Jumping Back Into Agape

All right, guys, welcome back. Welcome back. And I am going to just jump right in on this. The whole point here is I don't want to waste any time. So I'm picking up from the last episode and the focus of that last episode. We got into more about Jesus and Agapao, right? The model of the beloved self doing, right? So we're gonna learn more about being and doing. So being is living in our being is living in our, what would you call it? It's living in our essence, right? And that's the main point. Is as long as we're living out of our essence, out of our belovedness, we get to be the expression of what God wants us to be. And doing what we want for our lives is that our doing comes out of our being, not that we're just doing for the sake of doing. Is my doing coming from my being or from my wound or need? So am I doing because I have a need for something, or is it I'm being and my being is affecting all that I do? Because when we look at Jesus, Jesus did not just teach us about agape. Jesus was agape. And I want you to get that. Agape was he embodied action and rootedness and groundedness in God. And let me just say this again because I want to, I'm speaking Greek, but I want you to get it from an English perspective, where it is agape as the source, our source of life, and agape tose is identity. That is our beloved. We are the beloved of God and we are beloved of God, right? Go back and listen to the episodes. Agapeon is identity expressed. And I want to say this, man. I sat with agapitan for about seven months, six to seven. Actually, it's eight months now, because in July of 2025, I got the revelation of the hidden river of God's agape and the five points that came out of there, the five principles that came out. And what I realized what came out of that revelation was agape, agape tos, and agapitan. So identity expressed. But like most of us, we thought that I thought that we were agapitan and agape were combined. That because we knew our identity, that we could step out and we can do out of identity. But that's not the case because we can know our identity, but still be operating in the protective self, still be operating from that place where there's a woundedness or a need that we're trying to per trying to fill through the doing. And by sitting in this for eight months and really understanding that a gapow is love in action, or let me say it this way: agape is the source that was filled in us, flowing out of us, right? So it's love, it's agape in action. So we become the vessel. Remember, I talked about the six ceremonial jars or jugs, I'm sorry, and Jesus' first miracle, right? So go back and listen to this because this is really good stuff, guys, and I'm hoping you're being blessed from this. So now what I want to do is is in the last episode, we talked about, I got to two movements. I was gonna get to three, but I didn't want to rush it. So the movement that the first movement that we wanted to talk about was this movement number one was the baptism, where identity is established. And that was brought up in Matthew 3:17. We've gone over this uh more than enough times, and the voice came from heaven. You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. So, what we see is is identity came first. I want you to get this now. Identity comes first, and the father speaks three things over Jesus. Let me break it down. Just relationship. You are my son. Belonging is established before anything else. Identity, beloved, agape tos, the precise word. He didn't use servant, he didn't use worker, and he didn't use messenger. He said, You're beloved. That's identity. And then the last thing that we see is delight. With you I am well pleased, not because of what he has done, but because of who he is. God is delighted in us, not because of what we have done. And that you see how that could be good or bad, right? And most people will pick up God doesn't love me because what I have done. No, that is not true. God loves us because of who we are. We are the beloved of God. We are God's belovedness, we are God's beloved. So that delight is what is powerful. So relationship, identity, and delight, and keep that in that order. So if we think about it, relationship. We spend our whole Christian journey, a walk with God and Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit is all about relationship. And the key here is understanding this, is you can't get into a solid relationship without understanding your identity. And if the other per if you don't realize that the other person is delighted in you, you won't draw close. Just think about all of your human relationships that you had that were very intimate relationships. There was an identity, you knew who you were, and you knew who you are in that relationship. Not just for yourself, but the other person knows who you are. You're not half, you're not a quarter, you're a whole coming into a whole relationship. And because you both understand, or let me just, I'm not gonna say both, because you understand who you are, there are things in the relationship that you're willing and you allow and you don't allow. But the key here is if there is no delight in the relationship, it doesn't last. And I want you to think about the eternal presence of God's delight for humanity. God made this statement. He said, I above all things, I wish that all would be what? Saved. And when he says that, he's saying it, the fact that I wish that all would come back to me, that all would come back into relationship, that all would come back like the prodigal son home to the father, without trying to figure out what am I gonna say to my dad? I spent