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Amen. Well, I heard y'all had sympathy weather here last week. The Lord didn't want us to go down to Panama and sweat without y'all getting a little taste. It's hard to believe that a few years back that we actually met for about four months and that stuff. So for those of y'all that were like, it was so hot, they were the real OGs were the one that weren't just in it for a day. They were in it for the long haul. So if you were here during that time, we should get you like a, I don't know, like a ribbon or something for enduring that. But fresh off the trip from Panama, we all missed you guys, of course, but thank you for praying for the team. Incredibly proud of this team. Bree and Judah and Maddie and Kingston and Noah and Gretel and Jonathan did a fantastic job. Am I missing somebody that went? Oh, me?
Yes, I went as well. I was there. And they did such a great job. I'm telling you to have younger people in those type of environments and to see them participate just like they do here. It lets me know that what God's doing in us is a good thing and it's not put on. They represented this church very, very well. And a big, big, huge kudos to Jonathan and to Gretel for which the trip would not have happened without y'all. Jonathan put in a lot of hard work to help make that trip go. And a lot of, if you've never planned a trip before, especially one to another country, especially the one that you don't speak that language and to navigate all those things, he did a fantastic job with that. And of course, Gretel was there to be our sister translator. And there are so many stories that happened while we were there. I'll let her tell them one day when we get a chance on just some of the things that, it's like this guys, you can say you'll have less, what's the word I'm looking for? Coincidences. You have a lot less coincidences when you don't pray, but you'll have a lot more if you do. And the coincidences that we had while we were down there were just astounding.
And so God's at work in Panama and I'm glad that we're connected with it. Looking forward to future trips. Well, I'm gonna jump in.
Ephesians chapter three, Trace opened up this series last week. We are doing this series called Power and we're gonna look today, I've kind of titled this Brain Power because we're gonna be focusing in on one particular part of this section here in Ephesians. We're gonna look starting in verse 17 and we're gonna read through verse 19 and the next section is going to be about the power of God. And next week, we're gonna finish out that small little section there in 20 through 21 and then we're halfway through Ephesians. We're gonna get into chapter four and so I'm really looking forward to that. I just, I think this series has been so helpful or not just this series, but going through the book of Ephesians has been super helpful to me personally. So I don't know how you are. I know that going through church services and feeling like kind of a, you know, a connoisseur of church services, going to different church services, hearing different styles, types of music, all that kind of stuff, all that stuff's whatever. The link between all the churches is the word of God. Our style of music and some of our minor theological disagreements, that's whatever. We can kind of do whatever we wanna do with that. But what links the church together is the word of God. And what I have sensed going through Ephesians is just that link. Like I'm really not in competition with the church in our area. The word of God going out and the saints being mature and future family being redeemed by the blood of Jesus is what matters. And as the more I've gone through the scriptures like this, I've just been so encouraged and I hope that you have as well. So we're gonna be looking at, as I said in Ephesians chapter three, we're gonna start in verse 17. I'm gonna read through verses 19 and then we're really just gonna take some time to hone in on this one specific part here, okay? So starting in verse 19.
So starting in verse 19. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, take note of those two words, may have the strength or the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to, listen to this, know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. with all the fullness of God. Now, if you are paying attention at any level to that text, the problem with that text comes in around verse 19. the problem with that text comes in around verse 19. So Paul says, as Trace was talking about last week, that, and he even mentioned these scriptures where God's gonna give you a new heart and a new spirit, put that in you and He's gonna renew you and He's gonna give you the ability to do something that prior to that, you wouldn't have the ability to do. He really emphasized, you just don't have this power on your own. This power comes through the spirit. And so through that, then Paul says, and he's praying this prayer, that through that or in order that you might have Christ dwelling in you through faith. And it's amazing that even this type of language is being used because what he's saying is that the whole thing, with God is not by way of what you do or being deserving of it. It all comes because of you trusting what God's done on your behalf. And so he says, in order for you to be strengthened, He wants you to have power. He wants you to have ability to do something pretty incredible.
