Jesus commanded that you love others the way He loves you. Most Christians think that is impossible. That’s because you can’t give away what you don’t have. You need to personally experience God’s awesome love.

let’s turn over to John chapter 13 and I

want to do a series this week that is I

believe going to be a tremendous eye

opener to many of you it’s going to

minister to you challenge you and at the

same time bless you but I want to talk

from John chapter 13 real quickly let me

give you the context of this this is the

night before Jesus crucifixion he had

already had communion with his disciples

he had washed the disciples feet and he

revealed that Judas was the one that was

going to betray him and Judas had just

had Satan enter into him and he ran out

and so that is the context of what’s

happened and then right after this

is when Jesus spoke to his disciples

John 14 15 and 16 the night before his

crucifixion and gave the instructions

about let not your heart be troubled etc

so this is the context this is the night

before the crucifixion of Jesus and just

by virtue of the fact that this is one

of his last instructions it has to be

one of the most important things that he

ever said you know if I had say for

instance that you were my disciples or

something and if we had been together

for three-and-a-half years and if I was

getting ready to leave and turn the

whole thing over to you I can guarantee

you the last night before I was gone I

would be trying to emphasize summarized

put an exclamation point behind the

things that are the most important I

mean there wouldn’t be any wasted words

not that Jesus ever wasted words but I

would be focused on saying the things

that were just hurting I mean this is

this is last opportunity to talk to

these guys and so that’s the context of

what he said and look down here in John

chapter 13 and in verse 33 he says

little children yet a little while am i

with you and you shall seek me and as I

said under the

whether I go you cannot come so now I

say to you and if you go back in the

book of John he had said this about his

death and they weren’t going to be able

to follow him and he was saying that now

to his disciples and then in verse 34 he

says a new commandment I give unto you

that you love one another as I have

loved you that you also love one another

you know probably every person in here

has heard this before but this weekend I

want to really try and drill this home

that this is a new commandment that

Jesus gave to us to love each other as

he had loved us you know that is huge

that is big and most people have

probably heard this but in reality most

people do not really think that this is

something that can be done we just pass

off our humanity and say that you know

we just can’t operate in love and we

can’t do all of these things and yet

Jesus this is his last instruction and

he’s telling his disciples that this is

my new commandment not a suggestion

this is a commandment that God gave us

not only to love but to love in exactly

the same way as he had loved us and one

of the points that I’m going to try and

really get across this weekend is that

one of the reasons we do such a poor job

of this of loving other people is

because first of all we haven’t received

the love of God you can’t give away

something that you don’t have and there

are many of us who try and love other

people through gritted teeth but the

reason it doesn’t seem to flow out of us

is because you haven’t really had an

encounter where you have received God’s

unconditional love for you and I’m not

against anybody here tonight but I am

saying that our religious system that we

live in today is not representing God

well I don’t believe in the majority of

people today are being taught about a

conditional love

from God based on whether you’re good

enough and if you’ve done everything

just right then God will love you and

that is not the way that Jesus loved us

and so I think that there is a really

misrepresentation about how God loved us

and one of the reasons that we are so

judgmental and harsh towards other

people is because we think that that’s

the way that God is to us so before we

can turn around and give this kind of

love to other people we have to have a

renewed idea of God’s love towards us

we’ve got to understand that God does

not love you because you are lovely

that’s a big statement right there and

yet if I could sit down and talk to most

of the people in this auditorium in

again I believe that you guys are the

cream of the crop

Thursday night downtown Houston this

isn’t your nod to God crowd it shows up

on Sunday morning because you feel like

you got to pay God off or do something I

mean you’re the fanatics or either a

fanatic drug you hear one of the two so

I’m not criticizing you you’re probably

better than the average and yet I bet

you if I could sit down with every

person in here and talk to you there are

so many people that just don’t feel that

they are worthy of God’s love they think

that God’s love is tied to your

performance they think that you have to

do something to be made worthy for God

to love you and yet that is completely

completely contrary to the image that

Jesus portrayed in the way he dealt with

people and so his command is to love

others as he has loved us if we haven’t

received that love for ourselves it’s

impossible for you to turn around and

give this to other people and this is

where so many people are you know in the

church that I grew up in they used to

tell you get born again it was a Baptist

Church and that’s all they really

preached was evangelistic message is

about getting born again and once you

got mourning and the only other thing

they preached was go get somebody else

born again go do a work for God you got

to somehow or another pay God back

justify your existence

I used to even have this statement said

that the soul

purpose for your existence here on this

earth is to lead somebody else to the

Lord if all God he wanted to do is to

bless you he would take you to heaven so

the reason you’re left here is to lead

somebody else to the Lord that’s the

sole purpose for your existence and that

they were introduced doing that in an

effort to emphasize how important that

we make our life count and touch

somebody else and I agree that we do

need to give and bless others Paul said

I’m a debtor to all men so I believe

that there’s a point but when when the

people said that the Lord spoke to me

and he says well if that was the sole

purpose for your existence then what

about Adam and Eve what was the sole

purpose for their existence they didn’t

have anybody to leave to the Lord they

didn’t have anybody to intercede for

they didn’t have Church to go to they

didn’t have a work to do they didn’t

have a Sunday School class to teach they

didn’t have praise and worship to lead

they didn’t have any demons to cast out

they didn’t have anybody to intercede

for they didn’t have any clothes to pray

for our houses to pray for you know if

you were to take your prayer life and

analyze it how much of it is just really

worshiping God and loving and receiving

his love

compared to interceding binding the

devil rebuking this interceding for that

and if you are spiritual then your whole

life revolves around binding the devil

for somebody else and praying for them

and doing stuff but most people their

whole prayer life is all about getting

something doing something binding the

devil doing something what we’re Adam

and Eve what did they do they didn’t

have any of that stuff to do the simple

answer is Revelation chapter 4 verse 11

says the this is what the angels are

saying in heaven right now it says it

happens constantly twenty-four hours a

day it says that they fall down and

throw their crowns before the Lord and

they say worthy worthy because you are

how does that go you got that up their

horn now are worthy O Lord to receive

glory and honor and power for the

is created all things and for thy

pleasure they are and were created the

original purpose of all things was to

