Not Mine, But God's: Love

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Week number eight in our series. that we entitled

not mine, but God's. Everybody say that with

me. Not mine, not mine, but God's, but God's.

And because mine looks like this, right? Natural,

in the natural, mine looks like this. But God

wants us to exchange our natural for his supernatural.

So it looks like that. Not mine. but God's. Now,

over the last three weeks, we have focused on

the advent, on the coming. Everybody say the

coming. See, long before Gabriel spoke to Mary,

long before angels visited the shepherds, long

before the wise men saw a newly formed star,

God planted a promise in the hearts of his people.

And here's the promise. The Messiah is coming.

The Savior is coming. The Rescuer is coming.

He planted that promise in His people. He actually,

you can find it even in Genesis. Immediately

after the fall of man, after the sin of Adam

and Eve, God already started talking about a

Savior who was going to come. Thousands of years

before he actually came. I believe the two most

important events in all of human history, all

of the history of the world, two most important

events are the incarnation, everybody say incarnation,

and the resurrection. Now, I'll remind you again,

the Bible, because some of you haven't been here

during this series, but... The Bible never specifically

tells us to remember and talk about the birth

of Christ. It doesn't give a specific command

to do that, but it does record it. So anything

the Bible records is worth our attention. Amen?

But I believe the incarnation is vitally important

because without it, You would be hopelessly lost.

I would be hopelessly lost. There would be no

redemption. There would be no salvation. And

a lot of people have trouble understanding and

believing that a virgin could give birth to a

child. But it had to be that way. Had to be that

way. You see, if Jesus would have had a natural

father, he would have been born in sin, just

like us, born in sin. And if he would have been

born in sin, he couldn't offer his life as a

substitutionary sacrifice. He could not lay down

his life for you and for me, because if he's

born in sin, then he's guilty and he has to die

for his own sin. Because the wages of sin is

death. The Bible says at just the right time.

Everybody say, just the right time. At just the

right time. Jesus, who is known as the Word in

the Old Testament, He's eternal. He existed before

time as we know it came into existence. And at

just the right time in the timeline of human

history, he stepped down out of heaven and he

added humanity to his deity. He's all God, everybody

say all God, and all man. Now the math doesn't

work, right? Because we think... It's only 100%,

right? So it's got to be 50 -50, but no. He's

all God and He's all man. He added humanity to

His deity. That's what the incarnation is all

about. God, in His great love, stepped down because

we were helpless and hopeless without Him. And

then the resurrection. I mean, you know how important

the resurrection is, right? Because the resurrection

is what, like, stamped everything that Jesus

said, everything that Jesus did. The resurrection

was like a big exclamation point and a stamp

of validity to everything he said and everything

he did. So I believe those are the two most important

events. I've never... really knew what Advent

was until, I don't know, 14 years ago. Some of

you grew up in churches where they had a wreath

and candles and would light different colored

candles the different weeks of Advent. I didn't

grow up that way. Even though my dad was a pastor,

it just wasn't something that we grew up doing

in the churches that I was a part of. But when

I went to Myrtle Beach and had a lot of people

from a lot of different religious backgrounds

and church backgrounds, when I went there, I

found out about Advent. And that word Advent

just means the arrival. Everybody say the arrival.

It's the arrival of someone or something that's

going to make a big difference. Right? A big

difference. How many of you can look and see

that Jesus made a big difference in the world?

