1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,900 Welcome To The River. City Church podcast and a 2 00:00:02,908 --> 00:00:07,000 message by our lead. Pastor Jason Powers our prayer 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,400 is that this message would Inspire and encourage you, build 4 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:12,500 your faith. And point you to the 5 00:00:12,500 --> 00:00:17,200 life-changing love of Jesus, may you enjoy the goodness of God, 6 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,800 as you follow him today. If I hadn't met you, my name is 7 00:00:21,808 --> 00:00:23,300 Nick. I'm the associate pastor. 8 00:00:23,300 --> 00:00:26,200 We're in the third week of Advent. 9 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:28,100 So the first two weeks, I was up the first week. 10 00:00:28,100 --> 00:00:29,900 We talked about Hope Jason talked. 11 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:31,900 About peace last week. And so this week, we're going to 12 00:00:31,900 --> 00:00:35,200 talk about love, which sounds great, right? 13 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:37,600 Like, you get the week for love and you're like, that's easy, 14 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:39,100 right? God's love. 15 00:00:39,100 --> 00:00:40,800 This is going to be really, really simple. 16 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,700 It's not It's not. We're going to look at this kind 17 00:00:47,700 --> 00:00:51,700 of love and I think you know especially even since 2020 I 18 00:00:51,708 --> 00:00:55,200 think love has been really hard. I think it's been a really 19 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:59,000 difficult thing for us to do something that you may or may 20 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,500 not know about me. I was in education for 15 years. 21 00:01:02,100 --> 00:01:04,400 13 of that was in the classroom. I was an English teacher. 22 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,300 And so when we talk about words, I think somebody just cheered. 23 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:12,100 Is that? Yes, you talk about words. 24 00:01:12,100 --> 00:01:14,500 Read a lot with kids and I was high school a little bit of a 25 00:01:14,500 --> 00:01:17,600 junior high. There's Always a conversation 26 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,700 about swear words, always, because teenagers want to be 27 00:01:21,700 --> 00:01:24,900 able to justify that what they say is not bad, right? 28 00:01:24,900 --> 00:01:26,700 And so, it's always this conversation, it's just, it's 29 00:01:26,700 --> 00:01:30,500 just a sound, it doesn't really have a meaning, you're right. 30 00:01:30,500 --> 00:01:33,800 You could say any word in a bad way and it's this nonsense, 31 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:35,900 right? But the conversation almost 32 00:01:35,900 --> 00:01:41,600 always came back to the word love because as we would have 33 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,000 this conversation, my question for them would be what makes a 34 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,600 word bad? What makes it It irrelevant what 35 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:51,100 makes a word not mean anything, right? 36 00:01:51,100 --> 00:01:54,200 And this word that we would come back to is love because guys, I 37 00:01:54,208 --> 00:01:59,700 hate to tell you, I think that We don't know what love means. 38 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,500 Not in our culture, not in our society, right? 39 00:02:03,500 --> 00:02:04,900 We use this word in the same breath. 40 00:02:04,900 --> 00:02:06,800 I'll tell you, I love pizza and I do. 41 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:15,100 And I love my wife and I do And I love cheeseburgers and I do 42 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,800 and I love my kids. But I don't love any of those 43 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:24,800 things in the same way and yet that's how we express it, right? 44 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,200 And so this week I was just kind of doing this thing where in any 45 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,000 meeting or I had lunch with anybody or with my kids and I 46 00:02:31,008 --> 00:02:33,300 would just simply when they were in front of me I'd ask them. 47 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:38,300 What do you love Okay, the answer almost every single time. 48 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,600 What do you mean? What do you love? 49 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:45,000 And I found out interesting things. 50 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,500 A lot of people like enchiladas a lot of people love their 51 00:02:49,500 --> 00:02:52,500 family but it was it was all over, right? 52 00:02:52,500 --> 00:02:55,800 And I think this is why when we try to explain love this is why 53 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,200 we use terms like I love you so much. 54 00:02:59,300 --> 00:03:02,700 I love you to the moon and back. I love you more than anything 55 00:03:02,700 --> 00:03:03,600 right? Because we try to have to 56 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,300 justify this because we overuse and abuse the word love so much 57 00:03:07,500 --> 00:03:10,800 that I think it's just kind of its really lost. 58 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:12,100 Its meaning, it's become kind of this. 59 00:03:12,100 --> 00:03:15,600 Like, you guys have junk drawers in your house but you just 60 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:16,900 throw. Everything is like, I don't even 61 00:03:16,900 --> 00:03:19,800 know, throw it in the drawer, I don't know, maybe we'll use it 62 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:21,800 someday. I feel like that's where we've 63 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,200 gotten with this word. Love, we have used it in abused 64 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,600 it and overused it. So much that we don't truly 65 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,200 know. Know, the biblical meaning of 66 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,800 love, we don't truly know this word that we throw around every 67 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,700 day and all of these different ways. 68 00:03:38,700 --> 00:03:42,400 And so as we go through this guy's for my my type A people, 69 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:44,500 I'm going to go, I'm going to give you my outline right now so 70 00:03:44,500 --> 00:03:48,000 that you know so that you can get ahead and we're going to 71 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:49,800 walk through this one thing I want you to know much like we 72 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,100 said every week, if you're going to take nothing else away, 73 00:03:53,100 --> 00:03:56,400 please hear this. Aside from Jesus. 74 00:03:56,900 --> 00:03:59,000 You cannot know or understand love. 75 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:03,300 Okay, aside from understanding Jesus and understanding the love 76 00:04:03,300 --> 00:04:07,400 of God, you cannot ever fully understand love. 77 00:04:07,900 --> 00:04:10,700 And so as we go through this, what I'm going to say is we're 78 00:04:10,700 --> 00:04:12,900 going to talk about how love has been made visible. 79 00:04:15,100 --> 00:04:20,800 About how love has been defined and how it is only in the coming 80 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:22,600 of. Jesus Christ that real love. 81 00:04:22,700 --> 00:04:27,200 Okay, real love, true, love not thin powerless, rootless love, 82 00:04:28,100 --> 00:04:31,800 but real love can actually expand across the globe. 83 00:04:32,100 --> 00:04:33,800 Okay. So if you have your Bibles take 84 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:35,500 those out. Or if you're falling on a 85 00:04:35,508 --> 00:04:37,800 device, whatever, that's fine. We're going to be in first John 86 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:40,400 first John four seven through twelve. 87 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:41,600 That's going to be our anchor text. 88 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,600 Okay. And I'm going to walk us through 89 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:45,300 this and there's going to be some stuff and You can be like, 90 00:04:45,300 --> 00:04:47,600 oh man, that's so that's awesome man. 91 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,300 Being a believer in love and God and Jesus, it's so great. 