FROM KNOWING TO EXPERIENCING - John 3:16

thank you so much we're good uh what an

amazing weekend with your students uh

I'm to Echo what's already been said uh

thank you for being a church that

invests in them um you have no idea how

many churches across our area across our

state across our country have missed how

important it is to invest in them uh and

so thank you guys for being a church

that is investing so well uh because of

your investing in them I know that this

church has a future uh and so thank you

guys uh for investing so well like you

said uh I have the honor of being a

pastor in Roundrock which is a suburb of

Austin and so uh but I'm originally from

Corpus Christie so I knew kind of where

Orange Grove was I'm not going to lie to

you I never been here until now uh but I

knew kind of where it was I was telling

somebody that I used to go to Alice to

play basketball but then it was like a

two-way so it's been it's it's been wild

the transformation that's happened out

here uh but also just um we have a big

thing about honor in our church we like

to honor people and so uh if you guys

would would you guys just take a second

to honor both your pastors uh Pastor

Roland and Pastor Eric uh

who I get to I get to follow and watch

them from a distance online I get to

serve with them at cam ZR but also just

being here uh in the space that that God

has allowed them to Shepherd uh you guys

have have two really great uh men who

are leading and serving and so thank

always an honor just to be able to come

and share uh today we're going to talk

about a verse that I am sure that you

have probably heard before we're going

to talk about John 36

and you're like wow this guy took the

easy way out uh yeah I did kind of uh

Eric was saying hey we want to talk

about everlasting love this weekend and

so uh I literally just did John 3:16 oh

John 3:16

no I'm just kidding uh we actually did

first John with your students uh but I

thought what a way to capture the

essence of Everlasting Love by going

back to a verse that many of us probably

learned whenever we were six seven eight

years old or if you're newer to Faith

and later on in life you came to Faith

it's probably one of those that you

learned very early on right John 3:16

John 3:16

for God so loved the world that he gave

his only begotten son that whoever

believes in him should not perish but

have everlasting life and see it's one

of those verses that uh so often times I

think we know really well that we

actually forget how it should change our

life right for God so loved the world

that he gave his only son that whoever

believed in him shouldn't perish but

they will have everlasting life so for

the next two and a half hours I think is

what Eric told me I have we're going to

talk just kidding just kidding not two

and a half hours uh we're going to talk

about John 3:16 and my hope my hope for

John 3:16

you today uh is this that we move from

having head knowledge about John 3:16 to

John 3:16

having a heart posture change right from

moving to head knowledge just knowing

John 3:16 to having it sink down deep

John 3:16

into who we are to change not just us

but to change those around us okay so as

we hop in I'm going to go ahead and pray

uh dear God thank you for today uh thank

you that we have the uh the opportunity

to be here with people who love you God

the opportunity to be here to learn more

about how much you love us and the

opportunity to go and be your hands and

your feet to a broken and hurting world

so God would you speak through me we

love you Jesus name I pray amen amen I

am a husband and I have uh one almost

2-year-old little boy uh so just show

our hands really quick how many parents

in the room we got parents okay so

you're going to understand this you're

going to feel my pain with this uh I

have a 2-year-old son I have a uh little

girl coming in about a month to 6 weeks

from now and so we were making the jump

from family of three to family of four

not counting my two dogs and so that's a

whole another thing so dog parents you

also get that uh we we live a pretty

crazy life um but there was something

that happened about two years ago when

people started to find out that my wife

and I were expecting uh they started

giving us a whole bunch of advice all

right now some of y'all are like

laughing at that cuz y'all been there

there uh and you know that a lot of the

advice although well-meaning

isn't always uh applicable right people

would recommend books and things or tell

you know when I had my baby we did this

or when I had my baby we did okay so you

