1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,160 I don't know whether you have enjoyed our last heart to heart talks or not, but I'm 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:11,280 telling you something, I sure have. 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:20,720 There's something about the practicalness of the Word of God. 4 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:25,920 See, to me, the Word of God is so practical. 5 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:33,960 This thing of living a Christian life is not something that's ethereal, it's plain, everyday 6 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:34,960 living. 7 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:43,080 Now, when I say to you that I come into your home and giving you old fashioned Missouri 8 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:51,760 cornbread, will you see there are parts of the Word of God that remind me of good old 9 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,040 fashioned Missouri cornbread. 10 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:58,840 It's good for you, you'll grow on it. 11 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:01,960 I did. 12 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,600 And besides that, it tastes good. 13 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:06,080 I enjoy it. 14 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,040 You know, just like that. 15 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:14,200 Now, if you do not enjoy the Word of God, if you are not having the time of your life, 16 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:22,080 living a Christian life, then there's something wrong with you and not the Christian experience 17 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,200 and not God's plan for you. 18 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:27,240 Know that. 19 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:34,320 Maybe you have just enough of an experience to make you miserable. 20 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:37,040 Could be that, had you ever thought of it? 21 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:46,040 Oh, have you ever seen these youngsters who are just beginning to learn to swim, you know? 22 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:52,760 And there have been occasions when I've watched them, probably from a hotel window and the 23 00:01:52,760 --> 00:02:00,400 pools outside, and these little old kids that just go to the swimming pool and stick one 24 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:03,000 little toe in the pool. 25 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:11,120 It's so cold, they yell, they scream, and oh, it's cold, it's cold. 26 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:16,520 And then they'll go back and then maybe they'll stick two toes in or a half of the foot. 27 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,200 Oh, it's cold, it's cold, it's too cold. 28 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:22,720 They aren't enjoying it a bit. 29 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:31,560 But you take that brave little kid that stands up there on the diving board, you know, and 30 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:37,120 I watch him, I say, oh dear Jesus, give an angel charge over that youngster who's going 31 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,720 to kill himself, as sure as can be. 32 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:47,320 And before I finish my prayer, off he goes and into the water and he comes up splashing 33 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:52,880 the water in every direction and he yelled to the other kids, come on in, the water is 34 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,200 fine, the water is wonderful. 35 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:01,520 He's not cold, he's loving it. 36 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:08,440 Because he has given it everything that he has and he has been completely immersed in 37 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:13,640 those waters and he is enjoying it. 38 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:18,680 Now you are not enjoying your relationship with the Lord. 39 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,300 You're not enjoying being a Christian. 40 00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:27,000 You are not enjoying these things that we're giving you from the word of God. 41 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:33,320 Maybe it's because you've just gotten enough to make you miserable. 42 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:41,080 Maybe you're only sticking one toe into this thing of living for the Lord. 43 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:46,160 Maybe you haven't really gotten wet yet. 44 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:52,240 Maybe you're not completely immersed in the things of the Spirit. 45 00:03:52,240 --> 00:04:00,280 Oh, it's the most wonderful life in the world if you'll only give Him all there is of you. 46 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,400 It's just like that. 47 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:08,640 And if this thing of living a Christian life is worth anything, it's worth everything. 48 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:13,960 It's worth giving everything that you have. 49 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:22,880 Well, we've been talking about the 13th chapter, 1 Corinthians, and the subject of course is 50 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:24,240 love. 51 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:30,800 And I feel that I have every right to preach on this sermon of love. 52 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:38,040 I know that it's vitally important because Paul says in the word that we're to follow 53 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:40,920 after love. 54 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:44,640 It's something that's vitally important. 55 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:53,880 And everybody who's talking about love these days need go to the word of God and really 56 00:04:53,880 --> 00:05:03,400 see what the Bible says about love and what love really is. 57 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:09,000 I suppose if I would have a thousand people and ask their definition of love, I would 58 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:14,160 get a thousand different answers. 59 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:19,960 But the Bible holds the real answer. 60 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:29,400 The word of God gives the real answer, a real definition as to what love really is. 61 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:35,600 And from the standpoint of literature, it is my firm conviction that this 13th chapter, 62 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:41,840 1 Corinthians, is without doubt one of the most remarkable passages that ever came from 63 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:45,640 the pen of man. 64 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:50,760 And we need to get back to the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. 65 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:52,120 All right. 66 00:05:52,120 --> 00:06:00,320 Now we've been talking about what love really is. 67 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,360 What does love do to the individual? 68 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:09,080 What is the real outward manifestation of love? 69 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:15,120 I still contend that love is something you do. 70 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:24,480 You cannot help loving without having it love express itself in something that's very definite, 71 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,240 something outward. 72 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:36,700 There will be the outward fruit of the love that's on the inside. 73 00:06:36,700 --> 00:06:39,320 The next door neighbor will know it. 74 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,420 The person with whom you work will know it. 75 00:06:42,420 --> 00:06:45,200 The man on the street will know it. 76 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:54,720 The one who comes and collects the garbage from your back door will know it. 77 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,720 The man who parks your car in the garage will know it. 78 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:05,680 It's something that's workable. 