Sermon Notes

Face the Future with Faith!

7.17.2024 (part 1)

7.24.2024 (part 2 – Scroll Down)

Foundations

As world conditions deteriorate, now is the time to build your faith in God’s Word.

1 John 5:4 (NKJV)

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

World:

1 John 5:19 (NKJV)

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

John 14:30 (NKJV)

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NKJV)

Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

1 John 5:4 (BBE)

Anything which comes from God is able to overcome the world: and the power by which we have overcome the world is our faith.

1 John 5:4 (CEV)

Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory.

1 John 5:4 (GW)

Because everyone who has been born from God has won the victory over the world. Our faith is what wins the victory over the world.

1 John 5:4 (NLT)

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.

Jesus gave you faith when you were born again! Don’t think you don’t have it because you do!

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Romans 12:3 (NKJV)

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Romans 12:3 (WNT)

For through the authority graciously given to me I warn every individual among you not to value himself unduly, but to cultivate sobriety of judgment in accordance with the amount of faith which God has allotted to each one.

We all have the same measure of faith given to us when we come to Jesus.

It is up to us to do something with what God gives us!

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Rick Renner( Sparkling Gems)

“A verse that really helped me back in those days—and that still helps me today—is Hebrews 11:6. It says, “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him [God]….” The word “without” is the Greek word choris, a word that means to be outside of something—like outside the city limits or outside the house, as opposed to inside the city or inside the house. It should actually be translated, “But outside of faith….” This word describes faith as a location—a place where you can live “in” or live “out” of. The Greek literally means, “But outside of the place of faith, it is impossible to please Him….” Furthermore, the word “please” is the Greek word euarestesai, a compound of the words eu and arestos. The word eu means well, as in something that is well—and the word arestos means enjoyable or pleasing. Together they describe the pleasure one feels from seeing something that is especially excellent or delightful. So when you take all these different meanings into account, Hebrews 11: 6 can be translated: “Outside of the realm of faith, it is impossible to bring delight and pleasure to God.…” The flip side to this statement is that when you are living “in” a place of faith—that is, if you are where God has called you and doing what God has asked you to do—you bring pleasure to the Lord.”

— Sparkling Gems from the Greek Vol. 2: 365 New Gems To Equip And Empower You For Victory Every Day Of The Year by Rick Renner

https://a.co/2jvYDMg

Faith is developed two ways: learning the Word, and then exercising it against the circumstances of life.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith in God means faith in His Word!

If I say I have faith in God in a particular situation, I must ask myself what scriptures am I believing in as I trust God.

Faith comes through the knowledge of God’s Word.

The more Word you know, the greater your capacity for faith.

Faith must also have resistance to grow, just like a muscle. So when negative things happen, learn to go to God’s Word and act like it is true!

James 1:22 (NKJV)

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:23-25 (NKJV)

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Part 2: 7.24.2024

There is no faith in God that is not directly attached to His Word!

In some places there is an emphasis on the presence of God. We want the presence. But you cannot put faith in a feeling. Faith MUST be in God and in His Word.

Matthew 24:35 (NKJV)

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Isaiah 55:8-11 (NKJV)

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

The only stable thing in the world is what God has said!

As conditions deteriorate in our nation and worldwide, we have a stabilizing factor in our lives with the Word of God!

I remember that when I came to Christ in 1976, the world was in chaos way back then. Inflation was high, gas prices were escalating as we had long lines at the gas stations. Businesses were laying people off. In the middle of all of this I was getting acquainted with God and His Word!

Isaiah 33:6 (NKJV)

Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation; the fear of the LORD is His treasure.

God and His Word, when added to any equation of need, equals a miracle of provision from Him!

Miracles happen when people trust God in faith.

Just think of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Daniel, David: Miracles happened! God provided. Needs were met. Healing came. Provision came. Protection came. All because of faith in what God said!

Hebrews 11:32-40 (NLT)

How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

Faith is what is going to navigate you through the things that are coming!

Get your faith ready!

Can you face a situation that looks and feels bad and believe that God will heal, or provide, or solve the problem when it doesn’t look or feel like it ?

We are the touch and feel generation.

We are the sensory generation. We want to see. We want to feel. We want to experience.

Notice what Jesus said to Thomas:

John 20:24-29 (NKJV)

Seeing and Believing

24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Read and meditate the Word!

Believing right now that you receive answers to your prayers.

Faith is the key to overcoming the pressure and needs that life brings your way!

God does not respond to need. He responds to faith!

Smith Wigglesworth Quote

There is something about believing God that will cause God to pass over a million people just to get to you.

The woman in Mark 5 had a female issue for 12 years and simply touched Jesus in FAITH. And she was healed. A lot of people were touching Him at the time, but it was the touch of faith that made the difference.

Kenneth Hagin:

If Satan can keep you in the arena of thought, he will whip you, and whip you badly.But if you can keep him in the arena of faith, you will defeat

him in every challenge.

Your enemy can outthink you, but if you keep him in the faith arena, he has nothing that can defeat you if you will stand.

1 Timothy 6:12 (NKJV)

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NLT)

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

I learned this first in my late teens when I came to Jesus. I had been in church for almost 18 years! Did not know this!

Believing you receive what you have asked for from the Lord before you see or feel it is the key to receiving from Him!

Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

I will come back to this.

You may be facing a huge crisis right now.

Faith, believing that you receive, is the ingredient that will get you through it.

Many speak of faith as an abstract – it’s somewhat nebulous and innocuous. As if faith is just something you have to help you grunt through life, but it doesn’t change anything.

But faith is a force that comes from your spiritual life that will bring you through the toughest things that life brings your way!

Notice the role that faith had in Jesus’ ministry:

Mark 9:14-23 (NLT)

When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. 15 When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him. 16 “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked. 17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”19 Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” 20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. 21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” 23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

Mark 9:23 (NKJV)

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Matthew 8:5-13 (NLT)

A Roman Officer Demonstrates Faith

When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, 6 “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.” 7 Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 9 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! 11 And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. 12 But many Israelites — those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

Matthew 8:13 (NKJV)

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.”

Matthew 9:18-26 (NLT)

Jesus Heals a Bleeding Woman and Restores a Girl to Life

As Jesus was saying this, the leader of a synagogue came and knelt before him. “My daughter has just died,” he said, “but you can bring her back to life again if you just come and lay your hand on her.” 19 So Jesus and his disciples got up and went with him. 20 Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind him. She touched the fringe of his robe, 21 for she thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 22 Jesus turned around, and when he saw her he said, “Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed at that moment. 23 When Jesus arrived at the official’s home, he saw the noisy crowd and heard the funeral music. 24 “Get out!” he told them. “The girl isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” But the crowd laughed at him. 25 After the crowd was put outside, however, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she stood up! 26 The report of this miracle swept through the entire countryside.

Matthew 9:22 (NKJV)

But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

Matthew 9:27-29 (NKJV)

When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” 28 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

Impossible situations turn around when faith is exercised.

Don’t settle for less than God’s best!

Faith always receives right now what God promises!

When praying for certain things personally, it’s important to remember that faith is never future tense.

Faith is always past or present tense.

Hope is future tense.

To cooperate with the Lord and receive from Him, keep your tenses right!

