Welcome to another edition of the Weekend Sermon. Today, we will be focusing on the attributes of God once again. After this week's message, I have one more message on this topic to wrap up this series. After Easter, we will begin a new series of messages. Thank you for taking the time to read the sermon this week.
Today, I want us to focus on the fact that God is love. This is the attribute of God that most people in the world know about and understand in the most detail. I believe that that is because of the fact that God has clearly demonstrated His loving nature to us in many ways.
As I've done throughout most of this series, I want us to look at just a few of the verses in the Bible that speak about the love of God.
I John 4:8 -- "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love."
I John 4:10-11 -- "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Romans 5:8 -- "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Psalm 136:26 -- "Give thanks to the God of Heaven, for His love endures forever."
John 3:16 -- "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but will have everlasting life."
These verses are some of the greatest verses in all of the Bible. They just give us a glimpse into the vastness of the love of God.
The first thing that I want to point out is that God loves the world. By that, the Bible means that God loves the entire universe and all that He has made. His love is not just centered on the human race. God in His nature is love, so He loves all that has been created by the word of His power. Because God loves all that He has made, He is concerned about the welfare of everything and every single creature in the universe. In the book of Jonah, God expressed concern over the people of Nineveh as well as the animals that lived in that city.
Because of His love for all creation, God will one day redeem the entire creation at the Second Coming of the Lord. All things will be made new. The creation that is now groaning in travail as the Bible says will one day be released from all of its suffering.
The second thing that I want us to focus on is the fact that God loves us His human creation in spite of the fact that we sinned against Him and rebelled against Him and His holy law. Because He is a holy and just God, He had to punish sin. But because God is love, He made a way to redeem people from their sins and bring us back to Himself. As Paul says, through Jesus Christ, God was able to be both just and the justifier of those who put their faith and trust in His Son.
Jesus, who is God come in the flesh, loved us and gave Himself for us. In His love, He left the glories of Heaven and took upon Himself the form of a servant. He came to serve and not to be served. In His love for us, He lived a holy and sinless life in order that He might be our perfect example in all things. The love of Jesus Christ for us led Him to lay down His life for us. He bore our sins in His body on the cross out of love in order that those who trust in Him might be redeemed. Jesus rose from the dead in love for us that we might not have to fear death, hell and the grave. He has prepared a place for us in love, because He wants those of us who love Him to be with Him forever in the Father's House.
Jesus loves you. He invites you to come to Him. Something that I want to really emphasize is that Jesus loves everyone. He invites everyone and anyone to come to Him so that they might have abundant life in and through Him. Whosoever will may come. The love of God is available to everyone. He invites you to come to Him.
Now, as we close this message, we as followers of Jesus need to realize that because of the fact that God is love, we need to be people who love God and love one another. If we do not love others, we cannot say that we love God. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. The second commandment was to love our neighbor as ourselves. According to Jesus, if we follow these two commandments, we will fulfill all the Law and the Prophets.
Let us rejoice in the love of God. Let His love fill us so that we might spread His love to others. Amen.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for all of the people around the world who are suffering as a result of natural disasters. Turkey, Syria, Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar and California need our prayers. Pray that the people will receive the aid that they need.
Pray for an end to the sickness and disease that is plaguing the world. First of all, I want to thank the Lord that the flu and rsv aren't that bad in the US right now. We still need to pray for those with covid. Pray for an end to cholera in Africa and ebola in Africa. I also heard that there is a disease outbreak in Equatorial Guinea. Pray that the sick will recover.
Continue to pray for peace in this world. Let us focus our prayers intently on an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in the nations of Jordan and Mauritania. Pray that many will come to know Jesus.
Next week, we will finish our series of messages on the attributes of God. I will post the verses on Monday and maybe something midweek. May God bless you all.
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