“This Changes Everything - You are Deeply Loved!”
Above any other pursuit in life, every person longs for true love. They long to be close to someone else, they long for someone who loves them above all else. This is the commitment we make in marriage: “I _____, take you ______, to be my wedded wife/husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish ‘till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.”
It’s becoming more and more popular for couples to write their own vows, yet this desire to BE DEEPLY LOVED always comes through:
I, (Groom’s Name), take you (Bride’s Name) to be my wife, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust you and honor you I will laugh with you and cry with you. I will love you faithfully Through the best and the worst, Through the difficult and the easy. What may come I will always be there. As I have given you my hand to hold So I give you my life to keep So help me God.
Someone said: “Find someone who knows you’re not perfect, but treats you as if you are.”
Again: “How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved!”
George Sand: “There is only one happiness in life - to love and be loved.”
Jesus Christ: “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!”
God does NOT want to CONDEMN you to hell!
Some people hold the notion that God wants to condemn people. First of all, man’s notion of God condemning people to eternal torment is EXACTLY THAT: Man’s “notion.” God’s judgement against sin is not eternal torment in the imaginary “fires of hell.” It is death. “The wages of sin is death.” Not eternal torment. Simply the end of life. Read Romans 6:23: "The Wages of sin is DEATH." The definition of the word "death is not in question, it's not up for debate. It means the cessation of life. Period. Definitely NOT "Endless TORMENT." The Bible says the "dead know not anything" and that death is the END of SUFFERING. So let's just wipe this notion of God right out of our minds!!!
Note: Even that verse which states the penalty for sin does NOT stop there. It continues by stating the clear desire of God: “But the gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Easter PROVES that our God is NOT LIKE THAT! He’s not like many imagine. He’s not even like many preachers make Him out to be.
The ONLY PERSON who will be judged to worthy of death is the person who refuses the “gift” of God, and it is just that - a GIFT. You didn’t DESERVE it. You can’t EARN it. No one else can DO IT for you.
You are IMMENSELY IMPORTANT to God!
The death of Jesus Christ on the cross proves it!
WHO GIVES YOU A GIFT? Not too many people. Usually a family member, or a good friend. A gift is a pretty good indication that YOU ARE IMPORTANT to someone.
The gift of salvation is an undeniable evidence that you are immensely important to God. The value of the gift given or received is an indication of the value of the person. Sometimes it’s not the actual cost, but the sacrifice -- how much did it hurt to give the gift? What did you have to give up? When you have to give up something you really want to give the gift you want to give, that’s a strong indication of love. And God had to give up His only begotten Son, and allow Him to suffer and die, to give you and I the gift HE wanted to give us.
A Human Picture of God’s Love
The picture is given in the Old Testament. God calls Abraham to do the unimaginable, to offer his son in obedience to God.
Genesis 17:19 “Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”
Genesis 17:21 “But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
Genesis 21:3 “Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.”
Genesis 21:8 “The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
Genesis 21:10 “and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
Genesis 21:12 “But God said to him, ‘Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’”
Genesis 22:2 “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’”
Well, that takes some explaining. We have to read the story to ever understand this twist in the story (read v.1-14). Note that the book of Hebrews explains that Abraham trusted God, and since the promise was directly through Isaac, Abraham reckoned (reasoned) that if he obeyed God by sacrificing his son Isaac, God would raise him from the dead! He trusted God to provide the solution.
God Will PROVIDE everything you need!
V. 14 What Abraham learned is that God will provide. God will provide whatever is needed no matter what.
If the Holy Scriptures teach us ONE thing about mankind, it is that we are sinful, and we cannot help ourselves. Perhaps it’s my fear of drowning -- and coming close on two occasions! -- that continually brings the analogy to mind that a sinner is like a drowning person who has no chance of saving himself. It will take SOMEONE else to find him, and bring him safely into a life boat. But the Bible shows us that ALL men are drowning ("ALL have sinned and come short" and "there is NO ONE who is righteous, no not one!"). And a drowning person cannot save himself, much less someone else.
Do you know what signs to look for to indicate a person is in danger of drowning? You would think that a drowning person would be thrashing around in the water, waving their hands and yelling for “Help!” Oddly, that’s not what drowning looks like.
