SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: Good to see you.
SPEAKER_00: I am so thankful and glad that you're here.
SPEAKER_00: So last week, my wife, Elisa and I, we got out of town uh for a couple days without the kids.
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, it deserves a round of applause, I know.
SPEAKER_00: Um It had been a while since we had done that, and so we got uh out of town for a couple nights.
SPEAKER_00: We went down to the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky, which that's an area that I absolutely love.
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't been there, you you should go.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I had I've spent some time hiking there, backpacking through parts of the Red River Gorge, but to my wife's recollection, she couldn't remember ever really exploring that area, and so that's where we went and to spend some time just together, hiking, exploring.
SPEAKER_00: And so when I went to kind of book the place to stay, I wanted to stay in a place that was kind of more unique.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's a short video.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we stayed.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we we stay in this place called Dome Town.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it was a geodesic dome, basically up in the trees.
SPEAKER_00: And there's no audio to the video because I took it out.
SPEAKER_00: Because you could hear two things.
SPEAKER_00: One, rain, it rained the whole time, and two, me breathing heavily.
SPEAKER_00: Uh because just to get to the spot to where the video started, we had to climb up stairs and it gets you to a platform, and you climb up some more stairs, get to a platform, and uh up a spiral staircase, and uh across the suspension bridge that would lead you to the dome that we were staying in.
SPEAKER_00: And I told you it rained truly, like pretty much the whole time.
SPEAKER_00: And we were there for two nights, and it pretty much rained the whole time, but it felt like a rainforest because we were truly up in the trees.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you're probably 20 to 30 feet off the ground, and you're just surrounded by trees.
SPEAKER_00: And so we get into our dome, and we knew that it was probably gonna rain quite a bit while we're there.
SPEAKER_00: So both of us brought books with us, and I just want you to imagine that sound of constant rain just hitting the dome, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like uh the constant sound of rain hitting like a tarp.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what it was, and so uh we we both brought books and we were just reading, and it was like, other than the rainfall, it was quiet.
SPEAKER_00: And I just felt like at peace.
SPEAKER_00: And so I brought my Bible with me, and I brought a book uh that I started called Stand Firm, Act Like Men by Pastor Joby Martin.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you, men, I'm not a big reader.
SPEAKER_00: There are a few books that grab my attention and keep it.
SPEAKER_00: This book is one of them, and so I recommend it to you.
SPEAKER_00: And so we just spent time reading, and it was so peaceful uh until it wasn't.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so uh it was peaceful, and we were reading, I don't know, an hour, hour and a half, and then all of a sudden we heard some voices approaching.
SPEAKER_00: So we're in one of three geodesic domes you could stay in, and we knew, of course, that there was a chance other people might be staying in the other domes.
SPEAKER_00: And the domes aren't like right next to one another, they're probably they're at different heights in the tree canopy and probably separated by 30 to 40 yards, whatnot.
SPEAKER_00: And so sure enough, we hear some voices, and I peek out the dome, and I see a couple of people approaching, heading to a dome, and no problem.
SPEAKER_00: Like, we got neighbors in dome town now.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, so I go back to reading, and then uh, like I don't know, it felt like two minutes later, loud music starts to play.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel and kind of sound like an old curmudgeon here, uh, but it was loud music to where I was like, I think the whole Red River Gorge can hear this music.
SPEAKER_00: And what felt peaceful now doesn't feel as peaceful anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I think there's like two people, two types of people in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Those that like retreat to the woods to just kind of enjoy the woods, enjoy nature, and those that retreat to the woods and then like bring all the noise with them.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can probably tell what kind of person I am, and you can probably figure out uh what kind of people my dome town neighbors were, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like worlds are colliding.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm like, man, that's I hope that doesn't go on all night.
SPEAKER_00: And so I just keep reading, and eventually I just get up and I start putting on my rain, my raincoat, and my wife's like, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you going?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Well, I'm gonna go outside and make my presence known, you know?
SPEAKER_00: So like I've been I started this book, Stand Firm, Act Like Men, and I'm like, I'm gonna go outside, I'm gonna stand firm and I'm gonna act like a man.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what the book's about.
SPEAKER_00: But so I I go outside and I'm like, I'm gonna make my presence known, not in like a mean way, not in a confrontational way, but I'm like, maybe they just don't know we're here.
SPEAKER_00: You know, they weren't here when we arrived, so maybe they just think they're alone and they're playing their music extra loud.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna go out and explore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna play in the rain like a kid and hope that they see me.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I did.
SPEAKER_00: And mission accomplished because my domedown neighbors saw me, and there was a brief and out-of-distance exchange.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna tell you that conversation because I remember it very clearly.
SPEAKER_00: And and then I'm gonna tell you what was also going on in my head, which is a scary thing.
SPEAKER_00: But so my dome town neighbor, you know, again, we're like 30, 40 yards away.
SPEAKER_00: He's down kind of below, their dome was below ours.
SPEAKER_00: And so he's like, he sees me and he goes, Hey buddy, and I'm like, Hey, how's it going?
SPEAKER_00: And then here's the first thing that he asks me, all right?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Are you alone?
SPEAKER_00: Number one, that's weird, all right.
SPEAKER_00: If you ever meet somebody in the woods for the first time, don't let the first words out of your mouth be, are you alone?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm kind of like, you know, and and so in my head, I'm like, I'm I'm not alone.
SPEAKER_00: I've got my wife and I've got my my friends Smith and Weston with me.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't tell him that.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, I tell him I'm not alone.
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes, It's my birthday.
SPEAKER_00: Now things are making more sense to me.
SPEAKER_00: And so I tell him a happy birthday, and he's like, So if you want to come down and and drink with us, just let me know.
SPEAKER_00: And I tell him, you know, thank you for the invite in my head, zero percent chance of that happening.
SPEAKER_00: And then he starts to walk away, and I start to walk away like that was weird.
SPEAKER_00: And and then he stops and he's like, This music isn't bothering you, is it?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, if if you could keep it down a little bit, that would be helpful.
SPEAKER_00: And then that was it.
SPEAKER_00: We were there for two nights, they were there for at least two nights, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: And I know you're wondering, did they turn the music down?
SPEAKER_00: It's debatable.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, did the music last well past my bedtime?
SPEAKER_00: It did.
SPEAKER_00: And I tell you this story though, because people are hard to like sometimes, aren't they?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And uh people are hard to like, let alone people are hard to love.
SPEAKER_00: And so my wife and I, we visited this coffee shop every every morning when we were there, and they had this mug, and it just said, ew, people.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I should, I should have bought that mug.
SPEAKER_00: But people are hard to like, and people are hard to love, and if we are honest with ourselves, and if we are honest with each other, uh, you're hard to like sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry to tell you.
SPEAKER_00: And you're hard to love sometimes, and I'm hard to like sometimes, and I'm hard to love sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: And so you might be able to start tracking where we're going this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about love this morning and what love scripturally really is and what it is and what it does.
SPEAKER_00: But we're not gonna talk about love as a feeling this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The kind of love that we're talking about this morning, it's not a feeling.
SPEAKER_00: And the kind of love that we're talking about this morning, it's it's not an emotion.
SPEAKER_00: The kind of love that we're talking about this morning is an action.
SPEAKER_00: And as uh the bride of Christ, as the church, the kind of love that we're talking about this morning is is a choice that we are called to make.
SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, in the English language, we have this one word, love, and it describes a whole array of kinds of love, feelings of love, emotions of love, actions, right?
SPEAKER_00: We use this word love and it means a lot.
SPEAKER_00: If you were with us last week, Didi got us rolling in the right direction, and he talked about how he used the example of how he loves his wife, Shannon, but he also loves Legendary Whip and Bethel, right?
SPEAKER_00: He loves both, but they're different.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I can tell you that I love baseball and I love my kids.
