Is It Enough? | Pastor Jeremy Saylor | Sunday Service

Well, good morning, church.

Presence of the Lord is in the house today.

Very present, powerful way, as we were just singing a moment ago.

I believe strongholds are breaking in Jesus' name.

I believe there's there's freedom in the house this morning.

Freedom from what has held you back from the destiny and the purposes of God for your life.

Freedom from what's been clinging to you for far too long.

There's some freedom in the house this morning.

And we're gonna get there in just a moment, but before we get there, I uh I feel a need.

I have this itch that I feel like I need to scratch.

It's been several weeks.

Who needs a dad joke this morning?

It's a dad joke or two.

I have a few for you this morning.

Pastor Noah alluded to it.

The the weather has has turned a little bit better, and I'm thinking who I am ready for fall.

And so I have some fall dad jokes for you this morning.

Here's the first one.

Why did Humpty Dumpty love Autumn?

Well, because Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

It's pretty good.

It's pretty good.

Here's number two.

What did Autumn say to Summer?

It said, make like a tree and leave.

I'm so ready for summer to leave.

And then last but not least, what do you call a guy who really likes pumpkin spice lithes?

You call him Pastor Noah Ray.

Amen, amen, amen.

Today we're continuing a series we kicked off a few weeks ago entitled What Do We See?

What Do You See?

And we're looking at eight doorways that are invitations from the Lord for us to step into resurrection living.

I don't want to wait till I get to eternity to live the resurrection.

Jesus actually went through what he went through, died the death that we deserved, and rose from the grave on the third day, not just to save our eternity sometime somewhere, but to save us for eternity today.

And so these eight doorways that we're looking at are eight ways that we step into resurrection living.

Pastor Noah talked about the presence of the Lord last week, and today I'm gonna talk about outrageous love.

Everybody say that after me this morning.

Outrageous love.

So let me go ahead and give you the definition and then we're gonna break it down and unpack it from scripture.

This is what outrageous love is.

Outrageous love is a cross-shaped love that gives sacrificially, it forgives freely, it serves humbly, and it loves people beyond what they deserve.

And get this part because that's how we were loved first.

I want to say that again because I want you to get that in your spirit this morning.

That outrageous love is a cross-shaped love that gives sacrificially, forgives freely, serves humbly, and loves people beyond what they deserve because that's how we were loved first.

Everybody say first.

That's how God has loved us first.

Stand with me where you are this morning and let's read God's word together.

We're gonna be in 1 John chapter 4 this morning.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

1 John chapter 4, verses 7 through 11.

1 John 4:7–11

The apostle John says, Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

And whoever does not love does not know God because God is.

This is how God showed his love among us.

He sent his one and his only son into the world that we might live through him.

Live through him.

Verse 10.

This is love.

Not that we love God.

You need to get the order of this church.

This, he says, is love.

Not that we love God, but that he loved us.

Aren't you thankful for the love of God this morning?

That he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our friends.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another.

Church, this is God's word, and the title of my message this morning is simply this it is enough.

Say that after me this morning.

Turn to your neighbor and say, It is enough.

Turn to the other neighbor and say, it is enough.

Turn around the person behind you and tell them it is enough.

Father, we thank you for your word this morning.

Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

It shows us the way to go and how to arrive there safely.

I pray this morning we would not just be hearers of your word, but doers of it.

In Jesus' mighty name, everybody said, Amen.

You may be seated.

Thank you, Caleb.

Years ago, when Pastor Meg and I got married, I'm not going to tell you how long ago that was, but it was a couple decades ago.

We got married, and there was a popular marriage book at that time that was being passed around churches and marriage groups.

And the title of that book was His Needs, Her Needs.

Anybody remember that book?

Anybody?

Yeah, a few of you.

His Needs, Her Needs were the name of the book that was quite popular in church settings.

And the the idea of the book was really good, but the application was horrible.

Anyone ever read a book like that?

Sounds great on the surface, but how you practically live out doesn't always work out that way.

