Good evening, my dear sisters and brothers. What a great day we had today here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. Please pray for the residents and staff at the Church of God Home in Carlisle. I understand they are hard hit by the flu. We need to be asking God to get rid of the flu across the world. Please pray today for all, and I am serious about this, please pray for all those folks that you dislike. It does not make a difference why you dislike them, today I am asking you to hold them up in prayer. Today I am going to talk about the greatest gift God gives us and that is the gift of LOVE. Now sisters and brothers, our Lord Jesus tells us that we must love God and love all others. While we need to love all people, we do not need to like or love their sins, in fact we should hate the sins. So today, and maybe tomorrow, we will be talking about the gift of love.
Romans 12:9 - Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 14 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, "It is mine to avenge, I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (NIV)
Dear sisters and brothers, that is a lot of scripture to digest today, and I pray you take time to read through it a few times and really look at it. This scripture tells us how we must love and how we must hate evil while we love. I would guess by now you have all heard the news that in our National Cathedral they are going to be doing gay marriages. Gay marriages are now legal in the eyes of the law in Washington, DC, so they are going to permit them to take place at the National Cathedral. The person making the announcement in Washington, DC, said: "That is the way Jesus would want it!" They also said that according to the Bible gay marriage is permitted. I would like anyone, anyone, to show me where in the Bible it is written that Jesus endorses marriage between two men or two women. This brings me to a point about love. We must all who are Christians love those who are gay, but we do not need to love that sin, and indeed it is a sin. Once so called pastors start doing gay marriages in the National Cathedral, watch for a storm or something like that to hit the Cathedral. If you do not think these things are upsetting God, you need to go back and read the account of Noah.
Now with that off my chest, let's go back and start looking at the scripture of today. I am sure I will not get through this complete scripture today. Let's start with ...
Romans 12:9 - Love must be sincere, hate what is evil and cling to what is good. (NIV)
Love must be sincere. First of all, my dear, dear friends, let's get this meaning of the word love. The word love does not mean sex. I hear so many people saying something like "they were making love." So I ask you today, is your love for Jesus sincere? I am sure you are going to say "YES". So now I ask this, is your love for others, all others, sincere? Come on, address it, folks, think about it, someone who might have "done you dirty" in the past. Have you forgiven them? If you have not forgiven someone, how in the world can you really love them? First of all, folks, we must forgive those who have "done us dirty" or we will not be forgiven for our sins. Again, folks, I do not make the rules, I am just telling you what they are. Please, if you do not agree with this, just go and pray the Lord's prayer and then look at what you just prayed. The Bible tells us we must hate evil, or hate sin, and we should cling to good. And yes, God is good and we need to cling to Him. The Bible also tells us ...
Romans 12:10 - Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. (NIV)
We must love one another. The other week I was talking about love and telling the folks at the Bridges in our greet your neighbor part of church that they should tell their neighbor they love them. We have several people who took that very seriously, and I hear them each week without being reminded telling those sitting next to them that they love them. I also have many now leaving church telling me as they leave that they love me. I try and tell each one, each week that I love them. Some people have trouble telling others they love them. It seems those words might scare them a little. The Bible tells us that besides loving each other we must be, listen to this now, we must be devoted to them. How does that work? It means you must be sincere. The other week, one of the flock sitting in the first row in church for the first time, said very loud, THE PASTOR JUST KISSED THE PIANO PLAYER. It got a big laugh, as this man did not know I guess that Dolores is my wife.
I think I have covered enough for one day. So your homework for today besides reading over the scripture and really studying it ... I want you to think about who you are upset with, I want you to really pray about it, and if you need to be forgiving that person, then ask God to help you with it so it is sincere. Also if they need to be asking for your forgiveness then make it easy for them. In other words, patch up the problem, letting God help you. And please remember that Love must be sincere ...
Dear Father in Heaven, I love You and that I know, but there are days when it seems I did not show it. I also feel that I love all others, but if there is someone out there that I need to clear the air with, please point it out to me. Also, may all my love for others be sincere and may I put my full heart and faith into it. Lord, be with those on our prayer lists, and please, dear Lord, keep blessing this line. Thanks for the message of today, and thanks for walking me through a hard subject. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Now, brothers and sisters, I find that so far we have at least three gifts. We have the gift to serve, the gift of sharing, or helping others, and the gift of love. How do I know that, well, it is like this, you can serve God, while you love Him and others, and your love for others can show as you share your blessings with them.
Love ya, Pastor Dan.
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