What Happened

I'd like to welcome everyone to Bridge Gospel this morning. I'm Pastor Tim. I'm
glad you're here with us this morning. If you're here with us for the first time,
I'd especially like to welcome you. I know that it can be kind of awkward to
walk into a new church and you don't know everybody and you don't know what
to do and you don't know where to set your coffee. Just relax. It's okay. Amen.
I'd also like to welcome everybody who's watching online, wherever you may be.
God bless you. I believe that God has something for you and I believe that he
can bless you right where you are. So I don't have any specific
announcements. All our events are on the website if you'd like to check that out.
I'm going to pray for the offering. We don't pass a bucket or put anybody on the
spot or shake people upside down for money or anything like that, at least not
publicly. You can give online. You can scan the thing and give online. You can write
a check and put it in a little box back there. Just make sure you write your
checks out to Two Rivers Church. They're the ones that helped us get this started
out here. I'd just like to thank each and every one of you for your faithfulness.
So dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that every good and every perfect gift
comes from you. We thank you for the ways that you provide for us, that you
provide jobs and opportunities, that you provide roofs over our heads, you provide
cars for us to drive, you put food on our tables, Lord. We thank you for that and we
thank you for the opportunity to give back cheerfully and we know that it may
leave our hands, but it will never leave our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.
So today's message is called, What Happened? And before I get into that, I just
wanted to give a little kitten update. Many of you know that we have a little
kitten at our house and we're about six, seven months in now. This is Juno.
And, you know, she's a great kitten, okay? And when we went to meet her, she's so
much fun to play with. And, you know, she was like this big and she had her
little collar and she had all these toys and she liked being picked up and then
she wanted to run and then she wanted pets and then she wanted food and then
she wanted to play and then she wanted nothing to do with me. And then the
scratching post and then the zoomies and then pets and this constant demand for
something. And I can tell you, I love that one, I can tell you kittens are a lot
of work. And they don't respect, like, your furniture, your property, your
blinds, your sleeping schedule, 3 a.m. belly pets. Yeah. And, you know, her
favorite hobby is gravity. So, you know, we're at the kitten store or whatever you
want to call it, the kitten rescue. I call it the kitten store. And all the warning
signs were there, okay? I mean, she pooped on the floor, like, right in front of us.
And we said, we'll take her. And, you know, we've had this cat for seven months
now. And, you know, you come home and sometimes you look around and you're like,
what is happening here? Like, what happened? You know, why is the floor wet?
Why are there shredded paper towels, like, all over the living room? Where are you?
And, you know, we have another cat at the house and we've had him for a long time. I
think he's seven or eight now. So, there's the fatherly instinct, if you will. And, you
know, we adopted him too. And, you know, what's sad is he was adopted and they had no idea
what they got into. And so, he was a rescue. He just wasn't a good fit. They named him
Mozart, which was not very fitting to who he really is. I don't think they understood
what they were dealing with. You know, they like the idea of having a cat. But then there's
like the reality of having a cat. And they're two very different things, aren't they? And,
you know, as I was thinking about and reflecting upon my cats, you know, I wonder how often
do we do that? You know, we like the idea of something. And we have this vision in our
mind of what it's going to be like. And then we're not always prepared for what comes after
that. And I think, you know, walking with Jesus can be that way sometimes too. You know,
I think a lot of people, they come to Jesus and they want to have a certain life or they
have a certain idea of what it's going to be. And, you know, they want their sins forgiven.
And they want this eternal life thing. They want to go to heaven when they die. And these
are great things. These are why Jesus invited people to himself. But they don't necessarily
want their life to change. You know what? They want Jesus to change their destination,
right? But they're not always enthusiastic about how he might change their life.
And I think the question behind that, is that really the gospel? Is that the full message
of the gospel? You know, is the gospel just about going to heaven when you die? Is that all
that there is? And I think that, you know, we can all think through and examine, you know,
the way we think about salvation. You know, we invite people to come forward and they can receive
Christ and their sins are forgiven and they know that they have eternal life and they know they're
going to heaven when they die. And all those things are so important. They are foundational
to our faith. You know, come to Jesus. Pray this prayer. And praise God. And we celebrate that. But
then what? Then what? What happens on Monday? What happens on Tuesday? What happens for the next
20 years? And what happens when Jesus starts dealing with our attitudes and our priorities
and our relationships and the way that we treat people, the way we spend our money?
And maybe when we present the gospel, maybe we can ask, you know, what have we failed to communicate?
