(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] Hey Ben, this is Tom and Bill with the announcements. And if you're following, we'll be doing this song of your choice. Alright, we do have a limited number of bulletins, so if you still need them, we weren't here this morning, go ahead and lift them up at the end. I think there's a one or two up here. We had a crowd this morning, so a lot of folks were getting those. That's why they were getting those good, but there's still a few left if you need it. As always, we got the service times in there, and we'll be back here this Thursday night at 7 going through Acts 17. We've got the church-wide soul winning, the regional soul winning, and the baptisms below that. And of course, happy birthday to everybody celebrating this month. We've got a list there. And of course, we had a great service this morning with the potluck, lots of good food, so thanks everybody for making that a great service. Glad everybody that came out and visited us, and then of course ate all our food and left. Bunch of dine and dashers, I'm just kidding. But it was great to have a crowd this morning, and had a few visitors, had a few local people that were kind of first-timers here that came out. One guy didn't even know it was the anniversary service, he just showed up. I don't know if he stuck around and ate or not, but maybe he's a little squeamish about eating food from people he doesn't know. The irony is if you knew these people, you'd probably be more squeamish. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding, just joking. I'll prove that I'm joking, all right, because afterwards I'm going to do some more eating, all right? So anyway, it was a great service. It's been a great five years as well. So also on the back, there's just a note about if you'd like to sign up for volunteer cleaning, that sign-up sheet is back there, and you can just claim a week. And if you have any questions about that, you can just speak to myself. Or another church member, and we'll get you squared away. Let's go ahead and count up the soloing going back to Friday. Is there anything from Friday one on Friday? Is that the same one? Should we count it twice anyway? All right. What about Saturday? I don't think we got a group total for Saturday. I don't know if there was much to total. I know my group had one. Did anybody else have one yesterday? No? One total? Yeah. Man, I tell you, you've got to look out for that university and get you. I thought I was far enough south from Broadway that it wouldn't be an issue, but it was Yuppieville. So it wasn't entirely Yuppieville, but it was pretty rough in some spots. What about today? I understand there's a group, a couple groups went out today. Six for today. So you made up for it. Praise the Lord. All right. Well, keep up the great work. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get to the preacher tonight. Yeah. All right. You guys know it? Song 102, Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. All right. Let's sing one more song. Be Hideth My Soul. Be Hideth My Soul. Amen. We've saved everyone at this time so pass the offering plate as the plate goes around. to Ephesians chapter 5 and Ephesians chapter 5. As always, we'll read the entire chapter. Please follow on silent as Brother Gabriel reads to us from Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5 Verse one of the Bible reads, Be therefore followers of God, as dear children, who walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us. Not often the sacrifice of God for a sweet-smelling saviour, but fornication in all uncleanness and covetousness, that it now be once named among you, has become its saints, rather filthiness, or foolish tosses, or jesting, which is not convenient, but rather giving you thanks, that it she know that no foremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolatry, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, but God, that no man deceive you with vain words, because of these things, cometh the wrath of God, upon the children of disobedience. Be nigh you therefore partakers with them, for you were sometimes darkness, but now you light the Lord, walkest, chosen of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship, but to unfruitful works of darkness, rather with proof of it. For it is a shame to speak of those things which are done to them in sequence, but all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, and what serve doth make manifest is them. Wherefore to say it? Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from death, when Christ shall give you light, to see that he walks with respect, out of schools, but is wise, redeeming the time, because of days of evil. Wherefore, be not unwise, but in the steady the will of the Lord is. Be not drunk with wine, or in his excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself with songs and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts of the Lord. Give me thanks to all of us, for all things of God, from the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting yourself, one to another, from fear of God. Why? Submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the light, even as Christ is the head of the church, and is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church the subject is Christ, so is the violence of your own husbands and everything. Husbands, love your lives, even as Christ is the love of the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing water of the work, that he might present it to himself in glorious church, not having spot a ring for any such thing, that it should be holdable without blemish. So art man to love their wives, at their own lives, neither loveth his wife, nor loveth himself. For no man, ever yet hated his own flesh, would nourish or cherish him, even as the Lord, the church, who are members of his body, and his flesh, and his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, who shall be joined to his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mission, that speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, every one of you, particularly, shall loveth his wife, and he has himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband. For the album, would you pray for us? Father God, thank you for this day again. Thank you for this anniversary that we had today. Thank you for the souls and for who you want to stay for you, and thank you for the soul leaders out there. Thank you for our leader, the deacon here at this church. Just ask him to please bless him for many more years to come. Go to the deacon in the Holy Spirit, preach to us, and help him set a fire to Jesus in my name. Amen. Amen. So in Ephesians chapter number five there, if you look at verse one, he says, be you followers, therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given us himself, rather, given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior. So you can see here in this chapter, and many other places throughout Scripture, that there's often this expression of God's love towards us, and that we are told to be loving