1 00:00:00,500 --> 00:00:03,970 When you open up your Bibles and turn with me to the letter of 2 00:00:03,980 --> 00:00:08,770 first John, Letter First John. We were into that letter quite 3 00:00:08,780 --> 00:00:12,430 extensively during the summer, if you remember, and we are back 4 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,860 into it just for today. We are carrying on in our series 5 00:00:16,870 --> 00:00:21,260 Words to Live By. And just a brief warning to you, 6 00:00:21,270 --> 00:00:24,500 particularly to your parents, to the parents, some of the 7 00:00:24,570 --> 00:00:27,700 material going to be covering in this message will be sensitive 8 00:00:27,710 --> 00:00:31,900 to young years. And so it anyway just just a 9 00:00:31,910 --> 00:00:33,880 little, just just a caution to you. 10 00:00:33,890 --> 00:00:36,660 I'll be very careful with my language, but the same time it 11 00:00:36,670 --> 00:00:40,680 is a very sensitive topic. So I want to give you a heads up 12 00:00:40,690 --> 00:00:43,850 about that. We are looking at words to live 13 00:00:43,860 --> 00:00:47,950 by. So pithy sayings, slogans that 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,230 have become popular in our culture, that have gained some 15 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:56,770 traction and in fact have have such an emotional punch that 16 00:00:56,780 --> 00:00:59,670 they can have quite an impact in the way that we think, not just 17 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:02,570 in the world in general, society in general, but as Christians as 18 00:01:02,580 --> 00:01:05,450 well. And as we looked at last Week, 2 19 00:01:05,459 --> 00:01:08,910 Corinthians chapter 10, the apostle Paul tells us how 20 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:14,010 important it is for us to take captive every thought and make 21 00:01:14,020 --> 00:01:17,720 it obedient to Christ. He's talking about the arguments 22 00:01:17,730 --> 00:01:20,650 that we hear. He's using military imagery, and 23 00:01:20,660 --> 00:01:23,320 he's saying we need to tear down strongholds. 24 00:01:23,670 --> 00:01:25,840 And what he means is we need to tear down. 25 00:01:25,850 --> 00:01:29,540 He defines strongholds as arguments, claims that are made 26 00:01:29,550 --> 00:01:33,740 in our culture that may or may not necessarily line up with the 27 00:01:33,750 --> 00:01:35,370 Word of God. And what we need to do is we 28 00:01:35,380 --> 00:01:38,820 need to take captive those thoughts that we have and bring 29 00:01:38,830 --> 00:01:42,160 them into conformity with the purpose of God's will. 30 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,340 And so that's what we're doing in this particular series. 31 00:01:46,350 --> 00:01:49,730 And today we're looking at one sane, a popular sane. 32 00:01:49,740 --> 00:01:54,830 And it's this Love is love. Love is love. 33 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,010 I remember the very first time that I saw those 3 words put 34 00:01:58,020 --> 00:02:00,430 together. It had quite, quite an impact on 35 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:02,820 me, actually. It was in a Starbucks cafe, and 36 00:02:02,830 --> 00:02:05,520 it was on a chalkboard. Love is love, right there on the 37 00:02:05,530 --> 00:02:07,710 counter with a little rainbow underneath. 38 00:02:07,780 --> 00:02:10,880 And I realized, you know what? That's a powerful saying. 39 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:17,180 That is a very, very powerful scene and so we want to take a 40 00:02:17,190 --> 00:02:19,220 look at it. This has become really the 41 00:02:19,230 --> 00:02:26,610 flagship slogan or argument for Front front that has arisen from 42 00:02:26,620 --> 00:02:30,360 the LGBTQ plus community. And really what it's saying is 43 00:02:30,370 --> 00:02:34,360 what it's trying to communicate. Is that all forms of love are 44 00:02:34,370 --> 00:02:38,760 equally valid and beautiful, regardless of your gender, 45 00:02:38,770 --> 00:02:41,980 regardless of your orientation of the people that are involved. 46 00:02:42,350 --> 00:02:47,200 That same sex love is just as legitimate as heterosexual love, 47 00:02:47,250 --> 00:02:49,280 and it should be accepted and celebrated. 48 00:02:49,430 --> 00:02:52,720 In other words, if you were to summarize it, it's Don't judge 49 00:02:52,730 --> 00:02:57,870 love. Now I resonate with that 50 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,640 personally in the sense that there's some good intentions 51 00:03:01,650 --> 00:03:07,670 behind this statement. There is a universal human 52 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,370 experience that we all have of love. 53 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,110 Who does not want to be loved? We all want to be loved, and we 54 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,200 all want to experience the joy of actually giving love to 55 00:03:17,210 --> 00:03:20,360 another person. Think about it. 56 00:03:21,140 --> 00:03:23,630 In this statement, there's a recognition that love is 57 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:26,540 powerful. It's one of the most powerful 58 00:03:26,550 --> 00:03:30,320 and beautiful forces on this planet, and there's a real 59 00:03:30,330 --> 00:03:32,990 desire to want to protect it, to preserve it. 60 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,070 How could it ever be wrong for people to love each other? 61 00:03:37,230 --> 00:03:42,750 I mean, think about that. How can we be against love, 62 00:03:44,210 --> 00:03:46,900 especially as Christians? So I think it's good for us to 63 00:03:46,910 --> 00:03:50,640 kind of ponder this for a bit. How could we or how could 64 00:03:50,650 --> 00:03:54,690 anybody stand in the way of two people that simply want to love 65 00:03:54,700 --> 00:03:56,880 one another? You know, this brings up a lot 66 00:03:56,890 --> 00:04:00,580 of theological issues for us as well, particularly as they 67 00:04:00,590 --> 00:04:03,960 relate to the character of God. Because if we were to ask the 68 00:04:03,970 --> 00:04:11,330 question, why would God make someone gay and then deny them 69 00:04:11,410 --> 00:04:14,640 the right to follow through on their desires? 