This Thing Called Love Part 2

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

Stories of hopelessness turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Well, good afternoon, Will.

It's good to see you again. Well, God is good, Roy. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He who comes through to the Father must come through Jesus.

No one shall come to the Father except through the Son. Amen. Good call, my brother.

Good call. Amen. Well, we're back for week two, this thing called love, part two.

Amen. And you know, love, from 1 Corinthians 13, we were talking about how love wants to do things through us, but we can throw up stumbling blocks to not let love manifest. And when we talk about manifesting, we're saying to let love show God's love in and through us. So let the love of God be shown through us. And so that's the manifestation of what we should be projecting when it comes to dealing with anyone. So do you think it's a heart issue, Will, for those that aren't letting love shine through and aren't letting it manifest itself?

Is it truly a heart issue, selfishness, anger, hurt? Well, actually, Roy, I think it starts in the head rather than the heart. So we know that when we talk about 1 Romans 12, 1 and 2, all the time, where it says that we, as God's people, must do what? Renew our mind. Renew our mind.

So that's an everyday type of thing. So we go from the head to the heart. So if our mind is not renewed, then our heart is not going to do those things that it needs to do with Christ residing in it because we're letting our head govern our actions because it's not been renewed. So the renewing gets us on course. If we're out of course, it puts us back on course so we can, indeed, follow the example that Jesus Christ set for us. Right. And then when you think about Jesus Christ, it was always about the other person.

Absolutely. It was always about serving others. It was always about showing others grace, forgiving others, healing others, loving others, fellowshipping with others. Of course, on a rare occasion, He went to be by Himself. He needed to energize and to pray and to talk to the Father. But most times, it was all about serving other people.

And, you know, Roy, the thing about that is we're talking about love, this thing called love. We're talking about it, but we also have to understand that Jesus did something out of love that people would view as mean and cruel. You know, you remember what that was? When He drove out the money changers. Oh yeah, in this temple.

Took that whip and pow, get out of here. My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer, and you have made it a den of thieves or wolves. So He drove them out, out of love. So He loved the Father so much that He couldn't see.

He didn't want His Father's house to be polluted with all of these things going on in us. And see, this is how we should be when we come to the sanctuary of God. When we see things and when the service is going on, we should, like, if I'm an usher, I should go and address that.

If someone is upset or angry at me, then that rests with them. Because it's all about preparing yourself for worship. This is what worship is. You prepare yourself for worship. You worship God through song, through hymns, through reading of the scripture, and that prepares you to receive the Word of God. So when the preacher comes up now, you are open to the Spirit of God and letting the words of the preacher flow. The deck is clear. Absolutely.

You have no noise and have no interference. That's great. All right, so last week I believe we finished up with verse eight, if I remember correctly. Let's just a quick reminder, love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

So verse nine for this week, for we know in part and we prophesy in part. Now, you know, when we look at what, again, what God had blessed through the Apostle Paul here to say, and keeping in mind about the writings and reference to what was happening in Corinth, being in a fleshly body, we're limited in our understanding. There are things that God does we can't explain. We can't explain.

Why? Why does this happen? Why do we pray for our friends and yet they pass away? We don't understand why.

Why does a child three, four, five years old contract cancer? We don't know. We don't know why.

Why does a whole family take a, going on vacation, take a plane ride in a private jet and the jet go down in the middle of the ocean? We don't know why. So see, there are things that we don't understand. And so we come back and we say things like, this is what we say, Roy. It's just not fair. Now with that said, Roy, can I have a little space here to talk about some things?

Please do. Okay. Years ago, a professor, and I'm not going to call his name, but he was a great preacher and professor on the radio and he taught all around the world. And he was talking about a class that he gave in Old Testament studies. And he was given this class and all of a sudden he, the class at the beginning of the semester, he said, now we're going to do three papers in this class and we're going to have one final examination. Three papers, one examination.

Everyone understand that? Yes, professor, we understand it. So the first paper was due. And so you had, he had about 30 students in the class. So out of those 30 students in the class, three of the students came on the day the paper were due and he had all the syllabus. He said, now everybody understand this?

Yes, professor, we understand it. And so they came and they said, professor, we don't have our papers. He said, can you, can you please, please give us two more days, just two more days. And he said, you understood that the papers were due on such and such date. They said, yes. So he said, they kept going, please, professor, please. He said, okay, okay.

I'm going to give you two more days. When the second paper was due, there was two of the three students who didn't have their paper the first time came and they said, professor, we don't have our paper. Homecoming was going on. We had all of our parents here.

You know, our parents was taking time out with us and they were just so happy to see us. And so we just got caught up in all of the accolades of, of, of, you know, homecoming and seeing all of our friends and we didn't get our papers in time. Please, professor, please, can you give us two more days? He said, now the number had grown from three students who didn't have their paper to six students who didn't have their paper. So apparently they must have heard from one of the individuals who didn't have his paper the first time tell some other students, our professor gave us two more days.

So now it's doubled. He's got six students. And so they said, please, professor, please. He said, okay.

All right. Third paper is due, Roy. So same individual from the first two times came and how many do you think it was this time, Roy? You guessed it, 10, 10 students came now on when the third paper was due and they said, professor, please, we had so much work in our other classes and the work was mounding up and, and, and we just couldn't get to this paper. And we know that you are a merciful professor. He said, they started singing his praise. We love you, professor. Oh, yes, we do.

They start singing his praise. And, and so he said, wow, I felt kind of great, but on the other hand, I didn't. So he said, you didn't have your paper done the first two times. You're talking to one of the young men. And he said, I'm going to have to give you an F. We hate you, professor.

Oh, yes, we do. So, so see, he, he said, they'd started the, the praises all of a sudden turned to hatred. Because of his decision. And the one individual who didn't have his paper the first time, he said, this is not fair. And so the professor looked at him and he said, do you want fair or do you want justice? He said, well, professor, it's not fair. He said, so, so you're telling me you, you, you're not, you, you don't accept the mercy that I, I shown you. You, you want justice instead. And so he said, I'm going, he took his, took out, he erased the grade that he gave him the second time, put an F. First time, he put an F. He said, that's fairness and justice. You wanted justice instead of mercy. He said, let's my reputation get out to be that of a softy. You wanted justice, you got justice. He said, the guy, he, he, uh, the student went away.

He just went away and in tears. So I say it all at say this, and we coming up on a break. I said all that to say this, Roy, that sometimes when we think things are not fair, we need to be careful because if God gave us what we truly deserved, if he gave us justice, none of us would be sitting where we're sitting.

No, we wouldn't. Thanks. Thankfully, we're covered by the blood. Amen.

Covered by the blood. So we're coming up on a break. So, Roy, what is it that you want? Do you want justice or do you want mercy? I want mercy.

Ah, I want mercy too. And I'm so glad the mercy of God is being bestowed and showered down on us, Roy. And, and you, you know, sometimes I don't think we truly understand what we're asking sometime when we ask God for certain things. I would agree with that. And I think most, most followers of Christ would agree with that. They really sit back and thought about it because there's, there's a cause and effect, right?

It doesn't matter what we ask for. There's going to be some sort of reaction to whatever God does for us. And I think it's a great thing about love is that, you know, if you're truly serving out of love and you're honoring God out of love, then you know that whatever comes is for your best position within the kingdom and here on earth, because you're being obedient to him. And, you know, it's, as we've gone through some of these topics here, we'll, you know, you and I have had some conversations offline in the past about some of these behaviors that we've witnessed and watched and, and seeing how folks react. And it's just, it's really important for us as a body of Christ that includes me and you and our listening audience, that we remember that some, that oftentimes the only Jesus that anyone's going to see is what they see in us.

They may never have a different view other than what they have with us because of their network, because of the way they do their work or who knows, but it could be that we're the only view. And if we're one of these people who angers easily, has a sharp tongue, always cutting people down, always backbiting, doing those sorts of things. And then what really are we saying to those people? That we really don't have a relationship with God.

We're just, we're talking and we're, but we're not walking it out as you and I often do and, and share with our ministry. Death and life is in the power of the tongue, Proverbs 18 21. And so we, as born again believers, we need to ensure that we consider, always consider that other person, like he was sharing with how Jesus was always looking toward compassion of the person who he encountered, you know, regardless of how men viewed them, that he looked at them in that compassionate sense.

Yeah, that's really good. Verse 10, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. And see, so again, in part meaning that we don't know everything because we're in this body of flesh. Those things that we would eventually are going to see when, when we leave this body, because this body is just the shell and this course.

Yeah. And it's going back to the dust from whence it came, you know, when we leave that and our true self is revealed, there is so much more that we are going to know and understand about God, who God is, the kingdom of God, heaven, all of those things that we are darkened on, we're going to be shown in the light. So, and again, we're not going to know everything that God knows, but we're going to know a lot more because he said that, you know, these things are blurred now.

They're incomplete and they're incomplete because the flesh keeps us from that completeness. So once we, once we shed this old body and now God began to open up to us, it's just going to be some beautiful things. And I think about all of like my family members who have gone on to be with the Lord and how they're rejoicing and just, just waiting for that glorious time, you know, where they have get reunited once again with their resurrected bodies.

And, and that, that keeps me going, you know, all, all of the ones who I knew were born again, you know, our mother of our church, 94, five plus years old, went to be with the Lord. And I remember she, she always said during testimony time, she would say, you know, pastor, when I don't know what to say, I just say Jesus. I said, mother, that's all right.

I said, it just doesn't matter how you call on him. She said, when I just don't know what to say, I just say Jesus. And, and I tell you that, that those words have stuck with me because I've been at the point to where you just don't have the words, just calling when you call his name.

That's good, Will. Verse 11, when I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. See, and again, Apostle Paul, by the Spirit of God, writing to these Corinthians, he's saying, look how you're acting. I, I got prophecy. Well, I got all of knowledge. I got the word of wisdom. I got, you're acting like children and you're attempting to degrade the gift in which God has given you.

And instead of using it for his glory. So those words I think should resonate with each and every one of us, because sometimes, Roy, we have a tendency to do the same thing. We have a tendency to be childish. And, and, and when a child responds to what did they do, you know, if you're, if they're eating ice cream, it's like, Timmy, we got to go home now. No, I don't want to go home. I don't want to go home. And of course he might, or she might put up a temper, temper tantrum right there on the, on the floor. I remember my daughter did that one day, you know, we were coming from the burger place and she didn't want to go.

She wanted to continue to sit there and do whatever it is. And it was like, it's time to go, dear. It's time to go.

No, no. She's, I mean, sprawled on the ground, kicking and screaming everything. And, and finally my wife just said, you go deal with that. So I just, I reached down, grabbed her with loving arms and just carried her to the car, sat her in the car. And we were talking on the way there. And once she got in the, and she was still in the car seat, sat in the car seat, she was fine.

Just need that soothing wrap up there. Absolutely. But, but that's the thing he's talking about. He's saying, when you, when you were immature, childish can, can also mean that when you, when you were immature, you did these things because you didn't know any better.

Now that you're grown up, don't go back and start acting the way you did when God freed you from being a child. Verse 12, for now we see only a reflection as in the mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. Just as God know me completely and totally in this body that I'm going to know. That's right. Once I, once I leave this body, I'm going to know so much more than I know today, Roy, and it's going to be more fuller in its completeness than I am now because again, this body of flesh, you know, it just keeps us from doing so many things.

And of course the scripture, scripture tells us, you know, flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So we have to shed it. Yes. It has to be shared. So all of us, we will have to leave this life knowing that when the, the nanosecond, when we close our eyes for the last time in this life, we open them up in glory. Amen.

Oh, what a beautiful time that would be. It's amazing to think about. It's so soothing.

It is. And that goes, you know, we were talking last week at our men's meeting about getting quiet. And I think that's so important. We're in so much of the battle every day that we, we lose sight of, of what's waiting for us. And, you know, we're back to the immediate gratification. If we just would take time to pause and think about the rewards and the relationship that's coming and, and just be quiet for a few moments. I think most of the reactions, most of the behaviors will, would be a whole lot different, especially amongst the group that's following Christ. Amen.

That's beautiful. For the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And you know what he says? Like right at the end of that, comfort one another with these words, comfort you see, see, to know that I'm going to fly away one day, that gives me comfort. I wonder if I'll get hair on that new journey. And you were talking about once we returned to the dust, I'm going to accelerate my program. I'm not, I'm going to be cremated.

All right. The final verse here, Will, and it's been a great two weeks of topic about love. And now these three remain faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love.

Amen. You know, and that, that's one of those, those passages, Roy, faith, hope, because we, we are obviously not people without hope. We have hope in the present coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when we go back to meet him.

If he comes back during our lifetime, of course the dead in Christ going to rise first and then we're going to be caught up to meet him in the air. But I think with the faith and the hope, see once, once I'm on my way up, I don't have to hope anymore. No, you're living it.

That's right. And see, and with faith, I don't have to have faith in anything anymore because again, I'm already there. Amen.

So what's going to still stand? Love. See, he's going to love us. We, and we, of course we find that all through the book of revelations, you know, when we get up in there and having this, this transparent street, streets of gold. Oh, it's just, it's just going to be so wonderful.

It's just impossible to comprehend. That's right. No, no more pain, no more debate, no more Democrat Republican, you know, no more issues regarding this, that, and the other. I mean, all of that is going to be done away with. And I think when we look at the application of what God is blessing through the apostle Paul to say, and again, let me say that again, the application, how I can apply these things to the time in which I'm in, all of what we're experiencing now is going to be done away with. So all of what we have encountered with respect to hardships, with respect to pain, with respect to this or that, all those things will be done away with, washed away for good, in the sea of forgetfulness, never to be fished out again. Amen. And I like fishing.

Yeah. But I'm not going to fish for that, but I'm not going to fish for that. If you're listening to us today and your wheels are turning, I would just ask him, do you know for certain where you're going to spend eternity?

And if the answer to that is no, then it's a very easy decision. All you've got to do is surrender your life to Christ, recognize that he died for you, that you're washed by the blood, that you just repent for your sins, accept him as Lord of your life, and die to self and start following him. That's all you got to do. It's a free gift.

Nobody can force it on you, but all you got to do is receive it. And we thank you so much for spending time with us. Will, thanks so much for the narrative around love. Praise God. Thank you, Roy. We're blessed to be here with you folks, and we look forward to continuing to serve you in the weeks to come.

And Will, I hope you have an absolutely wonderful week this week, brother. Amen, Roy, because that's what we are. We are servants and we serve you. You are there for us. We're here for you. And so we thank God for all of the individuals who have emailed us and responded to us in reference to what we're doing, all of the comments we have received at the men's breakfast in reference to what we're doing, the topics we're covering, the word of God that we're covering. So we just thank God for you because we can't do it alone. Amen. Have a fantastic week, folks. We love you. Amen.

God is good, and His mercy is everlasting. As we wrap up today's show, be assured that TAWCMM, Talking and Walking Christian Men's Ministry, is building a community of men that are Christ followers with the desire to be servant leaders in their homes, communities, churches, and work environments. Check out our website for upcoming events and regularly scheduled meetings. Drop us a note for topics that you would like to have us visit in the future. Thank you for joining us on Man Talk today. Visit us at www.tawcmm.com. Men walking the talk. This is the Truth Network.