Love In Action!! Bob Hazlett

Good morning, men and women. Such an honor and a blessing to be able to speak into your life again on the Pando app from Life Fellowship Church here in McKinney, Texas. Man, we just love you guys. You're a part of our church family. I know we say that all the time, but I want to keep saying it because we mean it. We pray for you. There's two prayer meetings here, one on Monday night, one on Saturday morning, and you guys are all prayed for. If you want to send in some prayer requests, that will get prayed for. And speaking of mail, we definitely absolutely want to receive your mail, and we have a team of men and women that want to walk alongside you through the mail, that want to disciple or answer questions or pray with you or just have a good godly person that you can walk with. But here's kind of the policy on that is, if you're a man, you're going to get a man. If you're a woman, you're going to get a woman. If you're a dude and you're writing to the guitar player on the, the girl guitar player on the worship team, she's not even going to get that letter. I'm just going to tell you. We get a lot of crazy. I know you guys are, you know, I mean, I've been down there four times. My name is Logan Williams, TDC numbers 1490218. I forgot to say that. I got four more numbers after that, and I had a lot of homeboys when I was down there that was pimping the pen. But this ain't the place to pimp the pen. It's going right in the trash can if you're a guy and you write one of the, one of the females here. Okay, I'm just going to tell you, we want your mail. We want to encourage you and be, and walk alongside you, but there's just been too much

crazy and we had to make that policy. It's going to be a man writing you back. It's going to be a female writing you back. And so, uh, thank you for watching. I really and truly believe that God is after you. If you are, have clicked on this video, he has left 99. He is trying to find you. You, you are on a tablet. You are on the application that has all the spiritual stuff and you clicked on life fellowship for whatever reason. And that's amazing. And he knew who all was going to click on, on this today. He already had it in his plan and I just love that. But I'm just going to tell you, if he's after you, you're probably not going to get away. So just go ahead and give him your yes. Go ahead and get all in. My life was chaos, 25 years of, of shooting dope and selling drugs and, and hitting licks and, and living in hotels and going to jail and going to prison and getting out and doing it again and going to jail and going to prison and getting out and do it again. Some treatment centers thrown in there. I mean, my life was just madness until I got all the way in with him. When I'd laid it all down, my life completely changed. He gave me a purpose and a calling and, and my life just took off like a rocket ship. And that's what I want for you guys. Because at the, at the prisons that we go to, we can see that God is raising up an army. He's raising up an army in there. And I just feel like the, the, the end times are a little bit closer than everyone thinks. And I think, man, he's going to use this army that he's raising up behind the wire because you guys know how to fight. You have it in you to fight.

You just, sometimes we don't fight the right things, right? We're supposed to be fighting the principalities, the rulers of darkness, the enemy. And if we're not properly fighting that, we're going to be fighting our, our spouses. We're going to be fighting our, our friends, each other. But God put that in us. Okay. We just need to be fighting the right things. You're going to fight something. You need to be fighting darkness and, and, and, and the enemy and the, the principalities and all the things that come against us as believers. So I was reading, um, in Acts, it's so interesting, and I don't know if you have a group of friends there, maybe a Bible study group, maybe, uh, just a group of like-minded believers that, that you're, you're doing this time with doing this walk with, but, but these guys back in Acts chapter, chapter one, verse 14, it says they all met together and were continually reunited in prayer along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, several other women and the brothers of Jesus. So it's saying they were meeting together and they were continually in prayer. They were praying as often as they could. I know it's, we hear it all the time. Pray without ceasing. Like, I know that's impossible to literally be praying all the time, but we need to be praying continually. We need to not grow weary in doing these, these good things. We need to continually be faithful in seeking God. And then in chapter two, verse two, it says, suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring and mighty windstorm and it filled the house that they were sitting. The Holy Spirit fell on them on the day of Pentecost. It says suddenly, and how many of y'all know

we serve a God of suddenly? Like I can tell you story after story in my walk where I'm just trudging along, I'm getting discouraged, I don't know where to turn next. And then suddenly God shows up and it's a massive suddenly. Suddenly I was able to just walk out of a hotel room and give away enough dope to keep me high for years. Suddenly I was able to just lay down sexual sin. Suddenly I'm cleaning pools for two and a half years and a church wants to hire me to run a prison ministry. Suddenly these things can happen. But if you look at the order, I think that God suddenly is connected to our continually because it says they continually prayed and then suddenly the Holy Spirit fell. And so I want to encourage you in your continually, whatever that is, we need to be faithful. We need to be faithful. We need to have that faith. Faith is, man, it is everything. Faith is everything. And that's something we should be praying for is that God give us a larger measure of faith. But I want you to not get discouraged. I want you to not get just ready to throw in the towel. I know some of you are in some absolutely crazy places. I know you are. Some of you are in some places where there aren't very many believers. Some of you are in places that they actually come against

you because you're sitting in the day room with a Bible in front of you. But I want you to continually do these things, continually seek him because then the God of suddenly is gonna show up. And I just wanted to point that out to you. Father, we love you. We thank you for just the ability to speak to these men and women. What a blessing the tablet is. Gosh, I wish I had one when I was incarcerated all those years, but nevertheless, what a blessing. We just give you praise for that, God. We just give you, exalt your name and tell, we just wanna tell you how awesome and amazing you are that men and women in these facilities can fill their free time with the word of God, with messages from pastors that love you, with the chosen, with the Bible recap, with all the books that are on there, all the worship. Man, thank you, God, for that. I thank you for everyone that has clicked on this video today, God. I pray that you would just have a moment with them and just meet them right where they're at. Let them know that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And if any of them have not done that, it is just that simple, right there where they're at,

they can just call on your name to be saved. And God, I thank you that you just made this so simple, that you just made salvation. It's so simple, it almost doesn't make sense. But God, we know that your ways are higher than our ways and that your thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And God, we thank you for your ways and we thank you for your thoughts. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your blessings in our life. We thank you that you've called us, that you've chosen us, that you're coming after us, and that you've saved us. And God, we thank you for what Jesus did on the cross, man, that we would never, ever take that for granted, no matter what we happen to be going through. So God, we love you, we thank you. We just invite you in to do what only you can do. And we give you all the praise and glory in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. In whose house? God's house. Let's give Him some praise. You guys enjoy the message. Good afternoon, my friends, come on, why don't you stand on your feet and prepare your feet. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and they shall be saved. The name of the Lord is whatever you need it to be because there is power in the name of Jesus. There is authority in the name of Jesus. So come on, why don't you just close your eyes for a second and just focus on that name, Jesus. And begin to call on Jesus, Jesus.

Jesus, we are you. Thank you, Jesus. I just want to speak the name of Jesus. Over every heart and every mind. Because I know there is peace within your praises. I speak Jesus. And I just want to speak the name of Jesus. Till every dark addiction starts to break. Declaring there is hope and there is freedom. I speak Jesus. Your name is power. Your name is healing. And your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. And burn like a fire. Would you burn like a fire? I just want to speak the name of Jesus. Over fear and all anxiety. Till every small health can't defy depression. I speak Jesus. Can you sing that one more time? Sing it again, sing. I just want to speak the name of Jesus. Over every fear and all anxiety. Till every small health can't defy depression. I speak Jesus. Your name is power. Your name is healing. And your name is life. Break every stronghold.

Shine through the shadows. And burn like a fire. Your name is power. Your name is healing. And your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. And burn like a fire. Come on, I don't know what you came in here carrying this morning. But I challenge you to begin to declare the name Jesus. Over whatever situation you are facing. Over whatever giant you think that is trying to come against you. I challenge you to say the name Jesus. And I promise you that at the mention of His name. Something has to change, something has to shift. His name shifts atmospheres. At the mention of the name Jesus. There is authority, there is healing, there is power. There is every single thing that you would need. And then some. So just begin to open up your mouth and say Jesus. I declare Jesus. I declare Jesus. Over every situation I declare Jesus. Come on, let's shout it out. Come on, shout Jesus, shout Jesus. Shout Jesus from the mountains. And Jesus in the streets. And Jesus in the darkness. And Jesus in the darkness.

family I speak the holy name Jesus come on with the authority that he has given you shall Jesus shall Jesus from the mountains and Jesus in the streets I speak the holy name Jesus Oh shout Jesus, shout Jesus, shout Jesus from the mountains And Jesus in the streets Oh Jesus in the darkness over every end Jesus for the family I speak the holy name I speak the holy name Jesus Shout it out, shout it out, shout Jesus Shout Jesus from the mountains And Jesus in the streets, Jesus in the darkness Oh Jesus in the darkness, Jesus in the darkness Oh Jesus for the family I speak the holy name Oh Jesus Your name, your name, your name is power Your name is healing Your name is life You'll break everything You're strong, strong You'll shine through the shadows You're good like fire Your name is power Your name is power Your name is healing Your name is life You'll break everything You're strong, strong You'll shine through the shadows You're good like fire Come on, can you sing that again? Your name is power

Your name is healing And your name is life Yes it is Break every stronghold Shine through the shadows And burn like a fire Sing it one more time Your name is power Your name is healing And your name is life Yes it is So break every stronghold Shine through the shadows And burn like a fire Come on somebody give Him praise Give Him glory Thank you Jesus for your name Thank you Lord Praise your name Heavens declare your glory The earth hear us in praise Resounding as one we lift up your name Day after day, night after night The mountains bow down in worship And the wind still obeys your name Reviewing your majesty, power, and grace Day after day, night after night Day after day, night after night Give all glory And all power

God, we lift up your name We thank you, Jesus Who you are, God Who you are, God Heavens declare your glory The earth erupts in praise Resounding as one, we lift up your name Day after day, night after night Day after day, night after night Your glory and honor Your hand and all power We lift up your name God, we lift up your name Your glory and honor Your hand and all power We lift up your name God, we lift up your name Your glory and honor Your hand and all power We lift up your name God, we lift up your name Your glory and honor Your hand and all power We lift up your name God, we lift up your name Your glory and honor Your hand and all power We lift up your name God, we lift up your name Your glory and honor Your hand and all power We lift up your name God, we lift up your name Your glory and honor Your hand and all power We lift up your name God, we lift up your name That's who you are, that's who you are You're real, you're real, you're real You're redeemer, you're so good Shepherd, shepherd and savior That's who you are, that's who you are That's who you are, that's who you are Your glory and honor Your hand and all power We lift up your name God, we lift up your name We give our glory and honor Dominion and all power We lift up your name

God, we lift up your name in all the glory, we give all glory and honor to me. God, we lift up your name, yes we do God, we lift up your name, we lift up your name. God, we lift up your name. God, we lift up your name. God, we lift up your name. You are a holy God, a worthy God. God, we love your presence oh God, we love your presence. You've grown in glory, my Savior King. Your loving kindness has welcomed me. Though I'm unworthy of majesty, you wrap the lowly in royalty. I will lay my crowns down at your feet. You will hold it, hold it if I will give my life as an offering. You're worthy, so worthy God. Here at your altar, to see your face. Broken and torn up, without mercy. In full abandon, before my King. Here I surrender my everything. Here at your altar, to see your face. Broken and torn up, without restraint. In full abandon, before my King. Here I surrender my everything. I will lay my crowns down at your feet. You will hold it, hold it if I will give my life as an offering. You are worthy, so worthy God. I will lay my crowns down at your feet. You will hold it, hold it if I will give my life as an offering. You are worthy, so worthy God. I will lay my crowns down at your feet this morning, oh God. Oh God, we love you, Jesus. We worship you, God.

We give you everything, God. It all belongs to you, Jesus. Oh God, accept our offering to you this morning. Our offering of praise. Our offering of worship. It belongs to you, Jesus. Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne. We join the dawn of heaven in the everlasting song. Can we sing that? Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne. We join the dawn of heaven in the everlasting song. Come on. So holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne. We join the dawn of heaven in the everlasting song. Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne. Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne. Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne. We join the dawn of heaven in the everlasting song. Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne. We join the dawn of heaven in the everlasting song. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne. We join the dawn of heaven in the everlasting song. Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne. We join the dawn of heaven in the everlasting song. Oh, I lay my crowns down at Your feet. You are holy, holy, and I will bring my crowns in awe for You. You are worthy, so worthy am I. Come on, right where you are, would you just close your eyes? And I want you just to receive in the very love of God. People come to me from time to time, they're like,

Chris, give me something deep. Give me something deep. You want something deep? I'll give you something deep. As your eyes are closed, this is deep. Jesus loves me, this I know. Because the Bible tells me so. Like that's deep, that God would love, if He'd love somebody like you, He'd love somebody like me. You know, when God thinks about you, His thoughts towards you are good. They're very good. You know, when Adam and Eve, when they sinned, when they missed the mark, you'll never find God showing up with a vindictive, retaliatory mindset. Instead, He shows up with love, saying, how can I redeem you? How can I bring you back? Because that's the heart of your God. And I know that a lot of times you walk into a service like this, and you're just ruminating on maybe some of the misses that you've had in this last week. And you think, man, I don't know how I can really worship the Lord. Why would He even want, why would He want anybody like me? And you need to know that He loves you just like you are. Now, He loves you too much to allow you to stay like that. But you don't have to impress Him. He sees you. He sees the real you. And He likes it. He wants you.

So just lean into Him. You know, I've been just enamored recently. I'm in the book of John where John the disciple, he refers to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved. Have you ever read that before, the disciple that Jesus loved? You almost think that he's like kind of sticking out his chest saying, He loves me more than anybody. I'm the one that He loved. But if you actually read it in the original language, it literally means this. I'm the disciple that He would even love somebody like me. So take all of your faults, all of your shame, all of your sin, all of your past, and today, God would even love somebody like us, and He doesn't run away from it, He's not scared of your sin, He actually runs towards you. So just allow Him to embrace you, just allow Him to come close to you, like your life will never be complete until the creation gets connected back into the Creator. I will keep Him in perfect peace, whose mind is not on all the calamity and the issues and the problems of this world, it's whose mind has stayed on Jesus. That's this moment. So do me a favor, all across this place, why don't you guys please be seated, it's really good to have you in service with us today. You know, Scripture says that it was Jesus' custom to be in church. So think about this, if it was, if Jesus had the habit of being in church, how much more should you and I not be, right? And so it's really good that you're here because there's something spiritual that happens when the body of Christ comes together, the Holy Spirit shows up. I could share a lot, I'm not preaching today, and so I do want to bring your attention to this little card that's in your front seatback pocket, and so if you'd pull that out, you'll see there all of our Easter service times, and it begins on Good Friday, and if you've never been to a Good Friday around here, it is my favorite service that we do all year long. In fact, I've been saying it like this, I actually believe that we do violence to Easter

when we are not first sitting at the feet of the cross, taking in the enormity of the sacrifice of Christ that we are all the beneficiaries of. And it's going to be a service that I'm going to share with you some things that I've only here just but recently discovered that I think are going to just, it's going to do something so deep in us, and so make sure you're part of that, and then we have all kinds of Easter services, and I'm going to challenge you, don't just come by yourself, find somebody that is away from God, like we're putting extra time and effort and thought and energy and prayer into a service that we really believe that whoever you bring in, I can promise you this, the Lord is going to encounter them in a substantial way, like their life is going to be changed. So do whatever you got to do, tell them you'll bake them a cake, an apple pie, you'll change their oil, you'll take them out to lunch, I'll buy you a coffee from Blends Cafe, push pull drag, whatever you got to do to get somebody to be a part of our Easter service, like bring somebody with. Yeah. I want to challenge you. And then on the back here, just really quickly, you'll see that I am announcing today our Easter offering, and we're believing God for $400,000. We only take two special offerings a year, one at Christmas and one at Easter, and there's a number of things that we're going to use that offering to help us accomplish, but one of the main things is our McKinney campus. So on a typical weekend, we have a parking issue. We have people, you guys have probably experienced that too. Two weeks ago, we had people parking up and down Henneman Way. People will pull onto our parking spot, they can't find a place, and so they pull off. We have two major lids that are keeping us from being able to impact the community that God has planted us in. One's our parking, and the other is this auditorium size. So this offering, we're going to use this as we are moving forward on expanding our parking.

As you can see here, there's a number of different parking spots. That's our property back there that has been undeveloped, and so we want to expand into that, create another 154 spots, as well as begin engaging with architects as to what would take so that we could expand this auditorium and create something that would create more space. If you all know, I'm 50 right now, and four services a week, that's a bunch. As we go to five, there's got to come a limit, and yet there are people that are wanting to be. So I'm going to ask you to pray. Pray about your involvement in our Easter offering and we're gonna see it be used for incredible kingdom advancement. So today, Bob Hazlett is gonna be bringing you the word out of Song of Solomon chapter number seven. So prepare your hearts. This year has been an incredible year of acceleration. What God did this year was beyond anything we could have imagined. We just returned from ministering in one of the oldest churches in Europe and there was one moment I will never forget. On the final night, after a full week of pouring out, God drew my attention to someone in a pink hoodie. I told her, you're about to fall so deeply in love with Jesus that people will think you're on drugs. Not because she was, but because she was so in love with Jesus. And in that moment, she gave her life to Jesus and brought her drugs to the front. God sets people free.

On that night in that ancient church and all year long around the world, we watched freedom unfold. In the Philippines, a 12 year old girl forced into exploitation arrived at a restoration home promise house just weeks before giving birth. We provided this young mother and her baby with prenatal care. Her baby was born healthy and through the love of local pastors, the baby has been adopted into a safe thriving family and the young mother is recovering in the safety of our home. That is the power of rescue and restoration and protecting the next generation. And in Brazil, we watched the next generation step deeper into revival. Thousands of young people worshiping with everything in them. When the altar call came, the altars flooded. Wave after waves of students running to Jesus. We also spoke to over 300 pastors that gathered for a leaders conference. And it's one of our greatest joys to speak prophetic vision into pastors, ministries and leaders of the next generation. We also advocated on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. along with senators, congressmen and women and international delegations

from Mexico, Costa Rica and beyond advocating for stronger anti-trafficking laws worldwide. We brought the fight for victims to California standing before the DOJ and the attorney general's office to man justice and protection for victims and advocates of human trafficking. This year, we ministered at more than 40 events across four continents. North America, South America, Europe and Asia and everywhere we went, we watched God move. We also launched Prophetic Immersion, our in-person prophetic school in Dallas adding curriculum to our extensive online prophetic trainings. We're so excited to be part of raising a new generation of voices that will carry the kingdom of God into every sphere of society. And next week we leave for the Philippines. We'll spend the entire week with children who are recovered from human trafficking, bringing God's love, healing grace therapy, a princess party and lots of healing laughter. We're giving them new educational tools and we're walking them onto a college campus so they can see their future and believe they belong there. You know, as I look back over this year, one thing is clear, none of this happened alone. You prayed with us, you believed with us, you built with us. What God is doing through this ministry

across the continents, across generations is something that we are building together. Thank you for standing shoulder to shoulder with us. We honor you, we value you, we are grateful because we are stepping into this next season as a ministry on a mission. Good morning, Life Fellowship. Thank you so much. We love being part of this church, this family. You've given us a place to belong and I'm so grateful to be able to come to you today and join in this series on Song of Solomon or Song of Songs, however it says it in your Bible. That can be confusing, but it's known as a deep theological book. In fact, I read that rabbis would say that the Torah is holy, all scripture is holy, but they would say about Song of Solomon, it's the holy of holies because it demonstrates God's love to his people. So I'm gonna jump into this series. Welcome if you're watching online and those who are watching in the houses of incarceration, we're so glad that you're with us. This is a church that loves the Bible and this is a church that loves being the church, not just coming to church, but being the church every single day of our life. So let's jump into this chapter by chapter series on the Song of Songs.

Today, we're gonna talk about the seventh song or Song of Solomon chapter seven. The overarching theme of the Song of Songs is love restored. It's a love song calling back a love that was lost. If you look at this from a Hebrew perspective, they would have looked at it, Jewish people would have seen this as a love song God was singing. singing to his people. It's actually read in its entirety during Passover, recalling that God brought his people out of slavery and into a promised land. And we as Christians and early church fathers would have looked at this very similar. We would have seen Christ as the bride groom and the church as the bride. And God called us by his word, Jesus, out of sin into a promised land, a relationship and a family. And it's also right to look at this as a wedding song of restoration, restoring what was lost between Adam and Eve. And we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna take a look at how the sound restores. And so I have a little problem. I lose stuff. Does anybody do that kind of things? Like I actually don't lose it. I put it in a strategic location

and then I can't remember where that location was, but it's a safe strategic location. In fact, I don't know anybody here that has an Apple watch, but I used to wear one because for the sole reason is I would lose my phone like 10 times a day. And I love that sound when you hit that button and you find your iPhone, but they've upgraded that. So now I have an app because I have these things. I don't know if you know what they are, air tags. You might wanna put them on your kids. You wanna put them on your luggage. I have them on my keys. I have them on my wallet. I have them on my backpack. And I don't know how many times a day I say to my wife, I can't find my wallet. And then she says, open up your app because there's an app for that. And I love that sound when that sound restores me back to things that were lost. And that's actually what this book is. It's a sound of restoring back what was lost. Let's take a look at Song of Songs, chapter seven, verse 10. It's a key part of this chapter seven song because it points us back to what was originally lost. Verse 10, I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me. That's powerful language. I am my beloved's. So that word beloved comes up a lot in the scriptures. I wanna find out what actually that's referring to.

And his desire is toward me. This is part of the song that directly points us back to what was lost between Adam and Eve. There was a curse that came against their relationship. Sin caused a separation between them and God. Sin causes a separation between us and God, but it also causes a separation between Adam and Eve. Take a look at Genesis chapter three, verse 16. This is the place where that word desire comes up. That word desire means a compelling force. So something happened in their relationship when they sinned and this was a result of that sin. Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. So that word desire or compelling force led to a breakdown in relationship. Let's go back to the beginning. Adam and Eve were created as equals. They were created to stand before God, to walk with God in the cool of the day, to interact with him and interact with one another. We see in Genesis two, they actually helped God. They were co-creators with God when the animals were created. We see that God breathes into them when they're one being. So it's important to understand that God created Adam and Eve to be equal partners. God created Eve out of Adam's side to show us that they were called to walk together with God in union, unity, and equality.

And something happened as a result of sin is that control and hierarchy came into the relationship. It was no longer union, but it was control. And when communication breaks down, control drives the conversation. And it's conversation that creates the restoration. And that's what Song of Solomon is about. It's about a conversation that creates restoration. Fortunately for us, God models three things about love and action, about language of love that can restore what was lost. And we're gonna talk about those three things today. Number one, love invites a conversation. And conversation requires connection. You lose communication when you lose connection. And so we see in God's language that it's not about what he says, it's about how he's trying to bring back connection. In Genesis 3, we see the first thing that God said after man sinned. The first thing he said is the Lord called to Adam and said to him, where are you? Where are you? with an accusation, he started with an invitation. And love that restores, conversation that restores, doesn't start with an accusation, it starts with an invitation. You know, man lost connection with God, then he lost connection with his spouse. He lost connection with each other.

And we, when we lose connection with God, we lose connection with ourself as well. What does that mean? What does that look like for somebody? Maybe I lost connection with myself. You probably, if you're like me, you can lose connection with yourself every day. If you've ever found yourself standing in front of an open refrigerator door, wondering what you're hungry for, or someone asks to actually say, why are you standing in front of the door with the refrigerator open? You lost connection, bro. Like you lost connection. Like you, there's like a wifi signal you are not connected to. And it has, it's not about your stomach, it's about your brain, right? And we all can do that. We've lost our desire or our desires are pointed to another direction. Well, this happened. How many of you like have a date night? You like date night, you should like date night. If you're married, if you're engaged, if you're dating, if you're single, you should still like date night. Cause date night is about a time of connection. And my wife and I, this past week,

we were, you know, we wanted to have a date night. So we're driving down the road and we asked all the questions like, what are you hungry for? And I couldn't figure out what I was hungry for. And then she's really good. Cause she's really intuitive about what I'm hungry for. Even when I don't know what I'm hungry for. So she's like, do you want sushi? Do you want steak? Do you want chicken? Do you want wings? And I was like, no, none of that. I'm not hungry for any of that. And then she asked me another question. Well, where do you want to go? Like, where do you want to sit? And I'm like, I know exactly what I want. I want to sit outside. I want to be away from all the music and the people and the noise. And I just want to sit and talk. And I knew exactly where I was going to go. In fact, we have a spot like that near where we live. We're not going to tell you cause you'll all show up there and mess up our connection, okay? But the point is, it's not about your culinary taste. It's about connection. And if you want to restore connection,

there's a place to it. God didn't ask Adam what he did. He asked him, where are you? That's a different kind of question. And sometimes what we've got to do before we can even enter into the connection, we've got to ask the right questions. And initiating love, restoring conversations, first ask these three questions. I'm going to give you three questions to ask. Number one, do I want connection or do I want correction? That's what I have to ask myself before I start the conversation. Number two, do I want clarity or do I want a confession? God didn't come and say, that's up to what you did. He said, Adam, where are you? Because he was trying to create connection. And the third is, am I trying to understand or am I trying to be right? That's actually a place of empathy right there. That's a key to empathy is trying to, not step into the other person's shoes, but like to call empathy is like stepping next to the person but being able to stay in your own shoes. And that's what man and woman were called to do, to walk together with God in the cool of the day. And when they lost that connection with God, they lost that connection with one another. But Jesus comes and the Father comes here in Genesis to restore connection.

And the second thing he does, number two, love asks questions. It draws out instead of shutting down. Let me explain that to you. Here's what God says next, Genesis 3.11. Who told you that you were naked? Again, he's asking a question. He's not making a statement. He could have made a statement. What did you do? Why are you naked? Why did you eat from the tree? Because God's God, he knows it all already. It's kind of the same thing with us and our kids. We actually know what they did. We just want them to tell us so they can get it off their chest and we can restore connection. It's not about punishment, it's about restoration. And curiosity creates conversation while criticism shuts it down. Let me say it again. Curiosity creates conversation and criticism shuts it down. Statements close hearts, but questions open them up. You know, it's really important in conversations, especially around relationships and family that we learn these kinds of things. And I'm still learning at my stage of life. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, we went to visit my family, my mother

and my dad in Pennsylvania. And it was a busy, really busy end of the year. In the last quarter of the year of 2025, we had traveled to. I think four different continents and we're super busy and we're trying to create this moment where I could visit my parents. It's a season of life where we're reminiscing about what has happened and we're starting to mourn what won't be someday soon. And so we were trying to figure out a way to get there and we couldn't get there until just a couple weeks ago. And I flew in and my brothers and sisters all flew in. I came from a little bit of a big family. We had five siblings in my family and so we all came and we had a day of tears and happiness and joy and gratitude. And at the end of that we were all together and we were around my mom and my mom was sharing her words of love for each child and how special each one was and complimented us all and shared a story. It was a beautiful time but you know in that time we're still kids. We're a family but we're still kids and you know things came up like yeah he's you know he's you love him like that but he you know he's like that he he's kind of a knucklehead and like those kind of things in families and and so there were those those moments and I got one of those moments and my older sister looked at me and said yeah Bob's good but you know he he used to call me names and and I kind of laughed because as a kid you're going haha because you think teasing is just part of being a kid but it's also part of being a broken human. And so my first initial reaction was to laugh and my sister looked at me she said no you your words really hurt me and you know in that moment I had to decide am I going to be a 12 year old kid or am I going to be a mature man and and look at my my sister's feelings. And I remember a process I went through and there's three things you can do in that moment. One thing is you could point the finger. You could say well you did the same thing to me. That's what Adam did didn't he? It was the woman you gave me. So finger pointing is deflecting. Then there's another thing you could do you could be defensive like well I didn't mean it that way like I you just took it wrong or you could avoid you know you misunderstood me that's not what I really meant. And I will be honest with you all those things probably went through my mind but there was a moment that my the voice of God broke through the voice of the 12 year old kid and I and I said wow I'm really sorry I hurt you and she said I forgive you and I said can I give you a hug but you can't punch me when I go to give you a hug you know that was that was the real conversation.

What's the point of this conversation? The point is is that is that we can lose connection so easily but connection can be restored through conversation. Let me give you three questions that will create love restoring conversation. Number one can you help me how you to know how you experience that? Why is that important? Because it's the opposite of saying you misunderstood me. Here's another one. How did you hear that instead of I didn't mean it that way? What was your intention instead of saying you did the same thing to me? This is what God demonstrates when he communicates to Adam. Where are you? Who told you that? Who told you to believe that? You see this is an important conversation because questions invite intimacy questions invite love and this is love in action in words and deeds and we see God demonstrate it from the beginning and his intention which I'm going to show you is to restore that and in Song of Solomon chapter 7 we're going to look at how that love was restored. You see number three got love compliments over criticizing. When Adam said I was afraid God didn't critique him. He had the chance to but he didn't say you did it wrong he just said come here come here and let me fix it. Now let's read this the seventh song because this is a really powerful moment of complimenting of bringing connections through true words of compliments. Now let's see flattery is giving someone a compliment to get something from them but honor is giving someone a compliment to add value to them and this is what's happening is that the lover is the bride the bridegroom is giving compliments to the bride and it's not to get something from her it's to add value to her and it's a picture of Christ and the church. Watch this Song of Songs verse number chapter 7 verse 4. I'll start with the the G. Parts. All right, the neck your neck is an ivory tower Your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon now you might say like why what her neck is a tower Here's what here's what Solomon's saying. He's saying you're a strong woman. I don't want you to feel weak I want you to feel strong. You're a strong woman And by the way, the your eyes are the pools of Heshbon that eyes are always used for discernment So what he's saying is you're strong and I trust your discernment I trust the way you look at things and you look at things differently than I do and I need that I need your eyes to look at things and to help me to understand and give me a real perspective Anybody feeling convicted? Your nose. Well, this is another one

