0:00

While we were worshiping I saw something

0:02

. I don't know that we

0:04

have these trees here in California

0:06

, but we have them all over the place in North Carolina . They're

0:09

Bradford pear trees . Do

0:11

we have these in California ? No , well

0:14

, bradford . I just saw this like grove

0:17

of these Bradford pear trees . Bradford

0:20

pear trees grow really fast and

0:24

because they grow fast , they don't have a strong

0:26

root system . Their wood

0:28

is very brittle and fragile . They're

0:31

one of the first trees to

0:33

get their leaves . And so what

0:35

happens ? When a winter storm comes

0:37

early , the ice hangs

0:40

on these Bradford pear trees . So

0:42

you've got this perfect storm of weak , brittle

0:45

limbs , heavy ice

0:47

, and they just break all over the place

0:49

and they don't actually produce

0:51

any fruit . I don't even know why they're called pear trees

0:53

because they don't produce fruit , but

0:56

they look really pretty . And so people in

0:58

North Carolina and the South , they plant them all

1:00

over the place because they grow fast and they look

1:03

really pretty , but there's no strength there

1:05

, there's no root system , they fail . So

1:08

why is God showing that to me during

1:10

worship ? We don't want to be Bradford

1:13

pear trees , really

1:16

simple . We don't want to

1:18

look like something , but

1:20

internally we have no root system

1:22

, we have no strength

1:24

. We have no backbone . We have no backbone . We

1:26

have no foundation in God . We

1:29

want to be kingdom people that are strong

1:32

, that can hold weight , that

1:34

can . If a storm comes in out

1:36

of season , like the ice storm I was talking about

1:38

, it doesn't matter , we've got weight to support

1:40

whatever comes . So let

1:42

that just be an encouragement to you . Go deep , go

1:45

deep with God , have strength

1:47

, internal foundation in the spirit

1:50

, be kingdom people . Okay

1:53

, amen , let's eat .

1:57

He's like yes .

1:58

No message for today , all right , so we

2:00

are going to continue

2:05

in our discussion on being

2:08

a kingdom people , a

2:10

people that have the qualities

2:13

of the kingdom . Last week we

2:15

talked about family . This

2:17

week we're going to talk about love , and

2:21

Joshua is going to read

2:23

the two main passages

2:25

of Scripture that we're going to be

2:27

looking at today . The first one is

2:30

1 John 4.19

2:32

. You want to read that . For us , joshua , we

2:35

love because he first

2:37

loved us . That's 1 John 4.19

2:40

. And the second passage

2:42

is what Jesus says in

2:44

Mark 12 , verse 30

2:47

and 31 .

2:58

Very good . Thank you , Joshua

3:01

.

3:02

Very good . Thank you , joshua . So

3:05

Jesus is saying love the Lord

3:07

, your God , with a little

3:09

bit of whatever is left over at

3:11

the end of your week . Just give that

3:13

to him . No , that's not what Jesus

3:15

is saying . Love the Lord

3:18

, your God , with all , all

3:20

, everything , completely all . We'll

3:22

get to that in a second . So

3:25

we're going to talk about love today . We

3:33

want to be a kingdom people who are not just saved . Remember we've been talking about

3:35

how Mary was clinging to Jesus on

3:38

that resurrection Sunday outside

3:40

of the empty tomb , and Jesus said don't

3:42

cling to me , I have not yet

3:44

ascended . We

3:46

want to be a people who are clinging to the king

3:48

where he is . We

3:50

want to be a kingdom people . So

3:52

one of the qualities of kingdom people is that

3:55

we love . Kingdom

3:58

people are a people of agape

4:01

. There are people

4:03

of God-like love

4:06

. It's a love that transcends

4:08

emotion . It has nothing to do

4:10

with feeling . It has nothing

4:12

to do with romantic movies or what we

4:14

learned as dating teenagers . It

4:17

is agape love . It is God-like

4:19

love . It's a love that defies

4:22

reason and logic . It's

4:24

a love that defies reason and logic . And when passions fade

4:27

and lust moves on

4:29

to something else , love agape

4:31

remains . It's steadfast

4:34

, it's weighty

4:37

, it's eternal . It's

4:39

God love . The

4:44

world knows nothing of this love . It belongs to God and it belongs

4:46

nothing of this love . It belongs to God and it belongs to

4:48

God's people . Man , that

4:50

breeze feels so good . God's

4:56

love is a quality of his kingdom

4:58

. So if we're going to be kingdom people , if we're

5:00

going to be Jesus people , we've

5:02

got to carry this agape love people . We've got to carry this

5:04

agape love . So

5:07

I've got three points that I'm going

5:09

to make to you like a good preacher . I've got three points

5:11

. I've got no illustrations

5:13

. I don't think we'll see . No , I do

5:16

. Actually , I've

5:18

got three points and then I want to drill down into

5:20

something towards the end of the message

5:22

. So the first point that I want to make is

5:24

this Kingdom people reject

5:27

any idea about love

5:29

that is not seen in

5:31

the life of Jesus . Kingdom

5:35

people reject any

5:37

idea about love that we

5:39

don't see demonstrated

5:42

in Jesus . See demonstrated

5:47

in Jesus . Now , it's challenging to talk about something as

5:49

monumental as the love

5:51

of God , because there's

5:53

some kingdom qualities that you could

5:55

point to , like . If

5:57

we want to talk about humility , I feel like there's

5:59

some verses that we could point to and be like oh

6:02

, this adequately describes

6:04

humility , generosity oh , there's some verses that we could point to and be like oh , this

