1 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,720 John has been writing to answer the question, How do you know? 2 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,640 How do you know Christianity's true and how do you know that 3 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:22,280 you're a true Christian? How do you know what's dangerous 4 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:27,800 to you as a Christian? How do you live in light of the 5 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,000 last days? How do you live ready for 6 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,600 Christ's return? All these are questions John has 7 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:37,480 answered so far in this little New Testament letter of first 8 00:00:37,480 --> 00:00:38,880 John. If you missed any of the answers 9 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:40,920 to those, you can go back and catch those on previous 10 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,480 messages. John answering how do you know? 11 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:46,840 As practical as practical can be, The Bible is so practical to 12 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:47,560 life. Amen. 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:49,680 Basic. How do you know questions. 14 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:54,480 And now the question we turn to in first John 3 verses 11 15 00:00:54,480 --> 00:01:00,400 through 18 is how do we know how we are to relate one to another? 16 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:05,040 How does God want us living as believers toward one another? 17 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:06,520 How do we know what that looks like? 18 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:11,600 How do we know what to do? I want you to think about your 19 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,800 answer to these questions, and I want you to try to think in one 20 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:19,800 word answers. I've titled the message today, 21 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:22,680 One Word for a Reason. Now, as you think about your 22 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:25,320 answer, don't answer out loud, but I want you to think in one 23 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:27,200 word. And the only word you can't use 24 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:29,520 is Jesus. All right, so that's the Sunday 25 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:30,760 school answer. Why don't you think in other 26 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,280 answers? But when you think of one word 27 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,520 that comes to your mind when you think about who a Christian is 28 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,720 or what a Christian supposed to be, what one word comes to your 29 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,720 mind when you think about what the Christian life is all about? 30 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:48,520 What one word comes to your mind when you think about how a 31 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:53,800 Christian is supposed to live? What one word comes to your 32 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,320 mind? I think if we were to answer out 33 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:03,240 loud and take a survey, I bet that the one word we would hear 34 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,520 to all of those questions, more than any other one word would be 35 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,160 the one word. Good. 36 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,000 I think people would say, hey, I think a Christian is supposed to 37 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,640 be a good person. I think the Christian life is 38 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:21,560 about doing good. I think what living as a 39 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,880 Christian should look like ought to look like being good, right? 40 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:29,080 We, we would probably hear most often that word good. 41 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,280 And good's not necessarily a, a, a, a bad answer. 42 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:34,720 It's not a bad thing. Good is a wonderful thing. 43 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:41,960 And yet I think the Bible would have us use a different one 44 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:49,400 word, a more accurate word, a more radical word, but a more 45 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,080 Christian and more biblical word. 46 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,880 I want you to listen for that one word as we read the Word of 47 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:59,160 God, as it jumps off the page. You're ready. 48 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:06,520 First, John 311 through 18. For this is the message that you 49 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:14,680 have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 50 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:20,800 We should not be like Cain who was of the evil 1 and murdered 51 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:24,480 his brother. And why did he murder him? 52 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:30,520 Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous. 53 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:36,920 Do not be surprised brothers, that the world hates you. 54 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:43,960 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we 55 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:50,560 love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in 56 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,960 death. Everyone who hates his brother 57 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,280 is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life 58 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:04,480 abiding in him. By this we know love, that he 59 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:09,160 laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives 60 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:13,640 for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's 61 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:19,600 goods and sees his brother in need and yet closes his heart 62 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,880 against him, how does God's love abide in him? 63 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:30,320 Little children, let us not love in Word or talk, but in deed and 64 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,120 in truth. And the one word for the 65 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:37,480 Christian life is love. It's love. 66 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,600 The Christian life, mark it down, is a life of love. 67 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,080 You want one word for what it's all about? 68 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,840 You want one word for what? Living as a Christian what being 69 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:48,480 a Christian, what doing the Christian life. 70 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,320 Good is not a bad word. Good just doesn't cut it. 71 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:56,120 The biblical word is love. Is there a big difference 72 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:03,160 between good and love? I think there is. 73 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:06,040 You know, when we think about something good, we can sometimes 74 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:08,240 think about ourselves, right? Maybe we think we're pretty 75 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:14,960 good, but the moment you think about love, you got to quit 76 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,280 thinking about you and you got to think about somebody else. 77 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:24,400 There's a big difference between good and love, and the Bible's 78 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:26,200 word is love. The Christian life is a life of 79 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:28,280 love. So to unpack this text, the 80 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:30,840 first thing I want you to see here is the one word for the 81 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:34,800 Christian life is love in your notes, because we are called 82 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,520 friends to love. This is verse 11 through 13. 