It doesn’t matter if you can quote the Bible, if you live like you’ve never opened it. David Alan Campbell
I would just add that if we open the Bible, we read that not only is love so key that it is the one thing we are commanded to do toward the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but we are commanded to do it also to our fellow humans.
The Ten Commandments have some commandments that address our relationship with God and others that address our relationship with people. We know we are to love the Lord, our God, but we are also to love others, our neighbors, as we love ourselves. May we treat others as we would like to be treated. May we consider their needs and wishes as much as we consider our own. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Verses: Romans 13:8-10 (NIV)
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Today’s Passage: Luke 6:27-38
Opening Prayer: Father God, We can see that Jesus was quite a revolutionary, but not in the military sense that many of us may first think of. Many of His ideas and teachings were countercultural back when He walked the earth… and are seen similarly today as well. We know Your ways are not our ways. Help us to delve into the Scriptures to learn more of Your ways and to understand more fully the teachings of Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit guide us in our study and search. May He grow us in wisdom and understanding. May He show us how to apply these things in our daily lives. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Opening Song: Matthew West – Forgiveness (Lyrics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Lu5udXEZI
Message [used with permission from A Sermon for Every Sunday]: “Radical Compassionism” by Jim Somerville, pastor of First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia.
Today’s passage is one that we are probably all familiar with at some level. Luke 6:27-38 includes “The “Golden Rule,” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Jim Somerville, pastor of Richmond’s First Baptist Church, points out that this phrase existed in other texts before Jesus’ time and had probably been “domesticated” just as it is today. In today’s text, Jesus takes it further: “Love your enemies.” Somerville coins the phrase “radical compassionism” to describe this kind of love. It is what Jesus taught and lived every day of his life. Is it what we should live and do every day of ours?
or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WckOpLUhrbg
Closing Song: Third Day – Your Words (Lyric Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqaA8XBI15o
Closing Prayer: Jesus presented us with a different way to live our lives. His ways are a radical departure from the way we would normally think to live life. Father God, may we be filled with compassion for others. May we love and care for others in the same way that Jesus taught us and modeled for us. As it is written, may we do to others as we would have them do to us [Luke 6:31]. In His holy name, I pray. Amen.
Father, we need Your love. When we search our hearts we find that place that only Your love can fill. Help us to live in that realization and to extend love to others. Amen.
This world, and our life, is sometimes full of troubles or problems that seem to be unfixable. Many of those troubles or problems are caused by broken relationships with people. May we seek to restore broken relationships and rebuild trust. When resolution of difficult issues is beyond our control, may we respectfully treat others and then find peace in our hearts. Amen.
Verse: Romans 12:18 (NIV)
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
To love someone means to see them as God intended them. Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Be encouraged! Being hopeful allows joy to flow in. Being patient allows the affliction to be more bearable. Being faithful in prayer allows our relationship with God to grow and our faith to increase. May we always find joy, seek to be patient, and commit to be faithful. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Verse: Romans 12:12 (NIV)
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Father, teach us to love in the way you intended for us and by the example Jesus gave us. Guide us by the Holy Spirit into a deeper understanding of real and holy love. Amen.
The picture of a physical body working together for our general health and wellness is relatively easy to understand and appreciate. Many of us also understand when a part of the physical body isn’t working properly that it can take a toll on the body as a whole. May we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, appreciate that we each have a role to play in the health and wellness of the Church – the Body of Christ. May we also, as Christians, take full responsibility for performing the function, within the Body of Christ, that we have been called by Him to perform. In the name of Jesus, the Christ, I pray. Amen.
Verses: Romans 12:4-6 (NIV)
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.
1 John 4:20-21 (NIV)
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother or sister, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Faithfully Yours Forever 