In his sermon titled 'A Debt that is Always Due,' Jason Dohm explores Romans 13:8-10 to highlight the perpetual obligation Christians have to love one another, which he describes as a debt that is never fully paid. Dohm connects this concept to the broader teachings of Paul in Romans, emphasizing that love is the fulfillment of the law. He explains that despite constant instruction on love, it is a subject that requires repeated emphasis because of humanity's natural tendency toward lovelessness. Dohm cites examples from the Ten Commandments and Jesus' teachings to illustrate how love should guide actions toward all people, not just fellow believers. He stresses that love is more than an emotion; it involves action and is closely linked to biblical commandments. By referencing Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, Dohm clarifies that everyone, even those who despise us, are our neighbors whom we are called to love. The sermon concludes with practical applications, urging believers to draw from God's bottomless well of love and the empowering of the Holy Spirit to fulfill this eternal debt of love, thereby reflecting Christ's love in their lives.

Good morning everyone. We're now going to read the sermon text Romans 13 8 through 10. Oh no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment are all summed up in this saying Namely you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. The title of the sermon this morning is, A debt that is always due. Paul teaches that we owe a debt, we have a debt to pay, and that it's never fully paid. As long as we breathe, as long as God gives us life in this world, we're still going to owe this debt. Now, didn't Paul just instruct us on love?

Has he already been talking about love? Yes. In chapter 12, we read this at the beginning of verse 9 and verse 10, Romans 12, 9 and 10. Let love be without hypocrisy. Let love be genuine.

No mask wearing. Verse 10, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love. That was just one chapter ago, then the whole section that follows those verses touches on different elements of love. It's pretty extended section. Paul has just spent a good amount of time instructing us on love, then why come back to it?

Well, here's what Rob Ventura says. Why repeat this subject when he has already discussed it back in Chapter 12? The answer is simple. We can never hear enough of it. Even though we are Christians sadly at times, we can be loveless.

In being like this, we bring shame to the gospel and to God himself who is love. God is love. As those who are loved by God and love God, love toward others is to mark us out as his people. Amen! As a people who have been taken as the objects of God's love.

God has said, I love you, I'm taking you for myself. And for People who have been given a new heart, our hearts used to resent God, hate God, but now God has given us a new heart, and it's a heart full of affection towards God. All of that is to have this implication that we now have this bottomless well to draw from, so we can love each other both inside the faith and outside the faith. So Paul is going to bring us back here again and again and again, because we can never hear too much of it because there is something inside of us that is still very loveless and we need to keep getting the instructions and so it is this week. Let's ask God to help us as we come to these verses.

God thank you for your word. Even those of us who have been in the faith for a long time have memories of what it was like before you did give us a new heart and what we thought love was in those days and how it so often led to harm and destruction in our lives. Thank you that you have given us your word to teach us what love is and how to love. I pray that you would just get another helpful installment of that today. You would move us forward in loving.

Maybe so in Jesus name, Amen. We have three verses. Let's take them one at a time. Hopefully your Bibles are still open to Romans chapter 13. Follow along as I reread verse 8.

Paul writes, oh no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Here in verse 8, Paul tells us what we always owe to everyone. If you're taking notes on the handout by filling in the blanks, there's one blank always fills in the blank. What we always owe to everyone. Now just look back one verse look back to verse seven.

Paul has just said this in verse seven. Rendered therefore to all their due taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. The word do render to all their due from verse 7, and the word oh, oh no one anything from verse 8 are just different forms of the same Greek root and the idea is paying a debt you owe pay the debt. So in verse seven, pay your debt of taxes to the appropriate governing authority. Pay your debt of customs on the purchase of goods.

Pay your debt of respect. Pay your debt of honor. And verse 7 just carries over the same thought. Pay your debts. Don't have any unpaid debt, any outstanding debt to anyone except the love debt.

Why is the love debt an unpaid debt? Because it can never be permanently discharged. Every time you pay it, you still owe it. Here's what Matthew Poole says. There is one debt that you can never fully discharge, that you must be ever paying, yet ever owing, and that is love.

