Podcasts about wholeheartedness

The body is responsible for natural functions whereas the soul is responsible for spiritual functions. Both fight for control of the emotions as we'll soon see. When the soul prevails, emotions gravitate to the right side of the heart but when the body prevails, the soul gravitates to the left. Wholeheartedness is perfect harmony between body and soul. The special day of Shmini Atzeret is conducive for just that.

Sarah Humphreys shares several vital truths that can be seen in the experiences of Abraham in Hebron, bringing out the three tests of being wholehearted for God.

In this weeks sermon Read Roger Revell preaches from Matthew.

This talk was given by Gil Fronsdal on 2024.04.23 at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. ******* For more talks like this, visit AudioDharma.org ******* If you have enjoyed this talk, please consider supporting AudioDharma with a donation at https://www.audiodharma.org/donate/. ******* This talk is licensed by a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License

This talk was given by Gil Fronsdal on 2024.04.23 at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA. ******* Video of this talk is available at: https://youtube.com/live/_uzImsp5icg. ******* For more talks like this, visit AudioDharma.org ******* If you have enjoyed this talk, please consider supporting AudioDharma with a donation at https://www.audiodharma.org/donate/. ******* This talk is licensed by a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License

In this special book study episode we are diving into the first few chapters of a Legacy of Learning by Meghan Lawson.  We dive into:Creating memorable moments.Savoring Walks.Strategies for capturing moments.WholeheartednessWays to cultivate joy.Connect with others.So much more!Please fill out the link below and we look forward to connecting with you soon!https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVwaRVj1X7xWPP_XOIDnUc5JbJovbzW9VXtSQ7_pQEmymRpg/viewform?usp=sf_linkConnect with us on social media:Meghan Lawson -   X - @Meghan_Lawson                        Instagram - meghanlawsonblogLivia Chan - X - @LiviaChanL                       Instagram - liviachanlBrian Martin - X - @bmartinreal                       Instagram - teachingchampionspodcastPick up a copy of Legacy of Learninghttps://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Learning-Teaching-Lasting-Impact/dp/1948334682/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2TL43XIW0Y7RG&keywords=Legacy+of+learning&qid=1707879341&sprefix=legacy+of+learning%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-1

1/18/24 The wisdom of God often seems unconventional when compared to the ways of the world. Everyone desires an abundance of life but there seems to be a path laid in scripture where we are given a clear direction which leads us into this wholeness and abundance. This week at HoF was a special treat as we got to hear from one of our own, Taylor Jervis about the key to this path which is found in wholeheartedly following the Lord. Pursuing wholeness in all of our spheres is important but it turns out that it is living with the priority of seeking first the Kingdom that results in the abundance of life, breakthrough, and wholeness to which we are all called…

In Part 2 of his series on Joel, Rabbi Schiller looks at the 5-fold action plan in Joel 1 to face times of trouble: Declare a holy fast; Call a sacred assembly; Summon the Elders; Gather the inhabitants of the land; and Cry Out to the LORD.

Over the last few years, there has been a lot of discussion about narcissism and the destruction it can do: in politics, in organizations, and unfortunately, in churches. Is narcissism self-love or does it disguise something deeper? Why are the qualities of a narcissist often praised in leaders? How can we encourage cultures of humility, vulnerability, and curiosity instead of narcissism? We talk with Chuck DeGroat, author of "When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Your Community From Emotional and Spiritual Abuse" Chuck DeGroat (LPC, PhD) is professor of pastoral care and Christian spirituality at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and senior fellow at Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. He served as a pastor at churches in Orlando and San Francisco and founded two church-based counseling centers. He is a licensed therapist, spiritual director, and the author of Toughest People to Love and Wholeheartedness. Find Chuck at ChuckDeGroat.net and social media @ChuckDeGroat

In episode 2 on the enneagram, we tackle wholeheartedness, relationship and heart using the lens of the Enneagram. Angie and I also “show our work” here as we wrestle with the concepts, and how to keep things accessible to listeners at all levels of familiarity with the framework…. Not an easy task.In short, the Enneagram helps us see ourselves. It really is a practice of paying attention: to our habits and long held beliefs, those we have inherited and those we have nurtured ourselves through life, all so we can see how we are showing up, or not showing up, in our relationships. Relationships first with our selves, and then, with others. Using awareness and presence, we can learn to see how we unknowingly protect ourselves from heartbreak in nine different ways. Reminder: the Enneagram model has nine main personality types… hence the “nine different ways” we protect our hearts from harm.As mentioned in the last episode, we are exploring the Enneagram as a practice of presence. Today, we wrestle with the question: what if the secret to life isn't about becoming a better person (ie. self-improvement) but is simply about being more human (ie. more real, more compassionate)? Can the Enneagram to help us do that? We believe it can. Listen in and let us know… do you agree? Episode links:Chapman Coaching Inc.Big Stone HouseThe Riso Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI) assessment at The Enneagram Institute, look under “Testing Center” tab at the top of the landing pageAbout Thomas Merton's life and writingsBrené Brown on wholeheartednessRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com

Use the code Kerry25 at seagullbook.com to get 25% off of Kerry's books. In this episode Rabbi Joe Charnes and Kerry dive deep on the first 8 verses of James. They discuss the relationship of trials and being built up so that we can become complete, or wholehearted. They look at the meanings of the words used in these four verses and how we can become more godly through these trials. They then wrestle with the heavy questions of whether or not you can truly find joy in the worst kind of evil in your life, and whether any of this can truly help you to become perfect in this life. They ask if James is right that joy can come from experiencing evil. We are grateful for our sponsor, Lisa Spice, and for our editor, BJ Muhlestein, and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

“If it's not a paradox, it's not true.” So says today's guest Marc Lesser, long-time mindfulness teacher and business leader. In his latest book, he considers what would happen if Homer Simpson, the Buddha, and Alice in Wonderland walked into a proverbial bar. How would each react to tricky situations? What would be the integrated way forward? We also talk about being asked to leave his previous company, Brush Dance, after fifteen years and how he navigated a new phase of his career as a result. More About Marc: Marc Lesser is a speaker, facilitator, workshop leader, and executive coach. He is the author of five books, including the Zen of Business Administration, and his latest, Finding Clarity: How Compassionate Accountability Builds Vibrant Relationships, Thriving Workplaces, and Meaningful Lives. Marc's podcast Zen Bones: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times features interviews, supportive tools for creating more meaningful work, and potent mindfulness practices to develop yourself, influence your organization, and change the world.

“This day will end like all others.”“And after that?”In this conversation, Caleb speaks with Zena Hitz about her recent book “A philosopher looks at the religious life.” They discuss meaning, Christianity, and Stoicism.https://catherineproject.org/(01:10) Wholeheartedness(06:59) Meaning(14:18) Abandonment(17:45) Devotion and Role Ethics(30:08) Service and Happiness(40:32) Freedom(44:33) Nietzsche***Subscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribeDownload the Stoa app (it's a free download): stoameditation.com/podIf you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we'll set you up with a free account.Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/

"The greatest crisis in our generation is the lack of the knowledge of God..." Josh Yeoh; singer, musician & House of Prayer pioneer shares his journey into the global prayer movement & his heart around the generation we are in regarding the worship movement and the return of the Lord. Find out more about YWAM Furnace below

Chapter 1 What's The Gifts of ImperfectionThe book "The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are" by Brené Brown is a self-help and personal development book. It explores the concepts of vulnerability, courage, and worthiness, and encourages readers to let go of perfectionism and embrace their authentic selves. The author draws upon her research in shame, authenticity, and vulnerability to provide practical insights and strategies for cultivating self-compassion and wholehearted living. The book aims to guide readers in living a more fulfilling and authentic life.Chapter 2 Why is The Gifts of Imperfection Worth ReadThe Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown is worth reading for several reasons:1. Insightful exploration of vulnerability: Brown delves into the concept of vulnerability and its importance in our lives. She explains how embracing vulnerability can lead to greater connections with others and a more fulfilling life.2. Encouragement to embrace imperfections: Brown challenges the societal pressure to be perfect and provides advice for accepting our flaws and imperfections. This can be liberating for individuals who struggle with self-doubt or shame.3. Practical strategies for cultivating authenticity: The book offers practical exercises and strategies to help readers cultivate self-acceptance and authenticity. Brown shares methods for setting boundaries, practicing self-compassion, and building resilience.4. Engaging writing style: Brown's writing is accessible and engaging, making the book an enjoyable read. She incorporates personal anecdotes and relatable stories, which help to bring the concepts to life.5. Applicable to a wide range of readers: The messages in The Gifts of Imperfection can resonate with people from all walks of life. Whether you're struggling with self-esteem, relationships, or your professional life, Brown's insights can provide guidance and inspiration.Overall, The Gifts of Imperfection is worth reading because it offers a fresh perspective on embracing vulnerability, cultivating self-acceptance, and living an authentic life. It has the potential to empower and inspire individuals who are seeking personal growth and a deeper connection with themselves and others.Chapter 3 The Gifts of Imperfection Summary"The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brené Brown is a self-help book that explores the importance of embracing our imperfections and living a wholehearted life. Brown argues that society's expectations and pressures often lead us to strive for perfection, which ultimately leads to feelings of shame, worthlessness, and disconnection from ourselves and others.Brown introduces ten guideposts for cultivating a more authentic and fulfilling life. The guideposts include:1. Cultivating authenticity: Being true to ourselves and allowing others to see our true selves.2. Cultivating self-compassion: Extending kindness and understanding to ourselves, especially during difficult times.3. Cultivating resilience: Developing the ability to bounce back from setbacks and hardships.4. Cultivating gratitude and joy: Embracing the positive aspects of life and finding gratitude in everyday moments.5. Cultivating intuition and trusting faith: Using our intuition and embracing spirituality in order to make choices aligned with our true selves.6. Cultivating creativity: Allowing ourselves to be creative and express our unique gifts.7. Cultivating play and rest: Making time for activities that bring us joy and replenish our energy.8. Cultivating calm and stillness: Finding moments of quiet and stillness to recharge and reflect.9....

This episode is a continuation of the last episode where I shared the news of something I've been moving through in my personal life. In this episode, we explore: -The collective archetype of Divorce and why it's important to be aware of it. - The perils, pitfalls, and disempowerment that go hand-in-hand with the blame game and victimhood.- How to resist the ego's bait and return to the heart when we're feeling hurt, betrayed, resentful, scared, etc.- How to implement heart-led boundaries (as opposed to boundaries formed out of fear) and why boundaries are a necessary precursor to compassion.- Why eliminating fear isn't the solution to our discomfort (as well as the true solution).- How to leverage the transformative power of pain and heartbreak to return to our innate wholeness.Please don't hesitate to reach out through my website if you're going through a difficult time, too. Useful WisdomWhen Things Fall Apart by Pema ChödrönHow to Be Loving by Danielle LaPorteRising Strong by Brené BrownThe Gifts of Imperfection by Brené BrownRadical Compassion by Tara BrachThe Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan WattsHomecoming by John BradshawConscious Uncoupling by Katherine Woodward ThomasThe Co-Parenting Handbook by Karen Bonnell and Kristin Little*This is an affiliate link. Purchasing through affiliate links supports The Soul Horizon at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not substitute individual psychological advice.

In this episode, Elena speaks with psychotherapist and coach, Claudine Chiarmonte, about leading holistically, living with integrity, and engaging in self-healing. Check out Elena's website to learn more about how she can support you in seeing and using the power that resides within you. What does wholeheartedness mean as a leader? Being authentic as a leader and bringing all of who you are to the table can be difficult to put into practice. However, part of being wholehearted as a leader means cultivating authenticity and being open about the fact that you don't know everything. You have to be okay with making mistakes and being human. You're not the Terminator. In fact, one of the most powerful, albeit difficult, ways to embrace wholehearted living is by cultivating rest and play in your day-to-day life. In a world that is all about the “hustle,” this might seem counterintuitive to your productivity and your ability to lead. Nevertheless, this practice actually frees you to be able to embrace joy and gratitude, not just in your work life, but in all areas. In her Weekly Coaching Tip, Elena delves into what it means to live wholeheartedly, so you can thrive in every aspect of your life. In her interview segment, she speaks with her friend, Claudine Chiarmonte, a coach, psychotherapist, senior executive trainer, and podcaster, who has been helping people transform their lives for over 30 years. From an early age, Claudine was called to help others navigate difficult situations, which led her to become a social worker and child advocate. Her life took an unexpected turn when she was struck by a drunk driver. This incident caused her to reevaluate her life, career, and relationships, prompting her to change directions and become a coach. In this conversation, Elena and Claudine talk about the journey of finding your purpose, the difference between principles and values, what it takes to lead with self-awareness, how to live and lead with vulnerability, and more. Let's Get Social! Want to hear more from Elena? Click here! Learn more about Claudine's psychotherapy practice. Listen to Claudine's podcast. Connect with Claudine on Instagram. Follow her on LinkedIn! Friend her on Facebook. Check out Claudine's YouTube. This podcast was produced by the following amazing team: John Biethan, President of Imagine Podcasting Sam De Santo, Creative Director Rye Taylor, Podcast Design Strategist & Producer Alan Meaney, Audio Engineer Meg McCarley, Brand Designer & Social Media Manager Raejan Noh, Content Writer J. Aaron Boykin, Musician & Artist (Get updates about Aaron's music via Instagram)

06/25/23 Sabbath, the practice upon which all other spiritual practices are built, brings us back to the wholehearted truth that we are not our frenzied productivity, but the Beloved of God.

