Welcome! We’re So Glad You’re Here

Galatians 1: 3-5 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. 

Love for God and love for neighbor form the very heart of the covenant God made with Israel through Moses, as well as the new covenant made with the Church — τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ — those called out of the world and into the Kingdom of God.  This law can be summarized it this way:
  • “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
  • And, “Regard the well-being of others as you regard your own.”
Directly from the hand of God, Moses received the Law engraved on tablets of stone. From the lips of Jesus the Christ, His disciples heard the law of love. These tablets, known as the Ten Commandments or the Decalogue, clearly prescribed how people should relate to both God and others. Centuries later, the prophet Micah summarized the moral life in the same two directions: our ethics toward God and our ethics toward others.

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? In the past, in the present, in the future God requires actions of love to God and to Others.

It is in allowing Christ to bring His work to fullness in my life, and in the deep conviction that God desires intimate union with each of us, that I find the true expression of my relationship with Him. Jesus Christ reconciled us to God through His supreme act of love.

Colossians 1:19-20 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

When we spend time with Christ, our entire outlook is transformed.
 
Our natural concern for our own well-being begins to expand and include a genuine concern for others. As the Holy Spirit shines God’s light into our hearts, we begin to see people and situations from His perspective. We can no longer help but respond with mercy, grace, and love toward those we encounter — especially those who are hurting and in pain. This is the Holy Spirit, whom those who believe in Him [Jesus] should receive.
 
  • The power of God’s Spirit begins to break the exhausting, self-centered cycle of spending all our energy, resources, and strength only on ourselves. Instead, He motivates and empowers us to invest that same energy, resources, and strength into the lives of others.
  • The power of the Spirit strengthens and encourages us — so that we, in turn, can strengthen and encourage those around us.

 

Isaiah 6:1-3 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

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