Into the Light: God Is Love

Well, good morning. Welcome to Eagle Creek Church. We’re continuing in our series of messages, Into the Light, from the book of First John. And today we’re covering the second half of First John chapter 4. If you are new here, you can open up the Eagle Creek Church app, download that, and find my notes and follow along with us.

Today I’m excited to get into this message. There’s a passage in here that’s probably one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. We’ll look at that in just a moment. But I have a couple things I want to bring up to you guys as a church and ask you to consider, to pray about, think about, for this fall. And they’re complementary. One of them though is new, one of them is old, it’s what we do, one of them is new, we haven’t done this before, we’re getting ready to start. So, here they are, two things.

One is our community groups. We have about 50 right now that are launching in September, the second week. So be paying attention to that. If you’re here and you’re like, “I’m newer, I don’t have a lot of friends, I don’t know a lot of people,” they’re going to be groups for men, for women, for couples, for young adults, for a whole variety of things. So, take a look at those when they come around here, we’ll be rolling those out. They might actually be on the app now, I don’t know if they’re on the app, you could check and see if they’re there. If not, they’ll probably be up this next week, and we’ll be letting everyone know how to get involved. So, that’s normal, we do that. We have a ton of people, probably 50% plus of the congregation, that’s involved in that.

We’re doing something new though, that has been something I’ve dreamed of seeing us get started for some years. And we just finally found something to support this vision that is a really, really amazing resource. What we want to do is we want to start something called DGroups. DGroups are discipleship groups for men or for women, and they only have maybe three, four, five people, would be like max. Whereas a community group might have, you know, 10 or 15 or 20, some of them have 30, I think the women’s Bible study has, I don’t know, 50, 60, something like that on Thursday morning, and not quite that many on Monday nights. So there’s really big ones and there’s medium ones. But when you get down to three, four, or five, what this is, is a discipleship group.

And what we’ve learned is that when you have a group of three or four guys, or three or four ladies, that actually just read through the Bible together, they talk to each other very openly, they pray for each other openly, they can sort of hang out at a coffee shop to do it, or someone’s living room, it’s super easy, maybe you all work together. What we found was an incredible resource that we’ve been looking for that really gives, it’s about nine months, okay, to do a deeper level discipleship, where you’re reading through not the entire Bible, but key sections of the Bible that raise up key matters of spiritual life that help you, and key discussions where you can talk together, grow together, support each other, and really go to a much, much, much deeper level of personal, relational discipleship than, our groups are amazing, but sometimes you need that smaller group. Some people are just not big extrovert personalities, and they’re like, “Thank you, I would like just a few guys that I know, that’s who I’m willing to open up to.” “I got three girlfriends, the three of us would talk openly.” But in a big group, we probably won’t. You’re the right person for a DGroup, and we actually have all the material for you.

Now, normally I would say, “Here’s how to sign up for that.” I’m not going to do that this week. I’m just wanting you to process it this week. Talk to a few friends and say, “Would you be interested in the three of us, four of us, doing one of these discipleship groups?” And then we’ll let you know next week how to get all those materials and get some basic training as a leader, to say, “I don’t know what to do.” It’s super simple. It’s very chill, very relational, and everything’s provided. It’s mostly reading your Bibles together, having a time to meet, and then a few key things you do when you meet that really helps people grow spiritually. So, it’s meant to be very simple for everyone to be able to be involved with.

So, that’s my big thing that I think is going to be a game changer. I know this because we have some people, I see Dave Filkey over here, there you are, I was like, I know you’re this way, but I know you’ve led some groups like this, and I know the effectiveness of this, and we have some other people that have done these things sort of involuntarily throughout the church in a real positive way, and we’re seeing the life change that happens in these smaller discipleship contexts is big. And so we wanted to get in on it as a church. So we’ll give you all the materials in the weeks to come and information on that. But I want you to start processing, who’s my three or four people, I think I’d like that kind of group better, get it figured out, and we’ll get you set up for that as we move forward.

Now, as we get into 1 John chapter 4, I told you one of the statements that people have heard over the years, over and over and over again. Three simple words, probably in on the list of the top maybe five quoted verses of the Bible is this three words: God is love. You ever heard that one? You’re like, “I didn’t know that was a verse, I thought it was just a saying.” It’s said so often that it must just be a saying. No, that’s actually a verse in the Bible. Would you say that one with me? God is love.

