7/5/2026
07.05.2026 - Living as a Disciple, Part 2
What if discipleship is more costly than we like to admit? Romans 12:9-13 shows us a faith that is real in love and steady in trouble. This message matters because it calls us beyond talk into a life that honors Christ and strengthens the church. It also points us toward hope and prayer when life gets hard, and toward a fellowship where we carry one another’s burdens. Transcription available.
Transcription
07.05.2026_-_transcribe_-_living_as_a_disciple2.pdf
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Sermon Outline:
I. Love must be sincere and good (v. 9)
II. Believers should treat one another as family (v. 10)
III. We must be diligent in serving the Lord (v. 11)
IV. We should rejoice in hope and pray in trouble (v. 12)
V. We should meet needs and show hospitality (v. 13)
Romans chapter 12, continuing on our study in Romans. We started noticing last week, and I thought it was interesting, Marilyn mentioned in her presentation, the importance of really discipling and discipleship and following the Lord. And that's what we started last week.
Here in Romans 12, I believe it is talking about how to be a good disciple. You know, many people, they'll get saved, they'll trust the Lord, and then they'll just do what they want for the rest of their lives, thinking that they're okay. They got a ticket to heaven, they can do what they want.
But no, God expects us to be disciples. He expects us to follow his teaching and to emulate it with those that we run into, to duplicate it. So last week, as we were looking at really Romans verse 3 through 18 in different parts, we saw 3 and 8 last week, where we learned about the unity of the body, we learned about the gifts of the Spirit.
Today, we have part number 2, and it centers on the believer's outward actions toward others. As a disciple, let's read verses 9 through 13, and we'll go back and look at them probably pretty quickly. Verse 9, let love be without dissimilation.
Abhor that which is evil, cling to that which is good, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, and honor preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality.
These are all things that show that we are a follower of Christ because we are showing others really Christlikeness, being like Jesus. Let's look at each of these a little bit individually. It starts out in verse 9, let love be without dissimilation.
It's a big word. It just really means love that is sincere, love that is unfeigned, love that is without hypocrisy. Literally, it means love that is so real that it's spontaneous in your life.
You don't have, you meet a brother or sister in Christ, and most of these are talking about our relationship with other brothers and sisters, but those that aren't believers are going to see that. But when you meet another brother and sister, you don't have to decide am I going to show love toward them or not. If you have love that's without dissimilation, if you have love of Christ, it will be automatic.
Now when we talk about love here, sometimes people get a little confused because there's a bunch of different kind of loves. There's a love between a man and a woman in marriage, but that's not what this is talking about. This is the same kind of love as for God so loved the world.
This is a love that really sometimes is translated, especially like in 1 Corinthians, translated when we read the word charity, and that to me that's the best way to understand what this word love means because we know what charity means. Charity is when you see someone who has a need and you help them with that need regardless of who they are and regardless of whether they can pay you back or not. You help them because they need help.
That's charity and that's the kind of love here. You love somebody else because they are a brother and sister in Christ. You're saying, well what if they're sinning? What if they're doing this? What if they're doing that? We'll cover that in a minute, but Jesus in John 13 35, he said, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one toward another.
And we're not talking again about the mushy love. We're talking about love that is an action word, looking out for other people to see if you can help or just to be with them. But sometimes you're saying, well what about the actions? What about the way they're living? What if they're living in sin? Do I still have to love them? It depends.
Do they still have needs that you can meet sometimes? Are they willing to be with you? You see, we're supposed to, you've heard the old saying and a lot of people like to discount it, love the person but not what they're doing all the time. That's why the next part of this verse talks about that. Abhor that which is evil.
Cleave to that which is good. You know, there's a lot of evil in our world, amen? And so our love is to be unfeigned. It's to be real, but it's not a love that covers and overlooks the sin in somebody's life.
We're to abhor that which is evil. That's quite the word, abhor. You know what I mean? That means to detest utterly.
You know, I don't know about you, but I abhor snakes. I see a snake is like, I like to be around them. My brother, on the other hand, he'd hold them and put them in his pocket.
Abhor evil. Don't think that you have to put up with the evil in somebody's life to still love them. You abhor it and you stand up for God's word.
It really bugs me when somebody says, I'm a homosexual, but I'm a Christian. You can't be unless you're trying to stop the homosexual acts, okay? Or my favorite, I was born this way. You know what I tell people? You're right.
The Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It's just that some people's sins are different than others. Homosexuality is a sin.
So is drunkenness. So is fornication. So is so many other things.
We're all born sinners, but thank God we don't have to stay that way. That's why we're born again, so we don't do that anymore. But we're to abhor that which is evil.
Stand up against it. Detest it. Tell people, no, God says that's an abomination.
But on the other hand, you can't just spend your whole life hating evil because people will think you're weird. You also have to cleave that at which is good. You know, we've been studying the seven churches in Revelation, and we've made the note that when Jesus speaks to each of the churches, or most of them, he always tells them what they're doing good before he tells them what they're doing wrong.
Look for good in people. Cleave to it. That's what God wants us to do.
To cleave to that which is good. To cleave to that which is honest. To cleave to that which is good to help people out.
That word good really means to be beneficial. What can help people to grow, help people to survive. Cleave to it.
So when you have a love that's like Christ, you have to have a love that chooses between good and evil. Choose the good. Abhor the evil.
But the love also is in verse 10, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another. So we should have a love that is kindly affection with brotherly love. That word kindly affection means treat somebody like family.
You know, I've been in churches, perhaps you've been in churches, where you have one group of people sit over here, and one group of people sit here, and one group sit over there, and they're like little cliques, and they don't want to talk to each other. These people say they're saved, but they're better than this group. And this people say they're saved, but they're better in both groups.
And that people say they're saved, and they don't even want to talk to anybody. But if we're brothers and sisters in Christ, and scripture says we are, amen, we should be willing to treat each other like brothers and sisters. You say, but wait a minute, I got a brother, I got a sister, we fight occasionally.
Yeah, but if you're really good brothers and sisters, you'll make up too. You realize one of you was wrong. I know my brother and my sister sometimes have arguments.
Soon they realize that I'm the one that's always right, and they're the ones that, no, I'm just, but you know what I mean. We treat each other like we're brothers and sisters. And it goes to a point where in honor preferring one another.
If you're a believer, if you're a disciple of Jesus Christ, you should want to be around other brothers and sisters in Christ instead of around people that just live in the world. Because you're saying, I know, but Jesus, he hung out with sinners and publicans, but he didn't let them affect his life. He was there to tell them they need him.
And so if you're going to hang out with some people to witness to them, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, to try to show them the errors of their ways, that's one thing. But if you're just hanging out with them because, well, they're people I grew up with. They're my friends from school.
They're just, you know, I know they're doing bad things, but if you prefer them more than God's family, you need to check yourself and ask yourself why. Because we are to prefer one another. You should, you know, I like what Marilyn said in her missions, the kids want to be in church.
They want to come to prayer meeting. They want to be around other believers. And that's the way we all should be.
We should be looking forward to coming here on Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon and Wednesday, not just to hear the word of God being preached and being taught, but so we can be around other believers because, you know, you may have a problem. That's fine. You share it with other people and you never know who may be able to help you overcome that problem.
You may never know who may be able to say, you know, I had something similar to this and this is how God worked in my life. Because that's what we do. We should honor or in honor prefer one another.
Amen. But not just being a disciple requires love, requires showing that love by hanging out with other people who are brothers and sisters in Christ. But living the life of disciple also requires or involves being an example to those around us.
And that's why I believe what these other verses are trying to say. How can you be a good example? Told some of you this story before. My first submarine, I told people I was a Christian.
I hadn't been living as a Christian for a while and suddenly I rededicated my life to the Lord and started living like a Christian. I had one guy who watched me like a hawk. Everything I did or everything I said, if it wasn't his idea what a Christian should be, he'd go, is that the way a Christian should act? Is that the way a Christian should talk? It got to be really aggravating.
But on the other hand, because people watch you, I prayed before every meal. You're saying, but there was nobody around. There were other Christians to watch you.
God was. I prayed before every meal and I'd been witnessing to one of my bosses. And about a year later, we were having a party over at his house and his wife was saved.
She was charismatic, but I talked to her. I think she was, she was just a little confused. And as soon as I got to the door, you know what the first thing she said? John got saved.
Really? And she said, and it's all because of you. I go, what do you mean? I tried witnessing. He wouldn't listen to me.
She go, no, he watched you. He watched you say you were a Christian. He watched you practice it by praying for every meal.
And he suddenly realized that's what I need. People are watching you and you're going to be an example, whether a good example or a bad example of what a Christian should be. If you're a bad example, what a Christian should be, the chance of winning them to Christ is a lot slimmer than if you are a good example of what a Christian should be.
Amen. I know that's hard to take sometimes, but that's the truth. Notice, and we got to hurry up.
Marilyn, you spoke way too, no, I just, everybody's getting hungry, but that's okay. Notice, first of all, verse 11, here's how we can be example, not slothful in business. Now that word business in the King James doesn't mean the same as it does now.
It doesn't mean business as in at work, although that is some, that is a truth. You know, you shouldn't be lazy at work and then say you're a Christian because the boss will just sort of, yeah, right. No, this means really business means your purpose or your spiritual business.
Don't be lazy in your Christianity. Don't be lazy in your spiritual life. But even if you took it the other way, you know, everything in our life as a believer, it's either spiritual or it's either secular or sacred.
But the truth is a spiritual person will make even the secular sacred, but a secular person will make even the sacred unspiritual. You need to serve the Lord. You need to be not lazy in being a believer.
And it goes on to say, fervent in spirit, that means on fire for the Lord. You're saying, you mean I got to go down a street corner and preach like all these street preachers do? No, but you should have that little flame of the Holy Spirit burning within you, willing to give anyone an answer when they ask, willing to see when somebody has a need so you can share that love, willing to look at others. And this is something that's always been hard for me.
When you see somebody else for the first time, whether they're sinning or not, it's your first thought, they need Jesus Christ. You look at their soul. They need Christ.
People you meet on the job, they need Christ. And the only example they may have is you. Are you fervent in spirit? Are you on fire for the Lord? It says serving the Lord.
Like Marilyn said, even the kids, they like to serve the Lord and what you're teaching. Even if it's washing chairs or getting ready for a picnic, which some of them are out there doing now. Or whatever you do, everything, you should be on fire for the Lord and everything you do is serving the Lord.
Remember I said for our afternoon service, what we're going to do is share our favorite verses. Serving the Lord. My favorite verse is Colossians 3.23. Whatever you do, he knows it.
Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not in the men. No matter what you do, whether it's working, whether it's driving a truck, whether it's going to school, whether being a missionary, everything you do is not for you and it's not for the one you're working for. It's for him.
You get that in your mind, it'll change everything. You're serving the Lord. It goes on.
How else can we be an example? Rejoicing in hope. You look at the things that we see in the newspaper and on the news, you're going, man, there's no hope for this country. You're right.
There's no hope for anybody on earth unless they know Jesus Christ. And sometimes when, you know, because it goes with patience and tribulation, continuing instant prayer, those three go together. When problems happen in your life, troubles, tribulation, persecution, rejoice in hope.
This world is not my home. I'm only passing through. You're not a citizen of the earth.
You're a citizen of heaven. One day, all of this will go away and you'll be with him. You have the hope of eternal life.
You're saying, yeah, but these problems are so pressing. We've been going through the Old Testament. We find out that any time there's battles to come up, first thing they did when they did the right thing was ask God, should I fight this battle or shouldn't I? And if God said, fight that battle, he said, I'm going to go before you and win it for you.
But if he said not to, and they did anyway, they get whooped. That's why it's weird to be instant in prayer, patient in tribulations, but instant in prayer. No matter what happens in your life, always go to the Lord and say, Lord, guide me in handling this problem.
You know what? He will. You say, well, how do you know? Because I've seen it happen in my life. I've seen it happen in other people's lives.
Now, be prepared. The answer you want may not always be the answer God gives you, but be prepared to follow his guidance. Instant in prayer.
First Thessalonians, it says, pray without ceasing. Always be in communication with God. You're having problems, you're having tribulation, you're having persecution, just having troubles in your life, just pray.
Or as I like to tell people sometimes, just look up, keep looking up, because that's where your hope is, in heaven. Keep looking up. And I guarantee you, when you're having problems and you tell people you're a Christian, they're going to be watching how you handle those problems.
Handle them in a godly way, handle them in a spiritual way, handle them with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And finally, it says, distributing to the necessity of saints, giving to hospitality. That just means if someone, a brother or sister in Christ has a definite need, and you can supply that need, help out.
