1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,400
I opened the sermon with a clip 
from the movie Wicked. 

2
00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,400
It showed Elphaba right after 
she was born and later as a 

3
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:07,760
child. 
In both scenes, Elphaba was 

4
00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:10,880
rejected by many of those who 
should have loved her, including

5
00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,040
her peers, but also and 
especially her mother and 

6
00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:16,160
father. 
Now here's the sermon. 

7
00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,320
There is no doubt that Elphaba 
had challenges. 

8
00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,840
Elphaba grew up being rejected 
by most of the people around 

9
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,640
her, including the people who 
are most responsible for loving 

10
00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,560
her and welcoming her and 
receiving her into the world. 

11
00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,880
Her parents, her family, her 
peers that were there, and her 

12
00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,560
childhood all rejecting her. 
Now here's one of the sad 

13
00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:46,400
realities of life that we tend 
to expect the future to be much 

14
00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:52,000
like the past, and so if we've 
experienced rejection from very 

15
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,800
early on in our life, then we 
can tend to expect rejection in 

16
00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,280
the future. 
When we are rejected by people 

17
00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,720
who are supposed to love us, we 
assume that people who we want 

18
00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:07,120
to love us will reject us as 
well, or at least might reject 

19
00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:09,560
us. 
And that's the challenge, one of

20
00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,160
the many challenges that Elphaba
was facing. 

21
00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:16,360
There's a very real sense in 
which the the Wicked movies are 

22
00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:21,480
are a a grand adventure story of
the battle of good versus evil. 

23
00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:26,600
There's also a sense in which 
the Wicked movies are a love 

24
00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:31,680
story, a loves, a very deep, a 
very personal love story. 

25
00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,600
Elphaba grows into a young 
woman, and she finds herself 

26
00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,120
falling in love with a young man
named Fiero. 

27
00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,280
And she has a lot of fears and a
lot of anxiety and a lot of 

28
00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:49,120
worry about that because she's 
green and people aren't supposed

29
00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,160
to be green. 
And, and everyone that she has 

30
00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,360
wanted to love her over the 
years, except for a very few 

31
00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,400
exceptions, have rejected her or
looked down on her or scorned 

32
00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,240
her because she's green. 
Because this thing about her 

33
00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,680
over which she has no control 
and people her rejecting her for

34
00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,600
that. 
But Alphabet finds herself 

35
00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,760
falling in love with the the 
dashing and charming and 

36
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:16,720
handsome and wealthy Fiero 
anyway. 

37
00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:24,800
And when she does, she worries. 
Now at this point, I'm going to 

38
00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:26,960
invite. 
I forgot to turn on the back 

39
00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,440
monitor, so I got to get that 
back on having grown up 

40
00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,760
rejected, I'm going to invite. 
Well, not the way I said that. 

41
00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:34,640
That might sound like Ida grew 
up rejected. 

42
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,560
Ida did not grow up rejected. 
Her parents love her a lot. 

43
00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:40,720
And she'll tell you that and 
they'll tell you that. 

44
00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:42,960
But I just going to come up and 
sing for us. 

45
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,040
Would you like the microphone? 
You can, you can. 

46
00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,200
You can hold it. 
And then if it works for her, 

47
00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,400
I'm going to go back and get in 
the sound booth before I start 

48
00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,120
the music so I can adjust the 
volume as needed. 

49
00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:58,600
But this song, the song that I 
just singing is called I'm Not 

50
00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,040
That Girl. 
And in this song, Elphaba is 

51
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:07,640
wrestling with the fact that she
loves Fiero, but she's afraid 

52
00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,360
that Fiero will never love her 
in return. 

53
00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,720
At this point, Ida Patterson 
beautifully sang the song I'm 

54
00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:16,360
Not That Girl from Wicked. 
Due to the technical 

55
00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:18,920
difficulties of getting a good 
live recording with the 

56
00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:21,680
equipment I have available, I 
can't include it here. 

57
00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,120
I described the details of the 
song later in the sermon, so I 

58
00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,480
won't get into that here either.
It's a wonderful song, and I 

59
00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,200
encourage you to listen to it. 
You can find it easily on 

60
00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,600
YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes. 
Now back to the sermon. 

61
00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,560
Thank you again, Ida. 
She sung that three times this 

62
00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,080
morning and done a beautiful job
every single time. 

63
00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:55,760
We have this thing within us 
that we long to be loved and we 

64
00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,160
want to love someone else and we
want that love to be returned. 

65
00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,000
And that's part of our story. 
That's part of the story of 

66
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,840
Wicked. 
That's part of the human story. 

