¶ Exploring God's Unconditional Love
Hey George , I'm Everett , I'm Jake , and this GBC and power podcast you . You might think we do that so well that it's recorded . I want you to know it's not .
it's it's not we get it right each time , 60% of the time works every time , 60% of the time .
You know you said that in a sermon . You said , hey , I quote movies that like I shouldn't quote from the pulpit .
Yeah , and here's what's funny is , people laugh because they know I shouldn't either , but they secretly love it , maybe . No , there's a lot of people that just don't know what I'm talking about , and I'd like to keep it that way .
Yeah , that's true . That's true , it's either sports or movie quotes with the I don't know why this is our last episode . Anyways , well , you know what Jake . You know what , Jake , even through your flaws , even through your , your inappropriate movie quotes , you know God still loves you . Amen and hallelujah .
So this podcast , it could be a normal time , it could be a little shorter , but we really just want to talk about because it's February and I am a very I'm not a stereotypical youth pastor on a lot of things , but I am a stereotypical youth pastor where February hits around and I want to talk about God's love , Like I want to talk about love .
And so , like Jake , how much does God love you ?
Well , the scripture says that he casts our sins as far as the east is from the west , and it goes with . I mean , I was going to say it goes without saying , but I'm about to say it , so I guess it does go with saying but it's one of those deals as a Christian where you can absolutely go . Oh my goodness , I think I've heard this a billion times .
But God's love is so significant and so amazing that you really will never , ever get over it . And if you think you can , then you don't understand it .
Yeah .
Because the love that God has for his people is beyond , beyond words . It's beyond anything we can even comprehend , which is why so many of us struggle to accept it , because he literally chooses to love us through us , the things that we do .
There's no one that can really say that , that that they lived a good enough life that it would be easy for God to love them . Yeah , it's just not true .
God loves us through every sin that we commit , every poor decision , and and it's it's new for us you know , this morning when I woke up , the sunrise was beautiful and I've been so thankful for the good weather that that's come in through February . You never know if it's going to last .
I did see the ground hog , did see a shadow , so , hey , that's a good thing . But you know it doesn't really mean anything .
But you know , I was looking at the sunrise and I immediately thought of Lamentations 3 , that is , mercies are New Every Morning and you know , when you think of all the good attributes of God , there's no attribute of God that is not based in his love . It's literally the basis for everything that makes God God .
So I can't really answer how much God loves me , but I could just keep talking or rambling about it , but the reality is is he just loves us more than anyone ever can .
Yeah , we can't comprehend it . We won't understand it , but I promise you I'll spend the rest of my life trying to , because the more you seek God , the more you find them . And do you think we'll ? Do you think we'll ?
understand it in heaven .
OK , we will , we will . I don't know , I mean , could we ?
Oh yeah , could we spend an eternity still trying to comprehend it .
No , I think we'll be celebrating that we actually understand it and I guess we'll find out . I mean , we'll find out , yeah , but that's a not to the youth all the time . Do do not cry at my funeral , because I will finally stop sinning and I'll be so happy .
I don't want to talk about your funeral , y'all . Maverick's got a lot of weird , weird things he talks about and if you ever want to hear something weird , get Maverick to tell you about my funeral .
We're not talking about it on the air . No , no , no , no , no .
But you can ask him about it and talk about it off the air .
Yeah , but just go back when we time out . You guys love and it's weird , we didn't even talk about it for the podcast , but just as we're talking about it , I just worship songs kept kind of popping in my head of just like . There's a you talked about where it talks about casting our sin as far as the east and the west .
That's a casting crown song when they sing about that you think of . There's another song , it's more upbeat but it's it's God loves us more than the drops in the ocean . Not like the like .
Like , yeah , I don't know , I'm the scientific of trying to put drops in ocean would be insurmountable , yes , and then obviously one that's a little controversial , but but I think , whether you like it or don't like it , I do think it describes it really well .
But like reckless love , how you know people are like well , god's love is not reckless and all this point . But I'm like OK , I'm a sinner and I sin all the time , like all the all the time . And Romans 5 8 says man , why we were still sinners , christ , christ showed his love for us . That , why we were still sinners , christ died for us .
