3ABN On the Road

An Endless Falling In Love

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ty Gibson

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000420


01:01 I wanna share with you
01:02 something very important today.
01:04 Something, that's very near and dear to my heart.
01:07 And it's so important in fact
01:10 that I would like to ask you
01:12 to have an added word of prayer with me.
01:14 I know, we've had prayer,
01:16 but we can't approach God's throne too much
01:22 to seek the guidance of His Holy Spirit
01:24 as we open this precious book.
01:26 So would you just right where you are,
01:27 just bow your heads with me as we talk to God.
01:31 Gracious Father in heaven,
01:35 we know, that You're there
01:36 and that You hear our voice right now.
01:40 As we collectively as a group
01:41 speak to You through this prayer.
01:46 Father, we know that You want to talk to us,
01:49 that You want to communicate with us.
01:52 And it is our great desire Lord,
01:54 that we would be sensitive to your voice
01:57 that we would hear what You have to say.
02:00 So please, right now,
02:02 we ask that Your Holy Spirit would come very near
02:06 to each one of us and that we would be opened up deep inside
02:10 our intellects and our emotions Lord
02:12 crying out for you reaching out
02:16 from deep inside of us
02:18 to apprehend something more
02:20 of Your glory and Your love.
02:22 Lord we desire this with all our hearts
02:24 and we know that You will fulfill our desire,
02:27 because we come to You and we pray,
02:30 in the beautiful name of Jesus, amen.
02:35 I want to begin this afternoon by telling you,
02:38 about a lady that I met
02:41 in the beautiful country of Latvia on the Baltic Sea.
02:45 Her name is Agita.
02:48 And Agita was attending a series of meetings
02:52 in a theatre that we rented,
02:55 and I was the featured speaker for.
02:58 And of all the people in this particular gathering
03:01 and there were upwards towards a thousand of them.
03:05 With all those faces out there it was a Agita
03:07 that I noticed about three rows back to my right
03:11 I noticed her.
03:13 And over and over again in the meeting
03:16 her facial expressions were so in tune
03:20 with what was being said, that I thought
03:23 I'd like to meet that lady
03:24 and find out what's going on in her mind.
03:26 But then her facial expressions begin to change.
03:30 I noticed her again and now she began to look frustrated.
03:34 She began to look angry even.
03:38 And so I focused on what I was saying my message
03:41 and turned my attention away from her
03:43 so as not to get distracted.
03:45 And as soon as the meeting was over
03:47 and I stepped down from the stage Agita,
03:50 approached to me and she was dead serious about something.
03:55 Through her broken English she came right up to me
03:59 and looked into my eyes
04:00 and she said these words to me.
04:02 She said, why would anybody want to live forever.
04:05 I am trying to work up the courage to end my life.
04:08 Now, eternal life was not the specific topic
04:12 of my address that evening.
04:16 But somewhere in that message
04:18 I must have used the words eternal life,
04:20 or I must have spoken in passing about living forever.
04:26 Though, it wasn't my topic, she latched on to those words.
04:30 Now you have to understand that Latvia is a country
04:35 that is largely made up of people
04:37 who do not believe even in the existence of God.
04:40 It is largely an atheist country.
04:45 Now, it wasn't always atheist,
04:48 but you see Latvia during my visit
04:50 was living in the dark aftermath
04:54 of a very recent tragic history,
04:57 because the Russians had come in
05:00 and tried to impose communism
05:03 on the people of this lovely country.
05:06 Before that time they were a people rich in faith.
05:10 And most of the people believed in God,
05:12 but now, now they had witnessed with their eyes
05:16 so much tragedy, so much pain, so much heartaches,
05:20 so much bloodshed by the hand of their dominators
05:27 that most of the people had reasoned God out of existence
05:30 and they said there couldn't possibly
05:32 be a God anywhere in this universe.
05:36 Because if there is a God certainly He would not allow
05:39 such horrible things to happen to us and to our children.
05:45 And you can understand
05:46 their frustration and their pain.
05:49 You will find if you look at history
05:51 that atheism in our world is for the most part a phenomenon
05:58 that has come into existence out of pain.
06:02 And in other words many people choose not to believe in God,
06:06 because life hurts too bad.
06:09 And they can't fit the equation
06:12 together in their mind.
06:13 God is love, and God is good, and God is powerful,
06:16 but look what's happening to me.
06:19 Look at the pain, look at the suffering in this world
06:23 and so it's much easier
06:25 psychologically and emotionally
06:27 it's much easier for some people to just say
06:30 there must not be a God. I don't believe in God.
06:33 And you see Agita was one of those.
06:37 She was trying to reason God out of existence in her mind.
06:42 To rationalize that there couldn't possibly
06:44 be a God in heaven, because of what she had gone through.
06:48 And when I had spoken those very, very charged words
06:51 eternal life or living forever
06:54 or whatever it was that I said
06:56 that arouse her frustration and anger.
06:59 When I spoke those words she bolted from her seat
07:02 as soon as the meeting was over,
07:05 came straight up to me and she said,
07:08 why would anybody want to live forever?
07:10 I am trying to work up the courage to take my life
07:14 and I begin to feel her pain.
07:17 I said, please to meet you, I didn't even get your name
07:20 and she told me her name, Agita.
