Love in the Mirror Con't Part 2 Distorted Reflections| Love Series Week 6

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With, with a call to confront the distortion, to clean the mirror and to let love look like Jesus again. In our lives, we have to know what's causing our mirrors to fog. And you, you all know that you can't see in a mirror That that, that's fog. Welcome to A-S-G-C-C sermons where faith comes alive and the word of God transforms lives. We're thrilled to have you join us for another inspiring journey into the heart of scripture. Whether you're tuning in from your living room or on the go, we believe that God has a powerful message tailored just for you. At A-S-G-C-C. We're more than a community. We're a family of believers seeking to grow in our relationship with God and one another. Each sermon is a unique opportunity to explore the timeless truths of the Bible, discovering practical insights that will empower you in your daily walk. So grab your Bible, open your hearts, and let's get ready to embark on a transformative experience. It's not just another sermon, it's a divine encounter. Thank you for joining us on this journey of faith. Let's dive into the word together and allow God's love and wisdom to guide us in every step of life. Welcome to A-S-G-C-C Sermons. Three things that I wanna talk about this morning that has a tendency to, uh, distort. How we look in the mirror, and that is pain, pride in, in our past. Mm. And I'm gonna start with pain. Uh, no, I'm sorry. Pride. I believe I'm gonna start with pride. So, and, and, and, and, you know, and that's where we wanna pick up at today. Because with, with a call to confront the distortion, to clean the mirror and to let love look like Jesus again, in our lives, we have to know what's causing our mirrors to fog. And you, you all know that you can't see in a mirror that, that, that's fog. So we are gonna look at, look at that. And when I say I want us to take a deeper look into it, I mean, it's time to deal with the distortions that keep us from seeing what God sees. Amen. Amen. Somebody. So, because every one of us at some point in our lives have looked in the mirror and not liked what we saw. Hmm. Whether that was a physical or spiritual. There's times when you look in there and, oh man, I'm put on so much weight. I need to lose the weight. Oh my gosh. I don't like the way I look here. Oh, I got a flaw over here and, oh, I got pimples right here. Well, the same thing takes place spiritually in our lives. Amen. We should be able to look at, look in that mirror and see those things and ask God to help us correct them. Hmm. So pain. Uh, pride, I'm sorry. Pride, pain, and, and, and the past are usually the three things that fogs a blur, our reflection. And so starting with pride, um, uh, we don't, you know, our pride doesn't always just show up right off the bat. We can always see the pride in us and others. Sometimes others can't either. Sometimes pride just kind of slips in there. It kinda whispers to us it's not always as loud so that we can understand and see it. Sometimes pride says, I'm fine. I don't need to change. I'm good. You know that that's, you know when God is saying, yeah, I wanna change, and you're like, no, I'm good. That's pride. Pain can say, I can't trust again. The reason I can't trust again is because every time I trust someone, every time I trust that situation, I get hurt. That's what pain does. And then you, then there's your past. And your past says you'll never be more than what you were. You'll never be more than than than what you were. What happened to you when you was a kid? What happened to you? You know, when you were here, when you're in college, that mistake you made back then and over there and you just becomes, you know, attached to your past and you won't let it go. Those things distort the reflection in the mirror. But I came to tell you on this morning, those are not God's words. Mm-hmm. None of that. That's the enemy's commentary over an image he didn't and can't create. You are that image. And so we're gonna turn now, which brings me to our first scripture in Genesis chapter one, verse 27, Genesis chapter one, verse 27. And for those of you that may be joining us for the first time, I, I, sometimes I, I ask Deacon Damon to read, uh, the verse from. The, uh, king Janes version because what we put on the screen is typically the new Living translation. So go ahead and pull your Bibles out. Uh, he'll be reading, uh, you'll see the, the New Living Translation, uh, up on, up on the, up on the screen. But he will be reading from the King's Janes version because they usually read a little bit different, and sometimes I want you to hear the original. Uh, well, the oldest original transcript that, that we have. Amen. So, Genesis chapter one, verse 27, Genesis chapter one, verse 27. Go ahead, Dee. So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he, him, male and female, created he them. Amen. So God created man in his own image. Which means we are in the image of God, the image and the likeness of God. He created us in his image and in his likeness, and then he blew his breath, what inside of us, and we became a living being. There's a couple other scriptures that talk about that image of being, um, in the image of God, male and female, is what it goes on to say. He created them, he created us male and female in his own image. And then we have in Colossians, uh, reminds us that, that we have put on a new self renewed in the image of our creator. When you're, when you're saved. You sanctified and you filled with the Holy Ghost, this happens as well. So, and then James warns that with the same tongue. We praise God and curse those made in his likeness. And he, and so he's saying that we should do that because we are all made in the image of God. So together those scriptures are firm, that being made in God's image should shape both our character and our conduct because we're, we're, we're, we're like him. Our children are made in our