If you’re just hoping that one day in the future things will be different, you’ll not receive from the Lord.

It’s not hoping one day in the future that things will be different, but it’s believing that God has already answered, or is answering your prayer, that brings results!

Notice what Jesus said about praying in faith in Mark 11:22-24:

Mark 11:22-24 (NKJV)

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them..

This next verse has simply revolutionized how I have lived my life.

Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Question some have – I would be lying if I said I have something and I don’t have it.

You’re not saying you have it; you are saying you believe you receive it. There’s a big difference.

Mark 11:24 (AMPC)

For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].

Mark 11:24 (NCV)

So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you.

Mark 11:24 (GW)

That’s why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24 (ESV)

I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

Mark 11:24 (CJB)

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, trust that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24 (BBE)

For this reason I say to you, Whatever you make a request for in prayer, have faith that it has been given to you, and you will have it.

Hebrews 11:1 (NCV)

Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.

Dr. J. Oswald Sanders Quote:

Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.

Declare the end from the beginning!

Isaiah 46:9-10 (AMPC)

[Earnestly] remember the former things, [which I did] of old; for I am God, and there is no one else; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose,

Are you willing to declare the end from the beginning?

Call those things that do not exist as though they did!

Romans 4:17 (NKJV)

(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

Romans 4:18-21 (NKJV)

who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

Speak and act as though you believe you have what you have asked God for.

If you are depressed, weighed down, feeling low, ask God to set you free from it, and then believe you receive and say you believe you receive while the feelings are still there.

If you are believing for healing, pray, then start acting and praising and thanking God as though you were healed already, even before the symptoms stop.

Don’t ignore the problem. Speak God’s Word in the face of the problem!

If you are believing for finances, then pray, believe you receive, and act like, talk like, and praise and thank God like you already had what you asked for!

If you are believing for a job, act like, talk like, and praise and thank God like you already had what you asked for.

Examples of faith receiving right now:

Joshua

Joshua 6:1-2 (NKJV)

Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua: See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.

God spoke to them in the past tense about Jericho. The walls were still up. Yet God had promised that the city was already theirs!

Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3 (NKJV)

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 17:5 (NKJV)

No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham! ‘Exalted father’ became “father of a multitude.” He and Sarah had zero children when God changed his name!

Romans 4:17 (NKJV)

(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed — God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

Jesus spoke in the past tense when praying for Lazarus to be raised!

John 11:39-44 (NKJV)

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

Faith is a fight!

1 Timothy 6:12 (NKJV)

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Fight – Greek – agœnízomai:

to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary)

The fight is to defy negative thoughts and feelings when it looks like it isn’t working.

Make it your habit every day, after you pray and ask, to say out loud what you believe!

Action Points:

Am I willing to pray and to believe that I receive what I pray for right now?
Am I willing to talk and act like I believe I receive the answer before any changes come?
Am I willing to fight negative thoughts and feelings even when it looks like nothing has changed?

The God Kind of Love (part 10)

Fifteen Characteristics of the God Kind of Love (5)

Love keeps no lists of wrongs!

7.21.2024

How do you react when you are mistreated in some way?

We are to respond in love…

Here’s the backdrop of today’s relational climate:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT)

The Dangers of the Last Days

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

We can choose to let the world dominate us, or we can counter with the God kind of love.

During Paul’s day, the relational pressure was intense for believers. They were being persecuted by the Roman government and life was tense…

1 Corinthians 13:1-7 (MSG)

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.

Love doesn’t strut,

Doesn’t have a swelled head,

Doesn’t force itself on others,

Isn’t always “me first,”

Doesn’t fly off the handle,

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

15 Characteristics of Love from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

We covered seven of the 15 characteristics:

1. Love is willing to suffer a long time – Love suffers long…

2. Love treats people kindly.

3. Love is not jealous.

4. Love does not brag.

5. Love is not proud.

6. Love is not rude.

7. The God kind of love puts others first.

8. Love will not respond with anger and offense.

Today:

9. Love does not keep lists of wrongs.

Thinks no evil

(God’s Word) It doesn’t keep track of wrongs.

(Contemporary English Version) It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do.

(East to Read Version) Love does not remember wrongs done against it.

(New Living Translation) it keeps no record of being wronged.

(New Century Version) Love does not count up wrongs that have been done.

(The Message Paraphrase) Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

(Amplified) – Takes no account of the evil done to it: pays no attention to a suffered wrong.

Greek – logizomai

to take an inventory, i.e. estimate (literally or figuratively):

Despise, esteem, impute, lay, number, reason, reckon, suppose, think (on).

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

The Greek word here is logizomai and means to take an inventory.

It means to make a list in your mind of what someone does to harm or bother you or to remember when someone does you wrong.

This is a fleshly trait that we must choose to resist.

God’s love in us keeps no record of wrongs.

This characteristic is perhaps one of the best gauges of whether or not we’re walking in love.

When you are talking to your spouse or children, do you bring up their past offenses?

Do you remind them over and over again – of what they forgot to do, or of what they have done or said? Love doesn’t.

We have left love behind when we start holding others’ offenses against them and start making lists in our minds of their offenses against us.

We are to love the way God does!

Ephesians 5:1-2 (NKJV)

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Imitators

(Dake Study Bible Notes) Greek: mimetes – imitators; mimic the gait, speech, accent, and manner of life of another (note, 1Cor. 4:16). It means here to imitate God as children do their parents–imitate His acts, words, nature, ways, graces, and Spirit.

Ephesians 5:1 (PHILLIPS)

As children copy their fathers you, as God’s children, are to copy him. Live your lives in love—the same sort of love which Christ gives us and which he perfectly expressed when he gave himself up for us in sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:1-2 (MSG)

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. 2 Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

What if God held our sins against us?

What would it be like to go to God and He reminds you of what you did last Thursday, or what you said yesterday when you were angry?

Would you want to worship Him?

Would you want to spend time with Him?

Would you feel like He wanted you around Him?

Listen to God’s Word about how He deals with your past sins:

God chooses to forget our sins when He forgives us.

He doesn’t carry a list around waiting to remind us of our past.

1 John 1:9 (NLT)

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Hebrews 10:16-18 (NKJV)

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

Ephesians 4:31-32 (NLT)

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Psalms 103:1-4 (NKJV)

Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

Psalms 103:8-13 (NLT)

The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. 10 He does not punish us for all our sins; He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. 11 For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. 13 The LORD is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him.

Isaiah 43:25 (NKJV)

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My

own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

Isaiah 43:25 (NLT)

I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.

Psalms 145:8-9 (NLT)

The LORD is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all His creation.

So if we imitate God, should we forgive others and get rid of the mental lists we hold about what they have done?

Should we bring up in conversation what a person did to us a week ago, or six months ago, or 3 years ago?

Get rid of your lists.

The lists keeps us from being close to a person.

If you are married, you may find emotions that are turned off if you keep lists!

In our daily relationships, we are to pay no attention when others do things that we don’t like.

I often give an illustration from the 80’s of a guy who came into my office with a huge computer-generated list of his wife’s offenses towards him – date, time, offense!

My first pastor accused me of rebellion when I told him of some things I was feeling in prayer! I had to choose to forgive him and let it go!

