1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,840 Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. 2 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:16,040 This week Rob shares a story about some super-sized turkeys and how these are really just a chicken 3 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:20,080 nugget compared to the enormous size of God's love. 4 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:24,920 Keep listening to find out how we measure the width, length, height, and depth of God's 5 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:30,840 love for us. 6 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:36,120 Today's reading is from Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 to 21. 7 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:41,120 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth 8 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:42,880 derives its name. 9 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:47,060 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his 10 00:00:47,060 --> 00:00:52,440 spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 11 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:57,720 And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all 12 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:03,480 the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of 13 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:08,840 Christ and to know that this love surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure 14 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,440 of all the fullness of God. 15 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:16,460 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according 16 00:01:16,460 --> 00:01:21,360 to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Jesus 17 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,880 Christ throughout all generations forever and ever. 18 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:25,880 Amen. 19 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:26,880 This is the word of the Lord. 20 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,280 Good morning everyone and happy Thanksgiving. 21 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:30,760 It's great to see you this morning. 22 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,500 We're so glad you're here and a special welcome to any who are visiting on Thanksgiving weekend. 23 00:01:34,500 --> 00:01:38,640 We know lots of people go out of town but other people come into town so we're really 24 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,000 glad that you're with us this morning. 25 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,920 Ladies and gentlemen, I gave you a picture of Jubilee Acres. 26 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:53,240 This is the place where our family called home in the year 2011 when I was working at 27 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:55,840 a little church in the Niagara region. 28 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:02,960 We bought this little hobby farm with this old, old farmhouse and an even older barn 29 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:11,080 with a leaky roof and this is where we called home for about seven or eight years. 30 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:17,160 And this gave us the chance to try our hand at farming while I was still serving at the 31 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,000 local church in Port Colborne. 32 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,160 Here's a picture of our family during those years on the farm and when we were on the 33 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:27,640 farm in those years, we tried all sorts of things. 34 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:33,580 We raised crops, we raised various creatures and animals because we wanted to make a little 35 00:02:33,580 --> 00:02:35,440 bit of money on the side. 36 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,400 So we sold eggs, we sold chickens. 37 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:45,600 We even, come Thanksgiving time, we would raise and sell turkeys. 38 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:52,780 That's right, if you wanted the best and juiciest turkey in all of Niagara, then you came to 39 00:02:52,780 --> 00:02:58,360 Jubilee Acres because at Jubilee Acres, we raised our turkeys outdoors. 40 00:02:58,360 --> 00:02:59,440 They were free range. 41 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:05,240 We created these big outdoor pens where they could run around and we also raised a heritage 42 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:06,240 breed of turkey. 43 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:08,880 It wasn't one of the white turkeys that everybody gets. 44 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:09,880 No, no, no. 45 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,360 These weren't the, it was called an Orlop Bronze Turkey. 46 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,040 And it was kind of like a black feathered turkey, not unlike a wild turkey that you 47 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:21,080 might see as you're driving down the road, but they grew bigger. 48 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:26,040 And so every year we would buy about 50 baby turkeys. 49 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:33,480 Quick trivia question, what do you call a baby turkey? 50 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:34,880 Is it a chick? 51 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:35,880 No. 52 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,040 Is it a nugget? 53 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,480 Is it a gobbler? 54 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:45,240 No, a baby turkey is called a poult, a P-O-U-L-T. 55 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,480 So here's a picture of one of our daughters holding one of the day old turkey poult's 56 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:51,640 that we would have received. 57 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:56,160 And that was just the beginning because then you had to start feeding them every day. 58 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,280 You had to start feeding these turkeys, even though they are free range, they still required 59 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:00,280 a lot of food. 60 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:01,520 And I mean a lot of food. 61 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,460 So you would go to the feed store and the first thing you fed them at this age was something 62 00:04:05,460 --> 00:04:07,240 called turkey starter. 