Return to Love

♪ Oh, this is all for you, you are way ♪ ♪ Oh, it's all we got, it's my belief ♪ ♪ To seek your face, girl ♪ ♪ To seek you to know the one ♪ ♪ Oh, you're welcome here ♪ ♪ Welcome here in this room ♪ ♪ It's all for you ♪ ♪ It's all for me ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ - Hey, Alter family. If you are new here, you should know that we are about two things in this house. Worship and family, and we are here to do that all together today, so would you join us? (upbeat music) ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪

♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Oh, this is all for you ♪ ♪ Come in, invade ♪ ♪ Take over the space ♪ ♪ Surround and go present ♪ ♪ We are ready ♪ ♪ Hide deep water now ♪ ♪ You rise up, we bow down ♪ ♪ When you come ♪ ♪ Kingdom now, we are ready ♪ ♪ We raise space ♪ ♪ We may grow ♪ ♪ We'll come to you ♪ ♪ We raise space ♪ ♪ We may grow ♪ ♪ And we'll all be close to you ♪ ♪ Oh, hey ♪ ♪ Come in, invade ♪ ♪ Take over the space ♪ ♪ Surround and go present ♪ ♪ We are ready ♪ ♪ Hide deep water now ♪ ♪ You rise up, we bow down ♪ ♪ Kingdom now, we are ready ♪

♪ We raise space ♪ ♪ We may grow ♪ ♪ We will come to you ♪ ♪ We raise space ♪ ♪ We'll make grow ♪ ♪ And we'll all be close to you ♪ ♪ We raise space ♪ ♪ We may grow ♪ ♪ We will come to you ♪ ♪ We raise space ♪ ♪ We'll make grow ♪ How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day

How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day

How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day

How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day

How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day

How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day

How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day

How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day How we long be both in the day ♪ Have you way, have you way, have you way ♪

♪ Have you way, have you way, have you way ♪ ♪ So come and take a visit ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, world command ♪ (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) ♪ Oh, we want you ♪ ♪ Oh, God, we want you, we want you ♪ ♪ Oh, we need you, oh, we need you ♪ ♪ Oh, we want you, we need you ♪ ♪ Can you feel that something's changing ♪ ♪ I'm insuring in you ♪ ♪ All this only expectation ♪ ♪ How the Lord is going ♪ ♪ Oh, we feel it ♪ ♪ Do you feel the bondage breaking ♪ ♪ Freedom catching up to me ♪

♪ Do you feel the joy returning ♪ ♪ Got it changing up to you ♪ ♪ Wake up, wake up, wake up ♪ ♪ Peace in our midst ♪ ♪ All our songies riding ♪ ♪ This holy wire rushing with ♪ ♪ There's no containing it ♪ ♪ The rain is coming here this hour ♪ ♪ It leads the nursery ♪ ♪ That is glorious ♪ ♪ Oh, it's falling wild ♪ ♪ Oh, spirit, have your may ♪ ♪ Do what you want to ♪ ♪ Take your rightful place ♪ ♪ If it's your throne room ♪ ♪ Fire of heaven ♪ ♪ We want your presence ♪ ♪ Rolling on your name ♪ ♪ Spirit by your way ♪ ♪ Hold on to it ♪ ♪ Sing, wake up ♪ ♪ Wake up, wake up, peace in our midst ♪ ♪ All our songies riding ♪ ♪ This holy wire rushing with ♪ ♪ There's no containing it ♪ ♪ The rain is coming here this hour ♪ ♪ It leads the nursery ♪ ♪ Love is glorious ♪ ♪ Oh, it's falling wild ♪ ♪ Do what you want to ♪

♪ Take your rightful place ♪ ♪ Make this one through no ♪ ♪ Fire of heaven ♪ ♪ We want your presence ♪ ♪ Going on your King ♪ ♪ Spirit, I'm your way ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm your way ♪ ♪ Yeah, we want you God to have your way ♪ ♪ You'll take your rightful place ♪ ♪ Have your way ♪ ♪ Sing one, why ♪ ♪ Washing when ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, fan of fame ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ Why, oh ♪ ♪ Washing when ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, fan of fame ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ Why, oh ♪ ♪ Washing when ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, fan of fame ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ Why, oh ♪ ♪ Washing when ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, fan of fame ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave ♪

♪ Why, oh ♪ ♪ Washing when ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, fan of fame ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ Why, oh ♪ ♪ Washing when ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, fan of fame ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Spirit, have your faith ♪ ♪ Do what you want to ♪ ♪ Take your life away ♪ ♪ Make this your throne ♪ ♪ Fire and light ♪ ♪ We want your presence ♪ ♪ Call it more, Lord ♪ ♪ Spirit, have your faith ♪ ♪ Oh, Spirit, have your faith ♪ ♪ Oh, Spirit, have your faith ♪ ♪ Oh, have your way ♪ ♪ We're holding nothing back from you ♪ ♪ So that you can have your way ♪ ♪ In me, in us ♪ ♪ Oh, have your way ♪

♪ Spirit, have your way ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ My love rushing wind ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Oh, the Spirit feel the light ♪ ♪ We don't want to ♪ ♪ Oh, we don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ We're rushing wind ♪ ♪ Come and come and breathe ♪ ♪ Oh, Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ And we don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ We're rushing wind ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on ♪ ♪ Oh, breathe on us ♪ ♪ Oh, feel the faith ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave ♪ ♪ Oh, while rushing wind ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Oh, Holy Spirit, have your way ♪ ♪ We don't want to ♪ ♪ Oh, while rushing wind ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ ♪ Oh, Holy Spirit, have your way ♪ ♪ We don't want to leave and say ♪ ♪ We're rushing wind ♪ ♪ Come and breathe on us again ♪ We don't wanna leave the same wild Rushing wind, coming free corners again Holy Spirit, stand of play We don't wanna leave the same wild

