Rooted In Love with Pastor Roy Farias

Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast.

My name's Clayton.

I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch.

And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you.

I hope that you enjoy today's message.

Hey, well, good afternoon.

Thank you all so much for having me.

Yeah, afternoon.

I've been I was trying not to say morning, you know, because of course we did that two more times before this.

But hey, thank you all so much for having me.

Um, it's such a privilege to be able to be here with you guys.

Um, I haven't been able to do this.

What y'all have been able to do uh in almost a year, our church has been totally online streaming uh because we would usually be uh meeting at an elementary school, and we haven't been able to do that, obviously, um, with the pandemic.

So thank y'all for this special gift of being able to join in with you guys.

Uh my family came to the last service, and actually, our daughter lively hadn't been to church before, so much more a pastor's kid, right?

Um, but yeah, she just loved it and she was uh singing out loud even at eight months, and it was just such a beautiful thing.

So, again, thank y'all so much for this gift.

Thank you to this incredible team that gets here at like 6 a.m.

to be able to love you guys well uh through this.

So uh it's just it's been such an incredible experience for my family to be able to kind of get back into the groove of things with you guys.

And and like Clayton said, yeah, we we kind of just became friends um by happenstance.

We were both hanging out at Summer Moon separately.

Um, and uh I was noticing that like the internet was completely gone.

And uh and so I was like trying vigorously, you know, to try to figure out how I can get on the Wi-Fi, and I see this guy over here, and uh, he's just you know going uh at it on his computer with like all these different websites open, and I'm like, I walked over, I was like, hey dude, how do you have Wi-Fi?

And he looked at me and he was like, it's called the favor of God.

And so I was like, okay, then uh that catty humor.

I was like, we're gonna be we're gonna be bros for a really long time.

But but this friendship that we have, it's one that's incredibly refreshing.

I know that my my wife absolutely loves hanging out with with Katie.

And speaking of Katie, did y'all know that it's her birthday?

Yeah, happy birthday, Katie.

But our our families love each other so very much, and and I I hope that y'all have been able to experience a friendship, one that's absolutely refreshing.

You know what I mean?

Like that sort of friendship where you hang out with that person and you just feel like, yeah, I'm encouraged, I can keep going, I'm gonna keep moving along.

And if you haven't experienced it yet, if you haven't experienced that friendship yet, you're in the right place because Metachurch is filled with people who are absolutely refreshing.

And and this is what we're actually gonna be talking about today.

We're gonna we're gonna be talking about how we as the people of God, we are called to be refreshing.

But in order for us to be refreshing, we first gotta be rooted in God's love.

Hey, the apostle Paul from our scriptures, he met a lot of people, right?

I mean, he was going all over the known world, and he would meet people all along the way as he was going from this city to that city, meeting a ton of folks, building up these churches from nothing.

And so it's safe to say that he met a lot of people, and surely he met a ton of folks that he just absolutely vibed with and clicked with right away.

One of these guys is uh a guy named Philemon, but surely he met some other people because he's human just like we are, right?

That he could probably do without a little bit.

You know what I mean?

I don't know if you've ever come across somebody and you're like, yeah, I'm gonna love that person, sure, I'll sacrificially like serve them and pray for them, but I'm good.

I'm not gonna try to hang out with that person ever again.

And as a pastor, I get asked this question a lot.

Like, hey Roy, is it okay?

Like, I don't really like my coworker that much.

I don't really want to be around them.

Does that make me a bad Christian?

And really, my response to that is if that makes you a bad Christian, then maybe I am a bad Christian, then because there are some folks that I'm just gonna be honest with you, I could do without in my life.

I will love, honor, serve, and pray for those folks.

But uh, we're not gonna be hanging out on the weekend day in and day out.

And so surely Paul came across these people that he just could maybe live without.

But Philemon wasn't one of those guys.

See, Philemon was this guy who Paul felt refreshed by his presence.

See, Philemon was a leader in the faith, an absolute friend of Paul, so much so that Paul wrote a letter to Philemon.

And because we're super creative in the titles of our books in the Bible, he named it Philemon.

And so if you're following along, or if you have your Bible apps, you can turn with me to Philemon chapter 1, verse 7.

Philemon 1:7

And here's what Paul had to say about his friendship with Philemon.

He says, Hey, your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people.

Man, what a what a reputation to have, right?

Like, don't you want to have that sort of reputation?

I know I do that.

