June 11, 2026 • 27 mins
If you’ve ever thought, “I’m doing all the right things, so why do I still feel stuck,” this one gets uncomfortably honest. We’re talking about a truth that cuts through religious performance: hell doesn’t get removed by effort, it gets displaced by love, real love that shows up when Jesus changes you from the inside out.
We walk through 1 Corinthians 13 and ask a different question than “How impressive is my faith?” Instead, we ask what’s producing our life. Gifts, knowledge, ministry output, and even “wins” can look spiritual while the heart stays cold, proud, anxious, or angry. We share a powerful excerpt from Dr. Timothy Keller on why spiritual gifts can operate without a transformed inner life, and why love is more miraculous than miracles. If you’ve ever tied your identity to success, approval, or being needed, you’ll feel the warning and the relief in this message.
We also speak to those who feel overlooked or “not gifted,” because comparing yourself to other people is just another way to miss what matters most. Gifts have limits, but grace doesn’t. The goal isn’t becoming impressive; it’s becoming loving, patient, humble, and resilient because the gospel anchors you in Jesus’ finished work, not your performance.
Listen, then ask yourself our closing question: if someone looked at your life right now, would they see your accomplishments or the love of Jesus? Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who feels burned out on performance, and leave a review so more people can find hope.
Thank you for listening! Please help us by sharing this podcast with your friends and telling someone about what Jesus has done for you. If you would like to share your story, visit our website https://thepromoter.org/
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Announcer (00:01):
It's time now to get the hell out of your life.
A weekly broadcast with realpeople, sharing real struggles,
and offering real hope.
Today's show will encourage,inspire, and empower you to face
life's challenges with a boldconfidence and renewed hope.
Now let's join our host, RonMyers, the promoter.
Ron Meyers (00:21):
Hello, my friends.
Welcome to Get the Hell Out ofYour Life.
I'm your host, Ron Myers.
Today, we're talking aboutsomething that sounds almost too
simple, but it's brutallyhonest.
Hell doesn't get removed byreligious effort.
It gets displaced by love.
(00:43):
Not love you try to crank outlike a performance, love that
shows up when Jesus is changingyou from the inside out.
Because let's be real, a lot ofpeople want to chase results,
spiritual experiences, miracles,bible knowledge, ministry
success, religious wins.
(01:05):
And yeah, some of it can lookimpressive, but the Bible asks
us a different question.
Not how impressive is yourfaith, not how much do you do.
The real question is what'sproducing you, and that's why
today we're going to FirstCorinthians 13, the love
(01:26):
chapter.
Most people hear it atweddings, but Paul's point is
bigger than romance.
He's saying love is theevidence.
Love is what shows when Jesusis actually working in someone's
heart.
You can have gifts, you canserve, you can even do good
(01:48):
things in God's name, and youcan still miss the main thing if
the love of Christ isn't rulingyour heart.
So today we're going to look atwhat love reveals about the
heart and how that affects thehell you're trying to live
around.
(02:08):
Let's listen to a short excerptfrom Dr.
Timothy Keller.
He explains how people canpreach, teach, prophesy, lead,
help others, and even experiencesupernatural gifts, yet still
be missing what matters most.
Christ's love ruling the innerlife.
(02:30):
Let's take a listen.
And then when I return, we'llunpack what that means for us.
Dr. Tim Keller (02:39):
Now we have examples in the Bible.
In the Old Testament, we gotBalaam.
Balaam was somebody who wastrying his best to do the wrong
thing.
If you go back to Numbers andread about it, and we're told in
the New Testament, three placesthat he was a wicked man, and
yet God came to him and gave himspiritual revelations and used
him as a prophet.
In the Old Testament, we haveSaul.
(03:00):
At one point, the Spirit of Godcame upon him and used him, and
he became prophetic.
He was a prophet, and he nevergave his heart to the Lord.
In the New Testament, you'vegot the most clear example,
you've got several, but the mostclear is Judas.
And Judas, we're told inMatthew chapter 10, verse 1, God
gave them, who's them?
The apostles.
He gave them the power to cureall sorts of diseases, and they
(03:22):
went out prophesying, and theywent out casting out demons, and
they went out healing the sick,Judas among them.
And Judas never gave his heartto the Lord.
Now, over the therefore, nowlisten, what do we know about
that?
Here's what we know.
I've heard people over theyears say to me, well, only
(03:42):
Christians could do miracles,and of course, people who aren't
Christians could do falsemiracles.
Satan could help them domiracles.
But that's not what we'resaying here.
That's not what Paul's saying,and that's not what happened to
Judas.
Judas did not do miraclesthrough Satan, he did it through
Jesus, and he wasn't aChristian.
So what does this mean?
(04:04):
Jonathan Edwards, who wrote atremendous book on this whole
chapter, has this very extremelyimportant and interesting
little quote.
He says, A spiritual gift ofmiracles or speaking does not
change a person's inherentnature.
A gift ability does not requirea change of heart as love or
(04:26):
holiness does.
Gifts are like precious jewelswith which a body may be
adorned, but which does notalter the body's form.
But the grace of God and itsfruit turns, as it were, the
very soul into a precious jewel.
And so what Edwards is sayingis since the Spirit of God can
(04:47):
operate and use gifts in aperson who has not given his
heart to the Lord, but hecannot, the Lord's Spirit cannot
do spiritual fruit in a personwhose heart hasn't been given to
(05:08):
the Lord.
