You Are Loved
Read: Ephesians 3:14-21 . . . how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. (v. 18 NIV) In our journey these past two weeks, we have read passages about how much we are loved. We talked about the difference between knowing we are loved in our heads and believing this […]
Jesus Knocks
Read: Revelation 3:14-22 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. (v. 20) I am a planner. I like to control things. I also confess that I often try to control others. If you are like me, giving up control is hard. But this is difficult when we are addicted to control. When we give […]
Jesus Obeys
Read: Philippians 2:1-11 . . . obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (v. 8) Extraordinary is defined as something very unusual or remarkable. For example, a protégé pianist is described as someone with extraordinary talent. Dietrich Bonhoeffer asks, “What is the ‘extraordinary’? It is the love of Jesus Christ himself, […]
Friended
Read: John 15:9-17 . . . lay down his life for his friends. (v. 13) If you are on Facebook, you know what the term friended means. Someone sends you a friend request. You can choose to accept it or not. If you choose to accept this request, you have “friended” that person. Relationships with […]
Jesus Washes
Read: John 13:1-20, 34 . . . he loved them to the end. (v. 1) Tears flowed down my cheeks during a worship service recently as I witnessed an elderly husband bend down on his knees, take a basin of water, and wash his wife’s feet. It was a beautiful picture of love. In our […]
God Gives
Read: John 3:16-21 For God so loved the world . . . (v. 16) Grandparents will often ask their young grandchild, “Do you know how much I love you?” And the grandparent will say, “I love you so much!” as they open their arms as wide as they can demonstrating the enormity of their love […]
God Reveals
Read: Psalm 103:8-13 The LORD is . . . abounding in steadfast love. (v. 8) How would someone describe your character? Are there any similarities or differences in how others see you and how you see yourself? The Lord described his character to Moses on Mount Sinai: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and […]
God Seeks
Read: Luke 15:11-32 His father saw him and felt compassion. (v. 20) There are two swivel chairs by my window. I can turn one way to watch TV, or I can turn another way and see the sunset. James Bryant Smith in his book, The Good and Beautiful God, suggests that we often believe a […]
God Loves
Read: Jeremiah 31:1-9 I have loved you with an everlasting love. (v. 3) The infinity symbol (∞) has been used in mathematics to represent a number that has no limits or bounds. In our key verse, the Hebrew word ‘olam, rendered “everlasting,” is also difficult to comprehend. Strong’s concordance says it can mean, “generally, time […]