70 00:04:15,300 --> 00:04:19,490 Why would he do that? Why? 71 00:04:19,500 --> 00:04:26,490 Why would God create someone who has desires that they're not 72 00:04:26,500 --> 00:04:29,070 allowed to fulfill? It seems unfair. 73 00:04:29,740 --> 00:04:31,650 It does. And think about that. 74 00:04:33,270 --> 00:04:37,000 It almost makes more sense theologically to just admit love 75 00:04:37,010 --> 00:04:42,210 is love, right? So we need as Christians, as 76 00:04:42,220 --> 00:04:46,170 followers of Jesus Christ, to take captive every thought and 77 00:04:46,220 --> 00:04:49,610 look at these ideas and to see how do they line up with the 78 00:04:49,620 --> 00:04:53,730 Word of God. Now we're back into the letter 79 00:04:53,740 --> 00:04:56,590 of first John, and we're going to be looking at just a few 80 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:01,060 verses, chapter 4, starting in verse 7. 81 00:05:01,070 --> 00:05:02,670 So we're going to look at 7:00 to 12:00. 82 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,870 And the reason why we're in first John, is this letter, this 83 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,510 little letter, letter leather, little, little, little leather, 84 00:05:09,580 --> 00:05:15,050 better 46 times the word love is used in this letter. 85 00:05:15,710 --> 00:05:20,380 And then just these verses, verses 7 to 12, the word love 86 00:05:20,390 --> 00:05:25,900 shows up 13 times. This is the most concentrated, 87 00:05:26,930 --> 00:05:31,320 concentrated passage of love in the whole entire Bible. 88 00:05:31,370 --> 00:05:33,360 And that's why we're going to take a look at this to help us 89 00:05:33,370 --> 00:05:37,460 to formulate our thoughts and to approach this particular saying. 90 00:05:37,470 --> 00:05:41,800 So if you remember, John wrote this letter in order to do a 91 00:05:41,810 --> 00:05:45,020 couple of things. 1 he wanted to reassure every single one of us 92 00:05:45,030 --> 00:05:47,730 of God's love. The God is love and he loves 93 00:05:47,740 --> 00:05:50,540 each one of us. But also, John is writing to 94 00:05:50,550 --> 00:05:55,530 give us criteria to evaluate what Love Actually is and what 95 00:05:55,540 --> 00:05:58,130 it means to actually be a follower of Jesus Christ, an 96 00:05:58,140 --> 00:05:59,660 authentic follower of Jesus Christ. 97 00:06:00,540 --> 00:06:05,280 So, Father, we pray that as we approach Your word that you 98 00:06:05,290 --> 00:06:09,110 would meet us this morning, that you would visit us, that You 99 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,340 would open our eyes to see wonderful things from Your law. 100 00:06:13,060 --> 00:06:16,660 Help us to love You more and more through Jesus Christ, we 101 00:06:16,670 --> 00:06:17,950 pray. Amen. 102 00:06:19,460 --> 00:06:22,470 First John chapter 4, starting at verse 7. 103 00:06:23,300 --> 00:06:29,290 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from 104 00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:32,570 God. Everyone who loves has been born 105 00:06:32,580 --> 00:06:37,070 of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not 106 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:42,550 know God, because God is love. Just pause there. 107 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,280 John is talking about where love comes from, the source of true 108 00:06:47,290 --> 00:06:51,410 love, and it comes from God. And he says, you know, let us 109 00:06:51,420 --> 00:06:52,950 love one another. Awesome. 110 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:54,590 We should be doing that. Why? 111 00:06:54,880 --> 00:07:00,680 For love comes from God. When we're loving as God loves, 112 00:07:00,750 --> 00:07:03,900 it's a sign that we are connected to God. 113 00:07:03,990 --> 00:07:07,440 We're connected to that, to that, to that vine and producing 114 00:07:07,450 --> 00:07:09,260 that love. If we're not loving the way God 115 00:07:09,270 --> 00:07:13,100 loves, it's a sign that we're kind of outside of of his 116 00:07:13,230 --> 00:07:16,000 outside of relationship with him. 117 00:07:16,250 --> 00:07:19,780 As continue on verse 9. This is how God showed his love 118 00:07:19,790 --> 00:07:23,040 among us. He sent his one and only Son 119 00:07:23,050 --> 00:07:27,330 into the world that we might live through him. 120 00:07:29,610 --> 00:07:34,180 Love is not something that is just spoken, it's demonstrated. 121 00:07:34,330 --> 00:07:36,520 God just does, doesn't just say hey I love you. 122 00:07:36,590 --> 00:07:38,760 He actually shows us that He loves us. 123 00:07:38,770 --> 00:07:41,980 And how did He show us? By sending his one and only Son 124 00:07:41,990 --> 00:07:44,230 into the world, that we might live through him. 125 00:07:45,020 --> 00:07:50,050 He sees that apart from him we are perishing. 126 00:07:50,100 --> 00:07:52,810 Apart from him we are headed toward destruction. 127 00:07:52,820 --> 00:07:55,870 But He sends his one and only son to come into the world that 128 00:07:55,880 --> 00:08:00,080 we might live, that we might find life and live through him. 129 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,790 OK, verse 10. And this is the crux of the 130 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,330 matter. This is love. 131 00:08:06,310 --> 00:08:09,940 You ready? Not that we love God, but that 132 00:08:09,950 --> 00:08:15,580 He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our 133 00:08:15,590 --> 00:08:20,670 sins. This is love, not that we love 134 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,030 God. In other words, if we're going 135 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,570 to look at where love comes from and our definition of love, we 136 00:08:26,580 --> 00:08:28,590 don't define love. We don't, we don't look at our 137 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:32,030 own behavior, what we how we love in order to define what 138 00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:35,330 love is. It's saying no, no, it's not how 139 00:08:35,340 --> 00:08:37,440 we love. It's actually how God loves us. 140 00:08:39,309 --> 