LOVE ONE ANOTHER ANYWAY

The Bible teaches two sure things: We need God, and we all need each other. Everybody just wants to be loved.

Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love The Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Unlike sensual love or emotional love, the Holy Spirit produces "Agapao" love in a believers heart. How else could we love our enemies or the unlovable?

"Agapao" love loves others when they are unlovable, have let us down, hurt us deeply, when it's not convenient, and when funds are low.

When we are right in our relationship with God, we will be right in our relationship with one another. 

Solomon said that a good friend can lift you up when you fall:

Ecclesiastes 4:9,10  Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help hm up.

YOU CAN HAVE PEACE

Many people are haunted by their own personal demons and histories. Broken lives, dreams, relationships, and the wicked world we live in can rob us of peace. Sad to say, too many turn to alcohol and drugs for a temporary sensation of peace. God offers a forever peace.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our sin, inherited from Adam, has broken relationship with Holy God. Because of Jesus' sacrifice for sin on the cross, we can have peace through faith in Him.

Has there ever been a definite time and place when you asked Jesus into your heart and life, and God's peace flooded your soul? Have you experienced peace with God through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ? You can. Jesus is waiting for you to come to Him just as you are.

Justification and abiding in Christ through Bible study and prayer gives perfect peace.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

THE KING IS COMING

John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.

I'm getting excited. The King is coming and that's a promise. Are you watching the sky, anticipating an angel shout and trumpet roll or are you worried because you are not prepared? Have you been born again -- accepted Christ as your personal Saviour? The Apostle Paul wrote the following to Christians.

1 Thessalonians 4:16,17  For The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first;

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet The Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with The Lord.

How will you meet the King of kings and Lord of lords? Like the ones mentioned above at his first coming, or at His second coming where you will be  judged for not accepting Christ? It's your decision.

SIGNS OF THE COMING OF CHRIST

1. Israel becoming a nation. Ezekiel 36-37
2. The world's focus on the Middle East
3. The rise of Russia as a world power and her alignment with other nations who hate Israel. Ezekiel 38-39
4. The increase of travel and knowledge. Daniel 12:4
5. The moral breakdown in society.  2 Timothy 8:1-5
6. The rise of world wide lawlessness and rebellion 2 Thessalonians 2;7-10
7. The apostasy from the faith and acceptance of cults and the occult. 1 Timothy 4:1
8. The increase of false christs and those who mock the coming of Christ 2 Peter 3:1-2
9. The obvious movements toward a one world government and a new world order Revelation 16
10. The obvious movements toward a one world religion Revelation 17
11. The availability of technology that will enable government to control all buying and selling world wide Revelation 13
12. Unprecedented earthquakes and natural disasters Mattew 24:7

Are you ready (born again) for the coming of Christ?

RUN THROUGH A TROOP -- LEAP OVER A WALL

I remember reading about a lady quoting scripture to an invader flashing a gun in her face. She held him at bay until he backed off. 

Today I felt an urgency to memorize a particular scripture in my Bible reading. Not knowing the future, it will come in handy. I just know it will.

Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 

Like David, I will definitely quote this under the following circumstances:

• In my distress
• In sorrows of death
• When ungodly men make me afraid or are too strong for me

David only has to look back at victory to gain confidence. "For by thee I have run through a troop, leaped over a wall, and pursued and overtook the enemy."

Naming his victories invokes a praise.

"God's way is perfect. His Word is tried. The Lord lives. Blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted."

We should follow David's example.

HOW DO YOU PICTURE GOD?

Our picture of God is influenced by life experiences. Do you feel that God is for you or against you, away or close by, or too busy for little things? Do you think He weeps when you weep or do you feel He is punishing you when things go wrong?

Abraham might say God is "a friend". David said, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." Isaiah pictured God high and lifted up, a holy God. John said, "God is light" and "God is love".

Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

As you grow in God's Word and experience the trials of life, your picture of God changes.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.

RESTORATION

Psalm 55:22  Cast thy burden upon The Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

In the 1930s, Tommy A. Dorsey, a famous gospel singer, grieved the deaths of his wife and newborn child. In the last month of her pregnancy, she had asked him to cancel his singing performance in another city, but he left. She and the baby died while he was gone, and he suffered unbearable guilt for some time.

On a quiet day he sat down at the piano and felt peace as though he could reach out and touch God.

"I found myself playing a melody, one I'd never heard or played before, and the words in my head -- they just seemed to fall in place." Here it is:

Precious Lord, take my hand

Lead me on, let me stand.

I am tired, I am weak I am worn.

Through the storm, through the night 

Lead me on to the light,

Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home.