God’s Valentine - Part A

No subject has had more songs written about it than love love songs.

Why is that it simply because all of us. We all crave love.

We want love more than we want. Anything else almost too good for Skip weekend division. One of the things Charlie Brown you perpetual hard knocks asks when he visits Lucy psychiatry booth in the TV special by Charlie Brown's Valentine is can you cure will only cure. Deep down, black bottom of the well noble end of the world. What's the use. Loneliness for lonely Charlie Brown never has the courage to go up and talk to that little redhaired girl.

I'm sure a lot of us have felt lonely at times, but today and connect with Skip weekend division Skip Heitzig reveals there is indeed a cure for loneliness will find out what that is your adjustable first. Just a reminder that you find plenty of other teachings from Skip when you visit our website and connectwithskip.com today were in John chapter 3 securing there in your vitals. Let's join Skip Heitzig as he begins by giving some background of the years most romantic holiday I wonder how many of you realize that Valentine's Day has Christian roots that it was actually named after a martyr, one of two martyrs in the early church who would not abandon their love for Jesus Christ. It's either named after Valentine of Rome Valentinian's Romanus who was martyred on February 14 this day in the year 269 A.D. or another one.

By the same name Valentine was the Bishop of Turney, who was martyred by the Emperor are really in. We don't know exactly which one but it goes that far back, but over time the secular culture has reformed this day to make it a celebration of purely romantic love and included on the day has been the adding of cupids that comes from Rome. Cupid is the son of Venus, the mother or the goddess of love the idea of a red rose since the rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the goddess of love roses are given but the original concept comes from the love of God, or more directly the love of people for their loving God. Now that there was a group of professionals who decided to ask kids ages 4 to 8 with the definition of love is what is love mean as you can guess there was some pretty cute answers and even a couple of profound ones. One child said when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on saving cologne and they go out and smell each other. That's love. You can picture that love is when you kiss all the time set another.

Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more mommy and daddy are like that and they look gross when they kiss another one writes love is when you tell a guy that you like a shirt and then he wears it every day to talk about smelling each other love is what's on Valentine's Day cards. It's the stuff we like to say, but no one would be caught dead saying here's the best when my grandma got arthritis. She couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore so my grandpa doesn't for her, even when his hands got arthritis to yeah that's love. She writes, and that's right. That is right.

No subject has been so universally treated as the subject of love, no subject has had more songs written about it than love love songs.

Why is that it simply because all of us. We all crave love. We want love more than we want. Anything else and we would do almost anything to get it today I want to talk to you about the highest expression of love found in the most famous verse in the Bible John 316.

This verse is been called the Bible in a nutshell, Martin Luther called it the Bible in miniature, noting that all of the great central doctrines of Christian truth are embodied in this single verse.

I'm calling it God's Valentine because it just happens that it's Valentine's Day bit in first John 316 is the most famous verse in all of the world, everybody knows it.

One of the reasons it is become popularized over time, the Gideons foundation. That wonderful group that puts Bibles in hotel rooms across the world.

Has John 316 translated in 27 different languages at the front of each of their Bibles. If you go to the burger chain in an in and out Burger next time look in the inside rim at the bottom of all of the paper cups and you see it written John 316. The clothing manufacturer forever 21 at the bottom of all their bags. John 316 but a lot of us will remember that there was one person that made the verse extremely famous back in the 70s and 80s. His name is Roland Stewart also known as the rainbow man. He was the guy that showed up in all of the sporting events wearing the rainbow colored wig and holding up the sign. John 316 and always positioned himself so that the cameras would pick it up member. That guy he had the place is wired at the NFL. He was always positioned in the audience between the goalposts. So when the pigskin was flying over and the camera panned and up and up and down and down, they'd nail John 316 in their lands and all the baseball games he made it behind home plate for the same reason.

The cameras always there. People would see John 316, at one of the Masters tournaments. One year he held John 316, just over the right shoulder of Jack Nicholas as he was teeing off everybody saw a lot of people were also teed off because of it.

This verse tells us about God's plan of saving people. Let's read it together and then we'll just consider it unpacking a phrase by phrase for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life noticed the first two words tells us the origin of this plan for God. Notice the verse does not begin for man was so looking for a way to improve himself, that God sent his son didn't start with us and God and leave it up to us.

