LXM XIV
LXM XIV 4/22/2025
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38:46
Summary
This multi-speaker sermon explores the depth of 1 Corinthians 13, emphasizing that agape love is a sacrificial, enduring, and intentional responsibility entrusted to every believer by God. As followers of Christ, our primary motivation must be a love that transcends human giftings and perseveres through betrayal and disappointment.
Key points
- •Love (Agape) is not merely a feeling but a sacred responsibility and a spiritual calling to care for the eternal well-being of others.
- •Gifts, talents, and service are 'noise' if they are not motivated by love; excellence matters, but love for the person next to us matters more.
- •Biblical love is characterized by 'long-suffering' and patience, requiring us to offer the same forgiveness and grace to others that Christ offered us.
- •True love is intentional and sacrificial; it moves past convenience to notice the invisible and stay with those who are struggling.
- •God’s love is the ultimate prototype-it never fails, even when human prophecy, knowledge, and words pass away.
Scripture
Agape Love
Spiritual Gifts vs. Character
Forgiveness and Patience
The Prodigal Son
Evangelism
Life application
Identify one person in your 'daily mission field'-family, friend, or coworker-who is struggling or 'invisible.' Commit to showing them agape love this week through a specific action, such as a phone call, an invitation to talk, or a tangible sacrifice of your time, without expecting anything in return.
Reflection questions
- If you replaced the word 'love' with your own name in 1 Corinthians 13, which descriptions feel natural and which feel like a struggle?
- Is there someone you are currently 'admiring from afar' (praying for or noticing) that God is nudging you to actually approach and speak to?
- How does the realization that God loves you for your 'potential' rather than your 'mistakes' change the way you look at those who have hurt or disappointed you?
- In what areas of your life are you pursuing personal reputation or comfort instead of sacrificial love for others?
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Full transcript
0:00[Applause]
0:00Morales. Praise the Lord,
0:03everybody. Won't you give a hand clap of
0:05praise unto the Lord right now?
0:09Hallelujah. Hasn't he been good to you?
0:12Hasn't your God loved you? Hasn't he
0:16loved you through all of your
0:18mess? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you,
0:21Jesus. We serve a mighty God who loves
0:23and who cares.
0:25Amen. Well, praise the Lord. I pray that
0:27you would shake the hand of a friend
0:28next to you and take your seats right
0:31now. Hallelujah. Thank you,
0:35Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you,
0:44Lord.
0:47Love. See, I caught a lot of your
0:49attention there and some of you I didn't
0:51I'm a little concerned because you know
0:54some people are still searching for love
0:56and I thought that when I said the word
0:57love you might look up at me but
1:00love it's a beautiful thing is it not?
1:05It's a selfless
1:06thing. It's a soft whisper that echoes
1:11into forever.
1:13It's quick to feel, but it takes a
1:16lifetime to trust. It's easy to
1:20vow, yet rare to
1:24perfect. A single
1:26word that binds two
1:29souls. Swift to
1:32spark, but it takes years to
1:36nurture. Simple to say for
1:39sure yet
1:41profound to live.
1:44Love. It's a fragile seed that grows
1:49unbreakable. Brief to ignite,
1:52sure, but endless to
1:56prove. Plain to speak, but deep to know.
2:03Love. To love someone means to care
2:07deeply for their spiritual
2:09well-being beyond just their earthly
2:15happiness. It involves a selfless
2:21hope that goes
2:25beyond the earthly
2:28now. It goes
2:30beyond what's tangible
2:33here because
2:35love is
2:40eternal. It means to care
2:43enough to gently address sin and
2:50concern with compassion. Sure.
2:54guided by a heartfelt desire to see them
2:58find
2:59redemption and salvation.
3:03Love. First Corinthians 13 says it like
3:07this. Love is
3:09patient. Love is kind. Love does not
3:13envy nor does it
3:16boast. Love is not arrogant or
3:19rude. Love does not insist on its own
3:22way.
3:24Love is not irritable or resentful. Love
3:27does not rejoice at wrongdoing.
3:30Love rejoices with truth. Love bears all
3:34things. Love believes all things. Love
3:38hopes all things. Love endures all
3:42things.
3:43Love
3:44never ends.
3:49How many people in this house can attest
3:51that Jesus Christ is love?
3:59He is the embodiment of everything I
4:01have spoken thus far. He showed his love
4:05in his sacrifice for every single one of
4:07us that we just celebrated this past
4:09Sunday morning.
4:11He proved his love in that sacrifice, in
4:15that going away, in that preparing of a
4:18place for you and for me, in that
4:20creating a way out of
4:22nowhere. He proved his love. He proves
4:25his love every single day, hour after
4:28hour, mercy after mercy, being renewed
4:32every single morning. That is what he
4:34does. He proves his love. And when we
4:37get to eternity, oh, how sweet it will
4:40be to see that he has been proving his
4:43love all of this time that has been
4:46going on and on and on. Because my God
4:48doesn't dwell just right now, but he's
4:51in your tomorrow as well. Loving you
4:53there already. That's right.
4:56Love. Jesus's love. A holy word that
5:00redeems the soul. Quick to
5:04offer and a lifetime to embrace. Simple
5:08to seek yet profound to live. Jesus's
5:11love. A sacred gift that never fades. He
5:15is swift to save, yet it takes years to
5:19fully know
5:20it. Easy to sing about his love, no
5:23doubt. eternal to hold on to his love.
5:26Jesus's love, a gentle call that carried
5:30the cross. Brief to accept, sure, but
5:35endless to reflect on. Plain to trust
5:38in, but divine to fathom.
5:42Jesus's love is eternal.
5:47And tonight we will be hearing from
5:50LXM14 on the subject of your motivation
5:55to
5:56love. They've been preparing. They have
5:59been fasting because I told them
6:01to and because they wanted
6:04to. They have been
6:06praying and their hearts have been
6:09living and breathing this message for
6:11over a month
6:13now. carrying the burden that they feel
6:17to feed this flock here
6:21tonight. We will be hearing tonight from
6:24Elijah Bright, Lauren Leonard, Gabriel
6:27Purdomo, Andrew Castleman, and Angelina
6:32Maldonado. So, I pray right now that you
6:34would lift up your hands and you would
6:36pray with me right now that the Lord
6:38would open our hearts to receive this
6:40word and allow it to fall on good soil
6:43tonight. and let us receive this
6:45message. Lord Jesus, we love you. We
6:48love you, God. You first loved us and so
6:52we love you, Jesus. And we give all that
6:54we are unto you tonight, God. I pray in
6:57the name of Jesus right now that you
6:59would bless and anoint us tonight, God,
7:02to receive this word that these Lexmers
7:04have been preparing for, oh Lord God.
7:07They have been uh uh uh racking their
7:09brains, oh Lord Jesus, and sending
7:11themselves into prayer, God, knelt down,
7:14no doubt before you, Jesus, seeking your
7:17face, God, ready to bring forth this
7:19message, Lord, that you have planted in
7:21their hearts and in their spirits, God,
7:23divinely and perfectly, Lord God, for us
7:26tonight, God. No doubt it is not a
7:28coincidence that we are here tonight to
7:31hear this message, oh Lord God, about
7:33love, oh Lord Jesus. I pray that you
7:35would anoint us to hear it, Lord God,
7:37and bless and anoint these LXMRs to
7:40speak it as they so feet see fit. In the
7:43name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
7:48[Applause]
7:50Praise the Lord, everyone.
7:54All right. Love is a word we hear all
7:57the time in church. But today, I want to
7:59talk about something a bit deeper.
8:01Entrusted love. The kind of love that's
8:04just not a feeling, but a
8:06responsibility, a calling, a sacred
8:09trust. Have you ever realized that God
8:11hasn't just given you gifts, he's given
8:13you people to
8:15love? People he's entrusted to our care.
8:21Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, "If I
8:24speak with the tongues of men and of
8:25angels, but have not love for others
8:28growing out of God's love for me, I am
8:31only a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.
8:34If I have the gift of prophecy,
8:36understand all the mysteries, and
8:38possess all the knowledge, and if I have
8:40faith to move mountains, but do not have
8:43love reaching out to others, I am
8:46nothing."
8:49We can do all the right things, speak
8:52with power, speak, serve with
8:54excellence, even sacrifice everything
8:57for the cause. But if love isn't in the
9:00motive, it falls flat.
9:04And Paul isn't talking about emotional
9:06love. He's talking about agape. The kind
9:08of love that gives, sacrifices, and
9:10serves, it's not based on feelings. It's
9:14proven by action.
9:18Love is greater than your gifts.
9:21God isn't impressed by how gifted we are
9:24if we're not loving the people around
9:25us.
9:27We can get so caught up in how we sing,
9:29play, preach, or in my case, how the
9:32sound was on Sunday. And trust me, I
9:34will ask
9:35you. And those things do matter.
9:38Excellence matters. Scripture says to
9:40excel in our gifts. But Paul reminds us
9:43without love, it's just noise.
9:47We can have the strongest voice in the
9:48choir, but if our heart isn't right
9:50toward the person next to us, God isn't
9:53impressed.
9:56We're not called to impress people.
9:57We're called to love them. The broken
9:59ones, the invisible ones, the ones who
10:01walk into church struggling with their
10:04faith while everyone else is clapping
10:06and singing.
10:08But you might be the one God is calling
10:10to notice them.
10:13Love is measured by how we treat the
10:15people entrusted to us. Loving the
10:18people closest to you is the real test.
10:21We all struggle to love well. It's
10:23easier to love from a distance or by the
10:25world's definition when it's convenient,
10:27when it feels good. But true love, the
10:30kind of Paul talks about is intentional.
10:34We can all agree that it's often hardest
10:37to love the people we see every day.
10:40We can post about loving the world, but
10:42if we're short with our family or cold
10:44toward our circle, something's off.
10:49Let me ask you, do you know who God has
10:51entrusted to
10:52us? It's not random. It's our circle.
10:56It's our family, our friends, our
10:58co-workers, our cho our church group.
11:01That's not a coincidence. Yes, we should
11:04love strangers, but our daily mission
11:06field is the people who already know us.
11:12Just because someone knows Jesus doesn't
11:14mean they don't still need to see him
11:16through you.
11:21Love without action is just a feeling.
11:23Agape
11:25love moves, it reaches, it gives, it
11:28sacrifices.
11:29We can say, "I love you" every day, but
11:31without action, it's just noise. That's
11:33right. Real love forgives. Real love is
11:37patient. Real love shows up even when
11:40it's inconvenient or unnoticed. It's
11:42reaching out when no one asks. It's
11:45caring when it's easier to scroll past.
11:47It's calling the quiet friend. It's
11:49praying for the distant one.
11:53If love doesn't cost you something, then
11:56maybe it's just for our comfort.
12:00Agape loves sacrifices. It stretches
12:03you. It challenges your pride. It pushes
12:07past convenient. It's not about doing
12:09what's easy. It's about doing what's
12:12eternal.
12:18[Applause]
12:20I once told a friend, if you want to
12:23show someone you care, be there no
12:25matter what. Because real love isn't
12:28always loud. Sometimes it's quiet. It
12:32sits beside you in silence and stays. It
12:34shows
12:35up not just when things are fun and
12:38easy,
12:41but when life gets heavy, uncertain,
12:43still. Now, that's where foundations are
12:46built.
12:48The most powerful place you can be isn't
12:52inside these four walls. It's in
12:53someone's struggle. to be an answered
12:57prayer. God, is there anyone who won't
13:00leave?
13:03That might be the moment they feel God's
13:05love most clearly. Not because we were
13:09loud about it, because we didn't
13:12leave. Now, that's entrusted love. So,
13:15let's not be entrusted with gifts. Let's
13:18be entrusted to love faithfully,
13:21quietly, and represent him.
