Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Powerful Preaching The Key To Love - Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:15Speaker 1: Thank you.
- 1:00Speaker 2: But whether you're watching online or you're in one of
- 1:03Speaker 2: our overflow rooms or one of our other campuses, we're
- 1:05Speaker 2: so very, very grateful that you're a part of this
- 1:09Speaker 2: wonderful Easter celebration. We've been trying to make people happy.
- 1:13Speaker 2: A hundred happy people. Some of us took the hundred
- 1:16Speaker 2: happy people challenge over 40 days. And boy, was I
- 1:20Speaker 2: made happy when two of our youngsters made me an
- 1:24Speaker 2: ice cream truck out of Legos. Is that not the
- 1:28Speaker 2: greatest thing you've ever seen? And they're right here. Michael
- 1:31Speaker 2: and Max, stand up. Look at these guys. The Lego men.
- 1:40Speaker 2: Thank you so very much. Thank you. Thank you. My
- 1:44Speaker 2: next sermon series is going to have the Empire State Building. Oh,
- 1:52Speaker 2: the problem with making people happy is that people behave
- 1:56Speaker 2: so much like people. They take the last apple fritter
- 2:00Speaker 2: at the bakery. They block the road that you need.
- 2:06Speaker 2: They take time. They take patience. They break promises. They
- 2:10Speaker 2: break hearts. The problem with loving people is that people
- 2:13Speaker 2: behave like people. Now, the Bible helps us love people
- 2:17Speaker 2: by giving us some verses that we like to call
- 2:20Speaker 2: the one another verses. And we've looked at these one
- 2:23Speaker 2: another verses. I've told you there's 59 of them by
- 2:26Speaker 2: my count in scripture. We've reduced them down into 10 categories.
- 2:31Speaker 2: And we've saved the best one for Easter Sunday. Here
- 2:35Speaker 2: it is. It's right out of the book of 1 John.
- 2:39Speaker 2: This is what real love is. It is not our
- 2:43Speaker 2: love for God. It is God's love for us. And
- 2:46Speaker 2: sending his son to be the way to take away
- 2:49Speaker 2: our sins. Dear friends. If God loved us that much,
- 2:54Speaker 2: we also should love each other. Love each other. But
- 3:03Speaker 2: there's a different approach. If you want to love somebody,
- 3:07Speaker 2: you understand first how much God loves you. Let's pray together,
- 3:12Speaker 2: and then we'll see what this has to do with Easter.
- 3:16Speaker 2: Heavenly Father, grant mercy, please, upon we who listen. Upon
- 3:21Speaker 2: he who speaks for his sins are many. Grant that
- 3:25Speaker 2: we could see Jesus. Just Jesus. Through Christ we pray.
- 3:31Speaker 2: And all the church said. All of the Bible can
- 3:35Speaker 2: be reduced down to one phrase. God loves you. Let him.
- 3:42Speaker 2: The big news of the Bible. Is not just that
- 3:45Speaker 2: God made the world. But that God loves the world.
- 3:48Speaker 2: Not just that God exists, but that a loving God exists. Yes,
- 3:52Speaker 2: God is. But yes, yes, yes, God is love. And
- 3:57Speaker 2: he loves you. Passionately. Personally. Intimately. Eternally. Not because you're lovable.
- 4:08Speaker 2: Because you aren't always. But because he has chosen to
- 4:13Speaker 2: love you. His word to you is simply, I have
- 4:16Speaker 2: loved you, my people. With an everlasting love, with unfailing love,
- 4:22Speaker 2: I have drawn you to myself. This is the message
- 4:25Speaker 2: of the Bible, and this is a major message of Easter.
- 4:31Speaker 2: Any doubt about the love of Jesus for people evaporated
- 4:35Speaker 2: when the resurrected king showed up and began showing up
- 4:40Speaker 2: to his friends. The sweetest of these appearance stories is
- 4:46Speaker 2: It's found in the 20th chapter of the Gospel of John.
- 4:50Speaker 2: And it begins like this. Early on the first day
- 4:53Speaker 2: of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb while
- 4:57Speaker 2: it was still dark. This story begins in shadows. If
- 5:02Speaker 2: you like to fill in the blanks on your outline,
- 5:04Speaker 2: let's just use this word. While it was still dark.