63 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,960 And it was a special formulation to kind of help them get through the first few weeks 64 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:13,400 of their lives. 65 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:18,160 But after they had gotten to a certain size, then you switched to turkey grower and you 66 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:23,080 would go and you get these big 25 kilogram bags of turkey grower and you would fill and 67 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,680 they would eat and eat and grow and grow. 68 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:29,280 And then when they were getting close to being butchered, you would go and you would get 69 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:32,040 another special kind of feed called turkey finisher. 70 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:33,320 No, I'm serious. 71 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:36,080 It was called turkey finisher. 72 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,840 And the turkey finisher was like high in fat. 73 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:44,240 So it really fattened up your turkeys before you took them to get butchered. 74 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:50,680 Now normally this process would take somewhere between 14 to 16 weeks, at which point you 75 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:55,680 would have a turkey with a live weight of something like 20 to 25 pounds, which meant 76 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:59,920 that after it came back from the butcher, it would be something like 15 to 20 pounds, 77 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:02,920 which is like the ideal size of a turkey, right? 78 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,280 If you want a turkey for your table. 79 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:08,880 But the reason I'm telling you all this is one year we ran into a problem. 80 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,400 And that is when I made the phone call to the butcher and there weren't many butchers 81 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,260 who would butcher turkeys from small flock farmers. 82 00:05:15,260 --> 00:05:18,000 When I made the call to the butcher, I said, we'd like to book our date. 83 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:19,920 He said, I'm sorry, that date is booked. 84 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:21,640 And I said, okay, what do you got the next week? 85 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:23,120 He said, that date is booked. 86 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:24,600 I said, what do you got the next week? 87 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:26,560 And the next week and the next week. 88 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:31,760 And I kid you not, we were stuck in a situation where we could not get our turkeys butchered 89 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:37,280 for a period of time that was like four or five weeks longer than we had intended. 90 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:41,680 Now the good news was this was still going to allow us to have our turkeys done and butchered 91 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,360 them back to people by Thanksgiving. 92 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:52,760 But the problem was that we had to keep feeding these suckers for another four or five weeks. 93 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:59,240 And pretty soon these 25 pound turkeys were 30 pound turkeys, were 35 pound turkeys, were 94 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:03,040 40 pound turkeys, were 45 pound turkeys. 95 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:10,400 I kid you not, they were 50 pound turkeys as we kept feeding them and feeding them and 96 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:11,400 feeding them. 97 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,960 In fact, they were getting so big that we ran into the time when the Wayne Fleet Fall 98 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:17,600 Fair is held. 99 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:22,880 And so we took a couple of our turkeys to the Wayne Fleet Fall Fair and they both won 100 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:24,520 first prize because they were massive. 101 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:26,760 In fact, I even kept the ribbon. 102 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:32,720 This was the grand champion ribbon for our tom turkey at the Wayne Fleet Fall Fair. 103 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:37,920 I mean, we could have entered them in the horse show and they would have won first prize. 104 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:42,120 These suckers were massive, massive. 105 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:47,880 Finally the day came when we took them to get butchered and sure enough, the hens, the 106 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:52,040 females came back like finished weight 25 to 30 pounds plus. 107 00:06:52,040 --> 00:07:00,480 And the toms, the toms came back at something like 35 to 40 plus pounds each a turkey. 108 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,640 Now something I didn't tell you is that people ordered these turkeys months in advance and 109 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:11,840 they agreed to pay us $3.50 a pound, which meant that now people who are coming to pick 110 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:18,080 up their turkeys were like owing us like $150 for these massive turkeys. 111 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:19,080 Don't worry. 112 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:20,080 We didn't make any money in the end. 113 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:25,120 The suckers like they ate so much food and that meant that your cooking time for a turkey, 114 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:29,560 which is something like 15 minutes per pound was now going to take you like eight hours 115 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:31,320 to cook this massive turkey. 