LOVE | TEVIN LUCAS

Well, good morning. How are we feeling

this morning?

>> Okay. Uh, who's excited for Christmas?

>> Four days away. I hope you got your

Christmas shopping done. Today might be

one of the last days that if you order

on Amazon, I think it can still come.

Uh, so make sure you go ahead and do

that. We're going to be in First John 4

today. So, if you have your Bibles, open

them up to First John 4. If I haven't

met you yet, my name is Tevin and I have

the pleasure of serving as one of our

pastors here on staff. Um God is doing a

lot. There's a lot of exciting things

coming up. We got Christmas Eve

services. We have um what I call our

holiday hangover. Uh the online service.

I don't know if I'm allowed to call it

that. Is that okay? No. Okay. Uh it's

not the holiday hangover. It's something

else. Um but join us. And then we're

diving into a new collection in the new

year. marriage, sex, all that fun stuff.

So, um who's excited for that?

>> Come on.

We are in our Advent collection wrapping

up. Um, and if you're you're new here or

you haven't been a part, Advent um is

really this time where we celebrate um

the arrival of Jesus, but look back on

the waiting that took place before and

the waiting that will take place for him

to come again. And uh and so it's such a

special time. We we looked at uh hope,

peace, joy, and now we're looking at

love. And it's a a great collection. And

if you haven't been here, go back and

watch it because it's so important that

we understand these things leading into

Christmas because Christmas is one of

those seasons that for some it is the

most joyfilled time of the year and for

others it can be the most painful time

of the year. That that

Christmas, at least for me, I'll say

this is one of the most joyful times of

the year. I have a three-year-old and a

one-year-old son that both understand

they're getting presents on Christmas.

Uh, and so it's so much fun and there's

so much joy leading into Christmas, but

at the same time for me there there's

pain and sadness and sorrow because

Christmas two years ago was the last

time that I saw my father. And so there

there's joy and there's sorrow at this

Christmas time. But the beautiful thing

that I love about Christmas and Jesus is

that he meets us in the midst of both.

Whether it's the best time of the year

or the most painful time of the year,

that the story of Jesus and what we

celebrate on Christmas is that Jesus

came in the God in the flesh to meet us

in the midst of whatever we're walking

through, wherever we're at, and whatever

season that looks like. And so it's

beautiful and I'm excited to dive in to

to love this morning. 1 John 4 starting

in verse 8 says this. Anyone who does

not love does not know God because God

is love. In this the love of God was

made manifest among us that God sent his

only son into the world so that we might

live through him. In this is love. Not

that we have loved God, but that he

loved us and sent his son to be the

propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if

God so loved us, we also ought to love

one another. No one has ever seen God.

If we love one another, God abides in us

and his love is perfected in us. Before

we dive in and pray, when we hear

scriptures like this and when we dive

into topics like love or the Advent

collection, if you've been in church a

long time, there's this concern that I

have. And I think if I'm being honest,

it it's that we can get so familiar with

the love of God or the story of Jesus or

the Christmas story that we miss the

actual point and miss the impact of

love. And it's actually this thing

called the familiarity effect. that when

you are so familiar with something, it

doesn't have the same impact on you that

it used to. And if you're like, "Well, I

don't know. Like, that's not really me."

But but hear me out, and this breaks my

heart to admit,

but there's been some mass shootings

that have taken place over the last

couple weeks.

And when things like that used to

happen, I used to get this sick feeling

in my stomach.

But now when things like that happen,

I'm just like, "Oh man,

pray for those families." And I kind of

just go on with my day that it doesn't

have the same effect that it used to

have on me because I've gotten so

familiar with these horrible things

happening in this world. And you're

like, "Well, what does that have to do?"

Because one is on the absolutely

horrendous side and one is on the

absolutely amazing side. But but science

and research will say that the

familiarity effect, it's actually harder

for you to get familiar with hard things

and horrible things. And so if we can

get familiar with those things, it's

much easier for us to get familiar with

things like the love of God and show up

and be like, "Well, another message on

love. I mean, I want something that's

that's deeper." And and I hear that all

the time of like, "Well, they just, you

know, they preached on God's love today.

I wish the message was deeper. And if

you're in here today and that's how you

feel, let me tell you this. You need a

deeper revelation of the love of God in

your life.