A man I worked with in 1980 in Tulsa ignored me for weeks during work hours. I had crossed a picket line he was on while picketing for higher wages in the meat market of the store.

I treated him as though he never did it! Love never fails!

As a young man in my early twenties, these incidents taught me an invaluable lesson as to the power of agape love. Love never fails!

Jesus held no lists on the cross.

Luke 23:33-34 (NKJV)

And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.

Stephen held on to no lists as he was martyred.

Acts 7:59-60 (NKJV)

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

We do have the ability to love the unlovely and the cantankerous!

As a pastor over the years, I have chosen to make no lists with any person.

Is there a person in your life that you carry a mental list with?

I want to have a teddy bear heart and alligator hide as I get older!

The exception to this rule:

The other side of this which I will address in detail later is that there is a place for discipline that calls a person out for behavior that harms others.

2 Timothy 4:14-16 (NKJV)

Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. 15 You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.

16 At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 (NLT)

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us.

Titus 3:10-11 (NLT)

If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them. 11 For people like that have turned away from the truth, and their own sins condemn them.

Acts 20:29-30 (NLT)

I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. 30 Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 (NLT)

When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. 10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 11 I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.

You may be involved in a difficult home relationship or a troubled relationship at work.

It may be a relationship with a family member or neighbor that has become testy.

Be the person that chooses to walk in love, choosing not to take account of the wrongs committed against you.

Treat the offending party as though they had done no wrong.

Treat them the way you want to be treated yourself.

Act in love towards them. Ignore the emotions of revenge or ill-will.

Focus on loving with this supernatural agape that God has placed in your spirit.

Meditate on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 until it oozes out of you in words, tones, thought, motives, and actions.

Action Points:

1. How do you control your anger?

2. Are you easily offended?

3. Do you keep lists in your mind of others’ wrongs against you?

1Corinthians 13:4-8 – Translations

Let me describe love. It is slow to lose patience; love stays in difficult relationships with kindness, and it always looks for ways to be constructive.

There is no envy in love. It is not possessive and never boils over with jealousy.

Love makes no parade of itself; it never boasts, nor does it puff up with pride. Love is never arrogant and never puts itself on display, because it is neither anxious to impress, nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.

Love never gets irritated and is never resentful. Love holds no grudges, and it keeps no record of evil done to it. Love refuses to be provoked and never harbors evil thoughts. Love is not rude or grasping or overly sensitive, nor does love search for imperfections and faults in others. Love does not compile statistics of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people.

On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love celebrates what is real and not what is perverse or incomplete. Love never does the graceless thing. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage.

Love never insists on its own rights, never irritably loses its temper, and never nurses its wrath to keep it warm. Love is not touchy. Love can stand any kind of treatment because there are no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust.

Love bears up under anything; it perseveres in all circumstances. Love’s first instinct is to believe in people. If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best in him, and always stand your ground in defending him.

Love never regards anyone or anything as hopeless. Love keeps up hope in everything. Love’s hope never fades. Love keeps on keeping on! It trusts in God in every situation and expects God to act in all circumstances.

Love goes on forever. Nothing can destroy love. Nothing can happen that can break love’s spirit. In fact, it is the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.

Face the Future with Faith!

7.17..2024

Foundations

As world conditions deteriorate, now is the time to build your faith in God’s Word.

1 John 5:4 (NKJV)

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

World:

1 John 5:19 (NKJV)

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

John 14:30 (NKJV)

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NKJV)

Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

1 John 5:4 (BBE)

Anything which comes from God is able to overcome the world: and the power by which we have overcome the world is our faith.

1 John 5:4 (CEV)

Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory.

1 John 5:4 (GW)

Because everyone who has been born from God has won the victory over the world. Our faith is what wins the victory over the world.

1 John 5:4 (NLT)

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.

Jesus gave you faith when you were born again! Don’t think you don’t have it because you do!

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Romans 12:3 (NKJV)

Romans 12:3 (WNT)

We all have the same measure of faith given to us when we come to Jesus.

It is up to us to do something with what God gives us!

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Rick Renner( Sparkling Gems)

— Sparkling Gems from the Greek Vol. 2: 365 New Gems To Equip And Empower You For Victory Every Day Of The Year by Rick Renner

https://a.co/2jvYDMg

Faith is developed two ways: learning the Word, and then exercising it against the circumstances of life.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith in God means faith in His Word!

If I say I have faith in God in a particular situation, I must ask myself what scriptures am I believing in as I trust God.

Faith comes through the knowledge of God’s Word.

The more Word you know, the greater your capacity for faith.

Faith must also have resistance to grow, just like a muscle. So when negative things happen, learn to go to God’s Word and act like it is true!

James 1:22 (NKJV)

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:23-25 (NKJV)

The only stable thing in the world is what God has said!

Matthew 24:35 (NKJV)

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Isaiah 55:8-11 (NKJV)

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD.

Isaiah 33:6 (NKJV)

Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation;

the fear of the LORD is His treasure.

Miracles happen when people trust God in faith.

With Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Daniel, David: Miracles happened! God provided. Needs were met. Healing came. Provision came. Protection came. All because of faith!

Hebrews 11:32-40 (NLT)

How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

Faith is what is going to navigate you through the things that are coming!

Get your faith ready!

Believing right now that you receive answers to your prayers is the key to overcoming the pressure and needs that life brings your way!

God does not respond to need. He responds to faith!

If Satan can keep you in the area of thought, he will whip you, but if you can keep him in the arena of faith, you will defeat him in every challenge – Kenneth Hagin.

Your enemy can outthink you, but if you keep him in the faith arena, he has nothing that can defeat you if you will stand.

I learned this first in my late teens when I came to Jesus. I had been in church for almost 18 years! Did not know this!

Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

I will come back to this.

You may be facing a huge crisis right now.

Faith, believing that you receive, is the ingredient that will get you through it.

Many speak of faith as an abstract – it’s somewhat nebulous and innocuous. As if faith is just something you have to help you grunt through life, but it doesn’t change anything.

But faith is a force that comes from your spiritual life that will bring you through the toughest things that life brings your way!

Notice the role that faith had in Jesus’ ministry:

Mark 9:14-23 (NLT)

Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy (112/Matthew 17:14-21; Luke 9:37-43)

14 When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd surrounding them, and some teachers of religious law were arguing with them. 15 When the crowd saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with awe, and they ran to greet him.

16 “What is all this arguing about?” Jesus asked.

17 One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. 18 And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”

19 Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

20 So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.

21 “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.

He replied, “Since he was a little boy. 22 The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”

23 “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

Mark 9:23

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Matthew 8:5-13 (NLT)

A Roman Officer Demonstrates Faith

When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, 6 “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”

7 Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”

8 But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 9 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! 11 And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. 12 But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13 Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

Matthew 8:13

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.”

Matthew 9:18-26 (NLT)

Jesus Heals a Bleeding Woman and Restores a Girl to Life (89/Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56)

19 So Jesus and his disciples got up and went with him. 20 Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind him. She touched the fringe of his robe, 21 for she thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”

22 Jesus turned around, and when he saw her he said, “Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

23 When Jesus arrived at the official’s home, he saw the noisy crowd and heard the funeral music. 24 “Get out!” he told them. “The girl isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.” But the crowd laughed at him. 25 After the crowd was put outside, however, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she stood up! 26 The report of this miracle swept through the entire countryside.

