The Danger of a Loveless Faith

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1 Corinthians chapter 13 is where we're going to be today.

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

We are in an 11-week journey through the book of 1 Corinthians.

We're calling this 1 Corinthians 11 dangers for every Christian.

We call these dangers because they really are toxic to your spiritual life.

It can even be lethal to your spiritual life.

And for the vast majority of these, the hard part is you don't even recognize it.

Like they're very so subtle in nature that uh that you may not even see it right off the bat.

So I don't know if you've ever heard the phrase, don't meet your heroes.

You ever heard that?

And maybe uh you've even had a bad experience of meeting your heroes.

That statement is said because it's like, hey, just whatever you have in your mind of that person, you don't want to meet the hero because they may not be that person.

All right.

That uh that happened to me one time.

About 20 years ago, uh, my family got to go uh to the Super Bowl.

So I had just been married to Meredith probably within the first six months or a year, and uh, and somehow my dad got four tickets to the Super Bowl, and he was able to buy those.

And so it was like the OG family, like without our wives, just like me and my brother and my parents uh as adults and uh and the Super Bowl that year, of all places that the Super Bowl could have been located the year we got to go, it was in Detroit, Michigan.

All right.

And you got to remember, like this is usually in February as a Super Bowl, and so it is, I mean, it is freezing bitterly cold.

And uh, and so we uh we go to the Super Bowl that day, and uh it is, I mean, it is so cold.

Like so, and we had to wait for security with the Super Bowl.

And we were outside for probably two or three hours in line, waiting to get into the stadium, and uh it was the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Seahawks, like eh, you know, okay.

Uh not a not the game that you'd want to go to, not America's team, I might say.

The Dallas Cowboys, right?

I heard that.

I heard the moans.

Okay, you can find yourself another church.

I'm getting and so uh so it's I mean, it was an awesome experience.

I'm I'm a football guy, I'm a sports guy.

Uh I was raised on Sports Center.

Anybody else?

Like where you watch it a couple times a day, and uh anything that NFL Films puts out to this day, I'm a sucker for.

And so uh go through go through all this.

What I did not realize about Super Bowl week, and we were there for maybe two or three nights, uh, is that it is one sports celebrity sighting after another.

And again, this is this is 20 something years ago.

So I was maybe 21, 22 years old at the time.

In other words, I was not afraid to ask for an autograph then.

Okay.

And so uh we had bought like a football as a family, and we were having all these celebrities sign it and football players.

Uh, I ended up now, it was late one night, and it is in the middle of like the lobby of the hotel we're staying at.

And I see a crowd around a person.

And uh, and finally the the guy's like, hey, I and I'm gonna be general for his sake here.

Uh, he uh he was like, Hey, you know, no more autographs.

And I was late to the party, and so I asked some random people like, hey, can I grab your marker for a second?

And so I go and I tap him on the shoulder and I'm like, hey, sir, can I have your autograph?

And he looks at me with a stern face and he turns around and he says, I said no.

I was like, fine.

Okay, like you don't have to be mean about it.

And it's and in many ways, that's what we're talking about today.

You say, What in the world does that mean that we're talking about today?

What we're meaning is this: you you can be as famous as you want to be.

You can be as wealthy as you want to be, you can be a person that people admire, you can be the most gifted person in your family, which some of you are like, yeah, that's me.

Okay.

Um, here's the point of today's message.

This is like incredibly basic.

If you don't have love, you don't have anything.

All right.

That that is what 1 Corinthians 13 is all about.

Now, related to that situation, my fault, not his fault.

I, you know, I can imagine what it's like to just be on all the time and have a group around you seeking an autograph.

Like, I know the dude was done for the night, and I my fault, all right?

But he could have been nicer, right?

I mean, he really could have been.

So uh today, here's what we're gonna talk about.

I'm gonna talk to you about the danger of a loveless faith.

The danger of a loveless faith.

Here's the hard part.

Uh, you can look the part, you can act the part, you can speak the part, but if you don't have love to use another sports analogy, that's a real swing and a miss.

Okay.

