Wednesday Night Bible Study

Well, praise the Lord everybody. It's great to be back in the house of the Lord for Wednesday night worship in the word where we make disciples of all men and uh to echo what pastor said a moment ago. Uh still feasting on a great Sunday this past Sunday and uh a tremendous time Sunday morning and Sunday night. The singing, the the preaching, the program. It was a wonderful, wonderful Sunday and I'm glad to be back tonight and uh looking forward to revival services this weekend uh with evangelist Michael Mopin. Be here for that. Invite somebody to be here with us this Sunday. And let me add to uh the announcement of the the prayer service the last Wednesday of the month. This is not a time for you to uh just stay home. You need prayer meeting is just as important as teaching the word of the Lord. And so many of us serve throughout the week, serve on Wednesdays, serve on Sunday mornings and Sunday night. If you serve, this is an opportunity for you to not have to serve in a service. And this is a time for you to come and get refreshed in the Holy Ghost as we pray not just by ourselves, but we pray together. So, we are encouraging everyone to be here that last Wednesday as we pray uh the new year out and we're going to uh prepare ourselves for a brand new year. And I like to do this. This is not part of my lesson tonight, but as I get to the end of the year, I begin to think about, have I gotten any better since the beginning of the year? Have I gotten any better? Am I any better December 31st than I was January 1st? And if I don't feel like I've improved or if I have improved just a little bit, how can I improve next year? You know, we have what we call New Year's resolutions. Uh, and that's good. That's important. I believe that's something we can do. But where can you grow in 2026? Where can you grow spiritually? Where can you grow uh in your personal life, in your relationships, where financially, whatever it is, set goals. I I have a a notebook. I got a new notebook every year. I'm I'm a pen and paper kind of guy and I write down all of my goals for the new year because I want to get to the end of the year and look back. Did I meet those goals? Did I get to where I wanted to go? If you don't have a target, you're not going to hit it. Okay? If you're not gonna if you don't have a target, if you don't, the Bible says, "Write the vision down and make it plain." And the people perish for a lack of vision. You know, you can perish for a lack of your own vision for your own life. >> You don't just need pastor to give you a vision for the church. You need a vision for your life. Where do you envision yourself? Where do you see how can I improve as a soul winner? How can I improve as a as a spiritual person, as a Christian? And I think you should do that. And as we uh prepare for the end of the year and prepare for a new year and we have that prayer meeting that last Wednesday of the month, start thinking about praying and asking the Lord where you can grow in 2026. We began a series of study of lessons on the study of First John. We began this uh back in uh November and we started it off and then uh we we've been making our way through the different themes. And if you've not got a a booklet yet, you can get one of those for free out in the lobby. Grab one uh for yourself, for your family to go through. Just don't make fun of my grammar and my mistakes. I've seen things I'm going through. I'm like, "Oh, goodness gracious. Please, Sister Sandy, don't read that part." And so that's what I do. Okay? I apologize in advance for my mistakes. It's all me and my editor. And guess who my editor is? When you've seen me, you've seen the editor. Okay? Uh he and I are one. So he gets the blame, I get the blame. And so we've been going through this and we've been doing uh a study of themes from the letter of First John. And the reason why we're doing themes is because John repeats himself several times in this letter. And even though he repeats himself, he might say something a little bit different. And so instead of us kind of going chapter by chapter, uh we're looking at all the themes uh from this. And I hope you'll see as we go tonight, I'm trying to develop uh the themes kind of to stack upon one another. We begin with the first four verses uh the revelation of God or God's revelation in Christ Jesus. And so everything rises and falls in our understanding of who Jesus is. John is addressing a church that suffered a division, a split. False teachers had infiltrated from within the church and drawn some away. And part of their teaching was uh whether it was a greater emphasis on Christ's humanity or a greater emphasis on his deity. And both are important. But somewhere along the line, they had uh had a flawed understanding of one or two or both of those things. And I've said this and I'm going to keep saying it because it's important that John doesn't give greetings and salutations. Doesn't identify himself. Doesn't identify his audience. He comes right in with doctrine. He comes