Agape Love -text ESV 3-18-2019
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AGAPE LOVE: the opposite of sin
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(English Standard Version, ESV)
This lesson is 18 pages long, read all of 1 Cor. chapters 12-13 before starting
This is the difference between regular Christians and real no-joke Christians.
1. Where the Power to “Agape” Love comes from:

      All of the gifts of the Spirit are supernaturally given to you by God. You cannot learn these gifts on your own. If you do not seek them, you will never find them. If you do not knock on God’s door, looking for them, you will never obtain them (Matt. 7:7). While there are fakers, the real gifts only come from God. These gifts teach us all about learning to yield to God’s will and this yielding to God’s will will lead you to the walk in love.

I Corinthians 12:28-31 (esv), 28. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29.Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30.Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31. Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (esv), The Way of Love
1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3.If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4.Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5.or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6.it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7.Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8.Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9.For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10.but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11.When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12.For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13.So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

      In 1 Cor. 13, Love Is Indispensable, and yet I will show you the most excellent way.
When you were young you learned to ride a tricycle, then you learned to ride a bicycle. Did you forget how to ride the tricycle? No. You just learned a better way. The Gifts of the Spirit teach you the basics of yielding to the will of the Spirit of God. They take you out of your comfort zone. They make you a better, more yielded, loving tool for God to use.
Agape love is the Greek new testament words for Supernatural God anointed Love. Agape Love is the God filled anointing of Love that displays righteousness, compassion, power, and all of the Christ like characteristics that the world could never understand. In the King James bible it is sometimes referred to as Charity. Agape is the perfected mature love that fills us with the inward peace and outward appearance of the presences of God. After all, isn't God the difference between believers and non-believers. (John 15: 1-17, 26-27 and John 14: 10-18)

Matthew 22: 37-40 (esv), 37.And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38.This is the great and first commandment. 39.And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40.On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Galatians 5: 22-26 (esv), 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23.gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24.And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25.If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26.Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
(Love is Longsuffering, gentleness, etc.; Romans 5: 5, & 13: 8-10, & 1 Cor. 8: 1-3)

      They are not simply talking about operating in the gifts of the Spirit and love occasionally. This is a total Love walk, 24-7. There are some people who do operate in this occasionally but God wants you to completely sell out to Christ, no hold barred. Christ is encouraging us to go all in. Loves' warfare with sin is continuous in a Christian life. The flesh constantly fighting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh both vying for control of your life.

Galatians 6: 8-10 (esv), 8. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9.And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10.So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6: 16-18 (esv), 16. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. 17.From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18.The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

      Truer words could not have been written to describe the love walk we share with Christ. The love walk with Christ is born as a fruit of the Spirit, not of the flesh. These two realms or forces never mix, light never has fellowship with darkness nor does sin and deaths ever mix with life and the Spirit. Both cases are exact opposites. Have you noticed how many times the Word talks about operating in the Spirit and operating in Love in the same verse? Learning to operate in the Gifts of the Spirit are required to fully understand and fully operate in Agape Love.

1 Corinthians 12: 31 (esv), 31. But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 (esv), 1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13: 13 (esv), 13. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Galatians 5: 14-17 (esv), 14. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Keep in Step with the Spirit
16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. For "these are contrary" the one against the other.

      The Flesh attacking (lusteth against) the Spirit to stop it from doing the things it would or from manifesting itself in the fullest way possible. There are two ways to stop sinning, one is to fight the battle in your mind and try to control your flesh with your will, or you can make a determined decision to operate in love (Jesus Christ) by yielding to the Spirit.

Romans 6: 23 (esv), 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Note:
1. The fruit of the Spirit is the anointing of agape love. (Gal.5:22)
2. The fruit of agape love is life. (Gal. 6:8)
3. The fruit of the flesh is sin. (Gal. 6:8)
4. The fruit of sin is death. (Romans 6: 16)

     The flesh fights against the Spirit in order to bring on spiritual death. But your will, to serve God or not, makes the difference. If you want to serve God then you "will" not to yield to the lust (driving force or pressure of the flesh.)

Romans 6: 16 (esv), 16. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (also 2 Cor. 10: 5)

     Agape love makes you aware of your righteousness, not of your sin, because it is an anointing from God.
(Mark 5: 16-21, 2 Tim. 2: 1-26)
     There are five major ways or types of attacks the devil will use on your mind (flesh) to get you to fall: affliction, persecution, cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things. Each of them leads to sin if you yield to them. You will not be successful unless you make a quality decision for Christ. (Mark 4: 1-20; Luke 8: 1-15; Romans 12:21; 1 John 4:4; Isa. 54:14-15)

Mark 4: 14-19 (esv), 14.The sower sows the word.
15. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19. but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. (Romans 10:8-17)

     You will never walk this walk without first making a quality decision for Christ to actually walk the walk, not just talk the talk. (Romans 12:21, 1 John 4: 4, Isa. 54: 14-15, Romans 10: 8-17)
     There is a saying in Astronomy, “Incredible claims require incredible proofs.” What does your life show about you. Satan may try these tricks on us, but God gave us a stronger weapon to defeat him with "Jesus", after all God is Love. When God gave his son for us, he gave us his love full and uncompromised -TOTAL LOVE.

1 Corinthians 13: 1-8 (esv),The Way of Love
1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5. or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6. it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

     To love in darkness is halfhearted, partial, seeking gain in return for your love. It's worldly love. Agape love is all of Godly parts together at the same time - nothing missing. All of our actions can be tested against this definition. If anything we do fails even one part of the Love definition, we have sinned. We may be walking in something that looks like the God kind of love, but it's only a figure or a form of God's kind of love. Never the fullness of the kind of love God would have you to walk in, AGAPE LOVE. Agape love is love unconditional (2 Cor. 6:6), love without respect to person or place or time or condition, always the same, never changing, never the worldly kind of love.

2 Corinthians 6: 14-18 (esv) The Temple of the Living God
14. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15. What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16. What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18. and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

     To love in darkness is halfhearted, partial, seeking gain in return for your love. It's worldly love.

2. God's interactive love

John 14: 15-17 (esv) Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17. even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14: 23-24 (esv), 23. Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. (Love teaches the basics of operating in the anointing of the Spirit)

     Agapao (ag-ap-ah'-o) is the Greek word for the love of your heart, whatever condition it is in. In Christians, it's the Love that comes from a new recreated God filled heart and grows up and becomes agape love at full Christian maturity. When God operates in Agapao love He reaches out to us in a compassionate or social form of the word Agapao (Matt.7:7-11). Gods' Agapao love for us comes from the fact that Jesus has suffered in the flesh all of the things that we suffer today. He has truly been there and He does understand the torment and fleshly pressure that we go through. Believers operate Agapao love out of the abundance of their new recreated heart which acknowledges that baby Christian love still needs to grow and mature to become perfect. He still needs to renew his mind and bring his flesh under control. Walking in (agape)love is the result of fellowshipping or interacting with the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost that abide (live) in you on a constant basis. This constant interaction with God and His Word are essential to walking a perfect walk with God. Sinners can also operate in Agapao Love out of the fullness of their hardened heart. That can be seen in Luke 6: 32, 45; 1 John 2:15-16, and Luke 11: 43.
     A double minded person is a person that bounces back and forth between Agapao love and the flesh, Spirit filled love and sin. Never establishing or committing themselves completely, to walk in God's love or any other part of God's word.

James 1: 7-8 (esv) 7. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8. he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1: 12-18 (esv), 12. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 16. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
James 2:1-13 (esv), The Sin of Partiality
1. My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3. and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4. have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5. Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6. But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7. Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 8. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (Mercy is the opposite of judgment. Mercy is reserved for those who walk in love, and judgment for those who walk in sin.)

     This is the record that God gave of his Son, that Jesus came to give us life, and to give us life more abundant. Pray with me now and fill your life with Life.
     Father, I do believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and that he was raised the third day. Lord, I pray that you would forgive me of my sins for I forgive all those that have sinned against me. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and guide me, fill me with your Holy Spirit, give me the strength to withstand anything the Devil can throw at me, and mold me into what you would have me to be, I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
Congratulations you are now a new creature in Christ! Well done!

3. Love and Corruption

     Simon Peter is probably the best example of a troubled love walk in the New Testament. He had some of the most glaring successes and failures in the New Testament. He shows us the successes that come with walking in love, and the failures that come from the flesh.

John 15: 7 (esv), 7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ("if" indicates uncertainty, do you live in Christ?)
John 16: 1 (esv), 1. “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

     Jesus warned us of the five kinds of attacks that we can expect so stand ready to defend yourself with the word. Remember we covered Mark 4: 16-20 earlier.

     Peter's successes covered a multitude of things in his life. Some of which are shown in Acts chapters 3-4-5. We see him heal the man that was lame from birth, teach salvation to the Jews, become imprisoned with John, and confront Ananias and Sapphira, giving glory to God at every corner, but He also had his problems. Regular people have problems also, but it's how you handle them that count. Do you handle them in love or in the corruption of the flesh? Peter tried both ways in the confronting of his problems and came back to love every time. Remember Love (Jesus) never fails. Love never failed for Jesus and it will never fail for you!

4. Love and Prayer

     Love is an essential ingredient for prayer. Love supplies the communication or Love line with God. The Love line activates your faith and gets things done while sin breaks this line of communication. Remember sin is the opposite of scriptural agape Love and has no fellowship with it. (1 John 3: 18-24; James 1: all; Romans 8: 11-17; Heb. 12: 2-17, and 2 Tim. 3: 1-17) Note: There is no connection or fellowship between the love walk and the sin walk. You are either operating in one or the other. (Isaiah 59: 1-2)
     The recreated spirit is a love filled and powered spirit. Your old spirit was a sin filled and dead spirit. You lose your old sinful spirit at salvation. Salvation is when you should start renewing your mind by feeding it the word of God. Your mind and your will are part of your soul. As you renew your mind by feeding it the word, you bring yourself, your will in line with God. You change your will to God's will. As long as you WILL to operate in love, and yield to the spirit of God, you can have what you say. Operating in the flesh or sin disconnects your love communication line. Repentance reconnects you. The time you spend in sin is lost.
     God cannot act in your behalf while you operate in sin. Remember, God will never leave you, but you can leave him. It is all a matter of your WILL. Also read 1 Cor. 3: 12-17.

Jude: 17-25 (esv), A Call to Persevere
17. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. (God doesn't separate them. They do it themselves by operating in their will not Gods' will.) 20. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, (and you're the one that decides to take the time to pray in the Spirit.) 21. (you) keep yourselves in the (agape) love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. (keeping yourself in the love of God is your decision. You're the one that decides that you're going to walk in love, not God.) 22. And have mercy on those who doubt; 23. save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Doxology 24. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25. to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

5. Love is knowing God loves you.

1 John 4: 5-18 (esv), 5. (also Colossians 3:14-16) 5. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
God Is Love
7. Beloved, let us (Agapao) love one another, for (agape) love is from God, and whoever (Agapao) loves has been born of God and knows God. 8. Anyone who does not (Agapao) love does not know God, because God is (agape) love. 9. In this the (agape) love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10. In this is (agape) love, not that we have (Agapao) loved God but that he (Agapao) loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11. Beloved, if God so (Agapao) loved us, we also ought to (Agapao) love one another. 12. No one has ever seen God; if we (agape) love one another, God abides in us and his (Agapao) love is perfected (or matured) in us. 13. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, (1) because he has given us of his Spirit. (This is how the Spirit tells us that we are saved) 14. (2) And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16. (3) So we have come to know and to believe the (agape) love that God has for us. God is (agape) love, (4) and whoever abides in (agape) love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17. (5) By this is (agape) love perfected (or mature) with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is (now) so also are we (to be now) in this world (Victorious, with the enemy totally defeated, continually pulling the lost up out of the depths of sin and sorrow.). 18. (6) There is no fear in (agape) love, but perfect (agape) love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, (God tempts no man) and whoever fears has not been perfected in (the agape Love, anointed personality of God) love. (How can God Agapao Love us? Because He has suffered in the flesh all of the things that we suffered. He has been there. He does understand what we are going through and we should understand what other people are going through because we have been there and have suffered too.)

6. Faith works or is powered by this anointing of Agape Love

James 2: 15-17 (esv), 15. If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16. and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17. So also faith by itself, if it does not have works (of love), is dead.

     Love reaches out in the form of compassion to meet the needs of others. The works that are done for works sake are dead, the faith that really works comes from love. (Galatians 5:4-6) Christ, our example, continually reached out to others in Love and healing.

Galatians 5:4-7 (esv), 4. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law (works); you have fallen away from grace. 5. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision (works) nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (the word "worketh" means: energizer) 7. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
1 Peter 1:3-11 (esv), Born Again to a Living Hope
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4. to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5. who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7. so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9. obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11. inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

     The door is now open for you to change your life. The moment is now at hand. Please take this moment to pray with me and change your life into something good. What does it mean to be saved? It means that in your heart you know, that you know, that you know, that Christ is alive and living in you. But that all starts with believing and confessing that Christ is real and inviting Him into your life. Please pray with me now. Confessing Christ with your mouth.
     Heavenly Father, I pray that you would forgive me of my sins and I forgive all those who have sinned against me. Father, I open my heart and invite Jesus into my life, and turn my life over to Him in Love. Fill me with your Spirit, lead and guide me in the path that you would have me to take in Jesus name I pray amen.
     For those of you who have really prayed this prayer with your heart, Christ says you are a new creature, all of your old sins are wiped away, all things are new in Christ! Congratulations! Now you need to start praying that God will show you a Good church to go to, so be receptive to the leading of your heart, not your mind, and go to church.

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And remember, Jesus loves you!
AGAPE LOVE: the opposite of sin (esv)
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(written about 1977 and updated several times)
March 19, 2019
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