Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / 1 Corinthians 13 - Love Never Fails

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1 Corinthians 13 - Love Never Fails · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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So we are in the book of First Corinthians 13 this morning.
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If you guys could turn your Bibles there.
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And it is with a heavy heart that I'm here today, as I was
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last week. Can't get this murder out of my
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head. You know what happened, but got
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allotted for a purpose. And I believe he's using Charlie
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Kirk's passing to take us deeper in him personally.
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Where we are with Jesus. Where's our commitment level?
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What are we willing to do and say?
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And how? How are we living in light of
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what's occurring right now in the country?
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After this past week of these horrific events of this
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senseless death, we as Christians have seen a very
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divided response that has been in many instances void of agape
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in first Corinthians 13 is on agape love OK how God loves us
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while we were yet sinners and enemies of him, He loved us.
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He showed us His love unconditionally and with mercy
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and grace. We're not real good at that as
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human beings are we? People do something to us we
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don't like or say something about us that we don't
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appreciate, or whatever it might be.
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We have problems loving people with the kind of love that God
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loves us with. But what we have to understand
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this response to the people who are celebrating his death, I I
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can't comprehend that. That's inhumane.
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Even if you don't like him or what he represented you, you
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don't act like that as a human being, right?
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But people are nonetheless behaving that way.
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And there's believers like us that stand for the word of God,
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that we are also in the crosshairs of people that as as
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you guys said in Spain, they don't want to hear about the
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Lord, they don't want to know about Jesus.
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They, they're not interested in what it is that's changed our
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lives. So we're told by Jesus to love
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our enemies, aren't we? How can we do that?
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That's something I'm learning to do every day.
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How do I die to myself and have my heart broken?
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For people that don't know the difference, they're lost,
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they're blind. They act the way they do because
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they don't know Jesus, right? How can we expect people to act
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differently if they don't have faith and they don't know Jesus?
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How did Jesus do what he did while being crucified for us on
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the cross when he said, Father, forgive them for they know not
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what they do. That's our God, that's our
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Savior. That's how he loves us, that's
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how he treats us, that's how he forgives us, and that's how he
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has mercy upon us. And so as I was studying this
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chapter, preparing to teach it today, I've taught this book
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numerous times in my 30 years of ministry, but it's like a whole
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new study for me because it's really digging deep into where I
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am in regard to what is my love like?
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Is it my Eros love? My sexual love I have for my
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wife, which is important. That's an important good love if
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you're married. Is it my filet love that loves
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people in general that are easy to love?
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Is that my sorge love that causes me to have this intimate
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deep love for my own family and my kids?
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Or is it the gape love that God wants me to have for the world
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as his representative? And so as I was preparing for
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this, I was thinking about people right now like Erica
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Kirk. How is she rolling with the two
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kids? And how is she responding in her
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own heart to the person who murdered her husband?
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Well, she's a Christian like we are, and she has to to go to the
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same place we do when it doesn't make sense.
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We still have to love. And we can't do that in our own
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strength. We need the Lord to pour that
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love in us so He can pour it out of us to other people.
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It says in Romans 5 that He shed abroad in our hearts this agape
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love. Whenever we got born again,
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whenever we got saved, the Holy Spirit came to live in US and
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dwell on us so that this attribute of agape love could
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live through us to other people. And the church is meaningless
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and the Christian life is pointless if we aren't vessels
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of this agape love to the human race, right?
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Like we don't need more information.
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We need more transformation. We need to become more like
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Jesus. And my prayers, I was on my face
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since this event happened and preparing for this message.
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Lord, work on my heart and make me like you.
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I'm not like you unless you make me like you.
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I don't have the capacity to to do what I'm called to do without
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your empowerment, Holy Spirit. And so someone said that this
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chapter is a circulatory system of the Christian life.
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Now, if any of you have cholesterol, which I'm sure some
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of you do, I wouldn't wish that on anybody.
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And you get your tests, you get your numbers, you start seeing
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it going up, and they want to put you on satins, which has
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side effects and other issues, right?
