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Good morning. Good morning. Good morning

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Morning, despite some technological difficulties praise the Lord

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We're here and on the internet and across the world praise God. So we're going to do that. We're gonna praise God

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I don't know if you've been

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Moving and I've been pretty excited about the things that have been happening at the same time

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When every time God moves the enemy tries to rise up and do whatever he can to bog us down and mess with

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things and so we're gonna give God all the glory and we're gonna praise him and

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Before we open in prayer, I want to ask you to do God in great little activity with me

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Okay

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I was thinking a lot about the revival that that took place and I call it revival but basically a movement of God

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That's the first Asbury College in Willmore, Kentucky and also at several other Christian colleges and places all over the nation's been going on right now

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They came to church to worship for that chapel and they do it

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wrote certain time certain day

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They're required to go part of their schooling and so they went in thinking we're gonna be here for an hour or two

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however long it takes to do chapel, I don't know if their time frame normally is that kind of thing and

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Went on then for 11 days

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Not an hour or two but for 11 days

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People then by the 11th day people were driving as far as eight hours to come and participate and also

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There's some people came from Brazil to go and you want to see a church hand and

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So obviously we didn't do that. It's not about that time about the spectacle, but I want you to bear in mind this thought process that was in their heads

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That day when they came to chapel they said we're gonna go worship just like normal

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Worship just like normal hear from the word just like normal. We're gonna pray just like normal

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We're gonna do just what we just did

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Well, last time it was chapter nothing new nothing different

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Somewhere during chapel that day

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They decided God moved and they began to listen to the God of heaven

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Over what they thought was gonna happen that day. Okay, thought it was just gonna be a normal

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normal worship normal prayer

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Listen to me. There is no normal encounter with God

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You have even a scripture you can go beginning to end you will see that different people of different personalities and types

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Encounter God in different ways God always interacts with people on a personal level

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There is no simple normal basic in time with God

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God shows up and does that every Sunday in our church will bless that you may not have done that for years of their chapel

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We don't know right there does show up and there's no normal

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So don't go. Well, this is just my normal time of prayer

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I'm just here like I am every Sunday right put that thought on your head and say this is in the time of God

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And I got the entire day, okay

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Secondly at some point time in that chapel service. They started thinking, you know, I was supposed to go out to lunch after this

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Or on like day two or three. They said, you know, I was supposed to take a shower today

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Right and people left and came back and whatnot. But the bottom line is

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There's no where that you have to do

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And there's nothing that you have to do

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This is time set apart for God by time. I don't mean this is one hour, you know

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I don't know if you haven't noticed we don't do that. This is one hour we stop saying here

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That's one of the reasons why we don't do that, right?

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Because it's not just we do this and then we're rushing off. I know we have the pantry at two o'clock

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I understand that and we will feed the poor we feed the hungry feed those who are coming in to a box

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Somebody will have to go to that but not everybody

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You don't have to be anywhere. You know, I got I got food in the oven or I got a cup lunch this afternoon

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We make dinner. We got plans for family time. I want you to just let it all go for right now

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Right and time comes we end our service and we go on and do what we do in our lives and and you still keep those

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Appointments if you have today tomorrow and so on so be it but for right now

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Just like had to happen there and really should happen every Sunday. I want you to just let those appointments

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Those thoughts that you have the things that you're gonna do the games you're gonna play the fun

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You're gonna have the work. We're gonna do the project. We've got to all the bills you gotta pay

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I want you to just let all of that go

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Because the truth is if Jesus Christ comes in person to take the church

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Into the new kingdom before this service ends. You'll not pay those bills

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You'll not love them anything. You're not suffering on the more pain. It'll all be done if you become a follower of Jesus Christ

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And that's yeah, it's your worship. So we should have this is not about us

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It's not about what we got to do email. Some of us worked hard. I study to be here and

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And you did to I know there's a lot of folks this week. They did their their Bible verses

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That's really cool. I mean the pot of things that we're gonna put tickets in for well, it's increasing

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But that's not the point. It's the word increasing enough. That is the point and so just

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One this is not your normal worship. There is no such thing

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This is your time with God and to you don't have anywhere to be

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You don't have anywhere to be later today or tomorrow

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Just be with God now. That's it and God will do something amazing to her and in our lives

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And it really is like that

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It should be like that every time let's pray together

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And then we're gonna worship God

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I'm a good prayer request now

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I'm still trying to get disability and I'm a boy that picked it up

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And my dad has a another cousin of surgery on Friday

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Let's pray for him

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I got a prayer request

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It's not tomorrow

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I prayed for my mom and she's in three days

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Father in heaven you know these things and they're folks that aren't here and they concern our hearts

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They're our family. We love them. We care about them

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They're friends and connections that we have are hurting

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But there's folks out there that were gonna be here today that they canceled last minute

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Or they got sick already sick this morning praying for him

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The Lord I'm asking you to help us now to shed

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Shed the worldly focus, shed the other concerns

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That our schedule of presumption that we came here and it's gonna be like it's been before

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And just let us be together with you today

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Let these songs of worship be chosen for a purpose but the truth is none of them are absolutely essential

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They only matter because they are the only thing that matters

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Because they're a bridge between us and you today

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And we are recognizing the holiness and the great gift and the grace that's given through Jesus your son

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For honoring you

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And yes we lift up the hurting, we lift up our family members

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And the main reason we lift up our family members at opening prayer is so that we can

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And I think we box this sometimes

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So that we can set those concerns aside or in your lap really

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And know that you're gonna take care of it, you're gonna make it turn out however it's gonna turn out

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We just want to honor you with our voices, with all that we are, with our time together

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We say always, you take over, you be in charge

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So if there is a song in the order, if there's a word or a sentence or a paragraph in the message

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And it doesn't belong, if there's a heart or an ache or a distraction in this room

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You deal with it, you are more than capable, you have all the power, creation power for the entire universe

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Resurrection power for the entire soul

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We send our best regards to you, we pray this in Jesus name

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Amen

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Alright if you would please stand and join us for the next couple songs

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Some of you look rather comfy in those heaps

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I have a loose

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I have friends that I trust to be, I trust to know them and help them believe, and in all sincerity they'll let me out of school

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I have friends that I trust to be, I trust to know them and help them believe, and in all sincerity they'll let me out of school

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You lead, I follow, just slide the way and I'll go, send a room guide for me, it's more than I can treat, don't leave me on and on and on and on

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There's a child I've heard your voice, there's a girl I've made my choice, there's no other way for me other than to you

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You're my peace on a heavy day, you're the one that I'll stay

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If any of the young people would like to join me, you can stick yourself on my Facebook page

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I make my way to you, you make me feel better, I think I'm better than you

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You make my first feeling, I'll pray, everywhere I look I see your face, your love has captured me, oh my God this love, how can it be

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No music videos today, what did God's Word say this week?

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What do you got, Jason?

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So I was listening to a song in the radio and a couple of times it was in the recording and a couple of my lines came off the mic, right?

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I was listening to a line that pretty much I needed, one of the parts it says the old way of smiles is to mask ourselves, to forget about it and to smile

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The old way of smiles, so that it doesn't look like we're hurting and the one we care about the pain until tomorrow or the next day

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Because we don't want to deal with it at that current moment

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And then the other part it says, oh you're talking about saying the name?

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Sometimes it's hard for us to speak not just Jesus but the Word of Jesus, the Word of God and what we think and what we feel

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And it's hard for us to just push through and just say it

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And you were talking about that first part, I watched an episode of a show that's from a long time ago now

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It's called The Mentalist, this guy who's really smart, helps solve crimes

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He used to be a fake psychic, he used to be able to read people so well and he'd pretend to be a psychic and make a bunch of money

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And then his wife and daughter were killed by a mass murderer and he kind of turned over and became a good guy, right?

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And they dealt with the tragedy of that and then there's a scene where this other detective that's on his squad

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Her fiance turned out to be in the employ of a killer and her fiance tried to kill her

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And she was forced to kill him to save herself because she's an FBI agent, or a CBI actually and he's a bad guy

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And then they closed the case out finally and a necklace that he bought her the week before she was forced to kill him came back from the evidence room

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And they said here's your evidence, here's your necklace

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And she took the necklace, she was holding her hand and she was having a flashback to the event, she was having a death

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And then she looked at Jane, Jane's a many character and then she said what do you think I should do? Should I keep it or should I throw it away?

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And he said well you kind of have to make your choices, you have to make your choice yourself what you're going to do

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He said I'll tell you what most people do, most people bury it down

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You have to decide are you going to bury it down or are you going to deal with it

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And when I look at my Bible I think God is calling us to deal with this

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We have a tendency as human beings to deny, grief includes the faith in denial, you're going to do something wrong, man that's worse, you know whatever

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And we have a tendency to deny, even the reality of what we went through, oh that never happened

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Who's the loved one? You'll say well you literally believe, no this can't be right, they never die

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Or you'll walk in the room expecting to see them, that's denial, right?

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And you can go through a traumatic event, you can go through a relationship break up or you can go through a violent situation or whatever

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And your mind is rubber banding back and forth between accepting it and dealing with it and denying it

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And I think the Bible says deny yourself daily, take your cross and follow after me

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And I think that means we have to deal with those issues and the way we deal with them is we give them over to Christ and let God make out of what he wants to make out of

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That's horrible stuff and the Lord spoke to me during that scene about the same thing we were just talking about

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And that was just like two days ago I saw that, it's really cool

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And I agree with you as far as we have a tendency to, like I own, I want to every day all day own the fact that I am a Christian, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ

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And I get dismissed a lot because they always say he's just a pastor, people pastor, you guys talk like that or things like that

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And I hate that, that I get dismissed like that because I'm still a person, right?

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Like I still feel like when I'm saying something it really matters to me, not just because it's my job

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So I wish that Christians, if you really love the Lord, I wish that we would all be like that

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And then people would stop saying, oh it's just because you're a pastor, they could say, well it's just because he's a Christian, which would be better for me

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So if we're all on board and we all start talking about Jesus then we'll be like, instead of them dismissing me because I'm a pastor, they can dismiss me because I'm a Christian

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At least I'm suffering for Jesus then, right?

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Alright, somebody else I saw hand-me-down, Caleb, Caleb, Caleb

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Yeah, I was supposed to say, I'm going to focus on tomorrow because tomorrow might not come

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Yeah, sounds good

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Because we never know if tomorrow will be here

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That's true, what does the Bible say about focusing on tomorrow, or maybe no Bible verse that applies?

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Personal tomorrow because you're going to be in trouble right away

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Say it again

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Don't worry about tomorrow because you're going to be in trouble today

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Close, yeah, really close, they could basically be moving away

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Personal tomorrow because of my head is don't be angry

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Okay, so that'll carry over to tomorrow, that's different

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Yeah, that's the question

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Don't worry about tomorrow because today has enough trouble of its own

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James 5 says, don't post tomorrow because you're going to be in trouble

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That's right, I'd rather say if the Lord wills will go here a better review

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That's good, how many plans have you made? Good, very good

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I was at work probably two weeks ago now

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And normally when people come and go, they say have a good day, have a good weekend

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And this one lady came in and she was talking about the situation

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Which we see a lot of people in apartments and families trying to leave

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And so when she had got up to leave I told her to have a blessed day

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And she turned around so fast and she was like, I've never, people your age don't say that to me

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I've never seen a little bit of your age talk like that

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She probably thought you were 16

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Go ahead

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So I was kind of tough, I said, yeah, I've been new to the Lord God

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A year ago my husband had helped me and she goes, well it's hard when you don't grow up with it

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And I said, I didn't grow up with it

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I said, I actually grew up with the down, I was opposed to anything that had to do with God or the Bible

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And was constantly in my hair telling how awful it was

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And so I said, when I met my husband, I didn't even want to go to church

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I said, two years ago I was a completely different person, I wasn't a Christian

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I said, I had nothing to do with it

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But it's changed my life immensely

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From the person I was, to who I am now, it's such a drastic difference I would have never seen for myself

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And she just kind of sat there and just took it all in

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She said, she had tried to become a Christian, but she didn't know her

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And she had those voices in her ear too, telling her it wasn't worth it, it was a time

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And she asked how I got over it

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And I said, unfortunately I don't have a lot of relationships that I used to have because of it

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Because I didn't want that negative voice in my ear telling me it wasn't worth it when I knew it was a lie

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And so I don't not talk to them anymore

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Because their opinions just don't matter to you as far as what they tell you I need to be doing

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And so I just, it was weird to see that she thought that you have to grow up in the Bible to be able to be a professor

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And you have to be practicing Christian

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And I said, your age doesn't matter, I said, you gotta be very fair about that

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As long as you're willing to do work

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And so now I always tell people have a blessed day in case you come up in

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Two of these things come to mind

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If you tell somebody to have a blessed day or to be blessed, you say God bless you

209
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And they're not saved, can God bless them?

210
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Absolutely, right? He can bless them anyway

211
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He does it, and in fact as he does do it, even if they're not saved

212
00:18:24,100 --> 00:18:27,100
But the chief blessing would be what?

213
00:18:27,100 --> 00:18:28,100
To say we get saved

214
00:18:28,100 --> 00:18:30,100
That they would come into encounter with God through Jesus Christ

215
00:18:30,100 --> 00:18:34,100
So when you say God bless you to somebody, when they sneeze

216
00:18:34,100 --> 00:18:38,100
If you're earnest, I mean what I'm saying in a row, God bless you, God bless you

217
00:18:38,100 --> 00:18:40,100
Sneeze four times, I'm gonna wait until you're done

218
00:18:40,100 --> 00:18:43,100
Okay, God bless you, you might just be doing that, people do it, right?

219
00:18:43,100 --> 00:18:46,100
But if you really mean God bless you, and it's like a little prayer for you

220
00:18:46,100 --> 00:18:49,100
You say God bless you, you can say in Jesus' name, you can say that at your head

221
00:18:49,100 --> 00:18:51,100
You don't want to say it out loud, you say God bless you

222
00:18:51,100 --> 00:18:53,100
You're really praying for God to bless them

223
00:18:53,100 --> 00:18:55,100
And how is God gonna bless them? Cheaply?

224
00:18:55,100 --> 00:18:58,100
He's gonna bring them into contact with the gospel over and over again

225
00:18:58,100 --> 00:19:00,100
Until eventually they get saved, right?

226
00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:04,100
If he's honoring your request, and if you're a believer and you pray

227
00:19:04,100 --> 00:19:07,100
And believe you have what you pray for, you will receive it

228
00:19:07,100 --> 00:19:10,100
That's in God's will, it is in God's will that everything will get saved, right?

229
00:19:10,100 --> 00:19:13,100
Not praying for a sparkling new car, because that may or may not be in God's will

230
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But praying that they would be blessed, you can do that at any time

231
00:19:16,100 --> 00:19:19,100
I encourage you to say God bless you or have a blessed day

232
00:19:19,100 --> 00:19:22,100
All the time, say it all the time, but mean it

233
00:19:22,100 --> 00:19:25,100
Don't say it if you don't mean it, like when I'm grumpy I don't say it

234
00:19:25,100 --> 00:19:27,100
Because I know my heart's in the wrong place, whatever

235
00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:30,100
And I know I wouldn't be meaning it if I heard God bless you

236
00:19:30,100 --> 00:19:32,100
You know, or that's not the same thing

237
00:19:32,100 --> 00:19:34,100
But if you mean it, if you pray it, God can bless you

238
00:19:34,100 --> 00:19:39,100
The second thing is, what you just said right here

239
00:19:39,100 --> 00:19:42,100
Can you believe, can you stretch your mind for a moment and believe

240
00:19:42,100 --> 00:19:46,100
That there are people in the world, you do realize there are billions of people, right?

241
00:19:46,100 --> 00:19:51,100
So there are people in the world that are in a similar situation to you

242
00:19:51,100 --> 00:19:54,100
So Ron, you know there are other senior maintenance techs in the world, right?

243
00:19:54,100 --> 00:19:57,100
How many senior maintenance techs do you think are in the world?

244
00:19:57,100 --> 00:19:59,100
Tens of thousands, right?

245
00:19:59,100 --> 00:20:01,100
And of those tens of thousands of senior maintenance techs

246
00:20:01,100 --> 00:20:05,100
How many of them might have other factors of their life that line up similar to yours?

247
00:20:05,100 --> 00:20:07,100
What? What's that?

248
00:20:07,100 --> 00:20:08,100
Thousands

249
00:20:08,100 --> 00:20:09,100
Thousands, sure, right

250
00:20:09,100 --> 00:20:12,100
So now if you would get, you would talk with that person

251
00:20:12,100 --> 00:20:14,100
Your story would resonate with them

252
00:20:14,100 --> 00:20:16,100
Because they'd be like, well you're like me, right?

