Fear is not consistent with Love

As we’ve been working our way thru this series – “40 Days of Love” – we’ve been discovering various ways for loving like Jesus loves us. One thing that makes us hesitant about building bridges of love into the lives of others is fear. Fear is not consistent with love. The Bible tells us that “perfect love casts out all fear.” So how can we get beyond the human tendency to be afraid? The solution is the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 1:7 in the Living Bible translation says, "For the Holy Spirit, God's gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them."

The first principle for building bridges of love is to: Be courageous and take the initiative!

Don't wait for the other person to come to you. Take the initiative to connect with them. This will take courage because our natural tendency is to be full of fear and anxiety. We're afraid of being rejected, manipulated, hurt, or used.

Fear is as old as mankind. When Adam and Eve sinned and God came looking for Adam, Adam said, "I was afraid ... and I hid" (Genesis 3:10). We hide our true selves. We don't want people to know what we're really like. We think, "If I tell you who I am and you don't like me, I have no alternative." So we wear masks and we pretend so we can present ourselves in a way that we think is presentable. But fear is a problem when it comes to loving relationships.

Our fears make us defensive. We're afraid to reveal ourselves. When people point out weaknesses we retaliate and defend ourselves.

Our fears keep us distant. We don't let people get close to us. We want to withdraw and hide our emotions. We don't want to be open and honest.

Our fears make us demanding. The more insecure we are the more we try to control or dominate things. We try to have the last word. That's a symptom of fear and insecurity.

You get courage to counter the fear from God's Spirit in your life. I believe one of the evidences of being filled with the Spirit is that you’ll be more courageous in your relationships. You’ll love people. You’ll enjoy being with them. You won’t be afraid of them because God's Spirit is in your life. The Bible says "God is love" (1 John 4:16 NLT) and "Love casts out all fear" (1 John 4:18 NASB). The more of God you have in your life the less fear you'll have. So the starting point in building a bridge of love to anybody is to pause and pray and say, "God, give me the courage to take the first step."

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What Would You Do?

I read with curiosity the answers to the question: “What would you do if you only had one week to live?” Some of the responses were: “Take a vacation to some place I’ve always wanted to go.” “Spend the entire time with my friends and family.” “Buy an exotic sports car.” “Lock myself in a dark room and be depressed.” “Go skydiving and bungy jumping.”

As I read these answers, I wondered, “What would I do if I only had one week to live?” Would I be sad? Happy? Angry? Hopeful? Afraid? How would I spend those last days?

There was a time when Jesus knew that He only had one week to live. John 13:1 says, “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

During His last days on earth, Jesus did the work of a common slave. He ministered to those who were closest to him. He washed their feet (John 13), he comforted them (John 14), he encouraged them (John 15-16), prayed for them (John 17), and then he died for them. He spent the last week of his life fulfilling his purpose. He demonstrated His love in many ways to those whom He loved.

We may have more than one week to live, but then again, we may not. One thing is for sure, however, we do have today to live. Let’s follow the example of Christ and spend each day fulfilling our purpose and doing things that are most important in terms of eternity. Let’s share the love of Jesus by serving others. And when the time comes for us to transition from this life to the next, we can go with no regrets.

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About Sunday

What a beautiful day we had Sunday! The sun was shining outside and the Son was shining inside! I never get tired of worshipping our Savior with the faith family of MVC!!! A few thoughts about yesterday...

• The youth pumped me up when they came down front to worship in front of the stage! Keep it up you guys! Lead the way!
• The subject of anger is something that you don't usually hear in a sermon, but from your responses, it's something we all need to deal with.
• The reason many of us don't properly manage our anger is because we haven't truly surrendered our lives to Christ. The problem with many people is that they prayed a prayer but did not fully turn their hearts over to God.
• It's amazing how we overestimate what God 'needs' to do in other people and underestimate what He wants to do in us.
• I know the preaching disturbed many of you yesterday - in a good way. That's okay! God does wonderful things with those who allow Him to disturb us and break our selfish hearts.
• My desire for MVC is not just to see people receive Christ, but for them to be radically changed and fully embrace the life He has called them to live.
• I truly believe that the biggest problem we have in our marriages today is selfishness. Selfishness must be replaced with selflessness if we want to become more like Jesus and have God-honoring relationships.
• You all heard my "push" for more involvement in the Haiti outreach effort. Please get involved in this event and let's overwhelm the people of that earthquake ravaged country with the love of Christ.
• This past weekend I helped my dad do some plumbing work and I am still sore! IT STINKS GETTING OLD!

