Attractional Love | Walk In God's Love | Week 1

[Music] [Music] it's announcements hey i'm robin i'm claire and we have some great information for you but before we go any further why don't you stop look at that share button whether you're on facebook live or on youtube and just share it share with the millions to see what god has to say today what do we have going on claire so what we've got going on monday through friday at 9 30 a.m we do daily devos it's on the live church 7 facebook live you can tune in share or and look at what the pastors are sharing with the bible and really connect with them and hear what they've got to say i love it silverwood is coming up if you are between 6th grade to 12th grade we want you there just go into live church 7 shop click on events it's 70 you get a wristband for drinks all day you get lunch you get dinner and you get to hang out with us all day long so don't miss out silverwood august 19th beautiful what we've also got going on is sundays at 6 pm we have a service on the patio you can come worship hear a word and really encounter and connect with jesus it's amazing and god has really been showing up and you don't want to miss it yeah it's been it's been great we actually have a video coming up for you we have a new director for our school of supernatural ministry jim sim so stay tuned and watch the video coming up so in my first week as a christian after just getting saved from some street evangelists preaching the gospel they took me out door knocking it was about seven to ten days after i got born again and i had no idea what was going on and no idea what i was supposed to be doing but what happened was the people that were discipling me had thrust me into this idea of following jesus commission to the church which was that every believer should be living a missional life new converts included in other words there's no specialists there's no big shots every one of us that knows christ is called to share our relationship with jesus with the world around about us that is the purpose of life church 7 school of supernatural ministry is to equip people to do that very thing and train them with a little bit more focus than just throwing you in front of a door so how we go about it at live church 7 school of supernatural ministry is a nine-month program that's part-time so you would commit to a part-time class here in our building and then some classes also done at home online on your own time there are some outreaches there are some other events that we do together as a community and all of those combined together help equip you not to become like somebody else but whatever gifts and talent and anointing that you have in whatever sphere of influence you have you are empowered to go and impact that and bring the kingdom of heaven onto earth right where you live with the strengths and gifts that god has given to you for your community and the people that are closest to you it's a robust training program and it's for those that are hungry and that are passionate and willing to pay the price to let themselves be stretched and grow and empowered by the holy spirit to go ahead and impact the world as jesus gave us in the great commission so if you are up for that robust kind of training and you're ready to change the world alongside us and see revival and reformation come to your personal life and the community that you live in then life church 7 school of supernatural ministry is the place for you go ahead and sign up now and join us and let's change the world together [Music] [Music] good morning everyone good morning to those who are here with us and those who are listening online would you go ahead and stand to your feet this morning even in your homes would you stand to your feet and just get ready to worship the lord earlier this week a friend of mine sent me a video and it's a video of this little girl who's getting her blood drawn and as she's getting her blood drawn you can you can tell she's scared because she's crying and all of a sudden she starts to sing out really quietly she says my god is so great so strong and so mighty there's nothing my god cannot do and as she continues and waits for her blood to be drawn it gets louder and louder and pretty soon by the end she's yelling at the top of her lungs my god is so great so strong and so mighty there's nothing my god cannot do and when she sent it to me it actually made me a little teary-eyed because it was such a powerful reminder to me that the things that i've faced this week the things in my life that seem impossible the things in my life that are just so difficult my god is so great so strong so mighty there's nothing my god cannot do [Music] and this morning i'm sure some of you are facing things that seem really difficult that are really hard that seem impossible but the message from heaven today is there's nothing your god cannot do for you he is so strong and so mighty so if you know that would you just say that with me my god is so great so strong and so mighty there's nothing my god cannot do in psalm 62 verses 1 and 2 it says this i wake quietly before god for my victory comes from him he alone is my rock and my salvation my fortress where i will never be shaken as we worship the lord wait quietly before him with an attitude of praise and thanksgiving on your lips and your victory will be found in him you will not be shaken no matter what you're facing because your god is so great so strong and so mighty god i thank you that you are a victorious god i thank you that we can come to you with the difficult things with the good things with the bad things and god you are greater than those things god you have the power to heal you have the power to save you have the power to restore and provide and protect and so god this morning we look to you and we give you all the honor and the glory and the praise we worship you would you just lift up a sound of praise to him with your own sound god i thank you we thank you for your goodness in our life we thank you for your faithfulness in our life we thank you that even right now as we worship you you are working on our behalf you are fighting on our behalf and you are a mighty god who will never be shaken who will never be defeated and so we look to you and we worship you this morning in your mighty name amen let's worship together [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] you've seen what you can do [Music] the things you've done before [Music] [Music] now [Applause] [Music] so that [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] if you've already [Applause] [Music] victory [Music] i will [Music] you can't move [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] boys [Applause] [Music] wow [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] every stronghold [Music] [Music] oh oh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] you've already [Applause] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] spirit of god come do it [Music] signs again words [Music] come holy spirit [Music] testimony [Music] [Applause] [Music] the prophet here on earth [Music] holy spirit [Applause] [Music] we're gonna see spirit [Applause] [Music] we're [Music] ready for more push back the doors [Music] ready for we're ready for more for more [Applause] [Music] break down [Applause] [Music] break down [Music] [Applause] we're gonna [Applause] [Music] peace [Music] holy spirit [Applause] [Music] us [Music] father i'm after your heart father i'm seeking your face [Music] is [Music] you know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] jesus oh [Music] [Applause] if [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] everything [Music] jesus i'm after your heart i'm left in your [Music] heart [Music] i'm after your heart [Music] yes [Music] your heart [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] is [Applause] it's just a beautiful [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you love with no reservation you're not looking for perfection [Music] and there's no need in me pretending i'll give you everything i'll give you everything nothing less than my devotion oh speak to me i'll give you everything i'll give you everything [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] my emotions set me free from selfish motives search me till there's nothing i'll here you everything i'll give you [Applause] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] you can have it all [Music] my you you got it my you can [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you can have it all come on let's just surrender to him come into deeper places lord you can have it all come and consume every room it all belongs to you it all belongs to you sing now with [Music] it all belongs to you it all belongs to you [Applause] it all belongs to you [Music] [Music] you got it [Music] if oh [Applause] foreign [Music] oh [Music] come on let's just sing that one more time together you can have my heart you can have my heart thank you holy spirit you can have our hearts you can have our hearts i was singing that song and declaring that and i started asking the holy spirit is there anything in my life that's keeping me from surrendering my entire heart to him i was thinking what does it look like to hold nothing back to leave nothing that he can't touch to actually give get rid of everything he brought this passage to me in first kings chapter 18. elijah the prophet shows up to elijah and says you're going to follow me and become the next prophet and elijah elisha's response i think is what it looks like this to give your whole heart here's what he does he's plowing a field it says that he burns the plow he then takes the ox and he butchers it and feeds the whole town in other words his profession the way he was going was this direction the word of the lord came through a prophet and said no you're gonna do this over here and he burned everything and went a new direction and i'm here today to tell you that song was prophetic for some of us here because you've been saying god i'm going this way with you but actually you haven't burned everything you haven't surrendered everything there's little parts of your life that you are unwilling to give up maybe it's the secret places in your heart maybe it's your thought life when you go to bed at night and your mind starts playing through the day and the thoughts that are going through are not this direction they're actually holding on to a plow that you're not supposed to carry anymore and i believe the holy spirit is stirring something up inside of this church that revival starts when the fire comes and it burns away any division in our hearts and if you're listening this you're going to feel the the conviction of the holy spirit even if you're watching this online the conviction of the holy spirit he's going to come right into your place and you're going to ask i want you to ask this question lord just like david did search me o god know my heart see if there's any offensive way in me and lead me the way everlasting so if you're watching this i just believe right now revival is already happening i i feel this stirring the sense of just overwhelming power of the holy spirit but don't forget ever forget that when you say god you can have my heart we've been saying that over and over and over and over and over don't forget that you're not going back you've already left it there so if you're listening to what i'm talking and maybe in this room you can do this so it'd be fun to see it but if you're online i want to challenge you right now stir yourself up for a moment and i want you to ask holy spirit is there anything in me that's keeping me from giving you my whole heart not half not a quarter not three quarters not 99.9 i'm talking 100 complete surrender if you're in this room right now and you want that freedom because usually it's an addiction usually it's a struggle usually it's something that you're not able you don't think you can let it go well the truth is you can't because you need the holy spirit to set you free amen so if you would like the holy spirit to help you burn something in your life now obviously that's a metaphor we all we all following that right if there's something in your life that's causing you not to give your whole heart that song you were that we were singing was hard for you to sing because you're like i want to but i'm not going to i want to but i just feel like i can't i'm telling you right now if you raise your hands with me right now god's going to do a powerful work in your life so wherever you are right now lift your hands with me if you want all of you to god we're going to sing this out you can have all of my i want all my heart all my heart you can have all my heart that's you lift it up but we're going to sing that part one more time would you raise your hands with me and we're going to in a sense burn away the plow we're gonna say no more we're not going back we're going 100 with you jesus would you lift your hands with me let's sing this out we are all in with you jesus stay with me i'm all in with you jesus you can have my heart you can have my heart can we sing that rachel [Music] whoa [Music] [Music] oh thank you jesus thank you jesus i just prophetically saw it was like a chain that just fell off someone's shoulders says we were declaring that and the enemy is trying to lie to you and say that's not true i want you to know who the son sets free is free indeed in jesus name you are free would you give a shout of praise to the lord [Applause] come on we can shout a little louder than that [Music] come on hey if you're at home scare the dogs scream it out loud i'm free [Music] come on hope the sun sets free is free indeed in jesus name we're going to continue our worship right now and we're going to give generously man i just believe people are free in your homes i just saw someone screaming their dog started freaking out you are free in jesus name you are free in jesus name amen and we just want to say thank you for watching with us thank you for joining us online all over the world we find people are watching and we're going to give generously and so don't sit down yet if you're in the auditorium sorry we're just going to do something prophetically one month last time i know people are like can't see him but we're gonna stand just for a second and i want you