Free to be loved. Free to be loved. It is not free to love. It is free to be loved When we talk about freedom, freeing the church, people always associate freeing something with demons, a demoniac oppression. And this and that, but in truth the church needs freedom, much more than demoniac oppression or demons, the church needs to be free of many wrong concepts and traditions, that can block the church of having the real revelation of the word. We need to go back, the central theme that I´ve talk about In the Conference in Italy, I´ve told
them that I have talked with a few Pastors, around the world, Pastors who preach the word of faith and the word of grace, and we all share the same vision, this understanding that the we are in the final times of the church, this is the time of the last harvest. Jesus is coming back, and this is the time for the church to bring Jesus back into the center of the church. The church has spent much time putting other things in the center, doctrines, men, idols. We need to put Jesus back in the center of the
church. The church, sometimes, focus in some things and Jesus, the bible says Colossians that Jesus is, He is, everything was created for Him and to Him, without him nothing would exist. Everything is sustained in the right Place because of him, so, He is the centre of the Universe. But in the church, He doesn´t kick and put the door down, He is a gentleman. If the church removes Jesus from the center, He doesn´t complain, He is a gentleman. He waits in a corner for the moment that the church will invite him back to the place He
wasn´t suppose to have left, which is a honorable place in the throne, where He was suppose to be sat, in the center of the church. The church needs to bring Jesus back to the center of the message and understand that He is our all, He is the way, the truth and life. He is the center of all things. We cannot be taken from side to side, by wind of doctrine. Having Jesus in the center is the healthy doctrine, having the right one. When we start to look to the bible, one of the principles that we
Need to bring back to the church is that the bible interprets itself. When we start to understand the number one point, the key to biblical interpretation is to know that the bible interprets itself. Theological books, books of Theologians, can be an excellent help, but the reference, the number one source of the biblical interpretation is the bible itself. And when we lose this notion, we get confused. One of the big things that cause confusion, when you get the bible, you look to the bible and it becomes easier to see the Old and the New Testament, and
that on the Old Testament you have the Old Alliance, in the New Testament you have the New Alliance. The Old Alliance, the Alliance of the Law, the New Alliance is the Alliance of the Grace. It is very simple to see this, the problem is that people, many times, don´t notice is that maybe the gospels are the harder parts of the bible to interpret and to understand. Because the gospels are not exactly a phase of transition between the Old and the New Alliance, but a period in between, there are many things in the gospel that are
presented as part of the Law and others about the grace. It is not for another reason that the bible says that Jesus came to comply the Law. The gospels show Jesus complying with the Law. But in other opportunities they show grace. Talking and teaching about grace, but in many opportunities He is ministering about the Law, complying the Law. When you think that you can find grace in the gospels, you end up bringing to the side of the grace what should be on the side of the Law. This creates a certain confusion! You cannot understand a
thing about what I´ve said, but you will! You will understand now. When you read, for example, Matthew 22. Matthew 22, the previous context for this is, first came the Sadducees, after the Scribes, and they tried to ask question to Jesus to see if He would fail any and be wrong. They wanted to see if they could accuse Him of heresy. The bible says that not achieving any success, neither the Scribes or the Sadducees, the Pharisees met, they got together and told one another "Look, the others tried and couldn´t do it, but we will go there
anyway, we will meet here and think how we can make Jesus fail. What should we do?". They planned, named one of them to be the rep, he went to Jesus and it says there "One of them", one of the Pharisees, this is not the term in the bible, but I am using to explain to you who were "One of them". "One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”. When somebody came to Jesus, talking about the Law, arguing about the Law, wanting to talk
about the Law. Jesus answered with the Law. When someone came in modesty acknowledging his insufficiency, Jesus answered with the grace. This is the big difference that we need to see In the gospels. This man comes with the Law, he asks what is the big Commandment of the Law? "Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.". Jesus gives the answer, He was asked about the greatest Commandment of the Law, He answers what the bible says. What is the greatest Commandment in the Law?
The greatest Commandment in the Law is this, you need to love God above all things, love God with all your heart and soul, with all of your understanding. "This is the first and greatest commandment, And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” When you find in the bible, in the New Testament about the Law and Prophets, when someone in the bible talks about the Law it is about the Torah, the first five books that we call Pentateuch, and the Jews call Torah.
