“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.” Oscar Wilde
Forward Thinkers, hate is a tool Satan uses to keep us stuck in a dark or negative place. Forward Thinkers, hate produces and attracts negative energy and hate is a character trait of a taker.
Love on the other hand is an action word which gives and produces positive results. Love is to be given to others and received from others. Forward Thinkers, love is of God.
Forward Thinkers, before I get to the opening text of this new series of teaching entitled, “Love Trumps Hate” I want to be very transparent about a personal struggle of love and hate that I had to endure and overcome. Forward Thinkers, for years, Satan played tricks with my mind and my emotions because my parents were unwed teenagers in 5th Ward who made a decision to allow my grandparents to raise me. Satan had me believing I was unloved. The reality is, my mother loved me so much she made a love decision to give birth to a child while she was still a child herself and my father loved me enough not to try to force her into not having me and their love decision allowed God to use me this season to be a blessing to the masses.
Forward Thinkers, when I was operating under the lie my parents didn’t love me, it prevented me from finding joy and peace within myself and it caused me to bring negative energy into every relationship I encountered. Forward Thinkers, but when I discovered the truth, love set me free to be who God created me to be. Love Trumps Hate everyday all day.
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
1 John 4:7-16The Message (MSG)
God Is Love
7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
13-16 This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
Forward Thinkers, it is crystal clear; to be a Christian, we must choose love over hate because God is love. This political season we see a candidate running for President of the United States of America with a campaign platform centered around hate speech and I’m amazed at how many men and women of God are willing to stand with him and ignore the fact that God is love. Forward Thinkers, many are worried about what would happen if he actually wins but I’m not worried because I’m standing on the word of God which declares love never fails. Forward Thinkers, if we stand on love, we will always end up standing on the victory stand.
Life is often compared to a card game and sometimes it looks like your opponent has a winning hand until you realize you are holding the trump card and you have the ability to defeat any card your opponent may possess. Forward Thinkers, today, love is our trump card and love trumps hate.
Forward Thinkers that are old enough to remember the Rodney King story in Los Angeles where a Black man was beaten by LA police on video and the police officers were still found not guilty causing the riots of 1992. During the heat of the riots, Rodney King made a historical remark, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Forward Thinkers, twenty-four years later we are still being told what we see on video is not enough to convict police who are now not just beating but killing Black men and that leaves me no choice but to update Rodney King’s quote to, ‘Why can’t we just all love along?’
Forward Thinkers, the real answer to our justice system and every other broken system in our country is love. Love produces equality and fairness; whereas hate produces injustice and corruption.
Let’s take a quick look at John 10:10New International Version (NIV)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Forward Thinkers, when I look at John 10:10 I see hate on one side and love on another side. Think about a gun as a weapon because both hate and love can be used as a weapon. The devil says his job is to kill, steal, and destroy and his bullet of hate will hurt, injure, or kill. Forward Thinkers, the bullet of love has the power to heal, restore, and produce abundant life. So the question is, which bullet will you choose to use? Love Trumps Hate everyday all day.
Dr. King says, “Love is the only force or weapon powerful enough to turn an enemy into a friend.”
Forward Thinkers, today, many are wondering how am I able to move around and cross lines that have been in place long before my time? Forward Thinkers, on any given day I’m walking with Muslims proving Christians and Muslims are not enemies. Forward Thinkers, I’m praying with Bloods and Crips while marching on both the Northside and the Southside of Houston. Forward Thinkers, on any given Sunday I’m preaching to families who are victims to senseless violence while ministering to gang bangers at the same time. Recently, I’ve been the guest speaker at both local churches and local nightclubs. Forward Thinkers, I used to think I was able to move around like that because I’m not scared of anything but the reality is I’m able to move freely like that because I’m being led by love. Love never fails.
Forward Thinkers, Jesus once again displays the power of love during the Lord’s Supper. Jesus knew Judas would sell him out and Peter would deny him; yet he sits and breaks bread with them. Forward Thinkers, we must remember as we judge Judas and Peter that Jesus loved us all while we were still sinners. I can’t speak for anyone else but I know I’m glad Jesus was patient with me and loved me in spite of knowing everything about me.
Forward Thinkers, I was sinking deep in sin, far from a peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more; but the Master of the sea, heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me, now safe am I. Forward Thinkers, Love lifted me! Love lifted me! Forward Thinkers, when nothing else could help, Love lifted me.
Pastor E. A. Deckard is the Senior Pastor/Founder of the Green House International Church located, in both Houston, Texas, and the Woodlands, Texas. Pastor Deckard is also the Co-Founder of the No More Bloodshed Movement. To contact Pastor Deckard for speaking engagements contact him at pr.ghic@gmail.com, follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Periscope @ Pastor E A Deckard or the church website www.ghic.net