Creflo Dollar - Is Your Currency of Love on Empty? - Part 2
Acts chapter 1 and 8. Is this power to be transformed? Well, in verse 8 it says, "But you shall receive power". Literally, it is the ability to get the job done. Power, the ability to get results. "But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth". And so, you say, "They receive power". And I said, "For what"? And then somebody gets religious, "To be witnesses. Yeah, what that mean? What does that look like"? And so, let's gather context together and see what we see here. You go to John 1 and 12, he can answer that question of, "For what"? He says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name".
So, power to be transformed into sons of God, daughters of God. Verse 5 and 5, it mention this, but let's look at it now. Verse 5 and 5, we see the work of the Holy Spirit in us. So notice what happens as he pours this love on the inside of us. "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us". So, we have the Holy Spirit given to us and he is going to hit this transformation. And the first act of the Holy Spirit is to pour love in us. Wow. The work of the Holy Spirit in us to transform us into the image of Christ, which is the essence of God's love as he shows us in 2 Corinthians, I believe in chapter 3 and 18.
Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and 18. So we receive power, the power to be transformed in the sons and daughters of God. The Holy Spirit now comes in and his job is to transform us into the image of Christ. All of this has to do with transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. We literally took the power in the Holy Spirit and made it all about, you know, doing some manifestations and ain't nothing wrong with that, those things will come, but we completely covered up the fact that, you know, he is going to be transforming us into Christ. We're becoming someone. We're becoming him. And when we see him, we will be just like him. Why? Because the power has been given, the transformation has started. You remember, Jesus made a commitment. He says, "I will start the work in you, I will continue the work in you, and I will finish the work in you".
Ladies and gentlemen, there's a work going on in you. There's a work going on in you. There's a work going on in you. We definitely don't want to turn church into the stage where we perform. That's not what this is. There's a work going on in all of us that we're being transformed into sons and daughters of God, that we're being transformed into the image of this love. Look at what he says in verse 18, 2 Corinthians 3. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed," or transformed, "we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord".
See, the Holy Spirit is responsible for transforming us from the inside out. Wherever you are now, don't expect to be that same way next year. And you're being transformed in your everyday living. Not coming to church, coming to church helps, but coming to church is where we get built up. We come to church to get built up. Our everyday living is the process of being transformed. Through the stuff you have to confront, through the conversations you have, through the hurt, the pain, the issues of life. Then he comes in, takes advantage of all of the issues of life, and in your living he starts transforming you. You cuss somebody out, now you don't say nothing. You used to not say nothing, now you say, "I bless you". He's transforming you. He's doing that.
You don't know why you're doing that, but he's in you changing your mind about stuff, working on your desire to wanna do what you didn't used to want to do. And you need to pause for a moment and celebrate. Look how far he's brought you from. You're not there yet, none of us are, but you are being transformed, praise God. And we're here this morning to be built up, to walk out of here and say, "Yeah, I'm getting ready to leave and maybe I have a flat tire outside. But you know what? I respond to that differently than I than I did before. I am being transformed. I am being changed. He's working on my desire. I don't desire the evil I used to desire". You good, man. You gonna be all right.
So this is why he says, "Don't compare yourself amongst yourself," because you're comparing your stage's transformation, maybe with somebody else's stage of transformation, and that's not wise. You ain't been transforming as long as they have. You just started your transformation. So you still going home doing, you know, you gotta have a help, a little Mad Dog gotta help you calm down a little bit, you know. You'll be alright after a while but, you know, you still need a little sip every now and then to help you out. Don't beat yourself up. You'll be all right. You'll learn that that bottle ain't got nothing in it that can help you like the Holy Ghost can help you and you're being transformed. But how can people ever get to a certain place if they're always been dogged out by church folks who somehow, in their mind, think that they have reached the ultimate of perfection and they still dripping water on the floor from the baptism service?
Just got baptized and want to try to tell somebody what the Bible say. Shut your mouth up, go get a piece of pie and... when we pay the debt of love, we release the power of God for people to be transformed. Wow. How does that work? What does that look like? Somebody who ain't even Christian, somebody's not interested in changing, and they encounter you paying the debt of love and they pause. They don't get to see that all the time. And you showing up, I mean, when you spoke to them, they told you to go somewhere and you said, "You know what? I still owe you love. I know you just cussed me out, but I still owe you love. Don't do it no more, though, but I still owe you love. I'm transforming, now. Don't mess with me. I still..." But you still owe him love.
I don't think we get that. We've turned this love thing into this little goo goo, ga ga stuff. It is what God uses to not only transform you, but by paying that debt of love, you transform somebody else because they can see God without no Bible. And you don't know how embarrassing it is when you see Christians who don't even understand how to be Christians because they think it's all about the performance and they miss an opportunity to release transformative power. Because some things you do for people, they will never forget it. They'll never forget it. And that might be the one thing that turned their whole lives around when they can really see one day a real Christian.
I'm telling y'all, this is the objective of God in our lives. This is the one. And I may have to preach this 20 more times before you get it, but this is it. Twenty twenty-four with all of the stuff that's happening around the world, God still needs people that will be committed to paying the debt of love. Some people think they have a right to be rude. I know the narcissist does, but some people think they have a right to be rude. So, they automatically go into a restaurant and they think they have this right to be rude to the waitress, or rude to the people that deliver your food, or rude to the people just... Kenny, what is that you say? How much it costs to be kind? What was it? "Love and kindness is always in season". Ain't that the truth?
But look at 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 10 in the NLT. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 10. "For the Scripture says," oh, this blesses me every time. "If you want to enjoy life," how many of y'all want to enjoy life? You want to enjoy life? All right, let me show you how. "If you wanna enjoy life and see many happy days," how many of you wanna see many, many happy days? Here we go. "Keep your tongue from speaking evil and keep your lips from telling lies". How many of you still wanna enjoy, "Keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies". That's got to be a part of the transformation.
Now, listen, ain't nobody that yet perfect. Ain't nobody that yet perfect at all. Some people, me and Taffi were joaning yesterday, just joaning. And I said something, made her fell out of the chair. And she woke up this morning laughing about it. She almost fell out of the car seat again, laughing about it. She said, "I can't believe you said that". I said, "I can't either, baby". I said, "But don't play with me. I'm Collipark," you know. All we used to do is joan. Don't be trying to joan, now. We all, we just joaned out. Some of y'all don't know what joaning is, but I used to joan you until you cry. But if I want to see long days and happy life, I got to, this will determine that. This will determine that. I did a little small teaching this week on how complaining rewires your brain. It's the part of the brain where your intellect, your intelligence, is; your decision making.
And it rewires your brain to complain more and it shrinks that area where your intelligence is. The more and more you complain, rewires your brain, you complain even more. And you look around, you complaining about everything. And it's also bad for your health. As you start complaining, it releases more cortisol, increases your blood pressure, increases your blood sugar, all because you're complaining. You just need to shut up. You need to get the anointing of shut up. Somebody need to write a song. "You need to shut up". This is big time right here. I was explaining to my younger daughter. She was telling me some things and I said, "Baby, there's a connection between your words and your brain". I said, "Now notice, when you feel like what you described, back up and see what you've been saying".
She said, "Yeah, dad. Yeah". And we don't wanna do that. But see, that's a part of your transformation. And I'm not up here saying this to try to bring condemnation to anybody because we all still working there. And what God is looking at is that the Holy Spirit is still working there with you. I don't want nobody in here to be feeling, "Well, you know, that's just me". Yeah, me too. We still working now. But here's the good news: you're gonna get there. Because God has made a commitment that if he started the work, he gonna continue to work, he gonna finish the work. And one day you gonna get up and find that instead of complaining 90% of the time, you complaining 1.5%. You have to realize this is a journey.
Let me read 1 Peter again. It got quiet after I read that 1 Peter 3:10. Let me read it again, see if we get anything else out of it. "For the Scripture says, 'If you want to enjoy life,'" yes, "'and you wanna see many happy days,'" yes, "'keep your tongue from speaking evil.'" And speaking evil is speaking about others in an evil way. "'And keep your lips from telling lies.'" You know, there's a lying spirit in the church. There's a lying spirit in the church. Somebody say, "Why you ain't working there no more"? "The Lord move me".
The real truth is you got fired. Tell the truth. Let me move on cause something. The question is, are we running short on the currency of love? Yeah, we get frustrated with one another. Yeah, we disagree with one another. Yeah. And in some cases, we simply don't like being around one another. However, John chapter 13, verse 35 in NLT, why must we allow the Holy Spirit to constantly transform us out of these positions? He says, verse 35, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples". There's no other proof that the world is going to take, except this love. Not how many times you pray for people, not that you pray for someone and something happened, not because you prophesized their middle name. No other circus act is going to convince them that you are God's disciples.
He says, "I need you to pay this debt of love because I need this world, this unsafe world that I died for, I wanna transform them but they don't believe. So, as you pay the debt of love, that's gonna be proof that you're my disciples". Look at what Jesus said about it in John 17:25 and 26 in the NLT. John 17:25 and 26 in the NLT. This is pretty, this is interesting, in 25 and 26. He said, "O righteous Father, the world doesn't know you," so that's where the issue is. The world doesn't know him. And then he says, "But I do". And so, Jesus said, "I know him. The world doesn't know you, but I do". And he says, "And these disciples know you sent me," because they know I know you and they see I know you because they see the love that I have. And they know that you sent me because what they see in me.
Next verse. "I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so". How do I know it was love? "Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them". Wow. I don't know what we were told that church was, I don't know what, you know, who convinced you that, you know, this is a part of your life, you need to be there. But I am telling you right now, it's more than gimme, gimme, gimme because you think God's name is Jimmy. It's more than that. It's so much more than that. It's so much more than, let me be right with God, let me do right with God, maybe he'll help me get my bag.
See, that goes back to that mammon spirit. It's so much more than that. When we choose to look past our inner personal challenges and focus on loving one another, we show the mark of disciples and we are actually showing the world what God love looks like. They can't see God. They can only see that through us. They can't see it. "Well, let God show you love". They can't see him. But they can see you. And what do they see when they see us? Taffi and I have a revelation on leaving good tips. Because they know who we are. "What they say"? Because they talk about you after you leave. "Oh," you know, "don't wait on them. They cheap tippers. They cheap".
Every one of you today will have an opportunity to pay on this debt of love. But now you know why. This is what they're gonna see. And we still don't get it. We still don't get it. We still trying to turn church into a circus. We still don't get it. We still don't get it. Still trying to go around telling people, "The Lord told me to do this". You don't know the Lord's voice enough to be talking and telling people what the Lord told you. The Lord told you to be quiet and learn the vocabulary of silence and you still running your mouth. Because we don't get in the Word no more and we don't, you know... TikTok has replaced the Bible. How about that? And when social media platforms have more influence on your thinking than the Word, child of God, church, we done miss them. Love results in supernatural miracles.