Giving to hospitality means, giving to, the word hospitality actually means to entertain, you know, hospitality in the old days, and when the Bible was written, there weren't hotels a lot, there were a few inns, but even Jesus couldn't get in that one, or Mary and Joseph couldn't, so people would keep them in a home, but today there's hotels. But more what that means, giving to hospitality, just means be willing to fellowship with other believers, especially those who just sometimes need to talk, need to spend time with somebody to air their problems. Yeah, we pray, but it's all so awful helpful to get wisdom and guidance from other believers, and you should be willing to help.
Somebody calls you, somebody contacts you and says, hey, can we talk? Nope, sorry, too busy. That happens. Try to make a time, because God didn't lead them to you just so you could turn them away, so we can be an example that way, especially with people we work with or family members, because they're going to be looking at you.
First of all, they're going to be looking at you and see how you, you know, if you're supposed to be following a God who is love, following that, they're going to be looking at you and saying they're not very loving, but they're going to be looking at you and say, boy, they're starting to practice the love of God, but a whore that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be an example to those around you and try to realize that God wants his family to be together, to learn from one another, to encourage one another, to lift up one another. God wants you to be an example to those around you.
By the way you handle problems, by the way you live your Christian life. So the question is right now, how good a disciple are you? Are you kind of the disciple that would match these things we just looked at, or are you the kind of disciple that says, I've kind of fallen short on a few of these, I need to really go to the Lord and ask for help in doing these? Because honestly, what the world needs is people who not just say they're Christians, they need people who live like a Christian. Amen? We're happy we have missionaries like John and Marilyn going to other places to teach them to accept the Lord, to teach them how to be disciples so that they can show that love to other people.
Our mission field is here. Be a disciple. Let's bow our heads please.
Just ask yourself, do you love in such a way that it's spontaneous, it's instantaneous, we're other brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you prefer to be around other brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you prefer that? Do you live a life where you're on fire for the Lord, you want to serve the Lord in no matter what capacity? Are you living a life where you look forward to either the Lord coming back or Him calling you home? You have that hope of eternal life? Are you praying all the time? The only one that can answer that is you. So as we go to Lord in prayer right now, talk to the Lord. Praise Him for the things you've been able to do.
Seek encouragement and guidance for the things you still need to do. The world needs Jesus. Like somebody said once, the only Jesus many of them will see is you, Heavenly Father.
Lord, we thank you for your word and Lord there's a lot here for us to think about, to learn, to put into our life so we can be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We're thankful Lord that you show us these things so we know how to live a life that's Christ-like, to live a life that gives you glory and you honor, to live a life to show others that Jesus and salvation is real. Help us Lord to be better.
Help us Lord to be more like you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
I. Love must be sincere and good (v. 9)
II. Believers should treat one another as family (v. 10)
III. We must be diligent in serving the Lord (v. 11)
IV. We should rejoice in hope and pray in trouble (v. 12)
V. We should meet needs and show hospitality (v. 13)
Romans chapter 12, continuing on our study in Romans. We started noticing last week, and I thought it was interesting, Marilyn mentioned in her presentation, the importance of really discipling and discipleship and following the Lord. And that's what we started last week.
Here in Romans 12, I believe it is talking about how to be a good disciple. You know, many people, they'll get saved, they'll trust the Lord, and then they'll just do what they want for the rest of their lives, thinking that they're okay. They got a ticket to heaven, they can do what they want.
But no, God expects us to be disciples. He expects us to follow his teaching and to emulate it with those that we run into, to duplicate it. So last week, as we were looking at really Romans verse 3 through 18 in different parts, we saw 3 and 8 last week, where we learned about the unity of the body, we learned about the gifts of the Spirit.
Today, we have part number 2, and it centers on the believer's outward actions toward others. As a disciple, let's read verses 9 through 13, and we'll go back and look at them probably pretty quickly. Verse 9, let love be without dissimilation.
Abhor that which is evil, cling to that which is good, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, and honor preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality.
These are all things that show that we are a follower of Christ because we are showing others really Christlikeness, being like Jesus. Let's look at each of these a little bit individually. It starts out in verse 9, let love be without dissimilation.
It's a big word. It just really means love that is sincere, love that is unfeigned, love that is without hypocrisy. Literally, it means love that is so real that it's spontaneous in your life.
You don't have, you meet a brother or sister in Christ, and most of these are talking about our relationship with other brothers and sisters, but those that aren't believers are going to see that. But when you meet another brother and sister, you don't have to decide am I going to show love toward them or not. If you have love that's without dissimilation, if you have love of Christ, it will be automatic.
