In the sermon titled 'Incorruptible Love' by Carl Provost, the speaker explores the theme of familial love within the spiritual family under the headship of Christ. Using Ephesians 6:21, he emphasizes the importance of maintaining connections with loved ones despite distances, likening it to the relationship between Paul and the Ephesians. The sermon highlights the significance of Tycheus as a faithful messenger who bridges the gap between Paul and the church, conveying Paul's affairs and providing comfort to the Ephesians. Provost elaborates on the theme of incorruptible love, which is woven throughout the book of Ephesians, and explains how this love is characterized by unity, encouragement, and peace. He discusses the concept of being adopted into God's family, which transcends divisions and fosters a deep connection among believers. The sermon also delves into the challenges of divisions within the church and the importance of maintaining unity through love and humility. Ultimately, the grace of incorruptible love is depicted as a divine gift that enables believers to love beyond their natural capacity, bringing peace and perspective even amid adversity.

Please take your copy of God's word and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6 beginning in verse 21. Beginning in verse 21. But that ye also may know my affairs and how I do. Tycheus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make known to you all things whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that ye might know our affairs and that he might comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with you all, them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Heavenly Father, we come before you and we thank you that you've given us this word father and we thank you for this book of Ephesians and as we have progressed through this book and the wisdom of your word has shaped us and father we pray that even as we look at this benediction this final closing word from Paul to the Ephesians that you would use it to teach our hearts how we might love you and love each other in a greater way and we pray in your son, Christ Jesus' name, Amen. We have a longing to hear and know about those whom we love the most. Now in today's, with the modern technology of phones and social media, We oftentimes keep up with loved ones from a distance.

But it's still not the same as getting together. And oftentimes on holidays, families will load up and make long trips across the United States in order to gather together. Because there's a love that we have for our family. A familial love. And what we see in God's Word is that we also should have that kind of love for our spiritual family.

For we are a family under the headship of Christ Jesus. Now this idea of receiving a letter, most of us don't have a good concept of that anymore. In fact, it's probably better displayed in movies. Some of the movies where they'll, back before telephones, and you'll see this scene in a movie where a letter will come in. And maybe it comes in from a brother who's off in war somewhere.

And there's an excitement over this letter and they want to hear about the well-being of their loved one and they'll gather around and the entire family will gather around for the reading of this letter. And oftentimes these letters would be read with tears as they hear the suffering described. But there's a connection made there, And it's the same connection that we see taking place in this letter, in this final benediction that Paul has written to the Ephesians. The Ephesians have had word that Paul, who had ministered in their city for several years, who they had come to faith under his ministry, and there were elders put in place under his authority. He was their spiritual father.

And he had left to go to Jerusalem. And there were false accusations brought against him and he was imprisoned. And they were concerned about him. And these false accusations were probably spreading. And they were concerned about his welfare and about what might come of Paul for if he was found guilty he would have been killed as Church history shows later did happen to them at a later time of imprisonment.

And so there's this love and concern for the brother in Christ. You know, we don't, not as many of us write letters today. Around our house, oftentimes when you check the mail, the girls get excited because they're looking for what they call fun mail. And fun mail means it's a personal letter from one of their friends. And as we have traveled and gone to different presbyteries and they have made friends with their sisters in Christ from some of these other churches.

They have developed these times of writing letters to one another. And there's a genuine love and concern and encouragement that takes place in these letters to each other. And it's a familial love. Because we are told that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, if you profess to be a believer and have faith in Christ Jesus. And so as we look at the text today, we're going to look at it as characteristics that we should have as the family of God.

Now I titled this incorruptible love because it comes out of the last passage we look at here. But throughout this letter, this entire letter, we see on display this incorruptible love. And we're going to look at the characteristics of familial love the characteristics of an encouraged heart a Piece characterized by love and the grace of incorruptible love. Well, familial love. A familial love should characterize the body of Christ and should characterize the church.

In verse 21 it says, but that ye also may know my affairs and how I do. Tychius, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things." And so what we see here is Paul's recognizing that they have a desire to hear from him. And he can't go to them in person. He has a desire to go in person, but he's in chains. But his faithful brother in the Lord, one whom he trusts, and one who's also a faithful minister who's with him, is going to be the one who carries the letters back to Ephesus and the letter to the Colossians and to the Philippians.

And so he's got these letters and he's an important messenger. And he's told here that rather than giving details at the end of this letter that maybe explain more of what's going on in his situation, he's sending his faithful brother to report for him, to speak for him. And so we see this love that he has for his brother, this love that he has for the people, and his desire that he has because he's already asked him to pray for me. And he doesn't say, pray that I'll be freed from these chains. Pray that I'll have the ability to profess the Gospel.