In other words, since theSpirit of God can come in to a
life and give you abilities,speaking abilities and
counseling abilities and leadingabilities, he can give you all
sorts of abilities, evenmiraculous abilities, without
your heart necessarily havingsaving grace, but he cannot give
you spiritual fruit.
He can't give you love andholiness and joy and
(05:28):
self-control and humilitywithout your heart being changed
by the gospel.
In other words, since spiritualgifts boot off of the gospel
and the grace of God, but theydo not boot off, excuse me, they
do not boot off of it.
They do not need it.
But spiritual fruit do need it.
Therefore, love is moremiraculous than miracles.
(05:50):
Christian love, humility,warmth, cheerful joy, forgiving,
that is supernatural.
That is a miracle.
The Spirit of God cannot dothat in your heart unless you
give your heart to Him, unlessthere's the grace of God.
But the Spirit of God can giveyou all sorts of gifts and use
you in all sorts of ways andhelp all sorts of people without
(06:10):
you giving your heart to Christat all, without there being any
grace at all, or it being gracein very low amounts.
Now, if somebody says, How inthe world is that possible?
How in the world could JesusChrist, the Spirit of God, use
people, save people, counselpeople, help people, do miracles
when they haven't were not evenChristians?
Listen, I think the answer isactually pretty easy when you
(06:32):
think about it.
Do you realize what a miserableworld this would be?
If God only worked good thingsthrough people who were
Christians?
Just imagine if the onlycounselors and therapists that
could help anybody wereChristians.
Just imagine if the onlycounselors and therapists that
(06:55):
really could do good andwonderful works were Christians.
What a miserable life thiswould be.
Let me go a little further.
What if the only people whocould be good fathers and
mothers were Christians?
What a miserable world thiswould be.
The Bible says every good andperfect gift comes down from
above.
The Bible says all wisdom, allgoodness, all kindness,
(07:18):
everything, all musical talent,all light, everything is the
work of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God iscontinually doing good things
through people who haven't giventheir heart.
Can you imagine what a crummyworld this would be otherwise?
Why does God do that?
So the world is a tolerableplace.
(07:39):
And a person who's inside thechurch, very religious, knows
the Bible, and yet holds theirheart back, tries to keep
control of their lives by tryingto be a good person and
thinking that they can earntheir salvation, get God to look
at them and favor them becausethey're good and because they're
(08:01):
doing so many good things.
A person like that, who's neverreally experienced the grace,
never really understood thegospel, essentially a Pharisee,
if they're in the church andthey're active in the church,
God's still gonna do good thingsthrough them.
Why not?
Why should everybody aroundthem suffer any more than
they're gonna suffer?
Edward says the operate thespiritual gifts, including
(08:25):
miraculous gifts, though usuallygiven to Christians, are not
necessarily.
Because it doesn't take asupernatural work of grace in
the heart to do miracles, but itdoes take a supernatural
operation of grace in the heartto become a person with a
Christ-like character.
And
that is the bombshell.
(08:45):
How do we apply it?
I'm going to talk to threekinds of people.
Now, you want to know who themain persons are, who this is
for?
You know, a lot of you, youknow, a lot of those of you who
are in ministry in this church,and there's hundreds of you,
leading Bible studies, leadingministries, officers, my elders,
deacons, and deaconesses, mystaff, other ministers, other
people who are involved in otherchurches, people that, people
(09:08):
who are doing things in thechurch, people who are gifted,
people who help other people.
This is mainly for you.
I know a lot of you sat througha number of sermons that are
mainly for other people, and yousat there and said, Well, I'm
glad they're hearing this.
Well, this is for you.
There is an enormous danger.
It is so easy.
Why do you think Paul says youcan have all these things and do
(09:30):
all these things and benothing?
Because the subtle danger isfor those of us who are in
ministry to say, look at thepeople I'm helping, look at the
things that I'm doing, look atwhat I'm accomplishing.
I must be something.
Because of what I'm doing.
I must really be something.
Listen, let me let me give youa personal testimony.
(09:54):
In reverse, I've got a gift ofspeaking.
When I speak, people learn andpeople are helped.
But I learned a long time agothat my spiritual gift does not
boot off the amount of grace inmy heart at all.
Because I have found out, and Iknow this for a fact, that if I
am cold toward God and full ofself-pity, and maybe bitter and
(10:16):
angry at other people and filledwith selfishness, if I get up
in front of a crowd, there'ssomething about the situation
that draws my gift out.
And I wax.
And people are helped.
And this is the danger.
This is what happens.
This is what will happen.
This is the danger for all ofus.
That if any kind of gifts, Iwax.
And you know what I start tosay?
I say, hey, I guess God is withme.
(10:40):
I guess I'm really something.
I must be something.
They think I'm something.
Look at look at my success.
Look at the people who thinkthey say, uh, you've helped me.
Look at my gifts.
And Paul comes and says, if youthink that your gifts, your
success in the church, if youthink those things are dials on
(11:00):
the dashboard to tell you what'sreally happening in the engine,
you're wrong.
Your engine might beoverheating, your engine might
be ready to blow up, and yetyou're doing very well in
ministry.
Paul comes and says, Do yourealize how easy it is, oh
Christian leaders, Christianministers, to get your identity
from your ministry instead offrom Jesus, to get your identity
(11:21):
from Christianity instead ofChrist?
To say, I must be somethingbecause of the things I'm doing.
And here's what Paul is sayingto do that is the is acid
against the grace of God.
It's the opposite of thegospel.
In the gospel, God comes andsays, I love you not because
(11:45):
you're good, not because of youractivities, but because of my
grace.
When your spouse says, honey,why do you love me?