And it's there in verse 19. How can you know something that surpasses knowledge? Did you catch that in the verse? It says in verse 19, and to know the love of Christ, that surpasses knowledge. That is quite a confounding thought, isn't it? How do you know something that goes beyond what's knowable? How do you comprehend something that seems immeasurable or almost unknowable? That's sort of gonna be our task today. How do we answer that question?
How can you know something that surpasses knowledge?
So we're gonna pray. We're just gonna ask the Lord to meet us in the text, help us kind of know exactly what it is that Paul was praying here because that prayer, was not just for the church in Ephesus, it's a prayer for us today as well, okay? So pray with me. Father, thank you just for meeting with us in so many special ways since we've been here together. I ask also that not necessarily in a better way, but in a unique way, would you meet with us in your word? Your word is where life comes from. How can we live unless your word has come to our hearts? And how can we believe on something if there's not something as sturdy as your word to believe on? And I ask that that word would begin to make its home in our heart, especially as we learn how to know the love of Jesus, what I would think is the pinnacle of the gospel. I ask, Lord, that you'd help us today, help the ears of everyone hearing, and help my mouth in speaking. And in Jesus' name, amen.
So Paul's praying a prayer and he's saying, I want you, just to let you know, like just Paul obviously loved the church. And he would pray these types of prayers. Beginning of this particular section and something that Trace highlighted last week is that he bowed his knee. And that in that culture, standing up was sort of the tradition. You stood up to pray. Paul says, I bend my knee. It's this sense of humility and an extreme desire that he would have for the church. And I want to throw this out there before we get too deep. I think it's true. I think probably one of the things that we face as the church so often is to know, I think probably one of the things that we face as the church so often is to know, intellectually, the fact of God's love, but not experience it. Why do I think that's true? Well, I would ask you before we get into this to think for just a second, do you feel loved by God? I'm gonna give you some, probably some things that will help you realize whether, because in the church in the South, especially guys, we're, the way I used to say all the time is we're raised saved. I heard somebody the other day say, they asked them, when did you give your life to the Lord? And they said, I've been saved since I was born. Well, what we just did in that child dedication was not a promise of salvation. We were saying, God, they're yours. We want you to redeem them. And until the time in which they profess faith in you, keep them and guard them. But we did not in any way impart salvation into those children, right? We don't believe that. We believe every person has to make a decision, a personal decision, based on their faith and trust that Jesus did do what he did. And that if he did it, they believe they did it for him and they trust in that. And that is how we're saved. That you confess with your mouth, that you believe in your heart. And I didn't hear Miles. I didn't hear Teddy. So, you know, I'm saying we didn't dedicate them in the sense that saying they're saved, we're saying, God, they're yours.
And we're trusting for the day when you will redeem their life. I heard that said the other day, and I thought, huh, man, they're really amazing. But it is a sense that we know the love of God intellectually and have ascended to that thought intellectually to the point where there are even some people in the church that believe that they were saved before they were ever alive. I mean, they believe they came out of the womb and Jesus redeemed them immediately, right? And you might say, why is that problematic? Well, it's problematic because as you grow up in the church, if you've been in the church any length of time, when you're in the culture, you start learning how to say the things that are true without actually experiencing some of those things. That's why there are so many instances in your life and in my life where you kind of come to a moment and you realize, my goodness, I've been living with this secret sin in my life. Or you wake up one morning and you realize that you are in a season of life where you've been more anxious and you have been more trusting of your effort than you have of what God is providing you. What God is providing or doing for you. You can find out real quick that you know things that you don't really know. So let me make maybe a clarification that oftentimes we know things in our mind that we haven't experienced in our life.
We know that God loves us. My question would be, do you experience the love of God? I'm gonna give you a couple of examples of why I think that this might be a problem, and why I think it's an important thing for us to look at today. Because Paul's prayer is that you would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. There's no trickery in the Greek here. Those words mean what they mean. Knowledge is a learned thing that surpasses knowledge. Jesus' love surpasses what you can know on an intellectual level. It's important that you know it on an intellectual level, but it's not the apex.