83 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,240 You know, in one sense he says this is the message you have 84 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,520 heard from the beginning. Now in one sense that message 85 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,320 they have heard from the beginning is the message of the 86 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:49,440 love of God. That's the message of the good 87 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:53,200 news of the gospel summarized so well in John chapter 3 and verse 88 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,440 16 for God. So loved the world that he gave 89 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,800 his one and only Son, that whosoever would believe in him 90 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:03,000 should not perish but have everlasting life. 91 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,320 That message is the love of God, the gospel of God. 92 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,240 That's the good news that Jesus loves you, and I mean every 93 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,400 single one of you, every single one. 94 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,200 God so loves you that He did three things for you. 95 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,520 He number one, lived a sinless life for you because you haven't 96 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,800 lived a sinless life. The Bible says all have sinned 97 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:21,960 and fallen short of the glory of God. 98 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:26,480 That's a problem because it separates you now and forever 99 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,480 from God unless something is done about your sin that 100 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,400 separates you from God. Jesus lived a sinless life so 101 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:37,160 that he can #2 go to the cross and die as a sinless perfect 102 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:42,440 substitute sacrifice in your place for your sin and my sin. 103 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,560 The Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no 104 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,480 forgiveness of sin. There's no solving the sin 105 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:53,720 problem unless blood is shed. But the only blood qualified to 106 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,680 for the sins of the world had to be perfect blood of someone who 107 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,320 lived a sinless life. And Jesus is the only one who's 108 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:03,000 done that. He's lived a sinless life for 109 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,280 you. He's died a sinless substitute 110 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:07,960 sacrifice for you. So #3 Most marvelous of all, 111 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:11,240 Jesus could defeat death for you, the final enemy. 112 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,320 The ultimate result of sin in this world is death and decay 113 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:16,720 and destruction. It is both the separation from 114 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,280 God forever and all the curse it brings in this life. 115 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,600 And Jesus defeated it when he walked out of the grave alive. 116 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,040 Why? All so that you could realize 117 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,320 the love of God for you and respond to that love by calling 118 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,160 on Jesus to save you. Have you called on Jesus, 119 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,640 responded to the love of God to save you? 120 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:40,640 If you've not, right now is the moment to do so, like literally 121 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,280 right now in your heart of hearts to say, Jesus, thank you 122 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,160 for loving me. I want to love you. 123 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,720 Would you forgive me of my sin? Make me your own. 124 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,040 I'm giving my life you. I'm surrendering my life. 125 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,840 You call out to him now this is the response, the right response 126 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,000 to the love of God. This is the message. 127 00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:59,240 And out of that message, John says we've heard from the 128 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,440 beginning, is the result or the application he's bringing out in 129 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:04,800 here that we should love one another Because guess what, if 130 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:07,120 God first loved us, then what does he call us to do as a 131 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:09,440 result? Love one another. 132 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:12,920 He says, now that you've received my love, what you've 133 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:17,240 heard from the beginning is we ought to love one another. 134 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,760 This here is the call, the one word that captures this word 135 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,600 love that captures both who we are and what God calls us to do. 136 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,360 I want you to think about how clear just one word is in the 137 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,559 Christian life. Loved is our identity in Christ. 138 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:36,000 Like there's no word that describes you better. 139 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:41,320 If you're a Christian then loved, loved by God and then 140 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,520 there's no one word that captures your job description as 141 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,120 a Christian, then to and the love. 142 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,640 This is both your identity and it is your job description. 143 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,880 The one word friend of the Christian life is love. 144 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:58,480 When we talk about the Christian life we often use the word good. 145 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,520 When the Bible talks about the Christian life it uses the word 146 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:02,960 love and there's a big difference. 147 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,760 Now in order for us to see what this looks like in our lives, 148 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,560 John paints 2 pictures for us here in the text. 1 is the 149 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:14,240 picture of Cain. The second is the picture of 150 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,360 Christ. Cain obviously is the negative 151 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:19,160 picture of what love doesn't look like. 152 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,200 Christ is going to be the positive picture of what love 153 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:24,840 does look like. And John begins with the 154 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:27,520 negative picture of Cain, the one we should not be like. 155 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:31,640 Notice here it says he was of the evil one. 156 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,280 Now let me just stop right there and say that's a fascinating 157 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,120 statement, is it not? Cain was of the evil 1. 158 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,200 We need to be clear and understand that every human 159 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,160 being can only belong to one of two masters in this life. 160 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,280 You belong to one of two masters right now. 161 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:58,880 You either belong to Jesus Christ or you belong to Satan. 