253
00:20:16,100 --> 00:20:19,100
You have some of the same issues that I have, whatever

254
00:20:19,100 --> 00:20:22,100
When I deal with pastors, I run into this quite frequently

255
00:20:22,100 --> 00:20:24,100
That they have the same struggles, the same

256
00:20:24,100 --> 00:20:27,100
That anything comes after them in the same way, things like that

257
00:20:27,100 --> 00:20:32,100
But the bottom line is, if you just went out looking for the people

258
00:20:32,100 --> 00:20:35,100
That would resonate with your story

259
00:20:35,100 --> 00:20:39,100
You could find hundreds of people in your lifetime

260
00:20:39,100 --> 00:20:41,100
That would go, well you're like me

261
00:20:41,100 --> 00:20:43,100
And you got saved, you believe this

262
00:20:43,100 --> 00:20:44,100
How can you believe this?

263
00:20:44,100 --> 00:20:46,100
Because everything I see and tells me that it's not real

264
00:20:46,100 --> 00:20:49,100
But then there's something inside me that says it is real

265
00:20:49,100 --> 00:20:50,100
How can you believe this?

266
00:20:50,100 --> 00:20:55,100
Right? If you can just find the people that will resonate with you

267
00:20:55,100 --> 00:20:58,100
And then you can go beyond that

268
00:20:58,100 --> 00:21:00,100
Because you'll find that little parts of your story

269
00:21:00,100 --> 00:21:02,100
Resonate with other people in a big way

270
00:21:02,100 --> 00:21:05,100
Like when I was, I used to work in retail

271
00:21:05,100 --> 00:21:07,100
And one of the things Sherry and I discovered

272
00:21:07,100 --> 00:21:10,100
Is you wouldn't have a life with your family

273
00:21:10,100 --> 00:21:13,100
You wouldn't have health and be able to walk in your faith

274
00:21:13,100 --> 00:21:16,100
It's harder to work in retail full time or be a manager

275
00:21:16,100 --> 00:21:18,100
Because your schedule is all over the place

276
00:21:18,100 --> 00:21:21,100
And it's whatever the business needs all the time, right?

277
00:21:21,100 --> 00:21:24,100
And almost becomes like a, not just a master

278
00:21:24,100 --> 00:21:26,100
Because everybody's job is a little bit of a master

279
00:21:26,100 --> 00:21:29,100
But it becomes a vicious master, a wicked master

280
00:21:29,100 --> 00:21:31,100
Who wants to hair out your life, you're not careful

281
00:21:31,100 --> 00:21:34,100
And so whenever I'm talking with somebody in retail

282
00:21:34,100 --> 00:21:37,100
I know my story, if we can talk about things

283
00:21:37,100 --> 00:21:39,100
Like what they're going through, will resonate with them

284
00:21:39,100 --> 00:21:42,100
And then at some point you can transition that same

285
00:21:42,100 --> 00:21:44,100
But then I encounter Jesus Christ

286
00:21:44,100 --> 00:21:46,100
And now let me tell you how I see that

287
00:21:46,100 --> 00:21:49,100
That's it, what we're talking about is the vandalism

288
00:21:49,100 --> 00:21:54,100
God does not ask you to explain the Bible to unbelievers

289
00:21:54,100 --> 00:21:57,100
Check it, if you find a verse, it proved me wrong

290
00:21:57,100 --> 00:22:00,100
There is not a verse in the Bible that tells you to go

291
00:22:00,100 --> 00:22:03,100
And explain the Bible, what it means to teach the verses to unbelievers

292
00:22:03,100 --> 00:22:07,100
Make you disciples and teach them all things I have taught you

293
00:22:07,100 --> 00:22:09,100
You first make them disciples, right?

294
00:22:09,100 --> 00:22:11,100
You plug them into Jesus, then we teach them all things

295
00:22:11,100 --> 00:22:14,100
So if you're walking around teaching lost people to be honest

296
00:22:14,100 --> 00:22:16,100
You are wasting your breath, right?

297
00:22:16,100 --> 00:22:18,100
Now you might have to police, you might be an authoritarian

298
00:22:18,100 --> 00:22:21,100
Or whatever, it might be your job to make sure things go correctly

299
00:22:21,100 --> 00:22:23,100
That's all fine, you might have to write somebody up on the job

300
00:22:23,100 --> 00:22:25,100
If they did the wrong thing, that kind of thing

301
00:22:25,100 --> 00:22:28,100
But the bottom line is, you're just acting as a policeman there

302
00:22:28,100 --> 00:22:32,100
But as a Christian, if you can find any part of your story

303
00:22:32,100 --> 00:22:34,100
That can resonate with them

304
00:22:34,100 --> 00:22:37,100
And I'm going to submit to you, most lost people

305
00:22:37,100 --> 00:22:39,100
Just the fact that you were lost and got found

306
00:22:39,100 --> 00:22:41,100
That you were lost and got saved, right?

307
00:22:41,100 --> 00:22:43,100
That might be enough, but you find that part of your story

308
00:22:43,100 --> 00:22:45,100
That resonates with them, and then from there

309
00:22:45,100 --> 00:22:48,100
Just tell them how you did it

310
00:22:48,100 --> 00:22:50,100
You don't have to tell them what the pastor said

311
00:22:50,100 --> 00:22:52,100
You don't have to quote 10 Bible verses from memorandum

312
00:22:52,100 --> 00:22:54,100
You got a couple that you can use to fit the situation

313
00:22:54,100 --> 00:22:57,100
That would be cool, it would be a little bit extra, right?

314
00:22:57,100 --> 00:23:00,100
But otherwise, just tell them how you did it

315
00:23:00,100 --> 00:23:02,100
I just one day said

316
00:23:02,100 --> 00:23:05,100
That from now on, I'm going to live for God through Jesus Christ

317
00:23:05,100 --> 00:23:07,100
I'm just going to give Him the rest of my days

318
00:23:07,100 --> 00:23:09,100
Or however you phrase it, or whatever

319
00:23:09,100 --> 00:23:12,100
And because you already resonate with who they are

320
00:23:12,100 --> 00:23:14,100
And they resonate with who you are

321
00:23:14,100 --> 00:23:16,100
Whatever you did is going to resonate with them

322
00:23:16,100 --> 00:23:17,100
They may not do it

323
00:23:17,100 --> 00:23:20,100
They may go like, oh, you make that sound so easy

324
00:23:20,100 --> 00:23:22,100
I can't think of any time before that

325
00:23:22,100 --> 00:23:23,100
Does it at least?

326
00:23:23,100 --> 00:23:24,100
You make that sound so easy

327
00:23:24,100 --> 00:23:26,100
Like, well it is really just a choice

328
00:23:26,100 --> 00:23:28,100
A moment in time, right?

329
00:23:28,100 --> 00:23:30,100
And then after that, God's at work

330
00:23:30,100 --> 00:23:32,100
And He'll help you make the next choices

331
00:23:32,100 --> 00:23:34,100
Well, I have to stop drinking first

332
00:23:34,100 --> 00:23:36,100
No, that's not the way it works

333
00:23:36,100 --> 00:23:38,100
You can want to stop drinking

334
00:23:38,100 --> 00:23:40,100
If you're in a relationship with God, He'll lead you to that

335
00:23:40,100 --> 00:23:43,100
But you'll stop drinking if that's what God wants you to do

336
00:23:43,100 --> 00:23:46,100
Once God pours you the power to do that

337
00:23:46,100 --> 00:23:48,100
And people always want to stop everything

338
00:23:48,100 --> 00:23:50,100
And fix everything before they come to Jesus

339
00:23:50,100 --> 00:23:52,100
And that's just not the way it works

340
00:23:52,100 --> 00:23:54,100
So, I really spoke to my heart

341
00:23:54,100 --> 00:23:57,100
I would encourage you to say, bless the day, bless the night

342
00:23:57,100 --> 00:23:59,100
Bless the weekend, be blessed

343
00:23:59,100 --> 00:24:01,100
God bless you, all those things

344
00:24:01,100 --> 00:24:03,100
And mean it as you're talking to people

345
00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:07,100
I can honestly tell you that I have had thousands and thousands of non-believers

346
00:24:07,100 --> 00:24:09,100
Say, God bless you to me

347
00:24:09,100 --> 00:24:10,100
Can you believe it?

348
00:24:10,100 --> 00:24:12,100
I don't think they probably got what they wanted

349
00:24:12,100 --> 00:24:14,100
I wouldn't be able to get them blessed anyway

350
00:24:14,100 --> 00:24:16,100
But I say, God bless you

351
00:24:16,100 --> 00:24:18,100
And they say, you too, all the time

352
00:24:18,100 --> 00:24:20,100
People that don't know God

353
00:24:20,100 --> 00:24:22,100
Sometimes I'll say, God bless you

354
00:24:22,100 --> 00:24:24,100
And they'll catch my head and go, what is this?

355
00:24:24,100 --> 00:24:26,100
So, are you a believer?

356
00:24:26,100 --> 00:24:28,100
And they'll say, no

357
00:24:28,100 --> 00:24:30,100
And I'll say, can I tell you what I believe or can I tell you what the Bible says about that?

358
00:24:30,100 --> 00:24:32,100
And you're sharing the gospel

359
00:24:32,100 --> 00:24:34,100
If they said it backwards

360
00:24:34,100 --> 00:24:36,100
You share what you did

361
00:24:36,100 --> 00:24:38,100
And you share the gospel

362
00:24:38,100 --> 00:24:40,100
And if you had asked her, would you say it?

363
00:24:40,100 --> 00:24:42,100
She would have been saved

364
00:24:42,100 --> 00:24:44,100
That's pretty cool stuff

365
00:24:44,100 --> 00:24:46,100
Anybody else got one real quick?

366
00:24:46,100 --> 00:24:48,100
Two things

367
00:24:48,100 --> 00:24:50,100
First thing is

368
00:24:50,100 --> 00:24:52,100
I can only all add to what

369
00:24:52,100 --> 00:24:54,100
Cable was saying

370
00:24:54,100 --> 00:24:56,100
Because I was

371
00:24:56,100 --> 00:24:58,100
Me and my wife when we first started out were similar

372
00:24:58,100 --> 00:25:00,100
Mine was a much more extreme case

373
00:25:00,100 --> 00:25:02,100
Because I was a human misdrewer

374
00:25:02,100 --> 00:25:04,100
So

375
00:25:04,100 --> 00:25:06,100
But it was

376
00:25:06,100 --> 00:25:08,100
It's crazy to me to look back and

377
00:25:08,100 --> 00:25:10,100
Talk to some of my old friends

378
00:25:10,100 --> 00:25:12,100
Because I still have contact with some of my friends

379
00:25:12,100 --> 00:25:14,100
That I had when I was in high school

380
00:25:14,100 --> 00:25:16,100
And I'm like, dude, you're so different now

381
00:25:16,100 --> 00:25:18,100
You're not as wild

382
00:25:18,100 --> 00:25:20,100
As you used to be

383
00:25:20,100 --> 00:25:22,100
And I'm like, well, for one, I grew up

384
00:25:22,100 --> 00:25:24,100
I realized that I had to grow up

385
00:25:24,100 --> 00:25:26,100
Because I got kids and a family to take care of

386
00:25:26,100 --> 00:25:28,100
And I tell all of them

387
00:25:28,100 --> 00:25:30,100
And for two, I've learned who Jesus was

388
00:25:30,100 --> 00:25:32,100
And like

389
00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:34,100
The looks on their face

390
00:25:34,100 --> 00:25:36,100
Are like, what? Are you kidding me?

391
00:25:36,100 --> 00:25:38,100
Like, you're a church boy now?

392
00:25:38,100 --> 00:25:40,100
Church boy

393
00:25:40,100 --> 00:25:42,100
A lot of them, that's what they call me

394
00:25:42,100 --> 00:25:44,100
And there's a couple of them, that's what they say to me

395
00:25:44,100 --> 00:25:46,100
When they say that, they say, no, my son's a church boy

396
00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:48,100
I'm a church man

397
00:25:48,100 --> 00:25:50,100
Well, it just makes me laugh because

398
00:25:50,100 --> 00:25:52,100
It's just

399
00:25:52,100 --> 00:25:54,100
People don't really know you

400
00:25:54,100 --> 00:25:56,100
And when you start telling them things

401
00:25:56,100 --> 00:25:58,100
Like that, it really goes to show that

402
00:25:58,100 --> 00:26:00,100
You will never

403
00:26:00,100 --> 00:26:02,100
Fully know somebody

404
00:26:02,100 --> 00:26:04,100
You could be married to somebody, like, no, I've been married to my wife

405
00:26:04,100 --> 00:26:06,100
For going on

406
00:26:06,100 --> 00:26:08,100
Almost 13 years

407
00:26:08,100 --> 00:26:10,100
And there's still things about her

408
00:26:10,100 --> 00:26:12,100
That I'm not aware of, and it's the same with her for me

409
00:26:12,100 --> 00:26:14,100
You could be married all of your life

410
00:26:14,100 --> 00:26:16,100
And you're gonna learn new things about that

411
00:26:16,100 --> 00:26:18,100
Person that you didn't know

412
00:26:18,100 --> 00:26:20,100
And which goes back

413
00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:22,100
Which kind of rolls into the second thing I have

414
00:26:22,100 --> 00:26:24,100
So I love to write

415
00:26:24,100 --> 00:26:26,100
But I'm not

416
00:26:26,100 --> 00:26:28,100
I'm not a big reader

417
00:26:28,100 --> 00:26:30,100
So it's kind of weird, but

418
00:26:30,100 --> 00:26:32,100
I'm writing this book

419
00:26:32,100 --> 00:26:34,100
And I've been writing on it for a while

420
00:26:34,100 --> 00:26:36,100
Actually, I started it when I looked at it

421
00:26:36,100 --> 00:26:38,100
It's kind of funny, I looked it up

422
00:26:38,100 --> 00:26:40,100
I started it four years ago in March

423
00:26:40,100 --> 00:26:42,100
So I've been working on it for a very long time

424
00:26:42,100 --> 00:26:44,100
A little bit here and there, what not

425
00:26:44,100 --> 00:26:46,100
And there was a while where I just didn't do anything with it

426
00:26:46,100 --> 00:26:48,100
But I started working on it while I'm at work

427
00:26:48,100 --> 00:26:50,100
Like on lunch break or

428
00:26:50,100 --> 00:26:52,100
Down time, I'll start working on it

429
00:26:52,100 --> 00:26:54,100
And a couple of you guys asked me, what was I doing

430
00:26:54,100 --> 00:26:56,100
Because they're like

431
00:26:56,100 --> 00:26:58,100
Are you writing a book or something

432
00:26:58,100 --> 00:27:00,100
And I go, yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing

433
00:27:00,100 --> 00:27:02,100
Like, what

434
00:27:02,100 --> 00:27:04,100
Oh, really? You're really writing

435
00:27:04,100 --> 00:27:06,100
Yeah, I'm writing a book

436
00:27:06,100 --> 00:27:08,100
I enjoy writing

437
00:27:08,100 --> 00:27:10,100
It's crazy to me that

438
00:27:10,100 --> 00:27:12,100
That's not a more common thing

439
00:27:12,100 --> 00:27:14,100
And people find it so weird

440
00:27:14,100 --> 00:27:16,100
And then

441
00:27:16,100 --> 00:27:18,100
Which the

442
00:27:18,100 --> 00:27:20,100
Like I said, this leads me to this

443
00:27:20,100 --> 00:27:22,100
The fact is that

444
00:27:22,100 --> 00:27:24,100
The reason we do things

445
00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:26,100
There's reasons we do things that we don't understand

446
00:27:26,100 --> 00:27:28,100
And

447
00:27:28,100 --> 00:27:30,100
Writing for me is one of those things that I've done for a long time

448
00:27:30,100 --> 00:27:32,100
That I've never really fully understood

449
00:27:32,100 --> 00:27:34,100
Until more recently

450
00:27:34,100 --> 00:27:36,100
Over the last couple years

451
00:27:36,100 --> 00:27:38,100
And it's a way to

452
00:27:38,100 --> 00:27:40,100
Like, I guess escape from reality

453
00:27:40,100 --> 00:27:42,100
Get my mind off of things

454
00:27:42,100 --> 00:27:44,100
But the other thing is

455
00:27:44,100 --> 00:27:46,100
Whatever I'm writing

456
00:27:46,100 --> 00:27:48,100
It makes me feel like I'm

457
00:27:48,100 --> 00:27:50,100
Trying to pull closer to something

458
00:27:50,100 --> 00:27:52,100
And usually

459
00:27:52,100 --> 00:27:54,100
Usually I'm trying to pull closer to God

460
00:27:54,100 --> 00:27:56,100
And I was looking back

461
00:27:56,100 --> 00:27:58,100
One of my earlier things that I wrote

462
00:27:58,100 --> 00:28:00,100
When I first got saved

463
00:28:00,100 --> 00:28:02,100
And it was so dark

464
00:28:02,100 --> 00:28:04,100
And it was

465
00:28:04,100 --> 00:28:06,100
It terrified me, it scared me

466
00:28:06,100 --> 00:28:08,100
To read it because I'm like, that's who I was

467
00:28:08,100 --> 00:28:10,100
And

468
00:28:10,100 --> 00:28:12,100
I still struggle with that same thing sometimes

469
00:28:12,100 --> 00:28:14,100
But

470
00:28:14,100 --> 00:28:16,100
I would encourage, I guess

471
00:28:16,100 --> 00:28:18,100
Everyone to write a little bit

472
00:28:18,100 --> 00:28:20,100
Even if it's just a little bit because

473
00:28:20,100 --> 00:28:22,100
You could do that, you can look back

474
00:28:22,100 --> 00:28:24,100
Four or five years

475
00:28:24,100 --> 00:28:26,100
From now and go, man

476
00:28:26,100 --> 00:28:28,100
I really come far

477
00:28:28,100 --> 00:28:30,100
And I know

478
00:28:30,100 --> 00:28:32,100
There's no way I would be where I'm at right now

479
00:28:32,100 --> 00:28:34,100
If it wasn't for God

480
00:28:34,100 --> 00:28:36,100
And I've pulled all my friends at work

481
00:28:36,100 --> 00:28:38,100
And I've pulled them all the same thing

482
00:28:38,100 --> 00:28:40,100
There's no way I would be where I'm at right now

483
00:28:40,100 --> 00:28:42,100
If it was not for God

484
00:28:42,100 --> 00:28:44,100
And it's just phrasing to me

485
00:28:44,100 --> 00:28:46,100
That it's similar like that

486
00:28:46,100 --> 00:28:48,100
People are like, wait, really?