- 5:08Speaker 2: It was dark. The long, painful weekend had come to
- 5:12Speaker 2: an end. The betrayal of Thursday. the crucifixion of Friday,
- 5:18Speaker 2: the sad silence of Saturday, one shadow after another. And
- 5:24Speaker 2: then on Sunday morning, several women made their way to
- 5:28Speaker 2: the cemetery to anoint the body of Jesus and conclude
- 5:33Speaker 2: the work that they began on Friday. There were several women.
- 5:38Speaker 2: In John's gospel, he focuses on one of them, a
- 5:42Speaker 2: woman by the name of Mary Magdalene. We don't know
- 5:47Speaker 2: much about Mary Magdalene, but we can say this. In
- 5:50Speaker 2: the forest of the New Testament, she is the weeping willow.
- 5:55Speaker 2: She is the one upon whom tragedy cast its coldest winter.
- 6:00Speaker 2: The Gospel of Luke says this. She had seven demons
- 6:05Speaker 2: before she knew Christ. Seven demons. What does that mean?
- 6:09Speaker 2: Seven afflictions. Depression, maybe. Loneliness.
- 6:13Speaker 3: Shame.
- 6:14Speaker 2: Fear. Or a combination of them all. Maybe she was
- 6:17Speaker 2: a recluse or a prostitute. Sometimes the number seven is
- 6:21Speaker 2: used in the Bible to describe completeness. So maybe she
- 6:24Speaker 2: was completely overwhelmed by fear and evil. Her story makes
- 6:30Speaker 2: us think of a tombstone in Lock Hill Cemetery. Were
- 6:34Speaker 2: you to travel to the intersection of Fredericksburg Road and
- 6:37Speaker 2: Hebner in northwest San Antonio, right across from USAA's building,
- 6:43Speaker 2: you would see the Lock Hill Cemetery. cemetery it's an
- 6:46Speaker 2: old quaint gravesite graveyard enter under the archway and park
- 6:53Speaker 2: your car get out and walk to the right up
- 6:56Speaker 2: next to the wrought iron fence there you'll come across
- 6:58Speaker 2: the gravesite the burial place of grace lou ellen smith
- 7:04Speaker 2: her tombstone has upon it her date of birth her
- 7:09Speaker 2: date of death and then these words Sleeps but rests not.
- 7:17Speaker 2: Loved but was loved not. Tried to please but pleased not.
- 7:24Speaker 2: Died as she lived alone. Such a sad epitaph. Mary
- 7:31Speaker 2: Magdalene was headed toward that same epitaph. But then something happened.
- 7:37Speaker 2: Or you might say Jesus happened. Luke says, Mary Magdalene,
- 7:42Speaker 2: from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons. At some point,
- 7:46Speaker 2: Jesus intersected with the story of Mary Magdalene and he
- 7:51Speaker 2: cleaned out those demons, those oppressive forces, those evils that
- 7:56Speaker 2: had worked their way into her mind and life. Again,
- 7:59Speaker 2: we want more details. We don't have them. We can
- 8:02Speaker 2: only imagine, but we can say this. For the first
- 8:05Speaker 2: time in a long time, Mary Magdalene could smile again.
- 8:10Speaker 2: She could look in the mirror and see a peaceful face.
- 8:13Speaker 2: She could eat again. She could sleep. Jesus restored life
- 8:16Speaker 2: to her life and she reciprocated. She was among the
- 8:19Speaker 2: first female followers of Jesus who were contributing from their
- 8:23Speaker 2: own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. Wherever Jesus went,
- 8:28Speaker 2: Mary Magdalene followed. She saw him perform miracles. She heard
- 8:33Speaker 2: him teach miracles. She helped him pay expenses. She may
- 8:37Speaker 2: have even prepared a meal. She was always near Christ.
- 8:40Speaker 2: And John tells us that she was there even at
- 8:43Speaker 2: the cross. She stood near the cross, near enough to
- 8:47Speaker 2: hear the hammer pound the nails, near enough to see
- 8:51Speaker 2: the blood flow from the pierced side, near enough that
- 8:55Speaker 2: when his body was lowered from the cross, she was
- 8:58Speaker 2: there to help prepare it for burial. On Friday, she
- 9:03Speaker 2: watched Jesus die. On Saturday, she observed with the other
- 9:07Speaker 2: disciples a long, sad Sabbath. And then early on Sunday morning,
- 9:14Speaker 2: she awoke. She went to the tomb to finish the
- 9:17Speaker 2: work that she had begun on Friday. The sky was dark.
