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Guest (Male): The test of love: serving the least as serving Christ. Let's talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew: This is Key Life. We're here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Jerry Parries has been teaching us all week. Jerry serves as pastor at Christian Family Worship Center House of Grace, and he's the author of *The Making of a Blended Family*.

Jerry Parries: Thank you, Matthew. Jeremy, this is our last day. Oh man, I am telling you, I have happened to love coming into Key Life during these sessions and teaching. Listen, if you tuned in expecting to hear Dr. Steve Brown, that old man full of wisdom, he has graciously allowed me to take over this week and it has been a blast. And I want to thank Dr. Brown for giving me this opportunity to do so.

Listen, before I get started, every time I teach, I like to make a confession over our lives. So I want you to make this confession with me. But before we do that, let me tell you who I am. I am Jerry Q. Parries, and I am one of the voices of Key Life. Well, listen, let's make a confession over our lives.

Repeat this after me because I believe death and life is in the power of the tongue. And so as you begin to confess this over your life, God will begin to honor that. Say this: "The favor of God is over my life. God is 100% pleased with me because of Jesus Christ. God is able to make all grace abound towards me. Amen."

Well, it shall happen, and I believe that it will for you. Well, today, I've been talking all week about the unveiling, unveiling the extraordinary power of Jesus' love. And here's what the Bible says. The Bible says, "By this you shall know that you are My disciples, when you have shown love one towards another."

I have been talking all week that there's something happening in the body of Christ, or should I say in the Christian world, that it seems like we are starting to turn on each other instead of love on each other. And the Lord just laid on my heart to really teach about the real love of Jesus Christ and the extraordinary power of Jesus' love.

And so my topic of today was serving the least as serving Christ. And so we often hear about loving others, but I haven't really spoken about this much this week, but I want to talk about how loving ourselves is just as important. When we embrace self-love in the biblical text, we recognize our worth as children of God, crafted in His image. We are made in the image of God.

So loving ourselves allows us to live authentically, embracing both our strengths and our weaknesses. There's some areas in our lives that we're strong; there's some areas in our lives that we're weak. But when we're weak in some areas of love, don't make excuses for it. Just ask God to create in you a clean heart and renew within you a right spirit so that you can do things God's way.

Sometimes people say, "Well, that's just the way I am. I've been like this all of my life." Well, if it's not like what Jesus would have you to be, you're in the new life. "If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature." So I don't want you to focus on your old life. I want you to focus on the new life that you have with Jesus.

It's through this lens of love and acceptance that we can genuinely share joy and kindness with others that are around us. So I want to jump into the scripture because this is one of my favorite scriptures in Matthew, the 25th chapter, 41st verse. As I was telling Jeremy between the breaks, sometimes the Word of God is tough.

It's easy to do those scriptures that we like. But the scriptures that we don't like, man, it can be tough. But if you're going to be—it's almost like your children. Your children don't mind when you say, "Hey, I'm going to give you $30 to go to the store and buy all the candy you want." They say, "Absolutely, great Dad, great Mom."

Then you tell them, "I want you to clean your room and clean the dishes before I get home." You're the same person that's giving the information, but they don't like it when it requires them to do something. And so it is in the Word of God. We don't like it when it requires us to do something, but we love it when God is passing out those blessings.

Man, I love God when He's passing out blessings, but when He's instructing us to walk like Him, to act like Him, to do the hard things, we don't like it. I preached a message years ago: "Just because it's God doesn't mean it's easy." And sometimes God tells you to do some things that are not easy.

So let me read Matthew 25th: "Then He will say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' Why are You going to do that, Lord? Verse 42 tells you: 'For when I was hungry, you gave Me no food; when I was thirsty, you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you didn't even take Me in; naked and you didn't clothe Me; sick and in prison and you didn't visit Me.'"

Then they are going to say to Him and answer Him saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn't minister to You? When did that happen? I never saw You doing this." And then Jesus is going to say, "Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you have done it unto Me."

Oh, my goodness. That means that the way you treat people and the way you treat God's children is the way that you treat Him. Wouldn't this world be a much better place if we all looked at a person and said, "There goes Jesus," and then say, "I want to see how I'm going to treat Him because now I am treating Jesus in exchange for him."

He gets the benefit, but God gets the glory. Man, that was good. I think I better write that down. He gets the benefit, or she gets the benefit, but God gets the glory. You know, there's times that I see people on the street regardless of their color, creed, nationality, and they have a sign saying they're hungry.

I don't often give money, but if I'm next to McDonald's or Wendy's, I roll down the window and say, "What do you want to eat?" And you know why? Because I look at them and I say, "I'm getting ready to feed Jesus because the Bible says when I've done it unto the least of these, I've done it unto Him."

And so when you realize that the people that you are interacting with are connected to your Daddy, that is a part of your family, that's a part of the human race whom God loves, you start talking differently. I don't think you want to cuss Jesus out, do you? I don't think you want to talk bad to Jesus because the Bible says when you've done it to the least of these, you've done it unto Me.

And so First John 15:9 says, "I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. So remain in My love. When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love, just as I obeyed My Father's commandments"—this is verse 10—"and remain in His love. I have told you these things so that your joy would be full. Yes, your joy will overflow."

Verse 12, and I'm ending my week with this: "This is My commandment, not a suggestion." This is not something that He's just thrown out. He says, "This is My commandment." This is a commandment from God Himself. "Love each other in the same way I have loved you." Man, God increase my faith.

Remember when Peter was talking to Jesus? He said, "Jesus, how often should I forgive my brother who sins against me? Seven times?" Jesus said, "No. You should forgive him 70 times seven in one day." That's 490 times in a day. Peter said, "Jesus, Jesus, increase my faith."

Well, when He says in verse 12, "This is the commandment, love each other in the same way that I have loved you," God increase my faith. Some things are just impossible to be able to do. God, I fall short in so many areas of my life, but I need you to help me to achieve this. And when I fall short, don't let me make an excuse; let me make a prayer.

Create in me a clean heart and renew within me a right spirit. God, I don't want to be hateful. I don't want to be counterproductive to what it is that you're trying to achieve in the earth realm. I want to team up with heaven, and I want to love people the way you love them, regardless of their color, regardless of their creed, regardless of who they are.

I want to love them because Jesus is love. And when I realize that, I'm going to do as verse 12 says: "This commandment, love each other in the same way I have loved you." So I challenge you this week. I challenge you to go out and love somebody, even those that you don't really like.

Take that out of your vocabulary and begin to love people the way Jesus has loved you. And if you do that, you will find the extraordinary, the extraordinary power of Jesus' love. Thank you, Dr. Steve Brown. If he was here, you know what he would tell you? And he is the doctor. He's the guy that knows how to do it. He would say to you, "You think about that." And that's what I want you to do today. I want you to think about that. Amen.

Matthew: And thank you, Jerry. That was Jerry Parries wrapping up a special week of teaching called "Unveiling the Extraordinary Power of Jesus' Love." I trust it blessed you. And do join us again tomorrow for Friday Q&A with Steve and Pete. On tap: a question about how we can honor God with our work. I hope you'll join us.

Well, in case you didn't know, in addition to this radio show, we have a talk radio program called *Steve Brown, Etc.* And recently on that show, we spoke with author Drew Hensley about "invisible grief." That's a phrase he coined to describe the pain of losing what never was—things like a miscarriage, singleness, or an unrealized dream. It's a kind of sorrow that often goes overlooked.

If you or someone you know has ever experienced that invisible grief, I think you will appreciate that conversation. We'll send it to you for free on CD. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at steve@keylife.org to order that CD, or go to keylife.org/contact for our mailing addresses. Again, ask for the CD featuring Drew Hensley.

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