Rushing wind, coming free corners Holy Spirit, stand of play We don't wanna leave the same We don't wanna leave the same We don't wanna leave the same Holy Spirit, have your way Do what you want to Take your right focus Make this your throne Fire of heaven And we want your presence Calling on your name Spirit, have your way Oh Spirit, have your way Oh, have your way Spirit, have your way Oh, have your way Oh, have your way Oh, have your way Oh, what a good girl What a good father Oh Spirit, have your way Oh Spirit, have your way Oh Spirit, have your way Oh Spirit, have your way Oh Spirit, have your way I thought I'd find you at a moment's place Who thought you'd feel me in the crowd Who knew you'd make good of my mistakes You're nothing like I thought you were

You're better, what a God, what a power What a God, what a God Oh, you're better than I thought What a God, what a God Oh, you're so good What a God, what a God I thought you'd show up for perfection 'Cause what kind of God is for us They say it's over for us there But you say, no it's not, no it's not Oh, you say, no it's not, no it's not What a God, what a God What a God, what a God Oh, you're better than I thought So good, what a God, what a God If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I'll turn it all, if the best thing that I've seen is your glow Then I've seen it all Forever satisfied God, you are my everything If one word is the only thing you speak Then I'll hurt it all If I feel your heart and never see you And I still have it all No treasure on this life Could ever satisfy God, you are my everything There's the highest place on me She's that you'll eat Then I'll turn it all

If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Never seen it all You'll never see my life Forever satisfied You are my everything If one word is the only thing you speak Then I'll hurt it all If I feel your heart and never see you And I still have it all No treasure on this life Could ever satisfy You are my everything If one word is the only thing you speak If one word is the only thing you speak If one word is the only thing you speak When I got what I got When I got what I got If the highest place on me She's that you'll eat Then I'll turn it all If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Never seen it all You'll never see my life Forever satisfied You are my everything There's one word is the only thing you speak Never seen it all If I feel your heart and never see you I still have it all No treasure on this life

Could ever satisfy You are my everything Never seen it all When I got what I got When I got what I got When I got what I got When I got what I got When I got what I got When I got what I got You are my everything You are my everything Oh You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything ♪ And let the cry out ♪ ♪ Hear who I am ♪ Oh You are my everything You are my everything (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) It's the highest reach that you're over (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) You're the worst thing I've ever said (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) If one word is the only thing you spoke Then I've heard it all, if I feel your heart Never see your fear

I still have it all, no treasure of this life Could ever satisfy You are my everything (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) Yes, you are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) You are my everything You are my everything (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) (oh, oh, oh, oh) You are my everything (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) You are my everything (oh, oh, oh, oh) You are my everything (oh, oh, oh, oh) ♪ There is room ♪ ♪ Who stands between God and men ♪ ♪ He's close in the fire ♪ ♪ But race back to life again ♪ ♪ He's given himself a red song ♪ ♪ All our sins are done ♪ ♪ And now I lie forever ♪ ♪ To the enemy it all belongs ♪ ♪ For Christ alone ♪

♪ We lay down our lives for this gospel ♪ ♪ Until the end of time ♪ ♪ All this is love ♪ ♪ Christ alone ♪ ♪ Hold the land ♪ ♪ Whose scars intercede for me ♪ ♪ Oh thank you ♪ ♪ The Son of Mary ♪ ♪ Exalted as the highway ♪ ♪ She's given ♪ ♪ He's given himself a red song ♪ ♪ All our sins are done ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ And now I lie forever ♪ ♪ To the enemy it all belongs ♪ ♪ For it all belongs ♪ ♪ It gets more Christ alone ♪ ♪ Then we lay down our lives for this gospel ♪ ♪ Until the end of time ♪ ♪ All this is love ♪ ♪ Christ alone ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ For Christ alone ♪ ♪ We lay down our lives for this gospel ♪ ♪ Until the end of time ♪ ♪ All this is love ♪ ♪ Christ alone ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Oh, sing the first song ♪ ♪ The first one from the dead ♪ ♪ Is coming back again ♪ ♪ Riding in upon a plow ♪ ♪ Eyes will see and knees will bow ♪ ♪ Those other prophets are lying ♪ ♪ I know who are to lie ♪ ♪ But there's one who wears it around ♪ ♪ Eyes will see and knees the first boy ♪ ♪ The first one from the dead ♪ ♪ Is coming back again ♪ ♪ Riding in upon a plow ♪ ♪ Eyes will see and knees will bow ♪ ♪ Those other gods are lies ♪ ♪ I know who are to lie ♪ ♪ But there's one who wears the crown ♪ ♪ Eyes will see and knees will bow ♪ ♪ The first one from the dead ♪ ♪ Is coming back again ♪ Those of their cards are light, idols who aren't alive But there's one who wears the crown, eyes will see the veil Though they have had hope to come, just in fire of his blood When we hear that trumpest sound, eyes will see and knees will bow Glory to God, the sun, the victory's been won Be our way, you're coming now, eyes will see and we will bow Christ alone, kneeling down our lives, for it has fallen Until the end of time, for this is for Christ alone Sing the first voice, the first word from the dead

He's coming back again, riding in upon the cloud Eyes will see and knees will bow Those of their cards are light, idols who aren't alive But there's one who wears the crown, eyes will see the veil Though they have had hope to come, just in fire of his blood When we hear that trumpest sound, eyes will see and knees will bow Glory to God, the sun, the victory's been won Be our way, you're coming now, eyes will see and we will pray Be our way, we will bow The King has come and Hope be our way, hope be our way, hope be our way Hope be our way, hope be our way, hope be our way Be our way, hope be our way, hope be our way Be our way, hope be our way, hope be our way Be our way, hope be our way, hope be our way It's for Christ alone, we lay down our lives More this gospel, until the end of time All this is for Christ alone Oh it's all for you, oh it's all for you Oh, more Christ alone, we lay down our lives More this gospel, until the end of time All this is for Christ alone Oh, we behold your face, my initude, the King of Kings Roll the festival Brightening in upon a cloud, eyes will see and peace go down Those other cotter lies, idols who want to lie But there's one who wears the crown, eyes will see The first form, the first form from the dead is coming back again Brightening in upon the cloud, eyes will see and peace go down Those other cotter lies, idols who want to lie But there's one who wears the crown, eyes will see

The fifth form, the fifth form has overcome Testifier of his blood, the wise will see and peace without glory By the sun, the big stories did one, we are waiting You're coming now, the land, the lamb has overcome Testifier of his blood, we may hear that trumpet sound But you'll see all the rain Those other cotter lies, be wise You're coming now, the wise will see and peace without The lamb has overcome, testifier When we hear, eyes will see and peace without glory By the sun, the big stories did one, you're coming now I will see and peace without the King as the man Without the King as the man They hold me home, they hold the King as the man They hold me home, they hold the King as the man We'll sit down, we'll lay down Oh, we're this gospel, until the end of time Oh, this is love, Christ the love Oh, it's all for you, oh, sing for Christ For Christ the love, we lay down Oh, this is love, we lay down, the Lord, Jesus the man Oh, this is love, we lay down Oh, this is love, we lay down Oh, every time and every time Oh, creation with one foots For a thousand generations, holy one Here our hearts have found a poem Gathered all around your throne For a thousand generations Holy one, every time and every song

Oh, creation with one voice For a thousand generations, holy one Here our hearts have found a poem ♪ For a thousand generations ♪ ♪ Holy One ♪ ♪ Heavy-triving ♪ ♪ Oh, all creations ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations ♪ ♪ Holy One ♪ ♪ Here our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations ♪ ♪ Holy One ♪ ♪ Holy One ♪ ♪ All sing out to him, he's holy ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, every-triving ♪ ♪ Every-triving ♪ ♪ Every-tongue ♪ ♪ All creation with one horse ♪ ♪ For a thousand generations ♪ ♪ Holy One ♪ ♪ Here our hearts have found a home ♪ ♪ Gathered all around your throne ♪

♪ For a thousand generations ♪ ♪ Holy One ♪ ♪ Every-triving ♪ All creation with one voice, all of those in generations, Holy Word, here our hearts have found a hope, gathered all around your hill, all of those in generations. We are worthy, oh so worthy, it's why we worship you, you are worthy. A father in glory, tell him he's holy, holy, oh so holy, you are holy. There is none like you. Holy Word, holy Word, holy Word, holy Word, holy Word, holy Word, holy Word. Holy Word, holy Word, holy Word, holy Word, holy Word, holy Word, holy Word, holy Word. Oh, would you just lift your hands with me? We are, this is the international symbol that every kid knows, this is the take me up symbol. This means, Father, I want to be with you where you are. I want to be eye to eye with you, I want to be face to face with you. So Father, we come before you right now and we say we want to be with you where you are. We want to be eye to eye and face to face with you, we want to behold you in your glory. God, if we can just, if we can just see your face, and suddenly our problem don't have to be the most important thing in our life. If we can just see your face, it puts everything else into perspective. We thank you. Oh, that you're not hiding. That you're not keeping us at arm's length. But by the blood of the lamb you are inviting us in to the most holy place. This morning. We love and we honor you. And we confess together this morning we need you. We need you. There is no scheme or strategy of man that can bring us into that which Jesus died for us to have Lord. We need you to carry us. We need your presence to sustain us.

We need your spirit to sharpen us and to sanctify us. We need you, Lord. We need you, Lord. And we rejoice today in the knowledge that we have you. Lord, we bless you. And we say that all of this is for Christ alone. All of this, all of our efforts, all of our energy, all of our skills and talents, all of our resources, all of our time, all of our ability, every opportunity we're given. God, it is all for Christ alone. We lay down our lives this morning. And we say Jesus, be exalted, be the center of it all. And we say this in your name. Amen. Amen. It's good to see you all. Man, what an awesome time of worship. Thank you guys so much. If you're able to find a seat with you, do so and join me in blessing the musicians as you do. You guys, amazing, amazing, amazing morning today. Thank you. [Music] [Music] Hey, have you heard the good news today? Yeah, Jesus is on the throne. Breaking news. And we can, as long as Jesus is still seated on the throne, we, as those who have been redeemed by his blood, we can always have reason to rejoice. We can rejoice on the mountaintop and in the valley. We can rejoice even before our prayer is answered. We can rejoice even before the breakthrough comes, right? This is the beauty of our lives as believers is that we are a people of relentless hope.