SPEAKER_00: I love both of them, but they're different.
SPEAKER_00: I love my kids more than I love baseball, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: But they're different.
SPEAKER_00: I love both, but they're they're different.
SPEAKER_00: But in the Greek, there are actually multiple words that talk about different kinds of love.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are wrapping up this series this morning uh called Bloom, and we've been working through uh 1 Peter or 2 Peter chapter 1, and we've been focusing on the first seven verses.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna read all seven to you.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it says Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.
SPEAKER_00: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
SPEAKER_00: For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness mutual affection, and to mutual affection, love.
SPEAKER_00: So there it is.
SPEAKER_00: That word love.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna focus on just this word this morning, love.
SPEAKER_00: Seems easy, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like this the whole rest of this morning, I can talk about one word.
SPEAKER_00: Seems easy.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, it's anything but easy.
SPEAKER_00: Uh this word that Peter uses here, it's it's loaded.
SPEAKER_00: And it is powerful, and it is uh what we are called as Christians to exemplify.
SPEAKER_00: And so in the Greek, there are multiple words that define different kinds of love.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we hear Peter tell us to add to our faith love, it's really important to understand what kind of love is Peter talking about and what kind of love is he not talking about.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to take just a few moments this morning to talk about a few of those Greek words so that we can best understand this text.
SPEAKER_00: The first Greek word that means love is the Greek word pronounced eros.
SPEAKER_00: It's really defining kind of a self-love, but often it is used to describe a romantic love, a passionate love, even to a physical sense.
SPEAKER_00: Eros would be the kind of love that you would say, like, I love her, or I love him.
SPEAKER_00: It's the kind of love that would describe like the butterflies in your stomach as you look at your spouse or at somebody that you are attracted to.
SPEAKER_00: And so when Peter says add to your faith love, he doesn't use the Greek word eros here.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about this feeling of love.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about a romantic or physical kind of love.
SPEAKER_00: So if it's not eros, what could it be?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the the next possibility is this Greek word pronounced storge.
SPEAKER_00: Storge describes a familial kind of love, a love between family.
SPEAKER_00: Think of the love between a parent and a child, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's a strong kind of love.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I have three kids and I love each of them tremendously.
SPEAKER_00: That is a strong kind of love.
SPEAKER_00: But I love them because they are mine, right?
SPEAKER_00: I love them because they're mine, and they are they are my blood, right?
SPEAKER_00: They are God's gift to me, and I I love them deeply because of that.
SPEAKER_00: I tell every one of my kids every day that I love them.
SPEAKER_00: And right now, especially my my middle son Cole, every time I tell him I love him, he'll look back at me and he says, Well, I love you more, or I love you the most.
SPEAKER_00: This is storge.
SPEAKER_00: Like, he even though he thinks he loves me more, I tell him, like, you can't.
SPEAKER_00: You can't.
SPEAKER_00: Someday, son, if you have your own kids, like you'll understand, like, you can love me a lot, but you can't love me more than the way I love you.
SPEAKER_00: This is a familial kind of love.
SPEAKER_00: This is storgay.
SPEAKER_00: Now, is that love perfect?
SPEAKER_00: Like if you have kids or if you have a family, which all of us do in some form, like that's not a it's not perfect.
SPEAKER_00: It's got its flaws, but it's a strong kind of love.
SPEAKER_00: And so when Peter says, add to your faith love, he doesn't use the Greek word storge.
SPEAKER_00: So if it's not storge, what's the next possibility?
SPEAKER_00: Another Greek word to describe a kind of love is phileo.
SPEAKER_00: If you were with us last week, this is actually uh the Greek word that Didi kind of took a deep dive into, transliterated into English.
SPEAKER_00: It's Philadelphia, brotherly love, mutual affection.
SPEAKER_00: This is the kind of love in our context that each of us should be fostering for and towards one another, the church, the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is a strong kind of love, but it's it's mutual, meaning we each have to uh pursue this and we each have to push into this.
SPEAKER_00: And so when Peter uh says add to your faith love, he doesn't use phileo here.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we talked about last week.
SPEAKER_00: When he says, add to your faith mutual affection or brotherly kindness.
SPEAKER_00: And so if it's not uh eros, if it's not storge, if it's not phileo, what is it?
SPEAKER_00: And there's there's one more Greek word, and it is uh talked about quite often in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: And even if you don't know much Greek, this is one that you've perhaps heard before.
SPEAKER_00: And it is the Greek word agape.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the kind of love that we're gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's best defined as a selfless, unwavering, unconditional love of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so the love that we're gonna talk about this morning, it is not the feeling of love.
SPEAKER_00: Or it's not the the it's not a feeling of love, it's it's not an emotion of love, it's the action of love.
SPEAKER_00: What we're talking about is the action of love of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so I can spend some time now trying to explain to you and teach you what agape is.
SPEAKER_00: And I can spend some time to try and tell you what agape does and what it doesn't do, and how you should use agape or what how you should apply it to your life.
SPEAKER_00: But if I tried to truly explain from my words agape, I would mess it up pretty badly.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're gonna do this morning is we're gonna allow scripture to define to us agape love.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's how it should be, anyways.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible talks quite a bit about agape, the agape love of God.
SPEAKER_00: It defines it very specifically.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to start with this foundation, though.
SPEAKER_00: So in 1 John chapter 4, verses 8, the author John says, God is love.
SPEAKER_00: And when he says God is love, he is saying, God is agape.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what we're gonna talk about this morning, we're gonna talk about the very nature of God.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about the selfless, unwavering, unconditional nature of God.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about the very essence of God this morning, we're gonna talk about the very character of God this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And so we've got to first start with that foundation that God is agape, that God is love.
SPEAKER_00: Now, turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, if you have your Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: And uh 1 Corinthians, this letter to the church in Corinth was written by the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Corinth, uh, like uh many churches, started strong, but like every church in the history of the world, it is filled with flawed and broken people, sinful people, and so they mess it up.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul writes uh a letter to this church to cover a variety of topics, but one of the issues in Corinth as a city as a whole, it was a very worldly place.
SPEAKER_00: Like we have the saying, like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
SPEAKER_00: Like Corinth was worse, all right?
SPEAKER_00: It tells you the kind of culture uh of Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: It was a place that was filled with a lot of pride, pride of the flesh, worldly, fleshly desires, but also just the pride of life.
SPEAKER_00: People comparing themselves to the next, like I have the cooler, better spiritual gift kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul writes them this letter.
SPEAKER_00: And what's unique about this section of scripture that we're gonna read is every time that Paul um has uses the word love here, it is agape.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so really key into that.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what he says First Corinthians chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read the first three verses.
SPEAKER_00: He says, If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, there's agape, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
SPEAKER_00: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.
SPEAKER_00: If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, agape, I gain nothing.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what Paul is saying.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, even if I have a really cool spiritual gift, like I can speak in tongues, meaning I can speak and understand the tongues of men, different languages, even if I can understand the tongue, the language of angels.
SPEAKER_00: Even if I have that, but if I don't have agape, if I don't have love, I'm I'm just making noise.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to say, I can have a great spiritual gift of prophecy, and I can have all this knowledge, and I can have faith that can move mountains, which is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: But if I don't have agape, if I don't have love, then I have nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to say, uh, even if I give everything that I have to the poor, which it is great to be generous, we should be generous.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's saying, even if I give all that I possess to the poor, but if I don't have love, if I don't have agape, then I have nothing.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, you can have really great spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_00: You can do some great things, but if it doesn't come from a heart of love, a selfless, unwavering, unconditional love from God and for God that seeks the benefit of others without expecting anything in return, if it doesn't come from that heart of agape, then it really doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't add up to as much as it should if it came from a heart of love.
SPEAKER_00: Then he continues.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been to any wedding ever in the history of the world, this scripture is read.
SPEAKER_00: But we all we often don't think of it in the context that we should.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says.
SPEAKER_00: Agape is patient.
SPEAKER_00: Agape is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, agape does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
SPEAKER_00: Agape never fails.
SPEAKER_00: This is what agape loves.
SPEAKER_00: This is the biblical definition.
SPEAKER_00: Like we just read right here the very nature of God.
SPEAKER_00: Remember 1 John chapter 4, verse 8?
SPEAKER_00: God is love, God is agape.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to know what God is like, if you want to know the character of God, the essence of God, the nature of God, it's it's right here.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it does and what it doesn't do.
SPEAKER_00: It's patient and it's kind, it's not self-seeking, it's not envious, it doesn't boast, it doesn't keep a record of wrongs, it delights in truth, it hopes, it trusts, it perseveres, and it never fails.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna read this scripture to you again, but I'm gonna read it differently.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to hear this.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Paul is getting after.
SPEAKER_00: If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have God, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
SPEAKER_00: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but do not have God, I am nothing.
SPEAKER_00: If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast but do not have God, I give Gain nothing.
SPEAKER_00: God is patient.
SPEAKER_00: God is kind.
SPEAKER_00: He does not envy.
SPEAKER_00: He does not boast.
SPEAKER_00: He is not proud.
SPEAKER_00: He does not dishonor others.
SPEAKER_00: He is not self-seeking.
SPEAKER_00: He is not easily angered.
SPEAKER_00: He keeps no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_00: God does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
SPEAKER_00: He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
SPEAKER_00: God never fails.
SPEAKER_00: This is agape.
SPEAKER_00: It is the selfless, unwavering, unconditional love of God.
SPEAKER_00: It is a love from God.
SPEAKER_00: And it is an action of love.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a feeling of love.
SPEAKER_00: It's not an emotion of love.
SPEAKER_00: It's an action of love.
SPEAKER_00: It's a choice of love.
SPEAKER_00: And it is always seeking the benefit of others, expecting nothing in return.
SPEAKER_00: So in John chapter 13, Jesus has gathered his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: His disciples were his closest followers.
SPEAKER_00: They were the men that were with him every step of the way, from the moment Jesus really started his ministry until his death.
SPEAKER_00: And in John chapter 13, Jesus is with his disciples, and they are gathered to celebrate the Passover feast.
SPEAKER_00: And the Passover was a time where the Jews would gather to remember God's goodness to them as God passed over their firstborn sons, and shortly after he would free them from captivity in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: In this time, though, this Passover feast would be the last feast, the last Passover that Jesus would celebrate before he's arrested, tortured, and eventually hung on a cross to die.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus is sharing this meal with his friends.
SPEAKER_00: And as part of this meal, Jesus got up during the meal and he takes off his outer cloak, his outer robe.
SPEAKER_00: It kind of signifies that Jesus was about to get to work.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes and he gathers a basin, which is a bowl, and he fills it with water, and he grabs a towel and he ties it around his waist, much like we would put on an apron.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus kneels at the feet of every single one of his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're about to see is just true agape love.
SPEAKER_00: True love of God and love for God in action.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to reflect on this with me.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about a love that is patient.
SPEAKER_00: In a few hours, Jesus would be arrested and he would be tortured and he would be crucified.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus knows this.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a surprise to him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows what's about to happen in a few hours.
SPEAKER_00: And yet here he is kneeling at the feet of his friends to wash their feet.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about a love that is patient.
SPEAKER_00: Like Jesus doesn't have a lot of hours left, and yet here he is giving those hours to his disciples to wash their feet.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about a love that is patient.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this agape love that is kind.
SPEAKER_00: It was customary to uh take off your sandals and wash the feet of guests before they entered the home.
SPEAKER_00: But often this feet washing was left to a servant.
SPEAKER_00: And yet Jesus is their teacher, he's their leader, he's their rabbi, he is their king.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus is the man that they have professed to be the Son of God, and here he is kneeling at the feet of his disciples to wash their feet.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about a love that is kind.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, imagine these men live in a climate in a culture where sandals or going barefoot was normal.