If you say, I love you becauseit doesn't matter, it's over.
The interchange is over.
If I I love you because you'rea great tennis partner, well,
what happens if I'm not a goodtennis partner?
(12:05):
I love you because you alwaysdo this and always do that.
Well, what happens if I don'tfeel like that?
You see, Grace says, I love youbecause I love you.
But what happens?
It's so easy.
If you have gifts, you start tosay, God loves me because I'm
good.
I don't mean I'm morally good.
(12:26):
Look at what I'm doing for him.
I'm laying myself out.
I'm giving my body to beburned.
I'm burned out for Jesus.
I must be something.
And Paul says that that issmothering the grace in your
heart.
As a matter of fact, if youlook at that, you say, I must be
something, you know what that'sgoing to lead to?
(12:46):
And it does lead in churches?
It leads to peevishness, itleads to irritability, it leads
to self-pity, it leads tojealousy, it leads to hurt
feelings all over the place.
Because you're taking, yourpride is in what you're doing,
and people don't recognize that.
You don't, they don't recognizeyour gifts, they don't see
that, or somebody criticizesyou, and you're all devastated.
Why?
(13:07):
Because love and joy and peaceboots off of the gospel, what
Jesus has said of you.
I love you because I love you.
But it's so easy to start totry to get your identity and
everything and your and yourpeace and your joy out of your
gifts.
And the more you get it out ofyour gifts, the more it smothers
(13:29):
grace, the more it smothersgrace, the more you look to your
gifts.
Gifted people.
Paul goes so far as to say, ifyou are living like that, if you
are neglecting your prayerlife, are you very busy in the
Lord's work and your prayerlife's dead?
Are you extremely happy aboutyour gifts, and yet the fact is
(13:50):
that you are not a warm person.
You are people don't say, whata loving person.
You're always getting yourfeelings hurt, you're always
cast down underneath, but you'reyou know, put a smile on out
here.
There's not a joy, there's nota delight in what God means to
you.
You're not you're not drawingoff of his love, you're working
(14:12):
off your gifts.
Paul says you're a noisy gongor a clashing symbol, and that's
not an accident, that's paganworship.
In Corinth, in the pagantemples, it was normal when the
worshippers came in, theyclashed a symbol and they hit a
gong.
Why?
It got the attention of thegods, and it was very
(14:32):
awe-inspiring for theworshipers.
And Paul says, Do you not knowthat if you are not cultivating
love in your heart, if you arenot continually finding that the
joy of your life is yoursalvation, not your gifts,
you're essentially worshipinglike a pagan.
God finds your religion to benothing more than the noise of
(14:57):
the pagans.
You're trying to get God'sattention, you're trying to
impress everybody.
Secondly, I said I have to tellyou some other people, there's
some of you, now here's here'sthe irony.
There's some of you who are notvery gifted, and you know it,
you're not very articulate.
Nobody's asking you to be aleader, and you know what?
You get cast down and you say,Oh, you know, you know, I'll
(15:20):
never be able to lead a Biblestudy, or I'll never be able to
do this, I'll never, you know,be elected to this or that.
I'm not very gifted.
In some strange but veryimportant way, you are falling
prey to the very same mistakethat Paul talks about here.
If you use gifts as theyardstick of Christianity,
here's what I want to say toyou.
Do you not realize that giftsare always limited?
Okay?
(15:41):
Some of you have speakinggifts, but you're only going to
be so good a speaker.
Some of you have leadership,you're gifts, you're always
going to be so much of a leader.
You might be a great leader inRedeemer, you're probably not
going to be John Wesley.
You're probably not going tochange the world with a new
denomination.
You're gif why?
Because some people are giftedmore than other people.
Gifts have a limit, but do youknow?
Listen.
The grace in your heart hasunlimited potential.
(16:03):
Anybody in this room could notbe a good speaker or a good
leader or what, but anybodywho's a Christian in this room
could be the most godly saint ofthe century.
You could be the most lovingperson, the most humble person,
the most gracious person.
You could become a person thateverybody around you, all the
people who work with you, areastonished at your courage, at
(16:27):
your sweetness, at your wisdom,at your love.
Anybody in this room?
And don't you realize that'swhat changes the world?
Yes, miracles did attest thatGod was present, but Jesus says
in John 17, if they if you loveone another, then the world will
know.
What is going to change theworld?
(16:51):
If you cultivate in your heartthe love of Jesus Christ so that
you become famous, whetherpeople believe what you believe
or not, famous at work, famousin your family, famous in your
neighborhood, famous in yourapartment building for being the
most loving, compassionate,humble, gracious person that
anybody knows.
Anyone who's a Christian herecould go through the roof on
(17:12):
that.
There's no limit.
You can get all the way toJesus.
Don't you realize you could beactually an ungifted speaker,
but if you are godly and holy,you'll always be interesting.
You might be an ungiftedtherapist, but if you're godly
and holy, you will change lives.
You might be a lousy delegatorand a terrible organizer, and
(17:32):
you don't have leadership gifts,but if you are godly and
loving, everyone will followyou.
That's what changes things.
And for you to say, well, Idon't know what I am, I'm never
going to be alive.
You're doing the very samething Paul says.
You can have all theseabilities and be nothing.
Love is the only miracle.
Love is the miracle above allthe miracles.
(17:52):
There's one last group to saysomething to.
There's some of you who arehere who are saying, wait a
minute.
I'm trying to live a prettygood life.
You're telling me what?
See, there's some of you whoreally don't understand the
gospel at all.
And what Paul is saying to youis, you could give your body to
be burned, and you could giveall your money away for the
(18:13):
poor, but it what you've reallygot to do is give your heart to
the Lord in response to thegospel.
What's the gospel?
Very simple.
Why did Jesus Christ come toearth?
Because he loved us.
His power and his holiness isnot what drove him down here.
Just as the essence ofChristianity is not power, but
(18:34):
love, not gifts, but grace.
So the essence of God is nothis power, but his love.
How did he save us on thecross?
Well, you say he died.
You mean just his physicaldeath?
Well, you say he was punished,but how was he punished?
Don't you know what happened?
He lost the love of his father.
(18:57):
He was forsaken.
My God, my God, why hast thouforsaken me?
Anybody in this room who's everlost the love of somebody who's
maybe if you're if your wholelife orbited around somebody and
that person rejected you, youknow you never get over that.
But the pain in your lifecompared to what Jesus went
through on the cross is like apeace shooter compared to a
(19:20):
nuclear warhead.
For the love of us, Jesus lostthat love on the cross.
That pain was poured into hisheart and he was devastated on
the cross for us.
Now, if you look at the love ofChrist, only his love can
explain him.
If you look at the love, thesend him down here, and the love
(19:41):
that he lost because of thelove that he had.
As you get melted with that,you give your heart.
You don't say, okay, what do Ihave to do to get to heaven?
You don't say that.
You say, I don't love my Lord,my Savior.
I don't love my God with all myheart, soul, strength, and
mind.
I don't love my neighbor asmyself.
I don't have a love, so I'mconvicted by that.
(20:02):
I see the love that drove himdown here, and I see the love
that he lost.
In other words, love is theessence of the faith.
Love is the essence of him.
And the more you see the lovethat he showed, the more you
will find that love growing inyour life.
Don't be a noisy gong.
All the doing without love isnoise to God.
(20:25):
Instead, say, Come, thou fountof every blessing, tune my heart
to sing thy grace.
Let's pray.
Our Father, we ask now that youwould help us to see, as we
give you ourselves, that it isyour love which drove your son,
and now it's your love thatshould drive us.
(20:47):
Help us to see that.
Bring us to your feet.
Uh, help us to repent and dowhat we need to do so we can
live the lives that your servantPaul is calling us to.
We ask it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Ron Meyers (21:00):
So, what's going through your mind?
That's a very powerful message.
I think I've listened to itprobably ten times.
The biggest takeaway from Dr.
Keller was this love is themiracle above all miracles.
You know, the world isimpressed by power, success,
influence, talent, andaccomplishments.
(21:22):
But God, He looks deeper.
God looks at the heart becauseoutward performance never fixes
the inside.
You can have knowledge withoutlove, you can have ministry
without love, you can have giftswithout love, you can even have
religion without love.
(21:42):
But when the love of Jesusactually transforms a heart,
something supernatural happens,and something you can't fake.
A selfish person becomesgenerous, a bitter person learns
to forgive.
An anxious person starts totrust.
(22:02):
Pride makes room for humility.
A critical spirit becomescompassion.
And here's what matters, myfriend.
This transfer may thistransformation isn't
manufactured by willpower.
It's the work of God's spiritrooted in the fact that Jesus
(22:24):
has already done the savingwork.
So what happens when lovebecomes the mark of a
transformed life?
I'll tell you what happens, andmy guests have validated this
over the years.
You get deeper peace becauseyour identity isn't tied to
(22:45):
performance.
You become more resilientbecause criticism can't define
you.
Your relationships growstronger because love aims for
understanding, not winning.
You discover joy thatcircumstances cannot steal.
And the strongest testimony maynot be what God does through
(23:09):
you, it may be what God is doingin you.
Because when people seepatience, kindness, humility,
and grace in real life, they'recatching evidence that Jesus is
alive and at work.
And Jesus said it plainly.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Therefore, be imitators of God as dear
children and walk in love asChrist also has loved us and
given himself for us.
Here's a refreshing word fromEphesians 5, 1 and 2.
Therefore, be imitators of Godas dear children and walk in
love as Christ also has loved usand given himself for us.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
From crabs to trees to space Save the dates, the
43rd Annual Christmas City GiftShow, November 13th through the
15th at the Coast ColiseumConvention Center.
(24:45):
At Ron Meyer's Christmas city.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Visit Christmas City Gift Show.com for more.
Plans to give you hope and thefuture.
(25:19):
That's God's promise to youwhen you choose to commit your
plans and future to Him.
Now, back to Ron.
Ron Meyers (25:31):
As we wrap up today, I want to leave you with a
question.
If someone looked at your liferight now, what would they see
most clearly?
Your accomplishments, youropinions, your talents, your
religious activity, or wouldthey see the love of Jesus?
Here's the truth.
God isn't primarily after yourgifts, he's after your heart.
(25:57):
Jesus doesn't need yourperformance before he loves you.
He already demonstrated hislove on the cross once for all.
So you can experienceforgiveness, freedom, and a real
relationship with him.
So the question isn't, doesJesus love me?
The question is, are youtrusting him as the Lord of your
(26:20):
heart?
When you turn to Christ, lovebegins changing you from the
inside out.
And your family, yourworkplace, your neighborhood
start to look different becauselove is taking root.
Jesus wants your heart, and hislove is how you get the hell
(26:41):
out of your life.
So if you haven't asked Jesusinto your heart, pray something
simple like this.
Come be Lord of my heart andlead me into life.
(27:03):
Well, friend, if you meantthat, you didn't just try
harder, you turned to Jesus, andlove starts working in you
right away.