Like , if , why , it's very thought out and it's very point to point . You know it to my brain how it makes sense . It seems reckless . I'm like why on earth would he do that ? I'm not that special .
You know , I grew up in a very , very traditional church and I was a little kid and one of my memories is having him numbers memorized . Oh yeah , because in our church the guy that was getting up to lead he would . We would every fifth Sunday . He would let us decide the songs we wanted to sing , and I remember this is how lame I was .
Oh , my goodness , I get to open up the hymn book and scream out a song and I actually kind of like that weirdly excited me now . And I would get up and I would always scream number 14 . And the song was Love Lifted Me .
In the first verse says I was sinking deep and sin , far from the peaceful shore , very deeply stained within , seeking to rise no more . But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry and from the waters lifted me . Now safe am I . And the chorus says love lifted me when nothing else could help . Love lifted me .
Truth be told , the tune is not my jam , but the words is it just it's so powerful because the reality is and you , just you know , said it in Romans five we were powerless and his love lifted us up out of the grave and gave us life . So that's why we can't . We can't get over it , because we would have nothing to do without it .
Yeah , and it goes to the point of like okay . So why ? Why do I even talk about love for the use ? Well , it goes with everybody . It's part of my testimony , it's part of everybody's testimony . You have to relearn what love is .
When you become a Christian , when you become just a disciple of Christ , you're relearning what love is because the world has a definition for love and we all know it , but it's still kind of ingrained in our brain . You know , like we understand that , like the world has this definition of love , but like before Christ , that's all we've ever been a part of .
And it's this point of like man , like I tell parents this all the time , I have to tell myself this all the time Like God loves your children more than you and that's why , like when we do child dedications and all this stuff , like we have to give our people that we love most in the world to God , because he loves them even more and he loves them more ,
more truly . You know the , the fancy word for love , if you look at John 21 , is agape . It's this sacrificial love . God's love is perfect . John 316 , you know it says for God to love the world , that he gave his only son that whoever shall believe him shall have eternal life . Well , why did he do that ? It's because he loves you .
And again , that's why we can't comprehend it . Like I wouldn't give Mallory for you I don't even know if I'd give my dog for you but like I love you , but I really hope you'd give your dog for my life . Maybe we'll see how about bows You'd give it up for bows .
That's my son .
I'd give Mallory this , I'll give Luna up . I won't give Deborah .
Hey , fine , you know when you use the word songs , you know what's funny is everyone's singing about love , even if they're not Christian .
Everyone . When I preach sorry , you finished it when I preach about love , it's always what is . Love is the first . Yes , baby , don't hurt me , it's what I say .
Well , like what is ? Um , you know , sorry y'all we were talking before this podcast about , like I was talking about my mom and all the songs she listened to . And , um , my mom loves the movie Urban Cowboy with John Travolta and the main song that was written for that movie was looking for love in all the wrong places .
You know , my dad was a huge fan of the 80s hair bands . I want to know what love is and I want you to show me . You know we laugh about that , but the world's singing about love and the world's also telling us they have no idea what it is . Yeah and it's weird because you don't want to be the guy in the room and I do this with songs .
All the time , I ruin songs for my kids all the time . They'll come through the house singing some song and I'll go well , let's talk about that , you know , and kind of just like point out all the holes in . Well , hold on like you're asking this person to show you what love is . Well , what if that person doesn't even know ?
¶ Recognizing God's Unconditional Love
You know , and as Christians , that is the one thing we can comprehend is , we know where love comes from .
But we're all kind of at this crossroads in our life and and and one of the things we were talking about earlier is you know , when you become a Christian , you're saying I recognize the love God has for me because of Jesus's sacrifice on the cross , and you know , people always say I don't want love to just be words .
Well , when you become a Christian , you're accepting his love based on faith .
Yeah , it's not like I mean , sure , there are those testimonies that God proves his love in that moment and helps them , but the reality is there's a lot of people that accept God's love based on faith , but then there something will happen in their life and God will actually show them he loves them . Yeah , so what can I share a story ?
