The God Who Stoops

When we fail, God stoops to our level not with judgement, but with mercy. No mistake you’ve made is too much for His grace.
“When God puts love and compassion in your heart toward someone, He’s offering you an opportunity to make a difference in that person’s life. You must learn to follow that love. Don’t ignore it. Act on it. Somebody needs what you have.”
― Joel Osteen

God doesn’t disqualify. He doesn’t write people off. No mistake you’ve made is too much for the mercy of God.
Nothing you’ve done in the past has to keep you from the bright future God has in school.
I believe what God promised that he’s about to stoop down and lift you out of low places.
God bless you. Great to have you with us today.
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I like to start with something funny. And I heard about this man.
He was on vacation in Jerusalem with his family.
When his mother in law suddenly died, he went to make arrangements to get the body back home.
The consulate said it would cost $5000 to have the body shipped, but he could have her buried right there in Jerusalem for just $150.
The man thought about it a moment. Said no, I’d like to have her shipped.
The consulate said, wow, you must have really loved your mother-in-law.
He said, no, it’s not so much that I just remember a case here years ago when they buried someone and on the third day they arose and I can’t take that chance.
Right? Y’all, I got a great mother in law. Here we go. This is my bible.
I am what it says. I am. I have what it says. I have. I can do what it says.
I can do today. I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess, my mind is alert.
My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in jesus’ name. God bless you.
I want to talk to you today about the God who stoops.
We think if we can live good enough, then God will bless us.
If we can clean ourselves up, get rid of this bad habit, not fail anymore, then God will show us favor.
The problem is we can’t live that way. We all make mistakes. We all have times we give into temptation.
Let our emotions take over the condemning voices come saying you blew it. It was your own fault.
God’s never going to help you.
That’s not the way our God is when you can’t come up to his level.
He says, don’t worry, I’ll come down to yours.
He’s not so high that he won’t come low and it’s good to see him as all powerful, holy the creator of the universe.
But if you only see him that way, you’ll be intimidated, overwhelmed. I’ll never measure up.
You have to see him as the God who stoops. He comes down to the messy places.
He’s a God that will get his hands dirty when you fallen, when you’re broken when you knew better.
But you did it anyway. You think you’re far from God. No, get ready. He’s coming after you.
The scripture says he leaves the 99 sheep and goes after the one sheep that’s lost.
He could have stayed with the 99 that are on course he could have been satisfied.
I don’t want the trouble that sheep shouldn’t have wandered off in the first place, but he goes to messy places.
He went to the hog pin to get the prodigal son.
He’ll go into a club, he’ll go into dysfunction, into failure, into compromise.
You can’t get too far down too far off. Course, too many mistakes that God will leave you alone.
He’ll come down to where you are and the beauty is he comes not to condemn you not to point out all your mistakes.
He comes to lift you to restore you, to free you, to set you on a new path.
Psalm 1 13 says, 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.
He’ll stoop all the way to a garbage dump, all the way to the dirt. Notice what He does.
He doesn’t just bring you out, but he honors you. He sets you among princes.
He doesn’t hold our mistakes against us. He takes what was meant for harm and uses it to our advantage.
And I thank God that He’s all powerful. I thank him that He’s holy.
But I also thank him that he’s the God who stoops God who picks me up when I fall, the God who shows me mercy when I get off.
Course the God who comes to messy places and rescues me, restores me. Sets me in a place of honor.
Where would we be without the God who stoops my father was a teenager growing up during the Great Depression.
It’s very poor. He knew nothing about God, no future to speak of.
He had to drop out of high school to work on the farm to help try to keep food on the table.
His parents were good people, but they didn’t have any kind of faith.
Any kind of spiritual awareness looked like my father would be the same way.
Just struggle through life, mediocre, no purpose.
But at 17 years old, he was walking home from a nightclub at two o’clock in the morning, he looked up at the stars and for some reason, he began to think about God, what he was going to do with his life.
He felt this sense of destiny on the coffee table at home. There was a family Bible.
He was just there for decoration. They never read it. He walked in that night, he was drawn to it.
He went over and opened it up.
The pages fell to a picture of Jesus standing at a door and knocking the caption read.
If you open the door, I’ll come in.
My father didn’t understand religion, didn’t understand theology, but he did understand opening a door.
The next day, he went to church for the first time with a friend.
The end of the service, the pastor invited people to the altar that wanted to receive Christ.
My father wouldn’t go. He was too afraid. His friend said, John, if you’ll go, I’ll go with you.
My father walked down the aisle, gave his life to Christ.
He went on to become a minister and started Lakewood and did great things with his life.
Why did he feel that way? Coming home from the nightclub? What was that? The God who stoops.
Sometimes we say we found God. The truth is God wasn’t lost. We didn’t find him. He found us.
He chose you before you could choose him.
I love the fact that you can never get so low that God won’t come down and pick you up.
You’re not too far off. Course, you haven’t failed too many times. You haven’t had too many bad breaks.
God is coming to you right now.
He’s breathing on your life in a new way with fresh vision, fresh passion, new doors are going to open the greatness God put in you is about to come out.
What he’s destined for you to accomplish will come to pass.
Now, don’t write yourself off and don’t write anyone else off. Don’t give up on your child.
Don’t quit praying for that loved one.
The psalmist said, God, wherever I go, I can’t get away from your presence.
If I go up to the heavens, you are there.
If I go down to the depths of the ocean, you’re still there.
There is no depth that God wants stoop to, to free you to restore your family member, to bring your child back home.
This is what happened with Saul in the scripture. He was the biggest enemy of the church.
He was very educated and influential leader, but he was against believers.
He went around having them arrested and put in prison.
It looked like he would be the last person that God would have anything to do with.
He was creating havoc, making the disciples miserable. But God loves to redeem people that we think are not redeemable.
He loves to take people that look too far gone.
Not a chance and make them into a chosen vessel, bring them into purpose and destiny on his way to arrest believers.
Saul had letters in hand from the council permission to put them in jail.
Suddenly a bright light shining down from heaven, knocked Saul off his horse. A voice boomed out.
Saul, why do you persecute me? He said, who are you? Lord?
The voice said I am Jesus God was saying you’re against me now, but that’s not your purpose.
That’s not who I created you to be. I love you too much to let you miss your destiny.
And even though I’m a God that sits high, even though I’m all powerful, I’ll stoop low to get you into your calling.
God will go to great lengths to bring you into your destiny. You may feel like you missed it.
You made too many mistakes. You’re too far off course.
The good news is we serve a God who stoops the God that will reach down to redeem to restore, to set you among princes.
He’s not going to just bring you out.
He’s going to honor you, promote, you, give you influence cause you to shine.
That day was a turning point for Saul.
He became the apostle Paul and went on to write over half of the New Testament.
One verse he wrote in Romans talks about the grace that God freely gives us.
And if anyone understood grace, it would have been Paul.
The word he used for freely in the original language is promiscuous. Meaning that God’s grace will go to anyone.
If someone is promiscuous, they’re unrestrained, they’re loose. That’s the way God’s grace is.
It’s not looking for perfect people. You can be struggling with an addiction and grace will come looking for you.
You can be working in the wrong kind of place and grace will come knocking at your door.
You can be dishonest, manipulative and grace will show up at your house.
You can be discouraged thinking you’ve messed up too many times. You brought the trouble on yourself.
Like the prodigal son grace will come into the hog pin.
You can’t get so low that God won’t stoop down. His grace is unrestrained. It doesn’t have limitations.
It will go after anyone. See, we look at people and make judgments based on how we were raised and how we see things.
We think God wouldn’t have anything to do with them. They’re not living right. They party too much.
He’s too dishonest. Her dress was too short. They use bad language. They come from a different religion.
The longer I live, the more I realize God will save who he wants to save.
He’ll stoop down to people that don’t have a good reputation. Just ask Zach, he was dishonest.
He cheated people. Everyone knew he wasn’t trustworthy yet.
Jesus called him out of a huge group of people said I want to go to your house for dinner.
The religious leaders, the priests, the council members couldn’t understand it. Why would Jesus go to this guy’s house?
There were a lot of fine upstanding people in the crowd. Zach was a notorious sinner.
It’s because they knew God as being all powerful, holy righteous.
But they didn’t know Him as the God who stoops, if you only know him as this majestic creator of the universe, then you can be judgmental, write people off.
But when you realize even though he sits high, he stoops low. He doesn’t disqualify people because they’re off course.
Now he knows they’re a saul, they’re a zara. He comes down to redeem to restore, to sit among princess.
I was at one of our events several years ago and afterwards, I was meeting people and this young man came through the line and I could smell marijuana.
It was very strong. This was before it was legal anywhere. My first thought was man.
This is a night of hope, not a night of dope.
After a couple of minutes, I started feeling really good too.
But it’s easy to judge people. Why do they do that? Why does she go with him?
Why isn’t he more disciplined? But when you know God as a God who stoops a God that comes down to lift people, that his grace is promiscuous, it goes to anyone, then you can be a lifter.
You can be a healer. You can be a restorer. Where would you be without the mercy of God?
What if God had not stooped down, brought my father into his purpose? Where would I be.
How many times has God stooped down to you? Shown you mercy when you didn’t deserve it.
Got you out of a problem that you got yourself into, lifted you out of the garbage, so to speak.
It would be one thing if God did it condemning. Judging, berating. But God doesn’t say a word.
He doesn’t find fault. That’s taught me not to judge other people.
If we walked in their shoes, if we had their same experiences, we don’t know what kind of decisions we would make since God stooped down for you.
Why don’t you stoop down for someone else? You are never more like God.
Then when you’re helping the hurting, restoring the broken, lifting, the falling, there’s enough judgment in our world today.
There’s enough criticism, fault finding. Let’s be lifters, let’s be encourages.
Let’s help someone else experience the God who stoops this young man told me how he had never been to church and didn’t have much guidance growing up, he was passed from foster home to foster home.
Gotten into trouble struggling with substance abuse. A lot had come against him.
But he said my girlfriend and I started watching it on television when I hear you speak.
I feel something on the inside that I’ve never felt. I told him that’s your heavenly Father drawing you.
That’s God saying I have a plan and purpose for your life. That’s what the psalmist meant.
God stoops down from the heavens.
And lifts those in the dirt, sets them among princes and you too may have gone through disappointments, things that were unfair.
You couldn’t do anything about it. You never thought you’d be where you are, be encouraged today.
He’s a God who stoops. He comes to the messy places, not with judgment, not with condemnation, but with hope with new beginnings, with fresh vision.
God won’t let you get in a problem that he can’t get you out of.
You’re not too far gone. Has it been too long? You haven’t missed your destiny.
God is about to do a new thing. Dreams are coming back to life.
Promises that you’ve let go of are on the way. What God started. He’s going to finish.
John chapter eight, the religious leaders caught a woman in the act of adultery.
Jesus was teaching in the synagogue and they came dragging her in all this commotion, disrupted the meeting, they threw her on the ground in front of the whole crowd.
She was humiliated, clothes, torn, people shouting insults, shame on you. You’re a disgrace. Two things I find interesting.
First off, where is the man if you’re caught in the act?
That means there were two but they let the man off. Not this lady.
The second thing is what were the religious leaders doing?
Spying on people doing surveillance hanging out at their house.
They should have been focused on their assignment on helping others but some people are looking to catch you in a mistake, hoping you’ll fail.
They’re ready to exploit. Expose any mishap you have. Don’t be like them.
The mercy you show others is the mercy. God is going to show you love covers for people.
I don’t mean cover wrongdoing, but you should cover them with prayer, help them to heal, help them be restored.
