Speaker 1: I'm in trouble because the first service, I explained what
Speaker 1: I'm going to explain to you, and I explained that
Speaker 1: the most important part of the message is the part
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get to that is very hard to
Speaker 1: get to. That I want to spend the most amount
Speaker 1: of time, but by the time I get there, I
Speaker 1: have the least amount of time. And so I'm trying
Speaker 1: to tell you, get your heart ready. But before I do,
Speaker 1: I just want to pray. Don't feel like you have
Speaker 1: to stand, you just sit, but close your eyes for
Speaker 1: a moment. Lord Jesus, Oh, we just welcome you, Father.
Speaker 1: We just steady our hearts before you. We steady the
Speaker 1: posture of our heart before you. We just present ourselves
Speaker 1: before you a living and holy sacrifice. After all that
Speaker 1: worship that we sang, after all that prayer we did,
Speaker 1: we just present ourselves unto you. We present the soul
Speaker 1: of our life, our mind, our will, emotions, the fabric
Speaker 1: of who we are. And we asked that you would
Speaker 1: just come and blow through that this morning. And I
Speaker 1: know you've already been doing that as we've worship and
Speaker 1: as we've prayed, and as we've honored you this morning.
Speaker 1: I know you've been doing that, but now I'm asking
Speaker 1: you go that as we present who we think we
Speaker 1: are before you this morning, that you would just come
Speaker 1: into that realm and just begin to mess us up.
Speaker 1: I'm asking God that this morning would be a morning
Speaker 1: not only a breakthrough, but of radical transformation. That we
Speaker 1: would see you so clear this morning that who we
Speaker 1: thought we were, any false identities, lies, deception, it would
Speaker 1: just melt off of who we are are.
Speaker 2: God.
Speaker 1: I'm believing for that grace this morning, and I'm believing
Speaker 1: that You're about to do some cool things and I'm
Speaker 1: on board. So you say whatever you want in the
Speaker 1: name of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Amen. Well, I'm so glad to be here.
Speaker 1: When the request came in to preach this morning, immediately
Speaker 1: I knew it was a yes from my heart because
Speaker 1: the moment I got the request, I heard the Lord
Speaker 1: say the language of love and how that never happens
Speaker 1: to me usually. I'm praying, I'm my Lord, help me, God,
Speaker 1: what do you want to say? And it just came
Speaker 1: to me and I knew right away, Okay, I have
Speaker 1: to do this, And as he did it, he gave
Speaker 1: me three categories of this topic that he wanted me
Speaker 1: to address, and I'm gonna get to all three of them,
Speaker 1: and the first two I'm barely gonna scratch the surface of.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna move fairly quickly. So if you miss something,
Speaker 1: there's probably a recording. But if you miss them, just
Speaker 1: don't worry about it. Keep staying with me, okay, because
Speaker 1: if you somewhere too long, you'll you'll miss the next thing.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna move pretty quickly. Don't be overwhelmed. Your
Speaker 1: heart might feel like like it's in Jesus' name.
Speaker 2: Okay, this makes sense.
Speaker 1: So when the language of love came to me, the
Speaker 1: Lord highlighted three different categories he wanted to talk about,
Speaker 1: and this the topic of love. If you're looking at
Speaker 1: love as itself, the topic of love is actually a
Speaker 1: common theme all throughout scripture. If you're looking in the garden,
Speaker 1: if you're looking at the Law of Moses, if you're
Speaker 1: looking through all the judges, through all the Prophets, through
Speaker 1: the Psalms, through the Proverbs, the Wisdom to the New Testament, Jesus,
Speaker 1: you're going through all the epistols. Everything, you're going through
Speaker 1: all the topic of love. Is like, for God so
Speaker 1: loved the world that he gave right, he loved the way.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's who he is. That's the purpose of
Speaker 1: Jesus because of the Father's love. If you're looking at
Speaker 1: when they came to Jesus, like, what's the greatest commands?
Speaker 1: And he says, you must love the Lord, your God,
Speaker 1: with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind,
Speaker 1: all your strength. And you must love your neighbor as
Speaker 1: who yourself.
Speaker 2: And then you have Paul writing the three.
Speaker 1: What three things last forever? It's faith, hope, and love,
Speaker 1: and the greatest is love. Right, So it's a common
Speaker 1: theme that we find throughout scripture. And then Jesus says,
Speaker 1: if you love me, you will obey my commands. So
Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting because love demands and obedience the
Speaker 1: love is voluntary. What he's saying is that if you love,
Speaker 1: if who you are is love, the direct reflection result
Speaker 1: of it is obedience and honor to the Lord. It's
Speaker 1: not a twisting your arm. It's a privilege you step into.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So the first category I want to go into, it's
Speaker 1: words of love.
Speaker 2: Say that with me. Words of love.
