The Greatest Obstacle to Loving God

Harris Creek, how we doing? Let's go, let's go church. When I was in high school, I was raised in a small town in the neighboring town, Victoria. I was raised in Quero, Victoria. That's where the movie theater was, the restaurants were. That's where a lot of my friend group was in Victoria. And we had school, in Quero we had school, but Victoria, they were out. Now this felt like an incredible injustice. Like if one school is out, all schools should be closed, because all my friends get the day off. So I humbly went to my parents and asked a very reasonable question. I just said, hey, we have school tomorrow, Victoria doesn't. Would it be okay if Travis and I skipped school tomorrow? To which they said, absolutely not, under no circumstances can you skip school tomorrow. So what we did, and I'm gonna tell you so what we did, being the reasonable students that we were, is we skipped school the next day. And so we had this master plan where I went to first period, he missed first period, so it wouldn't look like we were directly aligned. And pretty genius, honestly, and a lot of people are saying so. And so we go, we execute the plan, we go to Victoria, we hang out with our friends,

like everything is going great. Everything is going great. And in fact, I shared this story with you in our Remove series, where I was talking about how I used my brother's cell phone to execute the plan flawlessly, and it was genius. But I didn't finish the story. And coming back into Quero now, we've been with them, the school's out, and so we need to go back home. And Travis and I are in my car, we're stopped at a stoplight when my dad's long bed Chevrolet pickup truck pulls up beside me. I noticed the front of that truck, it's familiar to me, and I feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of my head. And I'm like, and I look over at him at the stoplight, and he just looks at me and just shakes his head. And I looked at Travis, I'm like, we're cooked. You know, I was like, we're toast. And so we go home, pull up to my house together. Travis and I go in my bedroom. I shut the door, pick up the phone. Kids, back then, like, phones were connected. It was wild, houses had them. I picked up the phone, and I could hear him, my dad, talking to Travis's daddy. Yeah, the boys are here. Yeah, I'll keep them here till you get here. We'll talk to them together.

Hang up the phone, have my back against the wall of the door, have my back against the door, and I just slide to the floor. And I'm like, bro, it's done. It's like, let's pack bags, you know? Like, gotta figure this out, where are we going? And here's the deal. Let's think, in that moment, if you're in that moment with me, okay? In that moment, do I love my dad? Yeah, love my dad. My dad. Yeah, I love my dad. Do I feel love for my dad? Like, is that the overwhelming emotion of that moment? It's like, oh, I love my dad so much. Is that what I feel in that moment? No, what is the overwhelming emotion in that moment? Fear. Fear. Fear of a punishment, fear of consequence, fear of what's coming. I've got my back against the door between my father and me. I don't, what I do not want to do in this moment is I do not want to face him. So we're in this series for the love of God where we're talking about how do we love God. And today, I wanna talk about what I believe is the greatest obstacle to loving God. Today's the greatest obstacle to our expressing,

moving toward facing love for God. Now, I wanna take a minute to look back, okay? Nate, week one, the greatest commandment. Jesus summarizes all the commandments. Here's what's most important to you as a follower of Christ. You love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, which is why we're doing this series because I'm like, if that's the greatest commandment, then we better be really good at that. And then week two, we talked about do not love the world or things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father's not in them. First John 2.15. If you love the world, you don't have love for the Father. So this is kind of objection number one. And then week three, John Elmore showed us, like, hey, you can't even do this until you start to understand the source of love, how God loves you, and what he's. called us to do with that love. Today, we're really expounding on that idea. Last week, we weren't together, and so if you've got a pen and a paper, I'm gonna give you the message really quick. If you missed it, it was one that was really important in the series, so maybe catch it online or on the app, but it's just this idea. We said, what are the four Cs that show us if our love is authentic?

What are the four Cs that we can inspect? And we said, it's what you do with God's children, what you do with God's commands, what you do with creation, and what you do with Christ. Those are the four Cs, God's children, God's commands, creation, and Christ. And we said, you love God's children, you obey his commands, you have victory over creation, and you enjoy faith in Christ, which spells out that word love. Love, obey, victory, enjoy. That this is how the Bible, the Scriptures, tell us that we are to love God. But what is the biggest obstacle to us feeling love for God? Go back with me for a moment. I got my back against the wall, I've slid down the door, I look at Travis, I'm like, we gotta find new places to live. Like, we're in big trouble. We've really disappointed our parents. I asked a room full of pastors, about 35 pastors, 33 pastors to be exact, do you feel more like you're a blessing to God or he's disappointed in you? If you have to choose one of those, what's the overwhelming feeling you have? You're a blessing to God or he's disappointed in you? And it was three blessing to 30 disappointed.