give God pleasure and that still is

God’s purpose so Adam and Eve were

created for God to just love and for

them to love him back and to have

relationship it was all about

relationship we’re human beings sad to

say we should be most people are human

doings but we should be a human being

you ought to you ought to be someone

that just loves God but it’s all about

doing everybody’s got to do a work for

God and we tie God’s love to us for

something that we do Adam and Eve didn’t

have anything to do and yet God meant

with them every day and the cool of the

evening this whole concept the way that

it’s been presented ties God’s love for

you his relationship with you his

pleasure for you to how good you are how

much you’re doing and whether you’re

doing all of these things and I can just

tell you some of you may think that I’m

exaggerating this but I deal with

thousands and thousands and thousands of

people and the people that I pray for

the vast majority come forward and

immediately start telling me about why

they’re worthy for God to heal them they

start trying to say I fasted I pray I’m

doing this I’m doing this I’ve been

studying the word I go to church I paid

my times I’m living as Holy as I can how

come God hasn’t healed me you just told

me why God hadn’t healed you because you

didn’t point to what Jesus did for you

you pointed to what you did for Jesus

and you think that you have to do things

to make yourself worthy for God to move

in your life that is not the example

that Jesus gave this is not following

the command that you love other people

as I have loved you one of the reasons

that our relationships with other people

are so poor is because our relationship

with God is so poor

we think God is harsh with us we think

God is upset with you you know if you

could ascribe to me the same qualities

that the Holy Spirit has that I would be

I’m not present that I could read every

thought that you have that I was with

you every second of every day

and I could read your thoughts and if I

was there reading your thoughts and

every time you did anything wrong I was

goading you that’s wrong stop that

don’t do that don’t think that man 24

hours of me doing that and I guarantee

you you would dislike me immensely if I

can critique every single thought and

action and just point out everything

wrong that you do see that’s the way

most people think the Holy Spirit is I’m

not going to teach on this but I got a

great teaching out there entitled the

positive Ministry of the Holy Spirit the

Holy Spirit isn’t showing you that hey

you’re smoking you’re drinking you lied

you didn’t go to church you didn’t read

your Bible you haven’t prayed enough the

Bible says that the Holy Spirit convicts

of one sin once in John chapter 16

verses 8 and 9 one sin and then in verse

9 it explains what that one sin is the

sin of not believing on Jesus the Holy

Spirit is not the one who’s making you

miserable because you haven’t been

studying the word and you haven’t been

praying that’s religion the devil and

your own conscience you have a

conscience that tells you constantly

whether you are doing what’s right and

wrong and religion has amplified that

conscience to condemn you and to make

you feel miserable thank you for that

one head nod

some of yours I’m not sure this is true

I could get plumb off the subject here

I’m trying to talk about as Jesus has

loved us but I’m countering all of the

condemnation that religion has given us

it’s been misrepresenting God I was

raised here in Texas I was raised in the

Baptist Church I have never in my 62

I’ll be 63 in April I have never used a

word of profanity in 16 nearly 63 years

I’ve never taken a drink of liquor I’ve

never smoked a cigarette I used to wake

up and I was a kid that I had had a

dream that I smoked the cigarette and I

got caught and turned in to my to the

police and the police turned me over to

my mother which was worse and I woke up

in hell

burning in hell because I smoked a

cigarette and I mean I had reoccurring

nightmares about this probably for 10

years at least once or twice a year for

ten years I would see profanity

scribbled in a stall in a restroom and

I’d feel condemned over that I didn’t

write it I just read it the thought came

through my mind and because of that I

would be condemned for a week some of

you thinking man you were really messed

up

I really was but you know what I was

very religious and I didn’t do some of

the things that you all did but I

guarantee you I felt so condemned

I felt so separated from God and yet I

was living holier than probably the vast

majority of you in here

it wasn’t God that was condemning me it

was my religion it was condemning they

taught that we couldn’t go mix bathing

they didn’t use the term mix swimming

because that would have sounded better

they said mixed bathing that made it

sound more ungodly where a boy and a

girl were in the swimming pool together

at the same time we couldn’t do that you

couldn’t dance dancing was of the devil

I remember one time in my life I was

about 14 years old I wasn’t driving yet

I had my girlfriend talked me into going

over to her house on a Wednesday night

first time in my life I ever missed a

church service and I went over to her

house and turned out she had some other

kids there and they were dancing I felt

like God was going to strike me dead I

tried it for a few minutes and man I

called my brother and my brother picked

me up and I was at church before the

service was out Amen I didn’t miss the

whole service I know some of you think

I’m weird but I thought you were weird

I’m just saying did you know why he

wasn’t God that was condemning me I

remember when we finally after we were

in the ministry we went over to Austria

and we were ministering in Austria and

again I was raised a Baptist if you

drank beer you go straight to hell you

do not pass go you don’t collect $200 it

is a one-way ticket to hell if you ever

drink a beer and I went to Austria and

there is about two 300 people in the

meeting and they were all sitting around

round tables and they serve them largers

of beer as long as I talk free beer

and here was his baptist boy preaching

with everybody just drinking and that’s

one of the few times that nobody cared

how long I went they got free beer just

as long as I could preach man my head

was swimming with that when I was

thinking God how does this work and yet

they were just worshipping God and

loving God and then I left from there

and I went over into Romania and in

Romania if you drank beer you went there

but they smoked over there any in

Austria you could drink beer but if you

smoked the cigarette you went to hell

excuse me no it was coffee if you drank

coffee in Austria you went to hell they

couldn’t they just were unbelievable to

them that Christians in the United

States would drink coffee because you go

straight to hell for drinking coffee in

Austria and then you cross over into

Romania and they drink coffee and booze

but you can’t smoke a cigarette and then

you go over into Poland and it’s

different over there and you know what

my little mind figured out I think some

of this must not be God if it was if it

was the Holy Spirit it seemed like it

he’d be wrong at all of these places my

lightning-fast mind began to put some of

these things together and figure it out

I’m not saying that you know you

shouldn’t take care of your body and

that you should just go out and booze

and smoke and do all that but I am

saying that you know what it’s not the

Holy Spirit that’s showing you how wrong

you are the Holy Spirit convicts you of

one thing and that’s your relationship

with Jesus if you’re doing dope the Holy

Spirit’s not going to say why are you

doing that dope and all of this and get

on your case you know what it’ll all

come down to is why don’t you trust

Jesus why do you turn to dope to numb

you to life’s things when you win Jesus

is wanting to set you free and he’s

wanting to give you joy and peace why

would you go out and get drunk and spend

money and possibly ruin your health when