The idea of the book was that husbands and wives each have their own needs.

And when their needs are met, their love bank, their love tank is filled up.

And so the book suggests couples sitting down and talking about the differences in their needs.

And not just talking about them, but listing them out so that the other one can know what fills their love tank.

The problem with the application of this book, it moved love from serving one another to counting how the other one was loving them.

Let me say that again for you today.

The problem with that book is that it moved couples from serving one another to counting how the other one was loving them.

And can I tell you, church, counting how the other one is loving you is never a good strategy.

But can I also say we all have the tendency to count?

We all have the tendency, if we're not real careful, to do something kind for our spouse or for our friend or for our coworker.

We do something nice, we do something good, we do something generous.

In the back of our mind, we're tracking a ledger.

Anyone else know what I'm talking about this morning?

Come on, don't leave me up here all by myself this morning.

Anybody else have we we have it's human nature that that we we keep track of what good things we've done for somebody else versus the good things that they've done for us.

Can I tell you that there's a for a term for that?

And it's called strategic kindness.

Strategic kindness.

It's it's love with an invoice attached.

We do something generous and we keep this record.

I just gotta say it right out.

That's not love, church.

You know what it is?

It's a loan with good PR.

That we track how somebody else is responding to our goodness, our kindness, our generosity.

And this morning, as I talk about love, I want you to know very clearly, I'm not adding something to your to-do list.

What I want to do this morning in the next few minutes is show you a love that is so captivating.

A love that is so good, a love that is so transformational that you can't help but share it.

I'm not talking about trying to do something loving.

I'm talking about becoming loving because somebody else's love has so transformed your life.

So I don't I want to show, I don't want to put a checklist on your phone.

I I don't want to add extra things for you to do.

I want you to experience a love that has the power to change everything else in your life.

I want you to hear and see and taste and experience a love that'll so change you that it flows through you without even you trying.

This church is the love of Jesus.

And this is what happens when you walk through the doorway of outrageous love.

Three things happen when you walk through this doorway.

I'm gonna give you the three and then break them down.

Number one, when you walk through the doorway of outrageous love, you find, number one, we were loved first.

We were loved first.

Number two, we find freedom for ourselves.

We find that the shackles of this world that have attempted to hold us captive begin to be unlocked, and we walk in a freedom like we've never known.

And thirdly, we experience and find reconciliation for others.

Let's look at the first one this morning.

Number one, first thing we find when we walk through the doorway of outrageous love, we find that we were loved first.

I was reading through the New Testament over the last few weeks and and looking at the the passages and the progression of the passages that describe the love of God given and demonstrated to us.

I want to I want to highlight just a few of these for you this morning and and and watch this progression.

Some of these verses are very familiar, some may not be as familiar, but in John chapter 3, verse 16, it says, For God so what?

John 3:16

The world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

I need you to hear this morning first and foremost that God did not come into the world to condemn it.

He came to save it because that's what love does.

For God so loved the world that he gave.

And I want you to notice that he wasn't waiting for us to figure it out.

He wasn't waiting for us to get it all right.

No, before the foundations of the world were laid, the Bible says there was a lamb slain because of the love of God.

For God so what loved the world that he gave his one.

For God so loved the world.

Romans chapter 5, verse 8 says, but God demonstrated his what?

Romans 5:8

Love for us in this.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Get this church, notice the implication here.

It's not after we're doing well, it's not after we're noticing him, it's not after we have cleaned up our lives, it's while we're still sinners.

While we are the enemies of the cross, in that moment, God demonstrated his love for us while we were there, he died for us.

1 John chapter 3 verse 16 says, This is how we know what love is.

1 John 3:16

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

And then finally, in 1 John chapter 4, verse 19, John says, We love for one reason above all others because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19

Here's a principle that I want you to get in your spirit this morning.

And this has the power to free you and transform you as much as anything else in your life.

This principle is powerful, it's transcended, it's transformational.