Your nose is like the Tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus, which I hope Damascus is straight and not crooked And the nose is actually a nose is actually a picture of helping to discover Wisdom and then he goes on to say your head crowns you like Mount Carmel Your hair is like the head of purple, which means she's trendy. She she knows her hair colors That's very cool Actually, what he's saying is you're like royalty, but hair is always associated with wisdom. So look listen to this guys He's looking at his lover going you're strong. You have great perspective You have great wisdom and I need your words and your perspective to become the man. I'm created to be This is a picture of how love Responds to love in action because listen to what the the bride does listen to what she says verse chapter 7 verse 9 and 10 The wine goes down smoothly for my beloved Moving gently the lips of sleepers. I am my beloved's and his desire is Toward me now. First of all, let me just point out to you because if you read this this song, which I hope you do I hope you go home and read it read it with fresh eyes and realize he's complimenting physical attributes But he's not just calling out physical attributes He's actually saying this is what's desirable to me your wisdom your character Not just your beauty, but your strength your perception and I need that in my life and then she responds to him This wine goes down smoothly If you want someone to receive your words You've got to create connection if you want someone to receive your words You've got to prioritize curiosity and create questions that invite Conversation and if you want someone to receive your words, you have to value who they are Not just what you believe But see them the way God sees them and here's the good news about this song

This is a song of redemption She says I am my beloved's and his desire is for me But that next to the Genesis passage we read earlier your desire will be for him and he will rule over you What God does is he flips the curse on its head? He restores back what was lost and now this lover is saying you're my equal I can walk with you before God. I can stand with you before God. I can understand and accept your discernment I can see your beauty. I can see your wisdom and I need you because you make me complete Unity is restored equality is restored and they begin to walk with God together. And this is a picture of Jesus in the church This is a picture of love in action What's love in action? God so loved the world that he gave and you know You could read this scripture and you could see and hear the love of God my prayer for you today Is that you know that you are God's beloved? She says I am him. I am my beloved's What did what did Jesus hear? When he came out of the waters of baptism before he did anything, right? Before he preached a sermon Before he did a miracle. He came out of the waters and he heard the voice of his father in heaven saying This is my beloved My hope for you this week is tomorrow before your feet Hit the floor you hear. This is my beloved Before you open your mouth in prayer you hear this is my beloved Before you plan your day you just hear God say before you do anything You're my beloved Because that's what he's saying today And this song is proof to it. This is redemption. We can walk with God. In fact, the Bible says that we need to discover how deep, how high, how wide is the love of God.

Let me tell you how high it is. He got on a cross and his head was lifted into the heavens and crowns of thorns was placed upon his head and he bled. It was deep because that cross went into the ground and his blood went down into that dirt where the curse was. And it was wide because he stretched out his arms wide and embraced the entire world. And the Bible tells us the last thing that happened on that cross was they pierced his side and out of his side, they didn't pierce his feet, they didn't pierce his head, they pierced his side because out of his side flowed water and blood. I believe that's a picture of the church. I believe that's a picture of the bride that God wanted someone that could stand with him, that walk with him and we're called his beloved. Today, I believe God can heal words that were spoken over you. Maybe you didn't grow up being told you're loved. Maybe you didn't grow up in a context where people apologize. Can I tell you something today? God can even reverse words that felt like limiting curses over your life. Because if you hear something long enough, you start to believe it. If you hear long enough, you're not good at math, you're not gonna be good at math. If you hear long enough, you're not gonna turn out right. You're gonna be just like your uncle Joe or your uncle Pat.

You're gonna believe that and you're gonna limit yourself to those words. But I wanna tell you when God looks at you and says, you're my beloved, that breaks off the limitations that were put on you by earthly words and it brings you into his heavenly council. And he says, you are my beloved in whom I'm well pleased. Let's pray. Father, I thank you. You didn't just speak from the beginning, but you still speak now today. You speak now into each person's heart and each person's life. And God, I ask you to reverse word curses that were spoken over people that limited them, lies that they believe because of what they were told by people that should have loved them. And God, I ask right now, even as we release forgiveness to those who have sinned against us, you release healing to us in Jesus' name. And Father, I ask you to come and bring your words of restoration. God, I'm also asking you that this week, we would hear your voice in a new way. I'm asking that we would hear, this is my beloved daughter, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And I'm asking you that you would help us

when we have the choice to enter into conflict, that we instead create connection. When we have the choice to offer criticism and critique, that instead we offer words of life. And Father, I pray today that each person listening or sitting here in this room would understand the reason you came was to bring them back into right relationship with you. And the Bible says the way that happens is we believe he is who he said he is, the son of God. We believe he did what he said he would do. He died and he rose again. And when we believe that and confess that, the Bible says we're a new creation. The old things are gone, the new has come. And I believe this is that moment when you can hear the voice of your heavenly Father say, this is my son, this is my daughter. And you could do it if you pray a prayer like this. Dear Jesus, I believe you're the son of God. I believe you died for me. I believe you rose again. I ask you to come into my life, make all the old things new and the dead things alive. Make me the person you created me to be in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. And if you prayed that prayer, we wanna welcome you into the family of God. And we want you to know you are his beloved child. This week, you're gonna feel the love of God in a new way.