all you got to do is turn to the Lord

and you’ll have joy unspeakable and full

of glory in the present

so the Lord is fullness of joy at his

right hand are pleasures forevermore a

person who’s a drunk the person who’s a

doper is a person who without maybe even

realizing it is saying my life is so

miserable I will ruin my health I’ll run

the RIT run the risk of people rejecting

me I’ll spend buku bunches of money on

things that are going to destroy my life

and possibly kill me my life is so

miserable that I’ll do all of these

things for an hour to our five hours

worth of respite from it you’re

confessing that your life is absolutely

miserable and so the problem isn’t the

drinking in all this other it’s the fact

that why don’t you trust Jesus why why

aren’t you able to draw on his joy in

peace the Holy Spirit is not the one

that’s making your life miserable

religion is doing it you know we just

got through with the Superbowl and they

have these beer commercials and they

show all of these things about you know

it’s always something beautiful

it’s always something attractive it

looks fun

what if ever beer commercial they came

on and said why aren’t you drinking a

beer right now

what’s wrong with and if they went to

condemning you did you know what you

wouldn’t have good feelings about beer

and you wouldn’t drink it this is why

they have beautiful horses running

through the snow and doing all this

stuff what does that have to do with

beer it just is a good feeling and it

makes some kind of an emotional

connection with their product and that’s

the reason they do it but if they came

out and said why aren’t you drinking my

product right now why aren’t you doing

this and if they went to condemning you

you’d get to where you hate those

products and you wouldn’t take them well

in a sense this is what religion is done

why aren’t you praying you shouldn’t be

watching the Superbowl you should be

praying you should be studying the word

how dare you do this and they just

condemn you and they’re saying that this

is the Ministry of the Holy Spirit and

all of a sudden now you

you’re guilt-ridden about I should be

praying more I should be doing this and

you don’t understand why you don’t like

doing it because you’ve been condemned

and beat over it even if you didn’t like

chocolate which I doubt that you could

be alive and not like chocolate but

let’s say that you didn’t like chocolate

but if I came up and said you sorry

thing you shouldn’t like chocolate how

dare you like chocolate and if I went to

criticizing and saying you sorry thing

you’ll never make it if you eat

chocolate if you start preaching thou

shalt not there’s something on the

inside of you that just rises up and

says bless God I shell I’ll do it just

to show them you know I learn this in

Texas growing up that if you wanted

somebody to do something just say you

can’t do it

you’re a I dare you I double dog

dare you to do it and you know what

people that don’t even want to do it

will do it because you said they can’t

do it you understood that is a little

tiny kid this is what religion is you

can’t do this you can’t do that and

they’re saying that God is upset and

gods angry at you and your old flesh

rises up and says bless God I will do it

this is what religion has been doing and

it’s been representing God as this one

who’s criticizing God Jesus loved people

differently than what religion is

portraying him as his love is not

conditional and based on your

performance does that mean that your

performance doesn’t count no your

performance counts because it either is

allowing God freedom to move in your

life or it’s opening up a door to the

devil and so it is important how you

live and I’m not saying that you don’t

do what’s right but I am saying that

God’s love for you isn’t dependent upon

your actions

it says in Romans chapter five verse

eight that God commended his love toward

us and that while we were yet sinners

Christ died for us he didn’t die for you

when you had your act together after you

had already cleaned yourself up

he died for you while you were yet a

sinner and that is not being represented

the way that it should sometimes people

will say sure when it comes to getting

born again you have to come before him

as a sinner and sing just as I am but

then as soon as you get saved you better

straighten up and start coming to church

and do this this and this and that’s not

what the Scripture teaches again in Rome

Colossians chapter 2 verse 6 as you have

therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord

so walk ye in him how did you receive

Jesus as your Savior you received it

just by receiving it you didn’t earn it

you didn’t deserve it you sang just as I

am without one plea but now that you’re

a Christian you’re told that if you

don’t come to church if you don’t pay

your ties if you don’t study the word if

you don’t treat people right if you get

angry with your wife if this happens if

that happens if you’ve got any problem

in your life God won’t bless you and you

were taught a conditional love that’s

not the way that you receive Jesus as

your Lord it wasn’t conditional Jesus

died for it wasn’t he will die for you

if you will straighten up and confess

things right and ask him to save you

then he will come and save you no he

already died for you 2,000 years ago

it’s done God loves you and there’s

nothing you can do about it now will you

receive it are you going to reject it

that’s the way that salvation was

presented and because of that it was

easy to receive because it was already

done you didn’t have to earn it it’s

just like somebody comes and puts it on

a plate in front of you and says do you

want this and it’s just a matter of

either believe and receive or doubt and

do without but then when it comes to

receiving healing or something else

we’re told that it isn’t done yet and it

depends on whether you trust God and

whether you do this and whether you go

to church and if you pay your ties and

if you have to do this and this and this

and if you will do all of these things

then God will move in your life that is

not accurate that is a misrepresentation

of God he did not love you that way

there needs to be a change in our

understanding of how he loved us and

then and only then when we receive this

unconditional love of God will you

turn around and give it to other people

the church is basically preaching and

telling people to act in a godly way

without ever having received this love

of God that enables us to do it and

there needs to be a transformation so

I’m going to be talking about that all

week let’s look at this next verse it

says in verse 35 but by this shall all

men know that you are my disciples if

you have love one to another notice he

says that they will know that we are his

disciples not his converse huge

difference here I hadn’t got time to

teach on this I’ve got an entire series

I’ve taught for four or five days on

this one thing but today we are making

converts we’re telling people receive

Jesus as your Savior so that you won’t

go to hell and people will confess Jesus

as their Lord and say they’re converted

to Christianity but they aren’t

disciples the word disciple means a

follower a learner and Jesus never told

us to go make converts he told us to

make disciples and this is one of the

reasons that the church is in the mess

that it’s in because we change the

message from making disciples to making

converts we hold these big massive

angel’ ISM things and tell people to

come down and receive Jesus as their

Savior and then we just send them out

that’s not what the Bible told us to do

that is evangelism the way it is done in

the church today is against what God

told us to do he told us to go and make

disciples not to make converts you know

this good friend of mine Don Crowe he

was with us until just a couple of years

ago but we’ve been together for a long

long time he was best man in my wedding

I was best man in his wedding and Don

Crow and I made this program we call

