Beacon Sunday Service: June 2nd, 2024 Part 1

See if you can find whose birthday it is today, okay? Great each other. Have you been walking on a surface that's uncertain? Have you loved yourself to everything that's empty? You can't live this way too long. There's more than this. More than this. Have you been standing on your own feet too long? Have you been looking for a place where you know?

You can rest. You will find rest. You can rest. You will find one.

Happy birthday, Noah. All right. Well, so glad to see everyone here. Uh just to be able to come before the Lord to worship him, sing praises unto his name, and just to um yeah, just uh enjoy uh the ways that he's working in us. So would you all rise with me and uh sing with me today? I want to start off with a verse from Psalm one seventeen, and it says this It says, Praise the Lord, all nations, extol him, all peoples, for great is his steadfast love towards us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Come, let us praise the Lord. And can we do that today? May we just praise the Lord for his steadfast love and just his uh unending mercies to us? So let us sing together.

Sought me when I was low wanderer on a broken road and shame shackled my heart in doubt. I was lost in sin, but you brought me out your voice, your voice shattered the dead of night with just one breath, every wrongs made right now. My soul, victory safe from home shouts I'm free, I'm free in my Saviors.

Claim that again. Yes, I'm free, I'm free in my Savior, and so how great your love is how deep your kind, how sweet, and so how strong your mercy through every came down, and you came down to a falling grace much greater than I set free now.

I'm set free by the blood you spin from the cross you saw me and love me still from the cross from the cross you saw me and love me still how great your love how deep your kind how sweet grave how strong your mercy through every value you made oh see we believe we believe we believe that our God is alive and our hearts are free, we believe, we believe in King Jesus, He is a life, we believe, we believe that our God is alive, and our hearts are free, we believe, we believe King Jesus, He is alive, we believe, we believe that our God is alive, and our hearts are free, we believe, we believe in King Jesus, He is alive in King Jesus, He is alive entire, and so great your love is how deep your kindness, how sweet grace, and so strong your mercy through every value, you made away sing of his love, nothing can separate, even if I ran away, your love never fail.

I know I still make mistakes, but you have new mercies for me every day. Your love never fail, you stay the same through the ages, your love never changes there.

But joy comes in the morning, and when the oceans range, I don't have to be afraid because I know that you love me, your love never failed strong wind is strong and the waters deep, but not alone here in these open seas.

Never thought I'd reach the other side, your love never fail, oh you stay, you stay the same through the ages, your love never changes there.

And when the oceans raise, I don't have to be afraid because I know that you love me, your love never fail, your love never fail. You make all things work, you make all things work together for my good, you make all things work together for my good. All things work together for my good.

All things work together for my good. You stay the same through the ages. Your love never changes. There may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning. And when the oceans raise, I don't have to be afraid because I know that you love me. Your love never fail.

This morning we will confess our faith using a catechism for Christian growth. And in this question and answer, we will confess about the mercifulness of God. And so here's the question. But isn't God merciful withholding his wrath? And together. Yes, he has mercy on who he wills, is slow to anger and abounds in steadfast love. His mercy is a common grace gift to humanity as he allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, patiently withholding his wrath until the due time.

Your blood mercy I sing allelu.

And the bread we will bring, we remember your love.

You turn our shame and nailed it to our cross Mercy for all each. May I never lose. May I never lose the wonder. Oh the wonder of your mercy. May I sing your hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Amen. May I never lose the wonder.

May I sing your hall.

May I never lose the wonder. Oh the wonder of your mercy. May I sing your amen. May I never lose the wonder.

May I see your hallelujah. Amen. I will be in the task at the foot of the cross.

Good morning, everyone. At this time we're going to have our corporate confession of sin. This is a reminder that we had sin coursing through us until Jesus came and washed that away. And in our salvation, it's a process in which we are working through our faith and being made whole in the eyes of God so that we can join him in heaven. So together let us go over this confession of sin. Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. In your mercy, forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name.

Amen. Please be seated. Let us now take in time of private confession of sin to our Lord.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. Jesus removed our transgressions from us. Amen.

The first one is for our sister and brother Katya and Ushkun. They need prayer over their citizenship papers. And in order for their citizenship papers to begin the process, they need to be able to book an interview so that they would be able to get the process going quicker. Let's pray over them for this. It's an ongoing process for them.

And just the fact that they've gotten this far has been a grace of God. But let's pray for them so that they can get this interview and get their citizenship papers so that access to work and government help will help their current living situation.

