This Is Love

welcome to the faith bridge sermon podcast be sure to keep watching immediately after the sermon for PostScript a weekly podcast with in-depth content and answers to your questions submitted during the sermon you can also find it on iTunes or at Faith Bridge org slash PostScript it's good to see you guys if you have a Bible we're in first John chapter 4 and if you don't there's people that would love to hand you a Bible if you'd like one or you can just listen cuz I'm gonna read to you first John chapter 4 starting in verse 7 we'll pray and then jump into it together so first John chapter 4 beginning in verse 7 says this beloved let us love one another for love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love and this the love of God was manifest among us that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through him in this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins beloved if God so loved us we also ought to love one another no one's ever seen God but if we love one another god abides in US and his love is perfected in us by this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he's given us of his spirit and we have seen and testified that the father has sent his son to be the savior of the world whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God God abides in him and he in God so we have come to know and to believe the love God has for us god is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him let me pray for us father help us now I pray understand what it is to be loved by you and what it is to love others with the inexhaustible love of God Lord this is one of those things that can just be words that don't necessarily impact how we live and I'm just praying you rescue us from just kind of hanging out here listening to a guy talk I pray God you would transport us to a place of really understanding the depths of what we're talking about intimacy with the Almighty and God I pray what effect how we speak to one another in our homes how we treat our co-workers how we navigate this holiday season affect us as a result of this time in your word and I can't generate that so we're asking you God to do something I can't to change us and I want to invite you guys if you're willing to pray that and ask him say lord please teach me something right now I mean if you would please pray for me that the Lord would speak through me and I'd be helpful to you well father we love you and we trust you use this time we pray that in Jesus name Amen well when I was a youth pastor here we used to take our students rappelling and it was a fun adventure take the kids outdoors we would drive off to someplace where there was a cliff and then spend the afternoon sending children's off the side of a mountain and we would always go with an outfitter that kind of had all the gear and had all the guides and so every time we would go with them he would always sit us all down and give us the speech and the speech would always start with the gear this rope can hold up a Volkswagen Buick it will never phrase snap or break in the slightest it will hold up children no one will be lost today because of this rope do you believe this and all our kids would be like yes we know because they heard the speech before and then he'd move on to the guides this guide has been guiding for 10 years he's lowered thousands of young people off the side of mountains we've never lost a one none of you will die today under the steady hand of this man right here and everyone be like we know we know because they'd heard it and yet when it came time to descend down that mountain about 50% of our students would freak out and normally it was the guys which I don't really understand that like I don't know if it's because they just like didn't trust the guides intentionally or if it was because the guide was cute and so he'd always get girls to the edge of I'll just lean back ok and I'll say Joe I don't know but inevitably guys would step up and you know when you're rappelling you don't climb down the mountain you lean back into the rope and descend down and these young guys would get up there and as soon as they get there they go wait wait no wait wait and you go what what is the Rope frame no snapping know what it was the guy hit his head is he unconscious is he suddenly lost his ability to help you no well then what's the problem and there wait wait and they say wait like something's wrong and they would extend the least fun part of the whole process right and it was interesting cuz you would watch that you go what just happened here 30 minutes ago this guy will take care of me this rope Oh hold you I know I know but when you get to the edge your actions betray what you really believe now what I tell you that because in this passage John says so we have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us and so that's my simple message today you are loved and if you know Jesus Christ than the most powerful being in existence likes you he knows your name and my guess is when I say that to a lot of you you say I know like oh the message today is jesus loves me this I know like I already know and yet if you read this passage John begins to tell you characteristics of those who know they're loved by God he said those who know that God loves them are characterized by a fearlessness there's no fear in love perfect love casts out fear if I know God loves me I'm not anxious when I walk into social circles I'm not characterized by nervousness or frustration when I go into work but I have a freedom I'm fearless and I'm free I'm free to love other people the beloved love is what John will say that when I walk into a room I'm not trying to get your attention get your approval get you to like me I already have it the beloved love is the most natural movement love embraced from God becomes love except extended towards other people and so it's interesting I say to you hey did you know God loves you I imagine most of you in this room would say yes you'd get that right