92 00:04:50,300 --> 00:04:51,700 And then there's going to be things that are going to make 93 00:04:51,700 --> 00:04:53,900 you uncomfortable. I just want to warn you about 94 00:04:53,900 --> 00:04:54,800 that today. Okay? 95 00:04:54,800 --> 00:05:00,300 As we walk through this, I want to start first, John 4:9, and I 96 00:05:00,308 --> 00:05:04,100 want to read that. Okay, it says God's love was 97 00:05:04,100 --> 00:05:08,400 revealed. Among Us in this way, God sent 98 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,600 his only son into the world so that we might be so that we 99 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,600 might live through him. Okay. 100 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,900 What he's saying, the manifestation of love love made 101 00:05:18,900 --> 00:05:22,200 visible came as Jesus came, right? 102 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,000 As we as we enter into this Christmas season, right? 103 00:05:25,100 --> 00:05:27,200 When Jesus came love, was made visible. 104 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,400 That was a place where we were able to see it when he came in 105 00:05:30,408 --> 00:05:34,400 the flesh. And so, how can we say that, 106 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:35,800 right? When we look at the coming of 107 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,000 Jesus, we see that love is made manifest. 108 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,200 That means it's been made visible. 109 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:46,700 So, love this idea, this concept it's been made visible and John 110 00:05:46,700 --> 00:05:50,800 argues that the sending of Jesus is Love made visible because of 111 00:05:51,100 --> 00:05:54,600 the Trinity, okay, stay with me. This is the fun part, right? 112 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,700 So, it's because of the Trinity, it's because of the Triune God, 113 00:05:57,700 --> 00:05:58,900 right? You have God, the Father God, 114 00:05:58,900 --> 00:06:01,500 the son, and God, the Holy Spirit, and they live in this 115 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,500 Everlasting Lasting love relationship, right? 116 00:06:04,500 --> 00:06:07,600 Where God the Father, loves God, the son and God the son loves 117 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:10,100 God, the father, and God, the Holy Spirit, loves the Son and 118 00:06:10,100 --> 00:06:13,700 the father, and it's kind of this eternal mixing. 119 00:06:13,700 --> 00:06:15,200 See us lose c.s. Lewis. 120 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,200 Calls it the dance. Okay, when you talk about this 121 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,300 and I understand, like, the Trinity, it's hard. 122 00:06:20,300 --> 00:06:22,700 It's hard to wrap your brain around. 123 00:06:23,900 --> 00:06:26,300 And one of the most brilliant Theologian c.s. 124 00:06:26,300 --> 00:06:28,100 Lewis the way that he narrowed it down. 125 00:06:28,100 --> 00:06:30,800 He said, he called it the dance. Okay. 126 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,600 And that is, we see that. Like, that's the reason that's 127 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,100 how we say that. Love is visible because of that 128 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:40,500 guy's the the scandal of Advent, right? 129 00:06:40,500 --> 00:06:44,300 The scandal of Christmas is this, it's that God, the son. 130 00:06:45,300 --> 00:06:48,600 The second person of the Trinity coeternal has always been, will 131 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:53,300 always be omnipotent the active agent in all of creation. 132 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:58,000 Put on flesh and came here to dwell with us. 133 00:06:58,700 --> 00:07:01,600 That's love made visible, that's exciting, right? 134 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,600 Like that's that's the key but why? 135 00:07:05,900 --> 00:07:09,600 Why write as a teacher always here's here's the thing. 136 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:11,900 But let's ask why you always want to go a little bit deeper. 137 00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:14,200 Why? Because God wanted us to see and 138 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:18,500 understand Divine love. And so he sends his son so we 139 00:07:18,500 --> 00:07:20,600 can see the enormity of this love. 140 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:23,500 All right, this isn't just, I love pizzas. 141 00:07:24,100 --> 00:07:26,600 This is the enormity of God's love in the way that he shows us 142 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:31,400 his by sending his son. Okay, and I want to listen to 143 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:32,300 something that's been on my heart. 144 00:07:32,300 --> 00:07:35,200 A lot lately, I've been reading and kind of studying, and it's 145 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:40,200 this idea that outside of Jesus, you might exist but you will 146 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:44,600 never fully live. Okay? 147 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:47,600 Let that sink in a little bit. You, you will absolutely exist 148 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,400 but you will never ever Fully live. 149 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,200 You'll experience all the blessings of what's called 150 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,300 common Grace. But you'll never be fully Alive. 151 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:02,300 You'll experience common Grace. And guys, you don't even need to 152 00:08:02,300 --> 00:08:05,300 love God to experience, coming Grace, you can hate God, you can 153 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:10,400 be hostile towards God and still benefit from common Grace. 154 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:17,000 Do you know anybody like that? Anybody who's hostile toward 155 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,900 your faith hostile toward God? But it seems like they're living 156 00:08:19,900 --> 00:08:23,900 a pretty good life. Yeah, maybe just me. 157 00:08:23,900 --> 00:08:24,900 I don't know where you guys work. 158 00:08:24,900 --> 00:08:27,800 I work at a church and I still see people that way, right? 159 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:33,299 People who cannot, they will not give way to your faith, or your 160 00:08:33,299 --> 00:08:36,299 thinking, or to Jesus, or anybody and yet it seems like 161 00:08:36,299 --> 00:08:41,200 their life is pretty good from the outside, depending on how we 162 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:43,600 measure good, right? They have a lot. 163 00:08:43,700 --> 00:08:45,400 They have a nice house, a nice car cars. 164 00:08:47,500 --> 00:08:49,900 Because you have to acknowledge that the beauty of coming Grace. 165 00:08:49,900 --> 00:08:52,400 It wasn't just given to Believers, common, Grace was 166 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:55,400 given to everyone freely and God said you don't even have to 167 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:56,800 believe in me. You don't have to love me. 168 00:08:56,900 --> 00:09:02,200 Here's common Grace, right? Because you can have A good 169 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:05,100 meal. You can have good friendships, 170 00:09:05,100 --> 00:09:06,600 you can get a good night's sleep. 171 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,600 You know, all those things you have to believe in God to do 172 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:15,700 those things. But the Gospel of John, write, 173 00:09:16,700 --> 00:09:21,000 the Book of John Jesus is argument, is about you coming to 174 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,900 life and there being something Beyond common Grace. 175 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:26,300 Okay? This is where the love is made 176 00:09:26,300 --> 00:09:28,000 visible, right? Turn with me. 177 00:09:28,300 --> 00:09:32,000 If you can to John 1, we're going to look what Jesus says, 178 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:32,800 right? We're gonna look at three of 179 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:34,900 these pretty quick if I can get there. 180 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:44,000 John 14, it says in him was life and the life was the light of 181 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,000 all people. John 4:14. 182 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,200 It says, but those who drink of the water that I will give them 183 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:58,000 will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will 184 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,900 become in them, a spring of water, gushing up to eternal 185 00:10:00,900 --> 00:10:03,900 life. John 10:10. 186 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:06,800 You've heard this one a lot. I've heard Jason preach. 