The Greatest Love Story Ever Told - Eli Lopez - December 2, 2020

[Music] good evening clc and friends of clc we're so glad that you're joining us tonight online for this wonderful service that we're about to be a part of i hope that you've come with expectation to your living room couch or your kitchen table or wherever you are right now watching the service we encourage you to focus your attention upon what the lord's will is for the next few moments shut off everything else in your home and put the family together and let's bind together as the body of christ and invite his presence to be felt where you are right now i've come with great expectation of what the lord is going to do in our lives right now as the body of christ jesus we come before you right now we know and recognize that you are our loving kind gentle great father and jesus tonight we are asking for your presence to be felt in this building and for your present to be felt in every home by every individual that's watching this service live and watching this service later we ask that your holy ghost will strengthen them that the holy ghost will come upon their room right now and feel that place we know god that you are omnipresent god and you are everywhere at all times but jesus right now we ask that you'll help us to feel that presence ever so strong in our midst jesus we ask that your will be done in every song that sung let you touch every musician and every singer as they give glory to you jesus and we ask that your word as it goes forth by brother lopez tonight that it will anoint that it will be anointed by your spirit and jesus said you'll prepare our hearts and our minds for what you have in store for us and what your desire is for us we submit this time unto you jesus not our will jesus but thine be done [Music] allow the holy ghost to speak for you right now for a moment may you will be done jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus the lord is good the lord is good let's worship the lord in song tonight come on right where you're at can you continue to entertain his presence right now we serve a god who's more than enough we serve a god he's a healer he's a deliverer he's a restorer right where you're at can you take a moment and just offer a praise and worship to him right now [Music] hallelujah [Music] you calm my race seas you walk you walk with me through fire heal on my disease [Music] [Music] you're all i need [Music] i believe you're more than enough for me jesus wrong jesus you're all i need hallelujah [Music] calm the raging seas [Music] i trust [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] you're my porsche [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] sing it over every situation sing it over every circumstance in your hands sing it again nothing is impossible for you nothing is impossible [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] impossible nothing is come on can you sing us [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] you're my [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus come on [Music] can you lift your voice right now and sing this together with us [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] sing it [Applause] you made a way [Music] perform miracles there is nothing that's impossible and we're standing here only because [Music] [Applause] there there is nothing that's impossible we're standing here [Music] [Music] that's impossible [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] sing [Music] [Applause] you made [Music] [Applause] don't know how [Music] know [Music] i don't know [Music] with your power [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's impossible [Music] [Applause] only because [Music] when there is no way hallelujah [Music] the lord is doing a great work right now we ask right now that you'll just entertain his presence wherever you are let's spend a moment right now entertaining his presence jesus we trust you and believe in you we put our faith in you lord we worship and magnify you jesus [Music] thank you in a few moments we're going to go before the lord in prayer for our city for our community and for our president for our leaders the lord is doing a great work in our midst the lord is doing a great work in your midst and if you have a need right now we ask that you'll just pray we ask to call that number on the screen there and there's ministers ready waiting to pray with you before service this evening as i was praying i i felt the lord so strongly that somebody got some really bad news this afternoon and the enemy tried he tried to grip you with fear but the lord wants you to know right now he hears he sees he knows and he's going to intervene right now on your behalf and for every situation in this church and for every individual watching right now the lord sees the lord hears the lord knows the situation you're dealing with he knows the healing that you need in your body he knows the financial miracle that you need and he's going to intervene on your behalf and we're going to go before the lord right now for your need jesus we ask that all of these situations that we know that's going on in this church and many that we do not but you jesus are the miracle working god you jesus are our provider you jesus are our healer our refuge and strength and we ask right now that we rebuke fear right now in jesus name we rebuke depression right now in jesus name and that it will be replaced by hope that it will be praised by hope and peace and strength by you jesus we give you all glory and honor and praise it is not by our own understanding or our own works but it is by you jesus and you alone and jesus all things are possible with you your word says that by your stripes we are healed and we are trusting you for it right now and jesus we ask that you'll touch this country that you'll touch our president that you'll touch congress that you'll feel them with your holy ghost lord that your spirit be poured out upon all flesh in these last days jesus we ask that you touch this city let your spirit reign upon stockton california jesus we thank you lord that we'll now have a mayor that's holy ghost field that is directed by you jesus we rejoice in that right now and jesus we know that your miracles are ever present in our life and jesus we give you glory for that and we ask that your spirit and your hedge of protection be upon every individual in this church and upon this building and upon this facility and upon every home right now upon every individual let your spirit reign and protect them