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FOCUS Bible Study: We like to record because then we can get it out onto the website. If you ever miss something or have to leave early, then you can go back and either replay it or catch up, whatever your preference is.

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Mike: Thank you.

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FOCUS Bible Study: with somebody else. So, with that, our first scripture is going to be in 1 John.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Chapter 4.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Where's John?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Chapter 4, towards the very back of the Bible here.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And we're going to read verses 7 through 21. I know that's quite a bit, so let's break that in half.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Maybe if somebody wouldn't mind reading 7 through 14.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And somebody else can pick up 15 through 21. We usually take turns as we go around here, so I'll just go based on my screen, and if you're not comfortable reading, or in the middle of something else,

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FOCUS Bible Study: just say pass, and I won't call on you again, because we just want you to be comfortable and participate to the level you are comfortable with. With that, I'm getting a head nod from my wife, who's not on screen. Julie's in the room here, and she would love to start, so go ahead, Julie. One of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible, that's why.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Okay. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

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FOCUS Bible Study: In this, the love of God was manifested towards us, that God had sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

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FOCUS Bible Study: In this.

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FOCUS Bible Study: is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent us His Son to be the propitiation of our sins.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

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FOCUS Bible Study: No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

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FOCUS Bible Study: By this we know that we abide in Him, and He is in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son, As savior of the world.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you, Julie. Next, I have, Mike, if you don't mind…

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FOCUS Bible Study: Finishing up with verses 15 through 21.

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Mike: Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

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Mike: So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

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Mike: God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

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Mike: By this is love perfected with us.

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Mike: So that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment.

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Mike: Because as He is, so also are we in this world.

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Mike: There is no fear in love.

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Mike: The Perfect Love Castle.

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Mike: fear. For love has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

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Mike: We love because he first loved us.

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Mike: If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother, whom he has

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Mike: Seeing… Cannot love God whom he has not seen.

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Mike: And this is the commandment we have from Him.

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Mike: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you, Mike.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And welcome, Brian. Thanks for joining us. We have just started. We are… first scripture we covered is 1 John, chapter 4, verses 7 through 21.

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FOCUS Bible Study: I'm going to repost the scriptures out there for those who just recently joined, so hopefully you can see them as well. And so, based on that passage of scripture, anybody have an idea of what the topic is today, what we might be talking about?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Agape, yeah.

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Mike: Hello.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Love, yeah, agape love, as Julie said. In fact, not just love.

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FOCUS Bible Study: we're going to talk about the love of God. The love of God. Because here in this passage of Scripture, we see that phrase twice, for God is love. In verse 8, and again in verse 16.

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FOCUS Bible Study: John, who wrote the epistle here.

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Mike: However, the.

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FOCUS Bible Study: The apostle has clearly stated, "For God is love." That's quite the statement. And as Julie said, in the Greek, that word love in the Greek is agape.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And that actually means not only love, but it means charity. So they're interchangeable, those words, love and charity, are interchangeable.

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FOCUS Bible Study: I felt this was an important topic because, personally.

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FOCUS Bible Study: I've, I've struggled a lot in my life with,

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FOCUS Bible Study: accepting love, with the fact that, can I actually be loved? Some of you know my story, I grew up in a foster home from age 3 to 7, was physically abused in that foster home, then I was adopted, and

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FOCUS Bible Study: And until I lived at that home until I was about 17, 18, I was emotionally abused, so I had a real struggle with self-esteem and believing that people could love me. And so when I came to God, even that was difficult. Yes, I knew, had knowledge that God loves me, but really.

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FOCUS Bible Study: experiencing the heart connection that God loves me was a difficult thing in my life, and I still get challenged with it at times. And, so I thought, one, personally, it would help me to dive into this, but then two, once I've kind of learned some of these things, I thought it'd be helpful to share it.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So.

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FOCUS Bible Study: I'll backtrack a little bit and say, if we're going to talk about agape love, and we're going to talk about love and charity, then we need to understand what charity is by definition. So I looked up in the dictionary the definition of charity, and it is the act of giving.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Simply put, the act of giving, but then it's typically through help, money, or resources to those in need. So the act of giving, and when you think about money or resources or help, that's really

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FOCUS Bible Study: comes from within, from yourself, your resources, your money, your help, your time, in other words. And so, that's really yourself. It makes up who you are. So, if these two words, love and charity, are inseparable, that tells us true love is always giving of oneself

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FOCUS Bible Study: to another.

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FOCUS Bible Study: That, I think, is a better definition of agape love. Agape meaning love and giving of yourself to someone else.

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FOCUS Bible Study: What's also interesting…

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FOCUS Bible Study: The phrase, love of God, if you go to Bible Gateway, for example, and type in those three words, love of God.

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FOCUS Bible Study: I use the King James Version, so I'm basing this on the King James Version, that those 3 words will appear in 57 scriptures.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Whether they're in order or not, but but.

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FOCUS Bible Study: The number us. As many of you know, I have studied out what numbers mean according to God. In some cases, they are very clear. In some cases, you have to kind of dive in and study it. Obviously, God us in numbers. He gave us a Bible book called Numbers to impress upon us that numbers have meaning.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And the number 5 represents grace.

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FOCUS Bible Study: The number 7 represents spiritual manifestation. So, what does the number 57 mean? Well, if you go to Google and you type in, what is the biblical meaning of the number 57, this is what Google had to say.

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FOCUS Bible Study: In the Bible, the number 57 appears exactly 57 times.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Isn't that interesting? The number itself, 57, appears 57 times in the King James Version.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Theologically, it's often tied to the concept of the word Almighty, or spiritual protection.

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FOCUS Bible Study: As the title, the Almighty, or what we refer to in Hebrew as El Shaddai, is also used exactly 57 times in the Scriptures.

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FOCUS Bible Study: This number is heavily associated with God's sovereignty, protection, and boundless power.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So if that phrase.

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FOCUS Bible Study: love of God appears 57 times, the word Almighty appears 57 times, the number 57 appears 57 times, and the word El Shaddai appears exactly 57 times. I think God's trying to draw a connection.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And what is that connection? What can we conclude out of that?

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FOCUS Bible Study: That…

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FOCUS Bible Study: the Almighty, the power. When you think of the word Almighty, you think of power, right? Well, I mean, Almighty, capable of anything and everything. So, the power of God comes through love.

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FOCUS Bible Study: It comes. His spiritual protection is over those whom He loves. His provision is for those whom He loves. His salvation is to those whom He loves. Now, of course, we know He loves everyone.

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FOCUS Bible Study: But how do we get connected to that love? If He loves everyone, doesn't desire anyone to perish.

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FOCUS Bible Study: How do we connect to that?

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FOCUS Bible Study: It's our ability to accept His love. It's our ability to accept His provision. It's our ability to accept His protection.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, that's why I think it's important that we understand what is the love of God.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Pardon me. If anytime you have any questions or anything, or would like to make a comment regarding what we're talking about, feel free to put your hand up or unmute yourself and say, pardon me, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: What I also want you to notice, Is this scripture…

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Mike: talks about no man has seen God.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And how can we love our brothers whom we see, but…

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let me clarify, because I'm stumbling. When it says, how can we say that we love God, but not love our brothers? He's drawing the connection because we can't see God, but we can see our brothers. Well, why is that? Because

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FOCUS Bible Study: in John, the same author, John, the Gospel of John, chapter 4, verse 24, it says, God is a spirit.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, in 1 John 4 that we read, it says God is love, and Gospel of John 4, 24, saying God is the Spirit, the two are the same. The Spirit is love.

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FOCUS Bible Study: The love is a spirit, it's a… what is a spirit? A spirit is,

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FOCUS Bible Study: also defined as a mental disposition. It's an attitude, it's… we'll get into this again in a little bit, but…

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FOCUS Bible Study: we have an attitude of love. In other words, we can choose how we think. We can choose how we portray ourselves, and whether we want to love or not, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: I also want you to understand the numbers of this scripture verses that we read. John 4, 7 through 21. So we have 4, 7, 21.

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FOCUS Bible Study: The number 4 representing worldwide, for everyone.

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FOCUS Bible Study: The number 7, again, representing spiritual manifestation, or completion. God created the world in 7 days, right? 7 showing completion, spiritual completion. There are, as the Bible talks about, the 4 corners of the world. Angels stand at the 4 corners of the world, so 4 worldwide. 21…

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FOCUS Bible Study: Again, if you type in what is the biblical meaning of the number 21 to Google, it will spit out this answer. It symbolizes the perfect completion of God's spiritual work. It's derived by multiplying the divine number 7

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FOCUS Bible Study: By the spiritual number 3.