Speaker 1: In Proverbs chapter eighteen, verse twenty one, Solomon writes, the
Speaker 1: tongue can bring life or death. Those who love to
Speaker 1: talk will reap the consequences. Come on, now, I love
Speaker 1: to talk, and the word consequences is not necessarily a
Speaker 1: negative connotation. We speak day today as though it is,
Speaker 1: but it's not. It just means those who talk will
Speaker 1: reap the fruit of what they're saying. Okay, So when
Speaker 1: my wife and I just got married, we got married
Speaker 1: pretty young. I was twenty, she was eighteen. I'm from
Speaker 1: the slavin culture. We get married young, we have big families,
Speaker 1: and we go to work when we're ten. Okay, that's
Speaker 1: just what we do, and so don't ask me questions
Speaker 1: about that. But when we got married, you know, I
Speaker 1: figured out pretty quick that just because I want to
Speaker 1: go doesn't mean we're going right, or just because she
Speaker 1: wants to do something doesn't mean she's going to do it.
Speaker 1: You know why, because there's a tension between what she wants.
Speaker 2: What I want. And we're pretty young.
Speaker 1: So maybe you're smarter than us and you figured it
Speaker 1: out pretty quick, but there was some tension sometimes, okay,
Speaker 1: And yeah, we didn't project it on people because we
Speaker 1: learned how to keep it to ourselves. But you know,
Speaker 1: there was tension, and so what happened was through this tension,
Speaker 1: there was a frustration.
Speaker 2: That would build up.
Speaker 1: And I don't know why it works this way, but
Speaker 1: when there's a frustration that builds up, somehow it has
Speaker 1: a connection to your tongue. I don't know how it works,
Speaker 1: but when you frustrated, it's like it activates in your
Speaker 1: tongue with you say things that in two minutes you regret.
Speaker 1: You know why, because it's coming out of a place
Speaker 1: that's probably not love.
Speaker 2: And so you say things that you regret.
Speaker 1: And so in the beginning of our marriage with the
Speaker 1: Lord began to challenge both of us with is biting
Speaker 1: our tongue And I'm not talking about like a you know,
Speaker 1: a mental kind of body like physical.
Speaker 2: Biting your tongue. And I was asking the Lord, why
Speaker 2: are you asking us to do this?
Speaker 1: We're not trying to be better, because if you try
Speaker 1: to be better and you become better, that's a work
Speaker 1: of the flesh, not the work of the spirit.
Speaker 2: So why are you asking us to do this? And
Speaker 2: he said, because I want to teach you the value
Speaker 2: of your words. See, Jesus is the word of God. Right,
Speaker 2: And in the garden, God said, let there be the
Speaker 2: word created everything we see and the function of everything
Speaker 2: that's happening around.
Speaker 1: Us his word. What if you and I were to
Speaker 1: value our words the way he values his? Okay, So
Speaker 1: the language of love, it starts with the words of love.
Speaker 1: And so as we were biting our tongue and Jesus
Speaker 1: was showing me these things, I realized.
Speaker 2: My good words are like they're like seeds.
Speaker 1: Right, You say something and you didn't see the effect
Speaker 1: of it, but it's hurting somebody deep deep within. Like
Speaker 1: I found out years later some of the things I
Speaker 1: said to some people that actually hurt them so bad,
Speaker 1: and I didn't know because I was just you know,
Speaker 1: it's naive or whatever you would to call it. But
Speaker 1: I said things that were not out of a place
Speaker 1: of love. But it was a seed that festered in
Speaker 1: somebody's life that I never addressed, or was never addressed,
Speaker 1: or they didn't protect their heart, but it was a
Speaker 1: seed that festered and it caused them harm.
Speaker 2: And that's just what words do. They're like seeds. And
Speaker 2: if we use the seeds that come out of our
Speaker 2: mouth to build people up, my goodness it will be beautiful.
Speaker 1: So what we have is we have WWJD. Somebody tell
Speaker 1: me what that is. What would Jesus do? I have
Speaker 1: a new one for you this morning, ww js What
Speaker 1: would Jesus say, Come on? Would he honor somebody with
Speaker 1: his words? Or would he gossip? Would he encourage an
Speaker 1: individual or would he discourage?
Speaker 2: Would he build them up? Would he tear him down?
Speaker 2: What would Jesus do? What would he say?
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna stay here any longer because we gotta go,
Speaker 1: We gotta go. I'll make a quick mention James Chapter three,
Speaker 1: you know that chapter on the words, just the power.
Speaker 1: He said, you can make grand speeches with words, and
Speaker 1: then you can throw your whole life into flames just
Speaker 1: because of the words he use.
Speaker 2: Right, but he says in verse two, very very crazy.
Speaker 1: And he says, the one who learns to control the
Speaker 1: tongue is perfect, being able to control the rest.
Speaker 2: Of their life.
Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness, the power of the ability to use
Speaker 1: this profoundly and for his glory. Put your hand on
Speaker 1: your lips through creakes, say Jesus, help me use the
Speaker 1: words that come from love in Jesus' name. Hey man,
Speaker 1: now put your hand on your neighbor, say Lord, make
Speaker 1: them perfect. If you know what I meant, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm at all right, So next topic I want
Speaker 1: to go into. Our next category of this topic is
Speaker 1: the acts of love. It's talked about the words of
Speaker 1: love a little bit. The acts of love. I believe
Speaker 1: personally that the acts of love is one of the
Speaker 1: most powerful tools of yours and mine warfare in this earth,
Speaker 1: like amongst each other and in the world amongst the unbeliever,
Speaker 1: like our ability to be have an action of love
Speaker 1: that comes from love, or an action that shows or
Speaker 1: demonstrates love to one another. I believe that's one of
Speaker 1: the most powerful things we have on the earth.
