Hugging A Cactus

I'm going to invite you to join me in the Word

of God. We're continuing our series, Love Matters,

and it's my prayer that through this series,

you've been able to learn about love and walk

away with a clear definition of what God's love

can do for you and what it can do for your life,

your family, your relationships, for others.

And so we're going to... Go into the next installment

today. John chapter 1. This is the base chapter

John 1 · chapter mention

that we've been looking at. John chapter, 1 John,

excuse me, chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4 and verse

1 John 4 · chapter mention

20. And I'll be reading just two verses there.

It says, if someone says, I love God and hates

his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not

love his brother whom he has seen, how can he

love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment

we have from him, that he who loves God must

love his brother also. Somebody say amen. A cactus.

I'll explain what that means. You might already

be able to use your imagination hugging a cactus.

Let's just pray briefly and thank God for his

spirit that we feel today. Father, we love you

today. We thank you for what you're doing in

our midst. Visiting us in such a profound and

tangible way. And we're grateful. every opportunity

we're given to come into this place and lift

up holy hands to worship your name together.

And now, God, speak to us, challenge us, form

us, disciple us through your word. Help us to

grow into being the more authentic, more believable

in our faith. I pray this in Jesus' name. And

anoint my lips that every word that comes forth

will be seasoned with holy salts. would be received

in our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Somebody

say amen. All right, you may be seated in God's

presence. So, I once heard someone describe loving,

difficult people as hugging a cactus. And it

sounds funny at first, but the more you think

about it, the more it makes sense. You can approach

a cactus with the best intentions in the world.

You can mean well. You can be sincere. But if

you squeeze too tightly or get too close without

wisdom, you're going to get hurt. And if you've

ever touched a cactus, then you know exactly

what I'm talking about. Talking about the plant,

that is. Looks can be deceiving. How many of

you ever have seen a flower on a cactus? There

are some cactuses that bloom, have flowers, and

they're beautiful. I've seen some very beautiful

-looking cactuses, and some of you have them

in your gardens or in your home. They're very

resilient, too. So this is a special plant, and

I'm not here to give you a... a lesson, a science

lesson on cactuses. But we know enough about

them to know that as nice as they look from afar,

the closer you get, the more you have to be aware

of what it is that you're approaching. Now, the

problem when we look at relationships and love,

the problem is that it's not that you're not

trying to love, which I think most of us do.

It's that you're hugging or what you're hugging

could have thorns. Or sharp edges. And relationships

can feel exactly like that. You try to be kind

and you get criticized. Try to make peace and

you get pricked. You reach out and you walk away

wounded. That's just a part of life. Loving,

difficult people can feel like... hugging a cactus.

The question isn't whether we're called to love.

How many of you know we're called to love? I

said, how many of you know we're called to love?

That's not really the question. Scripture has

already settled that issue for us. The real question

is how to love when it hurts. And this is the

tension that lies at the heart of John's writing

in 1 John. Chapter 4. He's not talking about

1 John 4 · chapter mention

loving ideal people in ideal situations. He's

talking about real people in real situations.

And he makes something crystal clear for us.

If I can summarize what he's writing. it would

be this, that you cannot be right with God while

staying wrong with your brother. I'll repeat

that. You cannot be right with God while staying

wrong with your brother. No amount of self -professed

love for God, no amount of rule -keeping, no

amount of... holiness, no amount of anything

can compensate or can make up the difference

for strife with your brother. And New Testament

teaching is filled with, not only in the words

of Christ and his teaching, but also in the letters

of the apostles, filled with instruction and

examples of this very thing. Even so much that

Bible teaches with regards to the gifts that

we may offer God, worship and praise, that if

we have an ought with or if we are in contention

with a brother, that we ought to leave that gift

and go make amends and make things right and

then come back to that altar of gift giving and

worship unto God. So God is very clear. In this

principle of even if you want to know me better

and approach me, you can't do so at the expense

of others. And so today I want to, in the fear

of God, be as practical and as helpful. I want

to be helpful today in the Holy Ghost and through

the Word of God to show you what exactly we can

do because... As I talk, as I teach, as I preach,

you're going to, without doubt, imagine scenarios

in your own life, people that are not easy to

love. But John, he begins to hammer this point.

