2024-05-05 Sunday School Christian Unity and Love

The speaker discusses the importance of Christian unity and love, using 1 Corinthians 13 as a reference. They share a story about a researcher who studied the importance of love between parent and child. The speaker emphasizes that love cannot be measured, but it is essential for our well-being. They discuss how love is manifested in different ways and how it is necessary for the church to reach out to others with love. The speaker also warns against using spiritual gifts selfishly and pridefully. Overall, the message is about the significance of love in the Christian faith. Well, good morning once again. We'll be talking about Christian unity and love. Brother Tim might have known that when he picked that song out. I want my way to be filled with love. This is my favorite subject, and I'll warn you, I've got about 25 pages of notes here. I usually try to stick around 20 and sometimes have a really hard time getting through it, so I'll try not to have too many rabbit trails, but we'll have to get in here and get started. I'm not the best at showing love, but I've been shown a whole lot of it, and so I do love this topic. Christian unity and love in your holiness heritage, we won't be using that a whole lot. I'm going to go ahead and turn with us in 1 Corinthians 13, chapter 13, I believe. The theme this morning says, God has given us clear instructions concerning the unity of the body of Christ and the need for believers to love one another. Our golden text comes from John 13 and 34, it says, A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. I thought if you find the topic of love weak or maybe just for the worldly church, I'd like for you to examine your Bible and your heart this morning. It is love, it is for us, for the holiness church this morning. I chose to write an introduction this morning, our introduction, based off of a radio program I heard some years ago on National Public Radio, and I did some research on it. This week it always stuck with me, and it's very good, but for the sake of time we'll forego the intro in the Holiness Heritage. What I wrote here says, In 1960, a researcher named Harry Harlow was attempting to prove that love is an important thing that happens between parent and child. That seems odd to us to have to prove such a thing, but at the time pediatricians, the psychological establishment, and the government itself felt it unnecessary and even dangerous to show your child affection. The American Psychological Association put out a statement of caution. When you're tempted to pet your child, remember that motherly love is a dangerous instrument. The head of the APA was a man named John Watson at the time, and he also said there are serious rocks ahead for the over-kissed child, and then defined over-kissing as kissing your child more than once a year. At the beginning of the 20th century, psychology was in its infancy. Medicine was still trying to figure out how bacteria was spread, and pediatricians noticed that babies that were being picked up by the nurses more often were getting more infections. Doctors were cautioning parents not to cuddle their children or indulge them. Psychologists were telling people that if you follow these rules, if you show your children little to no affection, they will be better and stronger human beings. They did not know how to measure love, and talked about it in a scientific manner. But in 1940, health care workers noticed that the children that were never picked up, never loved, would often wither and even die. As scientists often do, Harry Harlow experimented on monkeys to study love as it exists in nature. He put a baby monkey in a cage with two mothers. One, the first one was made of wire with an ugly face and produced milk. The other one, other than that, it had no characteristics of a mother. The second one was fluffy and loving, but did not produce milk. The baby monkey would quickly nurse, but then retreated to the loving mother for the rest of the day. Harlow then introduced a scary atmosphere to the baby monkeys, with only the wired mother present. The baby would cower in a corner by itself and tremble. But then he brought the loving mother back in. Then the baby monkey would run to her, cuddle and find solace, and even feel confident enough to explore around as long as the loving mother was near. The saddest part of the experiment, but the most telling, was when Harlow rigged the loving mother to act as an abusive mother. The baby would lay on his mother, and once he found comfort, spikes would shoot out, poking the monkey and even hurling it off its lap with a spring-loaded contraption. Harlow stated the baby would be shaken to the point their teeth and bones would rattle in unison. But what they found was that when the mom quit, spikes retracted, the babies came back, and they did everything they could to make those mothers love them again. Then they cooed, and they stroked, and they groomed, and they flirted, exactly what human babies do with their moms. Eating wasn't important, and they even abandoned their friends. Fixing this relationship became a singular focus, and they would do anything to feel loved again. I thought almost anything in life can be measured. You can measure the distance between here and the sun. I can't, but it can be done. You can measure the distance from star to star, Sister Hannah. You can measure how far it is from you and the physical place believed to be Golgotha. But you cannot measure love. A loving mother can instill confidence in a child to be the President of the United States. The loving words of a stranger has made suicidal men climb back off of the Golden Gate Bridge. And the love of one sinless man has changed eternity for countless men and women, including me. Love truly is the sum of all virtue. The Apostle John, whom Jesus loved, puts it like this in 1 John 4 and 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love, for God is love. And this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Let's talk about the importance of love this morning. You'll find our text starting in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 1. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 1 says, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. You may very well, everybody in here probably knows that charity and love is universal. Have you ever left a tool in your parents' pocket, or left some change in your pocket, and your wife does the laundry, and it makes its way into the dryer? It makes an awful sound, doesn't it, Brother Ronnie? We've probably all experienced that. Nobody could mistake that for loving advice. We are Christ's church. It's through us that God chooses to reach for a lost and dying world. Luke 14 and 23 says, And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Compel who? Well, the sinner, your brother, your sister, your mom, your dad, your mamaw, your cousin, your coworker, a stranger on the street. He asks us to compel them to come in, that his house may be filled. Ephesians 2 and 10 says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. No one is compelled by loud clanging noises. It is off-putting. We've all been in services where the mics get too close to one another. I don't really know what causes it a lot of times, but we get that piercing feedback that rings throughout the church. And we all look over at Brother Joseph and we're like, fix it now, whatever it is, you know. And it's horrible, an extremely loud interruption in the service. And that's bound to happen once in a while. But Paul is telling the Corinthians, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. How many souls do you reckon we would reach if they visit our church? And it was just that feedback the entire time. Even if we are speaking with the tongues of angels, even if we have a message straight from the language of heaven, it's just noise if it's not accompanied by love. Brass and cymbals translates to a hollowed out metal vessel. We have rendered the greatest act of love and mercy, Sister Allie, this world will ever know as empty noise if we don't deliver it with love. So that is Paul's message to the Corinthians at this point in his letter. Remember, they are abusing the manifestation of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit. Paul had established this church and God, who gives the increase in his great mercy, was trying to help them by providing these gifts to edify the church, but they were being used wrongly. Moving on to 1 Corinthians 13 and 2, it says, And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. Remember, Paul tells them at the start of this letter in chapter 1 and verse 4, I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given to you by Jesus Christ, that in everything you are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. They have all these great gifts from the Holy Ghost. Every provision a church needs to succeed, but their motives in using these important gifts are wrong. No doubt they were using these gifts selfishly and pridefully. If God gave you the gift of healing today, could you handle that? Is your heart ready for such a wonderful gift? Would God get the glory if you had the gift of healing? Forgive me for using such a carnal analogy, but if you came into $10 million this morning, would it change who you are? Most of the time, it ends up breaking up marriages. There was a time in my life, if I was given $10 million, Brother Ronnie, I would be a dead man. I would not be here right now, and I know that. And these gifts are much greater than that. Could you handle a gift such as this? I was given something far greater, the forgiveness and love and mercy of our Father. Brother Tim warned us the other day, when you get in that most holy place with God, be prepared. Is your heart ready for what you're asking for? 1 John 4, verse 16 says, And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. When you stand before the throne of God on the day of judgment, it will not matter how many mountains you've moved. It won't matter that you've given everything to the poor and lived as a homeless man. It won't matter if you've pastored a church or if you were a Sunday school teacher or if you were the greatest song leader this holiest movement has ever known. It will only matter if the perfect love that was given to mankind by the way of the cross has been applied to your life and you've endeavored to share it to this world. If that describes you, then you need not fear the day of judgment. Verse 3, 1 Corinthians 13, 3, And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Love is obviously tied to our actions, but actions alone are not proof of love. Even a martyr can end up in hell if his heart was not right in the sight of the Lord. You can do a mighty work and still go to hell. You may have everyone fooled, but God still knows your heart. Jonah, I thought, was a mighty prophet. God used him to save that great city Nineveh. 