Donald E Coleman 0:00

Hey, welcome back to Daily Living for Christ and this amazing kind of live love series that I'm talking about. We ended up in the book of Acts, kind of seeing how the formation of the church was established and they were rooted

Welcome And Where We’re Headed

Donald E Coleman 0:22

in operating in the four movements of divine love. But we're going into Paul right now, we're going to experience something that I've been just kind of marinating on this because what you see in Paul's writing is to me it's profound. And if you can sit back and kind of close yourself off to everything that you've already heard, kind of just push it away and just be open to listen to what Paul has established in some of his letters. I'm not going to go through all of them, but I'm going to hit some main points here. I'm going to talk, I'm going to go into Romans, I'm going to hit Ephesians, and I'm going to hit First Corinthians. And if needed, I may go longer. If you guys want me to, I can go in and dig out some more scriptures on what Paul is saying in his letters. But I believe that these examples I'm going to give you is profound. And I also want to say is I mapped all of this out. My book has not come out yet, but I just want to give you a heads up on it. Beloved of God, The Hidden River, the truth that changed everything. You are already loved. The book is it's almost there. I'm almost getting to the finish line there, and I'll keep you up to date on when it's going to be available on Amazon, whatever it is. But I did break down the over 300 scriptures in there. But let's get ready to dive in. And I'm going to tell you up front, if I get excited, you know it's just me because I I love the word of God, and I love what the word of God does when we allow it to penetrate us and we allow it to kind of sit in us, and we sit in the uncomfortableness of what the word is. So when you think about Paul, let's think about it this way: there is no writer in the New Testament that engages the theology or the understanding of Agapau, love in action, more completely

Paul’s Pattern Of Identity First

Donald E Coleman 2:56

or comprehensively than Paul. And what do you think caused that? I just want you to get that. I personally believe it has to do with his conversion, it has to do with what happened to him on the road to Damascus and how he thought he was living one way, but God said, No, let me show you how to take what you already know and let me clean it up and let me flow it back out to you in love. So think about that now. So there's no writer in the New Testament that engages the theology of agape, agape tose, agape, and agape more completely or comprehensively than Paul. And what makes Paul engagement so important is that he did it not simply commanding love. He said he did it, it's like is is that he does not simply command love. I want to I I got tongue-tied there. So Paul did not command us to love, but he grounds every command in identity. I want you to grab that. Let me let me say that again. I want it, I want to get it, I want to get it all in one thing there. It says, and what makes Paul's engagement so remarkable is that he does not simply command love, he grounds every command in identity, identity before. You got that? Hold on to that now. Every instruction to love in Paul's letters is anchored in a prior declaration of who the reader, who you are, or who the reader is already in Christ. I just want you to grab that. Look what Paul did. Every instruction in Paul's letters is anchored in a prior, something he already said. It's a declaration of who we are already in Christ. Already. I want you to understand that, and I want you to start thinking about already, because it's important for us to hold on to what already is, because already is connected to becoming, and this is Paul's pattern: being before doing. I hope you get this. Being before doing, you are this, right? Paul's saying, you are this, therefore, live this way. I want you to get this. He's saying, you are the beloved, so live this way. My goodness, isn't that beautiful? Or let me let me break it down a little bit for you in the Greek. You are the agapitos, so live as agape. You'll get it, right? And this is what he's saying is is and the key here is this guys, I want you to grab this, and I think I'm gonna put a little an addition in here. Maybe. Let me think about it. But it is the four movements of divine love. The framework that I've been talking about, it's in literary form. So what I'm telling you is nothing new. I want to make sure you understand this. I'm not, this is not a new framework. This is right here in the Bible. Agape,

Four Movements Of Divine Love

Donald E Coleman 7:36

agape, right? The source of all love. Right? Agapitos, we are beloved, we are the beloved. And then you have agapitan, the expression, right? The identity expressed, formed, and shaped in the vessel. Well, who's the vessel? Us, the agapitos. And agapeo is that love flowing out of the vessel to us, to others, right? Connect that to go back and read Jesus' first miracle. You'll get the picture. The vessel standing by, waiting, formed and shaped for a purpose. It was empty, waiting to be filled. The six vessels were waiting to be filled with what? Water, presence of God, the hidden river, put in. And then through that water going in, when that water was drawn out, it was transformed from water to wine. And then the recipient of that transformation said, You've saved the best for last. There's multiple things in that scripture that most people never know. And one of them is talking about us being formed and shaped in God. I just want you to hold on to that. Because what I want to focus on right now is I want to go to Romans. I want to go to Romans 8.35 because most of us already know this one. We can quote it. Right? We say it all the time. What can separate us from the love of Christ?

