The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:01 We come now to one of the most famous
00:03 passages of scripture and most beautiful
00:05 passages of scripture. 1 Corinthians 13.
00:08 Come with me. And now I will show you
00:10 the most excellent way. That's 12:31.
00:14 If I speak in the tongues of men and of
00:16 angels, but have not love, I'm only a
00:19 resounding gong or clanging symbol. If I
00:22 have the gift of prophecy and can fathom
00:24 all mysteries and all knowledge. And if
00:27 I have faith that can move mountains but
00:29 have not love, I am nothing. If I give
00:33 all I possess to the poor and surrender
00:35 my body to the flames but have not love.
00:39 I am I gain nothing. Verse four.
00:44 Love is patient. Love is kind. Does not
00:47 envy. It does not boast. It is not
00:50 proud. It is not rude. It is not
00:52 self-seeking. Is not easily angered. It
00:55 keeps no record of wrongs.
00:58 Love does not delight in evil, but
01:01 rejoices with the truth. It always
01:03 protects, always trusts, always hopes,
01:07 always perseveres.
01:10 Love never fails, but where there are
01:13 prophecies, they will cease. Where there
01:15 are tongues, they will be still. Where
01:18 there is knowledge, it will pass away.
01:21 For we know in part and we prophesy in
01:23 part. But when perfection comes, the
01:25 imperfect disappears. When I was a
01:28 child, I talked like a child. I thought
01:29 like a child. I reasoned like a child.
01:32 When I became a man, I put childish ways
01:35 behind me. Now we see a poor reflection
01:39 as in a mirror. Then we shall see face
01:42 to face. Now I know in part. Then I
01:46 shall know fully even as I'm fully
01:49 known. And now these three remain,
01:52 faith, hope, and love. But the greatest
01:56 of these is love. This is the word of
02:00 God. And the people said,
02:05 so let's begin on the outline that you
02:07 have in your files if you're taking
02:10 notes there. What's missing in your
02:13 life?
02:15 And fresh from the tree talks that we've
02:17 been talking about. Uh the singles could
02:20 be saying what's missing in my life is a
02:21 life partner. The married folk could be
02:23 saying what's missing in my life is lack
02:25 of a too much of a life partner. Uh
02:28 what's missing in my life? You have been
02:30 working too hard is a holiday. What's
02:31 missing in my life is what's missing in
02:33 your life. The most missing thing in
02:35 your life. To really answer that
02:38 question, we now do a recap up to this
02:42 point because it's actually 16 chapters
02:46 of this wonderful letter of this
02:48 epistle, but we have only had time to
02:51 deal with four of these chapters. Okay.
02:54 So, the church's most missing virtue is
02:57 actually love.
02:60 The church's most missing virtue is
03:03 actually love.
03:05 And why so? A recap of the church is
03:10 vitally important. The Corinthian
03:12 church,
03:14 Corinthian values, wise in their own
03:16 eyes, strong in their own strength,
03:19 self-promotion, self-importance,
03:22 self uh reputation was all important to
03:26 them.
03:28 The danger of this
03:31 was the most dangerous thing we said was
03:33 to confront and then to attempt to
03:37 change deeply seated tightly held on to
03:41 Corinthian worldly carnal fleshly values
03:45 that be has been part of you part of
03:47 your thinking part of your speaking part
03:49 of your feeling part of your doing for
03:52 since eternity since you were born that
03:55 you don't think twice about it You don't
03:57 even process that process that as a
03:60 problem.
04:01 And so Corinthian values of
04:03 self-promotion, of self-importance, of
04:05 self-righteousness, of self-pleasing, of
04:08 self- glory was so much in their veins,
04:11 in their arteries, but they didn't
04:13 recognize it. And Paul as a messenger,
04:16 as apostle of God, is sent to expose
04:20 this and to change them by God's grace.
04:24 Next slide.
04:27 The church in Corinth was actually
04:30 rebaptized carnality.