SPEAKER_00: It was dusty, it was dirty, it was sweaty, it was gross, and yet he is kneeling, the Son of God is kneeling at their feet.
SPEAKER_00: Customarily speaking, Jesus should have been the last one to wash the feet.
SPEAKER_00: And yet here he is kneeling at their feet.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about a love that is kind, an agape love that is kind.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the one that really shatters me.
SPEAKER_00: Reflect on this agape love that holds no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_00: In a couple hours, Jesus is going to be betrayed for 30 shekels of silver.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is not surprised by this.
SPEAKER_00: He knows it's going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: And he knows exactly who is going to betray him.
SPEAKER_00: And what does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: He kneels at the feet of Judas and washes his feet.
SPEAKER_00: That's a love, an agape love.
SPEAKER_00: Love in action that is holding no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_00: In a couple hours, Jesus is going to be in the garden of Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_00: And he's going to be under so much duress that scripture tells us that his sweat was like drops of blood.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus is in the garden to pray, and he looks at some of his closest friends, men like Peter, James, and John, and he says, Stand watch and pray.
SPEAKER_00: And do you remember what happens?
SPEAKER_00: They fall asleep on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Not once, but twice.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus knows this.
SPEAKER_00: And yet here he is kneeling at the feet of his disciples to wash their feet.
SPEAKER_00: In a couple hours, Jesus is going to be arrested.
SPEAKER_00: And as he is led away, Peter is going to slowly watch and listen at a distance.
SPEAKER_00: As they bring him in front of the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders, Peter is trying to hear what are they saying and what are they going to do with Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And a young girl approaches Peter and she's like, You're one of his disciples, aren't you?
SPEAKER_00: And Peter denies Jesus not once, not twice, but three times.
SPEAKER_00: And a few hours earlier, Jesus is here and he comes to Peter, and I'm paraphrasing here.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter's like, Jesus, you can't wash my feet.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, Peter, you don't understand what I'm doing right now, but it's going to make sense here in a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter's like, for real.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' like, don't, you can't wash my feet.
SPEAKER_00: You can't wash my feet.
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you're going to wash my feet, you need to wash all of me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not worthy of it.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is like, Peter, I'm going to wash your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you have nothing to do with me.
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is a love that's holding no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows that Peter's going to betray and walk away from him, deny him in a couple of hours.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was tortured so badly that it's quite the miracle he made it to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was scourged so badly and lost so much blood.
SPEAKER_00: It's quite the miracle in itself that Jesus made it to the cross and had anything left to give.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus knows exactly how this is going to play out.
SPEAKER_00: He knows he's going to be arrested.
SPEAKER_00: He knows he's going to be badly beaten.
SPEAKER_00: He knows he's going to have to carry a heavy cross through the streets of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He knows they're going to nail his hands and his feet to a tree.
SPEAKER_00: And this event would be so overwhelming for his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: The fear would be so strong, and I don't blame them.
SPEAKER_00: But they kind of shrink back into the shadows.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is going to be in a time of great physical need due to the pain alone, and his friends aren't there with them.
SPEAKER_00: The vast majority of them are not there with them as Jesus suffers on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus knows this a couple hours ahead of time, and yet here he is, still just kneeling at the feet of his friends to wash their feet.
SPEAKER_00: This is agape love.
SPEAKER_00: This is it.
SPEAKER_00: It's a selfless, unconditional, unwavering love of God.
SPEAKER_00: A love for God that seeks the benefit of others, expecting nothing in return.
SPEAKER_00: You know this next scripture well.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 3, verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved, for God so agoped the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: I did not deserve this.
SPEAKER_00: And you didn't deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't earn it.
SPEAKER_00: And you didn't earn it.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's agape.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a feeling.
SPEAKER_00: It's not an emotion.
SPEAKER_00: It's an action.
SPEAKER_00: It's a choice.
