways. He's laying out a logical pattern. He sent Timothy so that they would not be moved by these afflictions because he knew they were gonna face affliction, and he was concerned for them, so he's reminding them here that he sent out Timothy out of his concern that they might go back to their old ways. Again, we're gonna face afflictions, but it's not the circumstances around us that define us or that we should hold on to. It is Christ and Christ alone that we hold on to

in the midst of that. Travis mentioned it earlier, but it's not the circumstances that must get better in order for us to thrive. It's not at all. They are thriving in the midst of these circumstances, no matter what they face. 2 Corinthians 1, three through five said, "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "'the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, "'who comforts us in our affliction, "'so that we may be able to comfort those "'who are in any affliction with the comfort "'with which we ourselves are comforted by God. "'For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, "'so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.'" See, God is the one who gives us comfort despite our circumstances, not the circumstances themselves. And oftentimes we think that that's what we should do is pray for those circumstances. That's not what we see. Paul's concerned that that wouldn't be their response. He had to send Timothy. A few months ago, we had one of our church planters come and visit us. And we have a church planting team that we formed about 10, 11 months ago. And we've been walking through what church planting looks like here at 121.

And we invited our church planter to come in and we asked him, hey, what makes a good church planter? And he sat, he thought for a minute, then he responded. He could have responded in a number of ways. But what he said was, we must have a solid theology of suffering in order to church plant well. Because afflictions will come. And how you respond changes everything. The team we visited in Africa shared a little bit about their persecution. And Travis mentioned it a little bit up here as well. But there are times where they will go into villages. Our church, our global partners will go into these villages. And as soon as they start sharing the gospel and they see Some kind of life change happening. Oftentimes what happens is the leaders of that village don't like the life change that they see in the others. For whatever reason, they're thrown off by it. They don't like it. So what they do is they put on masks, sometimes they put on masks and they go and they beat our global partners because they're sharing the gospel. This is a reality that they live in. They know of others who have lost their lives who have been martyred for sharing the faith. That hasn't happened to our global partners, but it does happen. I asked one of the partners on the team here

about his courage and boldness in proclaiming the gospel. One of our partners in Africa. What does he root himself in? What scripture does he cling to to hold onto that courage to remind himself of the cross before he goes in somewhere? And he looked at me very confused, probably because he speaks French and I spoke English, but also because I don't think he fully understood why I would ask a question like that because he said, it's what we're called to do, wherever we are, whatever we do, wherever we go, however the response is, we're called to share the love of Christ. And I said, well, what do you do after you've been beaten? What does that look like for you? He said, well, I dust myself off. I just dust myself off and then I'll walk to the next village or I ride my bike to the next village. You see, and then he said, I pray for those that beat me. I pray that they come to know the Lord as well. And some have done just that. Some after beating him have come to the Lord weeks later, months later, years later, and he constantly prays for their hearts as well. And every now and then he'll go back and he'll check on these villages. What are we willing to endure for someone to come to know the Lord?

Who and what is worth the cost? God's economics don't make logical sense. What would you pay or give of yourself to see just one more person in heaven? That brings us to the third point that we see here. And that is that we are to celebrate the faith and love in each other. So verse six, but now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. Notice he didn't call out hope here. We'll dive more into that in future weeks. So he brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you. See, they love each other. They miss Paul. They long to see him and Paul longs to see them. And seven, for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction have been comforted about you through your faith. Paul and Silas are comforted by the Lord, by their faith, about their faith. And remember, Paul isn't saying this with an empty heart. He knows exactly what they're going through. Paul himself was persecuted. He is saying, I'm in affliction and I'm comforted by you. I'm comforted about your faith here. And he's celebrating. They're saying, you're doing it. You're experiencing the persecution

and your faith and love are growing. Praise the Lord. It's an excitement that he shows. And Paul has the scars and we have to remember that. He knows exactly what they're going through. Five times, 2 Corinthians 11, 24 through 28, five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. At night and at day, I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food and cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there's a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. See, he is concerned about the church because he knows all too well what they are going through. He's saying, you have the scars on your back just like me and you're doing it. Your faith and love are growing. Then he says, and before we get there, it's not just an empty I understand. A lot of times, whenever we walk with someone who's going through a hard time,

