Hands On Experience Of Gods Love (Part 4) ~ Dr William P. Hohman

Gods Love Experience Overview

In this fourth installment of his series on the economy of heaven, Dr. William P. Hohman delivers a rich and pastoral message on what it means to have a genuine, hands-on experience of God’s love. Drawing from the creation account in Genesis, Dr. Hohman explains that God formed man differently from the rest of creation — not by speaking but by crafting him personally with His own hands — signaling the unique, intimate relationship God desires with every believer. The message explores how sin brought corruption into the world, causing humanity to hide from love rather than be renewed by it, echoing the story of Adam in the garden. Dr. Hohman weaves in powerful passages from Romans 8, Jeremiah 31, Psalms 139, and John 14 to show that God’s love — agape — is determined by His character, not our worthiness. The role of the Holy Spirit as the parakletos, the one who comes alongside to comfort, strengthen, and guide, is central to this sermon. Through vivid personal illustrations including a revival in the Philippines and a couple on the brink of divorce, Dr. Hohman calls believers to stop relating to God merely as a friend and to surrender fully to His transforming, hands-on love.

Gods Love Experience Outline

• 0:00 – Opening Prayer and Series Context: Dr. Hohman opens in prayer, asking God to enlighten the eyes of understanding, and briefly recaps the ongoing series on the economy of heaven and functioning in two worlds as Christians.
• 5:30 – God Created Man With His Own Hands: An exploration of the Genesis creation account, highlighting how God formed man personally and breathed life into him — a hands-on act unlike any other part of creation, signifying intimate love from the beginning.
• 14:00 – Corruption Entered Through Sin: Dr. Hohman explains how Adam’s sin brought corruption into everything, yet God still draws us back every morning with mercies that are new, wanting to renew us daily in His love rather than let us magnify our failures.
• 22:30 – Agape Love and the Character of God: A deep look at the Greek word agape, explaining that the quality of God’s love is determined by His own character — not by human performance or worthiness — grounded in John 3:16 and Romans 5:5.
• 33:00 – The Holy Spirit as the Hands-On Comforter: Drawing from John 14 and John 16, Dr. Hohman presents the Holy Spirit as the parakletos — comforter, counselor, strengthener — who brings the tangible experience of God’s love into everyday life.
• 44:00 – Responding to God Like a Lover, Not Just a Friend: Using the story of Peter on the shores of Galilee and a personal illustration about learning to love his wife, Dr. Hohman challenges believers to move beyond casual friendship with God into responsive, obedient agape love.
• 54:00 – A Revival in the Philippines: Dr. Hohman shares a powerful personal testimony of obeying the Holy Spirit’s prompting to minister in a remote village in the Philippines, where a drunken landowner was saved and donated property for a church seating 500 people.
• 1:02:00 – Sons of God Led by the Spirit: Rooted in Romans 8:14, the message calls believers to be actively led by the Holy Spirit as the defining mark of being sons of God, moving from corruption into the glorious liberty God intended from creation.
• 1:08:00 – God’s Thoughts Are Toward Your Good: Dr. Hohman closes with Jeremiah 29:11 and an exhortation to return to first love, reminding the congregation that God sees them as redeemed, righteous, and worthy of His daily building and rebuilding work.

Scripture References

Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Malachi 3:6, Psalms 139:14, Romans 5:5, Romans 8:14, Romans 8:19-21, John 3:3-8, John 3:16, John 14:16-17, John 16:7, 1 John 4, 1 Corinthians 3:17, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Ephesians 4:29-30, Hebrews 10:4, 1 Thessalonians 5:19, Lamentations, Jeremiah 31:3-4, Jeremiah 29:11, Revelation 3, Matthew 10:29, Matthew 6:26

Key Takeaways

• God created mankind with His own hands, not merely by speaking, revealing that He desires an intimate, personal relationship with every person He has made.
• The quality of God’s agape love is determined entirely by His own holy character, not by human merit, performance, or circumstances.
• Without being daily renewed in God’s love, believers naturally default to magnifying their own corruption, failures, and shortcomings rather than seeing their redeemed identity.
• The Holy Spirit is the parakletos — the one who comes alongside to comfort, counsel, guide, and strengthen — and learning to respond to Him is the key to a hands-on experience of God’s love.
• Responding to the Holy Spirit in obedience, even when it seems foolish or uncomfortable, opens the door to supernatural outcomes that a passive, friendship-level faith will never produce.
• All of creation is groaning and waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God — believers who walk in love, are led by the Spirit, and demonstrate God’s goodness in a corrupted world.
• God’s thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace, hope, and a future, and He is committed to building and rebuilding your life no matter how far corruption has taken you.

Gods Love Experience Notes

Hands-On Creation Reveals God’s Heart

Dr. Hohman draws a striking contrast from the Genesis account: God spoke everything else into existence, but He knelt down, formed man from the dust, and breathed life directly into his nostrils. This was not accidental. It was God the Master Artist choosing to be intimately involved in the making of the one creature created in His image. The first thing Adam ever saw was not a sunset or a mountain — it was the face of God. This hands-on origin is the foundation for understanding why God refuses to treat His people at a distance. He is not a detached deity but a Father who delights in close, tangible relationship.

Corruption Dims Our Vision of God’s Love

When Adam sinned, corruption entered not just humanity but all of creation — animals, plants, metal, relationships, and perspective itself. Dr. Hohman illustrates this vividly: a new car rusts, a new job loses its excitement, a cherished relationship grows cold. Without daily renewal in God’s love, people begin to magnify their flaws and hide from God the way Adam hid in the garden. The antidote is not willpower but intentional morning communion with God — allowing the Holy Spirit to wash away the corruption of the previous day and restore a vision of beauty, identity, and purpose rooted in being fearfully and wonderfully made.

Agape Love Demands a Real Response

Using the seaside dialogue between Jesus and Peter in John 21, Dr. Hohman unpacks the difference between phileo — brotherly affection — and agape — the selfless, character-driven love of God. Peter kept offering a lesser love while Jesus kept asking for the greater. The parallel to marriage is immediate and pointed: loving someone the way that is comfortable for you, rather than the way they need to be loved, is not love at all. God is calling believers to graduate from spiritual infancy — from relating to Him on their own terms — into a responsive, yielded agape love that listens, obeys, and acts when the Holy Spirit prompts.

The Holy Spirit Is Not an Afterthought

A significant portion of this message is devoted to the person and work of the Holy Spirit, whom Dr. Hohman describes using the full weight of the Greek parakletos: comforter, counselor, helper, intercessor, advocate, strengthener, and standby. He is not a theological concept or a liturgical phrase at the end of a creed. He is the active presence of God in the life of the believer, preparing the bride of Christ and leading sons of God into freedom. Quenching Him, ignoring His promptings, or relating to Him only through tradition is the direct cause of spiritual poverty — the same tragic condition described in Lamentations as Jerusalem having no comforter.

Obedience Unlocks the Miraculous

Two testimonies anchor the practical heart of this message. In Ohio, Dr. Hohman obeyed a prompting to walk to an altar during a convention without knowing why — and the entire congregation responded when he preached. In the Philippines, yielding to what felt like poor timing led him to a remote village where a drunken landowner surrendered his life to Christ and donated an entire property for a church that would seat five hundred people. Both stories carry the same lesson: the miraculous is not reserved for the spiritually polished. It is released through ordinary obedience to the gentle leading of the Holy Spirit, even when — especially when — it makes no natural sense.

You Are Not Defined by Your Corruption

Dr. Hohman closes with pastoral directness, urging listeners to stop agreeing with demonic voices that define them by their failures, weaknesses, and sin. God demonstrated His love on the cross before anyone cleaned up their life. Hebrews invites believers to come boldly to the throne of grace not in times of spiritual triumph but in times of need. God sees His people as redeemed, righteous, and holy through the blood of Jesus — not as permanently broken products of a fallen world. His thoughts toward each person are thoughts of peace and a future, and He is actively working to build and rebuild every life that opens itself to His hands-on love.

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