Paul is recognizing that where he is at, God has placed him there, even if it came from false charges of those Judaizers, even if it came from Satan that was hindering him, that God was orchestrating things and using them to give him an audience with the rulers of Rome in order to share the Gospel. And he's asking for a boldness in the faith. Well, we see that this idea of a familial love is a theme throughout the book of Ephesians. And just to take a quick look back at some of the verses. Ephesians 1, 3-6, It says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us unto adoption of children of Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace wherewith He hath made us accepted in the beloved." Now this idea of adoption clearly says that we are placed in the family of God. We become spiritual children in the family of God And it says before the foundation of the world. Well, often, you know, there's no way in this life that we can truly understand what it means for something to exist before it exists. But just thinking about this adoption and this concept of adoption, if you go through international adoption, oftentimes the process is you get a picture and you look at this picture and you start working on the paperwork and oftentimes it's a long series of paperwork and you look at this picture and you start working on the paperwork. And oftentimes it's a long series of paperwork.

And you look at this picture and you pray for this child. And you choose a name for this child. And you're preparing your heart for this person that's going to be added to your family that you haven't met yet. And we think about the love that we could have for a child that's on the other side of the world when all we have is a picture to look at. But God's Word says that He knew us before we were formed.

He chose us before the foundation of the world to be His children. And so we are all chosen and adopted into the family of God if you are in Christ Jesus. It goes on in verse 15 and 16 of the first chapter. It says, Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Now one of the things that characterized the Ephesians here was their love for all of the saints.

This was a people that had a deep compassionate love and prayed fervently for all of the saints. In fact, I'm sure that they were in, took up a large collection to send back to Jerusalem for their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem that were hurting, suffering. We also see that we are all unified in Christ. In Ephesians 2, 4-10, it says, But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.

By grace are you saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. See, not only did he choose us to be in his family, but he gave us the faith to believe in him and he's prepared the good works. And that love that we have for the brethren is an incorruptible love that comes from God the Father. We also see that this love brings peace in the midst of adversity.

In Ephesians 2, 14 and 18, it says, For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall partition between us, having abolished in the flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you, which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father." And so what we see here is Paul is pointing out that what Christ has done through His love for His people, through choosing you before the foundation of the world and adopting you into the family of God, is He's taken two groups that were at odds with each other. He took the Jews, The Jews who looked at the Gentiles as dogs, and He took those believing Jews, those who recognized Jesus as the Messiah, as their Savior, and He helped them to understand that God brought the Gentiles into the Kingdom also. And that they were brothers and sisters in Christ.

And that there is not Jew or Greek. There is not slave nor free. That they are all brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. They are one under the headship of Christ. And there is a unity between two factions that hated each other that can only be bridged by this incorruptible love that comes from Christ Jesus.

And we see in 19 that we are all members of the one household. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. And what he's reminding the Ephesians here is you were a foreigner, you once were a stranger, You once were outside of the face. You were under the wrath of God. But because you were chosen before the foundation of the world, Christ died for you, and He atoned for your sins, and He brought you into the family.

And you are now in the household. And you receive all the benefits of being an adopted son. Over in chapter 4 in Ephesians. Says I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness with longsuffering for bearing one another in love. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, there is one body, one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

So they are called to fullbear with one another in love. He's calling them to unity because He recognizes that the minute we take our eyes off of Christ, the minute we take our lives off of the incorruptible love, and we start being more concerned about our own welfare That factions come And in order for us to be unified we have to forbear with one another with love over in Ephesians chapter 5 he says be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and have given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. We are to be imitators of Christ. And Christ loved us and gave himself for us. And we are called to love all those that are in the faith.

And so as we look back at our text in chapter 6 verse 21, notice the love that Paul has for Tycheekus. Notice the love that he has for Paul. That he traveled from Ephesus to Rome. And that he cared for Paul while he was in prison and that he's this messenger for him traveling to the churches to take word. So what was the purpose of him sending His brother in Christ as a messenger.

We are told in verse 22 that it's to encourage the hearts of the believers. And one of the characteristics of a Bible believing church, one of the characteristics of those who have faith in Christ Jesus, is it's a body of Christ that encourages and loves one another. It says, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that you might know our affairs and that he might comfort your hearts. See the well-being of our loved ones brings us comfort. When we haven't heard from a loved one or even in modern times, maybe we've got a son or a daughter that's off in another country, Afghanistan or Iraq or whatever place this government chooses to send them.

