Love That Never Fails | Matt Cameron

Crossing Family I am so happy that one of my best friends in

the whole world, Matt Cameron, the pastor at River Hills

Christian Church in Loveland, OH, is bringing the Word this

week. Matt and his beautiful wife,

Lindley, have two energetic sons, Will and Levi.

Matt is a third generation preacher who is passionate about

reaching a lost, which is evident in his preaching.

He's been a speaker at our Uncommon Men's Conference and is

a featured speaker at youth camps and summer camps all

across the United States. He loves the upcoming generation

and he is dedicated to raising them up to be leaders in the

church. Matt loves to fish and cheer for

the Oklahoma Sooners, which we won't hold it against them.

But I cannot tell you how important his friendship has

meant to me, not just in my marriage, but also in my

leadership and in my walk with Jesus Christ.

We talk together almost every single week, and it is my

profound honor to have him preach to us this weekend.

So would you put a big crossing welcome together for Matt

Cameron? Thank you, Thank you.

I got to tell you the honor is all mine.

To be here this weekend, it is such a blessing.

Clayton is my best friend. I know he said I'm just one of

his. I think he did that to be nice

to all the other preachers that you bring in.

But we know who number one is. Those should have been funnier

than that people. Come on, help me.

Hey, it is so good to be at The Crossing.

I love this church. I love so many people on your

team, so many people that are on staff, so many difference makers

and people that I've gotten to know from being here so many

times over the years. And I have to tell you what I

tell everybody about The Crossing, and that is if there

was any other church that I would be wanting to be a part of

besides my church, it's here. Like, you guys have such an

unbelievable impact on your region.

I love the vision of making this the hardest region to get from

hell from or hell, hell from on planet Earth.

And I just. I hope.

Yeah, absolutely. I hope you realize what a gift

it is to be a part of this church and to realize the

blessing that God has given you to be a part of this and to make

a difference because of it. And so today I just want to

welcome all of our campuses, welcome those of you inside and

online. We've been in this study of the

book of First Corinthians for quite a while, and today we get

to perhaps the most well known chapter in the book, 1st

Corinthians 13. If you have your Bibles, you can

go ahead and turn there, but I'm guessing this is a chapter that

so many people have heard, but maybe you don't fully understand

it and maybe this would be helpful for you.

Have you ever had one of those times in your life where you

thought you knew something like you thought you really

understood it and then later on you realize, oh, I didn't fully

grasp what that was all about? My guess is many of you think

you know your pastor Clayton pretty well.

I get to say that I've known him probably longer than most people

here. He has some family and some

people that knew him growing up. But for most of you, I've known

Clayton a long time. We became best friends when we

were 18 years old, our first night in Bible college together.

And one thing that you probably do know about him is when

Clayton goes all in on something like he goes all the way in,

like there is no halfway with Clayton Hensel.

He's all gas, no brakes. And when we were younger, we

used to go see movies, like go to the theater and see that.

I know that's not like as big of a thing anymore.

But in those days, this was this was a really big deal.

And when we go see a movie, Clayton would think that he

needed to become the main character like this is this is

who I am for the next few days, sometimes weeks.

And so we went and saw this movie one time called American

Outlaws. I haven't seen this in 20 years.

So I don't know if that's a movie I can recommend or not.

Don't remember everything of it, but it's like this modern day

western with Jesse James. So we go see this movie and

Clayton afterwards, he's like, we need to go to Walmart.

And we're like, why do we need to go to Walmart?

He goes, we got to we got to become Jesse James.

Like we got to go get cap guns and do this whole thing.

And so here we are, 18 year olds going in the toy aisle at

Walmart and going and buying cap guns.

And Clayton like bought everything that they had.

Like he bought the plastic belt. He had like two different

revolver cap guns that he could spin around and does this whole

thing. And so I know kind of nerdy for

18 year olds, but hey, it's Clayton all the way in.

So we come back to the campus, our small Christian College in

Joplin, MO, and he tells the guy that's driving the car, he's

like, stop here. Matt and I are going to get out.

And so we get out and we start just, you know, firing our cap

guns like we're in the wild, Wild West and we're about to

take over a Stagecoach. Like we're rolling down the

hill. We're doing this whole thing

just idiots. And so we go through the whole

deal, get to our dorm. It's curfew at our college.

And Clayton's still wearing his whole get up, like walking

around the halls and shooting and just, you know, he's a

cowboy now. And so we go through all this,

we get called down to the lobby of our dorm because the campus

patrol like the the rent a cop, like the the people that are

that's not true. Sorry.

That just came out from the overflow of the heart.

The mouth speaks. But this guy who's not like a

real police officer, just whatever you want to call him,

he calls us in And Clayton, your pastor at 18 years old comes in.

I mean, Wyatt Earp, Jesse Jamestown, he's twirling his

guns around, and this guy's trying to be so serious.

And he's like, Sir, please. We've had reports of shots fired

and Clayton just popping caps just, you know, flinging him

around. And I have to try to hold it

together because this dude's taken his job so seriously.

But Clayton's taken so seriously that he is now Jesse James, you

know, and just going through. So anyways, that story has

nothing to do with my message, but I just thought it'd be fun

to tell a story about Clayton. But you come to 1st Corinthians

13, and from a literary viewpoint, this might just be

the greatest chapter Paul ever wrote.

We've all probably heard it at weddings before.

And so let's read it together. I'll read it and you can just

kind of follow along. First Corinthians 13 he says, If

I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love,

I'm only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy, and can fathom all mysteries and

all knowledge, and have faith that can move mountains, but do

not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the

poor and give over my body to hardship, that I may boast but

do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient. Love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, It is not proud, it does

not dishonor others. It is not self seeking, it is

not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always

perseveres. Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease.

Where there are tongues, they will be stilled.

Where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part, and we prophecy in part, but when

completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a

child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the

ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a

reflection, as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as

I am fully known. And now these three remain

faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is

love. We pray with me, Heavenly

Father, we know that Your Word tells us that God is love.

We know that Jesus said greater love has no one than this, that

a man would lay down his life for his friends.

You tell us in first John that this is love, not that we loved

God, but that he loved us and sent his one and only Son as the

atoning sacrifice for our sins. And Lord, today I pray that you

would help us to understand how wide, how long, how high, how

deep is the love of Christ. Lord, fill each and every one of

us with that type of love. And all God's people said Amen.

When you look at a passage in Scripture, you got to figure out

where it fits. And so First Corinthians 13,

it's one of those that all of us have probably heard before.

But where does it come? It comes right after chapter 12

as all this discussion about spiritual gifts.

And look at the very last verse of First Corinthians 12, verse

1 Corinthians 12:31

31. Look how it ends now eagerly

desire the greater gifts and I, we'll show you the most

excellent way. The most excellent way that Paul

is going to show us is the way of love.

Love is one of those words that we use for everything, right?

Like I love my mom, I love my wife, I love my boys, I love hot

dogs. You know, like we used it for

everything. And it doesn't always mean the

same thing. The Greek word for love in this

passage is the word agape. You know what's interesting to

me? That the word agape was one of

the rarest words used for love in ancient Greek literature.

Yet when you open up your New Testament, it's used the most

frequently for love. You see, when we say I love you,

often we mean I love me and I want you.

Most people, including Christians, seem to think of

love as nice feelings, warm affection, maybe romance, maybe

desire. But agape love this God, love

this unconditional love is a self giving love, love that

demands something of us, love that's more concerned with

giving than receiving. And the sad truth is it's as

rare today in the modern church as it was in Corinth.

You remember in John chapter 13, Jesus is coming to the end of

John 13 · chapter mention

his life. It's Thursday night, the night

he will be betrayed and arrested.

And before that happens, he's in the upper room and the disciples

are having an argument with one another about who's the

greatest. And Jesus begins to notice

something about his disciples. And do you remember what he

does? He goes and takes off his outer

garments. He wraps a towel around his

waist and picks up a basin and he begins to wash his disciples

feet. But if you look at the very

beginning of that chapter, it tells us an insight about Jesus.

He says when he noticed his disciples were having this

discussion and that their feet weren't washed, he now showed

them. And it uses this phrase the full

extent of his love. He tells him after he watches

him go and do likewise. In fact, if you go down just a

couple more verses in John 13 verses 34 and 35, Jesus says a

John 13:34

new command. I give you love one another as I

have loved you. So you must also love one

another. And don't miss this.

By this everyone, the entire world will know you are my

disciples. If you have love, one for

another, but love is missing from a lot of churches.

The church in Corinth had its issues.

They were loud with spiritual activity, but very quiet when it

came to love. And so that's why I think Paul

begins chapter 13 saying if I speak in the tongues of men or

angels but have not love, what I'm just a resounding gong or a

clanging cymbal, I can make a lot of noise.

