Quiet Power of Love

This is North Way tape number 537. This message was given by Pastor Jay Passavant of North Way Christian Community on Sunday morning, August 31st, 1986. John 15, verse 9. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you, Jesus said. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. Just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. My command is this, love each other as I have loved you. Greater love is no man than this, that one laid on his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants because the servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I've called you friends. For everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit. Fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command, love each other. Amen. Now this week has not all been glorious for me. How many of you participated by fasting at least one day this week? Put your hand up. Okay. That'll never be a fun thing for me to do. There's just something about that that I think God knew wouldn't be a lot of laughs and in my experience this week, I kind of eased into the fast. Have you ever done that? Well, if you've never done that, let me give you some advice. Don't do it that way. I mean, I try to do a three, two, one, zero routine, right? But it didn't work that way for me and my body just did not like this teasing thing. Well, I'll give you a little bit today and it should have just been straight shot. Well, long about Wednesday when things were at the bottom, I was already, I was down at the zero mark and all that, I went out in the fields by the cabin where I go on Wednesdays to be with the Lord and there's all kinds of apple trees out there. One particular tree has some good fruit on it. Profound, right? Apple tree, I see you're catching it. And I was going out to fellowship with the cows out there, which I do on occasion. How many of you know cows come when you call them? Did you know that? I never knew that. That's right. I won't tell you what you have to say, but they do come when you call them. And they were coming, I was going to the apple tree where I often will feed them something. And I got over to that tree and there was this just gorgeous apple. And I reached up, you know, I know I was singing some praise chorus and grabbed this apple and before I could think about what I, you know, was committed to, just the, you know, the impulse in me was I got a hat and I took a bite. And then there was that, that just incredible moment with the apple in my mouth that I hadn't chewed it yet, and I knew I could still spit it out and be holy, right? I couldn't do it. I mean, I just, I just said, God, just I'm sorry, forgive me. I know I'm a, you know, just dirtbag. I can't do it. So I ate the apple. Then I heard the Lord say, who told you to eat of the apple? That was a struggle. But God was faithful through the week and I really believe He spoke to me that very same day about this message this morning. Because what God was showing me was something I was not looking for. I really expected God to say, now you're going to see a new surge in spiritual warfare in the church. And the people are just going to start to, they're going to march in and take their seats. And we're going to be doing warfare like we've never seen. Or I expect the Lord to say, there's going to be just miracle after miracle and, and testimony after testimony of great power and, you know, all the North Hills is going to just begin to flood into your place. And I, all these things. You know what? That's not what the Lord told me. I was waiting before God about all these, these spectacular things. The Lord said, I have purposed to show you my power to love. I've purposed to show you my power to love. A very simple thing. God's given a message that's very clear. He wants to pour out love and the power in you to love in return. I'm here today to say to you church that I believe that God has moved in us in a miraculous way. We are seeing and we'll continue to see God do miracles. I believe that, but it's not going to be our focus. We are seeing and we're going to continue to see manifestations of prophetic ministry and gifts, but that's not going to be our focus. We are seeing God give and continue to give, I believe, revelation in the Word of God. But the Word of God is not going to suddenly be a focus. We have seen God give and I think we're going to continue to see Him give strategy and evangelism, but that's not going to be a focus. The Lord is going to enable us to see love like we've never known. And beloved, I believe God is going to enable love in this place to be the greatest power we've ever seen. The power of God to love is the greatest power in all the world. Do you know the Bible says three little words that will change your life? Love never fails. Love never fails. You say, well, I failed in my marriage and I loved my partner. I loved my job, but I got fired. I loved my kids, but they rebelled. Right? And that's common practice today, common experience. What does the Bible mean? The Greek word for love is familiar, but it's the key to understanding it. Agape. God's love never fails. You see, when we love with the love of God, beloved, it is an irresistible force in the world today. It is so strong that it defeated the powers of hell. And nothing ever will be