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June 30, 2025 • 21 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond Sunday.
The podcast that takes youdeeper into the Word of God
throughout your week with yourhosts, pastors Lee and Jim.
It's time to inspire, upliftand dig deeper.
Beyond Sunday starts now.
Hey, good morning everybody.

(00:24):
Welcome back to Beyond Sunday.
I'm Pastor Jim here with PastorLee.
We pastor the Church ChristFamily Outreach Church in Amelia
, virginia, and I'm here instudio with Pastor Lee.
How you doing, brother?
I am blessed.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
I am blessed.
I am ready to dig into thisepisode, brother, how are you
man?

Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm excited Anytime we get an opportunity.
Like I know I say it so often,but it's just the truth.
Anytime we get an opportunityto talk about kingdom things,
I'm ready to go for it.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yes, brother, it truly excites me because I
realize, as a Christian numberone, it's what we're supposed to
be doing.
Number two is how we sharpeniron right Iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.
Sharpen iron right Ironsharpens iron, so one man
sharpens another.
And when we talk about kingdomthings, the Spirit of God inside
of us begins to do a work.
So I'm just excited.

(01:13):
I know that kingdom thingschanges lives for people.
It encourages people and so,yeah, man, let's get going.
I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, and the truth is it's got to be centered
around the Word of God, becausewithout that I got nothing good
to say.
Nothing good to say.
You know I was with somebodyone time, you know, just hanging
out, and they were a newbeliever.
And you know, I was just beingwho I am in Christ and he
deserves all the honor and gloryfor who he's made me, amen.

(01:39):
And so I was just being me andhe said, he looked at me and he
goes, man.
There's just no way.
This is real.
I said what you mean, man?
And he goes.
Well, it's always praise God,it's always.
You know, you're talking aboutthe Lord.
No matter what situation we'retalking about, you find a way to
pivot it and we end up talkingabout Bible or kingdom things.

(02:02):
He's like there's no way thisis real.
I said, yeah, it is man,because there's nothing better
to talk about.
That's right.
That's right, you know.
And with that being said, let'sjust jump into the Word.
If you have your Bibles, youcan open them up.
If you're driving, don't dothat, but just listen, put your

(02:28):
listening ears on, because we'regoing to be talking about.
You know the heart of what itmeans to follow Jesus.
So 1 John, chapter 4, verse 7through 12, here we go Beloved,
let us love one another, forlove is from God, and whoever
loves has been born of God andknows God.
Anyone who does not love doesnot know God, because God is

(02:50):
love.
In this the love of God wasmade manifest among us.
That God sent his only Son intothe world so that we might live
through him.
In this is love, not that wehave loved God, but that he
loved us and sent His Son to bethe propitiation of our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, wealso ought to love one another.

(03:14):
No one has ever seen God.
If we love one another, godabides in us and His love is
perfected in us Now, just rightoff the bat.
It's powerful.
A lot of language is being usedabout love, but the passage,
what this is, is a roadmap forliving out God's love and where

(03:34):
it comes from and how we abidein it.
And I want to tell you what.
In a world that's often full ofdivision, in a world of social
media, and in families and inthe grocery stores all across
the world, this is the messagethat we need, and I want to
unpack it with Pastor Lee hereThree points that I want to
cover.
We're going to get into it, youknow, because God's love is the

(03:56):
source, jesus' sacrifice is themodel, and our response to all
of this is to love others.
What do you think, pastor?

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Lee, you ready for this?
Yeah, man, I'm excited, I'mpumped, because if there's one
word, after hearing you read thetext, if there's one word that,
to me, sums all this up, it'slove.
Yeah, to me sums all this up,it's love.
And if we go deeper, to theroot of that, right, what kind
of love?
Whose love?
It's the love of God, throughhis only begotten Son, jesus
Christ.
So we get going.
Just looking at the first versethat you read, it's verse 7,

(04:26):
beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and
whoever loves has been born ofGod and knows God.
So I just want to reference 1John 3.11.
1 John 3.11 says for this isthe message you heard from the
beginning we should love oneanother, right?
So this is the message thatwe've heard from the beginning

(04:49):
that we should love one another.
So this message of love is nota new concept, right?
It's not a new theme, it's nota new theory, not a new idea.
You know, this thing of lovehas been around from the very
beginning.
Maybe for some people out theretoday, though, they really don't
know the love of God becausethey don't have the love of God

(05:10):
in their hearts.
And I will just say this Ithought I knew what love was
until I got saved.
And I will just say this Ithought I knew what love was
until I got saved and, man, thenI realized that love is more
than just a fuzzy feeling.
Love is more than just a warmfeeling.
You know, thought, I knew whatlove was, but when I realized

(05:31):
that Jesus Christ laid down hislife for me, when I realized
that Jesus Christ took whatshould have happened to me, but
he took it on him, when he paidthe debt for all my sin, I
realized because he didn't haveto do it I realized what love
was.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, I mean.
The truth is, if you offer melove as the world offers love, I
don't even want it.
No, you know, I don't want it.
Too many problems come with it.
Yeah, because, first, god'slove is the source of all love.
Look at verse 7 and 8.
Love is from God, because Godis love.

(06:04):
It's not just that he loves,but he is love.
That's who His nature is,that's God's nature.
So think about that.
Every time you show kindness,every time you show patience,
every time you show forgiveness,you're tapping into God's
character.
So it's like drawing water fromthis well that never runs dry.

(06:24):
You know, the other day I wasactually, I was with you and we
were doing the ice cream dealfor Elijah's birthday party.
Well, the following day I wentback out to Chesterfield and my
wife said hey, I want to go backto that ice cream store because
they had this really goodflavor.
So I walked into the store thenext day to go get some ice

(06:46):
cream.
And the lady behind the counter, she did not look like she was
having a very good day.
She was snappy, she looked alittle frazzled, she looked kind
of like she was out of herelement, she didn't look very
friendly, and customer service101 says put a smile on and be
nice to the customers.

(07:06):
She was kind of missing that.
But my first instinct in thatmoment was like really, you know
, almost to be annoyed.
But then I thought, like whatif I show her a little bit of
kindness?
What if I'm just overly nice?
What if the love that abides inme from the Father is seen in
this very, very moment?
So I just smiled and I askedher hey, what's going on?

(07:29):
Everything good, you look, youknow, you look a little frazzled
, really, just trying to sparkconversation.
And then at the end of the dayI was just very, very nice and
very, very open and at the endof the whole thing, exchange not
that this is that important butI left a decent tip which I
normally don't tip.
That's why I bring it up.
I don't tip at those kinds ofplaces but I just chose to and

(07:51):
she saw it and she had a smileon her face.
So when I went in she lookedfrazzled and looked upset and
when I left she was smiling.
And it was in that moment thatme being—it wasn't just about me
being nice, but really it wasabout God's love flowing through
me in that circumstance, andthat's what John's talking about
.
When we love, we're showingthat we're born of God.

(08:12):
We're showing that we'reconnected to Him.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, and at the end of 1 John, 3, 11, the command is
that we should love one another.
That word should is not anoption, right?
No, it's a command.
This is what you should do weshould love one another.
You know that is not a choice.
Well, you know, maybe I will,maybe I won't.
No, no, we should when we entera room we should look different
.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yes, and it should be the love of God flowing through
us.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, yeah we should be the difference in the room
right, Because of what Christ isdoing.
You're absolutely right.
Well, for the listeners who arestill wondering, what was the
flavor?
Key lime pie?
Ah, man, out of all the flavorswe could get in life, we got to
go get key lime pie in an icecream.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Hey, it was very good and it had like these graham
cracker crusts in it, which iswhat made it for me, man.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Now, that is cool.
That is cool, all right.
So, moving on with the eighthverse, anyone who does not love
does not know God.
That's interesting, right?
Think about that, chew on that.
Anyone who does not love doesnot know God, because God is
love, right?
So I mean, 2 Corinthians 13, 11says Finally brothers, rejoice,

(09:21):
aim for restoration, comfortone another, agree with one
another, live in peace, and theGod of love and peace will be
with you.
And when I think about thatbecause that's a cross-reference
to the eighth verse when Ithink about that, out of all the
words in 2 Corinthians 13, 11that I just read, the main thing

(09:44):
that hits me is three words aimfor restoration.
And I think that restoration isa huge work.
It's like a huge byproduct oflove.
You know, so many families aretorn apart, so many families are
struggling and going throughthings, and when we don't focus
on the love of Christ, it'sreally hard to communicate that
restoration is needed, right?

(10:04):
So, getting back to the verse inthe eighth verse, anyone who
does not love does not know God.
We should be walking in suchstep with the Spirit of God that
His love is pouring through usand that's evident.
Of that, and regardless of howI feel or any walls that I've
built up or any truths that Imay be justified in when people

(10:24):
have done me wrong or my familywrong.
The most important thing is thelove of God working in and
through us so that we can aimfor restoration, so that we
comfort one another, so that wecan end up agreeing with one
another on the love and truth ofGod, so that we comfort one
another, so that we can end upagreeing with one another on the
love and truth of God, so thatwe can live in peace with one
another and that the God of loveand peace will be with us.
That's 2 Corinthians 13, 11.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, and you brought it up, pastor Lee, earlier in
your first thought about how,before Christ, you didn't even
know what love was.
Before you realized what he didfor you on the cross, you
didn't realize what love trulywas.
And I think to my second point,if we move into verse 9 and 10,
is Jesus' sacrifice on thecross really is the model of

(11:06):
this love that we're supposed tohave?
Right In verses 9 and 10,that's the heart of this passage
.
In this the love of God wasmade manifest.
So basically, when we saw Jesuson the cross, you can speak of
God's love, but really it's justthis idea.
If you don't see it sophysically, tangibly, it could
be touched up on the cross.

