Do I Love God Unconditionally?

There is a power that the Bible calls Satan, the Accuser, the Evil One, and the Devil.  He is also called the Father of Lies.  When bad things happen in our lives, Satan wants to use those events as an opportunity to persuade us to doubt God’s goodness. 

The story of the first sin in Genesis tells us that the Father of Lies has been with us from the very beginning, craftily putting in our minds the suspicion that God does not really care about our happiness.  In fact, the serpent in Genesis 3 suggested to the first woman and man, “God is holding you back from becoming all that you could become. You can’t trust God.” 

This doubt about God’s has infected all of us.  This lie about God’s character has separated us from God.   

In the story of Job, Satan says to God, “You have made Job prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”  The same Accuser, the serpent of Genesis 3, tries to prove that a good person will turn against God when bad things happen.

The question for us to answer for ourselves as we hear the story of Job  is this:  Do I love God for God’s sake or do I love God for what life has given me?  Another way of asking the same question is, Do I unconditionally love and trust God even when the worst happens in my life?  Or does my love for God depend upon the conditions of my life being good and comfortable?

The much-loved hymn, It Is Well with My Soul, asks the question this way:  Do I love God “When peace like a river attends my way” and “When sorrows like sea billows roll?”

The Power of Our Words

Do you remember the old story about a man who has been gossiping, saying critical things about people in his church and in his neighborhood?  His pastor calls him and says, “I’d like for you to come and talk to me tomorrow.  Bring a feather pillow with you.”  When the man comes the pastor talks to him about the hurt that gossip can cause.  Then he takes him up to a second story in the church building, opens a window, takes the feather pillow the man has brought, cuts it open and dumps all the feathers out into the breeze.
 
“Now,” says the pastor, “Go pick up all those feathers and put them back in this pillow case.”
“I can’t do that,” says the man.  “The feathers have scattered so far and wide, gathering them up would be impossible.”

The pastor looks into the eyes of his church member and says, “It is the same with the words you have spoken about others.”

James is blunt on the importance of our words. ‘If anyone appears to be “religious” but cannot control his tongue, he deceives himself and we may be sure that his religion is useless.’ (James 1:26 Phillips)

At the same time, words are powerful to bless and build up.  Henri Nouwen reminds of that.  ‘Often we remain silent when we need to speak.  Without words, it is hard to love well.  When we say to our parents, children, lovers, or friends:  "I love you very much" or "I care for you" or "I think of you often" or "You are my greatest gift," we choose to give life.’

What Matters Most to Our Church

Fleda and I recently watched the movie, Moneyball.  It is about Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s major league baseball team.  In 2002 the Oakland A's, at the end of the regular season, had won the same number of games as the New York Yankees, who spent $1.4 million per game won. Oakland spent $260,000 per game won – 5.3 times more efficient. During one stretch the A's won 20 games in a row, a streak that had not been accomplished in more than 120 years.

How did Beane do this? He took the revolutionary step of ignoring the usual characteristics of players that had always been valued highly by managers, coaches,   and front offices – running, throwing, hitting, fielding.  Instead he analyzed each player's ability to contribute to the factors that had statistically proven to matter most (to win games): the ability to get on base and to score runs.

As a result of using this entirely different approach, Beane got more wins per dollar than any other team. That is what every manager wants to do: get the most wins per dollar spent. With enough money, any manager can hire the best players at every position and get more wins.

Our church is a version of moneyball. If we work hard enough we can create apparent success in a lot of things: recognition, buildings, and more. But if we're not aware of what truly matters, we can accomplish all that and still miss the things that matter most: the fruit of the Spirit of Christ - love, joy, and peace. We can look like a successful church but lose the game.

We at New Hope are going to pursue what matters most.  Our goals come from the Bible, especially from Ephesians 3:16-19.  They are “strength of the Spirit in our inner beings, being rooted and established in love, and being filled with all the fullness of God.”  If we pursue the Spirit of Jesus, unconditional love, and the fullness of God we will have the most important things and be a truly successful church.

Peacemakers

As I watched the news on Thursday night, I saw children who have been traumatized in the fighting in Syria.  Many children have lost their parents and their homes in the continuing violence.  An American physician of Syrian descent was interviewed as he worked there to try to alleviate suffering and bring some healing to children.  He almost shed tears when the news reporter asked him what he thought about the future of the children of Syria.  He said, “It will be better, when they have their country back.”  It was obvious that he was looking forward to the day when the violence ends and children can do what they are created to do: learn and grow and play, as their parents love them.