487
00:28:48,100 --> 00:28:50,100
Like, yeah, seriously, that's it

488
00:28:50,100 --> 00:28:52,100
You accept God and things change

489
00:28:52,100 --> 00:28:54,100
For me, they've done nothing but change for the better

490
00:28:54,100 --> 00:28:56,100
Good word

491
00:28:56,100 --> 00:28:58,100
30 seconds

492
00:28:58,100 --> 00:29:00,100
Sorry, I'm counting

493
00:29:00,100 --> 00:29:02,100
When you're encountering God

494
00:29:02,100 --> 00:29:04,100
You're encountering someone else

495
00:29:04,100 --> 00:29:06,100
There's always a shock factor between another person and another person

496
00:29:06,100 --> 00:29:08,100
Because they don't know you

497
00:29:08,100 --> 00:29:10,100
But when you're encountering God and God's encountering you

498
00:29:10,100 --> 00:29:12,100
You have a shock factor, but God doesn't have a shock factor

499
00:29:12,100 --> 00:29:14,100
He's not shocked at all

500
00:29:14,100 --> 00:29:16,100
He has love, He has courage, He has grace

501
00:29:16,100 --> 00:29:18,100
He has strength, He has compassion, He is merciful

502
00:29:18,100 --> 00:29:20,100
This is who God is with everybody

503
00:29:20,100 --> 00:29:22,100
So when you're encountering God

504
00:29:22,100 --> 00:29:24,100
For you it's like, whoa, but God is

505
00:29:24,100 --> 00:29:26,100
I'm your Lord, I'm your Savior

506
00:29:26,100 --> 00:29:28,100
Here I am

507
00:29:28,100 --> 00:29:30,100
I'm stopping there before you start preaching my sermon

508
00:29:30,100 --> 00:29:32,100
I gotta teach kids

509
00:29:32,100 --> 00:29:34,100
Amalia, would you pray for us

510
00:29:34,100 --> 00:29:36,100
As we transition, we're gonna do a little more worship

511
00:29:36,100 --> 00:29:38,100
Let the Lord reign

512
00:29:40,100 --> 00:29:42,100
Thank you Lord, I'm really glad you think you're gonna stay

513
00:29:42,100 --> 00:29:44,100
Thank you for bringing us all here this morning

514
00:29:44,100 --> 00:29:46,100
To worship you

515
00:29:46,100 --> 00:29:48,100
To draw closer to you

516
00:29:48,100 --> 00:29:50,100
To the people that you have chosen

517
00:29:50,100 --> 00:29:52,100
To get that message this morning

518
00:29:52,100 --> 00:29:54,100
I ask for your guidance and your blessings as we go from here

519
00:29:54,100 --> 00:29:56,100
We will make the decisions we even have to make in our real life

520
00:29:56,100 --> 00:29:58,100
And be blessed for it

521
00:29:58,100 --> 00:30:00,100
I ask this special friend this morning

522
00:30:00,100 --> 00:30:02,100
For those who are sick

523
00:30:02,100 --> 00:30:04,100
For those who are getting sick

524
00:30:04,100 --> 00:30:06,100
For those who are unwell in the time where that's very common

525
00:30:06,100 --> 00:30:08,100
I just ask for your blessing upon my family

526
00:30:08,100 --> 00:30:10,100
And my church family in this room

527
00:30:10,100 --> 00:30:20,100
And my church family in this room

528
00:30:40,100 --> 00:30:42,100
Thank you Lord

529
00:31:10,100 --> 00:31:12,100
Thank you

530
00:31:40,100 --> 00:31:42,100
Thank you

531
00:32:10,100 --> 00:32:12,100
Thank you

532
00:32:40,100 --> 00:32:42,100
The sun has come

533
00:32:42,100 --> 00:32:44,100
The heaven looked away

534
00:32:44,100 --> 00:32:46,100
The sun has galvanized

535
00:32:46,100 --> 00:32:48,100
In the garden tree

536
00:32:48,100 --> 00:32:50,100
The bathroom in the grave

537
00:32:50,100 --> 00:32:52,100
The warm under the tree

538
00:32:52,100 --> 00:32:54,100
The power of hell forever broken

539
00:32:54,100 --> 00:32:56,100
The ground began to shake

540
00:32:56,100 --> 00:32:58,100
The stone installed

541
00:32:58,100 --> 00:33:00,100
The ground began to shake

542
00:33:00,100 --> 00:33:02,100
The stone installed

543
00:33:02,100 --> 00:33:04,100
The ground began to shake

544
00:33:04,100 --> 00:33:06,100
The ground began to shake

545
00:33:06,100 --> 00:33:08,100
The ground began to shake

546
00:33:08,100 --> 00:33:10,100
The ground began to shake

547
00:33:12,100 --> 00:33:14,100
The stone has rolled away

548
00:33:16,100 --> 00:33:18,100
It's perfect

549
00:34:14,100 --> 00:34:21,100
And the rest of me has been in love with you, yeah

550
00:34:21,100 --> 00:34:28,100
Our memories, is all that's left

551
00:34:28,100 --> 00:34:34,100
Our memories, is where you are

552
00:34:34,100 --> 00:34:43,100
Our memories, is where you feel the love

553
00:34:43,100 --> 00:34:48,100
Feel the love

554
00:35:02,100 --> 00:35:05,100
We sing hallelujah

555
00:35:05,100 --> 00:35:08,100
We sing hallelujah

556
00:35:08,100 --> 00:35:11,100
We sing hallelujah

557
00:35:11,100 --> 00:35:14,100
The reaches over town

558
00:35:14,100 --> 00:35:17,100
We sing hallelujah

559
00:35:17,100 --> 00:35:20,100
We sing hallelujah

560
00:35:20,100 --> 00:35:23,100
We sing hallelujah

561
00:35:24,100 --> 00:35:27,100
The reaches over town

562
00:35:27,100 --> 00:35:30,100
We sing hallelujah

563
00:35:30,100 --> 00:35:33,100
We sing hallelujah

564
00:35:34,100 --> 00:35:37,100
We sing ha- Avec- Ell

565
00:35:37,100 --> 00:35:44,300
The Lamb has overcome, we sing hallelujah

566
00:35:44,300 --> 00:35:52,300
We sing hallelujah, we sing hallelujah

567
00:35:52,300 --> 00:36:00,300
The ground we end to shake, the star will fall away

568
00:36:00,300 --> 00:36:06,300
Your perfect good will come to me, oh, oh

569
00:36:06,300 --> 00:36:12,300
Now that we're in the upstate, our resurrection day

570
00:36:12,300 --> 00:36:18,300
Has come to an end

571
00:36:18,300 --> 00:36:24,300
For your glory is glorified

572
00:36:24,300 --> 00:36:30,300
For your glory is blessed

573
00:36:30,300 --> 00:36:38,300
For your glory is blessed, blessed

574
00:36:38,300 --> 00:36:44,300
Blessed

575
00:36:44,300 --> 00:36:56,300
Blessed

576
00:36:56,300 --> 00:37:04,300
There's a lot of my soul, oh, oh, my soul

577
00:37:04,300 --> 00:37:10,300
She can't go on with me

578
00:37:10,300 --> 00:37:14,300
She might never be born

579
00:37:14,300 --> 00:37:20,300
Oh, my soul, how much I live for

580
00:37:20,300 --> 00:37:26,300
Oh, my soul, how much I live for

581
00:37:26,300 --> 00:37:34,300
Sometimes I'm hit through the day, darling

582
00:37:34,300 --> 00:37:40,300
It's hard to sing this song again

583
00:37:40,300 --> 00:37:48,300
Whatever may pass and whatever might be boring

584
00:37:48,300 --> 00:37:58,300
Let me be singing when the evening comes

585
00:37:58,300 --> 00:38:06,300
There's a lot of my soul, oh, oh, my soul

586
00:38:06,300 --> 00:38:12,300
She can't go on with me

587
00:38:12,300 --> 00:38:16,300
She might never be born

588
00:38:16,300 --> 00:38:28,300
Oh, my soul, how much I live for

589
00:38:28,300 --> 00:38:32,300
You're reaching out for my heart

590
00:38:32,300 --> 00:38:40,300
From that day when my strength is failing

591
00:38:40,300 --> 00:38:46,300
The end of year and my time has come

592
00:38:46,300 --> 00:38:54,300
Still my soul will see no bridge unending

593
00:38:54,300 --> 00:39:04,300
Ten thousand years have lived forever alone

594
00:39:04,300 --> 00:39:12,300
There's a lot of my soul, oh, oh, my soul

595
00:39:12,300 --> 00:39:16,300
She can't go on with me

596
00:39:16,300 --> 00:39:20,300
She might never be born

597
00:39:20,300 --> 00:39:30,300
Oh, my soul, how much I live for

598
00:39:30,300 --> 00:39:36,300
Oh, my soul, oh, oh, my soul

599
00:39:36,300 --> 00:39:42,300
She can't go on with me

600
00:39:42,300 --> 00:39:46,300
She might never be born

601
00:39:46,300 --> 00:39:54,300
Oh, my soul, how much I live for

602
00:39:54,300 --> 00:40:00,300
Sometimes when I look at my Bible, I like to take it from another point of view.

603
00:40:00,300 --> 00:40:06,300
I realize that in the world there are those who study this word, this written historical book,

604
00:40:06,300 --> 00:40:12,300
and they decipher it with a purpose in mind other than which it was initially intended.

605
00:40:12,300 --> 00:40:19,300
Arden is taking an ethics class at school, and he and I have gotten into some interesting discussions

606
00:40:19,300 --> 00:40:26,300
surrounding the material that he is studying, and there is a definite truth that God is the originator

607
00:40:26,300 --> 00:40:32,300
of all things moral and ethical. He is holy, just, He is love, He is righteous,

608
00:40:32,300 --> 00:40:40,300
and wrote this book with those intent. However, it is also true that many men will read this book

609
00:40:40,300 --> 00:40:44,300
to gain knowledge from it. I always use this illustration. It cracks me up.

610
00:40:44,300 --> 00:40:51,300
Back in the late 90s, early 2000s, a man named L. Ron Hubbard wrote a book called Dianetics,

611
00:40:51,300 --> 00:40:57,300
and he based that entire book, which is a pretty stinking thick book, a self-help book on how to get control of your life

612
00:40:57,300 --> 00:41:03,300
and how to live vibrantly and how to be happy. And he wrote it all based on one proverb.

613
00:41:03,300 --> 00:41:06,300
Now, he didn't tell anybody that he based it on a proverb from the Old Testament,

614
00:41:06,300 --> 00:41:11,300
but he wrote it all based on one proverb, and it made the New York Times bestsellers list.

615
00:41:11,300 --> 00:41:16,300
And L. Ron Hubbard was not professing Christianity at the time. I don't know if he became one or not.

616
00:41:16,300 --> 00:41:20,300
The bottom line is, people look at, you tend to look at this book from their own perspective,

617
00:41:20,300 --> 00:41:24,300
and when you're searching and you don't know God, you have not met God through his son, Jesus Christ,

618
00:41:24,300 --> 00:41:29,300
you'll find lots of wisdom in here. And so today, we're going to take it from a slightly different point of view.

619
00:41:29,300 --> 00:41:34,300
We're going to look at the book of, in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we will read the entire chapter,

620
00:41:34,300 --> 00:41:38,300
but don't panic, it's only 13 verses. It's not, like, it's a super long thing.

621
00:41:38,300 --> 00:41:43,300
But we'll use a couple of other supporting verses before we're through.

622
00:41:43,300 --> 00:41:48,300
And we're going to look at it from the point of view of how to take advantage of someone who loves you.

623
00:41:48,300 --> 00:41:54,300
All right? And so this chapter will give you everything you need to know on how to take advantage of someone who loves you.

624
00:41:54,300 --> 00:42:01,300
So maybe get a little excited, say a hoot, holler, amen, or a uh-huh, as we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

625
00:42:01,300 --> 00:42:05,300
Not a single uh-huh in the house. I gave you that opportunity. Okay.

626
00:42:05,300 --> 00:42:09,300
I knew you were, I knew you were, brother. All right. 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

627
00:42:09,300 --> 00:42:13,300
I will read it, I will break it down. We won't spend a ton of time in the actual text,

628
00:42:13,300 --> 00:42:18,300
but you're going to, it's not hard to understand, really, especially if you know Jesus.

629
00:42:18,300 --> 00:42:21,300
If you don't, you may find some of the twists and turns a little complicated,

630
00:42:21,300 --> 00:42:24,300
and I'll try to break those down the best I can as well.

631
00:42:24,300 --> 00:42:32,300
Verse 1, if I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

632
00:42:32,300 --> 00:42:38,300
And so the tongue of angels might be the gift of tongues, or it might be the way angels speak.

633
00:42:38,300 --> 00:42:45,300
Don't worry about it too much. But the bottom line is, if you talk like that, but you do not have love,

634
00:42:45,300 --> 00:42:49,300
what you say will be worthless. It's just big and loud, and you may correct me,

635
00:42:49,300 --> 00:42:53,300
it was like when I mentioned the inspirational moment, teaching people to be honest who do not know the Lord.

636
00:42:53,300 --> 00:42:56,300
That's just being like a clanging cymbal.

637
00:42:56,300 --> 00:43:00,300
You're teaching them to do something that they really cannot do on their own.

638
00:43:00,300 --> 00:43:04,300
Maybe they can for a while, but not necessarily lasting.

639
00:43:04,300 --> 00:43:09,300
Verse 2, and if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge,

640
00:43:09,300 --> 00:43:15,300
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

641
00:43:15,300 --> 00:43:19,300
Pretty good stuff in there. I want to know a lot. I like to study, learn.

642
00:43:19,300 --> 00:43:22,300
In fact, I can't study and learn as much as I would like to.

643
00:43:22,300 --> 00:43:27,300
I would like to have the gift of prophecy. Sometimes I feel it. Maybe I do have dreams,

644
00:43:27,300 --> 00:43:30,300
and then those dreams will later come true. I write the dreams in my dream journal,

645
00:43:30,300 --> 00:43:34,300
so I know I didn't make it up or imagine it, and I'll dream something,

646
00:43:34,300 --> 00:43:38,300
and then I'll put it in my dream journal, and then a few months later it will happen just as it was in my dream journal.

647
00:43:38,300 --> 00:43:42,300
And I'll go, oh yeah, that was there. And if I had only known, I could have done something about it.

648
00:43:42,300 --> 00:43:45,300
Occasionally I'll be sitting there and go, oh this is the day of my book. We were here right there before.

649
00:43:45,300 --> 00:43:50,300
And I'll be able to predict the next thing that's going to happen, because I dreamt it previously.

650
00:43:50,300 --> 00:43:54,300
And most of the time I'm right. So sometimes I think I have the gift of prophecy, but I don't know for sure.

651
00:43:54,300 --> 00:43:59,300
But boy, it would be nice to have the gift of prophecy, for sure, and to know all mysteries and all knowledge.

652
00:43:59,300 --> 00:44:06,300
But even if you do all of that, and hold on, and if I have all faith, right?

653
00:44:06,300 --> 00:44:11,300
So I trust God. I believe in God. If you're a believer, then it's because you have faith.

654
00:44:11,300 --> 00:44:16,300
But then this is a deeper gift of faith. It's something that you can work with, act on.

