Bill Winston - The Power of Love
The love topic that we're talking about is not human love. It's not phileo. We get our word Philadelphia from it, but it's agape. It's a love that is not performance based. It's an unconditional love. I'm going to love you whether you love me back. That's the kind of love it is. Now, this particular love over in Galatians in chapter 5 and verse 14, he says, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself".
Now, why is he saying this? He's saying this because there was the law in the Old Testament, and this law in the Old Testament was thou shall not, thou shall not, thou shall not, thou shall not, and that's what the Old Testament had. It was nothing but rules and regulations, which were meant to control the impulses of the natural man. They were meant to control a person that was in a fallen state of their existence. In other words, Adam and God walked and talked together. Adam sinned, and they got separated.
Now, what's happening? Man has fallen. What's going on? God is now giving man a set of regulations to follow to keep this man alive, to preserve this man. This is the Old Testament, but it came to pass that it was prophesied in Jeremiah for example, he said, "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their", what? "Inward parts and write it in their hearts, and I'll be their God, and they shall be my people". What is He saying? This man, mankind, before Christ came, was a natural man that was under the impulses of natural, impulses of the flesh, meaning that this man didn't have God in him. He didn't have God's nature anymore. He fell and took on the nature of Satan.
Now Jesus has got to come because he's got to restore him back to his rightful place, giving him the nature of God back in him. To govern this man, he is saying, "I'm going to give you some laws that'll check your flesh". Thou shall not, thou shall not, thou shall not. Now, Jesus is coming because this is prophesied. I'm going to soon write my laws on the inside of you. In the Old Testament, I wrote them on a tablet of stone. Moses came up and he wrote them by the finger of God on a stone, but I'm going to take them off the stone and put them in your flesh.
Now, how can I do that, because you're going to come back to me? In other words, when Jesus comes, he's going to make a way for you to come back to the Father, and now you've got the Father's nature again, and we found out that the Father's nature is love. I'm going to put that back inside of you. Romans chapter 5 and verse 5 if you will. "Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the", who? "Holy Ghost, which is given unto us".
Now, let's look at First John chapter 4 and verse 7. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. For he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is", what? God is love. God is love. He doesn't change. He is love. He doesn't have love. He is love. Go on down to verse 12. "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit".
Now, we're going to go to that Spirit in just a minute, but let's go down to verse 16. "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is", what? "Love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth", where? "In God, and God", where? "In him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no", what? "Fear in love". There is no fear in love. Watch this. "But perfect love", what? "Cast out fear, because fear has", what? Torment. "He that feareth is not made perfect", what? "In love".
I've got to understand that. Wait a minute. If this fear is in my life, if this anxiety, if all this is in my life, maybe I need to work on my love, because there is no fear in love. Next verse, "We love Him because He", what? "First loved me. So if any man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a", what? "A liar, for he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God who he has not seen"? Wow. Well that makes sense. God is giving you another love. Where is it? It's being shed abroad in your heart by the who? Holy Ghost. Look at Romans chapter 5:5. He says, "And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the", who? "Holy Ghost, which is given unto us". Wow.
Now let's go to another. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 10. He says, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and I will write them in their hearts, and I'll be their God, and they shall be my people". Now, they took that right from Jeremiah. Look at that. Old Testament, New Testament. Where we had all of these various laws, he is saying, "I'm gonna give you one law". Let's go to John chapter 13 please. I want you to really get this, because I'm about to jump off into the deep here in just a minute. All right, John chapter 13. Let me know when you get to John 13 by saying Praise the Lord.
Look at verse 34. "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love ye one another. As I have loved you that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. If you have love", what? "One for another". All right, so this is not a suggestion to love. This is a command to love. You're under a new commandment, and that's the commandment of love. Because if you fulfill that commandment, then you've settled all the other commandments. Let's look at this thing in perspective, because this love is a part of the kingdom culture.
Now what do I mean by that? Over in John 3:3, Jesus talks to a man named Nicodemus, who was a ruler of the synagogues. He had more knowledge of scripture than anybody. "And Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I saw unto thee, except a man be", what? "Born again, he cannot", what? "See the kingdom of God". All right. Now, we've found out that once I get born again, what am I born? I'm not born of the Spirit. I'm now no longer just flesh, but now I'm a child of God. I have now been recreated in Christ that what was there before is gone, and now there's a new person in there that's a baby Christian that I've got to nurture in the Word and grow him up just like I'd grow up a little child that was up here on this stage. I've got to teach him, and they're going to grow up, and mainly we are taught by the Holy Ghost.