Okay, here’s the thing as we look through that verse and we try to understand it, there’s a conflict with what we experience, and a conflict of what our culture says. The conflict with what we experience is this: if God is love, then why would God have let that happen? Any of you lived that one? You know what I’m saying? And there’s just moments where you don’t feel that. And when you don’t feel something at a very intense level, don’t feel it, like you’re mad at God level, don’t feel God’s love, it’s very hard to believe something when everything about your circumstance says, “Where is God? How could God be loving?”

And I’m not going to try to paint that over and make that easy, because I’ve lived there. And in those moments, if someone says, “You just got to accept that God is loving,” I’m like, “Yeah, but the problem is I can’t quite get there right now. I’m struggling with that. I’m working to get to that place.” How many of you have ever been working to get to a place you know you need to get, but you’re not there, not by a mile, okay? And when someone tries to drag you across a finish line you can’t get to, it just feels insensitive. It feels like, can you just journey with me through my sorrow rather than just tell me I’m good, because I’m not good.

And so I’m not trying to do that with you. But what I do want you to have in the back of your brain somewhere, there are truths that you have to cling to still. And that’s hard to say, but in the back of your brain somewhere, you have to cling to who he is. Who he is, not just the way it feels, but who he is. So who is he? God is love. And circumstances will not be spelling that out, but the reality won’t change behind the circumstances. There will still be a God that loves us, even when we don’t get why in the world he’s doing what he’s doing.

And then the other big challenge we have is our cultural definition that’s been accepted largely in the church, is oppositional. It seems the same as this, it’s actually not. But there’s a cultural definition of love that is broadly accepted, by atheists, by Christians, by agnostics, by Buddhists, Catholic, evangelical, it doesn’t matter. And the definition that is accepted in American society is that love means total acceptance. Right? How many of you’d say, “Yeah, that’s what’s commonly understood, love means you just totally accept someone.” Come on, I know it feels like I’m tricking you, but how many of you understand that is true, right? That’s what we believe, right? It is largely what is culturally accepted.

And then there’s a conflict in that definition, because then you come to a God of the Bible and then you start reading all the things that he doesn’t accept, right? And so it’s like love is totally accepting, but then the Bible and the God of the Bible is not totally accepting, to the point where he literally sends people to hell for the violations that he doesn’t accept into his heaven, his eternal life. Not everyone gets that, some get excluded from it. And so then you’re like, if love is total acceptance and God is not totally accepting, then you would say God is not loving. That would be your equation. If you accept the world’s definition of love, you have to arrive at that conclusion. So it either means God’s definition of love is wrong, or he’s not loving, or the world’s definition of love, total acceptance, is wrong.

And so what I’m going to do, as we go through just these thoughts from scripture here today, I’m going to try to show you what real love actually hinges on, and the way it is transformational, and why that is transformational to your life and to the world. And it logically can only be this way, actually. And when you see this, you’ll say, “It actually makes more sense than total acceptance.” Because total acceptance doesn’t actually make sense to anyone. Can I just tell you the truth? How can you be totally accepting of someone who breaks into your home and kills your dog? How many say, “I’m not totally accepting of that person.” I’m just not. How many of you say you can mess up to the point, anyone can mess up to the point where you just can’t totally accept them anymore. I mean, you could say, “Well, I’m going to try to be totally accepting,” but how many will admit in the moment you’re not. I mean, honestly, none of us are. So, it’s sort of this nice phrase that has no real meaning in actual human existence. No one actually does that. So, it’s not surprising that God doesn’t, because no one does. There has to be some basis for acceptance. There has to be something. So, we’re going to take a look as we walk through this to try to make some sense of this.

Love Started With Him

So, I’m going to go ahead and start with this. The first thought that everything really hinges on is this. Love started with him. Love started with who? Okay, now, we can say that and that sounds true to say it, but in reality, that’s not what we functionally believe. That is a statement that we’re like, we aspire to the statement, but we don’t functionally think that way. And I’ll explain why we don’t. Love started with who? With God, right?

Let’s go ahead and read the verse here. First John chapter 4, verses 8 through 10. It says this, “God is love.” In this, everyone say “in this.” Okay, in this, both times he’s going to give a definition of what love is. And it’s going to be essentially the same definition. “God is love. In this is love. In this is love.” So, it’s going to be almost the same definition. And the definition will not be the definition total acceptance, okay, we won’t read that here.

