The Code - Hope Carpenter

You know what? There's nothing like being in the presence of God. It really does make everything all right, doesn't it? That's why the Bible says, oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. Not that when you magnify him, it makes him bigger. It doesn't make him do anything more than he's already done, but it makes him bigger to you. When you get in his presence and you see how wonderful he is and how gracious and how loving you come out of that, out of that worship, out of that magnification of Jesus, and he really does make you feel like it's going to be all right. And it is. Turn around to somebody and say, you know what? It really is going to be all right. That thing that's concerning you, it's going to be all right. Well, Pastor started a very new series last week called the Code. And the whole series is built around honor and the culture of honor. And he informed us and taught us last week that what you honor moves towards you and what you dishonor moves away from you. What you fail to celebrate will eventually exit your life. Just try it. Try it in friendship, try it in marriage. What you fail to celebrate will eventually exit your life. And we don't honor people because they're honorable. We honor people because it's our standard. It's our standard. It's who we are. As a Christian, it shows what kind of people we are. When we honor people, it doesn't say what kind of people they are. When you honor, it totally depicts who you are. And that's what I'm going to talk about today. As Christians, it is how we treat people, how we honor one another. That is the proof that we are who we say we are. The Bible says in John 13, it says, by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. By what? If you love one another, by this very thing, this is how the world will know. This is how your family will know that you're trying to win to Jesus. This is how your co workers will know. This is how your children will know. Your spouse will know. The people you don't even know out in the mall when they see your interactions in the grocery store. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another, you say, well, Pastor Hope, I don't know everybody, so how can I love everybody? Get your Bibles, get your phone, go to First Corinthians 13. We're going to talk about it. I didn't say it was going to be easy. It's going to be a tough message. It's pretty challenging. It challenges me every day. And it will continue to challenge us as we grow and mature and on the journey of being transformed and conformed into the image of Christ being made into his likeness. It is a challenge. But I should be more lovable today than I was a month ago. I should be more lovable today than I was a year ago. My life should be looking more like Jesus every day that I serve him. So that is the goal. Not that you perfect it, not that you attain it today, but that as you go in life on your journey, that we become more like Jesus. Amen. First Corinthians 13. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a resounding gong. Gong. That's horrible, isn't it? Just keep doing it. Keep doing it. Teasy Teasey. Calling all teasey. Keep doing it. No, don't make it sound pretty. Just beat it. What if you had to listen to that all the time? That's what the listen seriously. That's what the Word says. That's what we sound like. If we speak in tongues and we have prophetic utterances, but we don't have love. That's what we sound like to the world. Nothing. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith, it can move mountains, but I do not have love. I am nothing. Prophesy accurately, words of wisdom, words of knowledge and all that's wonderful and good, but I have not loved. It's nothing. If I give all my possessions to the poor. What about this? What if I'm a huge giver? What if I give all my possessions to the poor and give my body over to hardship that I may boast, but I do not have love. I gain nothing. So here we go. Sowing, sowing, giving, giving to missions, to Mexico, to Guatemala, to Dominican, to Pakistan, to all these places, places we're building, giving water to James Robinson and building these wells in Africa. You give part of your paycheck to that. You give to Rod Parcel. You give to all these people who are doing these wonderful things, helping people, but you gain nothing. You'll get no return. You will get no return. Love is patient. It's not in prophesying. It's not in speaking in tongues. And it's not in giving. This is what love is. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It doesn't want to Be somebody else. It does not boast. It's not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self seeking. It's not easily angered. It's not. It don't pop off real quick, somebody cuts you off in the line in the mall. What? I know y' all don't do that. It's just my South Carolina friends. Y' all don't do that here, right? It's not easily angered. It keeps no record. Wrong. Now that's a tough one. See, because we want to file it away back here in our memory bank. Because the next time you do it, we got some ammo. Love keeps no record of wrong. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It always perseveres. It always keeps going and going and going and gets back up. Even when it's been knocked down. It loves even when you've been ugly to me. It loves even when you talk down to me. It loves even when you leave me. It loves even when you hurt me. I'm still good. I'm still kind. I'm still gentle. I still love you. There's nothing you can do to me to make me not love you. See, we love everything. We love ice cream. We love shoes. God knows we love shoes. Don't we say hallelujah. Somebody just say amen. We love shoes. We love pocketbooks. We love the beach. We love Napa. We love Chick Fil A. We love the 49ers. We love the Raiders. We love our football teams. We love all of the. You know, we just take that word and we smear it like mayonnaise. We use it so lightly. And in the Bible, there are many different words. Four particularly we're going to talk about today. In the Bible that are used to describe love. There's friendship, love. There's erotic, there's Eros love. There's family, Phileo love. And then there's the one we're going to talk about, Agape. Listen, I don't love you like I love my husband. You hear me? And y' all better be glad I don't love you like I love my children. My children love me different than they love their spouse, right? There's different types of love. But the one I'm talking about today is agape love. That's what God used in. In First Corinthians 13. It's the way that God loves you. Agape love loves you. He agaped you and died for you before you were Born he loved you even when you were far away from him. He loved you and died for you gave his life when you were still a wretched sinner, when you were messed up, jangled up out on the street smoking crack cocaine and all that stuff y' all used to do. Come on, tell the truth. Shame the devil. While we were far away from God, not loving God, not serving God, when we neglected him, when we hurt him, when we blasphemed him, when we used his name incorrectly, he still loved us. Now this is the challenge. This is what he says. He says now, just like I've loved you, uh oh. While you were mean, while you were hurting me, while you were sinning. He said, just the way I've loved you. Now you turn around and love everybody else. I told you it wasn't going to be easy and how I started out. And this is the only proof. It's the only proof that people can tell that you really are who you say you are. It's the only proof. You might call yourself a chicken, but you don't go around and quack and lay eggs. You ain't a chicken, right? Well, you may call yourself a Christian, but if you don't love like this, the love of God has not been shed abroad in your heart, you might not have what you really think you have. It's the only way. It's not in church attendance, it's not in how much money you give. It's not how much scripture you know. It's not how much you. Shamalama, ding dong, fall out in the spirit. All that stuff we shout, holler, scream, fall out in the spirit, Write checks, tithes, serve. But we still mean as the devil. And the Bible says, you can't say that you love God and hate your brother. You can't do it. It nullifies it. It cancels it out. I didn't say that it was easy, but I did say it's a requirement of being called a disciple and being called a Christian. It's just the way it is. And I can sum it up in three words very quickly and easily for you. This is what agape love will cost you. It will require you. It's selfless. You totally remove you out of the equation. When you love people the way God said, Jesus Christ did not want to do what he did. We think he just willingly loved us so much. He died for us. He was happy about it. Oh, I can't wait to go get beaten. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be Great. I can't wait to bleed down my back and look like a dog. Just. It's going to be awesome. Get spit in my face. This is going to be great. And then they're going to take these huge things and just beat them in my hands and in my. No, he didn't want to do it. Loving like this is going to require you to do some things that you do not want want to do. That does not come easy to your flesh. It is going to require 100% selflessness. You will totally have to remove yourself from the equation. To love like God loves, number two, it has to be sacrificial. It will cost you something and usually it cost you. Sacrifice. You will sacrifice something to love like this. It will inconvenience you. You will have to go out of your way to love like this. You have to go out of your way to remember birthdays. You have to go out of your way to get anniversary cards. You have to go out of your way to let people in front of you. It might inconvenience you. You might run late, you might not get the best piece of cake. You know that one on the end, it's got all that icing on the end. That one because your kid's going, I want the one on the end. But because I love them, I prefer them. I prefer them their wants over what? I want something as simple as cake. See, we want to make it O scary and lofty. No, this is right where we live. This is when we get up in the