07:23 And there we met for the first time
07:25 and she began not willingly at first,
07:28 but she began to unfold the story
07:30 of her very tragic life to me.
07:34 Agita began by telling me
07:36 how that when she was a teenaged girl
07:39 so happy in the life that she had
07:43 that the Russian soldiers, they could hear them marching
07:47 in the distance came into her very neighborhood.
07:50 They are in Madona, Latvia
07:53 where I was holding these meetings.
07:55 And as the Russian soldiers
07:57 marched through her neighborhood,
08:00 some of them came right up to her house
08:05 and as they came in she said first thing that they did
08:08 was they put a bullet through my father's head
08:10 right in front of our eyes.
08:12 The next thing they did
08:13 was they proceeded to rape my mother and myself
08:17 in front of my fiancé and my brothers.
08:22 Then they killed my fiancé and my brothers
08:27 and commanded my mother and I
08:29 to take all of our personal belongings
08:33 that had any kind of sentimental value
08:35 like the marriage license
08:37 of the father and mother of that home.
08:40 Like any family photos, all financial records,
08:45 birth certificates everything that had any sentimental value
08:49 the soldier said gather up put it on the front lawn
08:53 and they doused it with fuel and torched it
08:56 and then commanded mother and daughter
08:58 never to speak their mother tongue of Latvian
09:01 again on penalty of death.
09:06 You are Russian now they told them.
09:09 Your family has gone make due
09:13 and they put them out of their house
09:16 and one of the soldiers
09:18 laid claim to that house as his own.
09:21 An incredible amount of pain
09:24 was surging through this lady's heart.
09:27 And as she spoke to me and told me the story
09:30 I begin to understand what she meant when she said,
09:33 why would anybody want to live forever?
09:37 I am trying to work up the courage to take my life,
09:40 to end my existence.
09:43 You see Agita was imagining
09:46 that eternal life would just be more of the same.
09:50 More pain and heartache,
09:53 more of the terrible atrocities
09:56 that had afflicted her life and she couldn't imagine
10:00 even living for fifty, sixty, seventy
10:02 and eighty years in this life
10:03 and finding any thing to live for.
10:07 So when I spoke those words, she thought
10:09 why would anybody that is a ridiculous idea
10:12 she said to me, why would anybody want to live forever?
10:15 I don't wanna live forever I'd like to end it right now.
10:18 Life is so hard, the memories are so vivid,
10:21 the pain is so intense.
10:23 Why would I want to live forever?
10:27 And with that she proceeded to turn on her heals
10:29 and to walk away from me and head for the door
10:33 having stated her case.
10:36 I didn't know what to do, but I had seen in her eyes
10:40 a pain that I thought might be healed.
10:46 And so I said to her as she was walking out the door
10:49 shouting to the back of her head.
10:51 I said, Agita please don't go.
10:53 Give me a chance to explain something to you.
10:58 She turned around and glanced at me
10:59 with her eyes filled with anger
11:01 and she said explain something to me,
11:04 you can't explain anything to me.
11:07 Nothing could explain or justify
11:10 or in anyway make sense out of what I've been through.
11:14 And I said, I agree and I resonate with your pain,
11:19 but please, please could I have
11:20 a few moments of your time.
11:24 She came back reluctant,
11:28 but I could see that if there wasn't answer she wanted it.
11:32 Have you ever met people like that?
11:33 May be you've been a person like that.
11:36 Where on the surface you're running from God,
11:41 but deep in your heart you wish,
11:42 He would take hold of you and give an explanation.
11:46 Have you ever felt like that?
11:48 Well, if you were here yesterday
11:50 to hear my personal story, I can tell you that
11:53 I definitely have felt like that throughout my life.
11:56 Longing for God to explain
11:58 and feeling a deep inner impulse to run from God
12:02 well at the same time wishing that He would find me.
12:05 And Agita was like that.
12:07 Agita somehow wanted an answer and yet couldn't believe
12:11 that there could be an answer.
12:14 But she reluctantly came back and she stood before me
12:17 and she said what could you possibly say
12:19 that would make a difference?
12:20 I said, well, I don't know
12:22 if what I will say would make a difference.
12:24 But please let me try and just as I was speaking to her
12:27 in all honesty I didn't know what I was gonna say.
12:30 I thought this is such a horrible,
12:33 horrible situation.
12:35 What a problem to solve.
12:36 This woman wants nothing to do with God.
12:39 She wants nothing to do with eternal life,
12:41 because she thinks it will just be more of the same,
12:44 endless days of heartache and pain.
12:48 So I said Agita listen, you gonna have to do something
12:51 that may be a little bit awkward at first.
12:54 Would you just cooperate for a minute,
12:56 you don't even know me and I am gonna ask you
12:58 to do something that certainly will seem a little strange,
13:01 but would you please cooperate for a moment.
13:04 Agita would you close your eyes?
13:07 She said, close my eyes.
13:09 Well, we were in a public place
13:11 and there were people swarming all around us in the theatre.
13:17 She looked around a little nervous
13:19 and then she cooperated.
13:21 She said, okay, I will close my eyes.
13:24 She closed her eyes and then what I said to her was this.
13:28 I said, Agita right now as your eyes are close,
13:30 I'd like you to do something, would you please right now
13:33 in this moment would you please
13:34 call to the forefront of your memory?
13:39 Would you please imagine and picture the best things
13:45 that have ever happened to you in this life?
13:47 Would you imagine, would you remember just for a moment
13:51 the people and the events that made you laugh
13:56 with joy, and cry with a sense of acceptance and love,
14:02 would just remember those people for a moment?
14:05 Remember them, are there any people like that Agita.
14:07 People you loved and people who loved you,
14:10 would you just think and remember
14:13 the happiest moments of your life.
14:16 The happiest moments Agita and then I was silent.
14:20 And as I looked at her face, the anger began to subside
14:25 and I saw tears beginning to squeeze forth
14:28 out of her clenched eyes.
14:32 I said, okay, Agita open your eyes now.
14:35 She opened her eyes
14:36 and now she was soft in her appearance.
14:39 I said, Agita tell me what were you remembering?
14:41 What were the happiest moments of your life?
14:44 Who were the best people you ever knew?
14:46 Tell me Agita, what were you seeing in your mind
14:49 as you were remembering.
14:52 And I never forget what she told me.
14:54 She began by telling about happy days
14:57 by the lake near their home
14:59 when as a little girl her daddy whom
15:01 she referred to as papa would take her on his back
15:05 and pretend to be a dolphin or a whale
15:07 and swim far out into the lake and then swim back
15:10 and when she spoke his name papa,
15:16 it was almost musical.
15:18 You could hear intense love in her voice
15:21 as she talked about and remembered her father.
15:25 And then she told about her mom, she said my momma,
15:27 she was so beautiful. What a lovely lady she was.
15:31 She would sit up with me late into the night
15:33 and sometimes we were talking giggle about girl things,
15:37 about teenaged things, about whatever I was going through
15:40 and she said my momma loved me and I always knew it.
15:45 Isn't that precious?
15:47 And then and then Agita shifted gears
15:50 and she talked about another kind of love.
15:54 Her voice changed and it began to crack
15:56 with emotion and Agita proceeded
15:58 to tell me about her fiancé.
16:01 She referred to him as her best friend
16:04 and she talked about how great it was
16:07 to fall in love with him.
16:09 And how she was looking forward to her wedding day.
16:13 As she told me about when he had asked
16:16 if she would marry him and how excited she was to say yes,
16:21 with all the enthusiasm of her heart,
16:23 yes, I will marry you.
16:24 She talked about his virtues and how good looking he was
16:29 and what a great sense of humor he had,
16:31 and what a great friend he was.
16:34 My best friend, she said.
16:37 And they took him from me.
16:41 And then she began to cry again.
16:44 And then I said Agita, Agita this is it
16:46 exactly what you're talking about.
16:48 This is what eternal life is all about.
16:50 She said, what do you mean? What are you talking about?
16:53 I said Agita listen to me, eternal life,
16:57 eternal life is like the immortalizing
16:59 of those moments.
17:02 Eternal life is like being in love with people,
17:07 like your papa and you momma, and your fiancé.
17:11 Eternal life Agita is not
17:13 endless days of pain and sorrow.
17:16 Eternal life is like falling in love forever
17:21 with the most beautiful person in all the universe.
17:23 Eternal life is an endless, nonstop, full throttled,
17:29 free fall of a love relationship
17:33 with the best person in all the universe, and that's God.
17:41 And she was blown away,
17:42 she said what are you telling me.
17:44 I said Agita, I wanna share one Bible verse
17:46 with you, just one.
17:49 And most of you don't have Bibles today,
17:51 that's understandable here at this family funfair.
17:55 Do not have your Bible with you,
17:56 but I brought mine and you've probably heard
17:58 this verse before, I am just gonna share with you
18:01 as I did with Agita.
18:03 And incredible insight that Jesus gave in John 17, verse 3
18:07 this is what I shared with Agita, verse 3.
18:10 Jesus speaking to His heavenly Father in prayer,
18:13 this is what He said about eternal life.
18:14 Listen to this very carefully, Jesus said,
18:18 "And this is eternal life, that they might know you
18:24 the only true God,
18:25 and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
18:29 Now, I want you to notice something about this verse.
18:31 The same thing I shared with Agita.
18:34 I want you to notice that Jesus now this is something
18:37 you want to carefully take note of.
18:39 Jesus did not define eternal life
18:42 in terms of its duration.
18:45 Do you understand what I mean by that?
18:47 He didn't say eternal life is
18:48 millions and billions of years without end.
18:53 Now, that's often how we think of eternal life.
18:56 We think eternal life simply means to live, how long?
19:02 Can I hear you? Forever that's right.
19:04 Eternal life means to live forever,
19:06 that's what it means.
19:07 I mean, certainly eternal life does include living forever.
19:14 But notice that Jesus did not define eternal life
19:18 in terms of its length or its duration.
19:21 He didn't say this is eternal life to live forever.
19:25 Jesus rather defined eternal life
19:28 in terms of its quality, did you noticed that?
19:33 He said this is eternal life to know God,
19:39 interesting isn't that?
19:42 What does it mean to know God?
19:45 Do you realize that Jesus used
19:47 perhaps the most intimate word in scripture
19:51 both in the Hebrew language and in the Greek language?
19:55 He said eternal life means to know God.
