1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,600 Let's see if I can figure this out. 2 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:05,120 About 10 years ago or so, 3 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,840 Aaron and Arden and I decided to take a canoe trip. 4 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:09,700 Anybody here been canoeing? 5 00:00:09,700 --> 00:00:10,960 Raise your hand if you've been canoeing. 6 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:11,800 Okay, now have you ever, 7 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,280 anybody here canoed down a river more than five miles? 8 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:16,120 Okay, pretty good. 9 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:16,940 We got a couple folks. 10 00:00:16,940 --> 00:00:19,480 Yeah, so Aaron and Arden decided to take a canoe trip 11 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:20,800 and I, and we drove up, 12 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:22,120 we drove up at night actually, 13 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,080 and set up a camp the night before 14 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:26,440 at a campground up in Michigan. 15 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,680 We got there about 2 a.m. and it was dark, 16 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:30,400 and we bust out the tent, set it up, 17 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,200 and then we got up at like 7 a.m. 18 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:33,840 So we only got about five hours sleep, 19 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:35,200 and we broke the tent down, 20 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:37,000 and we drove to the place where we're supposed 21 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:38,200 to rent the canoe, 22 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:40,440 and as we got the canoe and we're loading up 23 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:41,760 all of our stuff and putting it out, 24 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:42,980 firstly laid it out by the canoe 25 00:00:42,980 --> 00:00:44,880 because you got a lot put in there, 26 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,440 and our understanding was we were taking a canoe trip 27 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,200 that was about 19 miles. 28 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,560 It turned out to be 32 miles, 29 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:53,960 so it was really long, 30 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,120 and the second day we were canoeing in the rain all day, 31 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,120 so that was troublesome. 32 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:01,260 But one interesting thing happened 33 00:01:01,260 --> 00:01:04,320 that pertains to the text that we're gonna read today. 34 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:05,560 We arrived at the place, 35 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:07,000 beautiful, sunshiny day, 36 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,600 about 8 a.m., sun's out, birds chirping. 37 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:11,840 We're pulling all the stuff out of the trunk, 38 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,760 and Sherry, you may not know this about my wife, 39 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:16,280 but she is an excellent packer 40 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:18,360 when it comes to camping trips, 41 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:19,640 going on vacation, anything like that. 42 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:20,820 She's really good at that, 43 00:01:20,820 --> 00:01:22,400 and I am not really good at that, 44 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:24,040 and so I relied heavily on her 45 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,680 to make sure that I had everything for the camping trip. 46 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:27,600 So we get everything out. 47 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:29,220 So everything is coming out of the trunk 48 00:01:29,220 --> 00:01:30,200 and sitting on the ground, 49 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:31,480 and then we're gonna move it over to the dock 50 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,080 next to where the canoe is, 51 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:34,800 and we got it all out, 52 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:36,280 and the only thing left in the trunk 53 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,240 was one neatly folded tarp. 54 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:41,420 And I said, well, we've got a tarp, 55 00:01:41,420 --> 00:01:43,240 the tarp that we put under the tent, 56 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,080 and I said, I don't think we need that tarp. 57 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,120 And Aaron and Arden and I all looked in the trunk, 58 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:50,620 and that was about the only thing left in the trunk, 59 00:01:50,620 --> 00:01:53,280 and I said, then again, 60 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:55,640 your mother probably packed it for a reason. 61 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,400 I can't think of what that would be, 62 00:01:58,400 --> 00:01:59,420 but we're gonna take it anyway. 63 00:01:59,420 --> 00:02:00,720 So we took the tarp out of the truck, 64 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:02,680 we put it down with the stuff, we closed it, 65 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:03,520 we got to the canoe, 66 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:05,520 we load all the stuff in the canoe, 67 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:06,880 and we put it all in there, 68 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,540 and by that time I had forgotten that we had two tarps, 69 00:02:09,540 --> 00:02:10,380 one for under the tent and one on the top, 70 00:02:10,380 --> 00:02:11,680 and the other was like 10 minutes, 71 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:12,840 I wasn't thinking about it. 72 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:13,840 We got it all loaded up, 73 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:15,480 and it was pretty tight in the canoe. 74 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:17,120 I mean, it was the three of us, 75 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,140 and Aaron was about 12 or 13, 76 00:02:20,140 --> 00:02:22,680 and Arden was about 10 or so, 77 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,920 and it was pretty tight. 78 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:28,280 Maybe the tarp didn't really fit, 79 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:29,760 you know what I'm saying? 80 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:30,800 But it was already in there, 81 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:32,680 but then the water was having trouble fitting, 82 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:34,340 so I'm like, take that tarp out that I don't need, 83 00:02:34,340 --> 00:02:35,720 I can get the water in there. 84 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:36,560 I thought, but man, 85 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:38,400 I'm sure she put that tarp in there for a reason, 86 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:39,240 I don't know what it is, 87 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,080 because we already got a tarp to put under the tent, 88 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:42,040 but I'm gonna find a way, 89 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:43,040 and we fiddled all around with it, 90 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:44,880 we found a way to put the tarp in, 91 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:46,560 and so then we got a picture of us 92 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:47,960 kneeling down, it's on my wall in the house here, 93 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:49,520 we wanna see it next to the canoe, 94 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:50,400 in a sunshiny day, 95 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:51,240 and we jumped in the canoe, 96 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:52,840 and we started canoeing downriver. 97 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,920 That night, it looked like it might rain, 98 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,460 not really a big deal gonna be inside overnight anyway, 99 00:03:01,460 --> 00:03:03,940 and so we got most of the camp cleaned up and stuff, 100 00:03:03,940 --> 00:03:05,320 and had the tent set up, 101 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:06,500 and we set up kinda under, 102 00:03:06,500 --> 00:03:07,560 partially under a tree, 103 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:09,000 maybe that would help a little bit, 104 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,280 if it rained heavy or whatever, 105 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:12,760 and about two in the morning, 106 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:13,600 Arden wakes me up, 107 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,560 and he said, dad, I'm getting wet. 108 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:17,480 Now we all heard the rain, 109 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:18,400 it was raining like crazy, 110 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:19,320 he said, dad, I'm getting wet, 111 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:20,560 I said, what are you talking about getting wet? 112 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:21,760 I said, we're in the tent, 113 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:22,600 I said, I don't think the tent's leaking, 114 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,120 he said, well, I don't know if it's leaking from below, 115 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:26,640 or if it's leaking through the side of the tent, 116 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:29,360 but one way or another, I am getting wet, 117 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:31,040 and so I got over there, 118 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:32,440 and I'm groping around in the dark, 119 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:33,640 my flashlight and whatever, 120 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:35,440 and sure enough, the tent was leaking, 121 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:36,760 the wall of the tent was leaking, 122 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:37,600 water was coming in, 123 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:39,460 it was starting to soak his sleeping bag, 124 00:03:39,460 --> 00:03:42,040 and everything that was by the wall, 125 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,240 and then I remembered that tarp, 126 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:45,680 and I got up, and I got outside, 127 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:47,160 and the pouring down rain, 128 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:48,160 and I got that tarp, 129 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:49,440 and sure enough, it was big enough, 130 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,440 and I put it over the top of the entire tent, 131 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:54,920 and then I tied it down to the cords, 132 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,160 so basically, we made a tent over the tent, 133 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:58,760 or we covered the tent with the tarp, 134 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:01,440 and the tarp was definitely enough to keep the water out. 135 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,060 We got back in, got it zipped up, 136 00:04:04,060 --> 00:04:07,320 and I said, does it seem like it's leaking now? 137 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:08,720 And we said, no, it's not leaking now, 138 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:10,440 but the sleeping bag was already kind of wet, 139 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:12,160 but it wasn't leaking anymore. 140 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,220 I want you to think about that tarp, 141 00:04:14,220 --> 00:04:17,160 and how that tarp got to be in our camping supplies 142 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:19,560 as we look at a single verse today 143 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:20,840 from 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 144 00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:23,440 Would you go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 13? 145 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:24,280 Amen. 146 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:25,520 Thank you for those of you who are excited 147 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:27,400 to be where we are in the word of God. 148 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,360 Sorry about not turning that microphone there on. 149 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:30,880 Tommy, it's on now. 150 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:34,980 Okay, so today's sermon title is Unreasonable Love. 151 00:04:34,980 --> 00:04:38,480 We've been looking at love for a while now. 152 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:39,320 As we've been working through, 153 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,080 we really started when we hit chapter 12, 154 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,080 and we looked at the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, 155 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:47,280 and then in 31, it says, 156 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:48,840 but earnestly desire the greater gifts, 157 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:50,760 and I show you a still more excellent way, 158 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,960 and everything from that moment on has been about love, 159 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:56,520 honing in heavily on love. 160 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:58,880 And today we're gonna look at love, 161 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,020 the love that God calls us to as an unreasonable love. 162 00:05:02,020 --> 00:05:05,440 We're in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse seven, 163 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,160 and it is kind of the continuation of a sentence, 164 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,720 and it is really four phrases, 165 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:13,160 and it is this, talking about love. 166 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:17,720 Love bears all things, believes all things, 167 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,800 hopes all things, endures all things. 168 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:23,640 And so we're gonna break those down first 169 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:24,920 before we get into the points, 170 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:26,440 because I guarantee you, 171 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:28,000 because I had done this many times, 172 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,580 if you've read through this passage of scripture, 173 00:05:30,580 --> 00:05:33,260 while all of those phrases sound good, 174 00:05:33,260 --> 00:05:35,920 they don't necessarily tell you what to do 175 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:37,220 when you're trying to love someone 176 00:05:37,220 --> 00:05:38,280 unless you break them down. 177 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:40,720 So the first one is bears all things. 178 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,400 Now understand that this word bears 179 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:45,960 is a tough word to translate from the Greek 180 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,480 into the English, it does not translate well. 181 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,420 So if you have a version of the Bible 182 00:05:50,420 --> 00:05:53,320 other than the New American Standard, 183 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,600 you may have something else there, okay? 184 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,280 And the reason is because what the word really means 185 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:04,380 is to erect a cover over something. 186 00:06:04,380 --> 00:06:06,320 So when it says we bear all things, 187 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,140 we're talking about erecting a cover over something. 188 00:06:10,140 --> 00:06:11,440 Proverbs 17.1 says, 189 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:15,080 "'He who conceals a transgression seeks love, 190 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:19,480 "'but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.'" 191 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:20,820 And so basically what we've got 192 00:06:20,820 --> 00:06:22,640 is somebody did something wrong. 193 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:24,520 Remember how I talked about inspirational moment, 194 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:26,360 the romance movie, they figured out 195 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:27,720 that they had an ulterior motive, 196 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:28,560 they did something wrong, 197 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:29,680 all of a sudden they don't wanna talk to him anymore, 198 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:30,880 it's gonna kick him out, be done with him, 199 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:32,800 I love you and I wanna be with you for the rest of my life, 200 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:33,640 but now you did something wrong, 201 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:35,880 so now I'm done with you forever, that kind of thing. 202 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:37,320 Well, that's not love. 203 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:42,320 And, "'He who seeks to conceal a transgression seeks love.'" 204 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:46,420 But it's not just simply putting a transgression 205 00:06:46,420 --> 00:06:47,840 out of sight, right? 206 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:49,500 It's not just simply saying you did something wrong, 207 00:06:49,500 --> 00:06:50,640 I'm gonna forget it, 208 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:52,580 or I'm just never gonna mention it, right? 209 00:06:52,580 --> 00:06:53,840 It's not like that. 210 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:55,600 It's something more than that. 211 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:57,400 Proverbs 10.12 says, 212 00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:59,600 "'Hatred stirs up strife, 213 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,020 "'but love covers all transgressions.'" 214 00:07:02,020 --> 00:07:03,600 And then in 1 Peter 4.8, 215 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:05,760 none of these, by the way, are the same exact word, 216 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:08,160 but they're all the same kind of definition 217 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:09,000 or same meaning. 218 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:09,840 1 Peter 4.8 says, 219 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:13,640 "'Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, 220 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,600 "'because love covers a multitude of sins.'" 221 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:19,740 So even though that's not the same word, 222 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:23,080 it has the same nature as what he's talking about here. 223 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,360 Some years ago, I was working at Radio Shack, 224 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,040 and I was a salesman, 225 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:30,320 and it was kinda like toward the end of my time 226 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:31,140 at Radio Shack, 227 00:07:31,140 --> 00:07:32,060 and in the middle of my time at Radio Shack, 228 00:07:32,060 --> 00:07:33,320 I was making a bunch of money, 229 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:34,260 selling a bunch of stuff, 230 00:07:34,260 --> 00:07:35,960 and it was when cell phones hit the market, 231 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,360 and so I was selling a cell phone every day, 232 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,400 and cell phones were $1,200 to $1,500, 233 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:41,640 depending on whether they were a sale or not, 234 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:44,180 and it was like a book with an antenna, 235 00:07:44,180 --> 00:07:45,020 and I'm selling this, 236 00:07:45,020 --> 00:07:47,000 and I'm programming it and getting it to go, blah, blah, 237 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:47,840 and then $1,200, 238 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:49,280 so every time it's $1,200, 239 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:51,800 I made $90 in commission every time I did that, 240 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:53,400 and almost everybody bought a service plan 241 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,120 because they knew they couldn't fix it themselves, 242 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:56,860 so there, and then we got 10% on that, 243 00:07:56,860 --> 00:07:57,700 so every time I sold a service plan, 244 00:07:57,700 --> 00:07:59,080 I got another $40. 245 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:01,040 So sell a cell phone, make $130, 246 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:02,720 and I was selling one every day, 247 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:04,560 plus anything else that I was selling, 248 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:05,880 so I was making really good money 249 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:07,180 for the middle year that I was there, 250 00:08:07,180 --> 00:08:08,620 but now this is toward the end, 251 00:08:08,620 --> 00:08:10,560 not making a great deal of money anymore, 252 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:12,560 other people are selling cell phones now, 253 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,120 and it's kind of like not as active and stuff, 254 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,400 and I helped a guy put together a huge satellite order, 255 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:19,240 and so this back in the day, 256 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:20,680 you could have a satellite dish in your yard, 257 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:22,240 and you could watch HBO for free, 258 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:23,680 and you could watch Showtime for free, 259 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:24,680 and all these things, 260 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:27,040 and they weren't scrambled then, right? 261 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:28,840 And so I put, this thing was huge, 262 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:30,520 a $4,000 satellite order. 263 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,320 I went to, I got him everything that he needed. 264 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,720 I spent about two days on this thing, 265 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,040 so $4,000, I was making about 300 bucks in commission, 266 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:40,560 and, but I was working my butt off, 267 00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:42,720 even down to like, he needed batteries 268 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:43,880 for the remote for the thing, 269 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:46,020 and I went, and we didn't have the exact right battery, 270 00:08:46,020 --> 00:08:48,280 so I went and got the batteries from another store, 271 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,280 I mean, I was, everything. 272 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:52,400 And at the end of that sale, 273 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:54,240 after I worked my butt off for almost two days, 274 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:55,760 and I was happy to be making the money, 275 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:57,720 he said something like this, 276 00:08:57,720 --> 00:08:59,480 he said, I'll never be back to Radio Shack, 277 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:00,440 I'll never shop here again, 278 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:01,800 and I said, why is that? 279 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:03,480 I mean, we've given you good service, 280 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:04,600 we sold you what you wanted to buy, 281 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:05,440 why would you say that? 282 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:07,360 And he said, actually, I've never gotten good service 283 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:09,920 from Radio Shack, ever, from you or from anyone else. 284 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,120 No one's ever helped me the way I should be helped 285 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,040 at Radio Shack, and I had really gone the extra mile, 286 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:17,880 and I put myself out there, and I was mad, 287 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:19,000 but I wasn't gonna show him I'm mad, 288 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:19,820 because I'm a salesman, 289 00:09:19,820 --> 00:09:21,560 a salesman never shows you when he's mad, 290 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:26,480 and so I was like, okay, and I rang out the whole order, 291 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:27,600 and the whole time I'm fuming, 292 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,620 and I just wanted to just say, you're a jerk, 293 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:33,560 but I didn't say anything, 294 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:35,720 and I helped him get everything in his pickup truck, 295 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:36,880 because he had a pickup truck sitting outside, 296 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:38,600 big satellite box, this big long, 297 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:40,200 he's gonna take it home and assemble it, whatever, 298 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:41,680 and I put it in the truck, 299 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:43,240 and after I went back, I was so mad, 300 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:44,520 and this is me not saved, 301 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:45,920 I'm showing you something like what I was like 302 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:46,760 when I was not saved, 303 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:49,360 and I went in the back, and I punched a speaker box, 304 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:53,240 speaker box about this tall, this wide, like that big, 305 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:55,080 and there's a speaker box that would sit 306 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:56,220 at the end of the shelving, 307 00:09:56,220 --> 00:09:57,680 where extra parts of stuff would sit, 308 00:09:57,680 --> 00:09:59,200 and occasionally I had done that, 309 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:01,600 I'd come back and punch the speaker box when I was mad, 310 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:03,080 make a big hollow sound, 311 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,120 and it would crumble a little bit under my weight, 312 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:07,200 and I'm thinking I feel better, 313 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:09,000 because I punched the speaker box, right? 314 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,000 Except, unbeknownst to me, 315 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,560 someone had moved the empty speaker box, 316 00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:17,640 and put an actual box with an actual speaker in it, 317 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:18,680 right in the same spot, 318 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:21,480 so it looked just the same, but it had a speaker in it, 319 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:23,320 and the speaker was like 100 pounds, 320 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:25,000 these are these big, old, huge speakers, 321 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,480 like the ones we used to use back in the day, 322 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:28,600 and I punched that box, 323 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:30,720 and it did not give, not in the slightest, 324 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,680 and right here, I felt like just a twinge of pain, 325 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:36,280 but what happened was I got a boxing fracture in my hand, 326 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,920 so I went to the doctor, about 10 days later, 327 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:40,760 I kept putting it off, telling myself it wasn't broken, 328 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:41,920 it was just a sprain or something, 329 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:43,400 and it was not getting better, it was getting worse, 330 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:45,160 it was swelling, and I went to the doctor, 331 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:47,980 and he said, oh yeah, you broke your hand, took an x-ray, 332 00:10:47,980 --> 00:10:50,620 so took my hand, and he put one thumb on each side 333 00:10:50,620 --> 00:10:52,040 of the bone where it was broken, it's healing, 334 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,280 at 10 days healed, and he pushed like this, 335 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,480 until the bone snapped, and said, this is gonna hurt, 336 00:10:57,480 --> 00:10:58,600 and I said, what's the alternative, 337 00:10:58,600 --> 00:10:59,720 and he said, well, you leave it like that, 338 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:01,100 it'll hurt you for the rest of your life, 339 00:11:01,100 --> 00:11:03,200 not as bad as what I'm gonna do, but it'll hurt forever, 340 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,720 and I said, okay, well go ahead, my mom's standing there, 341 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:07,880 and he just took the bone, and he snapped it, 342 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:10,240 like that, I'm like, ah, it was the most painful thing 343 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:11,440 I've ever experienced in my life, 344 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:12,800 it was as bad as kidney stones, 345 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:14,280 but kidney stones lasted longer. 