What God’s love is #20: Love Never Fails
What God’s love is #20: Love Never Fails from Rick Pina on Vimeo.
(1Co 13:8 AMP) Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].
If something has been superseded it means that is has been set aside, displaced, replaced, or removed; all because the issue/item has become obsolete, inferior, or antiquated.
- This gives us a better understanding of out text.
- The text connotes that the gifts of prophecy and tongues have had and continue to have their role in the Kingdom of God, but there will come a time where they will become obsolete.
- When Jesus returns (ultimately) or when a believer dies (more directly) the role of prophecy and tongues ceases; but love will continue to operate, because God is love (1stJohn 4:8).
- Love is an eternal requirement so we might as well come to grips with it.
Love will never lose its relevancy, never become outdated, and never be replaced by some “higher” characteristic.
- Most importantly, love will never become inferior to anything else.
- Love is God’s highest calling.
- You can’t get around it, over it, or under it.
So:
1. God requires us to operate in love today and forever.
2. There will be no hatred in heaven, so we might as well prepare ourselves now (in time) for eternity.
3. Create a checklist of these 20 characteristics of love and seek to perfect them in your life.
4. If you want to know if you are growing in Christ, then simply measure whether or not you are growing in love.
What God’s love is #6: Love Does Not Display Itself Haughtily
(1 Cor 13:4 AMP) Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
Haughty: To be condescendingly proud or to believe others to be inferior.
- People who walk in the love of God do not put people down and make them feel inferior.
- Have you ever met a person that seemed to talk down to everyone?
- People who talk down to others often cause bitterness, resentment; and offense.
When you are haughty you:
1. Destroy your witness.
- Far too many believers leave church, only to treat people with disrespect.
- When you look down and mistreat others, you hinder your ability to reach them.
- Jesus said, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Mat 5:16). Instead of allowing light to shine, you are become a conduit for something else.
2. Put yourself on the wrong side of God.
- Jesus said, “Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” (Mat 18:7). Never be the one who causes offenses.
- Never be the person who causes offense.
- Haughty people cause harm and not help.
- They lower other’s self-esteem, instead of helping raise it.
- They tear down instead of building up.
- They put down instead of encouraging.
*** When you walk in His love you seek to be a blessing and not a burden.
- You seek to build up and not tear down.
- You seek to walk in peace and not offense.
- You seek to make others feel superior and not inferior.
3. Miss a golden opportunity.
The old adage, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is simply not true. Words can hurt.
- When you talk down to people you can actually help destroy their dreams!
- Be cognizant today of how you talk to and deal with people.
- When dealing with a Private or a General, a pauper or a President, your subordinate or your superior; always remember to treat them as God would have you to treat them and to be a blessing and not a burden!
(Prov 18:21 KJV) Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
(Prov 15:4 MSG) “Kind words heal and help; cutting words wound and maim.”
What God’s Love Is #1: Love Endures Long
Major points I want to make this week:
- Pursuing God’s love is greater than pursuing spiritual gifts.
- When you truly love someone you are able to look beyond faults, flaws, and failures and love still them.
What God’s Love Is: #1) Love Endures Long from Rick Pina on Vimeo.
(1 Cor 13:4-8 Amplified Bible) “Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].”
- There are 20 characteristics of God’s love in these 5 verses and we will look at each one.
Characteristic #1: Love endures long
- Simply put, love does not give up easily.
- When you truly love someone you are able to look beyond faults, flaws, and failures and love still them.
- The story of the prodigal son is a good example (see Luke 15:11-31).
- This kid disrespected his father by asking for his inheritance early.
- He then set off for a distant country and wasted the money on fast living.
- After the kid was broke (financially) and broken (in spirit), he decided to come back home and ask his father for a job.
- He knew he had messed up and no longer considered himself a son.
- He was willing to take the position of a hired servant.
- His father, on the other hand, was operating in love. He woke up every day expecting that his son would come home. One day, while the kid was still a good ways off, the father saw him coming and was filled with compassion for him.
- The father was not filled with rage, resentment, or bitterness. This father was filled with a love for his son that “endured long.”
- He did not wait for his son to make it to him, he ran out to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.
- The son tried to explain that he was willing to be a hired servant, but the father ignored the foolish comments.
- Instead of saying, “I told you so,” the father told his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.”
****God enables you to endure disappointments from and mistakes by the ones that you love.
- When you operate in the love of God you are not quick to hold grudges, nor focus on the bad. You are quick to forgive and to move forward and you don’t live in the past.
- Are you operating in the love of God?
- Does your love endure long, or is it a love that only loves when others do what you like?
Winning the War Within (Part 9) – SuperNatural Power to Change
Points I want to highlight this week – PASSION WEEK:
1. Jesus endured the pain of the cross by faith.
2. Faith works by love (Gal 5:6).
3. If we live by faith and remain in love, then the same Power that Jesus operated in – and the same Power that raised Him from the dead – are available to us… and with that Power WE CAN CHANGE!
