Gods Love

Wreaths across America

REMEMBER our fallen U.S. veterans.

HONOR those who serve.

TEACH your children the value of freedom.

The value of a life lived for Self and for others. The value of Honor, and gratitude, and appreciation.

We realize that our Freedom is not Free, but unbelievably expensive, and therefor valuable. That this Country, founded on the Godly ideas that All men are created equal, and among those are Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It was deeply moving to look upon graves and realize just how many served in our armed forces. Some based on the date they died clearly dies in action. And we honored those that are missing in Action and were Prisoners of war.

We are indebted to all those who have served. Dave Sanders, Brian RIchey, and Nathan Jay… are there others…

We understand we have Veterans Day in the fall and Memorial Day in the spring, but our service members sacrifice their time and safety every single day of the year to preserve our freedoms.

In many homes, there is an empty seat for one who is serving or one who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. There is no better time to express our appreciation than during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. We hope you will join us at any of our more than 3,400 participating locations to show our veterans and their families that we will not forget. We will never forget.

Week 4: God’s Love

But on this Sunday in Our Advent Season we think of another’s love.… Week 4: God’s Love.

Our veterans gave and sacrificed. YES — But that is a shadow of the love and sacrifice of God.

Psalm 136:2 ESV

Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.

God is Love. He is from everlasting to everlasting.

He stands outside time.

Atheists have challenged us and said “I can do good without believing in God” I don’t need God.

It’s true that good things can be done by people that do not believe in God…

But what they fail to realize is their very concept of GOOD is dependent on GOD.

Without GOD there would be no objective morality.

There would be no GOOD. it would all be relative.

Some of the most convincing ways to reach atheists is not to debate the existence of God. but to discuss what reality is without a GOD.

Without God, there is no objective moral law, and as we saw in Romans chapter 1, last week. all wisdom hangs on having a common objective moral reference point and without it, all thought descends to an “anything goes” chaos and that is horrible destructive to everyone.

With God there is an objective moral reality. there are things that are GOOD, and things that are evil, and it does not depend on what any society says.

With an objective moral reality there is the possibility of LOVE, and Forgiveness, Justice and Judgment, Goodness, and Enlightenment.

One of the most important things we can do as Christians is to understand the LOVE that God has for us. If we knew that, and did not forget it, or listen to the lies and deception of satan that said it does not apply to us, we would never fail to have a source of Joy, Love, Contentment in all situations.

We would know that no one can be an outsider to the love of God.

At least not on this side of death.

so lets ask the question…

How deep, how vast, how big is the love of GOD?

How vast is the love of GOD?

One of the great prayers in the WORD of god is this…

Ephesians 3:14–19 ESV

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Paul writing from Prison, suffering.

It is the Apostle Paul that is writing from a Prison in Rome, that is writing this. He is a prisoner because he unwrapped the gift of God’s Grace that was given to him. He called himself not a prisoner of Rome, but of Christ Jesus. The Love of God had penetrated his heart on the road to damascus. While he was persecuting and executing Christians, God’s Jesus spoke to him and Loved Him.

Even the Christian Killing Paul is not an outsider to the Love of God.

He was a Prisoner of Jesus not simply because he was captivated by God’s love but because He Loved Jesus back, and learned that God’s heart is for not Just the Jews, but the entire world, and so moved by His love for Jesus he honored god’s call on His life to become a Missionary, to tell the gentile world about Jesus. He was suffering in a Roman Jail. He was if you will a PoW, a Prisoner of WAR, a war for the Gentiles to enter the Kingdom of God. God sent His son to Buy us Back (to Redeem us).

Despite being in a ROMAN Prison Paul is not feeling sorry for himself. And He does not want the Children of God in Ephesus to become depressed and feel like the WAR for hearts of Gentiles was over, or even going poorly. Instead he claimed his suffering was for God’s GLORY for them! (the unlimited power of GOD for them!)

Does It make any sense that someone's suffering can result in Gods Glory being reveled to others that need to know GOD? (It will by the end of this sermon.)

Mamertine Prison

Instead in the midst of the sewage and stench being upset and hopeless, he was finding purpose and meaning in the Calling and Destiny that God had given Him.

Remember that god wants to share your Destiny with others.

