I am a Child of God - SMM (*)

Lead Off Question

Who in here is big on dressing up for Halloween?

Illustration

The time I lost all of my candy...

Transition

We will lose all of our lives when we try to live for this world.

Bottom Line

Because of His love, you are a child of God.

___________________________

Bible Verse

1 John 3:1 NIV

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

* His love sees through our shattered lives.

Breakdown

When the Scripture talks about the great love, what is the great love? What makes it so great? Well, you see, we do not deserve his love. Time and time again we have stepped away from God. As David described him, our shepherd, our protector, and ultimately our leader. Time and time again we break the heart of God. Have you even been in a relationship and had your heart broken? It hurts in the moment it happens and it continues to hurt for moments to come. GUYS GOD’S HEART IS NO DIFFERENT! We repeatedly hurt his heart when we willingly choose to sin and enjoy these temporary satisfactions. BUT HE STILL CALLS US TO COME! JUST AS WE ARE! In fact, even while we were broken, and separate, even in that moment, HE chose to send his son for YOU. That is what makes it great.

Bottom Line

Because of His love, you are a child of God.

___________________________

Bible Verse

1 John 3:1 NIV

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

* He gives us all of His love.

Breakdown

And not only does the Father have a great love for us that we cannot understand, BUT HE ALSO, has ‘lavished’ that love on us. The specificity of the Word of God is amazing here. John decided that to just say that the Father has given us his love is not enough. Rather he used the word lavished. What does it mean to be lavished? According to the dictionary, lavish means, ‘bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities on.’ In other words, God is not just giving us a portion of his love. So often we attempt to give God only a portion or section of our lives in a desire to reserve some of our comfort for ourselves. We tried to hold back from God, but he doesn’t do that to us at all, and thank goodness he doesn’t.

Bottom Line

Because of His love, you are a child of God.

___________________________

Bible Verse

1 John 3:1 NIV

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

* This world does not recognize you because of His love.

Breakdown

This world does not understand our love. The enemy for far too long has had his way in this world. He has divided rulers, nations, states, families, and even churches. The enemy has come to create confusion; he has come to distract us from the GREAT LOVE that God has LAVISHED on us. And unfortunately, when we remove ourselves from reading the Bible, we have given into his confusion. The enemy wants to distract, and if Instagram is your distraction, delete it. Heck, some of you cannot even sit here long enough and listen to me without opening Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok. DELETE THEM ALL OF THEY ARE THE DISTRACTIONS! Stop allowing the confusion to control your life! The enemy has perverted the meaning of love, and as Christians, it is time you stopped loving the world that hates us. This world does not recognize your love, your attitude, your passions, your identity, this world does not recognize you because you are set free, you are a new creation, you are a child of God.

Bottom Line

Because of His love, you are a child of God.