on a quiz but if I said so is your life characterized by a fearlessness and a freedom to love other people I bet most of us here would known that because we know it but do we believe it and honestly just to get real real like I think if we really believed it what effect I think we pray more we'd want to steal away with a God who loves us like this passage is talking about I think we'd sing differently I mean be honest because I was watching some of y'all how many of you when we were singing earlier we were seeing some big stuff and some of you is it's you you have no rival you you have no equal yes that would forever always right we're saying some pretty profound things to God in a way that's maybe a little bit bored and I'm not guilt tripping all of you maybe some of you were tired I don't know what it is but what I'm saying is man if we really understand who Christ is and what he's done it's gonna change the way we talked the way we live in a way that we treat the people he's made right so if I can say to you do you know you're loved by God yes but is your life characterized by a fearlessness and a freedom to love others know for many of us it's not and that's a problem because here's the reality you're about to be around your relatives a lot and we got to figure out how to love people sometimes when it's hard and here's the principle I can give you a conversation and when I hear this text preached lot it's how to love people you love people here's six things you can do to love people right well that's great but I don't actually really really want to and the principle I want to get behind us is this that it's love embraced that becomes love extended if you're gonna be loving to the people in the world you have to have a source you want to be a source you gotta have a source that's the reality I had a friend like years ago when I was in college go scuba diving in the Caribbean with her family and she did one of those like crazy unsafe things where you spent like an hour learning how to scuba dive and then you dive into the ocean you know but she did it and went with this big group and so they pair you up with little swim buddies and so they paired her up with this middle-aged guy and they you know douve into the depths of the ocean together and each have their own scuba tank on the last freighter and so her in our little swim buddy or swimming around like pointing at fish together everything's great right until his oxygen tank fails something goes wrong in the tubing and so they had been given a protocol of different hand gestures to alert somebody having problems breathing they go get the guide and they help you gently ascend to the top but when he suddenly got to the point if I can't breathe he freaked out and so he just grabbed her and began shaking her which isn't really solving the breathing problem or communicating to her what's going on right and so she's trying to understand like this was not in the training session right and then he grabs the aspirator of her mouth pulls it out and puts it in his mouth and starts breathing and she realizes hey this is a problem right what's going on here and then he starts to try to sort of like climb her back up to the surface which mechanically doesn't really work when you're underwater but he wasn't making a lot of sense cuz pannikin coming to his mind and so what she realized was this guy's drowning me so she does what you can only do with this thing just start hitting the guy right and so she's hitting the guy he's pushing her and then finally he just grabs her and he just swims as fast as you can to the surface which gives both of them you know the decompression sickness or I always get all bloodshot they were sick for days it's great but they survived never again to be swim buddies or any kind of buddy for that matter but you're looking at you go what happened as long as they had a source of life they could be a source of life to each other right right and just kind of enjoying each other right but as soon as my source of life got turned off scarcity produces desperation and desperation exploitation and so when I come into a relationship with you I don't come free to give I come to take and many of us if we're honest when we enter into social circles or enter into the world we enter in as takers not givers drains not fountains why because we want acceptance we want approval we want to feel desired we want to feel important we want to feel loved and so I don't know what flavor it takes for you but for some of us it's the amount of people that when I put something out online I need to get this certain amount of lights to feel like I'm really valued as a person or for others of you I need to have a certain amount of success so that when I'm at dinner parties are saying why I did this and sold that I did this her owns her own profit right and goes on the people go wow this guy seems like he's really got to put together Bob and you know yes I sure do and you leave that party feeling good I like those people like because they made me like me if we find different ways to do it I did it to myself the other day in an area that I'm never in cooking I was in charge of frying the turkey at Thanksgiving and so I didn't do any preparations beforehand Donna did it all but I showed up that day and I got there and suddenly I realized I'm super nervous about how this turkey is gonna turn out and we had all these guests coming over visitors from our church all these different people that were so excited about loving being ministry to them but when I showed up in the kitchen Donna was like here's your 18 pound turkey and I don't know if you've ever fried a turkey but 18 pounds that's that's a huge mistake they make youtube videos and a guys to do that and end up lighting the house on fire because grease comes pouring out gets lit up and your movie congratulations so um she shows me this big turkey I start freaking out I'm like oh my god this is not gonna work I'm gonna fail it frying it I'm gonna fail in my front yard