Tag Archives: love

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ENCOURAGEMENT | You Are Loved

As a Christian follower of Jesus Christ I often want to cry out to those who are discouraged and feeling unloved…

JESUS LOVES YOU!

…but these are just words; sometimes irritating or frightening words if you are a stranger to them. You have invaded their personal space with something they do not understand, or feel or sometimes even know that they have. So, this problem begs the question…

How does a person know that Jesus loves them?

It really is an intangible concept this love thing. How does one know that they are loved by another person?

  • Spending time together and getting to know one another
  • Physical contact such as hugging, touching, kissing, etc
  • Doing things for each other
  • Sharing – likes, hurts, joys, sorrows
  • Saying, writing, showing, displaying “I love you”
But, we also live in a sinful selfish world where all of these things can be easily taken away from us. Someone who once said “I love you” from their heart, can later look you straight in the eye and say “I hate you” or “You don’t make me happy anymore”. Even parents, who are supposed to love their children unconditionally, are today killing them, hurting them, using them and destroying them.

 

How does this change our view of love?

 

What about the times we ourselves have withheld love from another person because we wanted to hurt them? For every person that has been hurt in a relationship there was at least one person (almost always both) who started to hold back on their love as a form of punishment or as a way to make demands.
Have you always been loving with those you say you love?

 

As the old rock-n-roll song puts it, “Love hurts” and we have learned this during our years here on this planet. So, how can something that feels so good, when it is given correctly, cause so much pain?

 

Because it is never really given by another human being unconditionally…without sin. 

Now, lets return to our scenario. When I cry out to a stranger on the street, “JESUS LOVES YOU!”, that can mean so many things to them; the most likely of which is the deep inner thought “Ya right! Prove it”.So, why can’t we?!! What is it that we are waiting for? Why can’t we prove it? Because we are not experiencing it….

 Do you know that Jesus loves you unconditionally? Do you really? How?

By looking to the cross and knowing that He did that for YOU. Look there! Do you see that His love for you never ever weakened or wavered, not once. It was His love for you that drove Him onward, ever toward the cross, knowing always that it was the price He had to pay for His unconditional love for you.

And know this also friend. When you feel this unconditional truth deep in your own heart it will burst wide open with the desire to share it with others. “Look everyone!! Jesus loves you!” But remember, they are sinners just as you are. They are loved unconditionally by Jesus, already. Seek to connect with them and then share what you know about the love you have experienced, but most of all…

SHOW THEM THE LOVE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN!

Dear Reader: Please listen to this wonderful sermon by one of my favorite pastors. It will help you… I promise.

>>>You Are Loved<<<

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What Sorrow Awaits You…Blind Guides | Matthew 23:13-22 |Part 1

Mat 23:13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.
Mat 23:14 [What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, you will be severely punished.]
Mat 23:15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!
Mat 23:16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’
Mat 23:17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred?
Mat 23:18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding.
Mat 23:19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Mat 23:20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it.
Mat 23:21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it.
Mat 23:22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.

What does it mean to be a Christian hypocrite?

I am a teacher at my church. I teach about once or twice a month in the adult class and I really enjoy doing it. I think I learn more than I actually teach. As a teacher you often stand in front of a group and give them your opinion about religious matters or scriptures in the bible. But, I don’t always 100% of the time follow what I try to teach from God’s word. Does that make me a hypocrite? Continue reading →