I see a generation rising up to take their place in the southwest rain, in the southwest rain
I see a new ring in my heart, a ring that is free and clean, with what I need, with what I need
Hosana, Hosana, Hosana in the highest
With what I need, with what I need
In my heart and me and me, open up my eyes to the things I see, show me how to love like you have loved me
With my whole heart, with my whole heart, everything I have for the kingdom's cause, as I walk my path into eternity
I love you all from Sunday school, remember as the gods rule and how Jesus came, and set up the sinner free
I know the story inside out, and I can tell you all about the path that led him up to Calvary
But ask me why he loves me, and I don't know what to say, but I'll never be the same, because he changed my life when he became everything to me
He's more than a story, more than words on a page, a history, he's the air that I breathe, the water I touch far, and the ground beneath my feet
He's everything, everything to me
And maybe I'm so right to have one more, I'm not even out of my way, I'm just a pleasure to me
I want to tell the world about the love I've taught my life around, they need to know the things they should see
Now every day you break me, and you're taking my heart away, I want him to see that you're that someone else, I'm free
But ask me why he loves me, and I don't know what to say, but I'll never be the same, because he changed my life when he became everything to me
He's more than a story, more than words on a page, a history, he's the air that I breathe, the water I touch far, and the ground beneath my feet
I want to meet you, save you, oh baby, thank you to me, you're more than a story, more than words on a page, a history, you're the air that I breathe
The water I touch far, and the ground beneath my feet, you're everything
You're everything, you're everything, you're everything
Alright, as you can see that is the sermon title slide from last week, so don't take that into account, but it should very easily tell you where in scripture we are
I should remind you that we have been working through 1st Corinthians 13, so we'll get a little excited about this verse later
Before we do that, we're going to just kind of have a little bit of an object lesson if we can
So I have brought here within this box, there's a little object lesson, let me get up here and see if I can safely do this without making a mess, I think I can
So what I have brought is a cake, look, it's a cake, so this here is, do that for us, without looking at you
So we said vegetable, everybody want to eat this part of the cake? So that one's not so good, this one's not too bad, you could actually probably eat it
This here's the water, it's water, it wouldn't be very filling, so you'll die sooner if you don't have water
Here's the egg, I'm going to give you this because you just caused trouble, but nobody would want to eat the egg exactly like this, right?
So you'd want to break it open, make it hard boiled or...
It's not hard boiled, it's still nice
Wow, you're certain
Oh, it did something, something happened, okay, there it is, okay, let me get this out of the way
He's actually contemplating it, we're going to pass, he's going to cook it
By the way, if you put an egg like that, if you whip it up good, and put it in the microwave, you can make scrambled eggs in no time flat
You didn't know that, there's an egg
And then here is the dried mix, and I've added a little powdered sugar so we can have some really good calories in there, everybody want to eat that?
Okay, so we've got a couple volunteers
So again, not really a cake though, right? But if you put the powdered mix in the bowl like that, I'm told that you do this, and then you put an egg in there like that
That's pretty good, and then some oil, that's pretty good
And some water, like that
Now it's ready to eat, right?
No, just cook it like this, put it in the oven
We'll mix it first, we've got the mixer for that
Okay, wait, so actually, I know why you didn't want to eat it, because you wanted the frosting on there, right?
So if we put some frosting in this bowl, then it's ready to eat, right?
No!
Put the frosting on that
But all the parts are here
So mix it up really good, and then put the frosting on
No
No?
Put it on after
After what? Oh, after it's cooked, okay
So let's see
Hey, will you mix up my baked lemon?
Please, I'll put it in the oven
Just mix it up, I'll take it out
Is that one of your candles on?
Yes
Okay, I'll leave the door unlocked
Leave the door open here
No, sir
I use the oven when you've brought the other cup
However, if all goes well, you might be able to have a piece of cake with frosting on it by the time we're done, possibly
Alright, so needless to say, the parts that form a cake do not inherently form a cake, right?
There is a moment in time
What I want you to see is that there will theoretically eventually be a cake out of this mess, right?
But something else is here, what do we have? What are these?
Empty containers
Empty containers are not quite empty, they're close, they're dirty dishes, right?
And so the dirty dishes are what we would call manifestations of the cake
Does that make sense?
Okay, so because we made a cake, we have these signs that we made a cake left
Now if we have a cake, that would be great, that would be proof, positive, that would be the end of it all, right?
We would for sure have a cake, we would know, yep, there is a cake because there is a cake
and you can eat a piece of cake and you can taste a piece of cake and you can smell it baking and you know it's good
and you can put the little toothpick in or whatever and make sure that it's not damp in the middle, that kind of thing
and you know that you have a cake
But without that cake in your presence, without that cake to be able to see it, to have it in your hands, to eat it or whatever
we could look at this and we could say, this is the best evidence that we have that there was a cake made, right?
These are the manifestations of that cake being made
Are we close?
Okay, you can take this pan right here which is pre-oiled for you
You can take the pan, you can take the pan, there is a second one in the refrigerator
I know she doesn't need help, and if she was going to get help it would be from an adult, not from you
Alright, she bakes doesn't she? Am I ruining my cake? She doesn't bake?
Alright, well whatever, okay
RJ, you're the youth leader, you go check on her
Alright, go be a youth leader
Go check on her, make sure she's not ruining
He's letting her in the kitchen probably, making sure she can get in the kitchen
Okay, alright, you trust Ron, then I trust Ron, that's fine by me
Alright, so now, grab your Bibles, now let's go to the Word and we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 8 and 12
Thank you very much, this is God's Word
From this point on, as we read it, we will see what God would use to affect us
Whether or not you choose to be affected, that will be up to you
You can resist God at every turn, but as we will see by the time we are done, some things will be true, whether you like it or not
And so if you continue to resist it after that point, that's on you
Alright, so it's 1 Corinthians 13 beginning in verse 8, that's how far we've made it
And we're going through verse 12, so as you can see, we're almost done with the chapter by the time we're done today
I'm going to break it down as I go through
1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 8 says, Love never fails
But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will
Hold on, I looked at the switch and lost my spot
They will cease or stop, if there is knowledge, it will be done away
So we have like three things contrasted there, right?