Romans 8 And Unbreakable Love

Donald E Coleman 9:39

But I'm going to say it this way: nothing can separate you from agape. Let me read Romans 8:35 through 39, and then I'm going to come back and break some stuff down for you. You ready? What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or soul sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Isn't that? I mean, that's one of the most powerful verses. I mean, scriptures in the Bible, verses, scriptures, however you want to call it, man. It is so profound that we quote it all the time, and we get into that point, and we usually start quoting it when we get into a situation, a circumstance. But I want to break some stuff down for you. I want to go back and I want to just show you the movement, the four movements of divine love, because two of them are showing up right here. I want you to see what happens. So let me let me break it down for you right here. Who shall separate us from the agape of Christ? Want you to get that now. Right? The agape of Christ. And it says, Shall troubles or hardship or persecution or famine or dangerous sword or danger or sword? Look at it. Look what he's asking. He says, What can, what will separate us? I want you to think about this now. Because when you go back, it says dangerous salt, right? And then there's the quotation. It says, as it is written, verse 36, it says, For your sake we face death all day long. We are considered sheep to the slaughter. But look what verse 37 says. 37 says what I said. It said, no. Do you get it right here? It says, no. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who agapeled us, right? I want you to get this. That's the word there, loved us is agapal. That's the he poured out his love for us already. So we are loved because we are agapaled because agape. That's what I want you to get this. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing someone does to us or something we do can separate us from it. So 37 is a perfect example of a GAPO. But look what else it says here. And it says after that, where I'm at, he has loved us, right? So let's go to this. And it says 38, it says, for I am convinced. Look what Paul is saying here. Paul is saying, I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons, neither the present, nor the future, or any powers, neither height, nor death, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the agape of God. Watch this now, of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Whew. This is it, right? This is Paul establishing agape tos as the indisputable reality. Not a feeling, not a spiritual state that fluctuates with circumstances. It's an objective, eternal, unbreachable truth. Nothing, let me say that again. Nothing can sever the connection between the beloved and the love that holds us in it. Or let me let me say it this way for you. Nothing can sever the connection between the beloved and the agape that holds us. Ah, that's it. Because from the source is what is holding us together. And this is what I want you to get because it kind of talks right to the current times that we're living in. And I want you to realize that the current times is not anything new. Why does Paul need to establish this so forcefully, so passionately, right? Like me. Because the communities he was writing to are under pressure. They're under