morning. This is when you have to go fix the coffee and you wish it was already made by your husband, you hear me? But you got to fix it. And then you got to take him a cup. And all the men sitting set, ladies, it might cost you something. She said, we got it. You may not want to. And the men said, why not? I don't understand. They don't get it. They just don't get it. We were talking about that this morning, all of us ladies in the car. And I said, you know, I think it's just a thing that God truly designed on purpose to help the men learn self control and to help us learn submission. Just helps balance. We have to balance. But loving like that truly requires sacrifice on your part. It's going to inconvenience you. You will have to go out of your way to love like Jesus loves. And number three, it's unconditional. It does not put conditions on it. I love you. I honor you. Regardless of how you perform. I love you. And I honor you whether you're good, you're bad, you're grumpy, you're ill. It does not change the way I stand in love. It does not change the way I stand in honor. Because honor is who I am. Love is who I am. Does not. Does not matter how you treat me. What if God said, well, I'll die for them if they shape up. I'll give my life, you know, if they clean it up, if they stop talking like that and they start, stop acting like that, they get it all together. No, Christ loved you and died for you and was sacrificial and inconvenienced himself and gave everything he had when he didn't want to because he loved you. And then he says, now here's the challenge. You turn around and treat every relationship in your life just like this. And if you don't, you're basically a poser, you a fake, you a wannabe, wanna be, but not willing to be. I don't want say you like, but I'm not willing to go to the gym and do something about it. And all the big girls said, all the big girls just keep backing it up so nobody can see. I say you like, right? I don't want it. I would love to have it just poof, naturally. But it requires work. Unconditional love. Doesn't matter how they act, doesn't matter how they treat you. Honor is your code. Honor is who you are. This is what we say. I'll love you, honey, as long as you bring home the bacon. I love you, honey, as long as you don't cheat on me. You cheat on me, I'mma cut you. And then I'm going to pack my stuff up and call three men in a truck. I love you as long as those are conditions. And the agape love of God has no conditions. It's unconditional. You cannot put a price on it. You can't put limitations on it. You cannot put any stuff stipulations on it. Because honor and love is your code. It's who you are as a Christian. It's what you were given freely. The Bible says what you've been given freely. You turn around and freely give. God didn't put any stipulations and codes on you. On me. Thank God. And then he turns around and he says, now you freely give it. But here's. Listen, here's. I think this is one of the major principles is he who has been forgiven much. It's easy to love he who has been forgiven much. Listen I don't know about some of y' all pretty people out there, but I was pretty rotten. I was rotten to the core. So I know where I came from. I know how he reached down low and brought me high. I know how he rescued me and pulled me out and set my feet up high. But see, all the religious people who act like they ain't never done nothing, real hard for them to love for some reason. Because, see, they walk around like this like they ain't never done nothing, that's not agape love. That's why it's sacrificial. It's not easily done. Let me give you my definition. I can only tell you what I've been through. I can only tell my story. But, God, it is easy for me to love people. It really is. I love people when they mean to me. Yeah, it hurts me. I might cry, but I won't be mean back. Because I know where I came from. And I know the grace and the love and the mercy that God so freely gave me. And this is Hope's definition of agape love. Ready? Might want to write it down. It's good. It's the love of the higher, reaching down to the lower and elevating the lower above the higher. That's how it is set. Selfless. You give of yourself. You have no rights. You have no ambitions. You give up your right to be right. You give up your right to be right. Because agape love is the love of the higher that reached down to the lower. That's the love of the higher. Is Jesus that reached down to the lower, Me and you. And then he elevated me and you. He said he seated us in heavenly places. Jesus did it perfect without sin, but sacrificed his own life on a cross. He died for me, the sinner, the lower, because he loved me. This isn't easy, but if you keep it in the forefront of your mind and you practice it, you put it on, you wear it like a coat. You get up in the morning and you say, God, let me live a sacrificial life. Let me show the world Jesus. Tell you a little story. When I first moved here, I was trying to go around, learn the area and find new nail salons. And Miss Lily eyelashes back there. Eye salon, she does the best eyelashes. Miss Lily at Vanity. I just have