Matthew 9:22

But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

Matthew 9:27-29 (NKJV)

When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

28 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

Impossible situations turn around when faith is exercised.

Don’t settle for less than God’s best!

Faith always receives right now what God promises!

When praying for certain things personally, it’s important to remember that faith is never future tense.

Faith is always past or present tense.

Hope is future tense.

To cooperate with the Lord and receive from Him, keep your tenses right!

If you’re just hoping that one day in the future things will be different, you’ll not receive from the Lord.

It’s not hoping one day in the future that things will be different, but it’s believing that God has already answered, or is answering your prayer, that brings results!

Notice what Jesus said about praying in faith in Mark 11:22-24:

Mark 11:22-24 (NKJV)

This next verse has simply revolutionized how I have lived my life.

Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Question some have – I would be lying if I said I have something and I don’t have it.

You’re not saying you have it; you are saying you believe you receive it. There’s a big difference.

Mark 11:24 (AMPC)

For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].

Mark 11:24 (NCV)

So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you.

Mark 11:24 (GW)

That’s why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24 (ESV)

I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

Mark 11:24 (CJB)

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, trust that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24 (BBE)

For this reason I say to you, Whatever you make a request for in prayer, have faith that it has been given to you, and you will have it.

Hebrews 11:1 (NCV)

Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.

Dr. J. Oswald Sanders Quote:

Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.

Declare the end from the beginning!

Isaiah 46:9-10 (AMPC)

[Earnestly] remember the former things, [which I did] of old; for I am God, and there is no one else; I am God, and there is none like Me, (10) Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose,

Are you willing to declare the end from the beginning?

Call those things that do not exist as though they did!

Romans 4:17 (NKJV)

Romans 4:18-21 (NKJV)

Speak and act as though you believe you have what you have asked God for.

If you are depressed, weighed down, feeling low, ask God to set you free from it, and then believe you receive and say you believe you receive while the feelings are still there.

If you are believing for healing, pray, then start acting and praising and thanking God as though you were healed already, even before the symptoms stop.

Don’t ignore the problem. Speak God’s Word in the face of the problem!

If you are believing for finances then pray, believe you receive, and act like, talk like, and praise and thank God like you already had what you asked for!

If you are believing for a job, act like, talk like, and praise and thank God like you already had what you asked for.

Examples of faith receiving right now:

Joshua

Joshua 6:1-2 (NKJV)

God spoke to them in the past tense about Jericho. The walls were still up. Yet God had promised that the city was already theirs!

Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3 (NKJV)

Genesis 17:5 (NKJV)

No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham! Exalted father became “father of a multitude.” He and Sarah had zero children when God changed his name!

Romans 4:17 (NKJV)

(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed — God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

Jesus spoke in the past tense when praying for Lazarus to be raised!

John 11:39-44 (NKJV)

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Faith is a fight!

1 Timothy 6:12 (NKJV)

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Fight – Greek – agœnízomai:

to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary)

The fight is to defy negative thoughts and feelings when it looks like it isn’t working.

Make it your habit every day, after you pray and ask, to say out loud what you believe!

Action Points:

Am I willing to pray and to believe that I receive what I pray for right now?
Am I willing to talk and act like I believe I receive the answer before any changes come?
Am I willing to fight negative thoughts and feelings even when it looks like nothing has changed?

John 13:34 (ESV)

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

The Greek word for new in this verse is kainos [kai-NÄS]. It generally does not mean, “new in time,” something recent, but “new in kind,” something different and unheard of. Jesus wasn’t giving his disciples an additional command, one more to add to the long list. This is a new type of command, unlike all others. The word kainos also implies, “superior to the old.” This one new command replaces all the old commandments.

Leviticus 19:18 said you shall love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, treat others they way you want to be treated. But that was the law! The new commandment is on another level: Love others, not the way you would like to be loved, but the way Christ has loved you. God has loved me more than I have loved myself and he has done things for me that I would not do for myself.

So how did he love us? Ephesians 5:2 says, Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. He did not love us with mere words or even affections. He willingly took our place on the cross. Jesus wasn’t a helpless victim of circumstances. His death was not a tragedy, but a triumph. He surrendered his life for us. He said in John 10:18 (ERV) No one takes my life away from me. I give my own life freely.

Love is never forced or coerced.

John 3:16

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Jesus’ death is the highest expression and ultimate example of love. It defines love. He said in John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. But he had greater love, he laid down his life for his enemies. Romans 5:8 says, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Love is measured by the sacrifice made.

My wife and I held a meeting in a church in Northern Virginia. We went through the drive-through at MacDonald’s and drove about a mile down the road to our hotel room. Once we checked into the room and sat down to eat, I realized MacDonald’s had forgotten the french fries from my order. I fussed a bit, but had to buckle down to study for the evening service. Meanwhile Zhepi decided to go for a walk. She came back 30 minutes later, soaking wet (it began to rain), handed me a package of french fries and said, “This is love!”

The greatest love isn’t seen in doing the convenient and enjoyable, but the painful and unpleasant.

A church member in Nagaland prepared lunch for me. But that evening my stomach was in knots. I felt my back twist and tighten. I walked around the yard and prayed, “Lord, that can’t stay in me.” And it didn’t.

Bending over the commode, emptying out my insides and dry heaving, I felt a gentle hand on my shoulders, stroking my hair. I collapsed on the bed exhausted, while my wife washed the bathroom floor. And I thought, “This is love.”

(Voice) We know what true love looks like because of Jesus. Love looks like a cross.

There are easier ways to die than crucifixion. Socrates was found guilty of corrupting the youth of Greece and sentenced to drink hemlock. Surrounded by his followers, he nobly drank the poison. That was a romantic way to die. Supposedly, Cleopatra committed suicide by putting a viper to her bosom. That was a sexy way to die. But crucifixion was a slow, degrading, ugly way to die. But he ignored the shame.

And those who stood there gawking offered no words of sympathy or the slightest remorse. Instead, they reviled him and mocked him. If I was Jesus, I would said, “Fine! You can all go straight to hell.” But he prayed for them, “Father, forgive them.”

This is what love looks like. He gave his best for the worst. His highest for the lowest. Overflowing kindness to those most undeserving. It wasn’t just my sin that put Christ on the cross, it was his amazing love for me. And if he had to, he’d do it again.

…and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Are we going to die to redeem others from sin? No, Hebrews 7:27 says, he did this once for all when he offered up himself. The work of Christ is finished and sufficient. It cannot be improved. But we can give of ourselves to bless and help others.

John 13:34 (Voice) Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same ways.

The key to loving others is letting Jesus love you.

Jesus is asking us to do something that is humanly impossible. And that’s why, many people shake their heads and walk away.

Years ago, I spoke with the superindentent of police in Dimapur. He was a Hindu and said, “Of all the world’s religions, I think Christianity is the hardest. You have to live like Christ.” But you can’t live for Christ without Christ.

Jesus not only requires us to walk in love, he furnishes the love. In John 17:26 he prayed for his disciples, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them.

(Passion) your love will now live in them, even as I live in them! 1 John 4:8 says, God is love. Wherever God is, love is. And he’s in you by his Spirit, the Spirit of love.