frying a turkey lighting it on fire I was gonna come over and go why he's been such an idiot right and then while I'm in the middle of panic about that my neighbor comes running across the street it was like hey man you French Turkey hey can I throw one after you any runs back and get his mother-in-law's like hey this guy's turkey frying expert gets on the phone and it's so great I got an extra right here and I'm just like and the crazy thing was done and I had been praying Lord we want to meet our neighbors we want to be a light to our neighbors Halloween we went out to sat in our front yard like let's meet all the neighbors didn't see a single neighbor like total ministry to our neighborhood fail and yet here the one is coming to my doorstep and I'm trying to push him away like I'm short with Donna why'd you buy this Turkey I'm this guy I'm like get out of my yard and I'm just being so impatient and and finally I stopped I'm like what's the matter like why do I care so much like if the turkey lights on fire like what's the worst gonna happen we'll leave him and and I realized I had put a sense of significance in this that I would feel important or people would and I'm like in a turkey what happened but it's so easy to do it that I've got to pull from you a sense of approval rather than coming in with it and I wasn't a blessing at least initially to a lot of the people I wanted to be and some of you hear that and you go wow you've got problems but let me tell you something Patrick Carnes one of the leading voices on addiction in our country today when he says how do people get to a point where they abuse substances he says the root of all substance abuse is feeling unloved and when I feel like I'm not loved at some point that pain has to be numbed and some kind of good feeling has to come in and if I can't get it from God or people I'll settle for a website or a drink or a drug how addicted is our country dicted online addicted to substances addicted to pills why because we're trying to fill something and we're entering the world as drains instead of fountains looking for a source of life from others rather than being a source of life for others and so let me tell you something the lie that launches a million sins and puts a lot of stress into your holiday weekend is the lie that I have to get my approval my love from others rather than being tapped into the source but the beloved loved loved embraced from God becomes loved extended for other people that's what John is championing here we need to know and believe that we're loved by God because the beloved love we get to be lights to our neighborhood we get to be a blessing to people even in other political parties right because I have a love from God I can extend to others but let's ask the obvious question some of you here this year well man that's fantastic I want to feel loved by God some of your like I've been going to Sunday School or whatever or hearing messages my whole life I want to feel loved by God but I don't feel it so you're telling me you got to feel loved by God you got to feel it so that you can love other people how am I supposed to feel that how do I know that I am loved let's say that the subjective feelings burn-off objective truth how can I know that I am loved so I can feel loved by God if being loved by God's gonna help me love other people how do I know we'll take it out of the religious circle for a minute how do you know you're loved by anybody can't see love can't put it in a little bottle which got there a little bit of love for you can't do that so how do you know love exists anywhere think about movies think about novels think about this shows you watch where they want to show you that one character loves another how do you know how what do they show you that convinces you love exists and some of you might say well bin love it's like the wind you can't see love but you feel the effects of it right and you'd be right you're right so what do you see that proves to you love is there I would say they show you three things over and over again in life to show you love exists I think the first thing is they show you love initiates it initiates love will not sit still when the beloved falls in love with the other he will move love will not stay you will never see a 20 year old guy when it dawns on him he really loves a girl not just think she's cute but wants to spend the rest of his life with her when that realization lands on him you'll never see him go I love her weird and keep doing what he's doing because loves moves love since text messages love since emails love write songs love sings poetry love moves towards the beloved so princess Buttercup when she's held captive and Princess Bride says I know my Wesley will come for me how do you know that because what they have is true love right and she knows true love comes running for the beloved right how do you know love exists it sends it initiates it moves towards the beloved it will not sit still second where they show you is love sacrifices love will give itself for the sake of the beloved so Jack will freeze to death in the Atlantic to keep rose up on that door after the Titanic sinks right he'll just sit there and eat it till he dies right why I will willingly give my life for the sake of the one I love right frozen honor will step in front of that sword right why because she loves her sister and she knows true love will thaw that frozen heart right and so how do you know because true love sacrifices for the beloved Bruno Mars will catch a grenade for you step in front of a train for you why does he say it that way why sing that in a love song about grenades rolling in like what why say that because he knows that we know that when I see sacrifice I know love is there and so when I see sacrifice I know a beloved will surrender his life to the flames for the sake of the loved and loved stays it stays love will stay even when it's hard and even when everyone else runs out so Noah will keep reading the notebook - Ali even though she has Alzheimer's and doesn't remember who he is and for the guys who don't know what I'm talking about Adam Sandler will keep romancing drew Barrymore in 50 first dates even though she has some kind of memory problem and forgets him every morning he'll keep wooing her why because he loves her and true love stays even when the stains hard that's what we say in our wedding vows that I promise to love you for better or for worse in sickness and in health why do we say it that way because we know in our most sacred social environment that we create interpersonally the way to demonstrate love before God our beloved in the world is to tell them here's how you know I love you I'll stay even when it's hard because we know that's what love does it sends and sacrifices and it stays and when you see those things you say I know love exists when you say Ben why are we talking about this because John tells us in this the love of God was made manifest among us John says in this there was a thing something happened and when it did it made manifest the love of God the root of that word manifest is the word light he says there was an event that happened and it turned the lights on and we saw God loves me I know God loves me because I saw something that convinced me of it what did you see John he says and this the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent His only Son into the world God sent because love sends man if you want to really show somebody you love him you don't send him an email maybe you do like if it's like a niece or something I don't know but let's say you want to declare your love to someone you want to marry you don't send that in an email you may not even send him a letter for me when I when it's Donna to know I loved her and wanted a relationship with her I didn't sent her a text or an email or a letter I sent her young people with a poem and a guitar to sing to her at a front door inviting her to dinner with her beloved right because I loved her and love moves towards the beloved and the Bible says how do you know you're loved by God and this has Love's manifest he sent to us and he sent to us not a text not an email not a angel not a prophet not a nice guy he sent his best the best emissary of heaven the very son of God came for you because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him wouldn't perish but have life that's what this whole season is about it's a massive declaration from God you are loved exhibit a is that I came for you the love has sent for you so that we might live through him he came to be life for us Christianity is not a group of people who've ascribed to the moral teachings of some kind of religious figure that's not who we are Christianity is not some people who have knit together out of a common set of political beliefs that's not who we are Christians are people who heard the message and received and believed that God loves us and the way we were convinced of it is because we saw he sent his son that we might live through him we're not better we're not smarter we're not more spiritual we just embraced the love that came because love sins through his son why did he come verse 10 and this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins how do you know your loved loved sins and love sacrifices He loves us and I love it it tells you two barriers he overcame the first barrier was that we didn't love him back God didn't wait for us to love him before Christ came you weren't even born yet and Christ came that his love is coming for us leaping over the barrier of our indifference and not only that he sees the much bigger barrier of our violation of a holy God that we as humanity have walked away from submission to God did that stop Jesus no he went running through that barrier and sacrificed for us it says he's the propitiation for our sins now for those of you who don't use the word propitiation in normal everyday conversation let me explain what that means it's it's a temple imagery word that in the Old Testament God gave his people this set of rituals they would do and and they were pictures there were images of what God wanted to do with all of history and and one of the things he gave them was he gave him the Ten Commandments gave to Moses the law of God the holiness of God written on stone here's how to love me and how to love each other and it's interesting do you remember when Moses got that commandments he came down off the mountain they had a big party when Moses read him and the people said all that is written we will do and God's response was oh that you had such a heart he says he can't he can't and so in the moment God gave us his holiness written out in words he gave us a system of sacrifice to show you what was necessary when we violate the holiness of God none of us are who we should be and so in the Old Testament God gave him a picture and that picture was those commandments would sit in a box it's called an ark which is Hebrew for box and that box had a lid called the Hillis Tyrion and the idea was as God looks down and sees his law if you can live in accordance with it you can have a relationship with God but no one obeys that law and so that box was kept in a room called the Holy of Holies and you weren't invited in and neither was I no human being could be and so the idea was God dwells in holiness and when he looks down and sees his violated law everyone has violated it so no one's invited into that room except for one day a year when the high priest would sacrifice a lamb and he would step into that room and he would take the blood of an innocent lamb and spread it across the top of that box and the imagery and it was just a picture of symbolism the symbol was when God looks down he no longer sees his violated law he sees that all of our violations are covered by an innocent one who paid our debt for us and when he sees that he can be merciful to us we contend relationship with him restored and so that lid was called the helis Tyrion the mercy seat the same word we translate propitiation that what was a symbol in the Old Testament became reality in the new that Jesus Christ came for us and then he demonstrated his love how by being a propitiation for us that when he sees our violation of God he who knew no sin he had never sinned became sin for us that's what the cross was for that I will take the punishment for you I will take the debt for you so I can rip open the curtains of the Holy of Holies and introduce you back into the family of God that Jesus Christ will give all to pay our debt and move it out of the way how you know love is present because God sends and got sacrifices so right out of college when I moved here to Spring Texas I had a roommate that it was the most fascinating thing I mean he's 22 years old and he would sit in his bedroom and he would have all his receipts laid out on a table and like a Excel spreadsheet and would track all of his finances down to the penny on an Excel spreadsheet which I don't hear the sounds of shock from you that I was anticipating let me say again he wasn't 40 he didn't have kids he didn't have I mean this guy's 22 I didn't know any 22 year olds it did I got a little wiser on write a little spectacles and kind of work in his little taxi I mean you're like what are you doing in there right just meticulous calculating he knew his credit score off the top of his head I'm like who knows that in college but he loves being financially responsible and he loved this girl that he met and I got a front-row seat to watching them fall in love watching them begin to see marriage in the future there was just one problem she had an enormous mountain of debt from very irresponsible choices in her 20s that involved credit cards and it's the kind of debt that's not going to get solved and one lump sum it's gonna get solved in like a lifetime and so I watched this guy that man his pride and joy was that credit score baby and his ability to control his finances and him to realize if I want her I get this and this is gonna devastate my financial situation but he looked at the cost and he said I'll take it I'll take it because I want her I cried at their wedding I don't know if everyone else in there knew it but I knew what it was gonna cost him but he never held it over her head he didn't make a speech about it on stage he just bought it so that it could open up the door for a relationship with them that's what our Christ has done that's what Jesus has done look at the weight of all that we've done that all that we we haven't actualized our potential as human beings and if you don't believe that read the news today we're so far from who were meant to be and Christ didn't recoil and terror at our ugliness and the sick sad things you do in the dark what did he do he moved towards us and he says all the debt I'll pay it and whatever requires I will pay it so that I can open the door for relationship with you and God again our best destroyer in the navy is called the USS michael Monsour why is it called that because in 2006 Michael Monsoor is a Navy SEAL was with his team in Ramadi driving insurgents out of that area and while in a sniper position a grenade was lobbed up onto their rooftop he and two other men from his team had a grenade lobbed in the middle of them in Michael without hesitation threw his body on top of it absorbed the blast and by doing so saved his friends so we gave him the Medal of Honor for that because our country realizes there's no more than you can give than your own life greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends there's no love greater than that so our country honors him with the highest honor we have and the Navy wants to sail out under that name Michael Monsoor because what they said at his medal ceremony it was death came for Michael's friends and Michael said you cannot have them I will go in their stead and that's what Christ has done into the penalty for our sin he flung himself do you think Michael Monsoor friends ever sit in question whether or not he loved them I think their mind drifts back to that moment and they realized we have proof that he do you wonder if the heavens care about you at all I would charge you look at the cross look at what he was willing to give he didn't have home Jesus Christ was homeless for us and then he sacrificed his very blood for us you can't give more are you loved loved sins in love sacrifices look at what he has done and love stays verse 13 says by this we know we abide in him and he in us because he's given us his spirit you know God loves you because he sent His Son you know his son loves you because he sacrificed his life and you know the Spirit of God loves you because he abides that word means stays right here that when you put your faith in Christ the very Spirit of God lands in you and he will never leave us and never forsake us that's the comfort of God and you can know your love because when you trust Christ his spirit stays so I had a friend in high school and her brother was a professional athlete one of the most attractive man I've ever seen and he was in love with this girl that I don't know if she was a model could have been should have been I don't know they were the most attractive couple I had ever seen it was the kind of attractive that stops conversations when they walk in the room I don't know if you've encountered people like that that you're talking about is yes anyway I says to because she's like whoa what like they're just very attractive people and and not only are they very attractive people they were also very humble and nice and so they were just the easiest people in the world to root for you know and as they began to march towards marriage you're like this is like the all-american couple this is unbelievable and yet as they got closer to the idea of getting married they found out she had an MS and started having trouble using her hands and then fairly quickly after that she wasn't able to comb her own hair she couldn't lift her arms and so the prospect of that journey she was on