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Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP180210A
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00:11 >> Please pray with me. Dear heavenly Father, we just want to thank You for all that 00:17 You've done for us. And the fact that we are here in Your house of worship to lift up 00:23 Your name -- we just pray that you accept our humble offerings of worship and bless us this 00:29 hour. Amen. 00:31 Happy Sabbath, church! >> Happy Sabbath. 00:34 >> I know it's been snowing a little bit, and, you know, some 00:37 of you might be happy. 00:39 And others might be kind of disappointed about the fact of snow, but I know we can all 00:45 agree that we are happy that it's Sabbath. Amen? 00:49 And that we are here to praise and worship our Lord and Savior. So, please stand with us as we 00:56 sing these songs of praise. 01:01 [ "How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place" playing ] 01:06 ♪♪ [ Congregation sings ] 04:13 [ "Holy Is the Lord" playing ] ♪♪ 04:24 [ Congregation sings ] 07:17 [ Song ends ] [ "Holy Ground" playing ] 07:30 ♪♪ [ Congregation sings ] 09:33 [ Organ plays "Holy, Holy, Holy" ] 09:41 ♪♪ [ Congregation sings ] 12:47 >> Well, good morning, boys and girls. Nice to see you on this... 12:52 Whoo! We thought we were going to really snowed out, but not so 12:56 bad. Just a little cold and snow. But you look warm and happy... 13:01 and hungry. I'm glad to have you here, all of you. 13:05 Say, speaking of hungry, I went to Apple Valley yesterday. 13:08 Oh, it's a great store right here in our little village, 13:11 Apple Valley. I went fruit shopping. 13:14 Mm-hmm. 13:16 It's a great place to visit anytime, but boy, you visit on a Friday, you really meet a lot of 13:20 people at Apple Valley on a Friday. So, I brought the fruit here. 13:24 I'm going to just see how well you recognize fruit. So, I'm going to pull the fruit 13:30 out, and then I'll show it to you. And you look at them and tell me 13:35 what this is. What is it? >> Peach. 13:38 >> Peach. Okay. What is this? >> Apple. 13:40 >> Apple. Have you done this before? Okay. 13:44 This? >> Orange. >> Orange. 13:47 Okay, here comes a really hard one. >> Banana. 13:50 >> Oh, banana, okay, all right. All right, all right. Uh... 13:54 >> Pear! >> Pear. That's good. 13:57 Oh, juicy, juicy. >> Plum! >> Plum. Boy, you are good. 14:01 You won't get this one, I know. >> Lemon! >> Oh, good night. 14:06 >> Apple! >> Apple, all right. What else do we have here? 14:09 Oh, little -- >> Orange! >> Yeah, little orange. 14:12 Oh, and I know you don't know these. >> Grapes! 14:15 >> Oh, okay, okay, okay. All right. All right. Now, I'm going to give some 14:18 fruit to you, okay? Don't eat it till I tell you to. All right? 14:23 I'm going to give it to you. If you're sitting right in this area, you've got the lucky, 14:27 lucky seats today because I'm going to give you some fruit. 14:30 Don't eat it right away, please. Oh, who wants an apple? Okay, an apple's going to go 14:36 right here. Don't eat it. Who wants a peach? 14:38 Look at that fuzz all over it. Who wants an orange? Okay. 14:42 Look at that. Anybody want the lemon and the plum? 14:44 Okay... >> I don't want a lemon. >> Okay. Who wants this? 14:49 Anybody down here on the front row? Okay. There you go. 14:52 All right. Now, don't eat it. Don't eat it yet. 14:53 Okay, now, I want you to check those out. Okay, squeeze them. 14:59 Feel the juice inside. Isn't that something? Do you feel the juice inside? 15:04 Ooh! [ Chuckles ] Yeah... Well, don't squeeze them that 15:07 hard. [ Laughs ] Okay. Are you ready to eat them? 15:13 How many would like to eat them? Would you really? >> No. 15:19 >> You going to eat that? >> No. >> Why aren't you going to eat 15:21 it? >> It's fake. >> It's fake? 15:22 How do you know it's fake? [ Laughs ] How do you know it's fake? 15:26 Huh? >> It's hard. >> Because you can't eat it. 15:29 But yours isn't fake, is it? >> No, it's fake. >> It's fake? Okay. 15:34 How about the plum? The plum looks very juicy to me. >> Is that -- 15:36 >> It's fake. >> It's fake? What's up with this? 15:39 Apple Valley -- fake, fake fruit? >> No! 15:42 >> No, I didn't get those at Apple Valley. I got those at Sabbath school. 15:46 Huh? [ Chuckles ] Nope, I left all the real ones 15:50 up here. Real, real. Well, the pear's not real, and the grapes aren't real. 15:53 Real, real, real. Hey, wait a minute. You got the fake. 15:56 Wait a minute. Okay, two questions, two questions, and then I'm going to 15:59 let you go -- two questions. Question number one. Who invented real fruit? 16:05 Who invented real fruit? >> God! >> God did. 16:08 Who invented fake fruit? >> People. >> Satan. 