Rooted In Love Series | Pastor John Greiner

Rooted in Love kicks off a powerful teaching series centered on one life-changing truth: God is love, and everything flows from a true revelation of that love. Through Scripture, personal stories, and practical insight, this episode explores how unhealed wounds and broken trust can leave “holes” in the soul, affecting faith, relationships, and our ability to fully trust God. Listeners are invited to move beyond surface belief into deep healing, renewing the mind, and becoming firmly rooted in God’s unconditional love. As that love takes root, it transforms how we see ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we walk out our faith, equipping us to love freely, live boldly, and reflect God’s heart in a hurting world.

Transcript

Opening Prayer And Series Vision

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Rooted in Love. We've got our Wednesday nights for the next four, including tonight, teaching on the love of God. And I'm just so excited for the turnout that we have tonight. I believe it will change your life when we start examining about who God is. God is love. And so it's imperative that we have a revelation of that love. So that's why we're going to take some time to share the verses of Scripture with you tonight. My job is just to kind of lead things off. So before we get started very far, let's all stand together, please, and let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. And we are so glad for these Wednesday nights that we've earmarked to be teaching on this series entitled Rooted in Love. And we thank you, Father, that 2026 is the year of new things. And Lord, we're going to have a fresh revelation of the love of God, not only toward us, but through us to others. And Lord, love never fails. And we thank you that you've given us example after example in your holy word. And we have examples in our lives that we can draw from. And the main thing we need is more illumination of your word by your spirit. And we give you praise for all the good things that are going to happen in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Greet somebody and be seated, please. Praise God. Glad to have everybody here. Enjoyed fellowshipping with some folks out in the lobby. And if you couldn't come tonight, try to make it next week. Let's uh look in Ephesians chapter 3, and we will start with, I believe, our cornerstone scripture for this series, and start reading with verse 14. And I don't know, can we get the amplified version of it? I didn't bring my phone up here. So I'll depend if you can. If you can't, I'll read it off my phone. I've got my phone. That's all right. You don't have to dig for it. Apologize. Ephesians chapter 4. And you can follow along in whatever version you have, but I want to read it in the amplified. It's very powerful. And this is a what I call a Holy Ghost prayer. I mean, you know, this Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write this prayer for the church. So we have every right to pray this prayer for ourselves and believe we receive and pray it for others. So verse 14 for this cause I bow my knees under the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family. Let me get it on the Amplified. Sorry, I knew that was too quick. Amplified is louder. Let me go louder. All right. For this reason, seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ, I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. That Father from whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name. May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit Himself, indwelling your innermost being and personality. May Christ, through your faith, actually dwell, that is, settle down, abide, and make his permanent home in your hearts. May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, that you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints, who are God's devoted people, the experience of that love, what is the breadth and length and height and depth of it, that you may really come to know practically through experience for yourselves the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience, that you may be filled through all your being unto all the fullness of God, may have the richest measure of the divine presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself. Now to him who, by and consequence of the action of his power that is work within us, is able to carry out his purpose and do superabundantly, far over and above all that we dare ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. So be it. Isn't that powerful? I mean, just look at that. And so there, hence we have the title, Rooted in Love. And so this Holy Ghost prayer is for us. I urge you to pray. I pray it every day. I pray it in King James. It's shorter. But I, you know, it's I like to look at some of the phrases. They're so powerful. Uh, you know, and filled and flooded with his presence. I mean, it's one thing to be filled with the Holy Ghost, but when you're filled and flooded, I think it's different than just kind of praying a little bit in tongues for about 30 seconds. I mean, when you're filled and flooded, there's something different about things. And uh, and so notice, you know, having this deep revelation of the Father and His love, what happens so we can be filled and flooded. And then what happens? So we can release mighty power through what? Through our faith. See, the Bible says our faith works by love. So, you know, if we have a we if we have a shortage of revelation of the love of God, then our faith is not gonna work properly. And uh, and then so the church can fully glorify God. I mean, it's all it's all about we want the church to be the outpouring of the glory of God. We're all praying for revival. That's not gonna happen until the church starts to function like this. So, in over 40 years of of ministering, uh I've encountered many believers who were having severe trust issues. And uh I liken them to uh a paper hanger that I used to have when I was building houses. I uh, you know, I I built homes for 25 years and I had a house that was ready for wallpaper and picked the wallpaper out. I had it in my office, and uh, but I had a uh the electrician had uh messed up the uh and and we had a a patch that we had to do in the breakfast room. We had to we had to find uh an outlet and it took cutting a hole and then he found the found the switch for the breakfast room light and moved it over so I had a hole in the breakfast room wall. So I so the paper hanger says, Hey, when can I go? I I need to go this week. I mean, I I've I'm tied up, I've got another job, I've promised next week I need to get you out of the way. I said, Well, I've got I've got a paper, uh, I mean a wall wall hole that the uh sheetrocker has to patch and it takes two or three trips to do that before it's ready to be wallpaper. He said, Oh, that's no problem. I'll just wallpaper right up to it. I'll leave, I'll leave a space, and then I can come back. I said, You'd rather come back? And he said, Yeah, it won't take but a second. I'll I'll re pre-cut the paper, and all I'll have to do is is glue and put it on there. It won't take but just a minute. I said, Okay. And so I depended on him to do that. So I scheduled the wall, uh, the uh sheet rocker to go by there and patch the wall. You know, and so then the next week, this is on a like a Thursday, and the next week it's Monday, I go by. Well, you know, the uh the wallpaper guy had wallpapered the entire room and he covered the hole. He covered the hole, and so then that way the sheetrocker didn't fix the hole because he didn't want to go poking around and ruin the paper. You see, so it set my entire. I've got to move in, you idiot. I mean, these people are breathing down my neck. I've got a dead, I don't have time. You understand what I'm saying? See, some people have wallpapered the Swiss cheese holes in their minds, the damage that's been done. In their soul. Everybody say their soul. See, we talk about saving souls. Well, you know, that's different than being born again. You're when you're born again, your spirit is saved. God gives you a brand new spirit. But uh in Hebrews 10, uh, let's look at that real quick. It refers to the saving of the soul. And what does that mean? I'm fixing to tell you. And it's very vital. It's a vital thing that people need no matter what. Hebrews chapter 10, verse um 38. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back under perition or evil, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. You believe to the saving of the soul. Does that mean you're not saved? No, you're saved, but your soul hasn't been saved. Your soul being saved is a process, it's a process of renewing your mind. You know, when you're saved, when you're born again, God deals just with your spirit. He doesn't deal with your mind, he doesn't deal with your body. We have to deal with those two things. We have to, what? Romans 12 1 says we need to present our bodies. A living sacrifice. Other verses say we need to crucify the deeds of the flesh. The flesh wants to do things it's always done. You have to say no to it. Who's the you that has to say that? Your spirit, where that's where you are born again. Well, then what about your mind? Well, Romans 12, 2 says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So don't be conform to this world's way of thinking, but be transformed. In other words, transformation of the mind results in the saving of the soul. Is everybody following me? Everybody say saving of my soul is up to me. See, you you you're gonna, you know, your soul is saved through effort on your part of meditating the word of God. We're gonna give you some scriptures about the love of God. But getting back to my 40 years of ministering to people and coming across believers who've got Swiss cheese in their soul. What are you talking about? I'm talking about huge gaps. You know, your brain is got neuropathways. It's it's it's physical, it's mental, it's it's it's chemical. And uh you you've got to start thinking differently. You've got to get rid of certain uh thought patterns that have been implanted, and in my experience, they are implanted in childhood through uh, you know, all kinds of abuse. I I've run across people that have suffered all kinds of abuse in their childhood. Uh, you know, if if it's not a broken home, a broken home, let me tell you something. If you argue in front of, I heard Dr. Phil say this one day if you argue in front of your children, you change who they are. It can cause a hole in their little soul that stays with them until they're adults, but then they wallpaper over that. You know, people want to remember the good things, they don't want to remember the bad things. I was I was watching a crime show the other night, one of these dateline things, and this girl was beaten almost to death, and she recovered, and she could not remember who it was that did it. She couldn't remember anything about the whole thing. They hypnotized her to the point where, you know, and hypnotism is dangerous. I would I don't suggest people do that. But anyway, she was hypnotized and she went through all this physical, but she still couldn't remember the guy's face. It took like 15 years before they finally catch the guy that did it, and it was somebody that she knew. And uh, but she had forgotten it. See, she the trauma, she had just forgotten it. And so a lot of times when I'm dealing with people who are having, now they're having trouble. They're having trouble in their marriage, they're having trouble with their children, they're having trouble with healing, they're having trouble with trust issues. The trust issues are are hurting. Why? Because they've got little holes in their soul that were developed through hurts when they're young. I mean, you know, we've got a society nowadays that's just out of control. We have such abuse, we have we have physical abuse, sexual abuse, we have we have abandonment, we have broken homes, we have verbal abuse, we have, you know, people that don't pay any attention, no limits to the kid. Just go do your thing and don't leave me alone. I'm tired. Leave me alone, I'm too busy. When we do that, see you people eventually grow up and they've got Swiss cheese, I call it. You ever seen a block of real good Swiss cheese? It's got holes all in it, you know. And then what are the holes? There are gaps in your emotional well-being. You're not gonna think correctly, and it's gonna cause you not to not to be able to trust your heavenly father. That's where it all gets down. It gets down to the trust of your heavenly father to be who the word says he is. That's all we have, plus our own spirit. Well, you know, we haven't seen God in any time. If you've heard him, you might not have heard him but once or twice. He doesn't just talk out loud to you. He talks through his word, he talks through his witness of the spirit and so forth and so on. But really, you've got to have a revelation of the love of God in order to have the ability to trust him. You've got to know that he, and so we don't have an earthly pattern, what I'm getting to is you don't have an earthly pattern to follow. It really helps when parents do their job. My parents did a great job. I mean, they weren't, they weren't saved when I was a kid, but they did a good job of parenting. I knew they loved me. I remember one time I read about Warren Buffett. You probably heard of him. He's a billionaire, he's a big stock market guy, and he's probably close to his 90s now. He's still, I think he's finally handed off his company. Uh he's made, I don't know how much money on, you know, trading stocks for years and years. Somebody asked him, you know, what's your secret to success? He said, Well, if I have to put my hand on one particular thing that I know made all the difference is the fact that my father loved me with an unconditional love. He's not a Christian that I know of. And yet, his father doing the right thing by him and loving him, he said it gave me the confidence to where I just was fearless. I was fearless in business. I didn't worry about failure. I knew I was gonna make it no matter what. I might fail on this one, but I won't fail on the next one. See, that gives you, see, this is what we give to our children. We give the, and so when people grow up and they don't have that, I've start, I, you know, I've got the prophetic in me. I I mean I start reading people's mail, and I find out that people have been, you know, mistreated. And then I'm able to deal with that prophetically after they're adults, and we can begin to release the anointing of God to come in there and and and actually pull that wallpaper and pull that that guard that they put up inside of their soul because it hurts so bad they don't want anybody to know. But God knows and He wants to be able, you want, He wants you to be able to trust Him 100%. Is this helping you now? So that's, I mean, you know, I don't know who all's out there, but if you're one of those kind of people, you need this teaching. Well, you know, I have wonderful parents, and I really don't need it. Well, you need it for the next person you're gonna minister to because we're they're coming in droves, folks. Look around these red chairs. They're coming through these doors, they're gonna be populating this building, and you are gonna be the one that's gonna have to deal with them. You're gonna put your arm around them, you're gonna love them, you're gonna help them, you're gonna help them be able to trust their Heavenly Father, you're gonna help them trust their pastor. You know, if you can't trust God, how can you trust your pastor? How can you trust what I'm saying is true? And that's another issue. I mean, I find people just don't, they don't believe what I'm saying. Why? Because they couldn't, they just, they, all of their trust factors were were compromised from a very young age. Does it make sense? It's just, it's just it's just the way it is. So uh we're spirit beings, we have a soul and we live in a body. So God did everything we need to do for our spirit, or we can grow our spirit, but our soul saving is up to us. We've got to dedicate ourselves to meditating on the word so that we can not draw back. That's another thing that happens to people when their souls are hurt and bruised, is they'll get into church long enough to get a whiff of a pattern that they had when they were children. Just uh just somebody saying something to them, somebody looking at them funny, they get offended and they get and they leave and they go and they backslide, they get out away from God, they they they go back to perdition. Why? Because the saving of their soul hasn't been progressed. I mean, it's not optional, man. Our souls have to be saved, they have to be locked up. We've got to be rooted and seated in love. Love is a seed, it's a fruit of the Spirit. It comes from a seed that was implanted in us. Let me give you some verses here. Um John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He so loved. You know, the Holy Ghost used that language, and John put it down in writing that Jesus said. Jesus said it. He