Grand Parkway Baptist Church
Grand Parkway Baptist Church
1 John 4:10–11 Sermon | Motivated by the True Love of God
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Why has the message of God's love lost its power to deeply move and motivate us in modern culture?
In this Advent sermon on 1 John 4:10–11, we explore how to be genuinely motivated by the love of God without falling into shallow sentimentality. The message addresses a crucial, often overlooked reality: understanding the love of God requires understanding His holy response to sin. Moving from spiritual deadness to divine life, discover how Christ becoming the propitiation for our sins transforms our worship, deepens our gratitude, and compels us to love one another by reflex rather than effort.
In this episode, we cover:
- Starting in the Right Place: Why humanity is incapable of initiating true love for God and why we must begin with God's initiative.
- The Necessity of Understanding Wrath: How acknowledging what we naturally deserve fills God's mercy and love with awe and wonder.
- Propitiation and the Cross: Understanding how Jesus satisfied divine judgment to bring us into true reconciliation.
- Reflexive Community Love: Why receiving God’s undeserved grace naturally compels believers to love those around them.
Be sure to follow us:
This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00Pray together. Lord, we just I just want to echo what Joyce said that we were created by by God for community. You are a God that dwells in the community of the Trinity, and so that we're not to be a lone ranger just kind of slogging through, becoming more jaded, more cynical with each passing day. And so, Holy Spirit, lead us into the truth today, illuminate the scriptures. Otherwise, we're gonna come and drink some free coffee and leave, and we're gonna miss the reason we're breathing today. And we don't want to miss that. So awaken us to the wonder that is in the gospel, the reality of God, and the greatness of his plan for the entire universe. And that includes us. We get to be swept up into this narrative that you're this story that you're telling that you're not done telling. So nourish the faith of the believer and pierce the heart of the unbeliever, Holy Spirit. This is what we ask you to do today. And we ask it in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it open up to 1 John chapter 4. First John chapter 4. Now, if you're busy today for the first time or you came with a friend, you're like, whoa, what is this? What's going on? Let me explain to you. Advent is the four Sundays that lead up to Christmas. And each Sunday has a theme. And it's hope and then peace. And then last week we talked about joy. And today we're going to talk about love. And I want to talk about actually, here's what I want to talk about: how to be motivated by the love of God. How to be motivated by the love of God because I don't think we're sufficiently motivated. Like when I read in the Bible, Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, uh, he says the love of God compels us because we're convinced that Christ died for all, and therefore so that all may live in him. And so he's compelled, this acts upon him with this sufficient force. And I think we've kind of lost that. So I'm going to read from 1 John chapter 4, starting in verse 10. And here's the task I have this morning. I want you to pray for me. The task we're talking about, the love of God, is to not let it kind of erode into the sentimental soupiness that lacks theological rigor. Uh, but but also the other side of the coin is to not let it become some cold theological logic void of warm affection and accessibility. And so I want to strike that balance. Now, let me just say what what what what what uh what I need to say. Uh I'm gonna talk about this. Uh, and there's an element of God's love that we don't talk about enough in the church. I'm gonna talk about that. And it may rub you the wrong way, and that's okay. Don't spit the bit. Stay with me, okay? I want you to see it. Uh, because there's other uh attributes of God that make the love of God filled with wonder. And the reason the love of God doesn't motivate, like you remember back in the 70s, you would say somebody, hey man, God loves you. Oh man, thanks, bro. Now you say, Hey, God loves you. Uh yeah, tell me something I don't know. Uh it's lost its capacity to act upon us with compression. And I want us to get back to that today. First John chapter 4. I'll just read, start reading verse 10. He says, This, and this is love. Not that we've loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we we also ought to love one another. Let me read it again. Just two verses. That's all you're getting today. Maybe beat the Methodist to all the good restaurants. Amen. Now you're paying attention. Uh let me say it again. Starting in verse 10. In this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Uh, to be moved by the love of God, there's three things you got to do. And the first one is simply this start in the right place. Start in the right place. Uh, the love of God has lost its capacity because we start in the wrong place. I would go so far as to say that most of the world's religions start in the wrong place because they tell you to love God, and then they tell you the manner in which you love God. You need to do a lot of good, make a lot of sacrifices and do a lot of