lord we trust you with all that we have and all that we possess because it is not ours jesus it is yours and we place our life and everything we have again in your feet at your feet right now jesus and we trust you for it we give it unto you once again and father we give you glory and honor and praise we have thanksgiving jesus in our heart thank you jesus the lord is good the lord hears you the lord sees you the lord knows you and it's now time for our wednesday evening tithe and offering and as you give online we ask you to do that and we thank you so much for your continued faithfulness to the house of the lord and financial giving god bless you as you give tonight [Music] well good evening everyone and the lord is so good to his people and i know that even in the midst of of challenges or testings of our faith trials we have a god who is faithful and his brother miller was leading us in prayer a few moments ago and he was talking about those that perhaps that have even received a bad report or received bad news or their faith is being tested we have a rock we can go to and his name is jesus christ and he never fails so tonight i'm very very thankful to stand in this pulpit and we're going to begin a journey that will take several weeks for us to complete and as the calendar has turned from november to december today's december the 2nd we are in what we call here in western society we're in the christmas season and there's a lot of hustle and bustle even uh with everything going on it's it's it's beginning to get festive and decorations and so on and so forth and if we're not careful we can lose sight of what this is all about so tonight i'm going to i feel challenged uh to direct our thoughts to a particular subject to me the greatest subject of all we're going to talk about god we're talking about god's love for us so let's pray lord jesus we love you and as we look to your word tonight speak clearly speak clearly to your people encourage us and strengthen us and help us to see you your greatness your glory you for who you are and to recognize again your great love for us we honor you and we bless you and we thank you god and everybody said amen as i was praying today i was just uh i went into a season of thanksgiving and once again i was just found myself so thankful to god uh for the leadership that the lord has given us in this church so thankful for pastor and sister haney and i really believe that the lord in his wisdom has raised them up for this hour and in his kindness he has given us them as our leaders here at christian life center so i want to just encourage you again every day pray for your pastor and pray for his family and i know god god will honor you for those faithful prayers as you you cover your shepherd in prayer now my kids think i am incredibly boring and i probably am especially my youngest son he's always fidgety full of energy wanting to do stuff wanting i get home and he wants to go play basketball or go throw the football around and it never never wants to sit still but dad dad likes to sit down and open up a book and read and i i've i've enjoyed reading all of my life and i think as i get older i'm enjoying it more and more it's it's my pace right just to sit in a in a comfortable chair and read a book i love reading a good story and and my wife and i both that's kind of our hobby we we enjoy enjoy reading and i can always tell when my wife is reading a book that she's enjoying because she cannot hide it her she'll get a big smile on her face now our lives tend to be pretty busy so it's always uh just a treat when we can sit down for a few moments and and relax and read something especially something enjoyable something positive something uplifting and i can always tell when she's enjoying the book that she's reading she can't help it she'll be smiling i'll look over i'll say is that a good book is that a good story and so on and so forth and a few days ago her and i we visited an elder in the church and as we were visiting this dear elder her and my wife began to talk about books and authors and and and they just went off in their own world and i was just i was on the outside looking in they were in their own conversation and so um when you're a reader and you get around other readers and and you get to talking about books and stories you just their conversation became so animated they were just so so alive talking about stories and writers that they enjoy reading and so tonight we're going to talk about a story but not just any story we're going to talk about the greatest story ever told but not just the greatest story the greatest love story ever told and this love story was not penned by by a human pen by human hands it was not birthed in a human imagination or out of a human heart but this story was first birthed in the heart of god this story is a story written by god himself the greatest love story and as i said we're going to go on a journey so my plan is to take several weeks especially leading up to christmas to deal with this subject and we're going to unfold and look at different aspects of this this incredible story but tonight we're going to lay some some foundations and we're going to look at uh just some foundational truths that we know in the bible that we know is the narrative and the bible is we would say this it contains the narrative of redemption in other words when you read the bible there is a point this to this book that the point is that god is trying to reach humanity and he has communicated his love his truth his will in words in the bible in the word of god and he has communicated in a way that people that we can understand now obviously the holy ghost helps us to get a better understanding of this word but he has communicated in such a way that his truth could be understood that this message this story of redemption can be understood and so we're going to look at some aspects of this this redemptive narrative that's in the bible where god is trying to reach mankind and the great extent or the great lengths that god has gone to to reach the likes of you and me and again this story this story comes straight from the heart of god in genesis 2 15 let's go all the way back to the beginning genesis 2 15 because this is where the story starts for mankind genesis 2 15 says then the lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to tend and keep it i want to pause real quick and if you will look if you have your bibles open or if you just happen to look what was on the screen the last few moments you will notice that the word lord