I would love to have this reputation that when people would walk into my home, they would just feel immediately refreshed by my presence.

This is something that I would love to have as a reputation for me and my family.

What an incredible compliment, right?

But not just a compliment.

You see, for the people of God, we are called to be refreshing to those around us.

We're not called to be a drag or a nag.

We're not called to be a gossip or a backbiter, we're not called to be exhausting when people come into our presence.

We are called to be refreshing.

But friends, in order to be refreshing, we gotta first be rooted in God's love.

That's right, rooted in the love of God.

And look at uh verse five with me.

See, again, Paul's writing this letter to Philemon, and he says, Hey Philemon, you are refreshing because I hear about your love for all of God's holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.

You see, right here, Philemon, he was able to be a refreshing person and to refresh those around him because first he was rooted in God's love and he was rooted in the faith, in the faith that God loves him.

Friends, in order for you and I to be refreshing saints, we have to first trust and believe that Jesus loves us.

Y'all we gotta allow that faith to take root inside of us so that we can go out and share this love with others, so that we can go and refresh them in and with this love.

And so it's in it's it's incredibly imperative that today you and I, we grab a hold of this understanding of what it means for us and what it looks like to be a people who are rooted in God's love.

And so here we go.

Friends, in order for us to truly love others well, we have to first live in this one who is love, this one who absolutely is love, and we have to accept the truth that this person who is love loves us.

We gotta be in this loving relationship with Jesus.

I wonder, those of you who have been in the church here for a little while, I wonder if there's a scripture that might be ringing a bell to you.

I wonder if it's Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

When Jesus gave us what the greatest commandment of all time is.

It's right here in verse 37.

Jesus replies, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and the greatest commandment, and the second is just like it for us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Friends, think about that scripture here just for a moment.

Like, just think about it.

See, we are called to give others not my love, not our love, but we are called to give away the love of God.

This is what Jesus wants from us.

I know that we we go through in this life with a lot of different milestones, and we're wondering, man, do I go and do this job or that job?

Should I go to this school or that school?

Should I be with this person or that person?

God, what is your calling for me in my life?

And Jesus says it right here.

I want you to do whatever it is that you do, I want you to give my love away.

He's not telling us to give our own love away.

Our own love can be really wishy-washy, right?

I mean, we are just moved around and our our emotions they change left and right, and so our love can change in that way as well, but he's calling us to give his love away because it's his love that never changes.

Amen?

Amen.

See, his love never changes.

And so the question is first do we love him?

Do we love Jesus?

Y'all, there was this time in human history uh when Jesus had come back from the dead.

Uh and so in this history book that we have here in our scriptures, uh, this meta-narrative, if you will, uh, we see that Jesus, when he comes back from the grave, he he shows himself to a lot of people, especially his disciples, and one of them he had he pulled uh Peter away for a personal conversation.

One of his disciples, and when he pulled Peter away, he said, Peter, Peter, do you love me?

See, Jesus, he kept asking him this question over and over and over again.

Peter, do you love me?

The story, it's recorded in John chapter 21, and I'm looking at verses 15 through 17.

John 21 · chapter mention

And what I love about this meta-narrative right here is that Jesus, he keeps asking Peter, do you love me?

over and over and over again.

And Peter keeps responding, Yes, Jesus, I love you.

And you can tell by the third time he's kind of getting frustrated.

He's like, What the heck, Jesus?

You know that I love you.

How many more times do you want me to say it?

But listen to what Jesus' response is to Peter after he says, Yes, Lord, I love you.

Verse 15, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Yes, Lord, he said, you know that I love you.

Jesus said, Okay, then feed my lambs.

Again, Jesus asked, Hey, do you love me?

And the response is, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Okay, go and take care of my sheep.

Again, for a third time, do you love me, Simon?

Yes, Lord, I love you.

Okay, then go and feed my sheep.

And verse 19, follow me.

You see, Jesus, he's showing Peter.

He's showing Peter what rooted love looks like.

That is beyond any wordplay we can try to give.

It's beyond just saying, I love you.

Jesus is saying, if you're gonna be my follower, if you're gonna be rooted, it's beyond just that that word game, it's beyond just checking something on the box that's asking what your religious affiliation is.

Jesus is saying, if you love me, like if you really love me, if you're rooted in my love, then you're gonna give it away.

Like you're gonna go and you're gonna give this love away.

And Jesus, he defines so many times in the Gospels what love is.

