Ah Ooh, ooh, ooh. Ooh, la la la la la la la la la Hallelujah. God ruler of the universe, you are. There is There's no one like you, God giver of the deepest dreams you are. There is no one like you.
God think of what tremendous thoughts you are Thinking for God Royal, holy, true you are. And there is no one like you. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Welcome to Love Never Fails. In these last days, revival will come.
but begins with our individual walk and personal relationship with Jesus. Let's join Brother John now.
Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We're so glad you're with us. This is Brother John. You're listening to Love Never Fails. And uh I hope you enjoy the show today.
We're going to be examining love. What is love? How does love act? Uh probably The greatest frustration that I've had In traveling and teaching the word and trying to help people is. That nobody, it seems, I shouldn't say nobody, but it seems like people just don't understand what love is.
We all have this idea and this concept, and I did for a long time, that love is kindness, that you treat people kindly, that you you're polite and and you hold the door open and you whatever, you know, and it's like, hello. When I started studying love, I went, wait a second, those are all things that may come out of love, but they are not love. Love is something so different and so much higher and and and broader and just well, love is eternal. And and you hear us talking about it all the time. But How does love look?
In a day-to-day life, how does it look out there when you're doing your thing on a daily basis? How can you look at it and go, okay, am I walking in love or am I just, you know, faking it? Or do do I need even not even know? I mean, what is love? And So what I want to do today is I want to talk to you.
Uh, about love and how you can examine your own life and say, Hey, yes, I'm walking in that, or I'm not walking it. Wait, I am walking in that part, but not over here. And how can I improve? Because if you've listened to this show at all, you know that I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt. That love Is the key to the kingdom.
Love is, according to John, in 1 John, the acid, we call it the acid test of the believer. Love is the proof. that you are born again. Not just kindness, not peacefulness, not just self-control, not discipline, not success. All of those things will come As you work on love, but they are not the End all be all.
of of becoming love. One of the things we've we've spent entire episodes talking about is Romans chapter 13, verses 8, 9, and 10. It says, Therefore agape is the fulfilling of the law, or agapeo is the fulfilling of the law. Then in verse 10, he says, Therefore, agape is the fulfilling of the law because agape does no ill to his neighbor.
So what he's saying in verse 9. Verse 8 is that when you start to practice love, the agapa-heo, Which is a lot of what we're going to be looking at today, then what happens is there's a transformation in your life, a growth in your life, a change in your life to where you are not the same person anymore. You've changed, you've matured, you've Grown into what God created you to be, which was love, agape. When God first created man, he created man in his image. And John tells us that God is agape.
God is love.
So God created us originally in that image. When man chose to eat of the apple, and Jesus himself said, if you love me, you'll obey me.
So if you can't obey God, you're demonstrating that you don't love God.
Well, that's why they call it the great deception because they were deceived. Because the first thing that came out of the devil's mouth is, you'll be like God.
Well, the thing is, they already were created in the image of God. You and I were born into this natural world. And so we were born into the sinful, fallen man nature world. We were raised in it. It influenced us.
It taught us and trained us. turned us into what we are. But when we become born again, Romans 5, 8, Romans chapter 5, just study Romans chapter 5, the first several verses. It says that when we confess Jesus as Lord, that he drops within us a measure, a seed, a portion of himself, his love. It's like a seed.
And you see this throughout the scriptures, where this seed has been placed in your heart. And then it becomes up to you and I to fertilize and nurture this thing. God causes it to grow, but it's our job and responsibility to pursue it. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 1, he says, therefore make this the greatest quest of your life. What is it?
Well, in most versions, when you read it, it'll say, therefore, follow after love. And when you study that out in the original language, what he's really saying is: make love the greatest quest, your great adventure in life.
So, our pursuit is not to just be to just get a fire insurance policy and we get up from the altar and say, Praise God, I'm a Christian. No, you're not.
Well, you might be in a religious sense, you might have fire insurance, and at that moment, yes, you're going to heaven, but day by day and hour by hour, moment by moment, things change. And you know, you cannot leave that altar. Convinced that you're a Christian and then go out and act the way you were, whatever it is, doing the things that you used to do. Because God then requires a change from us when we become, we say, Jesus, be my Lord. He says, Well, if I'm going to be your Lord, then you've got to do things according to my kingdom.
That's literally how it works. If you say, Jesus be my Lord, he says, Come on in, you get free entrance into the family. Welcome to the family. Listen, these are the rules of the house. These are the rules.
of the kingdom And Jesus himself said in John 13:34, that by this men will know that you are my children, my disciples, my followers. What is it?
Love. And he used the word agape. Then he goes on to say, Therefore, love one another even as I have loved you. When Jesus gave us, and he said, Today I give unto you a new command. In the original language, what he actually says, Today I renew with you the original command.
Eternal Command. Because the original command that was given to Adam Was love, agape. The reason there was an issue between Cain and Abel is because one was walking in love and one was not. Because when you walk in love, you will serve, you will be righteous, you will all these things that you desire, when you fall in love with God, when you give your life over to the love nature of God, all of these things become part of you. All the things that you hear everybody teach, well, you need to be holy, you need to be consecrated, you need.
And I used to be one of those Christians that would be flustered by, well, how do I get that in my life? How do I become this holy guy? How do I become this sanctified, this consecrated guy? How do I become. What pleases God?
How do I even walk in faith? How do I know? My faith. is working. And as I would study and I'd cry out to God, and I was neurotic at a point because every Sunday and every Wednesday, you can go hear a preacher teach something else, and you walk away going, I've got to live like that.
I've got to live like that. And every week, the goalpost moves. And so, because the goalpost is constantly moving, how can you? Ever reach the end zone? How can you ever get on that path where?
Your faith works. Your prayers get answered. How many of you out there have read and you've heard me teach on it? You can go through the word of God and find. Multitudes of promises.
If this, if that, then I will this, I will that. And if you will take the time to study those things, you'll go, wait. Those are all about love because you see, well, it's about faith, Brother John.
Well, that's true, but how does faith work?
Well, Brother John, it's the fruit of the Spirit.
Okay, what is the fruit of the Spirit? It is first and foremost love. The fruit of the Spirit is love, all singular, even in the original language, all singular. The the problem is the translators left out the proper uh Not pronunciation. I don't know why.
The proper uh Should have been a semicolon in there. I can't even. Punctuation. I can't. Oh.
So, when we talk about walking in love, we're talking about walking in the nature and the image of God. That is what we are to become. And the Bible is full of people who have that great expectation, who are saying, I want to be there. I want that. And it even says in Romans that all of creation waits with eager expectation.
For the sons of God to be revealed, what are the sons of God? The sons of God are the sons of love. The family of God is a family of love. And and You know, you go to church, you go to work, you go wherever it is, and there will be people screaming and yelling about being a Christian. But they don't walk in love.
They have no desire to walk in love. It's like there's not even a try. But yet the Bible is very clear that this is the secret. If you just were to read the red letters in your Bible. The words of Jesus.
Just read the words of Jesus. Everything is rooted and grounded in love. Paul in the Ephesians prayer says, I pray therefore that you be rooted and grounded in love. Why?
So you no longer be swayed back and forth by the cunning teachings of men and all of their deceiving doctrines. Are you being buffeted? Are you being tossed around like a like a small ship in an angry storm? Are you constantly are you going from glory to glory? Are you going from mess to mess?
Are you buffeted on every side? It's like every turn you make. Bam bam bam I know personally people like that. And listen, I'd love to share in the excuse that it's the devil, but most of the time. It's it's us.
There are not that many demons. There are not that many devils. There's only one devil, and he cannot be everywhere at one time. And we spend an awful lot of time blaming things on demons and devils when in reality it's us. It's ourselves.
Oh, he may come around. They may come around. They may. Get an assignment against a person. But for the most part, we are in the condition and the state that we're in.
And we are where we are at because of decisions we've made, choices we've made day by day by day. And the number one area that I see when people say, I need help, can you help me? Can we talk? It is the love walk. Or they are neurotic.
because of the things they've been taught and the goalposts get moved every week, so they become flustered and frustrated. And they don't understand what the end game of Christianity is because they don't know what the end game is. And the goalposts constantly keep moving. Every Sunday or every Wednesday. They're flustered.