16:12 >> Satan. You got it. You go, girl. You nailed it. 16:17 All right. So... how do people know when the fruit is fake? 16:23 Because it doesn't taste right. Jesus makes the fruit of love. Satan makes fake love. 16:30 People think they have love. Oh, that's fake. Jesus makes the beautiful fruit 16:34 of peace. Maybe it's like a plum. And Satan makes fake peace. 16:37 You're not really at peace. Jesus makes the fruit of joy. And Satan makes fake joy. 16:43 It's not really stuff. The only way you get real fruit with Jesus. 16:47 Hey, listen to this. [ Whispers ] The only way you get real fruit with Jesus... 16:50 The only way you get real fruit with Jesus is you have to stay with Him because He says, "If 16:54 you abide in me and I in you, you'll have fruit." You stay with Me, and I stay 16:58 with you -- you'll have fruit. And will it be fake? Oh, ho, ho, no. 17:03 People, when they meet you, they'll taste the fruit you have and say, "Oh, that is so real." 17:10 All right, let me see these fake fruits. Put them in my hand, please. 17:14 Let me just see these fake fruits. Let me just make sure. 17:17 Was there another one out? Is there a fake banana out? Oh, a fake lemon. 17:23 Do you want fake fruit or real fruit? >> Real. 17:26 >> I want real fruit. Who wants to thank Jesus for real fruit? 17:30 For making real fruit for us? Young man, you come right here. Come on up here, yep. 17:35 Real fruit. Let me put this down so I can get the microphone to you. 17:39 Real fruit. What's your first name? >> Marco. 17:42 >> Marco, come here, Marco. Let's pray with Marco. He's going to thank Jesus for 17:47 making the real fruit, which, if we have Jesus, we'll have real fruit, too. 17:52 All right, Marco. >> Thank You, God, because He blessed us. 17:58 Thank You because He made us real fruit. Amen. 18:03 >> Amen. Thank you, Marco. A beautiful prayer. Say that in your heart as you go 18:07 back to your seat -- "Thank You, God, for making real fruit." Thank you, Marco, and a happy 18:12 Sabbath, everybody. See you. 18:23 ♪♪ 18:32 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 19:00 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 19:28 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 19:56 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 20:24 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 20:52 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 21:20 ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ 21:52 >> O God, we want the real stuff, not that fake fruit. We have fallen for the 21:58 counterfeit before. Love, joy, and peace... Your fruit grown in us. 22:06 Even in these moments where we contemplate, grow that fruit in us, we pray in Jesus' name. 22:15 Amen. 22:17 If you've ever played the game of Hearts, and you probably 22:20 have, you know that a heart can trump it all. 22:22 But isn't that the great truth of life? 22:26 A heart makes all the difference in the world. 22:30 So, here's the question. 22:32 What are you doing with your heart? What am I doing with my heart? 22:35 Are we willing to give our heart away? Man, sounds like we're getting 22:40 ready for a Valentine's moment or something. No. 22:44 Instead, a very compelling story that I'm going to read you in just two moments. 22:48 First a one-liner. The one-liner sets the story up, and this is such an amazing 22:52 one-liner. It appears only in one place in the Gospels, the Gospel of Mark. 22:56 Take a look at this. 22:58 I want you to see it -- just one line. 23:00 Mark, chapter 10, is it? Mark, chapter 10. 23:03 Mark, chapter 10. 23:06 Find it in your Bible because you need to see it. It's there in your Bible. 23:09 Amazing little one-liner, has to do with Jesus. A kid grew up in a wealthy home, 23:17 went to the best of schools, shows up one day. Wants to see Jesus. 23:23 Says, "Hey, Lord, what do I have to do to get saved?" Jesus said, "Hey. 23:26 How are you doing with the Ten Commandments?" [ Scoffs ] He said, "Man, I have 23:30 kept the Ten Commandments since I'm knee-high to a grasshopper." And now comes Mark's line. 23:36 Nowhere else in the Gospels... Matthew 10:21 -- do you have it there, Matthew 10:21? 23:43 One line. 23:44 And "Jesus looked at him"... And He what? And "loved him." 23:50 Look at that line. And "Jesus looked at him and loved him." 23:56 Come on. We say it, don't we? "Can you feel the love?" 23:59 "Oh, I feel the love." You know, I have a feeling that as that young, wealthy man 24:08 stands before Jesus, the eyes of Jesus look into him... I have a feeling he felt the 24:14 love. Hey, listen. Just because you feel the love 24:16 doesn't mean you say yes to Jesus. We know he didn't. 24:20 But that's just the deal. You have to make a decision. Perfect setup for the story 24:27 I want to read to you right now. Five years ago this month, Christianity Todaypublished 24:32 her testimony. "Who are you talking about, Dwight?" 