to give her a promo. I felt like Bambi this weekend. Lily and I went to these hair salons, and I'd go to one. I just, you know, I didn't want to commit right off, you know, you got to try it out a little bit, try everybody out. So I was going to these hair salons and I went to this one and just being myself and saying, hey, you know this. You know, I'm new here and they want to know your story. They're like, well, how'd you get here? What are you doing here? And I'm like, take a deep breath and tell it all again. You know, I said, I'm going to type it up on a piece of paper and say, told it 900 times. So I'm telling her this story and she was like, oh, wow. And I'm showing her my kids pictures and my grandkids pictures and we're chatting and laughing and having a blast. Nothing in. I said, well, I said, you should come visit us sometime. I said, if you don't have a church home. And she said, well, I've never been to Christian church ever in my life. She's 35 years old. I said, really? She said, yeah, I've been to Catholic church a couple of times. She said, but it was so boring, I never wanted to go back. And I was like, well, give us a try. She was like, you know what? I might. She said, the truth is I've never been. She said, because every Christian I've ever met was so mean. She said, I've never met a nice Christian until you. And I will tell you, that grieved me. I went home, I got in my car and I just boo hooed. I cried. I was so hurt and I was so grieved. I said, jesus, we doing all these classes and deliverance and marriage and raising kids and 14 steps to this, that and the other, and wanting people to speak in tongues and prophesy. Prophylie. I'm sorry, prophesy and all. I mean, and we're focusing on all these things and we don't even know how to treat people. We don't even know how to be kind, selfless, and lend a hand to somebody and let somebody in front of us in line instead of beeping her horn. Idiot. Didn't you see me? Me and Ron get so tickled at people driving out here. Y' all crazy. Y' all cray cray. Oh, y' all crazy. We call it bandits because you can be somewhere. I mean, an out of the blue Z, somebody just wheels in front of you. You can be at the mall waiting on a parking space, sitting there, cold socket waiting. Everybody sees you waiting and somebody will come around you and get that parking space. I'm like, really? So now we Just. We just call all these people driving like that the bandits. Here comes. You got to be careful because there's bandits in San Jose. The world is watching. The world's watching you. And you know they don't want to come to your church. They don't want to come here. When you say, I want you to come to my church, but they hear you cussing on the job. They don't want to come to your job. They don't want to come to your church, they don't want to come to your church. When you say, oh, you should come to my church, it's so awesome. But there you are, drunk at the bar, acting like the rest of the world. No different. Nothing's different. God's called us to be different. We're supposed to be such salt and light that when we're sprinkled on the world, we change the world's flavor. We don't become like it. We change the environment that we are around. And you say, well, Pastor, Pastor Hope, that's just too much holiness preaching well, sorry, we in charge. You gonna get it. We're supposed to be different. How can you change something? You're just like when we're mean and cranky and at work on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you talking about the boss. Just like they talking about the boss. You're saying, well, that's just too hard, Pastor Hope, you preaching too hard. Pastor Ron just loves us. Well, I guess I'm just the tough loved one. I'm the one that jerks the belt and spanks the butt. You gotta have balance. We are watching. They're watching. And it's not for your name. It's for his name. It's for his name's sake, the one that you are, that you are saying you belong to, that we say we belong to, that we represent. They are watching you for his name's sake. And once you've made the decision that honor is your standard, love is the action, regardless of the cost, you got to make a decision. You really do. It's like a consecration. It's like a one time forever, and amen. That honor is your standard. And then how to live out a life of honor is to live out a life of love, regardless of the cost, regardless of how much sacrifice it cost you, regardless of your feelings. Feelings have nothing to do with agape love. Yeah, I may feel like I want to slap your face. Listen, I have been a place in my life where people had hurt me so bad. I laid in bed at night and I thought I figured ways how to kill them and get away with it. I watched Cold Case Files. I said, now how did they figure that out? I'm gonna write that down. I can't do that. Hurt me so bad. I mean, literally. I remember laying in my bed and I drove a Hummer at that time. And I remember thinking if I caught them coming around the curb, I know when they'd come around that building. And I could just. Oh, just go over them like I hit a dog. You know how you feel? Boom. Like