Because if you want something deeper

than the love of God, that you're not

searching for for the gospel, you're

searching for for good works, you're

searching for something to to tell you

what to do. And it's so easy for us to

show up, especially around the Christmas

season, and be so familiar with the the

message of Christmas and the birth of

Jesus that we show up, we're like,

"Yeah, we've heard this before." And we

get familiar. And my hope and my prayer

today is that we would have a deeper

revelation of the love of God in our

lives and that we wouldn't settle for

familiarity

anymore.

Let's pray.

God, would you speak to us?

Would you move in our hearts and in our

minds?

Would we not be familiar with your story

to the point where we don't feel and

understand the love that you sent,

the love that you have, the love that

you continue to reveal to us.

Lord, let us not only understand it in

our mind, but feel it in our soul.

and I pray and thank you for who you are

in Jesus name. Amen.

When we talk about the word love, I love

I love getting to love is one of those

words that we use so much and it's so

saturated in our culture that we will

lose sight of the impact and what it

actually is. And if we're not being

careful, what will happen most of the

time in a culture that is obsessed with

love? We have movies about it. We have

books about it. We have all of these

things. And honestly, most of the

culture is searching for love, but we

settle for a counterfeit form of love

most of the time that that love there

there's the real love that we we feel in

Jesus and it's only found in Jesus. But

most of the culture and when I say

culture, I'm not just talking about

outside of the church. I'm also talking

about inside the church. We can settle

for a counterfeit form of love

because everybody's longing and looking

for it. And so I'm going to read some of

the areas that we settle for counterfeit

form of love so that we understand

the difference and understand that that

love

when we talk about love and the love

that is from Christ and found in God who

God is is not a lot of the times the the

love that we think of in our mind. And

so this is some of the things that we

settle for as a counterfeit form of love

in our culture, in our society, even

within the church. First one is this

romantic love as salvation. If I find

the right person, then I'll be whole.

Self love as supreme authority. That

love means never design denying

yourself. That's huge in our culture

right now. That love is what I feel, my

truth, my that's what people see as

love, approval and validation. If people

like me, then I'm loved. Then I matter.

Success and achievement. If I accomplish

enough, if I make enough money, then

I'll be loved. That's where my love

lies. And if I'm being honest, I think

here in Windermir,

that can be something that we lean on a

lot,

especially around the Christmas season.

I don't know about I grew up poor and so

Christmas had to be about God. But when

we have enough, Christmas can become

about a lot of other things.

The first the first service laughed at

that point. They weren't as serious as

y'all.

They weren't. This is like this must be

the crowd. They're like, "Yes." Mhm. All

right.

Sexual fulfillment without covenant. The

desire equals love.

Comfort and convenience. Love should

never cost me. Belonging through

ideology or tribe that if I align with

the right group, then I'm loved.

And I would say this is a massive one in

the culture, not only outside of the

church, but I would also argue within

the church that if I belong to the right

crowd, like I fit in with them, that

then I'm loved. We we we have the same

mindset, then we love one another.

If I fit in with the right political

party, then I'm loved.

Power and control. If I'm in charge,

therapeutic love without truth. That

love means affirming everything that I

feel. They don't agree with me, that

means they don't love me. No, no, no,

no.

That's not true.

In this one, I would say

it's probably something that a lot of us

might have grown up in that if I'm good

enough, the religious performance, if

I'm good enough, God will love me.

But all of these things are a

counterfeit form of love.

And if we're not careful, what will

happen when we celebrate Advent and look

back at the waiting period before Jesus

came in the form of a baby and and then

we find ourselves in the waiting period

for when Jesus comes again is that we

will settle for a counterfeit form of

love

even as the people of God.

that if we look at antiquity, even the

people of God, the Israelite people

settled for a counterfeit form of joy,

peace, hope, and love as they were

waiting for Jesus. And if we're not

careful and we get too familiar with the

love of God to where it doesn't impact

us the way that it might have used to or

the way that it should, we will look

elsewhere as well.

And then we'll have well God plus this.

Well God plus the success. Well God plus

the desire. And that's what we will

think of when we think of love. And so

my hope today is that we have a deeper

desperation and understanding of love

and the only love that can fulfill us.

And it's the love that everybody in the

world is desperately searching for

that every child is desperately longing

for. that every adult is desperately

searching and longing for in their life

and it's only found in one place and his

name is Jesus.

