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Transcript

A Love Story · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: As we were singing, I was just thinking how how much I feel how how in love with God that I that I feel.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: And then I thought of I remember when I had no love for God, and I certainly thought he had none for me.
0:18
SPEAKER_01: I thought he was angry with me.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: I was convinced that because of how I was, he could not possibly like me.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: I felt like he would like me if I could possibly change, but I couldn't find strength to do that either in most areas.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: I felt like I felt like he had every kind of emotion toward me except love.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: I know uh Judy says the same thing.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: She but she always believed in God, but she believed that he just he just didn't like her.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: He was just against her.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: And uh where do we get where did we get those?
0:53
SPEAKER_01: And I've run into lots of people that say that.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: I heard one guy say, he said, you know, I I thought he was an atheist, but he said, he said, I believe in God.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: He says, but I hate him.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: He literally said that.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: He said, I hate him.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: And he said, it's not my fault.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: He hated me first.
1:06
unknown: Oh no.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: Ouch! You know, that hurts.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: But why do why would anybody think anything like that?
1:16
SPEAKER_01: And I probably wasn't that extreme, but I didn't feel like he liked me either.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: And and uh and and and why is it?
1:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, we've been talking about a sin consciousness.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: And in my in my con in my situation, I didn't know a lot about God, but the the the but what I had heard about him, what I had heard from the Bible with my sin consciousness, and usually with the sin consciousness that somebody was telling me about God, um, he didn't seem loving to me.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they would say, but God loves you, and I'm like, well, you just said that he's this and he's that and he's that and he's that, and then I don't get it, I don't see it, I don't feel that.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: And I and I was, as we were singing, I thought, what happened?
1:59
SPEAKER_01: How did I get to where I just love God?
2:03
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just totally unabashed, abandoned love to God, where I just feel it all the time, expressing it to him all day long.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: Gene and I both do that.
2:14
SPEAKER_01: We'll be walking through the house and just, oh, I love you, Father.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: Just it just wells up.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: Just like we do with each other.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: We just look at each other and it wells up, and it's like, oh, I love you.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: You know, and it's just there all the time.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: Where did where did that come from?
2:26
SPEAKER_01: Something changed.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: We began to know truth, and truth changed everything.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: And and and and we're gonna look at this today because it's this is our this is our Valentine's message, and the Valentine is God God to us.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: It's his Valentine's, his love message uh to us, and it's all over the Bible, and we'll see that.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: Um I want to start by going to the book of Hosea, chapter 2, because there is the book of Ephesians says there is a mystery, a great mystery, about the Lord and the people, Christ and his church.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: And it's a mystery that would culminate in us being becoming one with him, married with him.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: It would culminate with us responding to his love.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: And in Hosea, it's a really good little book.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: It's not very long, but it's a really great study in the Old Testament because God told this prophet Hosea, he said, I want you to go and marry this harlot.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: And she's not gonna be faithful to you.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to go ahead and marry her.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: And in essence, he is saying, Because I'm gonna do something good with this, and I'm gonna use you to show people how I really am.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: And so the story goes through chapter 1, and halfway through chapter 2, turns out she's not faithful to him.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: She does whatever she wants, she runs around, she's unfaithful to him, living a very ugly and sinful life.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: In chapter 2, verse 14, we pick it up, and he says, But then I will win her back once again.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: I will, I'm reading New Living Translation.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: I will lead her into the desert, and I'm gonna speak tenderly to her there.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: I will return her vineyards to her, and I'm gonna transform the valley of trouble into a gateway of hope.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: Now I just want to briefly interject this right there when I when I see this.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I we hurt because of, you know, we lost someone last night, Marsha lost a brother, and it and it just hurts that to know that people hurt, those closest to them are hurting the most.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: And we don't like death, it's an enemy, but it's something that we see in this life and we deal with it.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, there will be a time when we won't have to talk about it anymore, it just won't happen.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: But we do see it happen.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: The last enemy that we will see underfoot is death itself, but we still deal with it at times.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: But he does say in this love that he says, I'm gonna take her and I'm gonna speak tenderly to her, and I'm gonna take that that that I'm gonna turn that valley of trouble into a gateway of hope.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: God did that for me when I lost someone very close to me, took a valley of trouble and turned it into a gateway of hope.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: Only someone who is love could do that.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: He said, and she will give herself to me there.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: She will give herself to me there.