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. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is Brother John. We're so glad you're listening today.
Going to be a good episode, I believe. I've been uh Just challenged and meditating. On this topic for a few days and kind of going in and out of scripture and just Trying to figure out how To even express this without just being a confusing ball of theology. But, um, Mm. Years ago, when the Lord started dealing with me about doing what we do in these days, one of the things I said to the Lord in prayer one night is: I said, Lord.
I can do it. I'll do it, but. If this is where we're going, you've got to show me or teach me how to be able to teach it to others. Because it does me no good to. Walk away to live a certain way, to even.
Reach a place. In my Christian walk, if I can't mentor and teach others to do it, I just don't see the sense in that. And maybe that's wrong, but that's just me. That has to do with what I'm called to do, what I was created to do. And so, my desire in all things is: how can I teach others?
How can I mentor others? We own a business and we have a number of people that work for us, and it's the beginning of the year.
So, one of the things I always do at the beginning of the year is I like to set a course and a direction. And I take people who maybe have been with us for a month or a few months or whatever, and I sit them down and I say, So, what are we going to do with you? What's the game plan? Where do you want to go? And then help them develop a An outline to get there.
And we give them goals and say, hey. If maybe you don't want to go to college, so how about we send you to this trade school or we send you to this and we go get that certification. We help you develop into becoming all that God wants you to be. And I'm not of the mentality that people come to us and they work for us and they help us make money, but then we never better them. We never help them actually get out of even needing us, to get out from under our umbrella, if you will.
I want people to succeed. I want them to go further and faster and better than I ever could. And people say, but John, that's not the way you run business. I said, no, but that's what God did. And that's what Christianity is supposed to do.
And I cannot separate my religion from the way I operate my business. I'm in total disagreement with people who will say, well, you know, there's church and then there's business. Or, well, that's business. You run business different than you run a church. I disagree with that.
The only thing that's really different, uh, Well, even then, as I start to say that, I go, no, that's not even right either. Because people say, well, churches shouldn't profit. No, churches shouldn't profit, but churches or individuals should profit and prosper so they can make money to proclaim the gospel. Businesses should prosper and profit so that they can help others. achieve that same freedom, that same place.
It's very different. The missions may be, it's very much the same, but the missions may be different. Does that make sense? I don't believe you can be shrewd in business and then walk into church and act like an angel. I don't believe that.
And what I mean by shrewd is a lot of people are not just shrewd, they're downright devious, they're downright deceptive, and they call it being shrewd. And I don't agree with that. I don't believe. As a Christian or somebody who walks with God, says they walk with God, or at least leads people to believe they walk with God, that. The way you operate your business should be any different than.
how you you know, how you operate At church. A good example, there's examples throughout the Word of God. King David. King David was first of all a child of God, but he, in most instances, he made mistakes, but he repented and he operated according to the kingdom of God. King Saul Proved that he didn't truly know and love God in that he couldn't obey God.
Jesus himself said, If you love me, you'll obey me. And that was King Saul's major mistake is that he did not obey God and didn't attempt, didn't even really repent because he ran to a sorcerer to try to get. What he wasn't getting from the Spirit of God because he was in disobedience.
So he never truly repented, his heart revealed.
So. I say all of this to you because As I Teach what we're about to teach on, which is going to be love. I struggle with the thought of. Um How can I break it down? and help teach and mentor you so that you can be successful.
How can I break down Love So that You can go, oh, I understand it.
So you get the revelation for yourself. You know, the neat thing about getting a revelation from God is that when you receive it, it comes with an entire package behind the scenes. You know, I tell people a lot of times that getting a revelation from God is like putting a disk or a drive into a computer and you download one file, that's the revelation. But inside that file are all these different nuggets and instructions and blueprints of how to use it. And it's the same way with revelation from God.
When God gives you a revelation, it Maybe something very simple. But the minute he shares that with you, it's like you're so full. of all these details. It's like you know being behind a a huge fence that you couldn't see behind. And the minute you step through the door, the entire view changes.
and now you see things totally differently. And that's often what Revelation will do.
So I want you to get a revelation. of love. Why Can love not fail? Why does love not fail? And as I think about that and I meditate on that, And I go back, I say, okay, so what's the first thing we have to deal with?
One of Mike's greatest. Uh Frustrations from time to time. One of my greatest challenges. is when I go somewhere or I meet people or I print something or whatever and I s use the word love. I learned that immediately people instantly have a thought of love.
But with that their opinion of love comes all the hurt, all the disdain, all the abuses, all the good stuff. Often lust comes with it. All these things that come with it that really are not. Shouldn't even be there, but life has taught you. And so I think one of the first things we have to do.
is in it is define love. We have to come to a re you and I, we have to come to a realization that what we thought love was is probably wrong. And one of the simplest thing I know to say a lot of times when people try to come at me and they say, oh, well, love, love, you know, I say, listen. Are you aware that there's More than thirty words in the Bible from the original Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew. that in the English we translate into one word, Love.
Some of those words you don't want associated with your character. But yet in our Bible, they're translated as love.
So if you see love as one thing, one. Character flaw that somebody did to you, or one great character trait that somebody you met did. And you saw that.
Now you forever define everything in your life according to that, that experience or that knowledge. If I were. There's something I saw one day of a professor. who wrote on a chalkboard 7 plus 1 equals 9. 7 plus 2.
Equals 10 or equals, she was skipping, she was multiplying.
So 7 times 1 equaled 9 is what she said. Then she said 7 times 2 is 14. 7 times 3 is 21. 7 times 4 is 28.
So she did it 10 times. She wrote it 10 times. Of all those. 10 times. The only one that was wrong was the very first one.
Seven times one equals nine, is what she had put up there. And of course, everybody started giggling, everybody started laughing, and she finished writing the other nine of them out all correctly. And people started raising their hands. She just stood there and looked at them and they started raising their hands. And all they could ever say, all everybody said, is, you know, you got the first one wrong.
The first one's wrong. She goes, yes, I know. Yeah. She said, but the example here is that oftentimes we judge everything else that somebody does off of that one mistake. Because even though she wrote the other nine correct, The majority of the people in that room We're stuck on the fact that she did the first one wrong.
How many times has somebody who used the words, I loved you, Done you wrong. And because of that, now you have this jaded. Mistake. imprinted on your mind and your heart. You're actually a prisoner to that other person's mistake.
If if You hire me to do a job. And right out of the back, bat, we start making mistakes, but then we correct the ship. and get it right. Do you and the job turns out perfect and beautiful? Do you forever judge me?
On that first mistake. Or on the fact that I completed the job. completed the task. And it turned out perfect. I think a lot of people do that to Jesus.
He died on the cross, he's dead and buried. And the Romans and everybody thought they had won. The enemies of Jesus thought they had won. The devil thought he had won. But being that Jesus is eternal.
Even now after 2,000 years of history. Do you see what Jesus did on the cross as a failure? Do you see it as Some weird Fluke in history. As opposed to the fact that, well, if Jesus is eternal, then this last 2,000 years is but a. Breath.
in all of his existence. and all of the existence that you're going to experience. If we judge one another Off of the mistakes we made and the flaws that we have. That really As individuals, we shouldn't allow that to define us. But oftentimes, people will go through a season of just hard times.
And then they see themselves. In light of those hard times, the rest of their lives, they never break free of that. Because maybe they don't have a mentor or a teacher or somebody there encouraging them. I think one of the worst things that can happen is when a coach. Or uh uh pastors will do this, uh teachers do this.
And as I grow older, I realize I was protected from some of this as a young man. I give you an example: I had a teacher. In high school, who believed a rumor about me.
Somebody was vandalizing her. property. And Somehow or another, the rumor got started that it was me doing it. I didn't even know where she lived, and I was even unaware of the rumor, unaware of what was going on. I was just.
I was just a kid. I didn't know. I had no idea that this stuff was going on. All I knew is I could never get better than a D in her class. I'm at a haul at a Christmas party.
And a bunch of people from my high school were there, including a lot of teachers. And this teacher was there. And she was glaring at me. And I was like, um, hello? You know, and I asked my friend whose parents were hosting the party, I said, what?
is going on. Why does she look at me like I'm the devil? And she goes, Well, John, you know that stuff that happened in high school. I said, What stuff? I don't what are you talking about?
