A Heart Too Small: How God's Love Changes What Hurt Has Made of Us

a merry christmas everyone come on hey this is our last sunday of 2021. come on that's big for us this is this is big so let's go out with a bang today all right i expect some big amens from you all right and we're going to come back here this friday please join me this friday with christmas eve and you're my favorite people so i'm going to tell you a secret right now all right you all got up early to come to church so let me just tell you right now here's here's the secret if you're going to come to christmas eve service you should either come to 2 all right or 6 30. that's the secret because if you come to the other two services sandwiched in the middle there's no parking and there's lots of people and you're going to be rubbing up against people and you're going to be grumpy because there's no seats available and so i'm just telling you right now because you're my favorite come to

either 2 or 6 30 you're going to get a better parking spot you're going to have a little more room and that's the service to invite your friends to all right so you can come to those other ones but i'm already warning you there's not going to be a parking stall and it's going to be packed so but either way won't you just join me this friday it's going to be a good time we've been on a journey together through this advent season calling this journey christmas at the movies looking at nostalgic movies and how these themes tie into the ultimate story the story of jesus the christ in fact jesus loved to use fictional stories to bring about truth so as we look back on these fictional stories we can find the truth that's only found in jesus in jesus we find hope in jesus we find peace in jesus we find joy and today we'll discover in jesus we find

love and we're looking at the ultimate classic the grinch it's a familiar story of a grumpy green guy who tries to steal christmas it's a story of good versus evil and good always triumphs over evil even if it's in the form of a little girl named cindy lou who it's a story of light versus darkness and light always wins in the darkness see the grinch hated christmas the whole christmas season now please don't ask why no one quite knows the reason it could be his head wasn't screwed on just right it could be perhaps that his shoes were too tight

but i think the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small come on dr seuss was writing hip hop before it was cool can we just admit that no wonder he's trying to be censored today i just love his storytelling he can't just tell a story about a grumpy guy he's got to make him even more he's got to give him a cute dog and he's got to come to a christmas loving town called whoville and it's there that he would experience something that's absolutely impossible the transformation of his heart let's watch a little bit of the grinch together [Music]

i'll tell you max i don't know why i ever leave this place i've got all the company i need right here hello so whatever the reason his heart or his shoes he stood outside his cave hating the hooves okay cake double hate entirely

and you're a bad banana with uh [Music] then the grinch thought of something he hadn't before [Music]

[Music] [Applause] help me and what happened then well in whoville they say that the grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day come on this this looks like a kid's christmas classic story right but if you just dive a little deeper here you have a grown man who was hurt in his childhood and he never deals with this trauma and it literally shapes his identity i mean this could be like a doctorate level psychology class

story that we could examine you see it shows us that if we don't deal with our hurt our hurt will deal with us all of us at some point in our lives in our childhood we will be hurt it could be a family member it could be an extended relative it could be a friend it could be a neighbor could be a stranger we will all be hurt in our childhood now some hurt is greater than others that's what we call trauma and if you don't have an answer to what will i do with that hurt it will begin to manifest an answer in your life we will all be let down in our childhood we call this disappointment when your expectations aren't met so what do you do with your disappointment

in the wisdom of proverbs the scriptures tell us hope deferred makes the heart sick we have found this to be scientifically true that when you have no hope something happens not only in your heart but it manifests it actually shapes and changes who you are hope deferred makes the heart sick but is desire fulfilled is a tree of life that god doesn't want you to be hopeless he doesn't want you to stay in a hurting season rather he wants you to have life now we are complicated beings because as humans were made in god's image which if god is god and you're made in his image no wonder we're complicated we've got these brains that store information and all the neurons how they work to shape and change our emotions and emotions are