discipleship evangelism and when we

started putting it into practice Don he

used to do a lot of street evangelism

just go up and talk to people and pray

with him on the street and he was very

convicted about what happens to these

people after I pray with them and we sat

down and discussed that you know this

isn’t what God told us to do he told us

to make disciples and so anyway we made

these

cereals and Don started going and

knocking on doors and instead of making

it about getting saved he made it about

being a disciple and he would just knock

on the door and ask people he says is

there anything that you need in your

life that I could help you with do you

need food and if the people needed food

he would give them food and then he

would sit down and start teaching them

what the Word of God had to say about

how to prosper and how to trust God for

your needs and these are lost people he

didn’t talk to him about getting saved

he talked to him about getting their

needs met and people were open to that

and they said man you mean the Bible

says something about my prosperity and

doníts a yen so he’d sit down and start

teaching them and as you teach a person

about prosperity this makes no sense to

your natural mind it doesn’t make sense

to if you need something to take a

portion of what you have and give it

away that’s counterintuitive that’s

illogical it takes faith and as you

start teaching a person what the Bible

says about prosperity you will have to

come to a place to where people will say

how do I do that that doesn’t make sense

and then you have to say it doesn’t make

sense unless there is a God who said

when you give it will be given unto you

so really it just comes down to faith do

you really trust in God and he would

talk to my floor and they would get born

again but that wasn’t the goal the goal

was making a disciple but you can’t make

a disciple without a person being born

again and having a personal relationship

with the Lord so he would just start

taking them through wherever they were

if they were sick I remember this one

guy named Steve that Don went to

ministered to and Don knocked on his

door and says is there anything that you

need that I could pray with you about

and help you to receive from God and as

Steve says well I’m out of work because

I’ve got back problems my back’s hurting

and Don says I can teach you what the

Word of God says and show to you about

how to be healed and so he says come on

in it turned out he and his girlfriend

they were shacking up together they were

doing

nope they were on heroin and so Don sat

down and started teaching these two dope

addicts that were on heroin they were

high on heroin and he started teaching

him the word about how God can produce

healing and they liked it they said man

this is great would you come back and

teach us next time so he went for two or

three weeks and he started teaching them

how to get healed people that were

shacking up together

that we’re doing dope and Don just

started loving them and teaching them

what the word said and as he did that I

guarantee it comes to a place how can I

believe this specifically he got off on

the parable of the prodigal son and he

was reading the story about the prodigal

son and he was making points about how

God deals with us and he had this Steve

read the scriptures and he stopped him

when the prodigal son finally came to

himself and started back home and he

just asked him he says so Steve what do

you think that that father is going to

do and he said oh I know what he was

going to do he’s going to tell him you

can have any of this inheritance he’ll

kick him out he and he just started

transposing into this story what he had

experienced and he started talking about

how mean God was and the Father and how

he knew that this father would reject

him and Don says we’ll read on and Steve

started reading about how the father ran

and fell on his neck and kissed him and

put a ring on his finger and killed the

fatted calf and said our son was dead

he’s alive and when Steve read it he

fell on his knees in the living room and

cried out to God God would you accept me

and instantly he came off Erewhon

instantly he got saved and born again he

and his wife received the baptism of the

Holy Spirit I said I wasn’t going to

preach on this I came real close to

doing it

but it says by this shall all men know

you might are my disciples by your love

one for another God never called anybody

to be a convert he is out to make

disciples he wants to take people and

make you to where you are just like him

where you can walk in his victory and

joy and power and one of the mistakes

that we’ve made is the Bible says faith

comes by hearing hearing by the Word of

God Romans 10:17 and if all you preach

is faith for getting saved then that’s

all people will have faith for the

church hasn’t preached being like Jesus

and living in victory and walking in

health and prosperity and joy and peace

and marriage harmony we’ve been

preaching get saved so you won’t go to

hell and once a person accomplishes that

that’s all I got faith for because

that’s all it’s been preached we should

be making disciples and here is the

thing that all men will know you are my

disciple not your convert we have very

few disciples today we have lots of

converts but here’s how a person can

tell that you are his disciples that you

have love one to another you know that

is amazing if you were to ask the

average person I’ve kind of set this up

tonight but if if you were just walking

out on the street and you hadn’t had

somebody build up to this point if

somebody just walked up to you and says

what’s the distinguishing characteristic

of a Christian there’s a lot of people

that would say a lot of different things

there’s some people they would say well

it’s how they dress there’s people that

if you wear any gold if you have a

wedding band on if you have any makeup

on as a woman if your hair is short if

your dress is short or whatever and

that’s that’s how you tell a true

Christian their dress will be all the

way down to the ground they’ll look

bland there Harold being a bun they’ll

have a little covering on their head or

you know just all kinds of things that’s

what the distinguishing characteristic

is to some Christian and it’s kind of

coincidental

I think that those people who put so

much emphasis on the hour at appearance

or some of the meanest people that there

are Jesus said here’s the distinguishing

characteristic that they love one

another it’s not whether the guys wear a

beard whether the you know I’m not

against people wearing makeup man if

your barn needs paint and painted where

is God if it needs two coats give it two

coats here’s one of the things you’ll

recognize about religion religion always

puts the emphasis on the external it’ll

always be about how are you dressing are

you paying your tithe do you have the

right mannerisms do you say hallelujah

do you lift your hands like this or do

you do it like this or do you do it like

this or and it’s always on the external

do you have your collar turned around

backwards do you dress a certain way do

you do all these things God looks on the

heart God looks at the inside of a

person and it’s not about how you act

outwardly God is more concerned about

the heart religion will always look on

the outside it says in 1st Samuel

chapter 16 verse 7 the Lord was speaking

to Samuel and he said don’t look on the

height of his stature or any of these

things because man looks on the outward

appearance but God looks on the heart

this is talking about when he picked

David David was the runt of the litter

and Samuel was going to choose Eli

because he was the biggest and the

strongest and God said don’t look on the

outside look on the inside man looks on

the outside religion will always put the

emphasis on how you act you can go out

and Corral Saturday night get drunk go

have sex with the prostitute but if you

come to church and if you’re dressed

properly and if you pay your ties and if

you look holy you would satisfy most

religious people your heart could be

just as wrong as it can be but as long

as you are in the pew and you pay your

tithe that would suffice with most

people religion will always somehow or

another bind

you in your actions God also is

concerned about your actions but actions

are a byproduct of relationship with God

in the New Testament it’s not about what

you do it’s what about what’s in your

heart that makes you do what you do it’s

very similar to the in the Old Testament

people couldn’t have their life change

they couldn’t be born-again they

couldn’t get a new heart and so God

treated the Old Testament people similar

to the way we treat children you have to

correct children and tell them that this

is wrong and before they understand

things and can figure it all out you

just tell them do that again and I’ll

spank you and they may not know that

there is a God or devil heaven or hell

they may not understand any spiritual

things but they can understand that if I

go over there and take that toy from my

sister again I’m going to get a spanking

and if you wait until they’re old enough

to reason with them and say did you know

if you take that toy from your sister

you’re violating what Jesus said it’s

more blessed to give than it is to

receive so you are actually submitting

yourself to the devil you’re selfish and

you are establishing a principle that

you know what you’ll never be able to

keep a job because you’re only going to

be thinking about getting your paycheck

not realizing you’ve got to do something

and that you got to work and you got to

give and if you ever get married you’ll

never keep your marriage because you’ll

be selfish and that’s the root of all

strife and division and you try and tell

that to a one-year-old and they’ll just

look at you but you can tell it

one-year-old you go over there and take

that toy again I’ll spank you and they

will resist the devil they’ll say no I’m

not going to do that because of fear of

punishment that’s what the Old Testament

was they couldn’t be born again it says

in first Corinthians chapter two verse

14 that the natural man cannot receive

the things of the Spirit of God they are

foolishness unto him neither can he know

them because they’re spiritually

discerned people under the Old Testament

weren’t born again they couldn’t

understand spiritual things the way that

we can and so God held them in check by

Arnel outward exterior things you go

pick up sticks on the Sabbath day and

I’ll kill you

go do this and will stone you to death

will smite you but in the New Covenant

God’s man I’ve got so much to say he

says a new commandment a new commandment

I give you what’s this new commandment

it’s not about do this and do this and

do that no it’s about love as I have

loved you it’s about a heart matter God

comes along and in the New Testament he

changes your heart does he what is it ok

now to go rob and steal and plunder and

commit rape and murder and everything

because we’re under a new commandment no

it’s really the same thing it should

produce the same results of living a

godly life but now we live holy as a

fruit and not a root of salvation it’s a

byproduct of having the love of God in

our life and if you ever understand and

receive the love of God you’ll live

holier accidentally than you ever have

on purpose before if you have to teach

somebody go out and tell somebody about

Jesus witness for the Lord and you have

to condemn them and then sing these

songs about will there’d be any stars

any stars in my crown when it evening at

last I lay down any of you ever sing

that song and the one about must I go

and empty-handed must I meet my Savior

soul not one soul with which to breed he

must die empty-handed go that’s a

tearjerker

and then they’ll tell you some story

about your neighbor who stands in front

of God and is condemned to hell and

right as they drag him and they’re about

to throw him over the precipice into

hell he comes right by you and he puts

his finger in your face why didn’t you

ever tell me and then the altars fill up

and everybody is down here repenting you

know what that’s all about you you

didn’t care for your neighbor what it is

you mean I’m going to be embarrassed I’m

going to be shamed I’ll stand in front

of God and and so you go do something

because of self not because you love

other people if you’re having to use

that kind of stuff to motivate people go

tell somebody about the Lord if you

don’t God’s going to judge you your

Bloods going to be on their hand that

was the Old Testament motivation but in

the New Testament you tell people about

how much God loves them and you will

have to start restraining them from

going out and telling people and say now

wait a minute let me give you some

wisdom let me tell you what to say

if you’re having to you know here’s

another example if you had a little kid

and at Christmas you give them brand-new

bicycle

how many of you would have to say no you

go out and tell all your friends how

wonderful your dad is and how much you

spent on this bike and you make sure you

tell everybody that your bikes better

than their bike and make them feel bad

nobody ever has to do that you know you

do just the opposite and say no don’t go

out and make all your friends feel bad

stuff you know don’t try and tell them

how much this bike cost when a person is

really excited about what they’ve got

you have to slow them down and give them

wisdom so that they don’t try and

condemn other people and do stuff if you

are having to compel people to go

witness for the Lord it’s because they

don’t know how good god is they’ve never

received it for themselves it’s possible

that they’re about born-again but they

got converted they aren’t a disciple

they’ve not understood the love of God

once you understand the awesome love of

God I guarantee you you will have to do

something to keep that person from

like I said I got born again when I was

8 years old the first time God ever

really convicted me and I was an

introvert I couldn’t talk to people I

couldn’t look at a person in the face

and talk to them and yet I forced myself

I psyched myself up and made myself go

witness and I would do about 5 or 6

visits on Tuesday night and five or six

visits on Thursday night every week of

my life I led people to the Lord from

the time I was a little kid until I was

in college and I did this every time and

it was especially hard because I was an

introvert I’d have to just force myself

I had a spiel memorized and I went

didn’t want anybody to get me off topic

because I couldn’t answer a question I

wasn’t responding to anybody I’d just go

up and use the Roman Road Romans 3:23

all of sinned and come short of the

glory of God Romans 6:23 the wages of

sin is death but the gift of God is

eternal life Romans 5:8 God commended

his love toward us in that while we were

yet sinners Christ died for us and then

I’d say is there any good reason why you

can’t pray with me and get saved and

there’s very few people to say well yeah

I want to go to hell and so I’d have

people repeat after me and I’d grab

their scalp and I’d go back to church

and I’d stand up there and they’d pat me

on the back and tell about how many

people I led to the Lord I doubt if any

of them are very few of them got born

again

it wasn’t about those people it was all

about me I was trying to earn something

I was trying to do something so God

would love me and accept me and I

thought I was doing something awesome

because I had witnessed to ten people a

week and then marks the 23rd 1968 God

revealed his love to me not already been

a Christian for 10 years but I had an

encounter where God showed me his love

for me independent of what I deserved it

wasn’t based on anything matter of fact

it was when he showed me what a

hypocrite I was and I finally had

nothing to offer God and God’s tangible

love came on me for four and a half

months I was gone someplace

and you tell what instead of making

those 10 visits a week I quit and see

some people now huh that’s what I

thought the reason I quit was because I