Winning the War Within – Part 7
Two major points I want to make this week:
1. You cannot live a life pleasing to God in the flesh (human ability)
2. Fasting gives you an opportunity to do HANDS-ON TRAINING for submitting to the Spirit, versus succumbing to the flesh
Winning the War Within (Part 6)
Three major points I want to make this week:
- You have to be brain-washed
- You must change your environment
- You must change your input
1. Accept the fact that you must be brain-washed
(Romans 12:2 NCV) Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.
a. You come to God with stinking thinking.
b. If you don’t change the way you think you are going to be Carnal and not Spiritual.
2. Changing your environment is critical
(Prov 13:20 NCV) Spend time with the wise and you will become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer.
a. Both wisdom and foolishness are transferred by association.
b. Don’t yourself into thinking that you can hang out with the wrong people and still become the right person.
c. Your friends have a lot to do with who you become.
d. Surround yourself with people of like-precious-faith.
3. You must change your input
(Mat 15:11) It is not what people put into their mouths that makes them unclean. It is what comes out of their mouths that makes them unclean.”
a. Your Words expose the condition of your heart.
b. Your heart only got that way by what you put in it.
c. Your eyes and ears are the gates to your heart (your soul).
d. If you don’t like your output, you must change your input!
Winning the War Within – Part 5
Major points I want to make this week:
- Natural vs. Spiritual vs. Carnal
- Learning to be led of the Spirit
(1 Cor 2:9-14 KJV) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1. Before we come to God we are natural
a. Born with a sin nature.
b. Sin was natural to us.
2. The Natural cannot receive Spiritual things
a. The natural man attempts to make sense of everything, because he processes everything through his senses.
b. The Spiritual communicates with God Spirit-to-spirit.
c. God is Spiritual, not sensual.
3. Once you are Born-Again, if you live by your Old Nature you are referred to as “Carnal”
a. The Carnal man is a believer who is governed by the flesh.
b. You can be Born-Again and still dominated by your old nature.
4. To be Spiritual you must
a. Be Spirit-indwelled.
b. Be Soul-transformed.
5. The goal is to be to Spiritual (to be led of the Spirit)
a. When you are led of the Spirit you are a SON of God (Rom 8:14).
b. When you are led of the Spirit you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Gal 5:16).
Winning the War Within – Part IV
Two major points I want to make this week:
• Spiritual Understanding is possible.
• We must “learn-to-learn” from the Holy Spirit.
(Recap) There are three parts of you:
• You are a Spirit (this is the real you).
• You possess a Soul.
• You live in a Body.
(Eph 1:3 KJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
(1 Cor 2:9-12 NLT) That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
1. Some believe Spiritual Insight is something they cannot receive
a. Either because God’s ways cannot be understood.
b. Or because they feel incapable of such understanding.
c. Revelation is RECEIVED, not figured out.
2. The Holy Spirit is IN us to bring us Spiritual Understanding
a. The Author of the Bible lives IN YOU!
b. You can know all that God wants you to know – through your Spirit.
3. God put His Spirit in you, so now you have access to His thoughts
a. Human example.
b. God’s example.
4. Learn-to-Learn from the Holy Spirit!
a. Stop stopping the process.
b. This is why your mind must be renewed.
Purpose and Vision – Part III
- Purpose is predetermined and fixed, vision is incremental and progressive.
- Vision is sight, birthed from insight, with the benefit of hindsight (progressive).
Example: Abraham
Abraham’s Purpose was fixed:
- God visits a 75yr. old man and tells him his purpose.
- The Lord was going to start a family through Abraham and through this family; ALL the families of the earth would be blessed.
- Blessed TO BE a Blessing!
- From the time Abraham received his purpose, to the time he died, the purpose never changed and he was continually in pursuit of it.
Abraham needed vision (insight) in order to accomplish the purpose:
- When Abraham couldn’t SEE it, the Lord had him look up to the stars and look down to the dust. Just like the number of stars and the grains of dust cannot be counted, that’s how many children would be in his lineage.
- Abraham had to SEE IT before he could BE IT.
- The Lord needed Abraham to SEE IT on the inside.
Don’t be afraid of using your imagination:
- Vision is birthed from anointed imagination.
- Free yourself to allow God to show you your future.
- Walk around in your future, see the people you are going to impact, shake their hands, touch them, see the change, and then come back and get ready to go there.
- Abraham received it ON THE INSIDE well before he ever saw it ON THE OUTSIDE.
A few nuggets in closing:
- Purpose will give birth to vision.
- If you allow yourself to imagine, with God involved in the process, He can show you your future. Your job then is to come back to the present and make plans to get there.
- Your plans will not experience Godly success unless they line up with God’s purpose.
- When God gives you vision for your future He is also confirming what He has already implanted IN you – He will never tell you to do something you can’t do! The goal then is the outworking of the internal.
Find, Follow, and Finish it! (Purpose and Vision Part 2)
My prayer for you is that you:
1. FIND your purpose.
2. FOLLOW your purpose.
3. FINISH your purupose.
… before you die! That is the definition of success in my eyes.
Enjoy: