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[WW] What is Love? · The Wesley Word

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Wesley Wear.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Gene Aiken.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: I am originally from Aiken, Satchiron.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a 2002 graduate of Clemson University.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: I love coming back here because I can wear as much Arnold as I want and nobody's gonna say a word to me.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I wear it as much as I possibly can.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you take this off, I got purple underneath, so we're all good.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: I always, whenever I'm in the presence of our bishop in Sacharon, is a big Georgia fan.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: I saw him this week, and uh we have an ongoing battle about Clemson in Georgia.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: And he came up to me and he goes, Gene, I need two words from you this week.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: I said, What's that, Bishop?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: He said, I need to hear you say go dogs.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I said, There's no way on God's green earth are you getting those words out of me, Bishop.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: So for three days he punched me and poked at me, and he never got go dogs.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's this week making appointments as to where I'm gonna spend the next year of my life that might not have been my best idea.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Today I want to I want to talk about love.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's kind of a cheap word, I mean, if we're honest about it.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we're gonna talk about a Bible passage you're probably familiar with.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're gonna talk about 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so we're gonna talk about it verse by verse, but I want to read it to you uh so that we get the whole context of everything.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it's probably something that you're familiar with, but just hang in there with me.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: If I speak in the tongues of human beings and of angels, but I don't have love, I'm a clanging gong or a clashing symbol.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains, but I don't have love, I'm nothing.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I've done, but I don't have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Love is patient, love is kind.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: It isn't jealous, it doesn't brag, it isn't arrogant, it isn't rude, it doesn't seek its own advantage, it isn't irritable, it doesn't keep a record of complaints, it isn't happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Love never fails.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: As for prophecies, they will be brought to an end.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: As for tongues, they will stop.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: As for knowledge, it will be brought to an end.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: We know in part and we prophecy in part.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: But when the perfect comes, what is partial will be brought to an end.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child, think like a child.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: But now that I have become a man, I have put an end to childish things.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now we see a reflection in a mirror.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Then we see face to face.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now I know partially, but then I will know completely in the same way I have been completely known.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now faith, hope, and love remain these three things, and the greatest of these is love.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for bringing us here.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your word.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your love.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: God help us to learn to love each other more.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: We ask these things in your name.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I could sit here and I could tell you about all the different Greek words for love because that's normally where somebody goes when they start talking about this.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: But I want to bring things a little bit more practical.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: I love pizza.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite food is pizza by far, hands down.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm fully convinced that whatever your favorite college pizza is, is the best pizza there will ever be.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm here to tell you, guys, if you'll help me out.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Hands down, I don't care what your favorite is, if it's not Papinos, you're wrong, okay?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: You're just wrong.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Period.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Papinos was where Mr.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Knickerbocker's is.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Mr.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Knickerbocker's has no business being there.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: That is Papinos, with its like duct tape on the floor holding the carpet down and nasty stale beer stain smells.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's Papinos, man.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's the best stuff ever.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you are gonna argue some junk pizza like Todaros or what I don't mean, is Todaros even here anymore?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: What is Todaros the thing now?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're all wrong.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's still Papinos, I don't care.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I love pizza.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I love pepinos.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like when we came when I was moving here, and like when you when you get uh an appointment, a new appointment, uh, and you're a pastor, you do like the obligatory drive by the church in the parsonage, and you drive really slow, but you don't drive so slow because gosh knows somebody might recognize you.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: But we did that, and then my wife's like, well, let's go get lunch.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you want to get lunch?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I just looked at her, she goes, Never mind, we're going to Papinos.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Yes, ma'am, we are.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Love, love, love pizza.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I have I've acquired a different taste, all right?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Papinos is still great.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: I would still eat it every day.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I love a good place to sit down and have a cold beer and a good meal.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And in Greer, there's this place called the Southern Growl.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you're ever in Greer and you like a cold beer, or even if you don't like a cold beer and you love good food, go to the Southern Growl.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: The thing is beyond belief.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you do like cold beer, there's 60 beers on tap.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a beautiful thing.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: I love going there.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: The people in my church know that I love going there.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: I have like$250 in gift certificates to the Southern Growl.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: My wife and I'm date night, she's like, where do you want to go?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, baby, you know where we're going.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: We got$250.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think we're doing?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's free.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Love the Southern Growl.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a good time when they're Friday night.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love Clemson University.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, my blood bleeds orange.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: You'll see, like, I have no shame.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I took this picture, I was playing golf, and uh my girls loved the tiger mascot, and the tiger was out playing golf, so the tiger did a little uh hide and seek from my girls, uh, and it was great.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all, I have suckered my girls.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Before we moved to Central, they were drinking the Kool-Aid.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: When we moved to Central, we switched straight to concentrate.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: The way that I know that, when we came to see the church, my my oldest daughter at the time, I think, was like five.