Now, this our mission is to take the kingdom message and bring this kingdom message to every place we are being sent. Now, this is not a message that is being assimilated. This is not a message that we're taking and incorporating into whatever's existing here right now. No, no, no. God tolerates no mixture. You can't even mix grace and law. Got it? Now, this is a sovereign kingdom that we are bringing wherever we go. We are taking up where Adam stopped and we are taking this kingdom and it is a replica, Lord Jesus, Help me, Holy Ghost, of the garden of Eden, and spreading this garden culture to everywhere we go. Got it?
We are now not only being born again in salvation, but now we're sent to make transformation into every place that God would have us to be sent. We are transforming humanity into divinity. Glory to God. As we are taking people from where they are to where they should be, that this is not a brutal method. I say it like this. Even though we're having dominion, we're not dominating them. We are liberating them. You are to bring heaven to earth everywhere you go. Everywhere you go. Now, mainly this is done by faith. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 again. Watch this, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might". Watch this. "Put on the whole armor of God so that you will be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against", what? "Flesh and blood, but against", what? "Principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places".
Now let's go back, all right, in the Amplified. "Put on the whole armor of God, of a heavy armored soldier which God supplies that you may be able successfully to stand up against all the", what? "Strategies and", what? "Deceits of the devil". You with me? Say strategies. Now what's happening is I'm being sent into a certain place on earth. Now, it's meant for us who are God's representatives that we were never meant to be separated from the world. We were meant to be separated in the world. That we're in the world but not what? Of the world, but we are meant to go into those places. Say amen.
Now, in those places that we are sent, there mainly we are to fight only one fight, which what is it? The good fight of faith. In other words, I'm not supposed to fight my neighbor. I'm supposed to fight the good fight of what? Faith. Now, when you're saying that, then that means, get this now, that 99% of my battles are going to be won with words. I'll say it again. When I'm fighting the good fight of faith, 99% of my battles are going to be won with words. Do you ... Are you with me? Why? Because I'm operating as a kingdom citizen. Now, when I'm operating as a kingdom citizen, I've got angels with me. Say amen to this. Can I keep going? All right.
In Second Kings chapter 19, this is where Hezekiah was now being aggressively approached by the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria had taken all the other lands around, and now he's out to take Judah where Hezekiah is, and he's coming up threatening now Hezekiah. He comes to Hezekiah and he threatens now Hezekiah. Second Kings chapter 18 and verse 13. He says, "Now in the fourteenth year of the king Hezekiah", Hezekiah is a good guy, "King Sennacherib king of Assyria", the bad guy, "come up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish saying, I have offended. Return from me that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold".
Now, that's several million dollars. "And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasure's of the king's house". Watch this. "At that time did Hezekiah even cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord". Now, he gave them all. What is he trying to do? Keep this guy off his back. Now what is he trying to do with Hezekiah? One of the things he's trying to do is make Hezekiah believe that God sent him, and that Hezekiah cannot win because God is against them and God has sent the king of Assyria to take them. This is what he's trying to make Hezekiah believe.
Now, Hezekiah had the mind to go get a Word from the prophet in chapter 19 and verse 6. In 19 and 6, "And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall you say unto your master. Thus saith the Lord be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me". Watch this. "Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land". I'm not going to even let him die on your property. All right, Hezekiah received the letter. Say received the letter. One of the jobs of the prophet is to give you something to say. All right, so what did Hezekiah do? He took the letter. Today we have the Bible, and he went up unto the temple to pray.
Verse 14, "And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and he read it, and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, Oh Lord, God of Israel, which dwelleth between the cherubims". Now, he prayed, and Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah saying, "Thus saith the Lord, God of Israel, that which you have prayed to me against Shennacherib the king of Assyria, I have heard". Now, we want to make sure God hears. Turn to First John chapter 5 and verse 14. "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He", what? "Hears us".
Is this Bible according to God's will? Is what Hezekiah read according to God's will? Verse 15, "And if we know that he hear us, whatever we ask we know we", what? "Have the petition that we desired of Him". Now, the only thing you want to know is did he hear me. I'm not trying to feel anything now. Now watch this. Look at First John while you're over there, glory to God, and look at chapter 3 and verse 20. Now this is why you need to get rid of condemnation.
