“‘Teacher, which commandment is the law is the greatest?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.'” (Matthew 22:36-39)

If your theology doesn’t change your behavior, what you know about God doesn’t matter.

Fred Craddock says, “It’s possible to get an “A” in bible and still flunk Christianity.” And, he’s absolutely right.

Growing in the knowledge of God changes us to resemble God in our actions and how we treat God’s children.

The point of the teachings of Jesus was never to make us smarter sinners. The point of the teachings of Jesus is to change us, to make us more like him.

Whenever God reveals Godself through his scriptures, it is always for the purpose of transformation. When you love God, you love what God loves. When you love God, you love the people for whom Christ died for. These are inseparable.

This past Sunday Katie Davis and Jo Ethel Smith preached a fantastic sermon on the Christian response to the racial division that is wreaking havoc in our world. When it comes to pursuing racial reconciliation, the church and her saints ought to lead the way in bringing about peace and shalom to our communities.

As many of you know, I have had multiple surgeries on my heart and have needed blood transfusions. Not once did I ever wonder about the color of the person who donated the blood that kept me alive. I was only grateful that someone went out of their way to donate their blood so that I might live.

I thank God that we have a church who sees all of God’s people for who they are: we are all sinners in need of forgiveness that only Christ offers. We are all God’s children in need of a Savior.

Church, let us lead the way in bringing peace to God’s world.

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

You can’t say this prayer and without surrendering your kingdom. To say this prayer and mean it assumes surrendering our dreams, our loyalties, our preferences, and our kingdom plans.

Did you know that God is not a republican? God is not a democrat. In fact, God is not even American! You see, Jesus tells us that “God so loved the WORLD that he gave his only Son, that whosoever would believe in him will have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done…”

You may not agree with President Trump. You may not even like him. But did you know when God thought about eternity, God could not imagine spending eternity without him in it. So God sent his Son to die for President Trump. That’s how much God loves him.

You may not agree with Joe Biden. You may not even like him. But do you know when God thought about eternity, God could not imagine spending eternity without him in it. So God sent his Son to die for Joe Biden. That’s how much God loves him.

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done…”

Christian, you can’t say this prayer without surrendering your kingdom.

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

This is one of the most well known passages of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. The love in our text in the Greek is agape. To agape means to take pleasure in, and long for. So what is the believer to take pleasure in and long for? We are to take pleasure in the things that Christ takes pleasure in, and long for the things that Christ longs for.

For the believer to agape literally means preferring to live through Christ. To agape means actively doing what the Lord prefers. To agape means that Christ is living his life through the believer.

In a world that has hyper-emphasized personal preference, personal opinions, personal tastes, personal rights, this is a good corrective.

In a world that is as divided as our’s, this is a necessary corrective.

I want you to read the text again. Except this time, wherever the word love appears instead put yourself instead so that it reads:

• I am patient
• I am kind
• I am not envious
• I am not boastful
• I am not arrogant
• etc.

Take a moment to write out this passage in the above way on a piece of paper and make it your prayer for today.

It is my prayer we Christ-followers at the Little Church and Lakewoodgrace are known as agape people.