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: We start driving around.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't tell her it was right next to Clemson, so we start coming in.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, sweetheart, do you see anything from me?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: She goes, Daddy, there's a tiger paw.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes, ma'am, there is.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: She goes, Daddy, there's another tiger paw.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes, ma'am, there is.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: She goes, Daddy, are we in Clemson?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes, we are.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Daddy, can we go drive by the rock?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, ma'am, we can.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: We went right through downtown, right through campus, right by the rock.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: We paused in front of the rock.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And as we're coming around to go to Moes in downtown, she goes, Hey Daddy, I said, Yes, ma'am.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: She goes, one, two, three, four, the whole chant.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I was in seventh heaven, and my wife goes, Oh, we are in trouble.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: I said, No, we are not.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Love Clemson.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Love this place, love the people, love the atmosphere.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love my girls.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: My girls are my heart.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't sure uh how I would be as a girl dad.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my oldest started middle school this year.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we just bought her a cell phone.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: I am not okay, y'all.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, not legit not okay.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um she is my kind and tender heart.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: She is your first child.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: You can look at her if she's done something wrong and she will be in tears.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Wonderful, beautiful.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I take her with me to go visit people because she just loves them.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's Lily.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all, I am so screwed.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: She is eight years old.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: She is my spunky independent.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: If you can't tell by the haircut, she does what she wants.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: The other night we're sitting there and she was getting in trouble, and uh my wife looked at her and goes, Lily, you got three.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: If you get to three by the time we leave, you ain't going.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you're to one.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Lily looked at my wife and looked at me, looked back at my wife and go, how close am I to two?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all, it wasn't directed at me, so I bury my head in the pillow and died laughing.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: My wife is like punching me, like, this ain't funny.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, it's funny.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: They're very different and very wonderful and bring such joy to my life.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love my wife.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: I am the luckiest man in the world.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: We met doing sohatchie.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we will have been married 15 years this summer.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she is my sanity.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: I am a highly anxious person.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: She is the one who keeps me grounded.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times when I want to go off the rail, she's the one who keeps me sane.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I cannot imagine living a day without her.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: I love God.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love what I do.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing I better mean something different when I say I love my wife and I love Papinos.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because if I mean the exact same thing when I say I love my wife and I love Papinos, y'all, I'm gonna have to crash at Steve's tonight.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because that ain't happening.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing: we have this whole chapter in Corinthians on love, and here's my problem.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: We read it at weddings.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: It was never intended to be about a man and a woman.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: It can apply to a man and a woman, please don't hear me wrong.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: If your heart is set on 1 Corinthians being read at your wedding, go for it.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: If you have been at a wedding where 1 Corinthians has been read, those people are not wrong, still love them, but they're wrong still.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: It has nothing to do with a man and a woman.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Paul is writing Corinthians to talk to them about divisions in their church, and gosh knows, can't we understand that today?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever lived in a more divided America?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's appointment week.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm up to be moved.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: My district superintendent on the way down here, and Steve, when's this podcast going out?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell a story anyway.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: What are they gonna do to me?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: They won't hear it.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: On the way down here, he calls me and he goes, Gene, I talked to an SVRC.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Are you okay if it's like 60% progressive and 40% conservative?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Is that gonna be a problem?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, no, that's fine with me.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing: he's already told me I'm walking into a divided church.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's best case scenario.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're a divided denomination, we're a divided country.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: We can't figure out how to love one another.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: My wife has University of South Carolina aching, aching on her diploma, and I still love her.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: She's an LSU fan, I still love her.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: There can be divisions and love people.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: We don't all have to agree on everything, and so I want to kind of go through Corinthians tonight and just talk about it uh a little bit word for word.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm old, so I still use paper, so y'all just gonna have to deal with it.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels, but I don't have love, I'm a clanging gong or a clashing symbol.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels, but don't have love, I am a clanging gong or a clashing symbol.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: You can say whatever you want to say.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: We live in a country of free speech, and that is a beautiful thing.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: But if what you're saying doesn't have love behind it, you're just making noise.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's all you're doing.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: You're just flapping your lips and making noise.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: If what you say doesn't have love behind it, and listen, that doesn't mean that you and I can't disagree on something.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay to disagree.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, some of you probably have the false idea that Myrtle Beach is a cool place to go.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was there this week.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: It is not a cool place to go.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: But if you like it, we can disagree, and I'll still love you.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: But if I'm coming at you with hate and words, I'm nothing more than making noise that has no purpose whatsoever.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be honest with you, like, it's funny when somebody clashes a symbol once.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's funny.