Pundit Press: NBC Names Ground Zero Mosque Developer a "Person of the Year"

Pundit Press: NBC Names Ground Zero Mosque Developer a "Person of the Year"

All about God's love

What is love?


That’s a good question, because in the English language we only have one word for LOVE; and it has many meanings.

I could say “I love bananas” or “I love chocolate” or I could say “I love my wife”.

But these are different kinds of love.

In the book “The Four Loves” by C. S. Lewis, we learn that the Greeks have four different words for love.

Storge – Affection is fondness through familiarity, especially between family members or people who have found themselves together by chance. Affection has the appearance of being “built in” or “ready made”.

Phileo – Friendship is a strong bond existing between people who share common interests or activities.

Eros – “Being in love” This is distant from sexuality, which Lewis calls Venus. Eros is an indifferent love.

Agape – Charity or Unconditional love. Agape love is the love that brings fourth caring regardless of circumstances. Agape is the greatest of loves, and is a Christian virtue. We should subordinate the natural loves to the love of God, who is full of charitable love.

Does God love us?
How can we know for sure?
Do we have any real evidence?
Can we see the love of God?
All we have to do is read the Bible. God’s love shows up in every book of the Bible.
His love shows up in every Bible story.
So one of the best ways to know about God’s love is to read the scriptures, and the best known scripture about the love of God is John 3:16.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life…”

Two other verses that I really like are in the book of Romans.

In Romans 5:8 we read: “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Another verse we should look at, in Romans, is Romans 8:39, which gives us assurance that God loves us.

Romans 8:39 says, "Nothing in all creation can separate us from God's love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord."

God’s love is personal. He knows each of us individually and loves us anyway.
His mighty love for us has no beginning and no end.

Many Bible Stories show the Love of God.
So, one of the ways we can share about God’s love is by telling Bible stories about God’s love.

The Bible is filled with stories of God's love. When we hear these stories from the Bible it helps us to remember that God loves us.

Let’s look at some of these Bible stories:

1. God saved Noah's family and the other living creatures from the waters of the Great Flood.

You probably already know about Noah and the great flood. Do you remember why God sent the flood? Why were Noah and his family saved when the great rains came? How does this fit in with what we know about God?
Men lived to be very old in the days before the flood. The oldest man we read about was Methusaleh, who lived to be 969 years old. Some of the families still believed in the wisdom and power of God and wanted to follow him.

As time passed, there were more and more people in the world. Soon most began to forget God. Many of the men who had worshipped God married wicked women and their wives influenced them to turn away from God. Fewer and fewer parents taught their children God’s way and the earth became filled with sin. The Lord saw what was happening - - all people thought about was doing things that were wrong. Finally they were so bad that God was sorry He had made man.
The Bible says that God was grieved in His heart and said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and woman, and beasts, creeping things and birds of the air; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

There was a good man named Noah on the earth who still served God. God knew that Noah was trying to do right. He spoke to Noah and told him that He was going to destroy the earth and its wicked people.

However, God gave Noah a way to be saved. He said to Noah, “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make with rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. You shall make a window for the ark…and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second and third decks…
“I myself am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life...Everything that is on the earth shall die…”

But God made a covenant with Noah about the flood. A covenant is an agreement. God promised to save Noah and his family if they did what he said. He wanted them to all go into the ark - - Noah and his wife, his sons and their wives.

Then God told Noah to bring males and females of every kind of living thing into the ark.
He wanted them kept alive with Noah’s family. Then, after the flood, they could multiply so there would be animals on the earth again.

Since the people and animals would need food, God also told Noah to take some of all food which could be eaten. Then they would not starve during the flood.

The Bible tells us that Noah did all of this, just as God had commanded.

What do you think it was like to be in the great flood?

How do you think Noah and his family felt when the rains kept coming down day after day?

What would it have been like to have been shut up with so many animals for so long? Visiting a zoo should give us some idea about that!

Noah and his family knew the ark was a place of safety for them. Surely they would not have complained. They knew God was blessing them by saving them from the great flood outside.
The world had become so wicked that God was grieved in His heart. He decided to destroy all life from the earth. God said he would send a great flood - - so great that it would cover the whole earth. Only the good man Noah and his family would be saved from the flood.

The Lord told Noah to build an ark of gopher wood. This ark would be a huge boat, large enough for his family and their needs. Noah’s three sons (named Shem, Ham and Japheth), their wives and his wife would go into the ark with him. That made eight people in all. The ark would also be large enough for the males and females of all the animals.

