For God So Loved You

miss our kids to little district and for the rest of you Kelsey mentioned it if you got your Bibles go ahead and grab them open up to the Book of John we're going to be in John chapter 3 looking at one verse verse 16 and so I was out last week and so we did not get to officially kick off Advent season last Sunday um it was was it was rough um but I'm grateful for um other friends and pastors who can step in uh literally with like a three-hour hey can you do this I'm not going to be able to make it and so

uh thank you to Chris I know he's not here today but thank you to Chris for filling in last week um but for us happy late Thanksgiving for those of you hope you had a good time at Thanksgiving um but that ushers us into our Advent season and Advent is just a fancy word that derives from a Latin language from the word Adventist which means coming or arrival and so it was early on if you don't know a lot about how Advent got started or began early church history the way that they wanted to remember and commemorate the arrival of Jesus the Incarnation of God

the birth of Jesus Christ was in a season of Advent they love Seasons they love holidays they love celebrating big events and so Advent was what they called this season in which they would honor Jesus and the arrival of Christ coming as a baby and a manger and so what they would do is they would take the four Sundays leading up to the day in which they observed Jesus Christmas day um they would take the four previous Sundays and have them focus on this coming or this arrival of Christ and a lot of times the themes would be around really four different topics hope peace

joy and love and so to be completely unoriginal that's exactly what we're going to do all right so we're going to look at Hope For Your Life peace in your relationships joy in your calling and love for the world and so I didn't get the chance to preach last week hope in your life and so I get the challenge today of combining hope in your life and peace in your relationships into one sermon which won't be as difficult um as maybe it sounds but with John 3:16 as our anchor again which says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and

whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life we're going to observe how that verse provides for you hope in your life peace in your relationships joy in your calling and also love for the world and just a show of hands who in here could you use a little bit of Hope in your life maybe a little bit of Peace in relationships maybe a little bit of joy in your calling and maybe a little bit of love for the world we all do we all do so I want you to write this down hopeful people are peaceful people that's my goal for today

hopeful people are peaceful people as I already mentioned we're going to Anchor ourselves to possibly the most popular verse in the world probably the first verse that you ever memorize whether you grew up in church or not uh John 36 while I was sick this week the failing gers they loved on us a little bit they brought us dinner um and uh dinner which I don't think I got to enjoy I don't remember if I ate it or not if it was the soup it was great if it wasn't the soup then I don't know where it came from no you brought the uh spaghetti

yes you brought the spaghetti I won't say think about that it was great it was great um but she did give me a little bit of a a side bag that had like te's in it and these little um bag tea bags that you could Steep and I'm more of a coffee guy just because it's quick and it's fast but this I was like man that does sound really good to have some like peppermint tea and it's got like green tea leaves in it that'll kind of just the aroma starts coming out but the reason why I'm not a tea guy is because it takes

time and so you got to boil the water and then you got got to put the tea bag in it and you got to just wait and wait and just keep waiting and so in that moment after I boiled the water and started putting the the the tea bag in it and just started waiting all of a sudden I was like oh it's changing colors like this shows you how often I like Brew tea I'm not even like realizing what's happening I like it's starting to change color and all of a sudden I start smelling the peppermint I'm like oh that smells so good um

what I want us to do today is is I want us to view this verse not like we do coffee at Starbucks which is we want it fast and we want it our way but I want us to view it like slowing down letting the water boil taking the verse and letting it Steep and letting God eventually begin to change and transform us as those beautiful flavors and Aromas begin to come forth out of it because what we love to do with John 3:16 is for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish

but have everlasting life man amen yes and amen but we just run through it and we might even share it with somebody hey God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life all right do you want to do you want to follow Jesus now they're like I have no idea what you just said if we treat it like a fast food coffee then we might miss it and so I'm hoping that today as we look at John 3:16 and let it steep in our souls and in our minds and in our hearts

