Monday, May 26, 2008

TWG - May 26, 2008

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TWG - May 26, 2008
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com
Exodus 10; Psalm 20; Matthew 22:1-22

Today is May 26, this is time with God, I’m Pastor Dennis - I’ve been waiting here for you. Welcome to our life transforming community. Together we are strong. As we walk though the word together we help each other grow.

I don’t know about you, but I really love being around God’s people in God’s house on Sunday. We have such good times. There just isn’t anything better. Sunday’s message on prayer was a good one for all of us. We need to be people of prayer! We don’t pray enough. We need to get into God’s presence and experience a real live relationship with God! Due to a mix up, I did discovery class in the sanctuary with the whole group and that was a lot of fun… especially my diagram of the community, complete with cartoon style cars that drove up and down the streets. Dave was laughing so hard he almost fell out of his pew! After church a group of us went to Arby’s and had a great time of fellowship, and as a bonus we got to fix the ills of the education system! You know how that goes… pick any subject and we all are opinionated about it and we know just how to fix it… really! Saturday, John, Dana, Susan and I were standing around admiring this poster on a car parked at Karens: It said Gas Prices: Regular – Arm, Plus – Leg, Premium – First Born! So John and I just had to get pictures of it. I put it on the blog at timewithgod.mypodcast.com. check it out. While we were there, the owner, a big guy walks out and says “What are you guys doing with my van!” (oops we got caught slashing tires- not really) any way once he figured out that we were admiring the poster he said that his wife, who just got back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan got it from her dad, we all went in and shook her hand and thanked her for serving us and her country! After all… it is Memorial Day Weekend… what could be more appropriate!

This week’s theme verse is John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

For God so loved the world. It only makes sense that sooner or later we would be thinking about this verse. It is the most loved verse in the entire Bible. Why? Love is attractive. We all want to be loved. We crave the love and approval of our parents. We chase the love of our dreams. But some of us have had parents who have not given us love and it hurts! Many of us have been rejected by a suitor. We all have these idealistic dreams of what it would feel like to really be loved. We are obsessed with love! And once we have captured the love of our dreams, so many people find out that love is not all it’s cut out to be. People disappoint! And they don’t’ just let us down… often, people are deliberately cruel and unkind… the people we love! We have been vulnerable and we have loved and in return, we were wounded deeply. Our dreams of being really loved have been shattered and broken, scattered across the floor like a fragile vase. Let me let you in on a secret… God loves you, really loves you. If you were the only one in the world, God would still have sent His Son Jesus to die for your sins so you could be saved. His is the only love in the world that will not disappoint. God is never cruel and never unkind. He isn’t moody and doesn’t lash out in anger. He never says cutting words that he later regrets. He is always steady, loving and dependable. If we come to Him He will never reject us, never! Take a moment to close your eyes and feel his love. Right now (and anytime!) he’ll wrap his loving arms around you and never let you go. If you listen closely you can hear him whisper, “I love you with an everlasting love! I want to draw you to myself and hold you tight!” Why is this the favorite verse in the Bible? Because we have an innate desire to be loved. And once we realize that God has an innate desire to love us with a perfect love we are magnetically drawn to Him. God loves you! Believe it!

Dear Loving God. Thank you for loving me! Especially since I am so unlovable! I don’t know how you could know me through and through and yet love me any way. For that I am grateful. For that reason, I bow before you in love and gratitude and immerse myself in your love… I want your love to surround me and hold me tight. Thank you Jesus! I love you too!

Posted by Dennis Kreiss at 10:05 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

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