we say, I understand what you're going through or I know how you feel and you don't. There are many times where we say that and we don't know what someone's going. That's not what Paul is saying. Paul does understand. He's been there in this situation. And so he's able to say I'm comforted about you through your faith because he fully knows what they're going through and he's comforted by it. And then verse eight, for now we live if you are standing fast in the Lord. Now we live as if he wasn't living before. Now he is. Verse nine, for what Thanksgiving can we return to God for you? For all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God. I love this. He returns the Thanksgiving to the Lord because we ourselves bring nothing but he returns it to God for all the joy we feel for your sake before our God. So we can celebrate the faith that others have in times of persecution or in times of affliction. We can celebrate our church planters' faith when they suffer affliction for the sake of the gospel. We can celebrate that despite the persecution of our global partners in Africa, that in the past year, this group of six families, 10 to 12, or 12 total adults,

reached 10,000 people with the gospel. In this past year alone, just this small group of people, 10,000 plus people heard the gospel and 700 of those 10,000 came to know Christ. And many of those are planting churches in their village. Yes, praise the Lord. We can celebrate that and we can celebrate their faith and their love even in the midst of them being beaten whenever they go village to village. They go to two to three villages a day and they go in with the same enthusiasm for the gospel even if they were beaten in the one before. It is this kind of love and faith and joy that we get by seeing them and their persecution and their affliction and that they have, we celebrate their faith and love. Someone asked my mom years ago in the midst of a really hard time for your family, you say you would give anything for your kids to follow the Lord. And the woman said, what if this is that anything? It's not typically a way that we think. But maybe it should be. That we would give anything for our kids to know the Lord. Are we willing to go through the hard time it takes to get there? Sometimes, sometimes the Lord saves us and there's no afflictions and we celebrate that too. Hard situations do something in us though. Now are we coming alongside one another

and celebrating what the Lord is doing inside of those hard times or are we just praying for the hard times to end? Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing to pray for the hard times to end. But are we also celebrating what God is doing in the midst of that? Are we celebrating the faith and love in someone as they're going through a season where they're experiencing death around them? Or are we praying for those in prison and celebrating the faith and love that they feel? Or are we just praying that they would get out soon? Both are good things to pray, but I think oftentimes we forget to celebrate the right thing, celebrating the faith and love in the midst of trials and hard times. And that gives us, brings us to the last point here, that we should pray for one another. Verse 10 is a continuation of verse nine. Verse nine, for what Thanksgiving can we return to God? For you all to, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God. Verse 10, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. So when do we pray? When do we pray for others? We see in verse 10, we pray night and day. 2 Timothy 1.3 also points out this praying night and day.

Psalm 38.1 and Psalm 55.17 also point out night and day. And there are many other times in the Bible where we see this concept of praying always, of praying night and day. And that's exactly what Paul is doing here for the Thessalonians, knowing that they're going through a hard time. And now even in the joy that they're feeling, he's continuing to pray for them night and day. So through the hard times and the good times, he is always praying. Verse 11, now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. So we can pray that we see each other again. As Tyler said last week, and as we've reiterated, there is power in being face to face. There is a power in being with people. There's a power in seeing. joy on their face, to giving a hug. There's a power and a strength here. In verse 12, may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you. So we can pray that we increase and abound in love, that we are filled up and that we overflow with love for one another. Get the image of Psalm 23 here, the cup overflows to increase and abound. And then my three favorite words in this passage here are, and for all, this and for all.

It's not just the believers. It's not just the church that we should love like this. It's all the nations. It's all the believers and the non-believers alike. You see, it's a temptation for us to just love those around us, to just love those well in our life groups or in the church, to just see those needs and meet those. And we should be doing that for each other. And also, we should be showing love to those around us that might not be believers as well. It's easy to put ourselves in a bubble. That's not what we are called to do, and we see that here. John 13, 34 and 35, Jesus says, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you. You are also to love one another. 35, by this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. And we love one another best when we are abiding in the Lord. And where are we showing this love to people? And whenever we do show this love to people, do we tell them why? That God so loved the world that he sent his only son, Jesus, to live on earth. He lived a perfect life. He was crucified on the cross for our sins, for my sins, for your sins, for your guilt, for your shame, for mine. And that three days later, he rose again,

