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We are in the 2nd week of the Bachelor series. Be sure to check out week 1.
The modern idea of love is about attracting the best and eliminating the rest. Every reality show also embraces this concept. Perhaps no show embraces it more than the Bachelor. The 1 available bachelor has a limited number of roses each round until he has eliminated everyone but one. He then asks her to marry him.
God does not operate like this. And we should all be glad about that!

God has a rose for everyone!

God’s love embraces where others eliminate.
Even if you give off a bad first impression, He offers a patient long-suffering love.
If God has a rose for everyone, then that means the people around us are loved by God.  The people around us are not the competition and we should not compare ourselves to others. Instead of looking for flaws in others we should be aware of the flaws in ourselves and be moved to love, becuase Christ Jesus loves us inspite of our sine. This becomes evident in the story of the prostitute who poured out the oil on the feet of Jesus when many thought she did not belong in the room with the master.

Bachelor 2 – A rose for You | Redemption Church Plano from Redemption Church on Vimeo.

The Bachelor 2 – A Rose for You

sermon notes by Chris Fluitt

Lead Pastor Redemption Church Plano Tx

**Bumper Video – Bachelor
Bachelor Title
Welcome to Redemption Church. Whether you are here at our location in Plano Tx, or checking us out on the internet, I welcome you. My name is Chris Fluitt and I’m glad to be bringing the Word of God to you today.
We are in the 2^nd week of the Bachelor series. Here is a quick review..
Modern Love is very different from God’s love.
Modern Love – Get the most attractive, wealthy, popular, powerful person possible.
This modern idea is prevalent and is fairly easy seen in the hit reality show The Bachelor
The show features 1 hot guy and 25-30 hot women.. and it is up to the women to get the guy to choose them.
Last week we told you that God is a bachelor. God the Bachelor
Not in a negative way. Not in a.. He is afraid of commitment and wants to play the field way, not in way that he toys with your emotions and affections… but in the way that God is available and looking for a bride to spend His life with.
And when it comes to relationships Availability is Key
What good is someone who is not available?

• What good is God’s strength if He is not available to you?
• What good is God’s wisdom if He is not available to you?
• What good is His pure heart if He is not available to you?

And in our earthly relationships, we need to be available to each other. To make time for each other. To be emotionally and physically available. Because there is no relationship without availability.
And finally last week we took time to look at the Hebrew betrothal & marriage process. I want to remind you of the 2 gifts that were given in the process.

1. The MOPHAR was given by the groom’s father to the bride’s father. This gift purchased the right for the groom to approach the bride. It did not purchase her as a slave but purchased the Groom’s right to ask her to marry him. The MOPHAR gift was to be equal to the life of the bride. The MOPHAR is pointing us to the spiritual picture of God our Father giving the gift of the perfect Lamb, so that the groom could approach us.
2. The MATTAN was given by the groom to the bride after she would say yes to His marriage proposal. The gift was a precious treasure to sustain and empower his bride as she prepares for the marriage. The MATTAN is the Holy Spirit that is given to us when we accept Jesus’ proposal. The Holy Spirit empowers us and sustains us while we wait for the return of the Groom.

It has always been God’s plan to enter into a sacred marriage covenant with us. Marriage is supposed to reveal God’s picture of love towards us. IF THAT IS TRUE… THEN IT WOULD MAKE SINCE FOR THE ENEMY TO ATTACK OUR MARRIAGES… just sayin..
Ephesians 5:25-27 tells us point blank that the picture of husband and wife loving each other is the picture of Christ & His Church.  Let’s take a moment to look at this passage… it is our Scripture memory for the month.  #BibleByHeart
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her(NIV)
Ephesians 5:26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,(NIV)
Ephesians 5:27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.(NIV)
 
I challenge you to memorize this passage for next Sunday.
A rose for you
In the TV show The Bachelor, the bachelor is given roses to hand out.  If you receive a rose, that means he likes you and wants to keep you around. If at the end of a round you do not receive a rose, then you must leave.  It is a brutal part of this show. They put all of the women together in one room and one by one the bachelor hands out roses. There is this sense that the self-value of some of these women is defined by receiving a rose. The ones that do not get a rose usually break down on the spot or in an interview following.
It is really crazy… because the first night he meets these women he eliminates a good number of them.  So these women are crying over a man they don’t really know… he could be a really mean jerk and they were spared finding that out… but yet they cry… because they lost… they did not receive a rose.
Imagine the pressure of meeting someone for the first time and knowing you need to impress them enough that at the end of the night you will receive a rose?  This is not exclusive to the show.  Many people feel this way on a first date.  It matters so much what other people think about me… I need their rose… I need their stamp of approval.  Some people are this way on social media… it hurts that no one liked their clever post.
Some people feel this way with God… What am I going to do to get God’s rose?  Can I be holy enough… can I stay away from sin long enough to gain His love.  Can I do enough works… can I give enough money… Can I know enough scripture so that I will get his eye… to gain his affection.
That is not God’s idea of love… That is the modern idea of Love.  God’s love is unconditional.  You can’t earn His love and you can’t lose His love.  He chose to love you before you existed.. He loved you before you loved Him. And it is His love for us that draws us into love with Him.
1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.(NIV)
God has a rose for you…  Long before you tried to live a good life. Long before you did good deeds. Long before you started coming to church.
The bible shows us that Jesus proposes to an unprepared bride.  He doesn’t propose because we have our act together… or because we have something to offer.  He is available to us simply because He loves us.
You aren’t eliminated… You are embraced.. You are loved. He has a rose for you.
The competition
One of the more interesting aspects to the bachelor show is the competition factor. They always bring in a few women at a time.  It never fails… the more women they put in the room, the meaner the room gets. AND NO this is not a judgment on females…  It is an aspect of competition. A few women enter the room and they talk and are friendly… but as more and more women enter the room they start to become aware that they are in a room with their competition.
The bachelor only has so many roses to give..  And as they start looking around the room they start comparing themselves to each other… Who is best dressed…? Who is most beautiful…? Who has the best personality…? Are they better than me? They are holding to the modern idea of love…  to get the most attractive, wealthy, popular, powerful possible…  Is that me…?  Quick, how can I be more attractive?
It is never a good idea to compare yourselves to others..  2 Corinthians 10:12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.(NIV)
Comparing yourself to others is a way to never be happy.
**COMPETITION video
This is recent video from a Brazilian beauty pageant.  The runner up attacks the winner of the beauty contest. She rips her crown from her… Doesn’t that make the runner up appear more beautiful? They obviously gave the award to the wrong person… #sarcasm
But this is where comparing ourselves against each other leads. It leads to us tearing each other apart.
 
On the Bachelor show, and in real life, a lot of stock is placed in First impressions
All of the women on the show are looking for an advantage. This is clearly seen with the 1^st impressions.. Where they see the bachelor for the first time. They try to do something so he will remember them or instantly fall in love. Some ride up on a horse… some tell a joke… some reveal a strange talent… the episode I saw had a lady from Arlington Tx got out of the limo holding a stereo and sang her own made up song via karaoke… it was train wreck.. but she did get a rose so it must have worked..
When it comes to our relationship with God, do we view others as competition?
                The denominations of Christianity have often positioned us against each other as competition.
The Church world has many times viewed unbelievers as our competition.
When it comes to our relationship with God, do we feel like we need to earn His love? Does it feel like we have earned His love. Do we really think our first impression caused Him to love us?
If you think God only has so many roses to hand out… then you will start viewing others as the competition. You will start believing His love needs to be earned.
I have some great news. God has a rose for everyone
You do not have to compete for God’s love. God’s love is for you… and for everyone.
1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.(NIV)
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!(NIV)
John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”(NIV)
John 12:32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”(NIV)
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,(NIV)
1 Timothy 2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men–the testimony given in its proper time.(NIV)
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.(NIV)
John 3:15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.(NIV)
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(NIV)
So who gets a rose?  Anyone who will accept it!
God’s love is given.. not earned.  If you have to earn love… then whatever you had to do, is how cheap that love is. But God offers you a love that can’t be purchased. His love is not cheap… neither are His gifts to His bride.
I want to remind you in the Hebrew marriage process, it is the Groom’s father that gives the redeeming gift of the Mophar… It is the Groom who gives the empowering sustaining gift of the MATTAN.  The Bride, nor her family, give anything in the process except a willingness to say YES!
Are you willing to say yes?
I want to talk to you about the competition…
Luke 7:36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.(NIV)
Luke 7:37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,(NIV)
Luke 7:38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.(NIV)
Luke 7:39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is–that she is a sinner.”(NIV)
Luke 7:40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.(NIV)
Luke 7:41 “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.(NIV)
Luke 7:42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”(NIV)
Luke 7:43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.(NIV)
Luke 7:44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.(NIV)
Luke 7:45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.(NIV)
Luke 7:46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.(NIV)
Luke 7:47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven–for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”(NIV)
Luke 7:48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”(NIV)
Luke 7:49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”(NIV)
Luke 7:50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”(NIV)
I want to point out some things in this story.