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FOCUS Bible Study: It frequently represents the manifestation of God's Spirit, or deed.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Now.

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FOCUS Bible Study: this is not meant to be a numbers study, but these numbers are speaking so powerfully to the love of God, because if you add up 4721, just the values of 4721, you get 15. And there are a total of 15 verses

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FOCUS Bible Study: No, that's 4, 11, 12, 13…

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FOCUS Bible Study: Did I do that right? 11, 12, 13, 14. No, that's all right.

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FOCUS Bible Study: I'm gonna back up, back up. There are a total of 15 verses,

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FOCUS Bible Study: in what we read, from 7, pardon me, from 7 to 21, if you count the number of verses, there are 15 verses. And per Google, the number 15 represents, widely interpreted as a symbol of rest, divine grace, and deliverance.

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FOCUS Bible Study: In biblical numerology, it's often seen as the product of 3 and 5, or as a sum of 7 and 8. 7 representing completion, 8 representing new beginnings. So, why is this important? Because God's love is a symbol

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FOCUS Bible Study: of rest. When we accept God's love, we start to

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FOCUS Bible Study: dwell in that place of rest. We don't have to struggle anymore. When we accept His love, we define divine grace and deliverance.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Right? God's love is for the world. God's love brings completion to our lives, brings spiritual manifestation and completion to us. It brings God's spiritual work in us, as the number 21 represents. God's love is in

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FOCUS Bible Study: in all of these dynamics of these numbers. If you also count up how many times you see that word love in the scripture passage that we read, it's 27 times. And 27, again, Google spit out this, represents divine completeness and the preaching of the gospel.

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FOCUS Bible Study: It's frequently viewed as the product of 3 times 3 times 3, which is the ultimate expression of the Trinity, for example.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And the sum, is also in the number 17, which represents victory, and 10 representing the law. So, it's representing a testimony of victory

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FOCUS Bible Study: through the good news. That's love, right? Love, God's love, is what we are to share or preach with other people. It's the ultimate expression of who God is. Love. It is the victory we find in our lives. His love brings us

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FOCUS Bible Study: victory over depression, over anxiety, over worry, over stress, over challenges. His love is the testimony. It's the good news.

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FOCUS Bible Study: I hope that's making some sense.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let's jump to the second scripture in our list. Let's go to 1 Corinthians.

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FOCUS Bible Study: 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

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FOCUS Bible Study: We're gonna read verses 1 through 13. Again, it's a longer version, verses, so let's read 1 through 6, and then 7 through 13. Luke, if you don't mind reading, would you read verses 1 through 6, please?

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Luke: I'm unable to read right now, but please ask me in my next term.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Sure, no problem. Thank you, Luke. Cindy, how about you? Do you have that available?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Okay, Cindy, you're on mute, so I'm gonna go over to Ashley. Ashley, would you mind reading for us today?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Okay, I'm gonna go back over to Julie. We got… that's fine that people are on mute, and I will just pass those going forward.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become…

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FOCUS Bible Study: sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you. Mike, do you mind picking up verses 8 through 13?

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Mike: Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away. As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away.

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Mike: For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

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Mike: But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

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Mike: When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child.

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Mike: When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

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Mike: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

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Mike: Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

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Mike: So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three.

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Mike: But the greatest of these is love.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, we probably recognize this chapter, it's often one that is read in a lot of weddings, because it's talking about love.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And in the King James Version, it replaces the word love here with charity. So, you know, every time you read the word love in those versions, it's just charity. Charity suffers alone. Charity is kind, right? So that's where we start to see the interaction between this word, for agape of love or charity.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And… Mike, go ahead.

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Mike: Yeah, I just thought about a lot of things from reading other Christian authors and.

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Mike: You know, anything God has good is counterfeited by Satan, as we know, and love is one of those things. You hear it in,

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Mike: rock and roll songs, they're not really talking about the commitment of real love, right? From person to person, or God's love, it's always about sex, just about. Or romantic love, at best.

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Mike: And I remember when my mother was a teller, she did it for, like, over 20 years, the Secret Service came in and

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Mike: Talked about counterfeit money.

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Mike: And they didn't show them counterfeit, they showed them the real thing.

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Mike: and pointed out the things on the real thing, and I think that's what… the same with love. If you know real love, you can count…

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Mike: You can spot the counterfeit.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Oh, yeah, I agree wholeheartedly, and I think that's a great segue to this, chapter, because you're right, in this world, in this society, we are told love is an emotion.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And so, if we think love is an emotion, then it's selfish. How does it make me feel? Am I happy? Am I satisfied?

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FOCUS Bible Study: And that's why it gets tied to lust in this physical realm, because then lust feeds the flesh. It's selfish, right? And by pursuing lust and our selfish desire, we get that emotional feeling physically and

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FOCUS Bible Study: those physical feelings drive into the emotions. Oh, do I feel satisfied physically? Then, therefore, I must feel satisfied emotionally. But we know it doesn't work that way, because in the long run, it leaves you empty and feeling lost, if you will. So, go ahead, Mike.

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Mike: In economics, you probably know, it's called the law of diminishing returns.

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FOCUS Bible Study: You got it, exactly. And so, what God is doing here is showing us the reality, the…

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FOCUS Bible Study: the true thing in 1 Corinthians so that we recognize what the authentic is so we can then readily identify the counterfeit. So what does he do? He lists 16 attributes of love. He's telling us what love is. So let's go down those 16 attributes. And this is why the number 16 represents the love of God.

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FOCUS Bible Study: 16, starting with number 1, one love is suffering long. It suffereth long. It's long-suffering. That's what that means. It's patient, in other words. It endures.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number two, it's kind. What does that mean? Well, that means it's useful and benevolent. Again, benevolence meaning you give, it's giving. That's why the word charity, it gives of itself.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 3, it does not envy. In other words, it doesn't covet. It's not about selfish desires. It's not jealous, in other words.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 4, it does not vaunt itself. In other words, it doesn't boast about itself. It doesn't embellish excessively.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 5. It's not puffed up. In other words, it's not inflated or prideful.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 6.

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FOCUS Bible Study: It does not behave unseemly or unbecomingly. In other words, that means it's not attracted to what is improper. It's not attracted to things that are unattractive, not in the sense of physical, but in sense of morality, in the sense of how it performs and displays itself, right? How it behaves, in other words.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 7, it does not seek its own. In other words, again, it's not selfish. Number 8, it's not easily provoked. What does that mean? It's not exasperated, in other words. It doesn't get irritated or angry.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number nine, thinketh no evil. In other words, it's not, doesn't think that it's worthlessness. It doesn't portray worthlessness. It doesn't desire injury or harm on anybody.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 10, rejoice is not in iniquity. What does that mean? In other words, it's not happy or glad about sin, or injustice, or even moral wrongdoing.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 11, it rejoices in truth.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Well, that's pretty straightforward. Number 12, it bears all things. What does that mean? Well, the word bear means to, roof over, or cover over, especially to cover over with silence, which means, therefore, it endures patiently again.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 13, it believes all things. In other words, it's got a positive attitude.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 14, it hopes all things. It is optimistic, not pessimistic, or depressive, or oppressive. It's positive and encouraging, in other words.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 15, it endures all things, which, again, that word endure means it has fortitude, it perseveres, it abides, and again, patiently suffers.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Number 16, it never fails, and that means to lose, or to be ineffective, or to fall away, or take none effect.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, in other words, all 16 of these attributes are very, positive and.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Come against the challenges that we face, because how many times did we talk about enduring?

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, in other words, if you're enduring something that's coming against you, it's not an emotional tie, because

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FOCUS Bible Study: What do you feel when you have a challenge, typically? What do you feel when you're facing something negative? The emotion you tend to feel is associated with what's happening. It tends to be in response to what's happening.

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FOCUS Bible Study: If something negative is coming at you, you tend, in the physical realm, to feel negative.

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FOCUS Bible Study: But love is the opposite, so therefore, love is not an emotion, love is an action.

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FOCUS Bible Study: It comes against that negativity. It brings positivity in its place. So love can't be an emotion. It has to be an action, a choice, a verb instead of a noun.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Does this make sense?

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FOCUS Bible Study: It's interesting because faith is a verb instead of a noun as well.

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FOCUS Bible Study: It's a good Excuse me, that's a good point, Jul Cindy, go ahead.

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Sindy: Well, first, good morning and thank you. This class is very useful, so thank you very much for that.

