Jesus Our Love

Well, merry Christmas, everybody. Merry Christmas — whether you’re ready or not. That’s right. I was thinking, as Suzie was going through the announcements, I think we had too much caffeine this morning. Maybe only one of us. Okay, I’ve probably had too many. So if I start rambling, you can give me the look. I always tell people, if you really don’t want me to look at you while I speak, you want to sit up front, because I tend to look over the front row. So you guys are safe. Good job. Nice work.

All right. Well, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3. I’m going to open there as well.

More than a story

We have been going through our Advent study, which to my knowledge is maybe the first time we’ve done this. Have some of you been able to follow along in our daily reading devotional? It’s been really good, hasn’t it? If you haven’t, honestly, it’s not too late. Jump on in. We’ve got Advent reading plans that are printed out for you. You can also go to dwellinghousechurch.com/bible.

It has been just a wonderful time, because I think so often when it comes to Christmas, we really just dwindle it down to the story of a baby in a manger, and we like the cozy, comfy feelings that Christmas brings. But how many of you know the gospel is so much more than a story? That this really was a rescue operation? That this was boots on the ground? That this was God Himself coming to rescue us in our condition? And our condition was severe. It was bad. We were without hope. We were destitute. We were dead on the inside. But because of Jesus — somebody say amen — we have life with Him forever.

I was so moved just by that chorus that we sang, “Living Hope.” Do we realize what we’re actually singing sometimes? It’s really easy to go through the motions sometimes. But when we really think about those words — praising the one who set us free, that death has lost its grip, that He has broken every chain — somebody say amen. It’s so powerful. But when we worship and when we sing to the Lord, we want it to be with our whole hearts. And so I want us to realize today that this is more than just a story. This really is a demonstration of the love of God for us. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about today.

And we never know when to do this — sometimes we do it at the beginning, sometimes at the end — but this is our Advent wreath. We started off with Jesus our hope, which is the first candle. And then we have Jesus our peace. Everybody say, “Our peace.” He is our peace. And we have Jesus our joy. Say, “Our joy.” And then we have Jesus our love. I want to talk today about the love of God. Somebody say, “Thank You, Jesus, for Your love.” Amen.

Chosen before the foundation of the world

I want to start in Genesis 3, but I’m going to read a couple of scriptures before we get there. Many of you would know this scripture. If you watch football or you’re a sports fan, you’ll see people hold it up in the end zone on a poster. It’s John 3:16. And when we are very familiar with a verse, sometimes it’s easy for us to check out. But I want you to consider this. It says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

“For God so loved.” Everybody say, “So loved.” He didn’t just love you a little. For God so loved the world, He gave what? Himself. You know, sometimes we hear this and we like to jump to the everlasting life. “Well, how do I get to heaven? How do I get everlasting life?” But in order to know everlasting life, in order to obtain it, we must first know the love of God.

1 Peter 1:20 says, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” In other words, from the beginning — since the beginning, before the beginning, before creation — God had determined in His heart, “I am going to send My Son to rescue and redeem the world.”

Now, we consider that and we think, “Well, how did God know that man would sin? He hadn’t created us yet.” How many of you know God is outside of time? But it’s also in the wisdom of God that He knew there was an option that we would reject Him. How many of you know God did not just create us as puppets, with Him as the puppet master demanding to be worshiped? How many of you know God will never demand for you to worship Him? I’m going to say that again. God will never demand for you to worship Him. He’s worthy of that worship. He deserves that worship. When you see Him, you can’t help but worship. But He will never demand it.

And there’s always this option that we have. He’s given us this free will, this choice to love Him in return. And He knew there would maybe come a time when we would use this option to not choose Him, to seek other options. Has anybody been there, where maybe you’re going through it a little bit and it seems like you go to everything else but God? But how many of you know God chose us first? You are on His mind. You are on His heart. And it says here that He was foreordained before the foundation of the world. He was manifest — who? Jesus came to this earth. For what? For you. Everybody say, “For me.” May we respond to that love today. Amen.

A Seed is coming

And so we come to Genesis chapter 3. This is the beginning of it all, the beginning of creation. God created Adam and Eve. They’re in the garden. His favorite part of the day was walking with them in the cool of the day. And we come to verse 15. Adam and Eve had sinned, and God makes this declaration starting in verse 15. It says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman.” God is speaking to the serpent, to the devil, the one who had tempted and tricked and caused Adam and Eve to sin. He says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.”

