Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #16217 - We Should Love One Another - 1 John 3:10-15

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#16217 - We Should Love One Another - 1 John 3:10-15 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles to 1st John chapter 3.
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We're going to pick up in verse 10 where we left off and I have
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entitled the Bible study. We should love one another.
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We should love one another. Now, Webster's Dictionary
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defines a habit as something that's settled, A settled or
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regular practice, especially one that is hard to give up.
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A habit is a regular, settled practice, especially one that's
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hard to give up. And when we think of habits, we
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can think this way, can't we? There are good habits and there
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are bad habits and we want to cultivate the good.
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We want to dismiss the bad. I mean good habits like reading
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your Bible every day, praying every day, healthy eating,
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exercise, living a disciplined life.
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There's so many good things that we can add to our lives.
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So many things that are bad habits.
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I think of smoking or cussing or laziness or gluttony or so many
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bad habits that can harm us and and yet we find ourselves having
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a hard time getting rid of the bad, bad habits and an equally
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hard time adding good ones. But when you step back, a large
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portion of our lives and a large portion of the direction of our
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lives really follow what has become habits in our lives.
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I mean, you can look back and say, I think I got here because
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I got a bad habit. It's been a bad habit.
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You know there'll be times when you're in prayer and the Lord
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goes. That just has to go.
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It's not leading you anywhere, anywhere good.
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It's not benefiting you. You might like it, you might be
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used to it, but it's not good for you or the alternate.
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You've been really pressing in. We're just a few months into a
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new year. We've got all these New Year's
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resolutions, whether we remember them or not.
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But some of you have stuck with it.
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Some of you have really dug in. I know one of my commitments
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this year was to finish that 100 day devotional and just to stay
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focused with it. And I did, and I'm on my second
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time through and it's been very beneficial.
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And I like to highlight when I do something and I repeat, I
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like to highlight the second time in different colors.
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And so the first time I saw something, it's in yellow and
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the second time I see something, it's in blue.
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And this one in particular, when I was going through it, I didn't
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highlight anything. So now the second time I'm
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highlighting and maybe the third time, which will be almost a
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year, but I stuck with it and sometimes I stick with my
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resolutions, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I have, you know,
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these grand ideas for the year. And then what happens?
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Life happens and something happens and you get diverted
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here and diverted there. But when you look at your life,
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a large portion of your life where you are today, how you got
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here today has a lot to do with the habits in your life.
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Good and bad habits are very powerful forces in our lives
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that can be used by the Spirit or it can be a big part of our
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flesh life. And for the believer, the
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follower of Christ, having right habits is essential for your
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spiritual growth. And the right habits actually
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start with right beliefs to believe the right thing, because
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right beliefs will lead to right behavior.
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Like when you believe something right, you're going to follow up
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on that belief, the beliefs that are essential.
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The really foundational place to cultivate right beliefs is
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knowing God and knowing that he loves you, that he died for you
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and that he forgives you. That he'll never leave you or
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forsake you, that he won't abandoned you, that there's
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never a promise that he's made in his word that he won't keep.
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That when he leads, he guides, he cares.
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When you abide in him, he abides in you.
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You abide in his word, his word. There's so many foundational
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things when you begin to believe them.
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I I think of perhaps an addiction where you just been in
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a bad habit. I mentioned habits right now and
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you're like, Oh yeah, I've got some bad habits.
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Well, one of the foundational beliefs that you really need to
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hold on to is that what's impossible with man is possible
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with God. It's just when you believe that,
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then it changes your thinking and you have the right beliefs,
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the right behavior naturally follows.
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And in his long list of qualities to look for in a
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spiritual leader, Oswald Sanders, it's a great book.
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By the way. We have it downstairs.
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It's on our discipleship reading list.
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It's probably one of the first five books I ever read.
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And as a new believer, it's called Spiritual Leadership by
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Oswald Sanders on his list that make and develop good spiritual
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leaders. He lists as #1 breaking of a
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habit, that a good leader has broken a habit.
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And he writes this. And I quote, have you ever
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broken a bad habit in in order to lead others, you must master
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your appetites. I'm like, wow, that was good.
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That whole book is like that. And actually it was written as a
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series of lectures to missionaries because he had a
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heart for missionaries. So he's certain.
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So some of the things he writes are just like really edge.
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They're like the edginess. They're like man, He's Speaking
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of you may be on a number one, but he's speaking to get you to
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10 right away. And if you want to be a good
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leader, you need to know how to master your appetites.
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Jesus would agree. In Luke chapter 6, verse 40, it
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says a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is
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perfectly trained will be like his teacher.
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There's a need in our lives to be perfectly trained.
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What that means is there's things we need to learn.
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And as I share with many, some of you are new to the church,
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but you came from a background perhaps where you didn't get a
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lot of Bible teaching, or maybe you come from a very religious
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background. And so you're, you're coming in
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and, and you're just feeling the word of God like a fire hose.
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You're getting all this knowledge and understanding of
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the love of God. There are things that you need
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to learn and you're already there.
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But but if you're in that place, there are also things you need
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to unlearn. And that's where, you know,
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humility is very necessary, especially as we get older.
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It's like, well, I don't have anything to unlearn.
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You know, I don't have. No, no, no, you learning and
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unlearning are part of training. And when you're following
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Christ, he's going to teach you things that are right.
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He's going to teach you things that aren't right.
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And someone that's perfectly trained will become like that
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whom they submitted to as a teacher.
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Paul the apostle, he also understood this truth.
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First Corinthians Chapter 9. In verse 26 and 27, Paul writes,
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Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty, thus I fight not as
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one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it
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into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I
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myself should become disqualified.
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You know, I was just talking with my son Joshua right before
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we came in and I was just telling him like, I do not want
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to crash and burn. I don't want to leave now later
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on, more years behind me than I have ahead of me.
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It's never been more crystal clear in my life to be laser
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focused on finishing well. I mean, finishing well, could be
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tonight, this could be it finishing well, could be another
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year, another 10, another 20 years.
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But I've never been more laser focused than leaving this
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committed life. Like I don't want to start well
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and then stop disciplining myself and I don't want to start
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well and then just kind of let things go and come to a place
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where, you know, we've arrived and not that's as far as it
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goes. And now all I have, I don't have
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anything to learn. You all have something to learn.
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That's not the body of Christ. We're all growing and they're
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all things we need to learn and be trained to not disqualify.
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I mean, Paul was clear. I discipline my body so I don't
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become disqualified. So important.
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It's little things, it's big things, but it's the long haul
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dealing with, you know, if you want to just at the very base
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level started looking at your life for the bad habits that you
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have and stop making excuses for them and attack them.
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Just confess them. They're a part of your old, you
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know when you, when you feed bad habits, they're a part of your
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old nature. They need to be discarded.
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I remember reading a book from a brother, I forget his name, but
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he gave me the phrase that I thought was so good to describe
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the flesh. It's one of many, but I love how
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he described it. He called the flesh your old
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sinful habit patterns. And for those of us that got
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saved later in life, we had a lot of years to develop sinful
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habits. But you can develop sinful
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habits as believers, and you feed them, and you feed them,
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and you feed them, and you know what?
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What happens? They take over your life like
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weeds. We choose to feed the new
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nature, the Spirit, by replacing old bad habits with good godly
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habits. There is the delivering power of
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God, the justifying power of God, the sanctifying power of
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God, one day being in the presence of God, glorified.
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But there is also our responsibility, our agreeing
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with God. That's a easy words.
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Do you agree with God? We all agree with God.
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Amen. Hallelujah.
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Agreeing with God, but agreeing with God is actually softer way
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of saying obeying God. I know you agree.
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I agree with God. Do you obey?
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I don't know. Then you really don't agree.
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If God is telling us that something that's good for us,
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then we believe God and we agree with him by obeying him.
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It's a demonstration of love, our obedience.
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We love God, we trust him with our lives.
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John is giving us in this section really the through the
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end of the chapter 3 crucial habits for the believer 1 is
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loving the brethren. We're going to look at that
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tonight, helping the brethren and believing God.
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So pick up in verse 10. Now in this chapter 3, verse 10,
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in this, the children of God and the children of the devil are
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manifest. Whoever does not practice
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righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his
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brother. These two categories of people,
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children of the devil and children of God are already
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defined for us in this letter. The children of the devil will
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be the false teachers that we've known as the Gnostics, GNOSTICS,
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the Gnostics who had a lot of false beliefs that John is
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addressing throughout the letter.
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And of course, the children of God would be those that are
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following him. Children of God or whoever does
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what is right. The children of the devil are
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those who do what is wrong. Children of God are those who
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love. Children of the devil are those
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that don't love. And you notice in verse 11 it
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says, for this is the message that you heard from the
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beginning, that we should love one another.
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Church love is the central focus of the gospel.
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It is what it is the hinge by which every life will turn on.
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Love is the essential component of a changed life.
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It is the essence of God's care and concern for His creation.
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The fruit of the Spirit is what Lovejoy, peace all.
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Some have said that the fruit of the Spirit is love and all the
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rest are descriptions of that love.
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Not that that that can fit. You can see them individually.
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You can see how love plays out. But love is the at the heart of
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the Christian message. Our new life is based on love.
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The Gnostics, the false teachers believe that it was normal and
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natural to look down on those others who were not Gnostics.
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They they were looking at this little exclusive club.
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And if you weren't in the club, you weren't worthy of love.
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You know, in some pockets of Christianity Today, that's the
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same message. The same message is being given
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out in pockets of Christianity, that if you don't follow the
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gospel and if you don't see the world, that this the way that
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church sees it or the way the pastor sees it, then somehow we
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look down on you. And if you would just join us,
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then we can look up to you. And nothing could be further
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from the truth. God died to save all men, women,
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and children. His love extends to even that
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person and the message that you heard from the beginning,
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whether you realized it or not. The essence of the essence of a
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changed life. The essence of your ears to open
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to the gospel message, the good news that Jesus died for you.
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The essence of what pricked your heart in the conviction of your
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own sin. The message of us analyzing your
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life of where you are and where God wants you.
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However, it was whatever it was that God grabbed your attention,
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the message was a manifestation of His love for you.
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And it doesn't matter what angle because we all got different
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angles, we may have all been in different trouble, or we we
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heard the message of love in our family growing up and you were
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just saved as young as you possibly.
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The essence of the message is love.
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The fact that the the statement a loveless Christian is an
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oxymoron. It doesn't make sense.
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It is not reflective of the God you say you serve.
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From the very beginning of faith, you and I were introduced
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to the greatest love ever demonstrated to man, the death,
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burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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There is no greater love that has ever been demonstrated.
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It's God would even say to you today, you want my proof?
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Do you want proof of my love for you?
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Look to the cross in Romans. The love of God was demonstrated
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here, manifested at the cross. He died on the cross as a
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substitution for our sins. Listen, Second Corinthians
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chapter 5 and verse 21 says that He made him who knew no sin to
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be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God
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in Him. Now, there are a lot of messages
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today, a lot of voices that are passed off as Christianity, just
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a few that are more popular today.
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There's the message that God desires his children to be
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healthy, wealthy, and wise if they only had enough faith.
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There's the message that a Christian will never be sick if
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they have enough faith. There's the message that a
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Christian will never be broke if they have faith.
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There is the message today that if you're not careful, a demon
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will get you. That's a real popular one.
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And don't worry if the demon gets you, we've got a special
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prayer that we can pray over you and you can always come to us
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because we'll deliver you from the demon Christians.
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That's a very popular message that kind of, you know, if
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you're around, you walk with Christianity long enough, you
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walk with Jesus long enough, things come and go.
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Well, that one's back with a vengeance.
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There's the message of Christianity.
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This is Christianity. Just send in your love offering
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and God will multiply it. You want to be rich?
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Make me rich first. It's the false teaching of the
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televangelist or whoever's doing it.
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Your seed gift of faith. Nonsense, absolute nonsense.
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There's the message that's been with us for a long time.
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Follow this rule list of rules and regulations and you'll be OK
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with God. Just follow the list.
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Just do what we tell you to do. And that we always refers to a
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level of religious authority, someone that stands in authority
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over you that will lay heavy burdens on you that they
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themselves won't carry, but they'll lay them on you.
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And that's false. My word to you is to reject them
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all, because that's not the message you heard from the
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beginning. It says right here that the
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message that we heard from the beginning is that we should love
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one another. That's the gospel demonstrated
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by God the Father who loved you and me so much that he gave his
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only begotten Son. I mean, you just have to sit for
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a moment as we've been studying through first John, this is now
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our 17th study, just kind of working our way through and you
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just have to sit and think, man, the love of God is unbelievable.
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Paul's going to pray later on in Ephesians.
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He's going to pray for the church in Ephesus and he's go, I
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just want you to know the width and the depth and the breath and
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the height of God's love. It's, it's impossible, but God,
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he's able to do the impossible. You know, I'm praying that
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you'll know it, but it's like impossible to know the fullness.
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But you can always know more because God is able to do
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exceedingly, abundantly above all that you can think or ask.
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And the message that we heard from the beginning was not all
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these false messages. It's love.
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And so John narrows it down for us today.
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Do you love? This was the emphasis of the
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teaching of Jesus in John chapter 13 verse 34.
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Jesus says a new commandment I give to you that you love one
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another as I have loved you love one another.
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That's a tall order. I want you to love just as I've
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loved you. You're like, OK, Lord, I don't
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know how that's going to work, but I'm going to follow you.
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And one of the ways that I, I know that I can learn how to
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love better is to appreciate God's love.
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If I have to love, if God is calling me to love, Jesus says
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love is I've loved you, then I need to spend some time
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meditating on how much God loves me and how much I've been
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forgiven. He who has been forgiven much
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loves much. And you just like take it all
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in. It's like yes, it's so good.
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Not only that, in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse one it says
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therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love
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just as Christ loved us and given himself for us an offering
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and a sacrifice to God. A sweet smelling aroma.
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Absolutely nothing will attract a person to Jesus like love.
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Then he gives the opposite. Notice what he says he says in
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verse 12. Now he says, OK, love is the
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essence, this is the message. And then he says not as Cain,
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not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his
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brother. And why did he murder him?
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Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous.
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So this takes us back to the first murder in the Bible in
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Genesis, Cain was of the wicked. 1 John says he's contrasting two
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groups of people earlier, children of the devil, children
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of God. And then he says, oh, let's see
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it in practice with Cain. And Cain he puts in the last
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group. He it's not just the Gnostics,
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but it's those who live outside of love, those who murder.
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And you'll notice with Cain, that Cain, he was very
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religious. He was a very religious man.
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You'll notice that Satan's children are very religious as
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Cain is offering and attempting to leave his offering before the
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Lord. The Pharisees were very
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religious as well. John chapter 8 verse 44.
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You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your
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father you want to do. And what were those desires?
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Jesus said he was a murderer from the beginning and does not
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stand in the truth because there's no truth in him.
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When he speaks a lie, he speaks to him, his own resources, for
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he's a liar and the father of it all.
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Cain's eyes were on himself. He saw his brother's works and
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hated Abel for his righteous works.
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Abel was righteous, Cain was evil, and his jealousy led to
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disobedience and eventually to murder.
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We look at Cain and think, oh, I would never murder someone and
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I'm grateful for that. I look at my own life.
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I go, no, I don't ever want and I don't ever see myself
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committing the physical act of murder.
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But turn over with me in in Matthew's Gospel for a moment.
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Come with me to the teachings of Jesus.
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I want you to turn there so you can see it in your own Bible.
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Go to Matthew chapter 5 and when you get there, pick up in verse
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21, Matthew chapter 5, verse 21. It's good that we would all
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commit never to take someone else's life through murder, it
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it would be good for us to make that commitment.
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We don't want to walk in the jealous evil wickedness of the
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example of Cain or the example of the Gnostics.
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But notice what Jesus says. He goes much deeper when he says
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in Matthew 5 in verse 21, you have heard that it was set up to
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those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will
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be in the danger of the judgement.
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But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother without a
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cause shall be in danger of the judgement.
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And whoever says to his brother Raqqa shall be in danger of the
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council. But whoever says you fool, shall
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be in danger of Hellfire. Therefore, if you bring your
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gift to the altar and remember that your brother has something
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against you, leave your gift before the altar.
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Go your way and first be reconciled to your brother and
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then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary
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quickly while you're on the way with him, lest your adversary
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deliver you to the judge and the judge hand you over to the
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officer and you'd be thrown into prison.
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Assuredly, I say to you that you will by no means get out of
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there till you have paid the last penny.
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Now let's step back for a second and consider that the traumatic
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pain and hurt that we carry, the issues we have interpersonally
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with folks, the the fact that murder might be stirred up in
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our heart can be a very complicated thing.
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So when you read a simple teaching of Jesus here, your
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first response could be some answer of why it doesn't apply
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to you, of how somehow the Scripture doesn't fully apply to
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you. Because there's a reason.
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There is a good reason there. There are a lot of different
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layers, and certainly Jesus knows those layers.
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He knows them. I mean, certainly our Creator
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God knows everything about you and me.
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So when he says something like this, he's able more than I
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could ever be. It's my own issues.
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When I read some of these words, I more than I could ever be to
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speak right through all the excuses and all the reasons I
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say, for example, like where he says first go be reconciled and
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immediately I can't be reconciled.
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Well, that is that that's not the right answer.
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That's not the right answer because I might be, but might be
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the fact what God is speaking to is the heart and that's
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something that you can answer. You may not be able to reconcile
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the situation may be very difficult, but if we're not
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careful, we'll read the simple teaching of Jesus and just
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dismiss it because our situation's so hard or our
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situation is hopeless. We don't think of praying about
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it. We we don't think of man.
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This is impossible, but I'd really like to see an
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impossibility in my life. I'd really like to express love.
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But no, instead we go, Oh, no, you don't understand.
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No, that's too much. No, my life's too complicated.
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No, I've have all these cares and concerns when the when Jesus
24:33
just saying, look, he's saying it very simply, murder.
24:37
It's good that you don't want to murder someone physically.
24:40
That's a good decision. That's something you've heard
24:42
from old. But Jesus, I want to tell you
24:44
something that's more common. I want to tell you something
24:47
that's more common and that is you are so angry with someone
24:52
that your heart is filled with hatred and that you murder them
24:56
every day of your life. That's important to pay
25:00
attention to the same commitment that we make to physical murder.
25:04
Jesus is saying, I want to do a deeper work and I want you to
25:07
live a life as you walk in the spirit never wanting to hurt
25:11
someone ever again, even those that hurt you.
25:14
That's a miraculous work. But we all believe that God's in
25:17
the does the miraculous, don't we?
25:19
We all believe that he does miracles.
25:21
We all believe that he can do things that we are never, never
25:24
able to do. And he says here you be careful
25:27
of your anger. One of the ways that he says you
25:30
can look out for anger is when you call people names.
25:35
Calling people names minimizes their value in your eyes for
25:39
whatever reason and opens you up, opens my heart up to became
25:45
become harder toward them, not softer.
25:48
If I keep calling them a name, I'm recalling the pain or the
25:52
hurt. I'm I'm, I'm somehow elevating
25:55
myself above them. And when you elevate yourself
25:58
above someone, you're not coming humbly like Jesus says to leave
26:02
your, your offering at the altar.
26:05
I get in my mind, you know, just the, the altar outside of the
26:08
temple. When you're bringing your
26:10
offering, you're like, this is my act of worship.
26:15
And when you and I are in an act of worship, we're very open to
26:19
the leading of the Holy Spirit, very open to a transformed
26:22
heart. And he is not in any way Jesus
26:25
is not in any way minimizing the trauma and the pain you might
26:28
carry or the herd or the broken relationships.
26:31
He's actually taking you a step back further and says, look,
26:35
just watch your heart. Watch your heart because you
26:39
murder a lot of people in your heart.
26:41
Some of you that that's exactly the word of the Lord for you.
26:44
You have been truly murdering people in your heart and it may
26:51
not even be for reasons of deep pain.
26:54
It could just mean they have a different point of view or
26:57
they're doing things that you don't like, or they're just on a
27:00
the other side of the fence on a belief system or whatever.
27:05
However you see the world. And so now all of a sudden we're
27:07
going to call names. The pastors.
27:09
I hear pastors calling people names from the pulpit.
27:13
I don't know what they think they're going to gain calling
27:16
somebody a name and saying, oh, by the way, Jesus loves you.