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Sindy: Sure.

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Sindy: I think to be able to summarize.

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Sindy: with something as big as what love is can be very difficult. Like, right now, there's 16, components, or characteristics. I googled this on Wikipedia, and it has also, like, 12 different, like.

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Sindy: Like a big number of like different ideas of what it is like there's also like the you know like the biological like evolutionary perspective.

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Sindy: And there's something called the Triangular Theory of Love, which is more about romantic relationships. And I think it's, like, a big subject, because if this is a big, like, if…

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Sindy: If God is wisdom and love, a lot of things can be summarized as those two things.

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Sindy: It's it can be a complex thing because when you were mentioning.

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Sindy: Well, when we were speaking about what the Bible says about loving everyone, I think that that can be a very difficult subject, or, like, a very abstract subject.

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Sindy: Because…

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Sindy: loving everyone means we also have to love people that sin, people that attack us. And it can be, like, a very philosophical thing, because we can love them as brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Sindy: You know, like, it can mean so many things. Also, for me, as, as we were reviewing this, I thought to myself.

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Sindy: I think loving others requires a lot of wisdom. It's like…

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Sindy: I feel like the more considerate somebody is, usually the more thoughtful they are. And thoughtfulness, of course, requires wisdom. So, I…

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Sindy: I feel like I… I wish I could study this so much that I could just simplify it and say, well, this is my viewpoint, or I think, this is what the Bible would say, or this is what God is saying here.

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Sindy: But I feel like it's like a very complex subject and we can try to start to understand it.

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Sindy: By, you know, like, breaking down what it is, because, when you were mentioning one of the first attributes, long-suffering, like, yes, because it can be easy to get discouraged about stuff.

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Sindy: And,

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Sindy: I guess just to summarize, thank you for helping us, to… to remind us of… of what this is.

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Sindy: And,

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Sindy: And help us simplify it, because it feels like it can be, like, like a deep subject, so…

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FOCUS Bible Study: I agree with you, Cindy. Certainly. I agree. It's a very complex and deep subject, and so we need… how do you understand anything? If you're going to get to rocket science, you have to first understand algebra, right? You've got to break it down into components. So, thank you. Mike, go ahead.

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Mike: Yeah, what you said about it has to be an action, and it says in James 2, I thought of this section, in 15, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in dating food, and one of you says to them, go in peace.

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Mike: be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. So, love and faith are kind of together there, aren't they?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Yeah, yeah, they're kind of intertwined, I would think, especially when it comes to the love of God, right? If we're going to love God, the way He

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FOCUS Bible Study: deserves to be loved, to love like He loves us, yes, faith and love have to be intertwined. What's interesting, too, is, okay, if we start out with the first scripture we read, and we're trying to identify the love of God.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And then in 1 Corinthians 13, we're told what love is. In other words, really, we could say 1 Corinthians 13 tells us what God is. Because if God is love, as the 1 John

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FOCUS Bible Study: 4 7 through 21 told us then 1 Corinthians is really describing God and instead of just saying these are 16 attributes of love we say these are attributes of God God is long-suffering God is kind God envies not God vaunted not God is not puffed up etc right so when we come to the conclusion

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FOCUS Bible Study: That love is a verb, it's an action.

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FOCUS Bible Study: irregardless of the circumstances, irregardless of what comes at us, then we can easily say, if God is the verb love, when we respond negatively to God, He still loves us!

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FOCUS Bible Study: And he's… and knowing that.

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FOCUS Bible Study: then makes it so much easier for us to accept that, because He can't deviate from who He is. This is who He is. It's not like God is sometimes this, or God, you know, occasionally becomes this. No, this is, this is the very nature who God is. So when we are negative towards God, when we

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FOCUS Bible Study: have sinned, when we fight against the plan that God has for our lives, God still loves us, because He's patient, because He's kind, because He provides even nonetheless. So, when we realize that, and we go, wow!

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FOCUS Bible Study: God loves me, because of my failure, even though I've failed, even though I've messed up, He doesn't change, that love doesn't change. That becomes easier for us to accept, to realize for ourselves, that if God is never going to change.

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FOCUS Bible Study: then I can accept that love a lot easier. It's harder to accept love when we think it's changeable.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Because we become tentative, we become fearful, and we go, well, wait.

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FOCUS Bible Study: This minute, they said they loved me, but now, do they really? Because my behavior changed, because time has passed, because I've shifted in my thinking and my behaviors, so do they still love me? If we think love is tenable, changeable based on who we are, then it becomes harder to accept.

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FOCUS Bible Study: But if we know that there's an unchangeable one loving us, it doesn't matter what we do or have done.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Because it's not contingent on us.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So therefore, in any state, any time, any environment, we can go, wow, I can accept that love, because it's coming from one who's unchangeable.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Does that make more sense?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let's… again, I want you to look at the numbers in 1 Corinthians 13, verses 1 through 13. We have a 1-3…

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FOCUS Bible Study: Oh, go ahead, Cindy. I just see the thumbs up, okay.

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Kat: No, this is Kat. Do you mind… I'm sorry, I'm in Tucson, and I didn't realize the time change difference.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Southern.

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Kat: Do you read past the scriptures?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Sure.

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Kat: I'm sorry.

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FOCUS Bible Study: No problem. And we're actually only on the second scripture right now, but we're gonna move through the rest of them fairly quickly. But I want you to look at 1 Corinthians 13, 1 through 13, and the numbers there. You got 13, 1, 13.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Well, that's interesting, because when, again, when you Google, the number 13, this is what, again, Google specifically, what is the biblical meaning of the number 13? This is what Google will say. The number 13 primarily symbolizes rebellion, lawlessness, and apostasy.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Because it immediately follows 12, which signifies divine government. And it does, actually. And 13 also represents a departure from God's order and the introduction of sin or chaos.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Well, that's interesting, because in our society, there's this connotation of 13 as being a bad number, an unlucky number. And so, you go to a hotel, and they'll have, floors 1 through 12, and 14 through 30, right? They skip number 13. Why? Because of this concept. But…

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FOCUS Bible Study: That is the unredeemed number of 13. So if that is the number 13 and God is in the number 13, what is he trying to do? He's trying to pull man out of that rebelliousness, lawlessness and apostasy through his love. Because what is it that draws us to God in our state of sin? As I was saying, it's knowing he's unchangeable. It's his love and that consistency of love.

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FOCUS Bible Study: that actually draws us to Him. When we go, wow, He loves us in spite

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FOCUS Bible Study: of the mistakes I've made. We go, that's unbelievable, because I can't find this in the world. I can't look out to somebody else and find who loves me like that. And so we are actually drawn away from our rebelliousness and lawlessness because of God's love.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Now, the redeemed value of the number 13 is actually God and man working together, because it stems from the number 6, man, and the number 7, spiritual completion. And when you bring man into spiritual completion, that

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FOCUS Bible Study: begins the unity of man and God working together.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So the redeemed value is when love is actually now working in your heart and you've accepted God's love. Now He starts to work in and through you to share that love with others. As Mike was talking about reaching others, you know, and that's when faith comes in because now we've been affected by God's love, we've been changed by God's love, and we want to be used now in God's

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FOCUS Bible Study: We have belief in that love, we have faith and understanding, and we want to be used in that to reach others.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And when you add up the numbers,

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FOCUS Bible Study: here, or the number of times you use the word charity or love in chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, you get 9 uses, and 9 representing completeness. So again, we've got 16 attributes used 9 times our completeness, showing us it's God's love that completes us. It's God's love that makes us whole.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let's go to, Galatians chapter 5.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Galatians chapter 5. And I promised I'd come back to you, Luke, so if you are able, could you read verse 22?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Galatians 5, 22.

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Luke: You called on me, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Yes, please, Luke.

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Luke: But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

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FOCUS Bible Study: There you go.

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Luke: There is no law against these things.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you. So.

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FOCUS Bible Study: When we are affected by God's love and we are drawn into His presence, what's the first thing that starts to develop within us? There's a reason God puts every word in Scripture, and there's a reason He puts it in the order He puts it in. So what's the first thing here that begins to develop? Fruit is something that develops. What's the first thing that develops in us?

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FOCUS Bible Study: What was the first fruit listed?

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Luke: Love.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Yes.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, we are affected by God's love. What starts to develop in us? His love in us, and what is fruit meant to be? Something that provides nourishment, something that is actually taken and used by somebody else. So, we develop love, and we are to share it, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: This is why in Leviticus, let's go to Leviticus in the O

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let's go to chapter 19 of Leviticus, third book of the Bible.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Leviticus 19… And… Cindy, do you mind reading verse 34, please?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Leviticus 19, verse 34.

