Love is patient, Love is kind
Through Jesus Christ, love you will find.
Love does not envy, It is not puffed up
Seek Him with your heart, He will fill your cup.
Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own
Be kind to others, for this God has shown.
Love bears, believes, hopes and endures all things,
Give love to all and blessings God brings.
Love Never Fails.
Good morning everyone. Its good to share with you once again. Given the current situation of our world, the conflict in our own country we need to love one another.
In the Gospel of John Jesus said, “love one another”. It’s a simple command, but a command that is truly needed this day
Let us sing: The power of your love.
Right at the very beginning of this song it says, let my heart be changed, renewed. Our world needs a changed and renewed heart. And we get that change, though Jesus. Let us sing
Scripture Reading: John 13:31-35
At the last supper Jesus had just told Judas, “what you are about to do, do it quickly”. And so we pick it up at verses 31.
31When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 33"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Amen.
As we journey into our time of prayer. Let God’s love Overwhelm us.
Let us sing Overwhelmed by Love
Let us pray.
Dear God, we know that you are with us all. We believe that it’s not by might, nor by power, but by your Spirit, that you make a difference in our world. Some days we feel so broken and lost. We are hurting, we’re struggling, and we’re aware, more than ever, of our own weaknesses, and of the dark forces that constantly surround us, fighting to gain ground in our lives and families. Father God, we ask that you fill us with your Spirit of love and unity among us all. Across our nation and the world. We ask for your help to set aside our differences and look to the greater cause, the cause of Christ. We ask that you help us to truly live a life of love. We know that this is only possible through the power of your Spirit, so we pray for your Spirit to move across our community, neighbourhood, town, nation and world, in fresh ways. Turn your people back to you. Draw others to come to know you.
We pray that the voices for discernment and peaceful solutions may prosper. Lord, we ask that you raise up peacemakers on all sides, that war and violence will cease. We ask for the church in the nations involved, may they be salt and light in a dark situation. Lord we lift this situation to you. May your kingdom come,
Amen.
Please share with me in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
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As we listen to Kettering Citadel band play the wonderful tune of Repton:
Let us either sing with them or just listen and meditate upon the words.
Dear Lord and Father of mankind forgive our foolish way.
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Here is a short Poem on Love. Author unknown.
Love can always conquer whatever discord brings and love can also cover
a multitude of things. Don’t you underestimate what love can ever do,
for love is God eternal and His love can renew. What is cold and lifeless,
now lost all hope and died, for love can breathe new meaning and give it back new life.
Please don’t give up on love when it seems that all is lost, for there is always hope
if we’re prepared to pay the cost. For love is always worth it no matter how much the price, for love will be much stronger when we trust in Jesus Christ. So let God have full reign, let Him live within your heart then you will know true love, for this He will impart. Amen.
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Before we go to he message let us sing with heats wide open, Here Is Love.
Love One Another
I like it when scripture keeps things simple. And it does not get more simpler than when Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, love one another”. That’s it! One command! How much easier does it get?
A little girl writes in Sunday School:
Dear God, I bet its extremely hard for you to love everybody in the world. There is only four people in my family and none of us can do it.
It’s a simple commandment. And I know it’s not that easy to put into practice. But, that simple commandment, love one another, is, a particularly important commandment. And so, this morning, I want to ask three questions: Why, Who, and How? Why should we love? Who should we love? And how do we love?
Let us look at why.
I think the answer is as simple as the commandment. We should love because Jesus told us to love. Many years ago, when all my children were much younger, many times I asked them to do a few things around the house, or, to do a few things for others. Most of the time, I got, why? Why do I have to do it? And then, I would go into a long process as to why they should do it. I would say things like, it builds character. It will help you in later life. It shows others that you care. You become a true friend. Now, I will be honest with you. I got fed up with going into a long explanation as to why, they should do certain things. In the end I just said, “because I said so”. And, I must say, I got more success from, ‘because I said so.’