“God is love. In this the love of God is made manifest.” We can see what love is in this thing that God does among us. Here’s what he did that showed what love really is. “That God sent his only son.” How many say that sounds a little like John 3:16? “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son,” right, “into the world that we might live,” or in John 3:16, “have eternal life.” Life in him, eternal, means entrance into his heaven after this life ends, right? Eternal life doesn’t mean a physical eternal life in this body right now, because how many of you know we die in this life in this body, right? But the apostle Paul says, “To be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord.” So we have this eternal life with him in his heaven, and how is that? It’s through his son coming into the world.

Now he gets more specific. In this, everyone say “in this,” “is love, not that we loved God.” Okay. God is love. Love is not defined by us loving God. Love is not defined by human quality or human kind of love. And this is love. It’s not that we’re so loving of God, and that’s, we should be loving of God, but that’s not the definition, because how many admit that your love wanes, that it’s really strong some days and weak some days. And Jesus’s love is, his promise is, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And yet we’ve left him and forsaken him more than once, you know. So we look and say, glad it’s not defined by me. “And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us” and it’s manifest among us. How is it manifest among us? “He sent his son to be the,” what’s the big word, “propitiation for our sins.” And I’ve defined that to you guys many times, it’s the wrath-absorbing sacrifice. Jesus absorbs the wrath of God as the sacrifice for our sins.

So, does God accept our sins, or does God pay the price himself for our sins? He said, “This is what love is.” It’s not that you accept the sins of people, God. He says it’s that you personally pay the price for those sins. This is what love is. And the thing about this kind of love is humans can’t give it at the quality God can. Love is from God, God is love, it’s not that we loved him. How many of you know you can’t die for the sins of God? You’re not going to be able to do something that is equal in any measure to what God has done. He said, “You want to know what love is? Love is in him. He is the source of it. He’s the origin of it. He’s the definition of it. Everything that you want to give in love is not found in a human soul. Everything you want to give in love is found in God alone, because he is the absolute, total, original source of all capacity for love.”

Amen, amen. I hope that you understand that, because it becomes necessary for the journey that we’re taking this morning through scripture. You have to understand where the source is, or you’re not going to be able to give much if you think you’re drawing from human love, and that’s adequate. It’s not adequate. Human love is inadequate. How many say, “I’ve gotten burned out on loving people, I’ve gotten burned by loving people, I’ve gotten done with people,” in my flesh, I was done. And God had to give me something more to love some people in my life, right? I was like, I got to the end of me. So, I had to figure out how to love the way God loved, because otherwise I wouldn’t be married today. Some of you would say, or I wouldn’t have a relationship with my son or my daughter or whoever it is. There’s people in your life that you got to the end, and you’re like, “I don’t have it, God. I’ve got nothing left, I’m done,” and somehow you found something more.

And so, we need God to be the source, because we’re going to run out of our own. And so, this concept is so important to just figure out and to say, “Okay, I get this.”

Love Makes Him Visible

Now, as we continue on the journey, and we understand that love started with God and that it came from him, we move on into this concept of God shining through us and us seeing God through one another and God working in our lives. And so, let me give you the second thought. Love makes him visible. Everyone say that one with me. Love makes him visible.

This is the thing where we start to see God shining through, where someone has been so resourced by the love of God, so connected to the love of God, that they become a loving person. Now, how many of you are Diet Coke people, and you’re like, “I like diet sodas.” Any diet soda people? You can be honest, it’s nothing to be offended about, that’s fine, diet soda people. How many of you are not diet soda, but you like the real thing? Like give me the pure cane sugar, you know, from Hawaii growing in the sun. Anyway, you know what I’m talking about. So, the real thing. How many of you who like the real thing sugar, when you taste, now, I’m picking on you fake people, I tricked you, because I am going to pick on you a little bit, sorry. But how many of you real sugar people, when you take the fake stuff, you like immediately know that it’s not real sugar? Okay, and you’re like, “No, no.” And now I know there’s an entirely large group, and I’m not even going to ask you to raise your hand because you’re so prideful. Okay, I’ll let you be prideful. How many of you just don’t drink soda? Oh, look at you, you guys are amazing, they need it, I’m sorry, I’m teasing you guys. No, I swear off soda and then I drink soda and then I swear it off and then I drink it. So, I’m one of these, I so badly want to be one of you people, I’m just not disciplined enough, you know.

But here’s the thing, you just know it. There’s moments, I will just say, where people act loving, but you got to read on that. And there’s something about the way they’re acting that you’re like, “That ain’t real.” You know what I’m saying? And then there’s people that they’re not trying to be anything, but you walk away almost with tears in your eyes after talking to them, because you just feel so loved. You’re like, “I don’t.” And you go back and talk to them, I’ve had people do this to me or to my wife, or I’ve done this to people, and I’ll say, “I just want you to know when you stopped and talked to me and prayed with me the other day, I mean, I needed that so much,” and I don’t even know if you know what you did. And they’re like, “Well, that’s wonderful.” And you’re like, they don’t even know that we’re talking, but then it just happens. It’s just there. There’s something there and it’s real and it’s tangible, and it hits you like the hand of God lifting you up out of the muck and the mire of your life.

And I want to read about how that happens. In 1 John 4:12, it says this. It says, “No one’s ever seen God.” Okay, so you don’t get a big claim to, “I saw God,” it’s not like the loving people saw God and you didn’t. But “if we love one another,” that’s kind of proof that “God is abiding in us and his love is perfected in us.” Perfected comes out of the abiding.

Now, here’s the thing about abiding in God’s love, like connecting to God on a regular basis, a walk with him, sensing like God is in my life, and I feel God’s love and I’m walking with him, maybe through time in his word. I’m going to say something here, a side note here right now, I want to thank Pastor John for leading us in worship, and Ben being here and leading in worship, but can I just tell you, you just experienced some of the best worship in town, I just, come on, can you give me an amen on that one?

But here’s what I want to say about that is every time worship begins, there are people that begin to abide in God’s presence. It just happens. There are people that are like drawn in, their hearts are drawn in, and they’re singing, and then suddenly you see that person wiping their eyes, and then the hands back up, and they’re worshiping, and they’re singing, and they literally look at worship time as an opportunity to abide in God’s presence.

Did you know that there are people who wake up in the morning, they open up their Bible, and in that moment, they look at that moment as a moment to abide in God’s presence? They do. They think that’s what’s going to happen. They think God’s going to show up and touch their heart through their time in his word and their time praying. They’re people that can’t wait to get in their car and start driving and turn on their worship playlist, Spotify, because they know that by the time they get from home to work, something’s going to hit their heart, and they’re going to just be overwhelmed and feel the presence of God abiding in their life. And they love the abiding thing with God so much that they create so many opportunities and moments, because they’re hoping that abiding presence of God will hit them sometime today. Amen.

But this is what it says. The love of God starts flowing through the life of the person that’s abiding in him. It starts happening when you start abiding in him. The love of God starts becoming more and more and more manifest in your life.

Do you remember Jesus’s words? He says, “By this all men will know you are my disciples,” what, “if you have love for one another.” They would literally see you. “You must really be a follower of Jesus because of how loving you become towards one another.”

We’ve learned this, for my wife and I, over the years, it’s a simple truth, it’s a real easy thing to do. How many of you would ever admit that there have been some times in your marriage where you felt a little stressed with one another, right? And maybe neither one of you were talking, maybe you were openly saying, “You’re annoying me,” but for some of you it’s less obvious, you could just tell by the heaviness. But how many of you can tell by the way the pantry door closes or the fridge door closes, your wife’s mood. You can tell by the heaviness on the floor, the foot traffic, your husband’s mood. You can sense by the very short responses or lack of responses, their mood. You’re like, “Wow, that was a grunt, I did not, I don’t think I got an answer, and they didn’t look my direction.” And so you have these moments where you’re like, “I think our love needs a little bit of refreshing, I think we need a little bit of help.”

Well, we’ve learned this over the years, for Sherry and I, we’ve learned over the years that, one, it’s good to talk things out, right? It’s healthy if you have a good communication relationship, if you don’t, maybe you need a third party, but if you can talk it out, maybe you need to talk it out. But we’ve also learned this very simple thing, that if I go and abide in the presence of God, if I’m the one being the irritable one, then I come back from the presence of God a whole lot more loving. If I spend a little time just worshiping, reading my Bible upstairs, close the bedroom, well, that’s our last house, that’s where I had to do more of that. We’re at a place now where we’re pretty good, you know, that’s just part of our daily life. But when we were real busy with kids, we had to do a little more, go get alone time, because you couldn’t hardly get it because of kids when they were little. And so we did that a lot more in that period of time.

