”The Love Story” February 14, 2026 Pastor Tony Sandoval

Hello and welcome to church. We're so

glad that you were able to join us here

at the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for our worship time. I hope that

your time is blessed. I hope the music

blesses your soul. I hope the message

touches your heart. And if if it does,

we would be honored if you would share

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church here at McDonald Road and hope

that you are blessed in your worship

together with us today. God bless and

enjoy our worship service.

>> Happy Sabbath church.

>> Great job, Adventures.

You look great. Awesome. Um, it's it's

not easy, right? But you're doing a

great job. And congratulations to the

the parents and the staff. Mr. Ryan Van

Dawson looking sharp. Today's uh sermon

is titled The Love Story. There's a lot

of love stories we hear around here and

there. How many countless love songs,

right? silly love songs and poems and

Hallmark movies and chick flicks, right?

But there's really only one love story

and it's the one that this holy book

tries to convey to us. It's the story of

God's love for us.

One of the stories I remember regarding

love growing up that really stood out to

me has to do with the independence of

Scotland. And it was so long ago like

700 years ago, early 1300s that the

history is mixed in with legend. So, uh

the details of what happened in

actuality are a little fuzzy. But from

what I understand um and there and

there's statues of this gentleman

William Wallace and uh Edenberg and

Aubberine if if you go so he's really

looked looked highly upon um but what is

is is interpreted is that he was a

trained warrior that went around Europe

and then he wanted to go back to his

hometown of Scotland and and find a wife

and settle down but because of all the

political and rest. Scotland was under

English rule at the time. His wife dies

and he fights for justice of his wife,

which morphs into fighting for the

independence of Scotland from England,

which happens a few years after he dies.

And like I said, there's countless

stories like like that one. But I can't

help thinking about the story of of

God's love for us. And it's so similar

where he loves each and every one of us,

but he's also loving us as a people. And

he's he's gone to heaven uh preparing a

place for each and every one of us. And

and that's something so excited, so

exciting, right? That that we get to

look forward to. I wanted to share that

most love stories, if not all love

stories, shared three common traits. The

first one is like this awe factor, this

wow, the love at first sight. I got

swept off my feet, my night and shining

armor, right? Took my breath away. All

these expressions to uh try to explain

the first phase of falling in love. And

scientifically, the brain is producing

dopamine and oxytocin and and this

honeymoon stage could last at least 6

months, experts say, and it's to two

years. And and you're just blinded. The

second step in most love stories, it

there's a challenge, an obstacle, a

hurdle, a villain, you know, something

has to overcome the test of time. Was it

all um was it all just vapor or was it

actual love? And and so at the very end,

there's the final victory, right? They

ride off into the sunset and they live

how?

Happily ever after. In God's story, in

the love story, we also look forward to

that, right? That's the great hope. And

why does God's story of love for us? And

I could imagine he has awe for each and

every one of us. See, we're we're his

creation

that it's it's it's such a great love

that he would just wants to be with each

and every one of us, right? And I wanted

to share what makes that story so

amazing in an illustration. Let's say

how many of you adventurers like to

build stuff?

Do you like Legos and duplos and

building stuff maybe in the sand? And so

let's just pretend for one second that

sin is visible. Sin is is tangible and

quantifiable, measurable. And every time

you sin, you put a little brick down and

then it just accumulates and and you

have like a skyscraper

of of these little sins that have turned

so big. And let's just say that we could

see God's love so much bigger like a

mountain and it'll cover and it could

cover a multitude of sins like was read

in the scripture reading. That is what

makes the love story for God so

incredible amazing because it's we're

we're in this story, right? And and this

is what's being done and has been done

for us and and it'll be finally wrapped

up after the millennium when sin will

finally be eradicated once and for all.

If you have your Bibles, I'm going to

invite you to open to Genesis chapter

Genesis 29 · chapter mention

29. We're going to look at a story here

of Jacob and Rachel, and we're going to

compare it to also Adam and Eve. But if

you notice on on the screen on the

bottom left hand side, your bottom left,

it says love at first sight. So this

first part, we're going to look at the

awe, the first part of the three that I

mentioned that is so commonly seen in

love stories. So this verse says that

Leah's eyes were delicate, but Rachel

was beautiful of form and appearance.

Now, Jacob loved Rachel. So, he said, "I

will serve you seven years for Rachel,

your younger daughter." So, Jacob served

seven years for Rachel. And they seemed

only a few days to him because of the

love he had for her. So, that how's that

for a honeymoon sage, right? Seven

years. And we could we could also uh

say, well, the poor guy, you know, he

was in suspense. He was waiting to marry

her. And if you know your your Bible, uh

Jacob was kind of a scoundrel, right?

