“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
Nothing But The Blood
Then He took the cup and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “This is the Blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink this fruit from the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My FATHER’s kingdom.”
Matthew 26:26-29
It always amazes me when I think upon this beautiful gift that God has given us. Ever since I was a child and throughout my life, the thought of what God did for you and me has overwhelmed me. The fact that God loves me and you so much that He was willing to take my punishment and to die for me. Looking back, I want to describe this feeling to you.
As far as I can remember, I have always had this connection with God. Even as far back as about 4 or 5 I remember having this awe as I went to church and during Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. Those are the first holidays in my mind. I grew up my family went to the Catholic church. I always thought the mass was rich with symbolism. Mass was in Latin but as I grew the mass was changed into English. But that was part of the magic as it was for me. My missal was in both Latin and English. I had learned to read early in life at age 4 or 5. I still have such a love of reading. There was such mystery in church. We stood, we sat, we kneeled, we sang, we listened and then communion happened. I had wanted to have communion for such a long time and I had to wait until I was old enough and I had to go through classes before I could receive my first Holy Communion. As we were being taught about this very special gift from God, I would think about how HE chose to die and how in His Last Supper He gave a way for us to be able to remember how much He loves us.
What love, what sacrifice, what a special gift to us that God has given. His body, His blood, His life, His burial, His resurrection, and oh, how I am so waiting for His return! There is a song called, The Reckless Love of God by Corey Asbury. The overwhelming, never ending, reckless love of GOD. Let us listen and read these words. You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc6SSHuZvQE
"Reckless Love"
Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before
I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me
O, the
overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
O, it chases me down, fights 'til
I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it,
still, You give Yourself away
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of
God
When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so kind to
me
When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me, yeah
You have been so, so kind to
me
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
O, it chases me down, fights
'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve
it, still, You give Yourself away
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love
of God
No shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
No wall
You won't kick down
Lie You won't tear down
Coming after me
No shadow You won't light
up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
No wall You won't kick down
Lie You won't
tear down
Coming after me
No shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming
after me
No wall You won't kick down
Lie You won't tear down
Coming after me
No shadow
You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
No wall You won't kick
down
Lie You won't tear down
Coming after me!
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless
love of God
O, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
And
I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
O, the overwhelming,
never-ending, reckless love of God!
If I make my bed in the [?] You're there
I'm rising
on the wings of the dawn [?]
You're there, You're there
You're chasing us down
Yes,
You are, yes, You
You always have
No shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb
up
Coming after me
No wall You won't kick down
Lie You won't tear down
Coming after me
No
shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
No wall You won't
kick down
Lie You won't tear down
Coming after me
No shadow You won't light up
Mountain
You won't climb up
Coming after me
No wall You won't kick down
Lie You won't tear down
Coming
after me
No shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
No
wall You won't kick down
Lie You won't tear down
Coming after me!...
O, the overwhelming,
never-ending, reckless love of God
O, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves
the ninety-nine
And I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself
away
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God!
Take a moment and let this wash over you. This song for me just really makes me cry for joy. When I think about how much GOD loves me, I am overwhelmed by this. My heart soars with His grace and mercy and I rest in Him. We are so blessed to have so many beautiful love songs about God. They can make our worship experience so much more.
The beauty of God’s love is really very simple. God is love. HE loves you and me with a never-ending love and has gifted us with some amazing ways to remember. With all the clatter of hate that is going on around us, we need to be renewed in God’s amazing love. The church needs a revival, a coming back to our first love. And for those who do not know Him, we, as His church, need to be His hands and feet and show His love in every part of our lives. For it is only when we walk in His love can we show others Him. We must come back to GOD and be overwhelmed in knowing that He loves us.
Let us go back to the very beginning. In order for God to show His amazing love for us, He has given us His Word, the Bible, so that we can read and learn about Him. The Bible is a guide book for us. It is a collection of many books, by many writers who recorded what God revealed to them to share for all people to come to know Him. When you read the Bible, you need to ask the HOLY SPIRIT to come into your hearts and forgo everything else, except the desire to know GOD.
And that is the whole point. We have to have a desire to know GOD. GOD knows us. He knows each and every one of us. Psalm 139:15,16: For YOU created my inmost being, YOU knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise YOU because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place; when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.
God knows every part of you. Nothing surprises God about you. God desires you to choose to love Him.
This love of God amazes me. Every breath I take has been given to me by GOD. Every new morning I wake, has been given to me by GOD. Every night when I lie down to sleep has been given to me by GOD. Nothing can separate me from the love of GOD. And this love is for each and every person who chooses to accept GOD.
There are a lot of critics out there towards GOD. We are experiencing a time that leads me to believe the JESUS is returning soon. The love of GOD has grown cold and the devil is overcoming so many people to spread his hate.
