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Week number eight in our series. that we entitled
not mine, but God's. Everybody say that with
me. Not mine, not mine, but God's, but God's.
And because mine looks like this, right? Natural,
in the natural, mine looks like this. But God
wants us to exchange our natural for his supernatural.
So it looks like that. Not mine. but God's. Now,
over the last three weeks, we have focused on
the advent, on the coming. Everybody say the
coming. See, long before Gabriel spoke to Mary,
long before angels visited the shepherds, long
before the wise men saw a newly formed star,
God planted a promise in the hearts of his people.
And here's the promise. The Messiah is coming.
The Savior is coming. The Rescuer is coming.
He planted that promise in His people. He actually,
you can find it even in Genesis. Immediately
after the fall of man, after the sin of Adam
and Eve, God already started talking about a
Savior who was going to come. Thousands of years
before he actually came. I believe the two most
important events in all of human history, all
of the history of the world, two most important
events are the incarnation, everybody say incarnation,
and the resurrection. Now, I'll remind you again,
the Bible, because some of you haven't been here
during this series, but... The Bible never specifically
tells us to remember and talk about the birth
of Christ. It doesn't give a specific command
to do that, but it does record it. So anything
the Bible records is worth our attention. Amen?
But I believe the incarnation is vitally important
because without it, You would be hopelessly lost.
I would be hopelessly lost. There would be no
redemption. There would be no salvation. And
a lot of people have trouble understanding and
believing that a virgin could give birth to a
child. But it had to be that way. Had to be that
way. You see, if Jesus would have had a natural
father, he would have been born in sin, just
like us, born in sin. And if he would have been
born in sin, he couldn't offer his life as a
substitutionary sacrifice. He could not lay down
his life for you and for me, because if he's
born in sin, then he's guilty and he has to die
for his own sin. Because the wages of sin is
death. The Bible says at just the right time.
Everybody say, just the right time. At just the
right time. Jesus, who is known as the Word in
the Old Testament, He's eternal. He existed before
time as we know it came into existence. And at
just the right time in the timeline of human
history, he stepped down out of heaven and he
added humanity to his deity. He's all God, everybody
say all God, and all man. Now the math doesn't
work, right? Because we think... It's only 100%,
right? So it's got to be 50 -50, but no. He's
all God and He's all man. He added humanity to
His deity. That's what the incarnation is all
about. God, in His great love, stepped down because
we were helpless and hopeless without Him. And
then the resurrection. I mean, you know how important
the resurrection is, right? Because the resurrection
is what, like, stamped everything that Jesus
said, everything that Jesus did. The resurrection
was like a big exclamation point and a stamp
of validity to everything he said and everything
he did. So I believe those are the two most important
events. I've never... really knew what Advent
was until, I don't know, 14 years ago. Some of
you grew up in churches where they had a wreath
and candles and would light different colored
candles the different weeks of Advent. I didn't
grow up that way. Even though my dad was a pastor,
it just wasn't something that we grew up doing
in the churches that I was a part of. But when
I went to Myrtle Beach and had a lot of people
from a lot of different religious backgrounds
and church backgrounds, when I went there, I
found out about Advent. And that word Advent
just means the arrival. Everybody say the arrival.
It's the arrival of someone or something that's
going to make a big difference. Right? A big
difference. How many of you can look and see
that Jesus made a big difference in the world?
His advent, His coming, His arrival. And with
His coming, He brought some things. He ushered
in the kingdom of God. I was looking for at least
an amen or a nod or something. He ushered in
the kingdom of God. And with the kingdom of God,
ultimately came everything. that is available
to us in Christ. Advent, the arrival of a notable
person or thing. See, over the last three weeks
and to day four, we're preparing our hearts to
celebrate the birth of Jesus. Because you can
live in our world today and go through the holidays
without even thinking about Jesus. So we're preparing
our hearts to celebrate his birth and also to
receive some things that he's made available
to us. His advent made available to us. Week
number one, we talked about hope. Everybody say
hope. See, he brought hope with him. Hope for
mankind. Hope for you. Hope for me. He brought
peace. Just a different level. I'm not saying
that hope didn't exist before Jesus, but all
of a sudden it bumped up a big notch. I mean,
it moved from natural hope to supernatural hope,
from natural peace to supernatural peace, from
natural joy to supernatural joy. All those things
came with Christ. And they're available. It's
available for us to exchange natural. For supernatural.
But we have to receive it by faith. It doesn't
just automatically plop on us. Just because it's
available doesn't mean that it's ours. We have
to receive it. We have to take hold of it. Who's
expecting some gifts on Thursday? Anybody expecting
some gifts? I've wrapped a lot of presents. Yesterday,
I think it was yesterday, wasn't it? Ganna wrapped
some of her own presents. So if you're not expecting
a gift, just go ahead and buy yourself something
and wrap it so that you'll have something. Okay?
Wrap your own. I told her to wrap me up some
Q -tips. Awesome. One at a time. I'm going to
have a lot of presents. Listen, I know I've shared
this story, but some of you haven't heard it.
I can't even remember how many years ago it was.
Probably 30 years ago, maybe 25 years ago. We
bought some presents, and we wrapped them up.
They were for family, like extended family, not
immediate family, but extended family. Bought
some presents, wrapped them up. Ganna cooked
chicken and dumplings from scratch. If you haven't
had her chicken and dumplings, I can't make her
cook them because I don't know if they're as
hard as she makes them look because she throws
flour all over the place. I mean, it looks like
a serious task, but maybe someday we can make
some chicken. I don't know. Got to borrow a house.
She'll bring her own pot. All right. Yeah, you
do. Mike said you could cook them at his house.
Anyway. It looks like we're going to everybody's
house to cook some chicken. But anyway. We bought
presents and we wrapped them up and we took them
for a family Christmas party. We used to get
together on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,
but because of the conference that we were doing,
we couldn't do that anymore because it'd be impossible
to pull off a New Year's conference with 1 ,900
people coming and only showing up, you know,
two days before it starts. That would have been
insane and, I mean, just beyond. our ability
because it was all we could do to start on the
morning of the 26th wide open but anyway we wrapped
those presents we some of the family members
did not come they choose they chose not to come
has anybody experienced any family drama anytime
has anybody ever had any family drama if not
you're blessed and highly favored if you've never
experienced any family drama whatsoever. But
they decided not to come. I mean, we thought
the chicken and dumplings would get them there,
you know. So we left the presents under the Christmas
tree only to come back in January and find those
presents hidden behind the couch in the entertainment
console, which was huge. It was as big as four
of those chairs. It had a record player and speakers
and a radio in it. Some of you know what I'm
talking about. It's like a piece of furniture.
But the presidents were hid behind those things.
So an expression of our love because giving is
an expression of love. Universally, worldwide,
giving is an expression of love. So the expression
of our love was rejected. And all the reason
I share that is because Jesus brought all of
these things and made them available to us. But
we have to receive them. Have to receive them.
And you might say, well, I've never rejected
them. Well, it's one thing to reject them, but
you still have to receive them. If I give you
a present and you leave it wrapped up, even if
you take it home, you will not experience the
present till you receive it, till you unwrap
it and take hold of it. So we receive this supernatural
hope, supernatural peace, supernatural joy. We
receive it through faith. And we receive it by
our spirit. Man, you know, natural comes from
your soul, your mind, your thought life, your
will, your desires, and your emotions. That's
what natural life is based in. But in this series,
we found out that to receive the things that
God has given for us, made available to us, we
receive them by our spirit. through our spirit.
And then here's the connection that we often
miss. We let our souls control every part of
us because that's the way we grow up and that's
what we learn to do. We let our thought life
and our desires and our emotions guide us. But
we are spirit beings. We have a soul and we live
in a body. And we have to learn to be spirit
beings, and the spirit being will stand up in
the truth of God's word when the soul is spiraling
by what it sees, by what it thinks, by what it
feels. Our spirit beings, we are a spirit, so
our spirits stand up and say, not today, soul.
Not today. Because here's what God says. And
my spirit is my connection with God and God's
truth. So our spirits stand up and take charge
and rule over our souls. That's when you're going
to take hold of it. And then today, we're going
to talk about the love of God. And I'm telling
you, love was in the world and God had this supernatural
love. All these things are eternal. Supernatural
hope and peace and joy and love. They're all
eternal with God because they're part of his
person. But when Jesus came, a whole different
level of love came to this earth. Whole different
possibility. If you read through the Old Testament,
you don't read a whole lot about how love works
and how the love of God works and how it's supposed
to work in His people. God's people in the Old
Testament, I don't see anywhere where they were
known by their love. Do you? But under this new
covenant in the kingdom of God, God's people
are known by their love. Because it's a different
kind of love. It's not a natural love. It's a
supernatural love. Somebody smile. I believe
if we listen with expectation, we might just
hear the voice of God calling us out of the noise.
Again, we have a wonderful time celebrating Christmas
and everything. I mean, how many of you have
a tree in your house? How many of you have lights
and decorations and different? We enjoy all of
those things, right? But. If those things are
what's most important about this season, then
we're just wrapped up in the noise. And God wants
to call us out of the noise and into his life.
Into his life. The arrival of Jesus, the advent
of Jesus, was the advent of a supernatural love
for God's people. Let's read. I encourage you
to read this story again. Whether you read it
by yourself out loud in your home or whether
you get together with whoever's there, I encourage
you to read this. Luke chapter 2, starting with
verse 1. At that time, the Roman emperor Augustus
decreed that a census should be taken throughout
the Roman Empire. This was the first census taken
when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All returned
to their own ancestral towns to register for
this census. And because Joseph was a descendant
of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea,
David's ancient home. He traveled there from
the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with
him Mary, to whom he was engaged. who was now
expecting a child. And while they were there,
the time came for her baby to be born. She gave
birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly
in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because
there was no lodging available for them. That
night, there were shepherds staying in the fields
nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. suddenly
an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and
the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them.
They were terrified, but the angel reassured
them. Don't be afraid, he said. I bring you good
news that will bring great joy to all people.
The Savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord, has been
born today in Bethlehem, the city of David. And
you will recognize him by this sign. You will
find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth,
lying in a feed trough in the barn. Suddenly,
the angel was joined by a vast host of others,
the armies of heaven, praising God and saying,
Glory to God in highest heaven and peace on earth.
To those with whom God is pleased. When the angels
had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to
each other, let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see
this thing that has happened, which the Lord
has told us about. They hurried to the village
and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the
baby lying in the manger. After seeing him, the
shepherds told everyone. what had happened and
what the angel had said to them about this child.
All who heard the shepherd's story were astonished.
But Mary kept all these things in her heart and
thought about them often. The shepherds went
back to their flocks, glorifying and praising
God for all they had heard and seen. It was just
as the angel had told them. Again, I encourage
you to read that again. Read it on Christmas
Day. Read it on Christmas Eve. Today we're focusing
in the advent of love, the coming of a supernatural
love, and love was the force behind Christmas.
Love was the force behind the incarnation. Love
was the motive. You know, a lot of times we're
like, well, what was the motive of this person
doing this? What's their motive? Well, the motive
is love. Everybody say love. And what's the reason?
Why did Jesus step down out of the eternal throne
room and add humanity to his deity and take on
flesh and become a man in this broken world?
Why? Because of his love. Because of his love.
There's different words for love in the Bible.
But the God kind of love. When the Bible says
God is love. When the Bible tells us that we
are known to be Christ's followers by our love
is this love. It's agape. It's the Greek word.
And here's the definition. It means love. It
means affection. It means benevolence. It means
a love feast, which is, every time I read that,
I kind of go, a love feast? But that's what the
word means. Now, we think we have an understanding
of the word love, but let's take this love to
the supernatural level, even greater than we
can know naturally. It's also affection. Has
anybody in the room ever said, well, I love you,
but I don't like you right now? Has anybody ever
said that? I love you because God told me I had
to love you, but I'm not liking you right now.
Well, the God kind of love is affection. So if
we are walking in agape, there'll never be a
time when we say, I love you, but I don't like
you right now. Because when we do that, we're
not walking in this supernatural love. Affection
is a feeling of fondness or liking. So to really
love, to love like God loves, You got to like
them too. And that tells us something about God.
God didn't just like say he loves you. He likes
you. I mean, let that soak in a little bit. God
likes me. God likes you. Now, when we say I love
you, but I don't like you right now, it's because
of somebody's actions that have kind of spun
us off a little bit. And we're like, I don't
like you right now. I want to smack you in the
face. I want to smack the taste out of your mouth
right now, but I love you. It's like Herb was
saying he was behind somebody with a relations
sticker on the back of the car and he was beeping
the horn. Try to get their attention. Most times,
beeping the horn kind of makes you not like whoever
it is that's blowing the horn, right? You don't
think they're doing it out of friendship. You
think they're doing it because they want you
out of their way. You think they're disgusted
with you. And sometimes you say, well, if you
keep blowing that horn, I'm about to stop. You
wanted them to stop. We don't know who it was.
Hallelujah. But I said, if somebody's blowing
the horn, all of a sudden I'm just like. I try
to become invisible when somebody's blowing a
horn at me. But when we like someone, it's a
feeling of fondness. Benevolence is a display
of kindness. It's looking out for somebody's
well -being, being concerned. Being concerned
to the point that you display your kindness.
Display. Everybody say display. Because talk
can be cheap. Right? There's been a lot of people
that told me that they love me, but then I found
out what they were saying behind my back. But
the God kind of love is a display of kindness,
and you're looking out for the well -being. And
then love feast is like fellowship meals. It's
like chicken and dumplings, hallelujah. But it's
wanting to get together. It's wanting to share
life together. It's wanting to share a meal together,
right? Because that means something, you know.