And so they end up living these powerless We Christian lives. The power of the kingdom Is in love. The glory of the kingdom is in love. I could sit here, we could do a teaching on the Shekinah glory. And I can demonstrate for every one of you that the Shekinah glory is the manifest presence of God who is love.
It is love, it is the manifest presence of agape. Every angle you look at in the Word of God, whatever it may be. It boils down to love. He may display it in different ways. He may bring it about in different ways.
It may come out of you differently than it comes out of me. But love is love, is love. You can't, when you see it, experience it, and live it, you can't deny it. It can't be denied. It can't be held back.
You know, many times we've talked about how God says He'll remove your sin as far as the east is from the West. And I love that because he also says, you know, the thing about the East from the West is you never reach the end of either one of those. But then he also says that you may know the length and the breadth and the depth and the height of the love of God, which you can never reach the end of those. It's as if when we said, Jesus be my Lord, and he drops that seed in your life, he already pushes that sin as far as the east is from the west. What pushes it out?
His love. He puts his love there, he puts his presence there. Then the question is: who's nurturing that in you? Who's helping you develop that? Who's helping you bring that out?
In your life.
Well, we have the Holy Spirit. And as we learn to walk in love and grow in love, we will begin to hear from the Holy Spirit. We'll begin to learn from the Holy Spirit. Because he is the Holy Spirit of love. He will never ask you to do something apart from the law of love.
Love is the driving force. of everything in the kingdom of God.
So then why would we not want to make it the driving force of everything in our lives? People will abuse you, people will lie about you, people will throw you under the bus. I'm going to read to you today an expanded translation that I love. of 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 through 8. It's the chapter of love.
And as I read this to you, I can tell you that I'm not perfect. I in no way am living up to this standard of love yet. I'm trying. I'm working towards it day by day. And I can tell you that there are people in my lives, in my life, who are completely opposite.
of what's in this. And they challenge me. They they press press and push and and it's it's almost and honestly, it's as if they want me to step out of the love walk so they can rejoice and then go, oh, look, Look, look, he's not what he said he is. Literally, that's how some of these people are. in my life.
And when you choose to walk in love, Jesus himself said they're going to hate you, they're going to despitefully use you, they will take and take and take and take from you. And then they'll throw words back in your face to manipulate, paint the picture, do whatever it is in order to preserve their taking. To preserve their lives, their opinions, and their methods of doing things. And as a child of love, you've got to walk that path. You've got to walk that path until you hear from God about exactly what to do.
Many times people will say, oh, they'll walk in love. He'll walk in love. As they're abusing you and lying about you and throwing you under the bus, they're they're it it it's many times it's like these people were sent to destroy you. And then they'll throw that in your face. Love, love, love, love.
And you have to love.
Now, you might say, well, Brother John, where's the limit? I say, well, one, I would tell you that you need to be rooted in grounded love and learn how to listen to the Holy Spirit, and that we are not required to stick our hands in a wool's mouth. We are not required to entertain those people. And, you know, John tells us very carefully in 1 John, and you need to study this, but he tells us you do not. Need Jude tells us too: you do not need to keep them around, you don't even have to wish them godspeed.
Get them out. Throw them out. You don't have to do it. I know of people who were so manipulative and so deceiving, they wanted their thing. And their thing would either be taking over what you've done, taking away from what you've done.
They want your position in life. And they will come after you with all sorts of things. But they'll treat you differently than they'll treat everybody else. To your face they'll treat you one way. But they'll treat everybody else completely different.
And I wish I could tell you that it's out of true respect, but it's not. It's a motivation of people's hearts. Not everybody, but these types of people, it is a motivation of these evil wolf people to destroy you. Oh, they may not lay in bed thinking about how to destroy you, but what it is is they're so selfish and self-centered. And then they put you on a pedestal and say, I want that, and they'll do anything and everything they can to take it from you, not realizing that while they're d trying to destroy you, they're destroying their own dream.
Yeah. They're destroying. what it is they say they want. And it's just pure selfishness. Maybe I should say it's pure evil.