162 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,840 Kyle did not say that. The Bible says that there's only 163 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,920 two masters because if you're not in the family of God, you 164 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:13,280 are outside the family of God and in, in the side in the 165 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:16,560 Kingdom of darkness, belonging to and in bondage to the enemy 166 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:21,000 of Christ himself, the devil he is now Cain is of the evil 1. 167 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,720 He does not belong to, to, to God's family. 168 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,480 He's of the evil. 1 Here. This is the only two masters we 169 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:29,920 can belong to in this life. And here the way to think about 170 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:33,000 this is sometimes we tend to think of people as good people 171 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:35,400 or bad people when there's only God's people and not God's 172 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:39,600 people. Now, you remember Cain. 173 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,360 He was the oldest of Adam and Eve's two sons, Cain and Abel. 174 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,440 This is one of the earliest stories in your Bible. 175 00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:49,440 Cain and Abel both offered a sacrifice to God. 176 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:51,880 Why? Because of sin. 177 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:54,840 And so the sacrificial system was even there from the very 178 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:56,560 beginning after sin entered the world. 179 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,280 And ultimately, Jesus would be the ultimate fulfillment of that 180 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,400 sacrificial system with no one needed after Jesus. 181 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:06,160 Praise God. Cain and Abel both offered a 182 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:09,160 sacrifice to God. Abel offered a sacrifice in a 183 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:11,600 manner that pleased God. But Cain did not offer a 184 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:13,760 sacrifice in a manner that pleased God. 185 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,400 And as a result of his disobedience and not doing it 186 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:22,640 the way God called him to do it, Cain reacted with hatred towards 187 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,480 Abel and murdered him. Murdered his brother. 188 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,760 Why? Because Abel's righteousness 189 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:32,680 exposed Cain's wickedness. Mark it down. 190 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:36,320 Righteousness makes evil unmistakable. 191 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:41,120 Light makes darkness obvious. Love for God makes lack of love 192 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,200 for God undeniable. So evil, you know, this doesn't 193 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:47,640 like to be revealed for what it is, does it? 194 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,600 Unrighteousness does not like to be exposed by righteousness, 195 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:54,320 right? Therefore, the Bible tells us 196 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:58,520 point blank here that those who belong to the evil 1 and there's 197 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,680 only two masters to belong to, God or the enemy, those who 198 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:06,440 belong to the evil one naturally hate those who belong to the 199 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,240 Holy One. This is why John says do not be 200 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,920 surprised brothers, that the world hates you. 201 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,320 In other words, John says if you go and live a life of love and 202 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,400 it shines light in the darkness and righteousness reigns in your 203 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:22,280 life, and you shine that in an unrighteous world, in a Dark 204 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,920 World, guess what? Don't be surprised if you're not 205 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:31,640 loved back. We've seen an instance of that 206 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,240 in the last couple weeks, as heinous and as obvious as 207 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:39,600 possible. I want to share with you today 208 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:43,080 something that may be a little closer to home because the 209 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:47,960 couple you're about to hear from is one of our own members of 210 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:52,960 Cartersville First Baptist, who experienced this exact thing of 211 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:57,280 First John 313, Doctor Lynn and Carla De Dasi. 212 00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:59,840 I want you to hear their testimony for a few minutes. 213 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,680 Hello CFTC family, we are the DDEC's and we're here to share 214 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:08,760 with you today our experience based off of first John 3 verse 215 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,800 13 where the Bible says that the world is going to hate you 216 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,520 because of your Christian beliefs and our story really 217 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:20,760 starts in 2012. In 2012, when I was 218 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,560 homeschooling my daughters, God called me to write conservative 219 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:27,320 Christian children's books. I was writing books that taught 220 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:32,200 my children that we were to defend the unborn as followers 221 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:36,240 of Jesus Christ. The Lord gave me a more public 222 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:40,360 platform when I was asked and given time on a Fox affiliate 223 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,000 radio show in the Philadelphia area. 224 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:48,120 This God morphed into a national platform where I was picked up 225 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:52,480 in Pennsylvania and drove into New York City to be on Fox and 226 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:55,320 Friends regularly for quite a few years. 227 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,120 I was speaking about protecting the unborn. 228 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:02,480 I was speaking about biblical marriage and why it was so 229 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:04,680 important to our communities and our culture. 230 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:12,000 And I was also in 2016 beginning to speak about being pro gender, 231 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:17,080 meaning XX and XY chromosomes. That's how God created us, male 232 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:21,200 and female. So this God gave us a platform 233 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,960 to speak biblical truth. I was getting heat mail from 234 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:32,960 2012 until 2020, but then in 2020, my husband who was a 235 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:37,560 surgeon, very well known in our community and in the state of 236 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:42,520 Pennsylvania, one of the busiest in our area, he was persecuted 237 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:47,800 for our Christian beliefs. Yes, we, I went to work on June 238 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:51,720 1st, 2020 and there was a firestorm awaiting me. 239 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,880 There was a lot of hate that was porn into the office about me 240 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:01,120 calling all kinds of names because of our biblical views. 