June 19, 2025 • 30 mins
What truly identifies you as a follower of Jesus? Is it your theological knowledge, church attendance, or something else entirely? In this thought-provoking message from First Love Church, Thomas unpacks Jesus' final and most important commandment from John 13: "Love each other just as I have loved you."
This message offers fresh perspective on what makes Jesus' call to love "new"—not the concept itself, but the revolutionary standard of loving as He loved. In a religious culture that had expanded from ten commandments to 613 detailed regulations, Jesus simplified everything to just one command while simultaneously raising the bar immeasurably.
Thomas reminds us that our love for others serves as the primary identifying marker of authentic discipleship. Just as experienced baristas can recognize customers' habits, the world recognizes genuine followers of Jesus by their distinctive pattern of radical love, even toward those who seem undeserving. When we choose to love instead of grumble, when we bring light into darkness, we fulfill our calling as Christ's ambassadors.
How might your workplace, family, and community change if you took this commandment seriously today? Listen now to discover how loving like Jesus can transform not just those around you, but your own heart as well.
This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving
In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.
This is a collection of Sundayteachings inspired by the
Revised Common Lectionary andrecorded weekly in Ocala Florida
.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning everybody in person.
Thank you guys for being here.
Good morning people online.
Thank you guys for watching.
We're grateful that everyone ishere.
We're grateful that everyone ishere.
I'm going to start the servicewith a little heads up.
Okay, dense scripture okay.
So that means there's only acouple of scriptures that I'm
gonna be reading out of John,but it's gonna seem like maybe
(00:38):
I'm trying to get you guys outof here quicker.
It's not the case.
I had a conversation with mombeing like hey, if the service
ends sooner, that's but preachand teach and communicate and do
whatever you feel like you needto do.
And that was really comfortingto have that conversation with
mom, that it doesn't have to be45 minutes, so it's not going to
be a specific amount of time.
But I just wanted to kind ofshare with that like wow, that
(00:59):
was quick.
That wasn't like, again, superintended, the parents are gone.
I'm going to get you out ofhere quicker.
It's more of like hey, this iswhat we have for Scripture today
.
Does that make sense?
Because when you're goingthrough and you're teaching the
way that my parents are teaching, the goal is that if you guys
come to First Love Church overthe course of three years, you
actually hear every teaching inthe Bible.
(01:19):
That's actually kind of what'shappening.
We're hearing the word of Godfrom beginning to end, as long
as you're a part of thecommunity, and it just so
happens on certain Sundays thatyou get an opportunity to hear
five or six scriptures.
That might seem small, but whenyou really get a chance to dig
into what the scripture iscommunicating, it really is
nutrient-dense.
Does that make sense?
It's like flax seed or likechia seeds.
(01:41):
It's high-protein, or like chiaseeds, those high protein.
Does that make sense?
Cool?
All right, we're going to gopast that, and then I'm going to
start by praying, because everytime I've prayed it's gone
pretty well.
So I'd like to give you know,all credit to God on that one.
Does that make sense?
Cool?
So, heavenly Father, in Jesus'name, I thank you for today.
I thank you for your words tospeak, not Thomas' words.
(02:02):
Pray it now that you'd be ableto bring peace to the hearts of
every person here.
Pray it now, whateversituations are going on, that
you'd be able to have thismessage stir love and light into
their lives.
So we thank you for all thesethings in Jesus' name.
We pray, amen, alrighty.
So prologue, pray, and thenwe're going to start by reading
this collectively Okay.
(02:24):
This is one of my favoritethings to do when I do get an
opportunity to preach, teach andcommunicate Is that we get an
opportunity to read everythingcollectively, okay.
And then, after we're donereading, we can unpack it
together.
Does that make sense?
It's going to get a chance towatch a movie and then discuss
it afterwards.
Same principle you get a chanceto really unpack what's there.
Does that make sense?
(02:45):
Coolio, you guys ready?
So we're going to read all ofJohn, 13, 31 through 35.
As soon as Judas left the room,jesus said the time has come for
the Son of man to enter intohis glory, and God will be
glorified because of him.
(03:06):
And since God receives glorybecause of the Son, he will give
his own glory to the Son, andhe will do so at once.
Dear children, I will be withyou only a little longer.
As I told the Jewish leaders,you will search for me, but you
can't come where I am going.
(03:28):
So now I'm giving you a newcommandment Love each other.
Just as I've loved you, youshould love each other.
Your love for one another willprove to the world that you and
all of God's friends and familysaid Amen, awesome, all right,
(03:48):
so what we're going to do iswe're going to start from the
top, verse 31.
As soon as Judas left the room,jesus said so a little context.
This is in the upper room.
This is post-communion.
(04:08):
This is as soon as Judas stepsaway, jesus is communicating
like hey, listen, the time hasnow come for the Son of man.
I was looking this up and oneof the things that I thought was
very fascinating when I waslooking it up and studying this
week is that the Son of man ishow Jesus does refer to himself.
He's communally saying hey, I'ma part of you guys, I am God,
(04:31):
but I'm also here with you.
So the time has come for me toenter into his glory.
Right, he's now entering in theglory of God.
He's now kind of bringing thosethings together.
He's creating the bridge, right,and you have this culture where
everything is performance-based.
How many of you guys work at ajob and it's performance-based?
How many of you guys work in anenvironment and it's
performance-based?
How many of you guys maybe havehad relationships where it's
(04:54):
performance-based?
And sometimes that's tiring,sometimes that's really
exhausting when you have to beat 100% all the time, and then
all of a sudden, like when youget a moment to just breathe or
you get a moment to just be withyourself, doesn't that feel
relaxing?
Doesn't that feel like comingback home and then you just get
a shower and then you're justall like all the gunk from the
day is gone, all that is just.
(05:15):
So what he's communicating hereis saying hey, listen, it's
time for us to bring this glorytogether and I'm going to be
able to help bridge the gap here.
So that's kind of the settingof what's taking place here.
And so the goal of that bridgeis so that God will receive
glory and that we can enter inthat glory with him.
There wouldn't be anyseparation.
(05:36):
So that's kind of the contextof what's happening.
So as we go into 32.
And since God receives theglory because of the Son, he
will give his own glory to theSon, and he will do so at once.
I'm really grateful for thisscripture, because sometimes I
(05:56):
feel like God is operating at avery different speed than I am,
right, where I feel like man.
God, I've been praying this fora little bit, where is it at?
Hey God, I've been praying thisfor a little bit.
Where is it at?
Hey God, I've been praying forthis for a little while.
What's happening?
Hey God, I've been praying forthis for a long time.
