REAL CHRISTIANITY | Part 3 | Real Love

Heat. Heat. N.

Hallelujah.

Grace Summit Church, how we feeling

today?

Man, 12 of you are doing great.

>> Great summit. How are we feeling today?

>> Hallelujah. Hey, if you're a first- time

guest with us, my name is Ben. I have

the opportunity to serve as lead pastor

here. And man, we're going to uh dive

into God's word. Before we do, uh today

is challenge Sunday. And so if you've

been tracking with us uh for the last

year, we've been uh doing a capital

campaign uh and participating together

so that we can expand the building,

right? And so just uh few weeks ago, we

kind of did a little reboot because we

have the the new drawings and the and

the better price point. We like we like

being good stewards of God's money. We

got we got a better deal on everything.

Uh some pictures behind me, but um on

your way in, I think you received a

packet. Is that right?

Yeah. Okay. Help me out up here.

Um, so in that you guys will see a

commitment card and I know a lot last

fall a lot of you guys uh made a pledge

and a commitment uh to participate in

this and for some of you this is a brand

new conversation and just getting

started um with it. But uh our heart as

we've been talking about this the last

few weeks is to pray. uh we don't want

one penny given uh beyond what God has

told you to give. Amen. And so we just

we just have a big vision here. God's

dropped it in our spirit and the big

push uh is for the next generation. I

was thinking about it um even when

Pastor Jessica was sharing. But you know

many of us in the kingdom we're living

off of uh saints that have gone before

us that swed into the kingdom. you know,

like we were raised up in a church that

somebody else paid for, you know, and

and spiritually built and all those

different things. And what God's been

ministering to me is now it's our turn

to minister for future generations.

Amen. So, pray about that. Uh we're

really uh the heart is that uh by June

21st uh that we have those commitment

cards in. And so, pray over it um and

see what God would have you do. You guys

ready for the word of God?

Hallelujah. We are in a series

called real Christianity.

Uh I I want to be a real Christian.

Anyone with me? All right. Raise your

hand if you want to be a fake Christian.

Joy in the back goes whoop.

That was a trick question. Praise the

Lord. No, we don't want to be fake

Christians. We want to be real

Christians. Right. And so, man, we're

going to dig into that uh today. Pray

with me. Father, we thank you, Lord, for

your word. And Lord, I pray that as I

speak, I speak as an oracle of God.

Father, that we wouldn't hear just words

from men, but God, I pray that your Holy

Spirit would minister grace to each

heart. And Father, not only speak to us,

but Lord, we're asking for an

impartation of grace and of love today.

God, that we would leave this place

more like you than we've ever known. So

Lord, I thank you for your anointing in

this house upon our hearts. I pray that

you speak to us now in Jesus name. Amen.

So, real Christianity, we can't talk

about real Christianity without talking

about real love. Amen. I mean, that's

kind of I don't know if you've read the

book, but that's kind of a major point

inside of here is love, right? And so,

man, we're going to we're going to dig

in a little bit. Um, here's my

conviction

and my observation

with us as humans. We are some busy,

busy people.

you guys busy? Maybe it's the four kids

in my house, but man, I just we just go

and go and go and uh man, I I watch

society and I watch uh kind of our

mentality of what life is doing to us

here in America in this day and age. And

not only are we on the go so much, but

at the same time, as believers, we are

walking in spiritual warfare.

The enemy is trying to take us out any

little chance he can.

So, we're busy with life. We're doing

all the things. And if we're not

careful,

we can get so busy serving God that we

stop enjoying the life that God gave us.

Amen.

I'm guilty as charged, man. I've done

it.

John 10:10,

John 10:10

Jesus said, "The thief." Say, "The

thief. The thief comes only to steal,

kill, and destroy."

The devil really just wants to make us

miserable. I've got to tell you, he does

a really good job sometimes. He's good

at what he does.

Steal everything that God wants you to

have. But Jesus said, "Oh my goodness."

Listen to this. Devil came to steal,

kill, and destroy. But Jesus says, "I

came that they may have life and have it

abundantly."