346 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,640 So then, so you gotta go to specialists, 347 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:17,880 so I go to specialists, 348 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,040 and the specialist puts a cast on it, 349 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:21,920 and he just says, yep, the doctor did a good job, 350 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:22,760 he really broke it perfectly, 351 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:23,880 he probably didn't even have to come see me, 352 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:25,000 but it's a good thing he did, 353 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:26,360 so we can make sure it's healing right, 354 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:27,560 so he puts a cast on it, 355 00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:29,960 and then, after he put a cast on it, 356 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:31,700 which I thought this was really kinda dumb, 357 00:11:31,700 --> 00:11:33,840 he ordered an X-ray, and I'm like, 358 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:37,560 doesn't put the cast on it, and then order the X-ray, 359 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:39,400 you know, that's really weird, 360 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:41,280 and he said, I can tell it's healing right, 361 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,340 but I want the X-ray, because once we put the cast on it, 362 00:11:44,340 --> 00:11:46,320 we'll no longer be able to tell 363 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:49,600 whether or not it's healing right, you follow? 364 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:53,280 But the X-ray can, so we can see in the X-ray your bone, 365 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:54,640 we'll be able to see that it's still healing right, 366 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,560 so you're gonna go home, go about your life, whatever, 367 00:11:57,560 --> 00:11:59,060 I couldn't drive, because I had a stick shift, 368 00:11:59,060 --> 00:12:01,400 I couldn't drive with my casted hand, 369 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,240 and you're gonna come back in about a week to 10 days, 370 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:07,320 and get that X-ray with the cast on, 371 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:08,840 so we can see inside the cast 372 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,320 to determine whether it's healing correctly. 373 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:12,560 When the Bible says, 374 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:15,360 he who conceals a transgression seeks love, 375 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,980 when the Bible says, love covers all transgression, 376 00:12:18,980 --> 00:12:19,820 when the Bible says, 377 00:12:19,820 --> 00:12:21,140 keep fervent in your love for one another, 378 00:12:21,140 --> 00:12:22,840 because love recovers in multitude of sins, 379 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,400 when the Bible says, bears all things, 380 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:26,920 and it means erects a cover, 381 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:31,680 it does not mean for you to cover up and dismiss 382 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:33,780 sin or wickedness or evil, 383 00:12:33,780 --> 00:12:35,280 that's not what it's talking about, 384 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:37,360 that's not what Paul was saying to the Corinthians 385 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:38,920 that they should do. 386 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,380 It also does not mean, because we know right, 387 00:12:41,380 --> 00:12:43,160 love does not keep a record of wrongs, 388 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:44,720 we talked about that before, 389 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,780 love does not, is not provoked, 390 00:12:48,780 --> 00:12:50,360 so it doesn't mean blow up about it, 391 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,280 and it doesn't mean keep talking to them about it 392 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:53,920 over and over and over again until they feel guilty 393 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,700 and finally fix it, or it's nothing like that, 394 00:12:56,700 --> 00:12:58,320 but it doesn't mean to conceal it 395 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:00,840 so that you never see it again either. 396 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:02,000 When we get to the points, 397 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,200 you'll see how that actually plays itself out. 398 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:08,240 So the next one there is, it says, 399 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,140 believes all things, right? 400 00:13:10,140 --> 00:13:10,980 Let's look at it again. 401 00:13:10,980 --> 00:13:15,500 So love, bears all things, believes all things. 402 00:13:15,500 --> 00:13:18,500 So when I first read this, and I've read it for years, 403 00:13:18,500 --> 00:13:20,280 kinda thinking about it but never really 404 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:21,180 drilling down on it, 405 00:13:21,180 --> 00:13:23,520 I saw believes all things and hopes all things, 406 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:24,680 and I'm kinda simple like this, 407 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:27,720 I don't think belief and hope are a lot different. 408 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:29,520 So I say believes all things and hopes all things, 409 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:31,520 and I thought it was kinda just like a symmetry, right? 410 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,520 Just saying the same thing, kinda the same again, right? 411 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:35,920 But it is different, 412 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:37,540 because the word for belief and the word for hope 413 00:13:37,540 --> 00:13:40,440 are totally different, they mean two different things. 414 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,380 And so to believe something of a person 415 00:13:43,380 --> 00:13:46,080 is to believe that God will do in that person 416 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:47,760 what God has said he will do. 417 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,280 It's to believe God's promises, it's to have faith, right? 418 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,000 The word is literally faith, 419 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,360 it just has a slightly different ending, right? 420 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,040 And so what it's saying is as I look at you, 421 00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:59,480 even though I see you doing something 422 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:01,260 that I know is not good for you, not good for me, 423 00:14:01,260 --> 00:14:02,880 not good for anybody or whatever, 424 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:05,320 I believe that even out of that thing, 425 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:07,560 something good can come and we can do something, 426 00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:10,000 we can use this, right, for something. 427 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:11,800 God can use this for something. 428 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:16,040 So that kinda belief is faith that God's promises 429 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:19,320 will come true, faith that God will work in that person, 430 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,600 faith even that God, working in that person, 431 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:25,320 can eventually have his way. 432 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:27,720 And then hopes all things, 433 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:29,480 you look at the word hope, that's different. 434 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,800 So for example, when I look at Caleb, 435 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:33,680 and I see Caleb acting up or doing something 436 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:34,960 he's not supposed to be doing. 437 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:37,920 Now my hope is he has a reason for what he's doing. 438 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:40,120 My hope is God is at work in that. 439 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:42,560 My hope is that there is a better outcome 440 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,940 because his motivations are actually good, 441 00:14:44,940 --> 00:14:47,160 even though what he's doing is wrong. 442 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:48,720 That's what we're talking about. 443 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:51,880 So when you put belief and hope together in this context, 444 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,240 what we're talking about is when somebody does something 445 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,320 wrong, instead of holding it against them, 446 00:14:57,320 --> 00:14:59,920 instead of talking a lot about it or being provoked by it, 447 00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:01,400 instead of failing in our patience, 448 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,160 as we talked about in all the earlier verses, 449 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,120 instead of any of those things, 450 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:09,640 instead we're looking for God to have God's way 451 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,960 in the circumstances through what's happening. 452 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:16,960 We hope for a good outcome even though what appears to us, 453 00:15:19,820 --> 00:15:23,940 maybe appears as wickedness or appears as a failure. 454 00:15:23,940 --> 00:15:27,060 And then that leaves us with one more. 455 00:15:27,060 --> 00:15:29,340 And it is to endure all things. 456 00:15:29,340 --> 00:15:32,380 To endure kind of makes sense, it's to bear bravely 457 00:15:32,380 --> 00:15:34,940 or calmly to work through something, 458 00:15:34,940 --> 00:15:37,940 to put up with it, but more than just to put up with it, 459 00:15:37,940 --> 00:15:39,940 to take the hits yourself. 460 00:15:39,940 --> 00:15:41,540 We talked a little bit about that last week. 461 00:15:41,540 --> 00:15:45,860 To be willing to take the hits ourselves 462 00:15:45,860 --> 00:15:47,180 rather than that other person. 463 00:15:47,180 --> 00:15:49,300 So someone lies to us, yeah, we're hurt 464 00:15:49,300 --> 00:15:51,140 because they lied to us, right? 465 00:15:51,140 --> 00:15:54,420 But if you go back and punish them in some way for lying, 466 00:15:54,420 --> 00:15:58,020 then you're gonna feel somehow justified or vindicated 467 00:15:58,020 --> 00:16:00,700 or revenged, or avenged, right? 468 00:16:00,700 --> 00:16:02,220 And so you're gonna hurt a little less. 469 00:16:02,220 --> 00:16:03,540 Yeah, they got what they deserve, 470 00:16:03,540 --> 00:16:05,060 so now I don't really hurt because they lied to me, 471 00:16:05,060 --> 00:16:06,820 but they got what they deserved. 472 00:16:06,820 --> 00:16:08,900 But a person who endures all things 473 00:16:08,900 --> 00:16:10,580 would put up with that lying, 474 00:16:10,580 --> 00:16:12,020 they might confront that person, 475 00:16:12,020 --> 00:16:13,700 they might talk about it because it is a sin, 476 00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:15,060 and we'll get to that in a minute, 477 00:16:15,060 --> 00:16:17,580 but they're not gonna hold a grudge, 478 00:16:17,580 --> 00:16:19,140 they're not gonna fail to forgive, 479 00:16:19,140 --> 00:16:21,460 and they're not gonna keep throwing that person 480 00:16:21,460 --> 00:16:22,880 under the bus, so to speak, 481 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:25,340 because of the actions that they made. 482 00:16:25,340 --> 00:16:27,460 So when I say love is unreasonable, 483 00:16:27,460 --> 00:16:28,660 I think love seems unreasonable. 484 00:16:28,660 --> 00:16:30,340 We talk about that standard, 485 00:16:30,340 --> 00:16:32,380 and the standards are like, are you always patient? 486 00:16:32,380 --> 00:16:33,860 How long are we patient? 487 00:16:33,860 --> 00:16:35,180 How often are we patient? 488 00:16:35,180 --> 00:16:38,240 Remember the word patient there is every moment. 489 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:39,860 It's now and into the future. 490 00:16:39,860 --> 00:16:41,900 So every time you check, love is always patient. 491 00:16:41,900 --> 00:16:43,900 So if you love somebody, you're always patient. 492 00:16:43,900 --> 00:16:45,740 How long does your patience last? 493 00:16:45,740 --> 00:16:48,980 It always lasts because it's brand new in this moment. 494 00:16:48,980 --> 00:16:51,740 That's a pretty unreasonable expectation. 495 00:16:51,740 --> 00:16:56,120 The truth is that love, while being unreasonable like that, 496 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,540 is exactly what God is calling us to. 497 00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:01,300 There's a few things I want you to see in the text then. 498 00:17:01,300 --> 00:17:02,900 So the first one is, 499 00:17:02,900 --> 00:17:05,960 this love that seems so unreasonable is patient, 500 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:07,180 keeps no record of wrongs, 501 00:17:07,180 --> 00:17:09,000 doesn't spend time dwelling in bad actions. 502 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,620 This love that finds it pretty comfortable to overlook 503 00:17:11,620 --> 00:17:14,620 or more accurately to stubbornly hope for the best set 504 00:17:14,620 --> 00:17:17,140 of truths coming out of what really looks 505 00:17:17,140 --> 00:17:18,300 like a bad situation. 506 00:17:18,300 --> 00:17:19,860 This love that in marriage says, 507 00:17:19,860 --> 00:17:21,460 I am not what's best for you, 508 00:17:21,460 --> 00:17:23,220 but I want what's best for you. 509 00:17:23,220 --> 00:17:25,620 This love that in familial love says, I got you. 510 00:17:25,620 --> 00:17:26,880 I see what God is doing. 511 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:28,780 I see you want what God wants, 512 00:17:28,780 --> 00:17:31,100 even if you don't know you want what God wants. 513 00:17:31,100 --> 00:17:33,140 This love that in a church setting says 514 00:17:33,140 --> 00:17:35,580 that God has made me able to love you, 515 00:17:35,580 --> 00:17:37,260 erecting a tent, protecting you, 516 00:17:37,260 --> 00:17:40,540 continuing to have your best interest at heart 517 00:17:40,540 --> 00:17:43,140 and see the best assessment of you. 518 00:17:43,140 --> 00:17:44,380 That kind of love, 519 00:17:46,260 --> 00:17:48,660 that love then being unreasonable, 520 00:17:49,500 --> 00:17:53,140 discovers three things about itself that are in the text, 521 00:17:53,140 --> 00:17:55,460 or three weaknesses, if you will, that love has. 522 00:17:55,460 --> 00:17:57,900 And so you need to be aware of these weaknesses 523 00:17:57,900 --> 00:17:59,260 if you set out to love somebody 524 00:17:59,260 --> 00:18:01,700 because they will be your weaknesses in loving. 