116 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:36,360 But the biggest problem was the biggest problem was is that they were so big people couldn't 117 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:37,560 like handle them. 118 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:44,480 They couldn't figure out how to fit them into their ovens or into a pan. 119 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:46,640 And this was a real, actually a real problem. 120 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:48,800 They were super, super heavy. 121 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,000 They didn't fit into a roasting power. 122 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:56,800 Now what we had to do actually in that case is some of the bigger ones, we had to freeze 123 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:03,600 them solid and then we took them to a friend of ours who had a band saw and he ran the 124 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:09,040 turkeys right through the band saw until they split into two half turkeys. 125 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:10,040 I'm not even joking. 126 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:14,240 Two half turkeys, each of them weighing about 20 pounds and then they were able to kind 127 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:16,940 of get them into the pan and get them into their oven. 128 00:08:16,940 --> 00:08:25,960 And you know, in the end, I got to tell you though, they were massive but delicious turkeys. 129 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:31,700 And when we sat down to our Thanksgiving dinner that year, we all had a little bit of a smile 130 00:08:31,700 --> 00:08:35,060 on our face because we knew there's a whole bunch of people throughout town who were also 131 00:08:35,060 --> 00:08:41,720 sitting down to these massive turkeys or half turkeys that were going to make their Thanksgiving 132 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:47,400 something to remember and was going to make that meal the talk of the town. 133 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:51,380 Now listen, today is Thanksgiving Sunday and most of us have shown up here today and we 134 00:08:51,380 --> 00:08:52,840 are thankful. 135 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,360 We're joyous, you know, but not all of us, not all of us. 136 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:01,720 For many, for many people, Thanksgiving is kind of a hard time or at least there's nothing 137 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:03,360 special about it. 138 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:09,440 It could be that you're not sitting down today to a table with a 42 pound or a lot bronze 139 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:10,440 turkey on it. 140 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:15,600 It could be that actually you're sitting down to a plate full of problems, to a plate full 141 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:20,160 of struggles, health struggles, financial struggles, relationship struggles, other things 142 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:21,760 that are going on in your life. 143 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:26,360 You've got a lot on your plate and it's not turkey. 144 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:30,080 And so while some of us came to church this morning, we were totally revved up. 145 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:34,040 Others of us may have come and we're feeling actually a little bit unthankful and that 146 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:35,040 is okay. 147 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:36,040 Why is that okay? 148 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:42,240 I want to set a table for you and I am going to serve you something that is going to make 149 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,680 your Thanksgiving the best one ever. 150 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:53,400 You see, God wants to give you this morning a huge, a massive, an enormous gift, something 151 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,760 even larger than a 40 plus pound turkey. 152 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,440 What God has for you this morning is so incredible. 153 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:00,440 It's so huge. 154 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:08,520 That when you see it, when you sink your teeth into it, your hopes will be lifted and your 155 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:11,600 lives will be changed. 156 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:12,600 What am I talking about? 157 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:18,880 I am talking about the great, big love of God. 158 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,360 2000 years ago, Paul wrote these words. 159 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:26,920 He said, I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power. 160 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:35,680 Now get this to grasp how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ 161 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:40,880 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. 162 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:47,280 Paul is trying to describe the supersized love of God. 163 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:53,240 God is so big that God's love is so big that he is trying to use three dimensional language 164 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:54,240 to talk about. 165 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:58,000 And God's love has got length and height and depth and width. 166 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,760 It's almost like the only way he can communicate the vastness of it. 167 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:07,520 The only way he can communicate the enormity and the greatness of God's love is to, is 168 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:12,200 to imagine it as this big three dimensional object. 169 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:16,840 In fact though, Paul is so excited about this that he actually creates a little bit of an 170 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:17,840 oxymoron. 171 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:22,780 He says, I want you to know this love that surpasses knowledge. 172 00:11:22,780 --> 00:11:26,000 How do you know something that can't be known? 173 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,520 How do you define something that can't be defined? 