let her to talk to him and say hey you didn't sign up for this there's a long road of struggle in front of us with this and you don't need to take this and so she told him you can bow out and and and I think he should but he wouldn't hear word of it he said absolutely not and so when they got to their wedding day I remember sitting in that way I cried in that wedding and I don't really cry at weddings but I remember she choked up when she was supposed to say in sickness and in health she had trouble saying it because she knew what those words would cost him but he just gripped her hand and when it was his turn he said it loud I promise to love you in sickness and in health for better and for worse he says I know what I'm signing up for and I want you anyway and that's what God says do you think he doesn't know who you are do you think Jesus Christ saved you at camp when you're in high school cuz he got kind of swept up you know it been such a good week and Jesus was like oh I'll save him and then later on you're like dude Lord I did not realize you were such a train wreck of a human being you think that's what God's done he lets you in here and it was like we made a huge mistake I don't know how he got in the back like excuse me right you think that's what he does he knows what you are he knows who you are he knows what he's gonna have to deal with the rest of your life right he knows that he knows that about all of us and some of us if we're honest we're so disappointed with what we struggle is in life we are I remember for me there were issues in my life that God had brought substantial healing on and I thought they were it was so powerful I'm like someone should make a movie out of it like the incredible grace of God to heal even this part of my life or to heal this tragedy in my story that's so amazing and then like five years later to wrestle with the same things you're like this is like the lame sequel no one wants to see this movie I don't want to be in it it's horrible right but God loves us still and He loves us still and he's a deposit Ephesians says that Holy Spirit a deposit in you guaranteeing the things to come right he's not going anywhere how do you know you're loved by God the father sent the son the spirit son sacrificed his life the spirit stays with you these days and let me tell you something the more you dive into these realities and sit in them the more free you're going to be to love other people the more you can sit in that when your relatives come over you're not gonna have to prove your political ideas or right or to show them you really are a success you don't you're not gonna need to try to extract from them validation for you because you have it and so you can be freed up to be a blessing even to the most difficult of people and I want that for us I want the experience the world needs that from us so I remember when I was not that long at a college I went to a NASCAR race and it was a interesting cultural experience never been in NASCAR before never seen that many RVs in one place in my life or that many airbrushed t-shirts was unbelievable how popular they are in that sector but I remember we showed up there and as we were driving there the girl that had invited me she had four of us in the car and she said yeah I was given these tickets last minute like a corporate event fell through and so they gave us some tickets and we got some extras and since we were driving around down there I said how many experts do we have and she said I like like a hundred it's four of us in the car so the three guys that were in the car were like yes we can sell them we're gonna be rich oh these NASCAR babe oh right and then she was like what no were like these were freely given to us thus we should freely give and we were like oh man cuz as soon as she said that we knew we'd have to do it you know it sounded by believing whatever so I remember we got there and there was a line from the front gate just on deep into the RV park like you can't see the end of it and everyone in it looks stressed because it seemed that there weren't gonna be enough tickets for all these people so it's kind of a tense moment at NASCAR but I remember we walked up there and she Rebecca walked up to this couple and we're like hey how many people are in your party and they had like some kids with them so they're at four and so she just pulls out four tickets in hands into him and for a while they did nothing I mean they kind of looked at her like she's crazy like what's the matter with you you know and they stayed in like until finally one of the kids I guess cuz he's bored you know just goes up to the ticket counter to see like what's gonna happen if I hand her this crazy thing and so he hands to get to the operator up there she scans it okay you can go in and I remember their family looking at him as they passed through the gates in the NASCAR there and the rest of more like oh my god and I remember it the the impact it had on them like you you really just gave us why would who would and it just was so confusing to them they were emotional about it and I remember for the rest of us like the next hour we would just do that to people you know because after a while people started to like sense like hey something's going on over there but no one came up to us and like are you giving away free tickets they would just kind of make their way near us you know like found turkeys over here you know kind of talking to us and we would just hint it and they would go in and people would laugh people would cry and it was the most it was one of the most amazing human experiences with these people and I remember when they went in like that moment was done where like I wasn't that fun yeah okay and then we had our tickets and so we got in we didn't think about the fact that once you get in we had a block of seats so we turned the corner was like all the people we'd let in and they were like and honestly I don't really remember a whole lot about what the cars were up to but I remember