525 00:18:01,700 --> 00:18:02,900 And the first one is this, 526 00:18:02,900 --> 00:18:07,900 once love covers a multitude of sins, 527 00:18:08,020 --> 00:18:09,860 a transgression, a wickedness, 528 00:18:09,860 --> 00:18:14,860 once love does that, once it covers it, it's covered. 529 00:18:15,100 --> 00:18:18,060 And if that person is not walking in Christ, 530 00:18:19,420 --> 00:18:22,260 then that which is covered will not heal. 531 00:18:23,900 --> 00:18:25,340 Do you understand? 532 00:18:25,340 --> 00:18:26,660 Remember the x-ray? 533 00:18:26,660 --> 00:18:28,260 They wanted to check under the cast 534 00:18:28,260 --> 00:18:29,980 because they don't want to come back, 535 00:18:29,980 --> 00:18:31,780 cut the cast off, look at my hands, 536 00:18:31,780 --> 00:18:33,660 see if it was healing properly, 537 00:18:33,660 --> 00:18:36,100 and then put another cast on it for a while. 538 00:18:36,100 --> 00:18:39,100 So he scheduled an x-ray to look under the cast. 539 00:18:39,100 --> 00:18:40,780 So this love that we're talking about 540 00:18:40,780 --> 00:18:43,580 understands that sometimes someone does something to me, 541 00:18:43,580 --> 00:18:46,000 someone hurts me, and I love them, 542 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,180 so it covers their sin, covers their wickedness, 543 00:18:49,180 --> 00:18:50,500 covers their bad choice, 544 00:18:50,500 --> 00:18:53,980 expects good to come out of it and covers it up, right? 545 00:18:53,980 --> 00:18:56,780 But we know that that covered weakness, 546 00:18:56,780 --> 00:18:59,600 that covered sin, that covered wickedness 547 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:01,900 will not heal if that person is not 548 00:19:01,900 --> 00:19:03,600 in a proper relationship with God. 549 00:19:04,740 --> 00:19:07,540 So because worldly love knows this 550 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:12,220 and uses it to prove itself necessary 551 00:19:12,220 --> 00:19:14,780 and then by this co-dependent relationships are created. 552 00:19:14,780 --> 00:19:17,720 So let's say Ron Mack does something wrong. 553 00:19:18,780 --> 00:19:21,860 Ron Mack does something wrong and he knows it's wrong. 554 00:19:21,860 --> 00:19:24,380 And then I know it's wrong. 555 00:19:24,380 --> 00:19:27,980 And I say, no big deal, I'm not gonna worry about it. 556 00:19:27,980 --> 00:19:29,900 I'm not gonna say anything about it. 557 00:19:29,900 --> 00:19:32,380 I love Ron Mack, so I'm just gonna brush it under the rug 558 00:19:32,380 --> 00:19:33,460 and everything's forgotten. 559 00:19:33,460 --> 00:19:35,860 Now Ron Mack knew it was wrong 560 00:19:35,860 --> 00:19:37,900 and he knew that I knew it was wrong. 561 00:19:38,780 --> 00:19:41,460 He also knows if he had another friend, 562 00:19:41,460 --> 00:19:43,540 that other friend might have handled that differently. 563 00:19:43,540 --> 00:19:45,540 They might have blown up, got mad, 564 00:19:45,540 --> 00:19:47,260 or they might have said, 565 00:19:47,260 --> 00:19:51,340 well, you need to correct this thing, whatever, right? 566 00:19:51,340 --> 00:19:54,020 And so because of that, now Ron Mack chooses me 567 00:19:54,020 --> 00:19:56,980 to be his friend because it's convenient to be his friend. 568 00:19:56,980 --> 00:19:59,340 It's convenient for him because I don't confront him. 569 00:19:59,340 --> 00:20:00,340 I don't cause difficulty. 570 00:20:00,340 --> 00:20:01,780 I don't get upset. 571 00:20:01,780 --> 00:20:02,940 I don't provoke. 572 00:20:02,940 --> 00:20:04,180 I don't throw a fit. 573 00:20:04,180 --> 00:20:08,100 And so the world fakes this kind of love by saying, 574 00:20:08,100 --> 00:20:13,100 whatever you do is fine, just you do you and I'll do me 575 00:20:13,100 --> 00:20:15,440 and I'm still here if you ever wanna talk or whatever, 576 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:16,620 but you just do whatever you wanna do 577 00:20:16,620 --> 00:20:17,660 and I'm never gonna confront you. 578 00:20:17,660 --> 00:20:18,700 I'm never gonna talk to you about it. 579 00:20:18,700 --> 00:20:20,180 I'm never gonna get upset. 580 00:20:20,180 --> 00:20:22,440 I'm never gonna let it bother me. 581 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,460 One wicked desire then supplements another, 582 00:20:25,460 --> 00:20:28,300 but this is not love, right? 583 00:20:28,300 --> 00:20:32,100 Because to just let someone stumble into the darkness 584 00:20:32,100 --> 00:20:32,920 and break their foot, 585 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,060 to just let someone run across broken glass, 586 00:20:35,060 --> 00:20:37,680 to just let someone step into a fire 587 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,540 when you could easily say, hey, what are you doing? 588 00:20:40,540 --> 00:20:42,840 Just let someone take a very addictive drug 589 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:44,580 when you could easily say, hey, that's not good. 590 00:20:44,580 --> 00:20:45,420 Don't do that. 591 00:20:45,420 --> 00:20:46,860 Don't take it the first time. 592 00:20:46,860 --> 00:20:50,320 Any of those kinds of things, those things are not loving. 593 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:54,100 Love is cautious with this step. 594 00:20:54,100 --> 00:20:57,500 When we deal with accountability, 595 00:20:57,500 --> 00:21:02,500 love prefers not to. 596 00:21:03,260 --> 00:21:04,540 That's the bottom line. 597 00:21:04,540 --> 00:21:07,260 So you don't prefer not to do accountability 598 00:21:07,260 --> 00:21:11,260 because you don't wanna deal with the confrontation, 599 00:21:11,260 --> 00:21:12,340 don't wanna deal with the conflict, 600 00:21:12,340 --> 00:21:14,580 don't wanna speak up, don't wanna have an argument, 601 00:21:14,580 --> 00:21:16,220 don't want it to be a problem. 602 00:21:16,220 --> 00:21:17,740 Those are all human reasons, right? 603 00:21:17,740 --> 00:21:18,900 That's self-seeking. 604 00:21:18,900 --> 00:21:21,780 Love does not seek itself, right? 605 00:21:21,780 --> 00:21:24,220 Rather, you do it because you believe 606 00:21:24,220 --> 00:21:26,300 the best about the person. 607 00:21:26,300 --> 00:21:28,940 Love covers that person, 608 00:21:28,940 --> 00:21:31,420 believing in the promises and the powers of God, 609 00:21:31,420 --> 00:21:34,040 hoping for the best of that person, 610 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:37,580 even enduring the pain while God brings the conclusion 611 00:21:37,580 --> 00:21:39,260 that good work that he has begun. 612 00:21:41,820 --> 00:21:43,300 But there is a problem. 613 00:21:43,300 --> 00:21:47,140 This is the realm of the first weakness of love. 614 00:21:47,140 --> 00:21:49,740 Paul writes it this way in 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 5. 615 00:21:49,740 --> 00:21:53,820 He says, for this cause, when I could no longer forbear, 616 00:21:54,820 --> 00:21:57,180 I sent to know your faith, 617 00:21:57,180 --> 00:22:00,480 lest by some means the tempter have tempted you 618 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,060 and our labor be in vain, 1 Thessalonians 3, 5. 619 00:22:03,060 --> 00:22:05,260 And that word right there, when he says 620 00:22:05,260 --> 00:22:09,500 could no longer forbear, guess what word it is? 621 00:22:09,500 --> 00:22:13,820 It's the same word as love bears all things. 622 00:22:13,820 --> 00:22:15,840 So in other words, he got to the point 623 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:18,380 where he could no longer cover. 624 00:22:18,380 --> 00:22:23,220 He could no longer provide the shelter for them. 625 00:22:23,220 --> 00:22:24,500 And at that moment in time, 626 00:22:24,500 --> 00:22:27,180 he realized there was something he had to do. 627 00:22:27,180 --> 00:22:31,620 He had to verify that God was at work in them. 628 00:22:31,620 --> 00:22:35,260 Love asks, and love is most importantly, 629 00:22:35,260 --> 00:22:37,960 looking for the presence of love. 630 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,700 That's how we wind up with Matthew chapter 18, 631 00:22:40,700 --> 00:22:44,660 beginning in verse 15, where Jesus is teaching them. 632 00:22:44,660 --> 00:22:46,140 And he says, if someone sins, 633 00:22:46,140 --> 00:22:49,420 you go and privately show them their sin. 634 00:22:49,420 --> 00:22:50,860 And then if they won't hear it, 635 00:22:50,860 --> 00:22:52,580 you go back again with one or two others. 636 00:22:52,580 --> 00:22:53,540 And if they still won't hear it, 637 00:22:53,540 --> 00:22:54,820 then you take it in front of the church. 638 00:22:54,820 --> 00:22:56,100 And if they still won't hear it, 639 00:22:56,100 --> 00:23:00,580 then you treat them as a tax collector or a heathen, right? 640 00:23:00,580 --> 00:23:02,240 Somebody who is unsaved. 641 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,940 You treat them as somebody who does not know the Lord. 642 00:23:04,940 --> 00:23:05,780 And what does that mean? 643 00:23:05,780 --> 00:23:07,940 Well, that means you love them, 644 00:23:07,940 --> 00:23:10,500 but you persevere in the hope and belief 645 00:23:10,500 --> 00:23:13,420 that they will eventually repent and turn to God. 646 00:23:13,420 --> 00:23:18,420 Because we forbear long, because we cover long, 647 00:23:20,300 --> 00:23:22,060 because we go a long way, 648 00:23:22,060 --> 00:23:25,280 this is what leaves no room for gossip or slander. 649 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,280 Let's assume for a moment somebody in the church 650 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:33,420 or somebody in your family or somebody you love hurt you, 651 00:23:33,420 --> 00:23:35,700 or they persisted in wickedness. 652 00:23:35,700 --> 00:23:36,980 They did something that was wrong. 653 00:23:36,980 --> 00:23:40,060 And that only hurts you truly the worst 654 00:23:40,060 --> 00:23:42,180 because it's bad for them and you love them 655 00:23:42,180 --> 00:23:44,100 and you don't wanna see that, right? 656 00:23:44,100 --> 00:23:45,300 But that's going on. 657 00:23:46,420 --> 00:23:47,580 And you're covering it. 658 00:23:49,020 --> 00:23:49,940 You're covering, I got this. 659 00:23:49,940 --> 00:23:51,460 I'm taking the hits. 660 00:23:51,460 --> 00:23:53,620 I'm enduring in tribulation. 661 00:23:53,620 --> 00:23:55,780 I'm supporting them and I'm talking to them about it, 662 00:23:55,780 --> 00:23:57,580 but I'm trying to get them to get past it, 663 00:23:57,580 --> 00:23:59,040 but I'm covering it. 664 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:00,940 And then your friend in the church, 665 00:24:00,940 --> 00:24:03,060 your brother or sister in the church comes up 666 00:24:03,060 --> 00:24:07,240 and they talk to you about what that person is doing. 667 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:08,960 They start to gossip. 668 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,820 Well, did you notice how Sally does this? 669 00:24:11,820 --> 00:24:13,940 Did you notice how she does that? 670 00:24:13,940 --> 00:24:14,960 I have a problem with that. 671 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:16,100 I see that as wickedness. 672 00:24:16,100 --> 00:24:18,620 I think we should do something about it. 673 00:24:18,620 --> 00:24:20,780 But you're still covering that. 674 00:24:20,780 --> 00:24:23,260 You know it's there, but you're taking the hits for it. 675 00:24:23,260 --> 00:24:24,080 You're covering it. 676 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:25,300 You're working with that person 677 00:24:25,300 --> 00:24:27,280 to hopefully get them where they gotta go. 678 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:28,540 So then now this person comes and, 679 00:24:28,540 --> 00:24:30,620 you see, there's no place for that. 680 00:24:30,620 --> 00:24:32,240 That's like, have you ever been sleeping 681 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:34,020 and it was real cold and somebody came up 682 00:24:34,020 --> 00:24:36,300 and yanked the covers off of you? 683 00:24:36,300 --> 00:24:38,060 But that's what we're talking about, right? 684 00:24:38,060 --> 00:24:39,820 There's no place for that. 685 00:24:39,820 --> 00:24:41,520 There's no place to take the cover off 686 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:43,300 because love covers. 687 00:24:43,300 --> 00:24:44,540 That's what love does. 688 00:24:44,540 --> 00:24:46,540 But at the same time, there is a time 689 00:24:46,540 --> 00:24:48,980 at which love can no longer cover, right? 690 00:24:48,980 --> 00:24:50,300 So said Paul. 691 00:24:50,300 --> 00:24:52,900 So then that person comes 692 00:24:52,900 --> 00:24:54,460 and they're gossiping to you about them. 693 00:24:54,460 --> 00:24:55,740 And now the truth is, 694 00:24:55,740 --> 00:24:57,980 you've gotta cover that person's gossip. 695 00:24:57,980 --> 00:24:59,220 First you gotta cover the person 696 00:24:59,220 --> 00:25:00,360 that you were already covering. 697 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:03,180 So you say something like, yeah, it's bad. 698 00:25:03,180 --> 00:25:04,620 You know, I hear what you're saying. 699 00:25:04,620 --> 00:25:06,220 When people do that, I'm not talking about them, 700 00:25:06,220 --> 00:25:09,340 but when people do that, that is bad, right? 701 00:25:09,340 --> 00:25:12,660 But I'm sure that's not what Sally means 702 00:25:12,660 --> 00:25:14,740 or Sally means the best, right? 703 00:25:14,740 --> 00:25:17,360 So we're trying, you know, Sally's taking care of it 704 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:18,820 or Sally's working on it. 705 00:25:18,820 --> 00:25:20,420 And then the person who come to gossip you says, 706 00:25:20,420 --> 00:25:22,180 well, why are you defending her? 707 00:25:23,660 --> 00:25:26,020 Right, or why are you on her side? 708 00:25:26,020 --> 00:25:27,860 Right, so now you're covering the person 709 00:25:27,860 --> 00:25:30,020 who came to gossip or slander to you 710 00:25:30,020 --> 00:25:32,300 because if you respond to their gossip or slander, 711 00:25:32,300 --> 00:25:33,140 now they have a sin. 712 00:25:33,140 --> 00:25:34,420 So now you've gotta cover the person 713 00:25:34,420 --> 00:25:37,700 you were first covering and cover the gossiper. 714 00:25:37,700 --> 00:25:39,500 And it gets real tiring. 715 00:25:39,500 --> 00:25:40,980 And so you say to the gossip, 716 00:25:40,980 --> 00:25:43,560 okay, you know, don't talk to me about Sally. 717 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:44,860 If you have a problem with Sally, 718 00:25:44,860 --> 00:25:46,820 you think Sally's in sin and you're not willing 719 00:25:46,820 --> 00:25:50,020 to cover that sin, then you go and talk to Sally. 720 00:25:50,020 --> 00:25:51,300 But you don't talk to me about Sally 721 00:25:51,300 --> 00:25:52,140 and I'm not gonna respond. 722 00:25:52,140 --> 00:25:53,620 I'm not gonna respond to anything that you said today 723 00:25:53,620 --> 00:25:55,300 other than to tell you, you shouldn't be talking 724 00:25:55,300 --> 00:25:56,140 to me about her. 725 00:25:56,140 --> 00:25:56,960 If you've got something to say, 726 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:58,220 you should be saying it to her. 727 00:25:58,220 --> 00:25:59,940 See, this doesn't leave room 728 00:25:59,940 --> 00:26:02,860 because how long do you forbear? 729 00:26:02,860 --> 00:26:06,140 How long do you hold off before you have to go 730 00:26:06,140 --> 00:26:08,180 to Matthew 18 accountability? 731 00:26:08,180 --> 00:26:09,940 You go until you know it's sin. 732 00:26:09,940 --> 00:26:11,460 That's when you're supposed to go. 733 00:26:11,460 --> 00:26:13,140 And by then you've already had a conversation with a person 734 00:26:13,140 --> 00:26:14,300 and you're working through it with them 735 00:26:14,300 --> 00:26:15,660 and now somebody comes and gossiped you 736 00:26:15,660 --> 00:26:18,180 like Yankee and the cover's off, it's not gonna work. 737 00:26:18,180 --> 00:26:20,260 Right, so now you're covering for them too. 738 00:26:20,260 --> 00:26:22,140 The point is, how long do you forbear? 739 00:26:22,140 --> 00:26:24,340 You forbear until you can't forbear anymore. 740 00:26:26,380 --> 00:26:28,340 Love bears all things. 741 00:26:29,780 --> 00:26:33,880 And so you don't get mad at the person who's gossiping. 742 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:35,220 You don't throw a fit at them. 743 00:26:35,220 --> 00:26:36,940 You're not provoked, because why? 744 00:26:36,940 --> 00:26:38,100 Because you love them. 745 00:26:38,100 --> 00:26:40,440 But at the same time, you don't take part 746 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:42,900 in their transgressions. 