Shownotes
Are you ready to discover what real love looks like in your life? Dig into what the Bible says about loving your neighbor as we walk through how to love like Jesus with honest insights and Scriptural truth. Get equipped with a blueprint for deepening your relationships and loving others well.
Key Insights
- Authentic love must be rooted in loving God and loving your neighbor as a foundational starting point.
- Understanding your assignment and boundaries in each season protects you from burnout and helps you serve with clarity.
- Jesus raises the standard by calling us not only to love our neighbor as ourselves, but to love others as He has loved us.
- True love is patient, kind, content, modest, humble, honorable, selfless, forgiving, and compassionate.
- Love is not envious, boastful, proud, dishonoring, self-seeking, easily angered, or unforgiving, and causes no shame or disgrace.
https://springhousemidweek.captivate.fm/episode/rabbi-lessons-from-the-teacher-4
Subscribe & Follow the Podcast
Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Boy, I tell
Speaker:you what, I am so grateful for the
Speaker:resource of being able to live stream when
Speaker:we're not here. But I will tell you, I would never want my.
Speaker:I just would not want my life to be one where I.
Speaker:That's, you know, that would be it. There would be no other option. And for
Speaker:some people that's the only option that they have. Maybe because of an ailment or
Speaker:something like that. And I get that. But boy, if I have the ability to
Speaker:be in the house, I would much rather be here. It's different when you are
Speaker:in person with people. And so thanks for being here tonight on
Speaker:this chilly night. And man, it's so good to see your
Speaker:faces. Don't we serve an amazing God? Isn't he just
Speaker:incredible? And man, I'm so thankful for the
Speaker:patience that he has with me when I think I've got it all together, but
Speaker:I learned that I really don't. My blind spots, as many as
Speaker:they are. The Lord graces them and covers me and
Speaker:teaches me gently. He's such a great shepherd. He's such a great
Speaker:shepherd and I'm so grateful for him. Guys, it's
Speaker:good to be together in the house of the Lord. We're going to continue our
Speaker:series tonight with Pastor Barbie. And it's been rich, hasn't it? It's been really
Speaker:good. And I just am so excited about what she has. So let's just stretch
Speaker:our arms out toward her and ask the Lord to. To cover
Speaker:her this evening. Father. We thank you Lord, for Barbie,
Speaker:the gift that she is to this house, the gift that she is to our
Speaker:lives. I'm thankful for my friend. And I ask, Lord, that you would cover her
Speaker:tonight. I thank you for her preparation for this evening. I pray
Speaker:Lord, that her words that just come from wherever
Speaker:fall short nor few. I know that would be her prayer, God. But Lord, the
Speaker:words that you have for us that would change us for eternity, Lord, we want
Speaker:to hear those loud and clear. And so Lord, use our sister
Speaker:tonight, Lord, to nudge us along in this journey. Words from
Speaker:the rabbi in Jesus name, Amen.
Speaker:Is it wrong that when you said
Speaker:the word, you know, were you talking about blind spots?
Speaker:How fun would it be if we see that in
Speaker:somebody and we're just like blind spot?
Speaker:Subtlety has never been my strength.
Speaker:Can I do that? I think the phone would not be the hatchet if I
Speaker:would just. Blind spot.
Speaker:I gotta do it with a British accent.
Speaker:It's less harsh Anyway, I'm so excited about what the Lord has
Speaker:for us tonight. I'm so glad Ronnie and Michelle are back. I don't know where
Speaker:you were, but I missed you. I look over there and there's this encourag.
Speaker:Most of the time encouraging until he starts
Speaker:looking up scripture and then I'm like, oh no, what did I do?
Speaker:Anyway, we're going to jump in tonight. I believe the Lord has something for us.
Speaker:I know that he had something for me as I was studying it out and
Speaker:I trust that this is a corporate thing. I have to
Speaker:tell you when we were recording
Speaker:for Sunday, it is so
Speaker:true guys, when the word says that wherever two or three are gathered
Speaker:together in his name, that he's right there in the midst of us because
Speaker:he just, he was here. And I believe that that
Speaker:translates, you know, you can have an amazing
Speaker:livestream and be technically savvy and
Speaker:the Holy Spirit not be welcome in it. I'm so
Speaker:grateful that the Holy Spirit has touch to these
Speaker:things in this house and I'm just grateful. All
Speaker:righty then, let's see. Let's start with scripture. Isn't that a
Speaker:good place to start? Okay, we're going to start. This string is really
Speaker:bothering me. I bought it. Looks like I have a whip up here.
Speaker:You guys better listen.
Speaker:Actually, the tape's coming off.
Speaker:I have. Well, I'm no longer bound and
Speaker:I'm sorry guys, I had way too much coffee anyway.
