What's love got to do with it?
There have been a lot of songs written about love..
All you need is love...Beatles
Love lift you where you belong...joe Cocker
The greatest love of all...Whitney Houston
And there's this one
Oh...what's love got to do, got to do with it
What's love but a second hand emotion
What's love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart
When a heart can be broken
And what seems like true love has broken a lot of hearts...
But the love of God… The Agape love
the true essence of love that God offers...
has healed every heart and everyone it has ever come in contact with...
1 Corinthians 13:1-10 Msg.
13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Illus.
“Did you hear about the teacher who was helping one of her
kindergarten students put on his boots? He asked for help
and she could see why??
With her pulling and him pushing, the boots still didn’t want to go on.?
When the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat.
She almost whimpered when the little boy said, ‘Teacher,
they’re on the wrong feet.’? She looked and sure enough, they were.
It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on.
She managed to keep her cool as together they worked
to get the boots back on—this time on the right feet.?
He then announced, ‘These aren’t my boots.’?
She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream,
‘Why didn’t you say so?’ like she wanted to.?
Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off.?
He then said, ‘They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear them.’?
She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. But She mustered up
the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.?
She said, ‘Now, where are your mittens?’?
He said, ‘I stuffed them in the toes of my boots…’ Sermon Central
In the fast-paced world we live in…
We have Facebook…
We have Instagram…
We have Twitter...
Never in the history of the world has there ever been...More Avenues or devices to communicate with and on...
Everybody wants to get the word out...
Everybody wants to say their piece, or speak their mind...
Everybody has a cause and a message...
Everybody wants to have a following and to make sure..what they're saying that people are listening to...
But of all the stuff, all the things that we hear and read about
on the news and on the net...where is the positive message
Where is the love in the message...
Where's the Love?
I Believe that there has never been a time, when people have been more on edge...
Then there is today
Tempers are short…
Patience is thin…
Our time seems to be more valuable
then everyone else's...or so we think
If you think about it… Our time is our most valuable possession
Because it's the one thing that we have
so little of...and the one thing we can't control how much we have
And the one thing everybody hates to waste unless it's someone's else's...is time
James 4:14 HCSB
You don't even know what tomorrow will bring...what your life will be!
For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
The king James refers to it as a "vapor"
So with so little of it…
And the preciousness of it...
What are we doing with it..and why aren't we doing more with it?
Daniel 12:4 KJ
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro...
We look for guidance from our world leaders and our would be leaders...
And isn't it interesting...that people are always attracted to the person who has the most positive message.
It's been that way for a long time...
In fact it's probably always been that way by design...
Does anybody remember the movie Jerry Maguire?
It was about an agent trying to get a good deal for a football player that he was representing...
And it seemed as though the agent couldn't come through
and score a good deal for the football player...
And one of the famous lines that came from the moving was The football player saying "Show me the money" and I'll show you some love
Followed by the agent saying "Show Me....the Love" and I'll show you the $..
TBS. money is not bad...however the love of it is...
And I believe that for society… Never has there been more things to do and less money to do them with...
Which leads everyone to want more of it...
Which has led us down the selfish pathway of entitlement thinking...
Joes got that..so I ought to have that
Jim has one of them..etc
Some how accuser has got Society in the mindset of thinking
that if they only had everything they wanted…
And however much they wanted…
And the bank account to go with that…
That they would be happy and somehow they would have it all...
TBS. nothing could be further from the truth
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love...
The Bible tells us that of all the people in the Bible...and there are literally thousands to choose from
There was one who was a man after Gods own Heart..
And that was David...
And why was that?
Because David loved and worshiped God...
David had the true essence of what all Christians strive for…
David had a real lifelong relationship with the creator of the universe...
1 Samuel 17:45 KJ
Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
At a young age David was the one who stepped up and said...
Excuse me…
Do you know who you're talking about?
I want you to know that you're talking about a friend of mine...
I want you know too that I won't stand for you talking that way
about someone that I love and respect...someone that I adore and worship!
All of Israel it seems as though they had been distracted by the giant who
had been mocking and ridiculing God...
Instead of what they knew
God was capable of!
And it seems as though we see the same thing today all around us…
People saying show me some tolerance for the way I am...