6:06

adequately describes humility . Generosity oh , there's some verses

6:08

that we can point to and be like oh , I understand

6:11

what the Bible is teaching us about generosity

6:13

. Based on these verses , love

6:16

is like this huge thing

6:18

. There's not like one

6:21

or two verses that we can point to and really

6:23

get a good understanding and

6:25

grasp of what kingdom

6:27

love is . The

6:29

bible actually uses at least

6:31

six different words to

6:34

describe love . We've

6:36

got one in english . We've

6:40

got one , so we've got muscle

6:42

memory of what the world teaches us is love

6:44

which is deficient and inferior . We've

6:47

got this monumental thing of

6:49

love , and then we've got limited language

6:51

ability to try to understand it . But

6:54

, good news , I'm going to get it all unpacked for you

6:56

in about 30 minutes and then we'll all

6:58

walk away just having a full revelation of God's

7:01

love for us . I'm glad you're here , edie . In

7:08

English , we have one word for love , and that one word is used

7:10

so much in our culture

7:12

that it's lost its meaning

7:15

, it's become diluted , it

7:18

has no weight , it's worn out , it's overused

7:20

. Love you , brother , love

7:23

you , love you , appreciate

7:25

you , love you . Now

7:28

the consequence is when we come across this

7:30

word in the Bible , we

7:33

read our experiences

7:35

into something that belongs to

7:37

God . This is very

7:39

important to the point that I'm trying to make . So

7:42

we come to God and we come

7:44

to his word with our experience

7:47

of this word love and

7:49

we filter who God is

7:52

and what his love is like through

7:54

our experiences , through

7:57

our limited and deluded

7:59

understanding of this word

8:01

love . Anyone

8:04

here think that's a good way to come to an understanding

8:06

of who God is ? Bring

8:08

all of my experiences and

8:10

look at God through the filter of that lens

8:13

. No , remember

8:15

kingdom people . We reject

8:17

any idea about love that

8:19

we don't see demonstrated in the life

8:22

of Jesus . So , for example , 1

8:25

John 4 , 8 says this

8:27

three words God

8:30

is love

8:32

. So

8:34

if we come to that statement and

8:37

we filter it through our experience

8:39

with love , not only

8:41

are we going to have a wrong idea about love , we're going to

8:43

have a wrong idea about God because

8:46

God is love

8:48

. What

8:50

if the person who taught you what love is was

8:53

manipulative and

8:55

controlling your parents

8:58

, a boyfriend , a girlfriend , a spouse , whatever

9:00

? Then

9:02

you're going to see in the Bible that God is

9:05

love and you're going to see him through

9:07

the lens of your experience and

9:09

the result is you approach God the

9:12

same way you did with the manipulator

9:14

If I

9:16

don't act the way that he wants me to , he's

9:18

going to be angry . It's

9:21

manipulation . Or

9:23

maybe your experience is different . What

9:28

if the person that you loved most in the world betrayed you and left

9:30

? And then you come to the Bible

9:33

and you see God is

9:35

love ? You'll think , well

9:37

, I don't know if I can trust this God

9:39

, because

9:41

I've experienced love and it

9:44

really messed me up . And now that you're telling me God experienced love and it really

9:46

messed me up , and now

9:48

that you're telling me God is love , this

9:51

is what happens when we read our

9:53

experience into who

9:55

God is . Now we

9:57

may not consciously think these things

10:00

, but

10:08

if we filter God's love through our experience , then we will have a God made in our own image , because

10:10

we project onto him what

10:13

has been done to us in

10:15

the name of love . This

10:20

is why we have to look to Jesus and

10:23

allow him to define what

10:25

love is . Not

10:27

Johnny , not Susie

10:29

, not mommy , not daddy

10:32

Jesus . Jesus

10:35

is the image of the invisible

10:37

God . Jesus is the fullness

10:40

of God revealed to us

10:42

. Jesus is perfectly qualified

10:44

to reveal something as monumental as love to us . Jesus is perfectly qualified to reveal something