Places where there is great danger, and oftentimes maybe there's months that you don't hear from a child, and you long to hear from them and to know about their well-being. And there's a sense that when you hear from them, it brings comfort. And we are to have this same kind of love for the people that are our spiritual brothers in Christ. And when we think about those who are our missionaries, and those who are our ministers and that are on the front lines, and those who are ministering in other countries, There's a comfort that comes from hearing these reports. There's also a comfort that comes from hearing God's sustaining grace.

And what Paul was sending them was a message that even in prison, that he wasn't a prisoner of the Rome, he was a prisoner of Christ Jesus. He knew who was in control. And he was giving them a report of the sustaining grace even while in prison, asking for the strength to share the Gospel. And there's a report of the advancement of the Kingdom as he is given the opportunity to speak the Gospel to kings and rulers. If you've been here for one of the readings of the letters from Said, or others that have been read at other churches, and you hear these stories from the front line where somebody sends a report of where God is working.

There's a great comfort that comes from that, because when we see the pressures of this world around us, and we see the power of Satan attacking us, sometimes we lose sight that God's still in control. But when we hear reports of how God is working, even in the midst of pain and suffering and adversity, it reminds us that our God is bigger than the problems that surround us. It brings things into perspective. You know there's evidence that shows that during the second world war there were many people in, before the war broke out in England that were in psychiatric hospitals. They were concerned and self-consumed with their own problems and It said that after the bomb started dropping that many of these people Were were no longer in need of these hospitals and left and went back to their families.

Because when there was a greater concern outside of them that took their focus off of themselves and put it on things that were more important, it put things in the right perspective. And so when we recognize that in the body of Christ, that we have those who are in great pain and suffering and adversity for sharing the Gospel, and we recognize that there is a bigger picture than our own personal problems. It changes our perspective. When we care about and love those who are being persecuted for the gospel, it takes their eyes off of ourself and it puts them on Christ and we pray for the body of Christ because of the love of Christ. We notice Paul doesn't complain about his circumstances.

So the report here has no complaints about his own circumstances. The report is about the greatness of God, the greatness of the Gospel, and how the Gospel is going forth in a very unexpected way, but yet in a way that has gained him an audience that he could have never got apart from his imprisonment. And so what Satan meant for evil with his false accusers, God meant for good. Just like in Joseph being placed in a pit by his brothers and sold into slavery. And later used to preserve and save God's chosen people.

Being put over all the resources of Egypt. And that's the way things are even in all of our lives. We have to look at things from a different perspective. If we have a sovereign God, we look at things from the perspective of wherever we find ourselves, whatever difficult that we find ourselves in, what is God doing to use this for good? When Satan is attacking us, but yet we know that he is a defeated foe, that Christ our Savior has defeated him, and we fix our eyes upon Christ, we are given the strength to look at things from a different perspective.

I know the characteristic of this body of Christ is a peace characterized by love. In verse 23 it says, Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ." Now there's two senses in which this peace can be taken. One of them is that they were once enemies of God. They were under wrath of God and by being adopted into the family of God, by their sins being atoned for, they are now at peace with God. They are no longer under His wrath.

But throughout this letter, He's called them to unity, recognizing that there also must be a peace among the brethren. And we know that if you read the letter to the Corinthians, they didn't have a lot. They had a lot of factions and arguing and bickering going on. But in Ephesus, they were a church that were unified. But they weren't in a community that was unified.

In fact, there were many that had opposed the church. Many that had opposed Paul because they saw him as a threat to their lifestyle. A threat to the little idols that they carved and sold. A threat to their pagan religion. For they recognized the power of the Gospel was turning their city upside down.

But this group of believers was unified. And they were unified by a peace that was characterized by a love for each other and a love for the brothers outside. In 1st Corinthians Corinthians, 1st Corinthians 1, 10 to 17. 1 Corinthians 1, 10-17. We see what was going on with the Corinthians.

It says, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I am of Cephas, and I am of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?

Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my known name. I baptized also the household of Stephanus, besides I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross to them that perish is foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." Now here there's divisions, but these divisions are over what different men think.

And they've lost their focus. They've taken their focus off of Christ. And they've put it on these different men. And they're focusing upon the divisions in these men and they've divided themselves. And Paul is saying, you weren't baptized in the name of any of these men.

You weren't baptized in my name. You were baptized in Christ. Look to Christ. And when you look to Christ And the love of Christ flows through you. You are able to be unified even where there appear to be factions.

Because we are told elsewhere in Scripture that love covers a multitude of sins. It's not this self-willed love. It's a love that can only come from Christ. It's an incorruptible love. We also see that pride causes divisions.

