Tag: love
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Loving for Real
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been examining Paul’s challenge to the church in Rome regarding love. He calls us to love without hypocrisy. He calls us to commit to loving in a profound way. Love is different from being nice. Love is real. Love is committed. Love rejoices with those who rejoice.…
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God’s Love Shown
How do we know people love us? Sometimes we know because they tell us. However, most often we know that people love us because of what they do. These actions are pictures of love. One of the great surprises we experience in life is the love of others. We are surprised that others value us. …
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The Needed Mercy of God
I was contemplating mercy this week. Mercy is unusual. It is a reality that can only be accepted by those who need it. And yet, many who need it refuse to admit that they do. Why do we need mercy? We need mercy because of sin. Sin make us lost. Being lost makes us separated…
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Loving the Lost
My wife says often, “If wishes were fishes we would all be in the sea.” We wish a lot of things. As a Christian, I wish often that the people around me all knew Jesus. Sometimes, I even think so highly of them that I avoid thinking about their lostness. I avoid seeing that they…
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Conquering in Christ
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:28 It breaks my…
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Not About Me
Isn’t church all about me? Isn’t it about my wants, my wishes, my hopes, and my dreams? Are you saying right now, “No, of course not! It’s about Jesus!”? It is about Jesus, but do we make it sometimes about us? Paul spoke to the Corinthian church about something like this. He said, “For I…
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Praying with Confidence
Think for a moment who you call when you need help… It probably is a short list. Yet, the people on it are people that you can call on with confidence. How do you know that? You know it because those people have shown that they are committed to you. They have been there when…
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Judging’s Secret Deceptions
Paul says in Romans, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (2:4) Kindness. Repentance. When was the last time that we thought about how we are drawn to God? When was the last time we considered…
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Growing Our Strong Children
Strong willed children are a unique challenge for parents. For some reason, it seems as if they are specifically wired to challenge everything authority asks of them. However, those same children are amazing adults. The trick is getting them from the experimenting toddler to the confident adult without everyone going crazy. I pulled the following…
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Starting the New Year Right
As we begin the New Year, this is a time that we look both to the past and to the future. We look to the past thinking about where we have been. We use that past to think about where we want to go in the future. Are you thinking about your future? Are you…
Pastor John D Jakes 