Give God Another Chance --- God Loves You
Pastor Rory Clark Barah Ministries www.barahministires.com
Hi there!
My name is Rory Clark and I am the Pastor of Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ
I have a question for you…
Why Don’t You Give God Another Chance?
That’s the focus of these ten-minute lessons. I want you to give God another chance.
Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1 says…
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The bible makes it clear that there is a God, and He created everything in the universe, including you. Why don’t you give God another chance? I’ll tell you why…people! Are you completely turned off to God? Have bad experiences left a bitter taste in your mouth about God? Well I say don’t let people make you turn your back on God. Instead, why don’t you turn your back on people for a while and come to hear what God has to say. Welcome to a place where you can get a real introduction to God.
Who is this God that I want you to give another chance to? He is my Lord and my Savior and my God…the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a Christian. Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship…and I have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
This God I want you to give another chance to loves you. Did you hear that?
God LOVES You
When a person says I love you, that is perhaps the sweetest sound you can ever hear. It’s such an amazing feeling when you know that someone else has personal love for you. When God says, “I love you” it’s even more special. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Being of the universe. He runs things in the universe. Nothing happens without His permission. And He loves you…but He doesn’t just love you personally…First John, Chapter 4, Verse 8 says His love is even deeper…
1 John 4:8 The one who does not love unconditionally does not know God, for God is UNconditional love.
If you believe what this verse is saying, then you have to believe that there are lot of people who claim to be Christians…a lot of people who actually are Christians…who don’t know God…because you never hear anything coming from their mouths about God that might indicate to you that God loves you UNconditionally.
God LOVES you UNconditionally
What does UNconditional love mean exactly? More importantly, what does God’s UNconditional love mean to you?
UNconditional love is a love with NO conditions…it’s a love that doesn’t require anything from you. God LOVES you, and He doesn’t require anything from you, not even your love in return. Wow! That surely doesn’t describe human love does it? In short, you don’t have to do anything to please or impress God. To quote a Billy Joel song, God loves you just the way you are. That should take quite a burden off your shoulders. Do you see yourself as flawed? God doesn’t. Do you see yourself as broken? God doesn’t. Do you think you have to clean up your act to please God? God doesn’t. Do you think you have to “get right with God?” God doesn’t. Do you think you have to believe in God to get Him to love you? God doesn’t. Do you think if you are an atheist, God hates you? The bible says NO! The bible says God loves you UNconditionally. Furthermore, the bible says that anyone who does not love UNconditionally does not really know God because God IS UNconditional love in the very fiber of His being. And God extends that UNconditional love to all His creatures, those who believe in Him and those who don’t. I’ll bet you don’t hear that in too many Christian circles. If God were the genie in the movie Aladdin, God would be the one singing the song, “You ain’t never had a friend like me!”
I’m going to surprise you now…God is omniscient. That means…
OMNISCIENCE God knows all that is knowable…the actual…and the possible
…so here’s the surprise…you can’t surprise God. Before God ever created you, He knew everything you would ever think, everything you would ever intend, everything you would ever say, and everything you would ever do. You can't fool God. He knew every sin you would ever commit. Sometimes we do things that offend ourselves. We say, “I would NEVER” … then we do the NEVER… and we can’t believe we did it. God knew. And He created you anyway. That’s UNconditional love.
I have a friend who had an abortion thirty years ago. Now whether you believe abortion is murder, or whether you believe it isn’t is a conversation for another time. But let’s say for the sake of argument that abortion is murder. Does the fact that my friend had an abortion, and it is murder, change God’s UNconditional love for her? It does not. But my friend has been carrying around the guilt and the shame of a decision she made as a teen-ager, and she believes with all of her heart that God is mad at her because of it. Yet First John, Chapter 4, Verse 8 says…
1 John 4:8 The one who does not love unconditionally does not know God, for God is unconditional love.
Not only can you not surprise God…I have another thought for you…are you sitting down? You can’t disappoint God. No matter what you do, you can't disappoint God. Have you ever felt that you disappointed God…have you ever felt that God is disappointed with you? He is not. He loves you UNconditionally.
This is the God I want you to give another chance. What is God’s attitude toward you?
GOD’s ATTITUDE TOWARD YOU
God LOVES you UNconditionally
You cannot surprise God
You cannot disappoint God
God is not disappointed with you
God doesn’t expect things from you. God wants to give things to you. Why don’t you give God another chance?
A better question, why don’t you ever hear things like this in churches? Well…you have to understand that God has an enemy. God’s enemy does not want you to get to know God. God’s enemy paints a completely false picture of God, and he sells it to you every day of the week through false teachers. The problem is, you believe them.
It’s easier to believe that God has something against you than it is to believe that God loves you unconditionally. I know. It has taken me one half of a century as a Christian to finally get how much God loves me. I heard this verse for years but never really understood the depth of it. John, Chapter 3, Verse 16…
John 3:16 “For God the Father so unconditionally loved the world (all creatures), that He gave His uniquely born Son (the Lord Jesus Christ), that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
You’ve heard that verse. But now you know what it means. God loves you so much that He would send His Son to die for you. Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 8…
ROM 5:8 But God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward all mankind, in that while we were sinners (ungodly, unrighteous, unbelievers) Christ died for us.
Why don’t you give this God another chance? He loves you no matter what.
Thanks for listening.
Pastor Rory Clark Barah Ministries Thanks for Listening! www.barahministires.com
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