747 00:26:44,100 --> 00:26:47,060 Because it takes time for us to be able to switch modes 748 00:26:47,060 --> 00:26:48,020 and we're still covering, 749 00:26:48,020 --> 00:26:50,500 gossip and slander are disallowed. 750 00:26:50,500 --> 00:26:52,700 And that's one of the reasons why the Bible says 751 00:26:52,700 --> 00:26:54,560 you can't do those things. 752 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:56,860 Otherwise you create strife between there. 753 00:26:56,860 --> 00:26:58,940 That's one of the reasons why it says 754 00:26:58,940 --> 00:27:03,040 that the one who lets go or the one who doesn't bring up 755 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:07,620 a transgression brings about peace, promotes love. 756 00:27:08,540 --> 00:27:11,740 The second thing that's a weakness of love is this. 757 00:27:11,740 --> 00:27:14,860 Love can take the shortcut of making excuses 758 00:27:14,860 --> 00:27:17,860 or being ready to take the excuses of the person 759 00:27:17,860 --> 00:27:19,000 that love loves. 760 00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:23,620 My goodness, as human beings, we are so good at excuses. 761 00:27:23,620 --> 00:27:24,700 We're super good. 762 00:27:24,700 --> 00:27:27,580 We know why we can't do what we don't wanna do. 763 00:27:27,580 --> 00:27:29,940 And if you don't know why, as soon as you try to figure out 764 00:27:29,940 --> 00:27:31,840 why you can't do what you don't wanna do, 765 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,620 you'll find a list of excuses. 766 00:27:34,620 --> 00:27:38,220 I go, it's funny because right now it pops in my head, 767 00:27:38,220 --> 00:27:40,740 scene from the movie Terminator, where he's first there. 768 00:27:40,740 --> 00:27:42,340 It's in the first movie, he's first there. 769 00:27:42,340 --> 00:27:44,500 And the guy comes banging on the door 770 00:27:44,500 --> 00:27:47,660 and he gets a list of things in his visor and his eye 771 00:27:47,660 --> 00:27:50,740 to choose from what he's gonna say that fits the situation. 772 00:27:50,740 --> 00:27:52,940 And he chooses some vulgarity, he cusses the guy 773 00:27:52,940 --> 00:27:54,480 and the guy leaves the door, right? 774 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:55,320 That's us. 775 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:56,380 We're walking around going, 776 00:27:56,380 --> 00:27:57,820 well, I wanna do what God wants me to do, 777 00:27:57,820 --> 00:27:59,460 but here, this is to my face. 778 00:27:59,460 --> 00:28:00,320 This is to my liking. 779 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:01,160 I like this. 780 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:02,340 I like how it makes me feel. 781 00:28:02,340 --> 00:28:03,580 And so I guess I'm gonna do that, 782 00:28:03,580 --> 00:28:05,060 even though I don't think that's what God wants me to do. 783 00:28:05,060 --> 00:28:06,900 Now, what is my reason? 784 00:28:06,900 --> 00:28:08,300 What is my excuse? 785 00:28:08,300 --> 00:28:09,300 Because God is sovereign. 786 00:28:09,300 --> 00:28:10,140 I know he's real. 787 00:28:10,140 --> 00:28:11,300 He's the Lord of the universe. 788 00:28:11,300 --> 00:28:12,400 He's the master of all. 789 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:13,660 He's the creator of all. 790 00:28:13,660 --> 00:28:14,860 He sent his own son to die for me. 791 00:28:14,860 --> 00:28:15,680 I got all that. 792 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:16,660 I figured all that out. 793 00:28:16,660 --> 00:28:18,580 But now I don't wanna do what God wants me to do. 794 00:28:18,580 --> 00:28:20,060 So now what is my reason? 795 00:28:20,060 --> 00:28:22,820 Believe me, everybody that is intentionally choosing 796 00:28:22,820 --> 00:28:24,500 not to do what God wants them to do 797 00:28:24,500 --> 00:28:26,600 has a list of excuses to choose from. 798 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,660 They may use a certain excuse with you or with me 799 00:28:29,660 --> 00:28:31,620 and a different excuse with somebody else. 800 00:28:31,620 --> 00:28:33,220 Everybody's got an excuse. 801 00:28:33,220 --> 00:28:34,860 Sin is sin no matter what, 802 00:28:34,860 --> 00:28:37,100 if you've got an excuse or not, bless you. 803 00:28:37,100 --> 00:28:39,820 And so what we tend to do, 804 00:28:39,820 --> 00:28:41,740 what love tends to do because we love them 805 00:28:41,740 --> 00:28:43,260 and because we're trying to forbear 806 00:28:43,260 --> 00:28:45,700 is we accept their excuses. 807 00:28:45,700 --> 00:28:47,540 Now this feels like a win 808 00:28:47,540 --> 00:28:50,220 because the person is uncomfortable when confronted 809 00:28:50,220 --> 00:28:52,460 and we don't wanna make them uncomfortable. 810 00:28:52,460 --> 00:28:54,580 The confrontation is uncomfortable 811 00:28:54,580 --> 00:28:57,100 and the confrontation feels like a lack of patience, 812 00:28:57,100 --> 00:28:59,860 a lack of enduring hardship, a lack of kindness, 813 00:28:59,860 --> 00:29:04,860 keeping a record of wrongs or dwelling on the bad behavior. 814 00:29:05,060 --> 00:29:07,380 But the truth is that God is revealing 815 00:29:07,380 --> 00:29:09,860 in this passage of scripture and all throughout the Bible 816 00:29:09,860 --> 00:29:12,180 is that this is an attempt by the enemy 817 00:29:12,180 --> 00:29:13,820 to subvert these very things. 818 00:29:13,820 --> 00:29:15,340 Just the same as people will say to you, 819 00:29:15,340 --> 00:29:19,260 judge not lest you be judged, don't judge others, right? 820 00:29:19,260 --> 00:29:21,540 Because they know they're in sin and they can't have no, 821 00:29:21,540 --> 00:29:23,180 now it's been exposed, 822 00:29:23,180 --> 00:29:24,660 they have no excuse for why they're doing what they're doing 823 00:29:24,660 --> 00:29:25,660 but they'll say don't judge them. 824 00:29:25,660 --> 00:29:29,140 They're misusing that verse to protect themselves 825 00:29:29,140 --> 00:29:30,780 and the enemy is doing the same thing here. 826 00:29:30,780 --> 00:29:35,020 He's trying to make you think you have to 827 00:29:35,020 --> 00:29:37,900 take their excuses in order to be considered patient, 828 00:29:37,900 --> 00:29:40,520 kind, enduring hardship, et cetera. 829 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:42,380 The enemy knows what these verses say 830 00:29:42,380 --> 00:29:44,180 even better than we used to know them. 831 00:29:44,180 --> 00:29:46,700 I'm not sure now better than we know them now 832 00:29:46,700 --> 00:29:49,360 but now having looked long into them, 833 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:52,380 we can clearly see that every one of those excuses 834 00:29:52,380 --> 00:29:56,300 is a bandaid designed to make the person's lack of healing 835 00:29:56,300 --> 00:30:00,020 look reasonable, designed to make the lack of love 836 00:30:00,020 --> 00:30:02,900 and growth in the person look reasonable, 837 00:30:02,900 --> 00:30:05,300 designed to make the reasonableness of failing 838 00:30:05,300 --> 00:30:08,900 in whatever aspects make our faith and hope seem weak 839 00:30:08,900 --> 00:30:10,420 or flawed or ineffective. 840 00:30:10,420 --> 00:30:11,700 So listen, I'm gonna repeat that 841 00:30:11,700 --> 00:30:14,060 because it was confusing, okay? 842 00:30:14,060 --> 00:30:17,060 What we do is we take their excuse 843 00:30:17,060 --> 00:30:19,740 because we say if we don't take their excuse, 844 00:30:19,740 --> 00:30:21,060 that's not love. 845 00:30:21,060 --> 00:30:23,500 And we think we're not being patient 846 00:30:23,500 --> 00:30:25,980 or enduring hardship or whatever. 847 00:30:25,980 --> 00:30:28,620 But actually what's happening there is 848 00:30:28,620 --> 00:30:32,220 we are being required by an unseen force 849 00:30:32,220 --> 00:30:33,780 and I submit to you it's an enemy. 850 00:30:33,780 --> 00:30:36,140 It's your flesh, it's evil spirits, it's Satan, 851 00:30:36,140 --> 00:30:38,340 you take it however you want. 852 00:30:38,340 --> 00:30:43,340 To accept their excuses because their excuse says they can't. 853 00:30:43,420 --> 00:30:46,140 Typically that's what it's, I can't, I'm too busy, 854 00:30:46,140 --> 00:30:49,140 I'm sick, I'm hurting, I don't have the money, whatever. 855 00:30:49,140 --> 00:30:52,340 So their excuse says they can't do what's right 856 00:30:52,340 --> 00:30:57,020 and if we don't agree with that, then we seem not loving. 857 00:30:57,020 --> 00:31:00,780 But the actual goal of that is to break up your faith, 858 00:31:00,780 --> 00:31:02,660 is to disrupt your faith. 859 00:31:02,660 --> 00:31:04,820 All it's really coming against is your hope 860 00:31:04,820 --> 00:31:06,740 and your belief that God can do in them 861 00:31:06,740 --> 00:31:07,580 what God says he can do. 862 00:31:07,580 --> 00:31:10,500 So when so and so says I can't worship, 863 00:31:10,500 --> 00:31:12,300 for example they'll say I can't sing, 864 00:31:12,300 --> 00:31:13,540 I'm gonna pick on people and I don't mean 865 00:31:13,540 --> 00:31:14,380 to throw anybody on the bus, 866 00:31:14,380 --> 00:31:15,700 I'm just using an illustration, okay? 867 00:31:15,700 --> 00:31:18,020 I can't sing because I don't have a good voice. 868 00:31:18,020 --> 00:31:20,740 When you say I can't sing because I don't have a good voice, 869 00:31:20,740 --> 00:31:23,180 you challenge the faith of every believer 870 00:31:23,180 --> 00:31:25,420 that knows that the scripture says, 871 00:31:26,860 --> 00:31:28,380 praise the Lord with your voice. 872 00:31:29,220 --> 00:31:30,580 Sing praise. 873 00:31:30,580 --> 00:31:33,220 So you're actually challenging the faith of your loved ones. 874 00:31:33,220 --> 00:31:36,140 You're disrupting their hope that God will do in you 875 00:31:36,140 --> 00:31:38,940 what God says he will do, which is make a joyful noise. 876 00:31:40,140 --> 00:31:42,860 If you say, those who say well I can't tithe 877 00:31:42,860 --> 00:31:44,660 because I don't have enough money. 878 00:31:44,660 --> 00:31:48,140 You're challenging the faith, the hope of that person 879 00:31:48,140 --> 00:31:50,820 that here's your excuse, you're challenging their faith, 880 00:31:50,820 --> 00:31:53,420 making them think that God is not big enough 881 00:31:53,420 --> 00:31:57,700 to make you able to tithe or give like he says he will. 882 00:31:57,700 --> 00:31:59,580 He says test me in this and I will surely show you, 883 00:31:59,580 --> 00:32:00,780 I will open up the doors of heaven 884 00:32:00,780 --> 00:32:02,100 and pour out the blessings. 885 00:32:02,100 --> 00:32:03,660 That's what God says. 886 00:32:03,660 --> 00:32:07,180 And so God makes promises and then you make excuses 887 00:32:07,180 --> 00:32:08,700 and then people who love you are forced 888 00:32:08,700 --> 00:32:10,740 to accept your excuses because they think 889 00:32:10,740 --> 00:32:12,300 it's not loving to not do so, 890 00:32:12,300 --> 00:32:15,620 which actually challenges their faith and their hope. 891 00:32:15,620 --> 00:32:18,860 And by the way, love believes all things, 892 00:32:18,860 --> 00:32:19,740 love hopes all things. 893 00:32:19,740 --> 00:32:22,660 So at the moment that they are challenged in their faith 894 00:32:22,660 --> 00:32:26,460 by your excuses, they now fail to love you. 895 00:32:27,620 --> 00:32:30,020 What they are doing is not love. 896 00:32:30,020 --> 00:32:31,260 You get it? 897 00:32:31,260 --> 00:32:32,940 That's what the enemy is all about. 898 00:32:32,940 --> 00:32:36,220 He is trying to strip the love out of our love. 899 00:32:36,220 --> 00:32:38,900 And the easiest place to attack that is by 900 00:32:38,900 --> 00:32:42,940 in belief and in hope, which you can't quantify. 901 00:32:42,940 --> 00:32:46,020 You can't say here's my faith, this is how much I have. 902 00:32:46,020 --> 00:32:48,860 I have this much or I have a pouch or a pocket of faith. 903 00:32:48,860 --> 00:32:49,780 I have a pocket of hope. 904 00:32:49,780 --> 00:32:51,300 I still have hope for you. 905 00:32:51,300 --> 00:32:52,420 And how much hope do you have? 906 00:32:52,420 --> 00:32:53,700 Well, a lot of breadbox. 907 00:32:53,700 --> 00:32:54,540 You can't do that. 908 00:32:54,540 --> 00:32:56,260 So you can't qualify that. 909 00:32:56,260 --> 00:32:57,700 But the other actions are all things 910 00:32:57,700 --> 00:32:58,740 that you can for sure do. 911 00:32:58,740 --> 00:33:01,180 And if you say you believe in God working in me, 912 00:33:01,180 --> 00:33:03,380 you say you hope that I will turn out okay, 913 00:33:03,380 --> 00:33:05,060 you hope that things will go right, 914 00:33:05,060 --> 00:33:06,580 I have to take that faith's value, 915 00:33:06,580 --> 00:33:09,660 I have to believe that you're telling me the truth. 916 00:33:09,660 --> 00:33:13,540 But I'm telling you today that if you accept my excuses, 917 00:33:13,540 --> 00:33:14,940 I know you're a liar. 918 00:33:15,940 --> 00:33:17,580 Because that's what the word says. 919 00:33:17,580 --> 00:33:19,780 When we accept the excuses of the person 920 00:33:19,780 --> 00:33:21,820 and they have a good excuse for wickedness, 921 00:33:21,820 --> 00:33:23,460 a good excuse for transgression even, 922 00:33:23,460 --> 00:33:25,540 might be a relatively mild thing in our eyes. 923 00:33:25,540 --> 00:33:27,820 When we accept their excuses, 924 00:33:27,820 --> 00:33:31,380 then that is a challenge to hope and the promises of God. 925 00:33:31,380 --> 00:33:36,700 And then in accepting them, we are not practicing love. 926 00:33:36,700 --> 00:33:40,820 Sin is sin, even if we have a very good reason. 927 00:33:40,820 --> 00:33:44,860 Sin is sin, even if we don't even know that we're sinning. 928 00:33:44,860 --> 00:33:46,140 You get that? 929 00:33:46,140 --> 00:33:48,780 So you can be doing something thinking it's good. 930 00:33:48,780 --> 00:33:50,700 And then God says, just a minute, 931 00:33:50,700 --> 00:33:52,820 or sends somebody to say, hey, hold up a second. 932 00:33:52,820 --> 00:33:53,980 Or you read in the Bible and go, 933 00:33:53,980 --> 00:33:56,900 has anybody here ever been reading in the Bible 934 00:33:56,900 --> 00:33:58,540 and the word says don't do that, 935 00:33:58,540 --> 00:34:00,500 and you're like, oh, I do that. 936 00:34:00,500 --> 00:34:01,980 It's sin, me, yeah, I think it's, 937 00:34:01,980 --> 00:34:03,380 we can all be raising our hands, probably, 938 00:34:03,380 --> 00:34:04,740 you should be if you're not reading your Bible enough, 939 00:34:04,740 --> 00:34:05,580 if you're not. 940 00:34:05,580 --> 00:34:07,620 The Bible corrects, that's one of the things it does. 941 00:34:07,620 --> 00:34:09,660 Paul wrote to Timothy, the Bible corrects. 942 00:34:09,660 --> 00:34:12,060 And so there it is. 943 00:34:12,060 --> 00:34:14,060 And if you would then say, 944 00:34:14,060 --> 00:34:17,300 well, I'm not gonna be corrected, well, that's not love. 945 00:34:17,300 --> 00:34:19,260 And if you would make up a good excuse, 946 00:34:19,260 --> 00:34:21,780 that doesn't make it not sin. 947 00:34:21,780 --> 00:34:24,780 And if somebody accepts your excuses for your sin, 948 00:34:24,780 --> 00:34:26,220 then they are not loving you. 949 00:34:27,980 --> 00:34:29,500 Now that doesn't mean they're gonna yell at you 950 00:34:29,500 --> 00:34:30,980 or punch you in the face 951 00:34:30,980 --> 00:34:33,060 because you said you don't wanna do something. 952 00:34:33,060 --> 00:34:34,140 Or it doesn't mean they're gonna treat you 953 00:34:34,140 --> 00:34:37,260 with terrible disrespect or throw you out of their lives. 954 00:34:37,260 --> 00:34:39,300 It may mean that eventually they will treat you 955 00:34:39,300 --> 00:34:41,820 like a tax collector or a sinner. 956 00:34:41,820 --> 00:34:42,780 And what does that mean? 957 00:34:42,780 --> 00:34:43,740 That means they love you, 958 00:34:43,740 --> 00:34:45,540 hoping you will come to Christ. 959 00:34:48,020 --> 00:34:52,580 Calls to repentance are the glowing examples of love. 960 00:34:52,580 --> 00:34:54,580 Now repentance does not mean turn from your sin. 961 00:34:54,580 --> 00:34:56,300 We've covered that before. 962 00:34:56,300 --> 00:34:58,260 Unless you mean turn from all sin, 963 00:34:58,260 --> 00:34:59,300 and the only way you can do that 964 00:34:59,300 --> 00:35:00,740 is to turn to God. 965 00:35:00,740 --> 00:35:02,140 That's what repentance means. 966 00:35:02,140 --> 00:35:03,460 So when you go into a situation 967 00:35:03,460 --> 00:35:05,860 and you see that a person has a transgression, 968 00:35:05,860 --> 00:35:08,380 you call them to turn to God. 969 00:35:08,380 --> 00:35:09,460 You don't call them to turn away 970 00:35:09,460 --> 00:35:10,860 from the specific thing that they're doing. 971 00:35:10,860 --> 00:35:12,740 They should stop doing it, that's true, 972 00:35:12,740 --> 00:35:13,860 but they should turn to God. 973 00:35:13,860 --> 00:35:15,340 And calls to repentance 974 00:35:15,340 --> 00:35:18,620 are the perfect glowing examples of love. 975 00:35:18,620 --> 00:35:20,900 Love can say, I will continue to love you 976 00:35:20,900 --> 00:35:23,380 without supporting this choice. 977 00:35:23,380 --> 00:35:26,300 I can and will know it for what it is 978 00:35:26,300 --> 00:35:30,260 while still wanting the very best for you. 979 00:35:30,260 --> 00:35:33,820 Love is cautious to go beyond this step 980 00:35:33,820 --> 00:35:35,540 and so involves other believers. 981 00:35:35,540 --> 00:35:37,540 Remember Matthew 18? 982 00:35:37,540 --> 00:35:38,900 First I come to you and I say, 983 00:35:38,900 --> 00:35:39,980 hey look, I have an issue. 984 00:35:39,980 --> 00:35:41,860 Natalie, I think this is sin. 985 00:35:41,860 --> 00:35:42,700 I don't think that's right. 986 00:35:42,700 --> 00:35:43,540 I think you should change it. 987 00:35:43,540 --> 00:35:44,980 And you say to me, no, well, 988 00:35:44,980 --> 00:35:46,980 I don't think you're right, Pastor Dan. 989 00:35:46,980 --> 00:35:47,900 I think I'm fine. 990 00:35:47,900 --> 00:35:48,740 My motivations are good. 991 00:35:48,740 --> 00:35:49,560 My heart is pure. 992 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:50,460 I think I'm okay. 993 00:35:50,460 --> 00:35:52,540 So I come back to you with one or two other people. 994 00:35:52,540 --> 00:35:53,780 They listen to my concerns. 995 00:35:53,780 --> 00:35:54,980 You listen to my concerns. 996 00:35:54,980 --> 00:35:56,780 And then they tell me, Pastor Dan, 997 00:35:56,780 --> 00:35:57,860 you're overstepping here. 998 00:35:57,860 --> 00:35:59,620 I don't really think Natalie isn't sin. 999 00:35:59,620 --> 00:36:01,940 At which point then I am informed in my choice 1000 00:36:01,940 --> 00:36:04,140 and I can love you while you work through 1001 00:36:04,140 --> 00:36:05,140 whatever you're working through, 1002 00:36:05,140 --> 00:36:07,260 even though they're telling me that that's not sin 1003 00:36:07,260 --> 00:36:08,540 and I feel like it is. 1004 00:36:08,540 --> 00:36:11,100 My understanding of sin isn't better than yours. 1005 00:36:11,980 --> 00:36:13,940 It's not how this works. 1006 00:36:13,940 --> 00:36:15,660 There are no, and I'm gonna be mean here, 1007 00:36:15,660 --> 00:36:18,620 but there are no real popes in the world. 1008 00:36:18,620 --> 00:36:21,820 There's only one guy that's elected and he ain't it. 1009 00:36:21,820 --> 00:36:23,980 Jesus is the high priest of all the priests 1010 00:36:23,980 --> 00:36:25,140 and we are the priests. 1011 00:36:25,140 --> 00:36:26,500 That's the order of things. 1012 00:36:26,500 --> 00:36:28,860 So when you know you have sin, you repent and turn to God. 1013 00:36:28,860 --> 00:36:30,340 And when somebody else has sin and you know it, 1014 00:36:30,340 --> 00:36:32,020 you go and talk to them about it in a loving way 1015 00:36:32,020 --> 00:36:33,100 and ask them to turn to God. 1016 00:36:33,100 --> 00:36:34,700 And if they refuse, you take another one or two. 1017 00:36:34,700 --> 00:36:37,460 And if it's still there, still looks like sin 1018 00:36:37,460 --> 00:36:39,180 and those one or two other people agree with you 1019 00:36:39,180 --> 00:36:40,540 and they think it's sin too, 1020 00:36:40,540 --> 00:36:41,580 and it's still not turned from, 1021 00:36:41,580 --> 00:36:43,180 then you take it to the church. 1022 00:36:44,100 --> 00:36:45,980 That's our protection. 1023 00:36:45,980 --> 00:36:47,260 That's our caution. 1024 00:36:47,260 --> 00:36:51,620 So that we're not ripping that cover off prematurely. 1025 00:36:51,620 --> 00:36:55,420 If you persist in this course, then we will treat you 1026 00:36:55,420 --> 00:36:56,860 as a sinner and a tax collector, 1027 00:36:56,860 --> 00:36:58,700 which is to love you every day, 1028 00:36:58,700 --> 00:37:00,860 but to always want you to come in a true relationship 1029 00:37:00,860 --> 00:37:03,380 with the living God through his son, Jesus Christ. 1030 00:37:03,380 --> 00:37:08,380 I will patiently and kindly endure hardships as necessary, 1031 00:37:08,660 --> 00:37:11,380 believing in God and his promises and hoping eternally 1032 00:37:11,380 --> 00:37:14,540 for his saving power to conduct its work in you. 1033 00:37:15,420 --> 00:37:17,700 But not hoping for a lost person to be saved 1034 00:37:17,700 --> 00:37:19,420 or for a backslidden person to be renewed 1035 00:37:19,420 --> 00:37:21,740 because they say they already are 1036 00:37:21,740 --> 00:37:24,380 or because they have excuses for their bad behavior 1037 00:37:24,380 --> 00:37:26,300 or their lack of behavior. 1038 00:37:26,300 --> 00:37:31,300 Those things may be reasonable, but they're not love. 1039 00:37:32,460 --> 00:37:33,780 It might be perfectly fine for you to say, 1040 00:37:33,780 --> 00:37:37,500 okay, just go away from me, go work out your own stuff. 1041 00:37:37,500 --> 00:37:40,420 You will be you, I'm gonna be me, I'm gonna follow God. 1042 00:37:40,420 --> 00:37:41,980 I don't have anything to do with you. 1043 00:37:41,980 --> 00:37:44,100 And then just to never think about them again. 1044 00:37:44,100 --> 00:37:46,020 In the world, that might be reasonable. 1045 00:37:46,020 --> 00:37:47,380 Might even be the best course of action 1046 00:37:47,380 --> 00:37:49,500 when somebody's really bad, right? 1047 00:37:49,500 --> 00:37:51,060 But in the kingdom, it's not. 1048 00:37:51,060 --> 00:37:52,860 You pray for your enemies. 1049 00:37:52,860 --> 00:37:55,140 You desire them to see God. 1050 00:37:55,140 --> 00:37:56,740 You desire them to come to Christ. 1051 00:37:56,740 --> 00:37:57,980 You desire them to be saved. 1052 00:37:57,980 --> 00:38:00,820 You desire them to overcome their greatest weaknesses. 1053 00:38:00,820 --> 00:38:02,460 That's what we hope for. 1054 00:38:03,940 --> 00:38:06,460 The third weakness of love that love is very aware of 1055 00:38:06,460 --> 00:38:08,740 and we are cautioned about is love knows 1056 00:38:08,740 --> 00:38:11,220 that someone else's love is covering for it. 1057 00:38:12,580 --> 00:38:15,860 Love realizes that persistent, I can't say it, 1058 00:38:15,860 --> 00:38:19,940 persistent failure in itself is not love. 1059 00:38:19,940 --> 00:38:22,700 If you know that your friend, your brother, sister of Christ, 1060 00:38:22,700 --> 00:38:25,500 your mother, your father, your son, your daughter, 1061 00:38:25,500 --> 00:38:27,540 your spouse, your grandparent, 1062 00:38:27,540 --> 00:38:30,340 if you know they're covering for your bad behavior 1063 00:38:32,020 --> 00:38:35,100 and if they love you, they are, right? 1064 00:38:35,100 --> 00:38:38,620 The only alternative would be you have no bad behavior, right? 1065 00:38:38,620 --> 00:38:41,140 So I have bad behavior, I know I do. 1066 00:38:41,140 --> 00:38:43,620 So I know my wife is covering for me. 1067 00:38:43,620 --> 00:38:47,180 So if I let my wife continue to cover for my bad behavior 1068 00:38:47,180 --> 00:38:50,900 and I don't address it at all, that's not love for my wife. 1069 00:38:50,900 --> 00:38:52,020 I don't love my wife. 1070 00:38:53,020 --> 00:38:56,660 If I let my brother or sister cover my bad behavior 1071 00:38:56,660 --> 00:39:00,220 and I don't address it at all, I don't love them 1072 00:39:00,220 --> 00:39:05,220 because love recognizes that they are covering for me. 1073 00:39:07,300 --> 00:39:10,340 This is the very way that sin spreads. 1074 00:39:10,340 --> 00:39:11,180 In the book of Leviticus, 1075 00:39:11,180 --> 00:39:14,820 there's a really cool, long, drawn out over chapters 1076 00:39:14,820 --> 00:39:17,740 and chapters about how sin and the effects of sin 1077 00:39:17,740 --> 00:39:20,420 spread to everybody around you, right? 1078 00:39:20,420 --> 00:39:22,980 If you're in sin and you touch somebody there 1079 00:39:22,980 --> 00:39:26,620 during physically speaking, that's what Leviticus says. 1080 00:39:26,620 --> 00:39:29,980 All right, and so you want, does everybody have sin? 1081 00:39:29,980 --> 00:39:31,700 Yes, everybody has sin. 1082 00:39:31,700 --> 00:39:34,660 So then we're spreading it all the time all around us, right? 1083 00:39:34,660 --> 00:39:36,260 What's the alternative? 1084 00:39:36,260 --> 00:39:40,300 Grace, walking in grace, becoming salt and light, right? 1085 00:39:40,300 --> 00:39:43,500 So I am in sin, yes, I have sinned, but I am repentant. 1086 00:39:43,500 --> 00:39:46,020 I have turned toward God and Jesus is covering my sin. 1087 00:39:46,020 --> 00:39:47,540 So now I'm not dirty. 1088 00:39:47,540 --> 00:39:49,220 Even when I sin, I'm not dirty 1089 00:39:49,220 --> 00:39:51,100 because I'm giving it to Jesus, right? 1090 00:39:51,100 --> 00:39:53,340 Now when I touch somebody, did I make them dirty? 1091 00:39:53,340 --> 00:39:56,460 No, there's a chance I may spread love. 1092 00:39:56,460 --> 00:39:58,420 There's a chance I may spread grace. 1093 00:40:00,300 --> 00:40:02,540 There's a chance that they may be saved. 1094 00:40:02,540 --> 00:40:05,860 And if they are, then they also become a light bearer. 1095 00:40:05,860 --> 00:40:07,540 They also become somebody who can spread 1096 00:40:07,540 --> 00:40:08,740 that love and grace. 1097 00:40:08,740 --> 00:40:11,100 But in Leviticus, it talks about how sin spreads, 1098 00:40:11,100 --> 00:40:11,940 but goodness doesn't, 1099 00:40:11,940 --> 00:40:14,740 because you can't save somebody by touching them. 1100 00:40:14,740 --> 00:40:16,540 You can't save somebody by loving them. 1101 00:40:16,540 --> 00:40:19,220 You can't save somebody by doing good to them. 1102 00:40:19,220 --> 00:40:21,940 You save people by introducing them to the one who saves. 1103 00:40:21,940 --> 00:40:23,380 That's Jesus. 1104 00:40:23,380 --> 00:40:26,580 And so be very aware as you set out to love your spouse, 1105 00:40:26,580 --> 00:40:29,220 your kid, your husband, your wife, your mother, 1106 00:40:29,220 --> 00:40:30,740 your father, your grandfather, your brother, 1107 00:40:30,740 --> 00:40:32,420 the brother in the church, the sister in the church, 1108 00:40:32,420 --> 00:40:33,300 your friend that you met, 1109 00:40:33,300 --> 00:40:34,620 and you're trying to love them to Christ, whatever. 1110 00:40:34,620 --> 00:40:38,700 Be very aware that they will be covering your bad behavior 1111 00:40:38,700 --> 00:40:42,780 and so as they cover your bad behavior, 1112 00:40:42,780 --> 00:40:45,540 if you don't do anything about your bad behavior, 1113 00:40:45,540 --> 00:40:47,540 you're not loving them. 1114 00:40:49,900 --> 00:40:53,460 Persistent failure in and of itself is not love. 1115 00:40:55,060 --> 00:40:57,100 That brings us to our conclusion then. 1116 00:40:57,100 --> 00:40:58,860 Let me go back over the three points real quick, 1117 00:40:58,860 --> 00:41:00,380 because I even confused myself a little bit. 1118 00:41:00,380 --> 00:41:05,140 The first one was, once love covers, 1119 00:41:05,140 --> 00:41:07,420 what love covers is covered. 1120 00:41:07,420 --> 00:41:09,700 And if the person is not walking in Christ, 1121 00:41:09,700 --> 00:41:11,820 what has covered may never heal. 1122 00:41:15,140 --> 00:41:18,060 The second one was, love can take the shortcut 1123 00:41:18,060 --> 00:41:21,540 of making excuses or being ready to take the excuses 1124 00:41:21,540 --> 00:41:22,860 of the person loved. 1125 00:41:24,260 --> 00:41:27,260 And the third one is, love knows that someone else's love 1126 00:41:27,260 --> 00:41:31,100 is covering for it, hoping, believing, and enduring for it. 1127 00:41:31,100 --> 00:41:32,540 And that brings us to our conclusions. 1128 00:41:32,540 --> 00:41:35,380 By all standards, everything that we have read so far 1129 00:41:35,380 --> 00:41:37,180 since we started in 1231, 1130 00:41:37,180 --> 00:41:39,380 love is unreasonable. 1131 00:41:42,620 --> 00:41:45,780 This is not a thing that happens as a logical conclusion 1132 00:41:45,780 --> 00:41:48,780 or a thing that happens because we like what we see 1133 00:41:48,780 --> 00:41:51,260 in or know about another person. 1134 00:41:51,260 --> 00:41:53,700 A mom or a dad does not love their child 1135 00:41:53,700 --> 00:41:55,140 because they gave them birth. 1136 00:41:56,100 --> 00:41:57,060 It doesn't work that way. 1137 00:41:57,060 --> 00:41:58,260 I wish it did. 1138 00:41:58,260 --> 00:42:01,140 Boy, do I wish it did, but it doesn't. 1139 00:42:01,140 --> 00:42:03,100 A mom or a dad does not love that way 1140 00:42:03,100 --> 00:42:05,140 because it makes sense. 1141 00:42:05,140 --> 00:42:06,180 I just figured this out. 1142 00:42:06,180 --> 00:42:07,300 I should love my kids. 1143 00:42:08,620 --> 00:42:13,620 In fact, many moms or dads do not love their kids at all. 1144 00:42:13,940 --> 00:42:15,420 You think, well, they should. 1145 00:42:15,420 --> 00:42:16,260 They're their kids. 1146 00:42:16,260 --> 00:42:18,740 That just makes sense to me that they should. 1147 00:42:18,740 --> 00:42:21,060 And even the world teaches that they should, 1148 00:42:21,060 --> 00:42:23,020 but then the world teaches the kind of love 1149 00:42:23,020 --> 00:42:25,900 that they should have is not a biblical love. 1150 00:42:27,220 --> 00:42:29,540 So it isn't love at all because the only real love 1151 00:42:29,540 --> 00:42:31,820 is the love that God shows us is real. 1152 00:42:31,820 --> 00:42:36,820 Rather, love is a thing we were created for and reborn for. 1153 00:42:38,260 --> 00:42:41,620 Even love knows that love is unreasonable. 1154 00:42:41,620 --> 00:42:45,340 It doesn't make sense in logic because if you loved 1155 00:42:45,340 --> 00:42:48,540 because of logic, that would not be love. 1156 00:42:48,540 --> 00:42:50,860 In other words, if you said, oh, I take this. 1157 00:42:50,860 --> 00:42:51,700 This makes sense. 1158 00:42:51,700 --> 00:42:52,540 This connects to this. 1159 00:42:52,540 --> 00:42:53,380 This goes like that. 1160 00:42:53,380 --> 00:42:55,220 Here's a proof I should love. 1161 00:42:55,220 --> 00:42:57,620 And then if you did it, that wouldn't be love. 1162 00:42:57,620 --> 00:43:02,620 It doesn't make sense in desires because if you love 1163 00:43:02,780 --> 00:43:04,980 because it's what you want, you want somebody to love you 1164 00:43:04,980 --> 00:43:07,940 back or you love because it makes you feel good 1165 00:43:07,940 --> 00:43:11,500 about yourself, then that wouldn't be love 1166 00:43:11,500 --> 00:43:13,260 because love doesn't seek its own. 1167 00:43:14,700 --> 00:43:18,660 Love doesn't love because it's good for that person. 1168 00:43:19,540 --> 00:43:21,660 Love loves because this is what we were created for. 1169 00:43:21,660 --> 00:43:24,460 Jesus said, love is a thing we were created for. 1170 00:43:24,460 --> 00:43:27,780 Love loves because this is what we were created for. 1171 00:43:27,780 --> 00:43:30,180 Jesus said, those who love me follow my commands. 1172 00:43:30,180 --> 00:43:31,260 John 14, 15. 1173 00:43:31,260 --> 00:43:34,060 And he said, a new command I give you, love one another 1174 00:43:34,060 --> 00:43:36,780 in John 13, 34 to 35 right before that. 1175 00:43:36,780 --> 00:43:39,820 On the surface, it seems then that we can love 1176 00:43:39,820 --> 00:43:42,300 another person as obedience. 1177 00:43:42,300 --> 00:43:44,740 In other words, God tells us to love so we can love. 1178 00:43:44,740 --> 00:43:47,020 So we choose to love because God says so. 1179 00:43:47,020 --> 00:43:49,500 God gives us a command, the command can be followed. 1180 00:43:49,500 --> 00:43:51,100 So we're being obedient. 1181 00:43:51,100 --> 00:43:54,500 But I submit to you that actually what Jesus is showing us 1182 00:43:54,500 --> 00:43:57,500 here is the real problem, the crux of the matter. 1183 00:43:57,500 --> 00:43:59,260 This is where it all comes together 1184 00:43:59,260 --> 00:44:01,260 and it all either breaks or works. 