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I see a generation rising up to take their place in the southwest rain, in the southwest rain

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I see a new ring in my heart, a ring that is free and clean, with what I need, with what I need

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Hosana, Hosana,  Hosana in the highest

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With what I need, with what I need

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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

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With my whole heart, with my whole heart, everything I have for the kingdom's cause, as I walk my path into eternity


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I love you all from Sunday school, remember as the gods rule and how Jesus came, and set up the sinner free

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I know the story inside out, and I can tell you all about the path that led him up to Calvary

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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

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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

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He's everything, everything to me

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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

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I want to tell the world about the love I've taught my life around, they need to know the things they should see

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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

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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

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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

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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

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The water I touch far, and the ground beneath my feet, you're everything

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You're everything, you're everything, you're everything

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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

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I should remind you that we have been working through 1st Corinthians 13, so we'll get a little excited about this verse later

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Before we do that, we're going to just kind of have a little bit of an object lesson if we can

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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So you'd want to break it open, make it hard boiled or...

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It's not hard boiled, it's still nice

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Wow, you're certain

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Oh, it did something, something happened, okay, there it is, okay, let me get this out of the way

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He's actually contemplating it, we're going to pass, he's going to cook it

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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

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You didn't know that, there's an egg

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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?

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Okay, so we've got a couple volunteers

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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

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That's pretty good, and then some oil, that's pretty good

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And some water, like that

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Now it's ready to eat, right?

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No, just cook it like this, put it in the oven

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We'll mix it first, we've got the mixer for that

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Okay, wait, so actually, I know why you didn't want to eat it, because you wanted the frosting on there, right?

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So if we put some frosting in this bowl, then it's ready to eat, right?

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No!

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Put the frosting on that

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But all the parts are here

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So mix it up really good, and then put the frosting on

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No

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No?

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Put it on after

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After what? Oh, after it's cooked, okay

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So let's see

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Hey, will you mix up my baked lemon?

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Please, I'll put it in the oven

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Just mix it up, I'll take it out

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Is that one of your candles on?

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Yes

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Okay, I'll leave the door unlocked

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Leave the door open here

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No, sir

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I use the oven when you've brought the other cup

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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

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Alright, so needless to say, the parts that form a cake do not inherently form a cake, right?

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There is a moment in time

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What I want you to see is that there will theoretically eventually be a cake out of this mess, right?

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But something else is here, what do we have? What are these?

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Empty containers

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Empty containers are not quite empty, they're close, they're dirty dishes, right?

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And so the dirty dishes are what we would call manifestations of the cake

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Does that make sense?

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Okay, so because we made a cake, we have these signs that we made a cake left

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Now if we have a cake, that would be great, that would be proof, positive, that would be the end of it all, right?

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We would for sure have a cake, we would know, yep, there is a cake because there is a cake

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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

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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

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and you know that you have a cake

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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

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we could look at this and we could say, this is the best evidence that we have that there was a cake made, right?

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These are the manifestations of that cake being made

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Are we close?

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Okay, you can take this pan right here which is pre-oiled for you

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You can take the pan, you can take the pan, there is a second one in the refrigerator

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I know she doesn't need help, and if she was going to get help it would be from an adult, not from you

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Alright, she bakes doesn't she? Am I ruining my cake? She doesn't bake?

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Alright, well whatever, okay

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RJ, you're the youth leader, you go check on her

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Alright, go be a youth leader

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Go check on her, make sure she's not ruining

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He's letting her in the kitchen probably, making sure she can get in the kitchen

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Okay, alright, you trust Ron, then I trust Ron, that's fine by me

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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

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Thank you very much, this is God's Word

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From this point on, as we read it, we will see what God would use to affect us

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Whether or not you choose to be affected, that will be up to you

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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

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And so if you continue to resist it after that point, that's on you

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Alright, so it's 1 Corinthians 13 beginning in verse 8, that's how far we've made it

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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

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I'm going to break it down as I go through

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1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 8 says, Love never fails

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But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will

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Hold on, I looked at the switch and lost my spot

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They will cease or stop, if there is knowledge, it will be done away

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So we have like three things contrasted there, right?

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Let me read the whole thing again because I think I skipped a phrase

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Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away

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If there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge, it will be done away

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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

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But we did do chapter 12, and Paul was talking about the spiritual gifts as manifestations of God's presence

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So prophecy is a spiritual gift, right?

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The gift of tongues, a spiritual gift

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Knowledge is a spiritual gift, those things were laid out in chapter 12 and he said what?

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Love versus those three things, what did he say? Does anybody remember?

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Okay, look at verse 31 of chapter 12, it says

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But earnestly desire the greater gifts, and I show you a still more excellent way

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So everything we've been talking about in chapter 13 has been a still more excellent way

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In other words, when you say something is still more excellent, you're admitting that the first something is very excellent, it's awesome

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But this is still more excellent, so we're escalating up one step from prophecy, from tongues, etc.

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And it began with, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and do not have love

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I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal

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I am a gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge

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And if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing

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And so basically he's saying these three things are very good

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Did you get the one out of the fridge and put it in as well?

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Yes

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Okay, very good, thank you

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So it's two separate things, you don't combine them?

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Correct, no, two separate things, yep, very good

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Thank you, about 25 minutes, somebody needs to check that

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Okay

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So when he says love never fails but if there are gifts of prophecy, who gives the prophecies?

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Who gives the gifts of prophecy?

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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

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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

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And then he chooses that gift for you and bestows it in you, that's where it comes from

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So it is a gift of prophecy and it is a gift of prophecy from God specifically

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So then a gift of prophecy is a manifestation of God's presence

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My goodness, what could be better than to know that the God of the universe has chosen to live in you?

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I would say pretty much nothing, that would be the immediate thing I would say

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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

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And prophecy would be evidence or proof of that

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And I could go, yes, because I can prophecy, I can know that the God of heaven is living in me, that sounds awesome

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So these are the good things that Paul mentions when he talks about spiritual gifts

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They are the signs, the manifestations of God's presence

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But what is he saying?

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He's saying they will be gone at some point, right? They will cease, they will end, they will be done away with

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The manifestations of God's presence will be gone or done away with

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And that's the verse that we just read, verse 8

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He said, love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away

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If there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge, it will be done away

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But notice, love never fails

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It doesn't quit, it doesn't stop, it doesn't run out, it doesn't cease, it doesn't fall down

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Love never fails

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This is one of the reasons that he's arguing for love to be a still more excellent way

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Because it does not fail, verse 9

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He says, for we know in part, so that for is because, or this is why we know this to be true

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For we know in part and we prophecy in part

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And we'll stop there for one second

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So, first one's a reference to knowledge

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When you say you know something, it means you have knowledge

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So God has gifted you with knowledge, you know something about God

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You know something about the gospel, you know something about who God is

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You know something about what God's going to do, something about what God has done

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You know the promises of God and you're able to claim the promises of God because you know them

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If you don't know them, you can't claim them

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I don't know to say that, I know that God will save everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord

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Unless I know that the scripture says that God will save everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord

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You have to know them first

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And so he says, we know, but what does it say about knowing?

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We know in part

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I submit to you that there is not a single person in this room

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And probably not anywhere under heaven despite their best efforts

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Who know even everything that is contained in the word of God from Genesis 1 to Revelation End

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We don't even know that, and that is made available to you

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You could study this for 18 minutes a day and work the 100 hours principle

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And by the end of the year you could know the Bible better than anybody that you know

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Me, better than 95% of the people in the world

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And yet you would only know in part

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You're limited to know based on what your experiences are, what your perceptions are, what your capabilities are

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What your background is in learning, etc.

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So he says, we know in part

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And then he says, we prophecy in part

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To prophecy is to speak on behalf of God

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A lot of times prophecy looks like telling the future, alright?

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Like fortune telling essentially

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But it's kind of pure and done with the motivation of love

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But prophecy is not only telling the future, right?

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The prophets largely were known whether they were prophets or not

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The Bible said if they gave a prophecy and that prophecy failed

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They were a false prophet and they should be put to death

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So they said, God's going to do this

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And then God doesn't do it, it doesn't happen

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Then it's a false prophet and they should be put to death

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So telling the future may be the test of a prophet

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But it's not the only thing that prophecy is

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Prophecy is also revealing the unknown

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So you see people say, I know this about you

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Tyler, I know this about you, I know what you're doing

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Only you could possibly know

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Nobody else knows or maybe you've told a couple of friends

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There's no way they told that person

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And the Holy Spirit through them has them reveal a truth that there's no other way

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And so both of these are references to the former

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Notice tongues is not mentioned

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He says the gift of prophecy, the gift of knowledge will pass away

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In the previous verse and now he says this is true because we know in part and we prophecy in part

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He says, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away

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In other words, when it's done

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When the evidence are no longer necessary because the case is closed

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If you went to a court of law and your lawyer made a good argument on your behalf

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And they present evidences, right?