realized ice passing up a hundred people

every day to go make two or three visits

at night I quit going out and knocking

on doors and I just started talking to

everything that moved I’d witnessed to

people in 7-eleven stores we’d go into a

restaurant and I’d stand up and pray at

the top of my lungs and bless the food

and everybody in the whole restaurant

and when they’d get through they’d look

at me and I say hey you need your food

blessed – hey now let me just say that’s

not the way to do it but I’m saying see

I just had a desire I witness to

everything that moved I actually at one

time made a decision I would never see a

person that I didn’t talk to him about

Jesus and you know what that’s

impossible to keep I remember when I got

drafted and was standing in attention in

the army and I saw thousands of people

marching by and I thought I don’t think

I can keep that commitment how do I do

this and I had to finally realize I

can’t do that but for about a year or

two I tried it I witness to everything

that moved I every person I saw I talked

to I quit making ten visits a week and I

started making over a hundred visits a

day because of the love of God I don’t

know if I’m getting across what I’m

trying to say to you that you can’t give

away what you don’t have and many people

don’t really have a revelation of how

much God loves you it’s been

misrepresented it’s been presented as a

conditional love and because of that you

are treating other people basically the

way you think God is treating you which

is not very good and you only treat

people good when they deserve to be

treated good because that’s the way you

think God’s treating you and that’s not

true and this is the reason that people

don’t know that we’re his disciples

because we aren’t operating in a nun

additional kind of love man there’s so

much fighting in bickering sad to say

the church is where a tremendous amount

of strife and fighting is and this is

specifically talking about that this is

how they will know you’re my disciples

by your love one for another this isn’t

just talking about love for the lost

that is a good thing but this is talking

about love among brothers among

Christians this is how the world will

know that we are his disciples when we

love each other the way that Jesus loved

us you know right now whether you’re a

Republican or a Democrat doesn’t matter

but you see these presidential elections

going and the Republicans are just

beating up on each other I think Obama

must be sitting there liking all of this

and then he doesn’t have to do anything

they’re doing it to themselves and in a

sense this is what the church is doing

I’m sure that the devil probably sits

down and thought I never thought of

doing that look at how they are

criticizing each other they’re arguing

over the color of the carpet they’re

arguing over whether it’s pews or chairs

I would have never thought probably the

devil takes notes on how Christians get

mad at each other and some of the stuff

that they do we’re supposed to be loving

one another and yet there is a

tremendous amount of division in the

body of Christ did you know that the

first century church didn’t have any of

the advantages that we’ve got man I’m on

television and reached half of the

world’s population over 3.2 billion

people can watch my program on a daily

basis Paul never had that Paul never had

CDs books the only tracks that anybody

ever saw balls were the ones he left and

yet Paul turned the world right-side up

in 30 years

the body of Christ had basically

evangelized the known world in 30 years

without printed page without television

without media

without facebook without Twitter without

the internet without any of this stuff

they made a bigger impact on their

society then our church has made on our

society and you know why because jesus

said this is how all men talking about

even unbelievers will know that you are

my disciples that you have love one for

another and there is so much division in

the body of Christ did you know back in

the beginning Paul wrote to the church

at Ephesus to the church at Corinth to

the church at Philippi to the church at

colossi the church one church in one

place Ephesus I don’t know exactly how

big that place was but they had this

amphitheater there that sat nearly a

hundred thousand people and it has been

estimated that the body of Christ the

church in Ephesus during the time of

John when he was there he died in that

area and Timothy was the first bishop of

the Church of Ephesus and I’ve read

commentaries that they estimate there

was at least a minimum of fifty thousand

Christians in Ephesus on up to a hundred

thousand Christians and there was only

one church they didn’t have one place

that they meant in they meant in maybe a

thousand different homes but there was

one Church Timothy was the bishop over

it there was only one church in one

place they were all United and there was

problems you can read about it in the

20th chapter of the book of Acts and he

and Paul talked about I know that

there’s grievious wolves going to come

in and they’re going to say this and you

had to deal with it it wasn’t perfect

but they were in unity and as a result

that generation basically evangelized

the known world today we are so

fragmented there are churches across the

street from each other

and the people in one church have never

even meant the people in another church

it’s not exactly having the same love

for each other than Jesus had for us

think about this logistically let’s say

that God gave me a message for Houston

and if this was a God given

God spoke to me appeared to me in a

vision and told me exactly what to say

how would I get that message out to the

body of Christ the church is so

fragmented that I could go to some of

these big churches that have 15 20

thousand people in it and I could reach

a certain segment but there would be

other parts of the body of Christ in

Houston that would never hear about it I

could spend the rest of my life hitting

every church in the Houston area and

never get this message to every person

in Houston because it’s so divided that

is not what God intended he intended for

us to be one to love each other as

Christ loved the church and yet most of

us have grown up with this division we

just have embraced it as being normal

many people have never even questioned

it and I’ll tell you this I don’t have

an answer for this I’m describing

something here that in a sense is

creating a problem because I don’t I

don’t have a solution to how we get all

the people that are so split and divided

into all of these groups operating as

one but I can show you from Scripture

that this isn’t this is how Jesus said

that we would win the world is by our

love went but when they saw that we love

one another as Christ loved us then the

world would know we were his disciples

if we ever become one then the world

will be one wo in the greatest tool for

evangelism is the love among believers

and our commitment to each other

man that’s awesome and you know what you

won’t hear this very often we’ll talk

about organize and Crusades and going

out and making converts and we do all of

these things that are contrary to what

the Lord told us to do he didn’t tell us

to make convert she told us to make

disciples and we will do all of these

things and put tremendous amount of

effort into all of this stuff but man

the unity of the body the oneness loving

each other as Christ loved the church

will not

be the focus of very many churches and

we just in a sense have embraced it have

accepted it have put our stamp of

approval on it and don’t even strive for

it again we may not be able to totally

affect the entire body of Christ

worldwide and do everything but you know

what you could affect somebody you could

become a disciple and begin to start

loving the people around you and start

walking in love and this is what Jesus

said this is his new commandment you

know let me point this out over in

Romans chapter 13 look at these verses

this is the Apostle Paul speaking in

Romans chapter 13 in verse 8 he says o

no man anything but to love one another

I could spend a lot of time on that oh

no man anything again this isn’t a

suggestion it’s a command

oh no meant oh no man anything but to

love one another for he that loveth

another hath fulfilled the law for this

thou shalt not commit adultery thou

shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou

shalt not bear false witness thou shalt

not covet and if there be any other

commandment it is briefly comprehended

in this saying namely thou shalt love

thy neighbor as thyself love worketh no

ill to his neighbor therefore love is

the fulfilling of the law again religion

will come along preaching the old

Commandments and that’s what these were

a list from Exodus chapter 20 the Ten

Commandments religion will come along

preaching the Ten Commandments jesus

said don’t owe any man anything except

to love them I give you a new

commandment and this says that every

commandment would be kept if people

loved each other just look at some of

these right here in the ninth verse thou

shalt not commit adultery if you truly

loved your mate as Christ loved the

church you would never commit adultery

I can spend all night trying to justify

that because there’s people said oh I do

love my baby but I just couldn’t help

myself it’s a lie you’re driven by lust

not by love lust is something that comes

and goes and hits you and does this but

love is a decision and again most people

don’t know what God’s kind of love is

they grow up watching movies and

television and they’re exposed to this

humanistic demonic carnal selfish love

people fall in love and fall out of love

if you can fall into love and it just

strikes you you picture it by a little

fat baby that goes around and shoots you

with an arrow Cupid that’s not love

that’s lust love is a decision God so

loved the world that he gave Jesus loved

us and I can guarantee you when he hung

on the cross he wasn’t having just

strong emotions and goose bumps go up

and down his spine he chose to love us

he chose to do something God’s kind of

love isn’t an emotion it may in involve

your emotions and touch your emotions

but it is so much deeper than an emotion

and yet people today say well I just

fell out of love I can’t help it every

one of us has seen some movie where some

person said they quote/unquote love

their mate but then some beautiful woman

comes walking by and all of a sudden

they fell out of love with their mating

they fell in love and they it’s just

chemistry I can’t help it I didn’t want

to do it they go and apologize I’m sorry

but it’s just over I can’t help myself

that’s not God’s kind of love that’s

lust and many Christians don’t know the

difference between the two and so

they’ll so I just couldn’t help myself

just because you’ve never experienced a

true God kind of love God’s kind of love

is a decision that you make and you can

choose to love your mate if you loved

your mate the way that Christ loved us

unconditional and I’ll be explaining

this in a lot more detail then you know

what you’d never commit adultery a

person who commits adultery does not

truly love their mate

somebody sound while I disagree with

that well you’re entitled to your

opinion but I’m not going to agree with

your we’d both be wrong it says right

here it says that thou shalt not commit

adultery and all of these things is

comprehended in this one statement love

thy neighbor as thyself if you love your

mate as yourself you would never commit

adultery if you’ve ever had your mate

commit adultery on you and you think

about how that hurts you and the way it

made you feel if you loved your mate

more than you loved yourself you would

never do that to them you were loving

yourself the truth is a person that

commits adultery is a person that loves

themself more than they love their mate

period there is no argument about that

you can argue it but you’re arguing the

wrong thing it says thou shalt not kill

if you loved another person as you loved

yourself you would not kill them man how

dumb can you get and still breathe

people that go out and kill do not love

the people that they kill if you operate

it in love there would be no murder

there would be none of those kind of

things thou shalt not steal

did you know stealing have any of you

ever had something stolen from you then

you feel violated it hurts you bothers

you if you loved other people you would

never steal from that person you are an

absolutely selfish totally self-centered

person you aren’t thinking about anybody

but yourself you are in love with

yourself you think you’re the center of

the universe and the world revolves

around you if you’re a thief if you

loved other people you would never do

that to a person it doesn’t matter about

what they’ve got a lot of people work

for big organizations and you think

they’ll never miss it you steal five

minutes

at break and you just take an extra five

minutes l never miss it you take pens

home you take this home you still

because it’s a big corporation they’ll

never know anything would you want

somebody to do that to you

if you loved other people the way you

love yourself you’d never steal from

them the next thing it says that says

thou shalt not bear false witness did

you know that when you lie about

something you are manipulating people

you are making a fool of people they are

trusting you they’re putting faith in

you and trusting your word and you’re

manipulating and misrepresenting things

you’re taking advantage of that person

you wouldn’t want anybody to manipulate

and take advantage of you and yet

anytime you lie and misrepresent

something it’s because you are thinking

only about yourself and how this will

benefit you and you forget that person

hurt them do whatever to them it doesn’t

matter because after all I’ve got to

look out for myself you just keep

pulling back the layers and I guarantee

a person who’s a liar is a person who

does not love the other people you are

hurting and manipulating and taking

advantage of them it says in the fee in

John chapter 8 verse 44 that the devil

is the father of all lies every time you

lie you are having intercourse with the

devil you are letting the devil flow

through you if you loved other people

you would never lie to them this would

solve everything see the Old Testament

didn’t give them the route it only dealt

with what’s wrong thou shalt not bear

false witness thou shalt not commit

adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt

not steal

but in the New Testament you go below

that and you go to what is the real

problem the real problem is that you’ve

never received the real God kind of love

you are a person who loves yourself more

than you love God more than you love

other people and because of that you

will lie you will manipulate you will

stab a person in the back

he will do anything that you can do

because you love yourself

more than you love anything or anybody

else and in the New Testament that’s

revealed and so the antidote is to find

out how much God loves you and then once

you receive this unconditional love and

understand that God loves you not

because you’re lovely but because he is

love and you start loving other people

that way just by accident as a

by-product you’ll never steal you’ll

never lie

you’ll never commit adultery you’ll

never hurt her

once you understand how much God loves

you and if you could receive that and

then start giving this to other people

you would live holier accidently than

you ever have on purpose before it would

just be a byproduct in that powerful

look in Matthew chapter 22 at these

verses I’m trying to wind this down but

just got a lot to say I’m going to say

this quickly maybe Matthew chapter 22

there was a lawyer that came to Jesus in

verse 35 one of them which was a lawyer

asked him a question tempting him and

saying master which is the greatest the

great commandment in the law jesus said

unto him thou shalt love the Lord thy

God with all thy heart with all thy soul

