weekly sermon
4-15-07
I heard a song the other day on the new country channel, which is unusual for me because I usually listen to Christian or old country. But anyway the song was about some boys that found a box in their mothers closet that had some pictures in it from when she was younger. There were things in the pictures that she would never have wanted her children to see. The things they seen in the pictures were of her in her "hippie" days, and of things she would be doing in those days that would not be something you would want to brag about with your children. After the boys had seen the pictures they decided that it would be best if they never said anything to their mother about them and they continued to love her as they did before they had seen the pictures.
It really made me think of how we see people that we don't know and make an assumption about them before we find out the truth, or find out they are or have done things that we would never have imagined. It also made me think of how we love someone no matter what they may have ever done.
I am someone, as most of us are, that has had something done that required more forgiveness than one likes to give, but I did and we are great friends to this day. This is the love that I want to talk about.
The first thing I said was about looking at someone we don't know. If we look at this scripturally we can find it in the book of Matthew 19:30 "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first". Think about that statement. It is a powerful statement. The ones that we think would be the best candidates to make it to Heaven could be the last, and the ones we don't even think will have a chance of getting to Heaven could be the ones with the most jewels on their crowns. We really should be watching what it is we think, because our minds do not think as God's mind thinks.
I also talked about the love the boys had for their mother, no matter what they seen that she had did in those pictures. They knew from looking at the pictures that she had done things that were wrong, but they loved her unconditionally. This is how our Heavenly Father loves us, and how He wants us to love others.
1 John 2:5 "But
whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we
know that we are in Him".
1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should
be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does
not know us is that it did not know him".
1 John 3:2 "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has
not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is".
1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sin".
We can see from 1 John 2:5 that if we follow His word and walk in God's love then God's love will be perfected in us. Then and only then do we truly know we are walking with God. And to think that the love He has for us is so great that we are called His children as it states in 1 John 3:1. And to think the world not knowing us is really sad because that means they do not know Him. If they don't know Him then that would tell me from the Bible that they are NOT bound for Heaven, and that is the really sad part. I don't care if they know me or not for what I am, but I really care if they know Him or not. Without Him they are lost, and that is the really sad part. So look at 1 Peter 4:8 where it states that above all we love each other deeply. We should love each other with such a love that we would want them to know us for what we are or at least if nothing else know HIM.
Lastly, if we are going to talk about the perfect love of God we can NOT fail to mention the most notable verse in the bible, John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life".
How many of you would give your child, much less your ONLY child to save the lives of people that most of them don't even like you?
If we also look at John 3:16 we see that He loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for our sins, so if you have never come close enough to get to know Him in that way then please look deep in your heart. That is where Jesus lives and He is looking for you. Say this simple prayer with me: Jesus come into my heart and be my Lord and Saviour and show me how to walk in the perfect love of God.
If you said this simple prayer then please drop me a line and let me know so we can rejoice with you and send you a few things to help you with your new walk in that perfect love we have been talking about.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone