Transcript for:
Revelation 22:17 -The Spirit And The Bride- Guest Speaker Wayne Dekorte 2025-08-17

So let's go ahead and open up your bibles today. We're gonna get started, with a verse in the book of Revelation. If you wanna turn to chapter 22 verse 17, and we'll go ahead and open up, by reading that scripture, and then we'll open up in prayer, and then we can get started. Revelation chapter 22, verse 17. And if you guys wanna stand while we read and open up the service, that's fine. You can go ahead and stand, and we'll read this, together and then we'll pray. Revelation twenty two seventeen says, the spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come. And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. Father God, we just come before you this morning in the name of your son, Jesus, and we thank you so much for giving us the word to read to learn about you and who you are. And we just open up this service trying to seek your face, God. And I just pray that you would purify us and wash us and open up our ears to hear the words from the Holy Spirit. And we pray that you'd speak to us through your word today. And I ask, Lord, that, you'd bless this body of believers and bless these people and, minister to them and encourage them and build them up, Lord, for what they have to face this week. So thank you for your word, and we love you, and we pray that you'd, speak through your word to us today. In Jesus' name. Amen. The spirit and the bride say come. There's a worship song, guy by the name of Joshua Aaron does. It's called the spirit and the bride, and he made that worship song based upon this verse and also, verse 13. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. And it's a beautiful song. He does it does like a video at the Sea Of Galilee and, you know, flies a drone over and does this cool worship song there, with a bunch of guys, and, it's just real beautiful the way that it's done. And when you think about that and you reflect on that message of the spirit and the bride say come. The the bride, who's the bride? When you think about your position in the church and who you are, you know, you can refer to believers as the bride of Christ, as the church or the body of Christ. I've heard of people being referred to as his sheep. Right? So there's all these different titles in these roles that we hold. So my reflection upon the word over the past few weeks and preparing for this has been upon the bride. Who is the bride? Who are you? What is your role? And how was the cares of this life got you distracted and got you down to forget who you are and to forget how precious you are to the Lord. So imagine your bride, imagine your love. Right? Imagine you looking at the Lord who loves you. And looking at the Lord or your your love, your wife, your husband looking at you and having them with tears in their eyes tell you, my love has grown cold. How does that hurt your heart to imagine that? And do you look at the Lord at all, and do you tell him that your love has grown cold? Or do you see your brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who are suffering or in hard times, and are they in that same position? So that phrase, that verse, let's turn over to Matthew chapter 24 verse 12. And the Lord's talking to his disciples and he's preaching to them. He's giving them a bit of a rundown on when he comes back. And there's this verse there that we've used a lot over the past few years for all the crazy stuff we've been seeing in the world around us. You look at verse 12 in Matthew 24, it says, because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. So you ask yourself this question, and it's a hard question to ask, but you've got to self evaluate. Before you come in to worship the Lord, you gotta Psalm 51 yourself, you know. When David was grieving after his sin with Bathsheba, he goes before the Lord. He says, okay, Lord. You know, you gotta create in me a clean heart. So as you're coming before the Lord, you ask yourself, Lord, because of lawlessness, has my love grown cold? Am I not compassionate or kind or loving or or is there a dullness there? Why? Did you forget who you are? You are the bride. You are the church. You are the body. You are also his sheep. You are his prized possession. Why would your love grow cold? Is it discouragement? Sorrow? Heartache? I'm sure if you, have any bit of a pulse, you can see the world around you, you can see the constant discouragement and disparities and the disappointments and everything from from local neighborly, brotherly, sisterly, family, heartaches and pains with your siblings and your children and your grandchildren, whoever is immediately with you to, you know, nationally or globally, you know, re reading about Christians in Syria and thousands of them being killed in, you know, different places in Ghana and and all of our brothers and sisters being persecuted around the world, and this heartache comes into play. And and this phrase comes up that that many people will say if you turn turn over to Revelation chapter six and you look at verse nine. It says, when the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony in which they maintained. And they cried out with a loud voice saying, how long oh Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And there was given to each of them a white robe and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been will be completed also. How long, oh lord. I hear this phrase often from many people, you gotta see the tragic things in the world, you've gotta see the horrible things. And they say, how long, oh lord, do we have to see this stuff? How long, oh lord, does the body have to suffer and see these things? How much more do we have to go through? How long, oh lord? It's not the first and only time in which these phrases are used through the bible. But don't be discouraged. I'm gonna leave you with a little bit of hope here before we jump in. Just turn a few pages over to Revelation chapter 19 and remind