1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:06,560 I pray that this semester has helped you give some clarity to the 2 00:00:06,560 --> 00:00:08,720 infinite importance of Christianity. 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,680 See, I think people who feel their Christianity is moderately 4 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:18,920 important live a life that's fairly miserable because they're 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,840 not all into their faith and they're not all out of the way of 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:23,440 their faith. 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:31,240 And so being a person, whoever Christianity is moderately important 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:33,720 is pretty unfulfilling. 9 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:40,280 It's really kind of a nuisance to have it in your life if it's only 10 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:41,400 moderately important. 11 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:48,320 It's really a source of guilt kind of plaguing on you, but it doesn't 12 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:49,240 do much for you. 13 00:00:51,970 --> 00:00:56,690 Maybe you see it as hateful and then you start to see that Christianity 14 00:00:57,090 --> 00:01:00,450 is a hateful thing when the opposite is true. 15 00:01:00,770 --> 00:01:02,890 Or you use it for judgmentalism. 16 00:01:02,890 --> 00:01:06,570 A lot of people who have it as moderately important, they like to 17 00:01:06,570 --> 00:01:07,370 be judgmental. 18 00:01:07,370 --> 00:01:12,330 They post stuff on Facebook, pretty judgmental Bible verses out 19 00:01:12,330 --> 00:01:13,010 of context. 20 00:01:14,050 --> 00:01:15,570 Or maybe it's a struggle. 21 00:01:17,580 --> 00:01:20,500 You just feel like you never make any progress with God and you 22 00:01:20,500 --> 00:01:23,180 don't want to walk away, but you never really make any progress. 23 00:01:23,180 --> 00:01:26,220 That's because it's moderately important. 24 00:01:26,700 --> 00:01:28,220 Or maybe it's just confusing. 25 00:01:28,700 --> 00:01:29,820 You just don't get it. 26 00:01:30,140 --> 00:01:34,300 There are too many unknowns or maybe more questions than there are 27 00:01:34,300 --> 00:01:34,940 answers. 28 00:01:35,900 --> 00:01:40,140 And I think people who live in this world of moderately important 29 00:01:40,380 --> 00:01:42,300 Christianity, that's their life. 30 00:01:43,670 --> 00:01:47,510 And that's why I want to spend this semester on focusing on the 31 00:01:47,510 --> 00:01:48,950 essentials of faith. 32 00:01:49,350 --> 00:01:54,870 Because I think people who are moderately important in their Christianity 33 00:01:55,110 --> 00:01:59,590 have never really focused on the really core essentials of faith. 34 00:01:59,590 --> 00:02:02,470 They talk about the fringes a lot, but they don't talk about the 35 00:02:02,470 --> 00:02:03,790 core essentials. 36 00:02:03,790 --> 00:02:05,510 And they really haven't grasped them. 37 00:02:05,510 --> 00:02:09,610 That's why this semester I wanted to do this series on the essentials. 38 00:02:10,330 --> 00:02:14,170 We've looked at the essentials, and in understanding 39 00:02:14,170 --> 00:02:17,210 the essentials, it gives us a completely different perspective 40 00:02:17,450 --> 00:02:18,170 of God. 41 00:02:18,570 --> 00:02:22,090 We first looked at the character of God and his goodness 42 00:02:23,050 --> 00:02:25,450 and how God can't be anything but good. 43 00:02:26,010 --> 00:02:30,570 And then we talked about what he has prepared for us in heaven. 44 00:02:30,970 --> 00:02:33,370 Not up there someplace, but a new earth. 45 00:02:33,610 --> 00:02:37,690 An earth that was recreated in the way that he first disc designed 46 00:02:37,690 --> 00:02:38,290 it to be. 47 00:02:38,610 --> 00:02:41,570 And we'll come back to this earth for eternity. 48 00:02:42,290 --> 00:02:46,370 Then we talked about what keeps us from that sin and the high 49 00:02:46,370 --> 00:02:49,210 cost God paid for sin with his son. 50 00:02:49,210 --> 00:02:50,050 And then grace. 51 00:02:50,450 --> 00:02:51,730 That's so amazing. 52 00:02:51,730 --> 00:02:52,530 That's free. 53 00:02:53,089 --> 00:02:55,890 That there's nothing I could do to make God love me more. 54 00:02:55,890 --> 00:02:58,050 There's nothing I could do to make God love me less. 55 00:02:58,290 --> 00:03:03,500 That grace is sufficient and totally without, with freedom. 56 00:03:04,780 --> 00:03:06,140 And then we looked at truth. 57 00:03:06,700 --> 00:03:11,980 You build on the character of God and the promise of God in eternity. 58 00:03:11,980 --> 00:03:16,060 And then you look at sin and how grace gets us free from that 59 00:03:16,140 --> 00:03:19,900 and the truth that lets us grow in that grace by he giving us 60 00:03:19,900 --> 00:03:23,380 his word and the life of Christ to understand how that gets 61 00:03:23,380 --> 00:03:23,980 lived out. 62 00:03:24,060 --> 00:03:27,780 And then that led to character that we looked at last week, how 63 00:03:27,780 --> 00:03:31,480 genuine grace, Christian character, gets lived out in our 64 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,680 lives by these fruits of the Spirit that we talked about. 65 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:37,480 And the first of those is love. 66 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:40,040 And all the rest of them come from love. 67 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:43,240 And that's why today we're going to talk about love. 68 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,560 The greatest of these, as First Corinthians says, faith, hope, 69 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:48,480 and love. 70 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,720 But the greatest of these is love. 71 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,570 And so we're really building off this fruits of the Spirit that 72 00:03:56,570 --> 00:04:01,970 we looked at last week that produce these seven fruits in our 73 00:04:01,970 --> 00:04:02,330 life. 74 00:04:02,570 --> 00:04:06,490 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 75 00:04:06,890 --> 00:04:08,650 gentleness, and self control. 76 00:04:09,130 --> 00:04:14,010 And remember, you can't have these fruits if you don't have four 77 00:04:14,090 --> 00:04:14,930 elements of that. 78 00:04:14,930 --> 00:04:17,930 First of all, you got to be connected to the vine, because once 79 00:04:17,930 --> 00:04:20,490 you're disconnected from the vine, the fruit doesn't grow. 80 00:04:20,490 --> 00:04:22,490 So you've got to be connected to the vine. 81 00:04:24,350 --> 00:04:27,870 Secondly, there's got to be light, because light is what makes 82 00:04:28,270 --> 00:04:29,070 fruit grow. 83 00:04:29,550 --> 00:04:33,150 They've got to understand the truth, God's truth, and understand 84 00:04:33,230 --> 00:04:34,590 his truth and study his truth. 85 00:04:34,590 --> 00:04:37,790 There's got to be water, which is the regular nourishment. 