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Sindy: Give me a moment, please. Sure, no problem. 19 and 34. Treat them like native-born Israelites.

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Sindy: And love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt.

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Sindy: I am the Lord your God.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you. So who's the them? The them is strangers. In the King James Version, it talks about the stranger, right? And what are we to do? Love them as we love ourselves. This is why Jesus said there are two great commandments. And what was the first one? Anybody remember?

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FOCUS Bible Study: No, it's okay

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FOCUS Bible Study: Speak up so everybody hears you, Julie. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. So that's the first commandment, is to love God. What was the second commandment he shared?

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Mike: of your neighbor as yourself.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Love your neighbor as yourself. So, why are they given in that order? Because when you love God, because first of all, you can't love God until you realize God loves you.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So and and we read that I believe it said you know we first love him and first.

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FOCUS Bible Study: 1 John 4, it said we love Him because He first loved us. So we can't love God till we realize that God loves us. When God loves us, it starts to develop within us. Now we can start, the love is coming. We can start to love God back. That's the first commandment. Now we start to develop that relationship. We start to love God. What's the second commandment therefore? Now that love can go out to others. We are to love others.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And why is it like ourselves? Because when we first realized that God loves us, we were seeing ourselves one way before that. We were seeing ourselves as sinful, unrighteous, unworthy, whatever the case might be, right? Damaged, hurt, harmful, whatever it might be.

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FOCUS Bible Study: We were seeing ourselves one way. Now we realize God loves us. We go, whoa, wait a minute, God loves us, loves me in spite of all that. He loves me. We start to accept that. We go, wow, okay, God's love is developing in us. Now what shifts is our view

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FOCUS Bible Study: of ourselves, because when we start to really accept God's love, we no longer see us as unworthy.

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FOCUS Bible Study: damaged broken hurtful we start to see what God starts to see because his love us since his love is a verb it starts to work on us it starts to do work within us within our minds within our spirits within our emotions and we start to see ourselves the way God sees us and if God loves us in spite of all that we thought we were and now we realize he loves us even the way we are and who we

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FOCUS Bible Study: we are becoming, it becomes easier to love others because now we are seeing ourselves properly. That's how we can love others as we love ourselves.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let's go to Luke, chapter 11.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Mike, go ahead.

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Mike: That makes it easier to forgive others, too, when we see how much we've been forgiven. Jesus said,

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Mike: The one who has forgiven much loves much, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Awesome, yes, that is so good.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Luke chapter 11, let's read verse 42.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Oh!

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FOCUS Bible Study: Kat, do you mind reading that for us?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Chapter 11.

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Kat: Sure.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Verse 42.

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Kat: But what are you Pharisees for?

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Kat: You tithe… wait a minute, hold on a second.

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Kat: For you type the mint and rue and every herb and neglect justice and the love of God.

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Kat: Those… You ought to have done without neglecting the others.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, to understand what he's saying here, We gotta break it apart.

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FOCUS Bible Study: when he's rebuking the Pharisees for doing what? For one, they tithed mint and root, and all manner of herbs. So they were focused on the minutiae of trying to obey God, because it was God's commandment that people were to tithe, and they didn't deal a whole lot with money, they dealt with money, but more they dealt in a bartering system.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, hey, you got a chicken, I got a cow, why don't you give me 50 chickens for this cow, or whatever, right? They'd barter. And sometimes it was… is spices, mint, and rue, and herbs, right? Oh, I've got this, oh, that'd be great for my supper. Hey, I got some carrots and some celery, I'll trade you, right? So they did a lot of bartering. And even in

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FOCUS Bible Study: system of tithing, they were giving parts of that as tithes to the priests. But what was the second thing? The second thing was judgment.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Right? So they had… they were tithing, but they were skipping the judgment, number one, and skipping the love of God, number two.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, he says, you ought to…

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FOCUS Bible Study: you ought to do all of those things, right? He's saying you ought to go ahead and give the tithes, he's not saying you shouldn't tithe, but not leave the other things, the things that they were not doing, undone. They were not judging, and they were not loving people. They were not loving God, right? They were passing over judgment. Why is that important?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Because…

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FOCUS Bible Study: Judgment is discernment. It's not meant to be a condemning judgment. Nobody can condemn but God. He will have the ultimate say. He's the ultimate judge.

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FOCUS Bible Study: But we are to inspect.

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Mike: into justice.

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FOCUS Bible Study: judge to ascertain Whether or not something is proper.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And what are we to associate with what is proper? The love of God. That's the connection there.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Are we loving like God loves us? This is what we were just talking about. When God has started to work in our lives and he's changing us from the inside out, we should start treating people differently. We should start treating them like God loves us, right? That's what he's speaking about. Mike, go ahead.

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Mike: Yeah, and Jesus said along that same line, you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. He kind of made jokes.

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FOCUS Bible Study: He was drawing in excessiveness to really emphasize the point, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let's go to Romans chapter 5.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Romans 5, and Julie, would you read verse 5, please?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Thank you.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So what's the connection between the love of God It is the Holy Spirit.

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FOCUS Bible Study: We can't accept the love of God without being influenced by His Spirit. God is love, God is a spirit. We were told that, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: What was it, John 4, verse 24?

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FOCUS Bible Study: In John 4, 24, it says, God is a spirit.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, God's love, God's Spirit connected. In order for us to receive His love, we also need to receive the Holy Spirit.

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FOCUS Bible Study: This is what Romans is saying. If the love of God is only

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FOCUS Bible Study: brought to us on the wings, if you will, of the Holy Spirit. Let's go to Romans 8, verse 39.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Mike, would you read that verse for us, please? Romans 8, 39.

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Mike: 8:39.

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Mike: Nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Okay.

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FOCUS Bible Study: I'm going to draw a distinction in the versions. In the King James Version, it says, Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which…

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FOCUS Bible Study: is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that distinction of which ties in the fact that it's inseparable. The love of God and the Holy Spirit are inseparable. They are one and the same. And again.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Once we have God, once we accept God and cling to Him, nothing can tear us away from that. God is not going to allow things to tear us away from that. The only thing that stands in the way of God's love is freedom of choice, our personal choice to accept or not accept.

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FOCUS Bible Study: That's why it's so important that we learn that, one, God loves us, and two, that we can accept His love. Let's go back to Galatians. Let's go to chapter 2 in Galatians.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Chapter 2, and let's read verse…

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FOCUS Bible Study: 20. Luke, if you're available, could you read that, please?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Galatians 2, verse 20.

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Luke: 20…

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Luke: My old self has been crucified with Christ.

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Luke: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, you see, we were once…

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FOCUS Bible Study: considered worthless in our own mind. We once considered damaged and broken in our own mind. But we crucify that old man. We crucify the way that we thought once we realize that God loves us. And how did He show that love? Because He got crucified. Because He gave up His life for us. He was perfect and sinless. He didn't need to do this, but He did it

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FOCUS Bible Study: to show us the depth of His love, that it's unchangeable, and that He brought it through the gift of His Son, and it proved His love. So, because

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FOCUS Bible Study: We see that. Because we have that witness, we can embrace that, we can accept that.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Go to John chapter 3.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And let's read verse 16.

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FOCUS Bible Study: The Gospel of John, Chapter 3.

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FOCUS Bible Study: verse 16. And, Sydney, do you mind reading that, please?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Good.

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Sindy: Could I pass, please?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Sure, no problem.

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Sindy: Could I do Ephesians? But that one is the famous one, the God so loved the world.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Yeah, no problem. We'll come back to you for that one. Kat, do you mind reading verse 16 of John 3?

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Kat: Sure.

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Kat: Okay, John 3:16.

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Kat: Yes, ma'am. Or John 16, 3.

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FOCUS Bible Study: 316.

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Kat: Okay, sorry.

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FOCUS Bible Study: No problem.

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Kat: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever… So…

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Kat: Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you. Now, as Cindy pointed out, it's… this verse is well known throughout the world, right? I mean, most people can probably quote it from heart without even having picked up a Bible or read it, right? But that doesn't… just because you quote it doesn't always mean you understand it.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So.

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FOCUS Bible Study: We read…

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FOCUS Bible Study: the words, God so loved. And that's a past tense. And there is an aspect of past tense to it, because this is an action.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Jesus went to the cross once. It's in history. It's over. It is in the past, so it's an action that is over. But when it comes to God's love, it is a verb, as we talked about, and therefore, it's an active word. And in reality, that word loved should be translated as dearly loves.

