Attached to God [Part 3]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Rather than seeking its own good, the love of God flows forth and bestows good. Therefore, sinners are attractive because they are loved.

They are not loved because they are attractive. You're attractive to God because He loves you. 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 am Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series we call O Bologna, a study of Romans chapters one through three, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. Now, if you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, we sure want 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.

So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. And you can contact us at pastoralan.org. That's pastoralan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. The obedience of Jesus offer his life once and for all as a sacrifice for the sins of the many. And all of this goes far to explain what happened at Jesus' baptism in Mark 1 verse 10.

When he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven and said, you are my agapitos, my beloved. It probably should be translated, this is my son, the beloved.

That's who he is. And he said, with whom I'm well pleased or in whom I take tremendous delight and I enjoy immensely. This is my son, the beloved, whom I have infinite delight in.

Father wasn't saying I don't love the world, but he was saying there's an attachment to this son, indeed we are one that is so infinite that it can't be described in any terms except for this exclusive way. So when God through Paul calls you the agapitoy, he has this in mind. For in Ephesians 1 verse 4, Paul says even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. Listen to this, in love, agape, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons.

That's not about gender, that's about status, that's about position, that's about an ancient world, a firstborn son, an only son who receives the inheritance as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which, and listen to this, with which he has blessed us or you could say accepted us or you could say has shown us favor in an unmerited way, all of that's intended here, has blessed us in the beloved in Jesus. This is my beloved and everyone who trusts in him is in Christ and in Christ you have every spiritual blessing because you are in the beloved and therefore there was the agapitos Jesus and now everybody who trusts in Jesus is the agapitoy. Wow, you could think of translating it like something like this, in agape he predestined us to be adopted as if we were his only son through Jesus which glorifies him and his glorious grace by which he has favored us in the agapitos and this is revolutionary and this will heal you and this will solve your trauma and this will cast out fear and this will empower you and this will change your life and this will enable you to love everybody you ever see if you get this down into your spirit when God said of Jesus this is my beloved this is the agapitos and I delight in him that now for anyone who is in Christ God feels and expresses and sees you in exactly that same way. You're the beloved. I give almost anything to know the depths of that and I would devote my whole life to helping somebody understand that. What this means is that God loves you in the same manner and to the same degree and with the same affection that he loved his only begotten son.

You're the agapitoy. Paul says I'm writing to those that are the beloved in Rome and you're identified by that love. That's why John said this is love not that we first love God but he first loved us.

Martin Luther who got changed by Romans changed the world as the great reformer said the love of God does not find but creates that which is pleasing to it. Rather than seeking its own good the love of God flows forth and bestows good therefore sinners are attractive because they are loved. They are not loved because they are attractive.

You're attractive to God because he loves you infinitely. To the agapitoy who are called to be saints. Callao. Calls.

This sense of call biblically is not like our idea of call. Like when I was a kid I'd call my buddy Bob across the street. I'm just bored and call him hey Bob what are you doing? I'm bored you want to play some GI Joe? Yeah you want to hit some tennis balls? Okay let's go I'll meet you out in the street. He might say yeah I might say no. I'm just calling him.

It's not even like my mom who would call me on a late summer night when I still wanted to be shooting basketball or playing kick the can. Alan come home bedtime. Everything in me is like oh no I gotta go because the law but I'm gonna buck against it as long as I can.

I'm gonna eke out some more minutes here. I don't want it. Yeah I'm being called but it's really more of a law. That's not the call of God. The call of God has an effect because it has life in it. It's like Jesus didn't say to those fishermen at Galilee hey if you ever get tired of that fishing thing you know try this ministry gig out. They just said follow me.

So what happened? What kind of mysterious work? It's the call of God is best understood to picture Jesus outside the tomb of a dead man who'd been in the tomb for days and when he says Lazarus come forth. The dead man comes walking because there's an effect to the call. How did you become a Christian?

How did your blind eyes get opened up? There's an effect to God's call. It's life-giving and what happens in the call of God is that it is not so much about him violating someone's free will.

