Love From Your Pastor

Hi FBC Friends!

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And He (Jesus) said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40, ESV)

“The order of these two great commandments is important. Jesus did not teach that, in order to be in a loving relationship with God, his disciples must first love their neighbors. He taught instead that the “great and first commandment” is to love God with one’s entire being, and elsewhere Scripture makes clear that this love for God is possible only because God loved believers first (1 John 4:19; see also Rom. 5:8). A loving commitment to God, initiated by God himself, results in love for one’s neighbor. When we love God, we love what and whom he loves—because we desire to please and honor him.

In 2 Corinthians 8:1–7, Paul demonstrated how this works in practical terms. He used the Macedonian Christians as an example of unselfish generosity, to urge the Corinthian Christians toward the same kind of generosity. Although poor themselves, he says, the Macedonians gave beyond all expectation: “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us” (2 Cor. 8:5). Jesus’ disciples do not earn God’s favor by loving their neighbors; they love God because he has shown them his grace and mercy through the sacrificial love of Jesus, and this love for God overflows in love for others (Eph. 4:32–5:2).” (Gospel Transformation Bible)

What a great reminder of the ultimate priority in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ – love!  Are you loving God with your whole being?  Are you loving your neighbor as yourself?  What practical ways is that being demonstrated in your life?

This Sunday I will be speaking on Revelation 3:14-22, “The Message to Laodicea”.  This is the last of the messages to the 7 churches, and perhaps the most disturbing.  Please read through the passage and see why I say it’s disturbing!  Some key questions to ponder, 1) How does the Laodicean church compare to the modern church in America?  2) How does the Laodicean church compare to FBC Brownsville?  3)  How does the Laodicean church compare to your own life personally?

January 31, at 8:00am, there is a Men’s Breakfast Fundraiser at Adult & Teen Challenge, located 31700 Fayetteville Dr., in Shedd.  Talk to Ivan Stutzman or Carolyn Jackson if you’d like to attend.  I believe we have 2 or 3 tables.  A great opportunity to support a fantastic ministry!

March 1, we will be having a baptism service during the morning worship service.  If you are interested in baptism, please speak to me soon.  If you have a child interested, please speak to Doris Trimble or Alice Tetamore.  Classes for kids will begin Feb. 1.

Loving God & people, because He loved us first!…

Love From Your Pastor,

Michael