Uh, if you remember where we were last Sunday, and I would just encourage you, if if you weren't here last week, some of this is not gonna make sense unless you look at last Sunday.

So I would encourage you to go online, YouTube channel, our cross church page, whatever, and you can watch last Sunday in order to get a better understanding because they really are connected together.

But last week, uh the Bible described how when you get saved, God gives you a spiritual gift to use to serve other people in your church.

Paul's gonna continue this discussion, but he's gonna speak about it in relation to love.

And so as we get started here, let me give you the sermon in one sentence, all right?

Uh, if I were to dumb down the entire message and the entire passage we're gonna study today, here's what it is.

Write this in your journal.

Love always outweighs gifting.

Love always outweighs gifting.

The Bible, again, will say, and I'm gonna say this kind of thing over and over today, you can be the most gifted person in the world, but what really makes a difference in the lives of other people is your love.

What really impacts other people, it is the power of love.

So let's begin reading together.

And uh, we're gonna begin in verse one of chapter 13.

Here's what he says: uh he says, If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, underline this, but have not love.

I am a noisy gong or a clinging symbol.

And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, here it is again, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give away all that I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, golly, third time, but have not love, I gain nothing.

You can be the most gifted person that you know, but if you're not loving, you have missed it.

Think about the different giftings that he mentioned here.

Again, this is a reference back to chapter 12.

He says, I can speak in tongues, I can have prophetic powers, I can have the wisdom to understand things, then I can have a faith that moves mountains, I can be the most generous person you know, I can even give up my body to be burned as a martyr, he says.

But if I don't love other people, I have missed the whole thing.

He said, Well, why would God include this in the Bible?

Like, sounds like a basic thing that we would love one another, right?

And even we get the idea from the Word of God that that God is love.

Three of the most powerful words you'll read anywhere.

God is love.

And so why would God include this in the Bible, especially after such a long passage about spiritual gifts and all that that God gives us at salvation?

Uh, here's why I think God put this in the Bible, okay?

All of us have a natural tendency to be drawn towards the gifted more than those who love well.

So, so you love those who are really good at certain things to the neglect of others who, man, just really love people in a great, great way.

Okay, you you can easily read 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and have an overemphasis on the gifts to the neglect of love that is produced by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

So, so if you if you're reading these two chapters together, some of you are gonna be way more drawn to chapter 12 and understanding it and living it out and doing all these things to the neglect of chapter 13.

That is honestly, it is elementary Christianity at its finest.

Love always uh always outweighs gifting here, okay?

So if we're not careful, we make the Christian life about our own gifting or about other people's gifting to the neglect of others, and we whiff it on the on the basics, okay?

Let me be clear gifting is not bad, it's just not best.

So, spiritual gifts that God gives us, by all means.

Like what what a gift that God gives us that we can use it to serve other people.

The Bible would just say it this way.

They're just not the best thing, okay?

Now, I'm gonna step into uh hard territory here, okay?

Any math teachers in the room today?

Raise your hand.

Okay.

Anybody?

We had some at eight o'clock.

Okay, over the thank you.

Okay.

I'm not good at math, all right.

My daughter, what what are you doing like every night of the week?

Because I need help with my kids' homework.

All right, we need you to come over, all right?

Um, my daughter's in sixth grade.

I can't do her math, all right?

But I'm gonna do easy math today for you.

Okay, this is this is the extent of my mathematical capability.

All right.

Let me give you a little equation here.

1 Corinthians chapter 12 plus 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Here's what it equals it equals serving others through spiritual gifts while realizing love is the greatest gift.

That's what it means.

So these two chapters together, which I think they need to be read together, understood together.

It's all about serving others through spiritual gifts while realizing that love is the greatest gifts.

Uh, in other words, it's it's not spiritual gifts to the neglect of love, and it's not all love to the neglect of spiritual gifts.

Can you imagine if we were in a church that had no gifting whatsoever, we just loved everybody really well.

It'd be good, which wouldn't get much done, right?

Like God, God gives us both gifts and love here together, and that really is the key, okay?

The greatest thing that you could ever give somebody is not your gifting, it is your love, okay?

And now, some of you may feel freed by this passage today, because in all reality, you think to yourself, Nick, I'm not gifted.

Like I'm not talented, I don't have something to offer somebody else.

And number one, like, that's not true.

I just say that.

And especially if you've given your life to Jesus, God, God doesn't ask you if you want a spiritual gifts, he gives you a spiritual gift.

And so it's not true that you don't have anything to offer, it's not true that you're not you're not gifted.

God has gifted you himself on purpose with the specific gift that he has given you.

But if you like, and in a sense of like not false humility, but you're like, Nick, I really don't know what I'm good at.

Like, I don't really know what I have to offer other people.

Here's like the greatest, most freeing thing that you could hear today.

God can use you.

He can use you.

Not only through your gifting, and again, you know, I don't, I don't know not gifted.

Okay, throw that out the window for a second.

Did you know that God can use you in your life to make a major difference for the kingdom of God just through the vehicle of love?

Like if you can love other people, God can use you.

And here's what I know every person who is hearing me today, you have the ability and the capability to love other people, something that God gives us innately.

So if that helps you today, if that frees you today, man, be free in the name of the Lord.

All right.

Look at verse four.

He continues.

He says, Love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude, it does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things.

Here's a little crowd participation.

How many of you had 1 Corinthians chapter 13 read at your wedding?

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

Raise your hand.

Anybody?

Okay, I see hands all the way at the top.

All okay.

Many of you had that.

Um, it's not wrong.

It's just not about marriage.

Like I think I need to say that right here at the beginning.

It's not wrong that you did that.

And some of you are engaged, like you just had the program printed for the wedding.

You're like, oh my gosh.

1 Corinthians 13 is already on.

Don't worry, okay?

By all means.

Read 1 Corinthians 13 at the wedding.

Just read it with the understanding that it's not about marriage.

Does it apply to marriage?

Absolutely.

Does it apply to your workplace?

Absolutely.

Does it apply to your relationship with your kids?

Absolutely.

It just ain't about that.

You know what it's about?

It's about how you love the people sitting next to you today.

It's about how you love the people on your row, people in your small group, the people in your in your other services here today, okay?

And in the other campuses today.

Like that's what this passage is all about.

It is much broader.

It's about how you love other people in the church.

Again, it extends beyond that, but by all means, let it be read and interpreted rightly, first of all, that this is how you love other people within your own church.

Okay.

Let me contrast what I just read with the world's definition of love.

Okay, here's the world's definition of love.

Love is a feeling.

All right?

It's a feeling.

So when I feel it, I show it.

Think about this within the context of church.

Like if I feel like I love my church right now, then I'm gonna be all in.

Like I'm gonna look forward today's like Legacy Sunday.

But if I don't really feel it right now, I'm just not gonna be all in.

Uh if you don't feel love for other people in your small group, especially that annoying guy who always prays too long, makes it about himself.

You laugh because that person's in your small group.

Okay.

Like if you if you do all of these things, well, I don't really feel it.

You're gonna have a very limited capability of love right there.

Okay?

Love is not a feeling, love is a choice.

Let's take this, let's take the passage and let's apply it to marriage.

Okay?

Uh this explains why so many marriages end after a long season of marriage.

Uh maybe the kids, you know, graduate, get out of the house, and marriage falls apart, and one of the spouses or both spouses say, Well, I just I mean, I think we just fell out of love.

I just don't feel it anymore.

Like what I used to feel when I was around that person.

I just don't feel it anymore.

And, you know, love is a choice, love is a decision.

You didn't fall out of love, you fell out of repentance, you fell out of obedience, you fell out of scripture first in your life.

Like that's what you fell out of.

And uh, and so I have zero doubt that there are some of you who are here today who you're sitting next to someone right now and it's tense.

It's tense because you're like, you're like trying to make it work.

Like I'm talking about a spouse situation.

I saw two college guys be like, I got it was y'all right here.

Like, you're fine, okay.

That was funny.

Um I have no doubt there are spouses sitting next to one another this morning who there there's just a uh there's tension.

And you know, even though we're joking here and there, like, you know, you could you could cut the tension with a knife between the two of you because you have you have fallen out of love.

And uh by the name of Ted Cunningham, some of you may remember Ted Cunningham.

Ted's spoken at a church multiple times.

He's really a relational expert.

He's a pastor in Branson.

Um and and he's spoken here several times.

I heard him this summer speak to a group, and uh, and he and he put the picture of a bus on the screen.

I I want to put up the same picture here for you.

Um he talks about how this is like the bus of your life, okay?

And you got all these things that are going on within.

You got scripture in the mix, you got tradition, like maybe from your family or from your church, you got experiences, you have reason, and then you have emotions.

And he's like, listen, that's all a part of your life, that's all a part of being a full person there.

And uh, and yet what you got to determine is who's gonna drive the bus of your life.

Like, who's gonna drive the bus?

And for some of you, you know, uh tradition in your family drives the bus.

Well, my my parents did it this way.

My family grew up, we did it this way.

Or you got the you know, the bus of experience, you got the driving of experience.

Well, I've been through this.

Or you got reason or or intellectualism, and that that drives the bus of your life.

Or uh if if I like were to share with you honestly what I believe my hunch is, is my hunch is that many of you see the thing in the very back?

Emotions?

For many of you, your emotions are driving the bus.

And Ted's point was this like all of these things are important.

Like God gave you emotions.

So we listen to the emotions going on in our heart and in our soul.

We we reason together, we think about things like experience and tradition.

Just none of those are to drive the bus.

The only thing that should drive the bus is scripture.

And so I would ask you like, if this was the bus of your life, is it in that order?

And I'm not really concerned about passenger seat, second row, or the couch in the back.

All right.

I'm more concerned about what is driving the bus of your life.

And only you know that.

I don't know that for your life, but you probably know that looking at those things.

And so I want you to understand love through the lens of scripture, not through the lens of a feeling.

So here's what we're gonna do.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna read the same exact passage to you again.

And here's here's what we're gonna do.

I'm gonna read it slowly.

I think there's value in reading the Bible slowly.

For some of you, you're uh you have your time in the morning and you've got a certain amount of chapters in your mind that you have to read so that God won't be mad at you that day.

You're like, no, it's three.

Four.

And and and but you're speed reading because you're you're trying to get to the gym, trying to get to the office, trying to get the kids in the car, got to get to class.

And so you're you're speed reading.

And if I were to say, hey, what'd you what'd you read about in the word this morning?

You'd be like, Abraham?

Maybe so here's my advice.

If that's you, read less and read slower.

Read less and read slower.

I had a dyslexic friend who came up to me after the 8 o'clock and he's like, thank you.

Thank you for that, alright?

So read less, read slowly.

Let me do that too, uh, with you right here, okay?

And I'm gonna underline some key things.

Love is patient.

It's kind.

It does not envy or boast.

It is not arrogant.

It's not rude.

It does not insist on its own way.

It is not irritable.

Don't elbow the person next to you.

It's also not resentful.

It doesn't rejoice at wrongdoing, but it rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, and it also believes all things, and it hopes all things.

I want you to circle one word in your Bible or in your journal today.

The word endures.

Love endures all things.

I I could break down every one of these, what it maybe eight or ten things right there.

And I could I could throw a list up here, and I could I could give you give you the background biblically, like, from the original language.

But can we be honest with you?

Like, most of those things are self-explanatory, are they not?

You don't need a Greek breakdown of rude.

Just don't be a jerk.

You don't you don't need like the behind the scenes message on what it looks like to be irritable.

Just look at yourself in the mirror in the morning, right?

But but there there is one that I think really gets to the heart of what real love is like, and it is the word endures.

And uh how'd you circle it just a moment ago?

It's a Greek word uh pronounced like this, uh hypomine.

And here's what it means it means to remain steadfast in the face of unpleasant circumstances.

So again, it's it's it's translated as the word endurance.

Your translation may even give the word perseverance there, same idea, but it means to remain steadfast in the face of unpleasant circumstances.

Let me like put this back on you.

Anybody dealing with unpleasant circumstances in a relationship again, let's think context first.

So anybody having an unpleasant circumstance with somebody else here at our church, like you walked in a different entrance today because you knew that they always park at the back, so you try to park on the side, came through the preschool because you know they come this and you're you know they always sit on up there, so you try to sit over here.

I just I avoided altogether.

I went to a different service.

They're at the Springdale campus.

I moved campus.

Stuff like that.

Uh anybody got an unpleasant circumstance with a relationship at work?

You take the long way to your desk every morning so you don't have to walk by her.

Walk by him.

How many of you go the opposite way into your apartment complex or the opposite hallway in your dorms because you got an unpleasant circumstance with somebody else?

Or let's take this in in marriage and family.

Anybody got an unpleasant circumstance going on with a spouse, with a child, with a parent, with a you fill in the blank?

What is the overall point here?

Love remains steadfast in the face of unpleasant circumstances.

Here's the first seven verses in a nutshell.

Love is not about me, it's about you.

It's not about me, it is about you.

So let me give you a tip.

All right, this is like pastoral advice from 1 Corinthians on if you want your relationships to work in your family, your friendships, your business, school, whatever it is.

Here's what it is.

You love people like that.

It is all about you, and it is not about me.

Pastor James McDonald said it this way a long time ago, and even wrote it in a unique way that I've never forgotten.

He says it this way love is you before me.

Look at the screen of how he writes it.

The letter U, the letter B, the number four, then me.

It's an easy way to remember it, just written in a different way.

And so some of you need to put this on your uh, you know, put it on your mirror, put it on the home screen of your phone, you know, wherever you'll see it a lot.

This is the heartbeat of those verses.

So who needs this today that love is you before me?

Keep on reading.

Look at verse 8.

This is where it's gonna, this is where it's not gonna make sense if you weren't here last week.

All right.

So go back, listen last week because he gets back into spiritual gifts.

He says, love never ends.

As for prophecies, they will pass away.

As for tongues, they will cease.

So look at look at the two key phrases.

They will pass away and they will cease.

As for knowledge, it will also, it will, it will pass away.

Now, there's potentially a distinction between how these three will actually end.

Some Bible scholars put prophecies and knowledge in a different uh lane than tongues, all right?

Related to tongues.

If you remember, we talked about the miraculous gifts of the spirit last week.

Four different views.

Go back, watch that again.

But I talked about two different views at the beginning, one called cessationism, which believes that the miraculous gifts have ceased.

Uh, I told you that I fall into a category that is open but cautious.

In other words, I believe that God can do whatever he wants to do, however he wants to do it, whenever he wants to do it.

I believe God can still heal.

He could use somebody to speak in tongues to share the gospel in a language they don't know with somebody in their original language.

Uh, but I'm also cautious as to what much of what we see today.

So if you're if you're here today or you're here last week, you're like, well, I don't understand how anybody could get to like a view of cessationism or a view of even open but cautious, like, why are we not just wide open towards all the gifts?

Verse eight is a reason why many people fall into one of those two lanes, including myself, of like that there is an ending to these gifts, is what the Bible is saying.

When that is, is the debatable thing, but but these will end.

You say, well, what's the what's the point of verse eight then?

Here's what the point of verse eight is it's all about love.

It's not about the gifts, it's all about love.

Again, love always, always, always outweighs gifting.

That's the point of the entire passage, including verse eight, reiterates that by using spiritual gifts of like these things are going to end.

This thing will not end.

Get to verse 9.

We'll wrap up with this passage right here.

He says, For we know in in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, circle or underline the word perfect, the partial will pass away.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, and when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

That includes getting autographs from other grown men.

Okay, right there.

Verse 12.

For now we see in a mirror dimly.

This is really key, but then face to face.

Now I know in part, and then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

You say, well, Nick, what it what is the perfect that you mentioned there?

Can I tell you what it is not?

It's not talking about now.

You don't need me to tell you this world is not perfect, this world is not right.

What we have now is the temporary, we have the partial, and what this passage is pointing our eyes to is it is pointing our eyes to the return of Jesus to this earth.

You may be new to the Bible or new to church, new to Christianity.

Let me let me give you some words that you need to understand.

Jesus Christ is coming back.