04:33 Rebaptized paganism. Paganism means you
04:36 have remember you were a pagan. I was a
04:39 pagan. I was a tawist. I was a Buddhist.
04:41 Temple. Temple everywhere. Idol idol
04:43 everywhere. But not the true and living
04:46 God. Isn't that pitiful? I have an idol
04:49 around every corner. I have an idol from
04:51 the front of the house to the back of
04:52 the house to the top of the house to the
04:54 bottom of the house. but no true and
04:56 living God to know. That's who we are as
04:58 pagans. That's who we were, the past
05:02 tense of salvation.
05:05 And so rebaptized paganism is when we
05:08 carry our ambition
05:11 and our need of reputation
05:15 into the Christian life, into Christian
05:18 ministry, and we now rebaptize it under
05:21 the banner of God. So we say never get
05:24 used to the problem of the Pharisees.
05:26 Never get used to the problems of the
05:27 priests. Never get used to the problem
05:30 of the high priest. Remember I quoted to
05:31 you last night that he stands and he
05:34 interviews Jesus our Lord Jesus and say
05:37 in the name of the living God. He sounds
05:39 really pious.
05:42 He didn't recognize he was in the face
05:44 of God.
05:46 God has come to reveal himself in the
05:48 sun and he could still invoke the name
05:51 of God. What a Pharisee. What a
05:53 hypocrite.
05:55 They had mastered the art of rebaptizing
06:00 their ambition and their dire need for
06:03 reputation
06:05 under the banner of God and the temple.
06:09 And their rank and their reputation was
06:13 all for self. But they had gotten used
06:15 to say it's about God. It's about God.
06:17 It's about God. Never get used to
06:20 calling the things of self the things of
06:22 God. You are headed towards damnation.
06:28 Couldn't get worse than that.
06:31 So all who took part in the shem trial
06:34 of Jesus and all who took part
06:36 religiously and politically in killing
06:38 him, all were self-righteous in human
06:41 eyes.
06:43 Next thing,
06:46 so they were stunted by Corinthian
06:49 values that was still so much of their
06:50 hearts, still so much of their veins in
06:52 their arteries. They did not allow for
06:55 the permanent effects of God, the
06:57 permanent effects of Jesus, the
06:60 permanent effects of the good news of
07:02 Jesus, saving us from the bad news of
07:05 self to take root deeply in their hearts
07:08 and to bring about true regeneration
07:11 from above, not from below.
07:15 And so Paul pounds home from chapter
07:17 one, right? There is wisdom and there is
07:21 power in this world. The Greeks look for
07:24 this. The the Gentiles look for this.
07:26 But I say to you, Jesus is our true
07:29 wisdom and Jesus is our true power.
07:32 Jesus is our true glory.
07:36 Now, if you haven't journeyied from from
07:39 self glory to true glory in Christ, you
07:43 really have to question if not doubt
07:46 whether you are a child of God. If the
07:49 glory of God doesn't increasingly
07:51 possess you, consume you. Right? So
07:55 years ago, I was preaching on the first
07:57 series, right? In when I started
07:59 ministry on a sermon on the mount.
08:01 That's a wonderful series.
08:03 And in Matthew 6, you have the Lord's
08:05 prayer. We call it the Lord's Prayer,
08:08 but actually it's not the Lord's prayer.
08:09 It's actually the disciples prayer. It's
08:12 our Lord teaching disciples how to pray.
08:15 Now you know that prayer. Yeah. Let's
08:17 try it. Just the first part begins with
08:21 our father. Carry on.
08:34 Okay. The first part sounded okay. The
08:37 second part sounded like tongues to me
08:40 because you're now quoting different
08:42 versions. Is that right? But the first
08:43 part sounds pretty similar.