00:08:44,860 That's how we know what love is, and it shows it here. 141 00:08:46,050 --> 00:08:50,880 He sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 142 00:08:50,950 --> 00:08:54,640 If we were to look at what love is, love is an act of self 143 00:08:54,650 --> 00:09:00,000 denial. It's an act of sacrifice on 144 00:09:00,010 --> 00:09:03,300 behalf of another person, and not just any person, but this is 145 00:09:03,310 --> 00:09:06,700 a sacrifice on behalf of someone who's unlovable, who's 146 00:09:06,710 --> 00:09:09,220 undesirable. God is saying this is the 147 00:09:09,230 --> 00:09:10,740 standard, this is the Plumb line. 148 00:09:10,750 --> 00:09:12,740 This is what we're looking at when we're talking about what 149 00:09:12,750 --> 00:09:22,500 pure love is. Love is a holy thing and that's 150 00:09:22,510 --> 00:09:27,450 why if we were to jump back into chapter 3, verse 16, talking 151 00:09:27,460 --> 00:09:30,540 about what the standard is, it says John says this is how we 152 00:09:30,550 --> 00:09:34,980 know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life 153 00:09:34,990 --> 00:09:37,580 for us. That's the standard. 154 00:09:38,020 --> 00:09:40,090 This is how we know what love is. 155 00:09:40,380 --> 00:09:43,490 Jesus laid down his life. It's the ultimate demonstration, 156 00:09:43,570 --> 00:09:45,650 ultimate picture that God gives us. 157 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,810 This is what love is. And then it follows when he 158 00:09:48,820 --> 00:09:52,550 says, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and 159 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:54,840 sisters. And this is where John goes. 160 00:09:54,850 --> 00:09:59,810 Actually, if we're back to to verse 11 in our text, it says, 161 00:09:59,820 --> 00:10:05,140 dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one 162 00:10:05,150 --> 00:10:09,690 another. So what John is saying is that 163 00:10:09,740 --> 00:10:12,860 this is how God loves. And so because of that, because 164 00:10:12,870 --> 00:10:15,770 we're following him, we're gonna love like he loves. 165 00:10:16,220 --> 00:10:19,370 Now, none of us love exactly how God loves, but this is the 166 00:10:19,380 --> 00:10:22,170 standard that he sets. And he says, come, come, follow 167 00:10:22,180 --> 00:10:25,850 me and let's love as Jesus, as Jesus loves. 168 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,330 And then in verse 12, he finishes by saying no one has 169 00:10:28,340 --> 00:10:31,670 ever seen God. But if we love one another, God 170 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:35,660 lives in us, and his love is made complete in us. 171 00:10:36,850 --> 00:10:41,370 In other words, though we don't see God when we love like He 172 00:10:41,380 --> 00:10:47,410 loves, somehow He's revealed in our midst, followers of Jesus 173 00:10:47,420 --> 00:10:50,870 Christ, that God's design for our lives is that we would be 174 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:55,050 tangible expressions of him. We would make God tangible in 175 00:10:55,060 --> 00:10:56,810 our world simply by the way that we love. 176 00:10:56,820 --> 00:10:58,970 Because the way that we're loving is not the way the world 177 00:10:58,980 --> 00:11:01,990 loves, but this is the love that comes from heaven, comes from 178 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,940 God himself. And so he's revealing himself 179 00:11:04,950 --> 00:11:07,570 through our acts of love. It's pretty cool thought. 180 00:11:07,900 --> 00:11:11,370 And John says that his love is actually being made complete in 181 00:11:11,380 --> 00:11:18,800 US, that that that how he has loved us is meant to be spread 182 00:11:18,810 --> 00:11:22,520 through the whole world through our actions for the way that we 183 00:11:22,570 --> 00:11:26,890 deny ourselves and to care for others, even those who are 184 00:11:26,900 --> 00:11:30,950 undesirable and unlovable. It's a beautiful thing. 185 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,310 He wants to spread His glory, His beauty, His Majesty, His 186 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,430 character throughout the whole earth through the way that we 187 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:43,210 love as His people. So if we were to summarize all 188 00:11:43,220 --> 00:11:47,570 this, what we're saying is, is that Love Is All about God's 189 00:11:47,580 --> 00:11:49,950 love. That's what love is. 190 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,950 Love Is All about. Our Love Is All about how God 191 00:11:54,100 --> 00:11:56,810 loves us. And this begins, if we were to 192 00:11:56,820 --> 00:12:01,310 think about it, to unveil what I call the grand deception behind 193 00:12:01,380 --> 00:12:05,690 a saying like this. Love is love because we have 194 00:12:05,700 --> 00:12:09,360 taken. We have taken something that God 195 00:12:09,370 --> 00:12:14,780 has created and redefined it. That's essentially what's 196 00:12:14,790 --> 00:12:16,900 happened. We are taking something that God 197 00:12:16,910 --> 00:12:20,720 has created that has boundary lines based on how He has 198 00:12:20,730 --> 00:12:22,460 defined it. And we've said there's no 199 00:12:22,470 --> 00:12:24,540 boundaries on this. We're lifting the boundaries 200 00:12:24,550 --> 00:12:26,800 off. We don't want any restrictions 201 00:12:26,870 --> 00:12:28,690 on love. Now, I don't know about you, but 202 00:12:28,700 --> 00:12:30,420 there's some of that that's very appealing. 203 00:12:31,620 --> 00:12:34,370 I would even say something very liberating about that. 204 00:12:34,380 --> 00:12:38,150 No constraints, just laugh. Just love. 205 00:12:40,430 --> 00:12:46,120 That was the original deception that took place in the garden is 206 00:12:46,130 --> 00:12:47,390 why I call it the grand deception. 