Grow Love - Pastor Jim Hennesy

It's very few times that I would ever stand before you and say that today we get the privilege of hearing from a giant in the faith.

But today, an unexpected honor for this church and for our lives as pastors, because you're gonna hear from a giant in the faith.

You're gonna hear from a man that has virtually been connected, listen to this, to every significant move of God since he surrendered to Christ as a young man.

You're gonna hear from a man who has a unique love for the things of the Spirit, for the voice of God, for the prophetic, and also for the wonders and the glory of establishing a great community in DeS, Texas.

I have had the privilege of being at his church, and let me tell you, when you walk in, it's just Jesus from the first hello to the last amen.

It's just Jesus.

Um, this gentleman is not only educated in the things of God and in theology, but he is one who has been on the cutting edge of things that God has established as great outreaches and conduits of blessing.

People have asked me, why are you a football coach?

Because I was called to it.

That's why.

Some of you will remember when Dion Sanders and his son Shadur and what's the other one?

And Shiloh's sons begin to make headlines that that Dion was coaching and he was coaching high school ball.

Remember that?

And he had two boys that are playing.

So this great, amazing Hall of Famer is now coaching at a high school.

And it's a Christian high school.

It was his high school.

He has been used of God to pastor and to give a place of rest to prophets like Cindy Jacobs and others.

This man has been a friend to the prophetic movement worldwide.

But he's here to just speak a word into our lives.

And I want you to give a great welcome to our friend, a giant in the faith, Dr.

Jim Hennessy, please.

Thank you, guys.

Please, uh well, before you're seated, come on, give one more praise to the Lord, to the King.

Would you do it?

Lord, we bless you.

We thank you, we honor you, we love you so much.

We're so grateful for your presence.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Um, you you can be seated.

Mayor Tom, it's such a joy to be able to share with you in the house today, Elizabeth.

Thank you guys for um not being ashamed of your faith in Christ.

Our city, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, the whole area, Duncanville, but uh uh our city is in the midst of a transformation, and our church has positioned itself as best we know to be armor bearers to city leaders and city officials as this church is.

And I just kind of uh if I with with your permission, sir, I I saw you holding hands together, husband and wife, there.

I saw you holding hands, and and and I felt the Holy Spirit just speak to my heart how proud he was that you were a man of great compassion and love and and a family of great love, and and how the the authority that you have in this city is because the love of Jesus is flowing, and even the word effervescing is just expanding.

And so I'm just so thankful for for your willingness to serve the city in this capacity.

God bless you, sir.

Give it up one more time for the for the mayor, please.

And what a joy, what a joy it is for me to be uh with you today.

Uh in 1974, I um my my dad invited a musical group from Louisiana Tech called the Vessels.

I don't know if you've ever heard of those guys before.

And they came and held a youth retreat at my church.

My dad's my dad was pastor of the church evangelical temple in Columbus, Georgia, and um the trajectory of my life was not good.

It was not good.

I I had all kinds of aspirations about how my life was, but that weekend, uh, the vessels brought something in them.

That's a silly name, vessels, vessels.

No, you don't bring the vessels, not a few.

Anyway, uh brought the brought the glory of God, the presence of God, and and and my life was so turned around as the Holy Spirit called me on during that weekend to give my life to full-time ministry.

The problem is, the problem is that I thought my story was unique.

I thought that I was special because Denny Duran had been used of the Lord to speak the call of God in into my life.

But turns out I'm just one of thousands and thousands and thousands of people.

Everywhere I go, I was like, yeah, I was Denny did in the spirit and God, and oh, it was amazing.

And so um I just want to say, in in the Denny's church, like Denny and Denny, I just want to say, and Danza, thank this family has impacted the kingdom of God profoundly.

And I know you know that, but I have to say it.

I I honor you guys.

Thank you so much for what you have meant to my life, my ministry over the years.

I want to talk to you for just a few.

Oh, by the way, my wife Beck brings greetings.

Um, she is the chaplain for the WNBA wings.

I don't know if anyone follows ladies' basketball or not, but the basketball uh this week, the World Cup of Basketball is taking place in Berlin.

And so the USA team requested Beck to be their chaplain in Berlin, and so she is there uh in Berlin with them, and I I know she would appreciate your prayers as well.

I don't want to impose Texas customs on you, but I don't know any better.

If you don't mind, would you stand please to honor the reading of God's word?

I want to talk to you for a few moments about growing love.

Grow love.

And uh do you like the Bible here?

Do you like the Bible okay?

Yeah, because the scripture is kind of lengthy.

I have two scriptures, both really I want to preach the whole book of Ephesians to you today.

Um, but I'm gonna just try to stay in a couple of a couple of paragraphs.

The first scripture is Ephesians 1, beginning with verse 7.

Um Do we have that on the screen?

Let's just read it, read it together.

Ephesians 1, 7 through 10.

In him we have, oh, you're gonna read it with me?

Nah, let's not do that, all right.

And I'll tell you the reason is because there are key words I want to stop and preach even while I'm reading and standing.

