WOW... what a day! I mean that in every aspect of that statement. We had a great crowd and many guests; we had some of our worst technical difficulties ever; we had a great performance by our children's choir (Kidz Praiz); we confronted one of the most difficult topics - forgiveness and restoration; we handed out our proposed budget for 2010, and we even got out early again. You see why I said, "What a day."
I know it's the plight of many preachers to preach to the topical messages around holiday themes, but I just felt that God would have me continue our Sunday morning series in James. We examined James' instructions in 5:7-13 on how to do right, when you've been done wrong. The Church (at large) is plagued by people who want to kill and destroy their own, rather than restore and reconcile. Interesting... Gal 5 tells us the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. Then in John 10:10, it tells us that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. So, it should be obvious which "spirit" is controlling people who refuse to reconcile? Neither obedience nor forgiveness are optional among believers (Eph 4:32).
On Sunday night, we discussed God's love for us. The closest earthly comparison would be a parent's love for his/her child. True love is unconditional, loving, giving, forgiving, has other's best interest at heart, etc. Hard to comprehend, but God loves us a million times more than we even love our kids! God's love should motivate us to love Him back, to honor, to respect and to obey Him. God's love for us should be the basis for living out our Christian faith. One final thought... we all know how bad it hurts when our children disobey us. So, if God loves us a million times more than we love our kids, I wonder if it hurts Him a million times more when His children disobey Him? Take some time and try to comprehend the love of God this week.
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