67
00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,160
And, and any good story, I 
believe, points us to the great 

68
00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,360
story. 
And in the great story, the 

69
00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,320
story of God and his 
relationship to this world and 

70
00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,000
the people in it. 
There is certainly an A sense in

71
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,399
which that story is an epic 
battle of good versus evil. 

72
00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,560
But there's also a sense, and I 
believe a deeper sense in which 

73
00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:31,760
it's a love story and that the 
good versus evil part, most 

74
00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:33,920
folks that have grown up in the 
church, been in church for a 

75
00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,000
while, they can, they kind of 
sense that and see that and have

76
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,080
noticed that in Scripture, you 
know, the devil shows up and all

77
00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,560
of these things happen and good 
versus evil, the love story is 

78
00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:48,920
in the Bible as well. 
And, and, and if if you've 

79
00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,480
missed it before, go back and 
read your Bible again. 

80
00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:55,000
It's there all the way from the 
beginning all the way through 

81
00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,840
the very end. 
The climax of the entire 

82
00:04:57,840 --> 00:05:04,800
Scripture is Jesus returning to 
earth to claim his bride to be 

83
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:09,200
united not in a governing 
relationship with his people, 

84
00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:13,720
but in a marriage relationship 
with his people, a relationship 

85
00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:19,480
not built on force, but on love.
So there's a very real sense 

86
00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,120
that we are part of this love 
story, the same kind of story 

87
00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,800
that Alphaba was in. 
Now Alphaba again, she had these

88
00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:29,800
challenges. 
She'd been rejected so much. 

89
00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:31,240
She had so much pain and 
suffering. 

90
00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,000
It was very hard for her to 
believe that this man that she 

91
00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,760
loved would love her in return. 
And that's the tension in a lot 

92
00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,480
of romances, a lot of love 
stories that you read about or 

93
00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:42,800
see in books, TV's, movies, that
sort of thing. 

94
00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:45,640
That tension is I love him or I 
love her. 

95
00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,080
Will, will He, will she returned
my love. 

96
00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:54,800
I just don't know. 
The problem arises when we take 

97
00:05:54,800 --> 00:06:00,800
Alphabet story and how we look 
at how that applies to our 

98
00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,760
relationship with God or the 
connection that it is because 

99
00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:07,840
there is a tendency among humans
for us to look at God the way 

100
00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:10,960
Alphabet looked at Fiero. 
He's wonderful, he's great, he's

101
00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,240
amazing. 
But I'm not sure he'll love me. 

102
00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,680
I'm not sure he'll accept me. 
I'm not sure he'll welcome me. 

103
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,160
And so I want to walk through 
those lyrics just briefly again 

104
00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:26,960
and talk about those, and not 
just in terms of, of a woman's 

105
00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:30,520
love for a man, but in terms of 
our love for God. 

106
00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,040
Hands touch, eyes meet. 
I, I, I'm not going to sing. 

107
00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,400
I make that promise to you now 
and forevermore. 

108
00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:38,960
I'm not going to sing to you. 
And I'll read the lyrics. 

109
00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,440
Hands touch, eyes meet. 
Sudden silence, sudden heat. 

110
00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,440
Hearts leap in a giddy whirl. 
If you've ever been in love, you

111
00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,480
know that feeling that, that, 
that in love kind of feeling. 

112
00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,080
And every, the whole world seems
like it's full of rainbows and 

113
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:58,200
sunshine and unicorns and, and, 
and, and everything is going to 

114
00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,080
be wonderful and everything is 
going to be great because we're 

115
00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:03,120
going to be together. 
And it's wonderful. 

116
00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:07,120
It's wonderful and it's a 
beautiful and it always fades. 

117
00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,080
That feeling always fades. 
That in love feeling. 

118
00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,560
There's a biological phenomena 
that's going on. 

119
00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:19,400
That's part of that, but it, it,
it, it always passes and then 

120
00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:24,840
and then suddenly we don't feel 
exactly the same way we felt 

121
00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:29,240
before. 
And we can worry that did I just

122
00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,400
imagine it? 
Was it just fake? 

123
00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:37,440
I, I, I see this a lot in 
people's faith lives where they 

124
00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,280
have had a mountaintop 
experience with God. 

125
00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:44,160
Maybe it was at their baptism, 
maybe it was at some sort of 

126
00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,360
retreat or at camp or at 
vacation Bible school. 

127
00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:49,960
But there's this or youth group 
and there's this, this 

128
00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:54,760
mountaintop experience where God
feels so close and so real and 

129
00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:58,400
so personal and, and, and, and 
people pledge their lives. 

