Dr. Tony Evans

Tony Evans - Practicing Christian Love

August 3, 2025 | 28:40

Dr. Tony Evans is known as a relevant expositor and is a pastor of pastors and a father in the faith.

#Christianity #LoveofGod #Grace #LightoftheWorld #RelationshipwithGod #LoveyourNeighbor

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Dr. Tony Evans | Tony Evans - Practicing Christian Love | August 3, 2025

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Tony evans: if god is operating in you,
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Love is gonna come out of you.
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If you have the flu 'cause there's a virus inside,
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There's gonna be manifestations outside
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Because something is happening in there
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That's making itself visible to people outside of you.
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If god is alive in you, love will be coming from you.
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♪♪♪
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Tony: first of all, to love god with all of our heart, mind,
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Might, strength and soul, to love god first.
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We've already seen that week after week.
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God wants to be in the front of the line
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Of your life.
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He does not wanna be an afterthought
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When you've tried everything else.
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First, love the lord your god.
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But then he says, "second, love your neighbor as yourself."
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And so you and i have been called
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To participate in this concept of love
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That we saw last week is to be personal,
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Not esoteric or otherworldly.
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Beneficial, not simply organizational
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Or merely governmental, but it has to do
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With your personhood.
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So i wanna take you today on this next level
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Of what it means to love your neighbor
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And to love them as yourself.
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In 1 john chapter 3, that's the love letter.
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1 john is the love letter in the new testament.
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It's full of this love thing.
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He says beginning in verse 13, "do not be surprised, brethren,
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If the world hates you.
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We know that we have passed out of death into life
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Because we love the brethren.
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He who does not love abides in death.
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Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,
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And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
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We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us
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And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
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First of all, i want you to catch the context
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Of john's discussion of love.
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It's family related.
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In fact, you can go back to chapter 3, verse 1.
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"now see how great love the father has bestowed on us
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That we would be called children of god."
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So you've got father, children, brothers.
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That's family.
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Galatians 6:10 puts it this way, "as you have opportunity,
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Do good to all men, but especially
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Those who are of the household of faith."
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In other words, while god wants us to show love
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As broadly as we can, we are obligated
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First and foremost to express love
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Within the family of god.
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What would you think about a father who fed
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All the neighborhood kids while his kids starved?
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Not much.
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You would say he's shirking his responsibility
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To his own home.
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So when god saved you and me, he said, "i want you
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To become part of a spiritual family,"
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The church, and as part of the spiritual family
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Where god's the father, we're the children,
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And you've got brothers and sisters
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Who make up the family, "i want you to have a family
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To practice love in."
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Let me put it another way.
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One of the reasons god wants every child of his
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To be part of a spiritual family is to attack our natural bent
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Towards selfishness.
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We are naturally bent towards selfishness.
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In fact, most of us came here today
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Wanting god to do something for us.
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And most who came here today wanting god
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To do something for them, in most cases,
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I'm sure there are exceptions, probably didn't ask,
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"and god, while you're doing this for me,
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Here's what i want you to do for somebody else."
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We probably came here today mostly focused on,
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"i need the word, i need the blessing,
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I need the help, i need the encouragement,
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I need the deliverance, i, i, i, i, i."
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We are built that way.
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And that's not wrong to want god to do something for you,
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But the reason why god wants you to be
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Part of a family is just not only about you.
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It's our father who art in heaven,
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Not my dad who is in heaven.
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It's a family affair.
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And so what god has done is created an extended family.
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That's why when people join a church,
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They say, "i need a spiritual family,"
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To practice family, to be reminded,
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You're not an only child and god does not want you
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Merely to be a reservoir to receive his blessing,
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But an aqueduct to also convey it.
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He wants you to be a tool of dispensing,
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Not merely a container of receiving.
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And so, he's made this second, this love thing horizontally,
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Not just loving me, but how we touch others
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As critical.
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When the man asked, "what's the greatest commandment?"
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Jesus said, well, "the first is that you love god."
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And then jesus said, "but the second is like it."
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The man never asked about a second.
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He only asked about a first.
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But the way jesus answered is, "we haven't completed it
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With just answering the first unless i continue
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With the second,
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Because the second is like the first.
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They are hinged together like two hinges on a door.
