Thank you for listening to this message from Lifehouse Church.
Wow, I love hearing all the chatter out there.
You guys are really connecting.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there.
We're so excited and honored that we get to
celebrate with you and that you joined us to celebrate today.
I'm a mom of three and a Mimi of four,
soon to be five, so I love this day.
I like to be honored. Who doesn't like gifts and presents and all that good stuff, right?
Moms, we have a gift for you.
We actually have two gifts for you today and we have
some lovely helpers that are going to come around and hand those gifts to you.
We have a facial face mask for you.
At some point today,
if you get 30 minutes to just relax, guys,
this is a hint for you, take the kids,
do whatever it takes for mom to have.
While you have that face mask on,
we have got some amazing Mammert's chocolate covered pretzels for you to partake of.
If you've not had Mammert's chocolate,
this is a shameless plug for them.
We don't know them,
we're not invested in them,
but they have some amazing chocolate here in town.
They're just a little local chocolate shop.
We have that gift for you today.
While the girls are passing this out,
I just want you guys to turn your attentions to the screen.
If you're a mom, wave your hand at them.
Let us know.
I wanna stop, stop, and thank you mama
How sweet it is to be loved by you
Feels so fine, yeah
How sweet it is to be loved by you
Eee, I close my eyes at night
Wondering where would I be without you in my life
Everything I do reminds me of you
Everywhere I go I wish you were there too
You brighten up for me all of my days
Love's so sweet in so many ways
I wanna stop, stop, and thank you mama
I just wanna stop, stop, and thank you mama, oh yeah
How sweet it is to be loved by you
Oh, how sweet it is to be loved by you
Yeah, how sweet it is to be loved by you
Love's so sweet in so many ways
I couldn't help but think of the words to this song that we just played
I know we played that as a tribute to moms
But how sweet it is to be loved by you
I needed the shelter of someone's arms and there you were
I needed someone to understand my ups and downs and there you were
With sweet love and devotion deeply touching my emotion
Wondering where I would be without you in my life
I just wanna stop and thank you, they said mama
But when I was thinking of those words I thought that could almost be Jesus
You know, when we needed the shelter of someone's arms
And we needed our emotions, ups and downs and the ups and downs of life
And I just think that could be Jesus
So I was thinking moments earlier I said that
There's nothing sweeter than being loved by your mama
But actually I think there's something way better
I think there's something way sweeter than being loved by your mama
And that's being loved by God, by your creator
By the one who knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb
God's love for us is so incredible that it's almost indescribable
And before we dig into the word I just wanna pray over it
And ask just for God's will to be done
So if you'd bow your heads with me
Father, Lord we thank you for this day
We thank you for each one that's here this morning
God it's always our prayer when we come in through the doors of Lighthouse
And for all the people that come in
That they don't leave here the same way they came
But they will be changed because they've been in your presence
And because they've heard your word
And Father I pray over your word this morning
God I pray that you edit my words
And only have me share what you would have them to hear today
God we give you praise, we give you thanks in all things
In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen
Amen and amen
So I wanna talk about God's love today
I wanna give you some attributes of God's love
It's really, it's almost indescribable
Like we can't put a finger on God's love
We can't understand it
But I wanna give you some attributes of it
God's love is gentle
If you read in Matthew 11, 28 and 29
It says, then Jesus said, come to me
All of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens
And I will give you rest
Take my yoke upon you
Let me teach you because I am humble
And gentle at heart
And you will find rest for your souls
That's Jesus speaking to us, he is gentle
And when I thought about that
I couldn't help but thinking about the woman at the well
And if you're not familiar with the story of the woman at the well
The woman at the well didn't live exactly an exemplary Jesus following life
She came to the well in the heat of the day
Hoping nobody else would be there
Because she didn't want her critics to come
She didn't want those accusers to come against her
But Jesus gently met her at the well
He gently met her at the well
And he shared the living water with her
Where she would never thirst again
Did he speak truth to her? Absolutely
He told her kind of exactly where she was in a gentle way
But he met her at the well and was gentle with her
