Robert Lindsey: Walking In Love.

and the one who fears is not perfected in love we love because he first loved us if someone says I love God and yet he hates his brother or sister he is a liar for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen and this commandment we have from him that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister amen that um that is filled with so many other verses in the Bible um about love and perfect love cast out fear and God is love um but as I as I was just pondering and just meditating on um you know love and and you know being humble convenience um the Holy Spirit would just bring things to light he would just bring things to light about you know um the word and he was showing me um that the the entire Bible is a love story about God's love for us um and the nature of God um see love is a love is a relationship you can't have love necessarily by yourself it's relational um and that's that's reasoned um theologically why God in a sense is not just one person but it it's a relationship you know you've got the father Son and the Holy Spirit and how there's a relationship of loving one another and not only is it that perfect love but we have the ability we've been made his image and his likeness that we too get to experience his love and to love others and we can experience a form of that love um in our in our family and especially when we're we're born when you have a child or you have loved ones or family members you can um experience that love that you know um we don't have children but people talk about you know whenever they have their first child or something that no matter how much you could talk about loving somebody or something it wasn't until that child was born or something that that just something went off that inside of them about loving that child that was there and and that doesn't even compare to the type of love that God has for us um love as I was you know I was curious I was going [Music] through love is such a um it's like the number one topic obviously the whole Bible is he was showing me every verse in the Bible Is Anchored In Love The Source e even when you get to judgment and Justice and all these other things it's Anchored In Love And even though it on the surface it doesn't seem like that and and we'll kind of get into this but um just and this is the issue that much of the world faces they don't understand you know how evil can exist and God can exist and if there's so much suffering pain um how can a loving perfect God exist and a lot of times it it's just as I was experienced just if you go on social media you'll see things people talking about the word love uh oh they love this or they love pizza or they love something else or um it's kind of just become a word without a sense of meaning that people really understand it's just a word um in the Bible here it in obviously in different uh uh translations uh the word love comes up obviously um in some translations it'll say you know almost nearly 500 times on average it's about 300 times you know just depending on because in in the Hebrew Greek and stuff there's there's different forms of love there's a go love another love whether love towards another an intimate love love towards a brother love towards you know for example somebody says I love pizza that doesn't mean it's not the same love as loving your your spouse um but love love is has been say uh diluted because I see all the time well um love wins and and love this and you know you just need to show love and while they will say that they don't understand the the there's two sides of love there's a lovingness of God and then there's a Justice to that love um that in order Justice is required to fulfill love you can't have love without Justice or vice first amen um there I'll share kind of an analogy that many people have talked about whatever but if if you're loved one was um killed in a drunk driving accident and your loved one passed away and the um driver survived and you went before a judge and the judge said you know there at sentencing you know I'm a I'm a loving judge I'm I'm so loving that I'm going to just allow this drunk driver who you know knowingly and and stuff killed your loved one I'm going to let him go Scott for you I'm not going to discipline him in any form I'm not going to send him to jail because you know I'm a loving judge well the the family of those who were there of the loved one who passed they would not think that was loving at all they would say that's an unjust judge that's not a loving just where's the justice and they would there'd be outcry because of the Injustice and so when people just focus on that one thing they don't understand that love because of the Justice a loving judge will say you know there is um Justice that has to be done there's a payment that needs to be paid whether that person has to you know um sit in jail for life or or something like that there's a a just nature in that judge to say that was not correct um and you're held responsible for that and so that's in in a a simplistic sense that is the story of humanity that when Humanity failed and sin entered they a a Justice was to be paid it was needed and that's the whole reason why Jesus um died and came for us let's and we'll just turn I think as everybody can say the most famous verse let's go to John 3:16 let's turn there John 3:16 there are many I think this was probably one of the very first Bible versus me and most anybody that's um as a child going to church or or learning even people non-religious people know this this verse it says in John vers John 3:1 16 it says for God to live the world that he gave his only son that who that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life for God's so loved that's it it's in his nature he can't he cannot love it's not like he can put it aside but he so loved that he gave his son um there's examples I mean if if somebody asked you um if you had a spouse or a loved one um would you allow that person to to Die to Save the other person who was your worst enemy who continually tried to hurt