But there's a way out of it. Mm-hmm. You know, you and I, as we walk in love, we can be protected from a lot of these things. The Holy Spirit will give us wisdom. He'll say, Hey, watch out.
And there's signs. There's signs that you'll get used to. You'll see and go, Oh, I've seen this before. And and and then you Can make A wise decision. I had one of my.
Mentors say to me years ago, I was just frustrated because we were doing everything right. And just not getting any headway. And he said to me, He said, John, uh, I don't need a word of wisdom. or to be led by the Holy Spirit to tell you this. And he told me something about somebody that was absolutely true.
And he said, it's just years of wisdom. It's years of dealing with people that he said, I see the signs. I see it. And when we read today this scripture from John, I mean, from 1 Corinthians 13, one, let's do two things. One, I want you to examine your life.
And listen, you've got to go deep. You've got to say, hey, I need to work on that. I need to quit doing that. And that's what I had to do, one by one by one. Yeah.
Then the other thing is, think about people who do these things. And I'm not telling you to think about these people so you can call them out. I'm not saying you look at these things and be observant. You know, one of the things I always think is a sad scenario is, and I saw somebody written an article, and they had said, oh, these kind of people are this way, that way, this way, this way. And somebody had said in response, and if you were reading that, And all you could ever think about were other people, then you're probably that person.
When we read these things and we say, oh, and all you do is think about others and not reflect on yourself, you're in danger. Because what you're doing is you're protecting your own hide from yourself and from the Spirit of God by deferring off to other people.
So, I am in no way, shape, or form encouraging you to use what I'm going to share with you today to go out and try to coerce and correct people. That is not your place. Your place is to correct you. But as we read these things, you will Identify some people. You'll see things, and people go, Oh my gosh.
I mean, you'll read this and just think about politicians. You know, I've had people come to me, oh, brother John, you should run for office. And I go, I can't. Why?
It's completely opposite of walking in love.
Well, you can walk in love and be a politician. Great. That's not me. Yeah. I think there are probably some very godly men and women in politics.
But the the polit the political system in this world is not set up for godly men and women to prosper. It destroys them. Or tries to destroy them. And so, as we read this today, take a look at these verses as we talk about them and identify them. Put them up to yourself.
You know, James talks about the word being the mirror. Yeah. And as we read these today, use it to mirror your life. Don't Get caught up in your own hype. Don't get caught up in your own glory.
Look at these verses. and identify These things in yourself, not in your spouse, not in your kids, your family, your co-workers. Those things may come up, and maybe some of this you'll go, Wow, I know a guy that does the completely opposite of all of this. I have a couple of these people in my life right now that are completely opposite of what I'm about to read to you. And I haven't kicked them out of my life, I haven't shut the door on them because I'm praying for them and I'm believing God that they're going to learn and that they're going to change.
Why?
Because it's not about protecting me, it's about helping them get into the kingdom of God, it's about helping them get saved, it's about helping them become what God wants them to be. But if you're one of these hard-headed people that can't listen to others. Then a lot of this today is going to bounce off of you. If you're all about your religion and your denomination, a lot of this is going to bounce off of you today. And it may even offend some of you.
Because today's culture allows a lot of this stuff. accepts it. But you know, a lie is a lie, is a lie. A white lie is a lie. I don't care what you label it, it's a lie.
And so What I want to do first is, I want to read this. To you. Out of the King James. And As we read this Just listen, and then what we're going to do is we're going to come back and basically break it down. into an interpretation.
of what these verses mean. And I'm in uh You know, 2 Corinthians 13, one of it says is: examine yourself to see if you're in the faith. That's what we're doing today. Let's examine ourselves according to the standard. and see if we are in the faith.
So I'm going to start with chapter 13. Though I speak in the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I have become a resounding brass or tinkling cymbal. and though I have all the gifts of prophecy and understanding of mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could move mountains, I love how Paul refers to things that Jesus said. And have not love, I am nothing. Paul's saying right there: if you don't have love, you're nothing.