187 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:09,600 This a lot. The thief comes only to steal 188 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,400 and kill and destroy, but I came that they may have life and have 189 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,500 it abundantly. That's different. 190 00:10:16,500 --> 00:10:19,100 That's different than common Grace, right? 191 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,700 Your existing but God created you to worship, right? 192 00:10:22,700 --> 00:10:24,000 The transition is in the worship. 193 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,400 Who do you worship? What do you worship this 194 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:27,600 morning? Is you're sitting there? 195 00:10:28,100 --> 00:10:30,500 What do you worship? What is the thing? 196 00:10:30,500 --> 00:10:32,900 Because we were made to worship every one of us in this room 197 00:10:32,900 --> 00:10:36,400 worships something. So, what is the thing that you 198 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:38,700 worship? What is the thing? 199 00:10:38,700 --> 00:10:41,900 That means more to you than anything in the world will tell. 200 00:10:41,900 --> 00:10:44,900 You is I know football, season is Texas. 201 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:47,200 There's a lot of worshipping going on. 202 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,400 There just is right? You got High School playoffs 203 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,400 right now and a fellow College, getting ready for bowl games. 204 00:10:54,500 --> 00:10:57,200 There is worshipping, there are crowds cheering. 205 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:58,800 There are crowds with their hands lifted High. 206 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:00,700 There are crowds talking about what's going on. 207 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,200 There are crowds worshiping in those Arenas. 208 00:11:03,700 --> 00:11:05,500 You think that it's not you think they're cheering right? 209 00:11:05,500 --> 00:11:10,700 That is that is worship. We were made to worship. 210 00:11:10,700 --> 00:11:14,400 We were made. To live that way. 211 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:18,400 See the gifts of coming Grace, Were Meant To Be experienced, 212 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:22,500 but then to expand past themselves to The Giver, right? 213 00:11:22,500 --> 00:11:25,300 So come and Grace, you may have a great meal. 214 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:28,800 Congratulations, everybody can do that. 215 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:31,900 But if you are present in that moment, as you're eating that 216 00:11:31,900 --> 00:11:36,200 meal and and worshiping and acknowledging, the fact that God 217 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:40,700 you gave me flavors and tastes and Sensations and the ability 218 00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:43,400 to afford this meal and to be able to share this meal with 219 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,300 someone else, that's where you take common Grace of a good meal 220 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,300 and it goes up and expands to the Creator. 221 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:51,000 Right? That's where you worship because 222 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,600 it's different. It's a different experience. 223 00:11:55,400 --> 00:12:00,000 It's something beyond that. What about having a good night 224 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,800 with your friends? Everybody can do that. 225 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,000 That's coming Grace. Anybody can have a great night 226 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:07,600 with their friends. Anybody could have dinner with 227 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:08,400 their friends. They come over. 228 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:10,300 You have a great conversation, it's good. 229 00:12:10,300 --> 00:12:14,000 The difference is, when it expands and extends up is when 230 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:18,900 you realize that God loved you so much, That he knew the 231 00:12:18,908 --> 00:12:23,900 community mattered, he knew that we needed to do life together. 232 00:12:24,100 --> 00:12:27,100 That God gave you friends because guys, I don't know, 233 00:12:27,100 --> 00:12:30,900 maybe it's just me, but friends are kind of hard to find. 234 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,100 Good friends. Are hard to find those friends 235 00:12:35,100 --> 00:12:42,000 that They know you like really really know you and you know 236 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:47,500 them they see you for who you are and you see them and you 237 00:12:47,500 --> 00:12:50,700 love each other anyway even though you're both screwed up, 238 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,000 right? That's the difference. 239 00:12:54,300 --> 00:13:00,700 The difference is when you have a friendship, That you can 240 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:04,800 Relish in and worship God for because he provided it to you, 241 00:13:05,700 --> 00:13:07,600 right? That's that's the difference. 242 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,000 You can be married, you can have a good marriage apart from God. 243 00:13:13,700 --> 00:13:16,400 You can say it's successful. Well, I'll tell you, that's 244 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:20,300 common Grace, the way that it extends and expands is when you 245 00:13:20,300 --> 00:13:24,100 are praying together and walking together with him and living, in 246 00:13:24,100 --> 00:13:27,200 a way that he has desired for you, that's different. 247 00:13:28,100 --> 00:13:32,000 That's different worship. See what happens is, having 248 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:36,500 common Grace and knowing it, but knowing there, something Beyond 249 00:13:36,500 --> 00:13:40,200 it, that's what's given to us. That's what's given to those who 250 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:43,800 believe, because we know that, there's always something better 251 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:45,700 in him. That's different. 252 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,600 For people who don't the problem is that the pleasure of the 253 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,300 experience ends. There there's no extension. 254 00:13:53,300 --> 00:13:56,300 It doesn't go beyond, it doesn't expand, it just ends with that 255 00:13:56,300 --> 00:13:57,400 thing. Oh, that was a good meal. 256 00:13:58,700 --> 00:14:00,500 It was a fun night. They're nice people. 257 00:14:00,500 --> 00:14:03,000 We should do that again. Right. 258 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:08,600 It ends with the experience. Have you ever what about like 259 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:10,500 the idea of tasting? The goodness of the world that 260 00:14:10,500 --> 00:14:13,900 never being satisfied, right? Because these people, they they 261 00:14:13,900 --> 00:14:15,800 lived through life and it's common Grace, but they're never 262 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,500 really satisfied, right? I talked about 2020, we go back 263 00:14:19,500 --> 00:14:22,900 to covid. I think most of us are some of 264 00:14:22,900 --> 00:14:26,100 us at least had it right? You know, this experience. 265 00:14:26,100 --> 00:14:28,900 You really want to taste an experience, good food, but you 266 00:14:28,900 --> 00:14:33,800 have no taste, right? That's life in common Grace 267 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:37,700 without ever expanding up. That's being in that moment. 268 00:14:37,700 --> 00:14:39,000 You really, really want to taste it. 269 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:40,600 You want to enjoy it but you can't. 270 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,500 And I love this idea. I think Matt Chandler talks 271 00:14:43,500 --> 00:14:46,700 about is the idea of the shadow in the form that the shadow of 272 00:14:46,700 --> 00:14:50,600 Our Lives is good. That's the common Grace part, 273 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:53,300 the shadow of Our Lives is okay. But when it reaches, the form is 274 00:14:53,300 --> 00:14:57,400 when we turn it into worship of the Creator and not the created. 275 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,400 That's the extension, that's the expansion. 276 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:05,400 That's what makes it different. So if you want to see love guys, 277 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:09,700 we have to look at the coming of Jesus as the manifestation of 278 00:15:09,700 --> 00:15:12,800 that love. That's love put on skin. 279 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:18,300 Okay, that's where this moves over and you might get it and 280 00:15:18,300 --> 00:15:19,300 you see it and you're like, well, great. 