207 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:53,040 It's connected to that original lie that came when Eve was 208 00:12:53,050 --> 00:12:56,500 looking at that fruit, if you remember, in the garden, and it 209 00:12:56,510 --> 00:13:01,340 looked desirable and she knew that she was not supposed to eat 210 00:13:01,350 --> 00:13:03,300 of it. But what did the serpent do? 211 00:13:04,310 --> 00:13:08,920 Defying God's authority, kind of stepping on his goodness and 212 00:13:08,930 --> 00:13:12,450 basically saying, hey, you know what, this look, you have a 213 00:13:12,460 --> 00:13:17,230 desire for this, and because you have a desire, you should have 214 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,510 it. That was the great lie. 215 00:13:21,900 --> 00:13:26,730 And so that deception is being played out even here and now. 216 00:13:26,740 --> 00:13:30,070 You know, we think about the sexual revolution was 217 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,540 essentially a turn away from God. 218 00:13:32,580 --> 00:13:34,770 At its core, it was a turn away from God. 219 00:13:34,780 --> 00:13:37,950 What God says about sex and love. 220 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:44,290 We got something better. Alfred Kinsey, known as the 221 00:13:44,300 --> 00:13:47,770 father of the sexual revolution. He was trying to liberate sex 222 00:13:47,780 --> 00:13:50,010 from morality. That was his primary, He's a 223 00:13:50,020 --> 00:13:55,340 sexologist primary goal, liberate sex from morality. 224 00:13:55,350 --> 00:13:58,700 And this is and he taught that sex is a normal biological 225 00:13:58,710 --> 00:14:02,140 function, acceptable in whatever form it's manifested. 226 00:14:02,450 --> 00:14:06,220 That was his main point. Now to do this, he had to do 227 00:14:06,230 --> 00:14:09,220 something. He had to reduce the. 228 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:15,220 He had to reduce sex to that moment of enjoyment in the act 229 00:14:15,230 --> 00:14:20,320 of sex, reducing it right down to that moment of enjoyment and 230 00:14:20,330 --> 00:14:26,020 saying, claiming that all moments of enjoyment and sex are 231 00:14:26,030 --> 00:14:28,580 equal, no matter where it happens or how it happens, 232 00:14:30,260 --> 00:14:33,650 Whether between married persons or unmarried persons, between 233 00:14:33,660 --> 00:14:37,190 people of the opposite sex or the same sex, between adults and 234 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:40,890 children, between strangers or with prostitutes, even between 235 00:14:40,900 --> 00:14:42,890 humans and animals. That was his point. 236 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:47,000 All are equally acceptable. Love is love. 237 00:14:52,900 --> 00:14:59,070 And that might seem radical to, to, to to our ears, but this is 238 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,070 kind of the movement we see a shift that is happening in in 239 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:04,730 our culture. Most of you will know Woody 240 00:15:04,740 --> 00:15:08,390 Allen, writer and filmmaker. He had a family with Mia Farrow. 241 00:15:08,780 --> 00:15:12,530 And Mia brought an adopted daughter into that relationship. 242 00:15:12,620 --> 00:15:15,910 So she became Woody's stepdaughter. 243 00:15:16,220 --> 00:15:19,810 Well, Woody fell in love with his stepdaughter and had 244 00:15:19,820 --> 00:15:22,420 intimate relations with his stepdaughter, eventually 245 00:15:22,430 --> 00:15:25,730 separating Mia and marrying that daughter. 246 00:15:27,530 --> 00:15:30,540 Great social outcry took place. I remember that. 247 00:15:30,610 --> 00:15:33,900 But even within the the film industry there was a great 248 00:15:33,910 --> 00:15:35,680 outcry. Like people were saying, OK 249 00:15:35,690 --> 00:15:38,260 enough, you know how what what is going on here? 250 00:15:38,330 --> 00:15:41,070 Well, to Woody, it was no big deal. 251 00:15:42,510 --> 00:15:45,940 This is, this is how he put it. He said the heart wants what it 252 00:15:45,950 --> 00:15:48,520 wants. There's no logic to these 253 00:15:48,530 --> 00:15:51,120 things. You meet someone and you fall in 254 00:15:51,130 --> 00:15:56,990 love, and that's that. In other words, love is love. 255 00:15:58,390 --> 00:16:04,120 Love is love. If I have a desire, that means 256 00:16:04,130 --> 00:16:08,090 that I've meant to fulfill that desire right back to the garden. 257 00:16:08,910 --> 00:16:12,310 In other words, our feelings of love rule everything. 258 00:16:13,660 --> 00:16:17,250 Now, biblically speaking, there's a clash going on because 259 00:16:17,260 --> 00:16:21,050 we know, as our text says, that God is love, but the opposite 260 00:16:21,060 --> 00:16:24,590 isn't true. Love is not God. 261 00:16:26,250 --> 00:16:31,090 God created love, any designed it within particular boundaries 262 00:16:31,500 --> 00:16:36,610 in order for our flourishing. When God, when love becomes the 263 00:16:36,620 --> 00:16:41,510 ultimate, when it becomes God to us, that's when things start to 264 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:50,830 unravel and fall apart. Sometimes love is beautiful as 265 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:52,830 it is. Sometimes love is wrong. 266 00:16:55,010 --> 00:16:57,330 Love in some forms can be sinful. 267 00:16:57,930 --> 00:17:01,650 That's really the point. And there is a line that is 268 00:17:01,660 --> 00:17:03,850 crossed, and I think it's important for us to just talk 269 00:17:03,860 --> 00:17:07,270 about where that line is. This kind of love is acceptable. 270 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,349 This kind of love isn't acceptable. 271 00:17:11,500 --> 00:17:18,780 Where does love feel to be love? Where do we draw the line? 272 00:17:18,790 --> 00:17:24,609 Where would you draw the line? Is it between consenting adults 273 00:17:25,900 --> 00:17:29,560 or would that line be open to between adults and children? 274 00:17:30,990 --> 00:17:36,110 Between humans and animals, some may think that this is really 275 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:39,860 wild, but when God is sidelined from the picture, from this 276 00:17:39,870 --> 00:17:43,030 whole discussion, we begin to slide. 277 00:17:43,070 --> 00:17:45,270 We're returning back to our Pagan roots, and you can 278 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:47,730 actually see this happening in our culture. 