I was about to turn the dial after listening to a boring pastor on the radio but as I reached for the dial the preacher said something that caught my attention.
He was speaking about spiritual gifts and then turned to the greatest spiritual gift of all—-love!!
That “dull” sermon really couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve heard love being preached quite a few times at church but this “dull” preacher really hit the ball outa the park when he encouraged his listeners to pursue love as a spiritual gift!!
Such a simple sermon and such a simple but profound truth!
I’m embarrassed to confess that I never really saw “love” on par with preaching and teaching and with sharing of one’s wealth and all the others.
If I had been more spiritually alert I should have known that “love” (the gift of love) actually precedes all the other perhaps “lesser” gifts, shall we say!!
**THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH ***LOVE***!!{Galatians 5:6}
**THE FATHER LOVES HIS FAITHUL SAINTS JUST AS MUCH AS HE LOVES JESUS**
John 17:23: Jesus says to His Father, "You sent Me and have **LOVED THEM** even as you **LOVED** Me!!"
**JESUS LOVES HIS FAITHFUL SAINTS **JUST AS MUCH** AS THE FATHER LOVES HIM**!!
John 15:9,10" Jesus says, "As the Father **LOVED** Me, so I have **LOVED** you!! 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** !"
John 14:21,23: Jesus says, "Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who **LOVES** Me! He who loves Me will be **LOVED** by My Father, and I will **LOVE** him....If anyone **LOVES** Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will **LOVE** him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him!!"
I John 3:18: Dear children, let us not **LOVE** with words or tongue but with actions and in truth!
WHAT'S **LOVE** GOT TO DO WITH IT??
I Peter 1:22: "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere **LOVE** for your brothers, **LOVE** one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again... through the living and enduring Word of God!
I Peter 4:8: **ABOVE ALL**, **LOVE** each other **DEEPLY**, because **LOVE** covers over a multitude of sins!
I Corinthians 13:2,4-8: If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not **LOVE** I am nothing...**LOVE** is patient, **LOVE** is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. **LOVE** does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. **LOVE** never fails!!"
John 13:34: Jesus says, "A NEW command I give you: **LOVE* one another As I have **LOVED** you, so you must **LOVE** one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples." John 15:12,13: Jesus says, "My command is this: **LOVE** each other as I have **LOVED** you. Greater **LOVE** has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
I John 3:16: This how we know what **LOVE** is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers!
Ephesians 5:1,2: Be **IMITATORS OF GOD**, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of **LOVE**, just as Christ **LOVED** us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God!
Luke 6:27,28,35,36: Jesus says, "**LOVE** your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. **LOVE** your enemies, do good to them. and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your **REWARD** will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful!"
Matthew 28:19.20” Jesus commands, “Go and make disciples of all nations... teaching them to *OBEY EVERYTHING* I have commanded you!” {See I John 2:3-5}
EVERYTHING would also include all the other commands in God's inspired Word from Acts to Revelation as per 2 Timothy 3:16: 4:2: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work...Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction."
If we really **LOVE** our brothers and sister in Christ we will lovingly teach them to obey all the approximately 400 commands of the NT with **LOVE** in the hope of countless eternal rewards when Jesus comes with great power with all His angels.
Revelation 22:112: Jesus says,"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done!?
Matthew 16:27: Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels, and **THEN** He will **REWARD** each person according to what he has done."
Ephesians 4:15: "Speaking the Truth in **LOVE** , we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ! From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in **LOVE** , as each part does its work."
Ephesians 3:17-19: "I pray that you, being rooted and established in **LOVE** may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the **LOVE** of Christ, and to know this **LOVE** that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!!"
I John 4:7-12: Dear friends, let us **LOVE** one another, for **LOVE** comes from God. Everyone who **LOVES** has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not **LOVE** does not know God, because God is **LOVE**. This is how God showed His **LOVE**among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is **LOVE**, not that we **LOVED** God, but that He **LOVED** us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so **LOVED** us, we ought to **LOVE** one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we **LOVE** one another, God lives in us and His **LOVE** is made complete in us!
Romans 8:35,37-39: Who shall separate us from the **LOVE** of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...We are more than conquerors through Him who **LOVED** us! For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the **LOVE** of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!!
Where in this Scripture is any word that shows Love is a gift ( dorea )
Corinthians 13 ►
NASB + Strong's
The Excellence of Love
1If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have [the gift of] prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3And if I give all my possessions to feed [the poor], and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind [and] is not jealous; love does not brag [and] is not arrogant, 5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong [suffered], 6does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never fails; but if [there are gifts of] prophecy, they will be done away; if [there are] tongues, they will cease; if [there is] knowledge, it will be done away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
"The bible or book, is not the Word of GOD Almighty, but rather the translations of man."
**BUT WHAT DOES GOD'S WORD SAY**??
**WE ARE BORN AGAIN THROUGH THE LIVING AND ENDURING WORD OF GOD** 1 Peter 1:23
Deuteronomy 18:17-19: The Lord said to Moses, "I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among your fellow Israelites, and I will put My words in His mouth. He will tell them **EVERYTHING** I command Him. I Myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to My words that the Prophet speaks in My name!!"
John 14:21-24: Jesus says, "Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me... Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching, My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them.. Anyone who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me!" {See Deut 18:17-19 above}
Acts 5:32: We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given **TO THOSE WHO OBEY HIM**!"
Luke 6:46-49: Jesus says, "As for everyone who comes to Me and hears **MY WORDS** and **PUTS THEM INTO PRACTICE**. I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid foundation on rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears **MY WORDS** and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete!"
I Peter 1:23-25: You have been **BORN AGAIN THROUGH THE LIVING AND ENDURING **WORD OF GOD**!! All men {**QUIZNOS**} are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field, the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the **WORD OF THE LORD STANDS FOREVER**. And this is the **WORD** that was preached to you.
Matthew 24:35: Jesus says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but **MY WORDS WILL NEVER PASS AWAY**!"
I John 2:3-5: We know we have come to know Him {Jesus} if we obey His commands. The man who says, "I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone **OBEYS HIS WORD**, God's love is truly made complete in him!
Matthew 4:4: Jesus says, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on **EVERY WORD FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD**!"
Luke 8:15: Jesus says, "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the **WORD**, retain it, and by perseverance produce a crop."
John 17:17: Jesus prays to His Father, "Sanctify them by the Truth, **YOUR WORD IS TRUTH**!"
Acts 20:32: Paul says, "Now I commit you to God and to the **WORD OF HIS GRACE**, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified!"
Romans 10:17: Consequently, **FAITH COMES FROM HEARING THE MESSAGE**, and the message is heard **THROUGH THE WORD OF CHRIST**!
James 1:18; He chose to give us **BIRTH THROUGH THE WORD** of Truth!!
I Corinthians 15:2: By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the **WORD** preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain!
2 Corinthians 4:2: We do not use deception, nor do we distort the **WORD OF GOD**!
Ephesians 1:13: You also were included in Christ **WHEN** you heard the **WORD** of Truth, the gospel of your salvation.
Ephesians 2:17: Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the **WORD OF GOD**!
Colossians 1:25: I have become its servant by the commission God gave to me to present to you the **WORD OF GOD IN ALL ITS FULLNESS**!
Colossians 3:16: Let the **WORD OF CHRIST** dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom!
I Thessalonians 2:13: We thank God continually because, when you received the **WORD OF GOD**, which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the **WORD OF GOD**!
Acts 17:11,12: Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and **EXAMINED THE SCRIPTURES EVERY DAY**... As a result many of them believed!!
Psalm 118:147,148: I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in **YOUR WORD**! My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I might meditate on **YOUR PROMISES**!!
2 Timothy 2:15: Do your best to present yourselves to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who **CORRECTLY HANDLES THE WORD ** of truth!