1185 00:44:01,260 --> 00:44:04,940 Because also in John 13, 34 to 35, it says, 1186 00:44:04,940 --> 00:44:07,220 they will know you are my disciples 1187 00:44:07,220 --> 00:44:10,500 but if you love one another. 1188 00:44:10,500 --> 00:44:14,780 If we do not know God, we will fail in this command. 1189 00:44:14,780 --> 00:44:15,620 You follow me? 1190 00:44:15,620 --> 00:44:17,980 So the church will fail to love one another. 1191 00:44:17,980 --> 00:44:20,420 Families will fail to love one another. 1192 00:44:20,420 --> 00:44:22,940 Real love as God talks about will fail 1193 00:44:22,940 --> 00:44:25,780 if we do not know God. 1194 00:44:25,780 --> 00:44:28,100 We will find weaknesses in one another 1195 00:44:28,100 --> 00:44:30,660 because does anyone have a weakness? 1196 00:44:30,660 --> 00:44:31,780 Yeah, we all do, right? 1197 00:44:31,780 --> 00:44:32,860 So you're gonna look at the other person, 1198 00:44:32,860 --> 00:44:33,940 you're gonna find their weaknesses 1199 00:44:33,940 --> 00:44:36,660 and that will make your lack of love justified. 1200 00:44:36,660 --> 00:44:39,620 You'll say, well, I'll either put up with that crap. 1201 00:44:39,620 --> 00:44:43,740 We will find excuses that make our lack of love reasonable. 1202 00:44:43,740 --> 00:44:45,500 You'll go, well, it makes sense that I don't have to go 1203 00:44:45,500 --> 00:44:47,260 out of my way for that person, be overly kind, 1204 00:44:47,260 --> 00:44:48,820 patient, endure the hits, whatever. 1205 00:44:48,820 --> 00:44:50,620 I don't have to cover their bad behavior. 1206 00:44:50,620 --> 00:44:52,020 I don't have to do any of those things 1207 00:44:52,020 --> 00:44:55,340 because man, look at who they are or what they are. 1208 00:44:55,340 --> 00:44:57,060 Look at what they did. 1209 00:44:57,060 --> 00:44:59,060 We will embrace the excuses of others 1210 00:44:59,060 --> 00:45:01,300 which makes our love empty of belief and hope 1211 00:45:01,300 --> 00:45:03,060 and therefore not love at all. 1212 00:45:03,060 --> 00:45:05,660 So I love them, I'm going the extra mile for them. 1213 00:45:05,660 --> 00:45:06,860 I don't wanna hurt their feelings. 1214 00:45:06,860 --> 00:45:07,700 I don't wanna confront them. 1215 00:45:07,700 --> 00:45:09,740 They say they can't do what God's calling them to do 1216 00:45:09,740 --> 00:45:14,140 because of X and I'll take it. 1217 00:45:14,140 --> 00:45:15,260 X is good enough for me. 1218 00:45:15,260 --> 00:45:17,460 That way I feel like I did what I was supposed to do here. 1219 00:45:17,460 --> 00:45:19,700 I at least went so far enough to get the excuse 1220 00:45:21,060 --> 00:45:23,140 but that's not love. 1221 00:45:24,900 --> 00:45:27,820 Love would be then to cover it and at the same time 1222 00:45:27,820 --> 00:45:29,620 to say, look, this is sin. 1223 00:45:29,620 --> 00:45:31,060 I hear your excuse. 1224 00:45:31,060 --> 00:45:32,300 I'm gonna raise you one more. 1225 00:45:32,300 --> 00:45:35,100 I love you so much, I'm not gonna accept your excuse. 1226 00:45:35,100 --> 00:45:36,820 What you're doing is sin against God. 1227 00:45:36,820 --> 00:45:38,860 God's not gonna accept the sin. 1228 00:45:38,860 --> 00:45:42,300 Therefore, what can we do together 1229 00:45:42,300 --> 00:45:44,500 to get past this excuse that you just made? 1230 00:45:44,500 --> 00:45:47,020 How do we go beyond that? 1231 00:45:48,540 --> 00:45:52,860 But in failing to love one another, 1232 00:45:52,860 --> 00:45:55,740 we will not only be failing one another 1233 00:45:55,740 --> 00:45:57,300 but we will be demonstrating the lack 1234 00:45:57,300 --> 00:45:58,340 of God's presence in us. 1235 00:45:58,340 --> 00:46:02,100 Let's be very, very, very, very blunt for a moment. 1236 00:46:03,260 --> 00:46:05,700 If you participate in any of these weaknesses 1237 00:46:05,700 --> 00:46:07,140 that I have just described, 1238 00:46:08,900 --> 00:46:13,900 you are not loving the person that you say you loved 1239 00:46:13,900 --> 00:46:18,260 in that moment of time, that's not biblical love. 1240 00:46:18,260 --> 00:46:20,740 When you accept their excuse for their transgression 1241 00:46:20,740 --> 00:46:23,060 or their wickedness or bad behavior or whatever, 1242 00:46:23,060 --> 00:46:24,460 that's not love. 1243 00:46:26,380 --> 00:46:29,180 If you had a child and you say to your child, 1244 00:46:29,180 --> 00:46:30,500 look, you need to brush your teeth every morning 1245 00:46:30,500 --> 00:46:31,780 and every night, twice a day. 1246 00:46:31,780 --> 00:46:34,060 If you do that, you'll not get cavities. 1247 00:46:35,780 --> 00:46:38,020 And they go on persisting, sneaking. 1248 00:46:39,140 --> 00:46:41,020 One night you're standing in the hallway, 1249 00:46:41,020 --> 00:46:42,340 peeking around the corner of the bathroom 1250 00:46:42,340 --> 00:46:43,420 and they've got the water running 1251 00:46:43,420 --> 00:46:44,660 and they're rubbing their toothbrush in the sink 1252 00:46:44,660 --> 00:46:46,860 because they really don't want to brush their teeth. 1253 00:46:46,860 --> 00:46:48,380 And you see them doing that and you're like, 1254 00:46:48,380 --> 00:46:50,860 ah, well, you know, I did my part. 1255 00:46:51,820 --> 00:46:53,980 Or maybe you go this far, you say, listen son, 1256 00:46:55,740 --> 00:46:58,980 I talked to you about this, you gotta brush your teeth. 1257 00:46:58,980 --> 00:47:01,820 And I see now you're sneaking and you're not doing it. 1258 00:47:01,820 --> 00:47:03,060 And so you gotta brush your teeth. 1259 00:47:03,060 --> 00:47:04,780 You say, yeah, I know you did say that 1260 00:47:04,780 --> 00:47:07,100 but my teeth are fine, I don't have any cavities. 1261 00:47:07,100 --> 00:47:08,980 I'm not eating hardly any sugar. 1262 00:47:08,980 --> 00:47:10,940 And it tickles when I brush my teeth. 1263 00:47:10,940 --> 00:47:12,180 And every time it tickles, 1264 00:47:12,180 --> 00:47:13,420 I feel like I'm gonna pee my pants. 1265 00:47:13,420 --> 00:47:15,260 And so I just can't brush my teeth, dad. 1266 00:47:15,260 --> 00:47:17,460 I know I should brush my teeth but I just can't do it. 1267 00:47:17,460 --> 00:47:19,100 And so then as the good dad that I am, 1268 00:47:19,100 --> 00:47:20,260 I say, yeah, that's fine son, 1269 00:47:20,260 --> 00:47:21,260 don't bother brushing your teeth. 1270 00:47:21,260 --> 00:47:23,180 We wouldn't want you to tinkle in your pants. 1271 00:47:23,180 --> 00:47:24,420 That would be terrible. 1272 00:47:25,460 --> 00:47:26,700 Right? 1273 00:47:26,700 --> 00:47:28,300 Is that how love works? 1274 00:47:28,300 --> 00:47:29,860 That's not how love works. 1275 00:47:29,860 --> 00:47:33,460 Love doesn't take any excuses for doing what's right. 1276 00:47:33,460 --> 00:47:36,380 Love says, okay, I hear what you're saying 1277 00:47:36,380 --> 00:47:39,660 but I also know you have to brush your teeth 1278 00:47:39,660 --> 00:47:41,740 or you have to not drink 1279 00:47:41,740 --> 00:47:43,340 or you have to not take drugs 1280 00:47:43,340 --> 00:47:44,860 or you have to not lie 1281 00:47:44,860 --> 00:47:46,260 or you have to not betray 1282 00:47:46,260 --> 00:47:49,020 or you have to not slack off. 1283 00:47:49,020 --> 00:47:51,060 You have to not make excuses 1284 00:47:51,060 --> 00:47:52,620 for why you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. 1285 00:47:52,620 --> 00:47:54,020 All of those things are not right. 1286 00:47:54,020 --> 00:47:58,020 And so if we live that way 1287 00:47:58,020 --> 00:48:01,020 and what we're really doing is demonstrating 1288 00:48:01,020 --> 00:48:02,820 the lack of God's presence in us. 1289 00:48:02,820 --> 00:48:03,900 Because I'm gonna be honest with you. 1290 00:48:03,900 --> 00:48:06,340 Does God judge your outside or your inside? 1291 00:48:08,380 --> 00:48:09,580 God judges your inside. 1292 00:48:10,540 --> 00:48:11,380 Right? 1293 00:48:11,380 --> 00:48:13,980 So God knows when you make an excuse 1294 00:48:13,980 --> 00:48:17,180 to not do what God has called you to do, God knows. 1295 00:48:18,100 --> 00:48:19,660 But what does God know? 1296 00:48:19,660 --> 00:48:21,260 Does God know that your excuse is an excuse? 1297 00:48:21,260 --> 00:48:23,100 Well, absolutely he does. 1298 00:48:23,100 --> 00:48:24,580 Does God know that your mind is twisted 1299 00:48:24,580 --> 00:48:25,500 and you have seven choices? 1300 00:48:25,500 --> 00:48:27,380 You could have chosen A out of the seven 1301 00:48:27,380 --> 00:48:28,660 and you chose number four. 1302 00:48:28,660 --> 00:48:29,500 Does God know that? 1303 00:48:29,500 --> 00:48:30,580 Yeah, sure. 1304 00:48:30,580 --> 00:48:31,980 But he knows so much more than that. 1305 00:48:31,980 --> 00:48:33,780 He knows the condition of your heart. 1306 00:48:35,460 --> 00:48:38,900 He knows where he lives and where he doesn't. 1307 00:48:38,900 --> 00:48:43,180 You can't fool God into thinking that you do love him. 1308 00:48:43,180 --> 00:48:47,180 In fact, the Bible says in Galatians 5 22 1309 00:48:47,180 --> 00:48:48,540 that there are a certain number of fruits 1310 00:48:48,540 --> 00:48:49,380 of the Holy Spirit. 1311 00:48:49,380 --> 00:48:51,540 Does anybody know what the first one is? 1312 00:48:53,500 --> 00:48:54,340 It's love. 1313 00:48:55,380 --> 00:48:58,860 The presence of God will bring up love in you 1314 00:48:58,860 --> 00:49:01,140 and not love like the world loves, 1315 00:49:01,140 --> 00:49:03,100 not love like somebody else's understanding, 1316 00:49:03,100 --> 00:49:06,420 not love that's convenient, but love that's unreasonable. 1317 00:49:06,420 --> 00:49:08,300 Love that you cannot logically come to. 1318 00:49:08,300 --> 00:49:11,100 Nobody in the world is gonna love the way God 1319 00:49:11,100 --> 00:49:13,820 is teaching us to love unless they have met God 1320 00:49:13,820 --> 00:49:15,060 through his son, Jesus. 1321 00:49:15,060 --> 00:49:17,740 Unless they have seen the example of a God 1322 00:49:17,740 --> 00:49:20,420 who created everything, dying on the cross, 1323 00:49:20,420 --> 00:49:22,220 which we could not do for ourselves, 1324 00:49:22,220 --> 00:49:25,460 no one is going to love this unreasonable love 1325 00:49:25,460 --> 00:49:29,420 unless they have met this unreasonable God. 1326 00:49:31,460 --> 00:49:34,460 We must repent and turn to God through Jesus 1327 00:49:34,460 --> 00:49:37,140 and be remade to love like this. 1328 00:49:37,140 --> 00:49:38,580 You have to. 1329 00:49:38,580 --> 00:49:40,660 And then yes, you will find yourself doing 1330 00:49:40,660 --> 00:49:43,180 what even you think is unreasonable, 1331 00:49:43,180 --> 00:49:45,860 covering, enduring in faith and hope. 1332 00:49:45,860 --> 00:49:50,780 And when covering, not just accepting excuses 1333 00:49:52,260 --> 00:49:54,540 when no healing may be taking place, 1334 00:49:56,060 --> 00:49:58,140 but coming looking for healing, 1335 00:49:58,140 --> 00:50:01,420 coming looking for God at work in that person. 1336 00:50:01,420 --> 00:50:04,580 If you live your whole life alongside somebody, 1337 00:50:04,580 --> 00:50:06,540 you knew them for 50 years 1338 00:50:06,540 --> 00:50:09,620 and they always professed to believe in Jesus. 1339 00:50:09,620 --> 00:50:11,860 They always said, yes, I'm a follower of Jesus. 1340 00:50:11,860 --> 00:50:13,820 And they were the nicest person, 1341 00:50:13,820 --> 00:50:17,380 taking all your excuses, accepting all your ways of living, 1342 00:50:17,380 --> 00:50:19,500 even showing up in church and sitting in the chairs 1343 00:50:19,500 --> 00:50:21,820 and maybe reading their Bibles or whatever. 1344 00:50:21,820 --> 00:50:23,100 All the things that they did, 1345 00:50:23,100 --> 00:50:24,780 if they did all of that in their life, 1346 00:50:24,780 --> 00:50:26,180 you knew them for 50 years and you thought, 1347 00:50:26,180 --> 00:50:30,060 man, for sure, if anybody's saved, that guy's saved. 1348 00:50:30,060 --> 00:50:32,700 And you got to heaven and stood before God 1349 00:50:32,700 --> 00:50:36,700 and that person is not allowed into heaven. 1350 00:50:36,700 --> 00:50:38,620 They're not allowed into heaven 1351 00:50:38,620 --> 00:50:39,820 because they didn't know Jesus. 1352 00:50:39,820 --> 00:50:41,180 And you are, even though you weren't 1353 00:50:41,180 --> 00:50:43,180 half as good as them in life, 1354 00:50:43,180 --> 00:50:46,260 but you know Jesus and he's covering you. 1355 00:50:46,260 --> 00:50:48,700 He's got you covered in that most important of all moments 1356 00:50:48,700 --> 00:50:49,700 and he lets you come in. 1357 00:50:49,700 --> 00:50:50,860 He says, this one belongs to me. 1358 00:50:50,860 --> 00:50:52,060 Yeah, he's a screw up. 1359 00:50:52,060 --> 00:50:53,900 Yeah, she really didn't do it very good, 1360 00:50:53,900 --> 00:50:55,420 but she stuck with me. 1361 00:50:55,420 --> 00:50:57,140 And she followed me to the best of her ability. 1362 00:50:57,140 --> 00:50:59,460 He followed me to the best of his ability. 1363 00:50:59,460 --> 00:51:00,580 And you get to go in. 1364 00:51:00,580 --> 00:51:02,980 And that person that you lived alongside of 1365 00:51:02,980 --> 00:51:04,460 and you always accepted their excuses 1366 00:51:04,460 --> 00:51:06,180 because they're a really good person 1367 00:51:06,180 --> 00:51:08,700 and they really did a lot of things. 1368 00:51:08,700 --> 00:51:10,580 But you always could see there were some things 1369 00:51:10,580 --> 00:51:11,660 that didn't quite make sense, 1370 00:51:11,660 --> 00:51:12,900 but you just kind of let that go 1371 00:51:12,900 --> 00:51:15,260 because everything else was quite good enough. 1372 00:51:16,260 --> 00:51:19,500 And when they go to hell, I submit to you, 1373 00:51:20,660 --> 00:51:24,180 they're going to be wondering why for 50 years 1374 00:51:24,180 --> 00:51:26,320 they lived like that alongside of somebody 1375 00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:28,220 who was going to heaven. 1376 00:51:28,220 --> 00:51:30,660 And that somebody who was going to heaven 1377 00:51:30,660 --> 00:51:32,340 never said a word. 1378 00:51:34,820 --> 00:51:37,420 Am I calling you to cover, endure in faith and hope 1379 00:51:37,420 --> 00:51:41,180 and when covering, not to accept excuses, 1380 00:51:41,180 --> 00:51:42,940 to look for healing? 1381 00:51:42,940 --> 00:51:45,860 That person that says, well, I can't because, 1382 00:51:45,860 --> 00:51:48,940 and 20 years later, they're still using the same excuse 1383 00:51:48,940 --> 00:51:51,380 because nobody cares enough to pierce that veil. 1384 00:51:51,380 --> 00:51:53,340 Nobody cares enough to come after them. 1385 00:51:55,620 --> 00:51:57,100 We need to repent and turn to God 1386 00:51:57,100 --> 00:51:59,540 and love like this unreasonable love, 1387 00:51:59,540 --> 00:52:03,340 which I know we can do because we were made for it 1388 00:52:03,340 --> 00:52:06,700 and then we were bought for it and we were reborn for it. 1389 00:52:06,700 --> 00:52:08,820 And yeah, maybe we learned to walk a little bit without it, 1390 00:52:08,820 --> 00:52:11,300 but we've got to stop walking without it. 1391 00:52:11,300 --> 00:52:14,580 And if you can't love, then just don't do anything at all 1392 00:52:14,580 --> 00:52:16,740 until you can love and whatever you're doing 1393 00:52:16,740 --> 00:52:17,740 is done in love. 1394 00:52:17,740 --> 00:52:20,500 Two illustrations and then we'll be through. 1395 00:52:20,500 --> 00:52:22,580 The first one comes from a story from my wife 1396 00:52:22,580 --> 00:52:24,620 and she doesn't know I'm going to tell this story, 1397 00:52:24,620 --> 00:52:28,500 so it's not bad, it's actually quite good in fact. 1398 00:52:28,500 --> 00:52:30,660 It goes back to Sherry's brother, Michael. 1399 00:52:30,660 --> 00:52:33,020 Sherry's brother, Michael is not a professing Christian 1400 00:52:33,020 --> 00:52:34,060 and I'm not throwing him under the bus. 1401 00:52:34,060 --> 00:52:35,860 He would say the same if he were here. 1402 00:52:35,860 --> 00:52:37,340 He's not a professing Christian 1403 00:52:37,340 --> 00:52:41,380 and he developed a pretty bad spinal disease 1404 00:52:41,380 --> 00:52:44,740 and he was laid up in bed and they couldn't find out, 1405 00:52:44,740 --> 00:52:45,620 couldn't figure out what to do with him 1406 00:52:45,620 --> 00:52:47,620 and really the truth was they thought he was gonna die, 1407 00:52:47,620 --> 00:52:50,340 but they knew for sure even if he managed by some small odds 1408 00:52:50,340 --> 00:52:53,540 to recover, he would never walk again, work again, 1409 00:52:53,540 --> 00:52:54,940 do anything again. 