The Church of Eleven22 - Saturated 2022 - Friday: Pastor Ben Stuart

Episode Date: September 16, 2022

I'm going to be honest, that's not what I expected. I was spending 10 to 15 seconds and some B-roll. That was something. I need to make that my ringtone or my kid's alarm clock. That feels right. If I can maybe get a download of that from the team. Hey, it is so great to see all of you. It's so great to be back.

I love your pastor. I love your church. It's so inspired by you. Passion City Church, Washington, D.C., and Church of 1122 are different in many. ways. You have a parking lot and air conditioner, but we have the same heart for the gospel and for Jesus Christ, and I love that about your pastor's heart and inspired by him and by you, and it's just so great to be back here among you. And excited to be a part of this moment God has been leading

us in over these days. So if you got a copy of your Bible, yeah, amen, let's not stop. I heard last night was wild. I wish I was here. But let's dive into 1 John chapter 4. I want to read you a couple verses from what I believe everyone on staff has told me the smallest Bible in the building. First John chapter 4, I'm going to begin in verse 7. I'm going to read a couple of verses kind of loaded into our mind. We'll pray and then dive in together. So 1 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. And anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. God sent his only son into the world

so that we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we've 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 has 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 and God.

So we have come to know and to believe in the love that God has for us. God is love. And whoever abides in love, abides in God and God abides in Him. By this is love perfected in us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment because as He is, so also are we in this world. There's no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear. for fear has to do with punishment

and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. So Father, I just want to pray simply that you would help us understand that and to believe it

because God lives change our thinking, our feeling, our living will change if we understand it and families can change in cities and countries and the world. If we can understand what's on the table tonight, the words you're speaking to us, that it's the beloved who love. And so help us get there, God. Help us understand it. Quicken our minds that we can focus, stir our hearts, that we can care.

And I'm just asking you, Lord, to change some lives in a way that I can't generate. A conference can't, a church can't. We need to meet with you, God. So I just want to invite you family at every campus and in this space. If you're willing, would you be willing to pray and ask him? Say, Lord, please teach me right now. And then if you would, please pray for me that the Lord would use me and I'd be helpful to you. Well, Father, we love you and we trust you. Use this time.

And we pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, years ago, when I was a youth pastor, I used to love to take my high school kids repelling. And we would go with one of those outfitters that had, had the guides and had all the gear, and they would take us to a mountain somewhere, and then, you know, we would shove kids off these cliffs. But before we did it, they would always circle us up and give us the speech. And they would do it every year. The guy that ran the outfit

would sit us down, and he would be like, kids, I want you to know every guide here I have trained personally. They have been lowering kids off the side of mountains for a decade. We have never lost a man. None of you will die on our watch today. Do you believe this? And on and on, he would go, and the kids would go, we know, we know, we know, because they'd heard it all before. But undaunted, he would continue. And he would pull out the gear and says, this carabiner could hold up a Volkswagen,

this cord could hold up all of us simultaneously, it will not bend, snap, or break, regardless of what the movie Cliffhanger starring Sylvester Sloan suggests. None of you will die today because of failure of equipment. Do you believe this? And they're all, we know, we know, we know. But then when it came time to repel,

You know, if you've ever been, you don't just climb down the rock. They tie you in, and you have to lean all the way back and trust that rope. And as these kids got to the edge, and it was time to lean back, about half the kids would freak out. And it was normally the guys, which I don't know why that is. I don't know it's because they weren't paying attention during the instructions, or if it was the fact that the guide was cute. And so when the girls got up, he'd be like, go ahead and lean back. And they're like, okay.

And they would go. I don't know. But the guys would get up there, and they would instantly. go like wait no where where where no and they would just like something was wrong and you'd look at him you go what what is it is a is a guy drunk is he passed out like no you're like what is the is the is a Caribbean or breaking is a rope fraying like no and you're like okay then what are you doing and and they would prolong the worst possible part and they were filled with anxiety and they weren't having any fun and the reality was it was fascinating to watch them and go man minutes ago

When we asked you, if you knew you were going to be okay, you said, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. But when it came time to move, your actions betray what you really believe. Now, why do I tell you this? Because John just said to us, we have come to know and to believe in the love that God has for us. To give you the message in advance, 1 John uses the word love 46 times. I just read it over 21 times in this passage. So the simple message today is this. You are loved.