that moment why why could we be generous like that because we'd been freely given we had tickets we're getting in there's no question about it we're covered and when we had a source we could be a source when we knew we had a ticket in we could freely give tickets away even if initially people were skeptical and thought we were weirdos we could still bless them right same here the beloved love right because God loves us it's the most natural thing to do when you know you're loved by God you can come into work not seeking validation but seeking to give consolation to those who are suffering you can walk into your family circles and not try to extract from them a sense of validation but give to them compassion when you know you're loved by a holy God you have a source of you can be a source of love how do you do it he will say here at the end we have seen and testified that the father sent his son to be savior of the world so we've come to know and to believe the love God has for us god is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and it God abides in him that word abide means stay right here as much as the Spirit of God abides in me I abide in him so I took my wife on a date the other day and some of you say why you already married you have to date are you already married her well I take her out somewhere well I get all dressed up and just sit on the couch you're both already there right why did I do that do I know she loves me yes well I take her on a date because the flow of life just makes us roommates and so I take her out on dates why to Kindle the love that I know is there because love is like a fire right you leave a fire alone it's gonna go down so how do you can't get a fire going again you do what every guy loves to do anyway you just you fit with it just mess with it right you you position it in such a way that it doesn't become something other than a fire it becomes a fire that's more alive how do you abide and the love of God let me challenge you this week before you step out into your office before just park the car and give yourself a minute read over first young for sit and think about the fact that the maker of the Stars knows your name and he likes you and see if a moment of abiding and his love doesn't change the way you talk to that person whose desk is next to yours abide in him as he abides in me and then we can step out and be a blessing to the world that's the gift God has given us we don't have to fight for approval we already have it we don't have to fight to be loved we're loved by the inexhaustible maker of the universe and when we get that we can be a blessing and the world needs that and we have that in Christ let me pray for us well father I want to thank you that God the message of Jesus does not follow a list of rules in order to be a better person that's not what you came to do you came among us because you loved us and for the glory of God and the good of us you took on our debt you didn't saddle us with things to do to make you like us you took on our addictions our insecurities our failures you bore them on the cross you took all the sting of condemnation and you took it you took the hit and you buried our guilt and shame and then you rose victorious and says whoever believes in me I've come that you would have life and have it to the full that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son that we would live through him and God I just believe there's some people today that they just today's the day they're gonna live they've existed but it's time to come alive and that comes in throwing open empty hands and saying I need Jesus to forgive me to bring me into the family of God and to love me so I can be a fountain to the world and not a drain I can be a source of love instead of a siphon of it and some of you even this morning need to cry that and say God I want you forgive me rescue me adopt me tell him right now this is your day and then God for many of us yeah we know you we've put our faith in Jesus but we live often as if we have no source and God I pray before we get all locked up in the stresses and strains of life we would pause to remember what it is we were singing about today that we have a sovereign God over us who even takes what's evil and makes it into our good that we have a Jesus Christ who has no rival no equal there is a champion over the grave the beautiful Savior loves us knows us so god I pray that as we live we could live like people who really believe that people who really know that people who celebrate a God like that Lord minister to our hearts with the love that's there for us in Christ and God may we be a blessing to the world because we freely give what we freely received and we pray that in the name of Jesus welcome to postscript here we hope to answer your questions and help you dig deeper into the messages and sermons at Faith bridge by talking with the teacher of the day hello and welcome to PostScript my name is Adam McIntyre and I am joined today by Ben Stewart who just preached a sermon called this is love Ben thank you so much for being here with us today so let's jump in the most important question first how did your turkey turn out turned out great mildly overdid one of them okay but had to turned out great and the neighbours Turkey I think turned out the best of them all and made a friend so it's actually pretty cool man so two for three on the turkeys that's not bad yeah yeah yeah well the first one went a total wash but you know Lord willing we'll never do that again so to a more serious kind of question we talked a lot you talked about in the sermon about how God is love and he's our source of love and yeah and he is the reason why we were able to love so someone had a question about is it possible for us to love God but not to to trust him maybe it's like some doubts and things like that yeah that's a good question I mean those things are very linked you know if you think about coming into a relationship with God is based on faith right that Jesus death truly accomplished something sure so at that level trust faith is the foundation piece of that love relationship so when that level has to be there and so that's critical so yes in that sense you have to trust him but let's say you've put your faith in Christ you've been born again you're a child of God by the grace of God through Jesus can you struggle to trust God with will he take care of me will he be there for me in the future really yes and if you read through the Bible people that know God love God wrestle with trusting God all the time and what's beautiful about God is he's patient with us and works with us so read the life of Abraham did he have faith in God yes it's very clear that he did in Genesis 12 and Genesis 15 states it directly but do you see him doubt God at critical moments to the rest of his journey sure yes and you see it with every person right trust grows over time right as you well I would say the feeling of trust grows as you take steps of trust okay God told me to do this live this kind of life and then he'll be there for me I'm gonna do this but a little like ah and then when I see God come through I trust him more the next time sure so is it okay to have shaky trust yeah and that level yeah it's okay absolute but it should grow over time right well I think a lot of people confuse like you can trust someone and still have doubts about things the two go hand in hand and as you mentioned faith is is trust in its obedience that's kind of foundation of faith and but you see throughout scripture people trust in God but still doubting you see them openly questioning you know God where are you what's happening but nevertheless I'll trust in your steadfast love and they grow in their faith absolutely totally yeah and so you also mentioned in your sermon you talked about you gave the example of addiction you talked about how the number one leading cause of addiction is a feeling of lack of love that they are not wanted I loved are there any other causes we know there are the other causes but what are some other the big causes that lead to yeah addiction well and that's where you know I'm probably blew past that too fast because addiction is a complicated issue and I certainly don't want to minimize my addiction at all and minimize the complexities of it you're either you know so but is there a genetic disposition towards addiction of to certain things I would say yes you know and so that would lead some people to become addicted to certain things that would not lead others some people can have a drink socially here and there and be fine other people find themselves looking forward to it in unhealthy ways and abusing it and so are there genetic predispositions to addiction yes there are but what Karns will point out that is interesting is you know when let's say someone's addicted to alcohol and they want to be sober there is now a physiological need for that that you've got to address first the first-order issue is let's get the alcohol out of your system and let's get it away from you that you're not continuing to go back to it so let's get you sober but then the deeper work is what happened that led you to begin to abuse alcohol or or different you know avenues online or different substances or whatever usually there's some degree of pain under that and often it can be hard to access that people are like no I do it to manage stress and you know well where is that stress coming from stress is a byproduct of of some things in your life and there's a coping strategy that you picked up because there was something difficult to deal with right and so I don't know that I could sit here and say underneath every single addiction is a love issue but Carnes will feel comfortable saying that I believe I don't think I'm just quoting him and and I do think there's something to that of having to ask that deep question of what what pain led to going to this substance and and again I want to be clear I'm not saying this in like a clinical and and dismissive way as somebody who's dealt with been around lived through lived with addictions of various kinds I say it with a compassion of going this isn't an easy issue and I certainly don't want to suggest a sermon Asst we'll just fill up by God and you'll quit being addicted or whatever that's not that's not at all what happened it becomes a journey you go through with help and supportive community but the more you begin to lean into supportive community the less you lean on certain substances and and you can find a level of healing and hope that maybe you don't think is possible even now so I would encourage you if you're struggling with a level of addiction don't struggle in silence yeah find some people you trust and maybe you look around your social sphere and go I don't know any one of my social spheres so you go to a pastor or a counselor and begin to talk about this is what I'm doing and help let them help you on earth some of the deeper issues because there is a path of freedom out in that path of freedom out is always loving community right and and if you look at a a it always starts with acknowledging I need God and so I would say the love of God and the love of the people of God can get you out of some things that maybe now you don't see a way out of so have hope because God love is that powerful and it doesn't mean it it's not a flip of a switch sure but it's there for you through his community if you'll if you'll come to him I promise absolutely thank you that's so important yeah and thank you very much so much for being here with us this week and thank you all for tuning in we will see you all next week thanks for joining us for PostScript help us keep the podcast interactive by submitting your questions during the morning services learn more at faith bridged org slash PostScript

Channel: Faithbridge

Views: 19,663

Rating: 4.9378238 out of 5

Keywords: faithbridge, ben stuart, love

Id: SOUME9xzIxk

Length: 52min 56sec (3176 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 27 2016