in that we have what we have heard, what we have seen, what we have touched. And that is Jesus has been made manifest to us and we are revealing that to you. And if you have understanding of that, you have fellowship with God and you have fellowship with us. And so everything rises and falls on our understanding of who Jesus is. Not just in what he has done but who he is in his life. We have to be correct on his deity and we have to be correct on his on his humanity. Theology and doctrine is not just for uh ivory towers and seminaries and Bible colleges. You do theology every day. >> You do the you I I've preached this around the country. I think I've preached it here. I preach, you are a theologian. And I stole this from a famous movie. Either you're a good theologian or a bad theologian. Are you a good witch or a bad witch? That's what uh somebody said in a famous movie one time. So, are you a good theologian or a bad theologian? Because bad theology leads to bad behavior. >> Okay? good theology, healthy or sound doctrine leads to sound living. And so if we have flawed doctrine somewhere, and I've talked about this, and I don't mean to keep repeating myself, but I want you to see where we're going, is that if you mess up who Jesus is in his person, somewhere else is going to suffer the consequences. Okay? And so John is trying to correct and comfort a church that's dealing with a split of false doctrine, false teachers and those who remain. How should we live then? Well, how can we continue on? And so last week we began uh looking at God is light. John, his first letter is uh very weighty. There's so many great doctrinal truths uh in this study. And if you wanted to simply do a study on uh attributes of Jesus just in first John, if you want to just do a study on your own, maybe that's something you could do in the beginning of the new year and the attributes or the characteristics of Jesus just in first John. He is from the beginning. He's eternal life. He's the son of the father. He's Jesus Christ the righteous. He's the son of God. He's the true God and eternal life. He's pure. He's righteous. In him there is no sin. So his these are important things because if we get any of that wrong of who he is, then we're going to get his work of redemption wrong as well. Okay. So, we looked at God is light and we got pretty far. I'm going to get on one little part here and then we're going to go into God is love tonight. But I want to begin at this point where we left off last week where John says, "If we say we don't have sin, if we say we don't have sin or we say uh we're we, you know, we're sinless, we're just simply good. We're we're we're really good. We've deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Okay? And he says, "If we confess our sins, he God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is verse 10 of chapter 1. But he says this, "If we say that we have not sinned, again, he repeats himself, we make God a liar and his word is not in us." Now we that's where I left off last week because I want I want to clarify that. How can we make God a liar? How can we make God a liar? He says we we make God a liar when we say we have no sin or we say we have not sinned. Okay. Now to again repeat a few things we talked about last week. Light exposes, right? Light exposes. We like light, but light uh in a dark place reveals. It exposes. And so I said this last week that the revelation that God is light should be comforting and it should be terrifying. Brother Nate, why would it be terrifying? Why would it? If God is light, why why should that be terrifying? Because if God is light, then God sees everything. God knows everything. And if God sees and knows everything, then we are exposed. We are vulnerable. We are out in the open. And that should terrify us. Why should that terrify us? Because Jesus said that in in chapter number three of go of of John's gospel and this is the condemnation. This is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men loved darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were evil. So when God shines the light in darkness, we have two options. We have two choices, two responses. Either to reject the light or to accept it. John opens his gospel and says, "He came unto his own and his own received him not. They rejected the light. but to those who received him to them. So you have you receive so life comes from getting out of the darkness. But Jesus said men love the darkness because they don't want to be exposed. And but here's the problem. The light has come and you're already exposed. >> I've said this before in preaching and and just as a remark is that preaching is dangerous. Preaching is dangerous for two ways. Number one, it's dangerous for you. Preaching is very dangerous for you because this is not entertainment. This is exposure. Preaching is exposure. Psalm 119, the word of God is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. So when preaching happens like we hear on Sundays and we hear on Wednesdays and we hear in Bible