Because we know that all things are in his hands and that he is working all things together for the good of those who love him. And so we can rest and rejoice. Now, we are about to receive the offering this morning. Amen. This is our opportunity to join with what God is doing. I was recently talking to a businessman, a friend of mine that is a businessman, and he said, "Man, the church model is just so insane." He said, "You guys, you buy buildings that don't generate revenue for you. People come to those buildings and they receive goods and services from you and there's no payment. You don't have a subscription plan or anything." He was like, "People can just come and receive from you and not give anything." And it's like, "Yeah, man, this is how it has always worked." Like, you operate by the rules of Babylon, but in the kingdom, the Bible says that we are encouraged to give as we have purposed in our own heart. And through the years, it's funny, last year, maybe a couple years ago, my wife and I went up to Boston and we got to visit some historic churches and while we were up there, we found what they used to do is that they would have a subscription plan for the pew. The preaching was free, but if you wanted to sit down while you were listening to it, you had to rent a pew. It's like a monthly fee, you know? And so people have tried to -- that we could just give as we purpose in our hearts. But this is what we keep coming back to, is that like God, I think for me, one of the most compelling evidences of the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit is that we can come together and we could say give as you've purposed in your heart. Like there's not a contract that you have to sign. There's not a subscription plan

that if you get behind on it, you might get removed from fellowship. We as a people, we come together and we give as the Spirit leads us. And as we give in the way that the Spirit leads us, what he does over and over and over again is that he equips this community to meet the needs that arise within it. He continues to use this community to bless those around us and to honor God in the process. Not because of people, you know, pay their dues, but because of people obey the Holy Spirit. And so we are going to be today, as always at people who obey the Holy Spirit. Is that right? And so this morning, if you're asking the question, what's the least I can possibly give, you've already lost the point, right? Today, I want you not to say, okay, well, let me look at my budget and figure out what's comfortable or what's easier or convenient. My hope is that today is you give, that you would give by saying God, what would you have me give today? What can I give joyfully today? How can I have a hand in the eternal thing that you are doing in this community? And Lord, thank you for the privilege to do so. The Bible tells us that God loves a cheerful giver.

And so if you're gonna be mad about the amount you're thinking about giving today, please don't do that. Don't be mad at me. I want you to be a cheerful giver. So I want you to give what you can give today cheerfully because that is what moves the heart of God, amen? Come on, so as you know, if you've been here for a while, there are a few ways you can give. If you have the app downloaded, you can give through that. If you want, you can take your phone out and stand that QR code that's very simple. Or if you wanna do it, the old fashioned way, the way we all grew up doing it, we should pass around some of those little velvet bags, you know, really bring it back. But we've got an envelope that you can use to give by cash checker card, you can fill that out. Would you stand with me? We're just gonna pray over this offering. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the knowledge that our lives are in your hands. It is you who meets our needs. And God, we repent for the times that we have convinced ourselves that it was us, that it was our energy or ability that met the needs for our families. Lord, it has always been you. And so week after week, you call us to give and to partner with you and to trust you with our financial future. And week after week, Lord, we thank you for the privilege

to grow in faith and to grow in grace as we do so. So God, we ask for this offering that you would that you would bless every home that would give into it. Lord, we pray for this offering that you would multiply it in its effectiveness for the advancement of your kingdom. God, I pray even for myself and for the staff here that you would guard our hearts, guard our eyes, give us wisdom to be able to steward this offering in a way that's pleasing and honoring to you and that will make an impact for eternity. God, we bless you today and we thank you for the privilege to do so. In Jesus' name, amen. (audience applauding) Hey, good morning. You can be seated. It's good to see you. Happy Sunday. I love you guys. We heard the news that Alabama lost last night, so you'll give me grace if I'm in a place of deep sorrow today. (audience laughing) I gotta tell you, here's the thing about being a pastor, is that I am first, before I am a pastor at this church, I'm a member of this church. And I'm a part of this community. They say that it takes a village to raise a child and this is the village that is raising my children.

And so, one of the things that young ministers will ask often is sort of, hey, how do you decide what you're gonna preach? How do you choose what topics you're gonna touch on? And can I tell you, there's kind of two approaches to that. The first is, I will look at the church and try to maybe discern what is happening. say?" Because, man, I can misread things often. And I would say that this one kind of, my message for you this morning maybe falls into like a third category. If I'm honest, I just want to preach this morning a message that I need to hear. I think sometimes that we as as seekers of God, we can feel like God loves us because of our productivity, that He loves us because of our accomplishments or our abilities or our gifts. And here's the truth. God loves us because of who He is, not because of who we are. And so today, I'm not preaching the message that I think the church needs that you need this and I don't. I'm preaching this message today because this is a message I need to hear. Over the last few weeks, I've been asking the question like, what is love and am I any good at it? And the truth of the matter is, some people might say that I'm pretty good at it, some people might say that I'm not good at it. And if I were to look at this guy down the street or that person over there, I might be able to pat myself on the back and say, well, you know, I'm not like them. And I'm do what they do. I'm not as bad as this person or that person. But when I look at Jesus, when I look at perfect love Himself, it's like I'm on the other side of an ocean from where I was made to be. And I realized that I'm not close to good enough. At love. And so over these last weeks, God has been meeting me in my times of prayer and worship and saying, "Maddy, let's return to love. Let's remember love." You know, in 1 Corinthians, we talked about 1 Corinthians chapter 2, just last week where Paul says, "When I was with you, I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." And if I were to ask you, some of you Bible scholars in the room, if I were to ask you, you know, if you want to understand how to responsibly implement the spiritual gifts, how to prophesy, how to speak in tongues, where would you point me? All right, there it is. Thanks, Shay. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, maybe 1 Corinthians chapter 14, right? 1 Corinthians 12 through 14 are talking about spiritual gifts, how they operate, how they

