Dear Ones,

We have received $7600 of the $35K needed for the Poultry House project that will finance the planting of schools of ministry in every nation on earth over the next six years. The power of God is going to every nation including the good old USA between now and the end of 2030. Help is on the way!

Love you! KRP

SACRIFICIAL LOVE

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… John 3:16 NKJV

The ethics of self-sacrifice make this truth very clear, that no great good can be accomplished for which someone is not willing to pay the price. If you want rose bushes, you must get out and dig the garden. Its been said that self sacrifice is the passion of great men and women, which truth was most vividly exemplified by our Lord Jesus in His passion. To follow Jesus is to live in sacrificial love.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me…Gal 2:20 NKJV

The great question – attached to any endeavor, for it to be a success (and if it’s not successful, why do it?) – is actually twofold: what is the cost? And, do I love the success of it enough to pay it? Without careful study we tend to underestimate the cost, so we have a flawed estimate of what it will take to be successful. This is where preparation comes in, and research to determine what is really involved. If I don’t know what the cost is I cannot be prepared to pay it. My friend Joe says that if you want to reach Muslims in a Muslim country, then when you leave to go you must kiss your wife goodbye, because the cost may be your life. My friend Joe is an optimistic, cheerful brother, except when he is talking about outreach in Muslim nations…and he has lived the research, he knows dearly what he is talking about!

Without sacrifice love is valueless. The ‘love’ of contemporary culture is nothing more than selfishness wrapped in animal satiation. The great cement of all relationships – ALL OF THEM – is forgiveness out of love continually, because, even if you are the most chill person out there, you can’t walk a mile with anyone without them doing or saying something, or not doing or saying something, to piss you off. The marriage covenant is giving that person a limitless mercy credit line at your love bank, that they can draw on daily. When sacrificial love dwells in a family, whether it’s a physical family or a family of believers, all the dishes get washed and it’s the sweetest fellowship this side of Heaven.

…of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, Col 1:5-6 NKJV

A great study some time is to look at how Jesus related to the twelve apostles, how He built sacrificial love in that family of believers. I just came back from northern Scotland. Do you realize that the Apostle Andrew, Peter’s brother, reached northern Scotland with the Gospel? The birthplace of golf is named after him – St. Andrews. Think about that…Israel to northern Scotland in 35-45 AD! Do you realize that the Apostle Thomas reached India, especially southern India, with the Gospel? Years ago we saw the memorial to the great apostle in Bangalore. Pull out a map and realize that these men, all twelve (I believe Paul replaced Judas among the apostles of the Lamb, but that’s a study for another day) covered all the then known world with the Gospel, thousands of miles and untold challenges. What inspired these ordinary men to do these extraordinary endeavors? Sacrificial love!

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. Mal 3:10 NKJV

We talk about love, but deeds are the proof of love. That’s why we realize that God hasn’t gotten to your heart until it shows in your wallet or pocketbook or purse. I got saved at sixteen years old. I was working on Friday and Saturday nights at a restaurant for two dollars an hour as a dishwasher. I think I gave $400 – over 200 work hours – to our church in that first year because the Lord radically touched me. He touched me! I once got to witness an extraordinary conversation. A man was standing in his million-dollar home and witnessing to someone at a party. He said, “Do you know why I have this million-dollar home? Because I tithe to my God!” I knew him. I knew him when he didn’t have that million-dollar home, and I knew when he started tithing, and how faithful he was. He touched him too! Sacrificial love…

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. Gal 5:6 NKJV

Sacrificial love is the great precursor to spiritual faith. I heard another translation of this verse years ago that I admired: “When Christ Jesus is born within, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision gives one spiritual strength, but spiritual faith is energized effectively by the love of God, sacrificial love in manifestation.” Find that precious love of God, that love that is willing to make sacrifices, in your heart for whoever or whatever it is you are concerned for, and you will pay the price necessary to achieve success.

Do you ever wonder why pregnancy lasts nine months? Because the Lord is preparing the heart of that mother and father to make the sacrifices necessary to preserve the life of that baby, and raise them to full maturity, and still keep loving them. They are earning the right, through those months, to be that successful parent!

But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. 1 Cor 12:31 NKJV

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 1 Cor 13:1-3 NKJV

The gifts of the Spirit are the divine tools to make you successful at anything, but especially your ministry. Sacrificial love is what activates and energizes the gifts of the Spirit. Bitter, angry, jealous, self-centered people don’t receive revelation. It’s not that God is not talking to them, it’s that they don’t have a heart to receive. That’s why if you want to be successful at anything, if you want to hear from God regarding that situation or person, if you want to see the gifts of faith, working of miracles and gifts of healing, find that love in your heart, the sacrificial love and the willingness it brings to do anything, and out of that love you will see success. We all have fear, but your love must be greater than your fear. “I’m going to reach Muslims…even if I have to die.” Love will rise up and you won’t die. Joe hasn’t, and he and his daughter have won many Muslims!

1 Corinthians 12:1 through 14:40 is the great three chapters on the gifts of the Spirit and offices or ministries in the Church; in other words, spiritual matters. Right in the center of those three, like the meat in the sandwich, is the great testimony regarding sacrificial love.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. 1 Cor 13:4-8 NKJV

I LOVE that the first positive statement about sacrificial love is that it suffers long; in other words, it’s patient. Timing is a huge consideration in the walk by the Spirit. To effectively get people delivered you must work with them until they open their hearts. That door only has one nob and it is on the inside. I got the revelation to go to Africa in 1978. The door for Africa, for Nairobi like I saw in the vision, didn’t come until 1995. If I had gone in ’78 I would have been buried there in ’78 because I would have done something stupid and got myself killed. I had the sense to wait for the door to open, and even then I still did some stupid, naive things, as well as some good things, but I didn’t die!

Sacrificial love does not envy because it seeks to give, not receive. People with wealth have always told me they fear strangers because they think, “What does that guy want?” We go to give, to impart, to love, to help, and not take anything. Listen dear one, the Lord will always bring it in the back door if you are giving it out the front door. Just ask Him to bring in bigger loads…

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10-11 NKJV

Sacrificial love began with and emanated from ABBA our Father, YESHUA our Lord and the RUACH KODESH. A good son or daughter is a mirror of their father. I say my kids are better versions of me and their mother…and they are! In any situation, to be a success, apply sacrificial love to it, and watch the Lord work mightily through you. Amen? Love you!

Remember dear ones we must be about our Father’s business…