655
00:44:16,300 --> 00:44:22,300
It's all faith, he says. So much faith so as to remove mountains.

656
00:44:22,300 --> 00:44:25,300
But if I don't have love, I am nothing.

657
00:44:25,300 --> 00:44:30,300
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, there's self-denial for you.

658
00:44:30,300 --> 00:44:35,300
And if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

659
00:44:35,300 --> 00:44:40,300
So it doesn't matter if you go to the stake in our burn for Christ, or give all that you have in this world to do good works.

660
00:44:40,300 --> 00:44:44,300
If you don't have love, it profits me nothing. And here we go.

661
00:44:44,300 --> 00:44:47,300
Now we're going to get the definition of love. And I submit to you that in here,

662
00:44:47,300 --> 00:44:53,300
and I'll try to break it down a little bit as we go by, and then I'll come back in the points and make it maybe more precise.

663
00:44:53,300 --> 00:45:02,300
Verse four. Love is. So this is how people who love, love. This is what love is. Love is patient.

664
00:45:02,300 --> 00:45:08,300
So in other words, it doesn't get irate. It doesn't move too fast for whoever it's dealing with.

665
00:45:08,300 --> 00:45:13,300
It doesn't get upset when they can't move fast enough. Love is patient. Love is kind.

666
00:45:13,300 --> 00:45:19,300
I think we got that one. And is not jealous. In other words, you're not bothered by the fact that others are doing well.

667
00:45:19,300 --> 00:45:27,300
If you love them, you want them to do well, right? In fact, you parents often realize somewhere along the lines that you really want your children to be better than you did.

668
00:45:27,300 --> 00:45:32,300
And not go through what you went through and not put themselves through what you went through to get where you've gotten to.

669
00:45:32,300 --> 00:45:37,300
So if you become a parent, then hopefully if you love your child, you want better for them than what you have.

670
00:45:37,300 --> 00:45:42,300
And therefore you are not jealous when you see them doing well. So love is not jealous.

671
00:45:42,300 --> 00:45:53,300
Love is also not jealous when it sees one's spouse, for example, maybe having time separate or something that they're enjoying or whatever.

672
00:45:53,300 --> 00:46:01,300
And so rather than trying to control them, capture them, keep them close to you, love lets them free knowing that they will always return.

673
00:46:01,300 --> 00:46:09,300
And if they didn't return, well, that's a different thing altogether. Love is not jealous. Love does not brag.

674
00:46:09,300 --> 00:46:21,300
Love is not constantly talking about how good love is or how well you've done or how many things you've done or how good a worker, how good a spender, how good a saver, how creative, whatever.

675
00:46:21,300 --> 00:46:28,300
Love does not spend its time talking to others about itself. Love does not brag. And is not arrogant.

676
00:46:28,300 --> 00:46:38,300
Love doesn't think, well, see, I deserve, I have rights, I should be getting X. Love does not think, I put myself up there, I built this.

677
00:46:38,300 --> 00:46:44,300
I did this. Love is not arrogant. Love does not act unbecomingly.

678
00:46:44,300 --> 00:46:52,300
This one is very challenging because when you love someone, you kind of want from them that to be returned.

679
00:46:52,300 --> 00:46:58,300
And so you may do certain things in order to manipulate them to get you to do what you want them to do. That is not love.

680
00:46:58,300 --> 00:47:06,300
When a teenager, teenage boy, tries to talk to a teenage girl into doing something behind her parents back, that is definitely not love.

681
00:47:06,300 --> 00:47:12,300
When a teenage girl says, oh, they'll never know and tries to get him to do something, that is not love.

682
00:47:12,300 --> 00:47:17,300
They can say, I love you, but they don't love them because if they love them, they would not be acting unbecomingly.

683
00:47:17,300 --> 00:47:24,300
And there's a lot of ways you can act unbecomingly, but love does not act unbecomingly. It does not seek its own.

684
00:47:24,300 --> 00:47:35,300
So even though you can benefit maybe by loving more than anything else in the world, by loving someone and going out of the way and love like what we're talking about, you don't do it to get the benefits.

685
00:47:35,300 --> 00:47:41,300
And you don't do it to get them to favor you. You don't do it to get them to even, you really want them to do well.

686
00:47:41,300 --> 00:47:46,300
And so I'm going to do a lot of things to make them get to do well so I can feel good about myself for having made them do well.

687
00:47:46,300 --> 00:47:51,300
To parents who will cover up their children's crimes to make sure they didn't go to jail, that's not love.

688
00:47:51,300 --> 00:47:55,300
Because they are not covering up their children's crimes self-sacrificially.

689
00:47:55,300 --> 00:48:00,300
They're covering up their children's crimes so that they won't have to see their children go to jail for what they've done wrong.

690
00:48:00,300 --> 00:48:08,300
Sometimes going to jail and receiving the punishment for what you did is the just thing. And justice is often what's best for people.

691
00:48:08,300 --> 00:48:14,300
Now if you yourself are wrong, you can forgive them. That's grace. You give them grace. You forgive them and go above and beyond.

692
00:48:14,300 --> 00:48:18,300
And therefore you're not seeking your own. Right? But where the law is concerned, that's different.

693
00:48:18,300 --> 00:48:22,300
Love does not seek its own. Is not provoked.

694
00:48:22,300 --> 00:48:26,300
So if you love someone, something goes wrong, whatever it might be, you're not provoked.

695
00:48:26,300 --> 00:48:31,300
It's hard to love perfect strangers, but if you're driving down the road and someone cuts you off and you are provoked,

696
00:48:31,300 --> 00:48:37,300
understand that it's clear that you do not love that person or have not become loved because you've been provoked.

697
00:48:37,300 --> 00:48:42,300
Someone says something nasty or wrong to you, someone takes a swing at you, right?

698
00:48:42,300 --> 00:48:47,300
And now your anger is up and you have to come back at them with whatever you've got.

699
00:48:47,300 --> 00:48:52,300
Realize you don't love them the way the Bible describes love. Love is not provoked.

700
00:48:52,300 --> 00:48:57,300
Love does not take into account a wrong suffered. This one's really hard.

701
00:48:57,300 --> 00:49:02,300
We always talk about forgiving everybody, right? But we say I forgive but I don't forget.

702
00:49:02,300 --> 00:49:06,300
But according to this, love forgets. Love literally forgets.

703
00:49:06,300 --> 00:49:14,300
Like as in, oh you did this wrong to me a year ago, but I am not going to weigh that in my decision making process at all.

704
00:49:14,300 --> 00:49:18,300
I don't take that into account. That's what it means. It does not take into account a wrong suffered.

705
00:49:18,300 --> 00:49:23,300
You wronged me, but I'm not going to take that into account when I deal with you in the future.

706
00:49:23,300 --> 00:49:28,300
Love essentially forgets or does not take into account a wrong suffered.

707
00:49:28,300 --> 00:49:31,300
Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness.

708
00:49:31,300 --> 00:49:39,300
This one's important because we think about someone hurt me and I'm not going to take that into account in my future decision making, right?

709
00:49:39,300 --> 00:49:46,300
But at the same time, I am not going to allow them to continue in unrighteousness.

710
00:49:46,300 --> 00:49:49,300
So I'm not going to allow them to continue to hurt me, right?

711
00:49:49,300 --> 00:49:55,300
So I'm not taking into account the wrong that they wronged me, but I'm also not going to put myself in a position where they're attempting to wrong me again.

712
00:49:55,300 --> 00:50:00,300
It requires a balance. Also when someone says I'm going to live a certain way, I'm going to do a certain thing,

713
00:50:00,300 --> 00:50:07,300
if love loves them and love does because that's what love is, then love will say, no, I don't want you to do that.

714
00:50:07,300 --> 00:50:10,300
I don't agree with that course of action. Not the other way around.

715
00:50:10,300 --> 00:50:16,300
The world is teaching today, which is they can do whatever they want and you have to accept it because you love them.

716
00:50:16,300 --> 00:50:20,300
Right? Love does not bear with unrighteousness.

717
00:50:20,300 --> 00:50:24,300
Love does not want to see that person in unrighteousness.

718
00:50:24,300 --> 00:50:27,300
Not excited about it for sure. People go, well, I'm so happy.

719
00:50:27,300 --> 00:50:32,300
I decided to do this and now I'm so happy. And if you love them, you're happy that they're happy. Right?

720
00:50:32,300 --> 00:50:38,300
But when you realize the reason they're happy is because of unrighteousness, then you say, no, I can't be happy for you.

721
00:50:38,300 --> 00:50:44,300
Sorry. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.

722
00:50:44,300 --> 00:50:50,300
Love rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things. What's up with everything? I'll put up with whatever.

723
00:50:50,300 --> 00:50:53,300
Believes all things. This is going to work out. God is going to take care of this.

724
00:50:53,300 --> 00:50:56,300
You're going to get somewhere better eventually. It's going to work out.

725
00:50:56,300 --> 00:51:04,300
Hopes all things. God can do this. We can get there. Don't quit. Endures all things.

726
00:51:04,300 --> 00:51:07,300
You can hit me, but I'm not going to hate you even if you hit me.

727
00:51:07,300 --> 00:51:13,300
Love never fails. But if there are gifts of prophecy, that's that thing you said we really wanted,

728
00:51:13,300 --> 00:51:17,300
but if we had it, it wouldn't, without love, it would be worthless.

729
00:51:17,300 --> 00:51:21,300
But if there are gifts of prophecy, telling the future, speaking for God, if there are those things,

730
00:51:21,300 --> 00:51:26,300
they will be done away. There's going to be a time where there's no more need for anyone to speak for God.

731
00:51:26,300 --> 00:51:33,300
If there are tongues, they will cease. Eventually, everyone's going to shut up except to say, Jesus is Lord.

732
00:51:33,300 --> 00:51:38,300
Every knee bowed and every tongue confessed that he is Lord. And then after that, praising God for an eternity.

733
00:51:38,300 --> 00:51:46,300
If there are tongues, special languages, angelic languages, foreign languages, they will all cease.

734
00:51:46,300 --> 00:51:52,300
If there is knowledge, it will be done away. See, knowledge is done away when we know everything,

735
00:51:52,300 --> 00:51:57,300
when we get there. And then he goes on to explain in verse 9, for we know in part, like right now, we get it.

736
00:51:57,300 --> 00:52:01,300
We might know. Like, listen, the most knowledgeable person about the Bible in this room, whoever that might be,

737
00:52:01,300 --> 00:52:07,300
and I'm not saying who it is, if it's me or if it's RJ or Tony Brister or we lost Tony Tate,

738
00:52:07,300 --> 00:52:12,300
but it doesn't matter who it is. But whoever that is, ultimately, their knowledge is not enough.

739
00:52:12,300 --> 00:52:16,300
They don't have enough knowledge. They don't know it. They can't even tell you.

740
00:52:16,300 --> 00:52:20,300
Like, my guess is you could go, okay, what book is before and name the book, and they would have to go,

741
00:52:20,300 --> 00:52:26,300
it's, unless it was one that's really common, right? Right away, can anybody go, what's the book before Obadiah?

742
00:52:26,300 --> 00:52:30,300
Right now, can you do that? Can you tell me what the book of Obadiah is about?

743
00:52:30,300 --> 00:52:33,300
How about just the first chapter of Obadiah? Can you do that?

744
00:52:33,300 --> 00:52:37,300
See, our knowledge is limited, and it always will be. No matter how much we study or how far we go,

745
00:52:37,300 --> 00:52:42,300
that knowledge is always going to be limited. We know in part, and we prophecy in part.

746
00:52:42,300 --> 00:52:46,300
Even if you have the gift of prophecy and can tell the future, you're only going to be able to do somewhat, right?

747
00:52:46,300 --> 00:52:50,300
We have prophecies about the next coming of Jesus, and we only sort of understand them

748
00:52:50,300 --> 00:52:53,300
because they weren't totally complete or laid out.

749
00:52:53,300 --> 00:52:58,300
We can say, in 2041, Jesus will return, and this is exactly how it will be,

750
00:52:58,300 --> 00:53:01,300
and what the day will be like, and what color people will be wearing,

751
00:53:01,300 --> 00:53:05,300
and the history and predictions that will be in place at that time.

752
00:53:05,300 --> 00:53:10,300
It's not complete, right? Because prophecy is limited in what it can do.

753
00:53:10,300 --> 00:53:15,300
We know in part, and we prophecy in part. But when the perfect comes, that means the complete,

754
00:53:15,300 --> 00:53:21,300
the partial will be done away. So in other words, you no longer need partial knowledge or partial prophecy

755
00:53:21,300 --> 00:53:26,300
because you're going to have total understanding of what God is doing when that time comes.

756
00:53:26,300 --> 00:53:31,300
When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child.

757
00:53:31,300 --> 00:53:37,300
When I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly,

758
00:53:37,300 --> 00:53:42,300
but then face to face, now I know in part. I was thinking about this within,

759
00:53:42,300 --> 00:53:48,300
I read a little excerpt a Southern Baptist pastor wrote about going to the revival

760
00:53:48,300 --> 00:53:52,300
that was going on at Asbury College in Willmore, Kentucky, right?

761
00:53:52,300 --> 00:53:56,300
He said, my wife and I, he said, when Star Wars came out, we stood in line for three hours

762
00:53:56,300 --> 00:54:01,300
to buy tickets and an hour to get seated. So we thought, you know, if there's a revival

763
00:54:01,300 --> 00:54:05,300
or something amazing happens, it's worth the effort. So they drove eight hours to go to Willmore,

764
00:54:05,300 --> 00:54:09,300
Kentucky to go to get into revival. And he said, when they got there, they stood in line for five hours,

765
00:54:09,300 --> 00:54:13,300
and they finally got in and they were able to worship for three hours as part of the service.

766
00:54:13,300 --> 00:54:18,300
And one of the things that he said was there was a lot of things that seemed underdeveloped.

767
00:54:18,300 --> 00:54:24,300
Like a person did a devotional and the devotional was kind of not really theologically strong.

768
00:54:24,300 --> 00:54:30,300
It didn't really, it wasn't covered by the Bible. The points that the guy was making wasn't quite right.

769
00:54:30,300 --> 00:54:34,300
Okay. And then he said, a speaker got up and spoke and they were just very blunt and direct.

770
00:54:34,300 --> 00:54:38,300
And they asked people to confess openly their sins and to turn to God and so on.

771
00:54:38,300 --> 00:54:42,300
And he said, that was pretty sound, but it didn't use a lot of Bible.

772
00:54:42,300 --> 00:54:46,300
So what I'm getting at is even as young Christians or as growing Christians,

773
00:54:46,300 --> 00:54:49,300
we're always going to kind of get part of it. Right?

774
00:54:49,300 --> 00:54:53,300
I'll tell you right now that things that I learned when I was five years a Christian,

775
00:54:53,300 --> 00:54:59,300
some of them have like become so rich and powerful for me that I literally do them every single day

776
00:54:59,300 --> 00:55:04,300
or I want to do them, I'm always thinking about them. And others of them I go, you know, that wasn't quite right.

777
00:55:04,300 --> 00:55:08,300
And I kind of let it fade. I didn't quite have the right idea there. Right?

778
00:55:08,300 --> 00:55:15,300
And so we're like little kids growing up into the faith and we get, we want prophecy

779
00:55:15,300 --> 00:55:18,300
and we want the faith to move mountains and all that.

780
00:55:18,300 --> 00:55:22,300
But it's all going to kind of be done away with when we get there and it's all done.

781
00:55:22,300 --> 00:55:25,300
And you're going to look back and go, I was my best understanding at that time.

782
00:55:25,300 --> 00:55:28,300
Man, I was really driving hard on what God wanted me to do based on my best understanding.

783
00:55:28,300 --> 00:55:32,300
But now I get here and I face the face of God and I realize that was all trivial.

784
00:55:32,300 --> 00:55:36,300
Hear me now. If you have any kind of thing about worship,

785
00:55:36,300 --> 00:55:39,300
you're like, I want to sing as loud as I can because God deserves glory.

786
00:55:39,300 --> 00:55:44,300
Or I don't want to sing because I don't think that people will want to hear my voice.

787
00:55:44,300 --> 00:55:46,300
You know, I'm not really a singer. That's not my thing.

788
00:55:46,300 --> 00:55:53,300
Or anything in between. Your thoughts about worship are infantile as a baby.

789
00:55:53,300 --> 00:55:56,300
Right? Because we're going to get there in the presence of God

790
00:55:56,300 --> 00:55:59,300
and such an overpowering awe is going to strike you

791
00:55:59,300 --> 00:56:03,300
that you're going to become the best worshiper being you could ever be.

792
00:56:03,300 --> 00:56:07,300
And you're going to put all this hope of being a good worshiper, all this pushing yourself

793
00:56:07,300 --> 00:56:10,300
or trying to discipline yourself or trying to sing when you don't really feel like it or whatever.

