Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW210025S
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:08 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today Family Worship 01:12 and happy Sabbath to you. 01:13 I'm Jason Bradley, and I'm so glad 01:15 that you decided to tune in as we study the Word of God. 01:19 And tonight we're going to be talking 01:21 about eternal love, 01:23 God's eternal love and what that means for us 01:27 and for you specifically as well. 01:31 So, with me, we've got Pastor James Rafferty, 01:34 it's great to have you here. 01:36 Good to be here. It's the first time. 01:37 Yeah, first time for this program. 01:39 Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. 01:41 Yeah, me too. 01:42 Normally, you're hosting Salvation in Symbols and Signs. 01:44 I gotta say this is a little different. 01:46 We're reversing right now. 01:47 We are, but I'm still a student, 01:49 still learning, I'm still learning. 01:51 We've got Pastor John Dinzey with us. 01:54 It's great to have you. It's a blessing to be here. 01:56 Blessing to be here. Yes. 01:57 And we have Dee Hilderbrand, it's great to have you. 02:00 It's a joy to be here among this wonderful company. 02:03 I expect to learn tonight. Amen. 02:06 I do as well. I do as well. 02:08 Pastor Dinzey, would you have 02:09 our opening prayer for us, please? 02:11 Sure. 02:13 Our loving Heavenly Father, we want to thank You, Lord, 02:17 that as this week has ended, 02:19 we can look back and see that You have been with us 02:22 that You have helped us and carried us this far. 02:26 We thank You, Lord, for supplying our needs. 02:28 We thank You for protecting us. 02:30 We thank You for the joy of being able to rest 02:33 on Your holy Sabbath day. 02:35 And we pray, Lord, that You will help us to 02:37 enter into worshiping You in spirit and in truth. 02:40 We ask for Your blessing of the Holy Spirit. 02:43 So that as we share together, we will rejoice in knowing that 02:47 You are speaking to us, speaking through us 02:51 and that the blessing of Your Word 02:54 is going out to millions of people. 02:57 We pray, Lord, for these things in the holy 02:59 and blessed name of Jesus. 03:01 Amen. Amen. 03:03 Amen. 03:04 You know, it's incredible 03:06 when we think about eternal love 03:08 and God's eternal love. 03:10 I want us to open with Jeremiah 31:3, 03:13 and it says, "The Lord has appeared 03:17 of old to me saying, 03:19 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love, 03:22 therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you." 03:26 I mean, picture that, an everlasting love. 03:31 Praise the Lord. Yeah. 03:32 You can't, you cannot do anything 03:35 to lose that love, no matter what you do. 03:39 Even if you don't accept it, even if you reject it, 03:42 that love is always flowing over you 03:44 whether you acknowledge it or not, always. 03:48 That's a good point. That's right. 03:49 You know, we hear of people saying that you repeat often, 03:55 I love you, I love you, I love you. 03:57 But then that person does not actually prove 04:01 that love with action. 04:03 But God does, 04:05 and over and over and over again. 04:07 But, of course, the greatest manifestation 04:09 of His love is Jesus Christ dying on the cross for us. 04:12 Amen. 04:13 In fact, this verse reminds us a little bit of that verse 04:16 where Jesus says, "And I, if I be lifted up," 04:19 John 12:32, "will draw all men unto Me." 04:22 Because it says, with, 04:24 I've loved you with an everlasting love 04:26 and with lovingkindness have I drawn you. 04:28 So the lovingkindness of God 04:29 has to be connected with Calvary, 04:31 where Jesus was on the cross, lifted up, 04:34 drawing the world to Himself. 04:35 Amen. 04:36 Part of that love, ever love is that, 04:38 everlasting love is the lovingkindness 04:40 if you have that kind of love, that depth of love, 04:45 it comes automatically with loving kindness. 04:49 And Jesus always expressed that in the Bible, 04:52 and God always shows that that lovingkindness, 04:56 it's never beating over the head with anything 05:00 or even if we reject Him, 05:02 Jesus, that the poor, 05:06 the rich young ruler, 05:08 Jesus didn't beat him up. 05:12 He let him walk away, 05:15 He still gave that everlasting love to him, 05:18 He still gave that kindness to him, 05:21 even though he walked away and turned his back on that. 05:26 I like that though because it's interesting 05:28 how we sometimes, you know, 05:31 we say the word love and an automatic idea is, 05:34 you know, this pushy, gushy, mushy, emotional thing. 05:38 Jesus did say to the return ruler, you know, 05:41 this is what needs to be done in your life. 05:43 These are the changes that need to be made. 05:45 And like you said, Dee, 05:46 in spite of the ruler rejecting Him, 05:48 Christ still long for his heart. 05:50 He longed after him. 05:52 But He didn't compromise 05:54 the principles of God's government 05:56 aren't compromised. 05:57 Love doesn't compromise truth and righteousness. 06:01 It longs after souls, it draw souls, 06:04 but we still have a free choice. 06:06 That's right. That's right. 06:07 You know that, that's true, because when you consider that, 06:12 you hear, I have done this. 06:13 I don't know if any of you have done this. 06:16 You go to these countries, and they say, 06:18 you ask, well, how much is that? 06:20 And they say a price, and to you it sounds like, 06:23 well, that's way too high for that. 06:25 Thank you very much. 06:27 You start walking out. 06:29 Wait, wait, wait, for you, I'll lower the price. 06:31 You know, and they'll lower the price. 06:33 I went through that in Israel by the way. 06:35 But anyway, God doesn't, God did not change anything. 06:38 Jesus did not change anything. 06:39 Does not negotiate. 06:40 And His love did not change, either. 06:42 He knew he understood the conditions. 06:45 But he did not know 06:48 how to appreciate the love of God 06:51 and respond to that love. 06:52 Yeah. 06:54 The love is unconditional and uncompromising. 06:57 But it's a strong love. 06:59 The love is unbelievable in what it will do for you. 07:03 It's a working love. Yeah. 07:06 And I think it speaks to the fact that 07:08 it is a principle and not just an emotion, 07:12 as you brought out just, 07:13 you know, just a little while ago, 07:14 like it is a principle, it requires action, 07:18 it requires you to show 07:20 because you can say, oh, I love you all day. 07:22 But if you don't do anything like 07:24 if, you know, if you say oh, I love you. 07:26 Let's say you get married, and you're married, 07:28 and you tell your wife all, you know, I love you. 07:31 I do. 07:33 But now that we're married, 07:34 I don't need to keep these wedding vows. 07:36 Now that we're married, I don't need to court you, 07:38 like I don't need to take you out. 07:39 We don't need to go on dates like, I love you. 07:42 Like if we love God, 07:46 then we need to show Him that we love Him. 07:50 And how do we do that? 07:51 Well, He says, "If you love Me, 07:52 keep My commandments." 07:54 You know, 07:55 but there's so many different ways 07:56 that we can show we can be kind to others, 07:58 just like you're speaking 08:00 about the kindness component there. 08:02 I mean, there's so many different ways 08:03 that we can show our love for God. 08:07 But you know, there's a lot of times 08:08 where we fall short. 08:09 Love is a state of being, it's not just an emotion. 