of god he gave them to us but he did not give us emotions so that we would be dictated by our feelings you're not meant to allow your feelings to shape and change the trajectory of your life god gave us those so that we would understand more of who he is so how will hurt define your life it's been said hurt people hurt people it is actually impossible for a hurt person to love someone else when you are hurt it is most natural to want to hurt someone else i know this because i have three kids and when one kid hits another kid the answer is up me first i would never just hit her just because i'm only hitting her because i was hit

first because her people hurt you it's what you do it's natural it's the natural response you're rude to me i'm going to be rude back to you you cut me off i'm not going to wave and pray for you i'm going to let you know that you did something wrong it's the most natural thing and here we find in the in this story that seems like it's simple but just go deeper a guy that's a grinch and i'm not sure it's a guy because he's a guy he's so grumpy it seems impossible until he experiences something that changes you called love everyone shout love love love is the most used and abused word in the english language if we were to do a survey today and ask each person here define love

we may get completely different answers from completely different people so how do we know what love actually is how do we live out love is love a feeling is it something we do is it something we experience a writer named john who writes several books in the new testament he writes the biography of jesus life in a book called john he writes three short letters on how to live as a christian first second and third john then he writes the book of revelation the revelation of jesus christ the last book the bible and in first john chapter four he speaks of love starting with verse seven john says beloved let us love what love is from god and whoever loves has been born of god and knows god sounds so sweet right lest love we know god but he goes even deeper in verse 8

anyone who does not love anyone who does not love does not know god because god is love has anyone here met a grumpy christian before so according to john not possible you know jesus you're going to act like you know jesus and he is love john takes it even further in verse nine in this the love of god this is the christmas story right here the love of god was made manifest among us that god sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him so john tells us love is not something that we we come to know on our own is something that god has done for us and when you

know him and that he's loved you you trust that love you believe in him we call that faith so you put your faith in jesus and now that you have jesus you live through jesus and if you live through jesus you're living through the incarnation of a god that is love meaning jesus is fully god 100 god god in the man 100 man 100 god god that his love demonstrated he had to show the world who was hurting what to do with that hurt god does not want to leave you in that place so if you're hurt the answer to that hurt is in healing through a god that is love the reason we need to know jesus is we all have her and we all have to come to the

conclusion what what am i going to do with that hurt how can i not allow this to define my life john takes us further in verse 10. and this is love not that we have loved god but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins jesus did not come to this earth so that we would create a holiday and have warm fuzzy feelings so some of y'all hate this time of year because it reminds you of what you don't have a loved one that's passed on finances that you don't have or some stress of your life and i want you to know if you have chaos and stress right now jesus is great enough to handle it it's the very reason he came he didn't just come for a nostalgic feeling so that you would try to have these hallmark warm fuzzy feelings those

things are fleeting they don't last he came to be our propitiation come on isn't that a great word say propitiation propitiation that's a theological term for atonement what's atonement it means that jesus came to erase our sins not just forgive your sins but to set you free from your sins which means he literally redefines your life that's the purpose of christmas was not just the christ coming but the christ coming to do what needed to be done to be the propitiation for all of our sins to take care of those sins so that when you're hurt what do you do with that hurt you give it to jesus so when you hurt others what do you do with that do you just keep doing that because well if i i messed up i might as well just define my life by what i do

with my life now jesus would say i want you to define your life by me and we see this starts to change you as it happened with the grinch his heart grew three times that size see this this love cannot leave you the same at journey our mission is to lead people on a journey of transformation in jesus which means as you can come as you are i don't care what you did an hour ago in the car i don't care what you did last night or last year or last decade you might have done some awful things you can come as you are god cannot love you more than he does right now in the second because god is love but this love is so great it cannot leave you the same this is not a codependent love come on in here and i'm just going to leave you the same and hope that somehow

over time i'm going to let you keep living your life the way that you're living no no no i'm going to let you come in here i'm going to erase your sin so you're no longer defined by what you did an hour ago or last night or last year you're defined by who i am and i'm a god that is love so when you live through me now your life is defined by love how else can we respond to disappointment or hurt we see this over and over what begins to happen is we get angry it it turns into hatred and then we we have this root of bitterness that becomes a cancer of the soul you do not have the ability to carry that hurt in your life but the power of jesus is able to transform us to make us new