image. And we want them to represent us well. Amen. In this world. Amen. Amen. And that's what God expects of us, of his children. So that means before pride, before pain, before the past, we had purpose. Mm. God gave us purpose. You, you were made to mirror God's likeness, his and his image. Not your losses, not your pain, and not what the world wants you to look like in the mirror. We don't wanna look like the world. We wanna look like our father. So sometimes, uh, deacon Damon pride distorts the reflection by putting self at the center. We put ourself, that's pride. You put yourself at the center instead of our, our Lord and Savior. He should be at the center of our lives. Amen. Somebody. Amen. Amen. So when we're allowed something, uh, in our hearts, our attitude, our behavior to become distorted, we're out of alignment with God's truth. We don't want that. So instead of acknowledging it, uh, we start trying to seek correction. Uh, we start trying to defend it or justify our actions or our attitudes and our perspectives. But no, that's not what God wants us to do. He wants us to allow him to come into us, to come into alignment with his word, not make excuses. Amen. Not protect our behavior. Not give, not say, well, God understands my heart. No, that's not what, that's not what God wants us to do. Amen. Somebody. In other words, instead of letting the Holy Spirit help us discern what's wrong and be transformed, we begin to protect what's broken. Come on somebody. So rather than letting God show us where the reflection is off, we argue that the mirror, there must be something wrong, wrong with this mirror. No, there's nothing wrong with this. Your spiritual mirror, you are the problem. Amen. Somebody. Amen. So if you stand there, you know ladies, we like to get in the get dressed, stand in the mirror, turn around, look at ourselves, and if something doesn't look right, you know we need to fix that. We don't need to before we go out. We don't need to stand there and say, oh, I'm fine. That's just the mirror. No, the Ramirez is reflecting what it sees. Come on somebody. So we start defending the distortion instead of discerning, we excuse our own deception instead of exploring the truth. Let's not do that because you're fooling yourselves. You are looking in the mirror, you're walking away and not remembering what you look like is what the Bible calls that. So we stop listening to the Holy Spirit and start trying to prove ourselves. We're trying to prove that what we see in that mirror is good and right. Amen. And before we know it, the image of love turns into the image of self-preservation. Hmm. My man. True love can't flow from a heart that's protecting itself. You have to let, you have to open up your heart and let the truth end. True. Love reflects truth. Come on somebody. So now we're gonna go to Psalms 51 10. Psalms 51 10. And that's our, um, yes. Psalms 51, 10. Go ahead, Deke. If, if you're there, if not, it's fine because it doesn't read too different. Uh, Psalms 51 and 10 in the New King James, king James version reads on this wise, it says, oh, create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen. This is David speaking. David says, create in me a clean heart of God and renew a loyal spirit within me. Now, the King James version says a right spirit within me. That's why sometimes I like to, you know, show you the difference because most of us grew up hearing the King James version, and that's what it says, renew a right spirit within me. So when David saw the cracks in his own reflection. He didn't hide from the mirror. He prayed for restoration, and that's what we must do. He refused to settle for a cloudy mirror. If you want your reflection restored, don't cover it. Confess it. Amen. Ask God to cleanse the mirror until his face shines through you again. Amen. But, but here's what really blessed me, Dekin Alexander. About what David, what David said. He didn't ask God to patch the heart he had Mm. Come on man to patch it up. He said, create in me a clean heart. Create, underline that word. Create that word create. In Hebrew is the same word used in Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth. Mm-hmm. That's a powerful word right there. Amen. Barra, BARA is what the Hebrew word is, which means to make something out of nothing. God created the heavens and the earth that it was nothing. It was void. He makes something outta nothing. So basically David is, David is saying, make something out of this nothing heart of mine, creating me a clean heart. David was saying, God, I don't, I don't just want or need a repaired heart. I need a remake. I don't need an edit. Mm. I need a new beginning. Create in me. Start from the very beginning, start over, give me a brand new heart, brand new, and sometimes we come to God asking him to fix what he's trying to replace. David says, replace this heart in me. David looked at himself in the mirror and he realized he needed a, a new heart. So he, he said, created in me. He didn't say, fix this heart, God. And he said, create in me. Clean art, and we want him to adjust our attitude. God is not interested in adjusting your attitude. He's trying to give you an entirely new mindset. Thank you. You can adjust your own attitude. You can read motivational books and make changes in your life and your habits. Amen. Uh, we say, Lord, help me manage this heart. And God has said, no, I came to make you a new heart. I wanna give you a new heart. And only God can do that. David understood that a clean heart doesn't come from discipline. You can be disciplined and that's a great thing. God Lo wants that of us. But you don't get a, you don't get a clean heart out of being disciplined. A clean heart comes from divine intervention. Only God can do that. You can scrub. You cannot scrub your own soul. He said, and he, and he talked about too, when he said, wash me, cleanse me so that I would be clean. You know, with the sap, David understood that I can't do this. Being a king, being a man, being a power as I am, only you. God can clean me up and wash me. Amen. And give me a new heart. You can watch the outside, but only the spirit can renew the inside. Come on now. Amen. Someone gimme an amen in the chat. Say, preach, pastor. Preach. And when we, and when he prayed, renew a, a, a loyal or a right spirit within me, de he was saying, God, don't let me wander again. David had wandered away from the Lord doing what he wanted to do. Not being obedient to God. He said, keep my heart anchored in you, is what he was saying is, isn't that something we should all pray on a daily basis? Renew a loyal spirit within me Lord, so that I can stay and write standing with you? Because cleansing, without commitment or repentance leads right back to corruption. Amen. Come on now. It's not enough for God to wash our hearts. He wants to recreate a new one, and he wants to be the one to maintain it. Someone has to maintain our heart. Someone has to continue to do maintenance in there, and only God can do that because we're human beings. Amen. Somebody. So when David prayed, he wasn't asking for a moment of mercy. Not in this prayer. He was asking for a movement to take place in his life, to grow him up, to become more mature in Christ. He was saying, Lord, don't just forgive me. Just form me. For some of us, forgiveness is enough, but we don't want God to just forgive us. He we want Him to change us. Change us. Amen. To make us new. Amen. Somebody don't just change how I feel. God change who I am. Jesus. And that's the prayer of a true worshiper God. Keep cleansing me until I see your reflection when I look in the mirror. And most of us have a long ways to go with that. I know I do. Amen. We are a work in progress. In progress. Amen. Proverbs 1618. Proverbs chapter 16, verse 18. Pride goes before destruction and halt it before fall, and Deonna can read what he says, but pride, it says, pride goes before destruction. Pride goes before destruction, and halting is before a fall. Again, pride, fogs, and mirror until we can't see God's correction. You don't wanna be standing in, in front of us spiritually. Fogged up mirror only others faults. When you're standing in, in a foggy mirror, you don't see their own faults. You can only see what others look like when others faults. But when humility enters, the glass begins to clear up. So we have to humble ourselves. Amen. And, and let, and that means there can't be pride there. Go ahead de. Proverbs 1618 pride go with before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall, a haughty spirit before a fall. So you, you just make sure that you get pride out of there outta your life. Humble yourselves, and only God can show you that you're prideful. And I'm talking about arrogance right now. I'm talking about. Pride. Come on somebody. Amen. Amen. So now we're gonna move on to pain and what pain does, uh, in our lives. How pain fogs our mirror of love. Um, and it's, it's, it's, it's the reflection that is distorted by pain. How disappointment sometimes reshapes what we see. Pain can change your life. It can make you see things differently than you ever have before. Somebody breaks your heart. You are in a lot of pain. It causes you not to trust anymore. Trust that person. Trust yourself, trust God. Pain alters our perception. It changes the way we see ourselves and the way we see others if we don't let God manage that pain. Amen. Amen. So you stop smiling in the mirror because the mirror reminds you of what broke you. You stop smiling. You have no joy. You have, you have no peace. But can I tell you that God doesn't waste your pain? He transforms it. If you allow him, he would transform that pain into your message. Into your testimony and into love. Come on somebody. I know what I'm talking about on this one. I have experience with that one. Come on. Mm. Now we're moving on to slide number four for our tech ministry, which is Psalms 1 39 verses 23 through 24. Amen to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Amen. Hallelujah. Somebody. And I really, really truly love, I love this Psalms and what David, uh, was saying here. If you have it, think you can go ahead and read the Kings James version right away, and then I'll pick right on up with what I wanna say about it, because this is a very beautiful, beautiful saying of David. Psalms 1 39 verse 23, and it's on the screen for you guys so you can see what it says. And I'm sure you would agree with me how beautiful this is. Go ahead Dee. Search me Oh God. And know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you. Come on now. He said something right there. Point out anything that offends, that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Amen. So here David is saying, search me. Search me. Oh God, look inside of me now. He's already asked God, you know, to create in him a clean heart. Back in, in, uh, Psalms 51. Now we're up here in Psalms 1 39 and he's still talking to a God. He's still asking God to clean him up. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point anything out in me that offends you. Lead me along the path of everlasting life. Dig, read yours one more time because I'm pretty sure it says it a little different. When I say, point out anything in me that offends you, yours read a little different, and it's important. I'm, I'm, I'm taking my time today because this is a very important message. This is about you allowing God to create in you a clean heart and to, and to clean you up so that you can love properly. We wanna hear other messages about love, but this is about you. You are looking in the mirror today. Amen. Somebody verse 24 reads and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the uh, and lead me in the way of everlasting. He says, point out if there's anything wicked in me. What? David says, point out anything that is wicked in me. Anything that offends you, anything that's wicked now, this is a prayer that we need to be praying. Everybody needs to stop right now and pray that prayer. Search me all. God, search me