Where is it going Right?
And so this is confirmationthat, hey, we're part of God's
(06:18):
family.
The bridge has been made, god isworking right, but we don't
often get to see God do thethings that he's doing.
We don't get to watch themechanic fix our car.
We don't get to watch thedoctor do the operation on us.
We only get to be able to seethe after work and see the care
and the love and the tendermercies and the grace that he's
given us.
So what do we do when we're inthe in-between, right?
(06:41):
What do we do when we're inthat limbo?
How many of you guys actuallykind of like not the fun game
that you play at parties, butlike do you guys enjoy limbo?
Do you guys enjoy that space inbetween?
I don't.
I hate that.
That's my least favorite thingin the world.
Like that in-between, I prefergetting from A to B.
Like, the faster we can getfrom A to B, the better.
(07:03):
If I can know exactly whichstops we're getting, I like road
trips for that reason.
I can see how many stops we'regoing to have.
I've got an ETA to thedestination.
I can actually input I'm hungry.
I can add this here.
That makes sense.
I can have that.
That kind of makes sense in mybrain.
But that's not the kind ofrelationship we have with God.
We have a very differentrelationship with him where if
(07:26):
we add a lot of trust and we go,you know what God, this is
bigger than me.
I'm going to really trust youhere and I'm going to be able to
take a nap in the car, right.
That's also kind of neat too,getting a chance to fall asleep
in the car, knowing that youhave a safe driver who's there,
and then all of a sudden you'reteleported to your destination,
(07:48):
right.
So what you can do is you canbe stressed in the passenger
seat or you guys can enjoy thedrive.
Does that make sense?
We're going to go to verse 33.
Dear children, I will be withyou only a little bit longer.
As I told the Jewish leaders,you will search for me, but you
(08:11):
can't come meet me where I'mgoing.
This kind of ties into what Iwas communicating earlier is
that there is a differentrelationship that God has with
us and sometimes it's just like,hey, buddy, just enjoy the ride
.
Sometimes we have to let God beGod and we get a chance to just
be the children of God, right?
There's only so much that wecan participate as kids, right?
(08:34):
Have you ever baked a cake witha kid?
Like they're not adding toomuch culinary expertise to it?
I don't know if you've everseen a video of that guy who
bakes cakes with cow and likethe cow is just decimating
everything as it's happening.
Like sometimes that's how Ifeel, like if I start
overstepping and doing stuff,like I'm the cow in the kitchen,
(08:55):
just like really messing withstuff.
But the nice thing is like Godgenuinely does factor in all the
nonsense that I can do and Godultimately gets us to the
destination that we need to be.
Amen.
Even with our missteps, evenwith the stuff that kind of
fumbles over, we still get there.
Does that make sense?
So I will be with you only alittle longer.
(09:18):
As I told the Jewish leaders,you will search for me, but you
can't come where I'm going.
So I read this and one of theparts that stood out to me and
one of the discussions that Ihad from one of my friends at
Oklahoma is that this would bevery jarring to hear.
As disciples right.
So they had been told hey,follow me.
We see throughout scripture,hey, follow me.
(09:39):
All the disciples accepted thecall to follow him and now Jesus
is saying to them hey, whereI'm going, you can't go.
That would be really jarring.
Like hey, you've got this thingand for the past three years
you've been doing this thingwith Christ, right, and now all
of a sudden there's somethingnew.
That's really scary.
That can be really scary for us, because there are certain
(10:02):
instances in my life where I'mlike've heard the call of God,
this is what I'm supposed to do,right.
And then something can bereally scary with I've heard a
second call of God.
What does that mean?
It's still God, right, it'sstill God giving us another
opportunity to follow him andpursue him.
It just might look differentand that can be tricky when
you've really like gone.
(10:23):
This is the one thing that I'mgoing to do for God.
But the wonderful thing aboutthe relationship with God, with
Jesus, with the Spirit, is thatit is ever-changing.
Things will be different.
Different is scary, but God ispresent in the different Agreed.
There's different stages of ourlives where I'm doing this at
(10:43):
this job and then all of asudden this job changes.
Now, all of a sudden I'm doingsomething different, different
than I imagined, differentcareer path.
I'm doing things differentlyrelationally.
I'm doing things different withmy kids.
I'm doing things different,ultimately, than I had in the
beginning and sometimes that'sreally great.
I'm very grateful and very gladthat my relationship with my
(11:04):
friends and my family hasevolved, that things haven't
stayed monodimensional, becauseas humans, in our relationship
with God, we're not meant to dothe exact same thing all the
time, as much as I would lovethat.
I love routine a lot.
I like routine so much that Idon't mind getting up at 4
o'clock in the morning everymorning because I know that I'm
going to get up at 4 o'clock.
Does that make sense?
(11:24):
There's comfort for me as aperson knowing that as soon as I
get up at 4, I'm like cool, myday starts now.
But the invitation with God isthat, hey, you know what.
We're going to do something alittle different and it will be
uncomfortable, because Goddoesn't invite us into the
uncomfort.
Don't be surprised when, whenhe asks you to give a hug to a
(11:52):
person who doesn't deserve it,when he asks you to say
something nice to a person whoreally doesn't deserve it.
Make sense Going to verse 34.
So now I'm giving you a newcommandment Love each other just
(12:12):
as I have loved.
A new commandment love eachother just as I have loved you,
you should love each other.
So I really do appreciate that.
It says commandment, notcommandments.
I'm sure many of you know thatin the time the Pharisees and
the Sadducees and religiousleaders in Jewish cultures had
(12:32):
commandments that were beyondthe 10 commandments.
Right, you have the major 10,and then you have the 603 that
they added in addition.
So in total there were 613commandments and you mess up one
and then there's separationright, disqualified.
I really don't likedisqualifications.
I don't like disqualificationsin games, in events, in sports.
(12:56):
Disqualifications doesn't feelgreat.
I don't know if you guys haveever seen a disqualification
happen in the Olympics and yousee dread happen in the person
who's been practicing andtraining for a long time only to
see something happen andthey're disqualified for it.
I've seen a disqualificationhappen in the Winter Olympics
because of the ribbons that agirl had in her hair one time
(13:19):
during one of the winter sports,and I saw that girl genuinely
experience dread, but Iresonated with that because I've
also felt disqualification inmy life through either
relationships, through work,through conversations, where
somebody says something and allof a sudden everything that I've
done has been disqualified, orI've done things in life where I
(13:41):
feel like I said something ordid something wrong and now I'm
disqualified from the grace ofGod or I'm disqualified from the
blessings of God.
Well, I would really love tocommunicate to you guys today
that there isn't a disqualifierfrom God.
There isn't anything that youcan do that disqualifies you
from God's blessings, fromhearing the Spirit of God.
(14:02):
There isn't anything thatdeafens you.
Right, the Spirit of God iscommunicating and the love of
God is communicating to you atall times and there isn't
something that you do that allof a sudden just turns all the
way down like turns the ringeroff you.
You ever put your phone onsilence or do not disturb.
My family knows that I do thatall the time and they keep
thinking that like I'm ignoringthem on purpose.
(14:22):
Nathaniel's shaking his headgreat confirmation.
It's just do not disturb, I'mnot ignoring my brother, it's
just I have that on and so I'mhere to confirm to you that you
don't have a do not disturb withGod and he doesn't have one on
you.
There is constant communicationthat we're always welcomed to.
If you don't take anything elsefrom what I'm communicating
(14:46):
today, please take that.
Please take that when you saysomething to God, it is heard,
amen.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining
us today.
If you're finding this episodemeaningful, would you take a
moment to share it with a friend?
This podcast is made possiblethanks to the generosity of
people just like you.
If you would like to supportthe ongoing work of First Love
Church and the continued work ofour podcast ongoing work of
(15:14):
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Speaker 2 (15:19):
Love each other is pretty straightforward Just as I
have loved you, you should loveeach other.
Okay, again, contextually,jesus just washed the feet of
every person who is there.
This is a person who has gotten, has really taken himself, or
they have placed him up on apedestal of preacher, teacher,
(15:40):
rabbi, and now that person ofleadership has gone to wash her
feet.
Again, a very jarringconversation.
When you're disciples of God,thinking that you're going to be
like Christ, and now hisinvitation to you is go, do
exactly what I did to everyoneelse, it's now your job and your
responsibility to wash the feetof your disciples.
(16:01):
And again, that can be verychallenging, especially when you
have an idea of something andGod redirects you to another,
but then also redirects you to.
Arguably one of the mostchallenging scriptures or the
most challenging tasks in myexperience is that, just as I
have loved you, you should loveeach other.
(16:22):
Now I can love everybody inFirst Love Church.
I can do that.
I think all of you guys arewonderful, fantastic people.
The harder demographic I haveof loving people is the 7.15 to
7.30 am demographic of customersthat come through Starbucks
that wave of 120 people.
(16:44):
Those are the challenging groupof people that I would have to
have an opportunity to love themin the same way that I love all
of you guys.
That's harsh.
But let me share you guyssomething.
Okay, one day I come into church.
Okay, one day I'm just kindahanging out.
Okay, all of a sudden I see oneof my regulars at Starbucks
(17:08):
come through church.
I'm like, oh weird, I know herdrink, but I don't know her name
.
I know exactly what drink it is.
But then I got a chance to sayhey.
And she looked at me and shesaid hey.
And you know, I didn't believein the Clark Kent Superman
(17:28):
glasses deal until like as soonas the hat and the apron are off
.
People just don't recognize meas soon as they, especially if
they see me out of place.
But I had that moment and I wasjust like hey, it's nice to see
you outside of Starbucks andthen have that kind of
communication and rapport.
And then that was an example ofme.
Maybe I really should tune intothis a little bit, because each
(17:52):
person that I could be handinga drink to could all of a sudden
show up at church, right Likethe person.
Okay, one of my friends up inOklahoma was sharing a story in
the similar vein.
He's in food service as well.
He's not at Starbucks anymore,but he works in another food
service.
And there was this customer whowas just really difficult Okay,
(18:15):
like immeasurably difficult andhe felt in his heart he just
wanted to say something so bad,but he stuffed it down.
And then, like two days later,he goes to get his license
renewed at the DMV and, lo andbehold, who was there taking
care of the stuff?
And he thought to himself, if Iwent off, I would have lived
(18:35):
the rest of my life at the DMV,that would have been my
permanent place, I would havebeen condemned to that chair,
the number would have continuedto tick onward and I would have
been passed over and over ifthat were me.
So there are these moments thatwe get to make decisions as
followers in Christ, as adults.
Right, we can choose to pursuethe Jesus way of doing things,
which is love everybody, becausewe don't know where they're at,
(18:57):
or we can start doing thingsour way and then be trapped at
the DMV forever.
It's up to us.
We're now making the maturedecision to be like hey, god,
we're ready for this rightBecause there is an invitation.
We get to be children of God,but we also get the chance to go
like, hey, god, we're ready forthis, right, because there is
an invitation.
We get to be children of God,but we also get the chance to go
like, hey, this is somethingI'm ready for.
God he's like, okay, cool,let's do this.
(19:19):
Right, you get to walk hand inhand with God.
Amen, last scripture.
You guys ready.
Your love for one another willprove to the world that you are
my disciples and all God'schildren said Amen.
(19:40):
Our love will prove that we'rethe disciples.
Caroline works at Starbucks andI work at Starbucks, and so
we'll have conversations whilewe're there.
And one of the things thatwe've both discussed and noticed
is that we can identify peoplewho order drinks from Dunkin'
(20:02):
Donuts when they come throughand order things through
Starbucks.
And it sounds weird, until youget the identifying factors
right, is that a person whofrequents Dunkin' Donuts that
comes into Starbucks will getsugar and flavor and then a
separate sugar.
It just always will be threeseparate stacks of sugar and
then maybe two types of milks.
(20:22):
But like the only way westarted noticing that is just
because we've been around theenvironment so long, right, the
only way we've been able tostart recognizing these patterns
is because we've been here solong and so we start hearing
these flavors, hearing thesedrinks, hearing these things,
and then we can recognize, likethey frequent Dunkin' Donuts and
they're coming here, so we'remaking something that kind of
(20:44):
fits their taste buds, right.
So why do I bring that up?
Is that all of your actions andall of the love and care that
you do produce is noticed, right?
All of the different kind oflike, caring, high fives, all
the different hugs, all thedifferent words of affirmation,
(21:04):
how you speak, how you share,how you laugh, that is noticed
by people.
That is something that is seenby people.
There is an opportunity foreach one of us to make a choice.
Are we going to be ambassadorsof love or are we going to be
(21:25):
ambassadors of somethingseparate, right?
One of my favorite bandmateswhen I was playing in Bible
College in Oklahoma.
Every single time he came up tostart leading worship he
started with two jokes.
Two jokes either went great orwent horribly, didn't matter.
He started with that as hisopener.
Then he proceeded to laugh athis own jokes to create a
(21:47):
different environment and thenwe would just jump into worship.
I initially thought it was justsome kind of weird thing that
he ended up doing, but Irealized that his goal was to
bring laughter and bring joy asthe forefront before worship
started.
So if you start with somethingjoyful and you have that be the
foundation stone of what you'regoing to build upon, then it
(22:08):
makes adding more joy easier.
Does that make sense?
Because we ultimately have achoice.
Are we going to start today withgrumbling?
Because I made a decisionpost-Lent right, during Lent, I
decided I was going to give upgrumbling.
I didn't do a great job, so I'mstill working on that post-Lent
right.
Because grumbling in acommunity workspace environment
(22:35):
where you see somebody like didyou see what they ordered?
Did you see how they weretalking to so-and-so, did you
see?
And grumbling becomes very easywhen grumbling is now the
foundation right?
So I'm making an active choicethat I'm not going to
participate in grumbling.
I'm going to change theconversation and be like one of
(22:59):
the things I had to say thispast week was like hey, what do
you think they're going through?
And then everybody got realquiet and nobody wanted to
participate in that one.
But that was the invitation thatI brought and you will
experience resistance whenyou're trying to build something
new.
If you've ever been inconstruction, if you tried to
build anything, trust me, youwill experience opposition from
(23:22):
everybody.
Everybody will tell you this isthe way that you have to do
this.
Everybody will tell you this isthe way that this has to be
built.
This has to be built up to thisstandard.
You will reach opposition inconstruction.
So, when God's inviting us tobuild something different and be
ambassadors for God, we'regoing to experience opposition,
but God's going to be present.
(23:43):
Amen, that we're not going to beleft on our own in this
situation.
Yes, jesus was leaving and theycouldn't follow, but God in the
Spirit was present.
There's always someone with us,amen.
Regardless of where we can seeit fully and clearly, whether we
(24:06):
feel it or not, we know thatGod is with us.
That's the number one thingthat I've consistently heard and
seen.
That is a struggle is thisfeeling of loneliness in
Christianity, this feeling ofloneliness of I'm by myself in
this situation, when we do havea creator who is present with us
, but it's up to us to be ableto say, hey, I'm inviting you in
(24:29):
here.
Hey, I'm going to participatewith you in this, and then, for
the aspects that we needphysical conversations.
You do have a community ofbelievers here who would happily
be present with you at anypoint.
We have First Love Church as acommunity of people who can give
you help, support, love, carewhen you tithe and when you give
(24:50):
offerings.
These are opportunities for usto be able to go to serve, to be
able to offer that connection,because sometimes you need more
than just like a single highfive on Sunday or a single hug
on Sunday.
Sometimes you need aconversation with my mom or my
dad and they're willing to havethose conversations with you and
check in with you and have thatcommunity with you and share
(25:11):
those moments with you, sharejoy, share sadness, share
everything in between, becausethat's what being a part of a
community of believers is.
And then that makes thiscommandment, this idea of being
an ambassador of love, easier.
Does that make sense?
There's an overarching thingthat I feel like, as I was kind
(25:33):
of constructing some of this,and the way that the scripture
ends.
It ends with a call right.
It ends with saying this is howwe know and this is how people
will know you are the discipleof being loved.
And for me that felt like,maybe for a little bit.
(25:53):
I had only been kind of viewingwith one eye open, kind of one
eye closed, right.
I don't know if you've everheld one eye closed for a long
time.
But then you lose somethingcalled depth perception and
things become a little wonky,right, things get like I thought
I grabbed that pen, I didn't.
Like you're getting a chance toreally go like, hey, wait a
(26:13):
second, what am I missing?
Right, really go like, hey,wait a second, what am I missing
?
Right?
And then we get an opportunityto step into this life and go.
God is going to open up andshare us and give us a different
perspective.
Because, you know what, when Godgave me that opportunity to go,
I need to stop grumbling.
I need to stop looking at everyperson who comes into Starbucks
as an opposition.
Right, I've only had drinksthrown at me one time, right,
(26:37):
it's not happened from the other10 years of me being here.
But there's always that fearthat someone is going to throw a
drink at you.
Right, there's always that,like someone is it was cold
drink, no, don't worry.
Like it was, I wasn't hit withlike a hot drink.
That would be somethingdifferent, probably.
But there's that fear, right ofyou've experienced difficulty
(27:01):
and now you're on defense.
You've experienced challengesand now it's going to diminish
my light.
God's offering an opportunityfor all of us to share light and
love with everybody.
God's offering us anopportunity to where we get a
chance to shine brightly in anenvironment where people have
maybe diminished you.
(27:24):
If you've experienced arejection and then it makes you
timid and wanting to share thatkind of love and care that you
have for people, then what doyou do?
Do you then stop doing what Godoffers us here?
Do you then stop doing what Godoffers us here?
Do you then silence yourself?
I think the invitation isdifferent.
(27:46):
I think that the invitationthat God is offering us here is
continue to be ambassadors oflove when people don't respond.
Continue to love and care forpeople, even if they don't react
the way that they want you.
To Continue to love andcontinue to be Christ-like in
Christ-like environments.
Amen.
(28:06):
I thank you guys for listeningto me.
I hope that what I shared againwasn't from me, but it was
ultimately what God wanted toshare to every person here that
you all heard, and then we allget a chance to do what this
slide is sharing is getting achance to share his love with
people.
Maybe it gives you the courageto be able to share love
(28:28):
differently.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Amen, so would you guys, pray with me this morning.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for
today.
I thank you for just offeringpeace and love and care to every
person here.
I pray right now that everyperson's heart and every
person's mind would just beready to receive opportunities
to love differently, would beable to receive forgiveness
(28:53):
differently, be able to receiveopportunities to share
Christ-like behaviorsdifferently, that we would be
ambassadors of God.
That we would be able to bringjoy into an environment that's
joyless.
That we'd be able to sharelaughter in an environment where
there's no laughter.
That we'd be able to sharelight in an environment where
there's no light.
That we'd be able to continueto be Christ-like even when it's
(29:16):
challenging.
So, god, we thank you for allof these things.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
All right, this is a blessing that meets you in love.
By Jan Richardson.
It is love that every blessingbegins.
It is true that every blessingbegins with love, that, whatever
else it may say, love is alwaysprecisely its point.
But it should be noted thatevery blessing begins with love,
that, whatever else it may say,love is always precisely its
point.
But it should be noted thatthis blessing has come today
especially to tell you it iscrazy about you that it has been
(29:46):
in love with you forever, thatit has never not wanted to see
your face, to go through thisworld without your company.
This blessing thought it washigh time it told you so.
Just to make sure you know, ifit has been shy in saying this,
it has not been for any lack ofwanting to.
It's just that this blessingknows the risk of offering
itself in a way that will soalter you, not because it thinks
(30:09):
you could stand some improving,but because this is simply
where loving leads.
This blessing knows how loveundoes us, unhinges us, unhides
us.
It knows how loving cansometimes feel like dying.
But today this blessing hascome to tell you the secret that
sends it to your door, that itgives itself only to those
willing to come alive.
(30:30):
That it vows itself, only tothose ready to be born anew.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.
This is a collection of Sundayteachings inspired by the
Revised Common Lectionary andrecorded weekly in Ocala Florida
.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning everybody in person.
Thank you guys for being here.
Good morning people online.
Thank you guys for watching.
We're grateful that everyone ishere.
We're grateful that everyone ishere.
I'm going to start the servicewith a little heads up.
Okay, dense scripture okay.
So that means there's only acouple of scriptures that I'm
gonna be reading out of John,but it's gonna seem like maybe
(00:38):
I'm trying to get you guys outof here quicker.
It's not the case.
I had a conversation with mombeing like hey, if the service
ends sooner, that's but preachand teach and communicate and do
whatever you feel like you needto do.
And that was really comfortingto have that conversation with
mom, that it doesn't have to be45 minutes, so it's not going to
be a specific amount of time.
But I just wanted to kind ofshare with that like wow, that
(00:59):
was quick.
That wasn't like, again, superintended, the parents are gone.
I'm going to get you out ofhere quicker.
It's more of like hey, this iswhat we have for Scripture today
.
Does that make sense?
Because when you're goingthrough and you're teaching the
way that my parents are teaching, the goal is that if you guys
come to First Love Church overthe course of three years, you
actually hear every teaching inthe Bible.
(01:19):
That's actually kind of what'shappening.
We're hearing the word of Godfrom beginning to end, as long
as you're a part of thecommunity, and it just so
happens on certain Sundays thatyou get an opportunity to hear
five or six scriptures.
That might seem small, but whenyou really get a chance to dig
into what the scripture iscommunicating, it really is
nutrient-dense.
Does that make sense?
It's like flax seed or likechia seeds.
(01:41):
It's high-protein, or like chiaseeds, those high protein.
Does that make sense?
Cool?
All right, we're going to gopast that, and then I'm going to
start by praying, because everytime I've prayed it's gone
pretty well.
So I'd like to give you know,all credit to God on that one.
Does that make sense?
Cool?
So, heavenly Father, in Jesus'name, I thank you for today.
I thank you for your words tospeak, not Thomas' words.
(02:02):
Pray it now that you'd be ableto bring peace to the hearts of
every person here.
Pray it now, whateversituations are going on, that
you'd be able to have thismessage stir love and light into
their lives.
So we thank you for all thesethings in Jesus' name.
We pray, amen, alrighty.
So prologue, pray, and thenwe're going to start by reading
this collectively Okay.
(02:24):
This is one of my favoritethings to do when I do get an
opportunity to preach, teach andcommunicate Is that we get an
opportunity to read everythingcollectively, okay.
And then, after we're donereading, we can unpack it
together.
Does that make sense?
It's going to get a chance towatch a movie and then discuss
it afterwards.
Same principle you get a chanceto really unpack what's there.
Does that make sense?
(02:45):
Coolio, you guys ready?
So we're going to read all ofJohn, 13, 31 through 35.
As soon as Judas left the room,jesus said the time has come for
the Son of man to enter intohis glory, and God will be
glorified because of him.
(03:06):
And since God receives glorybecause of the Son, he will give
his own glory to the Son, andhe will do so at once.
Dear children, I will be withyou only a little longer.
As I told the Jewish leaders,you will search for me, but you
can't come where I am going.
(03:28):
So now I'm giving you a newcommandment Love each other.
Just as I've loved you, youshould love each other.
Your love for one another willprove to the world that you and
all of God's friends and familysaid Amen, awesome, all right,
(03:48):
so what we're going to do iswe're going to start from the
top, verse 31.
As soon as Judas left the room,jesus said so a little context.
This is in the upper room.
This is post-communion.
(04:08):
This is as soon as Judas stepsaway, jesus is communicating
like hey, listen, the time hasnow come for the Son of man.
I was looking this up and oneof the things that I thought was
very fascinating when I waslooking it up and studying this
week is that the Son of man ishow Jesus does refer to himself.
He's communally saying hey, I'ma part of you guys, I am God,
(04:31):
but I'm also here with you.
So the time has come for me toenter into his glory.
Right, he's now entering in theglory of God.
He's now kind of bringing thosethings together.
He's creating the bridge, right,and you have this culture where
everything is performance-based.
How many of you guys work at ajob and it's performance-based?
How many of you guys work in anenvironment and it's
performance-based?
How many of you guys maybe havehad relationships where it's
(04:54):
performance-based?
And sometimes that's tiring,sometimes that's really
exhausting when you have to beat 100% all the time, and then
all of a sudden, like when youget a moment to just breathe or
you get a moment to just be withyourself, doesn't that feel
relaxing?
Doesn't that feel like comingback home and then you just get
a shower and then you're justall like all the gunk from the
day is gone, all that is just.
(05:15):
So what he's communicating hereis saying hey, listen, it's
time for us to bring this glorytogether and I'm going to be
able to help bridge the gap here.
So that's kind of the settingof what's taking place here.
And so the goal of that bridgeis so that God will receive
glory and that we can enter inthat glory with him.
There wouldn't be anyseparation.
(05:36):
So that's kind of the contextof what's happening.
So as we go into 32.
And since God receives theglory because of the Son, he
will give his own glory to theSon, and he will do so at once.
I'm really grateful for thisscripture, because sometimes I
(05:56):
feel like God is operating at avery different speed than I am,
right, where I feel like man.
God, I've been praying this fora little bit, where is it at?
Hey God, I've been praying thisfor a little bit.
Where is it at?
Hey God, I've been praying forthis for a little while.
What's happening?
Hey God, I've been praying forthis for a long time.
Where is it going Right?
And so this is confirmationthat, hey, we're part of God's
(06:18):
family.
The bridge has been made, god isworking right, but we don't
often get to see God do thethings that he's doing.
We don't get to watch themechanic fix our car.
We don't get to watch thedoctor do the operation on us.
We only get to be able to seethe after work and see the care
and the love and the tendermercies and the grace that he's
given us.
So what do we do when we're inthe in-between, right?
(06:41):
What do we do when we're inthat limbo?
How many of you guys actuallykind of like not the fun game
that you play at parties, butlike do you guys enjoy limbo?