08:13 Matter of fact, 08:15 the least strongest of real love is the emotion. 08:20 The real love that gets deeper and stronger 08:24 is the one that comes from action of doing, 08:27 of being and not just that wimpy. 08:31 Yeah. Yeah. 08:32 I love you. Yeah. 08:34 Well, take out the trash then son. 08:35 Won't know action behind it, you know. 08:38 Let's talk about the manner of love 08:40 that God has. 08:42 Pastor Rafferty, you have 1 John 3:1. 08:45 1 John 3:1. 08:46 And I really love this 08:47 because of the way that it reads. 08:49 1 John 3:1, it says, 08:51 "Behold what manner of love 08:53 the Father has bestowed upon us, 08:55 that we should be called the sons of God! 08:57 Therefore the world knows us not 08:59 because it knew Him not." 09:01 And it seems like John is just caught up in this 09:07 inability to describe 09:11 God's love in detail. 09:14 And so, instead of, you know, trying to lay it all out, 09:18 he says, you just need to behold it. 09:20 You know, have you ever been in a situation where 09:23 you've experienced something that's really good, 09:25 and maybe it's just, 09:27 you go on a vacation to this place, 09:29 and it's just amazing. 09:30 Everything's just amazing, right? 09:32 And you're trying to explain somebody, 09:34 you just wouldn't believe us, you wouldn't believe. 09:35 And he said, you've got to, you just got to go. 09:37 You just got to go. 09:38 Or you go to this restaurant, this food is just incredible. 09:40 And you're thinking, man, this was the best food. 09:41 I mean, such good, vegetarian food. 09:45 It was just amazing vegetarian food, right? 09:50 And you're trying to explain to him 09:51 that you just got to go, you just got to taste it. 09:53 This is what John is saying. 09:54 He's saying, behold, I can't explain it to you. 09:57 I can't describe it, I can't. 09:59 It's, you just got to behold it, 10:01 you've got to taste it for yourself, 10:02 you've got to check it. 10:04 God's love has to be experienced. 10:05 Yes. Amen. 10:06 And we were it says, 10:10 well, He loved us before He knew, 10:12 before we knew Him, before we loved Him, 10:14 and before we knew Him. 10:15 And that happens to human beings, 10:17 when you have children, you have not seen that child, 10:22 you haven't held that child, you don't know that child, 10:25 you're carrying that child in your womb, 10:27 or your wife is carrying the child. 10:28 You love that child from then on. 10:32 So I mean, at that point, 10:34 you're starting to love that child. 10:35 So God loves us before we knew Him. 10:42 Does that make sense? It does. 10:43 Remember, when my son was born, 10:45 I didn't know anything about him, 10:46 except that it took 31 hours for him to come out. 10:48 And as soon as he came out, I was like, what is this? 10:52 And it was feeling an emotion and just this, 10:55 this desire to just love and protect this so baby, 10:59 you know, I didn't even know him, 11:00 I didn't know him from anything, you know, 11:02 but it's there. 11:03 And that's what God is communicating. 11:05 And there was action behind that love. 11:07 You had all this overwhelming love. 11:09 But you wanted to do something with that love. 11:13 You didn't want to just. 11:14 No, I want to protect, 11:16 and, of course, my wife was in bed for a couple weeks. 11:17 So it was, there was definitely action. 11:19 It was just a diaper thing. 11:22 House cleaning action was going on right there. 11:23 'Cause you love that son. 11:25 I think she said, 11:26 well, I carried on for nine months, 11:28 Pastor Rafferty. 11:30 Well, here's the interesting thing. 11:31 She didn't have to say anything. 11:32 Yeah. 11:34 You know, because when we behold 11:35 the love of God, 11:36 He almost doesn't have to say anything. 11:38 It's like, of course, I remember 11:39 when I first came in contact 11:41 with the idea of going to church on Saturday, 11:42 I mean, the Sabbath. 11:43 I never knew anything about it. 11:45 I was raised Catholic Sunday and all that. 11:46 And, but I had fallen in love with Jesus, 11:48 I accepted Christ as my Savior. 11:50 And someone was sharing this with me 11:52 and I was convicted it was the right day. 11:54 And they were saying, "So what do you think?" 11:55 And I said, "Well, of course I love God, 11:56 I'll do whatever He wants me to do, 11:58 because I love Him." 11:59 Yeah. 12:00 It wasn't an issue of being doctrinally right. 12:03 It was an issue of loving God 12:05 and wanting to please Him and let Him in. 12:07 Experiencing His love. Yes. 12:09 Once... 12:11 It's very hard for human beings to really comprehend 12:15 the kind of love that God really has for us. 12:18 And once you experience that, behold, once you taste it, 12:22 when you experience it, 12:24 and it just kind of rolls over you somehow 12:26 and somehow your brain 12:28 can kind of wrap yourself around 12:30 this incredible love that's everlasting. 12:33 That it's, that He loves me, not my actions. 12:37 He loves me, not what I do or don't do. 12:40 He loves me. 12:42 Once you can except that, it's overwhelming. 12:47 Yes. And it's an amazing experience. 12:49 Yes, Pastor Dinzey, 12:50 you look like something's on your mind 12:52 and you've been, that you want to give out. 12:53 Well, you know, when you consider 12:56 this scripture is really fantastic. 12:58 And we can spend 13:00 hours and hours talking about this, 13:02 from the perspective of behold what manner of love 13:06 God has bestowed toward us, 13:08 and that we should be called children of God. 13:12 It's like, "Wait, you, you mean me? 13:15 I can be a child of God." 13:17 And He says, "Yes, you are My child." 13:19 And if we enter 13:21 into that relationship with Him, 13:22 where we recognize Him as our Father, 13:26 our Heavenly Father, 13:27 then things begin to change for us 13:30 in our understanding that, you know, 13:34 we go to pray, knowing that, that's my Heavenly Father. 13:39 He cares for me, He loves me. 13:41 And I'm presenting to Him a request. 13:44 And I need to trust Him 13:45 that if I'm asking for something that 13:47 is not really good for me, that He's gonna say, 13:50 "My son, it's not good for you to have that. 13:54 Or my son, the best thing for you right now is to wait." 13:58 So I need to trust God. 14:00 We need to learn to trust Him because, 14:03 you know, I'm sure you've heard of stories, 14:05 you preach evangelistic campaigns, 14:08 and there are some people that believe, 14:10 oh, there's no way God could love me 14:12 because they believe they have done so much evil, 14:15 that somehow the amount of evil they do is like you said, 14:19 God loves you, your actions to Him, 14:23 and don't play a part in changing His love. 14:26 And that the people think that I've done so much evil 14:29 that God doesn't love me. 14:30 No, His love is everlasting. 14:34 His love is beyond our comprehension. 14:36 And John could not even explain it. 14:39 He said, Behold, behold that love. 14:43 Yes. That's beautiful. 14:44 And I want to read this from Steps to Christ. 14:46 It says unparalleled love. That's the title of it. 14:50 And it says, "The price paid for our redemption, 14:53 the infinite sacrifice of our heavenly Father 14:55 in giving His Son to die for us, 14:58 should give us exalted conceptions 15:00 of what we may become through Christ. 15:03 As the inspired apostle John beheld the height, 15:07 the depth, the breadth of the Father's love 15:10 toward the perishing race, 15:11 he was filled with adoration and reverence, 15:14 and failing to find suitable language 15:17 in which to express the greatness 15:19 and tenderness of this love, 15:21 he called upon the world to behold it. 15:24 What a value this places upon man! 15:27 Through transgression, the sons of men 15:29 become subjects of Satan. 15:31 Through faith 15:32 in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, 15:35 the sons of Adam may become the Sons of God. 15:38 By assuming human nature, Christ elevates humanity. 15:43 Fallen men are placed 15:44 where through connection with Christ, 15:47 they may indeed become 15:48 worthy of the name, sons of God. 15:51 Such love is without a parallel. 15:53 Children of the heavenly King! 15:55 Precious promise! 15:57 Theme for the most profound meditation! 16:00 The matchless love of God 16:02 for a world that did not love Him! 16:05 The thought has a subduing power 16:07 upon the soul, 16:08 and brings the mind into captivity 16:10 to the will of God. 16:11 The more we study the divine character 16:15 in the light of the cross, the more we see mercy, 16:18 tenderness, and forgiveness, 16:20 blended with equity and justice, 16:23 and the more clearly we discern 16:25 innumerable evidences of a love that is infinite, 16:29 and tender pity surpassing 16:31 a mother's yearning sympathy for her wayward child." 16:37 That is incredible. 16:40 That is a... 16:41 An inspired arrangement of words 16:44 to communicate something 16:46 that still with all those words selected, 16:50 inspiredly selected, inspired... 16:52 How do you say that? 16:55 Selected in with inspiration, I think, 16:59 draws you and helps you understand more. 17:03 But still, I mean, it's remarkable, 17:07 that's a precious declaration to consider God's love, 17:12 God's tender love, God's unexplainable, 17:15 is that a word, that we can't explain. 17:18 Unfathomable His love. 17:20 Yeah. Yeah. 17:21 And that's, that's another thing in here, 17:23 I see the equity and justice part. 17:26 You know, a lot of times, especially in today's society, 17:29 people think that you need to be an enabler 17:31 to actually love someone like you, 17:34 you can't tell them that they can gain 17:36 the victory over something, 17:38 you know, you're kind of deemed as a hater 17:40 or, you know, whatever the case may be, like, 17:43 it's like, they want you to embrace 17:45 a certain lifestyle, or certain choices 17:49 as opposed to trying to help them 17:52 see that there's a better path and help them see 17:54 that Christ can give them the victory. 17:57 Here's the picture I've never seen before. 18:00 You know, you remember Cain and Abel. 18:03 Cain offered the offering of the fruits of the earth, 18:07 fruits and vegetables. 18:08 Cain offered the offering 18:09 that was supposed to be offered. 18:11 Blood. 18:13 After that happened, we understand that 18:14 fire descended from heaven and consumed the offering 18:17 that Abel presented, 18:18 but I can almost picture 18:21 Cain looking in expecting and nothing happens. 18:25 The next scene in the Bible is God 18:28 talking to Cain 18:30 and concerned His love for Cain, 18:34 when He went to talk to him about this. 18:36 And so, you would think they say, 18:39 you will see a picture of God talking to Abel, Abel, 18:42 my son, I'm so proud of you. 18:44 You've done the right thing. 18:45 But no, it shows us a picture of Abel. 18:48 I mean, Cain, God talking to Cain. 18:50 And this is something that we need to remember. 18:53 When we do something wrong, God doesn't say, 18:56 "Okay, if you want to have it your way, go ahead. 18:58 I'm going this way." 18:59 No, God is interested. 19:01 God is concerned. God wants to be with us. 19:03 God wants to draw us to Him. Amen. 19:05 And that's the best place to be next to that. 19:08 So much so, 19:09 you have the next scripture John 3:6. 19:12 I think Pastor Rafferty wanted to say something. 19:14 I was gonna say, and then he goes beyond 19:15 that even and He marks Cain to protect him. 19:17 Yes. 19:19 Here's the disobedient being marked, 19:20 you know, in Revelation, 19:21 the obedient are marked or sealed with a seal of God. 19:23 But in this Old Testament story, 19:25 the disobedient one is marked and protected. 19:27 Yes. 19:29 And I think Satan has borrowed that, 19:30 he is counterfeiting that in Revelation 13, 19:32 where he marks his people here to attack them... 19:34 Isn't that something? 19:35 Create a campfire. 19:37 So Satan's always counterfeiting 19:38 but he's trying to counterfeit God's love, but you can't. 19:40 God was giving. 19:41 He wanted to make sure he had a chance 19:43 to change his mind and come back to Him. 19:46 He wasn't done yet. 19:48 And that's what He does with us. 19:50 He keeps, our own guilt separates us 19:55 and God keeps trying to call us back 19:58 because humans 20:01 can't separate the action from the love. 20:03 We just can't seem to grasp that. 20:06 And God only looks at us with that love 20:11 and pushes the action aside. 20:14 Amen. Amen. 20:15 Well, John 3:16. 20:17 John 3:16 is the scripture going to next. 20:19 And so the Bible tells us that "God so loved the world 20:23 that He gave His only begotten Son, 20:26 that whoever believes in Him should not perish, 20:30 but have everlasting life." 20:33 Amen. 20:35 When I saw, you know, this scripture, 20:39 I've dedicated a lot of thought and prayer to the scripture 20:41 for many years, 20:42 and from time to time you come back to and I say, 20:45 is there more? 20:46 And yes, God has abundant 20:50 blessings in studying any of the scriptures. 20:53 This one in particularly I have, 20:54 the Lord has blessed me to discover 20:56 so many wonderful things. 20:58 And I am going to just say, behold, 21:02 the love of God, 21:03 that He was willing to give His Son 21:08 so that whoever believes in Him 21:12 should not perish, but have everlasting life. 21:15 And, you know, a picture of a God 21:20 that loves us that much 21:22 is beyond our comprehension really is, 21:25 that He gave His only begotten Son. 21:28 Like it, like you read earlier for a world 21:30 that did not love Him. 21:33 Imagine that? Yes. 21:34 And the suffering that Christ endured, 21:37 we do not comprehend. 21:39 We will continue to study this in heaven. 21:41 But this love that God gave His only begotten Son, 21:45 I mean, what He gives, God gives completely. 21:48 Yeah. 21:49 And there's so much you can say about this, 21:52 that again, you can spend hours and hours talking about. 21:54 That encompasses when it says God, 21:57 when it says that God so loved the world, 22:01 that encompasses every single human being, 22:05 that's not just the US 22:07 or the people that were born after 1800. 22:11 We do not comprehend that every human being 22:16 that ever walked on this earth has an opportunity 22:20 to choose everlasting life. 22:23 And we don't know how that works. 22:24 We don't understand. 22:26 We don't always understand how that's going to happen. 22:28 But it did happen, and it is happening, 22:30 and it will continue to happen 22:33 that God loved every human being. 22:37 They're gonna be a lot of human beings, 22:38 they're going to be lost, 'cause He loved them... 22:41 Of course, He loves them. 22:43 Do you? 22:44 Just because you lose somebody, and they turn... 22:48 How many... 22:49 Haven't you love somebody who said, 22:50 "No, I don't love you. 22:52 Get out of my life. 22:53 I don't want nothing to do with you." 22:55 Don't you still have... 22:56 You still have a tie to them, even human beings, 22:59 you remember that love or that hurt. 23:02 You remember that hurt. 23:04 So God's love still exists. 23:07 He's gonna miss every one of them in heaven. 23:10 They were unique. 23:12 So he's, everyone that says no to Him. 23:15 Every human being that turned away from Him, 23:17 He continues to love 23:19 and He's gonna always miss them. 23:21 No one can replace the person that He lost. 23:24 Has anyone lost a loved one here? 23:27 Did anyone ever replace them? 23:30 My cousin Marilyn, no one can replace her. 23:32 We were only 17. 23:35 But and that's so many years ago, 23:38 we're not going to say how many. 23:39 No one's been able to replace her 23:41 and that memory is not gone, 23:42 that love for her is not gone, and it doesn't. 23:45 And so, of course, it doesn't disappear for God. 23:48 He never lets go of. 23:50 Yes, amen. 23:51 I'm getting ahead here. 23:53 But, you know, 23:54 because there's the verse up ahead 23:56 that talks about who can separate us 23:57 from God's love. 23:58 So basically what I hear you saying, Dee, 24:00 is God so loved the world 24:02 that He gave His only begotten Son, 24:04 includes everyone. 24:05 So there's no conditions there. 24:07 He doesn't just love those who will believe in Him 24:09 or might believe in Him. 24:10 He loves them, of course. Yes. 24:12 That's why He gave His Son unconditionally, 24:14 so that whosoever believes in Him, 24:16 because the only way that a fallen human being 24:18 could actually believe in God is to receive first His love. 24:21 And once God's love comes in, 24:23 we'll behold in, it's everlasting. 24:25 It actually transforms us to believe so I really, 24:30 I mean, I agree with you 100%. 24:31 I really feel that this verse, you know, in theological terms, 24:34 we call this objective and subjective. 24:39 The first part of the verse is objective. 24:41 God so loved the world. 24:42 That's an objective fact 24:44 that's nothing to do with our response. 24:46 That's right. 24:47 He had to do that, 24:48 He had to objectively love us, unconditionally, 24:52 in order so that whosoever believes 24:55 might not perish, but have everlasting life 24:57 and it's just, it's un incomprehensible 25:00 to recognize this verse and the plan of salvation 25:04 it's bringing out 25:05 it's just amazing, it's beautiful. 25:07 All you do is open up and accept that love, 25:10 and He will let it grow in you. 25:12 And then that's how you behold it 25:14 is just open up and accept it 25:17 and then you will behold it and then you grow 25:19 and you believe and you understand and you 25:21 and you want to love back. 25:24 Then we become changed. 25:26 You know, this verse isn't on here. 25:27 But Romans 5:6-8, 25:31 "For when we were still without strength, 25:34 in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 25:37 For scarcely for a righteous man 25:39 will one die, 25:40 yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 25:44 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, 25:48 in that while we were still sinners, 25:49 Christ died for us. 25:52 That's incredible. 25:54 Yes, those are the verses I was thinking. 25:55 Yeah. 25:56 I was thinking of those verses, that's why I said, 25:58 hey, wait a minute, are you reading my mind. 26:00 Yeah, those verses... 26:02 Yes, yes. 26:03 Because they all fit together. 26:04 Yes. Yeah. 26:06 And so God did lay down his life for us. 26:10 So what about humans? 26:14 That leads to that other verse that John 15-13? 26:16 Yes. 26:18 That says, "Greater love has no one than this, 26:21 than to lay down one's life for his friends." 26:25 God does, all we can do is lay down our life 26:28 for our friends or our loved one. 26:29 But God laid down His life for His enemies. 26:33 That's right. Yeah. 26:34 For those who didn't love Him, 26:36 for those He knew were never going to love Him. 26:39 But also, because we were created 26:42 because God's love wanted to give. 26:45 Love wants to give. 26:46 One, it wants you to encompass and give out there. 26:50 So God created us to share His love with Him. 26:55 So but it has to be free, too. 26:57 It has to be free choice. No other way. 27:01 What's the beautiful thing about that, too, 27:02 is have you ever noticed that when you do something, 27:05 let's say maybe you're feeding the homeless, 27:07 or maybe you're going into prison, 27:08 and you're doing prison ministry, 27:09 and you go to be a blessing, 27:11 but you come out of there feeling more blessed 27:14 than when you went in there? 27:15 Like it's, it's incredible how that love, 27:19 and all of that stuff works. 27:20 I mean, it's absolutely amazing. 27:23 When you give love, it grows you. 27:25 And that's what we are created for. 27:27 We are created in God's image, God is love. 27:29 So we're really being restored. 27:30 You know, we think 27:32 that we want to hold on to bitterness 27:35 or hatred or unforgiveness, 27:36 you know, because that's, you know, 27:38 just like, but really, that's hurting us. 27:42 We weren't created to hold on to that kind of stuff. 27:44 God doesn't hold on to it. 27:45 He wants us to be free from that. 27:47 Job was captive to that. 27:49 And he when he prayed for his miserable comforter, 27:51 worthless physician friends, he was freed from that, 27:55 and everything was restored to him. 27:57 And it's the same with us. 27:58 You know, we go through some struggles in life. 28:00 People mistreat us, whatever it is, 28:02 and we want to hold a grudge and God says, 28:04 "No, no, no, I don't hold a grudge. 28:05 You don't hold a grudge. 28:07 You'll be returned to who I created you to be. 28:10 Why do we want to hold on to a grudge? 28:12 Why do we want to hold on to that stuff? 28:14 What is it we're really looking for? 28:16 We want justice. 28:18 And where does justice lie really? 28:21 Good point. 28:22 It lies with God. Yeah, Romans 13. 28:24 He, God is the only one. 28:26 So if you need justice for pain, 28:28 and that's what's separating you from God's love 28:31 is that you need justice. 28:33 If you can let go of that, and give it to God, 28:37 He will get justice for you. 28:39 You may not see it, it may not be here and now. 28:41 But then you get to experience His love. 28:45 And that will heal that pain if you allow it to happen. 28:49 Yeah, Romans 12:19. 28:51 I say Romans 12, "Vengeance is Mine, 28:52 I will repay says the Lord. 28:54 So if your enemy is hungry, feed them, 28:55 if he's thirsty, give him water to drink." 28:57 Because we do hunger. 28:58 You know, you talked about healing 28:59 that brings healing, that brings healing to allow, 29:03 now I'm gonna say that way, 29:05 to allow God's forgiving love to flow through us 29:09 so that we can forgive others. 29:11 Because the idea of forgiving others 29:13 is difficult for us humans. 29:15 It's difficult, because there's the pain 29:18 of whatever happened, whatever was said. 29:21 Or perhaps somebody didn't appreciate something 29:23 you've done, that is painful. 29:28 And to let go of the pain and say, 29:29 yes, Lord, I'm willing to let your forgiving love 29:34 flow through me to forgive that other person. 29:37 And, you know, sometimes you have to forgive people. 29:41 Over and over. Yes, to forgive people. 