stronger than the power of hell in our life. The Bible says that God loved so much that He gave His only Son. And in so giving, He defeated the greatest power, the power to hold men in eternal bondage that the world had ever seen. Love never fails. Beloved, today, I was picking up something this week that some of you, and I know many of you quite well, some of you are watching the people be ministered to, and you were saying, well, that's just, I don't relate to that. Or you'd see our brother Friday night calling out a, you know, a healing there or whatever, and you'd say, well, that's great, but I just don't live there. I mean, I, where I live and in my place of work, that just doesn't make any sense. I mean, I can't tell my, my workmate that, since God's healing the back of your thigh or something like that, I'm getting a word, he wouldn't understand that. And I want you to know that the power of God to love is a very real thing. It's a power that changes every circumstance that we're in. How many believe that that same workmate would know when you're really loving them, that when you're pouring out the love of God into their lives. You see, we may think that the power of Jesus is only present when we hear of someone being healed. Or we may think that the voice of God is only speaking when there's a prophetic word. Or we may think that the reality of God's presence is only testified to when there's miracles. But I want to say to you today that there is no greater manifestation of the reality or the power or the voice of God than in the works of love that come from his people. That is why Jesus took up a towel and knelt down and washed the disciples' feet. I don't even know, he could have gone and just laid his hands on them and done some miracle. But he washed their feet. He loved them and he said, what I have done for you, now you do to one another. A new commandment I give you. Love one another as I have loved you. Now I'm here to say to you today, beloved, that's so difficult for me to do. And I had such a time in prayer last night as I was preparing for this. Realizing my failures in love as your pastor to you. And maybe you hear me saying today, well, I know God wants me to love, but you don't know my circumstance, Jay. You don't know how bad it is in my home or how bad I feel or how many times I've been hurt. God today, beloved, is saying the word. I am pouring out my power to love. I am going to give you the power to love like you've never loved before. The power of God to change lives through love. And though it may be sometimes manifested in a miracle or a prophecy or some sort of word of knowledge or some sort of demonstration, listen to me, the greatest miracles are going to happen as expressions of love flow one to another. Do you know why the word of God only gives us a hint of what happened in Jesus' life? Let's think about Jesus. The Bible says at the end of the Gospel of John, if everything that Jesus had done had been written there, all the books in the world couldn't contain it. What does that say to me? Well, it says that he did so much more than was ever recorded, and lots of that, beloved, were those acts of charity, those kind words, those expressions of love that no one even wrote down, but it was changing their hearts. The other day I was leaving the building here, and I passed someone right out there in the front door. This was a lady who'd been in our church a long time. I won't embarrass her by telling you how this affected me. You know, some people get embarrassed when you say nice things about them. And I said, well, how are you? She said, fine. And I said, what are you doing today? She said, I'm waiting, and she named another gal for such and such a… And we're going to get together because she needs from me to listen to her. And so I'm just going to listen to her for a couple of hours. Do you know what that did? I mean, that's a little thing, isn't it? I said, big deal. I mean, how many of you find it's very difficult to listen to someone else, and yet that can be the most therapeutic, that might be the only thing they need to get their life back on track? Do you want to know why so many teenagers are running around today just populating all the malls and the hangouts and all that stuff and making themselves weird lots of times? Because nobody's listening to them. No one at home cares to hear what they have to say. No one in school is listening to them. So they get more and more weird figuring someone's going to listen to me. And this dear saint, I'm going to spend a couple of hours and just listen. She didn't think, I'm going to go and give her some counsel. I'm going to get her really straightened out today. I'm going to come and give her the word of the Lord. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, if God gives you a word. But sometimes it's best to just listen. Little acts of service, little acts of love, the greatest demonstration of the power of God we've ever seen, beloved, will happen if you believe God wants to use you to love somebody. Can you imagine if all hundreds of us today would say, God, make me an instrument of love. Give me an opportunity to love someone today. Why don't we just begin to pour over with the power of God in this place? And love is the very substance of which miracles are made. I was always saying, Lord, how's this going to happen? First thing the Lord directed me to in the Scripture was this. And I don't have an overhead, so if you'd like to remember this, can I please ask you to write these three things down. The power to love that God's pouring out, number one, is conceived in the place of prayer. Say that with me. Conceived in the place of prayer. That's where God births the power to love. Anybody here find relationships where you have the best of intentions and the worst of results? Ever get up one morning and look in the mirror and say, Glory to God, I'm a man of God today. I'm going to go out there and I'm going to love my boss. I'm just going to do everything he asks me to do. And he walks in there and he tells you to go back and correct the last three months accounts that someone else messed up. Everything in you realizes he's just dumping something on you and you just can't love him. Or maybe it's the boss that uses the Lord's name in vain every time you pass because he knows that you don't like him. We just don't look in the mirror and say, well, go get him now. I'm a real man of God. That doesn't work. We don't hype ourselves up to love. It's got to be birthed in the place of prayer. Why did Jesus pray all the time? So he could come out and do miracles? Well, so he could see what the Father was doing, yes. But I believe Jesus found it difficult to love those turkeys we call disciples. I mean, they did things that, well, we'd even get disgusted about. Bickering among themselves and all the rest. He needed to love them and he needed the Father's love. Because you don't generate agape church. You don't hype agape. It comes from the Father. It's got to be drawn out from a relationship that's deep in prayer and the life of the Father. I'm going to use one of my dog illustrations today. As we run over to the park, Morgan and I, there are some little pumps along the way. You know in North Park what I'm talking about? You just walk up and you get a bucket of water. You push down the pump. Well, on the hot summer days, she's learned that after 15 or so miles, she can stop there. Oh. All right. A mile or two. She can stop there and get a drink of water and get refreshed. So she gets out her cup and pushes it in. But we get up to some of those pumps and we'll push down on it and nothing comes out. It's dry down there. Well, what's happened? Well, somehow the pipe down into the source is either clogged or it's not going in deep enough. Beloved, that's exactly what happens to us. When we want to come out and we want love to come out of us, the living water of love, and we push down that handle, I'll tell you, if junk comes out of there or nothing comes out of there, what's wrong? We haven't gone deep enough. Why? Because God is love. You want to love your mate? Then get in touch with the source of love. God is love. Dig down in. Set your roots. Ephesians 3 says to be rooted and grounded in love so that you might be strengthened in the inner man. You want to be able to love? It's conceived in the place of prayer. The Bible is full of scriptures where Jesus tells us that's where it comes from. John 17, verse 26, I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, that I myself may be in them. Love comes from communing with God. That's the source. It's conceived in that place. Paul, in all of his letters, talks about my joy and my love for you as I pray for you. That's what he says. How many of you know you cannot hate someone you pray for? You can't. God changes you toward them. I've seen it happen scores of times. The second thing the Lord showed me was that the power to love is conferred by the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5, verse 22 says that the fruit of the Spirit, the first fruit of the Spirit is, say it, love. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and all. Love is the first one. One of the things that will frustrate you is to somehow think that now, okay, I've come to the place of prayer and I really sense the presence of God and I know my wills. Now, I'm going to go look for somewhere to dump this out on somebody. Ever done that? You're feeling so good when you leave here or your own place of prayer with the Lord and you're just looking for someone to just douse in love. You ever have that happen? And you go and you get ready to douse them and they just get real nasty and they're not interested at all and they tell you, well, God, I thought love wasn't going to fail. Well, beloved, love must be conferred, it must be carried along by the Holy Spirit. Romans 5, verse 5 says, God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. You see, this love has got to be Spirit-born and Spirit-carried as well. And as we're filled with the Holy Spirit, He'll lead us to where that love is to be deposited. He who are sons of God are led of the Spirit of God, Romans 8 tells us. You've got to be led into these expressions of love. God will lead you. You can trust the Spirit of the Lord. You know, it's interesting, when we read in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus said, Tear in Jerusalem until you receive power from on high. What do we usually equate that power with? Power to preach, right? Peter did in Acts 2. Power to say, power to do miracles. I want to suggest to you that power was the power