and with all thy mind this is the first

and Great Commandment and the second is

like unto it thou shalt love thy

neighbor as thyself on these two

Commandments hang all the law and the

prophets

this astounded this lawyer look at this

and it says while the fair and while the

Pharisees were gathered together Jesus

asked them he went on and asked them a

question but anyway if no man was able

to answer him after this it says in the

last verse these people were just

astounded nobody nobody would have said

that the greatest commandment is loving

God and loving people they would have

listed thou shalt have no other gods

before me you shall not covet you shall

and they listed all of the shalt nots

God listed all of the shells you shall

love the Lord your God with all of your

heart and it just astounded the people

it was it was in the Old Testament law

but it was hidden by all the extra

things because the Old Testament law

dealt with people’s actions and outward

things the New Testament deals with your

heart and brothers and sisters most of

us have not really moved into the New

Covenant we are still living under an

Old Covenant law mentality thinking that

God is angry and he’s trying to restrain

all of these outward things and we’ve

missed God’s love for us and then

releasing that love to other people and

because we’re trying to grit our teeth

and hold on and force ourselves to do

what’s right man if you had ever

received how much God loves you you

would just find it would come flowing

out on you you couldn’t handle it I can

testify I’ve already given that example

about myself and I can testify of so

many other people that once they get a

revelation of how much God loves them

all of this carnal stuff and sins and

the things that we do that are so stupid

they just start falling off the root of

all sin is your own self-love and your

own dependence upon yourself and once

you ever understand how much God loves

you I guarantee it will just shatter

this self-love you’ll totally get to

where it doesn’t matter that much about

yourself God is more important our whole

society is based on what is good for you

and your hesitate to say things because

I know we’ve got all kinds of different

people here and somebody may take

offense and get mad at me but praise God

I’m leaving town in a couple of days

but you know so much of the division

that we see in the United States is

because of people just thinking only

about themselves they are God and the

world revolves around them and if it if

it is good for them or if it

inconveniences them then there are for

it or against it based on how they are

for instance and again people may

disagree with this but you know when it

comes to abortion they’ll sit there what

about the woman’s choice you aren’t

thinking about the woman you will you

aren’t thinking about the child it is

the woman thinking only about herself

and this is inconvenient and I may not

have enough money to raise this baby so

let’s just kill it

it all comes down to a selfish thing and

you will find out that most of the

people who sit there promote women’s

choice and all of this kind of stuff

will sit there and be just violent and

upset over the snail darter or over a

whale or over something like this and

then yeah they show these advertisements

about the dogs and I just sit there and

think and until you quit killing babies

quit trying to condemn me over not

taking care of your dog amen but you

know what that comes down to it’s just

selfish it’s just selfish but it would

be inconvenient what about my finances

anyway I could just go on and on but you

just start talking about stuff like this

and this is really what it boils down to

if people loved God and loved people

more than they love themselves they

wouldn’t do all of the social ills that

we do to each other we wouldn’t have

these problems

it really all goes you cannot put enough

laws down you can’t put enough rules

down to control Society John Adams the

second president the first vice

president of the United States this is a

quote from him he said that democracy is

totally unfit for anybody but a more

people if America ever ceases to be

immoral people

then democracy will actually destroy

this nation and that’s exactly what’s

happening there was a time that people

loved God and other people and they had

a compass there was a moral compass that

some things were bigger than them but

today we’ve got people that are all

wrapped up in themselves and if you’re

all wrapped up in yourself you make a

very small package and we’ve got people

that just live for themselves and so man

give me welfare give me whatever and

they don’t realize that if if they give

you something for free then they had to

take it from somebody else

that’s an ungodly principle you can’t do

things like that but they don’t care

let’s vote for whoever will give me

whatever give me free drugs give me free

medication and I’ll vote for you I don’t

care if you destroy the nation as long

as I get mine there used to be a time

when people realize that there were

things more important than you and see

understanding God’s kind of love if you

ever receive it is so selfless it is so

pure God so loved the world that He gave

once you understand and receive the love

of God it will transform the way you

think about all kind of social things it

will transform the way you think about

people you would never lie to them

you’ll never take advantage you would

operate in integrity you would treat

your employer the way you would want to

be treated if you were the employer it

would transform your life our society

would be transformed if we loved one

another the way that Christ loved us so

I’ve said all of these things tonight

just as introduction to say that this is

really important what I’m going to be

talking about amen and the rest of this

week I’m going to be talking about so

how did God love us and how do we turn

around and love other people as Christ

loved us and you know really out of all

the things I’m Minister on this is

probably the hardest because people

think that oh I

God loves me oh yeah Jesus loves me this

I know and they think that they know

this and there is a disconnect and

people don’t listen but I’m telling you

that if you really had God’s kind of

love in you I’m going to use a lot of

these scriptures but Ephesians chapter 3

says that if you understood the height

the depth the length and the breadth of

the love of God you would be filled with

all the fullness of God so if you aren’t

filled with all the fullness of God if

you just aren’t to a place where you

can’t hardly stand it you’re so happy

you’re so blessed you’re so anointed you

are so hopeful about everything you’re

optimistic if that’s not you then you

don’t have a real revelation of the

height the depth and the length and the

breadth of the love of God

most people think no I understand that

God loves me that’s not it let’s go on

to something else but the love of God is

what will set you free and if you have

if you have a sickness in your body you

don’t have a full revelation of God’s

love because the Bible says in Galatians

5:6 faith works by love if you really

understood how much God loved you I

guarantee your faith would go through

the roof and your sickness would go it

would be gone it would produce health in

your body it would produce wealth it

would produce everything the fullness of

everything you would be walking in the

fullness of God the greater revelation

you have of love so I’m just saying that

I know many people think oh I already

understand this I don’t need to know it

if you’ve got lack and inaccuracy in

your life if you aren’t just overwhelmed

with God then you need a greater

revelation of love God is love first

John 4:8 and I guarantee you none of us

have plumbed the depths of God none of

us fully understand how awesome he is

but this love of God has changed my life

and I’ve got a lot of things I can share

with you I think that’ll make a big

difference and this is going to make an

impact in your life

a man