241 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:07,280 And within five days I was suspended and six weeks later I 242 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:10,960 was terminated from my job. Really struggled to find a job 243 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:15,400 and work and I, we really had like no income for three years. 244 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,360 Plus we had an incredible amount of legal fees. 245 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:21,000 Just trying to defend ourselves to get out of this problem. 246 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:26,640 And worst of all, they even attacked my medical license to 247 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,440 try and strip that away from me so that I can never work as a 248 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:31,600 surgeon again. So there was a tremendous amount 249 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:37,840 of downfall to all this. And, and this was a prime 250 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:40,880 example of how the world is going to hate us because of our 251 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:45,040 Christian views. We were strong defenders of the 252 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,760 faith. We were strong defenders of 253 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:53,000 Christianity and we truly believed in the the biblical 254 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,040 mandate and trying to raise disciples for Christ. 255 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:00,960 So how were we persecuted? In a nutshell, We had our 256 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,960 livelihood stolen from us. We had our reputation stolen 257 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:06,160 from us. We had safety stolen from us. 258 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:09,960 The devil wanted our marriage. He wanted our children. 259 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,440 He wanted our grandchildren. I remember sitting around our 260 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:19,800 kitchen table in Pennsylvania and just praying against, just 261 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,720 praying against the enemy that he would not have our marriage, 262 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,000 he would not have our children or our grandchildren, that we 263 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,440 would stand firm in the faith. Jesus does promise you that 264 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,840 there would. There will be persecution and 265 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:38,120 you will be hated by the world if you stand up and proclaim the 266 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,960 name of Jesus. We are so thankful that God 267 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:44,040 brought us to a state where He is able to practice what He 268 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:48,320 loves and what He studied to do for 12 years before He went into 269 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,920 private practice. You can pray for me that God 270 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:56,040 returns to me a voice that has been silenced for the last five 271 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:01,160 years and that if He doesn't return my voice to me, that I 272 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:05,160 will be very content and happy and find the joy of the Lord and 273 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:09,319 just being a voice for truth in my local church and with my 274 00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:12,520 family. I would just like to end with 275 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:15,800 this. Matthew 7 I is one of the 276 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:20,119 scariest verses in the Bible and it's the the verses where God 277 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:25,480 is, you know, that Jesus is presenting people as an example 278 00:17:26,319 --> 00:17:29,320 of who is not getting into heaven. 279 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:31,840 And these are people that look very much like me and you. 280 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,160 They walk the walk, they talk to talk. 281 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,280 But yet there was something about their faith, something 282 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:42,160 about their Christianity that Jesus said to them, you know, 283 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:44,560 get away from me. I never knew you. 284 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,560 Don't be that person. Stand up for Jesus. 285 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:53,720 Let your voice be heard. Love God, love Jesus, and we 286 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:58,400 pray for you as a church that you will stand up for Christian 287 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:03,200 principles and the Word of God. Amen. 288 00:18:09,830 --> 00:18:13,790 Bible says don't be surprised. Don't be surprised. 289 00:18:14,270 --> 00:18:17,510 You know, I think one of the things that God is doing right 290 00:18:17,510 --> 00:18:20,230 now in our times is getting our attention and saying it's time 291 00:18:20,230 --> 00:18:23,640 to stand and be bold. There's a lot of a lot of 292 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,440 Christians. I think the church in general. 293 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:32,040 I even think about my own life and think about am I, am I been 294 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:36,400 standing clearly and flat footedly, unashamedly? 295 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,760 Have I lived under the radar in any way or have I been putting 296 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:43,280 the truth out there, standing for it? 297 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,080 You know you probably can avoid what they experienced if you 298 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:52,840 just let your convictions remain anonymous may be just with you. 299 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:57,400 But the moment you go public with your faith in your 300 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:01,800 neighborhood and your job in the classroom and on the team as 301 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:06,440 Jesus calls you to do, he simply says don't be surprised if they 302 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,760 don't love you back. But the Bible also prepares us 303 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:12,960 for that moment. First Peter chapter 4 says it 304 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:16,480 like this verse 14. If you're insulted for the name 305 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:22,240 of Christ, you are blessed. There is a blessing for standing 306 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,400 even when it costs you. It says, if the because you're 307 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,600 blessed, the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. 308 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,160 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, or an 309 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,800 evildoer, as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a 310 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:39,200 Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God 311 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:42,320 in that name. There is glory to God for him to 312 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,720 be, for him to be lifted up and exalted, and blessings for you 313 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,720 to have when you stand boldly for your faith no matter what 314 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,320 comes. And this is what God calls his 315 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,320 people to. Don't be surprised. 