Love or Be Self Absorbed? - Full Service

welcome to sagebrush church if this is your first time joining us let us know at sagebrush.church hello if you found your information we'll send you a free gift for getting connected for more information on sagebrush church to get connected or to access devotionals messages and more download our sagebrush church app you can find it for apple android or roku visit sagebrush.church getapp for all the links wherever you're joining us from we want to welcome you to this week's service as we continue our new series called would you rather where elite pastor todd is helping us explore the impact our choices have on our lives because we make our choices and then our choices make us and if you know someone who would benefit from this message be sure to share this service with a friend if you're watching on your television pull out your tablet or phone you can share this service from our website at sagebrush.church live click the share icon and then select who and how you want to share it you can send a link in a text an email or post on social media if you're watching us on facebook sharing the service is even easier you can share the service by clicking the arrow labeled share to post to your news feed sharing a service online can help others engage with the life-changing message jesus has to offer we're about to start the service so hopefully you've got your drinks and snacks together already if not pause the stream and take the time to do so now we want the next hour to be as distraction free as possible if at any time you'd like to take a next step in your faith or talk to a pastor you can get all the information at sagebrush.church connect go ahead and get your message notes ready on your sagebrush app get yourself some space and turn up the volume as the service begins [Music] and desperation our times and conversations no one [Music] should ever love me like you do sometimes my bad decisions define my false suspicions that no one should ever love me like you do [Music] while i'm on this road you take my hands and now you really love who i really am i push you [Music] to be [Music] last night confidence was shaking [Music] and my past was saying no one should ever love me like you do well i'm on this road you take my hands and now you really love who i really am i push you [Music] [Music] to be loved by you [Music] the way i i don't understand where your love comes from [Music] to be loved by you to be loved by you to be loved by you [Music] well today we're talking about love c.s lewis once said that to love at all is to be vulnerable jesus demonstrated this by coming into our world to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many jesus made himself vulnerable to us so that we can be secure in him let's sing about that love i would be hopeless without your goodness i would be desperate without your love slave to the darkness if it wasn't for cross [Music] it chased me down i was lost oh where would i be if it wasn't for the cross [Music] hallelujah you jesus i was a prisoner now i'm not know with your blood you bought my freedom [Music] hallelujah [Music] and now your mercy will be my song and all the glory all the power of the cross [Music] hallelujah thank you jesus [Music] by your stripes i'll [Music] is [Music] is is finished hallelujah thank you jesus i was a prisoner [Music] hallelujah [Music] thank you jesus i was a prisoner now i'm [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] thank you for the cry thank you jesus i was a prisoner now i'm not with your blood you for my freedom hallelujah for the cross when darkness tries to roll over my bones when sorrow comes to steal the joy i own when brokenness and pain is all i know i won't be shaken no i won't be shaken my fear doesn't stand a chance when i stand in your love my fear doesn't stand a chance when i stand in your lung my fear doesn't stand a chance when i'm [Music] no longer has a place to hide [Music] i'm not afraid to leave my past behind i [Music] when i stand in your love my fear doesn't stand a chance when i stand in your love my fear doesn't stand a chance when i'm [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] there is power in the name of jesus to break and retain break every chain break every chain there is power in the name of jesus there there is power in the name of jesus break every chain break every chain break every day to break every chain break every day break every day [Music] my fear doesn't stay a chance my fear [Music] [Applause] standing doors [Music] does [Music] when i'm [Applause] [Music] um [Music] for so long i had a view of god that scared me if i didn't do good enough god would send me to hell and if i didn't live a life the way that the bible told me to live that my life would be in a ruins and a mess and it led as i got older to more anger in my heart and had animosity towards my parents and anger towards god and i didn't want anything to do with him a couple years into high school i was about 16 years old and my sister she just encouraged me she was encouraging me just come to church and i just saw a dramatic change in her life she was loving and she was patient and kind and those were some things that were so unfamiliar to my family and to me and so i went to church with her and she encouraged me to join a small group and it was in that small group that i ended up giving my life to jesus and and that just was a game changer for me for once in my life i saw that god actually cared about me the god who created the heavens and the earth is available to me and he wants that relationship with me and he wants to give me hope and peace and there's nothing better than that over the years ministry has just been something that is a part of me it's something that god has called me to and nowadays i get the honor and the privilege of getting to be the worship pastor at our highland campus i'm just so thankful that in everything and everything that i've been through that jesus is still the same yesterday today and forever and and even when i go through doubts and have discouragement i can still sing with absolute certainty about the love of god that's displayed in jesus for us [Music] i'm called up in your presence i just want to sit here at your feet [Music] i'm caught up in this holy moment i never [Music] jesus you don't owe me anything and more than anything that you can do i just want you and i'm sorry when i've just gone through the motions i'm sorry when i just sing another song take me back to where we started i opened up my [Music] and i'm sorry when i've come with my gender i'm sorry when i forgot that you're enough and take me back to where we started i opened up to you [Music] i'm caught up in your praises [Music] i just wanna sit here at your feet i'm caught up in i never this leave [Music] oh i'm not here for blessings you don't owe me anything more than anything that you can i do want you [Music] i just want you and nothing else and nothing else nothing else will do i just want you and nothing else and nothing else nothing else nothing else nothing else will do i just want you and nothing else [Music] nothing else no [Music] [Music] cause there's no reason walls you can't break through no mountain you can't move all things are possible and there's no broken body you carries no soul that you can't save all things are possible the darkest night you [Music] death is [Music] you rose in victory [Music] so why should my heart be [Music] [Music] all things are possible there's no broken body you can't raise things are possible [Music] the talk [Music] [Applause] [Music] light it is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] pour it out come on [Applause] [Music] every stronghold [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] everybody [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] yes [Music] there's no present war you can't break through no mountain you can't move all things are possible and there's no broken body you carry no soul that you can't save all things are possible all things are possible that's the truth god there's nothing beyond your power there's nothing beyond your capability to do you can do all things lord and we do pray god for awakening in us the church god in our city in our state god in our country the people would turn to you if they would fix their eyes on you jesus because you love us so much and it's in you that we find hope thank you for loving us first lord we sing this for you it's in your name we pray amen thanks so much for singing with us well um it has been an unprecedented year crazy with all the the this stuff yeah it's unprecedented how many times we've actually heard the word unprecedented our dream vacation was cancelled you got to keep the job you don't like [Music] you know they can see you but let me tell you all the no's friends um no going to restaurants no movie theaters new movie theater popcorn no state parks no going to athletic events no church services and no don't pant don't hey kids you've got to be more careful with the toilet paper this is all we have all the drive-by birthday parties graduations baby showers i will say this i felt a little awkward throwing out that baby shower gift in the front yard you weren't supposed to do that it just feels like a wasted year i said it is that it yeah there's just all the time at home [Applause] boom and all the time that we were made to spend together hey honey honey leave me alone all the heart to hearts goodness speaking of hearts our son jason right over there said yes to jesus all right that kitchen table july 17 2020. you know i guess it's not really wasted time because god didn't waste a moment of it [Music] i think i have the answer to what i'm thankful for yeah what is it everything [Music] everything [Music] i want to welcome everyone here today with us thanks for joining us you know this is the season of thanksgiving and i hope this season you'll be able to focus on what you do have and not on what you don't have even though we're not having in-person services right now i want you to know i'm thankful that we can have this time together i'm thankful that because of your generosity we're still able to make an impact for the kingdom of god here in our town and around the world a few weeks ago i share with you how we were able to do a medical clinic in haiti and we saw over a thousand patients in over seven days we were able also to do a training for the people in the villages who needed to know how to help people in medical emergencies and all of those people got to hear the message of god's love for them they got to hear that jesus came and died for their sins and rose again from the dead and many of those people gave their lives over him and that's something to be thankful for also last weekend we baptized close to a hundred people what a celebration we had that's also something to be thankful for and one last thing because you care about every person because every person matters to god and they matter to us as well we were able to send on your behalf 1500 bibles to a country in the middle east that desperately needs the word of god listen to me friends a pandemic can't shut the church down because you are the church and we are more than just a one hour a week worship service so i want you to know that i am very very thankful for you well last week we started our brand new series called would you rather and we're seeing that the choices that we make in life lead us to a destination wise person once said we make our choices and then our choices make us well we had such a great time last week playing would you rather that i thought we would take another shot at