I'm looking forward to seeing you next Sunday! IF YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, WE'RE GROWING! Keep it up! Bring a friend. In fact, bring 10 friends! Let's continue building bridges of love into the lives of those around us!!!

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LOVING GOD

PSALM 18:1

(From the Detailed Rules for Monks by St. Basil)

Love is not something that can be taught. We did not learn from someone else how to rejoice in light or want to live, or to love our parents or guardians. It is the same—perhaps even more so—with our love for God: It does not come by another's teaching. As soon as the living creature (that is, man) comes to be, a power of reason is implanted in us like a seed, containing within it the ability and the need to love.

I will try to fan into flame the spark of divine love that is hidden within you, as far as I am able through the power of the Holy Spirit.

First, let me say that we have already received from God the ability to fulfill his commands. We have then no reason to resent them, as if something beyond our capacity were being asked of us. We have no reason either to be angry, as if we had to pay back more than we had received.

We possess from the first moment of our existence an innate power and ability to love. The proof of this is not to be sought outside ourselves, but each one can learn this from himself and in himself. It is natural for us to want things that are good and pleasing to the eye, even though at first different things seem beautiful and good to different people. In the same way, we love what is related to us or near to us, though we have not been taught to do so, and we spontaneously fell well disposed to our benefactors.

What is more wonderful than the beauty of God? What thought is more pleasing and satisfying than God's majesty? What desire is as urgent and overpowering as the desire implanted by God in a soul that is purified of sin and cries out in its love: I am wounded by love. The radiance of divine beauty is altogether beyond the power of words to describe.

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Thom Rainer, the president and CEO of Lifeway and founder of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism, has conducted extensive research and provided consultation to literally hundreds of churches. He recently published several articles about his experience in consulting and I would like to share a few thoughts with you from one of those articles. Most times when Thom and his team would be called to a church, the reason was simple - the church was in trouble. It was dying spiritually and needed to find out how to be revived. His team found that there are at least five common warning signs of declining church health. This list is not exhaustive, but they are all common issues most "sick" churches faced.

1. The church has few outwardly focused ministries. Most of the budget dollars in the church are spent on the desires and comforts of church members. The ministry staff spends most of its time taking care of members, with little time to reach out and minister to the community the church is supposed to serve.

2. The dropout rate is increasing. Members are leaving for other churches in the community, or they are leaving the local church completely. A common exit interview theme we heard was a lack of deep biblical teaching and preaching in the church.

3. The church is experiencing conflict over issues of budgets and building. When the focus of church members becomes how the facilities and money can meet their preferences, church health is clearly on the wane.

4. Corporate prayer is minimized. If the church makes prayer a low priority, it makes God a low priority.

5. The pastor has become a chaplain. The church members view the pastor as their personal chaplain, expecting him to be on call for their needs and preferences. When he doesn’t make a visit at the expected time, or when he doesn’t show up for the Bible class fellowship, he receives criticism. In not a few cases, the pastor has lost his job at that church because he was not omnipresent for the church members.

My prayer is that none of these issues become a problem for Mountain View.

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The Choice Is Yours

Victor Frankl, a Jewish man who lived in a concentration camp during World War II wrote, "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

When you look at your life, there are a lot of things you can’t control. You can’t control the government. You can’t control the economy. You can’t control the stock market. You can’t control the choices others make. You might have some influence over certain people, but you can never have complete control of them. We try to raise our children to make right decisions, but ultimately, the choice is theirs.