10:46

as monumental as love to us . Not

10:49

a movie , not a romantic novel

10:51

, not even our relationships

10:54

that mean so much to us

10:56

and define us . It

10:59

cannot define love

11:01

. At

11:04

best , at best

11:06

it can be an expression of love

11:08

, but it cannot be the definition

11:11

of love . So point number one

11:13

kingdom people reject any idea

11:15

about love that is not

11:17

seen in the person of Jesus . Point

11:20

number two kingdom people

11:22

know that God is the source

11:24

of love . I

11:27

see this in 1 John 4 , 19 . John

11:30

writes this in 1 John 4 , 19 . We

11:32

love because he

11:34

first loved us

11:36

. God is

11:38

the source of love . He loves first

11:41

. Now , the

11:43

source of something is important because

11:45

where something comes from determines

11:47

the nature of it , the quality

11:50

of it , the character of it , the

11:52

purpose of it . Our brother here

11:54

hails from the great island of

11:57

Puerto Rico . That is the

11:59

source of our friend Paco

12:01

. It defines him , it shapes

12:04

him . His

12:06

preferences for food , the

12:09

color of his skin , everything about

12:12

him is sourced from

12:14

that place where he came from . Same

12:16

goes for you . The source where something

12:19

begins matters . I

12:22

was thinking about when bottled water first

12:25

became the rage . All these bottled

12:27

water companies were saying well , ours

12:29

is sourced from an

12:31

artisanal spring in the

12:33

rainforest of Peru or whatever

12:35

. Oh well , ours is sourced

12:37

from a 10 billion

12:39

year old glacier . It's

12:41

pure . Why are they doing that

12:43

? They were trying to convince us

12:46

that the source was without

12:48

mixture . It was pure and so you needed

12:50

to have this . Why ? Because of the source

12:52

that that water came from . Where

12:56

something comes from matters , and

12:59

our love comes from

13:01

God , comes from

13:03

God . True love , authentic love , kingdom

13:06

love is from God . Any

13:13

definition of love that does not begin with God is incomplete . If

13:16

I try to love you without

13:18

knowing that I'm loved

13:20

by God , I'm out of order . My

13:23

source is wrong . I'm trying

13:25

to love you from my own spring . I'm out of order . My source is wrong . I'm trying

13:27

to love you from my own spring . I'm out of order and

13:30

I'm going to give you something that's deluded , contaminated

13:33

and harmful . If

13:36

I try to love you without loving God first

13:38

, I'm also out of order . We'll get to that in

13:40

a minute . In

13:42

either of those two scenarios , the source of my

13:44

love is me . I'm

13:46

trying to love you in my own strength . My

13:50

love will be conditional because

13:53

it's sourced right here . I

13:56

may not be malicious

13:58

, but there will be

14:00

conditions because the source is

14:02

carnal , the source is fleshly , the source is broken , it's contaminated

14:04

. There's going to be conditions because the source is carnal , the source is fleshly

14:06

, the source is broken , it's contaminated . There's going to be conditions

14:08

and when those conditions are met , I'm

14:10

going to pour my love out . But when

14:13

the conditions are not met , what am I going to do ? I'm

14:15

going to withhold my love , not

14:18

purposely , not maliciously

14:20

, but because I have the wrong source

14:22

. So what happens ? Love

14:24

becomes weaponized . That's

14:27

not God , that's carnal

14:29

. We have to know that God

14:32

is the source of our love

14:34

. I can't love

14:36

you the way that God commands me to love you without

14:38

God . I can try

14:40

really hard , I can have the best intentions

14:43

, but I cannot love you the way

14:45

that God commands me to love you without

14:48

it being sourced in His

14:50

love . To

14:53

use the example that I used from last

14:55

week , we can't demand fruit from

14:58

a tree that we haven't yet

15:00

grown in our garden . I

15:03

can't demand the fruit of love in my life

15:05

if I haven't cultivated the

15:07

tree of God's love for me , like

15:10

I can't give you the fruit of love if I don't even have

15:12

the tree of his love growing

15:14

in my garden . The fruit

15:16

is me loving others . Well , that's

15:19

the fruit . Loving

15:22

you is the fruit , but

15:25

the root , the thing that undergirds

15:27

it and makes it possible , is

15:30

me understanding , first , that

15:32

I'm loved by God , who loves perfectly

15:34

, and

15:37

I respond to his love by

15:39

giving it back to him . I'm getting ahead of myself . Point

15:42

number one kingdom people reject

15:44

any idea about love that is not seen

15:46

in the person of Jesus . Point number two

15:49

kingdom people know that God

15:51

is the source of love . And

15:53

point number three kingdom

15:55

people know what to do with

15:57

love . Back

15:59

to the verse that Joshua

16:02

read , mark 12 . The verse

16:05

that Joshua read , mark

16:07

12 . Love the Lord , your God , with all your heart , with all

16:09

your soul , with all your mind

16:11

and with all your strength . The

16:14

second commandment is like it Love

16:17

your neighbor as yourself . So

16:21

1 John 4.19 tells us what the source

16:23

of love is God . God

16:26

is love . We love because

16:28

he first loves us . And then Mark

16:30

12 tells us what to do with that love

16:32

. What do we do with the love

16:34

? We give it back to Him . I

16:37

respond to the revelation

16:39

of His love for me by

16:42

giving it all back to Him All

16:44

of my heart , all

16:49

of my soul , all of my strength . What's

16:53

the second

16:55

thing that I do with the revelation of

16:57

his love ? Give

17:05

it to others . Only Very good , hallie . So good Hallie . So good Allie Five gold stars . This is really

