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God first Loved Us
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The reason we can grow in love is that God first loved us.
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You are right now loved with an everlasting love and the more you believe that, the more
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you will be able to grow in love.
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Welcome to Open the Bible.
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With Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick.
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I’m glad you could be with us today.
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Colin, what an encouraging idea to be thinking about today.
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The love of God for us.
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Yeah, that’s right.
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I mean, no one can pour something out unless that is first poured in and our ability to
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love other people, especially when that is hard, comes from receiving the love that the
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Lord Jesus Christ pours out into us.
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What a marvellous thing this is.
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You know, the ability to forgive someone who has hurt you comes from the knowledge that
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you yourself have been forgiven from your own sins towards God.
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The reason for being patient with another person is because you have a profound knowledge
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of God’s patience in regards to you.
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So we love because he has first loved us and it’s because his love continues to flow into
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our lives, or rather, as it flows into our lives, that it’s able to flow from us as well.
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So today we’re looking at the first book of Corinthians, chapter 13, as we continue our
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message, Love is our Greatest Need.
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Here’s Colin.
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Love will produce the good fruit of patience and of kindness in you, they are the fruits
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of growing in love.
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And then there’s more because that’s just the beginning.
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Look at what he says, love does not envy.
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Now again, try and get this settled in your mind.
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This is not saying, oh, if you’re going to grow in love, well, you have to get rid of
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all envy.
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No, it’s the other way around.
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It’s saying if you grow in love, you will be delivered from the destructive power of
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envy.
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And this is really good news because somewhere in your life, you’re going to experience someone
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being given something that you feel should have been given to you.
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You’ll feel that someone else was shown favor that should have been shown to you, and that
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they did not deserve what they received.
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But what we’re learning here is that when that happens, it’s love that will deliver.
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It will deliver you from the self-destructive power of envy.
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And, therefore, the more you grow in love, the more content you’re going to become.
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Love in other words is God’s antidote to envy.
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Love will release you from the self-destructive power of bearing a grudge.
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It will enable you to rejoice when God gives something to someone else something that he
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did not give to you.
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The more you love, the more content you will be.
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And then the apostle goes further.
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He says love does not boast, it is not arrogant.
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And, here, of course, love is dealing with the opposite temptation.
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Elegy focuses on what my neighbour has, and I do not.
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Pride, of course, focuses on what I have, or what I have done, and my neighbour has not.
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Pride wants other people to see who I am and what I have done.
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And love is God’s antidote to pride.
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Love does not boast.
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It is not arrogant.
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Love is going to produce the good fruit of humility in your life.
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The more you love, the more humble you will be.
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Notice what Paul says next.
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Love is not rude.
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It does not insist on its own way.
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It’s interesting looking at different ways in which this phrase rude is translated in
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other versions of the Bible.
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The most literal translation is that love does not act unbecomingly.
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Old King James version of the Bible says love does not behave itself unseemly.
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Another way that we might say that is love does not behave inappropriately.
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One writer catches the meaning of this very important phrase well when he says,
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that love considers the fitness and the propriety of things.
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It is careful of what would touch painful feelings.
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It is attentive to the courtesies of life.
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Now the point here is that it’s very easy to get so taken up with yourself and your
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own world and what you are trying to get across in what you are saying or whatever that you
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speak in a way that is insensitive and that causes hurt or offense to another person.
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But you didn’t intend to do that, it is just that you didn’t think.
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You were so taken up with yourself that you didn’t think about how your words would actually
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affect another person, how your words would land on them.
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This verse is telling us that love is God’s antidote to putting your foot in it.
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We all know the person who is like a bull in a china shop.
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And no one wants to be like that person, unaware of him or herself, unaware of his or her own
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impact on other people.
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And what we are learning here – and it’s very important – is that love will equip
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you to be able to discern how to come across, what to say, how to say it and when to say
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it.
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Another way that we might say this today is love will help you to grow in emotional intelligence.
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It will equip you for sustaining healthy relationships.
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That’s what’s being meant by this remarkable phrase in this statement by the Apostle Paul.
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Growing in love will enable you to behave and speak appropriately.
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You will learn tact.
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You will have greater self awareness.
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The reason that you will grow in these things is that you are more aware of the needs of
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others and you’re less taken up with yourself.
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Then Paul goes even further and he tells us that love is not irritable or resentful.
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Or again as the Old King James translates it, it is not easily provoked and it thinks
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no evil.
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That is a literal translation of the phrase is not resentful.
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Love does not reckon evil, it thinks no evil.
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Now, when you’re provoked it is very easy and natural to think the worst of the person
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who provoked you.
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A suspicious heart always assumes the worst, he said that to hurt me.
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But a loving heart thinks the best, a loving heart puts the best possible construction
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on difficult things that happen in life.
