"THE GREATEST OF THESE IS--LOVE!"--NOT PRIDE!    DFO1371          1969
--From the Early Days of the Family at Camp Laurentide, Canada.

         1. IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE YOURSELF AS OTHERS SEE YOU. I had to listen to a very frank rundown on us last night. Sometimes in order to get to witness, you have to be witnessed unto by the Devil! This man's principal & major objection was, "You're following Jeremiah more than Jesus! Your principal message is not the Love of Jesus, but the damnation, Hell-fire & brimstone of Jeremiah!"
         2. I CONFESS I DO TEND TO GET A LITTLE BIT VIOLENT WHEN I THINK OF THE FALSE SYSTEM FROM WHICH I CAME, which, like the Psalmist David, I believe I hate with a perfect hatred (Ps.139:22)--because it is a lie & a delusion & a deceit, & is damning souls to Hell when it ought to be saving them!
         3. I DON'T THINK YOU CAN EVER FIND THAT CHRIST HIMSELF MANIFESTED MUCH LOVE FOR THE SCRIBES, THE PHARISEES, THE HYPOCRITES! He never had a complimentary word to say about them!--Nothing but criticism & practically curses! But I told this party, that's only one facet of our ministry. I said, "You only heard the 23rd Chapter of Matthew, so to speak. There are a lot of other chapters in the Book!" And while Jesus cursed the Pharisees, He was sweet as honey with the common people, the whore, the drunk, the publican, the sinner.
         4. ARE YOU REALLY SHOWING THE SWEET LOVE OF JESUS? Do you use sweetness & love with the poor lost sinner, the publican, the drunk, the harlot? Remember that those horrible condemnations both of Jeremiah & Jesus were primarily upon those who knew better, & who had the light & had rejected it!
         5. IS IT TRUE THAT YOU ACT MORE LIKE JEREMIAH THAN JESUS? Is it true that you manifest the hell & damnation of Jeremiah more than you do the sweet "Come unto Me, all ye that labour & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest"? (Mt.11:28-30) And how much have you manifested the weeping side of Jeremiah?--How much have you wept over them?
         6. OF COURSE, ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE GOSPELS YOU WILL FIND TIME & AGAIN A SLAM AT THE PHARISAICAL SYSTEM, the Jewish church of His day. But don't forget that was just for the Scribes & the Pharisees, the hypocrites, the false leaders, the false church people, those that ought to have known better!
         7. DON'T FORGET: GOD IS LOVE! (1Jn.4:8) He's also a consuming fire (He.12:29), but if God is anything, He is Love & Mercy, as well as justice! So don't forget to preach the Love of Jesus!

         8. I FELT SORRY FOR THIS POOR MAN I WAS WITNESSING TO! I wept over him when God first showed me what was wrong with him--A man hurt by someone else, he became embittered, disillusioned & hardened! You know, trials can either melt you or harden you! So watch out they don't harden you & make you bitter & hateful, as they do when you harden your heart against God in pride. But if you let them humble you & melt you & make you become nothing, you'll be a lot happier!--You'll find the Love of Jesus.
         9. ONE OF THE MOST TRAGIC PICTURES IN ALL HUMAN LIFE IS THE PICTURE OF THE MAN WHO SAYS, "I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY FATE, the Master of my soul, my head is bloody but unbowed!" If the clay is soft & malleable it can be molded into a beautiful vessel. But if it hardens & becomes brittle, it can only break & become crushed in the hands of the Potter! (Jer.18:6)
         10. GOD ONLY USES MELTED OR BROKEN PEOPLE, BROKEN LIVES,
BROKEN HEARTS, BECAUSE ONLY A MELTED OR BROKEN HEART GIVES YOU LOVE & COMPASSION FOR OTHERS! Only yieldedness can give you humility. Unless God is able to melt or break your spirit, you can never be useful to the Lord! If you have a proud & a haughty spirit, a selfish spirit, a spirit which is unyielding & unbending & unsurrendered, you can never be used by the Lord!--But He does use hearts melted in love

         11. IF YOU SHOW A REAL LOVE FOR PEOPLE, YOU WON'T HAVE A HARD TIME WINNING FRIENDS with real love, winning the lost who need love! Love begets love! And did you know that Wisdom is Love?--Because God is Wisdom, but He's also Love! And what is the greatest commandment?--To love God! What is the next greatest?--To love thy neighbour as thyself! He said that's like unto the first one. (Mt.22:37-39)
         12. "AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE!" (1Co.13:13) Love was above all the gifts outlined in 1Co.13, greater than any gift--because God is Love! If the baptism of the Holy Spirit is anything, it is a baptism of love! It doesn't matter whether you "speak with the tongues of men & angels, if you have not love, you become as sounding brass & a tinkling cymbal." (1Co.13.1) "Though you understand all mysteries & all prophecies & have faith to remove mountains, if you don't have love you're nothing!" (1Co.13:2)
         13. "AND THOUGH YOU HAVE A GREAT SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE"--you have forsaken all to follow Jesus--"& have not love, it profiteth you nothing!" (1Co.13:3) If you did it in vain glory, self-glory, to brag about it, & you didn't do it because you love lost souls & want to see'm won to Christ, it profits you nothing!
         14. "ABOVE ALL, HAVE FERVENT LOVE ONE TOWARD ANOTHER!" (1Pe.4:8) "Love one another!" (Jn.15:12) In Jesus' last message to His disciples at the Last Supper, what did He tell'm? He talked about Love, that Love was the most important thing! (See Jn.13:1-17.) So have love! PTL! TYJ! ILY!--Do you?