February 21, 2025 • 58 mins
The Transformative Power of Love: A Sermon on the Fruit of the Spirit
Heidi from Outreach 419 in Fenwick, MI, leads a sermon about the Fruit of the Spirit, focusing on Love. She begins by reading 1 Corinthians 13, emphasizing the importance of love in all actions, whether through eloquence or sacrifice.
Heidi highlights the need for love that is selfless, unconditional, and service-oriented, discussing the ultimate example of love displayed by Jesus Christ. She shares personal experiences on forgiveness, the challenges of loving the unlovable, and building relationships based on a strong foundation of self-awareness and God's love.
The session concludes with a communion service, coupled with a call to live and demonstrate love in daily life.
00:00 Introduction to the Fruit of the Spirit
00:06 The Way of Love: 1 Corinthians 13
02:20 Communion: The Greatest Act of Love
04:11 Forgiveness and Its Importance
07:17 Preparing for Communion
12:03 The Act of Communion
16:03 Reflecting on Communion and Love
19:44 Understanding Love in Recovery
24:34 Building Healthy Relationships
31:05 Loving Difficult People
31:50 Balancing Study and Action
32:48 Redefining Church
33:44 Living the Gospel
35:42 Unconditional Love
36:46 Personal Faith Journey
49:33 Serving Through Presence
51:45 Closing Reflections and Prayer
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
We introduced last weekthe fruit of the Spirit.
So I want to read first of all,starting with 1 Corinthians 13,
and it's called The Way of Love.
I'm reading out of the Message.
If I speak with human eloquence andangelic ecstasy, but don't love.
I'm nothing but thecreaking of a rusty gate.
(00:23):
If I speak God's word with power,revealing all his mysteries and making
everything plain as day, and if I havefaith that says to a mountain, jump, and
it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
If I give everything I own to thepoor and even go to the stake to
(00:43):
be burned as a martyr, but I don'thave love, I've gotten nowhere.
So, no matter what I say, what I believe,and what I do, I am bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
(01:04):
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut, doesn't have aswelled head, doesn't force itself
on others, isn't always me first.
Doesn't fly off the handle.
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others.
Doesn't revel when others grovel.
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth.
(01:27):
Puts up with anything.
Trust God always.
Always looks for the best.
Never looks back, butkeeps going to the end.
Love never dies.
Inspired speech will be over someday.
Praying in tongues will end.
Understanding will reach its limit.
(01:47):
We know only a portion of thetruth, and what we say about
God is always incomplete.
But when the complete arrives, ourincompleteness will be cancelled.
We have the most perfect example of lovethat has ever walked on this earth, and
(02:09):
we are called to love in the same way.
Even as God knew there was noway we could possibly ever live
up to the standard that was set.
for us.
So before we go into more about thislove thing and how we go about doing
that in life, I want to actually havecommunion before we go into service.
(02:30):
I want to celebrate thegreatest act of love that has
ever been done on this earth.
So I'm going to read in 1Corinthians 11 starting at verse 23.
So, let me go over with you againexactly what goes on in the Lord's Supper
and why it is so centrally important.
(02:52):
I received my instructions from theMaster himself and passed them on to you.
The Master, Jesus, on the night ofhis betrayal, he took bread, having
given thanks, he broke it and he said,this is my body, it's broken for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
(03:13):
And after supper.
He did the same thing with the cup.
This cup is my blood, mynew covenant with you.
Each time you drink this cup, remember me.
What you must solemnly realizeis that every time you eat this
bread and every time you drink thiscup, you reenact in your words and
(03:35):
actions the death of the master.
You will be drawn back to this mealagain and again until the master returns.
You must never letfamiliarity breed contempt.
Anyone who eats the bread or drinksthe cup of the Master irreverently
is like part of the crowd thatjeered and spit on him at his death.
(04:00):
Is that the kind of remembranceyou want to be part of?
Examine your motives, test your heart,and come to this meal in holy awe.
Forgiveness is an important aspectto partaking of communion because
the act of of Jesus going to thecross was the ultimate forgiveness.
(04:24):
He forgave me up there on that cross.
He was up there because of me.
My sin put him up there.
I don't have to worry about anybodyelse's sin and what put him up
there because mine was enough.
While he was actively on there paying formy sin, loving me, he did it knowing I was
still a sinner, I was going to continueto sin, And he still says, I love you.
(04:50):
I got that covered.
I paid for it.
We're called to do the same thing.
Forgiveness is never there becausewe're saying what you did is just
fine and I just forgive you andwe're moving on and forgetting.
That's not the kind of forgivenessthat we're talking about.
We're talking about the forgivenessthat releases us from the burden
of carrying the anger, frustration,and all of the other things
(05:15):
that come with carrying around.
Unforgiveness.
I, I know what that feels like in my life.
I had a lot of people that Icarried such, I'll call it what it
was, such a hatred and anger for.
And I felt like I was justifiedin that because of their actions.
(05:35):
I had to take a long, hard lookin the mirror because my actions
put my Savior on the cross.
So what am I doing even lookingat other people that way?
I had to let it go, and it was thehardest choice and decision I've
ever made in my life because I didn'tunderstand forgiveness that way, because
(05:56):
I hadn't done it, I hadn't practiced it.
But I'm gonna tell you, the freedom thatI felt when I released myself from the
weight of what others have done is themost beautiful thing in the world, and
that's why we're called to forgiveness.
It's not to punish us, ever.
So often we may look at some of these.
(06:16):
Ten commandment laws andthink it's a punishment.
Why do I have to do this?
Why do I have to love others more?
Why this?
Because it truly is best for us.
Nobody knows us better than our Creator,so we just sometimes need to trust
that process of doing things thatflies in the face of how the world or
(06:39):
society often chooses to treat people.
So, forgiveness is hugely important.
So I welcome you now, if you have justthe spirit of I really struggle with
somebody in my life or you strugglewith a hurt just take a moment just you
have time yet before you walk up and youtake the bread and you take grape juice.
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We don't have wine in this house.
So just take that momentand say I forgive.
I forgive and just hand that to God.
I promise he knows what to do with it.
I promise you, things won't, there willbe no unfinished business when we're all
done here on this beautiful earth of ours.
So, um, before we actually takecommunion itself, I have a song that
(07:22):
I would love to sing, listen to.
You can choose to meditate, you canchoose to spend this time before God,
but it's just, it's a beautiful song andit speaks specifically about communion.
Sorry if I'm in the way of anybody, we
(07:57):
outsiders.
(08:42):
There's haters, there's liars in thisleague, there's no one unwelcome here.
It's a shame that you're born with you,you can leave it at the door, and then
(09:12):
mercy's all you'll need.
Come, come to this table, come jointhe sinners who have been redeemed.
Take your place.
It's hard on the Savior.
(09:34):
Sit down and be set free.
Come to His Lord.
Keep the good doubt.
To
(09:56):
the hero and the coward.
To the prisoner and the soldier.
To the young and to the older.
All who hunger or
thirst.
Of a purpose and a reason.
Stop.
(10:17):
Good
(11:38):
stuff.
Robert, do you want to help me here?
(12:03):
Okay, the way that we are going todo communion is, you're going to come
walk up, you're going to break off apiece of this bread, and then just dip
into the wine, which is grape juice.
Not fermented, so.
You don't have to bring it back tothe seat and sit down and all take
(12:24):
it together, but as you dip and walkby, feel free to take it, but I'm
just going to say a little blessingor a word over you as you do this.
As you break that bread and as you dipinto the grape juice, just remember
what it represents and what was done.
Think of your very worst moment,and even then, your Savior was
(12:47):
saying, I love you so much.
I covered that.
He doesn't see it when he looks at youanymore because of the ultimate sacrifice
and all he asks in return is just love.
Love like I do.
The bar's set high and we'regonna fail, but guess what?
That's covered too.
All he did was just say,Please, live a life of love.
(13:08):
You are forgiven.
So, when you are ready,just please walk forward.
Break off a piece, dip it, and partake,but I welcome you up to the Lord's table.
(13:30):
Jesus loves you.
All is forgiven.
All is forgiven.
His blood has covered everything.
He looks at you and says,This one is special?
And I love her.
Love you, bro.
God loves you more thanyou can ever imagine.
Love you, Kim.
You are precious andloved by your creator.
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Love you, guys.
God loves you so much.
He gave his son for you.
You are good.
You are precious and loved, child of God.
Your sins have been coveredand all is forgiven.
You are a treasure to Jesus.
It's the after party.
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He created you and saidthis one is special.
Happy Sunday, Stormy.
