Welcome to a new edition of the Weekend Sermon. It is good to be able to post the sermon today, and I am thankful to the Lord for this continuing opportunity. I hope that everyone is doing well.
This week was very busy at work. I have a very full schedule next week as well. I thank the Lord for providing work, and I thank him for the opportunities that He has given to me to work as a writer.
I do have one thing that I would like everyone to pray about. They are calling for more heavy rain in my area over the course of the next few days. As I mentioned before, earlier this month, we had flooding in my area. My house did have a few issues. Please pray that this new rain will not be heavy, and that there will not be any flooding. Thank you.
Please continue to pray for those harmed by natural disasters around the world. Those in Central Texas, the US Southeast and Indonesia need our continuing prayers.
The nation of Yemen needs our prayers in a special way. I saw a report on the news the other night about the extensive famine that is occurring in that nation. Yemen is war torn and experiencing many troubles. Please pray for peace, and pray that the needs of the people will be met.
Continue to pray for peace in this world. Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and South Sudan need our prayers.
For those who live in the US, Tuesday is election day. Please be in prayer. Ask the Lord to show you His will before voting.
Please pray for the protection of endangered species. Please pray that the nations and people of the world will act to preserve that which God has made.
For our prayer focus countries this week, please pray for those in Bangladesh and Tajikistan. Pray that many will hear of the grace and love of Jesus.
As you are aware, we have been studying the last few chapters of the book of Romans for the past few weeks. Last week, we looked at what is often a misunderstood and controversial passage in the first part of Romans chapter 13. Today, we will continue to look at chapter 13 focusing on verses 8 through 10. These verses instruct us to follow the law of love.
In verse 8, the Apostle Paul tells us to owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. Love is the fulfillment of the law.
Believe it or not, this verse can sometimes be controversial. Some believe that this verse means that a Christian should never have any type of debt. Some take this verse so far as to say that no Christian should have a mortgage on their home or a car loan. In this interpretation, a Christian should only purchase something when they can purchase it in full.
I believe that we should not get into debt if we can help it. Getting into debt gets you into a lot of problems. I can tell you this from first hand experience. However, most people wouldn't be able to buy a house if they couldn't purchase it over time. I think that Paul is making a bigger point here.
Paul is telling us that in order to fulfill all of the law, we have to be those who love God and love our neighbors. This is similar to what Jesus said.
At one time during His earthly ministry, Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment. Jesus said to love God with all ones heart, mind, soul and strength was the greatest commandment. He went on to tell us that we should also love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus said that all of the law and the prophets is summed up in these two commandments.
Paul looks at some of the Ten Commandments and shows us that they are fulfilled by loving one's neighbor. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you won't commit adultery, theft or murder. You won't covet your neighbor's possessions. We could also say that if we love the Lord with all that is within us, we will not take the Lord's name in vain and we will not place any other gods before the True and Living God. Paul will say again, love is the fulfillment of the law.
As followers of Jesus, we have the obligation to love the world just as He loved the world. If we act out of love in the way that Jesus acted out of love, we will not have to worry about obeying the law or violating the teachings and the commandments of the Lord Jesus.
Now, what does it look like to love God with all that we have within us and to love our neighbor as ourselves. As far as I understand it, to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength means to love the Lord completely and fully. Everything that we do in life should be centered around honoring and pleasing the Lord. If we love Him, we will serve Him. We will follow the path that He has set out before us. We will do what He wills and not what we will. Even if it costs us all that we have, we will remain faithful to Him because we love Him.
Loving one's neighbor means to seek that which is best for the other person. I believe that love for one's neighbor starts by following the Golden Rule set forth by Jesus. Jesus taught us that we should treat others the way that we would like to be treated. Do unto others as you would have done to you. If we start with this, we are showing love for our neighbors.
Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate what it means to show love to others. In that parable, the Good Samaritan went out of his way to help someone that needed his assistance. In the same way, we show love for others when we see a need and we seek to meet that need in the life of the other person.
We show love for our neighbors when we feed the hungry and clothe the naked. We show love for our neighbors when we help those who need assistance with the necessities of life. I also believe that we show love for our neighbors when we work to make this planet a better place to live. We show love by doing that which preserves the land, the air and the water.
There is a lot of need in this world both physical and spiritual. We when act in love as Jesus did, we help others to know about Jesus and His love, and we help to make this world a better place for the honor and glory of the Lord.
Next week, the schedule on the blog will be a little different. I will post the sermon on Friday next week as I have to work on Saturday. I will post the verses on Monday, and I will post a review on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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