Mario Vittone, a writer on maritime safety, tells a story about a former life guard, now a boat captain, who spotted a potentially fatal incident from fifty feet away. The captain jumped off his own boat, and sprinted toward a family swimming between the beach and their anchored boat: he sped past the astonished parents, to save their nine-year old daughter, who had been quietly drowning not ten feet behind her father.
Water safety expert Dr Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., coined the phrase “Instinctive Drowning Response” describing what drowning actually looks like. Instinctive Drowning Response is what people do to avoid suffocating in water. Drowning people are physiologically incapable of calling out for help because the human body is wired to give priority to the primary respiratory function, breathing, and not to speech, which is a secondary overlaid function.
Drowning people don’t yell for help. They aren’t able to keep their mouths above the water long enough to enable them to exhale, draw breath and call out, they have barely time to exhale and inhale quickly before they go back under the water.
Drowning people don’t wave their hands to get your attention. Our natural instinct is to press our arms outwards and downwards onto the surface of the water so we can leverage our bodies upwards to catch our breath. A drowning person may be physiologically incapable of reaching for a rescuer or rescue equipment.
The point I’m making is this: our most basic instinct is to save ourselves. When we are drowning, we cannot save ourselves. The nature of water makes it impossible to lift yourself high enough to breathe, and a drowning person quickly expends all his energy in this futile attempt to raise his head above water. This is a perfect analogy of sin: a sinful person CANNOT save himself. Others cannot save you, for they are also sinners.
Easter is proof of the lesson Abraham learned centuries ago: God will provide. We needed a Sacrifice, and God provided. We needed a Savior, and God provided. Romans 5:6-8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Easter proves God loves you. You are CHOSEN. You are IMPORTANT. You are LOVED. The only question is whether you will accept God’s love. His love has already been given. The GIFT is like a check in a letter: Signed, Sealed and Delivered. But will you open it?
Friends, it’s not even a question. There is no debate. The cross proves it. God loves you. Someone said, “Don’t let the person who didn’t love you keep you from the one who will.” The one who will is your Heavenly Father, who demonstrated His love by sending His Son to do for you what you could not do for yourself.
Above any other pursuit in life, every person longs for true love. They long to be close to someone else, they long for someone who loves them above all else. This is the commitment we make in marriage: “I _____, take you ______, to be my wedded wife/husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish ‘till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.”
It’s becoming more and more popular for couples to write their own vows, yet this desire to BE DEEPLY LOVED always comes through:
I, (Groom’s Name), take you (Bride’s Name) to be my wife, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust you and honor you I will laugh with you and cry with you. I will love you faithfully Through the best and the worst, Through the difficult and the easy. What may come I will always be there. As I have given you my hand to hold So I give you my life to keep So help me God.
Someone said: “Find someone who knows you’re not perfect, but treats you as if you are.”
Again: “How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved!”
George Sand: “There is only one happiness in life - to love and be loved.”
Jesus Christ: “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!”
God does NOT want to CONDEMN you to hell!
Some people hold the notion that God wants to condemn people. First of all, man’s notion of God condemning people to eternal torment is EXACTLY THAT: Man’s “notion.” God’s judgement against sin is not eternal torment in the imaginary “fires of hell.” It is death. “The wages of sin is death.” Not eternal torment. Simply the end of life. Read Romans 6:23: "The Wages of sin is DEATH." The definition of the word "death is not in question, it's not up for debate. It means the cessation of life. Period. Definitely NOT "Endless TORMENT." The Bible says the "dead know not anything" and that death is the END of SUFFERING. So let's just wipe this notion of God right out of our minds!!!
Note: Even that verse which states the penalty for sin does NOT stop there. It continues by stating the clear desire of God: “But the gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Easter PROVES that our God is NOT LIKE THAT! He’s not like many imagine. He’s not even like many preachers make Him out to be.
The ONLY PERSON who will be judged to worthy of death is the person who refuses the “gift” of God, and it is just that - a GIFT. You didn’t DESERVE it. You can’t EARN it. No one else can DO IT for you.
You are IMMENSELY IMPORTANT to God!
The death of Jesus Christ on the cross proves it!