There are so many Christians out there that really have no concept of Who and What GOD is. Many churches and ministers have failed the Body of Christ. As Christians, we are to walk in the way of the LORD in every area of our lives. In my lifetime, I have seen people fall so far away from GOD. No one fears the wrath of GOD. God has been pushed back and the love of self has been pushed forward. We are so vain. We seek ourselves and our pleasures first. GOD is to be our first love, then others, then yourself. We need change, we need renewal, we need an awakening in our lives. In Revelation 2:4,5: Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Coming to faith in GOD is not something that is little, but it is big. When we come to the point when we realize that we need GOD, we have to humble ourselves. And this is exact opposite of what society says to us. We have to allow the HOLY SPIRIT to come into us and let the SPIRIT convict us of our sins. I think about the Eustance in the book (or movie) Prince Caspain. Eustance in his greed steals from the dragon his gold. He places a bracelet on his upper arm because it is too big for him. His greed changes him because it is sin that changes one. Sin covers us and changes who and what we are. We become stuck in our sin and we put ourselves first. We say such hateful things because we are scared to look into our lives and see that it is the very sins of our lives that are causing us to become dragons. Me, Me, ME that is all we see. My body, my life, my choice. Nothing matters but me. And the devil is screaming that through so many people.
But when the HOLY SPIRIT comes into you, when you allow GOD to speak to you. When you realize that there is more to this life than you. When you are humble, that is when you will be able to see and hear GOD. GOD will not compete with you. HE is sovereign. HE is above all things. HE is above you. But GOD humbled HIMSELF for you and me. GOD throughout history has spoken to us. HE has sent many people to call us back to Him. And at just the right time in HISstory, God came to earth as a human, just as He created us. He could have come as a lion, but He chose to come as a lamb. HE humbled Himself to go through each day as we do. He was knitted together in His mother’s womb. All His days on earth were ordained before He ever was born. His purpose for His earthly life was to die for yours and my sins. He came to teach us how to walk in the way of the LORD. To show us that even though we are humans, we can accept GOD’s way and ask Him to help us with His HOLY SPIRIT living in us. By allowing Him into our lives and learning from Him. We cannot do anything in our lives that we were created for until we come to the place of humility and leave our lives of sin. In the movie The Shack, there is a scene where Mack is in a boat on the lake. His life has been fractured, his spirit is weak and he has left the first love of his life because of it. He is a broken man, lost in his hatred and his sorrow. It overwhelms him and he cannot see through his pain. He blames GOD. And God in His love shows Mack the meaning for everything that is happening in his life. In this scene in the movie, Mack is in the middle of the lake when all his fears overwhelm him. It is a black, swirling mess that is threating to crash into his boat and drowns him. All he can see is the waves, the darkness, crashing into him. He is blinded by fear and suddenly he hears JESUS calling out to him, to look to HIM, to call out to HIM and to FOCUS ONLY ON JESUS. When he does that, the waves and darkness flee.
That is what happens when we keep our eyes on JESUS. Nothing else matters.
You see, the devil tries to keep you trapped in your fears, your hatred, your sin. The devil tells you that GOD will not help you. All that the devil says is a lie. He is the father of lies. He is the father of hate. He is the father of pride. Because of his pride, he hates GOD and HIS love. And misery loves company. The devil’s life work is to make you as miserable as he is. He is so prideful that he will not admit that he is wrong and wants everyone else to abandon GOD as he did. And if we look around our world, we see that the devil is still out there, prowling, looking to steal our hearts away from God. Lawlessness is everywhere. Sin has become the law, we have not stood firm against the devil and we need a revival.
My brothers and sisters, we need to take our stand and walk in the way of the LORD. We need to forgo our pride and humble ourselves before GOD. We need to ask Him to forgive us and begin again. We need to be firm in our faith in GOD or the devil will overwhelm our lives with sin.
WE need a revival. We need to not be pushed into allowing sin to be the law of this world. Our life in this world is one breath away from eternity. We do not know when the time of JESUS’ return is, but the signs are everywhere. GOD’s Word has His plan and it has been unfolding. The things that were written are falling into place. If we do not change, we will be left behind and will not share in the kingdom of GOD. We are the church, you and me. We need to learn to be the church in every area of our lives. We do not need to back down and allow the devil to destroy our lives. We need to humble ourselves. GOD is right there with you and is holding out His hands. He longs for you to take His hands and to come to HIM, keeping our eyes on JESUS, so that we will be in His peace. We will be in His love.
I cannot offer you anything but hope. Faith is believing in the unseen GOD ALMIGHTY. And His proof is everywhere, if only you choose to believe. Faith is the most important choice in our lives. Unless we choose, we cannot have faith. Those who are caught in the chains of sin have to choose to humble yourselves and ask GOD to forgive you of your sins. The devil is going to fight you every inch on the way but if you choose to walk with GOD and fix your eyes on JESUS, you can escape the devil and be in GOD.
Let us begin again. Let us learn to walk in the way of the LORD. Let us humble ourselves. Let us give GOD control over our lives. Let the HOLY SPIRIT come and live in us. And let us repent. Oh, yes, let us repent. And GOD will wash away our sins. As Eustance found out in the book, Prince Caspain, when he humbled himself and GOD ripped the skin of sin off Eustance, he was a new child of GOD. That is what GOD will do for you. He will rip the sins of your life away.
Listen to these words again from the song, Reckless Love:
No shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
No wall You
won't kick down
Lie You won't tear down
Coming after me
GOD will light up every shadow of sin that is surrounding you to show you His love.
HE will climb every mountain with you to show you His amazing love.
HE will kick down every wall of sin that is holding us in chains.
And HE will tear down every lie of the devil that is destroying your life.
HE is always there, coming after you. GOD desires your love. Come to HIM and learn to desire His love.
