August 27, 2023 / Loving Others Well

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

for the life we're searching for. Please take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

22 today as we continue our message series called Out of the Shadow. Today we're going

to talk about loving others well. Loving others well. This is really a relationship series

where we're talking about what it means to get out of the shallow end of relationships

and get into the deep end of relationships and love others well. I think that we would

all agree this is an incredibly important type of a message, an incredibly important

time for us to mirror what the world ought to see about relationships. In Matthew chapter

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

22, let's stand together. I'm going to read several verses beginning in verse 35. The

text we actually began last week, this is part two of what I started last week, where

Jesus is giving us what we know as the great commandment. Now you know the background behind

this, the Pharisees and the Sadducees are trying to trip Jesus up as it pertains to

the commandments. If they can get Jesus to say one commandment is more important than

another, they can falsely accuse him of not being the Messiah, not being truly sent from

God. So they send this lawyer to try to trip him up. In verse 35 we pick it up. One of

them, a lawyer, asks him a question, testing him. Teacher, which is the great commandment

in the law? And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.

The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments

depend the whole law and the prophets. Jesus gives us profound answer that we quote to

this day that is such an important answer to the question that was asked. And it should

be one of the guiding verses of your life. Let's bow together. Father, in Jesus' name,

by the power of your Holy Spirit, illuminate this text for us today so that we might know

exactly how to love well. We ask this in Jesus' name, all God's people said. Amen. Please

be seated if you would. I absolutely love our graphic for out of the

shadow. It looks like the deep end of the ocean, right? It shows a mountain in the background.

It shows the water, a shallow side, and then it shows the deep side. And just in commemoration

of that graphic that I left so well, I've kind of been searching out ocean movies, deep

sea movies to watch. Have you ever noticed that every ocean movie is a disaster movie?

It's always about a shipwreck. Think Titanic if you would. Or the perfect storm. It's always

something where things don't work out well, right? And so this last weekend, the last

couple of days, I decided to watch a movie that I've never seen before and it was a movie

made in Australia about a shipwreck of five young people whose boat capsized out off the

Australian coast. Really encouraging movie. Four out of the five die of shark attack.

Really encouraging movie. And it illustrates the fact that when you get into the deep end,

there are all kinds of dangers that are present. In the course of the movie, you not only see

these four that are striving to get to this little island about ten miles away that they're

swimming to with a great white shark circling them all the way. And you know exactly what's

going to happen. At the same time, it goes from that shark to other great and beautiful

places in the bottom of the ocean that you want to see, that you want to be around. And

it just perfectly illustrates the fact that wherever there is the deep, there is the beauty

as well as the risk. And that's true of relationships as well. Sometimes we don't want to go deeper

in relationships because we're afraid of the sharks that lurk below the surface at the

same time. Other beautiful, amazing things lurk beneath the surface. One of my great

experiences in life has been scuba diving and snorkeling off the coast of the Bahamas

where we were able to spend a week or so about fifteen years ago, something like that, even

longer ago. My friends and I were out snorkeling and we would go down thirty feet or below.

We could see about fifty feet to the bottom. And I saw some of the most beautiful marine

life I've ever seen in my life. Manta rays, barracuda. At one point I saw a shark big

enough to make me his breakfast or his lunch, but for some reason, thankfully he wasn't

interested in me in that day. But I saw all kinds of beauty at the same time I was captured

by the danger that was involved. And I have to tell you today, the reason we don't often

go deeper in relationships is because we're afraid of the danger that's involved. We could

be hurt. We could be in some way have trust violated. I began to think about relationships

and how important it is to go deep and I realized that in my lifetime I've experienced a lot

when it comes to relationships. All the great things in life and all the rough things in

life usually happen through relationships. I've experienced all kinds of ridicule, all

kinds of mockery as a young boy growing up with hearing aids as being the only guy in

the classroom that was deaf and not able to keep up with everyone else. That's years and

years ago. That doesn't affect me today, but it's one of those things that I kind of remember.

