God’s Love: Not Who You Thought He Was
From: Does Your Faith Stink?
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Derrel Strickland
This week, Pastor Strickland shared a powerful message about how our understanding of God can evolve. Starting with a story about a woman who transitioned from atheism to belief, he explained how she discovered that God is different from what she initially thought. Many people see God as strict and harsh, but Pastor Strickland emphasized that God is loving, kind, and patient. Drawing from John 14 and Romans 2, he illustrated that Jesus came for those who need healing, rather than rebuke. The core message is that our faith should be a pleasing aroma to God and attract others to Christ, rather than reek of judgment and fear. Let's be living letters that share God's love and kindness with others.
Additional Info
The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.
The Transformative Power of Faith
Faith can often take individuals on a transformative journey, shifting them from doubt to belief. A powerful example of this transformation is represented through a testimony from a woman named Olivia. Originally an atheist, Olivia came to a profound realization about God that transformed her perspective on life and spirituality. This revelation led her to create a poignant song, reflecting her newfound understanding—and a reminder of how misconceptions can lead to a distorted view of the divine.
Misconceptions About God
Often, people carry misinformed ideas about God shaped by various influences—family, culture, or even the church itself. Olivia's lyrics reveal how she learned to fear a God who seemed harsh and punitive, rather than loving and forgiving. This disconnect exemplifies how society sometimes misrepresents God's true nature, leading many away from experiencing His grace and compassion.
The Aroma of Christ
In 2 Corinthians 2:14, it states that Christians are to spread the fragrance of Christ everywhere. This analogy of aroma is significant; it speaks to how faithful living should attract others to the message of salvation. A Christian’s life is meant to exude a pleasing aroma to God and to those seeking faith. Conversely, if a Christian's expression of faith is rooted in judgment and fear, it may repel rather than invite.
Kindness That Leads to Repentance
The essence of God's love is beautifully captured in Romans 2:4, illustrating that God’s kindness is meant to lead us toward repentance. Instead of condemnation, the focus should be on the transformational power of love. Understanding that God's nature is fundamentally kind opens the door for deeper relationships with Him and one another.
Living as Examples of God’s Love
As Christians, it's crucial to become living representations of Jesus' love, emphasizing grace, compassion, and patience. A key part of this is being aware of the message our lives convey. Are we promoting a God who is welcoming and forgiving, or one who only stands ready to judge? The life we lead should reflect the God we serve—one that sees beyond our flaws and embraces us with open arms.
God’s Unconditional Love
The narratives found in the Bible, such as the woman at the well and the story of the Good Samaritan, showcase Jesus’ unconditional love for those society deems unworthy. Through these accounts, it’s highlighted how Christ reached out to the marginalized and broken. Recognizing this helps dismantle the barriers that often prevent individuals from experiencing God's love.
The Challenge for Believers
The closing message implores believers to examine what their faith emits—does it resonate with the sweet fragrance of God's grace or the stench of judgment and self-righteousness? How do we, as the church, reflect the compassion of Christ in our everyday interactions?
Conclusion: Back to God Sunday
The invitation is extended, not just on Sundays but every day, to return to God if one has wandered away from faith. This call to action serves as a reminder that grace is always available, inviting individuals to explore a relationship with a God that is far kinder than their fears or misconceptions. In essence, this journey encourages every believer to present their faith as a source of hope and reconciliation in a world that desperately needs it.
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Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.
Reflect on Change: Have you ever had to change your understanding of God as you grew in your faith? How did this transformation impact your relationship with Him?
Faith’s Aroma: Pastor Strickland mentioned that our faith should be a pleasing aroma to others. What are some ways we can ensure that our faith attracts others rather than pushing them away?
The Loving Father: How does the story of the prodigal son illustrate God's love and patience?
Fear vs. Love: In what ways can a faith rooted in love and understanding be more impactful than a faith rooted in fear?
Living Letters: How can we be better 'living letters' that represent God's love in our communities? Share examples of how you’ve seen this done well.
Addressing Misconceptions: How can we help others who may have misconceptions about God see His true nature as loving and compassionate?
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Historical Context of John 14
John 14 is a profound chapter in the Gospel, situated within Jesus’ farewell discourse. This period in Jesus’ ministry occurs during His final days before the crucifixion, where He is preparing His disciples for the time when He will no longer be physically present with them.
Cultural Context: In the first-century Jewish context, rabbis and teachers would prepare their disciples for leadership and facing the world without them. Jesus’ words would have been understood as an impartation of authority and responsibility to them.