he searched for an adjective about the love, and he said, He so loved. Well, that that kind of puts it on a different level. He so loved the world. The world, who who's the world? Every sinner, the same price was paid for every sinner as what he paid for you. He loves every sinner just as much as he loves Jesus. Let that sink in a while. So who are we? If we're gonna get so high and mighty and holy that we can't even relate to the sinner long enough to get them a witness, are you with me now? He loves them, he loves us. And then over in John 15, 13, Jesus said it again greater love hath no man than a man lay down his life for his friends. Well, you know what? He did more than that. He didn't lay down his life just for his friends, he laid down his life for the world. And the world wasn't his friend. Friend is a covenant term. Friend is covenant. So yes, he did. He laid down his life for you and me. We're in covenant with him. Yes, he did. But when did he do that? When did he lay down his life? Were we even saved? No, we didn't even exist. So that's dealt with in Romans chapter 5. Let's look at that one. I want to give you a few verses here. I mean, they're powerful verses. You've probably read them a lot of times, but until you kind of get down in your spirit how serious a love that God has toward you, then it's pretty hard to love anybody else with that kind of love. I mean, you've you've got little you've got little holes in your soul, you're sensitive about a lot of things, and it's maybe not all your fault, but once you're put on notice that these things need to be dealt with and not covered up, and they need to be uncovered, and the anointing needs to get on them, and they need to be bathed in the blood and removed. Jesus said, You know, I'm going to preach the gospel to the poor. I'm going to uh I'm going to uh set at liberty them that are bruised. When people are bruised as children, they go into bondage, and they can never be released to love like they should, because that's been bruised. Romans chapter 5, uh, verse 6, verse 5, the second part. Uh for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. So God's love has been. Shed abroad, the minute you got saved, you've got the love in your heart. It's in there. It's in there. Now it can grow. Love is a fruit, so it can grow. The love of God is it's implanted, it's a seed in seed form. The more you meditate on this, the love of God can grow, it should grow. And then he said, For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man, some would dare to die. But God commanded his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So he died when we were unlovable. He died when we didn't even know him. He died even though we were in a rebellion against him. When I think about my life and I think about how God was so patient with me, you know, I grew up in church. I experienced God's love when I was a little kid. I was called to the ministry when I was four. My little heart burned in a little Our Lady of Refuge Catholic Church over in Galena Park, Texas. That's where God met me. Yes, a Catholic. And then, of course, as I got older, I just buried it. I didn't want that. I I knew there was something more available, but I didn't want I didn't want to be a missionary to Africa. I think it was South American missionaries that were in the church that day. And God let my little heart know that he had a call on my life. And the nuns all knew it when I went to Catholic school. They all, you know, Johnny, you need to go to cemetery. Seminary. Tried to talk to my mother. They were after me. And God dealt with me. God dealt with me so patient and I rebelled. I went away and I didn't get saved till I was 33. He never quit. I wonder who prayed for me all those years. Somebody must have been praying for me that knew how to pray. Because he never gave up on me and he loved me all the way through till I did get saved. Thank God I got saved. Aren't you glad I got saved? I mean, I'm glad. I'm glad for me. I'm glad for you. While we were yet sinners. And then in Romans 8:15, there's another good one that came into my heart. I just wrote these down as God gave them to me. For you've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The minute you got saved, the Holy Ghost was shed abroad in your heart. He came into your heart and he came with this witness, Abba, Father. You can call God, not just your God. That's how I say the sinner's prayer. Whenever I lead people in a sinner's prayer, I say, okay, now you say this after me. Now, God, see, now God, you're more than just my God. You're my very own heavenly father. And I am your very own child. That's exactly what happens when you get born again. Why did God make you? He made you for fellowship. He is a father, and a father wants fellowship. I raised my children, and they were children, children, children, and then they were teenagers, and then they were young adults. But you know, at some point in time now, they're my children, but you know what? They really are friends. They they really, I mean, I can talk to them and I can uh uh uh you know a fellowship with them in a wholly different level than I could when they were kids. When when I was their when I was their father and responsible for them, then I had to be in a little different. Now, now I'm enjoying the fruit of what I actually have fellowship with my children. It's amazing. It's wonderful. And that's what our heavenly father wants. Yeah, we're babies to start with, but if we get a glimpse of the love of God, he finally brings us up into a place of maturity where it's not just him commanding you, he's dealing with you almost not as an equal exactly, but I mean it's on that level of fellowship. Are y'all with me now? So, um, and then you know the last verse I'll share is Ephesians 1:3. And uh it says, uh, be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love. And the word followers there is uh imitators. The Bible says in Ephesians, and Ephesians is written to the church, it's written to born-again believers, and he's charging them, he's charging them as children. See, we're the children of a heavenly father. Walk, imitate, be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love. So you've got to have a revelation of that love to walk in it. And uh, so these four weeks are for you, and they're for your soul to get the perspective of love so that it can line up with God's way of thinking. When you start to meditate on how much he loves you, how he saved you for a purpose. Uh, and then, you know, that's gonna help you to fellowship with God, and then on the flip side, it's gonna help you to do the believer's ministry. And uh, and as a result, you know, there's new things. This is the year of new things, 2026. Behold, I make all things new. And uh God's love is at a level where this whole world is coming apart, and only the love of God is gonna is gonna overcome this thing. Love never fails. We, you know, we can we can gripe and we can complain and we can say all the things that we, and it's not wrong to point out some of the issues that we have to face, but on a one-on-one basis, you have to always realize no matter how hateful somebody is to you or hateful in general, Jesus died for that person just as much as he did you. So Jesus loves that person, God loves that person. The Father wants a relationship with that person every bit as much as he wants one with you. So then we when we adopt that mindset, we can get past all the fireworks, and we can be, you know, whether we can get them saved or not, that's a different story. We might not be able to reach them, but we can reach them in love. We can speak the truth to them in love, and we can do the job that God set us on the earth to do. So uh I'm I'm saluting you for being here on a Wednesday night. I hope you'll hang with us through the whole time. I hope some more of our church. We've been praying over this on Thursday night, so I hope more of the church will come next week. Uh I want all of us on the same page because we've got to look at ourselves as able ministers of the new covenant. And the only way to do that is have a revelation of the Father's love. He loves all of you, and so does Gladys and I. We love you. And so I want to turn the service over now at the rest of what our time. I've got Jay and Selena are gonna come up and uh they've got some things to share with you.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Uh but it's an honor to get to bring the word. That was so good. That was powerful, so powerful.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

I'm so glad that I have a natural dad that introduced me to my ABBA father. I had wonderful, wonderful parents, and I had a wonderful childhood. And uh, but I'm grateful for that message. I'm I'm grateful for the revelation um that was spoken, and we're just gonna add to it, talking about some roots, being rooted in love. So uh Selena's gonna lead us off on our first root, but it's rooting having a pure heart. Because, like uh dad just preached, you you can't love until you know the love of God, and that comes out of a pure heart. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Amen. I'm so happy y'all are here. Are y'all excited to be here? Yes. Um, it's been so good, and and we're excited about the whole month of February. You know, it's love, it's one of my favorite subjects to teach on, um, just because it's a foundational piece um uh in someone's life if you don't, you know, God is love, and so you can't love others if you don't know how much you're loved first. You can't give somebody what you don't have, right? And so it's so um important that we know how much we're loved.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

You can't give to your spouse something that you don't have, you can't give to your children something that you don't have. So it's important to not skip the knowledge and the revelation of God's agape love.

Adoption And Abba: Living As God’s Children

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Yeah, so 1 Timothy 1.5 in the New Living Translation uh says, the purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a genuine faith. And so here Paul's reminding Timothy Um, you know, God's goal is is love. Um everything that that God teaches us, his ultimate purpose and all throughout the Bible is love. Um obedience and discipline aren't meant to be cold and legalistic, but um, they're meant to shape us into the people, you know, into people that know how much they're loved by God, but then also know how to love others. Obedience equals loving God. And so here I'll now go through these three pure heart, clear conscience, and a genuine faith. So love begins with the pure heart. And I wrote a couple notes down, I'll just read them to you. Um a pure heart is not a perfect heart, but it's a sincere, humble heart that's open before God, um, a heart free from hidden motives. Um, just like Pastor was mentioning the Swiss cheese, and yeah, we uh all have had um trouble in life and hurt, but you don't, you know, I always say you can allow those hurts to make you bitter or better. And so you want to you want those to propel you forward. You don't want to get stuck and um allow those hurts to to hold you back from all of what God has for your life. And um, so love begins with the pure heart, a heart free from hidden motives, a heart willing to repent. Like, man, you know what? We're not perfect, we messed up, but quick to repent. Man, I'm sorry, God, I missed it, right? Um so and then it's easy to forgive others. You forget, you know, you God, you forgave me. I repent quickly. You know what? They didn't mean that. You know, just like Pastor said, they they're going through stuff, and so quick to quickly forgive. Um, and then a heart that desires God more than appearances, like, hey, it's not about what it looks like, um, but when we allow God to clean our hearts, his flow can uh his love can flow then naturally. Um, and then a good conscience keeps love healthy. And I wrote down, um uh a good conscience means we live in a way that aligns with God's truth, uh, to live it out, right? When we when we ignore sin or compromise, um, and in the major and in the minor, when we compromise in the minor things, it's you're you're um you don't have a good conscience. You're you're you're not keeping, you're not guarding that love. So it becomes distorted, right? Um, it can become harsh. And so we want to make sure that a clear conscience allows us to to love without guilt, love without fear. Um, and then sincere faith anchors or roots true love. Um, and that's again, I'm going back to the scripture, um, sincere faith. And so God's love doesn't come from emotion alone. Again, we have we're a three-part being. Yes, we're a soul, we're not emotional. Um, it just comes from genuine trust in Him. And so when our faith is real and it's rooted in Christ, our love is steady, it's patient, it's forgiving, even in the in the hard times in life. And so we want to make sure that we get to, you know, real faith, really trusting God. Like, God, you said it in your word, and and I believe it. Just because the Bible says so, right? Just because the Bible says so, I believe it. It's real. I have genuine faith. And so that's an anchor for real for allowing because faith and love work together. And so um so allowing yourself to um you know know how much you're loved, and that's gonna anchor you um in the troubles of life.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

No, I just felt by the Holy Spirit to kind of start from the basics, you know, of what Selena is talking about. I think there's there's people listening to this, and you're so used to putting up a facade and wallpapering over those holes, like dad was was talking about, that you have a hard time being genuine. You don't know where the genuine ends and the fake begins because you've mixed it all up for so long. And I just encourage you, the easiest way to um it's it's God that it's God's word that separates the wheat from the chaff in our hearts. That and so uh get in your prayer closet and be real with the Lord by just admitting, just say, you know, God, I I haven't been real, I haven't been genuine, I have I've been faking it for too long, and from this moment on I decide to be real with you. Take this pain, take this hurt, take this abuse, take be specific, use names. It's just you and God, but but allow um that to come out of your mouth and and own that mistake, whatever, if you feel stuck in the mud, if you're if you have those thoughts that are on repeat over and over and over again, and you're remembering that abuse, uh, or you're remembering those words that were spoken to you when you were a kid, whatever it is that that that you know, all of us have been through things and some levels, you know, I just encourage you, this is in my notes somewhere, but just you know, what happened to Jesus is is uh it's way bigger than anything that's ever happened to you. It's way more powerful. The blood of Jesus is way more powerful than anything, any pain or any situation that you've ever lived through. And just like lean that back onto the blood and know that that uh, you know, uh dad was using that scripture so much that the that uh the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. That word shed abroad is King James, right? But in the New King James it says it's been poured out, and that love has been poured into us, and we need to receive it and be vessels that can receive God's love and be and all you have to do is surrender. For that to happen, all you have to do is surrender. It's simple. It's it it would need a biblical theologian to stand in your way uh of receiving God's love and just opening up to Him and being real. And that, yes, that can happen in worship, and yes, that can happen in church, and yes, you can make that decision, but I just encourage you to go home, get in your prayer closet if you feel that that um, you know, like we we get the honor to to work around young people all the time, and I'm telling you, they can see right through the fake, and they're they're searching for the real. And so it stirs me up every single service to never mail it in, never just show up. No, I every time I'm gonna be with a young person, I'm prepared. I'm I've I'm prayed up, I'm following the Holy Spirit. I'm you know, and so and so uh, and God knows everything, He knows your every thought. And so there's no sense in being fake with God. Just just turn on the real. And all of that fakeness will just dissolve. Amen. So uh go ahead. Just root number two.

Walking In Love As Imitators Of God

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Really good. Yeah. No, I have a scripture here, but we can Yeah, go ahead. Just uh uh Psalm 1, and I read this in uh I believe my offering this past Sunday, but this is in the Passion Translation. Uh, his passion is to remain true to the word of I am, meditating day and night on the true revelation of light, he will be standing firm like a flourishing tree planted by God's design, deeply rooted, ever say deeply rooted by the brooks of bliss, bearing fruit in every season of life. He is never dry, never fainting, ever blessed, ever prosperous. And um if you read that chapter, it it it just talks about who you hang with, right? Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. And and so our root system has to do with uh who you hang with. Um, now if you know me, I'm a plant person, I love plants, I have too many plants, I have a problem, okay? Um, not too long ago, I love orchids, and so every time you know people give me an orchid, I I love orchids, and so I have um a collection of orchids, but not too long ago, one of my orchids had a problem, and it had this long story short, um it had some kind of fungus uh growing on it, white, and it was with other orchids. And what happened was it moved its spread uh to my other orchids. So I ended up throwing those orchids away. Yeah, I tried. I tried to spray, you know, I'm we're busy. We're we're if we can't make it home at night, and then we gotta cook dinner, and then we gotta have for bed, and then okay, I gotta clean the orchids. And I ended up just at the end throwing a chunk of them. But my my point is that one orchid that was sick, that was that was with the other was spread that disease, that that fungus. And so that's what Psalm 1 talks about. Um, and so you have to guard the love of God. Like, yes, he loves us, and we know how much we're loved by him, but then um our who who you allow around your table that's so important, who your associations, who you allow to for to for somebody to speak into your life. Uh, boundaries are very important. Oh, well, they're my family. Well, okay, but um you still you God says that we have to guard our heart above all else, for it determines the course of our life. And so you have to make sure it is life or death who you hang with. It it really is. And so 2026, the year of the new thing. So you might have to let go of some old people that are bringing you down to get into what God has for you.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Um still honor your parents and honor your family and still have uh and still guard and still guard your family. And that is love.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Yeah.

Hand-Off To Jay And Selena

SPEAKER_01 41:48

Guarding is love. Number two, root number two. And so God is love, root number two. And so I just wanted to say we we said it uh we in our staff prayer this morning. We were just talking about uh some people are are are going after the fruit. They see the Swiss cheese, they see the the rot and the decay and the fruit, and they think it's the fruit's problem, and they're going after the fruit, but it's a root problem, right? And so that's what Selena's been talking about, uh roots, and so root number two is God that God is love. And so out of 1 John chapter 4, verse 7, it says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And in other words, love is God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Uh and that word beloved means esteemed, it means dear, it means favorite. And so he's telling us that we're God's favorite, that we're worthy of love. And so we're number one, know that God is love and you are worthy of God's love. We are worthy of his love. And you and and the ones around you are worthy of God's love as well. We're gonna talk about that a little bit more later, but um, you say, Jay, I can't I can't love my boss. What are you talking about? He's he's a jerk or whatever, or or she is this and that, and she talks bad about me behind my back. No, you you can operate, you can't do it by yourself. You're all right. You can't. The only way to do it is with the love of God, with agape love. And that's done supernaturally until it just flows out of you, like Selena was saying. Verse 8 He who does not love uh does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God was manifested towards us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world that he that we might live through him in this love. Uh, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propriation of our sins, propitiation. Sorry, verse eleven. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And so, like we were saying, you can't. Give what you don't have. And so you must love out of the love that God's given us. And so that's the one thing that separates us from all religions, from all cults, is Jesus. And it's God Himself who is love. It's this love, in other words, that separates us. So if we're not walking in this love, they don't see a difference. Have you ever been accused of being, you know, a member of a cult? Oh, you just you go to church. You go to church over there. Don't you know they're a cult? No, no. We are walking in the love of God. Amen. So I think, you know, uh all of creation points to the love of God. For God so loved the world, it was it was James, not the book of James, but my brother James that brought that revelation back that that uh for God so loved the world that he gave, but that that the world the that he loved like the world, the world means his creation. You yes, you are his creation, but he created everything uh for us, but he created everything to glorify him. And so we're part of that plan. So we can look around, you can go outside, maybe not in Houston, but you can look up in the night sky and you can see sometimes the stars. And and uh, you know, it was it was that moment that led to my dad's salvation of him going out to the deer least in the country and just staring up in the sky and realizing just how small he is, and that you know, that that expression that you know that wonderment is what led to his heart being open to receive the love of God. Amen. And so um the greatest expression of love is giving. So God gave, you're like, hey, you're a preacher, you're gonna say that. No, um God, for God so loved the world, and and dad said it earlier. Um not that, you know, not that we love God, but that God loved us. So before we even were born, God had a plan for us. Before you were ever, before your parents even ever thought about you, God knew exactly your purpose. He had a plan for you, and he already paid the price so that you could live in freedom and and have a relationship with him, which is what dad was talking about earlier. He paid it all for you, he paid it all for me. Amen. Amen. Point number three. Route number three.

Root 1: A Pure Heart, Clear Conscience, Genuine Faith

SPEAKER_00 46:29

Route number three is God's love has been poured into our heart. And Pastor mentioned the scripture, Romans 5 5. Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has given to us. And so hope doesn't disappoint. And the love of God has been poured in our hearts, and so we have that love. Uh, you know, we I love that, so I don't know if y'all know youth. So we have this on Wednesday nights. Uh, children's church is teaching on love. Youth also started a new theme. Um, unf ours is called unfiltered love. And so our theme scripture in John 13, 34, and 35, Jesus is talking and he's he's telling his disciples, um, hey, a new command I give to you. Love. You know, he could have said anything. These are his last words before he was last words, could have said anything before he was arrested. Um, in that chapter, if you read, you know, he he uh betrayal happens and um he washes uh their feet, but but he commands them, hey, a new command. This is new, like a new command that I give to you that you love one another, um, just as I have loved you by this, not by anything else, not by how smart you are, not by how many degrees you have, not by who your mama and daddy are. By this, people will know that the love of God exists. By how you show people that that you hey, there's love, there's this, there's this new way of loving. It's not it's not what the world says. And so, you know, the world filters, puts filters, and and oh, this is the way you should look, and then you'll be loved. This is how you should talk, and then that's that's how you'll be loved. This is you know, this is what you should do. Um, then then you'll okay. No, that's all the culture and and the war, it's worldly. Um, and so by this, I love that. By this, Jesus says, by this, one thing, by this, people will know, right? That's your witness, that you are my disciples. People will know that you're a Christ Christian. I'm a Christian. Well, you're a Christian, but then you talking like you're not. How do I know you love God? Oh, I'm a Christian. No, by this, by the love that you have. Oh, I only love the people that love me. No, the word says, love your enemies, do good to those who despitefully use you. Just sat right there, man. We got lots of homework, right? The ones who use you, the ones who hate you, the ones who aren't nice to you, love those. Those need love, right? By this, and so that's deep. That's deep. We got a lot of work to do because we have those people coming in the church, and they're not gonna look like us, right? And so what's gonna smell like us? They're not gonna smell like us. And so God's love has no has no filters, like it's unfiltered love. You just love because you know how much you're loved, you have a revelation. Man, God loves me. Out of that, I'm gonna love somebody else. I'm not gonna put up a front, right? The walls are gonna come down, I'm just gonna love. That's that's that's deep. That's deep. But you know what? With the Holy Spirit, the word says that the Holy Spirit can help us love those people, and and we can have a revelation of how much we're loved so we can love those, see beyond, yay, and we live in a political, I'm all about, you know, listen, religion, politics, all the things. There are lots of boundaries, there are lots of walls. We see them, we we hear. Thank you, social media, thank you, TV. Sometimes I gotta shut it off. And it's good to shut it off, right? We get informed here because sometimes it makes you mad, right? It it does. And so to see beyond that, um, living in 2026, there there are lots of things to overcome, but with God, all things are possible, right? That's how people will come to know the love of God. I didn't say it, it says it in Jesus said it in John 13. By this, people will know by love.

unknown 50:52

Amen. Yep.

Be Real With God: Ending The Facade

SPEAKER_01 50:53

We look out in the audience, we can see that y'all are receiving. That's good. That y'all, you know, your attention span, you have you have your ability to receive. You know, I was talking to Brother Stan uh before church, and he said, uh, well, Linda and I told the dog that we're going to receive love, you know. So I said, here, you know, let me scratch your back. So we're receiving love tonight. So this is our last point. But root number four, uh, we can love anybody. We have the ability to love anybody. Amen. And so uh Matthew 5, 43 uh says, You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. When's the last time you've done that? Do good to those who hate you. Have you done that recently? And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Wow. That you may be sons of your father in heaven. For he makes look at this, he kind of like I've heard people preach this negatively, but he makes his son, S-U-N, rise on the evil and on the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust. So in other words, they're treated the same. God has mercy. God's gonna raise, he's gonna uh water their crops just like he's gonna water your crops, he's merciful, right? And so, in other words, if if if God is merciful like that and life is gonna go on, then then you're gonna love and your life is gonna go on, right? You're gonna go on living, you're gonna go on receiving, you're gonna go on producing, amen. For if you love those who love you, verse 46, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you uh do more than others? Uh do not even the tax collectors do so, therefore you shall be perfect, just as your father in heaven is perfect. And so I just know that uh you're not gonna be able to love in your feelings, you're gonna be you're gonna do it out of the love of God, like we said earlier, and that's a supernatural love that's been poured into our hearts, and uh and so we're called to love them anyways, and to show them the love of God, anyways. And so um, you know, and that's what's the great thing about it is when you really show the love of God, you're gonna get some weird reactions. How many of you have seen some reactions, some different reactions when you've operated in love? They're expecting you, uh they're not expecting you to turn the other cheek, are they? They're expecting you to come at them and you don't. And you, it's not that, you know, um, but you're doing it out of love, and there's nothing that they can do about it. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, and nothing can separate others from the love of God through you. And you're like, Jay, you're using that uh scripture out of context. No, I'm really not. The love of God through us, there's nothing that can separate us or them from the love of God that's that is flowing supernaturally through us, amen. And so um, you know, no weapon formed against us shall prosper, but no weapon formed against God's love that's going through us shall prosper, right? And so um you have to look at scripture through the love of God, amen. And so that means that you can love anybody. It's a choice. It's a choice that you're gonna wake up and you're gonna make that says, you know what, today I am gonna love with God's love. I'm not gonna act like all, you know, there's there's a you know, maybe Selena can help us out. So, so on on a woman's point of view, but from a man's, there's so many different ways that we, you know, in our marriage, we could be addicted to pornography, and then you're you're not able to love. You're that's objectifying women. There, you're you it it uh saps your confidence, it saps your ability to hear from the Lord, and then it affects your love walk. And it and and so and with what we've seen and dealing with ministering to people, um, those people are frustrated all the time, right? Because they're in sin. They're bound, they have bondage and they're bound.

SPEAKER_00 55:35

Um that's part of guarding. Yeah, right? That's and so we guard our hearts. Yeah, we can have a list of that's part of guarding.

SPEAKER_01 55:43

But maybe if that's in your in your past, um you you've been jaded to think that that's love, and there's there's nothing else, uh, that is not love at all. So you're gonna get your mind renewed and your heart renewed by the love of God by spending time with with the Lord, but and renewing that. And so there needs to be a whole relationship change in your marriage and in the way that you treat one another, if that was a a bondage in your past, right?

SPEAKER_00 56:13

Yeah, and love really is I mean, action, love and action. It's easy just to say, hey, walk in love, hey, you know, prefer one another, but the word works when you put it to work.

SPEAKER_01 56:26

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 56:27

Because we can sit up here, we can, we can have, and I love series and I love preaching, and that's what we do, but the word will not work for you until you put it to work. It's love in action. Oh, okay, I have a problem with that co-worker over there. She gets on my nerves. Bake her a cake, bake her some cookies, love in action. Now don't put anything in the cookies, okay? Don't use salt, so sure. But seriously, it's it's tape taking that step, right? Because we all have feelings. I got them too. We all go through those emotions and they flare up before we say something. That's another thing. Before we say something, we love and act, hey God, you know what? Let me take a moment. Let me read your word, let me speak your word. And what what would love do? What would you do? What were your last words? We just read them. John 13. I loved you, you go love others. By this, people will know that you're real, that you ain't a fake. Because we got lots of fake Christians. Just heads up. We do, and so by this, people will know that you're real, that you really love, that you really care about people, right? Yeah.

Root 2: God Is Love

SPEAKER_01 57:40

In in every relationship. So, you know, Selena's reading out of John 13. The first verse in John 13 says, And Jesus loved them to the end. You know, during uh last year when we were preaching the marriage and family series, we used that scripture as a marriage scripture because that's one of our marriage scriptures. I'm gonna love my wife to the very end. I'm gonna uh treat her right, I'm gonna esteem her, I'm gonna put her second to the Lord only. And uh and so um better, treat me right. You're a good number two. I'm just kidding. Um, but um think about what happened in go back and study that if you want to John 13. You know, he's getting ready for the Last Supper with his disciples. You know, Judas is about to betray him, and Peter's about to deny him, and he loved them anyways. He knew all that was gonna happen and he loved them. He prepared them the best that he could, and he loved them through that. And if we would operate in that same love, I'm telling you, your whole world will turn around. Your whole, your whole uh the atmosphere in your home will completely change. The that the issues that you're having over and over and over again with your children and your young people, um, and disobedience and rebellion can turn around when you start loving them out of this love. And so it's one thing to talk about it, but like Selena's saying, it's action. And so I thought I I was prepping this morning and and the Holy Spirit kind of gave me this example, and I've used similar examples, but I wanted to talk about uh Lena Hildago, right? We all know who Lena Hildago is, Lena Baby, as my dad calls her, right? So um so her office is filled with corruption, she lies constantly, she uh she's it's she's working in an area that's demonic, right? And you can see it, but even in the natural, you see that even the liberal news media has uh become against her, and they started releasing stories, and it the pressure mounted so much that she's literally seeing a psychiatrist and in and out of mental facilities having issues mentally because she can't even deal with that level of deception that she's walking in. And so, but did you ever stop and realize that she's not the enemy? She's acting, uh, she's uh acting in a strategy of the enemy, right? But we're not against the person, we're against everything that she stands for right now. But that you did you realize that Jesus loves her just as much as he loves me, just as much as he loves Selena, and that in one decision she could make and turn her whole life around, and she could be the next Paul. You know, and so and so we can never wish destruction on anyone. I think sometimes we're tempted to like, oh, she's back in a mental facility, whatever, you know, and like, you know, the news will it try to hide stuff, but then one person, you know, one outlet will release the truth. But like, um, we never rejoice in other people's downfall. You know, Jesus was on the cross and he said, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. She doesn't know what she's doing in every area. Obviously, she does in some areas, but she doesn't realize the the uh the strategy of the devil that she's fallen for. And so, you know, think about the the the soldiers, where some of them uh with Jesus' death, they were just following orders. They I don't know what the consequence for not following an order was back there in the Roman army. I don't I don't I don't know, but what if they were would have been what if they were facing their loss of life for disobeying an order? No, they're just doing what they were told. And so he's Jesus said, Hey Father, forgive them. And if we walk in that same level of mercy, I'm telling you that mercy spills into the next arena and into the next arena and the next arena, and you and so you you're dealing with conflict after conflict after conflict, but I'm telling you, uh how did my dad, you know, dad, when he first started, he was talking about it's over, it's a there's an overflow, so it's spilling into every area of our lives. And so uh here at this church, we're called into the political realm, but we see it all the time. Every time we have a meeting in here, they're like, man, it's different in here. There's an atmosphere in here. They don't recognize it as a as a spirit of faith. They don't that they don't always recognize it as the anointing, but every single person that walks through here, they talk about it. You know, it's it's it's hard to cuss somebody out standing in a church, right? There's so I'm just talking about some of the Republican meetings that they've they've had. They have disagreements. Usually those disagreements can get heated in any in any scenario, but man, in here it's different. And so uh I'm telling you, if we we have that same authority, we walk in that same authority. If we would allow the love of God to bubble up out of us and overflow out of our heart, you have an abundance, and then you're not dry, you're not, you're not trying to play catch up, you're attacking the situation in love, and I'm telling you, uh, like I said, it changes everything. And so um, so uh He he Jesus loved like no other, and we can love like no other as well because we can love like Him, and uh and He loved to the highest degree, amen. Amen. And so um, you know, one more thing just before we kind of go over our points and then wrap it up. Um I see this all the time. Don't allow the world, never allow an unsaved person to tell you who God is. We know who God is, and God is love. God is not acceptance, he is love, and he has a standard, and that standard is love. And so he's never gonna bend the rules. Instead, he he provided a way of escape for anybody and everybody, and it's through the blood of Jesus, it's through the sacrifice of Jesus. And so people who make excuses for their behavior or they make excuses for not following the standard that he has set, they're never gonna advance in life because they're living that lie and they keep stacking up that facade um, you know, on top, on top of think of like, you know, makeup, but somebody who wears too much makeup, right? They're just caking it on, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:34

Don't look at me.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:35

I won't I won't look at you. I was looking at you, but not I wasn't thinking about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

Makeup's good.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:39

Amen. Makeup, yes. But I won't be like Pastor OC used to say, anyways. Something about a barn. What was that?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:48

Next.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:48

There you go. Even an old barn needs a new coat of painting. All right. So uh let's move on. But, anyways, yeah. Um, so we're uh we've got let's move go backwards. Route number number four, uh we can love anybody. Route number three was that God's love has been poured out into our hearts. Route number two is that God is love, and route number one, we can have a pure heart. Amen. Amen. Go ahead. You can yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:23

Um, that's good. Yeah. I would just encourage you, you know, um, just to create uh an atmosphere. A lot of times we say these things like, you know, I want an atmosphere to be so and so and so and so, but a lot of times we just have to look in the mirror. Am I creating an atmosphere of love? Am I creating an atmosphere of peace? Am I a conduit of love to let that allow that love to flow? So I would just encourage you during these weeks, like really examine yourself and just be real. Be real um with God, with yourself, with your family. Um, Because this love isn't only for you, but you are modeling it to your family and the next generation. And so any bad habits or ugly habits or mean habits that we may have will be passed down, can be passed down to your kids and other people. And so you want to make so it's really vital, it's very important to just uh take a look and examine, you know, the word says uh the word examines us. It's a mirror. And so just during this time, like that's what I'm gonna do. And it's good to examine our lives and and ask ourselves the difficult questions. Amen.

Creation, Giving, And Purpose

SPEAKER_01 1:06:40

And I know this is not a marriage and family series class, but I would just give you a heads up if you're married and you're both here and you're both listening. Um be ready for the real because you're gonna see some facades coming down in in each other. And and I encourage you to don't fear that process, instead embrace it. And make sure that you're including, you know, we have our our separate prayer lives, but then we pray together. And yes, we should we could do that more, but I'm just saying that we do pray together, and in prayer comes unity, but there's literally no secrets, there's nothing that that I'm desiring or or aiming towards that she doesn't know about, and then vice versa. And because there's unity in prayer, and so um um we're talking about being real and having real faith and have operating out of uh genuine love, that's where it comes from, is through prayer. And so don't neglect that. You're never too busy for that. Don't you know prioritize your prayer life, but then prioritize praying together, amen? Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful for your word tonight. There's no such thing as unexpressed praise or thanks. And so we're grateful. We're grateful for you for your revelation of who you are, and you are love, you are agape love. And so, Father, we just thank you that we can operate in the same love that you loved. And so, Father, we just thank you that that love has been poured out into our hearts and that we're vessels that receive that when we got saved, and it's out of that love that we can pour into others. Lord, it's grown, it's fruit that is grown, and so we're allowing it to be grown, and we're watering, watering it with the word, and we're we're in your presence, so we know that that love is growing, it grows in your presence. We're worshiping you, and so Lord, in the in the praise and worship process, we know that you're you're digging out uh negative roots, things that are holding us back as we pour our love on you out every day in worship and in praise, Lord, that you're repairing us on the inside. And Lord, that the in our prayer closets, as we read your word, it's not just logos, but it turns into rhema. And that rhema word uh destroys uh evil thinking. It destroys uh uh bondages that have been hanging on for way too long. And Lord, we commit to be completely and totally honest and real with you because you're real with us in every single area. Father, we thank you for these things. Jesus' name.