to take you the way that you give out for me we give online so i'm gonna pull my cell phone out and just hold it wherever you're at at home pull yourself on that at live church 7 we're a generous church because our father's generous amen and one of the things that we are so just man grateful for is our pastor my dad pastor wes and the trustees and the whole team that we believe in sowing seeds of generosity we've invested thousands hundreds of thousands of dollars and by the way no loan thank you jesus come on [Music] but but here's the thing we've got to still feel the tension that there's about a hundred and forty thousand dollars that we're going to make up in the next couple months and i'm believing today could be that day right come on with generosity and we're going to give generously i just believe that we're going to see a miracle so what i want you to do is ask holy spirit above your tithes and offerings a buzz view ties and offer you can give on push bay you can if you're here on your way out you can drop a check off in the celebration boxes on your way out today we're not passing buckets but you grab push bay and you lift up your cell phone and you say in jesus name i give generously because i want to see a harvest all around the world i believe what's happening at life church 7 should not just stay in this building amen i believe that it should go out in the world and it is on youtube all over on facebook live you're watching us go ahead and share that right now while you're thinking about it while i said it but here's the thing if you've been blessed by this ministry go ahead and give because here's the thing somebody else is going to encounter the love and the power and the transforming grace of god because we sowed seed in this ministry and we're going to see an amazing harvest amen so i want us to put that before you as you pray about it ask holy spirit what's the number how much should i give this morning so lord jesus thank you for your for your generosity your grace and your love upon us i thank you for both the gift and the giver i pray you bless i thank you for this church we have so many faithful givers thank you for every single person that's here today that is so generous so giving so loving and father i pray that as we give today we're gonna see that hundred and forty thousand dollars gone and and it's gonna be completely paid for in jesus name we thank you for that in advance we celebrate that what a party that is and we thank you for all the people that are going to hear this news and they're going to be transformed by your gospel and your grace thank you for all these things in jesus name amen amen if you're here you can go and sit down and say thank you jesus on your way down we love you thank you so much for worshiping with us thank you for giving today thank you worship team that was powerful we're so grateful for all that's happening well i want to invite pastor josh biddlecombe our first year director and youth pastor along with his wife robin uh to come up after you watch an awesome video i know you thought i was going to bring him up no no no just tease and see if you're if you're on the edge of your seat put that coffee down sir go ahead and take notes here we go let's watch this video beginning of this year pastor west asked us all to walk in god's love we didn't realize how important that word would be and what we've experienced this year in 2020 in the month of august i prophesied just last week that this would be a month of upgrade a month of upgrade as we learned to walk in god's love there's been a shaking that's been happening but we believe that god's love is a firm foundation so today we are starting 21 days of prayer with fasting we're joining with christians all over the world as we pray and fast for what the lord is going to do next in and among us in this world and so we're going to ask you to join in to give up one meal pastor west has asked that everybody in our church give up one meal and maybe for you you're looking you're thinking about that you're saying how in the world am i going to do that here's what i want you to know you can feast on the goodness of the lord there's a heavenly feast for you as you give up that meal and there's an upgrade coming for you as you give that up so for 21 days would you join with all of us at life church 7 to give up a meal to receive the upgrade at the end of the month we're going to celebrate and look forward to what god's going to do this fall at life church 7. so let's walk in god's love let's let his love be a firm footing and a firm foundation for us in this next season so good that is a good video vision casting video aren't we getting so much better with the videos we do it's amazing mark's doing those and nate and everybody else man they're just getting so much better hey just want to say welcome to our service today so glad you're joining us those of you that are here those of you that are watching online it's just so powerful that we get to broadcast this around the world i love it i love that the gospel is going out our worship is going out man worship team that was incredible just week after week it just gets better and better so much anointing on it and we get to share that with the world the world gets to experience what's happening here at life church 7 i love it yeah awesome job with that fast video as well i'm going to talk a little bit more about the fasting towards the end of my message it's important that that we're entering in to what god's calling us to do in this season man if there's ever been a time to fast it's now amen with everything going on in the world today it is a good time to do some prayer with fasting last week pastor wes preached and he really he what he did is he ended our kingdom culture series by talking about god's love but that actually set us up and it started our next season or next series which is titled walking god's love and last last week pastor west's big idea was this god's love looks like something and then he went on to explain that it's redemptive god's love is redemptive there's a redemption in god's love it was a powerful powerful message if you missed that man tune in it's the wonderful thing about facebook live and youtube is they're there forever you can go back and watch them so if you missed it i would encourage you to take a look at that but as as we were talking about this series of god's love and aren't there just so many facets to god's love it's just it's you know paul says how deep and how wide and how long his love is right there's just so much to god's love and we just started writing down different attributes of god's love redempt redemptive was on there attractional transformational eternal those are a few of the things that we wrote down on the board as we just started describing what god's love looks like and so today i'm going to be talking about attractional god's love is attractional now i don't know if attractional is actually a word i didn't look it up but when i write it on my word document a little red squiggly comes up so i don't think it's a word we use it a lot around here i know other churches use it as well but i'm going to be using attractional