130
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:00,800
They give their lives to Jesus. 
They raise their hands, they 

131
00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,640
come forward, they kneel, they 
pray, they get baptized, 

132
00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,480
whatever they're doing to 
publicly say I love Jesus, I 

133
00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,240
will follow, oh, Jesus. 
And they feel the presence of 

134
00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:15,720
God in a very vivid way. 
And then it fades and they start

135
00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:17,360
to wonder, did I just imagine 
it? 

136
00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:20,680
I see this so often. 
I've taken to telling people 

137
00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,480
before baptism, you know, not 
little kids, they don't quite 

138
00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,720
get this, but but, but teenagers
and adults before baptism, look,

139
00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:33,000
you know, you're feeling God's 
presence right now and it's a 

140
00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:34,720
beautiful thing and it's a 
wonderful thing. 

141
00:08:34,919 --> 00:08:37,400
There's a time when that feeling
is going to fade and the devil's

142
00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,400
going to start to whisper in 
your ear that it was never real 

143
00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,200
to begin with. 
It was all just your 

144
00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:47,520
imagination. 
All just your imagination. 

145
00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:51,160
The next verse, don't dream too 
far. 

146
00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:55,200
Don't lose sight of who you are.
Don't remember that rush of joy.

147
00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,720
We begin to doubt, we give it a 
doubt, we begin to pull back on 

148
00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:02,320
the dreams and the hopes that we
had about our relationship with 

149
00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,000
God and what that might be and 
what that might look like and 

150
00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,120
where that might go. 
And we don't want to lose 

151
00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:08,920
ourselves. 
It's one thing to lose ourselves

152
00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:10,480
to an all powerful God who loves
us. 

153
00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,040
It's another thing to lose 
ourselves to a fantasy that 

154
00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:18,720
might not even be real. 
Every so often we long to steal 

155
00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,080
to the land of what might have 
been. 

156
00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,200
But that doesn't soften the ache
we feel when reality sets back 

157
00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:31,280
in. 
Reality we get that emotion, we 

158
00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,760
get that high, we get that 
feeling and then reality comes 

159
00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:40,520
in and reality threatens and, 
and when we accept, we hear 

160
00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:42,800
these promises. 
God loves me with an everlasting

161
00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:44,760
love. 
Jesus says I'll never leave you 

162
00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,360
or forsake you. 
Jesus died for us. 

163
00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:51,640
Jesus promises to love us and 
redeem us and be with us 

164
00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:53,720
forever. 
And then suddenly the God that 

165
00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,560
felt, well, maybe not suddenly, 
maybe gradually, but we reached 

166
00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:59,840
point where the God that felt so
close now seems infinitely far 

167
00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:03,560
away. 
And the hope that we had for a 

168
00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:09,200
joy filled life with God becomes
a pain filled life of heartache 

169
00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,080
and sorrow and grief and loss 
and disappointment and 

170
00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:17,240
rejection. 
And we begin to ask ourselves, 

171
00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,760
if God really loved me, how 
could all of this be happening? 

172
00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:24,080
How could I be experiencing 
this? 

173
00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,880
How could I be feeling this if 
God really? 

174
00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:31,760
And if I am feeling this, maybe 
it was just a fantasy. 

175
00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:37,080
Maybe it was just a dream. 
Maybe God isn't real because the

176
00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,720
pain and the heartache and we 
know that's real. 

177
00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,800
It just hits US in the face over
and over again. 

178
00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,920
Then we look at others who 
always seem to be happy with 

179
00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:52,800
God. 
How are you doing? 

180
00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,360
I'm blessed, blessed to be 
alive. 

181
00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,200
I love Jesus, Jesus is 
wonderful. 

182
00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,960
God is good all the time, all 
the time God is good. 

183
00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:04,480
And we those folks. 
And that seems to be their 

184
00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,560
everyday ongoing reality. 
And we hear these lyrics. 

185
00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:12,160
Blithe smile, live limb. 
She who's winsome, she wins him 

186
00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:16,680
gold hair with a gentle curl. 
That's the girl he'll choose. 

187
00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:24,040
God chose them for this joy, for
this peace, for this love, for 

188
00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:29,040
this, this ongoing, you know, 
close relationship. 

189
00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:31,240
But apparently God didn't choose
me for that. 

190
00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,160
What's wrong with me? 
What defect do I have? 

191
00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:41,160
What's broken in me? 
What's defective in me? 

192
00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:48,320
That God won't be that way with 
me, That God won't share that 

193
00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:53,160
joy and that love and that 
ongoing intimacy with me like he

194
00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:55,120
seems to do for these other 
people? 

195
00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:03,240
Don't wish, Don't start wishing.
Only wounds the heart. 

196
00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:09,800
I wasn't born for the Rose and 
the Pearl, We begin to think 

197
00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:15,560
that was never for me. 
Whatever I felt before, whether 

198
00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:20,280
imagined or real, that's not 
life now, and I have no reason 

199
00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:26,000
to expect that ever will be. 
Maybe God is real, but if God is

200
00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:28,160
real, God loves other people but
not me. 

201
00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:32,160
God welcomes and receives other 
people, but not me. 

202
00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:36,880
I'm not that girl, not that 
woman, not that man, not that 

203
00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:41,480
boy. 
If we approach our relationship 

204
00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:47,920
with Jesus with that mindset, if
that's how we're thinking about 

205
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:51,960
it, then we've gotten this whole
story backwards and upside down.

206
00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:59,680
When when we view that the risk 
in the relationship is that God 

207
00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:01,640
won't love us as much as we love
him. 

208
00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,800
That that we're worried about 
that. 

209
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,720
Because here's the reality in 
the testimony of Scripture is 

210
00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,440
that Jesus, who is God in the 
flesh, longs for you and would 

211
00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,080
go to great lengths. 
I might say any links to when 

212
00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:21,480
your affection, your devotion, 
and your love See all the risk 

213
00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:24,360
is on God's side here. 
We see it over and over and over

214
00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:26,480
again in Scripture. 
It's not that that people are 

215
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,120
reaching out and longing for a 
loving God and God is 

216
00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:31,000
disappointing them by rejecting 
them. 

217
00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:36,640
It's that God is reaching out 
for his people even though they 

218
00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:41,480
often reject him. 
But God continues to reach. 

219
00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,440
God continues to love. 
That story is told in so many 

220
00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,040
different ways and in so many 
different places in Scripture. 

221
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:50,480
We're going to hit just one of 
them this morning, and that's in

222
00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:54,080
Hosea chapter 2, where God 
speaking to his people through 

223
00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:59,080
the prophet Hosea, and he begins
talking about his people and 

224
00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,560
then to his people. 
Therefore, I will now allure 

225
00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:05,920
her. 
God's the one doing the wooing 

226
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:08,320
here. 
God's the one doing the winning.

227
00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:11,400
It's not people out there trying
to win God's effect. 

228
00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:15,320
That's paganism, by the way, 
that that is the the Baal 

229
00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,960
worship that's also mentioned in
where, where human beings have 

230
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,760
to do the right thing to gain 
God's favor. 

231
00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,720
And then if they do, they're 
just the right things to gain 

232
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,040
God's favor, then they hope that
that God will stay faithful and 

233
00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,000
loyal to them if they don't mess
up with us. 

234
00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:35,040
It's the opposite. 
It's God trying to win our 

235
00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:39,440
favor. 
God has already loved us, and 

236
00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,600
God is trying to woo us even 
when we've been unfaithful. 

237
00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:46,120
Bring her into the wilderness 
and speak tenderly to her. 

238
00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,320
I will take you to be my wife 
forever. 

239
00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:53,800
I will take you for my wife and 
righteousness and injustice and 

240
00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:57,800
steadfast love and in mercy. 
I will take you for my wife and 

241
00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:00,600
faithfulness, and you shall know
the Lord. 

242
00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,240
This is the promise of God. 
This is the way the great love 

243
00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,360
story works. 
Not with us trying to win God's 

244
00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:14,600
favor and fearing that God will 
reject us, but with God trying 

245
00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:21,120
to win our love and our devotion
to make us His wife. 

246
00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:27,040
That's the climax of Scripture, 
Jesus coming back to the earth 

247
00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:33,520
to receive his bride in love, in
joy, in peace, and in devotion, 

248
00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:38,560
forever and ever and ever. 
That's the story that we're in. 

249
00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:44,640
To Jesus, who is God in the 
flesh, you are that girl, you 

250
00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:46,560
are that woman. 
You are that man. 

251
00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:50,920
You are that boy. 
You are the one that God is 

252
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:55,360
longing for and calling to him. 
Jesus himself said no one comes 

253
00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,320
to me unless they're drawn by 
the Father. 

254
00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,920
God is doing the wooing. 
God is doing the drawing. 

255
00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:07,800
God is the one placing his life,
his heart, on the line in the 

256
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,000
hope that we will return that 
love. 