Paul was still sharing the Love of GOD, that held him a prisoner to Jesus the Messiah more surely than that Roman prison was holding him captive. Roman Soldiers were giving their hearts to Christ, and Paul was forced to stop long enough to write letters through the unction of the Holy spirit that have helped bring untold millions to faith in Christ Jesus. God was transforming Paul’s suffering into God’s Glory.

How do you know the LOVE of GOD?

Is there a time that you were filled up with God’s Love?

Is the Love of God Rooted and GROUNDED in your Heart?

get responses from the church

Obviously the entire Christmas story is is the story of God's love.

John 3:16–17 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

God’s Love, Justice and Mercy are all involved. The cost of Sin is Death (separation fro God)

I think we get calloused to the message, having heard it so often. But there is another story about God’s Love that come from the OT. in the Book of Hosea.

Forgiveness is the center of GOD's love.

Hosea was a prophet

He was the last Prophet of Northern Israel before they were destroyed by Assyria (722 BC) … The Norther kingdom had had a long run of prosperity, and with that came moral decay, they turned away from God, and since Man must always have something in the supreme spot in their life, they began to worship Idols. (just like America today)

The Northern kingdom government was evil because they had decide not to Obey God.

Be Amazed 1. The Children: God Is Gracious (Hosea 1:1–2:1)

The kings of Israel were a wicked lot who followed the sins of Israel’s first king, Jeroboam I, and refused to repent and turn to God (2 Kings 13:6)

After Jeroboam II died, his son Zechariah reigned only six months and was assassinated by his successor Shallum who himself was assassinated after reigning only one month. Menahem reigned for ten years; his son Pekahiah ruled two years before being killed by Pekah who was able to keep the throne for twenty years. He was slain by Hoshea, who reigned for ten years, the last of the kings of Israel. During his evil reign, the nation was conquered by Assyria, the Jews intermingled with the foreigners the Assyrians brought into the land, and the result was a mixed race known as the Samaritans.

God sent Hosea to be a Prophet to this wicked nation of Northern Israel. He did not just have to give a “word of the Lord” to the people, he had to embody it at act it out in real life. to be a living parable to the people. God asked him to marry a Prostitute and to have children with her.

So he got a prostitute with the prettiest name he could find. “Gom-air”

(it sounds just a pretty in Hebrew “Gom-air”)

The Children of Gomer

Gomer had 3 children and the Lord had Hosea give each a prophetic name designed to preach a lesson to Israel in a way that they might listen.

The family diagram

The first child, a son, was called Jezreel (Hosea 1:4–5), which means “God sows” or “God scatters.” A town in Israel where Jehu slaughtered By this God was saying that He would avenge the innocent blood shed by King Jehu and put an end to Jehu’s dynasty in Israel.

The second child was a daughter named Lo-ruhamah (Hosea 1:6–7), which means “unpitied” or “not loved.” God had loved His people and proved it in many ways, but now He would withdraw that love and no longer show them mercy. The expression of God’s love is certainly unconditional, but our enjoyment of that love is conditional and depends on our faith and obedience. (we cut ourselves off from his blessing in effect)

The third child was Lo-ammi (Hosea 1:8–9), a son, and his name means “not My people.” Not only would God remove His mercy from His people, but He would also renounce the covenant He had made with them. It was like a man divorcing his wife and turning his back on her, or like a father rejecting his own son (See Ex. 4:22 and Hosea 11:1).

he wasn’t even sure the last two children were fathered by him. Then Gomer left him for another man, and Hosea had the humiliating responsibility of buying back his own wife.

The lesson with the Kids is this…

God prophesies through Hosea, that he will change the names

God will one day change these names.

“Jezreel” will no longer be a place of Death, but Life

“Not my people” will become “My people,”

“unloved” will become “My loved one.”

These new names reflect the nation’s new relationship to God

Be Amazed 1. The Children: God Is Gracious (Hosea 1:1–2:1)

Here is where the grace of God comes in, for God will one day change these names. “Not my people” will become “My people,” “unloved” will become “My loved one.” These new names reflect the nation’s new relationship to God, for all of them will be “the sons of the living God.”5 Judah and Israel will unite as one nation and will submit to God’s ruler, and the centuries’ old division will be healed.

Instead of “Jezreel” being a place of slaughter and judgment, it will be a place of sowing where God will joyfully sow His people in their own land and cause them to prosper. Today, the Jews are sown throughout the Gentile world (Zech. 10:9), but one day God will plant them in their own land and restore to them their glory. As God promised to Abraham, Israel will become like the sand on the seashore. (Gen. 22:17).

When will these gracious promises be fulfilled for the Jews? When they recognize their Messiah at His return, trust Him, and experience His cleansing (Zech. 12:10–13:1). Then they will enter into their kingdom, and the promises of the prophets will be fulfilled (Isa. 11–12; 32; 35; Jer. 30–31; Ezek. 37; Amos 9:11–15).

The three children teach us about the grace of God. Now we’ll consider the lesson that Gomer teaches us.

The 3 children are not outsiders to the Love of GOD. but they must return.

The Lesson of Gomer… Is God’s Tough Love (Hosea 2:1-13)

Hosea is known as the prophet of Love. but unlike teachers today he does not minimize the Holiness of God. A Loving God cannot approve of one who sins. For that sin is a destructive cancer to the one he loves, and he must somehow help them learn the destructive reality of the sin.

Gomer is like Israel. and Hosea is like God in this living Parable.

If she will not listen to he gentle and persistent and patient reminders, he will not stop her, and she will leave him and begin to reap the consequences of the unfaithful coupling with demonic lovers. The blessings of Hosea will stop because she is no longer living “with Him”. This period of consequence is painful, and requires great patience “long suffering” as Hosea watches Gomer begin to suffer at the careless and hateful hands of her “lovers” that actually care nothing for her but their own pleasure. This is the “toughest love of all, as Hosea can only watch, and cannot help till Gomer is ready to return.

There a 3 main ways Gomer hurts Hosea. God asks her Children to tell her about them! OUCH!

adultery - She has abandoned the husband who rescued her, provided for her, and loved her — to go back to turning tricks on street.

ingratitude - she thinks her client lovers will provided her all the blessings of life! But she is finding they care nothing for her and the profit she thinks she will get dries up and she runs after them, but they elude her.

hypocrisy - somehow she thinks she is spiritual, and yet her falseness is clearly seen by everyone.

These are of course exactly the same sins that Israel is committing against GOD.

idolatry (spiritual adultery) - worshiping the gods of the pagan nations around her instead of the God that brought her up out of Egypt and gave them a rich and abundant land of prosperity.

ingratitude - she thought her Idol lovers provided her all the blessings of life! A godly person will be thankful TO GOD. God had to withhold them if she was to learn to be thankful to the real giver of life’s blessings.

hypocrisy - they still had the festivals of of Moses but they were worshiping demons instead of God. Kind of like how our holidays in America have turned into Easter bunnies and Santa clauses, over eating without the real meaning or purpose left. just a shadow.

She is unfaithful to the God who loves her and has redeemed her from slavery in Egypt.

Try, For a minute, to imagine the pain, the heartache of Hosea. In our society if that were to happen, the husband would be told by friends, psychologists, even pastors, to leave Gomer and marry someone better. He deserved happiness. But he was miserable as he saw the willful destruction of the one he loved. She was not going to change so his only course of action is to move on. He has every right. even the Bible condones divorce and remarriage in the face of unfaithfulness.

Hosea: God is LOVE (Hosea 2:14 - 3:1-5)

God tells Hosea that he must now buy back his own wife who has left him. He was the one wronged. but he must take not just the initiative but do the whole work of cleansing and restoring her to the position as his wife. He must pledge to be faithful to her, although he has never stopped being faithful.

Hosea 3:1–5 ESV

1 And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

God’s love is seen in the complete nature of this restoration:

“I will allure” (Hosea 2:14) - woo, through tender words. (not seduce).

“I will give” (Hosea 2:15) - restore her land, even erase the bad memories

“I will take away” (Hosea 2:16-17) - names of demon lovers no longer be on her mouth, but instead ,

“I will betroth” (Hosea 2:18-20) - enter a covenant relationship once again (never ending)

“I will respond/answer” (Hosea 2:21-22) - provide rich blessings to her again

“I will plant” (Hosea 2:23) - her and care for her and allow her to grow and flourish

Be Amazed (3. Hosea: God Is Love (Hosea 2:14–3:5))

The key word is “return” (Hosea 3:5), a word that’s used twenty-two times in Hosea’s prophecy. When Israel repents and returns to the Lord, then the Lord will return blessings (2:7–8). God has returned to His place and left Israel to herself (5:15) until she seeks Him and says, “Come, and let us return to the Lord” (6:1, NKJV).

