1 Where it All BeginsPart II

2 Pastor Jimmy MillerReal Life Church

3

4 Go to I John Chapter 4. Hallelujah, Father.

5 When you know you're loved, you can tell the world and

6 every demon in it that you're going to be just fine .

7 I John 4:16. You there? Listen to what John said.

8 We have come to know and have believed the love whi ch

9 God has for us. Now, we already covered this. Wha t

10 kind of love does he have for you? Agape. The exa ct

11 same love with which he loved Jesus. Not a differe nt

12 kind of love. Not a second-rate love. He doesn't

13 love you -- you know, there are sometimes we hear

14 these stories, you know, if you've got a mixed fami ly,

15 whether you have children from other marriages or

16 you've adopted them, we've all heard stories where the

17 product of your body you love more. But the adopte d,

18 ahh, not quite the same. That's human love. That' s

19 capable. Humans are capable of loving in degrees.

20 Not God. He loves full throttle.

21 He doesn't see Jesus as the byproduct of his

22 own body and you as somehow less or inferior. This is

23 the wonderful thing we call redemption. He sees me in

24 the same light as he sees Jesus Christ, which is th e

25 only reason why it's permitted of me to be seated w ith

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1 him in heavenly places.

2 So John said we've come to know. We didn't

3 always know it. Once upon a time we thought we wer e

4 slaves and servants and he was the great task maste r

5 in the sky. But John said because we saw Jesus and we

6 heard what Jesus said, and we believed the report o f

7 what Jesus said. He said we've come to know someth ing

8 we didn't always know. And now I believe something I

9 used to not believe. "What is it, John, that you

10 didn't know?"

11 "I didn't know he loved me that way."

12 "What is that you did not used to believe?"

13 "I didn't believe he loved me that way."

14 But now we've come to know and believe the

15 love which God has for us. Then he goes on to say,

16 "God is love. And the one who abides in love abide s

17 in God, and God abides in him." Verse 17. "By thi s,

18 love is perfected with us."

19 Now, I love -- let me give you. Love is

20 perfected with us, not by us, but with us. And it

21 literally means, if you'll do a word study on it, i t

22 means that love is drawn to the place of perfection

23 and maturity, and it takes us with it.

24 The love of God that's been shed abroad in

25 our hearts draws us to moral perfection. This is t he

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1 reason why -- why Paul said in Galatians 5 that you

2 can sum up the whole law with this word - love.

3 Because the law never could bring anyone to moral

4 perfection. Indeed, the law was never meant to bri ng

5 anyone to moral perfection because the law wasn't

6 about perfection. The law was about revelation,

7 revealing to man his need for a Messiah. So that w hen

8 the Messiah came, man would not trust in his own

9 righteousness, which is really no righteousness at

10 all; but man would indeed fall to the feet of the

11 Messiah and say, "I need you, I receive you, I beli eve

12 you."

13 So the whole purpose of the law was not to

14 bring men to perfection. Indeed, it could not brin g

15 men to perfection. But love can. This is the reas on

16 why Jesus when he talked about a law of the new

17 covenant, he said, "Here is the law of the new

18 covenant, love."

19 Because love can do what nothing else can do.

20 Listen, if I love you, I'll never sin against you. If

21 I love you, there's nothing you could do that would

22 force me to talk bad of you if I love you. So if I

23 walk in love, I'll never transgress the law. You

24 following me?

25 So love is -- love perfects us. Love is

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1 perfected with us. This is why verse 17, let's

2 continue. By this, love is perfected with us so th at

3 we may have confidence -- I believe that King Jimmy

4 says boldness -- in the day of judgment. What is t he

5 day of judgment?

6 In the original language, that word judgment

7 is actually krisis, K-R-I-S-I-S, krisis. I may be

8 mispronouncing it. But if I am, that's okay. Leav e

9 me alone. But here's the thing. It's not how you

10 pronounce it. It's what it means. It's not -- and

11 I've heard people preach this and say, well, if we' re

12 in love, then when we stand before the great white

13 throne, we'll be okay.

