Transcendent Fellowship!

0. NOTE

This is the Message (more or less) that I actually gave on 25-May-2025. Though it doesn't match word-for-word what was preached, the heart of the Message is the same. The video can be viewed here.

I. Primary Scripture

"John to the Seven Churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and Peace, from [GOD The Father] Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; "and from The Seven [Holy] Spirits which are before His Throne; "and from Jesus Christ, Who is The Faithful Witness, and The First Begotten of the dead, and The Prince of the kings of the Earth. "Unto Him that LOVED us, and WASHED us from our sins in His Own Blood, and HAS MADE us *kings and priests* unto God and His Father; to Him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever. Amen." -- The Apostle John, Revelation 1:4-6 KJV

II. Central Idea

Two months ago, i had prepared a sermon for this very day.

I sent Pastor Jeff a copy, which he endorsed.

i went through four more revisions of that Sermon, and thought that it was "good to go."

Then on the afternoon of Sunday, 04-May-2025 my wife and i went to see the Marvel Movie "The Thunderbolts..."

...and i realized that i had to rethink everything in regards to what i had planned to preach to you today.

The Sermon that i had prepared was thought through, logical, reasonable, thorough and presuasive. I even prepared 25 Powerpoint slides to further emphasize the ideas behind the Scriptures i had referenced. For you see: I am an intellectual; I am a nerd and i am a male. And my habit is to appeal to the minds of my audience.

In watching "The Thunderbolts," however, i was reminded that Jesus did not preach to people's minds.

Jesus ALWAYS directed His Words towards people's hearts.

Therefore, with your permission, i have thrown out that Sermon. If anyone is interested in its content, it will be available on my web site tomorrow.

Rather, i am going to take these few moments to have a heart-to-heart conversation with you.

Jesus LOVES you.

Jesus is IN LOVE with you.

Jesus is IN LOVE with you UNCONDITIONALLY.

Jesus is IN LOVE with you WITHOUT CONDITIONS.

We hear that with our ears, and may even accept that in our heads...

...but our hearts don't REALLY "get it."

Jesus is IN LOVE with *you* without conditions...

...not because of your faithfulness.

Not because of your preserverance.

Not because of your potential.

Jesus is IN LOVE with you WITHOUT ANY STRINGS ATTACHED...

....not because of your kindness towards strangers.

Not because of your wonderful spirit of prayer.

Not because of your willingness to sacrifice your precious time and money and resources for His Kingdom.

Jesus LOVES you because of your weakness.

Jesus LOVES you because of your failure.

Jesus LOVES you because of your addictions.

Jesus LOVES you because of your helplessness.

Jesus LOVES you because of your fear.

Jesus LOVES you because you have come to understand that WITHOUT HIM, you can do nothing.

You have come to understand you have nothing to offer Him but your wretchedness.

And so you offer Him your wretchedness, because you KNOW He will accepted your wretchedness GLADLY,

and give you something in exchange that all the money in the world cannot buy:

His Transcendent Grace!

"Blessed are the poor in spirit [the spiritually poor]: for their's is The Kingdom of The Heavens." -- Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:3

Because you are willing to see yourself AS GOD SEES YOU, GOD has given you a New Self:

not fashioned after the First Adam who failed,

but after The Last Adam (Jesus Christ) Who was VICTORIOUS

--not just for Himself, but for all of us and THROUGH all of us!

"And He [Jesus] said unto me, My Grace is sufficient for thee: for My Strength is MADE PERFECT in weakness. "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my INFIRMITIES, that the POWER OF CHRIST may rest upon me. {Author's Note: The implication is that the Power of Christ will make Its HOME in me AND NEVER LEAVE ME.} "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in DISTRESSES for Christ's sake: "for when I am WEAK, then [and ONLY then] am I strong." -- The Apostle Paul, 2nd Corinthians 12:9,10

III. Conditional Love

You and i have grown up under conditional love.

Conditional love is a useful coping mechanism, meant to protect each of us from the fallen nature of those who are closest to us,

as well as protect those with whom we interact most often from our own fallen nature.

Love of any kind in a fallen world is dangerous: it makes us vulnerable to exploitation, betrayal, as well as many other emotionally painful consequences.

We know this.

The fact remains, however, that we NEED love; we need GOD's LOVE desperately in the core of our spirit.

We need love to ensure our mental health.

People who do not experience enough Love as children grow up to be socio-pathic dangers to themselves and their society.

We even need physical love for the health of our bodies…this is a universal truth backed by decades of research.

Babies which are deprived of physical affection DIE...even though their nutritional needs are met.

IV. Divine Grace

The Power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ lies in the fact that It RECONNECTS us to GOD's UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!!!

Our GODs are the Greatest Miracle and the Greatest Mystery that has ever existed or will ever exist.

I say "GODs" because in the original language of the Old Testament, that is what They are called most often:

The Hebrew word "Elohim" means GODs (plural).

(The word "Trinity" appears nowhere in the Bible; the closest phrase is "GODHEAD" in Colossian 2:9 and refers to GOD The Father, GOD The Word {spoken of in the first verses of the Gospel of John}, and GOD The Holy Spirit).

These Three Beings have NO BIRTH, and have NEVER NOT EXISTED.

They have always existed, They exist right now in this very moment and They will ALWAYS exist.

You may ask yourself the question "What have The GODHEAD been doing the innumerable ages (Greek "eons") before They made anything?"

The answer is that They have been LOVING EACH OTHER UNCONDITIONALLY FOR EVER.

(by the way, loving each other unconditionally...loving each other without conditions...is OUR primary Ministry!)

The GODHEAD are so UNIFIED in THOUGHT, in LOVE, in Faith, in Hope and in GLORY, They act together as though They are ONE BEING.

Moses best described The UNITY of the GODHEAD in the Statement:

"Hear, oh Israel: YHWH our GODs {Hebrew "Elohim"}...YHWH is ONE {as in a single cluster of grapes}." -- Moses, Deauteronomy 6:4

Why am I telling you this?

Because you cannot understand your existence until you understand Theirs,

because you were made in Their Image and Their Likeness.

The Eternal GODHEAD BROKE THEIR FELLOWSHIP with Each Other ON THE CROSS

so that YOU WOULD EXPERIENCE Their Fellowship AS THOUGH YOU WERE ONE OF THEM.

“My prayer is not for them {Christ's immediate disciples} alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their {the Apostles'} message, that ALL OF THEM MAY BE ONE, Father, JUST AS YOU ARE IN ME AND I AM IN YOU. MAY THEY ALSO BE ONE IN US so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.

I *have given* them the Glory that You gave Me, that THEY MAY BE ONE AS WE ARE ONE — I in them and You in Me— so that they may be MADE PERFECT in One… ...then the world will know that You sent Me and HAVE LOVED THEM EVEN AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME." -- Jesus Christ, John 17:20-23

GOD The Father has loved you IN THE SAME WAY HE LOVES HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON;

and we KNOW The Father loves the Son WITHOUT CONDITIONS.

GRACE IS THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE BETWEEN THE MEMBERS OF THE GODHEAD GIVEN TO YOU!!!!!!!

This is what happened in Chapter Two of the Book of Acts.

This is what CAN happen TODAY...in this Sanctuary...for you...if you want It.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is NOT a religion...so STOP TREATING IT LIKE ONE.

The Gospel is a FAMILY held together by UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

Every obstacle that could possibly stand between you and The UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF GOD has been removed...

...at least as far as GOD is concerned.

GOD is not interested AT ALL in the Baptist, Methodist, Church of God, Pentecostal, or any other of the 45,000 Christian religious denominations that exist.

As far as Christ is concerned, there is but ONE FLOCK and ONE SHEPHERD (John 10:16).

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS NOT A CONSTANT BATTLE WITH SIN.

"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete." -- The Apostle John, 1st John 1:3,4 KJV

The Christian Life, according to the Apostle John, is Unconditional Transcendent Fellowship with Our Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Amen.