and attractive interchangeably throughout my message because that's what it is is the attractive love of god and so with that my title of my message today is are you attractive are you attractive look at your neighbor and say you're attractive now if you're single and you're sitting next to the right person that might have just helped you out [Music] but that's not what i'm talking about right i'm not talking about the physical attraction but god's love is attractional so a couple things i want to do today in my message is really two things define what we mean by attractional that way we're on the same page so when you hear me say attraction you know what i'm talking about but then the second part of my message is really a call to action each one of us as believers we're called to carry and release the attractional love of god everywhere we go amen and our actions are actually really important especially in a season like we're in today so let's pray holy spirit i thank you god i thank you for your word i thank you for your love god i thank you for your your tangible presence that is going out god that you're doing such an incredible work here at life church 7 and you want it to be experienced all throughout this region throughout the world so holy spirit just come and do what only you can do breathe life on every person that's listening today in jesus name amen amen so first let me explain what i mean by attractional or attractive and in some circles in christian circles in particular there's what's called the seeker sensitive movement right and that's not what i'm talking about and i'm not i'm not bashing any churches but i just want to throw a contrast in there of like what this isn't right because the seeker sensitive movement in in the western culture is partial truth right it's nice and shiny things on the outside it becomes attractive so they can get people in their seats right and then hopefully at some point maybe they cross this line of faith and become followers of jesus and there's no transformation on the inside it's just nice programs and it's it's nice looking things that they do but it's not actually the full expression of god's love right you hear me so that's that's not what i'm talking about when i say the attractional love of god what i mean when i say the attractive love of god or the attractional love of god as in my big idea today my big idea is this god's love is attractive because he's the answer to every problem his love is attractive because he is the answer to every problem in john 16 33 the second half of that verse this is in the new king james it says in the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer i've overcome the world anything we come up in the world god has overcome his love is attractive because he has he's going to meet every single need any problem that comes up he's going to meet our need amen and just um i guess a little bit of instruction for for those of you that are listening today i'm not going to be camped in one particular passage i'm going to bounce around there's a whole bunch of different passages i'm going to cover today so they'll be up on the screen you can follow along but i just encourage you to take notes you can write those down and look at them later because i'm going to go through several different scriptures as we go along god's love is attractional because it's tied to the transformational power of who he is it's tied to that transformational love god's love is attractive because he meets he's the answer to every problem and there's transformation in his love as we were talking about this as a staff every week we do this we come together as a communication team and i love it because we get to hear different perspectives and what god's speaking to the different pastors and we get to pull on each other and and then we get to share it with you guys and it's awesome but nate pointed out as we were going on isaiah 53 2 and it's this contrast of kind of what i just did with you guys right like are you attractive right this physical thing that we tend to think of when we hear that word but that's not that's not what we're talking about but isaiah 53 2 says this for he shall grow up and this is about jesus he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground he has no form or comeliness and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him so what is that saying about jesus basically he was just the average joe when he was on the earth he wasn't the biggest he wasn't the strongest he wasn't the most handsome there is nothing about his physical appearance that would attract people to him and yet we see all throughout scripture that thousands upon thousands of people were attracted to him everywhere he went there was this attractional love that he just just leaked out of him it's who he was it's who he is right this attractional love of god and so that gives me hope because i'm just an average joe as well right but i have holy spirit inside of me jesus was the full package he is the full package right but when he was on the earth he came lowly as a servant he was despised he was rejected he was full of grace and truth the bible says he was full of supernatural power he was full of all the answers he was full of wisdom he was meek he was humble but yet he was rejected and despised the big idea again today is god's love is attractive because he's the answer to every problem and here's the thing we were talking about this as a staff god's love is always attractive it's an absolute like he never changes pastor west talked about it in 1st john 4 last week god is love that's who he is but we don't always see it we don't don't always see that right because it's only the humble the hungry and the hurting that actually see it if you've got pride in your life or you've got complacency in your life or apathy it's gonna be really hard to see the love of god because you're not going to recognize that you actually have a need for him right that's why jesus was rejected blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven it says in matthew 5 you have to recognize your need that poor in spirit doesn't mean that you're just going around with low self-esteem it just means that you're humble and you recognize that you need god just recently it was not this not yesterday saturday but a week week before that we were out boating we had jim and sorry they're new to the area my wife and mark and tina sullivan i think he's up in coeur d'alene playing some hockey you can play hockey in idaho right now so that's nice but anyway we were out boating and it was mark and tina's boat and so they invited us and we're we're boating having a having a great time it was a nice day i've got video of robin and sorry tubing screaming like little girls it was it was a blast it was a lot of fun and we're just we're just enjoying you join fellowship enjoying our time together it was great and towards the end we were going to make one last little trip up the river we put in at howard aymond and so we went past that we're going to go up the river now and we're right by that little island across from leslie groves park right by that swim area right so we're on the