yourself who you are. If you look at Revelation 19 verse seven it says, let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And then he said to me, write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell at his feet to worship him but he said to me, don't do that. I'm a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So don't forget who you are. You are the bride. You have been invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. Remember, it is Christ who has died for you. Right? He went to the cross willingly and he suffered for you and poured his bloodshed out for you as the son of God, as God himself, as the only pure sacrifice for you. Right? He remembers everything about you. You need to remember who he is and what he did for you. He has purchased and bought you. You were invited to this marriage supper of the lamb. So despite the discouragement and the things that are out there in the world, remember, okay, Lord, we are the bride of Christ. Remember this this moment here that he has, the marriage supper of the lamb. Even as you cry out, oh lord, how long? How long oh lord do we see this insanity? Do we see these things going on around us? But don't be discouraged or lose heart for our God has a plan. If you look over in Psalm 79, there's another how long oh Lord, to kinda remind us that there's others that have gone through these times as well. King David went through quite a few of them and he wrote some great psalms to lead you through that. So the Psalm 51 of, you know, cleanse me Lord, you know, make me clean so I can come back at your feet and worship you and be filled with your take not your holy spirit from me. Right? As a a call to worship to to check yourself before. Well, let's look at Psalm 79. Oh God, the nations have invaded your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the dead bodies of your servants for food to the birds of the heavens, the flesh of your godly ones to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem and there was no one to bury them. And we have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing indersion to those around us. How long oh Lord, will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your wrath upon the nations which do not know you and upon the kingdoms which do not call upon your name for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Do not remember the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your compassion come quickly to meet us for we are brought very low. Help us oh God of our salvation for the glory of your name and deliver us and forgive us our sins for your name's sake. Why should the nation say, where is their God? Let there be known among the nations in our sight, vengeance for the blood of your servants which has been shed. Let the groaning of the prisoner come before you according to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are doomed to die and return to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom. They reproach with which they have reproached you oh Lord. So we your people and the sheep of your pasture will give thanks to you forever. To all the generations, we will tell of your praise. You have the oh lord, how long oh lord moments but remember he has his vengeance and he has his balance to those moments as well. If you look over in Psalm 89 just a few pages over, verse 46. How long oh Lord will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire? Remember what my span of life is for what vanity you have created all the sons of men? What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Salah. So in the beginning of this, the psalmist goes through and talks about God and talks about his loving kindness and talks about how great he is as a reminder of who God is. And then remembering, yeah, the hard times we're in right now, you may cry out, how long oh Lord do we have to go through this? And how many of our brothers and sisters have gone through this throughout history and throughout moments in time? But remember, you're the bride. Remember, you've been called, you've been invited. What are those robes that he gives you? Right? They're pure, they're white, they've been made clean. What does it take to make them clean? How do you get to where you're at? I've another note here on Psalm chapter six since we're in the book. Oh lord, do not rebuke me in your anger nor chasing me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, oh lord, for I am pining away. Heal me, oh lord, for my bones are dismayed and my soul is greatly greatly dismayed. But you, oh Lord, how long? Return, oh Lord, and rescue my soul. Save me because your loving kindness. For there is no mention of you in death and Sheol, who will give you thanks? I'm weary with my sighing. Every night I make my bed swim. I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief. It has become old because of all my adversaries. Depart from me all you who do iniquity for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. The Lord receives my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed. They shall turn back. They will suddenly be ashamed. Do you remember when the Lord says that he will wipe every tear from their eyes? There'll be a time and a place where there'll be no more tears, no more weeping, and no more mourning. Keep that in your mind as you're in the midst of these, how long oh lords? So because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. So despite what's going on around you, should your love grow cold, yes, you will have the discouragement, you will have those moments where you say, how long, oh lord, before you come. But remember your lord and remember who he is. Remember in which where you came from. Remember your first love. What is what is the admonishment that the lord gives his church in Revelation chapter two? What is the correction or the encouragement? Because you can get both from this. Look over in Revelation chapter two verse two. I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance and that you cannot tolerate evil men. Can we agree that you guys can't tolerate evil men? Can you agree that God has blessed you with somebody who's willing to speak out boldly against evil men that can't tolerate evil men? That's a good thing. Right? To be bold and to be courageous and to have that courage. You'll you'll hear later, the cowardly will not inherit the kingdom of God. It's a bold statement. So here he gives you encouragement in verse two. He says, you cannot tolerate evil men and you put to the test to those who call themselves apostles and they are not. And you found them to be false. And you have perseverance and you have endured for my name's sake and have not grown weary, but I have this against you that you have left your first love. Therefore, from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. What is your first love? I want you to think back, think to those critical moments in your life where you had that burning within your soul. You were miserable in your sin. You didn't know God or you didn't know Christ and you didn't know Jesus and you had this moment, whatever the defining moment was where you had that encounter with Christ, you had that moment with Jesus where you you you realized he loves you. He died for you. He forgave your sins. He paid the price for you and you're not worthy. Think back to whatever that moment was where you you said, I need a savior. I need Jesus. I need that forgiveness of my sins. You realized how much he loved you. Go back to that first love moment. That passionate moment, that burning moment within your soul. What did you do at first? Man, you were hungry. Oh, I need to know about this Jesus. I need to know about what he did. I need to know about his father God. I need to know about the power of the holy spirit that he's given us as a gift. I need to know all these things. You are hungry you dug into that word. You wanted it, you couldn't get enough of it. The moments of worship where you were just pour your heart out to him in thanksgiving, where you just couldn't get enough, just wanted to be in his presence, you wanted to sit at his feet and seek the face of God and worship him. Just worship his glory, worship his greatness because God is so great and so powerful. The one true almighty God and his only son Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit that we worship and we are thankful for. And God glorifies his son, Jesus, and Jesus glorifies his father God. And they glorify the power of the Holy Spirit. And these are all things you have access to. What is that moment, that first love moment that you have? Think back to that. Have you maybe deviated from that a little bit? Have the cares of this life kinda got you down a little bit? Those weeds that kinda sneak in and start creeping and pulling you down. Gotta pull those weeds and get rid of them. Or get that blowtorch thing out and just torch all those weeds and get rid of them. Remember back to your first love moments. Are you isolating yourself and having those moments of worship with the Lord where you could just cry out to the Lord and sing to him? Are you having those times in the word where you just separate yourself and you give him priority in your life? Do you just spend time in prayer listening to him? In the bible, think about, there's those phrases where Enoch walked with God. Adam walked in the garden with God. You ever just walk with him? Literally go for a walk in prayer and talking and listening with the Lord? Just walk. You could do it for hours, probably days even if you if you really wanted to. Spend that time with him. Why not? Return to those first love moments and remember who you are. You are the bride. The moment where you want to say, oh, my love has grown cold. The moment where you want to say, oh, I'm crushed and discouraged. Stop yourself and think back to your first love moments. Get back in the word. Get back with the Lord. Number one priority in your life is him. And if you're married, then it's your spouse. That's your like number two priority there is, no, you're you're Lord first. Because without him and your leading guiding in your life, I am not a good leader. I do not do good as a leader without the Lord leading me. Terrible at it. But when I prioritize him in my life and I let him direct my steps, guess what? My spouse will see that and she's like, oh, I see that he is trusting the Lord and allowing the Lord to lead and direct us. And now she can follow the direction because I'm following the Lord. So you prioritize that time with the Lord first, and then, you know, make sure you're doing so for your spouse and giving them the same time. But then after that come the kids, not before. It's a great lesson I've learned over the past few months. Get it all in priority. Get it all in line. Remember who you are. So let's go into a few few more things here. Okay? You are the bride, right? Let's go over to Matthew chapter 22. Let's go over to verse one. Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Verse three. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast and they were unwilling to come. And he sent out other slaves saying, tell those who have been invited, behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen, my fatted livestock are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went their way. One to his own farm, another to his business and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. And then he said to his slaves, the wedding is ready but those who were invited are not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways and as many as you can find there, invite to the wedding feast. Those slaves, they went out into the streets and they gathered together all that they found both evil and good And the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes. And he said to him, friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes? And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called but few are chosen. You are the