He hammers it by saying, if someone says, I love

God, which is something that I think we all say.

He says, if they say I love God and hate his

brother, he is a liar. Whew, that's heavy. That

is heavy stuff right there. Amen. Somebody say

that's heavy. And he is basically pointing out

one of the biggest contradictions, one of the

greatest contradictions in Christianity, which

is to love God. with your mouth while despising

your brother in your heart. That is perhaps one

of the greatest contradictions in the Christian

faith is to profess, I love you, God, while at

the same time holding active contempt, scorn,

animosity. or hate towards your brother in your

heart. So he hammers this point and he makes

things very black and white for us. I'm here

today to tell you that there's not a lot of gray

area in what John is writing and the things that

we're going to look at and cover today. And his

second statement hits equally hard. When he writes,

he who does not love his brother whom he has

seen, how can he love God? whom he has not seen.

Again, this is huge. Our love for God, the unseen,

the invisible God, he's saying, is authenticated

by our love for the visible and seen brother.

Now, I think this is key for us believers today

because what I have observed, this is just...

My anecdotal observation, this is what Pastor

Jacob has observed, not only in my ministry,

but just being a product of being in the church

for all of my life, I can tell you that what

I've observed is that Christians by and large,

maybe not you, but in general, have it in reverse,

what I am saying here, what John is saying. They

believe through either their actions or their

words that... That the authenticity of their

faith is found purely in their love for God.

They assume that their love for God proves that

they love others. That if I'm close, if I just

get closer to God, if I'm the closest one to

God, that validates that I am a loving person

in general to others. That proves something.

And what Scripture is saying is that if that's

how you think, you have it backwards. Your love

for God is validated by how you love your seen

brother. That flips our logic on its head because,

again, there is this idea that if I, as long

as I'm good with God, I'm good. You can't. Hold

to that view in your life. Live by that code

of conduct and not find yourself convicted at

some point by the word of God because Scripture

is teaching us that it's not enough just to say,

I love God. There is both a vertical responsibility

and a horizontal responsibility. We must love

God, as Jesus said, with all of our hearts. Amen?

You shall love the Lord your God with all your

heart, with all your soul, your strength, and

your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as

yourself. So it's not one or the other, it's

both. Amen. Now, all of this sounds great on

the surface. You're like, well, I, you know,

I don't object to that, maybe you're thinking.

Sounds great when you... Think about just loving

easy people. But the story is different when

it comes to loving cactus people. I didn't come

today to tell you how to love people you already

love. And you're not going to get any credit

for that either. The archangel is not going to

put a star next to your name in heaven because

you love loving people. You don't grow as a believer

that way. You don't grow as a disciple that way.

We grow and we are rewarded for how we love those

that are difficult, cactus people. So this is

a different story. And when you start to look

at it from that perspective, through those lenses,

what John is telling us, let's just be honest

here. Can we be honest? It almost sounds like

an impossible standard. Like, is God really going

to hold me to that standard? Is that really the

bar that is being set for me? It starts to feel

impossible. How do we reconcile these truths?

How do we reconcile these bold truths with loving

those difficult people? Well, today I'm going

to offer you some clarity on that, some peace

of mind, amen, on how to love those cactus people.

The first thing I want to impart to you today

is that and there's going to be three points

about love. Number one is that love doesn't require

comfort. Doesn't require comfort. God's not asking

you to feel comfortable about the people you

love. That's not even part of the equation. In

fact, it has nothing to do with how you feel.

God knows perfectly well that these commands

will put us in some real -life dilemmas. In situations

that make us emotionally uncomfortable. And God

gets all of that. And he understands all of that.

And he realizes that. God knows that these commands

are not easy to follow. But they are true. And

he expects us to do that. And he calls us to

do it. And you know, it's not unreasonable for

God. to expect us to do these things, because

if you and I are recipients of his perfect love,

if we, in our unlovable, unlikable state, found

God's love in our life, if we are all benefiting

from the love of God, how many of you know that

God loved us when we were unlovable? Come on,

amen, somebody. So how many of you know he loved

us? So in the mind of God, it's not easy, but

it's completely reasonable to expect that since

we have been freely loved in our unlovable state,

because we are on opposite ends of God, we are

everything that is not like God in our humanity.