Another attribute of God's love is that he is faithful and he is merciful
In Lamentations 3, 22 and 23, it says
The faithful love of God never ends
His mercies never cease
Great is his faithfulness
His mercies begin afresh every morning
When I think about that, I think about his love that never ends
And his mercies never end
I kind of think a little bit about Jarius' daughter in the Bible
Jarius and his daughter
And if you're not familiar with that story
That's the story of a man whose daughter was very ill
She was very sick
And he'd heard about this man Jesus that was healing people
And so he left his very sick daughter
And he left and he went to find Jesus
But while he was gone, his daughter passed
But Jesus was faithful and merciful
And came with Jarius and healed his daughter and brought her back
His faithfulness never ends
His mercies are new
God's love is compassionate
Psalms 86 and 15 says
But you, O Lord, are a God of great compassion and mercy
Slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness
God's love is compassionate
And I was looking in God's Word and I was thinking about an example of that
And I couldn't help but think of Hosea and Gomer in the Bible
I couldn't help but think the prophet Hosea who was told by God to marry Gomer
And if you're not familiar with that story
Let's bring it to modern day times
It would be like God, Pastor Kip, is single
He's not, he's married ladies, he's been married for almost 33 years
But if Pastor Kip was single and he was the pastor of this church
It would be like God telling him to marry a local prostitute
That's hanging out there by the Turnpike entrance on Carlisle Pike
I'm not so sure Lifehouse would be very accepting of that
If we brought that down to come time
But God's love is so compassionate
So much love for Gomer and where she was that he told Hosea to redeem her
To bring her, to show her her love and to show her her worth
And we know that that's got a story with Israel
And I'm not going to go into all that detail this morning
But God's love is compassionate
God's love is unfathomable
In Ephesians 3, 18 and 19 it says
And you may have the power to understand as all God's people should
How wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is
May you experience the love of Christ that is too great to understand fully
You know, I think about that and it's really hard for us to understand that
But I think of someone in the Bible called Saul
Who was a man who hated Christians, who persecuted Christians, who killed Christians
But God's love was so unfathomable, so love
The love that's so deep, so wide, so far that he took Saul where he was
And he met him and he became Paul
And we all know the stories of Paul in the Bible
If you don't read about him, he was a great follower of Christ in God's word
I think that if he can take someone like Saul who killed Christians
And bring him to Paul who became someone who was a follower of Christ
And shared that with so many, I just think God's love is unfathomable
Then I look at how God's love is forgiving and full of grace
In Nehemiah 17 it says
Even when God's people refused to obey his word
Even after he performed miracles on their behalf
God was a God of forgiveness, graciousness, and merciful
Slow to become angry and rich in his unfailing love
And I look at that and I can't help to think about David
If you think about David, the little shepherd boy
Who went and fought Goliath with five stones
Took out that giant, that's great, that's amazing, right?
Then David becomes King David
And then David messes up
Then David has an affair with a married woman
And gets the woman pregnant
Then tries to hide it by having the woman's husband killed at war
I mean you think about that, he went from there
From being the guy who slayed the giant to King to now he's in this mess
I think Pastor Kipp last week talked a little bit about lie after lie after lie after lie to cover up
And that's kind of the trouble that David got himself in
But I think about how God loved him
And how God was gracious to him
And how God was forgiving and full of grace in David's life
And I think of all these examples of how God is with us
And then I think about how God's love is always with us
Even in our pain and even in our suffering
You see Isaiah 43, 2 and 3 says
When you go through deep waters, I will be with you
When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown
When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up
The flames will not consume you for I am your Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior
God's love is always with us even in our pain and suffering
I can't help but think about Joseph in the Bible
Now think about this, Joseph's brothers hated him
I'm not talking about your typical sibling rivalry where you're pushing over your brother
Or he makes you mad and you punch him
His brothers hated him
His brothers put him in a pit, sold him into slavery, he was in prison
But then Joseph made it to the palace
And the entire time in Joseph's pain and his suffering
