11th February 2024 All Age All Nation Service - Love Costs Me

And say God's doing something. Let's make it even more specific, God's doing

something here. If you don't know me, I recock. There's some faces

I don't recognize in the congregation this morning. Fantastic to see you. Please

enjoy our service. If you want to kick your heat off, i'd kick

your shoes off, sorry, not kick your feet off. I'd be interesting

with free to kick you for off. But I just say themselves at home

this morning. I don't know whether love today it's some new faces. If

it is, welcome, absolutely welcome. We've got a bluff to service play.

I'm a lever in the feeding of the parsons. I'm personal believer that

there's going to be enough for everybody. And I'm saying that in face because

it's quite a few people here and I don't know what's in the kitchen and

what I bought. So look at love costs and the title for the day

is lusts me. So I'm going to give you a warning now. I'd

like you to get your wallets and your purses out, and i'd like you

to make sure if you've got children in the room, that you've given them

some money. Okay, I'm not taking up an offering. Please hear me,

I'm not taking up an offering. God, I'd like you to have

your purses out, your wallets out, have some money ready. I'll explain

that in a moment. But uh, let me pray, Father, God,

you made the best gift of love when you sent your son Jesus.

And so Father, as we focus around love today, in that month when

the world often talks about giving cards, talking about the Lord, we want

to select the full love for us that you sent your one and only son.

Whosoever believes in him should not but have ever lasted. Amen? Amen?

Yeah? What is love? Well, let's go to a bit of

a dictionary deshing. Love is an intense feeling. Anybody had an intense feeling

recently? Okay, don't go there. I don't don't want to. I

don't want to know. You may have seen something in the shop window and

thought I must have this. Some people when they feel down. We were

sang about depression, and some people will get themselves out of the depression with

a thing called retail therapy. They'll go and they'll spend some stuff and they'll

make themselves feel good until they look at their credit card bill or their bank

balance, and they'll think, why did I do that? It comes from

an intense feeling. Or it might be that you have a great pleasure in

something. I support a football team. I won't name which one. Oh,

yes I will. I support Spurs. I love it when they win.

They wan one yesterday. Hey, you don't care, but I love

my team. And some of you will love you, and some'll have a

bit of affection for someone boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, children,

grandpaparents, auntieules, friends, or makes that deep man sick. I to

talk about any of these, I don't want any of these at all.

The one I want to talk today, but the one I want to focus

about is a willingness to prioritize somebody else's well being above our own. And

this is characterized in John chapter fifteen, when we read greater has no one,

Greater has no one than this. Greater love has no one than this.

Excuse me, my glasses. There you go. Greater love has no

one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. So let

me talk a little bit about costs. What is cost when we talk about

love costs? What are we talking about? Now? I'm not an economist,

but i will say this, love cost and it is an amount that

you have to spend to be paid for something, to obtain something. So

I'm going to illustrate that now. I'm going to illustrate that. Now I'm

going to get hold of the chocolate bowl. I'm going to say, for

anybody whose hand goes up first, the coin in their hand, who's got

a penny, they get a chocolate. That penny for a chocolate, that

seems a pretty good deal. These costs more than a penny each. Does

anybody want a chocolate for a penny? You got a penny? Right?

There? You go? First, hand up, take your pick, give

me the penny. There you go, Oh that's ten pence. Hey,

I got a good deal. Do you want to job three? There you

go? Did you have a penny? Oh no, say that for later,

say that for later. I'm not going to deal. I'm not going

to take. But the point I'm making is, you know, a chocolate

for a penny doesn't make sense, does it? Okay, it starts to

get a bit more meaningful. Now, who's got a pound for a five

pound note? You've got to have the pound in your hands. Okay,

well done? There you go, I've only got one five pound note,

so what's gone is gone. Now you're thinking I'm crazy. You're already thinking

I'm crazy. But do you know what? We often find these things on

our high streets where people will say do you want this for that? And

then you think it's got to be a catch here, it's got to be

a catch it. This doesn't work. Who wants ten pounds for a pounds?

I feel like a market trader who wants ten pounds for a pounds?

Well, I don't knowice, Oh hope, there you go. Okay,

so once it just cost them Abbie will just cost you ten pounces for some

sweets. Ada, What did you get for a pound? Five pounds?

Is that a good investment because you're going to keep it. I'm not wanting

to get back. This is not a game. I'm not going to get

the money back at the end. That's my investment. And i'd better check

these a real pound coin. Now, I just want to extend that story

one step further, but I'm not going to do this. Who would give

me one hundred pounds for a thousand pounds? Okay, one hundred pounds and

what there's not so many hands going on, who would give me a Okay,

there's hands going up. You get your hundred pounds. I sorry,

I haven't got a thousand pounds, but sorry, but here's my point.

Didn't some of you start to go, m one hundred pounds, I mean

giving a pound away. We're willing to do that. We drop pounds on

the floor. Sometimes we lose pounds and oh dear, it was sad,

but it's gone. But suddenly when I'm talking about one hundred pounds, now

you're going, that's all I've got in my wallet. And we're thinking that

that's all I've got. So now we're thinking, okay, am I willing

to risk one hundred pounds? Will they be really? Will it really be

a thousand pounds? Now there's a cost, and we weigh things up,

and that cost a pound That was easier pens for some sweeks. That was

easy. If I startacating it suddenly, and there's plenty of game shows that

do these kinds of things. They say, would you like to go for

another? Would you like to go higher? And all the crowd's going high.

Suddenly people are lose ten thousand pounds. What's the saying? The saying

says this. If the deal is unbelievable, it's unbelievable. So if I

genuinely said, and you've never met with feeble, and I wasn't, hopefully

I'm reasonably must worthy. But if you met someone on the street who said,

hey, I'm going to give you this envelope. He's got a thousand

pounds inside it. I'm going to give you this check. It's got a

thousand pounds written on. You can cash it for a thousand pounds if you'll

give me one hundred pounds, you'd be going, I'm not so sure about

this. I'm really not sure about this. And that's because we're wired to

be doubtful about value. And so when God comes and says I've paid the

price for you or sin, some folk, yeah, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure how it works. What's the trick? Do you want my

money? Let's explore that as we do now. Look at Luke chapter fourteen,

verses twenty five to twenty seven. One day, when loads of people

were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, anyone who comes

to me and refuses to let go of his father, his mother, his

spouse's children, brothers, sisters. Yes, even one's own self cannot be

my disciples. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow me can't be

my disciple. It's a price. God demands our attention. He wants your

attention today. He got your attention. In the midst of worship. I

had a quick look around, and there were people who were just lost in

eyes looking upwards, hands lifted heavenward. God, You're precious, she had

There's so many people who do not know the reality of that relationship. In

Mark it talks about this. Jesus answered them, and he was asked the

question, you know what's the greatest commandment? And he answered this, the

first of all commandments, Hero Israel, and the Lord your God is one.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with

all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

This is the first commandment, love God. And then it goes on to

say the second is this that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There

is no greater commandment than these. I read earlier on that man would down

his life for his friends. Here we're talking about neighbors. If your neighbors

suddenly needed your most precious possession. I don't know what. Actually, let's

pause ro and just close your eyes and think about something that you've got at

home that's a precious possession. A precious possession might be a mobile phone,

it might be a picture. It might be a piece of jewelry, it

might be a piece of china. Then and your neighbor says, can I

borrow that from you? So can open your eyes. Now you've got a

picture of something that I'm not going to ask you what it is. That's

going to be to you and God, but pictures precious thing. And now

your neighbor says, can I borrow it? Can I borrow it? How

many of you are readily? Yeah, you can have it? You can.

This is my most precious thing. We're not are we We're going No?

No, this is too precious. But how much more press are you

to God? You are so precious to God? How can I say that?

Well? We read in John three point sixteen, and we know this

to be true. This is how much God loved the world and loves the

world. He gave his son, his one and only son, that whosoever

believes in hun should not perish, but have ever lasting life. Now.

I don't know how this compares to the pounds and the ten pounds and the

hundreds, but everlasting life, just to put my trust in God. It

seems like a simple transaction and it is genuinely available. Twenty four to seven.

You don't have to come to church to turn to God. You don't

have to be sitting with a Christian. A friend of mine who worked in

Saudi Arabia for many, many many years whilst he was he wasn't a Christian

when he went there, and he came back and he sought me out.

He sought me out and he said, Dave, I want you to know

I've become a Christian. I went, oh, that's interesting. How did

that happen? Then he said, I was walking down a beach in sad

Arabia and the sky and he said, I was in a bit of a

desperate place and I laid down in the sands and I just looked up at

the heaven and said, God, if you're there, make yourself real to

me. I desperately need you now. And he said, in those few

moments, shooting stars started flying across the sky, and he said it was

it was like light came down and he sent to God's presence and he said,

I'm here for you. And he had a conversation now on a beach

in Saudi Arabia with God. And he got and God said to him,

read my book. He said which book? He didn't know? He said,

the Bible. Why don't you read the Bible? Read the story of

my son. Read how I sent him to pay the price for the wrong

things that you do, what we call sin, and what we did.

He went home, he found a Bible. He had to I think he

had to look through lots of boxes and the dusty old Bible. He opened

up the Bible. He read all the gospels. Over a couple of weeks.

He gave his life to Christ. And he's never turned back since that

unbelievable gift. Jesus, God's only son to pay the price for you and

for me. So what does love cost me? Do you know what?

Anybody run out of love in the last so far in twenty twenty four,

at some point there was something you were doing. He went, Enough's enough.

I haven't got anymore anybody. I could put my hand up, anybody

else takeue a few hands, And I'm not sure, but do you know

what, I've run out of love. Those are the moments we have to

turn it on and say I need some more of your supernap because it's one

of the gifts that God gives us is love. He gives un jeez,

he gives it. Where we run out, Let's keep on asking. Give

more. Help me love my boss, help me to love my neighbors,

help me to love my snotty child. Have I just ressed a few,

but somehow just about it. You've a child who's screaming their head off,

they've got gunk everywhere, and you've got a choice or not, and you

might pick them up like this, you're quite practice to pick up. Not

just like this. Well, that's the hug that doesn't feel like love,

that's just touch. And when you hug them, you know you're already thinking

I'm going to have to shirt. You're already thinking that. You are already

thinking that. But do you know what when that child who's crying because they're

up starts to yield sense the love the person that's hugging them, being stiff

like a hedgehog dog, they start to yield, they start softening, and

eventually they cleil up and they her up part because beating. Let me ask

you a question, isn't that was the last time you curled up? Do

you know? Heartbeat for you? Those lists at home? Do you know

I've been talking about God's tn and only son that leaves him should not perish,

should not die full of sin, should not leave because God said to

his only son. And so when I say love costs me for you,

I'm ba cle summing up a few lines from a Christmas carol. Christine says,

what can I give him? As I am? If I were a

shepherd, I would bring up if I were a wise man, I went

half, what can I give my heart? I go back to those two

commements Jesus said the first time is I love? God gets everything. If

we spend all laughing at this, we get the wrong perspective. We get

the wrong perspective. In time, we get the wrong perspective. And how

problem is some of our problems feel like when we get the right perspective and

them or their rucks in the car part I've told me before, but it's

still be close. I had the privilege of work happened many years ago.

And you sleep in the tropics. You you make sure there's no buzzy things,

the mosquitos playing a mosquito and you check inside the mosquito net to make

sure there's no mosquit there, and they tuck it all in, and you

think, okay, some play inside the mosquito net. I can go to

sleep now. To be honest, I do you think that okay? Or

ce meant safe? Other things? Until I woke up running and on my

pillow was on my pillow was a great being, on great big clawse my

film. If you want to go there, you know, not so alien,

you know that kind of that kind of beagles, and leaped out of

the bed. I leapt across the bed, and then I didn't feel I

was far enough away, so I actually pulled the the mosquito sling and my

bed. Looking at this pillow on my below was a Raysis that was that

long? It was that long? Now, primagnities are just insects. They

can't bite you. They're not really that interested in you. But I tell

you, when it was that close to my eyes, I was terrified.