i love the analogies in the scripture you're a new creation a new creature the old is gone the new has come the old is dead the new is alive you're born again it's a it's a fresh start now if you look back in history maybe you're new to church or you're wondering what is christianity all about i'll tell you right here christianity is for everyone which we have a saying here hope for everyone not for the young not for the old not for the rich not for the poor it's for everyone i'll tell you you look back in history you see three-year-olds that give their lives to jesus and that's real they get saved for eternity at three years old then you see stubborn ones that wait till the end of their life and on their deathbed at 103 they give their lives to jesus and you know how great god's grace is he can do that it is never too late with god

i wouldn't want you to live a miserable 103 years and wait till that day but but it can happen and it can happen to everyone in between it happened for me at 15 years old i didn't grow up in the church but at 15 i heard about the love of jesus the forgiveness of my sins every time i heard that message at 15 years old every single week i heard that jesus forgives our sins i got saved every single time i was a hormonal teenager that messed up every single week i'm like i don't think i'm saved i wouldn't have done those things if i was saved and so i got saved every single week just wanted to make sure that i'm going to heaven the bible doesn't say you have to do that the bible says once you're saved you're sealed with the holy spirit doesn't matter what you feel jesus will never leave you nor forsake you even if you're not feeling it he's still almighty god that sits on the throne he wants to lead us through the valley of the shadow of death he's not going to leave you there but he's with you even even in those

dark places so that's why we see even murderers get saved after they did horrific things we see self-righteous people that look religious who actually aren't even saved going to church doesn't make you saved any more than going to mcdonald's makes you a big mac you sleep in your garage it doesn't make you a car so don't think by coming to church that you're saved or going to heaven you go to heaven because you believe in what jesus has done that he rescued you from hell you see hell is only reserved for those that rebel against god reject god's free gift of grace the lord does not send anyone to hell in fact he gives the greatest invitation of all to every one of us to rescue us to save us from our sin see sin is what separates us from god

sin is the reason there's hurt in this world sin is the reason that we have broken relationships with other people sin is the reason that we always long for more and that more is only found in jesus but when we have jesus it makes us more like him which is why john says in first john 4 11. beloved if god so loved us we also ought to love one another see christmas is literally about jesus doing what needs to be done so that we would become who god wants us to be that we would be loving people that we would be changed by this jesus that we would share this hope that's found in jesus in the original christmas story luke writes the biography of jesus life and in chapter one he shares the preface to the christmas story

how it all happened and in luke chapter one starting with verse 26 we get the details of this story in the sixth month luke tells us the angel gabriel was sent from god to a city of galilee named nazareth let's just stop there for just a moment and see where this all happens god sends a great angel with a name which is really rare that we get to see which angel it is and he comes to this region called galilee a galilee would be known like central oregon it's an area that's not exactly known around the world but some some people live there in fact there's a city a little town called nazareth we know that nazareth is not exactly the greatest city in the world to grow up in because in john chapter 1 when philip

tells nathanael come and see jesus i think i found the christ and and philip says he's jesus of nazareth and nathanael's response is does anything good come from nazareth i mean it's like nowhereville i mean this is like primeval no maybe uh chamult crescent i mean this is like out in the sticks does anything good really come from nature so god sends a mighty angel not to jerusalem not to rome to nowhere nazareth what's he going to do in nazareth verse 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was joseph of the house of david and the virgin's name was mary so we're told of a young couple

specifically a young woman who's in her early adolescence she's not even married yet but she's betrothed she's in this formal commitment to get married she hasn't solidified this marriage she has she hasn't consummated this marriage on the wedding night this angel visits a young teenage girl come on god wants to use anyone anywhere then we're told in verse 28 and this angel gabriel said to her in nazareth greetings o favored one the lord is with you that's the kind of greeting you want to hear from god but she in verse 29 was greatly troubled at the same and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be every time we see an angel encounter a real person in the

