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Compliant too so you can even sleep comfortably while flying finally the freedom to sleep comfortably anywhere to receive your 10 day trial call many see Pat dot com Now 180-441-9116 that's 180-441-9116. Culture is strong in the sun describing what love feels like but in God's economy it's far more valuable to know what love looks like today on turning point Dr David Jeremiah shares examples of putting love into practice and why it's so essential to being the kind of people God has called us. From a life beyond amazing Here's David to introduce the conclusion of his message a life of love well thank you for joining us today we are in the excitement period of a brand new book you know I've written a lot of books and I suppose. I should get used to the fact that when a new book comes out it just comes out but I don't it's very exciting for me it's it's like having a new child come into the world and you're so excited to see what God is going to do with this book and more than any book I've written in a long time I'm praying that God will really use this to help you and encourage you and strengthen your life and today on this program I'm going to give you 5 ways that you can develop a life of love as a follower of Christ you know the Bible tells us that it is by our love for one another that we will be known in a watching world and that we have no excuse if we don't take seriously the command to pursue love today will get down to the practical side of that and I think it will be helpful to you I hope you'll be with us for the entire 30 minutes and then don't forget tonight we're going to be in Tallahassee this is going to be a great event because we've had so much response this is the highest requested ticket event of the entire fall season we've had great events in Cincinnati and Fort Wayne and just a couple of days ago in Tampa but Tallahassee has had more requests for tickets than all of them and we're really excited and our fall series in Tallahassee Florida looking forward to seeing you tonight in that great city Well today we're going to finish what we started yesterday as we talk about how to live a life of love I have more information about some resources for you at the end of today's program but let's jump right back into the teaching and finish of our discussion. Summarize the words of 1st Corinthians 13 in this statement at the end of the Love Chapter You know it well and now abideth faith hope love these 3 but the greatest of these is. Now that's seems like that's the end of the discussion of love but unfortunately there is a chapter division between $13.14 which I think shouldn't be there it's arbitrary By the way the chapter divisions in the Bible are not inspired they were put there by people who wanted to make the Bible easier for us to read. So you hear the summary statement of what love is at the end of Chapter 13 you know what the 1st verse of chapter 14 says it says person to love here is what love looks like the love that God has given to you except that rejoice in it be factual for it now pursue it in other words take control of your own life and begin to ask God to help you learn how to love better that's what I want in my life and here we have this prime example of that seeming paradox that stands at the center of all of these traits the fruit is always a gift but it is still something that requires hard work on our behalf so that brings us to how we do this how do I become a more loving person I've been commanded to love I'll be honest with you Pastor I hear people say this I just wasn't born with much love I'm just not a loving person like what you say that you're off the hook no you just admitted where you are but you're really on the hook now nobody has a right to say well I know we're supposed to do this but I just wasn't born that way I know some of you weren't born with a loving attitude but that isn't mean you are responsible to love. So since love is both a gift and a task Here's the question that challenges us in every one of these discussions how can we become more loving people I'm a Christian I know God I know that he poured his love into my heart I'm confident that God loves me John 316 is something I know well but do you know 1st John 316 we all know John 316 do you know what 1st John 316 looks like the 3 sixteen's are kind of there for us to remember by this we know love because he laid down His life for us and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren That's 1st John 316 and 1st John 411 and 12 is similar because if God so loved us we also to love one another so let me just lay this principle out so that we can all grab hold of it one of the ways you learn how to love one another is by learning how much God loves you in the 1st place because if we're supposed to love one another as God has loved us then we need to learn more about how God has loved us so that we can pattern that in our love for one another because God loved us we are to love one another. October 22nd 2007 the 1st Medal of Honor was awarded for combat in Afghanistan it was presented to the family of Lieutenant Michael Murphy a Navy Seal who gave his life to make a radio call for help for his team. Murphy and 3 other SEALs were sent on a mission in June of 2005 into the rugged 10000 foot Afghan mountains searching for a known terrorist and they apparently were spotted by local tribesmen who reported them to the Taliban and Murphy's team was trapped by 50 enemy troops who surrounded them on 3 sides forced them into a ravine and all 4 men began to sustain wounds and were out of ammunition. We were hurt and said the team's sole survivor Petty Officer 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell we were out of ammo and it was bad it was real bad. But Murphy moved from man to man to keep his team together though he had to expose himself to enemy fire to do it then because the mountainous terrain blocked communications he had to move into the open area and call for help despite incoming fire he calmly provided his unit's location and information about opposing force while making the call he took 2 rounds in the back and dropped the handset but he managed to retrieve it and complete the call even telling the person at the other end thank you while he was in this wounded condition his dad speaking to