As an adult, I've weathered all kinds of criticism and slander and all kinds of conspiracies

against me as an individual or as a pastor even. You might surprise you in the church,

some people don't like the pastor. It's hard to believe, isn't it? But on the other side

of that, I've experienced the best of relationships. Incredible loyalty, incredible love, incredible

amazing commitment to help bring out the best in me and that I see that in other relationships

as well. But until you go deep, you don't get to experience any of those things. This

whole series is about going deeper. It's about taking risks. It's about loving God in a deeper

way and loving those around you in a deeper way as well. So let me ask you some questions

as we get into Jesus' text here. What if we learn to love with more investment, more

dedication, more depth? How would our lives change? How would the lives of those around

us change? What if we loved as a lifestyle, an expression of our faith? What if our faith

met, our faith in Christ met that we would love to the same level that He loved us? What

if that became a hallmark of our lives? How would that change family? How would that change

personal relationships? How would that change culture if we were able to love the way Christ

called us to? How can we love our neighbor well? How can we love others well?

Well last week we began looking at Jesus' statement to the Pharisees and the lawyers

and He gave first of all the first part of that great commandment. Love the Lord your

God with all of your soul, with all your might, all your strength. And we focused on what

it meant to love God well. To realize that God's love for us is what initiates all this.

That we don't have the ability to love God well without God first loving us and we explore

that. We spend some time in that. Today is the second part of that where Jesus said the

second is likened to it that you love your neighbor as yourself. Today I'm going to use

the world's oldest illustration to talk about what it means to love God well and then love

others well. And it's what we call the vertical and the horizontal illustration. That is if

our vertical relationship with God is strong that means our horizontal relationship with

other people is also going to be strong. But if we don't have a strong vertical neither

will we have a strong horizontal. So let's talk about that vertical foundation first

of all. The vertical foundation begins there in verse 37. You shall love the Lord your

God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. And as

you know Jesus is responding to these men trying to entrap them. And I just want you

to see here by way of remembering what we said last week that the highest value that

Jesus Christ put on his relationship with us is that it is a relationship characterized

by love. Not about religion. Not about good work. Not about having a perfect past. It's

about a relationship that we have with him. And when you read this response that Jesus

gave to the lawyers you come to the same conclusion that we all would have to come to. God desires

for each of us to be in relationship with him and he makes it possible through Jesus

Christ. You and I it's possible for any of us in this room to have a relationship with

God through Jesus Christ. In fact if you leave today without a relationship with God through

Jesus Christ it's because you want to leave without that relationship. He's made it possible

for you to have it no matter what your past is like. No matter what your present is like.

No matter how fearful you may be about having a deep relationship with God. Jesus has made

this possible for it to be real in your life. Don't leave without Jesus today. Don't leave

without him. Because it is the foundation for every other kind of relationship. This

vertical foundation that we have. Jesus Christ came to demonstrate that. In fact he came,

he revealed the Father to us, he redeemed us by paying for our sins on the cross. And

that's what the Gospel is all about. You know I love to talk about the Gospel. And the Gospel

is fully involved here in Matthew chapter 22 verse 35 and following. When I share the

Matthew 22:35

Gospel I love to share it out of Ephesians 2. The first ten verses of Ephesians 2 say

just about everything you need to know in a capsule form about the Gospel or the good

news of Jesus Christ. Some people think the Gospel is simply Jesus died, was buried, rose

again the third day. That's definitely in the center of the Gospel but there's more

to it. Let me spell the word Gospel for you. I love to do this. Most of you know how to

do this yourself. The G of the Gospel has to do with God's character. God's character.

Ephesians 2 talks about the mercy of God, the love of God. God's character is that he's

a loving merciful God who doesn't want to punish us for our sin and at the same time

the Bible reveals him as a just judge who will by no means let the guilty go unpunished.

