God’s Abounding Loyal Love: Embrace, Taste, Respond

Church in the Falls opens with community updates, memory-verse videos, and invitations to events before moving into a baptism and a focused study on Exodus 34. A young man publicly chooses baptism, framed by Mark’s account of Jesus’ own baptism and Galatians’ language about being clothed with Christ. The teaching centers on the Hebrew word chesed—translated variously as loyal love, steadfast love, mercy, or grace—and highlights God’s self-declaration in Exodus 34: compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loyal love and faithfulness. Chesed receives careful definition: actions that preserve a relationship, protect it, and help it prosper, understood not merely as doctrine but as a lived reality.

The sermon distinguishes three kinds of knowing God: explicit (book or rule knowledge), implicit (applied, practiced faith that gets into the bones), and tacit (wordless, transformative experience). Repeated biblical citations—from Psalms, Lamentations, Micah, and the prophets—show chesed’s prominence across Scripture. Ephesians and John connect chesed to salvation and the incarnation: grace and loyal love bring spiritually dead people to life and find fullest expression in the Word made flesh. A scene from The Chosen models how loyal love reaches people who keep running away; the image invites a response of turning toward God rather than fleeing.

Practical application follows theological exposition. The call encourages reflection on how God’s loyal love has preserved, protected, and prospered individual lives, urging reciprocation of that love toward others. The congregation receives a clear invitation to stop running from Jesus, consider baptism, and accept prayer. Concluding prayers ask for the Spirit’s wisdom and revelation so that knowledge of God moves from head to heart and into changed behavior. Worship closes with an open offer: respond to chesed by stepping forward—whether through baptism, prayer, or renewed life—so that tacit knowledge of God’s loyal love becomes an enduring reality.

Key Takeaways

• 1. God abounds in loyal love Chesed names God’s relentless commitment: compassion, grace, slowness to anger, and faithfulness without limit. This loyal love refuses to be exhausted by failure or rebellion; it aims to restore and maintain relationship. Recognizing God’s abounding love reframes suffering, discipline, and the promise of presence into means of relational healing. [57:01]
• 2. Chesed preserves, protects, and prospers Loyal love acts to preserve the bond between God and people, to protect that bond from forces that would sever it, and to foster growth within it. This threefold motion moves beyond sentiment into concrete action that seeks relational flourishing rather than transactional gain. Living under such love reshapes priorities toward stewardship of people and relationships. [53:50]
• 3. Know God: explicit, implicit, tacit Spiritual knowing comes in layers: explicit knowledge of texts and doctrine, implicit knowledge formed by practiced obedience, and tacit knowledge that transforms identity beyond words. Each layer builds the next; books and teaching serve practice, practice deepens experience, and experience yields a language of changed being. The prayer aim becomes knowing God so fully that speech falls short. [55:41]
• 4. Jesus embodies loyal love in flesh The incarnation unites Exodus’ depiction of Yahweh with the person of Jesus: grace, chesed, and truth dwell among humanity. Seeing Jesus as loyal love reframes salvation as relational restoration, not mere legal transaction. Encountering Christ therefore invites both trust and imitation in how relationships get repaired. [68:11]
• 5. Respond: run toward, not away The faithful response to chesed calls for movement—turning toward Jesus, embracing baptism, and accepting prayer—rather than continued avoidance. Response requires honest admission of running and a concrete step of trust that practices reliance on God’s loyal love. That movement opens access to the tacit knowledge that reshapes life from the inside out. [76:49]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [13:19] - Memory Verses & Announcements
• [19:45] - Baptism Preparation & Video
• [20:20] - Baptism Scriptures & Confession
• [45:52] - Transition to Teaching
• [46:44] - Embrace God: Missional Focus
• [47:38] - God’s Character in Exodus 34
• [53:19] - Defining Chesed (Loyal Love)
• [55:41] - Explicit, Implicit, Tacit Knowing
• [62:42] - Psalms, Micah, and Examples
• [68:11] - Jesus as Grace and Chesed
• [69:28] - Living Out Loyal Love
• [76:49] - Invitation, Prayer, Closing Worship

1. According to Exodus 34:6, what are the specific characteristics God uses to describe Himself?
2. The Hebrew word chesed is translated in various ways. What are some of the English words used to convey its meaning, and what three actions does it encompass? [53:50]
3. How is the knowledge of God described in terms of explicit, implicit, and tacit understanding? [55:41]
4. In John 1:14, how is the concept of chesed from Exodus 34 connected to the person of Jesus Christ? [01:08:11]

1. Why might people be quick to focus on the part of the passage that speaks of God's justice and punishment, and what is the significance of first dwelling on His self-declared character? [57:23]
2. The prayer from Ephesians 1:17 asks for the "Spirit of wisdom and revelation" so that we may "know him better." How does this type of knowing move beyond explicit knowledge into implicit and tacit knowledge? [01:11:03]
3. In the scene from The Chosen, how does Jesus' pursuit of the woman illustrate the relentless, abounding nature of God's loyal love, even when someone is running away? [01:12:58]
4. How does understanding God's loyal love as something that preserves, protects, and prospers a relationship change our perspective on times of suffering or discipline?

1. How has God's loyal love specifically preserved you from something, protected you through a difficult time, or helped your relationship with Him prosper and grow? [01:09:57]
2. In what area of your life are you currently "running away" from Jesus, telling Him to "leave me alone," and what is one practical step you can take this week to stop running and turn toward Him? [01:16:49]
3. The prophet Micah calls us to "love mercy" (chesed). Who in your life is difficult to love, and what would it look like to show them a loyal, committed love that seeks to preserve, protect, and prosper that relationship? [01:04:55]
4. Think about your own spiritual journey. Can you identify a moment or season that moved from explicit knowledge about God (head knowledge) to a tacit knowledge (a wordless, transformative experience of His love)? What was that like? [01:10:20]
5. The invitation is to respond to God's loyal love. Is there a next step you feel compelled to take, such as baptism, seeking prayer, or committing to a renewed life? What is holding you back from taking that step? [01:17:08]