Could you please turn with me to Romans chapter 14 and verse we begin today to read from verse 13. We're going to read into the end of the chapter and also the first seven verses of chapter 15. Romans 14 and verse 13. The apostle Paul, Shaul, is writing to the believers at Rome and he's really dealing with the very practical portion of the book of Romans Romans that has to do with our walk, with our service, with our life and communication as we live here in this world. And he's saying to them, including himself, he says in verse 13, he says, "Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's ways.

I know and I am persuaded by the Lord Yeshua, that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy food, now walk thou not in love? Destroy not him with your food for whom Messiah Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, shalom, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he that in these things serves the Messiah is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and the things wherein one may edify another.

For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with an offense. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Has thou faith? Has it for yourself, before God. Happy is he that condemned not himself in the things which he allows. And he that doubts is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Chapter 15, and verse 1. We then that are strong, art to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves, let every one of us please his neighbor, for his good to edification.

For even the Messiah please not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another, according to the Messiah Yeshua, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, receive ye one another as the Messiah also received us to the glory of God. That's the portion I'm reading today, and that's the portion that we have to talk about this afternoon.

And it's very practical. You notice as we are reading these verses in Romans chapter 14 and 15, you notice how down to earth these verses are. They are really speaking about things that you and I might say, well, it's not spiritual things. It's not something about there in high places in heaven, but it's really things that are mundane. You know, we're talking about things that has to do with food, with drinking wine, with, as he says here, argumentative and conviction of individuals. And why is it so important, Paul? Why do you mention it here in these epistles such an important epistle, the epistle to the Romans? And the apostle Paul is really giving to us those steps or those instructions because you know why?

Because he knows very well where is the problem that you and I, that the people of God are facing. The problems, the small details that cause us often to argue with each other, to discourage each other, to separate from each other. And we end up scattering all over and not enjoying the things of the Lord is because of these little things. Seems to be so little, yet are very important to individuals. And here in these verses, in addition to the fact that he said in chapter 14, in the beginning, the first 12 verses, that we are to welcome one another and to welcome every believer. Here he's telling us the necessity of edifying one another.

Brothers and sisters, the truth of the matter, that even though we sometimes not realize that, the reason that the Lord Jesus the Messiah had left us here behind and didn't take us already to be with him in glory in heaven, is because he wants to use us here, not only to preach the gospel to the lost, to the unsaved, but also to be a blessing and edifying to our brothers and sisters in the Messiah. That's not easy. Remember what one has said, or to dwell with saints above, that is his glory. But how to dwell with saints below, this is another story. You see, we know that one day we are going to be in heaven with all believers.

And it's all going to be fine and dandy and there will be no sin and no friction and no conviction upon one another. And we're going to have great time because sin will be eliminated. The flesh will no longer be there. The flesh will no longer be there. But here and now is where we are facing challenges. And so in Romans chapter 14, you remember the first 12 verses? He tells us, he's speaking about the weak in the faith to receive. You remember how we began Romans 14 verse 1? Him that is weak in the faith, receive. You see, in the body of Messiah, there are those believers that are strong, mature.

They walk with the Lord over the years. They have experienced all kinds of things in their life and they have learned many lessons. But you also have the weaker one who maybe haven't grown up or maybe have not been liberated from do and don't and where we have to go and what we have to eat and how we have to do things. And they are still having these convictions. And so he says, listen, you receive them to realize the importance of the need to welcome them. But now he's telling us in the next verses, not only that you just say, oh, you know, they are weak and I am strong.

Now he's saying for verse 13 on, not only receive them, but edify them, edify them. You know, it is a shame when we spend our walk with the Lord for years and we are not being edifying to our brothers and our sisters. It only shows us that we haven't grown. We haven't sensed the edification that we have received from the Lord, that we have benefited from others. And in return, we need to edify our brothers and our sisters in the family of God, whether they are immediately here with us locally or whether they are far away. Maybe they are not with us, but they are part of the assembly, part of the church of Yeshua, the Messiah.

