Something Greater

Love is From God. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in lov...

The Holy and Righteous One The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. Acts 3:13-15 (ESV) To this point in Luke's book of Acts of the Apostles, Jesus has been named Lord and Christ. In his second great instance of preaching, Peter is speaking to Jews at the temple. They've all gathered in amazement, responding to the miraculous healing of a lame man. Peter is even more descriptive of the glory of Jesus . Peter begins by calling upon the Almighty God, using references that are most meaningful to devout Jews: " The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers ." Then, Peter describes Jesus as the Servant o...

A Simple Statement of Faith "Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the...

Blessing, not Cursing "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them." Romans 12:14 (ESV) BLESS: eulogeo (to speak well of); from eu (good) and logos (something said, a topic, reasoning, a computation); from lego (to lay forth or relate in words) PERSECUTE: dioko (to pursue, persecute); from dio (to flee) CURSE: kataraomai (to execrate or to doom); from katar (imprecation, execration); from kata (down) and ara (prayer, as lifted to Heaven); from airo (to lift) Bitterness and hate oozes from the heart, poisoning even our words. Perhaps the very best that could be hoped for from the heart of bitterness might be silence... cold, stony silence . But it's still an expression of bitterness and hate. More commonly, every sentence spoken by a bitter heart will have a message, implied or directly stated, of vengeance and a desire to hurt or destroy. A curse is a prayer, a desire of the heart lifted up to God Almighty, asking for God to humiliate and des...

Pressed Down and Overflowing "Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38 (ESV) God rewards those who give. God Himself is kind to the ungrateful and the evil (Luke 6:35). We glorify God when we act, even in small ways, like Him . If we give love to others, especially to enemies, God gives us much more love . If we give mercy, if we withhold biased judgement or condemnation, whatever good we give to others, God will give good back to us . His reward will be multiplied times more that the small that we give. Imagine buying a cup of rice to give to a hungry child. The rice merchant himself is a kind man, and he sees my generosity and compassion. He calls me back to the counter and fills a cup full. Before giving me the cup of rice, he presses it down, settles it down with shaking, pours more rice into the cup, the c...