You've Never Met Someone God Doesn't Love Deeply | Jesus Values People

I'm glad we're together today in this space. My name is Mark Cummins. I'm the pastor at Church of Hope. And if you're a regular attender, welcome. So glad that week after week, we join together in this space. And if by chance, this is your first time, I'm really glad that we're beginning our friendship today. Understand that this broadcast literally goes around the world for free. See, we believe that life's at its best when people discover hope in Christ. There are people who give generously so this broadcast can be reached across every continent. If you've never given, I would invite you today to give. You can go to our webpage, hopeinOcala.com and drop down on the giving bar and give a one-time gift. Or you can give generously beyond just today. And if God's blessed you, help us as we give hope around the world. But for now, I want you to open up your heart and your mind. Let Jesus speak to you because what I believe is that when we open up our minds and let Jesus speak to us, life doesn't become perfect and all the problems don't go away, but you experience his presence in you, with you, and for you. Open up your heart. Let Jesus speak to you today. Peace.

Last week, you know, we witnessed something together. It was powerful. We declared Jesus is alive. But we've got to address a proverbial elephant in the room this morning. Because if you listen closely, right? Jesus is alive, we celebrate, we're excited, right? But then you listen to the words of Jesus that we're going to look to in John chapter three this morning. So if you want to turn there in your Bible. You hear the words of Jesus to his disciples then and now. And Jesus doesn't say, now stay with me for a second because this might kind of agitate you a little bit. Jesus doesn't say, admire me. Jesus isn't looking for you and I to admire him. Even this, this is a little bit edgy. Jesus didn't say, study me. Now, I'm for Bible study. I gather with the guys on Tuesday nights and we study the Bible. You study your Bible at your house and many of you are in multiple Bible studies and I would applaud you and I would say, hey, I believe in studying the Bible. But sometimes, not always, but sometimes we think like Jesus said, study me. Sometimes in our good endeavors to study the Bible, we can almost be like a guy who says, I'm gonna go to the gym and work out.

I'm gonna join a gym and I'm gonna go work out, right? And so he gets on his couch and he sits down and he starts writing out his workout plan. So it's Monday and Monday is gonna be chest and back, right? So I'm gonna do flat bench. I'm gonna do some incline bench. I'm gonna do some decline bench. I'm gonna do some flies. I'm gonna do some pull-ups. I'm gonna do some bent over rows. I'll do some pull-downs, right? He got his workout all planned, sitting there on the couch. He said, man, that's a good workout plan. And then doesn't go to the gym. Come on, hey, oh, it's the next day. It's arm day. I'm gonna do some biceps. I'm gonna do some triceps. And we got this big, we studied out the plan. It's on a piece of paper, but let me tell you something. You gotta go to the gym and do the plan. The Bible says, don't be hearers only, but be doers of the word, lest you deceive yourself. This is the elephant in the room. And it's so important to us. Why? Because it's your life. You would say, Mark, I'm a Christ follower. And if you're not a Christ follower, I hope this morning you decide to become a Christ follower.

But to those of us who are Christ followers, you're saying, hey, I celebrate Jesus is alive. Now I'm listening. He doesn't say admire me. He doesn't say study me. He does say, come follow me. Multiple times throughout scriptures, Matthew 4, 19, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Over and over and over, these verses where God, Jesus says, follow me. Sometimes when he says, follow me, it's a hard statement. Matthew 8, follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. What does that mean? There were a group of... People, disciples who are excited about Jesus, they're like, we're going to follow you, man. You Jesus, you're the son of God. I'm following you. Jesus says, come on. And then they said, yeah, but someone in our families just passed. So we got to go do the funeral thing. And then when we're done with the funeral thing, we'll come and catch up with you. To which Jesus replied, come follow me and let the dead bury their dead. This is a hard thing in our culture. In many times we somehow good intentions, but we actually elevate our family over Jesus. The declaration is come follow me, make me first place in your life. See in following Jesus, we must value what Jesus values. And we saw that on display at Easter, Jesus values the world, right? He pays for the sins of people. Jesus values people and we need to value people.

