Love God, Love Others

Pastor Q’s message last Sunday was to love God and to love others. These are my sermon notes, and I hope that you enjoy the sermon as much as I did.

Bible Verses Used

Colossians 3: 12~17

Matthew 7: 1~5

Luke 6: 27~38

Romans 2: 1

James 4: 11~12

Romans 14: 10

We need to put our roots down deep in God. There are surface roots, but if there’s no rain, the plant will wither and die. The first time a storm comes along, you are in deep yoghurt. Put your roots down deep. God looks at our ♥♥♥ ~ you can’t do without God’s love.

Let love guide your life; then the whole church will stay together in perfect harmony. We are the church. There are many people who have their “church persona” and the “rest of their life persona”. We need to have the same persona throughout the whole week.

Jesus commandments are:~

• Love God.
• Love others.

You can’t be a God~lover and not love others. The human tendency is to stand on the sidelines and not to pitch. We are not to judge others, for with the measure with which we judge others is the measure with which we will be judged. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Who are you to judge your neighbour? When you criticise someone else, you are going where you are never meant to go. How many times have I sat in judgement? If a person’s drowning, they will push you under in order to save themselves. There is no excuse for pushing someone down in order to elevate yourself.

We are to pray for our enemies. Criticism is the major instrument that Satan uses to destroy the church. Peace, harmony and unity are what God wants within our church today. Unless your roots are down deep, it is easy to go Satan’s way. There is a narrow way or a broad way ~ the broad way is the easiest way.

Gossiping is passing on information when you are not a part of the problem or a part of the solution. People who will gossip to you will also gossip about you. People who gossip cannot be trusted with your confidences. The greatest wounds come from other sheep, not from the wolves. Gossip is not meant to be a part of our lives. When people gossip, they are destroying harmony and unity within the church. If they are gossiping, confront them with this. We each have talents and abilities, and the church needs each one of us. God blesses churches that are united. God is looking for a church that will build and strengthen believers.

People are looking for acceptance and love when they come to our church, a church where every person can be:~

• Accepted
• Loved
• Valued

Leaders and pastors are not perfect, but they need your support and prayers to build the church that God wants. We want God to be welcome to walk into our church, and we need to work together.

No matter what comes, we shall stand and we shall build the church that God wants.

I Can Do All Things…

For about an hour to an hour and a half each day, my daughter has been working on her Peter Rabbit longstitch (with supervision, of course), but the best thing about this is that we have worked out how to longstitch together, and I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. My daughter has learned a new skill, and I think that you’ll have to agree, Peter Rabbit’s looking pretty impressive!

All that remains is to put his whiskers on, his mouth and work the background. The results with longstitch are very quick, and my daughter and I have enjoyed the “special” time spent together learning this new craft.

Oh, how we limit our God when we doubt ourselves and our abilities! Our God is an awesome God, and we can do all things through Him.

Tuesday Treasures

Today’s Tuesday Treasure is a gift that was given to us when we moved into our third home by my husband’s second cousin, Jim and his wife, Peggy. It sits on our kitchen mantlepiece, and is a constant reminder that God’s blessings do crown our house. It has been securely packaged during every move since then, and it has survived four moves, even the last move when the furniture removalists all but destroyed lots of our furnishings and fittings – clothes drier, table and five of the six chairs, dressing table, strereo player and nebuliser. Take my advice – if you’re moving house, pay the extra for the insurance, for if you don’t, you will be severely out of pocket.

Today’s “treasure” is not an expensive one, but it has much sentimental value for us, and is a constant reminder of God’s blessings over our home, that our work is blessed and that our house is prospered by the Lord.

Baby Steps…

Today my daughter finished her school work early, and I had promised her that if she finished early, we would start on her longstitch. We bought this longstitch for her about three years ago, and it has taken me all of that time to pluck up the courage to be able to start it.

If you have been told all of your life that you can’t do anything, you’ll never amount to anything and that you’re no good, then you’re set up for failure your whole life, and your confidence takes a very real battering. It takes a lot of determination and trust, both in God and in self to break out of that whole cycle of self-doubt, but that is exactly what I have done (through God) today.

By doubting self, I was doubting God and His ability to change me, and also doubting the promise in His Word that says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”. I have taken hold of that promise, and today my daughter and I started on that longstitch – it wasn’t easy, as I have never been taught how to do anything in the way of stitch work, but we managed to make a start on it, and I feel good. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

How can I tell our children that they can do all things through Christ which strengthens them if I dare to doubt what He says in His Word? I can now look them straight in the eye and tell them that they can do all things through Christ which strengthens them, knowing that I have walked the path of trust first.

We thoroughly enjoyed tackling the starting of this project, and it has given me a degree of self God confidence, knowing that I can do things that I haven’t tried before.  I  have taught my daughter how to do it, and she has now taken over, with me supervising. My daughter did all of the brown area, and I’m so happy, and so is she. We just need to have the confidence to take that first baby step…

Housework ~ Did I Say Housework?

Housework ~ did I say housework? Now, I truly did hear sighs and groans from some of you! Washing your mouth out with chocolate sounds like a wonderful excuse to indulge one’s chocolate addiction without feeling guilty, now doesn’t it?

These last few weeks have been incredibly difficult for us, but not just because of the pain aspect – it is more the frustration of knowing what needs to be done, but not being able to do it. Housework  (there’s that word again!), especially mopping and vacuuming make Thursdays a very long day, with my husband struggling through the vacuuming and my son mopping all of the floors and verandahs – then having to do his school work, as well. He is currently studying toward his year 12 certificate, so school work is not a walk in the park, either.

People from our church have asked whether they could help with the housework, but the sheer distance makes that unfeasible, as it is about 80 kilometres from church to our home! I really wouldn’t expect anybody to travel that sort of distance to do our mopping and vacuuming. However, we have taken them up on their offer to help with meals when my husband goes into hospital, for they will be very full days! In the meantime, we have been struggling along, and knowing that God would work things out.

When I visited the physio, he asked if we would benefit from home help, as I had spoken to him about the difficulties that we were facing on a week to week basis, and he said that he would approach the appropriate authorities in the local health service. We had our interview this morning, and they have said that we definitely qualify for a cleaner to come in to vacuum and mop the floors in the main living areas. With homeschooling, the main living areas include pretty much all of our home, except for my son’s sunroom and the guest bedroom. Praise God, for He truly does work all things out for our good!

While I am here, I would really like to thank everybody who have taken the time out of their busy lives to pray for us ~ your prayers are very much appreciated, and God will truly bless you for honouring Him.

…my friends!