Now watch this. Are you with me? "For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, we have" what? "Confidence toward God". What is another word for confidence? Faith. Put it in your Bible. If my heart doesn't condemn me, I've got faith. Now watch this, prayer doesn't make faith work. Faith makes prayer work. Got it? If I've got no faith, I can be praying, but it won't amount to anything, because my faith is the power of my prayer.
Let's go to Isaiah Chapter 43 and verse 25. This is a new covenant you're under now. "I, even I", this is God talking, "am he that blots out your transgressions for my own sake", watch this, "and I will not remember your sins". I'm blotting out your transgressions for my sake. This is God talking, and I won't remember your sins. So, I'm blotting out what you did back there, and I won't remember you did it. I'm going to say it again. I'm gonna blot out what you did. I'm not gonna put it in a file, 'cause it still exists, I'm gonna blot it out. And I'm not gonna remember that you did it. Now, where is that? Right in the book. Is it in the book? Is it in the Word? Is it true?
Now, I don't care what you feel! I don't care what your neighbor said! He said that if you are confessing this, and you have given, you have asked forgiveness for it, I will forgive it, and forget it! Come on, somebody say amen to this! Hebrews Chapter 8, verse 12. Now, I'm letting you know something. This is why a lot of God's people are not moving forward. Because they still remember, and remembrance of certain things condemns the heart, and it condemns the heart, and when it does, faith comes out of your heart, not out of your head, and so once it condemns the heart, if that be the case, now no faith is coming out, now with no faith coming out, now God can't get involved, now God can't get involved, now the prayer doesn't get answered, and we don't move. But if I know... I'm not only forgiven... But it doesn't exist!
Now, look at it in Hebrews. "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities I will remember", what? "No more", notice, he quoted it right from the Old Testament. Because the Old Testament was looking forward, it's pointing you to the New Testament, now, this is gonna say something to you in just a minute. So hey, wait a minute, I don't have any reason to feel condemned. I'm tellin' you, you're getting into places now... That the intelligence of a human is not gonna be good enough. Faith is the original technology! Faith and words can do for you what nothing else could do!
What happened when a storm came, Jesus spoke to it, did it stop, yeah, what happened to a fig tree that was not suppose to be there, Jesus spoke to it, did it die, I'm saying it died within 24 hours, you can't get a fig tree, I've seen fig trees, there's a fig tree restaurant in Brazil, it's so big, the restaurant seats about 300 people, the one tree covers the whole restaurant, I'm tellin' you, a man speakin' to that, and in 24 hours, it's withered away? That's got to be somethin' supernatural! Now Jesus said, "As he is, so are you"! And I'm telling you, there are things that are happening, people can't, they're trying to get at them naturally, and they're takin' forever, and these battles that we're fighting are takin' forever, why, because we're still trying to solve them on the level of a fallen man, God has made the church, the Bible said the whole Earth is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God! Why, because you got the goods!
All right, now I'm not done, I'm going somewhere. So, in this, hold on, just a minute... Now, let me go back to Isaiah 43 again, verse 25, "I am he that blotteth out your transgressions for my own sake, and I'll not remember your sins", next verse, please, "Put me in remembrance and let us plead together, declare thou that it might be justified", that is prayer! That is prayer, but it's giving you prayer based on the previous verse, that I'm not gonna remember your sins, so you don't remember it. Let's go a step further, 1st John 1:9, please. "If you confess your sin, he is faithful and just to", what, "forgive us our sins", and what, "cleanse us from all unrighteousness". So if I mess up, fess up. If I mess up, confess it! Why, so that nothing will come into your heart that'll keep you from finishing the work that God has sent you to do, all right, let's keep goin'.
In I Kings Chapter 17 and verse 17, now this is where a woman who... Had only one meal left, the man of God came down and said, "Feed me first", now, there was a drought, people were dying, and he was gonna show this woman who believed that God will supply her need even in a drought. All right, so he said, "Feed me first". So what does she do, she fed him, and they did eat many days, many days, she and he and her son. But now, here comes a day, "and it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick. And his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him". And she said to Elijah, "What have I to do with you? Oh, thou man of God, art thou coming to me to call my sins to remembrance, and to slay my boy"?