Because he had deceived his blind

elderly father Isaac and and uh swindled

his his brother Esau. So you could also

say, well, now he's like sort of paying

it back and he got his his just dessert.

But um let's just say that it was just

completely in love and honeymoon uh

stage for him. And then the the night of

the wedding after the seven years pass,

what happens? Is it Rachel?

>> No. Right. It's the sister. And then he

has to work another seven years to to to

finally officially

um be with Rachel. Although

we know that he was with her before

that, but he still had to complete the

the the 14 years.

And it's interesting how this this story

also portrays like the the awe but also

the work that was involved. So let's

look at how God intended it in the

beginning with Adam and Eve. You think

God intended love to be so difficult at

first? It was not God's original plan,

but sin came in. And so let's read from

Genesis chapter 1. It says, "Then God

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

blessed them." And I want to pause

there. In in the Bible, when we see the

the word blessing, it's an action. It

doesn't say that God blessed them and

said something. It says that he blessed

them. And we see this by comparing

scriptures like when he promised Abraham

the promised land and uh milk and honey.

You know, it's tangible things that they

could enjoy. So, using my holy

imagination here, when it says that God

blessed Adam and Eve, I want to say that

he he made like a little home for them.

maybe something beautiful. Uh maybe

arranged them like a banquet table with

food, with fruits. I don't know. But but

the blessing was there where Adam and

Eve were just I I guess so like

impressed like wow thank you thank you

Lord. So let's keep reading. And God

said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply.

Build the earth and subdue it. Have

dominion over the fish, the birds, uh

and every living thing that moves on the

earth." And God said, "See, I have given

you every herb that yields seed which is

on the face of all the earth and every

tree whose fruit yields to the seed or

yields seed to you and it shall be for

food." So God is saying, "Enjoy the

marriage, travel the world, enjoy all

the the creatures and eat all the food

you want and you don't even have to

break a sweat literally." So you could

imagine Adam and Eve, right? Going all

over God's creation. And how many of you

adventures like animals? Can you imagine

playing with like baby rhinos and baby

giraffes and baby elephants and baby

cougars and and you didn't have the the

risk or the danger of them attacking you

because nowadays we could only really

hug like like a domesticated cat or a

dog. But before sin, it was like all the

animals. And the beauty, church family,

is that we could look forward to this,

right? After sin's eradication, we're

going to look forward to this perfect uh

world that God has planned for us from

the beginning. And I I could I think we

would all agree that it's going to take

our breath away of how beautiful and how

amazing uh God has for each and every

one of us.

I wanted to mention one more thing

before we move out of this first ah wow

factor is proverbs chapter 4:23 it says

keep your heart with all diligence for

out of it spring the issues of life. How

did Eve fall in the garden of Eden?

Remember it was the serpent but that

serpent in Revelation 12 and Revelation

20 is known as the devil. So it was the

devil according to the Bible disguised

as a serpent. And in Genesis 3 it says

after sin that serpent now had to go on

its belly and eat dust. So what do you

adventurers think if the consequences

were now it had to be on its belly and

eat dust. What do you think the serpent

was before that?

>> It was wings.

>> Maybe it was on had legs or maybe even

wings. Isaiah chapter 30 talks about a

Isaiah 30 · chapter mention

flying serpent. So the devil knows how

to trick us and how to tr try to take

our awe and he's he did this with Eve.

He comes in a in a beautiful animal I

could imagine and then the animal starts

speaking to Eve. So it's like double

wow. And then Eve is suggested an idea

that she could be like God. And so it's

like three wows. And so I could imagine

Eve was just like mesmerized not only

with the animal but that it's talking

and what's being said. And unfortunately

she fell for it, right? Does God want us

to guard our heart? Does God want us to

reserve our awe for him? The wow for

him? Yes. And is there a lot of

competition out there with the devil?

>> Yes. Right. Could be video games, could

be the CGI and movies. Um I think the

popular thing now. So, you don't want to

miss uh Dr. Harvey's presentation this

afternoon at 2 is with artificial

intelligence. And it's just so

interesting on all these videos with AI

that looks so real. People are

commenting, well, you know, it's fake

because of this and because of that. And

so, you're looking at the clues and

you're like, is this real or is it fake?