08:46 So they the disciples came up to Jesus
08:48 there a bunch of Jews and they asked him
08:53 according to you rabbi how should we
08:55 pray you who are talking with such great
08:58 authority etc you who are doing miracles
09:02 how should we pray as as disciples who
09:04 have given up our fishing to follow you
09:06 and he begins with uh our father in
09:09 heaven
09:11 hallowed be your name your kingdom come
09:14 your will be done.
09:17 John Sto a very godly Christian man,
09:21 pastor, author who have come to know
09:22 personally but has passed on in the
09:24 Lord. Anything written by John Sto is
09:26 worth a read, especially his
09:27 commentaries. John Sto, S O T. And he
09:32 says, we still pray that prayer,
09:35 right? We still did pray that prayer.
09:36 He's an Anglican minister. He was an
09:38 Anglican minister. Our Father, who art
09:41 in heaven, hallowed be your name, your
09:43 kingdom come. We got the first part
09:45 right. Our father who art in heaven,
09:49 hallowed be my name, my kingdom come, my
09:54 will be done in my family, in my
09:57 marriage, and also in my church.
10:02 You don't ever say that, but you and I
10:05 walk around doing that.
10:09 That's why our churches are spiritually
10:11 dead.
10:15 Once you confuse the name of God for
10:17 your name, once you exchange the glory
10:21 of God for your glory, when you exchange
10:24 the will of God for your will, you are
10:27 in carnality land.
10:30 So you really want to be a good church
10:32 in FBC,
10:35 he's going to kill you.
10:37 You're going to crucify your old nature.
10:40 That's what Paul was telling the
10:42 Corinthians. You presume you are
10:44 Christians. If you haven't detoxed
10:47 yourself from being wise in your own
10:50 eyes, strong in your own strength,
10:52 glorious in your own glory, you haven't
10:55 crossed over to regeneration and rebirth
10:59 for the glory of God. Never
11:02 underestimate how addicted you can be to
11:06 glory
11:08 to self glory and the worst thing is to
11:11 seek glory in church in ministry for
11:16 this go and read the book called
11:17 dangerous calling by Paul Trip
11:20 and I've been in ministry 27 years I
11:22 travel around the world I listen I look
11:24 out and is this a church that glorifies
11:26 God is this a church that glorifies men
11:28 is very important we get this right my
11:30 friends that was that's why they were
11:32 spiritually stunted. Has anybody come up
11:34 to you say, "Hey, you stunted." You
11:36 know, you want to turn to your neighbor
11:38 and say that to them, "You stunted.
11:40 It's not very kind, right? You haven't
11:43 you haven't grown."
11:45 Paul says, "You haven't grown. You're
11:48 spiritually immature." Last night in
11:51 chapter 11, I have nothing to say,
11:53 nothing good to say about your
11:55 gatherings.
11:57 And so, here we go. Next slide.
12:01 So with that backdrop leading to chapter
12:05 13, you get it clearer. But to
12:08 understand chapter 13, chapter 13 is
12:11 sandwiched between 12 and 14 and say,
12:14 "Wow, Pastor Chris can count.
12:17 It's a staggering statement that chapter
12:19 13 is sandwiched between 12 and 14.
12:22 What's so important about this section
12:24 12- 14 in our in our Bibles?" because
12:27 they were debating the most important
12:29 thing uh for them. The most important
12:31 question, the most asked question in FBC
12:33 is the most asked question in in Adam
12:35 Road Presbyterian Church. The most asked
12:37 question in the church in Malaysia is
12:39 The most asked question in ABC is what?
12:41 I I don't know. I'm just had the most
12:43 frequent question in the Corinthian
12:45 church is who is the most spiritual
12:48 person?
12:50 Who is the most religious person? And
12:52 their answer that was number one
12:53 question, number one question, number
12:55 one question. Who's the most spiritual?
12:56 Who's the most spiritual? Who's the most
12:57 spiritual? And the answer is the most
12:59 spiritual person is the most gifted
13:01 person. And the most gifted person is
13:03 the one who speaks in tongues.
13:06 That was the debate. Which is more
13:08 gifted? Which is more spiritual? Which
13:11 is more holy? Which is a better test of
13:13 authenticity? And Paul says it is
13:16 neither.
13:19 It is love.
13:21 And here in this portion in your outline
13:23 he speaks firstly about the supremacy of
13:26 love then the character of love and then
13:28 the permanence of love.
13:32 That is his panacea that is his
13:34 antidote. That is his vaccination. That
13:38 is his medicine to the sickness of the
13:40 Corinthian church.
13:42 So vitally important to understand what
13:45 he's doing to lead them from spiritual
13:47 immaturity to spiritual maturity that
13:50 pleases God. Right? And so it begins
13:53 this way. If I speak in the tongues of
13:56 men and of angels but have not love, I'm
13:58 only a resounding gong or clanging
13:59 symbol. If I have to give of prophecy
14:01 can fet all mysteries and all knowledge.
14:03 If I have a faith that can move
14:05 mountains but have not love, I am
14:06 nothing. If I give all I possess to the
14:08 poor and surrender my body to the flames
14:10 but have not love I gain nothing.
14:14 And so if I speak in the tongues of men,
14:17 Paul would have reason that he has
14:20 tongues himself. And why is this tongues
14:23 a big thing? uh you read different
14:24 scholars and maybe one possibility that
14:27 even in the pagan temples of Paul's time
14:30 in the pagan temples and Corin was
14:33 famous for commerce was famous for his
14:36 temples was famous for being a saxmat
14:39 city maybe in the many temples of Paul's
14:42 time in Asia Minor and in Corinth you
14:45 could see spiritual men and spiritual
14:48 men perhaps go into a trance and then as
14:51 they go into a trance they may speak
14:53 inexplicable languages and that is uh
14:56 attracts people like a magnet like a
14:58 gong. So you know I grew up here and
15:00 ever so often in my small town in in
15:02 Malaysia you may have seen it uh a
15:05 medicine man comes to town and a
15:06 medicine man comes to town at night and
15:08 he he hits the gong and everybody gets
15:11 and when a medicine man comes to town
15:13 and hits the gong something spiritual is
15:15 happening here.
15:17 So, one of my friends um he he knew I
15:20 was a pastor. He wasn't a Christian yet.
15:22 And then he said he had just gone to
15:24 Chinatown in Singapore and gone to
15:26 Chinatown during one of the major
15:28 Chinese festivals. I don't know which
15:30 one it was, Cheng Bing, etc. And they
15:32 usually put up a huge 10age, right? A
15:35 stage, a thing. And um there was a
15:38 fortune teller, a famous fortune teller.
15:41 And this famous fortune teller could
15:43 take a razor take some razor blades,
15:46 shaving blades, put it in his mouth. He
15:48 chewed on them. He bled a little bit and
15:52 then go into a trance and then tell your
15:55 future.
15:57 And people will bring their gifts and
15:59 bring their monies because he was
16:01 reputedly quite accurate in his fortune
16:04 telling of their fortunes, of their
16:07 businesses especially. And so um that's
16:10 a spiritual man. And so my friend knew I
16:12 was a pastor. Say, "Hey, you're a
16:14 pastor, right? Pastor is spiritual man,
16:15 right? Can you do that?"
16:20 So
16:22 I said, "Actually, no. No. Um the only
16:25 time I fall into trance is usually after
16:27 lunch.
16:29 And usually after lunch, I don't know
16:31 when I'm going to wake up, let alone
16:33 tell your future." I can say I can tell
16:35 you that my friend wasn't impressed.
16:39 Because in the eyes of the world, in the
16:42 eyes of pagan spirituality,
16:45 you are only spiritual. You are only
16:47 religious. You are only holy and godly.
16:50 You can do spectacular, supernatural,
16:53 inexplicable things. The more
16:56 inexplicable, the more spiritual. If I
16:58 cannot explain this phenomena, must be
17:00 God at work. If I cannot explain this
17:02 phenomena, must be God at work. Use the
17:04 same logic. You cannot explain your
17:06 wife, it is God at work.
17:08 cannot explain your husband must be God
17:09 at work. But there's a a line of
17:12 thinking in temple pagan theology,
17:16 temple pagan worldly carnal uh
17:19 spirituality.
17:20 And so here Paul seems to be drawing up
17:24 a scale of spirituality.
17:26 Notice the heart of biblical
17:28 Christianity, the heart of true
17:30 Christianity is to know the world. And
17:34 then as you know the world you bring so
17:36 you need to know know God's world and
17:38 then you bring God's word to bear and
17:41 slowly one by one you dismantle the
17:44 arguments.
17:46 Christianity is a thinking faith because
17:49 we have a thinking God. When you become
17:52 a Christian you do not lose your mind.
17:54 You find your mind. You want to write
17:56 that down somewhere?
17:58 When you become a Christian you do not
17:60 lose your mind. You find your mind. And
18:03 when you look at Jesus exercising
18:05 demon-possessed people, right, they come
18:09 to their right mind. They are sane.
18:12 Before you come to know Jesus, you are
18:14 out of your mind
18:17 because you think you are God. You don't
18:20 say it, but you live as if the world
18:23 revolve around you.
18:26 Okay. So, here is Paul. He's dismantling
18:30 a deepseated mistaken idea of
18:34 spirituality, religiosity, and man-made
18:37 religion.
18:38 He knows they are very caught up. Number
18:41 one question every day, number one is
18:44 single issue in the Corinthian church,
18:46 tongues, tongues, tongues. And the
18:49 church was divided in two camps.
18:50 Majority cam, tongues, minority camp,
18:53 prophecy, tongues was winning the day.
18:55 You ever had issues like that in local
18:57 church between two camps? And so Paul is
19:00 saying he draws up the scale of
19:02 spirituality. He doesn't deny there are
19:05 great gifts, tongues, great faith that
19:07 can move mountains, great philanthropy
19:10 that all I give I possess to the poor.
19:12 And the ultimate sign in human
19:14 spirituality, the ultimate sign in human
19:17 religiosity, the ultimate sign in human
19:20 holiness is I surrender my body to the
19:23 flames. So sometimes you read in the
19:26 papers, oh of this Buddhist monk in
19:28 Thailand, he dowsed himself with all he
19:31 lighted himself and said, "Wow, my
19:33 goodness, he's willing to give his life.
19:35 What a godly man. What a foolish man."
19:39 According to Paul, that's mistaken. They
19:42 all send the same message. Here are
19:45 spiritual people doing spectacular
19:47 things, supernatural things,
19:48 inexplicable things. They must be
19:50 religious. They must be from God. That's
19:53 mistaken ideas.
19:58 And so how does Paul correct this? Paul
20:02 is not saying, he's not denying they are
20:05 gifts. They are tongues. The next slide.
20:09 Paul is saying there's there not saying
20:11 that no gifts, no tongues, no prophecy,
20:14 no faith. He is not questioning the
20:17 existence of the gifts but the
20:20 motivation to use the gifts. You see
20:23 that he's not questioning the factuality
20:26 of the gift but is questioning the usage
20:29 of the gift, the motivation for them.
20:34 And notice the repetition in verse 1
20:36 to4. And every time there's repetition
20:40 in the Bible is for what? Every time
20:42 there's repetition, it is for
20:43 importance.
20:45 Right. And the repetition is but have
20:48 not love. But have not love. But have
20:51 not love.
20:54 I am nothing. I gain nothing.
20:58 But have not love. I am nothing and I
21:01 gain nothing. So how of you, how many
21:04 you have got children, nephew, nieces?
21:06 Of course you have. And they're gifted.