(11:27):
So God's love on the cross wasmade manifest that God sent his
only son right to be thepropitiation of our sins.
That word propitiation it meansJesus took the punishment that
we deserved, satisfying God'sjustice, so that we could be
forgiven.
Romans 5.8 puts it this way andI love this.

(11:47):
God shows his love for us inthat, while we were still
sinners, christ died for us.
So I want to think about thatand you've already alluded to it
.
We don't understand love untilwe see it on the cross right,
god didn't wait for us to getour act together.
He loved us when we were a mess, right, when I was a mess, when
you were a mess anybody who'slistening.

(12:07):
God doesn't ask us to get fixedup so that we can somehow earn
or deserve his love, right.
But that's the kind of lovethat we're called to.
It's not this warm and fuzzy,it's sacrificial.
It's choosing to love someoneeven when they've hurt you, like
forgiving a co-worker who threwyou under the bus right, or
being patient with a familymember who's just driving us up

(12:29):
the wall.
Jesus on the cross.
It shows us that love isn'tcheap.
It costs something.
But here's the thing about thatkind of love it transforms us,
or it should.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, you mentioned seeing Jesus on the cross, and
knowing what he did for our sinsis what lets us know what love
is right.
So when you said that, brother,it just reminded me.
When I was young, when I waslittle, my parents took me to
church once that I can remembermaybe twice.
We just weren't a church-goingfamily.

(13:00):
My mom was raised that way, inchurch.
You know, their family washeavily involved in church, but
there came a time in life whereshe stopped going.
So I wasn't raised in ahousehold that faithfully went
to church, basically at all.
But we were a family thatbelieved in God.
And this whole time that I'mgrowing up in my life I never

(13:24):
knew that there was a love fromGod for me.
I knew that God was real.
I feared God even as a youngchild and as a teenager I never
started to attend church until Icould drive myself.
Once I got my license I beganto drive to church and was there
pretty much when the doors wereopen, when a service was

(13:44):
available.
But I never really knew, untilI started attending church, that
this God that I had feared,that this God that I knew
existed.
I never knew he had love for me.
I mean.
So I think about all thelisteners that may be listening,
who maybe they're like that orthey know someone like that, and
I think maybe that's animportant reason why, if you're

(14:05):
listening right now, you shouldshare the link to this podcast
with some people, just text itto them, tell them to take a
listen, because I believe thatthere's a lot of people out
there, a lot of people out there, that are living the way that I
was living.
Maybe they're young, maybethey're old.
They believe in God, but theydon't understand, pastor Jim,
that this God loves them.
He truly has a love for them.

(14:27):
And that takes me into what Icall the plan of God, as John 3,
16,.
For God so loved the world thathe gave his only begotten son
that whosoever shall believe inhim shall not perish but have
everlasting life.
This is the plan of God.
And as we understand that JesusChrist died for us, now we
begin to know wow, for someoneto do that man.

(14:49):
What greater love is there thanthat?
So he loves me, and when weaccept him and we walk in his
word, then that love becomes inus.
And once we have that love now,we can offer that love to other
people.
You know I say it all the time.
I just referenced it again inlast night's recharge service.
I can't give you anything thatI don't have to give.
So if I want to be able to showpeople the love of God, like

(15:11):
you showed that young ladyworking at the ice cream place,
I've got to first have the loveof God in me to be able to offer
to others.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yeah, and I think you made a really good point that
you heard of the love of God.
You had a fear of God, butbefore you got into church and
had a relationship, what younever had done before that or up
into that point, was experiencethe love of God.
Right, and so to your point.
You can't give something thatyou don't have and you can't
have God's love until youexperience God's love.

(15:41):
You can't read about it, youcan't hear about it.
You have to experience it?