And she began to relay with me. All this stuff that I was blind to. And I was just like, you gotta be kidding me. People were doing things to her property and just, you know, dead fish in her yard and all this stuff. And you're going, what is, you know, and I hear this story.
I'm like, oh, wow. And Yeah. And it's just, it's sad, is what it is. But I walked into the kitchen and I just started speaking to her.
Now, what she didn't know is that I was blind to all of that. And I had gone out and started. I was at a college studying, and one of the things I was studying was a language, and she was the teacher of that language teacher in school. And I walked in and just started speaking to her in that language. And her eyes got wide, and she just got even madder.
And I said to her, I said, why do you. Not like me. What what did I do? Of course. My friend's parents and my friend and all these people are in there.
And she just starts going off. And after she gets done, and she's almost in tears, and after she gets done, A bunch of people said John Foy didn't do that. John did not do any of that. And she looked at me, I said, Ma'am, I had no idea that that stuff was happening until tonight. I said, because I asked and I relayed what I shared.
And she was so upset because for seven to nine years, she had been holding a grudge. based on a rumor. Because somebody else, somebody was messing with her. It wasn't me. But she believed the rumor that it was me.
So for all those years. She carried that grudge. She carried that misinformation. and judged me according to that. And even to that night, seven to nine years later, she was still.
harboring those feelings, 'cause when she saw me She grew spiteful and hateful. Yeah. How many times in life have you and I experienced something and something happened to us, and maybe you believed the rumor? Maybe you believe the lie, whatever it is. But you didn't go To the source, you didn't go to that person, you didn't go to the word, you didn't go to that leader or whoever it is to find out the truth.
And because of that, you've carried that around, and then you wonder, well. Why is God not? Blessing me? Why does God not talk to me? Why does God not answer my prayers?
Well, because you believed the lie and you drank the poison. You're the prisoner. You're the prisoner. Because you're not treating somebody according to the word of God. John says, How can you say you love God while hate your brother?
It's impossible. Hate and love cannot live in the same temple, cannot live in the same house. One will win and the other will lose. And in this modern world we live in, hate. is very strong.
It's getting darker. I mean, the Bible tells us that. But just because we may be surrounded about on all sides by darkness and hate doesn't mean we have to collapse to it. Doesn't mean well everyone else does it. No, that's not the way a child of God operates.
You know, Revelation chapter 9, verse 4 says that they're surrounded about. Chapter 9 begins with all this darkness and demons and torture and people are begging to die. But right there in the middle of all that darkness is a verse that stands out to me. But the darkness and the demons are commanded to touch not those who have the mark of the Holy Spirit. What is the mark of the Holy Spirit?
It's not a symbol of a cross on your forehead. It's not a dot of ashes on your forehead. Those are not the marks of the Holy Spirit. I can prove to you. From Scripture, what the mark or the stamp of the Holy Spirit is.
We talk about it every day on this show. And so, some of you out there, you're in a place in your life where you're not getting answers, you're not hearing from God, you're not experiencing even a portion of the fullness of God. But yet the scriptures even tell us that it's not just about enjoying ten percent of the incredible benefits of a relationship with God, but the fullest measure of a relationship with God. Paul called it a great mystery, this full measure of relationship with God. And I'm trying to be very careful because I don't, if you're out there and you believe that the only thing I'm talking about is financial prosperity, you're missing the mark.
Financial prosperity is part of it because you need to prosper financially to fulfill the call of God on your life and for the kingdom of God. But The kingdom of God is not wealth and riches. And and dollar bills. The kingdom of God is so much more than just that one little thing. You know, John tells us, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of this will be added unto you.
Everything that you could want in life that makes life full and rich, not just money, relationships, love, peace, enjoyment, happiness, health, all of those things. That's what John, what is it, 10, 10 says, I pray, or Peter said, he said, I pray that your soul may prosper. and that you would be in health even as your soul, that you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. See, it's the fullness of the three-part being. That when you're in right standing with God.
You enjoy life. Oh yeah, challenges will come. Thoughts will float through your head and try to steal that daily joy. But when you're walking with God. You're walking with love.
And so I want to talk to you about how can you, well, why love never fails. Why does love not fail? And for many of you, there's areas of your life that when you really get quiet and you look at it, you go, I'm failing. in that area. And I'm not talking about just uh Simple outward things.