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But it somehow I guess, prevents the plaque buildup and prevents
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strokes and heart attacks. At least that's the science
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behind it. But in the Christian life,
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what's worse than cholesterol is bitterness, unforgiveness,
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judgmentalism, self righteousness, pride, all the
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attributes of the of the sinful fallen nature clogs up this
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heart that God's given us that he wants to flow with his
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presence to to people. And so you and I were put in
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situations every day where we're called to love someone that
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naturally we don't want to love or we don't like or we don't
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want to be around, or someone who's betrayed us or someone
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who's really hurt us. And it's painful to be hurt by
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human beings. And we have a tendency when
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we're hurt, we don't want to forgive.
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We just want to remove ourselves from those people the rest of
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our lives. This circulatory system of agape
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love I've seen it ruin marriages when people don't love like
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Jesus tells us to love. I've seen it's ruined families
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where families don't talk to one another for months, years,
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sometimes forever over some stupid thing had happened.
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I've seen it split churches and cause Christians to don't want
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to be with each other anymore. And it, it's, it's, it's madding
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really as a pastor, because my responsibility, first of all, is
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to somehow have some kind of character of Jesus in me that
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when you guys see my life, you know, I'm not perfect, but you
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know, like God is working in Clark's life.
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He wants to flow through Clark's life for your benefit.
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So that when you come here, you're hearing something that
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can help you love the people that God's calling you to love
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that you just don't want to have anything to do with.
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And until we as Christians, until we as churches begin to
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get real and be honest with God and say, I don't have the
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capacity to do this, but I know this is your command.
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This is what you want me to do. Lord, I'm surrendering myself to
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you. I'm yielding myself to you so
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that you can love through me. So I'm not self-centered, then
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I'm others centered like you are all the time, Lord.
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And I know if we believe that and pray that way, God will do
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that in our lives. He will do miracles.
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He will transform relationships. He'll cause us to love each
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other as brothers and sisters in Christ in a way that we've never
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loved each other before. He'll cause us to love our
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enemies and to pray for people that despitefully use us and
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say, O manner of evil about us for His name's sake.
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Jesus in John 1334 and 35, he talks about the commandment of
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love and he told us that we're to love one another.
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He's given us commandment. He said by this love that he's
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referring to this agape love. People will know You are my
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disciples. Without the love in the midst of
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the gospel, the gospel is going to fall flat on its face, not
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because it doesn't have the power, but God chooses to use
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people like us to take His gospel to other people.
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And people can tell if you really love them or not when
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you're telling them about Jesus. Is this a sales pitch?
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Is this like trying to manipulate me or make me say
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some prayer that I don't want to pray and you, you and that I do
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it and then I'll never see again because you really don't care
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about me. You don't interested in me.
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You know when Jesus was on the earth and he was living his
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lifeout he was 100% committed to the people he was speaking to.
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His love was everlasting. It was overwhelming, it was
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magnetic. It was so attractive that people
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when they saw him as a human being, which he was like us, but
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fully God at the same time, they're scratching their heads.
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I never met anybody like this before in my life.
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I've seen these other people say they're Christians and I see how
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they act. And of course, we know in First
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Corinthians this is a corrective book because the Church of
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Corinth was really messed up. Paul planted this church in AD
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51 and his second missionary journey, he spent 18 months with
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these people. That's a long time.
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Him and Priscilla and Aquila, they were on a team and they
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were discipling people and teaching people and spending
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time with people and getting them grounded in the truth as a
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as a Bible is beginning to be developed in the life of Christ.
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He goes away on his third missionary journey.
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He gets reports, letters that Corinth is messed up.
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The leaders are fighting, the Christians aren't getting along
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together. They're focusing on spiritual
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gifts, and they don't even know the purpose of the gifts.
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And what they were for is to glorify the Lord and build each
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other up, not tear each other apart.
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Paul was the planner and the apostle.
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Can you imagine this? He goes back and they don't even
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want him there anymore. You know, it's like if I went
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away for a couple years and sometimes I'd like to do that,
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to go to Stone Harbor for two years and come back.
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But they'll come back and say, who's Clark?
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What's he doing here? You know, and Lewis says, well,
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he he planted the church 30 years ago and yeah, well, we
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don't need him around anymore. We don't like him anyway.
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So it's better off he he doesn't come back again.
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And I know you guys won't behave that way or not that way, but
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that's what Paul had to experience.
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Can you imagine that? And so when he's writing this
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letter and teaching them about spiritual gifts, he gives a list
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of the of the of the gifts at the end of chapter 12.