120,000 people were saved, spared. But when Jonah saw God's love towards them, he said that he'd rather be dead. God may use you this morning. He might use you to help someone in need, brother Ronnie, but that doesn't mean that he's pleased with you. So what is love in the sense that Paul is speaking here? 1 Corinthians 13 and 4 reads on, Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thanketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. The translation of love here is the Greek word agape. One commentator writes, The ancient Greeks had four different words we could translate love. It's important to understand the difference between the words and why the apostle Paul chose the Greek word agape in this text. First, eros. You'll find love, but it's eros in the Bible. It was one word for love. And it's described, as you might guess, erotic love. It refers to sexual love. Another love is storge. It was the second word for love. It refers to a family love. The kind of love there is between a parent and a child or between family members in general. And then there's philia. The third form of love. It speaks of a brotherly friendship and affection. It is the love of deep friendship and partnership. It might be described as the highest love of which man without God's help is capable of. And there's this form of love, agape. It's the fourth form. It is a love that loves without changing. It is a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting repayment. It is love so great that it can be given to the unlovable or unappealing. It is love that loves even when it's rejected. Agape love gives a love because it wants to. It does not demand or expect repayment from the love given. It gives because it loves. It does not love in order to receive. Agape love is also a commandment. Remember our golden text. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. Agape is a love that we should have, but it cannot strictly be described as God-giving love because the word is also used to describe how some men love this world. If you cross-reference this form of love, Brother Ronnie, you'll find it in John chapter 3, verse 16, very familiar. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. This love is agape love. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world. And men loved, agape, darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may manifest, that they are wrought in God. So let's consider this for a minute. These are Jesus' words that we just read. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And just three verses down in verse 19, we see the same word used. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. God loves us with a perfect love, agape. And men loved darkness rather than light, agape, once again. It's no wonder that John writes in 1 John 2 and 15, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. If you love the world, then it is a perfect love, an all-absorbing love. You cannot have the love of God and love some of this world at the same time. You can't have both. You will totally abandon one and love the other. As Brother Tim put it the other day, you don't just move away from one thing without going into the direction of another. The analogy being moving away from the drums and getting closer to the piano. John 13 and 34 says, a new commandment, once again, I give unto you that you love one another, as I have loved you that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. It's by this love that the world will know that we are God's people. With that in mind, let's look at the characteristics of this love and see if it describes who we are. Paul describes this love first as it suffereth long and is kind. Long suffering, as in long wrath, not having a short fuse. There is a great gulf between God's mercy and God's anger, and I'm thankful for that. Psalms 1 and 18 says, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, because his mercy endureth forever. It does not submit to circumstances, nor is it influenced by hardship. Ephesians 4 and 31 says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. How many can say that they've experienced this characteristic of God's love this morning? If you were saved, you have. Let's exhibit this trait ourselves. Let's give this trait ourselves. When you are wronged by someone, you have three options. You have the opportunity, Brother Quentin, to prove that you're right. You have the opportunity to exact revenge. Or you've been afforded the awesome opportunity to show God's love in this dark world or to somebody. The second characteristic is love is kind. The word kind is only used once in the Bible, and it's right here. It translates to kresu amahi, kresu amahi. The Greek lexicon describes kind as showing oneself mild, gentle, and helpful. Consider it. It's not a passive kindness, rather kindness that is actively engaged in helping others to show oneself useful. Are you useful to God this morning? Can he depend on you? Can others depend on you? The third characteristic says that love envies not, to envy not, to be jealous of something or someone. Exodus 20 and 17 says, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. Do not covet your brother's possessions or even the things of this world. First John 2 and 16, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world. And the world passes away and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Paul does tell the Corinthian church, however, in 1 Corinthians 12 and 31, covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. We read that last Sunday. We should have a strong desire and covet for the gifts of the Spirit, but without love it can breed jealousy. It's bad enough to have jealousy, Brother Ronnie, in this world, but it's even worse in the house of worship. This is God's holy place. We are to work together to the edification of his house. Jealousy of one another's experience, mode of worship, preaching, or service is a distraction to our goal of winning souls. I thought I would really love to have a truck, Brother Quentin. I haven't had one in years. All the time I'm needing a truck, I use my Traverse like a truck. I fit whatever I can in there and I haul a mower around in it, but I don't have