You see, Jesus simply told us to, ‘love one another.’ But Jesus does give us a reason
as to why we are to love one another. And I think Jesus gave us reasons to love simply because he knows that we, at times will say, “why do I have to do it? Why should I love them?”
Jesus says, ‘Love, because by loving everyone will know that you are my disciples.’ That’s why we love. Loving others reflects Christ in a world that is broken. A world full of hatred. A world full of divisions. A world full of wars. Loving others says to a hurting world, there is a better way. By the way we love others, others will see Jesus through the love that we display. When we love others, regardless of race, sex, religion, we are glorifying God. When we love each other, we are glorifying God. When we love each other we are serving God. That’s why we are commanded to love. To give glory, honour, and praise to God. For God is love, (1 John 4:8) That’s why we love.
Now let us ask the question, who. Who are we to love?
For me, this is the simplest of them all. When Jesus gave this command to love everyone, Israel and its people were divided in one way or another. The Jews were divided. The Pharisees, Sadducees. The Herodians. The Zealots. They were all divided. They were fighting over all kinds of issues. None of them loved any of the foreigners that came in the land. They hated the Romans They despised their neighbours to the north, the Samarians. Sounds like today, doesn’t it. You see racism is not a new thing. It’s been going on for centuries. That’s one of the reasons why Jesus came. He came to save us from ourselves. He came to show us how to love. To love how God loves. He came to heal the wounded. The broken-hearted. He came to restore the marginalised. He came so that we could live in peace. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians Ch 3 this; There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. We are all made in the image of God. We are to love everyone. No hatred. No discord. No racism.
When Jesus gave the command to love, He was referring to every section of society. Jesus gave that command 2000 years ago. And that command is as relevant now as it was then. ‘Love everyone!’ We are commanded to love all people. As you know, a motto of the Salvation Army says, “we have no enemies”. We are to love all people. I know that there are some people we don’t get on with; we love them anyway. Those who hurt us; we love them anyway. Those who betray us; we love them anyway. Wow, that’s hard to do isn't it? So, the final question must be, how do we do that? How do we love? How do we keep such a simple commandment as “love one another?”
I know that there are people we do not get along with. I know that there are people who do things we don’t like or say things we don’t like. But we don’t have to like someone, to show them God’s love. But we must show God’s love. Love is not necessarily a feeling or an emotion. But love is action. One of the best definitions I can give on how to love is this.
Work towards the benefit of others.
If your not careful love can become just a word. I loved that cup of coffee. I loved that day out. Love can become just a word. Mother Theresa said this. “love to be real, must cost. It must hurt”. You see, love is action. It’s doing something for the benefit of others. That’s what we saw at Calvary. At Calvary Jesus was showing us a costly love, so we could benefit from it. God had been telling His creation for thousands of years that He loves them. But, at the right time, at the right place, God demonstrated that love. And it took the shape of a Cross. We work towards the benefit of others.
I find this to be a convicting and uncomfortable truth: How we love others, reveals how we love God. The apostle John puts it bluntly: “He who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen (1 John 4:20). Our love for each other is an indicator of the place God is holding in our hearts. Work towards the benefit of others
God is very good at designing things this way: what I mean by that is this, our faith is revealed by our works (James 2:18), our creeds are revealed by our deeds (Luke 6:46), and our love for him is revealed by our love for others (1 John 4:20). He makes it very hard for us to fake love for others. So perhaps the best thing we can do today is take an honest, lingering look at the way we love others, and allow what we see to have an effect on us, and ask God what he would have us do in response. Amen
As we come to the close of our worship this morning. Let us turn to the Staff songster as they sing a George Matheson Song, O Love. Its number 616 in the salvation Army song book.
As we listen, pray for our world. Pray that God will intervene. Pray that love will abide throughout every nation.
O love that will not let me go; I rest my weary soul in thee.
You can follow the words in the Salvation Army song book No 616.
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.
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