A Passionate Lifestyle - part 2

The speaker emphasizes gratitude for living in a free nation like America, contrasting it with the restrictions faced in other countries. They urge not to take freedom for granted, emphasizing the importance of using it for God's purpose. The message highlights the need to be vigilant against spiritual attacks, emphasizing seizing the kingdom of God with passion and love. The importance of faith expressed through love is emphasized, warning against Satan's tactics to hinder believers from walking in love. The overall message encourages actively embracing and living out faith through love and dedication to God's kingdom. Praise the Lord. We're glad you're here this morning. If you're watching online, we're glad you're watching online. You know, I don't ever want to not make sure that we give honor where honor is due, but we live in the greatest nation on earth. And I say that because we are allowed to, with no problems. I don't believe anybody this morning, unless you were driving too fast or recklessly, had to show your identification to anybody. Right? Amen? Nobody was at the end of your street looking for your papers to make sure you were allowed to be out and about. And I did not have to get permission for us to have church this morning. We have some friends that they're in the Middle East, and he was telling us that in the early days, I think things have kind of settled down for them in this sense, but in the early days of their ministry, they would have to be very fluid. Like if somebody caught wind of the fact that they were going to have a church service, they had to have it someplace else quickly, because they would get in trouble just as fast as they arrived. And I'm so thankful that I've never in my entire life had to experience that, and it's because we live in America. And we're thankful for our veterans. We're thankful for the men and the women that have served. We're thankful for the lives that were given up so that we could experience this freedom. But I want to encourage you in this that you don't ever take that freedom for granted, that you don't ever use – you know, Paul talks about it, and he says, you know, I don't live under grace so that I can abuse it. I live under grace because I need it, because I want to stay with the Father, and I'm going to make mistakes. I'm going to mess up. I don't live under freedom so that I can abuse it. So when I have the opportunity to get up and praise the Lord, I'm going to do it. When I have the opportunity to share the gospel with somebody, I'm going to do it. When I have the opportunity to come to church with my crazy friends, I'm going to do it, because that's the kind of country we live in is that we can do that. And so as we've celebrated the Fourth of July, hopefully everybody had a safe day, Friday night, and holiday Friday, and yesterday, whatever you did, and enjoyed the fireworks and things like that. Don't forget about that freedom that you have, and don't use your freedom for anything less than what God has called you to. Amen. Amen. Last week, we started talking last week about – we got home from church last week, and I was trying to think of what my message was even about. Sometimes I'll share a message, and I'm like, I'm not even sure what I could entitle it. But I did start in this Scripture, and I think this Scripture is so important, and that God is continuing to wake up His children with this verse. It's one thing to get saved, to come out of darkness and into the kingdom of life. It's another thing to be revived, where you have gotten unvived, so you have to get revived, right? You have to get that going again on the inside of you. But sometimes we have to be awakened, and you'll come across people that will say, I got so down that all I could do was go up. I got so low that the only thing I could do was to look up and to look to Jesus. But Jesus, God wants us to get to that point before we're so low, before we've experienced this so low. He wants us to do it before we get there. Amen. He's not wanting us to suffer. Not that you won't suffer persecution. Not that you won't suffer trials and tribulations. But He wants us to be at a place where it didn't take us getting all the way knocked down before we started looking up to Him. I want to read this. This is out of the Passion Translation. This is Matthew 11, verse 12. He says, from the moment that John – he's talking about John the Baptist – stepped on the scene until now, the realm of heaven's kingdom is bursting forth. The realm of heaven's kingdom is bursting forth, and passionate people have taken hold of its power. The Amplified Bible tells us that from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault. We're talking the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault. And He says in turn here – this is Jesus speaking – He says, and violent men – and I'm going to throw women in also, because we all know that you don't ever want to get a mama mad – seize it by force. That's right, there should have been some more amens in that. I saw some of you were smiling, but this is the truth. Violent men and women, seize it. What are we seizing? We are seizing the kingdom of heaven. We