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And they presented the evidences

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Well, once the judge makes his ruling, if there's no appeal, it's done

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There's no more evidence to be presented

222
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You can go and argue with your friends, you can talk to your brother or your sister, whatever

223
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And tell them about, oh, I should have said this, I should have said that

224
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,800
I should have presented this evidence, I should have presented that

225
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:13,800
But once the court case is ruled on and there's no appeal possible, it's done

226
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,800
And that is the place to which we are headed

227
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,800
There is a moment in time at which it's settled

228
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,800
Right now we're living in a place where we know in part and we prophecy in part

229
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But when the perfect comes, when it's complete, when it's done, when it's settled

230
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The partial will be done away

231
00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:30,800
We'll come back and look at that again in the points

232
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Verse 11, he says, when I was a child, I used to speak as a child

233
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Think as a child, reason as a child

234
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When I became a man, I did away with childish things

235
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Now, I will say to you that there's a lot of people who want to take this verse right here

236
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And make a book on it or a whole bunch of sermons out of it, right?

237
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And about how men or women, young women, young men, whatever, should grow up

238
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They should mature, they should not be funny anymore

239
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They should not laugh, play, have fun

240
00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:59,800
They shouldn't be distracted, they shouldn't be tempted

241
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:04,800
Try to make a young man into a man who has no young manness

242
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,800
That's one of the worst things that a person could do

243
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:11,800
You don't want to take your young manness and get it out of you so you can only be a man

244
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:15,800
That'd be foolish, you'd be old before your time

245
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:19,800
What you want to do is take your young manness and you want to refine it and use it

246
00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:21,800
So that it's something that glorifies God

247
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:26,800
So when a grandpa gets down on the floor and crawls around and plays matchbox cards with his grandkids

248
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,800
Or cowboys and Indians or little plastic miniatures or whatever

249
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:33,800
And he feels young again, he doesn't feel physically young, he knows he's old

250
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,800
He's still aching in his joints, his back still hurts

251
00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,800
He's still in the back of his mind thinking, well, I want to get up from here

252
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,800
I've got to go fix that, do that, make this work happen, pay this bill

253
00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,800
He knows all that still got to go on so he doesn't feel like a little kid again

254
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:51,800
But there is a young part of him that resonates with that young child

255
00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,800
He can create stories and play imagination and do things like that

256
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:57,800
And you shouldn't ever give that up, right?

257
00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:03,800
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

258
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:09,800
Because when we watch other people do what we'll never do anymore now, we've given it all up

259
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:11,800
We live vicariously through others

260
00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:14,800
But if you'll keep living all the way until which you die

261
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,800
You keep alive that young person all the way until you die

262
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,800
Then you will have lived a full and abundant life, which I submit to you Christ died for

263
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:24,800
Back on the text

264
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:30,800
He said, when I was a child I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child

265
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,800
When I became a man I did away with childish things

266
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:39,800
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

267
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:46,800
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

268
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,800
If it's not saying that then what is it saying?

269
00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:56,800
What it's saying is when the partial becomes full there's no need of the partial anymore

270
00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,800
When that cake is done baking we're not going to eat these empty dishes

271
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,800
That would be stupid, right?

272
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,800
Nor will we go pour fresh oil and drink it out of this plastic container

273
00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:11,800
That would be dumb because the cake will be the cake

274
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:16,800
The things that went into the cake now they're all combined together and they turn out to be the cake

275
00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,800
Now we can eat cake and that's the goal

276
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:23,800
God is moving us toward a point in time at which we will complete this journey

277
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:24,800
We will be in His presence

278
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,800
I won't talk too much about that just yet

279
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:28,800
But the bottom line is that's the place that we're going

280
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:33,800
So to rule out things before their time would be foolish

281
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,800
To realize they don't have a place now that would be foolish

282
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,800
But at the same time to fail or to utilize them to focus on them

283
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:43,800
He's making an argument would be foolish

284
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,800
So what are the things that He's saying for us not to focus on?

285
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:52,800
Not to become so excited about, not to be so worried about that we miss the still more excellent thing

286
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:54,800
He's talking about the spiritual gifts

287
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:59,800
He's saying that the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of knowledge and all of the other gifts

288
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:04,800
Which are real and they manifest themselves in people who have the Holy Spirit in them

289
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,800
Those manifestations, we can't get focused on them

290
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:10,800
Should we use them? Yes

291
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:13,800
And they have a purpose elsewhere described which is to edify the church

292
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,800
To lift each other up in the church, right?

293
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:17,800
Should we use them? Yes

294
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:23,800
But should we get wrapped up in them or so focused on them that we miss the still more excellent way which is love?

295
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:25,800
No! That's exactly what He's saying

296
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,800
There will come a time if we only have it partial now

297
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:31,800
Then there will come a time when we have it completely

298
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,800
And when we have it completely, the partial will be done away

299
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,800
That's what He's saying

300
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:38,800
I'll go from 9

301
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,800
For we know it part and we prophecy in part

302
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,800
But when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away

303
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:48,800
When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child

304
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:50,800
When I became a man, I did away with childish things

305
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:57,800
In other words, I was becoming complete and there were things that only fit in my partialness that I did away with

306
00:25:57,800 --> 00:25:59,800
And that's what God is going to do

307
00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:01,800
Other things remain

308
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:06,800
You can still sometimes reason as a child if you do it regenerated in the Lord

309
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,800
I submit to you when you're born again, you have to start as a baby in Christ

310
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:15,800
If you were born again and skipped right to the adolescent stage, you're probably not a very good Christian

311
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:20,800
If you were born again and skipped right to being an adult Christian, you're probably not a very good Christian

312
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,800
Because God wanted to build something up in you

313
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:28,800
He was creating something and you ran on ahead of Him and now you're missing certain key parts

314
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,800
And it's the same way with a child becoming a man

315
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:36,800
And yes, you could speak about that, but He's just using it as an analogy to say

316
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,800
We had it only in part, indeed we have it only in part

317
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,800
Eventually we will have it in its perfect completeness and in so doing

318
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,800
We don't have to have it in part anymore when that time comes

319
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,800
Now verse 12, for now we see in a mirror dimly

320
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:55,800
There's that verse, people quote it a lot, kind of shows up in a lot of different things

321
00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:57,800
For now we see in a mirror dimly

322
00:26:57,800 --> 00:26:59,800
But then face to face

323
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,800
Now I know in part

324
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:06,800
But then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known

325
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:08,800
So what is He saying?

326
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:11,800
At that moment at which you come into God's presence

327
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:15,800
A few things are true, the first thing is at that point it's pretty much done

328
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:19,800
You're not going to run in there and go, oh I meant to repent when I was 12

329
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:22,800
But I really didn't and I've never been saved and now I don't want to go to hell

330
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,800
There's no chance at that point, that's done

331
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,800
The question is what did you do with Jesus Christ who is the Lord and Savior

332
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,800
And Creator of the universe and the Son of God in the flesh

333
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,800
And God in the flesh, what did you do with Him while you were alive?

334
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,800
And if you get to the point where you die and come into His presence, that's too late

335
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:41,800
Because you chose not to do the right thing

336
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:46,800
You chose to condemn Him, to ignore Him, to belittle Him

337
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,800
While you were alive, at that point it's too late

338
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,800
And that's what He's saying, so there's a moment of time in which it's going to be done

339
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,800
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

340
00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:00,800
So that now knowing in part, not really a thing anymore

341
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,800
You live your life knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God

342
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,800
But not calling Him Lord as well as Savior

343
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,800
Not living exactly for Him the best you know how and repenting when you fail

344
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,800
Not doing those things and then when you come into His presence

345
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,800
You will have known for days, months, years, decades

346
00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:19,800
What you might even call your whole life that He was Lord

347
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,800
And He was going to either give you heaven or not based on what you did with Jesus

348
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:27,800
And then you come in there and knowing that will do you no good whatsoever

349
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,800
It'll be whether or not you have it as Lord and Savior

350
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:32,800
That's what did you do with the knowledge?

351
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:35,800
So you know in part, so you can say, well I do know

352
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,800
And I am submitting myself to the Lord

353
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,800
And I am acting on the knowledge that I have

354
00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:44,800
And I am acting on prophecy, like I can figure out what God is going to do in the future

355
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:46,800
I can see the scripture, I know where it's going to go

356
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:50,800
And I am acting on prophecy, I am acting, I am speaking tongues

357
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,800
Or I am interpreting tongues, or I am doing both, speaking and interpreting tongues

358
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:55,800
I am doing all of that

359
00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:58,800
And what would Paul say to the Corinthians?

360
00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,800
That's all fine, but let me be very clear to you

361
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,800
There is a still more excellent way

362
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,800
And you may be saved, you may not

363
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,800
Realize Matthew 7, there are those who say I am the Lord

364
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,800
But Lord, we prophesied in Your name, we healed in Your name

365
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,800
Does anybody remember what Jesus said back to them?

366
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,800
How did the Corinthians say it was before the message?