people. And obviously, when you talk about love, there's an element of emotion involved in that. And I'm kind of prefacing that because I don't want to be taken the wrong way tonight. I'm going to preach a sermon entitled Spirituality versus Sentimentality. Spirituality versus Sentimentality. We want to be spiritual people, and we want to also remember that love is a big part of that, of being a spiritual person, but we don't want to get carried away with this sentimentality either. I think this is something that some people can fall into. And you say this probably isn't the sermon to preach on an anniversary Sunday, but it's the anniversary Sunday that kind of reminded me of this. We were planning on having a slideshow, and of course, in that slideshow, we're looking through all the photos from over the last five years. For me, at least, I'll admit, it was somewhat of an emotional moment. I had this stuff start to come out my eye a little bit. I felt this feeling in the back of my throat, and I'd never experienced it before. So I thought maybe it was something going on with this software. There was something about this. I showed my wife, and then she had a similar response. I said, what is that? And she said, that's emotion, that I was actually feeling something. And I said, wow, finally, after all these years. But I was doing that, and I thought, it's great to have those kind of feelings to be sentimental to some degree, but we don't want that to be something that takes over in our lives. You want to be people that are overly sentimental. In fact, in writing a sermon, I'm finding out that just being sentimental is kind of a negative thing if you go by the dictionary definition. Sentimentality, according to the dictionary, and maybe the dictionary is just stupid, I don't know, but I tend to think that it's correct, but it says that sentimentality is either excessive tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia. Now, obviously, there's nothing wrong with being tender. We're supposed to be tenderhearted, forgiving, loving people. We're supposed to be even sad at times. There's a time and place for sadness to come into our lives, to grieve, and to mourn, and things like that. And even nostalgia, you know, that's kind of what, you know, that slideshow is kind of about having a, looking back over the years, and having a sense of nostalgia of everything that we've accomplished and done, the people that have been a part of this ministry over the years. But sentimentality is doing that to an excessive degree. We don't want to go overboard with that. And I'm going to give us a couple of reasons tonight, and really just drive home on one. But let me again just start out by saying that, so I don't come across as just some cold-hearted jerk up here, okay? But it might be too late for that, in fact, but I don't know. But, you know, not being a sentimental person does not mean that you're completely avoiding, you know, any kind of emotion. It doesn't mean you become some emotionless person who doesn't ever have, you know, feelings of nostalgia, feelings of sadness or tenderness. Obviously, there's a time and place for that. And we see again here in Ephesians that there are these expressions of love in Scripture. But notice often when we look at this that love isn't just expressed as some kind of a sentiment, but it's actually something that's expressed through action. It's not just an emotion or feeling, but it's, you know, being a loving person in the Scripture is a call to action, to do something. Not to just sit there and dwell on the past or have, you know, warm feelings about the past, but to actually be called to, you know, to doing something, you know, to take action, okay? Go to Ephesians chapter number two, Ephesians chapter number two. If you look there in verse four, it says, but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. So, you know, obviously God is a loving God. You know, that kind of goes without saying, you know, God so loved the world. God loves us. God has emotion towards us. But, you know, how do we know that God loves us, right? It says in verse five, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace, are you saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, you might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Jesus, through Christ Jesus. So obviously the expression of God's love, we know that he loves us because of the fact that Christ came and has redeemed us. And even when you read this, it's almost kind of like a sense of nostalgia, right? That in the ages to come, like when we get to heaven, we are going to be a testimony of God's exceeding riches of his grace through his kindness toward us. We're going to be a testimony of that love that God has towards us. So again, we know that God loves us, but it's a call to action. It's not just something that we just feel that God loves us. It's not just a feeling that he had. I really loved him. He actually had to do something. He showed that love through Christ. If you would go to 1 Thessalonians chapter number one. So again, I would rather people be spiritual people than necessarily just a sentimental people. And sometimes people can conflate the two things. They can say, if I'm having these feelings, you know, if I feel a certain way, then that somehow makes me a spiritual person. Or they might look at somebody and say, well, maybe that person is not as sentimental as I'd like them to be. They must not be a very loving or spiritual person. But you really have to separate these two things. And when we look at the scripture, what we see is that love is expressed through action, not just through gift cards and things like that, or, you know, saying sweet things to one another. You know, love is something that is expressed through what we do, through the way we conduct ourselves. If you look at 1 Thessalonians chapter one, look at verse two. We give thanks to God always for you all, excuse me, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love. So he's saying, what is it that he remembered about the Thessalonians? What was it that he was mentioning in his prayers when he remembered the Thessalonian people? He remembered their work of faith, the things that they did. He remembered their labor of love. And what else? Their patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. So again, throughout Paul's epistles, and even especially in the book of 1 John, you'll see that that phrase come up a lot, beloved, right? He's always referring to the saints as the beloved, right? And obviously that is a term of endearment. That is something that, you know, that's an expression of feeling, right? That's, you know, we don't just go around calling everybody beloved, hopefully. I don't know, you know, maybe you go to the cash register to pay for your gas and say, beloved, you know, I'll take 20 on pump four, you know, but it's probably not going to come across very sincere, is it? You know, that's something that's reserved for people that you have those feelings for. You would call them these things. But again, what's that associated with? It's associated with action. It's associated with doing something, having a labor of love. If you would go to 1 Thessalonians chapter number two, 1 Thessalonians chapter number two. Bible says in Hebrews chapter six, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. So there it is again, your work of faith, your labor of love that's mentioned in 1 Thessalonians and Hebrew six. You know, that's what we need to be focused on in the Christian life. That's what it means to be not necessarily an overly sentimental person, but somebody who is actually spiritual. Not that you're cold and calloused and without feeling, but that, you know, those emotions are in their proper place. And what we're really focused on in the Christian life is what's ahead of us. You know, we don't want to become overly nostalgic where we're just only focused on the past. And this is an important thing to remember because people fall into this trap. Churches will fall into this trap. Well, they'll have, you know, some great work that they did and then they'll just kind of ride on that for the rest of their existence. And they'll just always refer back to the glory days, the good old days when we did this and we did that. You know, it's great to be part of a church that, you know, we're in the glory days. Every day is the glory days around. Every day, you know, it's not we used to go soul winning. You know, we used to see salvations. You know, we saw six salvations today. You know, I've been in churches where if you got six salvations in a year, man, they would have done backflips down the aisle. You know, that's their own fault. They weren't out there soul winning. They weren't out there preaching the gospel. They had a lot of different ideas about how to evangelize. But, you know, but they also in those churches, they would also refer back to a lot of these old time preachers. You know, they'd start to tell you the stories from back in the 70s and this preacher and that preacher and all these great movements. And look, praise God for all those great works that were done by great men of God in the past. But, you know, I don't want to just sit around and be sentimental and just nostalgic about things that God did once a long time ago in a land far, far away. You know, God, if we were spiritual and not overly sentimental people, you know, we can, you know, work now. We can have a work of faith now. We can labor and love now. We can accomplish things here and now in this life. You know, today, tomorrow, the next week, you know, we've come five years and a lot's been accomplished. A lot of things, a lot of souls have been saved. A lot of bibles been preached. A lot of growth has taken place in this church. You know, well, we don't want to just sit back on laurels and think, well, we made it this far. Praise God. You know, we want to think about the years to come. We want to think about making sure that we don't stop the work of faith, don't stop the labor of love, that we keep pressing toward that mark. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter number two, verse one. For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain. But even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. So he's saying we came in unto you. And we had to use boldness because of the fact that there was a lot of contention. There was resistance. He said in verse three, for our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our hearts. Neither at any time used to be flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness. Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you. You know, and again, I'm making the first point I'm making is that just because a person might not necessarily be overly sentimental, that does not make them an unloving person. Okay, I don't think that Paul was necessarily a very sentimental person. Paul, you know, as we read this morning with somebody who said we ought to forget those things which are behind. We got to press toward the mark. He said he counts all those things but dung, right? He's somebody who's always forward thinking, somebody who's always focused on what is to come, on what we're trying to achieve, and not just sitting around and, you know, dwelling on the past, right? But that doesn't necessarily mean that he's some cold-hearted, you know, calloused person who doesn't have any feeling, right? I mean, look at the languages he's using here. We were gentle among you, right? Even as a nurse cherishth her children. You know, that's a pretty, you know, endearing picture there. Like, we were like someone who would nurse their children. You know, that's a very sweet kind of way to put that, isn't it? It's a very gentle thing. So, being affectionately desirous of you. He has affection. We were willing to have imparted unto you not only the gospel of, excuse me, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us. So again, he's endeared to these people. They're like, you know, children that he's nursing. He's gentle among them. But he has this great affection. But notice again that he's willing to, you know, he's willing to impart even his own soul, right? He's taking action. He's not just having this feeling, but he's actually expressing it through the things that he did. Verse 9, For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail. So, this is what motivated him to do the things that he did, these feelings that he had. This love, this affection he had towards them, this desire that he had towards them, you know, that allowed him to labor and travail, to go through the difficulty, to go through, you know, the trials of preaching to them. You know, the boldness that was required shows us that there was resistance when he went there. Verse 9, For laboring night and day. I mean, he's laboring night and day. He's working every day, every night, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. We preached unto you the gospel of God. He said we didn't want to be a burden to you. We didn't want to be chargeable to you. We wanted, so we went ahead and labored night and day. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holy and justly and unblamely we have behaved ourselves among you that believe, as you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged. I love those three words, exhorted and comforted and charged. You know, that's the ministry right there. That's what Paul was doing. And a lot of people would love to just focus on that nice little part right in the middle, comforted, right? A lot of people they just want to go to church where they're just going to be comforted. Every Sunday it's just comfort, comfort, comfort, right? They could do without the exhortation, and they could do without the charging. You know, the people who want to go to church today and have responsibility laid upon them. They don't want to go somewhere where someone's going to say, hey, you know what? We got to preach the gospel. It's up to us. We got work to do. A lot of people want to, they want to skirt out from under that. They want to find somewhere where it's just going to be comfort all the time, where it's just going to be a lot of emotionalism and a lot of feeling, a lot of sentimentality, right? And not a lot of spirituality, okay? They want to be just exhorted, or not exhorted, and comforted. But you know, that's not what the preacher's called to do. He's called to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. And he's saying, we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you like a drill sergeant. Like a, you know, just like a hard-nosed, you know, no-nonsense kind of guy with no feeling. No, as a father doth his children. You know, a person who really loves his child, he's going to do these things. He's going to exhort them. Yes, he's going to comfort them when it's appropriate, when it's needed, but they're not going to make their whole, a child's whole life about comfort. You know, we should not raise our children like that. We shouldn't raise our children trying to just, you know, make sure they never experience any discomfort whatsoever. I mean, I certainly wasn't brought up that way. Probably most of you weren't either. You know, there was a lot of just rub some dirt in it. You know, or if you, if you got the skin knee, it was like, hold still, this is going to sting. You know, they would pour the hydrogen peroxide on there. Now, I've told, been told that you don't do that anymore. That's, that's the wrong thing to do. I say do it anyway. You know, just make it burn. You know, these kids are too comforted today. You know, they probably got some grape flavored something that you pour on there and, you know, it just tingles a little bit or whatever. You know, but these kids are getting soft, right? But again, that's, it's not that a father isn't loving, right? But he knows what's best. He says, hey, sometimes you need to be exhorted. Sometimes you need to be charged. And you think about what a charge is. It's being told, hey, do this, don't do that. It's, it's, it's laying something on somebody. It's giving them a charge. It's making them responsible. So obviously the comforting is needed, but there's also these other things that have kind of more of a negative connotation, right? But that's what a father does, his children. That's how Paul said he was among them. He didn't say, hey, we came in there. And we already looked at it, how he was gentle among them. He was like a nurse who nursed other children. He was affectionately desirous of them. He was willing to impart of him own self. They labored night and day. You know, he had these, these strong feelings. He cared for them. He was affectionate. But you know what? He also wasn't overly sentimental. He called them to live a spiritual life, to continue to do the work that they needed to do. Verse 12, that you walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. You know, we need to learn to live the Christian life every step of the way of that journey. That's what Paul, I believe, you know, is kind of, you know, or at least what I'm trying to get across tonight, kind of using the words of Paul. You know, we don't want to just sit back and think about how far we've come. And look, I'm, I'm grateful for how far we've come. Again, don't get me wrong. You know, we celebrated. We got, we had the great spread this morning. You know, we ate well. You know, we had a big to-do about it. I'm glad for it. You know, I've thought about it several times in the weeks leading up to this, this anniversary. How, you know, five years is a significant milestone. I've said that many times from the pulpit, but you know, our goal is not five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 50 years. Our goal is the kingdom and glory. You know, that's where our journey ends. That's where our story is complete is when we get to heaven. And if we become too focused on just all the things we have done and become overly sentimental people, you know, our spirituality might suffer and we might find ourselves not walking worthy of God the way we ought to on that journey. I remember, you know, when I first got married, somebody we knew sent us a nice gift package, and he sent us a card. And in that card, he said, may God find you holy and happy. And I thought, well, that's a good saying. And it kind of struck me as odd at first, but I was like, man, wasn't happy good enough? You know, what about just happy? Right? But really, of the two things, you know, what's the more important? Holiness or happiness? It's holiness. You know, and that's kind of what I would say tonight to all of us is that, you know, if it comes down between you being happy and you being holy, choose holy. You know, God hasn't promised that our life is just going to be, you know, just a tiptoe through the tulips all the way to heaven. There's going to be some hard times. There's going to be difficulties. There might even be times where we have to be sad. There might even be times where, you know, we might have to be comforted. There might be times where we have to do difficult things. But you know what, if that's what it means, if that's what it takes to remain holy, so be it. You know, I'd rather have us, you know, a holy people necessarily than a happy people, because some people that's all they're concerned about today is their emotions, their feelings, how they feel about things, how happy are they, right? And that, you know, can lead you down the wrong path. Go to 1 John chapter number 4. A lot of churches out there today, they're just more concerned about making people happy than holy. They just want to bring everybody in and entertain them. They just want to have, you know, the hour-long song service. They just want to do all the things to just make everybody feel good, you know, and not preach certain things, not say certain things, because they're more concerned about people's happiness. But you know what, we ought to be more concerned with people's holiness. Again, we're not saying that we don't want to, you know, that spirituality comes at the cost of being a loving person. Obviously not, you know. That's a weird distinction to make. But the point I'm making is that true love, you know, spiritually speaking, is something that is expressed through action. I know I've said that several times, but that's the main thrust of the sermon here. You know, 1 John 3, I'll just read to you, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Now, he didn't say let us love in both. He said let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Now, I don't think John is saying, you know, never express any kind of affection or emotion. You know, some wives might be feeling like, I think my husband's doing that. He's taking that quite literally, right. I told you I loved you and I married you. It's like, that's not going to work, buddy. You know, that's a little pro tip right there. Make sure you say that over the years, throughout the weeks, months, and days even, okay. But look, he's saying that let's not just be people who tell people how much we love, not just sit around and just feel how loving we are, but let's love in deed and in truth. Now, that's what we're here to do, to act out that love, to show as Christ loved us, right. He