The five first books of the bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the five first books. The Torah for the Jews is the Law. When they talk about Prophets, it is all the rest that goes up to Malachi. And Jesus says here that the Law and the Prophets depend of this two Commandments. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself" - this is the Law. Some churches teach, since the children´s class up to Adults, they
teach that: love others as yourself is the golden rule of the church. Have you heard about this? Have you? Ok, just the four of us. Someone else? OK, all of us. It is the golden rule "love others as yourself". But if this rule can be compared with a precious metal, this rule would be a silver rule, because this golden rule is "New Commandment I give you: “Love one another. As I have loved you". Love one another as yourself is hard, let´s tell the truth! So, the Law is not easy to anyone. The Law charges, demands,
claims, it asks for man to have A performance, that he does something. But the Law, when demands something, it is always a very hard thing for man to do. Man end up to be a guard of himself. "Am I doing what the Law demands?". I have to watch myself to make sure that I am not making mistakes, that I am doing the right thing, if I am right. Because it is all on me. Grace is different, grace fulfills. In the Law God says "Don´t do it, don´t do it, do not steal, do not kill, do
not lie". You will not do, in the grace God says "I will do, I will take this heart of stones, I will replace with a heart of flesh, I will give a new birth, I will forgive all iniquities, I will not remember your sins, I will forget all of your sins". God does and you receive by faith. The Law acts as if you got to a bold man and said "Have hair". "But how? Can I use wig?". "No, cannot be a wig. Have hair". So the man tries to make his hair grow. "Can´t do it!".
You make all the effort and after all that you see that even then your effort was not enough. The end of the Law is exactly when you come to a conclusion that you tried to follow not only the 10 Commandments, because the Law is not limited to 10 Commandments. Ten Commandments are the center of the Law. But the Law is made of 613 Commandments. The bible says, in the Old and also in the New Testament, that if you wish to live by the Law, but if you fail in just one aspect of the Law, it
is as if you had failed the whole Law. Go back to the starting point. With God, either you get 10, in the Law, or you have 0, there is no 5 as a medium grade to be approved. It is different in the grace, in the grace God supplies, God gives. He gives, He does for you and you receive by faith. Love others as yourself is difficult, it is not easy! It is very difficult and the bible even asks, in the New Testament, that you love others as Jesus loved you. Even to love the enemy, if
loving others is hard, imagine love the enemy! Love others as yourself is easier when the others are closer than others. When they are very close so it is easy to love others as yourself, my son, my wife, it is easy, But the others that are not close are harder to love. But this is the demand of the Law, you need to love others as yourself. In the grace the request is different, you need to love others as Jesus loved you. It is completely different. Love others as Jesus loved us it is impossible! It is not
hard, it is impossible! Love others as yourself is hard, but love others as Jesus Loved you is impossible. You can only to this if He empowers you. For you to love others as Jesus loved you, it doesn´t matter your effort, you need a revelation. To love others as Jesus loved you, you need a revelation of how much He loves you. If you don´t understand how much He loves you, you can try as much as you want to love others, but the maximum that you will do is to love as yourself, but never as Jesus loved
you. To love as Jesus did, you need a revelation. Not only the information about love. It is not enough to have just the information. It is not enough to have instructions about love. Memorize the verses about love. You need to have a revelation about this love. Revelation of how much God loves you. It is more important, today, that you understand how much God loves you than to try to show God how much you love Him. When you try to show... The best illustration that I have to you is to show what is this love that
we say that we have for God, this love that we make all efforts to show to God how much we love Him it is a natural love, human, the same love, you will be shocked with what I´ll say, but it is the same love that you have for your soccer team. Silence here... It is the same love that you have for your soccer team. Soccer team, you have a kind of love for your team, some people have too much love that are called fanatics. It is when the person who listens to the team she loves,
Flamengo, Corinthinas, and is capable of dying or killing because of the team. The person can change house, car, job, wife, but never the team. In a death or life situation, if he needs to chose between his wife and himself, he prays for his wife "Darling, be with God in the name of Jesus. God bless you", but if the same situation is with his team, he would die for his team, "I will die for Flamengo, I´m proud, I want to be buried with the flag!". But it is exactly the same love that people try so hard
to show to God that they love Him. Sometimes even less. It happens that the person shows to the team a greater love than the love for God. The team comes on the field..."Mengo". Guys, Jesus is here "Alleluia". God will perform miracles here "Glory". Raise your hands "Alleluia, Pastor, I´m tired". But if the team walks on the field, "Amen". Arms up and never gets tired. "Go Mengo". The arms don´t hurt, incredible, stays up. Go to the church "Alleluia". You show a greater love for your team than the love for God! What is this love that you
need to understand? It is a different kind of love, it is a love that you cannot understand by intelligence, it is a love that you only can understand by revelation. Apostle Paul prayed for the church saying "I pray that you receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation about whom the Father is and to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ". The church stopped making this prayer. The church doesn´t pray like this anymore, if you start to preach asking "God, I want a revelation of your love accordingly to the
