Weekend Message/Devotion
May 26, 2019
Almighty God, Creator of Life and Love
Sermon Prayer: “Heavenly Father, I stand before Your people, to deliver Your message. Though the words are mine and I prepared this message, I pray that this message is Your message in its entirety. I pray your blessing and anointing on the message, its delivery, its reception - and most of all, its application in our lives.” Amen
Last week we were reminded of Jesus’ farewell speech to His disciples, which included “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)
That message/command has remained in the forefront of my mind throughout the week. I am led to expound on this subject of love, this week. We normally preach a Sunday message drawn from the lectionary assigned gospel reading but today we are just continuing from last week.
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
We so often associate that word LOVE more with physical affection and desire than with the deeper meaning intended in John 13:4.
Let’s look at the dictionary meaning of love:
Love
1. Intense feeling of deep affection - (as in babies fill parents with feelings of love)
2. A great interest and pleasure in something - (as in his love for football)
3. A deep romantic or sexual attachment to (someone) – (as in passion)
Where does your mind take you when you hear that word LOVE? Certainly, all the definitions from the dictionary are correct and none contradict God’s command to love one another “AS I HAVE LOVED YOU”. The point is that God’s love is supreme and not to be cast aside in pursuit of the other loves in our lives.
When officiating a wedding, I always include the following prayer:
“Almighty God. Creator of both life and love, bless and sanctify BRIDE and GROOM with your Holy Spirit and as they enter into the covenant of marriage, we also beseech your blessing and sanctification upon that marriage. May You sustain their love with the strength of your love. May their love for each other and their love for You continue to grow, all the days of their life……”
God is so faithful to forgive; to provide; and to protect those who are obedient that it is inconceivable that His love is not recognized in His every act of mercy.
We recognize that good things happen to bad people and we recognize that bad things happen to good people. That fact often becomes a stumbling block to persons struggling with belief in God’s love. God sacrificed His ONLY SON to pay the sin debts of ALL mankind for ALL time. We just cannot get around or discount that Jesus died on the cross for good people and for bad people.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
Warren Wiersbe says in his commentary about love:
“Imagine! Nothing in all creation – present or future – can come between us and God’s love!
The perfecting of God’s love in our lives is usually a matter of several stages. When we were lost, we lived in fear and knew nothing of God’s love. After we trusted Christ, we found a perplexing mixture of both fear and love in our hearts. But, as we grew in fellowship with the Father, gradually the fear vanished, and our hearts were controlled by His love alone. An immature Christian is tossed between fear and love; a mature Christian rests in God’s love.”
I particularly like it when I read or hear the expression of “our fellowship with the Father”. It is in our fellowship with God that our love and the depth of our love is most pronounced.
Further expression of our love is on display when we fellowship with each other, with mutual respect and tolerance.
Repeat with me: “We LOVE and SERVE GOD by LOVING and SERVING each other – EVERY EACH OTHER!”
Let us pray.
I humbly and sincerely ask for your prayers!
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Note: It is the practice of this church to preach straight from the bible. We follow the lectionary assigned readings from which the sermon/messages are derived.
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