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Transcript

Love Gives · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
0:00
SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about God tonight.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: And what I want to do is I want to zero in kind of on a particular thing that, you know, it gets talked about.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: I talk about it, but but you know, we this this thing that God has given us, He has given us everything.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Right?
0:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean that's clear.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Even the Bible says that.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: That's 1 Peter 1-3.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: He has given us in Ephesians 1-3, he's given us uh all every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: He he gives, he gave all.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times people they they struggle with their faith, they struggle with their relationship with God in the area of, and we hear this a lot, is people that I see what you're saying, Rick.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: How can I I believe that?
0:54
SPEAKER_00: How can I feel that love?
0:56
SPEAKER_00: It's hard for me.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: And it's, you know, I don't always have the answer.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, if I can make this automatic for you, I promise you I would.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: But it is a relational thing, and I can talk about them.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: It's what we do.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: It's the foolishness of preaching that somehow you and God with you and God something's going on while I'm talking even tonight, and it's not what I do, it's not, it's not my information that that changes you, but while I'm talking about it, something happens between you and the Spirit of God that's in you that causes you to see it in a way that empowers you and it makes your life better.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: That's what God's wanted.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: He came to give us life.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: And that life he gave us is a life, it's not just an improvement on our own life, it's a new life, it's an abundant life, it's a heavenly life.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: And the kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: And of and people can miss that sometimes by missing the simplicity of the gospel, of a free-giving gospel that uh that was where everything was paid for, all requirements and demands were removed because they were all put on one man, Jesus.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we celebrate him.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: That's why he's the name.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: Um so in that we want to make sure, I want to make sure that I do the best I can to for to give people the opportunity to know and to see the beauty of God, the goodness of God.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: So I do my best to try to rightly divide the word and explain the scriptures of God, to unpack the scriptures that may be hard, because you know, in that Bible, if you don't know how to rightly divide it, you can get confused about God.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: In some places, God can look very demanding, God can look very eye for an eye.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: But we see in the in in Jesus, who's the exact image of God, not a shadow of things where you see vengeance and judgment and eye for eye and all that, you see the exact image of God and you see what heavenly justice is.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly justice was always with love, and with it was always love and it was mercy, it was always giving.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I came to give, that you would have life.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: I did not come to condemn the world.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: In other words, I didn't I didn't come and put any demands on anybody, because any demands that I make on you would condemn you, it would cause you to fall short.
3:14
SPEAKER_00: I came to remove all the demands.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Romans 8 says, so that the righteous requirement of the law would be fulfilled for us, in us through him.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: So we have all that.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: And in all that, we want to look at the character of God tonight, the nature of God, one facet of it in particular.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: Because we want to be convinced of the truth that makes us free.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is God is good.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: When you're convinced that God is absolute goodness, absolute love.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: And when you're convinced of his giving heart and nature, this is a good one, this is a big one, it becomes easy to receive and live in fullness of joy, trust him and believe in him.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: God is good and God gives.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Now, in I want to look at James chapter 1, this one particular verse here.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: And I'll read the whole thing, but there's one particular clause in there that I want us to look at.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Um He says, If any of you lacks, you know, in this case, wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all freely and without reproach, my Bible says, or without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want us to look at here.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: Look at this.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: God gives generously to all without finding fault.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'll I'll sh I'll show you what this means, and I I stole this from something I heard somebody else say, but it was, it's it's it's a great well, I'll give you my personal experience.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: Somebody said it, but I've got plenty of experience with this.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: So in our city and many cities that we go to, you may be driving along, you come to an intersection, and somebody's got a cardboard sign with some misspelled words on it, and then they want some money.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: You know?
4:55
SPEAKER_00: And uh and here's what goes on in me, uh, and has always has almost every time, um, is that my first thought is is like, oh, I want to give that person something.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: But then then after that, it's like, well, would I really be helping them if I did that?
5:13
SPEAKER_00: You know, are they just gonna just gonna waste it and do something that's harmful to themselves?
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Or I'll think, you know, uh, you know, someone said, you know, don't give to them because you're keeping them on the street by doing that.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: And I think, yeah, you know, all these thoughts come, and then another thought that I've that I thought more more recently was like, they're probably making more money begging than I've been I've made, they've probably made more money today than I have, you know.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: And you think all those things, whether right or wrong, you I've I I think those things.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: And and so then by the time I go through those thoughts, the light has changed and it's not issue anymore, you know.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: And and that's happened on a number of times.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: And so what happens is, and even though they might be legitimate concerns, um I'm thinking of all the reasons not to.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's something that's different about God.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't talk himself out of it and didn't talk himself out of it.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: God finds no fault.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: God, and and I can we can we can spend a lot of time, we won't, but we can spend a lot of time just going through the scriptures showing the image of God and showing how how Jesus never talked himself out of it.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: He went around and he healed how many and who?
6:22
SPEAKER_00: All.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: Don't you think some of them might have had some sins, some bad characters, some bad habits in their life?
