The Power of Unfeigned Love

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome to the Archie Hardy Ministries program. I’m Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today’s message by my father, Brother Hardy, is certain to speak to every one of our hearts in both a powerful and discerning way. It’s entitled, Brotherly Love, the Key to Unity. psalm 133 declares how good and how beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity well while it is certainly beautiful it is not always easy but unity starts with brotherly love

SPEAKER 02 : 0:46

So now that we have been purified our souls, brought to a position of unfeigned love for the brother, then we are to what? Stay in that place and love one another with a pure heart fervently. What is unfeigned? Anipokritos. And that means without hypocrisy. You know, a lot of people go on, got a sham of love. they can love you while they’re putting a dagger in you unfeigned love perfect example what is the greatest example in the bible of faint love judas exactly he come up with jesus i can almost see his face i can see him coming up oh jesus i love you i remember once in my own experience when i was just a young christian and a person come over my house during the day and i mean they threatened me and every other thing oh they really just threatened me and acted like a pure devil When I come to church that night, they were at the door, and when I came in, they said, oh, Brother Hardy, and they wrapped their hands around me and hugged and kissed me, and I thought to myself, you hypocrite, devil, you. Fain love. We are to have unfeigned, without hypocrisy, true love. If we don’t have love, that gives us something to pray about. See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Amen. Eketeno. Eketeno. Eketeno. Say it. Eketeno. Not lightly, but as it were, straining. Love one another. Strain the love of your brother and sister. I’m telling you, God’s working on us. You never knew there were so many scriptures in the Bible about loving your brother, did you? We just got started. Failure to love brings division and sin. That’s really understandable, isn’t it? Galatians 5, 12, 14. But by love, serve one another. Most people want to be served. But remember when the disciples came to Jesus and said, Lord, who’s going to be the greatest? And he said, he that would be the greatest, let him be the servant. Even as I came not to be ministered to, but to minister to and give my life a ransom for many. So by love, serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, that you love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another, and here the neighbor is talking about your brother and sister in Christ. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one another. You know, that’s what the devil likes to do. He likes to give one a sword, another a hatchet, and they say, sick them. And while one’s hitting one with the hatchet, one’s retaliating with the sword, he’s out there gobbling up our lost loved ones. Now, every city has a demonic spirit that rules it or seeks to rule it. It rules the darkness. Paul said in Ephesians, the sixth chapter, you and I as the church collect, we are in a wrestling match, not with humanity, flesh and blood, not with a human foe. They’re just pawns in the hands of the evil power of Satan behind the scenes. But we’re wrestling with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and wicked spirits in the heavenlies, in the high places. And what the devil’s trying to get us to do is put brother against brother, sister against sister, so that we can adjoin our forces and overpower and disanel him. Before we can have a revival in a city, and every time when I would go, when God would tell me to go to a city to put up a tent in an auditorium, and then God would show me the ruling demon that ruled and controlled that city. And in order for me to have an outpour of the Spirit and have a revival, we had to defeat that Spirit. We had to wrestle and make Him say, Jesus. We had to wrestle him because we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We’re not wrestling just to wrestle. We’re wrestling what? To put him down for the count. In fact, I’m going to be a dirty wrestler in the spirit. I’m not going to put him down one, two, three. I’m out to put him out of the whole wrestling business. I’m out to end his career. You know, in the natural, they’ve got wrestlers that are bad guys and they’re out trying to hurt other wrestlers and end their career. Well, I’m in this spiritual wrestling match and I’m out to end the demon’s career. I want to end his career that’s got Baltimore City. I want to end his career. I want to get him down. Then I want to break his legs and break his arms and punch his teeth out, and break his hold so that he cannot keep his grips, especially this violent spirit that’s got our city murdering all these young people, murdering these drug lords. We’ve got to wrestle and bring them under. And the saints praying, because where sin doesn’t abound, God’s grace much more abound. When God’s people are in unity, in one mind and one accord, loving one another, then they can direct their unified corporate prayer against Satan