You might have life and have it

abundantly. One translation says that

you so that you can enjoy your life in

God.

Enjoy your life.

Love your life.

How do you do that?

You ever notice it's like easy to hear

about you? It's easy to come Sunday

morning and and hear these messages

about love and we know that we're

supposed to walk. How do you do that? I

want to look at the next scripture. He

says, "I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for

his sheep." He's kind of thinking about

that, man. He's talking about having an

abundant life and goes right into this

good shepherd kind of picture.

Sheep, I don't know if you guys have

ever evaluated them. They don't have a

care in the world. if they got a good

shepherd, you know, and let me put it

this way. You guys ever been a passenger

in a vehicle, not the driver, and you've

maybe even taken the same trip a few

times, and then and then somebody says,

"Well, how do you get there?" And I'm

like, "I don't know. I wasn't driving.

What road is that?" I don't I don't

know. Right? You guys ever been a

passenger where somebody else is the one

that's kind of always That's the good

shepherd, right? I enjoy being a

passenger a whole lot more than driving.

Depending on who's driving, right?

Yeah.

Sheep don't have a care in the world.

All they have to do is love the

shepherd. Shepherd protects them, feeds

them, takes care of them. And here's

what I want you to get. Sit back and

enjoy life.

Take some time to enjoy. I want to speak

this over you today. God didn't save you

so that you could just survive the

devil.

There's more to life. Amen.

God saved you so that you could enjoy

walking with him.

You could enjoy being with you with him.

Say, "Enjoy your life."

I want to talk today about walking in

real love.

And the big question is how do we do

that? Number one, you can't give what

you haven't received.

You can't give what you haven't

received.

John 16 24

Jesus says this. He says, "Ask

and receive

that your joy may be full." One

translation says that your joy might be

complete. Right? So there there's a

two-part thing here. And too often we're

so busy busy busy. And I'm guilty. We'll

ask I mean we're we're Christians,

right? So we cast all of our cares upon

him because he carth for us, right? We

we take this stuff and we'll ask God,

God, I'm praying for blessing here and

praying for help with this. We ask and

then we go do whatever we felt like we

needed to do.

Anyone else guilty?

See, Jesus says, "Ask and then receive."

There's this thing uh what's it called?

Patience

that happens in the receiving

because I'm selfish.

I want to God do I want you to do it

right now. God, money's tight. Bless me

right now. Ready for a check in the man.

Right? You know what I mean? We just we

we ask and we think God should just, you

know, Burger King have it my way right

away, baby. You know,

we ask

and then we receive. And Jesus says

that's how your joy

gets complete or full.

Stop trying to make things happen

yourself.

Stop worrying about things.

Interesting thing I've learned the hard

way over and over is that no matter how

bad

life looks or how bad things get, God's

still on the throne.

God still has it all held together. You

know, how many seasons we've walked

through, it's just like devastation. And

and then I get done, I look back and I'm

like, God had it all figured out the

whole time. Is that rain?

Hey, our new building should have better

insulation on the ceiling.

Glad I didn't ride the motorcycle.

Sheesh.

If you're worshiping with us online,

it's a lot more fun in the room.

Ask and receive. Stop trying to make

things happen yourself.

Don't worry about things.

Jesus essentially is saying, "Let God

take care of your problems

that your joy may be full." And I want

to encourage you to take time to enjoy

the life that God gave you.

Take time to enjoy the life God gave

you. You know, as a pastor, I'm involved

with a lot of funerals. But one thing

that I've learned, Pastor Dan, is that

we all have an expiration date, right?

And we don't know if it's tomorrow,

could be today in a rainstorm, I don't

know.

We might live to be 112.

But here's my heart is I don't want

anyone in this room

to live their life in such a way, so

busy, not enjoying that we get to the

end of it and have regrets.

Because here's what I've learned about

regrets is that you can't go back in

time, right? You can do your best now to

try to make things right that I wasn't

there for my kids or I didn't wasn't

able to do this or we never we never did

that. Yeah. You can't go back and make

it change. You can only do the best with

the regret that you have. And so God is

challenging me to say, "Man, right here,

right now, this is a God moment, and I'm

going to make the most of this

opportunity."