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Love will say you know what, that was really hurtful but I don’t think it was
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malice, it may just have been that it was thoughtless you see. That’s putting
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the best construction rather than the worst construction, thinking the best
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rather than thinking the worst. Love is God’s antidote to a suspicious heart it
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will deliver you from feeling that people are conspiring against you. Love
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really will equip you for life, it will do all of these things. It is God’s
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remarkable gift, the antidote to the suspicious heart and then notice what He
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says next. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.
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Now, we’ve just seen from what Paul said that love will always make the most
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generous judgment possible. It will always put the best possible construction
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on things but that does not mean that love is blind. Love can tell the
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difference between what is wrong and what is right or true and you see that
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in Philippians chapter 1 in verses 9 and 10 where Paul is praying that the
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Philippians will grow in love. This is one of his great prayers repeated again
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and again in the New Testament. He says there,
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it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge
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and discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and
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blameless for the day of Christ. See as you grow in love, this is one of the
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wonderful fruits that will develop in your life. The more you love, the more you
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will be able to discern. The more you will be able to tell what is good and
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true, and you’ll be drawn to it. And you’ll find joy in it. Grow in love, and
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you will grow in discernment. And as if that was not enough, Paul then says
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in verse 7, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
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endures all things. Grow in love, and you will be able to bear the burdens that
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you carry. Grow in love, and you will be able to form relationships of trust. Grow
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in love and you will always have a lively hope no matter how dark the
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circumstances that you may face. Grow in love, and you will always be able to
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endure however hard things become. Love will equip you for life. Grow in love, and
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you will have more patience and kindness. Grow in love, and you will be delivered
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from the power of envy. Grow in love, and you will grow in humility. Grow in love,
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and you will develop emotional intelligence. Grow in love, and you’ll
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put the best construction on the words and actions of others. Row in love and
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you will grow in discernment. Do you see this is the most amazing gift. It is the
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gift of supreme value. So the apostle is saying to us, seek to grow in love.
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You’re listening to open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And our message
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called, love is our greatest need. It’s part of our series, growing in faith
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hope and love, and if you ever miss one of the series, you can always catch up or
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go back and listen again online, come to our website, openthebible.org.uk
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There you can download or listen again to any of the messages that
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have already gone out on air. Open the Bible is supported entirely by our
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listeners, so thank you for giving to and supporting the ministry. If that’s
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something you haven’t done before, but you’re thinking about doing it, we have a
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brilliant offer for you this month. I’ll be talking to Colin more about it later
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on, and so I hope you’ll stay with us to the end of the program. Back to the
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message now, here’s Colin. Philip Rykin makes the point, I think very helpfully,
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that if you want to see how much you need to grow in love, then all you need
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to do is to put your name in the place of love in verses four through seven.
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I’ve done that and it’s really challenging. So you put your name in as
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I read it with mine.
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Colin is patient and kind. Colin does not envy or boast.
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He’s not arrogant, not rude. He doesn’t insist on his own way.
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He’s not irritable or resentful. He doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing but
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rejoices in the truth. Colin bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
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things, endures all things. You try doing it and, like me, you will find yourself
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saying, I have such a long way to go. But here’s the good news. This may not be a
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description of the love that right now you have but it is a marvelous
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description of the love that right now you receive. Put the name of the Lord
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Jesus Christ into these verses and you have a perfect portrait of our wonderful
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Savior. Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus does not envy or boast. Jesus is not
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arrogant or rude. He does not insist on his own way. He’s not irritable. He’s not
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resentful. He does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
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Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
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things. Jesus never fails. Friends, this is the love with which we are loved. God’s
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love surrounds you in Jesus Christ, and this is the love that is poured out
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into our hearts by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
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The reason we can grow in love is that God first loved us. You are right now
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loved with an everlasting love, and the more you believe that, the more you will
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be able to grow in love too. Now next week,
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God willing, we’re going to look at the how. How can we grow in love? But the why
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always has to come before the how. Who’s interested in the how unless we’ve been
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persuaded by the why. That’s why we’ve taken these two weeks in First
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Corinthians and chapter 13. That’s all about why we should pursue this
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marvelous gift of love. And I want in these last moments then to point to the
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third reason that Paul gives us in this chapter and it’s in the later verses
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and runs right through them but I will just focus on the last verse of this
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wonderful chapter where he points out that love will endure forever. So now
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faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love. When
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believers are filled with faith, hope and love they shine like lights in the
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world. When the world is marked by increasing fear, people who have a strong
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faith are going to just shine like lights. When the world is marked by
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increasing exasperation and despair, all people who have living hope are just
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going to shine like lights. When the world is marked by increasing anger and
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hostility, well people who are growing in love are
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are just going to shine like lights. And that is why I am
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absolutely convinced that the greatest need of the church today is a fresh
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outpouring, a growing in faith, hope and love. Everyone wants to be loved.