If you rent a place or have a mortgage on a home, and you pay what you owe for the month. First of the month comes, pay your rent or you pay your mortgage payment. That debt is fully paid for that period of time. The landlord is not going to bother you for the rest of the month. The bank is not going to call you because you're paid up for that period of time.

Now husbands, try that with your wife and the love dad. Honey, I paid on the first of the month. Next installment on the first of next month. Often when we see one another in the New Testament as we see here, oh no one anything except to love one another, it's talking about the brethren, other believers in Jesus, mostly one and others are within the family of God, how we relate to each other, should treat each other, our disposition towards each other. Here, everyone's included.

Here you don't have that narrow focus of just inside the people of God. Here it has to be everyone. How do we know that? Because Christians are called even to love their enemies. Right?

In the next verse, verse 9, which explains this verse, we get the Ten Commandments, or the Ten Commandments just for the people of God. Don't murder the people of God, but unbelievers are fair game. Don't steal from the people of God, but unbelievers are fair game. You can take their stuff. You know that's not true.

It's not restricted to that. So the explanation, verse 9, gives us from the Ten Commandments, which is clearly to all of humanity. So all of us together, all believers in Jesus have an ongoing love debt to pay to other people both inside and outside of the faith. Ongoing love debt. In fact, this is supposed to be a mark that is so obvious to observers by the mark of love that they recognize that we're Christians.

So they can just watch for a while and they say there's somebody who follows Jesus. John 13 35 Jesus says this in John 13 35, by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Paul continues, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Love has an unbreakable connection to the law. You can get so caught up when you think about the law, you read the laws, do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that, that love is out of view, but no, no, no.

According to Paul, love has an unbreakable connection to the law. We should never be thinking about love without understanding there's a connection to the law, or thinking about the law, and understanding that it's about love. Paul is going to explain this connection more in verse 9. So let's transition to verse 9, follow along as I reread verse 9. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment are all summed up in this saying namely you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Here in verse 9 Paul tells us how to know what genuine love is. If you're taking notes on the handout, there are two blanks, genuine love fills in the two blanks. How to know what genuine, real, true, authentic love is. Now, why does Paul list five of the Ten Commandments? So if you go to the Ten Commandments and Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5, you look at them, you see here Paul quoting five of the ten.

Why does he do that? I think it's because God is perfectly good at correctly defining and explaining love and we're pretty much perfectly bad at it. Think of how humans left to our own sensibilities are defining love. So just people who don't care anything about the Bible, think about those communities of people. No respect for the Word of God.

And so they're making their own definitions for everything. Think about how they define love. It's perfectly awful. It is a mess. They think it's love and so they put themselves on a track that they think is the track of love, but when they go down that track, it brings heartache and destruction into their lives.

That tells you that's not love. They said it was love. They thought it was love. They misdefined it. It wasn't love and it brought destruction into their lives.

Their definition of love is a mess and it leads to destruction in human lives. It turns the world upside down. They say what is really good is evil and they say what's really evil is good and they say this is love this is what we should pursue but when they pursue it it brings destruction into their lives. So Paul gives us the five commandments that deal with me and humanity generally speaking. So he's plucked out five of the 10.

Why these five? Because it has to do with me and all the rest of humanity. The first four of the Ten Commandments deal with me and God. So that's not what is in view here. So he doesn't quote those.

The next one deals with me and my parents. It's not restricted to that here. Paul wants to go way broader than just me and my parents, so he doesn't quote that here. And then These last five of the Ten Commandments deal with me and the rest of humanity, and Paul is zeroing in on that. You shall not commit adultery, or murder, or steal, or lie, or covet.

Kind of a way for things that other people have. Don't do, don't do, don't do. But then Paul says something really curious. He's giving us, he's stacked up the don't do's and then he says something really curious. And if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Wait, a summary statement of all the of a stacking up of the don't do's is love your neighbor as yourself. Oh where did you get a notion like that? How is it that you've translated, don't do, don't do, don't do, don't do, don't do to love your neighbor as yourself? Where'd you get that notion? Guess where he got it from.

He got it from his master. He got it from Jesus. Turn to Matthew 22. Turn to Matthew 22. We'll see where Paul got this notion that seems strange at first that a summary statement of all the don't do's is actually Love your neighbor like you love yourself.

Matthew 22. I'm gonna read verses 34 through 40. Matthew 22, 34 through 40. But when the Pharisees heard that he Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question testing him and saying, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus, which one is the big one? Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. This is the big one. And the second is like it.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now listen to this, this is the punch line. This is the connection to our text. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Every law in scripture hangs on one or both of these laws of love. Love God with all that you are. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is not a single law in all of the Bible that doesn't hang on one of those laws of love or both of them. So it turns out that all of the don't-dos, the whole pile of don't-dos, do's the whole pile of don't do's make all of the love killers unlawful something kills love God has made it unlawful You're breaking the law to kill love.

Do you remember our study of the Ten Commandments? A lot of it happened in Jim Santel's backyard. We were COVID refugees meeting outside with blankets on at the start of the service and then as the sun would come up, we would come out from under our blankets. We were studying the Ten Commandments. There's a time machine.

As we worked our way through them one by one, we found that each of them is a two-sided coin, a negative side that forbids us from engaging in evil love killers. Things that kill love are evil. So that's one side of the coin. A negative side that forbids us from engaging in evil love killers and a positive side that requires us to engage in good out of love, for the sake of loving. For instance, you shall not commit adultery is framed in the negative.

You shall not. And it forbids me from engaging in the evil love killer of betraying my marriage partner and destroying my marriage. But it also includes much more. There is a positive side to this coin that requires me to engage in the good of loving my marriage partner and doing anything necessary to protect my marriage and to keep it healthy. So the command itself is very simple and short.

It says you shall not commit adultery, but wow is there a lot actually loaded in it when you when you study the breadth of Scripture on that topic of you shall not commit adultery. It's not just about what you shouldn't do, it's about what you should do. It is holding you back from the love killer of betraying your marriage partner and destroying your marriage, But it is also requiring you to love your marriage partner and to do everything you can to protect and make your marriage healthy. It's all wrapped up in that. And this is an exercise that we could and should do with every commandment in scripture.

On what authority? On what authority do you say that? Isn't that making stuff up? No, no, no. On the authority of what Jesus says in Matthew 22.

Every commandment hangs on these two great laws of love. These commandments that Paul quotes in our verse are about what we shouldn't do. We shouldn't do the love killers. Why? Because they kill love and that's evil.

But also about what we should do to be loving. Okay. What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Well, let's start with getting clear Who my neighbor is. Oh, I've got a neighbor.

It's Jack, he lives next door. A lot of you know Jack, it's really my neighbor. He really lives next door. No, It's broader than that. I live in a neighborhood.

It's the people in my neighborhood. Oh, it's broader than that. It's the people in my community. It's the people in in Youngsville because we sweet. We need to look out for each other in this community.

If we don't look out for each other, who will look out for us? No, it's broader than that. It's the people I have some sort of connection with or an accepted obligation to. No, it's broader than that. Thankfully we don't have to guess or work it out on our own because Jesus was asked this exact question.

I turned to Luke 10. So if you want perfect clarity on who your neighbor is, just know this. You don't have to guess or work it out yourself. Jesus was asked this exact question and he gave the answer of all answers, and it makes it perfectly clear who our neighbor is. Luke chapter 10, verses 25 through 37.

Luke 10, 25 through 37. Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him saying, teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He, Jesus said to him, what is written in the law? What is your reading of it? So he answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And he, Jesus said to him, you have answered rightly, do this and you will live. But he wanting to justify himself said to Jesus, and who was my neighbor? Then Jesus answered and said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounding him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite when he arrived at the place came and looked and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan has he journeyed, came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper and said to him, take care of him and whatever more you spend when I come again, I will repay you. So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? And he said, he who showed mercy on him.

Then Jesus said to him, go and do likewise. First, Jesus is not teaching salvation through law keeping. Any Jew instructed in the Old Testament going away and thinking about this and thinking about himself against this standard should say, oh no, Something is desperately wrong with me. I need a savior. So Jesus is actually doing exactly what Paul talks about in Galatians 3.

He's using the law as a tutor to bring the sinner to the Savior. He's breaking down this man's self-righteousness, so he'll say, something is desperately wrong with me, and go to the Savior. This is not teaching salvation through Lockheed. Next, understand what's happening here. Samaritans were ethnically mixed and religiously mixed.

They weren't purebred descendants of Abraham. They were ethnically mixed. And that wasn't supposed to happen according to Old Testament law. The people of God were to marry within the people of God, exclusively within the people of God. Not marrying outside of the people of God.

But when the ten northern tribes centuries earlier had been taken into captivity by the Assyrians, not all of them were taken into captivity, some of them were, and then to replace the population of those who were taken into captivity, the Assyrians took others of their captives from other nations and brought them in to settle the ten northern tribes. And the remaining Jews married together with the other captives from other nations that the Assyrians brought in as replacements, and they just became one people. They married each other, and they married each other, and they married each other. Their kids married each other's kids. And you wouldn't even know if you were a Samaritan what part of you was Jewish anymore.

Are you half Jewish, a quarter Jewish, an eighth Jewish? None of those people would be able to answer that question because for centuries they were ethnically mixed and that wasn't supposed to happen because of New Testament law. But worse than that, they were religiously mixed. What do I mean by that? Well, the people living there in Samaria kept worshipping the God of Scripture, sort of.

And the ones who came from foreign nations, having worshiped foreign gods, brought them, and they just jumbled it all up. They kept them all. They worshiped the God of Scripture along with the God of the Moabites, along with the God of the Ammonites, along with the God of Edomites, along with the God of the Babylonians. They were ethnically mixed. That wasn't supposed to happen.

They were religiously mixed. That is an abomination to God. For these reasons, the Jews despised the Samaritans. They were the representation of all that's wrong. What could be worse than being a Samaritan?

Now, we would have thought that the priest and the Levite were the neighbor of this man who was beaten and left half dead. The man left half dead was a Jew, the priest is a Jew, the Levite is a Jew. All coming from Jerusalem, maybe all from Jerusalem. The priest and the Levite were in full-time ministry. Those are the kinds of characteristics we normally think of when we think of a neighbor.

This close association. They have all of that. The Samaritan doesn't have any of that. Surely he's not the neighbor. But no.

The priest was not the neighbor to this man. The Levite was not the neighbor to this man. They should have been, but they weren't. And it wasn't the one who despises helping the one who is despised. I despise you, but I'll help you because I'm a great guy.

It was the one who is despised, helping the despiser. You despise me, should I help you? You despise me, There's almost no chance you would help me. So my neighbor is Simply a person who needs mercy. Up to and including a person who is likely to despise me.

You despise me, but you need mercy. Okay, you can have mercy. You're my neighbor, because Jesus says you're my neighbor. How's that for broad? How could you come up with a definition any broader than that?

Up to and including a person who is likely to despise you. They hate you, they wouldn't help you. And how about loving as I love myself? The Nelson study Bible has this note. This verse is not a command to love ourselves.

It is a recognition that we do love ourselves and commands us to love others just as genuinely and sincerely. I think this note hits the nail on the head. It isn't a command to love yourself. You don't need that command. It's a recognition that you do love yourself.

And it commands us to love others just as genuinely and sincerely. It, it's a really high bar. There is a kind of love that only parts with the leftovers. I knew I'd get some grunting when I said that. There's a kind of love that will only part with the leftovers.

If I can spare it without any particular inconvenience or discomfort, I'll give it. Christians are called to a much more serious brand of love, a costly love. Because what we're striving for, the pattern is Christ-like love. Was Jesus only willing to part with love that he could spare? Or did he not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he relinquished it and took on the form of a slave to come and live and die for sinners.