Apostle Paul prayed for, I want to make this prayer my own prayer". God will start to reveal how much He loves you. "Pastor, how long will take until I understand the revelation of His love?". Not much, just the eternity. Not one or two days, but the eternity. If you start to pray and ask for revelation of the love of God today, you will start to receive today, tomorrow and after when you are in heaven, would I have the whole understanding? No, you will keep receiving revelation, how much time will take in heaven? In heaven there
is no time, no counting of the days. Every day is the own day. When will I understand? Tomorrow? No, tomorrow is already today. "But today is today, but what about the time?". "No, there is no time, Today is today". "And tomorrow?". "Tomorrow is also today!". There is no in two years time or in 20 years time, you will take the whole eternity to fully understand the revelation of how much God loves you. Of how much He loved you in Christ and of how much He loves you. You need to start to have this revelation today,
you cannot wait to go to heaven and say... "What a surprise! God loves me very much! Now I understand!". No, it is better for you to understand today, here and now. For about 1,500 years the Law of the Old Testament was in exercise and no man ever complied with the Law. No one did, why? Because the Law wasn´t given for man to reach righteousness before God. The Law was given for man to understand his insufficiency so that he can get to his own end and recognize: I need a Savior and a helper. "I cannot do
it alone, I have tried to follow the whole Law and I have complied with 529 Commandments, but still a bunch of them until 613, no way! I have tried all... when I´ve seen that I have done 520 Commandments, I remembered that I failed the first one, I had to go back to zero". It is when you get to the insufficiency of yourself, the end of yourself that you start to understand that God loved you so much, but so much, that He, in Christ, removed the Law To allow you full access to Him, because with the
Law it would never happen. This is the level of love that God has for you. Jesus complied the Law, Romans 10:4 says that the Christ is the end of the Law. The end to the Law is Christ, for the justification of the believers, not those that obey, but those who believe. This word "end", I have seen Pastors saying "Can you see? The Law is current today, because the bible says, Apostle Paul says that the end, the purpose of the Law is Christ, so Christ comes with the purpose of keeping the Law". No, the word "end"
in this original context, in Greek, is telos, the end, finish. The end of the Law is Christ! The end of the Law is Christ, this is repeated in other parts, the Apostle Paul says in Hebrews, for example, says that God gave us a New Alliance, Turning the Old, so, what is old is about to end and disappear to be replaced by something new. I have also seen Pastors saying that the New Alliance is not new, but a continuation of the Old. We are a continuation of the people of Israel, we are one with the people
of Israel. The church is not a plan B, the church is the plan A still, God has no plan A or B indeed, He has just one plan. This plan started in Israel, it continues in the church, but the alliance that He had with Israel was the Old Alliance based on the Law, which ended in Christ and He starts a New Alliance with us in Christ. The bible is very clear. "I will make a New Alliance with you, different from the one I had with your parents, Because they were not faithful to that Alliance, they
didn´t keep the Alliance. I will establish a New Alliance and in this Alliance I will write my Laws not on tablets of stones, but in the heart of man". When you receive Jesus and you receive the revelation of his love, you fulfill the Law without feeling or making efforts, because He already accomplished all for you. Jesus accomplished the Law. In Christ, God was giving the end of the Law, and now He is able to love with no restriction or obstacle, with all his soul and heart. The Law I needed to love God with all of
my understanding, with all my soul, with all my heart. In the grace, He is the one who loves me with all my understanding, with all his soul, with all his heart. I need to receive this revelation and this understanding in my spirit. Is doesn´t matter how much I love God, but it matters a lot that I understand how much He loves me. When I understand how much He loves me, this is what creates in me, now, a love for Him that is not the same level of love that I have for a soccer team such
as Flamengo or Corinthinas, but a different love now, is the own love that I receive from Jesus. Amen, people? 1 John 4:10, Apostle John says that "This is love:". 1 Corinthinas 13 talks about a few caracteristics of love: love is patient, benign, love is not proud, love bears all things. He is not talking about the characteristics, here he is giving a definition: love is "not that we don´t Love God", Deus didn´t rescue you because He looked at you and thought "This guys loves me so much, they are trying their best to show that they love
me". This is God talking with the Holy Spirit of Jesus. Is the Father, a talk of the trinity. The three of them having a chat "But they deserve a chance, they love us a very much, they are trying. Can we give them a chance? Let´s save them". It was not that. He loved us first, He loved us first! The bible even says that God loved us when we were his enemies, the Apostle Paul says that in Ephesians 2 that He loved us when we were the enemy of God, He loved us "This is love: not
that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice", atoning means to make proper, Favorable. " As an atoning sacrifice for our sins". He did this not because we loved him first and He decided to give us a chance. He did this because He loved us independent of our love or not for him. He did this because He loved us first! Judas says "keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life". If I was to apply