29:43 But also there's the, 29:44 you know, sometimes maybe you have done wrong, 29:47 and you go to someone and you say, 29:49 you know, I'm sorry for what I've done. 29:51 Please forgive me. 29:53 And maybe that person reacts well, I'm not forgiving you. 29:55 I don't know if you, that has ever happened to you. 29:57 I'm not forgiving you. 29:58 You need to learn a lesson from this. 30:00 And then you feel like, 30:01 oh, I've come to this person to ask for forgiveness. 30:05 We need to understand that God forgives us. 30:07 And that has the greater value. 30:09 And even though the person chooses not to forgive us, 30:12 we have done what we are supposed to do. 30:14 Yeah. 30:15 We have come to the person and said, 30:17 you know, forgive me for what I have done. 30:19 And there's the aspect of we need to let allow God 30:24 to heal us, to heal us, 30:26 even when we feel that the person didn't react 30:30 the way I expected that person to react. 30:32 Even, you know, there's pain. 30:34 Oh, go ahead, I'm sorry. 30:35 There is this sentence in the book Desire of Ages, 30:39 that says, 30:42 "Only by love is love begotten." 30:45 Awakened. 30:46 Awakened. That's right. 30:47 "Only by love is love awakened." 30:49 Correct, you remember that. Very good. 30:50 So only by love is love awakened. 30:52 So if you really want to communicate love to someone, 30:57 you need to show love. 30:59 And that God does that with us. 31:00 Yeah. 31:01 He shows us His love to awaken love in us for Him. 31:06 And He shows this love, 31:07 like I said before, over and over and over again. 31:10 And if you don't see that over and over again, 31:12 just stop a moment and think about your day, 31:15 how many blessings you have received, 31:16 because some people sometimes they don't seem 31:18 to see the blessings. 31:20 But even the very fact that you, 31:21 you're even able to see, to hear, to breathe, 31:26 your heart is beating, 31:27 those are blessings of the Lord. 31:29 Yes. 31:30 You know, I think that sometimes 31:32 there's a disconnect between man and God 31:37 due to the misrepresentation of His character. 31:40 And so when you have a distorted image 31:43 of who God is, 31:45 and you don't see how much He really loves us, 31:49 and then you know, people going the opposite direction. 31:52 But that's one of the things 31:54 with Salvation in Symbols and Signs 31:55 that I love is that its revelation 31:59 has been painted as a love story. 32:02 And that has, 32:04 you know, we've heard from viewers and stuff, 32:05 and that has really changed people's perception, 32:09 you know, and praise God for that. 32:11 You know, even, we're talking about 32:14 principles here, and these principles apply. 32:18 Even there are people out there who it can be very hard. 32:22 We've talked about forgiveness in many ways. 32:24 But there are people out there 32:26 that have been hurt in illegal ways are very, 32:30 they deserve justice. 32:34 And to forgive someone who maybe is not a Christian, 32:37 that maybe is a criminal 32:39 and has hurt you in a criminal way, 32:41 to be able to forgive someone like that. 32:44 These principles still are effective, 32:49 and they still work. 32:50 God will bring healing to you, 32:52 even if you forgive someone 32:53 who does not deserve your forgiveness. 32:57 The forgiveness is healing you, 33:00 and bringing your love relationship 33:02 back in light line with God, 33:04 and let God take care of the bad person. 33:09 You may not be able to fix that person 33:10 or you may not be able to. 33:13 They may not be a Christian, but let God bring you justice. 33:16 Let God have justice, whether you see it or not. 33:19 Those principles that you've all been talking about, 33:22 still apply in those bad cases. 33:26 Yeah, let's talk about that just a little bit more, can we? 33:28 So justice is a characteristic of God's love. 33:32 Love and justice aren't opposites, right? 33:35 No. Justice is part of God's love. 33:37 So there's two aspects that God has done, 33:39 I think in calling us to forgive. 33:41 One of the things He's done is 33:43 He's called us to forgive people personally, 33:44 but He's put the powers of this earth 33:47 in charge of justice for now. 33:49 So Romans 13 says, you know, fear the government, 33:52 fear the sword, fear those are set over you 33:55 because they are, 33:57 they are sort of justice for the evildoer. 33:59 And it's not perfect, of course, 34:01 but to give someone 34:02 who has committed a crime against you 34:04 doesn't mean that they shouldn't be prosecuted. 34:06 Oh, no. 34:07 Doesn't mean there shouldn't be a consequence. 34:09 That's the first thing we want to communicate to our viewers. 34:11 And then the second thing is, 34:13 God has actually put a hold on His justice. 34:17 And He's asking us to be like Him, 34:19 He's asking us to follow Him. 34:21 So if God is holding back His justice for now, 34:25 and then we, but we're saying, 34:26 "Well, I'm not gonna hold back my justice." 34:27 You see what I'm saying, well, I'll be like Him. 34:29 So God is saying, now I'm holding back My justice, 34:31 that's going to be a Day of Reckoning, 34:33 there's going to be a Day of Judgment, 34:34 there's going to be a Day of Recompense. 34:35 Right. I'll take care of that. 34:37 You, for now, yeah, the civil powers of the earth 34:40 have and they may or may not do what they need to do. 34:43 But you personally forgive, get cleansed from that. 34:47 And then trust me, 34:48 because at the end, 34:50 I'm going to make everything right. 34:51 Thank you. That was excellent. 34:52 Yes. Yeah, that was... 34:54 You expressed what I'm thinking. 34:56 Yes. You got me going. 34:58 Thank you. 35:00 You know, we all need some mercy, 35:02 we all need mercy. 35:04 Deuteronomy, 7:9 says, 35:06 "Therefore know that the Lord your God, 35:10 He is God, the faithful God 35:12 who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations 35:16 with those who love Him and keep His command." 35:21 He's fair, He's just, He's loving, 35:25 He's forgiving. 35:27 God is amazing, simply put, yes. 35:32 And I think that this was actually a verse 35:34 I was going to look at what it was in Exodus, 35:36 because this is a reiteration of the principles of God's law. 35:42 In the very next verse, he says, 35:43 "And repayeth them that hate him to their face, 35:47 to destroy them: 35:49 he will not be slack to him that hateth him, 35:51 he will repay him to his face." 35:53 In other words, there's the justice, 35:56 but God's the one that does it. 35:57 Just a quick story about this, a biblical story. 36:00 You know, there was a man 36:01 that was treated very unjustly in the Bible, 36:03 many people were, 36:04 but I'm thinking of David specifically, 36:05 and Saul, the way Saul treated and tried to kill him. 36:08 And David took off and he was running from Saul. 36:10 It was not a week, it was not a month, 36:12 it was years. 36:14 And in one of the situations, 36:16 David had an opportunity to kill Saul 36:18 and his army guys, 36:21 his buddies are like, do it, do it. 36:22 Just say the word. 36:24 Yeah, I'll put the sword through him. 36:25 And I won't have to do it twice, just one. 36:28 And David said, "No, I'm not going to do that." 36:30 Because between the time that Saul was mistreating him, 36:32 and the time that he had the opportunity 36:34 to revenge himself of, of Saul, 36:36 David had processed his anger. 36:38 He processed all the bitterness and all the feelings 36:41 that the emotions that he had. 36:43 And that's why when you read the Psalms, 36:44 and if you want to read these, the specific Psalm 36:47 you want to read, for those who are listening 36:49 is Psalm 59. 36:50 That is a Psalm that specifically talks about 36:53 when David was running from Saul. 36:55 And in that Psalm, you know, you read some of the Psalms, 36:57 and you see David, he's just like, he's losing it. 37:00 He's saying stuff and you're like, 37:01 Whoa, this was a man after God's own heart. 37:03 He's just like, angry, you know, destroy them, 37:06 wipe them out, just get them. 37:08 And you're thinking, whoa, 37:09 but that was how David processed his anger. 37:12 And when he was done processing his anger, 37:15 his actions were actions of mercy, of kindness, 37:18 of forgiveness and acceptance. 37:20 Every single time he processed 37:23 he was able to come out on the other end, 37:24 surprisingly not only his men, 37:26 what do you mean though, but himself, 37:28 and of course, they have the universe. 37:30 So we can't just say, okay, God's gonna take care of it. 37:32 I've got these fools. I'm just gonna stuff them down. 37:34 No, we have to process to God. 37:36 That's why Ephesians 4:26, says, 37:40 "Be angry and sin not." 37:42 God can handle it. 37:43 Don't let the sun go down in your wrath. 37:45 God can take all of our emotion. 37:47 He is a big God, and He's not going to be... 37:50 He is not going to get mad at you for being angry. 37:53 He's not going to get mad at you 37:55 even when you're saying, 37:57 God, how come You're not fixing this? 37:59 And sometimes that's how we feel, 38:00 just like, Lord, You need to fix this right now. 38:03 This isn't right, this isn't fair. 38:05 And we can get very angry. 38:06 And maybe we're not the ones that are hurt. 38:08 Some things don't make sense. 38:10 We've had things happen around here 38:12 that didn't, the loss of life or something, 38:14 it doesn't make sense. 38:16 And you can get very angry at God 38:19 for something that you don't understand, 38:20 it doesn't make any sense. 38:22 God can handle that. 38:23 Let Him take that emotion 38:26 and let Him take you to a healing place. 38:29 And with that, I'm glad that you brought that up, 38:31 with that though, we need to put the credit 38:33 where it's due to the enemy for destroying those lives. 38:36 He's out to kill and all of that stuff. 38:38 A lot of times we try and blame God, 38:40 you know, even with insurance companies, right? 38:43 These are acts of God, 38:45 you know, when things are destroyed, 38:47 and all this other stuff. 38:49 The enemy wants to destroy us. 38:51 God wants to save us, like He wants us to be saved. 38:56 Death and sin and all of that stuff 38:58 were never in His initial plan for us, 39:02 you know, but He loves us enough 39:04 to allow us to make the choice. 39:07 And we chose wrong, 39:08 you know, human beings chose wrong 39:10 but yet, in His everlasting love for us, 39:14 He made a way for us 39:17 to have everlasting life through Jesus Christ. 39:19 So, yeah, yeah. 39:22 That's just powerful. 39:25 And He gives us guidelines. 39:27 You've talked about the Ten Commandments 39:29 a little bit. 39:30 To me, I know a lot of people look at the Ten Commandments. 39:33 To me, that is God's love. 39:35 It's His lovingkindness 39:37 because it gives me complete freedom. 39:39 To me, if I live within those guidelines, 39:44 I have all the freedom in the world 39:46 and He will rise me up, I can accomplish anything, 39:49 I can do anything. 39:50 I will be free of all kinds of stuff. 39:54 Satan is the one who wants to hold us down 39:57 and he binds us by us choosing to live outside 40:02 those wonderful boundaries 40:04 that keeps all the bad stuff out. 40:06 Yeah. 40:07 Satan throws stuff in. 40:09 Even if you live by God's beautiful law, 40:13 Satan, we cannot leave Satan 40:15 out of his anger and destruction 40:19 and our own bad choices. 40:21 Yeah, yeah. 40:23 Pastor Rafferty, you have Romans 8:37-39. 40:28 Romans 8:37-39. All right. 40:32 So this is part of a section of God's love, 40:38 38 and 39, or 37 to 39 says, 40:42 "Nay, in all these things 40:44 we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 40:47 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, 40:50 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 40:53 nor things present, nor things to come, 40:55 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 40:59 shall be able to separate us from the love of God, 41:02 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 41:05 I really think these verses have to be understood, 41:08 first and foremost in the way that God looks at us. 41:11 But they're also to be understood 41:13 in the way that we look at God. 41:14 So God looks at, you know, He's looking at us, 41:16 and we need to recognize that nothing's going to separate us 41:19 from His love, from His perspective, 41:21 nothing's going to separate us. 41:23 And then we need to look back and say, 41:24 you know, I'm not gonna let anything separate you 41:26 from my love. 41:28 I'm not gonna let anything separate, 41:29 because you have committed to me 41:31 that nothing's going to separate you. 41:33 And so I'm committing back to you 41:34 that nothing's going to separate me. 41:36 It's kind of like this wedding, 41:37 you know, commitment vow we make to God, 41:40 this revelation, you know, this bride and bridegroom 41:43 relationship that we're stepping into. 41:46 Yeah, that's beautiful. 41:47 So even when we think 41:49 we've separated ourselves from God, 41:50 because we stepped away, 41:53 His love comes right back on us. 41:56 So we're only fooling ourselves 41:59 when we think we separate ourselves 42:01 from God's love. 42:02 Because we don't, it's following us, 42:04 whether we want it or not. 42:06 That's right. That's right. 42:08 This is, you know, a reiteration of something 42:12 we have already said before. 42:14 And that is the fact that 42:16 it doesn't matter how much evil, 42:17 wickedness you have done, 42:20 it does not change God's love toward us. 42:22 And this is why it says here that 42:25 nothing shall be able to separate us 42:27 from the love of God. 42:29 His love will continue to be eternal for us. 42:32 And that is, you know, that is mercy beyond 42:36 our understanding again, 42:38 because notice this scripture, 42:41 and it gives you the dimensions. 42:46 They have no bounds, 42:47 it talks about height, depth, and what else? 42:50 Principalities, powers. 42:51 No, it's an all encompassing love, 42:55 and it's just incredible. 42:58 I remember a story that somebody, 43:00 I think it was somebody on 3ABN 43:01 many, many years ago, that said, 43:03 "Lord, I don't want a mansion, 43:05 just give me a little shack somewhere made out of wood." 43:08 You know, because they think I've just been too evil. 43:11 I just want a little shack. I just want to be there. 43:13 But God's love is, is for us. 43:17 There's a scripture that is it John 17, 43:20 where it says that God loves us as much as He loves His Son. 43:24 What? 43:26 Is that something so much to take in, 43:28 so much to take in, incredible. 43:30 Because God focuses on the person He created, 43:35 not your actions. 43:37 And He always views us as where did you, 43:41 somebody said up in potential, your potential, 43:45 your possibilities in Christ. 43:48 So Jesus sees us through the eyes 43:51 of His creation of who He made us to be. 43:55 And I think if we understand that, 43:57 we can allow ourselves to love back 44:01 and maybe understand a little bit of that love 44:04 that He's looking at me 44:06 through His rose colored glasses, 44:09 as we would say on earth, 44:11 but He sees us in reality 44:12 of who we really could be. 44:14 And that's what He's drawing and loving 44:17 and trying to bring out in us 44:20 is what He created us to be. 44:22 And He's seen that, He's seen that produced 44:25 over and over again. 44:27 All through the Bible we see people who were rascals, 44:30 Manasseh, you know, all of these different ones, 44:33 Nebuchadnezzar, I mean, he's ready to kill 44:34 his whole cabinet. 44:36 Manasseh was the most wicked king 44:37 that you know reigned in Israel. 44:39 And you go through the New Testament, 44:41 you see the same thing taking place 44:42 over and over again, 44:44 where God is just transforming the disciples. 44:46 Those guys didn't have their act together. 44:47 Look at Peter, at most times was cursing. 44:50 So Paul, he's persecuting the church 44:54 and hailing them off to jail and to death, 44:56 and yet they're transformed. 44:58 And so, of course, God see, He knows it works. 45:00 He sees it. 45:02 And so He looks at you, He looks at me and He says, 45:03 you know what? 45:05 Just where we came from, where we were, 45:07 we talked about being in jail 45:08 and how that taught us a little lesson, you know? 45:10 And so there's viewers out there 45:11 and they're thinking, well, you know, 45:13 you guys, you're all Christians, 45:14 and you're all believers, 45:16 and you're wearing these nice clothes 45:17 and all up there. 45:18 No, you don't understand. 45:20 We are the continuation of the faith 45:22 that God has manifested toward humanity, 45:24 all through the ages. 45:26 And the potential He sees in humanity 45:28 is the same potential He saw in Nebuchadnezzar, 45:30 the same potential He saw in Manasseh, 45:32 the same potentially He saw in every single one 45:35 of those biblical characters 45:37 that did all those things that we're capable of doing. 45:40 And yet on the other end 45:42 when the love of God came into their hearts, 45:44 transformation took place. 45:45 So He's got evidence for His faith 45:47 that He manifest toward us. 45:48 He knows it works. 45:50 Yes. That's right. 45:51 And it's beautiful. 45:53 I want to hear this verse, Pastor Dinzey, 45:55 you have this verse right here is Isaiah 54:10. 45:59 Isaiah 54:10, 46:01 "For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, 46:06 but My kindness shall not depart from you, 46:09 nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, 46:13 says the Lord, who has mercy on you." 46:17 Wow! This is so much. 46:20 This is good news. 46:21 You know, people watch the news. 46:25 I don't know why people watch the news. 46:27 You know, we heard bad news yesterday, 46:28 the day before. 46:30 Let's watch it again to see if there's something. 46:31 No, it's bad news, God has the good news. 46:34 Yes. 46:35 And this is another one of those verses that says, 46:37 it's full packed, good news. 46:41 The mountains can depart, the hills can be removed, 46:43 but My kindness shall not depart from you. 46:45 Yeah. 46:47 And then he finds it, says the Lord, 46:49 who has mercy upon you. 46:51 Thank You, Lord. I love that. 46:52 And then He signs it. 46:54 Yes. He signs it. 46:55 Yeah. Yeah, that's beautiful. 46:56 That's good. 46:58 The Psalm 63:3. 47:00 Oh, yeah. 47:02 I love this, Psalm 63:3. 47:04 "Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, 47:09 my lips shall praise you." 47:11 I didn't always feel that way. 47:13 I didn't live that way. 47:14 But because there was all this, 47:18 if I looked at myself through my own eyes, 47:20 I'd go dig a hole and bury myself. 47:22 It's ugly. 47:23 But if I look at myself through God's eyes, 47:26 if I allow God to live within me, 47:29 and to flow through me and show me His love, 47:33 then all I can do is praise Him 47:35 because He turned my life around. 47:37 I am not. 47:39 He took all the... 47:41 I'm not perfect yet, working on it. 47:43 But He took the ugly, He took the blackness, 47:45 He took the hopelessness, 47:47 He took, He took all the real evil. 47:50 And it departed from me because I keep my eyes on Him. 47:55 And He flows through me and gives me hope, 47:58 because He tells me like you just said, 48:01 I view you the way I created you to be, 48:04 and I'm going to help you grow to be that way. 48:08 That gives you hope that like, He's never gonna give up on me. 48:12 Yes. 48:13 So then I won't give up on me either. 48:15 And He took away the pride, that's why we say. 48:17 I'm not perfect yet, that's why we say, 48:19 you know, He's gonna finish the work. 48:21 Because we recognize that, you know, within us is that, 48:25 you know, principle that Paul talks about 48:27 in Romans Chapter 7, 48:28 you know, that, 48:30 you know, wants to go as that that famous hymn says, 48:34 you know, prone to wander, 48:35 Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love. 48:38 So what does that do for us? 48:39 Well, it causes us 48:41 to be completely reliant on Him all the time, 48:43 and not just say, well, 48:45 you know, Philippians 3, now I've attained, 48:48 no, I pressed toward the mark for the hot prize of heaven, 48:51 not as though I'd attained or already perfect, 48:53 I know that. 48:54 And if I don't know it, praise God, He'll remind me, 48:57 you know, He'll let me sink into that water 48:58 when I take my eyes off Jesus, 49:00 and not follow the Lamb wherever He goes. 49:02 So that's part of the process. 49:04 And we can say that with, with joy, with happiness, 49:08 you know, we don't have to say with trepidation and fear. 49:10 You know, I'm not perfect yet. 49:11 Because that very declaration keeps us dependent on Him, 49:16 trusting Him and looking to Him. 49:18 Every time He helps, 49:20 every time that He works through you 49:22 to overcome something, 49:23 then He reveals something else 49:25 that you weren't aware of. 49:27 So if you think you're perfect, you're not looking, 49:32 you're not listening to God reveal. 49:34 He reveals one thing at a time 49:36 because He doesn't want to overwhelm us. 49:38 Looks like it's the gospel sandwich. 49:39 I don't want to get too distracted here. 49:41 I know we're running out of time, 49:42 but it's the gospel sandwich, 1 John 1:8-10. 49:48 It says in verse 8, you know, 49:49 "If we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves." 49:52 Then it said, 49:53 "But if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just." 49:55 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar. 49:57 And the truth is not in us. And the truth is not in. 49:59 But if we confess our sin, 50:01 that's the meat of the sandwich. 50:02 We got two pieces of bread there, right? 50:03 And you don't have a sandwich without the bread, right? 50:05 It's true. 50:07 You got it open face, nothing between. 50:09 And so Job said, 50:10 "If I say I'm perfect, 50:12 my own lips would condemn me." 50:13 Yeah. 50:15 You see, that's the ultimate goal for all of us, 50:18 really, is to recognize our imperfection. 50:20 Why? 50:21 So that we can rely on Christ 50:23 and that, that's where we tend to get away, 50:25 we come to a place we feel like we've attained. 