174 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:36,120 How do you measure something like the love of God that is clearly immeasurable? 175 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:37,120 It's true. 176 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:38,800 The love of God is beyond all calculation. 177 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:42,520 It's beyond all computation and it can't be measured. 178 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:44,680 And yet today we're going to try, today we're going to try. 179 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:48,540 Cause some of the greatest spiritual thinkers in all of history has spent their lives trying 180 00:11:48,540 --> 00:11:55,360 to comprehend and understand even a smidgen, even a taste, even a drumstick of the love 181 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:56,360 of God. 182 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:00,600 But even then, then they do so they're only just scratching the surface of it. 183 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:05,600 It's like, it's like we can't fit the huge Turkey of God's love into the small little 184 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,340 roasting pans of our brains. 185 00:12:08,340 --> 00:12:09,960 But today we're going to try. 186 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:11,000 We got to try. 187 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,620 We're going to try to jam as much of it in there as we can, as much of it into our hearts 188 00:12:14,620 --> 00:12:15,620 as we can. 189 00:12:15,620 --> 00:12:18,240 And here's why, because it's Thanksgiving. 190 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:22,560 And the more you know about God's love, the more thankful you'll be. 191 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:25,880 And the more joy you will feel in your life. 192 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:30,720 The more you grasp hold, the more you can grab a hold of this great thing, the more 193 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:34,560 you'll realize, you know, everything's going to be all right. 194 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:37,480 Even if you've got struggles and even though you've got worries and even though you've 195 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:43,200 got problems, they all kind of fade away when you compare it to the measurements of how 196 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,360 big God's love is. 197 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:52,400 Guys, do you know that one day you are going to spend all eternity staring at and marveling 198 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:58,540 at and gazing at the enormity of God's love, but you don't have to wait until then we can 199 00:12:58,540 --> 00:13:01,160 get started now. 200 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,120 So that's what we're going to do today. 201 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:05,120 That's what we're going to do. 202 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:11,520 We're going to take our rulers and we are going to try to measure how wide and how long 203 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:15,640 and how deep and how high is the love of God. 204 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:19,520 I've created some sermon notes that you can kind of follow along if you want to keep track 205 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,040 of where we're going. 206 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,960 First let's try to measure the width of God's love. 207 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:25,960 How wide is it? 208 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:28,280 Have you ever thought about how wide God's love is? 209 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:33,200 Have you ever thought about how widely God extends his mercy? 210 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:39,600 You know, the thing is many of us consciously or unconsciously, we put limits on God's love, 211 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:40,600 right? 212 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:45,200 We're pretty sure that God's love is only for people like us, right? 213 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:50,080 Those who think the way we do, those who believe the way we do, those who look the way we do. 214 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:54,080 We're pretty certain that God's love is only reserved for a select few. 215 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:59,360 Maybe our family, maybe our community, maybe our kind of religious background, maybe our 216 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:01,760 nation or our set of politics. 217 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:07,200 We restrict God's love to my circle, to my little tribe. 218 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:12,760 You know, the Jewish people in Jesus' day, they couldn't figure out how God's love could 219 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:14,340 be so wide. 220 00:14:14,340 --> 00:14:15,560 They had it restricted. 221 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:18,460 They understood that God's love was to the Jewish people. 222 00:14:18,460 --> 00:14:20,480 God's salvation was for the Jewish people. 223 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:24,240 God's love was through the Jewish people, but it was the apostle Paul that showed them 224 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,040 how wrong they were. 225 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:28,920 Paul comes along and says, there is neither Jew nor Greek. 226 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:30,440 There is neither slave nor free. 227 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,480 There is neither male nor female. 228 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,600 You are all one in Christ Jesus. 229 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:42,680 Do you know how important a phrase like that is in our divided and polarized world today 230 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:46,320 to know that God's love is so wide, it extends to all. 231 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:47,320 That's how wide it is. 232 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:50,920 Do you know even how important this is for us living in Mississauga? 