And we only get one life.

I think the rain stopped.

We have a strange culture in America

that

Americans glorify work way too much.

We work our little butts off, don't we,

man? Uh, most of us probably work too

much and don't take enough time to enjoy

life.

Ephesians chapter 5 says this, shared it

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Wednesday night, but it says, "Be very

careful then how you live, not as the

unwise, but as wise people." Catch this.

Making the most of every opportunity

because the days are evil. Making the

most of every opportunity.

Man, I've preached that scripture so

many different ways and so many

different times and read different

commentaries on what that means. And uh

usually most of them are very spiritual

in application. Make the most of every

opportunity. I think it means make the

most of the time that you have with your

kids.

Make the most of the opportunity that

you have with your spouse or make the

most of the opportunity that you have

with your parents if they're still here.

Make the most of every opportunity.

Enjoy your children.

Here's a tough one. Enjoy your job.

Man, it has got to be raining really

hard. That's like the loudest I've ever

heard it in here. It's like monsoon

style.

Sorry, guys. I get distracted really

easy. So, you're just going to have to

track with me.

Yeah.

Enjoy

your spouse. Enjoy your job. Did my

microphone just get louder? See, I got

distracted again.

Can I say this? Enjoy serving God.

Enjoy serving God.

Here's where real Christianity starts.

1 John 4:19 says that we love because

1 John 4:19

he first loved us.

We love because he first loved us.

Let me talk to you a little bit about

the starting line when we're talking

about uh living in love with God,

walking in love with God, and and really

living this thing out. Uh this is the

starting line is that receiving piece.

We love because God first loved us and

died for us, gave himself for us. While

we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And here's I want to preach against the

American mentality a little bit because

when we're lacking in joy and we don't

feel like our life is complete, it's ask

and then receive. It's not work harder,

try harder, dig deeper. We have this

mentality, man. Things just aren't going

my way. And I've as I asked God, I

prayed about it. And then we have this

kind of mentality. I'm going to pull

myself up by my bootstraps, right? I'm

just going to I'm going to dig in. I'm

going to I'm going to put in some more

hours. I'm going to work. We do. when

it's all we have this more mentality.

Well, I'm I'm not happy here, so I'm

going to do more therapy and I'm going

to get more prescriptions. I'm going to

get more of this and more of that. And

man, we didn't have enough time, so I'm

going to get more vacations.

Right. Yeah. You know what I've learned

is that if I'm not happy here in Fort

Wayne, I'm not going to be happy in

Hawaii

because everywhere I go, there I am.

What's that?

Pastor Dan says we should try that out.

He thinks we'd be happier in Hawaii.

So, uh, Father's Day weekend, we're

doing a church field trip to Hawaii.

Pastor Dan's footing the bill,

and we're all going to see if we're

happier. Man, I think I could preach

with one of those flower things on. What

are they called, Lays? Yeah.

Yeah,

that' be fun.

Uh you know we worked with uh addicts

for years and um in ministry and I tried

it myself the geographical relocation

rehab. Yeah. I was really unhappy in one

location where I grew up and so that's

the people and if I could just get out

of this town and I then I moved all the

way to Florida and when I got out of the

truck I was still there, right? Anywhere

I went there I was. I just didn't like

me. I wasn't happy with me. I wasn't

saved yet. Right? And we do this man. We

look everywhere else but the presence of

God for satisfaction, for joy, to be

complete. And the Bible says, "Ask and

then have patience and then receive that

your joy might be complete."

We don't get it by trying harder.

We get it by receiving deeper.

Oh man, you can write that down. You

won't get it by trying harder. You get

it by receiving deeper. And that's the

chase that we're on. God, how can I

receive more of your grace? God, how can

I receive more of your love? What what

what do I where where do I got to be?

What do I got to do to get myself in a

spiritual and mental, emotional position

to receive more of God's grace and love?

Now I'm prepared. Now I'm at the

starting line of actually walking this

thing out, living this thing out.

We love because he first loved us. Not

because our circumstances changed,

not because finally people at work

started being nicer to me,

right? Not because we changed locations,

but because we received his love. you

know, humanity and flesh, we all can

really easily come up with excuses um

why we shouldn't love somebody and why

we shouldn't be loved, why we're

unlovable. Full of excuses. And man, I

just I just can't because here's what I

want you to receive today. I want you to

take all of your because throw them in

the trash can. Amen. And because man, I

got a whole list that I can come up

with. Well, I'm not going to be nice to

them because I'm not going to love them

because or I'm unlovable because

throw that because away.

We love because he first loved us.

You can't pour out what you haven't

first let God pour in.

I was thinking about this. You know, the

really one of the really first stories

we hear of in the Bible, read about is

Adam and Eve.

And Adam sinned, right? It's a classic

story. I mean, we're talking I don't

know how long they were in the garden

before the fall happened, but it's like

the worst day of Adam's life, right? I

mean, the absolute stupidest thing that

he could have done. He gets all wrapped

up in sin. Now, him and Eve are are

hiding from God, right? And what's the

response of the father? It wasn't Adam

that said, "Man, I sinned. I messed up.

God, where where are you at?" They're

hiding from God. They're trying to stay

away from God. And and and the voice of

the father comes and says, "Adam, where

are you?

Where are you?" God, the father starts

chasing down Adam at his worst moment.

That love that we see in the very first

story of the Bible is echoed through the

entire Bibles. And it's echoed through

every prayer that you pray. I don't know

how many times I would venture to say in

the millions of times I've been an

absolute idiot. Got selfish, did

something stupid, did something sinful,

right? Okay. To tell the truth in

church. Yeah. Just stupid stuff. And I

feel the shame and all the guilt. And

over and over, the voice I hear is,

"Ben, where are you?"

It's the heart of the father chasing me

down to love me back into the kingdom.

We love because he first loved us and he

continues to love us. Sometimes we

simplify the love of God, the gospel

message to only what was done 2,000

years ago,

not to what continually happens in our

life every single moment.

That God is chasing you down to love

you.

While we were still sinners, Christ died

for us. If you're taking notes, you can

write this down. Real love

moves toward you at your worst, not away

from you.

So, we see this

representation of God's love and how his

actions play out in our life. But if

we're called, calling me crazy, but I

think the love that we've received,

we're supposed to offer other people.

Amen. And so, we're supposed to love

with the same love of the father. That

means the love that we have, we should

be running towards people at their

worst.

Oh, I'm talking to church people here.

Well, they used to be in church. They

were plugged in, but but now they got

they got stuff in their life and we

don't really hang out with them anymore.

Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

When did we stop loving them because

they're at their worst moment? Man,

that's that's when the love of the

father chases them down. say, "Man, I

love you too much to let you get out of

fellowship with other Christians. Man, I

want to I want to just can we just hang

out and I just I just want to encourage

you." Right? Because authentic agape

love is unconditional. There aren't

there aren't a bunch of rules and

conditions of of well, oh, they had to

do this and they had to say this and

they can't have any any mess in their

life. And at the same time, you've got

mess in your life and you're being

critical with them, choosing to not love

them.

Oh man, I almost started preaching.

H real love moves towards people at

their very worst.

Not a way.

Thankful that God does that to us.

And can I say this? In order to really

love other people, well, we're receiving

the God's love for us, but you have to

also love yourself. Amen.

There's some in this room that you love

God. You serve God.

You just don't like yourself.

Live under condemnation or this replay

of your past or ashamed of who you are.

Real Christianity starts when you accept

God's love for you.

Ephesians chapter 3 says that one of the

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

things that God wants us to know is the

love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

It goes beyond our understanding. God

God says, "Man, I just want you to know

this one thing. The love of God that

surpasses your understanding that you

might be grounded and rooted in love."

Until

we receive that, everything else in

Christianity feels like work. You ever

notice that? If you don't like yourself,

if you don't love yourself

and you show up on Sunday and it's a

mess, right? You're going through it and

you're you don't even

How are you? Oh, we're doing good. The

kids are so great. We put on Sunday

face, don't we?

