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Are You Growing in the Revelation of God's Love? · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey y'all, happy Friday. This is friendly.
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  Welcome back to In the Stillness.
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  I cannot believe that it is the first day of May.
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  We officially made it. I don't know about you guys, but
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  there's just something about starting a new month.
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  It's a fresh reset, a fresh invitation to slow down and
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  refocus and I believe just take in what God is doing instead of
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  just rushing past it and going through the motions.
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  So that's the posture I want us to sit in today because we are
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  continuing in this Goddess love section of First John.
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  But I don't want to rush past it.
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  I want to let it actually nourish us.
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  And so that is why we're breaking it apart verse by verse
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  because ultimately, if we do not understand the love of God, we
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  will not be able to fully live it out the way that we're called
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  to. Everything hinges on this
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  concept. So let's go ahead and read the
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  Scripture for this morning. We'll be in first John chapter
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  4, verses 11 to 13, delightfully loved ones.
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  If He loved us with such tremendous love, then loving one
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  another should be our way of life.
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  No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God's splendor.
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  But if we love one another, God makes His permanent home in US
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  and we make our permanent home in Him, and His love is brought
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  to its full expression in US. And He has given us His Spirit
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  within us so that we can have the assurance that He lives in
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  US and that we live in Him. OK, I think sometimes we can
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  read verses like this and skim over and be like, yeah, OK, love
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  others, love God, I got it and move on.
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  But this is so much deeper than just conduct and behavior.
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  This is our identity. Before God, we didn't actually
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  know real love. There were versions of it,
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  imitations, but not the essence of love.
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  And then Jesus. Jesus gave us the chance to
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  encounter love himself. And let me just put it this way.
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  I'm a very visual learner and I kind of like flow charts.
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  I like to ride it out. So this is how I wrote it out in
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  my notes. I started with God is love
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  arrow. Jesus is God in human form,
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  arrow. Knowing Jesus in relationship
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  teaches us how to love. Then his Spirit enables us to
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  live it out and through that God is revealed more to us and to
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  others. That's kind of the flow chart.
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  So we don't just study love. We receive it, we experience it,
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  and then from that it overflows. And here's the thing, Faith is
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  believing without seeing. Hebrews 11/1 says that, and
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  Romans 8 verse 24 reminds us that hope that is seen is not
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  any hope at all, because nobody hopes for what they already
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  have. So yeah, we don't see God in the
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  physical form, but we can still know Him, and that's through
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  Jesus, through a relationship with the Son, through His Spirit
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  in US. And that is what John is saying
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  here, that no one has seen God fully.
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  But when we love, when we express it, His presence becomes
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  visible through us. And I just want to sit with that
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  because that's pretty crazy when you think about it.
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  Love is made complete in us when we love others.
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  Not just when we receive it, not just when we're talking about
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  love, but when it flows through US.
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  I want to think about it like this.
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  If someone was on their deathbed, like truly at the
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  edge, and they were suddenly healed, say, from a fatal
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  illness, they would not walk out of that hospital room the same
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  because every breath would be sacred.
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  Every moment would matter so much more.
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  They would probably tell everyone about what they had
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  just experienced, how they were almost taken to death and now
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  they're alive. Or think about someone who was
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  stuck in a prison cell and then someone just completely came in
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  and paid their bail. If they truly understood what
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  they were freed from and they didn't have to do anything for
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  it, they would not just go back to living casually.
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  They would live differently, with more gratitude and
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  intentionality. And that's us.
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  We have been saved, freed and given new life.
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  So when we actually encountered the extravagant love of God, not
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  just intellectually but personally, intimately, you
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  cannot help but express it. You just want to express it.
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  And I believe this is where we really need to stay grounded.
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  It is not in our human ability or capacity to love like Jesus.
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  If you've ever tried, you already know that because you
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  can be patient for a time. But sacrificial and selfless
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  love, that is not natural. Romans 7 talks about this
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  tension so honestly and I was reading this yesterday afternoon
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  and it connects it so well. Paul is literally saying I do
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  what I don't want to do and I don't do what I want to do.
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  But that's because that is sin in US.
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  But then he says at the end of this passage, thanks be to God,
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  because through Jesus Christ we are delivered y'all.
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  It is His Spirit at work in us that we are able to love like
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  Jesus. Romans 5 verse 5 says that God's
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  love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
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  Romans 8 verse 16 says His Spirit testifies that we are His
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  2nd Corinthians one, verse 22, He has placed His Spirit in our
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  hearts as a seal, as a guarantee.
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  So this is not about trying harder and getting into the
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  striving mindset. It's about surrendering
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  ourselves even deeper, letting His Spirit guide, lead,
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  strengthen and fuel you. And on the practical side, this
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  matters because loving others does not imply that you have to
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  become someone that you're not. If you're more of an introvert,
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  this is not a call to suddenly just be the loudest in the room
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  or the most social person. And if you're an extrovert, it's
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  not about how many people you can reach.
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  This is not a number game. It's not how many people you
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  love. But the point is how well you
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  love the ones right in front of you.
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  So it could be 3 people today or it could be 100.
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  The question is, are you allowing God's love to be made
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  full and complete in your life through how you love others?
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  Whether that is in your own home, in your friendships, at
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  your job, in your local body, your church, right where your
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  feet are planted because this is your now and we are called to
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  steward our now faithfully. So let me leave you with a few
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  questions to sit with. Don't rush past them, but really
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  just go to the Lord and ask Him to reveal things to you.
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  First off, have I truly allowed myself to receive God's love or
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  am I still trying to earn it? Because you cannot give what you
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  have not received, You cannot run on empty and expect to
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  overflow #2 Am I relying on my own strength to love people or
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  am I surrendering to the Spirit daily?
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  Because one will burn you out and the other will sustain you
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  #3 How well am I loving the specific people that God has
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  placed right in front of me today?
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  Not someday, but right now. And honestly, when was the last
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  time that I asked God to deepen my understanding of His love?
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  When did you last plead with Him for a deeper revelation of His
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  grace? Because I believe this is a
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  challenge for me and for everyone that we are to pray for
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  more revelation of His love. It's not just a base level
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  knowledge, it's so much deeper than that.
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  The more that you know His love and the more that you're willing
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  to receive it, the more that you will naturally show it in your
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  daily life. So let's go ahead and closeout
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  in prayer. Dear God, we praise you today.
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  Thank You that you do not just tell us to love, but you are
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  love and that through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
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  we get to experience your love. We get to know you more fully.
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  Would you teach us to receive your love without striving,
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  without earning? And by your Spirit God help us
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  to reflect that love to the people right in front of us
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  today. May we be genuine, sincere,
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  considerate of others, and consistent.
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  Would you deepen our understanding, our revelation of
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  your grace, of your love, soften our hearts to receive it?
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  And would you lead us step by step, interaction by
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  interaction? I pray that we would not get
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  ahead of ourselves, but that we would take it moment by moment
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  and rely on you more fully. We pray this in your name,
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  Jesus. Amen.
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  OK guys, that is Friday's episode.
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  Praying for all of you as you enter the weekend that y'all
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  would just know the Father's love more and more every single
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  day. That you would grow a greater
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  craving and hunger to sit with Him and to be in His presence,
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  to delight in it. And I just hope you all have a
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  wonderful weekend. I will see y'all on the next
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  podcast episode.