this game as well so we'll walk on over here to the big board here comes the would you rather questions now if you're watching us on facebook or youtube there's a comment section and you can comment right there on which one you would rather do are you ready now those of us who aren't watching on youtube and facebook and you're in your home you just raise your hand just play along with the pastor i'd appreciate it all right would you rather question number one would you rather have diarrhea on a plane ride that's six hours long or be stuck next to someone who has that situation all right now think that one through do you want to be the person who has the diarrhea or do you want to be sitting next to the person who has to get up every five minutes who wants to be the person who has diarrhea okay yeah i don't understand that one but that's okay i would much rather get up for the person every 30 seconds if i have to as long as i don't have that issue in my life let's go to the next question would you rather this one's so bad would you rather have a stranger lick your foot or lick your best friend's foot where do we come up with these questions i do not know which one would you choose all right you ready how many would rather have a stranger lick their foot yeah you are sick and wrong what can i say how about this one how are you how many would like to lick your best friend's foot there's something wrong with you too how many of us would rather just not lick anybody's foot and have nobody lick our foot as well yeah that's what i would rather let's get the next question up on the big board would you rather have all your teeth fall out or have all your hair fall out now this is an easy one for some of you because one of those two things unfortunately has already happened to you i'm certain that you wouldn't want the other one if the other one's already happened but let's play the game which one would you rather have how many would rather have your teeth fall out my wife said to me this past week when i asked her this question which would you rather she said i'd rather have my teeth fall out i can get false teeth i said okay how many would you rather have your hair fall out anybody like that how many have already had both of these happen there's no reason for you to raise your hand everybody in the room already knows it let's go to the next question this one is exclusively for the wives who are watching you ready wives we got a question for you would you rather be married to the smartest person in the world or to the hottest person in the world okay think that one through ladies because this is this is a tough one right because your husband's probably sitting right there in the room with you so here we go we're actually going to ask this question how many of you would rather be married to the smartest person in the world okay a few of you that's good how many you would rather be married to the hottest person in the world so you're more of a superficial person than anything else right how many would say ladies that you've already married both huh oh look at that my wife's hand just went shooting straight up well not really she's not here but i can imagine it can i let me give you one more would you rather have no eyebrows or just have one eyebrow okay that one's really really not worth even even talking about uh here here's the interesting things friends in life we're going to make a lot of choices and unfortunately we found out that many times we choose the wrong thing and there's a reason for that james cleary the author of atomic habits this is what he wrote he says as a general rule the more immediate pleasure we get from an action the more strongly we should question whether it aligns with our long-term goals over the kind of person that we want to become so let me break this down in layman's terms when we're faced with the choice many times we will pick whatever is easier whatever gives us pleasure in the moment rather than making choices that will help us become the people that deep down inside we really want to become now we gave a lot of examples for this last week have you ever met somebody who wants to lose weight they're always saying that they're going to lose weight right why haven't they lost the weight because it's easier to put off the diet than to go on one of those diets and lose those extra pounds to lose weight means you got to count calories you got to watch what you eat you got to stay away from sweets basically you have to starve yourself for three months and you've got to go to the gym and you got to get on the cardio machines and you got to sweat and you haven't sweat in years let's face it the hard choice is hard and the easy way well that leads us to the refrigerator to get some more iso cream and who doesn't love more iso cream we say that we want to have a close intimate relationship with the lord right every single one of us watching you say i want to have a close intimate relationship with the lord but we we know to do that we've got to slow down we have to actually spend time with god we've got to listen to what god has to say through the bible and we've got to talk to him about what's going on in our life and we all say that we want it i mean come on we became christians not just for god's forgiveness and getting to go to heaven one day but we asked jesus into our life because we wanted him to lead us we wanted him to guide us we wanted him to help us through life we didn't want to do life alone but slowing down and spending time with god is hard you got to find a quiet place you got to read your bible and nobody reads anymore and you have to quiet yourself to pray but your mind keeps thinking about what you need to do and where you need to go and you just can't seem to focus so what do we do we pick up the smartphone and we snap a chatty and we tikitaki