257
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:15,920
And to God it's worth it. 
Every scar, every wound, every 

258
00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:22,080
sacrifice that Jesus made is 
worth it so that we might come 

259
00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:27,280
to him. 
Jesus loves you and longs for 

260
00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:31,040
you to love him too. 
Let's consider Mary. 

261
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,160
It's Christmas time. 
Why not consider Mary, right? 

262
00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,520
Here's Mary, an ordinary girl 
from a little town, a little 

263
00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,960
little town of Nazareth, that 
when people thought of Nazareth,

264
00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,880
they only thought negative, that
Nazareth had such a bad 

265
00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:45,880
reputation that it was a 
proverb, nothing good can come 

266
00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,160
out of Nazareth. 
That was just the standard 

267
00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,880
thing. 
And and Mary grew up in 

268
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,880
Nazareth. 
Nazareth was a very conservative

269
00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:01,760
Jewish community and there is no
doubt that she grew up longing 

270
00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:04,839
for and hoping for and praying 
for the Messiah to come. 

271
00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,880
The Messiah prophesied the one 
who God said God said, a 

272
00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:11,319
descendant of David will sit on 
David's throne forever. 

273
00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,319
It had been generations since 
the descendant of David had sat 

274
00:17:14,319 --> 00:17:16,560
on the throne. 
Herod was a Pagan king and he 

275
00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:20,160
was on the throne of David. 
But there was this promise that 

276
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:24,920
Messiah would come, this king. 
But there is no way that Mary 

277
00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,040
ever dreamed she would be the 
mother of that Messiah. 

278
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:30,840
God would never love her like 
that. 

279
00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:33,960
Surely God would choose the 
Princess. 

280
00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:36,600
Surely God would choose the one 
with the wealth, the one with 

281
00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:38,840
the position. 
Surely God would choose the one 

282
00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:42,680
that had the big beautiful 
palace and the rich clothing for

283
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:48,680
their child, for his child to be
born and nestled and wrapped in 

284
00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:52,200
as an infant. 
Surely that's who God would 

285
00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:56,080
choose. 
But God chose Mary, this 

286
00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:01,360
ordinary girl from this small 
town in a backwards part of the 

287
00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:07,240
world, so thought everyone else,
to be the mother of his son, to 

288
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:11,720
be the mother of God himself. 
God chose her. 

289
00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,920
She never had to worry about 
being good enough for God. 

290
00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:23,720
She just, God just wanted her to
love Him and be as devoted to 

291
00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:32,840
Him as He was to her, whether 
that was God presenting himself 

292
00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,760
to her through the Angel and 
glory or through this innocent 

293
00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:41,840
little baby who was resting in 
her arms to love and be as 

294
00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:47,280
devoted to Him as He was to her.
And that's what he asks of all 

295
00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:52,000
of us now in all of this. 
Part of this story, actually. 

296
00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:53,360
Yeah. 
Well, I'll say it because it's 

297
00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:54,840
up there. 
We're going to get into this in 

298
00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:58,320
more detail next week. 
Part of this challenge, this, 

299
00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,480
this desire to be loved and 
loved as we are, not to have to 

300
00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,080
change, become a whole 
completely different person in 

301
00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,000
order to get the person that we 
love to love us, too. 

302
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:11,840
Will they love us as we are? 
Alpha belonged for Fiera, to 

303
00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:17,400
love her as she was. 
That's where the movies end. 

304
00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,680
He loves me as I am. 
She loves me as I am. 

305
00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:24,720
That's not where the Bible story
ends. 

306
00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:27,720
God loves you as you are. 
God will not leave you 

307
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,560
unchanged. 
God will spend the rest of our 

308
00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:36,200
existence making us more and 
more into and like Jesus. 

309
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:42,760
To think like he thought, to 
love like he loves to do, like 

310
00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,600
He does. 
We'll talk about that more next 

311
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:46,800
week. 
God does not leave us. 

312
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:48,520
God loves us just the way we 
are. 

313
00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,320
God does not leave us unchanged.
It's not easy. 

314
00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,120
It's not easy wasn't easy for 
Alpha. 

315
00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:57,880
But to be green, the letter, to 
be rejected, despised and 

316
00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,080
scorned. 
We all have these different 

317
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:04,960
things in us, these green things
that lead other human beings at 

318
00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:08,200
times to reject us, to despise 
us, to scorn us. 

319
00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,440
We never have to fear that from 
God. 

320
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:15,120
We're not the one trying to win 
God's love. 

321
00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:23,040
God has already died for us. 
God is the one trying to win our

322
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:25,720
love and inviting us to love him
in return. 

323
00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:28,840
In Jesus name, Amen. 
Amen.