WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:11.519 Well, this morning's passage, the story this morning is about a scribe, so sort of a religious expert at the time, and he comes up to Jesus, he says, Hey, what's the most important commandment? 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:15.759 So this kind of would have been a frequent probably conversation amongst experts, you know. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:22.320 I mean, anybody even now, if you're around a bunch of people who love the Bible, they start getting into some debate about some detail or something. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:26.800 And so this probably was something he probably shot around with his buddies, other religious experts. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:28.719 What's the most important one? 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:31.120 Much less for this guy, a religious expert. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:39.439 So he would have known, you know, the 613 Old Testament commandments, and it's somewhere along the way, he's just thinking, like, like, which one? 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:40.960 Like, which is the most important one? 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:42.399 There's so many of these. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:46.240 Like, which is the most, like we boiled it down to one thing. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:47.359 Just one. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:48.960 Like, what is it? 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:52.560 What is following God really about? 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:53.840 What should I do? 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:55.119 This is what the guy's asking. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:56.240 What should I do? 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:59.520 If I'm to follow God, what should I do? 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:04.480 And Jesus says, really, it's short, hey, love God and love other people. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:07.840 Now we know love, we know romantic love, right? 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:09.200 We love romantic love. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:15.120 Uh we also know brotherly or sisterly love, and that's needed, that's huge in our lives. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:17.439 And then there's this word in this text. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:21.680 It's not romantic love, it's not brotherly or sisterly love, it's agape love. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:23.519 It's unconditional love. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:28.159 It's love, it's not conditioned upon anything, so nothing caused it, nothing could stop it. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:31.280 It's not conditioned upon anything. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:36.159 So this is a love that never stops, ever, never even once. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:42.799 It has fully and always shifted its concern and care to the other person. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:47.519 Now, loving can be easy, right? 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:55.920 Because the person you're loving is perhaps at the moment what you want them to be, or doing what you want them to do. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:03.280 Uh maybe loving God can be easy at a particular time because he's cooperating with your plan and life is good. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:06.000 But then love can also be hard, right? 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:08.639 Because the person's difficult. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:09.759 They're in the way. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:14.319 Just like maybe something physically in the way, maybe emotionally in the way. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:18.800 Or maybe they have their own opinions. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:21.039 You didn't plan on that. 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:25.360 They have their own plan for the day, they have their own plan for money. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:27.919 And maybe you're sharing money because you're married. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:33.280 They have their own plan for the house or a project, right? 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:34.240 In school. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:40.240 And all of a sudden it's hard to work with that person, hard to love that person because they are a person. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:41.599 Right? 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:46.639 Or maybe like yesterday for us, when we're gonna start the Georgia game, big conversation. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:49.199 It ends up, there's two people in our marriage. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:50.240 It causes a problem. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:53.759 It'd be a lot easier if there's just one person in our marriage, right? 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:00.240 But it can be hard to love when you're loving another person, because they're there. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:02.639 They have their own thoughts and opinions. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:14.879 And then there's God who does not do what we want him to do, because sometimes you get sick, or you lose the money, right? 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:24.960 Or you're still lonely, or hurting, or confused, or unfulfilled, and you don't know why. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:37.280 And that can be hard, and that's real, and yet Jesus says, in light of the reality of all of that, people are hard, people are in the way, God is difficult sometimes because he's not doing what we want him to do. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:51.360 In light of all of that, when this guy shows up and says, hey, give me one thing, I just want something to do, Jesus says, Hey, love God unconditionally, no matter what is going on. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:54.879 And love other people unconditionally. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:01.039 Never once, never one time, ever, ever, ever, ever stop. 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:06.000 So, point number one. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:09.759 To be a person of faith is to be a person of unconditional love. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:11.360 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:14.159 To be a person of faith is to be a person of unconditional love. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:20.079 So Mark 12, 28 through 31, one of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating, noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:20.879 So this is his shot. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:24.000 He's gonna ask a question of all the commandments, which is the most important one? 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:28.399 So this is Jesus' chance to define what it means to follow God. 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:32.399 And so Jesus says the most important one is this. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:33.759 Hear, O Israel. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:37.519 So that word here is Shema, and so this is known as the Shema. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:45.920 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, with all your strength. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:50.879 Okay, so Jesus is saying, like all of you, like all of it, all of you love God all the time. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:53.920 And the second is this love your neighbor as yourself. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:56.639 There's no commandment greater than these. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:03.519 So this guy, this scribe, who's an expert of the law, he would have known this immediately because he would have known the Shema. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:06.560 Comes out of Deuteronomy 6, 4 and 5. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:09.120 Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:10.959 Goes on just as Jesus quoted it. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.600 So Jesus quoted something the guy would have already known. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:15.600 This guy would have had it memorized. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:18.560 So he would have been nodding along, sort of like, yeah, that's right. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:19.199 That's right. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:19.920 That's it. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:21.199 That's that's the right one. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:29.920 I mean, even today, a lot of times, if you go over to a practicing Jewish household, they'll have the Shema on their doorpost as you enter their home. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:31.759 This is foundational. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:36.720 But the thing that Jesus says differently is then he adds to it. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:45.360 And the thing that he adds to it as to say, like, hey, if you're gonna love God, here's what it looks like, is he adds Leviticus 19, 18. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:51.920 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:53.839 I am the Lord. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:59.279 Do you remember the first time you saw the notebook? 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:00.639 Anyone want to confess that? 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:01.600 It's confession time. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.240 Maybe you did it during the confessional prayer. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:05.279 Right? 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:06.720 Maybe you missed it. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.040 It was classic emotional hijacking. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:11.120 I mean, at the height in 2004. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:13.360 This was, this is us, the TV show today. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:17.920 This was the movie version back in 2004, just a tear fest, right? 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:21.439 I mean, people were crying in theaters on airplanes. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:26.800 If you were on an airplane and the person next to you broke down, you're like, oh, you're watching, you're watching the notebook. 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:28.240 I've been there. 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:29.360 I know what you're talking about. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:33.360 I mean, there's beautiful actors, there's a kissing scene in the rain. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:35.759 I mean, you know, some of you know I'm talking about. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:37.920 So, of course, I put off renting it. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:40.160 Christy and I eventually we rented it. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:42.639 This was back in the day, you drove the blockbuster to rent the movie. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:50.480 It was part of the date, and we drove the blockbuster, and we ended up with the notebook, and we end up back on the couch, cuddled up, watching it. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:56.720 We're newly married, and we're watching it, and by the end of it, we're both crying, and you know, I want to love you like that. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:58.079 No, I'm gonna love you like that. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:02.560 You know, oh, I'm gonna, I would do that for you, and I would do that for you, right? 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:10.560 But you know, you you look at that movie, I won't ruin it if some of you just need a good cry. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:14.079 If you just need to cry, like your life's a mess. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:17.600 Just watch the notebook, you'll get all the emotions out all at one time. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:19.759 But if you watch the movie, I won't ruin it. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:21.600 The math on the movie is horrible. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:29.040 And what I mean is this is like if you start to look at it and you add up, like you add up for that guy, you add up everything he's doing. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:30.160 It took too long. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:31.839 It was too much work. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:33.040 Right? 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:34.959 I mean, that's part of the agony of the movie. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:37.360 You're like, this is taking too long, this is too much work. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:41.439 He needs to walk away, be done with it, right? 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:43.519 But love doesn't let him. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.560 That's the thing about love, is it just won't let you. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:47.600 It shifts. 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:51.759 It shifts your concerns from you to the other person. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:53.680 So you don't bail. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:54.399 Right? 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:56.240 You don't bail when you're offended. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:58.319 You don't bail when it takes a long time. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.160 You don't bail when the person gets sick. 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:02.319 You don't bail when it gets hard. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:02.959 Right? 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:08.720 This is love that you've shifted your care and concern from yourself to the other person. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.160 So this is inevitable, this next point. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:14.879 To love is to fail. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:17.120 Point number two is inevitable. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:22.959 As soon as I set you up with everything I've said the last maybe seven or eight minutes, point two has to come. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:33.360 I mean, the call for you to agape love, to love like that, to never once not love unconditionally, eventually, point number two comes. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:39.120 Sometimes we want to love God and we want to love other people, but we fail this agape love. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:41.679 We do bail, right? 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:45.120 In our sin, we just choose to be selfish. 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:46.720 It just takes too long, it's too difficult. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:47.360 They're in the way. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:49.759 I don't want to do, I don't want to deal with you. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:56.559 Or maybe in sin we sit in judgment upon others rather than love just because we're really insecure. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:05.679 You see, in the story, Jesus perfectly reveals the greatest power on earth, which is unconditional love, by the way. 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:12.879 He reveals that as the thing you should give your life to if you're gonna follow God, and then it crushes us. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:16.960 Basically, Jesus says, Oh, you want the weight of the law? 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:17.440 Right? 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:18.799 This is an expert of the law. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:20.159 You want the weight of the law? 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:21.840 I will give it to you. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.559 Love God with your full self. 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:27.440 Never, ever one time not loving him. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:35.039 And love other people, even difficult ones, even enemies, all the time, always, never once stopping. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:45.120 So, what that would mean is like you plan for others more than you plan for yourself. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:50.320 It means you never run out of energy of loving other people. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:57.840 You never run out of money to provide for other people, you never get tired of sacrificing for other people. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:02.399 You never doubt God or withhold praise because you're frustrated with Him. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:09.039 You never choose gossip or envy over complete joy in the good, the absolute good that keeps happening to other people. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:12.240 You never say, just a minute. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:18.320 Our oldest daughter, her third word spoken into the world was Minute. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:26.960 Because all we said to her the first year of her life was, just a minute, she named her baby doll minute. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:29.679 I'm not kidding. 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:31.519 That's how selfish we were. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:34.240 It's just like, just a minute, just a minute, just a minute. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:35.600 And it's like, what's your baby's name? 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:36.000 Minute. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:40.879 You see, I can't agape love. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:42.240 You can't agape love. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:43.440 Not perfectly. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:45.440 And yet that's what Jesus is saying. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:47.200 It means to follow God. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:51.759 And this is why Jesus takes on the curse of the law. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:11:10.879 Even a good holy commandment that we should give our life to, he fulfills it for us because we can't fulfill it, which removes, removes the curse of the law upon us because our failings are put upon the cross, Jesus on the cross, and his righteousness is given to us. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:17.919 And so Jesus is even pointing this man toward himself, toward faith and grace. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:30.159 So, what that means is your list, the list, to be perfect and to be redeemed by God, or feel redeemed, or feel loved, or accepted, that list that you live by, it's taken care of. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:32.000 It's already taken care of. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:35.200 And that is so reassuring and relieving and freeing. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:43.360 It starts to heal the heart, and all of a sudden the very thing that you're called to do, and then you are crushed by, you are now beginning to be empowered to do. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.679 And then, like 1 John 4, 18, and 19 actually makes sense. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:52.240 There's no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:55.200 For fear has to do with punishment. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.240 And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.919 So you're you're perfected in love, so you don't have to fear. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.720 We love because he first loved us. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:08.960 There's a great story in Luke 19. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:09.759 You probably remember it. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:12.879 Jesus walking through a town, Zacchaeus, remember he climbs up in a tree. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:14.240 There's the children's song about it. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:15.840 Zacchaeus climbs up in a tree. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:18.000 Nobody liked Zacchaeus, he was a tax collector. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:21.840 He was unpure, his home was a non-kosher, non-Jewish home. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.799 So you know the Jewish religious people have nothing to do with this guy. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:26.879 Never, ever, ever would they enter his home. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:35.840 If they entered his home and they ate with him, they were breaking all the rules that were set in place, which meant to them what it meant to follow God. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.679 They would have nothing to do with this guy. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:45.919 So of course, when Jesus says, Hey, you, I'm going home with you, I'll eat in your house, I'm gonna break all of these rules. 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:47.360 So we get verse 7. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.679 All the people saw this, began to mutter. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.240 He has gone to be a guest of a sinner. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:56.799 Yeah, yeah, that's the natural reaction to a bunch of religious people in this situation. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:01.600 And the whole time Jesus is redefining what it means to be faithful. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:05.039 He's redefining who could be faithful. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:06.080 Right? 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:12.320 Because a lot of people, even now, a lot of people say, you know what, you can you can eat with me if you're pure enough. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:14.320 You got your act together. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:20.720 You can eat with me, but you can be a part of my life if you look like me enough. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:24.000 And Jesus said, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:25.759 I'll come eat with you. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:28.320 You don't have to have your act together yet. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:30.159 You don't have to be pure enough. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:32.960 Just as you are. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:38.080 This calls us to something great, right? 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:38.960 You're seeing it. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:44.000 The call is something incredible for our lives to unconditionally love people. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:46.720 What a great, holy, great calling. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:50.960 And yet it crushes us, and yet that very thing rescues us. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:58.080 Point number three is this in Jesus, God agape loves you while you fail to love him and others. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:05.759 In Jesus, God agape loves you even while you fail to agape love him and others. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:08.399 Do you remember the scene in Les Miz? 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:11.840 Maybe you just saw it to see Hugh Jackman, right? 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:13.600 Most half of us, maybe. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:15.759 Um, I mean, he's great, right? 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:18.240 We'll all just say we have crushes on Hugh Jackman. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:21.840 Maybe you saw the musical, maybe you saw the movie, you remember the scene? 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:23.440 Very beginning. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:27.600 Valjean steals candlesticks from the bishop. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.480 Bishop, the bishop is the symbol of God. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:37.120 Valjean is in prison, the bishop shows up and he says, Oh, here are the candlesticks I gave you. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.519 The guard says, What you know, what are you talking about? 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:42.240 You know, like, oh, you gave, I thought he stole them. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:47.279 And so this gift of grace, this gift frees Valjean. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:15:01.120 And out of this response to this unearned, unconditioned love from the bishop, Valjean says this, yet why did I allow that man to touch my soul and teach me love? 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:03.919 He treated me like any other. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:07.120 He gave me his trust, he called me brother. 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:09.679 My life he claims for God above. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:11.279 Can such things be? 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:16.480 For I had come to hate the world, this world that always hated me. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:19.120 Instead, he offers me my freedom. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:23.279 I feel my shame inside me like a knife. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:25.519 He told me that I have a soul. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:26.879 How does he know? 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:29.679 What spirit comes to move my life? 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.480 Is there another way to go? 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:39.120 You see, we need to hear the call, but we need to know the bishop comes with grace. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:46.159 Like we need to know God offers to us unconditional love because we will not always fully love. 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:49.759 So let me say it this way. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.120 This is kind of this morning, woke up excited about this statement. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:59.279 The thing you're called to do, unconditional love, is the thing that rescues you, unconditional love. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:15:59.840 Right? 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:11.039 The thing you're called to do, unconditional love, is the very thing that rescues you, unconditional love, which unbelievably helps you do the thing you're called to do, and then when you don't do it, you're still rescued by it. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:12.720 It's an unbelievable thing. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:17.039 So today on the church calendar is All Saints Day. 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:18.240 I don't know if you keep up with that. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:19.759 That's what today we celebrate. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:21.919 This Sunday, we celebrate All Saints Day. 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:25.519 What that means is it's a tradition coming out of the Reformation centuries ago. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:34.960 Martin Luther, a bunch of other leaders, they they reformed out of a path and a church that were promoting merit or law to be accepted by God. 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:46.639 And out of that comes this good news that we celebrate today, and we celebrate it every Sunday, and that is this that we, all of us, are both and always sinner and saint. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:51.279 Simultaneously, at all times, you are sinner and you are saint. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:59.120 No one, none of us, is holier than any other, and there is no holy ladder to climb. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:02.320 We are all saints. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:04.559 There's just a savior to know. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:11.599 My brothers and sisters, no matter what, in Jesus, you are a saint unconditionally loved. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:12.720 Let's pray together. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:34.640 God, thank you that while you call us to such a great purpose to agape love you and to agape love other people, that it is that love that rescues us from our failings, our shortcomings, and even empowers us by your spirit to love you and love others. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:48.720 Give us a greater trust and hope in Jesus and in the sacrifice of Jesus that we might be rescued from all of our merit, that we might know that it is by you and by your grace alone that we are saved and made whole. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:57.599 God, we thank you for the rescue that helps us along this life that can be quite difficult to love you and love other people. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:08.319 Holy Spirit, we ask that you'd be working in our hearts in all the ways that we hesitate to love you or give parts of ourselves to you. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:15.039 And Holy Spirit, we ask that you would work in our hearts all the ways that we hesitate to give and show love to others. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:16.559 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:17.359 Amen.