Good Morning Beloved...
Thank you for joining us today
Heavenly Father,
For those gathered in Your name today, I give You thanks
I praise You for Your love and forgiveness
For giving them even though I didn't and still don't deserve it,
And faithfully pursuing me even as I hastily ran.
Lord, You have called me to preach the good news,
Yet also to see the big picture, the current issues and address them.
To follow You, always, even if everyone else disagrees,
Always serve You and them joyfully,
and not take criticisms personally
Remain calm and non-judgmental, in all circumstances
Be humble, and share my own struggles
To forgive those who have caused me hurt
To apologize to others, for the hurt I've caused
To love as You have loved me
You have called me to always encourage others,
to give of their time, to identify and share their gifts and creativity.
To give love, unconditionally, as You have loved us
And in my busyness, remember to stop and pray with and for others
Help me to always do, what You have called me to do
To teach intentionally, faithfully and not merely habitually
Forsaking the things of the present day
To seek first the kingdom
Lord, I pray and ask these things be accomplished in and through me today.
In Your precious name,
Amen
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know what we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit."
1 John 4:7-13
Today's message: I Hope The Kids Will Understand
I become more and more amazed at the moral and spiritual integrity of people.
When Hell has enlarged itself in our lives we quickly begin to search for the source of the problem
I am a firm believer that the source of most problems is usually a
response to what, or who, we have permitted to come into our lives, some activity
we have allowed ourselves to engage in.
A person who never lies, will never have to deal with the ramifications that telling a lie brings.
A person who never steals will never deal with the consequences of a thief.
Sometimes, the problems we face, is not the result of anyone else actions other than our own.
Though today's culture, is guilty of always trying to make it someone else’s fault.
There's very little accountability in our world today!
I need to make something real simple and very plain...
Regardless of what you or anyone else says or does,
even if the entire
Church rises against me and causes me unbelievable pain and suffering,
there is no one but me in charge of my spiritual well being.
I am definitely glad that others are not in control of my spirituality.
I am grateful that the Lord, is in complete control of my life and I am responsible
for my own spirituality!
280 times the word "love" is found in the Scriptures!
13 of those times, are in our text this morning...
That must mean, the "love" is important to God! That also means it should be important to us.
Yet, in the world that we live in, Love, is something that is reserved for only those, who fit our criteria. Those who look like us, dress like us, believe what we believe!
Is that how God loves you? Or me?
But the worlds kind of love has conditions.
As long as you don't tell me how to live, I love you.
As long as you do what I want you to do, I love you.
As long as you don't hurt me, I love you.
As long as you behave in a manner that is pleasing to me, Then, I will love you.
When are people going to realize that your actions are not
only going to affect you, but every member of your family and those
around you?
We live in a world, that as long as I get what I want who cares about all of the others?
In this great nation, unlike many who live under a sovereign power, we live in a democracy. We have the freedom to choose.
We've come to believe we can think, say and do what we want.
But when we enter into the Kingdom of God, we live under His Sovereign Authority and power!
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him."
John 3:16-17
Our earlier text says,
"...if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us."
1 John 4:12
what part of the love is mentioned in these verses sounds like the love the world offers?
Anyone?
None on it!
I want to speak boldly about Unconditional Love today.
The word Unconditional is simply what it sounds like.
There are no conditions or terms that will either cause us to earn it or deter it.
So who does God offer His love?
"For God so loved the world....."
John 3:16
It was without conditions that Jesus went to the cross of Calvary.
It was without reservation that He so freely gave His life for our sin.
You, me .... and them!
Yet many people don't realize today that THE LOVE OF GOD IS UNCONDITIONAL!
Why?
Because "...the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."
John 3:19-21
"For God so loved the world....."
John 3:16
The Greek word, 'kosmos', or world is defined as "the ungodly multitude;
the whole mass of men alienated from God and therefore hostile to the
cause of Christ."
This is the world that God loved.
It doesn't say that God loved all the good people.
Or that God loved all the Jews.
Or that God loved all the saints.
Or that He loved only all the white race, or the black
Or that He loved only the Christians...
It doesn't say He loved everyone
except those who suffer from, addiction, depression, mental illness.
Or those who are needy, facing financial difficulties
Or even those who are deep in their sins and make Him mad!
It says, "For God so loved the world."
So God's love clearly isn't based on our spiritual condition,
our moral predisposition, our ethnicity
or even our mental state or financial status
It isn't based on our behavior or our attitude toward Him
Rather, we see here that God's love for mankind is universal and unconditional.
Who does He love?
He loves everyone.
And this is one of the things that sets Him apart from every other god held up by every other world religion.
Beloved, Christianity uniquely claims God's love comes free of charge; no
strings attached but understand… there is no other religion that makes that claim!
In fact, some other religions, forbid others to "choose" to believe in another God!
They call for those who believe differently to be persecuted or killed!
Buddhists, for example, follow an eight-fold path to enlightenment. It's not a free ride.
Hindus believe in karma, that your actions continually affect the
way the world will treat you; that there is nothing that comes to you
not set in motion by your actions.
The Jewish code of the law implies God has requirements for people to be acceptable to Him.
And in Islam, Allah, is a God of judgment, not a God of love.
You must live to appease him,
that Christians are polytheists, believing in multiple gods.
All of these other religions serve someone, a god that is dead!
We serve a risen and LIVING GOD!
We believe in One God! That's monotheism!
If you live in a four room house under one roof, is that four different houses??
Of course NOT!
If someone gets married, does that mean they are no longer a son or daughter?
And then lose that identity also, when they become a parent?
That's just ludicrous!
Only Christianity dares to proclaim God's love is unconditional.
An unconditional love that the Bible calls grace.
Grace is God freely giving to us the gifts of His forgiveness, His mercy and His love.
But the One True God, gives His love for us, unconditionally.
Romans 5:6-8 says is this way,
"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
The apostle Paul said in Ephesians 3:19 that he wanted "...to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge."
What a paradox!
To the world, it may seem illogical, that the love of God is so designed that we might
be always learning and continually grasping after, that which shall
never be completely known!
Though, I pray, we learn something about God's love today, there will be even more yet to learn tomorrow.
Even in a world without end, we will still be reveling in the depth,
length and breadth of the love of God, FOR GOD IS LOVE!
LOVING THE WAY JESUS loves has no beginning.
For His love has no ending.
It is forever.
It will endure eternally.
Loving the way Jesus loved is the only way we are going to make a
difference in our communities, in our churches, in our ministry, in our
lives, and ultimately, in our world!
Beloved, the only way we will ever make a difference in this broken, hurting, bruised,
bleeding, diseased, confused, prodigal world is to love the way
Jesus loved.
A love so amazing and so divine that it demands my all. That is why He was
so very careful to define the kind of love he would give us:
Jesus said, "A new commandment that I give unto you that you love one
another just like I have loved you, and by this shall all men know that
you are My disciples if you love one another as I have loved you."
John 13:34-35
"Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who
curse you. For if you only love those who love you, what credit is that
to you?
Even sinners love those who love them. Love as I have loved!"
BELOVED, LOVING THE WAY JESUS LOVED IS THE ONLY WAY THAT WE, HIS CHURCH, IS GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OUR WORLD!!
You can help make a difference even in this church, if you will love one
another with the love of God in your heart by the
power of the Holy Spirit!
Love forgets a person's past and even their present sins and failures and considers them to be under the blood of Jesus!
And I know some of you are saying, "Come on Pastor Brian, don't you know what that person has been doing? Do you even know what sins they are involved in?"
Well, beloved, the answer is yes, in many cases, I do know!
Just like God knew about mine, when He welcomed me into His loving and forgiving arms!
And guess what... He knew about yours too! Each and everyone one of you!! And He still loves you with His unconditional love!
Real Unconditional Love…
Unconditional Love says, "I don't care how bad your sin is. I still love you."
Unconditional Love says, "No matter what you've done, I still want to pray with you."
Unconditional Love says, "No matter how horrible or how disgusting your
sin, I still care about you and I still want to help you in your walk
with God any way that I can."
Beloved, do you know why I am teaching this today?
I believe that God is going to use this church!
I believe we are going to be in a position to reach people like church has not done for a long time.
I believe that we are going to grow, and as we do, we are all going
to be introduced to some people who have been involved in some things
that we may or may not have ever considered being involved in,
And I believe, if we are not careful, we will judge them!
We will say,
No! Not Me! I've never done that!
My Sin is not as bad as their sin!
I'm Better than them!
I'm Holier than thou!
And if we do, we will stop the grace of God from reaching the lives of people who desperately need His Grace today!
We will stop, what I believe what is God wanting to do in this church.
We stop the process of ministering to the people who He commands us to love!
And we will be just like any other church out there today!
Hypocrites!
"and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us."
Ephesians 3:19-20
And if you think you understand the Unconditional Love of Jesus Christ, you only condemn yourself because His love is without measure.
The apostle Paul said to the church in Ephesus, that His love surpasses all understanding and knowledge. Surpasses means to exceed; to be greater than. Far more means a greater amount.
"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
Psalms 44:22
But what about my sin?
What about my failures?
What about my mistakes?
What about the trouble I'm in right now?
What about the mess I've made of my life?
Hear me loud and clear… Nothing shall separate you from the Love of God.
His love is unconditional.
His love does not depend on your circumstances aligning to His will.
It does not depend on our being acceptable to Him.
But you can best believe this, He isn't to leave you the way He found you!
His unconditional love is transforming!
You will be changed!
But, it's up to you to keep up the maintenance!
Read and study His Word!
To apply it to your lives!
To live it and share what you have found!
His unconditional love, forgiveness and grace!
In Closing....
I John 4:19 says, "We love, because He first loved us."
I don't know why He loved me first, I just know that He did.
I didn't deserve it and I certainly didn't do anything earn it.
And neither did you!
He loved us long before we ever returned that love to Him!
Unconditionally!
And aren't we grateful for that?
Amen?
Well listen to this...
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you."
John 15:12
Beloved, that is the way we are commanded to love others!
We must love others, just as they are
We must love others regardless of the depth of their sin.
We must love others in spite of how they have treated us.
We must love others this way because our Heavenly Father loves us this way.
And I already know all the excuses, because, in the past, I have used them all!
"You don't know what they did! They broke my heart, they really hurt me!"
"My parents, my siblings, my spouse... my children.. my neighbor, what about what they did??
How can you ask me to love them?
Jesus was despised and rejected by men, and yet He still loved them.
They beat Him, spat at Him and crucified Him, and yet He still loved them!
Beloved, this is the example He gives to you and I!
It only condemns us if we fail to love others in the same measure.
Love that divides and criticizes is not real love.
Love that seeks its own revenge is not authentic love.
Love that refuses to initiate reconciliation is not genuine love.
Love that says it won't forgive is not actually love!
In a world that claims to want love, to be loved and feel loved, we
surely demonstrate a poor example of it!
Love is patient, suffers long and refuses to retaliate.
God-love is kind and rejects cruelty and seeks constructive ways to improve another person's life.
Love is not jealous.
Love does not boast.
Love does not vaunt itself, love does not seek to impress. Love does not parade itself and does not seek personal gain.
Love is courteous and never acts out of character.
It never perverts its way.
Love always acts in the best interests of others.
Love is unselfish!
It does not pursue selfish advantages.
Love shares with others freely and does not seek its own.
It does not use others to get where it wants to go.
Love is not provoked.
Love is not irritable or touchy and never loses control of itself.
It never responds in anger and doesn't lash out while being reviled.
Love utters no threats.
Love forgives! Love, when wronged, has a short memory.
It forgets what it forgives.
It doesn't keep a record of a wrong suffered.
That's what unconditional love does!
Beloved, it's going to take unconditional love that will change this world.
To change your home.
To change your workplace.
To change your school.
To change your family.
And It will change this church and it's community.
So let me ask you…
Do YOU love the way Jesus loves?
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries