A recap of Sunday’s message from Pastor Brian Cash, part of our series in Colossians 3.
How did I get here? That is the question Pastor Cash opened with on Sunday. “I am not standing here today because I’ve been so perfect,” he said. “I am standing here today because it starts with the love of Jesus.”
If you missed the service, or you want to sit with it again, here is what the message said about the love that changes us.
1. It starts with Him
Before there was a planet, a sun, or a galaxy, Pastor Cash reminded us, God already knew we would not be all He wanted us to be. He made us anyway, and He prepared a plan so that when we fall short, we are not cut off from Him.
“That is the love of Jesus. That’s where it starts.”
That changes how we think about God’s love. We are not working our way toward it. It reached us first. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16, KJV)
2. It never gives up
Romans 5 says God showed His love for us while we were still sinners, helpless and even enemies. Pastor Cash described a love with a mission: when we shut out the world and say “don’t call me,” a little light of Jesus creeps in through the crevices of our darkness. It might be a phone call, a word at the right time, or a reminder that He hasn’t left.
“You and I are here today because He would not give up on us.”
Like Elijah, who said he was finished and still found an angel waiting with bread, we are met by a God Pastor Cash called relentless. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, KJV)
3. It grows deeper
Most of us start out loving God because of what He has done for us. That is a good beginning. But Pastor Cash warned that if we stay there, God starts to look like Santa Claus, and the season when the yes we wanted becomes the no we didn’t want can shake us.
“We need to grow from gratitude love to essence love.”
Essence love is loving God simply to be in His presence, because there is no other presence like His. It is where the first and great commandment leads us. (Matthew 22:37–38)
4. It opens every door
Love God first, learn to receive His love for yourself, and then you can love your neighbor well. Pastor Cash spoke about the locked rooms inside us: the hurts and insecurities we have never handed over.
“You don’t allow the Lord’s love to enter in if you got a padlock on the door.”
When we open those rooms, there is freedom. And the difficult people in our lives? They don’t belong to us, Pastor Cash said. They belong to Him.
“The same love that transformed me is the same love that transforms them.”
Watch and keep going
Watch the Weekly Rewind: a 21-minute highlight from the message. This is an extended excerpt, not the full sermon.
Download the free devotional: a 7-page guide with a reading, a key truth, Scripture, reflection questions and a prayer for each day. Read one page a day this week. DOWNLOAD THE FREE DEVOTIONAL: https://eastmountzionbaptistchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/LoveOfChrist_Devotional_EMZBC.pdf
Join us this Sunday
Worship with us Sundays at 10:45 AM at East Mt. Zion Baptist Church. There is a seat for you.