794
00:56:10,300 --> 00:56:15,300
All of that is going to be behind you because you're going to encounter Holy God with such a sense of awe

795
00:56:15,300 --> 00:56:19,300
that all you can do is declare His work and when you're worshipping, that's it.

796
00:56:19,300 --> 00:56:23,300
And so when you squeak out the feeble when I was a young Christian, I thought,

797
00:56:23,300 --> 00:56:25,300
man, nobody wants to hear me sing and I used to sit away from everybody else

798
00:56:25,300 --> 00:56:28,300
because I didn't want to sit by anybody else because I knew my voice wasn't,

799
00:56:28,300 --> 00:56:32,300
didn't sound good and I didn't want to throw them off and whatever.

800
00:56:32,300 --> 00:56:34,300
That was infantile. That was me as an infant.

801
00:56:34,300 --> 00:56:39,300
And now I'm like, I don't think my voice sounds good, but I just belt it out there

802
00:56:39,300 --> 00:56:42,300
and I realize who God is and He deserves that and a thousand times more.

803
00:56:42,300 --> 00:56:51,300
And the development that I've done now in those 25 years, 27 years is minimal.

804
00:56:51,300 --> 00:56:54,300
It's nothing compared to the instant change that's going to take place

805
00:56:54,300 --> 00:56:57,300
when I come into His presence and know it all for what it is.

806
00:56:57,300 --> 00:57:00,300
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

807
00:57:00,300 --> 00:57:05,300
Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, just as I also have been fully known.

808
00:57:05,300 --> 00:57:13,300
Last verse, but now abide, that means remain, continue, faith, hope, and love.

809
00:57:13,300 --> 00:57:19,300
These three, but the greatest of these is love.

810
00:57:19,300 --> 00:57:21,300
Okay, so there's a few things I want you to see in here

811
00:57:21,300 --> 00:57:25,300
and in the middle part of it is how to take advantage of someone who loves you.

812
00:57:25,300 --> 00:57:30,300
The first thing I want you to see in here is that this passage, often read at weddings, right?

813
00:57:30,300 --> 00:57:33,300
Like a lot of times they'll read this passage at weddings because if you're getting married,

814
00:57:33,300 --> 00:57:36,300
you're supposed to love your spouse this way.

815
00:57:36,300 --> 00:57:39,300
Some Bible scholar in the room might know that in the Koinei Greek

816
00:57:39,300 --> 00:57:41,300
there are essentially three words for love.

817
00:57:41,300 --> 00:57:45,300
There's agapao or agape love, it's a kind of love.

818
00:57:45,300 --> 00:57:52,300
Agape is an adjective describing it and agapao is to love that way, I love that way.

819
00:57:52,300 --> 00:57:55,300
And then there's Philadelphia, that's what the city of Philadelphia is named after.

820
00:57:55,300 --> 00:58:00,300
It means brotherly love, like he and I are, you know, he's my brother and I love him and that kind of thing.

821
00:58:00,300 --> 00:58:03,300
And then there's eros love, which never occurs in the Bible.

822
00:58:03,300 --> 00:58:09,300
Eros love is passion love. I love her, she's hot. I love him, he's handsome.

823
00:58:09,300 --> 00:58:12,300
I want to be with him, I'm driven in my flesh to be with him.

824
00:58:12,300 --> 00:58:16,300
Right, that's eros love. It's in a lot of literature, but it's never in the Bible.

825
00:58:16,300 --> 00:58:19,300
The two that are is Philadelphia and agape.

826
00:58:19,300 --> 00:58:24,300
The difference is brotherly love is we love each other because we're brothers or sisters

827
00:58:24,300 --> 00:58:26,300
or we're both Christians, right?

828
00:58:26,300 --> 00:58:30,300
And we love each other because we love God and so we share love with each other as part of the family.

829
00:58:30,300 --> 00:58:35,300
Like I love my brother Tom, we disagree about a lot of things, but I love him because he's my brother

830
00:58:35,300 --> 00:58:37,300
and it's brotherly love.

831
00:58:37,300 --> 00:58:42,300
But agape love is this love. Every time that love appears in this passage, it's like this.

832
00:58:42,300 --> 00:58:45,300
And so at weddings a lot of times they'll read this and they'll say,

833
00:58:45,300 --> 00:58:48,300
you got to have this kind of love in your marriage.

834
00:58:48,300 --> 00:58:52,300
Now I want you to stop and think for a minute. Let's be just a little critical, shall we?

835
00:58:52,300 --> 00:58:55,300
How often does this kind of love appear in marriage?

836
00:58:55,300 --> 00:58:57,300
Well, that's problematic.

837
00:58:57,300 --> 00:59:02,300
And so what people want to say is this is excellent love.

838
00:59:02,300 --> 00:59:04,300
This is the best kind of love.

839
00:59:04,300 --> 00:59:09,300
And I'm here to tell you today this is not excellent love.

840
00:59:09,300 --> 00:59:13,300
It's not. It's the only love. It's love.

841
00:59:13,300 --> 00:59:16,300
It says love is this, love is this, love is this.

842
00:59:16,300 --> 00:59:19,300
It does not say excellent love is this.

843
00:59:19,300 --> 00:59:22,300
Well worked love, practiced love, try hard love.

844
00:59:22,300 --> 00:59:26,300
The King James says the word charity instead of love here and in other places

845
00:59:26,300 --> 00:59:28,300
in the same word it'll translate it love.

846
00:59:28,300 --> 00:59:31,300
Because when someone was reading this passage of scripture they wanted to say,

847
00:59:31,300 --> 00:59:35,300
love, practice, as if you might have love and not practice it, right?

848
00:59:35,300 --> 00:59:38,300
But based on what we just read, can you have love and not practice it?

849
00:59:38,300 --> 00:59:39,300
No, the answer is no.

850
00:59:39,300 --> 00:59:45,300
Can you despise someone and at the same time love them?

851
00:59:45,300 --> 00:59:49,300
The answer is no. Love is love. That's it.

852
00:59:49,300 --> 00:59:52,300
There's no excellent love. I love you excellently.

853
00:59:52,300 --> 00:59:54,300
I'm doing a good job of loving you. I'm doing a poor job of loving you.

854
00:59:54,300 --> 00:59:56,300
You love or you don't.

855
00:59:56,300 --> 01:00:00,300
And if you don't love then you might look at this and go,

856
01:00:00,300 --> 01:00:03,300
well I'm not patient with the person I say I love.

857
01:00:03,300 --> 01:00:10,300
If you are not patient with the person you say you love, you don't love them.

858
01:00:10,300 --> 01:00:12,300
I'm not saying it.

859
01:00:12,300 --> 01:00:15,300
Paul said it as led by the Holy Spirit.

860
01:00:15,300 --> 01:00:18,300
Love is patience. Love is time.

861
01:00:18,300 --> 01:00:23,300
Are you patient and kind with the person you say you love?

862
01:00:23,300 --> 01:00:27,300
This is not excellent love. It's just love.

863
01:00:27,300 --> 01:00:29,300
This is what love is.

864
01:00:29,300 --> 01:00:32,300
Now immediately think, well, yeah, it's really hard for me to do.

865
01:00:32,300 --> 01:00:35,300
I submit to you it's entirely possible, I'm being a little philosophical here,

866
01:00:35,300 --> 01:00:39,300
but it's entirely possible that unless you've encountered the Jesus that I know,

867
01:00:39,300 --> 01:00:41,300
you cannot love this way.

868
01:00:41,300 --> 01:00:45,300
In fact, unless you have encountered the Jesus that I know,

869
01:00:45,300 --> 01:00:50,300
your love will be temporal and this says love abides, it continues.

870
01:00:50,300 --> 01:00:53,300
And so at the moment you die, unless you become a Christian,

871
01:00:53,300 --> 01:00:58,300
the moment you die you will cease to love anyone that you love,

872
01:00:58,300 --> 01:01:01,300
even if you were loving them by the standard because you will go to hell for an eternity

873
01:01:01,300 --> 01:01:05,300
wherein love does not exist.

874
01:01:05,300 --> 01:01:09,300
Let's assume for a moment that you're going, yeah, love, I see.

875
01:01:09,300 --> 01:01:11,300
If you just ascend to this point with me.

876
01:01:11,300 --> 01:01:14,300
This is what the Bible says love is.

877
01:01:14,300 --> 01:01:17,300
You can do that. It's not this is an excellent kind of love.

878
01:01:17,300 --> 01:01:20,300
This is a good kind of love. This is a kind of love to work for.

879
01:01:20,300 --> 01:01:22,300
This is what the Bible says love is.

880
01:01:22,300 --> 01:01:27,300
You can read it for yourself. Love is. That's what it says.

881
01:01:27,300 --> 01:01:33,300
So then based on that, you can very clearly see how you can take advantage of someone who loves you.

882
01:01:33,300 --> 01:01:35,300
And essentially there's like three ways.

883
01:01:35,300 --> 01:01:39,300
The first way would be to presume.

884
01:01:39,300 --> 01:01:43,300
Well, they love me and so since they love me, they're going to be patient with me.

885
01:01:43,300 --> 01:01:45,300
They're going to be kind to me.

886
01:01:45,300 --> 01:01:48,300
They're not going to be jealous.

887
01:01:48,300 --> 01:01:50,300
All of these things.

888
01:01:50,300 --> 01:01:55,300
And so I can do whatever I want to do because they will bear with all things.

889
01:01:55,300 --> 01:01:58,300
I can do what I want to do even though it hurts them.

890
01:01:58,300 --> 01:02:01,300
They're going to accept it because they love me.

891
01:02:01,300 --> 01:02:04,300
I will do this. It's going to bother them a little bit.

892
01:02:04,300 --> 01:02:09,300
And it'll bother them for as long as I do it, but I'll do it as long as I want because they will endure it.

893
01:02:09,300 --> 01:02:15,300
See, so now this love, if someone truly loves you the way the Bible says,

894
01:02:15,300 --> 01:02:22,300
gives you license then to do whatever you want to do and still receive that love.

895
01:02:22,300 --> 01:02:25,300
You can presume they will love you that way.

896
01:02:25,300 --> 01:02:30,300
In fact, I submit to you that if they love you this way, you would be absolutely correct.

897
01:02:30,300 --> 01:02:36,300
You can presume to do whatever it is that will bother them, hurt them, make them sad, break their heart even.

898
01:02:36,300 --> 01:02:39,300
You can do all of those things, minor irritations all the way up.

899
01:02:39,300 --> 01:02:43,300
You're blowing your top, being stupid, taking their stuff, hurting them physically, whatever.

900
01:02:43,300 --> 01:02:48,300
And they will continue to love you because love is these things.

901
01:02:48,300 --> 01:02:52,300
And once they are practicing it, they're not going to stop practicing it just because you're stupid.

902
01:02:52,300 --> 01:02:54,300
So you can presume that they will continue.

903
01:02:54,300 --> 01:02:59,300
And in presuming that they will continue to love you, you can take great advantage over them

904
01:02:59,300 --> 01:03:01,300
because you can go, well, I'm going to do it.

905
01:03:01,300 --> 01:03:04,300
Yeah, I know it'll bother them. I know their heart may break.

906
01:03:04,300 --> 01:03:08,300
I know that, hi, Sierra, they may be struggling, whatever.

907
01:03:08,300 --> 01:03:15,300
But even so, I am going to presume it's going to be okay.

908
01:03:15,300 --> 01:03:18,300
I'm going to presume that this person is not going to walk away from me.

909
01:03:18,300 --> 01:03:20,300
I'm going to presume they're not going to blow their top.

910
01:03:20,300 --> 01:03:23,300
I'm going to presume they're not going to hurt me physically, psychologically, emotionally, et cetera.

911
01:03:23,300 --> 01:03:25,300
I'm going to presume.

912
01:03:25,300 --> 01:03:33,300
So you can take advantage of them by presuming how they're going to behave because they love you.

913
01:03:33,300 --> 01:03:37,300
Secondly, you can be repetitious.

914
01:03:37,300 --> 01:03:45,300
You can repeat bad behavior, bad behavior, and they forgive you, bad behavior, and they forgive you, bad behavior, and they forgive you.

915
01:03:45,300 --> 01:03:51,300
They may say something because they don't rejoice in unrighteousness, but they will not say, well, okay,

916
01:03:51,300 --> 01:03:53,300
now you're doing what you shouldn't be doing.

917
01:03:53,300 --> 01:03:55,300
And I don't agree with that.

918
01:03:55,300 --> 01:04:00,300
I don't love it that that's happening that way, but I still love you so you can do it as you want.

919
01:04:00,300 --> 01:04:05,300
Repetition in the same areas because now you know this is a beaten path.

920
01:04:05,300 --> 01:04:06,300
We've been down.

921
01:04:06,300 --> 01:04:07,300
I know that they will be.

922
01:04:07,300 --> 01:04:08,300
They'll bear with me.

923
01:04:08,300 --> 01:04:13,300
I know that they'll still believe I had a young man that I was trying to help.

924
01:04:13,300 --> 01:04:18,300
I cannot tell you how many times told me in fact he told me it was a hundred days sober.

925
01:04:18,300 --> 01:04:21,300
And then about a month later told me it was already sober.

926
01:04:21,300 --> 01:04:23,300
I'm a hundred days sober today.

927
01:04:23,300 --> 01:04:29,300
Why? Because when the first time he told me it was a hundred days sober, he was drinking and he forgot that he had told me it was a hundred days sober.

928
01:04:29,300 --> 01:04:30,300
So then he told me it was a hundred days sober.

929
01:04:30,300 --> 01:04:32,300
I said, you just told me a month ago that it was a hundred days sober.

930
01:04:32,300 --> 01:04:33,300
Oh, yeah.

931
01:04:33,300 --> 01:04:36,300
And he played it off as I had discounted or whatever like that.

932
01:04:36,300 --> 01:04:43,300
But a number of times it came up and I'm trying to be critical, but I'm just going to be simple about it if I can for a moment.

933
01:04:43,300 --> 01:04:50,300
And that is that it's quite often that alcoholics use stages and they'll say, I know you love me.

934
01:04:50,300 --> 01:04:51,300
I can see that.

935
01:04:51,300 --> 01:04:53,300
And I want to make you happy.

936
01:04:53,300 --> 01:05:01,300
I want to tell you what you want to hear so that I so that you feel happy even though it's not true.

937
01:05:01,300 --> 01:05:06,300
And then you rejoice to hear what they've done.

938
01:05:06,300 --> 01:05:11,300
And they've essentially tricked you in rejoicing in unrighteousness because you're rejoicing in what they've done, but it's actually a lie.

939
01:05:11,300 --> 01:05:13,300
Later you find out. And what do you do?

940
01:05:13,300 --> 01:05:16,300
You forgive them and love them because that's what love does if you're actually loving.

941
01:05:16,300 --> 01:05:30,300
But the bottom line is you can see based on this that either by presuming what they're going to do in advance, which you license to do whatever you want to do, or by repetition, you can easily take advantage of someone who loves you.

942
01:05:30,300 --> 01:05:33,300
Can easily take advantage of someone who loves you.

943
01:05:33,300 --> 01:05:36,300
And then the third thing is more overreaching.

944
01:05:36,300 --> 01:05:37,300
And it is this.

945
01:05:37,300 --> 01:05:39,300
You can choose.

946
01:05:39,300 --> 01:05:43,300
The best way to take advantage of them would be to choose not to love them back.

947
01:05:43,300 --> 01:05:53,300
And as long as you choose not to love them back in the biblical sense of love, what we're talking about love, to honestly, earnestly love, simple love, real love, what God says is love.

948
01:05:53,300 --> 01:05:58,300
As long as you choose not to do the things that they are doing, you will always have the upper hand.

949
01:05:58,300 --> 01:06:02,300
Because when they do something you don't like, you can make them beg for forgiveness.

950
01:06:02,300 --> 01:06:04,300
You can make them ask you.

951
01:06:04,300 --> 01:06:06,300
You can make them commit.

952
01:06:06,300 --> 01:06:07,300
You can make them have a track record.

953
01:06:07,300 --> 01:06:09,300
You can make them pay reparations.

954
01:06:09,300 --> 01:06:15,300
Whatever. You can hold it against them while in turn they love you and are not doing the same things.

955
01:06:15,300 --> 01:06:20,300
You will always have an advantage because you can choose not to love them back.

956
01:06:20,300 --> 01:06:27,300
And I submit to you based on what I said initially, it's possible you may not be able to choose to love them if you have not met Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

957
01:06:27,300 --> 01:06:31,300
Bottom line is this is not a version of excellent love.

958
01:06:31,300 --> 01:06:34,300
This is a version of what God says love is.

959
01:06:34,300 --> 01:06:35,300
The only one.

960
01:06:35,300 --> 01:06:37,300
It is what God says love is.

961
01:06:37,300 --> 01:06:44,300
And secondly, you can see how out of this you can easily take advantage of someone who loves you either by presuming what they will do in advance.