Surely, God must weep as he looks on the ways we human beings hurt each other – even innocent, defenseless children.  The prophet Isaiah gave us a vision of peace: “The Lord will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths . . ..   He will judge . . . and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”  That is God’s will for our world: no more lives torn apart, no more killing.

How can God’s will ever be done on earth?  I confess I don’t know.  What I do know is that insofar as I can influence people, I want to work to bring people together.  I can’t do that right now in Syria, but our Bible text for today from Ephesians 1:10 says, “God set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.”  We members of God’s church are a part of His long-range plan to bring everything together in Christ.  We work to bring people together.  That means that the highest priority in New Hope Baptist Church is being loving.  We don’t have a more important job to do than to learn how to love as Christ has loved us.  For us, God’s vision of peace starts right here.  May we be peacemakers here in our church and in our community, and we pray to God, may peace come to that child in a hospital in Syria who is crying for his mother, who can’t come to him because she is also seriously injured

Family Time and American Freedom

Time away to be with family and to relax a bit is always good.  We enjoyed more than a week with our granddaughter, keeping her tradition of being with us for New Hope’s VBS. This was her sixth year.  Then we met her parents in Tampa, and together enjoyed the Rays baseball game on Saturday night.  Fleda and I also visited a cousin of mine in Wesley Chapel, and we all visited Madison’s great-grandmother, who is in a nursing center in St. Pete.

Fleda and I enjoyed our usual quiet Fourth of July at home.  We watched the Independence Day celebration in Washington on the steps of the Capitol and on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

As we listened to powerful patriotic music, I thought about how securing freedom cost the pilgrims and the colonial patriots more than we can fully imagine. Then I found this piece by Robert Franklin, the president of Morehouse College.
 
“Before the original celebration of independence came great suffering and self-denial.  One hundred and fifty years before the Revolutionary War, the pilgrims of Plymouth (1620) endured brutal winters.  In fact, the history books indicate that 46 of the original 102 colonists perished from the lack of fresh food to eat and the inability to treat resulting diseases . . . . Think about it.  In the 1600s, Americans fought the elements to survive.  During the 1700s, Americans fought the British for their independence.  In the 1800s, Americans fought each other over the moral issue of slavery.  And during the 1900s, Americans fought international powers to protect freedom in the world.  In the days of the early 21st century, a divided nation would begin to slow march toward healing and unity . . . .  Then on 9/11, we were shaken to our collective core when a fateful attack killed several thousand.  I am proud to say, however, that in the fashion of our forefathers and mothers – with God as a directing force – we rallied to make sense of and learn from that devastating day in world history.”

I believe Dr. Franklin is right, and I pray that Americans will learn even more about how to seek God as a directing force and come together to find strength “at the broken places.”

Teaching Our Children to Know and Love God

Deuteronomy 6: 6 -7 says, “You must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.  Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”  The words are about teaching ourselves and our children the commands of God.  What are those commands?

In Deuteronomy these are the top two:  “Hear!” and “Love!”

God’s people are to hear that the LORD who brought them out of slavery is the one true God.                                                                                       God’s people are to Love the LORD with all that is in them.

 

Our job as a church today is to teach the command to hear God.  We teach the truth to ourselves and to the next generation.  The one true God is Yahweh, the LORD, who brought his people out of slavery in Egypt.   We teach that it was this God who came to us in the Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus is the best look we have at God and what God is like.  We commit ourselves wholeheartedly to the command to hear and live by his truth.  We are disciples – learners and followers – of Jesus.  And we teach those who come after us this same command.  Jesus of Nazareth is our clearest way of knowing the one true God.  Listen to him.

We teach ourselves and the next generation to obey the command: “Love God with all that is in you.”  What do we love when we love God?  We love people.  We learn to love them with unconditional love, the only kind of love that counts.  It is unselfish. It cares about the other person’s genuine happiness without expecting to get anything in return. “This how we know what real love is.  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for one another” (1John 3:16) 

At New Hope, we place the highest value on teaching ourselves and our children and their children to hear and love God.  That is why providing Bible study for children and adults is such a high priority for us.  That is why we need more space in which to do our teaching.

Friends and Trusting in God's Love

Henri Nouwen wrote,   “We need friends.  Friends guide us, care for us, confront us in love, console us in times of pain.  Although we speak of "making friends," friends cannot be made.  Friends are free gifts from God.  But God gives us the friends we need when we need them if we fully trust in God's love.