And we are to edify believers in the body of Messiah. So look at this in these verses, verse 13 to 23. He is showing to them that believers need to edify one another, but he breaks it down for us into four sections. Verses 13 to 23. Number one, he tells us that everything we do, we affect the others in whatever we do. Verse 13, 14 and 15 of chapter 14 of the book of Roman. He shows us that believers really affect one another in whatever we do. Look, verse 13, he says, do not put a stumbling block in your brother's way. You see, he says here in verse 13, let us not therefore judge one another anymore.

Apparently, they were judging one another already. So he said, don't do it anymore. Then he continues, he says, but judge, do you want to judge something? Do you want to really judge something? You make sure that you are not putting a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in your brother's way. Do you want to really judge the right thing to do? Well, instead of finding the beam in the eyes of your brother or sister, I should say the vice versa. Instead of finding the little stick in the eyes of your brother and sister, you make sure that you uncover the beam that cover your own eyes.

In other words, don't put a stumbling block in the walk of your brother or sister. Don't cause them to fall because you want to help them to grow. You want to help them to mature. You want to help them to be nourished so they can be used by the Lord. And so he's saying to them, listen, you want to judge something? You, instead of judging your brothers and your sisters, you make sure that you have self-judgment that you will not cause your brothers and sisters to stumble. That is important, brothers and sisters. This is spiritual maturity. A believer that does not allow or does not becoming a stumbling block to his brothers and sisters is a sign of spiritual maturity.

He says in the next verse, verse 14, that to one, everything might be clean, but to another, some things might not be clean. And therefore, you see, he says in verse 14, I know, and this is the Apostle Paul saying, Shaul said, I know and I am persuaded by the Lord Yeshua that there is nothing unclean of itself. You know, Paul, though was and is Jewish, he himself needed to learn many lessons. As far as you understood, in the Messiah, because of what the Messiah had done for him, nothing is unclean because we are standing before the Lord, not on the basis of what we eat and drink and keep, but because of the fact that the Messiah had cleansed us and washed us.

As far as God's concerned, Paul is saying in verse 14, I know, I'm persuaded by the Lord Yeshua the Messiah that there is nothing that is unclean of itself. But, he says, to him that esteems anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. If you have risen to have liberty, not to have, let's say, things that will hinder you or the things that will cause you to say do and don't. If you have been having this liberty, don't think that everybody else have this liberty. Some people think that if they will eat certain things, it is unclean. I told you this story already once before, that when we used to hand out tracts as Jewish believers in New York or elsewhere.

When the time came for lunch, some Jewish believers had no liberty to eat in an un-kosher restaurant. Others had full liberty. So, what do we do? We give them the time and we commit them to the Lord and let them, as the Lord will teach them, give them liberty. Maybe they will feel all their life that they don't want to eat things that are un-kosher. And that's fine. It is before them and their Lord. And so he's saying to the believers at Rome, he says, listen, as far as I'm concerned, I'm persuaded, Paul said. I'm persuaded by our Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah, that nothing is unclean of itself.

But, he says, to a person that esteems something unclean, to him it is unclean. And so he's saying in this verse 15, he says, do not walk without love and concern for your brethren. He says in verse 15, he says, if your brother is grieved because of your food. And by the way, the Greek word for food is brosis here. And it simply means, in the King James, he says the word meat here, but it simply means food. So he says, if your brother is grieved because of what you eat, he says, do you walk without love? Don't destroy your brother with your food for whom the Messiah have died.

You know, that is amazing, the sensitivity that one has to have. Oftentimes, when I go to visit some believers in their home, they do ask me, Brother Gideon, are you offended if I will serve certain kind of food like pork, for example? And they ask very graciously. They don't want to offend me because of my background. Now, if I'm going to go to my family or to my, let's say, my aunt or my grandfather who is not alive anymore, and I will bring anything that is pork to eat, that will be a devastation. That will be an abomination. Why? Because under the law, God had told our people that we were not to eat pigs.

And for the Jewish people, it is something that is real. It is embedded in our hearts, in our life, in our lifestyle. It will always have lived like that. So, when a Jewish person becomes a believer in Yeshua, the Messiah, especially if he is coming from a conservative family, he will have reservation on that. So, what the Apostle Paul is saying today, don't you walk without love. Don't you walk without concern for your brother. Notice he says the expression here, for whom the Messiah died. See, the Messiah died for him as much as he died for us. The Messiah died for your brother as much as he died for the Apostle Paul, for Shaul.