233 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:54,480 Mississauga, which is filled with people from different countries and different continents 234 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:56,360 and different cultures and backgrounds. 235 00:14:56,360 --> 00:15:01,240 God's love is so wide, it includes all of us. 236 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:06,440 I mean, gosh, sometimes we get fixated on our little lives, on our little church, on 237 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:11,000 our little people, on our little group, but all that changes when you step back and you 238 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,680 consider the wideness of God's love. 239 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:17,400 John 3 16 says, for God so loved me. 240 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:19,440 No, for God so loved my friends. 241 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,520 No, for God so loved my church. 242 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:23,480 No, for God so loved my community. 243 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:29,640 No, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. 244 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:34,740 God's love breaks through all the boundaries that you or I try to set on it. 245 00:15:34,740 --> 00:15:38,360 God doesn't just love the people that fit into our neat little roasting pans. 246 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:42,360 No, his love is wide enough to encompass the whole world. 247 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:43,880 It reaches beyond borders. 248 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:50,080 It breaks through all the different divides and across cultures and across countries and 249 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:51,080 belief systems. 250 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:54,560 It's wide like Christ's arms are wide open on the cross. 251 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,080 That's how wide God's love is. 252 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,800 And if you don't believe it now, one day you will believe it because the Bible tells us 253 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:09,440 that one day in heaven we will see a great multitude that no one can count from every 254 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:14,320 nation and every tribe and every people and every language standing before the throne 255 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,240 and before the lamb. 256 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:20,960 Sometimes we say, Oh, you know how many people will be saved by God or what is it? 257 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,040 How wide is God's love? 258 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:27,000 And I don't know the precise answer, but I think the Bible makes it pretty clear that 259 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:35,520 when we actually see it, we will be astounded at the width of his love. 260 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:39,680 So guys, if you're here today and you're feeling a little bit depressed, a little bit sad, 261 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:45,400 a little bit unloved, remember the width of his love and his mercy. 262 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:53,040 Take a look at that and your heart will be lifted up knowing that you too have been included 263 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:56,760 in this great multitude of people that he loves. 264 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:58,160 That's just the width. 265 00:16:58,160 --> 00:16:59,360 That's just the width of it. 266 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,440 We also got to talk about the length of God's love. 267 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:06,760 How long does God's love last? 268 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:09,920 You know, even the biggest turkey in the world has got a beginning and an end has got a head 269 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:11,240 and a tail. 270 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:19,360 But when we speak of the length of God's love, we're talking about endless everlasting love. 271 00:17:19,360 --> 00:17:24,880 Now you have heard that phrase so many times, the everlasting love of God, but I don't think 272 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:26,640 we really get it. 273 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:32,440 The Bible says things like his steadfast love will endure, say it with me forever. 274 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:36,880 And that I have loved you with a, say it with me, everlasting love. 275 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,960 But I don't think we really, even the way you just said that, I don't think you really 276 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:41,960 believe it. 277 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:46,680 I don't think you really understand what it is you're saying. 278 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:52,040 You see God's love is not confined by time, right? 279 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:59,760 In fact, his love for you began before you or even the world ever existed. 280 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:03,560 You know, theologians have this thing they like to talk about, which is called the covenant 281 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:10,800 of grace, which is just a fancy schmancy way of saying that, that before the foundation 282 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:14,520 of the world, there was an agreement that happened. 283 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:19,000 The father, the son, and the Holy spirit before the foundation of the world, that they got 284 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,960 around and they made an agreement together. 285 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:26,440 They knew that one day humankind was going to need rescuing. 286 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:27,880 And so they made this agreement. 287 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:32,080 They said that, you know, before one human being had taken a breath, before one human 288 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:36,880 being had ever fallen into sin, they made this agreement that when the time came, they 289 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:42,600 would rescue all humanity by sending the son, by sending Jesus to come and save us. 290 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:44,720 But amazingly, here's the amazing thing. 