function in the church, how to manage and steward those gifts in a way that that honors and gives glory to God. But then right in the middle of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and 1 Corinthians chapter 14 is 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And so Paul is saying, I want you to operate in all the gifts. I want you to speak in tongues. I want you to prophesy. I want you to be able to heal the sick. I want you to have words of wisdom and words of knowledge. I want you to be able to have the discernment of spirits. Like I'd like for you to have all the gifts. But if you have all of the gifts operating in your church in profound and unmatched power, but you don't have love, it counts for nothing. And this is what I'm wrestling with. And my hope is that we as a family can begin to wrestle with this and to say how often, like maybe to look at ourselves with the help of the Spirit today and to ask ourselves, how often do we major in our giftedness and minor in our love? How often do we hold up our gifts? And we lead with those and we show up and we say, I'm a great singer. I'm a great speaker. I'm an accomplished businessman or businesswoman. You know, I built this thing. I'm a great leader. Here's my credentials. I need you to know, you know, people will tack them on to the end of their name. Matty Montgomery, PhD. It's like, I want you to know this is what I've accomplished. This is what I've achieved. And none of it counts for anything if we don't have love. And so I want to invite you to join me in allowing the Bible, the Bible reads us and how as we inspect the scriptures, the scriptures in turn they inspect us and they reveal the areas of our heart or our life or our thought processes or perspectives that need work and so I want to invite you to join me on this process as we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and we look at what has got to be the linchpin that holds us firm to Christ as we are wanting to be people that operate in the gifts God has given us. We want to operate in the gifts God has given us but if we pursue the gifts and abandon love, we have lost the path that we've been called to walk and so let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13 starting in verse 1. It says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." You know, I'm curious. How would people describe us to someone else? How would people describe me? If someone asks you, "How would you tell

me about your pastor?" If you lead with my credentials, whether you used to play music or you know, he's getting a master's degree from this seminary or whatever. I'm missing the point. If the most important thing about you is some accomplishment or credential, we are missing the point. We've got to be people that are known for our love. And this is what Paul is saying to the church here. He's not saying, "You know, the things you're doing are good, but if you could do them in a way that's loving, that'd be even better." It's not that love is the icing on the cake. The love is maybe the cherry on top, that if you can add love to the things that you're already doing that are excellent and productive and impressive and attractive to the world. If you can add a little love in there, then we're good. He's saying, "No, no, no, no. Nothing you do counts at all if it's not built on a foundation of love, if it's not compelled and informed by love." You know, the Bible tells us to speak the truth in love. You've heard that phrase before, I'm sure. And here's the problem. I think we hear speak the truth in love and what we understand is speak the truth nicely. That's not what is being said. What's being said is this, speak the truth within the context of love. It is like my wife saying, "Maddy, I love you enough to tell you you're blowing it here. I'm not going anywhere. Like I'm with you. We're in this thing together. I will walk out your process of repentance alongside you, but you're not measuring up here." Like this is what love looks like. It looks like me, you know, sitting down with one of my sons and saying, "Son, I love you. I'm for you. The choice you just made was not right. And so we are going to figure out how to make sure we close that door once and for all and that we walk according to God's Word and we're going to figure that out together." This is how we speak the truth in love is we make sure that we don't waste the truth on people that we don't love because that's just accusation. Y'all aren't ready for that, I guess. And so we've got to ask ourselves, "What does love mean?" And this is the question of our age. What is love? People will, you know, parade through the streets in defense of their understanding of love with signs that say things like, "Love is love," and they'll be confounded that Christians could disagree with their understanding of love. How, you know, isn't the Bible says that God is love? And so how could you ever be against two, you know, consenting adults that love each other? It's okay. Like love is always Good and right, right? If you're a Christian.

definitions of love are wrong. The Bible says that God is love, not love is God. So how does that shape our understanding of love? It means this, that we don't get to define God by what we think love is. We get to define love by what Scripture says God is. We have to define love by what Scripture says God is. And so what is being communicated by that statement God is love is this that if you want to know what love looks like, look at God. And so as we ask the question today, what is love, my hope is that the answer that Scripture provides will be one that maybe reveals areas of our life where we can grow in love, where we can better walk in love and where we can make love more central to our ethos. You know, the word here used repeatedly all throughout 1 Corinthians 13 for love is the word agape. And the Bible has three words for love. Maybe you have heard this before, the word eros, the word phillos and then the word agape, eros is where we get the word erotic from. I'll let you use your imagination about what kind of love that is. It's like physical desire, right? Phillos is where we get like brotherly love from. This is like Philadelphia, this city of brotherly love. It's from that Greek word phillos that means like the love between brothers. It's a companionship type of love. And then agape, and here's how I always heard it defined growing up, agape is like God's love. And that's great, but help me understand what that actually means. So as I begin to look into this, that word agape, we understand it as God's love. I should say we interpret it as God's love. But if we were to not interpret but just translate the best word to translate, it would be preference. It means to prefer someone else. Now that is God's love, that he lowered himself for our sake to lift us up, that he gave us preference, that he suffered in our place. But if we're going to understand just what the word agape means, what the word love means, this is God's divine love. It means to give preference to someone above yourself. And this I think is informative for us. How are we to love? We are to give preference to the person God has given. Maybe it's our spouse, maybe it's our friend, maybe it's our neighbor, maybe it's our child. It is to give preference to them. Just the other day I was talking about this with my son, Carver. He's not in here now, but I want to brag on him a little bit. We only had four pieces of bacon. I was cooking breakfast and we had four pieces of bacon for our three sons. And so everybody got one piece of bacon and there was one piece left over. And Carver, that piece of bacon found its way onto Carver's plate. And he was helping me cook that morning. And he was like, I get two and Caleb gets one and Kai gets one. And I said,