Let me read the whole thing again because I think I skipped a phrase
Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away
If there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge, it will be done away
So there are three things mentioned in here, and we started with it, if you'll recall, we did do chapter 12, it's been five weeks
But we did do chapter 12, and Paul was talking about the spiritual gifts as manifestations of God's presence
So prophecy is a spiritual gift, right?
The gift of tongues, a spiritual gift
Knowledge is a spiritual gift, those things were laid out in chapter 12 and he said what?
Love versus those three things, what did he say? Does anybody remember?
Okay, look at verse 31 of chapter 12, it says
But earnestly desire the greater gifts, and I show you a still more excellent way
So everything we've been talking about in chapter 13 has been a still more excellent way
In other words, when you say something is still more excellent, you're admitting that the first something is very excellent, it's awesome
But this is still more excellent, so we're escalating up one step from prophecy, from tongues, etc.
And it began with, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and do not have love
I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal
I am a gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge
And if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing
And so basically he's saying these three things are very good
Did you get the one out of the fridge and put it in as well?
Yes
Okay, very good, thank you
So it's two separate things, you don't combine them?
Correct, no, two separate things, yep, very good
Thank you, about 25 minutes, somebody needs to check that
Okay
So when he says love never fails but if there are gifts of prophecy, who gives the prophecies?
Who gives the gifts of prophecy?
God, right? His Holy Spirit determines, and elsewhere you could read, that God's Holy Spirit determines exactly what the right gifts are for each individual
So if you have the gift of prophecy, God has determined that you should be able to prophecy, that that's perfect for you and for the people that you're going to encounter and so on
And then he chooses that gift for you and bestows it in you, that's where it comes from
So it is a gift of prophecy and it is a gift of prophecy from God specifically
So then a gift of prophecy is a manifestation of God's presence
My goodness, what could be better than to know that the God of the universe has chosen to live in you?
I would say pretty much nothing, that would be the immediate thing I would say
I can't think of anything that would be better than to know that the God of the universe has chosen to live in me
And prophecy would be evidence or proof of that
And I could go, yes, because I can prophecy, I can know that the God of heaven is living in me, that sounds awesome
So these are the good things that Paul mentions when he talks about spiritual gifts
They are the signs, the manifestations of God's presence
But what is he saying?
He's saying they will be gone at some point, right? They will cease, they will end, they will be done away with
The manifestations of God's presence will be gone or done away with
And that's the verse that we just read, verse 8
He said, love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away
If there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge, it will be done away
But notice, love never fails
It doesn't quit, it doesn't stop, it doesn't run out, it doesn't cease, it doesn't fall down
Love never fails
This is one of the reasons that he's arguing for love to be a still more excellent way
Because it does not fail, verse 9
He says, for we know in part, so that for is because, or this is why we know this to be true
For we know in part and we prophecy in part
And we'll stop there for one second
So, first one's a reference to knowledge
When you say you know something, it means you have knowledge
So God has gifted you with knowledge, you know something about God
You know something about the gospel, you know something about who God is
You know something about what God's going to do, something about what God has done
You know the promises of God and you're able to claim the promises of God because you know them
If you don't know them, you can't claim them
I don't know to say that, I know that God will save everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
Unless I know that the scripture says that God will save everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
You have to know them first
And so he says, we know, but what does it say about knowing?
We know in part
I submit to you that there is not a single person in this room
And probably not anywhere under heaven despite their best efforts
Who know even everything that is contained in the word of God from Genesis 1 to Revelation End
We don't even know that, and that is made available to you
You could study this for 18 minutes a day and work the 100 hours principle
And by the end of the year you could know the Bible better than anybody that you know
Me, better than 95% of the people in the world
And yet you would only know in part
You're limited to know based on what your experiences are, what your perceptions are, what your capabilities are
What your background is in learning, etc.
So he says, we know in part
And then he says, we prophecy in part
To prophecy is to speak on behalf of God
A lot of times prophecy looks like telling the future, alright?
Like fortune telling essentially
But it's kind of pure and done with the motivation of love
But prophecy is not only telling the future, right?
The prophets largely were known whether they were prophets or not
The Bible said if they gave a prophecy and that prophecy failed
They were a false prophet and they should be put to death
So they said, God's going to do this
And then God doesn't do it, it doesn't happen
Then it's a false prophet and they should be put to death
So telling the future may be the test of a prophet
But it's not the only thing that prophecy is
Prophecy is also revealing the unknown
So you see people say, I know this about you
Tyler, I know this about you, I know what you're doing
Only you could possibly know
Nobody else knows or maybe you've told a couple of friends
There's no way they told that person
And the Holy Spirit through them has them reveal a truth that there's no other way
And so both of these are references to the former
Notice tongues is not mentioned
He says the gift of prophecy, the gift of knowledge will pass away
In the previous verse and now he says this is true because we know in part and we prophecy in part
He says, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away
In other words, when it's done
When the evidence are no longer necessary because the case is closed
If you went to a court of law and your lawyer made a good argument on your behalf
And they present evidences, right?
And they presented the evidences
Well, once the judge makes his ruling, if there's no appeal, it's done
There's no more evidence to be presented
You can go and argue with your friends, you can talk to your brother or your sister, whatever
And tell them about, oh, I should have said this, I should have said that
I should have presented this evidence, I should have presented that
But once the court case is ruled on and there's no appeal possible, it's done
And that is the place to which we are headed
There is a moment in time at which it's settled
Right now we're living in a place where we know in part and we prophecy in part
But when the perfect comes, when it's complete, when it's done, when it's settled
The partial will be done away
We'll come back and look at that again in the points
Verse 11, he says, when I was a child, I used to speak as a child
Think as a child, reason as a child
When I became a man, I did away with childish things
Now, I will say to you that there's a lot of people who want to take this verse right here
And make a book on it or a whole bunch of sermons out of it, right?