Now, lets go to another one. Let's go to another translation, the NIV. Let's see what she says there. She said to Elijah, what do you have against me, man of God? Do you come to remind me of my sins and kill my son? Let's try another translation, let's go to the message translation. Didn't you say read all of it? The woman said to Elijah, why did you ever show up here in the first place? A holy man bring in exposing my sin and killing my son? What do you think the sin was? I have a idea. I think she had that child out of wedlock. And look what happened. The boy died. Now, what did Elijah end up doing? Raising him up. Well, wait a minute, God didn't kill him. The devil killed him. And then told her the reason why God took this child is because you had him out of wedlock in the first place. And your sins are traveling with you.
Is this the right bunch I'm talking to? I'll say it again, your sins and iniquities I will remember no more! If you think that's God, you won't resist it. Religion always puts you in a place of nonresistance. That's why Jesus never said, "I've come that you might have religion". No, he said, "I've come that you might have life. I am the way, the truth, and the life". I'm saying, Satan has been stealing. Even people. And he is behind it, all you have to do is go to book of Job in the first chapter, and you'll see that in the book of Job, satan said to God, "I know why Job is serving you, because you're blessing him so much", he said, "You just do this to him and he'll curse you to your face", and so forth, and what happened, Job's hedge came down, why did Job's hedge come down, because of the kids! The kids were running out, doing all kinds of crazy stuff, smoking reefer, partyin' all night long, and Job got a little bit condemned about it, and when he did, this hedge came down, and when the hedge came down he start talking wrong!
And I'm telling you, there is no temptation taking you but such as common to man, put it up there, 1st Corinthians Chapter 10 and verse 13. I'm saying, here's what God is doing, sending you into an area, it may be a topographical area, it may be a geographical area, it may be an industry that he's sending you to, but wherever he's sending you, he's gonna raise you up. Wherever he's sending you, he's gonna put you on top. Say amen, but understand, on the way up, there have been carefully crafted temptations with your name on it! Say amen to that!
How about the man Joseph, here he was, climbing up, why, he got a vision from God of being a ruler, and the next thing you know, he got sold into slavery by his brothers, did he get mad at 'em, no, he couldn't, because that's a carefully crafted temptation for you to get bitter about what that husband did to you! Why, it's out to get you and put you down! That enemy knows that if you hold on to your love walk, then your faith will continue to work. Say amen to that! Over in Galatians Chapter 5 and verse 6, it says, "But faith worketh by love". And I'm telling you are not gonna rise any higher than your love walk. Now I'm saying to you, right now, he's saying, over in Timothy, put the scripture of Timothy up there please, he said, "All that live godly in Christ Jesus, you're gonna suffer persecution"! And persecution's gonna come!
It gonna treat you, like, Jesus said, "Wait a minute, they hated me without a cause, I didn't do, I'm healin' 'em, I'm delivering them, I'm helping them, I'm feeding them, and so forth, and they going to talk about me and stone me, yes"! Because it's not them that's doing it, Jesus said, "Forgive them for they don't even know what they're doing"! It's the enemy behind 'em trying to get you to hold you down! Joseph got there with Mrs. Potiphar. She came to him. Tried to get him to... lie with her. See, there's a high life... And a low life. A low life comes from this system. It comes from a system where they hate. You manipulate. You get revenge. You get, all that's low life. High life, holiness. Love. Joy. Come with sharing. All that's the high life.
The high life is stronger than the low life. You can't overcome evil with evil. That's all low life, you only overcome evil with good. You can't overcome hate with hate. You have to overcome hate with love. You are the peacemakers. You're the ones. You can pray thy kingdom come, come on, thy will be done, in this community, as it is in Heaven. And angels are gonna be assisting you... To bring it to pass. Are y'all with me? So the last part, let's go back to Matthew again, Matthew Chapter 17. Chapter 18, pardon me. "Then came Peter to him and he said to him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him, 'til seven times? And Jesus said until him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times seven".
What is he saying, what is he saying? As many times as a brother offend you, forgive him. Now wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait, you got the same love that God has. That means as many times as you offend him, he forgives you. That same love is in you. "Therefore, the kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain king which had take account of his servants. Now, when he had begun to reckon one was brought to him, he owned him 10,000 talents". That's about 10 million dollars. "But forasmuch as he had not to pay him, the Lord commanded him", saying, commended him, pardon me, "to be sold, and his wife and his children, and all that he had, and payment be made. And the servant, therefore, fell down and worshiped him, saying, 'Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything'"! And "the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and he loosed him and forgave him the debt".