281 00:15:19,300 --> 00:15:21,600 But that doesn't really Define love you just said that it was 282 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:23,500 made visible. I want to keep reading. 283 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:27,000 Look back first John four, but let's look at 10. 284 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:34,300 It says in this is love, not that, we loved God, but that he 285 00:15:34,300 --> 00:15:38,000 loved us and sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our 286 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,700 sins. This guy's here's the argument. 287 00:15:40,700 --> 00:15:46,000 You cannot try to Define Love by watching Humanity. 288 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:52,600 Try to love. If you look to other people, As 289 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:57,200 the experience, or as the model for how to love, you will be let 290 00:15:57,200 --> 00:15:59,300 down. That cannot be your model for 291 00:15:59,300 --> 00:16:01,700 loving, you cannot watch Humanity because it's all been 292 00:16:01,700 --> 00:16:05,000 tainted by sin. Every relationship has been 293 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,900 tainted by sin but God hasn't We cannot Define Love by human 294 00:16:09,900 --> 00:16:12,600 ideals because it will always fall short. 295 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,800 Let's do it this way. I want you to think of someone 296 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,200 that you really love picture them. 297 00:16:21,100 --> 00:16:26,400 Get the picture in your mind. Maybe it's your spouse, maybe 298 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,700 it's your children parents. Grandparents, neighbor, best 299 00:16:30,700 --> 00:16:36,000 friend that you love that you would do anything for Got it. 300 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:42,700 Have you ever harmed them? Intentionally or 301 00:16:42,700 --> 00:16:47,500 unintentionally. Have you ever had significant 302 00:16:47,500 --> 00:16:54,800 conflict with this person? Have you ever purposely started 303 00:16:54,800 --> 00:17:01,100 the conflict with this person? Guys, even the best that we try 304 00:17:01,100 --> 00:17:05,400 to love fall short, because of sin, because it's all tainted by 305 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:07,000 sin. The only love that is pure and 306 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:12,200 perfect is God's love, because it's not, we don't intentionally 307 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,599 harm each other. But we do because we're humans. 308 00:17:18,500 --> 00:17:21,500 I told you they were going to be parts that are difficult in this 309 00:17:21,500 --> 00:17:25,400 and that wasn't it. This is it. so if we're starting 310 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:29,300 with God and his love is perfect, how do we Define it? 311 00:17:29,308 --> 00:17:31,700 And what does it mean for him to love us? 312 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:37,300 I want us to look at John 3:16 and we heard it earlier John 313 00:17:37,300 --> 00:17:43,300 3:16 and 17. And I want us to really, really 314 00:17:43,300 --> 00:17:46,400 pull this apart a little bit. It says, for God, so loved the 315 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:48,100 world. This is like the most famous 316 00:17:48,100 --> 00:17:50,400 first ever right for God. So loved the world that he gave 317 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:53,600 his only son, most of us. Grew up reading his only 318 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,900 begotten son, right. His only son, so that everyone 319 00:17:56,900 --> 00:17:59,600 who believes in Him, may not perish, but might have eternal 320 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:01,500 life. Indeed. 321 00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:04,500 God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world, 322 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:08,100 but in order that the world might be saved through him, he 323 00:18:08,100 --> 00:18:13,200 came to seek and save the Lost. And he came not to condemn, but 324 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:15,600 to save from condemnation, right? 325 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,000 Let's look at Luke 19:10, told you, we're gonna be all over 326 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,900 this this morning, right? Luke 19:10 for the son of man 327 00:18:21,900 --> 00:18:24,000 came to seek out and to save the Lost. 328 00:18:24,700 --> 00:18:30,600 Okay, now let's go back to our scripture in 1st, John 410. 329 00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:35,100 Says in this is love, right? We just read this in. 330 00:18:35,100 --> 00:18:40,100 This is love, not that, we loved God, but that he loved us and 331 00:18:40,100 --> 00:18:44,500 sent his son to be the atoning, sacrifice for our sins. 332 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:46,800 Some of you, depending on your translation, it might say the 333 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:51,800 word propitiation That's the atoning sacrifice. 334 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,500 And this doesn't make sense to us because of our junk drawer 335 00:18:54,500 --> 00:18:56,600 love, right? That doesn't make sense. 336 00:18:58,300 --> 00:18:59,900 This is where it gets uncomfortable. 337 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:05,300 God wanted to make his love. So visible, to us that in order 338 00:19:05,300 --> 00:19:08,800 to do that, he needed to send his son, but in order for us to 339 00:19:08,900 --> 00:19:13,100 understand the depth of his love, he had to appease Wrath. 340 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:16,700 That's the hard part right? We don't like to talk about. 341 00:19:16,700 --> 00:19:18,800 You didn't come this morning, no one you're going to hear about 342 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,000 love and think you're going to hear about wrath in order for 343 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:27,100 God to show and to prove the enormity of his love the depth 344 00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:30,700 and the width and the length of his love Jesus. 345 00:19:31,500 --> 00:19:36,800 He had to allow wrath to be appeased to cover us so that we 346 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,500 could be made perfect. He had to allow wrath to happen 347 00:19:40,500 --> 00:19:48,600 to his son. for you and for me to cover us, And allow wrath to 348 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,100 complete the work. That's how much he loved you. 349 00:19:55,100 --> 00:19:59,700 Would you be willing that person that you loved so much that you 350 00:19:59,700 --> 00:20:03,100 pictured? Would you be willing to let them 351 00:20:03,100 --> 00:20:07,100 go to save mankind? That's what he did. 352 00:20:07,900 --> 00:20:10,200 He gave his son to cover everything. 353 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,800 And we don't understand that we cannot fathom that in our 354 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:16,700 culture. In our society, we cannot 355 00:20:16,700 --> 00:20:22,100 understand the enormity of this The idea that God is love, 356 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:24,800 right? That we have this idea that if 357 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:29,400 God is love, he can't be Wrath. And we want them to be separate. 358 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,200 We want them to not be related. But what I want to tell you you 359 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:37,700 cannot separate love and Wrath. not, when you talk about God, 360 00:20:38,900 --> 00:20:40,700 That's the part that's uncomfortable for us. 361 00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:43,800 The more that you love something think about this the more that 362 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,800 you love something, the more capable you are of Wrath, the 363 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:50,200 more capable you are of hurting that thing that person. 364 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:55,100 Love and wrath, go hand-in-hand because if you if there's an 365 00:20:55,100 --> 00:20:57,900 assault on the wrath of God, it's an assault on the love of 366 00:20:57,900 --> 00:21:00,200 God. I know. 367 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:01,500 I'm sorry. This is not a happy. 