The Protective Self Under Pressure

Donald E Coleman 15:49

persecution, poverty, and social isolation. They were being separated, they were being thrown out of the synagogue all for the sake of Christ. And here's what I want you to understand this. I want you to see this. Please grab a hold of this. And when pressure comes, the protective self exerts, it kind of exacerbates itself, it pushes itself to the front. It's doing whatever it can do to survive. It whispers. It whispers subtly, all it's just constant, right? And what is it whispering? Perhaps God love is conditional. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Perhaps your circumstance, your circumstance or circumstances are evidence that you are not truly beloved. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want you to get this. See, those thoughts that are coming to you are not your thoughts. They're not your true thoughts. They're the protective self trying to get you to step outside of your belovedness and depend on your own self. And look, look what else. Here's another thought that comes up. Perhaps you need to prove yourself worthy of being rescued. Perhaps you need to do something in order for God to hear your prayers or in order for God to step in on your behalf. Well, let me let me throw this question out. What if the fact that you are even hearing that voice and hearing those questions, those distorted questions, is God letting you know that they're there are untrue? That the truth is you are the exact opposite of whatever the question is that's coming to you. Come on now, I want you to get that, right? Because Paul here dismantles every whisper entirely. Why? Because the foundation of agape toaf of being held in divine love, being held in agape, cannot be shaken by anything that happens in this world. Come on now. Are you seeing this, man? This is awesome. Nothing that happens in this world. Because the key is if you are focusing primarily on what happens in this world, in the scene environment, you are missing the more, the most incredible view of all is how you are seen through God's eyes in eternity. How awesome is that? And here's what I wanted, I want you to get. And it is a form, and it is from this unshakable foundation that agape becomes possible even in suffering. I just, oh, I want you to get this. Let me read my statement again. The foundation of agapitos of being held in agape cannot be shaken by anything that happens in this world. And it is from this unshakable foundation that agapeo becomes possible even in suffering. And here's what I want you to understand. This is this is this is this is it, guys. This is it, ladies. This is it, listeners. You will never know the depth of agapow, of agapitos, or agape, unless you are put in a situation that it can be revealed. You see, we understand love when all things are like a bed of roses. But when things come up that challenge what we perceive is right or wrong, or what we perceive is okay, or what we perceive as shaking or comfortable, or come, you understand what I'm saying? It's not until something comes against what we hold dear that God is seeing agape and your agapitos is formed and shows up. It's not always in the good times. It's in the tough times. It's when things get tough, it's when things get tight. Is when God reveals Himself in such a mighty look at the church. I just went through it in Acts. Look at what transpired. For three hundred years the church was persecuted, and through all that time, the church grew, it multiplied, it had power, it had demonstration, it had manifestation. And what is God saying to us right now then? I believe God is inviting us to be still and know that He is God. Psalms 46 and 10. I believe God is inviting us into the stillness so that we can be silent and quiet and not move long enough that we can actually see our identity show up in God. Because we've been programmed to get it done. Especially in the West. We've been programmed to make it happen. Do, do, do, do, do. But God is saying, if you keep doing, how can I reveal to you how much I love you? Oh, I I oh okay, so for the person that just said, by keep giving me, but that's not, that's not the love of agape. Agape is a love that doesn't always give you something that you want. Agape is the source of love that comes to shape your identity, shape who you are in your true self. Not fulfill the desires of your protective self that has been formed by your environment, has been formed by culture. Jesus came as a counter-cultural act of God. He went against the culture. Why? Because the culture wasn't living up to the standards of what God desired. But now I want you to see, I want to jump over. I don't want to, I want to keep going here. I want to jump over to Ephesians chapter 3, right? Verse 17 and 19. This also is another one of Paul's the profound prayers that Paul actually breaks down. And if you want, check out the episodes when I broke down the prayers of Paul's. I

