loved.- Dixie Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from Lifehouse Church.

Wow, I love hearing all the chatter out there.

You guys are really connecting.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there.

We're so excited and honored that we get to

celebrate with you and that you joined us to celebrate today.

I'm a mom of three and a Mimi of four,

soon to be five, so I love this day.

I like to be honored. Who doesn't like gifts and presents and all that good stuff, right?

Moms, we have a gift for you.

We actually have two gifts for you today and we have

some lovely helpers that are going to come around and hand those gifts to you.

We have a facial face mask for you.

At some point today,

if you get 30 minutes to just relax, guys,

this is a hint for you, take the kids,

do whatever it takes for mom to have.

While you have that face mask on,

we have got some amazing Mammert's chocolate covered pretzels for you to partake of.

If you've not had Mammert's chocolate,

this is a shameless plug for them.

We don't know them,

we're not invested in them,

but they have some amazing chocolate here in town.

They're just a little local chocolate shop.

We have that gift for you today.

While the girls are passing this out,

I just want you guys to turn your attentions to the screen.

If you're a mom, wave your hand at them.

Let us know.

I wanna stop, stop, and thank you mama

I wanna stop, stop, and thank you mama

How sweet it is to be loved by you

Feels so fine, yeah

How sweet it is to be loved by you

Eee, I close my eyes at night

Wondering where would I be without you in my life

Everything I do reminds me of you

Everywhere I go I wish you were there too

You brighten up for me all of my days

Love's so sweet in so many ways

I wanna stop, stop, and thank you mama

I just wanna stop, stop, and thank you mama, oh yeah

How sweet it is to be loved by you

Oh, how sweet it is to be loved by you

Yeah, how sweet it is to be loved by you

Love's so sweet in so many ways

Love's so sweet in so many ways

I couldn't help but think of the words to this song that we just played

I know we played that as a tribute to moms

But how sweet it is to be loved by you

I needed the shelter of someone's arms and there you were

I needed someone to understand my ups and downs and there you were

With sweet love and devotion deeply touching my emotion

Wondering where I would be without you in my life

I just wanna stop and thank you, they said mama

But when I was thinking of those words I thought that could almost be Jesus

You know, when we needed the shelter of someone's arms

And we needed our emotions, ups and downs and the ups and downs of life

And I just think that could be Jesus

So I was thinking moments earlier I said that

There's nothing sweeter than being loved by your mama

But actually I think there's something way better

I think there's something way sweeter than being loved by your mama

And that's being loved by God, by your creator

By the one who knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb

God's love for us is so incredible that it's almost indescribable

And before we dig into the word I just wanna pray over it

And ask just for God's will to be done

So if you'd bow your heads with me

Father, Lord we thank you for this day

We thank you for each one that's here this morning

God it's always our prayer when we come in through the doors of Lighthouse

And for all the people that come in

That they don't leave here the same way they came

But they will be changed because they've been in your presence

And because they've heard your word

And Father I pray over your word this morning

God I pray that you edit my words

And only have me share what you would have them to hear today

God we give you praise, we give you thanks in all things

In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen

Amen and amen

So I wanna talk about God's love today

I wanna give you some attributes of God's love

It's really, it's almost indescribable

Like we can't put a finger on God's love

We can't understand it

But I wanna give you some attributes of it

God's love is gentle

If you read in Matthew 11, 28 and 29

It says, then Jesus said, come to me

All of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens

And I will give you rest

Take my yoke upon you

Let me teach you because I am humble

And gentle at heart

And you will find rest for your souls

That's Jesus speaking to us, he is gentle

And when I thought about that

I couldn't help but thinking about the woman at the well

And if you're not familiar with the story of the woman at the well

The woman at the well didn't live exactly an exemplary Jesus following life

She came to the well in the heat of the day

Hoping nobody else would be there

Because she didn't want her critics to come

She didn't want those accusers to come against her

But Jesus gently met her at the well

He gently met her at the well

And he shared the living water with her

Where she would never thirst again

