The Posture of Virtue PT2--Walking and living in the Posture of Love

What if everything you thought you knew about love was only scratching the surface?

What if love is not a feeling you fall into — but a posture you stand in?

In this episode of The Posture of the Believer Podcast, Pastor Lindsey Jones continues the Posture of Virtue series with Part 2 — Walking and Living in the Posture of Love.

You'll discover why love is not merely an emotion, but the very evidence that Christ lives within you. You'll learn the difference between believing IN Jesus and believing ON Jesus — and why that one preposition could be the reason your love feels stuck. You'll hear why true love must be vertical before it can ever become horizontal. And you'll be challenged with a question that may shift the way you walk for the rest of your life:

What counter is God asking YOU to come out from behind?

Through the story of the Good Samaritan, a powerful real-life testimony, and a fresh teaching on the oil and the wine, Pastor Lindsey unpacks how God graces your words to cover, to protect, and to convict — all through the posture of love.

Because love is more than just a four-letter word.

Love is an action word — and it requires demonstration.

Press play. Share it with someone who needs to hear it. And don't forget to download, subscribe, and leave a review so this word can reach the next person standing at their counter, waiting for someone to come out from behind it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:54

First John chapter number four. First John chapter number four. And when you have that, we'll be starting at verse 20 and conclude at 21. 1 John chapter number 4, verses 20 through 21. When you have it, give me a thumbs up in the chat or type it in the chat, say I have it. If you don't, say wait, and we'll wait a few seconds for you to get it. If you have it, give it a thumbs up. If you're ready, we give it a thumbs up. I want everyone to start reading along with me because too many times people go to church without Bibles, and they just rely on a pastor or the preacher to read scripture. I want us to get in the habit of reading scripture for ourselves. I want us to get in the habit of reading the Word of God for ourselves. 1 John chapter number 4 verses 20 and 21. You should have it by now. You should have it by now. And it reads as thus if a man say, I love God, and have hate or hated his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? Verse twenty one and this commandment have we from him that he who love God love his brother also. Put your Bibles down, grab the hand of the person that is in the room with you, hold it tight. We don't want no one to be out or miss out on this time of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you. Thank you for this moment that you allowed us to set aside to hear from you. Now, God, before we do anything, before we begin to minister your word, before I begin to minister your word, I ask that you forgive us and forgive me. Forgive me, God, for anything I said, did, thought about, acted on, that was not like you. I ask that you take it away from me. Put it away and cast it in the sea and forget it, remember it no more. For God, I don't want anything to stop you from using me today to deliver this message of love to your people. I ask God that you unclog their ears, God. Open up their hearts and their minds, that they may receive what you are about to say into their lives on today. Now, God, I ask that you hide me behind the cross. Don't let them hear me or see, but let them hear and see you. I yield my body, my mind, my spirit. Everything about me belongs to you, God. Use me for your glory. And God, as I studied all week long, everything that is not put on paper, God, bring it back to my remedy so I can feed your people. I ask this in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen and amen. As we continue in the posture of virtue, I want to turn our attention to the fruit of the spirit called love. And I want to leave this thought with you. Walking and living in the posture of love. Turn to your neighbor and tell them or write it in the chat. I'm walking and I'm living in a posture of love. Just stay with me for a few moments. Have you ever heard the saying, action speaks louder than words? What does that really mean? It means words can be hollow, words can be empty. You can say something just because it's a popular thing to say. But action, action speaks louder than words where words are never heard. Ladies and gentlemen, as believers, we don't have to shout, I love you. We don't have to announce that Jesus loves you. All we gotta do is live, is let our actions demonstrate love. Because here is what I want you to hear. Love is not merely an emotion, it is the evidence that Christ lives within us. When you abide in Christ, and Christ abides in you, you will produce a fruit of the spirit called love. Love is not just a four-letter word we throw around. Love is a posture that the believer must walk every day of their life. Love must be a part of the believer's dress code. Never leave home without it. Here, as we look at our text in 1 John 4, 20 and 21, we are faced with a reality today. We think that love is horizontal, which is partly true. But to make it complete, true love has to be vertical before it is horizontal. John draws us into this vortex of a question that we must wrestle with. How can you claim to love God whom you never laid eyes on? How can you claim to love God and pray to Him, but never demonstrate love to another living soul? You can't claim to love God and walk around with self or walk around with hatred because of someone's skin color. You can't claim to love God and support bigotry and racism. Ah, let's say that again, because someone needs to hear that. You cannot claim to love God, whom you never seen, while hate your brother who you see every day. And now let's not get it twisted, ladies and gentlemen. God loves everyone, but he does not love every decision that we make. And that does not take away his love from us. It does not take away the love that we have for him, but it should draw us closer to him. Let me give you an example. Would you stop loving your child because they made a bad choice? Of course not. God loves us so much. He told us so in John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Here is what I want you to know. This verse demonstrates God's love for us. He gives us a promise. And what is that promise? Everlasting life. But notice what John 3:16 also says. Whoever believes in him, ah, not on him, but in him, ah, there is a difference. See, you can believe on Jesus and still have a heart of stone. But when you believe in Jesus, when you believe in his name, when you believe in his indwelling power, you you live in him and he abides in you, and you and him, this is what takes root in your life, and that has to be love. We have to believe that the Son or that God gave his son for us and gave him up to die for us. Because when you believe in Jesus, you become regenerated by his love. But when you believe on him, that love sits on the surface. It never takes root, it never changes your heart. Ah, see, because once God's love takes root in your heart, once God's love gets settled in the depths of your heart, once God's love gets rooted and planted in your heart, he changes your heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. He gives you a new heartbeat. He gives you a new pulse. He gives you the heart that produces love instead of hate. Therefore, love is the evidence of God's presence in a believer's life. True love does not show up when things are good and going well. True love does not show up when you got things totally under your control or under control. True love shows up in the spaces and places that are the most difficult. Places where you cannot see the silver lining in the sky, where the diagnosis is not good, when all hope is lost, when you have given up, when you have lost your way. So when those around you come to pick from your tree, they can come and pick a fruit of love and taste God's goodness for themselves. Ah, David said it this way in Psalm 34 and 8. Oh, taste! Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Ah, uh see, you gotta taste God. What do I mean by taste? It means you have to be active with God. You gotta taste his goodness. When things are not going well, God is still good. When things are not going great, God is still good. And when you taste that he's good, you start to see that he's good as well. So when he says, taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusts in him. See, when you begin to taste and see that the Lord is good, and you begin to trust him, the Bible says you'll be blessed by it. I don't know about you, but God sure, surely has been good to me. And when he's been good to me, blessings follow. I don't know about you, but there's some points in my life where I've been down and out, and I've been looking, and God said, Look, I'm good to you. And when I look to see how good God has been, I start to walk towards his goodness. And every step that I take, I'm tasting how sweet he is. And when I begin to get to where he wants me to be, I'm blessed. I don't know about you, but God has been good to me. And I'm so glad that I can taste and see that the Lord has been good. Because every time I get into a place, every time I get into a season when stuff is difficult and times are hard, and I've come to realize that even though it's hard, even though it's rough, even though it's difficult, God has been good. And when I begin to look at how good he's been, and I begin to walk towards his goodness, I begin to walk towards his mercy, I begin to walk towards his grace, I get blessed. Look at your neighbor and tell them when you get down and out, when you look at the situation and it doesn't seem to be in your favor, oh, taste and see that God is good. All you gotta do is start walking towards his goodness. All you gotta do is take a step towards that fruit. All you gotta do is take a taste of what God has been doing in your life, and you'll wind up being blessed. Ah, tell your neighbor, the blessings in the move. The blessings in the move. The psalmist invites us to taste and see that the Lord is good. A call that moves us beyond our intellect ascent into live experiences. David recognizes that people that encounter God most of the time, authentically through Him, through firsthand engagement through us. What are you saying, preacher? I'm saying this. Sometimes, most of the time, you are the only person that they will see God in. Ah, what do you mean by that, preacher? I mean by this. There'll be times in your life that you will walk up or be on the street doing what you're doing, and you'll meet someone that does not know Christ. And because they're talking to you, they have encountered God through you. So we have to be walking in this posture of love because we never know who God is going to place in our front of us. We never know who God is going to say, This is your opportunity to spread my love. You never know when God is going to put someone in for you before you that don't believe in him. And because you have come in contact with them, you have the experience now to show them