13:26Thank you Jesus. Thank you
13:29Jesus. Thank
13:32you. Thank you
13:36Jesus. Thank you
13:39Lord. By raise of hands, who here has
13:43taught or raised kids? I know many of us
13:46have kids. Yeah. Um, as a kid, as a
13:50child, I taught my my poppy, my my
13:54grandfather. Um, and man, was I hard on
13:57him. I graded his I I made him I graded
14:01stuff. I made my grandma sign his report
14:03cards. Um, I gave him assignments. I was
14:07a hard teacher.
14:10But now as an adult, as a Sunday school
14:12teacher, as a speech pathologist in an
14:14elementary school, I have grown to learn
14:17the patience that he had with me. I feel
14:21like it's kind of come back to like bite
14:23me.
14:25Um, but that patience comes out of a
14:29place of love. It comes out of
14:32sacrificing your time for someone. For
14:34me, it's it's the kids that I work with
14:36to see them reach their goals, to see
14:38them learn what they're supposed to
14:39learn, to to sacrifice my time, maybe a
14:42little bit of my sanity at times.
14:46Um, but in the Bible, patience is also
14:49referred to as longsuffering. Yes. And
14:52it's just the ability, it's a fancy way
14:53of saying, the ability to persist in
14:56spite of troubles.
14:59And in verse four of the passage that
15:01we're all reading from 1
15:03Corinthians, love, it says that love is
15:07patient. If love is
15:10patient, patience, we must be patient in
15:13love. Yes.
15:15And as I look around at all these
15:17decorations and and the the the Easter
15:20time that that we're in in this
15:22beautiful season of remembering Jesus's
15:25patience, and I want to take you with me
15:27on that journey of of understanding
15:31Jesus's perfect sacrifice, his patience,
15:34his love for
15:35us. But before his
15:38sacrifice, he was
15:41anointed. a woman in Bethany, Mary, she
15:45she broke this this box of expensive
15:48perfume on Jesus, not because he was
15:52about to be sacrificed, but in the
15:54Bible, sacrifices weren't anointed. Um,
15:58sins were just kind of like symbolically
16:01transferred. But we know that in the
16:03Bible, we know who was anointed. We know
16:06that kings were anointed. And even
16:08though she may have not known at that
16:11time that she was anointing him to be
16:13king, that is in fact what she was
16:15doing, preparing him for what he was
16:18about to
16:19endure. And I can imagine as that oil
16:22poured over Jesus's face that he was
16:25reminded of who he was about to suffer
16:27for. Not just for the woman like the
16:31woman at Bethany that that that gave all
16:33that she had to express her love, but it
16:36was also for people like Judas who
16:39mocked her and and called it a waste of
16:41what she had offered before the
16:46Lord. But how many know that your love
16:49is not wasted? your time, your effort,
16:53the the prayers that you pray for
16:54people, they are not
16:57forgotten. Thank you,
17:00Jesus. And in Judas's betrayal, he shows
17:03us how how Eli was talking, the
17:05intention, your intention to love. But
17:08should I say rather that Judas shows us
17:11how it infects our love.
17:15Is our intention to love to bless or is
17:18it to accuse? I know that I've
17:20unwillingly accused people when I was
17:23doing things out of love or what I had
17:25thought was
17:27love. But as Jesus sat there shackled in
17:31prison, forewarned Peter already that he
17:35was going to deny him. Peter
17:38still because the Lord had said that it
17:41was going to be done denied him.
17:45And we often think the one that you
17:48love, Peter, how could you?
17:52But Jesus showed us an important
17:55lesson that longsuffering requires
18:00forgiveness. I know that Jesus forgave
18:03me. So what excuse what real excuse do I
18:05have not to forgive others?
18:08Because if we can't forgive, how can we
18:10love others?
18:13And in the moments leading to Jesus's
18:17crucifixion, he carries the weight of
18:20the of the of the sins of the world on
18:22his shoulder with with every sigh, with
18:25every pain that he had to bear. He
18:28carried that weight. And I believe that
18:31it was his love that held him, that gave
18:33him that strength, the love that he had
18:35for each and every one of
18:39us. Thank you, Jesus. because he
18:41suffers. He didn't suffer for for his
18:44sake. He didn't need saving,
18:48but he suffered for us that we might
18:50have life and that we might have it more
18:52abundantly.
18:55Thank you,
18:56[Applause]
18:57Jesus. Because love isn't just an
19:00expression. It's not just some word that
19:02we throw around that that Johnny was
19:04saying it was it's easy to say, but it's
19:07an expression of who Jesus is.
19:11And I just want to leave you with this
19:13that if you have love, if you have
19:16Jesus, then that is all that you need.
19:23Yes. that that sacrificial love that I
19:26said in the beginning that that we must
19:28have with when we when raising kids and
19:31and with dealing with other people. We
19:33have to sacrifice out of a place of
19:36love because our
19:39longsuffering, our patience, it shapes
19:42our
19:43love so that we can be an example just
19:47as Jesus was to us. Amen.
19:52[Applause]
19:54Praise the Lord, church. So great to be
19:57with you
19:58guys. Again, doing this out of love cuz
20:01probably
20:03shaking. Um, so I want to leave you with
20:06I want to start off with two words.
20:09Don't want to leave you yet. Secret
20:11admirer. Keep those in mind while we go
20:14through the next five minutes.
20:16Hopefully, you've been paying attention.
20:17We're in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This
20:20time we're going to be going to verse
20:21five. Says, "Love does not behave itself
20:24unseemly. Love seeks not its own. Love
20:28is not easily provoked. Love thinks no
20:31evil." I will give you each one of you a
20:34challenge. Put your name where I just
20:36said
20:37love. Gabriel does not behave himself
20:40unseemly.
20:42Good so far. I guess Gabriel seeks not
20:45his own.
20:47Sometimes Gabriel is not easily
20:49provoked. Here's where it gets
20:51difficult.
20:54If patience was a store, a lot of people
20:57would be living on God's credit. I
20:59promise you that. And I'm talking about
21:00the people in the left lane driving 60
21:03on the
21:06turnpike. Gabriel thinks no evil. That
21:10also depends on the day. Again, going
21:11back to those left hand drivers, left
21:13lane
21:14drivers. So, I mean, it's powerful. It's
21:17very convicting when you put your name
21:19where it says love cuz love is some
21:21abstract con concept. You know you love
21:23is something you you don't know what it
21:25is. But now you know who you are. You
21:28know I know who Gabriel is. Now am I
21:31thinking does Gabriel do these things?
21:35Does Gabriel, you
21:37know, do what I just
21:40said?
21:42So let's go to Acts
21:45nine because I want to talk about love
21:48seeks not its own.
21:51Real love does not prioritize comfort,
21:54reputation or convenience.
21:57Real love costs something.
22:02The mighty apostle Paul uh
22:06Paul mostly everybody here knows him.
22:09you know, he went on his mission trips,
22:11spoke to thousands of people. Again, he
22:14speaks to millions of people through his
22:16through the word of God.
22:18And he wasn't always that person. He
22:21used to be Saul of Tarsus.
22:24And one day he was on his way to
22:26Damascus, dusty road, you know, just a
22:29normal day. And in his hands he had
22:32papers from Jewish leadership to go
22:34persecute Christians because their teach
22:36because Christians teachings went
22:38against traditional Jewish teachings
22:42and then out of nowhere a blinding light
22:45mo much like these lights blinding
22:47light. Uh and God asks him why do you
22:50persecute me?
22:53And Saul is left blind for 3 days in
22:56darkness,
22:58hopeless, much like I was in darkness
23:01too many
23:02times more times than I'd like to
23:06admit. And just like you can be in
23:09darkness, there are people that you know
23:10that are in darkness
23:13cuz darkness does not discriminate. You
23:15could be six, you could be 20, you could
23:17be 80, you could be a guy, you could be
23:19a girl, you could be poor, you could be
23:22rich. Darkness does not
23:24discriminate and there are people that
23:27we
23:28know that are in darkness and sometimes
23:32that we refuse to talk to frankly um God
23:36tells us to talk to them and what do we
23:38do? We don't listen
23:41exactly we pull a Jonas uh Jonah my bad
23:44not
23:47Jonas. So this reminds me of back in
23:50fifth grade. Let me take you back to
23:51elementary school. I was about yay high,
23:54slick back, biggest backpack you've seen
23:56in a child. And there was a there was
24:00this girl name Sophia, PH, not an F.
24:04Apparently that makes a difference. I'm
24:05not sure.
24:07Um you
24:09know, fair, you know, fair skin, blue
24:12eyes, you know, brown hair, like
24:15straight out of a Disney movie. And as
24:17she would walk down the hallway, I'd be
24:20like, you know, mouth open. I'm lying.
24:23You know, she would levitate across with
24:25birds following and stuff. So,
24:30um, I was her secret
24:34admirer. And guess what? One day she
24:38disappeared. Um, from what I've heard,
24:40she went to Tennessee and, you know,
24:42moved away. I never saw her again. Um,
24:45but sometimes I'll go back and think,
24:48what if I had talked to her? Like, what
24:49would have happened? You know, just just
24:51things that you think about when you're
24:53sleeping at trying to sleep at 2 in the
24:55morning.
24:57Um, but but I see you're all laughing,
25:01but it's funny when it comes to fifth
25:02grade crushes, but what if it was a soul
25:06that God had told you to talk about talk
25:08to? What if it was that person that
25:12needed you in that moment and you
25:13decided not to talk to them?
25:16I mean, for me, in that instance, it
25:18could have been fear. It could have
25:19been, you know, lack of self-confidence.
25:22It could have been the fact that I
25:23didn't speak English very well. But in
25:27this case, those are excuses because God
25:30tells you, God prepares you. God
25:33prepares you with what you need and then
25:34he tells you to go and talk to that
25:37person.
25:38There are people every day that we
25:40encounter at work, school, at the
25:42grocery store,
25:44that might never encounter the gospel.
25:47That's right. Uh in the case that we
25:50don't choose to share it,
25:52we might have one opportunity, one
25:54moment, one conversation to change that
25:56person's life to determine if they have
26:00eternal salvation or eternal damnation.
26:04So I want to be that quiet intercessor,
26:06that person that prays, that learns,
26:08that loves from a distance until God
26:10says now go and talk to that person.
26:15So I want to leave you with let's not
26:18chase comfort. Let's not chase
26:22reputation or our self or chase fear
26:25because sometimes we just choose
26:27fear. Let's pursue souls because real
26:29love does not stay silent. Real love
26:32admires from afar until God tells you to
26:35act.
26:38[Applause]
26:46Evening church.
26:49Praise the Lord.
26:51reading through our passage of
26:53scripture, I I felt it pull towards the
26:57end of what we read and
27:00it I looked at verse
27:038 and verse 8, 9 and 10 are profound if
27:08you take the time to read them slowly.
27:12If you rush through it like we usually
27:13do on in January and you run through the
27:16whole Bible in couple weeks and repeat,
27:19you don't always absorb what it sang. It
27:24starts out simply enough. It says,
27:25"Charity never faileth." Now that is
27:29profound all in itself. And you could
27:32preach messages for weeks on that one,
27:35which I have preached
27:37myself. But it's also charity. There is
27:40also agape love.
27:43So agape love never faileth.
27:46But the verse doesn't end there.
27:49The verse continues on. It says,
27:51"Prophecies shall fail."
27:54That's a little depressing.
27:56Tongues shall cease.
27:59Knowledge will vanish away. In verse
28:03nine, it says, "For we know in part and
28:06we prophesy in part.
28:09Now, I mean, reading through that,
28:11that's sometimes a little sad and it can
28:14hit you hard when you slow down. But if
28:17you look at the translations, you get a
28:20different picture of those four phrases,
28:23especially the first three prophecies
28:25there. It's talking about human
28:29prophecies, prophecies made by us, not
28:33necessarily made by the spirit. It's
28:35made by
28:37us. like
28:39Y2K. That was a prophecy that the
28:41computers would all fail and we would go
28:44back to Stone Age for who knows how long
28:47and it never happened. Prophecies shall
28:51fail.
28:52Tongues in the next part, tongues there
28:55is words.
28:57Words shall cease. As we've heard before
29:00even tonight, and you can see it all
29:02throughout social media, it's easy for
29:05someone to use words.
29:08Actions are difficult.
29:10Words are cheap.
29:13I love you. Does it mean anything?
29:19Maybe that is the question.
29:23And the last one is knowledge shall pass
29:26away. The knowledge you knew 10 years
29:29ago is not going to be the knowledge of
29:3110 years from now.
29:33If I hand a kid a cassette tape and a
29:36pencil, he won't know what to do with
29:38it.
29:41If you look at someone who's integrated
29:43AI into every day of their life, how
29:45could they live without
29:47it? Knowledge will pass
29:50away. But that's talking about the
29:53flesh. When you go into verse 10, verse
29:5710 starts out again and it clarifies
30:01everything. It starts out
30:05beautifully. It says that which is
30:07perfect is
30:09come. That which was passed will pass
30:13away. I don't know about you, but I
30:15could tell you exactly the perfect one
30:18will come.
30:19And when he comes,
30:23when he comes, all that all that flaws,
30:27all the problems that I had, that my
30:29flesh had in this world, those will all
30:33be done away.
30:35So if you take verse 10 and verse 9 and
30:37you clarify it and you reread verse 8
30:40just a little differently,
30:43you see
30:44something better than before.
30:48You would read it this way. It would
30:50say, "Prophecy shall fail, yet God's
30:53love will never fail.
30:55Tongues may cease, but God's love will
30:59never fail.
31:01Knowledge will vanish away, yet God's
31:04love will never fail. And even though I
31:08may fail, God's love will never fail."
31:13[Applause]
31:17Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah.
31:19[Applause]
31:21Isn't he a good God? Isn't he faithful
31:24to us? Thank you, Jesus. I don't know
31:28about you, but I've been blessed by
31:29what's been said before before
31:32me. Um, he's just such an incredible,
31:35incredible God.
31:38One thing that Lauren mentioned in the
31:40beginning of her message was the fact
31:42that she um works with children. And if
31:45you're a parent or if you just been
31:47around kids long enough, you'll know a
31:49particular situation I'm about to bring
31:51up. And that is when there's two
31:53friends, never see them separated.
31:55They're always together. Suddenly, one
31:59of them's crying in the corner because
32:01their friend wants something that they
32:03or has something that they want, but
32:04they don't want to give it up yet.
32:07And as the adult in the room, you find
32:09the solution. Well, you get it for two
32:10minutes and then the other one can get
32:12it for two
32:13minutes. And as adults, we know that we
32:17can't just stop being someone's friend
32:19because they have something we want.
32:22And the older we get, the more complex
32:24our problems get as well. We face things
32:27like betrayal and hurt and
32:31disappointment. For me, I found the
32:33solution to that is biblical love.
32:37In 1 Corinthians 13:7, it says that love
32:41bears all things, believes all things,
32:44hopes all things, and endures all
32:47things. The amplified version puts it a
32:49little bit differently. It says that
32:51love bears all things regardless of what
32:54comes. Believes all things, looking in
32:57the best in each one. Hopes all things,
33:00remaining steadfast during difficult
33:02times. endures all things without
33:06weakening. Love is trusting and it's
33:09durable and it's meant to persevere.
33:11It's meant to stay when it's difficult
33:13and when it's easy. And one great
33:16example of this in the Bible is the
33:17parable of the prodigal son. For those
33:20of you who know it and those of you who
33:21may not, there's a father with two sons.
33:24And the younger son asks for his
33:25inheritance in his portion. And once he
33:28receives that, the Bible says shortly
33:29after he
33:31leaves, he spends it all on a lavish
33:34lifestyle, doing things he probably
33:35shouldn't be doing. And he
33:37knows and he finds himself eating with
33:39the pig, the pigs. And this, the Bible
33:42even says that no man would feed
33:45him. So he deci he realizes that the
33:49servants at his father's house are
33:50living better than he is right now. He's
33:52eating with the pigs.
33:55So he makes up his mind and he decides
33:57he's going to go back not as a son but
33:59as a
34:01servant. And the father sees him a long
34:04way far off. The Bible says and he runs.
34:08He says, "Get him a ring and a robe and
34:10shoes for his feet cuz my son has
34:12returned."
34:15He he calls to get a fatted calf and to
34:18celebrate. Who does that? Your son just
34:21left. He spent all your portion of his
34:23inheritance. And the son, the older son
34:26in the story has a problem with this.
34:28He's angry and he's frustrated. Why? Why
34:31in the world would you celebrate? Kill
34:33the fatted calf.
34:36What? But the father's love didn't end
34:39when it was faced with when when the son
34:43rejected him. When he when he would when
34:46the father felt disappointed by his son,
34:49it didn't
34:50end. But watch what the fa the father
34:52says to the older brother. He said, "It
34:55was right that we should make Mary and
34:57be glad for your brother was dead and is
35:01alive again. Was lost and is found."
35:05This is a prime example of an enduring
35:08love that saw regardless of
35:10circumstances. The father didn't cover
35:13his son with the robe in shame. No, he
35:16did it with joy. He did it to celebrate.
35:21[Applause]
35:25And this is the love that God has for
35:27us. And he sets that example to love
35:30through that disappointment to hope and
35:32and and betrayal into blessings and in
35:36hope. Sometimes people hurt us in our
35:39definition of what love is can become
35:41distorted. But we have a father in
35:43heaven who can teach us what love is
35:45again and what it means to be loved.
35:52Like many families, you face conflict
35:54and things that you have to deal with.
35:57And my family was met with a particular
35:59situation with another family member.
36:01And we didn't know how to navigate that.
36:04We had no idea. But each of us felt the
36:06love of the Lord and we learned how to
36:09love that family member through all the
36:11betrayal and the hurt that we felt. We
36:13were hurt. It's not easy. I'm not
36:15standing up here and telling you that
36:16it's easy. It's hard. But that's what
36:18God did for us.
36:21Can you imagine if God stopped loving us
36:24every single time that we made a mistake
36:27or that we disappointed him? Where would
36:30we be? Where would I be?
36:33But he didn't. He loved us beyond our
36:37humanity
36:39and into our potential.
36:42He loved me through my mistakes and all
36:44the times I put him in the back burner
36:46of my life. He still loved
36:48me and he saw my potential and he sees
36:51your
36:52potential. He doesn't see your mistakes,
36:54he sees your potential.
36:57So we love
36:59others even when it's difficult because
37:02love bears all things. Yes, we see the
37:04best in others just as God saw the best
37:06in us because love believes.
37:10We remain constant and faithful in love
37:13because that is hope.
37:16We don't let circumstances weaken our
37:18love because love endures.
37:20And I want to leave you with one
37:22verse. 1 Peter
37:254:8. Above all, love each other
37:29deeply because love covers over a
37:32multitude of sins.
37:36[Applause]
37:44Why don't we stand
37:46[Music]
37:52together with no
37:55clapping? Let's talk to the Lord just
37:58for a
37:58moment. Let's talk to him. Talk out
38:02loud. Talk out loud and talk to the
38:05Lord. I love you, Jesus.
38:09I love you, Jesus.
38:12Can you hear yourself talking to the
38:14Lord right now?
38:17Can you hear yourself talking to the
38:19Lord right
38:21now? Why don't you speak in a manner
38:24that the angels can hear you? Why don't
38:28you speak in a manner that all of your
38:29foes can hear
38:31you? I need you, Jesus.
38:36I bless you Jesus.
38:40Hallelujah.
38:41[Music]
38:43Hallelujah.