But here's the tension is there's some people in the world that agitate us, make me mad. You know what I'm talking about? You know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about your ex. Oh, snap. Right? Like, oh, you don't know my ex. But that boss, that politician that you voted for, then uphold what you thought he or she would do. Their lifestyle. I mean, how am I supposed to let me look, look, look, look at the way they look, look, look how they look. Look what's going on. People you disagree with, you know, that person, when you come to the, to the red light and they pull up next to you and, whoo, whoo, baby, that's some good weed coming through there. Right? I hope I don't pop positive at work tomorrow. Right? It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Or that music and all of a sudden your windows start shaking, right? Kind of a deal. You're like, my goodness, could they just turn it up a little bit louder? I mean, valuing people at times can really challenge us and forget about your uncle Vinnie, your uncle Vinnie. You're like, oh my goodness, Mark, how in the world? But when you look in your Bible on John chapter three, notice famous, famous words, but I think sometimes not practiced by us for God still loved the world, but he gave his one and only son that whoever, so that's your uncle Vinnie. That's your boss.

That's that person who's smoking a little weed. That's that person got the music really, really, really, really loud. That's your ex for whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Now watch the value statement in verse 17 for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him because Jesus values all people. Notice a fact that you've got to wrestle with this morning. You've never met, you've never seen someone God doesn't deeply love. Every human being that you've ever seen looked into their eyes. You have seen a person that God deeply loves. We rank people, how we like them, what we think about them, their value to us. We rank people. God redeems people. We value, and I'll compliment us. We value people that are like me, look like me, vote like me, identify like me. We like people on our side of town. We like people who are like us. I like you. You like me. We like each other because we like each other. But those people who are unlike me, don't look like me. Don't think like me. Don't act like me. Don't ask me to like them. Here's the tension. Jesus values you, and you ain't like Jesus. No human beings are like Jesus. Jesus valued every human being, and every human being is unlike Jesus. This is the problem that we've got to address today. This is what's at stake because we don't value people the way that Jesus does. We live in a world that categorizes, cancels, and compares people.

You know that. You've been categorized. You've been canceled because you said something. You've been compared to him or to her your brother your sister this person We tend to value people based on performance preferences But that's not how that's not how God Sees people God demonstrates the Bible says his love while we were still sinners now Here's a speed bump we've got to get over before we go any farther in In Matthew 22 familiar familiar words from Jesus Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind This is the first and the greatest commandment and the second is like it love your neighbor as Yourself and the reason that we struggle loving our neighbor Valuing our neighbor is in many times. We have a hard time loving Ourselves That voice in your mind that's always telling you how much wrong you done And you should have done this and could have done this and if you were smarter And you were faster And if you were prettier and all these other and look what they've got what you don't got and that that brain is on all the time Minimizing you and what happens is this as we listen to that voice marginalizing criticizing comparing categorizing ourselves It seeps and you find a person who's critical always comparing you will find a person that inside they're struggling Themselves Jesus values people based on who he is not

Who they were? What they've done Or what they could offer and so at Easter he becomes the guide he comes Jesus comes and he guides us He knows that we've got a problem as people as humans our tendency is not to value people the way that God does So instead of it giving us a lecture he gives us his life His one and only life the Bible says God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. Here's my guide He's unlike any of you. He's been tempted in all ways as you've been tempted, but he's unlike you he has never sinned See Jesus didn't wait for you or others to change then value you Jesus valued you first Grace doesn't ignore sin I know some of you're like oh But mark if if we don't talk about sin if we don't correct people if we don't let them know that this is a sinful Practice their lifestyle is against God right grace doesn't ignore sin it overpowers it Jesus saw more than people's past status or sin he sees Who he created us to be notice Philippians chapter 1 being confident the Apostle Paul says being confident of this What's this Paul that he Jesus who began a good work in you? Who began a good work in that person that you're having a struggle in Valuing that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus see here. Here's here's our struggle is I see their past right and we often Weaponize it against them What God would say is see their past and look past it Well, we see someone's status You know the kind of car they drive or their position at a company or the house or the neighborhood God would say yeah see their status But see through it Yeah, see their sin Right look what they've sinned look what they've done look what they've said look what they wall this kind of stuff look at their sin