This is the same sort of Living Action Sermon.

A prodigal son story.

Not cut off, just waiting for a return.

The message is clear.

Gomer no matter how far she has fallen. is not an Outsider to the Love of GOD- God forgives

But she must be ready to return. Hosea will do the rest.

Jesus and Israel and the Gentiles

Jesus came as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. and came to Israel, first. And they rejected him, and crucified him. Some believed and those have entered into a new covenant relationship with him as Husband. but most did not.

So he Jesus had his disciples begin to preach to the Gentiles after his resurrection.

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you,” (John 20:21).

The Father had no other plan but Jesus;

Jesus has no other plan but the Church.

And Gentiles began to turn to the LORD enter into the covenant relationship and the Church grew.

The message is clear.

Gentiles are not outsiders to the Love of GOD - God forgives

Paul says in Romans that at at some point Israel will see the great love and Joy we the Church have with their GOD. And they will become jealous and what that same relationship. I think some Jews today are seeing this. They Look at the faithful Christians and are amazed. They will want to return to the LORD.

The message is clear

Jews are not outsiders to the Love of GOD- God forgives

I think the problem is currently the many “unfaithful” Christians that make this hard to see.

so many churches and Christians have abandoned their first love, just like Gomer.

RIght now there is a falling away of the unfaithful.

Yet at the same time there is a New Harvest of those ready to turn or return to the LORD.

A modern “Forgiveness” Story

This real story about 10 years old now… but the story is still right on.

Christian music star Matthew West’s song ‘Forgiveness’ is truly beautiful and soul touching. But when you hear the story behind the song and meet his inspiration, you’ll be moved! God bless this family and this mother’s ability to forgive what so many would consider unforgivable and impossible.

play Video

The Drunk Driver is not an outsider to the Love of GOD

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you,” (John 20:21).

This lady walked in the steps of Jesus and Hosea, and forgave and took the steps to show the love. the gentle words the wooed him back.

Forgiving a drunk driver brought many to salvation.

Does It make sense now that that someone's suffering can result in Gods Glory being reveled to others that need to know GOD?

The Suffering of Hosea, and His willingness to forgive and LOVE like GOD.

The Suffering of Jesus , and His willingness to forgive and LOVE like GOD.

The Suffering of Renee, and Her willingness to forgive and LOVE like GOD.

Are you ready to do the same thing? Jesus can make this impossible possible.

Ask Duane to play on the keyboard

You are not an outsider to the Love of GOD

Will you turn toward God?

Our lives lived on our own are very much like a drunk driver. Doing what we want, when we want headless of the potential consequences, and heading for a disaster that hurts not just us but others. And most of all God.

Yet his Love is there.

We are not outsiders to the Love of GOD.

There are a great many people right now that have turned their back on God. Or have never thought that God could love them.

You all know how much the Devil works overtime on convincing you that you are worthless and messed up and not eligible for God’s lavish love.

You are are an outsiders to the Love of GOD.

To the sexually immoral. I say ...

To the sexually confused. I say ...

To the trans I say. ..

To the unloved I say …

To the Drunks I say…

To the drug addicts I say …

To the murderers, I say…

To the Christians that have backslid into darkness.... I say…

All these people are coming into the Kingdom of heaven, not as in their old identities. But as willing participants, in a new covenant, a wedding with Jesus. Donning a new identity in Christ … no longer, prostitutes, adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, trans sexual, all those rags have been exchanged for the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

If you feel you need to return to Jesus. To make a rags to righteousness exchange. Come forward. Jesus wants Love you like Gomer, like Israel…

This is the meaning of Christmas.

Love of God has come into the world. Not to condemn, but to restore, to woo back, to bring into a new Marriage covenant with the living GOD.

No longer Orphans, No longer in the Dark.

But Children of GOD, Children of Light.

Come forward. and pray with the prayer team if you are ready to make a return

The rest of you Pray for God to speak to you and to those up front. Pray like lives depend on it. Because they do.