14 No, that's not what he's saying. He's not

15 talking about the end of times. He's talking about

16 any time you are in a crisis. Because if you remov e

17 that K and put in a C -- for those of you who are n ot

18 Greek scholars -- how do you say that word? Now, t hat

19 one I can pronounce. "Crisis."

20 So it literally means that if we are abiding

21 in love -- what love? The love that he has for us.

22 If I am staying in that place of acknowledging and

23 knowing that I am loved, then in a time of crisis, I

24 can have a boldness that is born not of my own

25 confidence, but of the awareness that I am loved by

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1 the king of the universe. That the one who created

2 all of it is passionate about me. So I can stand

3 there in the middle of my crisis and not cave in, n ot

4 give up, not run away. I can be strong because I h ave

5 boldness in the day of crisis.

6 But where does this boldness come from? John

7 is making it abundantly clear. It comes from knowi ng

8 and believing that you are loved of God with the sa me

9 passionate, ferocious love with which he loved the

10 Messiah. If we don't know that we're loved, then w hen

11 we get into a time of crisis, the enemy may be able to

12 convince us that what we're going through was ordai ned

13 of God, because God is trying to teach us, AKA, pun ish

14 us, because we didn't do what we were supposed to d o

15 when we were supposed to do it.

16 Let's continue reading. "Because as he is,

17 so also are we." Where? In this world. Now, this

18 means a lot of things, "As he is, so are we." We'v e

19 preached it, you know, that as he is anointed, so a re

20 we anointed. As he is strong, so are we strong. A nd

21 it does mean all that.

22 But in a setting -- let's keep this with what

23 John's talking about. What is John talking about?

24 Love. He's talking about being loved, abiding in

25 love. And he says that in a day of crisis, we can

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1 have an amazing confidence, boldness, because as he

2 is. As he is what? As he is loved, so are we. So

3 are we what? Loved.

4 That's what John's talking about. He's

5 talking about love. And he's saying Jesus never

6 wavered or doubted the love of the father. He knew he

7 was loved. He started his whole ministry with a

8 declaration of a dove coming down from heaven, a vo ice

9 resonating through the skies, "This is my beloved

10 son."

11 Now, let me ask you a question. If that's

12 what the Father said of Jesus, what do you suppose

13 he's saying of you? Do you know on your worst day, he

14 never said anything but this of you. The only thin g

15 he's ever said of you is, "You're my beloved, and I 'm

16 well pleased with you."

17 "But, Lord, I messed up."

18 That's grace.

19 "Lord, you don't know what I did."

20 Yes, He does.

21 "Lord, you don't know what I thought. I

22 thought bad thoughts. I wanted to cut him and cut

23 him bad."

24 He says, "I know." That's still called

25 grace. The only thing he's ever said over you,

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1 because you are the recipient of his agape. "You a re

2 my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. And in

3 you, I'm well pleased."

4 You see, when we know how the Father sees us,

5 now faith is a non issue. I don't have to battle

6 myself to believe, because I know I am loved with t he

7 love that's eternal. And no matter where I go, tha t

8 love is there. No matter what I do, that love is

9 there. No matter how long I have to stand here, I

10 know that he is for me, not against me because I kn ow

11 that I'm loved.

12 Verse 18, There is no fear in love. You see,

13 when the bible talks about abiding in love, you can

14 stay in love. Your environment will change. Your

15 relationships will change. People will come, peopl e

16 will go. Some will cry Hosanna, some will cry

17 crucify.

18 But in the ever changing circumstances of

19 life, it is possible for you and I to stay in love.

20 This doesn't mean I'm always going to -- and this i s

21 how, "Well, I'm always going to think warm and fuzz y

22 thoughts of you." Not if you cut me off when I'm

23 trying to get somewhere I want. But I'm not seekin g

24 to abide in my kind of love. I'm seeking to abide in

25 a much greater kind of love.

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1 And this love, the way I abide in it is I

2 stay aware of it. I wake up knowing I'm loved. I go

3 through my day knowing I'm loved. I enter into a

4 hostile work environment knowing I'm loved. I go h ome

5 to a house that's filled with chores knowing I'm

6 loved. When I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lor d

7 my soul to keep. And I know I'm loved.