2 Timothy 3:15,16: 4:1,2: You have known the **HOLY SCRIPTURES**, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. **ALL SCRIPTURE IS GOD-BREATHED** and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: **PREACH THE WORD**!! {**WHICH IS THE ENTIRE NEW COVENANT AND NEW TESTAMENT**!!}
**DOES GOD"S WORD SAY THAT **ADDING** OR **TAKING WORD'S AWAY** FROM GOD's WORD IS AN UMPARDONABLE SIN**??
Revelation 22:16,18,19: "I, Jesus. have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the Churches.... I warn everyone who hears the **WORDS OF THE PROPHECY OF THIS BOOK**: If anyone **ADDS** {Like the RC popes} anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this Book {Including **ETERNAL HELL**} And if anyone **TAKES WORDS AWAY** {Like **QUIZNOS**} from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the Tree of Life and in the Holy City {The New Jerusalem}, which are described in this book."
John 16: Jesus says, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the Truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that he will receive what he will make known to you!"
And holy spirit inspired the 8 writers of the 27 books of the New Testament to write everything Jesus told him to write!!
THE GREAT COMMISSION: Matthew 28:18-20: Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on ***EARTH*** has been given to Me {Not some RC Pope}. Therefore go and make disciples of *ALL NATIONS*...teaching them to **OBEY EVERYTHING** {The entire NT} I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very *END OF THE AGE*!”
If Quiznos had read my 1 Cor 13 quote from the NIV he wouldn’t have needed to quote the NASB to show the English term “gift” of love is not there, it’s not in the NIV either in chp13.
Quiznos is obviously chapter and verse bound, the original texts did not divide by chapter and verse.
1Cor12 says the following from the NET Bible, (speaking to the various gifts before introducing love): 27 Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues. 29 Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform miracles, do they? 30 Not all have gifts of healing, do they? Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all interpret, do they? 7 31 But you should be eager for the greater gifts.
And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison. End chapter 12.
Now let’s look at chapter 14:1 Pursue love and be eager for the spiritual gifts...
Quiznos and friends have serious difficulties with discerning logical inferences and implications. Since unredeemed men can only “love as the world loves”, anyone can see that Godlike love is a gift straight from God. This is clear from 1 John 4:7Beloved, let us love one another, for love IS FROM God;
The gift of love comes direct from God because it’s God’s love is clearly intertwined with the gifts of the Spirit.
Once again you have spoken wrongly of me, as i have posted a few times that there are no chapter, verses, punctuation, or capitol letters in the Scripture.
But you want to try to put others down, in order to exalt yourself.
The Greek word 'charismata ' is translated gift (s) in the English translations.
This Greek word means GRACE endowment, or the POWER of GOD Almighty revealed in a believers life.
When will you repent of lying about what i have posted, when will you also repent of bringing up the past without posting the truth of what a person actually had written.
Quiznos and Satan teach that the precious blood of Jesus our great God and Savior does not make atonement for our sins???
**BUT WHAT DOES GOD's WORD SAY**??
**ARE WE ONLY REDEEEMED AND OUR SINS FORGIVEN BY THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST??**
Actually the blood sacrifices of Abel and all the Jews in the Old Testament were only symbolic since we are all saved only by the Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All blood offerings before the atonement of sins by God alone were just symbolic waiting for the only Divine blood sacrifice that can saves us from our sins,
Hebrews 10:8-10: First He said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor were You pleased with them," although the law required them to be made. Then He said, "Here I am, I have come to do Your will." He sets aside the first **TO ESTABLISH THE SECOND**. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ **ONCE FOR ALL**!!
John 13:34,35: Jesus says, "**A NEW COMMAND** I give you: Love one another **AS I HAVE LOVED YOU**, so you must love one another!" John 15:12,13: "Jesus says, "My command is this: Love each other **AS I HAVE LOVED YOU**. Greater love has no one than this, that **HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE** for his friends!"
Matthew 26:28: Jesus says, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many **FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS**!"
Galatians 2:18-21: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me! The life I live in the body, I live by **FAITH** in the Son of God, who loved me and **GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME**!! I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!!
Hebrews 9:12: He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by **HIS OWN BLOOD**, having obtained **ETERNAL REDEMPTION**!
Hebrews 9:22; 26-28: The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood **THERE IS NO FORGIVENESS**.... But now He has appeared **ONCE FOR ALL** at the end of the ages to do away with sin **BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF**!! Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, and Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him!!
Leviticus 17:11: God says, "For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make **ATONEMENT** for yourselves on the altar ; it is the **BLOOD** that makes **ATONEMENT** for one's life!"
Ephesians 2:13: But now in Christ Jesus you who were once were far away have been brought near **THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST**!!
Romans 3:21-25: But now a righteousness from God, **APART FROM THE LAW**, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes **THROUGH FAITH** in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by **HIS GRACE** through the **REDEMPTION** that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a **SACRIFICE OF ATONEMENT**, **THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD**!!
Isaiah 1:18: "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow!!"
Colossians 1:15-20: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the **HEAD OF HIS BODY, THE CHURCH**; He is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead, so that is **EVERYTHING HE MIGHT HAVE THE SUPREMACY**. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things **ON EARTH** or things in heaven, by making peace **THROUGH HIS BLOOD**, shed on the cross!!
Colossians 2:13-15: When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you **ALIVE WITH CHRIST**. He forgave us **ALL OUR SINS**, having canceled the written code, with its regulation, that was against us and that stood opposed to us, He took it away, **NAILNG IT TO THE CROSS**!!.
Ephesians 1:3-8; 11: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with **EVERY** spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and **BLAMELESS** in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will--to the praise of His **GLORIOUS GRACE**, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have **REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD**, **THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS**, in accordance the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding!!
I Peter 1:18,19: For you know that was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were **REDEEMED** from the empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers, but with the **PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST**, Lamb without blemish or defect!!
I Peter 2:24,25: He Himself **BORE OUR SINS** in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness, by **HIS WOUNDS** we are healed {See Isaiah 53:5,6}!! For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls!!
I Peter 3:18 For Christ **DIED FOR SINS ONCE FOR ALL**, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God!!
I John 2:1,2: My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the **ATONING SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS**, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world!!
I John 4:10-12: This is **LOVE**, not that we loved God, but that He **LOVED** us and sent His Son as an **ATONING SACRIFICE** for our sins. Dear friends, since God so **LOVED** us, we also ought to **LOVE** one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we **LOVE** one another, God **LIVES IN US** and His **LOVE** is made complete in us.
Revelation 1:4,5: Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness... To Him who loves us and freed us from our sins **BY HIS BLOOD**!!
NOTE: Jesus Christ our Savior is called the **LAMB** of God **30 TIMES** in the book of Revelation because He did away with all lamb sacrifices for sin by the sacrifice of Himself!!
Revelation 5:6,9: Then I saw a **LAMB**, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne...You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because You were slain, and **WITH YOUR BLOOD** You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation!!
Revelation 12:11: They overcame him by the **BLOOD OF THE LAMB** and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death!!
Revelation 7:14: These are they who have come out of the Great Tribulation, they have was their robes and made them white in the **BLOOD OF THE LAMB**!!
Isaiah 53:5,6: But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed! We all, like sheep, have gone astray , each of us has turned to his own way, and **THE LORD HAS LAID ON HIM THE INIQUITY OF US ALL**!!
Romans 5:6-10: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless. Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us. Since we are now justified **BY HIS BLOOD**, how much more will we be saved from God's wrath through Him! When we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him **THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON**!!
Quiznos, I see you’ve upped the ante by accusing me of lying, which is what I expect from a false teacher. But your post was obviously chapter bound even if you knew better, no getting around it. You tried to appeal to the fallacy of chapter and verse to corner me and prove your point. So why did you leave it to me then to clear up your misconception? You could have quoted the other verses just as clear as anybody else.
