Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Amen. Amen. Church. Before you take a seat, say hi to a bunch of people around you, behind you, in front of you, to the side of you, whoever's around, say, hello, mates. Say, welcome to church.
[00:00:17] Kids ministry, you are dismissed. Kids ministry, you are dismissed.
[00:00:21] Say, welcome to church, mates.
[00:00:24] Say hi to two more people, somebody that you've never seen before. I challenge you. Go out of your way.
[00:00:31] Give him a hug. Give him a high five.
[00:00:34] Yeah, you go. If you've never seen him, say, I love you. Jesus loves you. Go ahead and be seated once you're done with that.
[00:00:42] Whoa.
[00:00:44] Amen.
[00:00:46] And amen. Wow.
[00:00:49] Well, good morning, Christ Church. How we feeling this morning? How we feeling? How we feeling? How we feeling?
[00:00:56] Welcome, everyone, to our 11 o' clock service. Obviously, as you guys can see, we were supposed to have an outdoor service, but due to the weather and everything that was going on, the Lord said, take your behind inside. And so we decided to.
[00:01:12] To have an indoor service. But guess what? We're here to worship. We're here to. To give our attention to God. But also we are here to celebrate baptisms today, y'. All baptisms.
[00:01:28] We got a few people who have decided to take that step in their journey of faith and trusting in God and all that he wants to do in their lives. And so today we're going to be doing that. But that's towards the. Towards the end. But I just want to say thank you guys for. For being here. You know, as you guys were all walking in, you know, I got the chance to sit in the back, and I was just thinking to myself just how wonderful and beautiful it is to be part of a church that is as vibrant as this is.
[00:01:58] Listen, friends, I want you to know there's a lot of unhealthy churches out there.
[00:02:03] There is. There are some churches that, you know, I thank God that he directed me here.
[00:02:10] I thank God that he directed me here, and I get to be with you as we serve him.
[00:02:16] I thank God for that and I'm thankful for the good work that he's doing and that he's. And that he's also going to do so. I'm just thankful for this church and maybe take the time and say, thank you, God, for all that you have accomplished here as well.
[00:02:33] Today we are going to jump into a message, but before we jump into that message, I want to acknowledge that school is back in session and I am a happy man.
[00:02:45] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:02:46] I survived another summer, Lord.
[00:02:49] I'm gonna start speaking in tongues soon, Jesus. No, no, but we Know that this time around, I want to take the time and I want to acknowledge just all of our students, our kiddos, but also our educators, our teachers and counselors and principals and advisors.
[00:03:07] I want to take the time and I want to acknowledge them. But also I want to say a special prayer over just our kids, students and educators, and just their school year that this just be a year that the Lord makes a real, real impact into the lives of our, of those who are in that context. And so if you guys can and you're able and willing, will you pray with me? And as we pray, let's pray for God's protection over our kids. Let's pray for the educators, patience over our kids.
[00:03:43] Can we pray for that, that. That the Lord would be gracious and kind and that he would raise up young men and young women to be champions for his cause and for his name. And so we're going to take the time, we're going to pray over our kids. Maybe you are. You have a. A student or a kid going through school this year. And you know, there's a lot of things you want to pray for. Maybe you are yourself, you're an educator. We want to say thank you.
[00:04:09] Maybe there's a way you can ask the Lord to be at work in your context as well. So will you guys bow your heads with me? Let's pray just for this school year. Lord.
[00:04:18] Dear Heavenly Father, I. I come to you, Lord, and I ask that your will be done.
[00:04:26] And your will is good, it is perfect, it is pleasing.
[00:04:31] And Lord, I pray that your will will be accomplished. I know and I am expectant that your will will be accomplished throughout this school year.
[00:04:42] And Lord, I pray that your will would protect these kids from the unholy one, from the evil one, that you put a hedge of protection over their hearts, over their minds, over their spirits.
[00:05:00] I pray that. That within our education system that, that there can be such a. A cause of faith that that bears great fruit in our community.
[00:05:13] I'm not asking, Lord, just for an easy year. I'm asking for a year of your presence, of your provision, Lord, again, your protection and your peace.
[00:05:25] Would you guard these educators, help them and feel that it can feel very easy to feel overlooked and undervalued. I pray that they receive the value that they long for in you and you alone.
[00:05:43] I pray that your spirit is at work within them, that you work within them a spirit of patience, of humility, of endurance, and that our kids can be blessed because of the men and women that commit themselves Day in and day out to raising these kids in a way that they feel led and called.
[00:06:04] But Lord, I also pray once again over our kids, over our students, over our babies.
[00:06:10] I pray, Lord, that your voice. And they would hear the voice of their father, and they would be led by that voice more and more that they would feel the weight of conviction and truth that comes only from you.
[00:06:25] So bless them this year. Bless our college students as well.
[00:06:29] Bless their coming and they're going.
[00:06:31] Bless the professors on those campuses.
[00:06:34] But let's say all of them, Father, let them find hope and unity in you. Send your son's perfect name is who we pray. Amen, Amen and amen. Today we're going to be coming out of Matthew 22, Matthew 22. If you have your copies of the Scriptures, Matthew 22, we're going to be reading verses 34 to 40. Matthew 22 is a new Testament first book in the New Testament. If you need help with that. Matthew 22, verses 34 to 40. Once I'm done reading, I'm going to say, this is the word of the Lord in which you respond, thanks be to God. Let's go ahead and jump right into it. Matthew 22, it reads like this. It says, and when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees and they themselves gathered together verse 35, one of them who was an expert of the law, tested him with a question.
[00:07:30] Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the law? Verse 37, Jesus declared, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.
[00:07:46] This is the first and the greatest commandment. The second is, love your neighbor as yourselves. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let me say one more prayer. Dear Father, guide us in your truth, for you are truth. Help us to not just be hearers, but doers as well. Today we cling to thee. We seek thee because we need you. We don't need words from a charismatic man. We need the words of the living God to guard us, to keep us, and to instruct us. Is in your Son's perfect and wonderful name is who we pray. Amen, Amen and amen. Hey, give it up for the worship team one more time if you're good.
[00:08:32] They did a wonderful job up here leading us in worship. So we're taking a break in the book of Ephesians. Some of you are probably like, thank you, Jesus.
[00:08:40] We're taking a little bit of a Break before we're going to be. Don't worry, we're going to be back into it next week, so.
[00:08:47] But today I want to talk about what Jesus tells us in Matthew 22. But before we break that down, there's something that, as a parent that I do every time I take my kid out. And you have to do this. No matter where you go, no matter how many kids you have, you have to do this. You always, as a parent, have to take a bag with you. And what do I mean by you gotta take a bag? This bag is essential.
[00:09:14] It's important, right?
[00:09:17] And usually the bag that we take, it has snacks in it, right? Because God forbid we forget snacks when the kids get hungry, you know, and they get cranky, right? In this bag there is water. Gotta have your water. You know, for some while. These kids, they just get really thirsty, you know, whenever we take the kids out, we gotta have a bag. Within that bag, you gotta have a change of clothes and also wipes. Cause you already know kids get dirty and kids get dirty and they need a change of clothes and whatnot. But always, whenever we go out, we always have to have a bag. We always gotta have a bag with us. And we don't pack everything in the bag. We just pack what we need, right? We pack again, what we call is essential.
[00:10:02] What's essential?
[00:10:03] This is important, right? There's one thing we can't forget. It's this.
[00:10:08] If there's one thing we can't leave without, it's this exact thing right here. It has to go in the bag. And the bag itself is important. But what's in the bag is even more important.
[00:10:21] And in many ways, when I think about that concept, and in many ways, we build our lives the same way, right? Whatever we consider essential. Because everybody in this room has something that they say is important.
[00:10:36] Vital. This is what sits at the center of my life. This is essential. Whatever is essential directs our attention, directs the way we think. It directs our decisions, but it also captures our affections. We all do this in life.
[00:10:57] We all have things that we say to ourselves. This is most important. And whatever you call what most important, whatever you call essential, it essentially begins to influence everything you do.
[00:11:12] Now the tension is, is that sometimes. Sometimes we can get so preoccupied with things that feel urgent that normally we leave out what actually matters.