“Friends cannot replace God.  They have limitations and weaknesses like we have.  Their love is never faultless, never complete.  But in their limitations they can be signposts on our journey towards the unlimited and unconditional love of God.  Let's enjoy the friends whom God has sent on our way.”

God is the source of unconditional love.  Only God is Real Love.  We can be channels of it from time to time.  As Nouwen says, in our limitations we can be “signposts” to others on their "journey towards the unlimited and unconditional love of God."

I see in my life the truth of Nouwen's statement: "God gives us the friends we need when we need them if we fully trust in God's love." 

Not too far from where we live in DeLand is Blue Springs State Park.  You can rent an inner tube there and carry it up to the spring and float down the run on that clear, cool water.  The friends who understand Real Love and who have flowed into my life in recent years have given me the feeling of being carried along on the clear, cool stream of God's love.    

This past week, I had an opportunity to talk to someone about Real Love.  I offered to introduce her to "The Essentials of Real Love" Seminar on DVD.  Nothing gives me more happiness in ministry than teaching Real Love.  That is because I see so clearly that we can be the friends God sends into the lives of others, if they will receive God's gift.  I know that I have limitations and weaknesses, but I also know that I can contribute from time to time to the flow of God's love. I want to do that whenever, however, and as often as I can.  I see that you, my friends in God’s Real Love, can do the same. We don't replace God, but we can be friends to people who need us to be a gift from God. 

What the Mocking Bird Sang

Thank you, youth of New Hope. You led us in worship very well last Sunday. God bless you. We love you and look forward to having you lead us in worship again. Thank you Rachael Potter, Sarah Potter, Caleb Hinkle, Jaren Ford-Jones, and Toren Ford-Jones. Our thanks to your leaders: Leesa Holloway and Fred Griffith.

I am grateful to all of you who gave your time and shared your talents so readily at New Hope’s first Art Walk and Bake Sale last Sunday afternoon. Elaine Hardy conceived the idea, then, she and Kathy Stryker did a fine job of recruiting participants and organizing the event. The bake sale contributed $350 toward the Building Fund. We enjoyed being able to share our talents. We learned about each other. Some of you gave us a taste of your art or provided for us by means of your baking skills. My major contribution was buying and eating the baked goods. Thanks to all of you for your hard work.

Last Sunday morning there was a mocking bird up on at the peak of the roof of the A-Frame. That bird was singing loudly at 8:15, and I still heard him two and a half hours later as we entered worship.

According to what I have read on the Internet, male mocking birds are the most vocal. The singer last Sunday may have been a lonely bachelor looking for a mate. Maybe. But I heard that bird singing his heart out for us about what God is doing in New Hope. He was singing about our willingness to lay down our lives for one another, our desire to learn and grow together. He was singing about people coming forward at New Hope and saying, “I would like to see this ministry in our church and here is what I am willing to do to make it happen.” The mocking bird was not singing about how lonely he was. He was singing about how much God is blessing us. We are growing in every way you can measure growth: new believers in Christ, new members, new spiritual insights, dreams of the future, babies and toddlers, lives being changed toward Christ-likeness. That’s what I heard anyway.

It’s considered a sin to kill a mockingbird. Why? As Harper Lee says in To Kill a Mockingbird, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

Resurrection Celebration

Henri Nouwen wrote a meditation called “Smiles Breaking Through Tears.” Many people mourning the death of a loved one have found this to be a healing image.

“Dying is a gradual diminishing and final vanishing over the horizon of life. When we watch a sailboat leaving port and moving toward the horizon, it becomes smaller and smaller until we can no longer see it. But we must trust that someone is standing on a faraway shore seeing that same sailboat become larger and larger until it reaches its new harbor. Death is a painful loss. When we return to our homes after a burial, our hearts are in grief. But when we think about the One standing at the other shore eagerly waiting to welcome our beloved friend into a new home, a smile can break through our tears.”

On this Easter Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of our Master and Leader, Jesus, “the One standing at the other shore.” The news that he came back from the dead and lives forever gave the first disciples both a scare and the motivation to preach the Good News of a living Savior. The life of Jesus is our hope for new life, our courage to change, and the Spirit within us that makes us want to be a healthy church for his sake. And the resurrection gives us the strength to face the painful loss of our loved ones. He has defeated death. That is why on this resurrection Sunday we smile, sometimes through our tears and we proclaim, “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!”

New Hope Is Growing

We have come a long way. Our church is growing. I don’t want us to forget how far we have come. We have seen God’s work among us in powerful ways. To paraphrase a prayer that I’ve heard called an “old slave prayer,” We are not what we ought to be. We are not what we’re going to be. But, praise God, we are not what we used to be.

• Let’s remember that we have several young families with children who have joined us and become active in recent times.

• Let’s thank God for lives being changed.

• Let’s give God credit for bringing us out of debt and into an ability to put money in savings.

As we have been talking about, we need to add classroom space for our children, youth, and adult Bible Study classes. Now is the time for us to begin our Building Fund Campaign. We need to raise $60,000 in order to buy the classroom building we have voted to purchase. Look for informational brochures and Building Fund Offering envelopes coming soon.

Together we can and will further the growth we see taking place. We will make room for the numbers of people responding to Christ, learning to love God and people, and growing in serving God together.

An Image of Life Beyond Death by Henri Nouwen

Here is a compelling image of hope that many people have loved and held onto as they mourn a much loved person who has died.

"Dying is a gradual diminishing and final vanishing over the horizon of life. When we watch a sailboat leaving port and moving toward the horizon, it becomes smaller and smaller until we can no longer see it. But we must trust that someone is standing on a faraway shore seeing that same sailboat become larger and larger until it reaches its new harbor. Death is a painful loss. When we return to our homes after a burial, our hearts are in grief. But when we think about the One standing at the other shore eagerly waiting to welcome our beloved friend into a new home, a smile can break through our tears."

New Hope Mortgage Burning Ceremony

Who is like you, LORD God Almighty?

You, LORD, are mighty in your love and power, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

Surely the LORD has brought us to this place in our church’s history. God has prospered us.

We have built on a foundation that others have laid. God has shown us the way.

“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”

Lord, we give you all the praise for the building we have done.

Our Church is your house. We are the work of your hands. We are your people, the sheep of your pasture.

We are in Christ, the living Cornerstone of God’s dwelling place.

We are the living stones being built into God’s dwelling place.

We give our future to you, God.

We place our church into your hands.

Use us to build a great church for the sake of the Good News of Jesus Christ, which you give us to tell and to live.

Without God’s help we could not have come this far. Without God’s intervention, we would not be where we are today.

We are debt free and ready to serve God with all of our might.

An Inventory of Things I Enjoy

I am grateful to God for things I enjoy in life. Here are a few.

Every morning I enjoy getting up when Fleda does. Since she works as a reading coach to teachers at two schools in Deltona she gets up at 5:15. I make her a cup of tea (after I make my first cup of coffee), a boiled egg to take for lunch and a bowl of oatmeal. I enjoy being at home with Fleda in the evening and watching our favorite TV show, Jeopardy.

I enjoy reading some books that don’t have directly to do with preparing sermons. Right now I am reading The Biography of Steve Jobs and The Biography of Benjamin Franklin, both by Walter Isaacson. I also read four periodicals: “Baptists Today,” “The Christian Century,” “Time Magazine,” and “Christian Ethics Today.”

As a pastor, I have always liked to make hospital visits. Counseling and pastoral conversations are also important to me. For a couple of years now I have been what the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship calls a convenor of a Peer Learning Group. A group of 13 mostly pastors (Dennis Bucher, Shane Gaster, and Ben Collins are in our group) meets every month except in the summer. We have lunch together and discuss books we have read, materials and ideas that have helped us to be better in serving our churches, and things that have helped us to grow spiritually.

The list runs on. I thank God for the many ways I enjoy living.

The Ten Commandments as Evidence of God's Love

The Ten Commandments are God’s new agreement with his people after he led them out of slavery in Egypt. They are God’s way of helping them to stay on the road to freedom. God gave the commandments for their good and for ours.

As much as they were for the Jewish people coming out of slavery and heading to the Promised Land, the Ten Commandments are for us, because God does not want us hurt. God wants to give us freedom from slavery and life in abundance. And freedom does not come from obeying a set of rules. Freedom comes when we have God’s guidance written on our hearts, as we know that God is with us and for us.

In many of the stories in the Hebrew Bible, we see that God appears as a God who defends us against our enemies, protects us against dangers, and guides us to freedom. God is God-for-us.

