Loving Like Jesus: Reconciliation, Repentance, and Renewal

``It's really cool to me that Jesus in his grace chose that woman at the well who was the least worthy person in that village probably to have an encounter with the divine. But Jesus said, my grace is more than sufficient. So what happens now? The cross of Jesus is the ultimate definition of his love. Self giving, not self protecting. Biblical love is measured not by feelings, but by sacrifice. [01:14:45] (34 seconds)  #SacrificialGrace

CS Lewis said, though feelings come and go, God's love for you does not. Jesus didn't wait to be invited to love. He didn't ask to be understood before he started loving people. He didn't ask that people agreed with him in order for him to love them. He chose to love no matter what. He chose to love people who, like you and me sometimes, were anti god, turning our back on god and knew better, and still he loved us. [01:05:14] (31 seconds)  #UnfailingLove

Yes. He was beaten and you think about the passion of the Christ. Yes. He was marred. Yes. He was beaten, but he was also naked. You very rarely ever see a picture like that because the shame of that, people don't even have the courage to say, that's really what it was. But here, Jesus took all of that. All of that for you and me. His safety, he surrendered. His reputation, he surrendered. His power, he laid down. And, ultimately, he gave his life. So that's why the Lord says, if I love sacrificially, so should you. [01:13:58] (40 seconds)  #LoveIsSacrifice

So Martin Kolbe, being a Catholic priest, you have a choice. Are you gonna live this out? And he began just to live it out and love Jesus, love people, pray for people, whether they're Protestant or Catholic, it didn't matter. And, of course, everyone's dying there. And so three men escaped from Auschwitz. The commandant who was a brutal, evil, evil man, he said because three people escaped, 10 people are gonna be starved to death. So one of the 10 was chosen out of the lineup, and he begins to scream, please, I have a wife and I have a family. Martin Kolb, who did not know this man, stepped forward and said, I'll take his place. So Martin Kolb, who was not one of the 10, was not the person that maybe deserved death, took the place. And they said this, those 10 guys, Martin Cold and others, were put into this place just to rot to death. No food, no water. In fact, even when they came to take out the refuge out of that small cell, the tendon we're in, they often found Martin Cold on his knees praising God. [01:16:18] (82 seconds)  #TakeTheirPlace

Reconciliation means this, because of my sin and your sin, there's a barrier between you and God. There's something that is a rift between you and your walk with God. And this is why Jesus on the cross died for our sin so that he could bring two things together, your own sinful nature and the divine nature of God. Reconciliation is instantaneous in the sense he reconciles us, but it's also a process that he says, I want you to make sure this is really important. [01:09:18] (32 seconds)  #ReconciliationBridge

Lately, my cell phone and your cell phone, I know I have Verizon. So a few days a few weeks ago, there was a huge outage for a lot of people. Right? So I would call people who had Verizon and have a recording come back and say, I'm sorry. That number is not available right now. And I'm talking to myself, I know they're right there. But somehow, the system is broken. Can I say this the same way too? Sometimes my system is broken with God. He's done his part, but you and I put barriers in between. Jesus loves sacrificially. [01:12:37] (34 seconds)  #RestoreTheConnection

But what if God has something way better for us? And I'm serious, not just for a moment. God really moved in a powerful way in the first service, and I think this service as well. But you and I, wherever we are, have got to say, God, I want what you want, not what I came for. Sometimes we come just to go to church and say, I did my thing, but God has way more than that. [00:29:10] (23 seconds)  #SeekGodsBest

You know what's so cool about this? This woman did not deserve it, but the first person in history that Jesus on planet earth told he was Messiah was that woman. She said that we're looking for the Messiah. She said, Ethan, I'm I'm that person. So of all the people he could have chosen, he chose that one because Jesus always wants to give you more than you're looking for. [00:29:34] (24 seconds)  #MoreThanYouSeek