you hurt your entire family hurt you several times would would you sacrifice your love to only child or your spouse for that person so that they may live most people wouldn't most it's it doesn't it's not in our nature um but it's it's God's nature that's that is who he is um it says that while we were Sinners he died for us it wasn't because we could earn it we can't earn his his love uh we can't do anything to to gain it to earn it because there's nothing we're we're not perfect beings in that we've we've fallen short and yet he so loved us love is so it's the perfect kind of love is unconditional we we we say we'll love you we'll make vows that will say unconditional but it's really it it's not there are conditions um a lot of times when we um have relationship ships one with one another it's very hard to get hurt by one another and not not love them not desire to um love them unless we have God in us unless we really have his um his kind of love love inside of us that it then allows us to have compassion and mercy and Grace and forgiveness it's love is a it's the character of Christ as I as I got to spend some time with Pastor Chris I guess it was actually yesterday I believe it was um I just you got to he just imparted you know just a lot of wisdom and just life lessons and different things about um life and God's character and he's been a great example of what it means to love others to have compassion and Grace and I was thinking as a lot of times as I just meditated stuff certain people have different God will communicate to them different ways and dreams other stuff but he'll a lot times kind of showed me um pictures and analogies and stuff he was showing me that for us a lot of times um in the beginning we can as we grow up in life we can become very Jagged like rocks we can be very rough around the edges and easily um hurt people cut people do things like you know and just be very Jagged and unloving and unpatient unkind um proud ful not humble and a lot of times that you know in the earlier stages if as a young adult as you begin to be an adult on your own you begin to uh feel like you're Superman like you can do anything and everything is ow to you and you know all things you know you know everything and and so um you go through life and thinking that your old things thinking you know that you're higher than everybody else so you can treat them according to your standards um you can judge them more harshly because of you're looking you know you haven't at this point killed anybody in your life you haven't done this or that or you've lived closer to the law closer to God's Commandments than others and so you have the right to judge others partially But as God will show me as as you go through life a lot of times as you speak to older um wiser people a lot of times with more color in their hair more silver Grace um they'll you can tell sometimes that they become more gentle more loving um more patient especially a a good example is uh grandparents you know um parents a lot of times they'll raise their children very disciplined very strict and stuff and then when it comes to the grandchildren they're very patient and kind and and less disciplinary and the kids of of those grandchild us like hey you weren't like that to me you know at times and and they'll say well it's different now you know they they've had some life experiences and and people realize kind of what the important things are and and they've seen kid raised kids and stuff so they know um leniency and so you can see at times there's a a sense of patience there um cuz you you can understand with little ones sometimes just the in it's not that they knowingly desire to do evil or we trying to but there's a sense of just learning how to obey um and as as we'll get into the following weeks um love has characteristics in it um obedience humbleness you you can't have pride um and be loving um I mean everybody understands Satan the pride pride comes before the fall but as you begin to go the Lord was showing me as you begin to go through um life's struggles in your your measure of how you all others accountable and hold towards others as you go into those same experiences those same fires those same troubles those same storms you begin to have move from just sympathy uh of something but to more of empathy you've gone through that fire you've gone through that storm and you can understand and relate better and you tend to come to a Brokenness where God will tend to break you out of your your proudness out of your bitterness your anger your unforgiveness um towards others to where you have more love and compassion towards those who have gone through what you've gone through you have a an understanding and so this it's not it doesn't always happen um with age it's not that age just equals maturity and all these things but there is a um life lessons that we can say from going through storms and discipline that as as we are Jagged rocks a lot of times in the beginning um God polishes us he he refines us and you can you can see examples of this when people look into the rivers and you see rocks in the river and the rocks are very smooth and they're they're not as Jagged it's because the water has flowed over them and the rocks have been tumbling against one another they've been polished and and marked um and so it it makes it to where in life God is going to refine us and polish us um to be more alone as he says in his word he disciplines those who loves and so a lot of times I I want to if if you're wise and smart you want to be disciplined in a loving way you want to be corrected you don't want to be let go and and um be stubborn and proud but you want to be corrected so that you can continue to walk in the character of Christ amen let's let's get into more of the word there's so many as a you know there may not be as many verses you can say on obedience I mean there's a lot of humbleness or whatever there's I think there's more vers I mean like I said the entire Bible is anchored in love every verse is going to be in love but there were so many verses as