are seizing what God has given to us through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are seizing the life that we've been taken out of darkness and placed into the kingdom of the Son of His love. We are seizing that. We are grabbing hold of that. We are taking it, and we are taking it by force as a precious prize, as a share in the heavenly kingdom. And we seek after it with the most ardent zeal and intense exertion. Some of y'all have no idea what that means. You have no idea what ardent zeal and intense exertion. I don't fully comprehend it. I'm not saying I know something that you don't. But I'm saying there is something that we're lacking in. Because if Jesus said that we should be seizing, we should be going after the kingdom of God like this, there is something that we have to be leaving behind us. I enjoy running. In my mind, I told you before, I am one of the fastest people that you will ever see on the face of the earth. I can run the longest, the furthest, and the fastest than anybody else. Because it's in my mind I can, right? But when I do that, I'm physically tired, exhausted. You know, I have put forth some effort, and that effort either got me to the finish line, but it also got me wore out. And I'll go home, and I'll sleep, and I'll take ibuprofen, and I'll rest up and recover, right? But Jesus is talking about something here that if we're not willing to stop and exalt Him, if we're not willing to say that He is my hiding place, He is my safe refuge, He is the treasure. Listen, if you're not stopping in your day and reminding yourself of these things, you're missing out on part of what He's talking about here. Satan wants wholeheartedly, Satan is throwing everything that he possibly can at the kingdom of God and His people. Everything. He is not nice. He is not somebody that's like, well, I'm just going to be your best friend, and we're going to get along great, and we're going to go places together. No, he wants to wipe you out. He wants to wipe out your testimony. He wants to wipe out your movement in the kingdom of God. He wants to wipe out the things that God has called you to do because he does not like anything about God. Go back to the previous screen. Go back to the previous screen. It says, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men and women, everybody say, and women, and women, seize it by force as a precious prize, a share, a share in the kingdom, a share in the kingdom. Please don't get confused with this and think, well, we've got to start being violent towards people and being violent towards things in the natural realm and the physical realm. No, he wants us to be violent in the sense that what God has given us, we are not letting go of it. What God has called us to, He's surely able to make sure that we finish it. He's surely able to make sure that we're able to accomplish what He's called us to do because we're taking hold of it with passion and with a dedication and a desire that we don't want to see it go. How do we do this? How do we do this? We do this by love. Go to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. What I want to talk to you about this morning is what we're called to do, what we're called to do as disciples of God. Galatians chapter 5 verse 6, he says, For when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, everybody say Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. We also see other translations say faith works by love, that our faith in God is evident because of the love, because of the walk that we have towards other people. If there's anything that Satan can do and be successful at, it's to get you to quit walking in love. And he's going to throw everything he's got at you to keep you from doing that because if you're not walking in love, your faith is null and void. Your faith, it's only, what's important is faith that is expressed by the love that we have. And in Jesus, Jesus told us that we have for the brethren. God tells us in John 3.16 that he loved the world. Our faith is expressed through our actions towards those that we come in contact with. And what Satan wants to do is he wants to keep you from doing that. He wants to keep you out of walking in love and walking in the promises that he has for you. 1 John 4, verses 7-12, this is in the New Living Translation, it says, It says, That's a pretty strong word there. That's a pretty strong statement. That if you don't love, you don't know God. Now, one of the ways, one of the schemes that Satan is using these days, and has been for a while, is he wants to confuse us, this idea of love, that any time we offend somebody, you know, or, well, let me make sure I say this right. Political correctness is not walking in love. Alright? In the body of Christ, Satan, and he does this every single day. It's amazing. I'm going to go back to this. I'm going to come back to that. It's amazing. We live in a country where people can get on TV, say whatever they want to, whatever they want about anybody. You want to talk about freedom? You want to talk about the ability to do whatever you want to do? We actually pay people to get on TV and to say the worst and the most confusing and just junk. Just junk. And the