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FOCUS Bible Study: God so dearly loves the world. That's the way it really should be translated. And that word, loves, is present tense. It's ongoing.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Right? So, how does that happen? That God, present tense, and He gave, that's an action, present tense word, gave, gives, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: it becomes present, because when we realize that God did it for me, even though, in history, it's way back there 2,000 years ago, and I'm living here today, when I come to the realization today.

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FOCUS Bible Study: That it happened for me?

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FOCUS Bible Study: it becomes present tense. It becomes active, right here, right now. That God so dearly loves me, that I realize this. And how do we know it's present tense? Because in the King James, again, it says, for whosoever believeth. And we know in the King James, anytime you see that TH at the end of the word, means continuously.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So that's present tense, and as Kat read, it said, believes. It's present tense. It's not believed, it's believes. It's present tense. So this is not a past tense scripture, but an act of present tense scripture. Mike, go ahead.

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Mike: And along those lines, I heard a radio preacher say, because he died for me, in the past tense.

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Mike: Every… all my sin was future to Him, so all my sin, when I put my faith in His grace and His sacrifice for me.

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Mike: It's forgiven the past, the present, and the future sin.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Yes, that is so good as well. Yes, I agree with that.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let's go to Ephesians chapter 3, verse 19, and we'll come back to Cindy, who wanted to read it for

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FOCUS Bible Study: Ephesians chapter 3, verse 19.

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Sindy: My turn, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Yes, please.

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Sindy: Okay. May you experience the love of Christ.

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Sindy: Though it is too great to understand fully.

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Sindy: Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you. I like that word, experience. The King James says, and to know, right? To know is to experience, because there's no denying experience.

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FOCUS Bible Study: If you know something out of a book, head knowledge only, that can be refuted, right? Because you haven't experienced it yourself. But when you have experienced something, nobody can say to you, that was false. Because you know inside, without a doubt, it happened.

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FOCUS Bible Study: When you experience the love of God, when you accept it and realize it's for you, you feel it, you've been touched by it, then that knowledge, it passes everything else, it surpasses everything, and it draws you into the fuller understanding of who God is.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5, verse 2.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And Julie, would you read that for us, please

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FOCUS Bible Study: And walk in love, as Christ also loved us and given himself for us.

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FOCUS Bible Study: an offering, and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. So again, this is emphasizing, once we get in touch with God's love, and it is affecting us, what do we do? We walk in love as Christ loved us. We start to behave and act like He does, right?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Let's go to 1 Thessalonians.

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FOCUS Bible Study: 1 Thessalonians, And let's go to chapter 4, verse 9.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Mike, would you mind reading that, please?

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Mike: Now, concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you.

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Mike: For you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So again, he's emphasizing the fact that he doesn't need to put it down on paper because you've experienced it, right? And what that leads to is then loving one another. It should be something that happens naturally.

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FOCUS Bible Study: comes out of you naturally. 2 Thessalonians, let's go there, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 5.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Luke, would you mind reading 2 Thessalonians 3-5?

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Luke: May the Lord lead your heart into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Awesome, right? And how does that happen? Through the…

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FOCUS Bible Study: filling of the Holy Spirit, because they're inseparable. When God's Spirit is in you, now it will start to lead and guide and direct you. When you

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FOCUS Bible Study: When you accept God's love, His Spirit comes in, He starts to work on you and lead you, guide you, right? Remind you, oh no, don't behave like that anymore because I'm improving, I'm giving you the strength to endure that, right? It's His Word that He'll bring up in us as we go, oh wait a minute, maybe I should say something kind instead of a harsh word, right? These things come to life and it guides us, it leads us.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Right? 2 Timothy.

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FOCUS Bible Study: 2 Timothy chapter 1.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Verse 7.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Cindy, do you mind reading that, please? 2 Timothy… One, seven.

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Sindy: It's gonna take me a bit to find it.

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FOCUS Bible Study: No problem.

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Sindy: What is it next two seconds in it? A second to maybe?

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FOCUS Bible Study: It's right after Thessalonians, so we're kind of in the middle of the epistles, and it's near Timothy… pardon me, it's near Titus and Philemon. It's towards the back.

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Sindy: Okay, I found second Timothy. Perfect.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Perfect.

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Sindy: chapter.

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FOCUS Bible Study: 1 verse 7, please.

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Sindy: Okay, good. 1, 7.

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Sindy: For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Okay, thank you. So, this is one of my favorite verses. It's one I memorized early on as a Christian. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. And remember, I said there are… God puts His words there for a reason, every word is there for a reason, and it's in order, for a reason.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, God has not given us the Spirit. What is a Spirit? Spirit's the mindset, the attitude, right? We know God is the Spirit, the greatest Spirit there ever is, and that Spirit is love. So, when we accept God's love, what happens first?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Power.

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FOCUS Bible Study: What does power do?

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FOCUS Bible Study: It shakes things up. It changes things. What's happening in Iran? The first thing they did is drop bombs. Why? Because the bomb is powerful. What does it do? It explodes and it changes the situation. It changes the environment. It removes things, right? So when God's love comes to us, the first thing it does is it display the power. It moves that worthlessness, that feeling of brokenness, that feeling of helplessness.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Whatever it might be, it moves it out of the way.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Because it can't leave it there. In order for God's love to come in, it's got to remove that stuff. And then, number 2, the Spirit brings love. It brings His very presence. His Spirit is love. So it brings His very presence into our lives. And what happens as a result? Number 3,

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FOCUS Bible Study: It gives us a sound mind. No longer are we thinking we're broken, we're worthless, we're empty.

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FOCUS Bible Study: It… it says, nope, I'm pushing that aside.

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FOCUS Bible Study: It brings love in, and now we start to think of ourselves properly.

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FOCUS Bible Study: 1 John. Let's go to 1 John.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Cindy, go ahead.

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Sindy: Pastor…

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Sindy: This verse that we just covered, I wish we could expand on it a lot before we get to the other one, please. Okay.

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Sindy: If possible, this, what you mentioned about, I don't know, feelings of worthlessness and this and that.

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Sindy: Talk, can you talk more about that, please, and also.

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Sindy: You mentioned, hey, this is actually in a certain order. And then self-discipline, I don't really see that in the Bible. You could also talk about that more, please.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Yes, so.

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FOCUS Bible Study: The word power there in the scripture is dunamis.

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FOCUS Bible Study: That's the Greek word dunamis, where we get the word dynamite from.

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FOCUS Bible Study: The word there, dunamis, is also used in miraculous. It's when Jesus commissioned his disciples to go out and do what he was doing. He was given authority to perform the miraculous, the supernatural.

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FOCUS Bible Study: This is a supernatural, explosive power. When Jesus said to his disciples, after his resurrection, wait in Jerusalem till you be endued with power from on high, that same word power he said in Acts is the word dunamis. It's the same miraculous power.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And so they were waiting, and what happened in the upper room?

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FOCUS Bible Study: Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit filled them.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And what happened? They began to speak languages they didn't learn on their own. Tongues of fire. What does fire represent? It represents a burning. What happens when you explode dynamite? It causes a fire, right? This… we do not have… we do not have the ability

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FOCUS Bible Study: To overcome our own weaknesses.

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FOCUS Bible Study: In this life.

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FOCUS Bible Study: We've all been damaged. We enter this world, we've been damaged, we've been hurt by somebody, some circumstance, something. We all have suffered damage. We then look at ourselves in a certain light as being either broken or

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FOCUS Bible Study: worthless, depressed, oppressed, whatever the label is that you want to put. My mother, for example, when I was adopted, would call me worthless. You'll never amount to anything. You're stupid. These were labels she was trying to put on me. I was damaged by those labels. I started to see myself in those terms, right? I couldn't fix that.

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FOCUS Bible Study: On my own.

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FOCUS Bible Study: I tried.

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FOCUS Bible Study: many of us try, we will all try something. We'll try drugs, or alcohol, or power, or illicit sex, or position, whatever it is. Money. We're thinking we can fix these things on our own. We can't fix the damage on our own.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And God knows that. And He loves us in spite of all that damage and what we do to ourselves. He's the consistency, as we talked about. But because He loves us, He's not going to leave us there.

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FOCUS Bible Study: When we come to the realization of who He is and how much He loves us, and we invite Him to work.

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FOCUS Bible Study: We invite him in, we say, yes, Jesus, I want you, I need you. What's the first thing he starts to do? He starts dropping bombs in our spirit, if you will. Dunamis power to help us overcome the things we couldn't overcome on our own.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So he moves those things out of the way. For example, for me, it was addiction to alcohol. Gone. Never had another taste for it, another desire for it. Gone. Absolutely. I didn't even ask for it to be gone. It just was gone.