17:07

important . Only only

17:10

after I give

17:12

God back what he gave

17:14

to me am I then qualified

17:17

to give someone else love

17:20

. He

17:22

gets it first , and only

17:24

then am I qualified

17:26

to love you . Now I'm in order

17:29

. This is why the world doesn't understand

17:31

agape . This is why the world doesn't

17:33

understand God-like love . It's

17:36

completely removing the source of

17:38

love altogether and just trying

17:40

to give out of broken cisterns

17:43

that they've hewn for themselves . Come

17:46

on , jeremiah , somebody

17:48

. Only after I give God back

17:51

what he first gave to me am I qualified

17:53

to give it to someone else . This applies

17:56

to everything , man . This applies to our

17:58

finances , this

18:01

applies to our love . This applies to so many areas of

18:03

our lives . So

18:05

those are my three points . Now

18:14

I want to dig down into something that

18:16

is pretty important in how we can love others . There

18:22

are things that some of us have experienced that seem to contradict the love that we see in Jesus , possibly

18:24

things that have happened to us or

18:27

things that we've done to others

18:29

. How could a

18:31

God who loves me allow

18:34

that to have happened to me ? Or

18:37

how could God love me

18:39

when I've done such things

18:41

? These become barriers

18:44

to love

18:46

flowing in our lives . Both

18:50

of these barriers to receiving

18:52

God's love are real , but

18:55

they are not true . What

18:58

do I mean by that ? I'm not just playing word games here . The

19:01

experience is real

19:03

. What happened

19:05

to you was real . What you did was

19:07

real . The thoughts that

19:09

come , the memories are

19:12

real . The emotions

19:14

and the feelings , the trauma all

19:16

of these things are real , but

19:19

it doesn't make them true

19:22

. I'll give you an example

19:24

. If someone tells you the

19:26

gas station is giving away free

19:28

gas , those words

19:30

are real . The people going

19:33

to the gas station to find free

19:35

gas are real . What they're doing

19:37

is a real experience . And

19:40

then the emotion of anger that

19:43

they feel when they find out they're not giving away

19:45

free gas it still costs an arm

19:47

and a leg . Those emotions are

19:49

real . They

19:52

were lied to . This is a real

19:54

situation . But just because

19:57

all of those things are real does

19:59

not mean what was said to you was

20:01

true . In the

20:03

same way , what happens

20:05

to us in the name of love is real

20:08

. What we may have done in

20:10

the name of love was real , but

20:12

those experiences do not have the power

20:15

to redefine God's love

20:17

for you . The

20:20

sin that you

20:22

committed was real , the sin

20:24

that was committed against you was real

20:27

, but sin does not

20:29

have the power to redefine God's love

20:31

. Traumatic experience

20:34

, yes . A need

20:36

for healing and deliverance

20:38

and growing , and all of those

20:40

things Absolutely Defining

20:43

God's love no

20:46

, this is the truth . God

20:48

loves you with the exact

20:50

same love that the father

20:52

has for the son . That's

20:56

John 17 , verse 23

20:58

. It's Bible . The

21:00

exact same love that the father

21:02

has for the son , he has

21:04

for you . And

21:07

as if that wasn't cool enough

21:10

, the very next verse , john 17

21:12

, 24 , says this God

21:15

loved you from before the foundation of

21:17

the world . That means

21:19

whatever awful things have happened to

21:21

you or at the hands of

21:23

you also happened to

21:25

Jesus . That's what

21:27

his love does . It takes on the

21:29

burdens and the shame

21:31

and the excruciating experience

21:34

of sin , and love enters

21:36

into that moment of pain with

21:39

the one that he loves . Whatever

21:42

you experienced , you did not experience

21:44

it alone . That's

21:46

a good point , neil . Whatever

21:51

you experienced , you did

21:53

not experience it in a vacuum

21:55

, alone , by yourself . Jesus

21:58

was there . That's what love

22:00

does . It enters into

22:02

the moment of pain and trauma with

22:05

the object of love . You

22:09

say well , you don't know the things that

22:11

I've done , man . This

22:15

is where that second verse comes into play , because

22:17

he loved you from before the foundation

22:20

of the world . He loved

22:22

you before you had a chance to

22:25

mess anything up . He

22:27

knew good and well what you were going to

22:29

do . He loved you even

22:33

before you had a chance to repent of

22:35

the things that were done . He

22:38

didn't start loving you when you prayed the sinner's prayer

22:40

and repented of your sin

22:42

. He loved

22:44

you before the foundation of the world

22:47

. Repentance does not cause him

22:49

to begin loving you . Repentance

22:52

listen to this . Repentance is

22:54

you actually coming into agreement

22:56

with what God has said about you all

22:58

along ? I love you . That's

23:01

what repentance is . I change

23:03

my mind and I reorient the

23:06

way that I'm thinking to

23:08

now be in alignment with what God

23:10

says about me . And then

23:13

I turn direction and I go the other way

23:15

. Repentance is a

23:17

holistic changing

23:19

of who we are Mind

23:22

, soul , body , strength , direction

23:24

of motion , all of it . We

23:26

see God for who

23:28

he is and we say man , I had no

23:30

idea you were like that . No

23:33

one ever showed me that , god . But

23:35

now I see . Now I see that you loved

23:37

me from before the foundation of the world . Forgive me for thinking anything different