Spurgeon said that if the church knows purity and doctrine and orthodoxy without love, we are a cold corpse. You can have all the theology you want, but if you don't have the love of God, you're missing what all that good theology points you to. How in the world are we gonna proclaim Christ to the world if we are doing it out of anything other than the love we've experienced from Christ? You know, people are not won over because you have good doctrine. The gospel has not been spread for years and years and years because of intellectual knowledge of what Christ has done. There have been people that just as Trace prayed over those babies, have learned to love, trust, and obey Jesus. We emphasize those three pegs, if you wanna call them that, because to have one without the other two is to miss the fullness of God in your life. You can trust and obey Jesus, and maybe never love him. You could love and trust Jesus, and then yet never obey him. Could probably do a mixture of those in some form or some facet, but we say those three because we believe that in that is some fullness. And think about how you think about love. Think about it. Now, I wanna say something to my fellows real quick, too. I was thinking about this yesterday, kinda laughed. We're kind of in a culture right now where the younger generation, as they're writing worship music, and as certain things are going on, there's a lot going on. There's a term right now going through the church about certain worship songs being called boyfriend Jesus songs. The reason they're called that is because it seems like the writing style of some of these younger worship leaders is very romantic in nature. Hey, fellas, let me tell you something. Jesus does not wanna date you. When David was said that he was a lover of God and that his heart was for God, that he was a man after God's arm, that he was a man after his own heart, that was not a romantic love. A romantic love is not what has helped the church prevail for 2,000 plus years. I love my wife more than I ever have in my entire life. And there's no way romantic love at 15 years old, and I was starstruck, by the way, 15 years old, y'all. I put on a sparkly vest and danced and acted like Michael Jackson. I was just trying to get her attention, y'all. I was trying. But romantic love alone is not going to keep me faithful to my wife. So you see, there's a problem when you intellectually say, well, I know God loves me. Fellas, let me know. He doesn't wanna date you. He doesn't wanna hold your hand. For those of you that got some daddy issues, come on.
Maybe you need a hug from dad every once in a while, but he's not trying to date you. Ladies, I'm sorry. God's not looking for romantic love from you. He's looking for covenant love. Covenant love is based off of a decision where you know you were loved first, so therefore you love, trust, and obey Jesus. So if your belly doesn't have butterflies in it anymore when you have your worship time with Jesus, it's okay. God's not trying to date you. God's not trying to court you. We get imagery like that in the Bible, but all of that points to covenant, doesn't it? A commitment that is something else. When I made vows to my wife and put this ring on, and my wife, I held her hand, and I said, I held my ring on, put Jennifer's ring on her finger and held her ring, I made some remarks. But no matter what, we said things like, like if we get sick, I'm not gonna leave her because she gets sick. I'm not gonna leave her if we run out of money. I'm not gonna leave her, period. That nothing in this world is going to make me give up on my side. That's why I promised. Now, why am I telling you that? I'm not telling you that to make a big deal out of marriage. I'm telling you to point marriage and the covenant of marriage back to a greater promise and covenant that was cut with you.
You see, I made a promise based on my effort towards my wife. What binds me and my wife together? A piece of paper from Jefferson County? That's baloney. That stuff's not even worth the time there. What is that marriage certificate? It's nothing. What is it that is worth? It is needed, me, to hold to my promise. Now, I wanna tell you something about Jesus. I'm gonna get there, I promise. Let me tell you something about what Jesus has promised to you. Jesus promises to keep his word towards you even if the romance fades. I wanna be honest with you. There are things that I don't do anymore. I don't have to get her attention anymore. Sometimes she's probably wishing I wouldn't try to get her attention. She's probably like, stop, you know? But now we've been promised each other, right? I don't have to do some of the things. And I've grown in love for her, but we don't do. I mean, we were like, oh, I'm about you. And we used to call each other names. We used to talk to each other on the phone. And it's like, you know, I can barely get to the bed at 8.30 and just, you know, I mean, it's not there like it was in the romance. Hear me. But does that mean that my vow and my love have decreased? I would dare say it's increased. Now, if you think in terms of romantic love towards God, then when the romance doesn't feel there, then you feel like you're not loved by God. This is why I'm telling you, do you just know He loves you? But do you also experience His love? Because if you think of God's love for you or your love towards God as in that romantic confines, you will not be experiencing the love of God because you won't feel things. I hear it in the church all the time. And we're in a sensational time. Everything is about how you feel. And we validate people's feelings, don't we? Oh, I want you to validate mine. I got hurt. I got problems. I got things. This happened to me. We want people to sit with us and cry. We want people to take up our Facebook posts and share it a thousand times. We want that. It helps us, doesn't it, in a sense? It doesn't really. It spurs on the flesh, but it doesn't help you live a godly life.