367
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:22,800
Yeah, actually He said that before that

368
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:24,800
Then they said that, and then He said

369
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,800
Get away from Me, I never knew you

370
00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:31,800
You see, because they had missed the still more excellent way

371
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,800
Get away from Me, I never knew you

372
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:36,800
Even though they had said they were prophesying

373
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:38,800
He didn't say no, you didn't prophesy

374
00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,800
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

375
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,800
He didn't say, yeah, you prophesied, but not in My name

376
00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,800
I guess I wish it would be that simple

377
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:52,800
I'm just, if I'm working for Jesus, getting it mostly right, that's enough

378
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:54,800
But He said no, get away from Me, I never knew you

379
00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:55,800
He didn't say they didn't prophesy

380
00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:57,800
He didn't say they didn't do it in His name

381
00:29:57,800 --> 00:29:58,800
He didn't say they didn't heal

382
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:00,800
And He didn't say they didn't do it in His name

383
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:02,800
He just simply said, okay, you prophesied and you healed

384
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:03,800
But you missed the still more excellent way

385
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:08,800
Get away from Me, I never knew you

386
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:15,800
That brings us then to essentially three points that are coming out of the text today

387
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:19,800
So the first one, I'm going to give you a little illustration

388
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:24,800
I was about 10 years old and my parents started taking us out to Raceway Park

389
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,800
Anybody remember Raceway Park? It's gone now

390
00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:28,800
Yeah, Raceway Park, a few of us

391
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:30,800
So Raceway Park used to have buggy racing

392
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:32,800
So it was horse racing, they called it horse racing

393
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:34,800
It was horses pulling buggies, right?

394
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,800
And you have a guy sitting in the back of the buggy with his legs up like that

395
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:42,800
And around the track, dust flying, dirt flying if it was a kind of wet day

396
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:44,800
And mud flying if it was a muddy day, right?

397
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:46,800
And you could bet on which horse would come in first

398
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:48,800
And my parents considered this to be entertainment

399
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,800
And they did it, my dad was a backslidden Christian

400
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:53,800
My mom wasn't saved, I wasn't saved, my brother wasn't saved

401
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:55,800
And they'd take both of us out there

402
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:57,800
And they'd say by the end of the night, you can bet so much money

403
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,800
$5, $10, $20, whatever it was

404
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,800
So I'm about 10 years old, I'm walking around Raceway Park

405
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,800
And I hear this guy who I had seen him there

406
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:08,800
I've been there like 3 or 4 times, we always go

407
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:12,800
I think it was always after 9.30 you could get in for free

408
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,800
And we would go like, it was either Friday or Saturday night

409
00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,800
So walking around about 10 o'clock on that weekend night

410
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,800
And I hear this guy telling this other guy that there's a horse in the race

411
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,800
That's running at long odds, like 12 to 1

412
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:30,800
But he's a sure thing to win

413
00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:32,800
He's going to win for sure

414
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:34,800
So I'm like, oh, I'm super excited, I got a tip

415
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:36,800
So I run up to my dad and I say, dad, how much money I got left?

416
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,800
He's like, I got 8 bucks, I'm like 8 bucks times 12, that's $96

417
00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:40,800
This is going to be awesome

418
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:45,800
I said, dad, I want to bet $8 on number 8 or whatever it was to win

419
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,800
And he's like, that's all the money you got

420
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:49,800
We're going to be here for a half hour or an hour

421
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:50,800
If you lose, you're done, right?

422
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:52,800
So you won't be able to bet anymore for the rest of the night

423
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:53,800
If you bet all $8

424
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:56,800
And he said, yeah, I said, dad, but it's a sure thing

425
00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:58,800
I'm going to win this bet for sure

426
00:31:58,800 --> 00:31:59,800
And he's like, how do you know?

427
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:01,800
And I said, well, I heard this guy over here

428
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:02,800
And I've seen him, he knows what he's doing

429
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:04,800
This guy's like an expert at the track

430
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:05,800
He clearly knows what he's doing

431
00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:08,800
And he told me that number 8 is a sure thing

432
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:10,800
And my dad told me a couple of important things in that moment

433
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,800
He said, the first thing is, if number 8 was a sure thing

434
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,800
He wouldn't be going off at 12 to 1

435
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:21,800
Those odds directly represent whether or not that horse is going to win that race

436
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:26,800
So if you're betting on a horse that's 12-1, odds are he's not going to win

437
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,800
So my dad said, maybe you should bet on him to show

438
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,800
So it's first place, second place, third place, show

439
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:38,800
And then there's a, you can bet to place, which is first or second place

440
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:40,800
And show is first, second, third, or fourth

441
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,800
So the fourth place could be included, right? And show, I think that's how it went

442
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,800
But anyway, and I said, but dad, he's like 12-1 to win

443
00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:52,800
He's only like 3-1 to come in fourth or better

444
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,800
So then I would only get like $24 instead of $96

445
00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:58,800
And I said, yeah, but that's a sure thing

446
00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:00,800
That's a sure thing, that's a sure thing

447
00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:05,800
So here's the thing, sure things, there's no such thing

448
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,800
There's no such thing as a sure thing in betting and gambling, in life, in general

449
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,800
Nothing is really sure unless God makes it sure

450
00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:15,800
Here's the sure thing, God will keep His promises

451
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:17,800
God will do what He said He's going to do

452
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:19,800
God doesn't back down, God can't be defeated

453
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,800
So if there is anything that's sure, it's God

454
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:27,800
But everybody's got this idea that they're going to discover this other sure thing

455
00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:29,800
And they're going to invest in it

456
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:33,800
So like you start prophecy and you're like, man, I can tell the future a little bit

457
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,800
Sometimes when I say things, they come true

458
00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,800
Anybody here ever had that happen? That's happened to me

459
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:41,800
I bet there's others, right? Has that ever happened?

460
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:43,800
You tell something's going to happen, then it happens, right?

461
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:45,800
You ever have a dream and it's like deja vu

462
00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,800
But you can, before you get to the end of the deja vu, the series of events

463
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:54,800
Something in the dream was supposed to happen and then you're able to change it

464
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:55,800
You know what that is?

465
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:57,800
That's a gift of prophecy, right?

466
00:33:57,800 --> 00:33:59,800
And not only Christians have it

467
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:01,800
There's a girl in Acts where Paul casts a demon out of her

468
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,800
And she loses her ability to tell the future and they get in big trouble for it

469
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:09,800
So that can be evil spirits or demons that give that ability, not just God

470
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,800
But the bottom line is, it's pretty cool if I start thinking I can tell the future a little bit

471
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:15,800
I can get pretty excited about that, I'm telling the future a little bit

472
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,800
And I can start trying harder, I can write my dreams or I can pay close attention

473
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:23,800
I can even pray, God, please let me tell the future some more, I want to do that

474
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,800
I really like that, I can be focused on my gift, whatever it is

475
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:30,800
There have been times in my life where as a pastor, as a preacher

476
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:32,800
Where everything in my life was falling apart

477
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:34,800
I was begging God, my health was bad or whatever

478
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:38,800
That's not been all that, that's been pretty recent

479
00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:40,800
And I'm begging, I said, whatever you do, Lord, let me keep preaching

480
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:42,800
Because I know that's something I'm called to do

481
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,800
And then immediately I repented and I realized, no, that is not right

482
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:48,800
That is not right

483
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:50,800
That is not what I'm called to do

484
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:51,800
You're not called to preach

485
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,800
Spiritual gifts are a manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit

486
00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:57,800
There is no sure thing, they're not one thing you can double down on

487
00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:01,800
Or bet all the money that you've got left or put all your efforts into

488
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,800
Except what? You know the answer

489
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,800
What will win? What will remain? What is it?

490
00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:12,800
We're studying it, we've been in here for five weeks

491
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,800
We don't know what the one thing is that will stick to the very end

492
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:17,800
It's love

493
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:19,800
I saw a couple people saying love

494
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,800
It's love

495
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:23,800
Love is the only sure thing

496
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:28,800
The truth is, I'm what they call a certified leadership life coach

497
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:31,800
I haven't used it a lot, but I've done it with some folks

498
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:36,800
And had some reasonably good kind of God help them find clarity and things like that

499
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:40,800
But as a pastor it's a useful tool, so I got certified to do that

500
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:46,800
And I learned that men of a certain age want to leave a legacy

501
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,800
They want to leave behind something, when they leave this world

502
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:51,800
They want to leave behind something that has affected the world

503
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,800
Something that has changed, whether it's in their family, in their kids, their ministry

504
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:57,800
Where they work, they want to leave behind a legacy

505
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,800
I've left a couple of jobs over the years, so has Sherry

506
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,800
And every time we've ever left we always worked really hard

507
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:08,800
I could give notice for three weeks and then the last three weeks we work our butts off

508
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,800
To make sure and leave that place better than it was when we started

509
00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,800
That's called leaving a legacy, and we want to leave a legacy

510
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:18,800
Let me tell you what the legacy that you want to leave

511
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:20,800
What the legacy that I want to leave is

512
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:24,800
What the legacy is that we were created to leave, it is love

513
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,800
At your funeral, if they say you started a Fortune 500 company

514
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:29,800
Ain't going to mean squat

515
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,800
In 50 years somebody will be able to Google you if Google still exists and figure that out

516
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,800
But otherwise no one's going to care

517
00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,800
And at your funeral, if you gave a lot of money to the church

518
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,800
Somebody might be there, buy big flowers, put up a plaque in your name

519
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:44,800
A name of room after you, or a building, or a parking lot space or something

520
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,800
But in 50 or 100 years, no one's going to care

521
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:49,800
No one's going to remember that

522
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,800
You can look back at people now who said important things

523
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:55,800
100 years ago, 200 years ago

524
00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:58,800
There's a quote by Thomas More later in my sermon that I may or may not say

525
00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:02,800
And you're like, who's Thomas More? My point exactly

526
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,800
Right? But here is what will pay

527
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:07,800
Here is what will stay the course

528
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:08,800
It is love

529
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,800
Love is the only sure thing

530
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,800
If you've forgotten the last four weeks of what love is

531
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:18,800
Read and meditate on 1 Corinthians chapter 13 until you get it

532
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:22,800
Because the legacy you want to lead is a legacy of love

533
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:24,800
It is what we were made to traffic in

534
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:26,800
It does not run out

535
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:27,800
It is a sure thing

536
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,800
It is not a risk or a gamble

537
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:32,800
It may feel like it at times

538
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:33,800
Like you're putting yourself out there

539
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:35,800
And you might even lose your physical life

540
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:37,800
But if you lose your physical life in love

541
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:39,800
You gain eternity

542
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:43,800
That's way better than 12 to 1

543
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:47,800
Love always wins

544
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:51,800
The second point then is that

545
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:53,800
The dessert mix that we talked about

546
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:55,800
That half-baked dessert mix

547
00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:59,800
When the dessert is mixed and baked, it is complete

548
00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:01,800
The mix is no longer necessary

549
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:03,800
But even if it were, it's gone

550
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:04,800
Hear me now

551
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,800
Whatever has blessed you in your life

552
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:11,800
If it's not of God at the moment of death, it's gone

553
00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:14,800
Your great intelligence, your great strength

554
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:16,800
Your great capability, your great diligence

555
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:18,800
Your great wealth, your great relationships

556
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:21,800
Whatever it is, anything that's blessing you now

557
00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:23,800
Whatever you're having fun with now

558
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:27,800
At the moment of your death, it will be gone

559
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:29,800
About eight years or so ago

560
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:31,800
I watched a movie called My All American

561
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:33,800
If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it

562
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:36,800
It's rated PG or rated PG-13

563
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:38,800
It's about a young man named Freddie

564
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,800
Who had in his mind he was going to be a professional football player

565
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:44,800
He and his dad worked really hard

566
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,800
His dad was for sure set to be a professional baseball player

567
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:49,800
But he had a car accident, it hurt his leg

568
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,800
So then he worked with his son to make him a professional football player

569
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:53,800
He had it set in his mind

570
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,800
To the point that they would go out before school and after school every day

571
00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:58,800
And run up and down this hill

572
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:01,800
He was strong, he only ate right, he slept right

573
00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:03,800
He put God first

574
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:07,800
He was a Catholic, but he professed the name of the Lord

575
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:09,800
And he went to mass every single day

576
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:10,800
He never missed no matter what

577
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:11,800
He could do everything else

578
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:13,800
He could play football, he could work out

579
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:14,800
He could do all those things

580
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:16,800
And he never missed being in church

581
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:18,800
Being with God's people

582
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:21,800
And so all of that, and then he winds up

583
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:23,800
He's 5'10", not very big

584
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:29,800
5'10", and a safety and a punt returner for University of Texas

585
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:30,800
And they took him

586
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:32,800
In his sophomore year, he went first string

587
00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:36,800
Which was the second time in 30 years that that had happened

588
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:39,800
And they went and won the national championship

589
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:41,800
And then they were set to go to the Cotton Bowl

590
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:44,800
And during the national championship game leading up to it

591
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:46,800
His knee began to hurt really bad

592
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:48,800
And he had a tumor on top of his leg

593
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:49,800
Now we're ruining that part of the story

594
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:51,800
But you guys still watch the story, it's really good

595
00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:53,800
The bottom line is

596
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:55,800
He never became a professional football player

597
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:57,800
Because they had to amputate his leg at the hip

598
00:39:57,800 --> 00:39:59,800
Because he had cancer in his leg

599
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:01,800
And so what I'm getting at is

600
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,800
This kid, literally everything in his life

601
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:05,800
Was geared around this dream

602
00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:07,800
Except for his faith

603
00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:09,800
Serving God, he was serving God in church

604
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:11,800
He was in church, etc

605
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:13,800
And when his football dream ran out

606
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:15,800
And he could no longer play professionally

607
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,800
Even though he was on a number one nationally ranked team

608
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:21,800
And he was probably the reason that they won

609
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:23,800
And they even said as much, right?

610
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:25,800
And even though that was true

611
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:27,800
His football went away

612
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:29,800
And guess what he had left?

613
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:31,800
His faith

614
00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:33,800
His relationship with God

615
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:35,800
He went through having his leg amputated at the hip

616
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:37,800
God forbid anybody should ever go through that

617
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:39,800
And he went through it strong

618
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:41,800
And he overcame in a matter of less than three weeks

619
00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:43,800
What they told him it would take him six months to do

620
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:47,800
And he walked on crutches with one leg to the cotton bowl

621
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:49,800
And saw his team play

622
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:53,800
When the dessert mix is mixed

623
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:55,800
That's not the time to eat it

624
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:57,800
When it's baked

625
00:40:57,800 --> 00:40:59,800
That may or may not be the time to eat it

626
00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:01,800
When it's frosted it starts to look pretty good

627
00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:03,800
When it's complete

628
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:05,800
That's the time

629
00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:07,800
The culmination of efforts shows itself

630
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:11,800
Yes, we desire the manifestations of God's presence in us

631
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,800
Yes, it makes sense to desire the manifestations of God's presence

632
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:17,800
I want God to live in me

633
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:19,800
I want God to reign in me

634
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:21,800
I want God to turn me into something that is godly

635
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:23,800
That is something I want, I desire that

636
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:27,800
But more than the manifestations of his presence

637
00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:29,800
Are his presence

638
00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:35,800
What will that be like?

639
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:37,800
Well, it's going to be an encounter with love

640
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:43,800
And if you have encountered the love of God at the moment of salvation

641
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:45,800
And yet

642
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:49,800
Can deny someone you know

643
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:51,800
Even an enemy

644
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:53,800
The love of God

645
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:55,800
Then according to what God says

646
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:57,800
That's a contradiction

647
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:01,800
I want you to think for just a moment

648
00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:03,800
About one of the things

649
00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:05,800
Now don't beat yourself up over it

650
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,800
But just think for one of the things that you did as a sinner

651
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:09,800
As a lost person

652
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,800
Got it?

653
00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:17,800
Now I want you to realize that that thing

654
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:19,800
Would have put you in hell

655
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:21,800
For an eternity

656
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:25,800
That you would have been separated from God forever

657
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:27,800
And because that's true

658
00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:29,800
And God would not allow it

659
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:31,800
He came in the flesh as a man

660
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:33,800
And was crucified to pay for it

661
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:35,800
But he didn't stay dead

662
00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:37,800
He rose again on the third day

663
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:39,800
As a permanent lasting testimony

664
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:41,800
Of the love of God

665
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:43,800
And the love of God

666
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:45,800
And the love of God

667
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:47,800
And the love of God

668
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:49,800
And the love of God

669
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:51,800
And the love of God

670
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:53,800
And the love of God

671
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:55,800
Is the permanent lasting testimony

672
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:57,800
Of the love of our God

673
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:01,800
That's the love that you encountered

674
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:03,800
The moment that you heard

675
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:05,800
That if you call upon the name of the Lord

676
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:07,800
And believe that he is Savior

677
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:09,800
And believe that he is Lord

678
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:11,800
That you will be translated

679
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:13,800
Born again

680
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:15,800
Moved from the kingdom of Satan

681
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:20,880
love that you're experiencing with other people that you're encountering or if any other emotion

682
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:22,280
should replace it.

683
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:23,600
And love is not an emotion, right?

684
00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:29,080
It goes so far beyond that, but it results in an emotion that feels for the other person,

685
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:35,900
a compassion, a want, a desire to see them well, right?

686
00:43:35,900 --> 00:43:40,560
And if any other emotion would replace that love at any point in time, then I debate whether

687
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:45,940
or not you have actually experienced what you say you have experienced.

688
00:43:45,940 --> 00:43:48,520
Because love never fails.

689
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:52,440
It doesn't quit, it doesn't break down, it doesn't run out, there's not enough of it,

690
00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:56,880
it doesn't cost too much.

691
00:43:56,880 --> 00:44:00,440
Desiring the manifestations of God's presence makes perfect sense because don't you want

692
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:01,440
to go to heaven?

693
00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:04,400
Don't you want the abundant life that Jesus paid for?

694
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:07,920
That all makes a lot of sense.