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This door won't swing right unless both hinges are in sync.
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And so god has called us into family.
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"do good to all men as you have opportunity."
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We'll go into that in a moment.
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But especially if you have to prioritize,
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You prioritize at the household of faith.
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Many of god's children come to church and say,
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"feed me.
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Feed me the word, feed me the truth,
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Feed me the scripture, feed me.
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Now, don't ask me to do anything."
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So he makes it a family affair.
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Brother, brother, brother, we've seen that.
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Why is this important?
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This is what i'm gonna say now, it's critical, don't miss this.
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Please notice what he says in verse 14.
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"we know that we have passed out of death into life
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Because we love the brethren.
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He who does not love abides in death.
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Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer
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And you know that no murderer
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Has eternal life abiding in him."
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What i'm gonna say here is deep.
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John is not writing to non-christians,
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He's writing to christians.
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That's why he talked about your little children,
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He says, your brother, okay, family of god, your father.
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He's writing to christians all the way through the book,
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It's clear he's writing to christians.
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But he says to christians, "those of my children
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Who do not operate on this principle of love
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Are abiding in death."
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But he's talking to christians.
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"and they do not have eternal life abiding in them."
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What does he mean?
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If i'm saved, don't i have eternal life?
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Well, let's make a few distinctions.
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He's not discussing everlasting life,
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How long you're gonna live forever in the presence of god.
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He's discussing eternal life.
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Eternal life is not merely a length of time.
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Eternal life is a quality of existence.
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Jesus says in john 17, "this is eternal life,
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That they will know me and you whom you have sent."
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So let me define eternal life.
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What you have now, you have everlasting life,
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But eternal life is your experience of god.
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You see, many of god's children don't experience
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The god that they have.
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God is a distant stranger to them
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Even though they're in the family.
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And he says why.
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He says, "because if you do not learn
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And operate on this principle of love,"
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He says, "you are abiding in darkness."
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Okay, in 1 john chapter 1, he says, "god is light
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And in him is no darkness at all."
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So god does not exist in darkness.
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In fact, the only definition that the bible gives
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Of god is light unapproachable, okay.
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So, if you think of the sun and what the sun
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Means to the earth, then that's what god is
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To his creation.
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He is light.
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He dwells in unapproachable light.
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There is nothing about god that is dark,
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But the one who does not love, he says, lives in darkness.
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But since god is light and in him
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Is no darkness at all, the christian who does not learn
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The love principle and operate on it
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Is operating in a location where god is not.
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You're operating in a place where he does not operate.
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So if you're praying, but you're praying in darkness,
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You're praying to somebody who's not there,
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Experientially there, if you are crying out
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But you're crying out lovelessly,
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You're crying out in a dark room where god is not operating
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'cause god is light and in him is no darkness at all.
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So one of the reasons so many of god's children
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Are not experiencing the reality of the father
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Is they are operating in a realm
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Where he won't even visit.
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For god is light and in him is no darkness at all,
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But if you do not love, you're operating in darkness,
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But since he is not darkness, he won't go to darkness.
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You're operating in a realm he won't show up in.
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And he says, "not only are you operating,"
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He says, "you're abiding there."
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Abiding is where you hang out.
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Abiding is where you're loitering.
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Abiding is where you're staying.
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So, many christians are living in darkness
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And wonder why they're not hearing
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From the light, 'cause in him there is no darkness at all.
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And he says, "the distinction between light and darkness
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Is a distinction of love, its presence or its absence."
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If god is operating in you, love is gonna come out of you.
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If god is alive in you, love will be coming from you.
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If god is not alive in you, he calls you a murderer.
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Now we'll explain that in a moment.
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But what he says is that this principle is so deep,
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It affects whether you are in or out of fellowship with god.
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So the reality is many christians
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Are living out of fellowship with god
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And don't even know it.
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You know why?
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'cause you can be in the dark so long
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You think dark is normal.
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See, you can be so used to the dark, there's nothing,
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There's no life of god operating.
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And when you in dark, it's a bad place to be,
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To be in the night and think it's the day.
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He goes further.
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What does this love look like?
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Or in fact, before i even go there,
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Let me just take you to 1 john 4,
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Just right across the page.
