You are invited to move beyond just hearing about God's love and start living it out sacrificially today. When you sense that nudge to love someone else, choose obedience over your comfort to reproduce His heart in your community. Let intimacy with Jesus fuel your actions so you can see others clearly as He sees them.
Welcome to the Real Church Podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
Let's start today by reading *Ephesians-3:14*, just as a prayer. So pray with me. Paul wrote this as a prayer. For this reason, I kneel before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Wow. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.
*God*, I thank you for who you are. You're wonderful, you're amazing, let us see you more clearly so we can reproduce you, reproduce you, father, in our lives and through our lives. God, us walk away from today with a deeper understanding of your love for us and of who you see us as, father, With a a deeper security and a relationship with you so that the world may know who you are through the way that we live, through the way that we speak, father. Break us so that you can shine more clearly through us so that this city can know you more clearly god whatever it takes father. Amen.
So, welcome. Welcome to Real Church once again. This is the third Sunday ever of Real Church, the second service of the third Sunday, and I just wanna say once again, if this is your first time ever coming to a real church service, you are our first time guest, you are a VIP, thank you for being here. We pray you feel at home. From the time that you came on, we pray you feel at came on the campus, we pray you feel at home because we're here to serve you, to do whatever it takes so that you know the love of Jesus and live your God given purpose, period.
So thank you guys. I wanna celebrate too. Did this in the first service, but I wanna celebrate the last 2 services we've had 24 people give their life to Jesus. That's amazing. And just as big as that is, because that's huge, The church, real church is being the church outside of Sunday.
And people are giving their life to Jesus, not just at church on a Sunday morning. People are growing in their understanding of how much God loves them, and and how they they're seen by Him, and they're reproducing Him throughout the world. Because here's the thing, and throughout their lives, because here's the thing, with intimacy comes reproduction. Right? Think about it in nature.
With intimacy comes reproduction. It's just a fact of life. In the same way, when you grow closer in your relationship with God, with intimacy comes reproduction. And we are as a church body growing in our understanding, growing relationship with him, and so there are more and more people coming to know him, and it's just fun to be a part of. And I also wanna say thank you to the dream team.
Real church, the dream team is real church, period. Those people that welcomed you in the parking lot that that were taking care of your kids and teaching them Jesus, and they're having a blast back there, the security team, the the greeters, the the people in the cafe, and the ushers, ushers, and the production, amazing production. I mean, oh my goodness, and the and the band. Those guys, that is real church. They're laying down their lives because they saw Jesus who laid down his life for us, and and they're following him and laying down their Sunday mornings for you so that you can experience this, so you can experience Jesus, and it can open your heart up to receive from him.
That's amazing. That's wonderful. So thank you to the dream team. Yeah. They deserve a hand clap.
And my wife isn't in here right now because she's teaching Next Steps. Next Steps is a class that's after every service. It's all 35 minutes long. If you have kids, they're safe, and they're having fun, we have snacks and waters, you can enjoy next steps and see what your next step is at Real Church if you wanna be a part, or in life, or your next step with Jesus, and it's right there in the senior cafeteria there, you can't miss it. You meet my beautiful wife, she's amazing and wonderful.
So that's next steps. So how many of you guys or any of you have been here for the part 1 and part 2 of No Love? The well, great, great. I'm gonna do a quick recap because this is part 3, the final part of our series, no love. We're gonna be moving starting next week.
We're gonna do a 4 part series on hearing God. A 4 part series on the practical aspects of having this relationship with him and hearing him in your daily life and what that looks like. It's not something that's nebulous, something that's far out there. No, if you really have a relationship with God, right, then we can know and grow in our ability to communicate, not just talk to him, but to listen and to know he's there. So I encourage you, invite people to that.
It's gonna be absolutely amazing. I'm I'm excited, but today we're gonna continue the no love series part 3. In part 1, we talked about your worth, your value. We said something is only as valuable as what someone else would pay for it, right? Therefore, someone is only as valuable as what someone else would pay for them, and Jesus, who is completely God, yet completely His life for you, Son of God, therefore God died, God paid His life for you, so therefore you are worth the very life of God.
Never allow someone else or yourself to price yourself as anything less. That's a big deal. Number 2, we talked about the 2 most important questions a person can ever be asked. Number 1 was who do you say that Jesus is? It is absolutely the most important question a man can ever be asked because when you get that right, you enter into a *relationship* with the God of the universe and you're born again, you are changed from the inside out.
*God* gives you a "new heart". You have a nature, a desire instead of to serve self, to serve Him, and it begins to change everything. And it's amazing, you have a relationship with the 1 who is love. Then we talked about the second most important question, which is who does Jesus say that you are? Because when you understand that, you begin to *reproduce* him in and through your life.
Another way we worded it was how righteous are you? We're not counting in our own righteousness, we're counting in his righteousness, and "right standing" with him based on Jesus' goodness, which has been given to our account. Right? It's not our effort, it's his effort that was credited to us so we can have relationship with God. Now, to get a full recap of those messages, I encourage it, if you haven't seen them or you want to revamp, you know, look at it again, you can go to realchurch.us.
We have a new podcast out, which is really cool, and you can click on the podcast thing and listen to it in your car or whatever if you would like to know a little bit more. Oh, yeah. I have to I have to talk about this too because it's important to understand for part 3. In part 2 of the No Love series, we also said we *reproduce* what we see. We're created by our creator to reproduce what we see.
We proved that love is an action, not a feeling. We also said that love is self sacrificial. Right? It's about the other, not all about me. And when we allow love to penetrate our hearts, we reproduce that love in our hearts.
We also talked about our first mine and my wife's first 5 year years of marriage, which was hell. We've been married 12 years, and the first 5 was tough, and it was because I was really selfish. If you wanna hear all about it, go listen to the other message. I learned to love because my wife first loved me. And it finally got to me 5 years in, but it's biblical because in 1 John-4:17 it says we love because he first loved us.
Right? We reproduce what we see. So part 3. You guys ready? I'm ready.
Part 3 of knowing love or no love equals to know love equals to become love. When we surrender our lives to Jesus, we are surrendering our lives. Well, Jesus, think about it, if Jesus himself claimed to be God, okay, the son of God, but also fully God. So if God is love, and when the disciples looked at Jesus, they said, hey, would you show us the Father? And Jesus said, if you've seen me, then you've seen the Father.
Right? So then if God is love, then Jesus is love incarnate. Jesus is love made flesh, right? So when we surrender our lives to Jesus, we're surrendering our lives to a life of love, though therefore we're surrendering our lives to live in love and to live through love and to follow love for the rest of our lives. *Matthew-13:45-46*.
Jesus talked in parables all the time. And this is just another little thing about how much God loves you, how valuable you are, because it's very important. He said, again, Jesus talking here, he said, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found 1 of great value, he went away and sold everything that he had and bought it. Now there's a few different perspectives here, and I want to go through each 1 because I think they're all valuable.
Number 1, Christ is king of the kingdom, and let's look at Christ as the merchant, and you are the fine valuable pearl. Christ paid his life, he sold, he gave everything that he had to purchase you so that you could know him and know his life. That's amazing, that's how much you're valued by him. But number 2, the second part of that, the second way of looking at it is remember, we reproduce what we see. We talked about a 2 year old.
When they see mommy and daddy do something, it gives them permission to do it, And they end up saying what mommy, they hear mommy and daddy say. They end up doing what they see mommy and daddy do because we're created to reproduce what we see. Well, when we see how much God values us, we follow him, we see that he died for us, we follow him in dying for him, if you will. We give our life to him, we surrender our life, so we see him as the pearl of great price that we're willing to give our lives for because it's worth it, because he is love, he is joy, and he is peace. And that's amazing.
Then number 3 is when you understand your value, when you understand how god sees you, When you finally see that, then you can see the value of those around you because god calls them pearls as well. That he died for. And so then you replicate what you see. You see Jesus giving his life for people, and so you begin to live your life and give your life for those around you, doing whatever it takes for those to experience the same love, same joy, and same peace that you've experienced in your life and relationship with Jesus. Whatever it takes, because God did whatever it took for you, and that's the motto.