Political Context: The region was under Roman occupation, and there was growing tension between the Jewish people and Roman authorities. Jesus spoke of peace and guidance, which contrasted the political unrest and the expectations for a military messiah.
Religious Context: The Jewish people had grown up with a strict interpretation of the law, where God’s presence was linked significantly to the temple's rituals. Jesus’ assurance that seeing Him is seeing the Father was revolutionary, emphasizing a direct relationship with God.
Theological Context: Jesus’ statement, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," positions Him as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and the mediator between humanity and God. It shifts the focus from ritualistic law adherence to personal faith and relationship with Jesus as the path to God.
Understanding this passage in its historical context illuminates the significance of Jesus’ words and their impact on the early followers in forming the foundational beliefs of Christianity.
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Title: "God's Big Hug"
Hey kids! 👋 Have you ever thought about how much God loves you? Let's talk about it!
Story Time: 📖 Imagine you have a new friend at school named Alex. You heard that Alex is really mean and always yells at people. So, you're scared to talk to Alex. But one day, you have to work together on a project. Guess what? You find out Alex is actually super nice and loves to share snacks! You realize what you heard about Alex wasn't true at all.
Sometimes, we think God is like that too. We might think He's always angry or waiting to punish us when we make mistakes. But that's not true!
The Bible Truth: 🙏 In the Bible, Jesus tells us that God is like a loving father. He's not waiting to catch us being bad. Instead, He's always ready to give us a big hug, just like your mom or dad!
Here are some cool things about God's love:
He's our shepherd who takes care of us 🐑
He helps us when we're hurt, like a good doctor 👨⚕️
He's happy when we come back to Him, like in the story of the lost son 🏠
He forgives us, even when we've done something really wrong ❤️
Think About It: 🤔
How does it make you feel to know God loves you this much?
Can you think of a time when you felt God's love?
Prayer: 🙏 Dear God, thank you for loving us so much. Help us remember that you're always there for us, ready to give us a big hug. We love you! Amen.
Activity: 🖍️ Draw a picture of God giving you a big hug. You can hang it up to remember how much He loves you!
Remember, kids: God loves you more than you can imagine, and He's always ready for a big hug!
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Several weeks ago, I was listening to the radio, and it was on the gospel station, and my gospel station, they took it off the air. So I've been listening to some more different type of gospel, still gospel music, but I was listening. And a young lady, I said, young lady? I did not know who she was, but she was sharing about a song that they were getting ready to play. And what got my attention is this lady shared a brief testimony.
She stated that she had been an atheist. Been an atheist. Now, I know what an atheist is, but I've never met many people that said, I'm an atheist. I've met a lot of people that's not believers, a lot of people that are other things. But she said she was an atheist until God revealed some truth to her.
And that intrigued me. I want to say, well, what truth would cause an atheist to become a believer? And that was before I heard the song. The song played, and I said, man, that's an awesome, awesome message. I've got to get the words of that song.
But I was driving, and I couldn't write it down. Now, I learned a long time ago that the shortest pencil is better than the longest memory.
But I didn't write it down, but I thought that I would remember her name. I thought I could find the song, but I couldn't. You know, there's a lot of songs out there, and there are a lot of olivias out there, but I couldn't find it. So I heard it again. It ministered to me again.
But guess what? I was driving, and I couldn't get it. Finally, on the third time, I was able to remember the young lady's name. Her name was Olivia, but I thought her name was Lane, because I remembered it being short. Any of you remember you relate things?
It's short. I can remember it wasn't Olivia Lane. It was Olivia page. That was close. Same number of letters.
But the song was who I thought you were. Now, a great song, and I'm gonna share just a few words with it because it says, they taught me that you love me. Then they told me to toe the line. They said I should be scared of doing things that I know that you don't like saying sorry every day. Cause I was so afraid that you'd leave me.
So I left you chasing dreams I never found. But through these tears on my knees, I'm begging you to come around. Then the God I learned to fear, you showed up and made it clear. And this is the course. You were there in the darkness.
You were there in my pain. You saw me in the valley, but you love me anyway. It's so nice to finally meet you. Why was I so afraid? I have so much to learn.
But thank God you are not the God who I thought you were. I always thought that you'd be so angry. Instead, you're patient and you're kind. You're for me, not against me. For way too long I believed a lie, that there was only so much grace.
But I can finally say. You were there in the darkness. You were there in my pain. You saw me in the valley, but you love me anyway. It's so nice to finally meet you.
Why was I so afraid? I have so much to left to learn. But thank God you are not the God who I thought you were.
