WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:23.280 Well, good morning, awakening church. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:27.280 Great to be with you, happy Candy Palooza. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:31.199 If we haven't met yet before, my name's Ryan. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:35.520 We're absolutely thrilled to have you join us today. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:42.640 Um and I actually love that Dave um started out with kind of uh talked about cats and dogs. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:50.719 We're in the series called Hello Life, and Carolyn, who spoke a few weeks ago, she asked, How many are dog people, how many are cat people? 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:53.119 Can I just see how many are cat people real quick? 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:53.679 Great. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:55.039 So we offended all of you. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:55.520 Perfect. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:56.640 Okay, great. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:58.960 Um I love dogs. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:01.759 I like cats too, but I love dogs. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:05.200 Um we have a dog, we've had a dog for about eight years. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:07.040 Her name's Finley. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:13.040 Um, and we named her Finley because finally mom let us get a dog. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:15.599 Uh she didn't grow up with dogs. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:16.799 This is her first dog. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:18.480 In fact, um, this is awesome. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:23.840 We were walking this week and she's asking, Do you think we're always gonna be dog people? 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:26.640 And I didn't want to answer. 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:29.680 I wanted to see what she said because I was like, I'm not sure how this is gonna go. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:31.120 I know what my heart says. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.560 Um I said, Well, what do you think? 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:38.400 And she's like, I think we'll always be dog people. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:40.319 It's like, yes. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:43.920 You know the difference between like dogs and cats, right? 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:44.959 You I'm sure you've heard this. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:52.959 Like a dog, you love them, you care for them, you feed them, you give them a home, and they look at you and they go, You must be God, right? 00:01:53.200 --> 00:02:00.239 A cat, you love them, you feed them, you care for them, give them a home, and they look at you and go, I must be God, right? 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:13.439 I mean, that's just the reality is a dog, you are the center of their universe, and and a cat, uh, you you're like, you know, an intern that's late bringing snacks. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:15.439 Like, what are you doing? 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:21.680 Um growing up, uh, I had a great dog. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:23.039 His name was Spike. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:24.400 Well, it wasn't a he, it was a she. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:26.879 I didn't know it was a she, but I named him Spike. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:28.240 I was I was seven. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:30.400 I it was we found Spike. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:35.360 This, I mean, as you can imagine, what Spike is um fear, lots of fear. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:36.159 It was a terrier. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:40.560 It was a terrier mud, it was about this big, ugly as all get out, but it was my dog. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:48.319 Found Spike rainy day under the um uh under a van, and I asked, can we keep them? 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:51.520 And we kept them, became my best friend. 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:56.479 I remember moving from um Texas to California. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:59.280 Oh, by the way, there's a football game today. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.680 Uh Cowboys and 49ers. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:02.719 Did you know that? 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:05.520 Some of you know that I'm a Cowboys fan. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:09.199 I think we have a couple 49ers fans in here. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.199 Um, some of you 49ers fans, sorry, this is a total aside. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.120 I I completely apologize. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:21.199 Um, but some of you have been so good at telling me, like, wow, your team's doing really bad. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:25.840 And then you know what my response has been? 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:27.280 You're right. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:29.120 We're doing terrible this year. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:31.280 Do you know how bad we are? 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:33.439 You can ask, how bad are they? 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:34.800 How bad are they? 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:35.840 Isn't that lame? 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:36.719 Why did I do that? 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:37.919 That was stupid. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:41.360 This is how bad the cowboys are. 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:45.360 If we lose today, we'll have the same record as the 49ers. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:54.159 And now we offended the cat people and the 49ers today. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:54.719 Amen. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:56.800 Be blessed, have a great Sunday. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:57.680 All right. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:03:59.520 All right, back to Spike. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:01.120 We moved to California. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:10.080 We moved to California, and I here I am, this hick kid in Surf City, Santa Cruz. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:20.720 And I remember nights I'd be in my backyard, and little Spike nuzzled up next to me, and I'd just be pouring my heart out to that dog. 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.040 I'd just be crying. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:25.759 Like nobody understands me. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:32.720 Parents don't listen to me, they don't get it, I don't feel hurt, I felt so lonely. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:51.199 You know what's interesting is we grow up, but we actually don't grow out of that loneliness, that longing to be known and to be loved. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:52.160 In fact, C.S. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:55.360 Lewis said it this way: we are born helpless. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:02.720 As soon as we're fully conscious, we discover loneliness. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:15.439 There's a space inside of us, a vacuum, that no achievement, no relationship or success can fulfill. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:22.720 Sociologists uh would say today we have a loneliness epidemic. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:39.439 We are more connected than ever, we have more access to people, and yet at the same time we're more isolated and alone, and to solve it, we are turning to AI chatbots, replacing human connection and dogs. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:45.439 Why, after all the striving, do you feel so empty and alone? 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:54.800 Humanity's deepest desire is to be truly known and fully loved. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:59.839 To be loved and not known is at best superficial. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:02.319 That's where most of us live. 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:10.879 To be known and not loved is one of our greatest fears, and so we hide our true selves. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:17.680 Where can you find a love that fills the deep longing of the soul? 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:23.920 If you got your Bibles or your phone, would you open up to 1 John chapter 4, verse 7? 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:34.480 In our time together, the Apostle John's going to give us this breathtaking vision of love and show us how do we experience the love our souls long for. 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:39.680 What if the love we've been searching for has been here the whole time? 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:42.800 In fact, the sermon titled today is Love Is Here. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:45.120 Go ahead and turn to your neighbor and say, Love is here. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:52.000 Well, you guys had more fun with that than anybody else. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:53.759 That's awesome. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:57.360 I wish we all were doing that. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:03.759 First thing the Apostle John is gonna tell us is that love actually begins with God. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.120 Love begins with God. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:06.000 Listen to what he says. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:08.480 Dear friends, let us love one another. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:15.759 By the way, he's gonna say, let us love one another five times in this short little letter. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:16.879 Why? 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:19.120 For love comes from God. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:22.399 Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:27.600 Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:32.879 In fact, John tells us something about the nature, the character, who God is. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:40.000 In this uh little letter, he tells us that God is light, there is no darkness in him, that God is spirit. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:47.199 And here he tells us that God is love, that God's essential attribute is love. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:52.319 Core to his nature and character is love. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:55.120 Love is not God's only attribute. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:58.000 However, love informs all of God's attribute. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:01.120 All that God does is love. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:06.240 And so, his justice is an expression of love. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:09.920 His holiness, that we sang, is done in love. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:12.240 His mercy is love. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.839 Everything that God does is love. 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:20.399 And when he loves, he is simply being himself. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:22.079 A. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:33.279 Tozer in the Knowledge of the Holy writes this says, from God's other known attributes or character traits or qualities, we may learn much of his love. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:40.000 We can know, for instance, that because God is self-existent, his love had no beginning. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:43.759 Because he is eternal, his love can have no end. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:46.480 Because he is infinite, it has no limit. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:54.720 Because he is holy, it is the I I so messed up this word in the first service. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:58.960 I practice you have no idea how many times I practiced this word. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:04.559 That's awesome. 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:05.440 I love it. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:06.639 Quintessence. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:08.080 Is that right? 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:09.519 That was a teacher over there. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:10.480 She knows. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:11.679 She knows. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:13.039 He is holy. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:14.960 It is the quintessence. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.559 Quintessence! Thank you, quintessence. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:21.360 Spit it out already, Ingram. 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:27.200 Quintessence of all his he's like writing such beautiful prose here, and I'm ruining it. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:46.559 He is holy, it is the quintessence of all his spotless purity, because he is immense, his love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea before which we kneel in joyful silence and from which the lofty eloquence retreats, confused and abashed. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:52.639 God's essential nature is love. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:56.960 When he loves, he is simply being himself. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:02.159 And as a result, then God is the source of love. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.000 Love begins with God. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:08.240 C.S. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:14.480 Lewis again writes this God is the wellspring from which all love flows. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:23.039 Without him, we are merely cups trying to fill other cups with no source of water. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:34.639 Like if you want to know where love begins, if you want to know what can fill the void in our souls, it says love, John's telling us love begins with God. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:37.200 That he is the ultimate source. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:39.519 See us the wellspring. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:42.960 See, here's the problem, and I love his illustration. 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:46.399 He grabs this cup, he says, you know what? 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:52.080 If we're just trying to fill ourselves, it's just an empty cup. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:55.759 But you know, in our culture today, this is what we do. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:00.159 We say, before uh I can love you, I need to love me, right? 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:01.600 It's this self-love. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:05.759 Now, let's be clear healthy self-care and self-love is important. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:12.399 In fact, Jesus said that we're called to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:22.080 And yet, the reality is, if I have an empty cup and I'm just trying to fill myself, what do I have? 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:24.879 Empty cup. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.000 And we spend so much energy and the weight of that, friends. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:37.840 How many people feel the weight of like, I just gotta love myself, but I'm not doing it right, and I'm not filling myself up, and I feel so heavy and I feel like a failure. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:42.720 I go online, it seems like everybody else has it figured out, but my cup is empty. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:45.200 I'm lonely. 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:54.799 And self-love, loving ourselves to fill ourselves up, it doesn't work, and so we go to others. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.960 Man, I need that girl or that boy. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:21.120 If I had a girlfriend, if I had a boyfriend, if I was dating someone, if I, you know, married the right person, um, if I find a different person than one that I'm married to, uh, if we only had kids and we go to people that are finite, that are broken, that were never meant to carry the weight of our need. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:27.039 Fill my cup, fill my cup, and it's almost as if we have a hole in the bottom, isn't it? 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:32.320 And it just kind of drains out and we fill each other, but it never quite fully fulfills. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:38.159 And then we go through our careers or success, longing for others' approval. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:55.919 And what John's saying here, God is love, and love comes from God, and so if he is the source of it, what I first have to do is I first have to allow myself to be filled up with God's love. 00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.840 Anytime I'm trying to fill myself up, it ain't working. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:08.240 But the moment I tap into the God who is love, he says, hell, hey, hell, hello, hello, life, there you go. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:12.080 It's Halloween week, you're fine. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:22.799 And we tap into God just a little bit, right? 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:52.159 Because we want, we think other things will fulfill, and so we come on a Sunday, we come, you know, maybe in our need, and we just get a little bit, and he's like, if you would allow yourself just to receive my love, if you would acknowledge and recognize that the things that you're looking forward to are gonna fill you up will not fill you if you will embrace the God who is the source of love. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:58.399 In fact, I love how the Apostle Paul says that God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:02.320 Like that's what he wants to do for you. 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:09.279 He wants to pour his love into your hearts. 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:10.559 So let me ask you. 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:14.000 Or what are you looking to fill your cup? 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:23.120 What have you been chasing after, run running after, hoping? 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:27.440 Here's the thing. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:30.639 We all do this. 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:44.399 I remember um in our marriage, what I was really looking for is that my wife would fill my cup. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:46.320 Yeah, intellectually I get it, God. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:47.519 Yeah, you're gonna fill that up. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:55.600 But I was putting a weight and a pressure and an expectation and a burden on someone who was never meant to carry that. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:05.039 It breaks our relationships, it brings such harm and chaos, and God's like, I already have it. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:09.200 My infinite love is for you. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:14.320 And so, how do we then connect to the source that is love? 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.639 How do we then allow God to fill our cup? 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.399 Well, he says, love begins with God, and then this is such good news. 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:22.399 Love made the first move. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:24.879 Love moved first. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:27.120 It's not you moving first, it's not you figuring it out. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:29.279 It's like, okay, I gotta do just the right thing. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:32.720 Somehow, God to get you to move towards me to fill my cup. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:34.080 He's going, I'm moving. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.159 This is how God showed his love among us. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:41.840 This is how he demonstrated it, it's how he revealed it. 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:46.639 He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:48.559 Would you do this? 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:54.720 I'm going to read this next line, and as we get, every time the word love, would you just say it out loud as we get there? 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:55.840 This is. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:58.480 I gave you a heads up. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:15:59.360 I thought it would be. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:01.200 Let's try it again. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:02.639 This is love. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:08.080 Not that we loved God, but that he loved us. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:10.080 This is love. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:11.360 I love this. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:12.480 I know that sounds silly. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:13.360 I do love this. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:14.559 This is love. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:16.000 This is incredible. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:21.200 Not that we love God, that we somehow figured it out, that we got the right thing. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:28.559 And we're like, I mean, we think about this, like somehow, like if I somehow love God enough, then he'll love me back. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:29.919 Won't he get it? 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:32.080 God just, this is love. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:37.679 Not that we loved him, but that he loved you. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:48.399 His activity and intentionality towards you and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:50.879 We actually see a few things about God's love here. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:53.600 First, God's love is active, not passive. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:56.559 God didn't wait on us. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:01.600 God initiates, he didn't wait for us to clean up our lives, get our act together. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:04.000 His love moves towards your messiness. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:05.359 He fully knows you. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:07.039 Isn't that amazing? 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.720 Every part about you. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:17.119 And he was moved in love towards you. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:23.119 His love enters our brokenness. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:26.640 And his love isn't afraid of the things we've been hiding. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:29.519 God's love is active, not passive. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:34.400 God's love is self-giving, not self-protecting. 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:39.920 That he sent, that he gave, that he gave of his own life. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:43.359 In Jesus, God held nothing back. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:49.119 In Jesus, God poured it all out for us. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:54.079 And so much of love is self-protecting because we've been hurt by people. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:56.480 We've had people disappoint us. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:02.400 We've loved, we've given parts of our hearts away, and and then our hearts were broken. 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:09.119 Isn't it amazing that the God of the universe is just self-giving, not self-protecting? 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:12.720 He gives you his whole heart immediately right now. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:17.519 Holding nothing back. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:20.880 And then God's love is completely undeserved. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:22.000 It's not earned. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:27.519 You did nothing and can do nothing to earn God's love. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:28.720 Listen. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:33.839 And so you can do nothing to lose God's love. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:37.359 You can't make God love you anymore. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.880 And he won't love you any less. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:46.480 You can't work your way into God's good graces. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:50.400 His love is simply a gift. 00:18:53.680 --> 00:19:00.720 In fact, you are loved by God simply because God loves you. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:04.799 Isn't that amazing? 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:12.799 Like right now, in this moment, you are loved by God. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:23.759 Not because anything you've done, not because anything you can do, not because you made promises or you're gonna work your way, and now this time you're really committed. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:32.559 You are loved by God simply because the God of the universe, who is love, the source of all love, just loved you with an everlasting love. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:40.319 And if we could get that truth, it'd change our entire being. 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:47.599 You know, sometimes I I love, I hope I could preach the same message like multiple times in a week. 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:51.680 One, because it's so important, or two, I just don't think we're getting it. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:53.759 Or maybe three, I just did a bad job. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:55.279 Those could be all the same. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:02.240 And in John's letter here, he circles this theme of love so many times. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:05.359 We're hitting it again and just constantly going into it. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:05.839 Why? 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:10.079 Because we need this more deeply than we ever could understand. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:15.680 When we talk about uh like transformation, how God changes you. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:25.039 Oh, so much we think, gosh, if I just you know change my behavior, then I'll become this person. 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:27.680 And we we do this behavior modification. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:34.319 The way God changes us is through the identity formation. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:39.759 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:46.720 Allow your mind to be changed and transformed into more thoughts that are true of you and true of God. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:55.519 And when I begin to embrace my belovedness, that I am loved by God, it changes the way I walk through life. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:04.480 In fact, Henri Now, and we've said this quote before in the past: being the beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:10.720 Like the truest thing about you is that you're loved by God. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:14.240 But you just sit in that. 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:18.799 He loves you. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.319 We live in an identity dysphoric society. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:26.799 We're searching constantly for an identity, looking all around us. 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:34.079 There's confusion and chaos and tripping over things and saying this is the most important thing or this is the most important thing. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:41.200 And the truth of the matter is your gender and sexuality are important, but they're not your core identity. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:46.319 Your identity is your beloved image bearer of the God most high. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:52.559 Your success and your achievement, they're important, but they are not your core identity. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:54.400 They are not your essential identity. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.440 Your identity is your beloved daughter or son of the King Most High. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:13.839 That familiar that has been fumbling you, and the sin that just keeps dripping you up, that anxiety that is weighing you down, and the depression that casts a shadow that looms over your life, and you think that's who I am. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:14.960 It is not. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:17.440 It's a lie from the pit of hell. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:20.000 You are the beloved. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:24.880 And love moved first. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:26.640 Don't you ever forget it. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:30.079 Love moved towards you. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.240 God moved towards you. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:23:04.559 The truest thing about you is you are loved with an everlasting, all-consuming, unrelenting love of the God who is love, who showed his love by sending his son Jesus for you. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:06.400 Now listen to this. 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:17.599 That's how valuable and how loved you are. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.039 Love begins with God. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:25.200 Love made the first move, and then John's going to close it out. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:27.519 This is so important for us today. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:29.599 Love is completed in community. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:38.160 We live in a hyper-individualistic, autonomous culture. 00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:42.319 Where the highest good is the individual. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:24:09.279 Hence, the individual appears more and more opened up and mobile, fluid and socially independent, but the this volatility signifies much more a destabilization of the self than a triumphant affirmation of a subject endowed with self-mastery. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:23.599 Witness the rising tide of psychosomatic symptoms and obsessive-compulsive behavior, depression, anxiety, and suicide attempts, not to mention the growing sense of inadequacy and self-deprecation. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:30.960 The more socially mobile the individual is, the more we witness signs of exhaustion and subjective breakdowns. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:38.160 The more freely and intensely people wish to live, the more we hear them saying how difficult life can be. 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:42.400 Love is completed in community. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:43.440 Listen to what he says. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:48.799 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:57.119 No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:02.640 Our hyper-individualistic culture is actually killing us. 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:17.680 God has revealed himself as a triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three distinct persons, one God. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:25.680 Existed in perfect unity for all of eternity, in community, perfect love. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:38.319 And you have been made in the image of God, a reflection of the communal God created in community to express and give and receive love. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:42.799 First, poured out by his love and then poured through you. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:48.160 God's love is to flow to you and is to flow through you. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:54.799 And what we do is we become consumers instead of contributors. 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:03.119 What we do is we just seek to what can I get instead of how can I give. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:44.000 Like we will not experience the fullness of God's love if we're just holding it in. 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:47.200 And that's what we do sometimes is like, I just want me and God. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:51.279 I actually don't need the church, I don't need community, and I'm just gonna be spiritual over here. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:55.680 And he says, No, you get poured in by me as you pour into others. 00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:58.960 And I wish I could have like this constant, ooh, that would be dangerous. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:00.640 Um, that'd be fun though. 00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:08.079 Um but he says, I've poured into you my infinite love. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:13.519 There is nothing holding me back, you do not have a limit of it. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:18.160 So let's be done with the scarcity mindset. 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:27.920 Humanity's deepest desire is to be known and fully loved. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:58.559 And he made the first move towards you and is ever moving towards you, ever present. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:38.480 And God is here right now, love is here right now, and the reality is so many of us just came in empty, our cups just dry, and we're looking to someone or something, hoping, tired, exhausted, and in this moment, child, daughter, son, he wants to meet you, he wants to fill you. 00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:45.279 So we're going to take communion as a church. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:52.400 It's the reminder that love moved first, that Jesus came for us. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:59.599 It's the reminder that you are loved by God simply because he loves you. 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:06.000 Today, God invites you to receive that love. 00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:11.839 Would you let his love fill those empty spaces? 00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:25.200 Would you let his love answer the deep yearnings of your soul, the things that even we cover up, afraid to bring into the light? 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:29.039 He wants to meet you and fill you. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:38.160 You know, there's some here. 00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:53.440 And today's the day where you get to ex- can step into a relationship. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:54.799 He's a relational God. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:57.599 This is not a religion, he's a relational God. 00:29:58.559 --> 00:29:59.839 It's personal. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:02.000 That's why he came in person. 00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:08.720 Would you let love come into your heart? 00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:18.240 Invite Jesus, the God who loves you, to bring life and hope and to fill the deep parts of your soul. 00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:22.960 And so if you wouldn't mind, would you all just pray with me? 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:35.680 And if you want to step into a relationship and have his love fill you, overwhelm you, this day and forevermore, would you just pray after me? 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:39.440 God, I need you. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:46.319 Honestly, I'm tired of running after love that doesn't fulfill. 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:53.440 Thank you for making the first move. 00:30:56.640 --> 00:31:02.559 Jesus, I want to receive your love today right here and right now. 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:10.799 I believe you came from me, you died for me, and rose again to give me new life. 00:31:11.119 --> 00:31:14.720 I opened the heart, my heart to your love. 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:20.319 Will you come into my life pour your love into my heart? 00:31:20.799 --> 00:31:23.279 Would you give me new life? 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:29.519 And Jesus answers that prayer a hundred percent of the time. 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:36.319 If you prayed that prayer, if you stepped into love in a relationship, just everybody keep their eyes closed. 00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:38.240 I just want to be able to pray for you and know. 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:39.920 Could you raise your hand? 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:41.839 Just raise it high. 00:31:42.079 --> 00:31:42.720 Amen. 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:46.319 Amen. 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:53.039 Ah Jesus. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:32:10.799 Thank you for my friends and have stepped into your love in this community as we're waiting, acknowledging the things that we look to to fill us up in this moment. 00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:14.240 Would you overwhelm us with your love? 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:18.000 Overwhelm us with your presence. 00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:20.880 Lead us to your heart. 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:27.759 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:32.400 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:34.640 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:40.720 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.