I'm talking about when you get alone with God, you know what you have to do. To get your relationship with him and others correct. You know what you have to do. And Love is your answer. Love is the path.
We call it walking in love. Why? Because. When you walk in love You're actually walking in what's called the Greek word agapaheo. It's a verb.
And that verb Is I translate it and I define it. This is a Brother Johnism. I translate it into the daily. practice and pursuit Of copy and got. or the daily practice of pursuit and endeavour To love.
Now you say, oh, you can't use the word that you well, here's the thing is that see, I'm using that English word, but to me, there's a different meaning there. Of those thirty two different words in the Bible that refer to that are translated into love or charity, There's the two major words that you need to learn are gapahayo. and agape. Agape is a noun. And when John says In first John Okay.
CHAPTER four Verse 8, he says, He that loveth knoweth He that loveth not knoweth not God. And then he says this: For God is love.
So, what he's saying right there: God is agape. Agape. But in the first part of that verse, he says, He that loveth not, that word loveth is agape-heyo. It's the action, it's the verb, it's the practice, it's the daily routine. If you don't, on a daily practice and routine and endeavor to walk in love.
Then you can't know God. That's what that verse is saying, because God is love. One of As a friend and I were talking about this this week, one of the things he said is: How can two walk together lest they be in agreement? How can you walk with God? In full agreement.
If he is love and you are not.
Now I can tell you the answer to that is called mercy. Because you see, there's several, there's only four things in the Word of God that can never fail. in Scripture. His word? His mercy His love And God Himself, because God is mercy and God is love.
You can find scriptures for both of us. We just read you that one about. Love.
So if God is love, And we know from 1 Corinthians that love never fails. The greatest of these love, and love never fails. God cannot fail. And if God is mercy and his mercy fails not. And then If God is the word and his word fails not.
I would think. That If we spent time in His Word, We spent time endeavoring to walk in love like God. We endeavor to agapeo. And we sow mercy even where it's not deserved. Are we not Agapeoene?
Are we not loving and demonstrating and endeavoring? to practice this love.
So if we are, then therefore we on a daily basis are are acting like our Father who is in heaven. the one whose image we were created in. See, one of the things you have to understand is while you're learning what love is, you've got to first of all go all the way back to the beginning of man. We can't go back to the beginning because the beginning, there is no beginning. We use that word to describe an eternal beginning that Jesus and John, the Revelator, used a number of times as the Greek word arch.
And the funny thing about arch is there is no beginning to it, it always was. Just like Omega, it always will be. Infinity into the future, it always will be. And when we use the word eternal or eternal love, God is eternal, Jesus is eternal, we are eternal creatures. who live at the pleasure of his will.
But we, you and I, we have a beginning. Mankind has a beginning. Fine. And The beginning Throughout the scriptures, it tells us. It's not as though I write you a new command, this is 1 John, but one we've had from the beginning.
And then it's funny because even John said, he says, when he tells that, he then says, Was not Cain. He goes all the way back to the beginning of mankind and begins to talk about. an act that wasn't love. In order to help paint a picture.
Okay. And John does a masterful job in 1 John of speaking of all this because he's teaching us the difference between those who say they love God and those who say they do not. One of the things that John tells us is how to test the spirits. And how do we test the spirits?
Well, there's five things listed in there. We could call it the acid test of the believer. And every one of them centers and rotates around love. Yeah. So if God, agape, cannot fail.
And a Gapahayo cannot fail. When we Begin to walk in love, endeavor. Because you know, yesterday's gone. Today is a new day.
So, today, when we say, I'm going to endeavor to walk in love, you may not understand everything. You may not understand it all, but you say, I'm going to try. Today, Lord. to love people. And what happens is, day by day by day, you begin to transform.
And I can tell you that I've been studying this topic for two decades, over two decades now. And when God first told me to preach it, I was a little bit upset. Because when God said, I want you to preach love. I was getting ready to go preach at a church. I had about eight weeks before I went to go preach in that church.
I was upset. I was like, that's cheap, God. I literally thought that. I was like, why do I have to preach love? Why can't I preach faith or prosperity or healing?
Or why can't I? And God said, preach love. Yeah. And for years, I'd go to God in prayer. God, I'm getting ready to go such and such.