24:34 I'm talking about Rosaria Champagne Butterfield. Then Philip Yancey read her 24:39 stunning first-person account and included it in his subsequent book, published, 24:45 called "Vanishing Grace." I've got the book. It's a great book. 24:49 I'm going to read the story to you in her words as recorded by Philip Yancey. 24:55 So, here it is -- Christianity Todayfive years ago this month published the 25:00 testimony of Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, who described her younger self 25:06 as a "leftist lesbian professor who despised Christians." "I tired," she writes, "I tired 25:16 of students who seemed to believe that 'knowing Jesus' meant knowing little else. 25:20 Christians in particular were bad readers, always seizing opportunities to insert a Bible 25:25 verse into a conversation with the same point as a punctuation mark," namely "to end it rather 25:30 than deepen it. Stupid. Pointless. Menacing. That's what I thought of 25:36 Christians and their god Jesus, who in paintings looked as powerful as a Breck Shampoo 25:40 commercial model." Yancey summarizes... "As a professor of English and 25:47 women's studies, Butterfield cared deeply about morality, justice, and compassion. 25:50 For guidance, she looked to Freud, Hegel, Marx, and Darwin -- and not to Jesus, 25:56 mainly because of His zealous 'band of warriors,'" as she called them. 25:59 "While researching the Religious Right and their 'politics of hatred against queers like me,'" 26:04 as she put it, "she forced herself to read the Bible, the source that in her opinion had 26:09 led so many people off track. She published a critical article in the local newspaper about 26:14 Promise Keepers," which was an organization for men, "and proceeded to file away the 26:19 response letters in two boxes, one for hate mail and one for fan mail. 26:23 One letter, however, fit neither box. In a kind and inquiring spirit, 26:31 a Presbyterian pastor from Syracuse, New York, encouraged her to explore further her 26:37 conclusions. How did she arrive at them? On what basis did she decide on 26:41 her moral convictions? After first throwing the letter away, she later fished it out of 26:45 the recycling bin and stared at it. Eventually she accepted"... 26:49 You're not going to believe this. "Eventually she accepted the 26:51 pastor's invitation to dinner and over the next two years became friends with Ken and his 26:57 wife, Floy. She recalls, 'They entered my world. 27:02 They met my friends. We did book exchanges. We talked openly about sexuality 27:07 and politics. They did not act as if such conversations were polluting 27:10 them. They did not treat me like a blank slate.' 27:14 Meanwhile, Butterfield continued to read the Bible, many times, in multiple translations. 27:20 Finally, she found herself" -- you're not going to believe this -- "in the pew of that 27:24 pastor's church, feeling conspicuous with her butch haircut." 27:27 Her words again -- "'Then, one ordinary day, I came to Jesus, openhanded and naked. 27:35 In this war of worldviews, Ken was there. Floy was there. 27:41 The church that had been praying for me for years was there. Jesus triumphed. 27:46 And I was a broken mess. Conversion was a train wreck. I didn't want to lose everything 27:51 that I had loved. But the voice of God sang a sanguine love song in the rubble 27:56 of my world.'" Yancey goes on. "Rosaria Butterfield, now 28:03 herself a pastor's wife, still champions morality, justice, and compassion. 28:10 She came to faith in search of a foundation for what she valued, drawn by the tender care of two 28:16 Christians who graciously pointed her to that foundation." Yancey then editorializes 28:29 on Rosaria's personal testimony and makes a vital point for you and me. 28:35 And I want you to get that point. In fact, you've got Yancey's 28:37 words in the study guide. Pull it out right now. I want you to get it. 28:40 This is good stuff. Pull your study guide out right now. 28:44 Those of you that didn't get a study guide, please put your hand up. 28:47 Here come our ushers. They're coming your way. 28:50 Up in the balcony, there they are. 28:51 Those of you watching on the live stream right now, you 28:54 already are where the study guide is, www.newperceptions.tv. 28:59 But we're putting it on the screen for those watching on 29:01 television. You see that website there, 29:03 newperceptions.tv. Go to that website. 29:06 You're looking for "Game of Hearts: 29:09 Can You Feel the Love?" When you find that, it'll say 29:12 "Study Guide" below that title. Click on it. 29:13 You'll have the same study guide. 29:15 I would love for you to have these quotes 29:17 and the teaching this morning. All right? All right. Now, for 29:22 Philip Yancey's reflection on Rosaria's story. On the screen, please. 30:03 "'Jesus looked at him'" -- write it in -- "'and loved him.'" 30:06 You have that line just above this quotation, Mark 10:21. 30:10 Don't ever forget that one line. It's the one to take home. 30:13 "'Jesus looked at him,'" right, "'loved him,'" both places. 30:16 "'Jesus looked at him and loved him.'" 30:20 Did you get that? What Yancey is saying -- I mean, 30:23 Jesus did not specialize in techniques and arguments. 30:25 He listened to people. He was honest. He was forthright in his 30:29 response to them, but He did so with a compassion that just drew them. 30:33 "He looked at him, and he loved him." Ken and Floy looked at Rosaria, 30:39 the leftist lesbian professor, and they loved her. They didn't argue with her. 30:46 They didn't debate world views. They just loved her. Love, acceptance, and 30:53 forgiveness -- that was the heart of Jesus. That's the heart of God, and 30:58 that's supposed to be your heart and mine -- love, acceptance, and forgiveness, 31:01 for all people, no matter who they are... no matter why they are... 31:08 no matter where they are... no matter what they are. You don't get a "Get out of love 31:14 free" card in this life. All people. "Jesus looked at him and loved 31:22 him." A few days ago, an anonymous note was left in my box 31:29 in this church. My executive assistant, Claudia, she puts it in my desk unopened. 31:34 It's an envelope. On the outside of the envelope with red and black pens, the 31:40 writer presumably has decorated the envelope. Inside the decoration are these 31:47 words -- "Thank you so much for helping." I opened the envelope, and I 31:52 found inside it a small note folded in half, right here. I opened the note. 31:58 I read it. "Thank you so much for everything you have done to help 32:05 me grow closer to God as a gay person." I looked at the bottom. 32:11 There's a signature, obviously intentionally illegible like the signature on 32:16 my birthday letters. [ Laughter ] I read it again. 32:21 "Thank you so much for everything you have done to help me grow closer to God as a gay 32:28 person." And a little heart drawn by the signature. 32:36 You know what? This anonymous note gives me hope, Pioneer, 32:42 that we in this church, we in this congregation, can become a force for God, a force for good, 32:50 a force for God's healing world in a fractured and hurting world. 32:56 Right now. We got to start somewhere. You've got to start somewhere. 33:05 You start with whoever shows up first. And when you're playing the game 33:09 of Hearts, what do you lead with? You're going to lead with love. 33:12 Love will be your first hand. Love will be the first card. Love will be the first overture, 33:17 just like Jesus. "And he looked at him, and he loved him." 33:20 Just like Jesus with the woman at the well. You remember her, 33:24 that little Samaritan girl? Noontime -- the disciples are gone. 33:30 And she's headed out to the well in the heat of the day, obviously doesn't want to run 33:34 into anybody. But bad luck -- there is a young Jewish male sitting on the lip 33:39 of that well -- double whammy. And He looks at her. And He smiles. 33:47 He operationalizes no secret technique. Mnh-mnh. 33:50 He avoids... getting into no argument to prove that He's right and that she's wrong. 33:54 Mnh-mnh. He just quietly asks for a favor. 33:58 Man. "I am so thirsty. Would you mind getting Me a 34:04 drink of water?" Knowing who she was, knowing the morality or the lack thereof by 34:12 which she lived, Jesus' heart just simply, quietly, genuinely reached out to the stranger 34:21 and asked a favor. Jesus looked at her, and He loved her. 34:29 Never met her before in His life. 34:32 Yancey comments... Put it on the screen for you. 35:08 And then Yancey concludes... 35:25 Brilliant! Just like Jesus. Jesus looked at her. 35:34 And He loved her. The anonymous writer of my note clearly has a thirst for God. 35:41 "Help me, church," he or she is writing. "Help me, church. 35:45 Help me to go deeper with God." If Pioneer... If we could be a church, a faith community, where 35:59 all who enter here have our pledge to love them, to accept them, and to forgive them, you 36:07 wouldn't be able to keep the people away. Remember Jerry Cook's line 36:15 last week? Jerry Cook in his book, "Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness"? 