Speaker 2: So in.
Speaker 1: Matthew chapter five, Jesus ushers in a new an interesting
Speaker 1: perspective where he you know, and he says, you know
Speaker 1: that the law says the injury, the penalty must match
Speaker 1: the injury. Where he says, if somebody takes your eye,
Speaker 1: then you must take their eye. If somebody breaks your leg,
Speaker 1: you break their lege. Somebody takes your wallet, you take
Speaker 1: their house. I don't know, like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like it shouldn't match, right, But he said, I say,
Speaker 1: unto you do not resist the evil person.
Speaker 2: Love your enemies.
Speaker 1: And he says, if somebody slaps you on one side,
Speaker 1: what do you do turn the other cheek?
Speaker 2: Says. If you go to court and they take your shirt,
Speaker 2: give him your coat? What says?
Speaker 1: He says, if a soldier demands that you carry their
Speaker 1: gear for one mile, to carry it for two.
Speaker 2: Let me bring it into context.
Speaker 1: If your boss requests that you do something outside of
Speaker 1: your job description, you go above and beyond into their
Speaker 1: job description. All right, acts of love. I'm gonna share
Speaker 1: a few stories. Then we're gonna go into the next category.
Speaker 1: I had a brother who now passed away. Once again,
Speaker 1: we have big families. I'm not gonna get into that one.
Speaker 1: But I had a brother who passed away. He was
Speaker 1: two years older than me and the closest brother to me.
Speaker 1: I was the youngest, he was the second youngest. We
Speaker 1: had a phenomenal time living on earth together. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: And when I was about thirteen years old, God actually
Speaker 1: spoke to me. And I didn't give him my life
Speaker 1: or anything, but he spoke to me. He said, Roman,
Speaker 1: I want you to change your relationship with your brother.
Speaker 1: And I was like, what in the world, okay, And
Speaker 1: when we growing up, we just fought all the time,
Speaker 1: and we fought so much that the nature of our
Speaker 1: friendship became like our high would be like a smack.
Speaker 1: Like literally when we would greet each other first time
Speaker 1: we saw each other day, should.
Speaker 2: Whack me upside my head. That's just the way we
Speaker 2: did it. It's not abused, it's just the way we
Speaker 2: said hi.
Speaker 1: But I didn't like that anymore, and I didn't feel
Speaker 1: like that was who we were. And so one day
Speaker 1: he was coming home from where he can God challenge me.
Speaker 1: He said, no more of this. And uh, I was
Speaker 1: about thirteen at the time, and I was phoning the
Speaker 1: laundry up on the stairs and he was walking up
Speaker 1: to go to the hundry.
Speaker 2: End I knew what was coming.
Speaker 1: He walks past me, slap side my head, and I'm
Speaker 1: just folding the laundry, and I didn't do a thing.
Speaker 1: Usually i'll whack him in his leg and you know,
Speaker 1: be like, what's up. You know, that'll be like anyway,
Speaker 1: but you know, sometimes one thing turns into it and
Speaker 1: gets violent.
Speaker 2: But anyway, I'm not gonna get into it.
Speaker 1: So so he passes me three steps after whacking me,
Speaker 1: and then he stops and he does he does one
Speaker 1: of these, and he goes back.
Speaker 2: He looks at me.
Speaker 1: It's like I missed the point. It's like he's saying, well,
Speaker 1: what's up. Yeah, and he whacks me again. And I'm
Speaker 1: folding the laundry.
Speaker 2: And the words that Jesus says turn the other.
Speaker 1: Cheek, and he's like, he's now uncomfortable, because you know,
Speaker 1: you can imagine. And so what he does is he
Speaker 1: starts whacking me. He's like, I know you want to
Speaker 1: hit me.
Speaker 2: I know you want to. I had him a bag
Speaker 2: or whatever.
Speaker 1: And then I'm overwhelmed with emotion. And you can't get
Speaker 1: overwhelmed with emotion in a time like that, you know,
Speaker 1: or else that's super embarrassing. But I'm overwhelmed with the
Speaker 1: love of God. And the tears start coming out, and
Speaker 1: I said, Bro, you're gonna hit me all you want.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do that anymore. And he was so shocked,
Speaker 1: he was so uncomfortable, he didn't even know what to do.
Speaker 1: So he took his towel and went to the shower.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you that man got changed from my active love.
Speaker 1: From that moment on. He's a Mom, I'm buying rome
Speaker 1: and driver's aat I'm buying him a car. And then
Speaker 1: our friendship was next the level. Like we did a
Speaker 1: bicker before he was like making fun of me in
Speaker 1: front of his friends.
Speaker 2: Now he was lifting. But this is my brother, this
Speaker 2: is him, he's calling with me.
Speaker 1: And it was like that that awesome thing, that one
Speaker 1: act of love released in his life. I had around
Speaker 1: that time. A little bit after that, I had a
Speaker 1: mentor out of church. I was going to at a
Speaker 1: camp when you know, we have food at the camp
Speaker 1: and uh he the leaders got the chance to get
Speaker 1: their food first, which I thought was crazy because leaders
Speaker 1: should serve. But anyway, he got his, he had his
Speaker 1: food and then he comes to my table and everything
Speaker 1: that's on his plate is everything I want. And I'm like, hey, Alex,
Speaker 1: his name is Alex Fertugen, the coolest guy ever. Say
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, Alex, is that for me? And he
Speaker 1: was like oh yeah, like and he puts it right
Speaker 1: in front of me. He's like, oh yeah, that's for you.
Speaker 1: And I was young, so I was confused. I thought
Speaker 1: he was serious. I didn't know that was his plate
Speaker 1: for himself, but I was like, whoa.
Speaker 2: That was for me.
Speaker 1: He did that for me, and then I saw him
Speaker 1: He went and grabbed plate and got the exact same
Speaker 1: stuff for himself. I'm like, oh my God, that example
Speaker 1: did so much for me, and that took one second.
Speaker 1: His one act of love, one act of love, transformed
Speaker 1: paradigm of my thinking. And as far as Christianity, I
Speaker 1: was young enough that he showed me that somebody actually
Speaker 1: loved me. He showed me that I'm worth something.
Speaker 2: Just why.
Speaker 1: You might think it's so silly, your act of love
Speaker 1: in your workplace, at your homes.
Speaker 2: Whatever you're doing. You might think it's silly, but it's
Speaker 2: a powerful tool of your warfare, active love.
Speaker 1: It showed me that I was worth something. It showed
Speaker 1: me that God loves me. It showed me that somebody
Speaker 1: can actually walk in humility that I can look up to.
Speaker 2: And it showed me.
Speaker 1: That Jesus lives in people. Just through one simple act.
Speaker 1: You might say, not crazy, put your put your hands
Speaker 1: in front of you, look at them and say, Jesus,
Speaker 1: help these hands do mighty acts of love in Jesus' name.
Speaker 2: Amen. All right, I'm gonna flip this.
Speaker 1: Other's so much I got I got notes guys, I
Speaker 1: don't usually do this much. No, it said, I'm trying
Speaker 1: to stay on top of me because I know I
Speaker 1: could go so with places. So the third topic I
Speaker 1: want to get into gotta get my water. The third
Speaker 1: topic I want to get into, which I think is
Speaker 1: the most important thing at Julie One second, you guys, ready,
Speaker 1: it's the intentions of love. Intentions of love. You see,
Speaker 1: you can say all the right things, and you can
Speaker 1: do all the right things, but it.
Speaker 2: Means nothing.
Speaker 1: If your heart's not there, if the intentions are impure,
Speaker 1: if the position of your heart is positioned from selfishness
Speaker 1: or jealousy, it invalidates your words and your actions. In
Speaker 1: the garden of Eden, God created us in his image,
Speaker 1: and that image was love. I'm gonna start moving very quickly,
Speaker 1: and if you miss something, please don't sit there too long.
Speaker 1: Just follow me, stay with me. In the garden of Eden,
Speaker 1: God created us in his image, and his images for
Speaker 1: first and foremost it's love. And he said to them,
Speaker 1: the day you eat of the tree of the knowledge
Speaker 1: of good and evil, that's the day you'll die. When
Speaker 1: Eve saw the fruit, she was deceived by the serpent.
Speaker 1: And when she saw the fruit. She said, it looked beautiful,
Speaker 1: it looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom that it
Speaker 1: would have given her. What is that, It's the three temptations.
Speaker 1: It's the pride of life, the lust of the eyes,
Speaker 1: and the lust of the flesh. It's the lust of
Speaker 1: the eyes. Saw it was beautiful, the lust of the flesh.
Speaker 1: It looked delicious, the pride of life. She wanted the
Speaker 1: wisdom it gave her. And these two temptations they only
Speaker 1: have a foothold if you begin to think from the
Speaker 1: realm of selfishness and jealousy. Selfish she saw was beautiful.
Speaker 1: She wanted it. Jealous she wanted the wisdom that it had.
Speaker 2: In these two things, James.
Speaker 1: Writes that where you find selfishness and where you find jealousy,
Speaker 1: you'll find every disorder, You'll find every kind of evil.
Speaker 1: And he says, this is not God's wisdom. Selfishness and
Speaker 1: jealousy is the wisdom that the world travels on. And
Speaker 1: we are not of the world because that is not
Speaker 1: of God's wisdom. Jesus says to Peter that get behind me, Satan,
Speaker 1: because you see things merely from a human point of view.
Speaker 2: So the establishing idea.
Speaker 1: What's happening here is that what God's intentions are and
Speaker 1: what the world's intentions are way different. The world thinks
Speaker 1: for itself, how can better itself, what it can do
Speaker 1: to help protect what they have, and defensive God's thinking selfless.
Speaker 1: For God's a love that he gave. Okay, you guys
Speaker 1: with me so far. So when Eve takes that fruit
Speaker 1: and she takes that and she just an interesting thought,
Speaker 1: nothing happened. But when she gave the fruit to the
Speaker 1: wand that God said you must not eat, and he
Speaker 1: takes to the fruit, their eyes were open. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to go there because that's not where we should
Speaker 1: have been at KST. We went through that and by
Speaker 1: the way, but you're not there, and we're not going there.
Speaker 1: But when that happened, their eyes were open, and they
Speaker 1: were they began to see things they were never created
Speaker 1: to see.
Speaker 2: They begin to.
Speaker 1: Field things they were never created to feel. So we
Speaker 1: know the story. God banishes them out of the garden.
Speaker 1: Some of us think it's because God was angry, not
Speaker 1: at all, go reread it. He was actually deeply in
Speaker 1: love with humanity, and out of his love and protection
Speaker 1: he banned them from the garden because in the garden
Speaker 1: there was a tree of life, and he didn't want
Speaker 1: them separated forever from him anyway. So I'm not going
Speaker 1: to get into that either. But watch this when he
Speaker 1: banned When he banned them, there was a prophetic word
Speaker 1: that the seed of her and the enemists see enemy seed,
Speaker 1: he will crush the enemy's head, and the enemy will
Speaker 1: will hurt his heel. And so there was a prophetic word,
Speaker 1: and there was a promise of a son, his name
Speaker 1: is Jesus, that he would come and one.
Speaker 2: Day restore us. Okay.
Speaker 1: So the common theme throughout scripture became about a one man,
Speaker 1: the promised Messiah that's coming. And so when Jesus comes
Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter one, verse three, if you have the scripture,
Speaker 1: please put it up. It says that Jesus the sun
Speaker 1: radiates God's own glory. Okay, in the garden when God
Speaker 1: created Adam and Eve, you and I radiated the glory
Speaker 1: of God. And watch this and expresses the very character
Speaker 1: of God, like if you see Jesus, you see who
Speaker 1: God is.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: But let me add to it. When you see Jesus,
Speaker 1: you see who you are because you were created in
Speaker 1: his image, and what the author of Hebrews is saying
Speaker 1: is that Jesus radiates the image of God, his glory,
Speaker 1: and his very character. Like if you see Jesus, Jesus says,
Speaker 1: when you've seen me, you've seen him, And he says,
Speaker 1: I want you to be one with me, just as
Speaker 1: I am with him.
Speaker 2: It's us.
Speaker 1: It's us against the enemy, not against each other. And
Speaker 1: so the intentions of love needs to be restored to
Speaker 1: the image of God, to the very character of God.
Speaker 1: Some people say Jesus didn't have Jesus didn't want to die.
Speaker 1: He had to die. Let me tell you something. That's
Speaker 1: a false eye from hell. Jesus wanted to die because
Speaker 1: you were the joy set before him. Okay, I really
Speaker 1: have to stay on focus. I want to present an
Speaker 1: idea to you. Love is one sighted that you didn't
Speaker 1: hear that much. Well, you know, it takes two to
Speaker 1: make this work. You know, you have to do something.
Speaker 3: You know, because if I'm the only one doing it
Speaker 3: and then you're not doing it, and then I'm just
Speaker 3: the one that's serving and you're not serving, and I'm
Speaker 3: the one who's brain and you're not brain, we can't
Speaker 3: make this thing worry. And if I'm doing all this
Speaker 3: stuff and you're not doing anything, then whatever it is
Speaker 3: not going to work.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what before you said yes to him?
Speaker 2: He hung there.
Speaker 1: One sided. See, love does not require to work, does
Speaker 1: not need reciprocation.
Speaker 2: Does.
Speaker 1: I do not need you to say you love me
Speaker 1: when I say I love you, because my love is
Speaker 1: not conditional on what you are, how you do, what
Speaker 1: you're feeling, what you're doing, what you've done to me.
Speaker 1: Why because it's I present myself in that place, not
Speaker 1: demanding you to take your place. You live before God. See,
Speaker 1: I can't judge the love that you have. I can't judge.
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't judge it. Why because I can't wait,
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't put a weight to it. I
Speaker 1: don't know how much you love because you can do
Speaker 1: all the things and say all the things, but not
Speaker 1: have it in you.
Speaker 2: And it's a zero.
Speaker 1: Only God can see that. Therefore, I take my position
Speaker 1: as one sided love. I'm gonna say something real quick,
Speaker 1: and I don't misunderstand me. But when my wife and
Speaker 1: I got married, I would say things, sirr, I don't
Speaker 1: care if you run off with another man. Why because
Speaker 1: I see you for who you are and I love you,
Speaker 1: not that it wouldn't hurt, but I see her for
Speaker 1: her value, her potential, who she is in the Lord.
Speaker 1: And the only reason she would have done that or
Speaker 1: failed to meet her commitment is because.
Speaker 2: She lost sight of who she is.
Speaker 1: So why would I take her failure and take it
Speaker 1: upon myself and cause that division.
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to put.
Speaker 1: This on anybody circumstances life thinks. I'm not doing that.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that when you, as a man or
Speaker 1: a woman of God, take the position of love, you
Speaker 1: are the one who brings holiness to the marriage. And
Speaker 1: I wasn't planning to get into marriages. This happens that
Speaker 1: it just happens, you know, when you're married, it just happens.
Speaker 1: But this goes into every relationship that you have. You
Speaker 1: could be at work and you take the position of love,
Speaker 1: and in the face of injustice, you do the acts
Speaker 1: of love because.
Speaker 2: You have the intention of love. And when you have
Speaker 2: the intention of.
Speaker 1: Love filled with the act of love, it has the
Speaker 1: power to release the Kingdom of God wherever you're at.
Speaker 2: It says, if you do something.
Speaker 1: For the sight of others, Jesus says, if you do it,
Speaker 1: if you pray for people to see, you've received your reward.
Speaker 2: People saw.
Speaker 1: But if you pray before the Lord, your intention is pure,
Speaker 1: he will reward you. Love is one sided. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say real quick, I'm gonna go deeper into this.
Speaker 2: Just for a second. You guys with me. He guys. Okay.
Speaker 2: There's a man, a lot of you know him. His
Speaker 2: name is Todd White.
Speaker 1: Many years ago he was He's just a crazy guy
Speaker 1: that loves.
Speaker 2: To pray for people. And his family gets to witness that.
Speaker 1: And one of his daughters was four years old and
Speaker 1: they were on vacation on a beach cheap place, Hawaii somewhere,
Speaker 1: and they're just laying down to the beach and the
Speaker 1: daughter sees some man limping along the water. She says, Daddy,
Speaker 1: let's go pray for him. I want to go pray
Speaker 1: for four years old, right. So she goes, and she's like,
Speaker 1: and Todd goes with his daughter and the daughter initiates everything.
Speaker 2: She's like, sir, I saw you limp in. I just
Speaker 2: believe that Jesus wants to heal you. Can I pray
Speaker 2: for you?
Speaker 1: And the guy wasn't about a deny it, four year old.
Speaker 1: If you deny, that's you're a big sinner. By the way,
Speaker 1: if you deny it, four year old. And so he's like, well,
Speaker 1: giggles because he's not a believer. It's like a sure, honey,
Speaker 1: go ahead. And she's like, she gets on her knee.
Speaker 1: It's the cutest thing I heard. She gets on her
Speaker 1: knee and she puts her hand on his leg. She's like,
Speaker 1: Jesus blessed this food in Jesus name, Amen.
Speaker 2: For four years old. And the guy chuckled. You know,
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, cute kid. She goes, okay, sir, check out.
Speaker 1: But the guy gets one hundred percent held one hundred
Speaker 1: percent Why because the power was not and what she
Speaker 1: did it was in the intention. Results are revealed by
Speaker 1: the faith attached to it, in the same way words
Speaker 1: of love and acts of love should be the result of.
Speaker 2: The intention of love. This's making sense. So what's the problem.
Speaker 1: The problem is how we think, or how we perceive ourselves,
Speaker 1: how we perceive him. You and I were so good
Speaker 1: to distance our personal self from the character of Jesus.
Speaker 1: When the selfishness is knocking on our door, and when
Speaker 1: jealousy is knocking on our door. We're so easy to
Speaker 1: make a distance. Well, I'm not she Jesus. Well that's
Speaker 1: Jesus here. Of course he would do that. But I'm
Speaker 1: not him or not perfect.
Speaker 2: So what you do is.
Speaker 1: You sell yourself short, You sell yourself so cheap, You
Speaker 1: sell yourself to the identity of a world that said
Speaker 1: it over you. And I'm not even saying perfection here.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I'm just saying, like regular little things, Yeah, worship,
Speaker 1: if you come up, that'll be great. I'm just saying, like,
Speaker 1: when you distance who you think you are from who
Speaker 1: Jesus is, You've caused a great disservice to the value
Speaker 1: on your life. You've caused a great disservice to the
Speaker 1: value He put on your life through his blood and sacrifice.
Speaker 1: This is not a message of condemnation. This is actually
Speaker 1: a message of privilege. You see when when even Adam,
Speaker 1: when they send in the garden and the identity of
Speaker 1: love was true from them Hebrews we talked about it
Speaker 1: says that.
Speaker 2: He Jesus radiates the glory God and.
Speaker 1: Expresses can we put the scripture back up and expresses
Speaker 1: the very character of God Wh's what it keeps saying.
Speaker 1: And when he cleansed us from our sin, think with
Speaker 1: me for a moment, when he cleansed you from the
Speaker 1: sin that was established in the garden and the rain
Speaker 1: of it. When he cleansed you from the false identity,
Speaker 1: from the I'm not Jesus conversation, When he cleanses you
Speaker 1: from that he sat down in the place of honor
Speaker 1: at God's right hand. Why because he finished the work
Speaker 1: that he was supposed to do. Now, the only responsibility
Speaker 1: that we, you and I have is the soil that
Speaker 1: that word lands on. And how willing are you and
Speaker 1: I this morning to lay down false identities, false perspectives
Speaker 1: of our cells to take on the righteous identity that
Speaker 1: we are made in the image of love. Because the
Speaker 1: moment you present yourself to God and allow him to
Speaker 1: come and mess with the fabrics of your thoughts, of
Speaker 1: your will, of your emotions, what you think you are,
Speaker 1: how you think you grew up, well, whatever happened to
Speaker 1: you as you grow up. When you let the God
Speaker 1: of the universe, who created you in his image, to
Speaker 1: come into those places, I'm telling you what the first
Speaker 1: thing he will do is kill who you think you
Speaker 1: are and that he's really good at that, really good.
Speaker 1: First Corinthians, Chapter thirteen. Oh Lord, do we have a
Speaker 1: sign up? If you got kids, go get your kids.
Speaker 2: Please.
Speaker 1: Those not very nice. If you have children, they're very amazing.
Speaker 1: Please bring them.
Speaker 2: We're going to be done.
Speaker 1: Oh mess, enough see the power you're were and how
Speaker 1: you say, Oh my God, this is not good.
Speaker 2: Lord, help me okay.
Speaker 1: First Corinthians, Chapter one, Chapter thirteen, Verse one. If I
Speaker 1: could speak all the languages of the earth and of
Speaker 1: the angels, if.
Speaker 2: I had all the words of love but didn't love others,
Speaker 2: I would be super annoying. That's what he's saying.
Speaker 1: Actually, he's saying, you'd be worse than annoying. A noisy gong,
Speaker 1: a noisy gong or clinging symbol. That's even that's a
Speaker 1: negative zero. If I had the gift of prophecy and
Speaker 1: understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge,
Speaker 1: and if I had such faith that I could move out,
Speaker 1: but I didn't love, that would be nothing. If I
Speaker 1: gave everything I have to the poor, if I did
Speaker 1: all the acts of love, they could think of all
Speaker 1: the things that you would look at somebody and say.
Speaker 2: Wow, that person's filled with a lot of love.
Speaker 1: If I did all those things but I didn't have love,
Speaker 1: I would have gained nothing.
Speaker 2: Love is more than what you see. Has to be
Speaker 2: that intention purified. But how do we get that intention purified?
Speaker 1: The biggest violation of the way of love is selfishness
Speaker 1: and jealousy Verse four.
Speaker 2: Love is patient, it is kind, Love is not jealous.
Speaker 2: Both soul proud or.
Speaker 1: Rude does not demand its own way. Two things we
Speaker 1: just read.
Speaker 2: Love is not jealous and love is not selfish. Keeps
Speaker 2: no record of being wrong. It's not irritable.
Speaker 1: I want to quickly go to as I wrap this up,
Speaker 1: Matthew after sixteen. I referenced this passage earlier when Peter
Speaker 1: asks his disciples, he says, who.
Speaker 2: Do people say? I am?
Speaker 1: And then Peter gets up and he's like, you are
Speaker 1: the Messiah, the wane of God. And then Jesus says, simon,
Speaker 1: you will be called Peter, which means rock. And upon
Speaker 1: this rock, Aulbill mach Or. She just gave Peter the
Speaker 1: title that anybody wanted.
Speaker 2: You know. It's like because all they could think of
Speaker 2: is selfish? Who sees me? How they see me? Who's creator?
Speaker 1: All that stuff right, and then he goes on to
Speaker 1: tell them how Jesus must die. And so Peter, with
Speaker 1: the established identity that Jesus just gave him, he's like,
Speaker 1: Heaven forbid. Literally, Jesus just says to Peter, whatever you
Speaker 1: bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you
Speaker 1: whatever you lose on earth, will be loose to heaven.
Speaker 1: And then Peter goes Heaven forbid. And then Jesus looks
Speaker 1: at Peter and he's like, get behind me, Satan, because
Speaker 1: you see things merely from man's world perspective and knockouts.
Speaker 2: Watch the very next thing. He says, this is.
Speaker 1: So good, and this is the answer that we need
Speaker 1: this morning. I really sense it. Verse twenty four. Then
Speaker 1: Jesus said to his disciples, if any of you wants
Speaker 1: to be my follower, if you want to follow the
Speaker 1: very image that you were created, and from the beginning,
Speaker 1: it's not a strife thing.
Speaker 2: If you're hearing this message and.
Speaker 1: You feel discouraged or upset about yourself, it's not even
Speaker 1: a strife. It's not a comparison message. This is an
Speaker 1: opportunity message. This is an invitation message to step into
Speaker 1: an identity that you were created into so Jesus says,
Speaker 1: if anyone wants to be my follower, you must turn
Speaker 1: from your selfish way away that you were never created for,
Speaker 1: and you must pick up your cross and follow me.
Speaker 1: If you try to hang onto your life, you will
Speaker 1: lose it. But if you lose your life for my sake,
Speaker 1: you will save it. Some translations and say you will
Speaker 1: find it. Listen, if you lose who you think you are,
Speaker 1: to take up an identity that God's called you to,
Speaker 1: you will find life. How many billionaires, millionaires, people who
Speaker 1: you would say were successful, are so depressed, so lost,
Speaker 1: and so confused the thing that you put a value on,
Speaker 1: and God says, that's a zero wife because you don't
Speaker 1: know who you are.
Speaker 2: You could be a billionaire. You could be a millionaire and.
Speaker 1: Happy, or you can have a successful life and a
Speaker 1: great family and be happy. But first, foremost has to
Speaker 1: be restored in identity, the image of God.
Speaker 2: In your being. This is making sense. Come on, get
Speaker 2: to your feet if you can.
Speaker 1: Oh, Lord, sorry, guys, I'm just I got so much
Speaker 1: fire and passion in my heart that I just okay.
Speaker 1: If you're in this room and you want to give
Speaker 1: your life to the Lord, like fully one hundred percent,
Speaker 1: like one hundred percent life for real, Like you want
Speaker 1: to lay down a false identity.
Speaker 2: Of who you're not and say, I'm going to give
Speaker 2: my life to the Lord. I'm gonna make the Lord
Speaker 2: and Savior my life.
Speaker 1: Could be your first time, or it could be that
Speaker 1: you're just you've been way backslidden and you just don't
Speaker 1: even know who you are anymore. I want you to
Speaker 1: raise your hand right now. That's you right there?
Speaker 2: Who else? Sorry, I'm sorry, let me be clear. I
Speaker 2: see your hand there one more time.
Speaker 1: If you're giving your life to the Lord, or if
Speaker 1: you're rededicating it, I want you to raise your hand.
Speaker 2: I see one back there, I see one here? Who else?
Speaker 1: I see one over there? Come on, come on, let's
Speaker 1: share them up. Who else at one hundred percent?
Speaker 2: Come on?
Speaker 1: Actually, come up here, come up here.
Speaker 2: If you're frill about the Lord, come on.
Speaker 1: Okay, your shot, that's fine, Come on up, Come on up,
Speaker 1: anybody else, I'll give it a moment. Just don't worry.
Speaker 1: Come on, anybody else, we'll wait. We'll wait thirty more seconds.
Speaker 1: You ready, anybody else? I don't feel pressure. I hope
Speaker 1: you don't either. But if you feel fire, you probably
Speaker 1: need to be here. Give it another thirty seconds. It's important,
Speaker 1: important that if you're thinking through if you should or shouldn't, this.
Speaker 2: Is very good because you should count the cost.
Speaker 1: That's okay, I'll give you another fifteen seconds.
Speaker 2: Thank you Lord. If you're up here, you probably already
Speaker 2: feel You feel it, don't you. It's happened at home
Speaker 2: on I'm just standing next year. I feel it. Why
Speaker 2: because there's a beauty that happens.
Speaker 1: And surrender when you lay down a line to take
Speaker 1: up the truth, come out three more seconds. Anybody else,
Speaker 1: come on up quickly. I know I'm waiting for one
Speaker 1: individual at least.
Speaker 2: Who are you? Where are you? Is that you? Is
Speaker 2: that you? Come on up here? Oh you're such a princess. Okay, okay,
Speaker 2: shreut your hands real great Father, we thank you for
Speaker 2: these individuals. You can get some guys behind them. Father.
Speaker 2: We just thank him all shresh, Come on God, it's
Speaker 2: doing some Father.
Speaker 1: We thank you for the mighty move of for stirring
Speaker 1: the spear got with Thank you that heaven's rejoicing.
Speaker 2: We're rejoicing too.
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, I just speak and declare
Speaker 1: over all your lives, that the Lord sees you, he
Speaker 1: wants you, he chose you, he's redeeming you, he's transforming you.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a different language to your words. You're
Speaker 1: gonna have different actions to your deeds. You're gonna have
Speaker 1: different intentions to your heart. Come on, and then this surrender.
Speaker 1: Just allow the Lord to transform you from the innermost place.
Speaker 1: Come on, The Lord is doing something. If you gotta go,
Speaker 1: you gotta go. But I'm telling you the Lord is
Speaker 1: doing something. If you're on the Destiny Team and you're
Speaker 1: not gonna hurt reality here, I want you to come
Speaker 1: up and join stand here, and I want to invite
Speaker 1: if you're dealing with something, maybe it's a false perspective
Speaker 1: and identity that you're you've been hurting with, I want
Speaker 1: you to come and pray with the Destiny Team member,
Speaker 1: because the Lord is unleashing goodness this morning. And the
Speaker 1: Lord will be faithful if you give him the posture
Speaker 1: of your heart and you give him good soil. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you seeds will grow the seed of your true identity,
Speaker 1: and the Lord will grow this morning in the name
Speaker 1: of Jesus. Will close your eyes, lift your hands, Father
Speaker 1: we lift you up, we glorify you this morning, and
Speaker 1: we thank you God that you're purifying our intentions, you're
Speaker 1: purifying our hearts.