Oh, it's such a costly love. That's the model for love, not just a love that will only part with what it could spare. Only give from the leftovers. No particular inconvenience, no discomfort, you can have it. Before we move on, listen to what R.C.

Sproul says about verse 9. Our verse. R.C. Sproul says, Paul amplifies the statement by saying that love is not just a feeling It has a behavioral aspect When the Bible says I am to love my neighbor it means I am to be considerate to my neighbor It has to do with action. That's a great point.

Raise your hand if you want a love that has no affection, no emotion, no sentiment. I hope you're not going to raise your hand. That sounds monstrous to me. Love with no engagement in the heart. But raise your hand if you want a love that is only emotion.

That sounds like a monster to A love that never goes beyond sentiment into action? That is a false love. That's what the Bible teaches. That's what Paul is saying here when he gives this commandment about behavior and then says, actually the summary statement of all those actions is, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love has feeling.

Praise God for that. I want a lot of it. A lot of the emotion, a lot of the sentiment, a lot of the heart engagement, the affection. But it can't be just that. If it never moves you to action, you should be so suspicious of it.

Because the scripture links them unbreakably action with sentiment and affection. Okay finally verse 10. Romans 13, verse 10, follow along as I reread it. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Here Paul teaches, instructs us that love comes up to the full measure of what the law requires. So if you're taking notes on the handout, measure and requires fills in the blanks. Love comes up to the full measure of what the law requires.

I think Paul is picking up here on the fact that the five commandments he just quoted are framed in the negative and forbid us to harm. So why does Paul go immediately here to say that love does no harm? I think he's picking up on the negative framing of the five commandments that he just quoted, which forbid us to harm, They are the don't do's or the don't harms, so to speak. That friends is a great starting consideration. Love is more than not harming, but love is never less than not harming.

This is a great filter. Will my attitude or disposition harm this person? Got an attitude, I've got a disposition here. Is it gonna harm her? Is it gonna harm him?

If the answer is yes, that attitude or disposition is unloving. It has to change. Will saying this harm him, Harm her? If the answer is yes, that's unloving. I can't say that.

I'm not at liberty to say that. You know you're not at liberty to say stuff, right? You're not free. There has to be a filter between brain and mouth. Install a filter between brain and mouth.

That's not being fake. That's trying to grow in grace. Will doing this harm her? Will doing this harm him? If the answer is yes, that's unloving.

You're not in liberty to do that. But they deserve that attitude or disposition. This is they started this, This is coming from them. They deserve for me to say that. What did they think I would say when they did that?

They deserve for me to do that. They have it coming. Brethren, is that what we're after? A world where we all get what we deserve. Let's put a finer point on it.

Is that what you want God to be after? A world where we all get what we deserve and he knows everything. Paul concludes by repeating something he said in verse 8. Here in verse 10 he says it this way, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Now consider this from John Murray. John Murray says, fulfill is a richer term than obey. It means that the law has received the full measure of that which it requires. What is John Murray saying? John Murray's saying that a loveless, external, air quote, obedience to a biblical command is not the full measure of what is required.

A loveless external obedience to a biblical command is not the full measure of what is required. It is when we love according to the definitions of Scripture in which the heart must be engaged. Do you buy what I'm selling here? Do you believe that's true? That when scripture requires something, it requires as part of that for the heart to be engaged.

That the scripture is only and always talking about heart obedience, not just the Heart obedience. Not just the external appearance. Then the law is fulfilled. When we love according to the definitions of scripture in which the heart must be engaged, then the law is fulfilled. Nothing short of that comes up to the full measure of what is required by the law.

Applications, I'll give you five. I never have five applications. I never have five applications. One. A life offered as a living sacrifice is a life of love.