And if you were in Christ, the greatest being in existence cherishes you. He knows your name. But I would guess, for many of you, when you hear that, you say, I know. Jesus loves me? This I know. like you flew down from Washington, D.C. to say that. Like, we've covered that, Ben, here. We know that. Like, I'm aware of this.

And yet, John says, we have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. And then he gives us two characteristics that are indicative of those who know and believe they're loved by God. Number one, he says, they're characterized by a fearlessness. He said in verse 18, there's no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear.

Fear has to do with punishment. and whoever fears has not been perfected he loved. You can know that you know and believe God loves you when your life is characterized by a fearlessness. Those who know and believe they're loved aren't worried. They don't stress much. There's a beautiful calm and non-anxious presence in their life. It's interesting.

You see this in children. Studies over and over show that children that come from loving homes are more curious and more confident and courageous as they enter the world. It's those who know that they're cherished that step out with a sense of courage. That's true of all human beings. And it's the same in the gospel. When you know you're loved, your life is characterized by a fearlessness. We don't worry much. There's a wonderful peace to us. And it's characterized by a freedom to love others. He said it in verse seven, Beloved, let us love one another. And then he gives you the reason why. He says four,

which indicates reason. He says, for, love us. from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. It's so interesting because he gives you the reason we're meant to love each other, but he doesn't point downstream. He doesn't say love one another, because if you do, God will bless you. Or love one another, because if you don't, God will be really mad and hurt you. There's no promise of blessing or punishment. He says, love one another. Why, John? He says, because loves from God. And everyone who's been loved is born of God and knows God. He's like, it's the most natural thing. He points upstream. The belief. The belief is, he's from God. He's from Love it, love.

Love embraced, becomes love extended. When you've been born of a God of love, you naturally love one another. You're not tyrannized with self-absorption. You're not caught up with insecurity, always worried about you, or on the flip side, which is still self-absorption, ego, and just trying to get people's attention to fill a vacancy. Those who know and believe they're loved by God are characterized by a fearlessness and a freedom to love others. They don't walk into a room like this, looking for people to notice them, care about them. see them, they're here to be a blessing. Why? Because they're already blessed. They're already loved.

They've got love to spare. The people who know and believe their love by God are fearless and they're free. So when I ask you, do you know God loves you? I would guess many of you say, yes. You'd get it right on a quiz. True or false? God loves you. True. But if I said, so is your life characterized by a fearlessness and a freedom to love other people? Most people say, well, I don't know. They don't want to own that. But John just said those are the characteristics of those who know and believe they're loved. So here's the reality. I think for many of us, we know it, but our actions betray what we believe.

And if I'm honest, we are anxious. We're in anxious people. We're worried about what people think about us. I remember when I was in seminary, they made me take a test. And it wasn't a test like for a grade, it was a test to see if you're crazy or not. And so the test was interesting because it would ask weird questions. Like, I like motorcycles and flowers. You're like, is that a question?

It was just like the most bizarre test, you know? And they'd give you scenarios like, you're counseling a woman late at night in her house and you accidentally start making out. You, A, tell no one. B, keep it going on the side. And you're like, wait, what? Like, no, I reject the premise. I wouldn't be in our house.

So I hated this test. but then they have a counselor call you and like tell you how you did. And I remember when I got the call, before I even talked to them, I was underwhelmed with what they're about to say. I'm not there taking notes. I'm like, hey, they want to tell you what this test says about you. I'm like, yeah, sure, great, good luck. And she was like, well, according to this test,

you have a low belief in the sovereignty of God. And I started laughing. I was like, yeah, I don't think so. I was like, if you heard me preach, I think God rules everything. And they said, no, no, no, I'm not talking about your theology. They're like, but tell me if this is true or not. You probably work crazy hours.

Because at the end of the day, you don't think anyone's going to take care of you because you don't think anybody cares. And I was silent. They got me. Your actions betray what you really believe. And for many of us, the way we conduct ourselves, we're constantly posting or boasting or saying. things or doing things to get someone to notice us, see me, see that I'm valuable, see that I'm

successful, see what I've earned my money, see what my business has done so that some person, my dad or some group, some people would say, you're a success, you're enough, you did it, so you feel secured, you feel valued, you feel noticed, you feel loved. Because you don't feel like you are. And so you come to us as a drain rather than a fountain. And the reality is because of that fearlessness, we're not free. We're not free to love other people. Jesus said we're supposed to love our enemies. We're supposed to have such a resource. that we love people from the other political party. That kind of love, right?