And one time in particular, one of my favorites is John chapter 15, verse 13.

John 15:13

Jesus says, Greater life, greater love is this to lay down one's life for one's friends.

You see, Jesus says, give this love, give my love away and do it at all costs.

And the great thing about our Savior is that he will never ask us to do something that he won't do himself.

That's why in John chapter 15, again, he tells us what greater love is.

John 15 · chapter mention

It's action, it's laying down our life for our friends, it's laying down all of our comforts, all of our securities, and it's doing it for all our friends and our neighbors and those around us.

See, as we're following along with this narrative.

See, Jesus again, he defines to us exactly what that love is in Matthew chapter 22, and he tells us to give that love away, and then he starts to ask Peter in John chapter 21, do you love me?

Matthew 22 · chapter mention John 21 · chapter mention

Do you love me?

Yes, and if you do love me, then go and feed my sheep and follow me.

Why?

Because greater love has no one than this, and to lay down one's life for one's friends.

And in John chapter 19, we see that Jesus does just that.

John 19 · chapter mention

Jesus dies, he's fulfilling it all to his friends and followers that he is greater love, he's living out greater love, and so now we are able to experience what this greater love is at that moment in time and for all creation.

Greater love.

We were able to experience it as Jesus laid down his life for us.

And so as we move on into this story, we've now found ourselves right in John chapter 21, where Jesus reappears in his resurrected body.

John 21 · chapter mention

He's glowing, he's shining bright like a diamond, right, Rihanna?

And the embodiment of that greater love, that embodiment comes to Peter and asks Peter, hey, will you shepherd my people?

Will you take care of my people and will you do it in love?

Yes, Peter, do you love me?

Are you rooted in your love for me?

Because if you are, he says, then prove it.

Then feed my sheep and follow me.

See, if we're gonna be the refreshing people that we're called to be, then we first gotta love Jesus.

And it's gonna be really hard for us to love Jesus if we don't believe that he first loves us.

You see, he loves you.

And sometimes that's the hardest thing for us to do, right?

For us to believe that we're loved.

Sometimes it's the hardest thing for us to believe that we're actually lovable.

And I know you don't know me very well yet, and I don't know you very well yet at this moment in time, but but we do share something in common together.

Our humanity, right?

We're humans.

We've all felt this way before.

Maybe there's something that's happened in our life, and we think, man, I can't, how can I be loved?

Uh maybe we've even felt uh disgusting uh when we look at ourselves in the mirror, and maybe it's because of an attacker.

Maybe it's because of an attacker who's continued to shame you into believing this lie about yourself.

Maybe somebody has sinned against you time and time again, and so you look in the mirror and you started to believe these lies against you.

It's true that we are our very own worst critic.

And so if we look in the mirror, and if we're disgusted by what we see, yeah, it's gonna be really hard to believe in a God who loves us.

You know what?

Peter has been there before as well.

Just a few days prior to this conversation that Jesus was having with him in his resurrected body, Peter was absolutely disgusted with himself.

He was self-loathing because on Jesus' journey over to the cross, there was a great crowd who was following the Lord, and of course, his disciples were with him, and there were three times that Peter rejected even knowing Jesus, and he was doing it right.

The scriptures show us that he was doing it right in the face of Jesus.

He pretended to never even know him.

I wonder if for Jesus, as he heard this rejection over and over and over again, I wonder if hearing that rejection for Jesus, I wonder if it hurt even more than the sword that was going to be going through his side.

This story, it's recorded in Luke chapter 22.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

And verse uh 55, it starts off by saying Peter sat down with them.

Again, they were on their way uh to following Jesus as he was going to be crucified on the cross.

And the scriptures tell us that it was really, really cold at night.

I think we've all experienced what it's like to be freezing, right?

We've all been there just a few days ago, which is crazy to believe.

And so uh they there are all these random people that were gathered around a bonfire.

And so the scriptures say that Peter sat down with these people that were with him, and a servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight.

She looked closely at him, and she said, This man was with him, but he denied it.

Woman, I don't know him, Peter said.

A little later, someone else saw him and said, You are also one of them.

Man, I am not, Peter replied.

About an hour later, another asserted, Certainly this fellow was with Jesus, for he is a Galilean.

Peter replied, Man, I don't know what you're talking about.

See, three times.

Just a slice.

Slice.

Slice.

Have you ever felt rejected by somebody who you love?

Have you felt disowned or betrayed?

