01/21/2024 Church service

周日礼拜

视频

         Love Connection 爱之纽带

 

2 Timothy 3:1-5: But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
提 摩 太 後 書 3:1-5: 你要知道，在最后的日子里，困难的时刻会降临在我们身上。 那时人们会自私、贪婪、自夸、骄傲、亵渎圣灵，不孝敬父母、不善良、没有信仰、 不互爱、不宽恕人、造谣诽谤、缺乏自制、野蛮、嫉善如仇， 他们出卖朋友、鲁莽、骄傲自满、爱享乐胜过爱上帝。 他们披着宗教的外衣，但是却否认它的权力。要离他们远远的 (page 1931)
Mark 4:19 - But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.馬 可 福 音 4:19: 但却让现世的烦恼、财富的诱惑和其它的欲望膨胀，窒息了福音，而无结果。(page 1623)

1 John 4:7: Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him.
約 翰 一 書 4:7: 亲爱的朋友们，让我们彼此相爱吧。因为爱来自上帝，有爱的人就是上帝的孩子，也认识上帝。(page 1981)
1 John 4:19: Our love for others is our grateful response to the love God first demonstrated to us.
約 翰 一 書 4:19: 我们爱，是因为上帝先爱我们。(pg 1981)
John 13:34,35: “I’m giving you a new commandment: Love each other in the same way that I have loved you.”
約 翰 福 音 13:34: 我给你们一条新的命令：你们要彼此相爱。就像我爱你们一样，你们也要彼此互爱。(page 1747)

 

 

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视频脚本 Script

Love Connection
2 Timothy 3:1-5
A new year should be a great opportunity to pursue new things – or at least, live from a new, fresh perspective.
A perspective of gratitude – humility – and most of all, love.
Love for God. Love for His people.
Today’s Scripture: You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
“in the last days…” – doesn’t this sound exactly like the days we are living in now?
A young child lives from the self-centered perspective. “Mine.”
It’s basically a survival mechanism – but it needs to be something we grow out of.
In 2024, we see a large percentage of our population is still living under that same immature selfishness. Mine!
It is really a form of fear. A fear of lack. Of inadequacy.
Paul said: (1 Cor 13:11) When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I understood like a child. Now I am a man. I do not act like a child anymore.
Where does hoarding come from? Clinging. It is Fear.
In this first month of a new year, it is a great opportunity to clear away the clutter caused by fear and selfishness and step into a new day of freedom, of liberation, of LOVE.
Ecc 3:6 - A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
Last week we talked about two paths in life – a wide path and a narrow path.
One led to destruction – and one to eternal life.
When the world looks at us, do they see us following the path of Christ – or living just like they are (as described in today’s scripture lesson?)
Is our heart full of clutter today?
(Jesus said) Mark 4:19 - But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
“But you need to be aware that in the final days the culture of society will become extremely fierce. People will be self-centered lovers of themselves and obsessed with money. They will boast of great things as they strut around in their arrogant pride and mock all that is right. They will ignore their own families. They will be ungrateful and ungodly. They will become addicted to hateful and malicious slander. Slaves to their desires, they will be ferocious, belligerent haters of what is good and right. With brutal treachery, they will act without restraint, bigoted and wrapped in clouds of their conceit. They will find their delight in the pleasures of this world more than the pleasures of the loving God. They may pretend to have a respect for God, but in reality they want nothing to do with God’s power. Stay away from people like these!”
WE are not supposed to BE like these people – we’re not even supposed to hang out with them!
When we live like this, we are like the dog chasing its own tail.
It never achieves its goal. It is a fruitless effort.
Examine your own heart. “It starts with me”
1 John 4:7: Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him.
We ALL know that when we act from love - - when we focus on contribution – our lives are happier.
“Let us love one another.” It is a tough challenge sometimes.
Our foundation is our salvation.
1 John 4:19: Our love for others is our grateful response to the love God first demonstrated to us.
Spurgeon: “Love is the cause of love.”
1 John 4:8: Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Word of Caution: Today is a day for us to hear God’s Word with new ears.
(don’t miss your moment)
? How can we possibly gain a fresh perspective without first being open-hearted to what Holy Spirit wants to tell us today?
New Wine goes in New Wineskins. (amen?)
So – let’s get back to the purpose of this message - and our mission for 2024:
We need to un-clutter our hearts. Uncluttering our hearts will unclutter our lives
1 Cor 14:33 - For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
One of the Desert Fathers: “It’s not possessing something that is harmful, but being attached to it”
Jesus: “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Luke 12:15: Then He (Jesus) said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

Clinging is a symptom of deep-rooted fear of some kind.
(whether it is clinging to things, status, approval or false security)

Can we approach this shift – this radical transition - with confidence?
Can this new start now begin – and then continued?

1 John 4:18: Perfect love cast out fear
It starts with me.
It starts with repentance of my own fears – my own selfishness – my own clinging.
My own need to fill the empty places with the things that fade and disappear.
“ …in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud
They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control.
…reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.”
WE must BE the Change
Believe and Live by Jesus’ Commands
Matt 22:34-40: Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘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.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
(another version) Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and most important command. And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.’
If we live by Jesus’ commands, we will, by default, seek to unclutter our hearts of anything that would block the flow of God’s love in and through us.
“Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another,
because God is love.
Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him”
The behaviors we read about today in our opening scripture passage describe the type of lifestyle that is the exact opposite of living by Jesus’ commands:
“self-centered lovers of themselves and obsessed with money. arrogant pride and mock all that is right. They will ignore their own families. They will be ungrateful and ungodly. They will become addicted to hateful and malicious slander. Slaves to their desires haters of what is good and right. They will find their delight in the pleasures of this world more than the pleasures of the loving God.”
John 13:34,35: “I’m giving you a new commandment:
Love each other in the same way that I have loved you.
Everyone will know that you are my disciples because of your love for each other.”
“So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re my true followers.”
An uncluttered heart can see the world with a whole new set of eyes
Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love.

Hillside United Methodist Church
3739 US 80
Phenix City  AL  36870
United States
Pastor: Mike J Koger

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