And that's why we celebrate Christmas

and that's why we look at this Advent

collection and if we're careful we can

miss the entire point because we've

gotten so familiar with it. And so I

want us to break down what we just read

and understand a few points on love. The

first point is this that love originates

in God not us.

Says this,

anyone who does not love does not know

God because God is love.

And then if we skip to the next verse in

this is love. Not that we have loved God

but that he loved us. that we have to

understand that love originates in God

and that it's not something that we've

earned. It's not something that that

we've done to deserve it, but it is that

God loved us. It's not only who he is,

but it's what he did.

That love is God. That God is love. And

love without God is not truly love. That

it's a counterfeit form of love if it's

not connected to God.

But understand this.

I think we've got it backwards. And I

love this Tim Keller quote because it

makes it very clear. Tim Keller says

this.

He says, "Christianity is not about us

finding God,

but God finding us."

And I think if we're not careful, we

make it about us finding God.

Makes it clear. It says, "In this is

love, not that we have loved God, but

that he loved us." And the best way that

I can put this

is with my kids. And I know Pastor Luke,

he he he said one time, "Hey, if you use

your kids as an illustration, you're

lazy." Sorry, Pastor Luke, but I'm going

be uh lazy because it I think it's the

only thing that can actually make sense

in this world

that my kids were born into this world

and they did nothing to earn my love.

I just love them.

And God knows as my three-year-old is

going through the terrible stage.

No matter what he does, I still love

him.

That he didn't earn it.

And you could argue maybe he doesn't

deserve it.

But it's a love that you cannot take

away. that love began with God because

God is love and it originates. Nothing

that we can do to earn it. And so that

stops us from the religious performance

of you need to do this or do that or do

this to get closer and and and earn the

love of God. That's not the case at all.

Christianity is not about us finding

God. It's about God finding us. And he's

already done that. And he's going to

continue to do that. and he's continuing

to knock on the door of your heart and

you have to continually let him in and

have more and more of his love.

And then we see

point number two is that love took on

flesh.

It says in this the love of God was made

manifest among us that God sent his only

son into the world so that we might live

through him. This is the whole point of

Jesus is that love became manifest in

the incarnation of Jesus that we

celebrate when Jesus was born into the

world that it was God sending his son in

the flesh to be close to us. Emmanuel,

God with us, that there was close

proximity to God.

And there has to be presence for there

to be love. And God said, "Hey, in the

midst of your circumstance, in the midst

of this horrible world, in the midst of

poverty, in the midst of a a culture

that is extremely violent, I'm sending

my son to be there with you." That God

was no longer distant, but he was

present and close. God with us.

I was gone a couple nights last week and

I would call my kids and I would tell

them, "Hey, I love you. Good night. Talk

to them."

But it's not the same as when I'm laying

in bed with them, reading a book,

telling them that I love them and giving

them a kiss before they go to bed.

That God could have sent a message. He

could have written just the Bible,

but he came in the form to be close to

us. He didn't shout the instructions. He

came in the flesh, God with us,

Emmanuel,

so that we could have close proximity to

him. But here's the thing that scares me

is that I think many times in the

church, we settle for keeping God's love

at a distance in our life.

that we know God as a distant father

rather than a close father that we that

we kind of build up a wall between us.

Yeah, I know he loves me, but you know,

I still got to perform. You know, I

still got to do all the and we have a

distant relationship with a heavenly

father. And one, I think it's because at

some point in our life, we've settled

for a counterfeit form of love and that

either left us abandoned or or broke our

heart or or didn't fulfill all the

desires that we have. And so, that's one

thing. But I also think and this is

probably hear me out where I think our

culture um and as individuals we

probably wrestle with the most is that

most of us look at a heavenly father's

love is distant because we've

experienced an earthly love from a

father that was distant

or he's just never around.

He loved me but

he wasn't really there all the time.

He didn't really connect with me on any

other level than

sports or whatever that may be for you.

You had you had an earthly father that's

love was distant. And so when you think

of the father's love, you look at it as

a distant love.

And so it's hard for you to get past

that.

And I would say I think that's probably

one of our biggest

wrestles in this generation

because if you even look at statistics,

it says statistically and I love being a

part of this generation and praise God

for some type of remote work and the

access that we have to to internet and

email and all of that, but but my

generation of fathers spends almost 50%

more time with their kids than the gener

generation that raised us.

You can clap for that. And that's no

shame to the older generation.