So, I think now more than ever, we have

to with God's help keep our heart,

right? guard our heart because the devil

wants to trick us and wants us to fall

in love with other things that are not

God. So let's move on to the second

part. So we saw awe. Now we're going to

go to number two about the challenge but

specifically to our love story. We're

challenged by sin to love. And we're

going to break this down in three parts.

Uh working to pay the bills, working in

the marriage relationship which has to

do with love and also the pain in

childbirth as a consequence of sin. And

finally, we're gonna end on a happy

note, living happily ever after. So,

let's look at this first one with um

Jacob. It says, "Now, while he was still

speaking with them, Rachel came with her

father's sheep, for she was a shepherd."

So, what was her job? What was her

occupation? She was a what?

>> Shepherdist. She had her job. She was

busy. And then also we could see that

she was a good daughter because she was

taking care of whose sheep? Her own

sheep. Her father's sheep. So it's it's

almost like she had an outer beauty, but

she also had an inner beauty from what

we see in the Bible. I'm going to keep

reading. And it came to pass when Jacob

saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his

mother's brother, and the sheep of

Laban, his mother's brother, the that

Jacob went near and rolled the stone

from the well's mouth and watered the

flock of Laban, his mother's brother.

So, did Jacob get right to work as soon

as he saw Rachel?

Yes. And she was working. He was

working. And so, I want to talk to the

young people right now, especially the

young men. Okay? called me old school,

but we need to focus

on what we're studying, what we're going

to be working in, uh, if we're

interested in conquering a young lady or

wooing a young lady and courting her and

dating her, right? Um, because this is

part of the love. We need to find a job

according to the scripture and it's it's

part of the consequence of sin. So, it's

going to go something to this effect.

Young men, you're going to be probably

sitting by a coffee table. There's going

to be some lemonade, some cookies, or

maybe it's going to be in the backyard

barbecue. You're going to be given a

veggie dog, maybe a, you know, a diet

soda, caffeine-free or something like

that. And the question is going to be

uh it's going to be framed something to

this extent. So, what are you majoring

in or or what is your occupation? What

that concerned parent or grandmother is

really saying is convince me you have a

plan to take care of this young lady.

Okay. So,

we are supposed to hold that in high

priority. I remember when I was younger

and I was thinking about this whole

thing. I was like, "Man, I need a job if

I'm ever going to have any success in

taking her out to eat or, you know, I

can't show up in a bicycle. You know, I

have to have a car and all these things

that you all know what I'm talking

about." And um so learn a trade, right?

Uh go to get a college degree, work

under an apprenticeship, shadow

somebody, learn something because that

unfortunately is necessary in in this

life and we have to work to pay the

bills. Amen. Amen.

>> Okay. So, let's look at Genesis chapter

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

3. Then Adam said, sorry, then to Adam

he said, "Cursed is the ground

for your sake. In the toll in toll you

shall eat of it all of the days of your

life. Both thorns and thistles it shall

bring for you, and you shall eat the

herb of the field, and in the sweat of

your face you shall eat bread till you

return to the ground. For out of it you

were taken. For the dust you are, and to

the dust you will return. So it sounds

like pretty difficult life, right? Just

get out there, backbreaking work, sweat,

and then you die. And it's not all doom

and gloom. We have the hope that Jesus,

like I said, has a great plan for us.

And and and do not be discouraged. Psalm

Psalms 37:25

37:25 says, "I have been young and now I

am old. Yet I have not seen the

righteous forsaken, nor his descendants

or his children begging for bread." So,

we have to work hard, right? But will

God bless us if we're faithful?

>> Yes, he will. I pastored 5 years in

Atlanta. And

everybody was working hard like I'm sure

everybody in McDonald Road Church is is

working hard. And work is a blessing,

right? It's also part of the fourth

commandment. We are to work six days a

week. So, my head elder had a flooring

business. And when it was a season of in

installs, he was just so busy. And I was

trying to connect with him. I was trying

to visit with him. And he would leave

home so early and then come home super

late. And like five or six of the people

on his crew were also deacons and

members of the church. So I I had

figured, you know, killing several birds

here with one stone if I could connect

with them. And so they were like, "Why

don't you meet us for lunch?" And I was

like, "Okay." I would meet them and we

would have lunch like they would go back

to the work site and then in one of

those they were like pastor why don't

you come with us and spend the day and

see how we do it and I was like well you

know I really can't um moonlight because

it's an agreement I can't have another

job and they were like no no we won't

pay you but you just hang out with us

and and see see what it's all about and

I was like okay so I remember one day

they picked me up it was like 5 in the

morning and that material weighs a ton

whether it's carpeting and flooring and

all these things and we have to haul it,

pick it up, haul it to the site, and

then we get there. There were other

contractors where they thought they were

going to install, so they had to go

somewhere else. You all know what I'm

talking about, right? And I was trying

to keep up with them, but they were so

laser focused with those cutting and

this and that. And I was like trying to

talk, but they were like, "Can't talk,

pastor. You know, too focused right

now." So, I just grabbed the broom and I

was trying to make myself busy and just

broom sweeping around with the broom.