good deeds. And basically the manner in which you love God will eventually be measured. And if it's enough, and you can never know in this lifetime. That's what religion does to you. You can never know. So you're always striving, doing, trying, sweating. Uh uh, it's gonna be measured, and if it's enough, then you'll be allowed into paradise or heaven or one of the world religions, has a place called Nirvana. By the way, Nirvana was a great band in the early 90s, okay? The nirvana was so good, and I'm not being facetious, Dave Grohl, who right now is the frontman for the Foo Fighters. Now, these are people who can actually play instruments and don't use auto-tune, okay? How good does your band have to be if Dave Grohl could only be the drummer? Kurt Cobain was a lead singer. That's nirvana. This other thing is just a myth, but it's this kind of the ultimate state when you're reincarnated multiple times and you get there. Well, this is what religion does. It starts in the wrong place and says, hey, do your best to love God and we'll give you an update on how you're doing. And so in the Bible says this in this is love. Here's why this is the wrong place. Just listen to actually what the Bible says. In this is love. Not that we have loved God, not that we have loved God. So I want to say to you this morning, stop trying to do what the Bible says you're incapable of doing, because that isn't love. Humanity attempting to love God is the essence of religion. It's this worked, works-based, undeterminable slog through religious mud up to your neck. What do I mean? The right place. It's not enough to say that uh not that we have loved God, but you have to go all the way and say what the Bible actually says: that you and I are born incapable of loving God, uh, not because you're really bad, but because you're born really dead. Jesus didn't come to make bad people good people, more moral people. Uh the person in your neighborhood who's kind of like, I don't know why all the women in this neighborhood get together on Thursday nights and and drink wine. Why don't they care about things? You don't care about that. You're really bothered because they don't invite you. Okay? That's what's really got you upset. And so it's not about that. It's not about, oh man, I'm trying to love God. Don't these people all love God? They're wicked sinners. God, I'm praying for them. No, no. Well, it's not enough to say, oh, hey, uh, not that we've loved God. You got to go all the way and say, okay, why can't we love God? Because we are born by nature, all of us incapable of loving God because you're born spiritually dead. Okay? You're not born, we're not all God's children, okay? But well, I know we're all God's children. No, we're all God's creation, but we're not all God's children. Allow me to demonstrate, are you buying my kids presents this year for Christmas? No, and the reason you're not is they're not your kids. This is how ignorant I am. I didn't know that after your kids get married, you still got to buy them Christmas presents. My 25-year-old got married back in the summer, and she sends her listing to her mama, like, well, what are you buying for her for? She said, Well, she's still our daughter. Hey, what about for better, for worse, richer for poor? How about they get a little bit of this poor part of this deal? And then call back a couple days later, oh, and here's the things that Daniel likes. What? So instead of getting less responsibility, I now have more responsibility. Don't think I won't be putting a stink on him when he shows up. Mm-hmm. Here you are, uh-huh. Yeah. All right, now good. See, it's not that the Bible says this is love, not that we loved God. So I, as your pastor, I'm saying to you that for people who don't know God, the worst thing you can do is just say, I'm gonna start loving God because you will wear yourself out and you'll look around and realize, you know what, there's not a lot of people that are taking notice of my efforts to love God. The Bible comes along. Why is this? Why is this? Because not because you're you're you're bad, you're dead, spiritually incapable. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 to 3 says, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins of which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is not at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all lived once. Hello. Among whom we all lived once in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. Remember that when you live that way, say amen. You remember that when you'd go to the club and you just pick up any willing person in there? Remember that? Say amen. Uh-oh. Do you see that? That wasn't amen. That was like a I don't go to the club. Sure, sure. Who we all once live. The Bible indicts every one of us, okay? To be the damnable wretches that we by nature are. Like I was talking to a pastor friend of mine this week, and he said, What are you talking about? This Sunday, I said, Well, we do the themes of Advent, talking about love. And I said, To talk about love, uh, you to really understand the love of God, you gotta talk about some other parts of God. And he said, like what? I said, like the wrath of God. He goes, Dang, bro, it's Advent. And I said, Dang, bro, it's the Bible. He says, We all once lived in the passings of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Now, when I say wrath, that's not a word we