291 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:50,200 All of that happened before time ever began. 292 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:56,040 Before we were created, God's love was already reaching out to us. 293 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,640 He had already planned to rescue us. 294 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,660 The love of Jesus did not start at the cross. 295 00:19:01,660 --> 00:19:08,600 The love of Jesus did not even start at creation, but it extends back into the depths of eternity 296 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:13,860 long before we ever knew we needed it. 297 00:19:13,860 --> 00:19:22,200 The Bible tells us that our names are written in the lamb's book of life before the foundation 298 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,900 of the world. 299 00:19:24,900 --> 00:19:28,620 This is one of the most staggering things you can ever contemplate that I was known 300 00:19:28,620 --> 00:19:34,040 and I was loved before I was ever created. 301 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:38,360 That is the length of God's love for us. 302 00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:43,920 And you realize what dignity that gives to every single human being who has ever walked 303 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:50,560 the world, knowing that God has set his heart on you eons ago, right? 304 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:56,240 That Jesus' affection for you began back in eternity. 305 00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:00,440 That's the beginning of the length of his love for you before time. 306 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,080 But God's love doesn't just have a beginning in eternity. 307 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:09,280 It also aims and lasts past the end to eternity. 308 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:13,420 God's love stretches from eternity past to eternity future. 309 00:20:13,420 --> 00:20:14,620 His love never fails. 310 00:20:14,620 --> 00:20:15,620 It never fades. 311 00:20:15,620 --> 00:20:16,840 It never runs out. 312 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:22,520 What began at the foundations of time will continue till the end of time and will not 313 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:23,520 change. 314 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:28,600 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 315 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:30,040 Therefore his love is like a straight line. 316 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:31,040 It doesn't go up. 317 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:32,040 It doesn't go down. 318 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:33,040 It doesn't break. 319 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:34,040 It doesn't wobble. 320 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,840 It doesn't matter whether you've been very good or very bad. 321 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:41,360 It doesn't matter whether you're a Pharisee or a prodigal son. 322 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:42,360 Doesn't matter. 323 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:47,800 Even when we turn our back on him, his love still remains. 324 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,800 That's why God says, I will never leave you. 325 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:53,800 I will never forsake you. 326 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,600 And this is so important for us to understand because I guarantee there's going to come 327 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,360 a time in your life where you're going to think that God has forgotten about you, where 328 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:04,800 you are going to be going through some struggles or going through some difficulties and you're 329 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:10,760 going to say, where is God's love now? 330 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:16,920 But now we know it is there the whole time and nothing can stop it. 331 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:20,840 Elsewhere Paul writes, I'm convinced that neither death nor life can stop it. 332 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:22,880 Neither angels nor demons can stop it. 333 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:28,000 Neither the present or the past nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in 334 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:36,840 all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 335 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:37,840 It's unstoppable. 336 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,440 It's unbreakable. 337 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:43,080 If God has set his affections on you, it will never cease. 338 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,720 Nothing will ever pluck you out of his hand. 339 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:50,380 All hell could break loose on your life and that wouldn't change a thing. 340 00:21:50,380 --> 00:21:53,120 His love stands firm. 341 00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:54,560 That's the length of his love. 342 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:55,560 That's the length of it. 343 00:21:55,560 --> 00:22:00,520 Before time began, it will last until time ceases to exist. 344 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,160 Are you guys starting to grasp the enormity of this thing? 345 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:06,760 Are you starting to see how wide it is and how long it is? 346 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:12,000 But we're only, we're not done yet because now we got to talk about how deep God's love 347 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:13,200 is. 348 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:22,000 If Jesus's love is so immense, then how low would he go for us? 349 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:28,520 Well, imagine, imagine you took a plum line and you dropped it down, down, down. 350 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,000 You wanted to see where the bottom of God's love is. 351 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,960 So he kept dropping it down and down and down. 352 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:35,920 I tell you, you would be astounded. 