6:27
SPEAKER_00: Some of them might, you know, you know, well, I'll heal you, but but I want you to use those those legs.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: But now that you can walk, I want you to go, you know, spread spread spread the gospel, you know.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: He didn't do any of that stuff.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: He just gave without finding fault.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: And he did while we were yet sinners.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: If anybody had reasons for talking himself out of giving what he gave to us, it was God.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have we've had uncountable reasons that we don't deserve, did not deserve the goodness blessing of God.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: But here's the characters what I want us to look at.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: We all kind of know those things, but look at the character, look at the heart of this person who created all things, this person who loves us, and look at how it's his nature.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: It's not it's not just a choice that he made.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: See, we think at that.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: We think, well, he just chose to be good.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: But it's his nature, it's who he is.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: Of course he would do that.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: And that's why, even if you look at it this way, you know, we say in church things like, you know, I just don't understand why God would save someone like me, or would just would be so good to someone like me, or would do all of that for someone like me.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Well, the reason we think that is because we're putting the attention on us, and we see all the reasons why maybe he would not or should not even.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: But when we look at him, if we look at him and you see who he is, and you look, well, if you knew God, you'd say, of course he would do that for me, because it's his very nature to do that kind of thing.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: See, when we look at God, then it makes sense and say, oh, he's you it's just how he is.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Of course he would die for the whole world.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: Of course he would forgive me with with without any limits, past, present, future.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Of course he would give me everything because that's just who he is.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: It's not that he can have good days and bad days, and we got lucky that he chose to do something good for us.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: It's just who and how he is.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: It's his nature.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: In other words, in other words, that moment when you think, should I help this person on the street?
8:40
SPEAKER_00: God lives in that moment all the time.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: That's just how God always was and and and is, and not only is his nature that of always giving, but it was so much that he gave it all already, and in Jesus we have all of that.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: When you know it this way, when you see it's just who and how he is, that it's just not, it was more than just a choice, it's his nature, it's his person, it's his character, then your heart can open up and say, and say, God is really good and he's good to me, and he loves me.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: And when here's what I found out.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: When you know that he's good, that he loves you, and his heart is to just give because of that goodness, you have begun to really start to move into relationship of actually knowing this person that we call God.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: Knowing this person, feeling like he likes you.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: You start to know him, you start to know his character more.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: You start to know, you know, none of us, even the things we're talking about now, I or or you, probably none of us just woke up one day and just knew all of this.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: We we got it from knowing him more.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Because we walked with him and thought, oh, you're better than I thought you were.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: I always thought you were good, but I didn't know you were this good, God.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: This is what I'm my experience has been.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: I knew you forgave me for certain things, but I thought there was some conditions on on certain things.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: This is new to me, God.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know this about you.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: We get that because we we we we we're we're we're walking with him and we we we're learning that.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, it gets really good when you begin to, when you when you become convinced of that.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: And I really feel like I have somehow become convinced.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Somebody as stupid as me somehow, thank God for the Holy Spirit, because he can convince us.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: He can convince us of this righteousness, he can show us, he can lead us, he can explain it, he can take of Jesus and and and someone of us who we just don't get it, we couldn't understand it, but he could show us him, and Jesus said, He will glorify me.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: Where he's like, son, where you used to just to look at you and didn't see why I could be so good and why I would bless you and why I might not be able to forgive you this time when you were looking at all that.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit showed you me, glorified me, and said, But look how big he is.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Instead of measuring yourself all the time and your worthiness, the Holy Spirit says, Let's measure Jesus.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: Woo! Oh, that's big.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: As Paul prayed that, oh, I wish you could see that.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I want you to know that, I want you to, I wish you could know, yeah, the immeasurable, the height, the depth, the width, and the length to know the love of Christ.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: Because if you can, you're filled with all the fullness of God.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: You live in with that kingdom of heaven experience on the inside, no matter what's going on on the outside.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: God gives to all without finding any fault.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: Boom.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: That will kill once and for all.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: You see, it will kill condemnation completely out of your life.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: It get where they couldn't do it.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if they catch you red-handed, you will not be condemned, you'll still feel loved.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Now you may be sorry for what you did and say, I don't want to do that anymore, but you will still not feel condemned.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: You will not feel condemned, you will feel loved, and you will know, oh, I can just go forward and do better from here.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: With no condemnation.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: It does not take condemnation to improve us.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of years have proved have have proved that.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: One act of giving, loving, and mercy has has done more to change the heart of humanity than all that other stuff.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all are y'all here?
12:44
SPEAKER_00: There again in Genesis 1, we see just from even from the very beginning, we see the nature of God set in Genesis chapter 1, verse 29.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh, the scriptures aren't popping up.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: I want to, yeah, before we show that scripture, thank you, because we got this in an order here, is that when we're looking at the heart of God, thank you.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: When we're looking at the heart of God, we're what we're looking at is the heart of a philanthropist.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: And I use that word because the word philanthropist is from two really from two Greek words, it's philo and anthropos.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: And philo is, you know, like Philadelphia fits, it of brotherly love, philaleo, maybe some of you know, means love or affection.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: And it and it's that it's it's it actually means love of humans.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: Um anthropos, anthropology, you know, is the study of mankind, humans, human beings.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so philanthropy means human loving.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: God so loved the world, he so loved humanity, the world.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: You ever think about that?
13:57
SPEAKER_00: He didn't he didn't just love the Jews.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: Or the Buddhists, or were there Buddhists in?
14:03
SPEAKER_00: I think there were, yeah.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just love this group, that group, that national.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: He loved the world.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: Now he started there in Israel, but he he came and he loved the world.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just love the righteous, he loved the world.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Why?
14:19
SPEAKER_00: He can't help it.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: It's his nature.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just say, I don't think I'm gonna start loving these people.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: It's his nature.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: Even in the Old Testament, even through the fall of man and all of it, Jeremiah God says, I have loved you with an everlasting love.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: Yet you've not known me.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: They were saying all kinds of things about God.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: He says, But I've loved you with an everlasting love.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: Yet you've not known me.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: He never stopped loving man.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Jesus told the story of the prodigal son.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: When that boy went out and did all the stuff and wasted all the money, slept with the pigs and all that stuff, his daddy never stopped loving that boy.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: When mankind fell and did and went into death and destruction and all the things that we did, God never stopped loving us.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: He so loved us that he did what?
15:04
SPEAKER_00: He gave.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: He so loved us that he came, and not he did not demand, but he came and he gave.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: And his love was so undemanding and so giving that he says, I'm gonna come be where you're at.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna live in your sin, with your sin.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna identify with you, I'm gonna become sin with you, I'm gonna experience your sin.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: He did not sin, but he became sin.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: We know that.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to experience your death.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm coming into your hell, and I'm going to unite with you.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: He came and he did the it it took only the perfect, loving, giving uh being to do the most perfect loving thing in loving humans, philanthropy the philanthropy that he is, which is different than charity.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Because charity will give to a temporary thing.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why the dollar sign is backwards there.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: But one will give to the outer cause, which will do something temporarily, the other one gives the heart.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: Even if we look it up and look in the world and what they say about these things, philanthropy, whereas whereas whereas charity will fix a temporary thing, it'll give the dollar to the guy on the street corner, but philanthropy, it's like it's the old adage of the fish and teach them to fish, whereas charity will give a man a fish, but but philanthropy, I say it a little different, philanthropy will set him up with a with a boat and a fishing rig.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: It'll go to the heart of the thing instead of just doing temporary things.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: And what we see, we saw God bless people, we see God taking care and blessing Israel and answering prayers and things, but it says that it never changed the heart of the thing because at the heart of the human condition was the condition of the human heart, right?
17:00
SPEAKER_00: And so he came and he gave man what man really desired, what man really wanted, even though mankind didn't even know this was it, but came and gave us love and gave us life and gave us all of himself.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Now we see in Genesis, his very nature is right there.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: He creates, look, he creates the whole world.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: All this beautiful creation, the fish and the seas, the trees, the plants, the herbs, the all of this stuff going on here, the beast of the field, all that.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: And then he puts man and makes him last and builds and puts him in there, and he says, now look, Genesis 1.29, he says, See, I've given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: He says, See, look at this.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: God's done all this, and he says, He says, Look, I've given you all of this.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: Well, that was that was that was a good choice.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Have you got?
17:50
SPEAKER_00: It's who he is.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: How could he not?
17:54
SPEAKER_00: Who can be against it?
17:56
SPEAKER_00: Who's going to condemn us?
17:57
SPEAKER_00: Who's going to find fault with this?
17:58
SPEAKER_00: He says, How would not God, who freely gave his son, not with him, freely give us all things?
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Do you see your daddy?
18:10
SPEAKER_00: Do you see who loves you?
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Do you see who's caring for you?
18:15
SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of times people are confused.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: They don't think God cares because a lot of times they're asking for fish.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: When what he's given you is a fishing boat.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: And that's what he's given, when he gave us the kingdom, when he gave us this heart.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: See, this is what I discovered that all of my life, I was like most of humanity.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: It's just like if some, if, if, if, if, if, if I could just have that, or if these people would just do that, if these if this person would treat me different, or these people would treat me different, or if I could just get get me some of this and that, and you know, and you and you think that's that will bring some kind of a fulfillment and all that.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: Fish.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: And then God came into my life, and for the first time, this boy who didn't know he was looking for love tasted it.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Now, in my early Christianity, I felt I really felt like I got distracted by some teachings and things and got me where I was asking for fish again, instead of enjoying my fishing boat.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: And I felt like my direction got turned on to some things, and I'd get frustrated with God sometimes because I'd be praying some prayers, and you know, people taught me if you'll if you'll say it and and and speak it with your mouth and do this and that and the other.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: And you'll have it, and and sometimes I'd get good testimonies like that, but sometimes it'd be like, man, I need the money this week, and it didn't come.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: God, I need a car.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: Where's it at?
19:40
SPEAKER_00: God, this, that, the other.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: So many different things, and it's like, it's like, God, I don't know.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: This ain't working exactly like everybody says it's going to, and and God, you kind of, I feel like, and sometimes I feel like, God, I think you've let me down here.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: I was really trusting you to do a certain thing for me, and you did you didn't do it.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: And so we get frustrated.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: We're like, I don't know.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: I guess God don't hear me, or how do you how do you how do you get your prayers answered?