He took the initiative.

First John 419. One of the other famous verses. He loved us, or we love him because he first loved us. Ours is a response to him taking the initiative go all the way back to the garden in your mind.

When Adam Blewitt what we find Adam doing as soon as he sends he runs he hides God comes into the garden and says Adam where are you, not because God didn't know where he was to accentuate for Adam the fact that he was lost in running the other direction. God was the one searching for Adam Malcolm Muggeridge used to refer to God as the hound of Heaven that's with the term originated. There is no other hope unless God searches for us every now and then somebody say well I'm still searching for God.

News flash is not lost. He's been looking for you a long time. Isaiah put it this way, all we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone his own way and then Paul in the New Testament puts it this way, for we are dad in trespasses and sins. Last time I checked, dead people don't improve their own condition. Dead people don't buy self-help books and how to be less dead as the days go on. If you're dead you're helpless and it requires the origin of the plan not starting with the dead person but somebody on the outside that's God for God. The next two words look at those shows us the motivation of the plan for God so love please again notice it does not say, for God was so angry at this world, that he sent his son down here to punch everybody out. Some people have that picture of God in their minds. For God so loved the world why because love is the essence of his nature John in another book puts it this way, God is love is the very essence of who he is is so simple to say that any yet it is so hard to grasp that some of you have sung all of your lives in church songs about the love of God and here you are sitting today as adults still doubting that God loves you Dwight Lyman Moody the preacher from Chicago. You've heard of DL Moody was so intrigued with this concept that he embarked on a study by going through his concordance and looking up every reference in the Bible on the love of God and what he was all done, he simply said there is no truth in the whole Bible that ought to affect us is the love of God, it affected the author of this book. John John wrote in first John chapter 3 behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God may be a better way to put that is what kind of love is this God would do that. And here's the reason the God's love is so hard to grasp case. Pretty simple actually.

Here's why it's so hard because it's so different from what we do as humans human love is object oriented. That is a human being sees an object, and says I like that object. It's beautiful. It's attractive, or person she is or he's attractive to me. That's how it all begins its object-oriented God's love is wholly different than that God's love is subject oriented God's love is based on his character, his nature, he is love. So it's indiscriminate on the what it means is, God doesn't love you because you earn his love, or because you deserve his love.

God just loves you because because God is love and thus it's a staple consistent kind of love God doesn't have favorites and let Billy Graham more than he loves you.

Billy Graham starts praying here. Praying God in six Billy sprinkled on this is Billy Graham.

No favorites is a woman talking to a psychiatrist and as they were talking the psychiatrist thought each spring the question on reset so which of your kids. She had three children, which of them the 11 most men. She answered predictably. I don't love anyone. Most of them all the same. Will he pressed her little bit on that Samantha. It's psychologically impossible to regard three human beings is completely equal then she started crying.

She said you're right. When this one is sick. I love him the most.

When she's in pain. I love her the most. When I was in trouble. I love that one the most.

But besides those exceptions, I love Mollison God has the ability by his very nature to love us all the same. Speaking of that, notice the next two words as we unpack it. Here's the destination of the plan. The world for God so loved the world a part of the world. If you wonder try this if some comes out your part of the world. If you breathe your part of this world and here's love at its widest is not God loves. One group God so loved the Americans God to love people in the Western world. God so loves the middle class are somewhat like a safe God only love the elect, then say that and that drives some people nuts at it and say that and I love it when it drives him nuts. God so loved the world who were these words spoken to. Originally Nicodemus. Nicodemus was one of those Jewish elders who believe God love the Jews, the good Jewish sons and daughters of Abraham.

They were the elect. They were the special chosen ones. Jesus blew that out of the water, saying, for God so loved the world.

Later he will tell his disciples go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Not just to the Western culture to everyone and it's a simple reason for that. We all have a disease we in the world everyone in the world.