Do you guys enjoy that space inbetween?
I don't.
I hate that.
That's my least favorite thingin the world.
Like that in-between, I prefergetting from A to B.
Like, the faster we can getfrom A to B, the better.
(07:03):
If I can know exactly whichstops we're getting, I like road
trips for that reason.
I can see how many stops we'regoing to have.
I've got an ETA to thedestination.
I can actually input I'm hungry.
I can add this here.
That makes sense.
I can have that.
That kind of makes sense in mybrain.
But that's not the kind ofrelationship we have with God.
We have a very differentrelationship with him where if
(07:26):
we add a lot of trust and we go,you know what God, this is
bigger than me.
I'm going to really trust youhere and I'm going to be able to
take a nap in the car, right.
That's also kind of neat too,getting a chance to fall asleep
in the car, knowing that youhave a safe driver who's there,
and then all of a sudden you'reteleported to your destination,
(07:48):
right.
So what you can do is you canbe stressed in the passenger
seat or you guys can enjoy thedrive.
Does that make sense?
We're going to go to verse 33.
Dear children, I will be withyou only a little bit longer.
As I told the Jewish leaders,you will search for me, but you
(08:11):
can't come meet me where I'mgoing.
This kind of ties into what Iwas communicating earlier is
that there is a differentrelationship that God has with
us and sometimes it's just like,hey, buddy, just enjoy the ride
.
Sometimes we have to let God beGod and we get a chance to just
be the children of God, right?
There's only so much that wecan participate as kids, right?
(08:34):
Have you ever baked a cake witha kid?
Like they're not adding toomuch culinary expertise to it?
I don't know if you've everseen a video of that guy who
bakes cakes with cow and likethe cow is just decimating
everything as it's happening.
Like sometimes that's how Ifeel, like if I start
overstepping and doing stuff,like I'm the cow in the kitchen,
(08:55):
just like really messing withstuff.
But the nice thing is like Godgenuinely does factor in all the
nonsense that I can do and Godultimately gets us to the
destination that we need to be.
Amen.
Even with our missteps, evenwith the stuff that kind of
fumbles over, we still get there.
Does that make sense?
So I will be with you only alittle longer.
(09:18):
As I told the Jewish leaders,you will search for me, but you
can't come where I'm going.
So I read this and one of theparts that stood out to me and
one of the discussions that Ihad from one of my friends at
Oklahoma is that this would bevery jarring to hear.
As disciples right.
So they had been told hey,follow me.
We see throughout scripture,hey, follow me.
(09:39):
All the disciples accepted thecall to follow him and now Jesus
is saying to them hey, whereI'm going, you can't go.
That would be really jarring.
Like hey, you've got this thingand for the past three years
you've been doing this thingwith Christ, right, and now all
of a sudden there's somethingnew.
That's really scary.
That can be really scary for us, because there are certain
(10:02):
instances in my life where I'mlike've heard the call of God,
this is what I'm supposed to do,right.
And then something can bereally scary with I've heard a
second call of God.
What does that mean?
It's still God, right, it'sstill God giving us another
opportunity to follow him andpursue him.
It just might look differentand that can be tricky when
you've really like gone.
(10:23):
This is the one thing that I'mgoing to do for God.
But the wonderful thing aboutthe relationship with God, with
Jesus, with the Spirit, is thatit is ever-changing.
Things will be different.
Different is scary, but God ispresent in the different Agreed.
There's different stages of ourlives where I'm doing this at
(10:43):
this job and then all of asudden this job changes.
Now, all of a sudden I'm doingsomething different, different
than I imagined, differentcareer path.
I'm doing things differentlyrelationally.
I'm doing things different withmy kids.
I'm doing things different,ultimately, than I had in the
beginning and sometimes that'sreally great.
I'm very grateful and very gladthat my relationship with my
(11:04):
friends and my family hasevolved, that things haven't
stayed monodimensional, becauseas humans, in our relationship
with God, we're not meant to dothe exact same thing all the
time, as much as I would lovethat.
I love routine a lot.
I like routine so much that Idon't mind getting up at 4
o'clock in the morning everymorning because I know that I'm
going to get up at 4 o'clock.
Does that make sense?
(11:24):
There's comfort for me as aperson knowing that as soon as I
get up at 4, I'm like cool, myday starts now.
But the invitation with God isthat, hey, you know what.
We're going to do something alittle different and it will be
uncomfortable, because Goddoesn't invite us into the
uncomfort.
Don't be surprised when, whenhe asks you to give a hug to a
(11:52):
person who doesn't deserve it,when he asks you to say
something nice to a person whoreally doesn't deserve it.
Make sense Going to verse 34.
So now I'm giving you a newcommandment Love each other just
(12:12):
as I have loved.
A new commandment love eachother just as I have loved you,
you should love each other.
So I really do appreciate that.
It says commandment, notcommandments.
I'm sure many of you know thatin the time the Pharisees and
the Sadducees and religiousleaders in Jewish cultures had
(12:32):
commandments that were beyondthe 10 commandments.
Right, you have the major 10,and then you have the 603 that
they added in addition.
So in total there were 613commandments and you mess up one
and then there's separationright, disqualified.
I really don't likedisqualifications.
I don't like disqualificationsin games, in events, in sports.
(12:56):
Disqualifications doesn't feelgreat.
I don't know if you guys haveever seen a disqualification
happen in the Olympics and yousee dread happen in the person
who's been practicing andtraining for a long time only to
see something happen andthey're disqualified for it.
I've seen a disqualificationhappen in the Winter Olympics
because of the ribbons that agirl had in her hair one time
(13:19):
during one of the winter sports,and I saw that girl genuinely
experience dread, but Iresonated with that because I've
also felt disqualification inmy life through either
relationships, through work,through conversations, where
somebody says something and allof a sudden everything that I've
done has been disqualified, orI've done things in life where I
(13:41):
feel like I said something ordid something wrong and now I'm
disqualified from the grace ofGod or I'm disqualified from the
blessings of God.
Well, I would really love tocommunicate to you guys today
that there isn't a disqualifierfrom God.
There isn't anything that youcan do that disqualifies you
from God's blessings, fromhearing the Spirit of God.
(14:02):
There isn't anything thatdeafens you.
Right, the Spirit of God iscommunicating and the love of
God is communicating to you atall times and there isn't
something that you do that allof a sudden just turns all the
way down like turns the ringeroff you.
You ever put your phone onsilence or do not disturb.
My family knows that I do thatall the time and they keep
thinking that like I'm ignoringthem on purpose.
(14:22):
Nathaniel's shaking his headgreat confirmation.
