WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:00.479 Amen. 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.040 If you got your Bibles, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.039 As we continue, a marriage made in heaven. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:14.400 And again, God could have used any portrait if you weren't here last week. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:19.600 He could have used any portrait to be the picture of his love to this world. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:21.600 And he used the idea of marriage. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:29.679 He used the idea of a bride and a groom, and us as his body, being his bride, and him becoming bridegroom. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:36.799 And so, but we were challenged to look in 1 Corinthians, a part of the body that was kind of a mess. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.119 A church that was in division. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:45.439 And if you look back chapter by chapter through 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, there's division on who to follow. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:47.520 He said, Some said, Do I follow Paul? 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:48.640 Some Apollos. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:53.600 In chapter 6, as you continue on, in chapter 6, they're taking each other to court. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:56.560 Talk about a body of fellowship of believers. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:00.640 In chapter 8, they're insisting on their own way with one another. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:07.439 In chapter 11, as you go even further, they're asking, dressing, and even praying in a rude manner. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:13.519 In chapter 12, which we looked at last week, there's a competition over the spiritual gifts. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.560 And they're being impatient and unkind. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:23.120 And so then we get to chapter 13, which, if you got your pens this morning, I need you to get them out right this time. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:26.799 I'm going to say something that you're going to want to remember. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:28.640 I'm going to say something very profound. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:32.719 Chapter 13 is stuck between 12 and 14. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:35.680 It is. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:45.439 Chapter 12 and 14 is filled with deep reasoning and patterns, and it's sequential the way that Paul is answering in this letter. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:55.599 And then all of a sudden, boom, right there in the middle of these two, it's like comma 12, then 14, there's 13, a poetic, almost hymn-like writing. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:57.680 Umused in weddings. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:02.400 It's a beautiful written address. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:07.599 But what it really is, we've come to know it as in Christianity, as the love chapter of the Bible. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:16.159 But what it really is is a love rebuke to the Christians that are so divided in this church. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:17.199 It's a rebuke. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:23.360 And so as I was thinking of that, um, just to jump in this morning, uh, it's Thanksgiving time. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:28.719 And how many of you have Thanksgiving time, you've got some dishes that you just, there's that one thing, right? 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:33.599 You've got that one dish you've got to have, that casserole, or there's something that you love. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.680 Well, I love something that Heather makes called sweet potato crunch. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:45.520 Okay, I love sweet potato crunch, and uh, she's been making it for years, and I can't wait to get that dish and get a big old scoop. 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:55.439 Well, one year we went over to someone's home and I looked up, and to my surprise, there was sweet potato crunch, and I was excited, and I thought, this is gonna be better than I thought it was, baby. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:59.280 And so I got me a big old pile of it, and I thought, mmm, I can't wait. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.840 And I got a big old scoop and I dug in. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:04.719 And as I did, it didn't hit me right. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:06.080 Y'all ever been there? 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:13.919 Dig into something you're like that looked like what I thought it was gonna be, but that don't taste like what I thought it was gonna taste like. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:20.719 And so, and so I looked over at Heather, and about the same time she had about the same look on her face. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:26.879 And I kind of like whispered to Heather, I said, uh, baby, what's this missing? 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:31.520 And she's like, I think it might be missing the sugar. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:39.199 And I thought, it's missing the it's missing the sweet and the sweet potato crunch? 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:40.960 Like, that's a key ingredient. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:42.159 You have to have that. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:44.159 And it might have been missing butter, too. 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:50.080 Listen, it was okay, it was edible, in fact. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:52.159 It wasn't great. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:53.919 I ate it. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:57.520 I want you to understand something about 1 Corinthians 13. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:03:58.879 This is what he's saying. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:01.199 The gifts are okay. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:05.599 But without love, they're missing the main ingredient, church. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:06.479 That's good. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:07.039 That's good. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.919 And so that'll take us to number one today. 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:14.240 Gifts are substantial, but love is supreme. 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:17.759 Gifts are substantial, love is supreme. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.560 Look at 1 Corinthians 13, verses 1 through 3. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:28.800 It says this I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:38.160 And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I'm nothing. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:47.040 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:48.480 Here's what I want you to get. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:52.879 He says two words in this, in these three verses that I wanted you to hear. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:55.199 He says, Noise, and he says nothing. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:00.240 Letter A under this is this love is fruitful, or gifts are futile. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:02.800 The gifts are not useless. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:08.160 I don't want you to hear that, that in chapter 12, all the debating that the gifts are not necessary or use. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:15.040 The gifts we we determined last week, the gifts are a conduit of the Holy Spirit of God from us. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:17.680 They're a manifestation of Jesus. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.800 Your gift, remember, was an engagement present. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:23.600 He said, I'm here and I've given myself to you. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:27.839 Now I've left a marker on you that the world can see me. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:29.920 And so the gifts are important. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:37.920 But the climatic point, the takeaway in the plot term is this your gift is substantial, but it is nullified. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:40.560 It's void, it's empty, he said. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:47.600 Your gift is broke, it's bankrupt, it's pointless, it's ineffective and fruitless without love. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:54.319 You can do the greatest thing that you think there is, and without love, it's nothing. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:59.519 You see, the the church at Corinth thought that they were super saints because they had gifts. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:03.839 Gifts are not a mark of spiritual maturity. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:06.480 The mark of a spiritual person is not gifts. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:08.639 A baby Christian gets a gift. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:13.920 When we come to Christ, we get a gift, it's not a marker of spiritual maturity. 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:16.480 I want to read to you Luke chapter 7. 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:18.319 Real quick. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:19.839 Luke 7, 36. 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:21.680 There's this little passage here. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:23.920 And this is what it says. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:29.839 Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:30.879 Verse 39. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:42.480 Now, when the Pharisees who had invited this man saw, he spoke to himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:46.000 Now look at what Jesus says to the woman or says about it. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:49.040 Then he turned to the woman and said, Simon, Do you see this woman? 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:50.480 I entered your house. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:57.680 You gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:03.759 You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:09.199 You didn't even anoint my head with oil, as was common when somebody walked into a home. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:12.560 But this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:13.040 Why? 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:13.920 Verse 47. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:18.079 Therefore I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven, and this is why she did this. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:20.160 For she loved much. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:23.920 But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:29.040 He says, It's because she loved so much, she just had to serve. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:34.240 Her gift was an outflow of the heart that she had and she loved. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:39.120 And in 1 Corinthians 13, he said, look at verse 1 again. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:47.439 Though I speak with tongues of angels, but have not love, I'm become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:49.680 Loveless gifts are noise. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:55.680 You can sing for Jesus, but it's just noise. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:00.560 You can be in kids' ministry and serve, but without love, it's noise. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:05.439 You can cook in the kitchen week after week, but without love, it's just noise. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:09.680 You can give your money, but without love, it's just noise. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:16.000 Your job, you can work at it and grind away at it and plan to do something for God, but without love, it's just noise. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:17.040 Getting annoying. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:22.000 Husband, you can fulfill all the materials and go on great vacations. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:24.160 Without what love, it's just noise. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:34.320 Wives, you can cook, clean, exhaust yourself, trying to keep up with the Joneses is imperfect in the American dream, but without love, it's just noise. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:36.000 Alright, Ben, you can stop. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:38.399 Say this. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:40.080 I'm not noise. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:43.360 I'm not just noise. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:44.480 Thank you, Ben. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:52.240 Listen, has anybody ever been in school and you heard that squealing chalk sound on the chalkboard? 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:54.960 You know how that results. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:55.919 I found this this week. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.559 It says it results from, listen now, incorrectly held chalk. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:10.320 It says this when incorrectly held chalk sticks on a chalkboard, the rider bends the chalk enough, and it suddenly has a slip. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:15.360 And when that slip happens, it vibrates and produces the noise that we hate. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:23.759 Then it says vibrations decrease and friction between the chalk and board increase the chalk and it sticks again and emits that torture again. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:25.919 You might have missed that, and this is what I want you to hear. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:34.399 Church, it said an improperly held thing, an improperly held gift, an improperly used tool causes friction. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:36.960 Y'all hear me? 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:39.600 Something that's a tool causes friction. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:40.080 Why? 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:42.960 It says that friction then causes what? 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:44.559 An irritable noise. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:48.879 Loveless gifts, God says, are a clanging symbol. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:50.960 It's irritable noise, right? 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:53.600 Most of you just got pretty annoyed. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:10:00.000 And properly used gifts was what he's trying to drive home to the church at Corinth. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:03.360 It's not about these gifts, it's about the love that produces them. 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:06.559 He said, otherwise it's noise and nothing. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:10.000 The second thing he says is loveless gifts are nothing. 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:12.080 Look at what it says in love. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:13.840 It says, nothing. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:15.840 Love is greater than preaching. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:17.919 He says, it doesn't matter. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:19.600 You may have the gift to speak. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:21.600 He says, love is greater than preaching. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:22.639 You may have knowledge. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:24.720 It says love is greater than knowledge. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:26.159 You may have faith. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.559 You know, it requires faith to have salvation. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:29.840 He says, without faith. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.559 But he says, love is greater than faith. 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.360 You may give of all that you have. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:37.360 He says, love is greater than giving. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:42.720 He says to the point that you will be, you could be burned as a martyr for your faith. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.919 And he says, without love, that's nothing. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:48.240 Listen, church, nothing. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:56.879 He literally says in Matthew 5, 22, I want you to see this about why it's important to understand these love principles. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:01.120 Matthew 5, uh, 22 through 24, look at what he says about our gifts. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:06.799 He says, I say to you, whoever's angry with his brother, the body, without cause, shall be in danger of judgment. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:13.840 Whoever says to his brother Roger shall be in danger of the counsel, but whoever says you fool shall be in danger of hell fire. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:15.120 Therefore, listen to this. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:28.720 If you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave that gift there before the altar and go your way, first being reconciled with your brother, and then come offer your gift. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:31.360 He says, You gotta leave that gift. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:32.720 He literally says, Leave your gift. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:35.039 You can go fix that problem first. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:36.480 He says, then you can love. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:38.960 Before you teach, you better love. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:40.799 Before you worship, you better love. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:43.120 Before you cook meals, you better love. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:44.799 Before you serve, you better love. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:47.759 Because if you don't, it's nothing. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:49.519 You're wasting your time. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:50.799 You're wasting my time. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:52.639 You're wasting the time of the body. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:54.000 He says it's nothing. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:56.000 You're throwing life away. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:02.159 If you don't love, it'd be better to quit than to do it without love. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:05.039 That's why we have to understand letter B. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:09.519 Letter B is this: love is demanded for gifts to make a difference. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:11.279 Love is demanded. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:16.480 And while while we're getting there, I want you to turn over to John chapter 13 so you can see something. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:17.919 Love is demanded. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:23.919 Love in John 13 is a discipleship command. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:26.240 It's not a feeling. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:31.120 Love is not a feeling, it's not an emotion, it's not a place that you fall. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:41.840 John 13, verse 34 says this A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, so also love one another. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:43.039 He said a commandment. 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:44.399 It's commandable. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:50.799 And so therefore, if something is commandable, then you can decide to do it or not decide to do it. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:54.240 Because it's a decision, it's not a feeling. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:58.960 Biblical love, listen, this is the definition that I've come to with biblical love. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:04.159 It is a decision to compassionately seek the well-being of another. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:05.600 It's a command. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:08.240 He says this, it's a new command that I give unto you. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.720 And therefore you can obey it or not. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:12.000 It's not a feeling. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:16.720 And that's why some people say, well, you know, you know, I'm not really feeling like doing that. 