Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. - Romans 5

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Remember, a faith based on feelings is a very singular faith based on a very singular Gospel. If the Gospel you believe in is not universal for all men, then it isn't the Gospel at all. Faith is believing the Gospel is real, not that we feel it is real. Feeling and knowing are two different things. We don't say "I know Jesus is real because I got a feeling He is," we say we know Jesus because there is testimony and evidence and transformation that points to Him being real. We don't go up to our friends and say they are real to us because we feel them, we say that because we built a relationship with them, and this is the same with Jesus. Feelings then come into play in delighting in the fact we know Jesus and He knows us.

The point of love is that it does NOT come naturally. We are naturally self-seeking prideful individuals. Love asks us to sacrifice, to put another above ourselves, to search deep for a strength that doesn't belong to us. There is nothing humanly natural for someone to be patient, to be kind, to be humble, to never get angry, to always trust, hope, and persevere. Nothing at all. That is why love is profound, and most of the world does not get it. They may understand the self-denial part, but will miss the other part that there is inherently no love AT ALL in us.

Love is action. Love is hard work. Love is utilizing energy from a source not of ourselves (or other people).

There are underlying laws governing the behavior of man. One is that we function best when confined in a box, and yet there is an underlying passion in the hearts of men to defy all established laws and break out of that box. The irony is that it is a law in itself that we desire to break laws. It’s our nature to be proud.

What are the two greatest commandments in the Bible? Love God and love people. So if you believe and trust in God's sovereignty and control for His kingdom, do you believe that ministries that involve brothers and sisters being called to serve in intellectual areas (doctors, lawyers, businessmen, professors), serving the poor, or becoming fathers and mothers, and serving the local church, if these ministries are done with a motivation of self-sacrificial love and in a selfless manner following God's calling, don't these ministries have equal if not greater importance than a ministry of missions in foreign countries? Are these ministries not preaching the Gospel in a more glorifying and Spirit-directed manner if they are truly under God's will? Remember what the Gospel is before preaching it to others.

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