That Just Happened:
He Made You to Love You
(Pete Hise, w/guest blogger, Sharon Clements)

Loved getting to toss the ball to Quest’s Worship & Arts Pastor Sharon Clements this weekend to teach on a great truth that’s meant to reorient everything in our lives: God Made You to LOVE You. How are you doing at receiving that love this week? Here are Sharon’s reflections:

This past weekend, I got to do something that I rarely get to do: I got to look out at thousands of people & offer the Capital-T Truth that can change EVERYTHING – the truth that God is absolutely crazy in love with us – for real.  It never gets old to see the lights come on in someone’s heart when they take this Truth seriously.  Here is a little bit of what I saw…

1. Every time the band took the stage, it was a constant reminder of God’s Love this weekend – a love that never fails and a God who jealously & relentlessly pursues us. And in Imagine Me, we got a glimpse of the possibility of really living as if all the voices of insecurity & failure were just gone. Way to go, music team!

2.  That drama hit a little close to home as Slim’s character was bombarded by the voices of his past that told him how incapable & inadequate he was.  Then, Justin stepped up to tell us his story of God’s love drowning out all the other voices… it gave us such hope for what’s possible.

3.  Hearing that God’s love isn’t a “once upon a time” kind of love, but a love that sacrificed EVERYTHING to clear out the sin & wreckage & of our lives was reorienting for so many people. It was like we leaned in to catch a glimpse of the Father’s love for us – a love that has memorized our faces – and a love that gave up His only boy to rescue us.

4. Matthew 3:17 is a passage and a realitywe will NEVER recover from as a church.  Hearing the story of Jesus’ baptism and picturing the Father parting the clouds to tell His boy how much He loved him was incredible.  Then to see the room realize that the God of the Universe was parting the clouds for them so they could hear those words spoken over them was priceless. It felt like we were believing it all a little bit more this weekend.:)

5. I loved how it hit the room that God is NOT OKAY with us coming close to His love but never experiencing it.  The picture of the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Check hanging proudly on the wall – uncashed & unspent – is one I’ll never forget. God wants us lavishly receiving & enjoying the most expensive gift that has ever been given… the remarkable, unfathomable gift of His Love…(not just admiring it from a distance).

6.  I was so excited to hear story after story of the real work people did asking the question, “how do you do at living in the experience of God’s love?” Shaky foundations were exposed – barriers of insecurity, comparison, accusation, fear & unforgiveness were dealt with, and people chose to listen to God’s Voice… emerging in a deeper, truer experience of God’s love for them.  If you’re not done with this question yet – finish it!  God has gifts waiting on the other side!

7.  I saw us get our hopes up this weekend.  For all the mistakes, for all inadequacies, for all the failures & all the voices that taunt us, we got our hopes up that God is still nuts about us.  That He might be captivated by us.  That we are worth what He was willing to pay for us.  What if it were really true?!? Well, newsflash:  it IS.  And it changes EVERYTHING.:)

8.  By the end of the weekend, we’d seen people give their lives to Christ in the Landing, on their knees at the cross, unable to budge from their seats, running to the front… they just had to experience the love of God for themselves. And they did.   (By the way…Beth, leading you straight to Jesus on Saturday night was an unbelievable privilege for me!)

9.   On Sunday afternoon, I got to have a front row seat in seeing the Church being the Church as we welcomed Quest’s New Media Director Matthew Benson, his wife Stacey, and their kids to Lexington!  As the moving truck came around the corner, 100+ Questers welcomed this long-awaited family with tears, cheers, prayers & tangible expressions of service & love as we settled them into their new home.  Welcome, Matthew – this is going to be the adventure of a lifetime! You won’t believe the gifts He has in mind for you!

10. And speaking of gifts, I got a priceless one that ended up bookending my weekend over the last several days.  On Friday night as I was wrapping up my prep for the weekend, I was invited to be a part of the Uprising Leadership Team. Then Sunday afternoon, we had our very first meeting.  I can’t tell you the hope that is stirring in my heart for what’s about to be unleashed. Thanks, Pete, for hearing God’s heart beating for this one… I think it’s going to change the world.