Six Voices, One Command: Learning to Love Like Jesus

John 15:12 Jesus said this in the words of Jesus this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you our theme for 2025 is going to be taking Jesus words seriously he says I command you to love as how I have loved you he doesn't say come up with your own way of loving people he doesn't say love the way your parents loved you he doesn't say love like the world loves he says love like I have loved you the theme for 2025 this year that we are going to beat this drum until we change the world is going to be Love Like Jesus Love Like Jesus not the way I used to love not the way I loved yesterday I'm going to learn from Jesus I'm going to Love Like Jesus so would you say those three words with Me Love

Like Jesus here we go Love Like Jesus and today I'm excited to introduce this theme not by a sermon from myself but you're going to hear from six preachers and this is one of the most exciting Services we do of the year as we point forward to the agenda of our vision for 2025 six in six so here's how this works in case you're new at Journey Church it's a lot like tag team wrestling but better so here's how it works you're not going to hear from one preacher you're going to hear from six preachers but here's here's there's some rules to this just like wrestling you can't bite you can't pinch and you can't hit in that special place so here's how this works you get six minutes to preach a sermon with the theme Love Like Jesus as they preach they're going to be firing off

scripture so if you want to write them down you may not have time to look them up today but we value God's word so you're going to hear a lot of it today and I want you to know here's how it's going to work they only get six minutes so the louder you are the better they preach that's called a shout back there's a Cadence to this the way it works is if you're in agreement with God's word you shout amen that means I believe it it's true let that be so you can shout amen you can shout wow when God just stimulates uh a revelation you could just try wow ready wow come on somebody you can you can say preach it uh you can say whatever you want to say as long as it's in accordance to the rhythm of helping them preach better and you being transformed in Your Heart by Jesus so I need you to shout back today to make this even better now I always know there's the introvert in the room

any introverts in the room come on somebody I see those hands let's go they're like I'm not a shouting back preacher all right you can't make me do this I'm no Pentecostal all right I'm a Baptist you can't do that to me I'm an introvert I'm not going to shout here's how it works if that's you you do need to still participate this is 100% participation you just simply put up your hand like this and go like this all right that means amen all right this means preach it all right if you really believe it you stand up and you start clapping you don't need to shout but you got to still participate all right introvert put your hand in the air when they say something good all right right so whenever you see my hand raised in church I'm not asking a question I'm just in agreement all right that's what I'm doing is I'm just bringing it into an agreement so today this will be better if you participate this is going to be a great day please hear the theme

of this year please help these preachers out I'm excited for you to get to know them greater more importantly and I'm excited for you to get to know God's word with that said I want to introduce to you our first preacher her name is Hannah Stevenson she is our communication [Music] [Applause] director and I just want to speak over Hannah you are the best of the best the very very best here we go thank you so much like Pastor Keith said my name's Hannah I'm our communications director here which means I get to oversee some really really fun teams and um for the next six minutes I get to tell you about the love of Jesus and How to Love Like Jesus so I'm going to actually start out with a poll so I need your guys' participation in this I have a few questions for you

uh raise your hand if you grew up going to church wow that's a lot of people okay uh raise your hand if you grew up singing the song Jesus Loves Me This I know okay keep your hands up if you genuinely believe the words that you sing okay hands down is a little vulnerable raise your hand if you really truly want to believe the words but you just aren't sure that you do that's honest like you know the love of God but you don't know the love of God and this is important because these next five preachers are going to come up

here and they're going to tell you how to Love Like Jesus but there is absolutely no way you can love like Jesus until you have experienced the love of Jesus [Applause] first John 4:19 says we love because he first loved us and as I wrestled over what to say today because there are so many stories about God's love for us God's love for you in this book and as I wrestled over what I was going to say today I came to the realization that I'm not sure that I always believe the love that God has for me and I sure don't live like I always always believe the love that God has for me and I sure don't always love like Jesus loves but I want to know the love God has for me I want to love like he

loves I want you to know the love God has for you and 1 John 4:16 says so we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him God is is love we can know the love of God we can know the love of God God is love which means whatever our definition of love was before if it is not rooted in Jesus Christ himself it's wrong that means we don't get to make up our definition of love but we look to him because he is love and not only is he love he loves you not in the cliche churchy way of oh God loves you no God loves you he loves

