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