36:18 You remember that line? Let me repeat it for you. 36:20 Put it on the screen again. From last week. 36:23 "The minimal guarantee we must make to people is that they will 36:27 be loved" -- write that in, please -- "they will be 36:31 loved --" always loved -- "under every circumstance" 36:36 loved, "with no exception" loved. 37:03 I was visiting with someone this last week who was politely 37:06 challenging this notion of love, acceptance, and forgiveness 37:10 without reservation. "I mean, please, Dwight, 37:12 are you serious? So, okay, let me give you 37:14 an illustration," this person said. 37:16 "So, we get a murderer in here, and we forgive him for that 37:18 first murder, but what happens 37:19 if next week he commits a murder and then he asks for forgiveness? 37:22 Are we supposed to forgive him, say, 'Stay right here'? What if he goes in the next 37:25 week, and what if he keeps murdering somebody every single week?" 37:30 [ Exhales sharply ] Well, we'd be in trouble, 37:33 wouldn't we? But that wasn't Jerry Cook's 37:36 point, nor is it mine, although it does make you think. 37:40 This is rather gutsy of Jesus to answer Peter the way He did -- 37:43 you remember that day? 37:45 I don't know what they were doing, but Peter suddenly pipes up in the middle of the day, 37:48 says, "I've been thinking, God." And when Peter thinks, look out. "I've been thinking, God. 37:53 How many times should I forgive my brother who sins against me? Seven?" 38:01 See, Peter -- the rabbis in his day, from a mistaken interpretation of a single line 38:05 in Amos, thought that three would be the limit. So, Peter says, "I'm going to 38:09 double it and throw in one to make it a perfect number. Seven times I forgive a brother 38:13 who sins against me." And then Jesus replies to Peter, on the screen please... 38:17 Familiar words. You know these words... 38:27 Can you believe that? 490 times. 38:31 I'm supposed to forgive a sister who sins against me, a brother 38:34 who sins against me, 490 times! Please! 38:40 "Clearly" -- would you write this down? 38:50 Keep your pen moving. "Remember -- love, acceptance, 38:53 and forgiveness are not about granting license to sinners, but 38:57 rather about showing love to sinners like" you and me. 39:02 Show love. The first play in your hand is love. 39:11 You play the heart. Just like Jesus. And when Ken and Floy loved 39:20 Rosaria like Jesus did, like God does, she could feel the love. And guess what. 39:26 That's how she came to believe the love. She had to first feel it, and 39:29 then she came to believe it. Ken and Floy loved her. God won her. 39:35 Because that's how it works. We do the loving. Calvary does the winning. 39:41 The winning is His business. The loving is ours. "Jesus looked at him and loved 39:48 him." Jesus looked at her and loved her. 39:52 My. The question, I suppose, that begs to be asked is "Come on, 39:56 Dwight, I mean, how does this kind of love grow up in me? How does it grow up in us? 40:00 How do we become a church that loves all sinners who enter its doors?" 40:06 Fair question. Actually, the answer is quite uncomplicated, embarrassingly 40:11 simple, to be honest with you. In fact, if we put two lines together -- and this didn't hit 40:15 me. This is the first time in my life that it hit me this last 40:19 week as I'm preparing for today. If you put two lines together, you've got the how. 40:23 Watch this. I mean, two lines that every Christian on this planet already 40:28 knows. Two lines. You put them together. 40:31 There's your how. The first line, everybody knows. We talked about it. 40:34 We sang a hymn about it a moment ago. Number one -- jot it down, 40:37 please -- the fruit of the Spirit. Okay, so everybody knows the 40:40 "fruit of the Spirit" passage, but just in case we all need a little brusher-upper, let's go 40:47 to Galatians chapter 5 and drop down to verse... Galatians 5, drop down to verse 40:55 22 and 23. These are the fruits of the Spirit. 40:58 Everybody knows this. Okay, so, Galatians 5. 41:00 Put it on the screen for you as well. 41:02 Galatians 5:22 -- "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 41:07 peace, forbearance," or patience, "kindness, goodness, 41:12 faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." 41:15 Nine graces of the Christian life, nine fruits, as it were, 41:19 nine of them. Wow. 41:22 But did you notice what we just read? 41:25 Did you see how it reads? It reads in the singular. 41:28 "The fruit of the Spirit." It doesn't say, "The fruits of the Spirit." 