2 Timothy 2:3-7

In today's meander, we tackle wholeheartedness, relationship and heart using the lens of the Enneagram. Angie and I also “show our work” here as we wrestle with the concepts, and how to keep things accessible to listeners at all levels of familiarity with the framework…. Not an easy task.In short, the Enneagram helps us see ourselves. It really is a practice of paying attention: to our habits and long held beliefs, those we have inherited and those we have nurtured ourselves through life, all so we can see how we are showing up, or not showing up, in our relationships. Relationships first with our selves, and then, with others. Using awareness and presence, we can learn to see how we unknowingly protect ourselves from heartbreak in nine different ways. Reminder: the Enneagram model has nine main personality types… hence the “nine different ways” we protect our hearts from harm.As mentioned in the last episode, we are exploring the Enneagram as a practice of presence. Today, we wrestle with the question: what if the secret to life isn't about becoming a better person (ie. self-improvement) but is simply about being more human (ie. more real, more compassionate)? Can the Enneagram to help us do that? We believe it can. Listen in and let us know… do you agree? Episode links:Chapman Coaching Inc.Big Stone HouseThe Riso Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI) assessment at The Enneagram Institute, look under “Testing Center” tab at the top of the landing pageAbout Thomas Merton's life and writingsBrené Brown on wholeheartednessRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com

Our mission is to foster personal and cultural transformation through Love, Creativity, and Justice. We are a diverse community that seeks to live our faith in an authentic way, we long for the undiluted gospel, and for the world to see and know how good God really is.   Listen Here:  Spotify: https://expression58.org/spotify Apple Podcasts: https://expression58.org/apple   Follow us: Website: https://www.expression58.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/expression58/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/expression58/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Expression58media

Myozen Joan Amaral gives a Dharma Talk at the Mahasati Center in Wenham, Massachusetts in January of 2023

Do you know your own destiny or even where you are headed in life? How about what makes you different from everyone else? In this episode we are going to talk about dreams, Visions, heart's desires and destiny DNA. What is the unique calling on your life and how can you cultivate an environment that allows you to be all that you were made to be? Join us as we give practical ways to understand your destiny and what it could look like to step into a secure knowing of who He made you to be. We also dive into some practical tips, tools and insights you need to start cultivating this atmosphere of wholeheartedness in your family.   Click on the link below to get more information about joining our free Free Facebook Group: familywisdomsway.com   Click on this link to learn how to connect with us in deeper ways: findwisdomsway.com QUICK EPISODE SUMMARY How to unpack prophetic words that people give you? What is the unique God print that He has placed on your life? How to know what to do with the dreams that you are carrying in your heart. What would it be like to see your hearts desires manifest on earth?

What could your Myers Briggs test results be telling you about your own personal needs? In this episode we are going to continue our talk on unmet needs and how your Myers Briggs results could have something to do with the specific needs that you have. Join us as we give practical ways to understand what specific needs you may have as well as some tips, tools and insights you need to start cultivating an atmosphere of wholeheartedness in your family.   Click on the link below to get more information about joining our free Free Facebook Group: familywisdomsway.com   Click on this link to learn how to connect with us in deeper ways: findwisdomsway.com QUICK EPISODE SUMMARY What Myers Briggs is saying about your personal needs. How Myers Briggs can help you understand your heart needs better. Specific phrases you can use to help communicate your needs to others. How to recognize when someone else's needs are going unmet.

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston in our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Heavenly Father, we thank you that you did not leave us in our sins and our trespasses, that you broke into this world through your son Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank you that you lived a perfect life. You do live the life of suffering because the Christian life often entails suffering, and you went to a cross. And thanks to your resurrection, we have a way to be reconciled with God, redeemed, and we have a way to be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit, you apply the gospel to our hearts, our minds, our souls, and we pray that you do that today. We know that the gospel is the power of God onto salvation for whoever believes, and I pray if anyone is not yet a Christian today, that they turn from their sin and wicked ways and turn to you and follow you.And for us who are believers, Lord, show us what it means to daily take up our cross and follow Christ, that the crucifixion leads to a life of cruciform. The way of life is the way of the cross. Show us today from the holy scriptures what it means to live a Christian life of love. And Lord, no one, not one of us does it perfectly so we pray for much grace in it. We pray all this in Christ's name, Amen. Today we are continuing our sermon series through Romans. Today we're in 12:9-13. The title of the sermon is the Christian Wristband. And you say, "What's that mean?" Well, the title comes straight from football obviously, and in particular, New England Patriots' Mac Jones. I've been watching Mac Jones, he stinks. He's been stinking. He's been stinking, and one of the reasons why I've been trying to discern why he isn't that good, he's got like three layer wrist bands.In football, the quarterback gets a little wristband that's like a cheat sheet and he gets the play, he needs layers of it. He's going through pages of his wristband. That's why he stinks. And here today is just one little wristband, that's the verses. This is like the cheat sheet for the Christian life. And the text today is that yes, sometimes you have to call an audible, but for the most part, these verses have everything you need to live a God honoring daily life. And here the text wrestles with the question how do we, who are committed to Christ, who have had our minds renewed, how are we to love and how are we to live? Specifically, how do we love those in the church? And then next week the text we'll be looking at, how do we love those outside of the church?And throughout the epistle, the apostle Paul has given us lengthy, weighty concepts, and he's done that with very long sentences, run-on sentences. He would not have done well in my English AP class in 11th grade. He's just one sentence and that's the chapters. But here today he gives us staccato shots, rapid fire truths, terse, short, sweet, straight to the point, and I pray this text will be helpful in your Christian life. Today we're in Romans 12:9-13, and would you look at the text with me? Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. This is the reading of God's holy, inherent, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts.Five verses with 13 exhorts, so the sermon has 13 points today to frame up our time together, and it's just from the text. I'm not even going to read them. I just read the text, so that's the 13 points, here they are. Verse one in verse nine, the first point, let love be genuine. And this comes in the context where verses four through eight, he's been telling us about our spiritual gifts, that we are given gifts and the gifts are not for ourselves, they're to be used in the church in all humility. And then immediately from the gifts, he goes to the Christian life of love. And he does the same thing 1 Corinthians 12 where he explains the spiritual gift, and then immediately he pivots in verse 13, he's given us that great chapter on love. Remember, love is patient, love was kind, et cetera.Here's a text, 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:1, be earnest but earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Paul, why land on the word genuine as the descriptor of what our love should be like? He could have said, "Let love be great," or tremendous or earnest or joyful or constant or bold, I don't know. He says, "Let love be genuine," meaning let love be without hypocrisy. Well, I talk about hypocrisy here because the previous section he said, "Think humbly," meaning do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Humbly considering others more significant than self, that leads to self-forgetful service of Christ. That leads to genuine love, and genuine love takes humility. We talked about that last week.And pride is what leads to hypocritical love, where you pretend to love. Why? Because you're always asking, "Well, how will I appear if I don't look loving?" That's the driving question, or, "How can I create a good impression of myself," or, "How can I be liked more?" That's the consuming desire. And Paul says, "No. Put away hypocrisy. If you're going to love, that love on the outside needs to be matched by love on the inside," because what is hypocrisy? It's you're masking your true self, where you put forward it looks like loving behavior but there's nothing alive inside. 1 Corinthians 13:3, if I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing.So to those who are adamant about saying love is a verb...that's me, I'm talking myself, I say that all the time, love is action, love is sacrifice, love of his giving... Paul would say you can give everything, but if you don't do it from a loving heart, it means nothing. And Jesus called out this kind of hypocrisy all the time, in particular with religious people. Matthew 15:7-9, "You hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said these people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." External lip praise wasn't accompanied by an internal heart praise, and we as Christians need to remind ourselves that we have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. And Christ calls us into his body, that's what we talked about last week, and another metaphor for that is the household of God.That God the father has children whom he adopts, and we are to have a special regard or love for Christians regardless of what they look like or social or cultural things that try to divide us all too often. So we are to manifest a love that's genuine, that's sincere, that's authentic, and as soon as you try to do this, you realize it's impossible apart from the Lord, that you don't have the natural resources, the internal power to do this. So we need to cry out for the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 says, "Hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." So we're to love with a supernatural love that is not our own, it's God's love that's poured into our hearts.How would you define love? And that's an interesting conversation for community group this week. It's interesting that the Bible does not define love. There's no Bible verse that says, "This is what love is." It illustrates love, for God so love the world that he gave his one and only son. Jesus Christ loves me because he gave himself for me. The Bible defines sin. Sin is lawlessness, but it never defines love partially because we as humans, we know what love is. It's affection and commitment, the acts for the good of another. And here Paul, he focuses on the affection part. We're all too familiar with counterfeit love, love that doesn't act. We're all also familiar with a superficial love that doesn't sacrifice. But here he focused on hey, there should be a genuine affection, and he uses the word agape.Let love agape be genuine. It's the love of God. It's a Godlike, Christlike, sacrificial love. And this word has been used speaking about God up until this text, except with one exception in Romans 8:28 where it's used for our love for Christ, but does God feel affection toward us? Well, of course. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. That's the sacrifice, that's the act, but before going Jerusalem, scripture says that he stood over Jerusalem, he sees Jerusalem and he wept. He wept because he was moved with compassion. It's a Greek word, splagchnizomai, with his innards, with his in internal everything inside. It's visceral with a positive connotation of the word, a visceral love. And he said, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Oh, how I have longed to gather you like a hen gathers her chicks." That's the love. Jesus felt that love. He felt that compassion.It's a little statement that's so simple. It's so straightforward. Let love be genuine. It's the foundation for the Christian conduct, and despite its simplicity, it's so hard to do and it's so easy to fake. And we live in a culture, the fake it until we make it. And actually, in Christian circles I've heard love is a verb. Do love and then feelings will follow. Yes, but you need to cultivate as you're acting, as you're sacrificing. 1 Peter 4A "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Timothy 1:5, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." It's a call to honestly examine our hearts, asking the question, "Do I love others, especially those in the church, without hypocrisy?"Second, abhor what is evil. And here there's an assumption. The assumption is that there is objective good in objective evil. It's not just consensus or polling or this is what we decided. No, no, no. There's a consensus that there's an objective good in evil because there is God and there is the will of God, and the reason the objective exists is because God exists outside of ourselves, therefore the objective morality flows out of him, it's outside of us. And how do we know what is good? How do we know what is evil? Well, we know from holy scripture, we know it from God's law. We know it from the 10 Commandments. We also know it from the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit renews our mind, be transformed by the renewing of your mind and then you will know what is God's good and pleasing and perfect will.If there were no God, if there were no Christ, then good would just be subjective, not objective, and good would be in the eye of the beholder, especially a strong beholder. And this is what history shows us. Might makes right. The people with the most power, they decide what is good and what is evil. And we as Christians, I don't care how much power you got out there, there is objective good, there is objective evil, and I as a Christian am called to love God with all my heart, soul, strength, mind, and love my neighbor as myself. And when I see things out there or things in here that are contrary to the love of God and the love of people flourishing, as God calls it, shalom human prosperity, I am to hate it. I am called as a Christian to abhor what is evil.If there were a universe in which there was no evil to hurt people or to dishonor Christ, we'd only have love, but there is evil out there. We see it every day. And so we are called as Christians to hate. Our love must include hate and true love includes hate, and this is hatred of the highest dimension. It's the word abhor, and in the Greek it's the highest level of hatred. It's an intense, inward rejection, not just mild displeasure or I don't like that. No, no, it's a hatred in the name of the Lord. We are called to loathe evil. In this world, love has to hate evil. We are to hate evil because if you love someone, you hate anything that hurts that person, even the sin within their hearts. And you've heard love the sinner, hate the sin. In a sense, that's true. We are called to love even our enemies, but we are to hate the evil out there and the evil in here.Why? Because evil is an assault on the character of God, on the sovereignty of God. And as we seek to grow in grace, we're to seek to gain the mind of Christ and be Christlike, love what Christ loves and hate what Christ hates. Did Jesus Christ exhibit hatred in his ministry? All the time. Read the gospels. Look at John 2, as Jesus methodically sits there making a whip before he goes into the temple and drives out the moneychangers who are standing in the way of people who wanted to worship God. Hatred is one of the strongest emotions that can inhabit the heart of a human. It's destructive, it's demeaning, but not when it's directed against evil. I wrote a whole section of this sermon about all the hatred, all the evil you got to hate out there. You already know. You already know. "Joe Biden, evil, evil, agenda, narratives. I'm going to save that for the Romans 13 sermon. I can't wait. But here I just want to focus on that hatred against evil, it has to start with hating the evil within your own heart first.Colossians 3:5-10, "Put to death." What a powerful phrase. "Mortified, put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual morality and purity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you two once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self of its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." And it takes wisdom. There are times when people are more important than principle and there are times when principle is far more important than people's feelings. And it takes divine wisdom, which comes through the word of God, through the spirit of God, through godly counsel.Third is hold fast to what is good. As we are to despise evil, we're to cling to what is good. One of the most intense verbs in the Greek, the root is glue. The root word is glue. We have to hang on tightly to that which is good, allowing it to be cemented to our souls so that we do not drop or lose it with any cultural wind of fantasy, et cetera, et cetera. So hold onto to what is good. When you see something's good, cling on to it. Cling onto the Lord, cling onto holy scripture. Cling on to church. It's good to go to church, it's even better to join the church, to be part of the family of God. How do you do that? Well, you become a member. Well, what's the first step? You attend a membership class today at 1:00 PM. Cling on to membership, praise be to God.Fourth is love one another with a brotherly affection. That's verse 10, and this is addressed specifically to the fellowship of the believers, the household of faith. And he's talking about affection, a kind, a tender affection toward one another like in a family love. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called The Four Loves, I would highly commend it to you. and he says in it there are basically four kinds of love, and he goes through the four verbs that are used in scripture. The first is agape, which we just talked. It's a Godlike self-giving love even toward enemies. Then there's philia, the love of friendship and camaraderie. There's eros, the love of romance and desire and sexual attraction, and storge, the love of affection that arises through natural attachment. And this is the verb that he uses, philia/storge. It's not discriminating.Friends or lovers when they meet each other, they say, "We're made it for each other. You're my second half. You're just like me," or, "You completely," et cetera, cetera. But the special glory of storge is that it unites people who would never have been united otherwise. Storge exists between people who if they found themselves in the same household or community, if they had not found themselves in the same community, they would have nothing to do with each other, kind of like your siblings. If you have siblings, sometimes you look at your sibling and it's like, "I'm stuck with you. I am stuck with you." They're also stuck with you, so a little humility there. You don't choose your siblings, and don't blame your parents. They didn't choose your kids either. But the storge is you don't have a choice, you have to love each other. That's the love he's talking about.And he doesn't just say stand each other or bear with each other. That's other bible verses where he does say that, sometimes you just got to bear with it. He says, "No, no, no. There's got to be a tender affection, just like in a loving family. 1 Peter 1:22, "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere, brotherly love. Love one another earnestly from a pure heart." Again, something that we need to feel, not just something that we do. It's a family affection. Look at Philippians 1:8. Paul says, "For God as my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus." Splagchnizomai, again with the affection, the intestines, the inner organs, it comes from the inside. He says, "I long for you. I love you." Not just I want to see you or do something for you, but there's a tender affection.2 Corinthians 6:11-13, "We've spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our church, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I speak as to children. Widen your hearts also. Widen your hearts. May your hearts not be cramped or narrow with affection." I just want to pause. Sometimes we read a commandment like this, love one another and brotherly love and tender affection, and even without thinking, you are like, "Okay, but I don't feel anything. Oh. Since I don't feel anything, then I don't really have to do it." This is a commandment for people who have the personality type, and you take some personality tests and it's like, "This is for extroverts, brotherly affection. I'm an introvert. No, I don't have to do it."And Paul would say, "No, no, no. You have to sit under this." If you feel nothing for brothers and sisters or you're going through a season where your affections have fallen asleep, well, you need to sit under this word of God and you need to pray. Holy Spirit, reawaken the affection or give me new affections for my brothers and sisters. Give me this supernatural love for my brothers and sisters." And by the way, love is something you can grow in, just like faith is. 2 Thessalonians 1:3 says, "We are always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing." You can grow it, and I believe in you. I believe in you, Mosaic. Part of my work as a pastor, my job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.I think of myself sometimes as a coach. I want to equip you to excel. I want you to win in life. And my daughters, they play soccer and I've seen over the years, I've seen two different types of coaches here in Brookline. And they're rare, the first type of coach, he yells at them. He's direct, he tells them what to do. He shows up and I remember one game, my daughter Elizabeth, coach showed up and said, "Today we're going to win 10-0," and he said it extra loud so the other team would hear. He said, "We are going to obliterate them," and the team's like, "Yeah," and the other girls are like, "Ah." And I'm like, "That's tremendous. That's really good coaching." And they won six to zero and they were kind of bummed. I was not bummed. I enjoyed every single goal. It was tremendous.And then there are coaches that are like, "Hi, ladies. We're here just to have fun," and those games never fu, I'll tell you that. You know what's fun? Winning. Winning is fun. You know what's not fun? Losing eight to one in the last game of the season. That's not fun at all for anybody. And the coach, he's like, "High five, good." They were down five nothing at the half and he's like, "Just pretend this score is 0-0." I'm like, "That's not the real world, man. That's not how it works." So I'm not that coach, and some churches are like that. They read it and they're like, "This is impossible. Try your hardest. Okay, let's go have some brunch." No, no, no. This is true, and I'm calling you to it and I believe in you, and you can work your heart. You can train your affections, just like if you start working out.You get under the barbell and squat that first time, it's excruciating. It's hell on Earth and then you can't walk for three days, it's awful, and no one taught you about taking protein supplements. But after a while that stress and that pressure makes you stronger, so how can you grow in this? How can you grow and love? You put yourself in positions where it's uncomfortable to love brothers and sisters. This is why we practice community groups. This is why we practice church membership, where you sit with brothers and sisters in their presence, they feel your presence. You pray together, you read scripture, you break bread together. And the longer you're together in a place, Boston's hard with brotherly affection and growing that love because transients, 30% of the people in the room today probably won't be here in a year, but I'm calling of you to stay forever. Please stay.And so they move away, so you get to know people for a year to two years and you don't really get to know them, but if you're in the same church for years and you see the ups and downs, you see how people handle prosperity, you see how people handle adversity and then you realize oh, it does take work and God does give power. Five is to outdo one another in showing honor, that's 10, be outdo one another in showing honor. We're not to seek honor for ourselves, but rather to deflect honor, reflect honor. So people honor us and you say, "Oh, you're good looking," and you say, "No, you're better looking," something like that. "You're tremendous." "No, you're even tremendous-er." You're always outdoing one another in showing honor. That's why I do call people sir. "Nice to see you, sir. It's good to see you, ma'am." Just honor. Honor. A person has a title, I'll call you by your title, whatever. You honor people.And part of it is this is what the trinity is. The Holy Trinity, Father, son, and holy spirit, one God, three persons. They're constantly outdoing one another in honoring. There's a humility. The Father wants to see the glory of the son, the son wants to see the glory of the Father, the Holy Spirit wants to give glory to both, so we are to prefer honoring others more than we prefer being honored. We are to prefer elevating others more than we are elevated. Sometimes people are not worthy of the honor, they don't act honorably, but scripture says even at those moments, even of those people, we are to treat them as if they were honorable. Look at 1 Timothy 6:1. This is Paul speaking to Christian bond servants. The equivalent culturally would be employees and bosses. "Let all who are under a yoke as bond servants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled."So how does this apply to us? We are to honor those in positions of authority over us, and we are to honor those who are not in positions over us. The people can be scoundrels, but you can regard them as worthy of honor, even if they're not worthy of it, in the same way that Jesus Christ counts you worthy of righteousness. You're not worthy of Christ's righteousness, it's imputed righteousness. Christ earned that righteousness, he counts it to us. Even people don't deserve the honor, we are called to honor in the church in particular. Another example is 1 Corinthians 12:23. He gives a comparison between the weak members of the church and certain parts of the body. 1 Corinthians 12:23, "And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty."So showing honor is not always a response to someone being honorable, and here, a word of caution. Beware of honoring only one kind of person or preferring to honor a certain kind of person, one race or one gender, one socioeconomic status or educational level, age, a way of dressing, a body weight or one personality. God gets actually angry. God hates that. God abhors this kind of partiality and dishonoring of the church. James 2:1-6, "My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, for if a man wearing a gold ring and a fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say you sit here in a good place while you say to the poor man you stand over there or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?"Listen, my beloved brothers. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man, are not the rich ones who oppress you in the ones who drag you into court. My sister approached me after the first service. This is why second service is awesome, you got more content. She approached me and she's like, "James 2," she's like, "In my church back in Brooklyn," for the longest time this gentleman come in with just the shabbiest coat, just holes in it and shabby, shabby, and then the ladies in the church got together and for Christmas, they pooled money together to get this gentleman a brand new coat. And they give him the coat and he kind of doesn't know how to respond.He's like, "Oh that's nice of you." And then he is like, "Do you know I am the guy who just donated a brownstone to this church?" And they're like, "Oh." And so for two reasons I like that story. First of all, it illustrates James 2, and second of all, I'm like, "Lord, send us a gentleman with a shabby coat to donate us a brownstone. Praise be to God." And then also, that's Brooklyn. He's probably just being a hipster, I don't know. So don't show partiality. And then point six, there's a lot of points, six, seven and eight is basically together, so you're welcome. Do not be slothful and zeal, be fervent in spirit and serve the Lord. Negatively, don't be slothful, lazy in zeal, positively be fervent in spirit, and both are describing how we are to serve the Lord. We are to serve the Lord.Do lots of work for the Lord, and it has to be passionate, it has to be zealous. God does not want your labor that is done begrudgingly. And the word for slothful here is used in another place in the parable of the talents. This is Matthew 25. You should go back and read it maybe even today, wonderful passage illustrating this idea of slothfulness and zeal. And the story is a gentleman is a master. He has many resources and he picks these three gentlemen and to one of them he gives five talents, the equivalent of basically $5 million. Another one he gives two talents, $2 million. Another guy, he gives one talent or $1 million and he says, "Go and invest. It's not your money. Go and invest this. I'm going to come back and I want not just what I gave you, but I want the return on that investment."So the guy that had $5 million goes and he invested, he's the manager of a stock portfolio or whatever, invests it, makes another $5, 100% return. Tremendous. The guy with the two talents does the same thing. The guy with the one talent goes and he buries it and he just waits until the guy returns, when the master returns. And to both the guy with the five and the two talents, the master said this, this is Matthew 25:21, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over little. I will set you over much. Enter the joy of your master." Whenever I read that text I'm like, "Oh, I can't wait to hear that in heaven on the Lord's day." And every Christian, you should long to hear these words. "Well done, good and faithful servant." God sees your service. When others don't see, God sees and God's keeping track of your service.Well done, good and faithful. Enter the joy. And the guy with one talent, the guy that buried the talent, did nothing with it comes back, gives him a talent, and this is what the master said. His master answered, "You wicked and slothful servant." Now, these a parallel verses and parallel language. So to the faithful ones he said, "Well done, good and faithful," and then to this guy he says, "Wicked and slothful," so the opposite of good is wicked and the opposite of faithful, we assume it should be unfaithful. That's not what he says. The opposite of faithfulness is slothfulness. The guy was just lazy when it came to the master. And for us, this is lazy. And slothfulness when it comes to our service to the Lord. I assume that guy didn't just go and sit on a haystack and just enjoy his life and do nothing. No, no, no. He was probably diligent toward himself, toward his own business and enterprise and didn't want to work for the master, and that's called pride and sin.So slothful is the opposite of faithful, and here the word fervent, "Be fervent in spirit," it's a synonym to zealous, fervent, same idea. The word fervent comes from the Latin fervens, which means boiling. There's a fire aspect to it, and that's exactly that Latin word, it comes from the original Greek zeontes, which is boiling. Boiling in spirit. So the idea clearly is not just mere hard work, it's not just efficiency for the Lord. The spirit is in view, not just the body. It's not just what you do with your body for the Lord, I'm going to do all the right things. No, your spirit has to be in it. Feeling is in the view, not just doing, so both these clauses together, put them together, don't just do lots. Do it, but feel for the lord. Feel this fire.1 Corinthians 15:58, Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your work is not in vain." Jesus speaks terrible words of warning to those who settle into lukewarm affections for the Lord. Actually, lukewarmness, scripture says, is nauseating to Jesus. This is Revelations 3:15-16. "I know your works. You're neither cold nor hot, would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." It's nauseating when God sees lukewarm Christians. And why is it nauseating? Because he's like, "I died for you. I poured out my blood for you and you're going to be lukewarm," and spits it out of the mouth. Hot or cold? Are you hot or cold? He wants us all hot.He wants us all hot. Hot or cold, it's like coffee. No one serves room temperature coffee. No one does. I've never gone to a coffee shop and they're like, "Here's some tepid coffee." Nobody does that for some reason, it's disgusting. It's either hot coffee or ice coffee with a straw, preferably plastic, not paper. Abhor what is evil. Over and over, the Bible says, "Intensity matters. Zeal matters. Wholeheartedness matters," and we aren't to settle for anything less. Why? Because we exist to tell people about how great God is. We exist to spread the passion for the supremacy of God, and you can't spread what you don't have. You can't. Evangelism without passion does not work. People see right through it. They want to know, do you really believe in this God, in this message?So if you don't have passion or passion wanes, go to the Lord in prayer. Sometimes it's just a matter of you got to take a break, you need rest, you need solitude, just time with the Lord. So when it comes to serving Christ, halfheartedness, lukewarmness, laziness, sluggish and slothfulness, utterly inappropriate. Why? Because we're saved by Jesus Christ. We know what it took to get us saved, and we need to never forget that. This is the greatest thing in the world. You have Christian eternal life, you cannot die. Your body will die, but you will not die. You will live forever in overwhelming joy. Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Everything works for your good. All your troubles, all your sorrows produce in eternal weight of glory.Not to be passionate about that, there's something wrong. There's something wrong. And I see my fellow neighbor and I see brothers and sisters in the Lord so passionate about things, like football for example, and I'm preaching to myself. By the way, I'm getting a lot better at this. This season I haven't even watched one full game, praise be to God, because Mac Jones stinks, that's why. But you see people who go to Gillette Stadium, they go, they spend thousands of dollars. It's basically their church. That's their worship service. Their communion is beer and a chili dog, and those are their heroes, and at the end of the day, that means nothing. We are to get zeal, and where does that seal zeal come from? It comes from the Holy Spirit.Look at Colossians 1:28 and 29. "Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone what's sure in Christ. For this I toil," Paul says, "Struggling with all whose energy? His energy. I'm struggling with his energy that he powerfully works within me. Lord, give us this energy. Lord give us this power. Lord give us this zeal. 1 Peter 4:11, "Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." What do you do when the zeal wanes? Well, the zeal, what is a fire, you got to feed the fire. You got to feed the fire, you do that with scripture.Whatever feeds your fire, do that and never let it flag but be aglow with the spirit and serve the Lord. Such fervent zeal and fervency of spirit, it's costly. It takes our best energy. Martin Luther, he in his biographies, it said that at the end of the day, he would literally just fall into bed. Just *plump*. His bedtime prayer was, "Lord, I'm tired. Amen," so that connects Calvin's biographers marvel at his output. John Wesley rode 60 to 70 miles a day on average to preach three sermons. Where do they get this power? Jonathan Edwards talks about this in a sermon on the kingdom of God, Matthew 11:12, where it says, "From the days of John the Baptist, until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violence take it by force." There is a spiritual, there's a violence in your Christian walk.You need to have this violence. Why? Because you're mortifying sin. You're fighting the good fight, this demonic attack against you. You want more growth, you want more growth in faith, more growth in love, more growth in good work, Satan doesn't want that. Now there's attacks from the demonic, and what do you do in moments like that? You get stronger. You get more violent against the evil out there, the evil in here, and you take more faith, more love, more fervor and you take it by force. Nine is rejoice in hope. Don't just rejoice in circumstances, don't just rejoice in your whatever season of life. No, you'll rejoice in hope. You focus on the hope, not on the joy. There's a lot of things in life that if you focus on them, you're like, "There is no hope. There is no joy." No. You focused on hope.Hebrews 6:11, "And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end." He's talking to us about hope as being full of assurance. Well that's different than the way that we use hope in the English language. I hope it's nice tomorrow, I hope to go to vacation soon, I hope the Pats get a little better. I hope, and nothing's guaranteed. This hope is assured. So if you focused on this assured hope, what's that? That's the eschatological truth. We will spend eternity with God. What is this life? It's just a blip on the radar of eternity. We're going to spend eternity with God. We've got focus on the hope of the glory of God, and that fills your heart with joy, which is not just an act of the will. A lot of people look at the commandment.So in Philippians it says, "Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice in him always." That's an imperative. It's a commandment. And they were like, "God commands you to rejoice, so you have to use your will to rejoice." Well, that's part of it. That's part of it. The will, you have to have your will focused on the Lord, focused on the hope. Why are you downcast, oh my soul? You preach to yourself, but there are to be emotions that will up in your heart. As 1 Peter 1:8 says, "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and a rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. A joy that is unutterable." The biblical concept of joy, it's connected to the Godhead himself. Well done, good and faithful servant, welcome into your master's what? Joy, meaning in the household of God, in the presence of God, that's where we experience this unutterable joy.So that's why when I tell people about the gospel and I'm like, "Hey, you should be Christian," I'm not just come to Jesus for all of your sons that are forgiven." Yes, that's the first step, and then you begin to feel this joy, this satisfaction. You can't even explain it. You're with the Lord, everything around you, it's like that meme of the little girl where there's a fire behind her and she's like, or the meme of the dog where it's like, "This is fine." You know that meme? Sometimes the Christian walk is like that, but you can really say this is fine because you're in the Lord and your eternity is secure. 10 is be patient in tribulation, and Paul's writing about patience here, the virtue of forbearance, of hanging on when things are tough. And we are to remember the patience of Job, who cried out in the midst of his agony.Lost everything, lost his kids, lost his health, and Job 13:5, "Though he slay me, I will hope in him. I will argue my ways to his face," that last part he should not have said, but you know what, I look at it and I'm like at least he kept the conversation with the Lord going. He didn't get pissed at the Lord and he turned around and said, "You know what? I'm done with this," he said, "I'm going to present my kid. I'm going to keep praying," and that's how you remain patient in tribulation, knowing that God is sovereign. And sometimes it does feel like God's slaying you, and why should we be surprised? We worship his son, Jesus Christ. Who put Jesus Christ on the cross? It was our sin, of course. It was also the will of God the father. In Gethsemane, Jesus under immense pressure, the capillaries in his face are bursting, mixed with blood. It's like he's sweating blood." Father, let this cup pass from me." Then what? "Not my will, but yours be done, tho he slay me." So there is tribulation. Psalm 23, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear for you are with me." Oh, you're with me. How did I get in the valley of the shadow of death? He led you there, but keep going, keep going. Remain patient, keep going, keep going, and then you get to the end of the psalm, the greener pastures, still waters, et cetera. Christian joy allows you to flourish right in the midst of pain and suffering. Romans 5:3, "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance." 2 Corinthians 8:2, For a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy in their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part."2 Corinthians 6:10, "As sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything." In a sense, there are spiritual mood swings where it's like spiritual moodiness, where it's like I'm suffering, I'm rejoicing, I'm suffering, I'm rejoicing. It's like the weather in New England, you never know what you're going to get. You have no idea. But despite the suffering, I can be rejoicing. Tribulation is a normal experience of believers in this life, and we shouldn't be surprised. Look at our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He comes into this world in affliction. His birth was scandalous, conceived before marriage. He was born in an animal feeding trough, that was his bed, and he was threatened and hated by the political powers, Herod at that time. Barely escaped as a child, becomes a refugee in Egypt, and so that went until he was accused of sedition against Caesar and crucified. That was the life of our Lord and Savior.That's the way Christianity began, so we should not be surprised when with there is tribulation. Luke 14:27, "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." Matthew 10:25, in the words of Christ, "It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If you have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household?" So Jesus was called Beelzebub, that's another name for Satan. Jesus by the religious people was called Satan, and Jesus was like, "Don't be surprised when they call you evil," because we live in a society, we live in a culture that looks at evil, calls it good, looks at good and calls it evil. So if you stand up and you say, "No, your good is actually evil and your evil is actually good," how do you think culture will respond, people will respond?1 Peter 4:12, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you." So how do you remain patient in tribulation? Well, you remain constant in prayer. You devote yourself to prayer. Prayer is an ongoing dialogue between our heart and the heart of the Lord. We're always conscious of God's presence, relying on him, communicating with the Father in our thoughts and does take a devotion. You have to set part time for prayer. Acts 1:14, "All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. Acts 2:42, "And they, the early church, devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Colossians 4:2, Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. And 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." It's just a continuous dialogue even with God always. Why continue? Because we live in this world and there are many needs in life and family and churches and world missions and the culture, and so we pray.12 is contribute to the needs of the saints, that's verse 13. The whole orientation of the Christian is not work to have but work to have to give. That should be the whole orientation of why we work. We work to have to give. Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." A little more descriptive in Luke 12:32, "Fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, give to the needy. Provide for yourselves with moneybag that do not grow old with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys, for where your treasurer is, there will your heart be also."Or Titus 3;145, "And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful." 2 Corinthians 9:7, "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Ephesians 4:28, "Let the thief no longer steal but rather let him labor, doing honest work with own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need." I pray God prospers all of you. All of you. I pray the Lord blesses the work of your hands, your crypto investments, everything, everything, everything. I pray all of you are prospered and that you remember that when God prospers us, it's not just to increase my standard of living, but it's to increase my standard of giving.And love is sacrifice. It's costly. That's why the word for contribute here, it's from koinonia, which means fellowship. And what he's saying is when you understand that you're in the family of God, that you're part of the fellowship, that you are a family. Well, in a family, someone else's needs are actually your needs. And third is seek to show hospitality. When Job was protesting against his sickness, one of the virtues that he said he never neglected was hospitality. Job 31-32, "The sojourner or the immigrant has not lodged in the street. I have opened my doors to the traveler." So one of the God appointed duties of every righteous person is hospitality. How do I define hospitality? It's welcoming people into your home who do not belong there. That's hospitality. And I say the word home strategically, not house, because it can be an apartment. It can be just a room, your room in a basement in Austin, and it doesn't have to be lavish.This is why a lot of us, we don't practice hospitality. Don't tell my mom. My mom was like this growing up. She'd be like, "Okay, someone's coming over," and the house, everything is just perfect. Five course meal, just everything, mayonnaise on everything because we're Russian, just everything. And then after they would leave, she would get so mad at my dad for inviting everyone. Why? Because she's emotionally exhausted, physically exhausted. My house, we turn on the vacuum cleaner on Tuesdays. You know why? Because that's when our community group is. And I tell my wife, "Let's not even clean. Let's show everyone genuine love. I'm going to show you my authentic, this is how we live. Come on in, don't break an ankle, et cetera." Paper plates is fine. Plastic utensils, fine. Paper straws, not fine. That's not hospitable. You saw that coming. You saw that.1 Peter 4, 8-9, "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly. Since love covers a multitude of sins, show hospitality to one another without grumbling." It's not just a command to do something, it's a continuous verb, action, meaning it's not just about what you do, show hospitality, it's about who you are, a certain kind of person, where you are hospitable. He's saying let your hospitality be an extension of an overflow of God's hospitality to you. Hebrews 13, "Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware." Sometimes angels show up, they look like they're human and they say, "Can I come over?" And you're like, "I don't have any food," and you say, "Let's go to Los Amigos, Angel." You go to Los Amigos, you give them a surf and turf and bring them to your house, and the angel blesses you. And you had no idea that was an angel, but you know when they left, just everything's different. Praise be to God. Has that ever happened to me? I don't know. I don't know, but you always feel better after hospitality.In conclusion, I just want to point out from the Old Testament, where do they get this idea of hospitality? Well, we get it from the fact that we did not belong in the household of God. We did not belong in the Promised Land, so to speak, just like Israel. In Leviticus19:33, Israel is told, "When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God." So the motivation for being hospitable to strangers is you were an immigrant, therefore be hospitable to immigrants, but he doesn't just land there. He also says, "I am the Lord your God," because sometimes that's not enough motivation because you forget.The motivation that he gives us ultimately to be hospitable is God has been hospitable to us, Jesus Christ is hospitable to us. What is grace? Grace is the hospitality of God to welcome sinners who did not deserve a place in the household of God, and God adopts us as sons and daughters. God welcomes us into his house. How does he do this? By sending Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ leaves the father's house, comes lives in this miserable world, lives a perfect life, never sins. He was homeless. Jesus Christ said he did not have a place to rest his head. So be like Jesus, come move to Boston. You also will be homeless without a home, but that's what Jesus did. He did not have a house and he just served people, and he did all of that to welcome us into the household of God, so much so that Jesus experienced cosmic abandonment, cosmic alienation, cosmic homelessness.On the cross, he's crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? God the Father forsakes God the Son so that we would have a place in the father's house. That's cosmic hospitality. God's been hospitable to us, so we are to be hospitable to others. When we started the church in the YMCA downtown, our tagline was, "Mosaic Boston, a church that feels like coming home," and that feels nice. It was also strategic marketing because we had a church full of college students, and that's basically anyone that would come to our church because I was like, 28 and no one... So we would feed them, we'd care for them, and little by little, it really became a church family. It really turned into a church that feels like coming home.So I pray that for us and I pray this text over us. If you missed any of the points, fret not. Just open your Bible, it's all there. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for a beautiful text, a powerful text, a text that's so simple in many ways and so difficult for us to live out so we ask for grace and we ask for mercy, and we ask for the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, continue to knit our hearts together and make us truly a Romans 12 church. And we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston in our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you did not leave us in our sins and our trespasses, that you broke into this world through your son Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank you that you lived a perfect life. You do live the life of suffering because the Christian life often entails suffering, and you went to a cross. And thanks to your resurrection, we have a way to be reconciled with God, redeemed, and we have a way to be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit, you apply the gospel to our hearts, our minds, our souls, and we pray that you do that today. We know that the gospel is the power of God onto salvation for whoever believes, and I pray if anyone is not yet a Christian today, that they turn from their sin and wicked ways and turn to you and follow you. And for us who are believers, Lord, show us what it means to daily take up our cross and follow Christ, that the crucifixion leads to a life of cruciform. The way of life is the way of the cross. Show us today from the holy scriptures what it means to live a Christian life of love. And Lord, no one, not one of us does it perfectly so we pray for much grace in it. We pray all this in Christ's name, Amen. Today we are continuing our sermon series through Romans. Today we're in 12:9-13. The title of the sermon is the Christian Wristband. And you say, "What's that mean?" Well, the title comes straight from football obviously, and in particular, New England Patriots' Mac Jones. I've been watching Mac Jones, he stinks. He's been stinking. He's been stinking, and one of the reasons why I've been trying to discern why he isn't that good, he's got like three layer wrist bands. In football, the quarterback gets a little wristband that's like a cheat sheet and he gets the play, he needs layers of it. He's going through pages of his wristband. That's why he stinks. And here today is just one little wristband, that's the verses. This is like the cheat sheet for the Christian life. And the text today is that yes, sometimes you have to call an audible, but for the most part, these verses have everything you need to live a God honoring daily life. And here the text wrestles with the question how do we, who are committed to Christ, who have had our minds renewed, how are we to love and how are we to live? Specifically, how do we love those in the church? And then next week the text we'll be looking at, how do we love those outside of the church? And throughout the epistle, the apostle Paul has given us lengthy, weighty concepts, and he's done that with very long sentences, run-on sentences. He would not have done well in my English AP class in 11th grade. He's just one sentence and that's the chapters. But here today he gives us staccato shots, rapid fire truths, terse, short, sweet, straight to the point, and I pray this text will be helpful in your Christian life. Today we're in Romans 12:9-13, and would you look at the text with me? Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. This is the reading of God's holy, inherent, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Five verses with 13 exhorts, so the sermon has 13 points today to frame up our time together, and it's just from the text. I'm not even going to read them. I just read the text, so that's the 13 points, here they are. Verse one in verse nine, the first point, let love be genuine. And this comes in the context where verses four through eight, he's been telling us about our spiritual gifts, that we are given gifts and the gifts are not for ourselves, they're to be used in the church in all humility. And then immediately from the gifts, he goes to the Christian life of love. And he does the same thing 1 Corinthians 12 where he explains the spiritual gift, and then immediately he pivots in verse 13, he's given us that great chapter on love. Remember, love is patient, love was kind, et cetera. Here's a text, 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:1, be earnest but earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Paul, why land on the word genuine as the descriptor of what our love should be like? He could have said, "Let love be great," or tremendous or earnest or joyful or constant or bold, I don't know. He says, "Let love be genuine," meaning let love be without hypocrisy. Well, I talk about hypocrisy here because the previous section he said, "Think humbly," meaning do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Humbly considering others more significant than self, that leads to self-forgetful service of Christ. That leads to genuine love, and genuine love takes humility. We talked about that last week. And pride is what leads to hypocritical love, where you pretend to love. Why? Because you're always asking, "Well, how will I appear if I don't look loving?" That's the driving question, or, "How can I create a good impression of myself," or, "How can I be liked more?" That's the consuming desire. And Paul says, "No. Put away hypocrisy. If you're going to love, that love on the outside needs to be matched by love on the inside," because what is hypocrisy? It's you're masking your true self, where you put forward it looks like loving behavior but there's nothing alive inside. 1 Corinthians 13:3, if I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing. So to those who are adamant about saying love is a verb...that's me, I'm talking myself, I say that all the time, love is action, love is sacrifice, love of his giving... Paul would say you can give everything, but if you don't do it from a loving heart, it means nothing. And Jesus called out this kind of hypocrisy all the time, in particular with religious people. Matthew 15:7-9, "You hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said these people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." External lip praise wasn't accompanied by an internal heart praise, and we as Christians need to remind ourselves that we have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. And Christ calls us into his body, that's what we talked about last week, and another metaphor for that is the household of God. That God the father has children whom he adopts, and we are to have a special regard or love for Christians regardless of what they look like or social or cultural things that try to divide us all too often. So we are to manifest a love that's genuine, that's sincere, that's authentic, and as soon as you try to do this, you realize it's impossible apart from the Lord, that you don't have the natural resources, the internal power to do this. So we need to cry out for the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 says, "Hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." So we're to love with a supernatural love that is not our own, it's God's love that's poured into our hearts. How would you define love? And that's an interesting conversation for community group this week. It's interesting that the Bible does not define love. There's no Bible verse that says, "This is what love is." It illustrates love, for God so love the world that he gave his one and only son. Jesus Christ loves me because he gave himself for me. The Bible defines sin. Sin is lawlessness, but it never defines love partially because we as humans, we know what love is. It's affection and commitment, the acts for the good of another. And here Paul, he focuses on the affection part. We're all too familiar with counterfeit love, love that doesn't act. We're all also familiar with a superficial love that doesn't sacrifice. But here he focused on hey, there should be a genuine affection, and he uses the word agape. Let love agape be genuine. It's the love of God. It's a Godlike, Christlike, sacrificial love. And this word has been used speaking about God up until this text, except with one exception in Romans 8:28 where it's used for our love for Christ, but does God feel affection toward us? Well, of course. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. That's the sacrifice, that's the act, but before going Jerusalem, scripture says that he stood over Jerusalem, he sees Jerusalem and he wept. He wept because he was moved with compassion. It's a Greek word, splagchnizomai, with his innards, with his in internal everything inside. It's visceral with a positive connotation of the word, a visceral love. And he said, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Oh, how I have longed to gather you like a hen gathers her chicks." That's the love. Jesus felt that love. He felt that compassion. It's a little statement that's so simple. It's so straightforward. Let love be genuine. It's the foundation for the Christian conduct, and despite its simplicity, it's so hard to do and it's so easy to fake. And we live in a culture, the fake it until we make it. And actually, in Christian circles I've heard love is a verb. Do love and then feelings will follow. Yes, but you need to cultivate as you're acting, as you're sacrificing. 1 Peter 4A "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Timothy 1:5, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." It's a call to honestly examine our hearts, asking the question, "Do I love others, especially those in the church, without hypocrisy?" Second, abhor what is evil. And here there's an assumption. The assumption is that there is objective good in objective evil. It's not just consensus or polling or this is what we decided. No, no, no. There's a consensus that there's an objective good in evil because there is God and there is the will of God, and the reason the objective exists is because God exists outside of ourselves, therefore the objective morality flows out of him, it's outside of us. And how do we know what is good? How do we know what is evil? Well, we know from holy scripture, we know it from God's law. We know it from the 10 Commandments. We also know it from the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit renews our mind, be transformed by the renewing of your mind and then you will know what is God's good and pleasing and perfect will. If there were no God, if there were no Christ, then good would just be subjective, not objective, and good would be in the eye of the beholder, especially a strong beholder. And this is what history shows us. Might makes right. The people with the most power, they decide what is good and what is evil. And we as Christians, I don't care how much power you got out there, there is objective good, there is objective evil, and I as a Christian am called to love God with all my heart, soul, strength, mind, and love my neighbor as myself. And when I see things out there or things in here that are contrary to the love of God and the love of people flourishing, as God calls it, shalom human prosperity, I am to hate it. I am called as a Christian to abhor what is evil. If there were a universe in which there was no evil to hurt people or to dishonor Christ, we'd only have love, but there is evil out there. We see it every day. And so we are called as Christians to hate. Our love must include hate and true love includes hate, and this is hatred of the highest dimension. It's the word abhor, and in the Greek it's the highest level of hatred. It's an intense, inward rejection, not just mild displeasure or I don't like that. No, no, it's a hatred in the name of the Lord. We are called to loathe evil. In this world, love has to hate evil. We are to hate evil because if you love someone, you hate anything that hurts that person, even the sin within their hearts. And you've heard love the sinner, hate the sin. In a sense, that's true. We are called to love even our enemies, but we are to hate the evil out there and the evil in here. Why? Because evil is an assault on the character of God, on the sovereignty of God. And as we seek to grow in grace, we're to seek to gain the mind of Christ and be Christlike, love what Christ loves and hate what Christ hates. Did Jesus Christ exhibit hatred in his ministry? All the time. Read the gospels. Look at John 2, as Jesus methodically sits there making a whip before he goes into the temple and drives out the moneychangers who are standing in the way of people who wanted to worship God. Hatred is one of the strongest emotions that can inhabit the heart of a human. It's destructive, it's demeaning, but not when it's directed against evil. I wrote a whole section of this sermon about all the hatred, all the evil you got to hate out there. You already know. You already know. "Joe Biden, evil, evil, agenda, narratives. I'm going to save that for the Romans 13 sermon. I can't wait. But here I just want to focus on that hatred against evil, it has to start with hating the evil within your own heart first. Colossians 3:5-10, "Put to death." What a powerful phrase. "Mortified, put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual morality and purity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you two once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self of its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." And it takes wisdom. There are times when people are more important than principle and there are times when principle is far more important than people's feelings. And it takes divine wisdom, which comes through the word of God, through the spirit of God, through godly counsel. Third is hold fast to what is good. As we are to despise evil, we're to cling to what is good. One of the most intense verbs in the Greek, the root is glue. The root word is glue. We have to hang on tightly to that which is good, allowing it to be cemented to our souls so that we do not drop or lose it with any cultural wind of fantasy, et cetera, et cetera. So hold onto to what is good. When you see something's good, cling on to it. Cling onto the Lord, cling onto holy scripture. Cling on to church. It's good to go to church, it's even better to join the church, to be part of the family of God. How do you do that? Well, you become a member. Well, what's the first step? You attend a membership class today at 1:00 PM. Cling on to membership, praise be to God. Fourth is love one another with a brotherly affection. That's verse 10, and this is addressed specifically to the fellowship of the believers, the household of faith. And he's talking about affection, a kind, a tender affection toward one another like in a family love. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called The Four Loves, I would highly commend it to you. and he says in it there are basically four kinds of love, and he goes through the four verbs that are used in scripture. The first is agape, which we just talked. It's a Godlike self-giving love even toward enemies. Then there's philia, the love of friendship and camaraderie. There's eros, the love of romance and desire and sexual attraction, and storge, the love of affection that arises through natural attachment. And this is the verb that he uses, philia/storge. It's not discriminating. Friends or lovers when they meet each other, they say, "We're made it for each other. You're my second half. You're just like me," or, "You completely," et cetera, cetera. But the special glory of storge is that it unites people who would never have been united otherwise. Storge exists between people who if they found themselves in the same household or community, if they had not found themselves in the same community, they would have nothing to do with each other, kind of like your siblings. If you have siblings, sometimes you look at your sibling and it's like, "I'm stuck with you. I am stuck with you." They're also stuck with you, so a little humility there. You don't choose your siblings, and don't blame your parents. They didn't choose your kids either. But the storge is you don't have a choice, you have to love each other. That's the love he's talking about. And he doesn't just say stand each other or bear with each other. That's other bible verses where he does say that, sometimes you just got to bear with it. He says, "No, no, no. There's got to be a tender affection, just like in a loving family. 1 Peter 1:22, "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere, brotherly love. Love one another earnestly from a pure heart." Again, something that we need to feel, not just something that we do. It's a family affection. Look at Philippians 1:8. Paul says, "For God as my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus." Splagchnizomai, again with the affection, the intestines, the inner organs, it comes from the inside. He says, "I long for you. I love you." Not just I want to see you or do something for you, but there's a tender affection. 2 Corinthians 6:11-13, "We've spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our church, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I speak as to children. Widen your hearts also. Widen your hearts. May your hearts not be cramped or narrow with affection." I just want to pause. Sometimes we read a commandment like this, love one another and brotherly love and tender affection, and even without thinking, you are like, "Okay, but I don't feel anything. Oh. Since I don't feel anything, then I don't really have to do it." This is a commandment for people who have the personality type, and you take some personality tests and it's like, "This is for extroverts, brotherly affection. I'm an introvert. No, I don't have to do it." And Paul would say, "No, no, no. You have to sit under this." If you feel nothing for brothers and sisters or you're going through a season where your affections have fallen asleep, well, you need to sit under this word of God and you need to pray. Holy Spirit, reawaken the affection or give me new affections for my brothers and sisters. Give me this supernatural love for my brothers and sisters." And by the way, love is something you can grow in, just like faith is. 2 Thessalonians 1:3 says, "We are always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing." You can grow it, and I believe in you. I believe in you, Mosaic. Part of my work as a pastor, my job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. I think of myself sometimes as a coach. I want to equip you to excel. I want you to win in life. And my daughters, they play soccer and I've seen over the years, I've seen two different types of coaches here in Brookline. And they're rare, the first type of coach, he yells at them. He's direct, he tells them what to do. He shows up and I remember one game, my daughter Elizabeth, coach showed up and said, "Today we're going to win 10-0," and he said it extra loud so the other team would hear. He said, "We are going to obliterate them," and the team's like, "Yeah," and the other girls are like, "Ah." And I'm like, "That's tremendous. That's really good coaching." And they won six to zero and they were kind of bummed. I was not bummed. I enjoyed every single goal. It was tremendous. And then there are coaches that are like, "Hi, ladies. We're here just to have fun," and those games never fu, I'll tell you that. You know what's fun? Winning. Winning is fun. You know what's not fun? Losing eight to one in the last game of the season. That's not fun at all for anybody. And the coach, he's like, "High five, good." They were down five nothing at the half and he's like, "Just pretend this score is 0-0." I'm like, "That's not the real world, man. That's not how it works." So I'm not that coach, and some churches are like that. They read it and they're like, "This is impossible. Try your hardest. Okay, let's go have some brunch." No, no, no. This is true, and I'm calling you to it and I believe in you, and you can work your heart. You can train your affections, just like if you start working out. You get under the barbell and squat that first time, it's excruciating. It's hell on Earth and then you can't walk for three days, it's awful, and no one taught you about taking protein supplements. But after a while that stress and that pressure makes you stronger, so how can you grow in this? How can you grow and love? You put yourself in positions where it's uncomfortable to love brothers and sisters. This is why we practice community groups. This is why we practice church membership, where you sit with brothers and sisters in their presence, they feel your presence. You pray together, you read scripture, you break bread together. And the longer you're together in a place, Boston's hard with brotherly affection and growing that love because transients, 30% of the people in the room today probably won't be here in a year, but I'm calling of you to stay forever. Please stay. And so they move away, so you get to know people for a year to two years and you don't really get to know them, but if you're in the same church for years and you see the ups and downs, you see how people handle prosperity, you see how people handle adversity and then you realize oh, it does take work and God does give power. Five is to outdo one another in showing honor, that's 10, be outdo one another in showing honor. We're not to seek honor for ourselves, but rather to deflect honor, reflect honor. So people honor us and you say, "Oh, you're good looking," and you say, "No, you're better looking," something like that. "You're tremendous." "No, you're even tremendous-er." You're always outdoing one another in showing honor. That's why I do call people sir. "Nice to see you, sir. It's good to see you, ma'am." Just honor. Honor. A person has a title, I'll call you by your title, whatever. You honor people. And part of it is this is what the trinity is. The Holy Trinity, Father, son, and holy spirit, one God, three persons. They're constantly outdoing one another in honoring. There's a humility. The Father wants to see the glory of the son, the son wants to see the glory of the Father, the Holy Spirit wants to give glory to both, so we are to prefer honoring others more than we prefer being honored. We are to prefer elevating others more than we are elevated. Sometimes people are not worthy of the honor, they don't act honorably, but scripture says even at those moments, even of those people, we are to treat them as if they were honorable. Look at 1 Timothy 6:1. This is Paul speaking to Christian bond servants. The equivalent culturally would be employees and bosses. "Let all who are under a yoke as bond servants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled." So how does this apply to us? We are to honor those in positions of authority over us, and we are to honor those who are not in positions over us. The people can be scoundrels, but you can regard them as worthy of honor, even if they're not worthy of it, in the same way that Jesus Christ counts you worthy of righteousness. You're not worthy of Christ's righteousness, it's imputed righteousness. Christ earned that righteousness, he counts it to us. Even people don't deserve the honor, we are called to honor in the church in particular. Another example is 1 Corinthians 12:23. He gives a comparison between the weak members of the church and certain parts of the body. 1 Corinthians 12:23, "And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty." So showing honor is not always a response to someone being honorable, and here, a word of caution. Beware of honoring only one kind of person or preferring to honor a certain kind of person, one race or one gender, one socioeconomic status or educational level, age, a way of dressing, a body weight or one personality. God gets actually angry. God hates that. God abhors this kind of partiality and dishonoring of the church. James 2:1-6, "My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, for if a man wearing a gold ring and a fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say you sit here in a good place while you say to the poor man you stand over there or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?" Listen, my beloved brothers. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man, are not the rich ones who oppress you in the ones who drag you into court. My sister approached me after the first service. This is why second service is awesome, you got more content. She approached me and she's like, "James 2," she's like, "In my church back in Brooklyn," for the longest time this gentleman come in with just the shabbiest coat, just holes in it and shabby, shabby, and then the ladies in the church got together and for Christmas, they pooled money together to get this gentleman a brand new coat. And they give him the coat and he kind of doesn't know how to respond. He's like, "Oh that's nice of you." And then he is like, "Do you know I am the guy who just donated a brownstone to this church?" And they're like, "Oh." And so for two reasons I like that story. First of all, it illustrates James 2, and second of all, I'm like, "Lord, send us a gentleman with a shabby coat to donate us a brownstone. Praise be to God." And then also, that's Brooklyn. He's probably just being a hipster, I don't know. So don't show partiality. And then point six, there's a lot of points, six, seven and eight is basically together, so you're welcome. Do not be slothful and zeal, be fervent in spirit and serve the Lord. Negatively, don't be slothful, lazy in zeal, positively be fervent in spirit, and both are describing how we are to serve the Lord. We are to serve the Lord. Do lots of work for the Lord, and it has to be passionate, it has to be zealous. God does not want your labor that is done begrudgingly. And the word for slothful here is used in another place in the parable of the talents. This is Matthew 25. You should go back and read it maybe even today, wonderful passage illustrating this idea of slothfulness and zeal. And the story is a gentleman is a master. He has many resources and he picks these three gentlemen and to one of them he gives five talents, the equivalent of basically $5 million. Another one he gives two talents, $2 million. Another guy, he gives one talent or $1 million and he says, "Go and invest. It's not your money. Go and invest this. I'm going to come back and I want not just what I gave you, but I want the return on that investment." So the guy that had $5 million goes and he invested, he's the manager of a stock portfolio or whatever, invests it, makes another $5, 100% return. Tremendous. The guy with the two talents does the same thing. The guy with the one talent goes and he buries it and he just waits until the guy returns, when the master returns. And to both the guy with the five and the two talents, the master said this, this is Matthew 25:21, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over little. I will set you over much. Enter the joy of your master." Whenever I read that text I'm like, "Oh, I can't wait to hear that in heaven on the Lord's day." And every Christian, you should long to hear these words. "Well done, good and faithful servant." God sees your service. When others don't see, God sees and God's keeping track of your service. Well done, good and faithful. Enter the joy. And the guy with one talent, the guy that buried the talent, did nothing with it comes back, gives him a talent, and this is what the master said. His master answered, "You wicked and slothful servant." Now, these a parallel verses and parallel language. So to the faithful ones he said, "Well done, good and faithful," and then to this guy he says, "Wicked and slothful," so the opposite of good is wicked and the opposite of faithful, we assume it should be unfaithful. That's not what he says. The opposite of faithfulness is slothfulness. The guy was just lazy when it came to the master. And for us, this is lazy. And slothfulness when it comes to our service to the Lord. I assume that guy didn't just go and sit on a haystack and just enjoy his life and do nothing. No, no, no. He was probably diligent toward himself, toward his own business and enterprise and didn't want to work for the master, and that's called pride and sin. So slothful is the opposite of faithful, and here the word fervent, "Be fervent in spirit," it's a synonym to zealous, fervent, same idea. The word fervent comes from the Latin fervens, which means boiling. There's a fire aspect to it, and that's exactly that Latin word, it comes from the original Greek zeontes, which is boiling. Boiling in spirit. So the idea clearly is not just mere hard work, it's not just efficiency for the Lord. The spirit is in view, not just the body. It's not just what you do with your body for the Lord, I'm going to do all the right things. No, your spirit has to be in it. Feeling is in the view, not just doing, so both these clauses together, put them together, don't just do lots. Do it, but feel for the lord. Feel this fire.1 Corinthians 15:58, Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your work is not in vain." Jesus speaks terrible words of warning to those who settle into lukewarm affections for the Lord. Actually, lukewarmness, scripture says, is nauseating to Jesus. This is Revelations 3:15-16. "I know your works. You're neither cold nor hot, would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." It's nauseating when God sees lukewarm Christians. And why is it nauseating? Because he's like, "I died for you. I poured out my blood for you and you're going to be lukewarm," and spits it out of the mouth. Hot or cold? Are you hot or cold? He wants us all hot. He wants us all hot. Hot or cold, it's like coffee. No one serves room temperature coffee. No one does. I've never gone to a coffee shop and they're like, "Here's some tepid coffee." Nobody does that for some reason, it's disgusting. It's either hot coffee or ice coffee with a straw, preferably plastic, not paper. Abhor what is evil. Over and over, the Bible says, "Intensity matters. Zeal matters. Wholeheartedness matters," and we aren't to settle for anything less. Why? Because we exist to tell people about how great God is. We exist to spread the passion for the supremacy of God, and you can't spread what you don't have. You can't. Evangelism without passion does not work. People see right through it. They want to know, do you really believe in this God, in this message? So if you don't have passion or passion wanes, go to the Lord in prayer. Sometimes it's just a matter of you got to take a break, you need rest, you need solitude, just time with the Lord. So when it comes to serving Christ, halfheartedness, lukewarmness, laziness, sluggish and slothfulness, utterly inappropriate. Why? Because we're saved by Jesus Christ. We know what it took to get us saved, and we need to never forget that. This is the greatest thing in the world. You have Christian eternal life, you cannot die. Your body will die, but you will not die. You will live forever in overwhelming joy. Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Everything works for your good. All your troubles, all your sorrows produce in eternal weight of glory. Not to be passionate about that, there's something wrong. There's something wrong. And I see my fellow neighbor and I see brothers and sisters in the Lord so passionate about things, like football for example, and I'm preaching to myself. By the way, I'm getting a lot better at this. This season I haven't even watched one full game, praise be to God, because Mac Jones stinks, that's why. But you see people who go to Gillette Stadium, they go, they spend thousands of dollars. It's basically their church. That's their worship service. Their communion is beer and a chili dog, and those are their heroes, and at the end of the day, that means nothing. We are to get zeal, and where does that seal zeal come from? It comes from the Holy Spirit. Look at Colossians 1:28 and 29. "Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone what's sure in Christ. For this I toil," Paul says, "Struggling with all whose energy? His energy. I'm struggling with his energy that he powerfully works within me. Lord, give us this energy. Lord give us this power. Lord give us this zeal. 1 Peter 4:11, "Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." What do you do when the zeal wanes? Well, the zeal, what is a fire, you got to feed the fire. You got to feed the fire, you do that with scripture. Whatever feeds your fire, do that and never let it flag but be aglow with the spirit and serve the Lord. Such fervent zeal and fervency of spirit, it's costly. It takes our best energy. Martin Luther, he in his biographies, it said that at the end of the day, he would literally just fall into bed. Just *plump*. His bedtime prayer was, "Lord, I'm tired. Amen," so that connects Calvin's biographers marvel at his output. John Wesley rode 60 to 70 miles a day on average to preach three sermons. Where do they get this power? Jonathan Edwards talks about this in a sermon on the kingdom of God, Matthew 11:12, where it says, "From the days of John the Baptist, until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violence take it by force." There is a spiritual, there's a violence in your Christian walk. You need to have this violence. Why? Because you're mortifying sin. You're fighting the good fight, this demonic attack against you. You want more growth, you want more growth in faith, more growth in love, more growth in good work, Satan doesn't want that. Now there's attacks from the demonic, and what do you do in moments like that? You get stronger. You get more violent against the evil out there, the evil in here, and you take more faith, more love, more fervor and you take it by force. Nine is rejoice in hope. Don't just rejoice in circumstances, don't just rejoice in your whatever season of life. No, you'll rejoice in hope. You focus on the hope, not on the joy. There's a lot of things in life that if you focus on them, you're like, "There is no hope. There is no joy." No. You focused on hope. Hebrews 6:11, "And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end." He's talking to us about hope as being full of assurance. Well that's different than the way that we use hope in the English language. I hope it's nice tomorrow, I hope to go to vacation soon, I hope the Pats get a little better. I hope, and nothing's guaranteed. This hope is assured. So if you focused on this assured hope, what's that? That's the eschatological truth. We will spend eternity with God. What is this life? It's just a blip on the radar of eternity. We're going to spend eternity with God. We've got focus on the hope of the glory of God, and that fills your heart with joy, which is not just an act of the will. A lot of people look at the commandment. So in Philippians it says, "Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice in him always." That's an imperative. It's a commandment. And they were like, "God commands you to rejoice, so you have to use your will to rejoice." Well, that's part of it. That's part of it. The will, you have to have your will focused on the Lord, focused on the hope. Why are you downcast, oh my soul? You preach to yourself, but there are to be emotions that will up in your heart. As 1 Peter 1:8 says, "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and a rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. A joy that is unutterable." The biblical concept of joy, it's connected to the Godhead himself. Well done, good and faithful servant, welcome into your master's what? Joy, meaning in the household of God, in the presence of God, that's where we experience this unutterable joy. So that's why when I tell people about the gospel and I'm like, "Hey, you should be Christian," I'm not just come to Jesus for all of your sons that are forgiven." Yes, that's the first step, and then you begin to feel this joy, this satisfaction. You can't even explain it. You're with the Lord, everything around you, it's like that meme of the little girl where there's a fire behind her and she's like, or the meme of the dog where it's like, "This is fine." You know that meme? Sometimes the Christian walk is like that, but you can really say this is fine because you're in the Lord and your eternity is secure. 10 is be patient in tribulation, and Paul's writing about patience here, the virtue of forbearance, of hanging on when things are tough. And we are to remember the patience of Job, who cried out in the midst of his agony. Lost everything, lost his kids, lost his health, and Job 13:5, "Though he slay me, I will hope in him. I will argue my ways to his face," that last part he should not have said, but you know what, I look at it and I'm like at least he kept the conversation with the Lord going. He didn't get pissed at the Lord and he turned around and said, "You know what? I'm done with this," he said, "I'm going to present my kid. I'm going to keep praying," and that's how you remain patient in tribulation, knowing that God is sovereign. And sometimes it does feel like God's slaying you, and why should we be surprised? We worship his son, Jesus Christ. Who put Jesus Christ on the cross? It was our sin, of course. It was also the will of God the father. In Gethsemane, Jesus under immense pressure, the capillaries in his face are bursting, mixed with blood. It's like he's sweating blood." Father, let this cup pass from me." Then what? "Not my will, but yours be done, tho he slay me." So there is tribulation. Psalm 23, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear for you are with me." Oh, you're with me. How did I get in the valley of the shadow of death? He led you there, but keep going, keep going. Remain patient, keep going, keep going, and then you get to the end of the psalm, the greener pastures, still waters, et cetera. Christian joy allows you to flourish right in the midst of pain and suffering. Romans 5:3, "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance." 2 Corinthians 8:2, For a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy in their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part." 2 Corinthians 6:10, "As sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything." In a sense, there are spiritual mood swings where it's like spiritual moodiness, where it's like I'm suffering, I'm rejoicing, I'm suffering, I'm rejoicing. It's like the weather in New England, you never know what you're going to get. You have no idea. But despite the suffering, I can be rejoicing. Tribulation is a normal experience of believers in this life, and we shouldn't be surprised. Look at our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He comes into this world in affliction. His birth was scandalous, conceived before marriage. He was born in an animal feeding trough, that was his bed, and he was threatened and hated by the political powers, Herod at that time. Barely escaped as a child, becomes a refugee in Egypt, and so that went until he was accused of sedition against Caesar and crucified. That was the life of our Lord and Savior. That's the way Christianity began, so we should not be surprised when with there is tribulation. Luke 14:27, "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." Matthew 10:25, in the words of Christ, "It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If you have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household?" So Jesus was called Beelzebub, that's another name for Satan. Jesus by the religious people was called Satan, and Jesus was like, "Don't be surprised when they call you evil," because we live in a society, we live in a culture that looks at evil, calls it good, looks at good and calls it evil. So if you stand up and you say, "No, your good is actually evil and your evil is actually good," how do you think culture will respond, people will respond? 1 Peter 4:12, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you." So how do you remain patient in tribulation? Well, you remain constant in prayer. You devote yourself to prayer. Prayer is an ongoing dialogue between our heart and the heart of the Lord. We're always conscious of God's presence, relying on him, communicating with the Father in our thoughts and does take a devotion. You have to set part time for prayer. Acts 1:14, "All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. Acts 2:42, "And they, the early church, devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Colossians 4:2, Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. And 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." It's just a continuous dialogue even with God always. Why continue? Because we live in this world and there are many needs in life and family and churches and world missions and the culture, and so we pray. 12 is contribute to the needs of the saints, that's verse 13. The whole orientation of the Christian is not work to have but work to have to give. That should be the whole orientation of why we work. We work to have to give. Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." A little more descriptive in Luke 12:32, "Fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, give to the needy. Provide for yourselves with moneybag that do not grow old with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys, for where your treasurer is, there will your heart be also." Or Titus 3;145, "And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful." 2 Corinthians 9:7, "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Ephesians 4:28, "Let the thief no longer steal but rather let him labor, doing honest work with own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need." I pray God prospers all of you. All of you. I pray the Lord blesses the work of your hands, your crypto investments, everything, everything, everything. I pray all of you are prospered and that you remember that when God prospers us, it's not just to increase my standard of living, but it's to increase my standard of giving. And love is sacrifice. It's costly. That's why the word for contribute here, it's from koinonia, which means fellowship. And what he's saying is when you understand that you're in the family of God, that you're part of the fellowship, that you are a family. Well, in a family, someone else's needs are actually your needs. And third is seek to show hospitality. When Job was protesting against his sickness, one of the virtues that he said he never neglected was hospitality. Job 31-32, "The sojourner or the immigrant has not lodged in the street. I have opened my doors to the traveler." So one of the God appointed duties of every righteous person is hospitality. How do I define hospitality? It's welcoming people into your home who do not belong there. That's hospitality. And I say the word home strategically, not house, because it can be an apartment. It can be just a room, your room in a basement in Austin, and it doesn't have to be lavish. This is why a lot of us, we don't practice hospitality. Don't tell my mom. My mom was like this growing up. She'd be like, "Okay, someone's coming over," and the house, everything is just perfect. Five course meal, just everything, mayonnaise on everything because we're Russian, just everything. And then after they would leave, she would get so mad at my dad for inviting everyone. Why? Because she's emotionally exhausted, physically exhausted. My house, we turn on the vacuum cleaner on Tuesdays. You know why? Because that's when our community group is. And I tell my wife, "Let's not even clean. Let's show everyone genuine love. I'm going to show you my authentic, this is how we live. Come on in, don't break an ankle, et cetera." Paper plates is fine. Plastic utensils, fine. Paper straws, not fine. That's not hospitable. You saw that coming. You saw that.1 Peter 4, 8-9, "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly. Since love covers a multitude of sins, show hospitality to one another without grumbling." It's not just a command to do something, it's a continuous verb, action, meaning it's not just about what you do, show hospitality, it's about who you are, a certain kind of person, where you are hospitable. He's saying let your hospitality be an extension of an overflow of God's hospitality to you. Hebrews 13, "Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware." Sometimes angels show up, they look like they're human and they say, "Can I come over?" And you're like, "I don't have any food," and you say, "Let's go to Los Amigos, Angel." You go to Los Amigos, you give them a surf and turf and bring them to your house, and the angel blesses you. And you had no idea that was an angel, but you know when they left, just everything's different. Praise be to God. Has that ever happened to me? I don't know. I don't know, but you always feel better after hospitality. In conclusion, I just want to point out from the Old Testament, where do they get this idea of hospitality? Well, we get it from the fact that we did not belong in the household of God. We did not belong in the Promised Land, so to speak, just like Israel. In Leviticus19:33, Israel is told, "When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God." So the motivation for being hospitable to strangers is you were an immigrant, therefore be hospitable to immigrants, but he doesn't just land there. He also says, "I am the Lord your God," because sometimes that's not enough motivation because you forget. The motivation that he gives us ultimately to be hospitable is God has been hospitable to us, Jesus Christ is hospitable to us. What is grace? Grace is the hospitality of God to welcome sinners who did not deserve a place in the household of God, and God adopts us as sons and daughters. God welcomes us into his house. How does he do this? By sending Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ leaves the father's house, comes lives in this miserable world, lives a perfect life, never sins. He was homeless. Jesus Christ said he did not have a place to rest his head. So be like Jesus, come move to Boston. You also will be homeless without a home, but that's what Jesus did. He did not have a house and he just served people, and he did all of that to welcome us into the household of God, so much so that Jesus experienced cosmic abandonment, cosmic alienation, cosmic homelessness. On the cross, he's crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? God the Father forsakes God the Son so that we would have a place in the father's house. That's cosmic hospitality. God's been hospitable to us, so we are to be hospitable to others. When we started the church in the YMCA downtown, our tagline was, "Mosaic Boston, a church that feels like coming home," and that feels nice. It was also strategic marketing because we had a church full of college students, and that's basically anyone that would come to our church because I was like, 28 and no one... So we would feed them, we'd care for them, and little by little, it really became a church family. It really turned into a church that feels like coming home. So I pray that for us and I pray this text over us. If you missed any of the points, fret not. Just open your Bible, it's all there. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for a beautiful text, a powerful text, a text that's so simple in many ways and so difficult for us to live out so we ask for grace and we ask for mercy, and we ask for the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, continue to knit our hearts together and make us truly a Romans 12 church. And we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Hello to you listening in Perugia, Italy!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Time Out Tuesday and your host, Diane Wyzga.I can still remember the first time I heard David Whyte recite Rilke's poem, The Swan, a poem that showed him a clear way ahead after living exhausted from lack of belonging, of wholeheartedness.Others have taken a turn at interpreting what they think Rilke's poem means; but that would be presumptuous on my part. I prefer that you listen deeply so you might ask yourself: What is the elemental water of my life?     The Swan   "This clumsy living that moves lumbering   as if in ropes through what is not done,   reminds us of the awkward way the swan walks.    And to die, which is the letting go   of the ground we stand on and cling to every day,   is like the swan, when he nervously lets himself down   into the water, which receives him gaily   and which flows under   and after him, wave after wave,   while the swan, unmoving and marvelously calm,   is pleased to be carried, each moment more fully grown,   more like a king, further and further on.'  [~ Rainer Maria Rilke - translated by Robert Bly]Question: What is the elemental water of your life you are willing to lower yourself into?You're invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, I hope you'll subscribe, share a nice shout out on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time! Remember to stop by the website, check out the Services, arrange a Discovery Call, and Opt In to stay current with Diane and Quarter Moon Story Arts and on LinkedIn. Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present: for credit & attribution Quarter Moon Story Arts