His advent, His coming, His arrival. And with

His coming, He brought some things. He ushered

in the kingdom of God. I was looking for at least

an amen or a nod or something. He ushered in

the kingdom of God. And with the kingdom of God,

ultimately came everything. that is available

to us in Christ. Advent, the arrival of a notable

person or thing. See, over the last three weeks

and to day four, we're preparing our hearts to

celebrate the birth of Jesus. Because you can

live in our world today and go through the holidays

without even thinking about Jesus. So we're preparing

our hearts to celebrate his birth and also to

receive some things that he's made available

to us. His advent made available to us. Week

number one, we talked about hope. Everybody say

hope. See, he brought hope with him. Hope for

mankind. Hope for you. Hope for me. He brought

peace. Just a different level. I'm not saying

that hope didn't exist before Jesus, but all

of a sudden it bumped up a big notch. I mean,

it moved from natural hope to supernatural hope,

from natural peace to supernatural peace, from

natural joy to supernatural joy. All those things

came with Christ. And they're available. It's

available for us to exchange natural. For supernatural.

But we have to receive it by faith. It doesn't

just automatically plop on us. Just because it's

available doesn't mean that it's ours. We have

to receive it. We have to take hold of it. Who's

expecting some gifts on Thursday? Anybody expecting

some gifts? I've wrapped a lot of presents. Yesterday,

I think it was yesterday, wasn't it? Ganna wrapped

some of her own presents. So if you're not expecting

a gift, just go ahead and buy yourself something

and wrap it so that you'll have something. Okay?

Wrap your own. I told her to wrap me up some

Q -tips. Awesome. One at a time. I'm going to

have a lot of presents. Listen, I know I've shared

this story, but some of you haven't heard it.

I can't even remember how many years ago it was.

Probably 30 years ago, maybe 25 years ago. We

bought some presents, and we wrapped them up.

They were for family, like extended family, not

immediate family, but extended family. Bought

some presents, wrapped them up. Ganna cooked

chicken and dumplings from scratch. If you haven't

had her chicken and dumplings, I can't make her

cook them because I don't know if they're as

hard as she makes them look because she throws

flour all over the place. I mean, it looks like

a serious task, but maybe someday we can make

some chicken. I don't know. Got to borrow a house.

She'll bring her own pot. All right. Yeah, you

do. Mike said you could cook them at his house.

Anyway. It looks like we're going to everybody's

house to cook some chicken. But anyway. We bought

presents and we wrapped them up and we took them

for a family Christmas party. We used to get

together on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,

but because of the conference that we were doing,

we couldn't do that anymore because it'd be impossible

to pull off a New Year's conference with 1 ,900

people coming and only showing up, you know,

two days before it starts. That would have been

insane and, I mean, just beyond. our ability

because it was all we could do to start on the

morning of the 26th wide open but anyway we wrapped

those presents we some of the family members

did not come they choose they chose not to come

has anybody experienced any family drama anytime

has anybody ever had any family drama if not

you're blessed and highly favored if you've never

experienced any family drama whatsoever. But

they decided not to come. I mean, we thought

the chicken and dumplings would get them there,

you know. So we left the presents under the Christmas

tree only to come back in January and find those

presents hidden behind the couch in the entertainment

console, which was huge. It was as big as four

of those chairs. It had a record player and speakers

and a radio in it. Some of you know what I'm

talking about. It's like a piece of furniture.

But the presidents were hid behind those things.

So an expression of our love because giving is

an expression of love. Universally, worldwide,

giving is an expression of love. So the expression

of our love was rejected. And all the reason

I share that is because Jesus brought all of

these things and made them available to us. But

we have to receive them. Have to receive them.

And you might say, well, I've never rejected

them. Well, it's one thing to reject them, but

you still have to receive them. If I give you

a present and you leave it wrapped up, even if

you take it home, you will not experience the

present till you receive it, till you unwrap

it and take hold of it. So we receive this supernatural

hope, supernatural peace, supernatural joy. We

receive it through faith. And we receive it by

our spirit. Man, you know, natural comes from

your soul, your mind, your thought life, your

will, your desires, and your emotions. That's

what natural life is based in. But in this series,

we found out that to receive the things that

God has given for us, made available to us, we

receive them by our spirit. through our spirit.