You're not the God I thought you were. That resonated with me. Where did she get her thoughts? Where did you get thinking that our God was a God that was ready to zapper? Now, maybe you never thought about that, but I've said in services where that was the idea that they portrayed that as soon as you step out of line, Betty, you're dead.
The first time you make a mistake, the first time you fail.
So where did she get it? Did she learn it from her family? I have no idea. Did she learn it at church? I don't know.
It really doesn't matter where she got it, but she had it. How many knows that when people get bad theology, it really doesn't matter where they got it from, if they got it from cult or if they dreamed it. I've known some people that had a dream and they made it into a theology and it messed them up.
The wrong concept of God. But then when she got saved, she said God was not the God who she thought he was.
Has any of you had to change your theology the more you matured in Christ, huh? Really? Now, I'm going to tell you, I'm from the old school. My pastors, they tried to scare the hell out of you. And I'm not.
And I'm not. I'm not wanting to be vulgar, but brother Brown, that's what, you know, if they get hard enough get hell hot enough, you get right.
But why? Why could you have read the wrong Bible? Now when I say that, I'm not talking about which translation. I know there's some that love the King James the Niv ESV, new living Testament, the message. I'm not talking about that translation of the Bible, but I'm talking about did they read the wrong Christianity?
Because the Bible says, you and I are living letters, living epistles. And I have found a lot of christians that feel like they're called to correct everybody, to straighten everybody out, to tell them how wrong I was years ago, just early in the ministry, but I had my appendix taken out and I was in the hospital and a guy came into my room. His Bible is a lot bigger than mine.
And the whole reason he came there is he wanted to convince me that baptism of the Holy Spirit was not for today.
Now, he was sincere, but I told him there was no use him wasting his time because I was going to read the Bible. But how many knows that you're a Bible? I said, you're a Bible. If you're Christian, you're a Bible. We're supposed to be living letters to be read by man and we're supposed to point people to Jesus.
Now if we take Jesus as an example, how many think he's a pretty good example, huh? He's a pretty good example. If we take Jesus an example, we will know that his rebukes were almost always, if not always, to the religious. The ones that were good, the ones that had phylacteries tied around their robes, because they knew so much scripture, they had all the answers. And those, the ones that Jesus rebuked, matter of fact, he said it wasn't the well that he came for, that the doctors are there for those that need healing.
He did not rebuke the sinful. I said he did not rebuke the sinful. Why? Because they knew that they needed a doctor. And he was the great physician.
He was the one that came to this earth to reveal the way of salvation, the way of repentance.
That's where she came. Matter of fact, if you go with me to John, chapter 14, John, chapter 14, verse five, says this, Thomas said to him, lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.
If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. And Philip said to him. Philip had traveled with him three, three and a half years. Lord, show us the father and it is enough for us.
Show us God and that's enough. And Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip. And I'm sure if we had time for the rest of conversation, Philip could say, yeah, I've been with you three years. I know who you are. You're Jesus, the son of God.
He said, whoever has seen me has seen the father. Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the father and the father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Said, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. Now, the Old Testament is all about sacrifices. And over 40 times, 40 plus times in the Old Testament, when it refers to sacrifices, it says they give off an aroma. They give off aroma. When Gaylor and I and we got down to the conference we went to Thursday night, we got out of the car and there was an aroma.
And the aroma was grilled steak. Now, for you vegetarians, I feel sorry for you, but I tell you what a good smell of. A grilled steak is, a great aroma. It wakens something up in me, my hunger. I like it.
And as soon as we got out of the car, when you open the door, stay. Amen. Amen. The aroma was so nice, so over 40 times in the Old Testament, when it talks about sacrifices, it says that there was an aroma. 13 times of those, it says that it was a pleasing aroma.
Now, the word aroma is only used once in the New Testament. And it's the aroma of what? A living sacrifice. See, God doesn't need a burnt steak, he needs a living sacrifice. And in two Corinthians, chapter two, verse 14, it says this.
Second Corinthians, chapter two, verse 14. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession. Now, I don't know. We could spend a lot of time on a lot of these verses I'm going to be sharing with you. But when I think of triumphal procession, I think of a parade.
I think of a parade. And I like what Tommy Barnett says. If they're running you out of town, get out front and pretend it's a parade. A triumphal. A triumphal procession.
And through us, through the chuRch, spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God. Among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, we, the church is the aroma of Christ. Now, I know that sometimes we forget this, and I know the word of God is written to everybody. But in reality, the Old Testament was written initially for who?
