Compelled by Christ's Transformative Love

I think the willingness and readiness of God's people is all that God requires for his spirit to move mightily. So long as we supply God with our willingness, God will supply us with everything else. And we are compelled by his spirit to do such things. Amen. [00:01:50]

The word compelled is important this morning because it is relative to the forceful prompings that we feel in our spirit because we have had a close encounter with the love of Jesus Christ. And so I want to explain a couple things. When I say forceful prompings, I'm not talking about some nonconsentual thing where the Holy Spirit literally is forcing you to do something that you have no power to do or no power to resist. [00:03:36]

There have been precious moments in my life where I have been completely overwhelmed to tears because of Jesus's great love. One time I was a pee-wee at my home church and the worship team was rehearsing, and I can't remember if they were rehearsing for the Wednesday night worship that they were going to do or the Sunday morning worship. [00:04:52]

For Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. But he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. The word compelled really captures my attention, which is why I'm directing your attention to it this morning. [00:07:36]

The love of Jesus Christ is compelling. It is a forceful prompting. There is an observable correlation in our lives between the degree in which a person cherishes the love and the degree in which they do what Jesus says. There's a degree in which a person feels those forceful prompings and follows through on them. [00:10:41]

When we are convinced of Jesus's love, we are compelled by Jesus's love. You see, the spirit moves. And those who have the spirit have this heightened awareness. They have like a sixth sense of the spiritual realities around us. So much so that they can see and feel and experience the movement of his spirit. [00:12:57]

For some Christians, they are not deeply moved by the love of Jesus Christ. Not yet. And so they are not compelled to do what he calls us to do. But praise God for the Christians who every day they choose to put the spirit of self aside, and they place the spirit of God in front of them to lead them in every way of life in every day of life. [00:15:19]

When you are convinced that one Jesus died for all, including you, yourself, personalized, individually, I believe when you are fully convinced of that, that you will be compelled by his love that he demonstrated for you. It will compel you to set aside your own self. You'll set aside your schedule. You'll set aside your ambitions. [00:22:10]

Because we believe that we hold the most important message that the world ever needs to hear. We do believe that, right? Oh, that was weak. We believe that the gospel is the most important message the world needs to hear, right? Amen. So because we believe that, if we truly believe it, it's important. [00:23:32]

What greater evidence is there than sharing the gospel? When I think about evidence that proves that you fully understand God loves you and that you love God and that you love people, I can't imagine greater evidence than someone who would willingly set their life aside and choose to live for Jesus. [00:24:46]

I want you to know that Jesus loves you so much that he grew up like a tender chute and like a root out of dry ground. Jesus loves you so much that he had no beauty or majesty to attract you to him, nothing in his appearance that you should desire him. Jesus loved you so much that he was despised and rejected by mankind. [00:26:32]

The testimony of your tears from the times you were so overwhelmed by the love of Jesus, by the love so deep towards a sinner who is guilty of so much, I believe those testimonies change people. I believe they begin to transform the people that we talk to. [00:30:38]