And and then when they had a break, I

would go and try to talk to them. And

then at lunch I spoke to them. But just

casually sweeping for that day hours I

had blisters all over my hands. And I

was I was humbled. I was so impressed

how hardworking people are and how it

how difficult it is out there. But this

wasn't God's original plan. It's it's a

consequence of sin that we are to sweat

and and break our backs to eat and

survive.

When we work when we go to the second

part in the second phase which is part

of the challenge working in the marriage

relationship we see that another

consequence of sin in Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

God said to the woman he said your

desire shall be for your husband and he

shall rule over you. I've heard several

times this scripture gets skewed and

twisted where God is portrayed as some

like chauvinistic showing preference uh

to to men over women. But here here's my

take on this. Just hear me out. In

Ephesians chapter 5, when Paul's writing

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

to the church in in Ephesus, he says,

"Husbands, what? Love your wives just as

Christ also loved the church and gave

himself for her." So, I don't know the

mechanics, if it was something in the

DNA strand that was broken, that was

missing, but because of sin, us men, we

have to accept the fact that we're not

as loving as women. Okay? And women,

because they have this motherly,

nurturing,

uh, something built into them, they're

more loving than us guys. When you're

reading Ephesians chapter 5, it doesn't

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

ask the wife to love the husband because

that's already what? It's already there.

It's already built in. But us men with

God's help do need to be more loving.

And what does that look like? That looks

like a daily surrender to God and have

him give us his love so that we could be

loving to others. And I want to affirm

all the men, okay? the grandfathers, the

fathers, the uncles, the the brothers.

If you're if you're doing a great job in

your role and you're loving, keep up the

good work. That's awesome, right ladies?

Let's let's uh continue to encourage

them to work with God's help to be

loving. And this conference, we have

such a great men's program through uh

it's called Blueprint for Men with Marty

Miller. And then here at our church, we

have Peter Turk that leads it out. So

there is help gentlemen for for you and

you know secular society now that I say

gentlemen secular society also notice

this notices this because there is a

difference between a man and a gentleman

right have you heard the term chivalry

is dead chivalry comes from medieval

times where the knight was trained to be

courageous and to be honorable to

protect and and and to help the weak. So

us men, we have that duty, right? We

have that role that we are called also

to to to live by. And it has to do with

love. It's it it's it's nothing uh out

of the ordinary. Uh have you heard the

the term you want to change the world,

be a loving father or a loving husband?

Have you heard that? Let's look at a

quote from Ellen G. wife and this is

from a book called Heavenly Places and

she says continue to cultivate the

regard, the attention, the kind words of

appreciation and the little courtesies

of life which kept love alive and which

they felt were necessary in gaining the

companions of their choice. I want to

pause right there. So she's basically

saying what? Continue the honeymoon

stage. Continue the awe at the

beginning. Keep cultivating that. I'm

going to keep reading. If the husband

and the wife would only continue to

cultivate these attentions which nourish

love, they would be happy in each

other's society and would have a

sanctifying influence upon their

families. They would have in themselves

a little world of happiness and would

not desire to go outside this world for

new attractions and new objects of love.

In other words, if the husband and wife

are maintaining the awe and the wow and

the honeymoon in their relationship, are

they going to be tempted to look for it

elsewhere?

according to this quote. No. Right. And

it's not 50/50. It's 100 100% 100%. So,

both of us in the relationship need to

roll up our sleeves. Right. And let's

talk about this word cultivate. Most of

us aren't from the agricultural

um environment. I'm I'm a city boy. But

when you cultivate a piece of land for

for crops, you have to sweep several

times. The first time you take big

boulders and trees, then you got to do

another sweep and take out the midsize

boulder rocks and then do a third sweep

or you take out all the the little rocks

and put top soil and then you plant the

crop and you have to take care of it is

is cultivating easy work. It's not. And

this is what we're encouraged to do to

cultivate love, keep the spark alive,

celebrate the victories.

And God invites us to do the same thing

with our hearts. Do we have stony hearts

that need cultivating by God? Yes. And

so we are to invite we are to invite him

to surrender. We surrender our hearts

and he's going to do the work. He's

going to break our stony hearts and

prepare it so that we could have the

love that we need. Let's look at this

last part of the second challenge in

loving because of sin. To the woman he

said what I will greatly multiply your

sorrow

and your conception in pain you shall

bring forth children. Can you multiply

something that's not there?

No. So apparently before sin when when

women were to give birth there was

probably some slight discomfort but not

the

life or death agonizing pain that we see

now. I was in both my children's

deliveries. So I have an idea what what

that all looks like. So that wasn't

God's original plan. But a comparison I

I would like to make is when children

are are are newborns and they're just

hours old, we're so so happy, right?

They've made it that far and then they

get a little older and we're celebrating

their days old and then they're weeks

old and then they're months old and and

each phase is just awe inspiring and

just wow, right? They're growing.

They're so beautiful and we celebrate

their birthdays, right? adventures. You

like when your birthdays are celebrated

and and so the victories are far and few

between and we we're we're we're so

encouraged because we see that and then

in marriage or in relationships

it's it's harder to see it. It almost

like blurs and it plateaus. But we

shouldn't allow it to, right? We should

continue to celebrate the anniversaries,

continue to keep that spark alive. What

do you what do you all think about that?

Okay,

I want to close up by focusing on this

happily ever after. God promises us in

Revelation 22:17.

Revelation 22:17

It says, "And the spirit and the bride

say, come. Let him who hears say come,

and let him who thirst come. Whoever

desires, let him take of the water of

life freely."

This is where we're at right now that

we're longing as God's church, as his

bride. We're longing with the spirit for

Jesus to return. Amen. But the previous

chapter, Revelation 21, when it's

talking about after the millennium, this

is uh Revelation 21 starting in verse 2,

it refers to the city as the bride. It

says, "Then I, John, saw this holy city,

New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven

from God, prepared as a bride adorned

for her husband." Don't you think that's

interesting that the New Jerusalem is

characterized by the people, by the

bride, us that are in that city? Doesn't

it like lead you to conclude that Jesus

is looking forward to being with us?

settle down and have a loving home and

live happily ever after. Uh I'm going to

skip down Revelation 29 starting in

verse 9. The angel to to John says

again, "Come, I will show you the bride,

the lamb's wife." And he carried me away

in the spirit to a great and high

mountain and showed me the great city,

the holy Jerusalem, descending out of

heaven from God, having the glory of

God. Jesus is in awe with us. He loves

us and he longs to be with us. He has

made provision and he died on the cross.

We are justified by his blood. But now

in this challenge, in this second part,

we are being sanctified and he is

preparing our hearts so that we could

see him face to face and we he will take

us up in glory. Amen. I'm going to

invite you all to stand up. We're going

to sing our closing hymn 75. The wonder

of it all. And in the in the song or in

the hymn, it says, "The wonder of it all

is that God loves me." Let's focus on

the wonder of God that he loves us. Let

us pray. Dear loving father, we thank

you Lord because you love us so much and

you constantly give us your blessings so

that we could try to understand just how

much you love us and how you have done

everything possible so that we could be

with you and live happily ever after.

Lord, take our hearts. We surrender our

stony hearts that you could cultivate

them, that you could soften them, that

your love could be in us so that we

could share it with others, that we

could uh whether we're in school,

whether we're at work, in the home, here

at church, that others could see and

feel your love because it is radiating

out of our hearts. Lord, we want you and

uh to come for us soon and we want to

see you in the clouds and meet you in

the air. We long for that day, Lord. And

we just ask a blessing on each and every

one of us that are here for all the

homes represented that we could have the

victory because we have trusted in you,

God, and in the love of Jesus. Bless us

now as we go and the rest of the Sabbath

that we could continue to enjoy your

many blessings. We love you and we ask

these things in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church

for worship. Each month we reach between

25 and 30,000 people with gospel content

online. We're looking to expand our

audiovisisual department this year and

looking to raise $30,000 in this

project. We would love for you.

Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church

for Worship. Each month we reach between

25 and 30,000 people with gospel content

online. We're looking to expand our

audiovisisual department this year and

looking to raise $30,000 in this

project. We would love for you to

partner with us on this and consider

making a donation to our audiovisisual

department as we look at expansion and

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bless each one of you and thanks again

for joining us here at the McDonald Road

7th Adventist Church.