The Gathering Surf City

Hey, good morning.

If you don't know who I am,

my name is Nick Adams.

I get to be one of the pastors here.

I always ask myself right before
I walk up here how.

I don't know how long I'm going
to keep saying that,

but I hadn't had an opportunity to preach
in as long as this doc's been

here because I walked
up here and oh,

different.

But before I get carried away,

I want to pray for all of us
before we get started.

So let's pray.

Dear Lord,

thank you for this new day.

Thank you for this time we
get to spend together.

Thank you for the rain
showers today,

dear Lord.

We need them.

Dear Lord,

I just pray that this time we're about
to spend together would just honor

and glorify you.

Holy Spirit,

I invite you to come and
just fill this place,

dear Lord,

and overwhelm us to the
point of repenting,

dear Lord.

To conviction,

to change,

dear Lord.

To put off our flesh,

dear Lord,

and to put on Christ.

Thank you again just for this time
and this opportunity just to

communicate your word.

Dear Lord,

I pray that you just speak through me
in a way that people respond to you.

Take a step of faith and I look forward
to what you're going to do.

Love you.

Amen.

I hadn't been,

like I said,

I hadn't,

hadn't preached in a few months and
been kind of following along with

what has been talked about,

preached on over here.

Kind of been going through the
gathering mission statement,

right? Or does anybody know it?

Does anybody know?

Did you even know?

We kind of have a mission statement.

Yeah. So loving God,

living Jesus,

walking together.

So we've been going through the loving
God part and so how do you love

God? Right.

Bobby preached on Psalms,

right? And worship what you worship
what you put your worth in.

Right. That's where the word
worship comes from.

So what you value and
if it's not God,

then you're probably going
to be let down.

A lot of times might take
longer than others,

but I found that to be the case over and
over again when I didn't put God

in his place.

So we talked about loving greatest
commandment last week,

I believe,

right, love God with all your heart,

soul and strength.

And the second is like it,

love your neighbor as yourself.

Today we're talking about
that second part,

what is love?

And I laugh because depending
on how old you are,

I think if somebody asks you,

what is love,

what do you think about them?

And whether you know it or not,

a lot of times what you
think about love,

it subconsciously is dictated by what
the culture has put out to you in

whatever era you grew up in,

right? So I grew up in the 90s.

And so when I think about
what is love?

I think about the song by.

I think Hadaway's the guy.

What is love?

Baby, don't hurt me no more.

Y'all know that.

So every Thursday during
the summertime,

I went to daycare called
Learning Station.

Every Thursday went to Seven
Gable Skate Ring.

So thinking about love and
what love is and that,

you subconsciously kind of get preconditioned
to trying to figure out

what love is.

So when you're in 4th,

5th grade and you're at 7 Gable skating
rink and that song comes on,

you know,

it kind of gets you hyped up and
everybody's rolling around.

And, you know,

normally right after that song,

a slow song would come on,

and so you would look for somebody
to hold hands and skate with and

everybody be rolling around.

And it made you feel a certain way,

right? And you started trying.

I started associating that with
love because I heard the song,

and then now me and this
girl are holding hands,

and it's like,

this makes me feel good.

This makes me feel weird,

but I like it.

This is love,

right? Or maybe it's movies
or TV shows or music,

or it's the Bachelor,

or it's love whether
you mean to or not.

If you're not grounded in the word,

and if you maybe got the opportunity
to have a godly father and him know

all these things and teach you and coach
you through it through your kind

of adolescent puberty,

middle school,

high school years,

then God bless you,

and you better go home and thank him.

Or if they're no longer here,

you better send a prayer up to them.

Because I think a lot
of people didn't,

probably didn't get that.

And so you got whatever
the world gave you,

right? And then it took you a while to
figure out that love isn't really

a feeling,

because that would be kind
of like the flu.

Like, it comes on you,

makes you feel a certain way,

and you got it.

But then it goes away,

and you're like,

well, I don't feel that way anymore,

so let's throw this one away
and get another one.

Next Thursday,

you're holding hands with
a different girl,

right? At the skating ring.

Just an example.

But in thinking about what love is,

Romans chapter 13 explains
what love is,

how to do it,

how not to do it.

And that's where we're
at this morning.

