Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / 1 Corinthians 13 - God’s Love Sets Us Free

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1 Corinthians 13 - God’s Love Sets Us Free · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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1st Corinthians 13 this morning, if you have your Bibles, turn
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there and it won't be a long message because I covered half
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of this book last week and we'll we'll complete it today.
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So First Corinthians 13 is not a chapter just to read and hear
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words. I'm thinking as I was studying
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it today that this teaching in First Corinthians 13 about what
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love is, you could put your name in all these little definitions
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of of what it is and find that you have struggles with it.
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You have challenges of doing it or living it out, and this isn't
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something you can do in your own strength.
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This has to be done by the Holy Spirit and when you find that
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you're a flawed and you're not able to love this way, don't
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beat yourself up to say Lord, I want you to do this in me
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because I can't do this apart from you, from you.
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It's as though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
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but have not love. I've become a sounding brass or
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a clanging symbol. And though I have the gift of
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prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and
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though I have all faiths that I could remove mountains, but have
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not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
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to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but
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have not love, it profits me nothing.
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Love suffers long, so you can put your name in there.
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Just quietly say to yourself and to the Lord, I suffer long.
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Love is kind. Love does not envy.
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Love does not trade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave
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rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil,
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does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears
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all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures
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all things. Love never fails, but whether
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there are prophecies, they will fail.
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Whether there are tongues, they will cease.
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Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
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For we know in part and we prophecy in part.
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But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in
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part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a
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child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.
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But when I became a man, I put away childish things.
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For now we see in a mere dimly, but then face to face.
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Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as also I am
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known and now abide Faith, hope, love, these three.
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But the greatest of these is love.
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Father, we read this chapter understanding it's about your
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love, your agape, your unconditional, undeserved love
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that you give to each of us. And Father, I pray that you
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would help us to read this periodically just to see how
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much we are either not becoming more like you in our daily life,
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or we are encouraged understanding that you are
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causing us to begin to to live our lives out this way, That we
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actually do these things by the power of your Holy Spirit.
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That we're not uptight, that we're patient, that we're kind,
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that we're loving, that we esteem others more highly.
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And we do ourselves all the things that are all about you
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and how you lived your life when you were on the earth and how
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you taught your apostles and your followers.
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And so, Lord, please bless your people today.
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Encourage us, do in US, Lord, what we're not capable of doing
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in ourselves. For Lord, we want to be these
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kind of people. And we just ask these things in
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your name, Jesus, Amen. So some thoughts on this
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chapter. Cindy and I read this when we
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first got married because it meant a lot to us.
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We were just young kids, 20 and 18 coming out of the world.
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I had long hair, former hippie got my hair cut off 1/2 an inch
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to please my father-in-law. My wife had a mini skirt on.
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It was surrealistic. As I look the pictures by my
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bedside, I look at it and I think about all the years God's
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taken us through hard times, challenging times, times we
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regret, times that we look back and smile and this thank God for
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the experiences. But learning to live and be in
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love with God is a process and a journey.
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Proverbs 817 says I love those who love me and those who seek
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me diligently will find me. I thought about that verse this
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morning. The Lord loves us, but He really
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loves us when He knows we love Him back.
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The Bible says we love Him because He first loved us.
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So the love relationship with God begins with Him loving you
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and me. While we were yet sinners,
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Christ died for us. And so I was thinking about how
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much do I seek Him diligently? I try to every day to start my
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day to seek Him. But some days are crazy, right?
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You get up and you're so busy and you got so much stuff to do
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that you find yourself taking off in your life without seeking
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Him, without asking him for direction, without asking him
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for help. Maybe on the fly you do it.
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But it's it's, it's a difference between diligently and
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superficially seeking him. And sometimes we find ourselves
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not sensing God's presence in our lives because we haven't
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been taking time to spend seeking him.
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And he said, if we spend time seeking him, we will find him.
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And there's nothing better than having the presence of God in
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your life and experiencing that. The thing you come to church for
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isn't to just get information. You're praying.
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And I'm praying to God, help us find you today.
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And the challenges of life in the midst of the adversity and
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the struggles and the things we all find challenging, the
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temptations, the setbacks, the failings, whatever it might be,
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that we might come here and find hope again and be reminded that
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God is with us and he'll never leave us or forsake us.
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He's not like an earthly father who can easily be disappointed.
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He's never disappointed because he knows the way we are and, and
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he expects our failings, but he doesn't leave us in our
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feelings. He comes to our rescue to bring
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us out of the feelings and out of the mistakes and out of the
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mock at times we find ourselves in to restore us into that
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relationship with Him of love. The apostle John tells us in the
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14th chapter about what the key is in regard to this love
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relationship. And these are the words in your
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Bible, the red letter. This is actually Jesus actually
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speaking. He says, if you love me, keep my
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commandments. And I used to read that.
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And I think this responsibility I have to keep and do work
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harder. And lots of times like I didn't
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want to like keep his commandments.
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I didn't want to obey him. I wanted to do what I wanted to
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do. I wanted to keep my plans in
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place and at times in my journey is learning to be a follower of
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Jesus Christ. I found that I was disobedient
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and yet he still loved me and he still loves you.
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But that deep relationship that can be established and developed
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with God is this internal desire that Lord, I really want to
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follow you because I love you, not because I have to.
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I want to follow you because I'm learning how much you love me.
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And if you love some and you don't want to intentionally hurt
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them or betray them, He says, then knowing when he tells us we
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have to endeavor to keep his commandments, He says, and I
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will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper,
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that he may abide with you forever, the spirit of truth.
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And the world can't receive because it neither sees him nor
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knows him. But you know him, for he dwells
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with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans.
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I will come to you. Isn't that cool how God does
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that? He tells us like this heavy
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thing, if you love me, keep my commandments.
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And then right away he realizes that we're not going to do it
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without a helper, right? The Holy Spirit, that's his
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grace. And he gives us the Holy Spirit
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to do this work of obedience in our lives, give us a desire to
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be obedient. So the whole Bible is full of
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teachings on this love relationship that the Father
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desires to have with us. And my wife tells me, and we've
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been married a long time, the thing she cherishes most are the
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times that we can just talk together and pray together.
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It's not the stuff that I can get her do for her or whatever.
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It's it's deeper. It's heart to heart, right?
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It's communicating your heart to your lover's heart, your bride's
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heart. If you're married, and then the
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same kind of love relationship to God is tender and precious to
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Him. When you pour your heart out to
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Him and want to talk to Him and share your dreams and your
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desires and the longings you have and the vision that He's
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given you as a family, for your marriage, for your home, for
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your kids, your grandkids, everyone that enters into your
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life, your workers, your coworkers.
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This this love relationship. And the fun part for me in life
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is to watch the people I know and I care most about initially
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my family and then you guys. Watching how God uses you to
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love people unconditionally. Seeing you forgive people for
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things that most people would never even consider forgiving
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anybody for. I watched Erica Kirk last Sunday
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in her short eulogy on what her husband meant to her.
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And this woman was so empty of herself and so full of the grace
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of God that she was able just to be a vessel of this love for
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everyone. But also the person who killed
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her husband. She forgave him.
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Now, maybe some of us would come to that kind of place or
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conclusion down the road in our life, but this is just a few
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days after her husband was taken from her through that violent,
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senseless killing. I listened to testimonies of
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people that serve in government, Not all of them, but a lot of
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them that spoke from their heart about their love for Jesus
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Christ and their love for their country and their love for their
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fellow man. That's rare, isn't it?
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You don't hear that in media, you don't hear that in
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Hollywood, and usually you don't hear it in everyday life and the
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people you run with or you work with in Galatians and Ephesians.
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We learned these things when we went to Bible college many years
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ago, and we're still trying to, you know, submit and yield to
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the reality of these verses. Ephesians 518.
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It uses the illustration of alcohol and spiritual life, and
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there's nothing wrong with someone having a drink, but
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there's something wrong when someone has too much to drink.
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Because when they have too much to drink, what are they
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controlled by? The alcohol, right?
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And the alcohol then causes problems in homes and drunk
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driving and abuse and all kind of terrible things when it's not
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managed properly and maturely. But Paul used an illustration
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that all the people could understand because most people
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at one time or another have been drunk and they knew what they
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would act like if they were drunk.
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She says don't be drunk with wine where it's an excess, but
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be filled with the Holy Spirit. And if we're believers, we know
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the difference between 2 extremes.
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When we're filled with the Holy Spirit, it's all about God first
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and everyone else 2nd. It's no longer about me or you.
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It's about this self selfless kind of love that impacts the
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rest of the world. Someone once said people don't
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care how much you know until they see how much you care.
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And if there's no mention of caring or loving others or
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illustration of laying your life down for the sake of someone
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else. And everything in the Bible is
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this words and messages, and we come to worship and we just
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leave empty if we haven't allowed these words to penetrate
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our lives and to change us. Whenever we seek God with this
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depth of diligence, we begin to cultivate a deep love for God.