that maybe God would transform something in us that is beautiful aroma pleasing to him let us do as King David gives us advice to do in Psalm 348 oh taste and see that the Lord is is good blessed is the man who takes refuge in him Refuge is a place of Hope from Despair and it's a place of peace from conflict so let's look at John 3:16 and how it provides for you and me a refuge this morning and may we go away peaceful and hopeful and so I've got eight maybe nine points in this one little verse that I want us to see today

so number one is Hope and peace is God hope and peace is God now I don't mean that in like an ethereal abstract kind of way like well God is everything you know it's there's been certain people who have hijacked God is love to just mean that if I love whoever I want to love well that is God that's not what we're talking about I don't mean hope and peace is God what I mean by that is that hope and peace Finds Its Beginnings in God hope and peace comes from God all things begin with God why because look at John 3:16 for God if

you don't start there the rest of the verse does not matter if we don't understand that first two words the rest of it is pointless who is God where does he come from What's the essence of the Trinity because we don't believe in just this old man who's sitting on a throne up in heaven who's judging the world but it's distant and not in relationship we believe in a trinitarian God that exists in three persons but one God what is that well the Bible calls God the creator of Heaven and Earth so we know God is Creator the Bible calls God the author of life

and salvation and so we know that everything that has breath gives praise to God because literally like we we joke that we got the days numbered and so forth but really God's given you two minutes to live every single moment of your life you have two minutes to live until you take another breath and then you get another two minutes and then you take another breath and you get another two minutes like like that's how fragile we are God gives us everything all of life comes from him the Bible describes God by his attributes says that he's omnicient which means that God is all knowing

which means there is absolutely nothing that you can hide from God he knows your thoughts he knows your thoughts before you know your thoughts he knows your words before you know your words he knows everything about everyone in all of human history everything he's omniscient he's also omnipotent which means God is all powerful there is nothing God can't do and I know there's always been like debates and a you know atheistic debates and different types of strategies to try to figure out like how can we debunk the fact that God is omnipotent can God create a rock that he cannot move and I would say

sure he can create a rock that he cannot move and then he'll move it because God is all powerful he's all powerful he's omnipotent omnipresent which means god is everywhere at all times in his fullness like no one else can say that God is everywhere at all times in his fullness now if I was to if I were to tell tell you that there is a being who created the universe time space and himself is outside of it and also that that being is all knowing all powerful and all present that'd be the most terrifying being in existence it truly would be like take someone

who doesn't know the Bible and if you tell them that hey everything that like you see someone created that and that person that created everything that we see that we perceive that we taste that we touch all of that that person is also all knowing of everything they're all powerful over everything and they're all present which means everywhere they go there they are how do you feel about that being well if they know everything and if there's anything about them that is uh wanting to hold good and bad in an equation they're going to know my bad thoughts they're going to know my bad Deeds

I don't want to know that being if they are just those things in all honesty it's the kind of being Thanos was attempting to become in the Marvel Avengers Saga the difference is Thanos was not wise with his knowledge good in his power and loving with his presence but that's what the Bible says God is God is all knowing and all wise God is all powerful and good God is omnipresent but also love so there's nothing that God does not do that is not derived from a place position and posture that is inherently wise good and loving nothing so when you see the verse say

for God you need to know who it's talking about because if you if you don't begin with the correct being the rest of it doesn't matter it doesn't matter so much just in those two words for God if the world's understanding of God is this distant cynical judgmental old man on a throne then you lose them within the first two words of John 3:16 if that's their view of who God is then they're not going to listen to anything else so we as a church we have to tell the world what God has done for them but we are also called to tell the world

what God is like what God is like because it's one thing to just have your sins forgiven and be saved from hell but to have that God also bless you and comfort you and lead you and show up for you and love you lavishly that's a whole other thing that's a whole other thing that unfortunately we're not telling the world we're not telling the world and so number one hope and peace find their origins in God because God is Hope and peace number two hope and peace is Limitless Limitless for God God so loved for God so loved I did you see this there's volume

here all right there's volume it's not that God just did us a favor for God liked you for God tolerated you for God was in a good mood and therefore no for God so loved it's with great love with which God moves towards us why because what I already mentioned God is love God is love that doesn't say God is loving as a description of him no it's an identity it's an essence of who he is for love to be a reality in our world there must be three components in order for love to be a reality a lover a beloved and love shared if

you don't have any one of those three it's not true love you need to have a lover a beloved and love shared and when you think about the community excuse me about the community of God and how he exists in a trinity you have the father who is the lover you have the son who is the beloved and you have the Holy Spirit who is love shared where do you think we as a community get our ability to be a lover to be a beloved and to be able to have love shared it all comes down to God and what God is doing in John

3:16 is he is providing a way for the world to join in the love of God that already exists in his identity to know the lover the Beloved and the sharer of love that's what John 3:16 is inviting us into to know maybe sometime we'll do a series on on just love and just focus on how the created Community is supposed to reflect the Creator Community AK the trinity in being a lover towards others a beloved by others and a share of love for all for God so loved the world for God so loved the world so we have hope and peace begins with God

hope and peace has no limit and number three hope and peace is for the world it's for the world now many people view this as a positive phrase God so loved the world The World God so loved the world because it's so valuable it's so worthy that he sent his son I mean that's how fiction novels would write it correct like the hero goes after the Damsel in Distress because he can't imagine a life without her there's so much value and worth there or that's every Hallmark Christmas movie you are streaming right now someone leaves their world in the city to come to a country

small town and end up meeting someone and to lo and behold love brings these opposites together and un fortunately that's not how our fairy tale actually begins it's not as clean when it comes to God so loving the world no John the writer of this book interprets the world several times in a negative light when he's talking about the world he's not talking about something that is good there's only one in in this story so far that he's referencing as good and that's God coming to a world that is bad this is actually the opposite of a Christmas message this is not the nice who

get gifts but the naughty who receive a gift if you even just look in the context of John 3:16 in just a couple of verses down John begins to use this type of language that the world hates hates Jesus hates Jesus now who's going to watch that Hallmark movie The Man helps the woman in need and in return she slits his throat just before the holiday festivities begin well that's how it plays out in God's story so really you could interpret John 3:16 as this for God so loved those who hated him for God so loved those who hated him but this is why there

is hope and peace for the world because Romans 5'8 tells us God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us while we were still sinners Christ died for us so there's nothing in the story where we're like hey we've got the Halls decked we've we got our house ready Jesus come on no instead what it actually more looks like is our Halls are decked our house is ready for whatever we want Jesus go away we don't want you we reject you that's what the world has done when Jesus arrived on the scene but God's goodness and his

Grace and his love hope and peace are for those who hated him number four hope and peace is a gift what's it say for God so loved the world that he gave he gave God Is A Gift Giver nobody is more generous than God nobody nobody is ever going to outgive God the heart of God is a generous God God is good God is love God is generous generous and that's why when we start talking about attributes of God that's where you get the characteristics of disciples that's where you get fruit of the spirit that when we start saying that the fruit of the spirit

is love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness self-control and that's just the ones that Paul list you start looking elsewhere that it's um generous that it's sacrificial that it's humble all of those things aren't things that when God created the church just thought man you know what what kind of people should they be let me just sprinkle in some like new stuff and just say this is the kind of people that I want the church to be I'd like for them to be a little bit more PTI patient and a little bit more kind and so let's just sprinkle that stuff in there and hope

that that works out y'all figure it out like go shop for it pull it off the shelf I'd like some patience today no all of that stuff comes from somewhere and we become where it comes from it is coming from Jesus from God from literally the essence of who God is flows the fruit of the spirit flows all of these characteristics and one of those is that God is generous and so generous isn't something that we have to convince Believers to become it is something that Believers become when they are convinced of who God is because again who are we we call ourselves Christians what

does Christian even mean all it means is just little christs little christs are you like Christ what's Christ like well he's generous he's loving he's humble we become those things because he has become our identity hope and peace is a gift number five hope and peace is the son of God now this one's kind of similar to point one hope and peace is God hope and peace is also the Son of God for God so loved the world that he gave what his son his son we talk about Hope and peace like I need some hope in my life and I need some peace in

my life all we're saying is I need Jesus in my life I need the Son of God I need the gift I need to receive the gift that he gave his only son this is the Incarnation of God that's just a fancy word of saying God came into our world because you got to remember Genesis 1:1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth which meant he was outside of it which meant he existed before it which meant he's bigger than it he's above it below it around it all of it and in creating the heavens and the Earth the way he worked

history is that at someday him being God outside of it he's going to send his son to enter into his creation which is mindboggling when you really think about it that Jesus who is the author of creation who through him all things were created Jesus who created everything becomes a creation within his creation that's what is all about is it not the baby didn't just appear through Mary there was a supernatural event that occurred between the Holy Spirit and her that produced The Man Jesus Christ that we know that we know the Son of God the Incarnation God coming to be with us that's why

we call him Emanuel well which is just another word for saying god with us this is the reason for Advent God so loved the world that God did not send a messenger to tell us to clean up our acts and make ourselves worthy of God like again this is not God back on a throne just sitting there distant saying like man they have just they just continue messing it up over and over and over again who we got Michael Gabriel somebody like just go tell them to figure it out do better and once they get to a point to where I'll allow them back in

my my presence I'll allow them back in relationship if they can ever achieve some type of level of perfection what I just described is every world religion every world religion what I also just described is the American dream doesn't have to be tied to religion how do we make ourselves better so that we get rewarded in the afterlife God did not send a messenger just to tell us to do better he said I got to go myself this is a mission only for God and he sent God the son into our world to tell us there's nothing that you can do to make it better

there's nothing you can do to make it better every single one of you have fallen short of the glory of God every single one of you are sinners doesn't matter if you're Jewish doesn't matter if you're Greek Greek or Gentile doesn't matter if you're white or black doesn't matter if you're rich or poor doesn't matter what you've done in your life good or bad there's not one person in this world who sought God and found Perfection and so Jesus is telling us I'm here to actually live the perfect life that you could not live so not only am I telling you that you messed it

up but I'm telling you that I didn't mess it up on your behalf that's called righteousness we're called unrighteousness because we mess up because we fall short because we miss the mark because we sin that's all Sin is Sin is just a term in archery calling miss the mark they didn't hit the bullseye you missed the Mark we didn't hit the bullseye with our lives it doesn't matter again other world religions we can say well we didn't make it in this one let's do it in the next life we'll make it there let's make it in there let's just let's just keep working our way

and eventually we'll get there Jesus says nope I'm going to tell you this right now there's one life and there is an afterlife and you don't want to bank on making it work in that one because there's not going to be an opportunity in this one you need to realize there's one perfect person Jesus everyone else is not perfect and that's why Jesus came to earn it for us and because we're not perfect and he was perfect he says the only way that you can be in God's presence is you have to be perfect well that's going to be a problem Jesus because you just

said we're not perfect you just said we're all Sinners you just said we all fell short of the glory of God what are we going to do you don't have to do anything you don't have to do anything again that's why I'm here I didn't send a messenger on my behalf to tell you what to do I'm here to show you what I need to do in order to get you into God's presence again I'm going to become your unrighteousness so that you can become my righteousness I'm going to go to the cross and I'm going to die a death that you deserve in your

place as a substitute so that you get to receive everything that I deserve which is an inheritance from the father because I lived a perfect life because I was righteous and in my righteousness I get to receive everything that the father has for me but because I'm going to make you righteous guess what you get to inherit everything that's his everything that's his everything that's his do you need a little hope and peace everything that's Jesus's is yours because of what Christ did for you like I'm going to tell you this right now the number one thing that's going to give people despair is telling

them to clean their lives up figure it out clean your life up do better do better and and maybe God will balance out the scales and in the end and we'll see where you land that's going to put me back in that category of the creator that is all knowing and all powerful and omnipresent that I'm terrified of you want to get some despair know that God's Wrath is coming because of my failures and there's nothing that I can do about it I keep trying and trying and trying and it doesn't work that's why the world is in chaos because it's actually not trusting in

the L Goos the word of God Jesus Christ himself hope and peace is the Son of God number six hope and peace is by faith for God so loved the world that he gave his son so that whoever believes whoever believes in him that is by faith no longer following the ways of the world but following the way of Jesus faith is when we say you're right God you're right the way I've been doing it has not worked out I don't have hope I don't have peace in my life I don't feel like I have security about what the afterlife is going to look like

I honestly just have no idea but believing in your son Jesus and what he's told me will happen all of a sudden now I don't feel like I can mess it up all of a sudden now I feel like I have a bit of Hope because guess what it's not about the good and the bad that I do it's about the good that he did and the bad that he took it's not about what I the Merit or the effort or any of those things it's about his Merit and his effort we are saved by works just not our own we're Saved By The Works

of Jesus and that gives me hope and that gives me peace because I can sleep well at night knowing that by believing in Jesus I can't mess that up I can't mess that up like that's good news that's good news that's good news that we all need to hear and that we all need to preach to ourselves all the time because if we're honest we still want to dive a little bit back into that old self where we're like man I still mess up all the times I still make mistakes I still I'm still trying to do better I I want to be a better

husband I want to be a better father I want to be a better friend I want to be a better Pastor I want to be fill in the blank and if we keep swimming in that Arena we're going to begin robbing ourselves of the hope and peace that's already D out to us that we get to have Limitless but we only get it when it's by faith in Jesus believing in what he's accomplished for us and believing where he's taking us where he's taking us hope and peace is by faith so there's nothing you have to do other than look at Jesus and say thank

you for everything that you already accomplished for me I believe you are the Son of God I believe you did live 2,000 years ago I believe you were birthed through a miraculous birth that people are still trying to figure out today I believe you lived a perfect life I believe you did die on a cross I believe the Romans crucified you because the Jewish people demanded it and I believe that what happened on that cross is a supernatural event from a natural physical thing that went on where they murdered you but in them murdering you I believe God's Wrath also entered the scene and poured

itself out on you so that when God looks at all of the sin that I committed in my past today and in my future God says I'm crushing it in my son and I'm removing it from you and I'm forgiving you and one thing God can do that you can't is he's going to remember it no more he forgets it and that's one thing that he's trying to get us to practice is hey stop remembering who you were before believing in Jesus know who you are now in Jesus and what he's accomplished for you so that you don't Rob yourself of the hope and peace

that is for you today number seven hope and peace is a life preserver it absolutely is Hope and peace is a life preserver for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not what perish is perish um good for life no it sounds the opposite it sounds like it's robbing you of life it sounds like it's taking you to the opposite to death and not just death like Annihilation but death in the form of Eternal punishment forever I don't want that you look at how they treated Jesus At The Cross and then just say all right

I'll I'll take that For Eternity for 400 Alex like no like that's not what we want but that's what we'll get if we don't believe in Jesus we will perish we will perish but hope and peace found in Christ is a life preserver it keeps us from death it keeps us from punishment you will not go to hell for the punishment of hating God you will not go to hell for the punishment of doing evil works against him called sin you will not go to hell for being separated from God because because you believe in his son Jesus and what he's accomplished for you so

they will not perish but number eight hope and peace is a life enhancer is a life enhancer they will have eternal life they will have eternal life this is why Christians I'm going to say should be because again we're working at this sanctification all right Christians should be the most optimistic people that you ever meet right we we should be the most optimistic people that you ever meet the most optimistic person I know in the scriptures is the Apostle Paul because it doesn't matter what happens to him he's happy he's excited he's looking forward it doesn't matter what you do to me I Got Heaven

Heaven's coming all right he he's already practicing second Advent doesn't matter what you do to him instead of hell you get the gift and grace Of Heaven life with God life without pain life without anxiety the fullness of Hope peace joy and love is wrapped up in heaven in heaven but the be beauty of that is the experience of what we get in heaven we get to experience now in the relationship with Jesus what I mean by that is right now all Heaven is is removing all of the collateral damage of sin that we currently experience but the relationship with Jesus just continues like we

have a relationship with Jesus right now which means what I what I mean by that is we get to look at the scriptures and we get to see exactly who Jesus is and what the Bible says he's like which tells us exactly what God is like that's why Jesus is the visible representation of the invisible God you want to know what God's like know Jesus you know what Jesus is like know what the word says about him and so we get this side like If Heaven is just an eternity of diving into the identity and essence of who God is and enjoying it forever the

Bible is your start to that so you don't have to wait to heaven to get to start enjoying the benefits of what we're going to get there we have the scriptures now showing us what it's going to be like when we're there because we get to know who God is we get to know who Jesus is we get to know who the holy spirit is so we get to have this increasing hope peace joy and love in our lives now that points us forward to what heaven's going to be like when we get there it's just In This Moment now we do have to deal

with the collateral damage of sin that's around us all the confin founding variables of life I mean we're joking right now I think in in our community group everyone's car is pretty much dying in a way or people are getting sick everyone's getting sick the church is sick I joked a couple of weeks weeks ago we're going to start putting vitamin C in this but in the managing of all of that we get to say Well it it doesn't matter at the end of the day cuz look what we get look who we have like we have Jesus we have Jesus and Jesus has secured

for us an eternity that makes this life look like a vapor a vapor we're a perfect season for you to walk outside and breathe out and when you see it disappear that's how God describes the longevity of your life on Earth so when we start I mean I've used this analogy before I think it's from blae Pascal this like French mathematician Theologian just a probably a joy of a man to talk to at some point but that was a joke um but he used this illustration of this one was dated way back so it was like horse and carriage but he uses this illustration of

of could you imagine receiving just this massive inheritance massive inheritance and you learn that whatever this distant relative is who's died and has left this massive inheritance to you could you imagine driving to the reading of the will to then receive the inheritance that's going to take care of every last longing and want and need that you have on this side of of heaven but on the way your car breaks down and when it breaks down you get out of it and you have to walk the last mile to get there and all you're doing is complaining about your car like that person's insane right

they're insane you're about to receive everything that you ever need need they could buy any car you want but if we so focus on the confounding variables and the collateral damage of sin what do we rob ourselves of the joy and the hope and the peace and the love that is ours now and we become pessimistic people Christians should be the most optimistic people because like man it's just almost to a point to where we just make a joke out of everything man you want to believe it break went out almost took out like seven houses but God's so good you know what's never going

to go out in heaven breaks I'm looking forward to that day so now yeah I'm going to figure it out I got to get create some money to fix these breaks today but that's all right because there my my God my father who loves me and who going to is going to provide every need that I have owns the cattle on a thousand hills he's going to be able to take care of these breaks he's going to be able to take care of our lives our health our family whatever we need for the days that we are here he's going to provide for you life

enhancer hope and peace it is there's so much in that one verse is there not for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life let me ask you a question what does it mean for you individually what does it mean that God so loved you and how does that provide hope for your life and how does that provide peace in your relationships to answer that question I'm going to paraphrase this get nervous I want to look at the book of philimon took us two and a half years to go through

Luke I'm going to go through the book of f fiman the whole book in about five minutes in fiman verse one Paul says a prisoner for Christ Jesus in Timothy our brother which is just his way of saying that's how he introduces himself it's interesting that again he's referencing the fact that he's a prisoner right now again you can't you you can't affect Paul he's just excited I'm a prisoner you're not going to believe it they literally arrested me multiple times what am I doing singing hymns and getting guys saved who are beating me to fiman our beloved fellow worker and neia our sister and

archbus our fellow Soldier to the church in your house so Paul's writing a letter to phiman who is basically pastoring a church in his house and has some other uh fellow workers soldiers that are with him as well and Paul's wanting to encourage him grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ I I emphasized peace there because I want you to see what Paul does next with philimon which is very important because everything that I talked about so far is good in providing hope for your life but you might be questioning or wondering how does that provide peace in

my relationship ships here's what Paul says to fin LEM and gives them a little bit of encouragement first this is like where you get one of those like sandwich like hey let me encourage you let me correct you let me encourage you on the back end encouragement sandwich all right which if you ever have like that's constructive feedback just so you know um don't always just roll in with like hey I got three criticisms start with some good stuff and then give some correc stuff and then finish with some good stuff well that's Paul's style I thank my God always when I remember you in

my prayers because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the lord Jesus and for all the saints and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ for I've derived much joy and comfort from your love my brother because the hearts of the Saints have been refreshed through you I mean that's fantastic phiman is doing a wonderful job in comforting the saints that are at the church that he is pastoring and at the same time that knowledge is making its way

back to Paul and it's encouraging Paul and he's just thankful for the love that he is seeing flow through fiman here's his ask accordingly though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required I love Paul so he always kind of says like I have the right to just tell you to like do this but I'm not going to do that which is kind of like doing it but anyways yet for Love's sake I prefer to appeal to you so he's pulling on his heart here I want to appeal you I want this to become your conviction not just my

conviction I Paul an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus I appeal to you for my child onesimus whose father I became in my imprisonment which is is not saying like he' like legally adopted him but he became his like spiritual father and there's a reason for that and I'll show you in a minute formerly he was useless to you but now he is indeed useful to you and to me what that and then he say say I am sending him back to you sending my very heart so what that tells us is Paul just says I'm sending him back to you

but he was useless to you which meant that between onesimus and philimon things did not go well things did not go well it did not end well phiman was considered his master he would have been considered a bonder servant again those it doesn't matter what those positions are whether it was in business corporate or even even if it was Pastor Deacon it doesn't matter what it was but that's the role Dynamic that they were playing out here's something interesting to also know about this let's see what Paul says next I can find it I am sending him back to you sending my very heart I

would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel but I prefer to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by my compulsion but of your own account so in that way he's kind of saying onesmus still belongs to you but he's been here helping me for this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while that you might have him back forever no longer as a bonder servant but more than a bonder servant as a beloved brother especially to me but how

much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord so if you consider me your partner receive him as you would receive me here's the kicker if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything charge that to my account I Paul write this with my own hand I will repay it to say nothing of your owing me even your own self yes my brother I want some benefit from you and the Lord refresh my heart in Christ so what that actually is playing out is that onesimus was with phiman at one point in a position of Master and bond servant Phile

and and something didn't go well in it not going well onesimus stole from phiman and left and then in leaving comes to Paul and begins working with the Apostle Paul and and I guess through that restorative process and refreshment process sorry become somebody who is beneficial to the Apostle Paul so much so that the Apostle Paul is saying hey it's great that you're helping me out but I think it would be even better if you go back to philimon and help him out if I'm onesimus I'm thinking uhuh uhuh I'm not I'm not going back to Fan because I messed that up I I owe

him I owe him money Paul then takes it on his initiative and says phiman if you would be willing to reconcile this relationship between you and onesimus I'll take whatever the payment was that he took I'll pay it back so that all accounts are covered who's Paul kind of acting like in this scenario here Jesus what did we take creation away from our creator we want your stuff we don't want relationship with you and in coming to Jesus AKA Paul onesimus is restored into a relationship and now beneficial and ready to be sent back into reconciliation with our father our master and at the same

time now be beneficial for him this whole book of phiman is literally about the Father the Son and the world and how Jesus is reconciling us together but calling us into reconciliation also with one another with one another confident of your obedience I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say at the same time prepare a guest room for me I love Paul always when I get there man just make sure I'm taking care of give me a room prepare a guest room for me for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you here's

the thing number nine hope and peace is a call for obedience hope and peace like to have hope and peace you will not if we do not obey what God has called us to he's called us to believe in his son and what his son has accomplished for us if by obedience we follow in that and do it and by believing Jesus hope is ours at the same time we have conflict in our relationships we have conflict in our world and if we do not pursue reconciliation in that we rob ourselves of Peace of Peace we rob ourselves of Peace in light of all that

God has done to provide us for provide for us hope and peace we are holding on to it in our lives or what are we holding on to in our lives that robs us of that hope and peace what are we holding on to what Grudge do we have against somebody that robs us of peace or what thing are we still striving after to make ourselves better that robs us of Hope because we're not believing God for it from the standpoint of hope maybe we believe God loves the world but doesn't love me he forgives others but he would never forgive me or anything that

I've done you got to remember his love is Limitless and it's for the world well but I'm not worthy to have a dollar worth because God would never don't put words in God's mouth that never goes well for whoever puts words in God's mouth it never goes well when we speak for God especially when we say God God wouldn't or God couldn't or God shouldn't do something the Bible is already clear God has spoken and despite your sin God has initiated his love to move towards you and not away from you is that bring you despair or hope hope is the correct answer in fact

Romans 8: 31-39 puts it this way What then shall we say to these things if God is for us who could be against us he who did not spare his own son John 3:16 but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things inheritance who shall bring any charge against God's elect it is God who justifies who is it to condemn Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall

tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword remember all that collateral damage of sin that I was talking about Paul's saying what of any of it could separate us from the love of Christ as it is written for your sake we are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered no if you don't view Jesus in the midst of this that's what it feels like is happening we're just a bunch of sheep led to the slaughter but when you see what Jesus is preserving in us and providing for us no longer are we sheep

being led to a Slaughter we're sheep being led by a Shepherd in all these things we are now more than conquerors through him who loved us for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our lord man that's good news does that produce hope or despair hope hope if that doesn't make you well up and overflow with hope then you aren't believing the word of God believe it believe it

you're not worthy of it but that's the beauty of it undeserved Grace now from the standpoint of Peace what in your life is robbing you of Peace maybe better way to stay it state it in accordance with fiman who in your life is robbing you of Peace if you are able now I say that very specifically if you are able move towards them in the same way God moved towards us to establish peace on Earth Romans 12:18 says if possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all you can't force others to reconcile conflict between you but so much as it depends

on you and that's just a fancier way of saying you better not be the one keeping reconciliation from Happy hopeful people are peaceful people those who do not have hope will hold on to conflict they'll hold on to conflict but if we are hopeful then there's nothing that can keep us from destroying the conflict from reconciling whatever the situation and scenario looks like so number one hope and peace is God number two hope and peace is Limitless number three hope and peace is for the world number four hope and peace is from God is a gift from God hope and peace is the son of

God hope and peace is by faith hope and peace is a life preserver hope and peace is a life enhancer and hope and peace is a call to obedience it's a call to obedience let's pray together father we thank you so much for this morning we thank you for single verses that you inspired the Apostle John to write like John 3:16 that you let him know that you so Lov the world that you gave your only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life God we are so thankful for verses like that because it provides for us hope it provides

for us hope that we will not perish but have eternal life because of the gift of your son Jesus and as we remember this season of Advent that there was a waiting period that the people of God they were looking for someone to come and fix it for them because at least to a degree they understood that they could not so they needed a messiah and they were believing the promises of God that I will send one father we thank you that we get to to look back 2,000 years ago and see that event play out the sending of your son Jesus born to a

virgin mother adopted by an Earthly father we see a messiah humbly enter into our human world as a baby in a manger and and that begins to lift the veil of our Despair and it begins to well up our hearts with hope that God you are for us and not against us and that there's nothing in this world that can separate us from the love of Jesus we thank you Lord we thank you for that and we enter into a time now of just worship worship for that son that you sent it's in his name we pray amen