279 00:17:47,780 --> 00:17:51,590 It is becoming harder and harder to have a good argument to 280 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,600 defend. Why pedophilia and BE and 281 00:17:54,610 --> 00:18:01,530 bestiality should remain criminal prevalent in Rome and 282 00:18:01,540 --> 00:18:04,370 Greece before Christianity hit the scene. 283 00:18:05,610 --> 00:18:08,300 It was only when the Christian reality came that those things 284 00:18:08,310 --> 00:18:13,660 were now deemed out of bounds. That's not how God loves, but 285 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:19,510 without God, without the word of God, that Plumb line disappears 286 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:21,330 and we don't know where to draw the line. 287 00:18:21,580 --> 00:18:27,570 That's part of the problem. You know, if we if we draw the 288 00:18:27,580 --> 00:18:33,050 line at consenting adults, then is adultery OK or is pornography 289 00:18:33,060 --> 00:18:34,790 OK? Like where do we draw that line? 290 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,430 That's why we have to continue to go back to God's word that 291 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,030 gives us that standard that describes to us what love is 292 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:45,270 really all about. If we were to pop back to 293 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:55,440 chapter 2, verse 15 and 16, John says this, do not love the world 294 00:18:55,490 --> 00:18:59,480 or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world's love 295 00:18:59,490 --> 00:19:02,530 for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world. 296 00:19:02,540 --> 00:19:05,720 The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of 297 00:19:05,730 --> 00:19:09,640 life comes not from the Father, but from the world. 298 00:19:10,540 --> 00:19:14,750 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will 299 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:20,880 of God lives forever. He's saying that there are 300 00:19:20,890 --> 00:19:24,140 certain things that we should not love, do not love the world. 301 00:19:24,150 --> 00:19:27,040 And when he talks about do not love the world, he's not like 302 00:19:27,050 --> 00:19:30,060 world is actually in in John's letters is used three different 303 00:19:30,070 --> 00:19:31,960 ways. We can talk about the world in 304 00:19:31,970 --> 00:19:35,940 terms of the physical world, you know, the planet and we know 305 00:19:35,950 --> 00:19:38,740 that in scripture we are to love and care for the planet. 306 00:19:38,810 --> 00:19:40,710 So that's, that's not what he's talking about. 307 00:19:41,980 --> 00:19:44,020 Also, world can refer to the people in the world. 308 00:19:44,350 --> 00:19:47,660 And we know in scripture that we are to love our neighbors, 309 00:19:47,670 --> 00:19:49,310 ourselves, or even to love our enemies. 310 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:51,820 So we know that that's not what we shouldn't love people of the 311 00:19:51,830 --> 00:19:53,540 world. But there's another love that 312 00:19:53,550 --> 00:19:59,070 John's referring to, and that is the fallen humanity, the desires 313 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:03,000 that have gone off the rails really under the control of the 314 00:20:03,010 --> 00:20:04,660 evil 1. And he's saying this. 315 00:20:04,700 --> 00:20:09,650 This is where we draw the line. Whenever our desires come up 316 00:20:09,660 --> 00:20:12,990 against or are confronted by the will of God, we know those 317 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,240 desires are inappropriate. In fact, this is what the 318 00:20:16,250 --> 00:20:18,620 Apostle Paul speaks about in Romans chapter 1. 319 00:20:18,630 --> 00:20:21,570 He says there are dishonorable desires that we have, 320 00:20:21,630 --> 00:20:25,050 dishonorable passions, and we need to recognize those, those 321 00:20:25,060 --> 00:20:29,940 as such, those desires, those passions, and this is really the 322 00:20:29,950 --> 00:20:33,270 point, don't come from God. They come from the world. 323 00:20:34,300 --> 00:20:36,230 They come from the world. And so we need to be able to 324 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,710 distinguish what those what those really are. 325 00:20:40,850 --> 00:20:44,430 So let's go back to the question, Why would God make 326 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:51,050 someone gay if they cannot follow through on their desires? 327 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,240 Why would he do that? Well, a secondary question could 328 00:20:55,250 --> 00:20:57,790 be asked. Why would God make someone 329 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:02,940 selfish if they're unable, if they're, if they're not allowed 330 00:21:02,950 --> 00:21:04,410 to follow through on their selfishness? 331 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:10,770 You see where I'm getting at? Because we have a desire for 332 00:21:10,780 --> 00:21:14,130 something doesn't mean that those desires are right or 333 00:21:14,140 --> 00:21:18,410 should be acted on. In fact, God never made anybody 334 00:21:18,420 --> 00:21:20,370 gay. God doesn't make anybody 335 00:21:20,380 --> 00:21:23,540 selfish. All of the brokenness that we 336 00:21:23,550 --> 00:21:27,250 experience in this life can be all tied back to the fall that 337 00:21:27,260 --> 00:21:30,690 took place in the garden. Every single one of us. 338 00:21:30,700 --> 00:21:34,020 We're collectively responsible. God isn't responsible for that. 339 00:21:34,100 --> 00:21:38,300 It's not responsible for our brokenness, but here's a God of 340 00:21:38,310 --> 00:21:41,490 grace who wants to meet us in the midst of our brokenness. 341 00:21:42,460 --> 00:21:45,220 And This is why I just want, I want to just just talk about the 342 00:21:45,230 --> 00:21:48,690 grace of God for us who are broken. 343 00:21:48,700 --> 00:21:51,010 And we are all broken in so many ways. 344 00:21:52,910 --> 00:21:57,180 The reason why there there is a reason why God is against 345 00:21:57,190 --> 00:22:01,200 certain forms of love, and His primary reason is because He 346 00:22:01,210 --> 00:22:04,800 loves us. He loves you and This is why 347 00:22:04,810 --> 00:22:06,790 he's against certain forms of love. 348 00:22:10,330 --> 00:22:16,210 Contrary to popular belief, God is not trying to hold good stuff 349 00:22:16,220 --> 00:22:18,650 back from us. That is not his intention. 