Live Free with Josh Howerton - Living Beyond Yourself | Ep. 18 | Wednesday March 1, 2023

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

The goal isn’t just to learn about the love of God, it’s to experience it in its entirety. In this episode, Pastor Mike shares that when you grasp how deep God’s love is for you, it changes everything. When you know you’re loved by God, you start to love others in the same way!  For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, thanks for joining us today, whether you're stuck in traffic right now, whether you're working out or going for a walk, or maybe you're head at the school, or maybe you're sitting like me with a cup of coffee.

Wherever you are, man, I've been praying that God would meet you right there today, right now, and just give you a fresh word for your soul. My name is Mike Bro, and most people just call me Bro, and I'm just honored to spend a few minutes together each day as we just all tried together to walk a new direction in this new year. Hey, if you missed any of the journey that we've been on, I'd encourage you to go back and catch up. It's just a few minutes each episode where we're listening to God say to us this year, come on, walk this way, walk my way. Our game plan has been to map your route, you download a new playlist, and find a partner.

And this week, we're talking about the simplicity of just keeping a steady pace. And the verse we're using is actually my life verse, because I spent way too much in my life trying to overcomplicate this walk with. God. So Micah 6-8 reminds me that while following Jesus is not always easy, it's not real complicated. Here's the verse again. Let me give it to you. He has showed you, oh man, old woman, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? Here it is. Just act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. We talked yesterday about acting justly, justly, just choosing to do the right thing, seeing and treating people in the right way, and just to keep walking the right direction, even when you don't particularly feel like it. You just do the right thing. So it's act justly. And then today, love, mercy. Let me give you another passage today that has just made a huge difference for me. It has

secured my true identity. It has given me a true perspective of my value. It is filled my heart with gratitude. It's a little prayer written over in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 16. A guy named Paul writes this. He says, I just pray that from his glorious unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And I pray that you may have the power to grasp as all God's people should. How wide, how long, how high, how deep His love is.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it's too great to understand fully. Then you'll be made complete with all the fullness of life. and power that comes from God. I mean, that is such an awesome passage of scripture. When you and I start to grasp the deep love and mercy that God has for us, it's a game changer. Years back, I did a little word study on the word that's used here in this passage for grasp or understand.

The ancient root word comes from the root word for rust or decay or eat all the way through. And I just love that. You see, the goal is not just to learn a few things about the love of God, but to let it eat all the way through us. And I'm just telling you from experience, when you grasp how wide, how high, how long, how deep God's love really is for you, changes everything. You actually begin to, as Michael 6.8 says, love mercy.

You love mercy. First of all, I love the fact that when I deserve justice for my sin and rebellion, I receive mercy and grace. The truth that God's my life is that even though I am deeply flawed, I'm deeply loved with this unfailing love. His mercies are new every day, and I have grown to love that. When you walk this new direction, grateful for grace, it changes your attitude.

It also enables you to love other people in the way that you have been loved. You become a person who just not only loves the mercy you've received, you love dispensing mercy and grace. I like the way Brennan Manning puts it. He says, if we want to truly love, we must return again and again to the great love of the great lover. When you grasp the love of the great lover, when you love mercy, you give mercy.

When you know that you've been given grace, you dispense grace. You look for opportunities to live beyond yourself every day of your life. You just want to selflessly serve and give and help and sacrifice for other people. And many of you may know, that's just an awesome way to walk. Plus, it's a blast. In fact, I have never, ever met a person who began living like that and then look back and regret and said, you know, my life was so much better when I was selfish. Never, ever.

Whenever we live beyond ourselves, we always say, man, that felt good. That felt right. I want to do that again. So why not live like that today? At home, at school, on the job, in your neighborhood, just live as a deeply loved child of God. Love, mercy today. Look for opportunities to give away what you have received from God.

Just make it a part of your steady pace today. And man, I hope you have a great day, and I'll see you back tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.comte.combe.combe.combe.combe.