I'll be back next week withanother grace-filled episode of
Get the Hell Out of Your Lifeavailable wherever you listen to
(27:24):
podcasts.
In the meantime, remember thisthat I love you, Jesus loves
you, and when you give Jesusyour heart, his love is going to
take the hell out of your life.
Announcer (27:50):
Today's show was produced by Ron Myers
Ministries, a listener-supportedministry.
For a copy of today'sbroadcast, please visit our
website, thepromoter.org.
And would you prayerfullyconsider making a tax deductible
donation so that we maycontinue to share stories of
God's amazing grace with theworld?
And join us next week foranother broadcast of Get the
(28:11):
Hell Out of Your Life.
Real people, sharing realstruggles, and offering real
hope.
It's time now to get the hell out of your life.
A weekly broadcast with realpeople, sharing real struggles,
and offering real hope.
Today's show will encourage,inspire, and empower you to face
life's challenges with a boldconfidence and renewed hope.
Now let's join our host, RonMyers, the promoter.
Ron Meyers (00:21):
Hello, my friends.
Welcome to Get the Hell Out ofYour Life.
I'm your host, Ron Myers.
Today, we're talking aboutsomething that sounds almost too
simple, but it's brutallyhonest.
Hell doesn't get removed byreligious effort.
It gets displaced by love.
(00:43):
Not love you try to crank outlike a performance, love that
shows up when Jesus is changingyou from the inside out.
Because let's be real, a lot ofpeople want to chase results,
spiritual experiences, miracles,bible knowledge, ministry
success, religious wins.
(01:05):
And yeah, some of it can lookimpressive, but the Bible asks
us a different question.
Not how impressive is yourfaith, not how much do you do.
The real question is what'sproducing you, and that's why
today we're going to FirstCorinthians 13, the love
(01:26):
chapter.
Most people hear it atweddings, but Paul's point is
bigger than romance.
He's saying love is theevidence.
Love is what shows when Jesusis actually working in someone's
heart.
You can have gifts, you canserve, you can even do good
(01:48):
things in God's name, and youcan still miss the main thing if
the love of Christ isn't rulingyour heart.
So today we're going to look atwhat love reveals about the
heart and how that affects thehell you're trying to live
around.
(02:08):
Let's listen to a short excerptfrom Dr.
Timothy Keller.
He explains how people canpreach, teach, prophesy, lead,
help others, and even experiencesupernatural gifts, yet still
be missing what matters most.
Christ's love ruling the innerlife.
(02:30):
Let's take a listen.
And then when I return, we'llunpack what that means for us.
Dr. Tim Keller (02:39):
Now we have examples in the Bible.
In the Old Testament, we gotBalaam.
Balaam was somebody who wastrying his best to do the wrong
thing.
If you go back to Numbers andread about it, and we're told in
the New Testament, three placesthat he was a wicked man, and
yet God came to him and gave himspiritual revelations and used
him as a prophet.
In the Old Testament, we haveSaul.
(03:00):
At one point, the Spirit of Godcame upon him and used him, and
he became prophetic.
He was a prophet, and he nevergave his heart to the Lord.
In the New Testament, you'vegot the most clear example,
you've got several, but the mostclear is Judas.
And Judas, we're told inMatthew chapter 10, verse 1, God
gave them, who's them?
The apostles.
He gave them the power to cureall sorts of diseases, and they
(03:22):
went out prophesying, and theywent out casting out demons, and
they went out healing the sick,Judas among them.
And Judas never gave his heartto the Lord.
Now, over the therefore, nowlisten, what do we know about
that?
Here's what we know.
I've heard people over theyears say to me, well, only
(03:42):
Christians could do miracles,and of course, people who aren't
Christians could do falsemiracles.
Satan could help them domiracles.
But that's not what we'resaying here.
That's not what Paul's saying,and that's not what happened to
Judas.
Judas did not do miraclesthrough Satan, he did it through
Jesus, and he wasn't aChristian.
So what does this mean?
(04:04):
Jonathan Edwards, who wrote atremendous book on this whole
chapter, has this very extremelyimportant and interesting
little quote.
He says, A spiritual gift ofmiracles or speaking does not
change a person's inherentnature.
A gift ability does not requirea change of heart as love or
(04:26):
holiness does.
Gifts are like precious jewelswith which a body may be
adorned, but which does notalter the body's form.
But the grace of God and itsfruit turns, as it were, the
very soul into a precious jewel.
And so what Edwards is sayingis since the Spirit of God can
(04:47):
operate and use gifts in aperson who has not given his
heart to the Lord, but hecannot, the Lord's Spirit cannot
do spiritual fruit in a personwhose heart hasn't been given to
(05:08):
the Lord.
In other words, since theSpirit of God can come in to a
life and give you abilities,speaking abilities and
counseling abilities and leadingabilities, he can give you all
sorts of abilities, evenmiraculous abilities, without
your heart necessarily havingsaving grace, but he cannot give
you spiritual fruit.
He can't give you love andholiness and joy and
(05:28):
self-control and humilitywithout your heart being changed
by the gospel.
In other words, since spiritualgifts boot off of the gospel
and the grace of God, but theydo not boot off, excuse me, they
do not boot off of it.
They do not need it.
But spiritual fruit do need it.
Therefore, love is moremiraculous than miracles.
(05:50):
Christian love, humility,warmth, cheerful joy, forgiving,
that is supernatural.
That is a miracle.
The Spirit of God cannot dothat in your heart unless you
give your heart to Him, unlessthere's the grace of God.
