Put Love First

[Julie]

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” John 1:48–49

It is a powerful thing to realize that God sees us and knows us. God is aware of every tear we cry.

8. You number and record my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle—are they not in Your book?
9.Then shall my enemies turn back in the day that I cry out; this I know, for God is for me.
10. In God, Whose word I praise, in the Lord, Whose word I praise,
11. In God have I put my trust and confident reliance; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Psalm 56:8–11

Let that sink in. There is not a drop of water that has fallen from our eye that God has not seen. Ever. From the burdens we felt as a 3 year old. To the weights of our teen years. To the anxieties of our young adulthood, to the complexities of old age. Every burden, painful moment, and anxiety we have ever faced, God is aware of.

Lets make sure that we take the time to see someone today.

 

[JoshebB]

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” John 1:48–49

It is a powerful thing to realize that God sees us and knows us. God is aware of every tear we cry.

8. You number and record my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle—are they not in Your book?
9.Then shall my enemies turn back in the day that I cry out; this I know, for God is for me.
10. In God, Whose word I praise, in the Lord, Whose word I praise,
11. In God have I put my trust and confident reliance; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
Psalm 56:8–11

Let that sink in. There is not a drop of water that has fallen from our eye that God has not seen. Ever. From the burdens we felt as a 3 year old. To the weights of our teen years. To the anxieties of our young adulthood, to the complexities of old age. Every burden, painful moment, and anxiety we have ever faced, God is aware of.

Lets make sure that we take the time to see someone today.

Beautiful op. Got a question for you.


How often do you think God wishes we weren't shedding that tear He is aware of and has foreknown and recorded?

 

[Julie]

Beautiful op. Got a question for you.


How often do you think God wishes we weren't shedding that tear He is aware of and has foreknown and recorded?

“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

The joy of the Lord is found on the road to restoration. God convicts us of sin, and often our first reaction is guilt and shame. But those feelings never come from God. Ezra the scribe gathered all the people. He read to them from God’s book and skilled ministers explained the words and their meaning to the people. Nehemiah 8:8 says, “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”

Once the people understood — really understood — they wept. God's Word was opening their eyes to the way they had failed Him, but Nehemiah was quick to remind them of who the Lord is. “They could delight in the joy of the Lord because he is a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate,” explains the NIV Quest Study Bible Notes.

 

[Julie]

Put LOVE First

It’s hard to love others well if you are scared that others will hurt you. Love does come with risk, but the reward is what our souls long for. I had someone on my podcast once say, “The only thing I regret in my marriage is the years that I did not love fearlessly.” Don’t reserve your love today. Let God’s radical love for you overflow to others

When Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, one pair belonged to Judas, the one who would betray Him in the end. Jesus knew the guy would betray Him, and yet still He washed his feet. Another pair of feet belonged to Peter, who would hours later deny Him.

7. Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die.
8. But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us. Romans 5:7–8.

That says all there is to say: when we were like Peter—or even Judas—Jesus didn’t just wash our feet; He died for us. When we were at our messiest, our flightiest, our neediest, our most selfish, He said, “I love you enough to die for you.”
Jesus gets it, way deeper than we do. My teammate did not betray me, and yet it still hurt. But Jesus actually was betrayed, and that just makes the love He displayed on the cross even more radical.

He understands our fears, our hurts, our reservations to love.
He knows us.
He gets us.
He loves us still.
He knew exactly what we were capable of and still gave everything for us.

 

[Julie]

GOD OFFERS YOU SALVATION

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:3–4

Nothing compares to the joy I feel when I see someone grasp the truth of salvation—the truth that through the work of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who came to earth, wrapped Himself in human flesh, and suffered horrific persecution, even unto death on a cross, we have been rescued from sin’s eternal punishment. We have been saved from the ravages of this broken world. We have been saved by God. Nothing gets me fired up more than this because nothing has changed my life more than Jesus has—He changed everything for me, and I want everyone else to know Him too.

We often think that the ache we feel in our hearts and souls can be satisfied by a romantic partner or by earning a certain degree or by getting the job we want or by attaining that eight-pack we’ve been killing ourselves to get—but those things will never do the trick. That ache you feel was created by God. It will only be satisfied in full by Him.

One of my favorite parts of the week is Sunday afternoon, when my father-in-law, Willie, and I teach an evangelism class at church. And one of my favorite passages of Scripture to lean on when teaching that class is 1 Corinthians 15. The apostle Paul wrote to believers who lived in Corinth to remind them of what they believed, and I never get tired of reading those words because they are the perfect summary of what it means to have faith in Christ.

Whether this idea of following Jesus is brand-new to you or you’ve been walking with Him for years, I want you to read these words from Paul with fresh eyes today:

I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (vv. 1–4)

The literal meaning of the word gospel is simply “the good news,” and this rundown is good news. Our sins have been covered. Our sins have been forgiven. Regardless of who we used to be or what we used to do, we can step into new life right here, right now, and start living for Jesus Christ.
Man, that is beautiful truth.
Do you believe this truth? Have you gone all-in with God?


Put Love First

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

The joy of the Lord is found on the road to restoration. God convicts us of sin, and often our first reaction is guilt and shame. But those feelings never come from God. Ezra the scribe gathered all the people. He read to them from God’s book and skilled ministers explained the words and their meaning to the people. Nehemiah 8:8 says, “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”

Once the people understood — really understood — they wept. God's Word was opening their eyes to the way they had failed Him, but Nehemiah was quick to remind them of who the Lord is. “They could delight in the joy of the Lord because he is a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate,” explains the NIV Quest Study Bible Notes.

Great question from @JoshebB and great answer for you, Julie.
Thanks to both.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

PUT LOVE FIRST

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)

We know that covering a multitude of sins is the result of God's love for us, and Christ's life and sacrifice is a powerful testimony of that.
But in 1 Peter 4:8, we also learn that, by loving our brothers, we manifest that salvific love of God that covers sins.

People may feel temporarily attracted to the gospel by the eloquence of our words, or the logic of our arguments, but they will embrace it for salvation out of the love they see in our lives. People can see God, so to speak, through us. We are His Lamp.

The Scriptures, said Christ, can be summarized in love. (Matthew 22:37-40)
The cause of God sending Christ to the world was love (John 3:16).
Those who have been born again are those who love (1 John 3:14)
Those who are true followers of Christ's are those who love (John 15:2).

People have debated for centuries the role of faith vs works in salvation.
But in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul puts BOTH faith and works UNDER the primacy of love.
Faith enough to move mountains, without love, is worthless. Works, even giving out all my goods to the poor, without love, are worthless.
Love is the cause, meaning and consequence of salvation.

 

[JoshebB]

“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

The joy of the Lord is found on the road to restoration. God convicts us of sin, and often our first reaction is guilt and shame. But those feelings never come from God. Ezra the scribe gathered all the people. He read to them from God’s book and skilled ministers explained the words and their meaning to the people. Nehemiah 8:8 says, “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”

Once the people understood — really understood — they wept. God's Word was opening their eyes to the way they had failed Him, but Nehemiah was quick to remind them of who the Lord is. “They could delight in the joy of the Lord because he is a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate,” explains the NIV Quest Study Bible Notes.

Yes, Nehemiah did say that. How does what he said answer the question asked? Why would Nehemiah be used to answer a question asked about post-Calvary and post-Pentecost conditions?

How often do you think God wishes we weren't shedding that tear He is aware of and has foreknown and recorded?

Always?
Often?
Now very often?
Sometimes?
Never?

How often do you think God wishes we weren't shedding that tear He is aware of and has foreknown and recorded?