Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House (The Foundry Publishing House) in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Wednesday, 30 August 2017 - "The Test of Love" by Duane Brush - John 14:15-27

Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Nazarene Publishing House (The Foundry Publishing House) in Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Wednesday, 30 August 2017 - "The Test of Love" by Duane Brush - John 14:15-27John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands; 16 and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforting Counselor like me, the Spirit of Truth, to be with you forever. 17 The world cannot receive him, because it neither sees nor knows him. You know him, because he is staying with you and will be united with you. 18 I will not leave you orphans — I am coming to you. 19 In just a little while, the world will no longer see me; but you will see me. Because I live, you too will live. 20 When that day comes, you will know that I am united with my Father, and you with me, and I with you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

22 Y’hudah (not the one from K’riot) said to him, “What has happened, Lord, that you are about to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Yeshua answered him, “If someone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Someone who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words — and the word you are hearing is not my own but that of the Father who sent me.

25 “I have told you these things while I am still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Ruach HaKodesh, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything; that is, he will remind you of everything I have said to you.

27 “What I am leaving with you is shalom — I am giving you my shalom. I don’t give the way the world gives. Don’t let yourselves be upset or frightened.

-------
“Do you love me?” The question is simple and yet profound. What does it mean to love someone? Is it simply words: “Yes, I love you”? Words must be confirmed by action. Love shows itself in tender affection, concern for the welfare of the beloved, a desire to be near them and to do those things that are pleasing to them. Jesus clarifies this test: “Obey my teaching.”
Some Bible students have identified 40 to 50 commandments from the teachings of Jesus in the four gospels. Jesus himself identified the greatest commandment: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39). We obey Jesus' teachings by loving God with our total being, and by loving others, our neighbors, with the same concern with which we love ourselves.
If we truly love Christ, then we will obey His teachings. To do that, we need to read and follow His Word and seek the guidance of His Holy Spirit, who “will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
Hymn for Today:

"Your Love Compels Me" by Doug Holck copyright 1982 by Pilot Point Music (ASCAP), Box 419527, Kansas City, Missouri 64141. All rights reserved.

Your love compels me Lord 

To give as You would give 

To speak as You would speak 

To live as You would live 

Your love compels me Lord 

To see as You would see 

To serve as You would serve 

To be what You would be

Thought for Today:

If someone is serving me, let him follow me; wherever I am, my servant will be there too. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.(John 12:26).
Please pray:

For the development of Christian leaders in Barbados.
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now
-------