Love Never Fails
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:8Devotional Series: The Spirit of Truth
Teaching: The Spirit Of Truth pt. 4 (SUN_AM 2021-09-19) by Pastor Star R Scott
Aren’t you glad that God is patient? When we talk about patience, I want to talk about it from a perspective that we know patience has to do with endurance, but we know the other aspect. It also has to do with what? A consistency. The major aspects, of course, are to:
Bear up – patience bears up. It lifts others. We patiently endure and engage ourselves with and become that pruning agent to bring edification to one another and love never fails. “Love never fails.” I don’t fail. I never give up on you. As it comes to loving one another, we never give up. Aren’t you glad?—and I’m not just talking about God’s spiritually, mystically, manifesting His grace to you. Aren’t you glad people didn’t give up on you? How many of you are glad you didn’t give up on someone? This race is not easy to finish. We need to learn to delight in bearing one another’s burdens.
Patience – the fruit of patience endures and is never quick to bring judgment, criticism, separation. The separation can only come when there is no evidence of fruit or the desire to produce more fruit, and then it is the Father that dictates that separation; amen? We don’t get together and vote. “Man, you lost by one vote, so we have to kill you.”
So, as we begin to see this patience for what it really is, this forbearance that the Scripture speaks of, as we’re going through the fruit of the Spirit and referring back into the list in 1 Corinthians 13 of different references to love, because the fruit of the Spirit is love. We see many different aspects to what love is and how it manifests itself, and it manifests itself in these different character traits. When we talk about patience, one of the main aspects of it—listen to me—one of the main aspects of being patient, remaining loving, setting our affection on those folks and never forsaking them is because that’s how God loved us and we ought to love one another.
Now one of the greatest references here to longsuffering is the fact that we stand up under personal affliction. We stand up and, as the fruit of the Spirit is within us, we see that there is a forbearing, a self-restraint under provocation. How many of us are easily provoked? “Man, you are on my last nerve!” Do you know how many nerves there are in your body and you use them up in one day? Think about that. How many times do we forgive? Seven times seventy; amen? This fruit is not just a general reference to us to be patient and waiting for people to grow, it’s when the assault is directly on us. Do you continue to love? Do you pray for your enemies? Do you have anybody in your life that is an enemy today? We’ve had people who have had professed themselves and demonstrated themselves as enemies to us personally and to this church. I have never had a day when I wished them harm or desired anything for them but deliverance from Satan who has taken them captive. Thank God for the fruit of the Spirit; and you pray for your enemies and you do good to them.
I told you what my doctor said not too long ago. He said, “How did that thing ever go with all those protestors?” And I said, “Ah, they’re pretty much gone.” I don’t even know how he got word of this. But anyway, he said, “Yeah, I heard that on one of the hottest days that you all went over and offered them water and some refreshment.” I said, “Yeah.” He said, “That says it all, doesn’t it?” The guy is not a believer. Yes, it does.
Bear up – patience bears up. It lifts others. We patiently endure and engage ourselves with and become that pruning agent to bring edification to one another and love never fails. “Love never fails.” I don’t fail. I never give up on you. As it comes to loving one another, we never give up. Aren’t you glad?—and I’m not just talking about God’s spiritually, mystically, manifesting His grace to you. Aren’t you glad people didn’t give up on you? How many of you are glad you didn’t give up on someone? This race is not easy to finish. We need to learn to delight in bearing one another’s burdens.
Patience – the fruit of patience endures and is never quick to bring judgment, criticism, separation. The separation can only come when there is no evidence of fruit or the desire to produce more fruit, and then it is the Father that dictates that separation; amen? We don’t get together and vote. “Man, you lost by one vote, so we have to kill you.”
So, as we begin to see this patience for what it really is, this forbearance that the Scripture speaks of, as we’re going through the fruit of the Spirit and referring back into the list in 1 Corinthians 13 of different references to love, because the fruit of the Spirit is love. We see many different aspects to what love is and how it manifests itself, and it manifests itself in these different character traits. When we talk about patience, one of the main aspects of it—listen to me—one of the main aspects of being patient, remaining loving, setting our affection on those folks and never forsaking them is because that’s how God loved us and we ought to love one another.
Now one of the greatest references here to longsuffering is the fact that we stand up under personal affliction. We stand up and, as the fruit of the Spirit is within us, we see that there is a forbearing, a self-restraint under provocation. How many of us are easily provoked? “Man, you are on my last nerve!” Do you know how many nerves there are in your body and you use them up in one day? Think about that. How many times do we forgive? Seven times seventy; amen? This fruit is not just a general reference to us to be patient and waiting for people to grow, it’s when the assault is directly on us. Do you continue to love? Do you pray for your enemies? Do you have anybody in your life that is an enemy today? We’ve had people who have had professed themselves and demonstrated themselves as enemies to us personally and to this church. I have never had a day when I wished them harm or desired anything for them but deliverance from Satan who has taken them captive. Thank God for the fruit of the Spirit; and you pray for your enemies and you do good to them.
I told you what my doctor said not too long ago. He said, “How did that thing ever go with all those protestors?” And I said, “Ah, they’re pretty much gone.” I don’t even know how he got word of this. But anyway, he said, “Yeah, I heard that on one of the hottest days that you all went over and offered them water and some refreshment.” I said, “Yeah.” He said, “That says it all, doesn’t it?” The guy is not a believer. Yes, it does.