19:59 It's the same word, same concept
20:02 that is used in the Greek version
20:04 of the Old Testament called the Septuagint.
20:06 It's the same word that is used in the Old Testament
20:10 when the Bible says, Adam knew his wife Eve
20:14 and she conceived and brought forth a son.
20:18 Now, of course, what this verse is talking about is
20:22 it's talking about the sexual act within marriage.
20:26 Adam knew his wife Eve and she became pregnant
20:31 and gave birth to a son.
20:33 So it's talking about a very
20:35 intimate kind of knowing, isn't it?
20:37 within marriage it's talking about the closest
20:41 that two human beings ever come,
20:42 I mean think about it.
20:45 The greatest experiences that we ever know
20:47 in this life are the experiences
20:50 that come to us by way of another person's personality
20:54 and character and life and body,
20:57 mind and soul intersecting with our own
21:00 and we fall in love.
21:02 Would you agree that the greatest experience in life
21:06 is to fall in love with a man with a woman
21:09 with whom we can say truly I have found fellowship
21:13 and this person is my friend.
21:16 Would you agree that that's the greatest experience
21:18 in life that we can have. It's not things, is it?
21:22 Even when you think of going to heaven
21:23 really you know what,
21:24 heaven is not about the streets of gold?
21:28 Heaven is not about the mansions
21:30 that Jesus promised.
21:32 Heaven is not about having a city home and country home
21:35 and a crown with many stars.
21:38 All of that is incidental, it's peripheral.
21:42 It is the icing on the cake so to speak.
21:44 To be sure there will be streets of gold,
21:47 there will be gates of pearl,
21:49 there will be mansion and we'll live in them.
21:52 Eternal life will be totally
21:55 and complete posh and luxurious
21:59 as far as material things are concerned.
22:03 But eternal life is not about the streets of gold,
22:07 it's not about the mansions.
22:09 Eternal life is not about material wealth
22:12 and posh luxurious living, is it?
22:16 When Jesus defined eternal life,
22:19 Jesus did not say
22:20 eternal life is to live forever
22:22 in mansions on streets of gold.
22:26 Jesus said eternal life finds its substance,
22:29 its meaning in a quality of life
22:33 that is defined by knowing God
22:36 at the deepest level of intimacy.
22:40 Jesus used the same word that the Bible uses
22:45 to speak of matrimonial intimacy
22:49 by which children are conceived.
22:53 That's absolutely intimate and close
22:56 as human beings can come in this life.
23:00 And Jesus lifted that word
23:04 that defined that kind of intimacy
23:07 between a man and a woman.
23:08 And he transported that concept
23:11 into a spiritual realm.
23:13 And He said in essence, eternal life is to know God,
23:19 that is eternal life is to enter into
23:22 an intimacy with God, a friendship an intimacy
23:27 with God of love, and joy, and peace
23:32 that can only be found in fellowship with the almighty.
23:38 Eternal life Jesus said, is to know God,
23:42 to be intimate with the creator of the universe,
23:46 incredible isn't it?
23:48 That's what eternal life is really all about
23:51 and that's what I shared with Agita.
23:52 I said Agita listen eternal life is not just days,
23:55 and weeks, and months, and years or even
23:57 millions of years or billions of years.
24:00 Eternal life is not about how long it is
24:03 so much as it is what that life is composed up.
24:07 What would you think if I said to you
24:10 that I just celebrated my anniversary last month
24:13 and I did?
24:16 And Sue and I've been married now for 23 years.
24:21 And what if I said to you just having a conversation here
24:26 among all the exhibits?
24:27 You and I just standing there talking
24:28 and I said you know what we just had our anniversary
24:31 being married to Sue,
24:32 I mean I am telling you it is minutes, seconds,
24:35 days, years, months, weeks,
24:38 I mean it is a long being married to Sue, it is long.
24:42 It's long time man.
24:44 I'll tell you what, being married to Sue
24:46 is a very long drawn out event,
24:49 it is minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years.
24:53 What would you think about our relationship?
24:55 What would you think if I defined my marriage
24:59 to Sue in terms of merely time?
25:05 But what would you think if I said to you
25:07 ah, being married to Sue, I mean it is like a moment.
25:12 It's been 23 years, but I'll tell you what,
25:15 it has been a great experience,
25:19 a great relationship,
25:22 and she is my best friend in all the world.
25:24 Would you have a different impression
25:26 of our relationship?
25:27 If I defined it in terms of friendship
25:30 and its quality rather than defining this life with Sue
25:35 in terms of time itself.
25:38 Jesus did that very thing.
25:41 Jesus didn't say
25:42 eternal life is to live forever.
25:44 Well, of course it is,
25:46 but really, really what is eternal life?
25:49 In John, Chapter 10 and verse 10,
25:52 Jesus made another profound statement about eternal life.
25:56 Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life."
26:01 Do you know the rest?
26:02 "And that you might have it that is life."
26:05 How? Shout it out to me.
26:08 More abundantly.
26:10 Again what do you see in that verse?
26:12 How is Jesus defining eternal life there?
26:15 In terms of its length, its duration.
26:17 No, He's defining eternal life in terms of its quality.
26:22 And the quality of eternal life is abundant.
26:25 It's an abundant quality.
26:27 It's a very high quality of living.
26:30 Now what makes your life worth living?