962
01:06:44,300 --> 01:06:46,300
I've played a lot of chess over the years.

963
01:06:46,300 --> 01:06:49,300
If you know what the next person is going to do, their mood next, what you're thinking.

964
01:06:49,300 --> 01:06:51,300
Some people are a little transparent.

965
01:06:51,300 --> 01:06:53,300
You know for sure what they're going to do next.

966
01:06:53,300 --> 01:06:55,300
Then you can adjust your mood according to that.

967
01:06:55,300 --> 01:07:01,300
So just knowing what they're going to do, you can presume it and you can behave in a way that controls the situation.

968
01:07:01,300 --> 01:07:03,300
You've got an advantage.

969
01:07:03,300 --> 01:07:13,300
Secondly, you can repeatedly do the things that you want to do and expect them to forgive you, to behave loving towards you.

970
01:07:13,300 --> 01:07:15,300
And then third, you can just choose to not love them back.

971
01:07:15,300 --> 01:07:20,300
And in all those ways, you will have a serious advantage position.

972
01:07:20,300 --> 01:07:23,300
I think about women who are being beaten by their husband.

973
01:07:23,300 --> 01:07:27,300
They keep going back and they say, oh, well, it's just because they're dumb.

974
01:07:27,300 --> 01:07:29,300
They believe that he'll stop.

975
01:07:29,300 --> 01:07:32,300
They believe every time he says, forgive me and blah, blah, blah.

976
01:07:32,300 --> 01:07:37,300
And people say, well, it's psychological and they have an addiction or whatever like that.

977
01:07:37,300 --> 01:07:41,300
Well, it could be that they love him.

978
01:07:41,300 --> 01:07:50,300
Now, the truth is if they love him and they keep going back as he says and his promises and he does whatever to make it, to supposedly make it right, there is no making it right.

979
01:07:50,300 --> 01:08:02,300
Then the fact is they don't love him the way this says because they don't they continue to put him they continue to put him in a position to do wrong again and again.

980
01:08:02,300 --> 01:08:07,300
If they really loved him, they would give up what they want and get away so he can't beat them anymore.

981
01:08:07,300 --> 01:08:12,300
And it would be an act of love that they're walking away to bring to an end that acidic relationship.

982
01:08:12,300 --> 01:08:14,300
First thing, this is not an excellent love.

983
01:08:14,300 --> 01:08:15,300
It's just love.

984
01:08:15,300 --> 01:08:20,300
Second thing, here's how you take advantage of someone who loves you.

985
01:08:20,300 --> 01:08:23,300
Now, the third thing is the outcome.

986
01:08:23,300 --> 01:08:28,300
If you should choose to take advantage of someone who loves you in this way, let's say you say, well, I can see they love me.

987
01:08:28,300 --> 01:08:31,300
I want to behave because I know what they're going to do.

988
01:08:31,300 --> 01:08:33,300
So I'm going to do what I want to do, knowing what they're going to do.

989
01:08:33,300 --> 01:08:44,300
Or you say, I'm just going to keep repeating my bad behaviors because every time they keep forgiving me and I know they love me and they'll not walk away from me even though I'm being stupid or borderline abusive or whatever.

990
01:08:44,300 --> 01:08:53,300
Or you say, well, as much as they love me, I did not find it in myself to love them back that way, that kind of self-sacrificial love, the love that's described here.

991
01:08:53,300 --> 01:08:55,300
I'm not going to do that.

992
01:08:55,300 --> 01:09:03,300
So I'm going to take advantage of them in that way because they're going to let them continue to love me in the way that they're supposed to while I don't do it back in return for them.

993
01:09:03,300 --> 01:09:05,300
Here's the problem.

994
01:09:05,300 --> 01:09:10,300
And it's all in verse 13, essentially, and a couple of other passages that we'll look at real quick.

995
01:09:10,300 --> 01:09:12,300
It says this in verse 13.

996
01:09:12,300 --> 01:09:17,300
But now abide faith, hope and love, these three.

997
01:09:17,300 --> 01:09:20,300
But the greatest of these is love.

998
01:09:20,300 --> 01:09:24,300
You know, the Bible says this is love that a man lay down his life for his friends.

999
01:09:24,300 --> 01:09:26,300
Jesus clearly set that example.

1000
01:09:26,300 --> 01:09:35,300
Also in Mark, in the book of Mark 13, Jesus is speaking and he basically says he gives the commandments.

1001
01:09:35,300 --> 01:09:38,300
He sums it up, if you will.

1002
01:09:38,300 --> 01:09:44,300
He says love your neighbor as yourself. Same word, love.

1003
01:09:44,300 --> 01:09:52,300
In 1 John, chapter four, John writes it this way.

1004
01:09:52,300 --> 01:09:55,300
1 John, chapter four.

1005
01:09:55,300 --> 01:10:03,300
Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

1006
01:10:03,300 --> 01:10:08,300
It's so difficult to love the way the Bible says love is.

1007
01:10:08,300 --> 01:10:09,300
You say that very clearly.

1008
01:10:09,300 --> 01:10:13,300
You know why it's so difficult to love the way the Bible says love is?

1009
01:10:13,300 --> 01:10:17,300
Because outside being born again, it's impossible.

1010
01:10:17,300 --> 01:10:24,300
And so if you're walking down the road right now, the road of your life, as two people, one who is born again and one who is not,

1011
01:10:24,300 --> 01:10:31,300
if you're living a divided self, if your soul sometimes rolls like the pinball into the pit of the old self

1012
01:10:31,300 --> 01:10:35,300
and you're staying where it belongs into the light of the new self,

1013
01:10:35,300 --> 01:10:40,300
then you'll find that you'll love like your old self loves, which is not love at all.

1014
01:10:40,300 --> 01:10:45,300
Not the way the Bible describes it. Not what God says love is.

1015
01:10:45,300 --> 01:10:52,300
He says, beloved, let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

1016
01:10:52,300 --> 01:10:57,300
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1017
01:10:57,300 --> 01:11:05,300
By this, the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him.

1018
01:11:05,300 --> 01:11:12,300
And this is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1019
01:11:12,300 --> 01:11:14,300
That means he paid for our sins.

1020
01:11:14,300 --> 01:11:18,300
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

1021
01:11:18,300 --> 01:11:21,300
No one has beheld God at any time if we love one another.

1022
01:11:21,300 --> 01:11:26,300
God abides in us. That means God lives in us, remains in us, and his love is perfected in us.

1023
01:11:26,300 --> 01:11:31,300
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his spirit.

1024
01:11:31,300 --> 01:11:33,300
That's his Holy Spirit.

1025
01:11:33,300 --> 01:11:37,300
And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

1026
01:11:37,300 --> 01:11:42,300
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

1027
01:11:42,300 --> 01:11:50,300
And I would extend that and say, John says, and we come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.

1028
01:11:50,300 --> 01:11:58,300
God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1029
01:11:58,300 --> 01:12:00,300
Get it?

1030
01:12:00,300 --> 01:12:05,300
So yes, this is love. Not an excellent love, just the only love.

1031
01:12:05,300 --> 01:12:11,300
Secondly, it's easy to be presumptuous towards somebody who is loving you and get an advantage.

1032
01:12:11,300 --> 01:12:15,300
It's easy to repeat towards somebody who is loving you and get an advantage.

1033
01:12:15,300 --> 01:12:19,300
Or it's easy to just choose not to love them back, or even if you should choose to love them,

1034
01:12:19,300 --> 01:12:24,300
if you don't know the Lord, you could struggle in loving them the way you're supposed to.

1035
01:12:24,300 --> 01:12:27,300
Even if you chose to do it, you really wouldn't be able without a knowledge of God,

1036
01:12:27,300 --> 01:12:32,300
because God is love, he is that kind of love, he remains in us as that love, and so on.

1037
01:12:32,300 --> 01:12:39,300
And then here we see the real problem.

1038
01:12:39,300 --> 01:12:45,300
If they love you this way, if they love you the way that God has given, and you choose not to,

1039
01:12:45,300 --> 01:12:49,300
at the end of the road, do you see what happens?

1040
01:12:49,300 --> 01:12:54,300
They remain, and you don't.

1041
01:12:54,300 --> 01:12:57,300
So caution. Be aware.

1042
01:12:57,300 --> 01:13:00,300
The one who loves this way loves God's love.

1043
01:13:00,300 --> 01:13:08,300
The love that God declares what love is will remain, but the one who does not will not.

1044
01:13:08,300 --> 01:13:13,300
Now the problem is obviously then, if I love this way, others will possibly take advantage of me.

1045
01:13:13,300 --> 01:13:18,300
It's pretty easy to do. They may do it by presuming, by repeating, or by just not loving me back the way I love them.

1046
01:13:18,300 --> 01:13:22,300
Is that not exactly what happened with Jesus?

1047
01:13:22,300 --> 01:13:29,300
Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life. I submit to you, he lived a sinless life because he did what he saw his father doing.

1048
01:13:29,300 --> 01:13:33,300
Well, what was his father doing? His father was loving people. His father was loving.

1049
01:13:33,300 --> 01:13:39,300
So he lived a sinless life out of love, and then he even submitted himself to die on a cross

1050
01:13:39,300 --> 01:13:43,300
to pay the price for people who did not love him back.

1051
01:13:43,300 --> 01:13:49,300
So you say, well, I'm embarrassed. I'm sore. I'm in pain. It bothers me. Love bears all things.

1052
01:13:49,300 --> 01:13:57,300
I'm provoked. If you're provoked, then you're not loving the way God gave for you to love.

1053
01:13:57,300 --> 01:14:00,300
And the Bible says, love one another.

1054
01:14:00,300 --> 01:14:05,300
In Galatians it says, this is the fulfillment of the entire command of God.

1055
01:14:05,300 --> 01:14:10,300
Love. Let's get it right.

1056
01:14:10,300 --> 01:14:17,300
It is subject to the moment. It is about what's going on right now. It is making a decision.

1057
01:14:17,300 --> 01:14:21,300
So they behaved in an unrighteous fashion. I can't rejoice in that.

1058
01:14:21,300 --> 01:14:25,300
So how do I bear with that and accept that and not rejoice in it?

1059
01:14:25,300 --> 01:14:28,300
Well, it sounds a little bit like this. Listen. This is what I see.

1060
01:14:28,300 --> 01:14:32,300
I see you're doing this and that's what you think is right.

1061
01:14:32,300 --> 01:14:35,300
I'm here to tell you that I can't rejoice in that.

1062
01:14:35,300 --> 01:14:39,300
Because according to God's word, according to what God says, according to what I know to be true,

1063
01:14:39,300 --> 01:14:42,300
it's not right. It's unrighteousness.

1064
01:14:42,300 --> 01:14:46,300
I have to disagree with that course of action based on what God's word says.

1065
01:14:46,300 --> 01:14:51,300
However, I still love you. I'm still going to bear with you. I'm still going to be patient with you.

1066
01:14:51,300 --> 01:14:55,300
And it is my hope that you will one day come to God through his son, Jesus Christ,

1067
01:14:55,300 --> 01:14:58,300
and truly accept that God does have a pattern for your life.

1068
01:14:58,300 --> 01:15:04,300
God does have a plan by which you will live and you too will be able to love others this way.

1069
01:15:04,300 --> 01:15:08,300
It's not being translated. It's not getting you to practice.

1070
01:15:08,300 --> 01:15:13,300
Because Christians who say they're Christians, say they follow the Lord Jesus Christ, are not practicing love.

1071
01:15:13,300 --> 01:15:17,300
We want to practice the commands of the Bible and do the things that God has told us to do.

1072
01:15:17,300 --> 01:15:21,300
Jesus said, this is love. Follow my command. So we say, OK, I follow your command.

1073
01:15:21,300 --> 01:15:26,300
But when it comes down to loving people the way God has told us to love people, we stop short.

1074
01:15:26,300 --> 01:15:32,300
Because why? Because we can feel them getting an advantage over top of us.

1075
01:15:32,300 --> 01:15:42,300
And it's easy. It's easy for them to get that advantage, to presume or to repeat or to refuse to love us back the way we love them.

1076
01:15:42,300 --> 01:15:48,300
But realize that if you are the person who is doing the loving and they are the person who is doing the getting advantage,

1077
01:15:48,300 --> 01:15:54,300
ultimately what happens? You remain and they will not.

1078
01:15:54,300 --> 01:15:59,300
And so if you're loving them just to feel better about yourself or just because they're pretty or just because they're handsome

1079
01:15:59,300 --> 01:16:04,300
or just because they have money or just because they say the right things or they smell good,

1080
01:16:04,300 --> 01:16:10,300
realize ultimately they're going to go to hell if they don't get born again, if they don't accept the price of the Lord and Savior.

1081
01:16:10,300 --> 01:16:14,300
And you're going to be loving them while they do it.

1082
01:16:14,300 --> 01:16:19,300
Because you're going to remain in love and you're going to continue to love them right while they go to hell.

1083
01:16:19,300 --> 01:16:27,300
Which is why we can't rejoice in unrighteousness, why we can't further their presumptions or further their repetition.

1084
01:16:27,300 --> 01:16:33,300
But at the same time, we still bear with them, still patient, still kind, still love them.

1085
01:16:33,300 --> 01:16:37,300
And then that brings us to our conclusion.

1086
01:16:37,300 --> 01:16:42,300
Real quick over the three. Number one, this is just love. It's not an excellent love.

1087
01:16:42,300 --> 01:16:48,300
So this is a standard that you must hold yourself to if you're going to be, I'm going to say it this way,

1088
01:16:48,300 --> 01:16:53,300
you're going to be a follower of Christ. You have to love this way.

1089
01:16:53,300 --> 01:17:01,300
And yes, it will take a miracle with some people. I submit to you, it took the power of God for Jesus to be on the cross

1090
01:17:01,300 --> 01:17:08,300
and beg the Father for their forgiveness and say, Lord forgive them for they know not what they do.

1091
01:17:08,300 --> 01:17:12,300
While they were not loving Jesus, you don't crucify people you love.

1092
01:17:12,300 --> 01:17:16,300
So they were not loving him, he was praying for their forgiveness by the Father in heaven.

1093
01:17:16,300 --> 01:17:21,300
It took a miracle for him to be able to do that. But he did it and we can do the same.

1094
01:17:21,300 --> 01:17:29,300
And so I submit to you, we must love this way. It is the only way to love.

1095
01:17:29,300 --> 01:17:36,300
I would say to you that if you're going to keep saying I love you, you better start thinking about what it means.

1096
01:17:36,300 --> 01:17:43,300
I say I love you to my kids. I say I love you to my wife. I want to say I love you to myself, but I'm not good at that.

1097
01:17:43,300 --> 01:17:47,300
Sometimes I say I love you to my friends. I say I love you brother.

1098
01:17:47,300 --> 01:17:52,300
If you love somebody you say I love you, you better think about what you're saying.

1099
01:17:52,300 --> 01:17:56,300
What does 1 Corinthians 13 say love is?

1100
01:17:56,300 --> 01:18:01,300
And if you can't do it, if you honestly would look at whoever you're married to or whoever you're friends with,

1101
01:18:01,300 --> 01:18:06,300
whatever and say I can't love them, I don't love them that way, I'm not going to put up with their crap.

1102
01:18:06,300 --> 01:18:10,300
They're going to come in line with my way of doing things or else.

1103
01:18:10,300 --> 01:18:14,300
And if that's the way you're living, you need to question your salvation.

1104
01:18:14,300 --> 01:18:24,300
Because without the love that God has sent, that God Himself is, you will not remain.

1105
01:18:24,300 --> 01:18:29,300
If there's somebody in this world that you're angry, you have anger in your heart towards somebody right now,

1106
01:18:29,300 --> 01:18:35,300
or you feel vengeful, or every time you think about what they're doing or the way they're behaving or what they've done to you,

1107
01:18:35,300 --> 01:18:39,300
all you get is a feeling of disgust and you want to spit their name out of your mouth.

1108
01:18:39,300 --> 01:18:43,300
But there's somebody like that in the world, it doesn't matter what they did to you.

1109
01:18:43,300 --> 01:18:46,300
There's somebody like that in the world.

1110
01:18:46,300 --> 01:18:49,300
God's not going to let that in heaven.

1111
01:18:49,300 --> 01:18:51,300
What if they go?

1112
01:18:51,300 --> 01:18:55,300
What if that person somewhere down the road or even since you've talked to them,

1113
01:18:55,300 --> 01:18:57,300
haven't talked to them in years, has been born again?

1114
01:18:57,300 --> 01:19:01,300
We talked about how we're so different, we're changed so much.

1115
01:19:01,300 --> 01:19:08,300
What if they get saved and it comes time to stand at the beam, at the judgment seat, right?

1116
01:19:08,300 --> 01:19:10,300
And God says, what did you do with my son?

1117
01:19:10,300 --> 01:19:15,300
And they say, I submitted my life to the Lord at X years old and I've lived for Him ever since.

