WEBVTT 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:02.020 Well, great to see you folks. 00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:04.219 How good has today been? 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:07.560 I tell you what, I was so glad I was not up after those testimonies 00:00:07.560 --> 00:00:10.179 because I was wailing like a baby, as they say in Scotland, 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:12.500 trying to think of anything to stop me crying. 00:00:12.620 --> 00:00:14.460 Think of the Ryder Cup, think of the football, but no. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:17.240 I was gone. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:20.059 It's great, isn't it great just to hear that this God who we worship 00:00:20.059 --> 00:00:22.140 is the God who is in the business of transforming lives. 00:00:22.179 --> 00:00:22.660 It's awesome. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:27.839 So what I want to do, folks, just for 10 minutes as we kind of wrap up this morning 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:31.480 is to get us to think about a few verses that I love in the Bible 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:32.539 that I was reading this week. 00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:35.460 To get us thinking, here's what I want you to do. 00:00:36.100 --> 00:00:41.840 I was on Google this week, and I searched for the most frequently used lyric, 00:00:42.380 --> 00:00:45.460 most frequently used words in songwriting. 00:00:45.659 --> 00:00:47.620 So I want you to turn to your neighbor for 10 seconds, okay? 00:00:47.620 --> 00:00:51.100 What do you think the most frequently used word in songwriting is? 00:00:52.780 --> 00:00:54.700 And it's not ah or be or it. 00:00:54.840 --> 00:00:55.439 You know what I mean. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:00:59.620 Okay, 10 seconds. 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:00.700 Give me some answers. 00:01:03.400 --> 00:01:03.720 Love. 00:01:04.540 --> 00:01:06.079 I hear it when people get it straight off the bat. 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:08.020 Tell you what, here we go. 00:01:08.140 --> 00:01:08.460 Love. 00:01:09.540 --> 00:01:11.020 I don't know where I'm supposed to point this in, guys. 00:01:12.060 --> 00:01:12.560 Here we go. 00:01:12.740 --> 00:01:12.960 Great. 00:01:13.100 --> 00:01:13.879 Right, think about it. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:15.180 The Beatles, what did they sing? 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:17.359 All you need is love. 00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:18.500 Okay. 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:20.760 The Black Eyed Peas, what did they sing? 00:01:22.320 --> 00:01:23.340 Where is the love? 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:25.219 What about Anna from Frozen? 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:26.060 What did she sing? 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:28.200 Don't pretend you've not seen it. 00:01:28.299 --> 00:01:28.939 What did she sing? 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:31.200 Yeah? 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:33.299 Love is an open door. 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:33.960 No? 00:01:34.520 --> 00:01:35.400 Love is an open door. 00:01:35.520 --> 00:01:36.439 What about Meat Loaf? 00:01:36.500 --> 00:01:37.140 What did he sing? 00:01:38.600 --> 00:01:42.520 He would do anything for love, but he wouldn't do that. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:45.400 One Direction, what did they sing? 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:48.599 Baby, I loved you first. 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:49.719 No? 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:50.460 No, nothing. 00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:51.000 Wow. 00:01:51.939 --> 00:01:52.900 And what about Tina Turner? 00:01:52.900 --> 00:01:54.120 This is for a certain generation. 00:01:54.219 --> 00:01:54.820 What is she saying? 00:01:55.900 --> 00:01:57.440 What's love got to do with it? 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:02.660 So our world, our society has got an awful lot to say about love. 00:02:03.540 --> 00:02:07.160 I'm sure everyone's surprised you to hear me say, as the man who's got the privilege of 00:02:07.160 --> 00:02:11.680 being a Christian minister, serving the Lord Jesus in my life, that the Bible has an awful 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:13.240 lot to say about love. 00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:19.620 As a guy who's been following Jesus for close on 16 years, I love what the Bible has to say 00:02:19.620 --> 00:02:20.039 about love. 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:24.060 I'm just going to read to you a few verses from the Bible written by a man called John. 00:02:24.500 --> 00:02:26.200 Sabine has already referenced John today. 00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:29.080 John was one of Jesus' closest disciples. 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:33.659 He walked and he talked with Jesus during the last three years of Jesus' life. 00:02:34.379 --> 00:02:39.219 And the thing about John is the same thing about Sabine and Zoe, what they were saying 00:02:39.219 --> 00:02:42.719 just there, that Jesus has transformed his life. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:49.099 And in these verses that I'm about to show you, John wants us to know what the ultimate 00:02:49.099 --> 00:02:50.479 expression of love is. 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:53.979 And you'll find it, he says, not by looking in. 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:56.759 You'll find it not by looking out. 00:02:57.419 --> 00:02:59.680 You'll find it by looking up. 00:03:00.819 --> 00:03:03.439 And so here's what he writes to a group of first century Christians. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:10.819 John writes, dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. 00:03:11.539 --> 00:03:14.699 Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:03:15.219 --> 00:03:21.879 Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:28.060 You see, the Bible is the word of a wonderfully loving God. 00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:37.520 And this God has existed for all eternity as a loving communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:41.819 This God, we read in the opening pages of the Bible, he created the universe. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:46.480 He spoke and things just happened. 00:03:47.420 --> 00:03:48.439 He created the stars. 00:03:48.539 --> 00:03:49.360 He created the seas. 00:03:49.480 --> 00:03:53.280 He gave breath to every single living being. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:58.479 And God looked at what he had made and he declared over it that it was good. 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:06.139 And God, the pinnacle of his creation, he created human beings. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.939 He created them male and female. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:19.399 Every single human being stamped with his image, known, loved, and valued by this loving God who made us. 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:27.879 And now God looks at what he's made, having made mankind, and he declares that it is very good. 00:04:28.699 --> 00:04:33.060 You see, the Bible's opening scene is a joyously happy one. 00:04:34.120 --> 00:04:41.399 Here is this loving creator and here he is living in delightful harmony with his creation. 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:48.159 But the thing about that happiness is that it soon gives way to heartache. 00:04:49.379 --> 00:04:53.519 Adam and Eve, the very first human beings that God made, they turn away from him. 00:04:53.620 --> 00:04:58.799 They believe the serpent's lie, that God isn't all that he's cracked up to be. 00:04:59.479 --> 00:05:04.599 And they rebel against him by disobeying his words. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:09.359 And the Bible would call that rebellion sin. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:15.319 And the thing about sin is that it is not just something that happened back then. 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:19.900 And the thing about sin is it's not just something that happens out there. 00:05:20.580 --> 00:05:24.500 I wonder if you know this to be true in your life like I know it to be true in mine, 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:29.600 that sin is something that affects each of us right to the core. 00:05:30.780 --> 00:05:36.620 And our sin has separated us from the holy God who made us. 00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:44.480 Every single one of us, by nature, a rebel against this God, this loving God who made us, 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:50.879 deserving of his punishment, and as Sabina said in her own words there, running a hell-bound race. 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:53.980 That is bad news. 00:05:55.019 --> 00:05:56.379 It's terrible news. 00:05:56.379 --> 00:06:05.379 But the thing about tasting the sourness of the bad news is that it's so important because without it, 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:10.259 we won't be able to taste the sweetness of the good news. 00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:12.579 And it's great news. 00:06:12.659 --> 00:06:14.779 This is what the Testaments have been saying so far, isn't it? 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:18.279 It is wonderful news about what God has done for us. 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:24.539 And embedded in these opening chapters of the Bible is a wonderful promise from this loving God 00:06:24.539 --> 00:06:28.859 that despite our sin, despite our inability to save ourselves, 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:32.139 he will move to act to rescue. 00:06:33.299 --> 00:06:37.759 And he will move to put right everything that has gone wrong. 00:06:38.059 --> 00:06:42.379 Not because of who we are, but because of who he is. 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:44.019 John goes on. 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:49.180 So this is how God showed his love among us. 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:50.419 In other words, here's the proof. 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:51.199 Here it is. 00:06:52.060 --> 00:06:58.339 He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 00:06:59.579 --> 00:07:00.319 This is love. 00:07:00.379 --> 00:07:10.459 Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 00:07:10.459 --> 00:07:17.779 You see, here is the scandal that even though we are all fearfully and wonderfully made in this image of this God, 00:07:18.219 --> 00:07:19.680 we did not love him. 00:07:20.659 --> 00:07:23.180 We wanted nothing to do with him. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:24.620 We were not looking for him. 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:27.759 In fact, the Bible would tell us that the opposite is in fact true, 00:07:27.979 --> 00:07:32.899 that we preferred the darkness of our sin rather than his light. 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:37.479 But God, because of who he is, he pursued us. 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:40.439 God, because of who he is, he came down and found us. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:43.200 God, because of who he is, loved us. 00:07:44.460 --> 00:07:45.420 He loved us. 00:07:46.300 --> 00:07:47.319 And he showed us it. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:54.680 He demonstrated the length of that love by sending his Son, Jesus, into this world and into our mess 00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:58.740 to deal with my mess and to deal with your mess. 00:07:59.280 --> 00:08:00.100 Isn't that awesome? 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:06.960 That Jesus, heaven's hero, he left heaven's glory and he stepped down to rescue us. 00:08:07.520 --> 00:08:15.040 That Jesus, heaven's hero, would live a totally loving life, a totally obedient life, a totally sinless life, 00:08:15.100 --> 00:08:16.939 the one that you and I cannot live. 00:08:16.939 --> 00:08:22.980 And his life that started in the crib would end on the cross, 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:30.939 the place where the perfect Son of God goes to take the punishment that our sin deserves upon himself. 00:08:33.539 --> 00:08:35.559 And this Jesus didn't stay dead. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.220 Three days later, on the third day rather, he rose again 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:48.820 to prove that the price to buy our freedom is really being paid. 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:51.320 And he has ascended to the place. 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:54.879 He now sits at the right hand of God, where he reigns today, 00:08:55.139 --> 00:08:59.279 as the Savior and as the champion of the world. 00:08:59.420 --> 00:09:00.639 Here is the good news, 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:05.100 that Jesus came to make a way for you and I to be forgiven. 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:10.580 That Jesus came to make a way for you and I to be made right with this God who made us. 00:09:11.400 --> 00:09:19.440 That Jesus came so that you and I could be restored to the thing that we were made for in the very first place, 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:23.420 to worship this God and to enjoy him forever. 00:09:26.420 --> 00:09:28.020 That is good news, friends. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:33.240 And gloriously, this Jesus will return to make all things new. 00:09:33.820 --> 00:09:36.360 Do you not cry for that as you look at the brokenness of the world? 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:39.040 That he will come to make all things new. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:42.039 He will come to put all things, all wrongs to right, 00:09:42.439 --> 00:09:45.539 as he justly judges the world. 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:48.179 What is it we just sung? 00:09:48.259 --> 00:09:49.879 Amazing grace, right? 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:53.099 Grace just means getting something that we do not deserve. 00:09:54.299 --> 00:09:59.480 Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 00:10:00.099 --> 00:10:00.719 Like me. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:05.139 I once was lost, but now I'm found. 00:10:05.800 --> 00:10:09.960 I was blind, but now I see. 00:10:10.940 --> 00:10:14.980 And so the question for all of us to think about as we finish up today, 00:10:15.899 --> 00:10:17.779 having seen the problem of our sin, 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:23.100 and having seen the outrageous way in which this God has shown his love for us 00:10:23.100 --> 00:10:29.399 and sending Jesus for us is will you accept Jesus Christ as your saviour and your king? 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:34.840 Because let me tell you, as one who's been following him for over, as I say, 16 years of his life, 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:36.320 there's no one like Jesus. 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:38.639 There's just no one like him. 00:10:39.300 --> 00:10:42.139 There's just absolutely no one like him. 00:10:42.180 --> 00:10:42.759 And do you know what? 00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:46.240 He is the rescuer that we all so desperately need. 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:48.720 And what difference does that make? 00:10:48.820 --> 00:10:49.480 John goes on, 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:51.600 Dear friends, since God so loved us, 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:55.639 we also ought to love one another. 00:10:55.860 --> 00:10:57.139 No one has ever seen God. 00:10:58.220 --> 00:10:59.320 But if we love one another, 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:01.360 God lives in us, 00:11:02.019 --> 00:11:04.120 and his love is made complete in us. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.940 So in other words, if we truly grasp how much God has loved us, 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:10.659 if it truly changes us, 00:11:11.139 --> 00:11:13.019 then we will be different. 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:15.039 And we will love one another. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:17.259 Because we've understood how much he has loved us. 00:11:17.899 --> 00:11:19.579 And that's the thing about Christians, isn't it? 00:11:20.199 --> 00:11:21.919 That we're not claiming to be good people. 00:11:22.959 --> 00:11:24.959 Christians don't claim to be perfect people. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:26.779 Christians don't claim to be moral people. 00:11:26.939 --> 00:11:29.379 Christians claim to be transformed people. 00:11:31.860 --> 00:11:33.759 And that's the reason why we love one another. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:39.019 Because this God first loved us. 00:11:39.139 --> 00:11:40.659 Because the love of this God, 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:41.319 the gospel, 00:11:41.500 --> 00:11:43.079 the good news about heaven's king, 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:44.940 the good news about this king of love, 00:11:45.020 --> 00:11:45.520 who he is, 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:46.080 what he's done, 00:11:46.139 --> 00:11:46.639 what he's doing, 00:11:46.740 --> 00:11:51.620 is transforming us day after day after day after day. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:54.180 Friends, as a society, 00:11:54.300 --> 00:11:55.879 we've got an awful lot to say about love. 00:11:57.940 --> 00:11:59.200 Boyzone, what did they sing? 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:02.460 How deep is your love? 00:12:04.360 --> 00:12:04.720 Elton, 00:12:05.620 --> 00:12:07.500 as we watched Nala and Simba and the Lion King, 00:12:07.560 --> 00:12:08.180 what did he sing? 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:11.160 Can you feel the love tonight? 00:12:11.640 --> 00:12:12.460 Wet, wet, wet, 00:12:12.640 --> 00:12:13.580 one from the 90s, 00:12:13.640 --> 00:12:14.280 what did they sing? 00:12:16.340 --> 00:12:17.560 Love is all around us. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:19.320 It's everywhere we go. 00:12:20.660 --> 00:12:21.860 And this one really is old, okay? 00:12:22.020 --> 00:12:22.440 Foreigner, 00:12:22.540 --> 00:12:23.460 who remembers Foreigner? 00:12:23.920 --> 00:12:24.879 What did they sing? 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:27.879 I want to know what love is. 00:12:28.460 --> 00:12:29.840 I want to know what love is. 00:12:29.899 --> 00:12:32.480 I want you to show me. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:34.039 Well, in these verses, 00:12:34.179 --> 00:12:34.759 John says, 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:35.620 let me show you 00:12:35.620 --> 00:12:41.779 what the ultimate expression of love is. 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:43.879 And you'll find it not by looking in. 00:12:44.539 --> 00:12:46.379 You'll find it not by looking out. 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:48.299 You will find it by looking up 00:12:48.299 --> 00:12:50.879 to the God who is love. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:53.879 This is love. 00:12:53.879 --> 00:12:54.679 Love. 00:12:55.820 --> 00:12:57.439 Not that we loved God, 00:12:58.299 --> 00:13:01.000 but that he loved us. 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:02.379 Friends, 00:13:02.460 --> 00:13:03.439 get your head around that. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:04.500 He loved us 00:13:04.500 --> 00:13:06.960 and sent his son 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:09.860 as an atoning sacrifice 00:13:09.860 --> 00:13:11.919 for our sins. 00:13:14.460 --> 00:13:14.899 Friends, 00:13:14.939 --> 00:13:15.919 just as we finish up 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:17.879 and before we sing our final song 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:20.000 and before the craziness of kids 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:20.799 coming here, okay, 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:23.039 why don't we just pause for a second 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:23.899 and let's be quiet. 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:25.879 And in light of everything 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:27.139 that's gone on this morning, 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:28.519 everything we've heard, 00:13:28.659 --> 00:13:29.519 everything we've sung, 00:13:29.639 --> 00:13:30.779 everything we've read 00:13:30.779 --> 00:13:31.959 and seen, 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:33.599 why don't we just pause 00:13:33.599 --> 00:13:34.539 and each of us, 00:13:34.699 --> 00:13:35.659 let us be still 00:13:35.659 --> 00:13:37.679 before the God who made us. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:39.000 and then I'll pray. 00:13:44.519 --> 00:13:45.159 Dear God, 00:13:45.219 --> 00:13:46.959 we thank you so much for today 00:13:46.959 --> 00:13:50.319 and being able to celebrate 00:13:50.319 --> 00:13:51.939 the truth 00:13:51.939 --> 00:13:54.359 that you are the God 00:13:54.359 --> 00:13:55.959 who is alive 00:13:55.959 --> 00:13:57.799 and active 00:13:57.799 --> 00:13:59.679 and that you are the God 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:00.699 who is in the business 00:14:00.699 --> 00:14:02.839 of transforming lives. 00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:05.220 and so it's our prayer 00:14:05.220 --> 00:14:05.940 that you would help 00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:07.259 each of us today, 00:14:07.700 --> 00:14:08.660 wherever we are, 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.000 whoever we are 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:10.960 and whatever's going on 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:11.660 in our lives, 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:13.379 to comprehend, 00:14:13.740 --> 00:14:14.580 to grasp 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:16.700 something more 00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:18.740 of how much 00:14:18.740 --> 00:14:20.540 you have loved us. 00:14:21.340 --> 00:14:22.120 So Father, 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:23.440 thank you for today. 00:14:24.280 --> 00:14:25.660 Thank you that you hear 00:14:25.660 --> 00:14:26.580 our prayers 00:14:26.580 --> 00:14:27.960 because we make them 00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:28.800 in the name of 00:14:28.800 --> 00:14:29.620 heaven's King, 00:14:30.220 --> 00:14:31.040 Jesus Christ. 00:14:31.780 --> 00:14:32.060 Amen.