Romans chapter 13,

if you got your Bible,

I'm reading out of ESV,

if it sounds different than
what you're reading.

But starting in verse eight,

thinking about what love is,

it says,

owe no one anything except
to love each other.

Owe no one anything doesn't mean.

Isn't necessarily talking
about just debt.

Like I owe somebody a payment every
month for this car I drive.

If you back up to verse seven,

it kind of explains that statement.

And it says,

pay to all what is owed to them.

Taxes to whom taxes are owed,

revenue is owed,

respect to whom respect is owed,

and honor to whom honor is owed.

So it's not just talking
about taxes,

it's not just talking about money,

it's not just talking about debts.

If you owe honor to somebody,

pay them.

If you owe respect to somebody,

pay them.

If you owe debt,

pay them.

You might owe somebody an apology,

do it.

That's what Paul's saying.

And then it goes on to say,

except to love each other,

you can't fully pay love back.

Why does anybody know?

So pay off all your debts,

pay off what you owe to people,

pay what you owe to God,

right? But you can't pay love back.

Why can't you pay love back?

Because it's not ours,

is it?

We didn't create it.

We're not the source of it.

God is.

Owe no one anything except
to love each other.

For the one who loves another
has fulfilled the law.

So in the gathering's kind
of mission statement,

two proclamation,

two believers in Christ,

loving God,

living Jesus.

And this is the living Jesus part,

right? Love your neighbor.

If you love God and love
your neighbor,

you're going to take care of
the rest of the rules,

the laws,

the regulations,

the debts,

right?

It's.

There's a verse in the Bible
that talks about,

it's hard to serve two masters.

So if you're constantly in debt,

whether it's money,

whether it's honor,

respect, apologies,

if you're constantly owing
somebody something,

it's hard to serve.

It's harder to serve God,

is what I find.

Because you're not free,

right? It's not paid for.

And you're having to have these obligations
other than for the one who

loves another has fulfilled the law.

For the commandments,

you shall not commit adultery,

you shall not murder,

you shall not steal,

you shall not covet,

and any other commandment are
all summed up in this word,

you shall love your neighbor
as yourself.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor.

Therefore, love is the fulfilling
of the law.

So he tells you kind of Like Bobby preached
the two greatest commandments

last week in Matthew.

The reason and it's funny,

we tried to shorten when we were.

When the.

When Kyle,

Jordan and when Kyle and Jordan and
I were kind of going through

ordination and becoming pastors and
going through that whole process.

And then we started talking about and
Bobby sort of started mentoring us

and we were going through that.

I think Bobby was explaining this to
us and there's a reason why I think

Kyle shortened it one
time to love God,

live Jesus,

walk together for a sticker or something
to put on a and Bobby corrected

him, said no,

it's loving God and living Jesus
because when you put ing on it,

it's active.

Love does,

right? It's not.

Love is.

Love is not a feeling.

Love does.

It requires you to do something.

So remember that when you see it.

If you can love your neighbor,

you don't have to worry
about all the rules.

So what is love?

So love should be the primary mark of
a Christian because we're image

bearers of God and we reflect him
and love is the way we do that.

So I was listening to
another pastor,

Joby Martin,

who said he what do people
say about Christians?

If you typed into Google why are Christians
so what would come up?

So I got curious and I did it well,

why are Christians so hypocritical?

Why are Christians so mean?

Why are Christians so close minded?

Why are Christians so forceful in
their beliefs is what came up.

Well, guess what?

If you Google why are dogs
so guess what comes up?

Why are dogs so kind?

Why are dogs so loyal?

Why are dogs so fun?

So dogs in our culture have a better
respect than Christ followers.

Why do you think that is?

Dogs have a better reputation
than Christ followers.

Maybe I should say dogs have a better
reputation than church attenders or

members. Because if you're
following Christ,

it's active,

right? It's every day you're
chasing after him,

you're following him.

And he says,

if you seek me,

you will find me.

Knock and I will answer.

We should always be marked by love.

So what is love?

It's not 7 Gable skating rink it's
not what Hadaway says or it's not

conditional. It's not a feeling.

A couple things the Bible
says about love.

I think you can only interpret what the
Bible says by the Bible because

it's God's inerrant word.