that. And then I could be like, reverse, reverse. Go back on them, make sure we seal the deal. See, I'm not saying I'm perfect. I'm not saying I don't feel like screaming and hollering and losing my good mind from time to time on certain people not calling any names wouldn't do that. I told him at the women's conference. I said, listen, y' all think Ron Carpenter glows in the dark. I said, there are days when I could kill him in the night. I could put that pillow on his head. Til his feet do like this slow, just slow, not beyond it. Just like you, you know you thought it. You know you thought it. You know, you get aggravated sometime you just can't see. You know that just sometime they got done got on your last nerve. And sometimes you just have to take a walk. It's true. We all have very real feelings. We all have very real emotions. And our feelings are get hurt and we get angry. And it's hard living with them. It's hard being in that family. It's hard working with them. But if you really, really want people to believe that you are who you say you are, it is how we treat each other. It's how we treat each other. Simple. Very simple. Love is a decision. It is a decision we choose. Dr. Caroline Leaf talked about this all day yesterday. You choose. You choose all day, every day how you will react. And love is a choice. Devil didn't make you do wasn't passed down from your mama or daddy. Those are all excuses we use. It may have been passed down, but it's your choice what you do with it. Love is a choice. And I want us to be a people. When we mention the word redemption that people say, those are the kindest, sweetest, most loving people that I've ever met. It's the most wonderful church because people are so sweet. People are so kind. They genuinely love me. We could have the worst music ever. That would be bad, but we could have the worst music ever. But if this house was filled with people who loved like Jesus loved. People would still come because it's the love we're looking for. It's not the lights. It's not the sound. It's not the music. It's love. It's the love of God. You want your husband to get saved? Start loving him like this. You want your friends to get saved? Love them like this. The Bible says it's the kindness of God. God that draws people to repent, to change their mind, to change their whole life. Not a great sermon. Not Benny Hinn, not Ron Carpenter, not Pastor Dick, not all. Not TD Jakes, none of that. It's not a name, it's not a person, it's not a personality. It's the kindness of God that draws people to repent, to change their life. Who wants to serve a mean God? And I sure don't want to be around mean Christians. I told Ron, I said, if we have to stay here in the Bay Area and preach one sermon like Noah preached for 100 years, it's going to rain. Y' all know it's going to rain next Sunday, guess what? It's going to rain. Hey. Today's sermon is entitled the Rain Is Coming. Then next week, guess what? We're going to start a new series. It's called Rain. And then next month, guess what? Here comes the rain. He preached it for 100 years. I said, if we have to preach for 25 years. Love, love, love. Nothing else. It doesn't matter if you speak in tongues. It doesn't matter if you know how to prophesy. But you got to learn how to love. Come on, get up on your feet. I want to pray for you today. I want to pray for you because I tell you, it. It truly is. It's a mindset change. It's a heart change. It's not easy. It will cost you something. It will require sacrifice. Sacrifice. And there are no stipulations and no conditions. It's tough. But once you learn how to do it, once you put it into practice, man, oh, it softens people's heart. You know the saying, kill them with kindness? It really does work. You just keep being kind of. You just keep being gentle. You just keep just forgiving wrongs and not holding grudges. People, it just draws people to you. People want to be around people like that. And I want people to be. I want this house to be known as a house full of people who love each other. If that's what you want, I want you to put your hand up. God I just pray right now, in Jesus name, that you help us to be people of honor. That honor is our standard and that love is the action. Teach us. Teach us, God, how to walk life in love, in the love like Jesus gave us, the love like Jesus loves. Help us to prefer people and honor people and be patient with people. Not walk around so pious and proud and like we've already arrived and made it. But God knowing where we came from, that if it were not for your love, God, where would we be now? Lord, help us to turn around and be dispensers of this kind of love to the hurting, to the lost, to our neighbors, to our family, to our friends. In Jesus name, in Jesus name. Turn around to some people and say, I'm gonna get this down. I'm going to get it right. I'm going to get it right. You might ought to apologize to a few people. I'm sorry I have not been walking in love. I'm going to try harder. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. And we will see you next week. Pastor Ron will be back. I love you. God bless you.