The Bride Has Made Herself Ready

Well, if in this life only we would have hope in Christ, we would be of all men most miserable. But it's this morning we serve a God that's given us hope beyond this life. Yeah, greetings in Jesus' name. Um, it's been a blessing to be here this morning and to see the Lord at work in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. It's encouraging when we see people that are still walking with the Lord. Um, yeah, as Brother Harvey said, I married his youngest sister, and he said, "Took her to Ohio. I guess she'd rather followed me there." Yeah, it's been a not the only place, um, she's followed me. We've been around a few places, and it's been a good journey.

Um, yeah, just some reminiscing. I remember being out in the area here probably 20-some years ago the first times, and, um, occasionally we happen to be here again, not too often. And one thing that always is said, and especially this time, how things have changed. I just can't believe this, and I can't believe you know, can't imagine this huge building, that huge building, and just things change.

So, um, yeah, this morning I just didn't have been doing a lot of meditating here, um, about the changing times, how people change and things change around us, but God never changes. And I'd just like to lift that up this morning. And I think one of the maybe Brother Leighton shared about your family growing up, and maybe just the ideal time in life. And I think we all probably could have that most of us probably have that ideal time in life when everything was good, the trials were at minimum, we would think. And for us, that was probably when we lived in Western Iowa. Um, the children were down here, and we have some of these pictures, family pictures, in our on our walls.

And different times I've had this thought, "I just wish I could just freeze that." But I know it's not reality. Um, it's not God's will. It's God's will that we move on, go ahead with life, and but we walk with Him. We allow Him to lead us through these changes. Not all change is bad.

But isn't that why we gather together? We're exhorted to gather together as so much as we see the day approaching, that we could exhort one another to change in the areas we need to change, become more like Christ, and to not change in ways we shouldn't. And it really helps me if I gather together with fellow believers consistently to do that. If I'm on my own, on my own little island, and on my little canoe somewhere, I tend to change in ways that are not good a lot quicker than if I'm with people like you, with God's people.

So God, give us grace to change as we need to, at the right time. Well, um, I've been reading through some of my reading here lately has been through the book of Revelations, and probably just a little bit of continuation from yesterday, uh, with the wedding. I'm of I often think of the, uh, marriage, how God has ordained it, and just like to look this morning a bit about the there's a phrase, and I think it's in, um, chapter 19 of Revelations. It says that, "His wife hath made herself ready." I think I'll read that if you want to turn to Revelation, the book of Revelation, this morning.

Um, I think this could be a I should almost be required reading these last four chapters of Revelation. I think we should just read them. I'd I had considered the idea of just doing that this morning. Just read these four chapters, and that's the message. It's, um, it's a word of God. It's God speaking aloud.

But I just read this recently just yesterday on the way out again. And every time I read these the grand finale, I just get more of a longing to see this take place. And it's going to happen. I know we grew up most of us from before we could walk, we've been exposed to the reality. There's a heaven. There's a God who created heaven and earth, and there's a hell. But there's also we were exposed to the way of salvation. And one of the most probably un how could I say? The thing that's going to happen one of the greatest things is the return of Christ, and how I'm often struck at how little we really talk about it in reality.

We talk about it, but there's the reality hasn't really gripped us. We're getting very close to that time. Every day is closer. But it's going to happen. And it's something we want to look forward to. And I believe we do. But we're living in a it's going to be very I can be more free if I'm just frank, if I'm allowed to just be frank, and just, um, share what I what I, um, see in around me, my own family, my life, and in the body of Christ in general here in the United States of America. But, um, it was I was blessed with the Sunday school, and how the Pharisees, they Jesus' condemnation was not so much about the things they, um, say, but the they say and they do not.

What they say is one thing, and their life is another thing. Their life has a completely different message. And I would just tend to think that one of the greater things that we are faced with as a church, that probably is a greater blind spot than we would realize, is, um, just the materialistic binge that our nation is on, and how it affects the body of Christ. And, um, yeah, may God allow us give us the grace to change in those areas where we need to. But, uh, um, there's two things in Scripture, especially talking about wealth and the material surroundings we have. The word of God does not endorse a lazy lifestyle. It says clearly, if we don't work, we shouldn't eat.

And we should actually 2 Thessalonians talks we should mark those, and you know, somewhat avoid them, um, an unnecessary parasite, if you will. But we probably err a bit on the other side. There's also an avoidance Scripture in 1 Timothy. We don't hear so much. It talks about the deception of riches there in 1 Timothy 6. Those that says that those that suppose that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thyself.

That's also an element I think that we need to be honest and look at. And I wonder if that's one of the things that Jesus would maybe that would be the Matthew 23 He would address me with. You say, but, um, yeah, somehow we attribute all these blessings that God has blessed us with somewhat it just has us Moses I mean, Aaron Moses was up on the mountain. Aaron threw all these earrings and these pieces of gold into the fire, and this calf just walked out. Well, we all know that's nonsense. That calf was formed with a design behind it.

And I'll just I just want to put that out as something I see where we're from. It's just something that just wants to deceive us. It just wants to take aside, track us. And I just want to encourage us all together that let's not be deceived with that mindset that gain is godliness.

I know we have everything we many blessings from the Lord. But let's not attribute a calf to just kind of something that happened on its own.

We are men that make that have the ability to make choices. Let's make the right choices. I say that to myself in my household. Anyhow, chapter 19, Revelations here. "After these things I heard a great voice." And the book of Revelations is a book of John hearing and seeing many things. He repeats this again and again. Just notice this: "He heard and he saw." And he's the one that put his head on Jesus' breast. And he heard many things. And he saw many things. In 1 John 2, um, he talks about that also, how he handled the word of God. He touched Jesus. But here he's still hearing. "After these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, singing Hallelujah, salvation, and glory, and honor, and power unto the Lord our God.

For true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand." And again they said, "Hallelujah, her smoke rose up forever and ever." "And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down, and worshiped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and the voice of many waters, and the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." And that's what I'd like to focus on today. His wife hath made herself ready, her personal responsibility. "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God."

And here's the result. When John, who was probably one of the closest people on this earth when Jesus was here walking with him, he says, "And I fell at his feet to worship him." And he said unto me, "See, thou doeth not. I am thy fellow servant of thy brethren, that hath the testimony of Jesus, worshiped God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

And, um, I think it is again in, um, I'm not sure, verse 8 of the last chapter, 22 in John. Again, he just wanted to drop down. "I, John, saw these things and heard them, and when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angels, which showed me these things." It just seems as even, um, John probably was he saw more, knew more of Christ than any of us ever will.

Um, he was he was very close to the Lord Jesus, but he still he just he couldn't help but just be on his face all the time. And I believe that's what's going to happen when Christ comes again to claim his bride. We can't have we will worship him, but it won't be an angel. We'll be worshiping the Lord Jesus.

Um, but I'd like to draw our attention to the word "herself" in verse 7 of chapter 19. Um, "herself." It, um, reflects a personal responsibility that the bride Jesus has entrusted to the bride to prepare herself.

Um, there's another woman that's mentioned, actually another two, but I think they're so similar in the book of Revelation. The one is in Revelations 2, verse 20, when Jesus was addressing the churches, he wrote about the Jezebel. It says, "I wrote unto the church, but that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, she had a teaching program. She was seducing people." It's the spirit of Jezebel.

He, um, and it refers to her as herself also. There's only about ten times, I believe, in the New Testament where the word "herself" is used, and three times in Revelation, and twice it's about the evil woman in Revelations 3 or 2, as I mentioned, about Jezebel, and then again in chapter, I believe it's 17, talking about Babylon.

I think I'll just turn there. I'd just like to look at these couple of herselves.

No, it's chapter 18. We won't have time to read all these chapters, but verse I'll just start in verse 4. "And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues; for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her, even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double, according to her works, in the cup which she hath filled to her double. How much she hath glorified herself!" That's that word "herself." "How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously! So much torment and sorrow give her; for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Therefore shall her plagues come in one day: death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judges her." So we have these in contrast to the bride of Christ, we have we have this false materialistic world all surrounding us. And I think this is the this is the burden of our heart this morning, that we are not deceived with this whore, with this Babylon that is dressed so attractively. And I'd like to look at the dress a bit of these women.

I guess we'll talk a bit about immodesty versus modesty today. Just bear with us. I don't know how often you focus on these things, but I'd just like to look at this a bit. And the Old Testament describes the attire of Jezebel a bit, that she says she painted her face, she dolled up her hair.

And here in chapter 17, it describes Babylon, the great whore, which sat upon many waters.

And she was verse 4 says, "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of all kinds of abomination." And here we can just compare this the attire of the world, the attire of the false religion, the attire the dress of Satan, Satan-inspired dress, I could say. Now we're not going to only be focusing on the outside, actually more on the inside here in a bit.

But it comes out. The inside comes out on the outside, it does. But, um, just look at that. What motivates that woman to dress like that? Is it not to attract people to herself? Back to the word "herself."

Verses like Christ Christ should be the focus for us as Christians. We want to attract attention to Him. It says that in verse 8, chapter 19, verse 8 it says, "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white." Compare that clean and white, like we saw yesterday, with the scarlet and the purple.

There's two different messages coming out of that.

But these two evil women, the way they were dressing, it was all about themselves. It's basically it's about selfishness, or it's about Christ. We are dressing ourselves for the bridegroom. It's not about us. We're dressing for Him. So the heavenly bride, the new Jerusalem, the bride of Christ, is to glorify Christ. It's not we're not drawing attention to ourselves. We're making ourselves only attractive to Him, and not unto others.

These evil women want to attract whoever just wants to. Actually, they like to attract everyone away from Christ.

I just want to, I guess at this time, I want to bless the mothers that are amongst us that have exemplified the unselfishness, that character of the bride of Christ, of unselfishness, of "It's not about me. It's about others, how they serve."

Sometimes mothers in their serving, and men also, but I just want to I was just challenged last Sunday about this thought. Mothers maybe especially, life they can't freeze that picture also, that ideal time in life, and sometimes they become anxious.

They become maybe worried a bit. And this person just challenged me with a thought that all of our most of our anxiety and fears are rooted in the, I guess, in the how would you say? In the inability to control my circumstances.

When I can't control them anymore, and I just have to release or worry.

And I just want to encourage mothers. There's times when things just don't turn out like you expect it, and life should have happened like this. The children should have turned out like this, and my husband should be like this.

You can trust your life into a hand, the hands of an almighty God that has He is actually the Savior of the world. There is a Savior of the world, and it's not you. It's not myself. But we can entrust our hands into our lives into His hands.

Just meditating on the song just recently, "The Wonder of Wonders." I remember the one phrase I don't know that all that well, but I remember the one phrase goes, "The Wonder of Wonders, as she looked down and smiled, Mary, the mother of Jesus, that He was her maker as well as her child." Another phrase in that song, something about the small hand she held so tenderly had made a path through the mighty Red Sea.

Just try to wrap your mind around that reality, that Creator God submitted Himself, that created all things into being born as a little babe, helpless babe in the womb. And God, when He sent His Son, didn't entrust Him to some lofty king, or some macho man, but into the hands of a mother.

And that blesses me, that there's a mother that had time to hold that little hand, that same hand that was part of creating all things. He entrusted Himself into the hands of a mother. And but when Jesus was on the cross, just before He entrusted His soul into His Father's hands, just before He cried out, "Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit," He made sure that His mother was in good hands.

He looked at His John, this John we're talking about, and says, "Behold your mother." And He looked at His mother and says, "Behold your son." I found that very, very striking, that before Jesus dying for the world, and all the sin, my sins and your sins upon His shoulders, He made sure His mother is in good hands.

And in the same way, mothers, today on Mother's Day, I don't know what all you're facing, but that resurrected Christ has your life, your circumstances in His hands. You can entrust all those anxieties, all your cares, into His hands.

I guess this is this became very special to me. My father died when he was very young, and I saw my mother as a widow, and grew up in a widow's home. But I just know that the hand of God was there. Times where I didn't even realize, but looking back now, I know the prayers that she prayed, our first our first devotion we had, when Dad couldn't do it anymore, she just cried and cried.

Couldn't pray, but that was a prayer.

So don't be afraid when you're facing these uncertainties. I don't know what's going to be tomorrow, and it just looks scary. Just Jesus entrusted His mother into someone's hands. And you're entrusted to the heavenly Father's hands. I just want to bless your hands.

I think I checked this one time in Proverbs 31, the Proverbs, the virtuous woman there talks about the what it adorns or it lifts up, the virtuous woman there in Proverbs 31. But I think it mentions her hands seven times, the perfect number. I thought that's striking. But it talks her hands, they're busy serving others in her household, and it says, "Her hands hold the spindle, her hands take hold this distaff. She stretches forth her hands to the needy, and reaches for her hands to the poor." Something like that. I think there's one other then, I think the last verse in that chapter 31:31, it says, "She shall be rewarded in the gate. Her hands shall be the work of her hands shall be rewarded."

Seems there are seven or there are six hands mentioned with work, but the seventh one is like the Sabbath. It's not that I think she's tired, but I think there's it's going to be a satisfaction. As Jesus rested on the seventh day, and I don't think because of weariness, I mean God rested after creation, I think it was because of completion, satisfaction.

So I always want to bless your hands this morning. Mothers' hands are beautiful, all the serving they do. Be not weary in well-doing. Anyhow, kind of got sidetracked here a bit, but I wanted to leave that blessing with you, in honor to mothers and my mother. She's still living, almost 90 years old, and whenever we're at her house, her hands are busy serving. You just can't stop them.

It's a beautiful thing. But I want to take a look at the dress again of these two women, and how it affects us here in Revelations. Taking a look at this attire. Like we said, Jezebel and the Babylon, Babylonian woman, were all spruced up in a wrong way, for the wrong motives.

But they dressed in a way because of their selfishness, they want to attract people to themselves for their own benefit, for their own desires. But that type of selfishness only attracts selfishness, basically selfish men in a physical sense. But in the so but in a physical in a spiritual sense, we can read here in chapter, I believe, 17. Yeah, after Babylon is described her dress, and John wondered with great admiration, not in a good way, but "Wow, what is this?"

And it talks about the beast, how they all have one mind, one par, and give it unto the beast, and it's like this is one package deal, this evil woman and these beasts, but it says that they will turn around and eat her flesh. Selfishness will always self-destruct. And you see that in marriages, in our marriages, if there's two selfish people coming together, it's bound to fly apart sooner or later.

And even professing Christians, statistics, they say that a lot of them just end up in divorce. But if it is, it's because of selfishness. It's not Christ, it's not in there. Just Friday, I was working a little remodel project in Coshocton town, where we live close by, and all of a sudden I heard a commotion, and just across catty corner across the street corner, there was a young couple, and I heard them yell, "Give me my food!" And she was right back in his face, and all of a sudden he just marched off, kicked things over, and then she was, "I'm going to call the cops!" in vulgar language. My heart just went out for the little child she was carrying.

What? And she the little child almost seemed like do this every day.

We have a lot to be grateful for in a Christian environment, that we don't have to do things like that. We can give her we can lay our selfishness down, and we can take lessons from this bride here in chapter 19. And I want to focus on her. It says that she hath made herself ready. Herself is not a selfish pursuit, but herself is like the mothers we talked about, is for someone else, and for her it's the bridegroom. As the song goes in the sands of time, the bride's eye is not her garment, but her bridegroom's face, and as the words go.

But I believe just in a physical way, proper dress for any human, but especially for the child of God, our dress should be in such a way that you don't see the clothes so much, but the proper dress attracts someone's gaze to your face, to the countenance.

If now ladies probably notice dress more, they might, you know, say, "Hey, did you see what she was wearing?" I don't do that as much, but if someone if a woman is dressed defraudingly, us men notice that. And it's just be honest, it takes a man of God to keep your eyes on the face, and not to want to do the up and down thing.

That's reality. So I believe it's God's will, when God dressed man in the garden, it covered all that, so they could start communicating again. God wanted eye contact. And proper dress in a physical way should always take you to someone's face, to their countenance. Proper dress does that.

But how much more in a spiritual sense? Who is the head of the body, of Christ? Who's the head? Is it not Christ? It's very clear we have the scriptures of 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. Christ is the head. So I like to shift gears a bit, and look at the body of Christ now in a physical in a spiritual sense.

One angle, I guess, to look at this righteousness, her of says in verse 8, "To her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." It doesn't say of the saints, but just of saints. It's just this is a default. Linen of saints is clean and white.

But one angle I like to look at is in Colossians 3, if you want to turn there.

Let's go to God's dressing room this morning. Here's a chapter I really got to appreciate. I've memorized it years ago, and I try to quote it often in my mind, sometimes when I'm driving, just yeah, quote it aloud.

It's been a good chapter for me to focus on every morning if I can. Especially when I was working away more, I tried to do it every morning, and I kind of, yeah, think about God's dressing room here.

Even as we I think we should dress to bring focus to our face, so we could communicate in a healthy, you know, in a way that's not awkward. People aren't dressed properly, that's kind of hard to do. But in the spiritual sense also, it almost seems like Jesus is saying, "I'm depending on you, my members, to be dressed properly, to bring the attention to Me, the head." In our lifestyle, in our actions, in our attitudes. See, we like to look at some of the dress of our attitudes, of our inner man here in chapter 3 of Colossians. Does that make sense how our physical dress should not be about my body, but my face more so?

That's where the focus should be? How we communicate, how God intended to. But even so now in a spiritual sense, Christ is the head, and it's almost like He's depending on us members to glorify Him, to lift up His countenance.

I think we'd have some scripture in 2 Corinthians maybe 4, about 3 or 4, about the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ Jesus. But it's all about us, this bride hath made herself ready, or is making herself ready for that day when she sees her bridegroom's face. But even now, how we relate one with another, with the world around us, will have a direct impact on a lost and dying world, how we're dressed inwardly, how attractive that is to Christ, or how it turns Him off.

Because if Christ is not where they lock their gaze, that's really what's going to draw them. Chapter 3, verse 8, I'll start in verse 8. It first talks, as we enter this dressing room, what we should put off. Verse 5 talks about what we should kill. This shouldn't even go to the dressing room, but here it should be dead ahead of time, but in verse 8, "But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice; blasphemy, filthy communication of your mouth; line up one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him; where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcisioned, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all and in all."

That is what we want to lift up. "Put on therefore," now this is the list, this is the list of garments we've been called to put on. "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, boughs of mercies."

Now I'm using the King James here, and I'm yeah, I'm definitely somewhat probably considered old school, but I don't have a smartphone, I don't do my studies on the apps, and I don't have all of that, but I still have just my Trust Seal Strong, so I just looked a lot of these definitions up in the Strongs. I'm going to be showing that this morning.

It says, "Boughs of mercies," and it's the Greek meaning really means is the spleen, I guess, is what it says. Something that's right behind your stomach, but right under the heart. So I guess we'd say from the bottom of our heart. That term makes a lot of sense.

"Boughs of mercies."

So if we go to God's dressing room, this is what, He has them available. It's not that they're not available. They're available, we can decide, do I want to be dressed with this or not? We sang this song just recently, just not long ago, "Lord, I am fondly, earnestly longing." And that's what that song really embodies. I want that vesture that Christ has to offer.

That vesture, that dress that will draw all the attention to Him, and not to me. "Boughs of mercies" will help do that. That's the first one He mentions.

And I've never yet gone to Goodwill or a store and asked, "Hey, I need some clothes, where's the boughs of mercies?" I would probably watch that, but this is the, you know, the probably some of the other translations would word it differently. I didn't even read it. I just I love some of these old English is still very musical, and I just love some of this wording yet. I'm not against some of the others, but I memorized it in this version, I really love it. It's really become precious to me, the boughs of mercies. It means compassion, and it means tender mercies and Goodwill. That way down deep connection, what we had just a few minutes ago right here, gathering around a brother, the boughs of mercies are activated.

And how does a world cope without that? How do people cope that don't have that? Brother, sister, when people express that, it's a beautiful thing when we're dressed with that. We put that on, our inner man. This is the first step in drawing, putting attention to the Lord Jesus Christ, to His face, so He can truly be the head. Then it says, "Kindness." It's really connected.

These are all like interconnected, like a proper dress is, they all flow together.

It just means usefulness, employed, excellence in character, kindness. These are all positive, redemptive expressions of inner virtue that come out on the outside. Kindness, it means usefulness. It means, I guess it would mean the boughs of mercy that are working, boughs that are working, usefulness, employed, they're excellent in character. The compassion, Goodwill towards men, especially towards the household of faith. The third one here, the third article would take off the hook from this closet. This dressing room is humbleness of mind, or humility. Humbleness of mind, I like this sound also in this old English. It's probably not the best considered the best grammar, but it's very good theology.