use a lot in the culture today. Wrath is this it's the anger, it's anger demonstrated in punishment. Wrath is anger demonstrated in punishment. This is the part of the service where you're tempted to pull away from me, but let me just ask you to stay here and just listen. Uh uh So, what what that means is that when I say wrath is anger demonstrated in punishment, and the Bible says that we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. What this means is that we all by nature deserve for God to punish us in righteous anger. This beloved is where we have to start if you want to rightfully understand the love of God and the wonder contained within. I always go as far as to say this without the wrath of God, without God's wrath, you have problems, okay? And let me just tick off four of them for you this morning. Again, without a right understanding of the wrath of God, you have four problems. Number one, you have a love of God that's void of wonder. You have a love of God that's void of wonder. You're like, I I'm not sure what that means. Because we neglect what we deserve, we never fully appreciate what we have. Let me say it again. We neglect what we deserve. We by nature are objects of wrath, like the rest of humanity. We neglect what we deserve, and so we never fully appreciate what we have. Parents on Christmas morning, do you ever watch your kids' response and think, I think I deserve a bigger response than this? Don't answer that. Yes, yes, because they could never give anything like listen, I drove to seven targets to find that goofy thing. You better be over the moon. And they're like, eh, what else you got? Yeah. A love void of wonder. Secondly, an evangelism fueled by persuasion instead of conviction. An evangelism that's fueled by persuasion instead of conviction. We don't talk about this in the church anymore, which is why there's that lack of zeal in evangelism. I'm talking to someone not long ago, and the guy goes, Well, you know, I grew up in church. I said, You did. Tell them what that was like. Well, I mean, I know God uh hates to sin, loves the sinner. And I said, God's angry with the sinner every day. He loves the sinner, but he loves the sinner not in a way that he loves his own children. He goes, I don't know about that, man. I grew up in church, and I ask him the question I ask you, I said, Hey, it's Christmas, right? Yeah, are you gonna buy my kids presents? No, because they're not your kids. There's covenant love, and then there's this love for this general love for the world that John 3.16 talks about. And people see that on the side of the football game and think, I'm okay, you're not okay. And he's like, Oh, what do you mean I'm not okay? I said, I just want to tell you, this is love that God is angry with you, and he will eventually punish you for your sins. Because you don't have faith in what Jesus did on the cross, you have faith in yourself. So we started this conversation, you were kind of cocky and arrogant, and kind of now you're like, won't won't. He said, Well, see, unbiblical things that we say to lost people gives them a confidence that the Bible never does. And when you just find the courage to say what the Bible actually says, that God's not happy with you, read Psalm 5, verses 4 to 6. God says, I'm angry with the wicked every day. I hate all workers of iniquity. All of a sudden it's a different conversation. What we say to people is not helpful. We say to people, oh, God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. This is why most people are comfortable in their lostness. Have you noticed that? No one's bothered by not being a Christian anymore. It's like, hey, bro, because well-meaning people have said, hey, God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. And what happens is, well, I got a plan, and thank you that God has a plan. I'm gonna run my plan, and then if this doesn't work, then I'll be open to that. And this is what I mean when I say an evangelism that's fueled by persuasion instead of conviction. Here's the third thing you have without without the wrath of God, you have a love of God that inspires no worship. You have a love of God that inspires no worship. Ladies, if you're here today, high school students, college students, single adults, if you're looking for a man that's gonna be marriage material, just watch him when we worship and see what he's like. Do not marry a man that does not sing in church. You will be bored the rest of your life. You will have to talk him in to come into church, okay? And so when I say without the wrath of God, you lose this love of God. You don't have a love of God that inspires worship because what is there to be thankful for? It's just kind of like, yeah, God loves me. Of course, God loves me, okay? I'm a Republican, I watch Fox News, I'm conservative, of course he loves me. It's math, but it's never music. Now, some of you know this and some of you don't. Before I became the pastor here, I traveled and preached all over the country. And I remember I was doing an event for a church, and I kind of had the feeling when we were talking on the phone, it was kind of horty-torty. And then they said, uh, and now on Sunday, we are a very dignified church, and you need to wear a suit. And I said back on the phone, I wear a suit on two occasions, to Mary and to bury. That's about it. And they said, Well, sir, we are on TV, and the only you need to wear a suit, you need to make sure your shoes are shine, trim your fingernails, and I was like, Oh my gosh, please, Jesus, come back. But he didn't. And so I took a suit, I have a suit, uh, and and and they had the big kingdom chairs up on the stage, big wooden thrones, something out of the Game of Thrones. I thought a dragon was gonna fly by. And we're sitting there, and they were like, Don't cross your legs, don't show the bottom of your feet. I'm like, I've been on TV before, just knock it off. And I know I'm the only one that does this, but I was kind of judgy. I was kind of looking around, like they had a big organ with pipes going through the ceiling, and I just like, how much did that thing cost? Okay, you could have sold that, and the money could have been given to the poor. By the way, Judas talk like that, not Peter. But I know you never do, you never walk in somewhere and judge somebody. You never walk in somebody's house and kind of go, they mean a deal with the devil to get this nice crib. I'm sitting up there getting ready to preach to this church, and I'm gonna help them, and I'm just like, huh. And then the choir comes out and they got robes on. I'm like, look, it's the KKK. Okay, here we go. Yes. I know you're not that judgmental. This is just me a long time ago, but I've gotten better. And I'm just sitting there and they and I I am so judgy. That's what the kids say nowadays. We don't say judgmental day, we say judgy. I say shut up. Anyway, I'm looking at the choir over my shoulder, and in my head, I thought, this, what's the median age of these people? 110? Are they gonna be able to like make noise? And I was just like, why? There was no young people in there. And I was just like, oh, okay, this will be quiet. And we're sitting there, and the organ lady started playing, and they play. And then she started going crazy and like and then she downshifted. It sounded like somebody just scored a goal at a hockey game. I was, I looked over and she was giving it this, and the choir was standing there with their little folders, and they came in full voice off the top rope, singing this old hymn from the church. Oh, worship the king, all glory us above, and gratefully sing of his wonderful love, our shield and defender, the ancient of days, pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise. And I'm over here, standing here, Mr. Judgy, and I just looked over my shoulder and burst into tears. I was just like, it was so awe-inspiring. I turned, I got in trouble, I turned my back on the crowd and just looked at them. And the TV people are going crazy, they're waving in the back. And I was just like, like, are y'all drinking this in? And then they rounded into the second verse and they honked it off. They said, Oh, tell of his might, oh, sing of his grace, whose robe is the light and canopy space, his chariots of wrath, the deep thunderclouds form, and dark is his path on the wings of the storm. And here's what I was doing: I wasn't watching them sing, I was watching a bunch of blue-haired people who knew things about God that I didn't understand, who had buried their kids and buried their husband, and would go every day to the nursing home to talk to their wife who doesn't remember them anymore. And I was just like, Oh Jesus, please don't send me to hell. I'll do better. They sang the third verse. They got to the end, they sang the last verse that says this, Frail children of dust, and feeble is frail. In thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail. Thy mercy's how tender, how firm to the end. Our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend. And then grandma over there put it down and low and racked the pipes off and landed the plane. And all you could hear was me going. The guy got up to make announcements, and he said, And our guest speaker today is Neil McLendon. And once he gathers himself, he's gonna come and preach. It's like, yeah, pretty much. But see, here's the thing: without the wrath of God, you have no frame of reference for the wonder that is the love of God. And you have a love of God that inspires no worship in you. Here's the last thing you have without without God's wrath. You have no need for the manger and no explanation for the cross, no need for the manger. This is what the Bible says. If you look up, we start in verse 10. If you just look up in verse 9, one verse up, it just says this. It says, And anyone who does not love God does not know God because God is love. And this is the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. You don't need the manger. If there's no fixed disposition in God towards people that makes you by nature his enemy, then why does God have to leave the sanctity of heaven and come to the depravity of earth? You have no explanation for the manger. Have a very secular Christmas. Just be who you really are. And say to your kids, this is where mom and dad make up for the fact that we abandon you to go out with our friends. Without the wrath of God, you have no need for the manger. And you really have no explanation for the cross. It's just what's what's the point? But see, look at me. That sounds terrible, but that's great news. Because when you start at the right place, then secondly, this is how the love of God motivates you. You start at the right place. Secondly, you see the right things. He goes on to say, he says, Hey, in this is love that