The people who lived around Noah must have wondered why he was building such a big boat on dry land. If someone did that today, everyone would think he was crazy.

Not only did Noah obey God - - he was a “preacher of righteousness.” But the people would not listen to God’s Word. They just went about their usual business. They were like people today who think they have everything figured out for themselves and do not need God. Since a worldwide flood had never happened before, those in Noah’s time did not believe it would happen to them.

Parents should have handed down knowledge of God to their children. But they had not. People were so wicked that God would have to punish them for their sins.

Soon it was time for Noah to go inside with his family and the animals. God said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation…For after seven more days I cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made. You alone have I seen to be righteous.” The Bible says “Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him…and it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.”

Maybe you have seen places that were flooded after a heavy rain. Sometimes we even see pictures where water comes up over the tops of cars and gets into people’s houses. It’s very sad to see this happen in a town or country. But the flood of the Bible was much worse than that. The whole earth was covered with water. All living things on the earth drowned except the people and animals with Noah. Inside the ark they were all safe. God had kept His promise to Noah.

After forty days and forty nights the rain stopped. But the water stayed on the earth for many months after that.

Finally the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Then Noah tried to find out if the waters had gone down. He opened a window and sent out a raven, but the raven kept flying to and fro until the waters were dried up. So Noah sent out a dove to see what would happen. The dove could not find a place to rest so it came back to the ark. The Bible tells us “Noah put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.” This let Noah know there was still too much water on the earth for them to come out.

Seven days later he sent the dove out again. This time she returned with an olive leaf in her beak. When Noah saw the olive leaf, he knew the water was almost gone. So he waited another seven days and sent her out once more. This time the dove did not return.
Had the water finally dried up? Noah took the covering off the ark to look. Yes, the water was finally gone and the earth was dry. Now Noah and his family could leave the ark.
How sad to think that so many people died in the flood because they did not believe God’s way is best. It is the way to happiness now and eternal life in heaven.

Do you know why God gave the first rainbow? It still has meaning for us today. All nations during Noah’s time handed down stories to their children and grandchildren about the great flood. Knowing all about it should have made them want to worship a God so powerful. Doesn’t it make you know that God will keep his promises?

After the flood, God spoke to Noah, saying “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your son’s wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so that they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

Everyone went out of the ark as God commanded. They built an altar there to the Lord and offered sacrifices of every clean animal and every clean bird. This worship showed that they recognized God’s great power. They were giving thanks to Him for saving them from the flood.
After the flood, God blessed Noah and his sons. He told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He told them some other important things, too. God said that now they could have animals for food. Now they could eat the beasts of the earth, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.

God made one thing very clear, however. Man was to kill only animals - - he must never take the life of another human being. This is because man is created in the image of God. If a man murdered another person, the murderer’s life was to be taken, too. And if an animal killed a man, that animal had to die, too.
This shows how special each person is to God. It tells us we also should respect every other man and woman because they are made in God’s image. Young and old, male and female, red and yellow, black and white - - all of us are special before God.

God showed his love by saving the lives of Noah and his family.

God gave His covenant in Genesis.

Genesis 9:12-13 says, And God said, “I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal covenant with you and all living creatures. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth.”


2. God saved a woman and her son from hunger because she shared what she had with Elijah, God's messenger.

And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent; neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah. Elijah and Widow Zarephath from 1 Kings 17:8-16
In this story of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath, which takes place during the reign of Ahab, a king of Israel, there was a great famine in the land. Elijah, a prophet of God had been hiding from Ahab, who was trying to kill him. The famine was so severe that Elijah did not have any food or water. The Lord appeared to Elijah and said. “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

Elijah obeyed God and went to Zerephath. When he came to the gate of the city, he found the widow there gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, because I’m thirsty.” As she was going away to get the water, he called after her and said “Could you also bring me some bread?”

The widow stopped, turned around, and looked at him in surprise. The widow answered Elijah, “I really don’t have bread, only a handful of flower, and a little bit oil in a jar; and you can see that I’m gathering a couple sticks so that I can prepare bread for me and my son, then we can eat it and die.”
Elijah then said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small loaf of bread first, and bring it to me; then make some for yourself and your son. The Lord God of Israel has said “The bin of flower will not be used up, and the jar of oil will not run dry, unitl the day the Lord sends the rain, and the famine comes to an end.”