Okay, so so let me let me read and then uh um I'll let you say, I'll let you participate a little bit later, okay?

So in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, the riches of his grace, which he made to abound, abound toward us, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, purposed in himself.

Wait, this purpose is in him, like coaching is in Denny, the purpose is in him, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, he might gather together, he might gather together in one all the things in Christ, both things in heaven, things in earth, in him.

And then if you'll turn, you you don't need to turn in your Bibles because we have it on the screen.

But the second part of Ephesians that I'd like to emphasize, I think it goes with the first, is Ephesians 3.

Ephesians 3, beginning with verse 14.

Ephesians 3, 14.

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to, here's this word again: riches.

It was the riches of his grace, now it's the riches of his glory.

The riches of his grace, the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with my through his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in what?

Love.

See, I told you I'd let you participate.

That was your turn right there.

Rooted and grounded in love, yeah, may be able to comprehend with all with other saints.

What is the width and the length and the depth and the height, to know the love of Christ, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to, you can participate on this one if you want.

Verse 20, say it with enthusiasm, please.

Ready?

Go.

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen.

This, dear friends, is God's word.

Okay, here's a custom we have in Texas.

You know, you don't have to keep it after I'm here, but this is just I'm here.

So this is the custom.

I say, This is God's word, and you say, and we believe it to be true.

This is God's word.

Amen.

You can be seated.

Thank you so much.

So I was in a coffee shop last week, I think it was, and um, I was there with Beck, my wife, we were waiting for an appointment, and a young lady, a college student, came up to us and she said, Do you mind if I ask you a question?

And I said, Other than the one that you just asked, she said, Yeah, another one.

And and uh I said, sure, go for it.

She said, Do you have any advice for my life?

And I responded to her and I said, I probably do.

I didn't know this girl at all.

I said, I probably do, but before I give you advice, would you tell me please why you asked us for advice for your life?

There's a lot of other customers here.

Why did you come across the room to ask us for advice for your life?

And she said, Because you're old.

And I said, Beck, you go first if you don't mind.

So but I gave her some advice, things that I just came, I came to me.

I said, here's the first thing.

Always be grateful.

Always be grateful.

Because thanksgiving has way more power than you than you really imagine.

You know, enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise.

Like when you're thankful, not thankful for all things, but thankful in all things, when you're thankful, you actually take the circumstance or the mood or whatever it is, and you transition it.

We enter his gates, we transition, we move from self-pity, we move from fear into a place where the throne of God has interaction and activity with the thing that is keeping us down.

So that's the first thing.

Be thankful.

And the second thing is really the kind of thing that what we're talking about today.

I said, and never stop growing.

Never stop growing.

Um as far as I can tell, the New Testament suggests that there are really five admonitions to growth.

Um, it doesn't talk much about growing a church or growing your personality.

It does say grow in the knowledge of the Lord.

It says grow in his grace.

The Bible talks about growing in the revelation of your salvation.

What does it really mean to be saved?

There are five things.

The Bible says, grow in your gratitude.

And in the New Testament says, grow in love.

Those five things.

Um I've had a relationship with Denny, as I mentioned, since 1973 or 4, somewhere along along in there.

And um my testimony is we're not the same we were when we first.

We're different.

We're we're very different.

And I I would like, I don't even have to say this.

We're we've grown a lot.

We've grown a lot.

Things have have changed.

I I loved, I'm particularly focused now on the what I call the old men sections of the Bible.

I like to study what happened between when they were young and when they were old.

For instance, Peter, I love reading his little letters at the end of the New Testament because believe it or not, Peter is now he's become an authority on humility.

Right?

Do you find that hilarious?

Like he says, yeah, humble yourselves because you know God resists the proud and he gives grace to the to the humble.

And I just almost want to laugh.

I'm like, you were the guy that boasted that you would never ever deny Jesus.

And now you're gonna teach us about humility.

And he says this, he says, and by the way, cast your cares on the Lord.

It's like, Peter, you're the biggest control freak I've ever met in the New Testament.

How many of you glad Peter grew a little bit?

You know, or you know, he in the very same passage, I think it's five of 1 Peter, he says, and be sober and be watchful.

Peter, be watchful.

Are you kidding?

The greatest failure of your life was when you fell asleep, when Jesus told you to be watchful.

I'm thankful for a journey that allows us to grow.

Yeah?

Or David's final words.

They're not really his last deathbed words, they're just kind of his final psalm or his final sermon in 2 Samuel 23.

This is what he says.

He says, Thus says David, the son of Jesse, the man God raised on high, the anointed of God, the sweet psalmist of Israel.

That's how he, that's what he called it, that's his identity.

And I read those words and I'm like, why don't you tell us about Goliath and your, why don't you remember the trauma?

Or why don't you remember the victories or the temple, the dream?

None of that's meant.

He says, let me just hear my here are the important words as I'm winding down my life.

There's a God who took me out of the sheepfold and he exalted me and he anointed me.

