1 Corinthians Chapter 13:1-3

So the Bible breaks it all down. And it's interesting how we like to emphasize different parts of the Bible. But the overarching, most important aspect of the Bible is what? Is it theology?

No. Jesus said all the law and the prophets. And I'm not saying theology is bad. I'm all about communicating the truths of the Bible. But I can know all about the Bible, and if I don't have love, it does not matter. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Coorsville, North Carolina. In our walk with Christ, what matters most is that we love. Find out how to love each other rightly today as Pastor David continues in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Before we join Pastor David, we want to let you know about an outreach opportunity that could bring hope to countless prisoners. This month, Cross the Bridge is teaming with men and women like yourself in order to provide Pastor David's devotional book, Cross the Bridge Every Day, to inmates. When you call today and help support the ministry with a gift of $25 or more, we'll send you a book and also provide one to a prisoner in need. To take part in this important outreach, call 877-458-5508. That's 877-458-5508.

Or go online to crossthebridge.com. Now here's David McGee with part two of his teaching for the love of God. 1 Corinthians 12 was talking about the gifts.

And it's interesting because Paul, he's speaking to this church at Corinth. It's a great book because it's written to a church on how to be a church. So here's this book for us. It's a book about how to be a church and we can take it and know how to do it. He goes over these gifts.

In chapter 14, he's going to be talking about how to use these gifts. And right in the middle is 1 Corinthians 13. Paul's dealing with all these problems in this church at Corinth. Division, there's abusing spiritual gifts, there's pride over spiritual gifts, there's all these things. And right in the middle of it, Paul says here's the answer. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse one says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels that have not love, might become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

So all this stuff that's going on in the Corinthian church, Paul says this is the answer, love. All the problems, all the divisions, all the disputes, love. And I'm telling you, gang, you can get everything else right in your life, but you get this one wrong. Life is not gonna be what God has designed and planned for your life to be. And you're gonna be empty and you're gonna be alone.

Because no matter what you achieve or what you do or accomplish or you accumulate, if you don't have somebody that you love to share them with, it's gonna be empty. And let's understand too, sitting here we're talking about love, nobody here does it perfectly. You don't do it perfectly, I don't do it perfectly.

But everybody can do it better. You know, teaching the Bible, it really is, it's fairly difficult. Think of what I'm trying to define to you. I am trying to define and communicate God. I'm trying to define and communicate love.

And I can take this chapter and make a few brush strokes of a painting at best. But how do you define somebody that's blind that's never seen a rose, how would you describe it? But this is chapter and so we're gonna try to get a picture of what love is and also what love is not. And let's understand, love in the truest sense, doesn't originate with us, it originates with him. Now this is really important, why? Because if you're not walking with God and you don't recognize God and you're not a spiritual person, you look at love and that's something that you need to work up and you need to manifest. That's scary.

Why? Because all of us look at it and go, well I can't do that. For Christians who recognize God, they say, okay, you've got it, give it to me, I'll give it to other people. So you don't have to drum up love, you simply have to as a vessel be more open to God, more open to his Holy Spirit. We've been talking in chapter 12, God fill us with your Holy Spirit. And then we read in the Bible that the fruit of the Spirit is love.

Well guess what? When you ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, guess what you're also asking? God fill me with your love. The baptism of love. That's one of the ways you can tell if somebody's been filled with Spirit, not just spiritual calisthenics and gifts and stuff, but if they're walking in the love of God, they're filled with the Spirit.

And if they're not, chances are that maybe they're not. 1 John says we love him because he first loved us. 1 John chapter four verse 19 says we love him because he first loved us.

It originated with him. He's the originator of love. This is what love looks like. And we can look to the life of Jesus, see what love looks like. How's love act?

How's love talk? Psalm 136 one says, oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good. In the New King James, it says for his mercy endures forever. The King James says, oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. In the New Living translation though, it says I give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his faithful love endures forever.