back side of that and we're heading up the river and all of a sudden this boat off in the distance starts blowing an air horn and starts waving and so we knew something something was going on right we knew they were in trouble and so we make our way over there and this guy's panicking he's got him and his wife and three little girls like 10 and under they were young girls and they're panicking come to find out their boats taking on water and so they've got i don't know maybe an inch of water in the bottom of their boat at this point and so the girls are freaking out and we transfer them into our boat we get a rope we tie them on to mark's boat and we pull them back in well we get to the dock and we get his boat on the trailer and he pulls it out of the water and water just starts gushing out he forgot to put the plug in and they they had to have been out there for a while because i i promise you it was a good 10 minutes of water just flowing out of that full full steam like it was just coming fast i don't know how many gallons of water but it was close to sinking but you know the most attractive thing to a person in a sinking boat a floating boat it's because that's the answer that's the answer they needed right and so when you recognize your need then all of a sudden what god has for you becomes attractive and you're attracted to him right and here here's the funny thing they've been taking on water for who knows how long and they had no idea they actually needed help probably half an hour before we got there but they didn't know it right how many how many of us we have issues in our lives and we just don't want to admit it it's under the surface and we can't see it and then all of a sudden when it gets into the hall and you can start seeing like oh man i'm in trouble right wouldn't it be just easier if we recognized it a little sooner right it was funny because on the when he got back to the doc jim he's like man this is this is such a good illustrative story who's gonna be the first one to use this in a sermon and i'm i'm preaching next so it's me he almost he almost stole it on devos but he let me keep it and that that story so that so that's that's what attractional is right it's it's god's god meeting our needs whether it's a physical need spiritual need whatever god meets our needs and we're attracted to him right jesus said that he would draw men unto himself so so that's the definition of what we mean when we say the attractive love or attractional love but that story is such a good segue into the second part of my message which is a call to action what would have happened if we didn't stop and help those guys what if we just kept on going we ignored them that boat would be at the bottom of the river the kids were wearing life jackets they probably would have been fine but cold and wet and it would have been a mess right but we stopped and we helped them each one of us are responsible to help out people around us we have a sphere of influence of people that we're called to so we're going to talk a little bit about that you know as i was thinking about that i'm just thinking of some of the reasons why we don't help people now when i start saying these this isn't this is not condemnation right because we've all done something like this in one way or the other and it's just to get us thinking all right because we sing these songs about revival god bring revival we want an outpouring we want household salvations but guess what if we keep this news to ourselves it ain't gonna happen it's just not revival starts in me and then i get to spread that to the people around me to my community to my neighbors to my friends but here's some reasons why we don't help fear is a big one right we're afraid we're we're gonna make a mistake we're not gonna say the right thing right like what if we were driving up the river and we knew they needed help but fear was like i don't know if i can help them i don't know if my boat is my boat big enough to tow them i don't know i don't know what they need maybe i can't meet their need i'm just going to keep going because i'm afraid i'm going to make a mistake that's a silly example but we do it all the time with people around us judgment's another one it's his own fault that his boat was thinking he forgot the plug how many people like when you sin like it's intentional right like when you choose to do something wrong and then there's consequences it's because you chose poorly and we let judgment like i told you so your boat should be at the bottom of the river you forgot the plug but man that's that's not that's not who we are right and the last one is is just plain selfish like we were having a good time we we were on a mission we were going to go see jim and sorry's apartment you could see it from the river so we're going to go take a look and what if we just said oh we don't have time sorry we're doing something we're having fun sorry man we don't have time to help we we do stuff like that all the time and again i'm this isn't condemnation like i'm not throwing condemnation on anybody i just want us to begin to think think like that there are people in this world that need jesus and we have the answer because holy spirit is living inside of us john 13 34-35 says this a new commandment i give to you that you love one another as i have loved you that you also love one another by this all will know that you're my disciples if you have love for one another how will they know if we love each other because they can see it it's an action it's not just a feeling i keep inside of myself there's actually action to love and so i want to talk about three areas of our lives where we can demonstrate the attractional love of god just in our in our daily lives to the people around us real quick before i do that though there's there's two ways that god primarily meets our needs whether that's him sovereignly doing it or if it's through people because that's the thing right god's love is attractional because he's the answer to every problem but most the time those answers come through you and i right sometimes he does it sovereignly on his own but most the time he answers people's prayers with other people because we're carrying something that they need and so the two ways that he he meets needs primarily are practically and supernaturally and what i mean by that is a practical way in the bible we're called to take care of the poor we're called to take care of the orphans and the widows to feed the poor to visit those in prison and give them a drink right there's practical things we can like what pastor nate was saying we can give him money so that it advances the gospel throughout throughout the world right that's a practical way that we can meet a need but there's also the supernatural where we can pray we can lay hands on the sick and see them recover we can cast out demons we can raise the dead like those are the things that we're going for god is supernatural and you can't separate the two if you want a full expression of god's love it's both it's the practical and the supernatural he's a supernatural god you cannot separate the two so keep that in mind the practical and the supernatural as i talk about the three ways or three areas in our in our lives that we can demonstrate the love of god so the first aspect of our lives is our lifestyle just just the way we live right there's a lifestyle that we're that we're called to live by we're called to have character integrity right the fruit of the spirit is a big deal right for those of you that don't know the fruit of the spirit it's found in galatians 5 22-23 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control like in today's society to walk in the fruit of the spirit seems like the exception rather than the rule right and when we do that when we can actually walk in joy and peace when the world's going nuts it's it's a light on a hill right it draws men people to jesus jesus said in matthew 5 14 and 16 you are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house let your light so shine before man that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven that's what happens when our lifestyle matches up to what jesus is asking us to do right it's important how we live our lives a good example of that is actually the story of how i got saved but it starts with the story of how my mom got saved and today's august 9th it's my mom's birthday she's sitting over here so happy birthday [Applause] but when i was in high school and and i've shared parts of my story throughout the years that i've been here so this is a repeat i'm sorry but you're gonna have to hear it again but in high school i was a mess right i was addicted to everything i could be addicted to drinking drugs all that stuff my mom got saved i was probably a junior or so in high school and she she really got saved like we'd gone to church before but no she really got saved during that time and so she began preaching to me and all this stuff and of course i didn't recognize that i had a need right my plug was out of my boat but i didn't know it so to speak and so i was just busy having fun and so she would she would preach to me and we didn't live together that's a story from another time for another time but um like i rejected it right didn't want anything to do with it well fast forward i don't know 18 months two years something like that now i'm out of high school continuing this lifestyle of drugs and partying and i happen to end up in the hospital because i've done drugs for so many days in a row that something's going on right and so now i recognize i have a need and actually i started recognizing it before that i tried to quit doing it on my own and i couldn't but now i'm in the hospital i think i'm going to die all of a sudden i recognize my need and so i say this prayer god if i don't die tonight i'll go to church with my mom now why did i say that because i saw the way she was living i saw her lifestyle had changed and now when i have that need i know where to go right and so it's this attractional love of god that was evident in her life where now i'm able to come into the kingdom because i saw what god had done in her right so that's what i mean by lifestyle does that make sense and i went to church got saved and the rest is history right but that's what is so important about our lifestyle a second area of our life is our calling every single person in here is called to something every single person i don't care how young or old you are every person watching online wherever you are in the world i don't care what country you're in you're called to something great you're called to something great now when we when i think of great you know you may think of like billy graham or the leader of a country and that's that's awesome that's a great calling but you don't have to be it doesn't have to be that big of a calling to be great we need to look with god's eyes and what he says is great and if you're called to the hanford site that's a great calling because there's a whole sphere of influence that you have with people that need to hear the gospel that nobody else is going to influence but your place there to influence them if you're a teacher in the school district you're called to that place for a reason there's a whole sphere of people that need to hear the message that's inside of you and so calling is more of a bigger picture i would say right it's it's a big picture in in the way we can release god's attractive love and it's it's really part of it's the seven mountains and we've we've talked about that in the last year or so and the seven mountains are basically seven spheres of influence in society and just to just to recap if this is new to you those seven mountains are education government science and medicine family entertainment and media religion and business so each one of us are called to at least one of those mountains if you're called to government you're probably at some point gonna be rubbing shoulders with politicians right man those politicians need jesus and when you're living a lifestyle a christian lifestyle and you know who you are in the lord and you're in you're called to that place and that attractive love gets to go to people that otherwise wouldn't hear it right and even if let's say this is just a wild example i'm just gonna use it for example let's say somebody in here is called to be the president of the united states you're obviously not in that calling right now because you're here in richland right but while you're here on your journey to becoming president you're called to different places in different seasons and if you know in your heart that you're called to be president and you're stuck here maybe you're a city council person here and it's such a small thing compared to what you're called to you've got to keep your heart right and that's how that attractional love works because in that calling in that season if you're bitter about it man you're not going to shine any light to anybody but when you're walking in god's love even this temporary calling you get to influence people around you so i was thinking of like uh because i always like real life examples right you we use scripture we talk about biblical principles but it's awesome to have like a real life example of what that looks like so i was just thinking of like who who could i talk about that is is just walking in their calling in such a way that releases god's attractional love and i started thinking about all these different heroes in the faith right you could pick anybody these revivalists that have gone before us all these different people one of the things i started thinking about is all these people i began thinking about one of the things they had in common was sacrifice like if you want to actually walk in your calling it requires sacrifice and it may be a small sacrifice like if you're called to be an engineer that sacrifice may be four years of college right you're going to sacrifice your time there to go to college so you can be an engineer so this doesn't have to be some great sacrifice but it all requires sacrifice so attractional love in your calling looks like sacrifice at times it looks like sacrifice now jesus modeled that right in hebrews 12 2 it says this about jesus looking unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of god so he knew