They will know we are Christians by our love.

God's love for us.

1 John 4:10 – This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 Psalm 103:8  The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

How we are to love

1 John 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart

1 John 4:12 – No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Luke 6:35  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

What love looks like in our lives

 Luke 6:32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.

1 Corinthians 13:2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 16:14 Do everything in love. 

1 Corinthians 13:3 – If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:13 – And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 John 3:14 – We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Commanded to love

John 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

2 John 1:6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love
Luke 6:27 But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you

Matthew 7:13-23/ paul washer

WOW! Watch a video sermon from Paul Washer tonight at church and I felt like he was putting words to the things I've been thinking lately! It was such an eye opener. Matthew 7:14 say "But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." I think sometimes as Christians we forget the not just the gate is narrow but the road after the gate is narrow too. We are not just called to be saved as a one time thing then go back to living like the world. But it seams like churches in  America are full of people who pray one prayer then go back to being like the world. Later in Matthew 7 verse 21 it says “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Is this us? Do we cry out to God then go back to doing what pleases ourselves? When i walk into church i want there to be a difference then when i am in the world. I asked a friend to come to church tonight and you wanna know why she said no? She was tired of people say they are Christians and acting completely different! How messed up is that? But still it happens all the time. I know many people who at church play the church game, but then they leave the building and change completely. We are not just Christians on Sundays and Wednesdays, but everyday of the week. People, not just ones at church, need to see Christ has changed our lives, we are no longer our old selves and dead to sin, but we are new people made alive through Christ. If you back up to verse 17 on through 20 It says "Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." The questing should not be am i recognizable by my fruits, but what is being recognized? There is no if, there is only good and bad fruits. Do you look like the world? Do you talk like the world? Do you fit in with the world? Do you enjoy the world and the things in it? Or do you stand out in the world, because you are different in Christ? Do you read your bible often? Do you seek Gods will above your own? These things are your Fruit that people are recognizing you by, but more important you should be seeing these things in your self. I'm not saying over night you are going to become perfect and never want anything in the world again, but if you profess to have been a christian for a few years or even longer and you are seeing no change in your life, then you have a problem. Good trees have good fruit and bad trees have bad fruit. I find it so sad the number of people who pray "the sinners prayer", only read their bible if and when they feel like it, go to church like a good little christian, yet have no change in their live. This is not what the Bible says we must to to be saved. If you read Romans 10:9-10 says "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." You see it is not just an outward thing that makes you saved, it is the inward transformation. These two things go hand in hand. I pray that if it be his will that God would open the eyes of church people in America and show us how lost we really are.

Here is the link for the video sermon from Paul Washer.
http://youtu.be/3wX_BPopbKI
This will rock your world!

Exodus 20:3

“You shall have no other gods before Me. (Exodus 20:3 NKJV)
Pretty simple and clear when you first look at this verse. Yet when there is a lot to be said of this commandment. At first we might read this and think of the false gods of the worlds religions. But there's so much more to it. Lot of things fit into this one; money, friends, entertainment. Sin in and of it's self can become the god we serve. I think when it all comes down to a point, the god we too often serve is simply ourself. For the most part, from the time we wake up to the time our head hits the pillow at night we have a self centered focus. We do all kinds of thing to glorify ourself, yet we forget who the glory really belongs to.

Greatness

After my sister when to Mexico on a missions trip, I started to have a desire to go somewhere, anywhere, on a mission trip. And that become my prayer, Lord just send me somewhere. Soon it seemed like everyone at my church was going on mission trips. I just kept praying for God to SEND me. What I didn’t realize is that telling people about Christ doesn’t start somewhere over seas. It starts at home. Act 1:8 says “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” To me that is saying start where God has you, THEN go farther and farther to the ends of the earth. Once I got that through my head I took a look at my life and saw that as I was waiting for the call to go somewhere, I had not been dong a good job at telling the people around me about the love of Christ. I’m still working on it, but each time I try it gets easier. I just have to remember that I am not great, but God is. He can use me even if I mess up or don’t say the right words.

I remember at a young age reading books about missionaries and heroes of our faith. My favorite was Amy Carmichael of India. But I never thought God could use me in any way like that. I mean these people had so much faith. I could never pack my things and go to a different country, I would think “I don’t know how to be a great missionary.” But it turns out that I don’t have to be great, because I serve a great God. The people I read about didn’t one day think, “I will now start to be great,” they dedicated their life to serving a great God and it was He that was great in them. It doesn’t matter that I go down in history as one of “the greats,” what does matter is that I use my life to serve the great God of the universe. Obeying God, even in the little things, brings Him glory, and that’s what I want my life to be about. Simply bringing Him glory, if that’s staying in my town forever telling people about my savor, that’s great. If that means going across the world, that awesome. It’s not important where I’m at, as long as I’m serving my great God

"180" Movie

philippians 2:5-9

 ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
 ⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
   by taking the very nature of a servant,
   being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
   he humbled himself
   by becoming obedient to death—
      even death on a cross!
 ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
   and gave him the name that is above every name.

Jesus had every right to brag.  He was the son of God, He was perfect in every way. And He could have just stayed in heaven and had an easy life, but He came to give His life for a sacrifice for you and me. Often times people get  focused on the me, me, mes of life and and forget that our focus should be on Christ. As Christians we are called to humble ourselves as Christ did. That's not always easy in a world that says you have to be the best, have the most money, and know the right people. Sometimes we start chasing the things of this world, when we should be running right to the loving arms of God.