a test, if I was cruel and would elaborate a test, to each one of you here, a test with paper and pen. The test would be: write in a few lines and with a few words what it means "Keep yourselves in God´s love". Are you thinking? Are you thinking? "What would I say? What would I write?". "I would answer, Pastor, I don´t know, you tell me". Maybe we would have a lot of "0´s" in this test. Because the term "keep yourself in the love of God", it doesn´t allow you to understand what Judas is trying
to say. When you have a text that you cannot understand well, the first step is to go to a different version. If you still cannot understand, go to the original, in Greek or Hebrew. I used different versions, for example, contemporary language, the New Testament in the contemporary language says "Keep living in the love of God, waiting that our Lord Jesus Christ, in his mercy give the eternal life to you". The NIV bible says "keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life". Keep
yourselves in God´s love, an easy example that I can give to illustrate This passage is, if you are under the sun... who have been to the beach and was under the sun? Have you noticed that if you don´t open an umbrella, but instead you stay under the sun, have you noticed that at every minute you feel hotter? Have you noticed that your skin will get very red, tanned, burned? At every minute you stay under the sun, under the sun, have you notice that? It is impossible to be under the sun and not to get tanned,
and not feel hot. So when you start to get too hot, you leave the sun and go under a shade to protect yourself, but if you stay under the sun you will get tanned and feel hotter. If you are under the rain, even if the rain is weak, Just a bit of rain, if you stay under this rain for about a minute, your coat will get wet, but if you stay for one hour, even if it is not a heavy rain, if you stay for one hour under this rain, you will get all wet. The
invitation Jesus is making here is for you stay under the love of God. And it is not only to keep, because he says "Keep yourself in God´s love". Not with the love of God, but in the God´s love. You need to go deep in this love as someone who dives in a pool. No one from the outside is analyzing the pool "The pool is blue, transparent, the water is clean, the water is warm, beautiful pool, the tiles are pretty". Not that! You don´t need to define the pool, it is not for you to praise the
pool, but for you to dive in the water. It is impossible to dive and not to get wet. It is impossible to dive in the love of God and not receive the revelation about this love. When you dive and stay in this love, this is the environment where the new creature needs to live. The same way that water is the environment for fish, air is the environment for mammals, the love of God is the environment for a new creature. Live outside of this environment is to live out of the plans and purposes that God has
for us. It is to receive from God, not an option, you need to ask God for a revelation of the understanding that He has for you. Stop trying to convince God of how much you love him to receive the revelation of how much He loves you. Understanding of how much He loves you! Interesting: in the gospel of John, he calls himself as the Disciple whom Jesus loved. He uses this expression five times. Some things are interesting here, first that the name John means Yehokhanan in Hebrew, which is "grace". After he says five times that he
was the Disciple whom Jesus loved. Five is a number that represent grace, the Hebrew letters behind itself, each one of them has a symbol, pointing to something, not only the letter. You have Alef, Bet, Guimel, Dalet, Hę. Hę, the fifth letter points to the grace, symbolizes grace and five times John said that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now, pay attention, Matthew didn´t said that about John, "I, Matthew, tell you, John Was the disciple whom Jesus loved". No, John is saying that about himself. The disciple whom Jesus loved. Is that a bit weird? Imagine
if I would say: we went for a coffee, Pastor Jorge, Pastor Bené and the Pastor whom Jesus loved. You might agree that this news, if people hear this phrase, specially them, "What is Fragale thinking about? Who is he, God´s beloved? What are we then? He is the Pastor whom Jesus loved and what are we?". John is saying that about himself, "The disciple whom Jesus loved". Here is the question: did Jesus somehow showed in any time that He loved John more than the other disciples? Did Jesus somehow at any moment took John to a corner and
John didn´t wrote in the gospels to avoid problems, but it did happen that Jesus told him "John, my dear, let me tell you something. I like all the twelve disciples, but you... you are the man. You are the man! I have a special love for you", was John trying to tell us this? "Jesus revealed to me that He liked me more than He liked the others". did he found out that Jesus nourished for him a special and different love that made John to be the favorite disciple or something like that, the answer is a big
and fat "No!". What John had was a revelation about the love of Jesus that the other didn´t had yet. It is not for another reason that all Epistles of John are about only one subject, Love. Those who study Theology find out that John was called the disciple or the Evangelist, the Apostle of love. While Apostle Paul is the Apostle of faith, John is the Apostle of love, why is that? Because he received a revelation from Jesus. "I know how much Jesus loves me". Jesus loves me tremendously, unconditionally, raise one of your hands and say "I
know that God loves me unconditionally, deeply, tremendously". This is the revelation that we need to have in a daily basis, because it is exactly what the devil doesn´t want you to find out, how deeply, tremendously, unconditionally loved you are by God. The devil tried to convince you of the opposite. John 13, we are in the last supper, The last supper. It says here "After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me". His disciples stared at one another, at a loss
to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him". Who was writing this? The own loved disciple! "Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means. Peter, when Jesus announces "One of you will going to betrayal me", and that disciple whom Jesus loved, was next to Jesus, Peter was on the same room, but not close to Jesus, he was in a certain distance, although he was in the same room. He was in one side, he looks and says “Ask him which
