00:00:00 I don\'t know how many of you have heard the name Jonathan Roumie. It\'s not a very popular name, but he was aspiring to become an actor in Hollywood. And after years and years and years of trying and failing, he almost gave up and decided at one point that he has come to the end of his life, and he knelt down and he said, \"I surrender my life to you, God.\" He had surrendered all areas of his life except his career, which he thought by his smartness and his abilities will take him somewhere. 00:00:36 But one day in 2018 of May, he found that his bank had an overdraft statement. He had just $20 in his pocket and just enough meals to get through that day. And that\'s what forced him to come to the end of this road and to surrender himself completely to God in prayer. And he said that the next day, he got four checks in the mail. In three months, Dallas Jenkins, who\'s a director, who called him and asked if he would want to consider acting in a new series that is crowdfunded. 00:01:19 And the role he asked him to play was the role of Jesus, and the series name was \"The Chosen.\" And if you are fans or you have seen \"The Chosen,\" this is his story. He was literally called to put on Christ as Jesus Christ in that series. And he said, just playing Jesus in that Chosen series really affected him deeply. It affected him to see how he\'s living his life. It affected him to start being compassionate to others, and had a tremendous change. 00:02:00 We are closing out our series on thriving families, and we are at a passage in Colossians where the Apostle Paul is asking the people in the church of Colossae to put on Christ. And we\'re going to look at what that means in the passage that comes after us. The church in Colossae had a problem that people were telling them that Christ is not enough. False teachers had crept in. They said you have to add rules and festivals and Sabbaths and self-discipline. 00:02:41 And Paul answers them in chapter 2, verse 9 and 10. He says, \"In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him.\" Those rules that people try to put to ask you to measure up, sometimes we do too, on ourself or in our homes, they are of no value. He says they are of no value in chapter 2, verse 23, in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. We try the same thing in families, isn\'t it? 00:03:14 We try to add parenting methods or chore charts, date night rules, and different communication techniques, assuming and thinking that if we put on these things, it will fix our problems. Some of them are useful, of course, but none of them can change a heart. Paul\'s answer to the people is not to add more new rules, but a simple, \"Put on Christ.\" 00:03:42 So I want to give, as we summarize this series, I think it will be terrible if someone asks you, your church did a series on thriving family, what is the definition of a thriving family? So I thought I\'ll give that definition at the beginning and try to work my way through this text and try to say it at the end, and then you\'ll have a quiz. So hear me out. So this is my personal definition of a thriving family going through this series. 00:04:11 So a thriving family is one who are in Christ and who have Christ and who display Christ to one another and to the world around them. Let me repeat. A thriving family is one who are in Christ, who have put on Christ, and who display Christ to one another and to the world around them. That\'s the essence of the series and specifically of this passage, too. So we are going to look at three points, as usual, from this text. We are going to look at the identity of a thriving family. 00:04:46 We are going to look at the practices of a thriving family. And we are going to look within the practices, the heart attitudes and the daily actions. And then we are going to look at the portrait of a thriving family to recap and summarize. So we\'ll start with the identity of a thriving family. Colossians 3:12, Paul begins by saying, \"Put on then, as God\'s chosen ones, holy and beloved.\" He first redefines what their identity is. 00:05:29 The show that Jonathan Roumie was acting is called \"The Chosen,\" right? But Paul here is literally calling the people in the church in Colossae and families in specific. He goes, \"You are the chosen people.\" He\'s giving this to ordinary households in a small town in Asia Minor. God\'s chosen ones, holy and beloved. Before God gives us a role in our home, he gives us a new name. 00:06:05 The identity of a thriving family hinges on how God sees you and me in contrast to how we see each other or how the world sees us. The names, what is very interesting, these three words that he says, \"chosen ones, holy beloved,\" if you look at the whole of Bible, these are names that God gives to his covenant children in the Old Testament. And the church in Colossae were not people from Israel. They were predominantly non-Jewish people. They were Hellenists. They were Greeks. 00:06:47 And God is calling them this right after verse 3:11. He says, \"Here there is not Greek and Jew, neither barbarian, nor Scythian, nor slave, nor free, but Christ is all and in all.\" So God is first calling you and me as his covenant children. We are chosen. We are special. He\'s not calling them by looking at them based on their past failures. He\'s not saying, \"You sinners, you who messed up. You, Peter, who denied me. You, Thomas, who doubted me. You who committed this sin. 00:07:40 You who committed that sin.