368 00:21:01,500 --> 00:21:03,100 Merry Christmas message right now. 369 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,900 But it's in the book and so I've got to tell you what it says. 370 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:11,400 When we say that God is never bothered by sin or he doesn't 371 00:21:11,900 --> 00:21:15,100 dislike Sinners. It's an assault on his love. 372 00:21:16,900 --> 00:21:18,700 And don't get upset. I know some of you own the 373 00:21:18,700 --> 00:21:22,800 t-shirt that says hate sin. Love The Sinner 's. 374 00:21:23,900 --> 00:21:25,600 I don't show you because this is where it's hard for us to 375 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,300 understand. Roman Romans, one calls us 376 00:21:28,300 --> 00:21:30,200 sinners, because we think we're smarter than God. 377 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,500 Look at your life. Look at my life. 378 00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:38,500 I definitely live my life like I think I'm smarter than God. 379 00:21:39,500 --> 00:21:42,600 And I think, if we're honest, at least in moments, most of us in 380 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:46,200 this room, do we think we know the right thing and hopefully 381 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:51,300 God comes along with us? I want to read Psalm 55 and 6. 382 00:21:51,300 --> 00:21:53,800 It says the boastful shall not stand before your eyes. 383 00:21:54,100 --> 00:21:58,500 You hate all evildoers the problem, guys, he didn't say 384 00:21:58,500 --> 00:22:04,000 that you hate all evil doing You said you hate all evildoers? 385 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,700 So, as you destroy those who speak lies the Lord abhors, the 386 00:22:08,700 --> 00:22:13,600 bloodthirsty in the deceitful 14 times in the first 50, Psalms 387 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,100 their explicit sentences about God hating those who do evil and 388 00:22:17,100 --> 00:22:19,300 this is hard and it's uncomfortable because we want no 389 00:22:19,300 --> 00:22:21,500 God, I just want to talk about your love. 390 00:22:21,900 --> 00:22:23,900 I don't want to talk about. You hating my sin, I just want 391 00:22:23,900 --> 00:22:26,600 to talk about the way that you love me, but in order to get to 392 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:28,900 his love, you have to go through this in and let him cover the 393 00:22:28,900 --> 00:22:33,300 sin for you. There's no tiptoeing through it. 394 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:35,500 We can't talk about one and not the other. 395 00:22:38,700 --> 00:22:43,100 Guys are lack of holy fear of a loving and all parlor. 396 00:22:43,100 --> 00:22:46,800 Powerful God. We've completely neutered him 397 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:48,300 and pretend that he doesn't hate sin. 398 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,800 And what I'm going to tell you is that the if you just look at 399 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:57,400 the cross and the reality of hell, you know, that God is Not 400 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:02,700 screwing around with sin. It's there. 401 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,500 We have to acknowledge because now is the hard part right? 402 00:23:06,500 --> 00:23:09,100 That I told you there was going to be hard part but here's the 403 00:23:09,100 --> 00:23:12,400 beauty. We have the Gospel of Jesus 404 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,600 Christ. We have the gospel, that's the 405 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:17,700 good news and what ultimately happens here in the middle of 406 00:23:17,708 --> 00:23:20,400 God's, right. Just wrath towards. 407 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:22,700 What's destroying? All that is good and beautiful. 408 00:23:22,700 --> 00:23:25,800 And his creation is that he sends his son to become the 409 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:30,400 visible propitiation wrath absorbing agent. 410 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:35,200 So that you and I can be perfect and blameless and covered in 411 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,200 God's sight. That's the beautiful part. 412 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:39,900 That's the part that should excite you. 413 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,500 All the Wrath stuff that made you cringe and uncomfortable in 414 00:23:42,500 --> 00:23:44,200 your seats. This is the one that sets us 415 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:46,200 free. So when we look at this time of 416 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,000 the year and we look at the baby in the manger, we shouldn't be 417 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:55,600 going all We should be in awe. We should be looking at the baby 418 00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:00,100 in the manger. God sent his son, not to a 419 00:24:00,100 --> 00:24:03,700 palace to be proclaimed King, not to Rome to overthrow the 420 00:24:03,700 --> 00:24:07,900 government to Bethlehem, not even on a map. 421 00:24:09,500 --> 00:24:12,500 To lie in a feeding trough of animals as a baby. 422 00:24:12,500 --> 00:24:16,400 How much more vulnerable could you be than that? 423 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,300 Be very easy to kill that version of God. 424 00:24:21,500 --> 00:24:23,400 And yet, he sends his son in that way. 425 00:24:23,900 --> 00:24:27,500 His ultimate love is ultimate sacrifice was to send him to 426 00:24:27,500 --> 00:24:32,900 cover us because we were dead in our sins and he made us alive. 427 00:24:33,700 --> 00:24:40,000 That is the Advent of love. That's the Advent of love. 428 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:44,400 If you want to see that, love you look to Jesus. 429 00:24:45,700 --> 00:24:48,600 He said in scripture, we say so what is love, right? 430 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:50,700 Love is seeking and saving the loss. 431 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,300 Love is not condemning the world but saving the world from 432 00:24:54,300 --> 00:24:58,300 condemnation. Remember God is love and has 433 00:24:58,300 --> 00:25:01,500 wrath, he is not wrath, that is loving, those are different 434 00:25:01,500 --> 00:25:04,000 things. And the only way to see real of 435 00:25:04,008 --> 00:25:08,500 expand is for this to be true. I want I think most of us if we 436 00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:12,000 were to admit it, we would say that we want to end well in our 437 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,300 lives, right? I want to be a good father, I 438 00:25:15,300 --> 00:25:18,100 want to be a good husband. I want to be a good pastor. 439 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:21,200 I want to live. Well, I want to be a good 440 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,200 neighbor. I want to be devoted in my 441 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:25,200 faith. I want to end this race. 442 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:29,000 Well, and so I've got Jason and the elders and people that I 443 00:25:29,008 --> 00:25:33,000 trust and they are constantly holding me accountable, right? 444 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,900 If they see me slipping, they need to be in my face, they need 445 00:25:35,900 --> 00:25:37,900 to be in my feet. Well, they know me so they need 446 00:25:37,900 --> 00:25:41,400 to call come calmly into my face and just talk nicely to me. 447 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,100 They need to hold me accountable. 448 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:50,300 I want them to do that. Because if they don't, who knows 449 00:25:50,700 --> 00:25:54,100 what's going to happen, guys? You should want this for 450 00:25:54,100 --> 00:25:58,000 yourselves. The problem is that we have this 451 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,500 thin rootless idea of love and we live in a culture that if 452 00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:07,200 somebody were to come up to you and be like, hey man, I think 453 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:11,300 you're struggling. It seems like, I don't really 454 00:26:11,300 --> 00:26:14,100 like the way that you responded to your wife. 455 00:26:14,300 --> 00:26:16,800 The other night when we were at dinner and what do we do? 456 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,400 Don't judge me. You don't have the right to 457 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:21,300 judge me. That's my life, right? 458 00:26:21,300 --> 00:26:25,000 You're so judgy, maybe or maybe they just love you. 459 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,200 Maybe they love you enough. To tell you that your life is 460 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,600 out of line and that you maybe you're not walking in step with 461 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:36,200 Jesus but we're so sensitive. This idea that people aren't 462 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:39,100 allowed to speak into our lives and the problem. 463 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:46,400 Maybe they're not judging you. Maybe they love you enough. 464 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:51,200 To tell you, I tell my kids. When they were growing up and 465 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,300 they would get in trouble. Now tell him to things one. 466 00:26:54,300 --> 00:26:55,600 You can never do anything to make me. 467 00:26:55,600 --> 00:27:01,600 Not love you, right? And the second Is that I love 468 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:06,100 you too much. To let you do that thing or be 469 00:27:06,100 --> 00:27:09,700 that way or say those words. It's not that. 470 00:27:09,700 --> 00:27:11,000 I don't love you. That you're in trouble. 471 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:12,800 I love you too much. To let you be that way. 472 00:27:12,900 --> 00:27:15,300 And I think that's what God is saying to us, right? 473 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:17,800 I love you too much. To let you just walk in your sin 474 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:22,000 and die, but we have to see that. 475 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:27,600 Real Love is deep rooted Eternal it's unmovable it's a never 476 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:31,000 ending. I told you guys two weeks ago my 477 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:39,500 son crew for he's awesome and also a pain but crew he does not 478 00:27:39,500 --> 00:27:42,400 like being in trouble. He gets very emotional and he's 479 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,000 in trouble. And he'll do one of two things. 480 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,100 He'll either tell you that he loves you, a ridiculous number 481 00:27:48,100 --> 00:27:52,800 of times in a row to make sure you say it back or he will 482 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,000 literally just say, do you still love me? 483 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,800 And this is just like, hey dude, stop flicking your cereal across 484 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,300 the kitchen, not like screaming and yelling. 485 00:28:03,300 --> 00:28:07,300 He's like, do you still love me? Isn't that us? 486 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,700 We make these mistakes, we do these things, we get in trouble 487 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:13,700 and it's like, we just go back and we're like, well, do you 488 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:14,800 got? Do you still love me? 489 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:21,500 His love is deeper than that. It's deep-rooted, right? 490 00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:23,800 That's what's going on in First Corinthians, the great love 491 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:24,900 passage. We hear it at weddings. 492 00:28:24,900 --> 00:28:28,300 All the time side note, it's about the church. 493 00:28:28,300 --> 00:28:30,600 It's not a wedding passage, that's just extra knowledge for 494 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:31,400 you. Congratulations. 495 00:28:31,900 --> 00:28:33,800 Look back at verse 7. Okay. 496 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,200 First John 4:7 says beloved, let us love one. 497 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,000 Another for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born 498 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:45,100 of God and knows, God, anyone who does not love, does not 499 00:28:45,100 --> 00:28:49,300 know, God, because God is love. It doesn't say that anyone who 500 00:28:49,500 --> 00:28:51,500 Has not love. God doesn't know God. 501 00:28:51,500 --> 00:28:55,100 It says anyone who doesn't love that's hard. 502 00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:00,100 If you don't love others, not those that are just like you, 503 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,800 not those that voted like you not those who drive the same 504 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,300 cars as you, not those who dress like you not those in the same 505 00:29:05,300 --> 00:29:09,200 tax bracket is you not those who look the way that you look, if 506 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,800 you do not love others, if there's no experience of God's 507 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,500 love in you that makes you love others than you don't know. 508 00:29:16,500 --> 00:29:20,600 God. That stings a little bit. 509 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:28,300 He tells us to love others, that is how we know he made this very 510 00:29:28,300 --> 00:29:30,900 broad. It wasn't if you have to love me 511 00:29:30,900 --> 00:29:35,000 or you don't know me. He says if you don't love You 512 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:40,600 don't know me. If you don't love others without 513 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,200 account without judging them, without making sure that there 514 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:48,300 is good as you are, you just have to love otherwise, you 515 00:29:48,300 --> 00:29:55,300 don't know me. John 17 verse 17. 516 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:58,600 It says sanctify them in the truth. 517 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:02,300 Your word is the truth as you have sent me into the world. 518 00:30:02,300 --> 00:30:05,300 So I have sent them into the world and verse 17 is just as 519 00:30:05,500 --> 00:30:08,400 this Priestly prayer, that Jesus is praying before he gets 520 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:12,400 arrested. Says it. 521 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:16,100 God, the Father sent the son to save the lost and not bring 522 00:30:16,100 --> 00:30:21,400 condemnation of the world. He says you sent me now. 523 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:23,700 I send them. That's the dance. 524 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,200 That's the invitation right? That's where we get involved. 525 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,800 If we will love one another, he's arguing that you if we will 526 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:32,500 not love one another he's arguing that you don't really 527 00:30:32,500 --> 00:30:34,700 know God or understand anything about him anyway. 528 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,800 And so how do we love? I'm gonna give you two ways and 529 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:42,300 then we'll be done. The first is, I believe the way 530 00:30:42,300 --> 00:30:44,700 that we are the most loving is through vibrant. 531 00:30:44,700 --> 00:30:48,900 Ferocious committed prayerfulness, we have to pray. 532 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:52,500 And you think maybe that's not where I was going to start, 533 00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:53,700 right? How do we show love? 534 00:30:54,100 --> 00:30:57,200 We show love through prayer, our prayer team. 535 00:30:57,200 --> 00:30:58,900 We have a guy named Dave Simms Simms. 536 00:30:58,900 --> 00:31:00,700 He helps to head up the prayer team. 537 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,700 He comes in every Sunday and he prays over every single chair in 538 00:31:04,700 --> 00:31:08,600 this room before you get here. And then he comes upstairs and 539 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,000 he prays over Jason when he's preaching and praise with me. 540 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,000 And then he prays over me when I'm preaching and praise with 541 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,200 Jason, No One Ever Knows that, but he loves us enough to pray 542 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:18,800 for us. He loves you enough to pray for 543 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,300 you before you ever sat down in that chair. 544 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,900 The way that we love the most in the hardest is to pray, guys, 545 00:31:27,300 --> 00:31:29,900 structures and programs and big events in churches. 546 00:31:29,900 --> 00:31:33,200 I hate to break it to you. That's not how we show love. 547 00:31:33,300 --> 00:31:34,900 I don't care how big your program is. 548 00:31:35,300 --> 00:31:37,400 I don't care how many people attend your event? 549 00:31:37,700 --> 00:31:39,800 That's not love, that's Entertainment. 