became a sacrifice for us. He sacrificed his own self, his own life, laid it down for the brethren. We ought to be willing to do the same. Look at 1 John chapter 4, excuse me, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another, right. That's a command. So again, you can be a loving person without being overly sentimental. In fact, you ought to be. For God is love and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifest the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world. That's how the love of God was manifested. That's how it showed up. That's how we know it's real. That's how we know that the love of God isn't just some, you know, something, just some feeling. It's not just something that might be there or not. We know it's true because it was manifested. The love of God was manifested toward us. Because why? Because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him on our behalf. That's why Christ came. That's how we know how much God loves. And look, I know we all know that, but sometimes we might not, we might even need to be reminded. We might need to be reminded about that because I think sometimes people might even doubt how much God loves them. You know, sometimes people might sit there and think, well, you know, I know God loves me, but he doesn't really love me that much. He loves so and so more than he loves me. You know, God manifested his Son for on our behalf because he loves us. That's every single one of us. You know, it's kind of outside the scope of the sermon, but you know, when you read that, you know, let that sink in too. You know, God loves every one of us to that degree. Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. Now, how is that love going to be expressed? Well, in the same manner in which God expressed his love toward us. You know, I know God loves me not because he sent me flowers, not because I got, you know, a Hallmark card with some sweet little thing in it, not because I got a box of my favorite chocolates, right? I don't think I have a favorite chocolate. I don't even know. I haven't nailed that down. I probably should, right? Someone might want to know and send me some. You know, but I don't know that God loves me, but not because of, you know, some sweet little thing he did for me. I know God loves me because of the fact that he sent his Son for me because he did something for me on my behalf. You know, and that's in the same manner in which we ought to love one another. You know, it's real easy to just come to church and just, you know, fake a smile, you know, and shake a hand and be respectful, right? That's like a pretty bare minimum of love, don't you think? But it's another thing to be there for people over the years, to help people when they're in a time of need, to be willing to, you know, reach out and help brothers and sisters in Christ, to encourage them, to see them through tough times. That's when we actually manifest our love toward another person, right? And that's how we ought to love one another, even as Christ loved the church. So, again, I'm just trying to make the point, really, this is just all introduction, and I'm just kind of trying to defend the fact that, you know, just because you might not want to be somebody who's overly nostalgic does not mean you're an unloving person, okay? We don't want to be overly emotional individuals, especially as a church as well, because here's the thing. Emotionalism, in my opinion, is insincere. You know, if we're just overly emotional people, it's not real, right? Because a lot of times, emotionalism is just a show, it's just a front. You know, again, what we've seen thus far in the scripture is that emotion or love is something that's expressed through action. But today, you have a lot of people who have this philosophy or this idea that you express love just through being emotional, just through sentimentality, just through, you know, the things that you say and the things that you express through your words. But it's really, it's our actions that count. And there's a, I think, you know, the husband and wife relationship is a very great, you know, example of this. I should have had to keep something in Ephesians 5, but if you're there, you can look at it. It says, we all know it. I know every husband in the room knows this one. Verse 25, husband loves your wife. I'm sure every wife knows this one, right? Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, right? That's how he loved his wife. You know, that's how, excuse me, that's how we ought to love our wives. How, and how is that? How Christ loved the church. Now, how did he love it? Well, it says right there, and gave himself for it, right? He sacrificed. He put aside his own wants and desires, his own needs, and sacrificed himself for the church. He laid down his life. That's how a husband ought to love his wife, right? Not through just, you know, telling his wife that he loves her. Not just through, you know, all the sentimentality, just through all the emotionalism that can be expressed. And look, again, husbands, I'm not giving you an excuse to, well, you heard Deacon. He said, I didn't have to tell you I love you. I just have to show it, right? That's probably something, if you're anything like me, we probably all could work on. Actually saying those words, you know, hey, I do love you. Not just showing, but, you know, also don't run to the other extreme and just be like, I'm a completely emotionless person. I'm just saying that people who rely only on emotion are actually insincere. I mean, think about it. If I told my wife I loved her every day, every, you know, just every few minutes I'm coming to her, I love you. I love you. She'd probably get sick of hearing it. And she'd probably say, I don't believe you. Now, now you can kind of maybe why we don't say it as often as we want, as you might want, because then you know we mean it, right? There's no getting out of this one. But here's the thing. If I did, if it was just over the top all the time, like, you know, she wakes up and I'm just standing there, you know, to just sing some love ballad, you know, first thing in the morning, you know, just, you know, it's just, I'm trying to think of, you know, some, some 80s rock ballad about love, but nothing's going to mind. Does anyone know some meatloaf lyrics or something? Half of them doesn't even know who meatloaf is. I'm thinking, we just ate, right? Right? I can't live if living is without you. You know, if I did that kind of thing, she'd be like, shut up, kind of like some of you are right now. You'd be like, that's enough. It's already too much, right? Because emotionalism is insincere. Just being an overly emotional person, you know, it comes across as insincere. Because what good is it if I tell my wife every single day, every minute of the day, how much I love her, but yet I don't sacrifice. I don't give myself for her. You know, I'm just like, well, you know, we don't need to pay the bills. We're going to live on love, right? We're just, we're going to, there's an 80s rock ballad, you know, we're living out of prayer, right? Rotted around, okay? That's not going to work. You know, that's definitely not going to work. And she's going to get real sick of all the cards and the chocolates and the flowers. She's like, go get a job. You know, you love me so much, show me, right? So that's a great example of, you know, if emotionalism is all relying on, it's really insincere love. Because people can fake affection. Affection is something that can be faked, right? Because when you're just expressing it through words, when you're just expressing it through feelings and sentiment, you know, it doesn't really require anything of you, does it? I mean, if all God had to do was just say, well, you know I love you because I told you so, you know, that would be, that's a lot easier than sending his son to die for us, right? That took a real sacrifice. That took action on his part. And we, that's how we know God loves us greater, you know, to a greater degree than nobody else does. Because the degree to which he was willing to sacrifice himself. That's the expression of that great love toward us, okay? But if it was all just words, if it was just all emotion, if it was all just affection, you know, how would we know that's sincere? You know, affection is something that can be faked. Go to Romans chapter number 12, Romans chapter number 12. And this is something that I'm kind of, has always drove me nuts about churches, too. Because churches fall into this emotionalism, where it just becomes a lot of just lovey-dovey stuff sometimes. And these services just get out of hand, okay? I remember when I first got saved, you know, the first church I ever went to, you know, was not an independent fundamental Baptist church. It was a very charismatic church. You know, I didn't grow up in church. I really didn't know what church to go to, you know. I just knew I needed to go to church, so I ended up in one of these churches. You know, I later learned it was a very emotional-type service, right? And who's ever been to a church like that? Probably several people, right? You know the kind where it's like, it's all, it's just all, you know, it's the music is all just gets you swaying and just swaying for Jesus, airing out your armpits, you know, for the Lord. And it's just reciting the same, you know, as the dear panther for the water. Great song, but when you sing it, you know, 20 times in a row, it'd be like, it's like my wife saying, stop telling me you love me every second of the day, you know, you can show me, right? But that's the kind of thing that's out there, this emotionalism, this, this fake affection, it's even in churches. It's insincere. It's not real. And even in Baptist churches, this, this fake, you know, filling of the spirit that you'll see, this bapticostal thing that's out there, where they'll, you know, just, I'm so full of spirit, I got to stand up and just run around the building. Guys will just start running around the building. You know, our no running policy is throughout the whole service. And it's for everybody, okay? Let me just make that perfectly clear. It's not just the children. If some grown man just suddenly stands up in the middle of the service and starts running around the building, I'm going to tell him to sit down. Like, we're not having it, right? Because that's out there. And you guys are looking at me cross-eyed, but some of you haven't been in those type of churches. And it's out there. And it's in Baptist churches, independent Baptist churches, where they just get way out of hand with this stuff. Now, praise God, my first pastor back in Michigan, he, he was on to this. He didn't have that kind of thing going on. He didn't let that, that happen. In fact, he pointed out to me, we went to some, one of these revival services. He's like, yeah, those same guys that were running around, you know, as soon as the church service is over, they're just like everybody else, standing in line to get some nachos or something. You know, it's like they go from the super spirit-filled individual to just like, just a normal person from one moment to the next. Because it's fake. It's just this fake outpouring. It's not real. I remember, I got to tell a story. I remember I was in one of these like revival services, like at a camp meeting. And there, it was like, it was kind of, it was one of those services where it was like that, where everyone, people are standing up, running around and hooping and hollering and everything. You know, it was, they weren't going full Pentecostal. They were Baptecostal. Where there was no shaking on the floor or talking in tongues or anything like that. But it was just a lot of emotionalism, just a lot of, you know, hype. And the preacher, he was one of these circuit preachers and he was really well known. He's going around and he would come down and he'd walk around and everything like that. And I'm just kind of sitting there like, because this wasn't what I was used to. I knew it was out there. I'd been through a few of them. I remember he's walking through and he's preaching and he just pointed around and he says, you need to stand up and praise the Lord, young man. Like in front of the whole church. Like man, you know, I'm just preaching right now and I'm just like, and I just walk up to you like, you need to stand up and praise the Lord right now. And then you, and then you did what I did. I did nothing. I didn't laugh. Although it is funny, right? But I was just like, and he looked at me and I looked at him and he, but you know, he just went right on with the service. You know, he'd say, what's the point? Well, he's just trying to drum up some fake emotion. You know, he probably saw that I wasn't biting and I wasn't going for it. So let me see if I can get this guy to join in on our fake, overly emotional church service that really is insincere. I mean, do you think God's pleased by any of that? That God looks down from heaven and sees a bunch of people just being completely insincere, totally fake, just overly emotional, just doing, you know, Bible says, let everything be done decently in order. You know, that we ought to know how to behave ourselves in the house of God, right? You know, they're foregoing the scripture, that same service, or maybe it was the same camp. I don't know if it was the same service, same year even. It was there several times. There was another time a preacher got up and just said, you know, it was, it was like back to back preaching. So the first preacher preached this whole sermon. And then he, this other guy gets up and just says, you know, I just feel the moving of the Holy Spirit tonight. And rather than take up his time, I'm just going to open up the altar. And his entire an hour and a half that he was scheduled to preach, it was just turned into an hour and a half altar call. And it's just, and I'm going that, and I'm watching other people who are starting to, you know, go off into this towards the snack bar. You know, it's just like, is the, oh, the Holy Spirit's really moving tonight, right? It's really, it's really rolling in here. You know, but it's just, it's fake. It's a cop out. And you think God looked