20:03
SPEAKER_00: And and and and we're and we and then that brings in this doubt, and it's like either God's not the way I bet people are saying He is, or I'm not good enough to make the connection right, I'm missing it somewhere.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: You know, we'd say it must not, if not, it couldn't be God's problem, so it must be mine, and it puts it back on us when you've got to understand something that God's able to give without making any demands on you.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: That's how we all got saved.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: You can mess it up royally, and God's still able to give, God's still able to bless.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: But I got distracted by some of the things and and didn't realize what the true riches were, didn't realize that he gave me what my heart was really desiring.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: What my heart was really desiring was not that that that money that I thought I needed, it wasn't that that that that thing, it wasn't that person, it wasn't these people to change over here.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: What my heart really desired was to stop desiring.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: And he gave me himself, he gave me a relationship, he gave me a person, he gave me a love, a love that fulfilled me.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: In other words, this nature of God that we're talking about, and this is the part two of this that's just as important, but it can only be seen if you can see the first part.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: That if God is absolute good, absolute light, and in him is no darkness at all.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: God is good.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Everything he made, he said it was good.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: The next part there in Genesis, he goes on, he says, and to the animals even.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: I've given them every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, I've given to them too.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: Everything on the earth, there where there's life.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: I've given to them.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: I gave them everything that they needed.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: I've given, I've given, I've given, I've given.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: It goes on and on.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: Look at look look at Jesus, just giving and giving and giving and giving and making no demands.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Making no demands.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: This is where we messed up a whole lot because we think that God's making demands.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: And anywhere where there's a demand, there's going to be unfulfillment of those demands, and it's just almost like Jesus didn't come and do any of it.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: We're back to ourselves trying to meet a demand.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: I want us to see something.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: We got somebody here bigger than all of us.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: We got somebody here better.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: We got somebody here who is and knows everything.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: And the whole intention from the beginning was that he would be our source, our supply, our life, our love.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: And that he would be everything in one with us.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: And we would be one with him.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: And that means our natures would be the same.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: And that's what happened when he gave us the new nature, made us the new creation, made us sons of God, so that 1 John 4.17 says, as he is, so are we.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: If you can see that God is good, if you can see that God is his character, nature, his person is giving, then we also can see that we have that same nature.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: You grow in it so much you quit fighting with the idea of the dual nature.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: You you grow in it so much that you begin to accept that you have this greater thing going on inside you that gives you a capacity and ability that goes beyond natural human ability.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: You go on to accept that you have that exact same heart, and you're not trying to get it because you can't try to get it.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: It was had to be given freely.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all here?
23:46
SPEAKER_00: It had to be given freely.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: And if you can accept that you've got that, there's there's then you get so big inside where you have the capacity to stand up with anything going on, with any storm going on in life.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: You have the capacity for power, love, and joy, and you live with a power that doesn't look like power before you experience it.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: It looks like weakness.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: Because you'll find out that your power comes not in hate but in love.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: You'll find out that your power comes not in what we think is justice or right or eye for an eye.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Our power, and there's a real strength in mercy.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: That the power that the world thinks that that being loud is where the power is demonstrated, that the quietness and stillness becomes our power.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: I see it all the time.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: When the noise starts in my life, and I find that place, that hymn, that still small voice, that place of peace, that quietness, and the stillness, and it's what do you say?
25:08
SPEAKER_00: And I feel strong instead of weak.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: When there have been conflict with people, and we've been button heads on things, and when I step into that, okay, I'm going to give in mercy.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: You get to win.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm losing here.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: And what looks like losing, what looks like weakness, what looks like wimpiness, you find out, wow, I'm really strong right now.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Y'all see what I'm saying?
25:30
SPEAKER_00: Because the kingdom of this world is a total upside down, different from the kingdom of heaven.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: It's not the same.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus said, the rulers of this world, they exert dominion over you.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: He says, but it shall not be so for you.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Because if you want to be great in my kingdom, then you'll be the servant of who?
25:58
SPEAKER_00: All.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: All.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Everyone.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Well, you can talk about a demand there.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: But it's not a demand.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: He says, you're gonna learn this.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you this nature that makes you so big that you win.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: Makes you so powerful that you can be the eternal giver just like me.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: You won't have to fight for the bigger end of the stick.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: You'll be so big, you can give all the big ends of the stick that you want, and you'll feel so powerful, and you'll feel such a winner because you've done that.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: There's a scripture in Hebrews chapter 7.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's where Melchizedek and Abraham meet.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: But the verse 7 says, Without any question, the person that has the power to give the blessing is greater than the one that receives the blessing.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: See what we're talking about here.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: Who's greater than all God?
27:09
SPEAKER_00: Who is he?
27:10
SPEAKER_00: He's got the power to give the blessing.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: Is he greater or is he a loser because of that?
27:15
SPEAKER_00: Is he a schmuck because he just gives and gives and gives?
27:19
SPEAKER_00: And people will still hate God, people will blame God for things.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not everybody turns to God.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: Is God a loser for doing that?
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Is God a schmuck for doing that?
27:29
SPEAKER_00: No, he's God.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: And by nature, it just gives.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't hurt him to give and somebody not care or somebody abuse it.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: His nature is to give.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: And when your nature is to give, you have a joy of just being that way.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: And that's why he can always be in joy because he's always giving.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: See, people miss that.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: They think God looks on this stuff and says, oh, he's got.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: And and there's obvious things that he doesn't like, things that can grieve his spirit.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: I mean, pain, abuse, and goes on.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want that for anybody because he loves people.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: But with all that goes on in this world, why is he not up there just groaning in pain with all the injustice and the pain and the abuse and all that that's going on?
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Why, why do we not see him doing that?
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Because he keeps giving.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: And there's a joy.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: I was talking to a man that I had just met a few days ago.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: Just met him on the spot there, and we were talking and uh talking about some things of God and told him my history and how, you know, I was married for many years, and my first wife died of cancer, and then God has blessed me with another wonderful lady, and I just think I don't think it's fair.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: I said, I've got two, I've had two wonderful experiences with this, and some people don't even get one.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: And we were talking, he says, he says, he says, What what did you take away from that?
28:51
SPEAKER_00: What do you what did you learn from being married that long?