27:19
It doesn't make any sense. I could list a few names for
27:21
you, but I don't want to. It's just not from the Lord.
27:26
Say, well, Jesus called names. Oh, now you're Jesus.
27:29
I see. Like when Jesus referred to
27:33
someone by name, it wasn't to demean them.
27:37
It wasn't to elevate. Jesus didn't have the flesh in
27:40
him. He didn't sin.
27:43
So however, however he was able to do it.
27:45
You know, you thinking about what he said of Pilot or you
27:48
know what, what he said about the religious, you know, the
27:50
people that Jesus were the hardest on.
27:52
We're not the lost. It was the religious, the ones
27:57
that were hurting people and taking advantage of them.
28:01
So if you want to turn your attention toward the lost,
28:04
you're going to find more love because this is the message, the
28:07
message from the beginning. The Bible didn't start with in
28:10
the beginning Cain. The Bible starts in the
28:15
beginning God. The very first few words of the
28:20
Bible is a demonstration of God's love as he reveals
28:23
himself. Do you know you and I would
28:25
never know God unless he chose to reveal himself to us.
28:28
We would never know him. We've never understand his ways,
28:31
his character, his nature. We wouldn't know what to
28:34
believe. But God opens up the Bible in
28:36
the very just say in the beginning God.
28:38
I know that that is used often to express God as creator over
28:44
the false teaching, you know, in the false philosophical view of
28:49
humanistic evolution. I get that, But there's again,
28:52
there's even a pre step to that and that is God says, I just
28:55
want you guys to all know who I am.
28:58
I'm inviting you into my life. I'm inviting you into
29:01
relationship. I'm going to tell you the story.
29:04
I'm going to unveil you the story to show you not only who I
29:07
am, but who you are, and I'm going to show you the gap that's
29:11
between US and how that gap is impossible to cover.
29:14
But I'm going to send because I love you.
29:16
I'm going to send my son and I'm going to pursue you over and
29:20
over and over. Notice what he says in verse 13.
29:23
Coming back now, first, John three, do not marvel.
29:26
Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.
29:31
So now you're following the message of love.
29:33
You're living in love and you're like, oh, that's great.
29:35
I'm just going to go into this world.
29:37
I'm trying to love others, and all I get in return is hatred
29:40
and hostility. And yet what you're experiencing
29:43
is the world's hatred toward God, then towards you.
29:49
When you were living in the world, living for the world, you
29:52
didn't experience all that much hatred because you typically
29:55
hung out with people that agreed with you.
29:59
You typically hung out with people that agreed with you
30:01
until they didn't. Isn't that what happened to the
30:03
prodigal son? He had all this money.
30:06
He had all these new friends. He's partying, living it up,
30:10
just doing whatever he wants to do until his money ran out.
30:15
And then what happened next? His friends ran out and then he
30:19
was left all alone in a famine. He was famished in a famine
30:24
stricken country feeding pigs. The hatred you experience is the
30:29
hatred toward Christ. John already said that.
30:33
He said there are many antichrists have already entered
30:35
the world and the hatred that you experience in the hostility
30:39
of this world is because they're fighting the work of God.
30:43
And I believe a Christian, a follower of Christ, is and
30:47
should be a convicting presence in the world just by the
30:52
lifestyle that we live, by what we stand for, the way that we
30:56
love, the way that we give, the way that we share, the patience
31:00
that comes through us, the joy that we experience, the efforts
31:04
that we make to avoid sin, to shun sin.
31:09
And I know how difficult it can be, even as a child of God, to
31:12
face this conviction. It can be painful.
31:14
But how much more the unbeliever, especially those
31:18
that may be of your own family, you know, you were living one
31:21
way and now all of a sudden you have completely flipped the
31:25
script because now you're following Christ and your
31:28
family's looking at you. And it's like, I don't like
31:31
that. And one of the reasons why they
31:34
might express that is because you have become a mirror to
31:38
their behavior. You used to live like them and
31:41
now you've changed because you read the Bible.
31:45
I mean, I think of my own family.
31:47
My family had that big Bible under the television, you know,
31:49
that it was huge, probably this half of the size of this pulpit.
31:53
And and we never read that thing.
31:55
It never came out. And it was so dusty.
31:56
It was one of the things I had to dust.
31:58
I didn't do very well, but one of my chores was the dust, the
32:01
big Bible under the TV and it had our birth certificates in it
32:05
and it had like flowers in there.
32:07
Like we never read that Bible. But but man did did my family
32:12
make a dramatic change when I started to read the Bible that I
32:15
purchased the second one, right, because remember I brought the
32:17
wrong one the first time. So I brought I bought a bad
32:20
Bible the first time. Once I got the right Bible and I
32:22
started reading and I said, mom, it says it right here.
32:25
Well, you know, and put bond, it says it right here.
32:28
And not only where the was the Bible being in the room, but
32:32
there was no question that I had changed.
32:38
There was no question. I tried a lot of things.
32:41
I was into a lot of things trying to change, trying to make
32:45
my life better, trying to make a life after I got married,
32:49
nothing worked. Nothing worked.
32:52
I couldn't stop drinking. I couldn't stop.
32:55
I couldn't stop anything just for AI would stop, you know, I'd
32:58
get so guilty or something, you know, something would happen.