But although there are many things we can’t control, we can control how we respond to the situations and circumstances we face in life. How you respond to anger is a choice. How you respond to doubt is a choice. How you respond to others that tick you off is a choice. You can respond wrongly or rightly – the choice is yours.

The Bible is full of people that faced some of the most difficult situations. Some were stoned to death. Others were decapitated or burned alive. On numerous occasions, Jesus was persecuted. He was mocked, rejected, betrayed and abandoned. In the Old Testament, David found himself in a lot of terrible situations. King Saul hunted him like an animal. Many times he was surrounded by his enemies. Then there were the times he found himself struggling with sin and despair. But each time, David found the strength to choose to react in the right way. He wrote in Psalm 43:5, “Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

None of us can control the things that will happen in our lives today. But we can control the way we react. Choose right now not to let allow anything you face get the best of you. Make the right choice and put your hope in the Lord. Praise Him regardless of what comes your way. He is our Lord, our Savior and our God.

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THE BEST USE OF LIFE

During these 40 days of love we have learned that the best use of life is love; the best expression of love is time; and the best time to love is now. Each day is a gift from God. We sang about that yesterday “I pray I’d use them as You want me to...” God’s desire is that we spend each day loving Him and loving one another. A man named William James once said, "The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast us." The things we do in love will last. Unfortunately, we find ourselves spending most of our time on the temporary things – eating, sleeping, watching TV, working 9-5, etc... Those things are important, but they won’t last forever. So how can we change that? How can we make the days of our lives count for eternity? Only two things will last forever – God’s Word and people. So in order to make our lives count for eternity, we have find ways to connect those two. Start looking for ways to lovingly speak God’s Word into the lives of others. This involves more than quoting Bible verses -- though that is certainly part of it. It involves bringing the presence of God into every conversation. That’s how we share the love of Christ. Paul said, "But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort." (1 Corinthians 14:3) You don’t need a microphone or a pulpit to do that. In fact, it’s most effectively done one-on-one. So each day, in every conversation, consider how you can help others experience more of God’s love and strength in their lives. In what ways can you encourage others and build them up? What loving words can you speak that will communicate the overwhelming grace, mercy and love of Christ? You don’t have to have a two hour conversation to do that. Maybe all it will take is a sentence or two. But each time you do it, you’ll be making the best use of life – sharing the love of Jesus.

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Valentine's Day

If you need to choose one day a year to be extra romantic, Valentine's Day is the day that is most often picked. It is a day that is thought to be full of romance. A day when you get the opportunity to treat your loved one with extra care. Valentines day has been around since 270 A.D. It is a day that focuses on love and romance. People have been taught the significance of Valentine's Day since they were very young; most likely started in the earliest years of school. Children were told to purchase valentines for the other children in the class, and distribute them around at a designated time; then afterwards the day was spent eating cookies and cake and drinking a good fruit punch. As time went by young adults would purchase candy and flowers for someone that really meant something special to them. Then if the couple decided to get married and have children; Valentine's Day became even more special. Now it was the time to show your continuing love and devotion to each other. So you always want to do something which will be remembered. Often, people have a hard time deciding what to do with their loved on Valentine's Day to make it extra special. Hopefully these romantic ideas for Valentine's Day will help you in your endeavor to make this year's choice a great one. Many people usually have a place that they will always remember as a place where they met. If it is at all possible it would be very romantic to make reservations and take your loved one back to that place. If it is near a restaurant then you should make dinner reservations, and maybe have a candlelit dinner and maybe some special wine to help bring back the spark of the first date. Being able to relive how you met and started your relationship often helps rebuild your bond to each other. Another great romantic idea for Valentine's Day is to plan a romantic trip to a place where both of you would like to go. Maybe a place that is somewhat secluded, where the two of you can actually get to know each other better. If you have been married for a while this may also help to re-spark the love that you two may have forgotten or taken for granted. Often, acting on a spontaneous thought will create very romantic memories. In a way this is great, but don't just jump on the phone and start making reservations. To make the holiday last a bit longer, you can discuss it with your loved one and prepare for the event. This adds anticipation to the event. Somehow, the meaning of chivalry has become lost to many of the younger generations. Chivalry is the act of being courteous to a person. This allows a man to be a gentleman - a person who respects his partner. Even though you open a door for her, you will still need to allow her to make some of the decisions as well. So far we have covered food and traveling; however, there are still some great romantic ideas for Valentine's Day. If your loved one is a person who likes poetry; perhaps a romantic gesture would be to spend the day alone with them, and after dinner you may want to put on some soft music and sit close to each other and read poetry or a love story which will help bring that warm intimate feeling to both of you. By allowing yourself to always be open to new ways of falling in love over and over, the spark that has always been there will grow stronger. Many people do not fall in love with a person's looks; they fall in love with a person's personality. Always tell your loved one how much you care for them and how much you love them. Spending time together is very important to a relationship and should never be overlooked. Today many people allow their jobs to interfere with their personal life so much that the job will end up destroying a relationship. Being around and helping each other is a necessity, because this is one of the reasons the two of you got together in the first place, to make decisions together. If you follow these top romantic ideas for Valentine's Day you will soon notice that the two of you will become even closer than you were before; and you will strive to want to be together more. ------------------------ Romantic jewelry gifts http://www.jewelrymall.com/special/romantic.html can help make your day special. Consider getting your loved one something extra special.