down on that and said, watched a guy just forsake the preaching of the word of God, just to have an emotional service. So everybody could come down to the altar and stick their backside up in the air. That's what these altar calls are. I mean, just like, I know it's getting, it's getting a little quiet in here. I don't know. Maybe you guys want to start the altar calls again. I don't know. But that always kind of, you know, after I kind of came around on that topic, it really kind of, you know, struck me as odd that that's what, that's what a lot of these churches want to do. Come down here and we're all just, you know, stick our butts up in the air. Now you're being crass. Well, I don't know how else to put it. I mean, that's what's going on at these altar calls. It's weird. And it's fake. And it's emotional. And it's insincere. And it's just a bunch of emotionalism, just getting people all worked up. And, you know, some of these Baptist churches are really good at it, you know, because they, what do they use? They use music, you know, and they get real emotional in their speech, the way they talk. You know, they get really good at loving in word, you know. I mean, I'm sure if I really tried, I could come in here and just, and just preach. I mean, none of you would buy it because you know what I'm like, you know, but there's probably some people that maybe never heard me. I could just preach a real sappy, emotional, and just turn into one of them and just be overly emotional person, really sentimental, and just really try to move people with my words. And, you know, and if you do that long enough and you get good out of it, you can really move people with emotions. I mean, actors do it all the time, don't they? Don't they pay people millions of dollars to get in these films and just fake emotion so that other people can feel fake emotions? You know, they get all choked up. It's, you know, when Bambi died. It's a cartoon. No deer actually died in the making of that film, folks. You know, unless the paper that it was drawn on, you know, destroyed some forest somewhere, you know, we can hope for the best. But that's the thing. It's like people are literally paid to make people feel fake emotions. And why would it be any different in church, you know? And that's one of the things I love about Faithful Word is that it's just cut and dry and to the point. You sit through enough, you sit through 11 years of services where it's just songs and handshakes and hugs and altar calls and everything else that goes along with it. Then you come to a church where it's just like we're going to cut out all the fluff. Everybody's going to sing together and then we're going to get right to the preaching and you're still going to have time in your evening to go home and get bedded and be sour. You know, maybe not tonight because I want to roll. I'm just kidding. You're like, you're not on a roll. You are drowning right now. But I'm going to, we're pulling it up, you know, pull up, pull up. I hear that so often when I'm preaching, you know, terrain, terrain. But, you know, what was I saying? Anyway, that's what I love about Faithful Word. There's no fluff. There's no fake emotion. That's what I love about churches like this. And you know what? And that way, when you, when somebody does come and, you know, expresses, you know, love toward, you know, it's real. It's not fake. There's people that sincerely love one another in this building. And look, I'm not saying that that isn't in other churches, but what I am saying is, you know, a lot of churches lean really heavily on emotionalism. They lean really heavily on affection and, you know, things that can be faked through just words. Where did I have you turn? Romans 12. Look at verse 9. He says, let love be without dissimulation. He's saying, don't let it be fake. Don't let it be simulated. Abort that which is evil, cleave that which is good. Those are actions. To abort evil and cleave the good, that's something that you do. That's how, you know, love is real. But it's not just something you say, but you actually take action to that end. Being kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another. So obviously there is still the element of feeling here, right? Being kindly affectionate, right? Having brotherly love, preferring one another. So there is the idea of having feeling. Notice again all the action that follows. Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation. That's something you have to endure. Continuing instant in prayer, that's an action. Distributing the necessity of the stains. That's something that you do. Given to hospitality, right? Those are actions. Go to Romans chapter number 13. I'll wrap it up. 1 John chapter 4 again says, verse 20, if a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, and he hath seen not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there were any other commandment is briefly comprehended in this saying, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So how do you love your neighbor? By not doing certain things, right? Not doing the things that are on this list. And by doing things that we ought to do for our neighbor. That's how you love your neighbor. Not just saying, oh, I love you, neighbor. It's something you have to do. Look at verse 10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. So again, I don't want to be misunderstood by saying that there isn't a place for love and affection and feeling and emotion, right? But we don't want to cross over into this line where it just becomes this sentimentality, becomes this sentimentality where it's just this, you know, this exaggerated nostalgia, okay? Because when we start to dwell too much on the past, it distracts us from the future. And that's really what I'm trying to get across tonight. We don't want to be overly distracted by what's already taken place. We need to remain refocused on the future. And I'm not trying to discredit anything that we've accomplished in this church, okay? I'm not saying that. But what I'm saying is let's get distracted by that, okay? We don't want to be people who live in the past. You know, live in the past, you know, sometimes people are filled with regret. We don't want to live in that. But we also don't want to just sit around and pat ourselves on the shoulders for how far we've come, right? Because the goal is every step to God's kingdom. That, you know, that's when our race ends when we get to heaven. Go to 2 Timothy, actually go to 1 Peter, chapter number 5, number 1, 2 Peter 1. I'm all over the place. 