You are precious and loved beyond words.
My adoption song.
You, young man, are greatlyloved and always forgiven.
If you want the whole thing,I know you need that too.
I got peanut butter and jelly downstairs.
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Hi.
Jesus loves you so much,and Jesus loves you so much.
My Adoption Song you, are such aprecious and loved child of God.
Mm-hmm.
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Jesus eagerly and willingly died for all.
You are a treasure and greatly loved.
Jesus loves you, daughter of the king.
God knows all and loves you so much.
You are a special child of God.
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You're so good.
You go first.
Jesus loves you so much.
All is forgiven And
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you are God's favorite.
I know.
Thank you.
Communion has become like, my mostfavorite thing to do in, in all the
(16:08):
world, it's I more and more and moreand more understand what it is exactly
that I'm doing every time I approachthis table, and it is not lost on me,
the love that my creator has for me.
And I know how undeserving I am.
So, So, we talked about the fruitof the Spirit in general terms last
(16:31):
week, all seven of them, but todaywe get to start with that love thing.
So we're going to cover it ina lot of different aspects,
but we are called to love.
What does that look like?
How do we act that out intoour life and, and that?
We're not left hanging to dry here.
The Bible tells us all thatwe need to know about it.
(16:54):
So.
We're going to jump right on in.
So, I'm going to read fromGalatians 5, uh, verses 22 and 23.
So what happens when we live God's way?
He brings gifts into our lives much thesame way that fruit appears in an orchard.
Things like affection forothers, exuberance about life.
(17:16):
I really like how that isphrased in the message.
I love that.
An exuberance about life.
And serenity.
How many of those thingswere part of your life?
Those of us in recovery, werethose things part of your life?
Like serenity, exuberance forlife, affection for others?
I know they weren't in mine.
(17:37):
But we develop a willingnessto stick with things.
A sense of compassion in the heartand a conviction that a basic
holiness permeates things and people.
We find ourselves involved in loyalcommitments, not needing to force
our way in life, able to marshaland direct our energies wisely.
(18:00):
So, this love thing, when Jesus is callingus to love, He's not just talking about
that warm fuzzy feelings, that romantic,head over the heels love that we often
feel for people just out of the blue.
And it's not doing grand gestures forpraise, instead, what He's calling
us to is a radical, selfless love.
(18:23):
and active love.
John 15, 12 and 13 says this.
This is my command.
Love one another the way I loved you.
This is the very best way to love.
Put your life on theline for your friends.
Now that kind of love, it'snot a conditional love and
it's not transactional.
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It's not a, if you dothis, then I'll get this.
Well, you did this, so I'mgoing to love you to this.
We don't get that pass.
It's an all in kind of lovethat we are called to do.
Jesus demonstrated thatover and over and over.
The very creator of the universe served.
(19:06):
That's how he showed love through service.
He washed feet.
He sat and talked with the lowest of thelow, the people that were the outcasts.
He forgave his enemies even as theywere nailing them to the cross.
He was praying over the peoplenailing him to the cross.
I don't know how to love like that.
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I couldn't even imagine that that wouldbe my first thought in that situation.
My human brain would not be wanting topray for you and love you in that moment.
But Jesus did, and he ultimately gave uphis very life for each one of us here.
This kind of love is really,really hard, and it can be harder,
(19:49):
too, for those of us in recovery.
We often, and correct me if I'mwrong, because I can say this
was true for myself, we can oftenjump into relationships or just
kind of those casual flings.
Without too much thought.
And the reason we often dothis are things that I think
we can often all identify with.
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Loneliness.
Loneliness, that very thing thatoften kind of pushes us deeper into
our substance use is also anotherreason why we can start friendships or
relationships with people that aren'thealthy for us, that aren't best for us.
It might seem like that could bea quick fix for that loneliness.
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There's that physical desire thing,there's, it's just, we all know that we're
created with hormones and all the things.
You get those butterflies and rainbowsand it makes you not see the red
flags that are popping up all overbecause, you know, I'm lonely and I
can fix that, you know, I can fix that.
(20:53):
We may look at people with,like, that savior complex.
Sometimes we think having somebodyelse in our life will complete
us, or it's going to save us fromall these hard struggles in life.
There's nobody else, though,that can fit that space.
That space is God shaped.
We also can often find ourselves inrelationships that aren't good for us
(21:17):
because we're looking for validation.
That was a big one for me.
I didn't feel validated.
on my own.
I thought I needed to getthat from somebody else.
We strive to find our worth and ourvalue and we often look to other people.
In recovery, and for those of us thataren't in recovery, this is still true, we
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are wired as human beings to seek meaning,to seek purpose, and to seek connection.
God created us that way for a reason.
Casual relationships might meet immediateneeds, but they rarely, rarely will ever
satisfy that deep longing that we have inour souls to be connected, and here's why.
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Those casual surface levelrelationships cause an emotional toll.
Intimacy of any kind, and I'm not justtalking a romantic relationship, it does
create a bond, even if it's unspoken.
If that bond is broken or it's not valuedthe same on both sides, that leaves us
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feeling even more rejected or more broken.
It can bring shame ora sense of inadequacy.
The other thing that that does,those surface level relationships,
it amplifies loneliness.
We are in there seekingfor connection instead.
We reach out and latch on tosomething that's going to amplify it.
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And instead of feelingconnected, we feel used.
Does anybody else understand that feeling?
Like it didn't give you whatit was you were seeking.
I know I felt that.
It reinforces patterns.
Those casual relationships, it kindof mirrors impulsivity, short term
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thinking, It becomes yet anothercycle of instant gratification
rather than long term growth.
Those are hard habits to break.
1 Corinthians 6 actually talks about this.
And the message, he goes rightthere and he says, There's more
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to sex than mere skin on skin.
Sex is as much spiritualmystery as physical fact.
As written in scripture,the two became one.
Since we want to become spirituallyone with the Master, we must not
pursue the kind of intimacy that avoidscommitment, it avoids real intimacy,
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and leaves us more lonely than ever.
That kind of sex.
can never be that becoming one.
This doesn't mean that God isjudging us or condemning us.
He has paid the price on the cross.
You don't have furthercondemnation or judgment.
He can't condemn and judge somethingthat's already done, but we are
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called to repentance for it.
It does mean, though, that ourFather God, He's calling you
to something better for you.
He's not trying to punish you.
He's just saying, but it can beso much better if you only knew.
So how do you know if you'reready for healthy relationships
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where you can practice that love?
It starts with self.
You need to have establishedsome stability in life.
You've built that strong foundation.
We were talking about that earlier.
How in the world do you build good,strong love relationships with a crumbling
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foundation or no foundation at all?
It doesn't work.
You can't build something and thentry to put a foundation under it.
It needs to have something to start from.
You know yourself.
This took me a long time toknow myself because I hadn't
ever let myself live at myself.
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I lived a life trying to be things thatI thought others might want, things that
would gain approval, or things that Ithought might earn me good favor from God.
You know, He'll love me if I'm better.
What I forgot is He already loved me.
From day one he loved me.
From day one I was good enoughbecause God said I'm good enough.
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Because God said you're mine, andyou're my favorite, and he says that
to every one of you sitting here.
I don't know if you think about that.
Look in the mirror and say, Godsays I'm his favorite, and then
believe it because it's true.
Another sign that you are ready fora committed relationship is that
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you are able to set boundaries.
I was horrible at boundaries.
Boundaries, what are those?
Those moved all the time.
You need to set boundaries thatare true to you and in your life.
You can say no when it's necessary, butyou also respect the boundaries of others.
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Oh, how about this one?
When you're comfortable being alone.
I was never comfortablebeing alone because then it
was just me and my thoughts.
And then me and my thoughtsbecame me and my bottle.
So I didn't have to sitwith me and my thoughts.
God took every single thing awayfrom me and out of my life and left
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me sitting very much with only mythoughts until I got comfortable with
it and that was a painful process.
That one hurt, because humans aren'tcreated, A, for, to be an individual.
We're created for a community.
So I'm all like, but I need people.
No, you need to be whole andcomplete in yourself first.
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I finally started figuring out whatthat meant, and I finally relished
being alone and comfortable with myself.
I liked learning about myself.
I liked learning who it wasthat God created me to be.
And only then did God land thatindividual in that big ol heart
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shaped jacket on over there.
That got dropped in my life at thattime, and I literally sat and thought,
But God I'm so comfortable now like Iwas looking forward to this just doing
my thing like on my own And God's likebut I want you to see the one I created
just for you And that's when I foundmy one that's when I met the one God
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created for me That's when I got my whatGod has joined together relationship
I didn't get that before then.