He honors free will but his call is so beautiful and so life-giving that you can't imagine resisting it if you actually receive the revelation of the call. All the ladies that go to Awakenings they've seen they've seen the video and you've heard me tell them bygone years. I won't go into the whole big story but just for purpose of illustration if you didn't know shortly before we got married my wife and I visited Los Angeles. Her aunt and uncle Stanley and Joella who he was a pastor there and I was visiting a seminary and on the last day of our visit we're at the farmer's market and that's right next to CBS studios and I said hey let's go see if we could get and so go see a show. I've always wanted to see a show and I said I don't want to see a show.

I said I'd like to see a show. She said all right so I went over there and by fluke they had three tickets for The Price is Right. Normally you got a write-in months ahead. I don't know they had these three tickets so her cousin Max and I and Ann we went to The Price is Right set up in the far left hand back corner and you know we were saying as we were going over there I wonder if one of us got called down and Stanley and Joella and Ann said well I sure don't want to be called down get humiliated on national tv. I said well what are the chances you know and we're walking this big line to go in to the studio and I realize they don't call you by random choice. They don't pull your name out of a hat.

They interview everybody that comes through. I was the first one talking to the producer and there's an assistant taking notes and they just looked at me as a young man. I was doing youth ministry at the time. She said and what do you do? I said I'm a youth minister.

They said next. That's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. We're excited to tell you about Pastor Alan's latest book Seeing as Jesus Sees.

It's just been released and it's the giant secret of real transformation. Now followers of Christ tend to focus on doing so we've been told to ask what would Jesus do but even our noblest efforts to be more like Jesus ultimately fail for the same reason that pledging to keep the law never works. There's no gospel power in our self-striving but what if the secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing.

Anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything. In his eye-opening new book Pastor Alan Wright invites readers into a new simple spiritual practice a little breath prayer that can be prayed throughout the day. Jesus how do you see this?

It's a prayer that the savior loves to answer because after all Christ came to be the light of the world. Clear away confusion win over the darkness and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away. And when you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries today we'll send you Pastor Alan's new beautiful hardcover book and as an additional thank you for your support you'll also receive a free six-week Seeing as Jesus Sees companion video series from Pastor Alan along with a study guide and a daily reading plan. Let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life as you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes.

You'll start seeing as Jesus sees and you're gonna love the view. 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 got to thinking I never have seen a preacher on there. They're not gonna take a chance and get on there start preaching about Jesus and then next was Ann and they said and where are you from and she let that big cute smile of hers and she said North Carolina and all of a sudden everything froze and the producer looked over at the assistant he said oh North Carolina and he mimicked her southern draw and asked about what she did and who she was and they started talking and they're just carrying on this long interview we stepped through the line I said you're gonna be called she said I better not be I said how much does a refrigerator cost what did it cost to fly out here for this trip and she's like I better not be we're sitting up in the backhand left corner and this was when Johnny Olson was the announcer and sure enough right out of the gate and B Lynch you come on down you're the first contestant on the price is right that's exactly what she did see this was a precursor of things to come over these next 38 years of marriage she just looked at me and kind of scowled and said hold my pocketbook hold my pocketbook kind of like that's all you're good for right now hold my pocketbook she didn't want to be on but she had talked about how she'd been saving up her pennies from working at the craft showcase at Haynes mall and her dad said that if she saved up 500 he'd contribute 500 and she could buy an old clunker of a car so she didn't want to be called down but she went because when Johnny Olson calls you down there's an effect to that but when they rode a car on the stage she didn't want to be called but she did want a car and when they put up on the screen the on the on the at the at the showcase and they put up a picture of Jackson Wyoming in the Grand Tetons which is the very place that we had already talked about was one of our favorite places in the United States the beautiful Grand Tetons mound always want to go again and they put that up she wanted the trip to the Grand Tetons and she won everything she did and what I'm saying is that even if there's something inside of you that just wants to turn said I don't want to be on and I don't want to be called and then you get called and hold my pocketbook and then you get down there but you can't resist it because whoever's been on the price is right and doesn't go down when Johnny said Johnny doesn't come on down Ambulance said nah nah no thanks no thanks somebody else please I mean could Saul of Tarsus resisted the call of God he said I'm set apart to be an apostle could he have when he's on the way to Damascus and suddenly a blinding light comes he can't see and he hears a voice from heaven Saul Saul why do you persecute me could he have resisted the call of God I suppose but who could you are the agape toy and the reason you're the agape toy is because in the mystery of his grace he has set his affection upon you and he's called you to be his saints which means holy ones which means set apart that's all it means there's so much confusion about the idea of holiness holiness for the Christian is not a goal towards which we aspire it is a reality to which we adjust it's just who you are saint is probably we need a different word because at our language saint means somebody who's better than everybody else or maybe in some church traditions it means those that are venerated for their very special nobility and miraculous things in their lives but in the bible in the new testament saint just means you're set apart and you belong to God whether you act like a saint or not doesn't change the fact you're a saint you're a holy one you're his beloved parishioner gave us some Christmas presents and one that I opened was a lovely wooden Christmas tree in natural wood like it'd been carved out and that was lovely and as I was undecorating with my wife and carrying things dutifully up the attic and she says before you put that tree away would you take a sharpie and write on it who it came from so we'll always remember and treasure it I said sure and so I grabbed a indelible big black marker and flipped the tree around and wrote big letters back who it came from she was walking by as I was doing it and she said sweetie I was thinking you're gonna write on the bottom of it I said well it's the back she said no there's not a back and a front to that that's just a tree freestanding tree freestanding tree and I had just plastered all over it in indelible ink the name of the giver and when received you know what I did I nonetheless I've marked it as holy I might see that same wooden tree in some store and say that's cute but it wouldn't be holy it wouldn't be set apart you have been set apart by the call of God and he has indelibly marked you as his beloved beloved beloved mine and if you belong to God like that can you jump forward in your mind by the time we get to Romans 8 and understand why Paul would say if God is for us if I'm his agapetos and I'm set apart to him indelibly inscribed by his loving signature on my life if he's for me like that who could be against me and what could ever separate me from the love of God in Jesus Christ nothing that revelation is what makes you more than a conqueror the love of God it's unlike anything this world could have ever known and it's the deepest and most important thing about who you are as a Christian you are his agapitoy the beloved called to be set apart to him now and forever that changes everything that's the gospel Alan Wright our good news message attached to God and it's from the series Romans chapters one through three we've titled Oh baloney hey stay with us pastor Alan is back joining me in the studio sharing his part in good news thought for the day in just a moment and we're excited to tell you about pastor Alan's latest book seeing as Jesus sees it's just been released and it's the giant secret of real transformation now followers of Christ tend to focus on doing so we've been told to ask what would Jesus do but even our noblest efforts to be more like Jesus ultimately fail for the same reason that pledging to keep the law never works there's no gospel power in our self-striving but what if the secret to personal transformation and victorious living isn't found in doing as much as in seeing anyone who has ever had an aha moment or has suddenly discovered the truth of a situation knows that fresh vision changes everything in his eye-opening new book pastor Alan Wright invites readers into a new simple spiritual practice a little breath prayer they can be prayed throughout the day Jesus how do you see this it's a prayer that the savior loves to answer because after all Christ came to be the light of the world clear away confusion win over the darkness and open your heart to wonder and joy by getting your copy of the book right away and when you make a gift to Alan Wright Ministries today we'll send you pastor Alan's new beautiful hardcover book and as an additional thank you for your support you'll also receive a free six-week seeing as Jesus sees companion video series from pastor Alan along with a study guide and a daily reading plan let Jesus take you by the hand and show you a whole new perspective for your life as you learn how to ask Christ for his eyes you'll start seeing as Jesus sees and you're gonna love the view 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 eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty that's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty or come to our website pastor alan.org back here in the studio with pastor Alan and our parting good news thought for the day again in the series obeloni and today's teaching coming down the final moments here attached to God. I wonder if Jim Wilder and some others who think a lot about attachment theory might be right that salvation itself that it's not so much about hey you prayed this certain prayer it's not about you walked a certain aisle it's not about something you do all those things may be means by which you appropriate salvation but that what we're really talking about in the end is that we are attached to God forever and the the agape toy the the the the beloved ones that's who we are and to be loved and to love is like a child with a parent there's attachment and God this is what he wants he wants to be permanently united to you and you to him in love it's an astounding thought it's beautiful and it changes everything thanks for listening today visit us online at pastor alan.org or call eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty that's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty if you only caught part of today's teaching not only can you listen again online but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free find out more about these and other resources at pastor alan.org that's pastor alan dot o-r-g today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries