Unchanging - God's Love Is Unchanging: Receive It, Give It - Ricky Sarthou

we began a couple of weeks ago talking about God's unchanging nature the fact that he is immutable God does not change and that was coming off from our intentional discipleship conference and all many of you took part in that conference and we're continuing the discussion about the fact that God does not change and last Sunday we talked about something specific pastor Peter reminded us that God's love in particular is unchanging just like the rest of its nature and we'll be continuing our discussion today about the unchanging love of God are you so glad that God's love does not change I am so glad because you know what in this world most people equate love pure ly with emotion how we feel but we have been taught that true love transcends just plain emotion unfortunately many people and many of them married couples they still run on the fuel that love is largely just an emotion and so in contrast you see their loved feeding over the years in sharp contrast to God's love which is unchanging throughout the centuries now I've officiated quite a number of weddings over the last many years and obviously during the wedding ceremony the bride and the groom will exchange their vows and part of the vow is you remember in sickness and in health so today I want to show you a sample conversation if you will although it's mostly the husband doing the talking and I entitled that conversation in sickness and in health really and this is a scenario where the wife every year for some reason for some reason she always catches a cold so she always has a cough in a cold every year and this is what the husband says to his wife as the years go by okay we get the same let's see first year sugar honey I'm really worried about you you've got a bad cough and cold I'm bringing you to the hospital for a general checkup and a good rest I know the food is lousy there so I'll bring you your favorite character a every day Wow that nice remember first year do you want to see the second year let's see second year listen darling that cough doesn't sound good I asked our CCF doctor friend to rush over here now you go to bed and let me take care of the chores okay foreign okay still good huh okay second year now third year maybe you'd better lie down honey nothing like a little rest when you feel lousy I'll bring you something to eat do we have any instant noodles do you see the change have starting to happen okay now we're in year four we look at five years only okay so your for now look there be sensible after you've fed the kids wash the dishes and mop the floor you'd better lie down and take some medicine and make sure it's generic so it's cheap and now we're in year five five years only year five puede BA can you please just gargle or something your coughing is keeping the children and me awake all night and for our sake please cover your mouth when you sneeze haha nope AHA me and Ruben so that's year five aren't you glad that God's love does not change so our message today is the same as last Sunday it's part to God's unchanging love receive it and give it in other words we first want to revisit the rinsable the truth that God's love really does not change now why is it so important for us to realize and be convinced of that the reason why that's so important it's because since you and I have been so programmed that love comes and goes that love is you know dependent on emotion and whether and where we are and who we with and all of these things we really need to reformat the way we think of love and even Christians many times many of us may be tempted to think that God's love changes with our circumstances meaning to say if things are going well or we say praise God God loves me but when things are not going well maybe maybe were just embarrassed to say it but maybe we're thinking does God really love me does God play favorites he loved me last month when things were going well but now that things are in a shambles topsy-turvy upside down maybe he does not really love me have you ever been tempted even to think that way to think that God's love maybe changes with our circumstances it's okay you don't need to answer it's it's something understandable that we may be tempted to think that way that's why we need to be convinced that God's love is really unchanging now it says we should receive it we should experience it ourselves because God's love is not like any other love in this universe usually people's love with all good intentions can be overprotective it can spoil the other person it's a love that that whose highest goal is oh I will never let anything bad happen to you and you know on the surface that sounds okay but God's love it's it's just different it's like nothing this universe has ever ever known and finally as we receive or experience God's unchanging love we are to share it with other people the last thing you and I should do is to keep it to ourselves so this afternoon what we're going to do is we're going to look at the very unique love story between God and his chosen people the early Israelites in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 it says now these things happen to them them means the early Israelites these things happen to them as an example meaning to say all of their experiences all of the things that they did wrong all of the triumphs that they experienced all of the miracles that they saw all of the consequences that they reap because of their wrong decisions it says all of these things happen to them as an example exhibit and they were written for our instruction in other words there is something you and I can truly learn something we can