God's love. So it's imperative that we stand in this posture of love. Why? Because when that person comes to meet you, God has orchestrated it. God has moved it. God has made the situation conducive for you to be a witness of his love and his goodness. I, for those of you who don't know, I am a manager. I encounter hundreds of people gambling. And some of my customers I come to know on a first name basis and share or they share with me some personal information. Because I see them every day, because they feel comfortable talking to me. And I don't take that for granted. Because they don't see me, they see God that's in me. I had a customer who I have not seen in a little while. She came back into the store and I asked her, Where have you been? I have not seen you in a while. Her ear, her eyes began to water. And she told me she had been diagnosed with cancer. She said the doctors told her to get her affairs in order. She did not know how to deal with it. She was mentally exhausted, physically drawn away, and she was breaking down right in front of me and in the middle of my store. Tears running down her face. I looked at her and told her, Don't give up. Hold on. God still loves you. At that moment, in the middle of my store, in the middle of my work day, I heard the Spirit of the Lord as clear as day saying, give her a hug. Ladies and gentlemen, this was happening while I still had customers in the store. But I obeyed God. I came from behind the counter. I gave her a hug. And when I gave her a hug, I felt a weight lift off of her. I told her God still loves you. And so do I. I said, now don't you dare give up. Don't you dare give in. God has the final answer. And it was here at that moment, I want you to notice. When I finally looked up, I had three to four customers waiting in line for my service. They were waiting to be checked out. But not one of them got angry. Not one of them was impatient. Because when God is moving, even the room knows to be still. When God is moving, even non-believers have to recognize God is in the room. Ah, when God is moving, he will make the conditions of the room conform to him. When God is moving, and you do what God wants you to do, there's no devil in hell that can stop God from moving in the midst. A few days later, she came back in the store and she said, My son, who never picked up a Bible in his life, started reading the Bible. My eyes started tearing up because God was doing something in that family's life. Ladies and gentlemen, I did not share that to boast. I shared it because you never know when someone is going to need to hear you say, God loves them, and so do you. Love has to be unconditional. Our text points us right back to this. He who loves God must love his brother also. Love is more than just a four-letter word. Love is an action word that requires demonstration. God himself showed us what love looks like. And when we are walking like him, as we should, the believer's life should reflect the kind of love that God has shown us. That God has shown us. Jesus gives us a beautiful and meaningful example of what love looks like at every level. In Luke chapter number ten, the chapter opens up telling the people that the harvest is great, but the laborers are few. He gives us instructions on how to minister to people who do not know him. He informs them that some will receive them and some will not. You they are actually receiving him. When Jesus finished speaking, a lawyer of that day asked him two important questions that are still relevant today. The first question is, how can one gain eternal life? And Jesus answered that question with this with a question. What is written in the law? Which law are you reading from? Jesus was bad, y'all. The lawyer answered and said, You shall love your God, or you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus simply replied, You are right, do that and live. Now the lawyer trying to be smart, because he knew the law asked, Who is my neighbor? Why do you keep asking Jesus questions? Why do you keep asking Jesus all trick questions? Because every time that Jesus was asking trick question, he gave them an answer they didn't know how to deal with. And instead of Jesus giving him a theological answer, which he could have, which would have caused a debate, Jesus started telling him a story. Sometimes you don't have to debate with those who think they know because of their status. God doesn't care about your status. He cares whether you are standing and walking in the right posture of love. A certain man, the story goes like this. A certain man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. He was robbed. He was beaten. He was stripped of his clothes and left for dead on the side of the road. Now here comes a priest down the same road. When the priest saw the man on the side of the road, he crossed to the other side and keeps walking. How many times have we as believers passed someone who needs our help? And we pass them because we think we're better than them. We don't offer assistance, not a kind word, nothing. Acting like they are not in need. Ladies and gentlemen, people are in need of spiritual help on a daily basis. We see them, we see the signs, and yet we say and do nothing. Here, as we continue with the story, here comes a Levite. And the Levite looks at the man and passes by, just as the priests passed by. It is at this point that the man's hope had to be at an all-time low. I can only imagine what he was going through. Not only physical pain, but mental anguish. And his emotions had to be all over the place. Nobody cares. Nobody cares that I'm laying here at the point of death. I can't get anyone to see me or to come help me. This is the cry of so many people in today's society. They don't know who to turn to, they don't know how they're going to make it. They're clinging to life and clinging and holding on by a thread. And this is why I love Jesus so much. Because when you are at your lowest, when everyone has passed you by, when everyone has written you off, when they're given you up for dead, Jesus will send someone your way. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, have God ever sent you by somebody who has been down and out? Has God has led you down a path where everybody passes by this one person. But for some reason you happen to pass that person by. And on today, God is saying, say something, do something, show my love. People already passed this person by. People already gave this person up for dead. But I placed it in your spirit. I placed it in your heart. Stop by and give that person my love. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are a believer, you have to obey God and stop and do what God told you to do. Stop walking by like you don't know. Stop walking by like God said nothing to you. We have to start obeying, obeying God and do what God wants us to do, that there's a dying world that they will only see Jesus through you. Here comes the Samaritan man down the road. He saw the wounded man and had compassion on him. The Samaritan man took his time to minister to him by bandaging his wounds. The Samaritan man also took oil and wine and poured it on him. The Samaritan man also put him on his animal's back and took him to the inn and cared for him. What I don't want you to miss is this. The Samaritan men used oil and wine. This combination was reflective of what was used back in the temple. Oyu was used to soothe and protect the womb. While wine was used for cleansing, it was used for clearing out all of the dirt, the bacteria, and antiseptic properties. So when he poured the wine on the womb, he then poured the oyu over that. Because the wine hurts going in, but oyu soothes it over. Ah in other words, when you encounter someone, God will give you grace, your words to cover them and protect them. But God will then give you or use the same words to nudge them, to remind them that they are still here because of his love. That they are still here because he sent you that way. That they are still there because he loved them so much that he put in your spirit to go. In other words, he will use you not only to cover them but also to convict them. And to remind them to tell them that Jesus loves them. And when you tell them that Jesus loves them, don't forget to mention that you love them too. Ah, see, God will not only pour stuff in you to hurt you, and not really to hurt you, but to get all of that infection out of you, to get that sin out of your life, to get all of that muck out of your life, to turn you into or heal your wounds, and then he'll cover it up with all you to smoothen you out, to put a pre a layer of protection over you. See, the oil was used as a protective layer that no disease, no metalist, nothing that was out, that came out of it will try, even though stuff that came out of the womb will try to get back in it. But the oil you will let it know you can't come back here no more. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, when God brings you out of your sin, God is pouring walk wine in your sin to get it out of your life. Then God will take the oil and pour oil over you. The oil will protect it from you returning or the sin trying to get back in your life. So don't despise when you're going through. Don't get mad when you're going through. God is trying to get that sin out of your life. And when God gets that sin out of your life, he will then turn around and pour oil on you. And the oil will protect you, the oil will lead you, the oil will guide you back into his presence. So don't get it twisted. God still loves you, God still wants you, and God will deal with you to get you back in place. So you can stand in that posture of love. So you now are healed by what he did. You can go and heal somebody else. Or look at your neighbor and say, God, use me to heal somebody else. Ah, I want you to notice this. Ministering to someone does not always entail preaching to them. You can minister to someone without saying a word. All you gotta do is show God's love. The next, the Bible says the next day the Samarian man was leaving. He paid the innkeeper for the stay, and he charged the innkeeper to take care of the man, promising he will pay whatever he owes when a man traveled back that way. Notice something here. It is the next morning when a Sumerian man leaves. Sometimes, who ministering to others just means listening to their story. It does not mean, and if that means you are inconvenienced for a little while, so be it. This is not about you, this is about God's love shining through you. And so that means sometimes just sit there and let them tell you their life story. Because all they want is someone to listen to them. And after you hear their life story, God will tell you how to minister to them. But you gotta first listen. You gotta first hear their heart. And you can't hear their heart if you're trying to preach to them. Ah, God, I pray that you give us an ear to hear. Give us an ear to hear what somebody is saying. Not just listen, God, but to hear where their spirit is calling from. Because when they're talking to you, their spirit is talking. And if you allow you, if you allow your spirit to touch onto their spirit, God will tell you what to sing, God will tell you how to say it so they