Humbleness of mind. I think it just gives a deeper meaning than just humility, but humbleness of mind, how we think. This is probably one of the my favorite pieces of dress in this passage here. It actually means in the script, in the Greek here, it means modesty. It just means modesty.

It means wanting to see others excel. It focuses on the well-being of others.

If we would turn to 1 Corinthians 12, verse 21, it talks about the body of Christ, the various members. And there's a phrase, there's a verse there, I think it's verse 21, it says, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you,' nor the head to the feet, 'I don't need you.'" I never noticed that so much. I mean, I knew it was there, but I realized all of a sudden it struck me, well that's Jesus, He's the head, the eye is part of the head. Jesus is pledging to the rest of the body, "I will never say, 'I don't need you.'" Isn't that beautiful? Jesus has pledged Himself to not cut us off.

Now we can depart on our own. But I was challenged with that, what about can the other members do that to each other at times? The hand to the foot, the toe to the finger. I don't know. It's unfortunate when God's people start doing that, "I don't need you," let's avoid Him, let's silence Him, and you know, where all that can go.

I think we probably have done that as Anabaptist people to each other more than we would like to admit. Maybe grieve Christ our head more than we would care to admit. Right now I have a second cousin that was, we grew up not too far apart, didn't have, hardly have interaction growing up, but the last year and a half we just have a little small farmette, and I'd make some hay. Summertime then, sometimes in winter I'd go to the auctions, and he would have some hay there also. And we started connecting a bit, I sat with him, we had breakfast one morning together, and just recently I was just, yeah, we connected and caught up, and just recently I found out that he's having some health issues, and they amputated both arms and both legs to save his life.

And he's fighting some other issues too. I just talked with his brother on Tuesday, met his brother somewhere, and he said, "Yeah, it's just unimaginable what he's trying to grope with, trying to manage again with no arms and no legs. The head is trying to function, but it's just not there."

I would just challenge us, let's not be part of the amputee program with our fellow brothers and sisters. Let's have the grace to say, "I need you." Sometimes, yeah, sometimes they might do things that are not so loving, and maybe not so appreciated.

But Jesus pledged the head can, it says it can never say. The head cannot say, I should just read that, or cannot say. It is Jesus speaking.

Verse 21, "And the eye cannot say unto the hand, 'I have no need of thee,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary."

That head of my second cousin right now is limited, because something in his system started attacking each other, or was poisoned, an infection set in, and to save his physical body they had to do that.

Humbleness of mind. Wanting to see the hand excel, "I'm the foot, I want to see others prosper, going forward." That's humbleness of mind, humility. The fourth one here is meekness. Mild, gentle, meek, humble. It just kind of flows out of this, humility.

Meekness, not as has been often shared already, it's just controlled strength. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." They could stand for their right, they could press through, seek to be right. The child of God that is dressing, that is preparing himself for the bride, can afford just to wait until that day.

"The last shall be first, and the first shall be last." That's the posture of a person like that, is meekness.

And we have another one here, the next one, number five, is long suffering.

It means a long enduring temper, means lenient. Now that's a word we don't like so much, huh? We're strong leaders. It's not meaning, I don't think it means to just excuse, wash sin away, or just sweep it under the rug, but it gives people the benefit of the doubt. We can afford to say it again and again, patiently, just be there again. Sometimes when you feel like writing them off, you just take that call again, just listen one more time.

Long enduring temper. And the next one goes right with that, forbearing. Number six is forbearance. It means in the Greek to put up with, to endure. Sometimes that doesn't seem very spiritual. Sometimes we think they just need to be told, just tell them, just drop it out as it is. And maybe there's time for that. But if they sense it's not out of love, it's not a redemptive spirit, it will drive people away. Long suffering and forbearing.

Long enduring temper, lenient, patient to put up with and endure.

"I've had enough." Oh, how many times have you thought that? Have you heard that? "I just can't put up with it anymore." Jesus could, He's still putting up with it today. Look at what's surrounding us. He's putting up with it.

He's noticing it, but He's depending on you and I to be His arms and legs, to point people to Him. Number seven is forgiveness. We're still in this dressing room, we're on number seven. Forgiveness just means to grant as a favor, to rescue, or as you get a bill in the mail, there's a due date.

Our relationships are without due dates. We just don't have any, they're just forgiven. No due dates, no expectations. We don't even need direct deposit, no quick results. We don't have a due date on relationships. We just grant it as a favor.

And the last one here is verse 14, "And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." Somehow this clothing, they all kind of are tied together then around the center with this bond, with this belt, or there's this girdle, called girdle of charity, of love, it holds it all together.

And it says with a bond, that's the same Greek word as in Hebrews 13, those that are bound, bound for their faith. We should consider them as being bound with them, they're part of the body. It's a strong word, it says they cannot, someone that's bound like that, they cannot release themselves.

Some outside, some other person has to release them. In the same, this is the same Greek root word, that bound, that is a bond of perfectness, but it has the same meaning. This is so important to have this. We can have all the rest, we can be dressed perfectly on the outside even, but be very scantily clad, immodest on the inside.

So that's just what I want to leave with all of us, to, yes, as we, our people, we focus a lot on the outside, and it's very good and it's right. But I believe we also are concerned about the inside, that was my encouragement today as I thought about Shalom, preparing herself for Matthew, and us preparing ourselves for the heavenly bride, that we are properly clad, that we're not, we don't meet Him in an immodest way, in the inner man.

That my dress is what it needs to be. And it's available for us, we can't drum this up on our own. It says the fine linen, it's the righteousness of Christ. We cannot forgive our sins, I know we can't work our way into heaven, but we have a responsibility. It says, "The bride hath made herself ready." Just to say, I prayed a prayer back then I got my robe, and life is happy glocky ever after that. That's not reality, that's not a bride preparing herself for her bridegroom.

You all know, I think we all can relate, if we're really serious about following Christ, these attributes that we talked about in Colossians 3, is an everyday project, is an everyday walk with Christ. And it's not a negative thing, it's not a morbid pursuit, it's a glorious thing, it's a beautiful thing.

But this bond of perfectness, it's a joint tie, it's a ligament uniting principle, it means unity.

A control, it holds everything together. And usually that's the first thing that gets pitched.

When there's strife, when there's division, when there's fighting, the love has just been taken off, and the rest of the attributes, the rest of these dress articles will soon follow. So it's very important that above all things we have fervent charity, holding it all together.

Well, that was, I'm just a farmer, but this is what the Lord has been impressing on me as I read through Revelations here. I trust that we can all be challenged together in these last days. Jesus is coming back, and I want to be dressed properly. And I know it's not my own strength, but I still have a responsibility, and so do you.

Each one of us, we can be dressed by the grace of God, we can be dressed in that inner man that reflects a Christ-likeness, that will attract a hurting and dying world. I'm just convinced more and more that people, especially, I know that we've had some interactions already, some of us in the area, and probably some of you do too, with, on the college campuses.

It's a worldly world out there, and all the young people often get slapped that they're, you know, transgender, they're off, way off left somewhere, and a lot of them are. But there is an element that are really searching, there's more to life than what we're seeing, and I'd say my generation, my age, I think we've missed it a bit. We've been building our empires and our ministries, you know, we have reputations, a lot of us, to defend at times we think we do. But there is a rise, I'd say a rising element among young people that are tired of the materialism, somewhat misdirected, but there is a, I'd say there is a, God is very well able to raise up people, going back to the old ways, among people we might think He would never do it with.

But I would just encourage us to, let's align ourselves with where God is working, where He wants us to be, dressed properly in the inner man that we would not be a stumbling block. My prayer often is that the morning, and I believe yours is too, that today, Lord, enable us to be a stepping stone and not a stumbling block. And that really is very important, I believe it's very, very closely directed in how I'm dressed in this inner man. Did I spend time with the Lord, allowing Him to dress me even? There's times when I can see myself, unless I look in the mirror of the Word, "Oh my, you're terrible and modest, Elson, in this area."

And I just have to humble myself and repent, and He can clothe me, help clothe me, but yeah, may we be encouraged together to be ready when He comes. Lord bless you.