And it feels like work. And man, you

ever just get to the place where it's

like, man, I'm done peopleing for today

because that's like a too much effort to

be nice to everyone and and to be loving

because on the inside I'm actually

struggling.

Till you receive the love of God,

everything else Christianity feels like

work.

Number two in your notes is love is

proven in action, not intention.

2 Timothy chapter 3

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

verse one says, "You should know this

that in the last days there will be very

difficult times."

I think we're living in them.

For people will love only themselves and

their money.

They will be boastful and proud,

scoffing at God, disobedient to their

parents, and ungrateful.

They will consider nothing sacred. Verse

three, they will be unloving and

unforgiving.

They will slander others and have no

self-control.

They will be cruel and hate what is

good.

I think we're living in those days.

It says they will betray their friends,

be reckless, be puffed up with pride.

Catch this. And love pleasure rather

than God. Notice the word rather.

Love pleasure

rather than God.

I believe the path to loving God starts

with a war against our own selfishness.

Because in our lack, in our

discontentedness and our self, all this

stuff, it's rooted in selfishness. And

we'll chase more pleasure, more

pleasure, more pleasure. Well, this will

make me happy. That'll make me happy.

That'll make me happy. And how many

times have we got the thing that we

thought would make us happy and we get

there without God going, "Man, I'm just

as miserable or even worse than when I

started."

They love pleasure rather than God.

Verse 5

says they will act religious.

Wait a minute. They're in the church.

these people that are reckless and

prideful and boastful and selfish and

disobedient. And

I'm just reading the Bible. It says they

will act religious,

but they will reject the power that

could make them godly. Bible says stay

away from people like that.

They act religious,

but they reject the power that can make

them godly. Man, I just think that the

the power that can make us godly is the

love of God. Amen. Power of the Holy

Spirit, love of God.

It says they act religious. Tell your

neighbor, say, "Don't put on an act."

They act religious.

Missing the power of God.

I'm hungry for real Christianity. I'm

hungry for real power, for real love. I

want the real thing, man.

Yeah,

man. When I was a kid,

uh played basketball in school and my

family, we had uh uh you know, opposites

attract, right? My dad had no problem

spending money on stuff and my mom

didn't like spending money on anything.

And so, in middle school, my mom went to

Kmart to get my basketball shoes.

Yeah. They weren't good shoes at all.

And I was out on the court, man, trying

to do it. And they didn't have any grip,

so I would just slide across the court

like I was on ice skates.

Yeah. Uh I didn't want the fake

basketball shoes. I wanted the real

ones, the ones a little swish on the

side, right?

Yeah.

Real Christianity, real power, not a

substitute. John chapter 13, Jesus said,

John 13 · chapter mention

and catch this. He says, "A new

commandment I give you, that you love

one another, just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another. By

this all people will know that you're my

disciples

if you have love for one another."

That's agape,

unconditional love.

It's interesting. I was

listening to a Jewish rabbi speak uh not

just on this text but other portions of

scripture and he was confused on the

English translation for the word

commandment. He goes, "I'll never

understand why English people speaking

people put the word commandment there.

It sounds so uh so so heavy and so hard

like a like a law. It's legalistic." He

says the word for commandment in the

Hebrew language is mitzvah.

He says it's it's instructions. It's

like like a road map. It's it has the

idea it's a romantic type uh language, a

romantic word in the language. And if

you can picture a a bride that was

separated from her groom and the groom

sent word that to give a a way back to

be close to her, that would be a

mitzvah.

Jesus is saying, "New instructions I'm

giving to you. a new road map I'm giving

to you so that you can get in this

closed place with me. It's not a do and

don't. I I just I have to love them. God

God said I have to love them, so I'm

going to love them.

That sounds real lovey. You guys know

that 90% of communication is non-verbal.

Do you guys know this? And man, we just

we we we do it in word. I love them, but

I just don't want them around me. I love

them.

you love them. You might want to let

your face know that you love people. A

lot of times we're walking around with

like a do not disturb sign hung on our

face, right?

Yeah.

