Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at some scripture from 1st Corinthians chapter 13 but before we do that I wanted to tell you a little story.
A few years back on a really hot sunny day one of our fans decided to give out. We had grown accustomed to that fan blowing some nice cool air in our living room but now it was broken and had to be replaced. What we decided to do was to run into town and purchase another one.
After about an hour of searching we found a perfect size fan for our house. It looked like it was going to work out fine for us. We got home that afternoon and it was very warm outside and we couldn’t wait to sit down and feel that cool breeze blowing through our hair. We set that new fan up on the dining room table and turned it on and what do you know, it didn’t work! We tried everything. We plugged it into a different extension cord but it didn’t work. We kept flipping the switch on and off trying different positions but the fan would not budge an inch. As we sat there sweating we stared at that fan and realized that we were going to have to return it because it was defective.
When something is defective it fails to work. It means it’s imperfect or faulty. In the church we are learning to walk in perfect charity. If somebody truly has this divine quality in their heart it will last forever. It is completely without defects or flaws. It is the mark of perfection in a Christian’s life.
1 Cor 13:8 Charity never faileth
Imagine going into your kitchen and turning on the light switch but nothing happens because the light bulb is burned out. True charity will never fail. If it truly is God’s love it is eternal. It has a constant glow like a warm fire. The form of love in the world is very temporal and worldly but God’s love is forever.
Rom 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
To separate means to keep or set apart to disconnect or to sever.
The apostle was absolutely convinced about the love of God found in Christ Jesus. No matter what you might go through in your life,… no matter how much people may cause you to suffer in this world,.. the Apostle teaches that we are conquerors through him that loved us. A conqueror is somebody who is victorious.
You can be stripped of everything you own. You can have friends and relationships who turn their back on you but nothing in this world can separate you from the love of God found in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at all the sufferings that men of God have had to endure through thousands of years. The Apostle John was hated by this world but he knew how much God loved him.
1 John 4:20 – If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1 John 3:15 – Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
The Apostle Paul went through numerous amounts of suffering for the sake of the Gospel, but understood without any doubt how much God loved him.
2 cor 11:24-28
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
Because the scriptures teach us that God is love, love is eternal and never fails. His eternal love will not fail us.
Deuteronomy 31:8 – And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
Deuteronomy 31:6 – Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Forsake means to renounce give up or to abandon. People in the world may abandon you but God does not do that to us. Abandon means to desert, forsake and leave without intending to return.
Hebrews 13:5 – Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
In the world there are many people who will leave you but always remember Christ says I will never leave you. Just as the sun rises each morning and sets each evening God’s love is constant and never ending. To fully recognize this love that God has for you is like being a blind man who can be able to see for the very first time.
What each of us need to do in the church is to become a spiritual sponge. We need to soak up the love that God has for each of us and spread it around to each other and people in the community.
This world is in desperate need of forgiveness, mercy and love. The church needs to take the charity that we’ve been given and give it to the world. There are so many families and children from broken homes who need to hear that God loves and cares for them immensely. Jesus loves them so much that He laid down his own life for them at the cross so that they could have forgiveness with God.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The next time you sit next to a river I want you to watch as the flow of the water never stops. You can watch for hours a day but it never ceases to flow. God’s love is forever and is never ending. Christ Jesus is a well of water flowing up into eternal life. Many things can fail in life like my living room fan, but Gods love won’t. Remember that the next time you feel alone. Christ’s love is right there.
That’s where I’m going to stop for today, but Lord willing, I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.♥️
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