Notes on message of love/Colossians 3:14

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

In Ephesians chapter 6 we are taught to put on God’s Holy armor daily. Here we are taught to put on love. To be clothed in love is to be covered in love. Since there is no one who is with out sin, and love covers a multitude of sins, this instruction is one we should all follow. This love we are clothed in is His Love, and since He is Love we are clothed in Him. The world then sees Him when we allow ourselves to be covered with His Love. This clothing is not made by the hands of man but a gift from God. His Love, His Glory, and His Grace to list a few of the attributes of The True Living God, who is Love. So just as you get dressed in His armor put on your clothes, put on His Love.

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This is the Love that unites the body and works together for our good. Working together for the purpose of serving Christ and spreading the Gospel of Jesus the Son of God, our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer. The One who laid down His life to save us from our sins. Paying the price to redeem us from death. His blood cleansing us from our sins and iniquities. Making us one with Him.

Notes message of love/January 11, 2021

The lyrics ‘You don’t know what it’s like, to love somebody, the way I love you’, keep running through my head. It is like God is singing to me, telling me that He loves me and at the same time letting me know I do not understand the depth of His love.

I have always enjoyed how God has spoken to me over the years the closer I have come to knowing God. The closer I become to Him, the more I hear and see Him.(My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow Me. John 10:27)

As I have been focusing my studies on the scriptures about His love, the clearer His voice has become to me. It is not a new to me that no one can put God in a box. He is bigger and greater than we can imagine. Religion and traditions try to put Him into a box, but He is not found only in a building on Sunday morning, or by keeping religious traditions. All this has done is build walls that have separated us from knowing His love and who He truly is. I often think about the conversation between God and Moses, when God told Moses to go back to Egypt and lead God’s people to freedom.(Exodus chpt. 3)Moses asks God who he should say sent him, and God tells Moses to say ‘I Am That I Am has sent me to you’. Simple and straight to the point, ‘I Am’ is the One sending Moses to lead His people to freedom. The problem Moses faced was not with God but with the fact that the people including Pharaoh did not know God.

Unfortunately this is still a problem today. Even I do not know God the way I should. People may know His name, go to church and even serve without truly knowing Him. He speaks through His prophets, ministers, teachers, disciples, and Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Yet many do not listen. They have heard His Word spoken and read the scriptures, but like seeds on rocky ground the seeds of His Word did not get the chance to take root in their hearts, or like seeds that did get planted and did begin to grow were choked out by the weeds of this world. So either the seed does not get a chance to grow or it dies because the world and all of its’ problems smother it and it dies. Either way the seed does not grow and produce fruit.(Matt.13:20-22)

God has never stopped loving us. He still speaks to us today, and is waiting for us to listen to Him. His arms reaching out to us, wanting to embrace us. He longs for us to choose Him over the world, and to become one with Him. He wants you to know Him and to know His love, He is an open book waiting for you, inviting you to come in. Once you begin to know Him you will know His voice and hear Him speaking to you. It is time now for us to want to know Him on a personal life changing level. To want Him more than anything else in our lives. To let His love grow and flow through us. Then when people see us they see Him. Then His love can reach others through us.

Message on love / thoughts Jan. 3, 2021

The more time I spend in scripture and prayer regarding this message, the more I feel like without knowing God we can not truly know love. At the same time you cannot put God into a box. He is eternal and greater than anything that we can imagine. So how do I put Him into a message that might last an hour, or maybe a series of messages? I can’t do that because I cannot contain God in a box or on a piece of paper. What can I do is to share God and who He is to me. How His love has transformed me and gotten me through the darkest moments of my life and how He can do the same for you.

Notes on message of love/ just a thought Dec 29, 2020

For the last few weeks I have been sharing my notes on preparing a message on love, that I have been working on helping a minister back in California. Sitting here today I have had many thoughts. First, here I am working with a person I had never met but God has brought us together to work on this project together. Which on its own shows how God’s love brings us together. Uniting strangers. The second is that it shows how there is no distance God’s love can’t reach. This reminds of how God’s love covers a multitude of sins. Preparing this message is also a reminder of the greatness of His love and how it is something that cannot be measured, and how His love overflows because there is nothing that can contain it. It is amazing, overwhelming and cannot be put into any container because it is bigger than all of us put together. At the same thing that joins us together. He is so wonderful and all consuming. His love is never ending. Isn’t that the greatest news you could hear? God bless you and your loved ones, with His love, peace and joy.