\" Sometimes when you are angry as a parent, you may want to be a little more judicious and careful with the words you use on your children. On a very humorous note, I\'ve heard this many times, I\'m sure some households you use this, \"Hey, if you don\'t do this, this, and this, you\'re only going to be flipping burgers in a fast food.\" 00:08:07 You just defined the identity of somebody because they didn\'t perform or, I don\'t know what that was, getting a grade you didn\'t want them to or finish a chore they didn\'t do. Or even worse, back home in India, I\'ve heard, and you all know that if you don\'t study well, you\'re only going to be a shepherd herding cattle. I just said it very politely. Isn\'t it? But that\'s not how God parents us. That\'s not how he looks at us. He says, \"You are chosen.\" He\'s picked us by grace, not by performance. 00:08:54 He didn\'t choose us seeing that if he chooses us, we will be holy and we will fit the attribute of a perfect Christian. Says while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So he offers grace. His identity for you and me is based on grace and not performance. And it\'s not based on our image or reputation. He says holy, by which he means you are set apart to be God\'s own possession. We are his. No one can snatch us. 00:09:29 There is certainty in our identity that is not dependent merely on your behavior and my behavior. No one can separate us from the love of Christ. You know how very satisfying it is to know that this love is permanent? Even all our human loves can fail, marriages can fail, children can leave their parents and may not be able to be there, but there is one love that never fails because we are set apart. And that\'s the third part of the identity. He says you\'re beloved. 00:10:10 Most human relationships work on the paradigm that love has to be earned and kept. But in Christ, he calls us beloved because we are loved first, and we are loved still. Isn\'t it? And so Paul says, because this is your identity, remember, put on Christ. Our physical attire may be important to people around us. What we wear, what car we drive, which neighborhood or which city you live in. 00:10:49 Maybe people tend to judge sometimes based on that, but God says man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks in the heart, in 1 Samuel 16:7. Paul here goes one step further. He says God clothes our heart in Christ, and those clothes are meant to show who we are. A movie star like Jonathan Roumie, he puts on a costume of someone that he is not really, or any actor. You know what the Greek name for a stage actor was? We all know that name. 00:11:27 The Greek name for a stage actor is Hippokrates, and from that comes the word a hypocrite. Paul is not asking us to act like a Christian. He\'s asking us to wear what God has already made true, and only those who are in Christ can wear Christ as their own. So as application, I want to encourage parents, when you do correct, do not try to combine correction with identity. They are both not similar. You can say, \"What you did was wrong,\" but say, \"You\'re still loved.\" 00:12:15 And don\'t call children names. \"You\'re lazy,\" or, \"You\'ll never get it,\" or, \"You\'re this, you\'re that.\" No. Second point, we move on. It says we\'re going to look at the practices of a thriving family. And here, Paul talks about two things. He talks of five heart virtues that build relationship, and six life actions that will build relationships. 00:12:52 He says in chapter 3 verse 12, \"Put on then, as God\'s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.\" I have a small magnet from my seminary that I put in the back of my car, and I realize that has an effect on how I drive. I still have some residual driving skills from my time in India. I start, when I drive, I try to drive like I\'m driving in India. 00:13:35 And then I remember, oops, I now have a seal in the back of my car, which represents something bigger and better than me, and I got to be careful. And I try to, again, I try to not do some things that I would have otherwise done. But the magnet is not able to change my heart. I can put on that behavior, but that\'s different from putting on Christ, because it can\'t be manufactured fully. 00:14:13 And in fact, all of us, if you look at these five virtues: compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, it seems like it\'s an impossible list to do it. Some of us can do it sometime. Even people who don\'t know God can be all of these through the common grace. But the call is to put on these all the time so we are not hypocritical, and there\'s only one person who did that. That was Jesus Christ. 00:14:43 He was the only one who showed all of these virtues continuously, all the time, in His life and through His life. And let\'s look at that briefly. First, he says, \"Put on compassionate hearts,\" which is basically noticing one another\'s burdens. Jesus, when He lived on Earth, He showed us what God\'s compassion is. He welcomed the weary. He said, \"Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I\'ll give you rest.\" He cared for the suffering. He restored broken people. 