take away from the experience of God's early you know chosen people in the early early centuries of their relationship with God and why is it so important that you and I learn these things it says you and I are the ones upon whom the ends of the ages have come do you get a sense that you know when you look at the news and all that that we are really living in the end times yeah well we really are and you and I need to get serious with God and if you have just known about God all of your life but don't really know him I really urge you to listen carefully for what God has in store for you today so we'll be looking at a passage from Deuteronomy but just before we get into the passage itself who are these Israelites who are they why did God love them why did God choose them well let's look at what we learn in Deuteronomy chapter 7 it says the Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples for you were the fewest of all the peoples did you ever hear that expression the runt of the litter usually when a dog has puppies it has a litter of puppies right and then the tiniest one that's the run as far as peoples on the face of this earth were concerned the Jews the Israelites were the runt of the litter they were the fewest of all people so God said you know if I were to choose a nation of people based on their merits on their performance and on their number I will chosen somebody else you're just like me when I was in grade school or high school I was a lousy lousy athlete as in lousy nobody wanted me on their team and so maybe you've experienced something like this when when two teams are formed and then they start to to choose who will be their members guess who does not get chosen by either team wahoo but that's you know it just reminded me of that when I read this passage God set his eyes on these people he set his love on them he chose them because it was his choice period in the next verse it says but because the Lord loves you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt it was simply God's unilateral decision it had nothing to do with their merits their performance how they looked or how many they were God just chose them and God just loved them and God bound himself with an oath to bless them and you know what that reminds us of true love is an unconditional commitment towards imperfect people let's stop there that is exactly what these verses are telling us it was an unconditional commitment on the part of God himself and that unconditional commitment was clearly directed towards an imperfect Bunch of people and you know what since God's love is unchanging then those principles are the same today when God chose you when God chose me to come into a relationship with him it was his sovereign choice it was not because of anything you and I had done or did not do it was not because of a certain organization that we joined or it was not in a way that we prayed something or whatever or lived our lives it was God's sovereign choice so what God was saying to his people then he's saying to you and me today I just decided to love you that's it an unconditional commitment towards imperfect people I want to show you where this amazing love story took place between God and His people now can I ask you when you go out for Valentine's Day or some romantic date do you choose the place carefully right you choose you imagine like oh I need to go to a romantic place well you know God's love story with these people took place here romantic bar now some of you photography but you'll say what a great place for pictures yeah I agree but you know I tell you if I told my wife let's go out on a date here I know what she will say I know aircon we need to choose the place carefully and you know what God is no different he chose the place for their love story to take place very intentionally and you and I will realize through the experience of God's people summarized by Moses in just a few verses of that chapter Deuteronomy chapter 8 you and I will learn how amazing how unchanging and how life transforming God's love really is now again the background Moses is a hundred and twenty years old he is about to die the Israelites he's talking to are now a new generation the old generation had already died off in the wilderness over the last forty years and so this new generation with the exception of course of Joshua and Caleb are now about to enter the Promised Land and so Moses is doing what the word Deuteronomy means it is a repetition of the law of God but in Chapter eight for the first six verses that we will look at today Moses reviews this amazing unique life-changing encounter between God and His people that lasted a long time but it just had a fantastic purpose behind it and believe it or not you and I can learn precious things from their experience then so are we ready to see how amazing God's unchanging love really is let's begin so Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 1 God speaking through Moses he says all the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give you to give to your forefathers look at what God said to his beloved people people who did nothing to merit his love as a matter of fact they did a lot of things that from a human point of view should have made God stop loving them if he were not God and if his love were not in changing but he said to them be careful to do all of the commands I've given you what's the equivalent to us today God's commands God's principles God's promises they're all here in his precious revealed eternal unchanging world Jesus is the Living Word of God and this precious Word of God this is God's expression of love to you and to me and his say he's saying as my expression of love to you I am giving you all of these precious commands principles and promises for what purpose he said so that you make and we say this together so that you may live and multiply so that you may live it's not just so that you may exist it's not just so that you may survive it says he says so that you may live you know Jesus said something much later he said I have come that they may have life do you remember what he said I have come that they may have life and have that life abundant leave so God is saying when you take my words to heart and you live them out and you enter that promised land you will be able to live the life I have intended for you to the fullest but let me make something clear the essence of that blessed life the essence of that abundant life the essence of God's unchanging love is not the absence of problems it is the presence of God let me say that again the essence of God's unchanging love is not the absence of problems it is the presence of God are we good so far so he says so that you may live and then he says so that you will multiply in other words this love that your you have experienced from me you are not to keep to yourselves you are to pass it on from one generation to the next and today to you and me that means yes our family members our children and our grandchildren even our spiritual offspring and that's why we're saying we want everybody to begin a small group of their own because and that's our message again today just to review what we're talking about because God's unchanging love needs to be received and experienced but it needs to be given and shared as well are we good so far all right let's go back to the definition of love an unconditional commitment towards imperfect people now this is where we will spend most of our time today to seek their highest good let's say that together to seek their highest good pastor Peter last Sunday actually said that that part of true love that aspect of true love is probably the most challenging why why is it the most challenging well like we said earlier your love my love in all of its best intentions we want many times to over protect we end up spoiling the other person we don't want any harm to come to that person whatsoever we don't want that person to experience any form of pain and what it sounds good on the outside God's love is different it's different and as we go through that short review between Moses and God's people about that amazing love story encounter in the wilderness you and I will learn three ways by which the love of God really and truly seeks our highest good and that's why people need to experience the love of God because there is no other love like it in the universe and that's why we need to share it and give it because people whether they realize it or not whether they were God's love or not the fact is that is the love they need that is the love you and I need the first thing that God's loved us he is unchanging amazing love the first thing it does for our highest good is that God's love will transform our character God's love will transform us from the inside out that's the first thing God's loved us according to the passage we're reading so that because he is seeking our highest good now how does that happen verse 2 God says you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the world wilderness these 40 years that he might humble you testing you to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his Commandments or not notice God said you shall remember you need to learn the lesson you need to hide it in your heart you need to live it out every day you need to allow this love these memories these experiences to to shape your perspective in life and that's why you and I need to remember their experiences too and that's why you and I need to go back to our own lives and see the amazing intentionality of God even in times that were unpleasant and troublesome and painful just look at what God said the Lord your God has led you all of these things that happen to the Israelites they were not accidents they were intentional on God's part he was the architect of their life even the things the mistakes that they made and the consequences they reaped somehow God orchestrated these things for their highest good and he said so I led you yep it was me folks I left you in the wilderness these 40 years for what reason two things that he may humble you testing you to know what was in your heart now let's talk about humbling humbling what does that mean is that punishment No humbling is simply molding our character making us into the person God wants us to be making us into the person that God can use and can make an impact in this world a person who knows what true blessing is what true life is so that he can be a channel of transmitting that through blessing and through life to other people we'll talk more about being humble a little bit later and then he says testing you to know what was in your heart now I'll ask you a simple question everybody does God know what's in your heart okay so why why will God test me them you to know what is in your heart he knows so baraka portable guess what who sometimes does not know what's in your heart you that's right sometimes there's something in my heart by the way the Bible says my heart your heart is deceitful do you know the Bible describes your heart and mind that way our heart is what deceitful sometimes there are things in our heart that only God knows and he needs to bring these things to the surface so that you and I know what these things are so that you and I can come to God and say Lord I you know I didn't fully realize this about myself will you help me I want to improve