Risking Love [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. What happens in life is our heart can get hurt. A lot of people in this room right now, you know what it is to have loved deeply and for the love to either have been betrayed, mistreated, mishandled, or not returned. It hurts. And you've got to come out of the comfort zone to love like this.

And when it hurts, it's proof that your heart is soft. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Unlimited as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'm going to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Now more on this later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news?

Yes. Love, any type of love is risky, but it's worth it. It's more than worth it because when you love, you are exercising the most wonderful gift in the world. And God is love. I think it's not by chance that we come to the text that we're going to come to today because I find it's really important to focus your life on what you know for sure. And what I know for sure is that the mark of the Christian's life is an unbelievable risky, reckless love that is rooted in Christ Himself. Of the early church, they said, see how they love one another. See how crazy their love is for one another. See how they bless one another and care for one another. See how they extend kindness to strangers.

See how they practice love when they speak the truth, they speak it in love. There's never been a greater time for today's text. So we are in the book of Acts still, but a mini series here for missions emphasis, which I call out of the comfort zone.

It is the most and maybe the best beginning point to speak of the most uncomfortable thing of all. And that is to put your heart on the line and love somebody. So Acts chapter 20 is where we are. It is the departing speech, the sharing of Paul's heart as he's saying goodbye to the Ephesian elders with whom he'd spent more than two years of his life. Acts 20 verse 17.

Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews. How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course in the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I'm innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. To care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood, I know after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves there were wise men speaking twisted things to draw away for the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

I covet in no one silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who are with me. In all things I've shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak.

And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, it's more blessed to give than to receive. And when he said these things, he knelt down and he prayed with them all. And there was much weeping on the part of all. And they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all, because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him not see his face again.

And they accompanied him to the ship. What a scene. Well, it's Groundhog Day at the Wright household. Some of you may know the old movie that Bill Murray starred in called Groundhog Day. That was a story about a newsman who got trapped in the same day. Every morning he'd wake up and it was Groundhog Day again.

He couldn't get out of it. Every day was the same, Groundhog Day. Well, in more ways than one, it's Groundhog Day for us. Let me back up and tell the story. In many ways, it started with how much we loved our little dog, Recy, the beagle who went off to beagle heaven some years ago. There was talk afterwards of us getting another dog, getting a pet.

But at this point, the kids are going out of the house and we had no need for a babysitter and no need for a dog sitter as we could pick up and go. I said, there shall be no other dog during this season of life. And I told our friends, I said, whatever you do, don't send my wife any pictures of your cute animals. And so one of them of course sent me this. It's like, yeah, see, see right there.

That's what happens. Take that picture away. Take that picture away. And it's a cruel thing to show a miniature golden doodle to somebody who is wondering whether they should get a dog.

I said, no, no, no dog. Well, it was almost fortuitous that about this time that a strange little critter appeared in our backyard. We have an elevated kind of house and a yard that then goes down a hill and there's a field and there's a lake back there.

And then the Yadkin River there. So we're city folk, but we're kind of got some wildlife around us now. There's a critter like, what is that thing? And we realized it was a groundhog. And so we started watching the groundhog and he loved to roam around and had a little spot he liked to perch. And one day we saw there were two of them. They've got this little place, a little landing there, some steps that go down below where they just get to, he just rule his domain right from there.

Look out everything. He likes to sun himself on a little concrete slab there next to the lamp post. And he enjoys grazing in the yard and having full sway of the place. And dug holes back up under the yard, but it wasn't hurting anything.

And so that was just fine. And so for years, the groundhog has been there and my wife would get up in the morning and open up the curtains and say, oh, let me tell you what the groundhog's doing. And the neighbors and friends will come over and comment on the groundhog.

It's almost like a pet. And then this summer, a few weeks back, we had a week off and we came back and I noticed that right up under my back porch, screen porch on the lower level, something had been digging right up under that porch. And then I saw the groundhog, I spotted him right through the screen porch, right next to my screen porch. He'd become increasingly bold to now he wants to rule from my house itself and has been digging up under the house. Well, my wife learned that there was a a burrowing animal up under getting near the foundation of the house. And she was pretty sure that if we didn't get rid of him quickly, that the house is going to fall down. So she said, Alan, you got to get rid of him. And I was like, I don't know how to get rid of a groundhog. She said, you got to do something.

You got to do it now. So the house, I said, I said, I don't think the house is going to fall down. She said, you cannot have this.

I liked it. What I was talking, one of the staff members said, oh yeah. So he's undermining you.

I said, that's where they get the word, didn't it? The critters undermining me. And, and so I, she said, you got to call the wildlife man. I said, that'll cost money to call the wildlife man.

And she said, call the wildlife man. So I called the wildlife man and a wildlife man came and he said, there are two ways to get rid of the groundhog. He said, one way is, and the simple, the simple way, and it's the cheapest by far, the most cost effective. He said, it's painless. The euthanizes the, the groundhog and I'll take them away and, and you'll never have to see it or know about it.

And it won't, it's very humane. That's the, that's the cheap way, the most certain way to catch him. I've got a trap that I can put right over his hole and that and so forth. So the other way is more costly because I got to come back and forth and so forth.

And that is I could catch him and then go relocate him. I said, honey, there are two options. She said, option one is out. She said, you got to relocate him. I said, it is the more expensive option.

She said, I don't care what it costs. We're not going to kill that groundhog. And so wildlife man has been coming over setting traps as of this morning.

Groundhog is still roaming freely. In fact, we saw him the other day, wandering around the trap, kind of looking at it. He saw the celery that was in there, but evidently he likes gnawing on the baby grass that is from where we've overseeded the yard. He'd rather just go ahead and have that.

He's got more delectable things and he's not falling for it. In the meantime, though, this week, we have caught two skunks and a raccoon. I know some of you hunters are out there like, I can take care of that groundhog for you right now. That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org. God's always been there. In every moment, you narrowly escaped from danger. In every moment, you were surprised by a blessing.

In every moment, you just knew the direction to take. God was there. Your life is defined by countless moments of God's grace. Perhaps they've been covered by the sands of time or have just gone unnoticed in the rush of life, but your life is full of God moments. When you make a gift today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's heart-stirring book, God Moments, that will lead you on a spiritual treasure hunt to uncover your God moments. It's Alan Wright's timeless book, God Moments.

Discover your God moments in the past and be filled with fresh faith today. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. I tell this story because we're having to work hard to safely relocate a groundhog. I have told my wife, it's just a large rodent. You wouldn't feel this.

You had to relocate a rat, would you? Isn't it amazing anything your heart gets even a little bit attached to? Even a little bit. And it hurts to think of harm coming to that.

Even if it's a groundhog. How much more so the people that you love. Love, there's no getting around it, is risky.

But it's more than worth it because you're made for love. And God is love. It is the very nature of God to risk loving the people that will break his heart.

Isn't that something? So we come to a scene today where Paul and the Ephesian elders are saying goodbye. And what you see here is what theologian N.T. Wright said is Paul as if he had stopped long enough for us to see a painted portrait of who he really is. If you only knew Paul from his treatise to the Romans, you would say he is a professor.

He is one of the smartest, most logical writers. If you only knew him from his correction to the Galatian heresies, you would say he is angry. If you only knew him from his discipline of the Corinthian church for their excess, you would say he is a detached disciplinarian. But here you see who Paul is and you see what Christians are in the early church. You see what a Christian relationship looks like. So I want to talk to you very simply about what I see in this text and you might call it the ABCs of authentic gospel relationship.

And the first would be what I notice is the A is affection. When you study the Scripture, I suggest you get a passage and read it over several times, not looking necessarily for a particular angle. Just read it over and say to yourself, what jumps out at me? That's the first and best way to study Scripture devotionally. What jumps out at me from this?

Open up your heart before the Lord and let Him just show it to you. What key words and phrases might be repeated? What seems to be thematically coming out of this particular story or this particular text? And you know what I saw when I read this over several times, just reading this, the Ephesian elder goodbye, what I saw and jumped out at me? Four references to tears.

Look at this, the affection. Verse 19, Paul said serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me. Look at verse 31, Paul said be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.

Isn't that something? I feel bad sometimes because I get a little emotional sometimes when I preach, especially I start talking about the love of God and I might start crying. It sounds like Paul cried every time he preached.

That's what he's saying. Every time he preached, he cried because he can't help it. His heart's so soft before the Lord. And then verse 31, here's how the account is remembered by Luke.

Paul said, I'm sorry, verse 37, it was remembered by Luke this way, there was much weeping on the part of all and they embraced Paul and they kissed him. I love more of the Hebrew and Mid Eastern culture where men hug each other and cry and kiss each other on the cheek. Affection. We're made for affection. Children in our homes are made for affection.

They need it. Social distancing has been necessary, but awful because we need affection. Verse 38, being sorrowful most of all because the word he spoke and they'd never see his face again. It was an emotional goodbye. Now it was not an emotional goodbye that was just maudlin. It wasn't just emotionalism. There is a way in which we become too emotional. Emotions aren't what we go on. They are more like indicators of what we're going on. Emotions are like the dashboard of your car. They're reliable indicators of what's going on in your heart, but emotionalism is not helpful.

Sometimes you'd be watching a movie and you're like, you know what? This is not authentically sad. This is just a tear jerker. They just set this up and they're just jerking the tears out of my eyes and sometimes ministry situation, we can do that too. I remember my first ministry goodbye.

It became over emotional. I had been the youth pastor for two years in a small startup church with a small youth group. My wife served alongside of me for two years. Every week, a small youth group, we spent time with them. We love those kids day in, day out for two years. It was time for me to go to seminary.

On the last Sunday, we arranged for the service to be mainly student led that day. It became so emotional. The kids shared some stories and they were sweet. We did the thing that was like, oh man, why did we even do it? We showed a slideshow and it had all the best memories of the thing. And so, you know, the slideshow itself was emotional, but then we made the classic tear jerking mistake. In the 80s, almost every youth slideshow was accompanied by the words, by the song from Michael W. Smith, Friends.

Packing up the dreams God planted in the fertile soil of you. I can't believe the hopes He's granted means a chapter of your life gets through. You can't get through the first verse. By the time you get to the chorus, and friends are friends forever.

If the Lord's the Lord and friends will not say never. And we're playing the song and they're saying, all the kids are crying. I'm crying. My wife's crying. We're like, you know, that's just, we're just lost in emotion there.

That's not, emotionalism where it is extending beyond the extent of the occasion. That's not what's going on with Paul. Paul had spent his life with them and he's never gonna see them again. I love Paul's words where he shared how his heart felt towards the body and Thessalonica.

The first Thessalonians 2, 8, I love this verse. When Paul said, being affectionately desirous of you, affectionately desirous of you. That's, we wouldn't use our terms like that. We would just say, I just have so much love and affection for you. I just long to always be with you. That's what it would mean. We were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves because you become so very dear to us.

I like the NIV translation better. We shared not only the gospel of God, but our very lives with you. He was here in his life. Our lives, he's saying, we had a love attachment that ran so deep. Alan Wright, good news message today, risking love from the series Unlimited.

I encourage you to stick around. Pastor Alan is back joining us in the studio and sharing a parting good news thought for the day for you in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org. God's always been there. In every moment you narrowly escaped from danger. In every moment you were surprised by a blessing.

In every moment you just knew the direction to take. God was there. Your life is defined by countless moments of God's grace. Perhaps they've been covered by the sands of time or have just gone unnoticed in the rush of life, but your life is full of God moments. When you make a gift today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's heart-stirring book, God Moments, that will lead you on a spiritual treasure hunt to uncover your God moments. It's Alan Wright's timeless book, God Moments.

Discover your God moments in the past and be filled with fresh faith today. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Like you're now with Pastor Alan. Who doesn't appreciate a good Groundhog story? But what in the world does that have to do with love? The Groundhog was relentless. And it's funny.

I hope people enjoy hearing it because it's funny, but not so funny when you're trying to... Living through it. Get rid of it. But what is amazing to me is that my wife, she so wants the Groundhog gone. And yet she loves the Groundhog. So don't exterminate it. Just take care of this wild animal. And you see how vulnerable our hearts really are. If they attach to anything, even a wild Groundhog in the backyard that's digging things up, then we're vulnerable because we care.

And there's something that hurts to think if the other hurts. And what we get to see today is Paul at his most vulnerable. And to watch the way in which his love shines forth and shows forth in a very intimate and beautiful way, as he says goodbye to the elders in Ephesus. It's the picture of the real heart of a real Christian.