Phillip Bowen: I wanted to personally thank you for walking with In Touch Ministries this year. Early in my Christian walk, I was shaped by Dr. Stanley’s teaching. I’m sure many of you remember the first time you heard Dr. Stanley when the Holy Spirit spoke directly to a need in your heart. Maybe you were hurting, maybe you were searching, but in that moment, God used His Word to bring hope, peace, or direction.
Today someone else is hearing for the first time, and God is using that moment to speak life, just like He did with you. Dr. Stanley was fond of saying, “The best is yet to come,” and as we look towards the future, we believe that promise still holds true.
God is still speaking, people are still listening, and together we’ll keep sharing His truth quickly, clearly, and irresistibly. We’re humbled to continue Dr. Stanley’s work and blessed to have you with us. Thank you for making In Touch Ministries possible. male announcer: “In Touch,” the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on “In Touch,” “No Greater Love.
” Dr. Stanley: Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this that one would lay down his life for a friend.” That’s an awesome statement when you begin to think about what He’s really said, but probably one of the most misunderstood and misused words in our vocabulary is the word “love.
” We spell it L-O-V-E, and we put loving chocolate candy, loving somebody, loving a sport. We put all of those things in the same category. Well, in the Greek language, they didn’t do that. They made it much more specific. And when I think about the way people use love today, here’s what they’re really saying.
Some people really and truly genuinely love, but some people when they say “I love you,” what they’re saying is, I want you, I desire you, I lust for you, or I need you. But very few people know how to say “I love you” with the kind of love that Jesus was talking about in the scripture. And so we use it rather casually and sometimes in our thinking, we mean what we say, I love you, but what does it mean to say “I love you,” and especially what Jesus said when He said, “There’s no greater love than this, that you lay down your life for your friend.” Well, love is at the heart of a scripture.
The Bible in essence is really the story of God’s redeeming love for mankind. Salvation is a gift of love. Eternal life is a gift of love. Our forgiveness is a gift of love. That is, it’s all about true, genuine love. And if I should ask you, do you feel loved by somebody? Well, most of you would probably say yes. Life without love is emptiness.
There’s no such thing as happiness without being loved or having somebody to love. But we use that word rather loosely. And I want us to see in this passage of scripture in a few moments, what it’s really all about when Jesus said, “No greater love has anyone than this than you lay down your life for your friend.
” So you’re sitting there thinking, “Well, do you mean to tell me that for me to express true, genuine love that I’ve got to die?” Well, keep listening and let’s see if you’re gonna live or not. And so I want us to look to see what He says in the 13th and 15th chapters of John because I’m gonna read two verses in each one of these, and Jesus, the night before He’s going to be crucified, saying to His disciples over and over and over again, many things, especially about the Holy Spirit.
But here’s what He says in the 34th verse of the 13th chapter: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, that you have love one to another.” So three times He says it. Then if you will look in the 15th chapter and the 12th and 13th verses, here’s what He says: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” What an awesome statement.
