Relationship Success | Hope Carpenter

Hello everybody. I am so glad that you decided to tune in with us. Wherever you're watching from, I just want to say thank you so much. We're in a different setting, we don't have all the people behind us or the music playing. But you know what, anytime that we dive in to God's word, it's special, it is unique, it's alive, it's living, it's powerful, it's sharper than a two edged sword and it does work in our life. And you know, the message that I wanted to bring to you today, tonight, wherever you are, all across the world, is not a shouting, screaming, piano and organ behind you kind of message. This is Bible 101, where the rubber meets the road. You know, if we get this message, if we get this principle, what I am bringing to you today, I promise you your life, your relationships, everything in your life will be changed, it'll be revolutionized. But here's the thing, it's one of the hardest truths to grasp because it's practical, it's everyday living. I'm talking about relationships, I'm talking about how we treat one another. And what does the word of God say about that? You know, it's not, we're not supposed to operate and live in this world and treat people how we feel, how we think, you know, if we've been offended or even if they deserve good treatment. God's word is specific about how we are supposed to treat people. And we're going to talk about that today. So you better buckle up, get some padding on your rear end. Because every time God talks to me about this, he pretty much spanks me. But if we could just work so hard to get this principle down in our life, I promise you, not just it won't just change your life, it'll change everybody's life around you. You'll get people saved, you know, and we'll talk about that later. We're going to talk about what the Bible says, not what we think, not what we feel, not what they deserve. Wow, that's powerful. See, we want to treat people how they deserve, how they've treated us. If they've been ugly to us, we want to withhold. If they've been rude to us, we want to be rude back. You know, that's just a natural carnal instinct, is to treat people how they treat us. But God's word is completely opposite. It's completely opposite. We treat them how Christ treats us, says to treat them. He is our great example. He shows us how to Live. And Jesus has example after example after example all through the word of God on how to treat people. And it's usually the complete opposite of how you think you're supposed to react. We treat people how Jesus says to treat them, right? Not all the time, but that is our goal. So John 13:35 says this. This is the scripture. Write it down. John 13:35. By this, by what hope? By this. Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. By this, how you treat people. By this. Everyone, the sinner, the saint, your family members, people who don't even know you, people who see you out and about. By this, they will know that you really are who you say you are. By how you treat other people. Not by how much you tithe, not by how well you sing, not by your church attendance. None of those things. Not how you shout. None of that stuff. Lets the world know, lets everybody know that Jesus lives on the inside of us. The only way, the only witness that we have to let people know that we really are full of Jesus, that He has occupied every space in our heart. It's how we treat people. Man, that's tough, isn't it? That's not easy. That's. I didn't say it was easy. Jesus even never said it was easy, but it is still his commandment. It's called being a Christian. It's called being a disciple, a follower of Jesus. It's three words sums it up. This is what Being a follower of Jesus. And this proves that the love of God is overflowing in your life. And it's three words. That you're selfless, that you're sacrificial, and that you love unconditionally. That you're selfless, that you're sacrificial and that you love. See, most of us, we just get it all wrong and we get it backwards. We want it to be about us. How is this going to benefit us? Right? No, I want this not. Rather than being willing to sacrifice. And you say hope. Where did you get those three things? By Jesus, by his example on the cross. He was selfless, he was sacrificial, and he loved us unconditionally. He, before he even knew us, before we ever had a chance to be saved or be good enough. And you know, we can never be good enough. Jesus Christ died for us. That is his love for us. And then he says, he turns around and he gives us this big mandate. He says, just like I've loved you, now you love others. Just like I've loved you. So how did he love us? He was selfless, he was sacrificial, and he loved us unconditionally. Wow. Wow. Listen, if we would work on this, we would have no time to work on anything else. It's how we treat one another. Selfless love is this. It totally removes you out of the equation. Wow. Think about that. Selfless love totally and completely removes us out of the equation. You don't go into anything wondering what you will get out of it. Selfless love, removing you out of the equation. It's sacrificial. What does that mean? Oh, this one's hard. It requires something from us and it's usually requiring suffering. We don't want to suffer. We don't want to have to go through anything. We don't want to have to give up anything. We don't want to have to give up our right to be right. We don't want to give up our right to be right. But sacrificial love requires you a type of suffering. It'll cost you something. It will inconvenience you. I know the things that my husband likes and sometimes it inconveniences me to get up and do those things, but I do them because I love him. It proves my love. Oh, you need to get on the phone right now. You need to grab your phone. You need to text everybody you know. You need to text the people who are struggling in their marriage and say, you need to get on Facebook right now. You need to get this message right now. This will help you. It's sacrificial. It will inconvenience you. It requires something of you, and it's unconditional. It does not. Put one condition on the love. I'm going to treat you good, but you've got to do X, Y, Z. No, none of those conditions. I'm going to treat you like Christ says treat you. Because I'm full of the love of Jesus, because Jesus lives on the inside of me. I don't require anything of you. Just like he didn't require anything of us before he got on that cross and he died for us. He loved us that much. Then he says, now you treat others like this. It's not about how people perform. It's not how they act. It's not if they treat you well. It's unconditional. I know it's tough. I know it's tough. I'll love you, honey, as long as you keep a job. I'll love you as long as you don't cheat on me. I'll love you as long as you don't lay in the bed all day. I'll love you and I'll treat you right. As long as you got up and helped me with the kids last night. Ooh, this is hitting home, right? It is hitting home, but God's agape love is completely different. That's why it's sacrificial, because it's how we treat people regardless of how they perform. It's tough. Listen, I heard this years ago from Brother Copeland, and this was his definition of God's love of unconditional love. It's the love of the higher reaching down to the lower. Me and you, but elevating the lower above the higher. He was a perfect man. He had no sin. He should not have been crucified. He should not have been on that cross paying for the penalty of mine and your sin. But he loved us so much that he said, I am willing to sacrifice. I am willing to be selfless because I love them so much. And then he tells us, okay, now Hope, now Peter, now Susie, now Ashley, Now Jody. Now Ron. Now all of you, up now. This is how you treat people. The love of the higher reaching down to the lower and elevating the lower above the higher. Jesus is our great example, and he showed us how to treat people. He showed us how to do it. It's hard. I know it is, guys, but I'm telling you, relationships are going south everywhere. Relationships is what we have in this world. We have our family, we have our spouse, we have our children, we have our co workers. There's relationships everywhere entangled in our lives. And if we cannot get our relationships right, we are no example that we have Jesus living on the inside of us. It's not easy. The world is watching. I really believe if we operated like this in our relationships, we would have to bust out our windows. We would have to expand our walls because we would not be able to house the people who are running to Jesus. They say, man, man, if that's the kind of God you serve and you can love like this, and you can have relationships like this, I want that. But see, the world doesn't want what we have because they don't see us acting and responding any differently than they do. They're going down the road, somebody cuts them off, they flip up the finger. They're in the car with a Christian who goes to church, who's on staff, goes down the road, that person might flip up the finger, or they may scream, get out of the Way they us acting no different. What did you really get when you got salvation? How are you different? What are you saved from? When we say we're saved, we're saved from something. We should be saved from how we used to live. Man, I want the love of Jesus to flow through me like this. I want to treat people like this. Now he says, just as I've loved you while you were mean, while you were a sinner, while you were breaking my heart, turn around and love others like this. And this is the only proof. The only proof is that what that scripture says, that people can tell that you are my disciples. It's the only proof, the only way. You can't say that you love God and you hate your brother. You can't say that if you love God. That that is what the whole Christian principle is. It's relationship. You know, we're not in a religion, we're in a relationship with Jesus. We're in a relationship with people. And he says, you cannot say you love me and not love the people that I died for. Man, this is tough. I know it is First Corinthians 13, you've probably all heard it. If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Have you ever heard that? A resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and stand up in church and be able to just prophesy to people, fathom all mysteries, have all this wisdom and knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but I do not have love. I am nothing. If I give all my possessions to the poor, give my body over to hardship, that I may boast, but I do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Now think about your relationships, the people you say you love. Are you patient? Love is patient. Love is kind. Are you kind to your wife? Are you kind to your husband? It does not envy. It does not boast. It's not proud. It does not dishonor other people. It is not self seeking. No, it's selfless. Remember, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrong. When you're in your next argument, you can't bring up the last thing. Because Jesus says, when you're forgiven and we have to forgive, it's not an option that it's gone. It's in the sea of forgetfulness, keeps no records of wrong. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It always Protects. It always trusts. You can't be saying, well, where were you? It always hopes. It always perseveres. Love like this, it never fails. Your relationships can't fail when you live like this, when you have a love like this. There's this old Adam Sandler movie called the Wedding Singer. I don't know if you've ever seen it. I'm not a big TV person, but I watch movies from time to time. And there's this movie called the Wedding Singer. And the girl in the movie is about to marry this guy Glenn, who is just cocky and selfish and, you know, just does not love like Jesus loves whatsoever. But in the meantime, she is falling in love with Adam Sandler because he's completely opposite. He is selfless. He loves her. It's evident. It's tangible. Well, she is on the airplane with Glen, the one she's supposed to marry, and she's never been to the city. Well, he's been 100 times. But he wants the window seat. Okay, she's asking, can you just switch with me so that I can see the lights of the city when we're flying in? And he says to her, he says, no, I just hate the aisle seat. I don't like the aisle seat. So I want to sit right here in the window seat. And her face just. You could see it. She just turned and she was just like, wow. And so that proved to her that was the last straw for her that she says, he really doesn't love me, and he is not the person for me. See, if you really love, if you really love, you'll give the person the window seat, even if you hate the aisle seat. It's selfless. Selfless. It's sacrificial. It's getting on the cross and dying to the things that you want. It's giving up the window seat, right? It's going to eat Mexican when you hate Mexican, but you know, they love Mexican. It's going shopping when you hate to shop, but she just wants to go shopping today. It's going to Lowe's, ladies, when you just hate to go to Lowe's, but he wants to go to Lowe's today, but you. You're sacrificing because you love them so much. It's when she wanted gray carpet, but you wanted brown carpet, but you love so much that you sacrificed. And then you'll say, well, how is that fair, Pastor Hope? How is that fair? If I'm continually sacrificing, if I'm continually giving, I'm continually not getting My way. How is that fair? How do I ever get what I want? Galatians 6, 7 says this. Do not be deceived. Why did he say that? Why did he say, do not be deceived? Because that's the first thought that comes to your mind when it comes to being sacrificial. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soeth that will he reap. Whatsoever you sow. If you sow sacrifice, you're going to reap it. If you sow love, you're going to reap it. If you sow forgiveness, you're going to reap it. If you sow kindness, you're going to reap it. If you sow being courteous, you're going to reap courtesy. If you sow mercy, you're going to reap mercy. Don't be deceived in thinking that things are twisted. Don't get it twisted. Basically, let's put it in 2020 language. Don't get it twisted. God says, whatsoever you sow, you will reap. If you live a life like this and you sow into someone else's field and you give them these things, you are going to reap that back in your life. That is what you will reap. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, I did not say this was easy. I know. I'm sitting here spouting it off like. Like it's easy. I have not attained this. No, my flesh fights me every single day. But it is a requirement of being called a Christian and being called a son and a daughter of the most high. It's selfless. It's sacrificial, it's unconditional. There are no conditions put on this. Listen, if you want your relationships to flourish, if you want your life to speak to the people who are watching us, we have got to shore up how we treat people. We have got to shore up our relationships. You say, but they're so hard to love. Oh, man, I bet you there's many of us that's so hard to love. We weren't easy to love. We were sinners while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. This is our example. While they're still mean, while they're still selfish, while they're still ugly to you. This is how we're told to treat people. And he says, don't be deceived. You're going to get it back. You will get it back. Because why? Love never fails. You treat people like this, and you sow love like this. Love never fails. It's going to come back to you. And I just believe today that there are people watching and people listening who say, pastor, you don't know how I've been treated. You don't know how hard it is to live with or how hard it is to live with him or her. You don't know how ugly my boss is. You don't know how horrible my mother in law is. You don't know how I was treated by my parents. Listen, it's opposite. The kingdom way of operating is opposite than the world's way, right? He says if they slap you on one cheek, turn the other cheek. Here. No, see, we want to punch them out cold. If they take your cloak, don't go get it. Give them your tunic, man. It's that sacrifice. It's that selfless way of living. I just pray people, people who are listening right now that this was a message that's going to turn your household around. This is a message that's going to turn your job around. This you start living like this, God's going to start elevating you because do not be deceived. Whatever you give, you are going to get. And I believe that for you. Today there are people who are so hard to love, but I believe God allows them to come into our life so that we can turn around and show the love of Jesus. We are some of the only people that they will ever see. They'll say, who is Jesus? It's us. It's how we treat you. They may never come to your church, but they see you in the break room. They see how you talk, they listen how you talk. People are watching us. And I'm telling you today, God will give you strength. God has given me strength so many times to rise above. I'll be typing this response and then he'll say, no, pull it back. Show them love. Show him mercy. It's tough, but I'm telling you, it is the way to show the world that we are who we really say we are. If you want to serve that kind of Jesus, you may be listening and say, who is this woman right now speaking to me? But I want that. All you got to do is ask Jesus in your heart say, jesus, I am a sinner. I have miserably failed. But God, I want that kind of power living on the inside of me. I want the power to be a witness. So right now I pray that if you want Jesus in your heart, just. Just pray right now. I am a sinner. I need a savior and I need your help to fight in these relationships and to overcome in these relationships. If you say, I've really been struggling in my marriage, I'm contemplating divorce, I can't take it another minute. I just pray grace, grace, grace and more grace over you, Lord. I just pray that you give them the help they need to operate like the word says in Jesus name, you can do it. You can do it. That's why the Bible says it's a. It's a faith fight. We're in the fight of faith. We're operating in what we can't see and what we don't know, but we're doing it anyway. Fight the good fight of faith. You can do this. We can do this. Every day is a new day. You can overcome. And I just speak blessing over your life today. I pray this has encouraged you. And guess what? I'll see you next Wednesday night. I love you. God bless you. Wow.

What an inspiring word from Pastor Hope. She is always so incredible and just so real. I love hearing from her. If you want to hear more from her, see more, interact with her throughout the week, make sure you check her out on social media. You can look her up on Facebook @pastorhopec or follow her on Instagram @pastorhope Carpenter. You can also check out more online on her website@hopecarpenter.com we'll see you next time.