bride, you are supposed to be there at the wedding feast. Right? Is that not who you were called? That's why they're having the wedding feast is for the bride. Many people are called, but few are chosen. What is God's few? Gosh, that's terrifying, isn't it? Brother of mine mentions this often when he talks about the few. And I every time he says that, I think about this, and I'm like, Caleb and Joshua, out of however many million, man, that's a few. Isn't it? Noah, his wife, and their three sons and their wives, out of how many million on the earth, man, that's a few. It really puts in perspective the importance of this love that you have for the Lord. So you are the bride. Right? You're supposed to be at the bridal feast. That's where you're invited. Sometimes in life, in order to remember who you are and what you are and things like that, sometimes you need a reminder of what you're not. Ever think about that? What are you not? So there's times throughout my life where I could say, I am not a soldier in the army. I am not a sailor in the Navy. These are things I am not. I am not an airman, and I am not in the coast guard. I am distinctly different. I'm a United States Marine. I'm not gonna try to be any of those things because those are things I am not. Know that. Know your role. Know your place. What are you not? There's a harsh reminder. I don't know if we'll go through the whole thing or not, if you can stomach it, but let's go look over to Ezekiel chapter 16. Many times in the bible, there's references to the wife of Jehovah or the wife of God, Israel, Jerusalem, and his wife is described with certain behaviors. Do you remember the book of, Hosea? Do you remember the description of these behaviors? These are not behaviors that you as the bride are described as. If you look over at Ezekiel chapter 16, then the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations and say, thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, your origin and your birth are from the land of Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. As for your birth, on the day you were born, your navel cord was not cut nor were you washed with water for cleaning. You were not rubbed with salt nor even wrapped in clothes. No, I looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you, rather you were thrown out into the open field for you were aboard on the day you were born. And when I passed by you, I saw you squirming in your blood. I said to you while you were in your blood, live. Yes, as I say to you while you were in your blood, live. I made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for the fine ornaments. Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare. And then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love. So I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you that you became mine, declares the Lord God. Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with the embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus, you were adorned with gold and silver and your dress was a fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil. So you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations and on account of your beauty for it was perfect because of my splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the Lord God. But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passerby who might be willing. You took some of your clothes and made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them which should never come about nor happen. You also took your beautiful jewels made of my gold and my silver which I had given you and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them and offered my oil and my incense before them. Also my bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, honey, which I fed you. You would offer them before a soothing aroma. So it happened, declared the Lord God. Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? You slaughtered my children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. Besides all your abominations and harlotries, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood. Then it came about after all your wickedness, woe, woe to you declares the Lord God that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square. You built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty abominable and you spread your legs to every passerby to multiply your harlotry. You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to make me angry. Behold now, I have stretched out my hand against you. I diminished your rations and I delivered you up to the desire of those who hate you. The daughters of the Philistines who are ashamed of your lewd conduct. Moreover, you played the harlot with the Assyrians because you were not satisfied. You played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of the merchants, Chaldea. Yet even with this, you were not satisfied. How languishing is your heart, declares the Lord God. While you do all these things, the actions of a bold faced harlot, when you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place at every square, in disdaining money, you were not like a harlot. You adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her husband. Men give gifts to harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from every direction of your harlotries. Thus, you are different from those women in your harlotries and that you no one plays the harlot as you do because you give money and no money is given you. Thus, you are different. Therefore, oh harlot, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries, which your lovers and with all your detestable idols and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to idols. Therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure even all those whom you loved and all those whom you hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and expose your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness. Thus, I will