Current Series "LOVE WINS"...

Here we are...two weeks into our current teaching series, "Love Wins," and so far it's been amazing!

In week 1 we talked about what matters most to God - which simply stated is: that we are to love our God with all our heart, soul, and mind...and love our neighbors as ourselves. We talked in great detail about what "love" is and what is is not. Love is a command, love is NOT a feeling, love is a choice, and love is a conduct OR behavior (an action - something you do). We discovered that if we don't live a life of love: nothing I say will matter, nothing I know will matter, nothing I believe will matter, nothing I give will matter, and nothing I accomplish will matter - bold statements, huh? They come directly from God - look at the first 3 verses in 1 Corinthians 13.

This past week, week 2 of "Love Wins," we discussed the fact that love is kind. We looked closely at the parable of "The Good Samaritan" and discovered, very clearly, how Jesus wants us to respond to those around us. God wants us to start seeing the needs of people around us...and to fully do that we need to learn how to slow down. We talked about sympathizing with people's pain and found why in 2 Corinthians 1:4 (Message). And as the service ended we talked about seizing the moment, doing what needs to be done to help others (showing kindness) when they need it - not when it's convenient for us, and we fully realized that when we do show kindness to others...it always comes with a price tag (our time, money, energy, emotions, etc...).

So far during this great teaching series I've recommend two books: "Love Is The Killer App" by Tim Sanders (if you've got a job and work with other you gotta read this book) & "They Like Jesus But Not The Church" by Dan Kimball. Go out and get them or come borrow mine.

This coming Sunday, 9.21.08, we're gonna talk about the fact that love does not envy. It's gonna be a good one...you won't want to miss it.

Hope to see you Sunday.