1118
01:19:15,300 --> 01:19:18,300
I forgive everybody who ever harmed me and I've been loving people and I've been serving,

1119
01:19:18,300 --> 01:19:22,300
I've tried to do other things, but I know none of my works of righteousness, they're all a stokely rag.

1120
01:19:22,300 --> 01:19:24,300
I come in because of Jesus Christ, who is my Lord.

1121
01:19:24,300 --> 01:19:26,300
And that's why I have done all the things I've done.

1122
01:19:26,300 --> 01:19:29,300
I've been trying to live this way, I know I've messed up, but here I am,

1123
01:19:29,300 --> 01:19:33,300
totally submitting myself to your judgment, God, through Jesus, your Son.

1124
01:19:33,300 --> 01:19:35,300
He says, well done, good faith, and they go in.

1125
01:19:35,300 --> 01:19:40,300
And you get up there and you say, yep, at such and such an age I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior,

1126
01:19:40,300 --> 01:19:44,300
and I've been living and I've been doing and I've been given and I've been serving, I've been doing all this,

1127
01:19:44,300 --> 01:19:49,300
and all my works of righteousness are as filthy rags, and I trust you with the judgment, Lord,

1128
01:19:49,300 --> 01:19:54,300
I trust you with the judgment because Jesus died for me, I want to go to heaven.

1129
01:19:54,300 --> 01:19:56,300
That's the only way I can go to heaven and I know that.

1130
01:19:56,300 --> 01:20:00,300
And He says, okay, well let's just say, I just want to ask you about this guy Joe, who's in heaven right now.

1131
01:20:00,300 --> 01:20:05,300
You've lived the last X years of your life having to grudge against him, being upset with him,

1132
01:20:05,300 --> 01:20:08,300
spit his name out of your mouth, anger.

1133
01:20:08,300 --> 01:20:13,300
So what about those people, when they bothered you, where was your patience?

1134
01:20:13,300 --> 01:20:17,300
Were you patient with them? Were you kind?

1135
01:20:17,300 --> 01:20:22,300
So I get it, you worked, you served, you gave, you showed up, maybe you sang, maybe you didn't, that's a problem,

1136
01:20:22,300 --> 01:20:25,300
but okay, you can deal with that. All these things, I get that,

1137
01:20:25,300 --> 01:20:28,300
you were some of the spiritualists, you were some of the well-wishers, you didn't.

1138
01:20:28,300 --> 01:20:31,300
But where's the love?

1139
01:20:31,300 --> 01:20:38,300
And you're going to be like, uh, well, he hurt me, he doesn't deserve to go to heaven.

1140
01:20:38,300 --> 01:20:41,300
And you're going to say, he missed the doctor.

1141
01:20:41,300 --> 01:20:45,300
Nobody deserves to go to heaven, you included.

1142
01:20:45,300 --> 01:20:53,300
If everything that you have was given to you by God, why do you act as if some of it was not given to you by God?

1143
01:20:53,300 --> 01:20:57,300
No, He's going to put you over with the goats instead of the sheep.

1144
01:20:57,300 --> 01:21:03,300
He'll say, you got your advantage in your lifetime by not loving them the way they love you.

1145
01:21:03,300 --> 01:21:07,300
You already got your advantage. Now you don't get to go in.

1146
01:21:07,300 --> 01:21:10,300
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way.

1147
01:21:10,300 --> 01:21:15,300
He says, therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity,

1148
01:21:15,300 --> 01:21:20,300
not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and the faith toward God.

1149
01:21:20,300 --> 01:21:25,300
In other words, we don't have to keep repenting and saying that we're just doing what we're doing for God

1150
01:21:25,300 --> 01:21:28,300
and putting aside the things that we're not doing for God over and over and over again.

1151
01:21:28,300 --> 01:21:34,300
Now we can actually do things for God instead of setting aside things of instruction after washing,

1152
01:21:34,300 --> 01:21:37,300
laying on hands of resurrection of the dead, eternal judgment.

1153
01:21:37,300 --> 01:21:39,300
And this we shall do if God permits.

1154
01:21:39,300 --> 01:21:43,300
This is that transition passage that we studied about a year ago.

1155
01:21:43,300 --> 01:21:48,300
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened, means they figured it out,

1156
01:21:48,300 --> 01:21:53,300
and have tasted of the heavenly gift, they began to think, hey, this is salvation,

1157
01:21:53,300 --> 01:21:56,300
and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit.

1158
01:21:56,300 --> 01:22:02,300
God visited His Holy Spirit upon them and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.

1159
01:22:02,300 --> 01:22:06,300
Hey, we can do things we never could do before. We can be things we never were before.

1160
01:22:06,300 --> 01:22:09,300
I think we're moving in a direction of being like God.

1161
01:22:09,300 --> 01:22:12,300
He says, and then have fallen away.

1162
01:22:12,300 --> 01:22:18,300
It is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucified to themselves the Son of God

1163
01:22:18,300 --> 01:22:20,300
and put Him to open shame.

1164
01:22:20,300 --> 01:22:26,300
He says, for the ground that drinks the rain, which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation,

1165
01:22:26,300 --> 01:22:33,300
useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God.

1166
01:22:33,300 --> 01:22:39,300
In other words, if you start to produce the fruits of God, if you allow the things to grow in you that God would have you,

1167
01:22:39,300 --> 01:22:41,300
what is He talking about? He's talking about love.

1168
01:22:41,300 --> 01:22:45,300
And I get it, he needs patience, hope, all of those things, fruits of the Spirit,

1169
01:22:45,300 --> 01:22:49,300
but He's saying if the one who grows like that, okay.

1170
01:22:49,300 --> 01:22:58,300
But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed and it ends up being burned.

1171
01:22:58,300 --> 01:23:03,300
Beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation,

1172
01:23:03,300 --> 01:23:04,300
though we are speaking in this way.

1173
01:23:04,300 --> 01:23:09,300
For God is not unjust, so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name

1174
01:23:09,300 --> 01:23:12,300
and having ministered and instilled ministering to the saints.

1175
01:23:12,300 --> 01:23:19,300
We desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,

1176
01:23:19,300 --> 01:23:24,300
that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who keep faith and patience and hereth the promises.

1177
01:23:24,300 --> 01:23:26,300
Don't you get it?

1178
01:23:26,300 --> 01:23:31,300
God can tell you this is not an accident of love, it's just love because He is love.

1179
01:23:31,300 --> 01:23:36,300
God knows and God shows and God is love.

1180
01:23:36,300 --> 01:23:44,300
And if you will close out that love, if you will not love others that way, your wife, your children, your church members,

1181
01:23:44,300 --> 01:23:51,300
co-workers at your work, your students at your school, if you will not love others that way,

1182
01:23:51,300 --> 01:23:58,300
then you need to go back to square one and ask yourself, okay, have I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?

1183
01:23:58,300 --> 01:24:02,300
Savior means He paid the price for my sins and Lord means He tells me what to do.

1184
01:24:02,300 --> 01:24:09,300
What does He tell you to do? Love your neighbor as yourself. Love others as yourself.

1185
01:24:09,300 --> 01:24:15,300
Love the brothers of others in your church. Love your family.

1186
01:24:15,300 --> 01:24:24,300
That part ought to be easy, but it's not, not because they're not easy to love, but because the flesh man is not good at loving.

1187
01:24:24,300 --> 01:24:30,300
Born again, get out of bed each day and ask yourself, what does God want me to do?

1188
01:24:30,300 --> 01:24:41,300
And on that list, better be love others because if it isn't, that's not Jesus who's Lord of your life.

1189
01:24:41,300 --> 01:24:50,300
Now we can look away from our weaknesses. We can say I've been a bad lover. I have presumed. I have repeated.

1190
01:24:50,300 --> 01:24:56,300
I have declined to love back those who have loved me and just plow forward and continue to live that way.

1191
01:24:56,300 --> 01:25:07,300
Or we can, as the Bible describes, repent of our sins and let God bring us.

1192
01:25:07,300 --> 01:25:14,300
Can you recognize that you have failed to love people the way that you were called to love them?

1193
01:25:14,300 --> 01:25:19,300
Can you allow God to work in you to do that?

1194
01:25:19,300 --> 01:25:25,300
Do you understand that there is a possibility that any one of us in this room, God forbid,

1195
01:25:25,300 --> 01:25:33,300
that we could have to give our life and it might sound easier, but it really isn't all of our time for all of our money,

1196
01:25:33,300 --> 01:25:42,300
for all of our self-esteem, for our egos, or the way we think things should go.

1197
01:25:42,300 --> 01:25:48,300
We may have to give all of that to God.

1198
01:25:48,300 --> 01:25:55,300
Lying on a cross, burned to the stake, shot in the head. Say, no, no, that doesn't happen.

1199
01:25:55,300 --> 01:26:01,300
Do you like a list? Do you like a list of the people that it's happened to in the last 50 years in the US?

1200
01:26:01,300 --> 01:26:06,300
You'll find that list numbering in the hundreds of people who have died for their faith.

1201
01:26:06,300 --> 01:26:10,300
There was a church in Texas guy who went in and shot up and killed everybody in the room.

1202
01:26:10,300 --> 01:26:15,300
They had a policy, checked their firearms, the door, so they didn't have their firearms, and he knew it.

1203
01:26:15,300 --> 01:26:18,300
He went in and shot everybody in the room and killed them all.

1204
01:26:18,300 --> 01:26:23,300
One woman's son who only occasionally came to church, he came in there and found them all dead.

1205
01:26:23,300 --> 01:26:27,300
He saw the guy driving away, and he had a hunting rifle in his truck,

1206
01:26:27,300 --> 01:26:33,300
and he pursued the guy cross-country in like two, three miles away, and there shot him with the hunting rifle and killed him.

1207
01:26:33,300 --> 01:26:42,300
But his mom and his siblings and his friends all died worshiping the Lord.

1208
01:26:42,300 --> 01:26:45,300
And a girl named Mary at Columbine, the guy put a gun to her head and said,

1209
01:26:45,300 --> 01:26:50,300
you'll deny Christ, I'll let you live, but if you stress Christ, I'll shoot you now.

1210
01:26:50,300 --> 01:26:53,300
And she refused to deny Christ, and he shot her in the head, and he died.

1211
01:26:53,300 --> 01:26:57,300
I was in Columbine, Colorado, just by coincidence, a week after that incident happened.

1212
01:26:57,300 --> 01:27:02,300
I've never seen so many black flags, ribbons.

1213
01:27:02,300 --> 01:27:05,300
People are dying for their faith today.

1214
01:27:05,300 --> 01:27:11,300
To be able to do that, if we would even have a chance to be able to do that, and therefore to be translated immediately into heaven.

1215
01:27:11,300 --> 01:27:15,300
You know, the Bible says, the martyrs come into the kingdom of God first.

1216
01:27:15,300 --> 01:27:21,300
I think it's in Matthew, the kingdom of heaven, but come into the kingdom of God first.

1217
01:27:21,300 --> 01:27:25,300
In order to be able to do that, we have to love.

1218
01:27:25,300 --> 01:27:33,300
And in order to be able to do that, we have to turn over the daily events of our lives to God.

1219
01:27:33,300 --> 01:27:35,300
And let Him guide us.

1220
01:27:35,300 --> 01:27:39,300
And yes, we have to practice spiritual disciplines, and we have to train ourselves.

1221
01:27:39,300 --> 01:27:46,300
And whenever we feel that old man coming up in us and making us get mad or frustrated or irritated with somebody who did something we didn't like,

1222
01:27:46,300 --> 01:27:48,300
we have to remind ourselves that we have to love them.

1223
01:27:48,300 --> 01:27:50,300
I'll close with this illustration.

1224
01:27:50,300 --> 01:27:57,300
Some years ago, probably 12, 12 years ago, something like that, we had a Thursday night, men had a Thursday night Bible study in my living room at my house.

1225
01:27:57,300 --> 01:28:01,300
And there was about six of us, and we were meeting there on Thursday nights.

1226
01:28:01,300 --> 01:28:07,300
I had been struggling with my kids, and Arden was little at the time.

1227
01:28:07,300 --> 01:28:12,300
So he was four when it happened. So this was 14 years ago specific, because I remember he was four.

1228
01:28:12,300 --> 01:28:17,300
And the day before, I had a meeting, an association meeting, I had to take him to the babysitter,

1229
01:28:17,300 --> 01:28:22,300
and he had wanted to get a drink of some Kool-Aid out of the refrigerator.

1230
01:28:22,300 --> 01:28:28,300
And I was rushing to get ready for the meeting because I had put off some things, the craft made it, it was my fault.

1231
01:28:28,300 --> 01:28:30,300
And I said, just get it yourself.

1232
01:28:30,300 --> 01:28:33,300
So he went to the kitchen to get the Kool-Aid, and he poured the Kool-Aid.

1233
01:28:33,300 --> 01:28:41,300
When he did, it tipped too much, and it poured Kool-Aid all over the kitchen floor, and I poured it for a puddle, and he puddled and soaked the rugs.

1234
01:28:41,300 --> 01:28:45,300
Now, Andrew was already running late, and so I came in and I gave him what for?

1235
01:28:45,300 --> 01:28:51,300
Because he made a huge mess, and we had to mop it up and clean it, it was sticky, and get the rug to the washer and blah blah blah.

1236
01:28:51,300 --> 01:28:54,300
And I go, the rug's probably ruined now, I've just wasted all the Kool-Aid.

1237
01:28:54,300 --> 01:28:57,300
He's just standing there crying, he's four years old, just there crying.

1238
01:28:57,300 --> 01:29:03,300
And I knew there was something inherently wrong with me, that I would do that to a four-year-old little child.

1239
01:29:03,300 --> 01:29:10,300
That I was psychologically abused, and I was already a Christian, had done for a while, I was already a mission pastor at that time.

1240
01:29:10,300 --> 01:29:15,300
And so I'm struggling with it myself, trying to figure out who I am that I would do that.

1241
01:29:15,300 --> 01:29:19,300
I didn't hit it, I just belittled it.

1242
01:29:19,300 --> 01:29:29,300
And in that men's Bible study that night, Spirit talked to me and showed me that every time a child asks you for something,

1243
01:29:29,300 --> 01:29:34,300
every time a child misbehaves, every time they say what you would rather they would not say,

1244
01:29:34,300 --> 01:29:40,300
every time anybody, and I think that translated to an adult, any time somebody does what you would not want them to do,

1245
01:29:40,300 --> 01:29:44,300
it's an opportunity to show your love for them.

1246
01:29:44,300 --> 01:29:51,300
And so that night, in that men's Bible study, and a couple of you were there, that night in men's Bible study, I prayed like this.

1247
01:29:51,300 --> 01:29:57,300
I said, God, help me remember always from now on, that every time they come to me for something,

1248
01:29:57,300 --> 01:30:04,300
something they can't do, and I always push my kids, we don't like can't, and our household kids say can't, I tell them we don't say can't.

1249
01:30:04,300 --> 01:30:08,300
If you really want to do it, you'll try until it's no longer possible.

1250
01:30:08,300 --> 01:30:13,300
If you fall asleep, if you die, there's no can't, right? Or you get help, right?

1251
01:30:13,300 --> 01:30:18,300
If it's too heavy, I physically can't lift it, then you get a lever, or you get people to help, whatever the hell can't.

1252
01:30:18,300 --> 01:30:22,300
If it's yours to do, you just do it. That's what I always tell them.

1253
01:30:22,300 --> 01:30:27,300
But at the same time, that night I prayed, Lord, help me remember that whenever they come to me saying I can't,

1254
01:30:27,300 --> 01:30:33,300
or I need help, or asking me for help, or asking me to get up, or whatever, that I would always remember,

1255
01:30:33,300 --> 01:30:36,300
that that's my opportunity to love them.

1256
01:30:36,300 --> 01:30:42,300
That's not my opportunity to show them that I love them, whether they figure it out, that's what I'm showing them or not.

1257
01:30:42,300 --> 01:30:46,300
That's my opportunity to live with the God of heaven. I'm asking you today,

1258
01:30:46,300 --> 01:30:52,300
will you start thinking of when people bother you, when people affront you, when they seem to be provoking you,

1259
01:30:52,300 --> 01:30:57,300
when they do exactly what you know, what they know will get your goat,

1260
01:30:57,300 --> 01:31:04,300
or when they seem to behave presumptuous towards you, thinking that they'll know how you're going to behave,

1261
01:31:04,300 --> 01:31:08,300
or when they seem to be repeating bad behaviors over and over again,

1262
01:31:08,300 --> 01:31:13,300
or when they seem to not be loving you back, will you under those circumstances say to yourself,

1263
01:31:13,300 --> 01:31:16,300
will you hear from the Lord, will you hear from the word of the Lord saying,

1264
01:31:16,300 --> 01:31:23,300
this is your opportunity to love people the way Jesus loved people, and if you'd say yes,

1265
01:31:23,300 --> 01:31:29,300
and if you know it hasn't been so to this point, then you need to turn to God again to make it so,

1266
01:31:29,300 --> 01:31:37,300
just like I did that night. Now have I gotten it right every instance since then? No, I've made mistakes, I make mistakes.