23:39

about you . Now I see that you loved me from before the foundation of the

23:41

world . Forgive me for

23:44

thinking anything different about you . He

23:48

loved me before I sinned , knowing

23:51

that I was going to sin . What

23:54

, then , could separate me from the love of

23:56

God ? This

23:59

is what Paul says in Romans 8 . Just

24:02

listen to this . If you've heard this a lot

24:04

and it's lost its weight , hear it

24:06

for the first time . Romans 8 , beginning

24:08

in verse 31 . What then

24:11

shall we say to these

24:13

things ? He's incredible

24:16

things in our gospel . If

24:18

god for us , who can

24:20

be against us ? He

24:23

did not even spare his own son

24:25

, but delivered him over for

24:27

us all . Why ? Because

24:29

he loved us . How

24:32

will he not also freely

24:34

give us all things like

24:38

unending and undeserved love

24:40

? How will he not give us all

24:42

things ? What will separate

24:44

us from the love of Christ ? Will

24:47

tribulation , will

24:49

trouble , will persecution , will famine

24:51

, will nakedness or danger or sword

24:53

separate us from the love of Christ ? Rhetorical

24:57

question ? Of course not . And

24:59

all these things we overwhelmingly

25:01

conquer through Him who

25:04

loved us ? For

25:07

I'm convinced this is still Paul

25:09

talking , this is Bible . I'm

25:11

convinced that neither death

25:13

nor life , nor angels , nor principalities

25:16

, nor things present

25:18

, nor things that I've

25:20

done , nor

25:23

things that I'm going to do that's what he says nor things to come , nor

25:26

powers , nor height , nor depth

25:28

, nor any other created thing

25:30

will be able to separate

25:32

us from the love of God . Nothing

25:36

, except

25:39

for you changing

25:42

the definition of love , changing

25:44

the definition of who God is , turning

25:47

your back because you've been lied to Nothing

25:51

, nothing will separate you from the love

25:53

of God . These

25:56

are the things that kingdom people are

25:58

getting settled in our hearts

26:00

, and I know this doesn't happen in

26:03

one 30 minute

26:05

message , but we're

26:07

getting these things settled in our hearts

26:09

. We're at least having

26:12

the conversation with the Holy Spirit . Show

26:15

me areas in my life where I've gotten

26:17

it wrong about God and about

26:19

his love . It may take

26:21

a while , it's worth it

26:23

. Kingdom people are getting

26:25

these things settled in their hearts . God

26:28

loves me with an unconditional , undeserved

26:31

love . Our first response

26:33

to that truth is to then

26:36

turn to God and love him with

26:38

our whole heart . Love

26:40

him with our entire mind . That's repentance . Love him with our soul . Love him with our whole