26:33 What gives quality to your temporal life,
26:36 to your present life in this world?
26:38 What is it that gives meaning and quality to your life?
26:42 I would venture to say, it's your relationships, right?
26:45 I spoke to a group of kids on the island of Oahu
26:49 a couple of years ago.
26:51 About 300 teenagers
26:54 and they lived in that tropical paradise
26:57 and they love it.
26:58 And I said I want you to imagine
27:01 that I am one of the wealthiest people
27:04 in the world.
27:05 And I am going to give you a gift
27:07 I said to these teenagers.
27:08 And that gift is I am gonna give you
27:11 the island of Kauai just not very far
27:14 from the Oahu the garden island
27:17 by most peoples estimation the most beautiful island
27:20 of all the Hawaiian Islands
27:22 and by many peoples estimation
27:24 perhaps most beautiful spot on earth.
27:27 Kauai, I'm the most wealthy man in the world
27:30 I said to the teenagers and I am gonna give you
27:32 the island of Kauai. How many of you want it.
27:35 And I'll ask you the same, how many of you
27:37 if hypothetically if I could give you the island of Kauai
27:42 would the teenagers how many of you would accept it?
27:44 Oh, of course, you would hand it over.
27:48 Let's schedule the ticket.
27:50 I am going, it's mine, right?
27:52 And all the kids, all the teenagers
27:54 raised their hands and then I said
27:56 now it's yours there is no doubt about it.
27:58 You've got it it's yours
28:00 but there is just one little bitty catch.
28:04 What's the catch they said.
28:06 I said well, it's not a big deal
28:08 because you gonna have the whole island
28:11 and lets just say I'm gonna give you seven houses,
28:13 mansions all over this island strategically place.
28:17 And a great road system and whatever car
28:20 you want you pick for each drive away.
28:22 You can pick any car you want
28:23 and kids started shouting out their favorite cars.
28:26 And I said I am gonna stock these houses
28:29 with every electronic gizmo that you ever desired
28:32 for your parents to buy for you, but they would not.
28:36 And they started shouting their electronic gizmos
28:38 that they wanted.
28:40 And I said on top of that what your favorite food
28:43 because we're gonna stock these houses
28:45 with your favorite food in all the world
28:48 and you will have an abundance of it
28:50 and it will never end, I'll keep the supply coming,
28:53 you can have all you want of your favorite food.
28:59 You'll never guess what they shouted out
29:00 their favorite food was most of them
29:03 it was tragic they said Top Ramen
29:05 was their favorite food.
29:08 And that was fine because it's cheap.
29:10 And even though I am one of the wealthiest men
29:12 in the world that fifteen cents per package
29:14 that's a good deal.
29:16 And so I said fine you have all the Top Ramen
29:18 you could possibly ever eat one little bitty catch.
29:23 One little condition they said what is it? What is it?
29:25 There couldn't any catch give us the island we want it.
29:28 One catch you've got to live there
29:30 for the rest of your life never leave the island
29:33 you got to live there for the rest of your life.
29:35 They said fine, fine fine, no problem.
29:37 You've got to live there for the rest of your life
29:39 let me finish, alone.
29:43 How many of you still want the island
29:45 I asked the teenager and they were the just like
29:47 two or three completely materialistic males,
29:52 they still wanted the island.
29:54 None of the females wanted it.
29:56 And most of the young man did not want it.
29:58 How many of you everything that I have described
30:02 the island of Kauai, seven mansions.
30:05 seven cars of your choice and all the things
30:07 you could possibly desire of material wealth
30:10 its all yours right now.
30:11 Would you accept it if you had to live there
30:13 the rest of your life, alone
30:15 and never see or speak to another soul.
30:18 How many of you would want it?
30:20 I didn't think so. Why not?
30:23 Because intuitively you and I know
30:27 that life truly is not made up of material up things, is it?
30:34 That the quality of life is defined by relationships
30:37 and every one of you would say no way.
30:39 I'd rather live in a cave in the desert in Arizona
30:44 with my honey, with my children,
30:48 with my friends with those I love
30:50 and those who love me.
30:51 I'd rather live in a cave in Arizona
30:55 than on the island of Kauai all by myself.
31:00 Because we know that
31:02 life is really defined by relationships, isn't it?
31:07 And like wise heaven and eternal life listen,
31:10 it's not about the stuff, is it?
31:14 It's not about the material wealth.
31:15 It's not about luxurious living.
31:18 Heaven is going to be luxurious.
31:21 But I'll tell you what the greatest thing about heaven
31:24 is going to be the ongoing continuation
31:28 of an endless falling in love with the most beautiful person
31:32 in all the universe, God Almighty!
31:37 That's what eternal life is really all about.
31:39 So Jesus said this is life eternal, to know God,
31:45 to become intimate with God, to become friends with God,
31:48 that's what eternal life is all about.
31:51 So let me ask you another question.
31:54 What do we know when we know God.
31:58 I mean what will we discover
31:59 because whenever you get to know
32:01 a person you discover things about them.
32:03 And some times it's kind of scary isn't it.
32:05 Some of you got married you're head over heals
32:08 in love with him, with her.
32:10 And then the minutes turned into hours
32:14 and the hours turned into days
32:16 and the days turned into weeks
32:18 and now you are wiping your brow.