What we see here in the Corinthians is a pride in who they've been baptized by. And seeing as some in the church is higher than others, and it's a status that they were claiming. We also see this when the disciples were arguing among themselves who will be the greatest in heaven. You know, the minute we take our eyes off of Christ and we focus on ourself, we lose a sense of the love of Christ. And we become selfish and pride comes in.

And it causes divisions. We are told that that God divides the prideful but he gives grace to the humble. We are to esteem others as higher than ourselves. Christ who lowered himself Christ who died For the unlovely In Psalms 133 one it says I be behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

So what about when divisions come? Divisions always come. And sometimes they're sinful like we see in Corinthians. And sometimes we have divisions where we're not really given the clear evidence whether it's sinful or not, but there's still divisions. In fact, Paul himself had a big division in his life.

See, Paul started off in a missionary journey with Barnabas, but yet when Paul had suggested that they go back and visit the churches that they had established, and Barnabas wants to bring John Mark with him, Paul disagreed. See, John Mark earlier had left them, and so Paul didn't see him as being dependable. And we're told here in Acts 15 that Paul and Barnabas couldn't agree over this and it came to a sharp disagreement. Now elsewhere that's actually translated to stir up with love. And so it could have a positive or negative understanding.

But what we see here was there was a sharp disagreement, meaning that they could not reconcile it. But yet, they chose to divide. And Barnabas took John Mark with him, and Paul took a disciple with him, and they went out on separate journeys. And what we see is that God blessed this. And so what we can see that even when there are points of sharp disagreement, and when there are times when there must be division, that the way you handle those divisions can still bring unity in the church.

If you follow the story and you follow the John Mark, we're never told whether Barnabas and Paul reconcile their differences. But we do see Paul asking for John Mark because he saw a great value in John Mark in the ministry. And so something changed along the way. And so there was no building of animosity in John Mark towards Paul for not wanting to take him earlier in his journeys. In fact, now He's viewed as a great value in the ministry by Paul.

And we wonder how this would have worked out otherwise, but yet Barnabas took John Mark back under his wing and they went out on this missionary journey and he grew and God developed his character and we see that God even in this sense blessed this division because it was handled in such a way that it did not bring this unity in the greater body of Christ. In fact, God used this division for the expansion of His church. And sometimes when we look at all the denominations we have today, and we recognize that sometimes Splitting over the color of the carpet and getting in an argument in a group picking up and saying we're just going somewhere else That's a sinful division but when there are divisions based upon an understanding of God's Word and They can't come to an agreement and they bring things to a point that maybe it would be best to have a peaceful division. And you can find stories of these. You'll find stories of churches that divided, but much later worked together for the advancement of the Kingdom, even though they're now two separate churches.

It's not a leaving and then having this animosity towards your brother. It's a leaving but yet recognizing that God is still using your brother for the advancement of the kingdom. So what power do we have to have this kind of love? By what power do we have to love the unlovely? We're told in verse 24 that there's a grace of incorruptible love.

It says, grace be with all of them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Now the word sincerity can also be translated incorruptible. Grace be with all of them That love our Lord Jesus Christ and sincerity now the word sincerity can also be translated incorruptible Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in love incorruptible Now we recognize that there's a love that is bigger than all of our problems. There's a love that brings everything in perspective. And there's a love that we get through grace.

We don't have the power in ourselves to love the unlovely. Think about that person that you dislike the most, and that you're called to love that person. How do you do that? Well, first of all, you have to recognize that in order to love the unlovely, you have to recognize that you are the unlovely. See, we were all once dead in our trespasses and sins.

We were all once under the wrath of God. And until we humble ourselves and see others and esteem others as better than ourselves, it's hard to love the unlovely. See, we love Jesus because he first loved us. And it's not a self-concerned love. It's not a love that's only concerned about what makes me happy.

It's not a self-preserving love. It's not a love that's only concerned about how I will preserve my position. It's a selfless love. And it's best demonstrated in Christ. See, Christ loved the disciples.

And we're told that Christ loved those whom God had given Him. And He prayed for those that God had given Him. And we see a scene where He goes to the garden. He knows that there's a plot against him. And he goes to pray.

And he calls a few disciples to follow him, and he prays. And we're told that he sweated great droplets of blood. And what this teaches us is that there was such an intensity and love in him to overcome the flesh. For He knew what He was called to. He knew He was called to lay down His life for those He loved, to make atonement for their sins, And so that all of the unrighteousness of the people of God will be laid upon him on the cross so that his righteousness could be put on our account.