2 Peter 1. I got to land the plane here for you guys. We looked at it this morning how Paul said that he forgets those things which are behind and reaches forth under those things that are before. And he didn't say just the bad things, just the things that I'd rather forget. He says I don't cleave to any of it. You know, I let the past remain in the past. Obviously there's a time and place to have remembrance, right? I mean they were to have the Passover year by year to remember that God delivered them out of Egypt. It's great to have an anniversary service and think about how far we've come. But you know what? What we ought to be more focused on is the year ahead of us. It's great to think about the five years that we've had, but what about the next five years? What about the next 10 years? It's great to think back on your own Christian life and think, oh, it's been 20 years that I've been saved. Yeah, but what about the next 20? You know, we don't want to just dwell on the past. We don't want to just dwell on those things and think that we've arrived. Look at 2 Peter, chapter 1. He says in verse 12, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things. So are other things worth remembering, things worth dwelling on, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. I think it meet as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir up by putting you in remembrance, okay? There are things we ought to remember. There are times that we ought to be put in remembrance. Verse 15, Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. So he's saying there's certain things that I want you to keep always in mind, right? But what is it? What are these things that he wants them to have always in remembrance? Is it things that they did or is it things that they ought to be doing, right? Well, all we got to do is back up, verse 5. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to your virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they shall make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying you have to be continually adding these things to your life. That's what Peter wanted them to keep in remembrance, that there's things you need to be adding to your Christian life. Look, if you if you could sit down right now and just kind of, you know, do a, you know, just add up everything that you've done every as far, you know, in your Christian life, all the things that you've accomplished, everything you've done, that's great. You know, add all that up, see what the total is, look at the sum, feel good about it, but don't forget about the fact that there's still things we have to keep adding to our faith. Those are the things that we have to keep in remembrance, the things that we have to keep adding to our faith, adding these things. One last passage, you're so close to it anyway, go to Hebrews chapter number 12. We need to keep these things always in remembrance. I'm not saying that there isn't a time and place for a moderate and appropriate amount of nostalgia, okay, but we don't want to pass over into sentimentality, where it's an overindulgence in that thing, where we're just only focused on the past, because the Christian life is all about what's ahead of you, not what's behind you. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1, Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. It's still there, okay, and he's saying in order to run this race that is before you, you have to lay aside, what, all the weights and the sins. I mean, there's some things that aren't even sinful that need to be laid aside. They could become a weight in our lives, and although, you know, thinking about the past and dwelling on the past might not be a sinful thing, it could lead to becoming a weight, couldn't it? Where we're just, well, you know, I've already done enough soul winning. I've already read enough Bible. I've already gone to church long enough. I've already learned everything there is to know. You know, that will become a weight in your life, where you're just, you know, thinking you've already arrived, and that's going to keep you from running the race that is before you. Look at verse two. We need to, what, looking unto Jesus the author and finish of our faith. You know, if we want to dwell on something, if we want to meditate on something, if we want to focus on something in our lives, we need to focus on the Lord, what God would have us to do, right, and not focus only on what we've done for him, okay, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. You know, that's when Jesus's race ended, wasn't it? When he ascended into heaven and sat down in the right hand of God, that's when he kind of, you know, as he said, I've finished the work that he gave me to do, right? That's when he accomplished his father's business, when he did everything that he was here to do. It's the same way for us. You know, our Christian life will be complete when we cross over into eternity, you know, and it's great to look back. I'm not against it, you know, I'm for it, but we don't want to be people who dwell in the past and just let sentimentality take over in place of a spirituality. You know, we want to look back, but the place that I'm looking forward to, looking back from, if you can follow that grammar there, is eternity. You know, I'll get nostalgic when I'm, you know, in heaven. That's when I, that, I want to look back on a lifetime of serving God. You know, I want to be able to look back on decades of this church's existence. I want to look back on, you know, thousands of souls being saved. I want to be able to look back on thousands of hours of preaching. I want to be able to look back on multitudes of baptisms and multitudes of people's lives being changed and just, I want to see an abundance of that. But you know what, that doesn't happen over the course of five years. It doesn't happen over 10 years. It happens over the course of a lifetime. It takes decades. It takes, and you know, it takes people just being consistent. People are always pressing toward that mark, always moving forward. You know, it's great that we took time to look back, so to speak, this morning and to, and to dwell upon the fact that we've made it five years. But let's always keep in front of us that we want to look back from eternity. What are we going to look back on when our life ends, when we're in glory and we're giving account for the works that we've done? You know, will we look back on a lifetime of service to God or will we look back on a season? There was that season of my life, those five to ten years that I served God. Or will we look back on an entire life from the moment we got saved to the moment that we crossed over? You know, hopefully it's the latter. Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for everyone that's come out tonight. And Lord, thank you for the fellowship that we have in your spirit. Thank you for the brotherhood. And Lord, I pray to help us to love one another as we ought to, Lord, not in word, but also in deed. And Lord, we thank you for the last five years, the many blessings that you've given us, the journey that we've had thus far. And Lord, I pray to help us to be mindful of the race that is yet set before us in this church, Lord, that there's many more souls to be saved. And Lord, many more lives that can be changed. And Lord, that there's still a great work for us to do. That we haven't arrived in, Lord, in truth, we never will until we are with you. And, Lord, I pray to help us to be able to rejoice in that day when we stand with you. And Lord, look back on a life of service. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right.