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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to have you

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Speaker 2: listening with us. Today's topic is how we are loved

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Speaker 2: first not last. We'll return with the devotion after a

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Speaker 2: brief message from our sponsors. Loved first, not last, written

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Speaker 2: and read by Sarah Fraser. When you were younger, did

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Speaker 2: you ever get picked last for a game?

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Speaker 1: Or did you have your.

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Speaker 2: Friends leave you out of a fun activity, a sleepover,

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Speaker 2: a party. Even as adults, we get left out to

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Speaker 2: Rejection feels horrible, It really does. Even people who might

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Speaker 2: have stepped out of your life can hurt you, and

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Speaker 2: that sometimes feels like a rejection over the years. If

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Speaker 2: we let rejection be the narrative by which we formulate

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Speaker 2: our lives, we might not believe the truth we read

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Speaker 2: and first John four nineteen. We love because He first

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Speaker 2: loved us First John four nineteen. This kind of love

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Speaker 2: picks first, not last. This love isn't something we earn.

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Speaker 2: There isn't something inside our hearts that makes God love us.

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Speaker 2: We are so used to being loved because of what

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Speaker 2: we do. Even in our faith circles we see language

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Speaker 2: such as grow, repentance, and sanctification. These things are good things,

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Speaker 2: necessary things, But those things have nothing to do with

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Speaker 2: us being loved. What is this kind of love? It

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Speaker 2: is not like a love we have ever experienced before.

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Speaker 2: It is much deeper. In this verse, chapter, and book

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Speaker 2: of the Bible we get a glimpse of this amazing love.

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Speaker 2: God's love is not the result of our love for him,

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Speaker 2: It is the source of it. Notice that Apostle John

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Speaker 2: uses the word first. This means a couple of things.

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Speaker 2: It means we are loved before we believe, before we obey,

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Speaker 2: before we understand, before we cry out to God. God

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Speaker 2: loves first. Romans five eight says while we were still sinners,

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Speaker 2: Christ died for us. There was no fixing ourselves or

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Speaker 2: proving ourselves before God would love us. God loved us

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Speaker 2: first while we were still sinners. It also means God

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Speaker 2: moved first. He did not wait for you and I

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Speaker 2: to be spiritually or morally ready for his love. It

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Speaker 2: existed before we had a chance to even change. God's

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Speaker 2: love came toward us when we were at our worst,

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Speaker 2: not our best. Performance based love focuses on doing better,

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Speaker 2: and then you will be loved. A gospel centered love

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Speaker 2: says you are loved therefore you can change. Growth, repentance,

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Speaker 2: and sanctification come after we experience God's love as a

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Speaker 2: perfectionist people pleaser. I still find this truth amazing. It

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Speaker 2: brings me such a great source of freedom. Although I

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Speaker 2: had heard it all grown up in church, it really

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Speaker 2: never sunk in until later in my life, in my

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Speaker 2: mid thirties, I came to realize that my productivity, my goodness,

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Speaker 2: and faithfulness never earned me one ounce of God's love.

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Speaker 2: In addition to that, my failings, faults, and sin could

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Speaker 2: never lose me any of God's love either. While I

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Speaker 2: grew up trying to earn the love of those around me,

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Speaker 2: God loved me first. This means I'll never have to

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Speaker 2: earn more love, nor do I need to fear losing

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Speaker 2: God's love. Listen to what Paul says in Romans Hate

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Speaker 2: about Christ's love for us. Who shall separate us from

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Speaker 2: the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution,

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Speaker 2: or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it

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Speaker 2: is written, for your sake, we are being killed all

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Speaker 2: the day long. We are re guarded as sheep to

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Speaker 2: be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more

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Speaker 2: than conquerors through Him. Who loved us. For I am

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Speaker 2: sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,

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Speaker 2: nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor

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Speaker 2: height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will

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Speaker 2: be able to separate us from the love of God

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Speaker 2: in Christ, Jesus Our Lord, Romans eight thirty four through

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Speaker 2: thirty eight. You might feel crushed, persecuted, unloved, unwanted, and distressed,

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Speaker 2: but none of these things will ever keep you from

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Speaker 2: God's love. In fact, knowing God's love comes first means

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Speaker 2: God's love is not at the end of our spiritual journey,

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Speaker 2: but at the beginning. It has always been with us.

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Speaker 2: As soon as we become a Christian, it will carry

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Speaker 2: us through until the end. You are not loved because

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Speaker 2: you were responded to God. You respond because He loved

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Speaker 2: you first. So if you think back to a time

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Speaker 2: when you were picked last, remember that today you have

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Speaker 2: been picked first. You have been chosen by God to

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Speaker 2: be loved. Rest in this truth and believe you can

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Speaker 2: walk in obedience because of this love. Intersecting faith and

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Speaker 2: life in what areas of your faith? Are you still

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Speaker 2: trying to earn God's affection rather than rest in the

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Speaker 2: love He has already given. How might your daily walk

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Speaker 2: with God change if you believed obedience flows from being

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Speaker 2: loved rather than working for love? Additional reading Psalm one O.

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Speaker 2: Three eight through fourteen, Ephesians one four through five, Isaiah

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Speaker 2: forty three one through four, John six thirty seven, second

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Speaker 2: Thessalonia to sixteen.

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Speaker 1: The Crosswalk Devotional is a production of Life Audio and

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Speaker 1: visit us at lifeaudio dot com.