And so the rest of my life, I'm gonna sing psalms to him because of the goodness of the Lord, you see.

And so it's kind of fun to grow old, I think.

As long as you're growing.

Right?

You young people, you don't have to say amen because you're like, you're you know.

Yeah.

Let me ask you a question.

What's really wrong with the world?

No, really.

What's wrong with the world?

In Dallas, they're like, oh, climate change, that's what's wrong with the world.

Oh, you know, poverty.

Jerry Jones, that's what's wrong with the world.

You know, cats.

That makes my list, I'll tell you, I'm a dog person.

If your answer was sin, that's what's wrong with the world, then you know, you get half credit for that.

Because when people disobey God, there's consequences and chaos.

But I meet people, probably not in Shreveport, but I meet people who are very moral, they are stickler for the rules, and yet they are self-centered, they are self-righteous, they are filled with pride.

My son Ross said that his frustration with the church is the selectivity we have regarding the sins that we feature, you know.

Yeah, that kind of makes sense, I guess.

The answer, uh, according to at least Ephesians, is we're living in a divided world.

What's wrong with the world?

We're divided.

The current condition of the world is disharmony, disunity.

Um, my goodness, we had to have two Super Bowl halftime shows last year, if you remember right.

You know, we've got we've got Ukraine and Russia, we've got Democrats and Republicans, we've got Baptists and Pentecostals, and I don't know, 25%, latest data, 25% of Americans are living in estranged family relationships.

So we have a world that is saturated in conflict.

And the Bible is so clear to explain that the conflict that is in the world is a direct result of the conflict that is in our hearts.

You see.

Um sometimes we want to be good, sometimes we want to be married, sometimes we want to be skinny.

Am I making sense?

Yeah, you know, um, but sometimes those cupcakes attract us, you know.

And we want those things.

And here's here's the problem.

We want what we want, and if we need to step on someone, betray someone, steal from someone to get what we want, this is how evil is created.

This is how conflict is created.

So, what's the solution to the number one problem in the world?

Ephesians says it so plainly, and I had read it for years, but never really seen it.

The idea is right there in chapter 1, verse verses 9 and 10.

Paul says, he says, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which basically is like this is what brings delight to the heart of God.

This is what he really, really wants.

This is what he intended, this is what he planned, and this is his source of joy.

He purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of times.

Now that's a mouthful, it's just built around one word, oikos.

And oikas is like God's sphere of administration.

It's his influence throughout history, it's the thing he's had in mind from the very beginning, it's how he has managed his house throughout history.

He says, Since the dispense in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he purposed to watch this, gather together in one.

This is his purpose.

To gather to are you guys doing okay?

To gather together in one all things in Christ, heaven things, earth things, gather Paul's like, if I could just explain that this is not a random world, there's a providential God, and he's working things together.

But the climax of his purpose, the the joy of his heart is that there would be this great gathering, this in gathering, this crowning achievement where all the things, the cities and the and the Football games and the principalities and the earthquakes and the places that you live, and the artificial intelligence and space travel, and all the things are gathered into him, into his disposition, into his righteousness, into his love, into his authority, into his throne, everything mingled together, heavenly things in the earth, earthly things in the heavenly realms, like it's all one in Christ.

And so when we talk about spiritual hunger, which I sense spiritual hunger here today, when we talk about spiritual hunger, we're not just talking about, oh, if I could just be in the presence of the Lord, yes, that for sure.

But we're really yearning for the purpose of God to be established in the earth.

Oh, the longing to be gathered, all things in him.

Yeah.

And this, of course, explains Paul's patience with the church, the institutional church.

Um, he's not naive, he's experienced trouble with the church, he's experienced disappointment with Paul's had plenty of church hurt too.

But Paul has given me a really good reason to commit to the church because he says the church is vital for the elimination of evil in the earth.

Because the church, come on, somebody, the church is the very first to experience the gathering together of all of our things into him.

We're the prototype.

We're invited to live in the empire of his love.

We're the first to bring our schools and our jobs and our relationships and our fears and our identity into, into, not near, but into the love and the wisdom and the peace and the and the power of his throne.

We're the first to live in the anointing of unity.

Jews and Gentiles, old and young, rich and poor.

One, one in him.

Heaven in us, earth in.

So I've decided I'm gonna be really careful about my attitude toward the church because there's a whole lot to criticize, but the purpose, the purpose, come on, the gates of hell will not prevail.

We're the first evidence of the purpose in the earth.

Well, um having said that, I would like to just give you a couple of snapshots out of the rest of Ephesians that um make this applicable, I think, practical perhaps.

First thing I just say is that in all of these, by the way, well, let me just let me just show you what I've got here and see if see if you like it or not.

Um The first thing I notice about Ephesians is that it opens with doxology.

Now, doxology is a great word.

It literally means words of glory.

Glory is one of my favorite words in the Bible.

I mean, it's just like when I define glory, it's it's the technical term the Bible uses to describe the attributes of God on display.

When God says, I'm gonna show you a little bit about myself, we call that his glory.

And so Ephesians begins with this glory, this doxology, these words that are intended to demonstrate the heart and the character of God in the earth.

And I'm gonna tell you when I read it, it's too much.

Ephesians 1, 2, 3, it's just it's overwhelming.

You you can't teach from it, you can't make sentences out of it.

It's this sweeping current, this this tidal wave, and the purpose of the current is to gather us into the purpose of God.

It's to gather us there.

I don't know, you guys are water people I know from Louisiana, like you go to Cancun, don't you, or to the beach or wherever.

And I don't know, man.

If those currents, they're so powerful.

I've got a Mexico story.

If I had time, I'd tell you about it.

Like I get on a sailboat, 30 minutes later, I am out in the deep ship channel because the current pushed me there.

And so I feel as though Paul writes his letter with this, he introduces it with this salvation current.

He's like, oh, there's something pushing, there's something sweeping over us, into us.

It's pulling us out of the conflict of the of the religious spheres, it's pulling us out of the worldly chaos and and conflict.

And if we were to take time to read just a few, you would feel the current of this grace because he's like, Yeah, you're blessed with every spiritual blessing, and and you've been chosen to be in him, and you've been chosen to be holy, and and and you're and you're in love, and and you've been predestined, and and you're accepted and you're redeemed.

And that's just the first two verses.

There's three chapters of this, this flow of revelation of the glory of God.

And the idea, the idea is that growth is more than getting data for our mind.

We're not just trying to learn things, we're trying to have a current in our heart.

A current of glory and grace.

Yeah, I think it's Hebrews 4 that says, When God's word is working in us, it is affecting the thoughts and intentions of our heart.

I didn't even know my heart could have thoughts or intentions.

I thought my heart had feelings, but according to Hebrews 4, my heart has thoughts and intentions.

And so I need to know that whatever gets up into my mind actually has been influenced a lot by the thoughts and the intentions that are in my heart.

Again, some of you look like, what are you talking about?

Are you doing okay?

A little, like somebody promised they were gonna say some amens.

I must not have gotten to the place yet for that, but it's okay, it's okay.

I'm emotionally secure.

I'm I can do this.

Yeah.

So what's in my mind has really got strings, heart strings, heart stirrings that because out of my heart flows the issues of my life.

You see, I I was so enamored with this that I actually spent some time studying it, like intentions.

What are the intentions of my heart?

Intentions is a word that means inclinations or position toward a thing.

It's the theories we build to explain our life.

Our intentions are the theories we build to explain our life.

Okay, here's an example.

Um, Denny did not return my phone call.

Now I have to come.

This is a hypothetical, he always returns my phone calls.

Okay, now I have to come up with a theory to explain why he did not return my my phone call.

I'm like, well, he's a he's a very busy man.

He probably just didn't have he just didn't have time to do it.

Or Denny, he is such an unreliable person.

You can't count on him for anything.

Or he must be angry at me.

He surely would have returned the phone call.

Or I bet he's been kidnapped by the Mexican mafia.

Surely, and I'm just trying to get you to see that the thoughts of my heart are filling in the gaps for information that I do not have.

When I don't have accurate information, the intentions of my heart will provide it for me.

And and this is what I'm calling the current that fuels my heart.

This is the stuff that's coming in my heart to cause me to come up with the theories that explain my life.

And it's intriguing to me.

I feel like this is so this is so dynamic for Paul personally, because Paul says, Let me teach you how to pray.

Like, well, I don't want to make anybody mad.

This is my first time, but Paul is not praying for football championships, he is not praying for job promotions, he is not praying for his kid to get a scholarship to the right university or for his marriage to get better.

He is praying that his friends would be strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inner man.

He is praying to, I'm not saying any of those prayers are wrong.

I'm just saying they're different than Paul's recorded prayers.

He is praying that we would know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that we would be filled with the fullness of God.

And when I compared his prayers to my prayers, I decided that he had a doxology, he had words of glory that were coming into his heart that were causing him to come up with whole new theories about how life should look.

And so Ephesians offers a doxology for our heart.

But but then the second thing about Ephesians is it just distills Christianity.

I know I've been kind of complex, but this is so simple.

It just condenses Christianity into the simplest idea.

And it's simple, it's this the growth requires interaction with what Christ has brought to us.

Oh, it's so simple.

Growth requires perpetual interaction with what Christ has brought to us.

And here's the good news: Christ has brought it all.

Nothing was in us until Christ brought it to us.

But He has brought to us everything that we need.

Everything has come.

We're not waiting on anything else to come.

It has been made available to us, and we can grow into what Christ has provided for us.

So we've got a doxology and we've got Christianity distilled.

And the third thing that I will say about Ephesians is that it just displays Christ.

Of course, it does displace Christ.

By the strength of who Jesus is and what he's accomplished through the cross, through the resurrection, here comes out of all that Jesus, out of all that Jesus stuff, here comes a current.

A current.

A tide.

A push for our heart.