was in all capital letters and in the hebrew something significant happens whenever you see the word lord or sometimes the word god like in ezekiel many times the word god is in all capital letters if you see either lord or god in all capital letters it means it's the covenant name of god what we know is yahweh or what some people pronounce as jehovah that is the covenant name of god that is in the text that was translated into the english then the lord god so then then jehovah god or then yahweh god took the man so we need to understand at the very outset who the main character of this story is the main character of the greatest love story is god himself he is the central character he is the hero of this story and i i like to read books as i've already mentioned and and every story that i've ever read every good story there's a hero there's a main character there's there's a main figure sometimes there's several main characters but then there's one that will stand out above and beyond the protagonist as it were the hero the the the main person that all the action centers around well in this story the main character is god and it forever remains god throughout the entirety of the story and that's important for us to understand god is the main character in this love story then the lord god then then yahweh god or jehovah god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to 10 and keep it verse 16 and the lord god there it is again the covenant name of god the lord god commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat from the day that you eat of it you shall surely die so this is in the beginning we have where god has planted this beautiful paradise this garden of eden and man is situated in the garden he is giving the responsibility for the garden to tend it to keep it and so on and so forth and and there's just one restriction one restriction one restriction i i just every time i think about this i'm one restriction you can have anything you want in this garden but don't eat of the fruit of this one tree now we don't have time to go through the whole story here in genesis but it wasn't very long that mankind found himself and specifically eve found herself right next to the very tree that god said don't eat the fruit of this tree what is it in human nature that when god says don't that's the very thing we're drawn to it's like a magnet we're pulled towards it and god said you could have everything you want we don't know how big the garden was we don't know the acreage my imagination i expect it was a very very large area and they had plenty of fruit trees plenty of things to partake but the one tree that god said don't eat the fruit of this tree that's the very tree that one day eve finds herself standing beside and looking at and of course then the voice of the serpent speaks and the temptation takes place and in time eve and adam sin but in verse 17 that what we just read the bible says that when they would do this when they would commit this act of rebellion then there would be a death that would take place now when we think of death we obviously we think of of the mortality side of it you write the the the ending of mortal life right it's when the body uh the body functions you know cease and and we we would say we pass from this life but death in the bible also has other other thoughts behind it and really the main thought of death is separation well first there's the separation right of the soul from the body but then there is also a spiritual death when an individual is separated from god and so on the day that adam and eve partook of that fruit they did not die physically now death came into the world according to the book of romans when sin entered then death entered but they did not physically die their funerals did not take place that day but a death did take place what was the death a separation happened between mankind and god because of sin now eventually physical death came to adam and eve maybe that it looks like that would not have happened they had access to the tree of life prior to the fall so they would have lived forever they would have experienced immortality but when sin came death followed and eventually they they went the way of the grave but god said on the day that you eat of it you shall die and so on that day they did not experience physical death which which they eventually would but they experienced spiritual death they were separated from their perfect unhindered relationship with god it was severed it was broken isaiah 59 2 i i think it it explains this this concept perhaps very very um better than what maybe my words could ever say isaiah 59 2 but your iniquities have separated you from your god and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear there is something separating mankind and god and it's sin so let's put this in terms of a relationship mankind and god humanity and god experience pure relationship in the garden of eden we get this picture of of god coming down and in the cool of the day he would walk with adam and eve and they would have conversation and there was this this pure unhindered relationship between god and mankind but then sin entered and and guilt and shame and if you read the story they hid themselves and and all of this this comes in and and and judgment falls upon mankind and they're expelled from the garden and and and mortality comes and suffering comes and anguish comes and now man has to work hard by the sweat of his brow and and a woman's gonna have pain and childbirth and all of these conditions now come upon mankind because of the fall but but but the greatest the greatest tragedy or calamity of all is the separation between god and man no longer would that relationship be what it once was between adam and eve and god your iniquities have separated you from your god your sins have hidden his face from you so we have a problem but remember the main character of this story is not mankind the main character of this story is god and the main motivation is the love of god you see god loved coming down and walking with adam and eve in the garden in the cool of day he loved that moment he loved that relationship he loved having that encounter with him he loved it that's why god meets you in prayer that's why god waits on you in the prayer room in the morning that's why when you go to prayer you you encounter the presence of god there's something in the heart of god that desires relationship with his people that's why when we gather in church services and we worship god the the glory the the touch of