Notice the capital S. Everybody say, “Jesus.” This is talking about Jesus. You know, I think it’s funny. I hear people say, “Well, I don’t really like the God of the Old Testament. He’s always angry. I don’t like to read about that, and it’s kind of boring.” But how many of you know all Scripture speaks of Jesus? I tell people often, the only way to read Scripture correctly is looking for Jesus, because He is there from the very beginning.

And so we see here this Seed. “I will send a Seed.” Everybody say, “A Seed.” “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” The New King James Version uses that word “bruise” twice. But how many of you know it’s not the same level of bruising being referred to here? How many of you know Jesus has completely destroyed the power of the serpent? The serpent got a bite in, and Jesus did actually die on the cross. But Jesus did not merely interrupt Satan’s plan, agenda, and power. He destroyed it.

And so here in verse 15 we are given the narrative of the entire Bible: a Seed is coming. Everybody say that: “A Seed is coming.” How many of you know there’s an expectation in that statement? There’s a longing. You see, sin had entered the world. Humanity was disconnected from God. Scripture says that when people sinned, death entered. That word “death” is the word muth muth, which means “die, die, die, die.” Not only did people start dying physically, we also were dead spiritually. Our soul was dead. We were dead, and we needed a Savior.

And so when we talk about this Seed coming to earth, when we talk about Jesus coming to earth, what we’re really talking about is the love of God. “For God so loved the world.” I think it’s just amazing to really sit and ponder that God became man. How many of you know Jesus didn’t just show up on earth? He always was. He was with the Father and with the Spirit at the creation of the world and of all things. Jesus was there. But He became man. He took on human flesh to be on this earth, to be with us, to be one of us, to taste humanity to the fullest.

We don’t serve a God who isn’t compassionate with the things that we’re facing. We serve a God who knows the troubles that this world brings, who knows the temptations that this world offers, who knows the struggle, who knows pain. We have a compassionate Savior in Jesus. And not only did He put on flesh for 30 years — how many of you know He has human flesh forever? The Creator of all things, God Himself, became man. He took on human flesh forever. When you get to heaven and you see Him, you will see Him in His body. You will see the holes in His hands. You will see the holes in His feet. This was a forever thing.

And it says that from the foundation of the world He committed Himself to this. In other words, He chose you before there was any mistake made, before we had chosen other things, before we looked for other options. He chose you. You know, sometimes you hear about a couple, and you might hear somebody say, “Well, I just don’t know if they’re as invested in this as I am.” How many of you know God is fully invested in you? He is fully committed to you, because He gave everything. Amen. Not demanding that you would choose Him — oh, but that we would see and have our eyes opened to the love of God. Because when our eyes are opened to the love of God, we can’t help but love Him in return. When we see Him rightly. You guys know what I’m saying?

Jesus is the Father’s every answer

And so this is God’s plan. This was God’s answer. This God-man’s coming is the answer to all that Adam and Eve lost. I mean, just consider for a second all of the suffering that exists in this world as a result of sin. Every war, every sickness, turmoil, jealousy, every marriage issue — everything that is dark finds its origin in sin. And the origin of all sin was demonstrated when Adam and Eve turned away from the Lord and began to talk to the serpent.

In fact, how many of you know that is actually the origin of all sin? When we turn our attention from the Lord and we say, “You know what, God, You are not enough. I’m going to entertain a different conversation.” That’s the beginning. That is its origin. If there is a temptation to say, “Well, me and God, we need a break,” how many of you know that is not a good thing?

If you ever get to the point of, “Well, I’ve been hurt by the church” — how many of you know if you do church correctly, you will get hurt by the church? Because there’s only one way to be a part of the church, and that is to open yourself up to others and be willing to be hurt, and allow God to work in that hurt and that pain to conform you into His image. Church hurt is no excuse not to be a part of the church. It is an opportunity for the Lord to work in you and through you, even if it was undeserved. Somebody say amen.

And so God has this strategy, this strategy of love, to deal a fatal blow to the power of the devil. And that strategy was this: “Because of My great love, My Son will become a man.” In other words, for every sin symptom, the answer according to God is the arrival of this Seed. How many of you know if the Father’s every answer is found in Jesus, your every answer should be found in Jesus? If Jesus is the Father’s solution to everything that is wrong — to sin, to every sin symptom — how many of you know when you’re going through it, Jesus is the answer? If Jesus is God the Father’s every answer, then Jesus is your every answer.