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:18.559 I'm not really feeling it today. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:21.360 I don't feel anything for that person. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:24.960 But Jesus said, This love, it's a decision. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:26.879 It's not a feeling. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:29.120 And so he told them this command. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:31.840 And number two under that is love is a faith confession. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:33.360 Look at verse 35. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:36.639 34, he said, I give you this new command, verse 35. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:43.759 By this, he says, all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:48.559 If you have love for one another, church, the world will know that you belong to Jesus. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:50.559 Love is a faith confession. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:56.240 The effect is you become the major advertising tool for Jesus Christ. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:03.279 Last week we said that, that because of your gift, you are the manifestation of Jesus to the world. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:07.279 The effect of love is this: you're an advertisement for Jesus Christ. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:15.519 Now, most of you have one of these in your possession, and now I have come to find out that my phone knows how to advertise to me. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:17.919 I don't know what the people in here are doing. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:26.080 I I'm not real sure, but I know Facebook and I know my emails and I know other things are listening to my life. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:35.519 Because I will say something, and all of a sudden, an advertisement for something on the Boston Red Sox will pop up, and I'm like, how did they know? 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:37.840 They're listening, right? 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:43.519 They know what I click, they know what I type, they know what I say, they know where I am. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:48.159 All of a sudden, a restaurant will get popped up on my phone that's nearby as an advertisement. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:49.360 I'm like, how do they know? 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:50.159 I'm right there. 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:50.879 I don't know. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:51.840 Okay, government. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:56.480 If you're watching now, please don't come after me for sharing the secret, but I know they're watching. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:14:59.360 They know where I've been. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:00.320 So guess what? 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:02.480 You know what they advertise to me? 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:04.639 What they believe I love. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:08.639 You know, I you and I are this church. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:13.919 We are the greatest advertisement for the grand summation of all the things that we love. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:19.759 You, as a walking human being, are an advertisement every day for what you love. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:22.480 I know Pastor Danny loves pickleball. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:26.240 I know Pastor Danny loves his little dogs. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:28.799 I know Pastor Danny loves ice cream truck. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:31.519 I know that Pastor Danny loves Susan. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:34.799 I know that Pastor Danny loves Jesus' awesome bands. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:35.279 Why? 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:36.399 Because guess what? 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.320 He speaks about what he loves. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:40.639 I know that he loves Jesus and CCW. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:43.919 And people know what you love too. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:46.639 People know what we love. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:47.039 Why? 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:53.840 Because you are an advertisement for the things that you click, talk, type about what you see, what you want to do. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:55.279 That's what you are. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:00.879 And we are supposed to be the greatest advertisement, church, for the greatest love there's ever been. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:02.480 We're supposed to be that. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.360 I saw a picture the other day and I wanted to show. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:06.960 I would this is what I want to be. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:13.759 So I want to be so full of Jesus Christ that if a mosquito bites me, it flies away singing, there is power in the blood. 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:16.080 There is power in the blood. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:21.120 What do you advertise? 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.039 Do you advertise your home? 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:26.480 The crown molding, the pretty flowers? 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:28.720 Do you advertise money? 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:30.879 Are you advertising sports to the world? 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:31.919 This is my team. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.039 And every day you're gonna see a post about my team. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:38.320 Do you advertise music because it's what you've been listening to? 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:42.559 Do we advertise complaints? 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:51.679 You know, some people I really believe they actually enjoy the complaining that they do. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:53.360 And you know what? 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:55.519 It's never fun to complain to yourself. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:58.320 So you might as well recruit somebody to hear it. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:00.000 Right? 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:02.240 You are the best advertisement. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:06.640 Somebody, the lady came to me not too long ago and said, Pastor Rick, I've got to file a complaint. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:08.319 I said, Oh no, you don't. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:11.039 I am not gonna be a part of helping you to sin. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:13.839 You're not gonna follow, you can file a solution with me. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:16.079 Oh well, well, it's a concern. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:22.880 I said, you can put any C letter you want with it and call it what you want, but you just want to say something and complain. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:26.799 My Bible says Philippians 2.14, do all things without grumbling or complaints. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:27.519 That's right. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:28.319 Amen. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:32.240 You are the best advertisement of what you love. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:35.680 I know that hurts because it hurts me, church. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:41.279 And this is what it says the kind of love like this advertised is attractive. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:44.720 It's advertisement, and this is what it's not. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:50.079 To advertise to the lost world, it's not you going and being an advertisement to them what you love. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:53.920 What it says is what they see you do for the body. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:56.480 Remember what it said in 35? 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:58.880 By this, they will know that you are my disciples. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:06.160 If you have love for one another, how you love each other tells the world that you're in love with Christ or not. 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:14.319 The best advertisement that we can do for the lost world is for them to say, I gotta get into that family of people because they love. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:22.799 If you do not enjoy the body, church, I got something to tell you that I don't really want to say. 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:24.960 But this is what we learned from last week. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.480 You'd never have the foot say to the ear, I hate you. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.519 I cannot stand the ear. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:34.240 The ear doesn't do what I do. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:35.759 I'm walked on every day. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:39.119 And the ear doesn't look down at the foot and say, You're you're useless. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:41.440 They get on my nerves, right? 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:44.240 You need it all to walk and function. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:50.000 And so here's what's going to happen if you stop communing with the body and stop loving the body. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:51.920 This is what the process will look like. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:54.160 You'll begin to serve out of an empty cup. 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.240 You'll begin to get moody and indifferent. 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:00.480 You'll be negative for sure. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:08.400 If you happen to sit in church, which a lot of people don't want to sit through church when they get that place, if you happen to sit in it, you'll critique the whole service. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:10.880 Well, I hate this about the way Pastor Danny says that. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:15.359 And I don't like the way Pastor Rick said this, and I don't like the way that the music went that way. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:16.160 They should have done this. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:18.400 And I will, I don't even like the music, in fact. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:33.519 And so we'll begin to critique, and then you'll begin to voice that to others, and and frankly, because it's not fun, you'll you'll draw a crowd, and then you'll wonder, why do my life seem so unhappy? 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:36.480 And eventually you will just quit church. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:44.799 And then there's people that are sitting home today and they're struggling to wonder why is this black cloud over my life? 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:47.920 Because whom God loves, he still chastens. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:52.000 And he hadn't given up on you just because you've stopped loving his body. 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:54.880 He will chase, and here's the kicker: it's not just gonna affect you. 00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:55.359 Guess what? 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:59.680 Your kids and your wife are involved, and your whole family gets a piece of that. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.279 To be a part of the body, we have to decide to love. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:08.000 But in order to do that, you're gonna have to understand point number two this morning. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.440 Love is sacrificial and love is selfless. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:16.720 Go back to 1 Corinthians 13. 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:18.960 It's sacrificial and selfless. 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:20.960 Look at verse 4 and 5. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:22.400 Listen to these words, hear them. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.200 Don't just let it be another part of the poem that you've heard before. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:30.160 Love suffers long and is kind. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:31.920 Love does not envy. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:51.119 Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, it does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:54.240 Love, church, is sacrifice. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.839 I'm not saying that what this is telling us to do is simple. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.319 I don't mean to say that it's easy. 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:09.440 When I present the church at Corinth, they were a mess and they were trying, they were struggling, but this is what it says it's a sacrifice. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:14.079 The call to love is a call for us to die, to die to ourselves. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:15.599 Look at Luke chapter 9. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:17.519 It's a call to die. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:23.519 Luke 9, and I'm gonna read two verses, 23 through 25, or three verses. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:28.079 This is what Jesus says about following him, church. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:35.359 And when you take on that salvation and you take the engagement and he gives you his gift, this is what he says about continuing on. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:42.400 If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:46.319 For whoever desires to save his life is gonna lose it. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:50.000 But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:56.720 What profit is it to a man if he gains the entire world and loses his own soul? 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:58.960 It's a call to die. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.440 Okay? 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.160 And there's two things I want you to see about the call to die. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:04.480 You have to lose your position and leave your pride. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:08.319 Losing your position means what he said there, suffer long. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:11.200 He didn't mean to say that any other way. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:12.799 And that does not sound pretty. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:16.000 That doesn't sound delightful because love is commandable. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:17.440 It is not like. 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:19.519 He said, suffer long. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:21.759 That's why you can do it, because it's not like. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:25.119 You can decide to love what you don't like. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:26.319 You hear me, church? 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:26.720 Yeah. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:30.720 That's how it's even possible to love your enemies when he said that. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:35.119 Because it doesn't say like your enemies, because how would they be your enemy if you like them? 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:38.720 But you can choose to love your enemies. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:41.440 Ephesians 4 2 said it like this about us. 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:43.920 He says, forbear one another, how? 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:44.880 In love. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:46.240 Forbear. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:48.400 That's a good word for youth ministry church. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:50.880 Let me just stop there for a second. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:58.160 Stephen would be one of the best examples for me of a teenager that helped me to learn to forbear. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:03.119 Stephen would plop down while I was teaching on the ground and lay. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:08.640 And I would have to stop in the middle of a teaching lesson and say, Stephen, I'm teaching here. 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:09.599 I'm in a good point. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:11.759 Would you get up off the floor, Stephen? 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:18.480 And Stephen would get up, and then, you know, a little while longer, Stephen would get up, next good pump, hammering it home to these teenagers, church. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:24.799 Stephen would walk out of the room and go use the bathroom, making noise along the way, clomping around, like, Stephen, are you killing me? 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:28.240 Stephen would undoubtedly go to camp every time we had camp. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:40.079 And not that I always want every kid to come, but if there was ever one that maybe didn't have to, and Stephen would keep me up all night and he would have all needs, and he would run out of money on the ride to camp, and then he would need food all week. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:43.039 And this is still taught me to forbear. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.200 I'm still forbearing the thought of it. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:53.519 And in youth ministry, listen, I've been I've been injured a bunch of times over the years in youth ministry. 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:58.960 I've been punched in the face, I've been hit in the nose with a bat, blacked my eye right before Christmas. 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:02.400 I've been my sternum's been broken in youth ministry. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:02.880 Okay? 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:08.160 So it sounds silly, but I do this year after year. 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:14.240 And I was thinking about all the camps and the retreats and stuff that Heather has done with me. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:19.200 She has packed up our kids every year for all of our years. 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:25.599 And Callie, she gets up and shares a testimony about Gotel, and everybody says, Well, this is my second year. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:29.519 And Callie said, Well, this is my 13th year at GoTell. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:32.079 She'd been going since she was five months old. 00:24:32.240 --> 00:25:03.759 And but we're packing up five suitcases and strollers and baby cribs and diapers, and in the middle of the service, we're going out, and and and for some retreats, my wife has cooked for a hundred students, three meals a day, nine, twelve meals, and year after year we're going in, and I was thinking about the thousands of dollars on teens that couldn't afford that we've spent or raised, and and then listen, church, and watched ungodly parents walk them out of church. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:05.039 Yeah, yeah. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:08.720 I don't care about the money, but I care about that soul. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.839 That person, that student next to you is a soul. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:19.519 And you go after this, and and it feels I'm not saying that I'm some marker of suffering, but I understand the sacrifice. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:20.160 Because why? 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:21.920 Why would we do something like this? 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.039 Because we want them to know and love Jesus. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:28.160 Love suffers long, it's not about a feeling. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:30.079 I don't feel like doing that. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:30.880 I don't. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:34.160 I'm just I really don't now because I'm 37. 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:36.880 At 25 and 27, I kind of felt like doing it. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:41.599 Now I gotta like muster myself up and get prayed up, and it feels different. 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:42.160