And his betrayer comes and he's taken into captivity and he's standing there And one of the disciples Peter on the third time of denying him the cock crowed those he loved those he was laying his down his life for denying him But yet, it's an incorruptible love. It didn't break Peter at that time. I mean, I think Peter felt broken. It said that he left and went back fishing. I think Peter thought it was finished for him.

He was told that he would deny his Lord three times, and he said never. He was willing to die for his Lord, but yet when it came down to it, he denied his Lord three times. Huge disappointment. But he's out fishing and after his Lord was crucified he went back fishing and They're on the bank someone Preparing fish and he realizes this is his Lord and he jumps overboard and swims the shore And there's this interchange between Jesus and Peter. And Jesus says, Peter, do you love me?

And Peter says, Lord, you know I love you. He says, feed my sheep. And this exchange goes on three times. And you can tell that Peter's becoming discouraged. But see, Jesus is building Peter's faith.

Jesus loved Peter. And he knew how discouraged Peter was and he's building Peter's faith. It's an incorruptible love. See, greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. See, we are told that thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.

That's in the order because you can't love your neighbor as yourself until you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength first." And so as the people of God, we must pray for Him to give us the grace of incorruptible love. That gift of that incorruptible love that comes from Christ that allows us to love each other and to encourage each other and to allow love to cover a multitude of sins. Now I want you to take a quick look at Ephesians in Revelation chapter 2. Now remember when Paul, when we left Ephesians, Ephesians had this idea of unity and love worked out. Chapter 2 it says, until the angel of the church at Ephesus write, These things sayeth he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.

I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them to be liars, and hast borne and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted." Sounds like a pretty good report up to that point. This is a faithful church by all appearances. They're calling out the false apostles and testing their doctrine and proving them to be liars. They have their doctrine correct. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and I will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent. But this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I hate also. He that hath the near to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Remember where you all have fallen. What he's telling the Ephesians here is you forgot what Paul told you in that last statement. That you have to continue to love Christ.

And They had forgotten their first love and they had become so concerned about their doctrine that they had stopped loving the church. They had stopped loving the brethren. Paul told the Corinthians, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love I have become a sounding brass and a clanging symbol if we have all of our doctrine correct And we stand ready to point out the false prophets and the false apostles, but yet we don't love one another. He told the Ephesians he would let their church die. And so as the people of God, we must be characterized by this incorruptible love of Christ.

In closing, I want to take a look at the sustaining power of this incorruptible love from the hymn that we'll sing shortly. Horatio Spafford was a man who was a lawyer and he was a Presbyterian elder. And they had survived the Great Chicago Fire and they were going to take some time for an extended stay in Europe and to participate in some some evangelistic ministries over there and they had obtained their tickets to go across the Atlantic. Well, work delayed him and his wife and four daughters went on ahead of him And the ship that they were on was struck by a British vessel and in 12 minutes it sank. His wife was found unconscious on a piece of debris and rescued, but his daughters were never found.

Nine days later, she was able to get a wire back to him to tell him the fate of the daughters as she was grieving apart from her husband and he immediately led out on a ship across the Atlantic. When that ship was crossing the area where the ship had gone down, the captain called Horatio in and said, this is the point where the ship went down, an area that was three miles deep. He said that this is not where my daughters are anymore my daughters are with the Lord and we are told that he penned this him while at this point of the Atlantic, crossing over where his four daughters had died, where he was going to be with his wife, says, When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, that this blessed assurance control, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole, is Nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. O Lord, haste the day when this face shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, even so, it is well with my soul." You can only pen a hymn like that after a tragedy like that if you possess the incorruptible love of Christ Jesus. And that incorruptible love will bring a peace even in the toughest adversity. And a loss like that brings all other things, all other little things in our life into perspective.

We pray here for people with cancer, people that are dying, But yet sometimes we are consumed by The trivial things in our own lives We have people being beheaded for their faith in other parts of this world But yet we sometimes are consumed by the trivial things in our life And if we are going to be the body of Christ, if we are going to be those who are characterized by peace and faith and grace and love, we have to be those who pray for the grace of the incorruptible love of Christ. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we come before you and we thank you that you've given us this word and we thank you that is an encouragement to us. And we pray, Father, that we would be those who display the incorruptible love of Christ. That we would be those who love one another and encourage one another.

And Father, we pray that your spirit would be felt in a strong way among us, that you would heal our hearts, mend our differences, and help us to be lights for the gospel, that we would be those who ask for the prayer that Paul asked for, that we may boldly speak the gospel of Christ Jesus. Pray in the precious name of our Lord and Savior. Amen.