79 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:12,280 There's an outward manifestation if you have real love. 80 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:15,400 Let me read it again very quickly. 81 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:21,200 Love suffereth long and is kind. 82 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:26,320 We discussed that the other day. 83 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:32,160 Love suffereth long and is kind. 84 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,040 Love envieth not. 85 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,040 We talked about that too. 86 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:42,360 Love vaunteth not itself. 87 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:47,240 That's where I left you in our last little heart to heart talk. 88 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:52,600 The whole emphasis there is on the word itself. 89 00:07:52,600 --> 00:08:01,160 If you really love, you're not going to be talking about it all the time. 90 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:08,720 It'll be something that you will express through your actions. 91 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:14,280 Love that talks of loving is not love. 92 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:21,240 If anyone is constantly protesting to me that they love me, I begin to have doubts in my 93 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,380 own mind. 94 00:08:24,380 --> 00:08:28,260 It does not boast about itself. 95 00:08:28,260 --> 00:08:31,520 It is a great quality. 96 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:38,160 A great quality. 97 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:42,280 Love is not puffed up. 98 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:47,840 And that's exactly where we're going to begin today. 99 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:53,080 That's the sweet reasonableness of love. 100 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:55,800 It's not greedy. 101 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:00,600 Love is never greedy. 102 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:13,880 Love gives and it gives and it gives and it keeps giving and it continues to give because 103 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:19,840 you cannot out give love. 104 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:27,160 And the more that you give of love, the more it comes back to you. 105 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,800 It's something that's workable. 106 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,360 It's reasonable. 107 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:36,920 It is not greedy. 108 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:42,160 That's why it does not vaunt itself. 109 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:49,560 The vaunting of itself is the direct outcome of pride. 110 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:52,120 Love is not puffed up. 111 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,120 Love is never conceited. 112 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,160 Never. 113 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:10,680 When you find a conceited person, when you find somebody who is humble and proud of it, 114 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:18,920 you'll not find love in that heart or the fruit of love from that life. 115 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:21,060 It's never greedy. 116 00:10:21,060 --> 00:10:23,480 It's never puffed up. 117 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:34,000 Then here's something that's so beautiful and we need to take note of it. 118 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:39,200 And if ever we needed it, it's today. 119 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:47,280 Love does not behave itself unseemly. 120 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:55,600 I wish that I could get that across to the thousands and thousands who are talking about 121 00:10:55,600 --> 00:11:10,040 love, who are carrying the placards of love, who have thousands of words to say about love, 122 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:25,720 who are having great demonstrations, trying to prove to the world that they love. 123 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:27,400 Do you want to know something? 124 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:35,120 We need to get back to the Bible again and see what love really is. 125 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:41,800 It does not behave itself unseemly. 126 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,360 Now this has been translated in many ways. 127 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:49,360 The simple meaning is this. 128 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:54,360 Love is always polite. 129 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,920 Love is courteous. 130 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:00,960 Love is never violent. 131 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:08,160 You'll never find love violent. 132 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:12,600 You'll find hate violent. 133 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:19,640 Where there is hatred, you'll find violence. 134 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:22,880 But love is courteous. 135 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,760 It is never rough. 136 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:30,080 Love is never brutal. 137 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:36,080 It does not go around saying ugly things. 138 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:40,800 You know, it's a common expression today. 139 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:47,320 They say, call a spade a spade, whatever that means. 140 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:52,940 But love never says that. 141 00:12:52,940 --> 00:12:57,960 Love does not do that kind of a thing. 142 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:01,040 It just doesn't. 143 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:05,520 Oh, sure. 144 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:11,600 My Aunt Belle always told something on me. 145 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:22,520 She said, when I was a little girl years and years ago, that I had a cousin, Howard, who 146 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:28,320 was just a little older than myself, and he was such a bully. 147 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:35,280 Oh, he was a boy, such a bully. 148 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:45,520 One day I got up on my poor little tottering legs and looked him right in the face. 149 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:58,880 And I said to him, even before I had much usage of the English language, but I said, 150 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:06,520 you lap me and I'll lap you back. 151 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:11,080 Before I even knew what the word slap meant. 152 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:15,920 You lap me and I'll lap you back. 153 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:19,320 Well you see, we talk about love these days. 154 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:20,880 Everybody's talking about it. 155 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,720 But those are only words. 156 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:31,520 In our hearts, we're saying, you slap me and I'll slap you back. 157 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:35,000 And what do we have as a result? 158 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:36,120 Hate. 159 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:43,600 The very atmosphere in which we live is not one of love. 160 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:49,120 The very atmosphere in which we live is hate. 161 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:52,280 It's on all sides of us. 162 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,360 Love is only a word. 163 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:59,600 Our actions are hate. 164 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:08,640 And yet God's word says that love does not behave itself unseemly. 165 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:11,320 It's always polite. 166 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,840 It's always courteous. 167 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:16,220 It's not violent. 168 00:15:16,220 --> 00:15:18,800 It's not brutal. 169 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:19,800 It just isn't. 170 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:25,640 Oh, to get back again to the word of God. 171 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:33,000 What we need is a fresh baptism of the love of God in the hearts of American people. 172 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:40,120 And not only American people, but the people's the world. 173 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:53,320 We need to get back again to the word of God and practice the simple truths of His word. 174 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:58,400 Now mark this, love seeketh not its own. 175 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:07,440 Perhaps that is the profoundest word about the self-emptying capacity of love. 176 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:14,240 It seeketh not its own. 177 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:18,040 It will always think of the other person. 178 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:26,840 Today, of course, everything is based on what do I get out of it? 179 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,880 What is there for me? 180 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,800 What do I get in return? 181 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:46,080 Sometimes I think that if Papa were living, if after all these years Papa would return 182 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:56,760 in the flesh, I think he'd want to go right back to where he came from because the living 183 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:02,920 today is so different than it was when he was a young man. 184 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:09,160 As a young man, Papa was a farmer. 185 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:18,080 And I remember hearing him tell, you know, how those good Missouri farmers would get 186 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:25,000 together and they didn't have the modern machinery that they have now. 187 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:31,640 But they'd go to Mr. Borksted's house and the women would do all the cooking, bake the 188 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:37,200 pies and make the biscuits and prepare the meat. 189 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,480 They didn't go to the store in those days that we tell you to buy the bread. 190 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:52,080 They baked literally dozens and dozens of loaves of bread and they would do the thrashing. 191 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,480 All the neighbors would come together. 192 00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:00,280 Nobody ever said, well, Joe, how much will you pay me? 193 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:08,520 I want so much, an hour, and I'll only work so many hours. 194 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:17,380 In those days, nobody paid the neighbor to come in and help him harvest his crops. 195 00:18:17,380 --> 00:18:25,380 It wasn't a matter of I'll work five hours, I'll work six hours. 196 00:18:25,380 --> 00:18:32,520 As soon as there was sunrise, the neighbors would be there. 197 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:40,060 And they worked until it was dark and nobody complained. 198 00:18:40,060 --> 00:18:43,240 Nobody said a word. 199 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:51,560 If a neighbor was sick, why, I've known my mother to stop right in the middle of her 200 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,640 washing on Monday morning. 201 00:18:55,640 --> 00:19:00,680 And that was just about the greatest sacrifice that mama could make because that washing 202 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,320 was the most important thing in her life. 203 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:06,840 When Mondays came, mama washed. 204 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:12,360 I've known my mother to stop right in the middle of her washing when somebody would 205 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:18,480 come over and say, Mrs. Crumen, Sophie is sick. 206 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:21,040 Would you come over right away? 207 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:29,840 And I have known my mother to stay with a neighbor all that day, all that night, perhaps 208 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,040 all the next day. 209 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:38,640 We got along the best we could without mama for maybe two days, and she'd come home having 210 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,840 had very little sleep just because a neighbor was sick. 211 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:47,320 Do we do that anymore? 212 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:56,560 And yet, you know, we think we are such an intelligent generation, and we're constantly 213 00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:00,480 talking about love. 214 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:06,320 And there never was a generation or never a time when there was so much hate in the 215 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:08,160 world as today. 216 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:11,520 We're talking about something we know nothing about. 217 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:15,880 We're talking about something that we're not practicing. 218 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,320 Love seeketh not its own. 219 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:23,000 Oh, I think it's wonderful. 220 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,160 Seeketh not its own. 221 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:33,800 It is absolutely self-emptying. 222 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:39,560 Notice the next is not provoked. 223 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:44,600 Now the authorized version reads is not easily provoked. 224 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:50,640 The revised has omitted the word easily, for it's not there. 225 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:57,840 That word has been an excuse for many a man for getting into a bad temper. 226 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:08,680 No, love is not provoked, is not exasperated. 227 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:15,800 I think maybe I better stop there a little while and preach to myself. 228 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:25,140 You know, how often I say, you know, it isn't the hard work. 229 00:21:25,140 --> 00:21:26,140 It's the aggravation. 230 00:21:26,140 --> 00:21:29,000 Kind of like that, you know. 231 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,000 Oh, sure. 232 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:36,400 I better stop and build a little campfire right here for myself. 233 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:44,600 Love is not provoked, is not exasperated. 234 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:50,880 Those are all descriptions of what love does to the individual. 235 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:59,200 And all the way through, it is the individual in his relationship to other people. 236 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,200 Know that. 237 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:06,360 We have to live with other people. 238 00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:14,400 If you are a part of humanity, you have to live with other people. 239 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:22,640 And the Word of God is talking about your relationship with your neighbor, your brother, 240 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:29,720 members of your family, with other people. 241 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,160 For you to live is Christ. 242 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:39,760 For me to live is Christ. 243 00:22:39,760 --> 00:23:00,800 And if I do not manifest His love, then I better stop preaching.