I will never forget the first time I was in a full length movie.  It was the late 1980's and I was a teenager.  I was walking in Chicago when we came up on a movie set.  It was starring Burt Reynolds and Liza Minelli & I think it went straight to video tape (remember, it was the 80's)!  

Our part in the film was to cross the street as a car came zooming around the corner and undercover cops jumped out of the car and ran into a building.  We shot the scene a number of different times (although my part was flawless :-).  Every time, they would get things set, yell "quiet on the set" and then would yell "action" and we'd start our walk across the street.  "Rent-A-Cop" never made it big, but it at least gave me a story to tell.

This past Sunday we wrapped up our "Love Still Can" series.  You can see the message here!  During the message we heard Amy's story about facing abuse and feeling unloved, but then encountering Jesus and the love that He offers.  We looked at Romans 5:1-8.  In those verses we get a picture of God's Love.  

It's as if God wanted to tell the story of His love, and then he shouted "Action" and Jesus stepped into the world and demonstrated His love for us by dying for us.  

Love Still Can change one life at a time, because God proved His love through sacrifice and that has made all the difference.  

The Journey is filled with the broken, the abused, the addicts, the struggler, the tired, the stressed, the fearful, the wounded, the drunk, the liar, the cheat, the sexually immoral.  If that's still your story, you're not alone and. . . God ACTED and demonstrated His love for us & His love STILL can change everything!  So many people at The Journey have found healing.  In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul the author lists a number of sins and struggles like I just did, and then he says this in verse 11!  "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."  I love that verse because it lets us know that we don't have to be defined by our past!!  When we're in a relationship with Jesus, that's what you "were", but aren't any longer.  We have been set apart (sanctified) and justified (made right with God) because of Jesus.  That's good news!  Love STILL Can.  

For more on this topic, check out this message from 2012 and the incredible story that goes with it:  My Story - Never Gone Too Far.

Paul Urban