[00:11:28] What I'm trying to say is sometimes we can build our lives around many good things.
[00:11:33] Many good things. But, but, but sometimes when we build our lives around many good things, sometimes God gets pushed on the Side.
[00:11:44] Sometimes God gets pushed on the side, left on the edges. And what Jesus is going to do for us today, and I feel like it's a valuable reminder for everyone who considers themselves as followers of Christ, Jesus is going to encourage us. What is truly essential, what belongs at the center of your very existence. Because again, whatever sits at the center of your life eventually begins to shape the person you become.
[00:12:19] It begins to shape who you become. It begins to shape what you do. It begins to shape how you think. It begins to shape much of you, your life. And here's what Jesus is going to tell us. Here's what Jesus, out of all the things that are important in our lives and are essential, this right here, Jesus says has to take first seat. And he says this.
[00:12:43] Love God with everything.
[00:12:47] This is what Jesus says.
[00:12:49] Love God with everything.
[00:12:51] Right. My problem is that sometimes I love things more than I love God.
[00:12:58] You're a little quiet on that one.
[00:13:00] I think sometimes what gets me in trouble is that I have this thing called disordered love. It's not that I don't love God. I just sometimes love things more than God.
[00:13:10] Right. But what Jesus is going to help us is to try to recenter and try to have a greater grander focus on what truly matters. And. And that's to love God with everything. Because when God has your deepest affection, when God has your deepest love, again, he begins to shape everything about me. Or another way of how we can say this, and this is the thesis of today's sermon, is this. When God has your whole heart, he reshapes your whole life.
[00:13:44] Keep that up there for them.
[00:13:46] Write that down, take a picture, whatever you gotta do.
[00:13:49] If there's one thing you can fall asleep after that point, okay?
[00:13:53] That's the sermon right there.
[00:13:56] When God has your whole heart, he begins to reshape your whole life.
[00:14:03] It begins to reshape your whole life. Because we're shaped by whatever we call essential.
[00:14:11] And Jesus is going to help us today. And I feel like this is so important in my life because I have. I have sometimes loved the wrong things, right?
[00:14:21] Or I can maybe say it in this way. I have loved things in the wrong order.
[00:14:27] I love God's gifts more than I love the giver himself.
[00:14:32] Right? And Jesus is going to help you and I to put God back at the throne of our hearts, at the seat of our hearts. Because at the end of the day, some of you don't realize something is taking authority over your heart today.
[00:14:51] And Jesus says, let the love of God remain there. So let's jump into what Jesus tells us. We pick ourselves up in Matthew 22 and we got baptism. So I'm gonna give a little short context. And Jesus has these opponents called the Pharisees.
[00:15:09] Or also what's included here is the Sadducees, right? Nothing like a bunch of religious people coming in to ruin the party. Am I right?
[00:15:20] That's the Pharisees and Sadducees. These were guys that were always at war with Jesus.
[00:15:27] They were always in opposition with what he said and what he was trying to do and whatnot. And Matthew introduces these characters and it's easy just to jump to what Jesus said, but the context of this actually sets it up in a much more beautiful way that deserves attention. See, these Pharisees or these religious leaders, right? They were what they were called, or one of them, as we see in the text. They were experts of the law.
[00:15:56] Right? They were experts of the law. The law is good, right? The law had purpose and it had meaning, Right? They knew the law. The problem was that knowing the law versus loving God are two different things.
[00:16:14] Does that make sense? Right? Right. Their problem wasn't what they lacked in knowledge. It was what wasn't producing in their heart.
[00:16:25] They knew the law, they knew the commandments and all of that, but deep down inside, it didn't give their heart the affection towards God as it was meant.
[00:16:38] What am I trying to say when I bring that up? See, here's what I want you guys to know. Here's what I want you guys to know.
[00:16:44] Christianity isn't just learning truths.
[00:16:49] Christianity is loving the one who is true.
[00:16:54] You hear that?
[00:16:56] Christianity, it isn't just collecting facts. It is to experience Him. It is the means to experience him. Why? Because the more clearly we see who God is, the more deeply we are drawn to love him, to desire and to need him more and more. Christianity isn't just learning truths. It is loving the One who is true. It is learning to not just to know him, but to behold him and to see him as the greatest treasure and the greatest value. And that's what they lack. They ask Jesus this question, hey, Jesus, you know what is the greatest commandment?
[00:17:37] And you can see right early on that their intentions weren't. They weren't pure. They were trying to trap him. They were trying to catch Jesus in a lie.
[00:17:49] Right?
[00:17:50] And I want you guys to know this, that there's a difference between knowing God and experiencing Him.
[00:17:59] Knowing him is the means to experience experience Him.
[00:18:04] It's the means to experience experience what? To experience His Character, his love, his faithfulness, his holiness, his grace, his purity, his righteousness. That, that, that's what it, it's a means to experience him more and more. Because to truly know God is to love God. You can have a lot of knowledge of what this says, but unless our hearts connect to the one who communicated it, it's meaningless.
[00:18:40] We can have everything that possesses that's in here. We can memorize every text and we can walk through every different book. But unless this doesn't hook our hearts to him, we are missing the point.
[00:18:52] See, church is not just here for you to learn.
[00:18:56] It's here for you to be fueled by God and His love for you.
[00:19:00] That's what church is for. Not just merely here for you just to learn different truths so you can take it to work the next day, but so that you can walk out with this. How great is our God, worthy to be praised.
[00:19:14] Steadfast in his love towards me.
[00:19:17] Great is his faithfulness to be fueled by God and who he is. And so Jesus is asked this question. They say, Jesus, which of the law, which one is the most important? And Jesus, he's never fazed by it. I love Jesus. Whenever he answers questions, he's never fazed. He's never on his heels or anything like that.
[00:19:42] He answers it, but he answers it in a very beautiful way. He answers it in a way that's in verse 30, 37. He says, this here's what truly matters. Here's the most important thing I want you to know. Here's what needs to be essential. Here's the answer that you're looking for. Here's what needs to sit at the center of your life today.
[00:20:02] He says, love the Lord your God.
[00:20:08] Let these words capture you. This is actually Jesus quoting in Jewish context. Jesus is quoting what we call the Shema. Alright? You can find this in Deuteronomy, chapter 6. It says, Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one. And then it goes on and it says, you shall love the Lord your God. This is Jesus referencing that passage. And it says this. Love the Lord your God with all your heart.
[00:20:39] Notice the emphasis on all yourself, all your heart.
[00:20:44] All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. What is Jesus saying?
[00:20:51] He says, we gotta love God. He says, here's what's essential. It is loving God with everything.
[00:20:59] Cause Jesus says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength. You want to know where my life gets disordered? You know how sometimes my life becomes dysfunctional? It's because Sometimes I spend my time with my relationship with God. He only gets part of me. He never really gets all of me.
[00:21:20] See, what I'm really good at, I'm really good at giving God my problems, but I don't want him to touch my purity.
[00:21:28] I'm really good at giving God my worries, but I don't want God to touch my wealth, right? I'm really good at giving God a part of me, right? But Jesus says in this context that loving God is loving him with everything.
[00:21:49] With everything. See, if I only give God my problems, if I only give God my worries, if God is just a means to fix what concerns me and what pains me, I only love him for what he does for me, not merely for who he is to me.
[00:22:07] I only really love God for really what he can give, not for who he is.
[00:22:15] And Jesus says that to find this love, to know this love, you have to love him with everything.
[00:22:23] That means the things that pains you and the things that you struggle with. But also there's all the other things in your life more and more. If you think about this, friends, every day something is competing for your attention, your affection, right? Attempting to direct your life.
[00:22:47] And Jesus says this. When God has your deepest affection, you stop seeking lesser things to give to you what only he can provide.
[00:22:58] That's another one. Friends, keep that up there for them.
[00:23:02] When God becomes your deepest affection, think about this. We're all seekers in some way. We're all seeking for approval. So therefore, we try to have people see us. We're all seeking for comfort, therefore we chase the money.
[00:23:22] We're all seeking for something because we're deep down inside our hearts and our minds and our souls. We just want to feel a sense of satisfaction. And those things are good, but they're temporary.
[00:23:34] Those things are fine, but they have an expiration date.
[00:23:42] But when God has your deepest affection, which means this God alone, I love the giver more than I love the gifts. I can enjoy them without worshiping them.
[00:23:53] I love the giver. When God has my deepest affection, you stop seeking lesser things to give you what only God can give. You see, the more I keep God at the center. See, the problem with my life is that there are so many things that take God out of the center.
[00:24:14] There's so many things that are competing inwardly that are competing with God.
[00:24:21] And sometimes I allow those things to happen and I give into those things more and more. But the more I keep God at the center, I stop seeking temporary things to satisfy the deepest needs of my soul, my Life has clear direction more and more. Because when God takes his rightful place, everything else finds its proper place.
[00:24:45] When God takes his rightful place in my heart and everything else takes his proper place. I'm not saying everything is going to be easy, but I can tell you right now, things find true order when God's at the center.
[00:25:01] The question I have for you is, what's robbing God out of the center?
[00:25:07] Only you can answer that. I know where mine is and I'm not telling you.
[00:25:12] I want to have a job, okay?
[00:25:16] There's something like that is pulling our hearts, directing us further and further from God. But Jesus says, here's what's important, friends. Here's what you need to know.
[00:25:26] Love God with everything.
[00:25:29] Love God with everything. Give God your all of you, your attention, your affection, your adoration, all of it.
[00:25:42] Because when God takes his rightful place, then everything else finds its proper place. And that's how I want to say this in three ways. Before we got baptisms. I'm going to wrap it up early for you because I love you.
[00:25:55] Also because I preached 75 minutes last week. I don't know if you noticed that, but those who are laughing are like, yes, you did.
[00:26:04] All right, here's what the love of God. Here's what loving God does to us. Here's what loving God does to us. Number one, loving God changes what I trust.
[00:26:13] Loving God changes what I trust. My sons, they love jumping off high places.
[00:26:20] I'm telling you, it's so scary.
[00:26:23] It's awful.
[00:26:24] Like, they always, they all, they love going up to like the highest, like, platform. And they just, they literally did this the other day. They said, I believe I can fly. And then they jumped off.
[00:26:34] You know, they don't know the rest of the lyrics. They just said, I believe I can fly. And I said, I'm gonna believe you gonna die. No, Right. They just love jumping off high places. And, you know, But I found it interesting the other day, they went to jump off this platform. Now, it was high, it was high. Like I was looking up and I'm, you know, I'm kind of a tall man, you know, but even I was looking up and, you know, my four year old, he says, daddy, look. And then he went up to it and he saw the distance and he saw how far it was and he said, daddy, help.
[00:27:09] He went from, daddy, look.
[00:27:11] He was ready to kind of jump on his own. But then he realized the distance.
[00:27:17] He realized how far it was.
[00:27:19] And because he realized how far it was in the distance, he asked for Assistance.
[00:27:26] He says, dad, I need your help.
[00:27:29] He said, dad, I need your help. And I remember going up to him and I remember reaching out and having him jump.
[00:27:35] And he finally jumped. What's interesting was the distance didn't change, his ability didn't change.
[00:27:43] What changed was where he placed his trust, was where he put his faith in.
[00:27:51] And he put his faith in the presence and the reach of his Father.
[00:27:56] Because, friends, there are moments in your life when the circumstances feels way too heavy.
[00:28:02] There are situations in your life when it feels like you don't know the way forward. There are moments in our lives where it feels so heavy, when it feels like we can't handle what's in front of us. But here's what the love of God does. It teaches us to shift our confidence away from our ability and to place it in our Father's ability.
[00:28:27] It teaches us to shift our confidence. Not look to me, but look to the Father and who he always will be as well.
[00:28:38] God's presence and God's reach doesn't mean it will always change what's in front of me. But listen to this. But his presence and his reach changes how I face what's in front of me.
[00:28:50] It doesn't always change the circumstance. It doesn't always change the moment, but it changes how I face it.
[00:28:58] Because to love God is to trust his character and who he is and who he always will faithfully be in my life.
[00:29:09] The love of God changes what I trust.
[00:29:12] It changes what I trust. Number two, the love of God does this. The love of God shapes who I am becoming.
[00:29:20] Shapes who I am becoming. I've often told you this, and I'll tell you it again. When my wife and I, when we first started dating, y', all, your boy started changing.
[00:29:32] Things were just different.
[00:29:34] I went out. Listen, I went from going out with the boys on Friday night to now I'm staying inside watching Lifetime with my wife.
[00:29:45] Like, things change. Suddenly I started crossing my legs, you know, more. I just. I don't know what happened. I started talking proper. I mean, I just. I don't know. My calendar changed. My priority changed. Love will change you.
[00:30:00] Stop, Mom. Love will praise you.
[00:30:04] Ushers, come get this lady.
[00:30:07] Keith, come do your job, please.
[00:30:12] Right. Love will change you. Am I right? That's what love will do. It will start changing you. Because the more you're around that person, the more that person begins to influence you, the more that person begins to change you. And here's what. The love of God, as I trust him and as I love him, his character begins to shape my character.
[00:30:32] My thoughts and my desires and my decisions. They're all shaped by who he is.
[00:30:40] See, when God becomes the center of my heart, becomes the essential in my life, I become a person of joy. Why? Because he's the God of all joy.
[00:30:50] I become a person of peace because he's the God of all peace and who gives peace. I become a person of wisdom because in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I become a person of hope because in him, he is hope and hope embodied.
[00:31:08] When I draw more into the Lord and He has more of my heart. Become a person of grace because he is the God of all grace. God doesn't just change what I trust. He changes who I am becoming as well.
[00:31:21] Because I don't like the person I am apart from God.
[00:31:26] Can I just be raw and real with you? I don't like the person that I become when I'm apart from God.
[00:31:32] I just don't like that guy. That guy gets a little bit agitated too easily.
[00:31:38] The guy gets a little bit too frustrated too easily.
[00:31:42] The guy begins to become annoying to people.
[00:31:49] I'm trying to preach here. You know, I'm over here trying to vent. You laughing at my, you know, come on up, Dan. They're ready to stop, though. But anyway, I don't like the per. I know I'm a. I'm radically different when God is at the center of my life.
[00:32:08] And you know that, friends, you're a radically different person.
[00:32:15] You're radically so much different when God has real authority in your life. And last but not least, let's not forget what Jesus says at the end.
[00:32:27] Remember, Jesus says it's Shema. The Shema is important. If you were a Jewish girl or a Jewish boy and you heard this man, this is one that you will remember. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength and with all your might.
[00:32:39] Right? With all your heart, mind, strength and might. But then also, Jesus says to love your neighbor as yourself. Y' all wanted to skip that, didn't you?
[00:32:51] Your love would have talked about you. You didn't like it. Well, now Jesus is going to talk about how to treat others.
[00:32:56] Now, last week, if you were with us, we definitely got into this topic of loving one another as we went through what the Apostle Paul says. And actually, what's interesting, everything Paul has referenced, everything Paul writes down, stems from all of the teachings that come from Christ himself, right? Because here's the one thing I want you to know. Here's what Jesus is going to say. A life that is centered on the love of God begins to reflect the love of God.
[00:33:25] A life that is centered on the love of God begins to reflect the love of God. Not only. Listen, not only am I radically different when God at the center.
[00:33:38] I treat people better.
[00:33:41] I treat people very different.
[00:33:44] Right?
[00:33:45] I treat people very different. People are no longer just a means of my benefit.
[00:33:50] They're no longer just inconveniences.
[00:33:53] They're no longer just interruptions. Anybody feel like an interruption in your life today?
[00:33:58] And what happens is they are people who God called us to love, to serve, to forgive, to be gracious towards, to show patience because we said this last week and I'll bring it back again today. The cross doesn't just shows us God loves us.
[00:34:18] The cross shows us how loved people are called to love people.
[00:34:24] The cross shows us how loved people are called to love people.
[00:34:33] Loving God. Friends, let me. Let me. Let me finish it with this.
[00:34:36] Loving God isn't trying harder.
[00:34:40] It isn't creating stronger feelings.
[00:34:43] No, listen to me. Listen to me. We practice this tomorrow. Listen to this. The love of God grows by becoming more captivated by the one who first loved you.
[00:34:56] We love because he first loved us.
[00:35:03] Our ability to love God fully is rooted in his immense love for us.
[00:35:11] His immense love for us. Friends, friends, can I just remind you this week, some of you, you have been off your game lately.
[00:35:19] You have been.
[00:35:21] You've been inconsistent, you've gone backwards.
[00:35:28] You've allowed yourself to get into unhealthy habits again.
[00:35:32] But here's what's interesting.
[00:35:35] All of that.
[00:35:37] God didn't stop loving you.
[00:35:40] How amazing is that?
[00:35:43] Because of Christ, God's love for you is sealed.
[00:35:49] It is sealed and sealed forever.
[00:35:53] Because Jesus wants us to know this. Loving God is looking to Jesus because Jesus invites us to look to him.
[00:36:03] Because when I look to Jesus, I see a love that doesn't change with my circumstances. I see a love that doesn't change or disappear when I fail and I have a lot of failures in my life. I see a love that doesn't depend on. On my performance. It doesn't depend on how much I get it right. It doesn't depend on how good of a boy I was this past week. It doesn't depend on any of that. If you want to know God's love, friends, look to Jesus Christ.
[00:36:28] Look to Christ. This is an invitation to look upon to him. Because God demonstrated his great love for us while we were still sinners.
[00:36:38] Christ Died for us.
[00:36:42] Christ died for us. And God proved this love for us by giving us his wonderful son. So everything that is off about us, everything that we fail at, everything that we. That we mismanage, everything that. That finds it, that has disorder in our lives, guess what, friends? That doesn't distract God's love for you. As a matter of fact, it should motivate you to change how you live in your life, to know that you are loved.
[00:37:13] You are loved.
[00:37:15] How do we. How do we grow in the love of God?
[00:37:18] By being immersed in the love of God.
[00:37:23] I thank God that he blessed me this week.
[00:37:27] Not because I was a good boy.
[00:37:30] Thank you, Jesus.
[00:37:33] Am I right, Pastor? Am I right?
[00:37:36] Not because I talk to my wife now. That doesn't mean. Don't do that.
[00:37:41] I don't want you going home. Be like the pastor said. I can do whatever I want to do.
[00:37:45] God's gonna bless me.
[00:37:47] No, no, no. If anything, what does love do? Love. When you see how great of a love that is, it begins to change everything about you.
[00:37:57] I want to treat people better because God has been strong, so gracious.
[00:38:02] I want to knock off these old habits of mine because God has shown me grace upon grace upon grace upon grace upon grace upon grace upon grace.
[00:38:12] I want to.
[00:38:14] And I. And I'm drawn into this love because he first loved me.
[00:38:21] Friends, this is what baptism is today.
[00:38:25] This is what baptism declares. Today.
[00:38:29] Baptism declares. Jesus is no longer simply just a part of my life. He is the center of my life.
[00:38:37] And I belong to the one who loved me completely.
[00:38:40] And I want my whole life to now become a response to that love.
[00:38:47] That's what baptism is.
[00:38:50] That's what the water means.
[00:38:52] It's living in response to. To that love. For the rest of my life. I'm committing to that.
[00:38:57] And I want to do that more and more.
[00:39:00] I love God because He first loved me.
[00:39:05] Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I love you and I thank you. I thank you for this wonderful reminder that you're great in love, rich in mercy.
[00:39:19] And, Father, I pray that the great love you have for us would deeply impact what sits at the center of our lives.
[00:39:28] That no longer, Lord, will we live in a way where you're just a part of our lives, but rather you are at the center of our lives.
[00:39:37] And I pray, Father, that every one of us can experience that reality as we experience you, that we grow in the love of God, or as Jude tells us, that we keep ourselves in the love of God more and more, day after day time. After time.
[00:39:57] When we fall, we run to your love.
[00:40:00] When we fail, we run to your love.
[00:40:03] When we feel uncertain, we run to your love.
[00:40:06] We run to you. And to receive more of you, to clearly have an understanding of who you are. And when we know more of you, we're drawn to love you deeper.
[00:40:19] So help us, I pray.
[00:40:21] Bless us. I pray to your son's wonderful and perfect name. Amen.