Every person who is been born in the world has a disease that has a single universal cure. It's like heart disease, if a person has heart disease whose an American. It's the same cure for an American is an Argentinian is an African is an Australian universal work anywhere that matter, the culture, the language, the soil. If a person is lung disease same cure is universal Hansens disease. Same thing. We are all SI and positive. Every human being every person a part of this world is infected with the disease and there is a single universal cure and that is blood. The blood of God's flawless perfect son. Now I wonder what we would think of the verse read something like this for God so loved all of the good people of the world that he gave his son, most of us would say okay I can hang with that I can actually I understand that a whole lot better. But if it did say that we would all immediately be eliminated when we because were not always on our best behavior. Some days were good some days not so much. And so what were going up it's going to be very unstable or if God said well you know I love you, today you not so much because I know you been thinking this week so here we have this broad brush statement for God really loved the world the widest possible embrace his love is in precarious. His love is not Moody. It is not selective.

It includes everyone but you know that some people don't experience it. You know that some Christian people don't experience it, you can press a Christian and no failure. God loves me but to be around them.

You'd never know it is never know that they really believe it. It's like the sun. The sun is shining, but you can walk outside with an umbrella over your head.

You wouldn't enjoy the warmth it's still shining she's not affecting you notice the next little phrase in arbors is the demonstration of his plan that he gave his only begotten son. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He gave his son.

Imagine that moms imagine that father's he gave his son in a sometimes I think that I love people and pretty good at it. Sometimes I think I love I love pretty deeply till I think of this that I think differently. I wouldn't give my son for any of those people and neither would you. God gave his son for everyone gave his son for everyone. Why did he give his son gave his son because love to be love can be passive.

It has to be active. You can just get by going I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you and what you gotta do something with that you got it demonstrated somehow and marriages will deteriorate right at this juncture. Here is where the chasm is stop giving stop giving time to stop giving energy, they stop giving care and it disintegrates into a formal legal cohabitation, domestic partnership, not what it used to be God so loved that he gave his son active love when God gave God gave his best. It says in Greek Monaghan, a only begotten, or the unique one-of-a-kind son of God was given to get the very best. I read an article some years back of astronaut last week I talked about a cosmonaut. Now I'm telling about an astronaut disaster. I was an American who was one of the first one to walk on the moon and so the magazine interviewed him and said okay. When you were walking on the moon and you are looking back at the earth. What thoughts into your mind – and I said well it's crazy but when I was on the lunar surface. I'm looking at the earth, and there's my spacecraft thought that kept coming to my mind is that my spacecraft was built by the lowest bidder that it be a bit unsettling.

Wouldn't travel all of that distance and something that went out to the lowest bidder. When God needed to fix the world.

He didn't give it out to the lowest bidder. He paid the highest possible price. He gave his one and only unique son and here's the invitation.

The next two words that whoever whoever who is salvation offered to whoever sounds I got isn't too picky to the Samaritan woman.

Jesus will say whoever drinks of the water that I give will never thirst.

Revelation 21 same thought the Spirit and the bride say, come let him who hears say, whoever is thirsty, let them come and whoever wishes, let them take the free gift of the water of life. Who can get into heaven. Whoever who can live forever. Whoever we are on earth and on earth. We have exclusive places that not everybody can get into yet to be a member to have credentials to be stopped by the guard jumped on property in the club make so much money or whatever.

Think of it, it's harder to get into a Christian university than it is in the have the answer to our loneliness and the answer to your desire for love discovered when we recognize that God gave us too soon on our behalf was the greatest valentine ever shared one so many Michelle. If you discover the great gift of love from God.

Make sure you share it with as many people as you can. That's all the time we have for today but before we go. Let's find out more about this much connect with Skip resource offer. The United States got the devastating Civil War to overcome a deeply defining issue of the risen Jesus and people who represent his life. We can help one another deal with this topic today Skip hi thinking Tony Clark speak to white evangelical pastors about how churches we can create spaces for black and brown voices to be heard in a loving atmosphere for atmosphere find this moment because he racism is a sin I now thought God began to die down and to have a mindset and also having sympathy and empathy for those who are trying to live out this Christianity and their skin may be a little bit darker than yours cultivate the entity that comes from gaining a difficult perspective on racism copy of this conversation between Pastor Skip and Tony when you get $20 or more today will thank you Pastor.

Skip spoke with the church and racism copy hundred 19 to 1888.

Get online securely connectwithskip.com/offer and for a copy of today's teaching just a buyer website connectwithskip.com you can pick up a copy there for just four dollars plus shipping or rest for one when you call us at 1-800-922-1880 will continue to examine the wonderful gift of God's valentine. Next time so I hope you'll be able to join right here in connect with Skip weekend edition presentation of connection