you know, the Bible tells us to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility to consider others better than ourselves. It tells us to lay ourselves down for others. And he thought about it for a minute and then he picked up his second piece of bacon and he tore it in half and he put one half on Kai's plate and one half on Caleb's plate and he just rolled with one. And I was like, my guy, you get it. This is awesome. I want to be more like you and I grow up, Carver. He let the word of God inspect him and then he wasn't just a hearer of the word. He was a doer of the word. I was so proud. Like that's a big parents. That's a big win, right? And it was great. You know, and this is what, this is what we, this is what we see. Like when we understand the word love, we understand it as preference. But before we even move into like first Corinthians 13 actually moves on and it gives us kind of a definition, a practical, working, illustrative definition of what love actually is, what it looks like in practice. But before we do that, I want to revisit these first few verses and I want us to consider how we might take these out of the first century Near East and how we might put it into the context of our lives. This is what Paul says. He says, though, I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love. but have not love, it profits me nothing. I want you to hear the modern, my modern interpretation of this same sentiment. This is how I might write it if I were to write something similar to this today. If I speak at the biggest conferences and have the most subscribers to my podcast but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and the word doctor in front of my name, if I have the loftiest theological credentials that academia can offer in a New York Times best-selling book but I have love, I am nothing. If I sell everything I own and move as a missionary to a third world country and even die there as a martyr for Christ, but I have not loved all of my sacrifice profits me nothing. See, I feel like illustrations that are close to home help us understand what's really being said. And love is what makes work matter. And love according to the scriptures is not just desire for someone. It's not just a cooperative agreement like between friends or partners. Love is at least the love that God calls us to demonstrate for one another is preference. But these next verses actually go into great and beautiful illustrative detail to show us

what exactly it looks like to love. Verse 4 begins to describe love. Love suffers long. Guys, we read the Bible too fast, I think. If you've ever been to a wedding before, you have heard 1 Corinthians 13. You've heard some pastor or some, you know, somebody's auntie at the wedding like ripped through 1 Corinthians 13 as fast as she could possibly get through it because we're trying to get on to the part where they kiss, you know, like we want to go get cake. But I think I want us to like take our time today to really allow the word to speak for itself. This is, these are the first three words. Paul determines inspired by the Holy Spirit that he is going to describe love so that the Corinthian church can understand what he means when he says if you don't have this one gift, none of your other gifts matter. And this is the first three words he chooses. Love suffers long. Think about that. Love suffers long. It doesn't just say that love stays in the relationship as long as it's convenient or easy or fun or fulfilling. Anyone who has been married for any length of time knows that it's not always fun or easy. That love sometimes demands suffering but love endures suffering not just for a time. Love suffers long. This is the way. This is the way of the kingdom. This is the way of love. And there is no other way around it. Like we've got to be willing to fight it out with each other for the sake of love. We've got to be willing to say the hard things and to stay in the ring while you do it for the sake of love. Like love demands that we make ourselves vulnerable enough to say, man, I was hurt or I hurt you and I'm sorry. That's what love requires. Love at times demands suffering and it demands suffering over a period of time. Like it demands suffering over time. Love suffers long and not only that. And I think this is important. Some of you all, you've walked through maybe with your spouse or somebody in your life a season of suffering and you've allowed that season of suffering to harden your heart toward this person. You feel justified in your resentment. But here's what 1 Corinthians 13 verse 4 says, love suffers long and is kind. Love suffers long and even during that long suffering continues to model kindness. That's what love does. It continues to show up with gentleness, with generosity, with grace, even in the midst of the suffering that it Love is kind even when the suffering is long. He continues, love does not envy. Now, I think this is so important. This is something I've talked about before.

It's been a long time. And so I feel like it's maybe worth revisiting. I don't think that there is anything in the world more antithetical to the kingdom than envy. To see someone else's success and to be embittered by that is, I think, a fundamental misunderstanding of who God is and how God works and who you are before God and who they are before God. Like someone else's blessing is not robbery from you. Understand, God's resources are not limited. Like for some, this is actually an anthropological phenomenon. Scientists have studied for generations now. They call it the limited good motif or model. And it's this idea that there is, that it's sort of baked into the human psyche. This is our fallen nature on display that scientists are discovering. And what it is is that they found that all across the world, there is this sort of underlying sense or suspicion among all people that the amount of good that there is in the world is limited. And what this produces is that when someone else's experience is good, they get a promotion, they get a gift, they get a blessing, some sort of breakthrough happens, there's this twinge of disappointment in us. It feels like something's been taken from us. And I'm sure that none of you can relate to feeling that. But you can see it in, if you're raising multiple children and one of the kids gets a compliment

and the other kids are like, you think I'm smart too, right? One of the kids gets a toy or an invitation somewhere and the other kids are suddenly upset that they're being excluded from something they didn't know existed 30 seconds ago, right? It's that limited good thing, like it's just, it's sort of baked into us as people who were born with a fallen nature, but that is not the way of the kingdom. There's not a limited amount of good in the kingdom. There's not, and so your blessing isn't robbery from me. God's kindness toward you is an unkindness toward me. I can rejoice, if you wanna see somebody that is spiritually and emotionally mature, you find somebody that rejoices in God's blessing on your life, find somebody that will celebrate God's goodness to you, that is a person, that is a true friend who truly loves you and who truly knows and walks with God. That is a rare kind of person to find. And this is why Paul says love does not envy. Love is an in competition with you. Love is in competition with everything that threatens you for your sake. Love does not envy. And then he continues and he says, love does not parade itself. It is not puffed up. I wanted to find out what is the Greek word for puffed up. And it literally means to inflate yourself with air.