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. Love suffers long and is kind love envies not it love vaunteth not itself it is not puffed up it does not behave unseemingly, seeing not her own, or seeketh not its own it is not easily provoked, and thinketh no evil. Rejoicing not in iniquity, but rejoicing in the truth. Beareth up under all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things. Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they shall fail. They shall fail. And where there are tongues, they will also cease. And where there is knowledge, it will vanish away. Why?
Because all of this, all of that is second, that's that's fleshly stuff. Prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are all things that we need in this second In this fallen man world, in this physical world, and they're keys or doorways into the spiritual realm, you could say. They're products that come through us out of the spiritual realm. But when we become eternal spirit-living creatures and everything else around us passes away, so will all of that. For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
But when we do that which is when but when that which is perfect come, then that which is in part shall be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood like a child, I thought like a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. He's telling you to become a man, to become. A spiritual man, you've got to put away that old nature, that old childish way.
For now, though we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face, for I know in part, but I shall know even as I am known. And abideth now these three: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. And I'm going to read verse 14, or the first one of verse 14. Follow after love and desire spiritual gifts, and rather that you may prophesy.
In the Amplified Bible, it says in verse 14 there: make love your greatest quest, your most important journey.
So let's go back up to chapter thirte chapter thirteen, verse one. Though I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, and have I become but a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. You know, Denominations have broken up over tongues, speaking in tongues, and all of that. And there's two ways to look at this.
Well, you don't need to speak in tongues, you don't need to have the voice of angels.
Well, that's not what he's saying here. And he's also not saying if you don't speak in tongues or you don't speak in the tongues of angels, you don't have that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is that if you don't have love and you do, and whether you don't do these things, you're missing it. You're missing it. The point here is not the tongues.
The point here is not the tongues of angels or prophecy or whatever. The point here is, do you or do you not have love? He's speaking to so-called spiritual men. Who He's basically setting it all straight. He basically, we can even say this: listen, I don't care if you're a preacher, I don't care if you're the president of the United States or the prime minister of some great country, I don't care if you're poor, I don't care if you're rich, I don't care if you're beautiful or ugly, if you don't have love.
You don't have anything. He wrote this letter to this spiritual group of Christians, and he's basically coming right at them. with what they think their spirituality is all about. Outward things. But what he's saying is, it's not about the outward things.
It's not even about the product of the outward things. And even if it is a spiritual thing, like he said further down, we talked about where there are prophecies and all that, tongues, they will cease. All of it will cease. Why, we won't need all of that at some point. But the one thing that will remain when all of this world and all of the pomp and glamour and religion and everything disappears, there's one thing that will remain.
Love. Love. It doesn't matter how much you give, it doesn't matter how much you have, it doesn't matter how much you don't have. Spiritual wealth. Is not in prosperity of money or things.
Spiritual wealth is not in how many friends you have and how popular you are or how many Facebook likes you have. Spiritual wealth is not whether you live in a big house, a small house. Spiritual wealth and prosperity is in love. That's the end game. When everything in this world and everything around us passes away.
What will remain of you is the love. What will be there? Years ago, I'm getting sidetracked. Years ago, I I was in a room And there were a bunch of Christians in this room, presidents of the organization and preachers and I had been praying and fasting. for several weeks.
And as I walked into this room, I leaned up against the counter. And I and there was nobody behind me other than a wall. Uh I was looking forward. into the room and and into the rest of the through the doorway into the rest of the house. A cloud settled in the room.
This cloud as it settled in the room The physical bodies of the people disappeared. And these they're tall people, short people, fat people, pretty ugly people. Yeah. And they all they disappeared. and what was left was just their spirits.
And in that moment, I saw so many things about these people. I saw What they were hiding. I saw what they were ashamed of. I saw. It was like, I'm not going to describe the whole situation, but what was left was their spirit man.
People who were tall in the spirit were tiny. There's one person I remember just going, wow. This little tiny Lady Blonde-headed lady. Smallest person, probably, in that building. And she glowed and had such a glow about her.
I also saw things attached to these. Spirits. That that made me want to cry. And I knew the sin that they were participating in. And and as the spirit the cloud came buck back up out of the room and their physical bodies came back into view.
I started crying and I ran out of that room.
Okay. and I went to the back fence. Mm-hmm. And and I was leaning against the fence outside this building and Two other people came down. and started praying with me.
And when they both put a hand on one of my shoulders, one of them was this blonde lady, they both immediately saw what I saw. And the interesting thing is, is is not long after that I left and went on to my next place. But I heard Within weeks and months after that incident. Because I knew things now about those leaders. I knew things about those people.
Within weeks and months, things began to unravel. Things began to come. Out. That uh We're disappointing. And somebody asked me about it, and I said, I knew, but I had no platform, I had no invitation, no nothing.
So I carried that. There's still some things going on there that, you know, it's been years. There's still some of those people doing some of the things they're doing and what I saw that day.
Now I don't know, did those people repent, did they get their lives straight? And it wasn't everybody in that room. There were some people that just were it was amazing what I saw. All of this physical world stuff is going to pass away. And there's two ways out of it.
Either you hear when he comes. Or you die. And you cross over in a twinkling of an eye. The question is, is When you get there Are you going to start? Learning then?
I mean, I don't know about anyone else, but I have this desire. To reach Deep into the spiritual things and deep into the nature and presence of God, and become what I read about in the Word that the world is waiting for. It may not be me, but I'm not going to not try if it's not me. I'm still going to try, and I'm going to teach and motivate others to reach that goal. that all of creation is waiting for.
that those who know their God will do exploits. This is the ancient path, and this fleshly world we live in, and all of the byproduct of it. will pass away, including most of what we consider good religion. A lot of it will pass away. It won't be necessary.
So, a lot of these gifts of the Spirit. A lot of these miracles, there's not going to be a need for miracles in heaven. There's not going to be a need for prosperity in heaven. There's not going to be a need for any of that in the millennial reign. All of that is stuff that was created after the fall of man.
The spiritual gifts were given to help restore people to what man had lost in the garden. The goal of religion. is it should not be Wealth and just, you know. I'm going to step on toes, but the goal of religion should be to get people. Back to where we were in the garden with Adam.
in the image that God created us to be. But you and I have to come to the place where we realize that all of this is temporal. And at this desire to walk in love becomes our greatest pursuit, our greatest desire in life. Let me read t some more to you.
Okay. Keep in mind everything is good gonna pass away. And though I'm uh uh if I have all faith, that I could move mountains. But have not love. I am nothing You want to be something?
Become love I mean, he doesn't even give you an option out there. There's no, well, except for this. There's no other. If you have not love, you are. Nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but I have not love, it profits me nothing. What is your religion push you to do. If you don't have love, you still have nothing. Love suffers long. Love suffers long.
Love is long suffering. You could also say it this way, Love patiently and passionately bears with others as long as patience is needed. Too often. We want to throw people under the bus and kick them out of our sanctuaries and our lives. Because they don't look like us, they don't act like us, they don't talk like us, things that really don't matter, just outward things.
Maybe they're homeless, and maybe they were a drug addict, or maybe they are even a drug addict, and we don't have the patience for them, we don't want them around us. That's one thing, versus we mentioned this earlier: the wolf. The guy who's coming in and he's intent on destroying. There's a difference there. As long as somebody is coming and looking for help, and they're looking for a way out.
Our answer should not be to them: well, it's because you have sin in your life. Our answer should be: are you rooted and grounded in love? And then we stick with them. And and if they are du taking the steps necessary. then it there will be progress, there will be change.
I say this every day, probably. How we treat others matters. And in my life, what I've come to is. I've I've learned to never trust what people say to my face. But I watch how they treat others.
Take him to a restaurant. And do they, if their food comes out messed up, how do they act? Do they destroy the waitress and make such a huge deal that you're like, oh my gosh. I mean, I I I've actually told a waitress before, because I was paying for the meal, that I wanted the order to come out. Ross.
To test somebody. And I paid the waitress extra. I tipped her so well. I spoke with the manager. And I needed to know how this person would react.
And they did exactly which I unfortunately thought they would do. And you say, oh, you set him up. I said, no, all I did was reveal it. And I didn't even tell the only person that knew was the waitress and the manager. I never addressed it with that man, but it told me what I needed to know.
