Boy Meets Girl. THEN WHAT? S24e13 1Jn3:23

When a boy falls in love with a girl, he takes an interest in the things that interest her. Similarly, as we become more closely associated with the Lord, we will begin to love what He loves. 

The People of God are MY people because they are HIS people. I love them, because HE loves them.  I love them NOT because they are particularly lovable. Tuning my heart toward the people of God shows that my heart is tuned to HIM.

bewithme.us

Transcript

Michael Smith: 0:00

Good morning, my brothers and sisters. Welcome to Episode 13. In the book of First John, I'm going to tell a story this morning. The title is boy meets girl now what? So here's the story true story boy meets girl boy loves starts to love girl. And boy wants to demonstrate His love for the girl. But the boy finds out that the girl loves the theater while the boy has no particular experience or previous love for the theater doesn't know the first thing about theater. So the question is, what does the boy do? Well, he begins to tune his heart towards the theater. Why to police her Of course, so his heart is tuned towards her. So his heart is then tuned towards the things that that she loves. And he begins to love that which is loved by her true story. So here we go. The same store here is in first John chapter three, verses 2223 and 24. Let me read it. And whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases Him. That's where we're going to head today is to do what pleases Him. Verse 23, and this is the commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He has commanded us. Verse 24, whoever keeps His commands, abides in God, and God in him. And by this, we know that he abides in us by the Spirit He has given us. So the first thing I'd like to point out is that three persons of the Trinity Father, Son, and Spirit are in this passage. Believe in the name of the Son believe in the person of the son. He's the one who makes me think of the verse in First John, correction, John, chapter one, verse 12, but to all who received Him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Then it says, Abide in God the Father, so believe in the Son to abide in the Father, which is to remains to remain and continue to lodge to take refuge and even resonance in kind of live with God abide with God. So believe in the name of the sun, abide with God, the Father. And the third thing is, know that he abides in us by the Spirit, whom he has given. So essentially, he's asking, or, or making the observation that these are three impossible things. It's impossible in a sense, to believe in his name, and have all the benefits that are earned by Jesus and have them accrue to us. That's an impossibility. That's, you know, some heavenly Accounting has to be done there. And it's, it's God with a major thumb on the scale of mercy. But it doesn't stop there. This is like, but wait, hey, there's more. The second, the impossibility is that we can take refuge in God, and we can hide ourselves in him. Well, who is he? I keep thinking of the Webb telescope, which they put in space a couple of years ago, year and a half ago. And every month or every week, there's a new discovery, there's something bigger, there's something more magnificent, there's something more impossible in construction is blowing the minds of those who put this telescope into the into the heavens. And yet it's the God that made all this stuff, and yet says, Hey, come here, come be with me. Come abide with me. And then the third possibility is the dwelling place of Gods now with men and women, Ezekiel 36 says, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit, I will put in you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes. Well, when Jesus came, the Holy Spirit started to do that, for people. So if you ask, where does God live, it's not in temples anymore. It's not in buildings. It's not in cities, it's not in countries, it's in the heart of his people. So by impossible, so these three impossible things, I don't mean that cannot be done. I mean, it cannot be done, my man, and we have to go to the promises of God. So certainly man cannot demand any of these things by God. But all these things are given by God and we receive them like children, you know, happy children on Christmas morning. All right, so pleasing. So there is a pleasing in knowing these truths, and then believing them and enjoying and even using this platform, he says to ask and receive kind of like an intimate family situation that pleases God. It pleased he's pleased by the Trinity we should be pleased by the Trinity by the position and the promises and the unearned merit badges that he gives us. So we are pleased in the Trinity to abide Biden, me and I in you, it says John 15. Four. So what kind of god is this? Well, as we know him, as we become close as we learn more about him, we want to please Him by by learning about the things that that he likes. So we want to learn about his family and the here we go back to the theater analogy now. So we are to love those associated with his family. So look at all the things that God Dunn does has done for me, of course, I'm going to take an interest in his family, that is others that he's doing similar things for. And of course, I'm going to avail myself of the activities that he's doing with those other people, I'm going to want to hear about their journeys, I want to I'm going to want to walk, walk with them, I'm going to want to rejoice in their joys and mourn with their weak beings and walk with them in in the days that are in between, in between, write this down. So these are my people, because they're His people, He loves them. And I love them because he loves them. So I love them not because they are particularly lovable. I don't know if you've ever been to a church that's full of unlovable people. But why do I love them, because it's the same impossible miracle has happened in me is happening in them. So I take an interest in their miracle. So one ends with a high value for the things that God has a high value for, and my love for the person for people is manifested. It manifest my interest in the things that interest them. So therefore my love for the persons of God, the Trinity, is shown by my love for His people. Why? Because he loves them. It's saying to God, you see something in these people, and what is it? I should be curious, I should be sacrificial, I should be loving. So when I find someone that God loves, what should I do? I should love them. So boy meets girl, mankind meets God, what do we then what do we do next? We take an interest in the things that interest God and we love the things that God loves. And we love the people that God loves. Boy meets girl thanks for listening