And the sad thing about this is the world is in desperate need of this kind of love. But you can't have a source or be a source if you don't have a source. I remember I had a friend that she did one of those crazy unsafe deals where you go scuba diving in the Caribbean, but you only get oriented for like an hour. So they teach her like, here's time of scuba dive. And they give you the gear. And they put you with a buddy.

And so she's in the water with the body. buddy. They gave her like a middle-aged man, and she was in her 20s. And you go down and you have your own oxygen, but you're supposed to be there to, you know, enjoy the ocean, point at fish, like, bruh, right? And if something goes wrong, there was a series of hand signals, and then you're supposed to gently float together to the top. But as they got to the bottom, this 40-year-old guy, like something went wrong with his gear. Like oxygen quit flowing. And as soon as that happened, she could see someone was wrong, and then he looked at her, and he grabbed her, and he started to shake her. and she was like, these are not the hand motions they taught us.

Like, she didn't understand what's going on. And then he grabs the respiratory out of her mouth and puts it into his mouth, right? And then he starts to try to climb her like a ladder to get to the surface, which when you're underwater, it does not work. And so functionally, he was drowning her, right? And she's trying to understand, like, what's going on? And then finally she's having to hit him in the ribs to try to get him to let go so she can survive.

And then in a panic, he grabs her swims at the top, doesn't adjust her depth. They both get the bends, get really sick, but they survive. but needless to say, they're not swim buddies anymore, or any kind of buddies, for that matter. And you go, what happened? Well, when they had a source, they could be a source to each other. But when there was scarcity, there was desperation. And when there's desperation, there's exploitation.

And that's much of modern dating. That's much of modern relationships. That if I don't have a source of love, I'm clawing and try to get it from you. And the world is in desperate need of selfless love. and we're the ones who are meant to have it so we know it, but our actions betray what we believe. So here's the question.

Some of us are here and you're like, well, Ben, I want to believe I'm loved. I want it. I want to feel loved. I want to wake up every morning feeling that I'm valued that the Almighty cares about me. I want to be less stressed. I don't want to be worried about what people think.

I want to be liberated to sing more and laugh more and smile when trouble comes. I want to be that person. How do you feel loved? Well, I would say that the subjective affections burn off the fuel of objective truth, right? That the fire of love burns on the fuel of truth. If you want to feel loved, you need to know that you are. But how do you know you're loved?

Take it out of theology for a second. How do you know anybody loves anybody? You can't see love, can't handle it, can't give it to somebody. Here you go. What do you got? A little cup of love. Got it for you. It's not how it works.

Well, some of you may say, silly Ben, love is invisible, but it's not imperceptible. Love is like the wind. You can't see it, but you feel the effects of it. And you'd be right. So think for a minute about your favorite movies, your favorite books or TV shows, when they want to prove to you that one character

loves another character, what do they do? And your favorite stories, when they want to show you something take place, that you go, that guy loves her or that girl loves him, how do you know? What do they show you that convinces you love is there? I would submit they show you one of three things. Number one, they show you that love sends. Love sends.

It moves towards the beloved. Love initiates. I used to tell young people this when I was in college ministry. I said, you will never see a guy sitting on his couch in his dorm when the realization hits him that he loves a girl. Not just that he thinks she's cute or has some potential. But when he's like, no, I love her. like check out of singleness forever, love her.

When that thought lands on him, you will never see him sit on the couch and go, I love her. Oh, when that lands on him, he will arise and he will go to his beloved because that's what love does. Love moves, love sends, love initiates. It initiates texts. Hey, baby, what's up, how are you doing?

It initiates letters. It sends flowers. It sends the vibe. Hey, we'll start. It's the love moves, right? Princess Bride. Buttercup says, know my Wesley will come from me. How does she know? Because it's Tu'u-O-Wove. This happens every day.

True love, when it sees the beloved over there, it cannot sit still. It sends, right? And it sacrifices. Love will surrender its body to the flames. So in the movie Titanic, Jack will give his life to keep that door afloat so rose can live rose right and so many guys sat there and was like i don't know man there looks like there's room for two on that door like if rose would just scooch no had to die but you know he really loved her he froze to death in those icy waters why because that's what love does frozen on a steps in front of that falling sword to save her sister that's a pretty grisly thing to do. Why did she do that? Because it's true love that can thaw that frozen heart and to rescue her sister from her suicidal attempts at self-expression that were

destroying the community. Love sacrifices, right? Bruno Mars! We'll catch a grenade for you. We'll step in front of a train for you. Think about how grisly that imagery is and you sing it. Why did he write that? Because he know that we know that when someone is willing to go through pain for another, they really care. Love sacrifices. And love stays.