And so how will He deal this fatal blow? How will God bruise the head of the serpent? By becoming man. And I want you to notice what this entails. It entails His own bruising. You see, the Father connects the arrival of the Seed with His own bruising. I think sometimes we think the love of God can just be this whimsical waving of the wand to make sin disappear. How many of you know He didn’t just say, “Be gone,” or roll back time? He didn’t do that. The love of God cost Him everything. And the King conquers a certain way: by being bruised, by experiencing pain.

The Lord Himself will give you a sign

Isaiah 7:14 says this. Listen to this; this is so powerful. It says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.” In other words, the Lord was saying, “No, no, no. I’m not just going to send My angels to make this right. I’m not going to delegate this off. I’m not going to even stand back in heaven and work this out from above.” No — the Lord Himself. In other words, God was saying, “I’m going to handle this My way.” And He says, “I, the Lord Himself, will give you a sign.”

How many of you guys love signs, right? It gives us that confidence: “Yeah, the Lord’s for me. He’s coming through for me. My prayer has been answered. The Lord’s doing something.” Notice what the sign is. You ready for the greatest sign? Are you guys ready? This is the greatest sign that we could ever have. If you want to know that God is real, if you want to know that He loves you, if you want to know that He cares about you, this is the sign: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” — meaning, God with us.

The Lord will give us a sign, and the sign is this: the Holy Spirit will conceive in Mary the Son of the living God. That is the Lord’s sign. When the people were following Jesus, they poked and prodded and treated Him like some genie in a bottle and said, “Give us a sign. Do another miracle. Do something else.” And what did Jesus say? “No sign will be given.” The sign had already been sent. And if you don’t believe the sign, there’s no need for additional signs. The sign has been given. This is the Lord’s sign. A Seed is coming. Behold, a virgin will conceive the Savior of the world.

I think sometimes we devalue the power of the incarnation. I think I’ve had too much coffee. I’m starting to get that coffee mouth. You know what I mean? Maybe you don’t, because maybe you don’t excessively drink coffee like I do. We devalue God becoming man by assuming this was God’s emergency plan — that man sinned and all of a sudden God didn’t know what to do, and so He just hit the mayday button when Adam and Eve ate the fruit and said, “I’ve got to figure something out.” No. God revealed Himself through Jesus, and only Jesus.

Rejoice greatly: your King comes lowly

Listen to Zechariah 9:9. It says this: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!” I’ve got to be honest. Something that I love about the Midwest, and people in Wisconsin in particular, is we’re overall, I would say, very nice people. We’re very agreeable. You guys know what I mean? We’re considerate, overall. There are exceptions, don’t get me wrong, but overall, would you guys agree with that? You’re from the South — they’re also really nice. But there’s kind of this, “Oh, that’s nice.” And we also kind of refuse to get excited or overtly celebrate. Do you guys know what I mean? In Wisconsin, if you do a good job, we just kind of are silent about it.

I was watching some sports highlights, and it was these fans watching their favorite team, and they were literally jumping, screaming, celebrating. And one of their friends says, “You know, you should put worship music in the background of that.” And so they did. They did a whole reel, and it was like this super excitement about what Jesus had done. It was quite funny.

But I think sometimes we don’t get excited enough. We get like, “Well, I don’t want anybody to look at me. I don’t want to put myself out there. I don’t want to embarrass myself.” If you were dead and someone saved you, or saved someone you loved, you would be jumping up and down, and you would fall at their feet and say, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” And yet we come into church on a Sunday and we start saying these powerful words to the Lord, and we’re just kind of like, “How long is this going to take? Don’t You know I’ve got plans? I’ve got some shopping to do. I’ve got errands to run. I’ve got things to get to.”

What does Zechariah 9:9 say? It says, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout.” How often do we shout in church? There’s a time and a place, yes. But I think if it’s nonexistent, that’s kind of bad too. It says, “Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold” — what? Look. Look. Come on. If you’re not rejoicing, if you’re not shouting, you’re not looking right. It says, “Behold, your King is coming to you.” Say, “Thank You, Jesus.”

So notice how the King comes. This is so important. “He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” This foretells and is a prophecy of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But this is really a snapshot of how Jesus comes. When Jesus comes, He comes humbly.