study and we hear in Sunday school, what is happening there is the light is exposing the darkness of your heart and your life. It's dangerous. because you are now responsible for what you know. >> Well, I'll just remain in ignorance. Too late. Too late. I'll just ignorance is not bliss when it comes to the word of God. This is not in my lesson, but let me say this. John or or Paul says in Romans 1 that all of us ARE GUILTY ONE WAY OR THE OTHER. He says the Gentiles are guilty because they're barbarians and they said he they don't know the law. They're ignorant of the law the law of Moses. He says but their works condemn them. Or in other words, their conscience bears witness to their deeds. So no matter where you are in the earth today, the heavens reveal the glory of God. >> And you know by simply looking at the glory or the creation that there is a creator but within that is what is called the conscience. So inside of you, you don't have to be taught that murder is wrong. It's already written on your heart. >> Lying is wrong. You don't have to be taught that. You don't have to teach. You don't have to send a child to a lying university for them to know how to lie. Did you eat the cookie? No. Didn't eat the cookie. You got chocolate chips in your teeth. Nobody taught them to lie. It's in you. And you know it's wrong to do what's told you to do and you disobey it. You know it, so you lie. You don't have to be taught that. IT'S ALREADY THERE. YOUR CONSCIENCE already is condemning you for what you have done. Paul then goes on to say, "Well, then you Jews are guilty BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE word of God and you're condemning those who don't know the word, but you know the word and you are still disobeying it." >> So no matter where you fall in Romans 1 and two is that you're guilty. And so God is light and that means he is holy. He is pure and he is shining into the darkness of our heart and we are exposed. So when we say when John says we make him a liar when we say we do not have sin, how do we do that? Because God has revealed in his word what is in man. And when you say, "I am not a sinner or I do not have sin or I'm I'm I'M I'M PRETTY GOOD. I'm not that bad." Jeremiah says, "The heart is deceitful >> and wicked." Yeah. >> So when you say I'm without sin, you're saying the author of this book is a liar. >> Does that make sense? So when someone says, "Well, I I'm not that bad. I I've not sinned or I I'm not a sinner." The light exposes the deception and you say that God is lying about who you are. So you cannot confess until you agree with God about what he says about your sin. Does that make sense? Make sense? This goes back to the garden. I'm going to my lesson. We're going to pray when we get into God's love. I want I want us I want us to understand setting something up here is that in the garden the first question ever recorded was by a serpent and it said this hath God said. First question in all of existence was questioning what God said. Did God say you would really die if you ate from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil? She didn't know the answer. She added to God's word. So, she didn't know God's word herself. She says, "Well, yeah, we if we if we eat and touch." He didn't say touch, said eat. So, he knew she didn't know the word of God and he's got her. And then he followed up and said, "You won't die." Deception. The worst kind of deception is selfdeception. They deceived me. They tricked me. They spammed me. But the worst is when you deceive yourself and say you're not as bad as you really as as really as the word of God says you are. That's self that's self selfdeception. You're not going to die. So she takes it, eats it, gives it to Adam. And here and what and what happens? conscience wounded eyes are open. What do they do? They hide. We want to get out of the light and we hide and cover. So when the light comes and God says where the second question, the first question that God ever asked is where are you? Not what have you done. He doesn't want you to stay in the dark. Where are you? We hid ourselves. We covered ourselves. You're exposed. It's light. But light not only exposes, light heals. Light exposes, but light has healing property. So when you get into the light and you forsake the darkness, God doesn't want to simply expose our sin and say, "Well, good luck. Here's judgment. Here's condemnation." No, he says, "Come out. Come out from the dominion of darkness and into light." or as Peter would say, out of darkness into his marvelous light, marvelous light, wonderful light, gracious, merciful light. >> He has not come to condemn the world. He has come to save. >> What we need is a physician. What we need is a healer. What we need is a savior. What we need >> is rescue. Come out of darkness and into light. So now let's go to our next lesson. All right. We're going to go into God is love. And I think it is on page 18 if I'm not. Yes, 19. Page 19 of your booklet. We're going to talk about God is love. And I want us to pray as we begin this lesson. I won't I won't go through all of it tonight. I'm sure we won't be able to get all of it, but I want us to pray that the Lord would speak to us. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you. We thank you for your spirit that is here. We thank you for your word that is a light and it is a lamp, oh God, but it is also a hammer and it's also fire. It's also seed. And I pray right now that the sword, the word of the Lord would go forth tonight. But Lord, help me, your vessel, to teach your word with clarity. Let there be understanding. But Lord, let there be a revelation tonight of who you are as our father. In Jesus' name we pray. And everyone said, "Amen." >> We're going to talk about God is love. Let's go to first John chapter number four. First John chapter number four. We're going to begin reading in verse. There's lots of I got lots of verses there. But I want us to look at verse chapter 4:es uh 7-10 and then we're going to look at verse number 16. 1 John 4:es 7-10 and then we're going to look at verse 16. John says, "He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love." In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Look at this. Now, this is important. You You need to highlight this. You need to highlight this here in his love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Verse 16. And we have known and believe the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. A father once overheard his young son scolding his sister, saying, "You'd better be good or father won't love you." The man called his boy over and gently said, "Son, that isn't true." The child looked puzzled. "But won't you love us? But you won't love us if we're bad, will you? The father smiled and answered, "Yes, I will love you whether you are good or bad. But there will be a difference in my love. When you are good, I will love you with a love that makes me glad. And when you are not good, I will love you with a love that hurts me." God is love. That story captures the heart of John's message that God's love is not fickle or conditional, but it's steadfast and holy. It's a love that rejoices in righteousness and grieavves over sin, yet never lets his children go. God is love. I got this beautiful little girl. She's 10 years old now. It's the craziest thing in the world that she's 10 already. And we used to have this little yapping dog. His name is Hooser. We had him for 13 years, 12, 13 years. And we we'd walk in, you know, when you walk in the house after a long day, they bark, right? You don't have a barking dog. Okay. Well, my my our dog barked when we walked in the house. And so he'd just bark and yap. He's just a little thing, just a Yorkie. And he would just he's just yapping. And so when you come in late on a Sunday, you know, when uh it's been a long week and it's been a long day and you hear this yapping dog, you know, sometimes it gets on your nerves, right? And a few times I was like, I'm just going to open the door and let you out and never let you back in. You know, you just say that. And I mean, I don't mean it. A couple times I thought about it. And so Eastston Greer would hear me say that. Well, some days had went by and she had gotten in trouble for something. I can't remember what it was. And uh we had to get on to her for something. And she was real little. She may have been five or six. And uh we were in our our our family closet and uh and and so we had to get on to her and she just started crying. She just started crying. And I it was kind of like a it wasn't like we didn't get on to her that bad that she'd be crying. I said, "Baby, what is wrong?" She goes, "Are you going to get rid of me like you're going to get rid of Hooser?" Man, I broke down. I got on my knees. I grabbed that girl. I swept her up and I said, "I will get rid of that dog, but I'll never get rid of you, baby. I love when I get on you, doesn't mean I'm going to get rid of you. You know what we need a revelation of is God as our father. >> You didn't hear me. We need a revelation of God as our father. There are too many who only know God as judge. I'm afraid at some of our churches, we fear grace more than we fear sin. Y'all, y'all all right? >> I'm going to say it again so you can tweet it, write it down, put it in your Bible. I'm afraid some of our churches are more afraid to preach grace than they are to preach sin >> because they are so afraid of the revelation of God as father. >> And some of that stems from maybe somebody has had a bad experience with an earthly father. Somebody's had a bad experience with a doineering leader and so they feel the only way to keep people in line is to be a doineering bully. Well, I'm going to preach. We need a revelation that God is love. >> Doesn't say he has love. but that he is love. >> He's light, but he's also love and one does his holiness his holiness doesn't contradict his love and his love doesn't contradict his holiness. That's right. >> I'm afraid that we have too many who want to preach God's holiness and minimize his love. >> He