It's one thing to come here and gather together.
It's another thing to want to get together outside
of church. Right? So that's the love of God.
See, God's concerned about your well -being.
God likes you. God wants to fellowship with you.
Spend time with you. He wants you to know him.
He wants you to seek him and find him. Experience
him. See, our natural love is limited. Our love
apart from Christ and apart from agape, our love
is limited. But God's love is limitless. It's
limitless. Natural love is always reactive. Everybody
say reactive. When someone shows love to us,
we show love to them. If someone rejects our
love, we decide we're not going to display love
and show love anymore. We're reactive, right?
It's natural love. Jesus talked about this in
Matthew 5, 43. He said, because this was a common
saying in his day, you have heard the law says,
love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I
say, love your enemies. That's going to take
some supernatural love for you to love the people
who you know they don't like you. Right? You
know that they don't like you. You know that
they don't want to, you know, they wouldn't spit
on you if you were on fire. But I say, Jesus
said, love your enemies. In verse 46, he goes
on to say, if you love only those who love you,
what reward is there for that? Look at the person
beside you and say, that's not a big deal. That's
not a big deal for you to love the people who
love you. That's natural. And then he says, even
corrupt tax collectors do that much. Now, this
said something totally different to them than
it does to us, even though most of you don't
like paying taxes, right? When he says even corrupt
tax collectors, you see, there were Jews that
were working for Rome and collecting taxes from
other Jews. And when they did that, most of them
were very corrupt. They were taking more than
they should take. But here's the deal. The people
who were doing that, Society looked at them below
a dog. They didn't even consider them to be humans.
And Jesus says, look, if you just love people
who love you, even the people who you think are
below the level of a dog, even they do that.
And then he says, if you're only kind, if you're
kind only to your friends, how are you different
from anyone else in the world? Natural. Everybody
say natural. Even pagans do that. Even pagans
do that, Jesus said. See, God's love is not natural
love because God's love is initiating. It's taking
the first step. It's reaching out. It initiates.
It doesn't just go with whatever is given to
it and respond accordingly. Like natural love,
it's initiating. Here's one instance of God initiating.
His love. 1 John 4, 9 and 10. God showed. Everybody
say demonstrate it. Everybody say initiate it.
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. Initiating love. That's real love. Not
that we love God. So it wasn't reciprocating
our love for him. No, he initiated it. It's not
that we love God, but that he loved us and sent
his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
That's real love. There's another verse. I don't
have it in here, but you've probably heard it
before. Greater love has no one, no man than
this. Then he laid down his life for his friends.
See, natural love is broken. But God's love will
bring healing and restoration. Natural love is
inconsistent. It's up and down, right? Natural
love is conditional. You know, if you do this
or make me feel this way, then I will love you.
If not, I won't. Natural love can run out. Can
run out. Human love says, natural love says,
if you make me feel loved, everybody say feel.
Everybody say feelings. Whoa, whoa, whoa, feelings.
Y 'all remember that song? Feelings. Whoa, whoa,
whoa, feelings. Whoa, whoa, whoa, feelings. If
you make me feel loved, then I'll love you. That's
natural. And then sometimes, after you've had
the feeling of love, and then you show love back,
then all of a sudden it can move again. A goalpost
can sometimes move. It can keep moving. You don't
know that it's an actual 100 -yard field. All
of a sudden, it can be a 200 -yard field. Because
it can move to a place that if you change, if
you change, I'll continue to love you. But if
you don't change, my love is done. If you don't
make me feel loved. then I won't love you. Romans
5, 8. But God, everybody say, but God. But God
showed his great love for us by sending Christ
to die for us while we were still sinners. We
weren't acknowledging God. We were living our
lives on our own. We could spit in God's face.
We don't care. But God showed his love. He didn't
just say he loved us. Because talk can be cheap.
He demonstrated his love. My dad, I could count
on one hand how many times in my entire life
that my dad told me he loved me. But I never
doubted that he did. Never. There was never a
moment in my life when I doubted my father's
love. If that's not your experience, I'm sorry.
But my dad didn't have to tell me every day that
he loved me for me to feel loved. I mean, I believe
it's important to tell people that we love them.
But my dad constantly demonstrated his love for
me and I never doubted his love. And God, My
dad's just a shadow of a father compared to God.
God showed his great love for us by sending Christ
to die for us while we were still sinners. God's
love says, I love you. There's not a person who's
ever lived on this world that God didn't love.
Even the people you have a hard time loving,
God loves them. Even though the historical figures
where you say this person was just pure evil,
God loved them. Christ died for them. Though
their mistakes and their character was greatly
flawed, God loved them. God loved them. Even
though they rejected him their entire life, even
though many people have cursed him their entire
life, God loves them. John 13, 35. I've alluded
to this, but here's the verse. This is Jesus
talking. He says, your love for one another.
Your love for other people will prove to the
world that you are my disciples. That's the proof.
That's the proof to the world. This is why, you
know, the world experiences natural love, but
in Christ we need to, be walking in his supernatural
love. Because if our love just looks like everybody
else's love, what's the big deal? What's the
big deal? Even the pagans love like that. Even
the tax collectors love like that. That's what
Jesus said, right? I'm not saying these words.
These are Jesus' words. I'm just repeating them.
So we need to walk in the supernatural love of
God. Jesus came to bring it, but we have to receive
it. We need to receive it for ourselves, but
then we need to receive it for the way we live.
We need to walk in it, just like we need to walk
in hope and walk in peace and walk in joy. We
need to walk in love. Natural love costs something,
right? It costs something, but God's love costs
him everything. You probably know this verse,
John 3, 16. For this is how God loved the world.
He gave his one and only son so that everyone
who believes in him will not perish, but have
eternal life. True love always gives. Always.
Everybody say always. True love always gives.
True love always sacrifices. There's always a
sacrifice involved. And true love always moves.
True love is taking that first step. Not just
waiting to see. If somebody's going to show love
to you, but you've taken the first step to show
love for them. Before we have our communion together,
I want to make sure. Make sure that you've experienced
this love from God. Make sure that you've opened
the gift. Because so many people, Have heard
about the love of God. So many people have heard
about his sacrifice. And a lot of people have
heard about it, but they've never received it.
So I want to ask you a question. Have you received
it? Have you received his gift of eternal life?
Have you received it? Have you received his love?
You might say, well, how do I open up this gift
of eternal life? The answer to that is easy.
It's found in the Bible. The Bible says that
you have to believe a couple of things. You have
to believe that Jesus is God. You have to believe
that he died on the cross for your sins. You
have to believe. I don't say you have to understand
it, but you have to believe that he was raised
from the dead. That he is alive. He didn't stay
dead in the tomb. No, the resurrection happened.
He is alive. So you have to believe those three
things. But then there has to come a time, the
Bible says, if we confess our sin, he is faithful
and he's just. to forgive us and to cleanse us
of all unrighteousness. So you have to come to
a point where you realize that you're a sinner
and that your sin separates you from a holy God.
So you come to him acknowledging that he died
in your place for your sin on the cross. You
ask him to forgive you and you thank him for
washing you clean. And there's one more. Everybody
say one more. One more. The Bible says if you
call on the name of the Lord, you'll be saved.
A lot of people make it through those first few
things that I said, but they never come to this
point where it says if you call on the name of
the Lord, you'll be saved. Lord is more than
a name. It's a title. Lord means master, boss,
the one in charge. So I believe according to
Scripture, there has to be a time in your life
when you say, Jesus, something like this. Not
these exact words, but there has to be a time
when you say, Jesus, up until today, my life's
just been about me. But from now on, I want to
live for you. I want to know you. Jesus, be my
Lord. I surrender to you all that I am. Be my
Lord. I want to follow you. So here's my question.
Have those things happened in your life before
today? If they have not, I have some amazing
news. Some great news. Today's the day. While
you're here, while the Holy Spirit is speaking
to your heart, today's the day. Don't put it
off. If you would, I want everybody to bow your
head and close your eyes just for a moment. I
want you to be alone. I want you to look back
over your life and see if those things have happened.
Have you believed those things that I said? Have
you surrendered your life to Jesus, asking him
to be your Lord, confessing him as your Lord?
If you have not, I ask you to pray with me. Nothing
magic about the words. We can teach birds to
repeat words after people, so it's not just about
the words. I want to lead you in a prayer. This
is what you want to say to God, I ask you to
pray with me. I prayed a prayer one Friday morning,
went kind of like this, and I've never been the
same since. Jesus, I believe you are the son
of God. Tell him that. I believe you died on
the cross for me, in my place, for my sin. I
believe you rose again from the grave, just like
the Bible says. I realize that I am a sinner.
I've messed up. Jesus, thank you for dying for
me in my place on the cross. For my sin. I ask
you to forgive me. Wash me clean. Jesus, up until
today, my life's kind of been about me, but from
now on, I want my life to be about you. I ask
you to be my Lord. I surrender my life to you.
I want to know you and I want to follow you.
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