The overwhelming feeling when I face God is that he's disappointed in me. These are professional Christians. By professional, I just mean they're paid to teach people the Scriptures, right? It's their job to know and understand theology and the overwhelming feeling in the room is disappointment. Listen, that's me, that's my baggage, I get it. I'm part of the 30. Like, that is what I drift towards. That's where the enemy attacks me. Like, I've got this baggage from what I grew up in, in church and just like my view of God, he's this sheriff in the sky that wants to get me when I go wrong. And so why aren't we eager to spend time with him in the morning? Let's just look at some of the commands from the Scriptures. Do not love the things in the world. Do not lust. Do not get drunk. Do not ever grumble or complain. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth. Do not worry. Do not be anxious about anything. Do not be selfish. Do not give in to anger. Okay, that's the do nots, that's some of the do nots. We'll go now the commands. Here's what he wants you to do.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances be kind to one another, do what the Bible says, consider others more important than yourselves, let your speech always be gracious, love your enemies, forgive those who hurt you. So any given morning, you show up to God a complete and total utter failure at many of the things he's asked of you. And is it any wonder that we're like, yeah, I'm not super excited about facing you right now. You know, I know I really messed up this week. Yesterday, last night, five minutes ago. We gotta figure this out. We gotta figure this out. There's some learning to do because what's the greatest command? Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, so mind and strength. So we gotta get this part because you know, one of the things that we say in parenting just as I teach in parenting is that rules without relationship equals rebellion. Rules without relationship equals resentment. Rules without relationship equals religion. That's what you're left with. If you just focus on the rules, but you don't have the relationship between you and God, it's gonna lead to rebellion, resentment, and or religion,

which is why we need this truth. I'm gonna be in 1 John chapter four, back to the Apostle John writing these letters. We thought about making this whole series just out of John's letters, but we wanted to go bring in some other scriptures from other places, so we gave ourselves more liberty there. Reminder, John is an apostle, followed Jesus, wrote the gospel of John, John's letters. And Revelation, this guy, he spent some time with Jesus. And we're gonna look at, as we go through these few verses, I'll start in verse 16, the second part of 16. What does it mean that God is love? What does it mean that perfect love casts out fear? And then I'm gonna give you, I think, listen, lean in. I'm gonna give you what I believe is the most important truth you're ever gonna hear as a believer. And you gotta decide if you believe it or not. John wrote this to believers around Ephesus to help them know and understand what it means to know God and to love Him. And so he says this in 16b, these three words. God is love. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them. He says love is our vital sign, okay? You get, when I was in the hospital, they hooked me up to all these machines

to see my vitals, my heart beating correctly, my oxygen. Well, love is the vital sign of is the believer alive? This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment. In this world, we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because He first loved us. And so we're gonna take that very poetic few sentences and we're gonna say, okay, what are the theological, the deep theological truths for us in that? How do we apply that to our lives? My first point is just, and by the way, my points are just directly from the Scripture. Like I'm just taking it, taking the Scripture, cutting it, pasting it as the point. Number one, God is love. I want you to know God is love. What does it mean? Not God has love, not God shows love. It's who He is. What does that mean? Because it's not love is God. Love is not our God. But our God is love. Now what does that mean?

Here's how I would illustrate it to you, okay? It's like, and all, you know, the thing about illustrations, there's few that are perfect. So they can get us most of the way there. But it's like a fire is heat, okay? It's not all heat is a fire, but a fire is heat. You get close to a fire and you experience heat. And the closer to the fire you get, the more heat you experience, you feel. It changes you, you become hot, okay? You, as a person, heat up. But like, here's the deal. In the midst of all of this cold craziness that we've experienced here in Texas, you know, I told you a couple weeks ago, I bought a fire pit, you know, one of these smokeless, I've been so excited, I got a fire pit. It's been too cold to use the fire pit. Like the other day, I'm like, I just, I wanna use my fire pit. I bought the wood and all the things. And I'm like, I'm gonna go out there and light a fire, even if I don't sit by it, just to know there's a fire out there. And so I go and Weston and I, and we light a fire in the fire pit and we sit around it for about two and a half minutes. And then, you know, it's this like dance of us,