Now when we talk about love here, sometimes people get a little confused because there's a bunch of different kind of loves. There's a love between a man and a woman in marriage, but that's not what this is talking about. This is the same kind of love as for God so loved the world.
This is a love that really sometimes is translated, especially like in 1 Corinthians, translated when we read the word charity, and that to me that's the best way to understand what this word love means because we know what charity means. Charity is when you see someone who has a need and you help them with that need regardless of who they are and regardless of whether they can pay you back or not. You help them because they need help.
That's charity and that's the kind of love here. You love somebody else because they are a brother and sister in Christ. You're saying, well what if they're sinning? What if they're doing this? What if they're doing that? We'll cover that in a minute, but Jesus in John 13 35, he said, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one toward another.
And we're not talking again about the mushy love. We're talking about love that is an action word, looking out for other people to see if you can help or just to be with them. But sometimes you're saying, well what about the actions? What about the way they're living? What if they're living in sin? Do I still have to love them? It depends.
Do they still have needs that you can meet sometimes? Are they willing to be with you? You see, we're supposed to, you've heard the old saying and a lot of people like to discount it, love the person but not what they're doing all the time. That's why the next part of this verse talks about that. Abhor that which is evil.
Cleave to that which is good. You know, there's a lot of evil in our world, amen? And so our love is to be unfeigned. It's to be real, but it's not a love that covers and overlooks the sin in somebody's life.
We're to abhor that which is evil. That's quite the word, abhor. You know what I mean? That means to detest utterly.
You know, I don't know about you, but I abhor snakes. I see a snake is like, I like to be around them. My brother, on the other hand, he'd hold them and put them in his pocket.
Abhor evil. Don't think that you have to put up with the evil in somebody's life to still love them. You abhor it and you stand up for God's word.
It really bugs me when somebody says, I'm a homosexual, but I'm a Christian. You can't be unless you're trying to stop the homosexual acts, okay? Or my favorite, I was born this way. You know what I tell people? You're right.
The Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It's just that some people's sins are different than others. Homosexuality is a sin.
So is drunkenness. So is fornication. So is so many other things.
We're all born sinners, but thank God we don't have to stay that way. That's why we're born again, so we don't do that anymore. But we're to abhor that which is evil.
Stand up against it. Detest it. Tell people, no, God says that's an abomination.
But on the other hand, you can't just spend your whole life hating evil because people will think you're weird. You also have to cleave that at which is good. You know, we've been studying the seven churches in Revelation, and we've made the note that when Jesus speaks to each of the churches, or most of them, he always tells them what they're doing good before he tells them what they're doing wrong.
Look for good in people. Cleave to it. That's what God wants us to do.
To cleave to that which is good. To cleave to that which is honest. To cleave to that which is good to help people out.
That word good really means to be beneficial. What can help people to grow, help people to survive. Cleave to it.
So when you have a love that's like Christ, you have to have a love that chooses between good and evil. Choose the good. Abhor the evil.
But the love also is in verse 10, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another. So we should have a love that is kindly affection with brotherly love. That word kindly affection means treat somebody like family.
You know, I've been in churches, perhaps you've been in churches, where you have one group of people sit over here, and one group of people sit here, and one group sit over there, and they're like little cliques, and they don't want to talk to each other. These people say they're saved, but they're better than this group. And this people say they're saved, but they're better in both groups.
And that people say they're saved, and they don't even want to talk to anybody. But if we're brothers and sisters in Christ, and scripture says we are, amen, we should be willing to treat each other like brothers and sisters. You say, but wait a minute, I got a brother, I got a sister, we fight occasionally.
Yeah, but if you're really good brothers and sisters, you'll make up too. You realize one of you was wrong. I know my brother and my sister sometimes have arguments.
Soon they realize that I'm the one that's always right, and they're the ones that, no, I'm just, but you know what I mean. We treat each other like we're brothers and sisters. And it goes to a point where in honor preferring one another.
If you're a believer, if you're a disciple of Jesus Christ, you should want to be around other brothers and sisters in Christ instead of around people that just live in the world. Because you're saying, I know, but Jesus, he hung out with sinners and publicans, but he didn't let them affect his life. He was there to tell them they need him.
And so if you're going to hang out with some people to witness to them, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, to try to show them the errors of their ways, that's one thing. But if you're just hanging out with them because, well, they're people I grew up with. They're my friends from school.