judge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged and I will bring on you the blood and the wrath of jealousy. I will also give you into the hands of your lovers and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, strip you of your clothing, take away your jewels, and will leave you naked and bare. And they will incite a crowd against you and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. They will burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. Then I will stop you from playing the harlot. You will also no longer pay your lovers. So I will calm my fury against you and my jealousy will depart from you and I will be pacified and angry no more because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged me by all the things. Behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head, declares the Lord God. So that you will not commit this lewdness on top of your other abominations. Behold, everyone who quotes Proverbs will quote this proverb concerning you saying, like mother, like daughter. You are the daughter of your mother who loathed her husband and children. You are also the sister of your sisters who loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite, your father an Amorite. Now your oldest sister is Samaria who lives North of you with her daughter and your younger sister who lives South of you is Sodom with her daughters. Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations. But as if that were too little, you acted more corruptly in all your conduct than nay. As I live, declares the Lord God, Sodom your sister and her daughters have not done you as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was guilt. Your sister Sodom, she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and the needy. Thus, they were haughty and committed abominations before me. Therefore, I removed them when I saw it. Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins for you have multiplied your abominations more than they. Thus, you have made your sisters appear righteous, all your abominations which you have committed. Also, bear your disgrace that in you have made judgment favorable for your sisters because of your sins in which you acted more abundantly than they, they are more in the right than you. Yes, be also ashamed and bear your disgrace and that you made your sisters appear righteous. Nevertheless, I will restore their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the captivity of Samarah and her daughters and along with them in your own captivity. In order that you may bear your humiliation and feel ashamed for all that you have done when you became a consolation to them. Your sister Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters will return to their former state and you with your daughters will also return to your former state. As the name of your sister Sodom was not heard from your lips in your day of pride before your wickedness was uncovered, so now you had become the reproach of the daughters of Edom and of all who are around her, of the daughters of the Philistines who surrounding you who despise you. You have borne the penalty of your lewdness and abominations. The Lord declares, for thus says the Lord God, I will also do with you as you have done. You who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger, and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. Thus, I will establish my covenant with you and you shall know that I am the Lord, So that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation. When I have forgiven you for all that you have done, the Lord God declares. The new covenant comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. The new covenant, the new forgiveness. Israel, Jerusalem, they did a lot of nasty horrible things. Right? So that persona, that person in whom in which they were, that is not the same as the bride of Christ. The bride of Christ is not tasked with all of that. Now you hear about, talk of, like, in the end times, there will be an apostasy of falling away where people who claim to be Christians, who claim Jesus Christ, they're not walking with the Lord. They're not in fellowship with him. They have an image. They have a shape. They have a form, a religious ceremony they go through. But do you remember when they go before the Lord and they say, Lord, Lord, we we cast out demons in your name. We did we fed the poor, did miracles, did all these things in your name. And what does he say to them? Away from me, I never knew you. Does that not terrify you? But rest assurance, you're the bride. You can have that fellowship with the Lord in any moment. Do you value it? Do you cherish it? Do you realize I am his beloved? Does anybody remember that song? There it is. His banner over me is love. I am my beloved's and he is mine, and his banner over me is love. When's the last time you read through Song of Solomon and you listened to the description that the Lord has for his bride? We're gonna hit a couple of them real quick to remind you of this. Turn over to chapter one in Song of Solomon. Remember who you are. How does he talk of you? How does he cherish you? How does he value you in who you are? Why do we forget this so quickly? I am my beloved and he is mine. I'm gonna hit the highlights here. Chapter one verse eight through 11. If you yourself do not know most beautiful among women, go forth on the trail of the flock and pasture your young goats by the tents of the shepherds. To me, my darling, you are like my mare among the chariots of pharaoh. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of beads. We will make for you ornaments of gold with beads of silver. Contrast what you just read in Ezekiel. He's talking of you about you as his beloved, his cherished. That's pretty unique language. Turn over to chapter two. I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys. Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens. Now, my darling? That's a pretty valuable honored title. Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. In his shade, I took great delight and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He has brought me to his banquet hall, and his banner over me is love. Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples because I am lovesick. Let his left hand be under my head and his right hand embrace me. I adore you, o daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hines of the field that you do not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases. Listen, my beloved. Behold, he is coming, climbing on the mountains, leaping on the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall. He's looking through the windows. He's peering through the lattice. My beloved responds and said to me, arise my darling, my beautiful one and come along. For behold, the winter has passed, the rain is over and gone, the flowers have already appeared in the land. The time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtle dove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its fig, and the vine that in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. Skip down to verse 16. My beloved is mine, and I am his. His pasture is his flock among the lilies. This is unique language that is used to describe this relationship of how valued and cherished you are and how valued and cherished we should look at our bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. What does Revelation say? What does the end times prophecy say? He will come for his bride. He is our bridegroom. Do we cherish him and value him in this way? Skip down to the end here in Song of Solomon chapter eight verse six. Put me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death. Jealousy is as severe as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love nor will rivers overflow it. If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, it would be utterly despised. Is this the love that you have for your Lord when you are discouraged and when you're saying, man, my love has grown cold. What is going on? Or do you remember what this love is, this description? Flip over to Matthew chapter 25, look at verse one. Matthew twenty five one, then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were prudent. But when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight, there was a shout, behold the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered, no. There will not be enough for us and for you too. Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came to those who were ready. Ready went in with him to the wedding feast and the door was shut. Later, the other virgins also came saying, Lord, Lord, open up for us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. Be on the alert then for you do not know the day nor the hour. The bridegroom's coming for his bride. Remember these thoughts. Remember these things. Remember these images. How precious are you as you are described in Song of Solomon? As the Lord talks about you, he cherishes you. Do you cherish him in the same way? Or do you get so crushed and discouraged by the evil that you see around you that you let it overwhelm you? That you let the world and you let the flesh and you let these things discourage you. And if you are encouraged, how much more do you encourage others? Remember in John chapter 14, Jesus says, do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would not have told you for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. Remember this, this is what your Lord has said. This Christ compelled love. Why do we have so much love for him? Why does he cherish us as the bride? Well, it's the sacrificial love that he gives us. Second Corinthians five fourteen. Second Corinthians five fourteen, for the love of Christ controls us or compels us, having concluded this that one died for all, therefore all died. I've heard many people describe this as when you can genuinely connect with somebody and let them understand it is love that Jesus has to offer. It's my love for you and when they see, wow, this person really cares about me and they get that glimpse of that love, that love is what compels them to want what you have. That that thing that you have right now, what is that thing that that person has? It's beautiful. It's that love and that compassion that we get from Christ. That sacrificial love. John fifteen thirteen, greater love hath no one than this than one laid down one's life for his friends. Christ laid his life down for us. That sacrificial love we have for each other is a testimony of what Jesus has done for us. Romans five eight, God showed his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. First John three sixteen, by this we know love that he laid his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers, for the body of Christ? Do we do that as believers in the midst of discouragement or in the midst of, oh, how long, oh Lord, are you serving the body? One of the most joyous occasions that I've had this past year is just a slight opportunity to serve, to love the body or to serve them or to be the body to the body. You ever been to like a function where a bunch of people are getting together to worship the Lord and love the Lord and then, man, you got the chance to clean all the bathrooms? You you get to be the person out there cooking on the grill for the people and serving them the food and make sure nobody goes away hungry. Do you get enough to eat? Are you sure? I got more. Oh, man. You know, everyone's going to come sit over here, whatever else. Let's make sure we got enough chairs for everybody. You're doing this because you love them. You want them to have a place to be. You want them to be filled. You want them to enjoy the experience. You have a this is just a small example of serving the body, but to serve them, to love them. Love the body. Be the body. And ultimately, this is an example of Ephesians chapter five. This sacrificial love is an example of Christ the way that he laid his life down for the church. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. Go to verse 25. Ephesians five twenty five. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. I heard somebody say this thing not too long ago. Let's see if I can remember it right. The throne, don't be on, like, the throne, like, serve me. Be on your knees. Can I serve you to your bride, to your wife? Are you willing to have that sacrificial love that Christ has for the bride of Christ and serve your wife? Are you willing to do the things you need to do to set her up for success? A good buddy of mine has guys that will come to him and ask him like, oh, bro, I wanna come do this ministry thing with you, this whatever else. Right? Go do all these things, missionary work, whatever. And the first question he asks him is, how is your marriage? And it cuts him right to the heart. Because if you're not a good husband serving your wife and you're not serving your bride, how could you possibly go serve the body or do anything in any good way? You know, the bible gives us great descriptions of, elders and, like, leaders and people in the church that are good examples. And it says, you know, be a good husband to your wife, keep your house in order, things like that. Well, it's like a testing period. It's like, hey, here's the test. Can you do this well? If you could do this thing well, man, you're gonna do a great job serving the body. So am I gonna sacrifice my needs for hers? Am I gonna lay my life down for hers? This is what Christ did for us. So you read through the rest of Ephesians 26, so that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. That's that's another one. Are you making your bride radiant? Are you making her beautiful? Are you returning her back to the Lord in a way that is greater than when you got her? Man, that's so convicting. That he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ also does the church. Because we are members of his body. For this reason, man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This goes back to Genesis, Adam and Eve. One flesh unification. That's how Christ describes us as his body. When the two become one, the husband and wife, they are one flesh. You are the body of Christ. You are a part of Christ's body. When Paul was Saul and he was slaughtering the Christians, thinking he was righteous as a Jew, And Christ approaches him and says, Saul, why do you persecute me, my body? Because the body of Christ, the bride of Christ is a part of Christ as his flesh. As Adam and Eve are. As we are, we are a part of him. Verse 32, this mystery is great but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. I think that a self sacrificial love that you would have for your bride as you're laying your life down for her will earn that respect. So why? Why does the love grow cold? Well, Matthew twenty four eleven through 13, it is because of the signs of times, because of that lawlessness. Right? Because of that lawlessness, that love of that body grows cold. Isn't that supposed to happen, you guys? Yeah. Right? There's other places where it says that's supposed to happen. Second Thessalonians two one through 12 is all about the man of lawlessness. That's his whole agenda. Don't you just feel a righteous indignation when you see this is right, this is what the right reaction is and someone does the opposite of that, they do the wrong thing, it's that lawlessness, it's that chaos. That's okay. It's normal that's supposed to happen. Don't let that discourage your love for each other or your love for the bride, the one flesh from Genesis. First Corinthians 12 speaks about the body and the gifts of the body. Right? Each one of you are so unique as the body of Christ. Some of you have gifts to maybe sing and play musical instruments. I don't have those gifts. Right? But we complement each other because you don't wanna come in here and try to sit before the Lord and read the word and draw close to him If you haven't humbled yourself and offered on the altar your praise and your worship to him, give to the Lord first and then allow him to give to you. But you can't do that unless you've washed your feet in a Psalm 91 matter and gotten the dirt off of your feet for the week. Remember when Jesus sat before his disciples and humbled himself, started washing their feet? Peter's like, well, Lord, what are you doing to me? Why are you washing my feet? Jesus says, I have to do this to have fellowship with you. Your feet are dirty. You've been walking out in the streets. Oh, Lord, wash my whole body then. No, Peter, you don't get it. You're solid, bro. You're like a rock. You could be a crayon eater if they had crayons at that time. Right? Your body doesn't need to be washed because you're with me. You're you're a believer in Christ. You have that salvation but when you go out into the world, your feet get dirty. Ask the Lord to wash your feet so you can have that fellowship with him. Right? That preparation of worship is key to your heart being prepared to spend that time with the Lord. It's such a unique function of the body. The fellowship, the hugs. Hey, bro. How was your week? How are you doing? Oh my gosh. That sucks. Oh my gosh. That's horrible. Let's pray. That is such a unique function of the body for you to actually care about someone and pray with them. That's that love that Rick is talking about like, man, they're so sweet. Man, this body is so kind. They love each other. The Holy Spirit is there with them. Man, that's such a unique part of the body. First Corinthians 12 talks about all of that uniqueness. And remember, in Colossians one eighteen, it reminds us that Christ is the head of the body. So as we all function together, as we all find those joyful ways to serve each other as the bride of Christ, Remembering who we are as the body in that uniqueness or remembering that Christ is your head. Let's let's wrap up here with an image in Revelation 21 that Christ gives another description of the bride, which is kinda unique. But it gives you that perspective of how big this thing is. It's kind of a big deal or kind of a big deal. I'm not sure how you say that. Kind of a big deal. Okay. Revelation chapter 21. And then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. New Jerusalem. What a beautiful picture. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among them and they shall be his people and God himself will be among them and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death and there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away and he who sits on the throne says, behold, I am making all things new. And he said, write for these words are faithful and true. And then he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me saying, come here and I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God, her brilliance was like a very costly stone as a stone of crystal clear jasper. It had a great and high wall with 12 gates and the gates and the 12 angels and names were written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the East and three gates on the North and three gates on the South and three gates on the West. And the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones. And on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamb. The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its wall. The city is laid out in a square and its length is as great as its width. And he measured the city with a rod 1,500 miles. Its length, width, and height are equal. And he measured its wall 72 yards according to human measurement which is also angelic measurements. The material of the wall was jasper and the city was pure gold like clear glass and the foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first radiant stone was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalvancy, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardics, the sixth sardis, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth cherophaz, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amesith, and the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each one of the gates was a single pearl. In the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. I saw no temple in it for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or the moon or to shine on it for the glory of God has illuminated it and its lamp is the lamb. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime, for there will be no nighttime there. Its gates will never be closed and there will bring glory and honor of the nations into it and nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it but only those whose names are written in the lamb's book of life. If we had like another few hours and you guys could tolerate it, we'd go through the pearl of great price. We would go through how Christ would tell the parables of purchasing that field that had that pearl of great price. And then from there, you go into the book of Ruth. Naomi, the image of the Israelite nation. Ruth, the image of the Moabitist, the bride of Christ, the purchase price of Boaz where he redeems her. Just so many different layers there of how precious the bride of Christ is to the Lord. Don't be discouraged because your time is short. Use your imagination for a moment, and I'm just like throwing this out there. Right? You could say, okay, if I had a year, but then the bible says, oh, if I got a year to do some work, well, don't plan on that because nobody's guaranteed tomorrow. But let's play a little game here. Let's say you had till October 1 before you had a brain aneurysm and you died. Horrible thing. Right? What would you do for the Lord in like, what is that, two months? The rest of August and September. What would you do for the Lord? What would you do for the body of Christ? Let's get some perspective here. How would you serve and love your family? Share the gospel. Live the gospel. Be the gospel. Be the light. Be the Christ example of laying your life down for everybody. Be it. Genesis to revelation gospel. All of it at once. Give yourself that perspective of time is short and give it everything you have. Last year in the spring, my dad was given stage four prostate cancer, heart failure, metastasized in his pelvis, all these horrible things. And it was deer in the headlights, I'm going be dead in a month. Horrible emotional cycle through some prayer and the power of a holy God. There's no more cancer in his pelvis, in his prostate. They couldn't find it on the scans. That time in which he had between those two, perspective changed. Well, if I only got a year or two to live, and this is all I got, what would I do with my time? The things you would never do like, man, I think I'm gonna take my bride to Hawaii. It's been like twenty years. Oh, hey. I've never been to see my sister in Greece before, and my two daughters are going, I'm gonna go with them. The things that you could do for the Lord if you only knew you had a little bit of time, what would you do? Don't let your love grow cold. Don't be discouraged by the world. Remember who you are and own it and move forward in confidence with the Lord. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for just all that we've read today. All the things that you allowed to have happen with Israel, with Jerusalem, with your bride. The stories, the images that you've given us of Ruth and Boaz and Esther and all these things with it that you've given us in the bible, God. Thank you. Thank you for giving us a hope in your son Jesus Christ. Thank you for giving us this example of the bride and reminding us of it. Holy Spirit, I just ask that you would just be here amongst us, fill our hearts to overflowing. I pray that today you would give a great vision to these people, this body, how they could be used to the maximum capacity in this time For the next two months, if they could move forward at a speed of service to the maximum of their ability, Lord, use them mightily. Fill us with your holy spirit. In Jesus' name, we pray.