Yes! Jesus Loves Me - Pastor Brad DeLong (part 2)

He loves you with an overflowing that has not diminished the love of God. Your love does not affect an almighty God. Your mistakes do not affect or change him. He will not change because of my mistakes. He loves you. And the Bible tells me so. Ephesians chapter 2, Paul writes to the church in Ephesus. And I believe to us, I need someone to hear this. He says, "And you and you point yourself and say, me." This is someone's testimony right now. God's trying to speak to you and you he made alive.

You were dead in trespasses and in sin in which you once walked. You walked according to the course of this world. You were given to the prince of the power of this world. He said among whom we all conducted ourselves. We were all this way and the lust of our flesh. We fulfilled the desires of the flesh and of and of the mind. We were children of wrath. We deserved wrath just as others. Verse four, but God who is rich in mercy because of his obligation of love because it's just what God does to love us.

Because he has to. No, no, no, no. Because of the great love with which he loved us. Not when we were perfect. But the next line says, even when we were dead in trespasses, dead to rise. I got no way out. I I messed up too much. Even when you were dead in trespasses and you couldn't give him anything, he had a great love for you. Made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved. He raised us up together and he made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Why? That in the ages to come, he could show us the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you've been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of your works. You can't earn it, lest anyone should boast. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. There it is in plain ink on a screen. We deserved wrath. Some of us still deserve wrath.

We were, we are, dead to rights in our sin and mistakes. We had no way out. And really, we didn't even deserve a way out. But God who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins made us alive. It's not by your merits, not by your goodness. It's not by your measuring up that you get a hold of this. It's by God's grace that you're save. It's a gift of God. God is offering that gift to you. And there's nothing that you can do other than saying, "No, I don't want it to stop him from giving you that gift."

But if you receive it today, God can give you that gift of grace. Long before I could ever give God anything, he gave me everything. Romans 5 says this, and we saw it in our text. Hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts. Someone today, the Lord's just trying to pour his love out on you, and all you got to do is receive it. You see, at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely would anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might dare to die.

But God showed us. How do I know if he loves me? He showed us. He demonstrated his love for us that while we were still sinners, he died for us. While we were still sinners, he followed a centurion up a hill called Calvary. And he died for our sins. Begs the question that Paul would later ask in Romans 8. I want you to hear this today. Musicians, you can come. If you're still questioning if Jesus really loves you, I want you to hear what Paul wrote. If you don't know Paul, he persecuted the church and went after Christians.

He hated Christians. He held the coats of the men that killed the very first murdered the first Christian. But the Lord interrupted Paul's journey one day. Like I believe God's trying to interrupt someone's journey here today. Paul says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Whatever today is making you doubt what the word of God says. I hear the preacher. I hear him. I hear what he's saying. I know it's in the book. But but this, but that but I did fill in the blank.

Whatever it is, it is not great enough to overcome and overwhelm the love of God. Who would separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. As it is written, for your sake, we're killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. In other words, we shouldn't be able to make it. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded, and this is what I'm hoping someone leaves.

I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor debt, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is our testimony today. Nothing, nothing can separate you from his love. Jesus loves you. Yes, Jesus loves you. Someone may ask, "Does he still love me when I just fall flat on my face and I I turn away from him and I make mistakes?"

The answer is yes. Jesus loves you. Does he Does he love me when I miss the mark and I make the same mistake over and over and over again? Yes, Jesus loves you. Does he still love me when I'm unfaithful to him and I neglect him and I forget him? Though we are faithless, Paul says, he remains faithful. Yes, Jesus loves you. Does he love me when I do like Mila said, and I'm messing up and I'm doing bad things and things I never thought I would do, I'm thankful to tell you, yes, Jesus loves you.

Does he love me when I fail again and again and again? Yes, Jesus loves you. In fact, as we come to a close today, he loves you so much that he doesn't just tell you that he loves you. He proves it to you and he makes a way out for you as well. Sister Emmer said it in the service. She didn't know I was going to say it. Jesus loves you so much that he doesn't just leave you how you are. He loves you enough to change you. This is that grace that's given to us. The gift of God.

Diane received it last week. In fact, there were some men in the book of Acts. You can read about this in Acts chapter 2. A lot of people that were there. Many of them were the very ones who demanded that Jesus die. You'd think of all the people who are separated from the love of God. This would be that group. Peter gets up on the day of Pentecost. He preaches a straightforward sermon. He says, "Hey, you messed up." Says, "You killed the master. You killed Jesus." verse 37 says they were moved in their heart.

Cut to the heart. There's someone in the room today that you feel the spirit of God and the presence of God moving on your heart. And maybe it's foreign. And maybe you're like, "Okay, I just want to get outside. I want to get my burger and I want to get out of here because it might be a little foreign. It might be a little I don't want to cry in front of all these people." And that sometimes that's the response. We're just wired that way. you. You feel the presence of God moving on you.

I encourage you, please don't push him away. Let him come close to you. That's the love of God. They were moved in their heart. They said, "What do we do? How do we get out of this?" They could see that the God that they demanded the murder of that he still loved them and he made a way out for him. And Peter says, "I got an answer for you. You need to repent. Turn away from what you've been doing. Turn towards God." Repentance just looks like this. Lord, I'm so sorry for everything that I've done.

Will you please forgive me of my sins? And John says that he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Every mistake, everything you've ever done wrong, God can cleanse you. I got to get down here because I need someone to maybe it'll help us get a hold of this. Turn away, repent, and then you can be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission and the removal of those sins. It works, doesn't it, April? It works. You can have every mistake, every hurdle from the love of God, everything that you put in that blank a moment ago that this will keep me from the love of God and this will keep me from being a member of the church.

This will keep me from ever being healthy. All those curses that your family has faced, you can bury those. Anyone ever seen and experienced? Anybody? Raise your hand if you have. My family's here today and we've seen it. Things that plagued my family for generations and they're buried. And he says, "And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, gift of grace." All throughout the book of Acts, when people would receive that gift, they knew that they had received it.

The evidence of that was that they would speak with other tongues. You can read about it all throughout Acts. Jesus, because he loves you so much, wants you to know that you're loved, wrote it in his book that you're loved, told me to tell you that you're loved, and made a way for you to get out of whatever you're facing and to be whole and healed. and set free. Whatever change you need today, because of the love of God, it's available. And we're going to start by standing all across this place.

Would you stand with me? Can I just ask you for a show of hands? Not for my sake, but for your own. How many of you have felt the love of God here today? presence of God. That presence of God is not an accident, but God is drawing every person in this room. Not just our guests who we love and appreciate, but God is drawing every individual in this room. There's people who have been here every Sunday that needed to know that you're loved by God. Here's what we're going to do.

Just a moment. And I'm going to open the front of this room for anyone who wants to come and seek the Lord. For those who aren't familiar with this, we just like to come and respond together as a a church family at the end of each message as a sign of our faith, as a way to say, "Lord, I receive that love and I'm going to come and respond." And all we typically do is we come forward to this front area and we come, we lift our hands and we begin to talk to the Lord and others may come alongside us and and James says to lay hands on those who are are praying and and in need.

So some may come if you're comfortable with that and come alongside and just pray with you. If this is your first time and you really don't know what to do and you're like, I don't know if I'm going to go up there, it's so simple. You can walk up to the front and lift your hands or you can bow your head and begin to talk to Jesus and you'll feel the presence and love of God wash over you. It can happen in your seat. This is just an extra step of faith that we take. Gets us out of our comfort zone a little bit and tends to help our faith.

If you've never repented of your sins and ask the Lord for his forgiveness, you can come today and ask the Lord to forgive you and he will in that moment. You can be baptized in obedience to his word. You can receive the gift of the spirit of God. And you can be changed by one of the most powerful things in our universe, the love of God. You can do that all from your seat, too. That's the good thing about the presence of God. He can reach anywhere. But if you come to the front, we will pray with you and God will help and move.

Before we do that, I'm going to ask every person that's willing, would you just bow your heads right now and close your eyes? If you are here today and you're feeling the love of God drawing you and you want to respond to that love, this may be your first Sunday here. Or maybe you're you've been here 30 years and you feel like you want to respond some way somehow. Maybe you're not even going to come to the front, but you want to uh fulfill that commitment we made earlier.

You're going to respond. Would you just lift your hand right now all across this place? You feel the love of God. Thank you. Wow. The love of God is moving and working here today. and put your hand down for just a moment. Again, this is just getting us comfortable and ready for what God wants to do. If you need a change in any area of your life, anything, mistakes, mental struggles, sickness, addiction, habits, whatever it might be, if you want God's love and help to change you, would you lift your hand right now?

That's all right. That's wonderful. One more question. If you have never received the spirit of God with the evidence of speaking with other tongues, just like they did in the book of Acts, would you just be vulnerable and say you haven't? Just raise your hand just a moment. All right. Several in the room. All right. Here's what we're going to do. As everyone opens your eyes, thank you for being so open and honest. And here's what I know from just what I saw just a moment ago.

There are hungry and desperate people all over the room today who need a change in their hearts and the Lord knew you'd be here. So, here's what we're going to do. If you'd like the Lord to change anything in your heart and life and you want to come and respond to the love of God, I want to open the front of this building right now. We're going to have our altar team come as well. But if you want to respond in any way, you feel the love of God drawn you and you want to come and respond to him and pray, would you just begin to come, step out of where you are right now and come and it may just be again, you come and you lift your hands and you begin to call on the name of the Lord.

You want a change in your life. You can tell him exactly what that change may be. You can tell him, "Lord, I need your help today. I I'm battling some things." Or maybe you're in your seat right now and and you want prayer there. You don't have to be at the front of this building to come or to receive that change. If you want to just lift your hands where you are, God can meet you in that seat as well. Now, as they begin to sing, would you just lift your hands all across this place?

And if you see someone down in this altar that's come to respond, they need God's love. They need God's change. And you want to come and pray with them. Would you step out of where you are, church, family, and and prayer team, and come and lay hands and believe that the Lord's going to help, the Lord's going to strengthen, you're going to change. Your love can produce any change at any time. Even right here on this Sunday, right now, right now, Lord, you can do anything.

You can change any life. You can give deliverance. You can forgive any mistake. You can forgive any sin. I pray that you would prove that love of God in every life right now. Lord, if someone is here today that's struggling and battling, they would know beyond a shadow of a doubt. Jesus, we love you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.