That's like why real church exists. We do, we exist, whatever it takes for you to know love and live purpose, to "know the love" of Jesus. Why? Because we know that God did whatever it takes for us, period. So we're following him and laying our lives down so that people can experience the same joy and peace that we have.
So good. It's fun. It's fulfilling. We're created to. You know, to live for self is death to you?
I didn't go here in the first service. But to live to self is for self is death to you. He he he put a picture of that in *nature*. The Bible says that we can clearly see throughout nature his characteristics and his nature, and and the things that he wants to do throughout nature, he in our lives, he shows us in nature. Think about the Dead Sea.
The lowest place on earth. The Dead Sea. It has no outlet whatsoever. Only a river, the River Jordan going into it in Israel. And it's it's dead.
There is no life. Period. Because it never gives of itself, it only takes. In the same way, if you only take and you only live for self, it's death to you, there will be no life in you. But the joy the Sea the of Galilee that's right above it, it gives out and gives out and gives out, and it's full of fish and full of life.
In the same way, you are created to live a 100% for God and a 100% for others, to live live for him and to live for others, to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Right? So we're we're supposed to live for God and for others, and in doing that, it's fulfilling in life to us. That's how you're created. So let's go to Ephesians.
I'm having fun, guys. I don't know about you, but I am. This is fun, man. Let's go to Ephesians-4. Still some of Justin's water.
Hopefully, doesn't have cooties. Alright. So Ephesians-4, we're gonna start in verse 20. And you guys stick with me here because I'm gonna round all this out in the end. Alright?
So that, however, is not the way of life you you learned. And he's before he's talking about, like, this sinful life, this people living greedily, and, like, living in greed, and living for self, and sexual immorality, and just all kinds of stuff. He's like, no. No. That, however, is not the way that you learned.
Verse 21, when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. Truth is in Jesus. Period. Nowhere else. There's no other mystery.
It's Jesus. Verse 22. You were taught with regard to your formal way of life to put off the old self, which is being corrupted with his deceitful desires. What does it mean to put off the old self? When you give your life to Jesus, you are born again.
Alright, you're, what does that mean? Well, before you were born again, you had a *nature* inside, a proclivity, a bent, a leaning towards self. You had a nature towards self, which is away from God. You're ungodly, right? You naturally wanted just to please self, but when you give your life to Jesus, when you're born again, he gives you a new heart that's bent towards him.
It's amazing. It's biblical. It's in Ezekiel. It's give you a new heart. And okay.
So you were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, so we're no longer that person anymore. Period. Which is being corrupted by deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds. Check this out. So you're made new here, you're made new, you're a new heart, but your mind still has habits, still has ways of thinking that are in line with the old person.
So we have to renew our mind to the reality of who God says that we are, who our creator says that we are. Not how we feel in the moment. It's not about how you feel, it's about what he says about you, cause what he says is truth, and if you follow the truth of what he says, your feelings will eventually line up with what he says. So we renew our mind to the reality of who we are in him, that we're born again, we're made new. And to put on the new self, now this is is out there, this is biblical, you might call me a heretic, but I'm just reading the Bible, created to be like like who?
*Jesus*. It says like God. I mean, Jesus is God, so sure. Yeah. So created to be like God in true *righteousness* and holiness.
You are created to be like your Father in heaven. Now we're gonna unpack that for a little while, if that's okay. Created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. What does that mean in true righteousness and holiness? Righteousness and holiness.
Righteous remember, if you didn't miss part 1 and part 2, we dug into what righteousness is. Righteousness is right standing with the Father. Okay? So we're in right standing with him. Be it based on what Jesus has done for us, he's given us his righteousness, so we rest in that, and we're in perfect standing right now, not based on what we do, done, will do, but based on who we are in Christ.
100%. It's biblical. Look up 2 Corinthians-5:21. It's awesome. And holiness.