Think about this situation; what would it be like for you if there was a horrible famine in your country, and very few people had any food left, especially the poor. You are down to the very last of your food, but you think there might be just enough for one more meal for you and your son. Then a stranger shows up and asks for your food. He explains that God will provide food for you and your son until the famine is over. How strong is your faith? I’m not sure that I could be as strong as this woman.

Here’s what she did. The Bible tell us that the widow woman went away and did exactly what Elijah asked her to do; she took the last of her flour and oil to make some bread for Elijah.
Guess what happened? She and her household ate for many days; the bin of flower and the jar of oil weren’t used up.

What an amazing widow woman of great faith. Even in the direst of circumstances, she put her faith in God above the cruelties of her situation; and Elijah demonstrated his great faith by never questioning God.

Let’s look at two scriptures: Psalm 37:39-40
But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble, and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them because they trust in Him. Psalm 37:39-40

And from: Matthew 6:26:
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26

Our faith should be no less than the widow woman.
Pray that God will give you the faith to live for him in front of your family, friends, roommates, and co-workers.

All things, even our faith, comes from God.

3. God sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, to save us.

When God sent His son to die on the cross, this was God’s greatest sign of love.
John 3:17 says, “God sent his Son into the world. God did not send his Son to judge the world guilty. God sent his Son so that the world could be saved through his Son."

A forest fire burned down a farmhouse in western Canada. As the embers cooled, the devastated farmer was walking over the ruins and noticed a burned lump on the ground. He prodded it with his stick and saw that it was a hen, burned to death. The farmer turned the hen over and, to his surprise out ran three chirping baby chicks. The hen had died in the flames even as it saved the lives of her helpless babies. Jesus compared himself to a hen eager for the safety of her chicks.

Matt 23:37 says, “How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings?”

But the life-giving power of Jesus far excels that of the hen, because Jesus arose from the dead that we might have life, and that life is everlasting.

How much does God love you?

God loves and cares for you the same way that a mother loves her child.

Let’s see what the bible says in Isaiah 49:15-16

Isaiah 49:15-16 says, “Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for a child she has born? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!”

Christ says that “Though a mother may forget, I will not forget you!”

You are His creation

He loves you because He created you!

People are a wonderful and special creation of God

Genesis 2:7 says, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

God formed you
God designed you
God gave you physical life

And now, God loves you so much that He wants to give you spiritual life which can only come through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In 1 John 4:10 we read that real love is from God.
1 John 4:10 says, “This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

We can know about God’s love, by reading the scripture; and we can share God’s love by telling the stories we’ve learned from the Bible.

Creation and Assurance of Salvation

Creation of Heaven and Earth

God created the heavens and the earth. But the earth was formless and dark so He created light. Then He separated the day from the night. Next He said we need space between the waters and called this space sky. Then He gathered the water beneath the sky into one place so that dry ground would appear. He called the dry ground land and the water, seas. Then He created all sorts of plants, flowers and fruit bearing trees. Everything God created was good. He also created bright lights in the sky to separate day from night. Then He made the stars. He filled the waters with fish and the skies with birds.

Then on the sixth day, God said “Let the earth bring forth every kind of animal.”
So He created wild animals, livestock and small animals. Then he looked around and said “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life...”

So God created people in his own image, and so the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed.

Have you ever wondered why so many people believe that there is a God? No man or woman can look at the stars in the sky, or the beauty of the flowers, or the miracle of a new born baby, without believing that there must be something bigger than the human race. There must be an intelligence that created it all. Even people that don’t believe in God know deep in their heart that all the wonder of the universe could not have happened by chance.

Have you ever noticed how a balance scale works? If you put 5 grams on one side and 5 grams on the other side, the scale is balanced. However, if you put 10 grams on one side and only 5 grams on the other, the scale is unbalanced.

Some people think that this is how God decides who gets into Heaven. They assume that if the good things they do, on one side of the scale, outweigh the bad things, on the other side of the scale, that they automatically earn the right to enter Heaven.

But we can never accumulate enough good to qualify for heaven. God is holy and pure and in order to live with him, we must also be holy and pure. But we are not, because of the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Had they not disobeyed God, they would have been perfect and holy as well. But they disobeyed Him and ate of the fruit He told them not to eat. This destroyed their relationship with God and they became sinners. Because of their sin, all humanity is born into sin and we can’t earn our way into heaven. But God loved us so much anyway, that He wanted to provide a way for us to live with Him in heaven.

The Assurance of Salvation

The way to live with God forever is through His Son Jesus Christ. God was willing to send His Son to be born in the form of man and live among us and give us the teachings of God. But that was still not enough for us to have a relationship with God. Jesus gave Himself to pay the debt for our sins.

Let’s look at the scripture.

I John 5:11-14

And the testimony is this: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

We can KNOW we have eternal life—
We have ASSURANCE we have salvation—
We are CONVINCED that he hears us—

This is why the Bible was written. This is why John wrote his letter, the Book of John, to help us realize that we can KNOW that we have eternal life.

When scripture is backed up by experience and logic, then the foundation is solid.

First let me give you an example from pure logic, as an important part of this foundation: The logic of Josh McDowell in his book More than a carpenter:

Jesus said that he was the Son of God, so there are three, and only three possible situations that can explain His claim:

1-He said it and knew it was false, which makes him a liar
2-He said it and thought it was true when it was not, which makes him insane
3-He said it and it was true, making him truly the Son of God.

These are the only possible ways to look at a man who claimed to be God, and offered salvation. The first two make NO SENSE based on the record of His life, and what has happened in the world because of his life.

Only the 3rd option makes sense in terms of logic.

So we know that Jesus is the Son of God, and we know that we can trust His Word.
How tragic it would be if we went through life thinking we were saved and then woke up on Judgment Day to find out we were mistaken!

But the Bible teaches that this will be the case with many people.

The scripture says, in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So all of us are simmers, and none of us deserve to go to Heaven.

Can you imagine finding out that you aren’t qualified to go to Heaven? Well, the Bible also says, in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of Sin is DEATH, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, you don’t have to go through life without the assurance of salvation. Remember what we first read in 1 John 5:13?

The apostle says, "These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."

So, how can we have this assurance?

This is the most important question we will ever face in life because our eternal destiny is at stake! The Bible teaches that those who remain unsaved will spend eternity in a place of perpetual torment.

So we see that if we believe that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God, and we accept him as our personal Savior, He forgives us of our sins.

In John 3:16, we read; “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

This is the wonderful story that God loved us so very much that He was willing to sacrifice His own Son, on the cross, one time, for all our sins; past, present and future.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." The Bible also tells us what changes will take place in our life when we are born again.

Let me give you four examples of changes that should take place in your life if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ:

First, we will not habitually commit sin.

This doesn’t suggest that we never make mistakes, or that we never sin, rather it says that when we do make mistakes, we are sorry, and we go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness.

Second, we will seek to live a holy life by obeying God's Word.

This means that when we know Jesus, we want to keep his commandments. Just as in a family, we want to please our parents, so with God, we want to do his will.

Third, we will love others, regardless of who they are or what they have done.

Before we meet Christ, we might show love to others, only if they also show love to us. However, after we accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we learn to love everyone; even if they don’t love us in return. This is referred to as unconditional love.

Fourth, our affections will not be upon the things of the world.

If a man or a woman still loves the things of the world, then the love of the father isn’t really in him or her. Now our desire will be to serve God.

These changes aren’t the cause of our salvation, because we are saved by faith; but these changes are the evidence that we truly have been born again.

So, if we believe in God, and we believe that the Bible is true, we can be assured that the apostle John was accurate when he wrote “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

I have laid out the clear plan of salvation and how you can know and be assured that you are going to heaven. But maybe there is someone here tonight that has not asked Jesus to come into your heart. If you want to ask Him into your life, I’d like to give you an opportunity to do that now.

Just say this prayer; with meaning in your heart, and believe that God will hear your prayer.

Lord Jesus, I recognize my need for a Savior; I ask you to forgive my Sins, and come into my heart.

Amen!

Please contact us
If you prayed the prayer on this page and/or you would like more information, please click on the link below to connect with Calvary Chapel Surprise. You will be able to send us an email or call our office at 623-399-9613.
http://www.calvarychapelsurprise.org/know/

Jakarta Indonesia

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It is Located on the northwest coast of Java, and has an area of 661 square kilometers and a population of 8,490,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political center. It is the most populous city in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia, and is the twelfth-largest city in the world. Jakarta is listed as a global city in the 2008 Globalization and World Cities Study research. The city's name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Jayakarta" which translates as "victorious deed," or "complete victory”.