scriptures they're always terrified we've made angels to be something so safe but every time you experience the full glory of god you're terrified you're wondering what your response is going to be and god's response to us every single time is the same the angel said to her in verse 30 do not be afraid this is a commandment of god whatever season you're in in your life do not fear fear not do not be afraid from the beginning of the bible to the end of the bible because if god is for us who can be against us you say well i've got sin in my life i've got stuff in my life i've done things let me tell you jesus came to

save you from that sin so that you can have access to god and this angel reminds your fear not do not be afraid mary for you have found favor with god we call that grace god's given you a gift and behold everyone shall behold behold every time you see the word behold in the scriptures it should awaken your attention to what the author's trying to say behold something spectacular is about to happen be hold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name jesus you're going to be a mom mary i want you to give him the name jesus and hebrew would be the name yeshua we would translate that in our english joshua now why do we call his name jesus because it's the greek form of joshua yeshua

it was a common name in the jewish culture you're going to have a kid i want you to name him jesus then the angel says in verse 32 he will be great and he will be called son of the most high and the lord god will give to him the throne of his father david and he will reign over the house of jacob iv ever and of his kingdom there will be no end now when you're pregnant with child you prophesy over that child meaning this you speak forth what you hope will happen right now my child is going to be smart my child is going to be successful my child is going to be great they're not going to make the same mistakes i made you start to say then you have a child you say my child is smarter than the other children by far my child's better looking then god gave me a good looking child you you start to think these things

about your children now when other people say that like your child is so smart and good looking you shoulders back that's right i knew that's my child and other people confirm now mary's told your child is not going to just be valedictorian of their high school class your child's just not going to go out and start a successful company your child is not going to be the governor of a state your child is not going to be the president your child is not even just going to be an ordinary king this is going to be the king of all kings forever that's a lot of pressure on a child especially when the child's not been born yet so mary i love this about the honesty of scriptures the bible is very real it gives all the mess of humanity it's god's redemptive story mary asks in verse 34 the same question we all ask and mary said to the angel how will this be i know that's the question whatever

trial you're going through whatever miracle you need god to perform in your life whatever it is you need god to do in your life the very question we ask is how how am i going to get out of debt how am i going to heal in this marriage how am i going to heal from that hurt that happened throughout my childhood how how is this going to be and mary ask this question how is this going to be since i'm a virgin i'm not married i've not i've not consummated that with my husband there's no way that i can have a child and she could have put yet but the angel answered her and the same answer that god wants to do in your life the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you therefore the child to be born will be called holy which means set apart this is no

ordinary child the son of god and behold everyone shall behold behold it gets better your relative elizabeth in her old age has conceived a son and this is the sixth month of with her who is called baron she couldn't have kids she's too old to have kids now she's having a kid and then we're told for nothing will be impossible with god and mary said behold come on shout behold behold i am the servant of the lord let it be to me that's the word amen so be it let it be i believe god when he says it i don't know how but i believe it according to your word and the angel departed from her all kinds of miracles in this preface to

the christmas story you're going to have a baby even though you're a virgin your relative is going to have have a baby that's going to prepare the way for jesus that's john the baptist by the way and when she asks how is this going to happen the answer is it's not up to you it's not up to your husband it's up to the holy spirit so the miracle you need in your life is not up to you to figure this out it's up to god himself to work in your life the power of the holy spirit jesus even said after the resurrection he died on the cross was buried into him on third day he rose from the grave before he ascended into heaven acts chapter 1 verse 8 he says and you shall receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you so that you would be his witness you see when you believe in jesus you get god himself the holy spirit we have one god and three persons it's so important that

you understand theologically who god is one god in three persons you believe in jesus god the father that loves you gives you the holy spirit and when you have the holy spirit god does what only god can do it's not up to you mary you don't have to figure this out you just have to have faith that what god said is going to happen because his promises are always true and so today i want you to tell you the great verse that stands out to me in the christmas story is verse 37 because this story is still being written today for nothing will be impossible with god everyone shout nothing nothing that very thing you think is impossible is nothing for god he can do it that's why paul could later say i can do all things through him who strengthens me because god can do anything through the power of the holy spirit

it's god working in you that you live through him now that love starts to change everything and what's impossible with man when i'm hurt by someone i can't forgive you on my own i can't heal on my own but by the power of the holy spirit i become who god wants me to be i am healed i am set free i forgive those that are unforgivable and now i have the power of god's transforming love in my life and what the world had been waiting for for millennia after millennia happened in just a moment when god fulfilled his promise through jesus the christ so that you can look to him and say what's impossible in my life he's able to do to do in our lives for nothing will be impossible with god never underestimate the power of what god can do

that's what christmas reminds us of whatever you think is impossible you bring it to jesus when we talk about christmas we should always come back to the reality of how christ actually came through the virgin birth so many skeptics throughout the ages would say this is why i don't believe in jesus this is why i can't allow myself to put my faith in him and be called a christian because of the way it happened that's the whole point if we could figure this out then he wouldn't be god we are made in the very image of god so that we would see that our god is able to do anything and the only thing stopping you from the love of jesus is you there's a real enemy satan is seeking to to steal kill and destroy your life but

i want you to know that jesus has overcome satan he's so much greater so don't think that you're defeated because there's a real enemy that's trying to destroy your life you can be victorious in jesus christ in fact paul says in romans 8 you could be more than a conqueror because of who jesus is this is the miracle of christmas that in jesus you get the power of god himself the holy spirit don't ever let this story be ordinary to you because it's anything but this is supernatural this requires faith this requires you to believe that god's going to do what needs to be done i hear stories all the time at journey church particularly in the season that we're in right now that they're in places they don't want to be this past 19 20 months of this pandemic has only

elevated this and magnified the problems that really were already there because their sin problems people are divided over vaccinations they're divided over political preferences they're divided over a whole slew of different things but i'll tell you that was already there before this pandemic we have divorces happening at a higher rate than we've ever seen before suicides are just absolutely overwhelming right now the media is not talking about this but it's happening right here even in our backyard people are more depressed than ever people are hurting they're hopeless my wife who's a realtor calls this the great migration everyone's seeking something new we just we have to try something new we have to i can't stay in the same place so maybe if i get a new

house or a new job or if i go to a new city or a new state then maybe something will change because something inside of you says i can't do this and the answer is you can't that's a whole reason of christmas he can jesus came for those family divisions he came for that hurt he came for that hopelessness that's in your heart so that you would no longer be sick but you would have life paul writes here's what happens when we have jesus in romans 12 starting with verse nine i'm going to read a long chunk of this and you know when you show up to church you should expect to take notes so that you can go back and study what god's speaking to you so i expect you right now to grab a pen and write this down you don't have a pen i expect you to put this in your phone go meditate on this go study this go experiences romans 12 starting with verse nine let love be genuine

you don't have to fake it to make it with jesus abhor what is evil you have jesus in your life you have the holy spirit that means there are evil things today we call evil good and there's not enough people hating that which is evil i'm telling you this when you have the power of the holy spirit you start to see things that aren't of god that the world says is good we're experiencing what happened in the book of judges they did what was right in their own eyes that doesn't mean it's of god so let love be genuine abhor what is evil hold fast to what is good love one another with brotherly affection out do one another in showing honor do not be slothful and zeal be fervent in spirit serve the lord rejoice in hope be patient in tribulation be constant in prayer contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality do you see how important

this book is it's given you instructions how to live your life some of you are waking up wondering god what do you have for my life it's right here in his word that's why i say write this down come back to this because you need this tomorrow bless those verse 14 bless those who persecute you and bless and do not curse them rejoice with those who rejoice weep with those who weep live in harmony with one another do not be haughty but associate with the lowly never be wise in your own sight repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all if possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all i don't care what the political preference is i don't care what their view is of something that's different than your view try wait i can't do this no you can't but by

the power of the holy spirit come on beloved verse 19 never avenge yourself but leave it to the wrath of god for it is written vengeance is mine i will repay says the lord to the contrary if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him something to drink for by doing so you'll keep burning coals on his head do not overcome evil by evil but overcome evil with good okay this is the christmas message you may not see a hobby lobby vengeance is mine says the lord do not repay evil with evil i don't care how bad your ex is i don't care what your parents did to you see the whole reason that that her people hurt people is it it's legitimate

but but when you hurt someone back it doesn't help you you're not happier you don't have more peace you don't have more life but in jesus his very name is yeshua it means lord savior when he's the lord of your life you do what he tells you to do because he saved you so your life is no longer your own therefore you do what's not even comfortable for you to do so that you can experience the life that he has for you see all of this is actually found in the very teachings of jesus when matthew records the sermon on the mount jesus is teaching and he flips upside down what's natural he says in matthew chapter 5 verse 43 you've heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy totally easy to do your neighbor brings you warm chocolate chip cookies like i've always loved you you're a good

neighbor the other neighbor throws a party and is loud and has a barking dog at all hours it's very natural to hate them but i say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven for he makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust for if you love those who love you what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same jesus teaches the principle i know it's natural to hate people that have hurt you but i'm going to teach you to be children of god because do you know that the lord sent jesus his son not because you're really good not because you were following god and i want to i want to give those people my best no you were a rebel and an enemy of

god and he still sent his son jesus so if you're a child of god and you claim to know jesus then you're going to start acting like jesus jesus says someone slaps you on the face you just duck and cover and you give him a right hook all right maybe a jab right down the middle right in the nose right no no that's not what jesus said someone slaps you you're going to react in a different way because you're not a hurt person you are a healed person you're not defined by your sin you're set free by the savior in jesus so what jesus teaches us is you're not to bear the burden of your sin but you give your sin back to him you can't handle it there's an invitation in matthew 11. if you're heavy lady and burden come to me i'm going to give you

rest so all of a sudden you let go of your sin you let it go you let it go let it go [Music] that's appropriate isn't it we could have done that movie today let it go but i don't like that movie but there's some theological truth in that let it go give it to jesus and something all of a sudden happens in your life you're set free from your past and your brokenness you're no longer defined by that but now you're defined by the one that can handle that god almighty christ came into this world not to leave you the same but to save the lost he came into this world to make dead people alive jesus came into this world to do what needs to be done which is the impossible so today if you're thinking i all i have in my life are needs of miracles or we have a miracle working

god nothing will be impossible with god he had to tell the religious nicodemus in the middle of the night for god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life he had to tell a religious man this you are never too good that you don't need jesus and you are never too bad that he won't forgive you of that sin he died for sin once and for all but not everyone will embrace this crazy love not everyone will understand this lavish love not everyone understands what we do here at journey church sometimes sometimes we look crazy we look wacky sometimes people wonder why are they doing that why do they raise your hands why they clap why they scream why they jump why they cry why why do they do those things i'll tell you why it's all about jesus i come before jesus

i just can't ordinarily come that's really hard for me i'll i'll treat others all kind and respectful but when i come to jesus i'm a hot mess because i get to be real and genuine in luke chapter 15 jesus is hanging out with people and here's what i love about jesus the people who are most unlike jesus liked jesus do you hear that the people who are most unlike jesus the drunks the prostitutes the tax collectors those who were defined by other people they were so attracted to jesus and jesus did not become like them they became like him luke 15 says this now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear jesus