WHO GIVES YOU A GIFT? Not too many people. Usually a family member, or a good friend. A gift is a pretty good indication that YOU ARE IMPORTANT to someone.
The gift of salvation is an undeniable evidence that you are immensely important to God. The value of the gift given or received is an indication of the value of the person. Sometimes it’s not the actual cost, but the sacrifice -- how much did it hurt to give the gift? What did you have to give up? When you have to give up something you really want to give the gift you want to give, that’s a strong indication of love. And God had to give up His only begotten Son, and allow Him to suffer and die, to give you and I the gift HE wanted to give us.
A Human Picture of God’s Love
The picture is given in the Old Testament. God calls Abraham to do the unimaginable, to offer his son in obedience to God.
Genesis 17:19 “Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”
Genesis 17:21 “But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
Genesis 21:3 “Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.”
Genesis 21:8 “The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.
Genesis 21:10 “and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
Genesis 21:12 “But God said to him, ‘Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’”
Genesis 22:2 “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’”
Well, that takes some explaining. We have to read the story to ever understand this twist in the story (read v.1-14). Note that the book of Hebrews explains that Abraham trusted God, and since the promise was directly through Isaac, Abraham reckoned (reasoned) that if he obeyed God by sacrificing his son Isaac, God would raise him from the dead! He trusted God to provide the solution.
God Will PROVIDE everything you need!
V. 14 What Abraham learned is that God will provide. God will provide whatever is needed no matter what.
If the Holy Scriptures teach us ONE thing about mankind, it is that we are sinful, and we cannot help ourselves. Perhaps it’s my fear of drowning -- and coming close on two occasions! -- that continually brings the analogy to mind that a sinner is like a drowning person who has no chance of saving himself. It will take SOMEONE else to find him, and bring him safely into a life boat. But the Bible shows us that ALL men are drowning ("ALL have sinned and come short" and "there is NO ONE who is righteous, no not one!"). And a drowning person cannot save himself, much less someone else.
Do you know what signs to look for to indicate a person is in danger of drowning? You would think that a drowning person would be thrashing around in the water, waving their hands and yelling for “Help!” Oddly, that’s not what drowning looks like.
Mario Vittone, a writer on maritime safety, tells a story about a former life guard, now a boat captain, who spotted a potentially fatal incident from fifty feet away. The captain jumped off his own boat, and sprinted toward a family swimming between the beach and their anchored boat: he sped past the astonished parents, to save their nine-year old daughter, who had been quietly drowning not ten feet behind her father.
Water safety expert Dr Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., coined the phrase “Instinctive Drowning Response” describing what drowning actually looks like. Instinctive Drowning Response is what people do to avoid suffocating in water. Drowning people are physiologically incapable of calling out for help because the human body is wired to give priority to the primary respiratory function, breathing, and not to speech, which is a secondary overlaid function.
Drowning people don’t yell for help. They aren’t able to keep their mouths above the water long enough to enable them to exhale, draw breath and call out, they have barely time to exhale and inhale quickly before they go back under the water.
Drowning people don’t wave their hands to get your attention. Our natural instinct is to press our arms outwards and downwards onto the surface of the water so we can leverage our bodies upwards to catch our breath. A drowning person may be physiologically incapable of reaching for a rescuer or rescue equipment.
The point I’m making is this: our most basic instinct is to save ourselves. When we are drowning, we cannot save ourselves. The nature of water makes it impossible to lift yourself high enough to breathe, and a drowning person quickly expends all his energy in this futile attempt to raise his head above water. This is a perfect analogy of sin: a sinful person CANNOT save himself. Others cannot save you, for they are also sinners.
Easter is proof of the lesson Abraham learned centuries ago: God will provide. We needed a Sacrifice, and God provided. We needed a Savior, and God provided. Romans 5:6-8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Easter proves God loves you. You are CHOSEN. You are IMPORTANT. You are LOVED. The only question is whether you will accept God’s love. His love has already been given. The GIFT is like a check in a letter: Signed, Sealed and Delivered. But will you open it?
Friends, it’s not even a question. There is no debate. The cross proves it. God loves you. Someone said, “Don’t let the person who didn’t love you keep you from the one who will.” The one who will is your Heavenly Father, who demonstrated His love by sending His Son to do for you what you could not do for yourself.