too hot, it's too cold. But then I go back inside and I, you know, if I go and hug my wife, she goes, wow, you're so warm. Why? Why? Because I've been near the fire. Now what's confusing is if I'm in my living room and I'm like, man, I'm really cold in here. The family's not gonna be like, well, that's great. That's so wild that you're cold because you lit a fire. I'm like, yeah, yeah, no, I did. They're like, if you start a fire, it's supposed to warm you. I say, yeah, yeah, but the fire's outside. We're in the living room. For me to experience the heat from the fire, I need to be near the fire. Okay? For me to be transformed by the fire, changed by the fire, feel what the fire gives off, I've gotta be in proximity to the fire, right? I can't be like, well, I went to this, you know, sixth grade. The altar call, I said some prayer, I asked Jesus into my heart, and now I don't understand why I'm so short with the grandkids, or the kids, or the neighbor, or my roommate, or my professor, or my friend, or my parents. When the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. What's my problem? You hadn't been near God. You hadn't spent time with the Father. He hadn't changed you. You see the problem? God is love. You spend time with God, everybody's gonna know it. Wow, you're so warm. Where you been with God? I've been with God. I've been spending time with my Father. He produced this in me. So next time you're in a disagreement with another believer, and I say believer intentionally, another follower of Christ, a Christian, and you guys get odds and things get sideways, say, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, how about you go spend time with God, and I'll go spend time with God, and then let's come back together. Okay, you go spend time with God, and I'm gonna go spend time with God, and then let's come back and talk, because I don't think we're at a place right now where we're experiencing the real benefit of knowing the Father. You could think about the person who's most loving, a grandfather, a coworker, a friend, like just the person that just every time you see them,

they're just so kind, and caring, and compassionate. In my hunches, they're probably the person in your life who spends the most time with the Father. Why wouldn't you wanna be that? Why wouldn't we wanna be that person, verse 17? This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment. In this world, we are like Jesus. We're to be like Jesus in this world. We're followers of Jesus, disciples of Jesus, we're watching him, we're emulating him, we're knowing how he responds and feels about situations. WWJD. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. Okay. This is one of those you read, it's like great coffee cup, but you're like, yeah, what does it mean? This is how love is made complete among us. The word complete is teleleo in the Greek. What it means, the way it directly translates, is bring to its intended goal, okay? To bring to its intended goal. So you can imagine, if I want to show you something, if I'm in a studio with cameras and I wanna bring that thing that we're doing in broadcast production to you, that thing that we're doing in broadcast producing in that room into your living room,

I might do it through a television, okay? If I want to talk to you, have a conversation with you, communicate with you, I might work through telecommunication or a telephone, okay? If I want to write something and get it to you and it's 1940, I might use a telegraph. Or 1917, I might use a telegraph, right? So that word tele, it's to bring something to you to completion. So he's saying, this is what love brings to completion in you is, what's the word? In the scripture there, confidence. Confidence, when you know and understand God's love, it produces in you chin up, chest out. You're not like, well, what do they think of me? I was like, okay, let me just see what the email says again. Oh, did I write it? Did I send it? Go in a sense. Okay, well, did I walk in? Everybody's thinking about me. Am I okay? Am I okay? Produces confidence. In this world, we are like Jesus. My second point is perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love casts out fear. Five words, life-changing words. Perfect love casts out fear. You've got a great picture of this this week, okay?

Monday. You may have been afraid to what? It's like now we don't even remember, but Monday you might have been afraid to drive. Man, I don't wanna get on the roads. I can't get out of the driveway. Like my car, I saw these, I was watching TikTok and cars were doing this. You know, I don't want any part of that. Monday you might have been, and I know some of you, you've been waiting your whole life for this moment. You got the trimmer truck jacked up 36 inch. You know, you've been like, come on, you got it. For whatever, you're in Texas with snow chains. I get it, you're here. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking about you Prius people. Like you're like, I'm not driving, you know. I'm not taking the Camry out. No way, you know, not gonna happen. You're afraid to drive. He comes into the picture and melts away. The presence of something takes another thing away. This is what he's saying. The presence of love removes fear. And the fear he's talking about specifically is fear on judgment day, right? We get this. If I got my back against the wall, blocking the door,

