Embodying God's Love: The Call to Genuine Living

1) "Jesus expectation for his followers is that they would be different from the rest of the world around them, that they would be more like God and less like their fellow man. Jesus is calling his followers to a higher and to a different path, a path of love, not just for those who we like, but even for those who treat us wrong. A path that is not just focused on outward actions, but inward motivations. A path that isn't focused on impressing our fellow man, but rather pleasing our holy God. Jesus wants us to be like him." [06:37] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "We are all searching for answers and even praying for things. But our heavenly Father knows what we need even better than we do. It says in Matthew, chapter number six and verse number eight, he says, be not ye therefore like unto them. For your father knows what things ye have need of before ye ask of them. His ways are always perfect. God knows exactly what we need. We will come to see as we study through this, that when we pray according to God's will, that God hears us and God does. Answers us, answer us. But he doesn't always answer us in the way that we expect him to, but it will be exactly what we need." [09:31] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "There are some verbs. These verbs are written in this passage in a way that indicates that we're not to simply ask once or seek once or knock once. But it's something that we're to continually and persistently do. Some English Bible translations translated as keep asking and it will be given to you. Keep searching and you will find. Keep knocking and a door will be opened unto you. That we're something we're to constantly be doing. It's not just God I ask for this and be done, but it's a conseat that annoying child that just wears down their mom with much persistent asking." [10:48] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "The second action that we see is to seek. Seeking is asking plus action. We seek when we need something of value to us. There are times when we need to take an active role in the prayer process. If you want to find, you must seek. That's an amazing thing. My kids have an ability to say I couldn't find it when they never looked for it. You have to be able to seek to find something. You have to diligently look after it to go for it. And that's what God expects for us. He asks us to pray and then he says, we must seek after those things. We must ask. But while we're asking, we must act." [13:55] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "God gives us good things. Now my kids hear these verses. And I can see the confused look on their faces. They think, my dad would give me a rock instead of redhead. He would give me a snake or a sea urchin instead of a fish. And Erica, on the other hand, she would definitely give them more than what they deserve. So, boys, think of mom when you read these verses, okay? But the idea here is that God gives us good things. God gives us good things. God gives us what we need. If we people who are sinners know how to give good things to our children, then surely our father, who is in heaven and who is perfect, who is without sin, knows how to give good things to us." [21:16] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "The summation of Jesus answer in verse twelve is, we should be a caring people. He says, therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets. Notice in verse number twelve, he says, therefore, since God is a caring God, we should act a certain way. And the way we should act is what has been often referred to as the golden rule throughout generations. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." [24:28] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "How we treat other people should be based on the golden rule. What do you want other people to do to you? You do to them. You want people to act a certain way. You act that way. You don't want people parking in front of your house. You don't park in front of other people's houses. You don't want people to drive slow in the fast lane. You don't drive slow in the fast lane. You don't want people to speak mean to you or about your kids. You don't gossip about other people and their kids. You do good to them. You bless them. You're kind to them. You want people to love you unconditionally. You love people unconditionally." [26:19] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "If we live out the great commandment and the golden rule, we will be cautious with God's word and how we share it with people. See, the way to help others is to be caring like our God is caring. We're to be giving, we're to be gracious. We're not just to be a people that give others what they want, but also what they need. When our kids do bad, we don't just say, okay, here's a $100 for doing bad. No, we. We give them punishment for doing that. We take their tablets away. We take them off screen time. We punish them in various ways. We do things that they don't like. That's not. They look at it and they go, that's terrible. I don't like that. But we do it out of love for them." [31:12] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "Love and care should be the motivation for how we interact with other people. When we treat others like, like God treats us, when we love others like God loves us, we will shine our light into this lost and dying world. They will see that's different. You know, our world lives so much for themselves. They always do things for their own benefit. A politician doesn't promise you things to make your life better. A politician promises you think so they can get a life. That's their benefit. They're trying to get things for their own benefit. That's what our companies do. That's what people around the world do. They do things to get from other people. But christians are to be different. We're to be like our Father, which is in heaven. We're to be good. We're to be gracious. We're to be kind, not for our benefit, but for the benefit of other people. And when we do that, that shines the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And people go, that's different. That is different." [34:05] (61 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)