Romans 5:5 says, God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. He poured it in, so we could pour it out. At the word of Elisha, a widow poured the little oil she had into every container she could find or borrow. As long as she kept pouring, the oil kept flowing. As we give this love to others, our own supply is replenished.

The Greek word for love in John 13:34 is agapaō [aga-PÄ-ō], which is the verb form of the more familiar word, agapē. Scholars have noted that the word agapē is rarely founded in classical Greek writings. (The few times it is occurs it doesn’t have the same meaning as in the New Testament.) Evidently, Jesus coined the term, which makes sense. He invented a new word to describe a new love.

Agapē is divine love, the highest type of love. It is the kind of God that God is.

It is not ordinary human love. All men (to some extent) have the capacity to love others. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about people loving friends and family. But Jesus said agapē distinguishes us as his followers. Agapē is unique to the born again Christian. The lost, the spiritually dead, don’t have this.

In Jeremiah 31:33 God declared that he would establish a new covenant saying, I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. How did he write his law on our hearts? Did he take a sharpie and scribble it on our chest? No, he changed our inward nature. We are born of God and have received his spiritual DNA. He placed his love-nature into us.

Romans 7:6 says, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

How do we serve God? By letting his love-nature influence and direct the way we conduct ourselves. The written code, the law, gave the Israelites a righteous standard. But the life and nature of God in us, gives us the ability to meet that standard.

We have a new way to live, a new commandment to follow. Paul calls this the law of Christ in 1 Corinthians 9:21. It is the perfect law of liberty in James 2:21. (GW) the law that brings freedom. And it is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

If we live by this law, we don’t need any other laws. Romans 13:8 says, for the one who loves [agapaō] another has fulfilled the law. And v.10 says, Love [agapē] does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

(Passion) Love makes it impossible to harm another,

(Remedy) but does only what is in the best interest of another

What a lot of people call “love” certainly isn’t the Christ’s love. This kind of love is concerned about others. It considers, “How will my actions affect others?” God’s love isn’t self-centered.

The law defined sin. 1 John 3:4 says sin is lawlessness. Love fulfills the law. So when we step outside of love, we step into sin. The New Testament didn’t lower God’s standards, it raised them.

Not walking in love is costly. It is dangerous. God said to Israel, “If you keep my commandments, I will not allow sickness to touch you.” Sin makes us vulnerable where Satan can attack us. Love is the fulfilling of the law. So we could paraphrase this: Keep this new commandment of love, to treat others the way Christ has treated you, and I will keep sickness away from you.”

In 1989 I visited India for the first time. I know that God sent me and he gave me grace. I stay in a teacher’s dorm room, ate the same food they ate, and for several months I experience divine protection and perfect health. The people there were amazed. But then I made a mistake. I lost my temper and said some unkind things about the principle of that school. And I got sick as a dog.

In the 1950s there was an evangelist whose ministry was at the forefront of what God was doing. He boasted having the largest crowds in his meeetings, the largest gospel tent in the world. Tremendous, astounding healings took place.

But he did not follow this new command. He did not walk in love towards others. He held a large crusade meeting in Dallas Texas sponsored by several local churches. Then one evening he announced that he was going to start a revival center church. When the pastors asked how he was going to do that, he responded, “I’m going to take 200 of your members and 300 of yours, and half of yours.”

A year later he was dead.

Galatians 5:6 says the only thing that counts is faith working through love. That means without love, faith doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter how much faith you have if it’s disabled.

God’s love has not been poured into our flesh, but into our hearts. There is no agapē in the fallen human nature of your body. The reason Christians sin is they allow their human nature in the flesh to get the upper hand.

Galatians 5:16 says, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. He didn’t say, “If you walk by the Spirit, your flesh will never have any wrong desires.” He said, you will not gratify or fulfill those desires. You will feel the pull of the flesh, but you won’t give in to it.

Another problem is we try to love others with our own human reasoning —what we think we should do. To walk by the Spirit is to live as directed by the Holy Spirit in our spirit. To love others as Christ would have us do, is to be led. We must obey the promptings and the urging of the Holy Spirit.

Years ago, as I drove to our church, I notice a strange fellow walking down the road. Later in my office, the groundskeeper handed me a note saying, “I would like to pray in the sanctuary.” It was from that same person I saw. I didn’t feel right about it and told the grounds keeper to watch him. But something said to me, “Get him out of here!” So I told them to remove him. Was I walking in love? If love himself tells you to do something, yes.

The God Kind of Love (part 10)

Fifteen Characteristics of the God Kind of Love (5)

Love keeps no lists of wrongs!

7.7.2024

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT)

The Dangers of the Last Days

1 You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

We can choose to let the world dominate us or, we can counter with the God kind of love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 (MSG)

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.

Love doesn’t strut,

Doesn’t have a swelled head,

Doesn’t force itself on others,

Isn’t always “me first,”

Doesn’t fly off the handle,

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)

15 Characteristics of Love from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

We’ve covered seven of the 15 characteristics:

1. Love is willing to suffer a long time – Love suffers long…

2. Love treats people kindly.

3. Love is not jealous.

4. Love does not brag.

5. Love is not proud.

6. Love is not rude.

7. The God kind of love puts others first.

Today: A bit more on:

8. Love will not respond with anger and offense.

Is not provoked.

Amplified:

it is not touchy or fretful or resentful;

Last week, I mentioned that there is both overt and covert anger.

There is anger that is obvious, like sharp responses in return with someone you disagree with.

And then anger that shows in more subtle ways – like giving the silent treatment, snide, critical remarks, sarcastic responses.

Perfectionism

(Life Application Study Bible NLT- Study Bible Notes)

Much irritability comes from a love of perfection, a deep desire that programs, meetings, and structures be run perfectly. A desire to run things perfectly can erupt into anger at events or people who get in the way or ruin that desire. Those who are easily irritated need to remember that perfection exists only in God. We need to love him and our fellow Christians, not the visions we have for perfection here on earth.

Touchiness, fretfulness, and resentment are all rooted in anger.

Anger in itself is not wrong. It’s what you do with it that makes it wrong.

Jesus was angry but never sinned. He got upset with the religious Pharisees of His day because they were using the Temple as a way to make money. He overturned the money changers’ tables, let the animals go, and slashed a whip in the air as He confronted their deceitful and blasphemous way of making money.

When is anger wrong?

Anger that is based on self-centered motives is wrong.

Like when you don’t get your way in a group of people, or when you are held up by circumstances beyond your control.

Anger is right when it is directed toward injustice done to someone else!

Ephesians 4:26-27 (NLT)

And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

Proverbs mentions anger several times:

Proverbs 14:29 (NLT)

People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.

Proverbs 25:28 (NLT)

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

Proverbs 29:11 (NLT)

Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.

Proverbs 29:22 (NLT)

An angry person starts fights; a hot-tempered person commits all kinds of sin.

Ecclesiastes 7:9 (NLT)

Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool.

Ask God to help you control anger.

Deal with bitter roots!

If your response to someone is off-the-chart larger than the issue at hand, then a bitter root, or an unforgiveness issue with a person who has harmed you may be under the surface pushing you.