And if I could just reduce it to one simple word, I can't, but if I were to just pick one of the list of words, it would be abundant.

The life that Jesus is offering us is abundant.

It's riches of his grace and riches of his glory.

It's like the abundance in the Bible.

Have you seen?

It's huge.

It's huge.

Like the very first place I found the word abundance was in Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 1, verse 20.

Genesis 1:20

It says, Let the waters abound with abundance of creatures.

Yeah, water, like current.

Stay with me, are you here?

It's a little subtle, but yeah.

So God created creatures with which the water abounded.

So we've got abundant water and putting abundant creatures in the abundant water, and God blessed them and said, You guys now make more of that.

Be fruitful, be multiply.

Multiply.

And I'm just pointing out what's so obvious the heartbeat of God is for abundance, cattle on a thousand hills and mercies that are new every morning, and 12 basketfuls of takeout that he didn't even need.

And I just want, I feel like we've missed out on what growth really looks like because we thought growth was stacking bricks in a brick pile.

We thought growth was just accumulation, but it's not anything like that at all.

It's a current.

And if I were to give another word to what this current, it's it's it's it's a profusion.

Abundant pro it's like, do you know the word prof profusion?

Profusely?

Like in Texas, we sweat profusely.

And I've noticed that at some football games, not evangels, but some football games, there's a lot of swearing profusely.

You know, just trying to give you pictures of the word profusely, because that's what we're really talking about, a God who profusely brings into us his glory and grace.

And and and the practical thing is that if you're tired of what's coming out of you, yeah.

If you're tired of projecting fear, or if you're tired of projecting self-pity, or you're tired of the stuff that's coming out of you, strife, division, if any of that's coming out of you, there's a solution.

Let the profusion, the current of his grace.

Yeah.

So that's really kind of what I wanted to open up with.

Now I'll get to my sermon.

Just a couple of ideas, and then I'll pray.

I'll pray with you.

They tell me what time their service was over, but I don't see.

I can't see a clock anywhere here, so I don't know.

I'll look at my watch.

Yeah, we're good.

No, we're not good.

Um, just quick, some quick ideas.

Here we go.

Um, these are from chapter three.

First of all, notice that he's in prison.

Paul is in prison.

He calls himself the prisoner of the Lord.

It's interesting that he's writing this letter from a real Roman prison, but he doesn't call himself a Roman prisoner.

He says, I'm a prisoner of the Lord.

And how does he do that?

He does that because the external situation that he's faced with is being pushed against by the current that's coming out of his heart.

Uh help me, Holy Spirit, explain this.

He's like, Yeah, I'm a prisoner, but Rome doesn't have authority over me.

I'm a prisoner, but I'm a cap I'm captive, I'm captured by the Lord.

I'm in jail, but I'm gathered into him.

So that these bars and these chains that are around me, they're not stronger than the current that is coming into me and now and now flowing out of me in the form of this letter.

I mean, what I like to say like this what's around me does not have authority to come inside me because I have a profuse current of glory and grace that's pushing out of my inner man, so that I'm just not gonna be overwhelmed by these circumstances.

The abundance that's in my heart pushes against this Roman prison so that the thoughts and the intentions that are in my heart, I'm not a prisoner of Rome.

I'm captured by the love of Jesus.

What if what was around us had no authority to get inside us?

Because the abundance of Jesus is so full and so strong on the inside.

Notice the prison, notice the posture.

Paul in verse 14 of Ephesians 3, he says, For this reason I bow my knees.

Now, that doesn't seem stark to us, but remember Jewish prayers were always standing prayers.

So Paul is being very unorthodox here.

He's like, No, I'm gonna bow.

And I'm intrigued that he bows because here's the great apostle making himself vulnerable, surrendered.

I submit.

He bows because of the revelation of God's abundance.

I think not he's not being powered up.

He's like, he's he has a revelation of abundance because I know bowing is a good reaction to grace.

Bowing is a great reaction to the perception of God's grace and God's glory.

I feel like Paul is like, I'm not scared.

There's no scarcity in me.

I have an abundance, a profusion of abundance and loved.

I'm one.

I can't even believe I'm an apostle, is what Paul is saying.

Can't even believe he saved me.

I was the worst of sinners.

I cannot fathom.

I'm gonna bow in the profusion of this grace.

Oh.

Same thing happened to Peter.

Remember, he fished all night, he caught no fish.

Jesus said, You should go into the deep water.

And Peter is so oriented to the shallow because it's day, that's where you catch fish, is in the shallow water.

You catch fish in the daytime.

Oh, but Peter's like, nevertheless, at your word.

Thank God for his word.

His word is spirit, his word is life.

He says, Nevertheless, at your word, Jesus, I'll go into the deep.

And if you know the story, they begin.

Oh, look at the fish, they begin to catch them, and the nets are breaking and they're pulling them into the boats, and they have to call their friends over to catch the more fish together.

And all the I love, I'm a fisherman too.

So the slime and the smell, and it's chaotic and it's wonderful.