one. And almost every man in this church house has a truck. Even my son now has a pickup truck, and I don't have one. I'm glad that they have one. Them having a truck does not upset me in any way. I can want a truck for myself without hoping theirs breaks down. Brother Joseph texted the other day on his trip and his battery broke down. I didn't glory in that because I didn't have one. I didn't sit back and be like, well, that serves him right. If I had a truck, I'd treat it better. I wouldn't have left with a bad battery. So that shouldn't affect me in any way just because I want one and you have one. I thought I don't rejoice in how dirty Brother Anthony's truck is. It's funny, but I don't rejoice in it. The fourth trait is love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Agape love never prompts us to seek the glory. It always reminds us that all the glory belongs to God. I thought King David, if anybody had the right to maybe buy a truck, if anybody had the right to maybe boast a little bit, it would have been David. He killed a lion. He killed a bear. He killed Goliath in front of everybody and saved the day. But in Psalms eight and three, he says, when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him? And David didn't even know an ounce of what we know about the universe when he wrote these words, as we surely still have a very limited knowledge of the universe ourselves. I thought I could see him standing out there on a rooftop, Brother Ronnie, and staring at those stars and God's majesty and how great he is. There was a time that he was on a rooftop and he looked at something he shouldn't been looking at, but this time he was looking up and he known the mercy and the love of God. And he said, what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him? Charles Spurgeon wrote a commentary and I'll read this real quick. I'll share just a piece of it. It's very long and very profound. So his words are more profound than mine. So you have to listen closely. But he says, when other arguments and motives produce little effect on certain minds, no considerations seem likely to have a more powerful tendency to counteract this deplorable propensity in human beings than those which are borrowed from the objects connected with astronomy. They show us what an insignificant being, what a mere atom, indeed, man appears amidst the immensity of creation. Though he is an object of the paternal care and mercy of the Most High, yet he is but as a grain of sand to the whole earth when compared to the countless beings of creation. What is the whole of this globe on which we dwell compared with the solar system, which contains a mass of matter 10,000 times greater? What is it in comparison of the hundred millions of suns and worlds which by the telescope have been described throughout the starry regions? What then is a kingdom, a province, or a baronial territory of which we are as proud as if we were the lords of the universe and for which we engage in so much devastation and carnage? What are they when set in competition with the glories of the sky? Could we take our station on the lofty pinnacles of heaven and look down on the scarcely distinguishable speck of earth? Is it for this there is so much disturbance of nations, so much carnage, and so much ruinous wars? Oh, the folly of deceived men to imagine great kingdoms in the compass of an atom, to raise armies to decide a point of earth with sword. Dr. Chalmers in his astronomical discourses very truthfully says, we gave you but a feeble image of our comparative insignificance when we said that the glories of an extended forest would suffer no more from the fall of a single leaf than the glories of this extended universe would suffer though the globe we tread upon and all that inherits should dissolve. That's hard to, that's hard, you'd have to read it, I had to read it over and over, but it paints quite the picture. Is a large forest moved in any way by the falling of one leaf? Would it ever even be noticed? Would you agree that it's an almighty God we serve this morning? We never have anything to boast of. It's not just that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, Sister Hannah, by this great creator, but it's also that he's mindful of us, that he cares for us. Hello, come on in. He's mindful of us, Brother Tim, he cares about me. He's a great, he created this whole entire universe and me in it and he cares for me. I thought it's awesome to see the stars in the sky and the sun and the moon and all this wonderful stuff, but I was with Casey the other day in a little pet store and I seen these little bitty fish that are no bigger than nothing, they're neon, like yellow and green and pink and so awesome, and he cares for us. He's not just the creator, he's the creator that cares. It would be awesome that he made all of us and just let us go do our own thing, but he cares about us and he wants us to be with him. What a great God that we serve this morning. What did you do this week that's worth bragging about compared to God's vast creation? The only thing that makes you significant at all is that God is mindful of you. The creator of this entire universe cares for you this morning and he cares so much that he left his word that instructs us to care for one another. As a dad, I thought I never feel like and my kids don't do it much anymore and they didn't do it a whole lot anyways and I'm so thankful, but at times I've never felt more like a failure as a dad than when my children were fighting with each other and I feel like God feels the same way about us this morning when his children are fighting amongst one another and we're bitter over these little bitty things when it doesn't even matter. Am I really lining up to these characteristics this morning? We can be a poor judge of our own character sometimes, but we need to do some self evaluation this morning. Do you feel puffed up when someone pats you on the back for a testimony that you gave? Do you feel deflated and wonder why they didn't and not want to do it again if you didn't get the approval of another man? We often feel the temptation to be puffed up when we do something good for God. But let's look at the other side of it as well. What makes your sin so great that God can't handle it? What makes your circumstance so unique that God needs more time to give you the Holy Ghost? What makes your sickness so bad that God can't fix it in a single moment? Is the spirit of God confused when it comes to offering you a gift? Are you a hard case for God? I don't think so. So what is standing in your way of receiving what you need this morning? The fifth trait is love does not behave itself unseemly. We should not be inappropriate, possessing edgy or lewd behavior, telling or even laughing at inappropriate jokes at work, on the job or at church or with your brethren or anywhere. I thought at the place I work, there's a lady there that a couple of times has been inappropriate in my presence. And I could feel her gaze at me seeing if she would get me to crack or smile or, you know, to get the preacher or the Christian to laugh at something she said. And I wouldn't give her an ounce, Brother Quentin. And I then made my mind up that if she'd done it again, I was going to have to say something to her. And I was debating, I was praying to God, how can I break this to her? Because I don't want to be an offense. I want to help her at some point. And it was just a few moments later that she seen me in the freezer and she went in there and she said, Michael, I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't want to be an offense. And I, I didn't, I didn't say, well, that's okay. Or, oh, I'm 43 years old. I've heard it all. Or, you know, I've, you know, I've been that way. I just said, I appreciate your apology. And she hasn't done it again. The sixth trait is love seeketh not her own. And the Holiness Heritage has a good quote for this. Someone said that there are two kinds of people, those that are always thinking of their rights and those that are always thinking of their duties. We live in a time where people will sit back and live off the government while blaming the government for all their problems. I thought during the Black Lives Matter protest, and I'm not going to try to be political this morning, but when it was in full swing, I did see a video of a police officer and somebody was, just had a camera on him and he was in his car and asked him where he was going. And he said that he was headed to defund the police protest because they required a police presence or they asked for a police presence. But that's the state we're living in. Love is not on a mission to see what they can get out of a situation. It doesn't do good deeds for a reward. Number seven, love is not easily provoked. But this goes along with being long-suffering. Proverbs 16 and 32 says, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh the city. Love will do things for the right reasons. You can do a good thing for the wrong reasons. I thought there's been times, and y'all have probably never done anything like this, but I've woke up in an ornery mood and things weren't just perfect, so I went and cleaned up the house. And my message wasn't, I love you, Christy. It was, this should have been done yesterday. So we can do things, good things, for the wrong reasons. I've done that. I felt like I got my point across, but she's smarter than me, so she probably thought, well, at least she got the dishes done. So it doesn't matter why you did it. The eighth characteristic is love thanketh no evil. The word thanketh here translates to logid zomahi, which means to take inventory. I think that's interesting. The devil would like for us to remember every single time we've been wronged by someone. His goal is division and bitterness amongst the brethren. We've all been going to church with each other for quite some time, Brother Austin. Each of us has probably done something at some point that the other one doesn't like. We might have slighted one another and didn't mean to, or maybe we did mean to. Love teaches us to forget those things. We've got a job here to do, and it's to see souls saved. If we all show up to worship God, and on the forefront of our minds is things like, so-and-so got onto my child wrong, or Brother Tim preached Camden twice before he used me, or that brother never shows up on work days, or I cooked dinner for Brother Quentin and he never even said thank you, or Sister Lindsey knows I'm the one that always brings the potato salad and she brought it today. God did not inhabit the bitterness of evil. Psalms 22 and 3 says, But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Do we not desire the inhabitation of God this morning? Psalms 103 says, Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. The only inventory we should be recounting is the wonderful things that God has done for us. Let us recount His blessings with the loving sacrifice of praise this morning. The ninth trait is, Rejoice is not in iniquity. We should never take pleasure in finding out someone has failed God. Firstly, it may not be true, and you just believe the lie, Sister Allie. Secondly, you just took pleasure from iniquity, and you are guilty as the offense that was committed. Romans 1 and 32 says, Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. I've been in holiness for a long time, and I've got to tell you, I feel like that we are grossly underestimating this loving