These churchy words, we're gonna break them apart. Alright? So holiness. What is that? A lot of camps they say holiness is to be set apart.
The definition, the dictionary says that *holiness* is morally right, morally clean, and morally pure. Okay? You guys follow me so far? Be like God in true righteousness and holiness. In 1 Peter-1:14 it says God, it quotes God saying, be holy as I am holy.
Okay? You guys following me so far? "Be holy as I am holy". What does that mean? Be set apart, morally clean, right, and pure, as I am morally clean, right, and pure, is what God is saying.
And he's speaking to us. Is that even possible? Absolutely. Let's talk about it. Seems unattainable, and it is unattainable by your own effort.
But it's been given to us, which is so cool. So how does that happen? How can we be like God in true morally cleanliness, morally purity, morally rightness, be set apart like him? How? Well, *righteousness* and *holiness* is so key to understand righteousness because righteousness is right standing with him.
So I because I'm in right standing with him, I can stand right before him confidently. Does that make sense? Because I'm in right standing with him, I can stand in his presence confidently because I know I'm forgiven, so there's nothing anymore separating me from him, so I can go into his presence with confidence knowing that he's my father, that I'm loved by him, and I can rest in him. Now, check this out. We reproduce what we see.
Right? In Louisiana, we say it like this. "You hang out with dirt, you get dirty". That's just a fact of life. You hang out with dirt, get dirty.
I'm telling you. I'm telling you right now. Yes, I'm redneck by birth. So, in You hang out with dirt when you get dirty. What does that mean?
It means who you hang around, their nature, their characteristics, who they are, their mannerisms even, without even trying, they become a part of you. Okay? What you see, because he's created you, what you see, you reproduce. So if they say something a certain way over and over and over, eventually without even trying, you will begin to say the same thing over and over and over, and even hate yourself for doing it. Why do I say it like that?
It's so annoying, but you do it anyway. Imagine your best friend or your spouse, you notice the more you hang around them, the more you like them. The more you do the same stuff. It's just a fact of life. Well, in the same way, if we understand righteousness, our right standing before God enables us to boldly and confidently stand with God, stand before him, to see him, to be in relationship with him, if we're spending time with him, if that's where our focus is, we reproduce what we see.
So then, in our daily lives, if we're focused on him and we know that he's here and we're standing with him because we're confident as sons, and he's morally right, clean, and pure, just by the mere fact of being with him, we will begin to exemplify in our lives moral rightness, moral cleanliness, and more purity. Isn't that cool? You want more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and self control in your life? Spend time with the 1 who is love, who has joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, and self control. The more time you spend with Him, the more you will exemplify that in your life because you reproduce what you see.
We're created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. You get it? Isn't that cool? I thought it was amazing. Let's keep going.
*Ephesians-4:32, just skip down a little bit. It says, be kind and compassionate to 1 another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God* forgave you. Forgive each other as Christ forgave you. You can't forgive others until you realize, truly forgive others until you realize you're forgiven. But when you realize you're forgiven, Romans-4:8, blesses the person whose sins never counted against them, you receive that, that you are truly and totally forgiven, then you can forgive those around you.
You're set free from you so you don't have to hold everybody else, you're set free from them too. It's just hurting you, release them. If God forgave you, you have no right to hold anything against anybody else. So stop. Let it go.
Whatever it is, no matter how bad it is, *God loves* you that much, so see that and reproduce that by loving others that much. Verse 1. Check this out. Chapter 5 verse 1. "Follow God's example", therefore, as dearly loved children.
Say that. As dearly loved children. So key. Follow God's example as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. As dearly loved children.
In in the ESV, it doesn't say follow God's example. It says be imitators of God. Remember, we're supposed to be like him. Be imitators of him as dearly beloved children. Now this is really cool.
You know, a dearly loved child wants to a child that knows that he's dearly loved, that he's loved, wants to imitate his father. If he knows he's loved by a father, he wants to be like his father. Now a child that doesn't know he's loved by his father will run from his father when he screws up in shame, or will do things oh, and will exhaust himself doing so many things trying to be good in order to prove himself to his Father so that he can feel loved by his Father. Did you guys catch that? That's big.
