Hi All,
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I want to add some to what Rev. Laura preached on today. She told of the significance of 40 days. I pointed out to her that she doesn't even realize that from the time she started asking me to come to Georgia and I was making every excuse in the book as why I couldn't at this time to when she had enough LOVE to manipulate the situation to where I could, (I fully BELIEVE it was God's will) it was just about 40 days to the day that I left to come here. And what did I find! So much love in a weeks time that it (besides FAMILY) surpasses what I have ever known. So I want to tell a little of what has happened and then the significance of Love!
I have had one of the most wonderful friends a person could ever hope to find in a lifetime. That is Rev. Lisa. She has meant so much to me over the years and has helped me to grow far beyond what I had ever hoped Spiritually. She was there through most of my darkest times. I had begin to wonder if I would ever get to meet her face to face with my health. We both just agreed that if it was God's will the day would come and if not we would meet at the gates of Heaven.
Since I was being hard headed about coming out to better my situation Rev. Laura just kinda took things in her own hands (Lead by God) to manipulate the situation along. She asked me to send Mike's Resume to her and let her vamp it up so maybe he could find a better job. She did a great job with it. BUT….She also sent it to her Husband at his job and he pulled it up with his Boss standing right there and his boss wanted to know where is this man at? Well the very same afternoon the Boss calls Mike and asks him about the machines he had worked and then asked him how fast he could get to ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Georgia. This made me think maybe I should rethink this. I prayed about it for a couple of days and it seemed God was telling me I have handed this to you and a much better chance at life if you will only reach out and accept it. So I said OK LORD I am going to go take a chance on a loan Company that had turned me down not long ago and if they approve me for enough to go then I will know it's your will. In an hour I was approved for MORE than I expected to receive. So I figured I had Gods answer. I met Mike at work and said do you want to take the rest of the day off and us get packed and leave for Georgia? He said yea let's do it. So that is what we done.
We had an Awesome trip with no problems. Before we left everything just fell right into place. We both saw places we had wanted to see on the way here. The first thing we did when we got to Georgia since she lives on the West side of the state is go VISIT REV. LISA! YES DREAM COME TRUE! I found just as much LOVE as I knew I would find there. We BOTH had been concerned about our mates because both of them are very quiet men! They hit it off as well as Lisa and I did and talked up a storm. Chris Lisa's son who Loves NOTHING more than he loves the Lord is usually shy and he was just as out going and excited to finally see me as Lisa & I were. In fact Mike and I stayed an extra day just to spend a little more time with them. It was 2 days of pure LOVE & pleasure.
I was a little more apprehensive about knowing I was going to have to stay & live with Rev. Laura and her family even though I had never had anything but an out pouring of unconditional LOVE from her either. And Rev. Lisa calmed my fears as I was leaving by saying you will feel just as much at home there as you do here because I guarantee you she loves YOU just as much as YOU love ME! So I felt much better about it then. And sure enough Rev. Lisa was right. I was greeted with so much LOVE that I finally felt my life was complete. So I am going to add what LOVE means to this sermon.
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." (John 13:35 NLT)
We prove our faith in Christ, not by the rules we keep, but by the love we give.
Notice Jesus didn't say, "Love me," as proof of our discipleship. He said, "Love one another, and that will show the world you belong to me. One of the best things we can do to reach our community for Christ is to love each other that is, to love other believers.
Until the world sees the love of God modeled in Christian community, they're going to have trouble believing it can ever exist. When we truly care for one another, we show the world a love so tangible and contagious that they can't help but be attracted to it.
I have a good example to make here. Rev. Laura's husband I know was also a little concerned about another Minister moving into the house because he had never really talked to me or anything. All he knew of me was what Rev. Laura had told him. But it wasn't long into this that he saw I may be a Minister but am in fact a HUMAN and I have a sense of HUMOR & lot's of LOVE just as they do. He learned real quick he didn't have to change anything about his lifestyle to feel comfortable around me. That has just drove home the fact for him that even Ministers have a life outside of Ministry. I also feels this has increased his faith some.
As the world watches, they'll see us being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, intent on one purpose; not merely looking out for our own personal interests, but also for each other's interests (Philippians 2:3-4). The world is desperate for love and a sense of community, and we're meant to be the salt (Matthew 5:13) that increases their thirst for the living water. (John 4:10) Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. (John 7:38 NIV)
This has been drove home for me just by the LOVE Rev. Lisa & Rev. Laura and their families have extended to me. Because as I touched on earlier even in my home town with my own Families I was lacking something. After finally accepting what God was handing to me through the LOVE & desire to help of Rev. Laura and her Family my life is more than I dreamed it could be impacted in one short week. Rev. Laura wasn't out for how this could help her because other than to meet me in person she had little to gain from this besides my LOVE which she knew she already had from afar. However she followed what the Lord lead her to do out of LOVE and renewed not only some of my faith in my fellow Christian people which I don't think she even realized I needed but enriched all our lives just by lending a LOVING hand!
Our love for one another shows the world our unity with the Father and also shows them that community requires unity, a oneness about the purposes of life. Jesus said, I want all [my disciples] to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me. (John 17:21 CEV)
This means the influence of our congregations is not about attendance, or buildings, or programs. Our influence within the greater community is based upon our love for one another.
Isn't it alarming, then, to think that we're often known for what we are against, rather than what we' re for and we are for the Good News of a love so wide and long and high and deep that it encompasses more than any of us could ever imagine. (Ephesians 3:18 NIV)
Our community of unity should reflect the faith we have in the love of Jesus Christ. Our congregations are meant to be points of love and light in the darkness of our communities. We're to let our light shine so that others will see the good and praise our Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
People are less impressed with our words than they are with our actions of love for one another. Your love for other believers speaks about God's love. How loud is your voice?
Rev. Laura let me see how loud her voice is through the LOVE she sent my way! This is my little way of THANKING HER for that! And to show all of you just how much it does do when we show our Love to one another. Remember the old saying you catch more flies with Honey than Vinegar! The same holds true for leading others to the Lord through LOVE! If we love one another enough they can not doubt how much we love the Lord and the Lord loves us! Therefore we are living testaments to the bible and that the word is there in fact TRUTH!
So what?
· You witness to others when you love believers Jesus gave the world the right to judge the authenticity of our faith by how much we love one another that is, how we love other Christians. Yet some of the greatest conflicts we will experience are with other believers. Ask God what fences you need to mend. The whole world is watching how we love one another.
· What are you saying about God? We make a statement about God by the way we love one another. It may be a positive statement or it may be a negative one, but the fact is people often form their opinions of God by how they see us individually. There's truth in the old saying, You may be the only picture of Jesus people will ever see. People also may base their opinion of God on the reputation of our congregations how we get along, how we support each other, how we criticize others.
· Is your love tangible? Our love for one another offers a tangible, and contagious, reflection of God's love, allowing the world to witness the power of transformed lives. How loud do your actions speak about the love of God? How loud is the voice of our small group?