dad comes in and knocks and says, hey, relax, you're not in trouble. Wait, what? Hey guys, it's okay, you're not in trouble, relax. Like, well, now I'm warming up. Step away openly. Did you mean that, you know? But because now, like the confidence that I'm not in trouble gives me the ability to face him. Like now I want to face you. Now I want to be with you. Now I want to talk to you. Relax, you're not in trouble. Do you see the importance of the gospel? Maybe not yet, maybe not yet, but you will. I'm willing to face you. Fear fades when punishment is no longer on the table. Fear fades when punishment is no longer on the table. But wait a minute, but what about discipline? God disciplines those he loves. What's the difference between punishment and discipline? I'm gonna give it to you, ready? Punishment looks backwards to make you pay for what you did. Punishment looks backwards to make you pay for what you did. Discipline looks forward to help you become what you should be. One looks backwards, you're gonna pay. One looks forwards, I believe in you. You're becoming something. I'm sanctifying you, I'm changing you,

I'm for you, I'm on your team. I'm here to help you. So yes, the Lord disciplines those he loves. But therefore, there is now no condemnation. That word means punishment. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8.1. Second Corinthians 5.19. Who by reconciling the world is no, listen, listen, listen, no, you won't even believe it, what I'm about to tell you. And I tell you once a month, and you're not gonna believe it. No longer counting your sins against you. It's what the Bible says. It's in here. No longer counting your sins against you. I had the opportunity to teach a class at Baylor this past week, the best leadership class. Best leadership class, that's an intimidating title for a class, the best leadership class. So I go and I just point to the best leader I know. And I just say, I ask the question, hey, how would you define leadership if you had to come up with a synonym? And we came up with the synonym influence. That leadership is influence. So you can be a bad leader with a lot of influence. Meaning you can lead in a bad way, but have a lot of influence.

And we have countless examples of that. So who's the greatest leader to ever live? Well, there was this guy who never lifted a sword, right? And yet today, 2.1 billion, that's with a B, billion people identify as his followers. And one young woman, and I was talking about how the disciples were cowards and fearful and just tripped over the things that they did. And one young woman in the class said, but wait, isn't the test of a leader that his followers become like him? And I said, that's such a great question. What happened after he laid down his life for them? Every one of them, right, except one, laid then in turn, laid down their lives for him. So at first they're cowards, they're hiding in the upper room, they're denying him, they're rejecting him. And then he shows back up and they see that this guy who used every power he had, everything available to him for the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many, Mark 10 45. He used what was available to him to serve them. And they said, we'll follow you anywhere to the point of death. Peter crucified upside down, James thrown off the temple, clubbed to death. Okay, they were quartered, ripped into pieces, sawed in half, stabbed with a steer, boiled alive.

All because, hey, all we need you to do to live right now is reject Christ as the Messiah. No way, do with me as you need to. But I'll follow that man anywhere to the point of death because they experienced real love and he did not lead with an ultimatum. Now, there's skeptics in the room. And some of you right now, I said, he didn't lead with an ultimatum. And you said, sure he did. Follow me or go to hell, it's an ultimatum, right? God sends people to hell. No, he doesn't. It's not true. We were headed to hell, okay? God saves us from hell. Here's the illustration I think will help you. If you're at the beach in the ocean, riptide pulls you out to sea. You're out there, you're drowning. You cannot get back, you cannot get to safety. You are drowning, you are going to die. And a lifeguard, a life saver, a savior, okay, comes with that little red flotation thing and the rope attached to it and swims, risks their life, swims out to you as fast as they can. And they throw that red thing to you. And they say, grab the flotation device. And you say, or else what? And they say, or else you're gonna drown.

And you say, oh no, don't be coming to me with an ultimatum, man. What are my other options? Like, no, I'll, I don't, no, I'm not gonna, you think I'm gonna go with you just because you say I have to or I'm gonna drown? Who do you think you are? Right, no, this is somebody risking their lives to save you from drowning. Drowning is your impending reality should you not accept the saving, right? This is God's grace pursuing you. You're headed to hell, okay? You've sinned against an almighty God. You've gone your own way. And he, you're like, well, God, what are you gonna do to save me? Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes short of changing, you're like forcing you, right? Whatever it takes, I'll get, I'll die for you. I'll be tortured and die for you. God's love doesn't tolerate you. It pursues you. God's love does not tolerate you. He's not putting up with you. He's chasing you down. He's pursuing you. The scripture says this in 19. We love because he first loved us.