Henri Nouwen wrote, “ When Jesus comes, a new dimension of the covenant is revealed. In Jesus, God is born, grows to maturity, lives, suffers, and dies as we do. God is God-with-us. Finally, when Jesus leaves he promises the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit, God reveals the full depth of the covenant. God wants to be as close to us as our breath. God wants to breathe in us, so that all we say, think and do is completely inspired by God. God is God-within-us. Thus God's covenant reveals to us to how much God loves us.”

Deacons at New Hope

· The New Testament Greek word for deacon (diakonos) means “servant.”

· Deacons at New Hope are assigned a group of church members to care for in a way that is very much like being an associate pastor. Pastor is a Latin word meaning “shepherd.” It helps if a deacon has the spiritual gift of shepherding. (This gift causes a person to care about individuals and be concerned to prevent them from wandering away from the whole flock of the church). The spiritual gift of mercy is also a good one for a deacon to have, since he or she is going to be called on to visit people when they are ill and when their bereaved.

· We need deacons who are willing to serve for three years, meeting monthly to pray together and train for pastoral ministry.

· On the whole, past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

· Here is what 1Timothy 3: 8-13 (Message) says about deacons. “… serious, not deceitful, not too free with the bottle, not in it for what they can get out of it. They must be reverent before the mystery of the faith, not using their position to try to run things. Let them prove themselves first. If they show they can do it, take them on. No exceptions are to be made for women—same qualifications: serious, dependable, not sharp-tongued, not overfond of wine. Servants in the church are to be committed to their spouses, attentive to their own children, and diligent in looking after their own affairs. Those who do this servant work will come to be highly respected, a real credit to this Jesus-faith.”

God's Love Flows Through Many Human Channels

I found an old notebook in which I had written some notes and personal reflections back in the 80s and 90s. This stood out to me, because it connected so directly with what we have been learning about Real Love. Dr. Bernie Seigel wrote a book called Love, Medicine, and Miracles back in the early 80s. In it he talked about the importance of faith, hope, and love to healing from life-threatening diseases like cancer. This is what I wrote in my notebook in 1989.

“Dr. Bernie Siegel describes his awareness of being loved and wanted as a child. His mother suffered from severe hyperthyroidism. She was so thin that her doctor told her she could have no children. She found another doctor who agreed to go through a pregnancy with her provided she gained 30 pounds. Her Jewish mother fed her constantly. She had a traumatic delivery. The baby’s face was damaged by the forceps. “My Grandmother stepped in, anointing and stroking my face until the damage healed, relieving my mother of the distress and continuing the unconditional love. So I received the message that I was loved unconditionally.” He goes on to talk about what a power that was in his life. Then he says it was hard for him to learn that about 80% of his patients had not received unconditional love.

Real Love, unconditional love is what we all need as much as we need air. And God makes it available to all of us in Christ. He pays the price to forgive us, shows us God’s love, and makes His love flow through many human channels.

A New Chapter for New Hope

It does feel to me like we at New Hope is entering into a new chapter in our history. We began 2012 with higher attendance and larger offerings than we had been seeing. As Boyd Frank told us at our business meeting, we continue to grow and if we continue at the same rate, our worship attendance by 2015 will average 175. We have some babies and toddlers with us every Sunday and Wednesday. We want to learn how to serve their families and reach more young families, as well.

Imitation Love

Without sufficient Real Love we use getting behaviors to try to fill our emptiness with imitation love.

Lying,

Attacking,

Acting Like a Victim,

Clinging

Without sufficient Real Love we become afraid and try to protect ourselves with the protecting behaviors. Lying, Attacking, Acting Like a Victim, Running

As Christians, we have the great challenge and wonderful gift of receiving God’s Real Love into ourselves so that we are not empty and afraid. Our calling is not only to admire Christ, but also to become like Christ.

The writer Paul compared the process of becoming like Jesus to killing off old behaviors and learning an whole new way of living. Using the Real Love language, I would say that as we grow in our ability to be filled with Real Love, we give up our getting and protecting behaviors, stop trying to fill ourselves with imitation love.

This is the way Paul wrote about it to the Christians in Colossae:

“Now you must quit being angry, hateful, and evil. You must no longer say insulting or cruel things about others. Don't be controlled by your body. Kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex. Don't be immoral or indecent or have evil thoughts. Don't be greedy, which is the same as worshiping idols. And stop lying to each other. You have given up your old way of life with its habits.

Each of you is now a new person. You are becoming more and more like your Creator, and you will understand him better.

It doesn't matter what your racial or national or religious background is, Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient.

Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you.”

Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.”

Sugar Babies and Soul Food

Do you remember Sugar Babies? They still make those sugary caramel beans. I used to love them when I went to the “Picture Show” at the Colony Theater in Easley, South Carolina. The Sugar Babies tasted great but didn’t nourish me. For nourishment, I ate my grandmother’s Pinto beans, turnip greens, cornbread, and stewed beef. That was “soul food.”

Today, I am beginning to understand that possessions, pleasure, people’s praise, power to impress people, and safety from failure don’t feed my soul. They are Sugar Babies. The love of God is soul food.

Real Love is the love of God, unconditional love that cares about the well being of others without expecting anything in return. Real Love is grace. Imitation love is the praise, power, pleasure, and safety you try to get from other people, and it brings only temporary satisfaction and starves your soul. Real Love flows to you from God through people who have enough of it to give. They give it to you because God is Love and because you need to feel loved. If you try to earn it, you are going after imitation love. If you will give up trying to appear to deserve it and accept it just as you are, Real Love is yours.

More than any other writer in the Bible, John talks about God’s love as Real Love. He says God gave us an image of Real Love when he sent His Son into the world to lay down his life for us. He says Jesus’ example of Real Love is our inspiration for how we will live in the church. Most Christians know John 3:16 by heart. Let’s learn 1John 3:16 – “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”

Plans for 2012

As I think about New Hope goals for 2012, developing a plan for having more room to grow is at the top of the list. It looks like God is bringing us new hope for healthy growth. We have children and their parents in our programs on both Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. That reality and three other factors enable us to plan for growth.

· Our church is off to a good financial start for 2012. We finished the year with money to put into savings. We have $13,000 in our Building Fund. (Thank you for your faithful giving.)

· Our Church Council has made plans for getting us a site plan that will provide a vision of where we can go in the future with expanded buildings.

· Thanks to the foresight of founding pastor Tom Kelsey and other New Hope leaders, we have a wonderful piece of property on which to build.

Six years ago, God gave me two life-changing things at the same time: becoming pastor of New Hope Baptist Church and knowledge of the principles of Real Love. In God’s providence, I was given a church to love and the knowledge that “our souls require feeling loved in just as real a way as our bodies require air and food.” Greg Baer’s Real Love Bible Study Workbook and his “Essentials of Real Love Seminar” on DVDs have changed the way I see human sinfulness and the Bible’s assertion that “God is love.” I plan to present what I have learned to the church I love as clearly as I can in a series of sermons. Here is the plan.

January 8 What Is Real Love and Why Do We Need It? 1John4:10; Isaiah 55:1-3

January 15 Imitation Love: Sugar Babies vs. Soul Food

January 22 Getting and Protecting Behaviors, also Known as Sin

January 29 Changing Your Judgment of People

February 5 Getting Love So That You Can Give It: A River of Life Flowing Out of Me John 4:7-26

February 12 The Law of Choice and the Law of Consequences

February 17 What Can Real Love Do for a Church?

February 24 Real Love and Eternal Life

Waiting on the Lord

When Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem he was eight days old. There they met a man named Simeon. “He loved God,” the Gospel of Luke says, “and was waiting for God to save the people of Israel. God's Spirit came to him and told him that he would not die until he had seen Christ the Lord” (4:25-26). Simeon had been waiting patiently for God to fulfill his promise. We don’t know how old Simeon was, but it is likely that he had been waiting a long time when he finally saw eight-day-old Jesus. Think about it: this man did not give up. If he had failed to wait on the Lord, he would have missed his reason for being alive.

We need the faith and patience of Simeon, because we too are called on to wait for what we want from God. What matters is not how long we have to wait for what we want, but the kind of persons we become in the waiting.

Here are the questions to ask yourself as you think of what you are “waiting on the Lord” to see. Am I becoming more loving? Am I becoming more patient? Am I honestly praying, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven?” Am I trusting God to use me to get his will done?

You may be aware that Billy Graham turned 93 recently. In his wonderful book, Nearing Home, he says, “I was taught how to die, but nobody ever taught me how to grow old.” He writes that his wife Ruth wanted a specific saying on her tombstone. She was driving through an area of road construction once. When she finally came to the end of all the markers and equipment along the road, she saw this sign: “END OF CONSTRUCTION. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE.” Those words are over her grave. They are about waiting patiently for the Lord. Each of us is a construction project. We need patience to wait on the Lord.