This morning the great apostle like an expert jeweler
displays love as if it were a brilliant diamond juxtaposed to the evil that love
is not to hold before us its many gleaming facets. He deliberately uses
the highest word for love in the Greek vocabulary and immediately it takes it
far beyond any definition of love known to the Greeks or to anyone else. Paul uses
the Greek word agape that great New Testament word for love that has a
meaning all its own. It is used of the love of God the Father for God the Son.
John chapter 17 and verse 26 reads that the love wherewith thou has loved me may
be in them and I in them. It's the love spoken of in John chapter 3 and verse 16
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and it is spoken
of of the love that Jesus had for his own. In the Gospel of John again at chapter
14 and verse 21 he says he that hath my commandments and keepeth him here it is
that loves me and he that loves me shall be loved of my father and I will love
him and I will manifest myself to him and because this kind of love does not
arise from our feelings listen to me because this kind of love does not arise
from our feelings it is commanded by God because it does not always coincide
with our natural inclinations nor is it concerned only with those for whom we
have some natural affinity you are not just supposed to love people who love
you since love is commanded it cannot be based on emotion are y'all listening to
me since love is commanded it cannot be based on emotion on the contrary it is
based on the will John chapter 13 and verse number 37 says a new commandment
I give unto you that ye love one another and have as I have loved you that ye
also love one another and by this shall all men know that you are my disciples
not because you go to church on Sunday not because you have a large print Bible
not because you wear a cross around your ankle or your neck not because you have
a fish emblem on your bumper not because you answer your phone praise the
Lord not because you're too blessed to be stressed but men will know that you
are my disciples because you have love one for another look with me brothers and
sisters at love's concerns the first of love's concerns is to be Christ like in
suffering love suffers long or love is long suffering the literal meaning of
the word is long tempered when you love you are not short tempered I'm working
on that I'm a work in progress please be patient with me God is not through with
me yet long suffering long suffering however is more brothers and sisters
been patients long suffering is self restraint when faced with provocation in
other words love does not retaliate
love is never in a hurry to punish its enemy it's long suffering Abraham
Lincoln when he was president of the United States the 16th president of
United States had a mortal enemy named Edward or Edwin Stanton Edwin Stanton
could not stand Abraham Lincoln Stanton said that Lincoln looked like a
gorilla he said you don't have to go to Africa to look at a gorilla you can
just look in the face of Abraham Lincoln he said Abraham Lincoln is the most
two-faced man I've ever met and Lincoln who was always quick-witted says if you
really think I had two faces I would keep this one Lincoln was hated by Edwin
Stanton but Lincoln made Stanton his secretary of war and when asked why he
made Stanton his secretary of war Lincoln said because he's the best man for
the job he never retaliated Lincoln's love Lincoln's kindness one Stanton over
so that when Lincoln was assassinated Edwin Stanton stood over his coffin with
tears in his eyes and said the greatest ruler of men is this man who lies in this
kai skin love when it is real is long-suffering David displayed this
kind of love this kind of patience in his relationship with King Saul on no
less than 24 separate occasions Saul tried to murder David but David knew
that he was God's anointed David knew that God had anointed him king so he
was patient enough to wait for God to give him the throne and those of us who
read the Bible will remember on several occasions David had an opportunity to
take Saul's life but David said I will not touch the
Lord's anointed nor do God's prophet any harm David would not retaliate and in
due course God handed him the throne let your enemies lie on you let your
enemy try to destroy you the Bible says no weapon I wish I had one or two more
witnesses formed against you shall be able to prosper because God will stand
between you and the weapon thrown at you the second of love's concerns is not
just being long-suffering but it is Christ like brothers and sisters to be
kind love is patient and then love is kind where patients and long-suffering
passively wait kindness is active goodness that goes forth on behalf of
another long-suffering is waiting for God to move but kindness is moving in
goodness and peace and mercy towards somebody who has done you evil the
greatest example of this other than Jesus is what David did with Mephibosheth I
need one or two more Bible readers here on 24 occasions Saul tried to kill
David but David would not do soul any harm Saul is now dead and David's friend
who was Saul's son their hearts were knit together like brothers Jonathan is
now dead and Jonathan has a son named Mephibosheth who is in the home of a man
named Zyba Saul has been long dead and David is now seated on the throne of
Israel enjoying God's blessings when he remembers how good Jonathan had been to
him I wish I had somebody who read the Bible which Saul tried to kill him
Saul's own son Jonathan warned David of his father's plans and Jonathan saved
David's life on several occasions and David became king of Israel seated on
the throne he started thinking about how good God had been to and how God had
used Jonathan to save his life and David said is there anyone left of the
house of Saul that I might show kindness because of Jonathan and brothers and
sisters you are in this church this morning enjoying God's blessings not so
much because of what you've done but somebody in your past was good and God
is blessing you on your grandmother's behalf
God is blessing you because you had a praying aunt or praying Sunday school