and now he sits at the right hand of the Father. Are we willing to say that is the reason why we love? And people, oftentimes I find, they're afraid of this term evangelism, or they're afraid to go evangelize to people, and they think it's this some scary or hard thing, but it's not. It's just loving someone well and telling them why you're able to love them well. It's because of the love of Christ. It's the love that Christ shows us that we're able to love others well, and we can tell them about it. We can tell them about the hope that Christ brings, that we can live forever with him whenever we believe what he has done for us. Wherever we go, we can tell people of this hope, and that's what it means to be sent. That's one of the things. That's one of the ways that we can be a sent people, that no matter where we go, no matter what we do, we have Christ on our lips, and we tell people about him wherever we go, and we love people well wherever we go. Whatever we do, we do it in love. So are we praying for each other to abound in love? It makes people question why. Why would someone love me in this way? And are we willing to answer that? So what else does he pray for?

And what is he saying here? Says, so that, 13, so that he may establish, he, the Lord, may establish your hearts blameless and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. You see, Jesus lived the blameless and holy life that we are unable, and he's the only one who can establish our hearts as blameless and holiness, so that he may establish, and 13, he's the only one that can do this, and do we believe him, that he will? You see, we are saved whenever we believe, but then we also have the opportunity to grow closer with him, and grow closer to him, and in that, we are sanctified. We become more and more like him, and he establishes our hearts as blameless and holiness before God, before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. So we see the power in sending someone to visit others in the midst of affliction. We celebrate the faith and love that we see each other's, see in each other, and lastly, we pray for love to increase and abound in one another, and for all. So we're gonna pray here in a minute. Then we're gonna bring Travis back out after, and you'll notice worship was different this morning, and it's gonna be different whenever Travis comes back out. We're worshiping in a way where we can see each other face-to-face.

It's aligned with this, and it's also a great picture. Revelation 7, 9 and 10, where a great multitude are worshiping together with people from every nation, tribe, people, and language, crying out, salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And I challenge you, what are you willing to do? To see one more person in heaven, to where you're worshiping, and you see one more person there, because you had the courage, the boldness, to share the love of Christ with them. I wanna close with this. One of our global workers texted me this story on Thursday, and I thought it would be fitting to close out with this today. Here's what he said. One of the local leaders shared about a conservative religious family who initially wanted very little interaction with the believers serving in their area. Because of years of mistrust and deeply held assumptions about Christians, they were hesitant even to engage in conversation. However, during a conflict in the area, members of the underground church continued visiting them quietly and consistently, bringing food, medicine, and essential supplies without asking for anything in return. Over time, the family's perspective began to change.

The mother of the household eventually said, with tears in her eyes, we always thought Christians only spoke about love, but now we have seen it with our own eyes. You stood beside us when others did not. That simple act of compassionate presence opened the door for deeper conversations about faith, hope, and the love of Christ. Father, we thank you today for all that you continue to do in, around, and through us. Father, we pray that love would abound in church plants, in our church plants here, in our global partners, in our global workers who are sent out from 121. Lord, we pray that love would increase and abound in them. Father, we thank you for all that you continue to do through them and that you reach each and every one of us in unique ways, that you are our Father. Lord, we pray that all here are able to grow in their faith, that every person who knows you would grow deeper in relationship with you. And Father, we pray for those that don't know you today, that they would come to know you and start that deep relationship with you. In Jesus' name, I'll give us some space here to reflect on what God is stirring in your heart. And this time, would you ask the Lord how he would lead you to support and care for those around you? ♪ When you are back, come back ♪ ♪ Bring back to the times you stood alone ♪

♪ You saw every heart that is broken ♪ ♪ Every heart that is broken ♪ ♪ Where are you, Lord? ♪ ♪ You are life, you are love ♪ ♪ You bring life to the darkness of the world ♪ ♪ You restore every heart that is broken ♪ ♪ Where are you, Lord? ♪ ♪ There's no breath behind us, so we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ There's no breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise ♪ ♪ You are holy ♪ ♪ You are life, you are love, you bring life to the darkness of the world ♪ You light to the darkness, You heal all, You restore every heart that is broken. Great are You, Lord. There's no breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You, Lord. There's no breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. There's no breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. Now the earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing. Great are You, Lord. Now the earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing. Great are You, Lord. Now the earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing. Great are You, Lord. There's no breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. There's no breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. There's no breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. There's no breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. Now the earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing. Great are You, Lord. Now the earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing.

Great are You, Lord. www.mooji.org