550 00:31:40,100 --> 00:31:42,800 We live in an entertainment culture, the way that we show 551 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:44,400 love. First is to pray. 552 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:50,200 There's a quote by a guy named Richard Lovelace, I think it's 553 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:55,200 going to come up here. He says, if all regenerate 554 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,300 church members in Western Christendom and we means when he 555 00:31:58,308 --> 00:32:00,900 says regenerate church members, he means real Christians. 556 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:02,400 Okay. He's not talking about people 557 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:05,500 who go to church. That's not always the same thing 558 00:32:05,500 --> 00:32:07,900 right since. If all regenerate church members 559 00:32:07,900 --> 00:32:10,600 in Western Christendom were to intercede daily simply for the 560 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:15,200 most obvious spiritual concerns visible in their homes, their 561 00:32:15,300 --> 00:32:19,100 Laces, their local churches and denominations their nations in 562 00:32:19,100 --> 00:32:22,800 the world and the total mission of the body of Christ within it, 563 00:32:23,100 --> 00:32:27,400 the transformation, which would result would be incalculable. 564 00:32:28,900 --> 00:32:31,900 Not only would, God certainly change those situations in 565 00:32:31,900 --> 00:32:35,700 response to prayer. We have Christ's word that if we 566 00:32:35,700 --> 00:32:39,900 ask in his name, he will do more than we ask or think, but the 567 00:32:39,900 --> 00:32:42,100 church is comprehension of the task would attain. 568 00:32:42,100 --> 00:32:46,700 An unprecedented sharpness of phocis, perhaps much of our 569 00:32:46,700 --> 00:32:50,800 prayer now, should simply be for God to pour out such a spirit of 570 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:55,100 prayer and of Supplication in the hearts of his people, guys, 571 00:32:55,100 --> 00:32:57,800 I love a great book on prayer, but you know, what's better than 572 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,900 a book on prayer praying Just pray. 573 00:33:03,700 --> 00:33:06,300 And I know that that some of you you're thinking, yeah, I just I 574 00:33:06,300 --> 00:33:07,500 don't really know how to do that. 575 00:33:07,500 --> 00:33:11,700 It makes me uncomfortable. I'm not really sure how I would 576 00:33:11,900 --> 00:33:14,700 how I would really do that. I don't know that I would have 577 00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:18,900 the right answers. Let me tell you something. 578 00:33:18,900 --> 00:33:21,600 I want you to hear it. God does not care one. 579 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,900 Bit about your Doctrine or your theological vocabulary. 580 00:33:25,900 --> 00:33:30,100 When you pray And if you think that's what he cares about, you 581 00:33:30,100 --> 00:33:35,500 don't understand him. Guys, pray, what you've got. 582 00:33:35,500 --> 00:33:40,000 Pray, what's here? Read about David and Psalms he 583 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,700 wasn't super eloquent, right? This doesn't need to be in like 584 00:33:42,700 --> 00:33:44,200 Shakespearean English when you pray. 585 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:47,600 It's not King James prayers. Only pray, what's here? 586 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:52,100 If you're angry pray anger. He is not afraid of your anger. 587 00:33:54,900 --> 00:33:58,800 Pray your sorrow, pray. Your sadness, in whatever words, 588 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:02,200 you have, whatever words you can create pray. 589 00:34:02,300 --> 00:34:04,600 That way, that's all that he wants. 590 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:15,000 Yeah, doctrines important. But if praying paralyzes you I 591 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,900 don't, I don't know that you really understand. 592 00:34:18,900 --> 00:34:22,199 What he wants from you. Pray. 593 00:34:24,300 --> 00:34:26,900 That quote it said at the end, if you would just simply when 594 00:34:26,900 --> 00:34:29,600 you wake up in the morning, right in the kids have gone 595 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:31,500 crazy, you're not connecting with your spouse. 596 00:34:31,500 --> 00:34:35,300 Your roommates are driving you nuts, just pray. 597 00:34:36,900 --> 00:34:38,900 Have you ever woken up frustrated and angry? 598 00:34:38,900 --> 00:34:41,600 And you don't really know why pray. 599 00:34:42,500 --> 00:34:45,100 Have you ever woken up frustrated angry and do know 600 00:34:45,100 --> 00:34:49,699 why? Pray, you get to work and it's 601 00:34:49,699 --> 00:34:52,199 craziness. Pray, you sit next to a 602 00:34:52,199 --> 00:34:55,800 co-worker that you don't really like we've all been there. 603 00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,700 Pray, you're going to lunch with a friend, pray. 604 00:35:01,500 --> 00:35:04,200 It's the first thing. It's the first way that we show 605 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,700 love before you respond on social media. 606 00:35:08,100 --> 00:35:15,100 Please for the love of God pray. If you think that we don't see 607 00:35:15,100 --> 00:35:17,900 the things that people post that go here. 608 00:35:18,100 --> 00:35:22,200 You're crazy. Please God pray before you post 609 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:26,200 on social media. Because it's not very loving. 610 00:35:29,100 --> 00:35:34,700 It's heartbreaking. Guys, I tell you what, if you 611 00:35:34,700 --> 00:35:39,300 pray, you'll line up in a way with God that you maybe never 612 00:35:39,300 --> 00:35:44,400 have before. In a way that maybe you don't 613 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:49,000 even understand. There's a reason that one of the 614 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:53,000 things that Jesus taught his disciples most was to pray. 615 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,400 The thing that he modeled the most for them was prayer. 616 00:35:57,300 --> 00:36:00,400 It's the thing we do. First to show love, I want to do 617 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,300 something with you real quick and we're going to end with this 618 00:36:03,300 --> 00:36:05,800 ring. Yet two things I want to pray. 619 00:36:06,700 --> 00:36:09,600 I really want River City in the family's here to be marked by 620 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,200 prayer. Okay, Jason. 621 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:15,000 And I the elders and we all want this to be a place of prayer 622 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,100 plate. That is excited too. 623 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:20,800 I pray and so I want you to do something and this is not weird. 624 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:22,800 We're just getting your body active, I want you to put your 625 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:26,600 hands out in front of you like this, and if your prayer and you 626 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,100 want to just rest them on your knees, that's cold to whatever. 627 00:36:29,100 --> 00:36:33,300 I want you to receive. I want you to be physically able 628 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,700 and involved in this practice, okay? 629 00:36:35,700 --> 00:36:38,600 And I'm going to pray for us, I just want you to be ready to do 630 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,800 this. And I'm going to pray. 631 00:36:44,100 --> 00:36:46,400 And if you feel moved this morning in any way, pray with 632 00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:49,800 me, right? Pray it, if you're not sure, 633 00:36:49,900 --> 00:36:51,500 listen. Let me pray. 634 00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:54,200 Father. We bless your name. 635 00:36:55,200 --> 00:37:00,000 You are love. You are love, made visible. 636 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:06,700 Love, isn't love, love is Jesus and his life and his death and 637 00:37:06,700 --> 00:37:11,000 Resurrection for us for Sinners. We thank you. 638 00:37:12,100 --> 00:37:16,700 That all wrath is gone from us. That we are loved and cherished 639 00:37:16,700 --> 00:37:21,200 and delighted and rejoiced over God, make a serious about your 640 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:23,800 Holiness. Serious about your wrath towards 641 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:26,600 sin and all that it destroys in your universe. 642 00:37:27,500 --> 00:37:30,800 So we just ask you now in the name of Jesus, was you grant us 643 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:33,200 an excitement in prayer in our families? 644 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:36,800 And in this Church Father we just haven't been discipled. 