He is coming back, and he will return.

And when he returns, he will establish a new heaven and a new earth, and it is then that we will have what this passage talks about.

We will then have the perfect.

You say, well, what's the whole thing about like the childish mindset thing there?

It's all about this is that God's word is pushing us to move on from childish mindsets.

Listen to me, to move on from childish habits, to move on from childish ways, and to look forward that, man, one day Christ is returning.

And I'm not I'm not gonna see dimly through a mirror, but then I'm gonna see Jesus face to face, pointing our eyes towards eternity.

And so, what's another point that Paul is making in this passage?

Man, gifts are important.

God has given gifts, gifts are to be used for serving other people.

But this is verses 8 through 12.

Gifts are also temporary.

You know what's not temporary?

Love.

You know what will last?

Love.

You know what matters most?

Love.

You know what is eternal?

Love.

That's what the Bible says.

You getting that today?

This doesn't pass away.

So build your life on love.

Write this statement down.

Love is the measure of spiritual maturity.

Love is the measure of spiritual maturity.

We often look at people filled with knowledge who know a lot of the Bible, and we say, That's the spiritually mature person.

Or we look at gifted people in the church who can use their gift for the sake of the glory of God and serving other people, and we say, Man, that's the person who's spiritually matured, not according to the word.

You know who the spiritually mature person is?

It's the 12-year-old girl who loves her friends well.

It's the wife who is enduring unpleasant circumstances with a lost husband.

It is the person who forgives well when wronged.

It is the person who gives grace when everybody else is looking to throw stones.

It's the person who keeps their mouth shut when everybody else is blabbering on social media.

It is the person who looks different, who treats people different, who runs towards those who are shunned, who runs towards those in need, who runs towards the people at your cafeteria who are sitting alone and everybody else makes fun of.

That's what love is.

When everybody else does, is bad mouthing the person at the office, you're the person who sticks up for them or who just simply walks away in love.

That is the measure of spiritual maturity.

And so, how do how do we measure whether we are where we need to be with the Lord?

How's my love?

How's my love for other people in my church?

How's my love for other people in my family?

How's my love for people in the community?

How's my love for people at the office?

Like it, how is my love?

That is the mark of spiritual maturity in my life.

That is the mark of spiritual maturity in your life as well.

The passage ends like this.

This is like the famous like thing that somebody gives you in a frame at your wedding.

This is it right here.

1 Corinthians 13, verse 13.

1 Corinthians 13:13

So now, faith, hope, and love abide.

These three.

Let's read this last phrase together.

But the greatest of these is what?

It is love.

Let's do a survey of everybody today.

If you think faith is important, raise your hand.

Important to have faith?

Okay, good.

Uh, if you think hope is a good trait, raise your hand.

As good as those are, the Bible's saying love trumps those.

Love is greater than faith.

Love is greater than hope.

Love always outweighs gifting.

Can I say to you with verse 13 lingo?

Love even outweighs faith and even outweighs hope.

I titled this message, The Danger of a Loveless Faith.

And here's the hard thing about a loveless faith is that it's often hard to spot.

Because you can look really good on the outside and really loveless on the inside.

Some of the most judgmental people that you'll ever meet are people who have all the knowledge of God in the world and all the knowledge of the Bible and a heart that lacks love.

It's not that we throw away our minds, it's not that we throw away intellectualism.

There's a lot, there's a lot to learn, a lot to believe.

But the danger here is that you can live a loveless life and you can like really still look pretty spiritual.

You can still lead a small group, still serve in some way at the church.

You can still, you know, look the part, you can have your Bible out, your journal out, and uh you're taking notes, and everybody looks at you is like, man, he's got it together.

She's got it together.

And the reality is you only really have it together if you love people well.

So anybody in here need to forgive somebody else?

Anyone in here need to endure a difficult circumstance with somebody else?

Anybody need to uh apologize to somebody else?

Any married folk in the room today need to say, listen, I I know we've had some conversations and I want to end those.

Let's have some different conversations about how we can make this work.

And so maybe you're here today and God has convicted you of a loveless faith.

I've like, Nick, I man, this is me.