You also have to seek connectionand not just chemistry.
You need to be more interested inbuilding meaningful partnerships rather
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than just something that's excitingor, well, they're really pretty to
look at or they're really attractive.
We need to know who people are inside,the stuff that matters, and you need
to pray and seek guidance in this.
You need to learn, we all need tolearn to deepen just our general
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friendships, grow that community.
That's a hard one for me becauseI'm afraid to trust people with me.
I know that's true for otherpeople sitting here because
I've heard that from you.
Trust is hard.
Being open and vulnerablewith others is hard.
But look for those friendships thataren't, I've talked often about things
that are an inch deep and a mile long.
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Do you know what feels a lot better?
A very small circle that might be 487feet deep and maybe it's only a foot wide.
But that's beautiful in that spaceto know people at that level.
Seek for relationships that are deep.
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You don't need to have 897followers to be something.
If you can say, I have a few peoplein my life that are there for me, that
I can be really honest and vulnerablewith, that I can trust, and they're
there for me, I'll give up everysingle follower, friend, or whatever on
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Facebook, and I will keep those, becausethat inch deep thing, That washes away
in the first storm that comes along.
You need to be with supportivepeople and find your community.
Healing happens in community.
Support happens in community.
Love happens in community.
It's where we serve others, butit's where we are also served.
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That leads right into my nextthing, through that service.
Learning to love and to be allthat you are requires you to serve.
Volunteering and helping others bringspurpose and a sense of connection.
But we have to leave at the door thathuman tendency to say, but what do
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I get in return for this service?
I'm going to volunteer and give because.
You got to leave off the becauseand just say, I'm going to
volunteer and I'm going to serve.
Because Jesus did.
Because I love them.
And that means everybodyyou cross paths with.
Not the select few.
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Not just the one sitting in here.
It's everyone.
Think of somebody right nowthat is just such a difficult
person for you to get along with.
You need to serve and love them too.
I know who's sitting on my mind.
I'm called to service and love.
There's so many ways that that can happen.
That doesn't mean you setyourself up as a doormat.
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It doesn't mean that you willinglysubject yourself to abuse and pain,
but there are ways to love and toserve even those that oppose you, don't
think like you, look differently thanyou, believe differently than you.
We still have to call.
We still have to love them.
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All of it requires us tofocus on a relationship with
our God, with our Creator.
You need to spend time in prayer andworship and studying the scripture.
And we often think that thatmeans we have to sit with God.
That book with the Bible.
The best Christians sit with theirnose in the Bible all the time, right?
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No.
Sometimes people spend so muchtime with their nose in that book
and they forget to love people.
That doesn't please God.
We're not called to studythat Bible day in and day out.
So we're book smart up here.
What have we done?
We've not put into practice whatit is that we're supposed to do.
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God is often telling us, pleaseget your nose out of that book.
Get your nose up.
Put your head up and put youreyes on those people around you
and start living the gospel.
We've often
Looked at church as being that building.
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Church is a building where you go to andthen somebody stands up here and then
they tell us, you know, and they teach us.
And then we go home and go on with aweek and that's completely backwards.
This is not the church.
This building we're sittingin is not the church.
It never will be the church.
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Every individual inhere, you are the church.
I am the church.
When you walk out of here,you're walking out church.
The day God sent His Spirit and pouredout into us, we became the living,
breathing church, and church nolonger existed inside of a building.
It's just a place where we can gatherand be together in community as a body.
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And why is that?
Because we are called to be outinto the world so we can change the
world by loving the way Jesus did.
John 13, verse 35 says this is howeveryone will recognize that you
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are my disciples when they see thelove that you have for each other.
When we love like Jesus.
We stand out.
We are going to stand out.
Not for being weird.
Not for being odd.
Never for being exclusive.
Never for being judgmental.
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Never for being off putting.
Never for being unwelcoming.
We should be all the opposite.
We should be urging people, Comein, come in, come in, come in.
We should celebrate every humanbeing that walks in the door
seeking and wanting to know.
Never stand in judgment.
I love it when the messiest of peoplewalk in and just want to know Jesus.
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They're my people.
I'm just as messy.
Sometimes I might look morepolished on the outside.
My insides are a junkie mess.
We need to be light in a worldthat That desperately needs
kindness, it needs forgiveness,and man does it need compassion.
(35:08):
So think about your own life andwho has shown you this kind of
love, and did that change you?
Did that have an effect on you?
Now, think about how you can bethat same person for other people.
So over the course of the week,I want to challenge you to step
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out leading in love, the kind oflove that never is self possessed.
motivated.
Not the kind of love that says,I'm going to do this because it's
going to make me look good, or it'sgoing to make people like me, or
it's going to get me something.
It's a kind of love that simply lovesfor the sake of loving because we
strive to be like our dad in heaven.
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Like Jesus, our savior himself,who says, yeah, I know.
I knew you were going to do that.
I also know that sin you'regoing to do tomorrow, next year,
and 20 years down the road.
I know.
I know.
I knew before you came to me and saidI'm sorry exactly what you did because,
you know, God doesn't need you to bringit to Him to know what you've done.
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It's not a surprise to Him.
And all He says is, I love you.
I don't know what you're talking about.
As far as it eases from the West.
It's just all love.
You don't have to earn it.
It's given freely and we'recalled to do the same thing.
Don't ask people to earn your love.
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Jesus didn't do that.
He says it's yours and it's freely given.
Just do the same.
I often, I'm going to gocompletely off script because
sometimes I just like to talk.
I've often wondered, amI doing my faith right?
Am I doing God right?
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Am I doing Jesus right?
And I can worry about that all the time.
What if I get it wrong?
I don't want to go to heaven.
I don't want to be embarrassedstanding in front of God because
He's going to look at me and say,how could you mess up so badly?
And it was like I had a moment.
I'm that girl, like, I findchurch out in the woods.
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I find a beautiful space at I'lloften take my shoes off so I can
feel the ground under my feet.
I've been known to literally layon my back, in the leaves, on the
ground, and I'm looking up, throughthose leaves, just relishing in
what I'm seeing, and I'm like,
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I just am asking God to comecloser and closer and every
time he comes and finds me.
And I can remember Ihad that conversation.
It's like, God, I want to do this right.
I've done so many things wrong.
I've messed up over and over and over.
This one, I want to do rightbecause I promised you I'm all in.
So what does all in look like?
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And it was like, bam!
All I felt was like, love people.
Love people.
Love people.
That is it.
There's nothing else I needed to do.
You don't have to earn it.
You don't have to do anything else.
Don't worry about messing it up.
If you are leading it from a place inyour heart and your soul, from a place
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of love, you're not doing it wrong.
You are not doing it wrong.
That Holy Spirit that's given asa gift, He's there to guide us.
If you're wondering whatto do next, just ask them.
They'll reveal it through the word,through other people's testimonies,
and that gospel that we're called toshare with everybody is just simply,
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Can I tell you how amazing my God is?
Can I tell you where I was?
I was the worst of the worst.
I have done things that wouldleave people in this room
completely speechless and shocked.
I know that for a fact.
I am sure of it.
I know for a fact.
None of that is hidden from my God.
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He knew every bit of it, and part ofthat shame of that kept me from Him.
Like I didn't want to confessit, and God kept telling me,
But Heidi, I already know.
I already know.
I've already forgiven it.
Why are you hanging on to it?
Just let go of it so I can loveyou so you can love others.
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He's doing the very same thingfor each one of you here.
Challenge yourself.
I think a lot of us can feel likeI do a pretty good job at loving.
I sometimes catch myself in that, butthere's so much more that I can do.
I can love more.
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I can love better.
Sometimes I need to get myembarrassment out of the way,
because sometimes I'm like, peopleare going to think I'm a weirdo.
I'm like, it doesn't matter.
Sometimes it lays heavy on youthat God is saying that person
right there needs some God love.
Don't hesitate.
Put yourself out there.
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You don't have to lead by preaching.
You don't have to walk up toanybody and say, I'm a saved child
of God and I'm going to recitethis scripture and I'm going to do
this and that and the next thing.
You don't even have tospeak a word of your faith.
You don't even have tospeak the name Jesus.
Your actions in service oflove is gospel in this world.
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It is going to show the world that simplythrough of service when it's unexpected.
People will notice something is differentbecause our world doesn't look like that.
We're selfish.
We take what we want.
We push others down so we canclimb over them to get up.
We want the best.
We go home living in comfortablelittle places and we're warm.
