BREAKTHROUGH
June 28, 2014
Music/Love
By
Pastor Walt Scott, Let Go and Soar Ministries
Music is good for the soul, isn't it this talent and ability to write, make and interpret music along with the ability to play and construct various instruments are all basic gifts from God. Our job is just to develop those gifts. Music seems in many ways to set the mood or at least adjust it to suit our particular circumstance or situation; if we let it. Music can be a good reliable remedy for many of our trials or personal challenges. Music can open the door of praise to God and in turn to receive His blessings. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of style or age; music expresses emotion and usually evokes or promotes and emotional response. How does God feel about music?
1 My
heart, O God, is steadfast;
I will sing and make music with all my soul.
2 Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
4 For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
I will sing and make music with all my soul.
2 Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
4 For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Ephesians 5:19-20
19 speaking
to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing
and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always
giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
What
has always been interesting to me is that the majority of all music
is about love or relationship. Whether we are trying to gain it, have
lost it, or are somewhere in between. To have love—a genuine,
honest, trustworthy, mutually beneficial relationship—seems to be
one of, if not the most important goals in our life. Why do you think
that is? I believe God programmed that into us when He created us. I
also believe that Triune God has made that love relationship
available to us all along. But, we have to know Him. He loves us and
wants us to love Him back. God is love.
1 John 4:8-16
8 Whoever
does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 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. 11 Dear
friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one
another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.
13 This
is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of
His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the
Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If
anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them
and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the
love God has for us.
God
is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
How
much did He love us? Our creator loved us enough to sacrifice His
only son for us.
John
3:16-17
16 For
God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Jeremiah
29:11-14
11 For
I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope
and a future. 12 Then
you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to
you. 13 You
will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I
will be found by you,” declares the Lord,
“and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all
the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the
Lord,
“and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into
exile.”
God's
love for us is by and through His grace. Grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ:
John
1:17
God's
love is undeserved, unmerited and unconditional. We don't have to
earn it or ask for it. It is given freely by him. His love for us
deserves our trust, obedience, hope, faith and belief.
What
does this world need more than anything else in or der for us to live
in peace? We need relationship with God and each other. This involves
communication, interaction, mutual respect for all members of society
and caring and compassion. All of this leads to love for one another
just as God intended
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4Love
is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is
not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the
truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always
hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
One
of the most important lessons of learning to love is learning to love
yourself, and not in a narcissistic way. We are a creation of God,
created in His image. When you have accepted and received Jesus
Christ as your savior you graduate from His offspring to a child of
God and His Holy Spirit comes to live in you. Our body is now a
temple of God. How can we mistreat or abuse ourselves or others
physically or mentally and profess to love ourselves, others and God?
That would be a contradiction. You must love, respect and care for
yourself because we are all created in God's image, and He loves us.
We must love ourselves first before we can honestly love God or
others. Sometimes it is difficult to love our neighbors as Jesus
stated:
Matthew
22:37-40
37 Jesus
replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is
the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second
is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All
the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
We
must learn to love them as we have learned to love ourselves. Follow
the example of Jesus Christ.
John
15:12-14
12 My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s
friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I
command.
Remember, all people from all nations were created equal and in the image of God and are considered His offspring. Equally loved and equally favored. Just accept and receive him.
We change our world by example. The best example for us to follow is Jesus Christ. And how did Jesus love others? Did He exclude anyone? Did He create or allow division? Did He have conditions or restrictions? No! He was compassionate, forgiving and understanding, displaying His love through His word and actions. Just as we should. Conditions, denominations, etc. were all created by men, and are not truth. Jesus gave us His human example so we would be able to see and understand how we are to love father God and each other. And His Holy Spirit will guide us. His love never grows old, gets boring or fades away, and neither should ours.
Ephesians
4:1-6
As
a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of
the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble
and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make
every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of
peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as
you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one
Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of
all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Love and peace, Amen.
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