teacher somebody in your past was a blessing to somebody else and God is
blessing you because he's answering prayers of somebody who's sleeping in
their grave
and somebody remember that Jonathan had a boy named Mephibosheth David said
bring it here they brought Mephibosheth to David and David said he's gonna eat
with my sons at the table but they said no king he can't come because he's
crippled in both his feet he's deforned he's he's crippled he's limping he can't
sit with Solomon he can't sit with Amon and Tamar he cannot sit at the kings
take the king said bring him here I don't care what his handicap is I don't
care what his drawback is I don't care what his lameness looks like
sit him down at my table and I'm so glad that God let me sit at his table I
don't care what he looks like I don't care what he's done I don't care where
he's been bring him to my father's house
and all the crippled folk in here like me to all the broken people in here like
me to all the folk in here like me who got some decisions you wish you had made
some roads you wish you had never traveled but God lets you come in his
presence you ought to help me tell God thank you
love is his passion love is kind it takes nothing away from you to be kind to
people it does it doesn't take anything away from me to compliment somebody else
is preaching I don't have to be the one singing to clap for the song I don't have
to be the one praying to say amen for the prayer it takes nothing away from me
to compliment John Adolf I enjoy hearing him preach and hearing him preach takes
nothing away from my preaching I enjoy Marcus Cosby's preaching I enjoy Ralph
West's preaching we are not in competition with one another because
competition leads to envy
which leads me to the second thing I want to talk about when you really love
your content loves contentment in the first place love listen to me is never
envious the translation of the word in Paul's writing embraces both envy and
jealousy whenever jealousy whenever a person is jealous they desire to have
the same thing you have for themselves they want to style their hair like you
style your head if you color your head they gonna color their head if you
drive a nice car they want to try the same kind of car you drive they want to
talk like you they want to walk like you they want to act like you that's
that's benign that's that's no harm in that that's a sincere form of flattering
you they really want to be you I have no problem yesterday at the funeral the
preacher told me at the funeral yesterday said Reverend I might as well tell you
right now the sermon you preach today I'm gonna preach that as soon as I can and
I said to him Reverend I have no problem with that at all you know how many
sermons of other preachers I've preached as soon as I can because if you're
gonna preach like somebody you might as well preach like somebody who can preach
I mean it don't make sense to try to preach like nobody who can't preach
come on talk back to me if you can I mean you ain't trying to be ugly you're
trying to be as pretty as the person you trying to be like so what love when it
is real jealousy wants what the other person has but envy does not want you
to have it now they know they can't do nothing with it they just don't want you
to have it listen to me beloved since love is an act of the will the best way
to deal with envy listen to me the best way to deal with envy is to crucify it
and the way you crucify envy is by actively praying for and supporting the
one whose gifts you covet because it is impossible to be envious of somebody you
praying for I wish I had time to stay right there love does not want itself up
the word vaunted not itself means love is never egotistical love is never
narcissistic love does not draw attention to itself or to what it is doing
because it wants to be seen if you give something away and then tell somebody
you give something away that's not love love is not anxious to impress other
people you do your arms you do your good in secret you you you you do nice things
for people privately you don't you don't pay my bills and then go tell 30 people
you paid my bills I wish I had somebody to help me preach it you don't you don't
go out of your way to help me so you can put it on Facebook because you have just
committed a dead deed but if you do it in secret God will reward you openly you
know why so many people are blessed around here it's because they're going
out of their way helping people privately and God is blessing them openly
don't get mad with me cuz I'm being blessed openly do something nice
privately
moreover love is not puffed up one who is puffed up is the person who has an
exaggerated sense of his or her own importance
psychologically they suffer from what is known as Dunning Kruger effect Dunning
Kruger these two men Dunning and Kruger came up with this idea that's called the
Dunning Kruger effect the Dunning Kruger effect goes like this people of low ability
drastically over estimate their own abilities in large part because they are
incapable of understanding what they don't know can I run it by you one more
time Dunning Kruger effect people of low ability drastically over estimate their
own abilities in large part because they are incapable of understanding what
they don't know the person who comes immediately to mind is Donald Trump
because Donald Trump's statement when he ran for president in 2020 his statement
was this exactly only I can fix it that's Dunning Kruger effect that's
over estimating your abilities because you are incapable of understanding what
it is that you don't know and so when you don't understand what you don't know
you lie about what you do know I mean you just start talking about stuff you
don't even know anything about the hardest thing in the world for us to do
is say I don't know somebody start talking about in bombing you ain't
never been to a funeral home but you know everything about in bombing
somebody start talking about a naval ship you ain't never been in a swimming
pool but you know everything about a submarine just say you know I'm gonna
