Getting To Know God --- God is LOVEGetting To Know God THE CREATOR CLOCK
Pastor Rory Clark Barah Ministries www.barahministires.com
Hi there!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark. Barah Ministries has a worldwide reach and an intimate impact on lives, through the gracious provision of our omnipotent God, the Lord Jesus Christ. One of His many blessings is the internet, and through it, anyone with access can be reached with His Word.
I have a question for you…
What Do You Know About God?
These ten-minute lessons introduce you to God and make you aware of some of His attributes. To help you remember the Lord’s attributes, we’ll use The Creator Clock so you will recognize a few of the many things that are unique and special about your CREATOR. Tick Tock…what time is it on the Creator Clock?
<CREATOR CLOCK SLIDE>
It’s the part of the clock that is timeless…the center of the clock…and at the center of the Creator Clock, just like the center of our Creator, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, there is LOVE.
TODAY’S LESSON God is LOVE
If you’re watching this lesson…fix your eyes right at the center of The Creator Clock. If you are not watching, but just listening, imagine the center of The Creator Clock.
<CREATOR CLOCK SLIDE>
What do you see there, either actually or in your mind’s eye? LOVE. God is love. What does that mean? It means that at the very center of God’s essence is unconditional love, a love that radiates outward…a love that influences every other part of God’s essence. Underlying ALL of God’s dealings with us is unconditional love.
What is unconditional love?
Let’s begin with what unconditional love isn’t. Unconditional love isn’t emotional love. Unconditional love isn’t conditional love. Unconditional love isn’t a feeling. Those are the ways we love as humans…emotionally…conditionally…with feelings. We are dumbstruck with affection for another person. We love them as long as they do the things we like…as long as they meet our conditions. When they no longer meet our conditions we drop them like a bad habit. Human love is fleeting…it’s mercurial.
God’s love is unconditional. What does unconditional love look like? Let’s see if the kind of love you have for others measures up. At every wedding you hear this biblical passage…First Corinthians, Chapter 13, Verses 4 to 8…
1CO 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind and love is not jealous; love does not brag and love is not arrogant…
1CO 13:5 …love does not act unbecomingly; love does not seek its own, love is not provoked, love does not take into account a wrong suffered…
1CO 13:6 …love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but love rejoices with the truth…
1CO 13:7 …love bears all things, love believes all things, love hopes all things, love endures all things.
1CO 13:8 Love never fails…
Is this the love you have for others, especially others you can’t stand? Hardly. Yet in the midst of the romance of the wedding ceremony, we coo over the love this passage describes…but this love is not a romantic and emotional love…the love that is in view here gets lost on the hearers…unconditional love.
What is unconditional love?
It is all the things described in the First Corinthians thirteen passage…but mostly it is absolute…without shifting shadow…it is unlimited…and it is not influenced by anything you do or don’t do. It’s the perfect love when someone is not loveable. It’s a love that none of us have without God’s help. First John, Chapter 4, Verses 7 to 11…
1JO 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another unconditionally, for unconditional love is from God the Father; and everyone who loves unconditionally is born of God the Father and knows God the Father.
1JO 4:8 The one who does not love unconditionally does not know God the Father, for God the Father IS unconditional love (in His very Person!)
1JO 4:9 By this the unconditional love of God the Father was manifested in us, that God the Father has sent His uniquely born Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) into the world so that we might live (the resurrection life) through Him.
1JO 4:10 In this sending of His Son is unconditional love, not that we loved God the Father, but that He loved us unconditionally, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1JO 4:11 Beloved, if God the Father so loved us unconditionally, and He did, we also ought to love one another unconditionally.
Here is one of the best songs I have ever heard that describes God’s unconditional love…it’s sung by our Song Worship Leader June Murphy, and it’s called…
MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
WHEN I SAY I LOVE YOU June Murphy
Unconditional love is one of the things that Satan and the world have no answer for. John, Chapter 3, Verse 16…
JOH 3:16 “For God the Father so loved the world (unconditionally and so much), that the Father gave His uniquely born Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 8…
ROM 5:8 But God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
John, Chapter 15, Verse 13…
JOH 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
There is much more to say about God’s unconditional love, but this is a great start. Come back for more…
Tick Tock…what time is it on The Creator Clock?
CREATOR CLOCK SLIDE
It’s time for LOVE!
If you like these short lessons, visit our website at www.barahministries.com. That’s www.B-A-R-A-H-ministries.com. We have two different one-hour lessons per week to edify your spiritual life.
Keep on getting to know God.
I’m Pastor Rory Clark.
Pastor Rory Clark Barah Ministries www.barahministires.com |