00:15:21 Throughout the Bible, there is a repetitive refrain which says that God cares for the widow and the orphan and the poor. His compassion teaches us to look beyond the inconvenience someone causes and notice the burden they may be carrying. One of the things you can practice to learning to be compassionate is to be good listeners than fixers or doers. When our children come with a problem or if you see your spouse down, it\'s good to ask, \"Hey, what\'s going on and how are you?\" 00:16:03 Rather than quickly assuming, or even when they say something, trying to fix it. Secondly, kindness. Now kindness is about doing good to those whose faults you know. It\'s very easy to be kind, to hold the door for a stranger in a supermarket or the elevator in a hospital. But how do we treat the person whose weaknesses we know and we meet every day? God\'s kindness toward us is never dependent on our ignorance of our sin. He knows fully. 00:16:43 But remembering His grace should make us generous toward people we know very well inside our home. And kindness is not abstract thing. It takes a very practical, concrete form. It\'s a gentle reply at times. It\'s a practical help when someone is in need. It may even be just doing something without announcing how much you are doing, and that\'s kindness. And third, he says humility. Humility is about being willing to confess and learn. Philippians 2 presents Christ\'s astonishing humility. 00:17:26 He\'s the Son of God. He\'s the perfect God man. But He took the form of a servant and obeyed even to the death on the cross. And humility is the first step in our path towards knowing Christ, and as we have spoken in the Beatitudes. The first thing God\'s spirit, Christ\'s spirit does when He comes into our heart, is He helps us to realize our poverty of spirit, that we are wretched, absolute, abject sinners. We have absolutely nothing to bring to the table before Christ. 00:18:01 Because then God can give grace to the humble, but He stands opposed to the proud. And if you have tasted that humility, if that\'s how you have entered into a relationship with Jesus, then it is a little easier to extend that humility to someone else. Then when we see someone else\'s sin, we remember our own need for mercy, isn\'t it? And it will help us in relationships to be the first to admit that I was wrong without saying, \"But you are the one who started it,\" isn\'t it? 00:18:44 And fourthly, meekness. We saw even in the Upside Down Kingdom series what meekness is. The word prowess is a word that is used of wild horses that are being trained and harnessed, so that their power is now able to be harnessed towards a constructive purpose. Jesus describes himself as someone who is gentle and meek and lowly in heart in Matthew 11:29. Meekness is refusal to use strength, knowledge, or authority to crush another person. 00:19:23 You may have the stronger argument, but you can still speak gently. You may have the authority to correct and protect, but you can still protect someone\'s dignity when they fall and fail miserably, knowing you\'re an equal sinner like them, and you can depend on the Holy Spirit to practice this restraint. 00:19:46 And a simple question can be, whether it\'s in your family or outside, when you come across someone who needs that, you can say, \"Am I trying to help this person or am I trying to make them feel small in what I say to them?\" And the fifth virtue he talks of is patience. Patience involves giving people room to grow and change. Romans 2:4 says, \"God\'s kindness and patience leads us toward repentance.\" 00:20:14 Yet we often expect our spouse or child to change immediately after just one conversation, that they\'re fixed, isn\'t it? Patience stays engaged for a long time consistently in the slow work of the Holy Spirit to bring about change. It corrects, it encourages, it prays, and perseveres. It also permits appropriate consequences and boundaries. So when our children mess up, patience doesn\'t mean you take away the consequences of the actions of their sins. That\'s actually wrong parenting. 00:20:56 Or even for ourselves, God doesn\'t do that. He\'s patient with us, He\'s forgiving when we sin, but He does not remove the consequences of our actions, but rather uses those consequences for our sanctification. It\'s a long list, these five virtues, and none of them can be done by ourself. But Christ did all of them. And now we tie this to our definition. When Christ is in us, and if He\'s the one who clothes us, then we can practice these as His grace enables us to do this. So think of yourself. 00:21:41 Maybe you need just one thing the Holy Spirit is convicting you this morning in this list. That this is where you see yourself falling and failing and struggling again and again. And of all these five virtues, even as a family, you can think, \"What is my family missing the most right now?\" And maybe have some honest conversations in your family prayers tonight. Ask Him, \"Where do you need me to grow mostly? Do you want to see in me more compassion, more humility? 00:22:16 Am I coming across as a proud person, or kindness or gentleness or patience?\" Don\'t try to defend yourself if they tell you that, and just ask Christ to give you an opportunity this week in one ordinary situation to practice it, and you will experience His grace as you pray and put this to action. Second list just talks about daily actions that can strengthen these relationships. These are hard things that brings families closer together. Actions. 00:22:50 First, he says, \"Bear with one another and forgive one another.\" This comes to the central point of this whole passage. One of the biggest areas that when we put on Christ, that we can see is in the area of forgiveness. And there are two corollary things. He says, \"Bear with one another and forgive one another.\" Bearing with one another means absorbing someone\'s weaknesses, differences, or ordinary irritations. 00:23:25 In a practical way, it means every frustration about someone or something does not have to become a confrontation. Pick your battles wisely, because some things require patience, but there are other things that require truthful conversations and forgiveness. This is where we all struggle with, isn\'t it? And there are so many questions when it comes to forgiveness. Does forgiveness means forgetting? Is forgetting forgiveness? Can we say we have forgiven someone even without forgetting? 00:24:10 Or can we say, \"I have forgotten, I don\'t want to think about it,\" and is that forgiveness? Those are some important questions to think about. And we need to turn to how God forgives us We may remember an offense long after we have forgiven it. In marriages, I think God has given an extra memory bank for wives who can remember things from 20 years, 30 years, even minor trivial details, right? Okay. It\'s probably not. 00:24:49 Also the corollary, just because you forgot something, like you forgot an incident, is not proof that your bitterness is gone. And remembering it is not proof that forgiveness has failed either. God promises is to remember our sins no more. Theologians have talked about this deeply. Does it mean that God, who knows everything, omniscience, there\'s a problem in who he is? How can God say he forgot something, right? 00:25:27 But God\'s promises to remember our sins no more concerns his commitment not to hold them against us. He consciously chooses not to bring them before us, against us. It doesn\'t mean he loses information or he struggles to suppress memories. Forgiveness, it refuses to choose personal revenge. When painful memories come, how do you deal with it? 00:26:05 A hurtful word someone said, an action, something someone did, someone who stabbed you at the back when you needed them the most, or someone who has been unfaithful. Well, how do we deal with all these things? And I think this is an area we struggle with a lot, isn\'t it? And there is a sense when you are wronged, you want justice, and when you know you have been wronged, there is a right you have to seek justice. 00:26:45 And there are times when you should do that, especially when it is criminal offense or disastrous, sinful behavior. But by and large, for day-to-day things and ordinary relationship issues, the model is that of Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 2:23, Jesus describes when he was reviled, it says, \"He was reviled not in return, but continuously gave them over to God, his Father, who is a righteous judge, who will judge rightly.\" So forgiveness is not just simply letting go of that person without anything. 00:27:29 Forgiveness is letting go of your right to get even or justice from that person and transferring that right to God, who is a perfect judge, and he will actually execute his justice perfectly than you and me, even in our best earthly mood. And in that sense, it can be freeing for you. You will feel like when you forgive, the load has lifted from your shoulder, not the other person. Till then, you are going to walk heads down. When you see that person, you can\'t make eye contact. 00:28:08 You\'ll try to walk away. There\'s no peace within you because it suppresses you. But when you really give it over to God and you say, \"Lord, this person hurt me. My husband hurt me. This friend hurt me, or this coworker hurt me,\" and, \"Oh, this person backstabbed me. I trusted them, and they did this,\" and you let it to God, you have peace, which is what Christ modeled. But at the same time, forgiveness does not require remaining in danger or concealing abuse of any situation. 00:28:48 That is a totally different approach. But this forgiveness was costly for Christ himself, isn\'t it? And at the cross, one of the last words that Jesus prayed is, \"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.\" And it was not just for the people who put him on the cross he said that. He said that for you and I, for the things that we still do. He bore the judgment for our sins. 00:29:14 We have received mercy which we could never purchase, and that mercy is the pattern of how we have to respond to one another. If only we are able to practice this, you know how many marriages will become better? You know how many friendships will become stronger? And when you do not practice this, there is so much pain, there is so much grief and disunity that can creep in. 00:29:40 And the simple way to practice is to confess one specific wrong without qualification and ask for forgiveness, saying, \"Will you forgive me?