1410 00:52:54,940 --> 00:52:57,060 He was gonna be paralyzed probably from the neck down. 1411 00:52:57,060 --> 00:52:57,940 Is that right, neck down? 1412 00:52:57,940 --> 00:52:58,780 Yeah. 1413 00:52:58,780 --> 00:53:01,860 So the Lord pressed upon Sherry's heart. 1414 00:53:01,860 --> 00:53:03,540 He lives in the Columbus area, which is pretty far away 1415 00:53:03,540 --> 00:53:05,260 and they don't see each other often at all 1416 00:53:05,260 --> 00:53:07,140 and they don't agree on some very key things 1417 00:53:07,140 --> 00:53:09,020 like one of them being Jesus. 1418 00:53:09,020 --> 00:53:11,660 And she went to go visit him and he was laying in bed 1419 00:53:11,660 --> 00:53:15,100 and he was virtually paralyzed from the neck down 1420 00:53:15,100 --> 00:53:18,260 at that time and he was not in good health at all. 1421 00:53:18,260 --> 00:53:20,140 And she said, I want to pray for you. 1422 00:53:20,140 --> 00:53:22,900 She felt impressed of the Lord, I want to pray for you 1423 00:53:22,900 --> 00:53:26,340 and he said, well, you know, I don't believe. 1424 00:53:26,340 --> 00:53:27,420 I don't believe in God. 1425 00:53:27,420 --> 00:53:28,540 I don't remember, I wasn't there, 1426 00:53:28,540 --> 00:53:29,380 so I don't know exactly what he said, 1427 00:53:29,380 --> 00:53:33,860 but she told me this story and she said, it's okay. 1428 00:53:33,860 --> 00:53:35,860 I have faith enough for both of us. 1429 00:53:36,940 --> 00:53:41,300 And she prayed for him and he's still living now 1430 00:53:41,300 --> 00:53:43,420 and he's still doing an awful lot now. 1431 00:53:43,420 --> 00:53:46,100 In fact, he's overcome and they found a sort of a cure, 1432 00:53:46,100 --> 00:53:48,860 but not a cure and he can do a lot 1433 00:53:48,860 --> 00:53:50,980 and I don't know what his actual physical condition is, 1434 00:53:50,980 --> 00:53:52,540 but this much I know in that moment 1435 00:53:52,540 --> 00:53:54,980 when he thought, I don't really believe in God 1436 00:53:54,980 --> 00:53:58,540 and so I can't really expect God to do anything for me at all. 1437 00:53:58,540 --> 00:53:59,780 She was willing to love him. 1438 00:53:59,780 --> 00:54:01,300 How do I know she loved him? 1439 00:54:01,300 --> 00:54:03,900 Because she believed, she believed in God 1440 00:54:03,900 --> 00:54:05,700 and she hoped that God would do in him 1441 00:54:05,700 --> 00:54:07,820 what even he could not hope for. 1442 00:54:07,820 --> 00:54:09,820 That's what it means to love somebody. 1443 00:54:09,820 --> 00:54:13,140 Paul gives us a biblical example in Philippians 1, 1444 00:54:13,140 --> 00:54:15,860 verses three through 11, I'm gonna read them briefly 1445 00:54:15,860 --> 00:54:17,060 and it basically says this. 1446 00:54:17,060 --> 00:54:19,820 So Paul is writing to the Philippians, 1447 00:54:19,820 --> 00:54:21,420 the church in Philippi, 1448 00:54:21,420 --> 00:54:22,740 and he says, beginning in verse three, 1449 00:54:22,740 --> 00:54:25,860 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 1450 00:54:25,860 --> 00:54:28,980 always offering prayer with my joy 1451 00:54:28,980 --> 00:54:31,540 and my every prayer for you all. 1452 00:54:31,540 --> 00:54:33,620 In view of your participation in the gospel 1453 00:54:33,620 --> 00:54:36,020 from the first day until now, listen to this, 1454 00:54:36,020 --> 00:54:39,100 for I am confident of this very thing 1455 00:54:39,100 --> 00:54:41,660 that he who began a good work in you 1456 00:54:41,660 --> 00:54:44,780 will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 1457 00:54:44,780 --> 00:54:45,620 Hear the love? 1458 00:54:46,540 --> 00:54:47,380 He loved them. 1459 00:54:47,380 --> 00:54:49,540 He knew that God was going to do in them 1460 00:54:49,540 --> 00:54:50,940 what God was going to do. 1461 00:54:50,940 --> 00:54:52,460 He could just believe it. 1462 00:54:52,460 --> 00:54:54,260 In verse seven, he makes it very clear, he says, 1463 00:54:54,260 --> 00:54:58,140 for it is only right for me to feel this way about you all 1464 00:54:58,140 --> 00:55:01,020 because I have you in my heart, 1465 00:55:01,020 --> 00:55:03,020 since both in my imprisonment and in the defense 1466 00:55:03,020 --> 00:55:04,420 and confirmation of the gospel, 1467 00:55:04,420 --> 00:55:07,340 you all are partakers of grace with me. 1468 00:55:07,340 --> 00:55:09,140 Do you know somebody who's a follower 1469 00:55:09,140 --> 00:55:11,020 of the Lord Jesus Christ? 1470 00:55:11,020 --> 00:55:12,860 Love them. 1471 00:55:12,860 --> 00:55:15,700 Love them and believe and hope 1472 00:55:15,700 --> 00:55:18,620 that God will work in them that thing 1473 00:55:18,620 --> 00:55:23,100 that you can just only hope and believe for 1474 00:55:23,100 --> 00:55:24,420 and ask God to do it. 1475 00:55:25,420 --> 00:55:27,220 Do you know somebody who's not a follower 1476 00:55:27,220 --> 00:55:29,100 of the Lord Jesus Christ? 1477 00:55:29,100 --> 00:55:30,340 Then love them. 1478 00:55:30,340 --> 00:55:32,660 Love them and believe and hope 1479 00:55:32,660 --> 00:55:34,220 that they will come to Christ 1480 00:55:34,220 --> 00:55:36,660 and then God will bring to completion in them 1481 00:55:36,660 --> 00:55:38,060 all that he had begun. 1482 00:55:42,980 --> 00:55:45,260 When I was a young church planter, 1483 00:55:45,260 --> 00:55:47,660 I got to go to an evangelism conference down at Cedarville 1484 00:55:47,660 --> 00:55:51,060 and Elvis Presley's stepbrother, 1485 00:55:51,060 --> 00:55:53,420 I think probably most people know who Elvis Presley was. 1486 00:55:53,420 --> 00:55:55,300 Some people might be outgrowing that now, 1487 00:55:55,300 --> 00:55:56,820 and there was all these rumors that he didn't die 1488 00:55:56,820 --> 00:55:58,140 when they said he died and all that kind of things. 1489 00:55:58,140 --> 00:56:01,220 Elvis left the building and there's a lot of stuff 1490 00:56:01,220 --> 00:56:02,300 about Elvis. 1491 00:56:02,300 --> 00:56:04,300 Elvis Presley's stepbrother got up on the stage 1492 00:56:04,300 --> 00:56:05,260 and he gave his testimony. 1493 00:56:05,260 --> 00:56:09,460 He said, I started dating a girl when I was in high school, 1494 00:56:09,460 --> 00:56:10,420 well, I wanted to anyway. 1495 00:56:10,420 --> 00:56:12,860 He said, I asked her, I said, can I take you on a date? 1496 00:56:12,860 --> 00:56:15,100 And she said, no, but we can meet at church. 1497 00:56:15,100 --> 00:56:17,660 And he was like, I don't wanna go to church. 1498 00:56:17,660 --> 00:56:19,940 And she said, well, when you're ready, 1499 00:56:19,940 --> 00:56:20,780 we can meet at church. 1500 00:56:20,780 --> 00:56:22,420 We can go to church every Sunday, 1501 00:56:22,420 --> 00:56:23,540 and I'll be there, you'll be there, 1502 00:56:23,540 --> 00:56:25,300 and we'll see each other at church. 1503 00:56:25,300 --> 00:56:27,500 And she inferred that maybe they could hold hands 1504 00:56:27,500 --> 00:56:28,580 or they would sit next to each other, 1505 00:56:28,580 --> 00:56:29,820 they would encourage each other like that. 1506 00:56:29,820 --> 00:56:30,660 Well, he didn't believe in God, 1507 00:56:30,660 --> 00:56:32,500 he didn't want nothing to do with God. 1508 00:56:32,500 --> 00:56:37,020 And so after he tried to entreat her for a while 1509 00:56:37,020 --> 00:56:38,980 to ignore her convictions 1510 00:56:38,980 --> 00:56:40,500 that he needed to come to church with her, 1511 00:56:40,500 --> 00:56:42,460 and that was the only dating that they could do, 1512 00:56:42,460 --> 00:56:44,860 she eventually refused to go to church 1513 00:56:44,860 --> 00:56:47,060 and refused, she said, no, I'm just not gonna do it. 1514 00:56:47,060 --> 00:56:48,020 You don't believe in God? 1515 00:56:48,020 --> 00:56:49,540 I mean, the Bible says don't be unequally yoked. 1516 00:56:49,540 --> 00:56:52,780 I'm not gonna date you because God does nothing to you. 1517 00:56:52,780 --> 00:56:54,140 And he said, well, that's true. 1518 00:56:54,140 --> 00:56:56,500 And he went on to live his life. 1519 00:56:56,500 --> 00:56:59,180 He said, 25 years later, 1520 00:57:00,100 --> 00:57:04,260 25 years later, they never dated, they never married, 1521 00:57:04,260 --> 00:57:05,500 they never became a thing. 1522 00:57:05,500 --> 00:57:07,100 He was married at one point, 1523 00:57:07,100 --> 00:57:09,300 and then I think he was married once and divorced once, 1524 00:57:09,300 --> 00:57:13,500 and he was married once, and she died, I think, 1525 00:57:13,500 --> 00:57:14,320 something like that. 1526 00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:16,060 And he had lived his life. 1527 00:57:16,060 --> 00:57:19,380 So now he's 25 years later, he's in his late 40s, 1528 00:57:19,380 --> 00:57:22,860 and he's back in his hometown, and he's broken. 1529 00:57:22,860 --> 00:57:24,540 He's falling apart, his life's dying, 1530 00:57:24,540 --> 00:57:27,180 his addiction's overcoming him, 1531 00:57:27,180 --> 00:57:28,020 he didn't know what to do. 1532 00:57:28,020 --> 00:57:31,140 And he was in a hotel, and he got a Bible out of the drawer, 1533 00:57:31,140 --> 00:57:31,960 and he started reading it, 1534 00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:33,500 and he felt like God was working in him. 1535 00:57:33,500 --> 00:57:35,260 It's like God was telling him that he would save him, 1536 00:57:35,260 --> 00:57:37,500 even at that late date that he would save him. 1537 00:57:38,820 --> 00:57:40,640 And so he got up the next morning, it was a Sunday morning, 1538 00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:43,620 and he went to church, not even realizing, 1539 00:57:43,620 --> 00:57:48,100 not even realizing that the church he was going to 1540 00:57:48,100 --> 00:57:49,500 was the church of the girl 1541 00:57:49,500 --> 00:57:52,460 that he had tried to date 25 years before. 1542 00:57:52,460 --> 00:57:55,460 Not even realizing that that was the church. 1543 00:57:55,460 --> 00:57:57,940 And here it is, he came in the room, 1544 00:57:59,300 --> 00:58:02,300 and he said, they recognized him. 1545 00:58:03,300 --> 00:58:06,100 And five or six people came and surrounded him, 1546 00:58:06,100 --> 00:58:11,100 and said, we've been praying for you for 25 years, 1547 00:58:11,100 --> 00:58:13,600 and now here you are. 1548 00:58:13,600 --> 00:58:16,940 Does the church love? 1549 00:58:16,940 --> 00:58:20,660 Yeah, and when they do, no matter how long it takes, 1550 00:58:20,660 --> 00:58:23,180 God always wins. 1551 00:58:24,900 --> 00:58:26,580 Does the church sometimes not love? 1552 00:58:27,540 --> 00:58:30,700 Yeah, and when the church sometimes not loves, 1553 00:58:31,580 --> 00:58:32,900 sometimes does not love, 1554 00:58:35,300 --> 00:58:36,900 God doesn't win like he wants to. 1555 00:58:36,900 --> 00:58:39,900 So let us love like we've been talking about. 1556 00:58:39,900 --> 00:58:42,500 Let us love like we've been created to love. 1557 00:58:42,500 --> 00:58:45,300 Let us love like we've been recreated in Christ to love. 1558 00:58:46,500 --> 00:58:49,300 That means we're not gonna take each other's excuses. 1559 00:58:49,300 --> 00:58:51,500 We're gonna step up for each other. 1560 00:58:51,500 --> 00:58:53,900 We're gonna call each other out in a loving way 1561 00:58:53,900 --> 00:58:55,300 when the time comes right. 1562 00:58:55,300 --> 00:58:57,300 In the meantime, you're gonna cover. 1563 00:58:57,300 --> 00:58:59,300 I'll take the hit so that you don't have to do 1564 00:58:59,300 --> 00:59:00,140 what you don't wanna do 1565 00:59:00,140 --> 00:59:02,700 that you're making a very good excuse for. 1566 00:59:02,700 --> 00:59:04,100 But as soon as the Lord leads me to, 1567 00:59:04,100 --> 00:59:05,100 I'm gonna go to the church, 1568 00:59:05,100 --> 00:59:07,100 but as soon as the Lord leads me to, I'm gonna come to you, 1569 00:59:07,100 --> 00:59:08,700 I'm gonna say, look, I just think this is an excuse. 1570 00:59:08,700 --> 00:59:10,300 You say, no, I really have a health condition. 1571 00:59:10,300 --> 00:59:11,220 I really have this problem. 1572 00:59:11,220 --> 00:59:12,700 I really can't do that because of this or that 1573 00:59:12,700 --> 00:59:14,580 or the other thing, okay? 1574 00:59:14,580 --> 00:59:17,700 But that reason, that excuse, 1575 00:59:17,700 --> 00:59:22,700 that problem does not remove the requirement. 1576 00:59:24,500 --> 00:59:25,340 It doesn't. 1577 00:59:26,340 --> 00:59:29,500 We find reasons not to do what God wants us to do, 1578 00:59:29,500 --> 00:59:31,020 but there really is no reason. 1579 00:59:31,020 --> 00:59:34,740 And so we can work together and overcome. 1580 00:59:34,740 --> 00:59:36,940 You say, I don't have transportation. 1581 00:59:36,940 --> 00:59:38,540 I say, I'll provide it. 1582 00:59:38,540 --> 00:59:39,940 You say, well, I have a health concern. 1583 00:59:39,940 --> 00:59:41,140 Well, I'll pray. 1584 00:59:41,140 --> 00:59:43,540 And the very first moment your health concern 1585 00:59:43,540 --> 00:59:47,020 does not interfere with you doing what you must do, 1586 00:59:47,020 --> 00:59:48,740 then you have to say, okay, I won't let it. 1587 00:59:48,740 --> 00:59:50,020 I'll do what I'm supposed to do. 1588 00:59:50,020 --> 00:59:50,860 The very first moment. 1589 00:59:50,860 --> 00:59:55,140 You say, well, I have other commitments, 1590 00:59:55,140 --> 00:59:56,620 but God still requires this of you. 1591 00:59:56,620 --> 00:59:57,820 You know what God wants you to do, 1592 00:59:57,820 --> 00:59:58,660 so I have other commitments. 1593 00:59:58,660 --> 01:00:01,260 Okay, so I'll pray and we'll work through 1594 01:00:01,260 --> 01:00:02,580 how to get past those other commitments. 1595 01:00:02,580 --> 01:00:03,780 Maybe somebody else can take care of it 1596 01:00:03,780 --> 01:00:05,340 or we can put it away. 1597 01:00:05,340 --> 01:00:08,180 But the very first moment, it's not stopping you 1598 01:00:08,180 --> 01:00:11,100 from stopping you, it's not stopping you 1599 01:00:11,100 --> 01:00:12,500 from doing what you're supposed to do, 1600 01:00:12,500 --> 01:00:15,340 then you begin to do it and you never look back. 1601 01:00:15,340 --> 01:00:16,900 That's the kind of people we are. 1602 01:00:16,900 --> 01:00:18,300 That's the kind of people the church is. 1603 01:00:18,300 --> 01:00:19,580 That's the kind of people the church has been 1604 01:00:19,580 --> 01:00:21,100 since Jesus died on the cross. 1605 01:00:21,100 --> 01:00:22,980 Oh, and my goodness, I'm sure glad 1606 01:00:22,980 --> 01:00:24,660 he didn't make any mistakes. 1607 01:00:24,660 --> 01:00:27,900 I'm sure glad he didn't make any excuses. 1608 01:00:27,900 --> 01:00:30,340 Think he had any? 1609 01:00:31,220 --> 01:00:33,380 You think Jesus could come up, Jesus, 1610 01:00:33,380 --> 01:00:35,460 in his infinite wisdom, could come up with any excuses 1611 01:00:35,460 --> 01:00:37,140 of why not to go to the cross? 1612 01:00:37,140 --> 01:00:38,700 I'll bet you he had a bunch. 1613 01:00:40,060 --> 01:00:41,180 And he didn't make any. 1614 01:00:42,060 --> 01:00:42,900 And he loved. 1615 01:00:44,060 --> 01:00:44,900 And he covered. 1616 01:00:45,900 --> 01:00:46,860 And he endured. 1617 01:00:48,020 --> 01:00:50,020 And he rose again on the third day. 1618 01:00:50,020 --> 01:00:51,580 And we can do the same. 1619 01:00:51,580 --> 01:00:52,820 I ask the praise team to come forward 1620 01:00:52,820 --> 01:00:54,940 and lead us in our closing song at this time. 1621 01:00:54,940 --> 01:00:56,900 If you're here today, if you realize 1622 01:00:56,900 --> 01:00:58,620 you have not been loving this way, 1623 01:00:58,620 --> 01:01:01,140 you are not your spouse, your kids, your family, 1624 01:01:01,140 --> 01:01:02,060 and you repent. 1625 01:01:02,060 --> 01:01:03,820 Not repent from what you've been doing wrong, 1626 01:01:03,820 --> 01:01:05,500 but repent and turn to God. 1627 01:01:05,500 --> 01:01:07,420 Only God can make it possible. 1628 01:01:07,420 --> 01:01:09,620 Only God can give you the words when the time comes. 1629 01:01:09,620 --> 01:01:12,060 Only God can make you strong on the inside 1630 01:01:12,060 --> 01:01:14,620 to support your efforts on the outside. 1631 01:01:14,620 --> 01:01:16,100 God can do that. 1632 01:01:16,100 --> 01:01:18,140 And you've got to trust him to do that. 1633 01:01:18,140 --> 01:01:19,460 He loves you. 1634 01:01:19,460 --> 01:01:21,180 And he wants you to be his love 1635 01:01:21,180 --> 01:01:23,900 to the people that you run into in your life. 1636 01:01:23,900 --> 01:01:24,740 And you can. 1637 01:01:24,740 --> 01:01:26,240 And we'll be here.