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And he's also reminding them that there should be no schism
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in the body, but that the member should have the same care one
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for another. So there should be no division
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in the body of Christ. But unfortunately, there is.
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Maybe you're here today and you're sitting over there
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because you don't like someone over here.
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I hope that's not the case, but. Or maybe you're watching on
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YouTube and I'm glad you do. Or listening on Grace FM, but
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you prefer to do that so you won't have to deal with the
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people. Because it gets messy at times,
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doesn't it? But this is where we get
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Christianity worked out in the midst of one another, learning
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how to rub up against each other and not get bothered by each
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other and learning about the things I'll be teaching about in
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First Corinthians 13. But after Paul talked about all
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the exciting gifts and all the things that are happening and
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how to do these things in order, he says at the end of verse 12,
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he says, and yet I will show you a more excellent way.
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And as he begins to teach in this First Corinthians 13, he
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says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
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but have not love, I've become sounding brass or a clanging
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cymbal. You have around people that
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dislike to hear themselves talk. You're with them and they never
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ask you anything about yourself. They just want to, they want to
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tell you all about themselves and you're there like an hour
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later looking for an excuse of how you can get out of the
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meeting and just get out of there because you know, you've
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heard enough. Maybe.
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But that's what we can become like if we don't have love, we
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can have teaching ability, spiritual gifts.
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We can go to look harder. We can do missions.
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We can do all kind of like good things, but if they're not
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motivated and empowered by agape love, they'll they'll fall flat
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on their face. They won't last.
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And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all
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mysteries, wouldn't it be cool to to have that gift fully and,
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and understand all these deep things of God right now and have
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all this knowledge? And though I have all faiths
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that I could remove mountains, boy, what kind of when you win
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like that kind of that kind of faith that some obstacle or some
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situation in your life occurs that you're able to see it
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removed immediately because you have such dynamic faith, but
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have not love. I'm nothing.
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So Paul's giving these profound statements about things that
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people wanted in Corinth, and maybe you want this stuff too,
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but you don't have the foundation to make these gifts
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work because if you don't have the agape love, then it's not
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going to. It's not going to do anything.
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It's a waste of time. And then I think of Charlie
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being a martyr. He wasn't planning on being a
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martyr any more than anybody else has ever planned to be a
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martyr. But it says here, and though I
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bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body
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to be burned. And that was pretty common back
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then. People were being burned at the
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stake for their faith and to get them to not confess their faith
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in Jesus Christ. And so they they would be
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burned. And some people were burnt to
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the glory of God and some people burnt out of pride.
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I'll show you my enemy, the ungodly Roman Empire, the people
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who are putting me in prison and beating me.
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I'll show you I'm not going to denounce my faith, but I hate
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your guts while you're lighting the match and setting me on
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fire. But I'm giving my body to be
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burned. And who knows what the attitude
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of the conversation was with some of these martyrs prior to
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their death? But if they didn't have love and
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look at the person who's going to martyr them and say, before
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you do this, I want you to know I love you.
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Why? What do you mean you love me?
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I'm going to kill you. And you hear and read the
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stories of martyrs throughout the centuries that were able to
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tell their killers that they love them.
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He says if you don't have love, you're burning profits.
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Me nothing. So then he gets into these
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definitions of what love is and we're not going to rush on these
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things. I think they need to be thought
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about a little bit personally. How are we doing with this
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definition of love as we go through these different
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attributes? And of course, this is referring
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to Jesus and how he is and if you've put your own name in
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there, like your name suffer as long as kind does not envy
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whatever you'll find that you don't get through the list too
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far before you realize I'm not really like that the way I know
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I'm supposed to be. And this agape love that we're
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studying here, the first place it has to be experienced and
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seen is in the marriage relationship between the husband
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and wife and between the kids and the and the parents.
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If it's not working there, it's not going to work anywhere else.
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I've been married 54 years and I'm still trying to learn how to
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love my wife like Jesus loves the church.
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I wish I could tell you I got it nailed, man, I do it right.
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It's perfect. It always works out.
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If you heard some of our arguments sometimes in the
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house, you say, well, there's still works on process and we
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love each other, but we're still learning how to love with agape
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love because human love wears out.
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People get on your nerves, you get burnt out, you're just like
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weary. You know you just want to and
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that's when you get a gun on your face before God and say
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Lord work on my heart till I've got the love for this boss
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that's driving me crazy and minimizing me and making feel
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inferior and doesn't appreciate what I do.
