Walking in Love – Part 4: Love Is the True Mark of a Disciple | John Giftah | Christian Sermon

0:01 Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world is a crazy place and it just seems to get crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living, in Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist and founder of John Gifta International.

0:41 Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta.

0:46 Speaker 2: Hello everyone, Welcome to this edition of the Fuel for the Soul with John gift of podcast. And as you would have seen in the last couple of episodes, we've been doing a series on practically walking in Love. I've been sitting on the foundation for you to keep certain things in mind to how you and I call to walk in love, and I really challenge you to go back and check out each of those segments in depth. But today I'm going to talk about one of the important aspects to keep in mind with regard to love, because I want you to understand that you can do a lot of stuff in terms of ministry.

1:14 Speaker 2: You can say, you know what, I love people because I don't want them to go to hell, and you can say all of that with your words, But how do you formulate and how you demonstrate that love really really plays a key role. Because I want to share by telling you a personal story that happened to me maybe about a year or two ago. I happened to go to a friend's wedding where I was the best man at the wedding. And when I was in this wedding, what happened was there was this quote unquote a preacher. Okay, he was not a pastor, but he was an evangelist or a preacher, and he was really passionate about souls that had to be added to the Kingdom of God.

1:51 Speaker 2: I mean that was there, no doubt about it. But the thing is this, he suddenly caught me, my friend, and two others of God and then started preaching to us, you know, condemning. You know you're you're going straight to hell, and you know if you don't mend your ways and you will not come to the Lord, and all of these things without even getting to know who we were like in the sense he knew I was in ministry or even this friend of mine was growing in the Lord. I mean he was, you know, doing ministry and whenever he got opportunities and all of these things.

2:24 Speaker 2: So without even getting to know who we were, without even really concerned about what we were up to, what was going on in our life or anything like that, he started preaching and condemning to all of us. And he kept us up for almost thirty minutes, not leaving us. He was like, you know, trying to preach blah blah blah blah blah. And see, I mean, I'm all in for like I said, you know, if somebody is passionate about preaching or I mean, you know, that's the truth. I mean, each of us have to always guard ourselves to make sure that we are on the path of righteousness and we are in the salvation of the Lord.

2:59 Speaker 2: And and here's the thing, right, that's all fine, But what happened was this person did not care about us five minutes before as well, Like even when we were introduced or when we met prior to this particular incident, he didn't even care to check who we were, How are we what is going on. They had no smile. I mean, he was so cold, but he wanted to preach to us. And again after the preaching, all right, for the next couple of days, you know, as we were there for the whole wedding process and everything, he did not even look at us, like, you know, he didn't care about us.

3:36 Speaker 2: He was he was not bothered about us. Even when when we approached him he was he was so distant. And that is what I want to really remind you today. A lot of times what happens is we are passionate about the Gospel, we are passionate about preaching, we are passionate about winning souls, but we do not know how to do it the right way. I'm telling you. Even last week, I'm not kidding, Okay, last week I happened to go to a prayer meeting. And in this prayer meeting, the preacher happened to be a fiery evangelist who loos to win souls for Christ.

4:11 Speaker 2: And she she they introduced, and even she shard that, you know, she makes sure that every single day she leads somebody to the Lord, and she's passionate about Christ and all of these things. And then I'm thinking, honestly, I'm thinking honest conversation that I had. So after this meeting, I go to tell, you know, like and somebody introduces me to her, saying, you know, this guy is also passionate about winning souls and he's running his ministry. And the first thing she said, like, what's wrong with you?

4:39 Speaker 2: I'm like, what you knows? Like there's nothing wrong. She's like, I'm running my ministry, and she's like, what's wrong with the ministry? She didn't know how to approach, like to be gracious, and I mean, you know, the conversation was like so, I mean, like, how does say this? Like there was no flow and there was no grace, And at that point the person who wanted to introduce me to her felt like, oh my goodness, you know, why did I even introduce these two? You know, because this person showed that she was so passionate and was like, you know, I want to win souls and all of that.