86 00:04:37,790 --> 00:04:42,230 You can't just dump a bunch of water on a fruit tree and expect 87 00:04:42,230 --> 00:04:42,870 it to grow. 88 00:04:42,870 --> 00:04:44,830 It's got to have regular water. 89 00:04:44,830 --> 00:04:47,150 There's got to be this ongoing nourishment. 90 00:04:47,310 --> 00:04:48,910 And then there's got to be pruning. 91 00:04:49,470 --> 00:04:51,630 You will not get fruit if you don't prune. 92 00:04:51,870 --> 00:04:54,190 You maybe get a little bit of fruit here and there, but you won't 93 00:04:54,190 --> 00:04:57,350 get good quality if you don't prune, because you have to cut off 94 00:04:57,350 --> 00:05:01,590 the parts that are taking energy away from the good fruit you're 95 00:05:01,590 --> 00:05:02,430 growing in your life. 96 00:05:02,990 --> 00:05:07,070 And so that's what we're trying to accomplish and to achieve 97 00:05:07,150 --> 00:05:12,710 is this level of fruit in our life that shows the power of God 98 00:05:12,710 --> 00:05:13,550 working in us. 99 00:05:13,550 --> 00:05:15,390 And that all begins with love. 100 00:05:16,460 --> 00:05:19,180 The first one is love, and they all flow from love. 101 00:05:19,180 --> 00:05:22,220 And that's why today I want to look at what's called the love chapter 102 00:05:22,220 --> 00:05:23,980 of the Bible, First Corinthians 13. 103 00:05:24,940 --> 00:05:26,020 You probably know it. 104 00:05:26,020 --> 00:05:27,820 When I was a teenager, I memorized it. 105 00:05:27,820 --> 00:05:29,860 I had to do it for some camp. 106 00:05:29,860 --> 00:05:30,660 I wanted to go to. 107 00:05:30,660 --> 00:05:32,980 They wouldn't let you go if you couldn't memorize First Corinthians 108 00:05:32,980 --> 00:05:33,340 13. 109 00:05:33,340 --> 00:05:38,020 I'm not very good at scripture memory, but I did memorize that at 110 00:05:38,020 --> 00:05:38,460 the time. 111 00:05:38,780 --> 00:05:40,140 It's an incredible chapter. 112 00:05:40,140 --> 00:05:42,100 If you're good at memory, you ought to memorize it. 113 00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:42,380 But. 114 00:05:42,770 --> 00:05:49,170 But it shows us how God loves us, the level to which God loves 115 00:05:49,170 --> 00:05:51,650 us, the importance of God's love in our life. 116 00:05:51,730 --> 00:05:54,610 And it tells us how to love others. 117 00:05:55,650 --> 00:06:01,170 And when you read it, your only takeaway can be, that's impossible. 118 00:06:01,730 --> 00:06:02,930 I can't do that. 119 00:06:03,810 --> 00:06:05,490 But God commands it. 120 00:06:05,970 --> 00:06:08,450 He doesn't just suggest that you ought to love one another. 121 00:06:08,610 --> 00:06:09,730 He commands it. 122 00:06:10,610 --> 00:06:14,290 In fact, he gives us as his greatest commandment from John. 123 00:06:14,450 --> 00:06:16,370 Excuse me, Matthew, chapter 22. 124 00:06:17,330 --> 00:06:19,090 He gives us his greatest commandment. 125 00:06:19,090 --> 00:06:20,530 The Pharisees had come to him. 126 00:06:20,610 --> 00:06:22,930 Now, the Pharisees, you know, they were the church leaders, and 127 00:06:22,930 --> 00:06:25,729 they were always trying to trick him into saying the wrong thing 128 00:06:25,729 --> 00:06:28,930 for some kind of sound bite that they could replay on whatever 129 00:06:28,930 --> 00:06:29,970 they replayed it on. 130 00:06:30,290 --> 00:06:32,290 And so they were trying to trick him into something. 131 00:06:32,290 --> 00:06:35,970 And so you've got in the Old Testament all these commandments 132 00:06:36,340 --> 00:06:39,660 of the law and the prophets, and they're saying, okay, which one's 133 00:06:39,660 --> 00:06:40,260 the most important? 134 00:06:41,700 --> 00:06:43,860 And Jesus answered them clearly. 135 00:06:44,340 --> 00:06:48,660 He said, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, 136 00:06:49,140 --> 00:06:51,460 all your soul, all your mind. 137 00:06:52,580 --> 00:06:55,620 This is the first and greatest commandment. 138 00:06:56,340 --> 00:06:58,260 And the second is equally important. 139 00:06:58,500 --> 00:07:00,900 Love your neighbor as yourself. 140 00:07:04,590 --> 00:07:09,550 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based 141 00:07:09,710 --> 00:07:12,030 on these two commandments. 142 00:07:13,070 --> 00:07:14,430 Love is the center of everything. 143 00:07:15,390 --> 00:07:16,830 You know, John 3:16. 144 00:07:16,910 --> 00:07:21,230 God loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever, 145 00:07:21,630 --> 00:07:26,910 whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. 146 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:32,760 And then God commands us to love him in that same way and to 147 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:37,160 love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. 148 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,360 And you look at that and you go, you know, I really want that. 149 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:43,800 I really want that. 150 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:45,640 I'm going to love God more. 151 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:47,080 I want to love God more. 152 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:48,280 I'm drawn to God more. 153 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:50,160 I want to show my love for God more. 154 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:52,880 I want to be in a deeper relationship with him, and I want 155 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:53,960 to love my family more. 156 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:54,920 I need to do better. 157 00:07:55,220 --> 00:07:57,220 And I'm going to love my family more, and I'm going to love 158 00:07:57,220 --> 00:08:00,580 my friends more, and I'm going to love those people who are good 159 00:08:00,580 --> 00:08:03,140 to me more because they deserve my love. 160 00:08:04,740 --> 00:08:05,780 And that's all good. 161 00:08:06,580 --> 00:08:07,700 But that's not enough. 162 00:08:08,900 --> 00:08:09,860 That's not enough. 163 00:08:10,740 --> 00:08:15,260 Jesus goes to the whole other end of the spectrum in the Sermon 164 00:08:15,260 --> 00:08:21,910 on the Mount, when he says this in Matthew, chapter five, you've 165 00:08:21,910 --> 00:08:25,390 heard the law says, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 166 00:08:26,110 --> 00:08:30,670 But I say, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute 167 00:08:30,670 --> 00:08:30,990 you. 168 00:08:32,030 --> 00:08:35,470 If you only love those who love you, what reward is there for 169 00:08:35,470 --> 00:08:35,790 that? 170 00:08:36,589 --> 00:08:38,350 Even corrupt tax collectors. 171 00:08:38,350 --> 00:08:41,310 Now, tax collectors are kind of like the catch all for like the 172 00:08:41,310 --> 00:08:42,310 worst of the worst. 173 00:08:42,310 --> 00:08:43,230 People they didn't like. 174 00:08:44,270 --> 00:08:46,510 Even corrupt tax collectors could. 175 00:08:46,580 --> 00:08:47,860 Could do that much. 176 00:08:49,620 --> 00:08:53,700 If you're the kind, if you're kind only to your friends, how are 177 00:08:53,700 --> 00:08:55,140 you different from anyone else? 178 00:08:55,540 --> 00:08:57,220 Even the pagans do that. 179 00:08:59,460 --> 00:09:06,460 You look at that love your enemies and you go, no, we're not 180 00:09:06,460 --> 00:09:07,140 going that far. 181 00:09:07,140 --> 00:09:08,180 I can't do that. 182 00:09:09,060 --> 00:09:11,220 I can't love the people who are mean to me. 183 00:09:11,780 --> 00:09:16,100 I can't love the people who persecute me and attack me unfairly. 