It literally means to make yourself look bigger than you are. And man, maybe I can't speak for you. I can confess like this is one that I struggle with. Because sometimes I feel insecure. If I'm really honest, sometimes I feel like imposter syndrome being the pastor of this church. There are unbelievable, incredible, amazing, well accomplished people here at this church. And I think, why would anybody listen to me? I'm just a kid and I'm just figuring this out, you know? And so what I have two options. Number one is I can humble myself and I can just go lower still. And I can wash feet and I can be the servant of all. But then there's this other, you know, this other voice. It's like, no, no, no, you gotta make yourself bigger. You gotta make yourself look more impressive. You have to lead with your credentials, lead with your accomplishments, continue to bring those things up so that, you know, so that people think you're a big deal. But love doesn't do that. Insecurity does that. Love doesn't do that. Selfishness and self-promotion does it? Love does not parade itself. And it is not puffed up. Love lowers itself. Philippians two, three says do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,

but in humility, consider others better than yourself. How would our lives look if we actually considered the people around us as if they were more important than us, more impressive than us, more interesting or valuable than us? Like how would our marriage look different How was my spouse performing for me? Like, what if I approached my marriage like my wife is more valuable than me? How would our church look different if instead of, you know, everybody worrying about like their boundaries and their time on the platform and, you know, whatever, whatever thing they need, whatever itch they need to get scratched. And if we started saying, okay, God, you sent me here to be the servant of all. We'd start fighting over the furthest parking spot from the building. Nobody's clapping. Nobody claps for that, right? We would start saying, God, how can I serve the, like we would maybe as a staff be able to stop begging people to volunteer to take care of the children at our church. Like, see, what would happen if we began to take Philippians 2, 3 and apply that to our lives, if we became doers of the word and not hearers only, we would be a people who can say we do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit in humility. We consider others to be more important than ourselves. We lay our lives down for the sake of, of those God has put around us love does not parade itself. It is not puffed up. It says in verse 5, the love does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked and it thinks no evil. Now this is interesting, you know. It says love does not seek its own. I want to read into just for the sake of clarity, I'll add another word. Love does not seek its own interests.

And you know, we live in a generation who has a, well, let's call it a casual, but committed relationship with therapy speak. Maybe not all of us. I live in a generation that has a casual, but deeply committed relationship with therapy speak and we're always talking about like, you know, if somebody disagrees with you at all, it's gaslighting. You know, if somebody, like, if somebody just like has their own life, it's like they're toxic. Right? Like we have these words, they're narcissistic. We have like therapy words that we just project on the situation, we don't understand what the words mean or even the situation that we're facing, but we just slap therapy words on it because we feel like validated when we do. And one of those therapy words is boundaries. And we say, well, I'm just setting a boundary. It's like, no, no, no, what you're doing is being selfish. Like what you're doing is you're valuing yourself above the people that God has called you to. That may be your spouse. It may be your family members. It may be your children or your parents. It may be members of your church. Like we draw boundaries because we say, well, I'm just trying to, you know, keep my peace and like draw boundaries and say, no, no, no, no, love suffers long. You remember that? Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not seek its own interests. Here's what is implicit there is that love seeks the interests of its object. That's what agape means. It means that I give preference to the person or the people that I love.

It does not seek its own interests. It seeks the interests of its object. Love, he continues and says, it does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked. This is, I have three little boys, not three, I have three sons. There's one's a little boy. The other two are, you know, starting to get a little stuff up here. Like their voices are getting a little extra squeaky. The weird things are happening in my house. We can't buy pants fast enough, you know. Everybody's ankles are sticking out all the time. As soon as we buy a new pair of pants, Caleb out grows them six hours later. It's like we can't, y'all pray for us. We need to take up a special offering for starving kids. It's mine. They're my kids. But the Bible, it says, love does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own. And it's not provoked. My boys are wonderful. I love my sons. They know a whole lot about being provoked, you know. They are often easily provoked. It's like my brother, you know, sat in my favorite spot on the couch and he's getting put in the headlock. It's like he took a drink of my drink and he's dead to me now. I hope I never talk to you again. I hope you get by a car like this is, this is, this is, I love, listen, I love them. And here's the thing.

It's funny because they're kids. Here's what's not funny is that a whole bunch of y'all adults still act like that. Like it's funny for them because they are young. It's not funny. When you're a middle aged person like me and you're still easily provoked, like it's not cute anymore. It has been out of fashion for you for a long time. Amen? Like here's the thing and how let me ask you the question. How can I make sure that I'm not easily provoked? Like how can I make sure that I'm not too easily provoked to anger or to offense? I want to show you it's actually in the next few words. He says, love, it says that love does not seek its own. It is not provoked. But then he says this phrase. I think this is important. He says it thinks no evil. So how do I avoid being provoked? I think no evil. I want to like take a second to maybe elaborate on what it means to think no evil. It's like this, that I'm pulling into church and as I'm about to pull into a parking spot, somebody else whoops around and takes the parking spot that I wanted. You have a choice in that moment. You can say they probably didn't see me. They were just trying to park and hey, you know what, it happens. We all make mistakes. Or you can say they totally saw me sitting here. How dare they? That person that can't even call themselves a Christian, you know, like Jesus would never park like that.

This is so crazy. What is wrong with this person, you know, I don't even want to sit by them. It's going to be hard for me. I can't even worship today because, you know, I've just been shaken. I need to set a boundary. I'm out of here. Right? Like that's. So how can we avoid? How can I avoid being easily provoked? I can give generous interpretations of other people's intentions. I may not know why they did what they did, but I can say, hey, I'll bet that if I was in their shoes, I might have done the same thing. If I was in that situation, if I saw life from their perspective, I may be no different than them. And you know what, I can give them grace because of that. I'm going to make sure that I think no evil. That's going to be the thing that protects me from being easily provoked. I'm not going to ascribe malice to someone whose actions could be explained by coincidence or oversight or accident. Are we, are we tracking? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, so he says love does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked. It thinks no evil. Love in verse six. He says, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.

We need to memorize 1 Corinthians 13, 6, if we are going to navigate life in America in the 2020s. Love does not rejoice in evil. I think the NIV says love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. I need you to hear this. My generation has believed that love means unquestioning approval or acceptance. My generation has believed that love means unquestioning approval or acceptance. But true love, according to 1 Corinthians 13, 6, does not delight in evil. Love, as I said before, is willing to speak the truth in love for the sake of love, in the context of love. We speak the truth. That may mean this thing you're doing is an abomination before God. And I love you enough to lose you if that's what it takes. If I have to be the only one to tell you the truth, and you hate me forever because of it, I'm willing to do it. I remember years ago sitting with my spiritual father as he sat with me and he said, I love is willing to lose you if that's what it takes to save you. And I need to tell you, Maddie, here are some areas in your life where I see you falling short. I remember that conversation because it was not at all fun. And I drove home from that conversation so offended and so upset and also unable to deny the fact that he loved me. He loved me more than he loved my comfort. He loved me even more than he loved our relationship, my relationship with him. He cared about my soul more than he cared about his standing in my eyes. And that is what love does. Love does not delight in evil. It rejoices in the truth. Verse 7 says that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Listen, I think one of the mistakes that we make, and those of you that have gone through premarital counseling with me, you'll know that this is a theme that I come back to again and again, that we need to count the cost of love. We show up to church and we're like, yeah, we all love each other here. Hey, love you guys. We get married because we love the idea of a big party, ladies, you love the idea of getting dressed up and you get your hair and makeup done and you put on a beautiful dress and you have a handsome enough guy standing across from you and it's like everybody's going to show up and give you gifts. You get a whole week leading up to it where you're pampered. He's going to take you on vacation afterwards. Who wouldn't want that? That all sounds great. Here's the problem, though, is that after all of that is over. After the party is over, now you've got to love this person. And we fail to count the cost of love. Years ago, I remember counseling a couple that was in a crisis. And one of the two of them was asking me, should I stay? I've been betrayed in the worst possible way. My partner, this person that I depended on for my life and my well-being, they violated my trust in a way that I don't know if I can ever come back from. And I said, listen, I understand that. I understand that. And they said, well, what would you do? And I said, you want to know what I would say if you were one of my children?

And I said, sure. And I said, you made a promise. You made a promise to them. You made a promise to God about them. You made a promise in front of your children and your friends and your family members that you will love this person till death do you part. Is your heart broken? Absolutely. Is it going to be a brutal next few months, maybe next few years without a doubt? Is it costly and uncomfortable and painful and inconvenient? Yeah, absolutely. But you made a promise that you would love this person. And love means preference. And we need to, I think, count the cost of love and understand. Like, what does it actually mean to make a vow before God? I will love this person till death do us part. It means that you choose belief and hope. Love means that you must carry or bear things that you wouldn't have to otherwise. This is what 1 Corinthians 13, 7 says. Love bears all things. Like love is willing to carry the failure of the other person. Love is willing to carry the pain or the mess that they caused. You didn't do anything to invite this into your life. It was their fault entirely, but love bears all things. Love bears all things. Love believes all things and hopes all things and endures all things.

To love at all means you must carry or bear the things that you would not have otherwise. It means that you must choose belief and hope. To love means to endure when things are hard. When it feels unjust, when it feels like it shouldn't be this painful love demands endurance. But I need you to hear me before and I'll close with this. That love isn't just a burden. And I want to make sure we're counting the cost of love, but I need you to understand love demands risk. And to love at all is to make yourself vulnerable to unimaginable pain. But if the only other option is to not love, then that pain is a price worth paying. That vulnerability is a risk worth taking. There is nothing else worth risking everything for, if not for love. So love isn't just a burden. Hear this even in the scriptures. It is also a promise. It says love in verse seven bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Verse eight starts with three words that if you are taking notes today, I want to make sure you write these down and circle them in your notebook. Love never fails. Love never fails. It doesn't say that love never hurts.

It doesn't say that love never costs. It doesn't say that love never demands. It says that love never fails. In ministry, in business, in family, and in life, we scheme and plot and plan. We convince ourselves that God will be impressed and his kingdom will be advanced by our cunning and our creativity, but all of those things will amount to nothing if they are not saturated in love. But love never fails. And so the things we build in his love, they will stand the test of time. They will endure. They will persevere. They will suffer long. They will honor God and they will establish his eternal kingdom. Guys, God is love. is to abdicate the place that we were made to live. Let us today resolve that we will return to love. Let's abandon the idols that we've built to sell for to humanity or to man's vain philosophies. And let's remember the love of Jesus demonstrated on the cross as both a payment for our sin and also an example for us to follow. Do you want to know what love looks like at its climax? It looks like the cross. It looks like the willingness to lay yourself before whatever torment, whatever hardship,

whatever destruction may come, for the sake of the one or the ones you have chosen to love. And so, like I said at the beginning, I'm preaching this message because this is what I need to hear. Because I am on a journey with God to remember or return to love, to remember that it's ministry, leadership, family, those things aren't about systems, they're not about structures and routines, they're not about administration or organization, they are about love. And if we ever move off of that foundation, then we've lost it all. So Lord, we repent for our loveless ambition. God, I repent for the times that I have demonstrated, loveless ambition, and I ask you, Father, would you bring like a revival of love to this house? Let it start with me, God. Thank you for the passion that you're giving me, for the people of this house, for my family, my friends, God, I pray that you just continue to let it permeate all of us, bring us closer and closer and closer to Jesus. Help us to love others the way Jesus did, to lay our lives down for their sake. Or re-glorify your name. We need your help. Fill us with your spirit and empower us to demonstrate divine love relentlessly. (congregation laughing) God, we give you our hearts, we give you our lives. And we say, Lord, love your world and use us to do it.

In Jesus' name, amen, amen, family. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)