And that's a problem. Why? It's a problem because of the offense of sin. I mean it's

not a problem that God loves us. It's a problem that God is a just judge because of the offense

of sin. You and I, the Bible says all of us have sinned and fall short of God's glory.

And the Bible says in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our trespasses and sin. So the

offense of sin is a wall between ourselves and this holy yet loving God. The only answer

to that is Christ, the sufficiency of Christ. When Jesus Christ came and lived on this earth

he lived a perfect life and he laid his life down in sacrificial death so that our sins

would be paid for and we would have the possibility of a relationship with this holy and just

God, the sufficiency of Christ. Not the sufficiency of religion, not the sufficiency of good works,

not the sufficiency of anything else. Jesus Christ was sufficient to give us the open

door for a relationship with God. That's the S of the gospel. The P of the gospel involves

you personal response. See all that Jesus did on the cross made it possible for you

to turn from sin and put your faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and as Savior. But you have

to do that on your own. None of us as Christians in this room were Christians because our family

was or because we attended a church or because we've done good things like other Christians

are supposed to do. We have to personally respond to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Put our faith and trust in him. The E of the gospel is eternal urgency. This is forever.

It's life and death and eternal life and death. And that's why we're urgent about sharing

with you. Then the L of the gospel is life transformation. You know you can't have Jesus

Christ living inside of your life and still be the same person you were the day before,

the week before, the year before. Jesus changes us from the inside out. That's good news and

that is the gospel. Now the reason I share the gospel with you here is because that's

the basis of our vertical relationship with God. Again it's not religion, it's not good

works, it's purely the good news that Jesus brings us by dying on the cross to give us

eternal life. And once you enter into that you are loved unconditionally by God and have

the capability of loving him in return, loving him with all of your heart, with all of your

soul and with all of your might. You know I came to Christ many, many years ago but

I've never ceased being grateful for it. There have been a day that I can recall that

I wasn't thankful that I'm forgiven, especially when I sin. When I sin I'm really glad that

I have the forgiveness of Jesus purchased on the cross for me and I know you are too.

I'm grateful for what he's done for me and that really establishes the relationship I

have whereby I can love other people. We'll see more of that in just a moment but that's

the vertical. The next thing I want to point out of this text though is what I call the

important interpretation. Kind of a warning. And here's what you find in verse 39. Jesus

says the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now I want to pause

and just look at those two words as yourself for just a second. Many people read this verse

and they say, oh okay so before I can practice neighbor love I have to practice self love.

Before I can really love anyone else I have to love myself well but that's not what the

verse actually says. Some people read this and they take that approach and they go out

and they try to love themselves really, really, really well. But in my experience and according

to the scripture we already love ourselves really, really well. In fact we may love ourselves

too well, right? We have to deny ourselves in order to love other people well. I've noticed

that with each of our kids as they were growing up they loved themselves really, really well

early on. Have you ever been around a two year old that didn't love themselves more

than everybody else? That didn't want everything directed their way? You know what happens

when we see an adult that's really, really immature we say they're being a baby. Now

why do we say they're being a baby? Because they're acting like a selfish baby, like a

two year old. I say all about this, I say this, you do not have to learn self love before

you love other people. As a matter of fact you need to learn to deny yourself before

you love other people. And I'm going to tell you what that exactly means in just a moment

but first let me just say that the Bible warns us that in the worst of days, that the worst

of times, that the biggest problem will be that people are lovers of self. Paul actually

said this to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, but realize this, that in the last days difficult times

will come for men will be lovers of self, unloving, irreconcilable, lovers of pleasure

rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness even though they have denied

its power. Now we're not supposed to hate ourselves but neither are we supposed to cultivate

even more self love. So what's Jesus saying? Instead of that, here's what he's saying,

elevate your love for others to the same level of care you have for yourself. Would you feed

your neighbor when he or she is hungry? You feed yourself. Would you take care of them

if they're heartbroken and bleeding? You take care of yourself. And here's the key behind

it all, others are just as important in the eyes of God as you are. And aren't you thankful

they are? I mean that's the whole basis for why God sent his son Jesus to die for the

sins of the whole world. God so loved the whole world that he gave his only begotten

son. So the important interpretation we need to have in this verse here is we do not have

to pause and learn to love ourselves before we love others. Experience the love of God,

love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. The second is like unto it,

love your neighbor with that same vertical love that you have with God and experience

with God. So let's get to that place now. That place, that's what it means to have the

horizontal application there in verse 39. Love your neighbor. So this is based on everything

we have in the way of love from God. When you and I experience the love of God, we can

live life loving others well. I want you to take a moment and think about the life of

Jesus and how he interacted with people, how he loved people. Think about his selflessness,

think about his compassion, think about his service, he served everyone. Think about his

ultimate sacrifice and laying his life down on the cross. This is how Jesus lived it out.

And then Jesus gave these amazing commands to his disciples that were destined to follow

him, determined to follow him, and he gave these commands of love. John 13 is one of

the greatest. Listen to these words. A new commandment I give you that you love one another.

Even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know you

are my disciples if you have love for one another. If you remember last week we talked

about the four different words in the New Testament for love and the one that's in

this verse and all the verses I share today is agape love. This love is not friendship

love based on common interests. It's not erotic love based on sexual attraction. It's

not family love based on biological connection. It's unconditional love. Unconditional love

is love with no guarantee of response. It means that I'm called to love my neighbor

in spite of what my neighbor says or does to me, for me or against me. It means it's

not predicated on that. It's predicated on the fact that I'm already in a love relationship

with God himself. It's the kind of love that Christ has for me and the kind of love

Christ has for you and when we show it, when we demonstrate it, we stand out in a very

broken world and that's what Christ intended. In the Luke account of this great commandment,

Jesus follows the statements that we've been looking at today. Love the Lord your God with

all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. The second is like a good love your

neighbor as yourself with a parable and it's the parable of the good Samaritan. And in

that parable Jesus pointed out a man who was robbed and left for dead on the side of the

road and two religious leaders passed him by and didn't stop to help him at all. And

then finally the Samaritan stopped and the Samaritan was not of the same ethnicity, didn't

have anything in common with the guy on the side of the road. He wasn't the same religion

but he showed compassion. And Jesus told this story, this parable in response to the question

who is my neighbor? Love your neighbor as yourself but who's my neighbor? And then you

have this parable. And after Jesus tells this amazing parable, he says go and do the same.

You want to know how to love your neighbor? You do what the man in this story did. He

loved without any hope of return, without any expectation of response at all. He just

loved. He just loved. I think that's a pretty powerful illustration and a pretty timely

response after Jesus teaches that. So show mercy on those, not just in your family or

in your circles but show mercy and compassion on the neighbor in every direction you can

possibly imagine. And one of those great conversations about love in the Bible, and there are a lot

of great conversations about love in the Bible folks, I mean go to the book of 1 John and

look at all the references to love. I'm going to pull up 1 John chapter 4 for just a moment

1 John 4 · chapter mention

and read several verses in 1 John chapter 4, verse 7 and 8 and then verse 11. That's

1 John 4:7

1 John. And I want you to notice how many times the word love is used. And each time

it's used, it's used in the agape form of love. Beloved, let us love one another for

love is from God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does

not love does not know God, for God is love. And then beloved, if God so loved us, we also

ought to love one another. You don't have to wonder why John called himself the disciple

whom Jesus loved, right? I mean he's all about love. Seven times in those three verses he

uses the word love, agape love, agape love, agape love, agape love. And once the word

beloved, which means I know that I'm beloved, I know that you're loved with that same kind

of love. So John's reflecting everything that Jesus said as he gives those verses. So the

obvious question after you read that is how do we do that? How are we supposed to love

with that kind of love? That's hard, that's difficult, how do we do that? And he answers

in verse 19 of 1 John, and I want you to see it on the screen and I want you to say it

with me. Are you ready? We love because he first loved us. You talk about simple, profound

truth. We love. After all those commands to love, seven times he says love, love, love,

love, love. We love because he first loved us. I want you to let that settle in on you

for just a few minutes. We don't love because we have learned the psychology of it. We don't

love because we've got great experience at it. We don't love because we want to love

necessarily. We don't love because just we're supposed to love necessarily. We love because

we've been loved. The way you know how to love is look at how you are loved by Jesus