Speaker:That bothers me. Okay, we're going to Matthew. It is the first book
Speaker:in the New Testament, chapter 22. And I'm going to
Speaker:read a brief section and then I am going to bring
Speaker:you in to the rest of it. Let me set it up for you.
Speaker:Father God, I thank you so much for your word and your truth. I thank
Speaker:you for the clarity that it brings. I thank you that your anointing is in
Speaker:it. Your breath is over it, Father God. And so we're gonna lean in,
Speaker:Father, into that breath. The breath of the word, Father. The God breathed
Speaker:word. That's where we are with you tonight, Lord. So we lean in and we
Speaker:trust you. Let my stuff fall in your stand in Jesus name.
Speaker:Matthew 22, it's talking about. It's
Speaker:when the Pharisees and the Sadducees are trying to trip up Jesus
Speaker:basically. And so the Sadducees bring these story about, you know,
Speaker:well, what if this guy's wife dies and, and what if this
Speaker:happens? Whose wife is she going to be when they enter into the kingdom?
Speaker:And Jesus speaking to the Sadducees, who were actually
Speaker:the wealthy and the elite of that time. They were
Speaker:basically two political parties for the most part.
Speaker:But he looks at them and he says the most wonderful thing here.
Speaker:Well, I'll jump into that. He says, you are in error because
Speaker:you do not know the Scriptures or the power of
Speaker:God. And he begins to share that in the Resurrection, people
Speaker:will neither marry nor be given in marriage. They will be like
Speaker:angels in heaven, which is another issue for the Sadducees, because
Speaker:they didn't really believe in an afterlife. But we'll jump into that.
Speaker:But then he goes on down. So when the Sadducees could not trip him up,
Speaker:when he said, you know, Jesus goes on to say, God is the God of
Speaker:the living, not of the dead. And so it says, hearing that
Speaker:Jesus had silenced the sad, there's the
Speaker:competition, Pharisees and Sadducees. The
Speaker:Pharisees got together, and one of them, an expert in the law,
Speaker:tested Jesus with this question, teacher,
Speaker:which is the greatest commandment in the law? And Jesus
Speaker:replied, love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of
Speaker:your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and
Speaker:greatest commandment. And the second is, like
Speaker:it, love your neighbor as yourself. All the law
Speaker:and the prophets hang on these two
Speaker:commandments. On these two commandments,
Speaker:I don't know about you, but I like to know the bottom line.
Speaker:I like to know if this is the. If he is
Speaker:our rabbi and he is the teacher, wouldn't
Speaker:you want to know what he says the most
Speaker:thing to do is? Wouldn't that be fitting for us?
Speaker:However, first I have to grab hold of this portion because it really is
Speaker:just kind of right down the lane. You are in error. These are
Speaker:words in red, too. You are in error because you
Speaker:do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.
Speaker:Translated. You don't know what you're talking about because
Speaker:you are biblically illiterate. You are scripturally
Speaker:illiterate, and you don't know what you're talking about. And because you don't know what
Speaker:you're talking about. Hey, guys, I'm not saying this to you.
Speaker:This is what he's saying. You don't know what you're talking about because you don't
Speaker:know the Scriptures and you are not familiar with the power of God. And
Speaker:because of those two things, you're asking the wrong questions.
Speaker:You're asking the wrong questions. And he begins to share
Speaker:everything as he goes forward. And when they try to trip
Speaker:him Up. And they say, you know, well, what's the most important? And he
Speaker:says these two things. It is that you love God and
Speaker:that you love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker:To me, that's the foundation. That's where you start.
Speaker:If you are going to ask the Lord, Lord, I want to move
Speaker:further. I want to go deeper. I want to be more of this.
Speaker:And into this, Lord, develop me. Just pour
Speaker:into me in these areas. You cannot build a house
Speaker:without this. You cannot build something. You have to have.
Speaker:This is foundational. And sometimes the most clarifying thing we can do
Speaker:is to scripturally define the bottom line.
Speaker:And this becomes the spot that we stand in.
Speaker:And we go, this is the starting line.
Speaker:This is where we begin this journey. This is where we build the
Speaker:house. Because if you're not building with this as a foundation,
Speaker:you're getting the what, but you're not getting the why. And you have to have
Speaker:the why. You have to have the why. Sometimes the most
Speaker:clarifying thing you can do is scripturally define the bottom
Speaker:line. It becomes our cell or truth. It's the place where we stand.
Speaker:You know, when I began working for Pastor
Speaker:Ronnie 20, 25 years ago, however long it was,
Speaker:I needed to know where to stand. I needed the Holy
Speaker:Spirit to define for me in that season
Speaker:with my assignment and the calling at that moment in time, I needed the
Speaker:Lord to define a bottom line for me. Because if you
Speaker:don't, if he didn't. And I needed him to because
Speaker:I had a tendency to want to run after everything that seemed like a good
Speaker:thing, and it was exhausting.