testing to see what is in your heart several days ago our son who is now based in Sydney Australia with his wife and daughter he told us that he had to make a trip to the emergency room now he and his family have been there for about a year and he had to make a trip to the emergency room because he had severe pain in his head which would not go away from the previous day to the morning after and so at 5:00 in the morning our son had to go by himself to the emergency room and what they told him is we need to rule out we need to check if there's bleeding in your brain and so they put him through a CT scan and we praise God because when the results came out he was clear of bleeding in the brain as far as the CT scan was concerned but then they said wait we have to do another test we have to extract fluid from your spine now I don't know if you've experienced that that is not pleasant it is painful the recovery is terrible you get an even worse headache from that procedure but I'll go to that a little bit later on but so the the reason why they had to take fluid from his spine is so that they will check if there is microscopic blood that could not be detected through the CT scan why because they needed to know what was going on inside you and I need to know what's going on inside of us because there are things within us that prevent us from becoming the people God wants us to be and through times of testing these things emerge and if we respond well we will be transformed into the person God wants us to be so let's talk about this whole humility thing God said in Isaiah 57 for thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever whose name is holy i dwell on a high and holy place and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite the word lowly I guess we all understand contrite is not a word we use too often but it means crushed it means broken and brokenness whether we like it or not is a character aspect brokenness that God wants to build in you and me it's ironic like right brokenness is something he wants to build it's like well it's that doesn't seem to make sense humanly speaking that is true now why is this so God said I dwell in a high and holy place but I also do well with those who are contrite and lowly of spirit so that I can revive them I revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contract remember what we said earlier the essence of God's love is not the absence of problems but the presence of God and guess what when do we most emphatically dramatically and personally experience that manifest presence of God it's when we are low when we are contrite and when we say God what am I gonna do help me isn't that true I know it's true in your life and I know it's true in mind now what why is this seeking our highest good what does this have to do this humbling this testing process what does it have to do with God seeking our highest good do you know first of all I ask you what's the opposite of humility okay guys it's not a trick question okay what's the opposite of humility right do you know what the problem of Lucifer was I'll show you here's a passage from the Old Testament Isaiah 14 normally attributed to Lucifer or Satan now God says to him how you have fallen from heaven or star of the morning sun of the dawn you have been cut down to the earth you who have weakened the nations but you you Lucifer God is saying you said in your heart I will ascend to heaven I will raise my throne above the stars of God and I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the recesses of the north I will ascend above the heights of the clouds now look at this I will make myself like the most high that sounds awful doesn't it I will make myself like the Most High is that pride or what the height of pride you say oh the height of arrogance I mean no wonder he's Satan that's the way he is to be careful I will make myself like the Most High is it possible that we sometimes say that or is it possible that without saying it maybe our attitude is the same ladies and gentlemen when you and I say to God in our heart in our attitude I'm going to do things my way this time Lord I cannot follow what your word says I will not do what your word commands me to do I believe I have a better way I cannot for example forgive that person I cannot I will not I don't feel like doing it or I I don't want to do things in an honest way because it's impractical in this world Lord I'll do it my way it's worked all of these years for me you know folks whenever we make that conclusion that our way will be done and not God's Way we're saying the same thing I will make myself like the Most High because there's only room for one God in our lives it's either the one through God or it's us and this is the kind of arrogant selfish pride that Satan himself appealed to during the time in the Garden of Eden remember what the serpent told the woman remember when the the serpent was tempting the woman said because you will not surely die ha ha don't listen to that you know for God knows that in the day you eat it from it your eyes will be opened and you be like God Wow you will be like God what does that mean it means knowing good and evil and you know what that means it means you can decide for yourself you're smart you know you're such situation better than everybody else you know what is good for you you decide you don't need God you make the call you decide what is good and what is evil for you never mind anybody else just for you and then it says when the woman saw that the tree and the fruit thereof was desirable to make one wise she took from its fruit and ate and she gave also to her husband with her and he ate folks our heart is deceitful we may sincerely think we're okay but for our highest good God sometimes allows testing in our life so that the truth will surface and we realize I could never make myself the person God wants me to be it needs God for that to happen and that is how God's unchanging love seeks our highest good how basic how essential is that character change in our life well God said Micah 6:8 he has told you oh man what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice to love kindness and to walk what humbly with your God as we were monitoring our son's condition you know he said he could not even stand up after the procedures when they sent him home he could just he couldn't stand up he couldn't do anything as a matter of fact he had to go back to the emergency room again for intravenously fed painkillers almost like morphine that's how painful it was but in the midst of all of this I asked him do you mind if I ask you what did you learn what was God impressing on your heart I know you must have been dealing with things with God as all of this was happening and he said yeah absolutely and you know there he was all by himself having to go to the emergency room his wife couldn't accompany him she has to take care of their four-year-old daughter and she's pregnant with their second child so she had to stay home and so he had to go by himself and there he was just him and the doctors and God and all of these things happening and I said so what did you learn he said a couple of things that one is life is so delicate you know one day you're so strong and active and all these things and then if one tiny blood vessel in your brain ruptures your life will be upside down but then he said it wasn't just about this incident he said it also helped me reflect on the many challenges that he's facing you know the future of settling his family in a foreign country their financial future his professional future etc etc so when he was thinking of all of these things this was his conclusion very simple he sent me some 121 verses wanted to he says that this was my conclusion I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from my help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth and that is the transformation of our character one step at a time through God's unchanging that are we good so far yeah okay the next way that God's unchanging love seeks our highest good is God's love teaches us to depend on him teaches us to depend on him how does that happen let's continue he humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your father's know you know you read that first line I mean how crazy is that kind of love he lets you be hungry fathers and mothers in the room would you let that happen to your children let them be hungry that's unthinkable you know we say in tagalog isuzu boo Manama eb be game oppa but he had a purpose he said yeah it's true I let you go hungry but I fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your father's know in other words he's reminding the people reminding you and me I fed you this super food this angelic food from heaven I fed you this every day and it's not like anything you've ever known and you know the people from this nation or from that nation I didn't give them manna I gave it only to you you're the one I love your experience something like there is nothing else like it in this universe and that manna is like God's love there is nothing else like it in this universe and you and I need to experience it why what was the highest good that God's love was seeking well he explains it that he might make you understand meaning not theoretical experiential understand that man does not live by bread alone but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord now if you review what actually happened during the manna experience in Exodus it says then the Lord said to Moses behold I will rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether or not they will walk in my instruction in other words this was the deal I will feed you every day I will not fail I God will feed you this amazing super food from heaven every day that's my commitment to you my instruction to you is you take enough for one day no hoarding just for one day and you know what the spiritual application here is manna is like a type of Jesus it's like a foreshadowing of Jesus Jesus is the Living Word of God this is also God's Word like we said earlier it is his expression of love to us and he's teaching us to be daily dependent on him daily dependent on who he is what he has said what he has done as recorded in his precious unchanging eternal word now as my wife and I were talking about this gathering a day's portion every day she reminded me about her daily dependence on God now many of you know that my wife went through stage four cancer but some of you may not know that she has been diabetic for 27 years and so every day she needs to inject herself with insulin at least four times every day inject herself with insulin at least four times every day now there was a time my wife was backstage and she was injecting herself and one of our pastors was looking at her and he says what are you doing and she says I'm injecting myself and he says how often do you have to do that and she says about four times a day you know our brave pastor said I'd rather die that's what he said that's what came out of his mouth I would rather die kill me now but you know when my wife was describing this to me she said it's a daily depend Oh God it's a happy dependence on him because when she injects you know four times a day you have to find a good site where you will inject the insulin but before she does that she has to prick her finger first to measure her blood sugar level because when she knows what her blood sugar level is just to calculate how much insulin okay so it's not just yet it's not as simple as that so he has to calculate when she knows how much she will calibrate the injection and then she has to find a good side she has to be relaxed so that the injection the flow is smooth so she has to be undisturbed she has to meditate and she uses that time to worship God she would even ask God Lord is there anything between us that needs to be fixed do I have unconfessed sin so it's a time of Prayer a time of worship a time of stillness before God every day moment by moment a number of years ago when I was in the hospital a u.s. trained Filipino cardiologist told me we have some results that we checked about your heart and we have strong suspicion that you have this rare syndrome something some disorder in your heart and what's gonna happen is there is no medicine for it but what will almost surely happen based on our observation is sometime in the future you will just faint suddenly without warning you will faint and you will die so my wife and I looked at each other oh by the way she also said sir you need to have this this machine implanted in your heart to help make sure this will not happen to you and the machine is at that time many years ago the machine is 1 million pesos and you need to change it every five years ha ok bah so it's like Wow Reagle shocker right so anyway so the doctor goes away and my wife and I kind of settled down and we talked about it and so she said and I said suddenly faint and died you know that's not a bad way to go suddenly faint and died not bad really not bad right I mean quiet painless be with Jesus forever and so we said we won't do anything we'll just trust God but for me whenever I hear that song Jesus you are so good and I want to thank you with every beat of my heart going back to our text God said to the Israelites your clothing remember he's saying you remember you remember your clothing did not wear out on you nor did your foot swell these 40 years man I want to know where they bought their clothes I mean this lasted 40 years that's amazing no but here's the thing God's faithfulness is unchanging love well as I was looking at this verse my wife and I were reflecting when she was going through her cancer treatment and even her post cancer treatment started with surgery than her treatment and then another treatment and then post cancer treatment it lasted years and you know as at the start of it we were already computing the expenses and just her basic medicine her basic chemotherapy drugs no professional fees no confinement no nothing just that was already far more than I made in terms of my monthly salary so how in the world was that gonna work how in the world not in human economy wasn't gonna work now my wife and I were good savers so we had set aside a respectable amount but of course this was for our future you know enjoyment etc but we said we need to be ready to be wiped out as in wiped out and so he said Lord we will journey with you where you take us now the amazing thing is after all of those years the operation the treatment and then the other treatment in the post treatment and all of these things that really cost an arm and a leg and other body parts at the end of it all our savings was intact maybe even more than what we started how only God's economy right but God said you need to remember those are the lessons in my unchanging love for you now do you recognize this symbol this is one of my favorite spiritual lessons source of reflection my quiet time you know talk about depending on God all right now when you turn on the app after you put your destination okay CCF Center whatever okay when this comes out on your phone or your your tablet or whatever this this bar up here this bar right when you touch this of course it won't happen now but if when you touch this it will show you all of the left and the right turn and 200 meters and 1.5 kilometers until it shows you your destination in other words it will show you everywhere you will turn until you get to your destination you know I praise God that he does not do that you know why because there are times I put in a destination the destination is familiar it's the place where I want to go but when I tap this bar the route is different the route is someplace I do not want to go and so I have an argument with the lady you know the lady the voice behind ways I don't want to pass there and so I shut her off and I try my own way and guess what ways was right after all but here's the thing I am so glad that when I asked God when I tapped on him he does not show me all of the twists and turns you know why because if he did if he showed you if he showed me I'll say I don't want to go there god I owe ya basta I oh I don't want to go there no no and that's why God says you just depend on me every day let me know all of the twists and turns economy halogen you just follow me every day now you also are familiar with this right this message from ways yeah estimated time in traffic 8 minutes right now can I tell you about me if the traffic message is single-digit nine minutes or less I am okay bring it on but when the message is estimated time in traffic twenty seven minutes ah I cannot take it I freaked out but you know I'm so glad that God when we enter into a time of trial and we feel like we're stuck normally he doesn't tell us how long we will be there now in this case it was an exception he told him forty years that's a different story but in most cases God will not say how long the trial will last why because imagine if he told you if he told me estimated time in trial seven years what will you do daily dependence on God last how does God's and changing love pursue our highest good God's love trains us up as his children the second to the last verse in our sixth verse passage thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining just as a man disciplines his son pastor Peter told us already last week discipline is not punishment necessarily discipline is a bigger idea it is molding a person it is correcting what may be wrong for the person's highest good same thing in the New Testament Hebrews 12 it is for discipline that you endure God deals with you as with sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline remember we said earlier many times your lab my lab overprotective spoiling people and you know at the end of the day I am deceived by my own heart to think that that kind of love is so selfless so other oriented I realize it's still selfish it's still about me can I give an example for those of you who are parents whether your children are already grown up or really tiny I want to go I want to bring you back to an experience that I'm sure almost all parents have had when your child is sick I mean really sick as in you know what up and down is up and down vomiting and the other thing and your child is in danger of being dehydrated and so you bring them to the emergency room and then the doctor says ma'am sir your child has no appetite it's not making their day he or she is going to be dehydrated we only have one thing left to do what is that folks how many of you have experienced seeing your tiny child have an intravenous stuck in them you know when my wife and I were very young parents this was really hard for us especially me you know when we would try and bargain with the doctors and all that they said third this is the best thing and so finally okay I surrender and I realize my love for my child many times is selfish it's my discomfort I was thinking about of course it would be uncomfortable for them but I didn't want to have to see it happen so in the end of this just about me and that's why my love is not like Godzilla that's why we need to experience the love of God and so finally they tied down our son or our daughter they tied them you know like a mummy and then the hand is like exposed and they take this tiny little chubby hand and they try to stick a needle inside and the child is begging for mercy rescue me from these monsters in white and you have to watch it happen and finally it's over it's already inside and say okay praise God now we will be confined in the room let's go to your room you know and so you you watch over your child what's the next thing and then the next thing you watch out for it might get dislodged and you have to read insert and so we watch we take turns we look at the drip is it still dripping if it's not dripping anymore what's happened and then we look at the hand other's backflow I'll call the nurse and then the nurse comes in and nurse you have to try and fix it sir I'm sorry but it got this large we have to do it all over again but folks that's what love is seeking the highest good and that's why God's love is so unique and we're so glad it doesn't change now we've been talking about God seeking our highest good do we really know what our highest good is let me make it very clear I think this is the favorite verse of many many Christians Romans 8:28 and we know that God causes all things to work together for good and for good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose let's stop there is this one of your favorite verses but what is our good what is that highest good imagine verse 28 says the omnipotent all-powerful God is the only one able to take all of the circumstances surrounding you and cause them to converge on one point and that is your highest good what is that highest good well one more verse for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to become what conformed to the image of his son that is our highest duty that's why God's love transforms us from the inside out that's why God's love teaches us to be dependent on him and that's why God's love trains us up as his children so that he may be the firstborn among many brethren again as we come towards the end of our time together I borrow this story from pastor net go to eco pastor net is the head of our national church planting movement in CCF as of now he is the incumbent head of that department but in his former life pastor net used to work in an aluminum company and he told this amazing story about aluminum aluminum is one of the most versatile metals on earth it can be made into so many things something as thin and as delicate as aluminum foil and then of course there's cans and bottles and then there's curtain walls you know industrial strength for buildings it can also be made into wheels for cars I mean it's amazing the stuff that you can make out of aluminum but the question is how does the aluminum become ready to be used in the way it was intended to be used that's where the story gets interesting the raw material from which aluminum is taken has to be subjected to extreme temperatures very high heat and they are processed in a place called or through a process called aluminum casting and this more or less is how it happens here is the molten aluminum in a vat extremely high temperatures and what this man does is an amazing thing you know passer net he actually went to the plant where they were casting the aluminum when he when he worked for that company and he asked somebody like this guy he asked what are you doing so he said well sir what happens is when the aluminum is melted and it's subjected to extremely high temperature the impurities will rise up to the surface and my job is to scoop out the impurities and then later on I check again and then surely the heat will bring up the impurities more impurities from the bottom will surface and I scoop them out again and I get rid of them and then I wait and I check and I scoop out again then the next question was how do you know when the aluminum is ready to be deployed to do what it was really intended to do it says ah sir I know the aluminum is ready when I look at the molten aluminum in the VAT and very clearly I can see my face reflected on the molten aluminum then I know it's ready no wonder God's unchanging love in seeking our highest good as it turns out our highest good is to reflect the image of his son and so in closing God said through Moses therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to fear him why is that the ending it's very simple God's Word is his pression of love to you and to me our expression of love back to God is our obedience to his word believing that indeed it is for our highest good now when God said obey all my commands there's something that you and I need to remember and that is this command go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit teaching them to observe or to obey all that I have commanded you and that's why we said God's unchanging love we need to receive it but we need to share it we need to give it away because people need to know this love that is so alien so strange so unique and so needed by people God's love transforms our character teaches us to depend on him and trains us up as his children but as we go back to our definition there are two more things it says which may require sacrifice resulting in the glory of God where's the sacrifice and where's the glory of God here a long time ago God said this the Lord appeared to him from afar saying I have loved you with an everlasting love therefore I have drawn you with loving-kindness if you're here this afternoon you have never truly experienced God's love you've known about God you know you went to some religious education or whatever but you don't you know in your heart you don't really know God personally you have not experienced this life-changing unchanging God's love God says I have drawn you with loving-kindness you think it was your decision to be here today and yes it was but God said in the large scheme of things I have drawn you I have loved you I have drawn you here today and what did Jesus about drawing people he said if I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men to myself this is the sacrifice that was required jesus said if I am lifted up on the cross I will draw all men to myself where is the glory of God in the bleeding and dying and sacrifice of Jesus for you and for me where is the glory of God well Jesus said it himself I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance there is rejoicing in heaven when you and I finally come to that point and say Lord I surrender completely to you I do not want any other kind of love except yours because yours will change me from the inside out yours will really seek my highest good shall we bow our heads for just a moment and if you are here today and you know that you have never truly experienced the unchanging love of God in your life if ever this will be the very first time that you will ask him to truly come into your heart to be your Lord and your Savior then be encouraged my friend wherever you are in this place whoever you may be this may be your first time this may be your tenth time I don't really know but God does and he's saying I have drawn you with loving-kindness I have loved you even when you didn't even give a second thought about loving me will you open your heart to Jesus today and will you tell him Lord Jesus I am so overwhelmed by your unchanging love and so my heart will respond to you in faith by accepting by receiving you to be my Lord and my Savior today as I give myself fully to you without any reservations that you may change me into the person that you want me to be knowing that on this very day I become your child not because of anything I have done but because of what you have done for me and so Lord Jesus I proclaim in the Silence of this room you are my lord you are my Savior do with me as you will that you may indeed be glorified father God we give you thanks and praise for your unchanging love and for all of the ways that we realize it truly seeks our highest good and it may do so in ways that are uncomfortable to say the least but Lord we just trust you and love you and declare that you are indeed our unchanging God we give you praise glory honor and Thanksgiving in the name of your son Jesus and all of your people gladly said amen they got Mississippi connect with CCF through the following websites [Music] jumpstart your spiritual journey by joining a small group [Music] we are so blessed you were able to join us today god bless and see you next time [Music]

Channel: Christ’s Commission Fellowship

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Rating: 4.625 out of 5

Keywords: CCF, Christ's, Commission, Fellowship, Sunday, Service, Sermon, Speaker, Message, Jesus, Prayer, Love, Faith, Christ, God, Bible, Christian, Christianity, Church, Truth, Life, GraceChangesEverything, ReignForever, TeamJesus, RadiaclLove, Worship, Glory, Mine, Field, MineField, Mine Field, Sin, sex, choice, consequences, drugs, anger, passion, lust, flesh, love, life, friends, TedTalk, Talk like Ted, TedX, pride, NOW, Need, Give, ME, ME Time, Identity, enough, more, more and more, Likes, Like Me, Now

Id: aNmKRFC0mr4

Length: 64min 9sec (3849 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2018