Our guest speaker, Steve Hahn, challenged us to think about where we stand in our walk with God. At the start of a new year, it is always an appropriate time to reflect and think about the new year. We need to redefine ourselves, not by what we do, but who we know.
What’s Love Got To Do With It?
In 1984, Tina Turner sang, “What’s love got to do, got to do with it.?”
Chorus 1—What’s love but a second hand emotion
Chorus 2—What’s love but a sweet old fashioned notion
What’s love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken
Henri Nouwen said the main obstacle to loving God is service for God.
Hemorrhaging Faith survey:
Only 1 in 3 Canadian young adults who attended church weekly as a child still do so today.
Of the young adults who no longer attend church, half have also stopped identifying themselves with the Christian tradition in which they were raised.
Revelation 2:2-3, I know your deeds, your hard work & your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, & have found them false. You have persevered & have endured hardships for my name & have not grown weary
Revelation 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
Luke 10:25 What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Luke 10:26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
Luke 10:27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Luke 10:28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Mark 12:32-33 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Oswald Chambers, “It is by the heart that God is perceived (known) & not by reason….so that is what faith is: God perceived by the heart”
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Matthew 7:21 Jesus said: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Additional Thoughts:
· It is the place of our emotions. John 14:1; Eph. 5:19
· It is the place of our desires Matt. 5:28
· It is the place of our affections. Acts 21:13
· It’s the place of our thoughts. Mt. 9:4
· It’s the place of understanding Mt. 13:15
· It’s the place of our conscience Acts 2:37
· It’s the place of reasoning powers Mark 2:6 KJV
· It’s the place of our intentions Heb. 4:12, 2 Cor.9:7
· It’s the place of our will Rom. 6:17
· It’s the place of faith Rom 10:10
Note: All scripture references in New International Version (NIV)
For Sermon discussion resources click here: Jan 4 Sermon Resources
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