28:54
SPEAKER_00: And in a nutshell, I said this.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: I learned in that first marriage, especially the joy of giving.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: And I told him, I said, we were two young people that were button heads, and and the reason we butt heads, because sometimes I thought this marriage was just unfair, it was unbalanced.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: I felt like I was doing the giving.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: And she thought the same way.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: Because I'd say, you know, if I if I said, hey, you know, I do this for you, I do that for you, then she'd come back and she would trump me with something like, Well, I do this and that and the other.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: So then my selfish brain would think of, well, what about this?
29:30
SPEAKER_00: And and okay, now we're not trying to outdo each other.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Now we're trying to, well, let's let's count the negatives.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: You do this and you do that.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: Well, you do more, and all this would go on.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: And we're trying to get justice here.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm fighting for justice.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm trying my best here.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: The least you can do is that.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: She's seeing the same thing.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: She says, I'm trying to do that.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: You're not seeing what I'm saying.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, no, you're not seeing what I'm saying, and that's more important.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: She's like, no, what I'm saying is more important.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: And that could have, that you know, that could go on forever until somebody chooses to lose, right?
30:11
SPEAKER_00: And there's a fear of that losing because there's a lie that says, if you give in, you'll be a doormat.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: But when you give love, you give mercy, you find out, oh, the giver is the bigger person, is the greater person, and gets a greater reward from that.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of when we were kids in school, we'd be we'd play football out on the playground at school.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and uh, you know, it'd be like, be like, no, that was a touchdown.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: And they'd be like, no, it wasn't.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: And we'd be like, yeah, yeah, look, he made it.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: We're like, no, and we'd fight, and then finally they'd say, okay, let the babies have their way.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: And then we'd be like, no, you're not giving it to us that way.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's play.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: Because all of a sudden we knew that they were being the bigger, you know, and rubbing it in, too.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: But you know.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: No, we we were we suddenly we thought we wanted our way, then when we got it, we felt small.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: Without contradiction, there's no argument that the one who does the blessing is the bigger.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to all of this: that love is the nature that gives.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: It's the the greater has that nature.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: Now, the message is not, now go out and start start start giving.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: The message is not it's not go out and start loving everybody, the message is not any of that, because that puts a demand on you too.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: And God makes no demands, he just gives.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: Love seeks not her own.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: We've got to understand that.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: A lot of the stuff I didn't I didn't quite get it so clear because I kept thinking, I thought that we the reason that we gave God praise is because He He wanted praise.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: He demanded praise.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: People say we were created to praise, and they were like, all right, let's do our duty, let's pray.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: But it was so much bigger than that.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't demanding that I sing, he wasn't demanding that I stand up for 30 minutes in church, he wasn't demanding any of that.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: He was giving.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: And true worship in spirit and in truth began to come to me just because I saw that he was good.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: Then nobody had to convince me that it's my duty, my job to worship and praise God.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: It's powerful.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: The love that God gives is powerful.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: It changed my heart, it changed my life.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: But I told this man, I said, with all that that was going on there, I said, after a while, after some years of that, you know, even I could realize that this never goes anywhere.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: And somehow the Holy Spirit helped me.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Thank God he did.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Because this is a hard thing for us to get on our own.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit helped me and I was able to see.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: I just I saw.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: I saw, like looking into a different room, it was like I saw that there was a joy and a bigness in being the giver.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: And somehow I stepped into that.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: I stepped into this wonderful realm where I got happy and excited about being the giver in this relationship.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: And it was so such a conviction that I realized that if I never get one thing back, I'm going to be so happy because what makes me happy is to make her happy.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: And I can, because of that, I was empowered by truth, realizing what I had that like, I've got this ability, I can do this.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: I didn't see it when I was blinded to it.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: Didn't know how it worked.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: I had an idea of justice.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: 50-50, man.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: I give, you give.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: It's give and take, right?
34:09
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what makes sense to us.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: What's just here's one thing I love God's kingdom.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: I love our king.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: I love the kingdom that I'm a part of, and it's not of this world.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: But his justice is a totally, has a totally different idea than ours.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: People say, yeah, God loves everybody, but he's a God of justice too.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: He's a just God.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: He has to be just, he has to recompense.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you don't, no, that's the world's justice.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: God's justice is to give, it's love.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: Look at, here's some examples.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was teaching in the book of John, teaching about the Holy Spirit.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: He said, hey, you know, if you're in you're in situations, they bring you up before the courts and you don't know what you're going to say, don't worry about it.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: He said, the Holy Spirit will be with you.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Somebody will be with you, he'll be helping you, he'll give you what to say.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: Don't even worry about it.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: Somebody cares for you.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: Someone's going to help you.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Someone's going to be there.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: It'll be me.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: And while he's teaching this beautiful message, this wonderful, beautiful thing about how this God that cares and is going to be with you and loves you, this young man stands up and says, Ah, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: What's that sound like?
35:16
SPEAKER_00: That's justice.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, even to my brain, I think, that sounds right to me.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, if it's me, I'm like, brother, come on, do the right thing.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: Give him his half of the inheritance.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't do that.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: He deflected from that and said, It's not, basically said, it's not about that.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: I didn't come for that.
35:33
SPEAKER_00: I did not come for that kind of justice.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: I came to give you something better, something bigger.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: Mary invites Jesus to the house.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: Invites Jesus to her house because she wants to do something good.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I'm going to make you a meal like you haven't had in long time.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: Come to my house.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: I want to cook for you.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: I want to take care of you.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: I want to serve you.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: You come to my house and I'll prepare something real good for you.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: He comes to her house and she's in the kitchen working.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: She's going to do something for Jesus.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: But somewhere along the line, it got into her brain again that this ain't right, this ain't fair.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: It's just not right.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing all the work.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Sister Mary's sitting there having a good old time just talking, not lifting one finger.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing all the work.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: You know what she's thinking.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: This isn't just.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: It's not right.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: It's not fair.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: Well, on the surface, I could look at that and I'd say, well, yeah, why should Martha do all the work?