I'm not making a difference. I'm doing nothing continues in

verse 2. If I have the gift of prophecy

and can fathom all mysteries and knowledge, and if I can have

faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am

nothing. Listen, you can be gifted but

empty. Don't miss that phrase.

I am nothing. Verse three.

He continues one more time. He says if I give all I possess

to the poor and I give over my body if I make the ultimate

sacrifice to hardship, that I may be boast but do not have

love. I gain nothing, I do nothing.

I am nothing, I gain nothing. What Paul's doing here is he's

speaking in hyperbole. It's an over exaggerated way of

stating something in order to prove a point.

It's like saying hey listen, these shoes are worth like

$1,000,000. They're not.

They're not at all, but we say those type of things.

And what Paul is doing is he's using these exaggerated

statements about the greatest things you can do in following

Jesus, and he says all of it is meaningless without love.

In fact, throughout history, it's proven to be difficult for

the church to be loving. It's easier to be Orthodox than

loving. It's easier to be active in

church activity than it is to be loving.

And I would submit to you that the longer the church is around,

the harder it is for it to remain loving.

Don't believe me? Look at the church in Ephesus in

a the the place that Paul spent more time than any other church

he went to. And yet you remember what Jesus

says, Revelation chapter 2, the first church mentioned in the

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

Book of Revelation. He tells them this in verse 4.

Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you

had at first. So don't miss what's happening.

Chapter 13 in First Corinthians is the pinnacle, the central

chapter of Paul's lengthy discussion on spiritual gifts.

Clayton started it last week. In chapter 12, we get to chapter

13. Next week we'll close this

discussion out. But I want you to hear me having

a spiritual gift doesn't make you spiritual.

That's not how it works. You can you can miss the whole

thing. In fact, one commentator puts it

this way. The Corinthian Christians were

not walking in the Spirit. They were selfish, self

designing, self willed, self motivated, doing everything

possible to promote their own interest and welfare.

Everyone was doing his own thing for his own good with little or

no regard for others. The Corinthians did not lack in

any gift, but they were terribly deficient in spiritual fruit

because they were not walking in the source and power both of the

gifts and the fruit. Among the many things those

believers lacked, the most significant was love.

I would be willing to say that First Corinthians 13, the

original intent of all of the descriptions that Paul gives

about love were to counteract things that he's already brought

up in the book. All these issues, all of these

problems, he's using First Corinthians 13 and saying love

is the antidote to all of these things you've already dealt

with. Can I go just through a few of

them for you? When Paul says love is patient,

do you remember the Corinthians who were quick to take each

other to court in First Corinthians 6 or in in First

Corinthians 8 when you had the people that were impatient with

those who were weaker in the faith?

Hey, just come along. No patience bears with others

instead of demanding something of them.

First Corinthians 6-7 remember what Jesus or what Paul told

him. He says why not suffer wrong?

He says no love is patient, love is kind and yet you had in the

Chapter 11, you had the wealthy who were humiliating the poor

people during the Lord's Supper. Paul tells him kindness looks

for ways to include others. In fact in First Corinthians 8

1 Corinthians 8:1

verse 1, he says knowledge puffs up.

But what? But love builds up that love

does not envy. Yet they had this envy fuel

division the the the opening pages of his letter.

What do they say? I follow Paul, I follow Apollos.

Yet with love that doesn't envy, we rejoice in others giftedness

and their callings instead of competing for attention and

finding who do we like better than others.

No, love does not boast. Yet the Corinthians bragged

about wisdom and eloquence and last week we even saw that they

were bragging about their spiritual gifts.

But true spirituality doesn't need a spotlight, it boasts in

Christ alone. Remember how Paul started in

First Corinthians 131? He said, let the one who boast,

boast in the Lord. We could go through every single

characteristic, but what you will find is that what Paul is

saying to these people, this guy's love is what does all of

this and you're missing the most important thing.

So what does it look like for you?

Like let's get personal for a moment and ask ourselves, what

does love look like in our lives?

Love is patient. Are you?

You find yourself frustrated when people don't move at your

pace. Maybe you snap at your kids

because they take too long getting ready.

Or you roll your eyes at a Co worker who just doesn't get the

task done the way that you thought it should be done and

the pace that you thought it should be done.

Love is kind. Are you?

I don't know about you, but for me, I can find myself using

sarcasm at times instead of being kind to people.

Maybe you find yourself being too harsh and cold instead of

compassionate and loving. Maybe you found yourself in a

situation where a hurting friend comes up and says something to

you and your first response is what you should have known

better. Might not be the kindest thing

to say. Love does not envy.