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The Greatest Of These Is Love

1 Corinthians 13:13 
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Faith: Without it, there would be no Christianity, or any other religion in the world for that matter. We talk of coming to faith in Christ, and living a life of faith, and we often laud those in Scripture and in modern times who are known for their faith.

The Value of Faith

The value of faith cannot be disputed. In fact, Hebrews 11:6 states, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Without faith, we couldn't come to Christ, and without faith, we couldn't walk in obedience to him. Faith often motivates us to move forward even when the odds are against us. In a sense faith is closely related to hope.

The Value of Hope

Hope keeps us going when the situation we face seems impossible. Hope is the expectation that we will obtain something specific we desire. Think of how life would be without hope. Hope is there for the single mom who doesn't know how she is going to feed her children and keep a roof over their heads. She might give up, if it were not for the hope that some type of breakthrough is right around the corner. Hope is a gift from God that can bring joy in the midst of very difficult circumstance. Hope encourages us that victory is imminent.

I wouldn't want to live a life without faith, and I wouldn't want to live a life without hope. However, in spite of how wonderful, important, and life-changing both faith and hope are, they pale in comparison to love. The Bible states that love is greater than both faith and hope.

The Greatest of These is Love

What makes love so amazing? For starters, it is what motivated the Father to send His only Son to die for us. Without love, there would have been no redemption for mankind. Not only would we be without love, but without the redemption that was precipitated by love, there would also be no faith, and no hope. You see, nothing else matters, without love. It is foundational for every other good thing in our lives.

Light Reflection Daily Devotion

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The Father's Love

As we have been study the subject of love, I have constantly been reminded of the amazing love that our Father has for us all. Verses about His love are thru out the Bible, yet many of us think His love is for somebody besides us. But when you read the most famous verse in the Scriptures – John 3:16 – you see that His love encompasses the whole world. John 3:16, “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son. Anyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.” It’s amazing to me that God’s love for us is so great that He sent His only Son to die for us. For whom? For you! And He did so long before you and I were ever born. Long before we were ever thought of by human minds. That’s incredible love!

