Why God Sent His Son
0:20 - I went to church for about 20 years and never understood why God really sent His Son. I thought He was just here to protect me, provide for me, keep me safe and make sure that my life went well. But about 13 years after I had stopped going to church, I realized that He was here to transform me and make me more like Him - to make me think differently... different motives - different perspectives - and even a different reason for being. So we are going to talk about that a little bit.
1:15 - Before He came into my life, I was a certain way. Now, after I realized that He came, I don’t stay that same way. Old things pass away - behold ALL things become new - my heart, my mind, my mouth and everything about me. Are you ready?
1:50 - In Genesis 1:26 we find out that… ...God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So if we are believers of the Bible we understand that God is the one that made man. But I want you to pay attention to this little key right here - it changed my whole life: He didn’t just make man… He made man with a purpose. He made man for His image and His likeness.
3:00 - Now that was in the beginning. We have to understand that in the beginning man was made a certain way by God. When man sinned and got separate from God, that changed - man changed. And we here today, were all born into that change. It’s called Adam. (We were all born into Adam.) And you must be born again.
3:30 - In the world we have taken this gospel and we’ve made “born again” into a way to go to heaven, instead of a way back to His image - back to His nature and back to His love. So we receive Him as a Savior and if we are not careful, we just stay the same in many ways - frustrated, angry, proud, jealous… but we praise Him for taking me to heaven. No, it’s all about heaven coming back into you.
4:30 - The whole reason that God sent His Son is to restore things back to the way it was in the beginning. And if we miss that, we’ll DO a lot of church, but really fail to BECOME the church. We’ll look for God to bless us, instead of allowing Him to change us.
5:15 - If we let life overwhelm us - if we let circumstances overwhelm us - we’ll be so distracted by those things that we’ll miss the reason that we are really here. When you get squeezed by life, you’re not supposed to go, “Unh!” (cry out in pain), you’re supposed to shine. When people do you wrong, Christians don’t get mad, they shine. When people squeeze you, Jesus comes out, not everything else. Do you understand? This is why Jesus came.
6:15 - He never said sing to me and pray to me when you are overwhelmed, He said, “Follow me.” Why? Because He lived a life we were created for. We are called to follow Him. So this whole week we are going to talk about following Him.
6:45 - He loves us. He forgives us for everything. He forgives us for where we’ve been and what we’ve done. And He sees us for what He made us to be. If we are willing to believe that - to surrender to that - His grace will change us.
7:15 - Let’s look at v.27 - So God created man in his own image... - In v.26 God talked about creating man and in v.27 He did it. So who made man? God made man. But He didn’t just make us. ...in the image of God created he him… He’s not talking about a head, arms and legs because God is spirit. He’s talking about His heart, His nature and His love. God is love. He made man in His image. He made man to love - not to need to BE LOVED by others but to love others.
8:20 - When man sinned, he got cut off from (the source of) love and became in need of love. And we were all born that way. So we must be born again.
8:40 - Being born again is not a prayer to go to heaven. It’s heaven coming back inside of you - to where you don’t live for yourself anymore but for Him that came.
8:55 - Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything shall be added unto you. The Bible says that unless a seed dies and falls to the ground, it’s alone. But if it dies and falls to the ground it will spring up and bear much fruit. And in this the Father is well pleased that you bear much fruit.
9:35 - He is for us people! He didn’t forget why He made us - no matter how many mistakes - unbelief - sin - willfulness or ignorance. He knows why we are here. And Love (God) hasn’t changed His mind (about us - who He made us to be and sees us to be).
10:10 - So while we were yet sinners, God sent His Son because He knows who you are. We’ve been trying to figure out who we are - trying to get attention - popularity - somebody to like me - just to get somebody to laugh - because we don’t know who we are. But He knows. And He sent His Son.
10:50 - God told Adam, “The day you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is the day you die.” But Adam didn’t die. When he ate from the tree, did He fall over dead? Something had to have died - God said, “You will die.” So what died? Everything God made Him to be was lost through sin, but not lost through love - (but not lost to God's heart - God always remembered who He made us to be). So Adam lost who he was - the image died - the nature of God died in Adam and he became self-centered, self-protecting, self-defending, self-justifying - a god unto himself.
12:00 - Now God didn’t change why He made man, but man sure changed. When God found Adam naked, He asked him, “How did you know you were naked? (Did you eat from the tree?” It was a yes or no question. But Adam replied) He said, “It was the woman that you gave me.” He blamed the woman and he blamed God, “Don’t look at me!”
12:40 - Haven’t we thought that way? Haven’t we spoken that way? And haven’t we let others decide who we are? Haven’t we let others decide how we are - how well we’re are doing? And if we aren’t careful haven’t we gone to God frustrated, “Why did you let this happen?” But He’s not here to make sure that you have a good day circumstantially. He’s here to make sure that your day looks like Him - in you.
13:25 - So Adam sinned and everything died that God created him to be. And as far back as you can remember, you needed love - you needed to be valued - you wanted to feel like your life mattered. But many times you were not sure that it did matter because through sin and separation every reason that God made us seemed lost. But it’s still alive and it’s alive through Jesus.
14:15 - So we look at Jesus’ life - He’s the way back to the Father. We deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. We’re born again. It’s not a prayer to go to heaven someday. It’s heaven coming back into you. You’re not living for yourself anymore but for Him that died and for others.
14:55 - This is so important. Let the gospel teach you, everyday you wake up, that nobody owes you anything... because HE gave you everything that really matters - a right perspective - a right reason for living. He makes sense of life.
15:30 - Before Him, for many of us, life is a struggle and doesn’t make sense because we are living for ourselves and trying to get by - trying to catch a break - trying to get enough - and missing the whole reason of why we are really here.
16:00 - But the gospel really is good news. The gospel isn’t a survival kit. It’s the answer of a new life - a new way - and a new reason for being.
16:50 - One more thing that I want you to understand… The way that we grew up thinking... God didn’t teach us that. The Bible says, the way that seems right - like, “I can’t believe that you did that to me.” - “I’m hurt.” - “Well, you shouldn’t have…” - “How come..?” We’ve all thought that way, felt that way and it just came naturally. You didn’t have to study to be angry. You didn’t have to pass a test to be frustrated. You’ve had that ability for as long as you can remember. It’s time to give those things up by realizing where they come from. It comes from you, thinking for you - instead of thinking for His kingdom.
18:10 - If Jesus thought for Himself - thought selfishly, He would have never made it to the cross. People didn’t treat Him right. People didn’t appreciate Him. He did nothing wrong but He got treated like He did everything wrong. He never changed His mind - never got discouraged - never turned back. He died on that cross to show us what love looks like - to give us something to follow. Do you understand?
19:00 - This is why He came. And I promise you that if we miss this reason, we’ll miss the real reason as to why He came. He didn’t just come to love us, He came to make us that same love.
19:25 - So we, by faith, say good-bye to the way that it was. And by faith we have to understand everyday that I have new life. And remember this: nobody owes me anything. Like, I didn’t wake up to be loved by you today. I woke up to love you. So everything is going to be OK. No longer can you break my heart - hurt me - beat me down - or discourage me because I know who I am in Him and why I’m alive.
20:25 - If I wake up for you to love me, I am probably disappointed - probably hurt - and then I’ll justify a lifestyle that doesn’t look like Jesus - still go to church, sing all of the right songs but I won’t have His heart and won’t look like Him in my life.
21:00 - I don’t think that we do this intentionally. I think we’ve heard a lot of messages about God blessing me - providing for me - taking care of me - instead of changing me.
21:20 - You see, if I let you and how you are treating me, decide how I’m doing, then how is He really Lord in my life? I’m letting something matter more than what matters most.
21:55 - So when I got born again, He started to teach me these things... so I put all of these things off in prayer. And I said, “God, I am done living for me.”
22:15 - No wonder life seems hard. I’m trying to live it for why I’m not here. (I’m trying to live outside of what I was originally designed for.) If you try to live life for some other reasons, no wonder life is hard. Why would He put gas in your gas tank, to drive to somewhere you weren’t called to - to live some way that you weren’t created for?
22:55 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God - first - kingdom of God - not your own wellbeing - not just protection - not just provision - seek ye first His kingdom, His righteousness and all of these things? Gas tank full!
23:30 - Let’s go to Colossians chapter 3...
(In the remainder of the video Pastor Dan goes on to further explain this new life - this transformation and how this transformation happens - what "putting off" and "putting on" in prayer means.)