to love. To love, to give to one's best, to give to the best of another. That's why I've often heard the baptism of the Holy Spirit called the baptism of love. Because it gives you an ability to love that you've never had before. I had one of our brothers here. He was here with us this morning. He gets in situations with customers in his business where they'll come and they'll demand this and they'll demand that. And he'll say, you know, a few years ago I just would have laid that guy out, verbally, if not physically. I would have railed him up and down. I would have sent him out and told him to get lost. God's given me a love for him. And I'm able to respond with a soft word. He said, it's amazing how many times when I respond with a soft word, the defense is gone. The Spirit of God gives me love. You know that people get real defensive because they think you're going to jump on them? I was over at Rack's yesterday for lunch. Oh, isn't it nice to have lunch yesterday? The two boys were with me and they wanted to go to McDonald's so they could get their toy. So they were eating their toy at Rack's. We went over to Rack's. And I went in line and there was one person in line. I said, this is ordained of God. God's in this, right? So I walk up to the line and the person in front of me ordered 16 Rack's, four Works Burgers. She was buying for the Ski North work crew that was up for their big sale. This is one of our men that manages that store. And so I'm standing there in line. And the people behind the counter, they look like an ad for another hamburger company. That time they're all going like this and they don't know what to do. I know I waited 15 minutes for her to take my order. And then when I finally... They got my hamburger and I went out and the kids were done eating their toys. And they brought cold French fries out. And this poor guy came out with these cold French fries. And I'd already finished my hamburger and my drink. And I know, and I'll tell you, the old me would have said, you can do those French fries, sir. And he came out and I, the Spirit of the Lord just said, I said, boy, it's been, that was really an extreme case there, wasn't it? He said, no, it was so bad. And I said, yeah, well, that happens every once in a while. I was, I couldn't believe how nice I was being. And he was so responsive. And he said, you know, I really thank you for understanding. So this is awful when this happens. And I couldn't, you know, and boy, the Lord just said, you know, a soft word turns away that. It invites someone to receive from you. The Spirit of the Lord will lead us and the fruit of that Spirit will be love. It's conferred by the Holy Spirit upon us. And number three, the power to love is confirmed through our specific actions. Confirmed through specific acts of love. Whew. Remember I asked you to turn to 1 Peter 4? Your hand's black and blue now, or you can flip, flip over there, would you? 1 Peter 4. Look at it with me. You don't even remember that, do you? 1 Peter 4. Oh, Lord. 1 Peter 4, 7. The end of all things is near. How could Peter write that 2,000 years ago and we not believe it now? Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. I could do a sermon on those two words, clear-minded and self-controlled. But anyhow, pray, and then he says, and above all, you see the link between prayer and then love. Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins. And I think these next four things are expressions of love. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Use your gifts to serve others, ministering God's grace in various forms. Speak as the very words of God. And number four, serve one another as God provides strength. You see, beloved, when you love, it happens tangibly. C.S. Lewis said, quit worrying about whether or not you love your brother and act as if you do, and everything will change. You believe that? Quit worrying about whether or not you love him and act as if you do, and everything will change. You see, we worry about how we feel in order to somehow verify how we're acting. God says, love, and I'll take care of the feelings. I don't know about you, but when I walk into a place where there's lots and lots and lots of people who don't know God and who are really set on serving themselves, let's take an example such as a big ball game. And the guy behind me is loaded. And all the people around you are just making obscene statements and all that stuff. Well, I want you to know that I don't have any real warm feelings. Gee, this is... God, I really love being with you people. Do you feel that way? I have little words that I use to describe those situations. I don't like that at all. But do you know, God... God can give you love when he helps you to see past the charade and the facade, I should say, the facade of these people's... their lostness. And then a little kind act can break into that whole domain and allow you to share the source of your joy and your peace. Love, beloved, is specific. And I believe that love meets real needs. You know when that man came to Peter and John at the gate of the temple and he said, alms for the poor, alms for the poor? Aren't you glad that Peter didn't say, well, yeah, here's two bits and didn't drop a quarter in the cup? But Peter said, silver or gold, I don't have. But that which I