He died for us. We are both part of the family of God. And therefore, we need to be sensitive to each other. This is, brothers and sisters, this is really practical Christianity. Practical Messiah following. That's what we really need. And you know, by the way, that in many groups of believers, it's not a matter of doctrine that cause division. It's not a matter of doctrine. Some have doctrinal reasons to divide, but these are divisions that occur because of lack of sensitivity to our brothers and sisters. So, believers affect one another, but you see, we must have a priority in the way that we do things.

We need to put things in order. And so, in the next verses, in verse 16, 17 and 18, the Apostle is showing them the necessity of having things done in order. There must be priority. So, in verse 16, he says, let not your good be spoken as an evil. Because even if you have liberty, don't let others look at you and say, you know what, this brother or this sister, maybe they have liberty and they do things fine, but they are looking at this as being evil because we are not sensitive to the need of others. And that's why in the next verses, he says, let not then your good be evil spoken.

Why? Because the kingdom of God is not food or meat and drink. It's not the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but the kingdom of God is righteousness. It is peace, it is shalom, tzedek, shalom. It is joy in the Holy Spirit. That is the kingdom of God. If you ever think for a moment, what does the word the kingdom of God means? There is a kingdom that belongs to God. That's the kingdom of God. The word kingdom of God is mentioned at least four or five times in the book of Matthew. But the word kingdom of heaven mentioned over 30 times in the book of Matthew.

But it is specifically speaking about the same kingdom where God has authority over his people. So you and I enter into the kingdom of God through faith in the Messiah. But the kingdom of God is not what we eat and what we drink. But the kingdom of God is a life that is righteous, is a life that is seeking peace, shalom. It is a life that gives joy. That's the kingdom of God. All what we eat or not eat, all what we keep and not keep does not affect. In other words, it is not that which is honoring to the Lord. What's honoring to the Lord is to seek to do the right thing.

To seek for peace among the people of God. To seek for joy among the people of God. That's the kingdom of God. You remember last night in our Bible class, we even, I think, sang that song. Take ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. The kingdom of God is where God has the rule over the subjects. And you and I, part of the kingdom of God. And by the way, the kingdom of God also have a reference to the messianic age. Where the Messiah will reign in the future day. When Israel will be restored and the kingdom of God will be upon the face of this earth.

But right now we are living in the present dispensation where the kingdom of God taking a mystery form. There is a king, but he is absent. He is not here. He will be here in the future day. But the king is not here. And the subjects of the king are only those that trusted the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. You remember what Yeshua said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3? Except a man be born again, he will not enter into the kingdom of God. So the entrance into this kingdom is through faith in the Messiah. But in the kingdom itself, it is not a matter of food and what we eat and what we drink.

But it is the importance of understanding it is righteousness. It is peace. It is joy which comes in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. That's what he is saying to us in these verses. And so in that, let us that our good will not be spoken as evil. To recognize that the kingdom of God is not what we eat or what we drink. The kingdom of God is tzedek, righteousness, peace, shalom, joy, simcha. And then he says in verse 18, God accepts his servants which have a good godly attitude. See, he says in the next verse, for he that in these things serves the Messiah is acceptable to God and approved of man.

You know, when a believer behave in such a way and he served the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, God found pleasure in it. God is accepting this service. God is accepting this service. God found delight in that. You know why? Because when a person behave in such a way, have priority right in his life, understanding that we are not a cause to stumble to our brothers and sisters, that gives pleasure to the heart of the Father. And the Father is approved of such a practice in the life of the believer. So, the believer affect one another. The believers must have priorities in their lives. Look at this in the next verses.

Verse 19, 20 and 21. The believer, the Christian, the Messiah follower must help each other to grow spiritually. Look what he is saying. In verse 19, let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace. And the things wherewith one may edify the other. You see, he says, let us therefore follow the things that make for peace. The things that edify the brothers and sisters in our life. That's what we are here, brothers and sisters, here in this world. We want to edify each other. The reason we come to meeting is to edify each other. The reason we encourage each other, we speak with each other, we pray for each other, so we can be edified and built and continue on to walk with the Lord.

That's what he is saying in these verses 19 to 21. Let us edify one another. If our conversations are not edifying, why converse? If we are talking with each other in order to run each other down, why talk with each other? But we need to build each other up. We need to support each other, to strengthen the other. In every relationship, we need to realize that we need to do that. Whether it is in our home, with our wives, with our husbands, with our children, with our parents, with our brothers and our sisters. Or whether it is in a local assembly or the local church. We need to edify one another.

We need to build each other. You know, to tear down, you don't need to be a master. Everybody can take a sledgehammer and tear things down. But to build takes skill. To build takes character. To build and to edify takes time and energy. And it takes sacrifice. To tear down. Have you ever tear down a building or an old shed or something like that? You see, you don't need to be a master carpenter to tear things down. But to build, you need to look at a sketch. You need to cut the lumber. The master carpenter knows that. It takes skill. You need to know. You need to measure.

You need to take your time. You cannot just hammer without thinking things through. That's what he is saying. Let's edify one another. That is so important in the life of the believer. To edify. To build up. I remember somebody told me the other day, you know, my wife is working so hard. That I have to be very careful. Because if I don't take care of her, she will crush. She cannot bear so much. She has so many issues to deal with. And so, we need to be sensitive to our wife's needs. And vice versa. Because what we do when we are not dealing and helping each other and edify each other.

We are only adding to a quicker time in which they will break. That's it. And when we edify and we build each other up, so we give them strength so they can move another day. They can serve better. That is edifying. Same thing in a local church, brothers and sisters. See, if we tear each other apart, in no time the sheep are scattered. But if we build each other up. And if we edify each other. Then we give strength to the brothers and sisters so they can continue on. And we can continue glorifying the Lord and serving the Lord. That's spirituality. Spirituality is not only memorizing verses and knowing all the verses in the Bible.

And yet practically failing to walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. So believers need not only they are affecting each other. They must have priorities. But they also need to edify and help each other to grow. So believers in verse 20 and 21, he says here: "It is good that neither to eat flesh or to eat meat, or not to drink wine, nor anything whereby your brother is stumbling or offend, or is made weak." You see what he is saying? You see, apparently the early believers at Rome had a problem with some food that some had conviction on not eating, or drinking. You know, here it used the word wine.

And some people are stumbling. So if I know that a brother or sister have a conviction about certain food that I have liberty to eat, and I know that they are there, I will not die if I will eliminate having it in that particular time, maybe later on. But why to make a person weak? Because I have liberty. Why add that to the problem of another? Because I have liberty. And I can say, I don't care how you feel. It's me. That is not what the Lord wants us to do. And that's why he's saying: "Do stumble." He said like: "Whereby your brother is stumbling, or is being offended, or is made weak." Notice those three things: "Stumble." "Offended." "Made weak." "All by my action." "By our action." That's how we affect the life of others.

And then, of course, it shows us that: "Meet destroy not the work of God." Verse 20: "All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for a man that he eats us with an offense." So he's speaking, though he's speaking about food and drink, he's saying: "Even in this area, we need to be sensitive to our brothers and sisters in a practical way." And so in the last part of this portion, in the last verses here in verse 22 and 23, he's telling the brothers at Rome, the believers at Rome, that we should not force our opinion on others in matters such as this. "You have faith?" Verse 22: "Have it for yourself before God." "Happy is he that condemn not himself in the things which he allow." "And he that doubt is condemned if he eats, because he eateth not of faith." "For," listen to the last portion of this verse 23: "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." You know, there are various verses that speak about what sin is.

This is another area of sin. "Whatever is not being done of faith is sin." Now, oh, when you think about it, how many things we do that are not necessarily, we do not do it out of simply believing in what we are doing. And then he's saying that, Pastor Paul, he says: "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." So if I force on someone my own conviction, I am causing this brother or sister to fall into sin. Therefore, give them room, give them liberty before the Lord to make this decision in due time. Let them mature, let them grow, let them develop their life. And so, the necessity to edify one another.

Brothers and sisters, you see, that's what Paul is saying here in these verses. Not only that we are in earlier verses in chapter 14, not only that we are to receive one another and to welcome one another, but we are not leaving it there. We need to move on and we should edify one another. We have to ask ourselves the question. After we left each other with a conversation, after we spent some time with each other, can we honestly say that my brothers and my sisters have been edified? Or can we say that I have caused them to stumble? And that is spiritual maturity. That is why we are here.

That is why we are here. We are to edify each other. We need to correct each other, but we need to edify one another. So, we are moving from chapter 14, verses 13 to 23, into chapter 15, verses 1 to 7. And here, we see that he is moving on, the Apostle Paul. And now, he is saying, listen, not only that we are to edify one another, but we really should seek to please our brothers and our sisters. And when I am saying please, does not mean that to give them to do their own thing, but simply to seek to make them feel and sense our love and our care for them.

And that we will seek to do good to them. And they will be blessed and encouraged. And so, in these verses, verses 1 to 7 of Romans 15, he tells us, first of all, that the strong believer need to help the weak believer. Verse 1. We, then, that are strong. Apparently, the Apostle Paul included himself in the ones that were called strong. So, he says, we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Paul is saying that the believers in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who are considering themselves strong, mature, understanding the truth of the Word of God, that they are to seek to bear the infirmities of those that are weak.

Bear with it. That word forbearance, bear with one another, is found oftentimes in the book of Ephesians. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in bond of peace with all long-suffering. Forbearing one another. In other words, we should bear with it. Even though, sometimes, you feel like you can't take it anymore. And you feel like, come on, grow up! Mature already! Get ahead! Get over this! If you really think that we are strong, Paul said, we really need to bear with them that are weak. You notice how many times the word "weak" is mentioned here? It's mentioned in chapter 14 and verse 1, "him that is weak in the faith." In verse 2, he says, "one who is weak eateth herbs." He's mentioning the word "weak" so many times in verse 21 of chapter 14, "not to offend or to make one weak." But Paul now shifts and he says, "you think you are strong?

You consider yourself as part of the strong, mature believer who knows the things of the Lord?" He says, "look, you need to bear with them," and here's the fourth time he used the word "weak." "them the weak and not to please ourselves." You see, a weak person becomes stronger only as he gets encouragement, as he walks with the Lord, and as he learns lessons in life, and he or she is becoming stronger through these experiences. And the example has to come with those who claim that they are strong, that they are mature, and they are handling these things. And so, the important here in verse 1 is that the strong believer need to help the one that is weak, and then he says, now he's adding here in the next verse, verse 2, he says, "let everyone of us please his neighbor for his good to edification." The neighbor here is not the neighbor necessarily who is not a believer next door, but here in the context he's speaking about our brothers and sisters.

So we, the believers, the body of Messiah, the children of God, every one of us, we are to please our brothers and sisters. To please them, to seek to build them up, to encourage them, to make them sense the love of the Lord Jesus. And you know what he does here? He always sends us to the source of encouragement. You see, we learn, ultimately, from the one who has given himself over for us. That's the one we have to look at all the time. In the next verse, he says, "even the Messiah." He immediately now turning from, "okay, here's a group of believers in a local assembly at Rome." He says, "you need to please each other.

The strong one should bear with the infirmities of the weak one." And then he's saying, "how do you think you're going to do that?" "You're not going to be able to do it on your own." What is the source of the help that the strong believers receive to be able to be a blessing to the weaker one? The source and the example found in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And that's what he says. Even the Messiah, even Christ, he did not please himself. You see, he should and could please himself. But his pleasure is not for himself. His pleasure was to edify and to build and to save mankind which were lost in trespasses and sins.

And he is the one that did not please himself. He says, "I want to do the will of my Father." He says in John 4:34, "My meat and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work." Again, in our class yesterday, we talked about Father when he cried in the garden of Gethsemane. When he says, "Father, if it is possible, take this cup away from me." But he said, "Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done," he said. Because the will of the Father was important for him. He did not please himself. And now there is a quotation from the scriptures, the Hebrew scriptures.