I love them. It's like you got baptized

in lemon juice. Man,

can I say this? Love is more than word.

It's also an action. And do you know

that you're accountable for the way you

make people feel, not just the things

that you think? Love is more than

intention. Right? Love is actually

action. And my obligation is to make you

feel loved by me. I learned this first

in my marriage because I had missed the

mark. Right. I love my wife. I love my

wife. Like, do you? Yeah.

It's about how you make people feel.

I got off my notes.

We often

think that, especially in our lack, that

man, I just need people around me to

love me. I just wish I had people to

love us. But really, what we need is

somebody to love.

We need somebody to love. By this, all

people will know that you're my

disciples if you agape one another. If

you love each other. And I found this

that everybody can find more people to

love, right? And what are the what the

new commandment that Christ gave? What

did that say? We woke up every day and

said, "Man, I just want to find somebody

to to bless, man. I want to find

somebody to love with God's love." Like,

that's my that's my goal for today.

Let's just go do that. I want to see see

how many I can find today that I just

got to love on with God's unconditional

love.

You'll in that

feel more loved by God.

Amen.

And here's my conviction. I just think

of every believer, if we got a hold of

this thing, man, and we all just started

walking in this love, uh, we wouldn't be

trying to build a new building here.

We'd be getting the coliseum next

Sunday. Like, I just think that

everybody like people are hurting out

there and they don't need our religious

legalism rules and stuff. You got

tattoos, you got to listen to that

music. Who get saved, man? just love

people with God's love. And I just think

that's how I got saved. Somebody loved

me enough and shared the gospel message

with me. I don't know anything, man. I'm

a wreck, right? What if we just started

loving people?

Everybody wants the answer to our broken

society, our broken world. How do we fix

it? Well, it's love God and love others.

Walking in true love. And what I've

learned is that if there's a such a

thing as true love, then there's a thing

called untrue love or false love, right?

We've all experienced that. But true

love is love in action. It's not just a

conversation. Love is not an emotion.

Love is action.

They love pleasure rather than

God.

thinking about the word outreach.

We're not called to inreach. We're not

called to just bless ourselves and be

selfish. We're called to outreach.

Number three in your notes is that real

love

is interruptible

and inconvenient.

True love,

real love is interruptible

and inconvenient. In Matthew 5:44,

Matthew 5:44

Jesus said, "But I say to you, love your

enemies

and pray for those who persecute you so

that you may be sons of your father who

is in heaven. For he makes a son, catch

this, to rise on the evil and on the

good, and sends rain on the just and on

the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what

reward do you have? Do not even tax

collectors do the same? And if you greet

only your brother, what more are you

doing than others? Do not even Gentiles

do the same.

Love is not an emotion. Love is an

action. And can I tell you a lot of

times love is inconvenient?

If loving others doesn't cost you

something, then have you truly loved?

Amen.

I I've learned this that

investing in people costs something.

Cost us something. Loving people

has a cost. It's not always convenient.

It's not just what you tell somebody.

It's also what you show someone.

1 John chapter 3

1 John 3:16

verse 16 says, "We know what real love

is

because Jesus gave up his life for us.

So we also ought to give up our lives

for our brothers."

Listen to verse 17. If someone has

enough money to live well and see a

brother in need but shows no compassion,

how can God's love be in that person?

Dear children, let's not merely say that

we love each other. Let us show the

truth by our actions. Our actions will

show that we belong to the truth. So we

will be confident when we stand before

God. Even if we feel guilty, God is

greater than our feelings and he knows

everything.

You got a war going on on the inside of

you

against self.

My heart is to learn what real

love is.

To be able to express the real love of

God. Amen.

The answer to the problems outside of

this room in society and in people's

lives, I don't think are going to be

solved by TV preachers

or even Sunday morning pastors. Amen.

I think it's going to be solved because

we

wage war against our own sin and

selfishness and rather than pleasure, we

love God.

And people feel the love of God. Amen.

I went through a season of my life that

um I was struggling

really going through a hard time and I

had some unresolved stuff. I was in

ministry. I had some unresolved stuff in

me. And uh at the same time, God was

using me consistently to be a blessing

to other people's lives. I had counsel

and this one's getting freedom. And man,

I get done preaching. People are like,

"Man, that was amazing, powerful, and

changed my life." And all this stuff.

And I remember being in prayer and I'm

going, "God, why is it that uh I'm able

to be used by you and be a blessing to

them, but I'm not able to help myself."

Amen.

And God really ministered to me. He

said, "That's by design.

That's by design that I use people to

bless other people." And so I had to

find I had to surround myself with other

people. And God said, ' Man, I'm I'm

using you in a powerful way in their

life and somebody else is going to be

used in a powerful way in your life.

Amen.

You have everything that you need on the

inside of you to walk in love. And you

don't have to be perfect to love

somebody else. You can be going through

your own stuff, right, wrestling with

it, and still show the love of God.

Ephesians chapter 2:10 says, "We are his

workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand

that we should walk in them."

So God's love is

inconvenient, but it's also

interruptible. Um, I have a book in my

office on my bookshelf. Maybe you're

familiar with it. It's called In His

Steps. You guys remember this classic

Christian book and it has the idea of

walking in the steps of Jesus. Really

powerful good book. And and uh but I was

thinking about, you know, walking in his

steps is powerful, but but I was

thinking about all of the stops that

Jesus made.

And Jesus would just be walking and he

had a destination and somebody would

touch the hem of his garment and he

didn't look at them and say, "I'm I'm

busy. I'm I'm over here doing stuff. He

was interruptible. Jesus would be on the

way to this town and somebody would stop

him and run up and he would heal them or

they healed a blind man. I mean, he was

always interruptible. And love is

inconvenient. And love is also

interruptible.

Amen.

Not just in his steps, it's in his

stops.

Always looking for opportunities to

love.

singing about the platform

often that we

are our very best is when other people

are watching.

Years ago, we

served at a ministry in Moskegan and

just gotten married and uh pastor was

preaching and he he stopped and he said,

"Man, my throat's dry. Could anyone get

me a water?" And I remember this young

guy, I'm in ministry and I just I wanted

to get him a water so bad. You know, I

just everyone you can see a handful of

people kind of jump like, "I'll get

pastor a water." And you feel kind of

cool because you get to hand it to

pastor.

So then later that night, I go home and

sitting I just got comfortable in my man

chair and my wife goes, "Hun, could you

get me a water?" And I'm like,

and I got to get up,

right?

Why was it so radically different to

love in that moment? See, we find it

more spiritual when it's noticeable,

when other people recognize it, but when

we're at home. And I got to tell you,

loving authentically, real Christianity,

real love starts at home. And don't be

putting on an act. Don't be acting

religious out here. and I love and I

serve and all this stuff and at home

you're a bum or you're aggravated or

you're anyone a little interruption.

I just really want to love. Amen.

Let's stand to our feet all over this

house.

I'll ask the worship team to join me up

here. Real Christianity is not just busy

activity,

not religious language, not church

attendance,

but real Christianity is receiving God's

love. It's walking in God's love, and

it's giving God's love.

Praise you, Jesus. Father, we thank you,

Lord. We thank you for the love of God,

Father, that we would wage war against

our own flesh, against our own

selfishness.

Father, that we wouldn't be chasing

after our own pleasure.

But God, I pray that something would

shift in our spirit, God, in a new way,

God, that we not only uh try harder, but

Father, we receive deeper

the love of God

that goes beyond our understanding,

Lord, that we would really enjoy our

life and enjoy our

job, our spouse, our children.

Father, that we would enjoy serving you.

Father, I pray that non-verbal

communication in our lives would preach

the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Father, that just the way that we walk

in the room, Lord, people would be drawn

to heaven.

Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit

overflows in our life in such a way,

God, that people are receiving you

everywhere that we go.

Lord, we're hungry to be real Christians

with real love,

real power, Lord. And we receive it now,

Father. We receive

your grace and your mercy and your love.

We might be used by you. We thank you

for it, God, in Jesus name. And God's

people said, "Amen.