Speaker:I remember Pastor Bruce coming by my office one day, and I'm just crying, and
Speaker:I've got the door shut. Okay, let's be honest. I was wailing,
Speaker:and he walked in and he went, what's going on, Barbie? And I said,
Speaker:I'm tired. I'm just tired. He's like, okay, what are you working on? What are
Speaker:you trying to do? And I said, well, there was this woman, and
Speaker:she's in this abusive situation, and I'm trying to find a place for her to
Speaker:go. I'm trying to find her a home, and I'm trying to find this. And
Speaker:I thought he would be moved with great. You know, greatly impressed. And
Speaker:he said, is that what God told you to do? And
Speaker:I said, but she needs a place. He said, I understand that. That's not what
Speaker:I asked you. What did God tell you to do? What did God tell you
Speaker:to do in this role? And I said, well, the Lord Told me to study,
Speaker:to teach, and to pay attention to Pastor Ronnie's plate, to see if there
Speaker:were things on it that I could take off so that he could more effectively
Speaker:do the things that God had called him to do. And he made me restate
Speaker:that. Okay? He asked me to, but it was Pastor Bruce, and he's tall. And
Speaker:he said, what was it? And so I restated that. And he said, how does
Speaker:this fit into this? Because, see, there's
Speaker:always gonna be something good that you can do. There's
Speaker:always gonna be a person in need. There's always gonna be something,
Speaker:and that's good. And the Lord will allow us at times to step out and
Speaker:do those things. But if you continue to step out of the
Speaker:parameters that God has laid for you in that time and in that season, what
Speaker:you'll find is that you will begin to try and birth in your flesh.
Speaker:Supposed to be done in the spirit. And we have to go with the spirit
Speaker:because our flesh will exhaust us. Right? So clarifying the bottom line
Speaker:allowed me to move back to center time and time and time again.
Speaker:Well, now, when I was hired to work with Pastor Kevin,
Speaker:it would have been foolish of me to go. Well, this was my
Speaker:assignment with Pastor Ronnie. So it's gonna absolutely be the same assignment with him.
Speaker:It's not. It's not. And I needed the Lord to clarify
Speaker:that for me so that I didn't make him miserable. And me mise.
Speaker:And I'm saying this to say to you, have you allowed the Lord to
Speaker:define your season? Have you allowed him. Have you asked him
Speaker:to show you the parameters of where you are now so that you are not
Speaker:physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted? We want you functioning
Speaker:in that place that the Lord has called you to in this season. Okay?
Speaker:Now that one that's not on there, and that's kind of free.
Speaker:But it's important. It is important. I know that it has rescued
Speaker:me time and time again and brought me back to center, those checkpoints where the
Speaker:Lord says, no, this is what I told you. You need to know what the
Speaker:Lord has told you for now, for this season. Okay? So
Speaker:right now, in this scripture, our launch point, the foundational place, because you
Speaker:may not know right now exactly what your assignment is in this season, and you
Speaker:may not know what your parameters are at this moment. So we're gonna start here.
Speaker:When it comes to loving God and loving our neighbor, it is our love for
Speaker:our neighbor that tends to suffer the greatest.
Speaker:Lord, I love you. God, I love you.
Speaker:You know, and we Sing it. And we say it and we tell
Speaker:them, you know, we love him. And somehow,
Speaker:somehow it has become funny
Speaker:or a standing joke to go, church is
Speaker:great, but then there's the people
Speaker:that's like going, hal is great, but man, his kids, oh,
Speaker:wait, those are my kids. Let's try somebody else. Kevin is
Speaker:amazing, you know,
Speaker:And I think God is asking more. I
Speaker:don't think our. I don't
Speaker:think it's a joke to him. Now listen, I am
Speaker:an introvert. And introverts and extroverts
Speaker:love differently. If you find me hiding behind a curtain, it isn't because I don't
Speaker:love you. It's because I love differently. Extroverts
Speaker:love loud. Extroverts love loud. If
Speaker:they love you, you are going to know that they love you. And probably most
Speaker:of the people in the room will know that they love you.
Speaker:Introverts love gently but just
Speaker:as true. And an introvert can love you like crazy,
Speaker:meet and minister to you behind the scenes. And
Speaker:people may think, oh, you know, what does Delaney really
Speaker:love? Yeah, she does, Does
Speaker:Delaney. I love pointing out introverts. They
Speaker:love it when you bring their name up in a message. But you see what
Speaker:I'm saying? It isn't a lack of love that
Speaker:causes introverts to sit back and extroverts to run
Speaker:forward. It's just the way God wired you. Bottom line,
Speaker:both of you are called to love his people. And if you
Speaker:don't love his people, why do you ever think he would call you
Speaker:into any form of ministry? We have to love his
Speaker:people. It's a non negotiable. There are negotiables and.