Oh my goodness.

And in the middle of that moment, what does Peter do?

He bows.

He bows.

He says, Depart from me, Jesus, I'm a sinful man.

And and and and I believe that what happened here for Peter is that he became, he has such a revelation of the abundance.

The same word in Genesis 1 that spoke the abundance, and the abundant ocean has now come all the way into Peter's life.

And the abundance of the fish that were in this sea began to show up in his nets.

Oh my goodness.

Mr.

Mayor, I'm thinking about those empty rooms, those empty things that we looked at, Denny yesterday.

The buildings, they're ready.

There's an abundance.

There's an abundance of God's love.

There's a profusion of this thing.

And when Peter saw, oh my goodness, the abundance of creation and the abundance of those fish showing up in my nets, in my boat, in my life, like that is a reorientation of the way I'm going to live.

I'm going to bow before this grace.

And the Lord says, you don't have to be afraid.

You don't even have to be afraid.

You're going to be a fishers of men now.

And all of this because he saw how much grace there really was.

Yeah.

And that brings us to the conclusion, really, the thing I want to emphasize the most.

The love.

The love.

It's in 317.

He says, I wish that we could be rooted and grounded in love, and that way we would be able to comprehend with all the saints.

By the way, it's a collective comprehension.

None of us can comprehend this grace by ourselves.

We have to call some friends over.

I don't know.

Do you guys have musicians come and play when you want everybody to think you're about to close the sermon?

Yeah.

If you don't mind, I can I'd love to have some musicians come up here.

You have to have community.

You have to have community.

To comprehend the love of God, you have to have community.

Because around the throne room of God right now are these creatures, and yeah, they have wings, but their main characteristic is their eyes.

And they're positioned around the throne, north, south, east, and west.

And so the guy with the eyes from the south side is saying, Oh, do you see what I see?

Holy, holy, holy.

And the guy on the east side is like, You don't even know what you're talking about.

You're from Dallas, Texas.

You have no idea.

If you could see what I see from my story, from my perspective, from my skin color, if you could see what I see, you would say, holy, holy, holy.

But see, here's the thing: the Bible makes a point of saying not only are they putting their eyes on the throne, the glory, the grace, they're putting their eyes on one another.

They're looking at one another as one another is looking and all the way around the throne.

Oh, if you could just see it from my perspective, if you could see it from the way I am living, then you would say, holy, holy, holy.

And there's just like this whirlwind, profusion, increase, abundance of worship through the revelation of the throne room.

Yeah, I have two dogs.

Always I have two dogs.

I have an old dog and a young dog because when your old dog dies, your young dog can help heal your heart.

Um, my dogs, they tickle me so much.

They they learn to look, they learn to lay on our patio with their eyes.

Toward the backyard because we have some trees, some woods, and occasionally a rabbit or a squirrel or a coyote will come through the backyard.

And when they see an animal in the backyard, one goes one way, the other goes the other way, and they and they just they never catch anything, but they it's so much joy just to run, you know what I'm saying?

So they just love, they just love the chase.

But my old dog began to lose his ability to see.

And so he learned, instead of positioning himself looking toward the trees, he just started looking at the young dog.

And when the back, when the hair on the back of the young dog's neck rose up, the old dog took off like he was a young dog.

And and the point of the story is there are times when I can't even see God.

But if I can see you see God, I can run with you.

I can run with you.

It takes a community to comprehend the love of God.

And I'll just close with this.

How can I?

What does Paul say?

He says, I wish you'd be rooted and grounded in this.

I wish you would know the width and the length and the depth and the height.

I wish like all of that is about profusion.

It's about capacity.

I wish, I wish you would grow in this love.

I wish you would know the love of Christ that passes knowledge.

Like this is not for your head, this is for your heart.

I wish that you would be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, this fullness, this spirit, this grace, this glory in our heart.

Christ Jesus.

Oh, how am I gonna grow this love?

Well, I'm just gonna ground in it.

I'm gonna ground my life in it.

I'm gonna root my life in it.

You know, there was a letter that was written later to this church in Ephesians.

And uh Jesus is writing the letter through John and He says, Ephesians, I see your church.

I see, I see you guys.

You do so many good things.

It's like it's very impressive.

You you you guys have no tolerance for bad doctrine, and you you resist evil, and you're very patient, you're very persevering.

But I have this against you.

You left your you left your first love.

And he's like, I I I insist that you remember, thanks for using the word.

Remember, remember, remember your first love.

First love is different than every other kind of love because first love is the love that forms your identity.

Like the first love, most of us recognizes the love of our parents, and that kind of helps us see ourselves the way they see us.

We like if they love us, we we kind of it's and so the the power of those who love us first determines how we see us, we how we see ourselves.

But the only way I can really change my identity, because some of us had some really bad experiences with first love, but can I just say your parents' love was not your first love?

Before the foundations of the earth, there was a savior who loved you.

And the only way to change identity is to change the root of your first love.