They said Jesus, the law says to stone her. What do you say that we should do?
This lady had no defense. She couldn’t say they were wrong. They don’t have the right person. It wasn’t me.
I didn’t do it. She was guilty. She knew she was wrong, lying on the ground, afraid, embarrassed shaking.
She had no one to stand up for her.
But the scripture says, Jesus stooped to the ground and wrote in the dust with his finger.
He came down to her level.
He could have stood up taller, got on the platform to a position of more authority. But he stooped.
Everyone else was standing just he and the woman were looking eye to eye.
I can imagine some of them thought he was stooping down to pick up a rock and throw it at the lady.
Instead, he stooped down and through mercy. He said to the crowd, you who are without sin, go ahead.
Throw the first stone dead silence. Nobody moved. Finally, a man walked out.
Then another and another from the oldest to the youngest, they all left the whole time Jesus was stooping down writing in the dirt that was signifying how God will get dirty to rescue you.
He’s not a God that just stays behind stained glass windows or even a God that just stays in the heavens.
He’s a God that will stoop down to a hog pin to rescue the prodigal son.
He’ll stoop down to the dirt to restore a lady caught in adultery.
A God who will stoop down and save that one last sheet wasn’t until all the men left.
Jesus stood up. He said to the lady woman, where are your accusers? Hasn’t anyone accused you?
She looked around and said, no one. Lord.
He said, neither do I condemn you now go and sin no more.
Stooping is nothing new to our God. That’s what he did.
2000 years ago, he stooped down from heaven and came to earth.
He stooped down from being worshiped by angels to being born in a manger.
He stooped down to be mocked, betrayed, beaten and even crucified. He didn’t have to.
He could have said father, I’ll pass on this assignment. Let me stay up here on.
But for your sake and mine, he said, I’ll stoop, I’ll go low so low that I’ll be buried in a grave so low.
The enemy will think that I’m defeated. So low forces of darkness will have a celebration.
The good news is he didn’t stay stooped. He stooped for a moment but He got back up again.
He defeated death. Hell and the grave for you and for me now, he’s not only the all powerful resurrected savior, but he’s the God who stoops.
He still comes to messy places. He’ll still meet you where you are.
He’ll still rescue you when it was your fault. He’ll still defend you when you knew better.
Where would we be without the God who stoops when we didn’t deserve it?
When we couldn’t measure up, we made mistakes. We had no defense.
He had every right to stay on the throne, be the God that he is.
But in his mercy, he stooped down. He came after the one lost sheep.
Years ago, a friend of mine received a phone call from his uncle. He lived in another state.
He told my friend there was a classmate he went to high school with he hadn’t seen in 40 years, but he couldn’t get him off his mind.
This classmate lived in the city where my friend lives. It was so strong.
His uncle felt like he had to reach out to him, but he had no number, no contact.
His name was very common. There would be thousands of people with the same name, but he asked my friend, his nephew if he would try to locate him.
He kind of laughed and he thought there are seven million people in this city.
What are my chances of finding him the next day?
My friend went to his mailbox, there was an advertisement for a business.
He noticed the man’s name was the same his uncle mentioned. He thought, what do I have to lose?
He called the number said I know this is odd but I have an uncle by the name of so and so and I’m wondering if you went to high school with him?
The man couldn’t believe it and said that he did.
My friend said my uncle is very concerned about you.
I wanted to know if there’s anything I can pray with you about the phone went silent in a few seconds.
He began to hear the man. So he said, I’m out in the woods about to end my life.
He had all the tools to do it.
Everything set up, my friend began to encourage him and let him know that God still had a plan and purpose for his life.
Man changed his mind and today he and his family are back in church.
His business is being blessed more than ever. He’s fulfilling his purpose. That’s God stooping down.
He’ll come right where you are into the lion’s den, into the fiery furnace, into the accusing voices into the club, into the hospital.
Like the psalmist said to lift you out of the dirt out of the messy places and to set you among princes.