you he loves you he loves you and I don't know how else to say it so I'm just going to read what his word has to say about his love for you uh Romans 5'8 says but God shows us his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us 1 John 4:10 says in this love not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins Ephesians 2: 4-5 says but God being rich in Mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved that is the Lord's love for you

that's his love for you and it doesn't even stop there God came to Earth and walked Earth as a man and Jesus encountered people and every single person he encountered was personal indiv individualized specific he sought them out and he pursued them uniquely because he loves you personally and one of my favorite stories about how God loves us personally is the story of Nathaniel and it's short but it's in John and we're going to read it really quick uh John 1: 45-50 starting with verse 45 Philip found Nathaniel and said to him we have found him who Moses in the law and also the prop prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph and Nathaniel said to him can anything good come out

of Nazareth and Philip said come and see Jesus saw Nathaniel Nathaniel coming toward him and he said behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit Jesus knew Nathaniel and Nathaniel said to him how do you know me and Jesus answered him before Philip called you when you were under the Fig Tree I saw you am and Nathaniel answered him Rabbi you are the Son of God you are the king of Israel and Jesus answered him because I have said I saw you under the Fig Tree do you believe you will see greater things than this before Philip ever told Nathaniel who God was he saw him he saw him under

the Fig Tree he saw him in his situation there has never been a moment that Jesus hasn't seen and Journey Church I am here to tell you today that God sees you he sees you in that situation he sees you in that heartache he sees you in that relationship he sees you in that Brokenness he sees that un unanswered prayer there has never been a moment he has not seen you or pursued you or sought you out he loves you he loves you he loves you there's never been a moment he has not loved you and when we understand when we lean in when we walk in the power of knowing that God loves us when we understand that we are loved by God Almighty then and only then can we love like Jesus

oh come on wow wow wow wow I told you this was going to be good we could just stop right there but we still have five more wow you guys are doing a great job I want to just continue in that same theme so that we would receive from God what he has for us I'm real excited to introduce this next preacher believe it or not he was actually in my youth group when I was a youth pastor now he's a youth pastor I'm believing God's best over you Ryan you are so really really really really really loved by God come on would you please welcome Ryan Palmer [Applause]

everyone so here we are talking about our theme for 2025 to Love Like Jesus but this is a love that transforms it redeems and it calls us into deeper relationship with him I'm going to be talking about the story of a Samaritan woman who was at a well that we find in John chapter 4 but before we jump into that as I Was preparing for this sermon a phrase kept coming into my mind that I had heard growing up and it was we accept the love we believe we deserve I think too many people today have believed this lie too many people have sacrificed part of themselves for something less than what God desires for them on the reality is this morning every single person in this room has

fallen short of God's perfect love and it's because of our sin it's because of our Disobedience it's it's because of the things we've done that have fallen short and and we don't deserve his perfect love but here's the beauty here's the beauty of God's love his love is so much more than we could ever understand it's so much more than we could ever put into words that it goes beyond Fair his love goes beyond deserving his love reaches out to us in our sin in our Brokenness and invites us through Jesus to receive it woo you see Jesus demonstrated this when

passing through Samaria when he stopped at a well to get some water and it was at this well in the middle of the day with a heat of the sun shining down that he asked a Samaritan woman who was there to give him a drink of water and this is how she responded John 4:9 the Samaritan woman says how is it that you a Jew ask for a drink from me a woman of Samaria for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans now church I would love love love to go into the history of why these two uh people groups hate each other because I love history but I in six minutes I do not have time to go into the history of why these two groups hate each other but just let me tell you they did and so what she points out is a true

fact and she calls it out but that doesn't stop Jesus because Jesus love is willing to break through cultural racial and social barriers to meet people right where they are at you see Jesus doesn't just look through the same lens that we do when we look at people instead he looks at her through the lens of Love You See Jesus he knows her well you see the Bible says that we were knitted together in the womb and it's Jesus the Creator who knits us so friends he knew this daughter of his and so when he looks at her he doesn't just look at her as a Samaritan woman no he looks at her through the lens of love he understands that when we are in relationship with

him we are no longer divided you see when Jesus calls us to him there's no more barriers there's no more division Galatians 3:28 says there is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free there is neither male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus church this world is full of barriers so many barriers that attempt to separate God's love from us but the love of Jesus cannot be stopped his love is so great that any person in this world who is willing to pursue it can receive it the story continues in verses 16 to 18 Jesus reveals her past and so Jesus sitting here with this stranger calls

her out and he says go call your husband to come here and the woman answered him I have no husband Jesus said to her you're right in saying I have no husband because you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband how many times have we made a mistake that led to another mistake that led to another mistake that led to another mistake until we believed this is what we deserve we have failed to the point where we think this is just our reality this is what God must want for me but that's wrong Jesus calls out what she already knows he calls out what is shameful to her but not to shame her Jesus knows her pain and her Brokenness and he offers her a path of restoration

and hope that's built on something greater than anything we can find in this world he offers his love and it's a love that becomes the foundation of Our Hope in him to repent from sins and to commit our very life to following him when you do this though when you commit to following Jesus you are not alone you are given and you are empowered by the Holy Spirit Romans 8:26 says this likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness sometimes we think we're not strong enough but God is there to lead us when we love through the spirit we become instruments of his grace and healing when we have the love of Jesus we get to go now love like Jesus I want to say it again in case you missed it when we have the love of Jesus we now get to go love like

Jesus after encountering Jesus the woman testified come see the man who told me everything that I ever did can this be the Christ you see her testimony was fueled by her Encounter With Jesus and it changed everything for her so Church let's be changed by the love of Jesus and let's go change our world wow let's go let's go let's go there's so much that we can receive from that today this woman that was at the well she was known so well by Jesus come on I received that today that he knows us so well uh every single one of us and I pray today that you would understand that his love is even greater

for our next preacher today I'm super excited that you would hear from from her uh she is our director of guest experience and her name is Lorina and Lina I just want to speak over you today that God's love is higher deeper and wider than you even know and The Best Is Yet To Come and experiencing God's love would you all please give Lorina a huge welcome [Music] [Applause] love you girl I love you throughout first Peter 4 we see we are called to love one another earnestly show Hospitality without grumbling serve one another as good stewards so that in everything God may be glorified and yet

Journey Church I stand up here and I fully admit to you that sometimes that is easier said than done this truth Hit me hard this Thanksgiving you see my mother-in-law who I absolutely adore she's the most hospitable person you'll ever meet she loves everyone to the point that within 30 seconds of Jan meeting you she's going to adopt you into the family and invite you over for the holidays no joke so this year as we started making plans with Jan she let us know that a few extra guests would be coming people that had no one in town for the holidays but people that I did not know and selfishly I admit I did not react well to this at first I started panicking realizing I had no clue what the night was going to be like I had no clue what the people were going to be

like and honestly for a minute I sat there and thought should I just cancel Thanksgiving all together and I sat there and I had to wrestle through this with the Lord and I sat and I talked with my husband and I came to the realization that I was allowing fear and Judgment of others to overshadow love the very thing that Jesus Christ calls us to embrace we of course went over for Thanksgiving best time ever it was incredible conversation a night full of laughter and incredible people and in that moment God he reminded me that we need to love and welcome everyone just like Jesus did even when it's hard we see this throughout Jesus's Ministry in Luke 5 we see Jesus broke cultural and

religious Norms in order to reach the lost the lonely the sick the Brokenhearted the outcast and yes even the Sinners we're going to go today to Luke 5:27 through 32 where we get to see Jesus doing this after this he being Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth and he said to him follow me leaving everything behind he rose and followed him Levi made him a great feast in his house and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them and the Pharisees and their scribes they grumbled at his disciples saying why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners Jesus answered them those who are well have no need of a physician

but those who are sick I have not come to call the righteous but Sinners to repentance this says that Levi Levi who was a tax collector and despised by Society Jesus chose him and Jesus said follow me Levi left everything behind to follow Jesus he could have allowed his history to Define him and stop him in that moment and it makes me wonder where were his questions his excuses and his doubts as to why he could not follow Jesus how many of us remember the first time we were invited to church or into relationship with God for so long I said no no to church no to community and no to God's love I had

convinc myself that it was easier to sit in my shame isolation and pain than it was to face others or even face my loving Heavenly Father growing up I experienced abuse poverty and extreme dysfunction and I tried to cover those wounds and those memories by diving deep into addiction and distractions but how many of us know that God's plans are far greater than our own in the midst of my mess God met me where I was at and he showed me true love and he showed me Grace sadly we see here the Pharisees they grumbled at who Jesus dined with let me remind you John 3:16 Says that God so loved the world that he gave his

only son Jesus did not come for a few Jesus came and gave his life for all Journey Church may we not be like these Pharisees may we be able to look around this church and see all people you know everything changed for Levi when he encountered the love of Jesus that love met Levi where he was at it brought him to repentance and that love set him free you see the Lord's love the Lord's love will never leave you the same because our God he is the great physician and it's his love that binds up our wounds and it's his love that restores hope today I want to speak to those that are new here at journey I want you to know that God loves you

deeply you are welcome here you belong here and the greatest decision you will ever make is to follow Jesus and to those that call Journey Church your home as we expand these walls in 2025 and beond want man let's ask ourselves who are we going to invite in and who are we going to walk alongside may we do as Jesus did do not just invite your friends your relatives your brothers and your neighbors but when you invite invite the poor the crippled the lame and the blind journey I want to end today by reminding you the table is set the feast is prepared and thanks to the love of Jesus Christ there's room for everyone come

on we could say There's Hope for everyone and we're going to continue to see that more I'm so grateful for that reminder that that Jesus didn't come for those who look like they have their lives together he came for the least of these those who were overlooked in fact he came for the worst of the worst of the worst and he loved them so well that they were changed by him that's our mission here to lead people on a journey of transformation in Jesus how many of you need the love of Jesus let's go I'm so grateful that we're in this together I'm really excited for our next preacher Noah he continues to grow in Grace and we're so grateful to have him here at Journey Church uh Pastor Noah is our Outreach Pastor which means he helps oversee our Global our national and our local Outreach and Noah I just want to speak into your life just like Noah in the Bible he preserved generations to

come God gave him a reminder of his love through the rainbow and my prayer for you is God would remind you of the Covenant love that he's made for you so would you all please welcome Pastor Noah as he preaches everybody wow hey Journey can you do something for me can you say wow w wow wow Jesus TR love is truly amazing and it's truly amazing to see the degree of his love and Jesus says guess what a servant is no greater than his master and we have an amazing gracious master and his name is Jesus and when we follow Jesus we are called to love like him but in order to love like him we must become like him and look like him in order to love like him we must be continually

transformed into his image and through prayer what I found is is there's three steps to love him like Jesus and that first step is step one is to love love him first and step two to love who he loved and step three love to do what he did so let's start with our first one love him first our greatest call is to actually love Jesus first we cannot begin the Love Like Jesus if we first do not love him we must stay in deep intimacy and Community with him we see this throughout the scriptures where he says apart from me you can do nothing so we see that man looks at the outward appearance in our lives but God is actually looking at the heart and it's out of a heart posture of love for Jesus

that we love like Jesus John 14:21 says Whoever has my Commandments and keeps them he it is who loves me and he who loves me Will Be Loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him when we love him he will manifest his presence to us when we love him he himself comes to us and dwells within us through the Holy Spirit and as by our love for him that allows us to love others with his manifest presence is out of love for Jesus that allows us to love with his power not ours so we must learn to love Jesus first because it is out of love for him that we can love others around us we can see and understand this concept when

Jesus uh gives Peter this charge in his calling in Ministry Jesus uh charges Peter three times about his love John um 21:17 says he said to him the third time Simon son of John do you love me and Peter was grieved because he said the third time do you love me and he said to him Lord you know everything and you know that I love you then Jesus said to him feed my sheep and if you love Jesus you will feed his sheep if you love Jesus you will follow him if you love Jesus you will walk with him and in his presence and in the power of the holy spirit so when you love him first your heart begins to change and then you start to love who he loved which is step

two Jesus loved people and that's ultimately why he came down on Earth and died for our sins and as Believers in Jesus Christ we are a reflection of him so that's why we must love who he loved and we're commanded to love one another John 13:34-35 says a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you you are also to love one another by this all people will know that you're my disciples if you have love for one another this command for Ling loving one another is not just for people that you like but is actually also for your enemies Jesus loved his enemies and we will do the same Luke 632 through 36 says if you love those who

love you what benefit is that to you even the Sinners love those who love them and if you do good to those who do good to you what benefit is that to you for even Sinners do the same and if you lend to Those whom you expect to receive what credit is that to you even Sinners lend the Sinners and get back the same amount but love your enemies do good and lend expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great and you'll be sons of the most high for he is kind to The Ungrateful and the evil be merciful as your father is merciful so when we love who he loved we will share his heart for people and when we share his heart for people then we'll love to do what he did which is step three Jesus he was humble and he was a

