Beyond Sunday
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the Podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week, with your Hosts Pastors' Lee and Jim.
It's Time to Inspire, Uplift, and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now!
Beyond Sunday
You Can't Give What You Don't Have
Welcome to Beyond Sunday. The podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week with your hosts, pastors Lee and Jim. It's time to inspire, uplift and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now. Hey, good morning everybody. Welcome back to Beyond Sunday. I'm Pastor Jim here with Pastor Lee. We pastor the Church Christ Family Outreach Church in Amelia, virginia, and I'm here in studio with Pastor Lee. How you doing, brother? I am blessed.
Speaker 2:I am blessed. I am ready to dig into this episode, brother, how are you man?
Speaker 1:I'm excited Anytime we get an opportunity. Like I know I say it so often, but it's just the truth. Anytime we get an opportunity to talk about kingdom things, I'm ready to go for it.
Speaker 2:Yes, brother, it truly excites me because I realize, as a Christian number one, it's what we're supposed to be doing. Number two is how we sharpen iron right Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Sharpen iron right Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. And when we talk about kingdom things, the Spirit of God inside of us begins to do a work. So I'm just excited. I know that kingdom things changes lives for people. It encourages people and so, yeah, man, let's get going. I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the truth is it's got to be centered around the Word of God, because without that I got nothing good to say. Nothing good to say. You know I was with somebody one time, you know, just hanging out, and they were a new believer. And you know, I was just being who I am in Christ and he deserves all the honor and glory for who he's made me, amen. And so I was just being me and he said, he looked at me and he goes, man. There's just no way. This is real. I said what you mean, man? And he goes. Well, it's always praise God, it's always. You know, you're talking about the Lord. No matter what situation we're talking about, you find a way to pivot it and we end up talking about Bible or kingdom things. He's like there's no way this is real. I said, yeah, it is man, because there's nothing better to talk about. That's right. That's right, you know. And with that being said, let's just jump into the Word. If you have your Bibles, you can open them up. If you're driving, don't do that, but just listen, put your listening ears on, because we're going to be talking about.
Speaker 1:You know the heart of what it means to follow Jesus. So 1 John, chapter 4, verse 7 through 12, here we go Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us. That God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, god abides in us and His love is perfected in us Now, just right off the bat. It's powerful.
Speaker 1:A lot of language is being used about love, but the passage, what this is, is a roadmap for living out God's love and where it comes from and how we abide in it. And I want to tell you what. In a world that's often full of division, in a world of social media, and in families and in the grocery stores all across the world, this is the message that we need, and I want to unpack it with Pastor Lee here Three points that I want to cover. We're going to get into it, you know, because God's love is the source, jesus' sacrifice is the model, and our response to all of this is to love others. What do you think, pastor?
Speaker 2:Lee, you ready for this? Yeah, man, I'm excited, I'm pumped, because if there's one word, after hearing you read the text, if there's one word that, to me, sums all this up, it's love. Yeah, to me sums all this up, it's love. And if we go deeper, to the root of that, right, what kind of love? Whose love? It's the love of God, through his only begotten Son, jesus Christ. So we get going.
Speaker 2:Just looking at the first verse that you read, it's verse 7, beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. So I just want to reference 1 John 3.11. 1 John 3.11 says for this is the message you heard from the beginning we should love one another, right? So this is the message that we've heard from the beginning that we should love one another. So this message of love is not a new concept, right? It's not a new theme, it's not a new theory, not a new idea. You know, this thing of love has been around from the very beginning.