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How many of us thought about the people,it's like, anybody die last night
because it's getting cold out there?
People that don't have a roofover their head, we're called
to think about those people.
That's love.
How do we serve them?
We don't all have the means to changetheir circumstances, but if we can
in any way, we need to do that.
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If it's prayer, don't discount that.
That's one of the most powerful things.
We're talking to thecreator of the universe.
I think we forget what that is.
It doesn't have to be formal.
I pray walking around all the time.
I'm often in prayer on Friday nights,praying over every person that
walked in here because I love you.
Because I want you to experience freedom.
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I want you to experience joy.
I want you to experiencewhat service feels like.
Maybe that's my selfishthing and why I do what I do.
I have this joy that comes fromknowing that I am loved, and in
return, I get to just simply love.
I don't have to care what you dowhen you walk out of my space.
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I don't have to careabout what you did before.
I don't have to care how you'reliving your life, who you love,
or any of that other stuff.
That's not mine to care about.
It's not up to me tomake sure you are saved.
That's not my job.
Jesus and God's the onlyone that can manage that.
My job is to love you as you are rightwhere you're at, and that I can do.
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And I'm going to tell you, it feelsreally good to just remove the things
that keep you from openly loving.
Everybody.
Everybody.
So try it.
Try to love the people thatseem the most unlovable.
Love people that are angry.
Love the people that are offensive.
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Love the people that hurt and harm others.
They need it badly.
They need it badly.
There's a reason under all ofthat, and that's because of the
fallen sin entered the world.
As soon as I realize that I don't haveto hate anyone for sinful behaviors, well
I'm a sinner anyway so I should start withhating myself, I'm not going to because
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the one that I hate is the father of sin.
I hate the devil himself, the one that'sto blame for all the sin in the world.
I'm not going to blame the humans.
that carry the weight ofthat sin because we all do.
I'm just simply going to lovethem because I want that freedom
that's there for all of us.
So as you can, love everyoneyou come across this week.
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You don't have to dothat through preaching.
You don't have to, never, I'm beggingyou, don't ever do that through judgment.
But love people where they're at.
Show them grace.
Be gentle.
Do what's unexpected.
Somebody's rude or impolite to you.
Come back at them with an affirmation.
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It kind of throws people off their gamewhen they're expecting something else.
Love them harder.
The difficult to love,just love them harder.
I know on my worst days, there'snothing I needed more than that.
That was love.
Christians sometimes, because you know,we, we have some of this understanding
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about God and faith and heaven and allof this kind of stuff, we can often
fall into the danger of thinking we'vegot things better figured out, that
we're better than, that um, if onlypeople would live life the way that we
do, we need to be careful with that.
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The Bible speaks about that becauseit says in the same way that you're
judging those other people, he'sgoing to use that same standard on
you when you stand in front of him.
And that gutted me because Iknow how I've judged people.
So if God's going to use the standardin how I interact with people as I face
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him at the end, I want to face him.
Saying, God, when I figured it out, Ireally tried my best to just love people.
I know I failed, but I choseto love instead of judge.
Even if some people are saying, no, we'regoing to judge this, or we're going to
judge that, or that lifestyle is horrible,or whatever it may be, I'm not doing that.
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I'm not doing that.
Everybody's entitled to personalbeliefs and opinions and all of that.
I'm never going to ask you to change that.
I'm not going to tellyou to have my beliefs.
That's why you're not going tohear me talk about politics.
I'm not religious.
I am deeply spiritual.
I'm not going to sit and startsaying lesser sins and greater
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sins, because there's no such thing.
I'm on the same level playing fieldas every single other human being.
So my challenge to you is keep firstand foremost through this week,
thinking about this fruit of the Spirit.
And remember, I said it's fruit,it's one fruit, so if you have the
Spirit, They're all out there becausethey're to be implemented and we
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started this first week with love.
So I am just encouraging each of youover the week till we come back to talk
about joy, another one that I love.
Practice love.
I would love to hear aboutthings that maybe you did.
I'm going to challenge you stepoutside your comfort zone and love
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people you don't tend to love.
Just try it.
And that forgiveness thing aboveall else, I'm going to ask you
to start with yourself first.
Don't move on from there untilyou've really got that one down.
Because if God looks at you andsays, I love you, you're my child,
when you look at yourself, lookat yourself with those eyes.
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Until you can look in that mirrorand say, I am a loved child of God.
Cause that's beautiful.
I love to look in the mirrorwith tears running down my face
and just look at God's child.
It's beautiful.
Doesn't matter what I look like.
None of that does.
Doesn't matter how old I am, howyoung I am, how much I weigh or don't
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weigh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It don't matter because He made this.
He made this, knew exactly my height,my size, my hair, my eyes, my nose,
my teeth, my mouth, the width of myshoulders, the size of my feet, whether
I have ten toes or fewer, all of it.
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Not a single detail wasn't attendedto, that's just how much he loved me.
So, I'm going to challengeyou that week with that.
Focus on that good and healthy selflove in the way that God loves you, and
then pour that out onto other people,because every single person you see
is a beloved creation of our Creator.
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That's not true only if they know God.
Every single human on this earth isknown by God and was created by God.
And we are all called to love,and we are all called to be loved.
Jesus was asked, what is the greatestcommand, and that is to love your Father
God with all of your heart, with all ofyour mind, and with all of your soul.
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But he said, there is a secondcommandment, and that is equal to it.
That was God's words, not mine.
And that is to love othersas you love yourself.
yourself.
It's a much harder calling than youmight think it is, but it doesn't
mean that it's not our calling.
So I'm encouraging you all, just livea life of love in the week to come.
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So thank you.
Thank you.
If anybody, I always like the talk aboutit part, but If you have questions,
if there's any comments, what partof it is the hardest, or if you
don't have anything, that's fine too.
But, for me, love has been the mostbeautiful aspect of God that I never
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really fully understood before.
And now it's the most precious of allthings that I know in my life, so.
For me, loving other people, um, withBeing a Christian, there was some times
where I felt like this responsibility,like I had to have, uh, the sinner's
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prayer memorized and I had to have,like, where I'm going to show them
the Bible to lead them to Christ.
Oh, it's nerve wracking.
What if I get it wrong?
It's so much responsibility andat times it would stop me from
even having a conversation orwanting to have that conversation.
I would shy away from it or I justwouldn't have that conversation at all.
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When instead, it's so much easierfor me to recognize like each
person's on their own journey.
The Holy Spirit's gonna work intheir life when he does his work.
And it's my job tominister through presence.
Uh, because sometimes just beingwith somebody, like you don't need,
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like Heidi was saying, you don'tneed initials after your name.
You don't need a fancy degree.
To take somebody out for coffee, sitacross from somebody and just listen.
There's a ministry insimply being present.
And simply listening.
And simply being there.
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And, and, and listening.
So, um, I have felt personally, like theweight of that responsibility, like I
have to have that whole salvation piecefigured out for them, but it's really,
it's not me having anything figured outfor anybody else, it's me displaying God's
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love or Jesus love through just beingthere for people, being present, and um,
and if I don't know something, it's okayto say, I don't know, but let's find out.
I love doing that.
I love it.
Nobody has all the answers.
We'll never have all the answers.
Ever.
We can't possibly comprehendall there is to comprehend.
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We're just, ah, so much bigger,so much more than we are.
So.
Alright, I have onesong to finish up here.
This song, I will just, this isn't theone, okay, so I will share with you, this
is a song that I usually play, typicallyI'll play it once a day, this literally is
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my song to all the people that we serve,I literally do do this, I pray these
things over you and for you, and it's.
It's a personal favorite of mine, soI want you to hear the words of this
though and think about how you cando this for others, but know that me
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personally, I pray these things overall of you, and I do this every week.
I do this when you're in this building.
I often will find a place outsideof where everybody is on Friday
night and I pray over all of you.
I pray peace.
I pray healing.
I pray freedom.
I pray deliverance from bondage.
I do all of this thing becauseI take such joy in just watching
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all of you gathered here.
So.
This is just my song to all of you.
Within your presence,
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Jesus.
The name Jesus
starts to break.
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There is, there is
Jesus.
Does my name is power?
your name is healing your name is light
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to all who shine through theshadows burn like the fire
wanna speak the name of jesus
Over fear and all anxiety To everysoul held captive by depression I
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speak Jesus Your name is power Yourname is healing Your name is life
Break every stronghold.
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Shine through the shadows.
Burn like a fire.
Shout Jesus from the mountains.
Jesus in the streets.
Jesus in the darkness.
Every inch for my family.