And about how men or women, young women, young men, whatever, should grow up
They should mature, they should not be funny anymore
They should not laugh, play, have fun
They shouldn't be distracted, they shouldn't be tempted
Try to make a young man into a man who has no young manness
That's one of the worst things that a person could do
You don't want to take your young manness and get it out of you so you can only be a man
That'd be foolish, you'd be old before your time
What you want to do is take your young manness and you want to refine it and use it
So that it's something that glorifies God
So when a grandpa gets down on the floor and crawls around and plays matchbox cards with his grandkids
Or cowboys and Indians or little plastic miniatures or whatever
And he feels young again, he doesn't feel physically young, he knows he's old
He's still aching in his joints, his back still hurts
He's still in the back of his mind thinking, well, I want to get up from here
I've got to go fix that, do that, make this work happen, pay this bill
He knows all that still got to go on so he doesn't feel like a little kid again
But there is a young part of him that resonates with that young child
He can create stories and play imagination and do things like that
And you shouldn't ever give that up, right?
And because we've repressed that so is one of the reasons why things like social media, TV, books, etc. appeal to us so much
Because when we watch other people do what we'll never do anymore now, we've given it all up
We live vicariously through others
But if you'll keep living all the way until which you die
You keep alive that young person all the way until you die
Then you will have lived a full and abundant life, which I submit to you Christ died for
Back on the text
He said, when I was a child I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child
When I became a man I did away with childish things
And so if this verse is not saying to you that as you become an adult you have to do away with things that have to do with kids
It's not saying to you that you can no longer reason like a child or speak like a child or think like a child because now you're an adult
If it's not saying that then what is it saying?
What it's saying is when the partial becomes full there's no need of the partial anymore
When that cake is done baking we're not going to eat these empty dishes
That would be stupid, right?
Nor will we go pour fresh oil and drink it out of this plastic container
That would be dumb because the cake will be the cake
The things that went into the cake now they're all combined together and they turn out to be the cake
Now we can eat cake and that's the goal
God is moving us toward a point in time at which we will complete this journey
We will be in His presence
I won't talk too much about that just yet
But the bottom line is that's the place that we're going
So to rule out things before their time would be foolish
To realize they don't have a place now that would be foolish
But at the same time to fail or to utilize them to focus on them
He's making an argument would be foolish
So what are the things that He's saying for us not to focus on?
Not to become so excited about, not to be so worried about that we miss the still more excellent thing
He's talking about the spiritual gifts
He's saying that the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of knowledge and all of the other gifts
Which are real and they manifest themselves in people who have the Holy Spirit in them
Those manifestations, we can't get focused on them
Should we use them? Yes
And they have a purpose elsewhere described which is to edify the church
To lift each other up in the church, right?
Should we use them? Yes
But should we get wrapped up in them or so focused on them that we miss the still more excellent way which is love?
No! That's exactly what He's saying
There will come a time if we only have it partial now
Then there will come a time when we have it completely
And when we have it completely, the partial will be done away
That's what He's saying
I'll go from 9
For we know it part and we prophecy in part
But when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away
When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child
When I became a man, I did away with childish things
In other words, I was becoming complete and there were things that only fit in my partialness that I did away with
And that's what God is going to do
Other things remain
You can still sometimes reason as a child if you do it regenerated in the Lord
I submit to you when you're born again, you have to start as a baby in Christ
If you were born again and skipped right to the adolescent stage, you're probably not a very good Christian
If you were born again and skipped right to being an adult Christian, you're probably not a very good Christian
Because God wanted to build something up in you
He was creating something and you ran on ahead of Him and now you're missing certain key parts
And it's the same way with a child becoming a man
And yes, you could speak about that, but He's just using it as an analogy to say
We had it only in part, indeed we have it only in part
Eventually we will have it in its perfect completeness and in so doing
We don't have to have it in part anymore when that time comes
Now verse 12, for now we see in a mirror dimly
There's that verse, people quote it a lot, kind of shows up in a lot of different things
For now we see in a mirror dimly
But then face to face
Now I know in part
But then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known
So what is He saying?
At that moment at which you come into God's presence
A few things are true, the first thing is at that point it's pretty much done
You're not going to run in there and go, oh I meant to repent when I was 12
But I really didn't and I've never been saved and now I don't want to go to hell
There's no chance at that point, that's done
The question is what did you do with Jesus Christ who is the Lord and Savior
And Creator of the universe and the Son of God in the flesh
And God in the flesh, what did you do with Him while you were alive?
And if you get to the point where you die and come into His presence, that's too late
Because you chose not to do the right thing
You chose to condemn Him, to ignore Him, to belittle Him
While you were alive, at that point it's too late
And that's what He's saying, so there's a moment of time in which it's going to be done
It's going to be settled and when it's going to be done and it's settled, we're face to face with God
So that now knowing in part, not really a thing anymore
You live your life knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
But not calling Him Lord as well as Savior
Not living exactly for Him the best you know how and repenting when you fail
Not doing those things and then when you come into His presence
You will have known for days, months, years, decades
What you might even call your whole life that He was Lord
And He was going to either give you heaven or not based on what you did with Jesus
And then you come in there and knowing that will do you no good whatsoever
It'll be whether or not you have it as Lord and Savior
That's what did you do with the knowledge?
So you know in part, so you can say, well I do know
And I am submitting myself to the Lord
And I am acting on the knowledge that I have
And I am acting on prophecy, like I can figure out what God is going to do in the future
I can see the scripture, I know where it's going to go
And I am acting on prophecy, I am acting, I am speaking tongues
Or I am interpreting tongues, or I am doing both, speaking and interpreting tongues
I am doing all of that
And what would Paul say to the Corinthians?
That's all fine, but let me be very clear to you
There is a still more excellent way
And you may be saved, you may not
Realize Matthew 7, there are those who say I am the Lord
But Lord, we prophesied in Your name, we healed in Your name
Does anybody remember what Jesus said back to them?
How did the Corinthians say it was before the message?
Yeah, actually He said that before that
Then they said that, and then He said
Get away from Me, I never knew you
You see, because they had missed the still more excellent way
Get away from Me, I never knew you
Even though they had said they were prophesying
He didn't say no, you didn't prophesy
Or He didn't say, I know you wish He did because it would make it a lot simpler, I kind of wish He did
He didn't say, yeah, you prophesied, but not in My name
I guess I wish it would be that simple
I'm just, if I'm working for Jesus, getting it mostly right, that's enough
But He said no, get away from Me, I never knew you
He didn't say they didn't prophesy
He didn't say they didn't do it in His name
He didn't say they didn't heal
And He didn't say they didn't do it in His name
He just simply said, okay, you prophesied and you healed
But you missed the still more excellent way
Get away from Me, I never knew you
That brings us then to essentially three points that are coming out of the text today
So the first one, I'm going to give you a little illustration
I was about 10 years old and my parents started taking us out to Raceway Park
Anybody remember Raceway Park? It's gone now
Yeah, Raceway Park, a few of us
So Raceway Park used to have buggy racing
So it was horse racing, they called it horse racing
It was horses pulling buggies, right?
And you have a guy sitting in the back of the buggy with his legs up like that
And around the track, dust flying, dirt flying if it was a kind of wet day
And mud flying if it was a muddy day, right?
And you could bet on which horse would come in first
And my parents considered this to be entertainment
And they did it, my dad was a backslidden Christian
My mom wasn't saved, I wasn't saved, my brother wasn't saved
And they'd take both of us out there
And they'd say by the end of the night, you can bet so much money
$5, $10, $20, whatever it was
So I'm about 10 years old, I'm walking around Raceway Park
And I hear this guy who I had seen him there
I've been there like 3 or 4 times, we always go
I think it was always after 9.30 you could get in for free
And we would go like, it was either Friday or Saturday night
So walking around about 10 o'clock on that weekend night
And I hear this guy telling this other guy that there's a horse in the race
That's running at long odds, like 12 to 1
But he's a sure thing to win
He's going to win for sure
So I'm like, oh, I'm super excited, I got a tip
So I run up to my dad and I say, dad, how much money I got left?
He's like, I got 8 bucks, I'm like 8 bucks times 12, that's $96
This is going to be awesome
I said, dad, I want to bet $8 on number 8 or whatever it was to win
And he's like, that's all the money you got
We're going to be here for a half hour or an hour
If you lose, you're done, right?
So you won't be able to bet anymore for the rest of the night
If you bet all $8
And he said, yeah, I said, dad, but it's a sure thing
I'm going to win this bet for sure
And he's like, how do you know?
And I said, well, I heard this guy over here
And I've seen him, he knows what he's doing
This guy's like an expert at the track
He clearly knows what he's doing
And he told me that number 8 is a sure thing
And my dad told me a couple of important things in that moment
He said, the first thing is, if number 8 was a sure thing
He wouldn't be going off at 12 to 1
Those odds directly represent whether or not that horse is going to win that race
So if you're betting on a horse that's 12-1, odds are he's not going to win
So my dad said, maybe you should bet on him to show
So it's first place, second place, third place, show
And then there's a, you can bet to place, which is first or second place
And show is first, second, third, or fourth
So the fourth place could be included, right? And show, I think that's how it went
But anyway, and I said, but dad, he's like 12-1 to win
He's only like 3-1 to come in fourth or better
So then I would only get like $24 instead of $96
And I said, yeah, but that's a sure thing
That's a sure thing, that's a sure thing
So here's the thing, sure things, there's no such thing
There's no such thing as a sure thing in betting and gambling, in life, in general
Nothing is really sure unless God makes it sure
Here's the sure thing, God will keep His promises
God will do what He said He's going to do
God doesn't back down, God can't be defeated
So if there is anything that's sure, it's God
But everybody's got this idea that they're going to discover this other sure thing
And they're going to invest in it
So like you start prophecy and you're like, man, I can tell the future a little bit
Sometimes when I say things, they come true
Anybody here ever had that happen? That's happened to me
I bet there's others, right? Has that ever happened?
You tell something's going to happen, then it happens, right?
You ever have a dream and it's like deja vu
But you can, before you get to the end of the deja vu, the series of events
Something in the dream was supposed to happen and then you're able to change it
You know what that is?
That's a gift of prophecy, right?
And not only Christians have it
There's a girl in Acts where Paul casts a demon out of her
And she loses her ability to tell the future and they get in big trouble for it
So that can be evil spirits or demons that give that ability, not just God
But the bottom line is, it's pretty cool if I start thinking I can tell the future a little bit
I can get pretty excited about that, I'm telling the future a little bit
And I can start trying harder, I can write my dreams or I can pay close attention
I can even pray, God, please let me tell the future some more, I want to do that
I really like that, I can be focused on my gift, whatever it is
There have been times in my life where as a pastor, as a preacher
Where everything in my life was falling apart
I was begging God, my health was bad or whatever
That's not been all that, that's been pretty recent
And I'm begging, I said, whatever you do, Lord, let me keep preaching
Because I know that's something I'm called to do
And then immediately I repented and I realized, no, that is not right
That is not right
That is not what I'm called to do
You're not called to preach
Spiritual gifts are a manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit
There is no sure thing, they're not one thing you can double down on
Or bet all the money that you've got left or put all your efforts into
Except what? You know the answer
What will win? What will remain? What is it?
