Romans 258: Romans 8 - The Lord’s Supper: Valentine’s Day and Every Day, Know You are Loved

Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark. 

 

Love is in the air today!

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

The Lord’s Supper:  Valentine’s Day and Every Day, Know You are Loved

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!  On the second Sunday of every month, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper…a remembrance meal.  We eat, by breaking bread…we drink, by tasting the fruit of the vine…and we look back to the Cross…a defining moment during the earthly life of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…and in fact, one of THE defining moments in all of creature history.

 

Valentine’s Day is a day for lovers…what a perfect day to celebrate the Lord’s Supper…because the Lord’s work on the Cross, through the shedding of His blood for us, is the greatest demonstration of LOVE…EVER!  He loves us.  John, Chapter 15, Verse 12…

 

John 15:12

“This is My mandate, that you love one another unconditionally, just as I (the Lord Jesus Christ) have loved you unconditionally.”

 

In other words, the Lord asks us to follow His lead.  How do we know the Lord loves us?  John, Chapter 15, Verse 13…

 

John 15:13

“Greater unconditional love has no one than this love, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

 

There’s a funny thing about God’s unconditional love.  Perhaps some of us would die for a friend…all those who sign up for military service agree to do just that…they agree to put their lives on the line for their friends.  But the great thing about the Lord’s unconditional love is that He put His life on the line for those who are not His friends as well.  It’s the same for those in the military.  Matthew Chapter 5, Verses 43 to 48…

 

Matthew 5:43

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’”

 

Matthew 5:44

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”

 

Matthew 5:45

“…so that you may be sons of your God, the Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

 

Matthew 5:46

“For if you love those who love you, and you do, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”

 

Matthew 5:47

“If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”

 

Matthew 5:48

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 

We are perfect when we love as the Lord loves.  That’s what the Lord did…and He actually died FOR ALL…and the Lord asks us to have the same attitude He did…the same willingness to lay down our lives for each other.  Why?  That’s REAL love.  First Peter, Chapter 1, Verses 18 and 19…

 

First Peter 1:18

…you believers in Christ were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life which you inherited from your forefathers…

First Peter 1:19

…but you were redeemed with precious blood, as of the blood of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Your salvation was purchased at quite a cost…with the blood of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  And when you think of all the pretender gods…the icons of all the religions for all time…you have to ask yourself if you saw them do the same thing…did they lay down their lives for their friends?

 

The Lord invites us to put aside the futility of our lives as unbelievers, and to take on a lifestyle of LOVE.  Welcome to a place where you can learn to LOVE…with REAL LOVE…a place where you can realize that you are loved by God…a place to get the kind of LOVE the Lord Jesus Christ has for you…unconditional love.  Love is in the air!

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

WHEN I SAY I LOVE YOU

June Murphy 

 

Let’s begin the lesson by worshipping the Lord in song…the opening song is WHEN I SAY I LOVE YOU, sung by June Murphy.  And as we listen to the song, notice that it is sung to you from the Lord Jesus Christ’s point of view.

 

OPENING PRAYER

 

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful Heavenly Father for the privilege of studying the absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, we thank you for loving us.  When we come into Your presence in prayer, we come with an awareness of our human frailties and yet we are completely overwhelmed by Your unconditional love for us…You see the depths of our flaws and failures and You love us the same…as a song puts it.

 

Thank you that there is no suffering gauntlet we walk through in this life where Your love cannot reach us...when we scale the highest mountains of success in this life, You are there…and when we find ourselves in the darkest valleys of our lives, You are even more present…an ever present help in times of trouble…

 

Teach us, today, to love You in return by demonstrating obedience to You and Your Word.  Help us to rest in Your unconditional love that asks nothing more from us than a trusting heart…a heart of faith…the heart of a child.  Guide us to not overlook Your intricate plan just because it is so simple…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name... Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

The Lord’s Supper:  Valentine’s Day and Every Day, You are Loved

 

Let’s being the lesson by taking the offering.  One of the truest forms of unconditional love is to make an offering to God from your first fruits…an offering for the benefit of others…to open your wallets, even when it hurts, so that others can have a taste of the Word of God free of charge.  Join me in welcoming up Deacon Denny Goodall, who will pass along our offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

Genesis 34:12

“Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage.”