God was with him
God's love is always with us
Then I think about how God's love is eternal
Isaiah 54, 10 says
For the mountains may move and the hills disappear
But even then my faithful love for you will remain
My covenant of blessing will never be broken says the Lord who has mercy on you
God's love is eternal
And you know what, I can't help but think about us
When I think about God's eternal love
I can't understand it, I can't understand that no matter
How many times I mess up, how many mistakes I make
How much sin I get myself involved in
God's love for me never wavers
God never moves farther away from me, it's me moving farther away from him
God's love is eternal
From the moment I am formed in my mother's womb
Until I take my last breath
God's love is unconditional for me, eternal, he loves me
Then I think about how God's love is protective
I read in Psalms 5, 11 and 12
But let all who take refuge in you rejoice
Let them sing your joyful praises
Spread protection over them
That all who love your name may be filled with joy
For you bless the godly, O Lord
You surround them with your shield of love
God's love is protective
Can't help but think about Daniel in the lion's den
If you're not familiar with that story
Daniel got thrown in exactly what I said, a lion's den
And God shut the mouths of the lions and was protective
I think about Daniel, but I think about my own life
And I think about all the times that God's protection was on me
The things that he kept me from, the things that he brought me through
God's love is protective
And last but not least, and there's many other attributes
These are just the ones I'm talking about today
God's love is sacrificial
1 John 4, 9 and 10 says that God showed how much he loved us
By sending his one and only son into the world
So that we might have eternal life through him
This is real love, not that we loved God
But that he loved us
And sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins
What an example of love then for him to send his one
His only son to the cross
So that we could have forgiveness
So that our sins could be forgiven
And that we could live this life with Christ
I think about that today on Mother's Day
I have a son, I have one and only son
I have two daughters, one son
Not that I would give any of them their lives
But I have one son
I would not lay his life down, I love you all
But I would not lay his life down for any of you
Sorry, I'm just being honest
And I'm not so sure that there's anybody else out there
That would lay their child down for any of us
But God loved us so much
That's the impact, that's the gravity
Of what God did for us
He sent his one, his only son for us
And that is all really good stuff
God's love is amazing
But I'm not gonna stop there
Because how many know there's always a but?
But how many know that we're gonna have trouble in this life
And that God never said that when you become a follower of Christ
That it's all gonna be peaches and cream
That it's gonna be roses and sunshine
Rainbows and unicorns
I don't find that in God's word anywhere
God's love does not mean that we're not gonna have trouble in this life
In fact, he tells us that
He tells us truth
In John 16, 33, he says
I have told you these things
So that in me you may have peace
In this world you will have trouble
But take heart, I have overcome the world
Now notice in there it doesn't say
In this world you might have trouble
It doesn't say in this world there's a chance you could have trouble
It doesn't say in this world
It's iffy 50-50 you might have trouble
That is not what it says
It says he's straight up, he's straightforward, he tells you the truth
In this world you will have trouble
But take heart because I have overcome the world
God did not hide the fact that we have troubles, problems, trials, bad days, bad weeks, bad months, bad years
He just promised to love us and walk with us
And that we'd never be alone through that
See, I like what one writer said
He said life isn't a walk in the park
It's more like a trek through the mountains
On top of the world one minute, in the valley the next
But the same God who gives you that mountaintop view
Doesn't let you walk alone in the valley
It's the same God
See, but there's something that happens to us in our humanness
When the trials and the troubles come
We get super focused on the problem, on the trial
On whatever it is that we're going through
We get so focused on that
That we forget about all those things that I just talked about
All those attributes of God, his love
We forget because we get so focused on the problems
See, this glass of water represents our life, free of trouble
It's pure, it's clear, it looks really good
This is dirt
It represents the troubles in our life
Okay, little science experience here
They can always fail, so we're going to go to that in a minute
But this dirt represents the difficulties that we have in life
Those difficulties could be parenting your kids
How many moms out there think parenting kids is hard?