But the same servant went out and found a guy that owed him five dollars. I'm puttin' that in myself. "Which owed him 100 pence, and he laid his hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, "Pay me all you owe me"! And the fellow servant fell down at his feet and desired of him, saying, "Have patience with me, I will pay you everything". But "he would not, and he went and cast him into prison until he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and they came and told the Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he heard, he called him and said to him, 'Oh, you wicked servant. Now, I forgave you all the big debt. Because you desired of me'".
Let me stop right there. "So I forgave you all your sins. And brought you into my family". That's a big debt, now. "Why don't you forgive him what he said about you"? Let's keep going. "Should not thou have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on you"? And his Lord was what, wrath, and delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly father do also to you if you from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespass.
Now wait a minute. I forgave you... Why don't you forgive him? Why don't you forgive her? I don't understand. I forgave you a debt that you can't even pay for. And you won't forgive him? Well then for that... I'm gonna loose the tormentors. Now, when I loose the tormentors, I don't care who lays their hands on your head for you to get healed. You won't get it, because the devil's going to laugh, because he's licensed on you. Now, now, you told me to read all of it, now. Here's what he said in James Chapter 4 and verse 7, he said this, see, you gotta come into covenant alignment. He said this, "Submit yourselves, therefore, to God, resist the Devil and he will flee from you", but notice a lot of people say, "resist the Devil and he will flee from you", they don't read all of it.
Come on, they don't read all of it, because all of it says you gotta first submit to the word of God! And the command is, you must love your neighbor, this is not an option! You wonder why I can't get healed. Well, why can't I get some prayers answered, Pastor? Well, all you got to do is go up to Mark Chapter 11 verse 23, "and whosoever shall say to this mountain be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things that he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he said, therefore, I say unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray just believe that you'll receive them, and you shall have them", don't stop reading there! "And when you stand prayin', you better forgive, because if you want your prayer answered, you better forgive him"!
Now why is that so important? Because you've got things that are happening now down in places like St. Louis or what's the name of the place down there? Ferguson, and so forth and all that, oh, it's got some bitterness stirred up! Some bitterness stirred up, what, what, I watched this thing, I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, this is bringing a lot of division down here! That must be low life somewhere! We need some high life in there somewhere"! Come on, the high life is about justice, that's what Martin Luther King said, he said, "Let justice roll down like a mighty stream", he preached the high life, he said, "Wait a minute, you wanna be a drum major, all of us have a drum major instinct, we all wanna be at the front of the parade, we all wanna be known for something", but he said, "First be known for love".
He preached the sermon everywhere he went, because he knew you couldn't rise any higher than your love walk. And I'm telling you, you can take that bitterness and spoil a whole family with it, notice what he said, "I'm gonna turn you over to the tormentors, and it's gonna affect your kids, it's gonna affect your house, it's gonna affect your business", why, because of unforgiveness, watch this, it's a spiritual law, he won't undo it, he's put it in this Bible, and I'm saying you gotta shake it off, you gotta say, "Wait a minute, I'm forgivin' this rascal, I'm forgivin' this lady, I know what she did to me, but I forgive you"!
Now what happens with Ferguson, what happens with that, the enemy uses that to get media, and the media's goin' into low life, and now trying to spread it throughout the Earth, I know somebody was wrong, I know somebody was right, but you still got to love, because if you don't love, watch this, bitterness can come into a whole race! He can now torment a whole race! Well, I'm not gonna be a part of that! Sure, I want justice, amen to that, and God will give you justice, but he's not gonna give it to you with hate! And I'm gonna tell you that right now! He will not violate his mate!
Now, you can look at me all you want to, but this is the boldness that you talked about, I ain't scared of you, I ain't scared of no leaders, I ain't scared of the White House, I ain't scared of the outhouse, I ain't scared of nobody, I'm off to serve God with everything I got!
Now this is our moment. This is a time for people to step in there and start prayin' the power of God down on this nation, because the enemy's trying to tear it up, because it's still sending out people like me who are missionaries going to Africa, going to India, converting hundreds of souls, he is mad about it, but I'm telling you right now, stay in love and he can't do nothing about it! The truth will make you free. You got no choice, love is a commandment. God loves you when you hated him. He took you in when you were cussing him. But the love of God loves you no matter how you're acting. And the power of love will turn around anything.