- 9:21Speaker 2: The trail was dark. It was dark. Her heart was dark.
- 9:25Speaker 2: She knew nothing of an empty tomb. She went expecting
- 9:29Speaker 2: to do nothing more than to wash the final clots
- 9:33Speaker 2: of blood out of his beard and to say goodbye.
- 9:37Speaker 2: It was a dark morning. When she arrived at the cemetery,
- 9:41Speaker 2: things went from bad to worse. Mary Magdalene saw that
- 9:45Speaker 2: the stone was taken away. She assumed that grave robbers
- 9:49Speaker 2: had taken the body. She hurried back down the trail
- 9:52Speaker 2: and she got Peter and John. She told them they've
- 9:55Speaker 2: taken away the Lord out of the tomb. Peter and
- 9:59Speaker 2: John ran to the grave site. Peter, well, he got
- 10:03Speaker 2: there last. John was faster, but Peter was bolder. He
- 10:08Speaker 2: went inside and he looked and he saw the empty
- 10:11Speaker 2: slab and he stared. John went in and he saw
- 10:14Speaker 2: that empty slab and he believed. He said this was
- 10:19Speaker 2: the moment that he believed. He believed that Jesus was
- 10:23Speaker 2: risen from the dead, not that the body was stolen.
- 10:26Speaker 2: And Easter had its first celebrant. Peter and John hurried
- 10:29Speaker 2: to tell the others. We would expect the camera lens
- 10:33Speaker 2: of the gospel to follow Peter and John. After all,
- 10:35Speaker 2: they're apostles. They're the authors of epistles. They are two
- 10:40Speaker 2: of the three of the inner circle. We would expect
- 10:44Speaker 2: that John would tell us the story of what happened
- 10:47Speaker 2: to Peter and John He will, but not until he
- 10:51Speaker 2: tells us what happened to Mary Magdalene. He stays and
- 10:56Speaker 2: turns his attention. And he says, but Mary stood outside
- 11:02Speaker 2: by the tomb weeping. She didn't understand what had happened.
- 11:07Speaker 2: She had yet to have a moment like John. For
- 11:10Speaker 2: all she knew, the body of Jesus was on the
- 11:13Speaker 2: back of a wagon being driven by malfeasance. She lingered behind.
- 11:18Speaker 2: Another translation says Mary stayed right there, just outside the tomb,
- 11:23Speaker 2: crying and crying. Her face was awash with tears. Her
- 11:28Speaker 2: shoulders heaved with sobs. She felt all alone. So it's
- 11:32Speaker 2: just Mary Magdalene, an empty tomb, and her sadness. As
- 11:37Speaker 2: she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb.
- 11:41Speaker 2: And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at
- 11:45Speaker 2: the head and the other at the feet. where the
- 11:47Speaker 2: body of Jesus had lain. And then they said to her, Woman,
- 11:54Speaker 2: why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they
- 11:57Speaker 2: have taken away my Lord, and I do not know
- 12:00Speaker 2: where they have put him. Mary Magdalene mistook angels for men.
- 12:05Speaker 2: It's easy to see why. It was still dark outside.
- 12:08Speaker 2: It was even darker inside the tomb. She was upset.
- 12:11Speaker 2: Her eyes were tear-filled. She had no reason to think
- 12:14Speaker 2: that there would be angels inside the tomb. bone diggers maybe,
- 12:19Speaker 2: caretakers perhaps, but visitors from heaven. So she says, they've
- 12:24Speaker 2: taken away my Lord. I do not know where they
- 12:27Speaker 2: have laid him. This is where Mary's world officially hits
- 12:32Speaker 2: rock bottom. Her master was murdered. His body was buried.
- 12:42Speaker 2: And now his body is stolen. And she doesn't know
- 12:46Speaker 2: where they've taken him. Maybe you've had an experience like this.
- 12:53Speaker 2: Where what is bad gets worse before it gets better.
- 12:57Speaker 2: And sorrow just wraps around you like a shroud. And
- 13:00Speaker 2: what you never imagined would happen happens. And you even
- 13:05Speaker 2: come looking for Jesus and you can't find him. If
- 13:10Speaker 2: your story is like Mary Magdalene's this weekend, I can't
- 13:14Speaker 2: wait for you to hear what happens next. Because even
- 13:18Speaker 2: though her world was dark. Right in the midst of
- 13:20Speaker 2: her dark world. Look what happened. The sun came out.
- 13:26Speaker 2: Now when she had said this. She turned around. And
- 13:30Speaker 2: saw Jesus standing there. And did not know it was Jesus.
- 13:34Speaker 2: Jesus said to her. Woman why are you weeping? Whom
- 13:38Speaker 2: are you seeking? And supposing him to be the gardener.
- 13:42Speaker 2: Said to him. Sir if you carried him away. Tell
- 13:45Speaker 2: me where you have laid him. I will take him away.
- 13:49Speaker 2: She didn't recognize her Lord. And so when she didn't
- 13:55Speaker 2: recognize him, he did something about it. He called her
- 13:58Speaker 2: by name. Jesus said to her, Mary. Maybe it was
- 14:05Speaker 2: the way he said it. Maybe it was the intonation,
- 14:08Speaker 2: the inflection, the tone, the Galilean accent. Maybe it was
- 14:13Speaker 2: the memory associated with it. When she first heard him
- 14:17Speaker 2: say her name. And for the first time the demons
- 14:21Speaker 2: didn't speak it.
- 14:23Speaker 4: Whatever.
- 14:25Speaker 2: When she heard his voice. She knew the source. And
- 14:29Speaker 2: she turned and said to him. Rabboni. Which is to
- 14:36Speaker 2: say teacher. In that moment. In that second. In the
- 14:41Speaker 2: pivot of a neck. In the amount of time it
- 14:43Speaker 2: took her to rotate her head. From this way to that.
- 14:47Speaker 2: Her world went from dark to light. From a dead
- 14:50Speaker 2: Jesus to a living one. And then she threw her
- 14:53Speaker 2: arms around him. She embraced him. We know this because
- 14:58Speaker 2: of what Jesus says next. Don't hold on to me.
- 15:04Speaker 2: Because I have yet to go up to the father.
- 15:09Speaker 2: Maybe she felt it as. feet and held his ankles
- 15:13Speaker 2: maybe she knelt before him and took his nail pierced
- 15:16Speaker 2: hands maybe she just put her arms around him we
- 15:23Speaker 2: don't know how she held him but we know she
- 15:25Speaker 2: did and equally important we know Jesus led her he
- 15:31Speaker 2: was not so holy not so otherly not so divine
- 15:38Speaker 2: not so conquering king that he didn't have a moment
- 15:45Speaker 2: to receive the kind touch of one of his dear friends.
- 15:50Speaker 2: Someone should paint this scene. Someone should transfer it from
- 15:57Speaker 2: palette of oil to canvas and frame it. When you do,
- 16:03Speaker 2: be sure and make that sunrise brilliantly orange and the
- 16:07Speaker 2: grass deliciously green. And let that stone be rolled away
- 16:13Speaker 2: sitting in the background. The angels looking on. And make
- 16:18Speaker 2: sure that you capture the glisten of the sunrise in
- 16:23Speaker 2: the tears on Mary's cheeks. And make sure you capture
- 16:28Speaker 2: the smile of Jesus. This moment in the Easter story
- 16:36Speaker 2: serves a sacred purpose. This moment reminds us of both
- 16:42Speaker 2: the power of God and the love of God. The
- 16:45Speaker 2: power of God to defeat death, that's the empty tomb.
- 16:50Speaker 2: But the tender love of God for people like Mary Magdalene,
- 16:56Speaker 2: that's Jesus with her. At once, the conquering king and
- 17:04Speaker 2: the gentle shepherd. This is our God. This is our Jesus. Well,
- 17:11Speaker 2: then Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she
- 17:16Speaker 2: had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these
- 17:18Speaker 2: things to her, to her of all people, to her.
- 17:24Speaker 2: Maybe the angels wanted him to go to Caesar. Maybe
- 17:27Speaker 2: there was a group wanting him to go and make
- 17:29Speaker 2: an appearance to Herod. There were 10,000 angels ready to
- 17:33Speaker 2: serve him. Maybe they were ready to crown him and
- 17:35Speaker 2: make him king. He told everyone, wait a second. He
- 17:39Speaker 2: went to her. Why her? We never read of her again.
- 17:47Speaker 2: She doesn't appear in the book of Acts. She didn't
- 17:49Speaker 2: write an epistle. If she had a miracle in her life,
- 17:53Speaker 2: we're not told about it. Why her? The only thing
- 17:59Speaker 2: I can come up with is this. This is what
- 18:02Speaker 2: love does. This is what love does. Love shows up
- 18:11Speaker 2: in hard times, sad places, dark corners, and brings hope.