If you didn't raise your hand, you just lied
It's hard
I had three, I know
Parenting kids are hard, and it doesn't ever end
I don't care how old they are
Parenting kids are hard even when they're adults
Because you stop parenting, sort of, because they're adults
You got to kind of find a walk that line
But that could represent the dirt
Or it could be maybe your marriage isn't in the place that you thought it would be
You got married, you've been married five years, ten years, 15 years, 20 years
And your marriage is just in a rough place
And that could represent the dirt
Or maybe it's that diagnosis that you got
And you're so focused on that diagnosis
Or maybe it's that your son or your daughter came home with the news that you just didn't want to hear
That could be the dirt
It could be that your finances are a mess
And you're in over your head, and you're so focused on that mess
You just don't know what to do
It could be that it's a relationship with your mom or your dad that's broken
And you're so focused on that
It could be your job
Maybe your job is swallowing you up
Maybe your job is just so stressful, so much, it's just swallowing you up
And that's where all your focus is
Or maybe you lost your job
And now you don't know what you're going to do, and you've got that mess, that dirt
Maybe you've lost a child
Or maybe you've lost a parent
Or maybe you've lost a spouse
And maybe that's the dirt
And see what happens when that dirt, when those troubles come into our life
It gets all mixed up in there
And we get so focused of trying to make our water clear
And we're trying to get this dirt out
And we spend oodles and oodles of time
That's an awful sound actually, hearing that across that glass
We try to get that dirt out, we're so focused on that
And no matter how hard I try, how focused I get on this
I'm never going to be able to make that water less dirty with this spoon
And trying to get the trouble
If I try to do this on my own, and I keep trying to fix the problem, to fix the trial
I'm going to be doing this forever
I'm going to be so distracted, I'm going to be doing this forever, but you know what?
You know how we deal with this trouble, with this problem
See this picture of water, this represents God's love
That he has for us, and the goodness that's in our life
And you know how you get rid of this, or you make your life more clear
As you just start focusing on the love of God
And the more of the love of God, and the more of him you pour in
The water gets clear
Now it's never going to be as pure and clear as the day you were born
Before there was any trouble
But as you focus on the love of God
And I can keep going, there's still going to be a little bit in there, but I can keep going
Do you see how clear your water is?
Do you see if you focus on the love of God, and the goodness of God
And not on the problems that that is how you deal with things in your life
It's difficult when we have those things come in
You get consumed by trying to get that dirt out
We become fixated on it
We get so focused on the problem
We spend all our time trying to fix it
And listen, I had to preach this to me before I'm ever sharing it with you
I feel like this was a message that God laid on my heart months ago
Because he did this in my own life
There's been times that I have got so focused on the dirt
On the problem that I forget that the one who can bring peace
Who can bring all that, the goodness back in our life
Who can bring healing, whose grace and mercies are new every day
I forget because I'm so focused on the problem
You see, there's this funny thing that was invented a couple
I don't know how long ago it was, somebody out there with technology can tell me
It's this watch that I have on, this Apple watch
And you know, this Apple watch does funny things for me, it's really great
It will remind me of appointments that I have, it's right on there
I'll get warnings on that
But I've also, I guess you do this when you set it up
I don't really remember, it's been so long since I've had one
But you tell it how many movements you want to have for the day to be healthy
And it knows how many times you should stand a day for some strange reason in order to be healthy
So I'm at work and my watch will tell me, Dixie, you need to stand
I never knew I needed a watch to tell me to stand
But it'll say it's time to stand
But it reminds me that it would be healthy for me to stand up right now
So I tend to stand up and I go to the copier or go put something in the fouling cabinet
I know I work with Bishop Bill and his watch tells him that
He gets up and goes out and walks around the building
So our watch, this amazing invention is telling us that
Even at night, like at 10.45, my watch will tell me, Dixie
If you would go take a 15-minute brisk walk, you will meet your movements for the day
Those are the times I kind of just like want to smash the watch
Because I don't really want to go for a brisk walk at 10.45, you know
But wouldn't it be amazing if we had a Jesus watch?
You know, a Jesus watch that would just say
Hey, Dixie, you're really being focused on that problem right now
But if you just remember, if you just remember in Lamentations 3, 22 and 23
That the faithful love of the Lord never ends
That His mercies never cease
That great in His faithfulness, great are His mercies
That begin fresh and new every morning
And then I get that nudge from him
And then he says in Ephesians 3, 18 and 19
And may you have the power to understand, as all of God's people should
How wide, how long, how high, how deep His love is for you
May you experience the love of Christ
If I just had that Jesus watch that would remind me of that
Just like this Apple watch does when I need to stand up
Or even in Psalms 5, 11, 12, if that Jesus watch would say
But let all who take refuge in your rejoice
Let them sing joyful praises forever
Spread protection over them
That all who love your name are filled with joy
For God blesses the godly
Oh, the love that He has for us
If we would just have that Jesus watch, guess what?
You do. It's called the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is your Jesus watch
It's that nudge to tell you
Hey, Dixie, you need to get in the Word
You need to be reading those scriptures
You need to be spending time with God
And you need to be focusing on His love for you
Not on the dirt, not on the problems
We're all gonna have the problems
He was honest with us
In this world you will have trouble
And you know what?
I have called these cheater sticky notes up here
That I had the scriptures on
You know what I do with these scriptures?
Because I don't always have them committed to memory
If I'm going through something and I need to be reminded of something
I just stick this on my mirror
So when I get up in the morning
I've got that Jesus watch
Reminding me that His mercies are new every morning
This is my cheater notes that if I don't have the time
Or I don't make the time
Let me put it that way, we all have the time
But if I don't make the time to get in God's Word in the morning before I go
I at least read the little sticky note
The little Jesus watch that I put on the mirror
To remind me that God's love is gentle
To remind me that God's love is faithful and merciful
To remind me that God's love is compassionate
To remind me that God's love is unfathomable
To remind me that His love is forgiving and full of grace
To remind me that His love is always with us
Even in our pain and in our suffering
To remind me that His love is eternal
To remind me that His love is protective and sacrificial
To remind me
I'm going to ask if you'd stand this morning if Zach and the worship team would come
You see if we focus on His love
It brings the clarity, the peace, the mercy, the grace, the healing
The compassion into our life
Our water gets clear even though we're still going to have dirt in our life
You see His life is eternal so no matter how muddy our water gets
With troubles, His love is enough
His love is always with us
We need to focus on Him and His goodness
And not the circumstances around us
So this morning, I don't really know if you're on the mountaintop
And your glass is pretty clear right now
And if it is, get ready because it's not going to stay there
Because it's where it says we're going to have trouble
Or if right now today you're in the valley
And you're going through something
And you feel like Jesus is so far away
And how could He love me right now?
Because if He did, I wouldn't be going through this
I wouldn't be walking down this path
I wouldn't be having this trouble
I wouldn't have lost my job
I wouldn't have missed that promotion
My kid wouldn't have come home and gave me that news
That's not true, that's the enemy telling you that
Because God loves you more than you will ever imagine
And it doesn't matter where you are
Because God's love is unconditional
His blessings are conditional
But His love for you is unconditional
So this morning I wanted to remind you of God's love
I wanted to remind you, I wanted you to get you a picture
Of what you need to focus on
When those troubles come because they're going to come
I want you to quit focusing on the dirt
And on the problems and retrain your mind
To focus on the goodness of God's love
On the goodness of God
So we're going to bow our heads this morning
And right where you are we're going to pray
And then the worship team is going to sing a song
And then we're going to get ready to close
But I don't know where you are
But maybe you're even here this morning
And you've never experienced this love of God
You're not a follower of Jesus
You don't really understand anything I was talking about today
Except for we've got this God that loves you
You can know Him
Because even though you don't know Him, He knows you
And He wants to be in relationship with you
So Father, this morning I pray right where everyone is at
Right in their seats God I pray
That if they are in that valley this morning
That something that you said through me
One of the scriptures from your word this morning
God penetrated their hearts
And they were reminded of that need to have you in their life
That need to have your love cover whatever it is they're in
Whether they need protection
Whether they need mercy and grace
Whatever it is that they need
Maybe they just need your gentle arms to come around them
And say hey it's going to be okay
Because I'm with you
God wherever they are this morning God
I pray that they just take a moment
And they ask you for what they need this morning
Where they're at
Right where they're at Jesus
God that you will come in and you will show them
A love like no other
A love that is eternal
A love that is gentle and faithful and merciful
So God I pray that they lay that problem
Right at your feet
And they focus on you and your love
God I pray that you just touch them and meet them
Right where they're at this morning
In your precious name
Thank you for watching!