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: Like she did long ago when she was young.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: This could be referring back to the Garden of Eden before we went on our own.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: Before we became unfaithful and pulled away from him and just made it about us.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: He said, but I'm gonna win her back.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: And he says, and she's gonna return to me, she's gonna give herself to me.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: You notice the truth is God does God's not in control, he's in love.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't make you serve him.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: I used to think he did because people would say he would.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: But they were sin conscious, they didn't know him.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: And he says, What he's what he said, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna be so good, I'm gonna woo her, I'm going to allure her, the King James Bible says.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna speak tenderly to her.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: And as I give my love and as I give myself to her, we see that at in the work of Jesus at the cross, she's gonna give herself to me.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: She will be willing in the day of my power.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: She will give herself to me like she did long ago when she was young.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: And when that day comes, says the Lord, you will call me my husband instead of my master.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: You will see me as the one who loves you.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: You will give yourself to me, and you will lovingly call me yours, your your husband and not your master, not someone who rules over you like a servant, not someone who's demanding of you, not someone who's who's who who who mistreats you, not someone who's hard with you, like a master, like a master that demands that you do what I say or else.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: And our sin consciousness grabbed on some on verses of scripture that pointed us that way.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: He seemed more like a hard master to me.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: I felt like that's why we didn't like each other, because I had a rebellious soul.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to serve God.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: I was too rebellious.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to do what I wanted to do.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: But something changed.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: I was a Lord, I was loved.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: Somebody loved me.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: And I gave myself to him willingly.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: I walked down the altar of that church and I and I gave myself to him.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: I was drawn to him.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: As I learned of his love, I realized we are the bride of Christ, and we're united in that love and not in a servant-master relationship.
8:27
SPEAKER_01: In that day you will call me my husband instead of my master, and I will make you my wife forever.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: I will show you righteousness.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: I will show you justice.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: I will show you unfailing love.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: Unfailing love.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: That's unconditional love, undiminishable love, nonstop love and compassion.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: I will be faithful to you.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: I will be faithful to you and make you mine.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: We heard the song I am not alone.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: I will be faithful to you.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: I will be faithful to you.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: Men will not always be faithful, people will not always be faithful, but God will be faithful to you.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: We go over to the book of Ephesians, chapter 5.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is a passage where some men like to try to use this to be a master over women.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: But that's not Christ and his church.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: This whole chap passage really is speaking of a mystery between Christ and his church, using the example of a husband and wife, just like God did in the Old Testament with Hosea and his wife.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 25, I want to read this whole passage.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: He says, For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, we saw just a brief picture of that in Hosea.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: We see the greater picture of it really with the gospel story, with him giving his life for his bride, for us.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: Giving everything.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: No greater love.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: There's no love higher, there's no love bigger, there's no love more perfect than that he would give his life for us.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: That's how Christ loved the church.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: This love of God that we're gonna that we're gonna talk about here has four undeniable points.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: Number one, his love is unfailing, it's unconditional, it never ends, it never fails, it's everything.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians 13 says, it's unfailing and unconditional.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: Always.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: Please get that.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people don't have that yet.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: Unfailing and unconditional.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: A sin consciousness will keep you from receiving a love that's unconditional, because your sin consciousness will find some reason to say, yeah, but what about this condition?
10:54
SPEAKER_01: And if you can believe in an unconditional love, a perfect love, not a human love, but a perfect love, then you can begin to see what we're talking about when we're talking about God's love, because God's not a man, God is love.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: Men can love, but without God, it's a human love that's imperfect, and that love can quickly turn to anger.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: There are some people that have committed murder, and they've gotten they've gotten on a lesser charge because it was known to be a crime of passion.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: They were in love with somebody, got enraged because of that love and jealousy, and they killed somebody.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: And they called it not a hate crime, like they talk about hate crime, they called it a crime of passion.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: But it's not a perfect love, obviously, right?
11:43
SPEAKER_01: God is love, he's perfect love.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: So it's unfailing, it's unconditional.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: Number two, it is completely revealed to us through Jesus Christ.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: That's why he looks contradictory to what a lot of people thought God was, because nobody had seen God at any time, the Bible says in John chapter 1, but the Son, who's in the bosom of the Father, who knows the Father, who's with and in the Father, he has declared him or revealed him to us.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: It's unfailing and unconditional.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: It's revealed through the Son.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: It has it is poured out to us, in us, given to us, poured in us by the Holy Spirit.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: And number four, it empowers us to be love and to give love.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: It changes us.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: It's the new birth, the new creation.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: It makes us different from the world, and it makes us that thing that creation is looking for because this is what they're looking for.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: So he says, Love your wives just like Christ loved the church, and he gave up his life for her.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: Why?
12:54
SPEAKER_01: To make her holy and clean.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: And talking about righteousness.
13:01
SPEAKER_01: Means you can be with him, you can be with the with with the husband, you can be with Christ, you can be with God without sense of guilt or inferiority.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: You're not some lowly harlot that let Hosea married anymore.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: Because of the way Hosea treated her, she began to know that she was worthy of his love.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: She began to finally see that he loved her.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: She began to finally see she belonged with him.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: That she was just right for him.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: Because he loved her that way.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: So that's when, with this gift of righteousness and this love that he's given us, that's why you can see yourself holy.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: That's why you can see yourself clean.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: You know, he tells us don't be unequally yoked.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, he's not going to do something that he told us not to do.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: He is very equally yoked.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: He made us holy and clean just like he is.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: As he is, so are we.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: We are a perfect match.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: We're not, we're we don't have that sense of guilt and inferiority.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: We're not him.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: We didn't die for us, we didn't save us, we didn't create us.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: But we can be one with him, united with him.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: His life can be our life, our life is his.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: In the sense that Judy and I are one, but I'm not Judy and she's not me, but we are one life.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: He did this to present to himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: Oh, come on, understand this love.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: What this great love has done, how powerful it was, is it gave us the gift of righteousness.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: And it truly, right now, if you could not, if you could lay down the sin consciousness and get truth consciousness and understand that it's not about the outward man.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: The Bible said in Isaiah that when the comforter, when the Jesus would come, when the master, when the Messiah Christ would come, that he would not judge according to the seeing of his eyes.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: He looked at the heart.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Why do you think that he could see a woman caught in adultery, deserving of death?
14:57
SPEAKER_01: He knew it, or excuse me, she knew it.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: Those who accused her knew it.
15:01
SPEAKER_01: Everybody watching knew it.
15:03
SPEAKER_01: Jesus looked at her and saw something else.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: Why does he look at a rich young ruler seeking to justify himself, saying that I have kept the law?
15:10
SPEAKER_01: And then he wasn't willing to give what he had to the poor and follow Jesus.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: The Bible said Jesus looked at him and loved him.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: He saw something different.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: He sees what's really there.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: So he could present to himself a glorious church without spot or wrinkle.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: I used to think that's got to be something different.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Why?
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Because I was sin consciousness.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: I would look at the church and I would say, Oh my goodness, we're not glorious.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: What was I doing?
15:39
SPEAKER_01: I was knowing after the flesh.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: 2 Corinthians 5, Paul said, Though we have known men after the flesh, we know them that way no more.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: How do we know them?
15:47
SPEAKER_01: We know them like Christ knows us.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: Holy, without blemish.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Glorious church.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: We're a glorious church.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Why?
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Because the work of Jesus is that big, it's that powerful.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: That's why we're glorious.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: To him be the glory.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: Huh?
16:03
SPEAKER_01: We thought we were going to be a glorious church, and then we're going to get credit for it.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: Without spot or wrinkle or other blemish.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: Instead, that she would be holy and without fault.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Woo! You can blame me.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: You can find fault, but there's one who bears witness of me.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: We tell a story, Judy, and I've told you this before, but you know, there was when we were hadn't been married that long, really.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: And uh she was saying, Is there something I can do to be a better wife?
