Turn to Loving Your Neighbor

In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus tells us the greatest two commandments: love God with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself. It’s all about love!

Love in God’s eyes is vertical or horizontal. God is love and He loves us – that’s vertical. We are to love Him with all our heart, minds, soul, and strength. For Jesus, to love your neighbor as you love yourself was to practice justice towards your fellow human beings and that is horizontal love as found in Leviticus chapter 19.

We are to live generously towards the poor and alien (Lev. 19:9–10).

• Do not steal from anyone or be deceptive (Lev. 19:11).
• Do not swear in God’s name (Lev. 19:12).
• Do not oppress, rob, or exploit the poor by paying unfair wages (Lev. 19:13).
• Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind (Lev. 19:14).
• Do not be partial to the poor or show favor to the great but judge honestly (Lev. 19:15).
• Do not commit financial fraud. (Lev. 19:16).
• Do not hate your brother (Lev. 19:17).
• Do not seek revenge or hold a grudge but extend forgiveness (Lev. 19:18).

Will you make this pledge today? I will love my neighbor, so that he can experience the fullness of Christ (and so can I).

Amen?

Loving Souls

Luke 10:27 “He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind…’”

Love with your “heart and soul” is mentioned 30 times in the Bible. The first time we see it is Deuteronomy 4:29 - But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

When someone gives their “heart and soul” we know it means that they gave all they had. Do we love God that way?              

The Bible talks a lot about your soul at least 95 times, so we know it’s of the utmost importance. Your soul is from God It’s what causes the difference between us and all other creation. Humans alone are made in the image of God. Our souls are God-breathed in to us. It is eternal. Matthew 16:24-26 - ²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. ²⁶ What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

Many believe in Life after death but what about Life before death? Christ conquered death, so if death is behind you then all you have in front of you is life in Christ! Start living for eternity today. Amen?

Laboring for

Happy Labor Day! Some of us love what we do, and others...well let's say there are challenges. Sometimes we may not feel appreciated. The Bible has great wisdom on the subject. Don’t be discouraged when your service is unnoticed or taken for granted. Keep on serving God! 

“Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a wasteof time or effort.” I Corinthians 15:58 (MSG)

Even the smallest service is noticed by God and will be rewarded. Remember the words of Jesus: “If, as my representatives, you give even a cup of cold water to a little child, you will surely be rewarded.” Matthew 10:42 (LB)

Remember who you're working for - love God by serving others. Amen?

Serious Service

Service starts in your mind! “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:5-7 (NIV)

Real servants serve God with a mindset of five attitudes:

- Servants think more about others than about themselves.

- Servants think like stewards, not owners.

- Servants think about their work, not what others are doing.

- Servants base their identity in Christ.

- And servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation.

Henri Nouwen said, “In order to be of service to others, we have to die to them; that is, we have to give up measuring our meaning and value with the yardstick of others … thus we become free to be compassionate.”

When you base your worth and identity on your relationship to Christ, you are freed from the expectations of others, and that allows you to really serve them best.

Imagine what could happen if just 10 percent of all Christians in the world got serious about their role as real servants. Imagine all the good that could be done. Are you willing to be one of those people? 

Finished Work

The Promise land was God’s, and He was giving it to His People. So I (God) have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.- Exodus 3:8 They had God’s word on it, and now they had to go and claim ownership over it. The same is true in our lives. It’s not in the obtaining of God’s promises; it’s the occupying. The Lord’s Word is absolute. I love this visual: Jesus said, “It is finished”, and He sat down. Why? Because He had done His part – now it was up to us.

Remember Jesus said the harvest was plentiful, but the workers were few. Harvest is the result of something you do. God gives us people to share the Gospel with. It is part of your inheritance from your Father. That part has nothing to do with your action but with your identity. Do not become confused. The Lord has given us all we need. What have we done with it?

Before God’s people went into the Promise Land they were all blessed and given a task. We cannot enter into the land until all of us are doing our jobs. It’s that “body of Christ” thing – all working together…

What is God calling you to do?

God's Strength

Good counsel, on turning to God’s strength, was given to them during all the sinful behavior found in Jeremiah 6, but they would not follow it. Do we follow God’s counsel? Here are three ways to experience His strength:

1. Learn to heed God’s warnings. Jeremiah 6:8 - Take warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so no one can live in it.” Instead they disregard the warnings by pretending everything is okay.  

Jeremiah 6:14 - They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.

God’s teaching - Hebrews 13:9 - Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by man-made rules and teachings. We need to trust God and His truth!

2. Look for God’s plan. Jeremiah 6:16 This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Jesus’ plan - Mark 12:33 - To love God with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”  We must obey! "Obedience leads to righteousness” – Romans 6:16

3. Listen to God’s spokesmen. Jeremiah 6:17 - I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ‘We will not listen.’

Real strength - Psalm 84:5 - Blessed are those who find strength in you. Their hearts are on the road that leads to you. Turn to teaching that leads you to God and is not contrary to it. This is an act of faith!

Are you willing to pray Psalm 26:2? - Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind…

Turn Your Strength (to Love God

Is the world becoming a better place because of your power? - Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. Matthew 22:29 Loving the Lord with your strength is one of the four things Jesus said we need to do to love God completely. How weak or strong are we?

Weakness and strengths are found throughout the Bible… today let’s look at Jeremiah 6:7-22 that examines them both.

The 6 sins (weakness) of Judah and Jerusalem provoked God to bring a desolating judgment upon them. We see these same weakness/sins in today’s world as well… wickedness (v. 7), disobedience of God’s Word (vv. 10-22), worldliness (v. 13), false prophets and teachers (v. 14), unrepentance (v. 15), and contempt for Godly teaching (vv. 18-19)

Their sins made their sacrifices (love) unacceptable to God (v. 20), and He gave them up to their own ruin (v.21).

The cure - Psalm 73:26: ²⁶ My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Know where your strength comes from. Amen?