Because guess what? Feelings are the word of God. The first fuel for a life in Christ that you can have. I'm saying all that because that's how I've lived, wondering about the love of God. And here's Paul praying a prayer that says, the love of God is more than a fact to be known. It's an everlasting, expanding, evolving experience. And the longer you live with God, that shouldn't decrease. It should only increase. The power that we're talking about in this series comes from somewhere. He qualifies that in order for this to happen, being rooted and grounded in love is where you get strength to comprehend. Now, you might be like, well, being strengthened and grounded in love to understand love, how does that even work? Well, I'm glad you asked. That's a great question. How are you rooted and grounded in love? We have all these definitions of where love comes from. What makes you feel like you're loved? And I thought of a couple, two of mine that I think that had come up really quick in thinking through this was, the byproduct of love in me a lot of times has been, am I accepted and am I safe? I would say, if I felt like I was loved, those were the two things that I often felt when I felt loved. There's no one on this planet who has made me feel more accepted and more safe than my wife.
Now, somebody comes busting through that door in the middle of the night, maybe not that kind of safety, but I trust her with my soul, my innermost part. She knows me better than anybody in here. She's forgiven me. When some of you might've been like, I mean, I love you, Jonathan, but she's given her life to me time and time again. She's accepted me. She's loved me. And by nature of that love, I felt accepted and I felt safe. I felt like I can be me. I feel a sense of sadness in my own heart for so many people in the body of Christ that don't feel accepted by God or safe with God, but would say they know God loves them.
I'll give you a place where you can test this. How do you pray? I like praying. And I like praying sometimes using my big boy words. Any of y'all got big boy words or big girl words? They're words that you probably don't say a lot, but they'll come out in certain moments. I like sometimes, I like to tell God some of my big boy words. But do you know, at the core of my life of prayer, I have said some of the most awful, mean, judgmental, pathetic, petty stuff to God. And you know why I've done that? Because I know He loves me. I don't recommend that your entire prayer life be you going to God and telling Him all your big boy words. So y'all thought I was talking about fancy words. I know I'm talking about bad words. You know, sometimes when you get with God and you get like David and you get into your pit and you're like, what are you doing? You just freak out.
Some of you, you know God loves you, but not enough for you to be that real before God. Your prayers are pretty. They could be crocheted on one of those little do, what are those things called? Doilies, yeah. Some of your prayers are like doilies. They're really just, oh my gosh, that's so precious and sweet. Because you just don't know how God will be. You just don't know how you'll be with how you really feel? Let me tell you something about what God knows about you.
When Jesus says in Matthew, he already knows. It's an indictment against our view of God's love towards us if we know He knows and we know He loves us, but we're still fake when we're with Him. Do you pretty up for God? You're not pretty. Again, he's not trying to date you. He wants a redemption with you where you see him rightly and then you see yourself before him rightly. I wonder if some of you today could have freedom in your life with God, where you could come to him and be like David and whine. Some of you hate whiners. You're the biggest whiner in your heart and you won't do it before God because you say stuff like, God, I already know. I know you know this. Well, go ahead and say, because Jesus didn't say God already knows, so shut your pie hole, did he?