There's there's no shame to the older

generation in that. But what I'm saying,

if we look at that, we have to

understand that yes, we probably wrestle

with a distant love of a father.

And my prayer and my hope is that my

kids don't have that wrestle. But I know

that it's something that me and my

generation have wrestled through. And

probably even the older generation to

times 10 wrestled through. And so you

sit in here and you're like, "Yeah, I I

know God loves me. I know that he has

this love for me, but it still feels

distant for some reason." Or you keep it

at a distance. And you settle for that

and you're like, "That's okay." Cuz

that's what I'm used to

and that's not what God wants. That's

why he sent his son to be God with us

close in proximity so that we could have

a close-knit love and relationship with

a heavenly father.

And when we realize that and when we've

experienced that and when we've seen

that he steps into these circumstances

and these situations

the midst of the pain in the midst of

whatever we're going through

we realize that love is not self-giving

or love is self-giving not

self-protecting

that says this that he loved us and sent

his son to be the propitiation for our

sins that He sent his son to die as the

sacrifice on the cross to pay the price

that we deserve.

That he went to the cross

and died the death that we deserve in

our place so that we don't have to. That

love is sacrifice. It's sacrificial.

It's self-giving. It's not

self-protecting.

And what I love about this

in this scripture

is that do you know where the first time

in scripture love appears?

It's in Genesis [snorts]

when God says to Abraham

that you're going to sacrifice the son,

your only son whom you love. that the

first time that love appears in

scripture is one of the most beautiful

prophetic foreshadowings of the love

that would take place on the cross in

Jesus Christ.

He said the son whom you love

and God provided a sacrificial ram in

that instance so that Abraham didn't

have to sacrifice his son.

But then came a time where God would

step in and he would sacrifice his son

as the sacrificial lamb.

That when we lift up worship and say

lamb of God, anointed one who was and is

and is to come,

that we're talking about Jesus, the son

of God. And I think sometimes we can

separate that of like, well, yeah, God

knew that he had to do. No, no, I don't

think we understand. Do you have kids?

Would you sacrifice them

for anybody else in this room?

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't

sacrifice either of my kids for none of

y'all.

And I love you, but I don't love you

that much.

And I think sometimes when we start to

think about the love of God, we start to

think we've got it all figured out. We

understand. I thought that when I had

kids. I was like, man, I finally

understand the love of a heavenly father

for for a child.

But then I realized, wait, no, the love

of the heavenly father is that I would

give up my child for somebody else.

I don't understand [clears throat] the

love of God. It's greater.

And if you've ever sat in church and

you've thought that you fully understand

the love of God, you don't. It's

greater. Well, I've sat through so many

sermons. I'm 75 years old. I understand

the love of God. No, you don't. It's

greater.

It's deeper.

Far far more than you could ever

understand on this side of eternity. And

so when we talk about advent love,

it's not only looking at the waiting

period to understand the love that was

sent in the baby of Jesus on Christmas,

but it's also waiting to fully

understand the love of God that we won't

understand until we have eternity in the

presence of God.

And so my prayer and my hope is that we

don't come into church and get sick of

hearing about the love of God because we

can't hear enough about the love of God

in our life. You could you could hear a

different message on the love of God

every day for the rest of your life and

you still wouldn't fully understand how

great it is.

But many of us get familiar with church

and familiar with messages

and we don't allow it to have the impact

that it should

on our hearts [snorts] and at the depth

of our being

that he came and he sacrificed. And when

we truly understand this,

when we finally come to the point that

love is from God,

that he died for us,

that this is how great his love is and

we've experienced that love,

then it should transform how we live.

And if we've experienced that great of a

love, then we are to express it.

That when we look

at scripture,

it continues to say, said, "Dear

friends, since God so loved us, we also

ought to love one another." Here's the

tension.

We can't just receive it and not express

it.

That in a culture, in a world where so

many people are looking for love and

they're looking for love in all of the

wrong places, they're looking for love

in all of the wrong groups. They're

looking for love and belonging in all of

the wrong scenarios and settings. We as

the church should have the most amount

of currency of love to give to others.

And we should be the people that people

are turning to saying, "Wow, the love

that you have, I want it. Where is it

from?" Are we known for that type of

love?

Is the capital C church, if you ask

people around the world, you say,

"What's the church known for?"

Would they say love?

Let's make it more personal.

What are you known for?

think like if people ask around your

friend circles or co-workers or hey

what are you known for?