33:00
I'd stop for a couple days. That was it.
33:04
And it was back because I had no power.
33:07
I had no power, I had no purpose.
33:10
But when God revealed himself to me through his love you, you
33:15
don't even have to say anything. And there will be people that
33:19
are close to you that will be offended by you because it's
33:23
clear you're a different person. And of course, when you do say
33:27
things, you may say, well, I'm going to church now, Mom.
33:30
Oh, that church. It's a cult.
33:32
No, I don't think it's a cult, mom.
33:33
It's right here. Like you say, you read the bring
33:37
out your Bible. Let's read it together.
33:38
I don't want to read the Bible. Well, I mean, that's not fair,
33:41
mom. I keep saying mom because mom
33:44
gave me the most. But my dad, I had conversations
33:46
with my dad too. It's like, that's not fair.
33:48
You can't like you can't claim I'm in a cult when I'm just
33:50
reading the Bible that is dusty under the television.
33:55
Take it out. Let's read it.
33:59
And over time, I learned how to deliver better.
34:04
I really did. But it also gave room for the
34:07
Holy Spirit to work. It gave room for and so you're
34:11
just your presence. It happens in families.
34:13
That happens at work. You know, you just you were
34:16
going one way. I've got stories everywhere.
34:19
I was man. But I remember the time I was
34:21
walking in my car with my Bible. It was after work and one of the
34:24
guys came in and he was, oh, there's a Christian and he
34:27
knocked the Bible out of my hand is, oh, take that Bible boy.
34:30
And I'm like, man, bro, it was just a year earlier.
34:34
We would have been thrown down right here in the parking lot.
34:36
And I just like, I got went down, I picked up my Bible and I
34:40
dusted it off. And I'm like, yeah, man, I guess
34:43
I'm a Bible boy. I don't know.
34:46
I may not remember the bad parts of that interaction, but I do
34:50
remember the good parts. And who knows what I said, but
34:53
man, I remember the dude was so mad at me.
34:55
I didn't do anything to him, but I might have said something to
34:58
him, You know, because you have to learn how to deliver.
35:00
You have to learn how to love people.
35:02
It's something you can learn. It doesn't come overnight.
35:05
You learn tact and patience. You learn how to listen.
35:10
But I believe we should be a convicting the there is
35:13
something about the true believer that's not going to
35:16
look like the world. And because you don't look like
35:19
the world and live like the world, the world doesn't like
35:22
you or as it says here, the world, the system hates you.
35:28
And never has that been more true in the culture we're living
35:32
today. And I know our culture today
35:34
gets a lot of, you know, it's just wild these last days stuff.
35:38
It's unbelievable what's happening in culture today.
35:41
But I don't want you to forget Jesus came on the scene and the
35:46
Roman Empire was in charge of the world like every generation,
35:52
every, every season of believers as every as long as there's been
35:58
believers, as long as there's an Abel, there always be a cane.
36:01
This isn't anything new, it's just new to us, especially in
36:07
our Western context where Christianity has had a lot of of
36:12
progress within government for many years and it's had a lot of
36:16
progress moving forward. But you know, there are nations
36:18
that have never experienced what we've experienced.
36:21
And as things get squeezed and pressed in and it becomes harder
36:25
and harder to live like it only makes you and me lean on the
36:29
Lord more, it only pushes us to the Lord.
36:34
We're not going to trust in human mechanisms anymore.
36:37
We're not going to trust in the things that perhaps in previous
36:40
generations have. We're going to trust in the
36:42
Lord. We're going to watch Him work.
36:43
We're going to pray more. So much that's going on in our
36:46
culture today should drive us to prayer and be in prayer for our
36:50
lives and for our own families. You know, I find so many, so
36:54
many in the church, I watched them.
36:56
They're so worried about everyone else's family while
36:58
their family disintegrates like you need to get you, you the the
37:02
greatest, the greatest purpose and power you have is the
37:06
influence you have on your family.
37:07
You need to start praying for your family, interceding for
37:11
them, living that example with the ones that live with you, the
37:15
ones that follow you, the ones that look to you, the ones that
37:18
are prodigals right now, the ones that that perhaps are
37:20
living a resistant, rebellious life toward God and you're
37:24
praying for them. You know what else you need to
37:25
do? You not only need to pray for
37:27
them, but be an example to them and show them the message that
37:33
you heard from the beginning. Love.
37:38
Love is a powerful force. The problem, of course, is we
37:43
don't like to stick out. We like comfort and ease.
37:47
We we don't like resistance. We don't like difficulty.
37:51
And because you want to fit in under the pressure of the world
37:55
system, you're tempted to compromise just so you could fit
38:00
in. You've been delivered from, you
38:03
know, partying, but you still kind of want to hang out and go.
38:06
I'll just have one drink. You know, the people like that,
38:09
The people, I'll just have one drink.
38:10
They're usually the ones that get pulled over because they
38:14
lost count. You can see all.
38:16
They always say how many. You know, the officer knows
38:19
they've been training this, right, Officers.
38:20
They have even special units for Duis.
38:23
They've been trained in this. And every time you watch one, do
38:25
they go how much you've been drinking?
38:26
Oh, I had one or two beers. One or two beers.
38:28
What they're really saying is I lost count at one or two.
38:33
I lost count because, you know, you see maybe an episode of Cops
38:36
or something. You know, the cops know the
38:38
police officers are pulling over.
38:39
You have one or two. Oh, never mind.
38:40
Go ahead. Here's your keys.
38:41
Go on. No problem.
38:43
One or two. Yeah, what was wrong with me?
38:45
I just saw you swerving and like, I don't know.
38:48
I here's your keys back. No, no, no.
38:55
The Lord doesn't want you to compromise your convictions, and
38:59
he definitely doesn't want you to go back to what you were
39:01
delivered from. Maybe you were a very angry
39:04
person. God doesn't want you to go back
39:07
to that. He wants you to trust him.
39:10
He wants you to follow him. He wants you to love God and
39:13
love your neighbor as yourself. Love your family, he says in
39:17
verse 14. We know that we've passed from
39:20
death to life because we love the brethren.
39:24
He who does not love his brother abides in death.
39:28
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no
39:32
murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
39:36
He who does not love, John says, abides in death.
39:39
There's no Jesus life in him, no spiritual life.
39:44
And it's not, this isn't a statement that says that you
39:47
won't be angry or that you won't stumble.
39:51
This isn't a statement of the everyday issues that we face in
39:56
life. The point that John's making
39:58
here is that a believer will not practice hatred and he will not
40:03
continually, habitually murder people in this heart, in her
40:07
heart. Hatred will always breed anger,
40:11
anger leads to bitterness, bitterness involves rage, and
40:15
rage will often turn into murder.
40:17
So a person living with hatred is very far from the love of
40:21
God. It's been said, and I quote you
40:23
can be sure you've crafted a God little G into your own image
40:27
when you're God hates all the same people you do.
40:32
Let me just say that again. That was a good one, huh?
40:34
Again, I don't know where I came from.
40:35
I don't have the, I don't have the quote, but it's really good.
40:39
You can be sure that you crafted a God into your own image when
40:42
your God hates all the same people you do.
40:48
We want to make sure that those feelings we have are taken to
40:52
the cross and that we admit them and repent from them, that we
40:58
practice humility and repentance and forgiveness.
41:02
Turn again over to 1st Corinthians 13.
41:03
As we wind down here, would you go back with me?
41:06
First Corinthians 13, Any of these New Testament passages
41:09
that I quote to you, we've talked through verse by verse.
41:12
So if one of these Scriptures really ministers to you, I would
41:15
encourage you to go back and listen to that Bible study.
41:18
So you know, verses today that I've quoted so far.
41:21
John chapter 6, First Corinthians 9, Second
41:25
Corinthians 5, John 13, Ephesians 5 John chapter 8,
41:30
Matthew chapter 5. I didn't quote it, but first
41:33
Peter chapter 2, verse 9. Now first Corinthians 13, we did
41:39
a few weeks on this, but this is this description, a limited but
41:44
very powerful description of what love looks like because
41:48
you, you know, it begs the question, OK, if this is the
41:50
message we heard from the beginning of love, well, what
41:52
does it look like? And this, this is a great
41:54
beginning of what love looks like.
41:57
And he starts, Paul does with the church in Corinth with
41:59
saying, I know that there's a great emphasis in gifts and
42:03
spiritual gifts and speaking in tongues and prophecy and words
42:07
of wisdom. I know there's a great emphasis.
42:10
It's almost like he's saying you have over emphasized those
42:12
things at the expense of love. Love comes first.
42:17
And that's what he says in the first few verses.
42:19
Like, you know, if I speak with the tongues of men and angels
42:21
verse one, but I don't have love, I'm sounding brass.
42:26
And though I have the gift of prophecy verse 2 and I can
42:28
understand all mysteries and all knowledge like, like you got
42:31
every seminary degree and you just know it all, but you have
42:35
not love you you, you are nothing.
42:40
What good is all that knowledge if I bestow all my goods?
42:43
You're you're a giver, generous. You give so much, you give your
42:47
body to be burned, but you don't have love.
42:50
Then what profit is that? And then he says love suffers
42:55
long and is kind. Love does not envy.
42:59
Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.
43:02
Verse 5. Love does not behave rudely,
43:06
does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does
43:12
not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all
43:16
things, believes all things, hopes all things, ensures all
43:20
things, endures all things. Love never was your Bible say
43:25
baos. You should mark that many years
43:29
ago we were taught to use this as a test.
43:34
And the way to use these verses as a test is to replace the word
43:39
love with your name. And so whenever love is
43:44
mentioned in these verses, just put your name in there.
43:47
Like like it says here, Ed suffers long.
43:50
Don't put my name in there. Put your name in there.
43:54
Ed is kind. Ed does not envy.
43:57
Ed does not pervade himself. And you can go on and on.
44:00
And surely as you do that regularly, the Holy Spirit will
44:04
show you stop, stop, stop. Don't go any farther than that.
44:08
This is an area I've been working in your life for a long
44:10
time. You didn't even need a Bible
44:12
study for that. You just needed to put your name
44:14
in First Corinthians 13. Especially those of you that are
44:18
valuing your spiritual gifts above love or the fact that you
44:22
have greater knowledge than someone you know more of the
44:24
Bible or you got some insight, or those of you that are very
44:28
generous and loving and caring. But you, you don't have love.