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Everyone wants to have hope. Everyone wants to have something or someone to
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believe in. Everyone is looking for faith, hope
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and love. That’s the reality. And we have found these in our Lord and Savior
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Jesus Christ. Now Paul says that faith, hope and love remain. That’s why these
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are the things to go after. They’re the things of enduring value. Everything else
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away. But these gifts have lasting value. Lord let me grow in faith, hope and love
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all the days of my life. But then notice that Paul says the greatest of these is
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love. Why is love the greatest? Two reasons. First, that God himself is love.
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Bishop Riles says it like this. God has no need of faith because he is dependent
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on no one. God has no need of hope because to him all things are certain, past, present
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and future. But God is love and the more his people grow in love, the more like their Father
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in heaven they become. Then there’s a second reason why love is
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love is the greatest. And that is that faith and hope are gifts for a time but love will
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endure forever. One day, your faith is going to give way
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to sight. You won’t need faith when you see the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. What
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a day that’s going to be. You’ve loved him, trusted him.
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All these years. And when you see him, you no longer need
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to trust him, you see him. Your faith is turned to sight and you’re in
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the joy of his immediately presence and that will be
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your blessing forever and forever. And one day, your hope will
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be completely realised. As long as we’re here in this world
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we’re always looking forward. Hope says one day, one day
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one day, the Earth will be filled with the glory of God as
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the waters cover the sea. One day, all wars will cease.
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One day, there’s going to be a new heaven and a new Earth.
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And one day, God will wipe away all tears from our eyes.
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You live with this hope. This confidence in all that
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God has promised. But a time will come when instead
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of seeing one day, you’re going to see today because
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you’ve entered into it. And when you enter into that
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eternal day, all your faith will be vindicated, all your
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hope will be wonderfully realized. But your love,
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which is made perfect, will endure forever.
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What an encouraging and challenging look that was at
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One Corinthians Chapter thirteen. You’ve been
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listening to The Open Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a
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message called love is our greatest need. It’s part of the
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series, Growing in Faith, Hope, and Love. And if you ever
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miss one of the series or if you want to go back and listen
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again, you can do that by coming online to our website
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openthebible.org.uk. You can also find Colin’s
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as a podcast, and those are available on all the major
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podcast sites, search for Open the Bible UK, and subscribe to
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receive regular Updates. Also on our website and available as
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a podcast, you can find open the Bible daily, and that’s a
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series of short two to three-minute daily reflections
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based on Pastor Colin’s teaching and read in the U.K. by
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Sue MacLeish. At Open the Bible, we welcome contact with
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our listeners. If you’ve been blessed by Pastor Colin Smith’s
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teaching, and you’d like to reach out to us, there are
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several ways you can do that. You can write to us at Open the
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Bible PO Box 1420 Cheltenham GL 50 9PG
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or you can phone us on 0330-335-8089
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if we’re not available when you call, leave a message for us and we’ll return your call
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and you can find all those contact details on
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our website openthebible.org.uk
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If you’re a regular listener to Open the Bible, you’ll know that we’re supported financially
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by many of our listeners, if you’ve thought about helping the ministry in that
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way but you haven’t yet done it, why not start this month? If you’re able to set
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up a new direct debit of £5 per month or more, or give a one-off
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gift of £50 or more, we’d love to say thank you by sending you a copy of
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Gerry Bridge’s book, Respectable Sins. Colin who is this book for?
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Well this is a really helpful and practical book for any Christian believer, no matter how long you
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have been following the Lord Jesus Christ! As Christians we all recognise
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that we’re sinners, we all confess that in general but what would you say if you
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were asked what are three sins that you need to be fighting against more
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strongly in your life? As Christians we’re committed to living good lives,
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we’re not going to be murdering, we’re committed to be loyal and faithful to
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our spouse, we’re not going to be robbing a bank but the point of course is that
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there are more subtle sins alongside these obvious ones that may actually
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lurk in our hearts, sins like pride, sins like discontent, judgmentalism and what
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this book does so helpfully is it identifies the respectable sins, the
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ones that might just be accommodated in our lives and alerts us to how we need
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to engage in battle against them.
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So this book Respectable Sins by Jerry
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Bridges is our gift to you if you’re able to support the work of Open the
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Bible by setting up a direct debit in the amount of five pounds per month or
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or a one-off gift of 50 pounds or more this month.
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For Pastor Colin Smith and Open the Bible, I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll be able to join us again next time.
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Let’s assume that you’ve come to a place where you’re saying, I want to grow in
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love, how is that possible? Find out next time on Open the Bible.