can be delivered from where they're at. And they'll be delivered by God's love. After this, Jesus looked at the lawyer and asked the question Which one of these three do you think was the neighbor to him? The lawyer answered, the one who showed mercy, the one that showed love. So Jesus charged him and said, Go and do likewise. Jesus has given us the perfect example of what the posture of love should look like in the life of the believer and for those that follow after him. As I bring this message to a close, I want to bring you back to the day at my store. I had to come from behind the counter. I had to step past my title as manager. I had to risk the customers in line being angry and upset. But I had to obey the voice of God. So tonight or today, I want to ask you that one question. What counter is God calling you or asking you to come from behind today? Is it your title? Because titles will come and go. The only title I want is a child of God. Is it your safe distance? I understand. You worry about what people will say. But what is more important, what people say or what God says. Because if you because if God is telling you to speak, He has already prepared the person to receive from you. And the atmosphere itself will have to respond to God's presence. What you thought might have been a distraction was actually a divine appointment. Don't miss it. See, the enemy does not want you to engage. When you hear, when you obey the voice of God and leave the results to him. Because many of us are trying to figure it out when God has already worked it out. I want to leave you with this final thought. Paul, the Apostle Paul, paints this picture about love in First Corinthians chapter number 13. Listen to what Paul says. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not boast. Love is not proud. Love is not rude. Love does not seek its own. Love is not easily provoked. Love thinks no evil. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing. But love rejoices in truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endure all things. Then Paul names the virtues that remain faith, hope, and love. He says, but the greatest of these is love. Why does he say that? Because faith and hope serve their purpose. But love, love alone reflects the very nature of God. Love alone is who God is. And if you love him, and if God loves you, his love must live through you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I want to say thank you. Thank you for this opportunity we had to seek your face today. God, I pray that this message of love will take root in the heart of your people. That this message, God, will grab a hold of their heart and begin to flourish. Do it right now in the name of Jesus. Move in their life right now, God. Thank you for doing it, God. And God, this week, I ask that you position someone so that we can extend and show your love to them. Do it right now, Father. Set it in the atmosphere so we can spread your love. So that you can change someone from the inside out. We thank you for doing it, God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. I pray that this message was a blessing to you as it was to me as we are in this posture series. I want to share one more thing with you before we go. I want to share this with you. It's time to give. So those of you who are watching from our YouTube and Facebook page, if you want to be a blessing, this is how you can be a blessing to us to help us spread the gospel on the screen. Now should be ways you can give. You want to text the word give to 855-574-8462. We also have Impact Outreach. It's an outreach ministry that the church does have. And we are asking that you be an active participant in that. Where we have helped people out that don't know him. We have been a blessing to those that are outside the ministry to help them in need. And we're just showing God's love when we do that. And it's under the direction of our First Lady Rhonda Jones. So if you want to be a blessing to that, I do encourage that you do do so. You want to text the word give to 844-499-0078. All proceeds from Impact Outreach goes directly to Impact Outreach. It is not used for anything else, but for outreach. If you're about to sow electronically, thank you. I want to pray over your offering, and it will be dismissed. Heavenly Father, I want to thank you. Thank you for this time that we had to give back to you just a portion of what you've given back to us. God, I ask that you bless the offerings and bless those that give. God, even bless those that did not have to give, but the mind to give and the willingness to give that they might be able to give on next time. We thank you for the work that you're doing in the ministry, God. God give us strategies and ideas on how to expand this part of the ministry to help others. We thank you for your guidance and how you're going to move. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. I want to thank you for your faithfulness and your giving. God loves a cheerful giver. God loves a cheerful giver. I want to say thank you. I want to say I will see everyone on next Sunday at 9:45 with prayer. And we start service right at 10 o'clock. I want you to do me a favor. I want you to invite someone to come out to service with you on next week. Invite them, give them the link, give them the flyer, text them the flyer, and say, hey, we are on for service, come join us. Because this is how we extend God's love to a dying world. I want to say thank you for joining us. Thank you for being a part. And I'll see each and every one of you on next Sunday. God bless. Thank you. And enjoy the rest of your day.