44:34
You can do all these things. I'm I wonder if this is part of
44:38
the process of those that will stand before Jesus, say, look at
44:40
everything we've done and Jesus says, but you didn't know me.
44:45
You didn't know me. Or you could even say you didn't
44:48
know love, you didn't know me. I'm glad you know.
44:53
I don't know the conversation there.
44:54
We're not giving much of it from Jesus, but can you just hear us?
44:57
I'm glad you did a lot of good, but it wasn't for me.
45:00
It was for you. And that's not how the believers
45:06
life is to be lived. The very first thing that we
45:10
chose when we chose to follow Christ was to deny ourselves.
45:16
And love is very important. Whoever hates his brother is a
45:21
murderer, not reflecting eternal life inside of them.
45:26
What a sad life to hold on to anger and to live in bitterness.
45:32
Christian love does not reside in the personality.
45:35
Being loved. That is.
45:37
Love often comes in spite of the person.
45:40
That's the greatest exercise of love, where we're not just
45:43
loving those that are lovely, but we're loving those that are
45:47
unlovely. And isn't it interesting when we
45:50
think of lovely and unlovely people, we always put ourselves
45:53
in the lovely category and everyone else, especially the
46:00
ones that we say Raqqa or fool. And even today, I know you say,
46:07
and I've never called anyone a fool.
46:09
Did you call him an idiot? Oh, idiot.
46:12
Yeah, that's the word of the day.
46:16
And so just think about that. Hey idiot, God so loves you that
46:21
he gave his only begotten Son. It doesn't fit.
46:25
That's not the name God gives you.
46:28
He doesn't see you that way even when you fail.
46:32
Just like a mom or a dad, when they see their kids stumble and
46:35
fall, there's that immediate desire to go rush in and rescue
46:39
and help and teach and and and get them back on their feet.
46:43
God doesn't use that language with you.
46:45
He sees you and me through the blood of Jesus Christ.
46:49
And we have the command to love. So let's follow it, even if our
46:53
feelings aren't there yet. Feelings will always follow
46:56
obedience. They don't always come before
47:00
obedience. They actually fight obedience.
47:03
I don't want to and I don't feel like it.
47:05
That's the time to choose to obey.
47:08
You don't feel like it? No.
47:10
OK, then obey. Obey.
47:15
I just posted, I think last week, an article on my blog on
47:20
love is a choice. It's not an emotion, although it
47:24
is emotional. But truly most of our love is a
47:27
choice following the Lord. So what does it mean to love?
47:33
We'll learn that next time. So read ahead and get ready for
47:36
the rest of the chapter. So, Father, thank you for this
47:39
insight on love and whatever you had to give us tonight, We want
47:42
to receive it. We all need more of your agape
47:47
in our lives. Every single one of us,
47:50
especially those that are hurt deeply, that are just crushed
47:54
emotionally. Maybe going back to their
47:57
parents and their grandparents and their great, great
47:59
grandparents. It's just been a whole heritage
48:01
of pain. But now there's generational
48:04
change right here in this generation.
48:08
And it could just be we're giving more attention to the
48:12
Antichrist instead of you, Jesus Christ.
48:17
And so forgive us, Lord, humble us.
48:21
We bring our offer, our, our, our offering to the altar, our
48:24
sacrifice to the altar. And we pray for reconciliation.
48:28
We pray for true change. We're willing to change.
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And those, those others, we pray that they too would be willing.
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The two humble, broken people would meet together.
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And should you do it, we give you all the glory, but should it
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not be done, we give you all the glory because you're faithful
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regardless of the output. And I just pray for us, Lord, as
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we get caught up and you know, we just we get so angry and so
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upset that you might soften us and that the message we've heard
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from the beginning, that message of love, just teach us how to
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love better. It's just how to be gracious.
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And for those receiving love and grace, let them appreciate it.
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Rise to the occasion, be reminded of the great gift of
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grace, your son. And should we make a mistake,
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then we just we're going to make a mistake trying to follow you,
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Lord, we don't want to be cane. We want to walk with that
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righteousness of Abel, just simply worshipping you.
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So in, in, in inhabit the praises of your people as we
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sing tonight, just midweek encouragement, extra strength,
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extra help, extra hope. I pray for the couples here
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tonight, Lord, that there would just be a work that's miraculous
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in their lives. I pray for the singles here
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tonight. They would just be a a fusion of
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patience into their hearts tonight.
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I pray for the kiddos. It's a hard world they're being
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raised in. But man, let their homes be a
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refuge. Let their cars be a refuge.
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Let let it let their homes be transformed by the decisions of
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their parents. I know they might be in a
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difficult thing where one parent, maybe it's a divorce or
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something and they're going to see something really bad in
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another house, but let it be overcome with love in that
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house. There's something over here,
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it's hard, it's a consequence, but over in this home, As for me
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and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.
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And As for me and my house, we're going to love our kids and
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we're going to teach them your ways and we're going to
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encourage them and we're going to wash away those bad habits
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with good habits and be good examples and that we would just
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be good examples in the world. God.
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So have your way with us. Just speak to us in a dozen
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different ways in Jesus name, Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
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prayer. Call us at 87730 grace that's
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877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
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this week.