32:21 You know, marriage can be the most wonderful thing
32:23 that ever happened to you or the worse thing
32:25 that ever happened to you. Do you agree, yes?
32:31 But listen, Jesus told us that eternal life is to know God,
32:38 so what do we know when we know God.
32:40 What do we discover when we discover Him.
32:42 When we get into the mind, the heart,
32:45 the life of God when we become friends of God.
32:48 When we know God, what do we know.
32:50 I give you another verse, don't have your Bible,
32:53 that's fine, I'll just read it to you.
32:54 It's just the short scripture
32:56 from First John Chapter 4 and verse 16,
32:59 this is an incredible statement by Apostle John.
33:02 He ought to know because he was directly
33:05 in association with Jesus for three-and-a-years
33:09 and this is what John said about knowing God
33:12 and what we will discover when we know God.
33:14 Notice this in First John Chapter 4, verse 16,
33:17 the apostle John said these words,
33:19 he said, "And we have known and believed the love
33:25 that God has toward us. God is love.
33:30 And those who live in love live in God and God in them."
33:37 Did you catch that? What are those three keywords?
33:40 Right in the middle of the text
33:41 that we've to memorize like our phone number.
33:44 What are those 3 words would you say them with me?
33:46 Loud and clear shout out the truth to all the universe.
33:50 "God is love." I didn't hear you.
33:53 One more time, God is love.
33:59 That is the key reality of the universe.
34:04 That is the bottom line of the gospel
34:07 that is the most foundational truth of all the universe.
34:12 God is love and it is the most powerful force.
34:16 in all the cosmos beyond
34:18 and in this world and in your home and in your heart.
34:22 God's love is the most powerful influence
34:25 in all the universe. And it is his very identity.
34:29 Notice that it doesn't say God loves people,
34:34 or God is loving. No, it says God is what, love.
34:40 God is love, that's right.
34:42 It is the essence of His identity.
34:45 It is the core of His character.
34:47 God is love and then notice what he says.
34:51 Anybody who lives in love, lives in God
34:56 and God lives in that person, isn't that incredible?
35:01 Love is God's very identity.
35:04 And so listen when Jesus says this is life eternal
35:07 to know God again I ask you.
35:11 When we know God, what shall we know?
35:15 What we will know His love.
35:17 We will know that God is love
35:20 and we will know in our inmost soul that His love is for
35:24 and toward me and toward you.
35:30 We will know that God's love
35:32 is personal in its application.
35:37 We will know as we get to know God,
35:40 that we are the special objects
35:43 of His focused interest.
35:46 To use the words of an Old Testament prophet,
35:50 we will discover when we know God
35:52 that we are the apple of His eye.
35:55 And what does that phrase mean.
35:58 To be the apple of his eye means,
36:00 that we are the focus of His attention.
36:03 Jesus went so far as to say that
36:05 not even a sparrow can fall dying to the ground,
36:09 but our heavenly Father takes notice.
36:13 And then Jesus said, how much more valuable are you
36:18 than many sparrows?
36:19 What was Jesus is point there?
36:21 What was He trying to say to you and me?
36:23 He was trying to say listen, God is so sensitive,
36:28 God is so filled with love and goodness
36:32 that not even a sparrow, not even a bird,
36:36 not even an animal can die,
36:40 and not have God's heart be impacted
36:42 by that death of that animal.
36:45 Isn't that an incredibly sensitive person
36:48 that Jesus is describing?
36:50 Isn't God truly a beautiful person
36:56 by Jesus' own description? Yes, He is.
37:00 And then Jesus says,
37:02 and you are far more valuable than many sparrows.
37:05 What's the point?
37:07 Another words, God loves you personally individually.
37:13 Listen God loves you dear friend whoever you are,
37:17 I don't know your names God loves you
37:20 as if you were the only person
37:22 to love in all the vast universe.
37:25 God loves you as though it were just you
37:28 and He alone in existence.
37:32 God loves you with all the passion
37:35 and energy and intensity of His divine heart.
37:41 That's how God loves you and that's how God loves me.
37:45 You say wait a minute, there are too many of us,
37:46 how could God possibly love me like that?
37:49 How could He possibly be that aware of me?
37:53 How could He possibly be that interested in me?
37:55 There are billions of people
37:58 and multiplied billions of angels to share His love.
38:01 How could God possibly love me with that kind of love?
38:06 Well, let me just tell you something.
38:09 Some of your parents,
38:10 I want you to imagine the unimaginable.
38:12 Imagine that not only are you parents
38:14 you are way, way, way, way parents.
38:17 Imagine that you have ten children.
38:19 Anybody here have ten kids?
38:21 I didn't think so, that kind of went out with the coming
38:26 in of the technological revolution, didn't that?
38:30 Nobody has ten kids anymore,
38:31 but imagine that you have ten kids
38:33 and let me ask you a question.
38:35 If mathematically your love all the love
38:38 that you have to give is represented
38:41 by the number one hundred percent, you got that so far.
38:44 Your love all of it is represented
38:46 by the number one hundred percent.
38:50 And you have ten kids.
38:54 Do you love each of those ten children
38:56 with a ten percent strength love?
39:01 Did you love each of those ten children
39:03 with just ten percent of the hundred?