316 00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:58,720 The one word for the Christian life is love, because we're 317 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:00,720 called to love. Number 2 is this. 318 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,600 The one word for the Christian life is love, because we are 319 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:07,240 identified. We're identified by love here, 320 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,800 John says. One of the ways, y'all, that we 321 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:12,800 can know we've been saved. Talk about assurance of 322 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:15,360 salvation. Not the only way, but one of the 323 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:18,160 ways John says we can know we've been saved. 324 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:20,920 That is that we've passed from death to life. 325 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:22,480 That's a description of salvation. 326 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:26,720 When you get saved, you go from the camp of the enemy dead, 327 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,800 separated from God to the family of God, made alive, born again, 328 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:33,920 joined with him, made, made, made, made one with with God 329 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:35,440 through Christ. So there's again, there's only 330 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:39,240 two masters to belong to. If you've passed from death to 331 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,040 life, you've been saved. That word for past there in the 332 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:47,360 New Testament in the Greek word is this idea of a a migration of 333 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:51,280 like an ancient people moving from one location to another 334 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:54,080 permanent location, never to return. 335 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,880 It says here this is how you know you've made that spiritual 336 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,440 trip, if you will. How do you know that you've made 337 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,000 that migration? John says one way we can know 338 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:05,440 we've been saved, we've been converted. 339 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:10,440 He says if we what love the brothers and what he means by 340 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:15,000 that is if we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, if we 341 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:20,840 love those who've made the trip as well, if we love the family 342 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:22,200 of God. I want to remind you of 343 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,160 something that we forget as we live this earthly life. 344 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:30,080 Then that is that your greatest, your deepest, your biggest bond 345 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:35,080 with people in this life. It's not by physical blood. 346 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:44,040 It's not by marriage. The greatest, longest lasting, 347 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,600 deepest bond that you as an individual human being can have 348 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:54,880 is with the family of God, with your brothers and sisters in 349 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:59,160 Christ. The question is, do you love the 350 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:00,440 family of God? John says. 351 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:05,760 By your love for the family of God, you can know one of the 352 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:07,560 ways you can know if you've truly been saved. 353 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:09,880 Now I was just having a conversation with somebody 354 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,720 yesterday, met with a young man. The young man actually got saved 355 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:14,800 last night. We had dinner. 356 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:16,160 I got to share the gospel with him. 357 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:18,680 He walked the aisle during the invitation and 1st service 358 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:20,920 because last night he gave his heart and life to Jesus Christ. 359 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:26,160 20 years old. And I was telling me about his 360 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:27,640 family. And as we talked about it, one 361 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,320 of the things I challenged him on is simply this. 362 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:33,080 He talked about how just in general, some of the people that 363 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,760 he knows claim to love God, but they don't, they don't go to 364 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:40,080 church. This is a, this is a pretty 365 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:44,800 common scenario, right? The Bible says you can't do 366 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:46,640 that. The Bible says you can't love 367 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:49,280 God and not love the family of God. 368 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,840 Does that make sense? One of the ways you can know you 369 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,280 truly are saved, one of the ways you can know you really love God 370 00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:58,720 is if there's a love for you, for the family God. 371 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:00,680 There's no love for the family of God. 372 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,320 The Bible would have you question seriously whether you 373 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,040 truly love God. In fact, it just, it basically 374 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,880 says it's not possible. Just it's one of the ways we 375 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:12,200 know we've made the trip from death to life from outside of 376 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:14,160 Christ to in Christ is if we love the family of God. 377 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,640 That doesn't mean you like everybody that comes to church 378 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:17,720 with you. I didn't say that. 379 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,000 All right, don't be confused, but love and like are two 380 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:21,920 different things. Amen. 381 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:24,760 Do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? 382 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,360 He says verse into verse 14. Whoever does not love abides in 383 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:29,680 death. In verse 15. 384 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,160 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that 385 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:34,880 no murder has eternal life in him. 386 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,520 John says if love if the actions and lifestyle of love is not 387 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:41,200 somewhat typical, normal or common in your life, he's not 388 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,320 saying you got to be perfect. Nobody's going to be perfect 389 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:45,920 until we see Jesus. But if these actions aren't 390 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,680 normal in your life, he's saying you probably lived at 101 391 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:55,640 spiritual dead end Dr. That's your location spiritually 392 00:23:55,640 --> 00:24:00,720 speaking. John here says there's no such 393 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:04,680 thing as a Christian who does not love verse 15 look back at 394 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:06,040 it. Everyone who hates his brother 395 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:09,800 is a murderer. It verse 15 makes it sound like 396 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:15,680 hatred is always as extreme as murder, all right, but that's 397 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,080 not always the case, all right. What John wants to wants us to 398 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:25,360 see here is that any action that is not love is actually hate. 399 00:24:25,360 --> 00:24:28,480 Again, you either belong to God or you belong to the enemy. 