Is Love Enough?

Is Love Enough, that's the Question?

I have grown tired of hearing the modern day Pharisees, as they spout off about the "weak and shallow" message being conveyed today. A message focused on "the hope" and "the love of God". That preachers need to dig deeper and hold the line on the "serious Gospel message". 

Perhaps I'm just having a tough week and I should cut them some slack but I believe they are completely wrong and more importantly I believe that it is the cynical and legalistic "theology" of our more conservative brothers that is destroying and distorting the true message of our Lord and Savior. 

John 3: ^16-18"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. (From "the Message")

Can this be said any more clearly? God sent Jesus to reconnect with Man and set us free!

I am amazed at the lack of real life experience that so few of these Pharisees possess. Smothered in degrees, up to their eyeballs in Academia, completely out of touch with the modern man and his challenges and struggles. How can they begin to understand what people need to hear from God and their local church?

It is hard to believe sometimes that we are reading the same Bible and have arrived at such different and opposing conclusion.

If the modern day church wants to reach the modern day man, we need to become sincere and passionate about telling people how much God loves them, why He loves them and why they should get to know Him.

Read Luke 10: 25-37, The Good Samaritan, and consider the church today.

Tell someone how much God loves them, tell them of your relationship with the one and only God in Heaven. Tell them about the creator of heaven and earth and how, before He spoke a single star or planet into existence He thought about them, He designed them, He loved them!

(Ephesians 1)

Never grow tired or weary of telling people of Gods love for them, it is the strongest rock, the greatest and most profound truth of all Scripture.

Love People!

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Consecration

Isaiah 6

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

I live a life of contradictions, in order to find peace I must go to war. In order to rest, I must fight. When life seems crazy and out of control, it is actually the most right and inline with Gods plans.

I am almost never satisfied living to survive, just praying enough and eating enough of the Word to get me by. I have a ferocious appetite to do the work of the Kingdom and nothing else on earth will satisfy.

Isaiah SEES God and instantly knows he is in way over his head. He is blown away at the sight he sees, angels are worshipping God all around him. Then he realizes he is just a sinful man and he is standing in the presence of a Holy God. He thought for sure he was going to die but God had brought him to the very spot he was standing and at that very moment for a reason.

Isaiah had the heart of a servant and had done all he could to honor God with his life. Just when he thinks his life is over, God gives him a new life and another opportunity to serve Him.

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

Isaiah jumps at the chance to serve and please God.

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

It is only when we come to the edge of losing everything that we learn the true value of anything. It is then that we understand what God wants from us. It's not cash, its a spirit of generosity, He doesn't need our strength, He needs us to have the heart of a servant.

Will you say, "Here I am Lord, send me!"

Consecrate your life to God,

Consecration: dedicated to a sacred purpose.

The River of Life

The River of God

**NOTE words in Orange are part of the message from 6/5/11

When we are “Born Again” we experience a period of time I refer to as “The Honeymoon Period”. Everything is wonderful, we are passionately perusing God in search of a lasting relationship.

When we accept Jesus into our life as our Savior we wind up with areas that once housed sin and need to be replaced with Holiness and Consecration. These area can become deserts, spiritual waste lands if we don’t allow the Spirit of God full access into our lives.

John 7:37 Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[c] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Revelations 22: 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal Pure, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

A River brings life and sustenance, wherever it flows. Life is possible in the middle of a desert if there is a water source. A River is a FLOWING source of water & life.

The River of God is the flowing power of the Spirit of God. The River of life is located in the “middle of the great street of the city”.

The spirit of God must reside in the very center of our hearts. When that happens in our life we produce fruit all the time ( the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month).

And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

A desert is parched, scared earth, it is a dry hardened place (legalistic, critical) When the spirit of God flows through your life, you produce good fruit, your fruit is sweet and beautiful. People are attracted to the beauty in you that comes from your relationship with God. Hardened and Baren places are made soft & fruitful again when The spirit of God flows through your life. Healing comes, chains are broken, you are set free.

Be encouraged

Be Encouraged!

Philippians 2

¹ Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

If we want to be encouraged, we need to encourage others. Lift up your brothers and sisters in Christ and those who have yet to meet Him.

When we encourage others we are fulfilling one of your greatest jobs as believers. You will be filled with fresh oil from heaven when you pour out love and encouragement on others.

Take hold of the day and be purposeful to encourage and love people in your world, the world is waiting for someone just like you to love them!

Have a blessed day, you are an awesome creation of the Living God and He loves you. Invite someone to Easter Service they will come!

Have a great day!

Ps. Steve

Letting Go

Gen:22: 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.

We all want Gods blessing and favor over our lives, God wants our obedience and faithfulness. When we walk with God we need to truly be filled with faith and trust that God is not a man, His work is true and He can not lie. When God says hHe will bless your life He means it. It is up to us to trust Him.

God has a distinct way of doing things in our lives. First God wants us to trust Him, then he blesses your life with incredible blessings. After a short season of blessing God will require something from you, often the very blessing He has given you. This is where most people loose the plot, confusion sets in and pride has an opportunity to mess with your head. How can God ask you to give back what He promised to Give you.

The answer is actually very simple, "Because God wants to give you more".
Greater Blessing, Greater Anointing, Greater Gifts,
It is a test to see if you love Him because of Who He is or What He does.

We must be willing to loose it all if we are ever going to be able to handle the massive blessing God wants us to be able to deal with. When we let go of things we hold dearest to us God pours out great blessing in those very areas. When we hold tightly and with hold from God we cheat ourselves out of Gods blessing over our lives.

Abraham was willing to sacrifice the thing that was dearest to him and that which was the absolute promise of God over his life, His only Son Isaac. Because he didn't with hold anything back, God blessed him even more then he could ever contain.

Let go of your stress and worry, trust God with your life. He is a big God and He can handle anything you need!
Have a great week!