Speaker:And there are some that aren't. It says, if anyone
Speaker:boasts, I love God and goes right on hating his
Speaker:brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar.
Speaker:He won't love. If he won't love the person he can see,
Speaker:how can he love the God he can't see? The
Speaker:command we have from Christ is blunt. Loving
Speaker:God includes loving people. You've got to
Speaker:do both. You
Speaker:gotta do both. Have I wrestled with this one?
Speaker:Have you seen me limp? I mean,
Speaker:it's not always easy, but it's always right. It's
Speaker:always right. If I say, kevin, I love you, brother,
Speaker:I think you're amazing. And I passed by Shari and
Speaker:Hadassah and Lucia and Ruby and Nora and
Speaker:Eliana on the side of the road, and I don't stop to help them.
Speaker:Do I love him? So how can we
Speaker:say that we love God and His people
Speaker:are a footnote in the picture.
Speaker:They're not anyway. Okay,
Speaker:then it's just the truth.
Speaker:It's just the truth. Okay?
Speaker:And he says this. When he says this, he says, love your
Speaker:neighbor as yourself. And see, that's given
Speaker:a lot of people an ouch. Because a lot of people don't really love themselves.
Speaker:A lot of people don't have a great deal of respect for
Speaker:themselves. And that's, you know, the work of the enemy in the life that
Speaker:causes insecurities and pains and frustrations and shames
Speaker:and all of these things that the enemy puts on so that. That
Speaker:your esteem for yourself is not
Speaker:as strong as it should be. The way that the Lord would have it, the
Speaker:way that all parents wish their children felt about themselves.
Speaker:But then Jesus does this thing and he goes, okay, all right. Love
Speaker:your neighbor as yourself is the standard. And then he ups the standard.
Speaker:A new command I give you. Love one another
Speaker:as I have loved you. What?
Speaker:So must you love one another. By this, all men will know that you are
Speaker:my disciples. If you love one another.
Speaker:Jesus raised the bar from love your neighbor as yourself
Speaker:to as I have loved you.
Speaker:In doing this, our blueprint became his
Speaker:love rather than our own.
Speaker:The standard is higher. But see, the Lord is. The scripture
Speaker:tells me that his love has been shed abroad
Speaker:in my heart. So I have the capacity
Speaker:to love because of the love that Christ has given me and
Speaker:that he has poured into me. I have the capacity. I
Speaker:just don't always have the will to do it. And
Speaker:God is challenging both here. God is going, I have
Speaker:given you this great love that he has shown.
Speaker:And he's asking us to show that kind of love to one
Speaker:another. Now. Okay, here's the thing.
Speaker:You hear it. You know love like Jesus loved. You know love like
Speaker:Jesus loved. And we see how Jesus loved. He gave everything.
Speaker:He sacrificed everything. But that's a big ask.
Speaker:That is a big piece to take a bite of
Speaker:and chew up. And it's just a lot bigger than we are.
Speaker:And because God is faithful and because God is good, I
Speaker:believe according to everything that I read, that he has
Speaker:placed in Scripture everything I need
Speaker:in order to do the things that he's asking us to do, Right?
Speaker:Well, actually, it says this. All scripture is
Speaker:God breathed. It's God breathed.
Speaker:It isn't the work of a man. It is God
Speaker:breathed. It is Holy Spirit inspired. And it is
Speaker:useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and
Speaker:training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped
Speaker:for Every good work. So often we love the rebuking and
Speaker:correcting portion of that. Not for ourselves, but for others.
Speaker:In this teaching thing, guys, I can't get
Speaker:away from the fact that when the Pharisees addressed him and when the
Speaker:Sadducees addressed him, the two ruling
Speaker:sects, both of them addressed him as teacher,
Speaker:as rabbi. They recognized the calling. And
Speaker:so all scripture is God breathed and is
Speaker:used to train us and to teach us and to move us
Speaker:down that pathway. So that tell that
Speaker:I can trust that he has instructions for me in this word how to
Speaker:love. The Holy Spirit that He left for us will
Speaker:show us how we can do this a step at a time. Cause see, the
Speaker:disciples knew how Jesus loved on a daily basis. They walked with
Speaker:him. They sat at the table with him. They spent time with
Speaker:him. They knew his demeanor. They knew his character. They knew
Speaker:what he was like when he woke up in the morning. And they knew what
Speaker:he was like when he went to bed at night. Now, see, I can say
Speaker:that about how I know how Hal loves. Hal
Speaker:is a fierce protector. He is
Speaker:as faithful as the day is long. He will
Speaker:do anything for anybody he loves to help
Speaker:people. And he will.
Speaker:He and I will go to our graves loving each other. Because he ain't
Speaker:giving up. And I ain't giving up. That's how he
Speaker:loves. I know. I know his love language is
Speaker:words of affirmation. I know the things that speak to him. I know how
Speaker:he loves. The disciples knew how he loved, knew
Speaker:how Jesus loved. And I believe
Speaker:that the word was breathed into 1 Corinthians 13 to
Speaker:show us this is what Jesus love looked like. If it is the
Speaker:fruit of the Spirit flowing through a life. I believe that we can grab hold
Speaker:of this scripture and see
Speaker:a progressive way to measure.
Speaker:Are we loving like Jesus loved? Because that's what he has just asked us
Speaker:to do. And so I believe that there's a bit of a blueprint
Speaker:in this for us. Now, here's the other part of this.
Speaker:Sometimes I believe we're better served by knowing what something isn't than what it is.
Speaker:Let me explain this to you.
Speaker:Let's just say hypothetically, that you
Speaker:grew up in the country and you had a cousin
Speaker:named Marshall Ray. And Marshall Ray was about two years
Speaker:younger than you were. And he knew those fields and those
Speaker:hills like the back of his hand. And he ain't scared of nothing.
Speaker:And let's just say, just for the sake of argument, that Marshall
Speaker:Ray decided to walk into his mother, my Aunt
Speaker:Maureen's, house, hypothetically, and carrying like a three foot
Speaker:snake wrapped around one arm. And his mother, who had
Speaker:arthritis, couldn't move as fast as she would have liked to that night. And
Speaker:the thing that struck me the most was that Marshall was
Speaker:going, but Mama, But Mama hit's head ain't even diamond
Speaker:shaped. It ain't poison. I mean, look at this.
Speaker:It ain't this, it ain't. It's long when it's
Speaker:skinny and it ain't well, see, he knew at the
Speaker:age of seven that his mom needed to know what it wasn't. And
Speaker:I believe when we look at 1 Corinthians 13, there's a bit of that in
Speaker:that. Because what we find is that it
Speaker:addresses two identifiers
Speaker:regarding love and what real love is, authentic love is.
Speaker:And then it gives us eight things that it isn't. And see, I believe that
Speaker:the Lord knew we were going to have trouble defining what love really was, whether
Speaker:it was in our personal relationships or when we started dating or whatever it might
Speaker:be. We were going to have a little bit of problem with defining what love
Speaker:actually looked like. And so he gave us some parameters that we
Speaker:can look at and we can judge the two
Speaker:original. If you go to First Corinthians 13,
Speaker:Verse 4, it says this.
Speaker:According to God breathed Scriptures, true
Speaker:love has two initial authenticators, and they
Speaker:are patience and kindness.
Speaker:Well, that already ruled out some relationships, didn't it?
Speaker:Man, I wish the teenagers were in here tonight.
Speaker:Patience and kindness.
Speaker:Patience is the level of
Speaker:endurance one exemplifies in difficult circumstances before
Speaker:moving into negativity. Negativity.
Speaker:Are they patient or do they move
Speaker:swiftly into negativity with the slightest
Speaker:provocation? Are you
Speaker:patient or are you quick to
Speaker:slide down that Slide into a negative space?
Speaker:Do little things set you off? Do you find yourself saying,
Speaker:that's just the way I am? No, it isn't. It
Speaker:isn't just the way you are. It is evidence
Speaker:of a lack of the fruit of the Spirit,
Speaker:which is patience. And if that is you,
Speaker:your best recourse. And my best recourse is to go. God,
Speaker:increase your fruit in me. Father, I pray that your Holy
Speaker:Spirit have his way in my life so that this is not
Speaker:a marker for who I am. Is that something that people
Speaker:say about you, that you are patient?
Speaker:Now, what about kindness?
Speaker:Kindness? You are marked by good and
Speaker:charitable behavior. You have a pleasant disposition
Speaker:and you show genuine concern for others. See,
Speaker:these are descriptives of the way that Jesus loved. Right?
Speaker:He stopped in his tracks to minister to People's needs.
Speaker:When he had needs of his own, he didn't go,
Speaker:no. You know, kindness,
Speaker:marked by good and charitable behavior, pleasant
Speaker:disposition. Ask yourself
Speaker:seriously, because we are so quick to start judging the people around us to
Speaker:see if they have these behaviors. Ask yourself, if somebody
Speaker:sees you coming down the hallway here at church, are they
Speaker:all of a sudden on their phone? Are they ducking into the bathroom
Speaker:quickly? Are they finding someone to talk? Or
Speaker:are you avoiding people coming down the hallway?