It's just do not disturb, I'mnot ignoring my brother, it's
just I have that on and so I'mhere to confirm to you that you
don't have a do not disturb withGod and he doesn't have one on
you.
There is constant communicationthat we're always welcomed to.
If you don't take anything elsefrom what I'm communicating
(14:46):
today, please take that.
Please take that when you saysomething to God, it is heard,
amen.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining
us today.
If you're finding this episodemeaningful, would you take a
moment to share it with a friend?
This podcast is made possiblethanks to the generosity of
people just like you.
If you would like to supportthe ongoing work of First Love
Church and the continued work ofour podcast ongoing work of
(15:14):
First Love Church and thecontinued work of our podcast
visit us online atfirstlovechurchorg, reminding
you to like, follow andsubscribe.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Love each other is pretty straightforward Just as I
have loved you, you should loveeach other.
Okay, again, contextually,jesus just washed the feet of
every person who is there.
This is a person who has gotten, has really taken himself, or
they have placed him up on apedestal of preacher, teacher,
(15:40):
rabbi, and now that person ofleadership has gone to wash her
feet.
Again, a very jarringconversation.
When you're disciples of God,thinking that you're going to be
like Christ, and now hisinvitation to you is go, do
exactly what I did to everyoneelse, it's now your job and your
responsibility to wash the feetof your disciples.
(16:01):
And again, that can be verychallenging, especially when you
have an idea of something andGod redirects you to another,
but then also redirects you to.
Arguably one of the mostchallenging scriptures or the
most challenging tasks in myexperience is that, just as I
have loved you, you should loveeach other.
(16:22):
Now I can love everybody inFirst Love Church.
I can do that.
I think all of you guys arewonderful, fantastic people.
The harder demographic I haveof loving people is the 7.15 to
7.30 am demographic of customersthat come through Starbucks
that wave of 120 people.
(16:44):
Those are the challenging groupof people that I would have to
have an opportunity to love themin the same way that I love all
of you guys.
That's harsh.
But let me share you guyssomething.
Okay, one day I come into church.
Okay, one day I'm just kindahanging out.
Okay, all of a sudden I see oneof my regulars at Starbucks
(17:08):
come through church.
I'm like, oh weird, I know herdrink, but I don't know her name
.
I know exactly what drink it is.
But then I got a chance to sayhey.
And she looked at me and shesaid hey.
And you know, I didn't believein the Clark Kent Superman
(17:28):
glasses deal until like as soonas the hat and the apron are off
.
People just don't recognize meas soon as they, especially if
they see me out of place.
But I had that moment and I wasjust like hey, it's nice to see
you outside of Starbucks andthen have that kind of
communication and rapport.
And then that was an example ofme.
Maybe I really should tune intothis a little bit, because each
(17:52):
person that I could be handinga drink to could all of a sudden
show up at church, right Likethe person.
Okay, one of my friends up inOklahoma was sharing a story in
the similar vein.
He's in food service as well.
He's not at Starbucks anymore,but he works in another food
service.
And there was this customer whowas just really difficult Okay,
(18:15):
like immeasurably difficult andhe felt in his heart he just
wanted to say something so bad,but he stuffed it down.
And then, like two days later,he goes to get his license
renewed at the DMV and, lo andbehold, who was there taking
care of the stuff?
And he thought to himself, if Iwent off, I would have lived
(18:35):
the rest of my life at the DMV,that would have been my
permanent place, I would havebeen condemned to that chair,
the number would have continuedto tick onward and I would have
been passed over and over ifthat were me.
So there are these moments thatwe get to make decisions as
followers in Christ, as adults.
Right, we can choose to pursuethe Jesus way of doing things,
which is love everybody, becausewe don't know where they're at,
(18:57):
or we can start doing thingsour way and then be trapped at
the DMV forever.
It's up to us.
We're now making the maturedecision to be like hey, god,
we're ready for this rightBecause there is an invitation.
We get to be children of God,but we also get the chance to go
like, hey, god, we're ready forthis, right, because there is
an invitation.
We get to be children of God,but we also get the chance to go
like, hey, this is somethingI'm ready for.
God he's like, okay, cool,let's do this.
(19:19):
Right, you get to walk hand inhand with God.
Amen, last scripture.
You guys ready.
Your love for one another willprove to the world that you are
my disciples and all God'schildren said Amen.
(19:40):
Our love will prove that we'rethe disciples.
Caroline works at Starbucks andI work at Starbucks, and so
we'll have conversations whilewe're there.
And one of the things thatwe've both discussed and noticed
is that we can identify peoplewho order drinks from Dunkin'
(20:02):
Donuts when they come throughand order things through
Starbucks.
And it sounds weird, until youget the identifying factors
right, is that a person whofrequents Dunkin' Donuts that
comes into Starbucks will getsugar and flavor and then a
separate sugar.
It just always will be threeseparate stacks of sugar and
then maybe two types of milks.
(20:22):
But like the only way westarted noticing that is just
because we've been around theenvironment so long, right, the
only way we've been able tostart recognizing these patterns
is because we've been here solong and so we start hearing
these flavors, hearing thesedrinks, hearing these things,
and then we can recognize, likethey frequent Dunkin' Donuts and
they're coming here, so we'remaking something that kind of
(20:44):
fits their taste buds, right.
So why do I bring that up?
Is that all of your actions andall of the love and care that
you do produce is noticed, right?
All of the different kind oflike, caring, high fives, all
the different hugs, all thedifferent words of affirmation,
(21:04):
how you speak, how you share,how you laugh, that is noticed
by people.
That is something that is seenby people.
There is an opportunity foreach one of us to make a choice.
Are we going to be ambassadorsof love or are we going to be
(21:25):
ambassadors of somethingseparate, right?
One of my favorite bandmateswhen I was playing in Bible
College in Oklahoma.
Every single time he came up tostart leading worship he
started with two jokes.
Two jokes either went great orwent horribly, didn't matter.
He started with that as hisopener.
Then he proceeded to laugh athis own jokes to create a
(21:47):
different environment and thenwe would just jump into worship.
I initially thought it was justsome kind of weird thing that
he ended up doing, but Irealized that his goal was to
bring laughter and bring joy asthe forefront before worship
started.
So if you start with somethingjoyful and you have that be the
foundation stone of what you'regoing to build upon, then it
(22:08):
makes adding more joy easier.
Does that make sense?
Because we ultimately have achoice.
Are we going to start today withgrumbling?
Because I made a decisionpost-Lent right, during Lent, I
decided I was going to give upgrumbling.
I didn't do a great job, so I'mstill working on that post-Lent
right.
Because grumbling in acommunity workspace environment
(22:35):
where you see somebody like didyou see what they ordered?
Did you see how they weretalking to so-and-so, did you
see?
And grumbling becomes very easywhen grumbling is now the
foundation right?
So I'm making an active choicethat I'm not going to
participate in grumbling.
I'm going to change theconversation and be like one of
(22:59):
the things I had to say thispast week was like hey, what do
you think they're going through?
And then everybody got realquiet and nobody wanted to
participate in that one.
But that was the invitation thatI brought and you will
experience resistance whenyou're trying to build something
new.
If you've ever been inconstruction, if you tried to
build anything, trust me, youwill experience opposition from
(23:22):
everybody.
Everybody will tell you this isthe way that you have to do
this.
Everybody will tell you this isthe way that this has to be
built.
This has to be built up to thisstandard.
You will reach opposition inconstruction.
So, when God's inviting us tobuild something different and be
ambassadors for God, we'regoing to experience opposition,
but God's going to be present.
(23:43):
Amen, that we're not going to beleft on our own in this
situation.
Yes, jesus was leaving and theycouldn't follow, but God in the
Spirit was present.
There's always someone with us,amen.
Regardless of where we can seeit fully and clearly, whether we
(24:06):
feel it or not, we know thatGod is with us.
That's the number one thingthat I've consistently heard and
seen.
That is a struggle is thisfeeling of loneliness in
Christianity, this feeling ofloneliness of I'm by myself in
this situation, when we do havea creator who is present with us
, but it's up to us to be ableto say, hey, I'm inviting you in
(24:29):
here.
Hey, I'm going to participatewith you in this, and then, for
the aspects that we needphysical conversations.
You do have a community ofbelievers here who would happily
be present with you at anypoint.
We have First Love Church as acommunity of people who can give
you help, support, love, carewhen you tithe and when you give
(24:50):
offerings.
These are opportunities for usto be able to go to serve, to be
able to offer that connection,because sometimes you need more
than just like a single highfive on Sunday or a single hug
on Sunday.
Sometimes you need aconversation with my mom or my
dad and they're willing to havethose conversations with you and
check in with you and have thatcommunity with you and share
(25:11):
those moments with you, sharejoy, share sadness, share
everything in between, becausethat's what being a part of a
community of believers is.
And then that makes thiscommandment, this idea of being
an ambassador of love, easier.
Does that make sense?
There's an overarching thingthat I feel like, as I was kind
(25:33):
of constructing some of this,and the way that the scripture
ends.
It ends with a call right.
It ends with saying this is howwe know and this is how people
will know you are the discipleof being loved.
And for me that felt like,maybe for a little bit.
(25:53):
I had only been kind of viewingwith one eye open, kind of one
eye closed, right.
I don't know if you've everheld one eye closed for a long
time.
But then you lose somethingcalled depth perception and
things become a little wonky,right, things get like I thought
I grabbed that pen, I didn't.
Like you're getting a chance toreally go like, hey, wait a
(26:13):
second, what am I missing?
Right, really go like, hey,wait a second, what am I missing
?
Right?
And then we get an opportunityto step into this life and go.
God is going to open up andshare us and give us a different
perspective.
Because, you know what, when Godgave me that opportunity to go,
I need to stop grumbling.
I need to stop looking at everyperson who comes into Starbucks
as an opposition.
Right, I've only had drinksthrown at me one time, right,
(26:37):
it's not happened from the other10 years of me being here.
But there's always that fearthat someone is going to throw a
drink at you.
Right, there's always that,like someone is it was cold
drink, no, don't worry.
Like it was, I wasn't hit withlike a hot drink.
That would be somethingdifferent, probably.
But there's that fear, right ofyou've experienced difficulty
(27:01):
and now you're on defense.
You've experienced challengesand now it's going to diminish
my light.
God's offering an opportunityfor all of us to share light and
love with everybody.
God's offering us anopportunity to where we get a
chance to shine brightly in anenvironment where people have
maybe diminished you.
(27:24):
If you've experienced arejection and then it makes you
timid and wanting to share thatkind of love and care that you
have for people, then what doyou do?
Do you then stop doing what Godoffers us here?
Do you then stop doing what Godoffers us here?
Do you then silence yourself?
I think the invitation isdifferent.
(27:46):
I think that the invitationthat God is offering us here is
continue to be ambassadors oflove when people don't respond.
Continue to love and care forpeople, even if they don't react
the way that they want you.
To Continue to love andcontinue to be Christ-like in
Christ-like environments.
Amen.
(28:06):
I thank you guys for listeningto me.
I hope that what I shared againwasn't from me, but it was
ultimately what God wanted toshare to every person here that
you all heard, and then we allget a chance to do what this
slide is sharing is getting achance to share his love with
people.
Maybe it gives you the courageto be able to share love
(28:28):
differently.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Amen, so would you guys, pray with me this morning.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you for
today.
I thank you for just offeringpeace and love and care to every
person here.
I pray right now that everyperson's heart and every
person's mind would just beready to receive opportunities
to love differently, would beable to receive forgiveness
(28:53):
differently, be able to receiveopportunities to share
Christ-like behaviorsdifferently, that we would be
ambassadors of God.
That we would be able to bringjoy into an environment that's
joyless.
That we'd be able to sharelaughter in an environment where
there's no laughter.
That we'd be able to sharelight in an environment where
there's no light.
That we'd be able to continueto be Christ-like even when it's
(29:16):
challenging.
So, god, we thank you for allof these things.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
All right, this is a blessing that meets you in love.
By Jan Richardson.
It is love that every blessingbegins.
It is true that every blessingbegins with love, that, whatever
else it may say, love is alwaysprecisely its point.
But it should be noted thatevery blessing begins with love,
that, whatever else it may say,love is always precisely its
point.
But it should be noted thatthis blessing has come today
especially to tell you it iscrazy about you that it has been
(29:46):
in love with you forever, thatit has never not wanted to see
your face, to go through thisworld without your company.
This blessing thought it washigh time it told you so.
Just to make sure you know, ifit has been shy in saying this,
it has not been for any lack ofwanting to.
It's just that this blessingknows the risk of offering
itself in a way that will soalter you, not because it thinks
(30:09):
you could stand some improving,but because this is simply
where loving leads.
This blessing knows how loveundoes us, unhinges us, unhides
us.
It knows how loving cansometimes feel like dying.
But today this blessing hascome to tell you the secret that
sends it to your door, that itgives itself only to those
willing to come alive.
(30:30):
That it vows itself, only tothose ready to be born anew.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
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