To come back to the awareness that, oh wait, from before the foundations of the earth, he chose me, he blessed me with every spiritual, he wants me, he knows me, he's for me, he's on my side.

You gotta root in love, and then you gotta let love rule.

You gotta let love rule.

You know, you gotta I'll just say, trying to be a church person without love is really sucks.

Really does.

Try to be in the ministry without love, it sucks.

You remember Adam and Eve, they're in they're in that Garden of Eden, and all of a sudden they, can I come down here?

Is it okay?

Like Adam and Eve, they're in the Garden of Eden, and they found out what was wrong with them.

Uh they found out they were naked.

I don't know if you remember the first time you found out something was wrong with you.

Like, I had no idea I was this controlling.

I had no idea I was I was this I could be so angry so quickly, you know.

I had no idea.

But when you find out what's wrong with you, love got damaged.

Love was damaged.

Not God's love for them, no, never, but their ability to perceive the profusion of God's love.

That was damaged.

And people begin to substitute, they begin to substitute the love, the original, the first love, they begin to substitute it for I don't know what to call it, damaged love, like like three things.

F-O-G, fog.

They begin to relationships begin to be built in the fog.

The the fear, like they're they're hiding, they're hiding.

Oh no, he doesn't love us anymore.

We're hiding.

There's fear, there's obligation.

They're like, oh, I don't know if any of you have ever like felt like I don't really want to obey the Lord.

I don't really want to go to church, but I don't want to go to hell, so I feel obligated.

Can I just tell you that um I've done a lot of things out of obligation, and I've done some things out of love, and love is a whole lot better.

I hate the spirit of religion that says, I'm talking about love, and now I use the word hate.

How silly is that?

But but do you understand what I'm saying?

Like if you don't know this profusion of his grace, this profusion of his glory, you're gonna live with a spirit of fear.

But guess what?

Perfect love casts out fear.

If you don't have this profusion of love, you're gonna live out of a sense of obligation and transactions with God.

You're gonna say, Oh, like I better do this, so then he'll do this.

And then you do this, and God decides to delay it, and you get all angry.

You're all upset with God because you have an obligatory relationship.

This is out of a passionate relationship.

And the third thing that we traded in when our love got damaged, we begin to operate out of fear, obligation, and guilt.

Fog.

All of our relationships are foggy because we're like, oh my goodness, I have canceled, I have canceled my qualifications to be blessed of the Lord.

I don't belong.

He can't bless me.

Look what I did, look what I'm thinking, look at the thoughts and intention.

And I'm just gonna tell you, this love is greater than your fear, it's greater than your obligations, and it's greater than your guilt, and it is abundant, it is abundant.

Oh, come on, give God praise because it is abundant grace and abundant glory, and it's available to every person who hears this gospel.

There's anybody that loves Jesus and knows that you are loved by him.

Why don't you stand and give him praise right now?

Would you do it?

Come on, give the Lord thanks.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Oh, thank you, Jesus.

I want to have a closing prayer with you and then turn it back to one of the Denny's.

Would you bow your heads in the presence of the Lord?

I asked the Holy Spirit this morning how to how to pray for you, and three I three ideas came to me.

I just want to pray for anybody in the sound of my voice who would say, I I need love to reawaken in my heart.

I don't know how I became so so unaware or so detached or separated or damaged.

But I just can I just remind you, it is the Holy Spirit that sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts.

And I sensed him.

I sensed him from the very moment I walked on the property.

He is here to reveal the love, the first love, the identity love, the love that goes on and on and on.

The second thing that I felt the Holy Spirit prompted me to pray for you today was simply this.

There's any part of your life, remember it said all things, if there's one thing that is not in union, not one thing that you've kept isolated or separated or protected from God, I'm gonna ask you to let the Holy Spirit bring that into God's love.

I'm thinking about activities or attitudes, or maybe it's a prison like it was for a circumstance.

Anything that feels so separated from God's love right now, you're like, I don't know why God doesn't do this.

I don't know why.

Like I want to pray that the Holy Spirit would just mingle that circumstance into the love, into the profusion of God's love.

And the third thing that I felt the Holy Spirit asked me to pray for was anybody who would have the honesty and the courage to say, I've got a damaged heart.

I got some relationships, maybe even with God, that are built around fear, obligation, or guilt.

I just, I want my heart to be whole.

I don't want to live with this damage anymore.

And so that's three things heads are bowed, eyes are closed.

You say, Pastor, I give you permission to pray for me because, yeah, I want to come back to a loving relationship with you.

I want to, I want to trust this grace that you've been preaching about, this limitless profusion of glory and grace.

I want to trust in that, that Savior.

Pastor Jim, I give you permission to pray for me because there are specific things in my life that are separate.

They're not part of the love of God.

I want to bring it into the fold of his grace.

Or maybe, Pastor Jim, you can pray for me because my heart is damaged.

I know it is.

I'm living with some fear, I'm living with guilt, whatever it is, shame.

I just there's a there's a mercy, there's a grace that heals all that, that pushes all that aside.

With heads bowed, eyes closed.

If any of you would have the courage and the honesty, say, Pastor Jim, I give you permission to pray for me today.

I really believe that this prayer will make a difference.

Would you lift your hands so I'll know who I'm praying for all over the house?

One, two, three, yeah.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for being honest.

Honesty with God is how you go forward with God.

It's the most important thing, just to be honest about the condition of your heart.

Thank you.

Thank you, guys.

So many, so many hands.

So many hands.

Again, please, please forgive me.

Please be patient with me if I'm doing things that make you feel, you know, they're not the normal order.

But if you lifted your hand, would you mind just walking forward to the front?

And you say, why do I have to do that?

Because walking forward is an act of faith.

It actually is saying, I'm not gonna stay where I'm at.

I'm coming, I'm I'm making some movement here.

I'm I'm I'm gonna see some transition.

I'm gonna see some real change in my life.

So if you lifted your hand or you wish you had, but you didn't, do you do you mind letting me pray for you here?

This is not to be make you a spectacle, it's just to activate what I know will work.

The faith that that justifies us, the faith in his grace, the faith in his glory, the faith in who he is.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Anyone else like to join us?

Yeah, if you're here, and again, these are Texas customs, but oh my goodness, I love to do this.

If you're at the front or or or in the congregation, you can do this.

Would you just lift your heart with your hands right here?

Just lift them up, just just lift your heart with your hands right here.

Father, in the name of Jesus, Jesus, in the name of Jesus, the one who loves us so much that he gave everything and continues to give everything.

The one who is on the throne, in the name of Jesus, we now present ourselves to you, Lord.

You said that if we just believed that we would be saved, healed.

And we believe today that the grace and the glory that you have made available to us, we think it's exactly what we need today.

And we're here to receive it.

Would you repeat this prayer with me, everyone together?

Dear Jesus.

Come on, dear Jesus.

Today's my day.

Here's my heart.

Would you fill it with your love?

It's hard for me to imagine that you love me, but I know you do, and I want to live in harmony with that love.

So here I am.

In the name of Jesus, take away the fear and the obligation and the guilt, and let out of my heart a river flow, a river of your love, in Jesus' name.

Now I just want to pray one more prayer over you.

This is my prayer for you in the name of Jesus.

I pray that the Holy Spirit, like a great mantle, would rest upon every person who is here, every person who is saying, I am ready for an expansion of God's love in my life.

There are people that are hard to love, I need your love.

There are people that have hurt me.

I need to forgive.

I need your love.

Father, in the name of Jesus, my surrender, my bowing down is to say, if there's this much abundance toward me, then I'm gonna let it flow to others.

I thank you that this love is not miserly, it is abundant.

Therefore, I am not scared.

There's no scarcity in my soul, for your abundant life overwhelms me.

In Jesus' name.

Come on, give the Lord praise one more time.

God bless you, Pastor Denny.

Wow, can we give the Lord praise for that?

Man.

I am leave, I'm leaving with so much that has been imparted.

You know, I was standing there thinking, I just I feel that current in me.

And that's what's called impartation, you know.

Information you get from one individual to another, and it may or may not affect your consciousness.

Impartation is a spiritual thing where it goes from one heart to another.

How many of you are glad that you've received impartation today?

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Glory to God.

Praise God.

I'm going to bless you out.

And here's what I want you to understand, and I want you to hear this, please.

You know, I uh we played a football game on Friday night, didn't go our way, and I've been just thinking on and off about it all day long.

And I want to tell you the surest way to turn one defeat into a dozen defeats, and that is to concentrate on a defeat.

That is to concentrate on a drop ball.

You know what I'm gonna tell every kid that dropped a ball this week?

I'm gonna say, you're never gonna do that again.

And I don't want you to ever think about it again the rest of your life.

Why?

Because we're not gonna turn one drop into five.

Amen.

And let me just say this to you so many things that you said bless me, and I'm gonna I'm gonna carry with me hopefully forever.

And one of the that illustration, I will borrow that illustration and tell them it's your dogs, because I don't have dogs.

But I want to tell you, I began to weep because I'm in that stage and you're getting close.

And I turned to him and I said, That's what I do to you.

I said, From now on, when you bristle, I go.

Amen.

Well, I am glad that no matter what age or stage we are in, God is never through with us.

Can you just lift your hands and thank God for that?

He is never through with us.

May the God of Jacob protect you from all harm.

May the Lord answer you when you're in distress.

May He send you help from the sanctuary, grant you support from Zion.

May remember all your best sacrifices, accept all your best offerings.

May He give you the desire of your heart, make all your plans succeed.

And yes, we will shout for joy over your victory, lift up our banners in the name of our God.

Everybody ready?

Come on, shout this.

May the Lord answer all your prayers.

God bless you.

See you next week.

Thank you for connecting with us today.

The first step to a new life in Christ is receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, repeat this prayer after me.

Jesus, I believe you died on a cross and rose again for me.

I ask that you come into my heart and be the Lord of my life.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

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