And other versions support more of that translation. New American Standard, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. American Standard, oh give thanks unto Jehovah for he is good, for his loving kindness endureth forever. Or the NIV, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever. Amplified, oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy and loving kindness endure forever. So we need to start from that place to understand that God's unconditional, unending, unchanging love has been put out there for you.

You may have been heard as a person by people saying it's one of the most painful things that you can ever hear. I don't love you anymore. God will never say that to you. God will never say that to you. Some of you are walking around waiting for that shoe to drop. Maybe an ex-husband, an ex-wife, maybe a mother, a father has said that to you.

And when that happens in life, we begin to look for it to happen other places. If your father said that to you, then you're waiting for God to say it to you. God's not ever going to say it.

That changes everything. But you can walk around knowing you have the unchanging, unconditional love of God. In the Bible, when we study the Bible, there's what's called the law of first mention. What that is, is the first time a word occurs in the Bible, it's given more weight, more significance, more prominence. We can learn something, goes the theory of the law of first mention. It's very interesting to me that there's several words that occur for the first time in Genesis 22, when Abraham was called upon to sacrifice Isaac upon the mountain. It's the first mention of love, first mention of worship, first mention of test, first mention of the word obey. Genesis chapter 22 verse two says, then he said, take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Critics of Christianity, of course, talk about this. How could a God ask for a father to do something like this?

In their rejection of Christianity, they don't realize that this is something that God himself has already done and gave his son. You're listening to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. We'll be back to the teaching in just a moment. This month, we're focusing on prison ministry, and I have the chance to sit down with Pastor David. Pastor, what is Cross the Bridge prison ministry all about?

Cross the Bridge prison ministry is consistent with Cross the Bridge itself. We believe that we need to share an effective presentation of the gospel, to invite people to have a relationship with the Lord, and then for those who do have a relationship with the Lord, that we would teach them the word of God, to equip them to walk in that life, that abundant life that Jesus talks about. Pastor, how are lives being affected by Cross the Bridge? You know, I get letters every week from prisoners who've been saved, who've been touched, whose lives have been changed, because we've partnered together to reach them. And we're seeing and hearing salvations every week. We're hearing about them making good decisions about becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. We're hearing of families being reunited and restored and healed.

Thank you for sharing, Pastor. If you're listening and agree with David about our need to help those in prison, we would love to hear from you. You can call 877-458-5508. That's 877-458-5508. And when you give $25 or more, we'll send you a copy of Cross the Bridge every day. Not only that, but we'll match your gift by sending another copy of David's devotional to an inmate in need. Also, your gift of $200 or more will provide a case of 10 books that will be used to help change lives for eternity. Again, that number is 877-458-5508.

Or go online to crossthebridge.com. Now let's return to Pastor David's teaching. Verse 2 says, 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 am nothing. I don't matter. One of our other jobs is to be significant. And I think that's something God put in us.

This is not psychobabble. God put in us to make a difference in our world. We use the word world changer, kingdom builder. God put that in you. And if you're not about changing the world and building the kingdom, you'll be frustrated.

You'll have no sense of commitment, accomplishment, purpose, all these things. But even if you are a kingdom builder and a world changer, if you don't have love, you're nothing. So the Bible breaks it all down. And it's interesting how we like to emphasize different parts of the Bible. But the overarching most important aspect of the Bible is what? Is it theology?

No. Jesus said all the law and the prophets. And I'm not saying theology is bad. I'm all about communicating the truths of the Bible. You can't isolate my statement like that.

It's not fair. But I can know all about the Bible. And if I don't have love, it does not matter. Life lesson here is what matters most is that we love and anyone can love. What matters most is that we love and anyone can love. When I start talking about love, I understand. What happens is we begin to think about, well, I can't do that.

And the reason I can't do that is because of this. Because I've been hurt. You should have known my first wife or my first husband or you just wouldn't believe what my dad did to me. You just wouldn't believe what my mom did to me. Look, you know what? It's a fallen human race.