God, excuse me, in this is love. Not that we've loved God, but that he, here's the part you need to see that he loved us. And this is love, not that you've loved God. Get over yourself. You by nature are spiritually dead, you can't do anything. But he loved us, and he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is a big word, it means to appease. Remember, you talked about the wrath of God being on us. I'm talking to the guy who's kind of like, Yeah, I grew up in the church. Oh my God, hates a sin, beloves a sinner. I said, God is angry with you every day, my man, and you are storing up wrath. Oh, I ain't down with that. I don't care what you're down with. I say, you know, the Bible says in John 3, I know John 3.16, no, not John 3.16, 20 verses later, John 3.36. Whoever does not believe the wrath of God remains on him. How does it remain on you if it's not on you in the first place? See, you went to church and consumed youth group up on your lust to be Captain Cool. And now you're a 20-something out here on Tinder, looking to hook up and saying things about God and the world that are not even remotely close to being true. Matter of fact, if I believed in the God you you believe in, I would never go to church. I wouldn't worship that God, He doesn't deserve anything. Ah, be careful, man. He might get you. I think the God I'm talking about has a higher probability of getting you than the God you're talking about getting me. Oh. But when you start in the right place and you see the right things and you understand, oh, I don't have to live in fear because the wrath of God, you gotta talk about the wrath of God because it makes the cross glorious. In the cross, the wrath of God. Remember, anger demonstrated in punishment. In the cross, the wrath of God is satisfied. He loved us and he demonstrated his love for us, not for righteous people who occasionally gossip. Or good people who have bad days here and there. But here's who Christ came and died for: for weak, ungodly sinners. So if you're here this morning, this is the greatest thing you'll ever hear. If you're weak, if you're like, ah, I try to stop doing that, but I just keep going back. If you're ungodly, if you're like, oh man, can anybody smell my breath? It's not good. Last night followed me in today. Yes. Any sinners. Weak, ungodly sinners. So if you're here today and you're a real sinner, this is great news. Why? Because the Bible says this in Romans chapter 5, verse 6 for while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one might dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God? See, it's all in the Bible. We just skip over it. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received reconciliation. If you want to grow in your love for God, think about his love for you. Let me say it again. If you want to grow in your love for God, and this is deep, you want to be motivated by it. You never want to outgrow the fact that God loves you. You want to think about his love for you because this is the fuel. The fuel for loving God is a right understanding of his love for you. And part of that is understanding that you and I, by nature, everyone in this room, everyone in this world was born by nature, an object of wrath. You have a target on you and you deserve it. Merry Christmas! Aren't you glad you shaved your legs for this? You should be. Because if you deserve that, look at me, and you get the love of God. How do you ever get over that? How do you ever, ever, ever get over that? Guy named Dan Dehan wrote a book called The God That You Could Know. And in the book, he says the highest motive in heaven and earth for obedience is love resulting from gratitude. It's the sinful woman in Luke 7, who just heard Jesus teach at the temple and she finds out where he is and she goes home and gets her little bought, her little box of tootie fruity Vaseline and crashes the party and starts just slathering on his feet behind him, and he never looks around. And these religious weasels are all thinking to themselves if he was really a prophet, he'd know what kind of woman is touching him. And Jesus knows what they're thinking. Look at me, he knows what you're thinking as well. Stop being phony. Your pretense is a rebellion against God's reality. And he says, Simon, I have a story to tell you. Yes, master. And Jesus basically punches him in the throat verbally. And says, Hey, a certain man owed 50 grand. And the guy him. And somebody else owed five bucks, and God forgave him. Who's more grateful? Oh, the one that owed 50,000. Yeah. And then Jesus is like, she does this kind of stuff because she's forgiven much. The reason you didn't wash my feet or greet me or kiss me or anoint my head with oil, you don't think you're a very bad sinner. She knows what a wretch she is and how much she deserved to endure the wrath of God. And that's why she loves like she was. Let me ask you a question. What explains the way you love people? Like someone came up to me recently. Here's the last thing that will be done. And it's simply that you got to start the right place, you got to see the right things, and then you do the right things. And look at me, you do the right things by reflex, not by not by effort or labor. It's just reflex. Lady came up to me recently and she said, Hey, I've been coming to church for a couple years, and when I first started coming here, you scared me to death. I was like, that doesn't bring me any comfort. I said, Did I say or do you? She goes, No, but uh, you you would tell us we deserve hell, and I didn't like that. And I said, On what basis do you deserve heaven? Well, I mean, now I know it's right. It used to bug me, but then I hear stories and people say, Oh, he helped us. And then she said, Now I believe that you're one of the kindest, most generous people I know. Now, does anybody ever compliment you and you want to act like you didn't hear them just so they'll repeat it? Yeah, there's a whiff of my depravity. Get you some of that. I was like, uh, what'd you say about kind and you're oh, and she goes on and on. And she goes, and then she says this, and I don't know how you got that way. I want to know how you got that way. And before I could even say anything, something just like a burp came out of me. It said, Oh, I was a great sinner. He said, Excuse me. And I reference Luke 7. Jesus said, Whoever's been forgiven much loves much. Now, when the Bible says right here, and this is where a lot of people spit the bit, 1 John chapter 4, verse 10, we're all over that. And this is love. Not that we have loved God, but he has loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins, we got that down. Verse 11. This is where you live out, verse 10. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. See, this is why you do the right things, just as reflex and not labor. Beloved, if God so loved us and he did, we also ought to love one another. Ought requires opportunity. And so you should have opportunity on a consistent basis, and you do. Now, by the way, he's not talking about when he says, beloved, if God loved us, we also ought to love one another. He's not talking about loving people out in the world. He's writing to a faith community, Johnny is, and he's saying, Hey, you Christians are because God loved you a certain way, God so loved you, not in some generic, kind of vague way, but in a very specific way. He loved you, and this is the way you ought to love each other. Look at me. Then it is the greatest offense to the gospel and to the love of God for you to not love everybody in this room that you know, and even the ones you don't. And this is what made people in the New Testament that weren't Christians looked at Christians and said, Man, I wish to God someone would love me like that. And they were like, We will. We'll gladly love you. Somebody called this week and said, Hey, we're a little short on Christmas. We we can't you think the church can do anything? Think the church can do anything. Oh my gosh, if we don't, God's gonna send some of these stingy Baptists to hell on a slipping slide. Of course we can do something. And she said, Oh, we'll take anything. No, you won't. How old are your kids? She knows, I got a six-year-old son. What would bless him? But some new tennis shoes. People aren't blessed by you bringing some $19 shoes you got off the discount rack at Walmart. And I said, How about a big yes, yes. That's a kid who's gotten that before. Yeah. Yeah. Now look at me. Who's preaching to you right now is the little boy that got that when I was growing up. People bring their old shoes. Here, I want to bless you with these shoes. They weren't even my size. My first pair of baseball cleats didn't even fit. They killed my feet. It was just like, what? And so I said, Well, bless your son. Oh, he wants some new shoes, but I mean they're $88. Done. How about a $100 gift card to Academy? We can pick them out. Oh my gosh, you don't have to do that. I know, ma'am. That's what makes doing it so enjoyable. She said, Excuse me. See, reflex. It just gets you. She goes, You don't have to do that. I said, I know. That's what makes doing it so enjoyable. She goes, I don't care what you mean. I am by nature a selfish pig, okay? I am by nature someone who is so wicked. I do not deserve the love of God. And yet he gave it to me. And so now the way I demonstrate that I understand the wrath of God, which fills the love of God full of wonder, is that I love other people the way God has loved me. She said, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say. You're not saying anything. This is my privilege. It's not my responsibility. Yes. Yes. Because the Bible says, beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Let me just ask you this. Is there anybody in this room right now you have a hard time loving? Somebody sat in your seat recently. Yeah. Y'all were here on the first Sunday, y'all walked in. Y'all all kind of like a wild bear mark your territory. Somebody said to y'all kind of look like there, mister. Yeah. Yeah. But again, beloved, if God so loved us, and he did, he did, we also ought to love one another. And so I just want you to not leave this morning without realizing, hey, it starts right here before it goes out there. I walk into restaurants down in our city, and every once in a while, not all the time, but okay, people walk up and say, Hey, you're the guy from Grand Parkway, right? Yes, I am. I am privileged to get to pastor a group of incredible people. My friend, their electric bill. They're two months behind. Give me their phone number. I don't know what makes you do this. Because God's been so good to us. We can't pay everyone's bills, but we're gonna pay some people's bills, and when we can't pay other people's bills, we're gonna say, and some people are con artists. I pulled