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VALLEY CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

The Love of God

2/14/2015

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On this weekend when we celebrate the loved shared with those closest to us, for we who walk by faith it also serves as a reminder of the source of love.  The Bible says:  We love because He first loved us.  (1 John 4:19)  We are the beloved of the Father; we are Abba’s children.  

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  (1John 3:1)  

That God loves us is one of the most beautiful truths in the Bible; He has gone on record in His Word declaring His love for mankind.  For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son.  (John 3:16)  

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  You are precious in my sight...and I love you.  (Isaiah 43:1,4)  

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.  (Jeremiah 31:3)  

Over and over again in His Word God says, “I love you, you matter to me”.  “I love you” is a high-risk statement.  If you say those words, you had better be prepared to back it up with action.  God knows what love costs and what it takes to back it up.  God not only comes right out and says it, He also proves His love in creative ways.  He has been showing His love to mankind from the very beginning of the world.  

He showed his love to Adam and Eve after they disobeyed in the Garden of Eden.  He showed his love to Noah and His family by sparing them from the flood.    He showed His love to Abraham by giving him a son and then protecting Isaac’s life.  He showed His love to Joseph in taking him from the prison to the palace and to Moses in taking him from the palace to the pasture; and to David in taking him from the pasture to the palace.  

Through His healing and loving touch, Jesus showed his love to lepers, the blind, the lame, the deaf, and the hungry.  And god showed His love for the world once and for all in the most dramatic way possible, by offering his Son as a sin sacrifice for hell-deserving people like you and me.  The blood-stained cross stands today as the ultimate symbol of God’s love.  

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  (1 John 4:9-10)  

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our in transgressions.  (Ephesians 2: 4)  

God doesn't just shower His love on the world, He also showers His love on you and me.  Since the day we were born, God has reached out to us in love.  He has protected us and provided for us and directed our lives in ways we may not even realize.  He has offered us a relationship with Him and He has provided a way for us to experience forgiveness; to receive the gift of salvation.  And when all is said and done here on earth, He promises his children a home in heaven.  

It is possible for you to know that love and to live in His love day by day and moment by moment.  You can live in the constant awareness, in the warmth and tenderness of the love of God!  What would it be like for you to live in the constant awareness of the love of the Father?  

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  (1John 3:1)

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    Author

    Ken Clarke has been the Pastor at Valley since 2007. He lives in the Oliver area 
    with his wife Janice ; they have three adult children, Lisa, Scott & Tiffany (Riley) and Andrea & Jason.

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