26:42

heart . Love him with our entire mind . That's repentance . Love

26:44

him with our soul . Love him with our strength

26:46

. That's our first response . The

26:49

secondary response is

26:51

what ? Come

26:53

on , hallie , come on

26:56

yes , and

26:59

and it okay here's . Here's the uh

27:01

. Here's the thing I didn't realize until

27:04

way too late

27:06

in life . I felt like I had

27:08

to love people , but

27:11

what I didn't realize was kingdom

27:15

. People can't help but love people

27:17

because I realize how

27:19

much he has loved me . It's

27:22

the same thing with forgiveness I can't help but forgive

27:24

you Because I look at Him and

27:26

what he's forgiven of me . How

27:29

can I withhold forgiveness from you when

27:31

I've been poured out

27:33

lavishly forgiveness

27:35

on me ? Same thing with love . When

27:38

everything is in order and I see

27:40

the source of my love is God

27:42

, how much he loves me from

27:44

before the foundation of the world , before

27:48

I had a chance to jack anything up , how

27:50

can I not turn to you and

27:52

love you with the same love ? If

27:55

God loved me , knowing I didn't deserve that love

27:57

, how can I only give love to those who deserve

27:59

it ? No

28:05

, don't be I . I mean , I like feedback

28:07

. If

28:10

God loved me knowing

28:12

I didn't deserve that love , how

28:14

can I only give love to those who

28:16

deserve it , whatever that means

28:18

, as if we could qualify

28:21

you deserve it . You don't deserve it . If

28:24

God loved me when I was an , how

28:26

can I not also love my

28:29

enemies ? When

28:34

we would ask Muslims who had come

28:36

to faith in Jesus , what was

28:38

it that finally opened your eyes to

28:40

see that this really is

28:42

the message of God ? Nine

28:45

times out of 10 , it was the same thing , matthew

28:48

5.44 , love your enemies

28:50

that

28:52

you may be sons of your heavenly father

28:54

, who loves his enemies . We

28:57

heard it so many times . The former Muslims

29:00

would say only God would say

29:02

something like love your enemies . In

29:07

closing kingdom

29:10

, people are baptized in the love

29:13

of the Father . God's love is real

29:15

to them and because

29:17

they know that they are loved , their

29:20

love for one another is selfless

29:22

and pure . There's no mixture

29:24

. It's unconditional love . It's no mixture , it's unconditional

29:26

love . It's not a self-seeking

29:29

love . It's not an emotional love . It's

29:31

agape . It is God-like

29:33

love . This

29:36

doesn't mean that we allow people to run over

29:38

us and we don't have boundaries . Kingdom

29:41

people also have wisdom and recognize

29:43

who the foolish are and who the

29:45

wicked are . Have

29:51

wisdom and recognize who the foolish are and who the wicked are . But the motivating force

29:53

and kingdom people , the thing that

29:55

compels them , is god's love . So

29:58

paul says in second creedence 514 . The

30:00

love of christ compels

30:02

me , it , it consumes me , it

30:04

controls me , and

30:07

the life that I now live in the flesh , I

30:13

live for the one who loved me , galatians 2 20 . He

30:16

loves you . How

30:20

can you not give that love back

30:23

to him ? How

30:25

can you not give that love to to him ? How can you not give that love

30:28

to those around you ? We're

30:31

going to close with this prayer that Paul prays . I

30:34

read it before worship . This

30:37

is an apostolic , genuine

30:39

apostolic prayer in

30:41

our Bible . It's not the cheap

30:44

imitation stuff that we see in conferences

30:46

and our pep rallies . It's not the cheap imitation stuff that we see in conferences and our pep rallies . It's

30:48

genuine apostolic prayer . For

30:52

this reason , I bow my knees before

30:54

the Father , from whom every

30:56

family in heaven and on earth derives its name

30:58

, that he would grant you , according

31:01

to the riches of his glory , to be

31:03

strengthened with power through his spirit

31:05

In the inner self , so

31:07

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through

31:10

faith and that you , being rooted

31:12

and grounded in love , that

31:14

source language you're

31:17

rooted , you're grounded in love

31:19

you may be able to comprehend

31:21

, with all the saints , what

31:23

is the width and the length and the height and the

31:25

depth of that love , and

31:28

to know the love of Christ which

31:30

surpasses knowledge , that

31:34

you may be filled with the fullness of

31:36

God . I

31:38

pray that over you . I pray that

31:40

over me , that we would

31:42

know the love of God , that we would be rooted

31:44

and grounded in His love

31:47

and that would completely

31:49

confound the wisdom of

31:51

this world . They would

31:54

be shocked at that

31:56

demonstration of love in our lives

31:58

. I could keep

32:00

going , but I'm going to stop , to

32:04

stop

32:11

. Thank you , sweet girl

32:13

. Does

32:15

anyone have any questions , any

32:17

comments , any contributions , anything

32:20

you'd like to share ? Yeah

32:24

, so let me know if I'm not summarizing this

32:26

correctly . Francis was asking if

32:28

we are commanded to love others in

32:31

this way , abundantly , but yet we're

32:33

having a hard time doing it . Are we still

32:35

kingdom people ? Is that ? Well

32:37

, you said that it should come out easily . It should okay , because

32:39

it's like it's a great question . These

32:43

things should come out of us as

32:45

easily as water comes out of the tap

32:47

when we turn it on . Should

32:49

does

32:52

that always happen ? No , is

32:54

it easy ? Hardly

32:56

ever has been my experience . That's

33:01

the tension of this is who we're called

33:03

to be . This is

33:05

the kingdom . This is why we have to do be . This is

33:07

the kingdom . This is why we have to do things like pick up

33:09

our cross and walk like Jesus and

33:12

do hard things like love

33:14

people who just make it really challenging

33:16

. So if I conveyed

33:19

the perception that it was supposed to be easy

33:21

, I apologize . It

33:24

should not be some easy

33:26

thing . It shouldn't be presented

33:28

as some easy thing , because it's not

33:30

. Loving your enemies is hard

33:33

, whether they have a

33:35

sword to your throat or they've just stabbed you in

33:37

the back . If they're an enemy

33:39

it's hard , but

33:41

it doesn't change what kingdom

33:44

people do . Now let's

33:46

take it back from

33:48

that ledge of extremism , of enemy

33:50

, and let's just say somebody who has

33:52

hurt us , we're

33:57

broken , they're broken . We're

33:59

all in process . We're all

34:01

trying to get to the same destination . Grace

34:04

, grace for us , lord . Give us the grace to the same destination . Grace , grace for us

34:07

, lord . Give us the grace to love them well . Grace

34:09

for them , understanding they're broken . But

34:14

it doesn't make it easy , it's still hard . So

34:17

if that love isn't flowing freely like

34:20

we want it to , it's okay

34:22

. There's no condemnation for

34:24

those who are in Christ Romans 8.1 . But

34:27

let that just be an indication . Let

34:30

that be a warning light going off in your spirit

34:32

that says , hey , maybe you need to get a little

34:34

bit more rooted in God's love for you . Maybe

34:36

you need to be reminded what he saved you from

34:39

. Not that we're camped

34:41

out in our old man of sinfulness

34:43

not by any means . But

34:48

Paul acknowledged over and over I was the least of the ones who are

34:50

worthy of his love . There was still that consciousness

34:52

of I

34:54

should not be here right now but

34:56

God . So

34:59

if it is hard to love someone

35:01

, let that be an indication

35:03

of okay , I've got deeper places in God's

35:05

love that I can get to .

35:08

I think it's a little bit like when

35:11

you bump up next to someone that's difficult

35:13

to love . It's almost

35:15

like if you're an athlete

35:18

let's say you're a runner and

35:20

you run three miles a day and

35:22

then you go out one day and you try to run four

35:25

or five . Those extra one

35:27

or two miles are incredibly difficult

35:30

but once you do it enough

35:32

and you practice it enough , it's in you

35:35

to be able to do it easy

35:37

. It's like , uh , enduring

35:39

in love , like building that endurance

35:42

to love when there's tension

35:44

, difficulty , pressure , and

35:46

I think by doing that you you grow . Because

35:48

there's tension , difficulty , pressure , and I think by doing that you grow , because

35:50

there's always going to be difficult people to

35:52

love , but you have to

35:55

. In practicing it daily

35:57

, it increases your capacity , I

35:59

think , to be able to love . Well , that

36:02

is one thing . And then , two

36:05

, I had this encounter

36:07

with the Lord it wasn't too long ago where

36:10

I felt him saying I want you

36:12

to tell me that you love me . So

36:14

I was like okay , so I started

36:16

telling him that I loved him and he wouldn't

36:19

let me stop . It felt like he

36:21

was ringing out my

36:23

soul . I mean I couldn't

36:25

stop saying it . I went on for maybe 30 , 45

36:27

minutes I love you , I my soul . I mean I couldn't stop saying it . It went on for maybe 30

36:29

, 45 minutes I love you , I love you , I love you , I love you . And

36:32

when it was all over , I almost

36:35

felt exhausted and I

36:37

realized that this measure

36:39

of love that I have in me , it's

36:42

meant to be given to him and nobody

36:44

else . It's meant to be given to him and nobody else

36:47

. And once it's wrung out of me

36:49

at his feet , I can receive his

36:51

God love . And that's the kind of love

36:53

that I have to give everybody else . If I

36:55

continue to love people from mine

36:57

, it's

37:01

like hollow and shallow , which is what you were saying . But it's like we hang

37:03

on to it because we think there's lack , you

37:06

know . But it's like we hang on to it because we think there's lack , you know , and we

37:08

don't practice enough like emptying

37:10

ourselves out to him so that

37:12

we have nothing left in us . All

37:15

we can love with is his quality

37:17

, like I should love Neil

37:19

with his quality of love , not mine

37:22

, my kids .

37:24

I hope you understood . What she just said

37:26

is gold . I

37:28

just tried for 30 minutes to say what she said in like

37:30

45 seconds . Let

37:33

me see

37:35

if I can get the imagery right

37:38

so that everyone can understand this , because

37:40

that point is so good we

37:43

give him all of our love . That's

37:45

why it says love him with all of

37:48

your soul , mind , strength , all that stuff

37:50

. And then then

37:52

there's that question okay , well , what's left over

37:54

to give to other people ? That's the point

37:57

. There's nothing left of your

37:59

love to give those anyone else

38:01

. So what happens ? He pours

38:03

it back out on you . Now you

38:05

give you , now you give them

38:07

what he's giving to you . Does

38:10

that make sense ? He's the multiplier

38:12

. He's

38:15

the empty wine

38:17

jar filler . You

38:19

know what I mean ? There's nothing left

38:21

, jesus . They're out of wine

38:24

? Great , let me give you the good

38:26

stuff , stuff . That's what

38:28

you can give to the world now . We

38:31

give him everything that we

38:33

have . Jesus , I'm out of

38:35

wine . Great , now I can fill

38:37

you with the supernatural stuff . That's

38:40

what you need to give to the world that's

38:42

good .

