Thursday 9/26/13 Love (4)

Dear Father in Heaven:  I love You, Dear Lord.  Please forgive me of my sins.  Thanks for a great, really great day.  Thanks for all You do for us and thanks for trusting us to work for You.  Thanks for the food pantry and thanks for the help that comes and also those who come in for food.  Thanks for watching over our family and our ministry team and their families.  Father in Heaven, thanks for trusting me at this keyboard year after year writing for You.  Please, Dear Lord, help me now with the message, and may my words come from You.  After it its written, please dispatch it for me and help me get it printed.  Again, Lord, I love You and appreciate all You do for me.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is a beautiful day here at the Southern Location of the North Pole.  Please keep praying for Sarah (vehicle accident), Eleanor (getting her strength back so she can come home).  For our nation to come back to God.  Patsy and Burt.  For Barbara in Florida.  For Vicki in Ohio.   For Bob and Sharon.  For Curtis.  For Craig and Beth, that their home goes through.  For our wounded warriors from all wars.  Folks, time to talk more about love.  Let me get to the message.  Don't you just "love love?"

Thursday, September 26, 2013, Love (Day Four).

Matthew 22:36 - "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"  37 Jesus replied:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."  38 "This is the first and greatest commandment.  39 And the second is like it:  'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, I want you to think, and think really hard, about our commandments, the Ten Commandments, as we find them in Exodus 20.  If we really think about it, these "two great commandments," if you really live by them, cover those first 20 and more.  Now let's take a really good look.  What really is the main point?  It is LOVE, yes, LOVE.  Who are we to love?  Let's see, we are to Love the Lord, and we are to Love our neighbor.  Now wait, there is more!  Yes, yes, we are to love ourselves.  Now we are to Love the Lord our God and that would be our Lord Jesus, and we are to love Him with all of our heart, soul and mind.  Now there is no doubt in my mind that we should always put Jesus ahead of all others.  Now here it is in scripture.  Let's look again.  We are to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  Then it tells us "This is the first and GREATEST COMMANDMENT."  This is the greatest commandment, meaning to me, put Jesus above all others in Love.

Next, Jesus told us in the scriptures we are to Love our neighbor as ourselves.  So it is okay to love one's self, and that should be our guideline for loving their neighbor.  So what happens with those folks who don't love their "self?"  Some might say if we love ourselves, we are self-centered, or "stuck on ourselves" or some other remark like that, but the point is we are to really love ourselves.  Some days that might be hard if we really mes up.  But folks, Jesus said it is okay to love ourselves.  So it brings us now to our neighbor.  First, who is our neighbor?  Well, folks, I think it is everyone except Jesus, and ourselves.  Our neighbor lives next door, across the street, in the center of town, in the next town over.  What does our neighbor look like?  Well, our neighbor comes in all shapes and sizes, they come in all colors, and they come in all religions or might not have any religion.  Our neighbor is everyone but Jesus and ourselves.

Our neighbor whom we must love might be a color other than us, they might be gay and we are against that.  But remember, we are to love the sinner and hate the sin.  Our neighbor might be someone who is loud, someone who might have been in jail.  Regardless of what our neighbor is or what they have done, Jesus said we are to love them.  Now folks, that means you all need to love each other, and we must remember that "love is the greatest gift given."  Of all the gifts God gives us, and they are many, the top three are faith, hope, and love, and out of those three, "Love is first."   No greater Love.  Tomorrow we will talk about NO GREATER LOVE.  Let's pray.

Dear Father in Heaven, we want to start today by just saying we love You and ask if You would help us to show our Love for You by the way we live and work.  Please, Lord, honor this prayer for us.  Father, forgive us of our sins so we might walk in Your love clean and spread the good news of Jesus and Salvation through Him.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth sharing your blessings and sharing your love and know this.  Jesus Loves You, and I love ya also.  Brothers and sisters, pass the love on.  Pastor Dan