I think that's religion. We don't feel loved by our father, so we do so many things over and over and over and and try in order to feel like he loves us, in order to prove ourselves to him. Or we run from him in shame when we screw up, not realizing that we are dearly beloved children. I don't with my kids. I don't care if I ever hear them say, I love you, dad.
I don't care. What I do care about is that they know that I love them. Because I know that they reproduce what they see. So if they are secure in my love for them, they will love well. So I ask them this question before they go to bed, before I drop them off at school, before they leave, I ask them how much do I love you?
Trip, Selah, Eden. And they all say, too much, daddy. Too much. How much? Too much.
Why? Because I want them to be secure. Because I want them to imitate me. Follow me as I follow Christ. That's what Paul said.
A son or daughter, this is good too, a son or daughter has his father's *nature* naturally running through their veins, right? So it's more natural for them to try to imitate their father than it is for them to try to run from Him. So if we are born again and we have the very nature of God flowing through our veins, it's more natural for us as we understand his love for us, to try to imitate our Father in heaven than to try to run from him, and when we try to run from him, we are miserable because we're not living out who we are. *1 John-2*, verses 4 and verses 4 through 6. Let's go there.
It says this. Whoever says I know him, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, *love for God* is truly made complete in them, this is how we know we oh, man. Listen to this. This is how we know we are in him.
Verse 6. Whoever claims to live in him must live like *Jesus* did. Wait. Is that possible? Jesus was like no.
No. No. It's right there. Whoever claims to live like in him must live like Jesus did. How do we do that?
We spend time with him, and his nature rubs off on us. Let's keep going. 1 John-4:15. If anyone acknowledges just flip the page. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, "God lives in them", and they in God.
And so we know and rely on that love that God has for us. I'm gonna read it again. Verse 15. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in them, and they in God. Last week, I did this.
I did a altar call or not an altar call. I just gave people where they're sitting the opportunity to to acknowledge Jesus as the son of God, to give their lives to him, to surrender. And as I was doing this, there was this person I talked to earlier this week, she said her hands were sweating. Right? And she felt like when I asked that she should raise her hand, but she didn't really understood understand what it meant to surrender your life to Jesus, and so she just kinda, she stayed there and and didn't, and then was able to talk to her throughout the week and heard that, and then she understood and gave her life to Jesus.
But what was happening, the point of that, is what was happening is that was God in that moment drawing her into a relationship with him. Saying, hey, what this guy's saying, the way, the reason you feel like that is because that's me talking through him to you. What you, what he's saying is true, and I love you, and I always have, and I want you to stop running from me and run to me because I want to give you rest. I want to show you what it means to live a life and *surrender* to me, and relationship with me, to stop playing religion, and stop trying to do things for me and walk with me. And I want to give you guys the opportunity, the same opportunity now.
So if you guys close your head close your head. Close your eyes and bow your head. Close your eyes and bow your head, if you don't mind. If as I'm talking about this love of God and this relationship with him, I'm talking about these things, and you are feeling the same way, some people, you know, they clammy hands like that. Some people get this knot in their stomach, and they're like, man, you know, I know that what he's saying is true.
Some people don't feel a thing, but they just know deep down that they need what I'm saying, or they need what the person is saying. They know that God has speak to them, God loves them, and wants a relationship with them, and they've never really entered into that, and it's time right now. If you want to surrender your life to Jesus for the first time, give your life to him and walk with him from now on, Would you raise your hand right now? Anybody? And if not, that's okay.
I'm not gonna call you up or whatever. But if you want to give your life to Jesus, I see you. I see your hand. That's amazing. Anybody else?
Anybody else say, I I I don't experience. I haven't experienced that, but I want to. Cool. Man, I want you, sir. I want you to pray with me, I want everybody to pray just in support with him, with me.
Prayer doesn't save your life, but is a good start, is a good is it a good sign as a to show that you're surrendering your life to him. It's a it's meaningful, and it's it's it's it's amazing. So let's pray together, and just mean this with everything you have, and life will change forever. *Father God*, I need you. Everybody pray this together.
*Father God*, I need you. I realize that I'm separated from you. I'm a sinner. I ask you to forgive me. I give you my life.
I don't know what that completely means, but show me because I wanna follow you. I wanna know your love. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you. I receive that.
I'm your son. I'm your child. Amen. So we just had somebody give their life to Jesus. That's amazing.
So we had 3 others in the first service, which is awesome, and I have amazing news for you. Wonderful news. And this is not just for the person that gave their life to Jesus, which is so personal, it's public, so I encourage you to share your story. But it's for everybody because you didn't raise your hand or anything. So I'm assuming that you know him.
You've given your life to him. You're walking with him. So check this out. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of god, god lives in them and they in god. That's really cool.
You have relationship with him. Wow. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them.
Is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment. Check out this sentence. It's so good. It's so key. And it's so what I'm talking about.
In this world, we are like *Jesus*. It's crazy. In this world, it says, in this world, go back and look at it later today. In this world, we are like Jesus. Wow.
Why? Because we reproduce what we see when we're in relationship with the God of the universe, when we're in relationship with him, when when we're communicating with him, when we're standing in his presence, when we see him every day of our life, his nature, his characteristics, who he is rubs off on us, and we begin to reproduce that in every aspect of our life. And when others see us, they see the love of Jesus flowing through us. When others hear us, they hear the love of Jesus flowing through our mouths, and it changes the culture, not only of our hearts and of our lives, but it changes the culture of our homes, it changes the culture of our city, it changes everything. Because in this world, you are like Jesus.
*Jesus* flipped the world upside down and changed it forever, but you have the same power that rose him from the grave living in you. That's amazing. The prerequisite for reproducing, for imitating him is knowing how much he loves you. So I just wanna drive that home. In Matthew-3, it's verses 15 and 16, you wanna look it up later.
*Jesus* is going to get baptized. And before this, he hadn't done anything. I mean, he's lived a a good life. He never sinned. You know?
He's a perfect guy because he's God in the flesh, which is really cool. He hadn't done anything like as far as ministry goes. He's baptized. When he comes up out of the water, it says the heavens open to him and the Holy Spirit lit on him like a dove. And it says, the *father* said these words, this is my son whom I *love* and with whom I am well pleased.
*Jesus* hadn't went to the wilderness yet and like overcome the big temptations of the devil, you know. Jesus hadn't performed any miracles yet. Jesus hadn't even done the thing that he was sent to do, die on the cross for us and rise again. He hadn't done anything. But yet God said, this is my son whom I love and with whom I'm well pleased.
And the way it's said, it's as if in in the original language, says as if I will always be pleased with him, and I will always love him. Why? Because the father said that to the son not based on what he had done, was doing, or would do. Not based on what he hadn't done, what wasn't doing, or wouldn't do. He said it based on who he was, who he is as the son.
Yeah. Now here's the good thing. You've given your life to Jesus. **Brand new believers**, those that have been walking with him for 20 years, both. You're adopted sons and daughters of the most high God.
Everything that's given to Jesus is given to you. Therefore, through me to you, God is saying right now in this moment, you are my son, you are my daughter, and with you, you're my son, you're my daughter, whom I love, and with you, I am well pleased. I'm 1 proud papa. It's not based on your effort. It's not based on what you haven't done, haven't will do, or are doing.
It's based on the fact that you're my boy, that you're my girl, and I love you. And when you understand that, it makes you want to imitate your father in heaven. It makes you want to live for him. It's not religion trying to please in order to make him make you feel no. You know you're loved, And so you spend time with him and reflect that to him.
Example, I'm telling you this. I'm not special. I'm just a guy who understands how much God loves him and is growing in that understanding. So I'm gonna tell you a story, what this looks like in your daily life. A few weeks ago, maybe a month or 2 ago, I was going to the racetrack to the the the gas station racetrack on East Bay.