We gotta know that our Savior, He felt that too.

Verse 60 continues, and it says, just as He just as Peter was betraying, Jesus the rooster uh crowed.

And the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.

And Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him, before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.

And he went outside.

Peter went outside and he wept bitterly.

Friends, Peter was disgusted with himself.

I mean, he had committed this extreme betrayal.

Like, how could he ever be forgiven, right?

Like, how could he ever be invited back into the family of God, right?

I mean, have you ever felt that feeling before?

Maybe in your past sin or even in your current sin, have you have you felt that sin was just keeping you back from being able to experience the love of God?

And maybe it makes you feel like you'll never be able to be loved again.

Maybe it makes you feel like there's no way that you'll be accepted back into God's good graces.

Well, I want you to know that Peter felt that too.

He felt that way about his best friend who he kept betraying over and over again.

This man who was not only his best friend, but his pastor, his closest confidant, his God, his Jesus.

But even in the face of that, y'all, greater love.

Greater love was coming for him.

You see, for those three betrayals of Peter, Jesus absolved him with these three admissions of love.

Peter, do you love me?

Yes, God, I love you.

I love you, I love you.

Then Jesus says, Okay, Peter, do something with that love.

Live that love out, Peter.

See, God is telling us, live that love out, meta church, live that love out, Royal.

We gotta live this love out loud.

Amen.

Amen.

Y'all listen to this.

Friends, just like Peter, y'all, we are never too far from the Father's love.

There's nowhere we can go to try to hide, to try to escape this love.

And we can try, right?

Like we certainly do try from time to time.

We so we give into our human desires, we try to mute this love that God has for us, and maybe it's for self-preservation.

Just like Peter, right?

Like maybe it's for self-preservation so that we can get this new job or get that pay raise, or maybe it's so that we could be liked by this superficial crowd, that we want to accept us, and so we try to hide this love of God, but we gotta know that this love is coming for us.

Look, if even death on a cross couldn't keep Jesus' love from coming back for Peter, then we need to know that there is no power in the sky above.

There's no power in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all of creation will ever be able to separate us from this love of God that's revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There's absolutely nothing, and if you believe that, say amen.

Amen.

This is Romans 8 39.

Go find it in your scriptures, write it down, let it get into your heart, soul, and mind so it could be a part of your arsenal that you.

Have against the enemy, when he tries to tell you that you've gone too far or you've done too much, you know that there is absolutely nothing that can separate you from this cosmic, powerful love of God.

Not your past sin, not your current sin, not whatever your future sin might be, not your this, not your that.

See, when someone tries to come to you and preach these lies of the enemy to you, I don't care if they call themselves a pastor, I don't care if they call themselves a friend, you'll you'll know that it's not true that you are unable to be kicked out of the father's love.

Whether it's this misstep or that misstep, you're gonna be able to look at them confidently and squarely in the face.

And you'll say, that's not what God's word has to say about me, because God's word says Romans 8.39, see, we'll be able to call out truth over the lies.

See, God's rescuing love.

Y'all, it's after us, it's after you, and it's after me, so much so.

So much so that if you've made your way into this building right now, not on the stream, because I think we're done with that.

And you don't know how you got here today, because you're in this hot pursuit running from God.

Well, guess what?

You can quit running because God is a spirit, and he's never gonna quit chasing after you until he feels your sweet embrace in his arms.

God is chasing after you.

We're not God chasers, we're not having to chase after God, he's chasing after us.

I mean, that's what the scriptures say, right?

That he leaves the 99 and he comes after the one.

That's our God, that's what greater love is.

Amen.

Amen.

Friends, once we are rooted in this love, once we let this love wash over us and shower us clean, once we hold on to this promise that we are forgiven, that we're loved, and that we are set apart, friends, then we will live refreshed.

Just like Philemon.

See, people will speak of you as being refreshing.

And when the enemy comes trying to knock at our door, and we know that he will.

We know that he will the moment that we leave this place.

If he's not already trying to knock at your door right now, Paul knew this, Jesus knows that.

We know that the powers of this world will try to bring fear into our present, the our fears of our past and even uh fears of our future.

We know that they are coming after us, but because we are rooted in this love of God, we know that when the evil one comes to try to knock on our door, trying to get in, we'll know the truth that sin doesn't have the final word.

Even if we fall, like even if we happen to fall into our sin, we know that sin doesn't have the final word.

