“I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
John 14: 6
12 “Look, I AM coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22: 12-13
Pastors Noreen & Henry Kevern
Expressions of Love
Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples. For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Psalm 117
How does one describe love? What is it about love the makes us do the things that we do? When we think about the Love of God, do we see it in our everyday life? Love for human is an emotion, an action, a strong feeling that we have towards one another. It can be as a mother and child, the unconditional love that children have toward their mother. They just know that they love them. The love between two people brought together by God, two who know that they are soul mates, made for one another. They come together and marry, and begin life together. They know that “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1Corinthians 13:4-8
But there is another way that humans describe love and that is lust. Society today has taken lust and made it okay to sin before the Lord. In Matthew 15:16-20, “Are you still so dull? Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; These things are what Jesus warns us against doing. But lust consumes people everyday. Society has played lust to its fullest and has made it attractive to humans. If you have ears, listen to the Holy Spirit that lives within you. Search yourself and see if you are ‘clean’ or unclean’.
But there is God’s love for us so pure, so merciful, so abundant in life. But some people are so dull that they cannot see God’s love all around them. They only see the gloom and despair, not the good and wonderful things that the Lord does for us everyday of our lives. The Creator of the stars in the sky, your God, out of love, gave you your life, this very earth in which you live and all that is on it. He gave us the ultimate gift of free will, not forcing His love upon us, but letting us choose to accept His love. But not everyone wants to accept this good and perfect love because that would involve a change in the way that they live. But God is gracious and waits for you to come to Him and accept His love, His salvation, which is Christ the Lord. Yes, we must repent of our sins, and not sin no more. We must learn to live a life within the love of God.
But people are afraid of that life. In John 14:15, Jesus says; “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” That means that we must “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:44, it means that “You must love the Lord your God, with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and you must love one another as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39 We must obey the teachers of the Law of Moses, by following the Law of Moses, the Commandments that have been given to us. But we are not to copy how they live and act, if they do not show God’s mercy and love. But the Law we are to obey.
Jesus wants you to freely choose to accept Him. He wants you to change your life so that you can live in heaven. In Matthew 23:37,38, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” He will not force you to accept Him, but longs for you to come to Him. The Gospels are full of warnings about our doom if we do not choose wisely. Jesus gives us every opportunity to change ourselves and follow the Way that He is. When you are sad, lonely, depressed, discouraged, God sends the sunshine, the flowers, a butterfly, the laugh of a child, many different things to show that He is there with you through it all. Faith is hard. You have to believe in God even when things are not going good, when all of your life is falling about you. He didn’t promise a life without strife, but a life with His love.
He wants you to accept His expressions of His love in your life. Look for Him daily in the things around you. The smile from a stranger, a hug from a friend, an email, a letter, a story that makes you smile or is the message that you needed at that moment, knowing that someone was thinking about you. Don’t be scared of accepting God in your life. Yes it means changes, being seen as different, but if you accept the love of God in your life and become that love, your whole being will shine for others to see. Then they will want to be part of that love. Love means that you want the best for another that you will do no harm that you will be with them no matter what they do, or what happens in their life. That’s how God loves you. No matter what. And He will forgive you your sins if you come to Him and ask sincerely and work on changing your life. God is there to pick you up and be with you. If you have trust and faith, He will see you through the lessons that you need to learn in this life, to prepare you for the next.
God loves you and lives in you. Accept yourself as pleasing to God. He created you. When you can love God with all that you are and love others as you love yourself, you will find eternal life in the Saviour. Don’t be afraid of God; be afraid of eternal life in hell, having to look across the great chasm that is fixed between heaven and hell, that cannot be crossed. Be convinced of what is written, of the Word that is in you and let the Lord live in you and be a light to the world, as an expression of His love.
In todays’ world love is so misunderstood and is lost on so many people. Sadly, so many people do not care about unselfish, unconditional love and see loving another is to allow them to live in the lies of the devil who shouts that love means letting another do whatever they want. We were created in love and to love GOD and one another but all we seem to do is fight and hate. So many people have no room for love, they claim to be loving but they love all the lies of the devil and promote his hatred in the name of love. My brothers and sisters, the devil is a liar and his work is being seen in too many of us. Love is beautiful when it is GOD’s love. Because GOD is love. Paul writes so beautifully in 1 Corinthians 13 about the pure love of GOD. Read it aloud and where the word love or it is, insert your name and when you feel anger, start saying, I am patient, I am kind. I am not easily angered. I forgive and I want the best for the person who is in front of me yelling and listening to the lies of the devil. LORD, fill them with YOUR peace and let them hear YOUR whispering in their ears and come to know YOU and YOUR love. Break the stronghold of hate that the devil has in that person. Let them hear the Words of YOUR truth and learn to walk in YOUR way. Let them seek YOUR Word and live their lives in YOUR life.
Our lives need GOD and all that HE is. The hate, the lies, the fear that the devil is spreading is being heard more and more. My dear brothers and sisters, GOD is calling out to you to be HIS church. We are the church; the church is not a building, the church is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place, the church is all people. Be the church, GOD’s’ ambassador to the world. Live a life in HIS love and let HIS light shine out of each of us so that others will see. DO NOT HIDE GOD’S LOVE but show it in all areas of your life. Faith is not to be hidden. A light is set on a stand to bring light to the whole room. Be a light to the world showing just how amazing GOD’s love is. Be a light in the darkness Let your life be more than having faith, but let your faith shout out GOD’s love to the whole world. Our faith is to be shared. JESUS is the way, the truth and the life. There is no other way to the FATHER. Only JESUS. And if that offends some people, keep on speaking GOD’s love until everyone hears and just maybe they will believe and be saved. Be the city on the hill, the light of GOD’s perfect love, shining brightly. Be a banner of GOD’s love with HIS love written on your hearts. Keep on even when the world shouts at us to shut up because they do not want to hear the truth. Be love and save a life from hell. Speak GOD’s way, HIS life and HIS truth. Speak the Word in season and out. Crave the Word so that you can give hope to others. Shine! Let your love shine with all that GOD has.
FATHER, we pray that our lives will be shining fully with the light of YOUR love. Let us be reaching out to others with YOUR love. Let our hands and feet be YOUR love. Let us speak YOUR Word in truth and not compromise YOUR Word. Even when the world that believes in the lies of the devil and tries to silence us, let us be strong and courageous and live YOUR way, YOUR life and YOUR truth. Let our faith arise. Let our voices sing out of YOUR amazing love. Let YOUR angels surround us and protect us but even if the devil has his way, let YOUR way be our way. Keep us strong and courageous and not lose faith, but grow in YOUR love.
Be blessed.