He went first. We love, I mean, this is the gospel. This is what he displays in Christ. Before you were even born, God went to great lengths to get you back as his child. Before you were even born. And in that moment with Christ dying, he knew everything you were gonna do. Everything you were gonna say. Everything you were gonna think. You've never surprised God. Disappointment has to do with expectations. Okay, how can God be disappointed in you if you've never done anything that he didn't know you were gonna do? Disappointment is like, oh, I didn't expect you to do that. Now I'm disappointed. I really had these other expectations for you. But before you were created, God knew every wrong thing you were gonna do and paid for it. So I'm gonna tell you what my third point is, and it is life-changing. If you just believe it, if in a moment you walk through those doors, you walk back to your car, and you believe the three words that I'm gonna put on the screen, nothing will ever be the same for you. Okay, and I mean, it will transform the way you think.

It will transform the way you live. It will transform the way. You talk, nothing will ever be the same if you just embrace, because some of you are gonna be like, oh, I know that, but we don't know that. Okay, so point number three. Let it sink in, absorb it. Just three words. He knows about everything you've done. And he's like, what do I gotta do to prove it to you? What do I gotta do to show you? What do I gotta do to get you to believe this? God loves you. What I love about the Apostle John is he got this, you know, he's always like the one Jesus loved. The one Jesus loved, the one Jesus loved. He's a suitable teacher to us in this. I struggle to believe it, I'll say that. I've got baggage. I've got church baggage. I've got religion baggage. I'm always thinking God wants me to perform for him. It's my ditch. There's a reason this verse we love, because he first loved us, has shown up every single week. Every one of us has put this verse in front of the body, because I think it's one that we really struggle to believe, that there are 8.1 billion people in the world. 8.1 billion people on earth,

and God chose you to be a part of his family. And he went to great lengths, and he intentionally, and he's that big, like he knew everything about you. Everything you've done and everything you will do. The things, the sin, you haven't even gotten creative enough to think of yet, and he paid for it. In 2006, we sent some of our best soldiers to Ramadi, Iraq. A group of snipers were on a rooftop, covering fire for some of their soldiers in the building. One of them was Michael Monsoor, and three others. When a grenade was thrown on top of that roof, it hit him and rolled toward his men. He said, grenade, as loud as he could. And as the other men dove away, petty officer Michael Monsoor dove on top of that grenade. It's a fatal wound, it took his life, and his men went free, okay? Let's talk about it. Are any of those guys asking the question today, did Michael love us? No. His last act was a beautiful display of his love for them, and his commitment to them. He gave his life to save them. So what is their emotion toward him? Is it fear? Oh, he's gonna come back and haunt us. No. What is it, how do they feel today toward him? What?

I think I heard it over here. Grateful, thankful, they love him. It's just a right understanding of what he did. Where did our hearts go wrong in the gospel? That God gave his life for us. What was the punishment for them being there? On another soil? You know, amongst the enemy? A grenade, that was the punishment. And one guy said, I'll take the punishment so that you guys can go free. And that's what God did for us through Christ. I know what you did last night. I know what you did five minutes ago. I know what you did last week. I know what you did on prom night. I know your vices, your ditches, your inclinations. I know how you think about yourself. I know how you think about her, and I know how you think about him, and I know how you think about them. And I took it all on Jesus. So that you can go free, so that you can walk in grace. And you and I have the audacity and misunderstanding, and he even has grace for this, to be like, but do you really love me? But do you really love me? God is pouring into us what he most wants from us. We love because he first loved us. The greatest commandment, love God.

Second is like it, love your neighbor. And that love comes from God. He gives us what he most wants from us. We don't love to be loved, we love because we are loved. You don't give love to get loved, you love because you've been loved. You've always been loved. So as you have your back against the door, fearful of facing the father because of what you've done, he says, no, don't you understand what I've done to get you back so that you can be mine? In summary, in summary, God is love. Perfect love casts out fear. And the greatest truth we struggle to believe, God loves you. I didn't understand grace growing up. I grew up in a very performance-based religion, a performance-based flavor of Christianity that was constantly trying to earn my way to God and really performing for him. And every night I would say my prayers, every night, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray the Lord, my soul to keep. For I die before I wake. These are in there because I said them every single day for 18 years. I mean, since I could talk. And it was all out of a superstition. Like, hey, if I don't say this, then God's gonna get me. So I gotta appease the God, you know, I gotta appease him. I gotta, so I'll say these chants. My heart's totally disconnected, I'll just say this stuff and hopefully there's just superstition. That's not faith. That's not relationship. It leads to rebellion. Rebellion. What happened? So as I didn't understand grace, it's weird because I can look back on my childhood and I can see examples of it that really were profound and life-changing in ways I didn't even understand at the time. What happened is my dad came and knocked on my door. Said, hey boys, you in there? Yes, sir. Let's go eat. What? Doesn't even make sense. It's not even a good illustration. It's just what happened. I don't know.

I don't know what was going on. Our parents, Travis and I's parents, they weren't even that close. But that night we all came to the table together and we ate and it was just weird. You know, no one really talked about what we did. I don't know what kind of Jedi mind trick he was playing, but I was like, I'm never skipping school again. I don't know. I just did words, whatever it was. I was like, I learned my lesson, you know? And I don't know where you're at, but God's inviting you to the table. That's what communion is. It's not a reward because you had a great week. It's a gift to those who've struggled to remember how God loves them so that we would remember what he's done for us. It's interesting, if you want to grab this, this is just for believers. Christ followers in the room, if you're not a Christ follower, you're not gonna out yourself by not taking this. Just don't. It's not for you. There's no point in you going through these motions. We would prefer that you take Christ. Like this can be your moment to come into relationship with him. But for the rest of us, listen,

Jesus sat with some guys that really messed up for about three years. And we often say, when we do this, we say the night before he was betrayed. Because what was gonna happen is one of those guys was gonna turn him over to be killed. And his best friend three times was gonna say, I don't even know that man. And so these guys, they really messed up. I don't know what you've done, but they really messed up. And Jesus sat with them. And he said, hey, tomorrow, this bread, this bread represents my body, which will be broken for you. And whenever you eat of it, I want you, don't do it yet, don't do it yet. Whenever you eat of it, I want you to remember what I've done for you. So right now, what I want you to remember, for just a second, I want you to look back on the past. past seven days and those times where you just didn't represent the Father's love. You were short with a kid, you were short with a friend, you were short with a roommate, a teacher, significant other, you said things you shouldn't have said, you felt things for me, like for me a lot of times I'll just internalize the bitterness. I'll just hate someone in my heart,

that's inconsistent with the Father's love. Playing conversations in my head, driving down the road, that's inconsistent with the Father's love. Confess that to you, that's not who I want to be. Says this bread is my body, broken for you whenever you eat of it, do so in remembrance of me, the bread of Christ, the body of Christ. There's a cup there, they would share it, a cup of wine, a chalice. It wasn't to get drunk, it was a sip, a satisfying flavor explosion in their mouth to wash down a piece of bread or something they had just eaten and he picks up the cup, he says this cup is my new covenant, I'm doing a new work. No more sacrifices of bulls, rams, no more burnt offerings, no more altars. I'm the one and done high priest, the go between, between you and God. Tomorrow the veil will be torn and you'll be able to access the Father at will because of the work I'm doing. He's no longer mad at you. Everything you've done, I'm gonna absorb it. He thought of people in 2026, he knew you and everything you do went on him, on that cross. His blood was poured out for you, the blood of Christ. Amen. So Father, we need your help to know that you love us. And I can only imagine that's the wildest thing ever.

I mean, I just think about it. My kids told me they didn't think I loved them and I just would start racking up the resume of what I paid for them and what I've done for them and how I've been inconvenienced for them and yet you gave yourself for us and we question your love for us. And we just repent of that. Would you help us know you're not mad at us or disappointed in us? You have a Father's love for us, a perfect Father's love for us. Help us to move towards you, to not have our back against the wall, but to wanna open the door and face you. We love you, Lord. We're so thankful for the gift of your son, Jesus, in the gospel. It's in his name, amen.