I I've I'm so judgmental in my heart.

I'm so critical of people.

Um I'm just gonna invite you to come to the altar.

Just a moment, get right with God.

Lord, I don't want to be that anymore.

I just I want to be a loving person.

Maybe you're here today and God has really spoken to your heart, and it's and it's more inspiring.

It's not like convicting of something you've done wrong.

You're just like, I want to be that.

I want to be that person.

Man, I'm gonna invite you to come to the altar.

Lord, give me the strength to love people well, give me opportunities to love people well.

How many married people need to come to the altar and just with open Bible pray verses four through seven, Lord, I pray that you would help us to identify in our own lives with these three things, these several things right there.

If I knew your circumstance, I have zero doubt.

There are hundreds of situations in this room represented by your lives.

If you have somebody in your life that is hard to love, it's an unpleasant circumstance, it's a dysfunctional parent, it's a dysfunctional kid, it's a dysfunctional spouse, it's somebody at your office, somebody here at the church, and you're like, I don't know what to do.

I want to do what you're saying and what the word of God is saying.

I don't know how to get there.

And I'm gonna invite you to come to the altar.

Just ask God for wisdom.

Book of James says if you'll ask for wisdom, God will give you wisdom.

Think about that bus illustration.

How many of you have let emotions drive the bus of your life?

Or reason drive the bus of your life, or other things like that, and you just need to freshly submit to God's word.

Lord, I want I want scripture to be in the driver's seat.

I'm just gonna invite you to come, do business with the Lord.

Maybe you're here today and you've never trusted Christ personally, and uh and man, you wonder if if what I'm saying about how God is love, you wonder if that applies to you.

Because in your mind, your entire life, you've had this thought of, man, God's angry with me, God's mad at me, and man, I've showed up at church, and all these people are perfect.

And everybody's got it together.

The preacher seems like he's got it together.

And man, this thing is not for me.

This gospel you speak of, it's not for me.

This God and this offer of hope and salvation and forgiveness and mercy, it's not for me.

And man, I just with all the love in my heart, I just I just want you to understand this.

There is never an example in the Bible or in history where if someone, with all of their sin, all of their past, all of their pain, all of their regret, anyone who has ever come to Jesus with genuine repentance has never been turned away.

And that will include you.

You say, Nick, I you have no idea what I've done.

I don't, I don't.

I just know what he did.

And what he did on the cross, what we celebrated with the Lord's Supper earlier in our service, that is enough.

And that can be enough for you today.

I want you just to bow our head and close our eyes.

If you are here today and you say, Nick, that is me, like I need Christ.

Our staff is making their way to the front of each aisle.

And if uh if you know you need to give your life to Jesus, like that is your step, I'm gonna invite you, as soon as we begin to sing in just a moment, we're gonna stand together.

And as soon as we stand, I'm just gonna ask you just to make your way out of the aisle that you're on and just make your way down here.

You say, Golly, in front of all these people, in front of all these people who, listen, are on your side.

This is a family.

So any decision you make for Jesus will be cheered on by this group, will be rejoiced in by this group.

So will you come?

All you gotta do is take the hand of one of these men or women.

All you gotta say is this, I need to give my life to Jesus.

We'll lead you to faith in Christ today.

Others of you that are in a place where you identify in one of those other things that I talked about.

You want to be this person, you want to have this type of marriage, you're in a difficult spot with somebody else, and you're like, I don't know what to do, God.

I need the wisdom.

If you fall in any of those categories I mentioned a moment ago, I'm gonna invite you to come and ask the Lord for wisdom.

You come to the altar.

The altar is a place of surrender.

God, I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you.

So, Father, it is in uh our hearts and in our desire, Lord, as we wrap up the service that by your Holy Spirit you would compel people to be saved, that you would compel people who are Christians to make steps of surrender before you, whatever that looks like.

We trust in you to do that.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

If you have questions about what you have heard or would like more information about your relationship with Jesus, please email us at infocchurch.com or visit our website at crosschurch.com.

At Crosschurch, our mission is to reach Northwest Arkansas, America, and the world for Jesus Christ.