just like I'm also a pastor right so you

have to be kind you're like oh okay

thank you uh I will definitely I'll tell

my wife that uh thank you so much uh we

were recommended a bunch of books and

you know being a pastor I read a lot and

so I was like you know what I told my

wife I said you know what I read a whole

lot quicker than than you do so let me

go ahead and read the books you take the

conversations okay no I didn't do that

but we begin to read these books and all

these books will tell you a million

different things about how to raise kids

what to expect so on so on so

on so I read them and then the time came

for my son to be born and you know what

happens the first time you hold your

newborn

baby you don't really remember the

books all you do is you see your child

and you look at them and you just

realize I'm their dad I'm their mom

that's my son that's my daughter because

all the knowledge in the world didn't

actually matter until you experienced

holding your newborn

child right and that kind of continues

right because the books aren't really

with you whenever youve got like 20

minutes of sleep in the last three days

and you're just experiencing what it's

like being a new parent right I know

some of y'all feel this maybe you're in

this right now uh there's no book

there's no advice that actually prepares

you to experience those moments

nothing changes between uh nothing

changes you from knowing to actually

experiencing better than being put into

the

action right the same thing goes for

love right you think oh I'm going to

love my child I'm going to love them so

much they're going to be my favorite

they're I'm GNA I just can't wait but

something changes when you hold that

newborn baby you're like I would do

anything to make sure they're okay and

they tell me it's worse with girls girl

so y'all can pray for me in a couple

weeks as I have a girl uh because my son

he's all right but he can go to second

place if my daughter is is you know half

of what he is so no I'm just kidding I'm

just kidding I'm just kidding he's too

young he won't listen to this anyways so

he doesn't listen anyways he's a toddler

y'all know that uh you see there's

something that that that happens here

when we go from knowing God's love to

experiencing God's love right there's

something that changes inside of us

something that changes how we live

whenever we go from Simply knowing to

experiencing

God's love so we're going to kind of go

phrase by phrase through this verse

we're going to unpack it together and

then my hope is that you walk out of

here with a not only better knowledge of

God's love for you but being able to

experience God's love for you for God so

loved the world for God so loved the

world we talked about this a little bit

with our students this weekend that tiny

word

so s o that tiny little word carries so

much weight it's not just God loved the

world that would be good it's God so

loved the

world I read a book not too long ago

called No Greater Love by Theologian aw

toer if you are in the need of a book

recommendation that's a good one uh he

posed this question how do you actually

measure the phrase so

loved how do you measure the phrase ra

so

loved I told you I'm a dad and I have my

son um and if you have a toddler you

know that they are a chaos in human form

right that's what they are uh and we

love them but they're still chaotic the

spills the Tantrums the never- ending

why question that comes out of their

mouth for every single thing that you

say uh it's wild it's a journey that

we're on but you know what I don't love

him any less because he's

chaotic I'd still do anything for him

but we can be honest we're in church I

do feel like my love has some limits

right that can only take so much until

I'm like honey he's yours that's your

son I'm going to be over here right or

hey Grandma's in here oh thank you

Grandma we're going to go and have

dinner if he's all yours right cool for

some of you that don't have kids think

about this uh if you have a if you have

a dog I have a dog She's Mine the other

one's my wife's uh I have a dog named

Daisy Daisy's been with me since I was

in college she's 13 years old so she's

she's old

uh Daisy has been by my side uh since I

was in college matter of fact I had an

apartment fire while I was in college

and Daisy's actually the one that woke

me up barked and got me out of the

apartment but here's the thing uh I'm

also a big shoe guy okay I told the I

told the kids this this weekend I love

shoes um and that was one time I got

home and Daisy the dog that I love had