But if you're like me, sometimes you might resent other people's

success, wondering why it happens to them and not you.

Maybe you find yourself scrolling through social media

and a friend gets engaged and you're going why not me yet?

Or maybe it's friends that got pregnant and you're wondering

why God hasn't given that gift to you, but he gives it to them

and they're not near as good as you are.

Love does not boast. But man, I sure see a lot of

people trying to make sure everybody else knows how great

their life is going on social media.

Anybody ever noticed that? Not about you, but other people.

Other people are really good at making sure you see the places

they're going, the upgrades they made to their house, how good

their kids at sports. You know, I have AI have my

oldest son is 15 years old and he he became the varsity

quarterback. As a freshman in high school

this year, stole the job from a junior in high school is

awesome. You know, it was really cool.

Like we were excited for it. It's great.

But here's the thing, if you go to my social media feed or

anyone in my family social media feed, guess what?

You won't find any highlights of the interceptions that he threw.

None of them. The kid threw 12 of them this

year. Like you're never going to see

him, but you'll see all the touchdowns.

You'll see all of those things. Why is it like that?

Because man, we sure love to self promote.

Love is not proud. If you're like me, maybe you

find yourself believing that you're better than someone else,

that you're above what someone else is doing.

Maybe you find it in yourself when you refuse to admit you're

wrong to your spouse. Maybe prevent pretending that

you're too busy when someone asks you to come help him do

something. Love does not dishonor others,

but maybe you find yourself tearing other people down in

order to lift yourself up. Love's not self seeking, but do

you ever find yourself Go well, what's in it for me?

What do I get out of it? Love's not easily angered, but

maybe if you're like me, there's times when you find yourself

reacting before you spend time reflecting on what just

happened. You know, the Bible tells us to

be slow to anger, and yet there's times when I can have a

little bit of a quick temper, and maybe you're like that as

well, that love keeps no record of wrongs.

Should I go there? There's a There's a tendency for

us to bring up the past, isn't there?

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always

perseveres. Love never fails.

Then Paul moves into First Corinthians 13 starting in verse

8 and he's beginning to close out what he's saying about love

and he says, but there where there are prophecies, they will

cease. He's calling back to how he

started this chapter where there are tongues, they will be

stilled. Where there is knowledge, it

will pass away. Verse 80 saying all of these

things are going to go away for verse 9, for we know in part we

prophecy in part, but when completeness comes, when Jesus

returns, what is in part disappears.

We long for that day, don't we? Right now we don't get to see

the full picture. We don't understand everything

fully, but like we just kind of look like as if we're looking in

a mirror. But one day Jesus will come back

and what's in part will disappear.

And then he uses this illustration.

Verse 11 says, when I was a child, I talked like a child.

I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child.

But when I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

Verse 11 is not some random metaphor that Paul just throws

in there. It's Paul's critique of childish

faith. Childish faith prioritizes self

over love. I told you I have a 15 year old.

I also have a 12 year old who is in 7th grade and my boys, I, I

will tell you, I love the phase of life we're in.

It's crazy having a high school or anyone that's with me in that

and a middle school at the same time.

Like it's wild. I spent the majority of my

career in youth ministry with high school and middle school

students and now I'm like, man, now I have them like this is

tough. I wish I would have had them

when I was in ministry. I would have understood a whole

lot more. But anyways, as my boys got have

gotten older, you know what I find myself, I find what I care

about is a whole lot different for them.

When they were younger, I was just so excited to hear him say

words the first time. Like when they can finally say

something clearly and you hear your kid for the first time say

I love you daddy. When you take their first steps,

when they go through all of these things and all of their

firsts are amazing. It's awesome.

You know what I care about more now that my boys are older?

Who are they becoming? How are they treating other

people? How are they at including people

that everyone else has put on the sidelines?

How are they serving? Why?

Because that's the sign of maturity.

You see, childish faith seeks recognition, and childish is

different than childlike. We're supposed to have faith

like a child, but we're not supposed to be childish in our

faith. A childish faith seeks

recognition where mature love seeks relationship.

Childish faith wants to be right where mature love wants to be

like Christ. You've heard Clayton say this

before. The mark of maturity is not

knowledge. What is it?

It's you obeying what God's Word says, that you begin to love

like Jesus. And so in verse 12, Paul says,

for now we only see, or we see only as a reflection as in a

mirror. Then we shall see face to face

what a beautiful picture of what's common isn't.

It says now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as

I am fully known. Can I get devotional with you,

just for a moment? That last phrase, Then I shall

know fully. We all long for that.

But don't miss the very last phrase, even as I am fully

known. Do you realize that?

The God in heaven, the Creator. God knows you.

There's nothing hidden from his sight.

He knows the number of hairs on your head.

Some of you that's easier to count than others, but like he,

he knows all of the things. You don't go anywhere.

In fact, Psalm 139 says that before you ever came to be, that

every one of your days was written now in his book.

Not meaning that God caused all of those things that happened in

your life, but God knows them and he cares and he loves you.

And there is no other person in your life that knows you like

your heavenly Father does. And so don't try to hide from

him. Don't try to run away from him.

Don't think that there's no way he can understand.

No, he knows and he cares. And then Paul finishes it out

this chapter with verse 13. And now these three remain

faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these, say

it with me, is love. When we hear this idea that the

greatest of these is love, I hope that it was natural for you

at some point as you hear these to go.

You know what these all kind of sound like Jesus, because First

Corinthians 13 isn't just describing what love does, it is

describing who Jesus is. In fact, if you replace the word

love with Jesus, you'll see it fits perfectly.

Can I do it for us? Jesus is patient.

Second, Peter 39 says he is patient with you, not wanting

anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Jesus is kind. Romans 24 says God's kindness is

intended to lead you to repentance.

Jesus does not envy, He does not boast.

Jesus is not proud. In fact, Philippians chapter 2

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

says though he was in very nature God, he did not consider

equality with God something to be grasped.

So he emptied himself. He made himself nothing.

Taking the very nature of a servant became obedient to

death, even death on a cross. Jesus does not dishonor others.

You remember when the woman caught in adultery in John

John 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8, she comes up before him and he tells her after

everyone else has left and dropped their stones.

Neither do I condemn you go and from now on sin no more.

Jesus is not self seeking. Mark 1045 says For even the Son

of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his

life as a ransom for many. Jesus is not easily angered.

In Matthew Chapter 11 verse 29 he says I am gentle and lowly in

Matthew 11:29

heart. Jesus keeps no record of wrongs.

Do you remember from the cross? In Luke chapter 23 verse 34 he

Luke 23:34

says father forgive them for they know not what they do.

The psalmist puts it this way in Psalm one O 3 verse 12 as far as

the east is from the West so has so far as he removed our

transgressions from us. Hear me Jesus does not delight

in evil but rejoices with the truth.

In John chapter 8 verses 31 and 32.

John 8:31

He says if you abide in my word, you will know the truth and the

truth will set you free. Jesus always protects.

John 1011 says I am the Good Shepherd and what does he do?

The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus always trust, always hopes, always perseveres.

Hebrews 12 verse 2 says, For the joy set before him, he endured

Hebrews 12:2

the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand

of the throne of God. Hear me, people, Jesus never

fails, Romans 8 says. For I am convinced that neither

death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present

nor the future, nor any powers, nor height nor depth, nor

anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from

the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A church filled with love will accomplish a whole lot more than

a church full of talent. We're going to move to a time of

decision. You know, I think it's safe to

say and safe to believe that everybody listen to my voice

right now. We desire that type of love so

much so that we try to find love in a whole bunch of different

places. Sometimes we try to seek it out

in, in earthly relationships, we try to seek it out maybe through

movies or through the screen or even through music can kind of

maybe start to shape our picture and our view of love.

And so a lot of times we, we try to find it in wrong places,

don't we? But I just want to invite those

of you listen to my voice who've never started an intimate

personal relationship with Jesus, who've never stepped into

that. You just got a taste of the

definition of love, and his name is Jesus.

He is the very definition of love.

And so much so that he moved on our behalf, so much so that he

sacrificed on our behalf, so much so that he gave his life

for us. And first, Peter Ford says that

love covers a multitude of sins. And let me just be honest with

you, all of us, we have sin and Jesus covers it.

And so here's the the invitation in this time, in this moment, no

matter where you're sitting in life, no matter what you've been

through, no matter what carried you in this room, here's the

simple truth of the gospel today.

You can receive that. You can believe that Jesus is

love and that he covers the multitude of sins, and you can

accept that freedom and that free gift of salvation right

now. And that's what this moment is

about. That's why we do it every single

week, because there are people. Sometimes it takes maybe just a

couple times to hear the gospel. Sometimes it takes months to

hear the gospel, and sometimes it takes years.

But I have a question for you. Who's that going to be today?

