Reflecting God's Love Through the Incarnation of Christ

"Thank you for the graciousness that you give, Lord, each and every day, and allowing us to be a part of your work, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you, God, for the way that you move among your people, God, and that you cause us to stir one another to good works. And, Father, thank you, God, for Rebecca, for Michael and the team, for so many volunteers, Lord, for our housing team, Lord, God, to Father, so many other ministries, Lord, that have put sweat equity into the mission you've called us to. Father, thank you, God, for all of our local partners, Lord, and for this gracious, giving church who goes above and beyond, Lord, that giving to give to PHP. Father, thank you, God, for what you're going to do with and through us and in us in 2025. And we pray today, God, as we look at John 1 .14, Lord, that you would open up a way to acknowledge and to love you. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen." [00:25:54] (69 seconds)


"Well, again, it's great to be with you guys. And if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to John. That's the Gospel of John. And I know in your weeklies, it says 1 John. That's my bad. That's my mistake. That's not on our communications, people. So that's my fault. All leaders need to take a personal responsibility and extreme ownership of that. But we're in John. Don't want to confuse anybody. The Gospel of John 1 .14. So you're going to go. No, Bible is in two halves. Old Testament, New Testament, fourth book in the New Testament. It's called the Gospel of John, first chapter. That's where we're going to be sitting down on. If you've looked and you saw our folks that were singing up here, leading us in worship, as well as many of our next gen that are on cameras and around and also appreciate not only the lighting of the candle, but also the prayers. We're all next gen kids, meaning our middle schools, high schoolers, and elementary." [00:27:32] (69 seconds)


"It's amazing if we, I think one of the things that is so key in understanding ourselves is to know what the problem is. Now, when I grew up in church, maybe many of you have come home from, you know, college, or maybe you're out -of -town guests, and you're getting ready for Christmas. When I heard a pastor preach, in most cases, most cases, when I would hear what the problem was, and he was saying do something, it was actually usually stop doing that. That's what I heard all the time. Quit doing that. Stop doing that. Now, one of the things that's happened in the church. In the coming is that we've noticed that in our whole area, and even in this generation, we're seeing that a lot of people are dealing with sometimes some things in our mind. Now, one of the things that I have heard from feedback from you guys is during this Advent season, we've touched on some topics that have been very helpful to you. And why?" [00:30:42] (65 seconds)


"Why when you talk on hope? Or why? Why when you talk on love like today or peace, why does it resonate, especially in this day? Why does it resonate with us? I want to tell you why. It's because we think on a lot of things that take our minds into dark places. We watch a lot of things sometimes that might take our mind into dark places. And we're put in a lot of different circumstances to where our mind and our emotions cannot handle the things that we're seeing. I see a lot of people live with that. A lot of people with angst. A lot of people with anxiety. And sometimes it's good to take the time to think on good things. Good things. That's what this Advent has been, is what we've been able to think through some good things." [00:31:47] (53 seconds)


"And so today we come to one verse, one verse to look at how do we love well. I think one of the things we think about what it means to love well and why we don't love well is is because I think that sometimes we're in a place to where we say we have an if -then understanding of the people around us and with loving. And here's how it goes. If that person, whoever it is, would do this, then I'd be okay. If the world was what? Whatever you need the world to be, then maybe I would love more. If my church would, if my family would, if my son, my daughter's teacher would, then I would respond in the proper way. And I will tell you, if you're caught in that, it's really easy to get caught in that." [00:34:18] (59 seconds)


"You and I, this is the big thing. If you're going to say, what does he want us to know today? Here it is. Okay. You and I are capable of loving one another because Jesus loved us enough to show up. That's what we're going to look at today. Okay. I love what C .S. Lewis says in the four loves about how our capability to love, is sometimes not as bright as it could be. He says this, My dear friends, you're going to reflect whatever is influencing you today. You're going to reflect it, no matter what it is. Whatever mindset you have, whatever worldview you have, you cannot but reflect it. You're going to reflect it. You're a mirror. Now, you're either going to reflect the love of God very dimly or brightly. That's what he's saying here. He says, So if there is any love, any consolation, it is all because Jesus Christ has taught us how to do this." [00:35:34] (71 seconds)


"We are capable of loving one another, even our enemies, because Jesus showed up and he's taught us how to love. All right? Let's dig in. Here we go. First thing I want you to understand, real simple, Jesus has come. What does that mean? Jesus has showed up. That's what it says. Jesus has come. What does that mean? Well, before you can really know what it means for Jesus that he showed up, I'm going to tell you what it does not mean. What it does not mean. You're going to see here that in this passage, this very short passage, it says, and the word became flesh. The word. What does it even mean with the word? Well, the Greek Stoics will use this word to denote reason." [00:37:14] (49 seconds)


"Not only that, this whole first chapter of John points back to this contrast between light and dark. Light and dark. And our thoughts and our feelings. And our emotions. And even our hands. Can often come out of a place of darkness. Or of light. And the word teaches us the difference between the two. It says in the beginning the word was not only God. He was with God in the relationship with God. So when it says that the word became flesh. He's not talking about a notion. An idea. He's not talking about reason or wisdom or anything like this. It means that the second person of the Trinity showed up. The one who was before all things. Who Colossians says is the cohesion of all things. The one who was with the Father. Delighting in all things. Has shown up." [00:39:22] (65 seconds)


"He loved us, and he was personal. You see, in the understanding of God and how you understand God and how you relate to divinity, especially in the Greek understanding of it, gods would take on flesh in all kinds of mythical stories. But you know what? When a God took on flesh, became a human, you know why they did it? To take advantage of humans, to get something they wanted. If you read the mythology on all the stories, that's what they did. But yet this God, this true God, when he came and he took on flesh, he didn't get them to take for his advantage. Love is not getting around. It says in Philippians that he emptied himself, taking on the very form of a servant. He doesn't just leverage our gifts and talents and abilities so that he has something. No, he came to give." [00:43:03] (49 seconds)


"To give away all I have, but deliver up my body to be burned. But have not love, I am nothing. You gain nothing without love. But Jesus has come. He has tabernacled with us. As the scripture says, the word, not reason, not just wisdom, not a concept, but the God -man showed up. The word became flesh. And that means something. That means something. That means a lot. So here it is. He showed up. You and I have got to deal with that. If Jesus showed up, Jesus showed up, what does that mean for us? Because he could show up and you don't see him, right? But look what the scripture says. It says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Right? So what does it mean that not only did he show up, but he said something about himself. He disclosed himself. He said, this is who I am. This is my way. This is my heart. This is my yoke. This is how you're to live. Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross. Follow me. What does it mean that in history that he gave his life on a cross for us? What does it mean that he just didn't show up? What does it mean that he didn't show up, but he showed up and he disclosed himself to us? We have seen him. It means something, right?" [00:45:18] (92 seconds)