one he means. I want to know! It is not me. No way, ask Him". Of course John was sat next to Jesus, at the right, the right is always a place of honor in the bible. How can I tell you that John was at right hand of Jesus? Because, well, have you seen those pictures of the last supper? You might even have at home. The most famous one was painted by Leonardo da Vinci, which was painted on a wall and was renovated a while ago, because time was destroying the art, and it shows Jesus at
a table, is it the picture of the Last Supper? Jesus sat at the middle, a long table, six people on one side and six on the other, Jesus at the middle. Is it true? That picture, theologically, is a complete fraud, completely wrong. There was no table back at that time! They had no tables. They were not sat at the table, back at that time they had to eat in a different position, reclined. They had to put the food on the middle, a few big pillows around, and people eating like this: they were on the pillows,
using the left arm, eating with the right hand, the left hand was used to go to the toilet. They never used their left hand to eat. Only the right hand to eat. How do I know that John was on the right side of Jesus and not at the left side? I will show you, it says here that John was reclining next to Jesus. This is why the bible says, for example, that due to their position during the meal, this is why the bible says that in a certain dinner A woman came from behind Jesus, she
cried and with her tears she washed Jesus´feet and dried them with her hair. Why did she came from behind and not under a table? She came from behind because this was the position that Jesus was, with his feet spread out. This woman came from behind and she was crying while washing His feet with her tears, drying His feet with her own hair. And on that position Jesus said "One of you will betrayal me". Peter was on the other side, he asked John who was next to Jesus "Ask him whom. Ask him because I want to
know". How do I know that Peter was far and John was near to Jesus? "Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him", he needed to be close and on the right side of Jesus because if he was on his left arm and John reclined over His chest, He had to be on the right side, because if he was at the left side, he would recline over His back. Is it true? So, he reclined over His chest, John asks Jesus “Lord, who is it?”. John was the only one who heard the answer. "He answered, “It is the
one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish. Then, dipping the piece of bread, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot". Peter didn´t find out. Simon Peter was very curious, but only John found out. Why? Because he was reclined next to Jesus, And he leaned back against Jesus´chest. The chest, the human body on the biblical symbology, points to many things. Head is about leadership, mind. Hand is about power, about authority, about blessing. But the chest talks about the love of God for us. When
John reclines over His chest, reclining means resting. The chest talks about love, when John says "Rest in the love of Jesus", he receives revelation of Jesus. The bible doesn´t say that the true sons of God are those that are guided by the Holy Spirit, does it? When are you going to be truly guided by the Holy Spirit? When you recline, rest, enter the resting of the love of Jesus for you. When you recline your head over Jesus´ chest, when John does that, he can hear His heart and the voice of Jesus. It is incredible that
the bible says that the sheep of Jesus listen and recognize His voice. But Jesus doesn´t yells in public, the bible says "The servant, on the Old Testament", prophesying about Jesus, "My servant will not yell in public". He doesn´t yell, He whispers in your ears. You ask Jesus "Jesus, so, should I or should I not? Should I stay or go? Should I marry or not?". He will not yell "Don´t get married, it will not work". He will tell you, "Not this guy, not him". You can be on the same room, but if you are not reclined,
Jesus will talk and you will not hear. Simon Peter was on the same room, but didn´t heard the answer. The only person who heard was John, he was reclined over the love of Jesus. He was resting on the love of Jesus. It is when you rest in His love that you start to receive revelation from God. Because this is a place of intimacy. Jesus´chest, reclined, resting over his love. It is near Jesus, reclined over his chest, so, resting through the understanding that you are loved by Him, that you will listen to His heart beat and
to His voice. Jesus´heart beating, it talks. The beating of His heart doesn´t do "thump - thump - thump", but "I love you - I love you - I love you". "I love you - I love you - I love you". "I love you - I love you ". It is a constant affirmation of how much He loves you. He is not concerned that you might answer back "I love you too, Jesus". He knows that you love him and how much you love him. He is not worried about hearing this from you. He is concerned that
you can understand and find out how much He loves you. That you can understand the depth of how much He loves you! Peter is shown here as a contrast, because Peter was the man who always prided himself about his love for Jesus. Peter was so full of himself that he said in the face of the other eleven. "Jesus, all the other eleven can leave you, but not me, because I am together with you Lord". He didn´t call Jesus to talk in private "Jesus, you can count on me, If the others are not with you, but
I will always be". No, he said in front of the others, if I was one of them I would say "Peter, what? Are you going to say this in front of us?". "Jesus, if all the other leave you, I will always be with you, forever. I doesn´t matter persecutions, tribulations, until the death, I am with you, we are together". John never said a word about all this. When Peter said that, "Jesus, I am with you, I love you, if the others betrayal you, I am still with you, Jesus". "Very truly I tell you, before the
