Living a No-Regrets Life Series
Love Completely
July 12, 2009 FBC, Chester Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction
A If you only had a month to live, who would you want to spend time with, connect with?
1 Who do you need to apologize to?
a Who needs to be assured that you love them?
b What stops you from spending time & saying these words now?
2 Who would you want to thank today if you only had a month to live?
B In Genesis 2:18, it states it is not good for man to be alone! Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Gen 2:18 (NASB)
1 We’re built for relationships, friendships...that’s how we’re designed!
a Our desire is to have people at arm’s length & make it all about us.
b So it is for our entire lives-what we’re designed to do vs. what we desire to do.
2 The ONLY way we’ll ever see design trump desire is to experience God’s love for us.
a As much as we’re made to have relationships with other folks, people will never meet the need we have to be loved the way God loves us.
b He demonstrated His love in a way that changed history forever, & changes lives today.
C Let’s look at how we can live with others the way we were designed to by learning:
1 Money can’t buy you love, but love has a price.
2 Forgiveness is a bridge we can’t afford to burn.
3 Let’s pray
I Money can’t buy you love, but love has a price.
A The price is not measured in stock, but in sacrifice.
1 Love always means risking pain.
a When you love someone, get married, & discover how painful an all-out intimate relationship can be...if nothing else, the possibility that the other person may die someday.
aa Losing parents, kids grow up & move away
bb Friends move, relocate across country
cc We don’t stop loving them, but we can’t connect with them the way we want to.
b Pain is a part of any significant relationship.
c (IL) Drawbridge operator
aa
bb ...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Eph 3:17-19 (NASB)
2 Your problem isn’t that you don’t love God enough, if you don’t know how much God loves you.
a He’d have given His Son if it were only you; the drawbridge would have still been lowered if you were the only one on the train...at the expense of His only Son.
b That’s how much He loves you!
B Once you discover the Father’s love for you, you’ll discover new power to relate to others.
1 I’ve blasphemed, denied, dishonored, disappointed, & lied to Him...& He still calls me son!
a I don’t need people’s approval/validation, or permission to be “me”.
b Because God met my greatest need, I don’t have to put pressure on people to mean more to me than humanly possible.
II Forgiveness is a bridge we can’t afford to destroy.
A Forgiveness. Be angry , and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. Eph 4:26-27 (NASB)
1 Paul tells us not to carry our anger over 24 hours. Why?
a Our anger will morph into bitterness, & bitterness blocks blessing.
aa We get at people, God
bb We’ve got to deal with it! If we don’t, it deals with us.
b The Lord’s Prayer: “...forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
aa Do we really want God to answer this part of the prayer?
bb Do I want God to forgive me to the extent I forgive others?
cc When I understand how much Christ has forgiven me, it’s a whole lot easier to forgive others who hurt me.
c Confess it & ask for forgiveness (healing starts).
aa Breathe out bitterness & breathe in forgiveness.
bb You can’t breathe bitterness for any length of time without causing severe damage.
d For the Christian, forgiveness isn’t an option...it’s commanded!
aa ...bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Col 3:13 (NASB) He could have gone all day without saying that!
bb (IL) “as needed” printed on a bottle of medicine, should also be on this verse.
cc We chose obedience, repeatedly, as necessary.
2 We don’t like to forgive people who’ve hurt us, but that’s O.K.
a Forgiveness is not about what we feel; it’s about a conscious decision we make.
aa God, I choose to forgive then by Your power, because You command me to, & because it’s for my own good.
bb Say that prayer as many times as you need to!
b Forgiveness is not: pretending you weren’t hurt, making light of an offense, a shallow experience.
aa It’s being honest, truthfully saying, “What you did hurt me, but I choose to forgive you by God’s power.”
bb If you’ve only a month to live, wouldn’t you want to move beyond the shallow waters of bitterness, & into the deeper waters of forgiveness?
Conclusion
A Sin is either confessed or suppressed.
1 Suppress it, & it’s an anchor that weighs you down & you’ll sink.
a You don’t have to lug this anchor around any more.
b Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! Micah 7:19 (NLT)
aa When you take your anchor of guilt to God, He’ll take it & cast it into the ocean of His forgiveness.
bb Until you experience the fullness of forgiveness, you’ll never be able to forgive others.
2 Make it last for life exercise
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My name is Mike Fogerson, and I pastor a Southern Baptist Church in Chester, Illinois. I have been a long-time user of Sermon Central and truly appreciate its content and contributors. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever preached have been reworked material from this website. As you use the material from my sermon bank, understand that it is work that has been done from not just myself, but from hundreds of other pastors as well. If you see part of your message, or a bunch of your message with my name on it and this upsets you, please email me and I will quickly respond and cite you as the main source. My intent is not to claim someone’s work as my own. I am disclaiming up front that I use the resources from Sermon Central and appreciate the tool. I simply want all those who use my work to know that some of these messages were inspired by the Holy Spirit working through other pastors. Because I do use the messages of other pastors I waive all claims of originality or origin of creativity for the messages posted under my messages. I pray God blesses your preaching ministry for the glory of His Kingdom.
Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