have, I give in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. See, real love moves in acts that meet real needs. And I just want to urge all of you today, church, all around this room, all around the congregation as we go up, believe God to move you in real... in the real needs of people. Agape meets the real need. Some of you may call and say, well, you know, I really need someone to go to the store with me, but what they're really saying is, I need to talk. Well, I'd like you to come and just take a look at my house here and help me make some decisions about decorating. But what they're really saying is, you know, nobody really cares about what's happening here and I need someone to care. Love meets real needs. And church, everywhere I look, the power of love is going to multiply. Let me conclude with this today. What I believe the Spirit of the Lord is saying is we have sought to love, but we can never program it. I can't make you love in your home groups. We can't have a love program. We're starting a love program in the middle of September. And if you do these five things, you're just going to have a lovely time loving in your home groups. But I believe the Spirit of God is saying, He is pouring out His power to love. And those who would receive that power today simply need to ask God, saying, God, give me the power to love. Come to the place of prayer. Stand before God. Let the Holy Spirit fill you and lead you, and then do those specific acts. Church, I want to tell you, if we'll do that, if you'll say, take it to yourself, I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it, we'll change the North Hills. We'll change this city. And by God's grace, we'll have part in changing this nation and this world. God is pouring out His power to love. Hallelujah. Let's pray. God, the power to love God. Father, the power to forgive. The power to bless. The power to heal and restore. Oh, sweet Jesus. The power of concern, Lord. The power of care. Thank you that you're pouring out your power to love God right here among us today, Father. Beloved, that power in your life begins when you know that He first loved you. Here in His love, not that we love God, but that He first loved us. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. If you know your love today, if you're loved by God, accepted by Him, I want you to stand with me right now and sing of that love. I am loved. I am loved. I can rest lovingly. Let's sing. I am loved. I am loved. I can rest lovingly. For the one who knows me best loves me most. I am loved. We were loved. Won't you please take my hand We are free to love each other. We are loved. I am loved. I am loved. I can rest lovingly. For the one who knows me best loves me most. I am loved. You are loved. Won't you please take my hand We are free to love each other. We are loved. Let's sing it once more. Let it sink into your heart. I am loved. I am loved. I can rest lovingly. For the one who knows me best loves me most. I am loved. I am loved. Won't you please take my hand We are free to love each other. We are loved. Here's the source of it. Oh, I love you in the love of the Lord. Yes, I love you in the love of the Lord. I can see in you the glory of my King. And I love you in the love of the Lord. Oh, I love you in the love of the Lord. Yes, I love you in the love of the Lord. I can see in you the glory of my King. And I love you in the love of the Lord. And I love you in the love of the Lord. Through command I give you, says Jesus, love each other as I have loved you. Beloved, you will find that an impossible command unless you have first received love. You cannot love without the love of God firm in your hearts to you. I'm excited about what God's doing. But it begins with your response in your life. These can be just so many words that sound sweet and lovely today. Or it can be the beginning of a change in your life this morning. A change to bring love into your life. I believe the Spirit of the Lord is powerfully ministering right now to many of you. I just want you in a moment, right now in fact, let's do this. I want everyone to bow your head in prayer with me. And if you're here today and you've never in your life knowingly and consciously received the love of God in Jesus. And I'm not talking about being a good church member. I'm not talking about the time that you said yes to God in a camp years ago. I'm saying you don't know right now that God is in your life and that His love is stirring in you. But you want that love. You don't want to live empty any longer. You want to know the love of God. And you can receive it right now. Let's all just release hands a moment. I want to see the hands of those that would say, Pastor Jay, I want the love of God in my heart. And I'm not sure that it's there. I want that source of love. Every head bowed, I just want you to lift your hand and let me see it right now. I want to pray with you. Let me see. I need that love in my heart. Yes, sir. Look at me as you raise your hand. I just want to agree with you. Sir, right there. I agree with you. Put your hand up. Yes, right here, sir. Over in this section. I need the love of God. Yes, sir. I see. I'm going to pray with you in just a moment. Who else? Over here. I need the love of God. I want to know deep in me that well of living water. Anyone else?