350 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,260 That's what the Evil 1 convinced Eva of. 351 00:22:22,620 --> 00:22:25,790 And that moment when she fell, when Adam and Eve fell. 352 00:22:26,860 --> 00:22:31,750 The God's holding out on you, God, God, what God is doing is 353 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:33,970 he. There are certain things that 354 00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:38,830 may look good to us and things that we desire, but God, out of 355 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:42,160 His great love and mercy and grace, wants to keep us from 356 00:22:42,170 --> 00:22:45,130 those things because He knows to embrace them means that we're 357 00:22:45,140 --> 00:22:49,310 going to perish out of His deep, great love for us. 358 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,560 He knows the boundaries. He knows what's going to bring 359 00:22:52,570 --> 00:22:54,500 us life and what's going to bring us to death. 360 00:22:57,340 --> 00:23:01,990 There are always consequences when we turn from God's design, 361 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,450 and particularly when we turn from God's design for sex. 362 00:23:05,630 --> 00:23:14,550 Always consequences. His design for sex is for a man 363 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,770 and a woman within a covenant marriage relationship. 364 00:23:17,820 --> 00:23:21,450 That's his design, so let's just take a look at a few things. 365 00:23:21,460 --> 00:23:24,440 Pornography. What are the consequences of 366 00:23:24,450 --> 00:23:26,300 pornography? I mean, we, we can go into a lot 367 00:23:26,310 --> 00:23:28,020 of details. I'm just kind of skimming the 368 00:23:28,030 --> 00:23:30,260 surface here. It decreases our capacity for 369 00:23:30,270 --> 00:23:34,040 emotional and physical intimacy. It leads to greater social 370 00:23:34,050 --> 00:23:36,180 isolation and self centred behaviors. 371 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,310 These are the consequences God's trying to save us from. 372 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,180 What about premarital sex That can lead to feelings of 373 00:23:43,190 --> 00:23:47,700 insecurity, mistrust, comparison with others, and a higher 374 00:23:47,710 --> 00:23:51,570 likelihood of divorce? If we do marry, what about 375 00:23:51,580 --> 00:23:55,280 adultery? It divides human hearts and 376 00:23:55,290 --> 00:24:00,500 brings untold sorrows to our deepest relationships. 377 00:24:03,350 --> 00:24:07,320 What about marriage, A Christian marrying a non Christian? 378 00:24:07,330 --> 00:24:10,340 That's also a boundary line that God says do not be unequally 379 00:24:10,350 --> 00:24:14,180 yoked. So he says when when a Christian 380 00:24:14,230 --> 00:24:17,690 marries a non Christian, this is going to bring a significant 381 00:24:17,700 --> 00:24:21,460 amount of tension into that relationship and it's going to 382 00:24:21,470 --> 00:24:24,200 lead to a compromise either of our love for our spouse or our 383 00:24:24,210 --> 00:24:26,730 love for God. Something's going to lose out. 384 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,160 God's trying to protect us from that. 385 00:24:32,540 --> 00:24:34,680 And what about same sex sexual relations? 386 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:39,450 You know, statistics show that LGBTQ plus individuals are two 387 00:24:39,460 --> 00:24:44,030 to three times more likely to experience depression, anxiety, 388 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:49,460 and substance abuse compared to heterosexual individuals, and 389 00:24:49,530 --> 00:24:54,110 they face significantly higher risk of suicide attempts even in 390 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:58,060 the most tolerant and affirming societies in our culture, like 391 00:24:58,070 --> 00:25:04,360 the Nordic countries. Do you know who reports the 392 00:25:04,370 --> 00:25:06,350 highest levels of happiness and satisfaction? 393 00:25:08,180 --> 00:25:11,060 People in traditional covenant marriages who have a shared 394 00:25:11,070 --> 00:25:12,890 Christian faith and are involved in the community. 395 00:25:16,500 --> 00:25:20,230 God knows us and we're just talking about the consequences 396 00:25:20,300 --> 00:25:22,570 on the on you know, the in the here and now. 397 00:25:23,490 --> 00:25:26,110 We're not even talking about the consequences of Scripture refers 398 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:29,290 to that have the eternal consequences of being outside of 399 00:25:29,300 --> 00:25:34,490 his Kingdom. Love is love is not just wrong, 400 00:25:34,500 --> 00:25:37,290 it's it's dangerous. It's dangerous talk. 401 00:25:37,300 --> 00:25:41,810 It needs to be defined in and of itself. 402 00:25:41,820 --> 00:25:46,990 It stands the way that it stands is dangerous. 403 00:25:51,230 --> 00:25:58,690 So when we're being told to not just tolerate but to celebrate, 404 00:26:00,450 --> 00:26:01,840 we need to be very, very careful. 405 00:26:02,170 --> 00:26:09,150 We need to be careful. We want to love, love, love, but 406 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:12,280 love in the way that God calls us to love. 407 00:26:12,570 --> 00:26:16,780 And that's why Jesus has a church on this planet, the 408 00:26:16,790 --> 00:26:20,330 Church of Jesus Christ. We were meant to be a beacon of 409 00:26:20,340 --> 00:26:25,420 that love. So the church is meant to be a 410 00:26:25,430 --> 00:26:27,670 place where everyone would want to be. 411 00:26:28,110 --> 00:26:30,340 How do we do that? How do we do that? 412 00:26:30,350 --> 00:26:32,960 How do we love as God loves? I want to just give you a couple 413 00:26:32,970 --> 00:26:35,120 of things as we close this message. 