And then here's the connection that we often

miss. We let our souls control every part of

us because that's the way we grow up and that's

what we learn to do. We let our thought life

and our desires and our emotions guide us. But

we are spirit beings. We have a soul and we live

in a body. And we have to learn to be spirit

beings, and the spirit being will stand up in

the truth of God's word when the soul is spiraling

by what it sees, by what it thinks, by what it

feels. Our spirit beings, we are a spirit, so

our spirits stand up and say, not today, soul.

Not today. Because here's what God says. And

my spirit is my connection with God and God's

truth. So our spirits stand up and take charge

and rule over our souls. That's when you're going

to take hold of it. And then today, we're going

to talk about the love of God. And I'm telling

you, love was in the world and God had this supernatural

love. All these things are eternal. Supernatural

hope and peace and joy and love. They're all

eternal with God because they're part of his

person. But when Jesus came, a whole different

level of love came to this earth. Whole different

possibility. If you read through the Old Testament,

you don't read a whole lot about how love works

and how the love of God works and how it's supposed

to work in His people. God's people in the Old

Testament, I don't see anywhere where they were

known by their love. Do you? But under this new

covenant in the kingdom of God, God's people

are known by their love. Because it's a different

kind of love. It's not a natural love. It's a

supernatural love. Somebody smile. I believe

if we listen with expectation, we might just

hear the voice of God calling us out of the noise.

Again, we have a wonderful time celebrating Christmas

and everything. I mean, how many of you have

a tree in your house? How many of you have lights

and decorations and different? We enjoy all of

those things, right? But. If those things are

what's most important about this season, then

we're just wrapped up in the noise. And God wants

to call us out of the noise and into his life.

Into his life. The arrival of Jesus, the advent

of Jesus, was the advent of a supernatural love

for God's people. Let's read. I encourage you

to read this story again. Whether you read it

by yourself out loud in your home or whether

you get together with whoever's there, I encourage

you to read this. Luke chapter 2, starting with

Luke 2 · chapter mention

verse 1. At that time, the Roman emperor Augustus

decreed that a census should be taken throughout

the Roman Empire. This was the first census taken

when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All returned

to their own ancestral towns to register for

this census. And because Joseph was a descendant

of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea,

David's ancient home. He traveled there from

the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with

him Mary, to whom he was engaged. who was now

expecting a child. And while they were there,

the time came for her baby to be born. She gave

birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly

in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because

there was no lodging available for them. That

night, there were shepherds staying in the fields

nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. suddenly

an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and

the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them.

They were terrified, but the angel reassured

them. Don't be afraid, he said. I bring you good

news that will bring great joy to all people.

The Savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord, has been

born today in Bethlehem, the city of David. And

you will recognize him by this sign. You will

find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth,

lying in a feed trough in the barn. Suddenly,

the angel was joined by a vast host of others,

the armies of heaven, praising God and saying,

Glory to God in highest heaven and peace on earth.

To those with whom God is pleased. When the angels

had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to

each other, let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see

this thing that has happened, which the Lord

has told us about. They hurried to the village

and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the

baby lying in the manger. After seeing him, the

shepherds told everyone. what had happened and

what the angel had said to them about this child.

All who heard the shepherd's story were astonished.

But Mary kept all these things in her heart and

thought about them often. The shepherds went

back to their flocks, glorifying and praising

God for all they had heard and seen. It was just

as the angel had told them. Again, I encourage

you to read that again. Read it on Christmas

Day. Read it on Christmas Eve. Today we're focusing

in the advent of love, the coming of a supernatural

love, and love was the force behind Christmas.

Love was the force behind the incarnation. Love

was the motive. You know, a lot of times we're

like, well, what was the motive of this person

doing this? What's their motive? Well, the motive

is love. Everybody say love. And what's the reason?

Why did Jesus step down out of the eternal throne

room and add humanity to his deity and take on

flesh and become a man in this broken world?

Why? Because of his love. Because of his love.

There's different words for love in the Bible.

