How He Loves Us

   I love my church. If you are in the Anderson area and are looking for a church home, try the Carpenter's Church.

Favorite picture of the week:

  I'm in the mood to sing a song. Let's all sing I Surrender All together. OK? Let's do it!!

 And a one and a two and a THREE:

 

All to Jesus I surrender; All to him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all:

All to the thee, my b-HOLD IT! HOOOLD IT!!

 

Me: Pardon me, everyone, for the rude interruption. Voice in my head, can I help you? We're kinda busy.

Voice in my Head: UUhhhhhh, yeah. Sorry about that. Gotta a question that is pertinent to us singing this here song. It's very perty by the way. Tell all the peeps they got real nice singin' voices.

Me: They can hear you..Uh, read you..WHATEVER! Is there a question, maybe, that you could hurry the heck up and ask?

Voice: OH?!..Uhh, yeah. I was wondering, is there like in the Apostles Creed or like a special Dispensation of  Indulgence form the Pope that states that it is ok to lie, as long as we are, like, singing or something like that?

Me: No, I wouldn't think so.

Voice: Well then, the choir just lost a beautiful Tenor voice.

Me: Beautiful? I think we'll be ok. We're going to continue now...And a one and a two and a THREE..

 

  Jesus has lots of qualifiers. If you love me, you'll do what I say. If you remain in me, you will bear much fruit. Qualifiers usually begin with "if". If you lift weights, you will get stronger. If this happens, that will happen. If this doesn't happen, that won't happen. Jesus communicates very clearly because He loves you. He really wants you to "get it". Jesus is not misunderstood because He is unclear, yet He is incredibly misunderstood. Why is that?

  Verse 7-If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. If I remain in Jesus, I am probably not going to ask for a Rolls Royce. If I remain in Jesus, I am probably not going to ask for Clemson to go 12-0 in football. However, I am still researching that one. God wants us here or at least headed in the following direction:

Philipians 2:5-8- Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

  Verse 8 sheds light on verse 7. God wants you bearing much Christian fruit. It glorifies Him, when we prove by our acts, that we are Jesus' disciples. It also draws more disciples to Him.

  Verse 10- Gosh. Just read it. IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!! The next verse says it all. Take His advise and you will experience complete joy. More joy than your baby's face ever gave you. Or your spouse's love and trust. Or your team winning. Do you know this Joy?

  Verses 12 thru 14- Love each other as I have loved you. And how have I loved you or how am I getting ready to love you? I am going to die a horrible, painful death for you. I want you to be able to do that too. Jesus' dies for His friends. He wants us all to be His friend so that His death is for us too. But most will not except His friendship because of verse 14. 

  Verses 18 thru 27- (Jesus speaking) If the worlds hates you because you tell them that I am the only way to heaven, the only truth(John 14:6), remember that you are only repeating my words. I said it first. You (my 12 disciples) will all experience great torture and persecution. Eleven of you will be murdered because of me but remember, they did these things to me first. They are killing you because they hate me. They are whipping and stoning you because they hate me. (Jesus still speaking) And you, my modern day disciples, they make fun of you because they don't believe in me. They will think you are hateful and intolerant because they have misunderstood me. You will be hated and misunderstood and laughed at because of me. Family may even reject you because they reject me. And it may get much worse before it gets better but OOOhhh it will get much better. So hang in there, my dear friends. I love you.

 

⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.   ⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.    ¹⁸ “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ He who hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴ If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’   ²⁶ “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

  This is the story behind the song that Shaunte' and the Praise crew at Carpenter's do best of all.