and bind him and pull down his strongholds. And the devil knows that, but instead, he tries to get us separated with a hatchet, with a sword, fighting one another, and he has free reign. Nothing to impede him. You see, the devil tries to get us sidetracked from the real issue. Now, looking at the condition of America and the world, I’m afraid that a lot of Christians are sidetracked because the devil is seemingly having unimpeded reign and freedom to do what he wants. What is the devil’s motive and desire and his ambition that he puts everything into? Jesus called him a what? A thief? And he come up not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And when the body of Christ is not in unity, because you see, the only force that’s on the face of the earth that can defeat the devil is the church. The church is God’s vehicle to defeat the devil and to liberate souls from the devil’s kingdom and his clutches. It’s the only vehicle. Angels are not going to come down and do it. The only thing will do it is the church, Jesus’ body. He’s the head in heaven, but it’s his body down here that’s going to defeat the devil, and the devil is working tooth and nail to keep brethren separated. And I said it several times over the course of this teaching that God is showing me the church needs a new baptism of love. And when we get this new baptism of love and walk in this love, then you’re going to find out the gifts and the power is going to automatically operate. So therefore we are to endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Then Galatians 5, 12 through 14. And by love we are to serve one another. We are to be one another’s servants. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, that you shall love your neighbor as thyself. And if you bind and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed. one another. How many say amen? Oh, God, give me that love that I can serve my brother and my sister because I realize it is your flesh, your bone, it is your vehicle that you’re going to use to defeat Satan and win souls. James 2, 8, 9 is along the same lines. If you fulfill the royal law, you see, we only have two commandments. God condensed 613 commandments that the rabbis took out of the 10 commandments, and he condensed them down into two. Love the Lord thy God with everything, your soul, your mind, your being, and your neighbor as yourself. Now, that’s a tall order if We’ll love our neighbor as ourself. Whatever we would do for ourself, we will do for our brother and sister. What we wouldn’t do to ourself, we don’t do to our brother and sister. How many say amen? In fact, Jesus said, all things whatsoever you would desire men to do unto you, do you also unto them, for that is the whole law and the prophets. You know, somebody told me once, Brother Hardy, I only pray when I see the need. Man, I see a whole lot of need for me to pray. And I told that brother, I said, well, looking out there at the condition of the world and the condition of our city and even the condition of our own loved ones in my family, I see the need to pray. And if you don’t see the need to pray, you need prayer. Get in the line. I’ll pray for you first. So if we don’t see the need to love our brother and sister, we need to get in the line and hit the altar and get a new dip and come up out of that baptism with a new attitude and a spirit of love. Okay, we’re going into the next point. To love the brethren is to love God. You know, people say, I love God, but I don’t love so-and-so. No, no, no, no, no, you can’t do that. Don’t work. To love the body is to love Jesus, because the body is Jesus. Is that right? Let’s go to 1 John 3.10, starting at 3.10, down to 18. I’ll take the ninth verse. 1 John 3, 19. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for a seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Boy, that’s a powerful scripture, isn’t it? Can I say a few words while I’m here? He that is born of God doth commit sin. And that Greek word means make sin his lifestyle. Didn’t say you might not stumble and make a mistake once in a while, but you do not habitually sin. And the reason why is because his seed, the word, remains in you. It keeps you and preaches and leads and guides and strengthens you. And he cannot sin because he’s born of God. When you’re born of God, you cannot live a habitual life of sin. Can’t do it. If you’re living a habitual life of sin, you’re not born of God. You got born of the devil again. In this, the children of God are manifested in the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither is he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that you should love one another, and not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore he slew him, because his own works were evil, and his brothers were righteous. Marble not, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Somebody said to me, you’ll never know that you’re saved until you get to heaven. Yeah, I know I’m saved. If I love the brother and I know I have passed from death to life, how many say amen? If I’m loving my brother, I know that I am saved. And when Jesus comes, I’m going to meet him in the air. If we don’t love our brother, then we abide in death. We’re still unregenerated. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. What a strong word. I heard some saint said to me, talking about flaws in the character. I believe, you know, we have flaws in our character. God’s getting us to make us mature. That’s sanctification. And they were talking about that the good they would do, they did not. Because I hate my brother. And I thought, well, my Lord, if you hate your brother, you don’t have a flaw in your character. You’re a murderer. I mean, how can you hate your brother and say that you’re saved? The Lord said, you’re a murderer. See, spiritually, you murdered him. And you would do it naturally because you would have murdered your brother naturally if you could and get away with it. Cain hated Abel. And what did he do? He murdered him. That’s why I should never let hate get into you. On the descending scale of the opposites of the fruit of the Spirit is what? Hate. That’s when you’ve hit the bottom. You let hate get in you, you let murder come into you. It’s a descending scale. And then ascending scale up to love. The opposite of love is what? Hate. And when you get hate in your heart, you have a murderous spirit. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. Boy, listen to this. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. I mean, that’s a strong order, isn’t it? But whosoever have this world’s goods, and see his brother have need, and shut up up his vows of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him. Eighteenth verse. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth. Let us love in actions. Words don’t mean anything if it’s not backed up by action. Amen. Say amen. Okay, we’re going into the next point. Failure to love the brethren will bring condemnation and result in unanswered prayer. And we’re at 1 John 3, 19. In fact, I’m going to read verse 18 again because it’s continuing. We want to keep the continuity. 18, my little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are in the truth. How do we know we’re in the truth? Since hereby we know that we’re in the truth, that we love not in tongue and word, but in deed and truth. That’s how we know we’re in the truth. If we love in deed and truth, if we love in true actions, then we know we’re in the truth. And shall assure our hearts before him, God. But if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. If we got condemnation because we got on against our brother, then surely God knows all about it. And we’re not in the truth. Beloved, if a heart condemns us not, then we have confidence toward God. The only way that we can pray the prayer of faith is to have a heart that doesn’t condemn us. And the way that we have a heart that doesn’t condemn us is because that we’re walking in the truth and loving our brother in deed and in truth. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight. We know that we are in the truth because we love the brethren. in deed and truth. If we do not love our brother, we are under condemnation and our hearts condemn us. We cannot have true faith. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. If our heart condemn us not, we have confidence that God will answer our prayer. Let’s read that. Twenty-third verse, and this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandments. And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in Him, and hereby we know that He abides in us by the Spirit which He has given us. What is His commandment? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Love our brother in deed and in truth. Then there is no condemnation in our heart. Therefore, whatsoever we ask God, He hears us because we keep His commandments. And it’s all in the context of loving our brother. The commandment was to love God and then our brother. And as we love our brother, then we can get down and pray. There’s nothing in there wrong. to bring condemnation. We’re in the right relationship with God. God hears us. John says in another place, if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know we have the petition that we desire of Him. Okay, let’s go to 1 Peter 3, starting at the 8th verse. Peter says, “…finally be you all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing, knowing that you are there unto call, that you should receive an inheritance.” For he that would love life and see good days, let him reaffirm his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. How many say amen? As we love the brethren in unity and compassion, courteous, as we don’t render evil for evil or railing for railing. The devil likes to get us back in a shouting match. He says evil against me, and I’ll say evil back. And that just stops the flow of God’s Spirit and love. Rather, we ought to bless them that we might receive a blessing. Verse 9, neither render evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrarialize blessing, knowing that you are there unto call that you should inherit a blessing. If we’re to inherit a blessing, then we can’t rail back, speak evil back, but we’ve got to bless them. Jesus said in the Gospels, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you. That’s when you’ve got the