—A Lesson of Love for FFers!Tenerife, 21/7/76DFO1468

1. I WAS THINKING, MY LORD, AFTER ALL MARIA HAS DONE FOR HIM, & Lord, after all You've done for him, it looks to me like he just really isn't worth it! What good has it done? It's not worth it—considering all we have done for him & the sacrifices that we have made & the unselfishness that we have shown & the love that we have given, all for nothing! He was just belittling her love! I was so discouraged & so fed up with that guy & all we've done & he hardly says thank you or shows any appreciation!

2. HE'S TRYING TO RESIST THE CONVICTION BECAUSE HE DOESN'T WANT TO GET INVOLVED, since he knows it's getting involved with the Lord. He was hardening his heart again, & it's against the Lord's Love they're hardening their heart. They're under conviction & they don't like that power, that control that you have over them, they're kicking against the pricks! Like they said about Paul, "kicking against the pricks," like the ox kicking against the ox goad. (Ac.9:5.)

3. THE PICTURE COMES TO ME NOW ABOUT THE OX KICKING AGAINST THE GOAD, the ox goad, the sharp stick that the farmer uses to prod the ox with if it won't move. There's a lot in that picture! Number one‚ it symbolises plowing, it symbolises God's service, the plow symbolises service, it symbolises farming‚ in fact. If you're plowing why do you plow? So you can plant seeds‚ right? Everytime you fuck your woman you're plowing & you're planting seeds.

4. BUT THE OX IS GOADED WITH THIS SHARP STICK CALLED AN OX GOAD BY WHOM?—THE FARMER, RIGHT? Now who's the biggest & who's the most powerful according to the natural looks of things? The ox is many times as big as the man & much more powerful & much more dangerous, in a way—that's why they get the ox to pull the plow.

5. BUT WHO REALLY HAS THE MOST POWER?—Not the same kind of power‚ not just the power of the flesh, the power of the muscles & the weight of the ox. Where does the farmer have his power?—In his brains, sort of like by the Spirit, & the ox goad.

6. THE OX GOAD IS A SHARP POINTED STICK THAT HE PUNCHES INTO THE REAR OF THE OX TO MAKE IT MOVE. Now what is the goad a symbol of, something sharp? The Word again. What is it that pricks their consciences? What is it that pricks their hearts? What is it that cuts them to the heart?—The Word! In whose hand? Who's the Farmer? Well, in a way the Farmer's really God & you're the hand, in a sense, you're His hand that He's using. You're a member of His body, right? And the Word in your hand really pricks them.

7. DO YOU THINK IT HURTS? It hurts so much that if they're stubborn & won't move, if your poke them once with the Word & the ox wont' move, what do you do? Poke them again! Still won't move, what do you do? Keep poking & poking! (Maria: I gave him all six pages of pokes! One Scripture after the other.) He isn't done with his pokes yet, he's reading them probably today!

8. SO IF THEY REFUSE TO MOVE AND DON'T WANT TO MOVE, THEY GET REAL REBELLIOUS & WHAT DO THEY DO? Do they just stand there & take it? They kick back! Right? So if you keep on poking that stubborn ox enough with that goad & he's real stubborn & will not go & refuses to go the way you want him to go, he's apt to kick back! He kicks back at you!

9. LAST NIGHT JUAN MANUEL WAS KICKING BACK AT MARIA, making slighting & insulting insinuations & remarks. In other words, what he was really saying, "What are you doing preaching to me when here you're sinning along with me? The Bible again! More Bible now! Now we're going to have some more sermons!" Kick! Kick! Kick! Kick!

10. OUR DEAR FRIEND LAST NIGHT WAS KICKING AGAINST THE PRICKS & I got so disgusted when she told me about it this morning I thought to myself, "What's the use of you wasting all this time & female flesh & energy & love & everything else on these guys when they don't appreciate it any more than that? What good is it, what good does it do?"

11. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE LORD TOLD ME? Have you got a Bible handy? I don't even know if all of these are in that verse‚ but just as clear as I ever heard the voice of the Lord in any Scripture—& I haven't gotten this one in a long time for anybody hardly—but this is the way it came to me, before I look in the Bible. I don't know what it says here but this is the way it came:

12. "LOVE", IN OTHER WORDS, REAL LOVE, "BELIEVETH ALL THINGS‚ beareth all things, hopeth all things & taketh no account of evil. Love suffereth long & is kind." Now I don't think that's all in the same verse but God just sort of summed it up. (Maria: It's the same thing you told me the other day when I asked, "What am I going to do? There's nothing left to do! I can't go any further with him!"—And you said, "Love never fails!")

13. IT MIGHT DO YOU GOOD TO READ THIS CHAPTER EVERY MORNING. The sweetest man & greatest soul winner I ever knew‚ a man who was the closest to being a saint of anybody I ever knew, had made it a lifetime habit, besides all of his other Bible reading, to first before he read any other chapter, every morning, to read this chapter, 1Cor. 13!

14. WELL, HOW ABOUT THAT! I THINK THAT'S THE WAY I GOT THAT IN THAT ORDER THIS MORNING. "Beareth all things", that was the first thing that came to me, actually. In other words‚ I can't stand this guy any more, & the Lord says "Bear all things." "Believeth all things, hopeth all things." I didn't even get this part, "Endureth all things," I wonder why I didn't get that? I guess that's all I needed. Love never fails!

15. WHERE'S THAT PART ABOUT "AND TAKES NO ACCOUNT OF EVIL"? It's not in this chapter even, it's somewhere else. Here is "thinketh no evil" in the fifth verse, but this other one is in the seventh verse. I'm sure it's in here somewhere. Ah, fourth verse, "Love suffereth long & is kind"—so God can put it in any order He wants to put it in to fit the purpose, but the first thing that really came to me was that part "beareth all things."

16. YOU MAY FEEL LIKE ALL YOU'VE DONE FOR THEM & all the loving You gave them & all the sacrifices you made for them & the unselfishness & the love & everything, they don't even appreciate it. Love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, & we might as well add this, endureth all things! And the next verse right after that is the one that says "love never fails"!

17. THE OTHER THING THAT CAME TO ME WAS "LOVE SUFFERS LONG & IS KIND." My Mother used to scold us kids when we'd say, "Well‚ he just kept doing it to me‚ Mama, & he kept doing it until finally I blew up!" She said, "Oh, that's your own translation: 'Love suffers long & finally blows up!'"

18. THAT'S THE WAY I WAS THIS MORNING, I WAS BLOWING UP! "What's the matter with this guy? Who does he think he is, anyhow? Here I give him everything including my wife & love & everything else & he doesn't even appreciate it!"—I was blowing up! Does it say here love suffers long & then blows up? No! Love suffers long & is still kind! Do you need that for your doctor, Honey? Do you need that for Paco, Maria? Do you need that for Carlos, Belen? Praise God! Okay, that's the lesson the Lord has for us for today!

19. YOUR LABOUR OF LOVE‚ BELOVED, IS NOT WASTED‚—Not one tear that you have shed or one smile you've given or one kiss or one fuck or whatever it was, it's not wasted. God is going to give you credit for every bit of it! Your labour of love is not wasted! There's some kind of Scripture that comes to me on that. Of course, "love never fails"! This has helped Maria several times when she felt like it was hopeless. Why love them? Love never fails!

20. BELOVED‚ EVEN IF THEY RESIST IT & REJECT IT & GO TO HELL‚ IT STILL DIDN'T FAIL! It accomplished its purpose to show how bad they were, how unworthy they were‚ how totally ungrateful they were, it still accomplished its purpose. We're "unto some the ministers of salvation, unto others the ministers of damnation." (2Cor.2:15,16.)

21. YOUR LOVE IS GOING TO ACCOMPLISH ITS PURPOSE WHETHER THEY RECEIVE IT OR REJECT IT, just like God's Word. In the one case it was a penis, in the other it was a sword! In the one case it brought life, in the other case it brought death, it all depends on how they respond to it, how they react, how they receive it or reject it, so be encouraged! (ML #545.)