This is the this week, they're going on their first vacation in three years. And in order for them to be able to do that, Pastor Madison and his wife Audrey are taking care of Natalie and her sibling. And so just pray that Deanne and Curtis can have a restful break. Gone through so much in the past three years. But also for Pastor Madison and Audrey, as they watch over Natalie, and just that they would be blessed with the time spent, but also be uh gracious to them in the care and the needs that Natalie has and that uh everything will be safe and sound, and uh that everyone will be restful by the end of the week.

And the last prayer request is on behalf of our brother Howard's friend Micah. Um Micah is uh a police officer and a believer who lost his uh wife's Madeline suddenly this week. Um there is no cause of death, but she passed away, leaving behind a two-month-old son. Such a hard loss. Unimaginable the situation for us. But let's pray over him. He goes to Grace Community Church, so he has a good community supporting him. But Howard, being a loving brother, just said that our church would pray over him and have him in our thoughts. So let's lift up Micah and their son and their family and just for the Lord to guide him through this difficult time.

Father, we pray over Katy and Ushkun, parents who love their family to in order for them to have a better situation in this country.

We lift up Pastor Madison and Audrey and just loving grandparents or parents and grandparents who just want to give their daughter and her husband some rest, much needed rest and a break from their the trial that they're going through in their life. And we just pray that you bless Pastor Madison and Audrey and just taking care and being great grandparents to Natalie. And we just pray that you watch over them this week and just for safety and well keeping of them and their household. We pray for Micah and just a father who just lost his wife. And just that you watch over him this week and even ongoing. We know that he must be going through such hardship and not knowing where to start, but you give him a firm foundation in the community that he has and that you allow him to mourn, but also to be able to move forward and figure things out as the situation will making plans and taking care of his son.

I just pray that you bless him and watch over him, give him comfort. Lord, we just ask for for these things. We know that life is something that has all of these trials, has all of these maybe these burdens.

So Lord, we pray for these things, and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Okay, children, you're dismissed for Sunday school. Today is teacher Stephen. As the children are being dismissed, uh, I'm gonna go over a few announcements. First, one is that we have our park day uh July 7th. It'll be just like last year. Uh we're gonna be having it at Dr. Ryu Roo Memorial Park in Stevenson Ranch. Uh we're gonna have our normal kind of uh service time at 10 30, but like we did last year, we're gonna have just time of worship, fellowship, and then games and food. Uh so that is gonna uh be on the 7th. Uh, we'll have more specific details via email to come. And last but not least, our offering options are Zell, Vemo, Cash, and Check.

With that, Pastor Madison is going to bring the word. Amen. Hey, we've been uh a couple of weeks in James uh chapter uh two, but uh let me do this. We we've been talking about being trapped and how they tried to trap Jesus, and if they tried to trap Jesus, why wouldn't uh Satan tried to trap us as well? And so there are some traps he wants to set for us. I want to I want to go in a little different direction instead of the five traps. I want to talk about uh what how James leads into that today. But let's do this. Uh instead of jumping in at James chapter 2, let me take you back to James 1 1, right at the very beginning. I want you to see what's going on here so that you can understand again the book.

James, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in dispersion. And so I just want you to, you know, for older believers, hey, you got this. But let me not take for granted that everybody knows what's going on here. It's not like uh uh they were uh and I say this uh not in a bad sense, but it's not though they were Indians and they had the tribes, you know, and they were out in the chiefs and the Indians and the tribes that all got together, they were 12 tribes. Now let me put on the screen how these 12 tribes came about, okay? Abraham, his name was Abram to begin with, and he was gonna have a lot of children. Ah, but he didn't have any children, he didn't even have one. And God promised him that Jesus would be born through his family, and he believed God, and God counted it to him as righteous.

He just believed God. God, you promised us, and you promised your son was going to be born through my family, and I'm gonna trust your son, and I'm gonna trust your promise, and he said, You're saved. You're gonna be a friend of God. But here's the deal. His name was Abram, because he didn't have a lot of kids, and his name got changed to Abraham, and when people said, Oh, Abraham, what does your name mean? And his name meant father of many. And they said, Oh, how many kids do you have? And he says, uh, well, uh, I I don't have any. Well, why'd you change your name then to be father of many when you don't have any? So he's married to a woman by the name of Sarai. Her name was changed to Sarah when God began to work in their lives, but they weren't able to have any children.

