OUTLINE:

God only gives us so much, even while we're listening to the Spirit.

Is 55:8-9 [Message]
“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.”

Distractions
They are nothing more than counterfeits. The greatest of these is counterfeit love (including the pursuit of it).

Php 3:8 KJV
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

1Co 7:35 [TLB]
I am saying this to help you, not to try to keep you from marrying. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few other things as possible to distract your attention from him.

“undistracted devotion to the Lord”
This refers to a life void of distractions that take you away from your “first love” (Rev 2:4). ANYTHING that creates a distance between you and Christ is evil.

Anna's Undistracted Devotion
Do you think she was bored or lonely? Or do you think the Lord filled her cup because she put Him and His people first? Lk 2:36-38

Heb 13:5
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,”

Are We Pre-Supposing?
If we “presuppose” a want is a need, we are able to “justify” just about anything ridiculous that ultimately takes us away from the Lord…

Are We Pre-Supposing?
…however, if we’re honest about presuppositions, we cannot build a case for our fleshly desires.

Godly Love Is Sacrificial

“hate his own father…”
This is a relative statement. Unfettered love for Jesus, in its purest expression, is so great that every other attachment pales in comparison, so much so that, when imposed as the standard, His love makes other love measure up as hatred.

“I can’t love like that!”
Remember: love is a gift from God. Don’t ever exacerbate yourself because you lack a portion of it. To love like Christ, to love Him, even, is a function of sanctification, which takes time. Just stay humble.

1Jn 3:18 [Amplified]
Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and in truth [in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words].

A big part of living in God's love is an active lifestyle of forgiveness.

An unforgiving heart is a heart without peace.

The Sphere Of Forgiveness
We ought never think of forgiveness as merely transactional; but, rather, we ought to think of it the way we think of love, spherical. We pursue forgiveness as a way of life, whether we are the offender or the offended.

To the One who uttered, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing”, forgiveness was the ultimate objective. Lk 23:34

Jesus’ primary goal in His incarnation wasn’t even to walk around judging the sins of the masses…it was to SAVE them! Jn 12:47

While sin must be acknowledged/confessed, it isn’t our place to judge it. This is the perspective that the religious camp needs to adopt.

2Co 5:18-19
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Save Judgment For That Day
Let's tell others about the peace that God Almighty desires to have with them! That's our focus as we spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God extends an offer of peace to even the worst of sinners!

Love and Forgiveness
They spring from the same vine, and that "Vine" is Jesus Christ! (Jn 15:5) Christ's love and forgiving heart were evidenced on the Cross. We celebrate His heart when we partake in Communion (1Co 11:28-29).

Lk 9:23 [Amplified]
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].

Carrying our cross is a decision to put selfish desires aside and live for the reconciliation of others, whatever the cost to us may be.

Gal 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. [aka functional love]

Harriet Tubman
Around 1850, she escaped from her slave owner's plantation in Maryland and traveled by night up to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was then “free”. But she immediately went back to help lead her friends and family out of slavery also! Gal 5:13

Gal 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. [aka functional love]