God a God would say and see the Savior working on them Romans 5 God Demonstrated that's what Easter was the demonstration of God's love towards us that while we were still sinners He died for us And what I really appreciate is the scriptures in 2nd Peter chapter 3 because We all have somebody right like when it comes to me. I like I like the old song. He's still working on me You know I'm Tom, huh? It took just a day hung this moon and the stars Jupiter and Mars and the da da da da, but he's still I know that part He's still working on me to make me what I'm supposed to be right guy That's I just know he's still I like the song when he's still working on me My neighbor come on God, get him changed already. Your boss, your spouse, it's like, oh my goodness. But here's what God's up to. Look what it says in 2 Peter 3. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone. That person that you're struggling with, he wants everyone to come to repentance. See, Easter wasn't the finish line, it was the invitation line for all time. The Bible says in Romans, for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

So the question this morning is how do we do it? We understand, we got this issue that we struggle in valuing people. We all have different types of people that we struggle valuing them, right? We see that Jesus values all people. We celebrated it last Easter. How do we become more like Jesus? See, that's what we're studying all year long. In your journal, I sure hope that you're enjoying this journal. But we start a brand new series today. In this whole series all year long, it's about be more like Jesus. See, the debate isn't about how crazy our society is, because we all know our society, cray cray. It's not about the politics, the economics, all the things. We can see that there's problems in our culture. The debate is not about the problem, the debate is how do we solve it? Some would say it's this politician compared to that politician. Some would say it's this policy over that policy. As somebody would say, if they would just behave themselves better, if my spouse, if this, whatever. What I'm saying out loud is we want better in our world. What I'm saying is the world gets better not through a government and not through the economy. The world gets better when you and I who celebrate Easter,

we celebrate the resurrection, we show up every day a little bit more like Jesus. So how do we do it? I'm gonna give you a couple of ideas. You can write them down. And then we'll worship the Lord together some more. Is number one is this, is when I'm trying to value people, on the contrary, I'm devaluing them. So how do I move from devaluing, being frustrated, agitated, irritated? How do I flip that switch? Here's what I've learned that's really important. I've got to slow down and be present. Slow down. Right now, something's going on, what they're saying, what they're doing, their behavior, I've gotta slow it down because here's what I'm learning is when I slow it down, it causes me to think, and then if I shift my mind in that slow down process towards proximity, it changes how I respond to the person that I'm upset with. Let me see if I can illustrate. We live in a culture today when someone disappoints you, betrays you, when a business or a company promises that they would provide this service for you, and they don't. When the restaurant says, I will provide the meal like this, and then the meal comes out, that's not how you had ordered it, right?

When somebody does less than best, we get frustrated, we get, well, we get irritated. And what'll happen is we have our phones, which we can say, oh, I'm gonna take a picture at this restaurant and tell the whole world how their service was less than best. Or if it's a friend in a relationship and they didn't do what they said they were gonna do, or they said something about you, boy, you're gonna fire them off a text. I'll straighten them out, or it's that email kind of thing, right? And so that actually happened to me this week. I was in a situation, a circumstance, where the person didn't show up. We had a clear conversation. I explained exactly what I wanted, right? And they did the opposite, right? And so I was like, all right, I'm gonna fire you up. Got my phone up, and I got them thumbs moving. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this. And we talked about this, and this was gonna do, and this is what, and I'm telling you, I didn't just stop with my text. You know what I did? I copied and pasted that text into chat GPT. I was gonna have a little AI advantage as I set them straight, and I didn't stop. I did not stop with chat GPT. I've been introduced to Claude.