I believe you're gonna hear about his love in a new way. And in just a couple of minutes, one of the things that God does is he always comes with words of life. He comes with words of hope. And it's one of the things that we practice in this church. We practice looking at people and seeing them the way God sees them. And I wanna do that just before Pastor Chris comes and ends the service. I wanna speak words of life over someone. And there's a nice lady right here, right? What's your name? Cheryl Shelley. Hi, Shelley. Everybody say hi, Shelley. I just looked down and I saw. And I felt like God just wants you to know he's restoring joy in your life. There's a joy You know the Bible talks about the joy of salvation but also about the Bible says that God gives the oil of joy for mourning and I felt like the last three years have been like a season of having to let go and Mourning things that were lost But I feel like God wants you to know you're moving from a season of mourning into a season of real Joy, and when I said joy, you know, I saw like a dance There's a Bible the scripture that says God rejoices over us with singing and that word rejoices dancing and singing So that's a picture of joy and the Father's joy over you and I feel like there was something in you Where you expressed yourself and your joy through dance and God wants you to know that he loves to express his joy Over you with dance and I see God restoring joy and dancing in your life and and one of the things that God's going to use you to do is Release hope to people that have been hurt and I see you working with it

I'm gonna get really specific and uh, and if I'm wrong, I'm wrong But I saw you working with victims of domestic violence And I feel like the Lord said you are going to bring healing where there's been violence and you're gonna bring hope Where there's been harm and God is going to use you to restore joy where there's been mourning. I'm sorry I got really personal there and I felt it in my heart I hope it's I know it's I feel it's right because that's in your heart But you could talk to me later if I wasn't right and I'll correct it, but bless you Thank you for letting me share that. Thank you for letting me share with you today guys. God bless you You Well, it's been good to have been in the house of the Lord today, I'm so thankful for The fact that this is a church that is alive. We are moving forward. Our best days are yet ahead Next week. I will conclude our series on kiss and tell I really believe Out of all of the messages it is gonna be my favorite message to bring to you It is gonna be the capstone of the whole thing. So make sure that you're you're part of it Plus it's time change Sunday. How many of y'all know you get one less hour? So come on, why not just be in church with me, you know, why not try the 815? Well Tonight is our pursuit night starts at 6 p.m Make sure that you guys get here for that come with your hearts expecting We're gonna we're gonna sit and soak in the presence of God. The service will be about an hour and a half There are a number of things that are happening back in our kids areas in anticipation of so number of things so this tonight we are not going to be able to provide child care or children's ministry for our church here Tonight because there's a lot of different things that are happening We're cleaning and organizing and there's actually going to be teams of people that are coming in to do do different work there So, please know that and that's gonna be okay. If you bring your kids into the service, it's gonna be it's gonna be fantastic Today is a very bitter Sweet Day, and that is because today is pastor Jeff and Kathy's last Sunday with us at Life Fellowship Church

Jeff knows this but You're not just my friend And you've been an incredible friend But you've been like a brother to me and I am I am so thankful that God eight and a half years ago In fact, you know Bob was just doing the prophetic here You may not know this but when when when the Lord brought pastor Jeff and Kathy to the church here I was at some ministers meeting and I was praying. I'm like God. I I'm really praying that God you would bring an executive pastor I just need some help cuz I'm dying dying like I'm dying on the inside Um So much weight the heaviness of everything and I walked up to this guy was Jeff and I laid my hands on him and just started praying because they they said hey find find a minister just pray for him So I was I was praying for him. I heard the Holy Spirit say to me. He's gonna be your executive pastor I'm going I don't even know who this guy is Tatum was with me. We got in the car together to drive home. I said, did you see that guy I was praying for? She said no I said well the dude I was praying for he doesn't have any hair I Said the Lord spoke to me he's gonna be our executive pastor and so I I started you know asking people Hey, does anybody know somebody that is just like top-tier incredible and they all gave me like a number of people all sent his resume. I'm like, wait a second, like God orchestrated in an incredible way. God has always been in the middle of it. And so today is their last day. And we say it like this around here, that they're not leaving us, they're being sent. And he's not finished with his assignment, nor are you Kathy, you guys are on the next leg of it. And so I want us to just stretch our hands towards them. Can you two just please stand up? Father, I thank you for Pastor Jeff and Kathy. You, you gave them to us for a season. And Lord, we placed them back into your hands. Thank you, Lord, that the seeds and the impact that has been created in these last eight and a half years. I thank you, Lord, that it's going to multiply. And Lord, we know that they're not going to see the results of it, but eternity itself is going to reveal it to them. So I pray, Lord, that you bless them as they go. May the angels and the presence and the joy of the Lord be theirs. And we give you great thanks and praise for the boys in Jesus name we ask. Amen. Amen. So if you would want to stand to your feet, our prayer teams are going to be here. We'd love the

opportunity to pray with you. Thank you for your generosity to the Lord and your giving. Let me bless you today as you go. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his great, wonderful face to shine upon you. I pray that his goodness and his mercy will follow you all throughout this week. We just give you all your thanks and praise to you, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen. And amen. God bless you, everybody. Love you. I'll see you back here tonight, six o'clock.