I’m convinced that Jesus could show up in this room in a blaze of fire and glory and power. How many of you know He can do that? And I believe we would be blown away by the power of that image. But we would be even more blown away by the humility that He brings. As powerful as He is, He is humble. Everybody say, “Humble.” And so this is saying Jesus is coming to you, and this is how He comes. He enters humbly. He comes lowly.

How many of you know — maybe you’ve experienced this before — we’ve been in times of worship and you can just sense that the Lord is in the room. There’s this electricity going through your body as you’re worshiping the Lord, and you just know the Lord is here. If you haven’t experienced that — the Lord is more than a feeling, by the way. We don’t want to romanticize that, and we’re not after a feeling. We’re after the Lord Himself. But sometimes, when we come into His presence, not only do we have faith in our heart, we can actually sense Him in the room. If you haven’t experienced that, I pray that you do.

I’ve got to share this story, because this is so powerful. I like our worship — not because I’m the one singing. I don’t really particularly like it when I sing. I like it when others on our team are singing. But the most powerful worship times I’ve ever had in my life are when I close the door and go to my room. It’s the most powerful.

And I remember I got a bad report from the doctor. Not good. They wanted me to come in, and they were going to do some tests, and they were like, “We’re pretty sure this is not good.” I went into my room and I began to worship the Lord — not thinking about the sickness, not thinking about any disease. And when I began to worship and I lifted my hands, I could literally feel the Lord go through my body, and I knew I was healed. I wasn’t praying, “Lord, would You heal me?” I had prayed that before, but I wasn’t praying that in that moment. In that moment I was looking to the Lord. In that moment I was like, “Lord, I just need You. I just need to see You.” Do you guys see the difference?

And as I lifted my hands, I just sensed the power of the Holy Spirit go through my body, and I was like, “It’s done.” I just knew. And I go to the doctor, and they do their things, and they’re like, “Oh, it’s nothing to be worried about. We’re good.” They did the test. Everything was fine. I’m not making this story up. It was one of those things where you go to the doctor and they’re like, “We need you here tomorrow.” Does that make sense? And I don’t know what the ultimate diagnosis was, but I did know in that moment: the Lord is my healer.

And as I worship Him — listen — the fact that when we worship the Lord, Jesus will go out of His way to make Himself known to you, the fact that God will go out of His way to make Himself known to you — you guys with me? That is a sign of His humility, that He would even come your way.

Feet that aren’t too fast for people

When I think about Jesus ascending into heaven — He had been risen from the dead. He walked with His disciples for 40 days, continuing to teach them, promising the Holy Spirit. He says, “It’s time,” and He ascends into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father. Mary calls out to Him, and He stops. I’d be like, “Yo, I’ve got places to be. I’ve got a throne to go sit on.” You know what I mean? Do you see the humility?

You know, one of my heart’s desires is that I never move my feet too fast for people. And it’s something I really am still working on. When somebody doesn’t have something to offer us, or maybe it’s someone we don’t really like, we just kind of want to move on and be like, “Yeah, that’s nice,” and we just keep going. You guys know what I’m saying? Do you realize who’s in you? And do you realize what you have the ability to bring to everyone around you? When people give their attention to us, there really is something that we have to offer in that moment. May we not have feet that are too fast for people to be seen, for people to be heard, and for people to be cared for. You get it?

Jesus always stopped. He stopped for the one. Think of blind Bartimaeus. He heard that Jesus was coming. He begins to call out to the Lord, and everybody’s trying to get him to be quiet. There it is again. By the way, the world will tell you to cool your affection for Jesus. And he cried out all the more, and Jesus came and touched him and healed him. Jesus is the one who goes out of His way for us. Amen.

And so when the Lord comes, He comes with a certain characteristic, and it is lowliness. It is lowliness. I believe that this is something that is being attacked in the church at large. It’s not just an unwillingness to serve other people. Some people might say, “Well, I want to serve God, but I don’t want to serve people.” You can’t do that, because He’s married to the church. And so you need to serve one another and love one another.

But I think the way it has crept in the most is, “Well, I have to have boundaries. I have to protect myself.” How many of you know that is the opposite of what Jesus did? Was that hard for everybody here? We like to set up boundaries, and we call them boundaries so that we can make sure that we are healthy. I would argue that you are becoming spiritually sick, because no matter what, when you make it about self, you are taking your attention off of the Lord and bringing it to yourself. And that is actually one of the most demonic things that we can do. When we make it about self and not about Him, we’re pulling ourselves away from Him.