But the Spirit of God can giveyou all sorts of gifts and use
you in all sorts of ways andhelp all sorts of people without
(06:10):
you giving your heart to Christat all, without there being any
grace at all, or it being gracein very low amounts.
Now, if somebody says, How inthe world is that possible?
How in the world could JesusChrist, the Spirit of God, use
people, save people, counselpeople, help people, do miracles
when they haven't were not evenChristians?
Listen, I think the answer isactually pretty easy when you
(06:32):
think about it.
Do you realize what a miserableworld this would be?
If God only worked good thingsthrough people who were
Christians?
Just imagine if the onlycounselors and therapists that
could help anybody wereChristians.
Just imagine if the onlycounselors and therapists that
(06:55):
really could do good andwonderful works were Christians.
What a miserable life thiswould be.
Let me go a little further.
What if the only people whocould be good fathers and
mothers were Christians?
What a miserable world thiswould be.
The Bible says every good andperfect gift comes down from
above.
The Bible says all wisdom, allgoodness, all kindness,
(07:18):
everything, all musical talent,all light, everything is the
work of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God iscontinually doing good things
through people who haven't giventheir heart.
Can you imagine what a crummyworld this would be otherwise?
Why does God do that?
So the world is a tolerableplace.
(07:39):
And a person who's inside thechurch, very religious, knows
the Bible, and yet holds theirheart back, tries to keep
control of their lives by tryingto be a good person and
thinking that they can earntheir salvation, get God to look
at them and favor them becausethey're good and because they're
(08:01):
doing so many good things.
A person like that, who's neverreally experienced the grace,
never really understood thegospel, essentially a Pharisee,
if they're in the church andthey're active in the church,
God's still gonna do good thingsthrough them.
Why not?
Why should everybody aroundthem suffer any more than
they're gonna suffer?
Edward says the operate thespiritual gifts, including
(08:25):
miraculous gifts, though usuallygiven to Christians, are not
necessarily.
Because it doesn't take asupernatural work of grace in
the heart to do miracles, but itdoes take a supernatural
operation of grace in the heartto become a person with a
Christ-like character.
And
that is the bombshell.
(08:45):
How do we apply it?
I'm going to talk to threekinds of people.
Now, you want to know who themain persons are, who this is
for?
You know, a lot of you, youknow, a lot of those of you who
are in ministry in this church,and there's hundreds of you,
leading Bible studies, leadingministries, officers, my elders,
deacons, and deaconesses, mystaff, other ministers, other
people who are involved in otherchurches, people that, people
(09:08):
who are doing things in thechurch, people who are gifted,
people who help other people.
This is mainly for you.
I know a lot of you sat througha number of sermons that are
mainly for other people, and yousat there and said, Well, I'm
glad they're hearing this.
Well, this is for you.
There is an enormous danger.
It is so easy.
Why do you think Paul says youcan have all these things and do
(09:30):
all these things and benothing?
Because the subtle danger isfor those of us who are in
ministry to say, look at thepeople I'm helping, look at the
things that I'm doing, look atwhat I'm accomplishing.
I must be something.
Because of what I'm doing.
I must really be something.
Listen, let me let me give youa personal testimony.
(09:54):
In reverse, I've got a gift ofspeaking.
When I speak, people learn andpeople are helped.
But I learned a long time agothat my spiritual gift does not
boot off the amount of grace inmy heart at all.
Because I have found out, and Iknow this for a fact, that if I
am cold toward God and full ofself-pity, and maybe bitter and
(10:16):
angry at other people and filledwith selfishness, if I get up
in front of a crowd, there'ssomething about the situation
that draws my gift out.
And I wax.
And people are helped.
And this is the danger.
This is what happens.
This is what will happen.
This is the danger for all ofus.
That if any kind of gifts, Iwax.
And you know what I start tosay?
I say, hey, I guess God is withme.
(10:40):
I guess I'm really something.
I must be something.
They think I'm something.
Look at look at my success.
Look at the people who thinkthey say, uh, you've helped me.
Look at my gifts.
And Paul comes and says, if youthink that your gifts, your
success in the church, if youthink those things are dials on
(11:00):
the dashboard to tell you what'sreally happening in the engine,
you're wrong.
Your engine might beoverheating, your engine might
be ready to blow up, and yetyou're doing very well in
ministry.
Paul comes and says, Do yourealize how easy it is, oh
Christian leaders, Christianministers, to get your identity
from your ministry instead offrom Jesus, to get your identity
(11:21):
from Christianity instead ofChrist?
To say, I must be somethingbecause of the things I'm doing.
And here's what Paul is sayingto do that is the is acid
against the grace of God.
It's the opposite of thegospel.
In the gospel, God comes andsays, I love you not because
(11:45):
you're good, not because of youractivities, but because of my
grace.
When your spouse says, honey,why do you love me?
If you say, I love you becauseit doesn't matter, it's over.
The interchange is over.
If I I love you because you'rea great tennis partner, well,
what happens if I'm not a goodtennis partner?
(12:05):
I love you because you alwaysdo this and always do that.
Well, what happens if I don'tfeel like that?
You see, Grace says, I love youbecause I love you.
But what happens?
It's so easy.
If you have gifts, you start tosay, God loves me because I'm
good.
I don't mean I'm morally good.
(12:26):
Look at what I'm doing for him.
I'm laying myself out.
I'm giving my body to beburned.
I'm burned out for Jesus.
I must be something.
And Paul says that that issmothering the grace in your
heart.
As a matter of fact, if youlook at that, you say, I must be
something, you know what that'sgoing to lead to?