is holy. HE SAYS TO BE YE holy as I am holy. But we are also to love as he is love. >> We can't remove God's love. Are you hearing me tonight? We need a revelation of who he is. Yes, he is a judge. YES, HE IS. YES, BUT HE'S ALSO A SAVIOR. >> He's also a healer. >> AND HE'S ALSO OUR FATHER. >> THAT'S RIGHT. >> If you get anything out of this series, get this. God loves you. God loves. Maybe you need to point at yourself and say, "He loves me." You might just need to be reminded. He loves you. He loves you on your worst day. He saved you, BROTHERS AND SISTERS. ON YOUR WORST DAY. >> You didn't find God. You didn't find the big man upstairs. He came looking for you on your worst day and said, "THAT'S WHAT I WANT. I WANT YOU." YES, YOU THE DRUNKARD. YES, YOU. THE ALCOHOLIC. YES, YOU. I should be teaching, not preaching, but I we need a revelation. Because if you know that you are his child, then you know he's not out to get you. GOD IS NOT SOME BULLY IN THE sky waiting for you to have a mishap on a Monday morning. There it is. Boom. Condemnation. You're no longer my child. I knew it. You couldn't make it. Brothers and sisters, that is not biblical. >> He is not going to get rid of you like some yapping dog. THAT'S RIGHT. >> JUST BECAUSE YOU have a bad day does not mean you are no longer his child. >> Woo. My God have mercy. Somebody needs to get that in your spirit. That if you are his son and you are his daughter, he loves you with a love unconditional. >> God's not looking just to just to, you know, SNAP HIS FINGER AND GET YOU OFF THE EARTH BECAUSE YOU HAD ONE BAD DAY. A BAD DAY doesn't make a bad life. >> And a bad day doesn't make you no longer his child. My God, I feel it. >> Didn't get far already. >> He is the father of creation. Now listen, >> HE'S THE FATHER OF US ALL. HAVE WE NOT ALL ONE FATHER? The prophet Malachi would say, >> Paul would say to the Athenians in Acts, he said, "WE ARE ALL his offspring. He is our father by creation, but we had and have a falling out." And that is what keeps us from having a true relationship with him. And that is our sin. Are you hearing me? Before you were born again, I'm going to talk about being born again. But listen, before you are born again, what keeps you? HE IS YOUR FATHER BY CREATION, but he wants to be more than that through salvation. And so sin separates us from him. It's the it's the great divide. The prophet Isaiah would say, "Your sin, your sin, your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. And your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear." Now, this is more than just simply a geographical distance. It's spiritual death. All right. Again, if we get Christ wrong, we're going to get sin wrong. Sin is serious. It is so serious that there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves. God in the Old Testament gave laws and he gave sacrifices in a way that sin could be dealt with, but it was insufficient. No longer by the blood of bulls and goats and oxmen and lambs, this would not work forever. It's incomplete. It's insufficient. It did what it could do, but it was not everything that could be done. And we couldn't do it ourselves, and we still can't do it ourselves. We need saving from our sin. Sin is serious. We cannot be light on sin. We cannot grace. I'm I'm moving list fast, but I'm coming back. Let me just Paul dealt with this. I talk about grace. I felt some of y'all tense up when I started talking about grace. Paul felt that same way. Shall we continue in sin because grace abounds? There's always going to be people who take grace too far. Grace is not an excuse to sin. Shall we continue in sin because grace abounds? Paul said, "God forbid." No. He tells Titus, "For the grace of God has appeared unto all men, teaching us." That would the grace of God that brings salvation unto all men. Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness. Grace saves, but grace also teaches. And if grace is not teaching you every day, or you're not submitting to the teaching of grace every day, you will go back into the bondage of sin. Sin is serious. Sin is serious. This is what John is saying in this letter. If we say we don't have sin, we're a liar. And we're saying that God's wrong about sin. He's a liar. But listen, we must be redeemed from the bondage of sin. Now, light light is is is good. We need the light. But if that all that God did for us, if he only exposed our sin, showed us our our our what we deserved, condemnation and death, what good would it be? But that he is love and gracious and merciful. He does what we cannot do for ourselves. Let's go to first John chapter number three. Verse five, and you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Why did Jesus do what he did at Calvary and at the resurrection to save us from our sins? He's not just a good moral teacher. Now just a good inspirational follow. He came he did this is why he was manifested. This is why he came on earth to take away our sins. To take away our sins. Look at chapter 4 verse number nine. In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. This is why he came. That we might be saved from our sins. Now, I want you to see this. I want you to see this. Now, I've talked about the word manifest. It means to reveal. Again, it's an uncovering. It's a revelation. And John uses it deliberately throughout the letter. It's the same Greek term he employs for Jesus is first appearing to take away sins as we just read in chapter 3 verse 5. And that he will be made manifest at the end of the age. Okay? He will be made manifest or revealed again. But Paul uses the same word in 1 Timothy 3:16. Let me read that. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. He uses the same word there for manifested. And this is important. You need to highlight this or mark this down in your Bible. First Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. Of course, you could probably quote it, but I want to make sure I get it right because it's so important. 3:16. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. It does not say great is the mystery of God. It does not say great is the mystery of the godhead. Oh, it's a great it's a great No, it's not. Here it is. Here is Here is godliness explained. God was manifest in the flesh. God who who who is in Jesus. Paul says in Colossians 2:9, "IN HIM DWELLS ALL THE FULLNESS of the Godhead bodily." >> JESUS, "SHOW US THE FATHER." JESUS SAID, "WHEN YOU'VE seen me, YOU'VE SEEN THE FATHER. I'VE COME IN MY FATHER'S NAME." GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, JUSTIFIED IN THE SPIRIT, SEEN OF ANGELS, PREACHED TO THE GENTILES, believed on in THE WORLD, AND RECEIVED UP INTO GLORY. HE CAME TO DO WHAT WE COULD NOT do on our own. >> It was Paul would say in in Acts, it was God's own blood that purchased our redemption. >> Y'all All right. That's why he That's We got to get this right. That's why we've got to be right on who Jesus is. Because if we're wrong on who Jesus is, then we will be wrong on his redemptive work. >> All right. Manifest. It's 8:32. We got 13 minutes. Is that right? No, eight minutes. Something like that. Nine minutes. Five minutes. I'm almost done. Didn't get very far. He manifested himself in flesh. And this was a covenantal act of love. that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies >> with enemies like this, who needs friends? While we were enemies, Christ died for us. With enemies like this, who needs friends? IF HE WILL DIE FOR you as your enemy, it's because he loved you. My God have mercy. I'm almost done. Look at this. >> For the propitiation, I want to read I want I want to read something here. For the propitiation of our sins. And this is an Old Testament term. Propeciation points to the mercy seat a top of the ark of the covenant. There once a year on the day of atonement, the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice to atone for Israel's sins, symbolically covering them from the before the holy presence of God. But those sacrifices could never remove sin. They only pointed to what John would say, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. SO HE WAS THE HIGH priest offering the sacrifice. He is a high priest forever after the order of Melchzdc. My God have mercy. SO HE WAS THE HIGH PRIEST OFFERING THE sacrifice but he was also the LAMB OF GOD BEING SHED SHEDDING HIS BLOOD FOR THE SIN of the world. >> Show me chapter Show me Romans, brother Derek. I sent that to you. Romans chapter 3 verse number 25. Let's read this in the King James version. You got it there? Romans 3:25. Go give me the KJV first. This is my Sunday punch. There we go. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare the right his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance OF GOD. SO PAUL says he was the sacrifice. His blood provided the means for our salvation, the remission, the removal of our sins. But show me the Christian Standard Bible. I love this. I read this a few years ago. I was listening to it on my audio uh Bible doing a my my daily walk in prayer and I got to this and I about ran all over the park when I when I read this in the CSB. LOOK AT THIS. GOD presented him as the mercy seat. You didn't get it. That word propitiation that is in the Greek is mercy seat. GOD PRESENTED HIM NOT JUST AS THE HIGH PRIEST, NOT JUST AS THE LAMB, NOT just the blood THAT WAS SPRINKLED, BUT HE WAS THE ACTUAL MERCY. MY GOD HAVE MERCY. HE CAME TO DO WHAT WE COULD NOT DO ON OUR OWN. SO HE BECAME WHAT WE MY GOD, HE BECAME WHAT HE WASN'T SO WE COULD BECOME WHAT WE weren't >> through faith to demonstrate his righteousness BECAUSE IN HIS RESTRAINT GOD PASSED OVER THE SINS previously committed. SO HE CAME TO DO MY GOD HAVE MERCY. HE CAME TO DO WHAT WE COULD NOT DO FOR OURSELVES because it took HIM AS GOD WITH GOD'S OWN BLOOD. AND IT TOOK HIM TO BE FULLY MAN COMPLETELY FLESH WITH REAL BONES AND REAL SKIN and real HAIR TO MY GOD. HE GAVE HIS LIFE. WHY DID HE DO THAT? BECAUSE IT WAS THE LOVE OF GOD. IT WAS THE LOVE OF HOW MUCH DOES HE LOVE YOU? HE LOVED YOU SO MUCH. SHE CAME FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH. Stand