and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything that is wicked in me. Anything that offends you. Leave me along the path, everlasting line, because you can't be led along the path of Everlasting Line. If you don't do this, you can't love, clearly when your heart is cluttered, you can't see God's face When resentment clouds your lens. Mm-hmm. You let go of pain, let go. The hurt. We've all been hurt. We've all have gone through some things. We can't stay in that place. Yeah, though I'll walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil. You gotta walk through this, this valley of hurt and pain. David didn't say search them, Dick and Damon. He says, search me. Even though they were trying to kill him, and he had gone through so much, so many things with his enemies, he didn't, he could care less about that. He was concerned about not how his enemies treated him, but, but how he was treating his enemies. He didn't say search them. He says, search me real revival begins with reflecting on yourself, evaluating yourself. Amen. And you do that against the word of God, not the world. Amen. So I'm sure you see that. I'm sure you can see that sin is a fog in your mirror. That's basically all I'm trying to say. Sin is a fog in your mirror. Pain and bitterness is a crack that's in the glass, that paint. And then pride is the filter that changes the image in the mirror. We have to get rid of all of it. Sin, bitterness, pain, pride, and God is the only one that can help us, wash us, cleanse us, and make us anew. We have to start over every time we go through something like that. I mean, he didn't stop at Psalms 51. There he was over in Psalms 1 39. Basically praying the same prayer because you're constantly going through some things, so you constantly need renewal. Amen. That's just, that's just how it goes. Amen. Somebody. And then there's the past, the fog that lingers the longest. That's what Paul said. This one thing I do, I forget the past, I forget what was behind me, and I press toward the mark. I press towards what's in front of me, which is the mark of a high call. And Christ Jesus, we have to let it go. But, but the pain of our past is what, is what fogs our, our mirrors the most and lingers and stays there for some, quite some time. It doesn't always scream that, Hey, I'm here. Sometimes it just lightly speaks to us. You'll always be who you are. You'll never be better than what you, what, what your past was. You grew up in the ghetto. You're gonna stay in the ghetto. You grew up this way with a daughter, father, and so I'm, I'm nothing. I'm this, I'm that. My mother did this to me. She gave me away whatever the case may be. That pain sometimes follows us from childhood well over into adulthood, many, many, many, many years. Our past, that pain from our past. So the past has a way of chaining us to the, you know, to the present, to, to old wounds and, and, and replaying what God has already forgiven. Sometimes your past even messes with your relationships, your marriage. That guy messed over me and now every other guy has to pay for that. That female, she cheated on me. Now, every other female has to deal with your mistrust because of your past. And so a lot of times God has to deal with our past because we mistreat him over the way we were. We were treated in our past, and we blame God for it. It's not fair to God, it's not fair to you. Amen. It's not fair to that individual. It blurs a reflection by keeping us looking backward when God is calling us forward. Just like lot's wife, you guys know the story. She turned back toward what God was delivering her from. And in one glance, deacon Damon, she lost her entire future. Literally lost her life. When we keep starting staring at what's behind us, we risk becoming stuck. Instead of stepping into who Christ wants us to become, let's not get stuck in our past. Now, if you know someone that can use this message on this morning. Who you believe, Lord, you know I have a friend, I have a sister. I have a neighbor who could really benefit from this message on this morning. Take a moment while I get me a drink of water and share this message with them. Amen. Just hit that share button. Did you share it yet? Go ahead and share slide number five. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 17. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 17. Please follow me in your own Bibles. Please follow along your own Bibles. And here's what Paul is saying. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. That whole life is gone. A, excuse me, a new life has begun. Isn't that what I'm telling you? You let go your past. If you belong to Christ, you have become a new person. The old life is gone and your new life has begun. So keep looking. So what, so let me ask you a question. If you know that, and you are a believer, you've accepted Jesus as your Lord, as your savior, you're walking in obedience to him, why do you keep looking at that old reflection? Why do you keep looking back when God has given you a new revelation, a new you? The old is gone. A new life has begun. When are you going to start living your new life in Christ and what you see in the mirror no longer matches what God has spoken. That's not failure. That's not always failure. Sometimes that's the father inviting you to get in alignment to get your new life in order. I'm gonna say that again. Sometimes when you look in that mirror and it looks distorted, it's not matching what God has called you to be. It's because God has to pull you. He's trying to pull you higher. He's showing you your past so that you can embrace your future. He's saying, come up higher, look again, and see yourself through my eyes. So here we go. We have pride, we have pain, we have our past. All these are the three things that I believe fogs. The blur of our reflection and our spiritual mirror. Pain destroys what we see by filtering everything through disappointment. Everything is filtered through disappointment. When you living in, in the pain, in in pain. It changes how we see ourselves and how and how we see others. Pride clouds the mirror by placing self at the center. It's all about you making us defend the distortion instead of discerning the truth. Pride will keep you stuck. Pain will keep you stuck. God wants to deliver us from all three of these on this morning. I'm not saying these are the only things, but these are the things that God told me to speak about this morning. And then of course, the past again, it fogs and lingers there. The longest people say you cannot run your past. Uh, that's what the world says. The God says, maybe you cannot run it, but I sure can deliver it from, from you. Amen. Somebody. Amen. We should be running from anything anyway as believers. Amen. But it can change it. It, it changed the mind holding the mirror hostage to what God has already forgiven. A lot of times, God has, has forgiven us for that life, for that mess we made, for the hearts we've broken, or the fornication, or the adultery, or the cheating, or the stealing or the line or whatever the sin was. You've asked God for forgiven for forgiveness. You've accepted him as your Lord and Savior, but you're still stuck there and you think everything that happens to you is because of what you did to that person or what you did this for. 'cause you know, the Bible says you WeWork yourself. Yes. Uh, we understand all of that. But God's grace can clear all of that stuff up though. Amen. Somebody. Amen. So when his truth shines through the fog lifts. The reflection of his image is restored in you. And remember, I didn't say anything about your memory because you're gonna remember these things. I didn't talk about your memory. I talked about your pain, your pride, and your past, letting it redefine and keep you stuck from what God has for you. Amen. Slide number six, and moving along here second Ians chapter three, verse 18. This is a teaching moment for us. God wants us to come higher. Second Corinthians chapter three, verse 18. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord who is the spirit makes us more and more like Him as we, as we are changed into his glorious image. Yes, Deek, that's, that's what the New Living Translation says. And I know King James says it differently, but he's saying, so all of us who have had the veil removed, and that's anyone who's accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, that veil has been removed. And now the Bible says, you can see and reflect, not just see, but see and reflect the glory of the Lord. Amen. Thank you. Go ahead de, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. Amen. I love that. I'm glory to glory so all of us can have that veil removed. So we can see in the glass and and reflect the glory of the Lord who makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. That's the goal right there. Not perfection, but progression change to glory, to glory. And we'll get there. That's how we become perfect as he is perfect over time, from glory to glory. Every time we confess, every time we yield, every time we let him search us, he's polishing that mirror until his image is seen again. God is serious about this. He gave us his image, so he looks at us. He wants to see it. First Samuel one Samuel, chapter 16, verse seven, and that's slide number seven. One Samuel chapter 16, verse seven reads, but the Lord said to Samuel, don't judge by his appearance. His appearance are high for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by our appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And this was God speaking to Samuel. And so in the, so he's telling him, you know, when you, you know, I'm telling you to go look for this individual, and we'll talk about that a little bit. And Samuel was looking for the wrong person because he was looking at appearance and height and God rejected the person that Samuel thought was the, was the guy. Because the Lord says, no, no, no, you are looking at the wrong thing. I'm not looking at that out with the parents. I'm looking at your heart. You can be all fixed up looking pretty. Have your makeup on, your lipstick, on your beard all shaved up. Well, your hair. Your hair combed and waved, or your bald head shaved real nice and neatly dressed up, suited up looking good. And God rejects all of that because he's not looking at that outward appearance. He's not looking at how built you are. He's not looking at your height. He's not looking at any of that. God says, I'm looking at, I'm looking at your heart. God doesn't look at people the way we do. Hmm. Two people can walk into the room. One person can be all jazzed up, look good, suit on, smiling, everything's in place. Another person comes in and looking a little ragged. Not that well gone on, not, you know, hair not combed, you know, shoes all run over. And who are we gonna choose? Who are we gonna look at the most? We are gonna look at the person that's all neat and fancy. Overlook the person who doesn't look all that great on the outward appearance, and the person that looks great and fancy the heart could be a mess, and the other person has the heart of God. And that's what God was telling Samuel, and that's what he's telling us this morning. I'm not worried, concerned with your appearance. I wanna know what's going on in that heart. I look at the heart in the image of selfies and filters. We've kinda learned to edit images and so we try to do that with our own image. Not, not hearts. We're, we're so concerned about our image these days seeking Damon that we're not concerned about our hearts anymore. How am I looking on my social media? What am I saying on social media? What is that person saying on social media? We post compassion, but we're not, but we don't show compassion. We, we talk about unity in our posts and we, but we walk in the vision every single day. But masks don't, don't fool mirrors. I think I said that last week. You can have on a mask all you want, but it, it, the mirror knows what's behind that mask and so does God. And God doesn't bless pretending he doesn't. He wants you to change and be who, be who he made you to be. So today God isn't checking our outfits. He's checking our outlook, your heart, your motives. That's what he's checking for. What? What was your motive behind that? Were you trying to be seen or did you really do it from love? He's not measuring the volume in your worship. How loud you worship in front of other, other people. He's measuring your volume and how you value other people and your love walk. Amen. Somebody. Amen. This doesn't come easy, but it's so worth it. So this verse takes us deeper than appearance. It allows us, you know, to see how easily we confuse visibility with value. You are here today, a high value man. I'm a high value man. I'm a high value woman. What does that mean? Hmm? How you look on the outside, what your bank account looks like, or does that mean that you love the Lord and you have the heart of God and you're reflecting his image? So Samuel wasn't a prophet, but even prophets can misjudge, uh, I'm sorry, was a prophet. But even pro, as you can see, even prophets can misjudge what they see. When he looked at Jesse's son, he thought vie, uh, must have been the one. He was tall, he was impressive, he was strong. But God interrupted his assumptions and said, I don't look at all of that. I look at the heart. He's not the one. Come on somebody. Amen. So when we look at slide number eight, we're looking at one Peter, chapter four, verse eight. One Peter chapter four, verse eight says, most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, but love covers a multitude of sin. Did you just hear what Peter said? Peter said, most importantly, I want you to continue to show deep love for one another. He's talking to the talking to believers. Why does he say that? He says, because love covers a multitude of sin. That's why God can cover our multitude of sin because he's love and he loves it. Covers love is the only thing that covers, and it didn't say a little bit of sin. This is a multitude, a lot of sin. So if your reflection has been wounded by betrayal, God can heal it. He can cover that. If you've grown tired of forgiving, you're gonna have to get, get in the face, get on your face before God, because God says you must forgive and God can refill you. It's hard, but you can do it because God has given you the, the, the, the means and the way to do it. But you have to humble yourself. The mirror shows a weary believer. You're weary and you're tired. God can restore your Sean. He can bring you back. Only God can do these things. Stop looking to your husband to do all this for you. Stop looking for your wife to fix your broken heart. They can't do it. Only God can do that. Let him wipe the tears and polish the glass. Amen. Let him remind you that love isn't weakness because you love. That's not showing weakness. That's divine strength, active divine strength. When you can love like this, love your enemies. Jesus said, he says, and I know his heart. It's easy to love those who love you. I'm asking you to, I'm calling you up higher. I'm asking you to do something you don't wanna do. I'm asking you to get out of your rut, and I'm asking you to love the unlovable. I'm asking you to love your enemies. I'm asking you to love the one who hurt you. I'm asking you to love the one who abused you. I'm asking you to hurt the one who hurt your child, love the one who hurt your child. I'm asking you to love the one who has taken everything away from you. I'm asking you to love the one who hates your guts. Hmm. That's what Jesus said. Love your enemies. Love them. You're not be around 'em 24 7 around 'em at all, but you do have to love them. It's his way. Not the world's way. No, no, no. But, but, but, but Peter didn't say just love, he said, continue to love. See, when you read the Bible, God will point these words out deeper and highlight these words for you. He says, most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other. Continue to do that because real love doesn't quit when it's tested. It doesn't evaporate when it's been offended. Oh yeah, I know. Pastor V can't nobody love like that. Oh yeah. God says, Jesus says, you must, we gotta figure this out, de we gotta figure it out. It's a continual pouring, even when it feels like nothing is being poured back into you. A very difficult thing, and it's hard to do because we are selfish people. It's our nature. He is writing a, a, and, and, and here Peter is writing to a, a persecuted church. If you read it, that church is being persecuted, one that is weary from being misunderstood and mistreated and misrepresented. But he goes on and he tells them, that's okay. I want you to continue to show deep love in spite of being persecuted, in spite of being weary, in spite of being misunderstood, in spite of being mistreated, in spite of being mis misrepresented. Continue because love is a behavior that believers, we sh test our endurance that way. God tests our endurance through love. He's gonna be talking about your love walk when you stand before him. And that's what Peter, Peter was echoing. Make room for each other's growth mistakes. When he says love covers a multitude of sin, he's saying, keep loving. Until people heal enough to reflect God again. You just keep loving them. That's all you can do. That's all you can do because love isn't passive. God knows it's redemptive because it was his love that redeemed us. Thank you. It doesn't just clean the mirror. It helps others find their reflection again as well. Hmm. When we don't show bitterness towards them, you may not wanna, like I said, that'll mean you gotta pick 'em up. Take 'em to lunch every day and invite 'em in your house and do all these things. So, but you just continue loving them and maybe that's why love is the final test of maturity. It takes strength to serve. We can serve, but it takes surrender to love. Amen. Everybody can serve, but not everybody can surrender themselves enough to love. Because when we truly love you, risk being wounded, de you risk being hurt. You open up your heart to think, and I'm not just talking about love between a man and a woman. I'm talking about love inside of a church. What's worse than church hurt? Hmm. But you also reflect the very heart of Christ when you're able to do this. All right, I'm moving on slide number nine, which is Proverbs, um, chapter 10, uh, verse 12. Proverbs chapter 10, verse 12, and it says, hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up all the offenses. If you get it, Dick, you can read it. And from the King James version. It's telling you here, hatred stirs up quarrels, and that's what we're seeing in the world today. A bunch of quarreling. Why is that happening? Because there's hatred there. He says, well, love makes up all for all offenses. People don't love. I mean, I think, I hate to bring up politics and what's going on in the news and stuff like that, but sometimes you have to do it in order to make people understand the message. It's like you see people. I, you know, when I was growing up, I didn't see politicians getting on tv, calling each other names, cursing and carrying on like fools. You just didn't see that. But now it's like the thing, the more you curse, the more you call somebody a name, the more you call them out. The more hate you show content towards them, the better it is. That's not, that's not Christiandom. We are not listen. That is not the pattern and that's not what we are following behind. And I believe the world is getting that way because the church is that way. Listen, the church, the world mirrors the church, but we get to a point where we are mirroring the world and that's why it's everything is messed up. The church has gotta stand up. The church, meaning the body of Christ, meaning believers, the body of Christ, we gotta do better. The world is not going to do any better until we do better. Judgment is going to start at the household of God. Come on now. De go ahead. Proverbs 10, verse 12, and it reads hatred. Stir up strife, but love covers all sins. Yeah. Hatred. It just, it just stirs up things, just keeps things going. So where hatred divides, this is saying love repairs and where, what, where our offense multiplies, uh uh, the, the Bible says love is gonna cover that it's not gonna multiply the offense, it's gonna cover it. And when we, and when and when love covers, that's when healing takes place. That's, that's where healing begins. So. Let, let's be honest, covering isn't easy when you've been cut. Hmm. You can put a cover over something that's been cut and it can bleed right through it. It takes a Holy Ghost and I use ghost there. The Holy Ghost, that's the old word we used to use the Holy Ghost, not the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Ghost string to forgive it. You know, the, the same person twice. Sometimes you just, I'm not, no, they, they know better what they're doing this on purpose by now. Yeah, they, they are, but we still have to forgive. That's why he says, Peter says, with God, Lord have mercy. How many times I gotta forgive? Peter was asking that question for a reason and Jesus so him seven times, seven times. Lets keep on forgiving and keep on going. Amen. So he says, let, he says, uh, let me love them through until your own love grows back. Let me love them through until the own love goes back and that, and that is what Peter is basically trying to say. Just keep on loving, love 'em through it, love 'em through it, because they were doing some serious things in the church at that time. My last, uh, scripture for, for today is First Corinthians chapter 13 verse 12, and we're getting out of the way. First Corinthians chapter 13, verse 12. Next slide, number 10. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely just as God knows me completely. So what the scripture is saying is right now we see ourselves and each other through imperfect mirrors, fogged by pain. Pride, misunderstanding, so forth and so on. But one day the Bible says We'll see each other with perfect clarity. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with a perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete. Think about that. But then. I will know everything completely. Then means on that final day, when God brings all this, all this to an end, he says, we're gonna see things perfectly and we're gonna know things and, uh, know each other completely and know God completely. But until then, every act of love wipes the glass a little cleaner. Paul is reminding us that we, we see right now, what we see right now is partial. It's a preview, not the whole picture. He's saying, don't make permanent judgements from temporary reviews. Slow down because what we, because what we see of ourselves and others is still under construction. We're all in a, a, a work in progress. And that's why grace matters so much. Dee Grace matters. Grace fill the space between what we see and what God knows. We see flaws, we see failure, we see the surface, but God sees when we see the flaws, he's seeing formation. Where we see failure, we, you know, that's where faith is being, uh, improved upon as faith in progress. Our failure sometimes builds our faith and God can see that, but we can't. And maybe that's why love is the highest command on two on these two pro. On these two. Love God, love yourself a, a, love others, just love yourself. These two, uh, hinge all the laws and the prophets. So maybe that's why it's such a high command, because love has the patience and the power to wait for the, wait for what we're saying here, that unfinished picture. Love says, I might not understand you fully right now, but I'm going to keep seeing you through God's lens until the fog clears. That's a lot that, that, that's a lot. Every time we choose forgiveness over frustration, we wipe the fog off the mirror a little bit more. Every time we speak peace and into the situation, instead of being petty about it, we polish the glass a little bit more every time. We love when it's inconvenient. We polish the glass a little bit more and we, we kind of catch a reflection of Jesus more and more every time we do something the way God tells us to do it. So love is the, is the lens cleaner is what we're trying to say here this morning, and it cleanse your soul. It keeps our view of one another aligned with God's perfect heart. Paul said one day, when we stand in his presence, the mirror won't be needed anymore. Mm, there'll be no more distortions, no more distance, no more doubt. We'll see him face to face, and when we do, we'll realize that every trial, every tear, every test was polishing us for the, for that moment of glory, for that moment of standing in front of the Lord for that moment. When we can feel proud that we, we got there, we made it. Amen. So, until that day comes, amen. I, I try to remind myself, and I'm reminding you this morning, keep loving, keep forgiving, keep reflecting because every time you choose love over bitterness, over unforgiveness, over pride. You reflect more and more of Jesus. You're letting the light of God shine through a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more. And each act of love becomes a mirror. Showing the world. Showing the world that his heart, what his heart truly looks like, and the world is not seeing him enough through us. They're not picking up the Bible. Did you read in the P Bible? They're gonna see, they have to see Jesus through us and how we love. Amen. Somebody. Amen. So that's basically your man in the mirror moment. Well, you have to start with you. If you wanna change the world, you gotta start with you. At this time. I'm gonna have my alta call, uh, really quick. I don't wanna come back after communion because communion is the last thing that we do. Uh, so I'm ready to have my, my my, my alta call, which is your mirror moment. So if maybe today, as, as you've looked into the mirror of God's word, as I preach, as deacon, have read scriptures of things you've heard, you've realized the reflection isn't what you want it to be. Uh, uh, what it used to be. Maybe pain has clouded it, maybe pride has distorted it. Maybe the past has kept you, um, just staring at what God has already delivered you from looking backwards. But here's the good news. God never shows you cracks to condemn you. He shows them to you, so, because he wants to restore you. Amen. So if you've been running from the mirror because you were afraid of what you'd see. Today the father says, come home. Let me show you who you really are. Let me show you who I made you to be. This is your mere moment, a chance to stop defending the distortion and start discerning your destiny. You want this? Come on, somebody. You, you need this. We all do. We, we, we, we, we'll live. We wanna live a better life. It doesn't matter how far you've strayed or how long you've been hiding or what others have said about you, the same God who formed you in his image still sees his likeness in you. He still sees it. If you're ready to, to be made whole again, if you're ready for your reflection to be restored through Christ, this is your moment. Come to Jesus. He's waiting to renew you from the inside out. Amen. Amen. So by your head, and pray with me, please stay on because I want you, uh, guys, to commune with us this morning. Commune is next. It won't take long. You get a chance to get into your football or your dinner or your whatever you have going, but stay and commune. Jesus wants to commune with you. He wants to fellowship with you. Amen. Amen. Father, repeat after me. Father, we thank you for the mirror. Father, we thank you for of your word today. Thank you for revealing not just what we become, but who you created us to be. Created us. Excuse me. As we leave this moment, help us not to walk away and forget what we've seen. Let the reflection of Christ remain clearer in our hearts. Purify every motive, heal every hidden wound. Remove every fog of pride or pain of our past. Let your spirit keep polishing us until your images, you know, still remains that we can see you and not ourselves. And Lord, when the world looks at us. Let them see love. Let them see love. Let them see forgiveness, mercy, and truth and motion. Let them see. Jesus in us. Amen. Thank you so much for joining us today on A-S-G-C-C sermons. We hope this time of worship, reflection, and teaching has been a source of inspiration and encouragement to you. As we come to an end of our time together, we want to extend a heartfelt invitation to those who may be listening or watching. If you've been touched by today's message and feel the stirring in your heart, we want you to know that God loves you unconditionally. The journey of faith is a personal one, and we believe that God is reaching out to you right now where you are. If you haven't experienced a life changing love of Jesus Christ, we want to give you an opportunity to invite him in your life. If you desire to know God personally, to experience his forgiveness and receive the gift of eternal life, we invite you to pray with us right now. You can simply repeat after me. Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you just as I am. I recognize that I am in need of your love and forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. And I accept him as my Lord and Savior. I repent of my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and make me a new creation. Thank you for the gift of eternal life. I surrender my life to you and I choose to follow you from this day forward. In Jesus name I pray, amen. If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, we want to congratulate you on the most important decision of your life. We encourage you to connect with a local church, read the Bible, and spend time in prayer to nurture your newfound relationship with God. Thank you for being a part of the A-S-G-C-C family today. We look forward to the amazing journey ahead with you. Remember, God loves you and we do too. May His grace and his peace be with you always.