Christ. Now that's why it's so important for us to begin this with a vertical relationship

because once you know how much you are loved by God, you are able to love others. So let's

listen to the practical application of this. Just bear with me for a minute. We love God

because he first loved us. Amen? We love others because he first loved us. We love our family

because he first loved us. We love our neighbors because he first loved us. We love the church

because he first loved us. We love the lost because he first loved us. We love people

who are different because he first loved us. We love the difficult people in our life,

the annoying people in our life because he first loved us. We love our enemies because

he first loved us. Are you with me? Say amen if you're with me. We love because he first

loved us. How many in this room are loved by God but you just register your

understanding that you're loved by God? You're part of the we. We love because

He first loved us. If this is true then that means I can love you regardless of

your response because He first loved me and you can love me regardless of my

response because He first loves you. So how do you love people who can hurt you

or who do fame you or who lie about you? You love them because they first loved

you. How do you love people who ignore you or ghost you or slam slander you? You

can love them because He first loved you. We love because He first loved us. I

want to tell you friends you can do this in the power of Christ. You may not want

to do this. It may not be easy for you to do this but you can do this in the

power of Christ and we can transcend this eye for eye, life for life kind of

culture we're in. This cancel culture where if you say something or do

something wrong against me you are out of my life buddy. You're completely out. We

can transcend that by loving even when they do something to us that's hurtful

and painful. Now you may need boundaries and you may need extra grace and you may

need time in order to do that but you can love in spite of it all.

That means we turn on that big light. If we can let that illustration of a big

light called love get turned on because we are first loved by God and you shine

it without blinking to everyone no matter how they respond to you that's

what it means to love because you were first loved in spite of whatever anybody

else does for you. What an incredibly weighty and yet amazing command. Love the

God the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your

mind love your neighbor as yourself. Now verse 20 is the last verse of this

section we've been looking at and I want to take just another moment and look at

this again. Notice what it says in verse 20 on these two commandments depend the

whole law and the prophets. So I wonder how many of you have heard a message that

talks about that verse right there or read a book that talks about that verse

right there on these two depend all of the law and the prophets. Why would Jesus

say that? Why would Jesus say that the 10 commandments are really dependent upon

loving God and loving others. They're built on loving God and loving others.

When we see the 10 commandments we don't see them that way do we? We see the 10

commandments as being pretty black and white, pretty harsh, pretty

prohibitive and if you get into the theology behind the 10 commandments you

know they're an expression of God's character. They're an example of how God

wanted his people to live and also evidence that we need a Savior because

we can't keep those 10 commandments on our own and the legalist looks at the

10 commandments given in the scripture and says oh man that means that that I've

got to keep these commands or I don't love God and if I don't love God then

thunder will come and start crashing and lightning will strike me and and I'll

perish. That's kind of the way we look at the 10 commandments but as you look at

what Jesus said in verse 20 keep in mind he's quoting back the Shema of Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 6:4

chapter 6 verse 4. Hear O Israel the Lord I God is one God you shall love the

Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind love

your neighbor as yourself. He's quoting a thousands and thousands of year old

tech that is based on the 10 commandments given in Deuteronomy 6 and

Exodus 20. There's a connection between loving God well, loving others well and

those 10 commandments. So I summarized the first four of those commandments last

week and the first four of those commandments are all about the vertical

relationship our interaction with God. I'll go over them very very quickly with

you for just a moment. Those first 10 are by the way before I do this let me just

keep in mind that even though the 10 commandments are so prohibitive in

nature thou shalt not they are for us. Now you know this is true when our kids

were growing up they were always on bikes and trikes and running around in

the yard and and whenever I would see a child moving towards the street then I

would go all commandment on them right I would say don't go in the road. Now if our

child had stopped and said why are you being so negative why are you being so

harsh? My answer would have been I want to save your life I want you to live to

tomorrow stay out of the road. Now I was giving them a commandment that was good

for them that was prohibitive and sounded very negative. All of God's

commandments are for us they're for our benefit they're for the benefit of all

around us. So expressing the 10 commandments relationally because that's

what we're talking about loving God and loving others how do they sound? How do

they reflect love for God? Last week we looked at commandment number one you

should have no other gods and we talked about what it means to love God

exclusively. If you want to love God well with all your heart soul and mind don't

love anything else in the way of God love God exclusively. Commandment two love

God personally not in a graven image don't try to reduce God down to a sad

answer a pet answer or a visual of some kind. Love him personally for his

character for who he is. Commandment number three don't take his name in vain

love God honorably. Command number four observe the Sabbath that simply means

love God by being with him spend time with him move away rest from your

labors take the labors and put them aside and spend time with God. That's how

you love God well. But the next six commandments the second set of

commandments here talk about what happens when we love others well respect

others well. Now before I give you these next six I want I want your attention

for just a moment I don't I don't think I've lost it but when you dive into the

ten commandments you kind of wonder ah somebody wandered off on commandment

number three or four. I want you to listen real carefully here's why I think

this is significant I think it's unique that these commandments are about

loving people beyond friendships most of the time we think of our neighbor as our

buddy our friend my neighbor next door or maybe somebody that lives on my

cul-de-sac or somebody I see in the grocery store or somebody I see at the

workplace but neighbors remember anybody most particularly those that are not

like you not like you at all not around you at all think beyond friendships

think beyond your neighborhood think beyond your workplace think of culture

think of society think of the world when you see the word others think of all

others how can I live and how can I love but benefits all others that I possibly

might come into contact with I may never speak to them I may never be around them

but how do I love them well after all again Jesus loved the whole world and

gave his life for them how do we do that so having said all that I want to look

at this next six commandments very briefly about how do these commandments

reflect love for others commandment number five it's the commandment that

says honor your mother and father I love the little catch at the end of that

says that your days may be long upon the earth I used to stress that part of that

to my kids by the way when they learned the Ten Commandments but here's the

relational expression of that love others by honoring your family do you

know what happens when the family breaks down you know what happens when no honor