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: But do it like four or five times.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: That junk's annoying.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody wants that.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody wants speech with hate in it.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and everything else, can we just know all the mysteries and everything else?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like legit, has anybody ever figured out stuff?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: No, if you know every single thing there is.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I might have like a quarter of 1%, but 10%, if you know all the rest of it.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then Paul goes on to say, and if you have faith to move a mountain, can I tell y'all, like, when we were little kids and somebody read to you that God can move mountains?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I full-on believe that God can like reach down, pick up a mountain over here, pick it up, take it over here, and drop it down.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: God can do anything, He can move mountains, and even if I believe all of that, and I know every single thing there is to know, but I don't have love.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: I am nothing.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you're like me.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Man, faith is not easy.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: There are some Sunday mornings as a pastor when that alarm goes off at 6 a.m.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: and I'm like, how many times can I hit snooze before I must get out of this bed?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Are they gonna miss me if I don't show up?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: They told me they ain't starting without me.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: There are days where I say, why God?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I in the midst of all this?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: But if I have the strongest faith in the world, but I don't love the people around me, I am nothing.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: You're nothing.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Paul continues, and he says, if I give away everything I have, nobody's doing that.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's just be honest.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody is saying, hey, I'm gonna give away everything I got.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not holding anything back from me.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we like to think we can do that, but if we're honest, we don't.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: We don't give away everything we have.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: But even if we gave away everything we have and we hand over our body to feel good about what we've done, but we don't have love, you receive no benefit whatsoever.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: I remember I went to Sawkhache and we worked on this lady's house.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And uh at the end of the week, she was pissed because we didn't do it the exact way that she wanted.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't look like what she thought it was gonna look like when we when it was done.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Her roof was dry, her floors had new carpet or linoleum, there were no holes in her floors, her plumbing worked, and she was pissed, and I was pissed.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: How dare you?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: We spent this whole week pouring everything blood, sweat, and tears, into your house, and I paid to do it to fix your house, and you're gonna complain?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm man, forget you.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Why was I there in the first place?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Even if I do it all right and for all the right reasons, but I don't do it out of love, I get nothing.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to do something, and and this is probably gonna be a little weird.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know what?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Steve only invites me every once in a while, so I can do whatever I want.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um I want you to look around.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Find somebody you don't, find a face you don't know, other than my face, because I'm gonna have you close your eyes and you don't want to see my face.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: So find a face you don't know.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of burn it into your image a little bit.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Alright?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now I want you to close your eyes.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you have to really close your eyes.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: I know it's weird, nobody likes closing their eyes.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to picture this person.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Think about them.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: You don't know them, but they're here.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: They're part of this family.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Love is patient, and love is kind.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Love isn't jealous, love doesn't brag.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Love isn't arrogant, love isn't rude.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Love doesn't seek its own advantage.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Love isn't irritable.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Love doesn't keep a record of complaints.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Love isn't happy with injustice, but love is happy with the truth.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Love puts up with all things, but love trusts in all things.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Love hopes for all things, and love endures all things.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Open your eyes.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Do you love that person that way?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's what Paul's calling us to.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Even the people we don't know, that list is for them because Paul says this is how you and I in a church are to love one another.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Man, that's hard.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all, there's some people in church I don't like.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Can we just be honest about that?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Steve.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Man, I got a response out of a congregation.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, no, I'm excited now.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: I've been waiting for that moment my whole life, Steve.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: You just you gave me that.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's some people we don't like.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay not to like somebody.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have to like everybody, but can we love everybody?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: My father-in-law, um who's a who's a really good friend of mine, is kind of like his second dad to me.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: He tells me a story.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: He said one night when uh my wife was 14, he was laying in bed with uh his wife, and and he looked over at her and he said, Honey.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Do you like our daughter?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, Well, of course I love her.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, No, that was not my question.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: My question is, do you like our daughter?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: They butted heads a lot.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: You ain't gotta like everybody.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: You ain't gotta like the way that people do things.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't like the way everybody does everything.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: But can you still love them?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Can you still find these words true in them?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: And now we're getting to some good stuff.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Love never fails.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Can you name me anything else that never fails?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, other than death and taxes.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: What else never fails?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Love never fails.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: As for prophecies or preaching, whichever you want to roll there, they will be brought to an end.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: At some point, Steve and I will shut up.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: There will be no more preachers.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: It will come to an end.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: As for tongues, they will stop.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: There will be no more language.