They were beyond childbearing years. And just so you know, they were over 80 years of age. Now, I'm 76. If I were told that, hey, I'm gonna have a son here, I say, wait a minute, my kids are supposed to have my grandkids. I'm not supposed to, you know, do this. And so they're over 80 years of age, and they're not gonna, you know, they're just impossible. But with God, all things are what possible. And so, but as often happens, when God begins to work in people's lives and make promises to them, they begin to doubt God's promises. So Sarai has a handmaiden. Her handmaiden's name is Hagar. And she says, Abraham, uh, God must have this. This is a mistake because I'm over 80, and I uh for me to have children, this is an impossibility.

So God must have this wrong. So why don't you take my handmaiden? Boy, uh, I don't know what wife would ever say to her husband, hey, uh, take this other woman, you know, be intimate with this other woman over here so that you can have a child. But Sarai says, take Hagar. Abraham does that. They have a child. Abraham and Hagar have a child. That child's name is Ishmael. Now, just so you know, listen to me carefully here. All the problems that are going on in the Middle East today are because of this sin right here. Because all the descendants of Ishmael are Arabs. All the Egyptians, all the Lebanese, all these Arab people, the Hasbalah, all these Arab people.

And here's what's interesting about it is why are they fighting? Why do you think they're fighting? Listen to me carefully. They say, God promised Abraham this land, and we'd descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it's our land too. When the Egyptian prime minister spoke in the Ganesset, the political uh powerhouse of Israel, he said, We are of our Abra, our father Abraham. And I can't imagine what the Jewish uh Knesset thought when he when they heard an Egyptian say, We are of our father Abraham. If Abraham and Sarah had just trusted God and just believed God, there wouldn't be the conflict in the Middle East today. Do you see that their sin made that conflict possible?

And our sin, listen to me, our sin causes problems in our family if we're not cautious. It doesn't end there though. Abraham and Sarah, they have a son. Their son is Isaac. And Isaac marries Rebekah. And they have a son, and their son's name is Jacob. And Jacob wrestles with God. He says, Oh, God, I want you to bless me. I want you to work in my life. And Lord, I'm not gonna let you go until you bless me. And God said, Okay, I'll bless you. And matter of fact, I'm gonna change your name. Your name is gonna be changed from Jacob to Israel, because you have power with God and men. And that's where the conflict is coming from. Now, Israel, though, Jacob has 12 sons and a daughter. His daughter's name is Dinah.

The twelve sons lead to the mostly the twelve tribes of Israel. However, not all of them, but I'll put here the twelve tribes. And let me not try to get into too much detail because there's so much I want to cover here today. But I want you to see that's where these tribes are from. And the names of these tribes, Reuben, Gab, Nabdali, Benjamin, Levi. Not all of them got property. Levi got cities. He didn't get any property because all the priests came from the Levites. And the Levites had to be everywhere in Israel. And so they were giving multiple properties. And so some of the grandsons got the properties to make up the 12 tribes of Israel. Now let's go back here. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes.

Ah, what he adds on here in the dispersion. To the 12 tribes in the dispersion. What does he mean by that? Well, let me take you back to the book of Acts for a second. In Acts chapter 8, verse 1. First of all, God said, Jesus said, I want you to go into all the world and preach the gospel. I want you to get into all the world. But the Jewish people didn't want to leave and go into all the world. So God allowed persecution. So that the people say, hey, we need to get out of Jerusalem and go into what? All the world. So they started. This is Acts 8 1. Saul agreed with putting Stephen to death. It's him there, but I'm going to tell you who him is Stephen. Saul, there are two Sauls in the Bible.

That are one was King Saul in the Old Testament, and one is Saul, who became the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. So sometimes when you read the Bible, you're going to okay, which Saul is this? Well, this is the New Testament Saul, whose name is going to be changed to Paul once he got saved. But at this point, his name was Saul, and he agreed with putting Stephen to death. On that day, a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were what? Scattered. What did God want to do? God wanted them to go into all the world so everybody could hear about Jesus. They didn't want to go. Sometimes God puts a little burr in your saddle. So that you say, I need to move on.

I need to do what God wants. And when God says to do something, we need to do it. So they were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Just so you know, there was the area of Judea and then Samaria. Look at me. Look at me for a second, okay? If if this is Israel, Israel's a small country. All of Israel could fit in Los Angeles County. That's how small it is. And yet the bottom section is going to be Judea. And the top section is Galilee. And the section in the middle, that some people call it that there's there is some area in the middle between Judah and Galilee. There is some area, S O M E. There is some area. And so I hope I hope that'll help you remember. It's called Samaria. Okay.

