Acts 2:42 Men's Fellowship
“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV
Last week we asked the question---what is our first love? It is clear from the Scriptures the Lord desires us to hold Him as our first love in everything we do, for we are to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). He is to be the object of our affections and the sole passion for our work within the Church.
Yet, how do we achieve this in our lives? How do we actually love God in such a way that He becomes our first love and the object of all of our affections?
I believe we must begin by understanding what love is…
Love is something which cannot be forced or manufactured. Love cannot be born out of jealousy or malice. Love can never come from hatred or spite against another person. Love does not involve pride or rejoices in iniquity. Love suffers long and is built within kindness. Love seeks the interest of others before seeking the interest of one’s self. Love is essentially everything listed in first Corinthians chapter 13…
But in every quality mentioned, love can only be born within the webbings of our relationship with others. Love can never be experienced without an object of its affection. For it can never be an isolated act, left within the vacuum of one’s life. Instead, it is through our connection with the lives of others that love can grow and through the time spent within their lives upon where love can develop. This is the essence of family and where many of us experience true lasting love.
The Lord I believe wants us to see this essence in our relationship with Him and our relationship with others. Only when we realize that we are family, bound together by connection to our heavenly Father, will we be able to love in a way that God intended.
When we realize that we are not just a person that God loves, but instead one of His sons, how much more can we love Him and then in turn love each other.
The Apostle John in his first epistle shares with us the source of all perfect love:
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.”
1 John 4:7-9 NIV
Brothers, we are not separated from the source of love by multiple generations. We are a son to the creator of all love. God has no grandchildren. Therefore all love that flows from us has been created by our heavenly Father for it already flowed directly from His inmost being into our lives as sons.
This connection between love and God is the essence of family. This connection between love and God is truly how all our affections can reside in Him. This connection between love and God is how we can truly make Him our first love. And from these truths our lives are radically transformed because we our connected to Him through all perfect love.
May we learn to accept this truth, bind it within our heart, and remind ourselves each day how we are connected to one another through the perfect love God has made available to all men. May we learn to use it within the body of Christ in order that God will be glorified…
Prayer requests
Monte – praise for new employment with Direct TV
Ernie – praise for the health of wife in her leg and knee, pray for continued protection of son and his promotion to sergeant with the Everett Police Department
Keith – thanks for Ernie in bring him tonight to the meeting
Tim – pray that he will be able to connect with his con through discipline and love
Kelcy – pray that mother’s surgery on February 20th will go well, pray for pastors and staff
Ramon – pray for the family of Matt who died recently of bone cancer that they may be comforted and hear the voice of the Lord
Steve – pray that a friend’s husband will pass his driving test so that he may gain employment
David – pray that the Lord will continue to teach him how to treat others with respect during times of discipline and always be able to speak the truth with love
Mark – pray that I will be a good steward of God’s money, pray that I may continue to shepherd others through God’s strength, not my own, pray for Diane Mix at work who lost her father-in-law to a heart attack and her husband to a stroke this past week
***Pray for relationship building throughout the Northshore Christian Church
Continued prayer needs
Dick – pray for strength in new employment
Joe – pray that his condo may sell quickly and that he may finally be settled here in Mukilteo
Craig – pray that he will receive the blessing of health and guidance during the next few weeks
Carmine – pray for the Presidential election and bringing forth a ‘godly’ leader
Norman – praise for the health of daughter in dealing with her seizures
Larry – pray for leadership in leading group of men with CTL, pray that the marriage ministry will begin to make a larger impact on the Church
Gary – pray for strength in working with IRS, pray for stepdaughters in their struggles
Chad – pray for continued seeking of purity in his life
*** pray also for the men’s ministry in developing Godly leaders
Future Meetings
Please make note that the next meeting is back in the Fireside Room at Northshore. Here is the upcoming meeting schedule:
Wednesday, February 27th, 7:00-9:00 pm, regular meeting in the Fireside room at Northshore Christian Church
Wednesday, March 12th, 7:00-9:00 pm, regular meeting in the Fireside room at Northshore Christian Church
Wednesday, March 26th, 7:00-9:00 pm, regular meeting in the Fireside room at Northshore Christian Church
Challenge
May we find peace and power within our inner being in order to build unity throughout the Church…
Memory Verse
“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NIV
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