Remember, everything we're doing from now to the end of Romans is under the banner. Present your bodies a living sacrifice in view of the many colored mercies of God because God has been so rich in mercy to you because you have a Bottomless well of the mercies of God to draw upon every day. They're new every morning. You never draw this well dry you never lower the water level of this well, you have all that you need to grow in Christ-likeness. Because of all that, present your bodies, offer your life back as a living sacrifice.

Everything is under that banner. A life offered as a living sacrifice is a life of love. A life offered as a living sacrifice is a life of loving other people. Listen to the love chapter. This is 1 Corinthians 13.

If you want to know more about love, you go right to 1 Corinthians 13. Listen to 1 Corinthians 13, three. And Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor. And though I give my body to be burned but have not loved, it profits me nothing. When I think of a life of a living sacrifice, My thoughts go to that.

It's him. He gave away everything to feed the poor. He made himself poor to feed the poor. That's a living sacrifice. It's the martyr.

He gave his body to the flames. That's a living sacrifice. Who gave his life as a sacrifice. No, a Christ-like life is a life of love. You can do all those things lovelessly.

You can give it all away and feed the poor lovelessly. You can go to your death for the faith and lay down your life and it be a loveless act. It don't have to be. It can be done from love. It doesn't have to be done from love.

A Christ-like life is a life of love. A life of Christian maturity is a life of love. Everything that we're talking about is under the banner of offering ourselves back to God because of His goodness as a living sacrifice. Don't think of the person who gives away everything. Don't think of the person who is the martyr.

Learn to love. Pay your love debts and know they are never fully discharged. This should always be top of mind. Who do I owe love to? God's placed these people in my life.

Who do I owe love to? And how do I discharge the debt for the moment knowing that it's never fully discharged. Now if that sounds exhausting, does that sound exhausting? A debt to be paid, but you're always paying and still always owing? I need a nap.

If that sounds exhausting, consider that God has obligated himself to an eternal love debt to all of his children. And he's given you a bottomless well to draw from. It doesn't have to be exhausting. But you have to be drawing from the bottomless well. He has obligated himself he had no one who could compel him to love me.

But he decided to obligate himself to love me through eternity. So don't let it be exhausting, just draw from his love. Number three, Broaden out your love targets. Consider who your neighbor is, up to and including people who despise you. You owe a love debt to people who despise you.

Broaden it out. There are people who are obvious targets of love. You're probably loving them, maybe not as consistently as you should, but you're probably already loving them. You gotta broaden it out to your neighbors. And not just Jack next door, or the people in the neighborhood, or the people in our community.

Maybe even people who despise you. You know, Christians are so free. They can love people, even who despise them. People who aren't free have no frame of reference for this, can't do that. Well, we can do it!

Number four. Let God define love and train your brain to link the law with love. Oh, please let God define love. He's perfectly good at defining and explaining it. We're pretty much perfectly bad at it.

Let God define love. Drive His definitions into your mind and link the law with love. Stop thinking of the law without thinking of its connection with love. And stop thinking of love without its connection to the things that are love killers and the things that we're required to do the good that we're required to do out of love. Number five Galatians five Galatians five, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.

First on the list, the fruit of the spirit is love. Here's the point you have to have the spirit Priestess sermon to an unbeliever they might appreciate the things that are said, but they do not have the power to do this. They might be able to cobble together a good day, a good week, maybe a good month, but this will not last. This takes supernatural power. God has to work this in your life by the power of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit is love. You must be born again. If you're going to go down this track of true biblical love. You have to have a bottomless well of resources to draw from. You have to have the Spirit of God giving you power to do this.

And it's no cakewalk, even for us who are indwell by the Spirit of God. We need to be crying out to God, give me more of your Spirit. Let them work more freely in my life. Help us not to move on from this text. Next week, a new week, a new text, we're moving on, oh God, help us not to move on.

We need so much help to grow in love. And We know that we don't look anything like Jesus unless we grow in love. Oh, we love the image of Him that we see in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. We hang on His words. We love to see his acts of love, his compassion poured out even on people who despise him.

Make us more like that, God. Please let your spirit work freely in your people. Pray this in Jesus name. Amen.