So they were scattered throughout the land in Judea and Samaria. This is Acts 8 1. By the time you get to Acts 11, it says this in verse 19. Those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen, made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. Look at let me take you to a globe. Let's start here on North America and let's swing around to the continent of Africa, Europe, and Asia. Zooming right down in the center of that. This is what's really it's really important for you to understand this. Israel is smack dab in the center of three continents.

It's this little country, it's the biggest little country in the world. Everybody knows of Israel. But it's the smallest country out there. And God said, I want you to go into all the world. And they said, No, we're not going to do that. We got a job here. I've got my kids here, my relatives are here. And God said, Ah, I want you to go into all the world. And if the only way to get you to go in all the world is to allow persecution, then I'll do that. And you're scattered. So now when you go back to James, at this point, they're now in the world. Before they were in Jerusalem, but now they're going to be in the world. They're in the world, but they're not of the world. Remember that? As believers, we are in this world.

But when the world gets in us, then that's the problem. You know, for a boat, I'll say this, I said it a couple weeks ago, for a boat to be in the water is okay. That's where it belongs, sitting in the water, floating. But when the water gets into the boat, then you have the problem. For us to be in the world is not a problem. God created us to serve him in this world. But when the world gets in us, then we have a problem. So having said all that, James 1.1, let's go to James 1.27. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this. And this is how he ends chapter 1. To look after orphans and widows in their distress and look at the bottom. And to keep oneself what? Unstained by the world.

I give you the Greek word a couple of weeks ago for this, unstained from the world. It comes from two parts. The alpha that goes in front of it, which negates anything. Says, like if you're a theist, you believe in God. If you're an atheist, when you put that A in front of it, it means you don't believe in God. If you go, if you're musing on something, you're sitting there thinking and musing on something. If but if you go to an amusement park, it means you don't think about anything. You go to a park not to think about something. So the first part of this word, unstained, is the letter A. The last part of it, letter for letter, out of Greek into our English, is the word spill. S-P-I-L-L. So if you put the two together, it means not to spill or not to stain.

So let me illustrate it this way. We understand what it's like when you get something stained. You have a nice new carpet and somebody spills something on it and it stains it. And so what I want to, instead of talking about being trapped by these five things today, let me talk about how there are five things that God says, don't let these five things stain your testimony. Ruin your walk with God. Now he ends chapter one with don't let this spill. Don't become stained by the world. And so in chapter two, he's going to talk about how being stained. So let me slide this back here and say this. We need to be cautious. If somebody says, What did Pastor Madison talk about today? Here's what I'm talking about.

We need to be cautious that we don't become stained by the world. So that here we are. Here we are, and God wants us to have a testimony that's pure and undefiled, and that people go, Oh, that's a godly person. But there are times our sin, things that seem to want to stain our testimony. So let me go on and say further. Scripture warns us of five stains that can affect our testimony before others. Now, last week, the last couple of weeks, we've talked about three of these. And I use the word trap because Satan wants to trap us in these things.

So let me just quickly review these because we don't have a lot of time. One was showing favoritism. If we show favoritism, especially in the church or in your family, or in things like that, we stain ourselves. We become like the world. Here's what the text says. James 2.1. My brothers, do not show favoritism. Pretty clear, isn't it? James 2 9, he said it this way. But if you show favoritism, you commit sin. So what he's really saying is, let me get it right out there. You don't want to do this. You don't want to show favoritism. Last week I illustrated it this way. I said, there's a guy I used to know when I graduated from high school, I went and work in a factory, and there was a guy in the factory, his name was Harry Hall.

And Harry told me that as a young boy, he was invited. Harry was in his 50s. I was 18. Harry was as a young boy, had a brother who was just a little bit older than him. The two of them were invited to Sunday school, and they were all excited. Hey, we're gonna get to go to Sunday school. And Dad gave them five pennies to put in the offering at Sunday school. One of them got three of them, one of them got two of them. The oldest became the favorite, and he was gonna get three pennies. And the one that got two of them got so hurt by it as a little guy, that he tossed the two two other pennies to his brother and said, You take them all. I'm not going to I'm not going to Sunday school. And he never went.

And when I knew him in his late 50s, he had never gone to Sunday school, never come to know the Lord. His brother, however, went to Sunday school, learned about Jesus, got saved, went on to university, became the vice president and dean of education at Houghton College, a Christian school in New York. Became a godly guy. One penny, one favoritism, separated that walk from everything. And so I'm saying to you, don't let the world get you into where you are sinning by showing favoritism. Let me go back here. We need to be cautious that these the world, the world knows how to treat favorites. The world knows how to get people, you're on my team. But he said, look, we're all on, as believers, we're all on the same team.