22. THERE'S A SCRIPTURE, SOMETHING ABOUT "LABOUR NOT IN VAIN"! It's something I don't know too well but it's there somewhere & the Lord's trying to punch through to me! And try to find that other one also about "takes no account of evil", because the Lord just scooped that right along with it. So that's the last verse‚ apparently, God wants you to get for your grand finale. Hallelujah! TYL! Isn't the Lord faithful?

23. "YOUR LABOUR OF LOVE IS NOT IN VAIN." Look, my eyes fell right on it, 1Co.15:58! That's right near that one about the Rapture. Okay, that's your closing text, we're through, God bless you all for your patience! I'm sorry, when the Lord gives a lesson I figure you must need it & I might as well be telling it to you as be telling it to the tape recorder. Or maybe you'd rather I told it to the tape recorder? You might not see it for years if I just tell it to the tape recorder!

24. BUT SINCE WE ARE THE ONES RIGHT NOW WHO NEED THE LESSON, I'D BETTER TELL YOU RIGHT NOW. This can't wait or we'll all be dead & gone & our fish will go back to their old haunts. Read it, Honey, please: (Maria: "Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.") Hallelujah! TYL! Well, it is a labour of love, isn't it? Amen!

25. WE'RE NOT VERY PERSISTENT SOMETIMES, ARE WE! We're easily moved away from our catch & our fish & go off to something else & forget all about it instead of finishing the job. "Steadfast, unmoveable"—stick to a job until it's done, stay with a job until it's finished, praise God? At least as far as you can go!

26. IF THEY RUN OFF, THEN YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING MORE, but if they're still on the line—if they even phone they're still on the line, you've got them on the line when they're on the phone—so while they're still on the line try to play them in‚ don't go playing them out when they're trying to come in! Now, is that enough? Are you going to go to work on your fish?

27. DON'T USE THE EXCUSE THAT I SAID WE NEEDED A REST. I didn't mean you were supposed to rest permanently or that I scared you about some of them being policemen or something! That's not a good excuse! I just want you to know. Like it says about the Devil, we're not to be ignorant of his devices‚ you're not to be worried about it but you're supposed to know about it! Shall we pray the Lord's Prayer together? (Prays Lord's Prayer.)

28. "THE LORD BLESS THEE & KEEP THEE & MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON THEE & be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee & give thee peace!" Amen! (Maria: When I was looking in the concordance my eyes fell on something else, "They watch for your souls as they that much give account.") Let me tell you, we're not the only ones that are going to require reports, one of these days you're going to have to report to the Lord!

29. (SALLY: HEBREWS 6:10 SAYS, "FOR GOD IS NOT UNRIGHTEOUS TO FORGET YOUR WORK & LABOUR OF LOVE which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints & do minister.") Ah, hallelujah‚ amen! That's good, thank You Lord, those two go together real well! That I think is the one that was really trying to come to me but the Lord wanted us to have this one, too!

30. REMEMBER, I SAID THE LORD WON'T FORGET IT, YOU'LL GET CREDIT FOR IT, & that kept trying to punch through to me & that's the one. "For God is not unrighteous to forget your labour of love." And this other one is so fitting, exactly fitting too. The Lord apparently wants us to get that one too, to tell us it's not in vain!

31. SO SOMETIMES WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE IT'S ALL JUST A LOT OF WORK & NO FRUIT, remember the Lord will still give you the credit! Of course if you don't have any results because you fail & you don't love & you don't pray & you don't keep after your fish, then you can't blame that on God or the fish, that's your fault, you are to blame.—If you don't pray & your forget & you don't love & you don't follow them, amen? TYL! GBYA! Amen‚ amen, amen!

32. WELL, I DIDN'T FEEL VERY GOOD TODAY so I wasn't going to sit out here & give you a lesson‚ but the Lord apparently knew you needed one. He gave you the lesson anyhow!—Amen? PTL! GBY! Happy Hookin'!

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