It will stay when life is hard. So in the movie, The Notebook, Noah will keep reading the notebook to Allie, even though she doesn't know who he is. And in our weddings, what do we say to show all of our loved ones we really care. I promise to love you for better for worse and sickness and in health. Richer or poor. What are we saying? Even if all my circumstances diminish, I am not going anywhere.

And when we declare that in our holiest of ceremonies, the crowd looks and says, he really loves her. She really loves him. Why? Because true love stays. When everyone else walks out the door, love walks in. And your authors of movies and books they know when they show you those three things love sins it sacrifices it stays you go that person really loves that one i know love exists because i see those things verse nine in this the love of god was made manifest among us the root of the word manifest in greek is the word light that the lights turned on when we saw this the love of god was made manifest we can know tonight that the heaven's smile on you it loves you having full knowledge of who

you are and what you've done, you can know that heaven smiles on you. Why? Because the lights turned on when we saw this. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent his only son into the world. Love sends. That God didn't just send a message. He didn't just send a teacher. He didn't just send an inspirational, motivational teacher. He didn't just send a book. He didn't just send a prophet. He sent his best emissary. He sent his son. That you can know you're loved because of the space-time arrival of Jesus Christ on the planet was a declaration of love that God is not abandoning us but moving towards us because God so loved the world that he gave his only son. That whoever believes in him wouldn't perish but have life. The Christian is the person who hasn't

gotten their life cleaned up or figured out something that no one else can figure out. The Christian is someone who's just said, I heard the message, I saw it. He came running for me and I said, yes. He came to get me and I threw my hands up and said, I'm right here. That's what the Christian is. The person who says, he said, I can come, so I'm coming home. That's who the Christian is. That God sent his son that we might live through him. How do you know you're loved because love sins? There was a movie years ago, starring Liam Neeson called Taken. And I remember that movie, Taken, if you recall, it's a terrifying movie to watch as a dad now, because his daughter goes overseas on vacation. And, and I remember,

and his kidnap is a terrible story, right? And yet as the story plays out, Liam Neeson, you know, has a particular set of skills and employs those to get her back, you know? And so the girl gets back, it ends fine. But I remember watching that movie and thinking about that. Like, what if that girl was laying in bed one night, a very typical thing for a young 20-something girl to do

to lay in bed and wonder, is anyone thinking about me? Am I crossing anyone's mind tonight? Does anyone care? Does anyone notice me? Does anyone value me? Does anyone love me? What if she thought that? And I thought if she thought that, what I would say is, watch the movie! Look what your dad did! When you got stolen because of your own foolish, irresponsible choices, he didn't say, well, that's what you get. You get taken. Good thing I got another daughter. What did he do? He crossed oceans. He blew up buildings. He did some very scary. things to people. He was relentless in the pursuit of his child. Because that's what love does.

That's what your God is like. And so the voice that tells you, well, I'm too far gone. Well, he doesn't care about me. Well, I don't know. I don't matter. You don't know what I've done. I know what he did. I know that God's love was manifest in this. He sent his son that you might live through him. The heaven's son. I love love. We had a friend adopt a little girl from overseas and she was in a very dangerous place. I mean, she was malnourished. and unsafe. And they adopted her, and we were talking about it, and he said, you know, the day's going to come when she gets older,

where she's going to realize she's adopted, and this conversation's going to start. And he said, counselors have been warning us when that happens, they're going to be tempted to really sort of stamp their identity with I was abandoned and discarded and left in a dangerous place to be exploited and die. And I asked him, what are you going to do? and he said well we're going to be honest with her and when she says hey was i adopted yes you were when she finds out the circumstances

and that lands on her i was abandoned i was left he said we're going to say yeah that's true but that's not the only thing that's true your mom and i we came to get you we crossed oceans for you we paid so much money to so many people and sign so many documents for years to come get you and to put our name on you and to bring you into our home and to build you a room and to surround you with our love so yes you were discarded broken abused in a difficult place like so many of you but that's not the end of the story the good news tonight is that God sends and he comes he rescues his kids amen and he sacrifices verse 10 says in this is love not that we've loved God but that He loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. I love that because God didn't just come towards us.

He leapt over two boundaries. The first was our indifference. He loved us while we were blowing him off. He loved while you while you were being crazy while you were doing very different things than this on a Friday night. He loved you. And then he overcame the boundary of your sin and mine. And it says he was the propitiation for our sins. That's a word a lot of us probably don't use in normal conversation.

But what this verse is saying is propitiation was a true. temple word from the imagery of the Old Testament temple. It's a sacrifice word of an innocent lamb being slain. And in the Old Testament, that was a picture. The picture was that in the center of Jerusalem, there was a temple. And the center of the temple was the Holy of Holies. And the Holy of Holies had the word of God stamped onto a stone. And no one obeyed those words so no one could be in that room. It's a picture of separation. And yet in the temple, every, year, a priest would come in and he would slaughter an innocent lamb and take its blood and spread it on the top of that box that held the law. And the lid of that box had a name. The lid was called

the hylisterium, the mercy seat. It's the word here translated propitiation. And God said, I will meet you at the seat of mercy. Because God looks down and doesn't see his violated law, he sees the blood of an innocent one covering what you did and what I did. And so we can come in and have fellowship with him. It's a picture that acknowledges artistically what we all know intrinsically that there's something wrong with us and we're not okay. It's interesting Yale's Infant Cognition Center had a study they did where they discovered morality and babies. It's a fascinating study. I encourage you to go look it up and read it as well. Pre-verbal babies younger than six months old, some as early as three months old, demonstrating a morality, breakthrough in the conversation

about nature versus nurture, morality and children. And I don't have time to give you the whole layout of how the tests work. You can go read it, but they did a series of puppets. And they would sort of have these puppets. And some of them did nice things like share and hug people. Others did other things like steal and hit people and stuff like that. And then they would present these puppets to these kids. And as they did it, it wasn't just a minorly statistically significant group. It was almost every single baby. When they saw the good puppet, and it was presented to them, they would laugh, they would hug it. When they saw the evil one that was mean, they would recoil, they would cry, they would hit it

like they instinctively knew it needed to be judged. Pre-verbal, three-month-old babies demonstrating a morality hardwired into them from existence, a fascinating discovery at Yale. And they looked at these people and they said, so there's this morality built into us of what is right and what is wrong. Yes, it's their very imprinted in our creation. Yes, okay, so if all of us know roughly what's right and wrong, why do we all choose what's wrong? They said, we don't know. That wasn't part of the test. But we know in Genesis, when we broke faith with our creator, everything broke and something broke in us.

And Alexander Solzhenitsyn who survived the gulog in Russia said, if only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us, destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. I remember when my wife and I went to Italy, we were there and we were having dinner out one night. And there was this table filled with yuppies in the technical sense, young urban professional women. And they were sitting there and they were having a dinner and we were having a dinner. And it turns out we were all tourists in Italy. They were from London, like ladies that worked in London. And so they started telling us what they were doing. We started telling me what they were doing and so it became kind of fun. They were telling us about their trip. We were telling about ours.

We started to scoot our tables together. They started to text their friends said, we're going to be late to the club because we're talking to us. And then they text their friends were going to be even later to the club. Then the restaurant closed down. The owner came out. He started playing us some music, gave us a drink that kind of he had made at house. It tastes a little bit like cleaning fluid. But we had a blast. His son was singing. They texted their friends and said, never mind. We're ditching all at the club. And we just hung out all night. It was so awesome. But about like an hour in, they asked me what I did. And I said, uh, I'm a Bible teacher.

I teach the Bible to young people. And I like to wait on that, because if you lead with it, it's kind of a conversation killer. But I could see the confusion on their face. Like, it was too late. They already liked this. So it was like, ha! Gotcha! And I remember she was like, can I just be honest with you?

She was like, I've never read the Bible in my life. I'm like, of course you can be honest with me and say that. And she goes, and her friend goes, well, I have a question. I said, what? And she said, why do religious people kill people? She said, why do religious people kill people? Because a terrorist had just blown himself up in the London tube, and she said, I could have been on my way to work that day.