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I speak the holy name of Jesus.
Jesus from the mountains, Jesus inthe streets, Jesus in the darkness
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over every enemy, Jesus for myfamily, I speak the holy name, Jesus.
Jesus from the mountains, Jesus inthe streets, Jesus for my family,
I speak the holy name, Jesus.
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Jesus in his darkness soaks.
Your name is power.
Your name is healing.
Your name is love.
Your name can make a pretty stronghold.
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A child in the shadows.
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Thank you.
All right, so, Father God, thank you somuch for every single individual in this
space, from the youngest to the oldest.
God, I am so thankfulfor every one of them.
And God, I know that you are in thisspace with us, and you yourself are
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here saying I love them so much.
God, I ask you to fillus with your spirit.
Help us all to be representativesof you and help us go out there for
the next week in love like Jesus.
In your name I pray, Amen.
Thank you guys.
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Baby
We introduced last weekthe fruit of the Spirit.
So I want to read first of all,starting with 1 Corinthians 13,
and it's called The Way of Love.
I'm reading out of the Message.
If I speak with human eloquence andangelic ecstasy, but don't love.
I'm nothing but thecreaking of a rusty gate.
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If I speak God's word with power,revealing all his mysteries and making
everything plain as day, and if I havefaith that says to a mountain, jump, and
it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
If I give everything I own to thepoor and even go to the stake to
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be burned as a martyr, but I don'thave love, I've gotten nowhere.
So, no matter what I say, what I believe,and what I do, I am bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
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Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut, doesn't have aswelled head, doesn't force itself
on others, isn't always me first.
Doesn't fly off the handle.
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others.
Doesn't revel when others grovel.
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth.
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Puts up with anything.
Trust God always.
Always looks for the best.
Never looks back, butkeeps going to the end.
Love never dies.
Inspired speech will be over someday.
Praying in tongues will end.
Understanding will reach its limit.
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We know only a portion of thetruth, and what we say about
God is always incomplete.
But when the complete arrives, ourincompleteness will be cancelled.
We have the most perfect example of lovethat has ever walked on this earth, and
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we are called to love in the same way.
Even as God knew there was noway we could possibly ever live
up to the standard that was set.
for us.
So before we go into more about thislove thing and how we go about doing
that in life, I want to actually havecommunion before we go into service.
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I want to celebrate thegreatest act of love that has
ever been done on this earth.
So I'm going to read in 1Corinthians 11 starting at verse 23.
So, let me go over with you againexactly what goes on in the Lord's Supper
and why it is so centrally important.
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I received my instructions from theMaster himself and passed them on to you.
The Master, Jesus, on the night ofhis betrayal, he took bread, having
given thanks, he broke it and he said,this is my body, it's broken for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
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And after supper.
He did the same thing with the cup.
This cup is my blood, mynew covenant with you.
Each time you drink this cup, remember me.
What you must solemnly realizeis that every time you eat this
bread and every time you drink thiscup, you reenact in your words and
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actions the death of the master.
You will be drawn back to this mealagain and again until the master returns.
You must never letfamiliarity breed contempt.
Anyone who eats the bread or drinksthe cup of the Master irreverently
is like part of the crowd thatjeered and spit on him at his death.
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Is that the kind of remembranceyou want to be part of?
Examine your motives, test your heart,and come to this meal in holy awe.
Forgiveness is an important aspectto partaking of communion because
the act of of Jesus going to thecross was the ultimate forgiveness.
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He forgave me up there on that cross.
He was up there because of me.
My sin put him up there.
I don't have to worry about anybodyelse's sin and what put him up
there because mine was enough.
While he was actively on there paying formy sin, loving me, he did it knowing I was
still a sinner, I was going to continueto sin, And he still says, I love you.
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I got that covered.
I paid for it.
We're called to do the same thing.
Forgiveness is never there becausewe're saying what you did is just
fine and I just forgive you andwe're moving on and forgetting.
That's not the kind of forgivenessthat we're talking about.
We're talking about the forgivenessthat releases us from the burden
of carrying the anger, frustration,and all of the other things
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that come with carrying around.
Unforgiveness.
I, I know what that feels like in my life.
I had a lot of people that Icarried such, I'll call it what it
was, such a hatred and anger for.
And I felt like I was justifiedin that because of their actions.
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I had to take a long, hard lookin the mirror because my actions
put my Savior on the cross.
So what am I doing even lookingat other people that way?
I had to let it go, and it was thehardest choice and decision I've
ever made in my life because I didn'tunderstand forgiveness that way, because
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I hadn't done it, I hadn't practiced it.
But I'm gonna tell you, the freedom thatI felt when I released myself from the
weight of what others have done is themost beautiful thing in the world, and
that's why we're called to forgiveness.
It's not to punish us, ever.
So often we may look at some of these.
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Ten commandment laws andthink it's a punishment.
Why do I have to do this?
Why do I have to love others more?
Why this?
Because it truly is best for us.
Nobody knows us better than our Creator,so we just sometimes need to trust
that process of doing things thatflies in the face of how the world or
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society often chooses to treat people.
So, forgiveness is hugely important.
So I welcome you now, if you have justthe spirit of I really struggle with
somebody in my life or you strugglewith a hurt just take a moment just you
have time yet before you walk up and youtake the bread and you take grape juice.
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We don't have wine in this house.
So just take that momentand say I forgive.
I forgive and just hand that to God.
I promise he knows what to do with it.
I promise you, things won't, there willbe no unfinished business when we're all
done here on this beautiful earth of ours.
So, um, before we actually takecommunion itself, I have a song that
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I would love to sing, listen to.
You can choose to meditate, you canchoose to spend this time before God,
but it's just, it's a beautiful song andit speaks specifically about communion.
Sorry if I'm in the way of anybody, we
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outsiders.
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There's haters, there's liars in thisleague, there's no one unwelcome here.
It's a shame that you're born with you,you can leave it at the door, and then
(09:12):
mercy's all you'll need.
Come, come to this table, come jointhe sinners who have been redeemed.
Take your place.
It's hard on the Savior.
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Sit down and be set free.
Come to His Lord.
Keep the good doubt.
To
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the hero and the coward.
To the prisoner and the soldier.
To the young and to the older.
All who hunger or
thirst.
Of a purpose and a reason.
Stop.
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Good
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stuff.
Robert, do you want to help me here?
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Okay, the way that we are going todo communion is, you're going to come
walk up, you're going to break off apiece of this bread, and then just dip
into the wine, which is grape juice.
Not fermented, so.
You don't have to bring it back tothe seat and sit down and all take
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it together, but as you dip and walkby, feel free to take it, but I'm
just going to say a little blessingor a word over you as you do this.
As you break that bread and as you dipinto the grape juice, just remember
what it represents and what was done.
Think of your very worst moment,and even then, your Savior was
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saying, I love you so much.
I covered that.
He doesn't see it when he looks at youanymore because of the ultimate sacrifice
and all he asks in return is just love.
Love like I do.
The bar's set high and we'regonna fail, but guess what?
That's covered too.
All he did was just say,Please, live a life of love.
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You are forgiven.
So, when you are ready,just please walk forward.
Break off a piece, dip it, and partake,but I welcome you up to the Lord's table.
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Jesus loves you.
All is forgiven.
All is forgiven.
His blood has covered everything.
He looks at you and says,This one is special?
And I love her.
Love you, bro.
God loves you more thanyou can ever imagine.
Love you, Kim.
You are precious andloved by your creator.
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Love you, guys.
God loves you so much.
He gave his son for you.
You are good.
You are precious and loved, child of God.
Your sins have been coveredand all is forgiven.
You are a treasure to Jesus.
It's the after party.
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He created you and saidthis one is special.
Happy Sunday, Stormy.
You are precious and loved beyond words.
My adoption song.
You, young man, are greatlyloved and always forgiven.
If you want the whole thing,I know you need that too.
I got peanut butter and jelly downstairs.
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Hi.
Jesus loves you so much,and Jesus loves you so much.
My Adoption Song you, are such aprecious and loved child of God.
Mm-hmm.
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Jesus eagerly and willingly died for all.
You are a treasure and greatly loved.
Jesus loves you, daughter of the king.
God knows all and loves you so much.
You are a special child of God.
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You're so good.
You go first.
Jesus loves you so much.
All is forgiven And
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you are God's favorite.
I know.
Thank you.
Communion has become like, my mostfavorite thing to do in, in all the
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world, it's I more and more and moreand more understand what it is exactly
that I'm doing every time I approachthis table, and it is not lost on me,
the love that my creator has for me.
And I know how undeserving I am.
So, So, we talked about the fruitof the Spirit in general terms last
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week, all seven of them, but todaywe get to start with that love thing.
So we're going to cover it ina lot of different aspects,
but we are called to love.
What does that look like?
How do we act that out intoour life and, and that?
We're not left hanging to dry here.
The Bible tells us all thatwe need to know about it.
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So.
We're going to jump right on in.
So, I'm going to read fromGalatians 5, uh, verses 22 and 23.
So what happens when we live God's way?
He brings gifts into our lives much thesame way that fruit appears in an orchard.
Things like affection forothers, exuberance about life.
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I really like how that isphrased in the message.
I love that.
An exuberance about life.
And serenity.
How many of those thingswere part of your life?
Those of us in recovery, werethose things part of your life?
Like serenity, exuberance forlife, affection for others?
I know they weren't in mine.
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But we develop a willingnessto stick with things.
A sense of compassion in the heartand a conviction that a basic
holiness permeates things and people.
We find ourselves involved in loyalcommitments, not needing to force
our way in life, able to marshaland direct our energies wisely.
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So, this love thing, when Jesus is callingus to love, He's not just talking about
that warm fuzzy feelings, that romantic,head over the heels love that we often
feel for people just out of the blue.
And it's not doing grand gestures forpraise, instead, what He's calling
us to is a radical, selfless love.
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and active love.
John 15, 12 and 13 says this.
This is my command.
Love one another the way I loved you.
This is the very best way to love.
Put your life on theline for your friends.
Now that kind of love, it'snot a conditional love and
it's not transactional.
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It's not a, if you dothis, then I'll get this.
Well, you did this, so I'mgoing to love you to this.
We don't get that pass.
It's an all in kind of lovethat we are called to do.
Jesus demonstrated thatover and over and over.
The very creator of the universe served.
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That's how he showed love through service.
He washed feet.
He sat and talked with the lowest of thelow, the people that were the outcasts.
He forgave his enemies even as theywere nailing them to the cross.
He was praying over the peoplenailing him to the cross.
I don't know how to love like that.
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I couldn't even imagine that that wouldbe my first thought in that situation.
My human brain would not be wanting topray for you and love you in that moment.
But Jesus did, and he ultimately gave uphis very life for each one of us here.
This kind of love is really,really hard, and it can be harder,
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too, for those of us in recovery.
We often, and correct me if I'mwrong, because I can say this
was true for myself, we can oftenjump into relationships or just
kind of those casual flings.
Without too much thought.
And the reason we often dothis are things that I think
we can often all identify with.
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Loneliness.
Loneliness, that very thing thatoften kind of pushes us deeper into
our substance use is also anotherreason why we can start friendships or
relationships with people that aren'thealthy for us, that aren't best for us.
It might seem like that could bea quick fix for that loneliness.
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There's that physical desire thing,there's, it's just, we all know that we're
created with hormones and all the things.
You get those butterflies and rainbowsand it makes you not see the red
flags that are popping up all overbecause, you know, I'm lonely and I
can fix that, you know, I can fix that.
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We may look at people with,like, that savior complex.
Sometimes we think having somebodyelse in our life will complete
us, or it's going to save us fromall these hard struggles in life.
There's nobody else, though,that can fit that space.
That space is God shaped.
We also can often find ourselves inrelationships that aren't good for us
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because we're looking for validation.
That was a big one for me.
I didn't feel validated.
on my own.
I thought I needed to getthat from somebody else.
We strive to find our worth and ourvalue and we often look to other people.
In recovery, and for those of us thataren't in recovery, this is still true, we
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are wired as human beings to seek meaning,to seek purpose, and to seek connection.
God created us that way for a reason.
Casual relationships might meet immediateneeds, but they rarely, rarely will ever
satisfy that deep longing that we have inour souls to be connected, and here's why.
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Those casual surface levelrelationships cause an emotional toll.
Intimacy of any kind, and I'm not justtalking a romantic relationship, it does
create a bond, even if it's unspoken.
If that bond is broken or it's not valuedthe same on both sides, that leaves us
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feeling even more rejected or more broken.
It can bring shame ora sense of inadequacy.
The other thing that that does,those surface level relationships,
it amplifies loneliness.
We are in there seekingfor connection instead.
We reach out and latch on tosomething that's going to amplify it.
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And instead of feelingconnected, we feel used.
Does anybody else understand that feeling?
Like it didn't give you whatit was you were seeking.
I know I felt that.
It reinforces patterns.
Those casual relationships, it kindof mirrors impulsivity, short term
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thinking, It becomes yet anothercycle of instant gratification
rather than long term growth.
Those are hard habits to break.
1 Corinthians 6 actually talks about this.
And the message, he goes rightthere and he says, There's more
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to sex than mere skin on skin.
Sex is as much spiritualmystery as physical fact.
As written in scripture,the two became one.
Since we want to become spirituallyone with the Master, we must not
pursue the kind of intimacy that avoidscommitment, it avoids real intimacy,
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and leaves us more lonely than ever.
That kind of sex.
can never be that becoming one.
This doesn't mean that God isjudging us or condemning us.
He has paid the price on the cross.
You don't have furthercondemnation or judgment.
He can't condemn and judge somethingthat's already done, but we are
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called to repentance for it.
It does mean, though, that ourFather God, He's calling you
to something better for you.
He's not trying to punish you.
He's just saying, but it can beso much better if you only knew.
So how do you know if you'reready for healthy relationships
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where you can practice that love?
It starts with self.
You need to have establishedsome stability in life.
You've built that strong foundation.
We were talking about that earlier.
How in the world do you build good,strong love relationships with a crumbling
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foundation or no foundation at all?
It doesn't work.
You can't build something and thentry to put a foundation under it.
It needs to have something to start from.
You know yourself.
This took me a long time toknow myself because I hadn't
ever let myself live at myself.
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I lived a life trying to be things thatI thought others might want, things that
would gain approval, or things that Ithought might earn me good favor from God.
You know, He'll love me if I'm better.
What I forgot is He already loved me.
From day one he loved me.
From day one I was good enoughbecause God said I'm good enough.
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Because God said you're mine, andyou're my favorite, and he says that
to every one of you sitting here.
I don't know if you think about that.
Look in the mirror and say, Godsays I'm his favorite, and then
believe it because it's true.
Another sign that you are ready fora committed relationship is that
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you are able to set boundaries.
I was horrible at boundaries.
Boundaries, what are those?
Those moved all the time.
You need to set boundaries thatare true to you and in your life.
You can say no when it's necessary, butyou also respect the boundaries of others.
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Oh, how about this one?
When you're comfortable being alone.
I was never comfortablebeing alone because then it
was just me and my thoughts.
And then me and my thoughtsbecame me and my bottle.
So I didn't have to sitwith me and my thoughts.
God took every single thing awayfrom me and out of my life and left
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me sitting very much with only mythoughts until I got comfortable with
it and that was a painful process.
That one hurt, because humans aren'tcreated, A, for, to be an individual.
We're created for a community.
So I'm all like, but I need people.
No, you need to be whole andcomplete in yourself first.
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I finally started figuring out whatthat meant, and I finally relished
being alone and comfortable with myself.
I liked learning about myself.
I liked learning who it wasthat God created me to be.
And only then did God land thatindividual in that big ol heart
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shaped jacket on over there.
That got dropped in my life at thattime, and I literally sat and thought,
But God I'm so comfortable now like Iwas looking forward to this just doing
my thing like on my own And God's likebut I want you to see the one I created
just for you And that's when I foundmy one that's when I met the one God
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created for me That's when I got my whatGod has joined together relationship
I didn't get that before then.
You also have to seek connectionand not just chemistry.
You need to be more interested inbuilding meaningful partnerships rather
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than just something that's excitingor, well, they're really pretty to
look at or they're really attractive.
We need to know who people are inside,the stuff that matters, and you need
to pray and seek guidance in this.
You need to learn, we all need tolearn to deepen just our general
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friendships, grow that community.
That's a hard one for me becauseI'm afraid to trust people with me.
I know that's true for otherpeople sitting here because
I've heard that from you.
Trust is hard.
Being open and vulnerablewith others is hard.
But look for those friendships thataren't, I've talked often about things
that are an inch deep and a mile long.
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Do you know what feels a lot better?
A very small circle that might be 487feet deep and maybe it's only a foot wide.
But that's beautiful in that spaceto know people at that level.
Seek for relationships that are deep.
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You don't need to have 897followers to be something.