21:09 Let's say your particular child is very
21:11 gifted in soccer. you should be happy
21:14 because number one spot around the world
21:16 and so he's gifted enough. So you notice
21:19 that he's gifted from primary school
21:21 onwards. You send him for training, you
21:23 send him for clinics, you might even
21:24 send him to to Manchester United for a
21:27 clinic with them or whichever club.
21:28 Manchester is United number six. So
21:30 don't send it to them. Um
21:33 and then so all the menu fans are no
21:36 longer your your friend. Uh no longer
21:38 your friend. I mean so your child has a
21:41 gift. He's been practicing etc etc and
21:45 the teacher says he's a gift. You go and
21:46 watch him play his first soccer match.
21:49 Guess what? As you excitedly go as the
21:52 father, mother, uncle, auntie to watch
21:55 this child play, it rains
21:58 as a total wash out.
22:02 It may rain on the giftedness of your
22:05 child,
22:07 but there will always be another game.
22:10 Amen.
22:12 But Paul is saying something else.
22:15 If there's an absence of love in the use
22:18 of your gift,
22:20 then there shouldn't be another
22:21 ministry.
22:23 There shouldn't be another game
22:26 because the absence of love and the
22:28 presence of gifts equals zero. You write
22:31 that down. Write that formula down.
22:35 The absence of love plus the presence of
22:38 gift equals zero.
22:40 You write it down. Let me explain that
22:42 to you a bit more. This is divine
22:45 mathematics.
22:47 This is godly mathematics or aromatic.
22:51 This is celestial aromatics. And what is
22:54 it? That's serious.
22:57 So
22:58 illustration again, the rain comes down
23:00 on your gifted child, gifted in sport,
23:03 gifted in soccer. His gift doesn't get
23:06 wiped out, right? There will come
23:08 another day. There will come another
23:10 game. He will play the other game. But
23:12 in God's eyes, in God's idea of
23:16 spirituality,
23:17 when you and I use our gifts with no
23:21 love for God and no love, no love for
23:24 his church, you and I become valueless
23:26 in God's eyes. You become a zero in
23:30 God's eyes. I do not know about you, but
23:33 that's pretty serious and that's pretty
23:35 scary value judgment from God. Because
23:37 in divine mathematics, you could have
23:39 led a 100 Bible studies. In God's eyes,
23:42 you are zero.
23:44 In in divine mathematics, I could have
23:46 preached a thousand sermons, but I did
23:48 it without love for God. And without
23:50 love for his people, I'm a zero. In
23:52 divine mathematics, I could have played
23:54 music and led song a hundred times, but
23:57 in but I did it without love for God and
23:59 for his people, I am a zero.
24:03 It's not simply that my gifts are zero,
24:06 but I gain nothing. I am nothing.
24:11 Now, don't get this wrong. Paul is not
24:13 saying here that if you don't have love,
24:16 you lose salvation. You will still do
24:18 ministry, but you will just get into
24:21 heaven and you will not be recognized as
24:23 a person who love God and love his
24:25 people.
24:28 He will reason that. It's vitally
24:30 important we get this right. And so Paul
24:32 is teaching that great deeds done
24:35 without love is nothing. So in Christian
24:38 in pagan spirituality what is pagan
24:40 spirituality? Next slide. In pagan
24:43 spirituality um so Paul's reasoning is
24:46 not what we do but how we do it and why
24:49 we do it that matters. So here's a
24:52 paradigm shift that you must undertake
24:55 in MBC in any church that you go to.
24:58 It's not what ministry you do. It's not
25:00 what ministry you do. is how you do it
25:03 and why you do it from the heart. And if
25:07 you do not do it from love, God knows
25:10 and you jolly well should know as a
25:13 child of God. But if you are
25:14 disconnected from God because of your
25:16 unconverted ambition, if your
25:18 unconverted reputation, you will not
25:21 know.