And I went in just, you know, it's the 1 that has the soft the frozen yogurt thing. You know, it's really good. Anyway, I went in and did what I was doing, and I turn around and go out, and I see this woman who's there's a little bar to the right of the doors, you know, where people can sit and eat their ice cream and stuff. I see this woman, it's lunchtime, and she's sitting there eating ice cream. And I didn't think anything of it, you know.
I just kinda noticed. And I keep walking out to my van, and as I go to my van, I have this thought, go back in there and tell her that God loves her. How much "God loves her". Now I have stuff to do. I didn't immediately want to do that.
That wasn't from me. Right? Because God speaks to his children. He just does. It's it's a part of relationship with him.
And a lot of times it comes as a thought that's not yours. Remember, we're talking about hearing God next week for 4 weeks. You wanna come and hear that. So I I had this thought. I want to go on with my day because I'm busy, but a lot of time God speaks in the midst of distractions because he wants to *love* people around you through you, and use you to do it.
And what you have to do in order to do that is to carry your cross to sacrifice what you wanna do because love is sacrificial. Right? So you sacrifice what you wanna do in order to be obedient to the 1 who loves you so that you can love those around you through him. So he can love those around you through you. So I've been doing this for a while.
I've been walking with Jesus for a while. So I knew that, hey. Wait. This is him. I still had to make the make the choice because we have free will.
So I turned around and I went back inside, and I walk up to this lady I didn't know. And yes, I had the thoughts. What if she thinks I'm stupid? What if all this? But it's not about me.
It's about her. Who cares? "My role is obedience". "His role is results". So I say, excuse me, ma'am.
And she looks up from eating her ice cream. Look. Completely fine. I said, ma'am, I had this random thought. Look, I just wanted to let you know that God loves you a whole lot.
I just ask you, if there's anything in the world, anything in the world that I could pray for you for, what would it be? Tears well up in her eyes, and she just starts weeping, and she's crying and sobbing, and she says, I just had the worst day at at work, and I'm on my lunch break, and I I messed up really bad, and I think that they're gonna fire me. Would you pray for my family, and would you pray for my job? I had no clue. But God did, and he wanted to show her that he loves her, and he wanted to use me.
So I grab her hand, and I pray, God, thank you for this amazing woman that you created. Lord, I pray that you would show her how much you love her. That from this moment forward, that she would know that you love her, and that you think she's precious, and that you would use that to impact every aspect of her life. And I pray she's blessed at her job, and she's blessed at her home because of that. In Jesus' name.
Amen. I turn around, and she says, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I turn around to go.
I get out to my car, I and had another thought, so I like, I might as well obey it too. So I grab a card, and I go back in, and I said, hey. I don't know if you have a life giving church that you're a part of, but we're starting 1, and I wanna invite you now. She said, thank you. Is this the website?
You know, I said, yeah. I'll come. I haven't seen her yet. Maybe 1 day I will. I was just being obedient.
Just following him because I know he's love, I'm spending time with him. "Intimacy creates reproduction". Right? Reproducing people who know Jesus and are becoming love to the world. So we're not gonna we're gonna play a song because I kinda preached a little long today.
But we're gonna respond through prayer. I just want you guys to pray with me, and then I'll give some announcements after and some direction after. I just want you to pray that *God* help me to see you more clearly. Help me to understand and spend time with you throughout the week. I encourage you to read the book of first John.
Again, because the guy that wrote it, John, was called the beloved. He knew how much he was loved. And as you read it, just ask God to show you how much he loves you. So just pray with me. Father, I thank you for these amazing people.
Lord, let us see you more clearly so we can reproduce you in our lives and just enjoy life more because you created us too. No matter what goes around on around us, Lord God, to have your joy and peace in the midst of situations and trials. God, let us teach us to be like you as we see you. Lord God, let us rest in you. I pray that you challenge us this week to become *love* to those around us.
Challenge us out of our comfort zone. Let us remember what you said today and be *obedient* to minister to those around realms because we're created to. Amen. Thanks
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