Jesus says he already knows. So when you go, pray like this. Look at the Psalms. Look at David and how he expresses himself. Some of you need liberation in your heart to move from an intellectual fact that you've memorized from Sunday school to a reality with God where you know he knows you. And you can be who you are. Now, here's the beautiful part. As you are who you are before God, God conforms you to the image of his son. You say, oh, I can go vent to God. Yeah, just be aware. When you vent to God, God might vent back. I've gone and I've whined against people. I've complained against people. I've said they shouldn't have done that. That's so dumb. And then the Holy Spirit will begin to vent to me. Oh, well, Jonathan, do you remember just two days ago when you said that exact same phrase? Do you remember? Do you remember those few years where you had unforgiveness and you didn't even know, but every time you talked about that person, that vitriol that would come out of your mouth? So I hear you. Thanks for being petty with me. I love your realness. Now let's be conformed. Let's change. You see, that's the nature of love. The nature of love is not be who you are and we'll accept everything about you. No, no, we accept you. God accepts you, but he accepts you. He brings you into his presence because he says, I love that you are who you are. But the goal is not for you to be solidified as who culture, your decisions, or what your values are.
God's got an agenda just like you do and his trumps yours every time, amen? And that really is the nature of love because what father loving his child wouldn't correct his child, Hebrews tells us. See, the power to know the love of Jesus comes from where you're rooted and grounded. Are you rooted?
Rooted, he gives two different analogies here. Rooted, speaking about, about the nature of a plant with a root system. Grounded, speaking of the nature of a foundation. We've heard that a lot through this series. We've heard that, we hear that through Paul's writings a million times, rooted and grounded. Are you rooted and grounded in love? I want you to just do an inventory of your life real quick. This is for you. This is not for me. This is for you. I want you to look at your last week. I want you to think about how you talked. Think about your demeanor at work or with the kids or with your spouse. I want you to think about, were you angry? Were you anxious? What did you do when that thing went wrong? What did you do when that person had that opinion in front of you? What did you do? What did you sense? What was going on in your heart? Now, that's not to condemn you. It's to ask a question that helps you see if you only know God loves you and you're not experiencing the love of God. Were you angry this week? Surely you were. Were you annoyed to the point where you kind of blew a gag? Did you ask it? Did you say things that you immediately regretted? Did you sit and ponder outcomes of an event that never happened even though you sat on them for hours thinking that's how it was gonna be? I'm gonna take that as a yes from Crystal over here. He said, Jonathan, we all do that. You're right. You're absolutely right. But just because we all do it doesn't mean that that's correct. You see, the church is getting a little fuzzy on this work of holiness that God does in our lives. Well, yeah, we all struggle with it. No, no, no, no.
We don't all struggle with. We all might have moments. We all might have stuff. But you may be sensing that God is doing something in you.
And what we do so many times is we justify our life and say, well, everybody's gonna struggle. Everybody's gonna sin. It's true. But some of you, I just feel, there's a deep growl in your heart to change. And let me tell you how God actuates change. He does not do it through twisting your arm. He does it. He does it through his love. If you don't know your love by God, you won't get up on the wheel. You won't get up. You know, Abraham took his son, Isaac, who was a grown man, by the way, okay? Isaac was not right there, a baby. Isaac wasn't like, oh, y'all can barely walk. I can barely talk. No, Isaac was a grown man. Think about the story one more time. And Abraham says, we're going to sacrifice. And Isaac goes, where's the sacrifice? Grown man. He said, God will provide. As he's tying Isaac's hands, God will provide. And Isaac's going, I'm thinking, I'm seeing where the provision is coming from. Puts him on an altar. Grown man. I'm not full grown man, but I'm a grown man, okay? In Ireland, I'd be like a, I mean, I'd be like a giant, you know, I'm a grown man. How much must you trust the love of the father to let him put you in a predicament like that?
And see, this is how our relationship and our romantic view of God's love is. God would never, so maybe you're getting put on the altar and God's saying, there will be a provision. I just need you to trust me. It's hard to trust God if all you can do is think intellectually, I know God loves me. But what about the experience? What about you recalling the nature of God in your life, rooted and grounded? 1 John 3.16 says this. And if you want a lesson on what it means to be loved and to live with Christ as love, go read the gospel of John. 1 John 3.16 says this. He refers to himself as the one whom Jesus loves. You know what? Why not? What a revelation. It was some of us, we would read that and go, what an arrogant, pompous jerk. He thinks he's loved by God. No, you see, he doesn't just think it, he's experienced it. So much so that he refers to himself as, well, I'm the one God loves. And every time, but because many times we only know it intellectually and haven't experienced it in our lives, we wouldn't do it. We wouldn't dare say that. We would never presume that God loves. We wouldn't call ourselves, Jonathan, the one whom God loves. Why? Because I'd get some stinky eyes from some of you. How dare you? God loves me too? Okay, call yourself that. You see, what a revelation John had. And then he writes this letter and he says in 1 John 3.16, likened very much to John 3.16, by this we know love. What is the standard that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers? What is the standard? If there was gonna be a standard struck, there used to be in our currency, used to be a gold standard. That standard does not exist anymore. Can I tell you in the church, the gold standard has been the gospel of Jesus Christ is how you bank that he loves you.
This charismatic, this big thing that we get sometimes where, I just don't know that God's with me. I just don't know that God loves me. Brothers and sisters, the standard has been and will always be what Christ did on the cross. Quit waiting for a fleece moment. Well, God can prove his love for me if X, Y, and Z happens. And God, if you really love me, you're trying to back God into a corner and say, prove to me that you love me. You're trying to change the standard. The standard is, you're trying to change the standard. That is the cross. Whenever I get lonely and upset, I think about the cross. The vow God made to me was on Calvary and he's not breaking his promise. That blood that was shed, I can't work God. If you really love me, then you'll give me this raise. If you really love me, then you're gonna take care of this situation. You're trying to change the standard. The standard is a cross. This is how we know. And many of you have been tricked into thinking God doesn't love you because of your circumstances not going the way that you prefer. The world's bigger than you. This whole thing's bigger than you. What are we doing, guys? The church should be the best at running back to the cross and saying, no, no, I know God loves you because of the cross.
For what God gives of himself for a people that don't look for him or love him. You see, this is a love that you can't understand only intellectually. It's gotta come, as Trace was talking about last week, through the Spirit. You've got to be rooted and grounded in love. And the reason many of you have been a part of the church for years and years and years, there is no fruit. And I'm just gonna kinda get permission from a couple of you to just say some stuff. The reason your life feels so fruitless is because you're not rooted or grounded in the cross, the gold standard of the love of God. You're grounded in feelings. You're grounded in your circumstance. Psalm 23 says, "'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, "'I will fear no evil, for you are with me. "'Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.'" That's pre-cross. David had no earthly idea what it would be like to go through the valley of the shadow of death with the cross behind him. And look at us, 2,000 plus years, and we're whining because God won't do what we want him to do to prove his love. We've missed the movie. It's like coming to the end of a movie and reading the credits and saying it wasn't that good. You missed, you missed the plot. You missed the whole thing. That really challenged many of you. If you don't feel loved by God, can I prompt you?
Do you know that the cross is where God proves his love for you? He does not have to do anything else for you. We have to change. We have to shed weight that keep us unable to be rooted and grounded in the love through the gospel. I'm gonna read this and then I wanna close. 1 John 4, 16 through 21. Again, just a chapter later, John then says this, "'So we have come to know and to believe "'the love that God has for us.'" God is love. I mean, we could preach to the end of the year on that. See, it's not just that God loves you. It's not just that the cross, the cross is the gold standard and proof of his love. It's that God is love. And that would take eternity to unravel. That of all of his attributes, all of them are eternal. It doesn't, here's the thing. You know, when you met that person or you saw that person, some of you that are married and you like, she's the bomb.com, okay? I never said that about Jennifer, okay? Ever one time. You know, and this might be over the top, but like sometimes I think like, how did this work out? Like I definitely outkicked my coverage. Maybe God blinded her at a certain point. And it's just like, you know, I don't know. I'm so fortunate. I'm so glad. And not because I think just my wife is a beautiful person. Just again, she's accepted me and she's made, we've made a life together where I feel safe with her. I don't have to worry about, does she talk poorly about me? Or does she think that she is my closest friend? She safeguards my life. I think about that. You get this, here's the thing.