Yet God still loved us. So nowhere did God ever

say that these things are easy. There's not an

easy button that you can push today. It's easy

to love God, of course, because God's perfect.

God's perfect in all his ways. But humans are

not. Amen. Humans are not perfect. Humans are

not God. Some think they are. Loving difficult

people is the litmus test of genuine Christianity.

It will test you. Amen. It will stretch you.

It will mature you. In fact, I am a firm believer

that most of the things that we ask God to mold,

to make, to develop in us, in our lives, in our

faith, I don't care how spiritual it is. God

uses people in our life to work those things

out. If you say, I want to grow in grace, and

God will send you somebody who's ungrateful.

I want to grow in patience. Be careful what you

ask for. God will put you around some impatient

people. Or things that test your patience. People

who test your patience. I want to be more forgiving.

Whoa. God's going to put people around you that

are going to hurt you, hurt your feelings and

offend you that you're going to have to forgive.

Almost every virtue in New Testament Christian

living is going to be developed, worked out in

the context of human relationships. Practically

everything. Except maybe your prayer life. And

even then that might get challenged in a human

relationship. But it's going to mature you. The

true measure of maturity is how you love when

things get uncomfortable. When they get complicated.

When they get tense. That is the true test of

maturity. How you love when it's not easy. Christians

mistakenly believe that the role of the Holy

Spirit called our comforter, is supposed to make

everything comfortable. Don't mistake the title

of him being the comforter as making everything

comfortable. That's not the role of the Holy

Spirit, to make everything comfortable, to make

loving people easy. The role of the Holy Spirit

is not to make loving people easy. It's to make

loving people possible. Never said it would be

easy, but it will be possible, doable, achievable.

You should be able to achieve some level of success

in doing that and trying. So this is what the

comforter does. It doesn't make things comfortable.

It makes it possible. It doesn't always remove

difficult people from our life. Thank God when

he does, but he doesn't always do that. So when

God doesn't remove a difficult person from your

life, then what is your option? The option must

be to change your response to that person. If

that person's gonna be in your life in one way

or another, if you can't avoid it, if you can't

get out from it, it's there, then that's an opportunity

for God, for the Holy Spirit to work, to mature,

to disciple you in a way That your response to

that situation, that person changes. You may

not be able to change that person. Oh, it's frustrating

when you try to change somebody who refuses to

change. Amen. You may not be able to change that

person. So when you can't change a person that

is hard to love, then you must change your response

to them. Amen. I hope this is going to help somebody

today. Amen. And maybe nobody's going to, you

know, run around the church today because of

this message, but trust me, you'll be running

in your heart later. Number two is that love,

this is another point of clarity. That's what

this message is today, is to clarify something.

Love doesn't equal agreement. I feel like I'm

really going to help somebody with this one.

Somebody say, help me. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul

lists the attributes of love. 1 Corinthians 13

is often called the love chapter. And he suggests

and lists all the attributes there, but he never

suggests that love ignores mistreatment or excuses

sin. Never in the attributes and the characteristics

of love is it ever implied that we are to overlook

wrong. Or excuse sin. He never implies that to

love somebody means to agree with their choices.

Or how those choices affect you. Some have this

flawed, skewed understanding that to love somebody

means that I have to agree with their choices.

To agree with what they're doing. To be on board.

To co -sign on their... lifestyle decisions,

to co -sign on what they're doing. That's not

what love is. Instead, he writes this in verse

4 of 1 Corinthians 13. Love suffers long and

is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade

itself. It is not puffed up, not proud. Does

not behave rudely. Does not seek its own. Is

not provoked. Thinks no evil. Thinks no evil.

Does not rejoice in iniquity. But rejoices in

the truth, bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures all things. Notice

something critical here. In the middle of Paul

describing to us how to be more patient and kind

and enduring, humble, he's telling us these things

about love. He stops there in the middle and

tells us that love does not rejoice in iniquity.

He says love doesn't rejoice in iniquity. In

other words, love doesn't celebrate wrongdoing.

It doesn't enable sin. It doesn't compromise

truth for the sake of convenience. Something

that we have to, as believers, understand. There

is a big difference between peacekeeping and

peacemaking. Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers.