25:23 You'll be so deadened to God. Because
25:26 the thing about cultural values, it just
25:29 not just shapes you, but it deadens you
25:31 and desensitizes you to God and you just
25:35 carry on with that ministry as if you
25:38 are really on God's side. No, you're not
25:41 on God's side. You are on God's
25:43 judgment. Re receiving uh about to
25:46 receive his judgment. It's not what we
25:48 do, but how we do it that matters. Next
25:50 slide.
25:52 So, yeah, before we get to this, go
25:54 back. Go back. Sorry. Yeah. Much of
25:57 pagan spirituality is this. Let me give
25:59 it to you. I I don't have it in a
26:00 PowerPoint. Pagan spirituality is
26:05 great deeds.
26:07 Great deeds done with no love.
26:11 In Christian spirituality, it is small
26:14 deeds done with great love.
26:17 Indeed, all deeds done with great love.
26:20 Can you see a difference? in pagan
26:23 spirituality beginning in the temple is
26:25 great deeds and whether the fellow the
26:28 spiritual man who falls into the trance
26:30 or leads the church or leads the temple
26:33 it's just great deeds as long as he see
26:35 great deeds spectacular deeds
26:36 supernatural guil inexplicable deeds you
26:39 think oh god is at work but in Christian
26:42 spirituality practiced among god's
26:44 people in his safe church it is small
26:48 deeds done with great love it is All
26:52 deeds done with great love that pleases
26:55 God, edifies the body, glorifies God.
26:59 Paradigm shift. Huge paradigm shift. So
27:03 in Christian spirituality, love is
27:06 supreme. And much of love in daytoday
27:09 living is pretty ordinary. That that
27:13 one's correct. Yeah. Much of love in
27:16 everyday living, much of love in
27:18 everyday ministry is pretty routine. is
27:21 pretty ordinary is pretty unspectacular.
27:25 Is that true? So, um, one of the couples
27:29 in our church expecting their first
27:31 child. When you're expecting your first
27:32 child, did you notice your husband is
27:34 usually very nice? Should be normal
27:36 husband. So, you know, la poor what do
27:39 you want? And he pampered her, looked
27:43 after her, brought her out to dinner.
27:45 But, you know, women get morning
27:47 sickness, afternoon sickness, night
27:48 sickness. I don't know why they call it
27:50 morning sickness because some some have
27:51 it the whole day. So as he was bringing
27:54 her to a wonderful meal at a hotel maybe
27:56 like this a posh hotel in in Singapore
27:58 she said I I feel nauseous I want to
27:60 throw up you know uh and so you know
28:02 what he did he pulled out his shirt and
28:04 said vomit here
28:06 right what do you call that? H that's
28:09 love.
28:10 Then you say the cynical said, "No, he
28:12 didn't want to dirty the carpet, right?
28:14 And then pay the hotel for the carpet.
28:16 That's not love."
28:19 So one of our staff, he uh
28:22 brought his kids to church, dropped at
28:24 the bus stop at Singapore Bible College
28:26 about 100 meters down from us. His two
28:29 kids were sick with the flu. Um but he
28:32 still brought them trying to be
28:34 faithful, etc. And as the kids got off
28:36 the bus stop, uh, one of them threw up.
28:39 This whole morning I'm just giving you
28:41 vomiting illustrations.
28:43 And so, and threw up on the, you know,
28:46 the bus stop, uh, the seat there. What
28:48 do you think the father did? He took off
28:51 his shirt and wipe off the vomit. What
28:54 do you call that?
28:57 Pretty unspectacular.
29:00 Pretty ordinary. That's love. So he came
29:03 to church and for the first time we had
29:05 a shirtless worshipper. You ever had a
29:07 shirtless worshipper? That's why my
29:09 church is always better than your
29:10 church. We accept people of any kind.
29:13 You just come shirtless. Oh, welcome
29:14 brother. I love your body. Oh yes.
29:19 You getting the message?