Is it love?

Is it joy? Is it hope? Is it peace?

Man, Christians should be the most

peacefilled people and people should

turn to them and see and be like, "Man,

I want that peace."

The most hopefilled people.

Like, man, I I want that type of hope.

But if I'm being honest, I think like a

lot of people are like, "Man, Christians

are scared right now.

They must not have the hope that they

talk about.

What about joy? Man, I'm so sick of

meeting cranky Christians.

We got some cranky ones that didn't

laugh. They're like,

we should be joyfilled.

What about love?

If we've experienced this type of love

and not just talk about what we've

experienced,

if we've experienced it, it should no

longer it should no longer just be

something that we've felt or that we've

had. It should no longer just be a

principle, but it should turn into a

practice.

There's the principle and this is this

is capital C church. Break it down to us

as individuals. I think a lot of times

right now we're obsessed with orthodoxy

with which orthodoxy is the right belief

that we have the right belief that we

understand we have the right knowledge

the right belief and we settle for that.

But what I want is to see people not

only have the right belief but have

orthopraxy which is the right practice

that do we walk out what we believe?

Do we show people the love that we have

that we've experienced? Do we show

people the joy, the hope, the peace that

that has come in the the the little baby

boy of Jesus? And I'm not just talking

about the Christmas season. I'm talking

about every aspect of our life. What are

we known for? Are we known for that

person's got a lot of Bible knowledge or

that person looks like Jesus?

It's a wrestle

in this Advent season. And I wanted to

challenge us and I don't want us to just

get so familiar where it's like, "Yep,

going to go hear about love again."

That's great.

But would we take what we hear

and allow it to be a revelation in our

heart to experience the love of God and

allow it to change the way that we live?

How does the church impact the world?

It's not through power.

How do we as Christians impact the world

around? It's not through having power

over the world. It's through being

present in the world. A presence that is

hopeful, that is joyfilled, that is

peaceful, and that is loving.

That's what will change the world is

when people stop just talking about all

they know about Jesus and start acting

like him.

And so once we've experienced it at the

depth of our soul, then we express it in

everything that we do.

That's love. That's what Advent is

about. That you wait your longing, but

then once you experience it, while you

wait for the next time, you express it.

There's a world out there right now

desperately searching for love.

And what I'm excited about is that

Christmas is one of those holidays that

everybody knows about and most people

celebrate whether they believe in Jesus

or not. Which means, if you ask me,

they're open to it.

There's a statistic

that was done in this study of

non-believers, and this isn't even just

around the the Christmas season.

They said that if somebody invited them

to church,

would they go?

82% of individuals said they would.

when they ask Christians, "How many of

you have invited people to church?"

Do you know what the statistic was on

that

2%.

You're telling me

that we have a love that has changed the

course of human history that everybody

is desperately longing for, that we've

experienced in our own life. I don't

know about you, but it's a love that has

wrecked my entire life that my life is

completely different because of this

love. And I'm going to keep it to

myself.

What?

82% said they would go, not even around

Christmas. How many more would come

around Christmas if they were invited?

But only 2% actually invite people.

So my challenge around this Christmas

season

is that we have this currency of love

that people are desperately longing for.

We have the answers that the world is

longing for when it comes to hope, when

it comes to peace, when it comes to joy,

and when it comes to love. And we're

about to celebrate it this Christmas.

Invite somebody to come find that

answer.

And if you're like, well, I don't I

don't know if I really, you know, want

to. It might make things awkward. I know

they're not believe. Do you love them?

Do you love them?

Because the people that I love, I want

them to spend eternity in heaven with

me. I don't want them to go to hell.

Do you love them?

And if you don't, then you got a

different heart issue you got to deal

with.

The band can come and play

so it's less awkward. Y'all just staring

at me.

Christmas is all about Jesus coming

being love in the flesh.

It's beautiful and exciting.

But some of you are in here and you've

sat in here for so long and you've

gotten so familiar with the Christmas

story or the love that is talked about

that it doesn't change your heart

anymore.

And my prayer and my hope for you is

that God would set a fire in your heart

to desperately want that that love and

understand his love at a whole another

level this Christmas season.

But there's some of you also that you've

always had a [music] distant love with

the Lord.

Yeah, I know he loves me, but like I

don't really let him into to every

aspect of [music] my life.