39:06 Because they're ten after all
39:08 and you must divide your love among the ten,
39:11 is that how it works even in human affairs, of course not.
39:15 How do you love all ten children?
39:19 You love every one of them
39:21 with one hundred percent of your love, yes or no?
39:26 Yes, and so did you see the reality of love.
39:30 Love is exponential, love is something that multiplies.
39:35 It doesn't divide as it's given,
39:38 it multiplies, it grows, it intensifies.
39:42 The more people there are to love,
39:43 the more God loves.
39:46 There are billions of people no doubt,
39:49 but God loves every single one with one hundred percent
39:56 of all the love that throb in His divine heart.
40:00 Isn't that incredible to think of that,
40:03 to know that, to believe that.
40:05 Well, I hope you do believe it,
40:07 because that's exactly what the Bible teach us.
40:11 The Bible teach us that God loves you and me.
40:15 He knows your name, He knows your address.
40:18 Jesus went so far as to say that He even knows
40:21 how many hairs are on your head.
40:25 And for some of us that is becoming a subtraction event
40:29 as He keeps track, right?
40:33 God knows and loves you as individually and as personally
40:38 as if you were the only person in all the universe.
40:44 Rest in that.
40:47 Take deep repulse, and peace,
40:52 and joy in knowing that God loves you like that.
40:56 And listen, not only does God love you like that,
41:01 but guess what?
41:03 Not only is His love exponential,
41:05 but the Bible teaches that God's love is creative.
41:09 In other words, it creates in its own likeness, right?
41:14 When the Bible says in Genesis 1,
41:16 "God created man in His own."
41:18 You know the words what are they.
41:20 In his own what? "Image."
41:23 When the Bible says God created man
41:25 in his own image, what does that mean?
41:27 It means that God created man in the image
41:31 that is the image of God. And what is that image?
41:33 We just read in First John 4:16.
41:35 What is the image of God? What is His character?
41:37 What is the essence of His identity?
41:39 God what are those three words we have memorized now,
41:42 God is what? Love.
41:47 So God created man in His own image,
41:49 meaning God created mankind in the image of His love.
41:54 To love like God loves.
41:57 What then was the fall of mankind all about?
42:00 What is the sin problem really all about?
42:04 Well, the Bible defines the sin problem like this.
42:08 In Romans 3:23, it says,
42:10 "All have sinned and come short of"
42:14 of what of God, do you remember?
42:16 "The glory of God." Guess what?
42:18 From a biblical perspective
42:20 do you know what the glory of God is?
42:23 According to Exodus 33 and 34, when Moses said,
42:26 Lord I beseech thee show me Your glory."
42:29 God said, okay Moses, I will show you My glory.
42:32 I'll make all My goodness to pass before you.
42:36 And what is the goodness of God?
42:37 What is that makes God good? God's love.
42:42 So when the Bible says, all sinned
42:43 and come short of the glory of God.
42:46 We translate that to mean that all sinned
42:48 and forfeited that image in which we were created.
42:52 We forfeited the image of God.
42:54 We forfeited His love.
42:57 We began to live for who?
42:59 For ourselves rather than living in love
43:02 which means to live for others.
43:07 And so do you see that the sin problem
43:11 is the forfeiture of God's love
43:13 as the ruling governing power of our existence.
43:18 We became self centered
43:19 rather than other centered due to sin.
43:23 Now listen, listen carefully.
43:25 What then reasoning logically
43:28 what then with the plan of salvation be all about?
43:31 Help me out, think this through.
43:33 If God created us in His image,
43:35 the image of His love to love like He loves.
43:38 And if the sin problem is to forfeit that love
43:42 as the ruling governing force of our existence.
43:46 What would the plan of salvation be all about?
43:49 What would the gospel really be all about?
43:51 It's about Jesus by His saving grace restoring to you and me
43:57 and in you and me God's love.
44:01 How do I know this is true?
44:02 Well, look at it with me if you have your Bible
44:04 if you don't just listen to these words.
44:06 In John 17, you remember verse 3, where Jesus said,
44:09 "And this is life eternal."
44:11 And what is life eternal according to Jesus?
44:13 To know who, to know God, that's right.
44:18 Eternal life means to know God
44:20 and then Jesus in the same chapter
44:22 goes on please don't miss this.
44:24 He goes on and He defines what it will be
44:27 like to live for eternity with God.
44:30 Listen to this, Jesus said,
44:33 "Oh righteous Father the world hath not known you."
44:36 Verses 25 and 26 of John 17,
44:38 "The world has not known you, but I have known you,
44:43 and I have known and they have known
44:45 that you sent me into the world."
44:48 Now notice these words,
44:49 "And I Jesus have declared to them.
44:52 Humanity, your name Father,
44:55 so that the love with which you
44:59 Father have loved me Jesus may be in them and I in them."
45:07 Did you catch that?
45:08 Jesus says in verse 3,
45:10 "This is life eternal to know God."
45:14 And then in verse 26, He says that
45:16 when we come into fellowship with God
45:19 and are finally transported into eternity with God.
45:23 Guess what Jesus says that when we know God,
45:27 it will be an experience in which His love
45:31 is in us and we in him.
45:36 Isn't that incredible to know God is to know His love.
45:42 To experience God is to experience His love.