The Substance and Source of Wholeheartedness.

What are the pitfalls / paradoxes / possibilities / risks / benefits of engaging in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work as a White man?Dan Mahle is man I've been following in the ManKind Project for a decade. He's always stood out to me because of his integrity in leadership, his truth-telling, and his compassion with Wholeheartedness.  We sat down to talk about his work with organizations and teams on building equitable culture, especially working with white men. It starts with knowing who we are … cultivating our innate sense of value and significance.What does it look like to lean into the resistance that many white men have around equity work? Do you feel like you're walking on eggshells around this conversation? Dan has some incredible insights around how to move beyond this old frame. Find Dan Mahle: wholeheartedmasculine.org Book Recommendations: Resma Menakem - My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies Heather McKee - The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper TogetherLeticia Nieto - Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment; A Developmental Strategy to Liberate EveryoneTa Naheisi Coates - Between the World and Mebell hooks - The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and LoveAdditional ResourcesSubscribe/Rate/Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: >>>HERE

How Wholeheartedness to the End Always Provokes God's Extra Special Blessings!

Wholeheartedness To God Through Wholeheartedness To Man/Woman

Wholeheartedness To God Through Wholeheartedness To Man/Woman

Get the full audiobook for free https://geni.us/daring-greatly-audio (here). https://geni.us/daring-greatly-audio (https://geni.us/daring-greatly-audio) Get the full text, PDF, infographic and animated book summary on our https://www.getstoryshots.com (free app): https://www.getstoryshots.com (https://www.getstoryshots.com) Life gets busy. Has https://geni.us/daring-greatly-audio (Daring Greatly) by Brené Brown been sitting on your reading list? Learn the key insights now. We're scratching the surface here. If you don't already have the book, order it here or get the audiobook https://geni.us/daring-greatly-audio (for free) to learn the juicy details.   StoryShots Summary and Review of Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené BrownAbout Brené Brown Brené Brown is an award-winning and renowned researcher. She received her Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin. Brown is a professor at the University of Houston and holds the Huffington Foundation-Brené Brown Endowed Chair. She has studied vulnerability, courage, shame, and empathy for the past two decades. Her former work includes other books related to the topic, such as I Thought It Was Just Me (2007) and The Gift of Imperfection (2010). Brown's TED Talks have been viewed over 40 million times, and Time magazine has named her one of the world's most influential thinkers. IntroductionDaring Greatly is a book by the researcher and thought leaderhttps://brenebrown.com/about/ ( Brené Brown). It offers a powerful new vision to provide readers with a powerful new concept. It encourages you to embrace vulnerability and imperfection greatly and live wholeheartedly. Vulnerability and shame are at the heart of Brown's research. We have to embrace vulnerability. In doing so, we should be happier. What's more, you should be able to forge great relationships with yourself and others.  Unfortunately, many people believe vulnerability is a sign of weakness and failure. They see shame as a direct consequence of vulnerability. Moving past this myth makes it easier for us to try new things. This could lead to new possibilities. Here are the ten key takeaways from Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. StoryShot #1: Seek a Wholehearted Life, Filled with Courage, Engagement, and Purpose. Wholeheartedness is ahttps://www.themarginalian.org/2010/11/08/brene-brown-tedx-houston/ ( feeling of worth,) even when you are essentially flawed. It means you focus your energy and attention on good qualities. Focus on what's going right, instead of shortcomings. In reality, many people end up with some notion regarding loving themselves. There's a lot in pop culture, including songs, all meant to encourage people to be easier on themselves. Still, we are more predisposed to taking a hard stance on ourselves. Daring Greatly shows that at the tenet of wholeheartedness are five ideals: All people need love and a sense of belonging. The feeling of not being worthy is central to the love we show ourselves. We build a sense of worthiness over time. How we perceive and react to our experiences informs it. We all want to live a life of courage, compassion, and connection at the core of our beings. And finally, as a wholehearted individual, use vulnerability as a catalyst. It should help you achieve courage, compassion, and connection. StoryShot #2: Vulnerability is Central to Meaningful Existence. When you don't allow yourself to be vulnerable, you shut yourself off from life's best. It would be best to look at vulnerability as engaging, playing a game, and choosing to rise to the challenge. You must be open to engaging even when you know there's the likelihood that you won't prevail. The willingness to engage is a measure of courage and clarity of purpose. Look at it this way. You showcase the fear and disconnection you feel by not embracing...