And it’s good to thank God for promotion and thank him for favor.
But how we should thank him for stooping down. Lord. Thank you for getting your hands dirty.
Thank you for coming to the messy places of my life.
Thank you for restoring me when I was broken, redeeming me when I failed healing me.
When I was hurting, there was a young prophet in the old Testament named Hosea.
He was very well respected people came from all around to get his advice. He was single.
He knew God would bring him a wife but it wasn’t what he thought.
God told him to marry a young lady named Gomer. She was a former prostitute. Didn’t have a good reputation.
You can imagine what Hosea thought God, do you know who she is? I’m a respected prophet.
What are people going to think?
He could have talked himself out of it but he knew to obey things started off.
Well, they were in love. They had a baby, then things went downhill. Hosea would go out ministering.
Gomer, slipped back into her old ways. He was heartbroken. He knew she wasn’t being faithful to make matters worse.
She was the talk of the town. Everyone knew about goer’s affairs.
One morning, Hosea woke up and Gomer was gone. She abandoned him and the Children.
I can hear Hosea’s friend saying it’s about time you need to be finished with that woman.
She’s brought you nothing but heartache and pain. That sounded good. But deep down, Hosea still loved Gomer.
Years later he overheard the town gossip saying that Gomer was still alive.
She had been deserted by all the men that said they loved her.
She was about to be sold off as a slave.
The scripture says the Lord said to Hosea, go get your wife and bring her back home.
After all the pain she had caused all the rejection, he would think he would say no way.
I’m done. I’m over it. But we serve a God who stoops a God that comes to the messy places.
Hosea went to the city and found her in the red light district on the auction block about to be sold.
She was beaten down, dirty clothes, torn. He got close and whispered gor.
She looked up and couldn’t believe it.
He smiled and said, don’t worry, I’m gonna get you out of here.
He went to the man in charge and said, that’s my wife. I’m taking her with me.
He said, you’re not taking her anywhere. She’s for sale. You’ll have to buy her.
Hosea took his wallet out and gave him 15 sheckel five Barley loaves he bought back what should have been already?
His Hosea is a picture of God goer represents you and me. We’ve all made mistakes.
We all went our own way.
But God who is rich in mercy when we turned our back on him, he had every right to walk away, but he didn’t turn his back on us.
He stooped down to the messy places to where we failed to where we should have been finished and bought us back, not with 15 shekels, but with his son.
Now you have to do your part and receive his mercy, receive his forgiveness.
Quit beating yourself up, living guilty, believing the lies that you’ve seen your best days. You could never measure up.
You don’t have to when you can’t get up to his level. God stoops down to yours.
He knew we wouldn’t perform perfectly. He knew we’d fail, get knocked down, make mistakes.
That’s when the accuser works overtime trying to convince you it’s too late, man. You missed your chance.
You’ll never get out of this challenge. No, you have a defender.
You have someone that won’t just stand up for you. He’ll stoop down for you.
He’ll come down to your level, not with judgment, but with mercy.
Well, Joel sounds good today but you don’t know where I am. You don’t know what I’ve done.
I don’t know any of that, but I do know this. His grace is promiscuous. It’s unrestrained.
It will go to anyone. God doesn’t disqualify. He doesn’t write people off.
No mistake you’ve made is too much for the mercy of God.
Nothing you’ve done in the past has to keep you from the bright future God has in store.
And I believe what God promised that he’s about to stoop down and lift you out of low places.
Negative situations are about to turn around addictions are being broken.
Strongholds that have held you back, are coming down like with my father, God is going to bring you out of lack and mediocrity into abundance, influence and purpose like the with the accuser God is freeing you from guilt, releasing you from condemnation, I believe and declare you are redeemed.
You are restored. Your past is not dictating your future.
Get ready, new doors are about to open new levels of joy, favor breakthroughs.
The fullness of your destiny in jesus’ name.
I’d like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life.
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I make you my Lord and Savior.
If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again.
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