What's Love Got To Do With It? - Ps. Jenny Ervin

·47 min·4 clips

Pastor Jenny Ervin argues that songs by Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, and Tina Turner are discipling generations with chaotic, transactional views of love.

The episode is a sermon by Pastor Jenny Ervin at Awaken Church, part of a February relationship series called 'Assembly Required'. Ervin opens by noting it's the month of love and shares her fondness for love songs from the 70s to 90s. She then critiques specific lyrics from Bruno Mars's 'Marry You', Taylor Swift's 'Blank Space', and Tina Turner's 'What's Love Got to Do with It', arguing they disciple generations with messages that love is chaotic, transactional, and full of drama. Ervin contrasts this with 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, which she calls the blueprint for kingdom love, describing it as patient, kind, and not envious. She admits that hearing about God's love can feel disconnected for some, linking this to dysfunctional family backgrounds, and shares how her view of God was filtered through her pain from her father's 15-year meth addiction. The sermon's core uses the Parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15:11-31 to illustrate God's love, reading the passage in full. Ervin breaks down the story to explain how love is patient, as the father waited expectantly for his son's return. She relates this to her own season of waiting for a husband until her late thirties, citing Isaiah 40:31. Next, she discusses love is kind, noting the father ran to embrace his son before hearing confession, and shares her personal struggle with forgiving her father after his conversion, where she felt like the elder brother full of resentment. Ervin also mentions her own 'pigsty moment' when she was three months from marrying a meth addict, calling it God's kindness to not rescue her early. She covers other aspects from 1 Corinthians 13: love does not envy or boast, linking it to performance-based religion and orphan spirits; love does not dishonor others, explaining how the father restored the son with a robe, ring, and sandals to cover shame; and love always believes, emphasizing giving the benefit of the doubt. Ervin shares an anecdote about a man who mistakenly thought her husband kissed another pastor's wife, using it to illustrate 'love believes all things'. The sermon concludes with an altar call where Ervin invites listeners to receive God's love, leading a prayer of salvation and encouraging hands raised and coming forward for prayer. The episode ends with promotional information for Awaken Church's website, app, and YouTube channel.

As heard by us

A relationship sermon that turns painful self-recognition toward God's severe mercy.

This relationship-series sermon uses February's language of love to ask a harder question: what happens when desire outruns discernment. The preacher begins with Bruno Mars's "Marry You," then turns to the prodigal son, reading hunger, need, and consequence as the place where…

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Why you'd press play

You want February relationship talk that can move from Bruno Mars to the prodigal son and still sit with consequences.

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