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Or this this husband is demanding all the time and
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doesn't appreciate the simple things I do because he's so
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focused on what he wants versus what he knows.
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I need these basic principles of kindness and sensitivity to one
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another. So he says love suffers long.
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Now, if you look at Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit, we're
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told we got to be filled with the Spirit, and that means be
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under the control of the Holy Spirit 24/7.
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And none of us do that. But as we're growing in the
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grace of God, we're learning that by walking in the Spirit,
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things work out a lot better in the home and workplace, in the
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church, and everywhere in the community.
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And the fruit of the Spirit is first one is love.
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And everything emanates from that love, the joy, the peace,
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the long-suffering, the gentleness, goodness and
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meekness, the temperance and the self-control, the the, the, the
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fruit of the Spirit. And if, if we have this love
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occurring in our lives, this agape love, all those other
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attributes would be automatically and organically
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flowing out of us because it's the fruit of the work of God's
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Spirit and control in our lives. And that kind of love is
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overwhelming it. It blows people's minds.
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They, when they meet you and you're filled with the Spirit
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and you're living this way, they want to talk to you about what
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it is that's happening in you. It's very uncommon in most
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people. They're used to people flying
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off the handle. They're used to people getting
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mad and getting angry. They're used to people judging
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or saying things they know they shouldn't say.
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And unfortunately, this happens many times in our lives as
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Christians. And so it makes our faith
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hypocrisy. We we all have to come to grips
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with this chapter and pray and does not read.
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You know, I read it. Cindy and I read it when we
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first got married. We we were crying, you know, we
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were emotional, you know, she had her mini skirt.
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I had my hair down to my shoulders.
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We had just gotten saved and, and her parents all have
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sunglasses on thinking why is she marrying this, this nut
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case? You know, what's happening to
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her, her her niece, What's happening to our daughter?
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Where's she going with this guy and that we had just gotten
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saved and we're giving our testimony and you know, we're
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just young and 18 and 20 and the whole whole life ahead of us and
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boy, we thought we just got to say we we know everything now.
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Everybody else needs to be like us.
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Well, they they needed to get saved, but they certainly didn't
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need to be like us at that time. We're just starting out.
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We didn't know much about anything and we're still not
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real sharp. We're still learning to be
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honest with you. It's funny, 54 years, you think
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you'd have some stuff down by now, but but it's, it's a
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process, right? No guilt trips here today.
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I'm, I'm being real. I struggle with understanding
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this love that God has for me. Lord, why are you so patient
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with me? Why have you been so good to me?
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Why have you chosen to use me? I, I know myself as I am.
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I'd be like the last person I would say to the Lord, you know,
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pick that guy to serve you. So we start out our life and our
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conversations now and our prayer time together and the things we
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open up about things we regretted or things we wish
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would have worked out differently or things we wish we
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could have maybe managed or handled differently.
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Too late to change that stuff, but it's not too late to be
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humbled by it. Allow it to work on our lives
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today. And that's how you learn this
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subject of agape love. It's it's day in and day out
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learning to suffer. Be patient, not for 5 minutes,
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but for maybe five hours, maybe 5 days, maybe 5 months, maybe
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five years. That's how God is with us.
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God's patient eternally. He never says I'm done with you,
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I don't have time for you. I've had it.
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I never want to see you, God. Thank God he doesn't say that to
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us. So none of us would be here
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today. We have nothing.
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We have no good news. God's good, but he's only
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patient for one or two times and after that you're done though
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he's patient 70 * 7 for the same offenses.
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So when you look at that first word there love agape suffers
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long where, where are we with this right now?
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That's an open-ended question. No answer, obviously, but where
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are you in regard to your patients with your older mom's,
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your older dads, your wives, your husbands, your neighbors,
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your children, the populace of the United States of America?
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Where are you and being patient with the nonsense that's
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occurring? How do you interact, or are you
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even willing to interact with someone that thinks differently
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than you? You're able to hear them out and
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to listen to them and maybe give them something to reflect on as
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opposed to just blowing them off as a waste of time and they're
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not interested and you don't you could care less about.
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And that's that's not how God is.
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How long did the Lord wait for you to come to salvation?