chewed up a pair of shoes that I also

loved right my love has conditions now I

told you she's still my dog so I didn't

take her to the shelter I'm not like

that mean uh but my my love has limits I

didn't love Daisy very much in that

moment when I came home when my shoes

were all chewed up I won't tell you how

I disciplined her because I don't know

how much you guys love animals but no

I'm just kidding she she's still here

she's healthy she's a great dog my love

has limits because I am a flawed human

being right your love has limits because

you're a flawed human being if you

didn't know that you are a flawed human

being welcome to church you are a flawed

human being our love has limits and so

it's actually really hard for us to

understand this kind of love that God

has because God's love is not like our

love it doesn't have

limits God's love is not like our love

it doesn't run out God's love is not

like like our love it doesn't Place

conditions on how much you get said

love for God so loved means that it's

not casual it means that it is

Relentless that means that it is

overwhelming and that means that it is

Everlasting

lasting as he began to grasp the little

words so in the middle of God so love

the world it changes the entire

scripture you start to realize that

there is absolutely nothing nothing that

you have done could be doing or will do

in the future that would ever stop God

from loving

you you begin to understand that that

God doesn't love me any more or any less

from five minutes ago to five years from

now God's love is for you all of it for

you there is no sin that is too

big there is no past that is too

messy there is no failure that is too

deep that could ever stop the reach of

his

love n we talked about it last night if

we confess our sins he is faithful and

just to forgive us our sins and cleanse

us from all

unrighteousness going back to my guy he

puts it this way the love of God

overwhelms my

sin I love that the love of God

overwhelms my

sin there is nothing too big nothing too

Grand that the love of God cannot

handle and for some of you you just need

to hear that because you're walking in

here discouraged beat up messed up and

you feel like I don't really know if God

could love me after what I

did last night

this morning last

week God's love is still for

you God still loves

you so much so that he gave his one and

his only

son see love always shows itself in

action we talked about this yesterday

morning before your students went out to

go and uh destroy flower beds is what

what I I guess that's what we're going

to put it at destroy flower beds uh

before they went and that we said hey

love is action you don't just say you

love love something without putting it

into action right I told you I was

married when I got married I I did not

uh pull out the the ring and be like

here you go babe let's get married

that's not how that's not how it worked

right I saved up I invested in a

ring I set I set the stage we went out

to a park I made arrangements you know

I'm a millennial so I had to get it on

film so I had to like set up a friend

that had to go and like be in the bushes

hiding out to make sure that we got the

picture

right then I got down on one knee and I

told her how I felt about her and I said

will you marry me right love is

action it's a tangible way to show my

love and if it stopped there then I

wouldn't be married still today and so

you know you keep showing up the

engagement the wedding isn't it you keep

showing keep showing

action and every time that I see my ring

on my finger it's my reminder that love

isn't just spoken it's

shown the same is true in any

relationship I know some of you aren't

married some of you aren't parents and

so think about this think about your

deepest friendships the ones that you

say are right in my closest Circle the

the relationships that mean the most to

me do you have that friend who drops

everything when you're

struggling do you have the friend who

texts you just to check

in the the one who doesn't say Hey you

know let me know if he need anything but

instead knows you so much they know

exactly what you need and they show up

and they give it to you

do we have those kinds of friends

because you see the difference between

saying you love someone and

demonstrating it is the action the verb

you got to show

it and see as we read in John 3:16 we

John 3:16

see that this love from God wasn't just

a feeling he didn't fall in love with us

so he's not going to fall out of love

with us he just loves us it's an

action he demonstrates it he gave his