If you can say, I have a few peoplein my life that are there for me, that
I can be really honest and vulnerablewith, that I can trust, and they're
there for me, I'll give up everysingle follower, friend, or whatever on
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Facebook, and I will keep those, becausethat inch deep thing, That washes away
in the first storm that comes along.
You need to be with supportivepeople and find your community.
Healing happens in community.
Support happens in community.
Love happens in community.
It's where we serve others, butit's where we are also served.
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That leads right into my nextthing, through that service.
Learning to love and to be allthat you are requires you to serve.
Volunteering and helping others bringspurpose and a sense of connection.
But we have to leave at the door thathuman tendency to say, but what do
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I get in return for this service?
I'm going to volunteer and give because.
You got to leave off the becauseand just say, I'm going to
volunteer and I'm going to serve.
Because Jesus did.
Because I love them.
And that means everybodyyou cross paths with.
Not the select few.
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Not just the one sitting in here.
It's everyone.
Think of somebody right nowthat is just such a difficult
person for you to get along with.
You need to serve and love them too.
I know who's sitting on my mind.
I'm called to service and love.
There's so many ways that that can happen.
That doesn't mean you setyourself up as a doormat.
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It doesn't mean that you willinglysubject yourself to abuse and pain,
but there are ways to love and toserve even those that oppose you, don't
think like you, look differently thanyou, believe differently than you.
We still have to call.
We still have to love them.
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All of it requires us tofocus on a relationship with
our God, with our Creator.
You need to spend time in prayer andworship and studying the scripture.
And we often think that thatmeans we have to sit with God.
That book with the Bible.
The best Christians sit with theirnose in the Bible all the time, right?
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No.
Sometimes people spend so muchtime with their nose in that book
and they forget to love people.
That doesn't please God.
We're not called to studythat Bible day in and day out.
So we're book smart up here.
What have we done?
We've not put into practice whatit is that we're supposed to do.
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God is often telling us, pleaseget your nose out of that book.
Get your nose up.
Put your head up and put youreyes on those people around you
and start living the gospel.
We've often
Looked at church as being that building.
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Church is a building where you go to andthen somebody stands up here and then
they tell us, you know, and they teach us.
And then we go home and go on with aweek and that's completely backwards.
This is not the church.
This building we're sittingin is not the church.
It never will be the church.
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Every individual inhere, you are the church.
I am the church.
When you walk out of here,you're walking out church.
The day God sent His Spirit and pouredout into us, we became the living,
breathing church, and church nolonger existed inside of a building.
It's just a place where we can gatherand be together in community as a body.
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And why is that?
Because we are called to be outinto the world so we can change the
world by loving the way Jesus did.
John 13, verse 35 says this is howeveryone will recognize that you
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are my disciples when they see thelove that you have for each other.
When we love like Jesus.
We stand out.
We are going to stand out.
Not for being weird.
Not for being odd.
Never for being exclusive.
Never for being judgmental.
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Never for being off putting.
Never for being unwelcoming.
We should be all the opposite.
We should be urging people, Comein, come in, come in, come in.
We should celebrate every humanbeing that walks in the door
seeking and wanting to know.
Never stand in judgment.
I love it when the messiest of peoplewalk in and just want to know Jesus.
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They're my people.
I'm just as messy.
Sometimes I might look morepolished on the outside.
My insides are a junkie mess.
We need to be light in a worldthat That desperately needs
kindness, it needs forgiveness,and man does it need compassion.
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So think about your own life andwho has shown you this kind of
love, and did that change you?
Did that have an effect on you?
Now, think about how you can bethat same person for other people.
So over the course of the week,I want to challenge you to step
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out leading in love, the kind oflove that never is self possessed.
motivated.
Not the kind of love that says,I'm going to do this because it's
going to make me look good, or it'sgoing to make people like me, or
it's going to get me something.
It's a kind of love that simply lovesfor the sake of loving because we
strive to be like our dad in heaven.
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Like Jesus, our savior himself,who says, yeah, I know.
I knew you were going to do that.
I also know that sin you'regoing to do tomorrow, next year,
and 20 years down the road.
I know.
I know.
I knew before you came to me and saidI'm sorry exactly what you did because,
you know, God doesn't need you to bringit to Him to know what you've done.
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It's not a surprise to Him.
And all He says is, I love you.
I don't know what you're talking about.
As far as it eases from the West.
It's just all love.
You don't have to earn it.
It's given freely and we'recalled to do the same thing.
Don't ask people to earn your love.
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Jesus didn't do that.
He says it's yours and it's freely given.
Just do the same.
I often, I'm going to gocompletely off script because
sometimes I just like to talk.
I've often wondered, amI doing my faith right?
Am I doing God right?
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Am I doing Jesus right?
And I can worry about that all the time.
What if I get it wrong?
I don't want to go to heaven.
I don't want to be embarrassedstanding in front of God because
He's going to look at me and say,how could you mess up so badly?
And it was like I had a moment.
I'm that girl, like, I findchurch out in the woods.
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I find a beautiful space at I'lloften take my shoes off so I can
feel the ground under my feet.
I've been known to literally layon my back, in the leaves, on the
ground, and I'm looking up, throughthose leaves, just relishing in
what I'm seeing, and I'm like,
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I just am asking God to comecloser and closer and every
time he comes and finds me.
And I can remember Ihad that conversation.
It's like, God, I want to do this right.
I've done so many things wrong.
I've messed up over and over and over.
This one, I want to do rightbecause I promised you I'm all in.
So what does all in look like?
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And it was like, bam!
All I felt was like, love people.
Love people.
Love people.
That is it.
There's nothing else I needed to do.
You don't have to earn it.
You don't have to do anything else.
Don't worry about messing it up.
If you are leading it from a place inyour heart and your soul, from a place
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of love, you're not doing it wrong.
You are not doing it wrong.
That Holy Spirit that's given asa gift, He's there to guide us.
If you're wondering whatto do next, just ask them.
They'll reveal it through the word,through other people's testimonies,
and that gospel that we're called toshare with everybody is just simply,
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Can I tell you how amazing my God is?
Can I tell you where I was?
I was the worst of the worst.
I have done things that wouldleave people in this room
completely speechless and shocked.
I know that for a fact.
I am sure of it.
I know for a fact.
None of that is hidden from my God.
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He knew every bit of it, and part ofthat shame of that kept me from Him.
Like I didn't want to confessit, and God kept telling me,
But Heidi, I already know.
I already know.
I've already forgiven it.
Why are you hanging on to it?
Just let go of it so I can loveyou so you can love others.
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He's doing the very same thingfor each one of you here.
Challenge yourself.
I think a lot of us can feel likeI do a pretty good job at loving.
I sometimes catch myself in that, butthere's so much more that I can do.
I can love more.
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I can love better.
Sometimes I need to get myembarrassment out of the way,
because sometimes I'm like, peopleare going to think I'm a weirdo.
I'm like, it doesn't matter.
Sometimes it lays heavy on youthat God is saying that person
right there needs some God love.
Don't hesitate.
Put yourself out there.
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You don't have to lead by preaching.
You don't have to walk up toanybody and say, I'm a saved child
of God and I'm going to recitethis scripture and I'm going to do
this and that and the next thing.
You don't even have tospeak a word of your faith.
You don't even have tospeak the name Jesus.
Your actions in service oflove is gospel in this world.
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It is going to show the world that simplythrough of service when it's unexpected.
People will notice something is differentbecause our world doesn't look like that.
We're selfish.
We take what we want.
We push others down so we canclimb over them to get up.
We want the best.
We go home living in comfortablelittle places and we're warm.
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How many of us thought about the people,it's like, anybody die last night
because it's getting cold out there?
People that don't have a roofover their head, we're called
to think about those people.
That's love.
How do we serve them?
We don't all have the means to changetheir circumstances, but if we can
in any way, we need to do that.
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If it's prayer, don't discount that.
That's one of the most powerful things.
We're talking to thecreator of the universe.
I think we forget what that is.
It doesn't have to be formal.
I pray walking around all the time.
I'm often in prayer on Friday nights,praying over every person that
walked in here because I love you.
Because I want you to experience freedom.
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I want you to experience joy.
I want you to experiencewhat service feels like.
Maybe that's my selfishthing and why I do what I do.
I have this joy that comes fromknowing that I am loved, and in
return, I get to just simply love.
I don't have to care what you dowhen you walk out of my space.
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I don't have to careabout what you did before.
I don't have to care how you'reliving your life, who you love,
or any of that other stuff.
That's not mine to care about.
It's not up to me tomake sure you are saved.
