Going Deeper
Paul Defends His Ministry
10:1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
7 Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” 11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. 17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Paul and the False Apostles
11:1 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. 6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. 11 And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
12 And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle
16 I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17 What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would1 but as a fool. 18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. 19 For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! 20 For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. 21 To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!
But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food,2 in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
Paul’s Visions and His Thorn
12:1 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,3 a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Concern for the Corinthian Church
11 I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. 12 The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. 13 For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
14 Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? 16 But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. 17 Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? 18 I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?
19 Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. 20 For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. 21 I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.
Final Warnings
13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 2 I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them—3 since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
Final Greetings
11 Finally, brothers,4 rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another,5 agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you.
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Footnotes
[1] 11:17
Greek not according to the Lord
[2] 11:27Or often in fasting
[3] 12:7Or hears from me, even because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited
[4] 13:11Or brothers and sisters
[5] 13:11Or listen to my appeal (ESV)
(3.16.19)
Grab your Bible, and let’s go deeper into
Final Warnings
13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 2 I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them—3 since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
Final Greetings
11 Finally, brothers,1 rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another,2 agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you.
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
(ESV)
.
As I studied and read this week, I was especially moved and challenged by Paul’s final greeting at the end of his second letter to the church in Corinthians:
Final Greetings
11 Finally, brothers,1 rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another,2 agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you.
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
(ESV)
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
The living God elected in His grace to save His people into something very special—into a family! This is a family unlike any other family. In our unity as the family of God, He has given us a very special relationship with one another that He wants us to value dearly, to protect, to invest in, and to cultivate!
There are two dozen instructions in the New Testament that we are to “love one another.” These are in addition to exhortations to encourage one another, be patient with one another, honor one another, pray for one another, admonish one another, forgive one another, confess to one another, and more.
Today, I want to focus on the most encompassing one another: Love one another! Let’s look at a few passages that teach us about this:
Marks of the True Christian
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
(ESV)
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Here Paul says, “Let love be genuine …”
You can also translate this from the Greek to say, “Let love be without hypocrisy”!
Hypocrisy = pretending to be a certain way that is not true to who you are at the core of your being.
Genuine love doesn’t try to say or be something it’s not. It is authentic. It is genuine. It is honest. It says, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” In other words, it is not loving to not abhor what is evil.
It is not LOVE to watch someone you love struggling and then, out of fear, stay distant and say nothing. The danger in this is, you think he or she will figure it out.
You think, “I don’t want to cause conflict,” or you are motivated by a self-love, because you want them to love you, so you don’t upset the apple cart, even if it’s about to run them over. NO, we are to LOVE THEM—even when it is HARD! Even when it costs us everything.
This means we are not going to be distant and hypocritical, but we are going to act in genuine love. We will sit down with those in our family that are openly practicing sin and say, “I love you, and I am concerned because what I see you pursuing here, I don’t see in God’s word.”
Realize, none of us are immune from this. Eventually, we all need to be confronted. This is life in the body of Christ. This is LOVE at work in our family.
Look at the next verse:
A Living Sacrifice
12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,1 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.2 2 Do not be conformed to this world,3 but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.4
Gifts of Grace
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members,5 and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,6 with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Marks of the True Christian
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,7 serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.8 Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it9 to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Footnotes
[1] 12:1
Or brothers and sisters
[2] 12:1Or your rational service
[3] 12:2Greek age
[4] 12:2Or what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God
[5] 12:4Greek parts; also verse 5
[6] 12:8Or gives aid
[7] 12:11Or fervent in the Spirit
[8] 12:16Or give yourselves to humble tasks
[9] 12:19Greek give place (ESV)
:10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
This is not love one another just with deeds. It is saying have feelings for each other. The idea is that our heart would leap a little when we are around each other. Because we are family!
But the word for “love” or “be devoted” refers to a special kind of love. It’s used only here in the whole New Testament. But it is not a rare word outside the New Testament. It refers to “tender affection, particularly family affection.” So, the verse is calling for Christians to have “tender affection toward each other in family love.”
This is a command for how we are to relate to each other in the body of Christ; we are to feel an affection—a tender affection– for each other.
In Philippians 1:8, Paul says to the church, “For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”
The word for “affection” is “intestines” or “inner organs.” The idea is, “I long for you and love you, not just with an act of will power, but with deep and tender affections. I miss you. I am homesick for you. I feel for you.”
Another point of emphasis in this passage that Paul gives us is something we are told to do five times in the New Testament; Christians are to “Greet one another with a [holy] kiss of love.”
It says this in our text today:
12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
(ESV)
Greet one another with a holy kiss
This raises the question whether our cultural norm of a handshake carries what Christ means for us to feel for each other.
What’s culturally not normal is for two grown adults to kiss. I love seeing a dad kiss his grown son.
Let me ask you this: In the professional world, do you hug another grown man when you greet? NO. Do you kiss your doctor on the cheek when you go in for your check up? NO. But do you hug and kiss your family? YES!
God is saying that in this family, His family, we should share a deep love and God-honoring affection for each other. But we hug and kiss because we are a blood-bought family of brothers. We do it because we truly love each other and because it is a sign that we are family. It should be a beacon of the love of God moving through us to those we are called to fight with and fight for.
The point Paul is making at his close of Corinthians is a huge one. He is highlighting that it is the will of God for His children not just to do good things for each other and not just to pray for each other or speak decently of each other (those are crucial and demand the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish), but God’s will is far more. We are to:
“Love each other with brotherly affection.”
“Open your hearts wide to each other.”
“Feel for each other a kind of tender affection and longing that would naturally be expressed in a holy kiss of love.”
Now, some of you are saying, “What if I don’t feel this tender affection?”
Suppose you hear the command of Jesus this morning: “Love the brothers and sisters in the body of Christ with tender affection. Open your heart wide to them. Feel a longing for them and joy in them.” And suppose you can think of several people that you do not feel that way about. They have gossiped about you or snubbed you or let you down. You have beef with them that has not yet been worked out. And you say, “I hear you Lord. And I submit to the rightness of your command, but I do not feel this kind of affection for him/her. My battle is just trying not to hate, or my battle is I have never had a family who loved each other this way—this deep! We hardly even said I love you. But I yield to You, Lord. You have a right to call me to this. I embrace the goodness and the authority of Your call. I want to obey, but I don’t know how to practice this.”
If this is you, please know that God can and will give you what you need to overcome this—to forgive and risk and fight for deep and true love for each other. If this is you, I give you these practical steps to help you grow in this area:
- Pray for the Spirit’s power
First, pray earnestly that God, the Holy Spirit, would move in power on your heart and work the miracle that neither you nor I can work on our own. We are talking about supernatural living here. Pray that God would change your heart toward His other children—that He would create new affections in you for one another.
- Focus on the heavenly identity of your sibling
Second, keep your eyes focused on the heavenly identity, not the earthly frustration. We tend to focus almost exclusively on the ways we have been hurt or disappointed. That will defeat us every time.
Pastor John Piper says this well:
“There is a greater reality to think about and focus on, but you must make an effort. Focus on the reality of God’s Fatherhood. When you think about a Christian that is hard to feel affection for, say, ‘God is her Father. God is his Father.’ When you see her, think, ‘God is her Father.’ Then say, ‘And God is my Father. We have the same Father. Jesus is her Savior and my Savior. The same blood, bought her as bought me. The same Holy Spirit indwells her as indwells me. The same love flows from God toward her that flows toward me. She is my sister. He is my brother. We will live forever in the same family. We will live forever together in joy and ecstasy in the presence of our Father on the new earth.”
- Remember Christian love is a growing thing
Third, keep in mind that Christian love is not an all-or-nothing thing, but a growing thing. In 2 Thessalonians 1:3, Paul commends the Christians like this: “Your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater.”
Love is a growing thing. So, you may have some of it and be a real Christian and not have enough of it. You may feel some affection toward a fellow believer but also wrestle with other negative emotions. That does not mean you are not a Christian. It means you are at war with the flesh and trying to be led by the Spirit. Keep on, weary soldier, and know that God will refine you as you press into Him.
Paul prays this very way in
12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,
(ESV)
: “…and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you.”
Beloved, the evidence of our redemption, of our transformation in Christ, is our LOVE. The love of God will be at work in and through His people.
- Finally, know that genuine love for one another comes from God
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
(ESV)
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
But let me ask you today: Do you really fight for love? Do you really long to live every moment in love? Or is, “I love you,” just something you’re good at saying?
See, our love has to not just said, it has to be felt. It has to not just be a good idea or lofty ideal. LOVE has to be real and present—an unavoidable force.
If our club is going to do anything for God’s fame and eternal glory, we must be about love! It simply is not an option.
Listen to
The Way of Love
13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,1 but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;2 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Footnotes
[1] 13:3
Some manuscripts deliver up my body [to death] that I may boast
[2] 13:5Greek irritable and does not count up wrongdoing (ESV)
: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
Then he goes on to define true love:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
Now, the honest truth is the description of love that I just read—a true, selfless love—is impossible for you and I to live out without God. Why, you might ask?
John says why:
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
(ESV)
… for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Skip to 8b: “… God is love!”
What we need to understand more than anything is GOD is LOVE!
These verses do not state that God “was love” or God “will be love,” but “God is [present tense of Greek word eimi, =I am] love.” Love is not just from God; this is too narrow. If you just read
Test the Spirits
4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
(ESV)
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
(ESV)
c and don’t get to 8b, you miss the fuller truth that GOD IS LOVE.
Love is not just an action of GOD; love is God’s nature. One may know something about human affection or love, but apart from the grace of God, no one can know anything about TRUE love.
Real love—divine love—is like God, who is holy, just, and perfect. If you want true LOVE in your life, you need a living relationship with God. If we truly know God, we will love as He does. It says here, to know God is to know Love!
19 We love because he first loved us.
(ESV)
“We love because he first loved us.”
The authentic, other-centered love of God will consistently find its way out of us and onto those God puts in life, if we are first and foremost centered in Christ.
We only have the ability to love selflessly because Jesus first selflessly loved us! We only have the desire to love one another sacrificially because of God’s grace-filled desire to sacrifice His only Son for us!
“Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (
Final Greetings
11 Finally, brothers,1 rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another,2 agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you.
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
(ESV)
).
By His grace and for His glory,
-Shepherd
Soldiers for Jesus MC