Remember: He WANTS your fellowship, and He has done everything possible to make it a reality. He has forgiven your sins, at the cost of His own dear Son. He has given you His Word, and the priceless privilege of prayer and worship. - Billy Graham
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” – Luke 4: 8-9
If you are unable to attend,
our service is streamed live on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/p/Wesley-Chapel-Methodist-Church-100064654933072/
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.” 1 John 3:1
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:7-10
“We love, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
As a young boy, I looked forward with excitement and anticipation to receiving a large heart shaped box filled with chocolates for Valentine’s Day. I liked the thrill of picking a chocolate and not knowing what it was going to taste like the moment I tasted it. Then, a few days after Valentine’s Day, I enjoyed knowing what the chocolates looked like, what was inside each one, and how they tasted. I liked knowing what to expect.
Love is a word that is over used and fundamentally under utilized. It is spoken, defined, demanded, and often invoked by so many. Yet love is given, truly given, by so few in our world. Why? We can only truly know love when we come to know God, for God is love. It is important not to get those words reversed. Meaning, love is God. We begin to tell God what love is rather than allowing God to make known to us what love truly is both to us and how it can be given by us. Our culture has made a mess of love and left us with a mess of a problem to clean up in the process. Our world has made an idol out of its conceptions of love. Which is not love at all, really.
Jesus came to live among us, to take on our sin, die on the cross, and give to us eternal life. Love is found in Jesus. We are to place our faith not in our abilities, qualifications, rationalizations, and grand imaginations of what love is. For the imaginations of humans cannot really conceive of the greatness of what love truly is and how to give it fully on our own. Our conceptions of love simply cheapen and dishonor love. We are to place our faith in Jesus, to live, walk, be surrendered, and energized in Him to love. As we know the lavish love of God given to us in Jesus, we are enabled to love as we were made to love both God and others. Do we want to know how to love truly?
Realize with fresh eyes and open hearts that we are loved in Christ. Drink deeply from the Living Water, Jesus, and let our hearts be filled with love, true love, the love of God. Then, we will overflow to love others, to live each day giving true love, God’s love to those in our world. The Holy Spirit will bear the fruit of love in our hearts and through our lives, and our faith will work itself out in love. We were made to accept no imitations, to be dissatisfied with counterfeit offers of love. We were made to receive the fullest and true expression of love, God Himself. This month let each of us receive and give true love, Jesus. Our homes flourish, lives are transformed, and joy is experienced when we realize we have been truly loved in Jesus and truly love as He leads us to love. How sweet it is, that we have been given and can give true love! That’s why the Scripture says, “Taste and see that the LORD is good!” (Psalm 34:8)
Blessings Friends,
Pastor Tim
February 2025