414 00:26:35,190 --> 00:26:39,620 Number one, we need to make so when when we look at people 415 00:26:39,630 --> 00:26:42,990 outside of the church, we want to be very, very careful not to 416 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,190 impose our Christian morality on other people. 417 00:26:45,590 --> 00:26:47,060 That is not what the church is about. 418 00:26:47,070 --> 00:26:50,140 We are to love them with the love of Jesus Christ. 419 00:26:50,250 --> 00:26:55,380 Their behavior is secondary. That's not even an issue we need 420 00:26:55,390 --> 00:26:56,730 to be dealing with. You just think about it. 421 00:26:56,740 --> 00:26:59,270 If you if you, if you're a parent and you have a child and 422 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:03,280 you lose your child in a, in a, you know, a highly populated 423 00:27:03,290 --> 00:27:06,600 event, what do you do? What are the first things that 424 00:27:06,610 --> 00:27:09,640 come through your mind? All you wanna do is to make sure 425 00:27:09,650 --> 00:27:13,790 that your child is OK. You want a restoration between 426 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:14,590 that child. You. 427 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:15,950 You. You and you and your child. 428 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:18,190 You're not concerned, right? I hope you're not concerned. 429 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:19,630 Maybe you are. Maybe we need to talk about 430 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,830 this. But that OK. 431 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:25,010 I want to make sure that while they're lost among all these 432 00:27:25,020 --> 00:27:28,560 people, that they're going to be polite, that they're gonna 433 00:27:28,570 --> 00:27:31,610 follow the rules, they're gonna be really nice to people, and 434 00:27:31,620 --> 00:27:32,670 they're gonna do the right thing. 435 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:34,660 Are you thinking about, you're not even thinking about that? 436 00:27:34,670 --> 00:27:38,520 All you want to happen is for that child to be restored to 437 00:27:38,530 --> 00:27:40,420 you. And it's the same thing when it 438 00:27:40,430 --> 00:27:43,540 comes to people outside of the church who are not followers of 439 00:27:43,550 --> 00:27:46,060 Jesus Christ. God's heart for them is that 440 00:27:46,070 --> 00:27:48,500 they be restored back to Him as their heavenly Father. 441 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,510 How they live that's that's secondary. 442 00:27:52,730 --> 00:27:58,160 Once they receive receive God's love and embrace the way of 443 00:27:58,170 --> 00:28:00,940 Jesus Christ, then we'll talk about what a life, what, what 444 00:28:00,950 --> 00:28:04,420 living for Christ looks like. But an initially that's not our 445 00:28:04,430 --> 00:28:06,430 that's not even actually not even our business. 446 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:12,220 That's her her heart orientation toward people outside the 447 00:28:12,230 --> 00:28:13,590 church. Now, what about inside? 448 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:18,050 So much that could be said here, but we as a people, we need to 449 00:28:18,060 --> 00:28:22,790 continue to encourage one another to live faithfully to 450 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:28,340 God's Word, to to, to, to be, to be mutually encouraging one 451 00:28:28,350 --> 00:28:30,270 another to be faithful, to remain faithful. 452 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,560 What does that mean? That means that we need to be 453 00:28:34,570 --> 00:28:37,330 honest. We need to we need to confess 454 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,330 our sins to one another. We need to be real with one 455 00:28:40,340 --> 00:28:42,430 another. We we need to not be shocked 456 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,040 when someone shares the challenge that they have with 457 00:28:45,050 --> 00:28:47,810 their own wayward desires. Why? 458 00:28:47,820 --> 00:28:50,690 Because we should be able to fully identify with any other 459 00:28:50,700 --> 00:28:53,270 individual. Because we ourselves, we got, we 460 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:54,650 got. Our desires may not be the same 461 00:28:54,660 --> 00:28:58,160 as theirs, but we were nonetheless. 462 00:28:58,490 --> 00:29:01,270 And so we're fellow strugglers. We're fellow sinners. 463 00:29:04,210 --> 00:29:07,800 If you're if you're here today and you would, you would see 464 00:29:07,810 --> 00:29:11,200 yourself as part of the LGBTQ plus community. 465 00:29:11,270 --> 00:29:12,980 I wanna just assure you something. 466 00:29:12,990 --> 00:29:17,380 You are most welcome here. You are most welcome here, and 467 00:29:17,390 --> 00:29:22,220 while we cannot affirm anything that God does not affirm, we do 468 00:29:22,230 --> 00:29:26,790 affirm you. We will affirm you God loves 469 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:31,430 you. He cares about you and He has 470 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:36,660 offering grace to you to each one of us in order to live in a 471 00:29:36,670 --> 00:29:40,780 way where God becomes more important than our desires, that 472 00:29:40,790 --> 00:29:42,990 he becomes our number one desire. 473 00:29:43,050 --> 00:29:46,140 That is the kind of support that each one of us needs no matter 474 00:29:46,150 --> 00:29:49,580 what struggle we might have. And all of us have those 475 00:29:49,590 --> 00:29:53,440 struggles. So if you're here today and you 476 00:29:53,450 --> 00:29:59,850 and you are you're experience that pull that that struggle, I 477 00:29:59,860 --> 00:30:01,550 I've got nothing but good news for you. 478 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:06,980 God loves you and cares for you and His grace is ready to meet 479 00:30:06,990 --> 00:30:12,970 you Today is it is a community of faith. 480 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,840 We cannot buckle under the pressure of the society. 