695
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:13,800
But if we have encountered the love that is God, a complete and wonderful thing has already

696
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:19,880
taken place in us, and it is a testimony to a final and complete and wonderful thing,

697
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:26,160
the road between here and there must be populated with the love of the Creator God that we have

698
00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:30,200
experienced and will truly experience then.

699
00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:34,640
But you're saying, I don't know for sure that I will be with God for an eternity.

700
00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:38,360
If you don't know for sure that you will be with God for an eternity, then it makes perfect

701
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:43,360
sense that you would not be loving to the people around you because you're busy meeting

702
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:45,520
your own needs, dealing with your own desires.

703
00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:49,640
But if you know for certain where you're going, you know where you will be, you know in whom

704
00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:52,960
you have trusted and who you will keep until that day, that which you have entrusted to

705
00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:53,960
him, Paul says.

706
00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:54,960
Right?

707
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,520
If you're willing to do that, if you have done that, and you know for sure where you

708
00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:03,400
will arrive, then the road between here and there is populated with a still more excellent

709
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:04,400
way.

710
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:13,200
The first point was, there is no sure thing except love.

711
00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:21,320
The second point was that the manifestations of this, of God in this life are like half-baked

712
00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:28,040
cake, but there is a full experience of God yet to come.

713
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:35,600
The next one that I want to share with you is that the signs of passage are the signs

714
00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:38,800
of his presence.

715
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:43,200
Even the signs of his presence will never be as good as the presence itself.

716
00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:44,200
Any hunters in the room?

717
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:45,200
Have you ever been hunting?

718
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:46,200
Anybody?

719
00:45:46,200 --> 00:45:47,200
Charlie's not in here today.

720
00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:48,200
She's a hunter.

721
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:49,200
Okay, there's a couple.

722
00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:50,400
I see some nodding hands, hands up.

723
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:51,400
Okay.

724
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:54,760
So let's say for a moment that you went hunting.

725
00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:58,360
And as you're going out hunting and you haven't picked a spot yet where you're going to sit

726
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:02,880
to wait to bag the deer or whatever it is you're hunting.

727
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,640
And you go out and you see hoof prints on the ground.

728
00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:07,640
Is that a good sign?

729
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:08,640
Hoof prints.

730
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:11,120
Since you're hunting a deer, you see deer prints on the sign.

731
00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:12,760
You'd be like, okay.

732
00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:17,480
And you know it rained a few days ago, but there's hoof prints here and they're clear

733
00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:18,480
and crisp.

734
00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:21,260
So you know these hoof prints are less than three days old.

735
00:46:21,260 --> 00:46:27,280
So there's a deer that moves through here and has in the last three days.

736
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:29,520
And deer like most creatures are creatures of habit.

737
00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:31,400
So I think, well, I see hoof prints.

738
00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:36,440
That is evidence of the presence of a deer.

739
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:37,440
This is good.

740
00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:40,640
Then you come along and you see a tree.

741
00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:44,320
And the tree bark has been shredded off of the tree.

742
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:46,160
Let me know what that's from.

743
00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:48,760
From their antlers.

744
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:51,040
So they're shed and trying to get the fur off their antlers.

745
00:46:51,040 --> 00:46:58,360
So now this is evidence not only the presence of a deer, but presence of a buck.

746
00:46:58,360 --> 00:46:59,360
So now we've got a buck.

747
00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:00,980
So now we've got footprints, means deer.

748
00:47:00,980 --> 00:47:02,880
Now we've got bark rubbed off a tree.

749
00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:06,280
That means a buck and not just a small buck probably.

750
00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:09,160
So this is looking pretty good.

751
00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:13,160
Then you take up your spot overlooking the place where the deer might come through.

752
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:15,320
You got a good wide open view.

753
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:18,040
And then you hear some rustling in the bushes.

754
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:19,720
Now we've got footprints.

755
00:47:19,720 --> 00:47:24,760
You've got bark rubbed off a tree and quite a lot of rustling in a bush.

756
00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:27,360
Rifle comes up, take aim in the site.

757
00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:29,760
We're aiming at the bush.

758
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:34,320
But though the bush rustles, no deer is seen.

759
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:35,320
Do you take the shot?

760
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:36,320
No.

761
00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:37,320
No, you can't take the shot.

762
00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:38,320
Why not?

763
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:39,320
You don't want to look at humans.

764
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:40,320
It could be a human.

765
00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:41,320
It could be anything.

766
00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:42,320
And you're hunting deer.

767
00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:43,320
Right?

768
00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:46,600
Then you got a lot of evidence that there's a deer, but no actual deer.

769
00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:47,600
You got footprints.

770
00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:48,600
You got bark rubbed off.

771
00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:49,600
You got rustling in the bushes.

772
00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:52,200
And then after a few seconds, you don't take the shot.

773
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:57,520
And then you hear the sound of deer moving through several bushes.

774
00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:00,320
Still can't see them moving bushes away from your spot.

775
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:03,720
Man, there's probably a deer there.

776
00:48:03,720 --> 00:48:04,760
Probably a buck.

777
00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:09,400
Maybe you catch just the hint of the top of some antlers, but no shot.

778
00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:10,760
Never a deer.

779
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:11,760
The day ends.

780
00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:18,040
And you go back and you're hanging out with your buds, eating some french fries.

781
00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:24,120
You talk about the one that got away.

782
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:31,400
The signs of passage or even the signs of presence will never be as good as the actual

783
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:33,120
presence of God.

784
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:34,120
Ever.

785
00:48:34,120 --> 00:48:35,440
No matter how sure you are.

786
00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:39,360
You look at your son and go, my son is growing up to be a great man and he professes the

787
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:40,560
name of the Lord.

788
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:45,240
And you might have everything to believe that he has become a Christian.

789
00:48:45,240 --> 00:48:53,120
But if he has not actually become a Christian, it's not good enough.

790
00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:58,760
Your spouse might be a great servant and seem to love the Lord and whatever.

791
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:03,440
But when the time comes, no matter what she's done, no matter what he's done, if the presence

792
00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:06,960
of the Lord is not in them, it's not good enough.

793
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:13,360
See, the knowledge, the prophecy, the tongues, all of it is little more than dirty dishes.

794
00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:15,040
It ain't real cake.

795
00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:16,640
It may taste pretty good.

796
00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:22,560
There may be parts of it like prophecy that you go, oh, I'll eat that powdered sugar just

797
00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:24,720
plain, just the way it is.

798
00:49:24,720 --> 00:49:29,760
Somebody might go, I'll cook up that egg, pop it in the microwave, whip it up a little

799
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:33,080
bit, pop it in the microwave, whip it up a little bit, make me a scrambled egg, slap

800
00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:35,000
some salt on that bad boy and I'll eat it.

801
00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:37,640
That's 25 calories and tasty too.

802
00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:38,640
You might do that.

803
00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:45,360
But if you do that, you'll never get cake.

804
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:52,520
Came home one night, it was late, it was probably about one in the morning.

805
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:57,700
And I had been to the hospital, I'd been there for like five hours and they had had dinner

806
00:49:57,700 --> 00:49:59,200
while I was gone.

807
00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:03,040
And I come in and they had left the dishes from dinner in the sink.

808
00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:07,880
We do that quite frequently actually for one day or whatever while we're getting around

809
00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:10,760
to washing them and the dishes from dinner were in the sink.

810
00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:15,640
And there in the sink was a flat pan and on the flat pan was shiny aluminum foil and on

811
00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:22,400
the aluminum foil were the traced out shapes of cooked barbecue sauce.

812
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:29,320
It was every bit of evidence for me to know that they had had barbecue ribs for dinner.

813
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:34,680
Now I hadn't had dinner and I'd had a light lunch and it had been about nine hours since

814
00:50:34,680 --> 00:50:35,680
I ate.

815
00:50:35,680 --> 00:50:38,240
The only other thing I had in that time was hot chocolate.

816
00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:39,800
And so what do you think I did?

817
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:42,360
Say it again?

818
00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:50,360
I went in the refrigerator to see whether or not there was any leftover ribs.

819
00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:51,360
And guess what?

820
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:52,360
There was!

821
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:54,000
And I ate barbecue ribs.

822
00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:57,520
I didn't sleep very well because of it but I ate barbecue ribs about 1.30 in the morning

823
00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:01,720
after I warmed them up and they were quite tasty.

824
00:51:01,720 --> 00:51:10,080
The manifestations of God's presence in other people are meant to lead you to search for

825
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:15,720
God and you will find Him and realize He was never very far away in the first place and

826
00:51:15,720 --> 00:51:20,920
then you too will have manifestations of His presence and they will lead other people to

827
00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:23,360
search for God.

828
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:28,300
But let me show you a still more excellent way.

829
00:51:28,300 --> 00:51:33,960
You could theoretically, based on what we're studying today, manifest no Holy Spirit gifts

830
00:51:33,960 --> 00:51:34,960
whatsoever.

831
00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:38,480
Do you know that there are Holy Spirit gifts that are very quiet?

832
00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:41,240
Like faith.

