- John 3:16
- Devotion and affection must be closely tied in our relationship with God
- Take up the relationship you have with God and take it seriously
- Our story of how we met Jesus did not start when we became aware of him, or decided to have faith or be baptized, He has always been there
- He didn’t just show up at the right moment or materialize in our deepest moment of need
- Christ has always been the same person, waiting for you to be the one to change and come to him
- He has always been there even as we scorn him over and over, or have flippant and half-hearted times of pursuit. Our relationship with him has always been offensive
- On Easter we contemplate his sacrifice and love, but we stop short of his holistic investment in us
- And God is also infinite, so his investment and emotions are also unfathomable to us. His feelings of sadness and pain are pre and post-existent to us and the events
- Imagine your child was stolen, brainwashed, and taught to mock and hate and distain you unto death
- If you could go back in time to unmake this reality for the both of you, would you choose the difficulty and heartache? Would you take the scars to repair it?
- God loved us enough to not only save us by his torture and death, but to shoulder the eternal burden of knowing us in all our depravity
- He loved us but we didn’t love him. But the moment where we came to love God means more to him than it ever will to us. His love should inspire ours
- The truth of God’s affection goes beyond the events recorded in historical documents and books
- But rarely is the man behind the facts truly understood
- Our affection exists, but in our finite nature we have infinite room to grow our affection for God
- All of are like children at best–so we may have difficulty processing all the details and logistics. But we can process the powerful essence of the truth of our parents’ love
- Our parents often start as our heroes, but we don’t understand them as people until much later when we can empathize with their burden
- God took on flesh not just to save, but to enable us to understand and enjoy him in a more mature way–and to be able to love him as was intended from the beginning
- We are set apart not by the nobility of our function, but by the nobility of our spirit. We are created to play out God’s great love and story of his tragedy and glory
- The sermons of this year aren’t being given so you can be more stringent and efficient. The purpose of our church is to make believers who love God
- So don’t love God because of the facts, but because your heart connects with his heart
- John 21:25
- You are devoted to someone who is with you now and has always been-knowing full well the consequences
- To love him is the best thing there is–through all the pain and difficulty of circumstance and our own brokenness
- Be devoted to God with fresh eyes and heart this year. Become enamored with his love and word because of your connection to the person of God
QUESTIONS
- Are you in love with God?
- Can you describe how God has personally sought after you? What do you like best about God?
- What more would you like to know about him?
- QUESTIONS
- Are you in love with God?
- Can you describe how God has personally sought after you? What do you like best about God?
- What more would you like to know about him?
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