and we face a bookie and or we turn on the tv or we we do some other project because activity is always more exciting than being still before god and here's the problem if we keep taking the easy way we will never become the people that we want to become the kind of person that god created us to become so we need to decide that we're going to take the hard way because the hard way always leads to the results that we really want in our life so today i want to talk to you about the choice of being loving to do the loving thing even though the easier path would be to be unloving or even apathetic because that's what the opposite of love is the opposite of love isn't hate the opposite of love is apathy where you just don't care where you don't lift a finger to help somebody else so let's play the game at home you're ready to play get ready put your hands up get ready to put in the comments would you rather be known for being a loving person or for being a self-absorbed person okay how many would like to be known for being a loving person and how many would rather have the world revolve around them seems like a stupid question doesn't it because deep down inside what do we all want i mean everybody's hands should have shot up by saying i really want to be a more loving person i mean we don't want to be a narcissist we don't want to be self-absorbed that's not the best version of ourselves and yet many people care more about themselves and they care about others and why is that it's because it's easier it's easier to be consumed with yourself than to reach into someone's world and love them with the same love that god has loved you with it's easier to put our needs ahead of the needs of somebody else it's easier to go down the wide path that leads to destruction than to stay on the narrow path that leads to a life of influence but we all want to be loving right paul writes in first corinthians 13 that the pursuit of being loving is the highest pursuit of all he says three things remain he says faith hope and love but the greatest of these is love jesus said this by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another we live in a society that doesn't understand what love's got to do got to do with it i'm sorry i couldn't resist the word love is so overused in the english language it's lost so much of its meaning i mean we look at our spouse in the eye and we say oh i love you hunna hush of course we also say we love green chile the kansas city chiefs and our kids at least i do we use the term so flippantly we don't even know what the word love even means in the first century they didn't have just one word for love they had three one word they used was the word eros that's the root word for erotic this is the sexual love that a husband has for his wife the second word they had for love was phileo this is the root for the word philadelphia the city of brotherly love it has to do with a love between two friends a brotherly kind of love but the third world word that they had for love was the word agape love and agape love asked the question what can i do for you this is the highest level of love this is the kind of love that we should always be shooting for agape love says in spite of in spite of who you are in spite of what you did in spite of what my circumstances are i will honor other people as better than myself now that's the kind of love that god has for us in spite of kind of love in spite of our rebellion in spite of our sin in spite of all the times that we said one thing and we did another god still loves us this overwhelming unconditional unrelenting love is the same love that god has given to each of us and it's the kind of love agape love that god wants his followers to extend to everyone else so paul writes in first corinthians 13 he says if i speak in the tongues of men and of angels but i have not love i'm only a resounding gong or a clinging symbol if i have the gift of prophecy and i can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if i have faith that can move mountains but have not love i'm nothing if i give all i possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love i in i gain nothing now now what does he mean by all that if i speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love i'm only a resounding gong or a clinging symbol what does that mean well what the bible is saying is that words without love are absolutely useless that word tongues is the greek word glossia it means languages god gave some people the ability to speak in other languages to spread the message of jesus faster to the world in acts chapter 2 the bible says that tongues of fire fell on the disciples and they were able to speak in other languages now some of the people who went to the church in corinth were also giving this supernatural ability as well but they used the gift not to bring glory to god but they used it to bring glory to themselves and they became prideful and they became arrogant so paul says listen you can have this amazing gift of speaking in other languages but if you don't have any love inside of you you're just a clanging gong in the first century in corinth there was a big gong or symbol hanging at the entrance of the pagan temples and when people came to worship their pagan gods they would hit the symbol or the gong to wake the pagan god up paul says listen you may be able to speak in a hundred different languages more eloquently than anybody else but if you don't have love what you say is absolutely useless just as useless as the ridiculous act of banging a gong to wake up a non-existent god when we tell people that we love them and then we wound them with our words that's not being loving when we say we'll be there for them when we tell them man you can count on me but then we don't come through like we said we would that's not being loving