They're just, you know, I know they're doing bad things, but if you prefer them more than God's family, you need to check yourself and ask yourself why. Because we are to prefer one another. You should, you know, I like what Marilyn said in her missions, the kids want to be in church.
They want to come to prayer meeting. They want to be around other believers. And that's the way we all should be.
We should be looking forward to coming here on Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon and Wednesday, not just to hear the word of God being preached and being taught, but so we can be around other believers because, you know, you may have a problem. That's fine. You share it with other people and you never know who may be able to help you overcome that problem.
You may never know who may be able to say, you know, I had something similar to this and this is how God worked in my life. Because that's what we do. We should honor or in honor prefer one another.
Amen. But not just being a disciple requires love, requires showing that love by hanging out with other people who are brothers and sisters in Christ. But living the life of disciple also requires or involves being an example to those around us.
And that's why I believe what these other verses are trying to say. How can you be a good example? Told some of you this story before. My first submarine, I told people I was a Christian.
I hadn't been living as a Christian for a while and suddenly I rededicated my life to the Lord and started living like a Christian. I had one guy who watched me like a hawk. Everything I did or everything I said, if it wasn't his idea what a Christian should be, he'd go, is that the way a Christian should act? Is that the way a Christian should talk? It got to be really aggravating.
But on the other hand, because people watch you, I prayed before every meal. You're saying, but there was nobody around. There were other Christians to watch you.
God was. I prayed before every meal and I'd been witnessing to one of my bosses. And about a year later, we were having a party over at his house and his wife was saved.
She was charismatic, but I talked to her. I think she was, she was just a little confused. And as soon as I got to the door, you know what the first thing she said? John got saved.
Really? And she said, and it's all because of you. I go, what do you mean? I tried witnessing. He wouldn't listen to me.
She go, no, he watched you. He watched you say you were a Christian. He watched you practice it by praying for every meal.
And he suddenly realized that's what I need. People are watching you and you're going to be an example, whether a good example or a bad example of what a Christian should be. If you're a bad example, what a Christian should be, the chance of winning them to Christ is a lot slimmer than if you are a good example of what a Christian should be.
Amen. I know that's hard to take sometimes, but that's the truth. Notice, and we got to hurry up.
Marilyn, you spoke way too, no, I just, everybody's getting hungry, but that's okay. Notice, first of all, verse 11, here's how we can be example, not slothful in business. Now that word business in the King James doesn't mean the same as it does now.
It doesn't mean business as in at work, although that is some, that is a truth. You know, you shouldn't be lazy at work and then say you're a Christian because the boss will just sort of, yeah, right. No, this means really business means your purpose or your spiritual business.
Don't be lazy in your Christianity. Don't be lazy in your spiritual life. But even if you took it the other way, you know, everything in our life as a believer, it's either spiritual or it's either secular or sacred.
But the truth is a spiritual person will make even the secular sacred, but a secular person will make even the sacred unspiritual. You need to serve the Lord. You need to be not lazy in being a believer.
And it goes on to say, fervent in spirit, that means on fire for the Lord. You're saying, you mean I got to go down a street corner and preach like all these street preachers do? No, but you should have that little flame of the Holy Spirit burning within you, willing to give anyone an answer when they ask, willing to see when somebody has a need so you can share that love, willing to look at others. And this is something that's always been hard for me.
When you see somebody else for the first time, whether they're sinning or not, it's your first thought, they need Jesus Christ. You look at their soul. They need Christ.
People you meet on the job, they need Christ. And the only example they may have is you. Are you fervent in spirit? Are you on fire for the Lord? It says serving the Lord.
Like Marilyn said, even the kids, they like to serve the Lord and what you're teaching. Even if it's washing chairs or getting ready for a picnic, which some of them are out there doing now. Or whatever you do, everything, you should be on fire for the Lord and everything you do is serving the Lord.
Remember I said for our afternoon service, what we're going to do is share our favorite verses. Serving the Lord. My favorite verse is Colossians 3.23. Whatever you do, he knows it.
Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not in the men. No matter what you do, whether it's working, whether it's driving a truck, whether it's going to school, whether being a missionary, everything you do is not for you and it's not for the one you're working for. It's for him.
You get that in your mind, it'll change everything. You're serving the Lord. It goes on.
How else can we be an example? Rejoicing in hope. You look at the things that we see in the newspaper and on the news, you're going, man, there's no hope for this country. You're right.