Claude is a whole nother level AI. I dropped it in, I dropped it into Claude. I said, Claude, make this just bite harder. I did one smart thing. I paused longer. enough to ask Linda, should I send this text? And praise God. Yes, whoever just clapped, thank you, because she's a little more patient than me. You slow it down, because here's the principle. Here's what I'm learning. Would I go to that person? Remember, proximity counts. Would I go to them, and would I say it face to face exactly the way I was about to text it, or email it, or social media it? So you slow it down, because if you wouldn't go and say it to their face, maybe you shouldn't say it at all. You want to slow it down a little bit more? This principle works every time, because you're upset with them. You're about to devalue them. We want to value people the way that Jesus valued people, and sometimes we get stuck. So we've got to slow it down. So here's one of the ways that I slow it down. I pull a chair kind of right next to me like this, and in my mind, I invite God to come sit in the chair. And I want to talk to God about this person that makes me mad right now, that I'm about to devalue, right? And I sit God down, and I say, God,

I want to talk to you about Pete. You know Pete, that piece of shit? I didn't say it. Why did you think it? We've all, at different times, we have said to people, you are a, and we've kind of just dressed them down. Slow it down, and bring the creator of Pete next to you, and start demeaning that person that God created. That will slow you down. And parents, this is an important principle when it comes to our children. I remember when the girls were young, Emily and Katie, and they would get upset with each other, and they would get frustrated, right? And they would say mean things to each other. And I would ask some people older than me that had kids, I said, what am I supposed to do about this? You know what they would tell me? Well, it's just siblings, right? That's what siblings do. See, that really leads to the second point. You can write it down. Is not only are we gonna slow down this process and be present, we're gonna speak hope-giving words. See, what happens is we think that because someone has done something less than best to us, we can now let them have it. Now, don't get me wrong, what happened with my daughters is one went into the other person's closet, got something that did not belong to them, and wore it.

And I don't know if you have daughters, and you have two daughters in your house, but hello, hello, I'm just telling you, the Straits of Hormuz were shut down in my house. Hey, you took this, this wasn't supposed to be worn by you, my shoes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so then they let them have it. But here's the problem with that, parents, is that both of these daughters, Emily and Katie, they have been created in God's image. Like God created them. So when I allow one to dress them down, and if we use the psychology, well, it's okay because they're siblings, that's flawed. Because God has created them equally. And by the ways, if I wouldn't let another person in the neighborhood talk to your sister the way that you're talking to you, why do you think for a minute I'd let you talk to my daughter this way? See, we have a pop psychology rather than a biblical theology of how we are to value people. We slow down the process so that we can speak hope-giving words. Don't label people by their past. Lead them towards their future. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians, encourage one another and build each other up. You know, people rise or shrink

to the voice that they listen to. Be the voice that lifts them up. You get to have a choice in life. Are you gonna be the person that's always pointing out or even the person who lifts them up? Hebrews chapter 10, let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage one another. See, your voice might be the confirmation someone's been praying for. They've been asking God, God, I don't know what to do. I'm not sure what. how to feel about this and then you speak into their their life hebrews chapter three encourage one another daily as long as it's called today today's the opportunity to lift somebody up don't just see people the way that they are speak to who they are becoming the bible says in ephesians 4 do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only what is helpful in building others up according to their needs so that it may benefit those who listen how do we value people the way jesus values people gotta slow it down gotta slow it down instead of firing off that text firing off that email posting on socials if you wouldn't say it to their face bring god in and say god i gotta talk to you about this human being that you created i'm having a hard time seeing that this is your workmanship help me here speak hope giving words and this is hard i listen it is hard right people people agitate you right i know this is hard i know this is hard for you to believe because if you ever see or meet linda my wife i mean she's like 105 pounds and i don't know what happens at night when it's time to go to sleep but i'm convinced that maybe the devil or a demon or two get inside of her because for such a small human being she snores like a truck driver and a plumber combined together i mean it's loud and and so last night right i mean she's just over there i mean she just

sawing them logs sawing them logs and i'm doing my best because i know i'm about to come and teach this this morning and i'm like oh god please help me please help me and so i turned on a little podcast try to listen to it i mean it was live the neighbors came home when they were playing their music loud i mean oh there's just linda i finally i picked up one of the pillows and i lifted it up bam i mean i did i know you guys think i make all this stuff up after the gathering come and talk to her i mean it's just like it's just like this this this this thing she she wakes up like this what what what you can't hear that how are you in your brain space right how do you do this i get it in life we want to take to the people she's fanning herself right now because she knows everything i just said is true right i'm just in life we want to take the people who agitate us we want to set them straight we want to pick up the pillow or something else but we're christ followers it's supposed to be we say we value people but often our lives don't match it and that comes to this third final and this is this is gonna be a challenge for us because we celebrate right we celebrate easter and he's alive and we love this moment but we really miss what easter is all about there's one word and then we do good with this word on easter oh my goodness it's yes right and easter's a special day and many of you got together with your family and had a meal maybe you went shopping and got a you know new dress or something or or or suit or whatever you you took your your photo out at the at the photo wall you said to people happy easter like yeah i'm in the kids everybody it's easter yeah right but we miss what easter is really about the whole death the burial and the resurrection like easter is about summary forgiveness the forgiveness of your sins what we celebrate on sunday we forget on monday the great stain against christianity in the west is our inability to transfer our worship of forgiveness that i have received to forgiveness to those who've offended me we value people when we forgive them quickly colossians 3 and 13 forgive as quickly and completely as the master jesus forgave you i just want to go on the record i'm really glad that he forgave me quickly he he looked down at me and he said mark i forgive you completely and we live in a crazy christian pop psychology culture where i think there's all kinds of good intentions even pastor friends and they'll say something like this like hello like hey yes the bible says Forgive them, but don't forget it lest they take advantage of you again. And that's great pop psychology.

You won't find that in the word of God. Because when Jesus was crucified, he was betrayed and he forgave them completely. And what the Bible tells me, my sins, Jesus has forgiven them in the depths of the sea. He has separated my sins as a far as the East and the West. And then here comes a so-called Christian and keeps calling up your past sins inside of our marriage. It's hypocrisy at its height. I want you to know something about forgiveness. Forgiveness is never about waiting for the person to ask you for it. Forgiveness has nothing to do with that person. That person might never ever in their lifetime or your lifetime ask you to forgive them. Forgiveness does not impact the person who's offended you. Forgiveness is about you, the one who's been offended. Because when I choose to forgive the person who has offended, who has betrayed me, I'm the person who's been released from the wrong. I'm the person who is set free. How do I know that? Because God demonstrated his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus didn't wait for you and I to show up and say, hey, Jesus, would you forgive me? Oh, no. He already forgave you. And I want you to know something. Every one of your sins, everyone, the people that you devalue, the people who you think are the others in life, the people who you think are less than best, their sins are forgiven too. Here's the problem. Like I said last week, you might not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And if you choose not to believe that Jesus Christ came alive again, that doesn't mean that it's false.

What it means is it's wasted on you. Your sins, what sends a person to hell is not the sins. Everybody has sinned. What sends a person to hell is they chose not to ask Jesus to cover and forgive their sins. They chose to live quickly. You needed grace. And so do they. You were valued before you were valuable. Now we need to go value others. See Jesus defeated death. He conquered sin and he has made a way. Now he says, follow me. That's what we're looking at right now. How do we become more like Jesus? We follow him. We watch what he did and we do what he did. We see people differently. We speak to people differently. We treat people differently. And if Jesus gave his life for people, if Jesus allowed his life to be crucified on a cross, we certainly can give people our attention and our love and grace. Hear me clearly. Because if you really want to understand the DNA of this place called hope, the DNA is not Baptist. The DNA is not Pentecostal. It's not Methodist. It's not Presbyterian. The DNA at Church of Hope is that people are not the interruption. People are the mission.

That's why we say partnering with people to discover in Christ we have hope. That's how we plan out a calendar. That's how we spend money. It's how we hire people. It's how we decide everything that we do is to partner with men and women, boys and girls, moms and dads to discover the hope they're looking for has a name and his name is Jesus. And since hope has existed for 18 years, I've had plenty of people come to me. And I won't make this too personal that you'd be able to figure it out, but I've had people come to me and say, hey, listen, I don't think that person, that person shouldn't be allowed to serve at hope. I mean, do you know what they've done? Do you know who they are? I mean, that's not how it looks in Ocala Southeast. And here's the truth. The people that they think that I should have gone and taken and out the back and said, you know, you've got some real bad past in you. You don't look like us. You don't identify like us. Like you don't come here. You're not a part of us. Those people are still here. And the people who wanted me, the people who told me we won't come no more, we won't give no money no more. They're not here no more. Because there's one allegiance. Our allegiance is to Jesus and Jesus value people. I mean, just recently, very valuable. I mean, your value, everybody here is valued. Everybody's valued. You are created in the image of God.

You are his workmanship. If I had somebody who has real skills, I mean, you understand 200 of you on the dream team. You made Easter happen. Yes, I stood up and I spoke, but I mean, that's the easiest part. You welcomed and greeted, and the babies, and I mean, all the things, the musicians. I mean, everything, the parking lot, the flags. You are the heroes. You are the dream team, right? I stand up here and I talk about Jesus. So I had a very valuable dream team come and say, Hey, listen, I heard, did you hear that like this person has done this in their past? And like that person shouldn't be allowed. And that per, I don't know if I can keep serving. I don't know that I'm going to keep doing my part. And they got a valuable part. And I think you need to do something about that person. Number one, the person who wanted me to dismiss another person. Again, it's not here any longer. And what I always say to about anybody. If you decide that you want to start having a litmus test about how perfect someone has to be to serve a church of hope, you need to fire me. I know this cat. I shave his face every single day, millisecond from stupid. And let me say one more thing. If you get to a point in your life and I say this with up, my name is Mark. I, the only person I really know in this room that's born again and saved is me because I only know me, right? We can all put on a really good show for each other. But forgiveness is a watermark test of your salvation. The Bible says, forgive others as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.

And then Jesus says, if you choose not to forgive somebody else, if you show up and say that person doesn't belong in a church, kick them out. Be real careful because if you choose not to forgive others, then my father in heaven will not forgive you. Valuing people. The problem is we don't. The solution is Jesus. He did. And the invitation this morning is for us to value people the way that Jesus values. We got to slow it down. Speak words of hope, life, but got to forgive quickly. The greatest testimony of your faith is how you treat others. So you can have your joy FM 88.1 sticker on the back of your car and your backward fish and be driving around inside your little car and be talking to people about this and that and all that kind of stuff. And you're missing the greatest testimony of your faith is the way that you value others who are unlike you because Jesus valued you and me and we are unlike Jesus. Maybe today you've realized you've been following Jesus at a distance, or maybe you've never followed him at all. Today, follow Jesus. Today, receive his grace. Today, start valuing the way Jesus values people. Thank you. Being together in this space today is really good. If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, I'd like to invite you today to start following Jesus. It's not about your behavior. It's not about your church attendance. It's about the reality that Jesus is for you.

God's not mad at you. He's madly in love with you. Would you right now pray this prayer with me? Hey, God, it's me. I've sinned and I know it and I can't fix me. But today I receive you, Jesus, as my savior. I believe that you died on that cross for me and that you were buried for three days and then you became alive again. And I invite you into my life to guide me and direct me all the rest of the days of my life. And with that prayer, my friend, welcome to God's family. I'd like to continue our friendship. If you would email me, pastor, at hopeinocala.com. I'll follow up with you. And together, we'll celebrate Jesus in your life. Peace.