481 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,030 That is not going to be helpful. We can't go soft. 482 00:30:21,260 --> 00:30:24,800 We need to uphold what it means to be faithful, but at the same 483 00:30:24,810 --> 00:30:28,600 time, we do it with a tremendous amount of humility and respect 484 00:30:28,610 --> 00:30:30,820 and love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. 485 00:30:31,090 --> 00:30:34,460 We don't want to redefine love. That's not helpful. 486 00:30:35,060 --> 00:30:38,290 But what we do want to we want to uphold what Love Actually is 487 00:30:38,380 --> 00:30:40,790 and to encourage one another in that way. 488 00:30:47,150 --> 00:30:50,300 Jesus Christ is the one we're following. 489 00:30:51,460 --> 00:30:55,050 And I want to, I just want to close this message by talking 490 00:30:55,060 --> 00:30:57,710 about Jesus for a moment, because he is the one who 491 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:01,930 actually, if you think about it, he's God in the flesh, God who 492 00:31:01,940 --> 00:31:05,510 who who clothed himself in flesh and came and humbled himself as 493 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,690 a man to walk among us, but he came to serve us. 494 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,550 Think about that. The God of the universe, he 495 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:13,470 created all things. He's come now to serve us. 496 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:15,490 It's just the most mind blowing thing. 497 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:20,370 And He lived that life and bore our sins in His flesh on the 498 00:31:20,380 --> 00:31:24,520 cross. Everyone of our wayward desires 499 00:31:24,750 --> 00:31:27,720 had been asleep like they've been nailed to the cross and 500 00:31:27,730 --> 00:31:30,240 brought to the grave. And when He rose from the dead, 501 00:31:30,590 --> 00:31:34,020 He was conquering every single one of them on our behalf. 502 00:31:35,700 --> 00:31:40,630 In other words, there is nothing that cannot be forgiven in him. 503 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:44,890 Not a thing. And we can stand before him 504 00:31:44,900 --> 00:31:48,790 wholly and righteous, even when our desires are screaming and 505 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,000 going the other direction. He's got us covered. 506 00:31:51,010 --> 00:31:54,870 Like seriously, Hallelujah. And and this is a beautiful 507 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,070 thing. He has sent His Holy Spirit to 508 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,950 dwell within us, to give us the strength day by day to choose 509 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,750 God over our desires that are contrary to His will. 510 00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,670 And that grace is real. It is real. 511 00:32:07,940 --> 00:32:10,530 Grace is God's unmerited favor. But it's more than that. 512 00:32:10,540 --> 00:32:12,650 It's power. It is power. 513 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:18,540 And that power is accessed when we receive His grace by faith. 514 00:32:19,340 --> 00:32:21,790 You know, we were saved by grace through faith. 515 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:24,210 We were healed by grace through faith. 516 00:32:24,220 --> 00:32:26,650 We were directed by grace through faith. 517 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,570 Our faith activates that grace in our lives. 518 00:32:30,220 --> 00:32:33,450 And if we will believe, yes, this is what's true. 519 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,890 And I'm choosing you, God, even though I feel like I'm powerless 520 00:32:37,900 --> 00:32:41,150 to do differently. He's gonna meet you and he's 521 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:42,650 gonna meet me in the midst of that. 522 00:32:42,660 --> 00:32:44,550 So I just wanna, I just wanna close. 523 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,490 I just wanna encourage you to just, to just to close your 524 00:32:47,500 --> 00:32:49,170 eyes. Just have a moment with God 525 00:32:49,180 --> 00:32:52,380 right now. And if you're currently in the 526 00:32:52,390 --> 00:32:57,580 midst of an intense struggle with sexual brokenness, I just 527 00:32:57,590 --> 00:33:01,610 want to say the Lord sees you. He knows you, He loves you, He 528 00:33:01,620 --> 00:33:04,360 cares for you, and He wants you to come to Him now. 529 00:33:08,110 --> 00:33:13,860 If you are the victim of sexual abuse, the Lord wants you to 530 00:33:13,870 --> 00:33:17,370 know that He sees you, He knows you, He loves you. 531 00:33:18,050 --> 00:33:19,520 He wants to bring healing to you. 532 00:33:22,100 --> 00:33:26,460 If you have a loved one who you know is struggling in any of 533 00:33:26,470 --> 00:33:31,780 these areas and it pains you to see it, the Lord wants you to 534 00:33:31,790 --> 00:33:36,080 know that He sees you, that He knows you, that He loves you. 535 00:33:36,970 --> 00:33:39,280 He's saying He's inviting you. Come to me. 536 00:33:39,630 --> 00:33:42,120 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will 537 00:33:42,130 --> 00:33:46,290 give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn 538 00:33:46,300 --> 00:33:49,910 from me, for I am gentle and humble and heart, and you will 539 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:53,880 receive rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is 540 00:33:53,890 --> 00:33:55,100 light. Just receive it. 541 00:33:55,110 --> 00:33:58,130 Lord, I pray. We pray that You would pour out 542 00:33:58,140 --> 00:34:02,220 your grace upon us where we need it the most, Lord, where there 543 00:34:02,230 --> 00:34:04,640 is hurt, where there is temptation, where there is 544 00:34:04,650 --> 00:34:07,460 struggle, Lord, where there is confusion. 545 00:34:07,590 --> 00:34:12,020 We pray that you'd meet us in that place and reveal the God 546 00:34:12,030 --> 00:34:14,020 that you are through Jesus Christ. 547 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:21,989 Bring healing, bring wholeness, Bring hope, bring encouragement, 548 00:34:23,070 --> 00:34:27,110 bring your strength to us as we follow Jesus. 549 00:34:27,870 --> 00:34:30,350 It's in His name we pray. Amen.