You Are Loved

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain I my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other. John 15:9-17
We live in a world that is fast paced and hectic. Everyone is going 90 miles an hour. We never have enough time to do anything it seems. Last night in Weight Watchers they asked the question what keeps you from exercising? The number one answer was, “I don’t have time!” The truth is we all have exactly the same amount of time every day. What it really boils down to is how we prioritize our time and what we do with it.
Satan tries to keep us busy and keep us from spending time with God. He wants us to stay out of the Word and away from the body of believers. If he can keep us out of the Word he can keep us from knowing the truth. If he can keep us away from the body, he can keep us from being encouraged and challenged and from being held accountable.
Satan is constantly lying to us. He will bring up things from the past which we know happened and then he tells us how worthless and undeserving we are. Which are true statements in and of themselves. However, they don’t take into account what God says! If we are born again and we have made Jesus Lord and Savior of our lives then God says, “You are loved, you are accepted, you are forgiven and you are blessed. The question now becomes, who are you going to believe? God or Satan? Satan is a liar and the father of lies. God is truth. He is not a man that He should lie.
You might say, what if I stumble, what if I fall? God has made a way. Repentance is a gift from God. You ask God to forgive you and turn away from your sin. We should embrace repentance. Outside of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, it is His greatest gift to us!
Remember this! Jesus says, “You are loved, you are accepted, you are forgiven and you are blessed and highly favored of the Lord! This is the truth! Jesus loved you when you were unlovable. He accepted you just as you are. He has forgiven you for every sin you every committed. He has thrown them as far as the east is from the west! He remembers them no more. He has declared blessing over your life and He has highly favored you! You are a prince or a princess! You are a child of the King! Somebody say glory!
Consumed by the call,
Pastor Marty