(12:46):
And it does lead in churches?
It leads to peevishness, itleads to irritability, it leads
to self-pity, it leads tojealousy, it leads to hurt
feelings all over the place.
Because you're taking, yourpride is in what you're doing,
and people don't recognize that.
You don't, they don't recognizeyour gifts, they don't see
that, or somebody criticizesyou, and you're all devastated.
Why?
(13:07):
Because love and joy and peaceboots off of the gospel, what
Jesus has said of you.
I love you because I love you.
But it's so easy to start totry to get your identity and
everything and your and yourpeace and your joy out of your
gifts.
And the more you get it out ofyour gifts, the more it smothers
(13:29):
grace, the more it smothersgrace, the more you look to your
gifts.
Gifted people.
Paul goes so far as to say, ifyou are living like that, if you
are neglecting your prayerlife, are you very busy in the
Lord's work and your prayerlife's dead?
Are you extremely happy aboutyour gifts, and yet the fact is
(13:50):
that you are not a warm person.
You are people don't say, whata loving person.
You're always getting yourfeelings hurt, you're always
cast down underneath, but you'reyou know, put a smile on out
here.
There's not a joy, there's nota delight in what God means to
you.
You're not you're not drawingoff of his love, you're working
(14:12):
off your gifts.
Paul says you're a noisy gongor a clashing symbol, and that's
not an accident, that's paganworship.
In Corinth, in the pagantemples, it was normal when the
worshippers came in, theyclashed a symbol and they hit a
gong.
Why?
It got the attention of thegods, and it was very
(14:32):
awe-inspiring for theworshipers.
And Paul says, Do you not knowthat if you are not cultivating
love in your heart, if you arenot continually finding that the
joy of your life is yoursalvation, not your gifts,
you're essentially worshipinglike a pagan.
God finds your religion to benothing more than the noise of
(14:57):
the pagans.
You're trying to get God'sattention, you're trying to
impress everybody.
Secondly, I said I have to tellyou some other people, there's
some of you, now here's here'sthe irony.
There's some of you who are notvery gifted, and you know it,
you're not very articulate.
Nobody's asking you to be aleader, and you know what?
You get cast down and you say,Oh, you know, you know, I'll
(15:20):
never be able to lead a Biblestudy, or I'll never be able to
do this, I'll never, you know,be elected to this or that.
I'm not very gifted.
In some strange but veryimportant way, you are falling
prey to the very same mistakethat Paul talks about here.
If you use gifts as theyardstick of Christianity,
here's what I want to say toyou.
Do you not realize that giftsare always limited?
Okay?
(15:41):
Some of you have speakinggifts, but you're only going to
be so good a speaker.
Some of you have leadership,you're gifts, you're always
going to be so much of a leader.
You might be a great leader inRedeemer, you're probably not
going to be John Wesley.
You're probably not going tochange the world with a new
denomination.
You're gif why?
Because some people are giftedmore than other people.
Gifts have a limit, but do youknow?
Listen.
The grace in your heart hasunlimited potential.
(16:03):
Anybody in this room could notbe a good speaker or a good
leader or what, but anybodywho's a Christian in this room
could be the most godly saint ofthe century.
You could be the most lovingperson, the most humble person,
the most gracious person.
You could become a person thateverybody around you, all the
people who work with you, areastonished at your courage, at
(16:27):
your sweetness, at your wisdom,at your love.
Anybody in this room?
And don't you realize that'swhat changes the world?
Yes, miracles did attest thatGod was present, but Jesus says
in John 17, if they if you loveone another, then the world will
know.
What is going to change theworld?
(16:51):
If you cultivate in your heartthe love of Jesus Christ so that
you become famous, whetherpeople believe what you believe
or not, famous at work, famousin your family, famous in your
neighborhood, famous in yourapartment building for being the
most loving, compassionate,humble, gracious person that
anybody knows.
Anyone who's a Christian herecould go through the roof on
(17:12):
that.
There's no limit.
You can get all the way toJesus.
Don't you realize you could beactually an ungifted speaker,
but if you are godly and holy,you'll always be interesting.
You might be an ungiftedtherapist, but if you're godly
and holy, you will change lives.
You might be a lousy delegatorand a terrible organizer, and
(17:32):
you don't have leadership gifts,but if you are godly and
loving, everyone will followyou.
That's what changes things.
And for you to say, well, Idon't know what I am, I'm never
going to be alive.
You're doing the very samething Paul says.
You can have all theseabilities and be nothing.
Love is the only miracle.
Love is the miracle above allthe miracles.
(17:52):
There's one last group to saysomething to.
There's some of you who arehere who are saying, wait a
minute.
I'm trying to live a prettygood life.
You're telling me what?
See, there's some of you whoreally don't understand the
gospel at all.
And what Paul is saying to youis, you could give your body to
be burned, and you could giveall your money away for the
(18:13):
poor, but it what you've reallygot to do is give your heart to
the Lord in response to thegospel.
What's the gospel?
Very simple.
Why did Jesus Christ come toearth?
Because he loved us.
His power and his holiness isnot what drove him down here.
Just as the essence ofChristianity is not power, but
(18:34):
love, not gifts, but grace.
So the essence of God is nothis power, but his love.
How did he save us on thecross?
Well, you say he died.
You mean just his physicaldeath?
Well, you say he was punished,but how was he punished?
Don't you know what happened?
He lost the love of his father.
(18:57):
He was forsaken.
My God, my God, why hast thouforsaken me?
Anybody in this room who's everlost the love of somebody who's
maybe if you're if your wholelife orbited around somebody and
that person rejected you, youknow you never get over that.
But the pain in your lifecompared to what Jesus went
through on the cross is like apeace shooter compared to a
(19:20):
nuclear warhead.
For the love of us, Jesus lostthat love on the cross.
That pain was poured into hisheart and he was devastated on
the cross for us.
Now, if you look at the love ofChrist, only his love can
explain him.
If you look at the love, thesend him down here, and the love
(19:41):
that he lost because of thelove that he had.
As you get melted with that,you give your heart.
You don't say, okay, what do Ihave to do to get to heaven?
You don't say that.
You say, I don't love my Lord,my Savior.
I don't love my God with all myheart, soul, strength, and
mind.
I don't love my neighbor asmyself.
I don't have a love, so I'mconvicted by that.
(20:02):
I see the love that drove himdown here, and I see the love
that he lost.
In other words, love is theessence of the faith.
Love is the essence of him.
And the more you see the lovethat he showed, the more you
will find that love growing inyour life.
Don't be a noisy gong.
All the doing without love isnoise to God.
(20:25):
Instead, say, Come, thou fountof every blessing, tune my heart
to sing thy grace.
Let's pray.
Our Father, we ask now that youwould help us to see, as we
give you ourselves, that it isyour love which drove your son,
and now it's your love thatshould drive us.
(20:47):
Help us to see that.
Bring us to your feet.
Uh, help us to repent and dowhat we need to do so we can
live the lives that your servantPaul is calling us to.
We ask it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Ron Meyers (21:00):
So, what's going through your mind?
That's a very powerful message.
I think I've listened to itprobably ten times.
The biggest takeaway from Dr.
Keller was this love is themiracle above all miracles.
You know, the world isimpressed by power, success,
influence, talent, andaccomplishments.
(21:22):
But God, He looks deeper.
God looks at the heart becauseoutward performance never fixes
the inside.
You can have knowledge withoutlove, you can have ministry
without love, you can have giftswithout love, you can even have
religion without love.
(21:42):
But when the love of Jesusactually transforms a heart,
something supernatural happens,and something you can't fake.
A selfish person becomesgenerous, a bitter person learns
to forgive.
An anxious person starts totrust.
(22:02):
Pride makes room for humility.
A critical spirit becomescompassion.
And here's what matters, myfriend.
This transfer may thistransformation isn't
manufactured by willpower.
It's the work of God's spiritrooted in the fact that Jesus
(22:24):
has already done the savingwork.
So what happens when lovebecomes the mark of a
transformed life?
I'll tell you what happens, andmy guests have validated this
over the years.
You get deeper peace becauseyour identity isn't tied to
(22:45):
performance.
You become more resilientbecause criticism can't define
you.
Your relationships growstronger because love aims for
understanding, not winning.
You discover joy thatcircumstances cannot steal.
And the strongest testimony maynot be what God does through
(23:09):
you, it may be what God is doingin you.
Because when people seepatience, kindness, humility,
and grace in real life, they'recatching evidence that Jesus is
alive and at work.
And Jesus said it plainly.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Therefore, be imitators of God as dear
children and walk in love asChrist also has loved us and
given himself for us.
Here's a refreshing word fromEphesians 5, 1 and 2.
Therefore, be imitators of Godas dear children and walk in
love as Christ also has loved usand given himself for us.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
From crabs to trees to space Save the dates, the
43rd Annual Christmas City GiftShow, November 13th through the
15th at the Coast ColiseumConvention Center.
(24:45):
At Ron Meyer's Christmas city.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Visit Christmas City Gift Show.com for more.
Plans to give you hope and thefuture.
(25:19):
That's God's promise to youwhen you choose to commit your
plans and future to Him.
Now, back to Ron.
Ron Meyers (25:31):
As we wrap up today, I want to leave you with a
question.
If someone looked at your liferight now, what would they see
most clearly?
Your accomplishments, youropinions, your talents, your
religious activity, or wouldthey see the love of Jesus?
Here's the truth.
God isn't primarily after yourgifts, he's after your heart.
(25:57):
Jesus doesn't need yourperformance before he loves you.
He already demonstrated hislove on the cross once for all.
So you can experienceforgiveness, freedom, and a real
relationship with him.
So the question isn't, doesJesus love me?
The question is, are youtrusting him as the Lord of your
(26:20):
heart?
When you turn to Christ, lovebegins changing you from the
inside out.
And your family, yourworkplace, your neighborhood
start to look different becauselove is taking root.
Jesus wants your heart, and hislove is how you get the hell
(26:41):
out of your life.
So if you haven't asked Jesusinto your heart, pray something
simple like this.
Come be Lord of my heart andlead me into life.
(27:03):
Well, friend, if you meantthat, you didn't just try
harder, you turned to Jesus, andlove starts working in you
right away.
I'll be back next week withanother grace-filled episode of
Get the Hell Out of Your Lifeavailable wherever you listen to
(27:24):
podcasts.
In the meantime, remember thisthat I love you, Jesus loves
you, and when you give Jesusyour heart, his love is going to
take the hell out of your life.
Announcer (27:50):
Today's show was produced by Ron Myers
Ministries, a listener-supportedministry.
For a copy of today'sbroadcast, please visit our
website, thepromoter.org.
And would you prayerfullyconsider making a tax deductible
donation so that we maycontinue to share stories of
God's amazing grace with theworld?
And join us next week foranother broadcast of Get the
(28:11):
Hell Out of Your Life.
Real people, sharing realstruggles, and offering real
hope.
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