God’s Love in Us.

“Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.” Colossians 1:8

Love is one of the most important attributes Christians receives from God. Every believer in Jesus Christ receives spiritual gifts from God, spiritual gifts are gifts given by the Holy Spirit after salvation. Paul wrote about these spiritual gifts, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22 – 23 The reason there is “against such there is no law” is because any attribute God gives no law can condemn it. These attributes are not of nature or man's free will, they are of God, given by the Holy Spirit after the Holy Spirit quickens our dead spirits and causes us to believe in Jesus Christ. The first of these gracious gifts is “love” because love is the beginnings of all things. God must have had love before election because mercy and grace are both an act of God’s eternal love, without love there is none. John wrote, “We love him, because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 God must have loved us first because His love, mercy, and grace all existed before the foundation of the world. God had already elected us as His children and given us to Jesus His Son, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,” Ephesians 2:4 God is merciful to us because of His great love to us, not because of our love for Him, not because we chose Him, but because He loved us and by mercy and grace elected us as His own. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10 Meaning, in this great gift is the highest expression of love, even though we hated God, He loved us and sent His Own Son to redeem us from the sin and hate in our hearts toward Him. Stop, and meditate on that for a moment! Now read this, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; (15) Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;” Ephesians 2:14 – 15 Jesus Christ brought together sinful men and the Holy God by breaking, “down the middle wall of partition between us;” That is us folks, sinful, hateful lost souls, and the Holiest of Holy, what an amazing love God has for us. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:9

When Paul wrote “…declared unto us your love in the Spirit.” God was telling us about His love being gifted to us by the Holy Spirit. Now that we have a living spirit (because of our salvation) God has given us all a measure of His love just as He has given us all a measure of everything spiritual. God gave us a measure of faith, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Romans 12:3 By measure God means - limited portion – as God has given to every soul that He has saved, everything to every believer is a gift from God. Some say that “God has given to us all the same amount of grace, and what we do with that grace is up to us” but this is not true. Paul wrote these words, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Ephesians 4:7 Again the word “measure” means limited portion, or as God has elected for us to have it. As Christians we can never go beyond the limits or bounds that God has set for us. “Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;” Job 14:5 Every Believer has limits of our spiritual gifts, therefore Paul said “But by the grace of God I am what I am:” 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul went as far as God gave him his measure of grace, and Paul recognized this toward the end of his ministry. But Paul fought hard, he stretched his measure of grace to its limits because God was so gracious to him, “…and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” As Christians we need to stretch God’s gifts as far as we can, so that we can also say “…his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain;”. Paul was writing to this church in Colosse, he was speaking highly of their love in the spirit, because their spirits were full of love. How is your love believer, when other believers see your love do they recognize how loving you are? Pastors, how is your love, are we remembering to preach as God commanded? “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” Ephesians 4:15 We (as Pastors, ministers, and teachers) must remember we are feeding God’s sheep; God will be our Judge. Church member, how is your love toward your Pastor? Are you loving and caring for your Pastor, are you loving and caring for each other? Do people see your loving spirit that God has given to us all? Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. (35) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  John 13:34 Folks, Life is short on this earth, one day we will all stand before Jesus Christ in our judgment, while our sins are forgiven, our love for one another will be one of our points of judgment. How will you be judged, do other believers see you as a loving soul? A good believer will be like Paul, “…but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” How is your labor in love, are you stretching it to it’s limits?    

Christians and Churches Must Stand Pure.

2 Corinthians 4:1 - 2 “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; (2) But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.”

As our world remains to get worse and worse, as the deceivers continue to deceive even the deceivers, churches and Christians must standfast in the truth. God has put the gospel and the Truth of His Word in our hands to hand down to the next generation, we cannot fail in our trusted job of keeping it pure. God said in Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” The word “buy” means - to erect, that is, create and by implication to own it – You cannot rightly worship God if your worship is not in Truth, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 The word of God is without question Truth, just as God is Truth, just as Jesus is Truth, God’s word is also Truth. Paul here is talking about since God has been merciful and gracious to us, we must not faint when it comes to the Truth of His Word. We as Ministers and Churches must look at what God has called us to, a glorious ministry that brings people life, salvation, and righteousness; a ministry that is able to totally change people’s lives. The one single true gospel saves sinners, only the true gospel has that power because the Holy Spirit uses that true gospel in salvation. God said, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” 1 Corinthians 1:21 That is the preaching of the true gospel, no other version will God use to save sinners, because there is only one. Many false teachers today claim to base their gospel message on the Word of God, but false teachers handle God’s Word in deceptive ways. They lie about God’s true Gospel as it is found in 1 Corinthians 15:3 & 4 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” anything else is deception. The deceivers and false teachers handle God’s Word in misleading ways. You can prove anything by the Bible, by twisting of the scriptures out of context and rejecting the Truth of the Word. The Bible is a book of God’s literal words, while it has been interpreted into English and many other languages, while there were additions in italic, it is still pure and cannot be changed. The deceivers of that day and of our day were/are guilty of twisting the Scriptures to fit their own preconceived interpretations, which is false. So, we ask, how is it that people will believe the lie of deceivers over the truth of God’s proclaimers? Why are the false teachers so successful in winning people’s hearts? It is because the mind of the lost sinner is blinded by Satan, and fallen man finds it easier to believe lies than to believe truth. Lies become truth to them because they are blinded sinners and have no comprehension of biblical truth. God said, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: (4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:3 – 4 Not just the gospel, but the entire word of truth called the bible. The bible is a manifestation which means it is revealed by the Holy Spirit, people don’t understand the bible naturally, not even if their the smartest among us. If there is no living spirit in a person then they are dead, and God said, they are “spiritually discerned” 1 Corinthians 2:13 – 14 “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (14) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Which means they are - non-physically, that is, divinely – spiritual – to make sense of the truth. Therefore, it is our job as Christians and churches to keep the truth real, honest, and strong. If we fall from the truth, then who will teach the truth? When God said in Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth, and sell it not…” He told us to own the truth and never surrender it, never ever! Listen very closely to God: "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Philippians 3:7 - 11

Christians Not Walking in Love Are Sinful.

Ephesians 5:1 – 2 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”

God tells Christians to “Be ye therefore followers of God…” The word “followers” means imitator, the word “imitators” means a person who copies the behavior or actions of another. In our natural life we as male children often imitate our dads in life. We look to them for meaningfulness in life, dad mows the lawn we mowed with our plastic mowers behind him, dad worked on the car and so we wanted to work on it also. Most male children wanted grow-up to be their dad, some grew-up like their dad and some went another route. Here Paul wrote that as Christians we ought to imitate our Heavenly Father, if you are saved you are called a “Christian” which means Christ-like, or we are walking in Christ. Then the Lord said “… And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us…” This walk is not in human love, this love is the love God gave us all by the Holy Spirit, it is called “agapē” which is the love of God. God gave us love because the natural man has no true love, they only hate even if they do think they love they are full of hate. Every time God describes the natural man it’s always in hate, they all hate God. However, once saved you change, God quickens our spirit and gives us many spiritual gifts to change so that we may be more like Him. Galatians 5:22 - 23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” The reason there is no law is because they cannot be sinful, nor can they be condemned because they are of God. As Christians we are “COMMANDED” to walk in love, just as Jesus did. God does not want His children being full of hate and bitterness, He commands that we walk in His love imitating Him. If your life, your attitude, and your spirit is not full of love then you are failing. It is tragic when Christians attitudes show up being hateful in the family of God, or the churches of Jesus Christ. Sometimes children of God never grow-up in their spiritual life. They may have a head full of knowledge, they may be teachers or leaders, or even Pastors, but if they’re not walking as to imitate our heavenly Father in love, their failing. Look back at the last two verses of chapter 4, Ephesians 4:31 – 32 “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” If you are a Christian and your attitude resembles this, then you are NOT IMITATING OUR HEAVENLY FATHER. If you have a difference with another Christian, with your Pastor, with your church member, or even with a lost person you need to settle that grievance immediately. Peter wrote these words, “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging.” 1 Peter 4:8 – 9. Do you see the words “fervent charity”, those words mean don’t just love but put a lot of “intent” behind that love. In everything use love, let love never cease Christian’s loving one another; love is the very badge of Christianity as a child of God.