Paul did not have any New Testament to read from. He was enacting the New Testament. He had the Tanakh, the Old Testament. And so he takes us to the book of Psalm, which we have read earlier. And he said, "As it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach you, God, fell upon me." You see, the psalm, if you turn for a moment to Psalm 69. It's a messianic psalm. It's a psalm that takes us through the experience of the Mashiach, of the Messiah, here when he was here upon the face of this earth. And the rejection that he had experienced by men. Psalm 69 tells us, "I became a stranger unto my brethren," in verse 8.

"And I became an alien unto my mother's children." And then he said in verse 9 of Psalm 69, he says, "The zeal of your house, God, has eaten me up." And then he said in verse 9b, "And the reproaches of them that reproached you have fallen upon me." You know, the Hebrew word for reproach has to do with shame. He was shamed and took the shame that men have caused to put upon God. He bore the shame. In fact, sometime we sing, "A shameful death, he died." What a shameful! He bore the reproach. He was rejected by men. He became a stranger unto his own brethren. He became an alien to his mother's children.

The immediate family did not understand him. That's the Messiah. It's our example. And so, the apostle, you see, Shaul, Paul, what does he do? He says, "Listen, if we are going to practice this as a body of believers in Rome, if we are to practice this as a body of believers here and any place else, how do you think we're going to be able to do that and to treat each other in such a way, to please the other brothers and other sisters? How do we do that? Where do we get the source of strength to do that?" He directs us to the person of Yeshua.

He said in verse 4 of Psalm 69, "They hated me without a cause." And then he said, "They that hate me without cause are more than the hair of my head." In other words, the number of the individuals that hated him without any reason were more than the hair that he had on his head. Multitude. They hated him without reason, without cause. That's the source of our strength to do what we are called to do. And that's why the apostle Paul quoted Psalm 69. It's a really wonderful messianic psalm. It's a psalm that deals with the Messiah in his rejection by mankind. And that he, as this psalm said that, "I restored which I took not away." He restored to God the glory that was taken away by men and sin.

He restored it back to God when he lived a life to please the Father. Brothers and sisters, this is the only way we will be able, in some small measure, to seek to please one another. That's the only way. When we look at the Messiah, when we look at Christ, when we look at Yeshua, as Paul set him before us, very precious, "But the Messiah did not please himself." Romans 15:3 "As it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach you fell upon me." That's the key. The key is drawing closer to the Lord, getting encouragement from Him, direction from Him, so we will be able to communicate with one another.

Well, notice the next verse now. Not only the Messiah did not please Himself, but now He's saying in the next verses, there is two sources of strength and two things that we really need to do. First of all is verse 4, is reading and getting an example from God's Word. And then verses 5 and 6, believers get strength through prayer. We need to learn to talk to the Lord and get His strength from Him. And so look, verse 4 of chapter 15, "Whatsoever things were written in the past, the fourth time were written for our learning, that we, this is the believers of present-day dispensation, through patience and comfort of the Scripture, the Bible, the Word of God, that we might have hope." You see, the Bible is very important.

Why do we read the Word? Why do we learn from the Word of God? Why do we open the Bible? Why do we study the Scriptures? Why do we hear messages about the Word of God? Why do we hear the verses from the Bible? Because it says here that whatever is written in the Word of God, we will learn. And that we, through patience, and through the comfort of the Scriptures of the Word of God, we will have hope. When we read the Word, and we learn something from the Word, and we seek to practice this, what happens is that we get hope, we get encouragement to continue on.

Everything that was written in the past, was written that you and I will learn from that something. All the experiences of Israel, in the wilderness, when God had to deal with them, and again to deal with them, and the rebellion of the people, and the disobedience of the people, it's teaching us about our rebellion, about our disobedience, and that how God needed to lead His people, Israel, whom He loved so much, to the Promised Land, but the constant friction that they have had as they walked in the wilderness journey, and He made them walk there for 40 years. Why 40 years? They could have get to the Promised Land far sooner than 40 years.

But you know why? Because of the rebellion, and the disobedience, and the human nature of the nation of Israel, that's why you and I are also many times roaming in the wilderness, because of our disobedience, and our rebellion, and our old nature, and it seemed to be, like Israel of old, you and I today, need to learn through patience, and through the comfort of the Scripture, to have hope, that we have a reason to continue on. And you see, whatever was written in the past, was written for our learning. We learn from what happened to Israel, our people of old, many, many years ago. It was written for our benefit.

Of course, they have experienced it, but we have to learn from that. So, the Scriptures is very important. But not only the Scriptures. In verses 5 and 6, believers need to get strength from prayer. It says here in verse 5, Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another, according to the Messiah Yeshua, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. These two verses shows us the necessity to lift up our voices in prayer and praise to the Lord. And He, as it says here, is the God of patience. He's the God of consolation.

He will grant you your requests. What is our request? Our request is, Lord, we need your help. Lord, we need your encouragement. Lord, we need your direction from you. And He is the God of patience. By the way, in this chapter, three times He is called once the God of patience, once the God of hope, and once the God of shalom. Notice, verse 5, the God of patience. Verse 13, the God of hope. Verse 33, the God of peace, the God of shalom. He is the source. And we need to pray to talk to Him every day. Every day we need to talk with our blessed Lord and our blessed God.

The scriptures and prayer go hand in hand. Go together. So, it's nice to know that He is calling Himself the God of patience. How much patience He needs with you and with me. How much patience. I've taught Him this yesterday. What happened today. I've provided for Him here. Look what happened now. I've taught to show Him the direction. Look where He goes. And isn't it true? How much patience God needs with you, with me. How much patience. You know, sometime, one might say, I have no more patience. I can't take it anymore. But not God, brothers and sisters. Not God. He is called the God of patience.

He is called the God of consolation, of comfort. That's what He is. That's what He is. He is the God that will grant us to be like-minded one toward another according to the Messiah, Yeshua. He had patience with His people. He has patience with us. And we need to have patience with each other. I tell you, we need a lot of patience with each other. And we should ask the Lord to help us to have patience with each other so we will be able to bear with each other, to be a blessing and to edify one another. So, the two sources of ability to give us strength to continue on in our ministry towards one another is, number one, the scriptures.

Number two, prayer and praise. And finally, look at the result. The result is found in verse 7. The result will be God's glory. Verse 7 says, "Wherefore, receive ye one another, as the Messiah has received us, to the glory of God." If we receive one another, if we bear and edify and minister and pleasing one another, as the Messiah received us, we give glory to God. God being glorified. God is going to be glorified. He's going to be pleased. He's going to have joy. He's going to be satisfied when he sees the believers practice such a practice in their walk with the Lord here in this world.

There are a couple of verses that I could look into, but if you want to mark them down. So, when Abraham, in chapter 13, when there was a strife between the herdmen of Abraham and the herdmen of Lot, Abraham said, "We be brethren. Why do we have this strife? Why do we have this strife?" And then Abraham was willing to give room for Lot and his herdmen, and he went in a different direction, so he will not have that strife among the people of God. Yeshua, the Messiah, if you remember, in John chapter 17, he himself prayed that there will be no strife, that there will be peace.

You remember what he says in John 17, and in verse 20, you remember, let me read you these words. He says this, and it sounds like that. Verse 20 of John 17, he said, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through the word, that they may be one as thou, Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and that the glory which you gave me I have given unto them, that they may be one even as we are one. He said in them, you in me, and they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and that you have loved them, and thou hast loved me." Then he says, "Father, I will also, that they whom thou hast given to me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." See, Jesus, before he went to the cross, he prayed to the Father, and he said, "Father, I want them to be united, I want them to edify one another, that the world will see that there is a difference in this group of people." What do the world say when they look at the body of believers, and the way they behave each other?

What do the world, you think, say? If they see that they please each other, edify each other, receive each other, build up each other, they can say, "The Lord is in their midst." But when they see strife, and brokenness, and hatred, and division, they say, "Something is wrong with this group of people." I do not want to be participating in anything that this group of people do because of all the state that we find in them. So, chapter 14, verses 13 to 23, we need to edify one another. Chapter 15 of Romans, verses 1 to 7, we are to please one another to the glory of God.