trait. Rejoice is not in iniquity. Number 10, Love rejoices in truth. Philippians 4 and 4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Through good times, rejoice. Through times of difficulty, rejoice. Times that you just don't understand what God is doing, rejoice in the Lord. I thought there's a song by Zach Williams that's overplayed, but it does have really great words. It says, In the waiting, in the searching, in the healing, and in the hurting, like a blessing buried in broken pieces, every minute, every moment, where I've been and where I'm going, even when I didn't know it or I couldn't see it, there was Jesus. There are times that you may not be able to see God, but if you hold on to the truth and rejoice in the unseen, the day will come that you will rejoice and see that God was with you all the way. The 11th trait, Love endures all things. It doesn't count the cost, Brother Tim. It has preserving power that overrides misunderstandings, insults, and false accusations. Psalms 1 and 11 says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. You can take an oak tree, you can cut off most of its branches, you can swing off of it, you can carve into it, you can treat it in ways that it's not designed for, but put it through all kinds of weather, storms, and as long as its roots are strong, it'll endure. Love endures all things. We need to be like a tree planted by the water. The 12th one is, Love believes all things. If you have a need in your life, you can get your answer today by this very trait of love. In Mark 9, a desperate father brings his deaf and dumb boy to Jesus for healing. The condition was so bad that the boy would tear at his clothes and gnash with his teeth and foam at the mouth. Mark 9 and 20 picks up, and they brought him unto him. And when he saw him straightway, the spirit teared him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believe. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto them, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him. And he was as one dead, insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up, and he arose. Belief is a powerful trait that only comes through true love. It makes all things possible. So I'll ask you once again, Are you a hard case for God? The 13th trait is love hopeth all things. Jeremiah 17 and 7 says, Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. If we love the Lord, our hope is in the Lord. We need to show this world who our hope is in. Our lost loved ones will be the first to tell when our hope has been replaced. By doubt, brother Ronnie, it should never be. If you need a restoration of hope, you can find it this morning. And if it happens, if you need a restoration of hope, you can find it this morning. And it does happen. It happens to me. I've needed a restoration of hope. Just like bringing our car into a service station, we've all needed our hope to be topped off once in a while. If you don't get it topped off, it'll run completely dry, and you'll find yourself broke down. I guarantee you. We need to stop looking at a trip to the altar as a shameful experience, but a zealous desire of regular maintenance of our very soul. 1 Corinthians 13 and 8 says, Charity never faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. That verse always reminds me of Camden. About a year before he accepted his calling to preach, I was sitting at the kitchen table, and Camden came in there with tears in his eyes. And he asked me if he could talk to me for a minute. And I said yeah. And he said, Dad, I come across this verse here in 1 Corinthians 13 and 11. He says, When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. And he said, I've been praying on it, Dad. And he said, Does it mean that I've got to stop playing with Legos? Does it mean that I've got to stop drawing pictures? He said, I love those things. Does God really care that I do that? And I didn't know it then. But God was doing a mighty work in his life. And Camden was seeing this condemnation. But it was obvious that the Lord was wanting to do something tremendous in his life. And it doesn't necessarily mean that you've got to quit doing those things. I like playing with Legos myself. I still like to draw. I still do those things. But Paul here is using an analogy of how a young man matures and stops acting as a child. He's explaining spiritual maturity to the Corinthians. The spiritual gifts are necessary in our lives, but should not be abused. We should know how to use those things. And there's even a greater truth as well. There's coming a day that these spiritual gifts will not be necessary at all. In chapter 12, Paul explains these gifts. In chapter 14, he will explain how these gifts should be exercised. But in this chapter, chapter 13, sandwiched between these two chapters of these spiritual gifts, he tells them about a characteristic a church and a person must have in order for the Hologos to work in. And that is love amongst the brethren. First Corinthians 13 and 12. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now about his faith, hope, charity, these three. But the greatest of these is charity. Paul is not instructing us to pick one of these. We must have all three. But there is coming a day that our faith and our hope will have fulfilled its very purpose. We will no longer need faith in our savior because we will be face to face with him. We will no longer need hope in a brighter tomorrow because we will be living in that tomorrow. But our love for him will only grow fonder when we are able to look upon his face. A rush to it. And here we got a couple of minutes. But let us close this morning with this familiar, but awesome verse, John 3 and 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.