I take the tube to work. Why do religious people do that? And I said, well, I don't kill people. I said, but let me tell you this. I said, if you look throughout history, every human philosophy can be bent and turned towards murder. That doesn't make them all equal, some are better than others, but I'm just saying that every philosophy from atheism to,

there's even a Buddhist terrorist, if anyone should be like cooled out, you know, but I said every human philosophy can be turned dark. And I think what we can learn by that is there's something broken in us. And you know what? She didn't disagree with me because they never do. And she just went, right? She was like, like, she's like, there's good things I want to do and I don't do them. and there's bad things I want to stop doing

and I keep doing it and she had no idea she was quoting Roman 7 and she's like, what do we do? And we started talking about this that you are beautiful in the image of God but you are desperately broken and you can't fix you. And so God in his mercy arrived. Jesus Christ

why just the provident to teach him this is the son of God. Nobody was like this man. No one changed history like this man. And he not only lived a perfect life He said, I have come to be the holsterian, the mercy seat. I will be the one who takes your debt and lets it payment land on me so you can come home. Because whenever a sin is done and debt's incurred, we owe. And he said, and I will pay. Some of you, if I can be honest, you don't sing at all in worship services and maybe been to church for years,

but you just don't because you don't really know and believe the amazing grace of God for you. You know Jesus loves people, you know He forgives sin, but you just feel like you live under the constant frown of heaven. And let me challenge you, you diminish the cross when you say that, because Jesus Christ loved you enough to choose to be a propitiation for you. You can know you're loved because love. sins and love sacrifices. So when I got out of college, I had a roommate that I watched him fall in love of this girl and as they were figuring out, are we going to get married? It turns out that she

had a ton of credit card debt, very irresponsible choices during college, an enormous amount of debt. Now here's a crazy thing. My roommate loved his credit score. Like I'd never seen before. I mean, I would go into his bedroom sometimes, and he'd have all the receipts out, and he was just sort of painstakingly recording the movement of his money at, like, 22. It had like an abacus and like a little green visor. I'm like, wow, man. He was just very meticulous with saving and credit, and then he falls in love of the girl that she would destroy his credit school.

And I watched him struggle. It doesn't sound romantic, but beside closed doors. I watched him see what it would cost him. And I watched him make the decision, but I want her. First wedding I ever cried out, because I'm sitting in the crowd, and I knew what it would cost him. But he wasn't up there going like, well, this is about to be expensive, boys. Like he wasn't rubbing it in. And she didn't feel great about it either, but that's her reality.

I'm coming with baggage. I'm coming with debt. And he said, I want you. so I'll take the debt and I'll pay that to get you. And I watch them with tears going, he loves her because love sacrifices. And that's what your God has done. Don't diminish the cross by pretending your debt

is bigger than what he can pay. The latest naval warship is called the USS Michael Mansour. It's named after Navy Seal Michael Mansour that in September 2006, he and his men were tasked to drive insurgents out of Vermont. and there was a day where an insurgent had lobbed a grenade up onto a rooftop in the midst of Michael and his men, and without hesitation, Michael dove on the grenade, absorbed the blast, cost him his life, but he saved the life of his men. The United States recognizes that with the Medal of Honor, and we recognized him posthumously

because greater love has no man than he gives his life for his friends. and the president on that day of honoring Michael said death came for Mikey's friends that day and Mikey said you can't have them I will go in their stead now let me ask you something do you think Mikey's friends wonder if he loves them I think they know he does because they saw it because greater love has no man than he lays down his life for his friends. When you don't feel loved, look at the cross. It's a declaration from Jesus Christ of his love for you. And this is love, not that you love God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for your sin and mine. And then love stays. By this we know

we abide in him and he and us because he has given us his spirit. He says, I'm not just taking your sin out of the way. I'm taking it away so that my very spirit can abide in you. Second wedding I ever cried out. Two out of two. It was this couple that, man, they were the most attractive human beings I'd ever seen in my life. He was a professional tennis player. She was a model or should have been. I'm not clear on that. But they were so attractive, it was distracting. You ever known people like that? Like you're having a conversation and they walk in the room and it just throws you off. You're like, anyway, so it says to them, like they instantly would make you self-conscious. Like I'd be talking to them, you're like, hey man, how's it going? Why am I wearing

this outfit? I feel so frumpy and weird and you're waiting. And I'm like, and I don't even think like that. But they never put it on you. They were just, they were just marvelously gorgeous people, and they were so kind and generous. They were the easiest couple to root for. And getting invited to their wedding was like, the event of the year, right? It was so awesome. And so getting ready for their wedding, in the months leading ahead, she wakes up one day, and her hands are shaking, and she can't get them to stop. And it persists, and they do some tests and find out she has a mess. And it's aggressive, and within a very short amount of time, she can't lift her hands to comb her own hair. So she pulled him aside and said, you didn't sign up for this. You can go.

And he said, no, I want you. So at their wedding, when it came time to say, I promise to love you in sickness and in health, she couldn't do it. She choked up because she knew what that sentence would cost him. He did not choke up. He said, I promise to love you for better, for worse, for richer, for poor, in sickness and in health. because that's what love does. It stays. Your God is aware of what you're watching and what you think and what you say

and all the disgusting, sad, sticky, broken things you do and say he's aware. He's not like, I so love the world and I love you and welcome to my kingdom. Oh, you're a little bit of a lot. I mean, I was kind of talking to them. Because my love is matchless and mighty. That's not the love of God. He is aware that you're a hassle. And he has chosen to stick with you.

That's our God. That's what he's like. What the enemy will do when you look in Genesis 3, what's the first lie? The first lie is, did God really say you can't? What the devil does is to try to get people to believe God doesn't really care. Because if you can believe he doesn't care, you will go to a million other places for comfort. The lie that launches a million sins is that God is not a good dad who loves you.

This is the battleground. Patrick Carnes, the leading voice in our country on sexual addiction, says addiction is an intimacy disorder. Why do we go to so many broken places on screens, on line with pills and bottles? Why do we go to all this stuff to fill an empty hole? Because we're trying to fill up a vacancy of love. This is where the battles fought. Then I go, the father sent his son. The son gave his life.

And the spirit saves, the triune God has moved towards me. And I'm going to fight to believe what is true. I know it, but I fight to believe it. I want to experience it. I want to know it. Because when I fight the lies to believe, my God loves me, then it's the beloved who love. And the world is in need of selfless love. So let me close with this. Years ago, I went to a NASCAR race. It's kind of wild. I'd never been

NASCAR. Never even seen NASCAR. Didn't know anything about it, really. But I was at church. And a friend of mine was like, hey, my girlfriend and I got these tickets to this NASCAR deal. Do you want to go? And I was like, yeah, sure, I'll go. And so we got in the car. And it was this couple and me and a buddy, and the four of us are driving. And we said, how many tickets do we have? and she says, uh, like 200. We're like, what? And she said, yeah, it was like a corporate deal that fell through last minute, so they just gave me all the tickets.

So we got like 200 tickets. We're like, well, there's only four of us. What are we going to do with 200 tickets? And then instantly, the guys were like, we're going to sell them. We're going to make so much money off these NASCAR people. And I got really excited. And then she was like, what? No.

Freely these tickets have been given. Freely, we must give. And I remember as soon as she said that, were like, oh man, because it kind of sounded Bible-y, and we're like, so we get there. And a lot of it's what you expect, a lot of airbrush shirts, a lot of RVs, so they're, but there was this long line. I mean that like from the gate to far into the RV park of people trying to get in with a look of uncertainty as to whether or not they'd be successful.

So there's all these people waiting in the eye, they look real nervous. And I remember she was the first one. She walks up to someone in the middle line. She's like, hey, how many people are you got? He's like, four? She's like, and he looks at him and he's like, what is this? Like, coupon? Like, what are you doing?

He's like, this is confusing. Like, what's the matter with you? But then he looks right. He's got nothing but time, right? So he gives one to his kid. Like, hey, you know, I don't know. Go up there and see what this does. The kid goes to the gate and hands it to the agent.

The agent scans it and lets him go in. And the kid's like, I'm going to NASCAR. I'm going to NASCAR. Bye, everyone. And his family's like, well, What is it? What is this? And they were looking at her like, what? How did you? Why did you? And as soon as she did that, like all thoughts of trying to sell them just went out the window.

We're like, this is the coolest thing ever. And we were so excited. And so for the next like hours, so we do that. Just walk up to people, like, hey, how many people you got? Three are you like. Okay, go. Do you bless. And no one bum rushed us, but people began to orbit us. And they just kind of walk around and be like, hey man. How's it going? You here for the NASCAR race?

I love NASCAR. Have I introduced my son, Dale? Come eat Dale. And then on they would go. And we were giving out these tickets, and it was so much fun. And we sent all in. And we sent them all in and we were like, ah, bye, go, have fun. And then after a while, we went in because we had tickets.

We were good. Like, we had ours. We won't worry about it. So we go and we'd get in. Now, the funny thing is, we just thought we were giving them tickets and buy, go, and join NASCAR. It didn't cross our mind that this was a block of tickets. So when we walk into NASCAR, you know, we come up the gate and turn the corner. And there's like 200 people that we just led into the NASCAR.

And so we turned the corner and they're all like, hey! We're like, ah! Like, we didn't realize, like, oh, we started a party, a NASCAR. Question. How could we be so generous? How could I be so generous? Because I had a ticket. That was good.

And so those who have a source can be a source. That's it. If I've got an abundance, I can overflow. I can overflow to my neighbor. I can overflow to my enemy. I can overflow to that person who's acting like a pagan because they are one. And it's the kindness of God that rescued us. And that same kindness can flow through us to them.

What's going to change the world right now? I'll tell you what it's going to be. Christians that speak the truth, encounter hate, and love back. You will confuse them. They'll think you're weird. They will mock you. And then when their life falls apart, they will orbit you. I promise you, but you can't be a source if you don't have a source.

So it starts here. It's the beloved who love. So God, would you help us know it and believe it? And God, I know there's many people in here that know it. They know that God sent Jesus. They know that Jesus is the son of God. They know that he died on a cross. They know that it wasn't just the unfortunate murder of a martyr that his death

was a transaction. He was taking our sin onto that cross. He was burying it in that grave. He was rising from that grave. He was the propitiation for our sins. That whoever believes in him would not perish, but would be born of God. I know many of us in here know it, but we live anxious lives. We're worried we won't be taken care of financially. We're worried we won't be taken care of financially. we're worried we'll never meet somebody we're so worried that we won't get noticed that whoever's voice we think matters won't call us a success we're so worried

and because of that we're not a blessing we're just not our neighbors our neighborhoods our cities aren't different because of our presence because we don't we don't live like we got a source so I pray God we wouldn't make you big promises tonight but we would start where we're meant to to, we would just say, God, I see it.

And with failing hands and trembling knees, I believe it. A fight to believe that the love of God was manifest, that he sent a son that I might live through him. And that in this is love, not that I love God, but he loved me. You loved me and you sent your son to be the propitiation for my sin. And your very spirit abides in me and will not let me go. And, friend, if you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ, that simple message I just said, that's where it starts.

It starts by receiving the love of God. I know many people in this space and another stood up last night to say, I want that. And that invitation is on the table tonight. And every second you live on this planet, God is inviting you home. So if you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ, the love of God manifest to you, that's where it starts. Tell him yes tonight. Say yes. If you're forgiving, forgive me.

If you're adopting, adopt me, I want in. tell him that tonight come down to this altar in a moment as the band leads us and let us pray with you you kneel and pray let us celebrate with you what god's doing in your life and god i believe there's so many people in here too that man they know you believe in right now ben i put my faith in jesus a long time ago when i was kid et cetera but but my reality is i just watch the news and i get so anxious i go to work and i feel so uncertain i lay in bed and i wonder if i wonder if if anybody cares, and I know it, but my actions betray what I believe. God, would you help me believe you love me tonight?

Not just love people propositionally, but love me. Like a dad loves a little girl. Like a father delights and a son, you love me. Because when I fight to believe that, then I can be a fountain of love to others. And some of you tonight, he's not shaming you tonight for failing to live up to that. He's inviting you tonight. And I would encourage you as the band leads us, some of you, you need to do is stand up and sing every word. Some of you need to sit and pray. Some you need to come

forward here and just kneel and pray, because sometimes that physical movement just helps us declare, I'm in a moment. But you need to tell them, I know I love you and I know you love me, but your love's felt far off and my fear has felt near. And I just want to give that fear to you. I want to trust your dad that loves me. And I want a source to love my mom. And I want a source to to love my grandma. I want to be a source, but I need to receive. So God, in all these campuses and all these spaces and in this room in every single chair, would you meet us with the love of God? Would you help us know it and believe it so the world could see it manifest through us? We're going to respond and worship church and you want to come forward and kneel down

front and celebrate God changing your life come forward. You want to come and kneel and maybe just cast your cares upon him because he cares for you. you. But let's not just hear a message and then fail to deal honestly with the God who's declaring his love for us tonight. He's declared his love through his word. Now it's our time to respond. And as you feel led family, let's just have a moment here where we respond to the inexhaustible love of a good father.