god the anointing comes down the spirit of god fills the sanctuary because god loves to be with his people he loves to interact with his people and god god enjoyed it and we often think of it in terms of of mankind having this beautiful encounter with god but god had a beautiful encounter with mankind he loved his relationship with man and he lost something and adam and eve lost something but something in the heart of god said you know what they walked out on me they abandoned me they divorced me but i'm not gonna let the story end that way see if we're gonna paint this in terms of a relationship mankind is the one that walked out on god god didn't walk out on us mankind is the one who divorced god we we he didn't divorce us we turned our backs on him and and we went after our own way we wanted to live our own life and we wanted to pursue a rebellious path of doing it our our our own thing and and no one's going to tell us what to do and i'm going to eat with the fruit i want to eat i'm going to live the life i want to live and we're the ones who turned our backs on god he didn't turn his back on us so if we were to put this in terms of a relationship we are the ones who divorced god who walked out on him and turned our backs and walked out into this world but you see god said i'm not going to let that be the end of the story they may have left me but i will pursue them genesis 3 15 this is the first promise in the bible of a coming messiah and genesis 3 15 says and i will put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel this is him speaking to the serpent and the curse that's coming on the serpent and he said one day there's going to be a seed that comes there's going to be an offspring of of the woman and there's going to be this offspring that comes and and he's going to do something he is going to bruise the head of the serpent yes his heel would be bruised in other words there would be a pain and there would be affliction and we see that in the cross we see that in calvary but the destruction that would come upon the head of the serpent would it wouldn't the bruising of the heel would not compare to the destruction that would fall upon the head of the serpent the head the power the authority of the serpent would be destroyed and this is the first promise where god says i'm gonna fix this problem there is a problem mankind walked out on me but i'm not gonna let that be the end of the story and god gives this promise right there right at the very beginning soon after mankind fell god gives a promise that one day one would come and would destroy the power of the enemy that holds men and women captive genesis 22 7 we have this beautiful story well it's beautiful when you know the outcome but in the middle of the story it's it's it's a hard story it's it's a difficult story because in this story god speaks to a man by the name of abraham he says hey abraham take your son your only son isaac whom you love and go off from as a burnt offering on the mountain where i will show you now what's amazing to me in this story is the language that god used he said take your son your only son but isaac was not his only son he had an older boy named esau but it's as if god is challenging the heart of abraham because abraham had such devotion such love for this boy isaac loved him and he said take your son he's as if to you he's an only son and really he was the son of promise so according to the fulfillment of god's plan he was the son of promise so in that regards he was the only son the only son of promise take your son your only son isaac whom you love and offer him and you know the story the next day the bible says that abraham and isaac went a couple servants with them and they journey and they journey up to mount moriah and as their journey in verse 7 of genesis 22 but isaac spake to abraham his father and said my father and he said here i am my son and he said look the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt offering at this point isaac is realizing wait a minute this story is is is turning out um i don't know about this we've got all the ingredients to sacrifice to god except the sacrifice and in a few verses he would find out that he was the sacrifice of course we know god's miraculous hands stayed the knife of abraham abraham god was testing abraham and abraham proved his complete devotion to god by offering the thing that he loved the most and abraham had such faith in god that even if he had killed his son that he knew that god was going to raise him from the dead but look at verse 8 of this story and abraham said my son god will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering so the two of them went together i i really doubt if abraham understood the principle really the prophecy that he was declaring by that statement he's thinking about the situation with him and his boy and the command and everything that he's obeying in that moment but as he spoke those words those words established a principle in scripture that god would be the one that would provide for himself the lamb that god would be the one that said i will provide for myself the sacrifice that is worthy i will provide for myself the sacrifice that will atone i will provide for myself to sacrifice that is appropriate and that pleases god abraham prophesied my god will provide for himself the lamb and established a principle that we would be fulfilled thousands of years later when the messiah came in isaiah 59 15 says so truth fails and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey that sounds like 2020 to me if you if you're going to turn your back on evil and you're going to live for god now you set yourself up to be attacked you set yourself up to be belittled you set yourself up to to have a mark on you and you're going to have all these names that are called you you're going to be called a fanatic and this that the other this world hates it when people make a stand for righteousness this society hates it when people stand for morality and in isaiah 59 15 says so truth fails and he he who departs from evil makes himself a prey then the lord saw there's the main character again jehovah yahweh the one true god of the bible he saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice verse 16. he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor therefore his own arm brought salvation for him and his own righteousness it sustained him you see god looked at the messed up condition of humanity and he said i i need an intercessor i need someone that will stand in the gap i need someone that can fix this problem i need someone that can step up and resolve it and he looked and he looked and he looked and there was no one qualified among mankind to be that intercessor there was no one qualified among all the inhabitants of the earth to stand in the gap and to stay the judgment of god that was earned that was deserved for mankind's wickedness there was no one to stand in the gap god wondered god was amazed what hope is there but the main character stepped forward and the bible says his own arm brought salvation he said well they can't do it for them so i'm gonna do it for them they can't save themselves so i'll be the one that has to initiate salvation they can't fix themselves so i'll be the one that brings the cure they can't do it for themselves so i'll be the one his own arm brought salvation for him isaiah 7 14 these beautiful verses and this week uh on sunday uh pastor haney asks us to read daniel four five and six and uh what i did for myself is i took the first three days of this week and i've read one of those chapters and just kind of spent time just focusing on that one chapter and today i've finished chapter six there's just something incredible about the word of god and the more you put god's word in you the more nourished you'll be the stronger you'll be for this journey and today you'll notice we're just going through the word just go through the word it's the word that's going to keep us it's the word that's going to save us i'm very aware that i stand before you and i have opinions i have ideas i have thoughts but the opinions of eli lopez will get no one to heaven but the word of god will get all of us to heaven so let's always stay in the word stay in the word stay in the word in isaiah 7 14 therefore the lord himself will give you a sign behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name emmanuel isaiah this incredible some people refer to isaiah as the fifth gospel because there's so much about jesus in the book of isaiah just so much if you ever just read there there are four servant songs in isaiah you read those servant songs a lot of people don't know that isaiah was a songwriter and he has four songs that are in his book in the book of isaiah and these songs paint this beautiful picture give us details about the life of the messiah that we get nowhere else in scripture just absolutely amazing the details that that we get and we have so many prophecies in isaiah about the coming messiah and this one in isaiah 7 14 it says that a virgin miraculously a virgin would conceive and bear a son but his name now we we know this right we know that whenever you see the concept of name in the bible it refers to identity his name or his identity will be emmanuel well that's very significant because the translation of emmanuel is is god with us god among us so there's a promise that miraculously a virgin would give birth but what she gave birth to would have an identity of god with us jeremiah 23 verse 5. jeremiah 23 verse 5. behold the days are coming says the lord that i will raise to david a branch of righteousness a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth now notice who's giving this this declaration who's given this prophecy it is god it is jehovah it is yahweh it's the main character of this story is giving this this declaration of what he is going to do one day of what he is going to accomplish one day and he says one day that a king shall reign and prosper and some people have a misguided view that that that it's going to be somebody different or it's a different individual that's in view here but but remember this in verse 5 it says behold the days are coming says the lord so it is jehovah who is speaking because in verse 6 we get the identity of the one who is coming and the prophecy continues in his days judah will be saved and israel will dwell safely and now this is his name by which he will be called the lord our righteousness so if you realize what this prophecy is saying the very god who is declaring what would happen is saying i will be the fulfillment of this prophecy thus saith the lord a king will come i will raise up this this this branch to david this branch of righteousness but this is going to be his name he is going to be jehovah or righteousness so the very god who declares that a savior would come says i will come as your savior you need to understand the identity of the one who comes and now this is his name this is his identity he's going to be known as the lord our righteousness the very one speaking the prophecy is the one who will fulfill the prophecy micah chapter 5 and verse 2. we're staying in the word tonight micah 5 and 2 but you bethlehem ephrata though you are little among the thousands of judah yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in israel whose goings forth are from old from everlasting there is this declaration that in bethlehem one would be born and he would be born in time he would be born on a particular date he would be born on on a time that you could mark on a calendar a time that you could mark according to to the way we track time yes he would be begotten he would come into the world but yet what dwelt in that robe of flesh that was born was something eternal whose going forth are from old from everlasting the god who is speaking these prophecies can you see what he's saying he's saying i am the one the one who has always been the one who will ever be i am the one who will come to rescue my people isaiah 9 6 perhaps this verse encapsulates everything we're trying to say best about these prophecies these promises of one who would come for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given oh this is a verse that we we read it we consider it we hear it many times around the christmas season because it is the promise of the one who came for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name or his identity will be called wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father prince of peace and some will say how can the son be the father how can the child be the mighty god the one true god listen people there are some things that that i may not be able to explain very well but i just know that their truth i cannot explain the wonder of the incarnation it is an absolute miracle that's why paul later declared in his letter to timothy great is the mystery of godliness god was manifest in the flesh paul said i can't explain exactly how it happened but i can tell you it happened god came in the flesh and this child this son you need to recognize his true identity he is the mighty god he is the eternal god he is the everlasting god he's the god who spoke and the universe came into existence he's the god who reached down and for man of the dust of the ground he is that god the creator the ever living god the almighty god this child is gonna have an identity and you must recognize his identity you see the main character at the very beginning is going to be the main character throughout this entire story and the child would have an identity he would be the mighty god the son is the everlasting father we jump to the book of matthew chapter one and in matthew chapter one it says now all this was done and we didn't go through the entire chapter if we took time and read through matthew chapter one you'd see the events surrounding the announcement of jesus uh pending birth and and the announcements and the angels appearing to joseph angel's appearing to mary and so on and so forth and we get this statement in verse 22 so all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the lord through the prophet saying behold the virgin shall be with child and bear a son and they shall call his name emmanuel which is translated god with us you see the main character of this story from way back in the beginning is still the main character today the god who we see at the very beginning creating the god who walked with adam and eve in the garden the god who fostered relationship with mankind that same god remains the central character of this story all throughout the narrative of the bible because the one that was born in bethlehem the one who came and we know his name to be jesus he is the fulfillment of the prophecy that the virgin would give birth to a child and his identity would be emmanuel his identity would be god with us he is the everlasting one who always has been and always will be he is the fulfillment of the prophecies of scripture that the lord the lord jehovah yahweh would come to his people all this was fulfilled all this was fulfilled god with us he is still the main character of this story second corinthians chapter 5 and verse 18 says this now all things are of god who has reconciled us to himself through jesus christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation so paul is writing and he's kind of explaining the mission of the church like what what is the church supposed to be about what do we do and and he says that okay we're saved we're reconciled to god through jesus christ we're put in right standing with god and he's given us the ministry of reconciliation so we go out and we preach we don't just don't have church just to have church there's a mission there's a ministry god has planted christian life center in stockton to reach stockton that's why we're here we have a beautiful building on the highway we that everyone can drive by and see we've got two campuses and god has blessed this ministry but it's more than just owning buildings and having property these are blessings from god that help us fulfill the mission but there is a mission behind all of this these buildings were built to reach this city so that souls could come in and from this sacred desk they could hear the gospel preached and that verse 18 could be fulfilled that the ministry of reconciliation that people could be made right with god and look at this it is the language of relationship it is the language of relationship we have a ministry of reconciliation when a a man and woman are married and they separate and then they work things out and they get back together that is called a reconciliation if you have a relationship with someone and then you have a falling out a disagreement you whatever you go your separate ways and then later in the course of life you you patch up those differences that is a reconciliation so what is taking place when the gospel is preached is is relational at its core and we're talking about the greatest story we're talking about the greatest love story and this bible it is it is a book of redemption it is telling us god's plan to redeem to save it is telling us god's plan to reach the likes of you and me and at its core what god desires with us is a relationship we have the ministry of reconciliation when you and i get saved we are restored to relationship with god what was lost in garden there's that classic by milton paradise lost but in the altar paradise is regained because a reconciliation takes place a relationship is made right but look at verse 19 what is this ministry or this word of reconciliation what is this gospel that we preach that is that god was in christ reconciling the world to himself you just gotta look at the grammar there there are some people that that somehow see a distinction in persons and they think that jesus christ is different from god and if that were the case then the grammar of this verse would have to be different it would say that god was in christ reconciling the world to themselves if they were two different individuals but there's one individual it's the main character of this story that was there at the beginning and he's going to be there at the end and he's right here in the middle of this story in verse 19. god was in christ and in the coming weeks we're going to look at some verses that really spell this out but i i'm gonna give a little foreshadowing right now you know we we have the time where where jesus is with his disciples and philip says hey show us the father and that's enough for us that suffices that's all we need and jesus looks and he says philip how long have i been with you we've hung around each other for three and a half years how long have i been with you don't you recognize me yet don't you know who i am yet he who has seen me has seen the father one day jesus stood in front of the jews and he said before abraham was i am and they immediately took up stones because they realized that the last times they heard those words was when moses stood before a burning bush and god said i am that i am i want to tell you when you see jesus you're not seeing a separate god you're not seeing a junior god you're not seeing a demigod you're not seeing a second person of some godhead you are seeing god himself because the bible says god was in christ reconciling the world to himself and i feel the holy ghost right now he is still the main character in this story he was in christ reconciling the world so when you see jesus you need to understand the identity and so now it all fits together isaiah 9 6 how the son and the child would be the father would be the the mighty god because this is god's