Morgan Teruel: Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Morgan. And during this Advent season, we invite you to pause and reflect with us. Advent is a season of anticipation, a time to remember the hope, peace, joy, and love that Jesus brings as he became God with us. As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, let's take a moment to step away from the busyness and center our minds on the one who gives every good and perfect gift.
Wherever you are, whether at home, out for a walk, or in the midst of a hectic day, let these words speak to your soul. May you be refreshed and filled with the unshakable hope, lasting peace, overflowing joy, and boundless love that only Christ can offer. Let's take this time together to listen and reflect.
Bryan Wade: It's the final week of Advent and we turn our focus towards God's love. There's so much to be said about the love of God in scripture. We even find ourselves as an object of God's love in what's likely the most well known verse in the Bible. John 3 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. The connection between His loving and our living is made abundantly clear here.
God's love for us is something we can read and know from scripture, but knowing about God's love and experiencing His love are very different things. If our living is a result of His loving, can we experience His love through our awareness of life? In acts 17 verse 24, Paul is quoted as saying, He is the God who made the world and everything in it. And in verse 25, goes on to say, He himself gives life and breath to everything and He satisfies every need. Take a moment now to think about this gift of life and breath that God has given you.
As you breathe in, do so with an awareness of your life in the moment and know that this is evidence of God's gracious love for you. As you breathe out, thank God for His loving gift of life, a loving gift that He wants you to have forever. Every breath is a gift of love from God, where else can you find His love? You don't have to look very far, move your hands and move your feet. These things are a gift of love from God.
Your heart is beating and you are alive. This life is a gift of love from God. Where else can we look to find His love? Let's shift our focus towards Jesus. In Matthew chapter 3, we find Jesus getting baptized.
Verses 13 through 17, recount the scene. As you listen, imagine yourself there to witness the moment described. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by Him. John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, 'Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he consented.
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened to Him. And He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is My Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.' Consider the timing of God the Father speaking this over His Son. Jesus was the beloved Son before He began His ministry. The Father was well pleased with His Son before His mission was accomplished.
What does this tell you about the way God loves? What does the fact that God was well pleased with His child before His word began reveal to you? How does it feel to know that God, your father, loved you the same way? You too are His beloved, not for what you've done or not yet done, but simply for who you are, His child. Just as Jesus is loved by the father, you too are a beloved child of God.
In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 through 6, Paul writes, all praise to God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son.
Do you know the love God has for you beloved child of God? Do you believe that the Father loves you as much as He loves His Son? In His prayer to the Father in John 17:2223, Jesus says, I have given them the glory you gave Me so they may be 1 as we are 1. I am in them and you are in Me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.
Try to imagine a love like this. With your life comes God's love. And if He's given you His beloved child eternal life, you are also to be loved by Him forever with every breath and in every moment eternally. Praise God for His great love.