same people will want to say that Christians don't walk in love because we don't accept certain behaviors in the body of Christ. Do you understand what I'm saying? Now, what is disappointing is that as Christians, we will be conflicted over this. Because people will say, well, Jesus accepted everybody. You know? He said, come unto me, all who are weary, and you will find rest. He said, come unto me. He said, don't keep the little children from coming to me. Jesus never said, don't bring somebody to me. He never said, stop. I don't care that that person can't see. Don't bring them to me. Jesus always had room. He always had capacity to give to the people that were brought to him and to share and be able to... But what the world wants to do, what Satan... And I want to make sure that our definition of this is correct here. John chapter 10 tells us that the thief comes to steal, to kill, and destroy. But that Jesus, if I say Jesus, came to bring us what? To bring us life. Life. And life as God knows it, he goes on to say. He doesn't confuse it. So that means we have to put some effort behind this. What is the God kind of life? What does it mean that God has a certain living and a certain way that he lives? God has a certain way that he talks. God has a certain way that he thinks. God has a certain way that he acts. That his desire is for us as his children is to emulate and to do exactly as he does. You know, when somebody tells you, well, see, if you're a Christian, if you really are a Christian, then you'll accept me for who I am and for what I do and for the way that I live. And some of us can go, well, yeah, that's true because God accepts me for who I am and the way that I live and the things that I do. But I want us to be clear, as the body of Christ, there is a standard. There is a standard that can only be found in Scripture. That if you're not living according to that standard, we don't ever tell somebody, you can't live like this. You don't ever tell anybody that. Because they can. They just choose not to. Go to Luke. We hit this a little bit last week. I believe God is impressing. He's impressing on me. This is something we need encouragement on. This isn't a correction. This is an encouragement. God has set us as we're different. We are to live and to act. We're to speak. We're to talk differently. Now, you don't speak and you don't talk differently like I do. It's good if you do, but you speak and you talk and you act the way God speaks and talks and acts. It's total effort on your part. You have to go after it for yourself. You've got to say, okay, God, how am I supposed to be living right now? How am I supposed to be handling what you've given to us? We looked at this a little bit last week. This is in Luke 18. He says, once a religious leader came and asked Jesus this question, good teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus says in return, he says, why do you call me good? Only God is truly good. Only God is truly good. That means only God is. He's the only being that there is no. There is no. Hey, there is no not good in him. Everything about God is good. He can't change. That's who he is. Why do you call me good? Only God is truly good. Verse 20. But to answer your question, you know the commandments. You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must honor. I put that in there. I'm not messing with the word at all, but you must honor your mom and dad. Amen. All the moms and dads said amen. Praise the Lord. Go to 21. The man replied, and he said, I've obeyed all of these commands. I have been so good my whole life. I've only done good things my whole life. He says, ever since I was young, I've done all these things that must make me good because I've done what you say is good. 22. When Jesus heard this, heard his answer, he said, well, there is still one thing that you've not done. Now, a lot of people will take this next sentence here and say, see, you're not supposed to have money. But Jesus said there was one thing. One thing. He didn't say there's two things here that you haven't done, and I'm going to tell you what those two things are. He said there's one thing that you have that you've not done. One thing. And I'm going to be bold because I believe this is who God is. That if you have something, you guys are doing so good. I have your attention. You're all listening so tight. So tight. This is so good. He says, sell all of your possessions and give your money to the poor. That's not the one thing. See, Jesus said there's still one thing you haven't done. That one thing wasn't because he was so rich and he hadn't sold all of his stuff yet and given to the poor. That's not the one thing that was keeping him from inheriting eternal life. But it was something that was keeping him from inheriting eternal life. Not the one thing, but it was something. Because then he goes on to say, then come and follow me. The one thing that people are looking for is for you to be following Jesus. Every word that he speaks. Every thing that he does. Every action that he takes. It's not a, well, I'm not really sure what Jesus, no. Jesus said, follow me. That's the one thing that you have to do to inherit eternal life. That's the one thing that you have to do. But what we do is we get caught up and we go, yeah, but I need to do this and I need to do that. This statement even, sell all your possessions and give them. That was totally dependent on the ruler. It was works. It was something he had to do. But that didn't give him eternal life. That's not the one thing. The one thing isn't obeying your parents. The one thing isn't not committing murder, not committing adultery. Those aren't the things he's talking about. Those are all things that we do. But the one thing, I say one thing, is to follow him. Is to follow him. And so the best way that we can do this is to understand that Jesus is love. That Jesus is the love of God. He is the experience of God. He is the life of God. We know that Jesus is the word of God. But in John 3.16 it tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only one and only son. His love, he gave it to us. No holding back. Nothing tied to it. Nothing, you have to do this. You have to say so many prayers a day and you get to have Jesus. No, you have to give so much money and then you can have Jesus. No, you have to obey your parents so well and then you get to have Jesus. No, God said you can have Jesus. That's it. And if you will believe on him, if you will make the decision, I'm going to believe every word Jesus says, I'm going to follow every action that he takes, I'm going to press in the way Jesus presses in to his relationship with God. If you will do those things, then you'll have eternal life. You'll have life as God knows it. Nothing holding back. Nothing holding back. You know that word love, we looked a little bit last week. That word love is called agape. It's a Greek term. The Greeks did not understand what unconditional love was. Agape is unconditional love. It's love without conditioning. There's no reasons that you get God's love. You can't determine God's love for you. It blows – it is mind-blowing. It's mind-blowing. And yet people want to say, you know, Christians, they have this love thing. No, Christians, we got this all right. We have the love thing right because that means nobody can do anything to me. They can't say anything about me. They can't treat me any other way. And I'm always going to be here to give them Jesus, to give them love, to give them Jesus. It's not that we accept anything that they do to us. It's not that we're tolerant. I think there's such a lie. There's such a weakening in the body of Christ that we think we have to tolerate things. Tolerance is not part of the love of God. Just look at that. 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13. Y'all with me? He says, if I were to speak with eloquence in earth's many languages and in the heavenly tongues of angels, yet I didn't express myself with love, my words would be reduced to the hollow sound of nothing more than a clanging cymbal. I read a guy was saying, have you ever heard a wagon? How many of y'all ever heard a wagon? And it's coming down the road. It's a trailer. You're pulling a lawnmower trailer, but there's no lawnmower on it. And that thing is loud, and it's clanging, and it's – you know what I'm talking about? That's what he's referring – that's how he's talking about this, that it's just a bunch of noise. There's no substance. There's no lawnmower. Just a bunch of noise. I'll keep going. And if I were to have the gift of prophecy with a profound understanding of God's hidden secrets, and if I possessed unending supernatural knowledge, and I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains, but have never learned to agape or to love, then I am nothing. Verse 3, and if I were to be so generous as to give away everything I owned to feed the poor, it's not the one thing. It's not the one thing. So I'll keep going. And to offer my body to be burned as a martyr without the pure motive of love, Jesus, I would gain nothing of value. Keep going. Love is large and incredibly patient. This is the Passion Translation, and I love the way he preaches this. He preaches this. Love is large. We're talking about agape. We're talking about the love of God. We're talking about the unconditional, the action, the thoughts, the words that God has for us. It's unconditional. No conditions on it. You don't determine God's love for you. That's amazing. There is nothing you can say or do will keep God from loving you less or loving you more. He did it all through Jesus. And so that's how we're supposed to live. We're supposed to live all for Jesus so that Jesus can be all through us. And everything that we say and do, well, what does that look like? He says here, love is large and incredibly patient. I think it's interesting that he starts defining love with this very first word called patience. I don't know how many times I've heard people go, well, I'm just not a patient person. I just can't wait for anything. I want it to happen. I want it to happen quickly. I'm just not a patient person. No, you have the love. If you've got Jesus, you have the love of God. If you have the love of God, you have patience. Now, this word is also defined as being longsuffering. That means no matter what you're going through in life, no matter what trials, no matter what