shut my mouth right here because I don't know what the devil I'm talking
about I wish I had somebody to help me preach it love is never eccentric it
does not behave itself like the fool we just put out of here a minute ago it
does not behave itself unseemly love knows how to act in every situation it's
the devil that makes you disrupt the worship service the spirit of God will
never have you disrupt worship because that's behaving unseemly in other words
love has good manners it does not exhibit inappropriate behavior but it
always treats others with compassion with respect and with consideration love
when it is real is genuine and not artificial because if it's artificial you
can't keep it up but when it is genuine you love in all seasons then too love is
never seeking its own way true love is never selfish it's never self-centered
it does not insist on having its own way those of us who read the scripture
will remember when when Abraham and his nephew Lot were taken off to where they
had gone and their their herds started to grow disproportionately and their
servants were were growing out of proportion and and there was no more
room in the land for them to dwell and Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen
got into a dispute because there were so many of them and so many herds to take
care of and Abraham who is the older of he and Lot comes under his nephew and
says let's not let's not argue with one another let's not fall out over this land
because we are brothers he said I'll tell you what we're gonna do you take the
land that you want and what you don't want what you leave leftover I will take
it now Abraham had every right to take all the land if he wanted to because God
had given it to him in the first place but Abraham who does not want to seek
his own way says to Lot you take what you want and what's left over I will
take it and you know the story Lot took the highlands of Sodom and Gomorrah and
Abraham wound up in the lowlands of Mamre Lot got a hold to land that had
been angelically tagged for demolition Lot got his hands on land that was
about to go up in a fire sale Abraham got the lowlands of Mamre and God said
to Abraham don't worry but lot he has the land but you got the promise and when
you know God has given you the promise let them think they've gotten the upper
hand
let them think you ain't gonna ever make it after you after I leave you you
ain't gonna be nothing
boy please
the God I said some of y'all over thought they remember Reverend Ike
Reverend Ike had a saying that goes real good right here you can't lose with the
stuff are you a better saying come from the scripture if God be far off who can
be against us I don't care who walks out of your life make sure God walks into
your life and when God walks into your life he'll take back what the devil
tries to steal from you
yeah
furthermore love is not easily provoked love is not roused to a spirit of
anger and bitterness love refuses to be exasperated even though it may be justly
aroused to righteous indignation it is not insulted or carries a chip on its
shoulder because true love only responds in anger to that which makes God angry
when you're a loving person you put blinders on and you don't pay attention
to people's insults you don't pay attention to people's criticism you
don't pay attention to people's lies because when you are when you are sure
of yourself and confident in who you are people will mistake your confidence
for arrogance when your confidence is really ability and when you know how
God has blessed you and how God has made you and what gifts God has given you
you don't have to bury your stuff to make somebody feel good about themselves
you don't have to make yourself look small in order to make somebody else
look big if you got that kind of ego problem you need to get out of my life
I need to unfriend you on Facebook I need to divorce you if I got to make
myself look small in order to make you look big you got a problem not me
small people we get around some big people and get big to death
love thinks no evil the word translated here means love does not keep
account of how many times it's been wronged love suffers long it takes no
no worthless inventory sisters need to learn that
because brothers if you can help me tell the truth and go home
women don't get hysterical they don't they don't throw a knife at you no more
they don't back over you with their car and all that and not not because they
don't feel like it they don't want to go to jail so they don't do all that
and they don't they don't carry a switch blade and they buzz them and all that
no more they don't get hysterical when it's time to fight they get historical
you remember they bring up all the stuff you did all the stuff you should
have done but didn't do talk back to me if you can they remind you of stuff you
forgot you try to hold in hand on behold in my hand get back get on your side and
then you start thinking what not what what what did I do and then if you can't
think of nothing they just mad cuz today is Sunday but love girls bears no
resentment love does not walk around with a butcher knife love does not hold
grudges genuine love does not attribute evil motives to people and does not
dwell on the evil that people have done to you it is natural to love them that
love us but it is supernatural to love them that hate us I'm trying to hurry
here love rejoice is not iniquity love does not rejoice when bad things happen
to people who've done us wrong true love does not gossip true love does not
rejoice in the German word shortened Friday shortened Friday means when
something terrible happens to somebody you don't like you're happy about it I
don't get happy when something happens evil to people who don't like me because
the Lord says be careful the ditch you dig for them
somebody helped me preach it you gonna fall in it yourself finally loves
convictions love rejoices in the truth it rejoices when truth is proclaimed and
when truth wins the day a lie will run around the world while truth is still
putting on issues love bears all things to bear all things means love
patiently endures and overlooks the faults of others it literally means that
