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| Amazing love -- If you believe it show it! |
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10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Amazing love. How can it be? Jesus laid down his life for me!
Oh that that truth could dawn on all of mankind. The Good Shepherd has given His life for each one of us.
Perhaps that concept is too familiar to many of us. We've heard it since we were babies. We agree with it. We believe it. However, it doesn't move us to the depths of our being.
Jesus died for me. Those words should move us more than we were moved when we heard about 9-11. They should shake us up and yank us out of our comfort zone.
We are not just people. We are beloved of God! Shout it from the housetops. Cry out in the streets. Dance and rejoice. Shed tears of joy and tears of repentance. Respond to God's love by obeying Jesus in your daily life.
Fact is, this truth doesn't even go very deep for most of us believers. We talk about the Gospel so casually, as if we were talking about the weather. We show no emotion. No passion. However, if we win $20.00 we get excited. If the team we like wins the big game, we dance in the stands. If we get a surprise day off from work we excitedly tell all our friends. However when/if we talk about God's love we do it without emotion.
Even preachers are frequently bland about God. When was the last time you heard a preacher speak with passion? How often have you seen a preacher moved to tears? They speak profound truths as though they were talking about boring ancient history.
I think the greatest sin of preachers may be boring people with the most amazing truth in the world: God loves us. But so many sermons about this truth have made me sleepy. Shame. This should not be. Release the passion for God.
Catherine Booth used to say that we have tried everything preaching the Gospel and now it is time to try the fire. Amen to that. If we love God we should notify our face, or emotions, or passion and let the fire burn brightly with all the excitement a human can express.
Refusing to let our emotions respond to God's love for us is one way that we humans make happiness impossible. Here are some more ways to make happiness impossible: http://www.examiner.com/x-19568-Nashville-Evangelical-Examiner~y2009m9d6-How-to-make-happiness-impossible |
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| To add a comment to "Amazing love -- If you believe it show it!" |
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| September 06, 2009 |
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| God, You love us all so much. Forgive us that we so often hold that truth in our mind, but refuse to allow it to penetrate and move our heart. |
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| September 06, 2009 |
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Being happy is something we should strive for. My Pastor preaches with Passion. I am so happy about that. And I have seen him cry many times.
We just had a Outreach in the park last week. I was so happy to be apart of it.
God came and ministered to those who needed His love. He died for me and that makes me very happy!! Comfort zones hmm............
Lord bring me out of my comfort zone. That when I speak of your love
and the joy you bring me, will flow like the living water you are. Amen!
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| September 06, 2009 |
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Gods Love is Amazing Brother Steve...You know reading this blog I had to laugh because one of my favorite lines I used to say to people was....If you're happy and you know it....TELL YOUR FACE (LOL).....As Christians, we ought to be excited about this God that we serve....I don't know about nobody else...But I AM.....Bless His Holy Name ;o) |
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| September 06, 2009 |
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God is love, is far too simple a statement. His love for us goes far beyond human expression. I believe that God's love is so pure that we would simply die if we were to behold it full on. It is bound up with His divine Holiness and manifested in His Glory.Moses had to cover his face up to survive a close encounter with the living God (Ex 34:29-34) Only when we have fully become like Jesus then we can take all the love that He wants to give us, that's why we must cling to Him. John 14:6-7 (New International Version) 6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know[a] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." |
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| September 06, 2009 |
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Steve, it's true that emotions should reflect on our face. There is a saying, "Face is the index of the mind". But what we see today, people put false masks and they dont show emotions. Money has become importarnt.
Steve, Iam very blessed that JESUS died for me and all and rose from dead. If everyone follows god's word through JESUS everyone will be blessed.
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| September 06, 2009 |
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| September 06, 2009 |
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I'm feeling all of God's Love and that gives me Great Joy.
I Love what you said MJ.....
If you're happy and you know it, tell your face :) |
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| September 06, 2009 |
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| Brother Steve, I'm all for getting excited about knowing Jesus. I like to shout to the Lord with a voice of praise. There's a down side to emotions, some folks have to feel something, instead of taking God at his word in faith. I've had the goose bumps and I've felt like God was a million miles away, when in fact He sticketh closer than a brother. |
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| September 06, 2009 |
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| Thanks for reading, comments and stars. |
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| September 06, 2009 |
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Emotion! If only it were a singular word or experience, life would be so simple and we would hardly need faith at all if we always experienced now the joy we hope for. Lk 12:47-53.for a reality check. Emotion is far easier to fake than faith when there is no pain. Faith without works of reconciliation, even when the emotions are stretched, is quite dead. The first step towards reconciliation is recognising the truth that could set us all free. The truth is we are all sinners redeemed in the blood of the cross, that we are called to take up and carry daily if we are to follow Jesus into paradise. The carrying of the cross was not an outwardly joyful emotion for Jesus or Paul that could always be seen on their faces. Indeed, the faces of both of them were hardly recognisable at times, as they continue to be today, in ourselves and others, in the varied circumstances of life on pilgrimage.Gal 2:20, 5:24-26,6:17-18. Alex |
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