February 29, 2012

^"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;  whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

James W. Moore says, "One of the greatest comedy acts in the history of show business was the beloved husband and wife team of George Burns and Gracie Allen. In real life, Gracie Allen was a bright, wise businesswoman, but she always played the part of a naive, off-the-wall personality, sweetly simple in her approach to life. On one of their radio programs, Gracie became very upset because her new electric clock kept losing time. Each day it lost lots of time, so she finally called a repairman. He discovered the problem immediately. There was nothing wrong with the clock--it just wasn’t plugged in! "When George asked Gracie why it was unplugged she said, 'Well, I only need it when I need to know what time it is and I decided to turn it off in between to save electricity.'" God's CRAZY LOVE is all around us because He is an Infinite, Eternal Spirit Who is all around us. As we have learned, He reveals His love through His creation and through His character and especially, through His Christ. CRAZY LOVE is a constant. God doesn't turn it off and on. It isn't conditional. It isn't fickle. I can't be earned. You can't buy it because it has already been paid for. You can connect with it and plug into it by trusting Christ as your personal Savior. When you receive Him you receive God's love. CRAZY LOVE is eternal love that brings eternal life but it must be lived out in time and how you use that time will impact your eternity. To keep CRAZY LOVE love fresh and real and growing in your life you must make time for God and His Word. You must make time to worship Him and work for Him and walk with Him! To get to an eternal place where time doesn't matter you must learn to use your time wisely and order your life well. Staying plugged into CRAZY LOVE in the midst of crazy living requires a moment by moment relationship with an eternal God. Relationships require time. It takes time to know God and to grow in God. How do you find the time to nurture CRAZY LOVE? You make it! You take time from things you shouldn't love and give it to the One you love and desire to love more. You schedule time for Bible study. You schedule time for prayer. You schedule time for worship and for serving Him. If you say you love God but you give Him no time or if you squeeze Him around the edges of your day you may be fooling yourself. Your day-timer is evidence of your true love. Your time goes to where your heart is. Don't lose God's CRAZY LOVE in the middle of crazy living. Set aside time to start your day with God and order your day around Him! Live each day like it's your last and you WILL last!

February 28, 2012

^"For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."  Romans 5:7-10

In one of our LIFE Groups last night there was some discussion about the significance of the title "CRAZY LOVE".

That question didn't come up in my group but if it had I would have answered this way - at least for today!

You are familiar with the definition of insanity that maintains "insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results."

By that standard you could make a case for God's love being a little crazy! The Bible tells us that God demonstrated His love before people recognized it or even recognized they needed it. That seems a little crazy to pay such a heavy price for people who either ignorant about God's love or indifferent to it.

But now, for the past 2,000 years since the death and resurrection of Christ, God has continued to show His love for sinners. He keeps loving and they keep sinning. That seems crazy!

If God stopped loving these arrogant, clueless sinners and rained judgment down on them like He did for Sodom and Gomorrah that would make sense in my reasoning. But God just keeps loving sinners and calling sinners and woeing them with His love. Crazy!

But really, who is the crazy one, is it those who continually refuse to receive His love. Do is it those people who think they can ignore or disregard His love and then expect to get to Heaven? That's crazy! Or is the loving God the Crazy One because He just keeps offering that love?

God's not crazy. Love isn't something He does, love is Who He is! He is not being crazy to keep loving unrepentent and unresponsive people - He is simply being Himself! To stop loving He would have to stop being God and that's impossible!

But you CAN change! You CAN stop ignoring His love or abusing His love or refusing His love and you are crazy not to! Will you turn from your crazy ways and receive His crazy love?

February 27, 2012

^"And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John 1:16-17

Imagine a universe filled with 350 billion galaxies and 93 billion light years to the edge of it! That is HUGE!

Now, think of a God Who is so powerful and vast that He can fill every square inch of that universe with His presence! This is the One Who spoke that universe into being with His voice and Who maintains its balance by His will.

That same God was Who was in your service this morning was also present at the outer edge of the universe and the inner most places of your soul! Are you impressed yet?

Contemplate this, God, through His Holy Spirit can dwell within people of faith who have received Him - all at the same time! Even as I write these lines He is in me and in you as fully as we allow Him to be.

Blessed yet?

While He dwells simultaneously in every believer He fills each one individually with the precise truth he needs and adequate amount of grace for that moment. It will be different for you and for me but it will be according to our needs!

How about one more crazy love factoid? While is giving you and me the exactly the measures of truth and grace we need ourselves, He can also give me the grace and truth I will need to encourage you!

What sort of love is this?

God's love! A crazy, unconditional, satisfying, fulfilling and transforming love!

If you don't have it you can get it! This love surrounds you and fills the universe! But you can't earn it or purchase it. You can only receive it as a free gift when you repent of your sins and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior!

You would have to be crazy to not receive His crazy love!

February 26, 2012

When you want to express the inexpressible, look to a poet. It doesn’t take you long to run out of adjectives when you begin trying to describe the amazing infinite love of God. Nearly 100 years ago, a gentleman by the name of Frederick Martin Lehman penned this poem that was later put to music in a hymn called appropriately – “The Love of God”.

I think he captures it pretty well! See what you think.

The love of God is greater far, Than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, And pardoned from his sin.

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure  The saints' and angels' song.

When age and time shall pass away, And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;
When men who here refuse to pray, On rocks and hills and mountains call;
God's love, so sure, shall still endure, All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam's race — The saints' and angels' song.