45:45 And which one of us does not want to experience
45:49 that kind of selfless love of God for our souls.
45:56 Think about it.
45:57 There is no greater peace, there is no greater joy,
45:59 there is no greater satisfaction
46:01 that to know of a certainty in your inmost heart of hearts,
46:05 that you are the object of God's special care and love.
46:09 There is nothing greater than to know His acceptance
46:13 to feel perfectly at home in God's presence
46:19 in His acceptance, His affirmation, His love,
46:25 and that's what Jesus says
46:26 the plan of salvation is all about.
46:29 The plan of salvation
46:30 is God reversing the effects of the fall.
46:36 The plan of salvation is Jesus coming into the world
46:40 to reveal to you and me, a knowledge of God's love,
46:45 His beautiful character of selfless other centered love.
46:49 And then we by faith reaching out
46:53 of our fallen sinful souls, we reach out by faith
46:56 and we say yes to God's love.
47:00 And when we say, yes to God's love
47:02 and we begin that journey with Him.
47:04 It is indeed an endless falling in love
47:09 that begins in the here and now.
47:13 In First John Chapter 5 and verses 13 and 14,
47:16 the apostle of John says, "That we may know
47:20 that we have eternal life in the present tense."
47:25 You see, eternal life is not something that God gives us
47:28 at the end of our journey, because as we've noted
47:32 eternal life is a quality of life, isn't it?
47:35 And because it's a quality of life
47:37 that is defined by knowing God's love
47:40 personally intimately, because that's what eternal life is.
47:44 Listen, it can begin here and now, can't you see that?
47:49 We may know that we have eternal life
47:53 right this very moment, we may know that,
47:56 and how we may know it?
48:03 How may we know that we have eternal life?
48:06 Well by faith to drink in, to accept,
48:10 to feed upon God's love assures us
48:15 that we have eternal life.
48:19 Right at this moment I'd like to invite the ushers
48:23 to cooperate with me in putting a card in your hand.
48:28 And this card is very important,
48:29 because it gives you the opportunity.
48:31 It gives me the opportunity to make a clear declaration
48:37 of our acceptance of God's love.
48:39 And so the ushers are going to quickly
48:42 put this card in your hands and make it available to you.
48:45 If you don't have a pen or a pencil,
48:47 you are going to find pencils with the cards
48:51 and I wanna encourage you to take this card
48:53 and make use of it.
48:55 That you would commit appropriately on this card.
48:59 You will see a place that you can check the appropriate box
49:03 as we've talked today.
49:05 Would you like to check the box there it says
49:09 that I would like to be certain of eternal life?
49:13 Would you like to be certain of eternal life?
49:16 Well I would, and you can be certain of eternal life
49:20 as you receive God's love as it is manifest
49:26 and revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
49:29 And what a precious privilege that is.
49:33 Would you like a clearer understanding of the Bible
49:36 where you will see two boxes there,
49:38 where you can check that you have an interest
49:40 in having Bible studies?
49:41 They will take you where you need to go
49:45 to drink more deeply of God's love.
49:48 And those Bible studies by the way
49:50 not only are available by this card
49:53 and putting your name, and phone number,
49:55 and address there, so that we can make sure
49:56 you get these free Bible studies.
49:58 But you can also get these Bible studies
50:01 and start right here at these tables,
50:03 there are people who are going to be available
50:05 to help you if you'd like to begin enlarging
50:09 and deepening your knowledge of God's love.
50:13 Finally, as you pass in the cards,
50:15 I want cards, I wanna share with you
50:18 the conclusion of my time with Agita.
50:23 Agita began to realize
50:26 that eternal life is not just living forever
50:29 with a continuation of pain.
50:32 She began to realize that truly eternal life is
50:36 a quality of life that is defined in knowing God.
50:40 loving God and being loved by Him.
50:44 And I am happy to tell you
50:46 that as Agita remember the happy moments of her life,
50:51 and as she realized that eternal life could begin here
50:55 and now by entering in by faith
50:58 to a love relationship with God
51:00 to deep and throughout all the eternity.
51:02 I am happy to tell you that that precious young lady
51:06 there in Latvia who was trying so hard
51:09 not to believe in God deep in her heart
51:12 she was persuaded that God is good
51:15 and right there with me she made a decision
51:19 to begin falling in love with God.
51:22 I wanna encourage you to do the same.
51:25 That you will pause with me right now as we pray
51:28 and that you would say yes to God's love for you.
51:32 Father in heaven, you are truly great Lord.
51:37 You are beautiful beyond compare
51:40 of anything that we see in this world.
51:44 God right now by faith we want to reach out to you
51:49 and receive your love for us.
51:51 And as we do, as we receive Your love for us,
51:54 we ask that it would recreate in us
51:58 that same love that we may in turn love you
52:01 and everyone with whom we have contact in our lives.
52:05 We want to love like you love Father.
52:08 We want to be like you in every possible way.
52:12 Thank you for Jesus, who came from heaven to earth
52:15 and sacrificed his life on the cross
52:18 to demonstrate how truly great and passionate
52:21 Your love is for us.
52:24 Lord, may we turn to you right now
52:27 in the quietness of this moment
52:29 may we each one deep in our heart say
52:31 yes to Your love in Jesus name, amen.


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Revised 2014-12-17