36:27
SPEAKER_00: Come on, Mary, do something.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't do that.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: Said, Martha, you're troubled by a lot of things.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: He he came and he gave something better than what we perceive as human justice.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: He did it over and over and over again.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: His justice is bigger.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: He hires men to work all different times of the day, and he decides to pay the people that work one hour a full day's pay.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: That's totally not just in the eyes of the world.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: But he says, I got something better than your justice.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: I've got goodness.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: I've got giving.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: I choose to give to them.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: You think it's a bad thing?
37:15
SPEAKER_00: He says, why do I, why am I evil?
37:17
SPEAKER_00: Why do you think I'm doing evil by doing that?
37:19
SPEAKER_00: See, because they think that's not right, Jesus.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: That's wrong.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: Got a sense of right and wrong here.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: That's wrong.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: Good and evil here.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: That's not good.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: That's evil.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: He said, why am I doing something evil if I choose to be good?
37:32
SPEAKER_00: If I want to give them a full day's pay, that is better than fairness.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: Because it's the nature of God.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: It's the nature we have.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: Now, where does this bring us?
37:46
SPEAKER_00: This brings us to where this fixes everything.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: This takes care of this ugly old world that we're dealing with.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: We got so much noise right now.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: You know, the corona finally got stopped because now something racial is going on.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, the news can only handle one thing at a time, but now this is the big thing.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: And there's noise.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: And you know what we we all we have what we all have is opinions.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: We all have our perception.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: We all have our place of you know where we're seeing things from, and we can all talk about it and all that.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: But but let's go to let's go to life here.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: Let's go before we figure out who's to blame for this and that and the other, and I agree with this, but they shouldn't be doing that and all that.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: That's okay, great.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I don't know what the answers are for society and our country.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: I have great hope, but I do know the kingdom.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: I realize that it's that the love that God gave me, I have to testify that this love he gave me did not demand anything from me.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: And anything I do for God, my preacher, I don't believe in this, I don't have this idea that, you know, when I hear people say, Yeah, you know, God, God said if I didn't preach his gospel, you know, that I'd I'd, you know, I'd go to hell or I'd die or something horrible would happen to me and all that.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: I I'm sorry, you just misunderstood something.
39:06
SPEAKER_00: I used to say things like that, it's not true.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: God is not demanding.
39:10
SPEAKER_00: I preach because I love the one that I'm talking about.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not doing it because I'm getting points with him.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't need points with him.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: He just gives anyway.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
39:21
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't find a reason not to give.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: If I quit the ministry, he would still give.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: Boom.
39:27
SPEAKER_00: God.
39:28
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about God here, not a man.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: A man wouldn't do that.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: I got people that send me money every month.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: Just send it to me.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: I don't even have to go to the church, some of them.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: Send me money.
39:42
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if they'd still do it if I said I'm not preaching anymore.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: But anyway.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: But I don't, we don't do it.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: I don't, we don't.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: I used to I used to be taught about giving, that it was a compulsive thing.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: It was just like, you know, this is if I don't, I'm cursed, and this and that.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible was clear.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: It says, let them give.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Not out of necessity, not out of compulsion, not because they need to.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: Let them give out of power.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: Let them give out of freedom.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: Let them give because it's their nature to give.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: Talk about that.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Rather than all the bad things that'll happen if they don't give.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: The truth, boom, make you free.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: You're empowered by that.
40:30
SPEAKER_00: So what can I do?
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Rather than just be smart and have perceptions and opinions, I don't know.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm right in some, maybe I'm not.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
40:39
SPEAKER_00: But I do know.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: I do know that my nature is to give.
40:46
SPEAKER_00: He gave without any demands.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: That kind of love, God's kind of love, gives without demanding back.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: Read 1 Corinthians 13, or you seek and see his nature and all that.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: This kind of love that we have, it gives.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: And it gives without making any demands.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: And it's not a carnal love because you cannot get depleted with this because it's fullness.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's how I hear people say, Oh, I tried that, I tried loving that person, it didn't work.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: They just used me and all that.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: You were totally missing the whole thing.
41:26
SPEAKER_00: You were using some idea of love to try to get something that you wanted.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: This love I'm talking about doesn't need to make any demands because we're full.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: I've stepped into the joy of giving and finding out I don't get depleted.
41:44
SPEAKER_00: I feel bigger, I feel stronger, I feel like I can do even more now.
41:49
SPEAKER_00: Are you hearing me?
41:51
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about living out of our nature here.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about what the world, what creation has been groaning for.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: This is it.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: We've never been more relevant as the body of Christ than we are in this world right now.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of things the world says, I don't want your church, I don't want this, I don't want that.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: A lot of those things I don't want either.
42:11
SPEAKER_00: What do I want to do?
42:12
SPEAKER_00: I want to give.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: I want to give to people that don't deserve it.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: Not just money.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: I want to give them my heart.
42:22
SPEAKER_00: I want, I have the heart, I have the nature, so you of a philanthropist.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: We don't just give tidbits.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: We give love.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: We give our heart.
42:35
SPEAKER_00: Judy and I, we we've been moved.