Speaker 2:Maybe for some people out there today, though, they really don't know the love of God because they don't have the love of God in their hearts. And I will just say this I thought I knew what love was until I got saved. And I will just say this I thought I knew what love was until I got saved and, man, then I realized that love is more than just a fuzzy feeling. Love is more than just a warm feeling. You know, thought, I knew what love was, but when I realized that Jesus Christ laid down his life for me, when I realized that Jesus Christ took what should have happened to me, but he took it on him, when he paid the debt for all my sin, I realized because he didn't have to do it I realized what love was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. The truth is, if you offer me love as the world offers love, I don't even want it. No, you know, I don't want it. Too many problems come with it. Yeah, because, first, god's love is the source of all love. Look at verse 7 and 8. Love is from God, because God is love. It's not just that he loves, but he is love. That's who His nature is, that's God's nature. So think about that. Every time you show kindness, every time you show patience, every time you show forgiveness, you're tapping into God's character. So it's like drawing water from this well that never runs dry. You know, the other day I was actually, I was with you and we were doing the ice cream deal for Elijah's birthday party.
Speaker 1:Well, the following day I went back out to Chesterfield and my wife said hey, I want to go back to that ice cream store because they had this really good flavor. So I walked into the store the next day to go get some ice cream. And the lady behind the counter, she did not look like she was having a very good day. She was snappy, she looked a little frazzled, she looked kind of like she was out of her element, she didn't look very friendly, and customer service 101 says put a smile on and be nice to the customers. She was kind of missing that.
Speaker 1:But my first instinct in that moment was like really, you know, almost to be annoyed. But then I thought, like what if I show her a little bit of kindness? What if I'm just overly nice? What if the love that abides in me from the Father is seen in this very, very moment? So I just smiled and I asked her hey, what's going on?
Speaker 1:Everything good, you look, you know, you look a little frazzled, really, just trying to spark conversation. And then at the end of the day I was just very, very nice and very, very open and at the end of the whole thing, exchange not that this is that important but I left a decent tip which I normally don't tip. That's why I bring it up. I don't tip at those kinds of places but I just chose to and she saw it and she had a smile on her face. So when I went in she looked frazzled and looked upset and when I left she was smiling. And it was in that moment that me being—it wasn't just about me being nice, but really it was about God's love flowing through me in that circumstance, and that's what John's talking about. When we love, we're showing that we're born of God. We're showing that we're connected to Him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and at the end of 1 John, 3, 11, the command is that we should love one another. That word should is not an option, right? No, it's a command. This is what you should do we should love one another. You know that is not a choice. Well, you know, maybe I will, maybe I won't. No, no, we should when we enter a room we should look different.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it should be the love of God flowing through us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah we should be the difference in the room right, Because of what Christ is doing. You're absolutely right. Well, for the listeners who are still wondering, what was the flavor? Key lime pie? Ah, man, out of all the flavors we could get in life, we got to go get key lime pie in an ice cream.
Speaker 1:Hey, it was very good and it had like these graham cracker crusts in it, which is what made it for me, man.
Speaker 2:Now, that is cool. That is cool, all right. So, moving on with the eighth verse, anyone who does not love does not know God. That's interesting, right? Think about that, chew on that. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love, right? So I mean, 2 Corinthians 13, 11 says Finally brothers, rejoice, aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Speaker 2:And when I think about that because that's a cross-reference to the eighth verse when I think about that, out of all the words in 2 Corinthians 13, 11 that I just read, the main thing that hits me is three words aim for restoration. And I think that restoration is a huge work. It's like a huge byproduct of love. You know, so many families are torn apart, so many families are struggling and going through things, and when we don't focus on the love of Christ, it's really hard to communicate that restoration is needed, right?