645 00:37:37,300 --> 00:37:41,300 We just don't know how to do it. And so I just pray that you give 646 00:37:41,300 --> 00:37:45,800 us the courage to just pray, what we've got with the language 647 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,800 and the heart that we've got to just come to you, just talk to 648 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,500 you in the morning, talk to you in the evening and throughout 649 00:37:51,500 --> 00:37:55,000 our days, help us to commit space, where we just fight to 650 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,100 figure out. And I pray that you bless us 651 00:37:58,100 --> 00:38:01,000 with prayerfulness. Bless us with the power dial. 652 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:04,000 In our hearts. Got into your goodness and 653 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,800 Grace. And it's in your powerful name 654 00:38:08,300 --> 00:38:10,800 that I pray. Amen. 655 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:14,400 And so we know that. The first thing we do is pray, 656 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:16,800 the second thing in, this is where we're going to end is 657 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:20,100 practice Hospitality. Okay? 658 00:38:20,500 --> 00:38:22,600 And some of you in this room, you're like, I know, Joanna 659 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:26,100 Gaines. I know Hospitality, it's shiplap 660 00:38:26,100 --> 00:38:30,000 in the silos and her cookbooks, not that kind of hospitality, 661 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,900 okay? Type of hospitality we see in 662 00:38:33,900 --> 00:38:36,100 the Bible, as God is just present. 663 00:38:38,100 --> 00:38:40,500 It's just presence. Wasn't God. 664 00:38:40,500 --> 00:38:43,300 Hospitable, when he created a garden that he could just be 665 00:38:43,300 --> 00:38:46,700 with Adam and Eve. When he was in the Tabernacle, 666 00:38:46,700 --> 00:38:48,200 he said I will be in their midst. 667 00:38:48,900 --> 00:38:52,400 It was his presence. He puts a temple in Jerusalem 668 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:57,200 and floods it with his presence. He was present, Hospitality 669 00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:58,700 doesn't mean you have to be a good cook. 670 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:00,600 It doesn't mean your house has to be clean. 671 00:39:01,700 --> 00:39:03,900 It doesn't mean that all the colors have to match, our needs 672 00:39:03,900 --> 00:39:07,100 to be able to go in a magazine. Hospitality means that you are 673 00:39:07,100 --> 00:39:13,100 present Wasn't he hospitable when he put on Flesh and Blood 674 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:20,100 to dwell Among Us. Isn't it hospitable when? 675 00:39:21,300 --> 00:39:24,600 The spirit of God dwells in makes its home inside of us. 676 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:30,500 That's presence. As I pray that your dinner table 677 00:39:30,500 --> 00:39:33,500 over the next few weeks is filled with people who are 678 00:39:33,500 --> 00:39:35,000 seeking. And when you have coffee with 679 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,400 people that it's filled with people who are hungry to know 680 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:40,300 the form and not just the shadow. 681 00:39:41,500 --> 00:39:44,600 And so, we're going to pray again and then we're going to be 682 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:48,100 done. I want to ask the spirit to 683 00:39:48,100 --> 00:39:54,500 bring somebody to your mind. somebody that, you know, And 684 00:39:54,500 --> 00:39:57,100 maybe they might be open to conversation about these things. 685 00:39:57,100 --> 00:39:59,100 For whatever reason you do, you're going to be with family 686 00:39:59,300 --> 00:40:01,300 during the holidays. And maybe there's this person 687 00:40:01,300 --> 00:40:03,700 that, you know, you really want to share your faith, but you 688 00:40:03,700 --> 00:40:08,300 don't know how this person whose life is a dumpster fire and you 689 00:40:08,308 --> 00:40:09,900 really want to talk to them but you know, they're going to be 690 00:40:09,900 --> 00:40:14,500 offended and we just we get tense, we get timid right. 691 00:40:14,500 --> 00:40:16,700 You may not know the answers to all their questions. 692 00:40:16,700 --> 00:40:19,200 They might ask you about dinosaurs, not being in the 693 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:22,000 Bible and you're like, I don't freaking even know how to talk 694 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,900 about that, right? You Have a good answer and 695 00:40:24,900 --> 00:40:26,700 that's okay. I want to pray courage for you, 696 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:29,400 okay? And then we're going to close. 697 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:33,000 I want to pray for you to have courage two weeks ago. 698 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:35,300 I challenged you to share your hope with people that didn't 699 00:40:35,300 --> 00:40:39,400 have hope and if you didn't have hope to come talk to me or Jason 700 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:42,000 challenge. This time is similar. 701 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:46,200 Will you share the love of Jesus with other people? 702 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,700 Will you be willing to be uncomfortable? 703 00:40:50,500 --> 00:40:54,800 Will you be willing to talk of the enormity of God's love? 704 00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:00,200 This holiday season. Will you pray and when you 705 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,000 practice Hospitality. Okay. 706 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:04,900 Hold out your hands again and close your eyes. 707 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:08,700 Nobody pranked you last time. Nobody dropped anything in your 708 00:41:08,700 --> 00:41:10,500 hands. While you're doing this, you're 709 00:41:10,500 --> 00:41:13,800 going to be okay. And I'm just going to pray one 710 00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:19,300 last time for us. father, again, we come to you in the name of 711 00:41:19,300 --> 00:41:24,600 Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit, Would you embolden 712 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,300 Us in this season to have a conversation with the people 713 00:41:28,300 --> 00:41:30,100 that you've brought to our minds and hearts? 714 00:41:32,300 --> 00:41:35,900 Give us an opportunity to sit down over a meal for to sit down 715 00:41:35,900 --> 00:41:39,700 over coffee or something else. And just talk about you and who 716 00:41:39,700 --> 00:41:44,900 you are and what they think about. and enter into this 717 00:41:44,900 --> 00:41:48,700 prayerful deeper level of friendship where we truly love 718 00:41:48,700 --> 00:41:53,900 them, not as the world defines love, but as you define love, we 719 00:41:53,900 --> 00:42:00,200 love you. Help us help us to see your love 720 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:04,500 for us. And to understand that is far 721 00:42:04,500 --> 00:42:07,700 greater. Than we could ever try to define 722 00:42:07,700 --> 00:42:11,900 or see in other humans. God, it's in your beautiful name 723 00:42:11,900 --> 00:42:15,600 that I pray. Amen, thank you for joining us 724 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:17,800 today. River City Church is all about 725 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:20,500 experiencing and expressing God's love in our lives and 726 00:42:20,500 --> 00:42:22,300 community. And we hope that you've been 727 00:42:22,300 --> 00:42:25,100 able to experience that today as grateful. 728 00:42:25,100 --> 00:42:27,800 As I am, that you've spent this time, listening in this morning, 729 00:42:27,900 --> 00:42:31,400 this podcast is no substitute for full participation in a 730 00:42:31,408 --> 00:42:34,100 local church. I love it when River City people 731 00:42:34,100 --> 00:42:37,400 listen to other pastors, but it is those who show up week after 732 00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:40,400 week Faithfully, giving their support and time and resources 733 00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:43,800 that make all of this possible. If we can help you get Connected 734 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:46,600 to a local church. Pray for you or support you in 735 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:48,200 any way. Click the link in the 736 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,000 description and let us know if you'd like to financially 737 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:52,500 support the ministry of River City. 738 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:55,100 Click the give link on our website in the description. 739 00:42:55,500 --> 00:42:58,100 Don't forget to subscribe, and don't forget to share this with 740 00:42:58,100 --> 00:43:00,200 your friends. Thanks so much for listening. 741 00:43:00,300 --> 00:43:03,300 May the Lord bless, and keep you in all Grace and peace.