God was never attracted, this may sound hateful. God was never attracted to you. Get it for just a second. Where's, where's Teddy at? I'm telling you, come on for just a second. If you can go there with me, we'll get just a little bit more spiritual business to do before we close this bad boy out. Okay? Just give me one more second. That little boy back there was chosen by this family. When you have a kid come from you, you obligated. Come on parents in the house. You gots to do it. You know, that's why adoption is such a sweet, that's why foster care is such a sweet thing. And why we've got to as a church to support these families that choose to open their home and love and care for children and these children in great need, of a place where they can feel accepted and protected and safe. What? The love of God. I'm thinking about this. Look just for a second. It will be years before Teddy understands and knows that he was loved by y'all. It will be years. It could be even 20 years before he fully understands that y'all loved him intellectually. But there will be a day that goes by when he's in your care that he won't experience that love.
I don't want to be a child. church where we can tell you that God loves you. I want to be a church filled with people who've experienced God choosing them. When I look back at the cross, the cross and its ugliness reminds me that I was not acceptable to him, and he made me acceptable. This is how we know what love is. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is, listen, perfected in us. It's brought to completion, listen, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment.
I know so many Christians who have placed trust in Jesus that are worried about eternity. I was one of them. I trusted Jesus, and I was still scared about dying. Can I tell you something? No believer in here should have fear in death or fear in judgment. The only reason you would have fear of judgment is because you don't believe in God. The only reason you would have fear of judgment is that that perfect love, that that love has not been completed in you. You only know, but you haven't experienced, and this is exactly what John says. There is no fear in love. We co-opted this, and we put it on our doilies. We put it on our bumper stickers. You probably know this scripture, and you probably used it when you were scared about some circumstance, but that is not what this scripture is about. It's about your life with God, for fear has to do, it says, there is no fear in love. But perfect love, say it with me, casts out fear. How many of y'all done use that scripture before, haven't you? A lot of me. We got with somebody that was real anxious, God, we just thank you right now that perfect love casts out all fear, Jesus name.
Well, it ain't fear about your circumstance. It's a fear of the one who, if he didn't desire you and choose you, you would spend eternity away from him. But you don't have to be worried about that anymore, church. You don't have to worry about how God feels about you. You don't have to worry about how God feels about you. You don't have to worry about how God thinks about you. God has stapled his love for you at the cross. You've got to get better at going to the cross. If you're afraid today of God, it's because you're not rooted and grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm not saying you're not saved.
You may go to heaven, but you may have missed out on so much of the love of God being perfected in your life because you were scared that God didn't accept you. Some of you got to come back. You got to come back. You got to come back. You got to come back. You got to come back. You got to come back. You got to come back. You got to come back. You got to come back. To the gospel, fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears has not been perfected in love. Remember I asked you to do an inventory?
Are you noticing in your life that you're not rooted and grounded in love? You're not seeing God's love perfected and completed in your life. Instead, you're seeing a life of worry. You're seeing a life of fear. You're seeing a life where circumstances dictate what you do. People in your life have you handcuffed to their expectations. You have to be prepared. You have to be prepared. You have to be prepared. You have to be prepared.
You are a slave and Jesus offers a love that frees you from all of that. I remember one day when I woke up after years of struggling with these things and I woke up and I realized that I got through my day, kind of had this mindset all day long. It was like I felt lighter, Charles. You know what I realized? It was one of the first days I hadn't been handcuffed by something other than the love of God. It was one of the first times in my life. Guys, I realized the other day, 20 years I've been preaching, years of knowing and telling, and it wasn't until about four years ago, five years ago, that I felt free, that I experienced what I had said.