Who's going to get up out of their seat maybe for the first

time and take some of the boldest steps they've ever taken

before? They're going to put 1 foot in

front of the other. They're going to come forward.

And maybe you do that just by yourself and you come up to

these steps and you just get down on your knees and you just

cry out to the Lord. I need you, Jesus.

I want that type of love. Maybe for some of you, you're

just like, I got questions. I don't know how to reconcile

some of the things that I've done.

I don't know how to accept that love.

I don't know how to walk in that love.

And in just a little bit, there's going to be some

incredible people that'll be underneath the the screen right

over by the baptistry that would love to help you start walking

in that relationship with Jesus. If you're online right now,

there's some incredible difference makers right there

ready to answer some of the questions that you've been

wrestling with. Maybe in the chat you just need

to simply type, I need Jesus. I don't invite you to do that.

That is why we exist as a church is to help people find that

intimate personal relationship with him.

For the rest of us in this room, I'm going to kind of ask the

question that that Matt asked, but if we're in this time of

maybe a little confrontation with the Lord is here's the

question, how are you doing with love?

How's your patience? How's your kindness?

Do you envy what others have? Let's just go through it.

Are you boastful or are you proud?

Are you self seeking or are you just an angry person?

Have you kept a record of wrongs for far too long and it's been

damaging some relationships around you?

Have you been delighting in evil and you can fill in what that

evil is in your life for far too long?

Has there been something that just has a grip over your life

that you just feel constricted, you feel restrained, you feel

held back? And as I was standing here

giving this invitation on Thursday, it's amazing how fast

life can hit you till this moment.

I found myself last night coming home and there's moments in my

life I was like, man, I'm not love to my kids right now.

Like there was, there was moments where I was like, I was

just faced with what the word of God said and how Jesus is love

and how he's not self seeking and how he's not easily angered.

And then I was like, whoa, Lord, that hit me fast.

The world hit me fast. So I just want you to know, I

get how you're feeling, but here's what I know.

When we're confronted with the word of God, we're confronted

with a choice. What do I do with it?

How do I respond to it? Do I just say, ah, no, that's

just who I am. That's just my personality,

that's how I was raised. That's just who I am.

Or we can just say, no, that's not who I am.

And you can get down on your knees if you're struggling this

area because chances are you're struggling like I'm struggling

in an area of love. And what would it look like as

a, as a people, as a body of believers who say, I accept

Jesus's word and I need to do what it says.

I need to be obey what it says, because that's what true

maturity looks like. And so that's what we're going

to do in this moment. You're going to hear a song.

We're going to start singing about the reckless love of God.

And, and I'm just going to invite you in this, this room

and, and wherever you're watching online, just to humble

yourself to start rejoicing with the truth, to start doing what

it says and start protecting others around you.

The way we do that is we, we start saying, I'm going to start

praying for others as well. I'm going to start building

trust with the people you're doing life with.

I'm going to have hope that God's promises are real.

I'm going to persevere through hardship.

I'm going to believe that love never fails.

I think that's the type of church that we are.

I think that's what this moment is about.

And so let's do this in just a bit as we stand.

Here's what we're going to do. We're going to declare love over

our life. Oh, we're going to declare

victory over our life. We're going to declare Jesus

over our life. And we're not just going to be

loud with spiritual activity. We're not just going to be like,

well, I go to church and I'm in Group and I serve.

That's awesome. But we do that because we want

to be loud in love. And if we're going to make this

place the hardest place on planet earth to get the hell

from, we have to be loud in love.

And it starts right here and it starts in this moment, and it

starts in a posture of humility. And so as you stand up with me,

let's pray. And I'm just going to invite you

right now. If you got something on your

heart, you got something on your mind, you need to just repent.

You need to turn away from, you can start coming up to the front

right now. You can start getting down on

your knees. But let's do this right now.

Jesus, you are love, you are kind, You are so patient for

with us. We don't deserve it, but Lord

you are anyways. Thank you for your sacrifice,

thank you for the gifts that you are to us.

And Lord, as a church, I know it's sometimes hard for our

people just to get out of their comfort zones.

It's hard for me sometimes to get outside my comfort zone.

But I pray, Lord, during this song, we wouldn't just be

stagnant. We wouldn't just be still.

We would just listen and be obedient to what your Spirit is

calling us. And Lord, we just humble

ourselves before you and just say, here I am.

Lord, would you reveal anything inside of me that is not love?

Let me turn away from it and turn to you.

Jesus, we love you. Thank you.

Your name I pray. Amen.