September 11, 2022 - Why Discernment needs Love
Okay, we'll have lots of time after continue the discussions and that's great.
you know, all of us have had times and situations, where, you know something happens and we have loss
Even talking to something today, I've had friends who have died. And it's difficult to get through.
Every once in a while, there's somebody who has an effect on us passes and we need to make mention of this in together.
It wasn't really a surprise, but it was a shock that the queen has died. and,
When somebody that I know that I'm never met the queen, I never got even go to London yet. But the I think about funerals I do. I do enjoy funerals and I am the reason why I love them is it's the meal afterwards. Will you get together and get to hear everyone's stories about that person? Like my uncle died during cool visit and it was just basically our family and a few friends and I thought I got completely ripped off because I knew there would be hundreds of people there that would tell stories about him that I never heard before.
But this is my favorite story that I've heard recently about Queen Elizabeth, and we're going to play it. Now, this comes from, it was told during her Platinum celebration, but if you want to play the video now, but in the royal family are very lucky to have two queens. Youngest son, Prince Edward Island University, and has spent 13 and a half years. I have to spend the last 14 years of my career as the Queen's personal protection officer position called the Queen's police officer. Till I reach out to give you 100 more examples of the witching a charm. Would you like some of my favorite stories is women of Balmoral and Ukraine used to go up that in May to cook out in the house and just stayed at privately for a weekend and she would probably lunch time to pick next. Very often. It would just be the police officer and his majesty. And one of the picnic song, one night with her, we have two lovely picnic, and I love each other. And then we went for a little walk, just the two of us and normally on this picnic songs, you mean nobody. But it was to hike is coming towards us in the queen would always stop and say hello to Americans on a walking holiday. I was clear. They haven't recognized the coin, which is fine on. The American General was trying to Queen where he came from where they were going to next and weather going to be in Britain and I can see it come in and sure enough. He said it might just take them where do you live? I shall both live in London. Parker holiday home. Just the other side of the hills and coming up here. I need to see the clocks that can be coming up before I two years. You must have met the queen.
So the guy said to make what she liked and because I was with her a long time and I knew I could feel like I said she can be very concerned but the next thing on you this guy comes around puts his arm around my shoulder before I could see what was happening. He gets his camera place is not take a picture of them with a coin. We never let on and we wife goodbye. And I'm actually said to me, I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he shows us photographs to a friend's in America and hopefully someone tells him who I am brilliant.
So I guess the official announcement is The Queen Is Dead, long live, the king and were told to pray this way for kings and all who are in 30. So we can live, peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases Our God and savior. Can we pray? Lord, we want to thank you for the blessing that Queen Elizabeth was to us. Even if we didn't recognize that, we want to thank you for the way that she put you first in her, thoughts and interactions, Florida. And we prayed for all of her family who are grieving at this time, and Lord we pray for those who at work close to her, who are grieving at this time, we pray for a nation Nations that are grieving at this time Lord help us to grieve.
But not like those who have no hope help us to know. Lord God. That.
You are our king and you are God, and Lord. Whoever you place over us, we will lift up and we will pray for so Lord. It can't be easy for King Charles at this time then. Or we pray, a blessing upon him. We pray a blessing up on the people around him. We pray, Lord. God that he would be blessed knowing god, that will be blessed if he's blessed. So we thank you for that. they'll be with us today as we study your word and Lord show us how we can Grow in discernment and grow in love. In your name. We pray. Amen.
Amen. So there are a lot of new faces here or newer faces are older faces that I haven't seen for a while to see him and we so I'm just going to do a quick recap. We've been kind of hitting this series on discernment on and off and on, and off, and on and off. And so, this is kind of the last part of that, and I just want to remind you. This tournament is yes, it's a spiritual gift. The actual gift is the Discerning of spirits, and so, it's knowing what Spirits are at Play. But it's also a command it's closely tied to wisdom is closely tied to words of knowledge. It's closely tied to those spiritual gifts, but we're also told to seek the sermon to seek wisdom to seek the right way to seek the right path. We're told to basically, we do what we can to grow and discernment so that when God Supernatural in power said, it's that much better. We? Have. Is there all on her website if you want to take a look at them. But basically we've talked about the sermon from different angles, how we need to be, if you want to grow wise, you'll be around wise people you if you want to grow and discernment, you hang around a certain people. You want to?
I forget a little bit what you talked about, but anyway, The important thing I want you to remember today is that the sermon without love is criticism.
Have you ever met somebody who just could push your buttons? I bet you anything those people have discernment and they're not using it in love. They hurt. Big speak truth to you, but don't speak truth in love and it don't be lost people, please.
We're not to let anything come out of her mouth that isn't for the building up of others. So we need to know how to love and discern and discern in love. Discernment without love is criticism. You're not in the right place. If you enjoy putting someone else in his or her place and when you're ready to knock someone off, their high horse, you're recognized, you're already on your high horse.
If you look up the sermon online, And I'm working to change that but but even now if you if you work, look up the sermon online, you will have a lists and lists of this is what you need to do. This is how you must live. These are the rules to live by in order to grow in discernment. But when I read the book, that's not what it's about. It's about relying on holy spirit. It's about relying on his love, is about seeing people the way God sees them and speaking truth in love to them.
I'm not giving you a list of rules here. I'm showing you. You can't do it without holy spirit's help and we'll get to those things right away. Does it really matter? John 3:16 to 17 for God? So loved the world, he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish. But have eternal life. God sent his son into the world, not to judge the world, but to save the world through him and 1st Corinthians 16:14, says, do everything with love. I looked up everything. It means everything.
Everything in life. We need to learn to live love so we can learn to discern because the more God is love. So the more were like, God of War, we can have his mind, the more we can have his thoughts, the more we can have his words. Proverbs 26 3 says the Lord gives wisdom and out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
So what does it mean to live love? This is a question the first time I heard the phrase. I want to live loved. I was like, that is so awesome. What does that mean? And I went into the book and I found out what it means to live. Love. If you have those, these are all in the notes because I'm going to whip through these quick, okay? To learn to live love It means that we're locked in the fact that were loved by God is the most important because God's love for us or passes knowledge and nothing can separate us from his love. Remembering, God is love and come and love comes from God. And he disciplines those, he loves to live. Love means that we love God. With all of our heart soul, mind and strength, more than the earliest dearest. And there is love more than anything else in the world. And it shows by obeying Jesus helping is people caring for the least of these seeking, his kingdom and all things. And knowing that were promised, the Crown of Life, Deliv love means we love and actions and truth. I'm not going. Yeah, this comes later live. Love means that we love and actions and Truth are motivations is love our, our labors prompt my love. We're generous we speak the truth in love, we walk in love. We grow in love, we keep ourselves in God's love, we have peace and are thankful. We find comfort in love, I love Springs from hope we have compassion. Kindness, humility. And patience to live. Love means that we love each other. We love each other more than we love ourselves. I don't know if that's a good time out there is because he loved us first. Our love and sincere were devoted to one another and brotherly love. We honor one another above ourselves. We share with God's people heart who her and we practice Hospitality. We're not rude. We're not self-seeking, we're not easily angered. We keep no record of wrong. That's right. We're unoffendable, we always protect we all his trust. We always hope we always Preserve. Where United together, you can't be motivated by fear because love covers a multitude of sins. The only debt to remain outstanding is our debt to love one. Another, the live love means we love even our enemies, we don't take revenge. If our enemy is hungry, we feed him or thirsty. We give him something to drink. We bless those who curse as we pray for those who persecute us. If someone strikes us a One Cheek, we turned it on the other. Also we represent our father who is love and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous now, please don't think that this is a list of rules. You need to check off every morning before you go. I want you to know you can only do this with the power of Holy Spirit in you, you can only do this. As you see other people, the way that he sees other people, you need to the only way you can do this is to be so full of Jesus that he just leaks out wherever you go. This is how we were designed to be. Weird designed to be so much like Jesus, that the world is drawn to him through us. Which this is it? Where does Zions to be in that that place of communion to be in that? Walking with him in the garden, in the cool of the day.
What would it be? Like if you had this Look of Love going through you not just on special occasions but every day in the day today,
Well. That's God's plan for you. And I've developed a tool that is is a tool for the moment, okay, it's that moment when love is the last thing on your mind. It's probably when somebody who has the gift of discernment but is using it without love comes to you and starts poking holes in you. And this is what you can do, okay? In the moment. You got a love. That's the word we're going to go with today love. You're going to learn what love is you're going to obey the greater love. You're going to Value Grace and you're going to elevate the conversation and let's unpack that today.
Learn what love is.
We have to understand love the way the ancient Hebrews. Understand love. Love is an action note. Love is a choice. First of all, it's a choice. 1st Corinthians, 13, 47. I got those down here. Love is patient and kind love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It doesn't demand its own way. It's not irritable. It keeps no record of being wrong. Wrong. It does not rejoice about Injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out love never gives up. Never loses. Faith is always hopeful and a through every circumstance. The word that's used for love. The Greek word that use for love. There is a God bail now, Agape, all love. You need to understand a copy of Love, is the love that. You make a decision to do. You got to decide to do it? And when you make that decision to live that way, that's the first step. You're basically going to live unoffendable, in a world. That is completely offended. Is everything.
Love is a choice. Love is also an action 1st. John 3:17 says, if someone has enough money to live well, and sees his brother or sister in need, but shows, no compassion. How can God's love being that person?
You need to love is just not this feeling I have for someone else, there's action involved. The word there again is a cop bail. It's a decision to do the action and it's cut. It's a, you know, you blessed someone in a way that they see it's a blessing.
I love the proverb a blessing too early in the morning. Can be considered a curse. Yeah. Anyway, everyone, who's married to cutting Circles of that? Anyway, love is an emotion finally, love is an emotion. Romans 12:2 Which I've got marked here and why don't you have marked here? Where did I park at?
Ruby, Romans 12:2, I can read it here. Love each other with genuine affection and take the light in honoring one. Another The love, the Greek word for love yous. There is the phileo love, phileo. Love, is that emotional love? It's that warm feeling that you get. When you look at this brand new baby. Yes, it's that. It's that feeling you get. When you you see that person that, you know, loves you, because their actions show it, and their words say it,
The question we can ask ourselves is a my loving with my whole heart.
in that moment when someone comes to you and wants to confront and doesn't want to play nice, Can you stop and say, how do I love with my whole heart?
It's just, it's a decision. It's an action, it it's, it's in a it's an emotion. If you can work that out your your you solve the problem.
The second letter in love is old, and I want you to remember to obey the Greater Love. John 15:13 says, Greater, there's no greater love than to lay down. One's life for one's friends.
That's the Greater Love.
I want to be careful that you don't think I'm telling you to be a doormat. It's not that people can walk all over your emotions and walk all over. You was a person. You're not showing love to them when you allow them to do that.
But the Bible does tell us in Philippians 2 and 3 to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Look out, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interest of others,
it's easy to do when we're sitting here and just listening. Yep, I do that. It's tough. When that person is right there and they don't want to play nice.
One question you can ask yourself. I know, this is just coming to me. This is a different to all I worked out. Is, is yazz what? I would ask God what? What are they dealing with or what do you love about them? Or something like that?
because when you can start seeing people the way God sees them, I'll tell you the one that really struck me years ago, I had a mother of a teenage kid come and just start yelling at me because her kid was in all kinds of problems and I should have been the one to stop at
He didn't even come to you, I don't know, I'm really and I was a senior pastor at the time so I don't know. But right in the middle of that, tirade, I just felt compassion for her. because God loved the mother that she was And God, loved the fact that she was fighting for her kid. and when I told her that the whole discussion changed, That we started looking for Solutions. Instead of trying to point blame
That's kind of what I mean by laying down your life because you have every right to defend yourself when someone is coming and poking holes at you.
But give up that right to see them the way that God sees them.
Simply asking God, what do you love about them?
They look at them. Something happens when it comes through your eyes and holy spirit starts to move and then you get this eat. You get to see.
so, What you've learned how to love, you know, to obey the greater love. The v in love. I want you to remember the value Grace. Mark 13, 1231
I am working 832 3231 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. The second is equally important love your neighbor as yourself. No greater commandment is greater than these.
if we just talked about loving others, and trying to be unoffendable, for those who are highly offended Realized it comes it. Absolutely. The only way you could do this is from God and the only way you can do this is understand the grace that he has for you.
And that Grace and that love. That's perfect, love and 1st John, it talks about perfect love is love. We first gift from God that we can share with others so that they can love God and love others. That that's the perfect circle. That's, that's the perfect love and that kind of love, cast out, all kinds of fear.
We need to it's on your own strength.
You can't do it on your own. Will you need to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit?
And so that means the slow song Sunday morning, can't be your only time you can act of God in the week.
He is always with you. Will you be with him?
False false in in 1st Corinthians 15:10. By the grace of God. I am what I am. And his grace to me was not without a fact. Is Grace changed me. So I know his grace can change others.
Question you can ask is if I show in Grease, the grease. God is showing me
Vinyl lettering, Love is Easy Elevate, the conversation.
Fuzion 415 says, instead we speak the truth in love growing in every way more and more like Christ was the head of the body, the church head of his body, the church
Did you catch that?
As we speak the truth, important thing you speak the truth. Is important.
How many Christians stop at that? I speak the truth. Like I had five corrected a lot of Christians over the years who said I'm just speaking the truth and truth and I'm like the verse it says the truth of love like fried doing the love fart when you speak the truth because it's not it's not real. Well it is it can be truth, it's not emotional truth if you don't have to love
You want?
Some tips hear, you ask honest questions. You seek to build up and not tear down. You, let nothing come out of your mouth. That isn't for the encouragement of others. You listen to understand and not listening to Rabat what they're saying.
You listen for the emotion behind. If you if you look at them with your eyes and listen to what they're saying to the emotion behind what they're saying, that's one guy can really start speaking to you and telling you what he loves about them.
How do I speak the truth? In love you bet. That's what you do in the in the in that moment in that moment you ask yourself how do I speak the truth in love? And understand as you speak the truth. In love you become more and more and more like Jesus.
That's God's cool for you, that's his plan for you. Everything you're going through everything, you've gone through everything, he's going to take you through. The waters through the fires through the kinds of mountain Heights in the valley, so deep that you can't see the sun. What he's doing is making you more and more and more like Jesus.
and when you grasp, how good that is,
Yet you stop kicking against the goads. You stop arguing with God. In this process, you stop trying to be the man, your own rights and instead love, right?
You want to learn what love is. I've told you. What love is you say? You love with your whole heart. It's an action. It's a decision. It's a Feeling You'll be the Greater Love. By the, am I laying down my life? Am I giving up my right to be right in order so that I can love.
Value Grace. Am I showing the grace that God has shown me?
Elevate the conversation. How do I speak the truth in love?
Discernment comes. When we learn to love, always.
Grace allows us and empowers us to do that.
one of the best things you can the best choices you can make today is if God is bringing a conversation, you've had recently to your mind The you know you didn't speak the truth in love.
Ask for God's forgiveness and then go back to that person and ask for forgiveness.
That could be the key that unlocks their heart to a growing relationship with God.
When you just stand up to say, Listen, I just figured out I need to speak the truth in love and I spoke the truth and it wasn't love.
Will you forgive me?
I bet most times that'll shock. Mm.
Sometimes it might just get more upset, that's on them, not you. Don't respond to them being upset.
Use this tool to remember to love.
Are we usually done by 11? Let's pray. God, I want to thank you. That you've given us everything we need for life and godliness. I think you believe spirit that you Empower us to accomplish every good work prompted by faith. I thank you God that you want to make us more and more and more like the son you love.
and Lord, I pray for people right now who who might have a difficult conversation, I had
If they've already had it, I pray you'd give them the grace to go and make it right.
But the rest of us, it could happen anytime this week. If we could come to a place where we need to remember to respond in life,
the Lord bring this to our memory, bring this to our thoughts and bring whatever question that you want to bring to us so that we can see them. As you see them and show them your love in that moment.
I thank you, God, that lives will be changed. I thank you, Lord. Their relationships will start to be restored. I thank you Lord. God the discernment in us, will grow more and more as we become more and more like you.
So, I thank you for all of this Lord in your precious name. Amen. Amen. Recollect, your clothes. Anyway, you want to close?