50:27 When Paul was talking about attainments, 50:29 he wasn't talking about his failures, 50:30 he was talking about his positives, 50:32 he was talking about the things that he'd done that were, 50:34 you know, I'm with the tribe of Benjamin, 50:36 circumcised on the eighth day before the law, 50:38 but I put all that behind me, 50:40 because our positive attainments 50:41 can be a hindrance. 50:43 Paul describes them as damaging to us 50:45 in that context, 50:46 not just rubbish but damaging. 50:48 We can be damaged by pride. 50:49 Laodicea is filled with that pride, 50:52 that self sufficiency. 50:53 So Christ is on the outside knocking, 50:55 because when we're not dependent, 50:57 when we feel like we attain that we're perfect, 51:00 we're not having that stuff with Him, 51:01 we're not connecting with Him the way that we need to. 51:03 So when we see our need for Him, 51:05 when we let that love and that, 51:08 let that lovingkindness and mercy pull us 51:11 and we lean on Him totally, 51:13 and recognize our need of that love. 51:16 Then we grow and He builds us and we can, 51:20 I can, I can live with my shortcomings 51:24 because I know He's working on them. 51:26 I know that I'm growing in Him. 51:29 So I don't hide from God 51:31 when He shows me where I need to grow, 51:34 because I know His love. 51:36 Yes. And that's, that's the thing too. 51:38 You know, when you look at someone 51:40 who needs help, right? 51:42 You have to recognize that you need help 51:44 before you go and seek help. 51:46 So you know, people that don't recognize 51:48 that they have a problem, 51:50 they typically don't go seeking help, 51:51 because they don't think they have a problem. 51:55 So we have to recognize that, hey, we are frail human beings, 52:00 we've made mistakes, we need to die to self daily, 52:04 that's a daily surrender. 52:06 Second by second. 52:07 Second, yes, second by second 52:09 because something could happen in the next second. 52:11 And you have to remember, God help me, 52:15 help me, you know, and I don't want to go through 52:17 a humbling experience, like King Nebuchadnezzar. 52:20 I don't want to have that type of experience. 52:23 Seven year time out. Eating grass in the fields. 52:25 Eating grass, no, 52:26 there's not enough salt and pepper in the world. 52:29 You like your food too well. 52:32 I like eating. 52:33 You know, I got to eat something good, no grass. 52:35 It doesn't work for me. 52:37 But you know, one of the things that 52:39 one of the many things that I love about the Lord, 52:41 and is that, you know, 52:43 no matter what we're going through, 52:45 no matter what we're faced with, 52:47 no matter what challenges we come up against. 52:50 He's there with us, and He's there for us. 52:53 Isaiah 41:10, says, 52:55 "Fear not, for I am with you, 52:58 be not dismayed for I am your God, 53:01 I will strengthen you. 53:03 Yes, I will help you, 53:04 I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." 53:08 So not only is He there with us, 53:11 He's saying, don't worry, I'm your God. 53:16 He will strengthen us. 53:18 He will give us the strength to overcome whatever it is. 53:21 And if we're ever faced with temptation, 53:23 He provides a way of escape 53:25 and that is, that is so beautiful. 53:27 Now we have to walk, 53:29 we have to take that way of escape. 53:32 But He provides that for us which is beautiful. 53:35 Amen. Yeah. 53:36 Amen. Yeah. 53:37 Love it. 53:39 So, Pastor Rafferty, you have a lovely passage. 53:42 In Ephesians, Ephesians 3:14-19, 53:46 "For this reason I bow my knees 53:47 to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 53:50 from whom the whole family in heaven 53:51 and earth is named, 53:53 that He would grant you, 53:54 according to the riches of His glory, 53:56 to be strengthened with might through His Spirit 53:59 in the inner man, 54:00 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, 54:04 that you be rooted and grounded in love, 54:07 may be able to comprehend with all the saints 54:10 what is the width and the length 54:13 and the depth and the height 54:15 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, 54:18 that you may be filled with the fullness of God." 54:21 And this is an incredible verse. 54:22 And when I think about these dimensions, 54:25 like for example, when I think about 54:26 the width of God's love, I think about 54:30 how it encompasses the whole world. 54:32 His love is wide enough 54:34 to encompass every single human being, 54:36 John 3:16. 54:38 When I think about the length of God's love, 54:41 I think about how long God has held out for us 54:45 for thousands of years, 54:47 God has held out His mercy to the human race. 54:51 You know, when I think about the depth of God's love, 54:53 I think about Jesus Christ 54:55 God Himself coming down to this earth 54:57 all the way down to humanity 54:59 and not just to humanity as a king or prince or, 55:02 but to humanity as a carpenter, 55:06 to humanity as a babe in a manger, 55:09 where there was no place for Him 55:10 in the motel, in the hotel, 55:12 and then the sacrifice of the cross, 55:14 dying the depth of the cross. 55:16 And when I think about the height of God's love, 55:18 I think about the promise in Revelation Chapter 3, 55:21 you know, it says there, 55:22 "To him that overcomes, 55:24 they will sit with Me on My throne, 55:27 even as I sit with the Father on His throne." 55:30 So we think about this, it's incomprehensible. 55:33 That's why John says, Behold, now, it's hard to describe it. 55:37 We're supposed to measure this. 55:38 And we've got these increments, you know, we've got, 55:41 you know, the things we just talked about, 55:43 the height, the length, the breadth, the depth, 55:45 but it's still, it's like a drop in the ocean 55:50 of God's love 55:52 when we think about, even these verses, 55:53 they're not even there. 55:55 So there's falling short, 55:58 but yet our imagination is there, 56:00 let your imagination just let it loose now 56:03 when you're talking about God's love 56:04 for the human race. 56:06 Don't limit it to believers, don't limit it to Christians, 56:09 don't limit it to Adventists or Baptists or Catholics, 56:12 don't limit God's love in that fashion. 56:15 The world has been doused with this love, 56:20 this unfathomable love. 56:21 Let's behold that. That's beautiful. 56:22 And I love how it says being rooted 56:25 and grounded in love, 56:27 because when you think about a plant, 56:28 it gets its nutrients from the soil, 56:31 from the roots and all of that stuff, 56:33 so we need to be rooted and grounded in love 56:36 and in the Word of God. 56:37 Dee, you look like you wanted to say something. 56:39 No, I'm just... I just love, it's so awesome. 56:43 Yes. God's Word. 56:44 Amen. And His love and kindness. 56:48 Pastor Dinzey, will you read Revelation 3:19, 56:52 ever so quickly? 56:53 Ever so quickly? 56:55 We're running out of time. 56:56 It says here, 56:57 "As many as I love, 56:59 I rebuke and chasten, 57:01 therefore be zealous and repent." 57:04 And this scripture here is a message for us as well. 57:07 God loves us. 57:09 He's not gonna, He doesn't want us 57:10 to, to sink in the mire and corrupting 57:14 and destroying the wickedness 57:17 so He lovingly rebukes us and chasten us for our benefit. 57:20 Amen. 57:22 And so that doesn't mean that, 57:23 you know, you won't be corrected 57:25 on bad behavior. 57:26 No, that is a sign of love. 57:28 Thank you all so much, and thank you for tuning in. 57:31 We hope you recognize the immense love 57:34 that God has for you. 57:35 God bless you. |
Revised 2021-08-13