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June 4, 2018
Impossible Love Made Possible - Galatians 5
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| When a lawyer asked Jesus which commandment was the greatest, He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind," and “the second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matthew 22:37, 39). What an overwhelming assignment!
In our own strength, none of us can live up to this obligation, but the Lord has provided a way for Christians to do the impossible. The indwelling Holy Spirit works to produce His fruit in us, and first on the list is love (Galatians 5:22). In fact, the other eight qualities are really just descriptions of its expression.
Whenever we demonstrate kindness, patience, or gentleness, we see the Lord’s love at work through us, especially when the other person has been unkind and doesn't deserve such pleasant treatment. This fruit is not produced by trying harder to muster good will toward someone who is irritating or hard to get along with. Instead, think of the process more like sap running through a branch on a grape-vine. The branch doesn't make grapes; the sap does. In the same way, the Spirit flows through us, producing God's love in us, so that we can pass it on to Him and others.
Agapelove is the reason we are able to care for someone who mistreats us - it’s God’s doing, not ours. Even the adoration we offer the Lord is not something that we can produce in our own heart apart from His assistance. Though the command to love is enormous,God’s grace makes it possible.
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Current Sermon Series
Words are powerful. They can beat us down and lift us up. They wound and they heal. And the right words at the right time can be exactly what we need to hear - or what we need to say. Let’s find the right words in a new series, My Big Fat Mouth.
Last Week:
Why do we lie? We do it because we don't fully trust God and we believe our lies work better than God's truth. The devil wants us to lie, to lie to ourselves, and to live that lie. God wants us not to lie, but when we do, we confess it to God and others.
Sunday's message is available for streaming or for download on our
sermons page, or by visiting us on iTunes.
Next Week:
We will have special guest speaker and missionary to Mongolia, Silas Thompson with us. Hope to see you there!
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Upcoming Events
Jun 9 - Trustee Meeting at 8 AM.
VBS Set Up at 9 AM.
June 10 - Special Speaker Silas Thomson, Missionary to Mongolia will be with us this day
Deacon's Meeting at 8 AM
June 10-14 - Vacation Bible School. It is for ages 4-12, and will run from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
June 30 - Men & Boy's BBQ at the church at noon. Begins at noon. Cost is $5 per person.
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