Did he speak truth to her? Absolutely

He told her kind of exactly where she was in a gentle way

But he met her at the well and was gentle with her

Another attribute of God's love is that he is faithful and he is merciful

In Lamentations 3, 22 and 23, it says

The faithful love of God never ends

His mercies never cease

Great is his faithfulness

His mercies begin afresh every morning

When I think about that, I think about his love that never ends

And his mercies never end

I kind of think a little bit about Jarius' daughter in the Bible

Jarius and his daughter

And if you're not familiar with that story

That's the story of a man whose daughter was very ill

She was very sick

And he'd heard about this man Jesus that was healing people

And so he left his very sick daughter

And he left and he went to find Jesus

But while he was gone, his daughter passed

But Jesus was faithful and merciful

And came with Jarius and healed his daughter and brought her back

His faithfulness never ends

His mercies are new

God's love is compassionate

Psalms 86 and 15 says

But you, O Lord, are a God of great compassion and mercy

Slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness

God's love is compassionate

And I was looking in God's Word and I was thinking about an example of that

And I couldn't help but think of Hosea and Gomer in the Bible

I couldn't help but think the prophet Hosea who was told by God to marry Gomer

And if you're not familiar with that story

Let's bring it to modern day times

It would be like God, Pastor Kip, is single

He's not, he's married ladies, he's been married for almost 33 years

But if Pastor Kip was single and he was the pastor of this church

It would be like God telling him to marry a local prostitute

That's hanging out there by the Turnpike entrance on Carlisle Pike

I'm not so sure Lifehouse would be very accepting of that

If we brought that down to come time

But God's love is so compassionate

So much love for Gomer and where she was that he told Hosea to redeem her

To bring her, to show her her love and to show her her worth

And we know that that's got a story with Israel

And I'm not going to go into all that detail this morning

But God's love is compassionate

God's love is unfathomable

In Ephesians 3, 18 and 19 it says

And you may have the power to understand as all God's people should

How wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is

May you experience the love of Christ that is too great to understand fully

You know, I think about that and it's really hard for us to understand that

But I think of someone in the Bible called Saul

Who was a man who hated Christians, who persecuted Christians, who killed Christians

But God's love was so unfathomable, so love

The love that's so deep, so wide, so far that he took Saul where he was

And he met him and he became Paul

And we all know the stories of Paul in the Bible

If you don't read about him, he was a great follower of Christ in God's word

I think that if he can take someone like Saul who killed Christians

And bring him to Paul who became someone who was a follower of Christ

And shared that with so many, I just think God's love is unfathomable

Then I look at how God's love is forgiving and full of grace

In Nehemiah 17 it says

Even when God's people refused to obey his word

Even after he performed miracles on their behalf

God was a God of forgiveness, graciousness, and merciful

Slow to become angry and rich in his unfailing love

And I look at that and I can't help to think about David

If you think about David, the little shepherd boy

Who went and fought Goliath with five stones

Took out that giant, that's great, that's amazing, right?

Then David becomes King David

And then David messes up

Then David has an affair with a married woman

And gets the woman pregnant

Then tries to hide it by having the woman's husband killed at war

I mean you think about that, he went from there

From being the guy who slayed the giant to King to now he's in this mess

I think Pastor Kipp last week talked a little bit about lie after lie after lie after lie to cover up

And that's kind of the trouble that David got himself in

But I think about how God loved him

And how God was gracious to him

And how God was forgiving and full of grace in David's life

And I think of all these examples of how God is with us

And then I think about how God's love is always with us

Even in our pain and even in our suffering

You see Isaiah 43, 2 and 3 says

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you

When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown

When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up

The flames will not consume you for I am your Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior

God's love is always with us even in our pain and suffering

I can't help but think about Joseph in the Bible

Now think about this, Joseph's brothers hated him

I'm not talking about your typical sibling rivalry where you're pushing over your brother

Or he makes you mad and you punch him

His brothers hated him

His brothers put him in a pit, sold him into slavery, he was in prison

But then Joseph made it to the palace

And the entire time in Joseph's pain and his suffering

God was with him

God's love is always with us

Then I think about how God's love is eternal

Isaiah 54, 10 says

For the mountains may move and the hills disappear

But even then my faithful love for you will remain

My covenant of blessing will never be broken says the Lord who has mercy on you

God's love is eternal

And you know what, I can't help but think about us

When I think about God's eternal love

I can't understand it, I can't understand that no matter

How many times I mess up, how many mistakes I make

How much sin I get myself involved in

God's love for me never wavers

God never moves farther away from me, it's me moving farther away from him

God's love is eternal

From the moment I am formed in my mother's womb

Until I take my last breath

God's love is unconditional for me, eternal, he loves me

Then I think about how God's love is protective

I read in Psalms 5, 11 and 12

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice

Let them sing your joyful praises

Spread protection over them

That all who love your name may be filled with joy

For you bless the godly, O Lord

You surround them with your shield of love

God's love is protective

Can't help but think about Daniel in the lion's den

If you're not familiar with that story

Daniel got thrown in exactly what I said, a lion's den

And God shut the mouths of the lions and was protective

I think about Daniel, but I think about my own life

And I think about all the times that God's protection was on me

The things that he kept me from, the things that he brought me through

God's love is protective

And last but not least, and there's many other attributes

These are just the ones I'm talking about today

God's love is sacrificial

1 John 4, 9 and 10 says that God showed how much he loved us

By sending his one and only son into the world

So that we might have eternal life through him

This is real love, not that we loved God

But that he loved us

And sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins

What an example of love then for him to send his one

His only son to the cross

So that we could have forgiveness

So that our sins could be forgiven

And that we could live this life with Christ

I think about that today on Mother's Day

I have a son, I have one and only son

I have two daughters, one son

Not that I would give any of them their lives

But I have one son

I would not lay his life down, I love you all

But I would not lay his life down for any of you

Sorry, I'm just being honest

And I'm not so sure that there's anybody else out there

That would lay their child down for any of us

But God loved us so much

That's the impact, that's the gravity

Of what God did for us

He sent his one, his only son for us

And that is all really good stuff

God's love is amazing

But I'm not gonna stop there

Because how many know there's always a but?

But how many know that we're gonna have trouble in this life

And that God never said that when you become a follower of Christ

That it's all gonna be peaches and cream

That it's gonna be roses and sunshine

Rainbows and unicorns

I don't find that in God's word anywhere

God's love does not mean that we're not gonna have trouble in this life

In fact, he tells us that

He tells us truth

In John 16, 33, he says

I have told you these things

So that in me you may have peace

In this world you will have trouble

But take heart, I have overcome the world

Now notice in there it doesn't say

In this world you might have trouble

It doesn't say in this world there's a chance you could have trouble

It doesn't say in this world

It's iffy 50-50 you might have trouble

That is not what it says

It says he's straight up, he's straightforward, he tells you the truth

In this world you will have trouble

But take heart because I have overcome the world

God did not hide the fact that we have troubles, problems, trials, bad days, bad weeks, bad months, bad years

He just promised to love us and walk with us

And that we'd never be alone through that

See, I like what one writer said

He said life isn't a walk in the park

It's more like a trek through the mountains

On top of the world one minute, in the valley the next

But the same God who gives you that mountaintop view

Doesn't let you walk alone in the valley

It's the same God

See, but there's something that happens to us in our humanness

When the trials and the troubles come

We get super focused on the problem, on the trial

On whatever it is that we're going through

We get so focused on that

That we forget about all those things that I just talked about

All those attributes of God, his love

We forget because we get so focused on the problems

See, this glass of water represents our life, free of trouble

It's pure, it's clear, it looks really good

This is dirt

It represents the troubles in our life

Okay, little science experience here

They can always fail, so we're going to go to that in a minute

But this dirt represents the difficulties that we have in life

Those difficulties could be parenting your kids

How many moms out there think parenting kids is hard?

If you didn't raise your hand, you just lied

It's hard

I had three, I know

Parenting kids are hard, and it doesn't ever end

I don't care how old they are

Parenting kids are hard even when they're adults

Because you stop parenting, sort of, because they're adults

You got to kind of find a walk that line

But that could represent the dirt

Or it could be maybe your marriage isn't in the place that you thought it would be

You got married, you've been married five years, ten years, 15 years, 20 years

And your marriage is just in a rough place

And that could represent the dirt

Or maybe it's that diagnosis that you got

And you're so focused on that diagnosis

Or maybe it's that your son or your daughter came home with the news that you just didn't want to hear

That could be the dirt

It could be that your finances are a mess

And you're in over your head, and you're so focused on that mess

You just don't know what to do

It could be that it's a relationship with your mom or your dad that's broken

And you're so focused on that

It could be your job

Maybe your job is swallowing you up

Maybe your job is just so stressful, so much, it's just swallowing you up

And that's where all your focus is

Or maybe you lost your job

And now you don't know what you're going to do, and you've got that mess, that dirt

Maybe you've lost a child

Or maybe you've lost a parent

Or maybe you've lost a spouse

And maybe that's the dirt

And see what happens when that dirt, when those troubles come into our life

It gets all mixed up in there

And we get so focused of trying to make our water clear

And we're trying to get this dirt out

And we spend oodles and oodles of time

That's an awful sound actually, hearing that across that glass

We try to get that dirt out, we're so focused on that

And no matter how hard I try, how focused I get on this

I'm never going to be able to make that water less dirty with this spoon

And trying to get the trouble

If I try to do this on my own, and I keep trying to fix the problem, to fix the trial

I'm going to be doing this forever

I'm going to be so distracted, I'm going to be doing this forever, but you know what?

You know how we deal with this trouble, with this problem

See this picture of water, this represents God's love

That he has for us, and the goodness that's in our life

And you know how you get rid of this, or you make your life more clear

As you just start focusing on the love of God

And the more of the love of God, and the more of him you pour in

The water gets clear

Now it's never going to be as pure and clear as the day you were born

Before there was any trouble

But as you focus on the love of God

And I can keep going, there's still going to be a little bit in there, but I can keep going

Do you see how clear your water is?

Do you see if you focus on the love of God, and the goodness of God

And not on the problems that that is how you deal with things in your life

It's difficult when we have those things come in

You get consumed by trying to get that dirt out

We become fixated on it

We get so focused on the problem

We spend all our time trying to fix it

And listen, I had to preach this to me before I'm ever sharing it with you

I feel like this was a message that God laid on my heart months ago

Because he did this in my own life

There's been times that I have got so focused on the dirt

On the problem that I forget that the one who can bring peace

Who can bring all that, the goodness back in our life

Who can bring healing, whose grace and mercies are new every day

I forget because I'm so focused on the problem

You see, there's this funny thing that was invented a couple

I don't know how long ago it was, somebody out there with technology can tell me

It's this watch that I have on, this Apple watch

And you know, this Apple watch does funny things for me, it's really great

It will remind me of appointments that I have, it's right on there

I'll get warnings on that

But I've also, I guess you do this when you set it up

I don't really remember, it's been so long since I've had one

But you tell it how many movements you want to have for the day to be healthy

And it knows how many times you should stand a day for some strange reason in order to be healthy

So I'm at work and my watch will tell me, Dixie, you need to stand

I never knew I needed a watch to tell me to stand

But it'll say it's time to stand

But it reminds me that it would be healthy for me to stand up right now

So I tend to stand up and I go to the copier or go put something in the fouling cabinet

I know I work with Bishop Bill and his watch tells him that

He gets up and goes out and walks around the building

So our watch, this amazing invention is telling us that

Even at night, like at 10.45, my watch will tell me, Dixie

If you would go take a 15-minute brisk walk, you will meet your movements for the day

Those are the times I kind of just like want to smash the watch

Because I don't really want to go for a brisk walk at 10.45, you know

But wouldn't it be amazing if we had a Jesus watch?

You know, a Jesus watch that would just say

Hey, Dixie, you're really being focused on that problem right now

But if you just remember, if you just remember in Lamentations 3, 22 and 23

That the faithful love of the Lord never ends

That His mercies never cease

That great in His faithfulness, great are His mercies

That begin fresh and new every morning

And then I get that nudge from him

And then he says in Ephesians 3, 18 and 19

And may you have the power to understand, as all of God's people should

How wide, how long, how high, how deep His love is for you

May you experience the love of Christ

If I just had that Jesus watch that would remind me of that

Just like this Apple watch does when I need to stand up

Or even in Psalms 5, 11, 12, if that Jesus watch would say

But let all who take refuge in your rejoice

Let them sing joyful praises forever

Spread protection over them

That all who love your name are filled with joy

For God blesses the godly

Oh, the love that He has for us

If we would just have that Jesus watch, guess what?

You do. It's called the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is your Jesus watch

It's that nudge to tell you

Hey, Dixie, you need to get in the Word

You need to be reading those scriptures

You need to be spending time with God

And you need to be focusing on His love for you

Not on the dirt, not on the problems

We're all gonna have the problems

He was honest with us

In this world you will have trouble

And you know what?

I have called these cheater sticky notes up here

That I had the scriptures on

You know what I do with these scriptures?

Because I don't always have them committed to memory

If I'm going through something and I need to be reminded of something

I just stick this on my mirror

So when I get up in the morning

I've got that Jesus watch

Reminding me that His mercies are new every morning

This is my cheater notes that if I don't have the time

Or I don't make the time

Let me put it that way, we all have the time

But if I don't make the time to get in God's Word in the morning before I go

I at least read the little sticky note

The little Jesus watch that I put on the mirror

To remind me that God's love is gentle

To remind me that God's love is faithful and merciful

To remind me that God's love is compassionate

To remind me that God's love is unfathomable

To remind me that His love is forgiving and full of grace

To remind me that His love is always with us

Even in our pain and in our suffering

To remind me that His love is eternal

To remind me that His love is protective and sacrificial

To remind me

I'm going to ask if you'd stand this morning if Zach and the worship team would come

You see if we focus on His love

It brings the clarity, the peace, the mercy, the grace, the healing

The compassion into our life

Our water gets clear even though we're still going to have dirt in our life

You see His life is eternal so no matter how muddy our water gets

With troubles, His love is enough

His love is always with us

We need to focus on Him and His goodness

And not the circumstances around us

So this morning, I don't really know if you're on the mountaintop

And your glass is pretty clear right now

And if it is, get ready because it's not going to stay there

Because it's where it says we're going to have trouble

Or if right now today you're in the valley

And you're going through something

And you feel like Jesus is so far away

And how could He love me right now?

Because if He did, I wouldn't be going through this

I wouldn't be walking down this path

I wouldn't be having this trouble

I wouldn't have lost my job

I wouldn't have missed that promotion

My kid wouldn't have come home and gave me that news

That's not true, that's the enemy telling you that

Because God loves you more than you will ever imagine

And it doesn't matter where you are

Because God's love is unconditional

His blessings are conditional

But His love for you is unconditional

So this morning I wanted to remind you of God's love

I wanted to remind you, I wanted you to get you a picture

Of what you need to focus on

When those troubles come because they're going to come

I want you to quit focusing on the dirt

And on the problems and retrain your mind

To focus on the goodness of God's love

On the goodness of God

So we're going to bow our heads this morning

And right where you are we're going to pray

And then the worship team is going to sing a song

And then we're going to get ready to close

But I don't know where you are

But maybe you're even here this morning

And you've never experienced this love of God

You're not a follower of Jesus

You don't really understand anything I was talking about today

Except for we've got this God that loves you

You can know Him

Because even though you don't know Him, He knows you

And He wants to be in relationship with you

So Father, this morning I pray right where everyone is at

Right in their seats God I pray

That if they are in that valley this morning

That something that you said through me

One of the scriptures from your word this morning

God penetrated their hearts

And they were reminded of that need to have you in their life

That need to have your love cover whatever it is they're in

Whether they need protection

Whether they need mercy and grace

Whatever it is that they need

Maybe they just need your gentle arms to come around them

And say hey it's going to be okay

Because I'm with you

God wherever they are this morning God

I pray that they just take a moment

And they ask you for what they need this morning

Where they're at

Right where they're at Jesus

God that you will come in and you will show them

A love like no other

A love that is eternal

A love that is gentle and faithful and merciful

So God I pray that they lay that problem

Right at your feet

And they focus on you and your love

God I pray that you just touch them and meet them

Right where they're at this morning

In your precious name

Thank you for watching!