Wholeheartedness by Pastor Femi Paul

Wholeheartedness/Pastor Femi Paul/Testimony & Thanksgiving Service by Grace Assembly, Oregun

To be born as unique as our thumb prints are, as unique as each strand of our DNA because we all have our own unique lessons to learn.   There's beauty and bounty in the evolution of who we become.   That in itself is what we're talking about today.   >>> Connect with me on IG @theholisticrecoveryspecialst & @the_recovery_concierge >>> You can find Naturally High's Podcast Transcripts here: https://therecoverycon.wpengine.com/?page_id=744

Have you ever felt like you had to be hyper vigilant or that at any moment something is going to go wrong? Maybe you feel lost like you lack direction in life or that if you don't conform then you won't get relationships with people. In this episode we are going to talk about the dilemmas of the heart and how you can find solutions through Him. Join us as we give practical ways to understand the parts of the heart that make up who you are as well as some tips, tools and insights you need to start cultivating an atmosphere of wholeheartedness in your family.   Click on the link below to get more information about joining our free Free Facebook Group: familywisdomsway.com   Click on this link to learn how to connect with us in deeper ways: findwisdomsway.com   QUICK EPISODE SUMMARY What problems is your Guardian part facing right now? How do you step out of hyper vigilance and into guarding the heart with Him?  What do you do when True Self feels dormant or unaccepted by those around you? The journey from the acorn to the Oak tree.

Today we continue the journey of discovering how your heart works and what the 4th part of the heart's role has to play in it. What is left brain teaching and how can you go from trimming the bush to being planted in the tree of life? Join us as we give practical ways to understand the parts of the heart that make up who you are as well as some tips, tools and insights you need to start cultivating an atmosphere of wholeheartedness in your family.   Click on the link below to get more information about joining our free Free Facebook Group: familywisdomsway.com   Click on this link to learn how to connect with us in deeper ways: findwisdomsway.com   QUICK EPISODE SUMMARY What is the 4th part of the heart? What does it mean to be trimming the bush?  How can you begin to be planted in the tree of life? What would it be like if all of your parts were in the same car, going in the same direction?

Have you ever wondered how your heart works or maybe even why you keep finding yourself in the same cycles even after you said you wouldn't do it anymore? In this episode we discuss how just like your physical heart, your internal heart has 4 parts that work together to create the whole of who you are. Join us as we give practical ways to understand the parts of the heart that make up who you are as well as some  tips, tools and insights you need to start cultivating an atmosphere of wholeheartedness in your family.   Click on the link below to get more information about joining our free Free Facebook Group: familywisdomsway.com   Click on this link to learn how to connect with us in deeper ways: findwisdomsway.com   QUICK EPISODE SUMMARY What are the 4 parts of the heart? What does it mean when the bible says to guard your heart?  What happens when you get triggered by something? How to step out of the cycles that you keep finding yourself in.

Scarcity; is the never enough problem. Today's episode of Share The Struggle podcast is fueled by a Ted talk  https://youtu.be/iCvmsMzlF7o  and a book https://www.amazon.com/Daring-Greatly-Brene-Brown-audiobook/dp/B07DX6TNR1/refDaring Greatly, it's not about winning and losing its about courage in a world where never enough dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature from Brene Brown https://brenebrown.com/ Before we even sit up in bed before our feet touch the floor we are already inadequate already behind already losing already lacking something.  The never-enough mindset controls our inner thoughts and is the foundation for greed in jealousy.  If you have ever described yourself as not enough this episode is for you. As Keith started this book it fueled six hours of note-taking and inspired this episode of the podcast. Discussing Brenes research and relating it to personal experiences provides a valuable lesson on Courage,  vulnerability and worthiness. https://www.sharethestrugglepodcast.com/https://www.loudproudamerican.shop/https://www.facebook.com/Loudproudamericanhttps://www.instagram.com/loud_proud_american/https://www.tiktok.com/@loud_proud_americanhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmYQtOt6KVURuySWYQ2GWtw

In a recent episode, we spent time exploring what it means to live a quality life and how our choices, sacrifices, and perspective influence our own meaning of life. Today we'd like to go deeper with this conversation and look at what it means to live wholeheartedly, and share some steps we can take to move towards being more courageous in this pursuit.  During this conversation, we often refer to the amazing teachings and philosophies of Brené Brown, including her “guideposts.” We both love Brené's work and have spoken about it in past episodes of Respect Circles, and we encourage you to refer to Brené's work and the resources listed below so that you can take just one step to show up in a more authentic way. See what happens as you challenge yourself to lean into love and to be more courageous, and let us know how it impacts your life, and the life of your loved ones as well!  As always, we love to hear your feedback.  If you have a question or topic that you'd like us to discuss in a future episode, please go to https://www.respectcircles.com/voicemail/ to leave us a message.  You can also reach us by email, respectcircles@gmail.com, on social media at https://www.facebook.com/respectcircles and https://www.instagram.com/respectcircles/, or by visiting our website at www.respectcircles.com too.  We look forward to hearing from you! Thanks so much for listening. We'd love to have you subscribe to the podcast,  leave us a rating and review, and share with your friends! In this episode you'll hear: What one of our favorite authors, Brené Brown, says about living wholeheartedly [1:31] AJ's constant pursuit of living this way, and the acronym he attempts to live by [3:31] What vulnerability and courage look like to us, and why people are so often hesitant to show up, especially on social media [6:51] Stories that we have told ourselves from an early age that still resonate with us years later [11:18] Why shame is such a powerful emotion, plus a quote that has helped lift the shame for Stephanie [14:10] A conscious decision that AJ had to make to stop playing small [18:48] What Stephanie noticed early on about how other women leaders were showing up in the workplace [19:13] Why perfectionism really equals fear [22:33] Tips for cultivating a resilient spirit [28:00] How Brené Brown's TED Talk literally changed AJ's life [35:03] Why you need to start getting selfish and strategic about the people you surround yourself with [37:03] The reasons we are both such big fans of Brené Brown, and our biggest takeaways from her work [38:18] Actions steps you can take this week to step into living more courageously [43:29]  Links & Resources:  Brené Brown's Website, Books & Podcast  Brené Brown: The Call to Courage on Netflix  HBO Max Presents Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart Watch Her 2010 Ted Talk, The Power of Vulnerability 30: Perspective: What Does Quality of Life Really Mean?

In this continued conversation on what it means to be wholehearted, Dan and Rachael ask one another - and you, dear listeners - to reflect on moments of wholeheartedness in our lives. These are the times when we are most present, most connected, and most alive. These are also the times when we can glimpse the fullness and glory of God.

Have you ever found it hard to connect with the women in your life on an authentic, honest level? Living a life of depth always requires courage, but it seems that being wholehearted and vulnerable with other women involves a level of courage that we don't often discuss. Join the girls as they talk about their wrestle with wholeheartedness and how to practically begin walking in genuine connection with the women around you. --------------For more Grace & Truth merch, blogs, and ways to connect, visit us graceandtruthtribe.com! Follow us on all social media platforms @graceandtruthtribe!We value being able to make all our content free and available to everyone. If these conversations and resources have been a blessing to you, we welcome your donations online at: https://app.securegive.com/bridgewayc...If the Father has used Grace & Truth to bring blessing, transformation, and healing in your life, we would love to hear about it! We invite you to send your testimonies to annwen@graceandtruthtribe.com.

Join us today as we share some stories about our own journey towards walking in wholeheartedness and gain hope as you take the first steps towards living wholeheartedly. Plus later we share with you some practical ways to get started as well as some  tips, tools and insights you need to start cultivating an atmosphere of wholeheartedness in your family.   Click on the link below to get more information about joining our free Free Facebook Group: familywisdomsway.com   Click on this link to learn how to connect with us in deeper ways: findwisdomsway.com   QUICK EPISODE SUMMARY Why we began our journey towards walking wholeheartedly The benefits of choosing to face the hard truths  The different ways to pursue heart healing How to take the first steps

In today's episode, we discuss the definition of wholeheartedness and what the first steps to walking in wholeheartedness look like. Plus later we explore what it even mean to walk in wholeheartedness and how you can be authentic and yet still protect your heart. Join us on the journey to discover what wholeheartedness looks like and gain the tips, tools and insights you need to start cultivating an atmosphere of wholeheartedness in your family.   Click on the link below to get more information about joining our free Free Facebook Group: familywisdomsway.com   Click on this link to learn how to connect with us in deeper ways: findwisdomsway.com   QUICK EPISODE SUMMARY Definition of wholeheartedness How wholeheartedness is connected to intimacy  How to protect your heart and yet still be wholehearted What does the bible say about the importance of being wholehearted  

Wholeheartedness (3-6-22) Randy Bare by Grace Commons Church

Greetings, friends! Can you believe we've made it to December? Wow! Take a big, deep breath. I'm so proud of you. To round out our year of podcast episodes, we've got a good one for you today. I sat down to chat with Terri Connellan. Terri is an author, creative transition coach, teacher and accredited psychological type practitioner who specializes in creativity, personality and self-leadership-- especially for midlife women in transition to a life with deeper purpose. Terri works globally through her creative business, Quiet Writing. Her book, Wholehearted and the Companion Workbook are published by the kind press. We dive into some great topics in this episode, including:Beautiful home offices that look like librariesBecoming a published authorChanging careersEmbracing a beginner's mindsetWhat it feels like to leave yourself behindThe beauty of our past experiences informing how we move forwardTerri's values of creativity, self leadership and personalityWhat it means to be a psychological type practitionerTools like Tarot, Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, human design, etc.Honoring creativity and self expression in your lifeListening to the frivolous Pull Quotes“My work is around creating your story, and your work is around reclaiming your story. I think there are fantastic synergies between those two ways of looking at the world.”  ---- 5:21“When you spend a long time in one place in one organization, or in one sort of career path, even though I had lots of different iterations, my identity was very much stitched into that work. I was successful in that work. And I enjoyed it for a long time. But what I really struggled with, and what I share in my book, Wholehearted was how I struggled just to make space and time for what was really important.” ---- 6:04“I think sometimes when we're working hard for others, we can lose touch with what's important for us.” ---- 7:45“When we start that change, we're not always clear on what the direction is, but we've focused on the forward.” ----11:19“So even though I enjoyed success, enjoyed my role, it was just really realizing that there was more important work for me to do in the world.” ---- 12:54“I just find that in midlife, it's a time when often the things -- whether it's our career trajectory, whether it's our personality-- everything's starting to change, and it's quite a volatile mix.” ---- 14:17“And I realized that I was on this, this journey to connect back with what feels wholehearted for me. What feels aligned, would be fulfilling what's in line with my personality, and what I want to create in the world. So partly, it's about legacy. It's about calling what we have felt called to do for many years that we haven't gotten around to? What's got in the way of that pathway? And how can we now make a transition to feeling more wholehearted in the world? To feeling more fulfilled, and to getting to what's important to us.” ----15:57“If you look at a tarot deck, there's 78 cards, some are super, super positive and inspiring. And some are like, well, here's, here's a really shadowy part of your life you might want to look at, and it's the same with personality type. There are these particular aspects we can identify as our strengths. So for me, it's introverted, intuitive. And there's other aspects of our personality that are not so strong. But if we can sort of shed light on those unconscious things, then that's how we can really get whole.” ---- 21:14“If we can understand the way that we're wired from a psychological type person or personality point of view, it just provides us with some tools for looking at the things that we are really strong at but also where our blind spots might be.” ---- 24:37“I think one of the biggest challenges of going through the whole journey to wholeheartedness, or to reclaiming what's important for us, is: it requires going through uncertainty. And it requires patience.” ---- 36:28“Take some time to have a think about your strengths… I use that as a lens, generally, on working with our gifts, but also being self compassionate, because none of us are good at everything. You know, strengths are strengths for a reason.” --- 40:25“I encourage people to tap into the wisdom of whatever creative urges are there and make time for them.” ---- 45:23 Mentions and More Info:Buy Terri's book, “Wholehearted”Buy “The Wholehearted Companion Workbook”Terri's websiteTerri's blogTerri's InstagramMyer's BriggsTerri's Create Your Story PodcastPenelope LoveBeth Cregan

In this episode I'm exploring the role wholeheartedness plays in journeying from SURVIVAL mode to THRIVING. I apologise for my sniff somewhere in there... I still struggle to listen back through to edit because I get to perfectionist and won't post the episode. I'll think it needs to be done again, but this is me practicing QUANTITY! So onwards and upwards! Sniff... Here's the link to the IGTV I mentioned also discussing wholeheartedness... And here is my Art Flow Sessions school where you can find my online courses and classes. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/angemillerart/message