And I just believe that right now, one of the things that should be celebrated is not, “How can I protect myself?” It is, “How can I serve those around me?” Because Jesus didn’t. He came to seek and save. He came to serve. Now, does that mean we wear ourselves out and kill ourselves? No. He’s not asking that. But what we do is keep our eyes on Him. And as the Lord sends people, as the Lord surrounds us, we bring Him to those around us.

So I believe something we need in the church is more lowliness, more humility. What should we do when someone hurts us? What should we do when someone offends us? Maybe it’s somebody sitting next to you. Maybe it’s someone on the opposite side of this room. Maybe it’s someone not in the room. Maybe it’s a family member. What do we do? We get back in the saddle and we say, “Lord, would You heal my heart and make me more like You?”

Because it’s often through the pain. Just like Jesus was bruised — how many of you know Jesus was bruised? He was nailed to the cross, and He died for us. Just like Jesus was bruised, there will be times when you will go through your own bruising. But it’s not without an end goal. The goal is to make you more like Him, to conform you into His image. Amen. So the King comes lowly. And we’ve got to see Christmastime, the nativity, as one massive declaration of the humility and the love of God. A virgin shall be with child. His name will be Immanuel. He is God with us.

I want to read Ephesians 1:22, and I’ve just got a couple more scriptures, and we’re going to wrap this up. Ephesians 1:22 says, “And He put all things under His feet” — this is talking about Jesus — “and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

How many of you know Jesus revealed His desire to fill humanity by becoming human Himself? Jesus is the God who fills all, including you. He’s the God who wants to fill your home. He is the God who wants to fill your children. He wants to fill your thoughts. He wants to fill your marriage. He wants to fill your passion. He wants to fill your broken areas, those places where we say, “Do not enter.” He wants to fill that. He wants into our worship teams. He wants into our families. He wants into our preaching. And He wants into our perspectives. He is the God who comes in. He is all in all.

And so what does that leave for us? If He wants everything, what does that leave for us? Nothing. To the point where Jesus is the King of your heart, the King of your family, the King of the church, the King of the universe, because He is all in all.

The Lord fully identified with us by becoming a man, and He has dignified humanity by becoming a man. Humanity was broken. And when Jesus came and atoned for us, He redeemed us. He dignified humanity by becoming a man. In other words, Jesus, who we just talked about sitting at the right hand of the Father — every time God looks at you, He looks at you through the lens of Jesus. Jesus took on flesh to bring dignity to your flesh, to bring salvation to your bodies. Somebody say amen.

And so God did not just put on a human body. He came and experienced humanity to the fullest. Hebrews 2:14 says, “Inasmuch then as the children” — that’s us — “have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself” — that’s Jesus — “likewise shared in the same, that through death” — this is the bruising of the heel. This is what God the Father was talking about when He was speaking to the serpent: you will bruise His heel. It says Jesus did this “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” He released us from the bondage of death. Yeah, He did.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so

Can we stand this morning? I’m going to close with this powerful psalm. This is actually from our reading this week. And again, man, if you want to see the heart of the Father and the love of the Father, the love of Jesus, I encourage you to get into your Bibles and follow along in that reading plan. It is so evident: our need, His love, and His plan.

I’m going to ask that you bow your heads. I’m going to read this scripture over us this morning. Bow your heads; close your eyes. Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your Word. In fact, can we just do that? Just begin to thank Him. Jesus, thank You for Your Word. Lord, I thank You that You speak to us, that You teach us, that You show us how to follow You, how to respond, how to be people who respond to the love that You have clearly given to us. May we choose You, Lord. That we wouldn’t be haughty. That we wouldn’t be stubborn. But Lord, just like You came to us lowly, that we would respond with a humble and lowly attitude and lay it all down at Your feet today, Lord Jesus. Lord, we surrender all. Everything that we have is Yours. We give it all to You. Lord, we say that You are the Lord of our lives, the one that we look to, the one that we need.

I’m going to read this over you this morning. Psalm 107 says, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” How many of you know we should be saying this? “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way” — how many of you know that we were lost and without hope? — “they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place.”

The Lord has a place for you. I said, the Lord has a place for you. You had no home. You had no place. He is your place. “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord.” This is the psalmist saying, “Oh, that people would know” — that they wouldn’t just hear it, that they’re not just nodding their heads, but that they would know in the core of who they are — “and give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works.” How many of you know the Lord has been good to you? “For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.”