400 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,520 And every action you take and thought towards other people is 401 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:34,080 either in the category of love or the category of hate. 402 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:35,960 John's saying there is no in between. 403 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,800 And yes, hate can ultimately lead to murder, but it doesn't 404 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,560 have to. Failure to love is hate, John is 405 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:46,720 saying, if it's not acting towards the good of another at 406 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,720 your own expense or what could be your own expense, John is 407 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,680 saying that's less than love. And that falls in the category 408 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,240 of hate. So you can think about it like 409 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,120 this. Hate could be as mild as I don't 410 00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:03,160 care or as intense as murder. Let me try to see if I can make 411 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:07,440 it even more clear. Of course, hatred ultimately can 412 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:11,400 lead to murder, but you don't have to murder in order to hate. 413 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:18,200 You don't have to murder in order to act at the expense of 414 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,880 others for yourself. You see, let me put it like 415 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:26,080 this. The same stuff that leads to 416 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:30,360 murder is the same stuff that makes you want to be first in 417 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:35,920 line when food is served. It's the same stuff. 418 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:39,680 Different degree of expression, but it's the same stuff. 419 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,520 The same stuff that leads to murder is the same stuff that 420 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,280 makes you want to reveal a confidence someone has entrusted 421 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,600 to you. The same stuff that leads to 422 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:51,840 murder is the same stuff that makes you want to highlight your 423 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,840 success at work and downplay your coworkers. 424 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,680 It's the same stuff. The same stuff John says that 425 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,240 makes you hesitant to share your stuff with others and be 426 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,400 generous. It's the same stuff that leads 427 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,080 to murder. The same stuff that leads to 428 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,600 murder is the same stuff that makes you not want to forgive 429 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:14,000 someone who sinned against you. It's all refusing to act for the 430 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,240 good of someone else at your own expense. 431 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,240 It's all the same stuff. And John is saying any act 432 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,160 towards someone else is either in the category of love or hate. 433 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,800 There is no Gray that John gives us. 434 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,080 The person who lives this way that doesn't love, John says, 435 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:31,800 doesn't have eternal life. John is making things extremely 436 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:33,520 clear. You're either a child of God or 437 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,840 a child of the devil. You're either spiritually alive 438 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,240 or you're spiritually dead. Your actions are either actions 439 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,920 of love or actions of hate. The one word for the Christian 440 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,800 life is love because we're called to love friends and we're 441 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:49,640 identified by our love. 3rd and finally, the one word for the 442 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,640 Christian life is love because Jesus showed us how to love. 443 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,000 Jesus showed us how to love. This is verses 16 through 18. 444 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:04,680 By this John says we know love, that he laid down his life for 445 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:08,800 us. He is not Cain, he is Christ. 446 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,520 He did the exact opposite of Cain. 447 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:15,400 Think about it like this. Cain sacrificed someone else's 448 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:20,480 life to benefit his own. Jesus sacrificed his life for 449 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,680 the benefit of others. Cain acted for his own 450 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,200 self-interest at the expense of another. 451 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:31,080 Jesus acted at his own expense for the good of others. 452 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,400 Do you see the difference? Cain acted in selfishness. 453 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,640 Christ acted in selflessness. Cain acted in hate. 454 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:43,440 Christ acted in love. Do you see the difference in the 455 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,800 two pictures? Love is simply acting for the 456 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:52,160 good of others, even at your own expense. 457 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,680 That's love. Love is not a feeling. 458 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,320 Love is not a warm fuzzy. Love is not a like. 459 00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:04,960 Love is an action. Love is a sacrifice. 460 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:09,360 Love is a choice. And this kind of love, let me 461 00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:14,080 remind you, is not dependent on it being reciprocated back to 462 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:18,240 you. So this means this kind of love 463 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:23,800 you as a Christian do to people who are unlovely to you, you're 464 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,560 to act this way. And this kind of love to people 465 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:32,160 who are difficult towards you, who don't love you back, who are 466 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:36,440 selfish towards you, who are mean, angry, harsh, or whatever 467 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:38,960 you want to name it. This love loves. 