Ephesians 3 Prayer Of Rooted Love

Donald E Coleman 24:08

did this probably maybe a year and a half ago, two years ago, and I did a complete breakdown of Ephesians. I did it twice. Why? Because this book, this letter is so profound. It has so much depth in it that we can keep going back to it and receive so much more information from it. But here's what I want you to grab a hold of right now. I want you to see the importance of what is showing up here. I want you to see how God, in his mercy, brought all of this to us. I want you to grab this. I want you to get a hold of it because it is profound when we see it. We get to see the heart of God in this, where if we look at it before, we would have just casually one of us. So I'm going to read it straight from here and then I'm going to bring in the Greek. All right. Now, it says, and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. I just I hope you got that right now. Let me go back and read this so that you can see what God is seeing here. Right? Remember, agape is the source of love. So he says, Paul is saying here, he says, and I pray that you being rooted and established in agape may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide, how long, and how high and deep is the agape of Christ. And to know that this agape surpasses knowledge. So look, look what look what Paul is saying here. He's praying that we be established, right? Rooted and established, or rooted and grounded. So he's saying this is that you have gotten deep into this understanding of what agape is. And here's the key. Out of agape, this is why it's important for us to understand this. Out of agape, what happens next? Agapeos, our identity. And then agape ton is the forming and the shaping of our identity expressed. That explains that you may have power. Power only comes through the vessel that has been formed by God. Ha-oh, hallelujah. And look what he says. He says, Together with all the Lord's holy people may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people. For what? Now, power that kind of goes out. But here's what he's saying is first of all, the first act of the power is to grasp the width, the length, the height, and the depth of the agape of Christ. You can't grasp it. There's no end to it. And look, and he says, and to know this agape that surpasses knowledge. So be okay in not knowing how to express the agape or the agape of God in Christ that's flowing out of you. You don't have to explain it anymore. There's no reason you don't have to. I I've tried to, but I don't have the words to express what's happening within me. So it's okay to be okay not knowing how to express what is happening within you. And I want you to get this, man, because this is one of the most theologically dense, comprehensive prayers in all of Paul's writing. And it maps again the four movements of divine love, the framework I've been talking about with extraordinary position. Let me read it slowly through that lens, through the four movements of divine love. Let me say it again what it is. Agape. I'm sorry, agape, agape tose, agape ton, and agape. Now, watch what happens here. Look, let's break this thing down. Rooted and established in love. This is agape as foundation, the divine love that holds and grounds its source. You heard me just say it. Now, look what else it says. Watch this now. It says to grasp how wide, long, high, and deep is the love of Christ. This is the experiential awakening of agapitos. It's not merely knowing about love intellectually, but coming to know it personally, right? Dimensionally from a depth perspective in the body and in our bones. It's knowing it viscerally, ontacologically, knowing it with all of our being. And look what it says. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge. This is the formation into Agapitan. The one through whom love moves, the one through whom it has been shaped by an encounter with love that exceeds our rational comprehension or exceeds all of our human understanding. Something has been formed in them at a level deeper than they understood or cognition. And Lord is doing the same thing today. And we're trying to what is the word? We're trying to get this thing to understand. We're trying to break it down so much. God's saying you're not going to be able to come to the end of what my what agape is. But look what else it says here. I want you to get this last point here. It says, filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. This is agape as the natural consequence. When a person in this, and I'm sorry, when a person is this full of God, not striving to be filled, not striving to make things happen, not trying to do everything for God, but realizes their position is to be those six empty jugs waiting to be filled or waiting to receive, right? Receive filling. Love or agape begins to overflow. It cannot be contained. It moves into the world as the natural expression of an identity that is saturated in divine love, or let me say it this way: an identity that is saturated in agape. We're trying to fill the containers. And God is saying, if you fill the containers, what I can't flow out of that. Only what God filled, only what Jesus filled, had filled in the containers was transformed into wine. So if God is trying inviting you into this place of being able to sit still, the containers there, He's actually positioned you to remove anything that's occupying space that it might be filled. Are you willing? Are you willing to sit long enough in the place that God has called us to be, or called, let me say it this way, called you to be, right? Called you to be so that you may be emptied, or that the protective self may lose its grip, that our agapitos identity may actually begin to flow. So let me end up this section here because I want you to say Paul is not praying that these believers try hard to love. We've done this too long. We've been trying to love in our own strength. And this it's not gonna work. And this is why I believe I said these words before to you that a tsunami of agape is coming. A tsunami of agape is approaching, it's already moving. Why? Because the love that is out there in the world is not truly reflective

Stillness And The Coming Agape Wave

Donald E Coleman 34:52

of God's love. And the only way for people to understand God's love is to be enveloped in that love. And here's the thing: all the noise that's going on is trying to draw your attention away from what is already happening on the water. Use my metaphor, stay with me. Tsunamis are developed out in the water, beyond, usually beyond what the eye can see. So if you're if you're occupied, pre-occupied with the noise, you're not seeing what's happening. But what you don't see is there is a hunger and a thirst that's happening among young people. There's a hunger and a thirst for people to want to understand not religion, but to understand agape, to understand how God works. There's a hunger and a thirst for stillness and peace that they could not find in their doing. And there is a willingness now to pause. Those are all signs of a tsunami. I want you to get it. Those are the warning signs that something's happening. And here's one of the things. What it naturally, what do they tell you to do in a tsunami? Get to higher ground. Oh, but isn't it wonderful? Higher ground from a spiritual perspective is what Jesus said in Mark 6 and 6. He said, When you pray, go into your house and close the door. Pray to your father who is secret. I'm saying to you, close the door. Go into the cell, as the desert fathers and mothers talked about. And we know that the cell is within us. Get to that secret place, as David said. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of his wings. Get to the secret place. Don't keep doing what the Pharisees were doing that Jesus talked about in Mark 6 and 5. He says, Don't do what they've done. They've already prayed outside. They've already prayed on the corners. They've already done all the stuff, the pursuing, the striving, the wanting to be noticed. No, God is saying, go into the cell. Sit in the cell, sit in the stillness, sit in the quietness, and allow me to impart in you. And I hope you're getting this because this is fresh, this is live, this is exactly what God is doing. Now I want to transition to 1 Corinthians 13. You already know what this is. This is profound. This is absolutely profound. I mean, I can read through this whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, and there is so much in this. I mean, I believe I'm saying this off of the top of my head, but I believe that 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 13 Beyond A Checklist