rooster crows, you will disown me three times! Three times, pay attention!". "Me? Never, Jesus, I am with you. No matter what". Then you stop and think: what Peter didn´t had, what he didn´t had that John did? A revelation of how much Jesus loved him, because he was still based on the Law. Wanting to show to Jesus, with all his heart, soul and understanding how much he loved Him. The mentality of Simon Peter was "I am that man who loves Jesus". While the mentality of John was "I am the one whom Jesus loves". The first one
is the mentality of the Law, the second one was the mentality of the grace. The question is: John was the only one at the crucifixion, he stayed with Jesus until the end. John was the only disciple to stay with Jesus until the end. Jesus was hanging on that cross, John didn´t said a word "Oh Lord, how much I love you". He was there, next to Jesus. The question we ask: where was Simon Peter? Did he dig a hole to hide? No one knows. But he wasn´t there, John was. When Jesus was on the cross and
sees John, it is when Jesus talks and gives him a ministry, gives a mission to John "John, from now on this woman beside you, Mary, is your mother. Mary, this is your son now". He gives a mission to John, the mission of taking care of Mary, who was the natural mother of Jesus. "I will no longer be here, but now you will take care of her". Maybe if Peter was there, this mission would be for him. "Peter, this is my mother, take care of her because I am leaving". But Peter was not there, "John, you
are the man. You are the youngest disciple, maybe you are not mature enough, But you are the man who is around, who is close, who understood how much I love you. Now, take care of my mother, with the same love and care that I have for you. Not with your natural love, but with the same love that I have loved you". When you get near Jesus and you rest in His love, it is the time that He starts to give you a ministry. Not before. It is when you rest in His love for you. He
starts to give you a ministry. I have no doubt that Peter´s love for Jesus was genuine, I am not implying at all that Peter´s love for Jesus was fake or a pretense. Peter´s love for Jesus was genuine, but just a natural love. It was not supernatural. This is the question: where was Simon Peter? Listen to this: sin is a terrible thing, no doubt about that, but it is not the only factor that prevent people to receive from Jesus, self-justification is also a factor. Jesus had no problem at all with sin or with sinners. He sat
with to eat with Publicans, tax collector´s, prostitutes, never had problems with this. But when people were in a position "No, it is because I love, I do, I do all things". You are in a self-justification position, this makes very hard for you to receive, this is why you can see this contrast in the bible, between Law and Grace, people who get near Jesus and tried to self-justify by the Law, Jesus bounce off with the Law, but those who were simple and surrendered "Lord, I know that you can heal me if you want". "I want, be
healed!". And the person was immediately healed. The person didn´t behave like "Jesus, the Law says that the leper this and that... What will you do, Lord?". "Well, if it is what the Law says, so the leper will be stoned to death". But when the leper came "Jesus, have mercy, I know that you can do if you wish". "I want, be healed!". It was not the Law in action, now was the grace in action. Amen, people? Your love for Jesus is volatile and changeable, but His love for you is unconditional. "Pastor, does our love for Jesus
change?". Yes, it does, you go to a retreat, when you come back "Alleluia, I am filled with the Holy Spirit. Alleluia! Glory to God, I am in love With Jesus". Time passes, that love starts to cool down. "When will the next retreat be? I need to get back to that passion, that life again". It is because you were nurturing only a natural love for Jesus, one that thrills with certain things, and starts to cool down, cool down until the next retreat, until the next event. Until an evangelist comes and places his hands over you, shakes
you. "Now I am in love with Jesus. Now I am not. When will the next retreat be?". But his love for you never changes, never. Even when you make mistakes God loves you with the same love. His love never changes due to faults, sins, errors or mistakes. Still the same, the same. This love never changes, there is No shadow of variation because it is an unconditional love. Listen to this, the Jordan River starts on the top of a mount called Mount Hermon, this mount is the highest point in Israel. If you go to Israel today,
and you climb Mount Hermon, on the top of this mount there is a road that you can use to get on the top of the mount, Mount Hermon today is a ski station. It is covered with snow during the winter, people go there to skiing. When you climb during summer you will see no one. There is the ski station, the machines that take care of the snow, but nothing happens there. But it is the highest point of the entire Israel, Mount Hermon. At 2,814 meters above sea level. The Dead Sea, on the opposite, it is
the lowest point on Earth. There are other points that are even lower than the Dead Sea, but in the sea. There are abysses, but in the face of the Earth, on the surface of the Earth, the lowest point of the Earth is the Dead Sea, which is 429 meters under sea level. When you are in Israel and you go to visit the Dead Sea, you get a road, this road is a slope, you are going down and you can see plates. Less 50, less 100, less 150. "My God, we are going into the center of
the Earth", because we are going negative until we reach 429. This is the lowest point of the Earth. Jesus was baptized on the Jordan River, this difference of height makes the Jordan River, in the whole world, with the greater difference between headwaters and its mouth. This is why when the Jordan River is full, it moves very fast, it is horrible, because the declination, the biggest declination of a river In the entire world. There is the place for rafting. The place to be, 300 km/ hour. The biggest declination of all. Jesus was baptized there on the
Jordan River on a place near the Dead Sea, the lowest place in Earth. What happened? Jesus was baptized, when He leaves the waters He hears a voice and so does the people around, a voice from heaven “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased". Jesus, then, leaves this place and goes to the desert and spends 40 days there fasting, the devil tried to tempt Jesus, but He wins against the devil. And people are always arguing, I already have argued a lot, that Jesus won because He argued against the devil showing