41:33 It says, "The fruit," singular, "of the Spirit." And scholars and commentators 41:36 have kind of wrestled over this one. Nobody's quite sure -- 41:38 why did Paul write it in the singular? One suggestion is -- I give this 41:43 to you as a possibility -- one suggestion is that Paul put it in the singular to remind us 41:49 that there is a single Source for these fruits. Oh, boy. 41:55 That's true, isn't it? I mean, you think about it. On the eve-- He's going to be 41:58 dead in less than 24 hours. He's dead and buried in less than 24 hours, and what does 42:02 Jesus say to them? Put it on the screen, please. 42:04 Jesus says to His followers, "I am the vine; you are the" 42:08 what? "You are the branches. 42:09 If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much"... 42:13 What's the word? "You will bear much fruit." 42:15 Jot that down in your study guide. 42:17 You're going to bear fruit. You stay in me and I stay in 42:20 you, you're going to have fruit. Oh, and by the way, "apart from 42:24 me you can do" zero, nada, "nothing." 42:27 Zilch. 42:29 In other words, the fruit only comes through Me. 42:33 "The only way you can have fruit is through Me. Without Me, no fruit." 42:38 He's the vine. We're the branches. He's the Source. 42:42 We're the recipients. It's all about Jesus. You say, "Dwight, are you 42:45 serious?" Of course I'm serious. In fact, let's do the little 42:49 Jesus test right here, okay? So, we're going to do a Jesus test on Galatians 5, 42:53 on the fruits of the Spirit here. Here's what we're going to do. 42:57 It says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is," but we're going to say, "But the portrait of Jesus 43:00 is," okay? So, we're going to turn it into a portrait. 43:02 Let's see if it fits. "But the portrait of Jesus is love." 43:05 Would that fit for you? Hmm? "But the portrait of Jesus is 43:09 joy." Still okay? "But the portrait of Jesus is 43:12 peace." His picture is patience. His picture is kindness. 43:16 The portrait of Jesus is goodness. It's faithfulness. 43:18 The picture of Jesus is gentleness and self-control. Does it pass the Jesus test? 43:23 It sure does. All of that is the way He lived in our midst. 43:28 Well! Maybe they're right. Maybe that's why Paul chose the 43:32 fruit to be singular so that it all comes from one Source, and the Source is our Lord Jesus. 43:38 Oh, but somebody else says, "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! It could be this other. 43:41 Time out. Let me offer an alternative suggestion." 43:43 And this is perhaps viable. Here's the alternative. Because the first fruit 43:49 is the crowning fruit that defines all others that follow, Paul says the fruit of the 43:55 Spirit -- let's put it on the screen -- "the fruit of the Spirit is love." 43:59 That's his point. It's love. Everything else flows out of 44:04 love. Well, I suppose that could work, too. 44:08 Joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, kindness -- all flows out of love. 44:13 Yeah, I buy that. But then it was right here in my study this last week that 44:19 suddenly, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This line, this line, this line. 44:23 Hey, that other line. I want to check that other line. Could it be that they are bound 44:28 together?" Let's check the other line. So, the first line is the fruit 44:31 of the Spirit -- jot this down. Line number 2 is the fruit of love. 44:34 The fruit of love. And because love is on everybody's mind this season of 44:38 the year, let's go to the love chapter of the Bible. That would be 2 Corinthians 13. 44:42 2 Corinthians 13 is the great love chapter. Everybody knows this. 44:49 Oh, this is a moving, moving chapter. I read it this morning, just 44:53 read it to myself. If I speak with the tongues of men and angels but have not 44:58 love, I'm like a -- bong! -- clanging cymbal. So, he goes through that, but I 45:03 want to drop down to where he really laser focuses in on the definition of love. 45:08 Drop down to verse 4. Let's read... Let's just look at these three 45:10 verses here. Verse 4... 45:18 Verse 5... 45:23 Keep reading. 45:28 Now, verse 7... 45:33 And then I just love that next line. 45:35 "Love never fails." By the way, we need to ask the question, "Does this passage, 45:41 like the fruit passage, does it stand up to the Jesus test?" So, let's find out. 45:46 Let's go back now, and everywhere it says "love," we'll switch it with the name of 45:50 Jesus. Verse 4. "Love is patient." Okay. So, that reads, 45:57 "Jesus is patient." Are we... Does that work so far? "Jesus is kind." 46:02 "It does not envy." "Jesus does not envy. Jesus does not boast. 46:06 Jesus is not proud." Verse 5. "Jesus does not dishonor others. 46:09 Jesus is not self-seeking. He's not easily angered. He keeps no record of wrongs. 