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How long is he still waiting for other people to come to
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salvation? He's eternal.
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Love is kind. Just to be a kind person, to be
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kind to someone. People in general don't seem to
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be real kind nowadays. You ever going to shopping
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center parking lot and you see the spot that you think that
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that's where you're supposed to park and someone else zooms in
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and you get mad or you're kind, that's OK, I'll find another
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spot. No big deal.
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Where as you pulled in, they're giving you the sign language,
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right? People don't have patience.
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They don't have kindness. It's basic kindness.
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Opening the door for someone telling someone have a nice day
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thank you for what you did for me it's a it's an art it's an
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art of life and living through the power of the Holy Spirit to
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be kind. When you come to church, you
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don't expect people not to be kind, right?
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And I pray that when people come here, they sense the the love of
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God. They sense the patience of God
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through the worship and through the Word and through the Supper
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and all the things, the fellowship we have.
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They sense the kindness of God. I like going to that church,
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being with those people because they're kind to me, because I'm
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in a world that isn't kind, right?
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I work in an environment that isn't usually kind.
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I'm driving in traffic that's far from kind, but here it's
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like a safe haven for me to get re energized and get re
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acclimated to what life's really all about and that's Jesus and
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living for him. Love does not envy.
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When Jesus came, there was nothing that anybody had,
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whether it was material or personality or communication
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skills or nice houses, whatever. Nothing wrong with any of that.
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But he, he didn't come here like wanting something from you and
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me. All He wanted was to give of
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himself completely to you and me.
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He wasn't ever self focused, He was always focused on you.
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And MV can go into all kind of dangerous places, whether it's
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wanting someone else's wife or husband or someone else's family
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set up or someone else's house or car or someone else's
29:14
community wherever they live, or someone else's ability to
29:17
vacation wherever it can. It can sneak into your heart and
29:24
before you know it, you're jealous.
29:33
Love doesn't parade itself. In other words, it's not
29:36
interested in being a big shot in charge and control.
29:45
There's humility in someone who is living through and in agape.
29:52
They don't want any accolades. They don't care if anybody
29:58
thinks there's something the Bible says If you think you're
30:04
something when you're nothing, you deceive yourself, right?
30:07
That's stupid thing to think of yourself as being more highly,
30:11
thinking of yourself more highly.
30:13
And you ought to. But the society lifts up people
30:21
that are famous or that have power politically or in in in
30:29
the arts, in the film, theater, legal stuff, all that Anybody
30:36
that is is like puffed up to be someone that is super important
30:43
running Amazon or Microsoft or whatever.
30:47
And unfortunately, a lot of these people that are so
30:49
successful are totally lost. And if they die without Christ,
30:55
no one's really even going to remember them in 50 years.
30:58
It's it's all going to be in vain.
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But what is it in us that causes us to want to be important and
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recognize Jesus came and says he made himself of no reputation.
31:22
Pastors are known for egos and also the narcissistic, unhealthy
31:34
tendency to want to attract the following, which is the worst
31:39
thing that a pastor could fall into.
31:44
They want to be on TV. They want to have jet planes,
31:47
they want to brag about their wealth or their budget or the
31:51
number of people that attend their churches and and it makes
31:55
them feel like there's something.
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And if people are following you and me, they're following the
32:08
wrong leader, aren't they? We're to be following Jesus
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Christ and him only on Christ the solid rock I stand.
32:20
All other ground is sinking sand.
32:26
Last one I'm going to cover today and we'll cover the rest
32:29
next week. Love does not behave rudely.
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I'm reminding you of this frequently where Cindy will say
32:37
to me occasionally you are so rude that should shock you.
32:42
I'm a pastor. Or maybe I just did something
32:44
stupid. I didn't hold the car door open
32:47
or I went through the door and I'm thinking I got to get
32:49
through, but I'm not thinking about her that she's got to get
32:52
through. I mean, it's, I'm not doing it
32:53
intentionally. It's just part of my flaws.
32:59
And, and you're some of you are looking at me like shock.
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My gosh, pastor, how can you be rude?
33:03
You know, well, I'm trying to be less rude.
33:06
And any way I can be less rude is by being filled with the Holy
33:09
Spirit, right? Because if I'm not filled with
33:11
the Spirit, I'm going to be the same rude Clark that she married
33:14
54 years ago, right? Nothing going to change.