42:38
SPEAKER_00: We've been moved by this stuff this past week.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: I've been we've been hurt and we've been hopeful.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: But we said, we both said it says, I want to listen, I want to hear.
42:51
SPEAKER_00: I got black friends, we got we've got black friends, and everything seems cool.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, and I think, man, they're not whining about all this stuff.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: They're fine, you know, they just they're just good people.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: They like people.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: They they they just they make their own way and they're not demanding anything from anybody.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: And then we we talk to them and say, What's your experience?
43:07
SPEAKER_00: And then I get surprised, and they're like, yeah, it's different than yours.
43:14
SPEAKER_00: I got stopped a lot of times by the cops just because of my color.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: I get followed around in stores because of my color.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm used to it.
43:22
SPEAKER_00: I do this, my experience is different.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: I get this, I get treated this way, I get treated that way.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: The ones that I know, they said, but my dad said just overcome it and all that.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: But still, I think, oh, I'm hurt that you have that experience.
43:39
SPEAKER_00: And I could say, well, but at least you don't have to do this and you shouldn't do that, and that and the other.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe, maybe so, but that's not my issue, is I've got a nature.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: So we're doing that.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: We were at a car dealership the other day, and Teresa walks up to a stranger and says, Can I talk to you?
43:57
SPEAKER_00: Um Teresa, I'm sorry.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: I got too many words.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Wives that have married in Islam.
44:01
SPEAKER_00: Judy walks up to a stranger.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Judy walks up to a stranger and says, Can I talk to you?
44:10
SPEAKER_00: And has this wonderful talk.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I appreciate that.
44:12
SPEAKER_00: Every one of them says, I appreciate that.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we do most of them don't complain.
44:16
SPEAKER_00: Most of them don't whine.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: They just do the best they can with it.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: But they're carrying this thing.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: And they said, I really, every one of them, I think, has said that we, and we've been reaching out.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, emails and stuff.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: It was like, I want to talk about this thing.
44:27
SPEAKER_00: I just want, I have this heart just wants to give.
44:30
SPEAKER_00: It's like, and I want to give my ear.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: I want to listen to this.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: What is going on, really?
44:44
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to wear a uniform of some earthly side.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: My kingdom is different.
44:57
SPEAKER_00: My heart is different.
45:12
SPEAKER_00: I am so excited, I'm so hopeful, and I feel so privileged to be a part of the body of Christ in this hour.
45:25
SPEAKER_00: Because we have the powerful things: mercy, humility, peace, love, goodness, forgiveness, gentleness.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: All these things that look like their weaknesses are power.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, what's the one you brought out about overcomes wrath?
45:56
SPEAKER_00: Gentleness.
45:57
SPEAKER_00: A gentle answer overcomes wrath.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: Anger.
46:03
SPEAKER_00: Anger's a big thing.
46:04
SPEAKER_00: Anger's a big thing to shut.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: Anger seems powerful.
46:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm angry.
46:09
SPEAKER_00: You know?
46:10
SPEAKER_00: Someone comes in and gets angry and charges at you.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: Ah, they seem powerful.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: It says, gentleness is more powerful than that.
46:21
SPEAKER_00: Now in the world, Jesus said, they use dominion, they use that force.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: Not so in the kingdom.
46:27
SPEAKER_00: We're different.
46:28
SPEAKER_00: We have a stronger power.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: You know when God did bless us and he says, see, I've given you all this, and he says, and he created and he put us in the garden.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: You know what he said?
46:36
SPEAKER_00: He said, the Bible says, God blessed them.
46:38
SPEAKER_00: He said, Be fruitful, multiply, have dominion.
46:47
SPEAKER_00: Have dominion.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: We and so much of the church world have taken that in such a carnal way that we've taken that idea of have dominion and then we want to exert a forceful dominion where we overcome a certain people or philosophy or whatever.
47:15
SPEAKER_00: There's only one thing that can never, ever be dominated.
47:20
SPEAKER_00: It's God, and God is love.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: Here's why love can never be dominated.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: Because love's not seeking its own anyway, so there's you can't take anything from it.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: Here's why love can never be dominated.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: If love and giving is your way and my way, if love and giving is my way, then I can always get my way.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: Because I can always operate that in that.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: That when love and giving became my way, that I always could get my way because that's what I wanted.
48:00
SPEAKER_00: If getting my fair share was my way, I would end up disappointed a lot of times, frustrated a lot of times, and angry a lot of times.
48:11
SPEAKER_00: Because when we make demands, we will always live unfulfilled.
48:15
SPEAKER_00: So it's always somebody else needs to change, that group needs to change, they need to change, this, that, the other.
48:22
SPEAKER_00: It seems like it makes sense.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: But there's a power that says, you know what?
48:32
SPEAKER_00: That one that needs to change, like God looking at me and you, that world that needs to change, rather than just demand that they change, I'm gonna give life to them.
48:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give love to them.
48:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give forgiveness.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give mercy.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give them, even now, I'm gonna go past that.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give them everything that pertains to life.
48:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give them healing.
48:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give them blessing.
48:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give them abundance.
48:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna give it.
49:02
SPEAKER_00: And that's powerful.
49:03
SPEAKER_00: And what we found out was the goodness of God led us to our change.
49:09
SPEAKER_00: Powerful.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: Powerful.
49:14
SPEAKER_00: The majority of wars historically in this world were fought over religion.
49:19
SPEAKER_00: Often in the name of Christian religion.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: Trying to establish something for God.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: Trying to establish a righteous kingdom.