Notes on message of love/Dec. 26, 2020

Continuing to work on the message of love and still welcoming any insights and even corrections. God bless you all.

The subject of love has so many parts, that it can be seen as a body. You read in the Bible how the church is called a body with many parts.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27 NLV (One Body with Many Parts) ¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. ¹³ Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.^{] 14} Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? ¹⁸ But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. ¹⁹ How strange a body would be if it had only one part! ²⁰ Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. ²¹ The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” ²² In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. ²³ And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, ²⁴ while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. ²⁵ This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. ²⁷ All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

God being Love. can be seen as having three parts.

• 1 John 4:8 – But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
• 1 John 4:16 – We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.  

1. God, the Heavenly Father, Creator of heaven earth and man. The great I Am.
2. Jesus, Son of God. The Word made flesh. Our Savior and Redeemer.
   1 John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
3. Holy Spirit, The Spirit of God. Our Helper and Comforter. Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

Three that are one. Read 1 Corinthians 12 again and see how we are to be one body. One body has many different parts. Dissect a body and you can see how many parts there are and how they are connected. In a healthy body all the parts are performing their purpose and working together with the other parts. If one part of the body becomes weak, sick or quits, it effects the whole body. The body becomes sick and if left untreated it could die. Each part relies on another part to function and work together. Unified as one.

A problem with love in the world today is that each part is operating separately. Neglecting the needs of the other parts the individual part is only concerned about its’ own needs and desires. That part is selfish and does not care if their actions hurt anyone else. If you read 1 Corinthians 13 you will see that being selfish or demanding is not love. God’s desires for us to become one united in Love. Working together. Understanding each part is equal to the other and no part is greater. One body with one heart, and He is the head.Each part of the body working together, supporting each other in life and love.

1 Corinthians 13 :4-5 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Notes on message of love / Dec. 25, 2020 love songs

I have had this thought for the last couple of days. Not only can you find verses on lve through out the Bible. Think about the number of songs about love.
Here are a few songs that have popped into my mind since I have started working on ‘The Message of Love’.
1 Haddaway – What Is Love

2 Foreigner – I Want To Know What Love Is

3 Tina Turner -What’s Love Got to Do with It

4 Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up

5 Bonnie Raitt – I Can’t Make You Love Me

There are literally more songs and scriptures on the subject of love than I can count. I would normally focus on scripture but I believe these songs have been popping into my head for a reason. The first listed makes me think about the question what is love? Number 2 is the desire to want to know what love is, the 3rd what does love have to do with the physical and worldly things. The 4th song even though the singer is singing from a romantic feeling, I hear more than the singer and the song. I hear God telling us that He is never going to give up on us. The 5th song listed here I hear God speaking again even in a secular song, telling us that He cannot force us to love Him and the difference between love in the world and His love. None of these songs are about faith or God, but somehow God can use anything to speak to us. I see God all around me, even in the darkness of this world. His love can reach us and shine His light upon us. God has given to each of us free will. He doesn’t want robots or puppets for His amusement. He wants a living, and loving relationship with us. A relationship that grows and produces life. A love we do not yet know or understand. To know true love we need to do more than learn the definition of lave, but get to know the Author of Love.
Back to the songs listed here. The lyrics show us how many see love and I see both the contrast to God’s love and how the world has limited it to a physical and sexual nature. Then in some of the words I can hear how God is longing for us to love Him more than the things and people of this world. think about the first two commandments. One God, no other. Then no idols, things of this world coming between Him and us. An all consuming love with our undivided attention being given to Him. Not because we have to, or that we are ordered to do so. To love Him out of our own desire. To chose to love Him above all else.
Today being Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Yet Jesus existed long before His birth into this world. He was in the beginning and He will always be. God has loved us from the beginning and His love is eternal, because He is eternal.
This thought has added to the list of love songs but for now I want to not focus on the songs but On God Himself, the True Living and Loving God.