Speaker 2:So, getting back to the verse in the eighth verse, anyone who does not love does not know God. We should be walking in such step with the Spirit of God that His love is pouring through us and that's evident. Of that, and regardless of how I feel or any walls that I've built up or any truths that I may be justified in when people have done me wrong or my family wrong. The most important thing is the love of God working in and through us so that we can aim for restoration, so that we comfort one another, so that we can end up agreeing with one another on the love and truth of God, so that we comfort one another, so that we can end up agreeing with one another on the love and truth of God, so that we can live in peace with one another and that the God of love and peace will be with us. That's 2 Corinthians 13, 11.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you brought it up, pastor Lee, earlier in your first thought about how, before Christ, you didn't even know what love was. Before you realized what he did for you on the cross, you didn't realize what love truly was. And I think to my second point, if we move into verse 9 and 10, is Jesus' sacrifice on the cross really is the model of this love that we're supposed to have? Right In verses 9 and 10, that's the heart of this passage. In this the love of God was made manifest. So basically, when we saw Jesus on the cross, you can speak of God's love, but really it's just this idea. If you don't see it so physically, tangibly, it could be touched up on the cross. So God's love on the cross was made manifest that God sent his only son right to be the propitiation of our sins. That word propitiation it means Jesus took the punishment that we deserved, satisfying God's justice, so that we could be forgiven. Romans 5.8 puts it this way and I love this. God shows his love for us in that, while we were still sinners, christ died for us. So I want to think about that and you've already alluded to it.
Speaker 1:We don't understand love until we see it on the cross right, god didn't wait for us to get our act together. He loved us when we were a mess, right, when I was a mess, when you were a mess anybody who's listening. God doesn't ask us to get fixed up so that we can somehow earn or deserve his love, right. But that's the kind of love that we're called to. It's not this warm and fuzzy, it's sacrificial. It's choosing to love someone even when they've hurt you, like forgiving a co-worker who threw you under the bus right, or being patient with a family member who's just driving us up the wall. Jesus on the cross. It shows us that love isn't cheap. It costs something. But here's the thing about that kind of love it transforms us, or it should.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you mentioned seeing Jesus on the cross, and knowing what he did for our sins is what lets us know what love is right. So when you said that, brother, it just reminded me. When I was young, when I was little, my parents took me to church once that I can remember maybe twice. We just weren't a church-going family. My mom was raised that way, in church. You know, their family was heavily involved in church, but there came a time in life where she stopped going. So I wasn't raised in a household that faithfully went to church, basically at all. But we were a family that believed in God.
Speaker 2:And this whole time that I'm growing up in my life I never knew that there was a love from God for me. I knew that God was real. I feared God even as a young child and as a teenager I never started to attend church until I could drive myself. Once I got my license I began to drive to church and was there pretty much when the doors were open, when a service was available. But I never really knew, until I started attending church, that this God that I had feared, that this God that I knew existed. I never knew he had love for me. I mean.
Speaker 2:So I think about all the listeners that may be listening, who maybe they're like that or they know someone like that, and I think maybe that's an important reason why, if you're listening right now, you should share the link to this podcast with some people, just text it to them, tell them to take a listen, because I believe that there's a lot of people out there, a lot of people out there, that are living the way that I was living. Maybe they're young, maybe they're old. They believe in God, but they don't understand, pastor Jim, that this God loves them. He truly has a love for them. And that takes me into what I call the plan of God, as John 3, 16,.
Speaker 2:For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. This is the plan of God. And as we understand that Jesus Christ died for us, now we begin to know wow, for someone to do that man. What greater love is there than that? So he loves me, and when we accept him and we walk in his word, then that love becomes in us. And once we have that love now, we can offer that love to other people. You know I say it all the time. I just referenced it again in last night's recharge service. I can't give you anything that I don't have to give. So if I want to be able to show people the love of God, like you showed that young lady working at the ice cream place, I've got to first have the love of God in me to be able to offer to others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think you made a really good point that you heard of the love of God. You had a fear of God, but before you got into church and had a relationship, what you never had done before that or up into that point, was experience the love of God. Right, and so to your point. You can't give something that you don't have and you can't have God's love until you experience God's love. You can't read about it, you can't hear about it. You have to experience it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely to experience it. Yeah, absolutely. Getting into the 11th and 12th verse, it says this Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, god abides in us and his love is perfected in us. You know we may not right now, pastor Jim, see God face-to-face right now, but isn't it amazing that people can see God in and through his people? Yeah, we are the ambassadors of God, we are the representation of God. What an honor, what an honor. So the last thing we need to do is, as Christians, go around being unloving vessels. When people see us, they need to be able to see the love of God inside of us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's that word ought to. That just is that reminder that this isn't a suggestion. You know, the Word is telling us, because God loved us, we're compelled to love others. We have to love others. Verse 12 says and it's really a beautiful promise when you look at it. He says when we love, god abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Speaker 2:Think about that man. If you're taking notes out there, write those two words down Perfected love, Our love.