Don’t respond to someone until you have love, joy, and peace inside.

Philippians 2:1-4 (NKJV)

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

In my young years, I would go into a room and shut the door until I could control my emotions.

Even now, I tell the people around me if something makes me upset.

9. Love does not keep lists of wrongs.

Thinks no evil

(God’s Word) It doesn’t keep track of wrongs.

(Contemporary English Version) It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do.

(East to Read Version) Love does not remember wrongs done against it.

(New Living Translation) it keeps no record of being wronged.

(New Century Version) Love does not count up wrongs that have been done.

(The Message Paraphrase) Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

(Amplified) – Takes no account of the evil done to it: pays no attention to a suffered wrong.

Greek – logizomai

to take an inventory, i.e. estimate (literally or figuratively):

Despise, esteem, impute, lay, number, reason, reckon, suppose, think (on).

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

The Greek word here is logizomai and means to take an inventory. It means to make a list in your mind of what someone does to harm or bother you or to remember when someone does you wrong.

God’s love in us keeps no record of wrongs.

This characteristic is perhaps one of the best gauges of whether or not we’re walking in love.

We have left the love realm when we start holding others’ offenses against them and start making lists in our minds of their offenses against us.

The exception to this rule:

The other side of this, which I will address in detail later, is that there is a place for discipline that calls a person out for behavior that harms others.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 (NLT)

Titus 3:10-11 (NLT)

Acts 20:29-30 (NLT)

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 (NLT)

On the other hand, in our daily relationships, we are to pay no attention when others do things that we don’t like.

I was ministering to a man many years ago who had problems in his marriage. He sat in my office and began to tell me how difficult it was for him to live with his wife. He began to mention a plethora of problems he had with her. I decided to sit back and let him talk for a bit. I was taken aback by his next move. He stood up from his chair with a stack of computer paper in his hand, the kind used years ago that was joined and folded together. As he stood he said, Here is a list of each offense my wife has committed against me. As I examined the page after page of paper, I saw for each offense one line with a date, a time, and the nature of the offense. His action to indict his wife of all these “crimes” against him proved his own guilt of self-centeredness! This is a great example of the opposite of what we should do to others. Instead of remembering his wife’s offenses, he should have made a decision to take no account of them, and to treat his wife as if she had never done wrong.

The flesh loves to brood over past offenses. But love will move us away from the past, and will lead us to forget what others have done to harm us, and will urge us to treat them as though they had never harmed us in any way.

Many years ago while attending Bible school, I worked for a large grocery chain that was unionized. The winter of my first year there, a section of the labor force in the grocery chain decided to go on a strike to protest their benefits package. I was in charge of the night crew at the store, and decided to cross the picket line and go to work in spite of the opposition of union employees. One of the men who worked in the area that called the strike was holding up a sign in the picket line. He challenged me as I went to work, calling me all sorts of names. I just smiled at him each day as I crossed the line and went to work.

When the strike was over, this man who had made the harsh comments to me came to the front door of the store the first morning back from the strike and knocked so I could open it and let him in for work that day. When he saw me open the door and heard me greet him with good morning, he acted as though I was the invisible man, and walked past me without speaking. Later, before I left work, I saw him in a circle of people talking and walked up to the group and briefly entered the conversation. I made a comment to this man, and on purpose he acted as though I had said nothing and began abruptly talking to another person in the circle of people. For weeks thereafter, I was invisible to him. He never acknowledged my presence or spoke to me. He intended to ignore me to rub in the fact that I crossed the picket line.

I remembered the first day he acted this way that I was to walk in love and treat people as though they had never wronged me, that I was to take no account of the evil done to me, that I was to pay no attention to a suffered wrong. I decided to see what the love of God would do in this situation. I remembered that 1 Peter 4:8 (Amplified) says that love forgives and disregards the offenses of others.

I greeted him each morning for weeks with a hearty good morning as I called him by name. I spoke each time I saw him in the store. And I said not one word to anyone else about how he was treating me. He continued his invisible man treatment towards me for many weeks.

One day weeks later, I opened the door for him expecting the same cold shoulder I had received in the past. But this time, He greeted me with a good morning Mitch, and a hearty handshake. And thereafter, he was warm and pleasant again, and conversed freely with me and others. I never mentioned the incident, and I did not bring it up to him. Love had won!

As a young man in my early twenties, this incident taught me an invaluable lesson as to the power of agape love. Love never fails! We do have the ability to love the unlovely and the cantankerous!

You may be involved in a difficult home relationship or a troubled relationship at work.

It may be a relationship with a family member or neighbor that has become testy.

Be the person that chooses to walk in love, choosing not to take account of the wrongs committed against you.

Treat the offending party as though they had done no wrong.

Treat them the way you want to be treated yourself.

Act in love towards them. Ignore the emotions of revenge or ill-will.

Focus on loving with this supernatural agape that God has placed in your spirit.

Meditate on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 until it oozes out of you in words, tones, thought, motives, and actions.

Action Points:

1. How do you control your anger?

2. Are you easily offended?

3. Do you keep lists in your mind of others’ wrongs against you?

The God Kind of Love (part 9)

Fifteen Characteristics of the God Kind of Love (4)

Love is not Angry, and keeps no lists of wrongs

6.30.2024

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (TPT)

Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. 5 Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. 6 Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. 7 Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.

15 Characteristics of Love from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

We covered seven of the 15 characteristics:

1. Love is willing to suffer a long time – Love suffers long…

2. Love treats people kindly.

3. Love is not jealous.

4. Love does not brag.

5. Love is not proud.

6. Love is not rude.

7. The God kind of love puts others first.

Today:

8. Love will not respond with anger and offense.

Is not provoked.

Amplified

it is not touchy or fretful or resentful;

The Greek word is paroxuno and means to sharpen alongside or figuratively to exasperate.

It means to rouse someone to anger.

This is when we get upset at another’s actions or words, and we become sharp, pointed, and irritable in our responses to them.

There is overt and covert anger.

There is anger that is obvious like sharp responses in return with someone you disagree with.

And then anger that shows in more subtle ways – like giving the silent treatment, snide critical remarks, sarcastic responses.

All of these may stem from anger.

Being offended with someone is also a form of anger.

The root of this may be self-centered thinking.

(Life Application Study Bible NLT- Study Bible Notes)

Psalm 119:165 reads, Blessed are they that who love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.

Mrs. C. Nuzum: (Mrs. C. Nuzum, The Life of Faith (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1928, 1956), p. 85).

If I am offended, no matter how much cause I have to be offended, the problem with me is that I have not the love which nothing will offend.

Amplified gives the words touchy, fretful, and resentful as nuances of being provoked.

How do you feel around a person who is touchy?

You feel like you’re walking on eggshells, that you have to watch every single thing you say.

You have to think about the angle of how and what you are saying so the person will not be offended!

Do others have to “walk on eggshells” when you are around?

Touchy – Definition

1. Apt to take offense on slightest provocation; irritable 2. requiring caution, tactfulness, or expert handling; precarious, risky. 3. easily ignited.

Are you touchy? Do people have to watch how they act or what they say so as not to offend you?

If you are touchy, you are probably thinking more of yourself than others, and you probably have underlying unresolved issues.

It may be a teacher, a coach, a parent, a boss, or a spouse. But you have something unresolved somewhere, and it shines through you and makes you appear to others as a touchy person!

And fretful and resentful are the friends of touchy.

Fretful – Definition

Let’s look first of all at fret: 1) to feel or express worry, annoyance, discontent, or the like. 2) to torment, irritate, annoy, or vex. 3) to have an irritated state of mind.

Fretful

disposed or quick to fret; irritable or peevish.

Resentful

The feeling of resentment, or the feeling of displeasure at some act, remark, person, etc., regarded as causing injury or insult.

Touchiness, fretfulness, and resentment are all rooted in anger.

All of us must master anger if we are going to have successful relationships.

Anger is an emotion we all have.

Anger is a sign that you are engaged with life, as opposed to a person who NEVER gets angry about anything. That is a person that has in some way been kept from being expressive by someone who is overbearing: a mom or a dad, or a self-centered spouse!

Anger in itself is not wrong. It’s what you do with it that makes it wrong.

Jesus was angry but never sinned. He got upset with the religious Pharisees of His day because they were using the temple as a way to make money. He overturned the money changers’ tables, let the animals go, and slashed a whip in the air as He confronted their deceitful and blasphemous way of making money.

When is anger wrong?

Anger that is based on a self-centered motive is wrong.

Like when you don’t get your way in a group of people, or when you are held up by circumstances beyond your control.

Anger is right when it is directed toward injustice done to someone else!

Ephesians 4:26-27 (NLT)

And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

Proverbs mentions anger several times:

Proverbs 14:29 (NLT)

People with understanding control their anger;

a hot temper shows great foolishness.

Proverbs 25:28 (NLT)

A person without self-control

is like a city with broken-down walls.

Proverbs 29:11 (NLT) Fools vent their anger,

but the wise quietly hold it back.

Proverbs 29:22 (NLT)

An angry person starts fights;

a hot-tempered person commits all kinds of sin.

Ecclesiastes 7:9 (NLT)

Control your temper,

for anger labels you a fool.

Ask God to help you control anger.

Deal with bitter roots!

If your response to someone is off the chart, larger than the issue at hand – a bitter root, or an unforgiveness issue with a person who has harmed you may be under the surface pushing you.

Don’t respond to someone until you have love, joy, and peace inside.

Philippians 2:1-4 (NKJV)

In my young years I would go into a room and shut the door until I could control my emotions.

Even now, I tell the people around me if something makes me upset.

9. Love does not keep lists of wrongs.

Thinks no evil

Amplified – Takes no account of the evil done to it: pays no attention to a suffered wrong.

Greek – logizomai

to take an inventory, i.e. estimate (literally or figuratively):

Despise, esteem, impute, lay, number, reason, reckon, suppose, think (on).

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

The Greek word here is logizomai and means to take an inventory. It means to make a list in your mind of what someone does to harm or bother you or to remember when someone does you wrong.

God’s love in us keeps no record of wrongs.

This characteristic is perhaps one of the best gauges of whether or not we’re walking in love.

We have left the love realm when we start holding others’ offenses against them and start making lists in our minds of their offenses against us.

The exception to this rule:

The other side of this which I will address in detail later is that there is a place for discipline that calls a person out for behavior that harms others.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 (NLT)

Titus 3:10-11 (NLT)

Acts 20:29-30 (NLT)

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 (NLT)

9 When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. 10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 11 I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.

Yet in our daily relationships:

On the other hand, in our daily relationships, we are to pay no attention when others do things that we don’t like.

The flesh loves to brood over past offenses. But love will move us away from the past and will lead us to forget what others have done to harm us. It will urge us to treat them as though they had never harmed us in any way.

Many years ago while attending Bible school, I worked for a large grocery chain that was unionized. The winter of my first year there, a section of the labor force in the grocery chain decided to go on a strike to protest their benefits package. I was in charge of the night crew at the store, and decided to cross the picket line and go to work in spite of the opposition of union employees. One of the men who worked in the area that called the strike was holding up a sign in the picket line and challenged me as I went to work, calling me all sorts of names. I just smiled at him each day as I crossed the line and went to work.

When the strike was over, the man that had made the harsh comments to me came to the front door of the store the first morning back from the strike and knocked so I could open it and let him in for work that day. When he saw me open the door and heard me greet him with good morning, he acted as though I was the invisible man, and walked past me without speaking. Later, before I left work, I saw him in a circle of people talking and walked up to the group and briefly entered the conversation. I made a comment to this man, and on purpose he acted as though I had said nothing and began abruptly talking to another person in the circle of people. For weeks thereafter, I was invisible to him. He never acknowledged my presence or spoke to me. He intended to ignore me to rub in the fact that I crossed the picket line.

I remembered the first day he acted this way, that I was to walk in love and treat people as though they had never wronged me, that I was to take no account of the evil done to me, that I was to pay no attention to a suffered wrong. I decided to see what the love of God would do in this situation. I remembered that 1 Peter 4:8 (Amplified) says that love forgives and disregards the offenses of others.

As a young man in my early twenties, this incident taught me an invaluable lesson as to the power of agape love. Love never fails! We do have the ability to love the unlovely and the cantankerous!

You may be involved in a difficult home relationship or a troubled relationship at work.

It may be a relationship with a family member or neighbor that has become testy.

Be the person that chooses to walk in love; choosing not to take account of the wrongs committed against you.

Treat the offending party as though they had done no wrong.

Treat them the way you want to be treated yourself.

Act in love towards them. Ignore the emotions of revenge or ill-will.

Focus on loving with this supernatural agape that God has placed in your spirit.

Meditate on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 until it oozes out of you in words, tones, thought, motives, and actions.

Action Points:

1. How do you control your anger?

2. Are you easily offended?

3. Do you keep lists in your mind of others’ wrongs against you?

The God Kind of Love (part 8)

Fifteen Characteristics of the God Kind of Love (3)

Not proud, rude, others first, not angry, offended

Review

Spiritual growth and love go hand in hand!

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (NKJV)

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Your love life will most probably be tested more than any other area of life.

It’s tested because this God kind of love is so very different than natural human love.

And like the roots of a plant, the tentacles of selfish human love are intertwined into our thinking processes. It is only the process of mind renewal that can remove them.

Our ways of dealing with others, our responses, and our motivations – they all must be transformed by love.

Matthew 24:12 (CEV)

Evil will spread and cause many people to stop loving others.

15 Characteristics of Love from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

We covered 5 of the 15 characteristics:

1. Love is willing to suffer a long time – Love suffers long…

2. Love treats people kindly.

3. Love is not jealous.

4. Love does not brag.

Let’s look a bit more at:

5. Love is not proud.

Is not puffed up

The Greek word for puffed up or proud is the word phusioo, and means to inflate.

God resists the proud!

1 Peter 5:5-6 (NKJV)

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

If you can’t humble yourself, God has a way of helping you.

Me – perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfectly polished shoes, car, everything.

A person with the God kind of love ruling them has no need for others to see their accomplishments.

A person living in love may acknowledge success, but knows that all success comes from God.

No self-congratulations are necessary.

Though the God kind of love doesn’t show off or need affirmation, it is also important to note that true humility can accept genuine thanks and applause for good performance.

