Good morning, everybody.

So Jeribai already has me crying. So you know how it goes.

I have a few things I just want to do before I get into the word that the Lord has for us today. I want to thank you so much for the love that you showed to my pastors from Greece when they came. They were blessed by their time here and by the love that you extended to them.

And Pastor Paul said, it’s so good to get to meet brothers and sisters. And the family is growing, and it’s a wonderful thing. It meant a lot to Joe and me that they came, that you received them, that they know a little bit more about who we are, where we’re from, and they still want us to come back to Greece, so that’s good.

Even after meeting all you crazy people. But I just wanted to thank you for that, for being a place that receives people as family. Joe and I are getting ready to go back in a little over a week, and I just want you to know, the Spirit of God is moving in that nation.

If you look at it from probabilities, it’s impossible because 98% of the country is Greek Orthodox, and it’s very strong. Those principalities don’t want to give up any territory. But there’s this planting of believers there that have been praying, rehearsing the promises of God, and believing for revival and breakthrough in their nation.

We’re honored to be able to partner with them and to come into this time now, where the spirit is beginning to break out in unexpected ways and in ways that only He can do. You know, I had a Greek friend put it this way. He said, the Greeks pride themselves on knowledge.

And he said, I have all this knowledge about the Bible and Greek words and the original language. But when I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit, all the knowledge couldn’t stand in the face of that. And so that’s what we’re believing for. My husband and I ask you to continue to pray for the nation of Greece, pray for the believers there.

Pray for those that the Lord is drawing, that they have courage and boldness to step out of their traditions and step into life. Because that’s really what it’s about. And we just thank you so much for your continued support of us, for allowing us to go, for sending us, for covering us, for all that you’ve given, your generosity.

We go humbly, and we’re very proud to go from this place. So thank you for all of that. You know, we have a unique perspective, I think, because we’re coming and going, and we’re not here in the day to day. And so we come in with fresh eyes and see what’s happening here.

And it’s beautiful and it’s amazing. And thanks. I think I know I need these, but I hate using them. Okay, you guys know me. Okay. I just want to commend you for your obedience to step into the places that God has called this house. And that is a corporate commendation and for each individual.

Because if each individual does not take their place, the church does not move forward. I want you to know that the changes and the life and the newness are remarkable. We see it very clearly, and it’s exciting to see what’s happening here. It’s exciting to see the new people coming in and taking their place because you belong here; you have a place here.

It’s like you step into a family you’ve always been part of. We’ve always said what unites us is not our past, but our future. It’s where we’re going that brings us into unity. So with that, today, the Lord gave me a word for you. It’s a simple word. It’s not going to be very long.

I want you to understand that if you listen to this word just by hearing what I’m saying, you may say, well, I already know that, I’ve heard these scriptures before, because a lot of us have been very well taught. But I want to implore you today to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying, because there’s something new and deeper that He wants to work in His church.

In the midst of all the happenings, I see growth and people stepping into who they are and going out and doing this and that assignment. And in the middle of all the activity, I hear the Holy Spirit saying, keep the principal thing the principal thing.

That’s what I’m going to speak to you about today. I want to start by reading a few scriptures. I’m going to read quite a few scriptures today. And like I said, it’s not going to go on a long time, but I implore you to receive the voice of the Holy Spirit because there is a key He wants to give us in the places we are going, in the places of multiplication. There are things that we must pay attention to as we move forward together.

In Ephesians 4, I’m going to read verses 1 through 3. This is Paul speaking. He says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you are called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

It is not enough just to be called and to respond to the call. He’s saying there is a way that we must walk that is worthy of the call on our life. And he goes on to explain to us that the way we walk worthily of the great calling we’ve been called to is by walking with lowliness and gentleness, bearing with one another in love, and endeavoring to keep unified—endeavor, like there’s intentional effort into staying unified.

I want to say one thing. This is just a little side note, but I feel it’s important for someone here. Paul says at the beginning, “a prisoner.” I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord. Do you know where Paul was when he was writing this letter? He was in prison in Rome. And what I want you to hear today is that he did not write, “Paul, a prisoner of Rome.”

He said, “Paul, a prisoner of the Lord.” In other words, he is declaring, I may have natural circumstances surrounding me in my life, but those things are not in control of me. I am not a victim to the circumstances around me. I am not a prisoner of Rome. I am a prisoner of the Lord because He holds my life in His hands.

Are you hearing me today? Someone needs to understand that there are things surrounding your life, and it may look like you are in a prison. It may look like the enemy is having his way with you, putting you in a spot you can’t get out of, and he wants you to believe that he has control over you, that he has the final say.

He has put you in a spot where it looks like he’s won. But our declaration is, I am not a victim of the plans of the enemy. My life is in the hands of the Lord, and wherever He puts me, I’m with Him and I’m in Him.

We are supposed to walk worthily by bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. In Colossians 3, I’m not going to read this whole passage, but verses 1 through 14, he talks about how we are supposed to live with each other, the things we’re supposed to do, the things we’re not supposed to do. He says, there are some things that you have to just kill in your life, okay? Fornication, uncleanness, perverse things—you’ve got to just kill those things. Like, don’t play around with them anymore. Don’t like yesterday? No tomorrow. Some things have to be killed. I just want to say this today. Sorry. You know, I’m leaving pretty soon. So you can deal with whatever.

I’ll be gone pretty soon, so it’s okay. But I just want to say, when we come to the Lord, there is a way that we can walk in righteousness before Him. And there are things that have to go. There are things that need to be killed in our lives, which means that He says, you do it, you kill it.

Don’t say, “Jesus, would you kill this in my life?” He’s like, “What are you doing? You kill that thing in your life.” It doesn’t have power over you. You put it to death in your life, in your body. And then he goes on, he says, and there are things that you have to take off. Take off anger, take off malice, take off evil desire.

Let me see. I’m going to read through the list here. Take off blasphemy and filthy language. Don’t lie to each other. He’s saying this is how the people of God live. They don’t go spreading lies among their brothers and sisters and saying things that aren’t true and bringing accusations. That’s the job of the enemy. That’s not the job of the children of Christ.

He’s saying, take off these things. That’s not who you are. Those things do not have control over you any longer. You get to decide. And he says, you can choose to put things on. He says, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.

Do you hear the heart of God speaking to His church? There is a way of living with each other that demonstrates the kingdom and the character and the essence of who God is. He’s saying, don’t live in this way. Don’t say, “I’m a Christian,” and yet still have all these things. He said your life should be a reflection of the life of Christ, and He enables you to do it.

He has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness. He empowers us to live a life with each other, where we can love each other radically, where we can be kind to one another, we can bear with each other. We can, love and bear with each other’s burdens. We can, live a life of tender heartedness with each other.Here’s the transcript with the timestamps and

This, this, these words just kept coming to my mind. Tender hearted, tender hearted. Tender hearted, not guarded from.

I don’t need to put a wall up between you and me. Because we’re the same. We’re the same flesh. We’re the same blood.

He says therefore, this is, Ephesians four verse 12, therefore, as the elect of God, the chosen of God, holy and loved. Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all, these things can be set up.

But above all these things. Above everything else. So he just mentioned all these wonderful things. Above all, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. That means it is the uniting principle of perfection. This church is a church that believes in the life of Christ being made manifest through people on the earth, and that as we walk with the Lord, we become more like him.

Each day we see him and we become we know him and we become transformed as we look like him. Every day we get closer and closer and closer, and we believe that there will be a people who live on the earth, who walk as Christ in perfection.

Maybe some people believe that in here. Okay, we this is the DNA of this house, is that there is an overcoming life on the inside of each one of us, because we have been born again of incorruptible seed by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. And because the life of God is on the inside of me and on the inside of you, as we walk daily being transformed by the renewing of our mind, we become more like Christ until there is a perfect body of Christ standing on the earth, living, walking, breathing, speaking, representation of Christ.

And what Paul is telling us is that the hope of perfection only comes through the uniting principle of love. It does not come any other way. There’s a lot of endeavoring for other things in life. And I’m going to say in Christian life I’m endeavoring to get better, you know, operate in the gifts of the spirit. I’m endeavoring to, see the Lord perform miracles.

I’m endeavoring for this. I’m in. And where there’s all these things that we desire to see, and they’re great things. But are we endeavoring to keep ourselves unified in love? Because without that, there’s nothing else. You need to hear this. Without that, there is nothing else.

We’ll keep going. This word love in the King James. Charity in the Greek. I’ll copy. It means. Well, I’m going to say this. Sometimes this word is portrayed as I can love you through my will, which there are elements of that, but not actually give my heart to you. Like I can just will to love you. I’m going to show you that I love you.

I’m going to do this for you. I’m going to serve you. I’m going to put you before myself. I’m going to do all these things. But my heart has never actually softened toward you. Sometimes that’s how this word is portrayed. And so we have this idea in Christianity of I can do all the right things, but my heart doesn’t actually have to be joined to that person.

And we’ve we’ve accepted that. Now I’m walking in the love of God. But this word means affection. Okay. It means benevolence, kindness, goodwill. It means to be dear one to another. It means to have. Love is one with another. What does that mean? The, The Thayer’s Greek Lexicon says it means love going forth from your soul and coming into mind.This is actually what this word means, that there’s a giving and there’s a receiving and there’s a joining together, and it’s affection. I want you to hear this today because we cannot get caught up in this idea of religious love where I do this and I do that, and I serve you, and secretly on the inside, I resent you.

I don’t like you. I don’t want anything to do with you. I don’t want to be close to you. I don’t want to share my life with you. You’re wasting my time. You’re boring. Come on. All the things. Are we okay today?

How does Christ love you?

He pours out his affection for you. Yes, he serves us. He washes our feet, cleanses us, teaches us, and corrects us. He does all those things. But he is the most tender-hearted, loving, kind, vulnerable God. Soft.

This word of God means to give proof of love.

It’s the same love of God to mankind. And I want you to hear this. The love of God to Christ. How do God the Father and God the Son love each other? That is the love that he says we are supposed to have one for another.

It’s a love that will undergo trouble for the sake of someone else, and it’s love that embraces the truth. In Luke 10, we see that a lawyer comes to the Lord and says, “What do I need to do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus says, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” The lawyer replies, “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus says to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” Then the lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbor?” And Jesus goes into the story of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate what love actually looks like.

But I want to focus on something in this account, because this is another place that gets twisted, and people get caught up in bondage. Jesus says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. There’s a teaching that has come into the church that says you have to love yourself before you can love someone else. You guys heard this? Yes. And so we have all of these people who are dealing with self-love. They think, “I have to fix this. I have to make sure that I love myself. I have to learn how to love myself. I can’t love anyone else until I love myself.” And it becomes this isolated little prison that keeps people trapped inside. But I want to propose to you that this is not what Jesus is saying here. There is no Scripture that tells you to love yourself. Jesus is saying here, love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

I love you because you are the same as me. We share the same life. We share the same DNA. You are not separate from me. This is how he’s saying to love. There is no Scripture that will tell you to love yourself. We are designed to give love to others, and we are designed to receive love.

And I’m here to tell somebody today who is sitting in the prison of trying to make themselves love themselves, saying, “I have to fix me before I can love anyone else.” That is not what you are designed for. Your job is to say, “I receive the love of God in my life. I may not think that I’m worth anything, but there’s someone who does.” Receive his love, and be willing to receive the love of the body of Christ. And guess what? You may not feel like you’re worth anything, but be willing to give love because the God who lives inside of you has shed his love abroad in your heart and enabled you to love people beyond what is natural. God is teaching us what it really means to love one another.

For this house and for anyone else that’s here, God will speak to you about how this applies. But he gave me a word for this place. In all of the happenings and all of the seeming separations—this person is over here, and that person is over there, and this ministry is happening, and that ministry is happening. “Oh, we’re going to Alaska, we’re going to Greece, and we’re going wherever.” In the middle of all of that, he’s saying, don’t forget to love one another.

Don’t forget that it’s the uniting principle that will bring you to the image of Christ, who is perfection.

I hope you are hearing the Spirit of God today. I don’t want to go too much longer, but I want to remind us.

First Corinthians 13 says we can do a lot of good things—prophesying, miracles happening, great preaching, great evangelizing, all these great things. But if I forget this, he says it’s all nothing. We need to hear this today. We are doing wonderful things for the kingdom of God. But God’s Word, and he does not lie—this is not my word, this is his word—says, don’t get caught up in all those things and forget that the main thing is that we love deeply, with affection, tender-heartedly. Love going out from my soul into yours, and from yours into mine. He speaks to the church in Ephesus in the Book of Revelation. He says, “You’ve done this really well. You did this really well.”

But you forgot love.

Word of Life Fellowship, we are doing so many wonderful things that are fulfillment of prophetic word. And the Lord is here just to remind us. We learn from what we read in the Bible. It’s not enough to have wonderful worship. It’s not enough to have great evangelistic testimonies. It’s not enough to have great teaching in the School of Ministry. He says, will you remember to always keep love as the central thing of everything else?

He says, you’ve left your first love, which is not just us and the Lord. You know who wrote the book of Revelation? John, who said, you cannot love God unless you love people.

Your first love. My first love. It is Jesus. But it has to be with the people of Jesus also. When we are out and we are giving the gospel and we’re evangelizing, we are not just evangelizing people to the person of Jesus; we must be giving them the good news of the love of the body. Are you guys hearing me?

We’re not just calling them to a one-person relationship; we are calling them to the family of God.

A place where you belong. A place where you’re known. A place where you can contribute and receive. Because that is the true gospel.

I pray that the Holy Spirit speaks to each heart and mind today and begins to open up for us a new well of understanding about what it means to actually love one another. Because in the days that we are coming into, it must be the defining mark on the church of God. Jesus said, this is how they will know that you are my disciples—not because you can preach well, or you have great worship, or you have great classes, or you baptized 50 people this week. The defining mark of my disciples is that they will love one another without measure.

Pouring themselves out for the sake of one another.

We are going to receive communion today together.

And there are some things—I know this is for some people here and for some people that are watching online—there are things that we have to let go of. There are things we have to forgive. We have to let go of them. We have to lay them down so that we can really be unified. And guess what? I know there are difficult things. There are things we don’t understand. “Why would they do this? Why do they do that? Why are they like that?” But the Spirit says to endeavor to put intentional effort into staying unified. This is how we walk worthy of the calling on each of our lives. So I want to invite the teams up that are going to be administering the communion.

I think we’re going to have teams around the building. The way we do this is you can gather together wherever you want. We want this to be an intimate time.

But let the Holy Spirit speak. There’s somewhere—I know I did not articulate it all the way today—but he can speak to you, spirit to spirit.

As Pastor mentioned, we are coming into a time this week when we are asking the Lord to speak to us. And today we have an opportunity to prepare ourselves individually and corporately, to clear anything out that may hinder us from hearing clearly.

So go ahead and stand, and go wherever you would like. Your group leaders will lead you in taking communion together.