Things I had told other people I want you to experience, I didn't even realize I wasn't experiencing. That's how tricky it is in the church these days. That we could know God's love but never experience it and wake up one day and realize we've spent years in bondage, nowhere near God except with our words. Man, don't you want God to come to your heart?
Alleviate every worry and burden, every place of fear. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love a God who he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his brother. One of the greatest litmus tests of knowing the love of God is how you treat people. And so I'm going to switch. I told you guys, the team, that I was going to do a moment here. We're going to do it at the end because I'm already so far. I believe there's a moment that's been curated for you. I'm not going to make a spectacle of it. In fact, what I'm going to tell you is, if you need to respond to God today, when we close the service, these little altar areas are open. You may just need some time with God. I pray that you take that time. Even if you're a guest with us today, you know, the love of God is the love of God. It doesn't matter if you're visiting with us or not.
If you maybe need some prayer, our teams are going to be over to the sides in just a second. If you need prayer, maybe you need to solidify something. For some of you, maybe for real, this imagery that I have in my head of us trying to get God pressed into a corner and say, prove it, prove it. You know, you say you love me. If you really love me, I mean, you can hear it in our hearts sometimes cry out for that. Maybe you need to repent. Maybe you need to come and renounce that you've been to the way that you feel based on your circumstances and not based on what God has done at the cross. So I want to pray for us and I want us to end this service. But if that's you, take some time at the altar.
Cam is going to continue to train you. I know you got to get kids and y'all have got events. Like I said, we'll get you out of here. But I want us to pray and then we'll do a final sending liturgy together and then we'll kind of dismiss to that. Is that okay? Let me pray. Father, I pray that you're going to be with us. I pray that you're going to be with what is true about the Holy Spirit. I remember this scripture. I cannot remember where it is, Lord, but the promise of your Holy Spirit to shed the love of God abroad in our hearts. A lecture and a sermon, just it's not going to do it. Father, I'm asking for the real power here, that your Holy Spirit make real the love of God through the cross of Jesus Christ, the gospel, this good news that even though we were undesirable, you chose to love us. I pray that that imagery of Teddy being over there, being loved on and cared for, that it would pierce through the veil, that fog in our own hearts and minds that would keep us from believing that you really do love us, that perfect love, a love that's completed in us and that we experience really does push out every fear of you that we could be exactly who we are in your presence. Father, I'm praying that this week would be a week that's dynamic, in your presence, that times of prayer become that much sweeter, that people experience your love in a rich and real way. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, if you will stand to your feet with me, we're going to do this liturgy. I see that some have already made their way over, and if that's you, you can definitely do that. You can make your way to the altar. I just want to make a couple of announcements. One of the bigger ones is our Art for All that's coming up. It really is like a one-day VBS art experience. It's going to be a really great time. Invite people to it. We would love for you to be a part of that. It's going to be a really, really cool experience. We're doing, it's called Heart Party, and we're just talking about the joy of the Lord. And so invite folks, get on Facebook, let people know. We really do have a heart to see this really touch the community, not just our church, okay? And then I thought I had something else, but I can't remember what it was, and that's okay. We're going to say, this sending liturgy together, and this sending liturgy is just what it is. I got lots of family members here that are believers all throughout here. I'm seeing all my friends and buddies. Listen, you're sent too, okay? God is sending you out to do exactly what we're talking about, to practice, to be a part of His church, to do exactly what God's asked you to do. So as we say this together, we're saying it in faith, that God really is sending us out of here. So would you say this with me? We are not leaving this place. We are being sent. We are obeying the command of our Lord to go. So send us, Lord, to find you in secret, in prayer and devotion, to love and care for our families, to strengthen and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ, to faithfully work as under the Lord in the marketplace and home, to wisely steward all that you have given us, to recognize our place and ability in our community, to witness of your goodness and grace. The neighbors and nations, send us now in your presence and power. Amen. Amen. Well, again, these altars are open. If you need prayer or you just need to solidify this time, that's definitely here for you. Cam's going to continue to play. But if you need to pick up kids, y'all want to fellowship, absolutely. Y'all have a great Sunday. We love y'all. See you next week.