833
00:51:41,240 --> 00:51:42,240
Faith is a Holy Spirit gift.

834
00:51:42,240 --> 00:51:44,680
It's also what you need to be saved.

835
00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:50,120
But there's another kind of faith that's a Holy Spirit gift that believes God even when

836
00:51:50,120 --> 00:51:51,480
it doesn't make any sense.

837
00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:56,600
Believes God for miracles.

838
00:51:56,600 --> 00:52:00,320
Like service that works in the background and isn't waiting for somebody to give them

839
00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:01,320
notice.

840
00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:04,520
Take notice of that, man what a great job they did.

841
00:52:04,520 --> 00:52:05,520
They're happy to be serving.

842
00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:10,400
They know they're manifesting and people see the manifestations of faith and service all

843
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:15,440
the time without even knowing it.

844
00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:18,880
But then there's love.

845
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:26,360
You could manifest no Holy Spirit gift whatsoever and yet love be living in a still more excellent

846
00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:29,600
way and bring people to Jesus.

847
00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:34,920
I submit to you that the church is not failing to bring people to Jesus because they don't

848
00:52:34,920 --> 00:52:36,200
manifest the Holy Spirit gifts.

849
00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:39,420
And there are a lot of churches where there are no Holy Spirit gifts because they say

850
00:52:39,420 --> 00:52:41,440
they've ceased or whatever and they tell people.

851
00:52:41,440 --> 00:52:45,200
And even though people have them, they never let it be known that they have them because

852
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:51,360
they've been told that they can't have them.

853
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:57,720
I submit to you it's not Holy Spirit gifts that are going to win lost people to Christ.

854
00:52:57,720 --> 00:53:00,800
It's love.

855
00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:07,040
And I wonder then why if love is the supreme expression of God's presence, there isn't

856
00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:09,400
more of that.

857
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:15,520
Well, the church of our day is somewhere stuck between the dirty dishes and the well cooked

858
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:17,560
meal.

859
00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:21,440
The well cooked meal comes when God reveals Himself and we go to heaven for eternity.

860
00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:22,700
That's when it's done.

861
00:53:22,700 --> 00:53:25,840
Has someone pulled the cake from the oven by the way?

862
00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:27,840
It is out cooling.

863
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:29,720
Alright.

864
00:53:29,720 --> 00:53:31,960
Can we get one of them and bring it in here?

865
00:53:31,960 --> 00:53:33,960
For the optic lesson of it.

866
00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:37,080
So this is what the well cooked meal looks like today.

867
00:53:37,080 --> 00:53:40,560
You say, no wait a minute, you said the perfect will come.

868
00:53:40,560 --> 00:53:42,960
We'll get there in the presence of God and we'll experience love.

869
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:47,720
Yes, but the Bible also says, John says, if you cannot love, you do not know God.

870
00:53:47,720 --> 00:53:50,040
The one who abides in love abides in God.

871
00:53:50,040 --> 00:53:54,440
And so it's right now, today, this is what it looks like.

872
00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:56,520
We love others to Christ.

873
00:53:56,520 --> 00:54:01,760
Lost people, people who profess to be saved, we love them to Christ.

874
00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:05,320
You can buy them birthday presents or Christmas presents, you can pay their bills for them,

875
00:54:05,320 --> 00:54:10,840
but it'll never mean anything unless we love them to Christ.

876
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:12,620
We love others to Christ.

877
00:54:12,620 --> 00:54:18,240
We do that by exhibiting, that means we're showing it, and sharing the knowledge of the

878
00:54:18,240 --> 00:54:19,240
gospel.

879
00:54:19,240 --> 00:54:24,960
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of salvation unto all

880
00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:27,440
those who believe, first the Jew and then the Gentile.

881
00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:30,600
So we do it by showing the knowledge of the gospel.

882
00:54:30,600 --> 00:54:34,520
You don't show, you're not showing love if you go and serve somebody and never mention

883
00:54:34,520 --> 00:54:37,160
Jesus, they have no idea you're doing it for Jesus or whatever.

884
00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:40,280
Because you might be doing it for a million other reasons.

885
00:54:40,280 --> 00:54:45,240
But we demonstrate the love of Christ by delivering the gospel of Christ, exhibiting it and sharing

886
00:54:45,240 --> 00:54:47,120
it to all people.

887
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:50,040
Christ loves them to growth.

888
00:54:50,040 --> 00:54:51,040
Jesus loves them to growth.

889
00:54:51,040 --> 00:54:55,440
Is it still pretty hot?

890
00:54:55,440 --> 00:54:56,440
So there's our cake.

891
00:54:56,440 --> 00:54:57,440
Compliments of Haley's mixing.

892
00:54:57,440 --> 00:55:03,640
I didn't make it full thickness because the other one's in there, right?

893
00:55:03,640 --> 00:55:07,440
Now all it would take would be for me to put the frosting on.

894
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:11,400
But you can't have any, I don't care if you want some.

895
00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:12,680
You want some?

896
00:55:12,680 --> 00:55:13,680
You can't have any.

897
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:14,680
I'm serious.

898
00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:15,680
You want some?

899
00:55:15,680 --> 00:55:16,680
You can't have any.

900
00:55:16,680 --> 00:55:17,680
You want some?

901
00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:18,680
You can't have any.

902
00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:21,680
Is there anybody here who doesn't want some?

903
00:55:21,680 --> 00:55:24,080
Raise your hand if you don't want any cake.

904
00:55:24,080 --> 00:55:26,040
Tony, you can have some.

905
00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:28,080
Now how's that feel?

906
00:55:28,080 --> 00:55:32,040
Does that feel very good to know that the cake is right here?

907
00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:34,160
And you're like, man, cake!

908
00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:37,080
Fresh baked cake.

909
00:55:37,080 --> 00:55:38,080
Smells like cake.

910
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:39,640
I bet it'll taste like cake.

911
00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:41,800
And I've got a whole thing of frosting.

912
00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:44,040
But you can't have any.

913
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:46,640
That's what the church is doing to the world.

914
00:55:46,640 --> 00:55:49,080
That's what the church is doing to each other.

915
00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:51,760
We're supposed to be loving the way Christ loves.

916
00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:53,640
Sacrificing the way Christ sacrifices.

917
00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:55,140
Working the way Christ works.

918
00:55:55,140 --> 00:55:56,320
We love others to Christ.

919
00:55:56,320 --> 00:55:59,600
Exhibiting and sharing the knowledge of the gospel.

920
00:55:59,600 --> 00:56:01,600
Christ loves them to growth.

921
00:56:01,600 --> 00:56:03,120
And then we love each other.

922
00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:07,040
As Jesus is loving us, we love each other.

923
00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:10,040
And then we're loved by Christ all the way to the moment

924
00:56:10,040 --> 00:56:14,920
at which all the other manifestations end.

925
00:56:14,920 --> 00:56:20,000
And love is seen face to face.

926
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:21,920
I know that sounds weird.

927
00:56:21,920 --> 00:56:25,680
But love is seen face to face.

928
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:27,840
I'm asking you.

929
00:56:27,840 --> 00:56:29,560
God is asking me.

930
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:32,240
And so I'm relaying the message.

931
00:56:32,240 --> 00:56:35,720
That we take a serious look at everything

932
00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:39,000
that's in our lives and figure out

933
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:43,120
which ones are expressions of love.

934
00:56:43,120 --> 00:56:44,720
Not the worldly love.

935
00:56:44,720 --> 00:56:47,520
If you missed one sermon in this series,

936
00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:51,760
if you missed one point, so what was kindness?

937
00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:54,720
Kindness is being useful.

938
00:56:54,720 --> 00:56:56,520
That's what kindness was.

939
00:56:56,520 --> 00:57:03,040
What was one of the things that makes it not possibly love?

940
00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:04,640
To act unbecomingly.

941
00:57:04,640 --> 00:57:06,840
If you do the wrong thing, that's not love.

942
00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:08,600
If you do a sinful thing or a wicked thing

943
00:57:08,600 --> 00:57:11,880
or a thing that God would not tarry, that's not love.

944
00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:13,360
And if you're seeking your own, you're

945
00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:15,520
loving the person who loves you so that they'll love you back.

946
00:57:15,520 --> 00:57:18,040
Or you're loving them so that you get certain results.

947
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:19,520
That's not love.

948
00:57:19,520 --> 00:57:22,400
If you're provokable, if you're able to be provoked,

949
00:57:22,400 --> 00:57:25,480
you get angry at the people that you supposedly love.

950
00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:27,360
That's not love.

951
00:57:27,360 --> 00:57:29,200
If you are going around taking into account

952
00:57:29,200 --> 00:57:31,680
or thinking about the wrongs that other people are doing,

953
00:57:31,680 --> 00:57:33,320
that's not love.

954
00:57:33,320 --> 00:57:36,440
But if you can get to the point that you actually love

955
00:57:36,440 --> 00:57:39,680
and are exhibiting the love that God has called us to in the thing

956
00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:42,280
that's in your life that you're examining,

957
00:57:42,280 --> 00:57:45,560
then I would say double down.