184 00:09:16,740 --> 00:09:19,060 I can't love the people who talk behind my back. 185 00:09:19,540 --> 00:09:20,980 I'm not doing that. 186 00:09:22,740 --> 00:09:24,980 Well, Jesus said you are. 187 00:09:26,580 --> 00:09:27,780 Jesus said you are. 188 00:09:28,100 --> 00:09:29,140 And here's the deal. 189 00:09:29,540 --> 00:09:34,780 You can not through your own power, but you can do it through 190 00:09:34,780 --> 00:09:39,140 God transforming your life to give you that kind of love. 191 00:09:40,180 --> 00:09:43,300 But you've got to put in the work and the effort to get there. 192 00:09:44,100 --> 00:09:45,140 I'll tell you a story. 193 00:09:47,540 --> 00:09:49,460 I've been a college president a long time. 194 00:09:49,940 --> 00:09:53,860 My 36th year, I started way too young. 195 00:09:53,940 --> 00:09:56,460 Nobody should be a college president when they're 34 years old. 196 00:09:56,460 --> 00:09:59,140 But, you know, it happened and I'm thankful. 197 00:09:59,780 --> 00:10:03,740 So I'm 35 years old at the first school I was at before I came 198 00:10:03,740 --> 00:10:03,940 here. 199 00:10:03,940 --> 00:10:04,900 I've been here 30 years. 200 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:06,720 So I was at this other school. 201 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:07,840 So you don't know anybody there. 202 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:08,680 I can tell the story. 203 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:11,320 And I had a faculty member who just hated me. 204 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:13,640 He just absolutely hated me. 205 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,800 He had big prestigious degrees from Ivy League schools. 206 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:21,560 And we were at a little college out in the middle of Kansas. 207 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:23,160 I was older than he was. 208 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:25,080 I think he was really jealous. 209 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:29,560 I don't know what it was, but man, he did everything he could to 210 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:30,460 make my life miserable. 211 00:10:31,490 --> 00:10:32,850 He would attack me in public. 212 00:10:33,810 --> 00:10:37,570 He would work faculty to try to get a coalition to work against 213 00:10:37,650 --> 00:10:38,050 me. 214 00:10:38,610 --> 00:10:43,330 He would tell lies about me to people that were totally untrue, 215 00:10:43,330 --> 00:10:45,410 but he'd still tell them as if they were true. 216 00:10:45,810 --> 00:10:49,650 And he was very eloquent, so it was hard to assume he wasn't true. 217 00:10:50,930 --> 00:10:52,850 He would figure it out. 218 00:10:53,250 --> 00:10:55,010 He knew how to read upside down. 219 00:10:55,170 --> 00:10:58,090 He'd come into my assistant's office and he'd stand in front of 220 00:10:58,090 --> 00:10:58,690 her desk and. 221 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,440 And we found out he was reading all the material because 222 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:02,320 he could read upside down. 223 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:04,040 He was really smart, really, really smart. 224 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:05,880 And then he'd tell stuff. 225 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:08,280 He made my life miserable. 226 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,240 And most of what I was trying to do was focus around how to control 227 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:18,000 him, how to deal with him, how to hold a meeting where he wouldn't 228 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,240 take over, how to get in a situation where he wouldn't attack 229 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:21,640 me. 230 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:24,600 And it was beating me up. 231 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:28,480 It was taking a lot of energy, a lot of life. 232 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:30,800 And you know what? 233 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,120 I just decided one day I'm going to do something. 234 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:37,680 And for 30 days, I'm going to pray for him every day. 235 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,040 I'm not going to pray that God will change him. 236 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:45,760 God could do that, but I'm not going to pray that that's a selfish 237 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:46,240 prayer. 238 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:48,400 I'm going to pray for him. 239 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:50,640 I'm going to pray that God will bless him. 240 00:11:51,180 --> 00:11:53,900 I'm going to pray God will help his classes to be productive. 241 00:11:53,900 --> 00:11:55,340 I'm going to pray for his family. 242 00:11:56,460 --> 00:11:58,780 I'm going to pray for his fulfillment in life. 243 00:11:59,980 --> 00:12:02,460 And then as I got into that a little bit, I thought, I've got to 244 00:12:02,460 --> 00:12:03,980 get a little more specific in this prayer. 245 00:12:03,980 --> 00:12:09,780 And I took First Corinthians 13 and I began to pray that every 246 00:12:09,780 --> 00:12:16,700 day, using his name in all the aspects of it, and pray that for 247 00:12:16,700 --> 00:12:17,020 his. 248 00:12:17,170 --> 00:12:17,410 Him. 249 00:12:18,530 --> 00:12:22,130 And I did it every single day for 30 days. 250 00:12:23,170 --> 00:12:25,090 And at the end of 30 days, you know what happened? 251 00:12:26,290 --> 00:12:28,130 It was the most amazing thing in the world. 252 00:12:29,890 --> 00:12:31,250 He didn't change one bit. 253 00:12:32,050 --> 00:12:34,290 He was just as mean and nasty as could be. 254 00:12:35,250 --> 00:12:36,050 But I did. 255 00:12:37,410 --> 00:12:37,970 I did. 256 00:12:38,850 --> 00:12:40,930 I wasn't consumed by him anymore. 257 00:12:41,490 --> 00:12:43,730 I wasn't trying to figure out how to work around him. 258 00:12:44,410 --> 00:12:46,010 I wasn't feeling threatened by him. 259 00:12:46,330 --> 00:12:50,450 I found a freedom and trust in God that I hadn't found. 260 00:12:50,450 --> 00:12:55,130 But it took 30 days of constant prayer in order to get there. 261 00:12:56,490 --> 00:13:00,370 So when we see love your enemies and pray for those who persecute 262 00:13:00,370 --> 00:13:01,850 you, Jesus isn't messing around. 263 00:13:02,010 --> 00:13:02,890 He means it. 264 00:13:04,010 --> 00:13:10,140 And when you do, will transform your life, although it 265 00:13:10,140 --> 00:13:10,980 feels impossible. 266 00:13:12,340 --> 00:13:16,580 So how do we give and express impossible prayer in our lives? 267 00:13:17,860 --> 00:13:20,460 Well, I think there are four parts to that. 268 00:13:20,460 --> 00:13:22,100 First is you got to have perspective. 269 00:13:22,900 --> 00:13:24,260 You've got to have perspective. 270 00:13:24,580 --> 00:13:29,780 If you understand how God loves you, it's much easier to love 271 00:13:29,780 --> 00:13:30,100 people. 272 00:13:31,700 --> 00:13:34,500 But if you don't have that perspective, it's nearly impossible 273 00:13:35,150 --> 00:13:37,070 to do what God's asking us to do here. 274 00:13:37,870 --> 00:13:43,790 You've got to have that perspective of how desperately, desperately 275 00:13:43,790 --> 00:13:48,670 God loves you, that he would do anything even to Give his own 276 00:13:48,670 --> 00:13:55,230 son to die in a cruel, horrible, torturous death for your 277 00:13:55,230 --> 00:13:56,110 sins and mine. 278 00:13:56,830 --> 00:13:58,350 God loves you that much. 279 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:01,600 You got to get perspective. 280 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,600 Secondly, you got to have some guidance. 281 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:06,680 This is not natural to us. 282 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,880 We're sinful people in our core. 283 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,000 God's forgiven us of that, but that nature is still in us. 284 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:17,320 And so it's not easy to love in the way that 1 Corinthians 13 285 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:18,880 tells us how to love. 286 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:20,280 So you gotta have some guidance. 287 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,320 You gotta have some direction on how to do this. 288 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:24,960 You can't just say, well, go love everybody. 289 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:26,120 That doesn't really mean much. 290 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:28,040 What's it mean to go love everybody? 291 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:29,960 Well, that's what 1 Corinthians 13 tells us. 292 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:31,440 And then it takes some practice. 293 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:34,000 You won't get it right at the beginning. 294 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:35,600 You won't even get close. 295 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:36,720 You'll mess up. 296 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:38,560 You may get a time or two. 297 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:40,520 You get it right, and then you'll go back to the old way again. 298 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:43,600 And it'll take practice and more practice and more practice and 299 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,400 more practice until you can get it right. 300 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,240 It's a learned process. 301 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:50,640 And then it takes Christ. 302 00:14:51,850 --> 00:14:57,090 Without the empowering of God, there is no way you can love in this 303 00:14:57,090 --> 00:14:58,410 kind of impossible way. 304 00:15:00,090 --> 00:15:02,570 Pray for God's power to love. 305 00:15:03,690 --> 00:15:06,090 Ask him to give you the power, and he will. 306 00:15:06,970 --> 00:15:09,810 But you've got to ask for that power in your life. 307 00:15:09,810 --> 00:15:15,410 And so that's what 13 First Corinthians 13 takes us to is this 308 00:15:15,410 --> 00:15:17,210 level of impossible love. 309 00:15:17,370 --> 00:15:18,930 And in there, we see two things. 310 00:15:18,930 --> 00:15:21,410 First of all, love always wins. 311 00:15:21,970 --> 00:15:24,930 And secondly, love never ends. 312 00:15:26,930 --> 00:15:28,610 It goes on forever. 313 00:15:30,130 --> 00:15:34,730 So let's first of all, look at this homework assignment. 314 00:15:34,730 --> 00:15:35,490 You thought I was kidding. 315 00:15:35,490 --> 00:15:36,450 I wasn't kidding. 316 00:15:36,770 --> 00:15:38,410 I got a real homework assignment for you. 317 00:15:38,410 --> 00:15:40,890 Now, you know this pass fails, so you don't do it. 318 00:15:40,890 --> 00:15:41,570 I'll never know. 319 00:15:42,290 --> 00:15:43,730 But here's a homework assignment. 320 00:15:46,540 --> 00:15:52,460 Read chapter 13 of First Corinthians one time every day between 321 00:15:52,460 --> 00:15:53,660 now and Thanksgiving. 322 00:15:54,940 --> 00:15:57,500 Every single day between now and Thanksgiving. 323 00:15:57,820 --> 00:16:00,220 Read First Corinthians 13 one time. 324 00:16:01,820 --> 00:16:06,820 And then for those of you who want extra credit, read the chapter 325 00:16:06,820 --> 00:16:08,460 a second time every day. 326 00:16:08,620 --> 00:16:11,260 Thinking about the most difficult person in your life. 327 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:15,360 That's the assignment. 328 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:17,920 I dare you. 329 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:20,400 I dare you. 330 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:23,280 Some of you won't do it. 331 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:24,800 You're already saying, I'm not doing that. 332 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:25,760 You know what? 333 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:26,560 You're a chicken. 334 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:29,440 Those of you who are saying you won't do it, you're chicken. 335 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,520 You're afraid to let God talk to you. 336 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:34,000 That's all you are. 337 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:40,410 Have courageous take on the assignment every single day, seven 338 00:16:40,410 --> 00:16:43,530 days a week, between now and Thanksgiving Day. 339 00:16:43,770 --> 00:16:47,130 Read First Corinthians 13 at least one time. 340 00:16:47,770 --> 00:16:52,450 And if you want to go for the extra credit, read it in terms of 341 00:16:52,450 --> 00:16:54,490 the person who's most difficult for your life. 342 00:16:54,490 --> 00:16:55,770 Read it a second time. 343 00:16:56,650 --> 00:16:58,330 It will transform you. 344 00:16:58,490 --> 00:17:00,650 If you will do this, I guarantee you. 345 00:17:01,050 --> 00:17:02,410 So let's look at the Scripture. 346 00:17:03,460 --> 00:17:04,340 It reads like this. 347 00:17:04,980 --> 00:17:08,100 If I could speak in the languages of Earth and of angels, 348 00:17:08,580 --> 00:17:12,500 but I didn't love, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging 349 00:17:12,500 --> 00:17:13,140 cymbal. 350 00:17:13,940 --> 00:17:18,420 If I had the gift of prophecy and understood all of God's secret 351 00:17:18,420 --> 00:17:22,100 plans that possess all knowledge, and if I had such faith 352 00:17:22,100 --> 00:17:27,180 that I could move mountains, but I didn't love others, it would 353 00:17:27,180 --> 00:17:27,780 be nothing. 354 00:17:28,989 --> 00:17:32,869 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, 355 00:17:32,869 --> 00:17:34,269 I could boast about it. 356 00:17:34,669 --> 00:17:39,389 But if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. 357 00:17:39,869 --> 00:17:43,549 So this chapter begins by laying out the importance of love. 358 00:17:44,269 --> 00:17:45,189 Look at the first sentence. 359 00:17:45,189 --> 00:17:49,989 You can have the earthly gifts and the spiritual gifts, but if you 360 00:17:49,989 --> 00:17:54,109 don't have love, it's just a loud banging gong. 361 00:17:55,310 --> 00:17:56,590 A clanging cymbal. 362 00:17:57,070 --> 00:17:57,430 Yeah. 363 00:17:57,430 --> 00:17:59,510 I never really understood that until a number of years ago. 364 00:17:59,510 --> 00:18:05,830 My wife and I were in Singapore and she's much more adventurous 365 00:18:05,830 --> 00:18:08,830 in the arts than I am, so she wanted to go to the Chinese opera. 366 00:18:08,830 --> 00:18:10,430 Have you ever been to the Chinese opera? 367 00:18:11,470 --> 00:18:12,790 You ought to see it one time. 368 00:18:12,790 --> 00:18:13,390 That's enough. 369 00:18:15,310 --> 00:18:18,870 But it really develops out of the history of the Middle East. 370 00:18:18,870 --> 00:18:21,590 And so the people who would have read this scripture would have 371 00:18:21,590 --> 00:18:22,270 understand what. 372 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:23,920 What they were talking about here. 373 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:27,120 But in a Chinese opera, they don't have musical instruments. 374 00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:32,080 They just have this huge gong that they beat over and over and 375 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:32,640 over again. 376 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:38,240 And this cymbal that just is so loud and they amplify the thing 377 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:41,520 and it lasts about three or four hours. 378 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:43,880 We made it about 45 minutes. 379 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:44,760 I couldn't take anymore. 380 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:45,640 I said, we gotta go. 381 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:46,240 This is enough. 382 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:47,360 We get it. 383 00:18:48,010 --> 00:18:50,010 Because it was just so obnoxious. 384 00:18:51,850 --> 00:18:58,570 Well, if you could speak with all the wisdom of the world and all 385 00:18:58,570 --> 00:19:06,610 the spiritual talents, and you don't have love, you're just a really 386 00:19:06,610 --> 00:19:11,930 obnoxious Chinese opera gong and cymbal. 387 00:19:12,010 --> 00:19:13,250 The dancing was pretty cool. 388 00:19:13,250 --> 00:19:18,540 I will say, if I had the gift of prophecy, it says, and biblical. 389 00:19:18,620 --> 00:19:20,700 If you understood everything about the Bible. 390 00:19:20,700 --> 00:19:22,460 There's a lot about the Bible I don't understand. 391 00:19:22,700 --> 00:19:25,180 But if you understood everything about the Bible and you 392 00:19:25,180 --> 00:19:27,340 could explain it, you get up here and you explain a Whole lot 393 00:19:27,340 --> 00:19:28,060 better than I could. 394 00:19:28,220 --> 00:19:31,420 And you had all the insights and all that stuff, and you had the 395 00:19:31,420 --> 00:19:31,780 faith. 396 00:19:31,780 --> 00:19:35,220 You had so much faith that you believed God could do most anything 397 00:19:35,220 --> 00:19:35,700 in your life. 398 00:19:35,700 --> 00:19:37,940 Now, faith is about steps. 399 00:19:37,940 --> 00:19:39,740 You don't just jump into full faith. 400 00:19:39,970 --> 00:19:42,650 It's about steps of going forward and trusting God more and 401 00:19:42,650 --> 00:19:42,930 more. 402 00:19:43,010 --> 00:19:46,170 But if you've gotten that far along that you believe God can move 403 00:19:46,170 --> 00:19:50,610 mountains, but you don't, Love says it would be nothing. 404 00:19:50,930 --> 00:19:51,890 It doesn't matter. 405 00:19:53,890 --> 00:19:57,490 He says, well, what if you cared about the poor? 406 00:19:58,210 --> 00:20:01,330 What if you cared about people who don't have enough? 407 00:20:01,330 --> 00:20:04,770 And you sacrificed and you gave of your money, you gave your 408 00:20:04,770 --> 00:20:05,970 time, you volunteered. 409 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:09,760 In fact, you worked with him so much you caught some diseases 410 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,280 or you got sick, or you exhausted yourself and you gave up 411 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:16,880 your body for giving to others so much. 412 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:20,400 Scripture says, well, you could boast about that. 413 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,840 But if you don't love others, you have gained nothing. 414 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,360 That's how important love is. 415 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,560 So let's set the bar really high right here at the beginning, 416 00:20:33,470 --> 00:20:36,670 because that's what First Corinthians tells us when it comes 417 00:20:36,670 --> 00:20:37,150 to love. 418 00:20:37,790 --> 00:20:39,470 This is not optional stuff. 419 00:20:40,190 --> 00:20:44,190 This is more important than anything else in our lives. 420 00:20:44,670 --> 00:20:45,710 And then it goes on. 421 00:20:46,910 --> 00:20:49,550 It says, love is patient and kind. 422 00:20:50,350 --> 00:20:55,870 Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. 423 00:20:56,910 --> 00:20:58,750 It does not demand its own way. 424 00:21:00,030 --> 00:21:01,230 It is not irritable. 425 00:21:01,550 --> 00:21:03,950 It keeps no record of being wronged. 426 00:21:05,310 --> 00:21:08,710 It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever 427 00:21:08,710 --> 00:21:09,710 the truth wins out. 428 00:21:09,950 --> 00:21:16,870 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and 429 00:21:16,870 --> 00:21:19,390 endures through every circumstance. 430 00:21:19,790 --> 00:21:24,310 This is where 1 Corinthians 13 gets very specific about what love 431 00:21:24,310 --> 00:21:24,910 looks like. 432 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:27,520 You want to know how God loves you? 433 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:29,840 That's it right there. 434 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:32,920 How God loves you and God loves me. 435 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:34,720 That's it right there. 436 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:42,960 Now, when you start to read this, you'll measure up on some areas 437 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:44,720 and other areas you won't measure up. 438 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,800 And kind of helpful if you got the courage to do it. 439 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:51,760 Go through and kind of rate yourself on a one to ten scale. 440 00:21:52,780 --> 00:21:56,060 You know, ten being best, I guess, one being the worst. 441 00:21:56,940 --> 00:21:57,820 You know, how do you do? 442 00:21:57,820 --> 00:21:58,700 Love is patient. 443 00:21:58,700 --> 00:21:59,500 Are you patient? 444 00:22:01,260 --> 00:22:03,980 You can fudge the scale if you want to, but who are you fooling? 445 00:22:04,140 --> 00:22:05,500 God already knows the answer. 446 00:22:05,500 --> 00:22:07,220 He knows which one you fit on that. 447 00:22:07,220 --> 00:22:09,260 So be honest with yourself. 448 00:22:09,260 --> 00:22:09,940 Are you patient? 449 00:22:09,940 --> 00:22:10,620 Are you kind? 450 00:22:11,660 --> 00:22:17,180 Not jealous, Boastful, Proud, rude? 451 00:22:17,910 --> 00:22:19,350 Some of you are rude sometimes. 452 00:22:19,670 --> 00:22:20,550 I get the reports. 453 00:22:23,270 --> 00:22:24,950 Does not demand its own way. 454 00:22:25,510 --> 00:22:28,150 That's a pretty heavy lift. 455 00:22:28,710 --> 00:22:29,910 Is not irritable. 456 00:22:30,630 --> 00:22:32,550 Keeps no records of being wrong. 457 00:22:32,630 --> 00:22:36,310 Some people just walk around with a mental tab of everybody who's 458 00:22:36,310 --> 00:22:37,030 ever heard them. 459 00:22:39,350 --> 00:22:40,710 I had that early on. 460 00:22:41,110 --> 00:22:42,670 You know, God's given me a gift. 461 00:22:42,670 --> 00:22:43,830 It's a really weird gift. 462 00:22:44,780 --> 00:22:48,060 I cannot remember bad things people do to me. 463 00:22:49,660 --> 00:22:50,980 I can't remember the specific. 464 00:22:50,980 --> 00:22:53,580 I remember something happened, but I can't remember the specifics. 465 00:22:53,580 --> 00:22:54,540 It's really strange. 466 00:22:55,340 --> 00:22:58,500 So sometimes in my job, you know, somebody does something and 467 00:22:58,500 --> 00:22:59,500 I got to deal with it. 468 00:22:59,980 --> 00:23:01,620 And I have to write a memo to the file. 469 00:23:01,620 --> 00:23:03,940 Because two or three years later, I won't remember exactly what 470 00:23:03,940 --> 00:23:04,380 they did. 471 00:23:07,900 --> 00:23:09,260 God's blessed me in that. 472 00:23:09,750 --> 00:23:12,950 But for other people, boy, they keep a record of wrongs. 473 00:23:13,750 --> 00:23:15,630 Do not rejoice about injustice. 474 00:23:15,630 --> 00:23:17,310 Rejoice is whenever the truth wins out. 475 00:23:17,310 --> 00:23:21,870 You know, some people are really happy if somebody else gets 476 00:23:21,870 --> 00:23:22,230 hurt. 477 00:23:23,030 --> 00:23:24,510 Somebody else gets taken down. 478 00:23:24,510 --> 00:23:25,110 That's good. 479 00:23:28,790 --> 00:23:31,750 True love doesn't rejoice in injustice. 480 00:23:32,070 --> 00:23:35,150 Love never gives up, never loses faith. 481 00:23:35,150 --> 00:23:37,660 Always hopeful, always endures forever circumstances. 482 00:23:38,050 --> 00:23:39,090 Does that describe you? 483 00:23:39,090 --> 00:23:40,210 If not, it can. 484 00:23:40,930 --> 00:23:43,290 If you start doing this homework assignment, it's going to 485 00:23:43,290 --> 00:23:44,650 change how you love. 486 00:23:44,650 --> 00:23:47,650 Because these are the things that are going to start to reflect 487 00:23:47,810 --> 00:23:49,330 in your life. 488 00:23:51,170 --> 00:23:52,130 Then it goes on. 489 00:23:53,170 --> 00:23:56,250 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages. 490 00:23:56,250 --> 00:23:58,450 And special knowledge will become useless. 491 00:23:59,090 --> 00:24:02,210 But love will last forever. 492 00:24:03,580 --> 00:24:05,820 For our knowledge is partial and incomplete. 493 00:24:05,820 --> 00:24:09,980 Even when the gift of prophecy reveals only part of our whole picture. 494 00:24:10,860 --> 00:24:14,940 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things 495 00:24:15,180 --> 00:24:17,420 will become useless. 496 00:24:17,900 --> 00:24:19,820 You see, the world will pass away. 497 00:24:21,820 --> 00:24:23,180 All this will be gone. 498 00:24:24,140 --> 00:24:26,140 And the only thing that remains is love. 499 00:24:27,100 --> 00:24:28,300 Scripture is very clear. 500 00:24:28,540 --> 00:24:31,260 Heaven is a place of perfect love. 501 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:34,760 Perfect love between us and God. 502 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,600 And perfect love with those who are there with us. 503 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:43,840 Scripture says we don't understand it all now, but promise 504 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:44,800 is there. 505 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:50,600 We will understand it when we can see clearly, which means eternal 506 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:50,880 life. 507 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,520 When we can see clearly, we will understand it. 508 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:58,850 We will be in a new earth, this earth restored in the way that 509 00:24:58,850 --> 00:25:00,170 God designed it to be. 510 00:25:00,330 --> 00:25:01,690 We will be there. 511 00:25:01,770 --> 00:25:06,290 And all the stuff we struggle over now, all the tensions you have 512 00:25:06,290 --> 00:25:09,370 with people, all the record of wrongs you keep, all the ways you 513 00:25:09,370 --> 00:25:11,170 lash out or people lash out at you. 514 00:25:11,170 --> 00:25:12,970 All that stuff won't matter anymore. 515 00:25:14,170 --> 00:25:15,450 It won't matter at all. 516 00:25:17,210 --> 00:25:18,770 When the perfection comes. 517 00:25:18,770 --> 00:25:22,650 These partial things will become useless. 518 00:25:24,020 --> 00:25:25,620 Love endures. 519 00:25:26,820 --> 00:25:31,620 Well, the scripture goes on, says this. 520 00:25:32,020 --> 00:25:36,020 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. 521 00:25:36,020 --> 00:25:38,980 But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 522 00:25:41,300 --> 00:25:45,540 Now we see him perfectly, like puzzling reflection of a mirror. 523 00:25:45,540 --> 00:25:48,740 But then we'll See everything with perfect clarity. 524 00:25:50,020 --> 00:25:52,300 All that I know is now partial and incomplete. 525 00:25:52,300 --> 00:25:56,060 But then I will know everything completely, just as God 526 00:25:56,060 --> 00:25:58,580 knows me completely. 527 00:25:59,300 --> 00:26:01,700 This is the practice part, okay? 528 00:26:01,780 --> 00:26:06,140 When you were a child, you did stuff and you messed it up and you 529 00:26:06,140 --> 00:26:07,060 got better at it. 530 00:26:07,380 --> 00:26:11,260 Different skills from walking on up, and you got better and better 531 00:26:11,260 --> 00:26:12,100 and better at it. 532 00:26:12,660 --> 00:26:14,900 And then you finally put away the childhood stuff. 533 00:26:14,900 --> 00:26:16,770 Then this is the practice part of love. 534 00:26:17,170 --> 00:26:17,970 It takes time. 535 00:26:17,970 --> 00:26:18,650 It takes patience. 536 00:26:18,650 --> 00:26:22,330 It takes practice in order to love in the way that God expects 537 00:26:22,330 --> 00:26:22,930 us to love. 538 00:26:24,610 --> 00:26:27,490 And then that second part of the story is really powerful. 539 00:26:27,730 --> 00:26:29,490 I mean, second part of this passage. 540 00:26:29,970 --> 00:26:33,010 Now, we've seen things imperfectly, like a puzzling reflection. 541 00:26:33,170 --> 00:26:35,450 Now when you think of reflection, you think, well, mirror's 542 00:26:35,450 --> 00:26:36,210 not puzzling. 543 00:26:36,530 --> 00:26:38,050 They didn't have mirrors like we have. 544 00:26:38,610 --> 00:26:43,300 Their mirrors are really, I mean, first of all, very valued because 545 00:26:43,300 --> 00:26:44,100 they were hard to find. 546 00:26:44,580 --> 00:26:48,500 But then you could just barely see kind of a sort of image. 547 00:26:48,500 --> 00:26:50,340 It wasn't kind of the clarity that we have. 548 00:26:50,660 --> 00:26:52,660 So that's the image he's giving here. 549 00:26:52,820 --> 00:26:55,060 Clarity, reflection and mirror. 550 00:26:55,220 --> 00:26:58,100 But then we'll see everything with perfect clarity. 551 00:26:58,420 --> 00:27:00,500 All I know is partial and incomplete. 552 00:27:00,500 --> 00:27:02,900 But then I will know everything completely, just as God 553 00:27:02,900 --> 00:27:04,500 knows me completely. 554 00:27:04,660 --> 00:27:09,720 The people you have trouble loving, if you knew their full story, 555 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:12,440 it'd be a lot easier. 556 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:15,480 But you don't know their story. 557 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:21,240 That person who lashes out, you don't know how many times people 558 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:22,520 have lashed out at them. 559 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:27,080 That person who wants to get even, you don't know how many times 560 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:28,120 that's happened to them. 561 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:36,410 The people who work and talk about you behind your back have had 562 00:27:36,410 --> 00:27:37,330 that happen to them. 563 00:27:37,330 --> 00:27:39,610 I don't know the stories of each of you. 564 00:27:39,610 --> 00:27:40,850 I know some of your stories. 565 00:27:41,890 --> 00:27:47,330 But if you knew the full story of the person who's hard to love, 566 00:27:48,530 --> 00:27:50,530 they're a whole lot easier to love. 567 00:27:51,490 --> 00:27:53,410 Because you say, well, God loves me. 568 00:27:53,970 --> 00:27:55,090 He knows my story. 569 00:27:55,090 --> 00:27:56,690 Yeah, that's it. 570 00:27:56,850 --> 00:27:57,650 That's the point. 571 00:27:59,340 --> 00:28:00,940 We don't know each other's stories. 572 00:28:01,900 --> 00:28:04,540 So give a lot of grace. 573 00:28:06,060 --> 00:28:11,980 Because if we did, if we didn't just see partially and incomplete, 574 00:28:12,780 --> 00:28:15,180 we would understand them completely differently. 575 00:28:15,740 --> 00:28:20,500 Well, then the chapter finishes up with this, and these 576 00:28:20,500 --> 00:28:22,220 three will last forever. 577 00:28:22,300 --> 00:28:24,200 Faith, hope and love. 578 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,280 And the greatest of these is love, faith. 579 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,880 You know, it takes a leap of faith to believe the Bible is true. 580 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,560 I told you the other week about how I know the Bible is true. 581 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,280 And yeah, but there still is a leap of faith. 582 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,440 You can't absolutely prove it. 583 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,000 There has to be a leap of faith. 584 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:49,160 To believe that is God's word, there has to be a leap of faith to 585 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:53,120 understand how God really designed your life to be and wants 586 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:54,360 so much more for you. 587 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:59,240 Faith is what is the foundation that holds us steady within 588 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,640 the uncertainty all around us. 589 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:03,160 And hope. 590 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,880 Hope is what changes us for the world. 591 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:08,360 You have hope for a career. 592 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:09,560 You have hope for a family. 593 00:29:09,719 --> 00:29:12,200 You have hope for a better impact in the world. 594 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,120 You have hope for a lot of good things, and that's God putting 595 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:15,800 that in you. 596 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:17,320 You have hope for eternity. 597 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:21,870 And hope is what drives us and energizes us and, and gives us joy 598 00:29:21,870 --> 00:29:24,430 to life and love. 599 00:29:25,550 --> 00:29:30,270 God's love that transforms us, makes us like Him. 600 00:29:31,230 --> 00:29:35,150 When we ask for his love to fill us, we become like Him. 601 00:29:36,030 --> 00:29:38,590 A love that demands nothing in return. 602 00:29:38,830 --> 00:29:39,750 Zero in return. 603 00:29:39,750 --> 00:29:41,950 If you're only loving people who love you back, you're not doing 604 00:29:41,950 --> 00:29:42,270 it. 605 00:29:44,030 --> 00:29:46,190 God's love demands nothing in return. 606 00:29:46,270 --> 00:29:47,470 And it's limitless. 607 00:29:48,110 --> 00:29:49,230 It never gives up. 608 00:29:49,310 --> 00:29:50,550 It stays right there. 609 00:29:50,550 --> 00:29:52,910 It keeps coming at you and coming at you. 610 00:29:53,550 --> 00:29:54,830 It won't give up. 611 00:29:56,190 --> 00:30:00,990 You know, your capacity to love is related to understanding 612 00:30:00,990 --> 00:30:02,270 how much God loves you. 613 00:30:03,390 --> 00:30:08,710 If you understand how much God loves you, it's a lot easier to love 614 00:30:08,710 --> 00:30:10,670 people like he does. 615 00:30:11,630 --> 00:30:16,120 Well, faith, important, critical hope. 616 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:17,880 We couldn't live without it. 617 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:21,320 But love, that is the greatest. 618 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:24,840 So the homework assignment. 619 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:30,280 Read chapter 13 of First Corinthians one time every day between 620 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:32,600 now and Thanksgiving. 621 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,320 Every single day, seven days a week. 622 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,650 And if you want the extra credit, remember, read it a second 623 00:30:39,730 --> 00:30:44,290 time, thinking about the person who's most difficult in your 624 00:30:44,290 --> 00:30:44,610 life. 625 00:30:45,490 --> 00:30:48,770 And between now and Thanksgiving, God will transform 626 00:30:48,770 --> 00:30:49,050 you. 627 00:30:49,050 --> 00:30:52,730 If you will do this, I promise you your Thanksgiving dinner with 628 00:30:52,730 --> 00:30:54,370 your family is going to be a whole lot better. 629 00:30:54,850 --> 00:30:56,050 Because you're going to do this. 630 00:30:56,610 --> 00:31:00,050 Your outlook on life, your fulfillment, is going to be different 631 00:31:00,850 --> 00:31:04,210 because you're going to let love transform you. 632 00:31:06,940 --> 00:31:08,180 Now, I've sent you an. 633 00:31:08,180 --> 00:31:11,100 I'm going to send you an email here in a few minutes with First 634 00:31:11,100 --> 00:31:12,380 Corinthians 13 in it. 635 00:31:12,380 --> 00:31:13,900 So you're going to have it on your phone. 636 00:31:14,540 --> 00:31:16,060 You can get it in a different version. 637 00:31:16,060 --> 00:31:17,460 I sent you the new living version. 638 00:31:17,460 --> 00:31:19,020 That's what I tend to use in chapel. 639 00:31:19,100 --> 00:31:22,260 But if you want a different version, some people like the King 640 00:31:22,260 --> 00:31:24,340 James version because of the eloquence of the language. 641 00:31:24,340 --> 00:31:25,860 Some others like other translations. 642 00:31:25,860 --> 00:31:26,340 That's fine. 643 00:31:26,340 --> 00:31:28,220 You read what other translation you want. 644 00:31:28,220 --> 00:31:30,700 You read a different translation, different days, that's 645 00:31:30,700 --> 00:31:31,180 okay. 646 00:31:31,980 --> 00:31:36,460 But read it every single day between now and Thanksgiving Day. 647 00:31:36,780 --> 00:31:42,460 And when you do, then you will begin in a new way to grow the fruits 648 00:31:42,460 --> 00:31:44,140 of the Spirit in your life. 649 00:31:44,700 --> 00:31:49,820 These seven fruits all begin and come from love. 650 00:31:50,220 --> 00:31:51,980 Without love, you don't have the rest. 651 00:31:52,860 --> 00:31:53,420 Joy. 652 00:31:54,860 --> 00:31:58,540 How we can see the best in other people is the only way to get 653 00:31:58,540 --> 00:31:59,020 joy. 654 00:31:59,530 --> 00:32:01,210 And you can't do that if you don't love. 655 00:32:02,090 --> 00:32:05,530 If you want to be a peacemaker person who brings peace, you have 656 00:32:05,530 --> 00:32:07,130 to see the value in every person. 657 00:32:07,210 --> 00:32:08,650 That means you've got to love them. 658 00:32:08,810 --> 00:32:12,570 If you want to be a person who's patient as Christ is with us, 659 00:32:12,650 --> 00:32:14,810 you've got to have love that's limitless. 660 00:32:15,850 --> 00:32:20,010 If you want to be kind, that means you see, everybody is a child 661 00:32:20,010 --> 00:32:20,730 of God. 662 00:32:20,810 --> 00:32:25,210 If they are somebody God loves and God made, how can you not be 663 00:32:25,210 --> 00:32:25,450 kind? 664 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:27,520 Kind to them, no matter what. 665 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,360 Goodness is the character of God. 666 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:33,800 That's the core of who he is. 667 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:35,360 He can't be anything but good. 668 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:42,200 And he gives us that goodness as children of his faithfulness that 669 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:43,320 never gives up. 670 00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:44,480 People give up on you. 671 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,360 Imagine in your life somebody's given up on you. 672 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:50,440 Love never gives up. 673 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:52,520 Jesus never gave up on you. 674 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:54,760 Jesus never will give up on you. 675 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:59,680 Someday when you're far gone from here and you have a time in 676 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,720 your life where you crash and burn and life falls apart and you 677 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:06,160 get a divorce and you messed up and you're at the bottom, don't 678 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,480 forget, Jesus is never going to give up on you. 679 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:12,120 Ever, ever, ever. 680 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,010 Faithfulness is about love, gentleness. 681 00:33:19,650 --> 00:33:21,330 It's how Jesus treated children. 682 00:33:21,890 --> 00:33:24,050 Children were the least important in that culture. 683 00:33:24,130 --> 00:33:26,690 But he said, come, let them gather around. 684 00:33:27,650 --> 00:33:28,370 Self control. 685 00:33:29,410 --> 00:33:34,050 Self control is what honors God and honors other people because 686 00:33:34,050 --> 00:33:35,090 you respect them. 687 00:33:35,810 --> 00:33:39,290 And self control demonstrates that when the spirit of God takes 688 00:33:39,290 --> 00:33:43,290 over every aspect of our lives, we can start to live up to 689 00:33:43,290 --> 00:33:46,610 our real potential and and develop these fruits of the Spirit 690 00:33:46,610 --> 00:33:52,490 in our life as God swoops in and takes control and operates in 691 00:33:52,570 --> 00:33:54,530 every aspect of all we do. 692 00:33:54,530 --> 00:33:56,970 And that's what we're going to talk about next week as we continue 693 00:33:57,050 --> 00:34:03,930 on with the essential sovereignty in all and overall, in 694 00:34:03,930 --> 00:34:06,890 all of our love, in all of our activities, in all of our future, 695 00:34:07,690 --> 00:34:09,850 in all of our past and all of our dreams. 696 00:34:09,930 --> 00:34:11,980 God is in everything. 697 00:34:12,860 --> 00:34:17,340 How God engages in all of our world so that we can have trust and 698 00:34:17,340 --> 00:34:20,740 faith in him is what we're going to talk about next week. 699 00:34:20,740 --> 00:34:22,060 I hope you do the assignment. 700 00:34:22,940 --> 00:34:27,460 If you don't, well, you're going to do it because you're not 701 00:34:27,460 --> 00:34:27,860 afraid. 702 00:34:27,860 --> 00:34:28,780 You got courage. 703 00:34:29,260 --> 00:34:30,300 Don't be afraid of it. 704 00:34:30,380 --> 00:34:30,860 Do it. 705 00:34:30,860 --> 00:34:31,620 It'll change you. 706 00:34:31,620 --> 00:34:32,300 Let's pray together. 707 00:34:32,460 --> 00:34:32,820 Thanks. 708 00:34:32,820 --> 00:34:36,860 Dear Lord, this time to focus on your love. 709 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:41,280 We thank you for the wisdom of First Corinthians 13 and how it was 710 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:46,160 written so clearly for us to follow as a blueprint for how we're 711 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:46,640 to love. 712 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:49,080 Help us to have the courage to do it. 713 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,760 Through your power, in your name, we ask it. 714 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:52,400 Amen. 715 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:54,160 Thanks for listening.