And the principle is this everything in life flows from love, not for it, not toward it, but from it.

Everything in life flows from our entire Christian existence isn't because of what we have done first, it is all a response to what he has already done.

For God so loved us first, and here's why I think that's so important.

We spend most of our lives living in the opposite direction.

We spend most of our lives working for love rather than living from love.

1980, my family moved from Detroit, Michigan to Winfield, Alabama.

Yes, somebody said, Wow, and that's accurate.

Talk about culture shock in every way.

In every way.

We moved from Detroit, Michigan to Winfield, Alabama, and we were the outsiders.

Not only were we not from that area, we weren't from the South, we were Yankees who called soda pop.

We talked a little bit different.

We were not from there.

And we moved from a big metropolitan area to a small rural area where everybody knew you weren't from there.

You were an outsider, and you were different.

On top of all of that, my dad moved us there to plant a Pentecostal church.

There weren't any Pentecostal churches in that area.

So not only were we not from there, not only were we from the north, we were tongue-talking Pentecostals that everybody thought were crazy.

To say I felt like an outsider and I felt different is an understatement.

Most of my life I lived in an environment where I knew very much overtly I was different from the people around me.

And I would love to tell you that it did not impact me negatively, but that would be a lie.

What I found much through my upbringing and through my childhood years and in my teenage years, I found myself in increasing measures working and performing to earn people's approval and love in everything that I did.

I found that in academics and in athletics, I could earn approval.

So I studied hard and I worked out hard because when I performed well, I felt loved.

I felt accepted.

I felt approval.

I felt things that I was designed to experience, but not the way that I was receiving them.

How many of you guys know we're supposed to be loved?

God designed us for love, God designed us for approval, God designed us for acceptance, God designed us for community.

But there's a way that is supposed to flow in and from our lives as well as to our lives.

And for me personally, I lived a significant part of my upbringing continually striving to earn people's affection, people's approval, people's love.

And if you live that way physically, if you're not real careful, it will cause you to become that way spiritually.

And all of a sudden, I began not just to live that way in the natural, I began to live that way in the spiritual.

And so I started viewing scripture as a to-do list that to achieve and for things to perform.

And when I did the things that I thought I was supposed to do, I felt like I was loved by God.

And when I was behaving a little bit better at times than I was at other times, I felt like I God loved me more then than there.

But can I tell you, love and approval are not the same thing?

And in my heart, I really began to deal with a performance-based mentality that I received love when I performed well and I did not receive love when I performed poorly.

Can I tell you, church, that's not the love of God?

What the Bible just showed us a moment ago is that He unequivocally, without reservation, without limitation, He loves you.

He loves you with a love that transcends time and space.

He loves you in the depth of your being.

When you're not acting right, when you're not performing right, when you're not doing right, it does not affect the love of God.

For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

I need you to hear me this morning in the depths of your being because when you understand that he loves you, it frees you.

And if you can get that seated down in the depths of your heart and understand.

Understand the love of God was never wavering in your life.

It has the power to free you from everything that's holding you captive because fundamentally and foundationally we were created to live from love, not for love.

In the vast majority of our lives, we live with a checkbox of love.

Husbands and wives do it.

Friends do it.

We do something nice.

And then we wonder, are they going to notice?

Are they going to respond?

Are they going to recognize?

If I could say one thing to you this morning.

Stop striving and just receive the love of God.

His love doesn't waver.

His love is not a roller coaster.

It's not up and down, left and right.

It is steady.

It is steady.

How many how many of you would be so bold and honest to say, just by the raising of your hand, you struggle to rest in the love of God?

Would you do something else?

If you raise your hand, would you stand right where you are?

Many of you raised your hand.

Many of you, many of you raised your hand.

Church, I want you to stretch your hands towards every person, somebody around you right now that's standing.

Hallelujah, Lord.

Maybe just place your hand on their shoulder right wherever they are.

Just get around somebody right now.

Just get up, get up out of your seat and go lay your hand on somebody's shoulder.

I want every person that's standing to have somebody with a hand on their shoulder right now.

Jesus.

Now, church, will you begin to intercede on your brothers and sisters in the faith that the love of God, Jesus?

And Father, I rebuke this morning a spirit of performance.

God, I rebuke a spirit that would attempt to hold your people captive, that they are loved based on their works.

It's not by works so that no man can boast.

It's by faith in the love of Jesus.

And I pray, God, right now, over your church, that the love of God that transcends time and space would descend upon every heart and every life in the house this morning.

I release your goodness.

I release your favor.

I release, God, your glory to descend upon every heart and every mind.

And I free your men and women of faith.

I free the church today from a spirit of works, from a spirit of religion that would hold them captive, that would tell them they're not good enough.

God, I rebuke that today in Jesus' name.

And I release your men and women of faith to walk in the courage and rest of the love of God.

Lord, do it right now over your men and women of faith this morning.

I pray, settle their spirits, calm their hearts.

I declare, God, your goodness and your glory poured out upon them.

And God, that we would move from striving to trusting.

God, that we would rest in your goodness today.

Lord, do your work in every heart right now.

My word over you this morning is just receive it.

Receive it in Jesus' name.

Receive it today in Jesus' name.

Receive it today in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Hey, church, can you put your hands together for those that took a step of courage today?

Stop striving and just receive the love of God.

See, when when you walk through the doorway of outrageous love, you find that love was never intended to be the finish line.

It's your place.

The finish line you're sprinting toward, it's supposed to be the starting line you run from.

Just receive the love of God because we were loved first.

Secondly, we find freedom for ourselves.

In Luke chapter 10, Jesus is teaching, and a lawyer interrupts him and asks him a question.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

And the question is, What must I do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus flips the question back to him.

What do you say?

And the man says, Well, the scriptures say to love the Lord your God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your strength, and then to love your neighbor as yourself.

And Jesus looks at him and it says, You have responded correctly.

And the story should have stopped there.

But it doesn't.

So he asked Jesus, who is my neighbor?

The man wanted to what?

Justify himself.

The man wanted to justify himself.

What is he really after?

What he's after is he's looking for how far his love has to go.

He's looking for a limit.

He's looking to protect himself from having to give too much.

He's wanting to justify himself and who is my neighbor?

And Jesus responds, not with a finish line, but with a story.

It's the story we call the Good Samaritan.

You know the story.

The story is a man is going down from Jerusalem to Bethlehem or to Jericho, and a man is beaten.

He is robbed, and he's left half dead on the road to Jericho.

And a priest goes by and moves to the other side of the road.

A Levite goes by, moves to the other side of the road.

Then a Samaritan comes down the road.

And this is what Jesus says about the Samaritan in Luke chapter 10, verse 33.

Luke 10:33

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was.

And when he saw him, listen to this, he took pity on him.

He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.

Then he put the man on his donkey and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper.

Look after him, he said.

And when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expenses you may have.

Let me ask you a question this morning.

Where do you see yourself in this story?

Do you see yourself as the priest or the Levite or the Good Samaritan?

Where do you picture yourself in this story?

I hate to tell you this morning.

We do not first appear in this story as someone who is trying to determine whether or not to be the hero.

We, humanity, first appears in this story as the man beaten up and left for dead on the roadside.

That is where we first appear in the story.

We appear in the ditch.

We appear stripped and robbed and left for dead by sin and by what's broken in us and around us and able to save ourselves or even crawl towards help.

We are the man left half dead on the roadside.

And it was Jesus.

It was Jesus who was going down the road and saw us.

It was Jesus who took compassion on us.

It was Jesus who came to us and poured oil and wine upon our wounds.

It was Jesus who lifted us up out of the pit of mirely clay and placed us on his coat.

It was Jesus who took us to a place of healing.

And it was Jesus who paid the cost for our healing.

See, the first place we find ourselves in the story is in the ditch, beaten up, left for dead.

And it was Jesus who came to heal us.

It's because of Jesus taking the cost of our sin upon the cross.

That we are healed and we are free.

It means the wounds that you've experienced by others don't have the power to determine your destiny because Jesus took them on the cross.

It means that what was done to us doesn't define us nor does it determine our destiny because we've been freed by that.

We've been freed.

See, it's amazing that Jesus could take an instrument of cruelty, an instrument of inhumanity, an instrument of evil, and turn it into a symbol of hope.

See, it was upon the cross that Jesus took the punishment that we deserved so that we could walk in freedom.

What does that mean?

It means this what has been done to me does not have power over me because Jesus paid for it on the cross.

And church, when you realize what's been done to you does not have power over you because it's been nailed to the cross of Christ.

Now I'm freed from everything that has held me back so that I can move forward into the future that He has for me.

Listen, you can't move forward into your future carrying yesterday's baggage.

Jesus took care of the baggage so that you and I could walk in freedom.

Let me ask you a question this morning.

What hurt, what pain are you still holding on to that Jesus has already taken care of?

If we're not careful, we'll not keep track, we'll keep lists not just of the things that we've done good for others, we'll keep track of the things that people have done evil towards us.

And can I tell you both of them have been nailed to the cross of Christ?

You were loved first, and because you were loved first, you've been freed.

So that number three, reconciliation can flow through you to the world around you.

Genesis 37, and I'm gonna wrap this up this morning.

In Genesis 37, we find an incredible story about a man named Joseph.

Joseph was the second youngest of twelve brothers to a man named Jacob.

The Bible tells us that Jacob loved Joseph more than all of his other sons.

And he demonstrated his affection towards Joseph by giving him a coat of many colors, a physical representation daily in front of his brothers that he was loved more than they.

How do you think that went over in family dynamics?

I don't think that probably went over very well.

So the brothers, the Bible tells us, are out in the field tending to the flock, and they've been gone for a period of time, and Jacob gets concerned about them.

And so he tells Joseph, his favorite, to go check on his brothers, and he does what his father asked him to do.

And the brothers see him from a long way off.

And as they see him approaching, the envy and the hatred for him that had been seething inside of them for days, weeks, and maybe even years came to a head.

And they devised a plan to take him out.

They said, let's grab him, let's strip him, let's throw him in a pit, let's kill him and tell our father that a wild beast destroyed him.

And one of the other brothers offered a little bit of reason and said, Let's not kill him, let's just sell him.

So they they take Joseph and they throw him in a pit, take his clothes, and a caravan is going by on the way to Egypt, and they sell him into slavery.

Don't miss the significance of this betrayal.

Those that are supposed to love you the most have just betrayed you the worst.

Your brothers, your family have stripped you, thrown you in a pit, and now sold you into slavery.

Psalms 105 tells us a little bit about this event.

It says that Joseph pleaded for his life.

But in spite of his pleading for his life, shackles were put on his feet, and iron was put around his neck, and he was carried off into slavery.

He goes down to Egypt, sold to a man named Potiphar, and serves in his house and is accused of a crime that he does not commit.

Nevertheless, he is thrown in jail for that crime.

In jail, he's just going about his daily business, and a couple of his cellmates have some dreams.

He interprets the dreams for them, does them a favor, does them a good deed.

He asks, hey, remember me when God, or when you're restored to your position, and they completely forget him.

But through God's divine providence, Joseph is lifted out of the prison and becomes the second most powerful man on the planet.

Second only to Pharaoh of Egypt.

About 20 or so years pass by from his betrayal.

Joseph is governing the land of Egypt, and he is stewarding its resources, and he is saving a nation that is going through famine.

Word gets back to his brothers in Canaan that there's food in Egypt.

So his father sends his sons, his other brothers, down to Canaan to get food.

What they don't know is that they're about to come face to face with the very man that they stripped, that they beat, that they sold into slavery.

They're coming face to face with the very man that they destroyed, and he could exact vengeance if he wants to.