But the God kind of love. When the Bible says

God is love. When the Bible tells us that we

are known to be Christ's followers by our love

is this love. It's agape. It's the Greek word.

And here's the definition. It means love. It

means affection. It means benevolence. It means

a love feast, which is, every time I read that,

I kind of go, a love feast? But that's what the

word means. Now, we think we have an understanding

of the word love, but let's take this love to

the supernatural level, even greater than we

can know naturally. It's also affection. Has

anybody in the room ever said, well, I love you,

but I don't like you right now? Has anybody ever

said that? I love you because God told me I had

to love you, but I'm not liking you right now.

Well, the God kind of love is affection. So if

we are walking in agape, there'll never be a

time when we say, I love you, but I don't like

you right now. Because when we do that, we're

not walking in this supernatural love. Affection

is a feeling of fondness or liking. So to really

love, to love like God loves, You got to like

them too. And that tells us something about God.

God didn't just like say he loves you. He likes

you. I mean, let that soak in a little bit. God

likes me. God likes you. Now, when we say I love

you, but I don't like you right now, it's because

of somebody's actions that have kind of spun

us off a little bit. And we're like, I don't

like you right now. I want to smack you in the

face. I want to smack the taste out of your mouth

right now, but I love you. It's like Herb was

saying he was behind somebody with a relations

sticker on the back of the car and he was beeping

the horn. Try to get their attention. Most times,

beeping the horn kind of makes you not like whoever

it is that's blowing the horn, right? You don't

think they're doing it out of friendship. You

think they're doing it because they want you

out of their way. You think they're disgusted

with you. And sometimes you say, well, if you

keep blowing that horn, I'm about to stop. You

wanted them to stop. We don't know who it was.

Hallelujah. But I said, if somebody's blowing

the horn, all of a sudden I'm just like. I try

to become invisible when somebody's blowing a

horn at me. But when we like someone, it's a

feeling of fondness. Benevolence is a display

of kindness. It's looking out for somebody's

well -being, being concerned. Being concerned

to the point that you display your kindness.

Display. Everybody say display. Because talk

can be cheap. Right? There's been a lot of people

that told me that they love me, but then I found

out what they were saying behind my back. But

the God kind of love is a display of kindness,

and you're looking out for the well -being. And

then love feast is like fellowship meals. It's

like chicken and dumplings, hallelujah. But it's

wanting to get together. It's wanting to share

life together. It's wanting to share a meal together,

right? Because that means something, you know.

It's one thing to come here and gather together.

It's another thing to want to get together outside

of church. Right? So that's the love of God.

See, God's concerned about your well -being.

God likes you. God wants to fellowship with you.

Spend time with you. He wants you to know him.

He wants you to seek him and find him. Experience

him. See, our natural love is limited. Our love

apart from Christ and apart from agape, our love

is limited. But God's love is limitless. It's

limitless. Natural love is always reactive. Everybody

say reactive. When someone shows love to us,

we show love to them. If someone rejects our

love, we decide we're not going to display love

and show love anymore. We're reactive, right?

It's natural love. Jesus talked about this in

Matthew 5, 43. He said, because this was a common

saying in his day, you have heard the law says,

love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I

say, love your enemies. That's going to take

some supernatural love for you to love the people

who you know they don't like you. Right? You

know that they don't like you. You know that

they don't want to, you know, they wouldn't spit

on you if you were on fire. But I say, Jesus

said, love your enemies. In verse 46, he goes

on to say, if you love only those who love you,

what reward is there for that? Look at the person

beside you and say, that's not a big deal. That's

not a big deal for you to love the people who

love you. That's natural. And then he says, even

corrupt tax collectors do that much. Now, this

said something totally different to them than

it does to us, even though most of you don't

like paying taxes, right? When he says even corrupt

tax collectors, you see, there were Jews that

were working for Rome and collecting taxes from

other Jews. And when they did that, most of them

were very corrupt. They were taking more than

they should take. But here's the deal. The people

who were doing that, Society looked at them below

a dog. They didn't even consider them to be humans.