What have we failed to tell people about this gospel that we're sharing?
And maybe a more troubling question is, you know, what if they believe that that's all there was?
And 20 years later, they're still sitting there. They're still believing in Jesus and loving Jesus,
but the relationship hasn't developed that much. It hasn't changed that much. And maybe some people
look at their lives and think, well, what happened? Right? And maybe the invitation to Jesus wasn't false.
Maybe it was just missing, like, a little bit more of the story.
You know, I'm not saying that forgiveness and eternal life, the promise of heaven, those are
important things. Those are things that Jesus promised. But have we presented the gospel as though
that's all that there is? As though salvation is a transaction and we spend the rest of our life
just kind of waiting for the payoff, right? What about the life we're living now? What about the
next 20 years? What about the people around us? You know, what about the decisions that we make when
no one is watching? Does the gospel have anything to say about those things? You know, Jesus describes
eternal life in a way that I think should change the way we talk about salvation. He says in John 17,
3, he's talking about eternal life. He says,
Now this is eternal life, that they know you. The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you sent.
So Jesus is telling us what eternal life really is. I underline those words in my Bible,
know you. You know, no, no, he's not talking about heaven at this point. He's not talking about the
streets of gold. He's not talking about living forever. He's talking about knowing him. You see,
he doesn't describe a place. He describes a relationship.
How many of you follow a person of interest on social media? Maybe a celebrity, a singer,
a politician, something like that. A cat? Do we have the QR code for Juno?
No. She's looking for some followers. But what's amazing is, you know, you can know so many things
about a person. You can know where they're from. You can know their opinions about something.
You can know where they live, what kind of car they drive. Some people post everything they've ever
eaten. And you can know everything about a person for the last 15 years of their life, but you would
never actually know who they really were. See, you don't have a relationship with that person.
You have information. And it's possible to approach Jesus in the same way. You know,
we can know Bible stories. We can know church history. We can know doctrine. If you want to be
crazy, go to a seminary. Okay? I mean, it was weird. Like, everybody was like, you must really know God.
I says, I'm just really tired of Greek declensions. Like, where is Jesus? Is he here? Do we know him?
You know, not just facts about him. Not just what other people told us. Do you know the one who called
you? So what did you come looking for? A destination? A guarantee? A heaven? Or something
else? A relationship? And I wonder how many of us have celebrated what we have received,
rightfully, without recognizing how extraordinary this relationship is.
You know, the New Testament uses just some extraordinary language to talk about what
happened. Colossians 1.13 says,
For he rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved
son. Rescued. Not improved. Not rehabilitated. Not fixed him up a little bit. Not took a few things
out, put a few things in. Like, rescued. This is like a totality of our being rescued.
You know, and we can talk about Jesus like it's something we've added to our lives. Like,
well, I have my job. I have my family. I have my hobbies. I have my little responsibilities. And then
I have this little Jesus thing over here. I have a sticker in my car to prove it.
Amen. But Paul describes something so much more dramatic than that. He says,
You changed kingdoms. You were rescued from the dominion of darkness and God brought you into
the kingdom of his son. So when somebody asks, you know, what happened when you met this Jesus?
Well, I was rescued.
That's not a change in my religious preferences. That's a change of my allegiance, of my loyalty,
of what controls my entire life. And notice who does it. It says he rescued us.
Paul doesn't say that, you know, we made a choice and Paul doesn't say that, you know,
you worked your way out of it. He doesn't say, you know, you finally got your act together and got
sorted out enough to participate. God did it.
And then we're faced with a dilemma of, well, now we need to change our behavior.
And, you know, sometimes it's not because there's a new set of rules.
Because somebody told you, well, that's what good Christians do. You know, I'm just trying to get to
the lofty summit of being a good Christian man. Or maybe you're afraid of what God might
hold back from you if you don't behave, right?
But maybe, maybe we really want to live differently because we've met someone who is changing what we
want. And I don't mean that we suddenly stop struggling, but somewhere along the way we were
called into this kingdom, this whole new system of thinking, it's more than just a decision.
I decided to follow Jesus. I accepted Jesus. That is good. That is a response of faith.
But God has a part in this. 1 John 4.19, it says,
You know, before I knew how to love him, he loved me. Before I understood what this whole
Christian life was all about and what he was offering me, he loved me. And before I had
everything figured out, he loved me. And when I hated him, he loved me. And when I was opposed to him
and speaking wickedness against him and his people, he loved me. And Jesus says this to his disciples in
John 15.15, he says, I no longer call you slaves because the slave does not understand what his
master is doing. But I, I have called you friends because I have revealed to you everything I heard
from my father. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that
remains. You see that? He says, I have called you friends. You know, Jesus isn't out there looking for
people that agree with him. That he's calling people to follow him. And that, that relationship starts to
change everything from the inside out, the priorities, our friendships, our relationships, our
understanding of God, our purpose in life, our understanding of ourselves. And, you know, a lot of times
people had an encounter with Jesus in the Bible and it wasn't always real comfortable, was it? You know,
sometimes Jesus would confront people or, you know, sometimes they, oftentimes they misunderstood
Jesus and what he was trying to say. And that's, that's all a really different thing from just
agreeing the idea of Christianity is true.
So after meeting Jesus, you know, that's great. Praise God. You know, I made it into the kingdom
of heaven. And then what? What happened? You know, could anyone tell what happened in my life or in
your life when you did that? Or did you, like me for a long time, keep it to yourself? And I'm not just
talking about, you know, whether you told somebody what happened or you told them about Jesus. I'm,
I'm asking whether anyone has experienced this difference that this Jesus has made.
has your spouse noticed? Have your children noticed? Have the people you worked with,
have they noticed? Have the people that you don't like, have they noticed?
Because Jesus actually told his disciples what would make this relationship recognizable to the world.
He says in John 13, 35, he says, everyone will know by this, that you are my disciples.
If you have love for one another. You see, it's not by what we say, it's not by what we confess to
or say that we believe. He's, he has a much greater test of our allegiance and our faithfulness
than that. It's not even how impressive our, our testimony, our conversion story is.
It's if you love one another. I don't know about you, I find that to be a very uncomfortable standard.
I would rather recite Bible verses. I would rather say, well, I know who Jesus is. I can tell you all
about his Bible. And he says, do you have love for one another? You see, it's possible to know a lot
about Jesus and still be a very difficult person for other people to live with. And it's possible to,
to identify with Christianity and still be a difficult person. And then John, he gets even more direct.
You're thinking, oh no, where are we going with this now? And John, first John 4, 20, he says,
if anyone says, I love God and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar.
And you're reading that passage and you're thinking, John, you know, let's calm down a little.
Let's calm down. We're talking about God's love. And now you're, you're going around and you're
calling people liars. And, you know, we can disagree with someone without, without hating them.
We can have boundaries. We can refuse to participate in their destructive behavior, right?
You can recognize when people have hurt you, but none of those things require us to hate them.
And sometimes we're, we're remarkably creative about when it comes to explaining why we treat
someone the way that we do.
Well, you don't understand what they did. You don't understand what it's like to live with that person.
Don't, don't, don't look at anybody. Don't look around, just eyes up here.
You don't know how different, you don't know how weird their whole family is.
You don't know what I've been through.
And loving someone doesn't mean that we pretend that nothing happened.
But Jesus didn't say people would recognize his disciples because they had a good explanation
for all the people they didn't like.
He said they would recognize his disciples by their love.
So what happens when the people who know you best don't experience that love?
What happens when people are gracious to strangers, but, but harsh with their own family?
When, when they worship God on Sunday and then the rest of the week they're doing who knows what?
What does it mean when you say you've met Jesus if nobody can tell?
Because the gospel wasn't, wasn't just an invitation to receive.
It is so much more.
It is an invitation to know someone.
And knowing someone changes your priorities.
It changes what matters.
It changes how you see the whole world and it changes how you treat people.
And a lot of us came to Jesus wanting to save, save our life.
And the question is, do you want him to change it?
I think sometimes we want the benefits of that relationship without allowing that relationship
to come in and transform our thinking.
We want Jesus to forgive us.
We want him to comfort us.
We want Jesus to answer our prayers.
And we want Jesus to give us this eternal life.
And then what happens when Jesus turns around and starts asking something of us?
You know, I don't mind Jesus having my eternity.
That's great.
I just don't want him interfering with what I have going on right now.
You see, a lot of people come to Jesus wanting the same life but a different future later.
They want the same priorities, the same habits, the same grudges, the same unforgiveness,
the same way of treating other people, but they want heaven at the end of all that.
But Jesus didn't come to arrange the future accommodations.
He came to bring himself into your life right now.
You see, why would you want to spend eternity with someone you don't particularly want to spend any time with today?
That's messed up.
Come on, somebody.
Because that's what we're saying, right?
Well, Jesus, I want to be with you forever.
But I am pretty busy right now.
I'm pretty busy with it.
I've got things to do.
I've got plans.
I've got places to go.
I really don't want to talk about it either.
I have this little routine that I like, and there's this whole part of my life I really don't want you messing with.
But I want you there when I die.
Amen.
Now, think about the story of Scripture.
From the beginning, there's this whole relationship between God and humanity.
It's all about his presence.
And in Genesis, we read about God and humanity, and they're in the garden, and then sin makes its way in there.
And humanity is driven from the garden.
The relationship is broken.
Sin separates them from God.
And from that point forward, I think one of the great questions throughout the Bible is how sinful people can somehow live in the presence of a holy God.
And you see that whole tension.
And you watch Israel.
You know, God delivers his people out of Egypt.
He brings them through the sea.
He brings them out into the wilderness.
And then he tells Moses, he says,
Let them make for me a sanctuary.
This is Exodus 25, verse 8.
So that I may live among them.
You see, God is not giving Israel a list of commandments, a list of things to obey and disobey.
It's so much greater.
You know, he's not telling them, well, someday you're going to be with me.
He is trying to establish a presence with them today on this earth.
And that sanctuary was the place of meeting.
That is the place where God's presence gets revealed to his people.
Now, there were a lot of restrictions.
There were the sacrifices.
There were priests.
They'd tie a rope around his leg in case, you know, he did something wrong while he was in there and he died and they had to pull him out.
Thank God I don't have a rope running into the back room.
Maybe for other reasons.
There are boundaries around God's holiness.
That is the point.
And at that time, you didn't just walk into the most holy place whenever you felt like it.
There were business hours.
But don't miss the reality behind all of that is behind this whole system.
The God of heaven is trying to dwell among his people.
And then later, Solomon builds this whole temple.
And this is what he says about it.
He says in 1 Kings 8, he says,
God does not really live on the earth.
Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you,
how much less this temple that I've built.
So this temple isn't a box that God can be contained in.
It's this place that his presence can happen.
And all through this, there's this tension of,
well, God is holy.
Humanity is sinful.
And yet, God still wants to be with us.
Now watch what happens when we get to the Gospel of John.
This is a verse we hear a lot around Christmastime.
It's John 1.14.
Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us.
God came.
The Word became flesh.
And Jesus walked into this world that he set into motion.
And he lived among ordinary people like you and me.
And he ate with them.
And he walked with them.
And he prayed with them.
And he healed the sick.
He listened to their pain.
He wept with them.
He welcomed them.
Sometimes he confronted their sin.
And he showed them what a loving father was really like.
And he ended up giving his life for them.
See, God came to us.
John 14.23 says,
Jesus replied, if anyone loves me.
You see, we're talking about that relationship again.
He will obey my word and my father will love him.
And we will come to him and take up residence with him.
So we started this whole conversation talking about going to heaven.
Going somewhere to be with God.
But look at what scripture is really showing us.
That God came to dwell with us.
And we thought salvation at some point was maybe just about going somewhere to meet God when we die.
But Jesus came so that we could know him now.
He came to make that relationship possible.
God dwelling with his people.
That's why we say Emmanuel.
It means God with us.
Paul tells the Corinthians that their bodies are temples.
He says in 1 Corinthians 6.19,
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God?
So in the Old Testament, God established his presence with Israel through the tabernacle, the temple, all that.
But Paul is telling them that it's dwelling within us right now.
And Paul says that because you belong to God, what you do with your body matters.
What you do with your life matters.
The way that you conduct yourself matters.
Because you've been purchased at a price.
And you belong to God.
And you're called to honor him.
And now the question that we asked earlier starts to make more sense.
What happened?
It's why we changed kingdoms.
And your life has become a place where the presence of God is dwelling.
The relationship you entered when you saved wasn't just a promise about the future.
It is a present reality in the moment you are sitting in right now.
God is with us.
And something amazing happened when you get saved.
You know, you were brought into a relationship with a living God.
And you didn't have to wait to die to know him.
Because he loved us first.
And, you know, maybe you're thinking, well, I haven't done a very good job of loving him.
Or maybe I haven't done a good job of loving other people.
Or I haven't made much room for him in my life.
And, you know, it's easy to live years with this relationship with God as something like I could just leave this thing unattended.
So what am I supposed to do?
Try harder?
It's like, let's get some self-help in here.
You know, let's get the Oprah going.
Let's get the Dr. Phil going.
Like, let's rev it up.
You know, the power of positive thinking, right?
But we've been asking this whole question of what happened.
You know, what happened when you met Jesus?
What happened when God called you?
But it's about what God has done.
1 John 4, 9, and 10, it says,
By this the love of God is revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world,
so that we may live through him.
In this is love.
Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us.
And sent his Son to be the sacrifice for our sins.
Not that we loved God, but that he loved us first.
That's what happened.
The whole relationship begins with him.
And John said that God demonstrated this by sending his Son.
Not just to teach us, you know, how to behave, or not just to prove something,
but to give his life for our sin.
Because our sin is very real.
And our separation from God was very real.
And we can't repair that separation through self-improvement,
through wishful thinking, through trying harder.
You see, Jesus came and did something for us that we could never do for ourselves.
He gave himself.
He bore our sins.
He rose from the dead.
He is the one that did it.
And you don't have to become someone that you think is worth loving
before Jesus would love you.
It says that he loved you first.
So when Jesus is calling us to love someone,
he's not asking us to create something out of nothing.
He's calling us to live out what we've already been given.
And when he calls you to forgive,
he's really calling you to remember the forgiveness that he gave you.
And that he gave me.
And when he calls you to follow him,
he's calling you to trust the one who sent him
and gave himself
because you have been loved.
And that's a whole different way, I think,
of understanding the Christian life.
So what can we do?
I think the greatest thing that we can do
is that we can create the place of meeting.
Not because God needs you to build a tabernacle
or a temple or a tent or a prayer closet
covered with post-it notes and 17 highlighters.
But relationships require attention.
And you say, okay, I want to know Jesus.
Where does that happen in your life?
Where do you have the encounter?
Where is the place of meeting?
Where is the temple?
Where is the temple?
And I think that's something that looks different for everyone.
And I think there were times in my Christian life
it looked very different than it does today.
And for a lot of people, it's prayer.
For a lot of people, it's coming here.
For a lot of people, it's reading their scripture.
And there are all good things.
And there are so many ways that we meet with God.
And if you read scripture,
just take notice of anything that people do
to meet God or to honor Him or to obey Him.
That's a place of meeting.
Hospitality is a place of meeting.
Right?
It's a place that we obey God.
It's a place that we represent
that I am following Jesus.
And I just, I want to encourage everyone
to take some of the pressure off.
And I've had people meet with me and say,
well, I don't pray enough
or I don't read the Bible enough
or I don't understand the Bible
the way you understand the Bible.
I says, that's okay.
The point isn't the attainment of knowledge.
The point isn't, well, I spent four hours
in that closet covered with sticky notes.
Did you meet God?
You can meet God in your garage.
You can meet God in your car.
You can meet Him here.
I sure hope you meet Him here.
You can meet Him at your workplace.
You can meet Him in your joy.
You can meet Him in your suffering.
You can meet Him in the pain that you feel.
He's there.
He's not far.
He's in all of those things.
You know, think about,
think about those of you who are married.
You know, think about marriage for a moment.
You don't get married and say,
well, I agree to all this.
I do.
And then spend the next 20 years
like kind of living your own life
in the same house.
Don't do that.
You talk.
You listen.
You spend time together.
And sometimes the other person
is very difficult to understand.
Sometimes they're easy to understand.
But the point is that relationship,
the place of meeting.
It's the desire to understand each other
and to know what the other person values.
And over time,
that relationship starts to shape your life.
I can't keep olives in the house.
Come on, somebody.
So what are you doing?
What are you doing with this relationship
that Jesus has called you into?
What are you doing?
And I want to encourage anyone
that you think about that relationship
and it maybe makes you feel bitter.
Or it makes you feel hurt.
Or it makes you say,
well, I don't want to talk about that.
What's keeping you from the place of meeting?
That's the thing.
That is the thing.
And at times in our life,
I think we all face that thing
that keeps us from the place of meeting.
Well, those people are jerks.
Sorry.
It happens, right?
And we've all walked around with those wounds.
And there's something that happens down here
between us,
between people
who maybe have good intentions.
I hope they do.
But somehow,
those things get in the way of this thing.
And I think that God wants to heal
some people of that this morning.
I think that he wants to show
his love that he has always loved.
That he has always been there.
That he has always been ready
for that place of meeting
with each and every one of us.
And that means you.
And maybe there's some forgiveness
that needs to happen.
Maybe there's people
that we need to change
our attitudes towards.
You know, maybe there's
some people that just need
to experience a different version of you
that's loved by God.
You know, not because you're trying
to earn your way into heaven,
but because he loved us first.
And if you came to Jesus
wanting him
to save your life,
ask yourself,
do you want him to change it now?
Because that's what he
has come to do.
I'll go back to the kitten.
Because it got real quiet in here.
You know, we brought her home
because we wanted her.
We loved this idea.
And I want you to think about that.
I mean, no analogy can stand
on four legs.
The kitten can.
But this is where
it kind of changes.
You see, when we brought
the kitten home,
there was so much
we didn't know.
We didn't know everything
she was going to destroy.
We didn't know what
she was going to ask of us.
But when God came for us,
he knew exactly
what he was getting himself into.
He knew our failures.
He knew our weaknesses.
He knows what we really think.
He knows our sin.
And he knew how much
it would cost
to redeem you
and to redeem me.
And he didn't wait
until we had it figured out.
He came because he loved us.
And he did it first.
And now,
he calls us into that
same relationship.
Again.
So maybe the question isn't,
well, am I going to heaven
when I die?
The Bible says,
if you don't have the answer
to that question,
the Bible says that you can know
that you have eternal life.
And that eternal life
is found in Jesus.
You can know that.
So maybe that's not
the question this morning.
Maybe the question is,
what are you doing
with the relationship
that Jesus has already
called you into?
You know,
eternal life doesn't start
when you die.
It starts when you meet Jesus.
Jesus said,
eternal life is knowing God.
And that starts now.
Maybe you're here today
and you've never responded
to Jesus.
You know,
everything that he offers.
Forgiveness,
eternal life,
reconciliation with God,
the promise of a hope
and a future.
But I want you to understand
what he's calling you into.
He's calling you to himself.
And he's calling you there now.
Not just to a different future.
But to a relationship today.
And maybe you've been
following him
and believing in him
for many years.
And you believe in Jesus.
You love him.
But somewhere along the way
that relationship
has gotten challenging.
It has gotten a little bit rocky.
It has gotten a little bit distant.
And I believe that God wants to
wants to do something
about that this morning.
I believe that he wants
to speak to some people
about their pain,
their difficulty,
their struggle.
And maybe how some of that
got translated onto God.
But God hasn't changed.
He's the same yesterday
and today and forever.
He has not changed.
Our attitudes change.
Our perspective changes.
Our view of God changes.
But God has not changed.
So we can invite him in.
We can say,
Lord, confront in me
what needs to change.
Let me experience
the love that you have
for me.
Not something that I have to earn.
Not something that I have to prove.
Not something that I have
to be worthy of.
But because you loved me
first.
Jesus said that eternal life
is knowing God.
So I encourage you,
don't spend the rest of your life
just waiting to go somewhere
when he's already here.
Amen?
So dear Heavenly Father,
we thank you
that you loved us first.
You loved us
when we were difficult to love.
When we were not interested in you.
When we were disobedient to you.
When we just had no concern
in the world
about what mattered to you.
You loved us first.
So Lord,
we surrender to that.
And Lord,
I pray that you can correct
in each and every one of us
where we have lost sight
that you loved us first.
And the pain
and the suffering
that many of us have faced
that we have projected
onto you.
Lord,
set us free of that.
Set us free
of believing
that you're the one
that tried to hurt us.
Set us free
from you're the one
that wanted to be distant from us.
Set us free
from believing
that you set us up
for failure.
Because I've played
all those tapes in my head.
Maybe you have too.
Lord,
show us
that you loved us first.
And Lord,
help us to live
in that truth
each and every day.
And transform in us
the way we see the world.
The way we see other people
that when people see us
they experience the love
that you gave us.
Not our frustration.
Not our unforgiveness.
But our love.
So Lord,
we just thank you
that you are
who you are.
That you never change.
That you loved us first.
And Lord,
I pray for each
and every person
that's here this morning.
Lord,
I pray that you can bless
the things
that they set their hands to.
I pray that they are
successful
in everything
that they set out to do.
Finding jobs,
running businesses,
finishing school.
Lord,
I pray for each person
that is
sorting through
their health issues.
Lord,
those things
can be weighty
and they can lead us
to asking questions
about your nature
and who you are
and if you love us.
Lord,
I pray that you bring
healing.
I pray that you bring
peace.
I pray that you bring
positive reports
this week
and we thank you
that we can know
that by your stripes
we are healed.
So Lord,
we celebrate you
and we thank you
and we thank you
for the great love
that you have for us
and we thank you
that before
we were anything
that you loved us
and you gave yourself
for us
so that we can have
a life and a future
with you now
and forever.
In Jesus' name,
everybody said
Amen.