Welcome to it. Bad things happen. But God never tells us to do anything that we're not able to do. When God tells us to do something, with that is this equipping and this power to be able to do that. And you see that example in Jesus looking at a blind person saying, see. Well, a person's blind. That means he can't see. Why would Jesus tell a blind person to see?

That's impossible. Because when Jesus says it, it becomes possible. Jesus looked to a lame person and said, get up and walk.

Now we were romanticized and go, oh, wouldn't it have been awesome to be there? Do you realize had we been standing there, we would have thought that is not nice. That man just told that lame man to get up and walk. That is so mean. But Jesus finally said it.

It became possible. When Jesus tells you to love, guess what? It's possible for you to love. Jesus said to a dead man, get out of your grave. Now you may have some excuses on why you can't love, but there are that.

There are excuses. Because God, in telling you to love, makes it possible for you to love. So any of us can do. In 1 John 4.19, we love Him because He first loved us. God is the initiator. And so one of the first things the Bible talks about, love God. Love God.

You know what? Loving God is pretty easy, isn't it? I mean, once you realize who God is and what He's done for you and what He wants to do for you now and what He wants to do for you in the future, love God, it's like, yeah, I can do that. I can love God. God's pretty lovable. He manifests love. He is the personification of love. God's the initiator of love.

And yet we struggle from time to time. Deuteronomy chapter six, verse five. Jesus didn't come up with love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. A lot of people think, well, that's something Jesus said. Jesus was quoting the Hebrew Scriptures. Now in a way, Jesus is the Word of God, so He did come up with that. But Deuteronomy six, five says, you should have loved the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

All your heart emotionally, all your soul. Now there is kind of the psyche is another word for soul and mind and all your strength. As a matter of fact, this verse, it's contained in what we call the Shema. The Shema, and we use that word because that's the Hebrew word for here. Shema Yisrael, Elohim Yahweh, Elohim Ahad. That is here, O Israel, the Lord our God.

The Lord is one. And so even in the Hebrew Scriptures, we got a picture of the Trinity because Elohim is a plural word. But Deuteronomy six, verse four and five says, here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. As a matter of fact, I'll go through the whole Shema, which is Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four through nine.

Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and these words, which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit down and when you rise by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. Have you ever seen a Jewish person kind of wrap up leather straps around their hand or around their head is from these verses, remembering God loves them and their love of God. So there were reminded what? Love God and love people.

This is basic stuff, but you know, it's the basic stuff that we get messed up on. Leviticus chapter 19, verse 34 says, the stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you and you shall love him as yourself. For you are strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19, chapter 19, verse 18. The Bible says you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbors yourself.

I am the Lord. So our knowledge of God and our knowledge of the Bible should lead us to what? To a deeper love of God, a deeper love of people. Not to realize how messed up other people are, but let's recognize that that is an indeed, that is a danger, that is a risk. Is it such a risk that we shouldn't dig into the word of God? No, but we need to understand, you know, because apologists, those are people who defend the Christian faith and they, and I'm kind of torn sometimes on the ministry.

I think it's needed to a certain degree, but what I've noticed is sometimes apologists can get really spiteful and really kind of almost hateful and they always got to figure out what's their next group to attack. Be careful with that. So it's interesting, you know, Jesus said love your neighbor and then somebody said, well, who's my neighbor? Is that the guy to the left of me or is that the guy to the right of me or the guy that lives in front of me? Who's my neighbor? I want to target that guy so I make sure I love him. At one time I did this, love my neighbor, I had it down so well.

I was doing it so well. I was on the road 10 and a half months out of the year, 10 and a half months out of the year, so I love my neighbors because I wasn't there. But when they asked Jesus that is when he told the parable of the good Samaritan.

The Samaritans and the Jews hated each other, hated each other. Who's my neighbor? It's the guy you hate. Oh, I got to love him, oh yeah. Exodus chapter 21 verse five says, but if the servant plainly says I love my master, my wife, my children, I will not go out free. If you've got your ear pierced you're going to love this verse. Then his master shall bring into the judges, he shall also bring him to the door and to the doorpost and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl and he shall serve him forever. Do you understand that this guy, you would have the opportunity to be set free but you could say, you know what, I love my master and I want to serve him for the rest of my life. And to signify that you would stand in front of the door, they would take an awl, they put a hole in your ear and they'd put an earring in your ear and that marked you as a love servant or love slave to your master. It's interesting to me because so many people like to pick on guys with earrings. When there's a scriptural example of why a guy should maybe have an earring. If you're under 18, you are under the authority of your father or your mother. You can't just do that and say, oh God, yeah, Pastor David, no, he didn't.

No, he didn't. But just remember that next time you're getting freaked out about somebody having an earring. It's interesting stuff we get freaked out about. First Corinthians chapter eight, verse one says, now regarding your question about food that's been offered to idols, yes, we know that all, we all have knowledge about this issue but while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. Let me tell you something, one of my goal is to make sure that y'all are the best fed, that you really know the Bible, but also that you're the most loved people in any church anywhere. Amen. Those two things are important because as you learn the Bible, you can begin to separate from this love issue.

Don't do it. The solution is to have both. And let's understand, we talk about growing, we talk about doing better, we talk about being more like God. Love is the issue.

It's the issue. Verse three says, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. You can spiritually do everything right, religiously do everything right, but if you don't have love, it's nothing. It's the final love life lesson is love is the perfection of human character. Love is the perfection of human character. It's not morality. It's not being religious. It's love.

It's love. All these other things that Paul's mentioning here, they're good things. If you really understand the mysteries of the Bible, that's a good thing. If you give to the poor, that's a good thing.

It says in the Bible, if you give to the poor, it's like loaning to the Lord and He will repay you. That's what the Bible says. So it's a good thing. But imagine these good things being like a zero, okay? And you can line up a bunch of zeros by doing a lot of good things, but they don't mean anything until you love. And loving is like putting a one at the beginning of all those zeros. Love gives the zeros meanings. And some of you have been so wounded, it's hard for you to hear this because you've known the pain, you've known the pain of being left alone, of being left alone at the altar, of being left alone at the hospital, of being left alone in life, being left alone with an empty bed, an empty house.

It's hard for you to hear what I'm saying. But hear heaven's answer, that God is love. And people, we hurt each other, we do.

It's one of the sad things about life, that God loves. And one of the most important verses in the Bible, some call it the hope diamond of the Bible, is John chapter three, verse 16. And what does this all-important verse talk about?

Does it talk about rules and regulations? Does it talk about how many times you need to go to church or what you should give or how moralistic you should be? No, that verse simply says what? It says, for God, so loved the world. It talks about what? It talks about love. For God, so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

This is the whole thing, boiled down to that. For God, so loved, so loved you, that he wants to forgive you and fill you with love, give you more love than you've ever imagined. Listen to heaven's answer to all the problems and the frictions and the fractions and the divisions in your life.

We cry out, I want to be loved. And God cries out, I do. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven, you've been born again. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him. And he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. God is using Cross the Bridge to impact lives across our country, including the lives of those currently serving time in our nation's prisons. While materials provided by Muslim organizations continue to increase within our prisons, our distribution of Pastor David's book, Cross the Bridge Every Day, has been making a significant impact for Jesus with prisoners. And you can help continue that outreach by calling today. When you call today with a gift of $25 or more, we will send you David McGee's devotional book and then match your gift by sending a copy to a prisoner in need. And if you are able to give a gift of $200 or more, we will send a case of 10 books to inmates who are without hope. Help us reach those in prison. Call today at 877-458-5508. That's 877-458-5508. Or go online to crossthebridge.com. Your gift is changing lives. Thanks again for listening. We hope you'll join us next time as we continue to Cross the Bridge.