victory. Somebody curses you and you say, Lord, bless them. Just bless them. And get down and pray then. I mean, the devil turns green, purple, and all kind of colors. He says, I missed it. I said, I can’t whip them that way. Refrain your tongue from evil and lips from speaking gall. The devil will try to get you to talk evil against your brother. Why? For he that would love life and see good days, let him reaffirm his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. And that word eschew means to run away from it. Let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against the wicked. It’s against them that do evil. The eyes of the Lord only hear those that are walking in truth, walking in love, loving their brethren. Okay, section C, we want to come to the part. Scriptural commands concerning a brother that has offended you. You know, a lot of people are angry with their brother without a cause. But now here is a case that a brother’s offended me. I got you. You know what I mean? They’ve been waiting for him to offend them. And they get on the phone and say, I got him. We’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t we, to get this one. I got him. He’s done something against me. Well, you know what happened? We’ve been tricked by the devil, haven’t we? Let’s go to Matthew the 18th chapter, and Jesus is telling us how to deal with a brother that has offended you. Matthew the 18th chapter and the 15th verse. Jesus said, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go to tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But a whole lot of them, you know what they do? Just like I said, get on the phone and spread it through the whole church. You know what happens when you do that? You are the one in sin. You’re in fault. You’re in trouble. You have disobeyed the Lord. This is the direct word of Jesus. Your brother’s offended you. He’s in the wrong. We’ve got to have the mindset of what? My brother is what? The flesh and bone of Jesus. A sickness has entered into the flesh and bone of Jesus, my brother. I’ve got to try to minister healing to him, because if I do not minister healing to him, then he might have to be amputated from me as a member of the body of Jesus and the member of me, because we are the bone and flesh of Jesus. It’s his bone and flesh, and we individually are bone and flesh, and we’re members one of another. Now, when you amputate something from your body, you feel it. If the Lord has to amputate somebody out of the body, All the healed and well people suffer that amputation. So therefore, our mindset is to go and render healing to them. Let’s get this disease out of our brother. He’s done something wrong. I’m not going to get it and blast it all over the place. If he gets back, then all the people looking at him He’s got to get the victory over the people again. That’s got nothing to do with the rest. We ought to administer healing to our brother. And Jesus said, if he’s done something to you, he’s trespassed against you, he’s in the wrong. He’s dead wrong. You know, a lot of people got suspicion. You got to get the suspicion, and they think somebody’s done something wrong to them. Right away, they’re on the phone. You know what? My brother and sister, so-and-so did this to me, and I mean, they’re really terrible. Well, you see, then the devil has got us what? Biting and devouring one another. I don’t care if my brother does wrong, I’m going to try to get him healed. Because if I cannot get him healed, God will have to amputate him, and I’m going to suffer. It’s like I’m going to suffer if I amputate my thumb. A gift in the body has been rendered diseased and wouldn’t respond, and the body is lesser for it. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. A lot of times, like I say, we destroy the brother instead of gaining him by telling everybody and not doing the Lord’s procedure. And when we do that, then we are guilty of destroying the Lord’s body, and God’s going to judge us. Remember 1 Corinthians 11th chapter, talking about the communion, and it said that in the church, a lot of times questions people say to us, well, if healing’s in the atonement, in other words, healing belongs to us, of the covenant and contract that God has made us, the covenant of atonement, if healing is part of the benefits, Why are there Christians sick? And one of the reasons why Christians are sick is because they do not discern the Lord’s body. Paul said they didn’t discern the Lord’s body. Many are weak, many are sickly, and many sleep or die ahead of time. And one of the reasons is that they didn’t discern that the brother and sister is the Lord’s body. And when we destroy our brother and sister, we are not discerning that we’re destroying the Lord’s body. And when we do that, God judges us. brings us into judgment and chastises us so that we won’t be condemned with the world. Somebody, our brother’s done wrong to us, go to him and him alone. Try to minister healing. Be a theropon and minister therapeutics, healing to them. But if they continue to do it, the 16th verse said, but if we will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more witnesses that in the mouths of two or three witnesses, every word should be established. If the thing is terrible enough that he won’t respond, then go and get one or two more witnesses. And then, if he shall neglect 17 verse to hear thee, then tell it unto the church. Then you bring it unto the church. But if he neglects to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen and as a publican. But the main idea of it is, Jesus is preaching, to try to minister healing to our brother and sister. Don’t get caught in the trap. The devil’s caused them to get caught in the trap. They’ve done wrong. Now he’s going to try to get you in the trap by not forgiving and running around or getting on the phone. and talking against your brother and sister. And two wrongs don’t make a right. So that is the Scripture way. Luke 17, 3 and 4, Jesus says, Peter, I think it was, it came to him and said, Lord, how many times shall we forgive our brother? Seven times? You know, that means complete and absolute. Jesus said, no, 70 times seven. So that’s 490 times in a day. Take five minutes between each of him offending you and asking forgiveness, and you’re forgiven. Then how many times can you get 490? You’d run out of minutes. So he really meant every time your brother offends you and comes back and asks forgiveness, you do what? You forgive him. I’ve seen people, people would go up and mumble to themselves and ask them to forgive them, and they wouldn’t forgive them. hot potatoes in their hands. That person has delivered their soul, and now this other person is in trouble, so he’s going to have to pray for them. So our main mindset and motive is affect healing. The devil’s got in. Disease has got in. It’s hindering the body of Christ. It’s stopping it from being in one mind and one accord and unity. It’s stopping it from increasing in love because how do we increase in love? Ephesians 4.16, by the measure of every joint that bringeth forth the measure of its increase causes the body to to increase itself in love, be solidified, be in one mind and one accord, and the devil’s trying to rob that unity. Take that measure away. Stop them people from being saved. So we’ve got to be alert and on guard and have the mindset that we’re going to render healing to our brother and sister. We’re going to bless them that curse us. We’re going to pray for them that despitefully use us. We’re going to take the harm. In one place in Corinthians, I believe it was in the sixth chapter, Paul was writing against all the that was in that church and all the shortcomings and all the things that were stopping them, even though they had the great revelation, every gift was in the place. They had the full knowledge of the Son of God. They weren’t getting souls saved because they were letting all these things come in and separate them. And one was that brother was going against brother to court. Unheard of thing. And that before the unbeliever. A brother and sister does not have a Bible right to go to court before the unbeliever, even if they stole something, even if they built you out of something. Paul said to keep the unity of the faith, to keep it from the eyes of the world, rather suffer the loss, that the cause of Christ will not be hurt, brought a black mark upon him, and he’d say amen. Just suffer the wrong instead of taking brother against brother and sister against sister. And if they’re going to respond, then if you’ll suffer the wrong, then God will have something to Convict them with and get a hold of them and you’re praying that they’ll see their error and their slip God may turn them around and restore the brother. We want to restore them Don’t we I want to see everybody that God saved stays saved and stay in love I don’t want to see the devil to get one of them because if he gets one that’s a victory for the devil and our motto is no victory for the devil and We must also ask forgiveness for those against whom we have trespassed. You know, that takes lowliness of mind. That kills the old pride, don’t it? I believe the hardest thing for a person to do is to go to ask somebody to forgive them. I mean, you’ve got to have a whole lot of love of God moving in your heart. A lot of husbands and wives could patch up a lot of their quarrels if the one would go and ask for forgiveness. And if it’s the man, it’s awful tough on him. His macho nature is against going to ask forgiveness. But Jesus taught us that if we go to pray, if we go to do anything, and we got on against our brother, not do it. If we pray and we got on against our brother, what’s going to happen? He’s not going to hear us, is he? Matthew 5, 23 and 24. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother has ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar. Go thy way first, be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Because if we don’t, we don’t forgive our brother. In the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew, the sixth chapter, in the Lord’s Prayer, it says, forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors. If we don’t forgive our brother and sister, I believe the Lord gave a parable along that line. He said that the king or the rich man had a servant that owed him an astronomical amount of money. Let’s just pick a figure, a million dollars. And the servant come and begged mercy and compassion and said, oh, just give me time. Have patience with me. Give me time and I’ll pay that debt. And his master was moved with compassion and did what? Freely forgave him of a million dollars, just wrote it off. and he left that scene and went out and found somebody that owed him a penny that’s what the numbers that’s what jesus is saying nothing practically nothing and the man begged him like he had begged because he owed a million and he was hard-hearted and he didn’t and he called the jailers and they took him to the debtor’s prison and threw him in jail and what happened it said that one of the servants of the rich man saw that and went back and told the rich man that forgave him a million dollars and he called him and he said thou evil servant i forgave you a million dollars i just freely forgive it and you didn’t have enough love and compassion to forgive this brother a penny and what happened threw him into the jail so that’s what jesus is saying if we don’t forgive then god can’t forgive us and another thing in the lord’s prayer you can never pray the lord’s prayer and say i No, it says, give us this day. Us, us. You know, that’s another reason why a lot of people don’t get their prayers answered. It’s I, I, instead of us, us. You see, because we are I, us. We are one. And when you pray for your brother, you’re praying for yourself. All right. Mark on the same lines, 11, 25, and 26. And I want to go to that. I want to get the setting. If you’ll just read it at 25 and 26, you won’t get the setting. But let’s go to Mark, the 11th chapter, starting at the 22nd. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24th verse, therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. They’re some of my most favorite scriptures on receiving from God. But look what context it’s in. Now read the next verse. Read it. The 25th verse. And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you for your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father, which is in heaven, forgive you of your trespasses. So what does he tell you to do? He tells you in the 24th verse to pray. Then in the 25th verse, he says, while you’re praying, remember to forgive your brother and sister, because if you don’t, you won’t be able to say the verses up ahead to this mountain, be thou removed, be thou cast in the sea, and not doubt in your heart, and you’ll have whatever you say, because you’ll have condemnation in your heart. So you’ve got to read that in the context that he said it in. If you’ve got things in your heart, then you can’t act like you received them. You can’t have absolute faith and say, as it were, to the mountains of things in your life, be removed, be thou cast in the sea, and you’ll have whatever you say. It’s in the context that you forgive your brother, for God won’t forgive you. And therefore, if you’re not forgiven for God, how can he hear you? Mark condemneth not, we have confidence with God that whatsoever we ask him, he hears us and gives us because we keep his commandments.

SPEAKER 01 : 29:08

Amen. What an eye-opening, Holy Spirit admonishing message by God’s servant, Brother Hardy. Brotherly love, the key to unity. The book of Acts is the birth certificate for the church, the body of Christ, and its outstanding birthmark was unity. Again and again we read that the believers were in one mind and one accord. An interesting fact about the book of Acts is that the word love is never used because you don’t have to preach about love when everyone is walking in love. It’s a different story when we get to the epistles of the apostles. Paul said that if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away and all things are become new. And he said this includes a new wardrobe. He described these new clothes as mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, and above all, the perfect bond of love. As the church multiplied and spread throughout the Roman Empire, there arose factions and worldly influences crept in. Christians were shielding outright sin in the church. Others were going to court to sue other believers in front of unbelievers, all of which the Holy Spirit condemned. The church faced fallen and failing brethren. And as Jesus said, it is impossible but that offenses will come. And James said that we all offend at some time. So how does the church deal with offenders and attendees? There is a Bible way to deal with these issues, and the emphasis is on restoration, not amputation. Only one church out of the seven in Revelation had an open door of evangelism given to them by Jesus. Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love. This message, Brotherly Love, the Key to Unity, can be ordered on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request offer 320. That’s offer 320. Mail to R.G. Hardy Ministries, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or order online at rghardy.org. Once again, the offer is 320 for Brotherly Love, the Key to Unity. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1744 Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Till next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.