SPEAKER_00: And when God loves us so much when we didn't earn it and we didn't deserve it, how could we not mirror this in our lives?
SPEAKER_00: How could we not strive to exemplify this kind of love in our lives?
SPEAKER_00: People are hard to like.
SPEAKER_00: People are hard to love.
SPEAKER_00: I am hard to like and hard to love, and you are hard to like and you are hard to love.
SPEAKER_00: And yet that is exactly what God did for us.
SPEAKER_00: He loved us.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the call.
SPEAKER_00: This is the standard.
SPEAKER_00: To have this kind of agape love.
SPEAKER_00: A love for the world.
SPEAKER_00: A love for our neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: An agape love for our Christian brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: An agape love for those who are not Christians.
SPEAKER_00: An agape love for our friends.
SPEAKER_00: This is the call.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the neat thing.
SPEAKER_00: We can't create this kind of agape love on our own.
SPEAKER_00: I can't create it and you can't create it.
SPEAKER_00: We can't manufacture this on our own.
SPEAKER_00: We can't cultivate this on our own.
SPEAKER_00: Like this is the love of God because it is God.
SPEAKER_00: That's what agape is.
SPEAKER_00: It's God.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we recognize and we realize the way that God has loved us, what He has done for us, what He is still doing for us, how could we not strive to love those around us the way that God has loved us?
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, we've been talking a lot about the one, who's your one, who's the one person that you're gonna storm the gates of heaven for.
SPEAKER_00: The person that you're just gonna storm the gates of heaven and you're just lifting up their name regularly because you want them to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's cool: God could use you.
SPEAKER_00: You could be the vessel, you could be the tool, you could be the person that God uses to mirror his agape love.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody could see the love of God, they could experience the love of God by the way that you have it and show it and exemplify it in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And we can't create this, cultivate this, and manufacture it on our own.
SPEAKER_00: And so the question is, are you asking God to stir this kind of agape love in your life?
SPEAKER_00: It's not easy.
SPEAKER_00: People are hard to like and people are hard to love.
SPEAKER_00: And yet we're called to show the world this kind of love.
SPEAKER_00: Seek God and you will find his love.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your communion, I'd love for you to take it out.
SPEAKER_00: When we think about communion, we think about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about agape love.
SPEAKER_00: Talk about the ultimate example of an unconditional, unwavering love.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Jesus did on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And every time that we take communion as the church, the bride of Christ, we are remembering that kind of love.
SPEAKER_00: We are celebrating that kind of love.
SPEAKER_00: And we're striving to exemplify that kind of love every single day in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' body was broken, literally broken for us.
SPEAKER_00: That's agape.
SPEAKER_00: Take and eat.
SPEAKER_00: The blood of Jesus was poured out for us.
SPEAKER_00: This is love in action.
SPEAKER_00: This is agape.
SPEAKER_00: Take and drink.
SPEAKER_00: Pray with me.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, oh how you love us.
SPEAKER_00: God, I am so humbled by your love.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray as a church that we will be humbled every single day by the way that you have loved us.
SPEAKER_00: And God, I pray that we will take this agape love just moment by moment, day by day, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you will stir this kind of love in our hearts, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that our love for those around us, the church and the unchurched, our friends and our enemies, Lord, I pray that our love will exemplify your true agape love that is patient and it is kind.
SPEAKER_00: It is not envious, it is not proud, it's not self-seeking, that rejoices in the truth, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: A love that hopes, a love that trusts, a love that perseveres, Lord, and a love that doesn't fail.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We love you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I love you guys truly.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_00: If you uh need prayer, members of our prayer team are up front.
SPEAKER_00: They'd love to chat with you in celebration of Lisa.
SPEAKER_00: I believe there's cookies and treats out there.
SPEAKER_00: So if you see Lisa, give her a hug.
SPEAKER_00: Tell her that you love her and eat a cookie in her honor.
SPEAKER_00: We love you guys.
SPEAKER_00: Have a great week.