servant he was humble he humbled himself in front of others and he served them and when he did he also showed Mercy he showed humility and service when he washed his disciples feet John 13:12 through 15 says when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place he said to them do you understand what I've done to you you call me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am if then teacher and Lord have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet for I've given you an example that you should also do as I have done to you Jesus went down to the lowest dirtiest places of our lives so likewise we're going to do that in the lives of those around us and when we do life with each other there will be sin It's Not absent

and When sin arises we will show Mercy Jesus shows this when there's a woman caught in adultery John 810 through1 says Jesus stood up and said to Heroman where are they has no one condemned you she said no one Lord he says neither do I condemn you go and sin no more Journey Church this is loving like Jesus learn to love him first then love who he loved and love to do what he did in sin remember Mercy [Music] Hallelujah listen that preacher is preaching in the prisons in Oregon and we're going to see every prison transform Med and you're

starting to see why we're so grateful believing God's best you're going to hear more of that Vision later this month you don't want to miss the Sunday in January as we get to see what God's going to do in 2025 well I'm excited to introduce our next preacher Chelsea you know she's our kids pastor and Jesus was really clear that you have to have childlike Faith to enter the kingdom of heaven and with that childlike Faith there there's a love for the father like a child has for a parent and I just pray that you continue to grow in that love for your heavenly father as much as he loves you because Chelsea you're so loved by God would you please welcome Pastor Chelsea everyone love is living and active love bears with one another in the most

intimate and intentional ways love does not give up love does not move on nor does love deny others love is sacrificial it's uncomfortable and it's often not met with ease love when fully embraced will not leave you stagnant it will not leave you disengaged love burs life into you and love is where you belong are most seen and where you are called into action love is selfless it's so focused on Truth yet it's also wrapped and full of grace in the presence of Love walls crumble Bridges

build boundaries soften and Reconciliation is given a chance this love that I'm describing to you is the most generous and it's the love of Jesus this love is not like we see in this world this love is not what our flesh has been conditioned to believe and this love is not like the enemy that twists and manipulates no no this love is the true existence of love it has been lavished Upon Us by the one who have died for you the one who has saved you and the one who loves you so deeply that he has given us freedom to be Hees in his Everlasting

Kingdom this love is also in our presence now this love is never forsaking us confusing us nor leaving us astray and this love is empowered to give us as children of God a life worth living worth significance completely rooted in God and empowered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the truth is we will never fully comprehend Embrace or receive this love on this side of Heaven the truth is also that the Holy Spirit he gives us glimpses of this love when we abide abide in him when our hearts and our minds are conformed to

him when we're fixed on him in Christ we will pursue this love we will be humble in the ways of ourselves and we will be so compassionate in the ways of Jesus Jesus esteemed the broken he esteemed the hurting The Forsaken and the Forgotten he invested in those who came to him yet he also crossed every cultural and religious Norm to go to people in their Brokenness in their sin and in their pain he entered their stories and he looked over their differences and the challenges to meet with them and when I think about the love of Jesus I'm so reminded of Paul Paul would called himself an imitator of

Jesus Paul dedicated his life boldly to sharing Jesus love unintentionally Paul's Ministry had incredible significance in the midst of an unbelieving violent and immoral culture in First Corinthians Paul says this and I'm going to read from the message translation even though I am free of the demands and the expectations of everyone I have voluntarily become a servant to any and to all in order to reach a wide range of people the religious the non-religious the moralist the immoralist the defeated the demoralized whomever I didn't take on their way of life I kept my bearings in Christ but I entered into their world to experience for them to experience things

from their point of view I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts so that I will show them a God saved life I did this all because of the message which is the Gospel of Jesus I didn't just wanted to talk about it I I wanted to be in on it and this is action in the name of Jesus Paul became all things to all people so that he could effectively love and share the Gospel of Jesus with an unbelieving immoral and violent culture he did not consider himself better than anyone and he like Jesus went great distances so that those far from the presence of God could experience the love of God and he didn't compromise truth to do it no he

believed in the power of love so much that he Faithfully lived it out despite what people said about him despite rejection despite the violent that was consistently met upon him the love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was the most valuable mission that Paul was on and he counted himself fortunate to suffer so that the Jews and the Gentiles the Sinners and the Saints would know would know the love of Jesus in Christ we can Overlook our differences we can know that our identity is as children of God to be a light in the darkness and to let true love rule in our hearts we're here to love others into the kingdom as his ambassadors commanded to expose Jesus to

both Believers and non-believers Paul said it best when he said my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for the finishing work assigned by Me by the Lord Jesus the work of telling others the good news about the wonderful grace of God stay at the center of the heart of the Lord abide in [Applause] him we had to have one get the buzzer today well we are getting close to wrapping this up and as we do I pray that those seeds are going deep into the soil of your heart you are love D and you are loved so that you would go love others and as we reach the world together I'm excited to introduce this last preacher as I introduced this last preacher I need you to know he's got a

special place in my heart because he's my future son-in-law [Music] everybody his name is Landon Stringham and he's our ministry intern here at Journey Church and he's not just a Ministry intern God has great plans and a calling upon your life Landon and if I could just say I love you so very much and there's nobody though that loves more than the love of God and so we are grateful and honored would yall please give Landon a huge [Applause] welcome end of the line I hope you aren't getting sleepy God is good amen am right okay well we've been talking a lot about jesus' love and I have a question for all of you are you underestimating Jesus and I got to say that for the majority of my life I certainly did I I

got three main things things to go through things I want to understand about God's love with you all and if you could say them with me I'd really appreciate it his love is undeserved say undeserved undeserved his love is devoted devoted and his love is unchanging unchanging so true first to understand is that his love is undeserved there is nothing we could ever do to deserve God's love religions would like to tell you that if you do enough good then you are good enough but the Bible actually says the exact opposite Isaiah 646 says all of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags we all shrivel up like a leaf and like the wind our sins sweep us away raise your hand if you've sinned okay anybody who didn't raise your hand you just lied and now you can

put your hand up our sin makes us Unworthy of God's love but that does not stop him from loving us our sin might make us unworthy but that does not stop him in fact Paul wrote that nothing can separate us from God's love Romans 8:38-39 says for I am convinced that neither death nor life neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth and might I add neither cancer or any sickness neither anxiety or depression neither single motherhood or single fatherhood neither anything else in all creation will ever be able to separate you from the love of Jesus Christ and Lord ever to understand Jesus's Devotion to us God

explained it as how a groom loves his bride Isaiah 625 says as a Young Man marries a young woman so will your Builder that's God marry you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride so will your God Rejoice over you as his people as his church we are all the bride of Christ I'm sorry to tell you the men in here you're the bride okay when I proposed to my then girlfriend I had that moment where I had to hum myself had to get low and look up to her and in that moment I looked up at her sweet little face and my entire little speech just flew out the window I it was gone I I could only look up at her with such joy and excitement and relief that it was finally happening I couldn't do anything but laugh as she as she was crying I was laughing I wasn't laughing at her anyway it made me realize though that if

I love McKenna this much if I am this devoted to her how much more is God devoted to me how much more does God love me it's written how much more does he love me God chose to do something similar he chose to Humble himself come down to the world in the lowest of the low the most humble place he could be and look up at his Creation with love and say just as he promised in Isaiah 41:10 do not fear for I'm with you do not be dismayed for I am your God I will make you strong I will help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand he's promised it he's devoted to you as his bride but then even when we have this perfect guide in our lives how often do we still look to the world to satisfy us when we're scraping and scringy peace patience when God's standing there this

whole time just saying come back to me I've got it all I've been standing here waiting for you I'm devoted as your groom the final thing I want to emphasize about Jesus's love is how unchanging it is I want to read to you what was written 700 years before Jesus was born I prophesies in chapter 53: 3 to5 he says he was despised and rejected by mankind a man of suffering and familiar with pain how many of us are familiar with pain and suffering right the way Jesus loves he's not looking down at you he's looking at you he's looking through you he's able to look at you in your pain and suffering and say I understand I've been right where you're at I feel your pain I've suffered more than anybody else has he continues like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised and we held him in low

esteem how many times have we driven right past the homeless person how many times have we ignored the Hopeless and broken that's how Jesus was treated in his life on Earth he Comforts The Broken People surely he took up our pain he says and bore our suffering yet we considered him stricken by God stricken by him and Afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed 700 years before Jesus was born 700 years I could do a whole sermon on just the chances of him fulfilling all these prophecies that was one of well over 300 Old Testament prophecies he fulfilled I telling you Jesus is a man of his word and he's promised you something Revelation CH 22 last book of the Bible last chapter of the Bible Jesus says

look I am coming soon my reward is with me and I will give to each person according to what they've done verse 17 the spirit and the bride remember that's us we're the bride say come Lord Jesus and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes he's saying anybody that wants it can take the free gift of the Water of Life he is coming back Jesus is telling you that his love is freely given he knows where you've been he sees where you going and he's loved you the entire way when you were ridden with shame and guilt when you were overwhelmed with anger and fear he was waiting for you to come to him he is the Water of Life and some of us aren't acting thirsty enough get to know him okay read what he's promised you he's promised you in his word read it learn from his example

and do not ever underestimate Jesus's love for you wow wow wow wow come on can we give up for all the preachers today hey so good so good wow praise be to God praise God well you can take a seat for just one moment we're almost finished with our time here and I I just want to get real serious for just a moment and I I realize you might be restless you might need to go to the bathroom but I want to just ask you for just a moment if you just focus with me in the seriousness of this moment because I can't assume today just because you came to church on this first Sunday for us in this new year that you've received that love of Jesus

you can know about the love of Jesus and not have been transformed by the love of Jesus going to church doesn't save you trying to be a good person will not save you Jesus saves you because he's such a good lover he's such a good friend he's a good God what a great example of a god getting down so low as to get to that level to show us the love of God I pray today that you will receive that love if you're here and you've never done that this question I'm about to ask you can change your life for eternity eternity is real you're made with a soul that will last for eternity and you will either spend forever with God a god of love or forever separated from

God my friend God wants to give you the free gift of eternal life and my question to you is have you received that free gift of eternal life found in Jesus Christ if you have any uncertainty of your past or because of the things you've done and you want to receive God's Grace today which is his forgiveness which is his love it's a new identity the Bible says you you now born again you become a new person not a better person a new person and you're changed forever if you want to make that decision today is yours I want to just ask in the seriousness of this moment will you just close your eyes just cross the room this is between you and God right now if you want to receive salvation you want to receive forgiveness you want to rece receive the hope of Heaven this is found in the person Jesus and the Bible says that he

gives you the helper that is the spirit of Jesus the Holy Spirit you get God himself not just now but forever more if you want to receive that today would you just raise your hand nice and high we've got a a booklet we want to give you keep your hand up nice and high all over the room today God brought you here to receive his love keep your hand up until you receive a booklet praise be to God all over I want to just speak to you who have your hand up keep your hand up right now you're simply saying like a child I received the love of my father not like an Earthly father he's your heavenly father you're receiving the love of a savior that doesn't save you from some sins you're forgiven of all your sins you're receiving the healing of a great physician he can't heal you from some things he can heal you from everything today you are receiving God

himself into your life there were dozens of you that just raised your hand hands and I want you to know that no one is more proud of you than your heavenly father Jesus says if one sinner repents there is great joy in heaven God has Joy over you today receive it today he has love for you today receive it today he's got the gift of Grace today the enemy is a liar and wants to try to convince you that you're not loved but you are so I want you to pray with me right now and from this day forward I want you to have a dependence on God get into the Bible and pray at all times on All Occasions about everything prayer is talking with God prayer is listening to God listen you can pray anywhere at any time from this day forward you need to be the person that prays the most I want to pray just

a really simple prayer but this prayer is going to point us to the person that gives you salvation now to those who have received the gift of grace and the gift of Salvation and the hope of Heaven Can we pray it with those doing it for the first time just with confidence today believing believing God's best over our lives pray this out loud Lord Jesus I believe in you forgive me of my sins help me to follow you I receive your love I receive the Holy Spirit from this day forward I am no longer the same I am a child of God I am loved by God I have the hope of Heaven thank you Jesus in

your name I pray amen and amen let's celebrate the love of God today praise God praise be to God well friends as we prepare to leave here I want to give you another invitation for all the announcements I Shar with you that you'd get in the Bible that you'd pray and fast you'd join me at Pursuit night this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. if you need prayer today there's going to be a prayer team at the front of the altar you can come forward and receive that until then God bless you we'll see you on Thursday or see you next Sunday bring somebody with you Happy New Year