June 2, 2020
Romans 5:5-8
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

New International Version (NIV)
What we really believe is revealed in what we do.  In this season of keeping “In Step with the Spirit,” at our church, we saw this weekend that the Spirit of the Lord is the Spirit of love.  As he washed their feet on the night before his crucifixion, Jesus taught his disciples to love one another.  Then he showed them the full extent of his love by dying for all while we were still sinners.  At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came shedding God’s love abroad in our hearts, giving us hope so that we may persevere.

We lose credibility when we pontificate about God’s love for us but refuse to love one another.  Our refusal to love belies all of our talk about the cross.  God demonstrated his love on the cross, but he manifests it through his Spirit-filled people as we love others.

When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, homes and churches, he teaches us to love one another.  Imagine God’s love coming at Pentecost and spreading through his people into the thousands gathered.  Then his love spread to Judea, Samaria through Philip and then to the ends of the earth.  Through Paul it came to Athens, Corinth, Philippi and Ephesus.  Pilgrims and pioneers brought their faith with them to North America.  Church attendance was mandatory in Virginia.  But many of these Christians perpetuated the slave trade.  Native Americans lost their land and their lives to people who claimed to follow Christ. 

God’s love is so much more contagious than any virus known to humankind.  It has gone all the way around the world so many times.  Has it reached us?  My friend Elizabeth Hankins says there is no “other” except God.   We are all created in the image of God.  Our love for each other authenticates our love for God.  When we hate others we reveal that God’s love stopped somewhere between our heads and our hearts.  
Pray with me:         
Our loving Father, thank you for sending the Spirit of Love to change our hearts.  Reveal to us today if there is anyone whom we do not yet love.  Change us God, lest we grow old in our sinful prejudices.  May the love of Christ take hold of us.  May the light of Christ shine in our hearts.  May the love of Christ flow through us like a river.  We pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.   
Join us in memorizing the Word.  Scripture for this week:    
Matthew 5:47-48
And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Our 2020 Every Day with Jesus readings will follow the Foundations New Testament reading plan.  Copies of the reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download your copy at REPLICATE.ORG 
We would love for you to join us as we read the New Testament through this year, five chapters a week.  In addition I will continue my long-standing practice of reading one Psalm a day through the year.  Use Robby Gallaty’s H. E. A. R. plan to study each chapter (also found at REPLICATE.ORG). Highlight verses which speak to you, explain what they mean in your own words in a journal, apply them to your own life, then respond by doing what God tells you to do.  
Joyfully, 
Duane 

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