33:18
But when she says to me that I've been rude, I don't want to
33:21
be rude. Honey, forgive me.
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You're right. I was wrong.
33:26
I got to think about that more now.
33:32
And so I'm trying to walk behind her now so she opens the door
33:37
for me. So we're going to, you know,
33:48
stop here and that worship team can come forward.
33:50
We'll take the Lord's Supper. Devin Noel, I saw her a little
33:55
earlier and she looked at me. Holy Spirit, word she says,
33:59
Clark, the Lord's God of the day.
34:02
I looked at her like, because I'm struggling teaching on this.
34:08
Be honest with you, but it's it's fun being with you guys
34:12
because you're gracious and and I looked her and I said, Deb, I
34:16
needed to hear that the Lord has this teaching.
34:21
I don't, but he does and he has it for you.
34:25
What a wonderful thing when someone has a word for you right
34:31
and speaks it into your life to encourage you.
34:34
And many of you do that. We endeavor to do that with one
34:37
another. So before we go in the Lord's
34:41
separate, there's two things I wanted to share.
34:43
Pastor Lewis and I were in here praying on Wednesday and he was
34:47
concerned about the attendance on Wednesday night.
34:50
Not that we don't take a role or anything, but we have these 5-6
34:54
guys that teach the Old Testament, pour their heart into
34:57
the word, spend time Brad and Janelle and the, and the kids
35:02
ministry. They they prepare they they
35:04
really work hard to provide a resource for you during the week
35:07
if you are so inclined to want to participate.
35:11
And so he he wanted me and he's going to chat about it too that
35:14
pray you can't come every week I can.
35:16
I'm on the road most of the time out of town, but when you can
35:22
come. This is this place is open for
35:25
your benefit to grow in the grace and the knowledge of God
35:28
to build relationships. Wednesday nights are different.
35:31
You can ask questions with the teacher because it's just a
35:35
different format. Sunday morning, the youth group
35:40
that's developing and growing all these ministries.
35:43
There's people here actually called to these things and
35:48
they're here to serve you. So please, please pray about
35:52
that this coming Wednesday. I have a friend that's coming
35:56
and and I don't want you to miss it if you can't.
35:58
He's a former addict. His story is thrilling and how
36:01
the Lord saved him out of addiction.
36:04
He went to Calvary Chapel, Bangor, ME went through their
36:06
program, Ken Graves, the pastor, a friend of ours, this amazing
36:11
story. I met him at a church plant
36:13
outside of Pittsburgh and New Calvary.
36:15
It's starting. And he was saying, well, I'd
36:17
love to get my testimony sometime.
36:20
And so he's going to be here this coming Wednesday at 6:30.
36:22
Anthony's his name, pray for him.
36:25
And his grandfather started at Calvary Chapel in Honolulu years
36:30
ago. So this guy grew up in the faith
36:33
but got away from the Lord like a lot of us can.
36:36
And he went his own way. And now he's on fire with his
36:40
wife and his kids. And so he'll be here at Calvary
36:43
on 6 at 6:30 this coming Wednesday.
36:46
Also the men's retreat that's coming up.
36:50
What they said, Karen, the men's retreat with with 19th.
36:57
Yeah, it's awesome. So Ed Taylor, who's on a radio
37:00
station at 5:30 out of Colorado, he's a dear brother.
37:08
He's going to be speaking and he's a wonderful Bible teacher.
37:11
It's at Ligonier Conference Center, right down the road from
37:15
us, and we have to go far. If you can't afford it, guys,
37:18
we'll help you and and pay for it.
37:20
Just let us know, but you can, you can register online.
37:23
There'll be more details about that next week.
37:26
I'm going to go up Friday night and go come back home.
37:31
I I'm not staying overnight with some guys snoring and keep me up
37:34
on that. I'm going to go home and I'll
37:36
come back Saturday. So some of you might just want
37:38
to go Friday night or or just Saturday, whatever.
37:42
But please brothers, pray about going.
37:45
It'll change your life that time just hanging out with the other
37:47
brothers, other men of God. So we did have a baptism at our
37:53
house on Saturday. 5 people got baptized, verse 13, about a
38:00
month ago. It's exciting to see people
38:02
falling with baptism. And she had it there.
38:06
Praise the Lord. Water was 86.