 

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

 

Thank you for your generosity. 

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

The Lord’s Supper:  Valentine’s Day and Every Day, You are Loved

Love is in the air!  God loves you.  How does God love?  Unconditionally! Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 8…

 

Romans 5:8

But God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners (as unbelievers), Christ died instead of us.

 

Theologian and philosopher Aurelius Augustine says…

 

AUGUSTINE
God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

 

John, Chapter 3, Verses 16…

 

John 3:16

“For God the Father loved the world unconditionally and He loved us so much, that He gave His uniquely born Son (the Lord Jesus Christ), that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but instead shall have eternal life (the resurrection life).”

 

We can never be separated from God’s unconditional love…Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 35 and 36…

 

Romans 8:35

Who will separate us from the unconditional love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword separate us?

 

Romans 8:36

Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long…

we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 

Just as the apostle Paul did, we walk through the gauntlet of suffering in this life…Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 37 to 39…

 

Romans 8:37

But in all these tribulations we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us unconditionally.

 

Romans 8:38

For I am convinced that neither physical death, nor anything in life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers…

 

Romans 8:39

…nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the unconditional love of God the Father, which comes from being in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

British preacher Charles Spurgeon says…

 

SPURGEON

When the time comes for you to die, you need not be afraid, because not even death can separate you from God’s love.

 

First John, Chapter 4, Verses 7 and 8…

 

First John 4:7

Beloved (divinely loved ones), let us love one another unconditionally, for unconditional love is from God the Father; and everyone who loves unconditionally is a born again one of God the Father and everyone who loves unconditionally knows God the Father.

 

First John 4:8

The one who does not love unconditionally does not know God the Father, for God the Father is unconditional love.

 

What does unconditional love look like?  First Corinthians, Chapter 13, Verses 1 to 8 describes it…

 

First Corinthians 13:1

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have unconditional love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

 

First Corinthians 13:2

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and if I have all

knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have unconditional love, I am nothing.

 

First Corinthians 13:3

And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have unconditional love, it profits me nothing.

 

First Corinthians 13:4

Unconditional love is patient, unconditional love is kind, and unconditional love is not jealous; unconditional love does not brag and unconditional love is not arrogant…

 

First Corinthians 13:5

… unconditional love does not act unbecomingly; unconditional love does not seek its own, unconditional love is not provoked, unconditional love does not take into account a wrong suffered…

 

First Corinthians 13:6

… unconditional love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but unconditional love rejoices with the truth…

 

First Corinthians 13:7

… unconditional love bears all things, unconditional love believes all things, unconditional love hopes all things, unconditional love endures all things.

 

First Corinthians 13:8

… unconditional love never fails…

 

First Corinthians, Chapter 13, Verse 13…

 

First Corinthians 13:13

But now faith, hope, love, abide in the sphere of these three; but the greatest of these three is unconditional love.

 

Love is in the air!  Know this…God loves you today and every day.

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

Enjoying the Elements

 

Let’s enjoy the Lord’s Supper elements…

 

Following God’s request, we keep on celebrating CHRIST and His Cross on a regular basis…we eat to remember who He is…His PERSON…we drink to remember His WORK, the voluntary sacrifice He made at the Cross on our behalf as our substitute…and we are grateful for what God has done for us.  First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verses 23 and 24 say…

 

First Corinthians 11:23

For I, Paul received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus Christ on the night in which He was betrayed took bread…

 

First Corinthians 11:24

…and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is, and keeps

 on being My body, which is broken for you; keep on doing this celebration

 for the purpose of remembering Me.”

 

When we eat the bread during the Lord’s Supper Celebration, we remember THE PERSON of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

When we drink the cup, we remember THE WORK of the Lord Jesus Christ.  First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verses 25 and 26 say…

 

First Corinthians 11:25

In the same way the Lord Jesus Christ took the cup after supper, representing His death on the Cross, saying, “This cup is a new testament forged with My blood; keep on doing this celebration, as often as you drink it, for the purpose of remembering Me.”

 

First Corinthians 11:26

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

 

As you enjoy the bread and the cup, enjoy the memory of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as well. Now and always, let us keep on giving thanks that we are loved by God…and let’s enjoy that love Day by Day, our Lord’s Supper song..

 

LORD’S SUPPER SONG

DAY BY DAY

Godspell

 

 

 

MUSIC BREAK

THE LOVE OF GOD

Mercy Me

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

The Lord’s Supper:  Valentine’s Day and Every Day, You are Loved

 

We trust others when we know their motives…I know God’s motives.  His motive is LOVE.

 

God the Father demonstrates His unconditional love for us…God the Father answers every one of our prayers with the right answer.  God the Father gives us gifts of indescribable value…like the gift of God the Holy Spirit.  Why?  Because He loves you…You are loved by God.  First John, Chapter 4, Verses 9 to 11…

 

First John 4:9

…the unconditional love of God was manifested in us, that God the Father has sent His uniquely born Son into the world so that we might live the resurrection life through believing in Him.

 

First John 4:10

In this sending of His Son is unconditional love, not that we loved God the Father unconditionally, but that He loved us unconditionally and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (the ONLY perfectly satisfactory payment).

 

First John 4:11

Beloved (divinely loved ones), if God the Father so loved us unconditionally, and He did, we also ought to love one another unconditionally.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ agreed to die instead of you…the Lord Jesus Christ agreed to die on a Cross…the worst death in human history…the Lord Jesus Christ agreed to die for you while you were His enemy…the Lord Jesus Christ died voluntarily…the Lord Jesus Christ agreed to be humiliated by coming to earth to take on human form…the Lord Jesus Christ wants a personal relationship with you.  Proverbs, Chapter 8, Verses 17…

 

Proverbs 8:17

“I (the Lord Jesus Christ) love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me.”

 

Why?  Because He loves you…You are loved by the Lord Jesus Christ.  Galatians, Chapter 2, Verse 20…

 

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives indwelling me; and the resurrection life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me unconditionally and who gave Himself up instead of me.

 

First John, Chapter 3, Verse 1…

 

First John 3:1

See how great a love God the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

 

John, Chapter 13, Verses 34 and 35…

 

John 13:34

“A new commandment I (the Lord Jesus Christ) give to you, that you love one another unconditionally, even as I have loved you unconditionally, that you also love one another.”

 

John 13:35

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have unconditional love for one another.”

 

Christian author Jerry Bridges comments on the Lord’s unconditional love for us…

 

JERRY BRIDGES

God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in Scripture. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it. God’s love originates from His very nature, because God IS love, and His LOVE flows to us through our union with God the Father’s beloved Son.

 

John Wesley, co founder of the Methodist Church, says this…

 

JOHN WESLEY
One of the greatest evidences of God’s unconditional love, to those that love him, is to send them afflictions (suffering), along with the grace to bear them.

 

God’s gauntlet of suffering is a demonstration of His LOVE as well.

 

God’s Love is…Unconditional…Perfect…Forgiving…Generous… Eternal…Personal…He never gives up on you…Limitless…Impartial… Incomprehensible…Healing…Protective.

 

Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verses 14 to 19

 

Ephesians 3:14

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father…

 

Ephesians 3:15

…from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name…

 

Ephesians 3:16

…that He would grant you, according to His glorious riches, to be strengthened with power through His Holy Spirit in the inner man…

 

Ephesians 3:17

…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in unconditional love…

 

Ephesians 3:18

…may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth…

 

Ephesians 3:19

…and to know the unconditional love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

 

Here’s what Christian author Max Lucado has to say about God’s love…

 

MAX LUCADO

God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus.

 

Feel good today…feel good the next time you look at a Cross…it’s a reminder that you are loved by God.

 

When the Lord Jesus Christ

Promises Salvation,It’s a Guarantee!

 

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel message, for the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

 

Psalm 62:1

My soul waits in silence for the Lord only; from in Him is my salvation.

 

Acts 2:21

‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.’

 

Second Peter 3:9

The Lord Jesus Christ is not slow about His promise of salvation, as some accuse Him of, but is patient toward all mankind, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (a change of mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ).

 

CLOSING SONG

DEMONSTRATED LOVE

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

            THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION

 

And we pray that You continue to shape the messages from this pulpit that are an accurate reflection of You…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s name, Amen.

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

www.barahministries.com