I was studying I was like Lord I don't know there I mean every verse obviously is ruding enough so which verses should I look at and there I mean I have a whole list we won't obviously read through um all of them or even get to um much of them but it was kind of hard it's kind of like when you go to a an ice cream shop yeah and they have 20 flavors and it takes you 20 minutes to pick one flavor because there's too many options versus if you just go sometimes to cafeteria what or somewhere it's got three flavors you know it's chocolate vanilla or strawberry it's pretty quick and easy to decide you're like well I don't like chocolate so there I'm doing this or you know something like that um so that's what I felt like as I was trying to um study and see the Lord there's so many good verses I mean we just read from first John and in that context there's so many good verses and so many um pastors and leaders who preach a lot of times just on one verse they you mean there's so much packed and and that's what I'm just praying over all of us here that listen and hear is that we continue to chew on these things love love seems so simple people say how you going to preach on talk about love that's kind of basic and stuff but from my experience my own personal experience it may sound basic but it's it's one of the most left out characters of Christ in today's society and especially in the church that is not focused on and and we'll get into at the end here in the First Corinthians uh chapter 13 the love chapter about how love if you do all these things but you have no love it's it's pointless um there there's so much to do with love and why that needs to be the source of root of everything that we do uh in our lives let let's go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 22 Matthew 2 2 let's go to verse starting verse 34 we read read all the way to verse verse 40 so it says uh verse 34 but when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they gathered together and one of them a lawyer asked him a question testing teacher which is the greatest commandment in the law and he said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind this is the greatest the greatest and foremost commandment the second is like you shall love your neighbor as yourself upon these two Commandments hang the whole law and the prophets right there is one of those powerful verses where Jesus himself in my Bible it's red letter but Jesus himself was asked what's the greatest commandment and says love the Lord your God we are if if we love anything else above love God if we love our spouse our children ourselves more than we love God we're out of order it's not true love it's not what the purpose that God created us for um he's Eternal he's he's our creator and he has given us the ability to love him and if we fully understood if we could fully understand and comprehend his love that we wouldn't live the way we live today we wouldn't um act the way we do we wouldn't even throw away that the word love there there's um many I you know I love reading the word and stuff but also love um having a balance and just listening to other people's test tonies other people's stories um and there's a lot of examples of people in fact who have uh or even I've listened to hundreds of near death experience stories you know that of people saying who they've been in an accident or or in a a surgery or whatever it was and they temporarily passed on and some of them had visitation some of them you know went to hell some went to heaven others whatever but whenever they encountered Jesus everyone of them said it was this type of love this un this amazing love that they could not Express in words it was this overwhelming it just like this the song as my wife to play that How He Loves Us on there at the end talks about his love is like an ocean we we just we can't fathom his love and what it means but some people will say they they've had that glimpse of just you know where they've passed them on and the the love that they have for Christ even their loved ones they they they don't want to go back they want to just be in his presence there's a longing to be in his love and be in his presence and we won't fully understand that until he's with us until we're in his presence um and it's something that we can look forward to but God commands us to love him that's the first commandment but it also says then it says second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself this is what many people do understand they'll say that they love God but yet hate their neighbor they'll say oh I I love God that mouth those words but inside there's bitterness and anger and they they don't love uh their fellow brother who made of a different denomination or or at a different level or different understanding or even a non-believer they don't have love for them you know they they don't care about them and so they don't realize that without that Christ love in them by just saying it it's their actions um their heart is is far from what it means to love God because he says if you love me you also love others he talks about you know um loving the bride also loving your bride loving Christ as he loves us let me see here praise God before I go to First Corinthians 14 love is uh sacrificial love in order to love you have to give up something you have to give up of your time of your a lot of things especially people who may have uh children at times you know um and then I a lot of times I Envision that's how God sees us in the same relation that would if if you have a child who is going you know whether they're young or they don't fully know or they're older and they're going astray and they're disobedient um it can be hard to to love them if they're not going to obey you or listen to you and yet when we God instructs us to do things that are for our good and we don't listen to him or we don't he his instruction he's still kind and patient towards us um let's let's turn to First Peter 1 Peter 4 First Peter chapter 4 chap 4 verse 8 let me let me go and start actually uh verse 7 it says the end of all all things is near therefore be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer so here it say all things is here above all though says above all keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins amen above all keep fent in your love for one another because a love covers a multitude of sins forgiveness there let's let's turn to Matthew Matthew chapter 18 Matthew chapter 18 we'll start in verse 21 uh I've got as as our Bibles a lot of times have headings here it talks about to's forgiveness and and so I'd like to just read we'll read from verse 21-35 just to get context but this is one of the most important um deep um you can say Parables or whatever that we can apply in our lives so let's read it verse 21 then Peter came up and said to him Lord how many times shall my brother sin against me and I still forgive him up to seven times Jesus said to him I do not say to you up to seven times but up to 76 seven times for this reason the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves and when he he had begun to settle them the one who owed him a 10,000 talents was brought to him but since he did not have the means to repay the master commanded that he be sold along with his wife and children and all that he had and repayment be made so the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before saying have patience with me I will repay you everything and the master of that slave felt compassion and he released him and forgave him the dead but the slave went out and found of his fellow slaves one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred dinar way less and he seized him and began to choke him saying pay back what you owe so his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him saying have patience with me and I will repay you but he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he would repay back what he was Ed so when his fellow slaves saw what had happened they were de grieved and came and reported to their master all that had happened then summoning him his master said to him you Wicked slave I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way that I had mercy on you and his master moved with anger handed him over to the torturers until he would repay all that was owed him my heavenly father will also do the same to you if each of you does not forget his brother from your heart wow amen wow how many times in my own life this this Parable um that he told constantly comes up in my own life where he'll remind me the Lord will remind me when ever somebody you know I'm married and I'll get angry at my wife for no fault of her I'll just be angry for something I guess I did or whatever it may be but I'll get angry at her and the Holy Spirit will often remind me how many times have I forgiven you how patient am I with you how many times have I forgiven you of seven times 77 times and I will sometimes all quickly you know in my heart forgive my wife or just move on and sometimes it's longer than it should be but I'm so thankful that he reminds me that he disciplines me and he says remember how many times you've messed up how many times you've sinned how many times you've done this and that and you've come to me thousands of times now you know in your lifetime I can say thousands of times said Lord forgive me of the sin forgive me of this or that and he forgives me you know I can repent sincerely wholeheartedly and he removes it he he forgives me he doesn't hold it against me but in his love and and mercy he'll remind me just like this other slave who was forgiven much more to forgive his brother or sister um if you don't have the Holy Spirit the conviction in your heart of forgiving another one ever something is wrong something is wrong because like the Lord says he disciplines those he loves you don't want to have a sear conscience you you want to to have a fear of the Lord as it says you want to be remed of his grace and mercy the the word talks about the same measure that you measure others will be the same measure that's measured towards you in the you could say social media realm as people lash out I mean this whole sermon is on just your tongue and all these things and words I am often very cautious um with my words and with my judgments upon somebody because I know that that same judgment will come back upon myself if I'm going to hold somebody very harshly and very hold a high standard to them the Lord is going to hold a high standard towards me and will deal harshly with me there are times where I'll I'll you know whatever it's with my wife or somebody and it's like Lord you cry Vengeance Lord Justice Lord have they hurt me they hurt me badly and the Lord will remind me of how many times not not that he's bringing it up against me of the sin that I did or how I hurt him but he'll remind me of his love and mercy and Grace and I will continually say Lord you are great and merciful i i a lot of times I'll just is I'm driving you're so merciful Lord You're So longsuffering Lord you are so merciful gracious because of all the sin of all the seeds of sin that I had planted and done in my life and not only did you forgive me of those sins but many of them that were harvested you went and you uprooted The Roots so that I would not reap a harvest of what I had Stone and that is only because of the grace and mercy and love that he has that's so unconditional so merciful the Lord was showing me before you know I was like Lord I was kind of like love it's a big topic like you can go so deep on preaching on love and endless you could go endlessly and preaching about love but really if anybody was asked to come up and and talk about Christ or or share or preach or teach or whatever the one easiest thing that somebody could preach on is love just the love of Christ they don't even always have to go to the word and start putting scripture Exes in their own lives they're your testimony of how God has loved you and as you begin to think you think about all the times that God so loved you that he was so gracious with us he was so gracious with me that he is so Lov so kind and patient with me and a lot of times people do not experience that they they don't know that they've experienced his love um in certain ways I'll share a quick story um a man of God was I don't know the whole details it's of of the story exactly but he basically I don't remember I believe he had a visitation of an angel or something and he was um talking about just the love of God and how and the angel was mentioned to him um showed him I guess a vision or something like that and he saw um it was like in a Muslim country and he saw uh a Muslim who was his his profession was selling Goods of food produce and so he had to go to the market every day and in order to make a living He sell his produce and so he went through all the the streets and and selling wasn't selling anything all day and so this man was watching in the vision and he was saying look look at what God does look at his his love and this man he God had set up this vendor this one person had orchestrated that he would go and he ends up buying all of the men's produce enough that he had more than enough so that he could provide for his family and that Muslim man after receiving the blessing and and all of this stuff he gave credit to Allah and he was so thankful and the you know the Christian man who saw this he was like but it it wasn't Allah who blessed him you know it wasn't it was God and His grace and mercy who actually blessed him and yet God didn't receive the credit but but he was showing him that many people today many atheists many other other religions other people people are experiencing God's love the Bible talks about it will reain on the just and the unjust um just so many things that we have the sunlight the crops just the breath of life that without God and and there will be a time in the in the last days when God removes his spirit and that'll show what happens when there's a Godless earth when when when God removes his loving compassion many people do not understand that the blessings that they receive even if it seems so small is just simply the kindness and love and mercy of God and what he shows upon us and so that was just a a an interesting story an example of showing that God even in his Mercy not until eternity or or later whether that person even rejects God God will have examples of how he showed his goodness and love towards towards all Humanity praise God but we need to um have that type of Love towards others who don't even show that same Love Don't reciprocate that same kind of love towards us we need to have the Christlike type of love it says in you don't have to turn there but in in Colossians chapter 3 it says therefore as God's chosen people chapter 3:12 therefore as God's chosen people holy and dearly Lov close yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience bear with each other and forgive one another if you have grievance against someone forgive as the Lord forgave you and all these virtues and and over all these virtues puts on love which binds them all together in perfect Unity want to highlight there it says put on love you don't have to turn here but in in 1 Corinthians 16:14 it says do everything in love there's there's hundreds of verses I could go through about putting on love do everything in love all these things it says you know Ephesian husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church it says uh Ephesians 4 with all humility 4 verse two genous patience bearing one another in love we are to love one another praise God let's let's as we come towards the end I want to end with First Corinthians actually before we go there let's before we end 1 Corinthians 13 let's go to Matthew 7 Matthew 7 quick let's go there Matthew 7 verse 15 it's talking about a tree and its fruit read verse 15 to verse 23 it says says beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly of rabous wolves you will know them by their fruits grapes are not gathered from Thorn bushes nor fixed from thistles are they so every good tree Bears good fruit but the bad tree Bears Bad fruit a good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire so then you will know them by their fruits we just pause there by our fruits we are known do we have love are we loving we don't need to is it by our character do we have compassion humility are we constantly bitterness short tempered long impatient it's by your fruit people will know you verse 21 not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my father who in heaven will enter many will say to me on that day Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles and then I declare I will declare to them I never knew you leave me you who practice lawlessness that is a verse there that talks about them saying did we not prophesy in your name did we not cast out demons then we not perform Miracles how is it that these people did all of these acts and yet the Lord says I never knew you was love in those actions was love the source of those actions did was there love in their heart many many people like I I was sharing about these near death death experiences many of them who say they experienced this incomprehensible love undescribable love many of them have said you know different experiences but many have said that one of the things the Lord asked them or brought up to them was when they were going back was talking about did you learn to love what did you do with love did you how is your love walk that was the thing he didn't ask you how many people did you heal how many people did you save how many demons did you cast out many of them talk about his emphasis on love love how how did you love one another and and so we can see that that Rings True by reading the word here as as we were talking about here it says they say I never knew you is that because love was not in their actions they they worked in gifts they worked in the gifts that had been provided they cast out demons they did Miracles they may have had it that but did they do it in love we'll read here as we end here in chapter 1 Corinthians chapter 13 let's turn there First Corinthians chapter 13 this is the love chapter that everybody talks about the exence of love I'm going to it's a short chapter but it is one of the most impactful verses um that most most people should keep at the front of their minds when they especially when they're doing Ministry let's read it and then we we'll discuss it sorry chapter 13 verse1 if I speak with tongues of mankind and of angels but do not have love I have become a noisy gong or a clinging symbol if I have the gift of Prophecy and know all Mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all Faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love I am nothing and if I give away all all my possessions to charity and if I Surrender my body so that I may Glory but not have love it does not it does me no good verse four love is patient love is kind it is not jealous love does not brag it is not arrogant it does not act disgracefully it does not seek its own benefit it is not provoked does not keep an account of wrongs suffer it does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth it keeps every confidence it believes all things hopes all things endures all things Love Never Fails why does love never fa because God is love and God never fails but if there are Gifts of Prophecy they will be a done away with if there are tongues they will cease if there is knowledge they will be done away with for we know in part in prophesying heart but when the perfect comes the partial will be done away with when I was a child I used to speak like a child think like a child reason like a child when I became a man I did away with childish things for now we see dimly then face to face now I know in part but then I will know fully just as I have also been fully known but now faith hope and love remain these three but the greatest of these is love the greatest of these is love I could have just spoke today on this one chapter because in it is there's so much depth there's so much that we can chew on you will never run out of things the Lord will Enlighten you bring to your to your heart on loving one another because it it's the foundation it's the Source that's that's why the Lord kind of when he was giv me loving humble obedience the the very beginning part was love if you're not going to do it in love it's it's not of God here in the beginning it talks verse one it says I can speak of tongues angels and I do not have long love it's like a noisy plain symbol I've experienced and probably some of if you're on social Med you experience the even among Christians just the hatred or the boastfulness or the put down even if it's truth even if you're correct the way you go about it sharing truth sharing that is determine the motive that you have that God God sees how you relate that truth a lot of times people because of the delivery system if they tell you if they tell you truth but they tell you in a mean demeaning angry tone you won't receive it uh many of us have I I know when um at one point when I was in I we were in California on Venice Beach and it's known for just a lot of people walking a boardwalk and such and that was probably one of the other I'm sure I've seen it before but one of the memoral times where I saw those you know call themselves Christians and they were holding pickets and saying you know you're going to hell or God hates you or you know sin and and stuff like that and yelling at people and while they may be true they may be quoting scripture I didn't see not one person running up to them saying I want what you have I want that Jes anger that you know that they weren't saying wow look at that loving person in fact I remember now now that I remember watching a video I believe it was maybe very Comfort Living Waters or something he does a lot of evangelism and interviews and stuff and he he he went up to one of those uh people and he asked hey what's your conversion rate you know how many how many times have you had somebody with those signs come up to you and give their life to Christ or or say wow I want you what you're sharing and that person had been doing it for years I think he said and he said no nobody never never and it just kind of it's not that it's impossible because there are ways people can come to Christ in in so many ways but that that kind of tells it lends a hand to the the motive and and the delivery system of how many people when you show the love of Christ the love of Christ is attractive that's why um a lot of Muslims you know because understanding that all of the god that they believe is the god of the Bible and stuff but their their God is he's not a personal love is personal it's a relationship he's not a personal God and so when they have an experience many of them in the places where they don't have access where the Bible's banned or whatever it may be are having visions Angelic visitations or the Lord himself is coming to them and saying I'm Jesus Christ and and they're experiencing the love of Christ and people who are going in there in the underground churches are experiencing the love of Christ and dying for their faith many of us in the western side that we we don't understand this um sacrificial type of love to be a martyr but here it says it talks about verse three if I give all away all my possession charity and it says if I Surrender my body basically if I die a martyr death persecution St but I don't have love it does you no good no matter what we do how we preach the gospel whatever we do if we don't have it rooted in love if our heart is not posture is not right if the purpose is not to be loving to help them if the purpose is something great if we're trying to get an end result or trying to manipulate somebody you know we see a lot of people in Ministry at times um manipulating people for you know to be their slave or to give them money or whatever it should never be love is not manipulated you can't you can't manipulate somebody to love you that would that you can't go into a contract and and say you know coercion that that's it's not freely done there has to be um a decision person's will to to decide CU love love doesn't happen with Force that's the whole reason of why God has given us the ability to love him he's given us the ability to reject him and if he didn't give us the ability to reject him we wouldn't have that Free Will choice to experience what it means to choose him just like our children or people that come to us when you have somebody that loves you it it it's a it's a god kind of love inside that you get to experience when you have somebody shared compassion and love and it makes you desire um intimacy but I just want to as a as I close I just wanted to a lot of times people will just emphasize love love love as if you know um Justice you know there there's a balance God has a balance to it and there is a time of he's being very merciful and gracious to US during this time this age of Grace and people are saying where's the Justice where's the justice of this it will come but because of his Mercy you know we don't a lot of time we don't want to if we fall we don't want to be judged instantly we want God we want his forgiveness and Grace and so we need to ALS also have that same mercy and Grace towards others towards others that have wronged us um that have hurt us the Lord show says in his words if if we don't forgive others he's not going to forgive us and so we need to walk in love uh we need to walk in humbleness and obedience and we'll I'll get into that Lord with next week the other attributes of what love means what what what does it mean to love but we need to in everything we do it needs to be at the Forefront of what we do when we're working when we're talking to one another our motive has to be heart postured towards love we have to patience as we were reading love is patient It's Kind it's not jealous it does not brag it's not arrogant it's humble we we need to have a heart posture of Love towards others we need to be the servant and realize that we have been forgiven much says much has been given th those who have been forgiven much forgive more right those who've been who have been loved much love much and so we need to keep at the Forefront of our minds that we have been forgiven we have been graciously forgiven so many times that we need to walk in humbleness and forgiveness with our loved ones we need to as we are talking with those who may be deceived or um just misunderstood or misunderstand that we need to be gracious in our approach and our words towards them loving and patient with them praying for them praying that they the veil of deception will being praying that God will work on their hearts there's there's a balance um in in all things and so we need to as the Lord was just saying we need to continually be in his word the more that we're in his word the more that the love Flows In us and it's from that that it's it becomes a a bubbling out towards others if a lot of times you can tell if they're not loving I 90% of the time tell you they're not in the word because if you read his word conviction comes in his word the more time you spend with the Lord he'll bring conviction he'll work on you and that's the fruit that you see from it often times people in the work environment talks about not being so with your with your words but by your actions um the the same preach the gospel at all costs and if necessary use words you know in the workplace you don't have to if you constantly talk about God and yet you are harsh and unforgiving and judgmental and stuff they're not going to want your Jesus that you talked about but if you don't if you're silent in your words but you're loving you show the character of Christ humble you know you're longsuffering you're patient and kind with them they'll say wow look at the nature of this person and they may ask you what what what makes you this way and opens up opportunity it's the love of Christ you can share the gospel with them and show them I can be loving because God Lov I can be so forgiven because he forgave me so much and so we need to keep that out of the Forefront of everything we do as we those who may prophesy give prophetic words or heal you know not look at somebody and who needs healing and go well I'm I'm out of time or I have all this other stuff there's a balance and patience you have to have a compassion for those people because if you were in their shoes you would you would think differently amen amen God is loved hallelujah hallelujah let let's everybody stand with me as we as we close in prayer the Lord is is uh you know work he's he's polishing me as as a as as I just be a be a willing vessel to just be obedient say Lord you know I may not have all these credentials I may not know exactly what to say but I want to be loving I want to be obedient I want to get in your word and come up here and share your heart with others and the more that we we do that the more that we spend time with him the more it reflects the more we grow and so we need to desire to spend more time with him personally if we don't go back to the source if we're not we can come to church here on Sundays and and come and try and get fill up our gas te you know and try and get charged but often times it it runs empty during the week and it's not the pastor's job or the leaders and speakers job continually to pour into you and that be your only source we need to get to the source of of God and his word and have a relationship and say Lord speak to me today every day let me put on Love Today Lord continually be meditate on this word love how can I be loving to one another how can I be loving towards my kids toward my spouse towards my coworker towards my boss who who is just so unloving towards me so evil Wicked against me how can I show love towards them Lord give me opportunities to show love in my actions and not just my words Lord Lord you just ask that you give us give us Lord yes the nature that you have give us the spirit of love give us the Heart Lord renew our hearts to love one another that in all things that we would do that we would do it in love towards one another but he said you not only are you love but it says you're truth Lord and so just because we may do something in love does not mean that it's from necessarily you we need to do things in love loving kindness in truth Lord so as we speak truth to our brothers and sisters to those in the Lost Lord let us have a humbleness Lord let us have patience to share your love to share your story Your Love Story with them to share our testimony of how you've forgiven us how you are long suffering with us Lord let us not forget and be that slave who did not recognize how much he was forgiven and then he did not forgive less Lord help us remind us convict us when we hold bitterness or anger towards one another when we're unloving continue to speak to us Lord that we may be polished that we be be convicted and have a heart to love others Lord help us to love and in order for us to do that we need to have more of you we need to have you in us to love we can't love without you lord because you are love yes Lord Lord we ask today I want everybody just to just to ask the Lord just declare and say Lord let me be loving to one another just just start praying just pray that love would fill our hearts that you remove all bitterness all anger all unforgiveness Lord yes Lord let let your nature reside in US Lord let your nature let the character of Christ reside in us let others may they look at us and see reflection of you Lord by our love by our action in what we say Do Lord not just by the words that are spoken by the gifts that we may perform or do Lord that it would not be done in vain but that we would just have a burning desire to love one another in your truth Lord Lord forgive us as we hold bitterness against others Lord let us not hold on to bitterness unforgiveness Lord let us not continue drink that poison Lord let us for one Lord of those who have hurt us Lord who have hurt us deeply yes Lord Heal our hearts Lord Heal our WS Lord give us a new heart a repentant Heart Lord towards you yes tenderize us tender our hearts let us not be hard-hearted towards others let us not close off thank you holy GH others who have hurt us Lord because if we close them off we put a barrier between you and us Lord let us not block and put a hindrance between for us and your forgiveness Lord Lord we thank you we thank you Lord for your goodness your loving patient kindness towards us Lord so we just ask that every day Lord as simple as this may seem Lord as simple as this topic may seem that it would be Roots the source of everything that we do Lord that love would be the source that of every we do in our lives Lord that it would point to you that would reflect your character that they begin to see Christ in US Lord so we just thank you Lord we thank you for the word today thank you that you would continue to speak to us Lord Beyond this time continue to to love on us kindly so that we can also be kind and loving and compassion to others in Jesus name am amen amen sh Revelation yes sir you know 1 Corinthians 14 talks about what people come from people have something so I had something before um we ever started and it goes along with what you [Music] said so what God revealed to me and I saw it I'm calling it a revelation but what God revealed to me and I saw it is that I saw the word of God and it was big his words didn't look normal they look bold and they look big and the Lord the Lord spoke to me said my word which is alive is pregnant and what he spoke to me what I sense that he was showing me is that his word is pregnant ready to give birth and when we abide in him and his word abides in us we get pregnant every scripture is pregnant and when we're abiding in him and his word is abiding in us as you spoke that we need you can tell when someone's not abiding in but when we abide in him his word abides in us we become pregnant and then it's so much easier to walk in that love how you preach the B about today and I felt little more amen yes when we abide in him thank you Jesus he abides in us we can you can tell you can tell if somebody's been drinking you can tell somebody's been smoking because you the fragrance yes off of them they're they're attitude their emotions and so likewise when somebody is abiding in him and they come at you angrily and you respond in love they're like that's what's going on you're supposed to yell at me you're you're not supposed to act that way why are you so patient it diffuses the love of God diffuses that it makes the enemy run it the enemy can't operate in his love and so it is it's something that we're going to need to in the last days in these last days as wickedness and talks about Wicked all these things hating one another is going to happen um against family members and you'll be able it it won't just be at that point something that you you'll be able to see love walking in them it will be actually a tangible presence glow upon them that you'll be able to see amen praise God hallu amen glory to God thank you Jesus well before we close I just want to share uh just quick announcements every Sunday we're here at 5:00 amen we've got our website um Jesus Harvest ministries.org so if you want to share that with people on there we've got the flyer the address we've got directions um we've got donation there we've we've got the offering box in the back um so let me let me quickly pray for those just those who um have a cheerful heart and give and sew into this ministry Lord we just thank you for those who have a a desire and a heart to sew father into your kingdom into your purposes Lord just pray that you would bless the sewer Lord that they would reap a harvest Lord that they would see fruit Lord in their lives Lord so we just pray over their offerings and their gifts Lord to you it's it's not to man it's but it's to further your kingdom and your purposes Lord so we just pray a blessing over them Father we just thank you for the cheerful GI Lord in Jesus name Amen Let me just pray the blessing of you as it says the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord cause his face to shine on you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his face to you and give you peace amen amen praise God we are