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, absolutely to experience it.
Yeah, absolutely.
Getting into the 11th and 12thverse, it says this Beloved, if
God so loved us, we also oughtto love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
If we love one another, godabides in us and his love is
perfected in us.
You know we may not right now,pastor Jim, see God face-to-face

(16:09):
right now, but isn't it amazingthat people can see God in and
through his people?
Yeah, we are the ambassadors ofGod, we are the representation
of God.
What an honor, what an honor.
So the last thing we need to dois, as Christians, go around
being unloving vessels.
When people see us, they needto be able to see the love of

(16:33):
God inside of us.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, and it's that word ought to.
That just is that reminder thatthis isn't a suggestion.
You know, the Word is tellingus, because God loved us, we're
compelled to love others.
We have to love others.
Verse 12 says and it's really abeautiful promise when you look
at it.
He says when we love, godabides in us and his love is
perfected in us.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Think about that man.
If you're taking notes outthere, write those two words
down Perfected love, Our love.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
like you said, it makes God's presence visible in
the world.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, and imagine that a love that so many people
struggle with, love, and whatlove is and what love looks like
.
One day you're madly in lovewith your spouse and the next
day you're just grinding againstthem because you're disagreeing
, right, man we're talking about, when it comes from, a love
from the Father.
It is a love that getsperfected in us, so it's a

(17:26):
perfect love, the perfect loveof God that then gets perfected
right, it is a perfect love onthe inside of us and it's
perfected in its work, and thenwe can begin to do what we need
to do, to look like God.
And I love in the 11th verse,where it says we also ought to
love who, one another.

(17:46):
The Christian life is not justabout me, me living the
Christian life is about lovingother people.
And oh, by the way, jesus saysthat I'm to love even my enemies
.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, jesus actually says this in John.
By all this, people will knowthat you're my disciples if you
do what Love one another.
Amen, brother, our love is ourwitness.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, our love is our witness.
That's how people see God'spresence in and through our
lives.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
It's our witness, it's our testimony.
It's the story of Christworking in and through us.
This love of God is such apowerful thing that it can break
the most hardened heart andgive it a heart of flesh.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
Amen, brother.
Yeah, because this kind of lovethat we're talking about is
really an action word.
You know, sometimes it takesswallowing our pride, sometimes
it takes taking the first stepand so saying that, what's the
takeaway?
You can start small, but thedeal is this you have to start
now, start this week.
Pick one person, maybe someonewho you've identified already in

(18:54):
your life that's hard to love.
Just start to show themkindness.
Start sending text messages tocheck in with people maybe you
haven't talked to in a while.
Offer to pray for people, right.
Help those who are in need, andwhen it's tough, all you have to
do is remember God's love foryou, remember it was unearn who
are in need, and when it's tough, all you have to do is remember
God's love for you.
Remember it was unearned.
Right, and here's the dealGod's love is unending, so we

(19:17):
shouldn't stop either.
Right?
He showed it on the cross andlet that fuel you.
1 Corinthians 13 reminds usthat love is patient, it's kind,
it's not rude, it's notboastful.
So if you're listening to thistoday, I want you to lean into
God's truth and watch God's loveshine through you.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, and you know what, Pastor Jim, when it's the
love of God shining through us,there's not a curtain in this
world that can dampen that light.
You know I'm thinking aboutwhen our children were younger.
Erica and I had these blackoutcurtains in order for them to go
in and take a nap during thedaytime.
And we would had these blackoutcurtains in order for them to
go in and take a nap during thedaytime, and we would close
these blackout curtains and theroom would just get dark, you

(19:54):
know, almost as if it wasnighttime.
You know, like hardly any lightever got through there at all.
And I think that that's one ofthe things that a lot of
Christians struggle with.
They allow things to come intotheir lives that are like veils,
you, that are like veils.
They kind of pull a curtain andthat curtain dampens our
testimony, that curtain beginsto try to block out light, and
what we need to do, asChristians, is realize is that

(20:17):
the last thing God wants is aChristian that has hidden their
lamp or they've put somethingover their light to make it not
shine as bright.
And when we allow the truelight of Christ shining from in
us, there's not an enemy in thisworld that can make that light
go dark.
Father, we just thank you somuch for all that you do.
We thank you, Father, that youallow us to be vessels as your

(20:38):
people, that your light entersin and we can shine brightly for
your glory.
In the name of the blood ofJesus, Father, we just pray that
we not be seen nor heard, butit be all you doing, all the
work in and through us.
We acknowledge that we're nogood.
We're no good if we do not haveyou at the center of all of it
in our lives.
Lord, we just pray, blessingfavor and honor over our

(21:00):
listeners as they choose tohonor you, as your word says in
1 Samuel 2.30, for those whohonor you, you will honor in
return.
And we ask all this in JesusChrist's mighty name and
cleansing blood and all of God'speople.
Our friends said amen, amen.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
Thank you for tuning in to.
Beyond Sunday and until nextweek, what I want you to do is
go out and love like Jesus.
This week, you.
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