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FOCUS Bible Study: God did that because He knew I couldn't work on that on my own.

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FOCUS Bible Study: potty mouth, I had to work on my own, right? Because he knew, with his help, I could overcome that.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, he drops power…

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FOCUS Bible Study: When His Spirit comes to us. The second thing is His love starts to work on us to heal those wounds. Because again, He loves us so much He doesn't leave us the way we are. So His love starts to work on us and rebuild us and help us think properly of ourselves. As that love is soothing and healing, we start to think properly. He starts, His Spirit within us starts speaking to our spirit.

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FOCUS Bible Study: No, you're not worthless. You are a created being.

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FOCUS Bible Study: formed you with purpose, with a plan in mind. I formed you because you're valuable, because you have a love, a…

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FOCUS Bible Study: A treasure that I've given you. And we start to see ourselves that way. We start to operate then that way.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And so our minds become whole. And when our minds become whole, now we can start operating, speaking, behaving correctly.

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FOCUS Bible Study: Does that help?

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Sindy: Yeah, definitely. Thank you very much.

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FOCUS Bible Study: You're more than welcome.

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FOCUS Bible Study: So, let's go to 1 John chapter 2.

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FOCUS Bible Study: And verse 5. And while we're flipping there, go ahead, Mike

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FOCUS Bible Study: Like, you're.

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Mike: Yeah, yeah, I had to say I wasn't a foster family. It was my own family. I got the same discounting and.

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Mike: gaslighting that you're talking about. And it, just like in politics, they always put out a narrative, your enemies, they want you to believe about yourself and other people in this situation.

458
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Mike: But I always remember to remember the word of God and.

459
01:03:20.880 --> 01:03:39.469
Mike: I remember these verses in 1 Peter 2, 9, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

460
01:03:39.860 --> 01:03:40.810
FOCUS Bible Study: That's good stuff.

461
01:03:40.810 --> 01:03:44.400
Mike: You're putting, like you said, I'm not trying to overtalk you, I.

462
01:03:44.400 --> 01:03:45.430
FOCUS Bible Study: No, no, I'.

463
01:03:45.430 --> 01:03:47.600
Mike: If if if you say.

464
01:03:47.930 --> 01:03:53.449
Mike: What God says about you, and remember that, that's hard in the clamor sometimes.

465
01:03:53.610 --> 01:04:01.990
Mike: like you're saying, you have to know somebody loves you, and when you're a believer, you know God loves you, and you have value with Him.

466
01:04:02.550 --> 01:04:07.950
Mike: So, that's what you have to believe in your heart, and not what people tell you, right?

467
01:04:07.950 --> 01:04:14.319
FOCUS Bible Study: That's right, and that's a great segue into this next verse. Julie, would you read 1 John 2, verse 5?

468
01:04:17.850 --> 01:04:34.589
FOCUS Bible Study: But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him, yeah. So keeps, or keepeth as the King James Version, means to continuously be in the word. Like Mike was saying, when you feel

469
01:04:35.020 --> 01:04:37.770
FOCUS Bible Study: These things coming against you, you…

470
01:04:37.780 --> 01:04:57.770
FOCUS Bible Study: go back to the Word. You either memorize Scripture, you pick it up, and you read it, and you remind yourself, by staying in the Word, you stay connected to God's love. Because not only is God a Spirit, and God is love, but we read in 1st… in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, that God is His Word.

471
01:04:58.140 --> 01:04:59.110
FOCUS Bible Study: Wow!

472
01:04:59.280 --> 01:05:07.410
FOCUS Bible Study: So now we got 3 connections of who God is. He's His Word, He's His Spirit, He's Love. All 3.

473
01:05:07.650 --> 01:05:11.710
FOCUS Bible Study: Separable. So, if we ever doubt

474
01:05:12.180 --> 01:05:15.530
FOCUS Bible Study: God loves us. What do we do? We get into His Word.

475
01:05:15.720 --> 01:05:18.150
FOCUS Bible Study: And the Word reveals to us His love.

476
01:05:18.520 --> 01:05:21.760
FOCUS Bible Study: What do we do if we ever are tempted,

477
01:05:21.880 --> 01:05:37.229
FOCUS Bible Study: or have enticement come against us. We get into His Word, or we're reminded of His love, and we're able to fight that because we're able to realize what true love is. We've read the attributes. We know now what love is. We can go back to that. We can remind ourselves, re-read it, right?

478
01:05:37.450 --> 01:05:45.340
FOCUS Bible Study: So there's this inseparability that should come to us of God's Word, His Spirit, and His love. Those are the things we want to remain in.

479
01:05:45.880 --> 01:05:49.520
FOCUS Bible Study: 1 John chapter 3, Let's go there.

480
01:05:50.250 --> 01:05:54.250
FOCUS Bible Study: 1 John chapter 3. I'm gonna read verse 1.

481
01:05:54.590 --> 01:05:57.659
FOCUS Bible Study: And then I'm gonna drop down and read verses 16 and 17.

482
01:05:58.080 --> 01:06:10.950
FOCUS Bible Study: Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons and daughters of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Dropping down to verse 16.

483
01:06:10.990 --> 01:06:29.910
FOCUS Bible Study: Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion, from him how dwelleth the love of God in him.

484
01:06:30.350 --> 01:06:33.450
FOCUS Bible Study: You see, if the love of God is not changing us.

485
01:06:34.480 --> 01:06:39.320
FOCUS Bible Study: Then we don't fully understand or accept it because it should.

486
01:06:39.590 --> 01:06:42.060
FOCUS Bible Study: The Word should penetrate us.

487
01:06:42.750 --> 01:07:01.880
FOCUS Bible Study: To cause change, to cause us to want to be like He is, and love is charity, love is giving. If we then aren't changed and become more like Him, willing to give time, resources, attention, whatever it is, to help others get to know that love, how can we really say we know Him?

488
01:07:01.950 --> 01:07:08.570
FOCUS Bible Study: Because the whole purpose of Him giving love to us was to draw us into His presence.

489
01:07:08.930 --> 01:07:15.550
FOCUS Bible Study: When we are in His presence, we become like Him. Why wouldn't we want others to know? If we've been healed.

490
01:07:16.130 --> 01:07:21.019
FOCUS Bible Study: From that feeling of brokenness, hurt, disdain, oppression.

491
01:07:21.380 --> 01:07:33.060
FOCUS Bible Study: worthlessness, whatever it is, if we've been healed from that, and we have accepted God's love and go, wow, this has really changed me, we know that it's changed me, then why wouldn't we want others to experience that?

492
01:07:34.810 --> 01:07:42.150
FOCUS Bible Study: If we don't want others to experience that, we haven't experienced it ourselves. Because you go to a concert.

493
01:07:42.280 --> 01:07:59.280
FOCUS Bible Study: and you go, wow, that was an amazing concert, what do you do? You tell other people about it. You go to a sporting game, and it was incredible. What do you do? You tell other people about it. You go to a museum, you see an incredible piece of artwork, and you are so affected by it, what do you do? You go tell somebody else about it. That's the natural instinct of what you're truly impact

494
01:07:59.560 --> 01:08:04.569
FOCUS Bible Study: If you are truly impacted by the love of God, the natural instinct is to share it with others.

495
01:08:05.010 --> 01:08:11.960
FOCUS Bible Study: Last scripture, 1 John chapter 5. Let's read verses 1 through 3. Julie, would you conclude us with that?

496
01:08:12.830 --> 01:08:18.000
FOCUS Bible Study: Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves him

497
01:08:18.410 --> 01:08:21.579
FOCUS Bible Study: Begot also loves him who is begotten of him.

498
01:08:21.819 --> 01:08:24.169
FOCUS Bible Study: By this, we know that we love

499
01:08:24.460 --> 01:08:34.209
FOCUS Bible Study: the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.

500
01:08:35.979 --> 01:08:47.629
FOCUS Bible Study: We read 1 John 4 to begin with. God is love. We've learned God is the Spirit, and God is His Word. And the person who wrote that was also John, in the Gospel of John.

501
01:08:48.189 --> 01:09:00.639
FOCUS Bible Study: John chapter 1, God is His Word. John chapter 4, God is the Spirit. 1 John chapter 4, God is love. He's the same person who made this connection throughout, and he concludes it here in chapter 5, that

502
01:09:00.930 --> 01:09:07.490
FOCUS Bible Study: God is love. If we stay in His Word, that's what means keep His commandments. We stay connected to His Word.

503
01:09:07.640 --> 01:09:22.579
FOCUS Bible Study: We're gonna stay in His love. When we stay in His love, that He's the one who created Jesus, brought Him to the forefront of this physical realm, then we can connect the spirit to the physical, and it flows through us to help draw others to Him.

504
01:09:22.930 --> 01:09:24.959
FOCUS Bible Study: It's really that simple.

505
01:09:25.490 --> 01:09:28.269
FOCUS Bible Study: It's a hard thing at times.

506
01:09:29.340 --> 01:09:36.919
FOCUS Bible Study: It can seem simple on paper and in concept, but it's a hard thing at times when we are struggling with the emotion.

507
01:09:37.600 --> 01:09:42.329
FOCUS Bible Study: When I struggle with the emotion of past days that come up, and I go.

508
01:09:43.050 --> 01:09:52.510
FOCUS Bible Study: man, I'm not feeling the love of God. I'm not feeling worthy. I'm not feeling positive. That's when

509
01:09:52.630 --> 01:09:54.470
FOCUS Bible Study: I run the risk.

510
01:09:54.670 --> 01:10:04.850
FOCUS Bible Study: of not believing and accepting God's love. What I have to do at that moment is realize, wait a minute, what are the things I'm doing? I'm describing emotion, feeling.

511
01:10:05.740 --> 01:10:23.230
FOCUS Bible Study: And love is not an emotion, I have to remind myself of that. And because love's not an emotion, I hopefully can separate myself from my feeling, and realize, even though I'm feeling one way, I can know something else. I can know God's love is unchangeable. I can get back into His Word.

512
01:10:23.360 --> 01:10:26.580
FOCUS Bible Study: And I can let His Word change the feeling.

513
01:10:27.200 --> 01:10:32.760
FOCUS Bible Study: In college, I came across this bumper sticker that I bought and I had.

514
01:10:32.880 --> 01:10:38.470
FOCUS Bible Study: Ever since, it's up on my bulletin board in my closet. Motion changes emotion.

515
01:10:38.870 --> 01:10:40.899
FOCUS Bible Study: The motion I need to take.

516
01:10:41.090 --> 01:10:42.719
FOCUS Bible Study: is to get into His Word.

517
01:10:43.650 --> 01:10:54.999
FOCUS Bible Study: I physically either bring it back and say it, because I memorized it, or I pick up his word and I read it, and I let it speak to me. That motion pushes away the emotion.

518
01:10:56.430 --> 01:11:01.740
FOCUS Bible Study: I pray that this is… Helped us today. Mike, go ahead.

519
01:11:06.590 --> 01:11:15.830
Mike: Yeah, I grew up with some emotional abuse in my home, too, and what really helped me was Charles Spurgeon's writing, especially Morning and Evening.

520
01:11:16.360 --> 01:11:24.279
Mike: and Besides Still Waters, and also the songs I listened to. Michael Card had one in one of his songs.

521
01:11:24.620 --> 01:11:28.479
Mike: God cannot love more and will not love less.

522
01:11:28.930 --> 01:11:32.939
Mike: So those kind of positive things, not just the Bible.

523
01:11:33.300 --> 01:11:45.960
Mike: you know, even Jesus sang hymns, and Paul and Silas in the prison. So those can really help us to build on the foundation of the Bible. So that's what's really helped me. I didn't…

524
01:11:46.160 --> 01:11:48.980
Mike: feel any love when I was, growing up.

525
01:11:49.990 --> 01:11:57.100
FOCUS Bible Study: Yeah, we, we all need reminders and whatever works for you, that's what I'll tell people, whatever works for you to get.

526
01:11:57.430 --> 01:12:14.300
FOCUS Bible Study: back focused on God and His Word. For me, it was a lot of post-it notes on my mirror in the morning, or it was these little sayings I'd find and I'd put somewhere on my computer, or, you know, in my car as reminders. Whatever works for you to stay focused on God.

527
01:12:14.880 --> 01:12:21.890
FOCUS Bible Study: So again, I hope this lesson has impacted you. Share with me, if you will, what thoughts has it brought up in you?

528
01:12:31.520 --> 01:12:32.719
Luke: You know, given…

529
01:12:32.850 --> 01:12:50.459
Luke: the personalized stories that you know you and Mike have offered. It's just amazing to me that we could go through such horrible because our our upbringing is so impactful on how we view the world.

530
01:12:50.570 --> 01:12:56.100
Luke: And, you know, and then, you know, when you connect with Jesus.

531
01:12:56.500 --> 01:13:04.309
Luke: you can… both you and Mike demonstrate how much the Lord can do for us.

532
01:13:04.460 --> 01:13:07.049
Luke: You know, how much he loves us. So…

533
01:13:07.050 --> 01:13:28.260
Luke: I know it's not a little off, it's not, it's a little off topic, but you know, I really appreciate that perspective. I appreciate seeing that. You know, Pastor Rick, you know, you're an amazing man and you doing this every two weeks and you know, your devotion to Christ and his will and his work. I love it. Thank you so much.

534
01:13:28.260 --> 01:13:30.179
FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you for your kind words. Thank you.

535
01:13:31.480 --> 01:13:32.670
FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you.

536
01:13:33.350 --> 01:13:40.779
FOCUS Bible Study: Feeling the love, man. Anybody else? How's this lesson impacted you today? Has it changed you at all?

537
01:13:48.070 --> 01:14:01.220
Mike: Well, I think, just like with Joseph, they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. In both our cases, you know, you can either get angry at God about it, or you can go to Him, I always say.

538
01:14:02.290 --> 01:14:03.420
FOCUS Bible Study: That's very true.

539
01:14:06.200 --> 01:14:07.690
FOCUS Bible Study: Anybody else?

540
01:14:11.320 --> 01:14:12.110
FOCUS Bible Study: Otherwise, I'.

541
01:14:12.110 --> 01:14:12.950
Sindy: That's true.

542
01:14:13.230 --> 01:14:14.050
FOCUS Bible Study: Go ahead, Cind.

543
01:14:14.560 --> 01:14:16.110
Sindy: Could we do a part two?

544
01:14:16.360 --> 01:14:22.749
FOCUS Bible Study: We could do a part two, you can send me your thoughts and I can see what I can build around it, sure.

545
01:14:23.740 --> 01:14:26.409
Sindy: Well, just, like, just.

546
01:14:26.520 --> 01:14:37.189
Sindy: You know, like, in a way, like, throughout the, the study, I've mentioned things that have come to mind and, you know, just dissecting, like, how do I say it?

547
01:14:37.470 --> 01:14:49.970
Sindy: the Bible study is about 2 hours. You know, it's… we devoted a good enough time, but it still doesn't mean we really understand. We can always become better, so in a way, it's like…

548
01:14:50.400 --> 01:14:54.300
Sindy: We studied, but there's like, you know.

549
01:14:54.420 --> 01:15:02.730
Sindy: Speaking of numbers, I don't know, there's 16 times more that we can do, 57 times more that we can do, like.

550
01:15:02.860 --> 01:15:06.840
Sindy: We, we suddenly, you know what I mean, like we.

551
01:15:07.130 --> 01:15:18.400
Sindy: we became more knowledgeable, but there's still more to study. But I see that as a hopeful, like, exciting thing, like, something to look forward to, because…

552
01:15:19.290 --> 01:15:31.880
Sindy: Like in a part 2, for example, like just studying more in depth for me, like I, I prefer like just fewer passages to be able to dissect.

553
01:15:32.130 --> 01:15:36.719
Sindy: You know, like, every part of that verse or passage.

554
01:15:36.830 --> 01:15:43.030
Sindy: Because… It's, it requires a lot of wisdom.

555
01:15:43.700 --> 01:15:45.270
Sindy: to…

556
01:15:45.490 --> 01:15:55.280
Sindy: You know, like, be able to understand and deal with ourselves and with our thinking, and dealing with others can be so difficult too.

557
01:15:55.660 --> 01:16:03.959
Sindy: I really, I don't know if it makes sense to mention this, but when I'm out in nature.

558
01:16:04.120 --> 01:16:23.929
Sindy: It's so peaceful, it's so beautiful, and it's like a lot of times there are people that don't understand nature, don't respect nature, and it's like humans are like very loud, like disruptors of what's happening.

559
01:16:24.050 --> 01:16:27.219
Sindy: I don't think most people can sense this.