5:18 Speaker 2: But see, you can have that passion, you can have all of that, but if you're not able to operate from the realm of loo to show grace and to actually have warm relationships with people, you're missing the mark you're missing the mark. You know what, I'm going to share a very important scripture. I always go back to John thirteen thirty five. It says, for by this shall all men know you're my disciples when you will love one for another. By this shall all men you know you're my disciples when you have loo one for another.

5:52 Speaker 2: See. I'm telling you, you can preach your best sermon. You can be eloquent. You can, you know, coach hundreds of scriptures in your sermons. You you can have a lot of amazing encounters. You see, even if you look at First Corinthians. Right, Chapter twelve talks about the gifts, right, gifts of the Holy Spirit. Chapter thirteen talks about love. Chapter fourteen talks about gifts again. Right. Here's the thing I wanted to understand. There's a reason why LAO chapter Chapter thirteen comes in between these two chapters about gifts, because a lot of people operate in the power, the anointing, the fire and the you know, the ministry and the and the position, the platform and all of this stuff without the filter of love.

6:40 Speaker 2: That's why the post part said in the middle of these two chapters, he says this, you know, but the greatest of these is love. You can you can have the power and the fire and all of that, but if you do not have love, what is the use of everything?

6:57 Speaker 1: What is if.

6:58 Speaker 2: You can speak in tongue, so if you can prophesy, you can do great miracles. But if you do not demonstrate loo, if you do not care for the person in front of you, if you're not able to make them feel at peace or at ease to even look at you, or to talk with you, or if you can't have a normal conversation with somebody, what is the problem? You are the problem. I'm sorry. I pray today that God will search your hearts and mend you and get you to the place where you realize the importance of the need to operate from that place of love, because without love, nothing will work.

7:41 Speaker 2: I pray that you will have love in the center of your evangelism, love in the center of your Christian life, and when you operate from the place of love. I want to close with another example. You know, in my life I've seen that when I go into corporate work structure, necrospace engineer, right, what happens? Sometimes people say, oh, these these preachers, because they know that I'm into preaching and stuff like that. So they're like, oh, they're here to convert, and you know, they want to keep away from us.

8:12 Speaker 2: And I'm telling you, you know what really broke the ice for me with most people was love to care for them, to genuinely take care of them or meet their needs or help them in some way, or to be there for them. And I'm telling you, after that, I've heard actually accounts of people saying, I did not expect this from you because I thought you were here only to convert us. You see, you, guys, by this, shall haulman know you, my disciples, when you have love, When you have love, let us operate in love.

8:47 Speaker 2: Amen. God bless you.

8:52 Speaker 1: You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We hope you were blessed and inspired to live the life that God God has for you. Make sure to subscribe to the John Gifta YouTube channel for regular uploads of sermons, skits, interviews and more. Follow John Gifta on Instagram for regular inspirational posts, and don't forget to check out the best selling books written by John Gifta Who Am I which will help you understand your identity and the latest number one best seller Unveil Your Purpose, helping you discover your purpose and to start walking in it.

9:27 Speaker 1: Make sure to leave a rating and review, and be sure to share it with your friends and loved ones. If you'd like to donate, you can find the PayPal link in the description, and if you'd like to invite John Gifta to speak at your event or to get more details, go to the website at www. Godjohngifted dot com. See you on the next episode of the Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. God bless you. You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta, we hope you were blessed and inspired to live the life that God has for you.

10:11 Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe to the John Gifta YouTube channel for regular uploads of sermons, skits, interviews, and more. Follow John Gifta on Instagram for regular inspirational posts, and don't forget to check out the best selling books written by John Gifta, Who Am I which will help you understand your identity and the latest number one best seller Unveil Your Purpose, helping you discover your purpose and to start walking in it. Make sure to leave a rating and review, and be sure to share it with your friends and loved ones.

10:42 Speaker 1: If you'd like to donate, you can find the PayPal link in the description, and if you'd like to invite John Gifta to speak at your event or to get more details, go to the website at www dot John gifted dot com. See you on the next episode.