He is accountable to no one.

I'm talking about powerful.

Whatever Joseph said is what happened.

He could have done whatever he wanted to do, and nobody would have said a word.

He is in a position of ultimate power and ultimate authority.

And if he wanted them dead for what they did to him, dead they would be.

Listen to how he responds in Genesis 45, verse 4.

Genesis 45:4

I am Joseph, your brother, the one you sold into Egypt.

And now do not be distressed.

Do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

He has the opportunity to exact vengeance, and instead he chooses grace.

Do not be distressed.

Genesis 50, verse 19, he says this to them: You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Genesis 50:19

And then it says, Don't be afraid.

I will provide.

Are you kidding me?

I will provide for you and your children.

The very one they betrayed is now declaring, I will provide for you.

This is what I want to know.

How in the world does this happen?

How in the world do you go from being taken advantage of in the most heinous way possible to now being in a position of authority to do whatever you want to do, and nobody's going to question it?

And you give grace.

How does that happen?

Genesis chapter 39, in three different places, repeats the same phrase that speaks volumes.

Genesis 39 · chapter mention

It says, the Lord was with Joseph.

The Lord was listen, church, the only way you can give grace where vengeance is due is if you've known the love of God.

The only way that we can live that is that we experience a love that is so good and it is so transforming that we know our lives deserve death, but we've been given life.

There's nothing that we could earn or work or deserve to receive the grace and the goodness of God.

See, when you walk through the doorway of outrageous love, you understand first and foremost, I'm receiving a love that I could have never earned.

And when I've received that love, it frees me from everything that's been done to me.

And when I've been freed from what's been done to me, I can offer it freely to every person that I come in contact with.

Church, that's outrageous love.

That's the love that has the power to change everything in your life.

As I've been preaching this morning about this, there's a name maybe that's been coming to your mind.

Person that you're at odds with.

Person that you're sideways with.

And maybe the application of this message for you this morning is to release that person to the Lord as He has released you from what you've done.

I want to challenge you this week to go before the Lord and lay before Him the hurts, the wounds.

The abuse that's been done to you.

Church, we forgive because we've been forgiven.

And when we choose to hold on to unforgiveness, it's like drinking deadly poison and expecting somebody else to die.

But when I realize that I've received so much grace that I could never earn, who am I not to extend it to every person that I come in contact with?

How can I receive the love of God and his forgiveness and not share it with the people around me?

The Apostle John at the end of his life, extreme old age, in Ephesus.

History tells us that the Apostle John lived to about 90 years of age.

They would gather by hundreds to come to see the Apostle John, the last living apostle of Jesus.

Hundreds would gather to hear him talk, to hear him share a message.

And his message was much, much shorter than mine this morning.

I guess that comes with wisdom.

But his message would simply be five words.

Five words.

Five words that he would preach over and over and over again to every congregation that would gather at the end of his life.

And the five words were simply this little children, little children love one another.

Little children love one another.

This is the apostle John to churches all throughout Asia Minor.

Little children love one.

People would travel miles upon miles upon miles to hear the last living apostle preach a message, and his message would be five words.

Little children love one another.

And eventually they would get a little bit exasperated.

Is this all you have to say?

You lived with Jesus for three and a half years, and now you've lived for almost 60, following him after his ascension.

Don't you have anything else to say?

And he would reply, No, because it's the Lord's command.

And if this only is done, it is enough.

It is enough.

If you love one another, it is enough.

John, are you kidding me?

Isn't there anything we're gonna add?

No, no, no, no, no.

You need to understand this love, it's enough if you'll get a hold of it.

If you'll get a vision of this love, if you'll experience this love, it is enough.

Church, I want to declare over you this morning that the love of God is enough for you.

It's enough for your pain, it's enough for your anguish, it's enough for your abuse, it's enough for your relationship, it's enough for your marriage, it's enough for your kids, it's enough for your career, it's enough for your future, it is enough.

His love is enough.