And Jesus says, look, if you just love people

who love you, even the people who you think are

below the level of a dog, even they do that.

And then he says, if you're only kind, if you're

kind only to your friends, how are you different

from anyone else in the world? Natural. Everybody

say natural. Even pagans do that. Even pagans

do that, Jesus said. See, God's love is not natural

love because God's love is initiating. It's taking

the first step. It's reaching out. It initiates.

It doesn't just go with whatever is given to

it and respond accordingly. Like natural love,

it's initiating. Here's one instance of God initiating.

His love. 1 John 4, 9 and 10. God showed. Everybody

say demonstrate it. Everybody say initiate it.

God showed how much He loved us by sending His

one and only Son into the world so that we might

have eternal life through Him. This. Is real

love. Initiating love. That's real love. Not

that we love God. So it wasn't reciprocating

our love for him. No, he initiated it. It's not

that we love God, but that he loved us and sent

his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

That's real love. There's another verse. I don't

have it in here, but you've probably heard it

before. Greater love has no one, no man than

this. Then he laid down his life for his friends.

See, natural love is broken. But God's love will

bring healing and restoration. Natural love is

inconsistent. It's up and down, right? Natural

love is conditional. You know, if you do this

or make me feel this way, then I will love you.

If not, I won't. Natural love can run out. Can

run out. Human love says, natural love says,

if you make me feel loved, everybody say feel.

Everybody say feelings. Whoa, whoa, whoa, feelings.

Y 'all remember that song? Feelings. Whoa, whoa,

whoa, feelings. Whoa, whoa, whoa, feelings. If

you make me feel loved, then I'll love you. That's

natural. And then sometimes, after you've had

the feeling of love, and then you show love back,

then all of a sudden it can move again. A goalpost

can sometimes move. It can keep moving. You don't

know that it's an actual 100 -yard field. All

of a sudden, it can be a 200 -yard field. Because

it can move to a place that if you change, if

you change, I'll continue to love you. But if

you don't change, my love is done. If you don't

make me feel loved. then I won't love you. Romans

5, 8. But God, everybody say, but God. But God

showed his great love for us by sending Christ

to die for us while we were still sinners. We

weren't acknowledging God. We were living our

lives on our own. We could spit in God's face.

We don't care. But God showed his love. He didn't

just say he loved us. Because talk can be cheap.

He demonstrated his love. My dad, I could count

on one hand how many times in my entire life

that my dad told me he loved me. But I never

doubted that he did. Never. There was never a

moment in my life when I doubted my father's

love. If that's not your experience, I'm sorry.

But my dad didn't have to tell me every day that

he loved me for me to feel loved. I mean, I believe

it's important to tell people that we love them.

But my dad constantly demonstrated his love for

me and I never doubted his love. And God, My

dad's just a shadow of a father compared to God.

God showed his great love for us by sending Christ

to die for us while we were still sinners. God's

love says, I love you. There's not a person who's

ever lived on this world that God didn't love.

Even the people you have a hard time loving,

God loves them. Even though the historical figures

where you say this person was just pure evil,

God loved them. Christ died for them. Though

their mistakes and their character was greatly

flawed, God loved them. God loved them. Even

though they rejected him their entire life, even

though many people have cursed him their entire

life, God loves them. John 13, 35. I've alluded

to this, but here's the verse. This is Jesus

talking. He says, your love for one another.

Your love for other people will prove to the

world that you are my disciples. That's the proof.

That's the proof to the world. This is why, you

know, the world experiences natural love, but

in Christ we need to, be walking in his supernatural

love. Because if our love just looks like everybody

else's love, what's the big deal? What's the

big deal? Even the pagans love like that. Even

the tax collectors love like that. That's what

Jesus said, right? I'm not saying these words.