38:09
That's Ava. She's 13, big volleyball player
38:14
and Hemfield School district. Awesome, Awesome.
38:19
There she is again. And that is Luke, Right?
38:24
Luke. Right.
38:25
That's Luke. Who is it?
38:28
Laura. Oh, Laura.
38:28
I'm sorry, I can't tell. That's Laura.
38:31
I kept calling her Anna. That's Gina's and Jerry's
38:35
daughter. She's all excited about Jesus.
38:37
There's Luke. He's a little troublemaker in
38:40
our kids ministry over there. He's got a lot of energy and we
38:44
got to stay on that kid. But you know, the Lord's getting
38:46
hold of his heart. And he, he made that decision
38:48
himself to get baptized. And then who else we got, huh?
38:55
Oh, it's all OK. So we have you, sister.
39:00
You got baptized. Raise your hands, everybody.
39:06
And who, who else got? Did I miss anybody?
39:09
Miss anybody, Lewis. OK, so anyway, it was exciting
39:15
and it was amazing. Families came to witness and
39:19
watch it and they were all celebrating seeing their
39:22
families getting baptized. Glory to God, Dave and Cindy,
39:27
thank you for coming and sharing with us.
39:29
And May God continually give you a wonderful retirement.
39:32
Healthy and enjoy yourselves. Well done, Well done.
39:38
So let's pray and prepare our hearts for the supper.
39:45
This supper today, in the memory of what Jesus done for us, I
39:50
think the way we could really glorify and honor Him is to just
39:56
take a moment and think about First Corinthians 13 and ask Him
40:01
to work on us in our hearts that we will be experiencing and
40:06
living this kind of love in a way we've never lived before.
40:10
Not any. In our church, but first in our
40:13
home and our families in our neighborhood where we work all
40:17
those places. So let's just take a minute
40:19
before the Lord and if we need to repent of some stuff, let's
40:23
let's give it to him. If you're here today and never
40:26
put your faith in Jesus today, today to say I need to be saved.
40:30
I need my life to change. It's just not working the way it
40:32
is. And I know I'm a Sinner and I
40:35
need you, Jesus, to come into my life and save me and forgive me,
40:39
change me, change me inside. Until we're changed inside,
40:44
nothing will change outside. Father, we're just so thankful
41:04
for your patience, your long-suffering, Your love, Your
41:09
grace, your kindness, your goodness, your meekness, who you
41:13
are, who you are to us. Lord, we, we know you and we
41:18
want to be like you and we know that's your will for us, that
41:21
you would conform us, all of us, the hardest center, the hardest
41:27
heart here today. Lord, you are able to change us
41:31
so that we're like you and we can make an impact in this
41:35
world. There's a lot of people are
41:37
angry today out there's a lot of people that are hurting, a lot
41:41
of people suffering. And Lord, you've called us to be
41:46
a solution, not a problem, to be an answer for people's
41:53
hopelessness and fears, to bring the gospel, Jesus Christ to them
41:58
so that they can have a brand new start in this life.
42:05
Lord, we bring our own hearts to you and we ask you to to to
42:09
touch them and to make them like your heart that we could
42:16
experience first of all this wonderful agape love and a
42:21
deeper way in our own hearts with you, but then to give it to
42:25
one another. Lord, we pray for today, for
42:30
those who are broken over the earth for Charlie's memorial
42:36
service. God, we pray you would use His
42:40
death for Your glory in our country and in our world.
42:47
Comfort His dear wife and children and all of us, Lord,
42:53
who are shook from this event. We pray, Lord, you would protect
43:00
us from danger and hatred. You put a hedge of protection
43:08
about us and our families in these days, wherever we go,
43:12
whatever we do, Lord, we know you go before us, You go with
43:16
us. And the Knights of Jesus is
43:22
betrayed. He took the bread in his hands
43:25
and he broke it, and he gave thanks and he said, take, eat.
43:29
This is my body which was given for you.
43:32
Eat this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, in that
43:41
evening he took the cup, and he said, This cup is a new covenant
43:47
in my blood, which was shed for the forgiveness of sins of many.
43:51
Drink this in remembrance of me. For as often as we eat this
43:59
bread together and we drink this cup, we show forth the Lord's
44:05
death till he comes again. Amen.
44:07
God bless you guys, have a wonderful day.