up the other day and I'm low on gas. Let me see a gas gauge. Are you judging me? I ain't judging you, but when you talk, my my spirit man gets a little punchy. I want to take this pearl snap off out in the parking lot. Get it on. Oh man, the church is supposed to be. Yeah, but we ain't supposed to be deceived. And you ain't gonna steal from my people. All of a sudden you didn't need gas anymore. Hey, if God so loved us, and he did, if God so loved us, the word so is is is the big word in there. We also ought to love one another. Is there anybody in this room you find hard to love? That's where you start. Let's pray together. God, thank you that the gospel rescues love from just some sappy, sentimental candlelit Thomas Kincaid, a wash in light painting. And it gets down to the nitty-gritty, the Johnny Cash thing about the kicking and a gouging and the mud and the blood and the beer. It says, I'm holding on to you and I ain't letting go. So, Father, let your love take a hold of some people today who've tried to prove they don't deserve it. None of us do. Me at the top of the list do not deserve to be loved by God, but you chose to anyway. So, Holy Spirit just brood over us now as we think about these things. Typically, we put questions on the screen, but today I just want to give you space to think about the one thing you need to think about, the one person that you find it hard to love. And how are you gonna overcome that and stop being a hypocrite who says, Thank you, God, for loving me? And meanwhile, I'm gonna hate this person because she dates my ex-boyfriend. Is God not more sovereign than that? So, Holy Spirit, just brood over us now as we think and listen. Father, thank you that your love is goes farther than we can comprehend. And it's more than tongue or pen could ever tell. We get to experience it. I pray for the person who's trying to disqualify themselves by racking up sins and pointing and going, see, God, this is why I don't deserve for you to love me. You love us anyway. You came to die for ungodly sinners like me, not righteous people, not good people, but people that everybody knows don't deserve it. You came for those people, and for that we're grateful. So let us remind people of the greatness of the love of God. This is our prayer. We pray in Christ's name, and everyone said, Amen. Amen. If you're our guest, just let me say this: you're always welcome here, okay? You may be thinking, hey, I'm not quite there yet. That's okay. Keep coming, keep asking your questions, keep thinking. We believe that God reveals himself to you, which means he speaks a language you understand, and ultimately your heart's gonna fill up and overflow and bring you to faith. In the meantime, if you're our guest today, it will all we ask you you just uh shoot uh text welcome to that number on the screen. We'd love to have a record of your visit, okay? We got a few things going on in life of our church we want you to know about. So give your attention to the screens for our video announcements.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for joining us today. Here's a few things we want you to know. If you're new, text welcome to 281-66-5707. This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church. Everyone is invited to our Carol Sing this Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the student building. We'll sing carols together and have hot chocolate and coffee too. We'll see you then. In the upcoming weeks, as we enjoy all that comes with the holidays, we want you to know the plan at Grand Parkway. This Saturday, we have two services to celebrate Christmas Eve at 4 and 5.30 p.m. On Christmas Day, we will have one morning worship service at 10.30 a.m. There will be no child care for these services. Rather, they will be great opportunities to model corporate worship for our kids. On January 1st, we will have services at 9 and 10 30 a.m. with child care for kids 3 and under. If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_00Our service began, or not began, but in the middle of our service was a video about love. And a lady named Joy Williams told her story. Some of you in here, you haven't stopped thinking about that. Uh and Joy is here. I'm gonna ask her to stand up. She sits right down here because they've this is their chairs. Uh uh, Joy, would you stand up? Uh and you know who you are. And so if you're like, hey, I just think that lady could help me with something I'm going through, she'll be available. Uh, they're the real deal. Her and her husband David and their daughter Molly are the real deal, okay? I just wanted to, I just sense in my spirit that was going that some people are like, how in the world? Uh she'd be glad to tell you. David would be glad to tell you, okay? We'd like to conclude our service with a smoking blessing. So stand at your feet, hold your hands out. You by nature are wicked sinners. You lie, you cheat, you steal, you fornicate, you commit adultery, you commit idolatry. All manner of evil comes out of you. By nature, you deserve to be punished forever. But God, who's rich in mercy, made you alive. Not only that, but he's raised you up and seated you in the heavenly places. So they come in ages. He can show the incomparable riches of his kindness expressed to you in Christ Jesus. Depart now and enjoy what the Father intends for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bless you.