1267
01:31:37,300 --> 01:31:45,300
But I've never forgotten it all these years. After Arden poured that Kool-Aid on the floor that day, unintentionally,

1268
01:31:45,300 --> 01:31:51,300
it took two and a half years until he was almost seven years old before he would pour himself a drink again.

1269
01:31:51,300 --> 01:32:01,300
Your not loving people is causing them post-traumatic issues. It's causing pain.

1270
01:32:01,300 --> 01:32:05,300
And if they're trying to love you, it's making it all the more difficult for them to love you,

1271
01:32:05,300 --> 01:32:12,300
and to love others the way that they should. I'm asking you to repent and turn to God and love people

1272
01:32:12,300 --> 01:32:20,300
the way we are taught to love people. This is not an excellent love. It's what love is.

1273
01:32:20,300 --> 01:32:26,300
And if we're not practicing it, we're not practicing love. And if we're not practicing love,

1274
01:32:26,300 --> 01:32:31,300
we need to repent and turn to God and be born again today, in earnest.

1275
01:32:31,300 --> 01:32:35,300
I'm going to ask the praise team to come forward and lead us in the song of this time.

1276
01:32:35,300 --> 01:32:44,300
This is your opportunity in your heart to deal with what God has given you, to let the God of Heaven overcome it.

1277
01:32:44,300 --> 01:32:53,300
Or if it's a pyre of resistance to burn it down, if it's a holdout somewhere in you, a dark room that you won't let the light in,

1278
01:32:53,300 --> 01:32:58,300
for Him to invade, this is your opportunity to say, I am living the rest of my life for Jesus,

1279
01:32:58,300 --> 01:33:03,300
and I'm not going to let anything stand in my way. Not as long as God keeps knocking things down,

1280
01:33:03,300 --> 01:33:07,300
I'm just going to keep plowing forward and following you. I'm not saying theology might not always be correct.

1281
01:33:07,300 --> 01:33:11,300
I might not know everything about the Bible. Does anyone? The answer is no.

1282
01:33:11,300 --> 01:33:16,300
You may not have the gift of prophecy, but if you have all of those things, everything that you can have,

1283
01:33:16,300 --> 01:33:25,300
and don't have love, you're nothing. Today, turn to the Lord and commit to love, and win the day.

1284
01:33:25,300 --> 01:33:29,300
Win the day. Win the day. Win the day. Win the day. Win the day. Win the day. Win the day. Win the day. Win the day.

1285
01:33:29,300 --> 01:33:32,300
Would you stand with us and sing this song, if the Lord is speaking to your heart today,

1286
01:33:32,300 --> 01:33:35,300
and you have some kind of decision made public, then you come and let us know what that is.

1287
01:33:35,300 --> 01:34:02,300
I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus.

1288
01:34:02,300 --> 01:34:13,300
Go turning back. Go turning back.

1289
01:34:13,300 --> 01:34:40,300
Go with me. I still will follow.

1290
01:34:40,300 --> 01:34:55,300
I will not let you down. I will not let you down. I will not let you down. I will not let you down.

1291
01:34:55,300 --> 01:35:01,300
If you have been in the situation where someone has not loved you,

1292
01:35:01,300 --> 01:35:07,300
I don't mean, and I really want to stop saying this way, because there is no alternative way.

1293
01:35:07,300 --> 01:35:13,300
If you have been in the situation where someone has not loved you, and most of us have,

1294
01:35:13,300 --> 01:35:22,300
that contributes to our inability to love people the way we're talking about, to love people earnestly, to truly love people.

1295
01:35:22,300 --> 01:35:27,300
The reason is because we're beings that tend to repeat what we see.

1296
01:35:27,300 --> 01:35:33,300
Right? Do you hang around somebody for a while that has a nervous habit? Do they touch your ear?

1297
01:35:33,300 --> 01:35:37,300
Within an hour, you'll touch your ear. You don't have a problem with your ear. No reason to touch it. You'll do it.

1298
01:35:37,300 --> 01:35:44,300
Because we tend, we're like that. We repeat activities that other people do.

1299
01:35:44,300 --> 01:35:55,300
Worse, we have this saying, right? Pull me once, shame on you. Pull me twice, shame on me.

1300
01:35:55,300 --> 01:36:04,300
So when we realize we're not loving us, I'm not going to do what God has told me I need to do here.

1301
01:36:04,300 --> 01:36:10,300
Because if I do what God has told me I need to do here, then they're going to get away with it.

1302
01:36:10,300 --> 01:36:17,300
So here's my justice. Right? It's like forgiveness is for you. Right?

1303
01:36:17,300 --> 01:36:21,300
You need forgiveness from God, and if you found it through Jesus Christ, you have it.

1304
01:36:21,300 --> 01:36:29,300
And then when you forgive others who have wronged you, that releases the burden, the pain, the suffering, the chance to heal, etc.

1305
01:36:29,300 --> 01:36:34,300
You need to forgive. You're created to be. In fact, the Word says if you cannot forgive, you cannot be forgiven.

1306
01:36:34,300 --> 01:36:43,300
Talking about Jesus, loving is the same way. Loving is the expression of what we are created to be.

1307
01:36:43,300 --> 01:36:50,300
It's who we are. Not just in Christ, but human beings were made for this, to love.

1308
01:36:50,300 --> 01:36:53,300
That's why we will exist, which in turn is why suffering exists.

1309
01:36:53,300 --> 01:36:59,300
That's why Adam and Eve had to have access to those two fruit trees, even though they weren't allowed to eat them,

1310
01:36:59,300 --> 01:37:06,300
because they had to have access so they could have the free choice not to eat of the trees. Right?

1311
01:37:06,300 --> 01:37:12,300
As an act of love toward God, he commanded them not to. This is love. Follow my commands.

1312
01:37:12,300 --> 01:37:19,300
They chose to eat of the trees, even though they had to have access to the trees, because without the access, they couldn't have love.

1313
01:37:19,300 --> 01:37:25,300
They were created to love, and we were created to love. This is what we are.

1314
01:37:25,300 --> 01:37:32,300
Loving people is sometimes hard, painful, causes bleeding, all kinds of nasty side effects.

1315
01:37:32,300 --> 01:37:36,300
Loving the person who has been bad to you may seem like the most difficult thing,

1316
01:37:36,300 --> 01:37:41,300
but the truth is once you're on the road to actually loving, the moment you actually start doing it,

1317
01:37:41,300 --> 01:37:48,300
boom, God's in it, and the power that's in it, and the effect of God in you, and the Holy Spirit gifts start to flow,

1318
01:37:48,300 --> 01:37:53,300
and the spiritual discipline starts to be exciting, oh man, I've got to figure out how to love this guy.

1319
01:37:53,300 --> 01:37:57,300
I need to go to my body, I'm going to read more, I'm going to pray more, I'm going to search more, I'm going to worship God,

1320
01:37:57,300 --> 01:38:01,300
I'm going to sing songs, I'm going to do all these things because I'm being empowered,

1321
01:38:01,300 --> 01:38:07,300
because I was created to love, and now I'm doing what I was created to do, but I don't know how.

1322
01:38:07,300 --> 01:38:13,300
So I'm going to have to have God teach me. But as long as we're willing to go, that love thing, yeah, I got that now.

1323
01:38:13,300 --> 01:38:19,300
Nobody feels. Am I patient? No, well no, I'm not patient, but I'm working on it.

1324
01:38:19,300 --> 01:38:24,300
I get provoked sometimes, but they know that's going to provoke me, they're only doing it to get my go,

1325
01:38:24,300 --> 01:38:29,300
they're only doing it because they know it will get me upset. Do we love the Bible?

1326
01:38:29,300 --> 01:38:34,300
The answer is repenting and turning to God and running in closer to us and do something amazing,

1327
01:38:34,300 --> 01:38:38,300
and then as we do that, wow, what God can do.

1328
01:38:38,300 --> 01:38:43,300
You may not get all the theological points or questions or understanding exactly what it says, right?

1329
01:38:43,300 --> 01:38:49,300
You don't have to, because there are only three things that remain, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.

1330
01:38:49,300 --> 01:38:51,300
Let's go to the prayer for this time.

1331
01:38:51,300 --> 01:38:56,300
It's kind of funny that this is what you were talking about today, because I've,

1332
01:38:56,300 --> 01:39:03,300
one of my biggest struggles is loving other people, caring about other people, because I was always raised to,

1333
01:39:03,300 --> 01:39:08,300
you show me respect, I'll give you respect, otherwise I won't respect you at all.

1334
01:39:08,300 --> 01:39:18,300
And that teaching has been like born into my head through just growing up in rough neighborhoods,

1335
01:39:18,300 --> 01:39:22,300
I mean that's how it is when you're growing up in a rough neighborhood, you show people around you respect,

1336
01:39:22,300 --> 01:39:27,300
they're going to show you respect, but the minute you disrespect somebody, it's game over.

1337
01:39:27,300 --> 01:39:33,300
And over the, I've been really struggling to try to do that and try to keep that in my mind,

1338
01:39:33,300 --> 01:39:37,300
that's not the way that God wants us to love everyone.

1339
01:39:37,300 --> 01:39:44,300
And it's been really, really hard for me over the last couple weeks to have a lot of struggles to show people that I love,

1340
01:39:44,300 --> 01:39:53,300
to show them that I care, and especially when they say something that they know is going to upset me,

1341
01:39:53,300 --> 01:39:59,300
and like you just said, it's like they're provoking me to try to get violent and try to be angry at me,

1342
01:39:59,300 --> 01:40:10,300
and it's really, really hard for me not to, because it's just, that's how I was raised, that was all I knew for 20 plus years.

1343
01:40:10,300 --> 01:40:13,300
God said, have you considered my servant Job?

1344
01:40:13,300 --> 01:40:15,300
The devil said, can I test him?

1345
01:40:15,300 --> 01:40:19,300
The guy said, yeah, you can test him, but here's the limits, you test him to those limits,

1346
01:40:19,300 --> 01:40:23,300
and he came back and said, you let me go so far, but you wouldn't let me go to striking his flesh,

1347
01:40:23,300 --> 01:40:25,300
you let me go to striking his flesh, he'll curse you and die.

1348
01:40:25,300 --> 01:40:27,300
God said, no, I don't think he will.

1349
01:40:27,300 --> 01:40:30,300
Okay, go ahead and test him, test him.

1350
01:40:30,300 --> 01:40:37,300
Here's the truth, if you say you're going to love people, the devil, you will scare us the world system, and humanity in general,

1351
01:40:37,300 --> 01:40:39,300
going to test your love.

1352
01:40:39,300 --> 01:40:44,300
And I'm going to submit this to you, if your love stands the test, you will remain.

1353
01:40:44,300 --> 01:40:47,300
And if it does not, you will not.

1354
01:40:47,300 --> 01:40:50,300
It's God, what's his limitations?

1355
01:40:50,300 --> 01:40:52,300
We are not.

1356
01:40:52,300 --> 01:40:55,300
Let's pray that we recognize God and have no limitations.

1357
01:40:55,300 --> 01:40:59,300
Father in heaven, God, love.

1358
01:40:59,300 --> 01:41:04,300
In a day where the word has been perverted in exchange for other things,

1359
01:41:04,300 --> 01:41:07,300
we realize your word defines what love is.

1360
01:41:07,300 --> 01:41:11,300
Your actions make clear what love is.

1361
01:41:11,300 --> 01:41:20,300
The same resurrection power that brought the dead body of Jesus back to life

1362
01:41:20,300 --> 01:41:28,300
is available to power love in us, to be love in us.

1363
01:41:28,300 --> 01:41:34,300
When we don't love, we recognize from your word that when we don't love this way,

1364
01:41:34,300 --> 01:41:38,300
at best, let's love your Holy Spirit.

1365
01:41:38,300 --> 01:41:41,300
We are telling you that you cannot do to us what you want to do.

1366
01:41:41,300 --> 01:41:47,300
And at worst, we have fooled ourselves and don't belong to you at all.

1367
01:41:47,300 --> 01:41:49,300
No more foolery.

1368
01:41:49,300 --> 01:41:51,300
You are God.

1369
01:41:51,300 --> 01:41:53,300
You have to breathe love.

1370
01:41:53,300 --> 01:41:57,300
And we intend to live out of it.

1371
01:41:57,300 --> 01:42:01,300
Even though the city might want, or politicians might want us to run a pantry,

1372
01:42:01,300 --> 01:42:05,300
to cut down on desperation in households so that people are less likely to commit crime,

1373
01:42:05,300 --> 01:42:08,300
they have the opportunity to learn, they can go beyond their circumstances,

1374
01:42:08,300 --> 01:42:12,300
all of those kinds of things, and they may need to think that that way,

1375
01:42:12,300 --> 01:42:17,300
we will think of it as love.

1376
01:42:17,300 --> 01:42:20,300
Even though pastors all over the world may have to hammer their people and say,

1377
01:42:20,300 --> 01:42:23,300
we've got to pray more, we've got to study more, we've got to read more,

1378
01:42:23,300 --> 01:42:28,300
we've got to learn more, all of that is true.

1379
01:42:28,300 --> 01:42:32,300
We will think of it as fueling our love,

1380
01:42:32,300 --> 01:42:36,300
even figuring out the pathway of how do we love those who make it hard,

1381
01:42:36,300 --> 01:42:42,300
or those who seem unloved, those who seem to be getting an advantage out of our life.

1382
01:42:42,300 --> 01:42:44,300
We are not disadvantaged.

1383
01:42:44,300 --> 01:42:46,300
You know, they've got to be winners.

1384
01:42:46,300 --> 01:42:49,300
As long as we know it's you on our side,

1385
01:42:49,300 --> 01:42:51,300
no one can stop us.

1386
01:42:51,300 --> 01:42:53,300
This world offers many things.

1387
01:42:53,300 --> 01:42:55,300
Many of them are enticing.

1388
01:42:55,300 --> 01:42:57,300
Some of them are disparaging.

1389
01:42:57,300 --> 01:43:02,300
We can't go down this road of loving others.

1390
01:43:02,300 --> 01:43:04,300
It could just fly out of wrong.

1391
01:43:04,300 --> 01:43:05,300
You are God.

1392
01:43:05,300 --> 01:43:06,300
You have unlimited power.

1393
01:43:06,300 --> 01:43:08,300
You can make it so.

1394
01:43:08,300 --> 01:43:14,300
Living in us, every time we love and stretch ourselves to love when it feels difficult,

1395
01:43:14,300 --> 01:43:17,300
stretch ourselves to love when it feels like Jesus is taking advantage of us,

1396
01:43:17,300 --> 01:43:23,300
stretch ourselves to love when it feels like we just shouldn't or can't,

1397
01:43:23,300 --> 01:43:29,300
we realize that the real Holy Spirit who is living in us will be given free reign

1398
01:43:29,300 --> 01:43:33,300
to reduce love as a fruit,

1399
01:43:33,300 --> 01:43:35,300
and clean us in peace and patience.

1400
01:43:35,300 --> 01:43:38,300
It's often told that sometimes we should be bad.

1401
01:43:38,300 --> 01:43:40,300
Lord, please,

1402
01:43:40,300 --> 01:43:44,300
forgive us that we may love others.

1403
01:43:44,300 --> 01:43:51,300
I don't think there are any excuses like we're trying to learn to love or I'm not quite there yet.

1404
01:43:51,300 --> 01:43:55,300
I think it's more about whatever we are, wherever we are now,

1405
01:43:55,300 --> 01:43:58,300
whatever we can do, whatever we're capable of,

1406
01:43:58,300 --> 01:44:00,300
to love others,

1407
01:44:00,300 --> 01:44:03,300
disallow certain behaviors.

1408
01:44:03,300 --> 01:44:06,300
Thank you, Lord, for loving us.

1409
01:44:06,300 --> 01:44:12,300
And may we never despise the gift of salvation,

1410
01:44:12,300 --> 01:44:14,300
the power of your presence,

1411
01:44:14,300 --> 01:44:17,300
and the awesome exhibition of love.

1412
01:44:17,300 --> 01:44:19,300
May we never despise it.

1413
01:44:19,300 --> 01:44:21,300
And may we always cherish it

1414
01:44:21,300 --> 01:44:23,300
and attempt to replicate it

1415
01:44:23,300 --> 01:44:25,300
and love others that way.

1416
01:44:25,300 --> 01:44:27,300
I pray all this in Jesus' name, Amen.

1417
01:44:27,300 --> 01:44:29,300
Okay, this concludes our services at this time.

1418
01:44:29,300 --> 01:44:31,300
Thank you so much.

1419
01:44:31,300 --> 01:44:50,300
Go ye therefore and love like the church.