And so we get these times to get away, to get our hearts in good places, so we weren’t snippy, so that we were happy, so that we were loving. And what did we do different? Nothing. We just went and abided in God’s presence, and we were just more loving. It was that simple.

It’s like, so just being in God’s presence makes you a more loving spouse. I would say it is, if there’s a difference between showing up and abiding. Right? How many of you showed up at church today? Let me see your hands. Okay, now, I’m not going to make you show your hands. Not everyone has yet abided in God’s presence during this church service, but many people have. You’ve been here where the presence of God is. But how many say it’s a little different, standing out in the lobby drinking a cup of coffee? By the way, everyone in the lobby drinking a cup of coffee, I just shamed them, they’re feeling so bad right now, but they’re all rushing through the back doors right now. I’m kidding, they’re not out there, they’re in here, everyone’s in here, but by faith, I’m confessing that right now.

But here’s the thing, is that’s different than this. Okay, but even this is different than this, right? There’s moments where you can connect with God and you do. There’s moments where you can connect with God and you don’t. Right? It’s the connection to God, not the proximity to God. “Well, I was close, I was where it was happening.” But did you connect with him? “No, I had a lot of stuff on my mind.” Yeah, okay, I get that, me too. So, what do you do? You have to learn how to set things down. How many of you know how to put your cell phone down so you can talk to your spouse? How many of you know how to set your cell phone down and turn the TV off so you can have a conversation with one of your kids? Okay, so, I have to take all the stuff going on here and I have to set it down when it’s time to be in God’s presence, and I have to focus on him, right? And when I do that, I form the kind of abiding connection that leads to more love, more connection, and I’m able to provide that more for my home, for my family, for the people around me. So, I have to connect in those connecting moments. I have to recognize those opportunities, and I have to step into those moments.

John 15:4-5 says this. It says, “Abide in me,” Jesus is saying this, “and I in you. As a branch cannot,” everyone say, “bear fruit,” bear fruit, okay, “by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Apart from me you can do nothing.” Right? Okay.

So this passage right here is very important, because the very first fruit that we know of, that comes from the presence of Jesus, said when I go to heaven I’ll go, and whenever I go away I’m going to send the, what, the Holy Spirit, right, to abide in the believer’s life. And Galatians 5 says, “And the fruit of the Spirit is,” anyone want to guess what the very first fruit of the Spirit is? Love. It’s love. And how does that love happen? How does that love happen? Abiding. Abiding.

And if you’re not abiding in him, what happens? Apart from abiding, you don’t have God’s love. You’re trying to do that fakey sweet stuff that no one likes and everyone knows is not real. Now, that’s not true for sodas, but that is true for love. That is true for love. No one likes the fakey stuff, everyone likes the real stuff on that, on that one we can all vote the same direction on. And so, you’re trying to come up with fakey stuff to give out, and no one likes it. And if you would just start abiding, you could give people the real kind of love that comes from God, that only God can define and only God can supply. And it would tell the whole world you’re his disciples. Everyone would know it about you. Your kids would know it. Your kids would follow God because your kids knew it was real. They never thought it was fake for a moment. They knew it was real, and they want the real, but no one wants the fake. No child wants fake.

So, we look at that, we say, “Okay, we’ve got to grow in this.”

Love Casts Out Fear

This one last portion, I could end right there and that would be a great place to stop, but I have this one little cherry on top of the message I want to give you. Okay, here you go. The end, the last thought is this. Love casts out fear. Everyone quotes this verse. “Perfect love drives out all fear,” right? Okay, that’s, people quote that over and over and over again, love casts out fear. We use that as a courage verse, like, “I’m not going to be afraid, I’m going to be courageous, and I’m going to go apply for that job, start that company, I’m going to go do that big thing.” This is a great Bible verse, and that’s a great thought. They don’t connect.

Okay, sorry, it’s not the same, it’s actually about something different. So, I’m so sorry, because I’m going to take away one of your favorite verses that you misuse. But I’m going to give you a better use for it, and you’ll really like this use, because it’s the way the Bible actually uses it.

Okay, so 1 John 4:18 says this. It says, “There is no fear in love.” This is now speaking of God’s perfect love here. How was God’s perfect love manifest? In that he gave his own son, right, to be the propitiation, the wrath-absorbing sacrifice. This is the love that he’s talking about. So, you don’t have to be afraid of what? You don’t have to be afraid of God’s punishment. You don’t have to be afraid of God’s wrath. You don’t have to be afraid that God’s going to abandon you or reject you or condemn you. Why don’t you have to be afraid of any of those things from God?

“Perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment.” The punishment of hell, the punishment of God’s rejection, the punishment for your sins, the emotional punishment of condemnation weighing down on your soul all the time, and always feeling like you’re not good enough to God. And you live your life, and some of you have lived this way with the heaviness, with the condemnation, with the weight. And he said, “Whoever fears,” whoever is living that way as a Christian, you know what hasn’t happened in you yet? Love hasn’t been perfected. You haven’t let the true mercies and grace of God settle in on you to the place where you just say, “Why in the world would I ever live in fear of the God who literally gave his son to die for my sins?” And I accepted that and I believe that. And he gave me eternal life. “Whoever has the Son has life.” I have that life. I have the Son. I have that eternal life. This is mine.

And instead of living like it’s mine, I always live like God’s going to yank it away from me any day of the week, and I’m condemned and I’m beat up and, oh no. And he said, “But perfect love of God,” the teleios, the complete love of God, completed in your life. When love is completed by God in your life, you will not be afraid again of that kind of judgment and separation and alienation. You’ll say, “I’m so peaceful in my walk with God. I’m so loved. I’m so at home. I’m so safe. When I walk in, I never have to worry and spend the first five minutes of a service crying and repenting and wondering if he’s going to let me into his presence and feeling bad about myself. I walk in and the moment I walk in and I feel like God is in the room, I feel connected to him. I feel loved by him. I feel present with him. And I feel like he’s present with me.” There’s no distance of fear and punishment and condemnation and guilt. All of that is gone because love has been perfected in me.

And how was love perfected on the cross? Do you know who knew this better than everyone in the world has ever known this statement? One person knew this better than everyone. Jesus Christ himself, as he hung on the cross. His sixth statement from the cross was “Tetelestai.” It is completed. The work of salvation for mankind’s sins has been once and for all finished in my work of sacrifice. “Tetelestai.” It is completed. It is finished. It is gifted to mankind. It is done. It is done.

He knew it was. He knew it was. Everything necessary for my freedom from fear of judgment was completed. And he said it. He said it out loud. It was written down. It was recorded by John, the same man who said these words. When love is completed and finished in your life, you’ll never fear again. How do you know this, John? Because I saw when it happened. John was the only one at the foot of the cross. The only disciple who saw it, who heard it, and who wrote it down. It’s only in John’s book, these words.”Tetelestai.” The work has been completed. The fear of judgment is gone. The fear of judgment is over. And love can be perfected now in your life. Not the world’s definition, but God’s definition of sacrifice for those that are lost so that they might become close and connected to him.

What a beautiful gift John has given us as believers today. Some 2,000 years ago, he handed the gift of these writings, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, to the church, to you and I, so that we might walk with him and know him as he really is. Not as the world defines him, but as the scriptures define him, and the Holy Spirit reveals him.

So, I want to pray over you across this room. And maybe you’re not yet walking in that relationship with God, not yet a Christian, and you haven’t yet believed on what Jesus has done for you, but today you have. And it’s time to pray that out and confess that and say, “Lord, I believe in you as my savior.”

I’m going to invite the entire room to pray that prayer. In fact, if you’re here and you want to pray that prayer, you’re not yet a follower of Christ, please join us in praying it. For us, it’s a deep reaffirmation of our Christian faith. For you, it’s an entrance into that faith. And so, I want to invite you to join us in a prayer of confession, a belief in Jesus as your savior from sin, whom God not only allowed to die for your sin, but of course, he resurrected his son from the dead. Of course he did. The God who creates universes, the God who creates worlds, has no problem bringing his own son back to life. Of course he did. And of course, when you become a child of God, son or daughter, of course he will resurrect you from the dead. Of course he will. The God who creates the universe is a God who will recreate you, resurrected, as well.

And so if you’d like to receive Christ as savior, pray with us as we pray. Church, would you join me? Let’s pray together out loud a prayer of faith in Christ. Let’s pray together now.

Jesus, today I believe you are the son of God, sent to the world by your loving father, who gave your sinless life for the sins I committed. Forgive me. I believe in you. You’re my salvation. You’re my hope. I surrender to follow you for the rest of my days. Thank you for loving me and for saving me. Amen.