See, those of us who are rooted in God's love, we know that God doesn't change his mind about us, that he loves us the same yesterday, today, and forever.

You see, our salvation isn't a commodity that we own.

It's not something that we've earned.

And so, how can something that we don't even own be lost by something that we can do?

Salvation isn't ours to begin with.

The scriptures tell us that salvation is the Lord's, that he's the one who is the author and the perfecter of our faith, of this love of our salvation.

And so we get to trust in this love of God, that he doesn't fall out of love with you.

This God, he won't divorce you.

You see, Jesus, he came straight to his denier, Peter.

And he said, Hey, you and others in the family of God, y'all are gonna be the ones who multiply this kingdom of God through the power of the Spirit, and it's gonna spend thousands of years on earth and on into eternity.

Jesus, he says that his love is gonna be the love that multiplies out to the ends of the earth and for all time, because we have taken root in this great and perfect love of Jesus, this love that he will never take back.

He'll never take it back.

Friends, this love is right here, waiting for you, this unchanging, unrelenting, never failing love of God.

And maybe you've never accepted this love before.

I would love to pray with you.

And maybe you have accepted this love before, but it's been months and years, and the enemy has just been drilling you, and so you started to believe the lies that maybe you've gone too far, that you've taken too many steps back, that you're too messed up.

You've begun to think that your past or even your present has made God change his mind about you.

But through these incredible scriptures, through this word of God, you're starting to see the light, this light of truth.

See, this God, this root of God's love, it's right there in you.

And maybe it's been a little clouded over with the lies of the enemy, but you're starting to see the light.

I'd love to pray with you.

For you to be able to begin to see yourself in the way that God has always seen you.

See, he's always looked at you as lovely, he's always looked at you as worthy, never a mistake.

Friends, when we when we begin to see ourselves in this self-image, in this way that God sees us, yo, we'll be unstoppable.

See, the powers of darkness will just come crashing down.

Hey, and the enemy knows that.

That's why one of his greatest tools against us is to get us to self-hate.

Because once we start to self-love in the image of Christ, once we're rooted in this love, then the power of the enemy will be destroyed.

Amen.

So, friends, let's destroy the power of the enemy together.

We could do that right now.

Let's start self-healing and take root in God's love.

See, because once we do, just like Philemon, we'll begin to live how God has always intended us to live.

Friends, to be refreshing to those around us, to be life-giving, to love as Christ loves.

And I know that it's a journey, but even if you can start just an initial step today in starting to remove the barriers and removing the lies that the enemy has told you time and time again, that has got you to start looking at your self-image in the way that the enemy sees you instead of the way that God sees you.

I know that it's gonna take some time, but guess what?

Metachurch isn't going anywhere.

I know that there are so many staff and leaders that would love to walk with you as you begin to self-love in the way that Christ loves you.

Because once we're able to break that barrier, then we'll truly be able to live in the freedom of God's love, and then we'll be able to give that love away so that when Jesus asks you, Do you love me?

You'll say, Yes, Jesus, I love you.

And then Jesus will say, Okay, go and do something about it.

Show my love, spread my love.

And so I would love to be able to pray with you as we continue in these initial steps together, to live fully in the way that God has called us to live, to be a people filled with His love and giving that love away.

Would you pray with me?

God, thank you so much for your goodness.

Thank you for this incredible church family, this ministry that loves you, God, and we know that we are able to love you because you first loved us.

God, would you continue?

Would you start working in our heart, soul, and our minds?

God, I pray for those who have believed in the lies of the enemy, that have been so constrained to what the enemy says about them instead of you, God, would right now we begin to see the light, God.

For those who are battling uh darkness, those who are battling depression and anxiety, Lord, would you right now be showing them your truth and your light and your love that has been chasing after them?

And Lord, would you let us know daily that you will never relent in your pursuit of us until we are totally surrendered by your love, God.

And we acknowledge that this is gonna take a lifetime, but a lifetime with you, God, on into eternity.

But I pray that you would bless this church as they continue to seek you, God, and spread your love as far as you would have them go, God, to the ends of the earth.

God, would you bless us as we seek to follow you?

I pray for my friends who don't know you yet.

God, would they come to know you?

Would you continue to pursue them, God, until they come to faith in you?

And for those of us who are in the faith, Lord, would you equip us and empower us and strengthen us to continue living this life that you have called us to live.

Lord, we love you so much.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks so much for listening to the message today.

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Man, I love you guys and I hope you have a great rest of your day.