Donald E Coleman 38:13

is probably the one chapter that has the most, the most talking about the most of agape, right? We call it the love. We call it the love chapter because we literally see love everywhere throughout 1 Corinthians 13. And once we recognize what God was saying through Paul, it becomes profound in what we're talking about. So I want to go back here and I'm gonna start to read this, and I want you to grab a hold of what I'm saying. So I'm gonna start at verse, let me see here. Let me just paraphrase it. Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrong, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. I I mean, did did you did you catch that? Right? Let me let me go back and read this again. It's like from verse 4. I read it there, right? But it says, let me read the whole thing here, and because it's so powerful what Paul is saying here. I'm gonna read it again one more time and just listen to the verse, listen to the words, and I'll go back and I'll show you exactly what's showing up here. It says, actually, I'm gonna read it this way. I'm I'm gonna change it up a little bit. Are you okay? I'm gonna I'm gonna impart in the Greek here because I want you to see what God is doing here from verse 4. You ready? Agape is patient, agape is kind, agape does not envy, agape does not boast, agape is not proud, agape does not dishonor others, agape is not self-seeking, agape is not easily angered, agape keeps no record of wrongs. Agape does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Verse seven, agape always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Verse eight, agape never fails. I just want you to get that. Did you catch how many times agape shows up? But here's what most people do not grab a hold of. I want to drop down the verse 11 because I want you to get what Paul is saying. And he used certain things to talk about this. He says, When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. What is he saying? He's he's referring to child, childish things as before he came to Christ, before he came to his agapitos identity. And look what it says. But when I became a man, when I became the agapitos, the beloved of God, and fully understood what God, my identity in God, mature, right? Mature, not how long I've been a Christian, but how mature I am in my identity as a Christian, as the agape toast of God. He said, I put away childish, childish things, or I put away childhood behind me. No, look what he says here. Verse 12, he says, For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Not now I know in part, look what he's saying. Now I know in part, right? I know in part that I am the agape tos. He says, then when we are before God, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. Look what verse 13 says. He says, and now these three remain faith, hope, and agape. And the greatest of these is agape. Oh, I just hope you got that. I just hope you got that. Because what happens here in most cases, we often read 1 Corinthians 13 as a description of what love should look like, a standard to inspire towards. And it is. But read through the lens of our framework of what we've been talking about, and it becomes something more specific. It is a description of what agapao looks like when it flows from agapitos. Rather than from the protective self. Isn't this wonderful? Did you see God in that? Notice what is absent from this love. Envy, boasting, proud, pride, I'm sorry, self-seeking, easily angered, records of wrong. These are not random vices. They are precise markers of the protective self. Everything that we are trying to hold on to is tied up in envy, boasting, pride, self-seeking, easily angered, and records of wrong. Envy emerges as an identity that measures itself against others. Boasting emerges from an identity that needs to be seen. Self-seeking or striving emerges from an identity that must secure what it fears it lacks. Records of wrong emerge from an identity that has been wounded and cannot afford to release the debt. Every absence Paul names in First Corinthians thirteen is an absence of the protective self-doing. And every presence Paul names patience, kindness, protection, trust, love, perseverance is the active expression of agapao from agapitos. I want you to grab a hold of this. Paul is not giving the Corinthians a moral checklist or a doctrine. He is describing the quality of love that becomes possible when a community is living from true identity and when an individual is living from its true identity. The question is never try harder to love like this. The question is always, are you rooted deep enough in agape toast for agape, for agape to flow naturally? Now I want us to take a moment before we end. I just want to rest in this moment because I'm coming to the end. And as we pause in this one, I just want you to think about these words. Of all the qualities that Paul names, which we just read, which one is currently the most difficult

Reflection And Breath Prayer Practice

Donald E Coleman 47:26

for you to embody consistently? And if the protective self is the root of it, of its difficulty, what wound might be underneath that? I want you to sit with that. And now I want you to take a deep breath in. Breathe in deeply and exhale. I want you to breathe in deeply again one more time. And exhale. Now as you breathe in, I want you to remember you're breathing in the love of God or the agape of God. Hold it and breathe out. You're breathing out the agape of God. So now when you breathe in again, breathe in one more time, breathe in. I want you to think about I am rooted in a love that has no records of wrong. Hold. And when you exhale, exhale from the rootedness, I can agape without keeping score. Let's try that again, right? Inhale, I am rooted in a love that has no records of my wrongs. Agape keeps no records. Hold. I want you to exhale. And from that rootedness, I can love without keeping score. Because you receive, you therefore give. And know this that you are the agapitos, the beloved of God. And until next time, keep living daily for Christ.