tribulations you go through, you can suffer long because you have the love of God. You can suffer long because you have the love of God. Because your trial and your tribulation is not what's determining how you act or react to what's going on. The love that you have on the inside of you that comes from God is what helps you to get through that. He says here, love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. I want to stop there with this because this word kind is benevolent. This word kind is, again, it is giving with no constraints. It is giving with no, I am going to be kind. I am going to be a person who does good for other people because I have the love of God on the inside of me. If the church is not acting, I want to stop with these two things, but if the church is not acting on these two particular areas, we're failing. We're failing the world. You're failing the people in your neighborhood. You're failing the people that you work with, that you work for, because you're not acting in the most, it's like primary and secondary. It's like first and second. If you're not patient and if you're not kind, you're failing those. You're failing to show people who God truly is. Now, agape. Oh, I want to keep going. When you define agape, Satan, he doesn't understand. He doesn't get it. And if he can keep us from understanding, if he can keep us from receiving the love of God, then we're not necessary. And that's not how it is. We were placed here. We were placed for a time as this. We were placed for a time such as this, as Esther, the book of Esther talks about, and Jeremiah, the plans that he has for us. There's reasons that we're here and there's reasons that we're doing the things that God's called us to do. But it's not so that we can – when you go back to verses 1, 2, and 3, when he talks about that if you don't do these things in love, that what's temporary, the gifts are temporary. Prophecy is temporary. Tongues, that's temporary. Because once Jesus comes, those things will cease to exist. They're not going to be necessary anymore. Let's keep going. Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Verse 5, love does not brag about one's achievements or inflate its own importance. It does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. It is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing. Everybody say never. Love never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, and it never – everybody say never – love never gives up. Verse 8, love never stops loving. It extends beyond the gifts of prophecy, which will eventually fade away. It is more enduring than tongues, which will one day fall silent. Love remains – everybody say remains – long after words of knowledge are forgotten. Our present knowledge and our prophecies are but partial. But when love's perfection – that's Jesus – when Jesus arrives, when Jesus comes back, the partial will fade away. Let's go down to verse 12. For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and mysteries, as though reflected in a mirror. But one day we will see face to face. So he's talking about seeing Jesus, seeing the Son of God face to face. But it's no longer this reflection. The word I told you a couple weeks ago, that as you get up in the morning and sometimes you'll say you can look in the mirror and go, well, that's God. I'm looking at God. That is not God. You can only find God in the Scriptures. Don't limit God by what you see. Does that make sense? Don't limit God by what you see. The only limiter that God has placed out there is His Word. That's the only thing that limits God. And if you are walking in His Word, if you are exercising in His Word, if you are walking in love, then you are showing forth who God is. Keep going to the next Scripture. There are three things that remain – faith, hope, and love. Yet love surpasses them all. So above all else, go back to Matthew chapter 11, and he says that the violent take it by force. They pursue it as a precious prize. They go after it. They seize it. They don't let it out of their sight. No matter what circumstances they find themselves in, they don't look for reasons to not walk in love. We don't look for reasons to not be patient with people. Well, they had that coming. Oh, that's the worst thing you could say. Right? They sowed plenty, so they had that coming. That's not longsuffering. That's not the patience that God is looking for on the inside of us. He says, so above all else, let love be. Let love be what you're going after. Let love be that every part of your being, everything about you oozes the love of God, the patience, the kindness, that you're not jealous, that you are somebody that is looking to heap, to heap, to heap, to continue to throw on. You can do this. You're more than enough. You're well able. You know, the Bible talks about that we don't forbid the gathering together of the saints, so we can provoke each other unto love and good works. Love is important. In fact, he says it's the most important thing. That our life, our lifestyle, is not, how can I get them back? It's not. It's not. It's not that. It's not, you know, well, that's what they deserve. What the hell? What do you deserve? What do I