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We're actively and earnestly seeking God's wisdom and
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presence in our lives. And we trust then that this
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diligently search will be rewarded with God's presence and
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blessing. And it's a fact that if we seek
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the Lord and love him this way and seek him diligently will
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find him. Like the U2 song says, you know,
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I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
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You won't find what you're looking for until you find your
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searches made complete in the one that you were created to
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follow and to know, and that's Jesus Christ.
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And then the book of Galatians talks about the the fruit of the
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Spirit and the works of the flesh.
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And when we were young Christians, we memorize these
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things, these chapters, Cindy and I.
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And it says in verse 16 of chapter 5, I say, then walk in
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the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
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It's a command. The, the, the Greek tense in
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that statement is that this is what you're to do, not a
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suggestion, but a commandment. And why?
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He says the flesh lusts against the spirit.
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So there's this battle between our fallen nature and the new
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nature that we have that we've been given when we got saved or
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born again. They're contrary to one another.
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So you can't do the things that you want to do, and Paul talked
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about that in Romans 7. Why do I do what I know I
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shouldn't do? And why don't I do what I know
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that I really want to do? That that conflict, that power
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of the flesh and the Spirit, but it only can be overcome through
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the power of the Holy Spirit. You can try and make promises
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and journal and hold, have accountability partners, all
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that kind of stuff. Nothing's going to work until
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you're under the power of the Holy Spirit.
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And he says, if you're led by the Spirit, you're no under the
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law. The law would be like, do this,
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don't do this. And, and all the 10 commandments
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and, and you find that if you've tried to live the commandments,
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you've broken them. That's why we needed a savior.
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That's why we needed Jesus because he's the only one that
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could fulfill the law 100% and give us his forgiveness and
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righteousness because he knows we couldn't do it ourselves.
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And so he, he tells us then that the works of the flesh, like if
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I'm under the compulsions of my human fallen nature, they're
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going to be very clear. And they could run into all kind
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of different sins. Adultery, sex outside of
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marriage, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry,
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sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousy, outbursts of wrath,
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selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders,
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drunkenness, revelries and the like.
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Of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past,
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that those who practice such things will not inherit the
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Kingdom of God. So you read that and you say,
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well, you know, in my life I did this, I did that, I did this.
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Well, that's why the cross is there to forgive us, right?
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And to give us new life and, and, and Jesus, he cleanses us
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from our sin through his blood. And God says he chooses to
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remember our sins no more. Isn't that awesome?
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I remember mine, but he says, Clark, I'm not remembering him.
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So why are you remembering? I don't know.
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I'm a knucklehead. Lord, help me to think on the
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positive things that you've done, not the negative things
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that I've done. Mercy, forgiveness, freedom,
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grace. But we we find ourselves at
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times maybe not deep in the dive at a flesh anymore of doing like
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the big bad ones, we think, but like you're flipping out an
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outbursts of wrath, yelling at someone just flipping out right.
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You ever do that? Anybody ever flip out and yell
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at someone? Raise your hand, every one of
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us. We still don't.
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Thanks, Dan. Dan's helping Jessica admit it,
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right? So he raises their hand for her.
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But you know, we, we, we just do that, right?
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We do it. But then what do we do?
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Don't condemn to say, Lord, forgive me and fill me with your
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spirits. And next time I'm going to be
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cool and I may be calm and I may be collected and I'm going to be
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under your control. So you still sin and that's why
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there's repentance and confession before the Lord to
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keep short accounts, get things right.
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But if we are doing this habitually and we could care
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less, it's obvious we're not saved.
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We need a Savior. We need to get born again so
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that our nature then begins to change into God's plan and not
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our own. And then he says the fruit of
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the Spirit and this correlates this First Corinthians 13 If
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you're under the control of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the
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Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering.
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That's patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
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gentleness and self-control. If you're, if you're honest and
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you're a clear thinker, who wouldn't want to have that kind
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of life, right? To be that way as much as
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possible in our lives. I mean, that's like the
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ultimate, that's like the, the goal of, of human existence to
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have that kind of demeanor and temperament.
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So you can live that way and, and be that way in business and
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neighbors and families and marriage of kids and craziness
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stuff and just have that gentleness and that
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self-control. Against such there is no law.
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And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its
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passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us
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also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited,
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provoking one another and envying one another.
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So we go back to First Corinthians 13 and all the
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things there. Love suffering long, that's
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long-suffering, that's the fruit of the Spirit kind doesn't envy.
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Love doesn't act like a big shot.
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It's not all about you or me. It's not puffed up and
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braggadocious. Does not behave rudely, does not
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seek its own, has not provoked, Thinks no evil, does not rejoice
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in sin, but rejoices in the truth.
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Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
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endures all things. So what happens is someone has a
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failing or someone stumbles or someone falls, and the human
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nature is, did you hear what happened to such and such?
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Right. And then we begin to tell
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everybody about something that we have no business spreading
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around about someone. If we really love someone.
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The Bible says love covers a multitude of sins.
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You want to cover the person's sins.
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You want to protect their reputation.
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You don't want to destroy them publicly.
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Now you might have to talk to them and help them figure out
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how to get out of the mess they got themselves in.
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But love isn't like telling anybody else about someone
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else's dirty laundry or problems or failings.
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I loved how Jesus dealt with that woman caught in the act of
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adultery. Everybody knew about it because
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of how people would talk about things and they wanted to accuse
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her and they wanted to throw stones at her.
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And the way Jesus responded to this crisis was with his typical
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long-suffering and love. He always behaved this way.
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He always acted this way. He said you who are without sin,
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let him cast the first stone. Guess what they did?
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They put their stones down and they walked away because who
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were they to condemn someone else?
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Love never fails. No matter what happens in your
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life or mine, God will never stop loving you.
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Everybody else might turn away from you, reject you, badmouth
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you, slander you, but at the end of the day, Jesus is always
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there with His arms. Come to me, all you labour and
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are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
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Learn from me for I am meek and lowly of heart.
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You will find rest for your souls when you feel everybody's
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betrayed you, abandoned you, There's no one that depends on
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you, no one trusts you anymore. No one believes in you anymore.
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The Lord never stops believing in you.
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Isn't that awesome? That's the God we serve.
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That's the Jesus who saved us. And He's the one that wants us
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to tell everyone about who he really is, not who they might
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think he is because of hypocrisy and self righteousness and
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legalism and judgmentalism. That's not the gospel he talks
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about the giftings. And the giftings are still here
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today. But guess what?
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One day when he comes, they won't be needed anymore.
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You won't have to put up with inferior preaching from men like
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me or anybody else. We try to do the best we can
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with whatever God's given us a gift and that's it.
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Like, you know, that's all, that's all I got right.
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But Jesus, he has it all. And when he comes and preaches,
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it's going to be awesome. Whether there's prophecies, they
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will fail. Whether there are tongues, they
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will cease. Whether is knowledge, it will
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vanish away. For we know in part and we
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prophecy in part right now we're doing the best we can with the
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light that we have been given by God to teach the Word of God and
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to follow the Word of God. But when that is which is
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perfect has come, and that's Jesus, when he comes second
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coming, then that which is in part will be done away.
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Then won't need, there won't be any need for anything else but
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Him. When I was a child, I spoke as a
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child, remember? I had like this nostalgic thing
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couple days ago. I was working, I'm driving back,
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and the way the sun was setting that day just reminded me of
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what it was like when I was a kid.
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So I grew up in Irwin. So I drove down through the
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streets of Irwin and remembered things the way they were when I
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was a kid. Isley's was there, Murphy's 5
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and 10 was there. I remember going down into the
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five and 10 and when The Beatles came out, I, they had those 40
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fives and and they had those little paper sleeves.
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If you remember, and I want to hold your hand was the, the,
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the, the big song that was on Ed Sullivan.
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It started The Beatles career and I forget the other one.
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She loves me or something is on. Well, I, I looked around and I
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put two of those in one one thing.
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That was the kind of kid I was, you know, So I got 2 for the
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price of 1 I stole, right? I remembered that.
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I remembered walking down an Irwin and acting like a big
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shot, smoking my first cigarette.
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I remember going to the dance at the Methodist Church and I, like
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all these flashbacks, came back. I remember going down to the
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Irwin playground and it used to be packed on their kids playing
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basketball, tennis. I don't know where the kids are
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anymore. They're playing video games or
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something. I don't know.
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But we were down there playing until it got dark.
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And I remember as a kid, vaguely 3 years old, for whenever I was
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old enough to begin to walk around, I had this like
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adventurous spirit. So when my mom put me in for the
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nap, I didn't want to take the nap.
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So I figured out a way to lift the bedroom window up, climb out
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and get on the railing. And I had these pajamas on.
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I had these feet in, you know, didn't have any shoes.
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And I'd walk. I saw this alley going down to
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the Irwin playground. And it, it just drew me.
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It was sun was on. It looked like the yellow brick
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road, right? And I just walked down there and
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I went down there and my poor Mama came out.
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Oh my gosh, where is it? And she would come down and she
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knew I was down there and she'd have a hair brush and she'd be
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beating my beat my butt the whole way up with me on her
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shoulder beating me. And I don't you ever do that
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again. Well, I, I still have that
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wanderlust kind of. That's why I like sails.
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I can be in different places at different times whenever I'm
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meeting new people, meeting new things, different experiences.
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That's that's what floats my boat.
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But when I was a child, though, I thought about all those things
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that I did as a child. I thought as a child, but when I
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became a man, I put away childish things.
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And I'm still trying to put away some of the childish things
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because I'm still a kid at heart in a lot of ways.
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And I know, like, I'd like to have a good time and have fun
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too, you know? But there's certain things that,
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you know, I do differently now I think differently.
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And maturity begins to develop in our lives as God grows us in
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his grace. But he says, for now, we've seen
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a mirror dimly. So back then they had these
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bronze mirrors. They didn't have these like
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clear crystal mirrors like we have now.
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Maybe they would be better, especially as you get older, if
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you had a bronze mirror, you couldn't see the wrinkles,
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right? And say, well, I still look
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pretty good at whatever age, but that's the type of mirrors they
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had. So when they, when he said this,
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Paul, he, he talked about the, the ability or the lack of
30:00
ability to be able to see clearly.
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But then he said one day we'll be able to see face to face.
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Now I know in part. So we know a little bit about a
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lot of things and not a lot of things about little things, but
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we know some things. And he says, I know in part, but
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then I shall know just as I'm also known.
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So one day we'll see Jesus face to face and he's not going to
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bring up a bunch of junk that's already been died for and
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cleansed and forgiven. He'll talk to us about our
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effectiveness or lack of it, maybe in regard to his calling
30:44
on our lives that I really live fully for what He created me
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for. And that's the purpose of
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church, to help us all like sort of get on track to be reminded
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of what the big picture is because it's really about him
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and becoming more like him and living for him.
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Career success, all these things are all fine, but the most
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important thing is that one day when all that stuff's behind us,
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it'll just be us and him. And if we live as fully as we
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could by his grace for him, we'll hear those wonderful
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words. Well done, good and faithful
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servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.
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And may we help each other stay on track and keep pressing in
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deeper and deeper to Jesus is like Cason said this morning, he
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has this desire to press deeper into Jesus.
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May that all be our desires to and now abide faith, hope and
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love these three. But the greatest of these is
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love. The worship team can come
31:51
forward. Love is what makes life worth
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living. To be loved by someone, there's
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nothing like it. To be loved by God is far
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superior than any human. Love can be given to us.
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Love sets us free. I think stings lyrics.
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One of my favorite musicians. He still doesn't know the Lord,
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but boy he can write good music. If you love someone, set them
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free. Jesus proved us to us, He loves
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us, He set us free. He said you shall know the truth
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and the truth shall make you free.
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Amen. Nothing better than being free,
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is it? When I got saved, the night I
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got saved, I didn't know all the theology, I didn't know all the
33:09
verses, but I knew I met Jesus and on my way to the Community
33:13
College, I had a Volkswagen, a pale powder blue Volkswagen with
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a sunroof, and I had The Who on full blast.
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I am free. I am free, and my hair and
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freedom is thus a taste of reality.
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Jesus has set us free, and whom the sun is set free is free
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indeed. Let's prepare our hearts for the
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supper. Lord, we are grateful for this
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special day you've given us for your servant case and Harold,
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who will now begin to take the steps into the path that his
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Father has walked now for eight years and I've worked, walked in
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for 30 years. Lord, we do pray for him today
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and other men, young men that will be raised up in this church
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in days ahead to help lead it. You would protect him, keep his
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heart free, keep it joyful, keep it full of your Holy Spirit.
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And if you do, he will one day finish well as his dad and I
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desire to do. And along with George and John,
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thank you for everybody you brought here today.
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Thank you for those on the YouTube and the Facebook and
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Grace FM Lord, who are tuned in. We pray, O God, your blessing of
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First Corinthians 13 upon all our lives, that we would love
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others like you have loved us for You said by this people will
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know we're your followers, your disciples, by the love we have
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for one another. Thank you for the love in this
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church and the lives of these people, and may we just grow
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deeper in it. Now we celebrate once again,
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Lord, as we do every week, and remembering what you've done for
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us. On the night to Jesus, it's
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betrayed. He took the bread in his hands
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and he broke it, and he gave thanks, and he said, Take, eat,
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this is my body which is given for you.
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Eat this in remembrance of me. The same manner in it evening he
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took the cup, and he said, This cup is a new covenant, My blood,
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which is shed for the forgiveness of sins of many.
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Drink this in remembrance of me, for as often as you eat this
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bread and you drink this cup, he show forth the Lord's death till
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he comes again. Amen.
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God bless you guys, love you, have a great week.