the word to the Devil "No, satan, it is written", but the devil also presented the bible to Jesus. "If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down. He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone". "Jesus answered, ‘Do not put your Lord to the test'". The devil came with the bible, Jesus bounce off with the bible. Wait, when you think about the reason why Jesus won and how He won, it is clear that He won
because He used the word. The word gives us victory. Of course! But what makes Jesus stronger to win against the devil was something that happened a way before, He was reassured by the Father and heard the Father saying "This is my beloved Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” If we do the same with our family, our family would be different. If parents would tell their children "My children, you are my beloved child, I love you, no matter what". "Father, I´ve got zero on my maths test". "But I still love you on
the same way, you are a champion". "But I didn´t win the championship of judo, I didn´t win the swimming competition". "No problem because you are my beloved son, you will find a sport or an activity that you will be excellent, you will be the number one, because you were created by God to be a winner. I love you unconditionally". If we talked like this with our children, we would not have children in the world with complex, trauma, with lack of many things! Because loved children become Winner adults. If we did this with our wives, the
wives with their husbands, and say "This is my husband, my beloved husband". But no, "Pastor, pray for this man because he is a pudding of gin, there is no remedy, no can do. I will tell you something, this is...". It will just get worse, then comes the husband "No, Pastor, please pray for her because this woman is a snake, her spirit, she is the devil, it needs to be expelled, expel the devil from this woman, Pastor". My brother, it doesn´t matter if she is with the devil or not, if you start to say "This blessed
woman that God gave me, this is my beloved wife". I can ensure you that this woman will change, this man will change, without trying because he/she will hear "Well, she is calling me beloved husband. Beloved husband? This woman used to leave and slam the door, she used to call me names now she is calling me beloved husband. This woman changed! I think that I will invite her to go out, I will invite her for a dinner. I will! I will make a proposal for intimacy in our bedroom, we haven´t have for a long time, because
it was just fights here and there. She always calling me a pudding of gin and I used to call her a snake. I will also call her 'my beloved wife'". The relationship changes, we don´t reassure each other as the Father did with Jesus. "This is my beloved son". When He went to the desert, look at what the devil told Jesus "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. tell these stones To become bread. Wait, something is missing in this phrase, "If you are the Son of God", it is not what God told Jesus
"This is my beloved Son", the part was left out. It is exactly what the devil want to do with you. You can say "Satan, you are getting on my face, I am the son of God". It doesn´t mean anything for the devil, but when you say "I am the beloved son", then the devil shakes in fear because he knows that you are who you are, that you are loved by God and that God takes care of you, that He blesses you and He will never leave you, never. If Pastors would understand this, many of them
who have their families destroyed because they want to raise their children in the Law. Throwing their children in the Legalism, and you see Pastors who preach with That, that authority and his wife sitting like this, listening. When you ask "Sister, how is your marriage?". "A blessing". No, it is not! And the children? They don´t even go to church! Angry, doing other things, out of the church. Many times they are drinking, using drugs. I have met, many times we went to evangelize on Lapa, middle of the night, I remember that one time we met a travesty,
when we cited a few verses he cited others that we didn´t even knew in the bible, he is the son of a Pastor. How could he be there? We asked him "Your father is a Pastor, why are you here?" "You don´t know my father, he was a man who treated his children As if we were slaves. He just demanded all the time and we couldn´t anymore. It came a time when I could run and leave, I never went to church again, I left home, father, family, everybody, and now I am living the life I want".
Can you imagine this? I look inside of my church, I can see my wife, my children involved, blessed, happy, my house is blessed, I look at Bene´s family, I can see his sons ministering, Timóteo is about to become a Pastor, blessed family, noble family serving God, I look to Jorge´s family and I can see his daughters who are blessed, the family, a blessed marriage. I look to Jorge Daltro, I see his daughters in the church, blessed, blessed family. What is the difference? Why does it happen here? Is there anything special here? No, I am not
special as John wasn´t, but have had a revelation of how much God loves us and that it is not with violence or force, but by the Holy Spirit. A while after been baptized, Jesus went with Simon Peter, James and John to the top of the Mount Hermon, the highest point of Israel. There is a controversy, some people believe that Jesus was transfigured on the Mount Tabor, but I believe that He was transfigured on the Mount Hermon and I won´t explain the reason now, but I believe that Mount Hermon was the mount of transfiguration. Jesus climbed
up with Simon Peter, James and John, the disciple whom He loved, they get up there and there Jesus was transfigured, a cloud of glory involves all four men, and from that cloud Jesus comes with Elijah on one side and Moses on the other, and from that cloud suddenly comes a voice, Peter starts to say "Jesus, it is good to be here. Let´s build a tent, one for you, one for Elijah, one for Moses". In the middle of the conversation with Simon Peter, comes a voice from the cloud "This is my beloved son, I heard him.