Speaker:Are you marked by kindness?
Speaker:Love is patient and love is kind.
Speaker:The love that Jesus displayed was patient and
Speaker:it was kind, and that's what we're being asked to
Speaker:emulate. I mean, guys, I can tell you today,
Speaker:places I wasn't patient and that I didn't act like
Speaker:this, but it's my heart to do it
Speaker:now. Okay, so those are the two that we get to go. It is
Speaker:this and it is this. Well, it isn't this.
Speaker:It is not envious or jealous,
Speaker:boastful or proud. It is not dishonoring or self seeking.
Speaker:It is not easily angered, unforgiving.
Speaker:What do you mean, love's not envious?
Speaker:People who love you will not hold you back. They will
Speaker:celebrate what God is doing in your life. They won't be
Speaker:fearful in it. See, there's a root. Jealousy and
Speaker:envy are two different things. Two different things. Jealousy has a
Speaker:root of fear. Jealousy over someone else's life is
Speaker:going, oh, oh, I could lose something here. Jealousy has a
Speaker:root base where you're not secure enough in where you are
Speaker:to allow somebody else to shine. And so this
Speaker:envious thing, and then the envy has a root of
Speaker:lust. Jealousy is a root of fear.
Speaker:Envy is a root of lust. Envy wants what they have
Speaker:because you think you deserve what they have. They're two different emotions, and they come
Speaker:out and they both look like envy, but
Speaker:they're not. One is fear and one is the other. I'm only
Speaker:telling you that because it will allow you to
Speaker:pray about the root. If you are someone who struggles with
Speaker:jealousy, my encouragement to you
Speaker:would be, lord, help me with this spirit of fear. God,
Speaker:I ask, Holy Spirit, that you rebuke this spirit of fear that I'm
Speaker:walking in, that I cannot rejoice with somebody else
Speaker:or celebrate with someone else who is succeeding or moving forward
Speaker:or walking into a new place. And if it's envy, if you're
Speaker:not, if you're walking in that place where you think, well, I should have
Speaker:gotten that, you know, I mean, I want
Speaker:Alexis, too, but I don't.
Speaker:Well, okay, that's a lie. But I do. But I don't. There's
Speaker:this black Lexus, and I'm pretty sure that Connie Hutchison has one, and it's a
Speaker:pretty one. And I'm like, oh, Lord, that's nice, but I got a beautiful car.
Speaker:I've got a great. Anyway, I digress.
Speaker:But you know what? And this is the honest truth. I can
Speaker:celebrate with them what God has done. I
Speaker:celebrate with them what God has done,
Speaker:okay? It is not boastful. Love
Speaker:is not boastful. It does not sing its
Speaker:own praises.
Speaker:It will not be. I'll just written. It will not have a
Speaker:disproportionate view of its own accomplishments or importance. If
Speaker:you have someone who lets you know how lucky you
Speaker:are to have them, there's a red flag.
Speaker:And if you are that person, drop the flag.
Speaker:Drop the flag and do it. Not be boastful.
Speaker:It isn't. Guys, I love this because, man, if
Speaker:you had this when you were a teenager and started dating somebody and you thought
Speaker:you were in love for the first time and this was your measuring line that
Speaker:you got to run it up against, don't you think you might have saved yourself
Speaker:a few heartaches? Don't you think you might have if
Speaker:you could have? I mean, it was all right there. It says it
Speaker:isn't proud. It isn't proud. It isn't full
Speaker:of itself. It doesn't have an inflated sense of
Speaker:personal status or accomplishments. It isn't proud.
Speaker:Now, this next one, I think is so important. I think this one is
Speaker:so important. It says it isn't
Speaker:dishonoring. Love will never lead
Speaker:you to feel shame or disgrace. Guys, if
Speaker:you don't remember any of this, I want you to remember this.
Speaker:But love will not bring dishonor.
Speaker:It will not cause you to feel shame or disgrace. It
Speaker:will not remove your honor, diminish your worth,
Speaker:affect your honesty, or compromise the
Speaker:integrity of your personal values.
Speaker:It just doesn't. If I love
Speaker:you, I will never ask you to do any of that. And I will
Speaker:never lead you down a path that causes you to feel that or experience that
Speaker:or lose that to. I will never ask you
Speaker:if I love you. I will never bring you
Speaker:into situations that cause you to be ashamed and feel
Speaker:disgraced. Love doesn't do that.
Speaker:It just doesn't. The love that Jesus is
Speaker:asking us to display toward our God
Speaker:and toward our fellow man looks like
Speaker:this. We don't lead them
Speaker:down that path. And when we are being led
Speaker:down that path, in any way, we need to recognize it for what
Speaker:it is and it is not. Love.
Speaker:Is not love.