and the pharisees and scribes these are the religious elite they grumbled saying this man receives sinners and eats with them a bunch of grinches grumbling look what that guy is doing and in response to that jesus tells what's now three the most famous of his stories he tells the story of a sheep that gets lost and a shepherd that's willing to leave the 99 to go find that one sheep and when he finds him you know what he does he puts him on his shoulders and he brings the sheep back to the flock he does the work the shepherd and when he brings him back he celebrates then he tells a story of a lost coin and a woman does everything she can to find that lost coin she has nine others but that one coin so valuable she brings

light to the darkness and when she finds it calls her neighbors and celebrates and jesus just to prove his points tells the most intense story of a father with two sons the one son comes to the father he's younger and he says dad i want my inheritance now which we know is not a cultural norm today in jesus day would have been like telling the father i wish you were dead give me what's mine after you were dead but i know you're alive i want to know the dad did not have to do any of this but like jesus stories he's the greatest story of all time the father gives him the inheritance and he goes off to a foreign country and squanders his wealth and he's left with nothing no money no friends and he ends up in a pigsty which is the most unclean for for for in the culture of the the jewish people and as jesus is telling the story when the sun is in the pig slop it says

in verse 17 when he came to himself that's when you know you can't do it on your own when he came to himself he said how many of my fathers hired servants have more than enough bread but i'll perish here with hunger i will arise and go to my father and i will say to him father i've sinned against heaven and before you i'm no longer worthy to be called your son treat me as one of your hired servants and this dramatic story takes a turn when jesus says in verse 20 and he arose and came to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him oh this story is incredible and this day grown men did not run but this dad was willing to do what needed to be done he pulls up his tunic he doesn't care to show his white legs

and he just he just starts running towards the sun when his son was a long way off i tell you our god will not force any of us to follow him but the moment you turn to him he's already there and this father wraps his loving arms around and he doesn't condemn him he doesn't say look what you've done he lavishly kisses him with affection he gives him a new identity says put a ring on his finger a robe around him get sandals for his feet and go get a fattened calf we're gonna have a party jesus has given us a glimpse of what god does when you come home to him there is therefore now no condemnation in christ he celebrates the fact that your home now the story tells us there's another brother and when that brother gets wind of that barbecue

and he starts hearing these things verse 25 now his older son was in the field and as he came he drew near to the house he heard music and dancing so he asked one of the servants what's happening the servant said listen your brother who was lost is is now home and you would think this would be a great time for him to celebrate but verse 28 says he was angry he refused to go in and his father came out and entreated him and he answered his father look these many years i've served you and i've never disobeyed your command yet you've never given me a young goat that i might celebrate with my friends you know the guy actually doesn't have friends he's a grinch he's grumpy but when this son of yours came who has devoured your property with

prostitutes you killed the fattened calf for him see when you're a grinch you can't celebrate you can't celebrate what god has done you can't even see the miracle and so now the father is going to speak to the son he's speaking to the religious people that think they're better than other people that judge other people when jesus tells a story he's asking us to find ourselves in the story you're like one of these brothers the father says to the son son you are always with me and all that is mine is yours now in this culture the older sibling got the larger the inheritance so he gets more than the younger brother it was fitting to me to celebrate and be glad for this brother of yours was dead and is alive he was lost and is found so we see this older brother clearly was

hurt by his younger brother and if you don't deal with your hurt it will define you because her people come on her people but loved people love people you're changed by this god that is love so when christmas comes around it'll either be another season another holiday time or it's a time for you to reflect on the reality that god has come the incarnation of god in the flesh a god that is love not to leave me the same so that i would be more like him jesus was once at the home of a pharisee he was the honored guest and a woman found out he was there and she comes to the house with perfume she falls at the feet of jesus she anoints his feet with this perfume she weeps and she wipes his feet with her hair