Here is a song to end this post

Whitney Houston: Jesus Loves Me

Notes on message on love/personal thoughts about the holidays

I have been making notes on preparation for a message on love and how God’s love transforms our heart. Tonight I am not focused on the message but on the holidays. Thanksgiving was just a month ago and in two days we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ on a day we call Christmas. Memories of the holidays of my youth I can remember that they were much different than how they spent in the recent years. Stores closed early and families spent time together celebrating and enjoying family. The food, the smiles, and even playing football together. We took time to do the little things and there was love. Now I see selfish greed. There is so much hatred in the world today, the concept of peace seems unattainable. Shouts of ‘No justice, no peace’. Violence on top of an epidemic. The world is falling apart and is on a self destructive path and no one seems to realize they are a part of it. All we do is demand our own rights while stampeding over others. No life seems to be safe. Love and peace feel like a distant dream. So why even bother with Christmas. With everything going on in the world today it is not the presents and shopping that should matter. We should be thinking about the best gift we were all given, and that is the Son of God, our Savior, Jesus came to this fallen world to save each and every one of us. Loving us and forgiving us, by showing great mercy. Teaching us what love truly is, for He is love. It is not the trees, the decorations and lights, or the presents we buy, but the love none of us could buy or work for. A love given freely. A gift we just need to receive and give thanks. It is a time to remember this.

I pray that you all are blessed as you celebrate this Christmas, and that your hearts overflow with love, peace and joy. May the year to come give you hope and peace. God protect and prosper you in the fruits of His Spirit. Amen.

Notes on message on love/personal thought on love

What is love? When love is mentioned we think about the emotion we call love. Emotions however are unstable, they can be tossed around like a small boat in the ocean. Ups and downs, they come and go. If you say a person is emotional you may also be calling them unstable. So again I ask, what is love? Christian rap group DC Talk have a song titled love is a verb.

If we look at love as only a verb then we say it is an action. Something that is performed. Is that all love is?
No! Love is so much more, it is not just a fleeting emotion, or an action. So again I pose the question what is love?
Love is alive, and is a being greater than any person on earth. God is Love, His Spirit is Love, His Son Jesus is Love. Everything God has done has been out of love.
What else can we say love is?
What do you say love is?

Notes on message on love Dec.21,2020

When we seek Him, we will find Him. How and why? Because He is always there. He never leaves or forsakes us. He is patient and kind, waiting for us to turn to Him. He pursues us and will leave the ninety-nine to come after us, because each and everyone of us is so special to Him He loves us all equally. Jesus you could say left the ninety-nine for us when He left Heaven with His Father and all of His glory to come down to earth as a baby. This baby would grow into a man, who would suffer and die to pay the debt of our sins, so that we could be saved. He redeemed us from death by giving up His life, not because we were living good and righteous law abiding lives, because we have not. We are sinners, who have lived according to our own ways. This did not keep Him from loving us and it is His love, His life that he gave to us on the cross. No greater love is there than for a man to lay down his life for another. God could have destroyed us all. Given up on us and started over. Yet He loves us and sacrificed His own Son, that all we have to do is believe and receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and were are saved. With the life and blood of Jesus we are redeemed and can now be called His sons and daughters. This is the love of the One True God, our Heavenly Father. A God of mercy and love, forgiving us and never forsaking us.

Notes on message on love Dec. 20, 2020

The work continues. With so much scripture on love and transforming our hearts from stone to flesh, I am wondering how I will ever get to preparing this message. These notes lead me to more and then I am going back to old lessons and posts. Keeping on subject is difficult as well since love touches all other areas of our lives. Yet the one thing that is staying constant that it is God and His love that matters. That without out Him there is no love. So here are my notes for today.

Psalm 51-:9-11 Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.11Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.…
Psalm 73:1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.
1 Peter 1:22 Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.
Proverbs 17:9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.
1 Peter 4:7-9 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray. 8Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9Show hospitality to one another without complaining.…
A new heart, a clean heart, a pure heart, are all hearts free from sin. Sin is what separated us from God, but it did not stop Him from loving us. Even though we have sinned and rebelled against Him and disobeyed Him, He made a way for us to not only be cleansed but to become new. Love takes us back to Him, the Author of love, because He is love. There is nothing that we can do on our own powers, abilities,or actions that can cleanse us from our sins. It is only through the Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son and our Redeemer, are our sins paid for and we are given a new life, a new heart. So we can receive a heart transplant and a blood transfusion. It is not our outer appearance that matters, anyone can put on a costume and pretend to be something they are not. It is the changes on the inside of us that we can not do on our own that changes who we are. It is God who will make these changes in us if we surrender to Him and submit our entire life over to Him. Then His Love and His Word can guide and teach us how we are now to live and to love even while we live here in a fallen world.