38:42

I think it's that way , not just with our love

38:44

, but it's that when we were

38:46

singing the worship song earlier

38:49

about . It's

38:52

your breath in my lungs so I pour out

38:54

my praise Like our

38:56

breath , everything

38:58

in us . If it's devoted to him

39:01

, then we can be confident . If

39:03

it's poured out on him first , then

39:05

the words that we use to speak to other

39:07

people are going to be His . If we empty

39:09

ours out on Him , then

39:12

we get His to give to other

39:14

people and His is always there

39:16

.

39:17

That's why we make the statement I can't

39:19

love others the way that God commands

39:22

me to . Without God , it's impossible

39:24

. Edie , did you have something you want to share ?

39:26

I was just going to say that in

39:28

the Bible it said what good is

39:30

it to love someone ? That's easy to love

39:32

. The reward and the gift

39:34

is to love the most difficult

39:37

because they realize they

39:39

don't deserve it , they realize

39:42

they are desperate for it

39:44

and they're not capable of doing

39:46

it . So when we do it , because

39:48

we gave all the love to God , that's

39:51

the joy and the strength that

39:54

it's possible , not because

39:56

they deserve it . It's

39:59

the grace .

39:59

Yeah , so good . Again

40:02

, this is not something

40:04

we just oh okay , I get it . Great , let's move on

40:06

to the next thing . Again , we've got our own

40:09

issues , our own experiences

40:11

, our own trauma , our own broken hearts

40:13

, our own wrong ideas about love . And

40:16

we've got the kingdom . We've got

40:18

to navigate our way through . What is true , how

40:21

do we do this , god ? And it takes time , all

40:26

right .

40:26

God , it takes time . All right , I'm sorry , can

40:28

I add a like a brief little like testimony

40:31

, encouragement , on top of what I said about like

40:33

ringing my love ?

40:34

Absolutely .

40:35

Okay , because the exchange that happened

40:37

there and it's important from

40:41

that moment the Lord

40:44

gave me the

40:46

ability to love

40:48

and to release and to

40:51

forgive , like some

40:53

of the most difficult people , like

40:55

that moment changed everything for

40:57

me and I did nothing

40:59

Like prior to that . I'm trying

41:02

, trying , trying Like love , forgive

41:04

release , love forgive release . I'm like

41:06

I know all the right language but I

41:08

didn't have it in me Because

41:11

it's not supposed to be in me

41:13

. That measure of love

41:16

and forgiveness and release , that's

41:18

His Like . I needed God love

41:21

and God forgiveness . And it's like once

41:23

you tap into that stream

41:25

stream , you don't want to do it another way

41:27

.

41:27

You know every other way is inferior yeah

41:30

, yeah , I

41:32

love that we had so many voices spoken

41:35

today . I feel like we

41:37

had 75

41:39

of everyone here was contributing in some

41:41

way . It's beautiful , joshua . Thank you for reading

41:43

the scriptures , man . Yeah

41:45

, all right , let's

41:47

pray . Remember , don't rush in and jump in

41:49

line yet . Let the folks who brought meals

41:51

go ahead and get it set up and

41:54

then we'll go through the line together , all

41:57

right . Thank you , jesus . Thank

42:01

you , lord . Lord

42:06

, we are so grateful for

42:08

your love , lord

42:11

, a love that is . It's

42:13

not earned , it's not deserved

42:15

. It's from before

42:18

the foundation of creation

42:20

. Lord , you

42:22

created as an expression

42:24

of your love . Lord

42:28

, we are on this planet right now with Lord you created

42:30

as an expression of your love , lord

42:32

, we are on this planet right now with breath in our lungs and blood flowing through our veins

42:34

, as an expression of your love

42:36

. Lord

42:40

, give us the grace to comprehend

42:42

something as monumental

42:45

as God love , love

42:48

for us , love for those around us

42:50

. Holy Spirit , enlarge

42:53

our capacity to receive

42:55

the unending love

42:57

of God . Lord that

42:59

we would be bursting with

43:02

love , love

43:04

that we've received , love that

43:06

is beyond comprehension , and

43:09

we would give that love back to you , god

43:11

, that you would wring us out , like Lindsay

43:14

was saying Squeeze out

43:16

every drop of love that you've poured out

43:18

into us . We just want to give it back to you

43:20

and , lord , show us how

43:22

to love those around us . Lord

43:24

, give us the grace to love enemies . Give

43:27

us the grace to love family members

43:29

. Give us the grace to love

43:31

friends and co-workers

43:34

and rude

43:36

cashiers and

43:39

drivers from Los Angeles . Give

43:45

us the grace to love people around

43:48

us that are broken and

43:50

in process , just like we are . We

43:54

want to be like you . We want to be jesus people

43:56

. We want to be kingdom people , or

44:00

give us that grace . I thank

44:02

you for this time . Thank you for this food

44:04

that we're about to consume . I

44:06

thank you for everyone that contributed to this meal

44:09

. Lord , we love you

44:11

In the limited

44:13

understanding of that word . We

44:16

love you , jesus . We love you , we

44:18

adore you . Help

44:20

us to love you even more . It's

44:23

in your name that we pray . Amen

44:25

.