Hmm. told me what I needed to know. I don't have a problem being shrewd like that, especially when people are around and around and around and they're telling you everything you want to hear, but something's not sitting right. And you begin to get hear rumors, you begin to hear stories, you begin to hear little things here and there.
Okay, let's see how this works out. Let's see how this is going to. Let's let's put it to the test. Patience is long suffering, or love is long suffering and patient. But, folks, there's also a difference.
I would tell you that when it comes to issues of bodily harm. And you're getting into manipulation, you're getting into witchcraft. or any of those things that that patience If patience has run its course, then get out of there. But most of us are not that patient. Most of us are not that patient.
long suffering. What about that relative of yours? who just Won't get it right. You know, maybe they're not even uh you know I'll give you a good example of long suffering as your children. Our children mess up every day.
Do we throw them out? Our spouses, we love our spouse. Most people are married because of the uh how how their spouse satisfies their selfish needs. That's most of our society these days. But Are you long suffering towards your spouse?
Well, Brother John, if they don't, well.
Sometimes it's not them that needs to change, it's us. And how we treat those people around us. Maybe if for 20, 30, 40 years you've been treating people around you like dirt. Not walking in love. but yet you want them to love you when you need it.
You're going to end up lonely and by yourself. if not dead. 'Cause God does keep account of how we treat others.
Well, God I thought God He does. But every sin leads to death, and anything that is done out of love would be a sin. I can't believe you said that.
Well, think about it. Meditate on that. Actually, think about what I just said. Anything that is done apart from love, would it not be a sin? Because the sin is not based on what we call sin because it's popular in our society right now.
Anything, Jesus Himself said, if you love me, you will obey me. And what was the one command he gave us? That you love one another.
So if you don't love others, Would that not be considered a sin? Yeah. You know, often we want everybody to be patient with us. Not realizing how impatient we are with them. Why?
Because our second nature man, our fallen man that we were raised into. And we've lived for all these years and decades in. is selfish. I'll give you a good example in the Bible. After Jesus died on the cross, everything he went through dying on the cross.
The whippings, the beatings, the blood, the mocking, everything. came at him. He didn't quit. He was long suffering. Then, after he died on a cross and they buried him.
His disciples took off. Oh, they didn't scatter to the four winds. No. Yeah. They went to one place.
And they hid. Pure selfishness Everything Jesus had been teaching them and everything that had happened they were hiding. Their selfish natures had them hiding in a room full of fear. from the Romans and the and the and the Jewish leadership. Hiding in fear, protecting their themselves.
O me, oh my What are we gonna do? And then Jesus walks through the wall. Jesus didn't walk through the wall and like, oh me, oh my, look at my blood, look at the beard, look at the whips on my back, and look at the holes in my hand, look at what they did to me, oh me, oh my. No, Jesus walked in and said, peace. He loved them, Here they were hiding in pure selfish fear.
Going against everything that Jesus had taught. Give no thought to how they will treat you and what they'll do to you and what they'll say to you. He told them in John. This is what they're going to do. What did they do?
They protected themselves. They hid together in the upper room, looking at their wounds. Pure selfishness. All of them together. And then Jesus walks through the wall and says, There you are, peace.
He didn't walk in the room and go, Oh, look at me, look at me, look at me. He walks through the room and says, There you are. Peace Two different kinds of love. One And only one person That would be Jesus. was walking in love.
The rest were walking in phileo love, protect my self love, my selfish love, my impatient love, my non long suffering love. They were all about themselves. Oh, he could have walked through the wall like most modern day preachers and started to rebuke them and correct them. It is so easy to be critical of other people. And usually, when people are being critical, the next thing they want to do is correct you.
And it's so easy to pick other people's lives apart. Why?
Because we're not long-suffering. We don't have patience. We don't desire to see the end from the beginning. God's desire. Is that it's listen, we cannot do what Jesus did on the cross.
But we follow his example. He was long-suffering, he was patient. And we're going to get into some other attributes here in just a minute about what he was, but are you long-suffering? Are you patient? I am walking in love does not make you a doormat.
It does not make you a doormat. There isn't a time and a place where maybe there are situations where the Holy Spirit will say, don't do that, don't do that, don't react that way. I mean, that's really what happened when Jesus was being whipped and arrested and born on the cross. He knew the end game.
