Learning to love in the now and not yet | Mark Searle | THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT

This sermon is a reminder that following Jesus is wonderful and life-giving — but it can also be painful and costly. Using Romans 8 (especially v35–39), Mark names real hardships (suffering, pressure, fear, vulnerability) and says faith doesn’t pretend those things aren’t real.A key theme is the “now and not yet” of God’s Kingdom: Jesus has won the decisive victory, but we still live in a world where pain and unanswered questions remain. In that tension, people can pull back from intimacy with Jesus because of shame, disappointment, or the difficulty of life — and we end up asking, “Lord, where are you?”The reassurance of Romans 8 is that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus. God is present in the darkest valley, and the response isn’t just to ask where God is, but to turn toward God with active trust: thanksgiving, remembering forgiveness, and taking practical steps back toward Jesus. The sermon closes with comfort from Psalm 23: God is with us, and God’s goodness will pursue us.Sign up to our weekly sermon podcasts’s on the links below.Sign up to our weekly sermon podcasts’s on the links below.Apple Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/waterways-vineyard-talks/id1695886498Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4HVdKZoW0CLxsIDDYOKRDE?si=0oDfuVQxSdWRxg2ZQ2RysA