Let's not show favoritism. Secondly, after you show favoritism, he said, Ah, focusing on appearance. That can lead to problems. And here's what he says. My brothers, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith of our Lord Jesus, our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For example, a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes comes in. Ah, if you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes and say, sit here, what are you doing? You're focusing on what? Appearance. Appearance. And he said, don't do that. Jesus said it this way in John 7 24. Stop judging according to what? Outward appearance. Don't judge a book by its what?

Cover. A nice cover doesn't mean it's a great book. And how somebody looks on the outside, you know what's interesting? I'll just throw this out. I'm not trying to be male chauvinist here or anything. Women who are the prettiest, you know, by the world standards. You know, they get they're on the carpet, the red carpet, they're they're getting their picture taken for everything. Women who are sometimes the most outward beautiful, have the most difficulty in life. Why is that? Because men have a tendency to look at the outward appearance and never get to where the heart.

As with any woman, women and men, you're all worried about gaining too much weight. And I and I said this a couple weeks ago. I'd say to my wife, hey, I'm not worried about you gaining weight. I love you. And I've decided to love you. And I love you because of who you are in here. The outward is going to change. I'm going to get gray haired, and I'm going to get wrinkled, and I'm going to get uh hunched over. And I'm going to, I'm getting old. And we're all going to get old. Stop judging by outward appearance. Let's ask what's going on in a person's heart. Okay? So let's go back here. I want to be quickly on these three because we've dealt with these, I but I want to hit them. There are three of them.

Showing favoritism. Ah, focusing on appearance. The third one we looked at last week. Looking down on the poor. They don't have the best car, they don't have the nicest house, they don't have the nicest clothes, they don't have whatever. You know something? I'm so glad that God loves poor people because that's what I grew up in. And God used that to teach me to trust him. And to teach me that I can still be used by him. Here's what God's word says. If you look with favor on the man who uh the man wearing the fine clothes and say, sit here in a good place, and yet you say to the poor man, stand over there, or sit here on the floor by my footstool. Haven't you done what? You know, we worry about discrimination in our society.

Oh, you're discriminated against that person. Oh, you discriminate against that person. God says, Look, why? We never think that people discriminate against poor people. We think if they're uh this nationality, uh, my I have a friend who's a pastor in Indiana, where he pastors, the people are Dutch. D U T C H Dutch. And they have a little statement that says, if you're not Dutch, you're not much. And so in every kind of society, there are people that oh, they look down on that group, but they look down on that group. And he said, Look, don't discriminate against poor people. He goes on, verse five and six. Listen, my dear brothers, didn't God choose what kind of people? The poor in this world to be what?

Rich in faith. So listen to me. I'm glad I grew up in a poor family. Because it gave me a chance to be what? He chose the poor to be rich in what? Faith. And so God used that. You know what's interesting? I couldn't even uh my parents couldn't afford to send me to a kids' camp or anything like that. But you know what was interesting? There was a camp about 15 miles from my home. That an evangelist, uh a pastor who preached the gospel, an evangelist started that camp in 1954 to train boys on how to serve God, how to preach, and that camp, uh never ever charged any student, any boy to come to that camp.

They've had kids, they've had boys from 45 states, they've had boys from uh every area of Canada, Japan, Mexico, uh, Scandinavia, France, and boys have never been charged to go to that camp. I couldn't have afforded to go to camp, but God took me to that camp one Saturday night for an open house. And the director said, Oh, would you like to come back to camp? I said, I'd love to come in. He said, Come on, Monday. And from that point on, I spent the rest of the summer. I arrived there on Monday. You know what they did? They took boys to preach, do gospel magic, music, stuff like that. I played an instrument. I arrived on Monday. I was the fastest to ever go on a gospel team. And on Tuesday, I left with a team for Akron, Ohio, and we spoke in two or three churches in the Akron, Ohio area.

It was an unbelievable opportunity. And from that point on, God used that camp. Uh, the director of that camp went to Moody Bible Institute. Guess where I went when I started MBI in Chicago. Woody Bible Institute in Chicago. I eventually became the president of that camp. And my grandson goes to that camp now. And God chooses what kind of people.

Didn't God choose the what kind of people? The poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those that love him. Yet you do what? You dishonored that poor man. He said, that's a stain on your testimony. If you care for poor people, you know, that'll be, God will honor that. So let's talk about the last two things here, okay? Five stains that can come on your life. You can show favoritism, that's stains your testimony. You can focus on appearance, that's dangerous testimony. You can look down on the poor, that's changed it. Oh, you can you're in a position where you're lacking love for your neighbor. Lacking love for your neighbor. Do you know Penn and Teller?

Have you ever heard those love those guys? Pen and teller. They're magicians that uh do programs in Vegas. Um they're not believers. Uh and remind me which one the tall, the big one is is that Penn or is that teller? Penn? Okay. So they're the Gideons had a conference in Vegas. The Gideons are people that hand out Bibles to, and so they're on the streets handing out Bibles in Vegas for a uh whole convention week. And one of the Gideons got, and this is this is Penn telling this story. I uh I have a video of it, I should have thrown it in here so you can see it. Penn uh he got in the elevator with this guy. The guy gets out his Bible, starts to share the gospel with him, and Penn said, you know, I'm not a believer.

He said, but how impressed was I that this guy was so committed that he was willing to tell me about Jesus. And he said, you know what's amazing to me? He said, he thought he had the only way to heaven. And he said, I I began to ask myself, how many other Christians are there out there that know the same thing? That Jesus is the only way. And apart from Jesus, you don't get into heaven. He said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father except by me. He said, if you really believe that as a Christian, listen to me. This is Penn, he says, how much must, how much must you really hate a person to not tell them about how to get to heaven. If you have the way, and they don't, he said, you must, you must really just hate somebody, not to tell them.

He said, No, I didn't trust Jesus. But he said, that guy I respect. And he said, because he cared enough about me to tell me, even though I didn't agree with him. He wasn't worried what I was gonna say. He said, look, don't lack love for your neighbor. James 2.8. Indeed, if you keep the royal law prescribed in scripture, in the scripture, love your neighbor as yourself. You're doing well. Love your neighbors yourself. Matthew 22, he says it this way. He said to them, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. So what is he saying? James is saying it.

Jesus said it. Love your neighbor as yourself. He also says it again in Galatians chapter 5. Serve one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement. Listen to this carefully. The entire law is fulfilled in one statement. Love your neighbor as yourself. Now, when he talks about the entire law, he's talking about the law of my relationship with other people. We'll talk about this at the picnic. We'll go over the Ten Commandments at the picnic, okay? But for now, I want you to understand four of the commandments are about God. The last six are about our relationship with people. And what he's saying is if I love my neighbor as myself, well, let's take the sixth commandment.

The sixth commandment is thou shalt not kill. Will I kill my neighbor if I love him like I love myself? No. How about uh the command in the ninth and tenth commandment? Uh, thou shalt not covet. You know, don't with your eyes, don't speak against people. Am I going to speak against my neighbor? If I if I love them like I love myself? He said, Look, you'll fulfill you. How do you fulfill those those last six commands? Love your neighbors yourself. Uh, and you won't. Uh the seventh commandment, fathers and uh, the husband and wife, father and mother, thou shalt not commit what? Adultery. You know, he says, Look, while I do will I commit adultery with my neighbor's wife, if I'm gonna love my neighbor like I love myself?

No, he said, Look, if you'll love your neighbors yourself, you'll fulfill those commands. That's what he says, love your neighbors yourself. So let me take you to this guy. You know this guy at all? Probably not. Did anybody see him on the news this week? This was just from the news this week. I as I uh as I think uh through the sermon and think uh, how can I really relate this? Um, this guy just retired from the Air Force after 40 years. His background, he's a three-star general. His background was on, and let me take you to this was world news. Friday night. He retired on Wednesday. Let me give you, I'll just throw the background and I'll let you hear him. Okay. On 9-11. That's why I referred to that to you this morning, Howard.

On 9-11, uh, September 11th, uh, 2001, our country was attacked. And there were three planes. One ran into the towers in New York, one ran into the Pentagon in Washington, the other was headed for the White House. When they got word, this guy uh was uh in his uh in a fighter plane. Well, here's the story. Listen up. Uh make sure the sound is loud enough so they can hear it. Finally tonight here, the F 16 fighter pilot, father and husband, and what he was willing to do on 9-11. He and another pilot were in the air, and they were ready, knowing it could have been their final mission. Tonight, the gratitude, the send-off, all these years later. Here's Martha Raditz. You were watching U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Mark Sassaville suit up for the last time.

Thank you. Walking out to the fighter jet with his name on the side. His call sign. Taking off from joint base Andrews near Washington. The same base.