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Notice what he says, he says in verse 7, "beloved,
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Let us love one another, for love is from god
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And everyone who loves is born of god and knows god,
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For the one who does not love does not know god,
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For god is love."
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He doesn't say you're not born of god,
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He says you don't know god.
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He said in other words you're not experiencing
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God's reality.
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He goes on to say in verse 12, "no one has seen god
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At any time.
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If we love one another, god abides in us
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And his love is perfected in us."
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So he says, "if you love one another,"
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As we're getting ready to explain it to you
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In a moment, god's gonna hang out
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Where you hang out, abide, and when he hangs out
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Where you hang out, you're gonna find love
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You didn't even know was located there.
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Love will be perfected.
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He's gonna develop it in you.
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That's why a lot of couples are so miserable.
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They're so far from god they can't even
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Love the person they're living with.
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And so he goes on in verse 18.
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He says, "there is no fear in love, but perfect love
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Casts out fear because fear involves punishment
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And the one who fears is not perfected in love.
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We love because he first loved us.
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If someone says i love god and hates his brother,
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He's a liar.
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For the one who does not love his brother
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Whom he has seen cannot love god
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Whom he has not seen."
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So he says, "stop telling me you love god
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And you hate your sister or you hate your brother."
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I'm not talking about like.
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I'm not talking about emotional attachment.
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I'm talking about a decision of the will
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To compassionately and righteously
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Seek the well-being of another whether or not
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You have butterflies in your stomach
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Toward them.
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That's why love in the bible is called a law,
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'cause it's a commandment, not an emotion,
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Or it can be an emotion,
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But it's not necessarily an emotion.
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Okay, let's go a little deeper.
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He breaks it down.
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Somebody say, "break it down."
00:14:54.578 --> 00:14:56.614
All right, thank you. i'll be glad to.
00:14:56.614 --> 00:14:59.951
Verse 16, "we know love by this."
00:14:59.951 --> 00:15:04.722
So love is knowable.
00:15:04.722 --> 00:15:07.224
Love is not abstract.
00:15:07.224 --> 00:15:09.126
It's not up in the pie in the sky.
00:15:09.126 --> 00:15:13.130
You know, he says, "this is how we know love."
00:15:13.130 --> 00:15:16.801
This is how we know love.
00:15:16.801 --> 00:15:18.269
"we know love by this, that he laid down his life
00:15:18.269 --> 00:15:23.808
For us and we ought to lay down our lives
00:15:23.808 --> 00:15:26.644
For the brethren."
00:15:26.644 --> 00:15:28.012
He says, "you know love by the laying down of the life."
00:15:28.012 --> 00:15:32.383
Watch this. he's gonna explain.
00:15:32.383 --> 00:15:34.585
Jesus laid down his life for us, died on the cross,
00:15:34.585 --> 00:15:38.456
Demonstrating his love.
00:15:38.456 --> 00:15:40.691
So we know love by its demonstration,
00:15:40.691 --> 00:15:43.794
Not merely its articulation, okay?
00:15:43.794 --> 00:15:47.865
We know love by demonstration, and it involves
00:15:47.865 --> 00:15:51.235
The laying down of the life.
00:15:51.235 --> 00:15:54.338
Oh wait a minute, then how can i love a whole bunch of people
00:15:54.338 --> 00:15:56.207
At a whole bunch of different times
00:15:56.207 --> 00:15:57.541
If i got to die?
00:15:57.541 --> 00:15:59.110
No, he explains what he means.
00:15:59.110 --> 00:16:01.245
He says, "but whoever has the world's goods
00:16:01.245 --> 00:16:06.384
And sees his brother in need, closes his heart against him,
00:16:06.384 --> 00:16:10.788
How does the love of god abide in him?"
00:16:10.788 --> 00:16:14.458
So let's go back a week to our last week sermon.
00:16:14.458 --> 00:16:17.795
You remember the good samaritan? three things.
00:16:17.795 --> 00:16:20.197
He saw a need, he felt the need, and he addressed the need
00:16:20.197 --> 00:16:26.604
To the extent that he was able.
00:16:26.604 --> 00:16:29.006
He saw it, he felt it, and he addressed it.
00:16:29.006 --> 00:16:34.912
That is the action of love.
00:16:34.912 --> 00:16:37.748
Jesus saw a need, we were sinners.
00:16:37.748 --> 00:16:40.351
He felt the need, god so loved the world.
00:16:40.351 --> 00:16:43.421
And so he addressed the need by dying on the cross.
00:16:43.421 --> 00:16:46.290
He uses the three things, same three things in verse 17.
00:16:46.290 --> 00:16:49.460
You see your brother in need, okay, and you have
00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:53.130
This world's goods, you have a substance
00:16:53.130 --> 00:16:55.666
Or some level of ability to address the need,
00:16:55.666 --> 00:16:59.336
And then he says, "but you close your heart."
00:16:59.336 --> 00:17:02.373
Okay, that's feeling the need.
00:17:02.373 --> 00:17:04.508
That's the compassion.
00:17:04.508 --> 00:17:05.843
So here are the three things.
00:17:05.843 --> 00:17:07.311
You see it, you feel it, and you have some capacity
00:17:07.311 --> 00:17:10.581
To address it.
00:17:10.581 --> 00:17:11.982
That's how he defined neighbor in luke 10 last week,
00:17:11.982 --> 00:17:15.352
And that's how he finds meeting the need of your brother
00:17:15.352 --> 00:17:17.888
Here this week.
00:17:17.888 --> 00:17:19.223
So what he is saying today is that love is an issue of action,
00:17:19.223 --> 00:17:26.163
Not merely an issue of words.
00:17:26.163 --> 00:17:29.667
Love has to be demonstrated in order to be declared real.
00:17:29.667 --> 00:17:34.505
And if it is not demonstrated, it's not what god calls love.
00:17:34.505 --> 00:17:39.443
It's some other word, it's like on steroids.
00:17:39.443 --> 00:17:44.915
But it's not love, because he says
00:17:44.915 --> 00:17:46.817
Biblical love is demonstrable, and watch this,
00:17:46.817 --> 00:17:51.322
It's demonstrable by sacrifice.
00:17:51.322 --> 00:17:55.860
You give up something. you give up something.
00:17:55.860 --> 00:17:59.797
If there is no giving up, if there's only the request,
00:17:59.797 --> 00:18:03.467
The demand, but there is no giving up,
00:18:03.467 --> 00:18:06.837
"for god so loved the world that he gave,"
00:18:06.837 --> 00:18:09.673
He said, "now this is love."
00:18:09.673 --> 00:18:11.509
So if you wanna know real love, god wants to define it,
00:18:11.509 --> 00:18:14.645
'cause god is love, chapter 4, verse 8 says.
00:18:14.645 --> 00:18:18.883
So this is the definition you are to use of love,
00:18:18.883 --> 00:18:22.419
And what does it do?
00:18:22.419 --> 00:18:26.590
Love addresses the need of another.
00:18:26.590 --> 00:18:32.429
A need you see, a need you feel, and a need on some level
00:18:32.429 --> 00:18:37.768
You can address, okay?
00:18:37.768 --> 00:18:39.937
Every need you don't see and every need you see
00:18:39.937 --> 00:18:43.908
You don't necessarily feel, and every need you see
00:18:43.908 --> 00:18:47.278
That you feel, you can't necessarily
00:18:47.278 --> 00:18:49.213
Do anything about.
00:18:49.213 --> 00:18:50.881
But when you see it, feel it, and can address it,
00:18:50.881 --> 00:18:55.286
And watch what he says, and close your heart.
00:18:55.286 --> 00:19:02.092
Here's how you know you and god are not on the same page.
00:19:02.092 --> 00:19:06.130
'cause in order to close something,
00:19:06.130 --> 00:19:07.765
It has to be opened.
00:19:07.765 --> 00:19:09.967
So god, through his spirit, we'll see that in a moment,
00:19:09.967 --> 00:19:13.170
Opens up your heart to feel this thing.
00:19:13.170 --> 00:19:16.173
You see it, and you didn't just see it,
00:19:16.173 --> 00:19:17.975
It grabbed you.
00:19:17.975 --> 00:19:19.310
It got your gizzard. it got inside you.
00:19:19.310 --> 00:19:21.679
It grabbed you and wouldn't let you go.
00:19:21.679 --> 00:19:24.648
But you say, "oh no, no, no."
00:19:24.648 --> 00:19:26.684
And you slammed the door, even though
00:19:26.684 --> 00:19:29.453
You could address some or all of the need.
00:19:29.453 --> 00:19:32.156
He says, "you just missed god."
00:19:32.156 --> 00:19:36.493
How does the love of god abide?
00:19:36.493 --> 00:19:38.062
You just, you didn't just say no to that need, you said no to god
00:19:38.062 --> 00:19:41.966
Who had your heart open to the need,
00:19:41.966 --> 00:19:43.634
And you slammed the door.
00:19:43.634 --> 00:19:45.569
See the mere fact you have to slam the door
00:19:45.569 --> 00:19:47.471
Meant god had your heart open to it
00:19:47.471 --> 00:19:49.873
Or you wouldn't have had to slam it.
00:19:49.873 --> 00:19:52.543
He says, "and you closed your heart."
00:19:52.543 --> 00:19:55.012
That is, you resist it.
00:19:55.012 --> 00:20:00.217
The scripture that was quoted earlier,
00:20:00.217 --> 00:20:01.585
James 1:27, "pure and undefiled religion
00:20:01.585 --> 00:20:06.156
In the sight of our god and father is this,
00:20:06.156 --> 00:20:09.059
To visit the orphans and widows in their distress."
00:20:09.059 --> 00:20:13.030
So you're dealing with a distressful situation.
00:20:13.030 --> 00:20:16.033
Or james chapter 2, verses 14 to 16,
00:20:16.033 --> 00:20:18.669
"what use is it my brother, and if someone says
00:20:18.669 --> 00:20:20.671
He has faith but he has no works,
00:20:20.671 --> 00:20:22.406
Can that faith save him?
00:20:22.406 --> 00:20:23.741
If a brother or sister," see it's family,
00:20:23.741 --> 00:20:26.043
"is without clothing and is in need of daily food,
00:20:26.043 --> 00:20:28.812
And one of you says to them, 'go in peace, be warm,
00:20:28.812 --> 00:20:31.115
Be filled,' and yet you do not give him
00:20:31.115 --> 00:20:32.816
What is necessary for the body, what use is that?"
00:20:32.816 --> 00:20:36.053
You don't give him what is needed
00:20:36.053 --> 00:20:38.222
And you obviously have the capacity to
00:20:38.222 --> 00:20:40.224
'cause he says you have this world's goods,
00:20:40.224 --> 00:20:42.793
So there's a capacity there, and you close your heart
00:20:42.793 --> 00:20:46.930
When god had your heart opened.
00:20:46.930 --> 00:20:50.434
He says, "god's love is not with you
00:20:50.434 --> 00:20:53.704
'cause you closed the door on god,"
00:20:53.704 --> 00:20:56.273
And what you don't understand, what i don't want you to miss
00:20:56.273 --> 00:20:59.643
Individually or also miss as a church,
00:20:59.643 --> 00:21:02.413
When you close your heart to that person or people,
00:21:02.413 --> 00:21:08.319
God is the one who's been shut out from you.
00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:13.424
I'm gonna prove that to you in just a moment.
00:21:13.424 --> 00:21:15.826
See, you didn't just miss the person.
00:21:15.826 --> 00:21:18.996
You just let god miss you.
00:21:18.996 --> 00:21:22.066
So a lot of us are operating in the realm of darkness
00:21:22.066 --> 00:21:29.239
Because we talk a good game of loving god,
00:21:29.239 --> 00:21:34.878
But we keep slamming the door when god wants us
00:21:34.878 --> 00:21:37.681
To do something as an expression
00:21:37.681 --> 00:21:40.851
Of his love for us through us to others.
00:21:40.851 --> 00:21:46.957
No, it's more than talk.
00:21:46.957 --> 00:21:48.592
That's why he says in 1 john chapter 3,
00:21:48.592 --> 00:21:51.395
"little children," 'cause it's a family issue.
00:21:51.395 --> 00:21:54.264
"let us not love with word and with tongue,
00:21:54.264 --> 00:21:58.902
But in deed and truth."
00:21:58.902 --> 00:22:01.672
Don't just talk a good game.
00:22:01.672 --> 00:22:04.641
Let's walk a good game.
00:22:04.641 --> 00:22:05.976
Now, now we being a spiritual family.
00:22:05.976 --> 00:22:08.779
Not just a place to come eat every sunday morning,
00:22:08.779 --> 00:22:12.783
But a place who shares food, shares what god brings our way.
00:22:12.783 --> 00:22:19.056
That's love. by this you know love.
00:22:19.056 --> 00:22:21.191
You don't know love
00:22:21.191 --> 00:22:22.526
'cause somebody can say it right.
00:22:22.526 --> 00:22:25.162
You know love 'cause somebody can do it right.
00:22:25.162 --> 00:22:28.532
Act, deed, and truth, not just words.
00:22:28.532 --> 00:22:34.238
Then it comes to the zinger.
00:22:34.238 --> 00:22:35.773
See we haven't hit the zinger yet.
00:22:35.773 --> 00:22:38.208
You've already been zung and we haven't hit the zinger.
00:22:38.208 --> 00:22:43.447
The zinger is how he closes out in verses 19 to 24.
00:22:43.447 --> 00:22:47.418
Let me read it to you.
00:22:47.418 --> 00:22:52.689
"we will know by this that we are of the truth
00:22:52.689 --> 00:22:57.561
And will assure our hearts before him
00:22:57.561 --> 00:23:01.064
In whatever our hearts condemn us,
00:23:01.064 --> 00:23:03.133
For god is greater than our hearts
00:23:03.133 --> 00:23:05.202
And knows all things.
00:23:05.202 --> 00:23:07.137
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,
00:23:07.137 --> 00:23:09.406
We have confidence before god.
00:23:09.406 --> 00:23:11.742
And whatever we ask, we receive from him
00:23:11.742 --> 00:23:14.578
Because we keep his commandments
00:23:14.578 --> 00:23:16.780
And do the things that are pleasing in his sight.
00:23:16.780 --> 00:23:19.616
This is the commandment: that we believe
00:23:19.616 --> 00:23:22.386
In the name of his son jesus christ
00:23:22.386 --> 00:23:25.589
And love one another, just as he commanded us.
00:23:25.589 --> 00:23:28.826
The one who keeps his commandments
00:23:28.826 --> 00:23:30.394
Abides in him and he in him,
00:23:30.394 --> 00:23:34.364
We know by this that he abides in us by the spirit
00:23:34.364 --> 00:23:38.035
Which he has given us."
00:23:38.035 --> 00:23:40.838
Okay, so we got the father, we have the son,
00:23:40.838 --> 00:23:44.274
And now we've been introduced to the holy spirit.
00:23:44.274 --> 00:23:48.412
The holy spirit operates in the realm of the heart.
00:23:48.412 --> 00:23:52.182
He operates in the realm of heart.
00:23:52.182 --> 00:23:53.617
So all through verses 19 to 24, you keep reading the word heart,
00:23:53.617 --> 00:23:57.488
Heart, heart, heart, heart.
00:23:57.488 --> 00:23:59.990
He operates in the realm of the heart,
00:23:59.990 --> 00:24:03.227
That centerpiece of the soul, that place
00:24:03.227 --> 00:24:07.197
Where you feel things and experience things
00:24:07.197 --> 00:24:11.768
Most deeply, and that feeds the rest of you.
00:24:11.768 --> 00:24:15.372
It's in the heart.
00:24:15.372 --> 00:24:17.875
It is in the heart he breeds confidence.
00:24:17.875 --> 00:24:20.744
It is in the heart he demonstrates his reality.
00:24:20.744 --> 00:24:24.281
So here's the deal.
00:24:24.281 --> 00:24:25.616
Here's what he's saying.
00:24:25.616 --> 00:24:27.317
When you love god first, we've already established that,
00:24:27.317 --> 00:24:31.021
And second, love others, needs you see,
00:24:31.021 --> 00:24:34.892
Needs god, opens up your heart to--
00:24:34.892 --> 00:24:37.227
By his spirit and needs that you have the capacity
00:24:37.227 --> 00:24:40.063
To address, so you're responding to god.
00:24:40.063 --> 00:24:43.467
He says now god will abide with you,
00:24:43.467 --> 00:24:48.405
And when god abides with you, in other words,
00:24:48.405 --> 00:24:51.542
You are sensing and experiencing
00:24:51.542 --> 00:24:53.944
A new level of his presence and operation in your life.
00:24:53.944 --> 00:24:58.515
And when he, watch this, abides with you
00:24:58.515 --> 00:25:02.185
Because you are operating the way he has prescribed,
00:25:02.185 --> 00:25:05.556
Loving him and then loving others,
00:25:05.556 --> 00:25:07.858
Based on that criteria, when you do that, he says,
00:25:07.858 --> 00:25:13.430
"whatever we ask we receive from him
00:25:13.430 --> 00:25:17.701
Because we keep his commandment,"
00:25:17.701 --> 00:25:19.670
Which is believe on jesus and love others.
00:25:19.670 --> 00:25:22.706
Oh, do you hear what he just said?
00:25:22.706 --> 00:25:24.908
Now you'll begin to see your prayers answered.
00:25:24.908 --> 00:25:28.145
"oh, you mean to tell me my prayers may not be answered
00:25:28.145 --> 00:25:35.252
Because i'm a loveless christian?
00:25:35.252 --> 00:25:37.754
I'm asking my father to do something for me,
00:25:37.754 --> 00:25:40.891
But my father can't ask me to do something
00:25:40.891 --> 00:25:42.759
For somebody else, but i'm upset with my father
00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:45.662
'cause he hadn't done it for me yet."
00:25:45.662 --> 00:25:47.397
In other words, not loving blocks answered prayer.
00:25:47.397 --> 00:25:52.836
It shuts the spirit down in your heart.
00:25:52.836 --> 00:25:56.039
It shuts him down.
00:25:56.039 --> 00:25:57.975
The spirit has to back off because he's operating
00:25:57.975 --> 00:26:01.111
In a dark world in there.
00:26:01.111 --> 00:26:03.981
He's not comfortable in there.
00:26:03.981 --> 00:26:07.818
If you want to experience, here's the bottom line,
00:26:07.818 --> 00:26:09.987
If you want to experience more of god,
00:26:09.987 --> 00:26:12.956
He's got to see first and second.
00:26:12.956 --> 00:26:16.159
He's got to see you put him first
00:26:16.159 --> 00:26:18.495
In your decision making, and he's got to see that
00:26:18.495 --> 00:26:21.832
You are a vehicle through whom
00:26:21.832 --> 00:26:23.800
When those three things come together legitimately,
00:26:23.800 --> 00:26:26.203
Seeing, compassion, and ability and it's legitimate,
00:26:26.203 --> 00:26:29.373
A legitimate need, then what you've just done
00:26:29.373 --> 00:26:31.475
Is you've opened yourself up to move out of the darkness
00:26:31.475 --> 00:26:34.411
Into the light.
00:26:34.411 --> 00:26:35.746
And into the light is where god does his work.
00:26:35.746 --> 00:26:38.015
And it is the only place he does his work.
00:26:38.015 --> 00:26:40.083
And once you retreat back the darkness,
00:26:40.083 --> 00:26:41.852
He's over there, you're over here,
00:26:41.852 --> 00:26:43.587
Your prayers are not getting there.
00:26:43.587 --> 00:26:47.691
But he says his spirit is working in the heart,
00:26:47.691 --> 00:26:49.559
Ready to do his thing.
00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:51.795
I'm telling you now, with the sermon you heard today,
00:26:51.795 --> 00:26:54.998
That's revelation, okay?
00:26:54.998 --> 00:26:56.800
That's revelation.
00:26:56.800 --> 00:26:58.135
You start practicing this, it's gonna become illumination.
00:26:58.135 --> 00:27:01.772
And when the spirit starts moving,
00:27:01.772 --> 00:27:03.373
He's gonna give you confirmation.
00:27:03.373 --> 00:27:05.976
And he's gonna give you confirmation
00:27:05.976 --> 00:27:07.310
About the compassion that he's been working
00:27:07.310 --> 00:27:09.446
In your heart.
00:27:09.446 --> 00:27:11.148
My challenge to you today is to not be satisfied
00:27:11.148 --> 00:27:16.186
With eating a sermon, but experience god
00:27:16.186 --> 00:27:21.258
By living a sermon, and you live it by love.
00:27:21.258 --> 00:27:21.258

Tony Evans - Practicing Christian Love

August 3, 2025 | 28:40

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