No more of the Law represented by Moses, no more the Prophets represented by Elijah, but Him, I hear him. This is my beloved Son". I can assure you that it was this second affirmation, from God to Jesus, that gave Him the necessary strength for Him to go to the cross as a man. As God, He did not need strength. As a man, when He hears the Father "This is my beloved Son. The cross will not be a punishment, I will not be leaving you because you are my beloved Son". "So, I will go to the
cross, because I know that I am a beloved Son". This affirmation gave the strengthen Jesus Needed on the top of the Mount Hermon. This is a fantastic illustration for us. Jesus was reassured as a beloved son on the lowest place on the face of Earth and also on the highest place of Israel. It doesn´t matter if you are on the bottom of the world, God keeps saying "You are my beloved Son", but it is when you are on the lowest point that you need to hear God saying "You still are my beloved son. I did
not leave you, I will never leave you. I will never abandon you, because you are my beloved son". But I need to have a revelation of this unconditional love, it is not an understanding about love, not lessons about love, but a revelation about this unconditional love! Agape, this is what God has for you and for me. John 21 has a very cool passage, very interesting, two weeks after the resurrection Jesus showed up to seven disciples. Among them Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved, they were upset because Jesus was dead and they decided to
go back to fishing. "Let´s go back to our old duties", they tried the whole night, didn´t got a thing. In the morning, when they were coming back to the border of the lake, they looked and saw a man standing there. It was Jesus! They didn´t know, this man yelled "How many fish did you got?". "We didn´t even got sardine, we got nothing". "Throw the nets at the right side of the boat". They did and the bible says that they got many fish, at a point that could almost sink the boat. Is this passage a mirror
of what Luke said? Jesus before He met Simon Peter, He asked to use his boat, He preached for many people, after He ordered Simon Peter to throw the nets because he did during the night and didn´t got any fish. He tells Simon Peter to go back and throw the nets, fish were everywhere, is it right? I ask you: when Jesus now resurrected comes and says the same thing and the same miracle happens, who was suppose to recognize that Jesus was that man? Peter, but John did. John is the one who looks and says "It is
the Master, it is Jesus!". Simon Peter looks and says "Impossible, is it?". He gets dressed, dive and swim next to where Jesus was, when he gets there, surprise! It really was Jesus! The other disciples came, they get together and Jesus had set a fire to make fish and bread. There in the desert the devil told Jesus "If you are the Son of God, change this stones in bread and Jesus didn´t do it, but now resurrected, having more knowledge of the demonstration that he was the Son of God, He changed the stones into breads, stones into
fish, He set fire, cooked and invited the disciples saying "Can we have breakfast?". Seven were there, I can imagine their faces. The face of Peter, invited to have breakfast with Jesus. The bible says that they are sitting and started to seat and no one said a word. No one takes breakfast in five minutes. It was not a breakfast with bread and fish, just a coffee is fast. That breakfast it was to take about 10, 15, 20 or half hour eating. The bible says that no one said a word, not at all. They were there just
looking at each other. "Well, it is Jesus. Let´s eat. Simon Peter, do you remember that you ran?". "Shut up and eat, don´t talk, be quiet". Half hour and no word, Jesus was just looking at them, Simon Peter was embarrassed, suddenly, when they finish eating, Jesus asks Simon Peter "Come here", imagine his face "Oh, now He will talk. Here comes the sermon". Jesus asks a question "Simon Peter, do you love me?". Funny, but Jesus doesn´t tell him off. First He fed Simon Peter, after He asked a question. The question was: Simon Peter, do you love me?
But when you read this question in the original, in Greek, Jesus asked "Peter, do you agape me?". Agape me, related to agape (love). Agape is love. Agape is the unconditional love. Then He asks Peter "Peter, do you agape me?". Do you love me as I loved you with unconditional love? Peter answers "Jesus, I phileo you". Phileo is love, but it is "Jesus, I like you. I´m sympathize with you, but I cannot say that I agape you, because you know my life". Even then Jesus told him "Peter, that´s ok, take care of my sheep". They walk
a bit more and Jesus asked again "Peter, do you agape me?". Peter replied "Jesus, this question again? I already told you that I phileo you. I do like you, I sympathize with you, but I don´t have the courage to say that I love you with this kind of love because you know my life, you know what I have done wrong". "Peter, take care of my sheep. Feed my sheep". They keep walking and Jesus asks for the third time, and when He asks for the third time, He asks "Peter, do you phileo me?". Jesus went down
to Peter´s level, He didn´t forced Peter to agape him, He goes down to his level and says "Peter, at least can you say that you sympathize with me, are you a friend?". And Peter "Jesus, I think that not even that, you know all things". Jesus keeps saying "Peter, not a problem, take care of my sheep. I need you to understand how much I love you. Because when you can understand how much I love you, you will be able to love me not with a human love anymore, with effort, but with the same love that I
love you". It is not wrong to tell God "Lord, I love you", but first you need to receive a revelation of the love that He has for you, then you can give back the same love that He has for you. You don´t say anymore "Lord, I love you will all my strength, all my understanding". You say "Lord, now I love you with your strength, with your understanding. With your soul, with your feelings, with your heart, because now I understand how much you love me. At least I can understand how much you love me. Receiving from
you the revelation of how much you love me". Can you understand that Jesus didn´t sentenced Simon Peter? He doesn´t sentences you as well, because his love for you is agape. It is an unconditional love. Amen? Raise one of your hands and say "God loves me tremendously, deeply, unconditionally". Please tell the person beside you "My brother, it doesn´t matter what happens, it doesn´t matter who you are, what you are living, it doesn´t matter the problems that you have, it doesn´t matter the sins that you have, God loves you unconditionally, tremendously. Always, He will never leave you".
Amen?