And when you try to add stuff to it
is where you get led astray or

confusion. But we know God
is the source of love.

1 John 4,

10, 11 says in this is love.

Not that we have loved,

but God,

that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins.

That's a big word that I
don't hear people use.

Propitiation just means the payment that
satisfies Jesus was the payment

that satisfied our sin.

Beloved, if God so loved us,

we also ought to love one another.

I don't know where you're at in your
walk with Christ or in your journey

of maybe trying to figure out
who God is or who God isn't.

But if you don't know
that God loves you,

then that is where you
have to start.

And once you start figuring out how much
God loves you and that he sent

his only Son to pay,

you're dead.

That's unconditional,

right?

And once you start to realize that,

then you respond to it in love.

I've said it before.

Once I started to realize
how much God loved me,

I can't help but respond to it.

You can't help but be overwhelmed,

overcome by that kind of love.

Because the world and even people don't
love you that way all the time.

1 John 3:16.

By this we know love,

that he laid down his life for us.

And we ought to lay down our
lives for the brothers.

Pay for your stuff.

Except love,

right?

We can't pay back love
because it's not ours.

And then he gives you
the commandments,

right? Not all of them.

He gives you the kind of,

the second half of them.

You should not steal,

you should not covet.

And you should not commit adultery.

You should not murder.

And what do we do?

I ain't killed.

At least I ain't killed anybody.

You know,

pretty good.

But what did Jesus say?

If you think about it in your heart,

then you have committed it.

You shall not covet.

You should not want what
other people have.

You should not want other
people's stuff.

You shouldn't want other people's wives
or husbands or daughters or sons.

Those are horizontal commandments.

Those are to each other,

right? Well,

if you don't get the vertical ones,

have no other gods before me.

Worship the one true living God.

Those first four,

if you haven't aligned
yourself with those,

then it's going to be hard
to get the horizontal one.

And thinking about love and
it's not a condition,

it's not a feeling.

It is Romans 5:8,

just a few chapters before God showed
his love for us in that while we

were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

And I think everybody,

you've heard most people
in this room,

I would say,

have heard.

Heard the gospel,

you've heard that message.

You have acknowledged that you are
a sinner in need of saving.

And you have been justified
in Christ,

right? But in salvation,

that is just the first
part being justified.

You have been bought and paid
for with Christ's blood.

I don't know many people that.

Once you explain that to them,

they can't say,

you know,

I'd like to have some of that.

Once you've realized
that you've stole,

you've murdered,

you've thought about it,

you've lied,

you haven't obeyed your
mother and father,

you go through the list and ask,

and everybody will raise their hand.

Yeah, I've thought about
that or done that.

And somebody needs to pay for that.

In salvation,

that's just the first part,

being justified.

And yes,

once you are saved,

yes, you are saved.

But then there's.

That is just kind of the diving board
into what Christ has to offer.

Sanctification is what smarter
people than me calling.

You're being sanctified,

you're being made new.

Right? You're taking off the
old and putting on the new.

And baptism is a representation
of that.

And it's kind of like God is chiseling
away everything that don't look

like Jesus.

And that's a process.

It's a lifelong process.

And we're in that process
of sanctification.

And if you don't have Christ and
you're not living Jesus,

you're not thinking about
those things,

and you're thinking about the
desires of the flesh,

and you're thinking
about what I want,

you're probably going to not
feel saved all the time,

are you?

Remember that sanctification
is a lifelong process.

Galatians and thinking
about the flesh,

you know,

Galatians, if I can find it,

Chapter five talks about
it and it says,

I'm getting there.

Hold on.

I don't use this Bible all the time,

but I like what the esv,

the way the ESV worded it.

I normally read out a new
living translation,

the desire.

It talks about the desires
of the flesh.

And Paul kind of transitions.

Once he explains what
love is to you,

he transitions in verse 11.

And he says,

besides this,

you know the time,

the hour has come for you to
wake up from your sleep.

Besides this,

besides knowing what love
is and what love isn't,

besides knowing that you should
love your neighbor,

and love does no wrong
to a neighbor.

The time is at hand.

The hour has come for
you to wake up.

How many of us are thinking
about that,

especially now in the time we're in.