when we look at our spouse and we tell them we love them with everything we've got but then we go off to work or to the gym and flirt with somebody else say it with me that's not being loving when we cuss and scream and belittle and use sarcasm when our mouths are out of control that's not being loving paul continues he says if i have the gift of prophecy and i can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if i have faith that can move mountains and have not love i am nothing he says if i can predict the future if i have knowledge to explain the mysteries of the universe but i don't have love what good is it it's all just information you can be a genius you can be brilliant you could be a walking bible encyclopedia you can memorize and quote the entire new testament be able to answer everybody's bible questions but god says it doesn't matter if you don't love one another if i have faith he says that can move mountains but have not love i am nothing faith without love is of no value if our faith think about this if our faith doesn't prompt us to love god more and to love others more then what good is it this was the problem for the religious leaders of jesus's day they had all the right answers but they didn't have the right heart oh they looked down on others they thought they were superior to everybody else they thought they were better than everybody else first john 4 8 says whoever does not love does not know god isn't that interesting first john chapter 4 verse 20 if anyone says i love god but does not love others he is a liar whoever loves god must also love his brother so let's clear up the confusion of what love is first thing write it down love is an action love is not something that you feel uh it's not something that you say but love is something that you do you show people that you love them by leveraging your life and caring more about them than you care about yourself in spite of kind of love right in spite of love gets into my hands as i meet the needs of others that god has placed in my life i see a need and i meet the need in spite of love gets in my feet as i go to be a light for jesus in dark places in spite of love it gets in my wallet as i use the monies god's entrusted to my care to fund the kingdom of god in spite of love gets on my calendar as i wedge out time to love my neighbor as myself what good is it what good is it when we have these talents and abilities but we don't leverage these things to love others what good is it when we see needs that god has given us the resources to to meet but instead of meeting those needs we hoard everything we've got for ourselves our spouse has wounded you again with their words right they need in spite of kind of love your child has disappointed you again what do they need they need in spite of kind of love so that they know that their failures aren't final the co-worker who is obnoxious the boss that's once again on a power trip needs to feel and know and see you're in spite of kind of love for them you see the interesting thing about jesus is he doesn't just tell us to love people that are like us he tells us to love people that we don't even get along with he tells us to love our enemies as we love ourselves and let me be honest with you i don't like that i have a hard enough time being loving and putting the needs of those i care about ahead of myself but now he wants me to take it to a whole nother level someone once wrote to love the whole world for me is no chore my only problem is my neighbor next door i can relate but jesus doesn't let us off the hook when it comes to love we're to love others like jesus loved others and he didn't hold his love back from anyone remember when he was hanging on the cross and there were thieves on each side even that one thief on the cross who called out to him and said remember me when you come into your kingdom this is a man who's wasted his whole life jesus forgave him and told him that today he would be with him in paradise and that's because love is not only an action but love is also selfless it's about putting the needs of other people ahead of yourself now i i don't like this kind of love i like love when it's about me philippians chapter 2 verse 3 says regard others as more important than yourself now you wouldn't think that those seven words would start a battle in my life but they do the problem with this verse is the word others and and what does others mean regard others as better than yourself well others i looked it up in the greek it means others it means my spouse my kids my pastor i want to make sure i threw that one in it includes everybody i lock eyes with it's possible i'm i'm not saying i'd do this so you don't need to ask my wife there's no reason to bother her but it's possible to try to make the entire family revolve around you i'm not saying i do it i'm just saying it's possible it's possible to demand that dinner be ready and served without even lifting the finger to help it's possible to pick the tv show with no thought to what someone else might want to watch i'm not saying anybody does it but it's possible that when another family member asks for your assistance that you act like you're taking your last breath of life it's sad but all too often it's true that we would rather be served than to serve others and that's not being loving loves getting up in the middle of the night and helping with a sick child when that's the last thing that you want to do loves being patient with your spouse even though they're acting like a jerk loves giving a person what they need and not what they deserve and that brings me to my last point love is painful this might be the number one reason why we aren't as loving as god has called us to be because when you love the way we've talked about today this kind of love will hurt you if you truly love others the way we've talked about today your heart will be broken by people people will take advantage of you people will use you they will wound you makes you want to be more loving doesn't it but it's true isn't it when you open your heart to people when you allow yourself to go and reach out there will be times you won't be received the way you have hoped that you would have been loving others this way might hurt you more than you ever realized if you find yourself there today i want you to know that you're in some elite company you see jesus's love it hurt him too jesus left his throne in heaven to be born in the smelly stable because of love and jesus heart was broken as a boy time and time again when people would remind him that he was an illegitimate son that joseph wasn't his dad this is what they would say they say isn't this mary's son no child was ever referred to as the son of the mom the child was always referred to as the son of the father it was the people's way of reminding jesus of the circumstances of his birth you see everyone thought that mary hadn't been faithful to joseph and so she was that kind of a woman people treated mary so poorly and i'm sure every time they said isn't this jesus mary's son i'm certain that those words stung on him every time especially when he saw what those words did to his mom his heart broke every time they didn't believe him when he said that he was the son of god and yet he continued to love people his disciples abandoned him they betrayed him denied him doubted him and yet he continued to love them they tried him and they beat him they spit on him they placed a crown of thorns on his head and they beat him with the staff over and over again they tied him to a pole and they whipped him and yet he still loved them pilate sentenced him to be crucified between two thieves they drove nails into his hands and feet and they raised up his cross and they dropped it into the ground and what were the first words that jesus said father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing and as he hung there they laughed at him and mocked him one thief cursed him and the other beg for forgiveness and jesus looked at him and loved him six hours one friday jesus showed us the price the ultimate price of love jesus said my command is this love each other as i have loved you greater love has no one than this then he lay down his life for his friends this is how we know what love is jesus christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers this is the road that jesus walked it was the road less traveled and if it was good enough for jesus it should be good enough for me and it should be good enough for you let me pray for you dear heavenly father help us to love the way that you love to put the needs of other people ahead of ourselves to stop being so self-absorbed help us to see a need and then to meet the need lord the world does not revolve around us i pray god that we would stop living our life that way that we would choose the loving way the agape way the in spite of kind of way in spite of people's inconsistencies in spite of all the times we've been wounded in spite of all the times that we've been hurt by somebody else's words oh god give us the kind of love that continues to love even when we get hurt the kind of love that you show us again and again every single day may your love so flow through us that it goes to our family it goes to our friends it goes to our co-workers our classmates to every person we lock eyes with may we be marked by your love and may people see the love of christ living in and through us in every conversation in every act and every deed god empty us of ourselves and fill us with your love help us to take the harder road we ask this in jesus name amen friends i want you to know that god loves you like nobody else has ever loved you before he believes in you he sees things in you you don't see in yourself and he wants to have a relationship with you god so loved you and god so loved me that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life that means you put your faith you put your trust in him you put all your weight on him so here's my question are you ready to experience the love of god the love of god that will cast your sin as far as the east is from the west and he will remember your sin no more he will give you the second chance the fresh start that you've been looking for if you're interested in talking to someone about what a relationship with god is like all you have to do is call us or text us at 505-922-9200 there are pastors waiting for your phone call pastors who are there right now ready to type back to you a text message 505-922-9200 if you want to get baptized you want to join the church whatever decision you want to make whatever spiritual step you need if you've got a prayer request you're stuck someplace you want to talk to somebody 505-922-9200 us come alongside you and help you with that thanks for watching what a great question to ask yourself would you rather be loving or would you rather be self-absorbed the answer seems so simple but so difficult to actually live out if this message has inspired you to take a next step in your faith you can call or text us at 505-922-9200 or connect with us at sagebrush.church connect to talk to a member of our pastoral staff and if god has used the ministry of sagebrush church to bless your life in any way and you want to contribute financially to the work god is doing across the world you can make a donation at sagebrush.church give or by using the sagebrush app thank you so much for joining us and we look forward to seeing you next weekend as we continue in our series you

Channel: Sagebrush Church

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Length: 57min 28sec (3448 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 21 2020