It's all about relationships
Notes
Transcript
Me
Me
When Pastor Allen asked me to speak, he said he wanted me to share my story. I started thinking, what is my story?
Do I talk about how I came to faith at 8 or 9 years olds and how I thought that meant I couldn’t cuss anymore and listen to Beastie Boys?
Or how when I came to the first service of Highlands Fellowship in 1995 and started volunteering and how that changed my life?
Or how I got called into ministry while serving in student ministry here?
Or how i met my first wife here at this church and raised my three kids here?
Or how I
Or how I went through a divorce and the people in this church loved me through one of the most painful events of my life.
Or how I met Jayde through this church
ON AND ON I COULD GO
But when I prayed and asked God what he would want to say His church through the experiences of my life it came down to one thing. Through all of the good and the bad there has been one thing that has kept me going.
RELATIONSHIPS
A relationship with Jesus my Lord and relationships with the incredible people here at Highlands Fellowship.
One of the thing
WE
WE
Aren’t we all looking for those relationships in life? You and I were created with a longing to be in relationships with one another.
When we are babies we long to be held by our parents, as we grow we want to be loved by our family members.
When we go to school and start socializing with others we want to be loved by others. Even today with all going on in our world, the most commonly shared fear among all people in the world is still Public Speaking. Why?
It comes down to being judged right? Another top fear is abandonment.
As we grow older we want to date, we join teams and clubs to have friends, in college we join fraternities and sororities and other clubs/teams.
We want to get married, then we want to have kids so we can make little humans that love us conditionally, or so we think that’s what will happen.
So I say all that to say, I believe life is about relationships.
I know there are probably some of you in this room who are like, not me. If you could you’d go build yourself a cabin in the woods and never speak to anyone again. But I believe you still have that desire in you and I would suggest that you probably feel that way because you’ve been hurt or let down by others too much in your life.
I can relate. I’ve been hurt by my family, by my spouses, my friends, this church and on and on and on.
But we can’t just clam up, shut down, never to be loved again.
So again I say, Life is all about relationships. If that’s the case, what does God have to say about relationships
GOD
GOD
What does God say about relationships?
Well. I believe the Bible teaches that it’s everything!
In the Beginning was God and he existed in three forms in a relationship with Himself!
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...
He existed and still exists in three forms. Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Don’t ask me to explain that… I can’t fully explain that. He’s God and I’m not and his ways are above my ways. If you serve a god that you can fully explain, then you probably shouldn’t be following that god
In the end in Revelation and many other places we the church are called Jesus’ bride!
That’s called a relationship
When a Pharisee asked Jesus what is the most important commandment he replied, Love God, Love People!
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
I want to focus on the book of 1 John today. It’s a short letter from the Apostle John. The same guy who wrote Revelation that we’ve been studying.
John’s purpose in writing this letter is to address people in the church who are not living as they should. They have started believing false teaching from false teachers.
In the beginning of 1 John 1 he talks about how he was with Jesus. He touched him, he lived with him
YOU
YOU
WE
WE
What would it look like if we all started loving one another like Jesus has commanded us to?
True teaching, true living, true loving