reporters after his son had been killed in action said here is a man who'd been shot in the stomach he'd been fighting with this wound then he gets shot in the back and then he still has the presence of mind to say thank you. Petty Officer the troll survived the fire storm because he was blasted over the ridge by a rocket propelled grenade knocked unconscious and rescued by local villagers who refused to turn him over to the Taliban he was later transported to a Marine outpost any old his life to Lieutenant Murphy. I can't imagine the love respect and gratitude that he feels today for his fallen companion to know that a buddy willingly and without hesitation exposed himself to enemy fire to save him now must be a lifetime lifelong appreciation. Not many of us will ever see that kind of courage or love in our own personal lives because it doesn't happen that often the me generation has turned into it's all about me generation and if we're not careful even in our churches we become consumer centers where everyone wants his or her own style of worship or set of programs where the Bible says this while we were yet sinners Christ died for us the Bible says He gave His life for us even as the winner of the Medal of Honor gave his life for his friends. There's only one symbol that I think is greater than the Medal of Honor and that's the cross of Calvary and I think it would help us if we used our imagination once in a while just to consider how similar our plight was to that of Murphy's teen trapped by the enemy outnumbered wounded and hopeless and yet one man stood up and stretched out his arms and saved us. There's something about that picture that moves us and I think it's no accident that Jesus died with outstretched arms it was his way of embracing the whole world and reaching out for you and me. Several years back Don and I went to London and I wanted to go and visit some of the churches because I've always been interested in the architecture of Christopher Wren Christopher Wren was the designer of many of the cathedrals in Europe and especially in London we kind of finished up our little tour in St Paul's Cathedral and I saw a statue in the annex that I've never forgotten it was a huge portrayal of Jesus Christ twisting in anguish on the cross intense pain on his face and blood dripping down his body and underneath was a plaque that read This is how God loved the world he loved the world through His sacrificial death for us now we have to take that information and import it into our relationships with each other because that's what the Bible says because he has loved us in such a way we are called to love others that way so one of the ways we learn how to love one another is by learning to appreciate God's love for us more seeing all of the self sacrificing part of that relationship and then realizing God has given us that love and he's stored it in a reservoir around our heart and it's out of that reservoir of God's love to us that we love other people as God has loved us now we can love others so the 1st thing we should do if we're trying to become more loving people which all of us should have as a certain part of our agenda is we should understand the importance. Of God's love for us because that's the model that God has given us for our love for others the 2nd thing we need to do is pursue genuine love I don't realize this until I was studying this in these recent days the Bible has a lot to say about love that's not real postured love many many verses talk about that Romans 129 says Let your love be without hypotheses do you know how good we have all become at posturing Oh you say Pastor I don't do that well let me ask you this when you came to church today somebody said how are you doing and I promise you you said fine you might be hurting like crazy but you said Fine why that's the Christian thing to say when somebody asks you how you are we don't say how we are we say we're fine or we're blessed which may be true to some extent but you see we learn how to make believe that we're loving when we're not that's why it says in the scripture to be sure that your love is sincere don't play at it don't act like it make sure it's down deep in your heart and pastor who I have known over the years said that the beautiful one another commands of the New Testament are famous but it's striking to notice the one and others that aren't on the list for instance sanctify one another that's not their humble one another that's not their scrutinize one another pressure one another embarrassing one another corner one another interrupt one another defeat one another sacrifice one another shame one another marginalize one another exclude one another judge one another run one another's lives and confess one another since. That is in the Bible no matter how much you may be practicing it in your life. You see our relationship with one another reveals to us what we really believe is supposed to what we think we believe we're giving it away if we don't love one another in fact did you know that in John $1335.00 it says by this the whole world will know whether or not we are Christians if we love one another you expect to have to say by this the whole world will know we're Christians if we come to church or if we pray or if we give to the offering doesn't say any of that it says by this show everyone know that you and I are a Christian by how we love one another that's the badge of our discipleship and it's no wonder that the watching world look sometimes at the church which seems to be more about fighting and griping and complaining and all that and they don't want any part of it because it doesn't seem genuine It doesn't seem real this was very much of a problem in the New Testament and there are several verses that talk about it. Here's the 3rd thing I want to share with you and I just give you the this principle pray for greater love if you don't feel like you're really as loving as you ought to be ask God to help you pray to God for greater love I can't find a verse where it says you pray for greater love but here's what I have found in all the writings of the Apostle Paul to the churches that he founded he always or almost always includes a prayer if you read those prayers he doesn't pray for greater attendance greater offering greater influence or anything he prays for a lot of things we don't ever pray for when he wrote to the Philippians in the 1st chapter Here's what he said and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and in all discernment. Almighty God wants us not to just take the love that he gives us but he wants us to grow it and he wants it to abound if you read his letter to the if there's a whole long paragraph in that letter about the a fusion is coming to know the length and the breadth and the depth and all of the different parts of God's love God wants us to be loving people and he doesn't mind if we come and ask him to help us and if you have somebody in your life was not very loving toward you and others you might want to pray for them that God would give them some more love to them Don't be afraid to risk That's number 4 if you want to grow in your love for others don't think it's a safe way to go how many of you know it's never safe to love anybody because they can hurt you we've often said in our discussions at home that sometimes the people you help the most of the ones who hurt you the worst Isn't that something. But that's one of the things you have to guard against you cannot stop loving simply because you're afraid that if you love you'll be hurt maybe you've gone through relationship and it just ended up so bad and you said in your heart I'm never getting involved with anybody else again this was so awful. Let me read to you what c.s. Lewis said about this he said to love it all is to be vulnerable love anything and your heart will certainly be rung and possibly broken if you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give your heart to no one not even an animal wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries of void all entanglements lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness but in that casket safe dark motionless airless it will change it will not be broken it will become unbreakable impenetrable irredeemable the alternative to tragedy or at least to the risk of tragedy is damnation the only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is hell so if you're thinking I'm going to start loving anybody I'm not going to love that person because that person hurt me or that person is going to hurt me or no no no you've got to be a riverboat gambler when it comes to love a man you've got to be willing to risk. And then here's the last one and we're done practice every day therefore be imitators of God as dear children the Scripture says and walk in love how many of you know walking is one step at a time just as we learned to walk one step at a time we learn to love one loving act that of time 1st Corinthians $1614.00 says Let everything you do be done with love and we think that if we're going to be better at Loving we have to come up with some big project and we're going to go and we're going to show everybody how much we look at what we did we think giving to our Lord is like taking a $1000.00 bill and putting it on the table here's my life Lord here's my love I'm giving you everything but the reality for most of us is that God sends his to the bank tells us to cash in the $1000.00 bill for quarters and then we go through life putting out $0.25 here and $0.50 there listen to the neighbor's kid troubles instead of saying get lost go to a committee meeting give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home usually giving our life to Christ is not glorious and loving isn't learned in big chunks loving is learned in all those little acts of love some of which you've already done today $0.25 at a time showing the world what it means to love. So here's the essence of the message find out how much God loves you and take that love and be a distributor take that love and love others every time you think I don't know if I can love that person stop for a moment and remember how much God loves you. What he not only save you from in the past but what he might have saved you from in the future remember the Bible says God loved us when we were without any reason to be loved sinful rebellious not looking for love God reached out to us that's the quality of love he wants us to develop as be leavers and when we do I want to tell you if you've ever experienced even a little bit of this it's an amazing life to love others is the greatest reward you will ever get in your life and you do it the overarching message of this particular unit that we are talking about today is this we only can love God's people as we understand how God has loved us. Gone Garrison grew up in a family where witchcraft and the occult were thrust upon him as a young child. A friend taught him how to cast spells and discern the future and wield power over others one day Garrison found a ticket on his desk to a drama called The Greatest Story Ever Told he didn't know what it was even one wasn't even sure what it was about but he said he would go and he was shocked when he pulled into the parking lot in the place where this was being held was a local church and he realized it was a passion play Nevertheless he made a promise so he went in and he sat on the back pew thinking he could make a quick get away if he wanted to but the play was excellent and he sat riveted suddenly the character of Jesus was dragged down the aisle right beside Garrison and out of the room to be scourged in the sound of which filled the auditorium every time the whip struck the back of Jesus Garrison felt a sharp pain in his chest that moved down his arm. Suddenly the doors swung open and Jesus stood there wearing a crown of thorns he took 3 steps and fell in the aisle right in front of care since Pew and he looked up into garrisons eyes with blood dripping down his forehead and said to him I did this for you. Goosebumps ran up and down his spine and later testified I didn't know how to respond he was talking to me like he'd known me forever. Later after the scenes of crucifixion and resurrection the pastor walked to the stage and said If you're hurting in your heart tonight I want to pray for you please raise your hand and with pain running down from his heart through his arm and didn't hesitate. He said I don't remember how I got to the altar when the invitation was given I just remember kneeling with the pastor and after a moment he looked at me and he said I have never felt the presence of evil like I feel in you tonight I sense you are