deserve? I desire the love of God. That's what I want. I've got to make sure that that's coming out of me towards others. I've got to make sure that that's what I'm applying. That's what I'm giving. That I'm not just the receiver of God's love, but I'm the giver of God's love. Amen? You're going after this. There's passion. There's a desire. Well, I don't understand. Maybe you're thinking this morning, I don't quite get that. That doesn't quite register. You've got to get in the Word. You've got to get in the Scriptures and see how the love of God is in place on the inside of you. You've got to. Because that's the only place it comes from. I can get up here, and then I can get red in the face, and I can, you know, get the whole two front rows soaking wet. But it doesn't matter what I say if you don't get into the Word and make it real for you. Above all else, let Jesus be the beautiful prize for which you run. Above all else, let the soul. God is love. Above all else. Above all else. Above all else. We pursue it. We're a passionate people. Because there's a lot of people out there that are trying to take us, to pull us in a different direction. There's a lot of people out there that are trying to say, no, no, if you really love us, you're going to accept us, and you're going to allow us to act any old way we want to, and I'm not going to change for anything. But Jesus told... One part of the Bible says, one book says, that He was a rich, young ruler. Another says that He's a religious leader. So that tells me two things. He had a lot of knowledge of Scripture, and He probably had a lot of money. And He's coming to Jesus, you know, and He might even be thinking, well, you know, Jesus, I could help fund your ministry. But Jesus said, there's one thing. There's one thing. There's one thing. That you follow Him. You follow Me. That's the one thing. And if we are passionately pursuing that, and we're looking for opportunities throughout the day, how do I show kindness here? How do I make sure that I'm being patient here? In the same way that God is patient and that God is kind with me, you'll begin to exercise, and people will be able to see that in you. And they'll say, oh, okay, I want that. Above all else, let love be the beautiful prize for which you run, that you obtain it, that you don't let go of it. Father God, we love you. We praise you. Let's all stand. There is a very sweet spirit up here. I don't know what it's like at your seat, but it's nice up here. It feels good. I believe that when the church is acting like the church, people are drawn to that, they're attracted to it. See, the world is full of disappointments. The world is full of different schemes and how do we get this done quickly and how do we go this direction, you know, whatever. Whatever you're facing, whatever you're going through, there's so many different ways to handle it according to the world. I believe there's only one way that we're supposed to live, where we're following Jesus, and that He is the one that we bounce things off of. Jesus, is this how I need to be acting right now? Is this what I need to be saying right now? Jesus, is my love the same as your love? Am I the evidence of the body of Christ? When Jesus told the disciples and He said that the kingdom of God is suffering violence, He's letting them know Satan's going to throw every trick that he possibly can at you. He's going to not just kick you when you're down, but He's going to throw more stuff on you and make you, I've got to deal with this now and I have to handle this and I've got to go through this. But the Christian, the Christian that is pursuing and going after love above all else, above all else, but there's a passion, there's a seething of that. You're saying, I can't, I can't not follow Christ here. I have to follow Christ. I have to follow Christ. I have to go after Him with all my being. Keep your heads bowed. Father God, we come to you in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, if we're looking at who you are through your love and how you are, we're incapable of keeping you from loving us. Father God, we ask that you help us to be incapable of not loving you and not giving you everything. Father, we want to give you everything. And that as the rich young ruler or the religious leader, the word says that he turned and he walked away and he was sad because he was so rich, he was so wealthy and he just couldn't imagine giving up something that he'd worked so hard to obtain in his life and to have in his life and the status that it gave him. Father, we ask you to help us to shed the things that are keeping us from being able to see you face to face. Whether it's addiction, whether it's laziness, Father, whether it's, you know, our self-image, Father, whether it's the trials and the tribulations of life that keep us from keeping our eyes focused and our thoughts focused on what you're saying. And then, Father, help us to in turn be ones that are able to give the love that you've given to us. No restrictions. Nothing can keep it. Nobody's actions. Whether they receive it or not, Father, it's still theirs. All they have to do is receive it. All they have to do is receive it. Praise you, Lord.