468 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,440 Anyway, to the degree that an extent Jesus loved us, we ought 469 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,920 to love one another. And Jesus loved us big, did he 470 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:46,040 not? Laying down his what? 471 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:49,120 His life. So therefore, even to the extent 472 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,360 that Jesus loved us, we're called to love big in the same 473 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,280 extent, the same way as Christ has loved us. 474 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,520 But here's a real practical daily application question John 475 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:00,440 knows and anticipates we're going to ask it. 476 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,560 How often do we really get the chance to love in the big way 477 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,560 Jesus loved us by laying down our life ultimately for someone 478 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:09,600 else. How often do you get that 479 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:15,240 chance? I don't know that I've ever had 480 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:19,480 that chance to die for someone like literally give my life. 481 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,920 Now some people have, but that that's probably not going to 482 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,480 come along most days in your life. 483 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:32,800 So John's question then, yes, Jesus calls you to love big, But 484 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,840 John says Jesus also calls you if you claim to know Jesus to 485 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,760 love small. In fact, listen to verse 17 486 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,560 again. He says this, but if anyone has 487 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:48,200 the world's goods and sees his brother in need and yet closes 488 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:52,240 his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 489 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,400 John says this. Hey, you claim to be a follower 490 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,240 of Christ. You claim to have received the 491 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,880 love of God, you claim to love God, and you claim to be willing 492 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:02,200 to lay down your life in love for someone else. 493 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,880 But Hey, Monday morning comes and in class you have two 494 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:06,760 pencils and your friend has none. 495 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:10,920 Or you're going on your way to work and you see your Co worker 496 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:14,680 over there with a, you know, Jack in his hand and a flat tire 497 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,840 and you have 4 full tires and he's got 3. 498 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,400 All right, you've got groceries but your neighbor doesn't. 499 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:25,240 Or you're well and can take care of yourself but your neighbor 500 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,440 can't. But I could go on and on. 501 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:32,240 You see someone that doesn't have what they need to live in 502 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:36,240 the daily basic necessities of life that you have, and if your 503 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:40,400 choice is in that moment to close off the valves of 504 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,520 compassion in your heart and look the other way and do 505 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,440 nothing. John's question for you is, if 506 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:51,000 you don't love small, how do you have love at all? 507 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:52,920 How does the love of God abide in Him? 508 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,840 The question, ladies and gentlemen, is rhetorical. 509 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:01,240 That means it doesn't need an answer because it's obvious, 510 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:08,440 John says If you refuse to love small, you probably don't have 511 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:14,240 love at all. How does the love of God abide 512 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:22,120 in that person? We're called to love big, but 513 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:25,320 the opportunities on a daily basis that come along, friends 514 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:27,920 are often going to look much smaller. 515 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,240 A word of encouragement to someone who's discouraged. 516 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,400 A prayer for someone who's bearing a burden. 517 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,120 Something that someone is missing that you know you could 518 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,720 supply. Meeting a basic need. 519 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,640 Going out of your way to make life easier for someone else. 520 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,520 The simple things in life, the small things, it's where the 521 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:58,600 love of Christ is most often going to be shown in our life. 522 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:03,320 You see, just like hate, love doesn't have to be extreme to be 523 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:06,240 loved as hate doesn't have to be extreme to be hate. 524 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,760 And every action we're doing is either for the good of others at 525 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:14,360 our own expense or for our good at the expense of others. 526 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:17,280 And by the way, the New Testament is slammed full of 527 00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:19,480 specific ways we're called to love one another. 528 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,040 I just want to give you these ideas again, because if if 529 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,720 you've never read your New Testament and just look for the 530 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:28,600 one another's the instructions for how we're to relate to one 531 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:32,520 another, they're all expressions of ordinary ways we're to love. 532 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:34,600 Let me give you a few. Romans 1210. 533 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,720 Be devoted to one another. Give preference to one another. 534 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:44,640 Romans 15-7 accept one another. Galatians 513 through love serve 535 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:47,560 one another. Galatians 62 bear one another's 536 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:51,200 burdens. Ephesians 4 two show tolerance 537 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:54,640 of one another. Ephesians 425 speak truth, each 538 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:58,600 of you with his neighbor. Ephesians 432 be kind to one 539 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:00,440 another, tender hearted, forgiving each other. 540 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:03,080 First Thessalonians 511 encourage one another. 541 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:07,360 And I could go on, right? There's about 35 of these basic 542 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:10,960 ordinary daily one another's that we're to live out towards 543 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:13,240 one another in the family of God, right? 544 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,040 John says, by the way, you can know you've passed out of death 545 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:19,560 to life. If this is characterizing your 546 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:23,640 life, that's you love the family of God and your neighbor. 547 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,560 You ought to be a Christian is to follow Christ and what did 548 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:29,560 Christ do? He laid down his life for us and 549 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:33,640 these are the basic, daily, ordinary ways we lay down our 550 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:39,080 lives for one another. Love is a primary evidence of 551 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:42,400 your salvation, that you've truly been made alive. 552 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:48,080 Verse 18 says this, little children, let us not love in 553 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:54,800 Word or deed, rather in Word or talk, but in deed and in truth. 554 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,160 Let us not love in Word or talk, but indeed and in truth. 