Speaker:If your relationship does not meet this criteria, you
Speaker:need to take a very hard look at what's actually going on.
Speaker:And you need to invite the Holy Spirit into your
Speaker:relationship, into your walk, into your world, to
Speaker:clarify these things for you and right behind it. And it's so fitting.
Speaker:Love is not self seeking. It doesn't just
Speaker:pursue what it wants. It's not about
Speaker:itself. It's not about its own
Speaker:interests. It promotes
Speaker:the interests and the advancement
Speaker:and the engagement of the one that it's toward.
Speaker:If you love me, this is what it looks like, and
Speaker:this is what it doesn't look like. And if someone loves you,
Speaker:this is what it should look like. Now, guys, listen, we're not
Speaker:always gonna get it right. We're not. But at least we know what
Speaker:right is. You know, we're not just going, well, Jesus laid down
Speaker:his whole life. And if I'm gonna love like Jesus, then I'm probably gonna be
Speaker:a martyr. Well, well, this'll cost you. This
Speaker:is gonna cost you. When you decide to actually
Speaker:attempt to love like Jesus loves, it's gonna cost you something.
Speaker:It's gonna cost you what you want most of the time. It's gonna cost
Speaker:you your ability to claim that you are right most of the
Speaker:time. And very often, it's gonna cost you the
Speaker:ability to go and do anything you want, anytime you want to.
Speaker:Because love doesn't. Love considers.
Speaker:Here's another one. Since y' all are so happy with me. Wait a minute.
Speaker:I know you are, guys. Actually, I know you are. It isn't easily
Speaker:angered. It goes back to negating the initial
Speaker:identifier of patience. Because, see, that's what happens.
Speaker:Anger takes away
Speaker:kindness. Patience, or lack of patience,
Speaker:will birth anger and frustration. And
Speaker:anger and frustration will strip you of your ability
Speaker:to be kind. And so this right here
Speaker:goes back and takes away the two. These are
Speaker:the anger. Quick to anger.
Speaker:And it isn't unforgiving. It doesn't keep a record of
Speaker:offenses. How many people do you see that are
Speaker:keeping a record of everything that's been done wrong to them or
Speaker:to each other? You know, you get in an argument with your spouse
Speaker:and you can go back 15 years and go, well, on a Tuesday, you said
Speaker:this, and you keep records.
Speaker:I'm so grateful that God does not keep a record of my
Speaker:wrongs. The scriptures that I really like say that he
Speaker:cast them as far as the east is from the west, and he ain't looking
Speaker:for them. That's a paraphrase. Anyway, it
Speaker:isn't unforgiving. It just isn't those things. So,
Speaker:okay, so if knowing what it isn't serves
Speaker:to clarify what it is, we can know this. If it
Speaker:isn't envious, it is content. What?
Speaker:Yeah. That is the complete opposite of being envious is
Speaker:being content with where God has you, with what God has given
Speaker:you. For I have learned in what whatsoever state
Speaker:therewith I am, I've learned in whatsoever state I am
Speaker:therewith to be content. There's a contentment
Speaker:that comes when you're not envious, when you're not wanting that and
Speaker:you're not wanting this, and you're not wanting this. There's a contentment.
Speaker:Another word that closely resembles it is you've become
Speaker:comfortable with where God has you and what
Speaker:he's doing in your life, what he's provided for you.
Speaker:There's a contentment and there's a comfort. It isn't boastful. It is
Speaker:modest. Now, to be modest isn't to go, oh,
Speaker:no, no, no, no, no. It is.
Speaker:Thank you. I appreciate that. When somebody's like, you know what that was? You
Speaker:know what? You sang beautifully. You did a great job. Unless you're like Josh,
Speaker:who used to go, I did, didn't I? And, oh, yeah, I did,
Speaker:didn't I? Anyway, but to go,
Speaker:thank you. God is so faithful. You're not diminishing what he's done,
Speaker:but you're also not shining the spotl.
Speaker:It. Is modest if it isn't proud. It's humble.
Speaker:It's humble. It has a realistic view, not a low on the
Speaker:ground crawling view. It has a realistic view. What's that
Speaker:definition? Pastor Ronnie, he always shares
Speaker:on what actual humility is. And if it isn't dishonoring,
Speaker:it is honorable. It is filled with
Speaker:honor. I love that you can just look at it. If it
Speaker:isn't this, you know it's this. If it isn't self seeking, it is
Speaker:selfless. It is selfless.
Speaker:It is putting others first. If it isn't easily angered, it is
Speaker:patient. It's patient, and God
Speaker:is telling us that it isn't so that we can clearly
Speaker:define it. If it isn't
Speaker:unforgiving, I know it would make sense to say it is
Speaker:forgiving, but it is compassionate. It
Speaker:is compassionate. It is. Yes. You did this.
