Sunday Service July 17, 2022: “Love Is…”

Love Is…

Patient

Kind

Is Not Envious

Nor Jealous

Does not Boast

Is not Vain

Is not Haughty

Nor Conceited

Is not Rude

It Does not insist on its own rights

It is not Selfish

It is not Touchy

It is not Fretful

It is not Resentful

It tries to Forgive and Forget

It Stands against Injustice and Unrighteousness

Love Rejoices when Right and Truth are Recognised and Promoted

It bears up when Temptations, Tests and Trials come,

Love tries to believe the best of every person

Love remains hopeful and is fadeless under all circumstances.

Love endures every challenge.

Love never Fails

Faith, Hope and Love will endure

But the greatest of these is love.”

This is Love. This is the Nature and the Character of God.

The Children of Israel, by the time Jesus arrived on this earth, had constructed a mythology and a theology, through traditions of men and the construction of tenets and observances that had twisted the true image of God, of YHWH, far from the true image of the one who had created the very universe itself.

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

 Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV

Jesus made the message very clear to Nicodemus, the elder member of the Sanhedrin, who came to see him under the cover of darkness:

“For God so Loved the World that he Gave his only begotten Son so that anyone who whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”           

John 3:16 KJV

Sadly, the following verse is not so well known:

 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

John 3:17 KJV

It is in John 3:17 that the clarification of verse 16 is given. Jesus’ response to the Scribes and Pharisees who continually tried to test and catch him out. Luke 4:18 – 19 outlines the true nature of the Gospel, the Good News of Christ’s purpose:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”          

Luke 4:18 – 19 KJV

It is in this that we get the revelation of the true Nature of God Himself, and we are introduced to just how badly the religious leaders, with their religiosity and traditions, had Constructed, a god in their own image and temperament. In so doing they were misrepresenting the creator of the universe, maligning his character

God is Constant, Eternal, and unchangeable.
God is Love Personified.