But do you know what, as soon I stepped back, I got a

right perspective on the problem. I got dressed and put the prag mantis outside

and let it go on. It's very vain. Sometimes we get a wrong,

wrong perspective on problems. They are so big that we can't even pray

about them. Sometimes we get a wrong perspective on problems and we can't even

tell people. The enemy loves to whisper in our ears and say, see,

you can't even solve this little thing, and suddenly it becomes a bigger

and bigger mountain, and then we can't talk about it. Then we can't

pray about it, and suddenly we're lost. Scripture says God is able to

do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. If you've got a pragmantis in

your life this morning, I want to pray about it. I don't mean

a literal praying mantis by away. I don't suppose anybody's had that problem this

morning over breakfast. But my point is this, Sometimes we need a fresh

perspective. So let me close my let's close ours, and we're going to

pray. We're going to pray, Father, thank you for the best gift

of all of all. Lord. Sometimes we don't even understand the transaction,

but Lord God, as we gave away pounds and got something more. Father,

we do understand that there is a great return for an investment. Lord

God and Father, we want to invest our lives in your kingdom purposes.

Father, we want to put in you. We want to say thank you

for your son Jesus. And if anybody who's got their eyes closed, somebody

who's listening online, somebody who's listening later says this, let's say know this

Jesus that Dave's talking about, I want to know more. Please pick up

the phone, leave us a phone message, send us a WhatsApp message,

speak to me after. If that's you, I'd love to show you more

about Jesus, why he came, why God sent him, and how you

and I can have a relationship with him day by day for an eternity with

him. But I just want to get rightly focused now. I just want

to ask you, with our eyes closed, if there is a problem,

a circumstance, a situation that is overwhelming your mind. Your mind is full

of it. When you wake up in the morning, you think about it,

when you go to bed at night, you think about it. I'd

like you to stand I'm not going to ask you what it is. I'm

just going to bring our circumstances to God. But if you at home,

please stand listening later, please stand in this moment here in the room.

If there's an overwhelming situation that consumes you right now, would you stand,

because I'm going to pray and I'm going to believe God's going to bring breakthrough.

God's going to bring breakthrough to you. God's going to bring breakthrough in

your circumstances. And then for some people standing, that's jobs. For other

people, it's a difficult relational situation. For others, it's a health circumstance,

a health situation, a prog. Notice a doctor has said to you

that, well it could be this, this or this. Since the Father

whisper in my ear and say, you don't need to worry about it.

Not that it doesn't need treatment, but it's not that great, big long

list of things. It's just one and I can deal with that one thing.

So Father, we stand before you now in need the firstly, lift

us up, those that are standing, Lift us up, Oh God,

Lift us up, Oh God, that we would get to a place where

we can look back at circumstances. We can look at our situation, we

can look at our empty bank, balance, and we can start to get

a right perspective on these things. And so Father, we choose to look

at our circumstances again, now from me active where there's a storehouse, from

heaven, where there's a provision from God. And Lord we press into all

that we are, and Lord we pray for breakthrough. So Father, as

we see the new circumstances, the different perspective, Father, I pray for

change, prognosis. I pray for different MRI scans. I pray for a

different view of the same thing I pray for I pray for a release of

finances into your situation. I pray for a job application. I pray for

reprioritization of applications. Yours is at the bottom of the pile of Lord,

would you bring it to the top. And Lord God, we pray that

Lord you can do as we put our trust in you. As we put

our hands in the hands and the man who stealed the water, we put

our hands in Jesus' hand, and we say we want to walk with you

right now, Jesus, through this circumstance, through this situation. We're not

going to do it alone, because you're with us. We're not going to

do it, because we're going to tell someone else and they're going to pray

with us, and they're going to pray for us, and they're going to

ask, is how it's going. Oh God, we leave it all in

your hands and say, let your will be done in Jesus' name. Amen.

Wrush your team mhm