That's not my job.
Jesus and God's the onlyone that can manage that.
My job is to love you as you are rightwhere you're at, and that I can do.
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And I'm going to tell you, it feelsreally good to just remove the things
that keep you from openly loving.
Everybody.
Everybody.
So try it.
Try to love the people thatseem the most unlovable.
Love people that are angry.
Love the people that are offensive.
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Love the people that hurt and harm others.
They need it badly.
They need it badly.
There's a reason under all ofthat, and that's because of the
fallen sin entered the world.
As soon as I realize that I don't haveto hate anyone for sinful behaviors, well
I'm a sinner anyway so I should start withhating myself, I'm not going to because
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the one that I hate is the father of sin.
I hate the devil himself, the one that'sto blame for all the sin in the world.
I'm not going to blame the humans.
that carry the weight ofthat sin because we all do.
I'm just simply going to lovethem because I want that freedom
that's there for all of us.
So as you can, love everyoneyou come across this week.
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You don't have to dothat through preaching.
You don't have to, never, I'm beggingyou, don't ever do that through judgment.
But love people where they're at.
Show them grace.
Be gentle.
Do what's unexpected.
Somebody's rude or impolite to you.
Come back at them with an affirmation.
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It kind of throws people off their gamewhen they're expecting something else.
Love them harder.
The difficult to love,just love them harder.
I know on my worst days, there'snothing I needed more than that.
That was love.
Christians sometimes, because you know,we, we have some of this understanding
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about God and faith and heaven and allof this kind of stuff, we can often
fall into the danger of thinking we'vegot things better figured out, that
we're better than, that um, if onlypeople would live life the way that we
do, we need to be careful with that.
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The Bible speaks about that becauseit says in the same way that you're
judging those other people, he'sgoing to use that same standard on
you when you stand in front of him.
And that gutted me because Iknow how I've judged people.
So if God's going to use the standardin how I interact with people as I face
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him at the end, I want to face him.
Saying, God, when I figured it out, Ireally tried my best to just love people.
I know I failed, but I choseto love instead of judge.
Even if some people are saying, no, we'regoing to judge this, or we're going to
judge that, or that lifestyle is horrible,or whatever it may be, I'm not doing that.
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I'm not doing that.
Everybody's entitled to personalbeliefs and opinions and all of that.
I'm never going to ask you to change that.
I'm not going to tellyou to have my beliefs.
That's why you're not going tohear me talk about politics.
I'm not religious.
I am deeply spiritual.
I'm not going to sit and startsaying lesser sins and greater
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sins, because there's no such thing.
I'm on the same level playing fieldas every single other human being.
So my challenge to you is keep firstand foremost through this week,
thinking about this fruit of the Spirit.
And remember, I said it's fruit,it's one fruit, so if you have the
Spirit, They're all out there becausethey're to be implemented and we
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started this first week with love.
So I am just encouraging each of youover the week till we come back to talk
about joy, another one that I love.
Practice love.
I would love to hear aboutthings that maybe you did.
I'm going to challenge you stepoutside your comfort zone and love
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people you don't tend to love.
Just try it.
And that forgiveness thing aboveall else, I'm going to ask you
to start with yourself first.
Don't move on from there untilyou've really got that one down.
Because if God looks at you andsays, I love you, you're my child,
when you look at yourself, lookat yourself with those eyes.
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Until you can look in that mirrorand say, I am a loved child of God.
Cause that's beautiful.
I love to look in the mirrorwith tears running down my face
and just look at God's child.
It's beautiful.
Doesn't matter what I look like.
None of that does.
Doesn't matter how old I am, howyoung I am, how much I weigh or don't
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weigh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It don't matter because He made this.
He made this, knew exactly my height,my size, my hair, my eyes, my nose,
my teeth, my mouth, the width of myshoulders, the size of my feet, whether
I have ten toes or fewer, all of it.
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Not a single detail wasn't attendedto, that's just how much he loved me.
So, I'm going to challengeyou that week with that.
Focus on that good and healthy selflove in the way that God loves you, and
then pour that out onto other people,because every single person you see
is a beloved creation of our Creator.
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That's not true only if they know God.
Every single human on this earth isknown by God and was created by God.
And we are all called to love,and we are all called to be loved.
Jesus was asked, what is the greatestcommand, and that is to love your Father
God with all of your heart, with all ofyour mind, and with all of your soul.
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But he said, there is a secondcommandment, and that is equal to it.
That was God's words, not mine.
And that is to love othersas you love yourself.
yourself.
It's a much harder calling than youmight think it is, but it doesn't
mean that it's not our calling.
So I'm encouraging you all, just livea life of love in the week to come.
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So thank you.
Thank you.
If anybody, I always like the talk aboutit part, but If you have questions,
if there's any comments, what partof it is the hardest, or if you
don't have anything, that's fine too.
But, for me, love has been the mostbeautiful aspect of God that I never
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really fully understood before.
And now it's the most precious of allthings that I know in my life, so.
For me, loving other people, um, withBeing a Christian, there was some times
where I felt like this responsibility,like I had to have, uh, the sinner's
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prayer memorized and I had to have,like, where I'm going to show them
the Bible to lead them to Christ.
Oh, it's nerve wracking.
What if I get it wrong?
It's so much responsibility andat times it would stop me from
even having a conversation orwanting to have that conversation.
I would shy away from it or I justwouldn't have that conversation at all.
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When instead, it's so much easierfor me to recognize like each
person's on their own journey.
The Holy Spirit's gonna work intheir life when he does his work.
And it's my job tominister through presence.
Uh, because sometimes just beingwith somebody, like you don't need,
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like Heidi was saying, you don'tneed initials after your name.
You don't need a fancy degree.
To take somebody out for coffee, sitacross from somebody and just listen.
There's a ministry insimply being present.
And simply listening.
And simply being there.
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And, and, and listening.
So, um, I have felt personally, like theweight of that responsibility, like I
have to have that whole salvation piecefigured out for them, but it's really,
it's not me having anything figured outfor anybody else, it's me displaying God's
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love or Jesus love through just beingthere for people, being present, and um,
and if I don't know something, it's okayto say, I don't know, but let's find out.
I love doing that.
I love it.
Nobody has all the answers.
We'll never have all the answers.
Ever.
We can't possibly comprehendall there is to comprehend.
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We're just, ah, so much bigger,so much more than we are.
So.
Alright, I have onesong to finish up here.
This song, I will just, this isn't theone, okay, so I will share with you, this
is a song that I usually play, typicallyI'll play it once a day, this literally is
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my song to all the people that we serve,I literally do do this, I pray these
things over you and for you, and it's.
It's a personal favorite of mine, soI want you to hear the words of this
though and think about how you cando this for others, but know that me
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personally, I pray these things overall of you, and I do this every week.
I do this when you're in this building.
I often will find a place outsideof where everybody is on Friday
night and I pray over all of you.
I pray peace.
I pray healing.
I pray freedom.
I pray deliverance from bondage.
I do all of this thing becauseI take such joy in just watching
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all of you gathered here.
So.
This is just my song to all of you.
Within your presence,
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Jesus.
The name Jesus
starts to break.
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There is, there is
Jesus.
Does my name is power?
your name is healing your name is light
(53:59):
to all who shine through theshadows burn like the fire
wanna speak the name of jesus
Over fear and all anxiety To everysoul held captive by depression I
(54:32):
speak Jesus Your name is power Yourname is healing Your name is life
Break every stronghold.
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Shine through the shadows.
Burn like a fire.
Shout Jesus from the mountains.
Jesus in the streets.
Jesus in the darkness.
Every inch for my family.
(55:16):
I speak the holy name of Jesus.
Jesus from the mountains, Jesus inthe streets, Jesus in the darkness
(55:38):
over every enemy, Jesus for myfamily, I speak the holy name, Jesus.
Jesus from the mountains, Jesus inthe streets, Jesus for my family,
I speak the holy name, Jesus.
(56:01):
Jesus in his darkness soaks.
Your name is power.
Your name is healing.
Your name is love.
Your name can make a pretty stronghold.
(56:26):
A child in the shadows.
(57:46):
Thank you.
All right, so, Father God, thank you somuch for every single individual in this
space, from the youngest to the oldest.
God, I am so thankfulfor every one of them.
And God, I know that you are in thisspace with us, and you yourself are
(58:07):
here saying I love them so much.
God, I ask you to fillus with your spirit.
Help us all to be representativesof you and help us go out there for
the next week in love like Jesus.
In your name I pray, Amen.
Thank you guys.
(58:35):
Baby
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