Message for March 8, 2020 from Pastor Jerry

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:9-10

     In Christian teaching today a great amount of teaching leaves us with a doctrine that tells us that God will bless us if we do enough “things” for Him.  But, what did we do that made God love us enough to send His Son to die for us that we could be saved? We become sin conscious and then focus on what we do and don’t do as the basis for God’s love for us; when we should focus on what He has done for us.

     Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him.  Every time Peter said yes. We will look at the situation in the sermon this morning for what the meaning is.  Love is an English word that carries a lot of different meanings as it is used in our vocabulary today.. Truthfully, we have cheapened the meaning of the word in our over use of it.  Let us open our eyes and perceive how we can restore the higher meaning of the word love.

     The Greek language used to write the New Testament has four or more words for love thus distinguishing the exact meaning when love is being used in a sentence.  We need to be able to use the word love in its proper setting. Remember, the greatest of these is love.