You need to know that the Lord will not force Himself on you. He comes to bring satisfaction to those who hunger, to those who cry out to Him. And I want you to know today that wherever you are, whatever you’ve done, wherever you’ve been, whatever you’ve seen, if you would call on the name of the Lord, He will respond to you. And I believe the Lord is echoing this scripture. He’s speaking this over us, saying, “I have a place for you. And it’s not a far-off place. It’s a place with Me. And because of My love for you, I have purchased you. I have won you by the precious blood of Jesus, the Lamb who was slain for you.”

Friends, this morning, with every eye closed and every head bowed, just give your attention to the Lord. Every person in the room, give your attention right now. I’m just going to ask you to talk to Him right now. He’s available. Just say, “Jesus, help me see You. Help me to know Your love.” Just begin to talk to Him. Just tell Him, “Jesus, I need You. I receive what You’ve done. I receive who You are. I receive Your love.”

This morning you have the privilege to determine how you will follow Jesus. You get to determine how you will come His way — if you will come lowly, or if you will come to Him filled with opinion and filled with yourself. And since the Lord comes lowly to His own, His own should come lowly to Him.

And so today, if you are here, you know in the depths of your heart if you are truly living a life of freedom. You know if you are truly living a life that follows Him, that has surrendered all to Him — a life that is free from sin, a life that is free from guilt and condemnation, a life that is with Him. And maybe you’re here today because you’re visiting, or maybe you’re just in town, or maybe you’re just trying this thing out, but you’ve never really walked with the Lord. I’m here to tell you the Lord did not bring you here just so you could hear some good stuff or just be encouraged. No, the Lord is bringing Himself to you. And He brought you here for a much bigger reason, and that reason is this: to love you and to wash you.

The Lord is here to wash every stain away and to deliver you from darkness, to bring you to the lowly one of Calvary, the lowly one who died on the cross. The Lord is drawing you to Himself. And so if you are here and you are bound with sin, if you have not given your life to the Lord, this is your day. This is your time to call on the name of Jesus.

If you’re here today and you have not been in love with Jesus the way you know you should — if that love in your heart has cooled, if it has been tainted, if you’ve taken up opinions that are lofty and are distracting you from the call of being with Him, and that flame in your heart is dwindling away — I believe the Lord has brought you here to know His love again. Oh, He fills the hungry heart. The thirsty soul, He satisfies.

And so this is what I can tell you today, based on the authority of the word of God: Jesus loves you. And He says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” And if you are here and you want to respond to this loving one, I want you to go ahead right now, with every head bowed and every eye closed. If you are here today and you want to respond to the love of Jesus, saying, “Lord, I want to follow You. Lord, I want to give my life to You” — if you are here today and you’re saying, “Lord, I want to love You more” — I’m going to ask that you just look at me and lift your hand. Amen. Amen.

And so this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to call out to Jesus. I’m going to ask that every person in this room lift your hands to the Lord, and I’m going to ask that we all pray this out loud, loud enough for the person next to you to hear. We’ve got to fill the room. Amen. And so let’s say this together. Say:

Heavenly Father, I’ve sinned against You. Cleanse my sin. Wash me in the holy blood of Jesus. Today I turn from my sin, and I turn to the Lord. I repent. Jesus, You are the Son of the living God. You died on the cross. You shed Your blood. You were buried. You were raised to life again, so that I could choose You, and follow You, and love You in return. You are the King of glory. You are the Holy One. And I give my life to You, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. Can we thank the Lord? Thank You, Lord. I want us to thank Him one more time, and I want us to rejoice. I want the redeemed of the Lord to say so. So can we try that again? Scripture says that when one person repents and gives their life to the Lord, all of heaven rejoices. We should be rejoicing. I said, we should rejoice. Come on. Thank You, Lord. Jesus. Yes.

I’m going to pray a blessing over you. Lord Jesus, I pray, as we leave this place, over every home, over every family, over every person that does not know You. Lord, let this flame that is in our hearts, the Holy Spirit — let it be so prevalent, let it be so loud, that You cannot be denied. Lord, I pray that people, that families, would turn to Jesus because of the work that You have done in us. Lord, we bring glory to You. We fix our eyes on You. You are everything. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.