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: As for knowledge, it will be brought to an end.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Everything we know is going to be brought to an end.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: That tiny 10% is nothing but all that will be brought to an end.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because we know in part and we prophecy in part, but when the perfect comes, what is partial will be brought to an end.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: I want to pause on that for a second.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: We only know so much.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you ever run into a preacher or a small group teacher or anybody who's trying to teach you about Christianity and they never use the words, I don't know, run away.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Please.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're lying to you.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much stuff that I don't know.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: And why is that a bad thing?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Shouldn't there be some mystery in God?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: Shouldn't there be some things that we can't explain?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: We only know in part and we only preach in part, but only when Christ comes will we fully understand and know everything.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: And what is partial will be brought to an end.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child, think like a child.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: But now that I've become a man, I've put an end to childish things.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: I love politics.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: I know that's like a dirty word, but I've always loved politics.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what drives me crazy about politics?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna pull out something that a politician said like 10 years ago, and where they are now, and they're gonna be like, ooh, look, it's a flip-flopper.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: None of y'all ain't changed your opinion in 10 years.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, opinions change.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Things change.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: When I was five, uh, the the family that used to babysit my brother and I, every year they would bring us to one Clemson football game.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Every year.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: They had a big RV, we'd load up an Aiken, South Carolina, we'd drive up here.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: My family, my mom and dad are big North Carolina Tar Heel fans.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Big North Carolina Tar Heel fans.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: They grew up in North Carolina.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so Big Robert, who whose RV we were in, Big Robert and my big, Big Robert had a horn that said that played hold that tiger, and all the way up here.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: I yelled, Hold that tar heel.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: I have my baby blue on head to toe.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: I was ready to go.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Go tar heels.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: We pulled into Clemson.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: I stepped out of the RV in my baby blue.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: I walked around the RV one time.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: Big Robert laid on the horn and I said, Hold that tiger.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: I looked at mom and dad.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: I said, I'm not going into the stadium with this color on.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: I changed in an instant.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: From that moment on, I have been a Clemson fan.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: I burned every North Carolina thing I had.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: Not really, I just kind of got rid of it.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Mom and Dad wouldn't let me torch anything at five.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: We change.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: We grow.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: We learn.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Paul's saying, listen, you and I are a work in progress.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: We are still developing.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now we see a reflection in a mirror, then we will see face to face.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now I know partially, but then I will know completely in the same way that I've been completely known.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: God knows you completely.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Every single piece, minutia, every bit of you, God knows.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Even the stuff that you don't want to talk about, the stuff that you don't want to confess to, the stuff that you struggle with, God knows all of it.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: God still loves you.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly for who you are, not who you want to be, not who God wants you to be, but God loves you exactly in this moment for who you are, and God knows every single thing.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: And we can only comprehend part of who God is.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all, I serve a big daggum God.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Huge.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Bigger than I can think or imagine.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because why would I want something that I can fit into a little box and make my own?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: If God is not challenging you and pushing you and urging you, find a place where God does.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: A small group.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to Steve, but find a place where God is pushing you because God is always pushing you.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's bigger than you or I can understand.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then we finish with the familiar.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now, faith, hope, and love.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: These three remain.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: And the greatest of these is love.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited about what's coming.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: I have hope.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: I've hope that things can be better tomorrow than they were today.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: I have hope that you guys will do better as a generation than Steve and I did.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: Are they two generations behind us, Steve?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: We're old now.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we'll just go with one.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Makes me feel better at least.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: I have hope.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: I have hope in resurrection.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: I have hope that eternal life continues after death.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Eternal life is here and now and what's to come.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: I have faith that God is faithful to God's word.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: God will not back off of God's word.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: God is faithful.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that faithfulness is what brings you and I salvation.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: And with all of that, greater than all of those is love.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite people, Susan Leonard, used to say that a life connected to God and a life connected to one another is the most meaningful life there is.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever you look at this passage, my hope is that you think about the people that you're sitting around right now.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: You think about the people from your hometown, from your home church.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: All the people in your life.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: God, we thank you for the chance to love.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: We thank you that you are always pushing us.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: We thank you that we are always striving to be more like you every day.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: God, may your grace surround us.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: May it fill us.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: May it push us to love you more, to love one another more.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: We ask all this in the name of Christ, who loved us more than we can imagine.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Wesley Word is a production of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Clemson Wesley, check out our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, get out there and love your neighbor.