These are Jesus' words. I'm just repeating them.

So we need to walk in the supernatural love of

God. Jesus came to bring it, but we have to receive

it. We need to receive it for ourselves, but

then we need to receive it for the way we live.

We need to walk in it, just like we need to walk

in hope and walk in peace and walk in joy. We

need to walk in love. Natural love costs something,

right? It costs something, but God's love costs

him everything. You probably know this verse,

John 3, 16. For this is how God loved the world.

He gave his one and only son so that everyone

who believes in him will not perish, but have

eternal life. True love always gives. Always.

Everybody say always. True love always gives.

True love always sacrifices. There's always a

sacrifice involved. And true love always moves.

True love is taking that first step. Not just

waiting to see. If somebody's going to show love

to you, but you've taken the first step to show

love for them. Before we have our communion together,

I want to make sure. Make sure that you've experienced

this love from God. Make sure that you've opened

the gift. Because so many people, Have heard

about the love of God. So many people have heard

about his sacrifice. And a lot of people have

heard about it, but they've never received it.

So I want to ask you a question. Have you received

it? Have you received his gift of eternal life?

Have you received it? Have you received his love?

You might say, well, how do I open up this gift

of eternal life? The answer to that is easy.

It's found in the Bible. The Bible says that

you have to believe a couple of things. You have

to believe that Jesus is God. You have to believe

that he died on the cross for your sins. You

have to believe. I don't say you have to understand

it, but you have to believe that he was raised

from the dead. That he is alive. He didn't stay

dead in the tomb. No, the resurrection happened.

He is alive. So you have to believe those three

things. But then there has to come a time, the

Bible says, if we confess our sin, he is faithful

and he's just. to forgive us and to cleanse us

of all unrighteousness. So you have to come to

a point where you realize that you're a sinner

and that your sin separates you from a holy God.

So you come to him acknowledging that he died

in your place for your sin on the cross. You

ask him to forgive you and you thank him for

washing you clean. And there's one more. Everybody

say one more. One more. The Bible says if you

call on the name of the Lord, you'll be saved.

A lot of people make it through those first few

things that I said, but they never come to this

point where it says if you call on the name of

the Lord, you'll be saved. Lord is more than

a name. It's a title. Lord means master, boss,

the one in charge. So I believe according to

Scripture, there has to be a time in your life

when you say, Jesus, something like this. Not

these exact words, but there has to be a time

when you say, Jesus, up until today, my life's

just been about me. But from now on, I want to

live for you. I want to know you. Jesus, be my

Lord. I surrender to you all that I am. Be my

Lord. I want to follow you. So here's my question.

Have those things happened in your life before

today? If they have not, I have some amazing

news. Some great news. Today's the day. While

you're here, while the Holy Spirit is speaking

to your heart, today's the day. Don't put it

off. If you would, I want everybody to bow your

head and close your eyes just for a moment. I

want you to be alone. I want you to look back

over your life and see if those things have happened.

Have you believed those things that I said? Have

you surrendered your life to Jesus, asking him

to be your Lord, confessing him as your Lord?

If you have not, I ask you to pray with me. Nothing

magic about the words. We can teach birds to

repeat words after people, so it's not just about

the words. I want to lead you in a prayer. This

is what you want to say to God, I ask you to

pray with me. I prayed a prayer one Friday morning,

went kind of like this, and I've never been the

same since. Jesus, I believe you are the son

of God. Tell him that. I believe you died on

the cross for me, in my place, for my sin. I

believe you rose again from the grave, just like

the Bible says. I realize that I am a sinner.

I've messed up. Jesus, thank you for dying for

me in my place on the cross. For my sin. I ask

you to forgive me. Wash me clean. Jesus, up until

today, my life's kind of been about me, but from

now on, I want my life to be about you. I ask

you to be my Lord. I surrender my life to you.

I want to know you and I want to follow you.

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