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure  The saints' and angels' song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made;

Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above, Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure  The saints' and angels' song.

WOW! What a CRAZY love!

February 25, 2012

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,  if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”  Philippians 3:7-11

So, God has a plan and a pattern to reveal His crazy love to us!

He hopes to catch your attention and your awe by the majestic beauty of His creation. Once you look at the sky above and the flowers around He wants you to think, “I need to check into God and find out Who He is.”

Once you begin to study His Word and listen to sermons and talk to Christians you discover not only is God a great Creator but His character is even more inspiring. Learning about His holiness and His Omniscience and His Omnipotence combined with His justice, mercy and grace, many want to know Him even better.

Knowledge is good but experience is better! Knowing about God is inspiring but KNOWING God is transformational. The only way to know God’s love is to receive God’s Son, Jesus!

I had heard many good things about Barbara before I met her. We had some mutual friends who sang her praises and encouraged me to meet her. Years before I met her I had heard of her healing story and had even seen it on the TV show “That’s Incredible!”

Everything I heard about her got my attention and inspired a desire to want to know more.  So, I got her telephone number from my friends and called her. The talk we had over the phone made me want to meet her in person, so I asked her out.

The more time I spent with her left me wanting to spend more time with her.  Now, after 25 years of marriage I still feel the same way! Loving her and being loved by her has changed my life.

So it is with God! First, He gets your attention through nature and creation causing you to want to know Him more. As you learn of Him through the Scriptures and as you see His love manifest in people who know Him, you find a desire growing within you to know Him, too. To know God in a more personal and intimate way so you can receive His love you must get to know Jesus.

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 have everlasting life.”

Romans 5:8 – “God demonstrated His love in this way, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

I John 4:7-10 – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

To receive the CRAZY LOVE of God, look around at His Creation, then look into His Character and then fall in love with His Christ. Receive Christ and you receive love!

February 24, 2012

^“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  I John 4:7-11

The Beatles stumbled into it, sort of, when they sang, “All we need is love. Love is all we need.”

We DO need love! We were created for it and wired for it and we long for it and we suffer when we don’t have it.

As kids, we found it easy to sing “Jesus loves me this I know” and we meant it! But now it seems so complicated! Why is love so hard? And why is it so hard to love God as we should? How is it we struggle to receive Him love?

In short, I think the answer lies in two words, “sin” and “synthetic”.

When you willfully sin it separates you from God and His love. You long for that love but in your sinful, selfish state, you tend to look for it in all the wrong places. Since sin separates and alienates you from God you make bad decisions that complicate your life and your relationships. Each time you do it erects more barriers between you and the real love God wants you to have!

Finding love in the wrong places and for the wrong reasons results in “synthetic” love – a poor imitation of the real thing. Synthetic love doesn’t satisfy and leaves you more lonely and frustrated and feeling unloved. After awhile you begin to feel unlovable – to God and everyone else. Once you allow yourself to believe you are unlovable you will begin to find ways to prove how unlovable you are! As long as you settle for synthetic love, it is all you will have. You can’t receive His crazy love because of your brand of crazy love.

Sadly, while you are locked in this downward spiral of sin and synthetic love, God continues to love you with His huge, holy and forever love! He longs for you to receive that love and live in that love and give that love to others! So, He will keep sending the beautiful sunrises and sunsets and rainbows and harvest moons and Spring blossoms until you remember there is a better love.

Are you ready for some CRAZY LOVE? Are you so tired of the synthetic stuff and hungry for the real thing? Is it time to confess your sin and receive the Son?

When HIS love is all you need, He has more than you need! He has a world of love! In fact, He has a whole universe of real, sincere, holy, powerful, healing, satisfying, godly love!

February 23, 2012

"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? 8:3-4

There are three primary ways God reveals His love to the world. First, is His creation! Sort of hard to miss that unless you REALLY aren’t paying attention! If He DOES get your attention through His amazing creation then you will want to learn more about Him!

One of the ways that God reveals His love through creation is that He created His best! When it was done and He looked at it all he loved it, too, saying, “That’s good!”

And then, He created the earth to be a home for us. On that earth He created a beautiful garden just for man. He put people in families so they could share their homes and enjoy their homes. When Jesus told His disciples He was leaving earth to go back to His Father He reassured them by promising He would go and build a home for them in Heaven. Homes are important to God because that is where love is shared! Homes are what you build for people you love!

Second, God reveals His love through His nature. We already get a few glimpses into His nature through His creation, but we learn a lot more about Who He is through the study of His Word!

He Is Holy

Isaiah saw God "high and lifted up" in Isaiah 6 and John saw a revelation of a holy God is Revelation 4!

He Is All-Powerful

Moses saw the power of God for Israel when He opened the Red Sea and He saw the power of God against the enemy when the sea closed over the Egyptian army.

Joshua saw the power of God when the walls of Jericho crumbled.

He Is All-Knowing

Job 37:16 - "Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge?"

Psalm 147:9 - "Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit."

He Is Everlasting

Psalm 106:48 - “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!"

I Timothy 1:17 - “Glory and honor to God forever and ever. He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God”

He Is Just

Numbers 14:18- "The LORD is slow to anger & abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity & transgression but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations."

Wow! What a God!

Because He is perfect and holy and eternal you can trust His love! And you can be sure that His love will always be available to you and exactly what you need!

Will you trust Him love?

Will you receive it?