The Jews. That was all that. Read it. Start with. It was written to the Jews.
And the New Testament is written for the Jews and the completed Jews, which means the Christians. A lot of times when we read the word of God, we need to remember that it's written to christians.
It says, written to Christians. And he's telling the Christians, we are the aroma of Christ to God. Among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. What's that mean? That means those that are coming to Christ and those that are rejecting Christ.
That you and I are the aroma.
So possibly that young lady, had she been reading her own Bible? Had she been looking at people that were more judgmental than they were loving, more condemning than they were giving peace? Now let me ask you a question.
Does your faith stink? That's good. Does your faith stink? Now you say, wait a minute, pastor. Does your faith think, or is it a pleasing aroma?
It's one of the two. Because the Bible says. The Bible tells me that faith without works is dead. You leave anything dead long enough and guess what's going to happen? It's going to stink to high heaven.
So does your faith cause people to want to come to Christ or push people away from Christ? Now we know that God judges and we need to share the whole truth. We cannot pick and choose what's in the Bible and what's not. We tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth. So help me God.
But think about it. If we only call someone to doing things out of fear of God, they may walk in the fear of God but still be lost. And they're fearful. And it causes someone like this atheist to say that you were not who I thought you were. Because the picture I have of Jesus was not one of love, not one of compassion, not one of peace, but of rebellion, of anger, frustration.
So does your faith stink? Does your faith cause people to want to seek Christ or to run from him? Believe? Those are good questions. Now, Romans, chapter two.
Says this. Verse three. Chapter two. Do you suppose, o man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself? Now again, who was this written to?
Written to the Christians because the non Christians were not reading it. It was written to the Christians. So you who judge those who practice such things and yet do do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? I like that.
God's kindness, God's love, God's condition. He said he came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to give medicine to the hurting. He came to minister to those that are wounded. He comes to do that.
And he said, knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, but because of your hard and impenitent heart, you're storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. So how can we make sure that our faith does not stink? Hebrews gives a couple, couple suggestions. Hebrews chapter six, verse nine, says this. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation.
For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints as you still do. And we desire each of you to show the same earnestness to how the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promise. Now, I know some of you are getting tired of hearing me say this, but I get so frustrated with christians that are just as confused, just as angry, and just as mad at the world as the ungodly friends. Jesus Christ is not the author of Confusion. He's not the author of Confusion.
He's a loving God, a caring God. Now, is he a just God? Yes. Will he judge people? Yes.
But we need to understand that our God, his purpose was not come to send people to hell. His purpose was to come to seek and to save that which is lost and to get them saved. Amen. We need to understand that. And it says, we need to remember that, that God loves us.
Now, over in chapter 13, just one verse, and that's verse 16, where it says this, do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Remember what Jesus said. If you've seen me, you've seen the father. Now I'm speaking with a lot of people that deal with drug addictions and other issues. Almost everyone I've ever spoke to will tell me that many and most drug addictions people have a problem before they become drug addicts because they begin to cover up what's in their life. They're covering up something else.
In other words, the root problem is not the drug. The root problem is what drives. And one of the biggest problems in our society is the absence of godly fathers.
Many people do not understand the concept of a loving father. Now, for those of us that grew up in a good home and had a dad that loved us, we need to counter blessings. Because the Bible tells us that our God is a loving father. And he is more loving than the most loving of any of our earthly fathers. But he loved us.
That's the concept of a loving father. What the world knows about fatherhood is really not that good because they have the wrong concept. Father. Just like this lady said. He's not who I thought he was.
What do you mean? See, she had grown up with the idea that God was not a loving God, that God was waiting for her to step out of line.
She didn't realize that he was there in the darkness. Come on. Come on. Didn't realize that he was there in her pain. Didn't realize he was there in the valley.
I've got a lot to learn and I've been serving the Lord a long time. But I can tell you I've still got a lot to learn. I've still got a lot to learn. But I've learned that my God is a loving God. He's a gracious goddess.
Do you notice that one line of her song that says that there's only so much grace to go around? I'm going to tell you something. If there was only a little dime of grace, Gator and I used it all, huh? But guess what? He's got enough to even get Bill Hartman saved.
Amen. He's got grace. He's got grace.
Thank God. Now, real quickly, I want to mention five things. Now, if I only spend 30 minutes on each thing, another hour and a half, 2 hours would be. No, I'm going to mention them. And I could spend a message on each one of them, but I want to mention five things that reveal the love of the father that reveals the love of the father that we need to remind ourself.
And if you did not, were not here Wednesday night, if you didn't get to listen to it online, I want to tell you it ministered to me. And I can almost guarantee, if you haven't listened to that I preached. Guess what I preached on who's afraid of the big bad wolf? You've probably never heard it but I can tell you what, we don't need to be afraid of Satan. We don't need to be afraid of him, because we got a shepherd.
We got a shepherd that's bigger than the biggest wolf. Remember David? He was bigger than the biggest Goliath. He was a shepherd. It tells us in Genesis, chapter 48, when Jacob was giving out his blessings, the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked.
Now, did Abraham and Isaac both walk in perfection? No. The God Jacob goes on to say, and his name was changed to Israel, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long. To this day, he was getting ready to die. So I want to tell you something.
He realized that he did not become his shepherd when he was coming back home.
He was already a shepherd when he deceived his brother.
The life you've lived, the shepherd knows about. Yes, he does. And you know what? He loves you anyway. He loves you anyway.
He loves you anyway.
He loved Jacob through his poverty, you say poverty. Was he ever poor? Yet when he left home, he left with nothing.
He left with nothing. He loved him. He was his shepherd through his poverty. He was shepherd through his deception. He was his shepherd through his restoration.
And David understood it. We said, the Lord is my shepherd. He said, he's my refuge, very present help in time of trouble. In the words of Paul, he said, if God be for me, who can be against me? So God's a refuge.
He's our shepherd. But what about the woman at the well tells that story in John four, chapter four. Many of you know this. One of my favorite, favorite stories, because it tells about a woman that had a past.
She'd been married five times. Now, if you've been married more than five times, I'm praying for you.
And I. And I don't mean that to be funny, but the reality is this woman had some issues. She had some hurts.
Some of you have some hurts. But hopefully you've not been married five times. And hopefully you're not living with somebody that you're not married to. Hopefully you're not an outcast, you say, what do you mean, an outcast? Why was she coming at noon when everybody else came at daylight?
Cause nobody else come. She had to go when there was not a crowd because she was an outcast. She was a reject. She was a samaritan. And you know what the Jews call Samaritans?
Dogs. They were hated.
But this woman came to Jesus.
Not once did he condemn her. Not once did he tell her, you need to get your life in order. Chances are. She knew that.
Could I encourage you that it may be easier for somebody to read your life of love than to read your book of law?
Because you can tell them how bad they are.
Some of you notice I've changed my hair, and some of you, why didn't you do that? I said, well, my wife liked it. I only see it once a day.
She sees it all day long.
But I can tell you that most of the time, when we look in that mirror in the morning, we know what we are.
We know what we look like. That's the reason I always do it right after a shower, when it's faded. Can't see very well, but they know it. The woman at the well. But then what about the story that Jesus talks about the good Samaritan?
Now, I believe he was talking about himself being the good Samaritan, because he's the only one that can love that one that's beaten, battered and bloodied and left for dead.
Some of you feel like that this morning. You've been beaten up, battered, bloodied. Said Jesus, don't want me.
The religious didn't want him. I said, the religious didn't want him. They went on the other side.
The priest didn't want him. They went on the other side. But a samaritan, an outcast himself. And again, I think jesus was talking about himself. He came by and he saw someone that was beaten, battered and bloodied and left for dead.
And not only did he minister to him, I said, not only did he minister to him, he made preparations for his future. Let me just read a couple of verses. Chapter ten of Luke, verse 33, 32. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place, saw him passed on the other side. Levite was a priest, but a samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was.
And when he saw him, he had gone. Compassion.
Right before jesus died, just a few days before he died, he stood outside Jerusalem and looked out over Jerusalem. He said, oh, jerusalem, o Jerusalem. How often would I have gathered you like a chicken gathers her brood? Now, I can relate to that. I've seen it happen.
You got a bunch of chickens, and a chicken has got some biddies, and something come in and danger them. All she does is cluck, and they run to her, protecting them. And Jesus said he was moved with compassion. That's what happened. This good Samaritan, he was moved with compassion.
And he went to him, bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn. And took care of him. And the next day he took out two Dinara and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, take care of him. And whatever more you spend, I will repay you.
When I come back. When we get saved, guess what? God gives us a blank check. He said, I'll take care of it. I'll cover it.
You just live for me and I'll cover the expenses.
What about the prodigal son? Now, most of you, if you've been here a while, you've heard me talk about the prodigal son, because I believe that's a two fold lesson. See, there was two boys in that family, and both of them needed ministry. One of them was the older brother. That I say was the church folks.
Because if you read that story, you find out that when he was telling this story, all these religious leaders were right there. And all these religious leaders didn't give a rip about the prodigal son. The older brother didn't care.
Because seed, I believe Jesus would have loved to, told it differently. The younger brother left and the older brother went to dad and said, dad, let me go get him. He's my brother, let me go get him.
But he didn't care. Just like a lot of people don't care who's within the distance and staying under the church's steeple.
So he was rebuking the older brother and reminding all of us that the younger brother didn't deserve anything else. He had already taken his inheritance.
He spent it all. Now, remember, this was a bunch of Jews. I've been to Israel one time, and one thing I didn't learn that. I said, the next time I go to Israel, I'm going to take some bacon because they don't have any over there.
He used this story. He said this jewish boy that had been wealthy was tending and slopping hogs.
And I can just tell you this from my experience, slopping hogs. And, yes, I've slopped hogs. You didn't go. You didn't get dressed and then go, slop the hogs and then go to school. You slopped the hogs before you went to school.
The best this son could have done, because he spent all of his money, he couldn't go buy another pair of overalls. The best he could have done was go by a creek, or if you're from up north of creek and washed off as much as he could of the pig's mail. But I'm going to tell you what, he didn't get it all, but did that slow down the father, he ran and fell on him and kissed him and said, bring a robe. Kill the fatted calf, because my son that was lost has been found.
One more. What about the two guys that Jesus hung up on the cross with?
Now, I'm not sure what this does to your theology, but the best that I could understand that this thief said, we deserve it. Now, we call him a thief, but I can tell you, in all likelihood, he was worse than a thief. You say, why was that? Because they didn't just crucify anybody. It had to be a major crying.
And he said, we deserve it. This man has done nothing. He doesn't deserve it.
And this man turned to Jesus and says, remember me. Remember me.
And Jesus said, okay, I'm going to remember you, but make sure before you die, go get baptized.
Now, I believe in water baptism. We're going to have one coming up pretty soon. I believe in water baptism.
But he was just like the prodigal son. He was guilty.
But Jesus didn't say, when you get baptized, when you journey on first assembly of God at Jerusalem, he said, today you'll be with me in paradise. Today you'll be with me in paradise.
Did you catch what the young lady wrote in that song?
I thought you were way too holy to want the broken way, too proud to love the meek.
But he said, now I know that what I fear is not having the shepherd with me, not having the good Samaritan with me, not having the good heavenly Father with me, not having a loving, compassionate Jesus with me.
So let me ask you again, what does your faith smell like? Is a sweet smelling aroma rising from the living sacrifice or the stench of a heartless, self centered person striving to be righteous, working to earn your way to heaven.
That's not going to do anything but turn people off. Today is back to church Sunday. For those of you that came today through invitation, thank you for joining us. But every day is back to church Sunday. Every day is back to church.
God, back to God day, because God is still moved with compassion.
And so the two fold message that we have this morning is, if you're not a Christian, I hope that your theology is not so warped to think that you're not good enough to come to Jesus, that your theology is not so wrong that you think that God's going to run out of grace, to think that he could not love you.
He loves you with an everlasting love. And today is the day of salvation. And then for those of you that are christians, the challenge is what kind of. Roma, what kind of message? If you're the only Bible that somebody's going to read, I said, if you were the only Bible that someone's going to read, what would be the message?
What would be the message that you're getting ready to be zapped? What would your message be? Now, please take this the way I'm meaning it. If some of us would get half as concerned about leading people into the kingdom as we are to leading them into the voting booth, we can see much done for the glory of God. Amen.
Arguing with people, not going to get it done. How do you do it? What did Jesus use? He loved them, had patience with them. Oh, man, I know.
I didn't want to say that, but we got to have patience, got love on people and show them that Jesus loves them. This I know. For the Bible tells me so. Bow your heads in prayer. Holy Father, we love you.
Thank you for your goodness, your mercy, and your grace.
God, if there's anyone here today that does not know Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior God, I ask you to speak to them and let them know that they're not beyond your reach, they're not beyond your love, they're not beyond your compassion. So, Father, we just ask you if there are any that are here today that do not know Jesus. God, today is back to church Sunday, but it could be just as easily say back to God Sunday because there may be somebody that just needs to come back to God, come back to you. So I pray that they would do that even right now as we close this service. And Father, for christians, I ask you to help us to raise a pleasing aroma to you.
Because if it's a pleasing Roma to you, it will attract people to you. So, Father, we ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our savior.