when you love somebody instead of always looking for failures and faults you
know what their faults are but you cover it that's what true love means you you
you look at people and and you don't and you and you say to yourself how can you
be friends with that person you know how crazy they are but you cover it how
can this pretty woman love this ugly man she covers it let me let me let me let
me give you a biblical picture of that you remember in the book of Genesis when
Noah got drunk his son Ham saw him in his drunkenness and laughed at him and
went and told his two brothers when Shem and Japheth heard of their father's
drunkenness they took a blanket they took a covering and walked backwards and
laid the blanket on him backwards not to look at his nakedness and Noah blessed
Shem and Japheth and cursed Ham because Ham laughed when the other two covered
it one Friday on a hill called Calvary Jesus covered my sin and I'm in this
church this morning because I'm covered by the blood of Jesus Christ I'm saved
today because Jesus covered me with his own blood
what can wash away my sin nothing but the blood of Jesus what can make me hold
again nothing but the blood of Jesus I want you to hear me brothers and sisters
stop stop thinking that you in here because you are so loving you're not
in here because God needs you you're not in here because somebody else can't take
your place you're in here because God loves you and the love of God hopes all
things believes all things endures all things because love never fails let me
run across the field right here I got one or two more things in my nose but
let me just cut across the field could be running out of time love endures all
things and the closest thing we can come to to that kind of love before we
get to the love of God is the love that a mother has for her child fathers love
their children but they don't love their children like mama love their children
because when a baby cries the daddy just think the baby is crying but the
mama knows what the cry means one cry means they're hungry another cry means
they need to be changed and nobody could know that but somebody who is
sensitive enough to know what that cry means somebody ought to help me close
here sometimes mama and daddy get mad with their child the child is going to
jail or the child has gone astray and the child is on drugs and the child can't
be trusted in the house by themselves because they've made all kinds of foolish
childish mistakes and the daddy will say I don't want nothing to do with that
boy don't don't don't let him come in my yard I don't even want him at my house
I don't want to have nothing to do with him anymore I'm through with that boy and
the mama said you're right he's done wrong I'm through with him too I don't
want to see him no more the longest I know I brought him in this world but I
don't want to have nothing to do with him and then that boy will come back when
the dad is not home
and mama said listen I'm gonna give you this money but you better not tell your
dad where you live boy mama gonna come bring you some food because her mother's
love is almost the love of God I said almost the love of God I said almost the
love of God let me tell you what the real love of God is like while we were
yet sinner we were on our way to hell Christ didn't just give us some food
Christ didn't just tell us we could come to church Jesus went to the cross and
died in my place the just for the unjust the righteous for the unrighteous
now the only folk who can shout right here is folk who've got some stuff in
your past that you shame to talk about you've got some stuff in your closet
that if you open the door all your skeletons would fall out right now
Jesus knows what your skeletons look like Jesus knows what your sins look
like but he loves you so much that he died for your sins and then he rose for
your justification and even since you've been saved you've committed some
horrible sins I need somebody here who has sinned since you've been a child of
God you have lied since you've been a child of God you've gone astray since
you've been a child of God God does not dismiss you once you sin but if you
confess your sins he is faithful and just and he will forgive you of all your
sins and then cleanse you from all unrighteousness I need somebody who's
been cleansed this morning I need somebody that God has washed away your
sin God has covered your foolishness God has rescued you from the mess you got
yourself in God is look beyond your faults and has seen all your needs
God has made a way out of no way God has smiled on your life and you are blessed
this morning beyond what you ever could have imagined when you look back over
your life and see where you are right now your soul don't have to wonder how
you got over you already know it was nobody but Jesus if you know it and
you're not ashamed to testify if he's been good to you and you don't care
who you're standing by if he's made a way for you and you don't mind opening
your mouth if God has shined on you and you don't mind testify right now is a
good time this morning is a good morning to give God your best hallelujah you
might not make it back here next Sunday you might not live to see another day
so why you have a chance why don't you lift your hands and tell God thank you
for where you brought me from thank you for the doors you've opened thank you
for the tears you've dried thank you for the people you took out of my life
thank you for the people you put into my life thank you for making a way for me
thank you for saving me thank you for raising me thank you for keeping me
living he's saying buried he carried my sins far away but rising he justified
freed me forever one day he's coming back what a glorious day but in the
meantime before he comes back I'm a shot I'm a given glory I'm a praises name I'm
telling thank you
he walks with me he talks with me he tells me I am his own and the joy joy do
you have joy if you got joy why don't you grab somebody tell him this job the
world didn't give it the world can't take it away yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah I know he's alright