• Jesus had a rose for everyone in the story.  He loved and died for everyone in this story.
• Yet only 1 person in this story had their sins forgiven. Only one person offered Jesus worship.

 
Someone crashes the party. Someone shows up at this Pharisee named Simon’s house that was not invited and did not fit in with the rest of the guests. The story tells us very directly that she was a Sinner… she was a prostitute. She did not give off a good first impression…
She approaches Jesus and He gives her access. Jesus does not turn her away.  She starts doing things that make people uncomfortable.  She weeps. Her tears fall on Jesus’ dirty feet. (Dirty feet from the dirty streets. They were still dirty because verse 44 reveals that Simon had not provided the common courtesy of water to wash his feet.) The woman starts touching his feet, starts cleaning his feet, and in the end kisses his feet and dries them with her hair and anoints them with oil.  Now this is a weird scene. Simon the Pharisee says to himself… If this guy were a prophet he would know what kind of women is touching him… Suggesting that he would never grant access to such a woman.. a prostitute.. a sinner.
Jesus confronts his dinner host with the parable… The bottom line of that parable was – A greater debt forgiven a greater love is shown.
Then turning toward the woman, he asked Simon “Do you see this woman?”
It’s clear that Simon had not seen the woman… he saw a sinner.. But can I tell you that Jesus saw the woman.
Redemption Church… “do you see this woman?” …or do you see competition?  Do you see her past mistakes?
Where others see a drug addict… Jesus sees a bride.  Where others see a murderer… Jesus sees someone worth dying for. Where others see liars and hypocrites… He sees men and women… And he offers them a rose.
 
Simon do you see this woman?  She has done for me what you have not. She loves me like you have not.
Luke 7:47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven–for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”(NIV)
The competition is not other people. The competition is not a limited number of spaces in heaven. The competition is within us.. If I can put it simply… it is when we..
Minimizing our sin & Maximize the sin of others
Everyone in that room with Jesus had… Romans 3:23 sinned and fall short of the glory of God,(NIV)
But everyone else looked on this woman and maximized her sin… to the point that she doesn’t belong here… she should stay away from Jesus.. and at the same time they minimized their own sins…  but Jesus points out that…
Those that minimize their sin… minimize their love.
Those that maximize their sin… maximize their love.
This woman did not minimize her sin.. she maximized her love.
 
No one has ever come to Jesus by saying “I really don’t have a sin problem.”
No one has ever come to Jesus by saying “I have sin but at least I’m not as bad as those people.”
No one has ever come to Jesus by saying “I have earned His rose…”
 
As the apostle Paul says..
1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.(NIV)
I am about to open this altar for a time of prayer, but before I do… I want to talk about the Oil.
In the ancient world there was no deodorant or antiperspirant. People stank. Nice fragrance was expensive..
Prostitutes would use perfume as a way to advertise their services. She would see a guy walking her way and she would put some on so he would know she was available.
This prostitute took her advertisement for sin… the perfume… and she broke the bottle and poured it all out on Jesus.
This is repentance. Repentance is turning away from sin and around towards Jesus. When she broke that jar and spilt all the perfume on Christ it marked the end of her career as a prostitute.
It is also worship. God has a way of taking our sin.. the thing that is shame in our life… and redeeming it, so that it becomes worship.
She took that fragrant oil that she had used to show availability to others.. she would put that oil on herself… but now she placed it all upon Jesus… because He is available to her.  She did not attract him.. He attracted her.. not in a sensual way… not in a sinful way… but in a love way.
Others see a prostitute – Jesus sees a bride.
Jesus is available to you. You have something you need to break in repentance and pour out to Jesus?  Do not let this moment pass you by.  Do not minimize your sin… you will minimize your love.
These altars are open to anyone that is willing to confess that they are a sinner and in need of the love of Jesus.

Redemption Church Plano Tx

Nondenominational Spirit Filled