[SPEAKER_00]: Who is your favorite Christmas character?
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you might be thinking buddy the else.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone?
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't make movie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe some other of you might be thinking Kevin from Home Alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone seen it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't think it's that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe some of the parents out there might be thinking Hugh Grant from Love Actually.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe you are thinking of baby Jesus and the nativity characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is often at the star of the show at Christmas time, which is fair enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are celebrating Jesus' birth.
[SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes we forget to think about what Jesus coming down to earth meant for God, the Father.
[SPEAKER_00]: God loves Jesus very much.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, he still sent his son into the world where he knew that people here would treat him as an outcast and hurt him.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he still did it because he loves us so very much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi everyone, my name is Alyssa and I work in the Children's Ministry here at one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is also the first time I've spoken to this many people.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, there we go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today, as we continue our advent theme of this is love, and look at our verses of this theme, first John chapter four, verses nine to 11.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have three points for you today.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first two points will look at the nature of God's love, and then we will look at what our response should be,
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's start by reading the passage.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is how God showed His love among us.
[SPEAKER_00]: He sent His one and only son into the world that we might live through Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that God loved us, not that we loved God, but that God that He loved us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And since He's son as an attorney sacrifice for our sins,
[SPEAKER_00]: Dear friends, since God loved us, we also ought to love one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to start by praying.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, God, I thank you so much for this amazing Christmas service.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thank you for all the kids that came up on the stage, Lord for their confidence.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I just pray that as I speak today, that we'll open our hearts in our minds that I pray that you'll take away any distractions, Lord, and help us to focus on the words and the verses that I'm saying.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's start by reading verse nine again.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is how God showed his love among us.
[SPEAKER_00]: He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him.
[SPEAKER_00]: God didn't just send some random angel, but he sent his one and only son.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he didn't just send Jesus to be our friend, which would have been so amazing in itself.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he didn't just send Jesus to be our teacher and teach us the way of life, which would have been way more than we've deserved.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, he sent Jesus to come down to earth and die the death of a criminal to save us from our sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: What an amazing display of love.
[SPEAKER_00]: As it said in 2 Corinthians 9, 15, thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.
[SPEAKER_00]: God gave us His indescribable gift.
[SPEAKER_00]: God gave us his best, and that is love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love gives it's best.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not some knockoff third, and that will do the job all right.
[SPEAKER_00]: But love gives it's best, and that brings us to our first point today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love gives it's best.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to quickly think for a moment now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you giving your best to the people who you love?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or is there more you can give?
[SPEAKER_00]: The second point I want to talk to you about today is how God's love is not based on our love for Him but by His nature.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 10 says, this is love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that we loved God, but that he loved us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And sent his son as an attorney sacrifice for our sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: God loved us first.
[SPEAKER_00]: While we were sinners or didn't know him, he loved us.
[SPEAKER_00]: God's love for us does not turn on when we decide to love and follow Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: God's love is always there and has always been.
[SPEAKER_00]: God's love is not based on our love for Him but by His nature.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing we can do to make God love us any less.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your love for God at the moment is not a representation on how much He loves you.
[SPEAKER_00]: God will always love you unconditionally.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the highs and the lows in life, no matter how close or far away you feel from Him, God loves you.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we saw in the drama just before,
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't even put him first.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Ken still took the pressure and shame off Bobby, making her feel lighter and freer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ken's actions weren't based on her love for him, but by his nature.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the same way, God takes on our shame and our sin
[SPEAKER_00]: not because we love him, but because he loves us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't deserve that, but this is love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love that doesn't require acknowledgement or gratification.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love that can never run out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love that can be relied on no matter what.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love that puts others first.
[SPEAKER_00]: As it said in 2 Corinthians 9-8, for your sake, he being Jesus, became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich.
[SPEAKER_00]: How amazing is God's love for us?
[SPEAKER_00]: So that brings us to our third and final point.
[SPEAKER_00]: What should our response be?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we're told in the following verse.
[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 11 says, dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty clear, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_00]: The proper response to God's love for us is to go out and love others how he loves.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that means loving everyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might say, oh, but that person over there who I'm supposed to love, they hurt me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm the one who's hurt.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, so was God, and yet he still doesn't hesitate to forgive us, you might say, oh, but that person over there, they insulted me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm insulted, but so was God, and yet he still sent his son for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might say, oh, but they are so unworthy, but so are we, and yet God still sent Jesus to die for our sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because this is love, and we need to reflect this love to those around us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Loving others is our response to God's love for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think of it like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you had a pipe that was clogged, water would come into it, but nothing would come out.
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be useless, and you would replace it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just so, God pours his love into us so that it will flow freely out and into the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've got a question for you today, and it's a little bit strange, so bear with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what kind of pipe are you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you the kind of pipe that love comes in, but then get clogged along the way?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or are you the type of pipe that your, that God's love comes into your life and flows freely out?
[SPEAKER_00]: This is how God showed His love among us.
[SPEAKER_00]: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And sent His Son as an attorney sacrifice for our sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord God, thank you so much for how much you love us, you love us so much that you gave your best, Lord thank you for giving us Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for sacrificing your son so that we are free from sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Help us to be like a mirror to this love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I pray that your love will flow freely through us and into the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Help us to be a beacon of light and love to those around us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, I pray that we too will love unconditionally, reveal to us the people who we are not truly loving and give us the strength to change that.
[SPEAKER_00]: In your mighty name, Lord God, amen.