I don't know about you,

but it seems pretty easy right now to
be able to tell if you're looking

what the truth is and
what the truth isn't.

And yeah,

I know it's election season and
I know the time we're in.

I know what week it is,

and I know what's happening
next week.

And people don't like to talk
about it in church,

but you should vote if
you haven't voted.

I encourage you to vote.

If you don't know that there's good and
evil out there and that it's very

apparent and you're not
sure who to vote for,

come ask me,

I'll be more than happy to tell you.

It's not hard to see.

I'm not here to talk about people
or the political candidates,

but it is pretty plain to see who's trying
to stand up for the truth and

who's trying to evoke your emotions
or feelings or lies.

I'll find it in a minute.

The hour has come.

We're closer now than
we've ever been.

We're a day closer today,

we're a week closer than last week,

and we're 2,000,

almost 2,000 years closer than
when this letter was written.

And in that same what
are we closer to?

I talked about salvation,

part of that salvation process,

justification, sanctification,

sanctified, meaning you're just
being made more like Christ.

That kind of chiseling away of everything
that is not Christ.

It takes time,

right? How do you get
to know somebody?

It takes time.

You got to spend time with them.

If you're not spending
time with Jesus,

if you're not spending
time in the Word,

you're probably going to let the
culture tell you what love is,

whether you mean to or not.

We're closer than we ever been.

What are we closer to?

We're closer to finally
being glorified.

Glorification is kind of the end
of that salvation process.

When Jesus comes back
and finally judges,

finally makes right,

wrong, finally makes this world
as he intended it to be.

And not only that,

but if you're storing up those treasures
in heaven and the things that

the world can't take away and
not things of this world,

all those things will be revealed to
you and you'll get a crown and

you'll cast it at his feet
and you will worship him,

and it's going to be so glorious that
they're going to use gold as

asphalt.

That's what I'm looking Forward to.

That's the hope I have.

That's what I'm reminded of.

That's what motivates me
to keep on keeping on.

It's hard to deny yourself,

right?

And Jesus gave us that example.

And if you're not around people that know
those things and can remind you

of those things,

then you're probably going
to get deceived,

right? You're probably going to give
into the desires of the flesh.

You're probably going to have a hard time
understanding what living Jesus

means. All it means is it's
just our way of saying,

love your neighbor.

Who's your neighbor,

could be the person sitting
beside you,

who's your closest neighbor.

I think Bobby said something
about it last week.

Somebody made a joke,

you know,

yeah, it might be your wife.

Your wife's your closest neighbor,

might be your kids.

But how do you.

Jesus even says love your enemies.

How do you love somebody that's
not worth loving to you?

Right? That word love in
this context is agape,

right? We've been talking about
in youth the past couple weeks.

That kind of love means
to will yourself,

to. To choose to.

It's not reactionary.

It's not how you make me feel
or what you do for me.

You're not waiting for
something to happen.

You're doing it.

You're choosing to love someone.

You're choosing.

You're willing yourself to do it.

Because why?

Because that is what represents Christ
and that is what shows people

Christ. And if we did that more,

we wouldn't have to work so hard at trying
to convince people to come to

church or to be a Christian or to what
people think about Christians.

Paul is urging you to wake up,

to not be spiritually lethargic,

to not be lulled to sleep by the desires
of your flesh and the deceiving

of this world and the lies.

And like I said earlier,

it's hard to serve two masters if you're
constantly in debt financially.

If you're constantly
in debt to people,

constantly owe them things,

then you're going to probably
be more deceived,

right?

Salvation is nearer to us now
than when we first believed.

The night is far gone and
the day is at hand.

The time is now.

So then let us cast off the works of
darkness and put on the armor of

light. So Paul kind of transitions
after he explains what love is,

what love isn't.

Love your neighbor.

Two greatest commands besides
setting this aside.

Adding to this,

the time is now.

How do we do that?

You got to deny yourself.

You got to surrender,

give up the desires of the flesh,

put on the armor of light.

If you notice,

flesh, darkness,

night, are most of the time
associated with death.

I think about Lazarus,

he died in the tomb and everybody's
mourning and sad and Jesus kind of

isn't and confused about that.

When he tells Lazarus to get up
and come out of the grave,

he says,

take your grave clothes off.

Some of us when Paul says,

wake up.

That's what I think about.

You're walking around with
dead man's clothes on.

You've not been made,

you've been made alive in Christ.

And a lot of times that's
easy to feel.

When you do something like get baptized
because of what it represents and

people celebrating it.

And then what happens?

You get back out there in the world and
you put those grave clothes back

on and you do everything like everybody
else does and you are spiritually

killing yourself.

But when you put on the
armor of light,

what are you doing?

Talks about it in Ephesians,

putting on the armor of God.

Because we know,

like First Peter says,

the devil is a roaring
lion seeking to kill,

steal and destroy.

And if you're not putting
on those things,

you're going to be in trouble.

And we're getting closer every day,

every week.

I don't know when God's coming back.

That's not the point.

The point is you could
be living in freedom.

By what?

By owing no one anything?

By putting on the armor of light.

By getting out of darkness.

By loving your neighbor.

He goes on to say,

let us walk properly
as in the daytime.

Not in orgies and drunkenness and sexual
immorality and sensuality.

Not in quarreling and jealousy.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make
no provision for the flesh to

gratify its desires.

So how can we love others
as Jesus does?

Last thing on to by helping people
when it's not convenient.

By giving even when it hurts.

By devoting the energy to others
welfare rather than your own.

By absorbing hurts from others without
complaining or fighting back.

Turn and give them the other cheek.

Matthew 5:38.

This kind of love is hard to do,

right?

That's why people notice
when you do it.

Like I said,

love goes first.

It isn't reactionary.

The greatest commandment.

Love God,

love people.

Living Jesus.

And the only reason we can do that is
because he first loved us first.

John 4:19.

We love because he first loved us.

And if you don't know that,

I'd love to tell you about it.

If you do know that,

stop walking around like a
dead person and wake up.

Take Your grave clothes off.

And remember,

you've been made alive in Christ.

So the point of,

the point I'm trying to make the point
of all this is the title of the

message. Didn't even say it.

Love rules.

All of the rules.

If you can do those two things,

it takes care of everything else.

Last question I ask is in
that last verse in 14.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and
make no provision for the flesh.

What are you making provisions for?

You know what a provision is?

It's kind of like saying,

God, I can get along with
all those things.

I want all those things.

I want what you have for me.

I want the blessings.

I want to be bought and paid for.

But let me just set this aside,

Let me just put this over here
and have it for later.

What are those things in your life?

And if you'll cast off those
things and put on Christ,

you don't have to work so hard
at being a Christian.

You don't have to work so hard at checking
the box of making yourself

look like something people won't
have such a hard time seeing.

Day light,

love.

I don't know what those
things are for you,

but you do.

And like I say,

a lot of times,

I just encourage you.

I'm asking you,

I'm begging you to wake up.

Confess those things.

Repent.

Give them to God.

Cast them to them.

Cast all your cares on him
who cares for you.

And not like a fishing rod,

not like a cast net,

not I'm going to throw it out there and
if it don't look like I want it

to, I'll reel it back in.

Let go of them.

Surrender.

This is what living Jesus means,

is where are you making provisions
for the flesh?

Bands will come up here and sing one
more song as they normally do.

And while you're worshiping,

I encourage you to be bold enough to
ask that question and to respond

however God asks you to respond.

I want to pray for you one more
time and we're going to sing.

And I just encourage you to respond
however God asks you to.

Let's pray.

God, I just thank you for having the
grace and mercy to remind me of

these things,

to remind me where I make provisions
in my own life,

to show me where I need to put off the
desires of my own flesh to stop

making provisions.

Stop making excuses,

dear Lord,

and wake up.

God, help us remember that you have
things for us that outlast this

world, that are true treasures,

dear Lord.

They're not just trinkets or toys
or stuff that goes away.

They're true and right and holy and,

dear Lord,

help us to honor and glorify
you by doing those things.

Help us to remember that
you first loved us.

And that's the only way we
can try to love others.

So help us,

dear Lord,

in these next few moments,

to just give those things over to you
and know that you'll meet us right

there.

I look forward to what you're
going to do right here.

Now. Help us just to be
present with you.

Love you.

Amen.