My friend who complimented me then abruptly took me to a side hallway and told me that I was actually walking in a false humility, that if I were truly self-effacing and humble I would say a simple thank you to any person complimenting my performance. I should afterward get alone and give God all the glory for using me to bless others, deflecting the thanks privately to Him who helped me.

10 Red Signs of Pride:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6HuV9WsTmN/?img_index=2

1. Pride Loves/Needs To Be Praised.

2. Pride Never Truly Repents.

3. Pride Is Unsubmitted.

4. Pride Is The Best/Better Than Others.

5. Pride Can Never Be Wrong…Ever.

6. Pride Is Very Defensive.

7. Pride Makes Excuses.

8. Pride Is Unteachable.

9. Pride Doesn’t Serve Anyone Or Anything.

10. Pride Read This Top Ten And Thought About Others And Not Themselves.

6. Love is not rude.

The Greek word for rudely is achemoneo, and means to assume a negative form, or to act in an unbecoming way.

Amplified:

it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly.

This word has to do with proper social graces.

A loving person will not do or say things, or assume attitudes of which later he or she will be ashamed, or that would bring shame to Jesus and to the kingdom of God.

The God Kind of Love never acts in an ugly, shameful way, with crudeness, violence, off-color language, or anything else disrespectful.

A person walking in the God kind of Love will be diligent to do what is appropriate for the moment or the occasion. And the God kind of love always maintains good manners in all situations.

To get real with this one, a person walking in the God kind of love will never display coarse or crude behavior in public (cursing, slang, off-color language, body noises such as burping, flatulence, excessive or not enough clothing, etc.)

Our present culture desperately needs some lessons in this!

A loving person will not do or say things, or assume attitudes of which later he or she will be ashamed.

Love works hard at doing what is fitting, appropriate, and mannerly.

7. The God kind of love puts others first.

Does not seek its own.

Amplified:

Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking;

The God kind of love is not self-seeking in that it brings with it a self-last characteristic.

The God kind of love causes us to seek the welfare of others before ourselves and does not calculate what benefits we may gain in return.

Just a reminder to all of us that the major effect of Adam’s sin on all of us is self-centeredness.

In the gospels, Jesus continually encourages us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

In his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie’s thesis in the book is that people think of themselves first, and that if you want to help others, get them to talk about themselves, and show them that you value their thoughts and opinions.

With the love of God entering us in the New Birth, we have the potential to become others-minded.

Mrs. C. Nuzum: The Life of Faith: (Mrs. C. Nuzum, The Life of Faith (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1928, 1956), p. 85).

How many of us, when we have a real right to a place, time, honor, benefit, or possession, refuse to strive for it, refuse even to keep it, but cheerfully, gladly let another have it.

For instance, this quality allows us to keep cool when we’re not recognized for difficult work we accomplish for our company, or when someone else is recognized for work that we performed.

It allows us to be genuinely excited when we are passed over for a promotion and someone else, with less skill and ability, is promoted.

When the God kind of love rules supreme, we lose sight of ourselves, and think of God and others first.

William Barclay

In the last analysis, there are in this world only two kinds of people – those who always insist upon their privileges and those who always remember their responsibilities; those who are always thinking of what life owes them and those who never forget what they owe to life. It would be the key to almost all the problems which surround us today if people would think less of their rights and more of their duties. Whenever we start thinking about ‘our place’, we are drifting away from Christian love.

(Barclay, William. The Letters to the Corinthians (The New Daily Study Bible) (p. 143). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition).

8. Love will not respond with anger and offense.

Is not provoked.

Amplified:

it is not touchy or fretful or resentful;

The Greek word is paroxuno and means to sharpen alongside or figuratively to exasperate.

It means to rouse someone to anger.

This is when we get upset at another’s actions or words, and we become sharp, pointed, and irritable in our responses to them.

There is overt and covert anger. There is anger that is obvious like sharp responses in return with someone you disagree with, and then anger that shows in more subtle ways – like giving the silent treatment; snide, critical remarks; sarcastic responses. All of these may stem from anger.

Being offended with someone is also a form of anger. The root of this may be self-centered thinking.

Psalm 119:165 reads, Blessed are they that who love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.

Mrs. C. Nuzum: (Mrs. C. Nuzum, The Life of Faith (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1928, 1956), p. 85).

If I am offended, no matter how much cause I have to be offended, the problem with me is that I have not the love which nothing will offend.

Amplified gives the words touchy, fretful, and resentful as nuances of being provoked.

How do you feel around a person that is touchy?

You feel like you’re walking on eggshells, that you have to watch every single thing you say. You have to think about the angle of how and what you are saying so the person will not be offended!

Touchy – Definition

1. Apt to take offense on slightest provocation; irritable 2. requiring caution, tactfulness, or expert handling; precarious, risky. 3. easily ignited.

If you are touchy, you are probably thinking more of yourself than others, and you probably have underlying unresolved issues.

It may be a teacher, a coach, a parent, a boss, a spouse, but you have something unresolved somewhere, and it shines through you and makes you appear to others as a touchy person!

And fretful and resentful are the friends of touchy.

Fretful – Definition

Let’s look first of all at Fret: 1) To feel or express worry, annoyance, discontent, or the like. 2) to torment, irritate, annoy, or vex. 3) to have an irritated state of mind.

Fretful

disposed or quick to fret; irritable or peevish.

Resentful:

The feeling of resentment, or the feeling of displeasure at some act, remark, person, etc., regarded as causing injury or insult.

Touchiness, fretfulness, and resentment are all rooted in anger.

All of us must master anger if we are going to have successful relationships.

Anger is an emotion we all have.

Anger is a sign that you are engaged with life, as opposed to a person who NEVER gets angry about anything. That is a person that has in some way been kept from being expressive by a person who is overbearing – a mom or a dad, or a self-centered spouse!

Anger in itself is not wrong. It’s what you do with it that makes it wrong.

Jesus was angry but never sinned. He got upset with the religious Pharisees of His day because they were using the temple as a way to make money. He overturned the money changers tables, let the animals go, and slashed a whip in the air as He confronted their deceitful and blasphemous way of making money.

When is anger wrong? Anger that is based on self-centered motives is wrong – like when you don’t get your way in a group of people, or when you are held up by circumstances beyond your control.

Anger is right when it is directed toward injustice done to someone else!

Ephesians 4:26-27 (NLT)

And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

Proverbs mentions anger several times:

Proverbs 14:29 (NLT)

People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.

Proverbs 25:28 (NLT)

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

Proverbs 29:11 (NLT)

Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.

Proverbs 29:22 (NLT)

An angry person starts fights; a hot-tempered person commits all kinds of sin.

Ecclesiastes 7:9 (NLT)

Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool.

Ask God to help you control anger.

Deal with bitter roots!

Don’t respond to someone until you have love, joy, and peace inside.

In my young years I would go into a room and shut the door until I could control my emotions.

Even now, I tell the people around me if something makes me upset.

Action Points:

How do you keep pride in check in your life?
Do you feel the need for others to see your accomplishments?
What in your actions could be interpreted by others as rude?
Ask people who know you if they think you are self-focused or others-focused.
How do you control your anger?
Are you easily offended?

The God Kind of Love (part 7)