one and his only son to pay a price that

his son didn't even

deserve his love never changes it never

flu fades it is constant it is

Relentless it is unshakable and the more

time that you spend with him you

actually realize how deep his love

is I told students this weekend I'm a

big Marvel fan so I got to bring a

Marvel reference it's actually a running

joke in my church that I will somehow

weave Marvel into every message so if

you don't like com

I'm sorry uh this is uh this is what I

think of right I think of this when

you've experienced great love you have a

great responsibility to show that love

my Spider-Man people in the room no

matter if you are Toby Maguire Andrew

Garfield or Tom Holland Spider-Man

people it all is the same there is

always the line in Spider-Man that says

with great power comes great

responsibility with great love there

comes a great

responsibility if you've Been Loved a

lot you have the responsibility to go

and love

others it's not an original thought from

Spider-Man even though you know it's

cool it's actually a thought from Jesus

in Luke

12 to much is given much is required and

what's more given than a holy son to die

in our place there's nothing greater or

bigger than

that we've been given so much the love

of God the sacrifice of Jesus the gift

ofation so the question is what are we

doing with it

what are we doing with

it God didn't just say that he loved you

he proved

it so whoever believes in

him it's one thing to know about

love to hear about it to read about it

even to see it played out in the lives

of

others but knowing about love is not the

same as experiencing

love the experience happens when you

actually believe that that love is for

you it's not your neighbor's love it's

not your spouse his love it's not the

love for your kids no no no God's love

is for you you get to fill in the blank

with your name God so loved

Daniel God so loved

Eric right God so loved

you this is

personal imagine this you're out all day

your phone battery drains to about 1%

for some of us we're like thank God

right phone is going to die uh for some

of us we're like oh my gosh God please

help my phone's going to die we've all

been there maybe uh if you're dependent

on your phone for work or something like

that uh you begin to freak out a little

bit trying to close out the apps trying

to dim the brightness trying to go on

airplane mode or whatever it is that

saves your battery but then you remember

oh I've got the charger in my

bag it's the charger that I use every

day I know that it works but instead of

plugging it in I'm just going to be like

nope I hope my phone

survives I have my charger but I'm just

going to hope that my phone lasts all

day that makes zero sense that makes no

sense yet it's a simple illustration to

show what some of us are doing with

God's love

we know about it we've seen it work in

so many people around us but instead of

plugging into it instead of believing it

for ourselves instead of it uh being our

life Source our power source we just

keep it on the

shelf and we say you know what I hope

life works

out God's love isn't just something to

recognize it's something to

receive we don't don't just recognize

God's love we get to receive God's

love and it's something that we don't

have to but we get to plug into and

depend

on belief isn't just acknowledging that

God exists it's trusting that he exists

and that his love is for you it's

surrendering to it's letting the love

his love Define who you are how you live

and where you place your hope in

see the power of God's love isn't

experienced from a

distance it's experienced when you get

in nice close

personal I don't know how many of you

guys have walked through really deep

dark hard

things the loss of a loved one the loss

of a job the loss of a spouse Ian

there's loss in our world we live in a

fallen and broken world uh this year

I've experienced some loss and I've had

people ask me like how are you like how

are you

doing and I tell them and I mean this

100% I'm just reminding myself every day

of how much God loves

me right because you can't actually walk

through life because life is messed up

you can't walk through life and

experience hope and experience Joy

unless you're plugged into the

source and you don't actually get to

learn the depths of the source unless

you spend time with

them that's a challenge that we have

with our students right to move from

knowing to experience experiencing to to

move from being just a Sunday Christian

to a Christian Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday Friday Saturday right because

the more that you spend time the more

that you dive into depth the more love

you actually see is for

you and it's not because God's love is

changing it's just because we are

getting deeper and deeper and deeper

into the

pool God's love gives us eternal life

you shall not perish but you should have

everlasting eternal

life right and that is a great hope for

the future but it doesn't just start

when you

die you want to have life full of

Hope tap into the

source you want to have a life full of

joy tap into the

source you want to have a life that

shows others love tap into the source

you want to have purpose tap into the

source you want to have peace tap into

the source

you see so many times we fall into this

trap of like man I checked the box I

know I'm good I know when I die I'm

going to heaven but then we forget about

the right here and the right

now right Jesus came to bring life and

life in full abundance have you tapped

into

it see that's what happens when we go

from knowing about God's love to

experiencing God's love it changes

everything

it changes

everything I'm going to tell you this on

the front end here uh we challenge your

students uh yesterday uh to walk in

accountability to walk in accountability

now what that means is that it's not

just on them to walk in accountability

Eric mentioned it but I'm going to

challenge you so many of you guys are

Are Spiritual heroes in this church I

know it so many of you guys in this room

have spiritual depth you've experienced

great love I'm going to ask you to be

bold

and to start praying God who is the

student that you have me to walk

with now I'm going to tell you that's a

scary prayer uh because when you pray it

God just might do it I'm going to

challenge you today you want to walk in

a great depth of Love uh Pastor Eric

talked about this morning in our debrief

how do you best learn something you

teach it and so many of you guys in this

room so many of you ladies in this room

so many of you moms in this room so many

of you dads in this room have a great

depth of love that your students

desperately

need be bold say the prayer students

have been challenged I'm going to put

the challenge to your church as well be

ready to walk in accountability with

your students they need

it studies show on average that students

need about seven adults not counting the

ones that are in their house uh to make

it through high school to go through

college and to be a functioning adult

that is still attending church you guys

know there's a big drop off between when

they leave high school and they go to

college they become adults they leave

church uh studies have shown they need

seven adults seven

adults Eric's one their small group

leader one or two we still have a gap be

bold be willing give the love that you

have

received you see experiencing God's love

it changes everything it transforms who

we are it changes our our thought

process it changes how we live it

changes how we talk it changes how we

see it changes how we budget it changes

how we live it changes

everything so what I want to do I really

like doing illustrations so if you're

like I hate illustrations I'm sorry I

love this illustration

uh that wasn't the illustration I was

just thirsty uh there's a cup of water

we've all seen this before we've all

seen a bottle of water uh I will openly

admit I don't like water I think it

tastes boring I don't like it uh and so

I don't really drink water that's why I

drink sweet tea okay um but we have

these things called flavor packets

right this blank empty

water this is us as human beings we're

kind of bland hate to break it to you

they're kind of

bland but we begin to know God's

love it's a little bit there I don't

know about you if you've ever tried to

drink water that is like that that's not

very good you have like a little bit of

a taste but it still doesn't taste that

great but you can kind of see I'm I'm

beginning to know about God's love

it's beginning to change

me honestly it's kind of sinking to the

bottom but there are little bits that

are rising up my flavor is beginning to

change because I know about the love of

God but you know what happens when you

actually experience the love of God when

you experience the love of God you begin

to get deeper into his word you begin to

spend time in community you begin to

pray uh you begin to ask big things and

expect big things about God and say God

I am here use me me I am your vessel use

me God teach me show me your ways you

know what happens

then the love of God becomes experienced

love right the love of God is now

experienced in life and we have gone

from boring and Bland to just a little

bit sweet to now we are overflowing with

flavor and I won't squeeze the bottle

because this is a nice rug right we are

overflowing with flavor this is who we

were designed to be this is who we were

designed to be to experience the love of

Christ to let it transform who we are to

move from from boring and Bland to to

move from being uh I think I said to

move from being a jerk to being kind

from move to always frowning to having

Joy from moving to having peace in the

middle of chaos but you don't get there

until you experience the love of

God because it changes how you think it

changes how you live it changes how you

love we are the Salt and Light of the

Earth today we are the grape drink mix

from Great

Value that's what we are we bring flavor

to the

world it's not because of something that

we magically did it's because God loves

us and God's love is what brings flavor

and we are just the body to bring

it see John 3:16 isn't just a verse that

John 3:16

we memorize it's a reality that we are

invited to live

in God's love is

overwhelming it overwhelms our

sin God's love is Relentless it chases

after

us and God's love is available right

now you don't have to wait to experience

you don't have to get yourself fixed up

his love is for you you don't have to

even figure it all out you don't have to

have all the answers that's called

Faith so here is my challenge for you

Church don't settle for just knowing

about God's love

experience God's

love because here's the thing when you

experience not only does it change you

but it changes the flavor of those

around

you today as you leave we're going to

have drink packets for you say thank you

to Pastor Eric because it wasn't me

we're going to have drink packets for

you and as you take that I want to be a

reminder if you're like I'm going to

drink it right when I get in the car

cool but I want to be a reminder for you

I want to be a reminder for you for

moving from knowing to experiencing

God's

love not only does it change who you are

but it changes those who you come in

contact with they get the sweet flavor

of who God is they get to small taste of

God's

love once you experience God's love you

will never be the

same I'm going to invite the band up and

I'm going to pray I'm just going to

leave it at

that go and experience the love of God

to change the world around you

God we thank you for being here in this

place today God we thank you for a

church that is in h South Texas that is

chasing after you that is longing to

look more like you that is investing

into the Next Generation uh that is

loving their neighbor that is serving in

a great

capacity God I pray that may today be a

day where one we're just reminded of how

much you love us God may we never get

over the fact that your love is for us

may it never get old or Bland the fact

that you love a broken messed up people

like

us so God our only response then is to

pour out our lives as a sacrifice to you

so God let us be the ones that move from

being Bland and basic to overflowing

with the love and the goodness the sweet

flavor of your

love so God we love you we thank you

thank you for this time this space this

place God have your way