Speaker:Yes. I know that this happened, and I'm, you know, upset,
Speaker:but I'm compassionate. I understand. Having
Speaker:fallen myself, having failed myself,
Speaker:having come up short in so many Ways I can be
Speaker:compassionate in this situation that requires forgiveness
Speaker:rather than holding a standard that neither I nor
Speaker:they can meet.
Speaker:Jesus, love was content. It was modest,
Speaker:it was humble, it was honorable, it was
Speaker:selfless, it was patient, and it was
Speaker:compassionate. Doesn't that sound like him?
Speaker:I mean, doesn't that sound like him? He
Speaker:wasn't in a hurry to get where he was going.
Speaker:He wasn't putting spotlights on himself. He was
Speaker:selfless and he gave. He was patient
Speaker:even when he was denied three times overnight by his bestie.
Speaker:He was compassionate. That's what his love
Speaker:looks like. That is what his love
Speaker:looks like. Is that what
Speaker:your love looks like?
Speaker:It isn't what mine looks like, but man, do I want
Speaker:it to be. Man, do I want it to be.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:In the end, the stamp of love's authenticity is
Speaker:its willingness to surrender its own will
Speaker:and in doing so, serve a greater good
Speaker:that we sometimes cannot see or understand.
Speaker:There are going to be points and times in your life when God asks you
Speaker:to do something that you are not going to understand.
Speaker:You are not going to get it. You're not going to be able to see.
Speaker:Why in the world. Why, Lord, are you asking me to walk like this
Speaker:with this person? Why, Lord, are you asking me to
Speaker:take the hit again?
Speaker:Because love takes the hit. And I'm not talking about a
Speaker:physical hit run. If that's happening, come talk to me. But anyway,
Speaker:love takes the hit, it seems like, over and over and
Speaker:over again. It's like. And we are so quick to want to justify why we're
Speaker:doing what we're doing. And we want to say. We want to say, but.
Speaker:But in the. But
Speaker:when really God's just going to just do it. And we don't have
Speaker:to understand why he's asking us to do
Speaker:it. We don't have to understand that. And we may not see in the long
Speaker:run exactly what the fruit of that moment was
Speaker:because we're not always going to get it. But you know what? We know this.
Speaker:Love wins. Love wins. And the bigger picture is
Speaker:always going to be about love. It's always going to be about compassion.
Speaker:It's always going to be about loving God and loving each other
Speaker:by his blueprint, not by
Speaker:ours.
Speaker:Its authenticity is marked by its willingness
Speaker:to surrender our own will.
Speaker:When you love big, you do. You do.
Speaker:Because the Word tells us this greater love has no one than this.
Speaker:To lay down one's life for one's friend.
Speaker:So often when I was little, I would think, you know, that's Jumping in front
Speaker:of a bus that is literally laying down your life. Would
Speaker:I die for this person? Would I die for that person? And the
Speaker:list of people that I would have died for were, you know,
Speaker:consisted of about five people who lived in Walls Holler down in
Speaker:Cofield. And I would have for them, but that wasn't
Speaker:what this scripture's talking about. Yes, for Jesus, yes. But are you
Speaker:willing to lay down your life?
Speaker:You're walking around daily life
Speaker:to serve a greater good, to love the children of God that are on
Speaker:this planet, that he loves more than we ever even thought about loving
Speaker:our kids. It's hard to imagine, isn't it?
Speaker:Because I will take one of you down if you go after one of my
Speaker:kids. Okay, I'll do it slowly, but, you know,
Speaker:you get the gist.
Speaker:That love that we have for our family and our kids
Speaker:cannot even. It is not a breath
Speaker:close to the love that God has for his children.
Speaker:Yet he sent one to die for us.
Speaker:No greater love. For God
Speaker:so loved the world that he
Speaker:gave his only begotten son,
Speaker:that whosoever believeth in him
Speaker:would not perish but have everlasting life.
Speaker:For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world,
Speaker:but that the world through him might be
Speaker:saved. God so
Speaker:loved. And finally,
Speaker:just a gentle nudge and a reminder.
Speaker:As I have loved you,
Speaker:as he has loved you,
Speaker:so must you love one another.
Speaker:Father. God, I thank you for your truth. I
Speaker:thank you for baselines that we can launch from.
Speaker:Father, I thank you that you have given us a let's start
Speaker:here moment,
Speaker:a blueprint of what the love of God
Speaker:begins to do in our lives.
Speaker:So I pray, Father, that we grab hold of it. Grab hold of it
Speaker:and move more deeply into it by the power of
Speaker:the Holy Spirit, and we will give you glory, Lord, in
Speaker:Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
Speaker:And so now when I say, I sure do love you guys. Mmm.
Speaker:I do go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