46:13 Jesus does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus always protects. 46:18 He always trusts. He always hopes. He always perseveres. 46:21 Jesus never fails." Well, does that work? Let's try it one more time. 46:25 Let's putyourname in it. [ Congregation murmuring ] Right? 46:32 It's embarrassing, isn't it? "Dwight, you got to be kidding me." 46:40 Yeah. It meets the Jesus test. And that's why it's such a big 46:46 deal because the Jesus test is for His own people to begin to reflect the Jesus picture, 46:53 the Jesus fruit. Wow. So, I said, "Okay, come on, 46:59 Dwight. Put them side by side." And can you believe this? 47:03 They're almost identical. Put it on the screen side by 47:05 side. Look at this -- you have 47:07 Galatians 5 on the left. You have 1 Corinthians 13. 47:09 They both begin with "love," "love." 47:11 Well, we got that part that matches so far. 47:13 The next one is "joy." The other one is "rejoices." 47:15 Well, that works, too. The next one is "peace" and "not 47:17 easily angered." Well, that would sure be peace 47:19 that passes understanding because you're not ticked off. 47:21 The next one is "long suffering," Galatians 5; 47:24 "suffers long," 1 Corinthians 13. 47:27 I think that works. What's the next one? 47:28 "Kindness," Galatians 5, and "kind," 1 Corinthians 13. 47:32 Keep going. "Goodness," Galatians 5; 47:35 "does not delight in evil." Well, that would be a good way 47:37 to live, just celebrate somebody falling into sin or just messing 47:41 up and morally melting down. You don't rejoice in that. 47:44 The next one, "faithfulness," in 1 Corinthians, "always 47:47 trusts." Galatians speaks about 47:49 gentleness. "Keeps no record of wrongs." 47:52 And finally, "self-control," and in 1 Corinthians 13, what 47:55 does it read? "Is not self-seeking." 47:57 Here's the point, ladies and gentlemen. 47:59 Look -- the two lists can be woven together into a single tapestry because both lists are 48:04 a description of Jesus. That's the deal. It's all a picture of Jesus. 48:09 And "Jesus looked at him and loved him." And Jesus looked at her 48:14 and loved him. And Jesus looked down from the Cross... 48:23 and He loved them all. Hmm. So, how can I be like Jesus? 48:28 How can I get this love of Jesus in my heart so that my heart kind of begins to feel the love 48:34 like His did? Well, that's the fruit of the Spirit. 48:38 And Jesus said, "Abide in me and I in you." I mean, this is really 48:41 not rocket science now, is it? That's precisely how you come to love, accept, and forgive just 48:47 like Jesus. Every day, you abide in Him. Every day, He abides in you 48:50 through the Holy Spirit. How will He daily abide in you? Come on. 48:53 It's through the Holy Spirit. How did Jesus get the Holy Spirit in Him every day? 48:58 How did He get it... How did He get the Holy Spirit in Him every single day? 49:01 Let me put these words... We looked at these last fall. 49:03 Let me throw them up again. 49:13 That's it. 49:15 You want the fruit of Jesus? You need the Spirit of Jesus. You want the Spirit of Jesus? 49:20 Ask Him. Ask to be baptized every single day. 49:23 [ Snaps ] It's yours. Yours. Free of charge. 49:30 Every morning a fresh baptism. Boy, I want to love like Jesus. I really do. 49:36 I mess up. Very embarrassed. I have to write e-mails of 49:41 apology. [ Clicks tongue ] Bad. 49:45 But He's not giving up on me. He doesn't give up on us. "Stay with Me, boy. 49:52 Stay with Me. You abide in Me. Let Me abide in you. 49:55 You know that fruit? I'll give you the real stuff. That fake stuff? 49:59 The veneer that you pretend like you're all of this, and everybody knows -- the people 50:03 that know you best -- you're not all of that? That fake fruit? 50:06 I take it away. I give you the real fruit." [ Sighs ] 50:13 No wonder the two prayers -- "Holy Spirit, today pour God's 50:15 love into me," and then before you leave your little place of 50:18 wherever it is you have your worship every morning, 50:20 before you leave, don't forget the second prayer. 50:21 "Holy Spirit, I'm leaving now. Pour the love of God out of me." 50:25 "Pour the love of Godinme to begin the day in this little prayer time, and now 50:29 spend the rest of the day pouring the love of God out of me." 50:32 The daily baptism of the Holy Spirit is immersion in the love of God. 50:36 And Jesus looked at her, and He loved her. They'd never met in their lives, 50:40 but He loved her. 50:42 Ah. You know what? 50:45 If you want to kind of freshen up that daily two-prayer 50:47 business, 'cause that could get pretty monotonous, here's what 50:50 you could do. You could read 1 Corinthians 13 50:52 every day of your life for the rest of your life. 50:56 And I suggest that you 50:58 could read a lot worse every day than to take a look at this word picture of the very character of 51:03 Jesus every day you read it. What is it, how many verses, 15? 16? 51:07 Every day. I wish I could tell you that that's an original thought with 51:12 me. [ Laughs ] It's not. Let me put Ellen White's words 51:15 on the screen. Take a look at this. 51:22 Oh, oh, that's just what we were talking about. 51:24 "Read this chapter every day." Wait a minute. 51:34 Just read it every day. 51:36 Every day. I got a little pamphlet. It's long out of print. 51:38 31 different translations of 1 Corinthians 13. Every day a new translation. 51:44 You can put one of those together yourself -- just go online, get all 13, line them 51:48 up, print them off. Let me know when they're all ready to go, and we'll just give 51:51 the PDF to everyone who wants it. Read a different translation 51:55 every day. Read the same one every day. Memorize it. 51:59 Concentrate on verses 4 to 7 because that describes how Jesus wants to love through you... 52:04 today. Is that hard? It's not. 52:08 "Hey, listen. Listen. This daily baptism in the Holy Spirit -- 52:12 come on, Dwight. Get off it." I'm not getting off it. 52:14 You know why? Because listen. Listen. We willnever -- 52:19 and I have it italicized in mine -- we willnever become a loving people and a 52:26 loving church until the fruit of the Spirit and the love of Jesus can be seen andfeltin 52:32 us. Can youfeelthe love when you're around them? 52:35 Yeah, I can. Can you feel the love when you're around her? 52:38 Yes, I can. Can you feel the love when you're around him? 52:42 Yes, I can. It's only when youfeelthe love that youknowsomething's 52:50 there. Can't feel it? It's not there. 52:58 Fake fruit. Genuine fruit. And He looked on him. 53:05 He looked on her. O God, won't You please make us that people 53:11 on this campus and in this little community so that of us it will be said, "And we saw 53:19 him, and we saw her, and we loved them." Every single one of them that 53:27 walked through these doors. Just like Jesus. Amen. 53:33 Amen. Speaking of fruit, open your hymnal, please. 53:37 There are words there you have never seen in your life. I promise you you've never sung 53:41 them, but our minister of music said, "Hey, listen, Dwight. You see this little verse? 53:45 It's all based on Galatians 5:22 and 23, the fruits of the Spirit." 53:49 It's number 414. We're going to sing 414. It looks like four lines. 53:53 It's only two stanzas. You have to sing two to make one. 53:56 So it's just two stanzas. Familiar tune, and don't play... Well, just play -- give us a 54:00 chord or two. And we'll start. "Come, Thou Fount of Every 54:03 Blessing," that's the tune. But these are some words. 414 -- let's just sing it 54:08 together. [ Organ plays ] [ Congregation singing ] 55:42 >> O Father, that's our prayer. That's all we're asking for. Just give us Jesus, please. 55:48 Let Him abide in us through the Holy Spirit. Let us abide in Him. 55:54 And that fruit, that love, O God, double portions for this little church in this 56:05 big world. Make us a people just like our Savior, who, when we look on 56:12 him, who, when we look on her, we love them -- just like Jesus. 56:21 [ Organ playing softly ] And now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love 56:29 of the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit abide with you. 56:35 Amen. [ Organ playing ] 56:57 >> I'd like to take one more moment with you here at the end 56:59 of our program to offer you something I think is really 57:01 special. I want to send you this little 57:03 book called "Story of Hope." 57:05 In this sweeping look at the story of the Bible, you're going to journey from the dawn of the 57:09 human race in the Garden of Eden through the stunning narratives of the ancient patriarchs and 57:13 prophets and kings straight to the breathtaking story of our Lord Jesus, and then beyond 57:19 the New Testament, the prophetic story of how life on this planet ends and then begins again. 57:24 With my team of leaders, we are reading through this book every Monday afternoon, and I promise 57:29 you, you're going to get blessed. I want to make sure you get 57:32 this book, no charge to you. 57:34 So, grab your phone and dial our toll-free number... 57:36 887, and then the two words "His will." 57:40 That's 877-HIS-WILL. Just give one of our friendly 57:45 operators your name and mailing address, and the book will be 57:48 in the mail. So, be blessed. 57:50 Until the next time we meet, may the peace of our Lord Jesus 57:53 go with you. 57:59 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:19 ♪♪ |
Revised 2018-02-16