49:32
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, no, the kings of the world's kingdom, that's how they do things.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: Here's how you dominate.
49:39
SPEAKER_00: You serve and give to all.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: Not the good ones, not the bad ones, not the ones that are right on the right side of the issue.
49:52
SPEAKER_00: Serve, give, give, give.
49:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh God, how many times do I give and forgive?
49:58
SPEAKER_00: How about seven times seventy?
50:00
SPEAKER_00: It's the nature.
50:02
SPEAKER_00: That's impossible.
50:03
SPEAKER_00: With man it is, but with God, it's your nature.
50:07
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all here?
50:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to see something.
50:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: I care about this world.
50:14
SPEAKER_00: I care about the pain.
50:15
SPEAKER_00: I do care about the injustices.
50:17
SPEAKER_00: I do care.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: But fighting for justice, the carnal way, just keeps leading to more and more and more.
50:26
SPEAKER_00: And there's a kingdom.
50:28
SPEAKER_00: There's a God, there's a Christ in the world, and it's Christ in you and me.
50:34
SPEAKER_00: And we don't have to fear losing because we've already won, and greater is he that's in us.
50:45
SPEAKER_00: What can I do?
50:46
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about this.
50:48
SPEAKER_00: What can we do?
50:49
SPEAKER_00: You know?
50:50
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to see the world change.
50:51
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to change the world, but we say we can do this to everyone in front of us.
51:00
SPEAKER_00: And we're already beginning to see the effect in our realm of influence, the effect of that giving.
51:10
SPEAKER_00: I want to say it, finish up with this.
51:14
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 1, verse 19 and 20, it says, So then, my beloved brothers, let every one of us be swift to hear, listen.
51:24
SPEAKER_00: Here's another thing about God, another message to you, but but I got another message that I've been developing called the God who listens.
51:32
SPEAKER_00: And we see that all through there.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: He's called sometimes the God who listens.
51:37
SPEAKER_00: Think of that.
51:38
SPEAKER_00: We know God speaks.
51:40
SPEAKER_00: God says this and God says that, but he's also the God who listens.
51:45
SPEAKER_00: He says, let every man be swift to listen, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
51:52
SPEAKER_00: Boy, we're so quick.
51:55
SPEAKER_00: Slow to anger.
51:56
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you what, that just chaps my height.
51:59
SPEAKER_00: Slow down, church.
52:02
SPEAKER_00: Because the anger of man does not work, produce the righteousness of God.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: Well, if we just pass these laws, we can just get them to quit doing that, and if we just, you know, shut them up and it won't produce it.
52:19
SPEAKER_00: Here we are that have the goods, the answer.
52:24
SPEAKER_00: Not any specific actions.
52:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying go out and do this and do any actions or make a stand or say this or that.
52:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying what we have is our nature.
52:34
SPEAKER_00: Creation was groaning to see this.
52:37
SPEAKER_00: Why are they groaning?
52:39
SPEAKER_00: Because they're fighting and warring.
52:41
SPEAKER_00: The book of James says because they're fighting and warring, because they're lusting, they're needing, they're wanting.
52:47
SPEAKER_00: And there's not just one man named Jesus now, there's a whole body of multitudes with Christ in them, that glory and the lifter of their head, and who have been derailed for a season because we thought it was about this, and we thought it was about that, and we thought it was fighting for this and fighting for that and the other.
53:11
SPEAKER_00: And that makes it easy.
53:14
SPEAKER_00: It's like this, we were talking about on the way here, and I said, it's kind of like if God tells me, I want you to give your neighbor a thousand dollars, right now, I'd say, ooh, that's cool.
53:23
SPEAKER_00: That would kind of hurt.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: Not that I wouldn't want to, but I'm like, that's not that easy for me right now, God.
53:30
SPEAKER_00: But what if he said, and also here's the thousand that I want you to give him?
53:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I can do that.
53:36
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly how it is.
53:38
SPEAKER_00: Would y'all stand up?
53:42
SPEAKER_00: How are y'all doing?
53:45
SPEAKER_00: Y'all see the bigness?
53:46
SPEAKER_00: Did you see the power?
53:52
SPEAKER_00: When love and giving is our way, we always get our way.
53:59
SPEAKER_00: We always get our way.
54:02
SPEAKER_00: Father, I love you.
54:11
SPEAKER_00: Father, we as your body, we're thankful for the help that you gave in your spirit.
54:20
SPEAKER_00: The things that were hard for us to see, your spirit reveals.
54:25
SPEAKER_00: The things we didn't know about you, your spirit reveals.
54:30
SPEAKER_00: The things we didn't get about Jesus being, your spirit reveals.
54:35
SPEAKER_00: Who we are, your spirit reveals.
54:38
SPEAKER_00: This holiness that you are, this holy nature, your spirit reveals.
54:44
SPEAKER_00: Your beauty and your perfection, your spirit reveals to us.
54:49
SPEAKER_00: As we behold your goodness and your glory, we have a heart of thanksgiving, and we say, Thank you, Father, for your unspeakable gift and being who you are and doing what you've done for us.
55:03
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the new creation.
55:06
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the power to live.
55:08
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Father, for overcoming this world on our behalf.
55:14
SPEAKER_00: And to you, we give thanks with a heart full of joy, a sense of adventure, and thanksgiving.
55:24
SPEAKER_00: Thank you in Jesus' name.
55:26
SPEAKER_00: Amen.