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The God Who Stoops

October 20, 2024 • Pastor Joe Sabolick Ph.D. • Psalm 113:6–8, Ephesians 2:4–10, Luke 15:4–6, Luke 15:11–32, Psalm 139:7–8


The God Who Stoops

We often believe that if we live good enough, then God will bless us. 


If we clean ourselves up, get rid of bad habits, or stop failing, 

then God will show us favor. 


The reality is: 

We all make mistakes and fall short. 


Condemning voices may say, 

"You blew it.

 It's your fault. 

God will never help you now." 


But that's not who God is. 

When we can’t come up to His level, 

He says, "Don't worry, I'll come down to yours." 

He is a God who stoops, 

who comes down into our mess.




I. God Stoops to Lift Us Up

Psalm 113:6-8

"He stoops down from the heavens to look at the earth. He lifts the poor from the dirt and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes.”


God doesn't just bring us out of our mess;

 He honors us and elevates us.


He comes to the messy places—not to condemn… 

But to Restore and 

Set us on A New Path.


God doesn’t hold our mistakes against us. 

He takes what was meant for harm and uses it for our good.


Ephesians 2:4-10

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 

6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 

7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 

9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 


He Pulls us Our of The Sin of Deception~ 

Self, Relational, Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Emotional Deception and by His Great Love Says~ 


I LOVE YOU~ 

I HAVE A GREAT PLAN AND PURPOSE FOR YOU LIFE ~ 

AND WHEN YOU RESPOND TO ME I RESPOND TO THAT RESPONSE~ 

Some don’t even know All That God Has Saved Them from- 

Or Have forgotten- 

Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy



2 . God Comes to Find Us in Our Lowest Moments

Luke 15:4-6

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 

‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my Lamb which was lost!’ 


Parable of the lost sheep:

 “He leaves the 99 to go after the one.”


God doesn't stay with the ones who are safe; 


PEACHING TO THE ONES TO NEED JESUS 

WE PRAY CHURCH 

He goes after those who are lost, even if they are in the messy places of life.


Example of the Prodigal Son: 

God goes to the hog pen to rescue him 

Luke 15:11-32


He'll come into 

Dysfunction, 

Failure, 

Compromise 

To Find Us.



Psalm 139:7-8: 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.


No matter how low we fall, 

God’s presence is always with us to lift us.



3. The Grace That Stoops

JOHN 8:2-12


THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF ADULTERY 

JOHN 8:2 

2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; 

and He sat down and taught them. 

3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,

 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 

5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 

6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. 

But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 

8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. 

And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, 

He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? 

11 Has no one condemned you?”


 She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”



Saul’s Conversion (Acts 9:3-6)


Saul was the church’s biggest enemy, persecuting Christians. 

Yet, God stopped him in his tracks, not to condemn, 


but to call him into his destiny as Paul, the apostle.


God's grace is “amazing” 


It Goes Far Abundantly and above our furtherest Imagination 


Romans 5:15 meaning it is unrestrained and goes to anyone—no matter their condition.


God's grace is not limited by our failures or shortcomings.


It pursues us even in the darkest places of our lives.


Romans 5:20: "Where sin increased, 

grace increased all the more."


God gives you Power To Overcome~ 


Because of God in His Great Mercy When you come to Christ your Past does not determine your Destiney~ 




4. God’s Stooping Grace for Everyone

Zacchaeus 

Luke 19:1-10


Jesus chose to dine with Zacchaeus, a notorious sinner and tax collector. 


The religious leaders didn’t understand why Jesus would associate with someone so "unworthy." 

But Jesus stoops down to people others would overlook or condemn.

GOD DOES NOT OVERLOOK YOU- 


We must recognize God not only as all-powerful and holy, 

but as the God who stoops low to lift those who others deem unworthy.

He Makes You Worthy-


Matthew 9:12-13 

 “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 

13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ 

For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”


Repentance is a Part Of Your Salvation~ 

IT’S THE TURNING POINT 

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT- 


It’s Agreeing with God That You Need His Life for Your Life~ 


Self deception is the Worse

Kind of deception the devil

Uses to keep people from their destiny…


"Ruled by their senses" is a phrase that refers to people who are guided by their five physical senses rather than by Faith- 


Before You come to Christ you are ruled by what you 

See

Touch 

Feel

Smell

Taste 

People who are ruled by their senses are only guided by what they can 

see,

 hear,

 touch,

 taste, 

and smell. 

Those who live a Sense Driven Life 

Will be more likely to be 

distracted,

 Addicted, and Attached to things that can cause pain 

and justify their anti-Holy Spirit life- 


Gal 6;7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, that they will also reap. 

8 For those who sow to their physical senses (flesh) will of the flesh reap corruption, but those who sow to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 

9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Stay In The parameters of God’s Word and Be Blessed- reject them for a temporary short lived life- 


Duet.30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live- 



God is not condemning you He’s Calling YOU~ 

Loving Arms~ 

1 John 3:4

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Galatians 5:19-21 

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, hostility , strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

 I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Genesis 4:7

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

1 John 1:8-10

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Psalm 32:5

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah


5. We Are Called to Be Like the God Who Stoops

Galatians 6:1:

God’s mercy is an example for us to follow. 

We should extend grace and mercy to those who are

 hurting, broken, and off-course…



"If someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently."


We are never more like God than when we help the hurting and lift the fallen. 

There's enough judgment in the world—let’s be lifters and restorers



6 God’s Amazing Grace Redeems Our Past..

2 Corinthians 5:17:

 "If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

No matter our past or present mess, God redeems us, lifts us up, and restores our purpose.


God doesn't stop at just rescuing us; 


He promotes us and gives us influence, as He did with Saul becoming Paul.

God will not let you get in a problem that

 He won’t get you out of.


Isaiah 61:7-9

Instead of your [former] shame you will have a double portion;

And instead of humiliation your people will shout for joy over their portion.

Therefore in their land they will possess double [what they had forfeited];

Everlasting joy will be theirs.



he God Who Stoops Will Finish What He Started

Philippians 1:6: "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

God is faithful to finish the work He started in your life. His grace is coming to lift you from where you are to where He’s destined you to be.

No matter how far off course you feel, no matter how messy life has become, remember: He is the God who stoops, and He’s coming to lift you up. 


Don’t write yourself off—God hasn’t written you off.



Surrender your brokenness to the God who stoops. 

Allow His grace to restore, redeem, and set you among princes. 

Extend that grace to others, being a vessel of God’s mercy to those in need.