What do you want me to preach? I want you to preach love. I don't ask anymore. Yeah. I just preach love.
So I can preach just about any topic. Out of the word of God. There's one I will not preach because I was instructed not to preach on it. But. They always come back.
to love. And so when I first started studying love. After four or five weeks, I was like, oh boy. The first thing I did is, I went through my Bible and I highlighted every scripture I could find concerning love. And I just meditated on those scriptures.
I started studying those scriptures. And I started running rabbit trails with those scriptures. And now I look at the Word of God and I see how every bit of it connects. Every and and that's scriptural. He says, Love is the glue that binds us, love is the binder.
All of this is connected with love, everything, even you know, faith. Faith without love is not faith. It's het knowledge. And there are a lot of people who are able to succeed in the Western world because of great business practices that they learn from others. That doesn't mean you have great faith.
It means you have a great business plan. And you're maybe disciplined. Those are all character traits you can have. without being a born-again Christian. You can be a great athlete without being a born-again Christian.
You can be, because there's a lot of principles that you can put into place. And by putting those coachable Uh principles in place, you can succeed in this physical world. There are Hundreds of men who've made millions of dollars teaching. The principle of Positive confession. We have life coaches everywhere who teach positive confession.
Do right unto others. Be disciplined. Read. I see people post this all the time on social media. You know, rich people read books, poor people watch TV.
You know, I see stuff like that. You can read tons of books, and it'll teach you everything they learned in a short amount of time. And if you apply those things, you'll probably be successful in those areas.
So you can learn and be successful in areas and not have the Spirit of God with you.
So, success doesn't necessarily equal. Holiness Success does not necessarily equal right standing with God. What it does tell me. is that in our Western world, you've been able to use p biblical principles to succeed in a society that was based built On those same biblical principles. Sure.
So you can put these outward things to work and you see your business grow, you see your finances grow, you see all of this happen. That does not mean that you are successful in the eyes of God. There is one thing in the Word of God that demonstrates that you are successful. In the eyes of God. It's love.
You cannot. There are tons of scriptures, and let me read these to you because I want you to build a desire to say, I need to learn how to walk in love, I need to learn love. Yeah. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Listen, you can be successful. You can be a great athlete. You can win awards in this world. And still be abiding in death. You can be completely healthy and live to be 98 years old and still be abiding in death.
Because you've never begun to walk in love. Mm. That's that scripture was uh first John three. 14. And he says, So let me read this passage to you because This is really a lot of what I've been talking about.
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. That word love there is agapa-heyo. This is the message you've heard from the arch, from the eternal beginning, that we should agapa-heyo one another.
Now he tells you the beginning of man. He gives you an example. Not as Cain, who was that wicked one that slew his brother and wherefore slew him, he, because his own works were evil, and his brothers were righteousness.
So if you go back and study that, both men were doing the same thing. People go, well, one gave wheat, one gave an animal. Yeah, but they were doing the same thing. What set them apart? It was the condition of the heart.
One man's gift was accepted, the other, and it was not. Why? Cain left. If you study history, Cain left and established entire nations. Prior to the flood, it tells you that he went on, he went on to be somewhat successful in life.
We could say He went on to be prosperous in life. But it doesn't mean he was walking in love. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from life to death because we love. Agapeo.
So brethren. He that agapohaieth not his brother. Abides in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we that the love of God because He laid down His life for us that we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren.
But who saith, but who hath in this world good, and seeth his brother in need, and shutteth up the bowels of mercy within him? How dwelleth the love of God be in you? My little children, let us not. Love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
So, It is easy. To say love, it is easy to talk about love. I used to, as a younger man, after I got born again and I started going to church, I had a problem. With people telling me or preaching to me. Yeah.
one thing and then I go out in public. and see them and how they treat people. I don't know why, but for some reason, it seemed to happen all the time. I saw numerous occasions where things would, you know, things would happen, and you go, wow. Howbeit the love of God be in that man, yet that man is preaching in a pulpit, or that man is teaching students, or that man is leading.
all these people Yeah. When we mistake worldly success and popularity. For anointing We're calling God a liar. We're misinformed. And really we are still abiding in death.
If you're one of those people. That separates your business from Christianity. I would say to you that all you are is a Christian. In the sense of the Western world mindset, you're the type of person that causes the media and all the people who don't want to have anything to do with Christianity to mock us.
Okay. When you don't love, what you're doing is demonstrating to the world. The exact thing that causes them to mock us, hate us, and despise us. Because whether you realize it or not, When we were created We are creating the image of love. Your physical body, your spirit, man, your soul.
in the very far recesses of it, No's What should be there? What is there? There's a like a little beacon in there. Why do you think people have a desire to be saved? Why do you think religions around the world are created to appease?
That missing thing, to satisfy that itch, to satisfy that beacon that's going, there's something else, there's something else. When you get become so full and satisfied with all the world has, and yet you go, there's something missing. Why is it every, it doesn't matter where you go in the world, people know. It's like there's a little piece of you that is missing. A little piece of the puzzle that is missing until you say, Jesus be my Lord.
And he puts that piece in place. It's not full yet. It doesn't fill the whole space there. But as you begin to walk in love and you begin to grow and you begin to transform, that piece fills in. And then here's the neat thing: it doesn't just fill in that emptiness.
It keeps going and keeps going until you're completely transformed, and what was on the inside becomes what's on the outside. Every person in the world that is born is born with this. Nagging, itching. There's something else. Why?
Because the original blueprint, the original DNA, the original quark of man, down to the smallest part of our being. requires that acknowledgement of God.
So there is a blueprint in you, whether you realize it or not, there's a blueprint in you that wants you to build your new life, your born-again life. on that foundation. You've got to do it. And you'll never truly be blessed and satisfied until you start to do that. And the amazing thing about it is.
If God is love, and Romans 5:8 says, and chapter 5, first 8 verses, he tells us that when we're born again, we confess Jesus, our Lord and Savior. He deposits. In us, that love. That's the word agape. His nature.
He puts that seed in us, just a mustard seed of faith. He puts it in us.
Okay. And then when we begin to water it, grow, and feed on the word, what are those things that can never fail? And then we say, okay, I see something here in a word. I need to go out and try to love. And we begin to practice that love, we begin to develop that love, we begin to exercise that love.
Now, you've gone from being a child of God to now, maybe you're a toddler. You're trying, you're learning how to walk, you're stumbling, you're falling, you're making mistakes, but you're crying out to God, and you keep trying, you don't give up. And then at what happens.
Well, there's so many things in the Word of God that tells you what happens. When you become that person of love, we could call it the person of righteousness. We could call it a person of faith. We could call it a mature person. Paul used the word attaining maturity.
In Hebrews, he calls it the.
Well, like in chapter 11, when he's talking about the hall of faith, it was credited unto them righteousness or men of faith. He uses all these different expressions, but. It all boils down to what happened. They fell in love with God, they developed a relationship with God, and what happened on the inside spilled over on the outside. When you When you join a winning team.
And you don't do things the way the winning team. Does it? One of two things is going to happen.
Well, one of a few things is going to happen. One, the winning team is either going to start failing. Yeah. They're gonna get rid of you. or you're going to learn how to win.
There's a joke. My sons and I have a joke about a particular coach. who every team that this guy goes to Within a few years he starts losing. That team begins to lose. And usually, after about the fifth year, he always gets fired and then he resurfaces at another team.
And you go, Oh no. And about seven years ago, he resurfaced at a team. And my boys were like, Dad, they just. They're losing now said yep and within Two years they had a losing record. They struggled for a couple of years, and just in the bowels of mediocrity.
They got rid of him. The very year after they got rid of them, they they Became one of the top six teams in the country. And on their way to the rebound.
Meanwhile, that coach went to another team, and the very first season he was with them. They had not obtained their goals. They fell backwards. And I kind of joke about it and I say there's a pattern there. And maybe it's not that guy.
Maybe it's just, you know, who knows? But it seems like everywhere that guy goes. And I've noticed it since the 90s. everywhere that guy goes. He went to one of my favorite teams in the early 90s.
And that's when I first started noticing. I was like, oh my gosh. And so that guy, every team he goes to, they start to fail. They start to not meet their goals. Don't know why.
It's kind of a joke, but. If you want to win in life. Then you've got to hang out with the winning team. But if you're going to hang out with the winning team, then you have to start doing things The way the winning team does them. John says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of this will be added unto you.
One of the neat things is, I can honestly say that there's been times I've gone, I want everything added under me. I want to be this, I want to be that, I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to have this, I want to have that. That's just human nature. I want everything. That's, you know, I want all of what I want.
And I held back for years. Because I was scared that if I actually Obeyed that one verse: seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. What would happen? What would he ask me to do? How would I and I was scared of the embarrassment, I was scared of failing.
Yeah. But when I yielded to that. I realized that my desires changed. My What I want changed. Because, you know, God says that He knows the desires of our heart better than we do.
And when you get in line with God. and you begin to do what the winning team does. And you've joined the ranks. of that group. You will begin to experience so many things and so many.
Uh Things you never knew you would enjoy. But with that winning team attitude with that winning Or that relationship with him Comes. All these other benefits. And Paul called it a great mystery a few times, trying to describe it. And it really is because.
You know, somebody asked me last week, how do you do it? How do you, in the midst of all that's going on, keep your head, keep your sanity? I said, It's not mine. It's because I don't allow things in. If I can help it, I don't babble in the things that other people babble in.
I'm not going to get involved in people's bickering, and people's gossip, and people's. bad treatment of others. I'm not going to get involved in those things. You know, I have. Uh Every year I I used to get invited.
to a family event. And After about I don't know. Eight or nine years of marriage. It was probably even sooner than that. I basically said to everybody, I said, Listen, I'm not coming.
And if you guys start your babbling and squabbling and this and that, my family were leaving.
Well, I was straight up about it, and I told my Mother-in-law, I said, I'm not participating in that stuff. That what appears to be normal, but really is nothing more than a breakdown session of God's children. I said, I'm not participating in that. I'm not participating in the, let me tear somebody down so that I can feel better than them. which would happen every holiday.
Uh And This holiday they started it. And I first got up and I left the room. I told my kids not to go in that room. And it went on for hours. And I was in another room.
And, you know, people come in and they'd try to start with me. And I'd leave. I'd go somewhere else. And finally, I just said, you know what? Let's go, kids.
Let's go in. My wife, I said, let's go. And we packed up the car. And as we're leaving, they're all coming. I'm going, what are you doing?
I said, I told you guys, we are not participating in this stuff. And I had to drive home. with my wife and my kids crying. upset with me because I made them leave. Because some of them were having a great time.
But I could not bear to be in that environment anymore where they thought that that was acceptable. Guess what doesn't happen anymore? We don't do that anymore. And if they do, they don't do it around me. Thank God.
But I'm not interested in winning arguments. I'm not interested in winning debates. I'm not interested in being right. I'm not even interested in being. Are successful in the eyes of people.
What I'm interested in is that when I get home at the end of the day, my family is there, that my family is loving God, that my sons are calling me, saying, Hey, Dad, God said this to me. That my daughter says, God, Dad, I had a dream last night. Can you explain it to me? And I'm able to. I'm interested in being woken up at 2 in the morning and have God tell me stuff.
I'm interested in hearing that somebody who listened to the show goes, wow, that helped me. I've never heard it that simple before. I'm interested in hearing that people on the other side of the world are being blessed by things that God taught me that I had to fight for. Because listen, if you knew me 20, 30 years ago, you'd be like, or 30 years ago, you'd be like, wow, you are a different person. And I'm interested in people saying.
Will you help me? Because I love to help people. I love to be able to say, hey, If you'll Let me, I can help you. But I don't. Force my way into their lives.
I don't say you have to. I don't lay down tons of rules that you have to do this or that. You know, we had a man come to us one year, and I love this man wholeheartedly, and I can see his face as I see him. He's in another country, and we had planted a Bible school and a church. And he came to me and he said, Brother John.
I want to be free of rum. Will you pray for me? and I looked at him. I said, No, And his eyes got all watery, and his mouth fell open, and several people. We were standing around him.
They'd come with him, and they heard that. They were all looked at me with shock on their face. And I said, Brother. I said, How many Churches How many rehabs? How many...
people have you gone to who said that they could help you or you wanted help from. I said, how many of them have you gone to? He goes, all of them. Which I didn't expect that answer. And I said to him, I said, Then what makes you think?
That I can do what none of them did. I said Because if I pray for you, and then you go out tonight. And get drunk You're gonna be upset at me just like you're upset at all those other people. And I won't give you that excuse. I said, now if you want to be free of rum.
And you want to be set free, and you want to be a different man. We have a bed in that back room you're welcome to sleep in. And anywhere I go, anything I'm doing, when I'm out in public, you're allowed to be there with me. You know, and this is not this is a homeless guy that people are like, oh, look, he's hanging out with the homeless people. Yep, I hang out with homeless people, I love it.
They're usually the most honest. And and It took Six months. And he was going to the Bible school. He was working in the school. And about six months, one day we're sitting in class, and the head pops around the corner.
I have a young girl, and I see it. I said, Hey guys. I said there's a young girl out in the hallway looking in here. And somebody said said his name, said it's your family. And he gets up and goes out there.
And I hear wailing and laughing and crying and all this. And he comes in and introduces his family to us, and it was awesome. And And I thought and I asked him later, I said, What what's what was that all about? He goes, I haven't seen him in nine years. He said, but they've heard what's happening.
and he wanted to come see. I was like, wow, 'cause he was changing. It's been four years. And I saw him Last year. And he's free?
He's healed. He's working in another church, living behind it, and just caretaking it. He's happy. He's godly successful. Um He has restoration with his family.
Where you at? What is it? One of the things I told him is: I said, if you'll hang with me and see. How I What my relationship with Jesus is like. You'll get your answers.
You'll figure it out. You'll learn. That's what I had told him whenever he asked me to pray for him. And so I say to you: I say, whoever you are out there listening, You have heard Maybe you've been to dozens of churches. Maybe you're like my friend.
You've been to dozens of churches. You've been to Uh every rehab. You've been to every whatever it is. And you say I want to be free. I want to know.
You know, Paul said, I want to know God so I can make him known. If you know God, God will make himself known through you. And You need that answer. You need that non-failing life. You've got to start loving.
You got to start loving. And you may not understand it. You may not be able to get to our school, but I'll send you materials for free if you'll email me. That you can read and you can study. I'll do whatever I can to help you wherever you are.
If you'll email me. at love never fails with brother john at gmail dot com At 'Love Never Fails'. With B R O J O H N At gmail.com. You email me, I'll reply back with 50, 60 pages of notes. And you can begin to study those.
I'll tell you about books you can read. If you're near here, come visit me. Come spend time with me. It doesn't matter, I'll do whatever I can do to help you. But you are the one who has to take the steps.
You've got to come to know and understand that, first of all, love is not what you were taught or experienced that it was. Second of all, you've got to Throw yourself. On the mercy seat. Throw yourself. Into the arms of the Holy Spirit and say to the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, I need to learn this.
I need to learn how to walk in love. I need to learn how you treat others. One of the things I say all the time is, Holy Spirit. Let me see what you see in them. Because I have people come across my path that just, man, they make me want to cuss.
I don't do it. And that urge isn't really there, but you understand what I'm saying. I want to just walk away. I don't ever want to deal with them again. And then I have to say, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, John.
How does God see them? And maybe the reason they're in front of me is not so that I can be disgusted by them. But so that They don't have to remain that way. Maybe So that they can learn. To love, live, and grow.
The way that I have, because isn't that what I pray to say, God, help me teach other people to do this? And who am I to choose? Who he sends across my path. Who are you to choose? But before you can help anybody, before you can see what's coming.
Because revival's coming, but it is not going to be a revival like the old ones that we read about, that we studied. It's going to be something new, and I can guarantee at the center of it. It's going to be love. Is going to be love. It will be those who are marked.
By the stamp of the Holy Spirit, which is love, because the Spirit of God is love, God is love, His Spirit is love, the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of love. The Holy Spirit will never do anything apart from the Spirit of love. Mm-hmm. He is merciful just as God is merciful.
So Yeah. I encourage you. To go at to begin to get started. I know there's so much here that we can't get it all in one episode, but I want to encourage you to begin to try because God loves you, but He loves others. Jesus loves people.
And love never fails. Fails. That's the secret. It cannot fail.
So begin to experiment with love. The real kind of love. Because 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 neverfails with B-R-O-J-O-H-N at gmail.com. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, yeah, yeah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah
