Gerry van der Wende: God loves you!

Here are notes to this evening's first Freedom Fellowship meeting! Was awesome!

God loves you!

January 13, 2013

2 Thes 2:16-17

Introduction

Book "The Secret Life of the Unborn Child"
In this book it explains and shows how responsive the unborn child is
The way in which the unborn child is treated impacts the child's personality and its future life as an adult
What would it be like to be born without love from our parents!
And yet, many children do grow up that way
What are the results of growing up without love?
An inability to show love, because it has not been modeled to them
A view of themselves that they are less than they should be
A basic insecurity and lack of foundations
An insatiable search for love
Looking for love in all the wrong places
So many of us know what I am talking about, from personal experience
I do as well
I grew up in a family where love was a rare commodity
Love was expressed through correction, shouting and pain rather than by praise and closeness
Bad stuff happened in our home
I grew up in terror of the next beating and I grew up knowing deep down inside myself that I was not good enough, that I would never measure up and that I would never amount to anything
Sure enough, that is the way my life went, until God stepped in, and changed me

Jesus loves you

How does God love us?

God loves us in many ways
What does God's love look like
God is a parent who loves his children
We are his children when we have allowed him the key to our heart
1Jo 3:1-2 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
God showed incredible love to us, by making us His children
God did not need us
He is not a needy God, who needs kids to have a sense of control and self-worth
He is not a God who takes advantage of his kids and robs them of their childhood
Instead, God is a God who nurtures and protects
God provides for his children, in this life and in the life to come
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
God loves you

He loved you so much that he drew you back to him

While we were without knowledge of God, we sinned just like every other person who has ever lived, besides Jesus
Each sin we committed was like a nail in Jesus hands and feet
God knew right from the beginning, that Jesus would have to die
There was no getting around it
But God loved us enough, right from the beginning, that he set everything in place so we could return to him
That is true love
We may have had parents who disowned us and wrote us off like black sheep
But God never wrote you off, to Him, you are his precious child
No matter where we have been, or what we have done, he never stopped loving us
God wants you to know that He loves you

Conclusion

Why is it that God wanted you to know that he loves you?
I think it is because love is the basic building block of relationship
God is is love
"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." - 1 Jn 4:16
God's love is purely outgoing, gracious love
He just wants to love us
Whatever he does in our life, comes as a result of His love
That love is the foundation of our eternal existence
That love will be the building block of our healing and recovery

Gerry van der Wende