to your feet. My God. >> I didn't get anywhere close to getting finished, but we got to stop right here. HOW MUCH DOES HE LOVE YOU? He loves you so much that he gave his life for you. >> How much does he love you? He shed his blood for you. Few years ago, Eastston, she was real little. She's a baby and sleep in the bed with us. You know, when we brought her home, we had this great plan. She gonna sleep in the, you know, the crib next to us. It worked for like I don't know two months, three months and all of a sudden something happened to the routine and she just got I mean all out of sorts crying. And this is what I said to Ashley. I said somebody's got to sleep around here. SOME SOMEBODY'S GOT TO SLEEP. So give her to me. Put her in the bed. put her in the bed next to me. That was it, y'all. That was it for me. I'm good. She went to sleep. I was like, figured it out. We'll worry about it some other time. We're sleeping. If this is what it takes, this little ball of bundle of joys going in the bed. And we've been doing that for a long time. 9:00 yapped. Easter came with me. We got in the bed. So, there was there was a Sunday morning. Well, and so she would take a bottle to uh bed with her and we'd keep it on the nightstand. So when she would cry out, we'd grab the bottle and you know, she she she'd drink it for a little bit and fall back to sleep and I'd take it out and put it back on the stand. Well, I was preaching on a Sunday morning here and I I get up early and I try to do all the things I need to do first and get my minds, you know, focused on what I need to preach, look over my notes, make any adjustments and all that. So, I mean, that's my that's where my brain's at. So, I get out of the shower, get dressed, and I'm going to the to the kitchen. I'm gonna make me a cup of coffee. And I hear this little baby going, "Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad." Forget preaching. Forget studying. Forget it. Forget coffee. I went in there and she had no milk in in the bottle. I thought, "Somebody's got to sleep around here. Might as well be her." So, I grabbed that little bundle of joy, got a bottle, brought her with me. I didn't know what I preached. I didn't I didn't care. The most important thing that day was me soothing that little girl. How much more >> does your heavenly Father, >> if you being an earthly father know how to give good gifts, >> JESUS SAID, "HOW MUCH MORE DOES YOUR WONDERING ABOUT YOUR BAD DAY?" HE'S JUST WAITING. CALL ON ME. I'M WAITING FOR SOMEBODY TO SAY, "ABA, FATHER." I'M WAITING FOR SOMEBODY SAY, "OUR FATHER, WOULD YOU COME ON SOMEBODY? YOUR FATHER'S WAITING ON YOU TO CALL UPON HIM. YOUR FATHER. HE'S NOT TURNED OFF BY YOUR BAD DAY. HE'S SAYING, "JUST CALL ON ME. JUST CALL ON ME." How much does he love you? He loves you more than I love that little girl. He loves He loves you. He loves whatever you think. I love this thing. I love that. He loves you that much more. You can't even fathom the love of God. I'm done. I'm going to talk more about this next week, but I'm going to leave this little nugget with you. When you are in a relationship, an offense takes place, there is a disruption in the fellowship, right? silent treatment, not going to talk to each other. I'm going to hide out. There's a disruption in the fellowship. Let's use the let's use the parent child relationship. There's a disruption in the fellowship, but they're still your child. Just because you have a bad day doesn't mean the covenant is broken. >> Because you didn't initiate the covenant in the first place >> and you didn't pay for the covenant. >> A disruption of fellowship does not mean the relationship is over. Lift up your hands right now. Father, in the name of Jesus, God, give us a revelation of who you are. Not just our savior, not just our lord, not just our healer, but lord, you are our father. You have taught us in your word to approach you not as lord, not as master, but to say our father which art in heaven. And I pray Lord that you would give us a revelation of who you are. That you are our father and that you have come to save us. You came to pay a price. we couldn't pay. You took the penalty for us so that we might have life. And I pray right now, Lord, that not only would we have a revelation of who you are, but give us a revelation of who we are as your sons and your daughters, the children of God, that we might know that the covenant is greater than our emotions. The covenant is greater THAN OUR MISTAKES. THE COVENANT IS GREATER THAN ALL THAT WE COULD DO BECAUSE you are love. In the name of Jesus we pray. And everyone said amen. Now would you clap your hands onto the Lord? I think we should honor him and say Lord we love you. We praise you. We worship you. Hallelujah. We'll continue this when we get a chance. All right, we'll pick up where we left off. But greet other sons and daughters of God, children of God, your brothers and your sisters tonight as you're dismissed in Jesus' name. We'll see you Sunday morning, 10:00 a.m. and Sunday night at 6.