353 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,280 Actually, the apostle Paul did this once. 354 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,720 He kept, he kept dropping saying, where is the bottom of this? 355 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:46,540 In Philippians chapter two, he was trying to see just how low God would go, how deep 356 00:22:46,540 --> 00:22:48,520 Jesus love would go for us. 357 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:52,120 I don't think we appreciate actually how deep down he went. 358 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:57,880 He went from the highest heights of heaven to the lowest depths of death and hell. 359 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:03,320 You see, we read that he didn't, he didn't cling to his divine status, but he made himself 360 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,700 nothing, but he went even deeper. 361 00:23:06,700 --> 00:23:12,520 He stepped down from his eternal throne to enter into the frailty of human flesh. 362 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,120 He went down even deeper, right? 363 00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:20,960 He descended into the womb of the Virgin Mary and he, he took on the form of a servant, 364 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:23,920 but he went even deeper, right? 365 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,960 He took on the humility of a poor carpenter, but he went even deeper. 366 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:33,160 He endured hatred and scorn from the very people he came to save, but he went even deeper. 367 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:34,400 He had to endure hunger. 368 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:35,720 He had to endure thirst. 369 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,720 He had to endure persecution and rejection, but he went deeper. 370 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:39,960 He was arrested. 371 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:40,960 He went deeper. 372 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:41,960 He was beaten. 373 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:42,960 He went deeper. 374 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:46,840 He had to bear the weight of his own cross on his shoulders. 375 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:55,620 He went so deep and then as if he couldn't go any deeper at all, he descended into death 376 00:23:55,620 --> 00:24:01,240 itself and there he was lying dead in a grave. 377 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:09,920 The one who was above all descended to the lowest of lows. 378 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:11,400 Why? 379 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,480 Why would anyone do that? 380 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:15,480 There's no incentive. 381 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:16,480 There's no motivation. 382 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:22,320 There's no reason, no other motive other than he loved you. 383 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:28,360 He loved you that much that it took him to the darkest places to endure the worst that 384 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:34,400 humanity and hell could offer all to rescue you all because he loves you. 385 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,480 You know, Jesus once said, you know, greater love has no one than this. 386 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:39,440 And they laid down their life for his friends. 387 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:40,680 Well, that's, that's great. 388 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:41,740 But here's the thing. 389 00:24:41,740 --> 00:24:44,720 When Jesus laid down his life for us, we weren't even friends. 390 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:46,400 We were rebels, right? 391 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:48,160 We were his enemies. 392 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:52,240 And so it's an even greater love because God shows his love for us that while we were still 393 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:59,160 sinners, he was willing to die for us despite our unworthiness, despite our rebellion, he 394 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:03,080 still went that deep for us. 395 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:05,280 That is the depths of Christ's love. 396 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:10,820 It is immeasurably deep, unfathomably deep. 397 00:25:10,820 --> 00:25:12,800 And he did it all for you. 398 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:13,800 He did it all for you. 399 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,680 His love is so wide. 400 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:18,480 It extends to all the world. 401 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:20,120 His love is so long. 402 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:22,340 It stretches from eternity to eternity. 403 00:25:22,340 --> 00:25:28,400 His love is so deep that it descends into death to save us. 404 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:30,720 But we can't stop there. 405 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:34,360 Jesus didn't just come to descend to the depths for us. 406 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:36,880 It wasn't just about the forgiveness of our sins. 407 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,320 It doesn't end down there. 408 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,160 He doesn't leave us down there. 409 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,320 No, if you do that, you know what? 410 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,960 You're missing the height of God's love. 411 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:53,880 He also raises us up way beyond you could possibly imagine to renew us and to make us 412 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,880 into a brand new people. 413 00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:00,480 Just think for a moment of all the ways that we are lifted up. 414 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,400 First, he lifts us up and he makes us part of his family. 415 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:09,660 He calls us, you and me, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. 