the pharisee starts judging jesus man he can't be from god because if he was he would know who it is touching him this is unclean this is not okay this is not good behavior and jesus tells the pharisee listen those who have been forgiven much love much and then he says therefore i tell you her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but he who has forgiven little loves little some of us we've forgotten how much we've been forgiven and then we start carrying that burden once again sometimes it's so good to celebrate what god has done see god wants to give you a gift today through the prophet ezekiel this is god's promise i will give you a new heart and a new spirit i will put within you

and i will remove the heart of stone that's too heavy for you from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh you come before god he's actually going to give you his heart i love this about our lord he doesn't say go get your life right first and then come back to me he doesn't say go be more religious and i'm gonna give you my promises nope he says you come and i'll change you all because of the transforming work of love david king david messed up miserably and when he prayed you know his prayer was created me a clean heart of god renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from your presence oh god take not your holy spirit for me i need the power of your holy spirit to do in

my heart what i couldn't do on my own let me tell you this is the work of jesus that because of jesus your heart has changed i'm happy to say that this invitation is available to all of us today wherever you are on your journey of faith someone here today you've never surrendered your heart to jesus and you're hearing me right now because god wants you to give your life to him that today your journey you would start following him from this day forward you would say i am loved by god i'm going to be changed by this love i am not defined by the hurt that was done to me i am defined by the god that made me and when you do when you surrender your heart to him you get the gift of salvation you get the gift of the holy spirit

god will never leave you this is what's great this isn't just at christmas time this is all year round and when you don't know what else to do you pray and you say but but my my circumstances aren't changing you know what prayer does it changes you so you would trust in god it's going to happen at just the right time he's the resurrection lie he can do anything so i'm going to ask you right now if you've never given your life to jesus this is your moment but it's got to be sincere from your heart i can't save you no other person around you can save you only jesus can save you i want to ask right where you are if you're able just close your eyes just turn your attention towards jesus right where you are i'm going to ask you right now to make a bold decision in your life

to be forever changed if today's your day to surrender your life to jesus this is your moment to say it's no longer mine i can't do this on my own i have to give my life to jesus if that's you and you want to start following jesus right now would you throw your hand up in the air i want to pray with you be courageous be bold praise god this moment changes everything anyone else [Music] praise god you want to say i want to give my life to you i can't do this on my own i want to be forgiven of my sins you are forgiven my friend if that's you i praise god i see that hand amen anyone else don't let this moment pass right where you are this is between you and the lord almighty and i'll tell you no one loves

you more than he does and he cannot love you more than he does right now he led you to this moment just make sure there's someone else just raise your hand nice and high so i can see you i want to celebrate with you praise god praise god amen yes if that's you look pray something like this in your heart just make it your words before god lord i trust you today forgive me of my sins i choose you because you chose me thank you for your love [Music] help me to heal help me to follow you thank you for the gift of salvation praise god lord we love you we thank you for those that just made decisions that changed eternity i thank you that in heaven you

are celebrating greater than we could even fully fathom you're a god that is love and right now i just ask in the great name of jesus that you would do what only you could do that you would renew your church that we would we would we would actually live in harmony that we would be peaceable with all that god your love would be transforming through real people today if there's someone that you need to forgive or someone you need to love that's impossible i'm going to ask that you'd be bold and just raise your hand maybe you've already given your life to jesus but you're having a hard time doing something needs to be done would you just raise your hand we're going to pray for miracles right now in this place all over the room right where you are god we need your help to do what we can't do on our own we ask that what you've been doing throughout all history you do it again that by the power of your holy spirit we pray for reconciliation and families god

we pray for help and forgiving those who have hurt us god we pray for your supernatural love that we would literally be different because of what's happened today we've encountered your word which is sharper than any two-edged sword you've gone into places in our hearts no no one else can go so help those today that that boldly said i need you lord to work in our life so we choose you jesus we want to live through you in jesus name we pray so be it and amen amen