We're studying it, we've been in here for five weeks
We don't know what the one thing is that will stick to the very end
It's love
I saw a couple people saying love
It's love
Love is the only sure thing
The truth is, I'm what they call a certified leadership life coach
I haven't used it a lot, but I've done it with some folks
And had some reasonably good kind of God help them find clarity and things like that
But as a pastor it's a useful tool, so I got certified to do that
And I learned that men of a certain age want to leave a legacy
They want to leave behind something, when they leave this world
They want to leave behind something that has affected the world
Something that has changed, whether it's in their family, in their kids, their ministry
Where they work, they want to leave behind a legacy
I've left a couple of jobs over the years, so has Sherry
And every time we've ever left we always worked really hard
I could give notice for three weeks and then the last three weeks we work our butts off
To make sure and leave that place better than it was when we started
That's called leaving a legacy, and we want to leave a legacy
Let me tell you what the legacy that you want to leave
What the legacy that I want to leave is
What the legacy is that we were created to leave, it is love
At your funeral, if they say you started a Fortune 500 company
Ain't going to mean squat
In 50 years somebody will be able to Google you if Google still exists and figure that out
But otherwise no one's going to care
And at your funeral, if you gave a lot of money to the church
Somebody might be there, buy big flowers, put up a plaque in your name
A name of room after you, or a building, or a parking lot space or something
But in 50 or 100 years, no one's going to care
No one's going to remember that
You can look back at people now who said important things
100 years ago, 200 years ago
There's a quote by Thomas More later in my sermon that I may or may not say
And you're like, who's Thomas More? My point exactly
Right? But here is what will pay
Here is what will stay the course
It is love
Love is the only sure thing
If you've forgotten the last four weeks of what love is
Read and meditate on 1 Corinthians chapter 13 until you get it
Because the legacy you want to lead is a legacy of love
It is what we were made to traffic in
It does not run out
It is a sure thing
It is not a risk or a gamble
It may feel like it at times
Like you're putting yourself out there
And you might even lose your physical life
But if you lose your physical life in love
You gain eternity
That's way better than 12 to 1
Love always wins
The second point then is that
The dessert mix that we talked about
That half-baked dessert mix
When the dessert is mixed and baked, it is complete
The mix is no longer necessary
But even if it were, it's gone
Hear me now
Whatever has blessed you in your life
If it's not of God at the moment of death, it's gone
Your great intelligence, your great strength
Your great capability, your great diligence
Your great wealth, your great relationships
Whatever it is, anything that's blessing you now
Whatever you're having fun with now
At the moment of your death, it will be gone
About eight years or so ago
I watched a movie called My All American
If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it
It's rated PG or rated PG-13
It's about a young man named Freddie
Who had in his mind he was going to be a professional football player
He and his dad worked really hard
His dad was for sure set to be a professional baseball player
But he had a car accident, it hurt his leg
So then he worked with his son to make him a professional football player
He had it set in his mind
To the point that they would go out before school and after school every day
And run up and down this hill
He was strong, he only ate right, he slept right
He put God first
He was a Catholic, but he professed the name of the Lord
And he went to mass every single day
He never missed no matter what
He could do everything else
He could play football, he could work out
He could do all those things
And he never missed being in church
Being with God's people
And so all of that, and then he winds up
He's 5'10", not very big
5'10", and a safety and a punt returner for University of Texas
And they took him
In his sophomore year, he went first string
Which was the second time in 30 years that that had happened
And they went and won the national championship
And then they were set to go to the Cotton Bowl
And during the national championship game leading up to it
His knee began to hurt really bad
And he had a tumor on top of his leg
Now we're ruining that part of the story
But you guys still watch the story, it's really good
The bottom line is
He never became a professional football player
Because they had to amputate his leg at the hip
Because he had cancer in his leg
And so what I'm getting at is
This kid, literally everything in his life
Was geared around this dream
Except for his faith
Serving God, he was serving God in church
He was in church, etc
And when his football dream ran out
And he could no longer play professionally
Even though he was on a number one nationally ranked team
And he was probably the reason that they won
And they even said as much, right?
And even though that was true
His football went away
And guess what he had left?
His faith
His relationship with God
He went through having his leg amputated at the hip
God forbid anybody should ever go through that
And he went through it strong
And he overcame in a matter of less than three weeks
What they told him it would take him six months to do
And he walked on crutches with one leg to the cotton bowl
And saw his team play
When the dessert mix is mixed
That's not the time to eat it
When it's baked
That may or may not be the time to eat it
When it's frosted it starts to look pretty good
When it's complete
That's the time
The culmination of efforts shows itself
Yes, we desire the manifestations of God's presence in us
Yes, it makes sense to desire the manifestations of God's presence
I want God to live in me
I want God to reign in me
I want God to turn me into something that is godly
That is something I want, I desire that
But more than the manifestations of his presence
Are his presence
What will that be like?
Well, it's going to be an encounter with love
And if you have encountered the love of God at the moment of salvation
And yet
Can deny someone you know
Even an enemy
The love of God
Then according to what God says
That's a contradiction
I want you to think for just a moment
About one of the things
Now don't beat yourself up over it
But just think for one of the things that you did as a sinner
As a lost person
Got it?
Now I want you to realize that that thing
Would have put you in hell
For an eternity
That you would have been separated from God forever
And because that's true
And God would not allow it
He came in the flesh as a man
And was crucified to pay for it
But he didn't stay dead
He rose again on the third day
As a permanent lasting testimony
Of the love of God
And the love of God
Is the permanent lasting testimony
Of the love of our God
That's the love that you encountered
The moment that you heard
That if you call upon the name of the Lord
And believe that he is Savior
And believe that he is Lord
That you will be translated
Born again
Moved from the kingdom of Satan
love that you're experiencing with other people that you're encountering or if any other emotion
should replace it.
And love is not an emotion, right?
It goes so far beyond that, but it results in an emotion that feels for the other person,
a compassion, a want, a desire to see them well, right?
And if any other emotion would replace that love at any point in time, then I debate whether
or not you have actually experienced what you say you have experienced.