Speaker 1:like you said, it makes God's presence visible in the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and imagine that a love that so many people struggle with, love, and what love is and what love looks like. One day you're madly in love with your spouse and the next day you're just grinding against them because you're disagreeing, right, man we're talking about, when it comes from, a love from the Father. It is a love that gets perfected in us, so it's a perfect love, the perfect love of God that then gets perfected right, it is a perfect love on the inside of us and it's perfected in its work, and then we can begin to do what we need to do, to look like God. And I love in the 11th verse, where it says we also ought to love who, one another. The Christian life is not just about me, me living the Christian life is about loving other people. And oh, by the way, jesus says that I'm to love even my enemies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jesus actually says this in John. By all this, people will know that you're my disciples if you do what Love one another. Amen, brother, our love is our witness. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, our love is our witness. That's how people see God's presence in and through our lives.
Speaker 2:It's our witness, it's our testimony. It's the story of Christ working in and through us. This love of God is such a powerful thing that it can break the most hardened heart and give it a heart of flesh.
Speaker 1:Amen, brother. Yeah, because this kind of love that we're talking about is really an action word. You know, sometimes it takes swallowing our pride, sometimes it takes taking the first step and so saying that, what's the takeaway? You can start small, but the deal is this you have to start now, start this week. Pick one person, maybe someone who you've identified already in your life that's hard to love. Just start to show them kindness. Start sending text messages to check in with people maybe you haven't talked to in a while. Offer to pray for people, right.
Speaker 1:Help those who are in need, and when it's tough, all you have to do is remember God's love for you, remember it was unearn who are in need, and when it's tough, all you have to do is remember God's love for you. Remember it was unearned. Right, and here's the deal God's love is unending, so we shouldn't stop either. Right? He showed it on the cross and let that fuel you. 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love is patient, it's kind, it's not rude, it's not boastful. So if you're listening to this today, I want you to lean into God's truth and watch God's love shine through you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know what, Pastor Jim, when it's the love of God shining through us, there's not a curtain in this world that can dampen that light. You know I'm thinking about when our children were younger. Erica and I had these blackout curtains in order for them to go in and take a nap during the daytime. And we would had these blackout curtains in order for them to go in and take a nap during the daytime, and we would close these blackout curtains and the room would just get dark, you know, almost as if it was nighttime. You know, like hardly any light ever got through there at all.
Speaker 2:And I think that that's one of the things that a lot of Christians struggle with. They allow things to come into their lives that are like veils, you, that are like veils. They kind of pull a curtain and that curtain dampens our testimony, that curtain begins to try to block out light, and what we need to do, as Christians, is realize is that the last thing God wants is a Christian that has hidden their lamp or they've put something over their light to make it not shine as bright. And when we allow the true light of Christ shining from in us, there's not an enemy in this world that can make that light go dark.
Speaker 2:Father, we just thank you so much for all that you do. We thank you, Father, that you allow us to be vessels as your people, that your light enters in and we can shine brightly for your glory. In the name of the blood of Jesus, Father, we just pray that we not be seen nor heard, but it be all you doing, all the work in and through us. We acknowledge that we're no good. We're no good if we do not have you at the center of all of it in our lives. Lord, we just pray, blessing favor and honor over our listeners as they choose to honor you, as your word says in 1 Samuel 2.30, for those who honor you, you will honor in return. And we ask all this in Jesus Christ's mighty name and cleansing blood and all of God's people. Our friends said amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to. Beyond Sunday and until next week, what I want you to do is go out and love like Jesus. This week, you.