- 18:16Speaker 2: And Jesus loved her. And listen to me. Jesus loves you.
- 18:22Speaker 2: He does. He enters your world. And if you don't
- 18:28Speaker 2: recognize his face, he'll call your name. He knows your name.
- 18:32Speaker 2: He says, see, I have engraved you on the palms
- 18:35Speaker 2: of my hands.
- 18:36Speaker 4: Yes.
- 18:38Speaker 2: Your name is not buried in some heavenly file. He
- 18:40Speaker 2: doesn't need a name tag to jog his memory of you.
- 18:45Speaker 2: Your face is ever before him. You are tattooed on
- 18:48Speaker 2: the palm of his hands. He has more thoughts about
- 18:50Speaker 2: you than the Pacific coast has grains of sand. You're
- 18:56Speaker 2: everything to him. Some time ago I read a story
- 19:02Speaker 2: about a priest who journeyed from Detroit to his native
- 19:07Speaker 2: home of Ireland or in Ireland to visit his relatives.
- 19:12Speaker 2: While he was there he and his uncle Seamus got
- 19:15Speaker 2: up one morning and went to Lake Killarney to watch
- 19:19Speaker 2: the sun come up. They stood on the shoreline and
- 19:23Speaker 2: watched the sun come up. The two scarcely spoke for
- 19:25Speaker 2: 20 minutes. Finally when the sun was up they resumed
- 19:30Speaker 2: their walk back and the priest noticed that his uncle
- 19:33Speaker 2: was smiling. And he turned to his uncle and said
- 19:37Speaker 2: You look happy. He said, I am. Why? And he said,
- 19:46Speaker 2: because the father of Jesus is fond of me.
- 19:50Speaker 1: Of me.
- 19:52Speaker 2: He's fond of you too. Do you find that hard
- 19:57Speaker 2: to believe? Do you think I'm talking to someone else?
- 20:05Speaker 2: Someone who is holier, wiser, better someone who didn't screw
- 20:13Speaker 2: up a marriage or mess up a career someone who
- 20:17Speaker 2: didn't get hooked on porn or pills or pot or
- 20:22Speaker 2: popularity or pride you think I'm talking to someone else
- 20:26Speaker 2: I'm not I'm talking directly to you and I'm telling
- 20:32Speaker 2: you that the big news in history is the news
- 20:37Speaker 2: that God didn't just make the world but that God
- 20:39Speaker 2: loves the world And right now at the control center
- 20:43Speaker 2: of the universe there beats a heart of love. A
- 20:47Speaker 2: heart of love that is unconditional. That does not depend
- 20:52Speaker 2: upon you. And that he loved you before you knew him.
- 20:57Speaker 2: And he loves you when you have forgotten him. And
- 21:00Speaker 2: listen to me. You have never lived one unloved day
- 21:06Speaker 2: of your life. He loves you. Someone told you that
- 21:11Speaker 2: God loves only good people. That's wrong. There are no
- 21:15Speaker 2: good people. Someone told you that if you love God,
- 21:19Speaker 2: he would love you back. That's wrong. He loved you
- 21:22Speaker 2: before you ever even existed. Someone told you that God
- 21:27Speaker 2: is perpetually ticked off, angry, ready to settle the score
- 21:31Speaker 2: with the human race. Wrong, wrong, wrong. We're perpetually angry,
- 21:36Speaker 2: ticked off, ready to settle scores. But God, God is
- 21:41Speaker 2: sheer mercy and grace. He's not easily angered. He's rich
- 21:44Speaker 2: in love. He doesn't endlessly nag and scold nor hold
- 21:47Speaker 2: grudges forever. He doesn't treat us as our sins deserve
- 21:51Speaker 2: nor pay us back in full for our wrongs. As
- 21:54Speaker 2: high as the heaven is over the earth, so strong
- 21:58Speaker 2: is his love to those who fear him. As far
- 22:02Speaker 2: as the sunrise is from the sunset, he has separated
- 22:07Speaker 2: us from our sins. As parents feel for their children,
- 22:12Speaker 2: God feels for those who fear him. As I was
- 22:17Speaker 2: sitting down to review this message earlier in the week,
- 22:20Speaker 2: my daughter, Jenna, my oldest daughter, stepped into my study.
- 22:24Speaker 2: She is as round as a tick. She could deliver
- 22:29Speaker 2: any moment, it appears. But the doctor says we're still
- 22:33Speaker 2: four to six weeks out from the arrival of her
- 22:36Speaker 2: baby girl. Yep. Max and Dina are going to be grandparents.
- 22:43Speaker 2: Let me tell you something about that baby girl. I
- 22:47Speaker 2: already love her. I already love her. I would do
- 22:54Speaker 2: anything for that girl. That is not hyperbole. I would
- 23:00Speaker 2: do anything for her. And I've never seen her face.
- 23:06Speaker 2: I've never held her. I don't even know her name.
- 23:12Speaker 2: She's never brought me coffee. She's never hugged my neck.
- 23:18Speaker 2: She's never done me a little dance. But I would
- 23:22Speaker 2: do anything for her. You get that.
- 23:26Speaker 4: Why?
- 23:29Speaker 2: Because there is a little bit of me in her.
- 23:33Speaker 2: I love all of your kids. But I really love
- 23:36Speaker 2: my own.
- 23:36Speaker 4: Why? Why?
- 23:39Speaker 2: Because there's just a little bit of you in them.
- 23:41Speaker 2: There's just a little bit of me in her. Why
- 23:46Speaker 2: does God love you? Because there is something of him
- 23:51Speaker 2: in you. When they told you you were just a lady,
- 23:58Speaker 2: they were wrong. You're a child of God. When they
- 23:59Speaker 2: told you you're just a guy in a cubicle, they
- 24:02Speaker 2: were wrong. You're God's idea and he doesn't have any
- 24:06Speaker 2: bad ideas. When they told you that you're getting too
- 24:09Speaker 2: old They were wrong, wrong, wrong. There is something of
- 24:14Speaker 2: God inside of you. You were made in the image
- 24:19Speaker 2: of God. In the image of God. You're unlike any
- 24:25Speaker 2: other species on our planet. You have been set apart
- 24:29Speaker 2: for a holy purpose. And he has placed a divine
- 24:33Speaker 2: spark within you. And when you say yes to him.
- 24:38Speaker 2: By trusting what his son did for you, there is
- 24:41Speaker 2: a spiritual activation that happens. And this love blows upon
- 24:45Speaker 2: that spark like a gust of wind on an ember.
- 24:48Speaker 2: And a life begins. Jesus called it being born again.
- 24:53Speaker 2: Something new happens. And that light continues to increase until
- 24:58Speaker 2: you give warmth and light to every person you see
- 25:01Speaker 2: and every place that you go. You're not perfect, but
- 25:04Speaker 2: you're being made perfect by Christ Jesus himself. Why? Because
- 25:07Speaker 2: he bought you. He owns you. And he has this
- 25:14Speaker 2: wild and inexplicable love for you. That does not depend
- 25:19Speaker 2: on you. If it depended upon you and me, we'd
- 25:22Speaker 2: go wacko trying to figure out how to please him.
- 25:26Speaker 2: But it doesn't. So he's not going to love you
- 25:29Speaker 2: more if you're better. He's not going to love you
- 25:30Speaker 2: less if you're worse. His love for you does not
- 25:33Speaker 2: depend on you. I know it's hard to believe, but
- 25:38Speaker 2: it's true. So your Easter assignment comes down to simply this.
- 25:44Speaker 2: Let God love you. Just let him. Just look in
- 25:50Speaker 2: the mirror when you get home and say, whoo, he
- 25:52Speaker 2: loves that person. You're driving the car, just whoa. Oh,
- 25:58Speaker 2: God loves me. Learn to live and bask and appreciate.
- 26:03Speaker 2: Let your happiest thought be the thought, God is fond
- 26:07Speaker 2: of me. And as you let God love you, here's
- 26:11Speaker 2: something that's going to happen. You're going to learn to
- 26:13Speaker 2: love other people. This is the sequence that scripture gives us.
- 26:17Speaker 2: First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
- 26:23Speaker 2: You see, as you learn to trust God's patience with you,
- 26:26Speaker 2: you'll be more patient with others. As you learn to
- 26:29Speaker 2: trust God's grace towards you, you'll give grace to others.
- 26:32Speaker 2: As you learn to believe God accepts you with all
- 26:36Speaker 2: of your quirks, guess what? You'll accept him or her
- 26:39Speaker 2: with their quirks. Something happens. Your heart gets softer. You
- 26:43Speaker 2: become less judgmental, less bitter, and you give a love
- 26:48Speaker 2: that you've been given. I think this is why the
- 26:50Speaker 2: apostle Paul made this his highest prayer. He said, may
- 26:54Speaker 2: you have the power to understand with all God's people,
- 26:56Speaker 2: as all God's people should, How wide, how long, how high,
- 27:00Speaker 2: how deep his love is. May you experience the love
- 27:04Speaker 2: of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.
- 27:07Speaker 2: Then you will be made complete with all the fullness
- 27:10Speaker 2: of life and power that comes from God. God loves us. Consequently,
- 27:17Speaker 2: we love others. So if you want to love others,
- 27:19Speaker 2: let God love you. Period. End of story. End of sermon.
- 27:24Speaker 2: End of sermon series. Let God love you. Let God
- 27:30Speaker 2: make you happy. And you will in turn do the
- 27:35Speaker 2: same for others. By the way, what happened to Mary
- 27:40Speaker 2: is going to happen to you and to me. Jesus
- 27:43Speaker 2: came and appeared to her. He's going to come and
- 27:46Speaker 2: appear to us on the final day. And you will
- 27:49Speaker 2: see his face and I'll see his face just like
- 27:51Speaker 2: Mary saw his face. And I believe he's going to
- 27:53Speaker 2: call our names. I don't know exactly how, but I
- 27:55Speaker 2: just have a feeling he will. And I do know
- 27:58Speaker 2: when he does. We're going to want to do. And
- 27:59Speaker 2: be allowed to do what Mary did. We're going to
- 28:03Speaker 2: put our arms around him. And say thank you teacher.
- 28:07Speaker 4: Thank you.
- 28:08Speaker 2: Amen. Lord this is the day for which we're. Looking
- 28:13Speaker 2: toward which we're looking. For which we're living. Thank you father.
- 28:17Speaker 2: For these wonderful wonderful stories. That tell us not just
- 28:22Speaker 2: of your power. But of your passion. And show us.
- 28:25Speaker 2: that you can love people as well as defeat death.
- 28:29Speaker 2: Thank you for being such a gentle shepherd to us.
- 28:32Speaker 2: Thank you. We offer this prayer in Jesus' name. And
- 28:36Speaker 2: all the church said, Amen.
- 29:00Speaker 4: Thank you.
- 29:43Speaker 1: So so so so Thanks for watching guys!
- 33:36Speaker 2: So Thank you.
- 35:00Speaker 4: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
- 35:07Speaker 4: somewhere out there. That's enough for me.
- 35:12Speaker 1: I don't need to hold you near me.
- 35:19Speaker 4: Don't need promises to keep. Just the thought that you
- 35:24Speaker 4: are breathing Somewhere in this world I see.
- 35:29Speaker 3: Even if I'm not beside you Even if you never
- 35:34Speaker 3: know There's a quiet kind of comfort Just in knowing
- 35:40Speaker 3: you still glow.
- 35:44Speaker 4: I don't need forever I just need you to exist.
- 35:54Speaker 3: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
- 35:58Speaker 3: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
- 36:04Speaker 3: out there Calling softly through my days.
- 36:08Speaker 1: You don't have to look my way.
- 36:11Speaker 3: You don't have to be my home It's enough to
- 36:16Speaker 3: know you're living In a world I'm not alone I
- 36:25Speaker 3: won't chase you through the distance. Won't disturb your chosen life.
- 36:31Speaker 3: I'll just keep you in my silence like a star
- 36:35Speaker 3: that shines at night. Through the dark and through the blue.
- 36:41Speaker 1: I still think of you.
- 36:53Speaker 3: You don't have to feel the same Just as long
- 36:57Speaker 3: as you're still out there Calling softly through my days
- 37:03Speaker 3: You don't have to look my way You don't have
- 37:08Speaker 3: to be my home It's enough to know you're living
- 37:14Speaker 3: In a world I'm not alone.
- 37:32Speaker 5: I don't need to be your light I don't need
- 37:36Speaker 5: to cross your mind All I need is just the
- 37:39Speaker 5: truth That you're somewhere Still alive.
- 37:47Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me you don't have
- 37:52Speaker 6: to feel the same just as long as you're still
- 37:57Speaker 6: out there calling softly through my days you don't have
- 38:02Speaker 6: to look my way you don't have to be my
- 38:07Speaker 6: home it's enough to know you're living
- 38:14Speaker 5: In a world I'm not alone