And maybe it's shame that's keeping you

separated from the love of God and

keeping you [music] distant. Maybe it's

just you have walls up because you've

been hurt by love before. Maybe it's

just that, yeah, I mean, he loves me

like a father, but my my father sucked

and so you've [music] kept him distant.

I don't want that to be the case

anymore. God doesn't want that. He

doesn't want to send a messenger just to

He sent his son to be in the flesh,

Emmanuel. God with us.

And then Emanuel went to the cross and

he died a death on the cross that we all

deserve to take our place and pay the

price.

And then he ascended. He sits at the

right right hand of God. And he sent the

Holy Spirit to live within us to dwell

within us. God is with you. If you

believe in Jesus Christ, he is with you

every step of the way. Stop keeping him

at a distance.

Allow him to continue to work more and

more each and every day on your heart.

Allow him to continue to show his love

to you more and more every single day.

Maybe you're in here and that's your

story. You're like, I have them at a

distance.

And I'll be honest, I don't really know

what that's like.

I had an amazing father

and I got to see

a picture of a father

that loved the Lord, loved his family.

Did he do everything right? No.

But I remember one time at church and it

[music] changed the way that I I've

wanted to be a father. I saw my father

at the altar

in full surrender

in all humility.

And I think a lot of times as fathers,

can I talk to the fathers in this room?

We don't allow ourselves to find

ourselves in that place because we don't

want our kids to see us as weak.

It's not weak.

The greatest thing I've ever saw was my

father's surrender to a God

who loves him, who loves me, who loved

our family.

It changed everything.

And hear me out, Christmas season can be

so difficult. [music]

But when we fully understand that it's

about God meeting us right where we're

at in the midst of [music] our need, we

lay down everything at the altar and we

give it to him and say, "This isn't

about me anymore. This isn't about the

the the strength that I have or the

weakness that I feel. It's about turning

to God and allowing God to move and work

[music] in my heart

and setting the standard

[music] for my family.

If we're going to be a church

or people that impact the world, [music]

we need to be people that understand the

love so deeply in [music] our core and

stop keeping him at a distance.

[music]

He wants to meet you in the midst of

your need, in the midst of your

circumstance.

Don't keep him at a [music] distance any

longer. allow those walls to be torn

down.

[music]

Maybe you're in here and you didn't know

about Jesus. You're like, "Somebody just

invited me. I'm so glad that you're

here." And I want you to know that there

is a God that loves you so much that he

sent his son. That I can't comprehend

the the love of God on this side of

eternity cuz I would never send my son

to die for you. [music] But that's how

great God's love is. It's greater. It's

greater. Whatever you're imagining, it's

greater than that. Whatever you're, it's

greater than that.

And he wants you in his family. And

that's what Christmas is all about. A

picture of Jesus coming [music] to earth

so that God could have you and me. Will

you stand?

>> [music]

>> Would you bow your heads with me

as we pray?

[music] I want to just ask a couple

quick questions. If you're in here and

you're like, I've been keeping God's

love at a distance or I feel like I've

always had a distant relationship with

God. I've known him. I've been in

church, but it's felt distant. [music]

If that's you, would you just slip up

your hand so I know who I'm praying for?

Yeah.

And maybe you're in here today and

you're like, "I've never received the

love of Christ. I've never confessed

Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but

he's [music] been knocking on the door

of my heart and I want to let him in

this morning." If that's you and you

want to accept Jesus for the first time,

[music] would you just slip up your hand

real quick?

Yeah.

And raising your hand doesn't save you,

but it it makes what's happening on the

inside [music]

uh a little bit more real to you by

taking an outward step of faith. And so

after this service, there's going to be

a prayer team and there's going to be a

next steps area. If you raised your hand

to accept Jesus, I want to encourage you

to go find somebody [music] talk and

learn more about what it looks like to

follow Jesus. God, I thank you so much

for what's going on in this room. I

thank you for the way that you're

moving. Lord, would your love just Lord,

we just thank you for your manifest love

in the in in [music] Jesus, Lord. And

would you continue to reveal that to us

[music] more and more each and every

time that we come to encounter you?

Would we not be so familiar with your

story? Would we not be so familiar with

church and scripture, Lord? But would we

continue to feel your love revealed to

us each and every day?

>> [music]

>> God, we thank you for who you are. We

thank you for your love and we thank you

for your son Jesus in Jesus [music]

name. Amen.