all the money, I did all this stuff, because the father is not even thinking about the stuff. The father only wants to see the son or the daughter that went away. He wants us to come back. So you got that baptism where identity is established. And I talked about, I mean, it's from the biblical, it's talking about identity, right? So we get this. When we become born again, when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, Lord and Savior. And we believe that God sent him on our behalf, we are hooked back in. We are beloved at that point. I want you to understand that that's the point of where we are. When we acknowledge that Jesus is the gift that God sent to restore us back into relationship, our belovedness is sealed. Now, the next point was movement number two. Let me bring this up. Now, movement two was in the wilderness, where the identity or where identity is tested. This was very powerful. So go back and listen to this over and over and over again. And it was Matthew 4 and 1, because it says, then Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. I want you to see this now. Immediately after the Father speaks, identity agapitos over Jesus, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness. See, there is a difference between Holy Spirit led into the wilderness and you going into the wilderness or being tempted to be drawn into the wilderness. See, there is a distinction here between protective self-leading and beloved self-leading. I want you to get that. But what we find out in the wilderness here, this is where something critical happened. Something reveals exactly how beloved self-doing works and exactly how the protective self tries to replace it. And what we found out was this every time that Jesus was tempted, he refused to speak on his own behalf. He said, It is written. And what we learned about those temptings were what? They were an assault on Jesus' identity. Each time you want, you gotta get this. Temptations are coming to test us or to draw you out of your identity. It's to get you back into that place where you built up an image for yourself, and God has a more excellent image of us. And I, we're gonna choose to live out of God's image or live out of our own image. Right? So that's point number two. So the wilderness, let me just summarize it. The wilderness is where identity, agapitos, identity receive is stress tested. And this is not a one-time thing, y'all. This will be happening throughout our journey. It'll be happening on, it'll be, you know, from a physical perspective at work or with people. We're constantly going to be tested. Notice I'm using the word test because God is shaping in us a far weight of glory. That test is to reveal to us where we are, and then now God can work in us to strengthen us to live out of our identity. So the wilderness is where agapitos, identity received is stress test. Jesus emerges from it not the not depleted, but confirmed. And from that confirmation, his ministry begins. And from confirmation, we step into the things of God. So now let's get to point, I mean, movement number three, because there's a couple of things in this one that's really deep. Because I want you to understand movement three is the ministry or the our, or I should say, our life, purpose, what God has ordained for us as individuals to do. And here's what I want to say this man. Please hear me. Hear me right now. It's not what we want to do for God, it is what God wants to do through us. Notice the difference. And I hope you pick it up as we continue to keep going through this third movement. It's not. We have grand ideas. I had grand ideas of what I wanted to do for God, but that's not that's not scripturally. The scripture says that we are co-laborers with Christ. God doesn't need us to do something for him. God wants to do something through us like the six empty containers. They were sitting there waiting for Jesus. I want I just let that settle. Jesus recognized that they were empty and they were there waiting, and then Jesus put those jugs into what? The plan of action. The jugs didn't get up and walk over. So I want you to really start to think about where are you moving in your life, and where is God leading or directing in your life? So now let's jump in here. So the ministry is a gapow and daily expression. You got it? Love and action and daily expression. So with his identity established at the baptism and stress tested in the wilderness, Jesus enters into ministry. And what follows across three years is the most sustained, consistent, and comprehensive demonstration of agapao that the world has ever seen and I believe will ever see. And I'm only gonna walk through a couple of specifics here, but now when you start to read your Bible and you read the gospels, you will see something far beyond what we were looking at before. So as we walk through four specific movements, I don't want to catalog his acts, but I want to see the root from which each one grew. We're focusing on deep roots and groundedness. Scene number one, the leper, love that touches the untouchable. Matthew eight and one. But I want to read Matthew 7, 28 and 29, and then flow right into Matthew 8, 1 to 3, because Jesus had done something pretty amazing here in 28 and 29. Look what it says here. This is Matthew given an identity here. He said, when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority, not as their teacher, not as their teachers of the law. I want you to catch that. He taught as one who had authority. That's because he operated from the source. Now we read here in 8.1, it says, When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. Now I want you to see this. Notice, he came down from the mountainside. Why? Because he was up spending time with the Father. John's gospel reveals this. Luke reveals that he's always going away, spending time. So part of one of the, I don't want, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna use the word, part of one of the prerequisites of living in a GAPO, love and action, is spending time in relationships, spending time with the Father. Jesus said this with He says, I only do what I hear from the Father. As the Father says, I do. That is telling you the intimacy in the relationship. Now, verse two says, A man with leprosy came and kneeled before him and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Verse three, Jesus reached out his hands and touched the man. I am willing. And he and he said, Be clean. Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. I want you to catch that now. Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. But the key here is Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. And this is very powerful because we read this now, we may not understand it, but in first century Jewish culture, to touch a leopard was to become ritually unclean. No one touched a leper. Not from cruelty, but from the law. The law said no. And the leper himself expected distance. The outcasts. The cultural accepted position was for the leper to be away from others. They'd already put the label on him. Somehow, like how we're doing today, where we're putting labels on people, marginalized. All these different labels are not drawing us together, they're pulling us further apart. And notice here, he asked only for willingness, not for contact. Look at what the leper said. He said, Lord, if you are willing, you can what? Make me clean. The leper never expected it because what the cultural acceptance was the law, was one thing, but agape in action resulted in something completely different. And this is what the world is actually longing for right now. We are in what I a perfect storm of agape to show up. But look what Jesus does. Jesus touch touched him, not because he had to, not because the law required it. And not to prove his power. He touched him because from the place of settled agapitos, identity receive, the natural movement of agapau is always towards the one who has been made to feel unworthy of nearness. Let me read that again. Jesus touched him because from the place of settled agapitos of identity received, the natural movement of agapao, love and action, is always towards the one who has been made to feel unworthy of nearnessness. I want to share something with you. This just happened to my daughter today, and she came home, and I and I know what she's going through because I've been sensing it. And she came home and she was in a her continence was sad. And she was just kind of in this, yeah, I would say, I'm just gonna say sad. She was in a solemn mood. So she left school early and she came home and she rested. When she finally came down the stairs and we started talking, and she said, Dad, today, I mean, instead of me reaching out to others for comfort, I allow God to teach me and to comfort me in the situation. And I said, Well, what was the situation? She said, Dad, I felt what God feels today. Because she was saying is it's like all the noise and how people are all distracted. She said, I felt it, Dad, and it was such a heaviness on me. And I just saw how God must feel that with all this other stuff, no one's paying attention to that delight that God has for us. And she said, Dad, I mean, it just broke me. It broke my heart. And I said, Honey, that's a beautiful place to be in. And now what do you do? She said, Dad, I just felt like loving. I just felt like letting it flow out. And I said, God is emptying you, He's teaching you how to be sensitive to agape, and He's building in you agapeos, your identity, so that you can understand agape tan and allow agape to flow out of you. And I love how all of this is just showing up in life right now. Look around you and see if you can notice agape, true agape love in action. And I said all of this because with the leopard, here's the key protective self-doing keeps its distance because proximity to the broken might expose their own brokenness. It might reveal the wound or the trauma of which they're trying to get met. Because proximity to the broken or the situation, whatever it might be, might expose their own brokenness, wound, or trauma that they're trying to get fixed or resolved. But beloved self-doing reaches out because it has nothing to prove and no wound to protect. Why? Because we're empty. And we know that staying empty is the place where blessings can flow out to others. You got it? Now, scene two. John thirteen and five, when Jesus washes the foot washing. So John 13, one through five. So let me get there, John thirteen. Now, let me read it from this perspective, and then you'll you'll get it, and I'll break it down in a second here. It says, it was just before the Passover festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Verse two, it says the evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Isariot, to portray Jesus. Verse three, Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. Isn't that a beautiful statement about identity? And verse four says, so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped the towel around his waist. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that he wrapped around himself. Notice what moved him to do this. I just let me just get the key points here. So the key point here is Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. That's the motivation. He had come from agape, and agape was flowing out of him, and that he would be returning back to agape. But look what John does here. I love reading John. John does not let us miss this. John explicitly tells us the internal reality before he describes the external action. How many of you have actually over, I mean, just went through that and never thought about that statement? John is so very good at this. The fact that he went in and he said that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. He reveals the internal before he describes the external action. The same way where John really doesn't focus a lot on the miracles, on the miracle at Cana. He focuses on what? The six ceremonial jugs, the servant, and the master of the ceremony. I want you to see where, read it again. He focuses first on the empty jugs, and then the servants responding out of obedience to what Jesus is telling them to do. And then the master of the ceremony, how he witnesses unknowing transformation. But here's the blessing of this: the servants knew what had transpired, but stayed obedient. So let's again focus on what John is doing here. Internal reality before he describes the external action. Jesus knew his origin, he knew his identity, he knew his destination, and from that knowing he served. Boy, what would that do for us? What would it do for you individually for you to sit and know your origin of coming from God? That God called you into existence. And the fact that God called you into existence, he's saying that you are his beloved. And the fact that as long as you stay rooted and grounded in God, you know your final destination is eternity with God. And from this knowing, can you serve out of fullness? Or I should say, can you serve out of being empty that you may be filled? Because I think we have a lot of people serving out of fullness. But that fullness is not the beloved self. It's the protective self fullness. We're so full of other stuff that we are not seeing a Gapow in action. But what we just witnessed here in John 13, this is one of the clearest pictures of a Gapow as beloved self-doing in all of Scripture. Jesus does not wash feet because he is required to. See, you can't you can't plan a foot washing ceremony and think that you're gonna flow from this. It's not the same. I'm not speaking against footwashing, but I'm saying the words before it is what motivated. That foot washing ceremony can be the same as sitting down and talking to a homeless person where the Lord is leading you to. That's what it means to serve from emptiness that you may be filled. So the protective self cannot kneel like this because kneeling feels like diminishment. It feels too close to home, and diminishment threatens an identity that has not yet been secured. I want you to see this, man, and just look at the examples in your personal life. Pray, yes, Father, reveal to each of us listening to this how the protective self shows this disminishment, how it is threatening to the protective self that we may release it and let it go. Because the beloved self freely kneels. Why? Because there is nothing to lose when you already know everything has been given. Let me say that again. Because there is nothing to lose when you already know everything has been given or provided. Agapau express from agapitos does not shrink in service, it expands because it is not losing something, it is giving from fullness. That's so wonderful. I wrote these words down yesterday, man. I I did an interview, and the person said this, and I think this is a perfect time to say this. The person in the interview, Dr. Nene, said it this way. He said, acceptance is not defeat. I just want that to settle. Acceptance is not defeat. Now let's go to scene three, Lazarus, John 11, 32 and 35. So let me get there, John 11, 32. But here's the key with Lazarus, right? So Lazarus, love that weeps without shame. And we all know this story. I mean, everyone can quote from this story because it's so powerful of what transpires here. But let me just read 32 to 35, and then I'll break it down like I did. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you have been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him? He asked. Come and see, Lord, they replied. Verse thirty five says Jesus wept. Now, let me break this down real quick. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And then it says Jesus wept. Two of the most powerful words in the New Testament, Jesus wept. He who knew he who knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead wept also. I want you to catch this now. He already knew what he was going to do, but yet he wept. You can't fake that. This is authentic agape in action. Not because he had lost hope. He didn't weep because he lost hope. Not because he lacked power. He just said, right, we understand it. He knew that God had given him all power and everything was under him. And not because of love. I'm sorry, I said that wrong. He had not because he had lost hope and not because he lacked power, but because of love, when it is truly a GAPO, does not remain at a safe emotional distance from the grief of those it loves. Let me say that one more time. Want to read it again. But because of love, when it is truly a ga pow, it does not remain at a safe emotional distance from the grief of those it loves. It gets in. The protective self manages emotions. It stands apart from grief because grief is vulnerable, and vulnerability is dangerous when identity is fragile. But Jesus, fully settled in agapitos, could enter the full weight of human sorrow without being destroyed by it. I just want you to get this. Agapo weeps. Love in action weeps. Agapo is present in suffering. Agapau does not require emotional armor. Because when you know you are beloved, you can afford to be moved. And I will say it this way because it's not you being moved, it's love. It's the source of all love flowing out of you. And the last fourth, the fourth scene on this one, right, is John 21, 15 through 17, Peter's restoration. So John 21, and this is powerful because this happens after. And we just came through Easter, right? So I want you to be able to see this how powerful this is is about restoration. So let me read 15 through 17 and then I'll break it down like I did before. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord, he said, You know I love you. Jesus said, Feed my lambs. Again Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He answered, Yes, Lord, I know. You know that I love you. Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. A third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him three times, Do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my sheep. Now let me break this down. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon, son of John, Do you love me more than these? Critical question. Why now? I want you to see this. Peter had denied Jesus three times before the crow crocked. He had gone back to fishing, he had abandoned his new post. He had returned back to the identity he knew before Jesus called him. And Jesus, in one of the most tender scenes of all scripture, comes back for him. It's never too late, y'all. It's never too late. Notice what Jesus does not do. He does not rehearse the failure. He does not make Peter earn restoration. He does not withdraw love as punishment. Three denials. Three questions. Not to shame Peter, but to give Peter three opportunities to receive the love that his shame had been telling him was no longer available. I want you to catch this because this is a ga pow. Right? This is a ga pow at its most profound. Love that pursues after failure. Love that does not require perfection as a price for restoration. Love that is steady enough, rooted enough in agapetos. Love, let me say that again. Love that is steady enough, rooted and grounded enough in agapitos to hold someone while they find their way back to themselves. Good Lord, thank you, Jesus. Doesn't this remind you of the parable of the prodigal? Look at how Jesus is showing up here, man. This is not, he can't plan this. This is coming out. And here's what I want you to get: the protective self withdraws when it has been wounded. We all do it, man. We've all done it. We get offended, we shut down, we go away, we we cut off. Because why? Because it requires repayment. The protective self keeps score. But here's what I want you to understand. But beloved self-doing, agapao from agapitos, cannot be permanently wounded because it securely is not located in the other person's faithfulness. I oh, please get this. Let me say it one more time and then I'm gonna break this down. Agapau from agapitos cannot be permanently wounded because its security is not located in the other person's faithfulness. If you understand this, stop putting your faith and trust in someone else. Stay empty so that a ga pow can flow out of agapitos. Because it's telling you right here, agapao cannot be permanently wounded. So if you're woo, if you find yourself being wounded from a situation or circumstances, bring it before God and empty it out. It's taking up space where God can't fill us. It's right here. And once you understand that a gapau flowing from agapet hose cannot be permanently wounded because its security is not located in the other person's faithfulness, it is located in the Father's declaration. You are my beloved. Jesus can pursue Peter after Peter's failures because Jesus' identity was never contingent on Peter's loyalty. Agapau that flows from agapitos loves freely because it has nothing to lose. Now I want you to just sit back here and we're going to go into a little short contemporative pause because a lot has been said here. Because before we close, I want to take a moment with you. The touch that crossed a boundary, the service from strength, the weeping without shame, the pursuit after failure. Let that be the place where the Holy Spirit is inviting you to examine your own agapao. Listen, it's time for us to let go. It's preventing us from being empty that we may be filled with the agape of God and live out of our agape tos, our identity in God, and allow agape that identity to express in agape out. So as you breathe in, take a deep breath in. You got it? Let's breathe in. Breathe in. Jesus loved from who he was. Exhale, I am being formed to love the same way. And take that rhythm with you, knowing that we are being formed to love in the same way. We are becoming the agape, the vessel that agape flows through for the love of others. We are being formed into Christlieness. It's time for us to live in this. It's time for believers throughout the earth to live out and to live in this flow of Agape, the divine love of God that sustains all things. And then the next episode, I'm going to talk more about this rhythm and returning to the rhythm, the rhythm of returning, how Jesus sustained agape. And you don't want to miss this episode because this is one of the things that we don't pay attention to reading the gospels. Jesus lived this. And as we end this episode, I want you to take this with you. Colossians says it this way: it says, Christ in us, the hope of glory. What was Paul saying? Christ in us, the hope of a God owl flowing out, the glory of God flowing out of us. Until next time, keep living daily for Christ.