There's no hope for anybody on earth unless they know Jesus Christ. And sometimes when, you know, because it goes with patience and tribulation, continuing instant prayer, those three go together. When problems happen in your life, troubles, tribulation, persecution, rejoice in hope.
This world is not my home. I'm only passing through. You're not a citizen of the earth.
You're a citizen of heaven. One day, all of this will go away and you'll be with him. You have the hope of eternal life.
You're saying, yeah, but these problems are so pressing. We've been going through the Old Testament. We find out that any time there's battles to come up, first thing they did when they did the right thing was ask God, should I fight this battle or shouldn't I? And if God said, fight that battle, he said, I'm going to go before you and win it for you.
But if he said not to, and they did anyway, they get whooped. That's why it's weird to be instant in prayer, patient in tribulations, but instant in prayer. No matter what happens in your life, always go to the Lord and say, Lord, guide me in handling this problem.
You know what? He will. You say, well, how do you know? Because I've seen it happen in my life. I've seen it happen in other people's lives.
Now, be prepared. The answer you want may not always be the answer God gives you, but be prepared to follow his guidance. Instant in prayer.
First Thessalonians, it says, pray without ceasing. Always be in communication with God. You're having problems, you're having tribulation, you're having persecution, just having troubles in your life, just pray.
Or as I like to tell people sometimes, just look up, keep looking up, because that's where your hope is, in heaven. Keep looking up. And I guarantee you, when you're having problems and you tell people you're a Christian, they're going to be watching how you handle those problems.
Handle them in a godly way, handle them in a spiritual way, handle them with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And finally, it says, distributing to the necessity of saints, giving to hospitality. That just means if someone, a brother or sister in Christ has a definite need, and you can supply that need, help out.
Giving to hospitality means, giving to, the word hospitality actually means to entertain, you know, hospitality in the old days, and when the Bible was written, there weren't hotels a lot, there were a few inns, but even Jesus couldn't get in that one, or Mary and Joseph couldn't, so people would keep them in a home, but today there's hotels. But more what that means, giving to hospitality, just means be willing to fellowship with other believers, especially those who just sometimes need to talk, need to spend time with somebody to air their problems. Yeah, we pray, but it's all so awful helpful to get wisdom and guidance from other believers, and you should be willing to help.
Somebody calls you, somebody contacts you and says, hey, can we talk? Nope, sorry, too busy. That happens. Try to make a time, because God didn't lead them to you just so you could turn them away, so we can be an example that way, especially with people we work with or family members, because they're going to be looking at you.
First of all, they're going to be looking at you and see how you, you know, if you're supposed to be following a God who is love, following that, they're going to be looking at you and saying they're not very loving, but they're going to be looking at you and say, boy, they're starting to practice the love of God, but a whore that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be an example to those around you and try to realize that God wants his family to be together, to learn from one another, to encourage one another, to lift up one another. God wants you to be an example to those around you.
By the way you handle problems, by the way you live your Christian life. So the question is right now, how good a disciple are you? Are you kind of the disciple that would match these things we just looked at, or are you the kind of disciple that says, I've kind of fallen short on a few of these, I need to really go to the Lord and ask for help in doing these? Because honestly, what the world needs is people who not just say they're Christians, they need people who live like a Christian. Amen? We're happy we have missionaries like John and Marilyn going to other places to teach them to accept the Lord, to teach them how to be disciples so that they can show that love to other people.
Our mission field is here. Be a disciple. Let's bow our heads please.
Just ask yourself, do you love in such a way that it's spontaneous, it's instantaneous, we're other brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you prefer to be around other brothers and sisters in Christ? Do you prefer that? Do you live a life where you're on fire for the Lord, you want to serve the Lord in no matter what capacity? Are you living a life where you look forward to either the Lord coming back or Him calling you home? You have that hope of eternal life? Are you praying all the time? The only one that can answer that is you. So as we go to Lord in prayer right now, talk to the Lord. Praise Him for the things you've been able to do.
Seek encouragement and guidance for the things you still need to do. The world needs Jesus. Like somebody said once, the only Jesus many of them will see is you, Heavenly Father.
Lord, we thank you for your word and Lord there's a lot here for us to think about, to learn, to put into our life so we can be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We're thankful Lord that you show us these things so we know how to live a life that's Christ-like, to live a life that gives you glory and you honor, to live a life to show others that Jesus and salvation is real. Help us Lord to be better.
Help us Lord to be more like you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.