555 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:05,600 I read about a man and he said out loud to his girlfriend, 556 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,679 Sweetie, I would climb the highest mountain for you. 557 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:15,159 Real original, I know. I would swim the deepest ocean 558 00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:19,239 for you. I'd fight a jungle full of lions 559 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,320 for you. And if it doesn't rain, I'll be 560 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:27,679 over to see you tonight. First service. 561 00:34:27,679 --> 00:34:33,800 Didn't get it that quickly. But love is not a feeling. 562 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:40,000 Love is not a claim. Love is an action. 563 00:34:41,639 --> 00:34:44,840 And if it's not an action, it's not real. 564 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:49,960 It's not in truth, it's not in reality. 565 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:56,400 Love is an action, and when you do it, it's probably not going 566 00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,360 to feel good. If it costs you. 567 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:05,480 If you wait when you feel good to love, you won't love if when 568 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:09,600 you do it and you do it to someone that might not love you 569 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:13,080 back, when you do it to someone who doesn't belong to Christ, 570 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:17,200 especially potentially, But this is how the world's going to know 571 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:21,800 that we truly belong to who? Jesus, he says in John 1335. 572 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:27,120 If we have not that we're good to each other, not that we're 573 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,920 good people, not that we're good citizens. 574 00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:33,200 All those things are wonderful, but there's a difference between 575 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:36,640 good and love. You can go, you can go home and 576 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:41,480 shut yourself in your house and be good people, but you want to 577 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:45,640 love the world that way. Moment you start thinking about 578 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:48,240 love, you got to start thinking about who's around you. 579 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:51,880 The one word for the Christian life is love. 580 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:53,680 I just want to ask you and challenge you with this 581 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:57,320 question, what one word best describes your life? 582 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:05,680 If it was all over and all said and done today and everybody had 583 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:12,840 one word for you, one word, what word would it be? 584 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:17,160 He was a good man, she was a good woman. 585 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:23,680 They were great. Would the word love be in there 586 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,080 at all? Maybe. 587 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,520 Maybe there's certain areas of your life that love might be 588 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:35,640 true, but others that are not that you need to surrender to 589 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:39,280 Jesus. Maybe Love's really not in there 590 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:43,840 at all because you've never received by faith Jesus Christ, 591 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:45,960 the one who laid down his life and love for you. 592 00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:50,240 And today, now is the time to receive the love of God, calling 593 00:36:50,240 --> 00:36:54,120 on him to receive forgiveness of sin and salvation so you can be 594 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:57,160 experiencing the love of God, so you can show you can't give what 595 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:00,080 you've never received. And this kind of love is not 596 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,200 natural. You're not going to muster it 597 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:03,560 up. You're not going to decide one 598 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:05,720 day, Oh my goodness, I'm just going to change my heart and 599 00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:07,360 start loving. Only Jesus can do that. 600 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,240 That's why John says you can know you've passed from death to 601 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:12,800 life if this is happening because this is not of you. 602 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,040 This is supernatural. This is from heaven. 603 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:21,000 This is from Jesus. Maybe you need to receive 604 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:24,360 Christ. Maybe maybe when we sing and 605 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:28,760 respond in this next song, you just want to come and kneel at 606 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:33,000 this altar and say King Jesus. I'm not sure what my word, one 607 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,000 word would be, but I'm not sure it's love. 608 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,960 And I want to ask you to make whatever adjustment in my life 609 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:42,720 you need to make from my life to be aligned with what you say 610 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:46,080 should be true of me because it's true of you and I want it 611 00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,440 to be true of me. Maybe some things you need to 612 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,640 let go of. Maybe there's some things you 613 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,760 need to trust Him for. Maybe there's some things you 614 00:37:55,760 --> 00:38:00,840 need to ask Him to change in order for love to be Your one 615 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:04,400 word. Heavenly Father, I want to ask 616 00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:09,360 right now that as we respond to You, as we've been instructed 617 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:13,160 from Your word on how we should live towards one another, 618 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,960 Father, that love truly would be the description of our lives. 619 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,400 I pray Lord, that the world would see something so different 620 00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:25,240 and so supernatural in US. They know they can't explain it 621 00:38:25,240 --> 00:38:29,120 outside of Jesus Christ. God, I pray that you, we as your 622 00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:32,960 church, would be raised up. That we would stand up, that we 623 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:36,840 would love, that we would share, that we would show and shine no 624 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:39,600 matter what, even if the world hates in return. 625 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:42,960 That we would consider ourselves blessed knowing that Father, 626 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:47,160 this is how you plan to use us, even if we're not loved back as 627 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:49,040 you were not loved back, but put on the cross. 628 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:53,040 Lord Jesus, help us to take up our cross to love as you loved 629 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:58,560 so the world can see there's a God who loves them so that we 630 00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:00,760 can be difference makers for all of eternity. 631 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:03,600 God, if someone needs to receive your love today for the first 632 00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:05,960 time, would they be bold enough to step out from where they are 633 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:09,640 and come tell me and let them go from death to life today? 634 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:12,360 In Jesus name I pray, Amen. Would you stand with me, church 635 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:12,800 family?