416 00:26:09,660 --> 00:26:11,520 But then he lifts us up even higher. 417 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:16,920 He makes us into heirs, co-heirs with Christ, his only begotten son. 418 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:22,000 Then he lifts us up even higher and he puts his own Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit 419 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,220 that rests on Jesus now rests in us. 420 00:26:25,220 --> 00:26:31,640 Then he lifts us up even higher and he actually unites us to himself. 421 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:34,560 So we're made part of his body. 422 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:36,160 That's pretty high. 423 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:37,920 And yet he lifts us higher. 424 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:44,400 Still, he lifts us up to Christ until, as the Bible says, and I don't fully understand 425 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:49,760 it until we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. 426 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:55,200 I don't know if you remember, but in the very last prayer that Jesus prayed, he said, he 427 00:26:55,200 --> 00:27:01,160 said this, he says, father, I want those you've given me to be where, don't, I want those 428 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:07,080 you've given me to be with me where I am, to see my glory. 429 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:15,040 He loves you so much that he wants us, you, me right there where he is in glory for all 430 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:16,040 eternity. 431 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:21,360 I mean, when you love someone, you want the very best for them, don't you? 432 00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:23,720 And the same is true of God in Christ. 433 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:29,480 He loves us so high and so much that he won't stop lifting us up until we're totally transformed, 434 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:33,760 until we're completely made new, until we are a holy and radiant, until we're without 435 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:39,960 stain and without wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 436 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:43,300 And there will be shining with his glory. 437 00:27:43,300 --> 00:27:46,800 That is the future that he has planned for you. 438 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:54,880 Just to be renewed and perfect, that's the height to which he is going to raise us. 439 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:59,440 So guys, guys, it's Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving. 440 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:00,440 I don't know. 441 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:05,440 I don't know how big of a table you're going to have today or this weekend for your Thanksgiving 442 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:06,440 dinner. 443 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,440 You may have a lot, you may have a little, you may have a big old Turkey on the table. 444 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,740 You may have no Turkey at all. 445 00:28:11,740 --> 00:28:14,920 It really doesn't matter. 446 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,080 It's all miniscule. 447 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,400 It's all just a chicken nugget. 448 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:27,920 When you consider the main course, the entree that Jesus places before us today, his immense, 449 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,360 enormous, immeasurable love. 450 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:33,080 So wide, it includes us all. 451 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:34,800 It's so long that it never stops. 452 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,520 It's so deep that we're totally forgiven. 453 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:40,720 It's so high that we're made brand new. 454 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,640 What we just did, I just tried to give you a taste, just a taste, but my best efforts, 455 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,160 just like a little appetizer compared to Christ's love for you. 456 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:51,000 It's bigger than you can hold. 457 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,580 It's bigger than any pen can contain. 458 00:28:53,580 --> 00:28:56,780 It's bigger than the world can hold. 459 00:28:56,780 --> 00:29:01,160 So today, maybe you came in here and you were feeling a little bit down, a little sluggish, 460 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:03,000 a little unthankful even. 461 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,640 Maybe you came unsure if you even wanted to come to church today at all. 462 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,200 Maybe you're feeling stuck in life or defeated. 463 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:11,520 I don't know. 464 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,000 Maybe you got caught up in all the small stuff going on these days, all the small things 465 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,720 in your life, but now I hope you'll see. 466 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,240 Set your eyes on something bigger. 467 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:26,300 Look at the love of Christ that is set before you. 468 00:29:26,300 --> 00:29:28,160 He loves you. 469 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:32,600 He set his affections on you. 470 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:41,320 And if you ever doubt it, just look at how wide it is, how long it goes, how deep it 471 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:47,720 descends, and how high it climbs. 472 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,840 Thanks be to God for his amazing love. 473 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:52,840 Amen. 474 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:59,500 Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. 475 00:29:59,500 --> 00:30:05,440 This episode was recorded at Trinity Church, Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario on October 476 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:11,480 13, 2024.