This message is Part 3 in the message series “AWAKENING” by Pastor Chuck Bernal. In this message titled, “Awakening To Love”, Pastor Chuck uses the story of the prodigal son, and he describes how much our heavenly Father loves us and how his love for us is shown in four distinct ways. This message was delivered at LifePointe Church in Crowley, TX on Sunday, May 7, 2017.

1. Awakening To Love (I Really Do Matter To God)
Pastor Chuck Bernal – May 7, 2017
You have never looked into the eyes of someone who does not
matter to God. No, not even when looking in a mirror. When this
truth grabs you at the deepest level of your heart, you will never
be the same. You matter to God and He loves you more than you
will ever know. (Bill Hybels)
Jesus told them this story: A man had two sons. The younger son
told his father, “I want my share of your estate now before you die.”
So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few
days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a
distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About
the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and
he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the
man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became
so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to
him. But no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his
senses, he said to himself, at home even the hired servants have food
enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my
father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,
and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on
as a hired servant.” So he returned home to his father. And while he
was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love
and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His
son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,
and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. “But his father
said to the servants, “Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and

2. put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And
kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,
for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was
lost, but now he is found.” So the party began. (Luke 15:11-24 –
NLT)
The emphasis of the parable is NOT on the sinfulness of the son,
but on the outrageous love of the father.
As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your
children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good
things to people who ask. (Matthew 7:11 – CEV)
Consider the kind of extravagant love the Father has lavished on us—
He calls us children of God! And it’s true; we are His beloved children.
(1 John 3:1 – Voice)
FOUR THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GOD’S LOVE FOR
YOU
God’s love is ___________________________________ (He loves me
just as I am)
The proof of God’s amazing love is this: while we were sinners Christ
died for us. (Romans 5:8 – Ph)
Before the creation of the world, he chose us . . . because of his love
he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely
chose to do this . . . God is rich in mercy because of his great love
for us. We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive . .
. It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag
about it. God has made us what we are.
(Ephesians 1:4-5, 2:4-5, 9-10 – GWT)
You can’t ___________________________ it!
You don’t ___________________________ it!

3. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There is
nothing you can do to make God love you less. His love is unconditional,
impartial, everlasting, infinite and perfect. (Richard Halverson)
God’s love is ___________________________ (He loves me and He
can never stop)
God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son
into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death. In
this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his
love for us . . . We know how much God loves us because we have
felt his love and because we believe him when he tells us that he loves
us dearly . . . So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his
loving us first. (1 John 4:9-10, 16, 19 – LB)
I can experience the ocean but I will never experience all of the ocean.
(God’s love can be seen, appreciated but never fully experienced!)
You can’t get _____________ from it! (Unlimited in its
scope)
You can’t ________________ it up! (Unlimited in its
supply)
God’s love is ______________________________ (He loves me and I
can trust Him)
With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t
hesitate to put everything on the line for us by sending his own Son,
is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And
who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen?
Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who
was raised to life for us — is in the presence of God at this very
moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to
drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way!
Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not
homelessness, not bullying None of this fazes us because Jesus loves

4. us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead,
angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or
unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love
because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. (Romans
8:31-39 – Msg)
We deserve less than we could ever imagine, yet God loves us more
than we could ever dream.
God’s love is ________________________________ (He loves “me”
not just “we”)
May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love
and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children
should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is
and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that
you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And
so at last you will be filled up with God himself.
(Ephesians 3:17-19 – LB)
In loving me you made me lovable. (St. Augustine)
AWAKENING PRINICPLE 3: God loves us ____________ _____
_____ ________,
but He loves us too
much to let us ________________ there
God, if you are real, make Yourself real to me.
Awaken in me the awareness that I am your unconditionally loved
child.