560
01:16:27.340 --> 01:16:37.950
Sindy: You know, like, the birdies and the wildlife, they get spooked easily, and sometimes it's just, it's beautiful and so peaceful just to be out in the middle of it.

561
01:16:38.230 --> 01:16:40.860
Sindy: And I think that tranquility, like.

562
01:16:42.370 --> 01:16:45.090
Sindy: It would be beautiful to have that harmony.

563
01:16:45.280 --> 01:16:48.489
Sindy: But it's so difficult because most people.

564
01:16:49.510 --> 01:16:57.670
Sindy: can't even perceive what that stillness is, I guess? I mean, I don't know if this is, like, a good metaphor, but, like, I'm so happy because…

565
01:16:57.840 --> 01:17:03.580
Sindy: It's like sometimes there are people that, like I've met people.

566
01:17:03.680 --> 01:17:08.810
Sindy: That you like I can be myself and I can be like in.

567
01:17:08.970 --> 01:17:23.880
Sindy: a happy solitude, and enjoy their company. You know, I guess maybe it's this stillness that I'm mentioning, but other… like, to be, secure in even the quiet moments.

568
01:17:24.140 --> 01:17:25.989
Sindy: And there are people that I've met.

569
01:17:26.530 --> 01:17:28.230
Sindy: That can't even.

570
01:17:28.450 --> 01:17:35.369
Sindy: Do that, so it's like this, this thing that I'm describing, I'm not sure if I'm describing it well, like.

571
01:17:35.630 --> 01:17:39.149
Sindy: It's like to have this peace and harmony.

572
01:17:39.490 --> 01:17:42.420
Sindy: There's there's a quietness that.

573
01:17:42.650 --> 01:17:50.450
Sindy: That needs to be understood and handled and maybe that's what what it's like or what it should be or.

574
01:17:50.590 --> 01:17:57.110
Sindy: Maybe if you know what I mean, I, I don't know, I, I wish I had that when I would.

575
01:17:57.320 --> 01:18:05.120
Sindy: I wish I could see that more, but that doesn't really exist, you know, like humans are complicated and there's so much.

576
01:18:05.350 --> 01:18:13.660
Sindy: It's almost like the peace and harmony that I'm talking about, it's like this peaceful stillness, and there's all this static.

577
01:18:14.260 --> 01:18:15.990
Sindy: I don't know when.

578
01:18:16.380 --> 01:18:21.909
Sindy: When we don't know how to behave, when we don't understand what the proper way is, I guess.

579
01:18:22.230 --> 01:18:25.460
Sindy: I don't know what I'm saying makes sense, but like.

580
01:18:26.710 --> 01:18:37.340
FOCUS Bible Study: Yeah, I'm sorry, Sydney, I follow you. I think you're right. It's very complicated. It's a deep issue and there is a lot to learn and a lot to to.

581
01:18:37.360 --> 01:18:53.690
FOCUS Bible Study: dive into, and there's a lot that complicates the issue when you're dealing with people because of their emotions, their circumstances, their experiences. But that's why Scripture in Isaiah says, line upon line, precept upon precept. You know, we are to build

582
01:18:53.710 --> 01:19:09.970
FOCUS Bible Study: slowly, right? We can't… can't eat the whole elephant in one bite. We have to nibble at it, right? Take little bits and pieces, and slowly, over time, it builds. So, I see the value in coming back to this topic, and diving into it from another direction. I think you're… you're hitting on a…

583
01:19:10.050 --> 01:19:11.420
FOCUS Bible Study: piece of…

584
01:19:11.730 --> 01:19:28.780
FOCUS Bible Study: what love does for us when… when we experience the love of God, it's kind of like you were saying, being brought to that place of nature where all of a sudden, even though there's chaos all around, all of a sudden you're in the middle of this peace and this tranquility, and that's what loves God

585
01:19:28.930 --> 01:19:46.500
FOCUS Bible Study: the love of God, pardon me, does for us, that in the middle of our chaos, in the middle of what's happening around us and people around us, we can find this place of tranquility, really, at any moment. We are reminded of it in the physical when we are there, but we can also be reminded of it in the spiritual when we

586
01:19:46.690 --> 01:19:55.229
FOCUS Bible Study: focus and pray and seek Him. So, it's definitely a topic worthwhile to come back at and explore. So, thank you. I appreciate your sharing.

587
01:19:56.160 --> 01:19:59.180
FOCUS Bible Study: Yeah, Mike, go ahead.

588
01:19:59.180 --> 01:20:08.970
Mike: I heard somebody said it's better to be in a tossing sea on a boat in the will of God than on the beach with a umbrella.

589
01:20:09.170 --> 01:20:09.880
FOCUS Bible Study: Mmm.

590
01:20:10.090 --> 01:20:11.959
FOCUS Bible Study: Yeah, that's good too.

591
01:20:12.400 --> 01:20:17.999
FOCUS Bible Study: Alright, I'd like to conclude with any prayer requests, if anybody has anything you'd like us to pray for today.

592
01:20:28.690 --> 01:20:44.019
Mike: I'm going to have a minor operation sometime in the future, so pray for me in case I go under… I'm 72, so in case I go under… they may do local, they don't know, but if I go under the general anesthesia, just pray for me.

593
01:20:44.190 --> 01:20:49.009
FOCUS Bible Study: Certainly. Thank you, Mike. We'll pray for that Any other prayer requests?

594
01:20:57.290 --> 01:20:59.100
FOCUS Bible Study: Okay, well, let's pray then.

595
01:20:59.550 --> 01:21:07.280
FOCUS Bible Study: Lord Jesus, we are grateful again for this lesson, for your word, for your consistency, for who you are.

596
01:21:07.490 --> 01:21:11.520
FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you for your love, that you've demonstrated that love, that it's unchangeable.

597
01:21:12.510 --> 01:21:19.350
FOCUS Bible Study: That it's consistent, that we can rely upon it, Lord. Thank you for loving us, and changing us, and working in us, Lord.

598
01:21:19.490 --> 01:21:23.220
FOCUS Bible Study: Let that love become evident and real and personable.

599
01:21:23.460 --> 01:21:41.940
FOCUS Bible Study: And let it continue to change us, and Lord, start seeping out through us to others, in our words, in our actions, even in our thoughts, Lord. May we use our time, talents, abilities, treasury, whatever it is, God, to demonstrate your love, because it all comes from you, it's all yours, and it's all for your purpose, God.

600
01:21:42.180 --> 01:21:43.700
FOCUS Bible Study: Lord, we lift up Mike.

601
01:21:43.840 --> 01:21:48.169
FOCUS Bible Study: That, Lord, in this surgery, that you would protect him, protect his physical health.

602
01:21:48.260 --> 01:22:04.220
FOCUS Bible Study: if he has to go under anesthesia, that you would be there with him and bring him out of that, give the doctor's wisdom, guidance, and direction, that everything would go well, and that it would actually correct the situation that he's going for, Lord, and that he would regain the strength and the ability that he's seeking.

603
01:22:04.470 --> 01:22:08.549
FOCUS Bible Study: Bless him, anoint him, and use him, God. Bless all of my friends who are here today.

604
01:22:08.700 --> 01:22:27.319
FOCUS Bible Study: Bless their upcoming weeks, Lord God, and remind them of how close you are, as close as a mention of your name. Remind them that you're working in their lives, that you are moving in even their unanswered prayers, even in their unspoken prayers. Lord, the timing is in your hands, and that you never leave a prayer truly unanswered.

605
01:22:27.890 --> 01:22:29.089
FOCUS Bible Study: Remind them, God.

606
01:22:29.520 --> 01:22:31.190
FOCUS Bible Study: Bless them and encourage them.

607
01:22:32.150 --> 01:22:34.889
FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you, Lord, for letting your anointing flow.

608
01:22:35.250 --> 01:22:36.569
FOCUS Bible Study: In Jesus' name.

609
01:22:36.740 --> 01:22:37.540
FOCUS Bible Study: Amen.

610
01:22:38.960 --> 01:22:41.249
FOCUS Bible Study: Well, thank you everyone for joining us.

611
01:22:41.350 --> 01:22:44.089
FOCUS Bible Study: We'll see you in two weeks. God bless.

612
01:22:44.350 --> 01:22:45.810
Luke: Amen. God bless.

613
01:22:46.350 --> 01:22:47.450
Mike: Bye.

614
01:22:48.560 --> 01:22:49.610
Sindy: Thank you.

615
01:22:49.850 --> 01:22:51.220
FOCUS Bible Study: Thank you. Bye-bye.