is given in the family you have a culture that doesn't have roots it

doesn't have direction love others by honoring your family commandment number

six love others by valuing every life the Ten Commandment there number six is

thou shalt not murder well we see that's pretty black and white but basically

it's emphasizing the sanctity of life as a whole it means that we care about

everyone from conception to the grave God values every life and love values

every life as well you cannot advocate taking innocent lives and still love

people commandment number seven thou shalt not commit adultery let me just

phrase this relationally love others by respecting vows that's a commandment

against committing adultery and loving people means we keep our vows to each

other and we respect others vows to the people that they've made vows to and

that's how you interact and love people well by honoring and respecting vows

commitment number eight do not steal love honors by honoring their possessions

by not trying to get their possessions from them honoring them as their

possessions what God has blessed them with not what you want to have and then

number nine love others by being honest that is thou shalt not lie living with a

sense of integrity to build up the trust that we actually have with each other

and the trust that should be in culture it calls us to the honesty expressed by

loving people with truth and then commandment number ten love others by

learning contentment don't covet your neighbor's wife the commandment says or

his donkey which I confess I've never confessed or coveted anybody's donkey

that I can remember in my lifetime but these are practical applications for

that day and that time love others by learning contentment so having walked

through those six let me just ask you let me challenge you what would happen

if we loved others in these ways what would happen if we loved in such a way

honored God's values honored people around us lived in such a way that says

how I live matters because I left God with all my heart and I love all those

around me how I live my life matters I would say this when we live this way the

gospel has credibility light is shining salt has been taken out of the salt

shaker and is sprinkled in our culture and we have a chance to point to Christ

this by chance someone would say how is it that you live your life the way you

do how is it that you love me even though I've been spiteful to you we have

an opportunity to say we love because he first loved us how is it you weather

these storms how is it you handle all this with patience we love because he

first loved us see that ought to be the testimony of the church and Jesus said

that should be the testimony of the disciples they'll know that you follow

me and that I came because of your love here's what I want you to do today I

want you to dive into the deep end of your relationships with those things in

mine and not fear the sharks and not fear all the things that you anticipate

might happen and look at the beauty of deep relationships and look at what you

can invest in others in the way of relationship by loving them well in

spite of how they respond to you you should love the Lord your God with all

your heart with all your soul with all your mind and the second is like unto

it Jesus said you shall love your neighbor as yourself today when you leave

I want you to leave with the idea of I'm gonna align my life with this vertical

and the horizontal and I'm going to do it in the power of Christ not just

because I ought to but because he first loved me just a moment I'm gonna give

you an invitation to I'm gonna invite you first of all on your way out to

stop by the decision station they're lit up back here and these are places

where people are there they're present to talk to you about any decisions you

may want to make to follow Christ and that decision to follow the gospel by

putting your faith and trust in Jesus is so incredibly important and we will man

those stations before we have this closing word of prayer just a moment

secondly I invite you to our guest reception room right outside the center

exit door and across the hallway I'd love to meet you if you're a guest here

today tell you just a little bit about our church takes about ten minutes and

have a little gift for you love for you to stop by third I want to invite you

to come back next week next week we're gonna talk about marriage and how this

diving deep into marriage will be such an important thing for us and following

week another aspect of relationships and so forth for these next six or seven

weeks but before we do all that before I close you in prayer I want to introduce

a special couple to you today and many of you may have already received this

little brochure little flyer that introduces Alex and Morgan far I'm gonna

ask him to stand right now if you would right where you are and come on up here

if you went on the stage so people can see you this is Alex and Morgan far I

want you to give them a welcome while they're coming out by the way

thank you Alex and Morgan and our little brochure here tells about their lives

and we tell us that they they have two children this has been a long process

that we've been in and talking to them about coming as our 81 pastor that

we're calling Alex to do but it's also been a little delayed because five weeks

ago you had your most recent child and so we kind of didn't want to rush the

thing you know and we spent some time doing that the way we call people to our

church is through the process of searching and then putting them before a

personnel committee and our personnel committee is a great group of

individuals that had the opportunity to interview both of you and came back with

the unanimous recommendation that we present you to the church and so in just

a few moments we're gonna do that but I wanted just you to be on the stage

they're gonna go out to the guest reception area guest central area and

we'll see you right after the service okay would you one more time let them

know how much you appreciate them being here today

now the way we call ministers on staff is is this way we we meet them we vet

potential leaders who would come to be interviewed and we spend time with them

and then we bring a recommendation to our personnel committees I've shared

and that's what we've done with Alex and his wife and again it was unanimous from

them then we introduced him to the congregation and we asked the

congregations to simply affirm them so I'm gonna do that here in just a moment

and we have this information I hope that you'll take the opportunity to meet them

out at guest central at the end of this prayer but if you today will join us in

inviting them to come as a one pastor and why then I would you indicate that

by standing with us right now if you would join with us in that this is time

to affirm that and we thank you for doing that and I want to lead us in a

closing word of prayer and then you're dismissed please get to know them today

if you will father in Jesus name today as we move out of this building into the

world I pray for the light and the salt that you've called us to be to be in

operation today because of the love that you've given us Lord today help us to

love because we have been loved by you I ask this in Jesus name amen God bless

you have a wonderful Lord's Day