Peacekeeping is the opposite of peacemaking because

what peacekeeping does is sometimes we will love

at the expense of truth, at the expense of, you

know, rocking the boat, so to speak. And so we

just sort of get along to go along or go along

to get along. And we don't want to disrupt and

we don't want to confront. And that's not what

true love is. If sin is being committed, then

it must be confronted. And if wrong is there,

then while we love and while we are being kind

and being, forbearing and enduring and believing,

we are to never compromise our moral and our

biblical standard. Amen, somebody. We're never

to put our convictions or the word of God to

the side because, well, I'm just, you know, I'm

supposed to love, so I've got to agree with what's

happening even if it's hurting me. So this is

how to liberate somebody today in a relationship,

in a situation, an area of your life where, You're

loving somebody or you're called to love someone

that is difficult to love. Oh, not just that.

You could talk about family members. You might

be thinking about a coworker. You might be thinking

about a neighbor. You might be thinking about

somebody in a social environment or someone that

you have to work with or you have to see on a

daily basis or whatever the case might be. It

might be a brother or sister in the church. And

what we're seeing here today is that we are not

to celebrate wrongdoing. But we are still to

be kind. We are still to be long -suffering.

We are not to envy. So do all those things, but

yet hold on to what is true. In Ephesians 4,

15, it tells us to speak the truth in love. Don't

be brash. Don't be snarky. Don't be in the flesh.

Don't be carnal. But speak it in love. Somebody

say in love. So that I may grow up in all things.

Amen. That means that truth must be wrapped in

love. But it still must be true. Proverbs 27,

6, faithful are the wounds of a friend. But the

kisses, watch out who's kissing you. Of the enemy

are deceitful. You got to be careful. What I

mean by kidding, I don't just mean physical.

Well, you got to watch out who's, you know, trying.

Hallelujah. But I mean, by kisses, it's not talking

about just a natural physical kiss. It's talking

about people who are constantly flattering you

and saying what you want to hear and never confronting

and never rocking the boat. There's a bit of

deceitfulness in that because they're probably

not telling you how they really feel. And maybe

they're not because in some way they're trying

to manipulate the relationship to continue to

get out of you what they need. And so if they

say something that's a bit off or it's a bit

in disagreement, that's on the opposite end.

There are myriad ways or types of manipulations

that go on as to why they wouldn't. But a true

friend, faithful are the wounds of a friend.

That doesn't mean a friend is just going to,

you know, hit you in the back of the head for

no reason. What it means is that they're going

to speak the truth. And you know, sometimes the

truth hurts. Sometimes the truth hurts. Love

hurts. But this is what we need in order to be

held accountable, in order to be kept honest,

in order to be confronted in a godly, God -fearing,

loving, Christian way. Amen, somebody. So thank

the Lord that we was of a friend in Romans. 12

.9, let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what

is evil. Cling to what is good. Something about

love is that love never loses its moral clarity.

Doesn't blur the lines between right and wrong.

It hates what is evil, but it also clings to

what heals. I'm going to cling to the good, but

I'm also going to hate what is wrong, what is

sinful at the same time. I'm going to love the

sinner, but I'm going to hate the sin that they're

committing in their life. I'm going to love the

person. I hate what they're doing. I hate how

they're treating me or how they're treating another

member of my family or how they're treating my

coworker or my colleague at work or how they're

treating my brother or my sister in the Lord.

But I hate what they're doing, but I'm going

to love them. Why? Because God calls me to love,

to hug cactus people. This is where people get

stuck right here. They assume that love means

blindly accepting whatever. what anyone says

or does. That's not what love is. Love does not

require agreement. And some of us may have been

struggling at one point or another in our life

to love somebody because we think, well, that

means I have to agree with what they're doing

or their lives or how they're treating me or

how they're treating others or just the situation

in general that I have to agree. No, you don't

have to necessarily agree, but you have to agree

to love them. You have to make up in your mind

to love them. It doesn't require agreement, but

it does require Christ -like character. You can

disagree without being divisive. Amen. You can

disagree without being rude. You can disagree.

You can correct without being condemning. You

can stand firm without stomping on top of somebody.

Stand your ground and still be respectful. Stand

your ground and still be loving, kind. and generous.

Now these things are not easy to do. Again, it's

not going to be easy. But someone here today

needs to know that love doesn't require, it doesn't

equal agreement. I don't have to agree with this

person in order to love them. I might have different

views. I might have different political views.

I might have different views on a lot of things

in life. You see, you call it red, I call it

black. There's going to be differences of opinion.

But can we still love? Can we still be the church?

Within the last, I don't know, maybe, or certainly

in the last four or five years, it's been disheartening

to see, even over things like politics, Brothers

and sisters falling out of communion with each

other. Being called less of a Christian because

you don't espouse to the same political view

that I do. Whether it's right, left, Democrat,

Republican. And it's got so toxic and hostile.

You can hardly say anything on Facebook or Instagram

or anywhere because automatically you get labeled

and then you get typecast and then that's it.

I've seen people lose relationships over that.

Stop talking. If that's how you, I can't be friends.

Even among family members. I feel like somebody

here today, you don't have to shout amen, but

even among family that gets difficult. Hello.

Some of you might have had a tense Thanksgiving

recently or tense Christmas. Like, man, I know

if they bring it up. up if they show me that

that clip or that meme I just might have to step

off the cross for a little bit and just give

them a piece of my mind no no no stay on the

cross keep carrying the cross don't take the

bait so you know what sometimes you have to love

somebody enough not to argue with them because

you know that in the end even if you win the

argument you might lose the person So these are

these moments where, thank God we have the Holy

Ghost. Hallelujah. Thank God we have the Holy

Ghost. And we've got to remind ourselves that

we are children of God. We can't get caught up

in those things. Now, that doesn't mean you ought

not to have an opinion, hold a view. You do that,

that's fine. There's going to be a variety. If

I take a survey here, we're going to have, you

know, 40, 50 different views on different things.

But let's remember that we are God's children.

And it's Christ. Someone say, it's Christ. It's

Christ that brings us together. So at the end

of the day, we might see things. There might

even be some minor issues in Scripture that we

don't see eye to eye on. Well, I interpret it

this way. I interpret it that way. Are we going

to fall out of communion based on how we interpret

something that may not even be a heaven or hell

issue? I tell you, there's brothers, I've got

friends that are in different places, in different

religious settings that we believe 99 % of the

same things. But there's possibly 1 % that we

don't see eye to eye on. And when those things

happen, what is my responsibility as a Christian?

Well, to maintain. If it's possible to maintain

community, do all that is within your... Amen.

To love. Number three is that love doesn't need.

I feel like this is going to help somebody right

here. Hallelujah. Love doesn't need proximity.

Somebody say amen. This is probably your one.

If there was one get out of jail free card, this

is it. You better take it. If you need it. If

there's one out clause, and it's not an out clause

from loving that person, it's just God's grace

in your own life to give you the wisdom on how

to manage these relationships. Whether in the

Gospels or the Epistles, emotional closeness,

just give me a few more moments, emotional closeness

is never implied in the command to love. God

said, look, I'm calling you to love, but he's

not telling us. that we are to feel a certain

thing. It's true that Jesus said to love your

enemies. Amen, somebody. You gotta love them.

Hopefully you don't have that many of them. But

notice he didn't say love your enemy. He said

enemies, plural. He said love your enemies. But

notice what he didn't say. He didn't say. become

best friends with your enemies. He didn't say

trust your enemies. He didn't say give your enemies

unrestricted access to your life. He didn't say

give them a key to your house. He didn't say

invite them on your next vacation with you. Oh,

Lord, hallelujah. I just gave somebody a nightmare

right now. Jesus, Lord, hallelujah. Trying to

escape from these people, Lord. Loving doesn't

mean surrendering your discernment. It doesn't

require closeness. It doesn't require all access.

My life, to love somebody doesn't mean that I

have to give them a backstage pass to my life

and open up the treasures of my heart to them.

No. That's not what loving your enemies or loving

cactus people is about. You got to be wise. Hit

me once, shame on you. Hit me twice, shame on.

I got to wise up. I got to sharpen my discernment

so that I don't put myself, because I also love

me. How many of you love you? Somebody say, I

love me. I love me. I love you. You got to love

yourself too much. Love yourself enough to avoid

putting yourself in situations where you know

you're going to get hurt. I love myself too much

to go over there and give that cactus a big bear

hug. Because I know that it's not going to be

received. I know that if I'm not wise, if I'm

not careful, if I'm not sober -minded and vigilant,

that I'm just asking for it. I'm asking for my

heart to be broken. I'm asking so I can love

this person. But I'm going to have to do it with

discernment. Because I also love me. And I also

love those that are closest to me. Amen. Because

not everyone has the best intentions. Hello.

In Jesus' own ministry, for those that might

not be totally convinced of what I'm saying,

there were levels of relationships. We see him

ministering to the crowds, right? To the masses.

We see him interacting with 70 disciples that

he sends out. And then he's got his 12 that have

exclusive access to his life, right? He's in

communion with them. And then among the 12, he's

got three. And only those three did he confide

in in a more intimate way. Peter, James, and

John. In the life of Christ, there are levels

of relationship. Now, he loved them all the same.

He didn't love the person standing out there

in the crowd less than he loved Peter, James,

and John. He loved them all the same, but he

didn't allow them to know him or he didn't connect

with him all the same. He didn't walk with him

all the same. He loved them all the same. He

loved them just like he loves you and me. But

there were levels. Oh, and what about Judas?

Judas was among the 12, but he wasn't among the

three. Even Jesus shows us the wisdom in relationships.

You're welcome to be a part of the 12. You're

still a member of the 12. But it's my right to

decide who's a member of the three. Because even

though I love you, Judas, I can't trust you.

Am I helping anybody today? God's not asking

you to trust everybody. He's asking you to love.

Jesus loved. You know how much Jesus loved Judas?

He washed his feet. I don't think he gave him

a pedicure. I don't think he massaged him, but

he washed him. He fed him at the table. He said,

you can eat with us. He even called him friend.

So I get ready to close here. He didn't exclude

him in those ways, but it was always, hear me,

it was always up to Judas. Because at any moment.

Maybe he could have gotten closer, but it was

his own issues in his life that kept him where

he was. He had a chance to repent. He had a chance

to get things right, but he did not. Jesus did

not get, even though he washed his feet, even

though he was a part of the 12, even though he

got a much closer view than even the crowds did,

he did not give Judas unlimited, unrestricted

access. Access to his life. John 2, 24 describes

how Jesus responded to a crowd who believed in

his miracles, but he kept them at arm's length.

He kept them at arm's length. I don't know if

musicians can come up. Kept them at arm's length.

It says, but Jesus on his part did not entrust

himself to them. Why? Because he knew all the

people. He loved them, but he didn't entrust

himself to them. They believed in his miracles.

Because they saw with their own eyes how he was

healing the sick and raising the dead. But he

did not entrust himself. That doesn't mean he

was cold. Doesn't mean he was unloving. You know

what that means? He was discerning. Jesus was

discerning. You can love someone, but sometimes

you have to love them from a distance. Hello,

somebody. I can't hug them. Well, you're going

to have to air hug them from afar. You can love

someone and still use wisdom. You can love someone

and still have boundaries. If someone doesn't

like your boundaries, that's their problem. That's

not yours. Use wisdom. You can love someone and

still guard your heart with all diligence. Why?

Because out of it flow the issues of life. I

invite you to stand with me at this hour. This

was the point in this series that I knew would

cause the rubber to hit the road. Because we

can celebrate and rejoice in many ways the love

of God shed abroad in our hearts. We can in many

ways understand that God's love is perfect and

cast out fear like we heard last Sunday. And

experience and benefit from the rich and the

depthness of his love. But hear me today, it's

all for naught. It all doesn't, it's not complete

until we can love our brother, until we can love

our sister, until we can love one another. And

that includes cactus people. I feel there's a

soberness to this message. This is sobering because

I don't, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I

don't think there's one person in here today

that can say, well, I don't have any. can relate

to this. And the hardest situations are those

that, you know, you can't easily just write off.

You know, in many ways, you're stuck with them.

Some way or another. They say you choose your

friends, but you're stuck with your family, so

maybe it's a family member. Maybe it's another

member of the body. Somebody in the church just

like, bring out the, you're rubbing me the wrong

way. Well, that's what a cactus feels like. And

until you deal with that, own it. Don't deflect.