\" If you have been wronged, ask whether you\'re pursuing honest resolution or you\'re planning quiet retaliation, which can take three forms, right? One is you keep replaying. It\'s called fantasizing. \"Next time I see this person,\" you already fantasize what you should have done and you didn\'t do, and you think, \"I\'m going to do this now.\" 00:30:27 To retaliate, right? Or scheming. It\'s the same as that, but in a more elaborate station. Or third, is just acting out. Whereas if we want to forgive, like Christ did, then we do what we just spoke about. And he says the reason for that, secondly, is put on love. It is love which brings these virtues together and binds us. And third, he says, \"Let Christ\'s peace rule,\" in verse 15. 00:31:00 What he\'s talking about is when peace is disturbed because a breach has happened in a relationship between husband and wife or children or friends, you don\'t want to wait till you feel peace in your heart. Peace is talking about God\'s reconciling desire and action. You need to actively pursue peace. It says, \"As far as it depends on you, live at peace with all men.\" And fourth, it says, \"Be thankful,\" in verse 15 to 17. 00:31:38 It says, \"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.\" Thanksgiving, a grateful heart, is a heart that notices gifts that a resentful heart will overlook. And this, I think, is in our culture, a particularly deficient one. We don\'t say thank you. Or if someone says thank you, we say, \"Oh, don\'t say thank you.\" Both ways. You also don\'t learn to be thankful. You also don\'t let the other person to practice being thankful. 00:32:16 It\'s a double whammy, right? Somehow, you think it\'s a very noble cultural pride thing. I\'m sorry to break it to you, it\'s terrible. It\'s just a false pride, a fake sense of, \"I\'m Mr. Nice or Miss Nice.\" No. Please, it\'s okay even for a husband to say thank you to your wife when she packs you a meal or does things at home. And vice versa. And teach your children to be thankful. 00:32:51 Because when they grow up, if you don\'t teach them now, they will not be thankful to you for all the pain and sacrifices you go through. And I was really overwhelmed last week with the Pastor Appreciation Day. I\'m kind of feeling embarrassed every time I walk in, there\'s a wall which says, \"Thank Pastor,\" what is it? Grateful gratitude wall or something. And then there is, \"Please take them down as soon as possible.\" It\'s a little intimidating. 00:33:22 But I was really overwhelmed with how people expressed their thanks, including some kids. They wrote their cards. And I\'m not doing this job because I want people to be thankful, but it just brings joy to read. Hey, someone saw this. Someone noticed something I never even thought or said. And many of you have still not done that. I\'m not saying you should go write those cards. But I\'m guessing you probably don\'t do this in your own homes, to your own family. That\'s why it\'s not coming out. 00:33:53 Or you may think, \"Oh, if I say thank you, this guy will become too proud.\" You\'re trying to help me in my sanctification and others. You don\'t have to. God will sanctify me. And you, too. And your wife and your children. So can you take this as a personal cultural challenge for us this year? I have a task for you, and I\'m going to ask the children. Every day, you have to say thank you at least twice to each other. Find something to say thank you. Husband to wife, parents to children. 00:34:25 When you tell them a chore and they do it, even if it\'s putting the garbage outside, say thank you. And children, you guys get to monitor your parents and rate them on this. And if they don\'t, remind them of this sermon. And if they still don\'t, come and tell me, I\'ll talk to them. And fifth, he says, \"Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you.\" One of the essential things for us to be able to put on Christ is God\'s Word. 00:34:57 God\'s Word has to shape our teaching, our correcting, not just from here in the pulpit, but even in your homes. Paul first addresses the church. Our homes should share in the same formation we receive together. We need scripture to shape our instincts. We need it not merely when we want to win an argument. We need scripture for counsel, for correction, and even our worship. Our songs also teach. That\'s why we are very particular on the kind of songs we sing here. 00:35:37 We cannot sing many songs you hear on K-Love. They can\'t be sung in church. Some very defective truths in some of them. But as we sing Biblical truth, we are helping remember one another, helping one another remember who God is and what He has done. And lastly, in six, he says, \"Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.\" To act in Jesus\' name is to act as someone who belongs to Him, who represents Him, who answers to His authority, seeking God\'s glory from that. 00:36:14 And this is reflected in how we speak, our spending, our screens, our chores, our ambitions, and how we treat people who are needy and tired. And in a very simple, practical way, this can show up is, before you send that message or you make that remark Or you enter an argument, ask yourself: Can I do this as a representative of Jesus Christ, as someone who\'s putting on Christ? Again, we have six things. You cannot do all of them at the same time. No. Do not leave with six vague intentions. 00:36:55 Choose one action. Think about forgiveness. If there\'s something you\'ve been wrestling for a long time in your life, let today be the day. Deal with it today. Bring it to God\'s presence. And how about we just practice thankfulness? It\'s a small thing, but an important thing in our daily lives. And especially, bringing God\'s word in your home as families. You get these daily devotions from our church every morning at 5:00 a.m. A lot of effort goes into it. It takes you one minute to read it. 00:37:34 And try to use that, either for your personal devotion or as a family devotion, any way in which you want to bring God\'s word. God\'s word is never just enough, either it\'s just by saying, \"Oh, I read my Bible, I\'m done,\" or turn on the radio, hearing a sermon on your way to work. As much as we bring God\'s word into our lives, it will help us to put on Christ. And this is for every Christian. So ask God, if something is hard to you, why it\'s hard, and you need to apply the gospel of grace. 00:38:11 If you see yourself struggling in any one of these, and that\'s the whole idea of discipleship, you want to get to the why behind that, to see in your heart what is that disconnect, and reach out to someone to disciple you in applying grace and the gospel to help you change because God can help us to do that. And finally, we\'re going to close with the portrait of a godly family in verse 18 to 21. He summarizes what we have seen throughout the series. 00:38:43 He says, \"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.\" Then he says, in the light of all the above, in a home where all of these things are practiced, this is where it shows off. Now, wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. 00:39:14 There are two words used for wives submission and children obey. The word used for wives to submit is hupotasso, which means, tasso is like a stand and hupo is standing under it. It\'s a military term. It is used to refer to soldiers who willingly give up their rights to follow the orders of someone placed in authority over them with implicit trust. 00:39:42 And it is the same word that is used for Jesus Christ himself when he says, as a man submits to Christ and Christ submits himself to the Heavenly Father. It\'s not derogatory. It doesn\'t mean that by submitting, you become lower or lesser than your husband. In God\'s eyes, you\'re equal. Just as how Christ is the same as his Heavenly Father, and yet willingly chooses to submit. And again, this is something as wife you cannot do because this is not what the world teaches or preaches. 00:40:19 It\'s only if you are in Christ and if you are clothed by Christ, you will be able to reflect Christ\'s submission in your home. And the word for children is different. We spoke about that. Hupakouo, acute hearing with an intent to obeying, to listen. We discussed in detail last week. And for husbands, it says, \"Love your wives and do not be harsh with them.\" 00:40:49 Just because you have been given a positional authority, it doesn\'t mean you can yell at your wives, doesn\'t mean you can treat your wives as doormats, doesn\'t mean you can abuse your wives through your words or emotions or even actions. Because remember, you are submitting to a God who is being kind and compassionate to you. And it specifically reminds fathers, \"Do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.\" This is the portrait of a thriving family. 00:41:28 So as you hear these verses, I don\'t want you to raise your hands, but how many of you have made a list for your husband or your wife or your children, \"I want them to do this.\" Don\'t do that. Think about yours. Ask: What is Christ calling me to do today? And once again, as we conclude, let me remind us of the definition of a thriving family. A thriving family is one who are in Christ, who have Christ, and who have been clothed by Christ, and who display Christ to one another. 00:42:13 We have all failed in these relationships, isn\'t it? We have all spoken harshly, withheld kindness intentionally, cultivated resentment, demanded patience while offering very little of ourselves. The answer begins with Jesus Christ, whose character this passage reflects to us. He showed perfect compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. He died for sinners and rose again. 00:42:45 He was stripped off his clothes on the cross so we can put on his garbs of righteousness to stand perfect before Christ. Through faith in Him, we can receive forgiveness and new life, and His Spirit can enable us the growth that He commands us to do. If you do not yet know Christ, come to Him in repentance and faith. If you belong to Christ, return to His grace and take the next step of obedience. And remember your identity. You\'re chosen. You\'re holy. You\'re beloved. 00:43:27 So practice what fits that identity. Practice compassion, forgiveness, love, peace, gratitude, and a life governed by God\'s Word. Bring that obedience home into your marriage, your parenting, your response to your parents, and your life within God\'s family. And as you walk away, ask God to answer this question. And that\'s my prayer too. Who needs to experience Christ\'s kindness through you today? 00:44:05 What apology act or service or conversation do you want to have with that person you are refusing to reconcile with? And to whom should you display an act of gratitude?