958
00:57:45,560 --> 00:57:48,680
And I think you're going to find things that are not loving.

959
00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:50,280
They're things that exclude others.

960
00:57:50,280 --> 00:57:52,640
They're things that tell people no,

961
00:57:52,640 --> 00:57:56,640
any reasonable request probably should receive a yes.

962
00:57:56,640 --> 00:57:58,880
They're things that are unseemly, meaning they lead

963
00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:01,240
to a simple road or they walk away from something

964
00:58:01,240 --> 00:58:03,400
that God wants us to be doing or an investment

965
00:58:03,400 --> 00:58:04,800
that God wants us to be making.

966
00:58:04,800 --> 00:58:06,800
And so now I'm loving this person and this person

967
00:58:06,800 --> 00:58:09,800
is leading me astray or leading me down a place

968
00:58:09,800 --> 00:58:12,560
that I shouldn't go.

969
00:58:12,560 --> 00:58:14,160
That's not love.

970
00:58:14,160 --> 00:58:17,200
You say I love, but you don't love

971
00:58:17,200 --> 00:58:20,560
if you're investing in things in life

972
00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:23,320
that do not exhibit the love of God.

973
00:58:23,320 --> 00:58:27,200
And that's dangerous because you can profess the name of Christ,

974
00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:29,360
receive Holy Spirit gifts,

975
00:58:29,360 --> 00:58:33,000
and miss the more excellent way,

976
00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:37,520
which means it's possible you could not be saved.

977
00:58:37,520 --> 00:58:40,160
Have you experienced the love of Christ firsthand?

978
00:58:40,160 --> 00:58:42,760
Then I challenge you to deliver it into the world,

979
00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:44,400
to deliver it into your family,

980
00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:45,920
deliver it on your job,

981
00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:48,160
deliver it in your church,

982
00:58:48,160 --> 00:58:52,280
deliver it whether they like it or not.

983
00:58:52,280 --> 00:58:58,000
And remember that one of the greatest examples of love

984
00:58:58,000 --> 00:59:00,880
is calls to repentance,

985
00:59:00,880 --> 00:59:03,240
calls to look to God.

986
00:59:03,240 --> 00:59:04,040
And somebody says to you,

987
00:59:04,040 --> 00:59:06,160
well, I'm engaged in this sinful activity.

988
00:59:06,160 --> 00:59:08,240
You don't have to say to them, you have to quit.

989
00:59:08,240 --> 00:59:10,960
You can just say to them, I think you should look to God.

990
00:59:10,960 --> 00:59:12,800
What are you saying? What I'm doing is sin?

991
00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:15,640
Well, the Bible says it's sin, but I'm not saying that.

992
00:59:15,640 --> 00:59:18,600
All I'm saying to you is I want you to look to God.

993
00:59:18,600 --> 00:59:20,160
Well, I am looking to God and God says,

994
00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:21,360
okay, I do it.

995
00:59:21,360 --> 00:59:22,760
I can't help you.

996
00:59:22,760 --> 00:59:25,920
I have one message and it is look to God.

997
00:59:25,920 --> 00:59:27,400
And His word says this,

998
00:59:27,400 --> 00:59:29,040
and you're saying something different

999
00:59:29,040 --> 00:59:30,520
and you're saying you're looking to God.

1000
00:59:30,520 --> 00:59:32,720
So that can only be true if you and God

1001
00:59:32,720 --> 00:59:33,920
have a special understanding

1002
00:59:33,920 --> 00:59:35,640
that is outside what the Bible says

1003
00:59:35,640 --> 00:59:37,360
and outside my understanding of God's at that point,

1004
00:59:37,360 --> 00:59:38,840
I can't help you.

1005
00:59:38,840 --> 00:59:40,720
But if ever you want somebody to call you to repent

1006
00:59:40,720 --> 00:59:42,640
and turn to God, you come to me.

1007
00:59:42,640 --> 00:59:44,680
In the meantime, I'm gonna continue to love you

1008
00:59:44,680 --> 00:59:46,720
the way Jesus loved me.

1009
00:59:46,720 --> 00:59:49,800
That's what Paul was calling us to

1010
00:59:49,800 --> 00:59:53,720
in 1 Corinthians 13, 8-12.

1011
00:59:53,720 --> 00:59:57,880
So I ask the praise team to come forward at this time.

1012
00:59:57,880 --> 01:00:00,960
And we're gonna have the final song

1013
01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:03,200
that's your opportunity to make it to the table.

1014
01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:05,880
I will frost the cake immediately following service

1015
01:00:05,880 --> 01:00:07,600
and cut it up and it will be in the cafeteria

1016
01:00:07,600 --> 01:00:09,720
for anybody who actually wants a piece.

1017
01:00:09,720 --> 01:00:11,360
And I hope it will come to you

1018
01:00:11,360 --> 01:00:15,240
and taste a little bit like love today.

1019
01:00:15,240 --> 01:00:16,320
And I didn't make it thick,

1020
01:00:16,320 --> 01:00:19,080
so you won't be eating this massive amounts of calories.

1021
01:00:19,080 --> 01:00:21,920
Plus it'll be planted around.

1022
01:00:21,920 --> 01:00:24,480
Stand with me and sing this song and then as we sing

1023
01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:27,400
and the Lord is speaking to you about something in your life

1024
01:00:27,400 --> 01:00:29,360
or some loving that needs to go.

1025
01:00:29,360 --> 01:00:31,240
Or He's speaking to you about a person in your life

1026
01:00:31,240 --> 01:00:34,080
that you need to love them despite how challenging

1027
01:00:34,080 --> 01:00:36,000
it sometimes is or whatever.

1028
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:37,640
Then you repent, turn to God,

1029
01:00:37,640 --> 01:00:39,440
and commit yourself to just that.

1030
01:00:39,440 --> 01:00:41,440
I'm gonna work with this.

1031
01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:43,000
I'm gonna work with this.

1032
01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:44,160
Go on to Jesus.

1033
01:00:46,160 --> 01:00:47,160
I surrender.

1034
01:00:47,160 --> 01:00:50,320
I surrender all.

1035
01:00:50,320 --> 01:00:53,320
To Him I plead.

1036
01:00:53,320 --> 01:00:55,320
I plead again.

1037
01:00:55,320 --> 01:01:00,320
I will never stop.

1038
01:01:00,320 --> 01:01:05,320
And trust Him in His presence.

1039
01:01:05,320 --> 01:01:08,320
And His will be done.

1040
01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:13,320
I surrender all.

1041
01:01:13,320 --> 01:01:16,320
I'm taking all the things that I've been blessed with.

1042
01:01:16,320 --> 01:01:21,320
I surrender all.

1043
01:01:21,320 --> 01:01:26,320
All to Him I plead.

1044
01:01:26,320 --> 01:01:31,320
I surrender all.

1045
01:01:35,320 --> 01:01:40,320
Oh Jesus I surrender all.

1046
01:01:40,320 --> 01:01:47,320
Let me be saved, your holy light.

1047
01:01:47,320 --> 01:01:54,320
Let me feel thy holy spirit.

1048
01:01:54,320 --> 01:02:01,320
Truly know that thou art mine.

1049
01:02:01,320 --> 01:02:08,320
I surrender all.

1050
01:02:08,320 --> 01:02:13,320
I surrender all.

1051
01:02:13,320 --> 01:02:25,320
All to thee my master, Savior, I surrender all.

1052
01:02:25,320 --> 01:02:27,320
I'm gonna stop singing at this time.

1053
01:02:27,320 --> 01:02:30,320
I want to share with you very briefly,

1054
01:02:30,320 --> 01:02:34,320
one big step, a few minutes, a couple minutes something.

1055
01:02:34,320 --> 01:02:39,320
This is something that has somewhat, in my lifetime,

1056
01:02:39,320 --> 01:02:41,320
the question has re-inserted me a number of times.

1057
01:02:41,320 --> 01:02:44,320
I just want to tell you that in studying this passage of Scripture,

1058
01:02:44,320 --> 01:02:45,320
I figured it out.

1059
01:02:45,320 --> 01:02:47,320
And then maybe it'll make a connection for you too.

1060
01:02:47,320 --> 01:02:50,320
Matthew 6 19, Jesus says this, He says,

1061
01:02:50,320 --> 01:02:53,320
Do not lay up for yourself treasures upon earth,

1062
01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:57,320
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break and steal,

1063
01:02:57,320 --> 01:02:59,320
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

1064
01:02:59,320 --> 01:03:03,320
where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves not break and steal.

1065
01:03:03,320 --> 01:03:06,320
But where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

1066
01:03:06,320 --> 01:03:10,320
The lamp of the body is the eye, and if therefore your eye is clear,

1067
01:03:10,320 --> 01:03:12,320
the whole body will be full of light.

1068
01:03:12,320 --> 01:03:15,320
If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

1069
01:03:15,320 --> 01:03:17,320
If therefore the light that is in you is darkness,

1070
01:03:17,320 --> 01:03:20,320
how great is the darkness.

1071
01:03:20,320 --> 01:03:24,320
Many times, we've been in conversation, we've been debating, thinking about it,

1072
01:03:24,320 --> 01:03:26,320
people asking questions I thought about it, whatever,

1073
01:03:26,320 --> 01:03:29,320
you can say, well, how do you store up treasures for yourself in heaven?

1074
01:03:29,320 --> 01:03:32,320
And I'm gonna tell you that a lot of pastors, thank God,

1075
01:03:32,320 --> 01:03:34,320
I don't believe ever me, okay?

1076
01:03:34,320 --> 01:03:38,320
But a lot of pastors have preached the way you store up treasures for yourself in heaven.

1077
01:03:38,320 --> 01:03:39,320
Bless you, sir.

1078
01:03:39,320 --> 01:03:43,320
Instead of spending your money on your earthly pleasures,

1079
01:03:43,320 --> 01:03:46,320
you invest it thinking of work.

1080
01:03:46,320 --> 01:03:48,320
So you give more financial, more tithes and offerings,

1081
01:03:48,320 --> 01:03:51,320
more service ministry, those kinds of things.

1082
01:03:51,320 --> 01:03:52,320
There ain't anything wrong with that.

1083
01:03:52,320 --> 01:03:56,320
I think there is our scripture that supports our giving and giving very heartily.

1084
01:03:56,320 --> 01:03:59,320
But this doesn't have anything to do with that.

1085
01:03:59,320 --> 01:04:03,320
So now based on what we learned today, I'm gonna ask a question.

1086
01:04:03,320 --> 01:04:09,320
If we're investing in treasures that will be present in heaven,

1087
01:04:09,320 --> 01:04:12,320
what does that mean or what does that look like?

1088
01:04:12,320 --> 01:04:15,320
Could you work harder on earth and would that do it?

1089
01:04:15,320 --> 01:04:18,320
Could you use your spiritual gifts, would that do it?

1090
01:04:18,320 --> 01:04:20,320
Could you self-sacrifice, would that do it?

1091
01:04:20,320 --> 01:04:23,320
Because I've seen that, people say, well, he self-sacrificed,

1092
01:04:23,320 --> 01:04:26,320
and so God is clearly gonna reward him in heaven, right?

1093
01:04:26,320 --> 01:04:28,320
Does that make sense?

1094
01:04:28,320 --> 01:04:33,320
Based on what we saw today, only that which is perfect and complete goes beyond.

1095
01:04:33,320 --> 01:04:36,320
And so that brings us to just one thing.

1096
01:04:36,320 --> 01:04:41,320
There is just one way that you can make sure that anything that you do on earth

1097
01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:44,320
results in treasure in heaven and what is it?

1098
01:04:44,320 --> 01:04:45,320
What is it?

1099
01:04:45,320 --> 01:04:46,320
I'm done.

1100
01:04:46,320 --> 01:04:47,320
One more.

1101
01:04:47,320 --> 01:04:51,320
Okay, that's good but that's not the answer.

1102
01:04:51,320 --> 01:04:53,320
That is good to do that but that's not the answer.

1103
01:04:53,320 --> 01:04:54,320
Love.

1104
01:04:54,320 --> 01:04:55,320
Love.

1105
01:04:55,320 --> 01:05:00,320
So everything you do that is for sure done in the love of Christ,

1106
01:05:00,320 --> 01:05:04,320
as we have talked about, translates to treasures in heaven.

1107
01:05:04,320 --> 01:05:09,320
And everything that you do for any other motivation, even diligence or duty,

1108
01:05:09,320 --> 01:05:14,320
all of those things are good, honor, all good, peace, good, war when necessary,

1109
01:05:14,320 --> 01:05:20,320
all good, all of those things, but they do not translate to treasures in heaven

1110
01:05:20,320 --> 01:05:23,320
unless they are done in love because only love never fails.

1111
01:05:23,320 --> 01:05:25,320
Only love is eternal.

1112
01:05:25,320 --> 01:05:27,320
That make sense?

1113
01:05:27,320 --> 01:05:30,320
Like the light bulb went on for me and I went, oh, now I get it.

1114
01:05:30,320 --> 01:05:32,320
I understand what he was talking about.

1115
01:05:32,320 --> 01:05:36,320
Jesus was calling us to do what we do in love.

1116
01:05:36,320 --> 01:05:38,320
Sometimes that may mean we have to go back to the beginning

1117
01:05:38,320 --> 01:05:40,320
and say, we made it in the end.

1118
01:05:40,320 --> 01:05:44,320
The only true expression, absolutely knowing it for sure that I have known

1119
01:05:44,320 --> 01:05:46,320
is the love of God is when I got saved.

1120
01:05:46,320 --> 01:05:52,320
So how do I make the traces that I'm making like that, Jules?

1121
01:05:52,320 --> 01:05:55,320
Maybe you just always check it back.

1122
01:05:55,320 --> 01:05:56,320
We'll just use that.

1123
01:05:56,320 --> 01:05:57,320
That's the clip.

1124
01:05:57,320 --> 01:05:58,320
That's the mold.

1125
01:05:58,320 --> 01:05:59,320
That's the instructions.

1126
01:05:59,320 --> 01:06:00,320
How do I make it like that?

1127
01:06:00,320 --> 01:06:03,320
If you make it like that, then it will last forever.

1128
01:06:03,320 --> 01:06:07,320
If you make it like anything else, it will be done away when the partial is done away.

1129
01:06:07,320 --> 01:06:10,320
The scary thing is if you've not experienced that love in salvation,

1130
01:06:10,320 --> 01:06:13,320
then you will be done away with when the partial is done away with.

1131
01:06:13,320 --> 01:06:17,320
But if you have experience and get through salvation and can walk in it,

1132
01:06:17,320 --> 01:06:21,320
then you will be with God in heaven for eternity.

1133
01:06:21,320 --> 01:06:23,320
Pretty cool stuff.

1134
01:06:23,320 --> 01:06:26,320
We're going to close the prayer this time and we will be through.

1135
01:06:26,320 --> 01:06:27,320
Let's pray.

1136
01:06:27,320 --> 01:06:30,320
Father in heaven, it's been a challenging chapter.

1137
01:06:30,320 --> 01:06:36,320
I've been stretched, pushed.

1138
01:06:36,320 --> 01:06:40,320
At the same time, I've been encouraged.

1139
01:06:40,320 --> 01:06:42,320
I've been blessed.

1140
01:06:42,320 --> 01:06:48,320
As we've looked at the words that, I mean, I know there are people who can recite this chapter,

1141
01:06:48,320 --> 01:06:55,320
but I wonder whether the meaning is clear, especially like where it says kindness,

1142
01:06:55,320 --> 01:06:58,320
and we would have known without digging into it the word kindness,

1143
01:06:58,320 --> 01:07:02,320
that it means it's about being useful for someone.

1144
01:07:02,320 --> 01:07:06,320
Or where it says love covers a multitude of sins in Scripture and here,

1145
01:07:06,320 --> 01:07:12,320
and that that word bears all things, means covers.

1146
01:07:12,320 --> 01:07:16,320
We realize now that we're covering for others and others are covering for us,

1147
01:07:16,320 --> 01:07:18,320
and that's part of what it means to be loving.

1148
01:07:18,320 --> 01:07:24,320
And so, Lord, grow us, transform us, and change us.

1149
01:07:24,320 --> 01:07:28,320
And if we miss this step along the way, if we jumped to a later step

1150
01:07:28,320 --> 01:07:33,320
without learning to love like Jesus loved, without learning to love like we're supposed to,

1151
01:07:33,320 --> 01:07:36,320
if we've not been transformed from the inside out,

1152
01:07:36,320 --> 01:07:39,320
but rather just been going through the motions on the outside so it looks like we're loving it,

1153
01:07:39,320 --> 01:07:43,320
Lord, turn us again.

1154
01:07:43,320 --> 01:07:44,320
Turn us to You.

1155
01:07:44,320 --> 01:07:46,320
Empower us.

1156
01:07:46,320 --> 01:07:47,320
Make us able.

1157
01:07:47,320 --> 01:07:52,320
Make us able to see the manifestations of Your presence, yes,

1158
01:07:52,320 --> 01:08:00,320
but more importantly, to have Your presence in us every day.

1159
01:08:00,320 --> 01:08:05,320
Thank you, Lord, that this way is a still more excellent way, so much more excellent,

1160
01:08:05,320 --> 01:08:13,320
that something as awesome as spiritual gifts can look like dirty dishes or cracks in the mud compared to love.

1161
01:08:13,320 --> 01:08:18,320
Father, help us be Your loving people with presence in Jesus' name.

1162
01:08:18,320 --> 01:08:19,320
Thank you very much.

1163
01:08:19,320 --> 01:08:22,320
The cake is on its way already to the cafeteria.

1164
01:08:22,320 --> 01:08:26,320
For those of you who want a piece of sample cake made during the sermon,

1165
01:08:26,320 --> 01:08:43,320
probably the only time you'll ever get that.