8 That's abiding in love. Where nothing and

9 nobody can ever convince me that He doesn't love me .

10 If I abide in that place, the bible says there is n o

11 fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear. In

12 other words, it makes no place for it, because fear

13 involves punishment.

14 And the one who fears is not perfected or

15 mature in love. Because the one who is immature wi ll

16 always think God deals with them according to what

17 they deserve. And they'll be prone to think that

18 God's punishing them somehow. Because if God reall y

19 loved them -- and I've had -- if any of you have be en

20 in the church any length of time, you've experience d

21 it. I've sat down to counsel with people and they' ll

22 say, "Well, if God is love, then I wouldn't be goin g

23 through what I'm going through."

24 So they look at where they are, and they

25 question the love of God because in the back of the ir

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1 mind, they're thinking I'm being punished unjustly.

2 They have the same egotistical approach as Job did at

3 first, "I don't deserve this." I tithed every Sund ay.

4 I even cleaned the toilets at church. If God's goi ng

5 to bless anyone, God ought to bless the toilet

6 cleaner. And then when in a time of crisis, you la ck

7 boldness.

8 But if you know you're loved, you can

9 stand in that crisis and speak to your mountain and

10 know it must respond, because if Jesus had stood in

11 this spot and prayed this prayer, God would do it f or

12 him. And as He is.

13 How many of you believe the bible? Listen to

14 this. God is not punishing you. God is not angry

15 with you. God's never been angry with you. God is

16 not withholding from you. Go to Isaiah 54. And we 're

17 going to rip through this, and I will let you go

18 before the chicken gets dry. So glad you all showe d

19 up this morning. Otherwise, I would have had to ju st

20 preach to Bill.

21 Are you in Isaiah yet? Isaiah 54, I want to

22 read verses 1 through 10. How many of you know Isa iah

23 54 comes after Isaiah 53? You all so smart. You

24 remember what happened in Isaiah 53, right? That's

25 where the lamb was slain. Stripes were laid upon h is

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1 back. The punishment for our misdeeds he took.

2 That's Isaiah 53.

3 Now, in Isaiah 54, the Lord says, "Sing, oh

4 childless woman, you who have never given birth." In

5 other words, you've never had a breakthrough. "You

6 who have never had a reason to sing because your li fe

7 has been barren, he said go ahead and break out a

8 song. Break into loud and joyful song oh, Jerusale m.

9 You who have never been in labor, for the desolate

10 woman now has more than the woman who lives with he r

11 husband, says the Lord."

12 Verse 2, "Enlarge your house. Build an

13 addition, spread out your home and spare no expense .

14 For you will soon be bursting at the seams."

15 Do you believe the bible or not? You'll soon

16 be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will

17 occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities .

18 Verse 4, "Fear not, you will no longer live in sham e.

19 Don't be afraid. There is no more disgrace for you ."

20 Doesn't the bible say in the New Testament,

21 "Now there is therefore no condemnation. There is no

22 more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember

23 the shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhoo d."

24 Verse 5, "For your creator will be your

25 husband. The Lord of Heaven's Army is his name. H e

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1 is your Redeemer, the holy one of Israel, the God o f

2 all the earth. For the Lord has called you back fr om

3 your grief as though you were a young wife abandone d

4 by her husband says your God."

5 Listen to this, verse 7. "For a brief moment

6 I abandoned you. But with great compassion, I will

7 take you back. In a burst of anger, I turned my fa ce

8 away for a little while. But with everlasting love , I

9 will have compassion on you says the Lord, your

10 redeemer."

11 Now before you say, well, he's talking only

12 to the Jews. Is he your redeemer? Then he's talki ng

13 to you. Verse 9, "Just as I swore in the time of N oah

14 that I would never again let a flood cover the eart h,

15 so now I swear, I will never again be angry and pun ish

16 you."

17 Now can I remind you what John said in verse

18 18? Fear involves punishment. When people are not

19 perfected in love, they cave into fear because they 're

20 afraid that what they're going through, God's doing it

21 because they deserve it. And they know they don't

22 deserve goodness, so they don't expect goodness. T hey

23 know they don't deserve breakthrough, so they don't

24 expect breakthrough. They know they don't deserve to

25 see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the

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1 living, so they never expect it. They're afraid of

2 punishment.

3 God said here in Isaiah 54 -- listen, I know

4 I've got to bring this to a close. But if the Lord

5 poured out all of his wrath on the Messiah -- and t he

6 bible teaches that he poured out the fullness of hi s

7 wrath on him. If he poured out all of his wrath --

8 everyone say all. If you pour out all, how much do

9 you have left? If he poured it all out on Jesus, t hen

10 that means he's got none left for you. So he'll ne ver

11 be angry with you.

12 This is what makes grace -- oh, my God, I

13 wish somebody would understand it. This is what ma kes

14 grace so amazing. You and I both know we don't

15 deserve goodness. But he doesn't deal with me

16 according to what I deserve. It isn't based upon m y

17 works. Because my best is as filthy rags. I could

18 never get to Him, near Him, or approach Him based u pon

19 my qualifications. But when I throw myself complet ely

20 into the arms of grace, then I know that that is th e

21 place from which my prosperity comes.

22 How can he not prosper me when he gave Christ

23 for me. How can he not heal me when he laid the

24 punishment for my healing in the form of stripes up on

25 his back? I will never -- everyone say never. Thi s

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1 is the Lord saying it. "I will never again be angr y

2 and punish you."

3 Verse 10, get this. "For the mountains may

4 move" -- and, yes, indeed they do. Things that you

5 thought would be there forever, people, places, thi ngs

6 that you thought would be there. You could always

7 count on them, and then one day you wake up, and th ey

8 ain't there no more. It can leave you heart broken .

9 It can leave you confused. It can leave you

10 distressed. God says, "Even though the mountains b e

11 removed and the hills disappear, even then my faith ful

12 love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing

13 will never be broken," says the Lord who has mercy on

14 you.

15 Everyone say I am loved. Now in closing go

16 to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 3:17. How many of

17 you would like to live a life where faith is no lon ger

18 a struggle? All you have to do is convince yoursel f

19 I'm loved. Look at that ugly mug of yours in the

20 mirror and say, "You homely, but you loved."

21 And, remember, that because of His goodness,

22 the shame of your youth is done away. You don't ha ve

23 to deal with the grief anymore. You don't have to

24 deal with the shame of it anymore. Don't let peopl e

25 remind you who you used to be. Tell them who you a re.

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1 I'm loved.

2 Do you know the greatest desire of the human

3 heart is to be loved. Every man, every woman, ever y

4 boy, every girl, their greatest desire is to be lov ed.

5 And yet the greatest tragedy is that the greatest l ove

6 ever offered, we find it hard to receive.

7 "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he'll give

8 you the desires of your heart." It's okay to be ha ppy

9 again. It's okay to dance. It's okay to sing. Yo u

10 don't have anything to be afraid of, because he lov es

11 you.

12 Ephesians 3:17. "So that Christ may dwell in

13 your hearts through faith, and that you being roote d

14 and grounded," in what, "in love, may be able to

15 comprehend with all the saints what is the breath a nd

16 the length and height and depth and to know the lov e

17 of Christ which surpasses knowledge. That you may be

18 filled up to all the fullness of God."

19 How? By being rooted and grounded in love.

20 It surpasses knowledge. Meaning you can't learn it in

21 school, but you can receive it. And as you receive

22 it, your roots grow deep, and you're able to

23 comprehend. Something that the Lord wants all sain ts

24 to comprehend. How high, how deep, how wide is the

25 love of Christ. It wouldn't take too much for this to

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1 take me to a place where I don't care if you all ar e

2 here or not.

3 How can you not worship someone who loves you

4 that way? If you knew how much God loves you, you

5 would never disqualify yourself. If you knew how m uch

6 he loves others, you would never look at them and

7 think they never could make it. You'd never

8 disqualify anyone.

9 Verse 20, "Now to him who is able to do far

10 more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think

11 according to the power."

12 Once again, let's say, what is he talking

13 about? Love. So what do you suppose the power is

14 that's working in you? Love. He's saying accordin g

15 to that power, that love that's in you, God is able to

16 do exceeding, abundantly above and beyond anything you

17 could possibly dare to conceive of. Why? Because of

18 love.

19 Love is so wacky. Your fiancè might only

20 need a little tin ring, and you go out and get her a

21 multi-platinum, diamond, tritanium, uranium, alumin um

22 ring just because you want her to show off. That's

23 love. You don't have to, but you want to. And tha t's

24 how God is with us.

25 He doesn't do what needs to be done. He does

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1 exceeding, abundantly, above and beyond. I mean,

2 listen, listen. I know I need to close because we' ve

3 got to receive the offering yet and -- oh, Lord.

4 I told you I was watching Brother Copeland

5 this week, and he was talking about he was in Afric a.

6 And he was preaching about prosperity. And he said

7 everytime he used the word prosperity, his translat or

8 would say the same word three times. And I know ho w

9 that can mess with you, because you say one thing, and

10 they go on for 20 minutes. You're like, are they

11 really trying to unexplain what I've just said. I' ve

12 had that happen too.

13 So after the service, Brother Copeland said,

14 I say prosperity. And every time I say it, you go,

15 "Ba, ba, ba; ba, ba, ba; ba, ba, ba. I only went " Ba,

16 why are you going, "ba, ba, ba?"

17 And he said, "Well, Brother Copeland, you

18 have to understand." Now, I don't know what nation he

19 was in. He said, "Our people have always been an

20 impoverished people. We have no word for prosperit y

21 because we've never known it." He said, "We litera lly

22 have no word for that. So when we try to try to ta lk

23 about things improving, the only word we have in ou r

24 entire linguistic library is 'better.' But better

25 ain't good enough." So, he said, "When you talked

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1 about prosperity, I said, 'better, better, better.'

2 It's the only way I know to explain what God wants to

3 do, that the desire of his heart is that it get

4 better, better, better. Because one better ain't

5 exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond all."

6 I can think about it getting better. How

7 many of you can imagine it getting better? I can l ook

8 at my life and I can imagine better. God wants to

9 take me beyond better to better, better. Better,

10 better is when better is better. I know that's dee p

11 theological insight there.

12 But now God ain't done -- and I'm closing.

13 God ain't done with better and better. God wants t o

14 take the better that's been better than the better and

15 better it yet again. So you have something in your

16 life that's better, better, better. Sorry. That's

17 worth another trip.

18 That means everything in my life, he wants to

19 make better, better, better. And all I need to do is

20 know that I'm loved. And the only reason he's doin g

21 it is because of love. So I can look at my life, a nd

22 with confidence make a prophetic utterance, "You ab out

23 to get better, better, better.

24 Well, how can you say that? Because I'm

25 loved. I don't need better, better, better. I can

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1 get where I'm going in that ratty old 1992 pickup

2 truck of mine, but I want better. I want better,

3 better, better. Why? Because I want my life to sh out

4 out to the unbeliever, "God is good." Not just som e

5 of the time, but all the time.

6 Lift your hands toward heaven.

7 Father, we reject religion. Any voice in our

8 history that has sought to confine you, to diminish

9 you, to restrain you, we repent of that. And by

10 faith, we declare that we are loved with the same l ove

11 with what you loved Jesus Christ. And by that love ,

12 we receive of your amazing grace. And we say that you

13 have unrestrained access to our life to make every

14 area better, better, better. Do what you want to d o.

15 Don't be limited by our small thinking. Stretch

16 forth. As you said in Isaiah, stretch forth your

17 tent. Expand your boundaries. Do you know why he

18 said build an addition to your house? Because you' re

19 going to need it. Because you can't fit everything he

20 wants to give you in that little po dunk closet you

21 have. So he says build an addition, and let me fil l

22 it.

23 Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.

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