what his calling was because he knew his calling he was willing to sacrifice everything because he was called to reconcile the world back to the father right and so i just began thinking of sacrifice and the story i settled on was pastor wes like man what a what an example of someone who's walking in their calling pastor wes and he's on vacation so be praying for him he's on vacation for a couple weeks pray that he gets some rest i think it's been a while since he's taken a vacation but man he could have he could have chose any profession in the world right but he chose to be a pastor he chose to serve god's people in a church and i've heard stories of how hard it was in the beginning trying to raise two kids and nate i'm sure can attest to it but working in churches that had no idea about culture of honor had no idea that hey it's actually okay to pay a pastor a livable wage right just barely scraping by that's a sacrifice and then even for him to be here like we actually owe pastor wes quite a bit because of his sacrifice to come here like we're walking in these this outpouring that we're experiencing it's absolutely true because what we do actually matters to the people around us he was at a thriving church over on the west side connie thought she was gonna retire there and then pastor or then god called pastor here and he said yes he sacrificed the good for the great so many of us don't operate in our calling because we refuse to sacrifice we're unwilling to sacrifice this good thing here to come over into the great thing that god has for us because the good is comfortable right we end up getting complacent but we got to sacrifice the good so we can be in the great some of you that are thinking about coming to school supernatural ministry need to hear that that's that's a one year sacrifice but it's going to set you up for something great so pastor wes is a perfect example of someone who and look how many people have come in the last couple years it's this attractional love of god this outpouring that's happening at life church seven since rob and i have been here i think the the church has quadrupled in size like i'm not that's not an exaggeration it has grown tremendously in these last several years because of this outpouring that's coming all right that's enough on calling the last thing is our gifts our giftings now that's different than our calling because i could be for example gifted in math but not be called to be a mathematician that'd be incredibly boring for me even though i'm good at math right so i'm good i'm gifted in math but i'm not called to math does that make sense same thing is true with spiritual gifts i could be gifted in the prophetic but not be called to the office of a prophet right so it's different your giftings and your callings are different but our giftings are important because through our gifts which is both our natural abilities and our supernatural gifts of the spirit again you can't separate the two to have a full expression of god's love both are important but through both ways we can use our gifts to love people well and it's the attraction love of god that's expressed in those times that bring people to jesus i was reading a couple weeks ago in first peter we were getting ready for our devotions that we do weekly and i know many of you online watch those and share those and it's been a lot of fun but it's first peter 4 10 through 11 and it's i've never noticed it before until then but it's like this marriage of the natural abilities with the supernatural check this out verse 10 as each one has received a gift minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of god manifold means multifaceted if anyone speaks let him speak as the oracles of god i can speak with a natural ability and saying if you if you can speak if you can teach if you can preach whatever awesome do that but partner it with the holy spirit because you can actually speak prophetically as the oracles of god it's partnering the two he goes on to say if anyone ministers now ministry to me is very broad umbrella there's a whole lot of ministries out there all of them are good if anyone ministers let him do it as with the ability which god supplies this supernatural grace that god supplies minister in the natural but partner with the supernatural that's powerful that in all things god may be glorified through jesus christ to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever that's that's powerful and one thing to point out it says each one has been given a gift so everybody in here has at least one gift and it's legal to ask for more it's okay to ask for more gifts because what's the point the point is to glorify jesus the point is to glorify jesus i've just in regards to the natural abilities and the supernatural in using our giftings i've done missions trips before where we have like a food distribution right we give away food and that brings locals in and it's amazing what happens when just the gift of a meal opens up their heart to receive the gospel right and you see people get saved and born again and it's just amazing because this attractional love is working through this natural thing that we gave somebody right it's powerful and nobody would argue that that's wrong like that's such a good thing to give food away and to minister to people it's the attractional love of god that brings them there i'm wrapping up worship team you guys can you guys can come on up just as important as the natural ability is the supernatural there's so many people that are turned off from the prophetic for one reason or another whether they think it's going to be doom and gloom or it's been abused or whatever but the prophetic is such a powerful way to release god's love into people's hearts and it opens them up to the gospel here's what it says in first corinthians 14 like what new testament prophecy actually does and it says this but if all prophesy and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in he is convinced by all he is convicted by all and thus the secrets of his heart are revealed and so falling down on his face he will worship god and report that god is truly among you that's powerful that's god's attractional love and action right there when all of a sudden somebody that's not born again they're a mess in sin and there's a prophetic word that says hey you're actually called to greatness you're actually called to something special god loves you and you begin to prophesy what's deep in their heart and they may even have forgotten that it was there because they're so wrapped up in sin but all of a sudden god breathes life and somebody's heart is opened and they receive the gospel that's a powerful thing it is absolutely powerful that's god's attractive love in action and it's coming through us it's coming from me it's coming from you amen so let me just do a quick recap as i tie a bow on today the big idea god's love is attractive because he's the answer to every problem but oftentimes that answer comes through through people through you and me god's attractional love is released through our lifestyle our callings and our giftings but here's here's the caveat to all of this you can't give away what you haven't received the bible says freely you have received freely give you have to receive something in order to give something right this this fast this 21 days of prayer with fasting is so so timely for this body for the nation it's an election year i mean there's so many reasons why we should pray and fast right but one of the things and wherever you are you can go ahead and stand up we're going to worship here in a moment i just encourage everybody take this this time of prayer with fasting seriously god's love is so available to every single person but you've got to be humble and hungry to receive it you have to recognize that you actually have a need right and maybe you just need a fresh impartation of god's love like you're just dry like you've given and given a given and you're you're dry and you need a fresh baptism of his love god's ready and able to do that maybe you need giftings maybe you need an upgrade pastor mark prophesied i think it was last week about august being a time of upgrade it's like i said it's legal to ask for more gifts it's totally good use this time of prayer of fasting to press in to that or maybe you just need more fruit manifested in your life again press in whether it's one meal a day or if you're fast the entire time whatever it is the holy spirit's asking you to do press in to the father's heart one last thing if you're full of god's love right now and you want more it's time to give it away you can only hold so much you can only hold so much if you want more and you feel like you're full but for whatever reason you're not got not getting more you probably need to give some away make a point to give some of that love away and watch him refill you and refill you and refill you amen so holy spirit i thank you for every person watching i thank you that this this broadcast is going around the world can i thank you for every believer that's in the seven cities and i pray that there just be an awakening to your love that we would actually be the answer to the people around us that we would recognize it that we wouldn't run from it but we'd actually embrace that call in our life to be the answer to those around us god i pray for just an anointing on every person watching just an upgrade an anointing an upgrade in love on upgrading giftings come and do it god come and do it bring revival to this area bring revival through our lives to this region to washington state to the nation and to the world yeah thank you lord and we just we bless you lord we're so thankful for you let's worship together [Music] we worship you we give our hearts to you [Music] you love with no reservation [Music] you're not looking for perfection there's no need in me pretending i'll give you everything i'll give you everything [Music] oh speak to me and never listen i'll give you everything i'll give you everything my [Music] [Applause] set me free from selfish motives [Music] i'll give you everything oh [Applause] those words to that song give us a great opportunity to have an encounter with jesus what a great message from pastor josh and what a great song just that invitation to give your heart if you've been attracted through the worship time through the message today to the love of god you felt you sensed the love of god pulling you making you aware perhaps as pastor josh showed us with that illustration that your boat is sinking you've got stuff in your boat that's going to take you down it's taking you down it's going it's going to sink your life it's called sin it's that choice to do it my way today you can you can use that little plug it's only about that size in that boat actually and the bible says a mustard seed of faith is all that we need to move god towards us so you take that faith today that mustard seed and put your faith in jesus to stop your ship from sinking and to find a new life to find a rescue from the savior from your sin if you're attracted today and you say yes i need jesus to rescue me close your eyes where you are just to help your heart begin to connect with him and tell him this first of all just follow me in this little prayer jesus you can have my heart i give it to you right now and i receive your new life into me thank you for loving me thank you for your forgiveness will you forgive me of my sin and my selfishness i give you myself today i want you to be lord of my life i want you to rescue me but i want to serve you with everything that i have from now on in your name amen if you prayed that prayer and you meant it you're on facebook or youtube send us a message on facebook and let us know we'd love to help you take your next steps in your relationship with jesus that just begun and we want to celebrate that joyful thing with you and then i just want to address everybody else and for those that are here in in this in this room here right now i want you to just if you'll close your eyes and open your hands as if you were emptying them there's a lot of times god was wanting to give us something but he's going to take out of our hands what's already there to make room for it and he wants to give you gifts so i want you to just connect this song the last moments of that song where i'll give you everything you can have my heart and just recommit yourself right now with open hands and open hearts jesus whatever gifts you want to give me whatever gift i'm longing for and seeking right now i'm opening my hands and giving you everything i am everything that i have and let him replace it just take that moment with the lord it's the same for everybody that's watching online that your hands would be a symbol of an open heart saying jesus you have it all you have all that i am and now give me gifts that i need whatever gift you need next is the one you need the practical ones and the supernatural ones whatever one you need next is the one you need ask him boldly jesus give me the gift i need of healing give me the gift of supernatural provision give me the gift of prophecy that i can attract my family into your kingdom by speaking your words to them by speaking life over them my neighbors my colleagues at work give me the gift of prophecy jesus that i can bless them with what you're saying about them and invite them into your kingdom and thank him in anticipation that you're receiving it right now jesus we thank you that you are the giver of supernatural gifts that you're the giver of practical gifts and that you are the giver of the gift of eternal life we thank you we receive it all from you today by the power of your holy spirit in your mighty name everybody said amen amen at home god bless you we're so grateful that you chose to join us at life church 7 today and i want to encourage you to share this on your social media feed with your friends and with your family join us next week there's lots going on here we will be here to bless you and serve you and proclaim the good news that jesus lives and the holy spirit has come to empower us to share our lives with him god bless you thank you you

Channel: LIFECHURCH7

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Id: Ll_auDaSPRQ

Length: 96min 23sec (5783 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 09 2020