You know what you can thank you , you're my boss , oh okay . Well then , hey , I'm gonna share a story here . So I was a freshman in college and I was one of those students that got sent to college , but I wasn't ready . If I could have done like a gap year or even just waited one semester , I think it could have done me a lot of good .
Because I was , I was afraid , I only knew my life , like with my parents .
I only knew my life in the church I grew up in and I go off to college and I just I mean , I didn't go crazy or anything , I was in my dorm but like I didn't know how to go to class and I didn't know how to do the things I needed to do to get caught up and in the middle of the semester I am making all Fs , all Fs , except one class .
I had a D and it was it was an old testament . So like I was making a D , an old testament , and it was just embarrassing , I didn't even want to tell my parents . My parents and my family were sacrificing so I could even go to college .
Yeah , and , and I just remember thinking I have let every person in my life down and I don't even know how to tell people now .
To you this may seem like a small story , but I decided , you know what , I'm just never going back to class and I'm just gonna hang out in my dorm for the next two months and then , when I fail out , I'll just go home and I'll just we'll get a good job on the oil field .
So for three whole days I sat in my dorm by myself , doing nothing , thinking I was nothing , and and it's weird how some people , like three whole days by yourself , can get you to the lowest possible place .
And um , it's a long , long story , but I got a call from a professor that basically said I need you to come to my office tomorrow and we talk , and um , and I remember going oh my gosh , like I have to admit to someone that I'm a failure .
And um , I just literally walked out of my dorm and just walked and , uh , walked as far as I could , not knowing where to walk , and I just sensed the Holy Spirit telling me to call my dad and say that I was a screw up .
And I called my dad and I said , dad , I'm failing everything and I don't know what to do , and I'm afraid and I'm so sorry that I'm the biggest failure in the world and I understand if you're ashamed of me . And my dad said , son , there's nothing you could possibly do to make me ashamed of you , but let's figure out how to get out of this hole .
Yeah .
And this is really weird , but that was one of the most significant times at that time in my life to realize God , god really , really loves me , like even though , like all the people in my life at that time in my mind might have thought I was a failure .
The Lord said you know what , son , you can actually get up and you can go have that conversation with that professor and you can come out of this hole and you may be going . Jake , that's not that big of a deal . To an 18 year old it was a huge deal and you know .
First , john , chapter 3 , verse 1 , says see what great love the Father has given us , that we should be called God's children . And we are Y'all . I don't know what you have going on in your mind today , but here's what I need you to hear from me , based on the word of God is we are actually His children ?
So like , yeah , we do go through moments when we fail . You know , maybe it's something way more significant . And , by the way , I did wind up passing some classes that semester and had to retake some . And hey , I'm a pastor now and it all worked out .
Hey , you have a doctorate , I do .
It worked out . It's crazy , but the reality of it is is I didn't really need to get better in school in that situation . I didn't really need anything other than I needed to know that God really loved me and that that was enough to go . Ok , all right , you know what ? Let's pull ourselves out , you know ? But that's the reality .
All is like do you understand the height and the depth of what God feels about you ? And that's not based on your decisions in life , that's not based on anything . That's based on the choice God makes to love us and not just say I want to forgive you of your sins , I want you to be in my family , like you're , you're in my family .
So that's my big , long heart story . But if you heard anything from that , god really actually loves you and it's not for any other reason other than the fact that he is a good , loving father .
The best loving father . Yeah , I think that's perfect , that they had a good story . I think we all can relate to that story to some extent . You know whether that story didn't pan out the way that you know .
Yeah , I could have failed out and did go work in the oil filling . Guess what God would have loved me .
¶ God's Unconditional Love and Offering Understanding
You know if and maybe you're like man , I had my story and it just got worse and worse and worse . God still loves you , yeah , yeah .
And that's the point , like I love what your dad said because it is a . It is a . It's a tiny and that's a deal we're doing . Understand like that's a big picture , but in comparison to God , that's a tiny glimpse of just how much God loves us .
So , anyways , this is just if you have any more questions about love , if you don't even feel loved or you want to understand God's love more , please come find us , come talk to us , and we'd love to explain it even more . Anyways , love you guys , take care and we'll see you all soon .