Love is a word that is used so frivolously today. We love our pets. We love ice cream. We love our cars. But love is truly so much more than that. Some of us think love is what we do for others. Others think love is how we act. But regardless of what you and I may think, the truth is, we’ll never know love like the love of our Heavenly Father. He loves us so much that He chose to give His only Son Jesus to us. He chose us. We didn’t choose Him. Being chosen is an aspect of love. When you’re chosen, you’re the object of another person’s favor. You’re that person who stirs up an emotion and gains the attention of another. When God looks at us, I believe His heart is stirred up with love and compassion. And in His love and compassion, He offers us forgiveness and blessings. God’s love isn’t like the kind of love we have for each other. Our love is conditional – “I’ll love you if you do this.” Or “I’ll love you if you don’t do that.” But God’s love is unconditional. We don’t have to do anything to earn His love. And He doesn’t take away His love because we screw up. He doesn’t love us because we love Him. He simply loves us because God is love. And He loves you! For God so loved [you] that He gave His one and only Son [for you]. Our heavenly Father loves you when times or good, when times are bad, when you’re going thru a recession, when you’re having hard times... He loves you period!

So no matter what you may be going thru today, God’s love is everywhere. It surrounds you. It encompasses you. It comforts you and heals you. Even the air that we breath is an expression of God’s love. So don’t get down in the dumps and think, “God doesn’t love me because of all the junk I’ve done”. That’s not true. He loves you! You are loved!!!

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Faith - Possible or Impossible?

Paul writes in the book of Hebrews that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, and that without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.
Faith is a hard thing sometimes. That's because we don't trust that God will be able to do what we can't. That's a form of practical atheism. I've heard the verse, "faith without works is dead" taken so far out of context when it comes to trusting God. It's often used as an excuse for not believing. But how strong is our faith if we only trust God for the things that we deem possible? In whom is our faith if we limit our dreams to only the things we can achieve? I think that if our dreams are only in the realm of "possibility", we have a lukewarm, watered down faith in ourselves, not in God. Faith in God is characterized by words like, "impossible, incredible and undoable". Only if your dreams seem "imossible, incredible and undoable", and failure is an absolute certainty unless God gets involved, do you have real faith in Him. I'm not advocating being reckless or stupid. Not every dream you have is God's dream. And certainly we don't sit around on our hands until God drops something from the sky. What I'm talking about is hearing from God and then trusting Him to work in and thru us and others to bring His plan into being. And I don't know about you, but it seems the further along I get in the process the larger the steps of faith I have to take. Dreams, visions, plans and decisions never get easier. That's because God's desire is that we live in desperation for Him, not in exasperation because we live for ourselves. It's not about what we can do. It's all about what He can do. And with God, all things are possible - even the impossible.

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Hope

It’s easy to look at the condition of our world and not have a lot of hope. Economic uncertainty, war, political unrest, crime, joblessness, as well as a myriad of other things are a reality for us all. But if I read the Scriptures correctly, we are to keep hoping. But hope isn’t worth much if you don’t have the right object for your hope. The reason many people today are lacking in the hope department is because they’ve put their hope in the wrong place - their career, their finances, their friends, their families, or their political leaders. We put our hope a lot of other places other than in Jesus. But none of those things truly offer lasting hope. The only place where hope is lasting, in fact, eternal, is when we put our full faith and trust in Christ. Yet, that hope is something we all struggle with from time to time. It's not a trait that we inherit.

Hope is very akin to faith. Hope is defined as "a confident expectation of something better." So if our hope is in Christ, we should be thinking, “The best is still to come. I’ve got much more to look forward to in this life and throughout eternity.” And when we fix our minds on that fact, hope comes alive in our hearts. So we need to train our minds to think those thoughts. And when you “fall off the wagon”, so to speak, get back on it. Stir up the hope within you. But we need to set about this process in an intentional way. Intentionally swap your doubt for hope. Trade discouragement and despair for hope. “Trade your sorrows for the joy of the Lord.” That’s why we come to church. That’s why we meet in LifeGroups – so we can be encouraged by each other and spurred on to hope. I realize that any of us at any given moment are prone to a sense of hopelessness. That’s because none of us are perfect. But we can challenge each other to do better and keep on hoping. The best is yet to come!!!

"Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." – Rom. 5:2-5

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New Plan for Bad Weather

Click on this link to see the new plan for bad weather.

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