Just need, you know, no, no, no, no, no. Just

don't deflect. Say, God, this is what I want

us to do right now. I want us to get real with

the Lord today. Say, God, I'm going to need your

help on this one. I'm going to need your help

on this one, God. No one said it's going to be

easy, but if you have the Holy Ghost today, if

you've got the Spirit of God, Remember, he's

love. If the spirit of God is in you, you've

got the spirit of love. You have what it takes.

It is possible to do it mindfully, wisely, but

authentically all at the same time. Oh, it's

possible to do that. But we're going to have

to get real with the Lord today. We're going

to say, God, help me, Lord. I'm going to need

help in this one, God. I can't do this one on

my own. This is going to be my cross to bear.

This is going to be my issue. This is going to

be something, God, that I have to do. Right there

where you are, I'm going to invite you to close

your eyes, and we're going to pray together.

I just feel this in the Spirit of God. I understand.

I knew very well the nature of this message today.

I am not in any way surprised or what someone

might feel or be thinking in their heart today,

the response. This message doesn't need a response.

a bunctious response. What it needs is transparency.

What it needs is a willingness on the part of

every member and every person in this place today

that's willing to let the Holy Spirit, the Word

of God, search your heart. Search me, O God.

Search me, O God, and see if there be any wicked

way in me and lead me to the way. everlasting,

God. Search me and know my anxieties, God. Know

the anxiousness that I am feeling right now,

God, about loving that difficult person in my

life or in my world or in my walk, God. I need

your help today, Lord. I need your help, Lord.

Because, Lord, I want my peace back, God. Some

of you, your peace is all upside down. You haven't

been yourself lately because of this very thing

that I'm talking about. And you've been trying

to sort it out on your own. You've been trying

to make sense of it. You've been trying to figure

out how it is that you can move forward and love

this person or love that group and still maintain

your testimony and maintain your peace of mind

and maintain your membership and maintain all

of these things. But God is here to help you.

Pray right now. Father, we come before you today,

Lord. We thank you. Come on. I'm going to help.

God's here to help. Hallelujah. One day, God,

we were the cactus. Sin is likened unto a thorn,

God. And one day, we were a cactus, God. We were

so untouchable, unlovable, prickly, and sharp

-edged, God. was us and sometimes we are like

that now and yet god you accept us and you loved

us god with an everlasting love god you demonstrated

your love towards us god in this way ah god it

wasn't about emotion or feeling god it was agape

love it was selfless sacrificial love lord that

you gave to us god so we're standing as cactus

who have been embraced by a perfect god i'm a

cactus god i am i am i'm hard to love sometimes

god but you love me anyhow so lord i pray god

that with every person in my life that's got

sharp edges god sharp views that that that bother

me sharp ways, God, that disagree with me. Sharp

attitudes and sharp answers and sharp personalities

and temperament and sharp anger and sharpness,

God, that are hard, Lord. I pray today, God,

that with the same love that you loved me, God,

you would also help me to love my enemies and

to love those that are difficult to love, God.

To love those that are hard to love. To love

those, God, that offend me. To turn the other

cheek, God. Oh, God, when I'm persecuted, God,

when I'm, Lord, when I'm criticized, that's all

right, God. Oh, help me, God, to forgive them

for they know not what they do, God. They don't

know, God, that they're hurting themselves more

than they're hurting me. I'm going to love them,

God. Oh, God, help me today, Jesus, to show that

kind of love, God, to be, Lord. an authentic

believer, God, to be a true disciple of Jesus

Christ, known by how I love one of us. God, help

me today. Come on, why don't we just pray that

this afternoon, Father? Hallelujah! peace in

this place right now. Pastor, you're telling

me that they're going to be a different person

tomorrow? No. No, no, no, no. They're still going

to be a cactus on Monday, probably. But you have

been empowered to love. Do it wisely. Do it with

discernment. Don't ever, don't ever, don't ever,

Throw yourself in front of the bus, you know,

like don't kill yourself over it, but do it with

the wisdom of God. You're going to see that God's

going to help you. Amen. Church, give God a hand

of praise. Listen, next, we are building in this

church a culture of love. this church that need

love. Amen. They need love. And they're not going

to always agree. We're not always going to, it's

going to be a different, people talk about growth,

but they don't talk about the complications and

the responsibilities and the problems that could

arise with growth of different people. Amen.

But if we learn to love those cactus people,

hallelujah, I believe God's going to give us

a greater harvest. God's going to do greater

things.