It seems as though everything is so extreme...
So much violence...
So much discourse...
So much blatant lack of God in people's lives and in the world...
God is looking for people like David to stand up and speak out
and show the world about the Love of God...
David was victorious… In every aspect of his life, his whole life long
God is still on the throne and God will do the same
for anyone who is willing to have a relationship with Him
and to stand up and be counted for the cause of Christ!
Another reason that David was a man after Gods own heart...
Not only did David love and adore God...But he worshipped Him
David may have strayed and been tempted, and even sinned...
He was human you know...he was faced with the same struggles
that everyone is faced with
But each time he came back to God, repented and ask
for forgiveness and worshipped God...
2 Samuel 6:12-16 YLT
12And it is declared to king David, saying, ‘Jehovah hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that he hath, because of the ark of God;’ andtggg David goeth and bringeth up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with joy. 13And it cometh to pass, when those bearing the ark of Jehovah have stepped six steps, that he sacrificeth an ox and a fatling.
(He stopped after six steps and said OK let's praise God
let's get our worship on... Hallelujah I just feel like Shouting
right now and praising God )
14And David is dancing with all strength before Jehovah, and David is girded with a linen ephod, 15and David and all the house of Israel are bringing up the ark of Jehovah with shouting, and with the voice of a trumpet,
(there was such an anointing such an excitement in David's praise and worship… So much so that it was contagious)
16and it hath come to pass, the ark of Jehovah hath come in to the city of David, and Michal daughter of Saul, .hath looked through the window, and seeth king David moving and dancing before Jehovah, and despiseth him in her heart.
Has anyone here this morning ever worshipped God with all their strength?
David did...
Everyone is not always going to approve of your relationship with God...
Some may ridicule it, some may even be jealous of it
It doesn't matter...what everyone else thinks,
or what anyone thinks for that matter...
Everyone else cannot have a relationship for you with God...
Everyone cannot walk your journey...
Everyone cannot go where you're going...
Everyone cannot go where God is taking you to...
And only if you choose to Love and Worship Him...
Can you live the abundant life and go along
on the journey to the preordained places of blessings and opportunities
That He has waiting and prepared just for you...
Far too many in life only feel as though they are entitled to the status quo…
All the time completely missing out on the abundant life God
offers free to all who will come…
Illus. The Rain...
It was a busy
morning, about 8:30 , when an elderly
gentleman in his 80's arrived to have
stitches removed from his thumb.
He said he was in a hurry as he had an
appointment at 9:00 am .
I took his vital
signs and had him take a seat,
knowing it would be over an hour
before someone
would to able to see him.
I saw him looking at his watch and
decided, since I
was not busy with another patient,
I would evaluate his wound.
On exam, it was
well healed, so I talked to one of the
doctors, got the needed supplies to
remove his sutures and redress his wound.
While taking care of
his wound, I asked him if he
had another doctor's appointment
this morning, as
he was in such a hurry.
The gentleman told me no, that he
needed to go to
the nursing home to eat breakfast
with his wife. I inquired as to her
health.
He told me that she had been there
for a while and that she
was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease.
As we talked, I asked if she would be
upset if he was a bit late.
He replied that she no longer knew
who he was, that she had not
recognized him in
five years now.
I was surprised, and asked him,
'And you still go every
morning, even though she
doesn't know who you are?'
He smiled as he patted my hand and said,
'She doesn't know me....
but I still know who she is.'
This morning you may have been kicked around
and beat up by the world…
and lost focus of a who God really is....
God has not forgotten who you are!
If you're Christian this morning…
You're a child of the king...
you're a child of the most high God...
you're an heir to the throne...
you are fearfully and wonderfully made...
God loves you…
If you're not a Christian this morning…
You can be, God loves you too...and would like
nothing more than for you to be a part of his family
and to have a relationship with him and spend eternity
with him in heaven one day...
What's love got to do with it?
Love has everything to do with it...
But without God involved in the equation, love would be
nothing more than words written on the piece of paper.
For God is love… And love is God
John 3:16 NKJ
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
No greater love hath a man have for another than to lay down his life...
That's how much Love God has for you
A love that will see you thru anything...
Won't you let Him Love you today?
Let's pray....