16:34
SPEAKER_01: Let me know, because I want to be, I want to be the best.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: I can.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: Are there any flaws I can correct?
16:40
SPEAKER_01: Are there any changes that I can make?
16:43
SPEAKER_01: I said, just keep breathing.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think she does everything perfect, but I don't care.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: I like her.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: I didn't marry a future version of her, I didn't marry a potential her.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: I liked her just the way she was, so I was willing to be with her the way she was.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: I didn't engage her with her, uh, get engaged to her and then wait until she becomes glorious and becomes perfect and never does anything wrong again.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Then she'll be worthy to marry.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: I liked her the way she was.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: Like the guy that bought that, found that pearl in the treasure in the field.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: He liked the treasure, so he bought all the dirt that was around it because he liked it.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: So when you're sin conscious, what do you do?
17:31
SPEAKER_01: You see the flaws.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: That's why people gripe and they complain and they they grumble against each other.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: You always do that.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Why do you got to do that?
17:39
SPEAKER_01: And they and they do all the why they know they're sin conscious.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: They're looking at flaws, they're looking at faults.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: They're not, they're not, they don't know how.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: I think they don't they don't love like Christ loves because they don't know how Christ really loves them.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, when he forgave everything, he did it all, and those that know it they judge the same way.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: They've forgiven everything.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing to hold over your head.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: Instead, she'd be holy without fault.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: So, in the same way, husbands ought to love their wives like they love their own bodies, because a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: Now he says, nobody hates his own body, but he feeds it and he cares for it, just like Christ cares for the church.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: And we're members of his body.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: As the scriptures say, a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: This is a great mystery.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: But it's an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: King James says, but I'm speaking concerning Christ and the church.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: So this whole thing is he's given us a picture using man and woman as Christ and the church.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: He says, This is what I'm really talking about here.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: And it's a great mystery.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: Now look at this.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: A man leaves his father and mother.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, actually starts pulling away from mother and father about 12 and starts going on about his father's business.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: What was the father's business?
19:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, we know that he was going to get to the cross and all that, but the whole thing was to get a bride.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: He was going off and he was starting to be drawn, drawn away.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: And this everything he started doing, everything he started declaring, revealing, teaching, even all the way through his death, his burial, resurrection, was all about him loving a bride.
19:43
SPEAKER_01: He left father and mother.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: And he joined himself to us.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: How did he join himself?
19:50
SPEAKER_01: That while we were yet sinners, he united with us in our sin.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: Are y'all here?
19:56
SPEAKER_01: He united with us.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: He became one with us in our sin.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: He became one with us in our death, our dead condition.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: He became one with us.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: And becoming one with us, joining himself to us of his own volition, of his own love for us, while we were yet sinners, while we were still the harlot.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: He did exactly what Hosea said he was going to do.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: While we were still the harlot, he united with us, gave himself to us without any condition from us.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: It's unconditional.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: Without any condition.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: Why was it unconditional then?
20:32
SPEAKER_01: But people think it's now conditional now that you're a bride.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: I still put no conditions on my bride.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: Just keep breathing.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: Just be you because I like you.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: Stink and all.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: Flaws and all.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: She don't stink at all, honestly.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: Smells good.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: But he joined himself to us of his own love, his own volition.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: When we didn't love him.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: Just like Hosea's wife didn't love him.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: But she did.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: He joined himself to her.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: And when he joined himself to us, we were still joined when he raised from the dead.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: We were still joined when he ascended to heaven.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: And we're still joined right now.
21:32
SPEAKER_01: Christ and his church.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: And where is Christ right now?
21:35
SPEAKER_01: The great mystery that's been now revealed is Christ in you.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: His spirit, your soul, he that is joined to the Lord is one.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: And all because of this great love story.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: Judy, would you come up and I want to we're gonna do something a little bit fun, but we've got a we received a package, and it turns out that it's a box of Valentines.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: And uh you can go ahead and read the first one.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: But these are Valentines that the Lord sent us.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: These are all from scriptures in the Bible.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: And the first one says, I am happy that my love is giving you new life.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: So happy that I sing for joy.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: That's from Zephaniah 3.17.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: That's God's, that's a Valentine from God to us.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: This is a love note from God.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: I am happy that my love is giving you new life.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: So happy that I sing for joy.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Would you read one?
22:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: You are my chosen people, holy and dearly loved.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Colossians 3 12.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: He chose us.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: This is what love is, the Bible says.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: Not that we loved him.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a love demanded because he's not a master.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: It was a love that was given because he's a lover.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: God is love.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: We want you to see this, and this is a little fun in here, but we want you to see this because knowing this can help take out all of the sin consciousness.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: When you know his love for you, and you know it's scriptural, it's biblical, and it's central to his whole heart and plan.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: We saw that in the book of Hosea, that he would win us, he would allure us, and we would just give ourselves to him just like it was in the beginning before the fall.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: That's the whole thing.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: That's why he's not just making everybody serve him.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: That's why he's not just making everybody a Christian and making everybody love him.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't do that.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: He's not in control, he's in love.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: He's luring, he's alluring people, he's loving people to himself.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: 1 Corinthians 13 7.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: I never give up on you.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: I always look for the best.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: I never look back, and I keep going to the end.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: We heard it today.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: We are not alone.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: When you were at your sinful worst, I still loved you greatly.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 2, 4.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Now, is this a God who's angry with you?
24:12
SPEAKER_01: Is this a God who's demanding?
24:13
SPEAKER_01: Is this a God who's who's displeased that you don't do something right?
24:19
SPEAKER_00: I think when Amber was singing her song, you know, I don't feel alone from God today, but I remember the times in my life where I felt I was completely alone.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: And I think back of those times, and I'm so touched to know now that he was sitting right there with me in that awful, awful mess I was in.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: And he was loving me then, and I just get so touched that I can see it now.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: And we didn't, we just didn't know it.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: Because we didn't know him yet.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: You know, when we read there in Hosea, he said, When you give yourself to me, he said, then you're going to call me my husband, not my master.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: So we saw him as when we saw him as a master, we felt alone because because we knew that we were not pleasing to the master.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: But he's a husband.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: He says, When you slip, my unconditional love will support you.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: When doubts fill your mind, I will comfort you.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you hope and cheer.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: That's Psalm 94, 18, 19.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: When you slip, my unconditional love will support you.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: You are mine.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: When you are in over your head, I will be there with you.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 43, 2.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm with you always.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: Even to the end of the world.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: No power could ever be found in the universe that could distance you from my love for you.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: That's Romans 8 39.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: No power anywhere could separate us.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: I never overlook you.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: I pay great attention to you, down to the last detail, even numbering the hairs on your head.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Luke 12, 7.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: You are my darling companion.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: These are Valentine's notes.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: These are a little bit mushy here.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: You are my darling companion.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: For though the curse of sin surrounds you, still you remain as pure as a lily.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 2.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: You shine among the world like stars in the sky.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 2, 15.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Even if your own heart condemns you, I am greater than your heart.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: 1 John 3.20.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: I love that one.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: My peace, which transcends all understanding, guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 4.7.
26:52
SPEAKER_01: My extravagant kindness is meant to melt your heart and transform your mind.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: Romans 2.4, the Passion Translation.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: If you forget me, I will win you back again by speaking tenderly to you.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Hosea 2.14.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: We read that this morning.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: You are my treasure, my pearl of great price.
27:16
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 13, 45.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: I will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 6.34.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in my care, and you count far more to me than birds.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 6.26.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: I love you through all kinds of weather.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm here to help in time of need.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 17:17.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will never be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah 54 10.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: You are my dearest friends.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: It pleases me to give you my kingdom.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: Luke 12 39.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: I will love you gently.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: I will not get angry quickly, but I will be ready to show you my faithful love.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: Psalms 86, 15.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: When you were dead in your sins, I made you alive with Christ.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: Colossians 2.13.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: I love you so much that I sacrificed everything for you.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: John 15, 13.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: I loved you long before you loved me.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 4 10.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: I never quit loving you, and I never will.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: Expect love, love, and more love.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: Jeremiah 31 3.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: That's a good one to end on.
28:55
SPEAKER_01: Would you all stand up?