So he suffered through it. Not all of us are going to be that way. But there are things in your life that God is going to allow. And it's going to be a test of your love walk. And he'll release you when you can handle it.
when you can deal with it, or when you can walk away. Paul himself said, A messenger has been given to me.
So Paul was being tormented by this messenger, this demon. Probably following him around everywhere he went, this person just causing him. all sorts of issues. I mean, that's what Paul said it was. A messenger of Satan who was just buffeting him left and right.
And what did God say, my grace is sufficient for you? I mean Probably, if we really sat down and thought about it, this messenger was probably doing for Paul. what Paul had done to Christians. tormenting them and and and just causing them all sorts of problems. And this messenger was stirring up strife everywhere he went.
Why?
Well, God said my grace is sufficient.
Some of you, you have things you need to endure, and you need to learn how to endure them with patience. And you're mature enough that you've prayed about it and asked for relief, and God hasn't given it to you. then you need to exercise long suffering and patience. You've got to root and ground yourself in love and ask God, What do I need to do? What do I need to do?
There have been times that I had to keep my mouth shut for months. and endure certain things. Because the end game is not about me. The end game is about others. The end game is what, yes, it's what he wants to produce in me.
But where my me, my focus is not, okay, God, I want to be this, so let me do. No, my focus is, is why are these people in my life and why am I being called to endure and put up with them for this period of time? I mean, I've got somebody in my life that by all biblical standards is just completely evil. And I've prayed for release. I've prayed for deliverance.
And the Lord won't. won't release me yet. But he did reveal to me why.
Okay, thank you, Lord.
So now I understand the purpose behind this. And and it's not about that person, it's about people around him.
So, love is patient and long-suffering. We made it to one. Are you patient and long suffering? Let me read this again to you before we leave so that you. And I'm going to read it to you out of the Amplified Version.
So that you can meditate on this until the next episode. And so I'm going to so verse 4. Love endures long and is patient and kind. Love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, nor is boastful nor vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited, arrogant, and inflated with pride.
It is not rude, unmannerly, and does not act unbecomingly. Love, God's love in us, does not insist on its own rights or its own way. For it is not self-seeking, it is not touchy or fretful or resentful. It takes no account of the evil done to it, and it pays no attention to the suffered wrong. It does not rejoice in injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
Love bears up under anything and everything that comes. It is ever ready to believe the best of every person. Its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything without weakening. Love never fails, never fades out, or becomes obsolete or comes to an end. As for prophecy, the gift and interpreting and divine will and purpose, it will be fulfilled and pass away.
As for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away. It will lose its value and be superseded By truth. For our knowledge is fragmentary, incomplete, and imperfect, and our prophecy, our teaching is fragmented, incomplete, and imperfect.
So he's telling you folks. You know, if you're religious out there and you have these things going on in your ministry, great, but they'll pass away. What do people say about your character? What do people say about you where love is concerned? Are you a person in love?
Are you walking in love? Are you developing day by day this. person that you originally created to be. That all of creation is waiting with eager expectation. You want revival in your life.
You want revival in your community. You want revival in your state or your country. You become What all of creation is waiting for, and creation is waiting with an eager expectation for you and I to become love. That's what it's way. That's the end game, folks.
The last great revival is not going to be smoke and mirrors, it's going to be about love. Get on board. Begin to change. Begin to grow. Begin to come.
Become who God wants you to be. You don't need degrees and plottets and popularity and all these different things to become what God wants you to be. You just have to obey and walk in love. Begin to nourish and nurture the love seed that has been placed in you. Ask Jesus to be Lord of your life, and He will put that seed in there, and you'll become who you're supposed to become.
We love you. We appreciate you. We're so glad you're listening. Remember, Jesus loves people, and love never fails. Thank you for listening to Love Never Fails as we pursue revival.
Remember, Jesus loves people and love never fails. For more information on Love Never Fails and ministry events, please email us at love neverfails with brojohn at gmail.com. That's love never fails with B-R-O-J-O-H-N at gmail.com. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah
