Welcome to our Together on Mission podcast, when we seek to be with and like Jesus, as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, through scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then continue that conversation with them throughout your day. Your host is Travis Twine, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. In this season of the podcast, we will be journeying through the Gospel of Luke, specifically looking for moments in the life of Jesus of the Aspirin. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Daily Together on Mission podcast, where we start a conversation with Jesus in the morning, and then we enjoy that conversation with Jesus throughout the rest of the day.
That is called prayer. It's called adventuring with Jesus. It's called being students of Jesus, and that is what we are doing. We're in Luke chapter three this morning.
The title of the podcast is He Likes Me. And I'm not going to make you say it. I'm going to say it so you don't have to say it. We really do like to be liked.
There's no question about that. We like to be liked. We've always liked to be liked. We like to be picked.
We liked to be enjoyed. We like to be delighted and we like to be liked and like is a very powerful word. It's a very powerful word. I'm not saying it's more powerful than the word love, but sometimes it feels more powerful than the word love because the word love has been so overused and we tend to think, well, you know, such and such has to love me.
And so like the idea of being liked is incredibly powerful and meaningful idea and we like to be liked. We always have. We do. And we always will because it means to be enjoyed.
It means to be delighted in. It means that people want to be with you or around you. It means that people would choose to be with you or around you even if they didn't have to be with you or around you. We we we see like as something that somebody wants to do.
Sometimes we see love as something that someone has to do, but we see like as something that someone wants to do. And so we just love to be liked. And so I got a question. Does God like you?
Does God actually like you? And I know he loves you. You know he loves you. He's God.
God is love. He has to love you, but does God like you? Does God enjoy you? Does God want to be around you?
Does God love to think about you? Does God delight in you? Now, don't answer that question yet. I want to ask another one.
Do you like yourself? Do you enjoy yourself? Do you think about yourself with positive or delightful thoughts? Do you like yourself?
Because here's how it works. If we truly believe that God truly likes us, we will truly like ourselves. That's actually how it works. If we truly believe that God likes us, we actually will like ourselves.
And then we will no longer need to try to twist ourselves out of shape or drive ourselves to be liked by anyone at all. Because when we believe that God actually likes us, we will actually like delight and enjoy ourselves. Now I have one more question. Do you like others?
And I didn't say love. And you know, you're a Christian, right? Or maybe you're considering becoming a Christian and a Christian is commanded to love. So I'm not asking if you love others.
I'm saying, do you like others? Do you enjoy others? Do you delight in others? Because here is how it works.
If God truly likes me, I begin to truly like myself. And I am set free to truly, truly like and delight in others. Luke chapter three, I think this is one of the most important passages in the entirety of the New Testament. It's the baptism of Jesus passage.
We begin in verse 21, when all of the people were being baptized, Jesus himself was being baptized also. And as Jesus was praying, the heavens were open, the Holy Spirit descended upon him and bodily formed like a dove and a voice from heaven spoke. You are my son. Who I love with you.
I am well pleased. We're going to stop there for a moment. So yes, the word agape is there, right? You're the son who my love, right?
God loves Jesus. God loves us. And it seems like maybe earlier I diminish the idea of love, not at all, but the word agape sacrifice acting toward others in a way that is best for them, right? A willingness to give up your life, right?
Agape with beautiful concept. And that's just not the point of this podcast. But look at what comes right after the word agape. God says to his son, Jesus, with you, I am well pleased.
Now that is the idea of light with you. I'm well pleased with you. I enjoy you. I delight in right you.
I like right there. We are. Yes, God loves us, but he also is pleased with us. He delights in us.
This is the this is the idea that just stirs our hearts. He enjoys us. Chills of joy rush up and down. God's spine every time he thinks about us and he thinks about us all the time.
Enjoy that for a moment. You are truly deeply utterly, totally and inexhaustibly liked by God, which means, and this is so neat, which means you're likeable because God decides who's likeable. No one else should decide who's likeable. There's been a lot of people in our lives that have probably decided that you're not likeable, but they were wrong.
God decides who's likeable, you're likeable. And that's a fun thought. Maybe there isn't a more pleasant thought than the fact that you're actually truly and deeply like and then there we go. That sets us free to really like ourselves and to really actually like and delight and enjoy others.
The verse continues. Now, Jesus himself was about 30 years old when he began his ministry. So he gets baptized. The spirit descends upon him like a dove.
The voice from the Father, I love you and I like you, my son. And then Jesus begins his ministry. So this ministry begins the life of Jesus that changed the world began when he knew he was liked and when he knew he was loved. Let's think about that for a minute.
The life of Jesus that changed the world began when he knew that not only was he loved, but he was liked by the Father and a new life begins when we realized that we are not only loved by God, but liked by God as well. We get to be who we are and we get to do what we are called to do. That's ministry. When we know we are like we get to be who we are and we get to do what we are called to do.
We are not bound any longer by needing to get other people to like us. You know, we no longer have to play to the audience of many. Do you like me? Do you like me?
Do you like me? We can play to an audience of one, the one that matters, the one that likes us and the one that says we are likable. And as you and we're doing this, of course, as we read through the Gospels, we're going to notice Jesus is a man that liked to be liked by others. Of course we do, but he did not need to be liked by everyone because he already knew that he was liked and that is freedom.
And then we can truly, truly like others because we no longer need to use them to like us. We no longer need to push them or pull them or dazzle them or make them. We can simply just like them and delight in them and enjoy them. And this is a whole new world.
It's called the Kingdom of God and the King loves you. Of course he does, but that's a different podcast. The King of this kingdom likes you, which means you're likable, which means you can like yourself and I can like myself, which means we are free to like others. What a great gift to give others.
What a great gift to give our kids. Not only do I love you, but I like you. I delight in you. I enjoy you.
What a great gift to give our neighbors our in-laws, our coworkers, our boss, not only am I seeking to love you, but I like you. I delight in you. I enjoy you and we're able then to find what is likable and other people and celebrate it. And you've probably heard this phrase live loved, right?
Live like you're loved because you are loved. Well, this morning, here's the phrase I'd like to leave us with live liked, live like you're liked because you are liked. We'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the Together on Mission podcast.
We truly hope that you were blessed and encouraged by you today. If you had any questions about the Inland Vineyard Church, our ministries or our Sunday services, feel free to connect with us on our brand new app, which you can find in the Google Play and the App Store and check out our social media pages like Facebook and Instagram, or even check out our website at inlandvignard.org.