Because love never fails.
It doesn't quit, it doesn't break down, it doesn't run out, there's not enough of it,
it doesn't cost too much.
Desiring the manifestations of God's presence makes perfect sense because don't you want
to go to heaven?
Don't you want the abundant life that Jesus paid for?
That all makes a lot of sense.
But if we have encountered the love that is God, a complete and wonderful thing has already
taken place in us, and it is a testimony to a final and complete and wonderful thing,
the road between here and there must be populated with the love of the Creator God that we have
experienced and will truly experience then.
But you're saying, I don't know for sure that I will be with God for an eternity.
If you don't know for sure that you will be with God for an eternity, then it makes perfect
sense that you would not be loving to the people around you because you're busy meeting
your own needs, dealing with your own desires.
But if you know for certain where you're going, you know where you will be, you know in whom
you have trusted and who you will keep until that day, that which you have entrusted to
him, Paul says.
Right?
If you're willing to do that, if you have done that, and you know for sure where you
will arrive, then the road between here and there is populated with a still more excellent
way.
The first point was, there is no sure thing except love.
The second point was that the manifestations of this, of God in this life are like half-baked
cake, but there is a full experience of God yet to come.
The next one that I want to share with you is that the signs of passage are the signs
of his presence.
Even the signs of his presence will never be as good as the presence itself.
Any hunters in the room?
Have you ever been hunting?
Anybody?
Charlie's not in here today.
She's a hunter.
Okay, there's a couple.
I see some nodding hands, hands up.
Okay.
So let's say for a moment that you went hunting.
And as you're going out hunting and you haven't picked a spot yet where you're going to sit
to wait to bag the deer or whatever it is you're hunting.
And you go out and you see hoof prints on the ground.
Is that a good sign?
Hoof prints.
Since you're hunting a deer, you see deer prints on the sign.
You'd be like, okay.
And you know it rained a few days ago, but there's hoof prints here and they're clear
and crisp.
So you know these hoof prints are less than three days old.
So there's a deer that moves through here and has in the last three days.
And deer like most creatures are creatures of habit.
So I think, well, I see hoof prints.
That is evidence of the presence of a deer.
This is good.
Then you come along and you see a tree.
And the tree bark has been shredded off of the tree.
Let me know what that's from.
From their antlers.
So they're shed and trying to get the fur off their antlers.
So now this is evidence not only the presence of a deer, but presence of a buck.
So now we've got a buck.
So now we've got footprints, means deer.
Now we've got bark rubbed off a tree.
That means a buck and not just a small buck probably.
So this is looking pretty good.
Then you take up your spot overlooking the place where the deer might come through.
You got a good wide open view.
And then you hear some rustling in the bushes.
Now we've got footprints.
You've got bark rubbed off a tree and quite a lot of rustling in a bush.
Rifle comes up, take aim in the site.
We're aiming at the bush.
But though the bush rustles, no deer is seen.
Do you take the shot?
No.
No, you can't take the shot.
Why not?
You don't want to look at humans.
It could be a human.
It could be anything.
And you're hunting deer.
Right?
Then you got a lot of evidence that there's a deer, but no actual deer.
You got footprints.
You got bark rubbed off.
You got rustling in the bushes.
And then after a few seconds, you don't take the shot.
And then you hear the sound of deer moving through several bushes.
Still can't see them moving bushes away from your spot.
Man, there's probably a deer there.
Probably a buck.
Maybe you catch just the hint of the top of some antlers, but no shot.
Never a deer.
The day ends.
And you go back and you're hanging out with your buds, eating some french fries.
You talk about the one that got away.
The signs of passage or even the signs of presence will never be as good as the actual
presence of God.
Ever.
No matter how sure you are.
You look at your son and go, my son is growing up to be a great man and he professes the
name of the Lord.
And you might have everything to believe that he has become a Christian.
But if he has not actually become a Christian, it's not good enough.
Your spouse might be a great servant and seem to love the Lord and whatever.
But when the time comes, no matter what she's done, no matter what he's done, if the presence
of the Lord is not in them, it's not good enough.
See, the knowledge, the prophecy, the tongues, all of it is little more than dirty dishes.
It ain't real cake.
It may taste pretty good.
There may be parts of it like prophecy that you go, oh, I'll eat that powdered sugar just
plain, just the way it is.
Somebody might go, I'll cook up that egg, pop it in the microwave, whip it up a little
bit, pop it in the microwave, whip it up a little bit, make me a scrambled egg, slap
some salt on that bad boy and I'll eat it.
That's 25 calories and tasty too.
You might do that.
But if you do that, you'll never get cake.
Came home one night, it was late, it was probably about one in the morning.
And I had been to the hospital, I'd been there for like five hours and they had had dinner
while I was gone.
And I come in and they had left the dishes from dinner in the sink.
We do that quite frequently actually for one day or whatever while we're getting around
to washing them and the dishes from dinner were in the sink.
And there in the sink was a flat pan and on the flat pan was shiny aluminum foil and on
the aluminum foil were the traced out shapes of cooked barbecue sauce.
It was every bit of evidence for me to know that they had had barbecue ribs for dinner.
Now I hadn't had dinner and I'd had a light lunch and it had been about nine hours since
I ate.
The only other thing I had in that time was hot chocolate.
And so what do you think I did?
Say it again?
I went in the refrigerator to see whether or not there was any leftover ribs.
And guess what?
There was!
And I ate barbecue ribs.
I didn't sleep very well because of it but I ate barbecue ribs about 1.30 in the morning
after I warmed them up and they were quite tasty.
The manifestations of God's presence in other people are meant to lead you to search for
God and you will find Him and realize He was never very far away in the first place and
then you too will have manifestations of His presence and they will lead other people to
search for God.
But let me show you a still more excellent way.
You could theoretically, based on what we're studying today, manifest no Holy Spirit gifts
whatsoever.
Do you know that there are Holy Spirit gifts that are very quiet?
Like faith.
Faith is a Holy Spirit gift.
It's also what you need to be saved.
But there's another kind of faith that's a Holy Spirit gift that believes God even when
it doesn't make any sense.
Believes God for miracles.
Like service that works in the background and isn't waiting for somebody to give them
notice.
Take notice of that, man what a great job they did.
They're happy to be serving.
They know they're manifesting and people see the manifestations of faith and service all
the time without even knowing it.
But then there's love.
You could manifest no Holy Spirit gift whatsoever and yet love be living in a still more excellent
way and bring people to Jesus.
I submit to you that the church is not failing to bring people to Jesus because they don't
manifest the Holy Spirit gifts.
And there are a lot of churches where there are no Holy Spirit gifts because they say
they've ceased or whatever and they tell people.
And even though people have them, they never let it be known that they have them because
they've been told that they can't have them.
I submit to you it's not Holy Spirit gifts that are going to win lost people to Christ.
It's love.
And I wonder then why if love is the supreme expression of God's presence, there isn't
more of that.
Well, the church of our day is somewhere stuck between the dirty dishes and the well cooked
meal.
The well cooked meal comes when God reveals Himself and we go to heaven for eternity.
That's when it's done.
Has someone pulled the cake from the oven by the way?
It is out cooling.
Alright.
Can we get one of them and bring it in here?
For the optic lesson of it.
So this is what the well cooked meal looks like today.
You say, no wait a minute, you said the perfect will come.
We'll get there in the presence of God and we'll experience love.
Yes, but the Bible also says, John says, if you cannot love, you do not know God.
The one who abides in love abides in God.
And so it's right now, today, this is what it looks like.
We love others to Christ.
Lost people, people who profess to be saved, we love them to Christ.
You can buy them birthday presents or Christmas presents, you can pay their bills for them,
but it'll never mean anything unless we love them to Christ.
We love others to Christ.
We do that by exhibiting, that means we're showing it, and sharing the knowledge of the
gospel.
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of salvation unto all
those who believe, first the Jew and then the Gentile.
So we do it by showing the knowledge of the gospel.
You don't show, you're not showing love if you go and serve somebody and never mention
Jesus, they have no idea you're doing it for Jesus or whatever.
Because you might be doing it for a million other reasons.
But we demonstrate the love of Christ by delivering the gospel of Christ, exhibiting it and sharing
it to all people.
Christ loves them to growth.
Jesus loves them to growth.
Is it still pretty hot?
So there's our cake.
Compliments of Haley's mixing.
I didn't make it full thickness because the other one's in there, right?
Now all it would take would be for me to put the frosting on.
But you can't have any, I don't care if you want some.
You want some?
You can't have any.
I'm serious.
You want some?
You can't have any.
You want some?
You can't have any.
Is there anybody here who doesn't want some?
Raise your hand if you don't want any cake.
Tony, you can have some.
Now how's that feel?
Does that feel very good to know that the cake is right here?
And you're like, man, cake!
Fresh baked cake.
Smells like cake.
I bet it'll taste like cake.
And I've got a whole thing of frosting.
But you can't have any.
That's what the church is doing to the world.
That's what the church is doing to each other.
We're supposed to be loving the way Christ loves.
Sacrificing the way Christ sacrifices.
Working the way Christ works.
We love others to Christ.
Exhibiting and sharing the knowledge of the gospel.
Christ loves them to growth.
And then we love each other.
As Jesus is loving us, we love each other.
And then we're loved by Christ all the way to the moment
at which all the other manifestations end.
And love is seen face to face.
I know that sounds weird.
But love is seen face to face.
I'm asking you.
God is asking me.
And so I'm relaying the message.
That we take a serious look at everything
that's in our lives and figure out
which ones are expressions of love.
Not the worldly love.
If you missed one sermon in this series,
if you missed one point, so what was kindness?
Kindness is being useful.
That's what kindness was.
What was one of the things that makes it not possibly love?
To act unbecomingly.
If you do the wrong thing, that's not love.
If you do a sinful thing or a wicked thing
or a thing that God would not tarry, that's not love.
And if you're seeking your own, you're
loving the person who loves you so that they'll love you back.
Or you're loving them so that you get certain results.
That's not love.
If you're provokable, if you're able to be provoked,
you get angry at the people that you supposedly love.
That's not love.
If you are going around taking into account
or thinking about the wrongs that other people are doing,
that's not love.
But if you can get to the point that you actually love
and are exhibiting the love that God has called us to in the thing
that's in your life that you're examining,
then I would say double down.
And I think you're going to find things that are not loving.
They're things that exclude others.
They're things that tell people no,
any reasonable request probably should receive a yes.
They're things that are unseemly, meaning they lead
to a simple road or they walk away from something
that God wants us to be doing or an investment
that God wants us to be making.
And so now I'm loving this person and this person
is leading me astray or leading me down a place
that I shouldn't go.
That's not love.
You say I love, but you don't love
if you're investing in things in life
that do not exhibit the love of God.
And that's dangerous because you can profess the name of Christ,
receive Holy Spirit gifts,
and miss the more excellent way,
which means it's possible you could not be saved.
Have you experienced the love of Christ firsthand?
Then I challenge you to deliver it into the world,
to deliver it into your family,
deliver it on your job,
deliver it in your church,
deliver it whether they like it or not.
And remember that one of the greatest examples of love
is calls to repentance,
calls to look to God.
And somebody says to you,
well, I'm engaged in this sinful activity.
You don't have to say to them, you have to quit.
You can just say to them, I think you should look to God.
What are you saying? What I'm doing is sin?
Well, the Bible says it's sin, but I'm not saying that.
All I'm saying to you is I want you to look to God.
Well, I am looking to God and God says,
okay, I do it.
I can't help you.
I have one message and it is look to God.
And His word says this,
and you're saying something different
and you're saying you're looking to God.
So that can only be true if you and God
have a special understanding
that is outside what the Bible says
and outside my understanding of God's at that point,
I can't help you.
But if ever you want somebody to call you to repent
and turn to God, you come to me.
In the meantime, I'm gonna continue to love you
the way Jesus loved me.
That's what Paul was calling us to
in 1 Corinthians 13, 8-12.
So I ask the praise team to come forward at this time.
And we're gonna have the final song
that's your opportunity to make it to the table.
I will frost the cake immediately following service
and cut it up and it will be in the cafeteria
for anybody who actually wants a piece.
And I hope it will come to you
and taste a little bit like love today.
And I didn't make it thick,
so you won't be eating this massive amounts of calories.
Plus it'll be planted around.
Stand with me and sing this song and then as we sing
and the Lord is speaking to you about something in your life
or some loving that needs to go.
Or He's speaking to you about a person in your life
that you need to love them despite how challenging
it sometimes is or whatever.
Then you repent, turn to God,
and commit yourself to just that.
I'm gonna work with this.
Go on to Jesus.
I surrender.
I surrender all.
To Him I plead.
I plead again.
I will never stop.
And trust Him in His presence.
And His will be done.
I surrender all.
I'm taking all the things that I've been blessed with.
I surrender all.
All to Him I plead.
I surrender all.
Oh Jesus I surrender all.
Let me be saved, your holy light.
Let me feel thy holy spirit.
Truly know that thou art mine.
I surrender all.
All to thee my master, Savior, I surrender all.
I'm gonna stop singing at this time.
I want to share with you very briefly,
one big step, a few minutes, a couple minutes something.
This is something that has somewhat, in my lifetime,
the question has re-inserted me a number of times.
I just want to tell you that in studying this passage of Scripture,
I figured it out.
And then maybe it'll make a connection for you too.
Matthew 6 19, Jesus says this, He says,
Do not lay up for yourself treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves not break and steal.
But where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The lamp of the body is the eye, and if therefore your eye is clear,
the whole body will be full of light.
If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in you is darkness,
how great is the darkness.
Many times, we've been in conversation, we've been debating, thinking about it,
people asking questions I thought about it, whatever,
you can say, well, how do you store up treasures for yourself in heaven?
And I'm gonna tell you that a lot of pastors, thank God,
I don't believe ever me, okay?
But a lot of pastors have preached the way you store up treasures for yourself in heaven.
Bless you, sir.
Instead of spending your money on your earthly pleasures,
you invest it thinking of work.
So you give more financial, more tithes and offerings,
more service ministry, those kinds of things.
There ain't anything wrong with that.
I think there is our scripture that supports our giving and giving very heartily.
But this doesn't have anything to do with that.
So now based on what we learned today, I'm gonna ask a question.
If we're investing in treasures that will be present in heaven,
what does that mean or what does that look like?
Could you work harder on earth and would that do it?
Could you use your spiritual gifts, would that do it?
Could you self-sacrifice, would that do it?
Because I've seen that, people say, well, he self-sacrificed,
and so God is clearly gonna reward him in heaven, right?
Does that make sense?
Based on what we saw today, only that which is perfect and complete goes beyond.
And so that brings us to just one thing.
There is just one way that you can make sure that anything that you do on earth
results in treasure in heaven and what is it?
What is it?
I'm done.
One more.
Okay, that's good but that's not the answer.
That is good to do that but that's not the answer.
Love.
So everything you do that is for sure done in the love of Christ,
as we have talked about, translates to treasures in heaven.
And everything that you do for any other motivation, even diligence or duty,
all of those things are good, honor, all good, peace, good, war when necessary,
all good, all of those things, but they do not translate to treasures in heaven
unless they are done in love because only love never fails.
Only love is eternal.
That make sense?
Like the light bulb went on for me and I went, oh, now I get it.
I understand what he was talking about.
Jesus was calling us to do what we do in love.
Sometimes that may mean we have to go back to the beginning
and say, we made it in the end.
The only true expression, absolutely knowing it for sure that I have known
is the love of God is when I got saved.
So how do I make the traces that I'm making like that, Jules?
Maybe you just always check it back.
We'll just use that.
That's the clip.
That's the mold.
That's the instructions.
How do I make it like that?
If you make it like that, then it will last forever.
If you make it like anything else, it will be done away when the partial is done away.
The scary thing is if you've not experienced that love in salvation,
then you will be done away with when the partial is done away with.
But if you have experience and get through salvation and can walk in it,
then you will be with God in heaven for eternity.
Pretty cool stuff.
We're going to close the prayer this time and we will be through.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, it's been a challenging chapter.
I've been stretched, pushed.
At the same time, I've been encouraged.
I've been blessed.
As we've looked at the words that, I mean, I know there are people who can recite this chapter,
but I wonder whether the meaning is clear, especially like where it says kindness,
and we would have known without digging into it the word kindness,
that it means it's about being useful for someone.
Or where it says love covers a multitude of sins in Scripture and here,
and that that word bears all things, means covers.
We realize now that we're covering for others and others are covering for us,
and that's part of what it means to be loving.
And so, Lord, grow us, transform us, and change us.
And if we miss this step along the way, if we jumped to a later step
without learning to love like Jesus loved, without learning to love like we're supposed to,
if we've not been transformed from the inside out,
but rather just been going through the motions on the outside so it looks like we're loving it,
Lord, turn us again.
Turn us to You.
Empower us.
Make us able.
Make us able to see the manifestations of Your presence, yes,
but more importantly, to have Your presence in us every day.
Thank you, Lord, that this way is a still more excellent way, so much more excellent,
that something as awesome as spiritual gifts can look like dirty dishes or cracks in the mud compared to love.
Father, help us be Your loving people with presence in Jesus' name.
Thank you very much.
The cake is on its way already to the cafeteria.
For those of you who want a piece of sample cake made during the sermon,
probably the only time you'll ever get that.