plan that he would come to reach mankind so let's go back and talk about the relationship we walked out on god we divorced god we turned our backs on god and god is the one who pursued us no one no one can say i found god because god is the one who first finds us and he has pursued and pursued he sent in the old testament he sent prophets he sent messengers he gave words of the lord trying to bring his people back but at the end all of it was insufficient to accomplish the reconciliation that he desired and so finally he came himself he became the lamb his own right arm brought salvation he raised up a king a branch to david but the identity of that branch he is the lord our righteousness like it said in micah 5 2 he is the one whose ways are from old even from everlasting god was in christ when you've seen jesus you have seen the father paul said it like this he is the image of the invisible god when you see jesus you see god made visible among us god was in christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and is committed to us the word of reconciliation he came to restore the relationship i'm astounded by this i'm just going to stay here just for a few moments i made this point several times but we're the ones who walked out on god but god driven by his love motivated by his love for us pursued and pursued and pursued us all the way to the incarnation he became one of us to reach us verse 20. now then we are ambassadors for christ an ambassador is someone who represents like a king or you represent a government we are ambassadors for christ we represent christ as though god were pleading through us we implore you on christ's behalf be reconciled to god do you see the significance of that that when you come to jesus you're reconciled to god how can that be if they're two separate persons it wouldn't work but when you come to jesus you're reconciled to god because god was in christ reconciling the world to himself when you understand the identity of this messiah i get it now jesus when we've seen you we've seen the father i see it i get it you are emmanuel you are god with us i'm going to make a statement right now and uh you've heard me say this before no doubt and and maybe not if you haven't i will explain it and i will further explain it in the coming weeks but i'm going to make this statement jesus is not the reason for the season now put your stones down don't don't don't drive over to the christian life weight campus and and stoney ly lopez to death i'm not being sacrilegious and i'm not um i'm not diminishing the centrality of jesus christ to christmas absolutely not but i want us to change our perspective you see from the earthly human perspective brother haney talked about christmas a little bit on sunday morning the reason that we mark christmas we mark this special day as as christians is because we do recognize that the messiah the savior has come god has come to reach us and to save us and we we we mark the wonder and the beauty of this incarnation the love of god that compelled him to such lengths that's the human perspective but the divine perspective has a little different focus and remember god is the main character of this story and it's his motivation it's what is in his heart that is driving this story forward and what is in the heart of god luke 19 10 says it like this jesus he gave his mission he gave an explanation for why he was here he said the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost why was there an incarnation why did the messiah come why did god provide a lamb for himself why did his own arm bring salvation why was the prophecy given and then fulfilled that a child would be born and a son would be given and his name would be called wonderful counselor the mighty god the everlasting father the prince of peace when you see jesus you see the fulfillment of that prophecy why because if we look at it from god's perspective it's all about reconciliation from god's perspective you and i are the reason for this season he came to reach he came to save he came to be reconciled to us it's it's astounding we walked out on god but his love has pursued all the way to the incarnation and so there are some who don't particularly like the christmas season i am not one of those i i love the christmas season and uh it's not about all the ancillary stuff right presents and festivities that's all fine but that's that's not why i love the christmas season i love it because it is a stark reminder no number one who the main character of this story is but it's also a stark reminder of the great love that he has for the likes of you and me and if god would go to those lengths to be reconciled to mankind i want to tell you the voice of the enemy needs to be silenced tonight because there are some that are dealing with such guilt and condemnation you are you are still dealing with mistakes you've made in your past and you have a hard time believing that god would or could forgive you but if you could get a picture of the love of god if you could get a picture of what compelled him of what drove him of what made the incarnation a reality if you could just get a glimpse of what's in the heart of god it would drive away that condemnation it would silence the voice of the enemy it would silence the oppression of that guilt that is locking you down and you would realize that there's a god that loves you more than words could express there's a god who wants to forgive you more than you want to be forgiven there's a god that wants to restore you more than you want to be restored there's a god that wants to be reconciled to you more than your heart would ever know that's the heart of god for his people in the coming weeks we're going to package this a little more we're going to talk about some of the blessings that come when you recognize the incarnation the power and i could say this way the authority that comes to a believer's life when you understand the truth of what this word declares of who your god is to you and how your god is your savior i'm going to close with the verse that we looked at again in second corinthians 5 19 and it says it this way god was in christ where i can sound the world to himself whatever you need is found in jesus whatever you need and i'm going to say something i'm not mocking i'm not making fun i'm definitely not but i i would hate to be a christian that i didn't know who to pray to some christians pray this prayer to the father some christians pray this prayer to the son some christians pray this prayer to the spirit some christians are way out and they'll pray to this person or that person they'll pray to mary they'll pray to this i want to tell you when you have jesus you have everything that god has for you and that god wants to be to you when i see jesus i see a god reaching for you and i and so when i pray i call upon the name that is above every name when i reach out to god i'm reaching out to the one who first reached out to me and came for me i don't have to worry do i pray to this person and now do i pray to this person i pray to god i pray to jesus i call him by his name because when i see jesus i recognize it's the one true god it's that god that was there at the beginning it's the god who's going to be there at the end and it's the god who's at work right now in your life and in my life god was in christ reconciling the world so no matter what you're facing tonight i really felt to to end this message on a note of faith whatever you need tonight if you need a healing in your body jesus is your healer you don't need to call in a separate god jesus is your healer you need deliverance tonight jesus is your deliverer you need provision tonight perhaps you're facing a need in your family jesus is your provider you need a miracle tonight jesus is your waymaker he is your miracle worker when you have jesus you have everything that god has for you i was in seminary and uh me and brother abrega were taking a class together in seminary this is several years ago now and i had a wonderful man who was my teacher but he does not hold our view to what we would say is the oneness of god and he was teaching in class one day and he he got himself a little out there and he made this statement he said class what's the doorbell that you could ring that when you ring this doorbell it gives you access to everything that god has for you and the class was silent and the desks were kind of in a u-shape the tables that we were sitting at and so brother abrego we were actually at one end of the u and we could see our teacher we could see the rest of the class and nobody was answering and i'm starting my wife says i have a smart aleck smile and you probably need to pray that through some but i started my that little smile that little smirk begin to go on my face because i know the answer i know this word i know who jesus is and he said come on class what's what's what's what's the doorbell he said what is the one name that you can call on that gives you access to everything that god wants to be to you and then he paused he said i need to be careful he said i sound like i could preach in in one of those oneness churches i said brother keep going and nobody would answer finally he said jesus jesus is the answer when you call on the name of jesus you get access to everything that god wants to be everything that god has for you everything that god can do for you when you call on the name of jesus and i want to tell someone tonight go ahead and ring that doorbell in faith when you call upon the name of jesus you're not calling upon a lesser god or a junior god or a second person of some community in heaven you are calling on god himself and when you call on the name of jesus all of god's power all of god's authority all that god is can be released in your life right now in this moment you need a healing right now raise your hands man i feel the holy ghost right now see when you preach about the identity of god god backs up his word when you when you exalt the name of jesus god is gonna back up his word if you need a healing right now i want you to raise your hand i know you're at home i know it may be uncomfortable because family's looking at you but you need a healing this isn't time to be shy it's not time to be backwards it's not time to worry about what anyone thinks you need a healing you need a miracle you need an answer and i've come to tell you man i feel the holy ghost right now jesus is the answer jesus is the one who's going to do the work so let's pray together in faith right now and if you can pray in tongues pray in tongues if you can pray in the spirit let's step in right now but let's call upon the name that is above every name in the name of jesus right now god i pray for your people i pray for those that are partaking of this service as they are watching wherever they're at even those that are here in this sanctuary tonight that your power would be released in the name of jesus we speak healing and we speak deliverance and we speak your miracle working power to be released in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name you know what makes this the greatest love story yes there's a hero yes there's a main character but god in his love and mercy has written you and i into the story so for me it's the greatest love story for me personally it's the greatest love story there is that god would come to reach mankind but it's more than just a story in a book or story to be recited it's the story of your life and the story of my life jesus loves you i hope you can understand that i hope you can get that tonight how much jesus loves you your prayers are not in vain you're asking god for a miracle you're calling upon one who loves you you are part of this love story the greatest love story of all lord jesus tonight we love you and we receive your word your word is truth encourage your people tonight strengthen your people tonight [Music] increase the faith of your people tonight in jesus name we look unto you in jesus name god bless you thank you for joining us tonight we're going to sing for a few moments you're welcome to have a time of devotion and a time of worship god bless you tonight [Music] name above all names beautiful savior glorious lord [Music] emmanuel god is with us blessed we [Music] jesus name above all names beautiful savior [Music] glorious god is with us blessed we deeper [Music] jesus jesus name above all names beautiful saints glorious lord manuel god is with us blessed we deeper live sing out to him name above all names beautiful savior glorious lord [Music] god is with us blessed be deeper [Music] jesus name above all names beautiful savior [Music] glorious god is with us blessed with jesus jesus name above all names beautiful glorious lord emmanuel god is with us blessed [Music] living word one last time can you sing that to him sing jesus jesus name above all names beautiful savior god is with us [Music] living world [Music] you

Channel: Christian Life Center

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Length: 78min 48sec (4728 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 02 2020